recolle | JULY EVENT LOG 2.0

Entry tags:

JULY EVENT LOG 2.0

EVENT

CRASH AND BURN
The last day of the ReConvention finds con-goers crowding the convention center for last-minute panels and purchases. The halls fill with attendees bartering for wares, attending autograph sessions and showing off their cosplays. But for a select number of people, time is of the essence.

Those who scanned their QR codes at the Retrospec booth will notice that their countdown clock draws closer to zero. With each second ticking closer and closer to the end, a sense of urgency settles around the crowd.

But, perhaps you’re one of the ones who will carry on as if nothing is happening. Or maybe you didn’t scan your code at all. It doesn’t matter though. There’s nothing stopping the clock from its descent backwards, and as the timer strikes zero a loud, piercing roar echoes off of every wall of the convention center.

I.
Those who were brave enough to scan their received QR codes (and even those who didn't but received one regardless) will find that their mobile devices shock them, a quick electric burst that leaves behind a white-hot sort of pain. When you open your eyes after the initial hit, a floating treasure chest appears. While there may be multiple chests surrounding you, it seems you may only open those with your name on them.

Another beam of light shines upon opening your prizes, orbs skyrocketing through the air as they circle briefly before settling around you. A surge of energy ignites within, and for some lucky few new companions and items have also been rewarded to those who played Jim's game. But…perhaps they aren't the ones you expected. Perhaps they make no sense at all. Why not give them a try?

II.
But seeing how the convention center continues to shake, it might be better to find out what’s up. The source of chaos can be traced back to Seto Kaiba's gaming booth as a projector in the wall releases monster after monster that pour out of the projection and come to life. Though the TV above Kaiba’s booth is shattered, the projector keeps rolling and the monsters appear while destroying the booth itself in their haste to be free. Among the rubble left behind the blue glow of the Retrospec symbol shines brightly from a side-panel of the projector.

For those in the convention center, there is the option to run and hide. With the building shifting due to the onslaught of attacks, piles of drywall, cracks and crevices and more provide for good hiding spots to give you time to make a new plan.

Of course, there's always the fight option. What will it take to bring these beasts down? Maybe it's best to lure them outside instead and away from civilians.

III.
Or perhaps that was a bad idea. Whether citizens manage to wrangle the monsters outside or not the beasts will make their way out on their own, fighting amongst themselves and chasing people through the city's streets. Even those who didn't attend the convention will find that the infestation spreads to every district of the city itself, and their QR-given items and abilities kick in. They aren't going for the kill, but they will follow any moving target including those who aren't on the Retrospec network. Though these citizens may run, hide or need rescuing, if asked they will simply remark that the city's always had a bit of a monster problem.

However, now that the fight's moved outside, it's easier to see the distinct red tint to the monsters' eyes every time they blink. A monster that has to forcibly change direction will flicker for a moment, like an image buffering and loading. Even when a monster unleashes an attack, some fighters may take the full impact while others get away with minor to no damage. In those moments, it's easier to bring them to a halt.

When a monster meets its demise though, something strange happens. The flickering is more rapid and faster, and the creature will dissolve into black blocks and spores that evaporate into thin air. What the hell was that? Now probably isn't the best time to ask questions.

IV.
The fighting rages on but with the sun still hanging in the sky it's impossible to tell what time it is. One of the monsters seems to have knocked out the nearby cell phone tower, too, taking down not only cell phone reception, but the entire Retrospec network as well.

It goes on for what feels like hours with the sun beating down from above. Retrospec users battle monsters and fight to reconnect while the network errors out any time someone tries to send a message about the city under attack. It seems as though a new wave of monsters appear just as the last one dies down.

