Ongoing: All Teams

[voidtreckermods]

The first few days are taken up with solving the problems in the various sectors, all the while getting closer to their goal. The Great-Winter, Great-Summer, Great-Spring and Great Autumn.

On Day 9 of the month of Jelly they will see on their map a clear indicator of where to go. As they draw near it will be obvious what they are looking for.

The Overseers

In the centre of each of the sectors there is a large metal tube, hundreds of pipes lead from it, spanning up to the ceiling above and down below, creating a field of pipes and tubes to clamber over and crawl under to reach the central tube. On the tube itself there is a panel, wrapping around it in a circle. The SCA's of the Voidtrecker show an exclamation mark, if they click on them they will see the message.

Reach the panel, enter the inner systems and give your aid.

As Voidtreckers step towards the tubes it will seem as if the world shifts around them. Instead of metal and wire they will see trees. The Great-Spring is a tree in blossom, pink leaves spreading up across the canopy. Great-Summer has strong green leaves, Great_Autumns leaves are brown and falling and Great-Winter has no leaves at all.

The panel is still there, the only part of the scene that doesn't look organic. As the Voidtreckers move towards their goal the tree begins to move, branches fighting against those trying to get through the roots. The aim seems to be to push intruders away, going as far as flinging them back with higher branches.

The branches aren't the only security measures in place. As they push forwards they will find creatures coming at them from the trees.

Strangely the creatures look like creatures from their own worlds, any creature they would expect to see in a tree. Regardless of species they attack with claws and with lazers from their eyes. They don't move far from the branches, but try and stop invaders from getting close to the trunk.

For those that get through they will find that as they draw close to the 'trunk' the attacks stop, as if they have reached an eye of a storm.

Going Further

The panel is a simple glowing screen, there are no instructions but their SCA's will beep softly and if they press their SCA to the panel they will find everything vanishes, the trees, branches and weird animals.

Or perhaps it is they themselves that vanish as they find themselves in a large white room, everyone is together here. No matter what sector they had travelled through and which overseer they entered through.

There are four tubes filled with liquid, pink, green, orange and white towering over them.

"Our systems have been compromised." The four voices ring out. "Heal what has been harmed, destroy what should not be here. Find the source and purge it from our world."

The overseers and the room vanish and the voidtreckers find themselves in a forest, a forest that is slowly being choaked by red sickly vines.

The Voidtreckers themselves will find themselves looking different, almost like the hard-light holograms of the Helpmates though they certainly feel like themselves. They are carrying a sturdy stick but nothing else and depending how imaginative they are will quickly find they can alter their appearance to fit their wishes.

Heal and Destroy

The voidtreckers will find themselves drawn towards the vines, if they touch them they will be able to soothe, a glowing blue light from their hands that runs down the vine before it fades away, freeing the trees that it held in its chokehold.

There are many pathways, many vines and it will be a long task to clear it all. It is not long also before the first threats find them. Threats that look like mongeese, small creatures that will lunge at them, teeth bared and claws out.

Luckily the Voidtreckers will quickly learn the ability to soothe is not the only power gifted to them.

On the Outside

For anyone who does not enter through the panel it will seem like their fellow Voidtreckers have entered a deep trance. The area they are sat around the tree is calm, no threats enter there. But outside that area there are still threats, the branches attack, the animals attack and sometimes Helpmates try to evict those they see from the area, claiming it 'restricted.'

Comments

Nita OTA (Orange-only for first two, open to all for the others)

[unfavorableinstigation]

The Overseers
Nita doesn't talk much at this point, apart from confirming that this is where they have to be.

"I'll cover for you. Now, run!"

They have to get to that panel, after all. It's the only way it seems, for things to get better around here...

On the Outside
Nita's not the first one to get to the panel - indeed, she spends more than half an hour guarding those who do go in first, monitoring their life signs and so on to make sure they're safe.

She's also looking to make arrangements, some sort of sign that it's safe to pull people out at intervals. Powering a shield indefinitely out here is something she can try, but if there's a bigger threat inside...

Well, Nita's expression is enough to clue people in on just how deep in thought she is, even while fighting.

