achates | [DAY 1-] TDM/OVERFLOW

Entry tags:

[DAY 1-] TDM/OVERFLOW

Error in final launch sequence:
Failed to execute MI command:
target remote localhost: 01633
Error message from debugger back end:
Cannot access memory at address 𝟹͚̽𝚡̰̍̂𝟸̠̯̘ͭͧ𝚌̭͉̺͖ͥ𝟿̳̰̒̇ͅ𝟷̦ͣ̉͌̅𝚋͓͎̈̒̀𝟻ͭ̌͂𝟷ͩ̓𝟾̦
Failed to execute MI command:
target remote localhost: 01633
Error message from debugger back end:
Cannot access memory at address 𝟹̖͇͕̃𝚡͉̹̯͇̻̉̓̂𝟸͚̹͈͓̩͚̲̼͒̾𝚌̱̠͙̝̪͇̈̌̂̃̄ͭ𝟿̱̜̪͓̳̹ͤ̊̈́ͦͥ̑𝟷͖̱̝̀̒̇̂̄̈́̓̇ͅ𝚋̥̯͉̹͛͛̊ͤͦͩ𝟻̬̮̈́̋ͯ͛̉̐𝟷̋ͩ̔̔𝟾̼
Waiting for debugger connection...
Debugger connected
Debugger connection lost.
Waiting for debugger connection...
Debugger connected
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Target is not responding, retrying...
Debugger connection lost.
Shutting down...
Rebooting
Download in Progress:
File download complete
Time elapsed during download operation: 00:12:33.131
Rebooting
Launching Demon Summoning Program. . .

arrival

You open your eyes to the end of the world, but you do not see it.

Instead what rouses you is screaming and crying, blood and tears: all around you are signs of life. Inside the overturned train, people begin to awaken, sprawled on the ground as if thrown violently from their seats, broken bones and bleeding wounds struggling to rise from the carpet of shattered glass from the windows at their feet. Emerging from the wreck, characters will find themselves at the edge of a dense forest, a towering stone wall at their backs. Bright eyes peer out from the shadows of the foliage, more and more blinking into view like stars in a darkening sky, but despite being drawn to the scent of blood that hangs heavy in the air, nothing steps out of the forest. Not yet.

None of the passengers can recall what happened, what they were doing on a train, where it was going- there's more they can't remember, but overshadowing the gaps of memory are things they have gained in return. A familiar item that is not theirs. A gemstone that feels lighter than it appears, as if hollow inside. And a device that wraps around their wrist (or rests on their head, or hangs around their neck, or however it presents itself to each character) that starts up on its own the moment the character turns their attention to it, as if waiting. Each character's COMP has a "navigator" selected at default, either:

"A☆L☆A" in bright neon orange, or "K5" in cool slate blue, although the presiding navigator can be freely switched between them.

Heya, boss! My name's Ala, your new navi!

You wanna know something really funny? Go ahead and touch the map on the corner of the screen to enlarge it. See all those little red dots? Those are demons out to kill you. Haha! You're surrounded!

Heya, boss! You can call me Keigo, your navigational AI.

If you touch the map on the corner of the screen, you can enlarge it and see the positions of all your allies. Looks like some of you are already heading out: see those little blue— oh. That one just disappeared. ... Try to stick together.

Along with providing a map with enemy/ally positions, the navigators will walk characters through the demon interaction, recruitment, and summoning processes, with advice varying between the two navigators:

Just beat 'em up and force 'em to join! They can't say no if they're dead!

Nobody is immune to bribery, not even demons. What do you even have, though...? No matter what, don't let them get that life stone.

More demons incoming! Ooh, you're screwed. You'd better run! Don't worry, I won't tell.

Let's hide here. We'll wait here until that demon passes, then move!

Look, a body! Are they still alive? Wonder what's in their pockets...?

It's already too late to help. But better them being demon food than you.

setting

Or, you could stay. There is nothing forcing anybody to leave the relative safety of the train. Those who stay behind will find the conductor's cabin empty, save for a small black cat perched on the headrest of the driver's seat that peers out with bright golden eyes at those who enter. Otherwise, there are no signs of a fight or struggle inside the cabin. Elsewhere, there is unclaimed luggage in the overhead compartments with an abundance of clothing and blankets, although characters will not find any of their own clothing except what they're already wearing. The dining cart is still stocked with enough food and beverage to last each passenger at least two days— maybe longer, if people keep leaving/dying... But at the same time, maybe shorter, considering the pervasive hunger that gnaws at the pits of everybody's stomachs, an emptiness that yearns to be filled by something... more.

As minutes stretch into hours, it becomes painfully clear that nobody is coming to help. Everybody only has each other, this town, its inhabitants.

The forest is dark and unforgiving, near impossible to navigate even with a map. Strange creatures jump out from the shadows, eyes bright, mouths salivating, hungry. Strong hands claw through the dirt underfoot to grab at people's feet, pulling themselves up, mouths wide open, hungry. Sharp talons swoop down from the skies above, snatching characters up into the air, crushing skulls and snapping spines. Hungry. The demons here seem delighted to see such a feast wandering right into their home; those who are stopped for attempted conversation express surprise that characters are able to see them, but ultimately the hunger wins, and hunger does not listen to reason.

Casualties are inevitable. Blood mist permeates the air, and follows even as characters break out of the forest and across town, all the way to the fraying end of the world. Out in the open, however, the sun rays beat down bright and harsh, and those hungry eyes shy away from the sunlight to remain in the shadows, inside husks of buildings and thickets of overgrown fields. Characters will be able to find refuge in the greenhouse and the church, and some of the standing houses are truly vacant (as opposed to "surprise! there's actually a demon inside!" vacant); the only eyes that follow you are those of photographs hung crooked on the walls, of familiar strangers and forgotten friends. Look, there's a picture of you too.

Other locations require more caution to explore:

The sound of crying can be heard from the upper stories of the school building, thin wails echoing up and down the deserted halls, and human-like shadows peer out from the broken, unboarded windows, as if watching. A barricade inside the front doors makes it difficult to enter from the main entrance, and with most of the windows boarded up, the hallways inside remain dark even during the day. The smell of rot is prominent, heavy and cloying, especially in the auditorium-become-mausoleum that is littered with crushed bones, thin and brittle, every last scrap of flesh already nibbled away. A flock of demons crowd around outside principal's office, where a blizzard blows through the entire hallway, rendering visibility near zero and temperatures below that.

The hospital is also deathly cold, breath visible in puffs of mist that sometimes form into screaming faces, and when all is still and quiet, you look up and see yourself. Shadows form into mirror images of the characters who enter the hospital, silently approaching others and attacking once the person's guard is down. If a demon borrowing your face isn't bad enough, Phantoms go a step further and take the form of people who are close to your character: friends, family, foes. Exploring the hospital may or may not be worth the potential backstabbing, considering the fact that the supplies found are maybe not the most sterile, half the equipment is rusted or corroded, and a lot of the medicine is unlabeled tablets and capsules inside unlabeled bottles (essentially, take at your own risk). Moreover, hordes of all sorts of demon ghosts will bar characters' way down to the basement, gathering in massive numbers anytime somebody tries to descend. Electricity bounces around the top of the stairway down, while bright flames lick the bottom of the stairs; particularly unlucky characters may be hit with a confusion spell, liable to throw themselves headfirst down the stairs to be consumed by the waiting demons below.

Hauntingly beautiful music can be heard from within the concert hall, and listening to their song puts you fast asleep— possibly in the middle of the street if you're not careful— while those who manage to make it past the front doors are immediately frozen in a hunk of ice or electrocuted to a crisp before being kicked to the curb. The concert hall appears to be actively guarded, and it's clear that strangers are Not Welcome. Even the other demons keep clear of this building, drawn to the music but lingering far enough to not be overwhelmed. Characters may have an easier time of initiating conversations with demons from around town or inside the houses nearby the concert hall.

The crackle of electricity can be heard from inside the power plant's upper stories despite the blackout, and the entire building shakes from time to time, as if caught in a thunderstorm, or an earthquake. A slow drip... drip... drip... can be heard throughout the building, of amorphous demons clinging to the walls like mold and leaving puddles of caustic acid Everywhere. Anybody who enters the power plant's front entrance is met with a massive agglomerate of black Ooze that has expanded to fill the entire first floor from wall to wall, floor to ceiling, preventing anybody from going upstairs while it remains. Arms and legs poke out of the demon's body in places, desperately clawing and kicking, weaker, weaker. done.

Day 1

The night drags on.

The moon, full and bright, illuminates the world below as demons rise in indulgence of the hunt. All those who are not securely tucked away become prey, whose blood runs freely down the streets, whose screams fill the air in symphony, whose lives are snuffed out one by one as the night grows darker- but not quieter, no. Towards the far west, wind picks up in a deafening howl that tears through the forest violently enough to uproot trees, followed by a thunderous explosion atop the wall that sends large chunks of rock crashing down on parts of the immobile train, creating shockwaves felt all the way into town. Dark clouds gather overhead, smothering the moon and unleashing a downpour that continues unrelentingly until dawn, when the paltry sunlight behind the clouds is only enough to see that the rain that falls is in fact blood, thick and warm, coating the rooftops and the streets. Rivulets trickle towards the east, where they spill over the edges of the world and into the cavernous abyss of a mouth below.