It's with a sudden jolt that reception on your mobile device returns, but Retrospec appears to be in a maintenance mode where the network is still inaccessible. A quick glance at the date on your phone reveals that instead of the mere hours you thought, nearly five days have passed by and you realize the date is now August 3rd. Upon that realization everyone's devices begin to chime with several notifications and the monsters all seem to pause for one brief moment. Not long after, Retrospec members will also find themselves frozen in place no matter how hard they struggle. The spell on the monsters breaks as they swoop upon these unfortunate few, picking them up in their claws, hands or mouths. A large swirling portal opens not far away and one by one creatures dive straight through the portal with the Retrospec users.

These portals may spit you out anywhere in the city, but several of them send residents to Peach Beach. Strangely, the monsters are nowhere to be found, but way out in the distance appears to be a creature, swallowing up the ocean in a swirl of waves.

You can try to run out to fight it, but the moment your feet touch what used to be the ocean floor a forcefield throws you back to the sand allowing the ocean to slip away right before your eyes. The moment the last drop is drained, that monster disappears, too.

What happens next? To be continued…

And welcome to the wrap-up of the ReConvention! As Prompt IV says, monster attacks will continue through all five days (July 30th, 31st, August 1st, 2nd and 3rd) and the network will not be accessible to anyone in-game from now until August 3rd when a mod-posted Retrospec post goes live! Please feel free to play with the monster attacks as you wish! You can have your characters escape via glitches in the monsters, or you can fight the monsters and and your character can actually take damage for a real battle (though death is not an option at this time.) We leave that up to you!

Please do not post any threads in this log or in your inboxes set for after this log just yet! We will be setting up August's event via this log and for plot purposes we ask that you refrain from doing anything prior to our Retrospec post on 8/3.

Those who are in Group One or Group Two will learn more about their small-focus teams on August 3rd when your logs goes live.

Please direct questions about this log to the mod comment here. Thanks!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Togusa frowns, but he nods. "I don't know if I can take it. But I'm not going to ask you to stay and help. If-"

Learn your damn lesson, Togusa. Koutarou, Dante, Prompto, Cleo, James. And now Eleanor, too. All the people you're trying to protect, they need to come to their own decisions on whether or not they're going to fight.

He looks at Eleanor very seriously. "You shouldn't have to deal with this. If you really want to do this. Then I'll gladly take your help. But if you want to cut and run, then please get out of here."

Well, there was her opening. But she couldn't actually leave, could she? She was pretty sure she could take better care of herself than Togusa, honestly, even if he did suddenly have the same power as her. Some of the same. Hm.

"...No, I'll stay." She said with a sigh. "I can help. Probably."

Togusa nods in confirmation. "All right. We don't have to take that thing all the way out. Maybe. Just get the people out."

But he is peering at it again, trying to get a better look at it from their vantage point. "You were right, though, it's made out of metal. How is it flying?" He can't see the engines on the interior of the bird's wings from here. It is still perched, silent, watching for movement, instead of taking to the air again. "You think the whole thing's a machine?" That would change their tactics.

"I'm not sure," she admitted, craning her neck to peer up at the creature. "If it's armor it's...extremely form fitting. And the wings are clearly just machinery..."

She didn't really want to imagine what would've had to be done to turn a living bird into that.

"We should just go with machine because every other idea is worse."

"It's got to be, it would be too heavy to fly if you did that to a bird," maybe a tone of disbelief in there, but Togusa has to go with this idea.

"Mostly visual hunters, right?" Togusa is searching for things on the street. Somebody's poor car is probably going to get sacrificed for this. "We're going to need to move something." The energy flares around his hand again, briefly, but doesn't start to move anything yet.

A breath. "I haven't- noticed a limit to what I can do yet. I really hope I'm not about to find it out."

Eleanor hadn't figured out her own new limits yet either, and this was probably a bad time to hit that, but between the two of them.

Her own powers weren't visible, but she stood up, stretching her arms out as she made sure she was ready, then looked up at the bird again, then at him.

"I can help. I'm...stronger than I was." She wasn't sure how else to explain it, really. Because she didn't understand it.

"Not sure I can throw a car though, if that's what you're thinking."

"But with both of us?" He asks, hopefully. But then he frowns and shakes his head. "If it's not enough, we won't have anything left. Not winning this one with raw power."

