What their Eyes See: Start

[voidtreckermods]

"Good Morning Voidtreckers, today is day five of the month of Llama." The voice echoes through the train as passengers wake up in their beds. Not long afterwards their SCA’s glow with the colour of the void and a holographic image will appear.

Preperation and Arrival

As usual they have a couple of hours before arrival to ready themselves for the mission ahead. As promised the dressing carriage is open for them to find suitable clothing. Trench coats, a lot of leather, a lot of black with neon colours thrown in here and there. There is a lot of choice in a variety of sizes so everyone is bound to find something to fit. Hopefully something they like, though some passengers may be more comfortable with the fashion choices than others.

A couple of hours after the announcement of the mission the voice speaks again. "Shortly arriving in system #93426194992. Arriving in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one." The train shakes as it leaves the void, colours fading to be replaced to a grey thick smog outside the windows.

The train bumps slightly as it hits rails, snaking its way towards the city before entering a tunnel. A few moments and they come to a stop, the doors open onto a platform. Stepping out into the station the first thing to hit them is noise, it sounds like there are ten different advertisements blaring, someone or something is playing loud music. There's a lot of flashing signs, screens with advertisements, bright lights that change colour for no real apparant reason. Heavy on the senses as they make their way to the gates.

They will find that their SCAs allow them through the barriers and into the wider train station, which is somehow even louder. It is busy as well, people hurrying from place to place. There are signs declaring this to be Tier Three, Home of Manufacturing. as well as signs pointing the way to lifts, to take them to other tiers.

Tier One

Mapping

For those travelling up to tier one the first thing they will notice when they leave the lift is, it is a lot quieter up here. Peaceful even, there are people around, all looking official and busy. None will pay the Voidtreckers any mind unless they are acting particularly suspicious.

The air feels better here, probably because the whole tier is encased with a dome that they will be able to see as they enter, coming from a lift near the edge of the tier. The buildings are all harsh dark metal, almost uniform in design. The streets are clean and there has been an attempt at greenery with some shrubs and simple plants.

The buildings all need to be accessed using their SCA's. Their SCA maps show them where the buildings are but give no information about them, nor do they have maps of inside. Once the voidtreckers enter they will find that their maps fill in as they explore.

There are plenty of different buildings, offices, labs and meeting rooms. There are also a lot of security staff and anyone acting too suspiciously will be approached and questioned. Hopefully they have a plan, blend in or sneak around.

Flickers

Sometimes though that is a little harder, they might enter a room to find themselves on their old street, in a world they have visited before on the train or somewhere else that is decidedly not here. These illusions get more common as time goes on and people will begin seeing the illusions of others or find the two scenes merging together.

Voidtreckers who are immune to illusions will not see these strange visions and those who are particularly strong willed will be able to fight them off. Once people know they are illusions they can focus through them to see reality even if it is overlaid with what their minds want to see. It will take a lot of concentration to stay focused and get an accurate map.

Tier Two

A Mystery

The lift here brings them out into a glass covered corridor. Outside the glass the air is thick with smog but the filtration systems means that the air seems fine inside, especially with their SCA's helping out. Outside the tunnels they will be able to see the lights of hovercars zipping around and the silhouettes of buildings. Office blocks and large houses make up this sector. Large billboards blare out advertisements at all hours, neon lights shining through the smog.

The atmosphere of the sector is one of fear, people hurry about their business, keeping an wary eye on their surroundings. The newcomers won't get too much scrutiny but people are likely to be very wary if approached or questioned.

But they will talk once they guage them to not be a threat. Murders. Six people dead, from inside their own houses. Locked doors, security systems, all for nothing. Is it a serial killer? But the reports suggested an animal attack? From what animals?

Getting access to the houses will take some negotiating or breaking and entering. The bodies themselves have been cleared by law enforcement, caution tape still up to keep out any nosy public.

The rooms the bodies were found in were all rooms that used holograms as decoration and the voidtreckers will realise when they enter them that these holograms seem a lot more realistic than some of the others they might have seen in their stay in the sector so far.

