June Kaiju Event Plotting Post!

[curingidiocy]

Hey everyone! As should be obvious already, June's kaiju event is going to be a little different from the regular event on account of Melodie's player plot! You can find a more detailed note about what you'll need to do in the new event log note section, but just to recap:

The June Event is a player plot that is going to differ from regular events in a few ways: Outsiders have to find the location for the next Kaiju fight on their own using hints given in the From Sumer With Love prompt, and correlating them with the past and ongoing disappearance of various Outsiders. They can use LILITH’s equipment to look for anomalies across the globe, however there is not enough time to scan or contact every region in the world. Outsiders need to guess where the anomaly likely is before they can get confirmation.

Furthermore, they will have to reach this destination through their own means as there is no LILITH staff left to fly them there. Vehicles can be requisitioned, but will have to be flown by Outsiders on their own. This also means Outsiders are free to stay behind at the base if they prefer, as nobody will force them to go. Pain-relieving medicines can also be developed if the true nature of the disease is found and the appropriate characters work on it, though nothing short of defeating the anomaly will solve this crisis and save everyone.

Last but not least: this event will have two Kaiju battles, one on each log as well as many different challenges the Outsiders will have to solve on their own if they want to save LILITH and bring home their missing friends! Please use this thread to ask questions and offer your proposals as to what the Outsiders should do (location guessing, transport, etc). Proposals made in this thread will affect the first and second prompts of the first log.

This post is meant to facilitate discussion about all parts of this plot, and it will be the host for all event related questions! Feel free to start your own top levels about certain aspects and plot from there!



Edit: Since this player plot is progressing very quickly and not everyone has been able to keep up, I've created a summary of all the related incidences and posts made so far to get you up to date! All dates mentioned below are IC dates.

The Disappearances

These occurrences were meant to be subtle precursors to the real player plot starting on May 15, so if you missed them, that was partially intentional.

April 15: Ereshkigal disappears during the kaiju battle in Egypt after saving Taryon
May 5: Dr. Ratio disappears, unseen by anyone
May 11: Godzilla disappears in front of Lucy
May 13: Tsurumaru disappears in front of Vash
May 13: Silco disappears in front of Jinx

Future Disappearances (This hasn't happened yet but the info is known oocly)
May 19: As stated by StarSeed on the CR Meme post, Bakugo will be disappearing on this day

The Alerts

All network posts created in response to the disappearances.

Some time after April's fight: Taryon informs the network that Ereshkigal was consumed by a Rift
May 5: Aventurine informs the network that Dr. Ratio has gone missing
May 11: Nyuu informs the network that Godzilla was taken by a Rift
May 13: Aki informs the network that Tsurumaru was taken by a Rift

May 14: Raidou posits a theory about the disappearances being related to Ereshkigal's memory

Current Events

Downtime Mingle #8

May 15-30: LILITH employees are hit by what seems like a regular flu, until it becomes apparent that only they are being targeted, and eventually, all employees across all the branches around the world have been incapacitated, including Commander Yamakawa, Captain Shiro and Seok Dang

May 16-23: Outsiders are on lockdown until it becomes apparent that they aren't affected by the sickness

The Clues

As a reminder to everyone, these clues have been given out OOCly and it's up to players to disperse them ICly. Please wait until the information is given out in the mingle log, unless the player has given explicit permission for all characters to know.

Donatello: Discovers the sickness started from the Neo Tokyo Base and that you can ask SYNTHIA directly about this
Aventurine, Jinx, Rin and Muramasa: Discovers that Ereshkigal is deep under Iraq, but they will need to refine their search to pinpoint her exact location
- Hunter: Digging may or may not be viable, but it's better to pinpoint her location first
Raidou: Drones sent through the Rift lose connection, but not before sending one last image
Astarion: Astarion loses contact with the ghouls he sends into the Rift and becomes unable to summon new ones, suggesting that the ghouls are still alive
- Taryon: The tracking amulets placed on the ghouls will also be cut off, but perhaps if they get closer to where the ghouls are now, the connection might be re-established?
Dante: Connects to Tsurumaru's memories and finds that he is currently not distressed, but there is something very wrong about his state of being before he's forcibly cut off
Tezcatlipoca: Sacrifices his kidney and learns that Ereshkigal has become demonic and a calamity against humanity before he's forcibly blocked out
Yuji: Is apparently going to throw himself into a Rift and disappear at some point. Kid, are you okay???

The clue section may be updated slowly, but it's better if you look directly at the INVESTIGATIONS/PROPOSAL section of this post so you can contribute as well!

Comments

INVESTIGATION/PROPOSAL

[curingidiocy]

Comment here to let us know where your characters are investigating and what they propose the Outsiders do! Melodie and I will respond to confirm information, but other players can also respond to second an idea and add onto it!

Proposals made in this thread may affect some prompts of the next log in June.

Re: INVESTIGATION/PROPOSAL

[soft_shelled]

Donnie will try to point out if it's possible for them to pinpoint just which LILITH base started getting sick? Like was it the Japanese branches that started getting sick first or was it multiple places at once? If that's even possible to find out, of course.

Find patient zero, is his line of thinking, if such a thing exists.

[queenofkur]

It's possible! It started at the Neo Tokyo base.

However, it's possible a few outsiders experienced this disease long before the attack started...

[curingidiocy]

Donnie will be able to get this tidbit by directly asking SYNTHIA, as she keeps track of LILITH internal communication and is willing to reveal this information on account of all LILITH staff being incapacitated.

[stonehearts]

As per this thread, Aventurine, Jinx, Rin, and Muramasa are attempting to track down Eresh using two means: the first is by using a dress that Eresh owned and gave to Jinx and using it to help Rin see if they can get a read on her location with magecraft. The second option is using Muramasa's servant radar to see if he can pick up traces of her at any of the locations where people disappeared and/or a general location of her if possible.

[powderkegs]

Jinx will probably deploy a bunch of lowkey firefly drones. Can't do pictures or anything, but they'll send out a radio signal if they spot unusual vibrations/strange activity.

[stonehearts]

Oh, as a note: Aventurine is, as Sky is aware, preternaturally lucky. If these leads don't pan out I would love for them to stumble across something that might be useful in pointing them in a more accurate direction!

[misclassed]

if necessary, muramasa has a skill called "godslayer (ex)", which gives him "advantages" against divinities (currently nerfed to 30% efficacy). even if ereshkigal isn't his enemy, he's been modified at a conceptual level to deal with gods specifically

[queenofkur]

The first option will work and locate Ereshkigal's presence somewhere under Iraq.

It is however impossible to pinpoint an exact location as it appears she is deep into the Earth, far beyond what machines can dig or what magecraft can reach. Iraq is a pretty big country, and other methods will have to be used to further refine the location.

[the_fourteenth]

Well, if no one else will help Raidou, he'll still keep working with LILITH to do more rift research to find the best method of searching inside the rifts. Hopefully with drones, but as a last resort, how to safely send Outsiders in. He wants to prevent anyone from rushing in without a plan. A doubt he'll be able to do so.

Once the LILITH team gets too sick to work, I really don't know what he'll do. Try to keep researching himself?

I'm totally open to whatever! If things look really bleak, he can try to cast a spell that let him traverse dimensions previously in the Devil Summoner games. He doesn't expect it to work. Neither do I.

[penaltypoints]

Yesod will want to focus on continuing the rift research side of things as well, especially wrt what characters have been discussing recently around figuring out how to improve their chances of investigating rifts directly.

[queenofkur]

He will lose connection with the drone the moment after they are sent through the rift.

However, should he try to reestablish connection with the drones using the location found by the other group, he will manage to receive a static shot before losing connection permanently.

[blastedass]

Depending on when Raidou tries that spell, Bakugo's gonna be there to support him in whatever way he can. (He did encourage Raidou to try it in the first place...)

Re: INVESTIGATION/PROPOSAL

[sanguivorous]

Astarion has 0 ideas and not enough of a scientific mind to be of much help.

He can, however, summon 4 ghouls that can be used as guinea pigs for throwing into rifts or something. They are not very smart at all (-2 intelligence), and wouldn't be much use giving first hand accounts, but if injured to the point of "death" they just poof away, and after a 4 hour rest he can summon 4 more.

Don't worry about whether or not this would be cruel, the ghouls would eat you if they could. uwu

I don't know if this would be useful for anyone, but figured I'd throw this out if folks needed (sort of) living test subjects!

[followyourstar]

Dante's not too great with science or technology, but will still be doing their best to gather as much information as they can on the disappearances.

Primarily, they will be trying to track who's disappeared, the circumstances of their disappearance, if there's any security footage (and if it tracks anything strange).

I can offer them up to help with investigation coordination or keeping in contact with anyone "on the field" as well.

And IDK if Golden Bough memory/connection bullshit can be of any help here, especially with rifts and distances and the like, but if there are any clues they can pick up that way I can send them up for that as well. There just needs to be a person/mind on the other end to connect to.

[fursuit]

Tezcatlipoca is going to try his own thing I fear because last time people got mad at him for SOME reason

Anyways! Since Tezcatlipoca suspects that this is, uh, Ereshkigal's fault (sorry), he's going to do some freaky and vague ritual magic to see if he can find her and/or take a peek at the fabric of the universe and see what's up.

He'll be heading to the hill that has a little significance and buy damn near every marigold he can to really fill the spot. Then through vaguely defined ~magic~ he's going to tap into the most potent parts of his divinity to see if he can scry some information. However, rather than sacrificing someone else, he's going to give up one of his kidneys. ♥

(If more detail is needed, I can give it, but it's just going to be bullshit from his canon tbqh. Just think of this as a very powerful scrying spell, and I'm also totally okay with it failing!)

[eyescar]

As soon as Yuji finds out Bakugo is gone as well he’s probably going to go and try to find a Rift and jump in himself! Whether or not he’s successful, he’ll also be using his super cute power to see the lines of people’s souls to try and look into rifts and see if he can sense anything.

He’s fine why do you ask -

[byoukyu]

I am asking for Muramasa...

What is the situation with the Alexandria Institute? Is there anyone well enough over there to help them use the warp portals to get there?

If not, can Synthia hack into their systems and get them to work for the Outsiders?

[likemybooks]

Taryon is going to put his nerd powers into use and do some research on Babylon and their legends about the afterlife. He's particularly looking for stories about mortals going to the underworld without dying first, maybe a spot in Iraq that has cultural significance that they can target their searches first.

[lostdestiny]

ic background. After the Iraq post, Shinn will use public network resources and LILITH resources looking for a place to land a transport plane in Iraq. This will expand to a broader search of public network and LILITH resources to see if there is any information about what's going on in Syn-Iraq from mid-April to the present — e.g., is anyone blogging about the notable presence/absence of kaiju, are there forum posts about odd behaviors/effects/happenings, has the closest LILITH base written any reports accessible to Outsiders about what’s happening in the area, etc.

ooc asks. 1. Based on available-to-Outsiders information, is there a place to land a transport? All I need is a y/n, presumably there are a few pre-kaiju airports or long straight stretches of highway.....

2. Based on available-to-Outsiders information, are conditions in Iraq normal (for Syn-Iraq) or are there reports of anything unusual?

[eyescar]

Hello!! This is a question about the tracker rings, as Aki has a paired tracker ring with Tsurumaru and I know other people have paired rings too.

Will there be any emotional or location based pings from their rings? Will they have any use at all or are they defunct due to the nature of the fact that Rifts are involved? Aki will have his on constantly for this purpose, so I just wanted to check.

[stonehearts]

So, uh. Aventurine is just going to google Eresh and see what he can find related to her/her underworld/how the heck people might get there. I know Tary did his research, but unless that's public knowledge he'll just be researching the same thing and, perhaps, reading the legend itself.

Investigations!

[gilgamess]

HELLO, I'm catching up, tried to read all the threads so hope I didn't miss anything, but --

Gilgamesh has been to Kur before. In fact, he's been multiple times. I would like to note/propose a few things. This is just me talking aloud, so kind of give me an idea of what would/wouldn't work:

For anyone who reads this: let me know what you'd like to engage with! I'm looking to get maybe a few different paths of action/discussion going ICly, given what others are also working on!

1) I'm not sure how much has been announced for Sumerian Summer Fever, but Gil can post to the network/on the mingle about this, as he would recognize it. I'm currently re-watching Christmas in the Underworld to kind of get the vibes going/get some ideas going on how this might be handled. Gilgamesh is not a doctor or a scientist in that sense, so he wouldn't be at the forefront of leading the effort to halt it, but he could potentially give over info that could help with those who are in that effort!

2) In the search for Kur, Gilgamesh does, as Melodie pointed out, have firsthand knowledge of it. Now my question OOCly however is whether that knowledge would help him pinpoint it now: after all, the Underworld can shift/move change in various ways. If so, I'd volunteer he simply directly help in locating the entrance, based on his memories/journeys, and again I can have him ICly post about this so those who are looking can get involved, or those who are researching Sumerian culture. Waves hands: here to answer ur questions! OR, if he cannot simply locate it, I propose Gil use his Sight IN ADDITION to his memories to help suss out Ereshkigal's location. Normally it's not something I really have him use in a game, but if Tezca was able to divine some info from a ritual, I figure I might as well toss in Gil's ability to suss out "deeply hidden truths." And as mentioned, Kur is "his backyard," as he says, LOL. But I would like to know what he can be able to figure out, as that goes.

I realize it's probably a little early to plot beyond the actual seeking out+trying to divulge answers part of the plot, but I will throw out there that I definitely hope for him to get a chance to do some REBUKING on Eresh for this beast stuff, but also probably not be at the forefront of the future conflict. As a wise King, Gil is like a mentor figure, so I'm really looking for him to play more of a role in helping others figure things out+find their way and have badass hero moments, soooo that's what I'd be really interested in plotting for! I'm down to discuss more as things are unrolled, 'cos I have a few ideas forming of ways his abilities/history could be useful.

minor info sharing more than a proposal

[fursuit]

but! tezca did another, smaller ritual, and got a simple response from ereshkigal. basically, she's not mindless/feral, and in his opinion, she's the same old crybaby loser (said with fondness)

accompanying network comment here

flowers that hopefully won't die...

[penaltypoints]

What is the current status of Flowerworld? If Sophie is watching the shop in Ereshkigal and Tsurumaru's absence, would it be possible to get potted Amarcrinum and/or yellow carnations to bring to Kur?