Day 1 -

Those who sleep will dream.

They dream of being flat on their back, lying on hard metal, a warm breeze caressing their cheek, the faint scent of cherry blossom in the air. They dream of their bodies feeling like lead, heavy and unable to move, hardly able to breathe— and all the while in complete darkness. Whether they give in to exhaustion or struggle valiantly against it, they will eventually open their eyes to a different scene: of somebody's home before here, you and that person reliving the very last memory they had before waking up in the train just yesterday. It's a memory that culminates in darkness. Give in. Struggle. Open your eyes again and again and again, and eventually you will wake up to what you wish were just another bad dream: the unfortunate plane of existence we call reality.

It may not be a good morning, but it's morning. If characters glance at their COMP, they will see a bright number 7 on the screen that disappears as their chosen AI chimes in with a good morning greeting ("Whoa! Congrats on surviving the night, boss!" or "Yikes, you look like shit. Did you get any rest at all?"). Pulling up the map function shows fewer blue ally dots as expected, but perhaps unexpectedly, much fewer red enemy dots as well: there are very few demons to be seen, and those that are, show little interest in hunting unless they are attacked first. The forest is still and quiet, red Mandrake leaves littering the floor in abundance but the demons remain rooted underground, the Hares of Inaba huddled snug within their dens, bird demons taken roost underneath the canopy to keep out of the blood rain. The concert hall is silent today, guards at the door watchful and ready to snipe intruders. Inside the powerplant, the giant Ooze spreads lazily across the first floor, filling the space wall to wall, acid seeping underneath the front doors and burning its way outside. Indoors, outdoors, demons keep to themselves, seemingly sated.

It's almost peaceful. If you didn't know better.

The drizzle of blood tapers off over the course of Day 1, replaced by normal rain once night hits. The water that falls is clear, though bitter and metallic tasting, and the stormy weather continues for several days more. The temperature outside dips, even during the daytime, and the hunger that continues to persist (unless you're BB, who ate a Pixie, maybe) is made worse by the appearance of a hot dog stand that has been set up in front of the school building.

Its existence in this place is wholly suspicious, entirely nonsensical, manifested as if out of a yandere devil summoner fever dream— and yet the mystery meat smells divine, and you are so so hungry.

"Hee-ho! Get your hot dogs here-ho! What? What kind of mee-hee-t is in it, ho? Don't worry about it, ho!"

JACK FROST

LOCATION
hot dog stand

STRENGTH
ice

WEAKNESS
fire

INFORMATION:
Jack Frost is a spirit originating from England who brings in cold weather during the winter and is responsible for the frost that forms on the windows of homes and buildings. Though it is usually friendly and innocent, it also has a mischievous personality and will freezes those it dislikes to death, smiling all the while.

SKILLS:
Mabufudyne: heavy ice damage (multi-target)
Megidolaon: mega almighty damage (multi-target)

NOTE: This demon is non-recruitable.

Can anybody resist that cute face? never mind the sales pitch. Jack Frost will operate on a barter system, though it really only seems interested in people's gemstones, or if they're willing to slaughter and bring it a Katakirauwa in exchange for a cold but still delicious hotdog dressed up in any variety of condiment. For those who muster the courage to go demon hunting to earn their meal, they will find that a single hotdog will stave off hunger for up to three days. For those who gave up their gemstone instead, K5 will be screaming at them not to do that, but also, please tell me. Maybe they'll rethink the offer, noticing that the gemstones they'd found on their person now feel slightly warm to the touch- growing warmer when in proximity to another person's gemstones, their colors more vibrant, stones faintly glowing as if with internal light.

Generous as Jack Frost is with providing dubious sustenance, it's a different story when it comes to the vending machine beside its stall. Inside are various drinks guaranteed to be cold, and include bottled water, coffee, teas, juices, blood and tears and many other questionable unlabeled liquids among its touted 100!!! varieties of beverage ("""beverage"""). Two problems: 1) there is no selection button, so you do not get to choose your drink; and 2) the machine will only take macca. Where to get macca? Figure that out yourself and earn your drink gacha.