Going Further
But eventually, she does take her turn 'jacking in' - and is immediately flushed with anxiety, as the Speech she was initially going to use to greet the Overseers is substituted by gibberish.

Eyes wide, she almost misses the introduction entirely, but maybe one of her friends hasn't missed her in turn...

Heal and Destroy
Nita's priority is those red wires, pure and simple; they don't burn when she touches them and, while she's cut off from spreading the effect by simply reaching back to their source through contact, it's clear she's dedicated towards getting this done.

She does not notice ice creeping upon her, nor does she use it - though if people insist, she'll be glad for their help, whether just in healing or in forming a duo.

Going Further

[firewalled]

"Nita!" Rich is surprised to see someone suddenly appear beside him, and even more concerned when that someone nearly stumbles. He grabs onto her shoulders to steady her.

"You okay? I know it's a little disorienting..."

Re: Going Further

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita's expression is distant, and she almost doesn't react to Rich at all; instead, she continues speaking those no-longer-familiar syllables, breath shallowing all the while.

There's a stick in her hand, but that breaks with little more than a thought.

What's going on?What's going on?

Memories swirl, of a darkened forest and screaming trees; of an underground cavern filled with hate and a suppressing pulse-

[firewalled]

"Wh-Whoa, hey... Nita, snap out of it..."

He moves in front of her, dropping his branch so he can better grip both of her shoulders, studying her distant face and giving her a slight shake.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Ice shards fall from her fingers - aimed at nothing, registering as nothing - and she trembles.

Not having the peridexis in her head is one thing; she knows how to get along without Bobo.

But without wizardry - well, without due warning, with that memory of struggle and pain and bugs -

Holding her still barely helps her focus; her pupils are still constricted.

[firewalled]

Rich looks down at the ice and shivers, but... well, she isn't aiming it at anyone, so that's certainly a good sign. He still keeps his grip firmly on her.

"Nita? I don't know if you can hear me, but this is Rich. Remember? From the escape room? I'm here with you. You're here... you're real, if you need a reminder of that. I-If you can hear me, can you say something?"

He's trying to use what he knows to help, but he's not even really sure if this is a panic attack or not.

[unfavorableinstigation]

There's little to show for those efforts, at first. An abortive grimace, a fraction of a head turn-

Something, some grey blur, comes up from behind Rich-

And is met by shards.

Gasping, Nita sags against the person holding her up, realizing only belatedly she is being supported.

"I... I. Rich?"

She's going to need more than a minute here.

Heal and Destroy

[bakegarasu]

There's a screech as one of the mongeese jumps towards her while her back is turned, followed by a squeal as it's knocked back into the trees. Otoha stands between her and the creatures, stick-sword raised.

"Keep working at it. I'll -" He pauses as he reaches down to grab one of the fuzzy pests that's sunk its teeth into his leg. He pulls it off of him roughly and throws it into another one, sending them both tumbling. "Ugh." Another wound he'll have to deal with...

CW: Dissociation???

[unfavorableinstigation]

"I can't heal in here."

Her voice - it lacks for something. Like everything's been packed away; the only things not fuzzy around her are the wires, because she can still fix those.

Then something else registers, and she looks back, focus narrowing.

"... You're not bleeding."

Both mongeese end up frozen with but a thought, but Nita fails to notice.

[bakegarasu]

... Huh. Well, that's interesting. He tugs up his pant leg - "Yeah, it got a deep bite but didn't break the skin, it looks like." He shrugs at the lack of healing.

"It can wait until we're out of here. I probably won't pass out or anything, they can't cut me too badly."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"All we'll be after this is tired - unless we get kicked out before then."

Her tone is factual; not willing, or perhaps able, to look and feel that far ahead.

"We have to keep heading onward."

So many wires...

"Not sure how those blobs have teeth, though." It's all she can really see of the mongeese.

[bakegarasu]

"... They look like little furry assholes to me." Still, he takes out the sword-stick to bat the things away from them. "Let's get going. I've got you."

He can play bodyguard. He's good at that.

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Not sure why that's needed in here; they're threat enough, aren't they?"

Or did that mean they needed to be differentiated as a threat? Was there a real difference between what attacked and what 'lived' here naturally?

... No time for these thoughts; Nita turns back to the wires, placing her hands on them almost robotically. Wire after wire fades away.

heal and destroy

[blitzcheer]

"So much for a lake!"

The vines are plentiful, at least that's how Tidus sees them. Grabbing one of the nearer ones to Nita to start that pulsing of blue through its system, though he's keeping an eye out around them, not really focusing on just one job. His voice is jovial, keeping the conversation light.

"This whole thing was freaky at the start, but I don't think I'd mind getting some virtual swimming in either, if that's the best we're gonna get."

Granted, they're far from this job being done.

Re: heal and destroy

[unfavorableinstigation]

"... Why would there be water in here?"

Nita's not exactly firing on all cylinders, even as she's continuing to soothe the wires/vines away.

"Unless whoever made this dome made their tech waterproof, maybe."

[blitzcheer]

"I'm not talking 'bout sticking real water in here." That at least gets a small amused scoff out of him. "I mean- you can make a forest, you can make a lake, right? This is all just... data. But it feels real....in my head."

In his head? Whatever exactly this is meant to be, other than some weird connection between the SCA and this giant system.

[unfavorableinstigation]

"I meant more... why would whoever programmed this, want the system to like water? Why the fixation on trees, for that matter?"

She's still focused outwardly on the wires, but somewhere in the back of her head, gears are starting to turn.

[blitzcheer]

"Uh..." Alright, this joke isn't really going anywhere great, huh. The vine his hand had been on slips away, but there's still others around the tree to deal with.

"Well... it was programmed in? Wouldn't that be why? Maybe they just really liked trees, and forests. Whoever made the computer for this place?"

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Didn't get much of a chance to ask those questions."

Distantly, though, Nita hopes someone had.

"And... if it's all so harmless, if it's just because of what they liked, then why would someone go so far as to sabotage it, and have that be part of the rendering?"

Why not just have the parts Not Supposed To Be There... be exactly that? Why try to fit it into the picture already there?

Heal and Destroy

[melodiouspacifist]

"Careful." Demyx warned lightly as he used the stick in his hands to whack a mongoose suspiciously far for someone who claimed to be a pacifist.

"What're you doing?"

Re: Heal and Destroy

[unfavorableinstigation]

"Look."

Nita's voice was unexpectedly gentle; laying her hand on another wire-vine, it paled and dissolved harmlessly.

"We're supposed to fix things like this."

She either doesn't notice the mongoose-whacked, or doesn't care that it's being whacked.

"... Though preventing those things from attacking us helps, too."

She wasn't going to dissuade Demyx from his actions, here.

[melodiouspacifist]

"Uh, okay, if you think so." He wasn't very confident he could do anything for soothing the vines.

He reached out and placed his hand on one and when it worked, he looked a bit surprised.

"Oh. I mean, I'll keep an eye on our backs." He could do that much.

[unfavorableinstigation]

Nita faintly smiled.

"There we go. ... Thanks."

With that wisdom(?) imparted, she went back to her work, clambering along the - pillars? Data housing?

Whatever this was supposed to represent, anyway.

"We can switch out, if you want? ... Though I'm not sure if I'm good for fighting here."

Not if her upsetting arrival was any indication.

[melodiouspacifist]

He sighed lightly and then laughed it off. "Nah, don't worry about it. Totally got this."

At least, he thought so. He could whack things with a stick at least. He didn't seem to call upon his water, or his sitar for that matter.

It was kind of frustrating.

"Just don't tell anyone, I don't want some kind of weird reputation."

[unfavorableinstigation]

"I won't."

There was no need to, specifically; that he'd do it on his own, without asking for attention, was more than enough.

"Just because we all live on a train doesn't mean... that we tell each other everything, I suppose."

On to the next wire, and the next...

A mongoose whooshed by her face; while she couldn't see it as one, she still perceived enough of a presence to frown at it.

The mongoose froze in place.

"... Huh."