Togusa looks around the street again. The bird has already taken the liberty of destroying a few things for them. "A lot of smaller objects, then..." The shotgun treatment.

"Weak spot's still got to be the wings. A regular bird would stop flying after nearly any damage. But even if we just damage it a little? Then people could get away?" Still hopeful.

Eleanor craned her head to study the giant bird some more, her lips pursed. Hrm...

"So, we throw something at the wings to and break them and hope that it's distracted enough flailing around that people can run away?"

It was a plan, at least. There were a lot of ways it could go wrong but...she wasn't sure anything else would work.

"Maybe some stoplights and stopsigns? If we throw them hard enough they might punch through it."

Togusa nods. They're the best bets for projectiles on the street. "I think so. At least keep it from chasing them."

Togusa slowly stands up to match Eleanor. He reaches out with his mind, trying to focus on the objects that he can easily pick up, anything that could turn into a spear or a shot.

"I can get its attention." It's going to be easier to hit if he can get it to take flight. Power radiates off of Togusa for a second, and he takes a deep breath. "You ready?"

Eleanor wasn't sure she was ready. Wasn't sure she could be ready, frankly. But she could try. Still, she didn't answer for a moment, instead she drew in a breath and stretched out her hand towards a nearby street light, and it groaned and shifted as if she were flexing her powers. Okay. She could do this.

She hoped she could do this.

After a few more seconds she nodded.

"Go for it."

Togusa starts with that same manhole cover. It makes a really nice grating sound as it comes up from the ground, this time. Togusa's head tilts down in focus as he spins the cover and launches it at the bird. Oh, that got its attention, all right.

The stormbird opens its beak and fires a blast of electricity at the object coming towards it. It is enough to knock it off course, and it startles Togusa into letting go of it.

"It fucking shoots electricity!?" Nope, too late, it's time to go with their plan.

Two road signs and a mailbox wrench out of the concrete. Let's see how many places this thing can split its attention at once.

Well that was fun. Probably should've realized it would be armed but it was too late to worry about it now. Eleanor reached out to pull the street light from the ground with a cracking of concrete and wrenching of metal, then sucked in a breath and, with a wrenching motion, tore it into two pieces.

As Togusa was throwing his mailbox up, she hurled the first up, clipping the creature on the wing. It didn't punch through, but it did not a large metal container off that flared and burst and exploded when it hit the ground.

Hmm.

"Try to hit those boxes on the wings!" She shouted out.

Togusa's eyes widen when he sees the results of Eleanor's attacks. It has engines. Of course. It has to fly like a jet, not like a real bird. The wings seem to still expand and flap as it alights, but he can see the mechanical parts firing. It's somehow even more eerie that way.

The bird lets out a sound, half-screech with a mechanical tinge to it. Togusa focuses, trying to aim the street signs like spears at the targets Eleanor was pointing out. If he can get the ones on the same wing...

Metal punches partway through, and maybe that was even better, as one of the signs sticks in the next engine. Its flapping on that side starts to look jerkier, far less smooth. But that beak opens up again.

"Look out!"

Eleanor was hauling another sign out of the ground when he shouted, and she looked up in time to see the bird focusing on her. Because of course it was. Well shit. Her eyes narrowed, and when she moved the motion was almost instinctual, hurling herself backwards as if this wasn't the first time she had dodged lightning before.

She turned in the air as the bolt of lightning hit the ground where she had been, hitting the wall behind her feet first and almost crouching down on it before she sprung forward and grabbed onto still-intact street light, using it like a acrobats pole to spin her forward and across the street, where she landed on the sidewalk with a little 'oomph.'

Well. Those new relaxes were handy sometimes. Even if she looked surprised she'd managed that.

Togusa's eyes widen at exactly what Eleanor can do. Okay. Everybody else? Get on Eleanor's level. "Holy shit." He doesn't have time to be impressed, but he really is. "How did you do that?"

