𝚂𝚢𝚗𝚏𝚕𝚞𝚡 𝙼𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚜

PRE-FIGHT EVENT #1

After weeks of searching for clues on the kaiju and missing people, the desert landscape begins to blend together. Didn’t you pass that cactus earlier today? That rock formation looks exactly like the one you passed the other day. It’s natural to loop back around when conducting a search but doesn’t it feel like everyone has been going in circles more frequently?

The heat isn’t helping either. Temperatures start to rise and continue to rise to all time highs. The sun is unrelenting and the only reliable shelter they have are their campers. Prolonged exposure outside will result in heat exhaustion, dehydration, and delirium.

Warnings will be sent to the Outsiders via their implants to keep them up to date with the weather as well as providing health tips such as reminders to stay hydrated or seek shelter during the hottest parts of the day. They will also receive warnings for sand storms and tornadoes called dust devils. The storms start of short and relatively weak but gradually begin to last longer and become more powerful. Pretty soon, Outsiders will not be able to see ahead from the dense sand and wind.

Outsiders will be told to chase after the storms and if they progress far enough, they will begin to find traces of people. They will find random belongings, articles of clothing, and occasionally, human remains in varying states of decomposition. Eventually, however, they will start to find survivors suffering from extreme fatigue and dehydration. They speak incoherently to themselves and as soon as they regain their strength, they try to run into storms while calling out to things that people can’t see.

Outsiders can wait for emergency caravans to arrive from Vegas to take survivors back to the city or they can take back the survivors themselves and use the opportunity to restock on supplies.

The sandstorms increase and grow stronger until eventually, they last entire days. The sands shift, the grounds shake, and something thunderous can be heard in the dust. It becomes harder to see out in the desert and it’s almost like the storms are trying to hide something. At the edge of a storm, sharp eyed Outsiders may catch sight of a great shadowy serpent in the heart of the storm. Messages to their implants will urge them to get closer and investigate but be careful.

The storm grows stronger as they approach and the camper vans may slow down or get stuck in the shifting sands forcing some of them to proceed on foot to make visuals. Eventually, they will get close enough to finally establish clear visuals on their target: A giant sand worm. It’s size is not immediately clear due to the poor visibility and it being partially underground. However, the worm also sees them and when it does, it glows. The light catches on and reflects against the sand particles and that’s when it hits some of the Outsiders: A sudden splitting headache followed by an inability to look away.

Some outsiders may suddenly find themselves entranced by the worm; hypnotized. They will begin to see mirages and hear voices calling out to them in the storm. Captivated Outsiders will find themselves wanting to run into the storm to chase after the phantoms, some of them images and figures of people from their past and present back home. If anyone attempts to stop them, they will become irrational, violent, and turn on their friends and allies. Some Outsiders may begin to view their allies as enemies and attack, turning on one another in a gruesome frenzy. Some of the hypnotic beams will effect those still in their campers, turning on their friends and other Outsiders.

Outsiders will have to restrain each other to keep them from running into the desert or harming each other. In the chaos, the worm disappears into the storm. The psychic effects of the monster will weaken after the worm disappears and the storm dies down but it may leave some characters feeling overwhelmed and confused in the aftermath. Some will remain in an erratic state for several days, occasionally acting normal. In the insanity of all of this, Outsiders may have picked up another Outsider into their camper van for their protection or camper parties remain shuffled. It's up to the ones unaffected by the psychic attacks to watch over the others while retreating from the desert.

Following the disaster of the first sighting, LILITH will order characters to return to Vegas so they can assess what happened. En route to Vegas, some Outsiders may notice some side effects from the prolonged exposure to the sandstorm. They may experience shortness of breath and coughing as a result of breathing in so much dust. Furthermore, they may experience a splitting headache or pain behind their eyes. Their implants may lag, glitch, or go completely offline which will render them temporarily blind in one or both eyes. It seems that the fine sand and dust combined with whatever psychic damage the worm did may have messed with their implants and crossed some sensors which is all the more reason to return to Vegas for treatment.

Outsiders may become lethargic and experience vivid daydreams while they are awake or regular dreams while sleeping. In these dreams, they may relive memories. Some of these memories may be pleasant but others may be traumatic or things characters would rather keep secret. Unfortunately, being in close proximity to someone suffering from these effects will force a link through a glitch in their implants and drag other characters into the dream.

These links will function similarly to how simulation training works. The dreams they visit appear to be very realistic and characters can experience pain and be hurt within the memory. They will be able to interact with the memories. While in these memories, they can try to wake up the memory holder to bring them back to reality. Who knows, maybe helping each other understand what is real and a dream may even make them more resilient to the worm’s attacks the next time they go into the desert...

As characters recover from the psychic effects and implant glitches, LILITH will try to assess everyone’s biometrics to understand what happened. Characters who need therapy or counseling after reliving some horrible memories of theirs will be provided sessions via their implants. They now understand that the worm has some sort of psychic mind control power that it can use on victims. It is currently too dangerous to go back into the desert until they can come up with a proper defense against it.

