[DAY 0] TDM.

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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. . .

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 (click to expand)

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.

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.

OOC

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Welcome to Day 0! What better meet-and-greet is there than everybody being tossed into the fray to fight for their lives? ('': For convenience, here are the game info, locations, and demon compendium pages; please use these as reference for what more can be found in the setting.

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The characters' COMP will turn on only after they notice and focus on it. If they do NOT activate the COMP, they will not be able to see the demons or interact with them in any way other than being killed. Activating the COMP will allow characters to see demons and somewhat understand their language, with an added effect of allowing physical attacks to harm demons, and mitigating the damage taken from demons.

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For characters who app and are accepted, please report demon recruitment here. Characters who are just tdming do not have to report. Recruited demons are inclined to listen to their summoner, but are not necessarily friendly at the beginning: if your character shows weakness, the demon may be just as likely to eat them as they are to protect them.

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There will be no NPCs in this game other than the two navigators and some key demons. You're on your own for now!

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This first event/tdm is open to the public, and can be used for test driving at any time after the game starts. I'll be keeping a pulse on threads for when characters have gotten their bearings and seem to have a general idea of how they want to proceed into the next day, and we'll go from there.

Comments

[blastoffed]

Good luck!

[By then Kaito had gotten busy himself, scavenging anything he could get from the abandoned luggage nearby. He loks up when he hears the noise of the suitcase getting caught on the door frame]

Wait, this isn't right.

[Not really all that bothered about having to interrupt what he was doing, Kaito approaches, spinning the suitcase so it's aligned with the doorway]

Any time you get stuck, take a second to figure out what's stopping you. The answer can be easier to see than you'd think.

[Unsolicited advice, but, well, he drops that kind of thing very often, as if Kaito has everything about life figured out already]

[sootprints]

[ Well, one of the reasons she's struggling with this is the fact that she doesn't want to turn around and face Kaito's direction. He'll see her. And then what?

But then he comes up to help dislodge the luggage, and she suddenly drops it, her hands flying up to cover her face. ]

I... I had it just fine! I don't need help.

[ ... Somehow, smoke appears to rise from her head. ]

[blastoffed]

[Smoke rising from her head sure gets him pretty taken aback! Her hands cover her face, and Kaito steps back, letting go of the luggage, eyeing the smoke that's rising]

Hey, you alright?! You're literally smoking. Smoke, for real!

[And you sure don't seem to be on fire right now! She didn't see very well the lack of face, but the smoke is alarming!]

[sootprints]

I'm saying you should mind your own business!

[ She snaps at him, and whirls to face him, and there's a cloud of smoke that gushes out from her.

Well. There's probably no more hiding now. ]

[blastoffed]

[When she faces him, Kaito is stunned. She's got...no face. Also more smoke keeps pouring out.

And in his head, he tries to make this sight fit a mundane explanation, mostly because anything that's supernatural-related terrifies him. It really is for the best he comes up with all kinds of explanations for anything he sees until he acclimates to it. This girl...oh. Right. The train turned over, didn't it? There was a lot of glass shattered, a lot of trouble going on...with how things are going, it wouldn't be surprising something was set on fire. And when something is on fire, a lot of soot and ash is present. This girl must have been in the vicinity of such a thing. So close and for so long she was absolutely covered in soot. So covered it's very hard to see anything on her face. Yeah. That's what's going on! So what if he hasn't heard a thing about something having been on fire? It might all be fine now! So what if he hasn't encountered a charred train car or something? He hasn't checked the train all over!

But that's not the priority right now. She's upset, that's what matters here. So Kaito tries to calm her down]

Sorry! Saw you having some trouble -- and no man worth his salt would stand aside while someone has trouble! I meant no offense!

[He doesn't even address Kate's lack of facial features. That can wait for later]

[sootprints]

[ ... ???

For a moment, he looks stunned, as she expected he would be. But then... he doesn't say anything about it? What could be going through his mind...? ]

... What?

[ It's Kate's turn to be stunned. ]

I'm not... offended, exactly...

[blastoffed]

[Yeah, he's so going to come up with all kinds of explanations for the weird things he'll see all over the place. The most stereotypical creepy ghost things will be blatant enough to get under his skin, but other than that he really will come up with outlandish things to justify not freaking out at demons and the supernatural, haha]

Don't worry, I get it. Weird train, crashed and all, and there's a bunch of strangers. Who wouldn't be all antsy? Gonna be honest, you're taking it all better than most.

[Just yelling at someone to mind their own business is far better than many others would do.

Still, now that he thinks about it...yeah, this girl was trying to not look at him and cover her face often, when talking to him. Right. She must be embarrassed about getting so much soot all over her. She probably doesn't want anyone to comment at that, especially since it was right after him pointing out the smoke that she snapped at him. Right, of course, he thinks, he should have realized sooner she wouldn't want someone to see her face in that state.

Thankfully, Kaito has pretty good social skills, even if right now they're based on something he's not understanding correctly]

[sootprints]

[ ... Well. She doesn't know what to think of this, but if he's not going to freak out or make any uncharitable assumptions about her, she might as well take it. So after another pause, she speaks a little more calmly... ]

... You're right. I'm sorry for snapping at you.

[ She picks up the luggage again. She has no idea what's inside, but she figures she'll go through it later and see if there's anything she can use. Once she's safely away from this wreck and these people...

But maybe it is safe to talk to this person a little more, to try to understand her situation a little better. ]

I don't remember boarding a train in the first place.

[blastoffed]

Weird, right? You'd think we'd have tickets! Or there'd be some sign saying where the train was going!

[sootprints]

I suppose...

[ Kate doesn't know how train systems normally work, but sure. That sounds like it's probably true. ]

Maybe we aren't that far from the destination, wherever it was supposed to be.

[blastoffed]

Someone must know something! But nobody in this train knows a thing. All I found was a cat.

[Who Kaito didn't even try to interact because, well, why would you? It's a cat]

[sootprints]

A cat?

[ On this train? ]

[blastoffed]

It was totally a cat. That way of chilling around was definitely a cat's.

[As if that was the hallmark of what makes a cat, a cat]

[sootprints]

And no sign of the owner...?

[ Looking around at all the carnage here... It could be that the owner is no longer with us... ]

[blastoffed]

The owner could have disappeared along with the crew, you know? Or they left already, leaving that cat behind. The train could be the safest place for that animal, instead of out in the forest where something wild could find it.

[Kaito wants to be optimistic and hope that, instead of dying horribly, the owner just left and will come back once things are safe.

If only, Kaito, if only]