modblob: (Default)
Mods ([personal profile] modblob) wrote in [community profile] redshiftlogs2020-11-01 09:02 pm

november 2020. welcome to the void.

Who: Everyone in Anchor.
What: Monthly Mingle
When: The Month of November 2020
Where: Around and outside the city.
Warnings: Please add any warnings in the subject lines.

Redshift: Welcome to the v͖͕̺̲̘̱̜͎o̴̦̣̠̦̘̹͞i̯̖d̛̪̬͈̱̦̝͍̕.

Click here to read what characters will experience when arriving in Anchor.


[Announcement: Hello! One of the writing/NPC mods here. I pilot Creepy Joe and in the last nine months my life imploded, and then did it again, and then again, and you get the idea (not even bc of COVID! Lucky me.). But things have finally stabilized and I have the brainspace to actually mod again, so Joe will be around reliably and will even start responding to character posts. There are a couple of people I owe interactions to, and I’ll be reaching out to them over the next couple of days via Joe’s account so we can either set up threads or talk through what happened. If you want him to hit up your post or toplevel, please let me know under the “mod questions” section at the top of the comments page. It will be on a first-come, first-served basis, as I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew when I’m only just stepping back onto the mod team. All this to say, I’m really glad to be back, and I’m really glad I get to toss my creepy nutjob at all of you again!]


a. colony 2.

It takes a while, but by a combination of destruction, manipulation, and reasonable discussion, you all are able to smash your way through the tunnel and...up to another bulkhead door. It's cracked open at the bottom, enough for smaller people to squish through. Definitely enough for some of the remaining golems to get their limbs under and lift.

Once the combination of golem and Anchorite efforts have forced the doors open, the Anchorites are faced with...another hall. This one slopes upward and is lit by intermittently sparking lamps between spans of darkness. The sparks cracking overhead are the only sound.

At the end of the hall is another door, this one only half-shut, with plenty of room to get through. It's scarred with claw marks, burns, and ripped-up metal, inside and out. It's impossible to tell if someone was trying to get in or escape. Maybe both.

The space beyond is vast. It's clearly a set-up not entirely unlike Anchor, though there's no dome overhead, just a solid metal shield. The bleak roof is lit by powerful flood lights that are certainly not lacking in the energy to run smoothly and consistently. The rest of the space, however, has spotty, emergency lights here, jury-rigged illumination there. Crystals under lingering magical spells. Electric lanterns that are starting to fade. By this thin light, it's possible to see the stretches of broken plexiglass that served to keep each level separated from the open air between them. No luxury suites here. The med bay is utilitarian and barely stocked, but not at all dusty. The space that serves as a park in Anchor is a mass of dead or half-dead vegetation, most of it weeds arranged in rows that imply some kind of long-abandoned farming.

Level by level, this place is like Anchor's evil twin. The halls are narrower, the entertainment areas almost non-existant. It looks much more like a military installation than a place meant for people to live and thrive. There are hydroponic gardens that still seem to be in use. A farming area with a few gun-shy cow-like creatures that bolt at a stranger's approach.

This place might be desolate, but it isn't empty.


b. what remains.

For all the signs of intelligent humanoid life, the monsters are more common. Creatures prowl the halls, but not all of them are aggressive. Some are as nervous as the cow-creatures on the farming level. But those that are aggressive attack at once, like they expect to be killed if they don't strike first. And it looks like someone has tried. The monsters have missing limbs, missing eyes, wounds that have scarred over or that ooze with pus or have just begun to scab.

As the creatures get more curious about these strangers in their territory, more of them start to emerge, and it's clear something isn't right here. The ones that aren't badly mauled are patchwork combinations of limbs and heads and tails that don't all belong together. One of them, with a cow-creature's head stitched on next to the head of a cat-like thing that's all teeth, keeps trying to either eat or escape itself. It isn't the only one in this miserable state - there are an incredible amount of these stitched-together creatures in almost any combination you can think of. Even the creatures that people recognize from home will be warped, like someone poured a dozen puzzles into one big box and started cutting pieces to fit.

What was that shadow? Another hapless monster?

Maybe. Maybe not.


c. trick & treat.

It's not all monsters and thankless, dim-lit halls, though. Near the top, in much the same place where a person would find the weapons room and garage in Anchor, there's a weapons room and garage in this colony to match. Only the weapons room is open, and it's jam-packed with goodies from a dozen different worlds and then some.

Of course, it's not as simple as walking in. The entire area is boobytrapped, the floors ripped up here and there to accommodate pits full of stakes covered haphazardly with twigs and grass and monster bones, logs that come swinging out of nowhere when you step wrong, falling boulders that could crush you if you time your jump over that manufactured cavern poorly... Basically it's like someone set Indiana Jones in a Mario 64 level only more violent. Much more violent.

But hey, there's a benefit to making it through the traps first - and you have to get through the traps in order to get to the armory. The first two through the doors will find lightweight, shimmering cloaks resting on a pedestal in the center of the armory. It's impossible to tell what they're made from. They pool over hands like water, barely feeling like anything - and yet somehow, you can't see your hands through the cloth. In fact, put a cloak on and you'll disappear entirely. Undetectable by the eye - organic or robotic - and invisible to magic, area scans, bio detectors, heat detectors - you get the idea. Moreover, you'll be invisible on surveillance footage too. Somehow these cloaks even work on electronics. Besides the cloaks, there are a variety of very nice weapons in a range of styles - a few automatic projectile and laser guns, a couple of easy-to-use staffs that even those not magically inclined can use to deal magical damage with a thought, and a wide variety of angry-looking pointy sharp hand-to-hand weapons.

The garage might be an even better surprise for the curious, and the, you know, trap-averse. Not only are the vehicles inside more heavy duty than the ones at Anchor, but their power levels are clearly higher and they're built for long-term exploration. Not only that, but there are small personal shield generators, like Anchor's dome on a micro scale. When turned on, they provide just enough room for a small camp.

A little something for your monstrous troubles.


mod notes.

The garage is open and relatively easy to get to once you get past the creatures that populate the area, the armory is supposed to be a challenge. Players should not post top-levels that start with having already beaten the traps around the armory.

While there are enough weapons in the armory that every person currently in Anchor could have one, there are only two invisibility cloaks. The first two characters to thread out a trip through the traps will receive them. These threads must be a minimum of 10 comments (5 from each character) to qualify. If characters aiming for the cloaks would not be doing so in the same group and would be going in with other characters whose players aren't interested in the cloaks, please contact the mods by PM and we'll work something out!


saunteredvaguelydownwards: (027)

Anthony J. Crowley | OTA

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2020-11-08 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
i. colony 2
[The demon doesn't go very close to that cracked-open door at all. Bad things come out of things like that, and his always-present low-key paranoia doesn't trust it one bit. He sees other curious residents poking around, some of them going inside, and he chews his lip as he absolutely does not worry about what might happen to them on the other side.]

This is stupid. [He says, and he pulls a cigarette out of the packet in his coat, toying with it without lighting it.] Would they jump off a cliff if someone told them there might be gold down there?

ii. what remains | network (open to action)
Anyone else leaning more into the idea that there's some kind of really messed up experiment going on here?
Or was.
Because I feel like the evidence is starting to mount.


[Anyone coming across Crowley while he types this will find him somewhere in the park in the 'other Anchor', having given in to his curiosity. Somehow, he's standing by a fresh corpse of one of the more grotesque beasts. It looks like it's been crushed to death by something huge...

Perhaps a very large snake.
]
arcadedragon: (Don't talk to me)

Network | @Sparrow

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-11-13 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
It's an abomination. Whoever did such things should face consequences, though I fear they're long dead.

Do you think we can help them?
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (009)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2020-11-22 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Ordinarily, I could have given you a maybe on that one. What I could normally do has been on the blink since before I got here.
arcadedragon: (Headtilt)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-12-03 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
We have to try, they don't deserve to suffer.
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (014)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2020-12-06 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ugh... Crowley hates dilemmas like this.

He's a terrible demon. Enjoying the suffering of others doesn't usually fall under his list of things to do.
]

Fine, fine. So what would you do?
arcadedragon: (Unmasked)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-12-07 06:24 am (UTC)(link)
If we can get them to the medical center in our dome maybe it can help? It seems to be mostly automated someone just needs to push buttons.

Though I don't know if it can ... put them back together.
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (013)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2020-12-13 06:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[He thinks about it.

Whatever has happened to those things out there, it's far beyond his ability to fix. Even without the effects this place has on what he can usually do.
]

Putting them down might be the best thing.

