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

[bakegarasu]

... It's basically the only teaching method anyone's used for him, to be fair.

Still, he watched as the ice spikes flew out and hit their targets, before... ah. Otoha rushed forward to smack one in the skull, kick another, and grab a third to fling off into the distance.

"Hey, it worked."

[10billionpercent]

"It did. Sorry." Senku huffed a little bit, leaning on his stick.

"I'm not really used to this. I don't typically engage in this sort of thing."

Not on the front lines so to speak, at any rate.

[bakegarasu]

"It's fine. I'd be even more out of place if I were on the back lines trying to figure all of this out." They all have their strengths.

Hm. "Any ideas what's causing this stuff, anyway?"

[10billionpercent]

"Takes getting used to, to be sure." Senku agreed and straightened himself out.

"I...have no idea so far." He admitted. "Or how it is I have magic which is infinitely interesting, I also suspect I won't get to keep it. That would be way too easy."

[bakegarasu]

"If it'd be in exchange for our usual stuff then no thanks. The fire's useful, but I need my sword back. And I'm pretty sure the amulet I have in my pocket isn't the real one, which is also an issue."

[10billionpercent]

"I guess. I don't particularly want to stay in this world whatever it is, digital or otherwise, but magic powers would be pretty interesting, if nothing else because I'd have something new to study."

Senku would always be an academic first. "From what I can gather, we're just asleep on the outside."

[bakegarasu]

"Nerd." But he said it with a bit of a grin, no malice intended. "So does that mean the 'magic' is just some kind of computer coding?"

Was there some way to change it? He had no idea. That wasn't something he'd even begin to know where to start with.

[10billionpercent]

"Well, if we assume this is a video game of some kind." Senku smiled a little bit. "Then yes, it would likely be code, but so would our consciousness, so that's perplexing, and outside my realm of knowledge. It was more something relegated to science fiction." He didn't seem offended, he was a nerd.

[bakegarasu]

"I didn't think yokai existed until a week before showing up on the platform, so I have no idea what's fiction anymore and what isn't."

[10billionpercent]

"I suppose that's fair. There are no yokai in my world, that's relegated to fiction for me at least." Senku sighed. "Although with this whole mutliple world situation, I can no longer discount anything."

[bakegarasu]

"Pretty much. ... Ugh." He just stabs his stick into the back of an approaching mongoose. "These things aren't even making it any fun."

[10billionpercent]

Senku held out his hand and froze one in its tracks and then whacked it with his stick. He wasn't a stamina guy, but on a single blow he was stong enough to deal with the mongoose that way.

The real question was how long he could keep it up. "It's fascinating but also frustrating." He acknowledged.

[bakegarasu]

"It's more just repetitive." Hm. "though if you want help on learning how to swing a sword or something, I can work with you when we get back."

[10billionpercent]

"I'm not really well suited." Senku said as he whacked another one. "Give it a few minutes and you'll understand. I have no stamina to speak of."

He paused and then added. "I can't fix that. I don't know why, I just can't."

[bakegarasu]

"... What have you tried to fix that?" He wasn't sure if he was able to help with that, but he could try.

[10billionpercent]

"I carry or drag weight, I walk constantly, including long trips like between our bases which is about 80 kilometres." Senku responded, leaning a little heavier on his stick.

"I'm real stubborn about it, I don't let people do things for me I can do myself, but that said I can't keep up with everyone else either." He was at least very self-aware in this area.

"I don't know what the problem is, but it's always been like this. It makes me entirely unsuitable to be on the combat team, aside from directing them."

[bakegarasu]

"... Huh. Yeah, that should be building your stamina. You're not like... you don't have health problems, do you?" Other than general low stamina, he meant.

[10billionpercent]

"No, nothing related to anything like that." Senku shook his head. "If I did, as long as they weren't congenital, they would've been cured by the petrification. Which tells me whatever is causing this is congenital." He shrugged helplessly. "Could be anything really."

[bakegarasu]

"By the what?" That part hadn't been explained to him yet.

[10billionpercent]

"Ah sorry, I've lost track of who knows about my world and who doesn't." Mostly because it wasn't really important and he could explain as needed, as often as necessary.

"All of the humans on the planet were petrified 3700 years ago." Senku explained. "Almost four years ago, I broke out of the petrification and have been working since to restore civilization. Everything has broken down and disappeared."

Another push, and he knocked ice spikes into a pair of mongeese.

[bakegarasu]

"... That's..." Okay. You know what, sure. He fries another few of the creatures. "If everyone was petrified, how are you restoring civilization? You kind of need people for that."

[10billionpercent]

"Of course I do. A single guy or even two can't get very far." Senku snorted and pushed more ice pieces into two more mongeese. If this was a game of some kind, was he going to run out of MP eventually?

"I found a settlement of descendants of the astronauts, but that was after I found the secret to breaking people free of the petrification. Took a year of dedicated experiments to get the right ratio of nital to free people." He huffed lightly, feeling it a bit.

"We have a population of about a hundred and fifty."

[bakegarasu]

He flipped one of the mongeese in the air with his stick, batting it like a tennis ball. "I have no idea what nital is, but that still seems pretty small. Guess you gotta start somewhere, though." That's like, what, 75 couples? Not a lot.

Eh. Maybe it is. He's not a scientist in any capacity. "That... uh. Sucks. To put it mildly."

[10billionpercent]

"The plan is to wake everyone up eventually, all seven billion humans." Senku explained, and turned his attention to the vine, hoping he could be covered for a moment. He rested his hand on it and cast another, unknown spell that seemed to soothe and remove it.

"We're constrained by a few things, but eventually technology will evolve to the point we can grow our population much faster." He shrugged.

"Objectively, a lot of it does suck, but we're working on it."

[bakegarasu]

He moved to put his body in between Senku and any incoming creatures. "I'll take your word for it. Not my sort of area... science class in school was boring as hell."

To be fair, he slept through most of it.