recolle | AUGUST EVENT LOG

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AUGUST EVENT LOG

END EVENT LOG

END EVENT LOG
The city of Recollé.

...yeah. Yeah, it's still sort of a mess...

But the fruits of your labors are ripe, Recollé. Be prepared for the final fight.

I.
You've all worked so hard in these past three weeks to bring back what was lost and patch reality, or to get home. As their final missions close out, the following occurs.

Members of Team Absinthe will find themselves in the Recollé Woods, no longer capable of finding their way to the Bunker but cheerfully updated by Nigel Cavendish on their devices that "Go time is now, it appears! The more you destroy, the more we can bring back. The weapons will last for about twenty-four hours, so use them wisely. Good luck!"

Members of Team Brandywine will find themselves in the RU campus, locked out of their basement. Mr. Baroque updates them that "You've got about a day to help fix this. Try not to die."

Members of Team Cognac will find themselves in the Tribunal Terrace, unable to go as deep into the subways as they could the past few weeks. The NPC updating them as to what's up is Ronnie, who is about as helpful as Mr. Baroque with: "The clock is ticking down. Do try to stay on your toes...you may wish to rendezvous with the others."

Members of Team Daiquiri will find themselves in Tisse, locked out of the Retrospec building. Their update comes from Joanne Wiseman, who says "Aunt Marge just pulled the plug! Those weapons will last twenty-four hours, and we were able to snag the others - but, you're going to have to give us enough leeway here to fix things! It's just like the twists you've done before - destroy the focal points and we can snap things back. Thank you so much for everything, good luck!"

Members of Team Ethanol will find themselves in the Tribunal Terrace, unable to enter the crypts. For them comes a message from Wendy Guo. "Time to hit it. Your weapons are going to last about a day; can't force the protocol longer than that. I'm going to meet up with the others now, try to get shit stable as you do your side. We're probably not gonna see one another again for a while, so...it's been real. Don't die or whatever. Thanks."

Members of Group 3 are intermixed at all locations as they choose, perfectly capable of joining in the battle if they wish. A harried Maurice Fitzwilliam will see fit to update them with "I know this is a little confusing, but if you'd like to help your friends, you may wish to join up with them now - otherwise, I suggest you find a safe house. I'll try to update your phone's gps with a map to the least-impacted areas...Good luck."

Members of Peter Pan crash onto the sandy beach in a large, ornate pirate ship surrounded by a flock of colorful tropical birds and armed with cutlasses and cannonballs. Mechanical sharks cut across the sand menacingly guarding the ship as well. Members of this team may call on the aid of the sharks and birds to help fight while also using the cannonballs to load up and fire.

Members of Snow White appear scattered around the Recollé Woods with a large frog creature in tow and the army of a hundred ghosts behind them, wispy in appearance but strong in determination. There are also two large, stone lions flanking the party. The ghosts can be captured and released from the thermoses the Snow White members brought them in and will come to their aid to help people around them.

Members of Tarzan announce their arrival with the loud, thunderous roar of a dragon that swoops down from the sky, landing directly in the middle of Tisse. Portals rip open around them as several knights in shining armor and equipped with lances flank the creature and the team, ready to spring into battle. Any weaponry the team has picked up along their journey will be available to them and they can direct the knights in battle. In addition, they may use the two raven feathers to call upon the well witch to bail them and others out of trouble with a bit of elemental magic!

And finally, members of Yzma descend upon the rooftop of the highest point at the RU campus in a large, colorful mecha shaped like a panther. By now, the team will know how to pilot the mecha and the weapons attached to it. They will be able to split up and regroup as they please. As it lands, the creature pauses with all eleven members inside and tilts its head back, a feminine, almost regal voice making an announcement for all to hear.

"Champions! Band together and stabilize your reality. Find the last twists and slay the rest of the monsters while there's time. We have twenty-four hours to weather the storm and unravel everything. You can bring back what was lost...but only if you hurry! Now go!"