[The kindest thing.]
arcadedragon: (Eye)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2020-12-17 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
Oh.

I suppose...

That is unfortunate.
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (027)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2021-01-11 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Did you have a better idea? One that isn't just wishful thinking?
arcadedragon: (Dodge)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2021-01-15 08:13 pm (UTC)(link)
No, I was hoping someone else might though. I am not as well versed in such things, and I always believe in the best.
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (Default)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2021-01-20 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not the biggest fan of drawing out suffering for any longer than it has to go on. Though don't tell Aziraphale I said that.

[Please, Crowley. He knows.]
arcadedragon: (Ting)

[personal profile] arcadedragon 2021-02-23 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure who that is. But I will not tell them. Are they adverse to killing in any situation?
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (073)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2021-02-27 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[Well........]

No. I just prefer him not to know I'm doing nice things all the time.

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uptogood: (→107)

i

[personal profile] uptogood 2020-11-18 07:03 pm (UTC)(link)
If they did, would you let them fall?

[ No matter how suspicious Crowley might be of everything, to an extent that is frankly worrying, there is no doubt in Aziraphale's mind that he will follow the others. He's always cared about humans, and somehow more willing to show it out of the two of them. ]
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (027)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2020-11-22 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
I-

[There's a whole lot to be suspicious of, in fairness to Crowley. Too much here that could and would try to kill him by accident or misadventure. It's enough to make anyone edgy, and definitely when that someone isn't really close and cosy with the idea of being harmed.

But Aziraphale's question pulls him up and he purses his lips, folding his arms.
]

Maybe. [Probably not.] It's not the falling that does the damage.
uptogood: (→45)

[personal profile] uptogood 2020-11-25 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
So you would catch them.

[ Technicalities, Crowley. You know exactly what he means. ]
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (Default)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2020-11-29 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I didn't say that.

[He might just make sure they didn't die when they hit the bottom. Much like he can give a group of people real guns but somehow ensure that nobody is mortally injured. It's all about balance.]

You're not going in there, are you?
uptogood: (→94)

[personal profile] uptogood 2020-12-06 08:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I can help them.
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (058)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2020-12-09 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[Crowley blinks - a rare enough gesture in itself - and tips his head to look past Aziraphale and towards the open door.]

What would you do?
uptogood: (→50)

[personal profile] uptogood 2020-12-14 07:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Well-- Heal them if they get hurt, mostly. But I was the guardian of the Eastern Gate, you know.

[ He can fight, even if he doesn't like it. ]

There is nothing to stop us from interfering all we like.
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (020)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2021-01-11 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I remember, I was there.

[He replies with a small and undeniably fond smile, his memory in no way battered by age.]

But... mm, you're right. I suppose we can.

[And why is he not surprised that Azirpahale would be the first to say it?]
uptogood: (→107)

[personal profile] uptogood 2021-01-14 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Good. I'm glad we agree.

[ Off they go then! ]
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (061)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2021-01-20 06:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[Crowley sets off as if something heavy is holding him back. More than a little wariness about the eyes and a tension up in his shoulders. But still, he follows, and he stays relatively near to the angel as they make their way up into the newly opened area.

As they step through the doors into the darkness on the other side, his pupils widen and he makes a face before taking off his sunglasses, shoving them into his pocket.
]

You alright?

[Demons can see in the dark. Angels, last he checked, cannot.]
uptogood: (→54)

[personal profile] uptogood 2021-02-01 01:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It is awfully dark, and he falters too, for a moment, squinting into it. There's still some light coming through behind them, though, and he hardly needs to see to know Crowley's beside him.

But it only seems to get darker further in, for now, so he reaches out to take Crowley's hand. ]


I'm fine. I have you.
saunteredvaguelydownwards: (039)

[personal profile] saunteredvaguelydownwards 2021-02-07 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[Crowley blinks once, then offers his hand out for the angel to take at the same time as Aziraphale. For a moment his fingers fumble, then he grips on and holds the other's hand firmly in his. He might not have a weapon here, but bless it, if he has to fight something he'll fight it regardless.]

Alright, then. Let's see what we've got in here.

[Wariness is buzzing lightly through his frame, but he doesn't let it show on his face.]

Looks worse in here than the other side. More run down.

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