OOC

This is an OVERFLOW log reposting prompts from the day 0 and day 1- logs. New players can use this log as a TDM, and current players can move threads here if they wish. All new characters will arrive in the train regardless of the IC day.

Click sentences marked with the black triangle

to expand the full prompt.

When posting new toplevels, please specify the IC day(s). For new players, this would be day 3 or 4 as of now.

Starting night 1 and continuing for several nights after, characters' dreams may feature the circumstances around other characters' canonpoints. These may take the form of being a bystander, or from the point of view of the character, whichever would be more fun/interesting to play, and may be interactive (dream investigation...!) or purely observational.

For current players, the questions/investigations toplevel below can be used for new investigations past day 1.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Please use this toplevel for any questions, investigation requests, and interaction requests with either navigator.

Solo investigations are allowed, but please make sure to disseminate the information learned! There is no upper limit for investigations, but preferably each character will only be on 1-2 ongoing investigations at a time. Once an investigation has concluded, you're always free to submit for another!

To further investigate a location, please use the following form:

Character(s):
Location:
IC Day: also specify time of day if needed, otherwise the default is daytime
Action: what specifically are they looking for/doing

Character(s): Kaito Momota, Merlin (threading)
Location: Greenhouse
IC Day: Day 2 Night
Action: We're poking at that plant from my accepted app message! Guess if anything happens because of that, it'll be in that thread instead of in an investigation.

The flower doesn't try to eat them, or dissolve them, or do any sort of harm to them— if anything, the two of them feel a little calmer for it, whether that's because no danger comes to pass or because that's a property of the plant. Like chamomile.

Not long after they touch the flower, each of their COMPs glow with a faint blue light, not bright or urgent enough to interrupt what they're doing but just a "hey, um," from k5 who displays their demon status (or just Merlin's if Kaito is still "uh, no" about demon contracts) on the COMP screen: the demons are all asleep. They'll wake up on their own eventually, or if they're summoned and smacked around a little, but for now they're nice and cozy and zzzz

Copypasting myself:

Merlin will want to take a closer look at the flower after that, to see if has any pollen, thorns, or whatnot on it. He'll also ask Keigo if he recognizes this flower species, whether it's by his internal database or stuff about the flora here in the reference books he perused and had him translate.

No thorns, but there does seem to be ample pollen at the center of the flowers. k5 runs a search on his internal database/reference books and while there isn't anything specifically identifying the plant, he comes across some matches from another source: the gardening club logbook from the school that Merlin and Armin had investigated before.

Again, there are not specific plants named, but a member did manage a decent drawing of the flowers in question, and there are notes about it having a calming effect that just barely offsets the frustration of how hard it is to grow. According to the notes, the flowers only bloom for a day or so once a month, though they don't always survive to the next month's bloom. Maybe they're being overwatered? The club members were pretty Okay at watering their plants, but maybe Okay is too much. They've been propagating the plant by stem cuttings, which had been a hit-or-miss, but overall doesn't seem to have been a priority for the club.

Re: logbook, Merlin will doublecheck the notes to see if there are any mentions of the typical overwatering signs, e.g. yellowing and wilting, as opposed to underwatering (looks dry). He'll also check the logbook for any mentions of how long it takes for the stem cuttings to grow.

He'll also summon his sleepy Cait Sith to examine if it has any visible pollen or magical powder on it as a result of touching the flower (I assume not but still.)

According to the gardening club notes, overall the signs point to overwatering, not only for this plant in particular but for many of the others as well. The plants are thriving now bc they're being left alone, ig. The stem cuttings take several weeks to grow in optimal conditions, which the gardening members haven't exactly figured out but it's reportedly easier to start the cuttings in just water first, then potting them in soil once the roots start growing. Of the fertilizers they've tried, the plant seems to take best to ones with supplementary iron.

Merlin summons Cait Sith who appears and is all zzzz. It looks like a peaceful sleep, pleasant dreams. There doesn't seem to be any visible pollen or magical powder.

So, given the effects the plant is having on demons and how stem cutting seems viable iiiiiif you know what you're doing -- his confidence being pretty good because, well, you know Kaito, when isn't he overflowing confidence in himself? -- Kaito would search around for pots he can take himself. True, the greenhouse might be the best place to grow them, but if they're as hard to grow as it seems he'd rather have one or two stem cuttings with himself, so he can monitor them easier once it's time to move the stem cuttings from water to soil.

Is this viable? Any flowerpots he can take along, or similar? While it might take several weeks to grow stem cuttings in optimal conditions, he's already trying to figure out a way to speed this up. Probably won't succeed at that, but the first step simply is to be able to take some along.

Another two questions to piggyback off of Kaito's, since I hadn't thought of them until mid-thread just now:

1. Are/were there any footprints found near the flowers before Kaito (and Merlin) came over?
2. Are there any broken parts of the greenhouse roof near the flowers? Any near enough to feed them some tasty supplementary iron from blood rain...

Character(s): Kate
Location: Greenhouse
IC Day: Day 3
Action: Dimitri suggested she try this, so she's going to leave a note by the sealed door to attempt to reach out to whoever has been passing through there. It reads:

Hello. My name is Kate. I am here with some people who are taking shelter nearby. Do you live here?

We would like to find a way to get past the sealed doors in this town. Do you know how?

Please don't be alarmed if we enter your space. I promise, we mean no harm.

She will leave a pen with the note in case someone finds it and decides to write a reply, and she'll check back later to see if the note has been moved or responded to.

If she checks back later in the day... there is no response.

Day 4... no response.

It won't be until Day 5 that she'll find that the note is gone- with a brief look around, though, she'll spot the corner of a piece of paper stuck underneath one of the flowerpots on a low table. It's her original note, sandwiched between two pieces of paper: the bottom page is blank, while the topmost page has writing on it, slightly smeared with dirt from the underside of the pot, and is written in the same strange writing as in the library books and all other writing around town. Translated via COMP, the message reads:

"hey, stupid. if mom caught you doodling instead of working, she'd kick your ass. hide your shit better next time. you're lucky i didn't just throw this away. what is this even supposed to be?"

...

It's quite possible that whoever wrote this doesn't understand Kate's writing without a translator. Either AI can translate Kate's note into the other language and have her copy it back on paper if she wants to try again. If so, she can resend her original letter, or edit it. Otherwise, she can try something else.

Character(s): Kate, Alice, Minato, Kaito, Charlemagne, Calia, Dimitri
Location: Greenhouse
IC Day: Day 4
Action: Kate is bringing a group of six people (Kate, Alice, Minato, Kaito, Charles, Calia) to all try holding their gemstones up to the sealed door in the greenhouse. Dimitri is there to watch them and intervene if there's danger.

What happens?

The six of them hold their gemstones up to the door and watch as the colors fade— but not all the way this time, leaving the stones a nice soft pastel rather than completely clear. The exhaustion doesn't hit as hard as Kate and Alice would remember from their previous attempt either; it feels more like it's 3AM and you've hit your second wind.

More importantly, the barrier that appears absorbs the colors of each stone becomes clear as the colors mix, allowing the group to see past the barrier to the "other side" of the door. Looking straight down at the door from above, they see what looks like a forest beyond the barrier, a dusty grey-blue sky visible through the leaves and branches.

k5 on Kate's COMP will pipe up here:

"Careful, boss. That looks like a demon domain up ahead. You'll be facing stronger demons in there, and I don't have a map of the area either, so I won't be able to navigate as effectively as I can over here. If you're gonna go in, make sure you're all prepared for anything that can happen."

As long as the six of them (more specifically, their gemstones) remain within the general vicinity of the door, the domain will remain open for them or anybody else to pass through. If they leave and come back they'll have to re-boop.

If they decide to enter now, note that this may interfere with any Day 4+ plans they might have; leaving the domain won't be as easy as entering it. If they decide to wait and come back later instead, that's fine too, just let me know what you guys decide. For visibility, I'll put up a new log for the demon domain rather than continuing with the investigation thread.

The six of us who booped our gems will go forward!

o7 give me time to write something up and I'll get back to you guys soon!

Character(s): Nao Mizushita
Location: Top of the train and wall
IC Day: 3
Action: Nao has noticed that there are pieces of wall on the top of the train and blackness where the wall coloring used to be! What's up with that? Is there anything that her spiritual sense might pick up as she focuses on it while chatting with Caster via COMP?

The darkness will feel the same way to her as the void does on the eastern part of town, that same malice and drawn without her having to be on the other side of the wall to feel it. She can tell that the darkness isn't the lack of something, but rather, an encroaching something the same way the rest of the void is an encroaching something.

Since Merlin is a part of this thread and is keeping track of the void's spread, I'll add that by Day 3 he will definitely be able to tell that it's eating away closer towards town. It's not uniform along the entire length of the void's edge, and the largest amount of loss is only by a couple of inches, but there's movement and that's probably worrying, maybe.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[DAY 1-] TDM/OVERFLOW

questions/investigations

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greenhouse investigation!

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investigation: the weird wall

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