recolle | JULY EVENT LOG 2.0

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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

...I appreciate it, Jaeger. Truly.

[From the sound of it, he genuinely does; it shows decidedly more than it usually does in his words.

It seems they've managed to find his property without further incident, however - thankfully, given how ugly that last encounter with a monster had gotten.]

Come in and make your way to the study while I let the dogs out; they shouldn't trouble you.

[...Well, mostly. He's keeping one of them inside, granted.]

I appreciate it as well.

[He's back to the usual level of cheerfulness, but his words are sincere for once.

At that his expression falls a little, but he nods anyway.]

Ja, hopefully they won't.

[From the sound of it, he's pretty sure they're going to find him way more interesting than any monsters they may potentially encounter, but maybe he'll be lucky and Wesker's dogs won't have any interest in him!! He'll make his way to the study without complaining anymore, though.]

[...Well, their entrance will get the usual burst of canine insanity happening from somewhere in the house; it isn't long before most of it makes its way...well, outside of the house, and may god help any of those bunny spirits that are out there.

However, when Wesker enters the study he isn't alone; he's got Ares with him today, who is...honestly far more chill than Apollo ever would be, but that isn't saying much given that Apollo's default setting is still "maul everything that isn't Wesker."

Still, Ares is a good-sized dog, and he's quick to nudge Wesker away from the weirdo in the study like he doesn't trust Jaeger to not stab anybody or something, and this is going to end interestingly, probably.]

Easy...

[It's quiet but it's calm, aimed more at the dog than Jaeger, though he's sure Jaeger's going to be a mess as well; he's just going to sit down and pet the hell out of this dog, if no one minds, because today has been An Experience.]

He'll let us know if anything gets near the room, at least.

[Jaeger's already sitting when Wesker enters but when he notices the dog he gets to his feet and backs away.]

Ah. I see you kept one with you.

[It's a good reason at least, and Wesker obviously trusts his dogs to alert them to any monsters around which is good. But that doesn't change the fact that Jaeger doesn't like dogs and dogs don't like him, so here he is edging away from the dog and looking more than a little nervous.]

[That just gets a low noise from the dog - one that Wesker is quick to silence by way of contact and a rather firm command to hush, but it's still there, and it's going to be very clear that this dog is remaining firmly planted between Wesker and Jaeger for the duration.]

Oh, will both of you calm down - you have nothing to worry about, he won't bite you.

He'd better not bite me! The last thing I need is a trip to the emergency room!

[He'll just stand behind the chair. Yep. Putting the chair between himself and the dog is a great idea, this will absolutely protect him from your hellhound.]

Stop acting like you have a reason to be afraid of him and he'll calm down. This isn't difficult.

[ohhhh my god why are you like this.]

Maybe for you it isn't! I don't like dogs and dogs don't like me!

[why is your dog like this!!!!]

Jaeger. Sit down.

[WHY ARE BOTH OF YOU LIKE THIS, HONESTLY.]

[FINE but he's moving the chair back here so there's some distance between himself and the dog!!

He'll sit and fold his arms, watching the dog warily.]

[...Just. Let him go back to petting his dog over here so Ares doesn't get too riled up at whatever the hell it is you're doing over there, all right.]

He's protective over what's his. As far as he's concerned in this room right now, that's me. Don't act aggressive or overly excitable and it'll be fine.

...Easier said than done, you know.

[Especially because he's always overly excitable. He'll remain where he is, sitting as still as he can so as to hopefully not draw the dog's attention.]

I know.

[And he does, even if he's being verbally insistent that it's not really a big thing; either way, the dog's presence seems to be calming him down a bit - he's been tense since the entire incident with that monster earlier, and honestly it's good having Ares here so he'll know if one of those is in the goddamn vicinity.

...Speaking of.]

...I appreciate you carrying the guns back here, by the way.

[God knows he didn't want to be handling them at the moment.]

[...You know, he's honestly not sure if he prefers the dog or whatever this conversation's about to become.]

Ja, it was no problem. It didn't occur to me why you were having a problem at first, but once you explained what happened...

[He shifts a little in his seat, running a hand back through his hair. He's still staring at the dog instead of Wesker.]

[That dog is staring right back, and the longer Jaeger maintains eye contact, the more it seems to be getting his hackles up - ]

Eye contact is a sign of aggression, you know. Don't look him in the face.

[...Anyway.]

...I just wanted the gun away from me once things became particularly bad. I didn't want to do anything with it, but I could see how it would be tempting. I didn't want to be able to pick it up while I was thinking like that.

[He just sort of sighs at that, dropping his gaze to the floor instead. Why are dogs so difficult...]

No, I understand. It makes sense. I'm glad you had the foresight to consider that possibility.

[He can't even imagine what it would be like to watch Wesker— No, he's not going to think about it.]

[...And doing it like that is submission, but you know what, it just gets the most audibly arrogant whuffing noise out of Ares before he lies down at Wesker's feet. Still alert, but at the very least looking a bit less like he thinks Jaeger is immediately about to do something stupid.]

Of course.

[...]

You are going to be all right, aren't you?

[Does he look like he knows anything about dogs???]

Ja, of course! It was just a bit of a shock, but I'm fine, I promise.

[He is fine, isn't he? Now that he doesn't have to worry about monsters or Wesker's sudden breakdown he can actually try to figure that out, but he doesn't really want to study it for very long. He's fine, probably.]

As long as you're certain.

Either way, I'll see to it that nothing like that happens in front of you again. I imagine it was unpleasant, whether you're fine in the end or not.

...It was unpleasant, yes, but I'm glad I was able to help you. I don't want anything like that to happen to you again.

[He knows it's not possible to control that, not if more of those monsters show up.]

[He doesn't seem to know what to do with that; give him a moment.]

It certainly wasn't pleasant on my end, either, but it likely looked more alarming than it warranted. I'm fine, in the end.

I didn't expect any of that, but the most alarming thing was that you couldn't tell me what was wrong.

[Maybe "wouldn't" is the right word, he doesn't know. He wants to ask about it, but now isn't the time.]

I'm glad everything worked out okay, though. Are you feeling better now?

I am, yes.

[He does seem more settled, at least. Still tense, but far less so by now.]

Don't let that be your primary concern, if it happens again. If we need to move, just ensure that we do it. As I said, I won't be pleased about it, but I'd prefer to be alive and displeased than dead because I was left to my own devices - I can answer for whatever the issue is later.

Understood. Hopefully nothing like this ever happens again, but I appreciate the warning.

Hopefully not. Bluntly put, I would have preferred that you hadn't seen that in the first place.

[It's...kind of an awkward thing, really, even if he's entirely aware that it wasn't his fault.]

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