Together, every member of the city must work together to patch the leaks in their reality; no team is locked to any one location, regardless of where they start out. While certain teams have domain over certain summons and items, they may be used to help anyone they come across. The monsters that appears last month reappear with a vengeance but this time they've brought some friends. Multiple slime creatures can be found in all districts and as citizens of the city defeat them and other monsters, they will notice little by little that the city starts to restore itself in a whirlwind of fixes. Buildings begin to uncrumble, shattered glass reforms into window panes, and with every defeat of the slimes, a new stand will pop up. Some of these stands will also pop up simply by exploring the lesser traffic'd areas of the city such as the underground subway, the woods, and the empty buildings scattered around the city. Smashing these buttons will turn the portalizers on, suck up the debris of the monsters and close another twist. As soon as all the twists in an area are closed, the district will snap back to "normal" and all characters will find themselves warped to the beach.

Down at the beach the mouth of the ocean rises up out of the sand, spitting acid and trying to absorb whatever it can. Much like the other monsters, the more it's destroyed the less effective it becomes, whittling itself further and further down as it begins to pull inward on itself. Do what you can to take it out and prevent it from taking the ocean ever again.

Everyone is now back in Recollé, and several groups have new weapons and companions to help them fight. Stick together, reunite with your loved ones and hold down the fort. Your Technical Team is on the job to fix everything.

Hi guys, welcome to the August plot wrap-up! This log is a free-for-all to let everyone get involved, reunite with their CR, and help stabilize the city for now! This will only run from 9pm EST 8/24 to 9pm EST 8/25. At which time, we will then post a Retrospec post ICly tying up the loose ends, and characters may do as they wish with the aftermath.

Also at this time, everyone has regained network access and your characters will receive their stockpile of texts sent to each other and they can connect with each other.

Tomorrow, we will also do our feedback post for this event and an open discussion with the playerbase.

Thank you guys so much for your participation! Characters who clocked 30 comments over the course of this event are eligible for a freebie memory! For members of team 3, we will allow these thirty comments to come from this log as well. We look forward to seeing you on the flipside, and congratulations on a job well done.

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The first indication that backup is here is not Togusa, himself, but a police patrol car driving up. Whoever is behind the wheel doesn't immediately get out, but instead, there is a wave of shimmering energy that emanates from the driver's side. It crackles through with yellow where it impacts with the slime, as it scoops and slams it to the side. Not enough to destroy it, but it needs to take some time to reform itself after that hit.

Only then does the door open, and Togusa gets out. He is exhausted and disheartened, but somebody he cares about is in danger, so he'll still stand here and fight.

"Dante. Are you all right?" He sounds impossibly relieved, but Togusa's mouth didn't move when he said that. Funny.

It's kind of telling that of all the things he's seen so far since returning to Recollé, it's a police car that makes him stop in surprise. But it's so mundane, so out of place next to all the monsters and destruction, that he just can't help it: he stops, staring and then rearing back in surprise when a wave of energy surges out from the driver's side. Whoa, that's not something he'd known any of the RPD members to have...!

And then of all things, it's Togusa that gets out of the car. The lousy prank he, Noctis, and Prompto had played on him seems a lifetime ago; Dante lets out a breath of mixed surprise and relief that's almost choking as it becomes a gasp a half-second later.

Because he heard Togusa's voice. He heard it, even though there's no way the other man had spoken aloud. Dante's gaze darts back to him, and his confusion is obvious on his face. "Togusa... what...?"

What the hell is going on?

Togusa looks Dante over, searching for any kind of obvious injuries. He's here, he's all right. And Togusa just accidentally scared the hell out of him. Remembers to speak out loud this time. "Dante."

He is keeping an eye on that slime, but he moves over in reach of Dante. "We got you back," he can't help but smile, there's a hell of a lot of relief in his own voice, too. Something went right. If, somehow, Retrospec had gone back on their word, Togusa would be turning these powers on their own damn building right now.

The prank, that was a thing that Togusa has already forgiven. Has he said it out loud? He sent out one of those messages, like a bottle in the ocean, to Dante, has no idea if he got it. If anything, he's the one still sorry for all that.

There's no way to avoid it, Dante looks rough. Even though they'd managed to find clean clothes and a bathroom in mansion hell, they still wound up going through a number of battles there. His suit is rumpled and ripped in multiple places, several large burn holes scattered around his ribcage and back from where Freya had been punching him with her fists aflame. Blood trickles from a gash on his forehead, and there are several large scratches down the right side of his face near to the ear and jaw. But mostly he looks tired, his eyelids bruised and something a touch haunted in his eyes.

