middleofsomewhere | Ongoing: All Teams

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.'

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"What?" What is golf? It's out of his mouth before he can really think about it - he's distracted by looking for what needs to be fixed.

"Wait- nevermind." He does not need to distract Otoha from the matter at hand. He backs up further and turns towards the trees, only to see a branch choked by red vines. He reaches a hand out towards them - what exactly is he supposed to do here? - when his hand glows blue and the vines wither and disappear.

So evidently that's his role in all of this: withering vines.

...huh.

"Let me know if you need a boost - oh, fuck you." He turns away from Ryo as he shakes off one of the things, tsking as he examines the underside of his arm. ... Yep, there's blood.

He'll deal with it later. Right now he has to deal with these things. He smacks the head of one trying to creep up on Ryo before knocking it away.

He winces as he hears that curse. He knows what outbursts like that mean - Otoha's hurt already-

He turns to see more of the creatures leaping at Otoha from behind. There's barely time to react- he reaches out and yells a warning-

"Look out!"

Something shifts, and the creatures freeze in midair. For a moment, so does Ryo. Had he done that, somehow?

His eyes widen and without thinking, he lifts a hand and sends a blast of fire at the frozen creatures, charring them black.

Otoha grins as he looks down at his hand. Oh, this makes it much more fun.

(And potentially much less fun for anyone around them.)

Ryo startles at that fire blast - he hadn't known Otoha could do that!

But...he can't normally stop creatures mid-leap either, and he'd been able to do that himself. This place took his magic, but maybe it had given them both something else as well.

As he turns back to the nearest tree and begins to climb it, both for a better vantage point and to reach higher-spread red vines, he can't help but smile. One of his best friends back home is a fire mage; it's hard not to feel comfortable around this new aspect of Otoha.

Otoha turns and gives Ryo a little bit of a boost, spewing some more fire at creatures to get them to stay back. It's not quite his projectiles from when he's transformed, but it's still satisfying.

One of the creatures closes in and as he holds his hand up to throw more fire, a bright flash shoots in front of the creature. He watches as it rolls to the side, looking around wildly. "... Huh. Flashbangs, too? That's also really useful."

It doesn't take Ryo long to get up the tree, especially with the boost. He winces a bit at the light, but not looking at it means he didn't get the full brunt of it. "You couldn't do that before, right?" He's fairly certain, but he needs to check.

He reaches out to the nearest vine, watching it wither and disappear under the blue glow his hand now produces. He doesn't want to get used to that, but he can't deny it's useful right about now.

“Nope.” He keeps alternating between fire and flashes and sword as the creatures draw near. “I’m not magic on my own.”

Not really. Arguably, but... well. It’s complicated and he doesn’t really understand it.

On my own is an interesting caveat, but not worth commenting on at the moment - he's too focused on withering vines to give it the extra thought it'd need. "It looks like you are now," he says instead, climbing higher into the tree and reaching for the next vine.

He'll explain later. "Seems like it. I'm not exactly complaining, except that I don't have an actual sword." This stick shit is... insulting.

There aren't too many vines in this tree, and Ryo makes short work of it. He sizes up the next tree - he could climb down and back up, but it's not too far away...

He steadies himself on the branch, leaps, and manages to grab a branch on the next tree. Good. Okay. He edges further in and gets himself stable in the tree before looking down at Otoha. "Can you handle two weapons at once?"

Otoha follows along with Ryo, shifting to smack some of the mongeese away. "Probably." He hasn't really tried all that much, but it can't be too difficult if he's just using sticks.

He looks down at the fight below him, considers for a moment, and holds out his hand. If he just-

Evidently willpower is all it takes for this replacement magic to work, and the Beasts around Otoha freeze in place. He'll take it.

"Here - catch." He waits until Otoha is looking up at him, then drops his stick for him to catch. He won't be able to make much use of it up here anyway."

He looks up and catches the stick easily, watching it shimmer and turn into a mirror of the sword he has in his other hand. He twirls them and then darts to the frozen beasts, smacking them into the ground so that when they unfreeze they'll have enough force to be killed.

"I've got you. Let me know if you need to move again."

"Okay." He moves further up the tree, reaching for the clusters of vines to wither them. For an improvised strategy, it s a good one - hopefully they can make some progress with this.

Ongoing: All Teams

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject