JULY EVENT LOG 2.0

[recollecters]

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!

Comments

[scythegun]

[Jaeger turns when Wesker does, transforming the briefcase back into a scythe and getting ready to once again jump into action but uh...]

It's kind of cute! Do you think it wants to kill us too?

[manufactured]

[...]

It doesn't appear interested in lunging at us, at any rate.

[scythegun]

Huh. Maybe they're not all violent?

[manufactured]

Maybe.

[...He's sort of tempted to shoot it anyway. Is that terrible, he suspects that might actually be terrible, but he wants to see if it'll do something.

...Aiming again, why not.]

[scythegun]

Hold on, you aren't really going to shoot it, are you?

[OH MY GOD IT'S PROBABLY HARMLESS]

[manufactured]

[...Oh, what now.]

It isn't like it matters - it's a monster along with the rest, isn't it?

[scythegun]

Well, yes, but it's not trying to attack us. We can just leave it be.

[manufactured]

We could.

[It is just sort of hopping around for the time being.

The gun isn't lowering, though.]

[scythegun]

[...]

Or you could shoot it and see if it attacks us, I suppose.

[you're totally going to shoot it, aren't you.]

[manufactured]

That would be the plan.

[And with that, he shoots and the rabbit...

...Well, thankfully the rabbit abruptly turns to get the hell out of there as soon as the gun sounds off and glitches like hell in the process, and as a result the shot just kind of fires right through it; it proceeds to book it the absolute hell out of there in absolute bunny-spirit panic mode.]

Well, that answers that.

[LIKE IT AIN'T EVEN A THING.]

[scythegun]

I feel sort of bad for it...

[Poor thing... But hey, at least it didn't attack us! Not like fighting a vaguely cute bunny thing would have been fun, probably.]

[manufactured]

[He just shrugs a little - and who knows, maybe it would have mutated into something impressive.]

It isn't as though it was injured any, it's fine.

[scythegun]

[only you would assume a cute bunny would mutate into something else]

Ja, that's true. Shall we keep going?

[And hopefully not run into any more bunny-things to shoot.]

[manufactured]

[...listen.

he saw a plant eat a guy and turn into a sixty-foot whatever.

he would not be surprised if those bunnies did something awful.]

...That seems for the best, yes.

[come on, then.]

[scythegun]

[your memories are so fucked up

Anyway, it looks like that little bunny was the only one around which is probably a good thing. Hopefully we don't run into anything terrible! With our luck we'll get in a fight and actually need the damn medical supplies.]

...It seems a little too quiet, don't you think?

[manufactured]

...It does, yes.

[It's definitely got his nerves jangling, harder than he'd like to acknowledge; the adrenaline is good, in several ways, but at the same time, this isn't striking him as good, either.]

[scythegun]

[There's something worse about not knowing what it is you're about to face than actually fighting a monster and Jaeger tries to keep his hands from shaking. There's something around here scaring the other monsters off, right? That's what this has to be?

You might hear the flapping of wings above you. It might be a good idea to look up.]

[manufactured]

[...That's the problem with humans in general, isn't it, they aren't exactly biologically hardwired to look up; that said, there's something to be said for that sound, it's ominous as hell and when he looks up that's - ]

Really -

[The first shot he fires off is not well-aimed, but it gets the thing to change course for a brief moment; Jaeger, you'd better be doing something over there.]

[scythegun]

[He's muttering something that's probably pretty profane in German because how the hell does he fight that thing. He's got the handguns he stole borrowed, but it moves fast and he's not that good of a shot. He's only ever shot at targets before, not giant flying bats.

His aim isn't terrible but the best he can really do is clip the thing in the wing before it starts diving toward them. Maybe he'd be better off with the scythe.]

[manufactured]

[Great. All right, so Jaeger can only hit stationary targets full-on and Wesker only just learned to shoot as of about an hour ago, this is going to suck more than they have any capacity to handle, isn't it - ]

...Either we find cover or we risk dying. Your choice.

[scythegun]

Cover it is!

[The thing takes to the skies again, probably preparing for another dive-bomb attack, so that'll give us at least a little time to find somewhere to hide. You got any bright ideas?]

[manufactured]

[...His flight response doesn't fucking work, does it look like he has any bright ideas outside of firing another couple of shots at it to discourage it from coming at us again before turning and grabbing Jaeger's arm to shove him in a generalized direction toward some of the taller buildings.]

Move.

[Cover doesn't have to be anywhere brilliant, or anywhere indoors for that matter - just somewhere that this thing can't follow, narrow alleyways between buildings work, let's try for that - ]

[scythegun]

[He'll move alright, down the alleyway we go! It looks like the thing's too big to fit in here to get after us, but it's flying overhead menacingly.]

Great, let's hope it finds someone else to terrorize soon.

[manufactured]

It's not as though we had many other options.

[IT'S BETTER THAN DYING.]

[scythegun]

No, no, I agree. I don't want to get into any fights we can't win.