MARCH PLOTTING POST

[monstertruckers]

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Hello Drifters, and welcome to the March Plotting Post!


March marks a busy month for the game: we’ll be holding our main game event around the 5th or the 7th (depending on schedules!) an ATP/EMP timed for the 8th to go up alongside the EMP comm post, and our second Test Drive Meme on the 15th!

As a reminder, players may tag either the game event OR TDM posts as they wish! If you post a top level in the TDM, please mark in the subject line that you are Currently In-Game. Both for the ease of book keeping, and to help new players figure out who is who! With this said, onto the major stops this month:

With the forest behind them the Convoy makes its way onto the grasslands. Powerlines dot the landscape, decorated with paper scraps. These papers contain messages from home, and can help stabilize Drifters from the effects of last month’s Moon Warp.

While on the move Drifters will encounter the ruins of old homes and stores, with plenty of Husks scattered around these dwellings. While the ruins can provide supplies and shelters, getting too close to the Husks can prompt either monster spawns from the Husks, or behavior changes in Drifters. (Your character may feel restless, on edge, and/or showing a psychological monster trait.) The Convoy has a fix for this in the form of a song played from speakers, but this only works when the Convoy is close at hand.

In addition there will be encounters with a new monster called bull gorgons, which can be harvested for meat but not without a fight! At the end of the month, the terrain will also get more marshy, and will be the perfect spot for a zolom attack. That’s right, the Final Fantasy 7 snake kaiju is going to make an appearance, and they hunt in a pack!

We’re also pleased to announce this is our first event monster month. And this month will be centered around the Harpy and Naga species. A monster transforming storm is going to rage through the grasslands. It temporarily (ie, for one month) imparts traits from one of these monsters if any Drifter stumbles into the storm. This will occur in both the main comms, and the TDM, so feel free to play either way!

As a last house keeping note, we are currently short on mod staff, so feel free to take a look at the Mod Contact page if that is something that sounds interesting!

And that is our route planned for the month! We hope you enjoy this event, and feel free to plan in the comments below!

NAVIGATION

Comments

[thetatters]

Consider: Faith finds some of these eldritch notes the resident nerds seem to be collecting, John scrambles to destroy them even if that means going thru her stuff, he gets caught, they scrap in the rain and it just becomes a whole mess.

[definitionofcrazy]

Hell yeah.

[justiceobjects]

That would be fantastic! And coming from a doctor the 'you can't live on porridge and chips' might even stick a little better than it would otherwise tbh

[taediosum]

truly.

and that sounds perfect tbh, peak nerd bonding.

[taediosum]

oh he'll definitely play the doctor card if he finds out apollo is surviving on gruel and junk food alone. not healthy!! 😤

[monstertruckers]

Let's limit the number to six traits, to keep things in order.

The storm itself is a singular event that gradually builds up over the month and will reach a boiling point at around the 15th/TDM time phase. After that it disperses, but similar freaky weather events will crop up in the future.

[monstertruckers]

Please note, this applies to all characters attempting to experiment with these runes and glyphs. Also, Content Warning for mental effects/deterioration/blood/body horror/death.

Attempting to inscribe the first combination of glyphs results in an explosion of sound, light, and an uncomfortable jolt confined to the character’s head; no one else is able to perceive it. Similar to approaching a Husk, the character experiences disorientation, restlessness, being on edge and the activation of a psychological monster trait for the next 30 days. Their dreams are dominated by a breaking moon, moon shards shattering cities, and a woman’s wail.

A second attempt causes another mental explosion, and this time causes bleeding from the mouth/eyes/ears/nose. It also causes the activation of a physical monster trait from their list. This trait fades over the span of a month. Their dreams feature a sacrificial altar with someone tied to it and changing into a monster before dying, and potentially finding themselves bound to the altar to change and be sacrificed. There is a sensation of someone watching them.

At the third combination, after the mental explosion is a nonstop mantra of IseeyouIseeyouIseeyou-IneedyouIneedyou-Iseeyou- in the character’s head, becoming intrusive and demanding, and either drives the character towards the wilds to be torn apart by Husk Monsters, or draws Husk Monsters to their presence in an attempt to kill them. If all that fails (example, a character is restrained behind the Convoy shield or is an extremely strong fighter) the character’s symptoms finally fade at dawn. The last thing they hear before the mantra subsides is NextimeyouareMINE.

Any subsequent attempt at glyphs results in the character violently exploding as every single monster trait from their type list activates at once and bursts through their body, reducing them to a bloody smear. The character is effectively dead and must be revived once their husk form spawns (looking like they did immediately before attempting a fourth glyph ritual) as detailed in the main FAQ.

[hexrot]

jayce: i can take it

(he can't take it but he'll definitely try until attempt 2 to 3 MODS YOU ARE AMAZING)

[definitionofcrazy]

Can we assume that a reasonable selection of clothing can be found intact in the homes/stores?

Also, stupidly: Ya girl is still in Tropical Splash hell, do any of the homes and stores here have a reasonable number of non-flavored cigarettes or are they still hilariously awful?

[thelastb1]

Are players limited to only tagging into one out of the TDM and Event Log, or may they tag into both?

[bufudine]

Serph's also going to be getting caught in the storm and turning into a big ol' naga. Fortunately he's pretty accustomed to sudden monstrous transformations (given that it's the starting point of his canon), so he'd definitely be able to calmly help Arcade through it :^

Serph's also a cannibal so if that sort of thing is a hard No, I have an opt out

[serialmurderbot]

what, blasting a nargacuga with hereward doesn't count? But that sounds good! Good luck dragging it around in return though, it's made partially of metal and therefore really fucking heavy

[serialmurderbot]

Yes please on checking in! I think it might be ICly easier before the storm, since Serph's got limited mobility then - but maybe after SecUnit's fucked itself up even more dealing with the Husks? It'll probably start avoiding people, so maybe Serph can find it while he's out hunting

other option is for him to use its rule list as an excuse to pin it down for a conversation :|a

[serialmurderbot]

violence is indeed a good form of therapy! honestly it'd be fun to continue the theme of these two only interacting when one or both of them are paranoid

[serialmurderbot]

hey jack want to learn that secunits don't eat

[serialmurderbot]

After their conversation about plants I deeply hope that Arcade's experiments with plant medicine end up being used on SecUnit to prove it wrong about those

[bufudine]

Hmm if SecUnit is messed up from the Husks, might be a good way for Serph to learn that he has healing magic now (it might work on SecUnit's organic parts?), though he won't know that it is way more taxing than he anticipated it to be. So they might have to drag each others' asses back to the Convoy :>b

(Maybe rib SecUnit for being out alone when it said on its rule list there should be at least 2 people when surveying and scavenging-)

[bufudine]

Serph: no moon warp, no monsters attacking the convoy, good indoors weather, isn't this so relaxing?
John: (spinning in circles anxiously)

[serialmurderbot]

The effects will absolutely hit its organics, so that sounds like a plan! dragging and all.

Those rules were obviously for humans, not SecUnits :| (absolutely give it shit for not following its own advice)

[definitionofcrazy]

tbf "When one of them is paranoid" is MOST of the time with Faith, but that only reinforces how right you are.

[monstertruckers]

There's a selection of clothing, some of them (anything wool) more damaged and monster-moth eaten, some of them (polyester and the like) more intact.

She's still in Tropical Splash hell, now available in honey-toffee.

[monstertruckers]

They may tag both! As long as they note in the TDM that they are currently in game, to help any potential players keep things sorted.

[definitionofcrazy]

That is technically slightly better, she'll take it at this point.

[taediosum]

That sounds like it would be more suitable for the latter half of the month interactions/post-storm transformation stuff, if that works for you? Though Arcade is unlikely to be calmed very much by reassurances that this kind of thing is just supposed to be taken in stride lol.

Also no worries about the cannibalism (oocly anyway), it's stupid common in Fallout and not something that I'm bothered about! That said, acceptance of it is going to be verrrry context-dependent for Arcade, if it's something that Serph is open about.

[taediosum]

oh boy!! I hope so, too lmao. Though he'll have to find some suitable stuff to work with, first.