And that's only the visible stuff. In case it's not readily obvious, it's been a really long three weeks.

"You got us back?" Dante repeats, brow wrinkling. "What do you mean?"

No, he hasn't charged his phone up yet. He hasn't even thought about it beyond switching it between pants pockets! All he knows is their own struggle to find their way back home, not what everybody in the city's been doing.

Togusa can somewhat overlook the weird fact that Dante is in a suit, much less one that is torn the hell up. Never mind that's definitely not what he had when he left. It's the injuries that concern him, Togusa's sharp gaze lingering on the forehead cut and those burns.

"Retrospec. They had a way to undo all of this, but they needed some help getting back everybody who was supposed to be here. We didn't have much of a choice but to help. They also didn't have any of their own guys who could go out after the monsters, so they gave us some help on that front." Togusa summons up the shimmering yellow energy around one hand again.

"Come on," he tilts his head towards the patrol car. "I know there's supposed to be something bigger that was dragged through with you guys. And I don't think this is it." Togusa's ulterior motive is to get him to the first aid kit in the car, so at least Dante will stay on his feet a little longer.

Yeah, Dante's definitely shooting a dubious look toward the car. Not because he doesn't trust Togusa, but rather... "You know, I'm pretty sure most people expect me to be in the back of one of those."

Of course, there's always the fact that he's been in the back of one of those before, but that's besides the point. Expression still wary, he'll let Togusa lead them that direction, but don't think he's done with the questions yet! "What do you mean, something bigger? These slimes are already the size of a skyscraper."

Togusa's look back is grim. "Bigger." But, come on, Dante, get in the car. Togusa hops in the driver's side, and opens up the passenger side for Dante. The first aid kid is under the passenger seat, which Togusa reaches for.

"Retrospec's techs couldn't be specific, they had no idea what kind of form the 'unreality' as they put it, was going to take. Personally, I'm hoping we're going to see our good friend from the ocean again. Make the damn thing cough it back up again."

Trying not to make too big a deal out of it, but god damn it, Dante, you are taking ten minutes to patch yourself up.

Dante still hesitates a moment, even when the door's opened up for him. He's still got an aversion to climbing into a patrol car, even with all the progress he's made... but after a last glance up at the slime, still wobbling its way around, he gives a decisive nod and slides into the passenger seat.

"Once all of this is over, we've gotta compare notes," he says, glancing back at it again. It feels wrong leaving it there, where it might hurt other people. If everybody goes after the big guy, who protects everybody else from these guys? "We got some background on Retrospec I think you'll be interested in."

"Bout time somebody got something on them," Togusa comments as he peels off. He is very pointedly shoving that first aid kid at Dante, though. Don't bleed on my patrol car.

"I think you win the long-term bet, turns out the Retrospec building has a basement, but it's so far down, it would have to be under the subway. Right on their doorstep and we still didn't walk away with as much information as I would have liked. But I've got something."

The car turns towards the beach. That was as close as Retrospec could figure for the nexus of the storm in the first place, whatever they have to fight is probably going to spit out there, too. Togusa has already figured out which of the major roads are impasses, so they're having to take a side way to get there.

Oh. Ohhh. So this is why Togusa wanted to get him in the car. Dante scowls down at the first-aid kit that's been shoved into his hands, wiping his bloodied forehead on he sleeve of his suit jacket.

Sorry, Togusa, there's a point to be made first. Dante pulls out a single bandaid, deadpanning straight at Togusa as he smacks it across one of the long gashes down his face.

Wow. So much better.

But after that, he drops the attitude, peeling off his gloves and rummaging through the box for something that might be more of use, flipping down the visor so that he can see himself to work. The biggest thing he can take care of is the gash on his forehead, cleaning up the blood and using a couple butterflies to hold it shut. Some of the smaller cuts are cleaned as well (usually with a hiss of pain because he's been so long without supplies that there's definitely dirt in the wounds and it hurts as they're sterilized...), and he comes up with one of the single-use cold packs, snapping it between his hands and draping it over the back of his right hand, where there's a sharp, ugly bruise identifying a broken bone. So far, Dante's been fighting through the pain, a consistent ache in his hand, letting adrenaline dull it enough that he could continue fighting. But as the cold compress touches his skin he bites the inside of his cheek hard to keep from yelping with pain.

"We found a contract," he forces out through gritted teeth. "Between these guys named Spinnato and Vanderweele. It was for building their headquarters and starting the company in the first place."

A check out the window to see if anything new's popped up since he started in on the first aid kit, and Dante adds, "We got the blueprints to the building, too. It's huge."

It is difficult to give Dante the Dad Stare out of only one eye while trying to watch the road, but Togusa is going to try. Is this what we're doing?

.....Missed you, too, Dante.

He is still trying to not make a big deal out of the fact that he is watching Dante's every move, for the signs of the things he can't hide. At least with no other cars on the road, it's not obvious when Togusa's attention isn't 100% in front of him. God damn it all, Dante.

What the hell did Retrospec send them into? How did Jim know to arm everybody up before this happened? And who was with Dante that wasn't able to take care of this? All the questions that are only going to make Togusa angrier so he has to shove them aside.

Focus on what he's saying, Dante's going to try to minimize it no matter what. "Vanderweele." There's a bell ringing somewhere. "I'll need more details later, but bounce this off of Hefaz, the guy that works at the museum? Damn, was that one of the names he was looking for?" Can't exactly check his phone right now. Something to worry about when the monsters are gone.

"That last bit doesn't surprise me. But it might be even worse than that. I went to the building marked as theirs, but other people were getting sent other places. Under the University, the subway, a bunker out in the woods. Retrospec has tech all over the city."

In Dante's defense, all of his injuries came after he'd lost all of the abilities and memories he'd gotten from Retrospec in the first place. Otherwise, things might have gone very differently.

Still, Togusa's got the right of it. Even as Dante leans back against the seat, taking stock of himself and checking in on his various aches and pains, he's trying not to show any sign of discomfort in spite of how he wants to go to sleep and not get back up for a week. "Hefaz?" he echoes. "I don't think I've talked to him personally yet. He came online a couple months ago, right?"

He shakes his head at Togusa's other words. "That's not worse. We knew they had to have stuff other places, right? Like the subways--we knew they had something going on down there. Now we just know where a few of those other locations are."

Look, Dante and Prompto keep saying they want to get treated like adults, so okay. This is no differently than Togusa would be treating Fynn or Juzo if they were in that seat right now, instead. Not turning it into A Thing, but making sure that a colleague is at their best. Punch a wall over it later.

"Mohammed, yeah. He's trying to give Dave a run for his money on being another imaginary friend. Haven't managed to bump into the guy in person. But he's been a good source of information, chasing down leads I can't get a start on." Spins the car around a corner to duck them through a few one-way alleys. He might also be trying to keep them out of areas that are too open, so they don't become pickings for the flying monsters. Even as he knows it's stupid that he has to watch out for that.

"What's weird is that our team was the only one that found any housing. Wherever they keep most of their employees? Wasn't at the part of the building we got access to. And the technicians that we were able to contact? Sounded like they were in a completely different facility. They couldn't do what they needed us to do because they couldn't get back here. Somehow."

Togusa's grip tightens on the wheel. "It still doesn't feel like we gained much ground on them because of that."

"He comes to the dojo Sunday nights," Dante comments, but that's not the important part of it all. "You guys found housing in the basement?"

But before Togusa can respond, he shakes his head. "Hang on. Save it until after. That way you can tell me everything at the same time."

"Course he does," Togusa sighs deeply and grimaces. The one place Togusa really needs to not go. Maybe even more so after all this.

Fine, he'll save the information swap for later, but he hesitates as he is taking them towards the boardwalk. Glancing at Dante sidelong, and there is just one more question that is too pressing to wait.

"Do I get to find out why the hell you're in a suit before we go get ourselves killed?"

Edited 2017-08-30 20:26 (UTC)

That makes Dante blink. He looks down at himself, at the tattered suit, then back up at Togusa.

"Is it really that weird? I used to wear suits all the time when I was on tour with my folks."