Outsiders will be ordered to stay in Vegas and focus on recovery, given two queen side bed hotel rooms again OR if they would prefer to stay in the camper vans, that is also fine, with their same room mates or new ones. They are confident that they can fix the implants with the right upgrade but they aren’t sure what to do to stop people from following the call of the desert and making them act erratically. What is important is that LILITH sticks together.

In the meantime, those who have recovered, and even those who are experiencing these issues are ordered to remain close to one another; a buddy system of sorts. Each Outsider will be given designated groups to keep tight watch over one another while in Vegas. They will be responsible for physically checking on those in their groups and making sure one another’s whereabouts are properly tracked in order to avoid losing anyone to the desert.

LILITH encourages Outsiders to hang tight and wait for instructions before adventuring back out into the desert.

In light of the results of the scheduling poll, here is our first event with a preview of the kaiju. All side effects from either the sandstorms or the worm kaiju can last for as short or as long as players would like.

For the daydreams/memory share, players can decide how they would like characters to experience the memories, whether it plays out in front of them like a movie or if they're reliving it by acting out the scene all over again or a mix of both. We encourage you guys to have fun with it and use whatever format feels most comfortable.

As always, feel free to leave questions under the QUESTIONS thread. All tags on this log are worth 2 points.

EVENT BREAKDOWN (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. STORM CHASERS: Outsiders, still in the now expanded Mojave Desert, face problems with heat and sandstorms, resulting in dehydration and delirium. Still, LILITH encourages them to press onward in their camper vans and desert approved attire. Many dead bodies are found, but those that survive, Outsiders can keep an eye on survivors until emergency care can come pick them up.

2. STORM CALLS: A glimpse of the creature causing the problems is seen beneath the sands surface: a giant sandworm. It attacks LILITH recruits with psychological damage, causing Outsiders to hallucinate memories of their past, act erratic and violent and turn on LILITH crew. Outsiders are tasked to wrangle in one another and retreat back to Las Vegas to recover.

3. CITY OF DREAMS: Seeking refuge back in Las Vegas, character's implants go haywire from the psychic attacks, causing a memory share between characters that are close enough to one another.

4. REST & RECOVERY: Outsiders are placed in hotels again, or if they prefer to stay in the camper vans. They are tasked to keep an eye out on one another and sit tight for further instructions while LILITH assesses their data and next move to wrangle in the sandworm. Outsiders are to wait until given instructions.

KAIJU FIGHT #2

On the 1st of April, Outsiders will be rudely awakened by the sudden voice of Captain Yamakawa:



The alarm will sound in the base, urging all Outsiders to suit up, bring their weapons and get ready for the mission. A location pin will then be downloaded into their implant, along with an associated mission briefing. The location will lead to an abandoned amusement park that might be familiar to some - Tokyo Disneyland. The brief will report that according to intel, there is an unauthorized research facility hidden within the premises. Outsiders are to locate it, storm it, and seize any lab specimens they can find.

To get to the theme park, characters will be able to take trains to the edge of Neo Tokyo where they can then be transported by armored trucks through what remains of old roads. Eventually, when the terrain becomes too destroyed and overgrown with brush, they’ll have to travel by foot the rest of the way. However, they will have to be careful because it looks like someone has laid out traps. Some of them are designed to capture animals but others are clearly booby traps meant to deter intruders.

From the outside, nothing looks out of the ordinary in this old park - there are classic attractions such as Cinderella’s castle, the Haunted Mansion, Alice’s Teacup ride, the Western River Railroad, and many, many more. While most of the rides are weathered down and no longer functional, there are plenty of old gift shops and carnival game booths with prizes to take home for free (if you don’t mind a really old Minnie Mouse doll).

LILITH was not able to pinpoint exactly where this secret laboratory is hidden within the enormous park, and it’s now up to the Outsiders to find it. All implants will be fitted with a heat-seeking function to allow Outsiders to detect anomalies within the park.

The first part of the mission is simple: Scour the rides and attractions and find the entrance.

Outsiders may encounter more booby traps while searching the park. Traps will range from making parts of attractions and buildings collapse on intruders to more elaborate and high-tech ones like electric fields or explosive traps. Players are more than welcome to come up with their own traps so long as it fits the setting.

Eventually, Outsiders will find themselves drawn to the Haunted Mansion, where there appear to be several abnormal signs of life. While the mansion would hardly have been scary to anyone but children several hundred years ago, centuries without any sort of maintenance have turned the place into a real nightmare. Pitch darkness, decrepit fake graves that look like they could be real ones, and the mysterious chatter of – is that a ghost? There are flickers of life within the old animatronics, and ever so often you might see a skeleton or zombie twitch. They might even take a swing at an unsuspecting Outsider.

The deeper into the mansion you travel, the more power it appears to have, until the Outsiders reach a door that appears to be heavily guarded by a group of humans holding vicious chimeras on a leash.

Once LILITH receives this intel, the next order is given: Storm the lab immediately!