Explanations have to wait until later, and he knows it. He has to take the opening she gave him. Sorry, dude, your car was already broken up, I'm only using a part of it? That is an entire bumper being sent at the stormbird. The bird can twist in mid-air, too, altering its dive, but it is still listing to the damaged side. Togusa connects with a few more shots, at least he got it to pull out of whatever it was going to attack next.

Yes, good. He can see some people starting to file out of the back of one of the buildings, and the bird is too focused on them to go after them. Good. "Keep it up a little more!" Togusa encourages. The people are actually the priority.

"I have no idea?" Eleanor said, looking embarrassed. "Woke up like this a month ago, just very..." She wasn't even sure what the right word for it was. "Agile? Athletic?" She shrugged, even as she started moving again. Okay. Metal bird thing...

Now that it was really focused on them, she reached out to tug another sign, this one a speed limit sign, and hurl it up into the air, punching through the wing next to one of the engines, which didn't do as much damage as she might've liked. It did earn her another burst of lightning, this one much easier to dodge though.

Right. They just need to keep this up. It can't track both of them. And it won't pay attention to the people getting out of those buildings if they keep attacking it. They don't even need to destroy it. But the way that the bird keeps listing to the side that they're damaging, having to circle in that direction because that wing doesn't work as well? Togusa gets the feeling that he wants to try. They're ending this.

The sign that he's focusing again, the yellow energy surrounds Togusa's hands again, but this time, the accompanying glow is on the bird, itself. He is trying to latch on to the outer section of that injured wing. It makes a nice visible target. He lets out a sound of effort as he tries to pull. His power is at least slowing that wing down, and the bird seems to stutter in the air. But he might not be able to wrench it all the way off himself. The glow grows brighter, a visible shimmer in the air between Togusa's hand and the section of the bird's wing. Come on. Come on, we've got this.

It took Eleanor a few seconds to realize what Togusa was doing, too busy continuing to hurl things up at the bird. Well. That was certainly...an idea. It hadn't really occurred to her to try and attack it directly...she was still used to thinking of her powers as something she used to get weapons, not as a weapon.

Hm.

She rubbed her hands together before reaching up as well, but the only external evidence of what she was doing was a faint shimmer in the air around her fingers as she latched onto the wing with her powers. She could already feel it creaking and groaning under Togusa's strength.

So she sucked in a breath, closed her eyes, and wrenched with everything she had.

The deafening sound of straining and tearing and metal wrenching mingles with a grinding-tinged shriek out of the bird. The reverberation of the force seems to echo even within Togusa's own mind. He doesn't even notice the trickle of blood that runs from his nose. He squeezes his eyes shut, and lets out a yell, too quiet to hear over the rest of the noise, as the last parts tear free from the bird.

The Stormbird begins to plummet, with one wing not enough to keep it aloft, but the jets on it fire wildly in vain to try to keep it aloft. It only shoots it faster towards the ground. Togusa gasps a breath out, and staggers towards Eleanor, gets as close as he can, before he lets go of the wing, and wraps a shield around the both of them, protecting them from the Stormbird's last attempt to take them with it.

Eleanor's eyes went wide as the bird started it's death-dive towards them. Well shit. She could probably get out of the way but she was sure Togusa couldn't, and she couldn't actually pick him up and then there he was next to her.

"We need to-" but then she felt a kind of crackle in the air and realized he was putting up some kind of shield. That was a trick she couldn't pull off, wasn't even sure she was capable of it even! And it wasn't a moment too soon, as the great metal bird smashed into the ground right near them, sending a burst of metal and concrete and bits of ruined cards up into the air in a wave that slammed into Togusa's shield hard enough to knock it, and them, backwards.

But it kept the metal away so, that was nice.

Eleanor rolled as she hit the ground, coming up in a wobbling, automatic motion that had her standing for maybe two seconds before she dropped back onto her butt, staring at the dying metal bird as it thrashed in the street nearby.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

JULY EVENT LOG 2.0

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject