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]

[IT'D BE FUCKING HILARIOUS AND YOU KNOW IT]

Excellent, one of these evenings we'll have to test it out!

[this is going to turn into "see if he can tell a spooky story that actually creeps wesker out" and it's not going to work]

[manufactured]

[HE CAN'T PRONOUNCE "ZOMBIES" THIS IS GONNA BE A MESS]

Perhaps it'll be a decent distraction from whatever the apocalypse currently happening outside ends up doing, assuming it doesn't stop in a timely manner.

[scythegun]

I certainly hope it stops in a timely manner! I can't imagine dealing with this nonstop!

[Fighting monsters is fun, but doing it all the time just sounds tiring.]

[manufactured]

The colors still haven't fully returned, you realize.

[Just...saying, this might be happening for a while.]

[scythegun]

...Ja, I know.

[Siiiigh.]

We should probably stock up before we return to the shooting range. If we're there for awhile we'll need food too.

[manufactured]

...It may end up being more prudent to bring whatever we may want from the range back here. I at least have some supplies here to hold us over, to say nothing of the dogs for protection.

[...okay look you may hate his dogs but they fucking swarm

they will take down pretty much anything]

[scythegun]

[...]

That's true. I'm sure you'd feel safer with your dogs around, right? As long as they don't get too close to me, it should be fine.

[Please don't let your dogs swarm him, he'll die.]

[manufactured]

[...staying here would be nice, admittedly...]

...They aren't going to bite you. I'll make sure of that much.

[scythegun]

Good! As long as I can count on you for that then I certainly wouldn't mind staying here!

[Wesker's house is familiar and it'll probably be way more comfortable than the shooting range at night.]

[manufactured]

We should go, then - just pick up what we want at the range, and then come back here. I'm sure we could benefit from the guns, if nothing else.

[...God, he doesn't want to get up, but come on, we ought to.]

[scythegun]

Ja, ja, let's get going!

[He's not exactly eager to get out there, but he's feeling energized now and he feels like he can take on some more monsters, so let's go!!]

[manufactured]

At least one of us is excited...

[good lord jaeger he sort of just wants to sleep for ten years where do you get all the damn energy

but yes, yes, he'll come with, let's go, we've got some guns to pick up

and ammunition, ammunition is a good idea]

[scythegun]

[Part of it is that he hasn't had this much fun in years!! And part of it is the magical ring he's wearing, so uh.]

Oh come now, I'm not that excited!

[he says, like this makes it any better.

But yes, let's head back in the direction of the shooting range! Hopefully no one else has raided the place by now...]

[manufactured]

[It'll take us a while to get there, at the very least, because he is still absolutely not trying to drive while we have a serious monster problem. At least most of them seem to be concentrated closer to the city itself and they shouldn't have a problem for at least a little while, attack-wise.]

...I imagine those at Retrospec won't tolerate their app being down for long; as soon as it's functional again, I'm going to want to make sure Elda is doing well. I've no doubt that she's managing, but I haven't seen her since the incident with the dragon at the convention center.

[scythegun]

[That's good! It's good to save their energy for travel, after all.]

I saw her earlier. Her arm was injured, but I bandaged it.

[. . .]

And then she got eaten by a frog monster, but I saved her from that!

[BECAUSE HE KNEW YOU'D NEVER LET HIM HEAR THE END OF IT IF HE JUST LET A FROG-THING EAT YOUR GIRLFRIEND]

[manufactured]

...How in the world did she manage that?

[No, really, how do you just get eaten by a frog monster - ]

[scythegun]

I don't know! It just sort of popped up and broke through the floor of my shop! It just happened to be right beneath her, I suppose!

[DON'T BLAME HIM FOR THIS, HE DID NOTHING WRONG (for once)]

[manufactured]

[no he absolutely blames you but you know what - ]

...I appreciate you taking care of her, at least.

[EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T PREVENT HER FROM BEING EATEN BY SOMETHING??? at least you made sure she got un-eaten.]

[scythegun]

[IT WAS SUPER GROSS, WESKER]

I did what I could. I knew you'd never let me hear the end of it if I didn't get her out of there!

[manufactured]

[oh come on - ]

It isn't as though I'm her keeper - it's a bit of a stretch to say we're even dating, really.

[he just. really likes her company and she got kind of surreally hot lately? it. yeah. um. awkward.]

[scythegun]

Ja, I know! But you would be annoyed if I let anything happen to her, wouldn't you?

[why are you like this??? oh my god]

[manufactured]

[...is this what we're doing today. is it really.]

I suppose I would, yes.

[scythegun]

[yes of course it is]

See? I didn't want to deal with that, so I did what I could to save her!

[And also because he kind of likes her, not that he'll admit that.]

[manufactured]

...I'm sure.

[just don't decide that today is a good day to talk about friendship at him again and this is acceptable]

[scythegun]

What is that for? Don't tell me you doubt me!

[maybe you'll be spared today. maybe.]