As the Outsiders infiltrate the lab, the air buzzes with electricity and everyone's hair begins to stand on end not from fear but from the sheer amount of energy generated. There may be a lot of machines generating a lot of power and some of it may be spilling excess electricity into the air but this feels different. It feels more potent.

Suddenly, the park comes to life. Old generators buzz to life, staticky music begins to play on the worn out speakers, and the lights begin to flash. From the overgrowth surrounding the park, trees begin to topple over. It is obvious that something is approaching and whatever it is seems to have a lot of energy. From the trees, a giant, gecko-like creature emerges. The air around it sparks and each step it takes generates a wave of electricity that follows the many wires and systems laid out underground.

The energy at the park seems to be drawing the unknown kaiju towards the park and more geckos appear from the forests behind it. They move quickly through the park and climb over the buildings and attractions. When they see a hybrid or a person nearby, they will stun them with their electric fields and try to eat them. As they begin to swarm the park, they go into a feeding frenzy that infects the air around them. Rides begin to spin faster, the music grows louder, lights explode, and the more electricity and power the geckos absorb, the bigger they become when they shed their skins.

One gecko in particular grows faster than the others. This one will keep growing with no apparent end in sight and begins climbing over the highest rides until they topple under its weight. Outsiders will have to avoid collapsing rubble and climb over ruined attractions to take down this kaiju while also stopping the other geckos from growing to the same size.

After dealing with the gecko kaiju for some time without any information, a report will finally come in:

█ █ █ MONSTER DEBRIEF SHEET
NAME: Yamadenki
HEIGHT: 3 metres- unknown (does not stop growing)
WEIGHT: 1,500-70,000 kg
CLASS: Dangerous
LOCATION: Kanto, Japan
ABILITIES: Stores electricity within its body. Uses static electricity to climb up and stick to objects. Can use electric shocks to stun and injure prey. The more energy they absorb, the bigger they grow. When close enough to a human, it kills them by biting into their flesh and absorbing the electrical currents within the cells, disrupting the heart rate and nervous system. It then eats the flesh.
WEAKNESS: Attacks to the head and body. Ice and extreme cold (they are cold blooded).
EXTRA NOTES: Can regrow appendages. Their severed appendages and bodies can retain electricity for an unknown amount of time so proceed with caution.

█ █ █ MISSION OBJECTIVE:
✖ Cut off the supply of electricity at the park by disabling all generators
✖ Bring back the Yamadenki (alive or dead) for research purposes
✖ Bring back the hybrid specimens
✖ Capture all suspicious persons for interrogation

█ █ █ ATTACHED PHOTO:

The Outsiders will have to cut off all energy supplies to stop feeding the newly named Yamadenki and then defeat them.

"MAYDAY, MAYDAY! Unknown energy signal detected! Reaching maximum output! Our sensors are detecting a breach in the inter-dimensional fabric!"

An hour into battle, Outsiders will receive a sudden warning signal, urging them to complete their mission and eliminate the Yamadenki before it’s too late. All that concentrated energy generated at the park is being corrupted by the Yamadenki, and it’s not long before a rift bursts through from beneath the Haunted Mansion, causing a huge explosion and a rain of rubble and mysterious energy. It’s the first of its kind. A rift has never opened this close to Neo Tokyo!

Energy from the rift seems to affect anyone standing too close to it, transforming any unprotected human into a snarling, groaning, human-reptilian hybrid. These hybrids have electrical qualities similar to the Yamadenki and are just as ferocious. The plugsuits issued by LILITH should protect characters against any nasty transformations (unless there is some damage to them or they have taken them off), but exposure to the rift can still result in increased headaches, vertigo, irritability and impulsiveness.

The rift is growing larger by the minute, and from the other side of it - the growling of a number of unknown beasts can be heard. Even the higher ups within LILITH are anxious about this. The only way to stop the rift is to cut off its power supply.

As the Outsiders shut down generators and take down the Yamadenki, the rift shrinks in size until finally it closes. Everything at the park goes still now that there is no more power to run things. Some of the corrupted humans and hybrids still linger and will have to be taken down or captured but they are in weakened states now that the rift has closed.

Outsiders will be tasked with capturing the Rift-infected humans who will then be transported to LILITH base for treatment... if they can be treated, that is. Outsiders will also need to report for treatment. Characters may experience the lingering effects of the rift such as the vertigo, headaches, shorter tempers, and impulsive behavior. The LILITH medics aren’t sure what to do other than prescribing bed rest and maybe offering some medication for their headaches. The worst cases may be prescribed sedatives.

Normally, LILITH would order the Outsiders to retrieve specimens from the field but given the events that unfolded, they are told to standby until a special research unit can inspect the area for contamination and give the all clear.

Welcome to the plotting post for our second Kaiju log! As before, all prompts are highly encouraged but OOCly optional. ICly, any characters suffering negative effects from the rift will recover within a week, though you are welcome to determine the severity of their symptoms during that time.

Feel free to NPC your characters' fights with the smaller kaijus. Same as before, the main fight with the largest gecko will be determined via an HP-based system on the log itself.

Ask any further questions below!