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

[subcircuits]

Devero had meant that entirely literally, but he reorients without missing a beat. "You gonna be able to handle having them on the ground, then?"

He steps around to stand in front of him, trying to catch his eye. "What do you need right now?" he asks, his voice gentling. "Talk to me."

[controlsthedie]

He needs his powers. No. He needs to be back home where his presence allows the world to be as it should. He needs to be Death Incarnate not this nothingness.

"... Tell me what to do."

[subcircuits]

Well that wasn't the response he was expecting. He actually feels a momentary upwelling of alarm, because damn it, he's not the one who gives orders! He follows them! He serves.

...Unless he's got neoteks under his wing. Okay. Okay, just pretend this guy's a neo. This guy's a neo and he's so overwhelmed by his new hardware that he's disconnecting from the wetware. Devero can roll with that.

"Eyes on me," he says. "You're not going to find any answers in the ceiling." He has a very distinct Sergeant Voice, and he's using it now. "I want your name and a list of one thing you can see, hear, feel, and smell. Got it?"

[controlsthedie]

Perhaps it's some instinct of Thanatos's from being Death Incarnate. His assignments are ultimately from the Fates. If he can't trust himself because he's lost himself, then letting someone on the mission tell him what to do is better than just standing there. Something to focus on in the face of all this nothing he feels.

He looks at Devero. "My name is Thanatos. I see you. I hear battle. I feel..." He swallows, trying to suppress a tremble. "I feel empty. I smell... plants?"

[subcircuits]

"Thanatos," Devero repeats. "All right. I'm Devero."

That answer for feels is not quite what Devero was looking for, but he sort of rolls past it for right now. He's got Thanatos at least focused on him and where they are, which was the point of the exercise. They can revisit this 'empty' thing later.

"You remember why we're in here? We've got a job to do. We got two aims-- heal, and destroy. Which one you wanna tackle with me?"

[controlsthedie]

"I can't heal. I'm Death." Then he shakes his head. "I was Death. Not anymore."

He seems to notice the stick in his hand for the first time. This isn't going to do much to destroy anything. How is he supposed to do any type of job here?

[subcircuits]

"Hey. Eyes back on me." There's that sarge voice again. "I don't think this is permanent. Whatever's going on with us in here, you'll go right back to being, uh, Death when we're done and we leave."

...He hopes. He is not nearly as confident as his firm assurance indicates, but there's also no way in hell he's going to be anything but steady and sure right now.

"I don't have any kind of powers at all back out there," he continues, "but in here I can--" He twists away and fires off a jet of water from the palm of his hand. "And I've been able to magic away some of these vines messing with the trees, and heal. So why don't we go see if maybe you've got the same new abilities?"

He glances down at the stick that Thanatos is holding, and then back up. "Or we can just go find something to hit. You have a preference?"

[controlsthedie]

"... You... us?" Thanatos's gaze snaps back to Devero, a little spark of something in his haunted golden eyes. "This place has messed with you?"

There's a clear unsaid question attached to it. It's not just him that this has happened to?

He only has Devero's words to trust. The jet of water could be something new or something Devero already had. Thanatos doesn't care about having new powers. He wants his own.

[subcircuits]

"Yes," he says intently. "And not just me. Almost everyone I've run into is having issues of some kind." Whether it's an ability they can't access or one they've suddenly developed-- or both!-- this place is messing with all of them.

[controlsthedie]

If it had just been Thanatos, he would be convinced that the Fates had written this in as some punishment for his actions back home. However, if there many of them, then... then...

Thanatos looks at his hands as if he can see his powers trapped under his skin.

"We need to free the trees. Right?" He changes his gaze to the sickly trees choked by vines and tries to sound more put together than he is.

[subcircuits]

"Right," Devero says. And with a burst of inspiration-- "And the sooner we get this place set to rights, the sooner we can get back out again." He follows Thanatos' gaze, and nods his head in the direction. "Shall we go see if you picked up the same power I did?"

[controlsthedie]

Getting out sooner is appealing.

"I could try." Thanatos starts to walk to the tree. "What did you do?"

[subcircuits]

Devero accompanies him to the nearest of the infected trees. "I didn't actually do anything," he admits. "I just--" He lifts his hand to one of the vines, gentle blue light welling up under his palm as he sets it on the inimical presence.

After a moment, the blue light does its thing, suffusing the substance of the vine and then flashing away and up along its length. The whole thing gives a brighter pulse, and then fades away into nothingness.

"That's it. That easy."

[controlsthedie]

Thanatos presses his palm against the nearest vine, not sure if he should be seeking something in particular while doing so. At first, nothing happens. Then his hand begins to glow blue. The vine vanishes Hermes quick.

He draws his hand away and stares at it. The blue glow fades. "How..."

[subcircuits]

"No idea," Devero tells him cheerfully. "Something to do with these bodies and how our minds have been transported here, I'm sure, but I couldn't begin to tell you how it all works. I'd have to get down into the tech first."

[controlsthedie]

There's nothing more to it, then. At least, nothing that they could explain with what they have. So, Thanatos continues to press his hand on vine after vine, hoping that when this is all "done," he'll return to how he should be.

[subcircuits]

Devero stays with him for a few moments, doing his own share of the work of soothing the infection. Once he's satisfied that Thanatos isn't going to freeze back up, he leaves him to it, slipping quietly away to go rejoin his Sanzo elsewhere in the forest.