But okay, if he's really that curious-- "After two weeks of mines and swamps, the clothes I'd had before all this happened were pretty much ruined. I chose the suit from Hell Manor over flannel shirts and overalls from the swamp."

Togusa tilts his head to the side a little. "Yeah, if those are your options, that's what you go with." He shakes his head and laughs. "Just, never stop surprising me, Dante."

The car pulls to a stop as Togusa approaches what used to be the boardwalk. The devastation is just as bad here as it was at the convention center. Even from here, the lack of water gives a stark sandy landscape in the distance instead of what should be there. And there's clearly something moving out there.

"This is stupid," with the resigned tone of someone who can't figure out how his life got to this point. "This whole last month has been stupid." There's not really much more to say than that. A glance at Dante, to check if the two of them are just as stupid as the rest of the world, then.

Dante's expression sets in grim determination as the car comes to a stop, tugging his gloves back on over aching hands. Maybe that other him had been accustomed to fighting all the time, but he sure isn't, and now that he's made the mistake of sitting down for a little bit his entire body feels like it's protesting the idea of getting back up and moving again.

He's not going to admit to that, though; once he's gotten his gloves back on he's climbing out of the car, leaving the ice pack to warm in the passenger's seat. There's a battle brewing in the distance, a clear shape that's gotta be the "something bigger" that Togusa had mentioned...

"Yeah," he agrees, not taking his eyes off the creature in the distance. "Everything about this is pretty damn stupid."

Now he glances over to Togusa, shrugging one shoulder in near-apathy. "But then again, we're pretty stupid too."

Soul Eater comes to his hands amidst its usual swirl of shadows. Dante grabs it, held out and down... and jumps down to the sand, picking up an easy, loping run toward the monster.

It's go time.

Yeah. Yeah we are. Togusa sighs as he follows suit, getting out of the car, and powering up. Splintered shards of the boardwalk planks rise up and fly through the air towards Togusa, gathering up projectiles as he walks. Bullets aren't going to be enough here.

"We're not the only ones here" He can feel a bunch of other people already at the monster. Desperate, fighting, but focused. Not a one of them is thinking of running away. Well, backup is here, then.

Togusa picks up speed as they run across the sand. It's still littered with dried out plants, things that should have been protected on the ocean floor, but now exposed and dead. Just another reminder of why they have to win here.

The monster's mouth yawns open ahead of them, trying to pull everything nearby in, and spitting out acidic blasts to weaken them. Togusa is going to try to stay close to Dante, more because he knows clearly what Dante is capable of than just protectiveness. "Ready for this?" Togusa gestures, and his opening salvo shoots towards the inside of the creature's mouth, spearing what he hopes is a less protected area with the wooden shards.

The sound of Togusa's voice echoing inside of his mind is still enough to put Dante on edge as they run toward the monster, but he's got more important things to think about at the moment. Togusa's somehow summoning up shattered bits of wood around them, hovering around them as they run, and Dante's focused on Soul Eater in his hands and the monster before them. Just before Togusa gestures toward the beast, Dante nods an affirmative to his question, breaking into a sprint.

"Yeah, let's do this."

He springs up into the air, a vertical jump that would clear Togusa's head if they were standing next to each other, and uses one of Togusa's readied projectiles as a springboard to bounce up even higher. Once he's reached as high as he can go (he'll use more of those bits of wood if he can to get higher!), Dante jumps onto that familiar wave of power, riding it toward the monster in the sandy sea.

Soul Eater disappears from his hand for a moment, a different energy sparking to life instead. To throw his sword he'd need to jump off, but the bow of moonlight he's summoning now only requires focus and aim. He draws, his bow nearly invisible in the daylight, notched arrow a gleam in the sun, but when Dante releases it streaks forward, directly into the monster's mouth. He's not a great shot, but it's hard to miss when your target's that big!

Now he jumps from that wave of power, and for a moment he seems to hang in midair before the glow surrounds his body again, Soul Eater reappearing in its usual swirl of shadows. Dante seems to kick off from something above his head, streaking back down to the ground with his blade before him, carving straight down into the monster's hideous flesh as though it were one gelatinous mess.

"All right, ugly, show's over!"

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AUGUST EVENT LOG

II

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