Creatures

As they talk to people, or overhear gossip they will hear more about animal attacks. Someone swears they saw a lion prowling the streets. A hovercar crashed and the driver swore they had been attacked by an eagle. Neither of those creatures live in the city. Neither of those creatures exist on this world anymore.

But the Voidtreckers will quickly learn there is something to these rumours, especially as dark falls, the feeling they are being hunted. A paw tread, a tail disappearing around a corner. As days go on they may get attacked by a bear, a tiger or perhaps a creature from their own world, one that should not exist here at all...

Tier Three

A Crisis

Leaving the station brings them into crowded streets, air thick with smog, Up above them is the floor of the plate above, set with bright lights to offset the lack of natural light getting through. Billboards and screens blare advertisements, traders yell their wares. Life is fast and swirls around them as they step out into the streets.

Here also there is an air of worry. The talk is all of Spectura, kids unconcious after playing video games, hospital overflowing. Spectura's fault, there are calls for accountability, claims of sabotage. No person gives the same story and it becomes clear that most people don't know what has happened but almost everyone knows someone who has been affected. Fear, blame, tensions are high.

But life must go on, the factories never stop, people can't not work and with so many people unconscious people have to pick up the slack. The whole sector feels at breaking point.

If they try and buy Spectura systems they will not be stopped though they will need to sign a waiver, to take on all responsibility for what might happen to them if they go into the system.

Spectura


There are a whole range of games to look through, though the two most popular ones where the majority of players can be found are an open-world farming MMO called AgriTopia VI Ultimate, with bright landscapes and calming diegetic music, and Aegis Force, a tournament team shooter with short battle scenarios and smaller maps.

Those entering the system will fall unconscious in the real world and as they enter the problem will be pretty obvious straight away. Red vines, covering everything, tangling trees, creeping up buildings, coming straight for them to attack.

Anyone who gets overwhelmed by them will be stuck, unable to move or progress. It is possible to fight them off and for those voidtreckers who have faced the vines before they will find their soothing powers will work here as well.

People are tangled throughout many different games and once they are freed will need some help to find the next save point or exit. They need to help plant the final hundred potatoes, or team up to take down the level boss or solve the next puzzle, keep the vines away and free as many people as they can.

Tier Four

A Way In

As they leave the lifts they will find this tier is dark, dim lighting barely penetrating the smog. Homes are makeshift and all on top of each other. The streets are crowded, loud and people don't stop to chat. It is incredibly claustrophobic, with large support columns, exposed wires and large pipes running alongside and over the 'roads'.

Here there are plenty of stores selling anything and everything, certainly not above board. Credits are sometimes accepted but more often store keepers will prefer to trade in barters, food is popular. Anything that isn't nutri slime or the even worse unbranded basic version.

Bars and other seedy establishments are open all hours, neon signs beckoning. It is here that they will find the entry points to the fighting rings.

People don't talk about it openly but you look big enough, mean enough or dramatic enough then it will be slipped into conversation. Have you heard? Winners get a dream come true.

The fights are a mix of one on one and group fights. All terms are negotiated before hand with an overseer and fights are to the yield. The crowd wants a show and so dramatics are encouraged.

What was that?

The rumours about people going berserk are spoken in whispers. No one really knows what has gone on. A few fights have gotten out of control, a couple of fighters broke down after fights, at least one has quit for good. Most spoken about is The Crimson Fist. The best fighter in the ring who two days prior just left. Left the city with no protective gear, no word to anyone. No one knows what happened to them.

As the voidtreckers get further into their fights they will begin to realise something strange is going on. That opponent you are facing? They now look like your worst enemy, or perhaps your best friend, your lover. Sometimes you're no longer in the city but in a place of fond memories or your worst nightmares. Fights can very quickly go south when your opponent believes you their greatest foe.

Advancing the ranks now seems like it might be more difficult than first it appeared.

Comments

[marvelous_murderbot]

"Be that as it may," she replied, "I have seen shapeshifting sentients before - and the process lacks your grace. And I enjoy learning new things."

But she nods, at the latter.

"Yes, once I was given no choice, my 'style' was that of another - but I have since gained my autonomy, my freedom, as it were. I am learning about colors that suit, or complement."

"What do you intend to do? That is important. Then we can choose colours."

[oceantier]

Do?

Lapis isn't sure that she can be honest here -- that what she really wants to do as soon as she can get off this train is take flight, leave both train and city behind and hope home can be seen somewhere beyond the atmosphere. The people of the train seem absorbed in the mission -- some of them even excited -- as though they're accustomed to saving others and have accepted it as their duty.

She doesn't feel the same. But that's not something to be open about.

Perhaps it could even be dangerous to admit, and they would prevent her from trying.

So she finds herself shaking her head slightly. "I thought . . . maybe the Red team's mission. It's like where I was before this. I blended in with the humans as a dancer -- as what I just showed you. I don't . . . know if there's any room for that here."

She's not sure whether or not she would actually follow through with it, but. It at least sounds like she's thought about something. She did read the mission goals to understand what kind of world she was entering.

She's a little curious about the gained autonomy and freedom that the woman mentions, but for the moment holds off. It doesn't feel quite right to ask yet.

[marvelous_murderbot]

She smiles. "I changed my mission from Purple this time, too. I can do more good by not fighting, I hope."

She pauses, moving to a rack of clothing, turning her head. "You could act as a dancer, certainly. Perhaps a street busker? Art, while hiding in plain sight?"

She picked a few dresses at random, in whites, reds, one even in orange, as well as some quieter ones in beige and grey.

"I believe my friend Soldat would find these colors appropriate. Once you chose a color you prefer - I think your preference will be crucial - we can move to style."

[oceantier]

The word "busker" isn't familiar, but "street" helps give it some context. Her mind searches back for what she'd read. "I think . . . I want something closer."

Closer to the action yields being able to see more, which is one reason she'd chosen the position she had in Vista City directly within the labels, despite the danger -- aside from feeling like dancing might be the only skill she had to capitalize upon in a human world and the possibility of being close to Steven. It's more dangerous, but as long as there's water around . . .

She's felt for it a little already -- reflex. She's not going to be without it again.

Her fingers reach to brush over the assortment of dresses that Guri has chosen, tips skimming the variety of materials. Colors . . . The woman had said that her preference would be crucial, but. "How . . . am I supposed to choose?"

The question isn't a matter of being drawn to multiple colors. It's a question as bare as it seems on its face: She's never had to choose. Blue is the color of her Diamond. Blue is what she wears.

[marvelous_murderbot]

She takes a long moment to consider that, fairly obviously.

"For me," she said, "it was an instinct. I always wore blue and gold, because that is what I was given. It was a livery, chosen for me. When I had choice, I just...found purple intriguing. I still do. I cannot tell you why. Which I think is a good thing."

For her, it is. The idea of instinct is something mere robots do not have. She was meant to be more. And wanted to be.

"Perhaps for you it will be how the light strikes it, or that it reminds you of something meaningful. From that, a preference grows."

[oceantier]

How the light strikes it . . . or reminding her of something meaningful.

Lapis looks back to the clothes, trying to take them in anew, a knot between her brows. She tries to look only at the colors, fingers still brushing over the fabrics. What would she choose, if she had a choice? What appeals to her personal aesthetic?

Her fingers land on a pale gray-green -- the color of a restless ocean. Then a soft dove gray. Then a brighter blue, like sunlight off sea water.

And a deep, deep red -- a burgundy almost black. Her eyes flick upward towards Guri with a question . . . almost a request for approval.

"I don't know if they're my favorites, but. I think I like these?"

The ocean choices are more obvious; they're colors that remind her of the water. They're quiet, and they soothe. The burgundy, by contrast . . . there's a depth to it that pleases her.

[marvelous_murderbot]

She just smiles when she looks over, nodding at her to continue.

"Then you've taken your first step," she said. "Now, let us build upon that - now, let us find more garments in these colors, and explore your options."