achates | [DAY 0] TDM.

[DAY 0] TDM.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Spaceships…! Not her genre. His demeanor in general feels unfamiliar; it shouldn’t, when they’ve only just met, but Yuri chalks it up to having had little experience with people, period. She’s unaware entirely of the way this makes her watch him, as if she somehow can’t puzzle together perfectly sociable behavior.

[There is, however, an internal double-take:]

I haven’t heard anyone mention a ticket. [Speaking only for herself, there is no way in Hell she would have boarded a train to nowhere now. Of all times....] It seems more as though… no one intended to be here, at all.

[Yuri does not like the void in her memory where a face should be.]

But I suppose it’s… worth considering…

I sure wasn't planning to go on trips anytime soon. At least no trips that involve being on Earth! Something's going on and I don't mean the whole 'train crashing' thing.

[He has school tomorrow, after all. You can't just leave in middle of the year! So...yeah, how he got here is something to be concerned about, but that can wait until after he's back to safety. A town, a village, any place that's not the middle of a forest!]

[Oh. He was being serious about the spaceships.]

You’re… an astronaut?

[Really, who is Yuri to judge; she doubts it anyway. Makes no secret of it with her inflection. He doesn’t look substantially older than her....]

That's right! Kaito Momota, Luminary of the Stars! No limits exist for the Ultimate Astronaut!

[A bombastic introduction! He sure exudes energy]

I'm in active official training, but an astronaut in training is an astronaut nonetheless. Nothing will stop me! Even a little detour in a random train and this weird situation will be no problem.

[Ah. “Training.” That explains…

[She shakes her head.]

You certainly are confident. [No comment on whether it’s warranted.] Forgive me if I’m amiss, but… an astronaut would know a lot about engineering, right?

[Yuri taps her knuckles on the nearest seat. It’s not upright.] What do you make of this train?

[Oh, she's onto something. Kaito looks around]

...like I told you I'm no train expert, but I guess I can give some general word or two. I haven't taken too much of a look at the controls and the mechanisms, but...

[And Kaito proceeds to give some specifications and explanations that are not too shabby, from an engineering standpoint! It's very focused on the potency and speed of it, really, deduced from what he has seen through the broken parts of the train and the mechanisms in the driver's cabin -- all information that..is probably not what is needed right now, it's not tremendously useful even though it's instructive.

Something stands out, though:]

...it's not automatized, nothing is! There should be a driver, and a crew maintaining the amenities, but I haven't seen anybody like that.

[That's probably the most important detail, that it's as if the entire crew vanished into thin air]

[Yuri listens. The specifics go over her head, mostly; she’s willing to take that as a good sign. The speed with which he rattles it off seems more telling than anything: he’s either a master storyteller, she thinks, or is paying more attention than she’s given him credit for.

[With that last detail, the latter gains some favor.]

You know… that’s an excellent point. [One more stray glance phone-ways, the blue dots meshing and jittering. Are they all passengers? Yuri shuts and pockets the device; there’s only so much she’s willing to trust it, anyway.]

I was thinking [she hadn’t, until now] that the conductor’s cabin might hold some answers. Have you visited it yourself yet?

I looked inside but I didn't mess in there too much! Let's a lot of people injured, so I got busy with things.

[He's not the type of person to see someone hurt and just brush that aside and go on with his day! So at least he took the time to be sure they could walk on their own before he went to the next, and then the next, and the next...

...this train really has a lot of injured people]

But if you want to go there now, sure, let's go. Better four eyes than just two, as they say!

[Nooooot exactly how they say, but whatever, point delivered!]

[She gets the point well enough. Yuri nods in the direction of the train’s head; the pioneer can lead the way, and she’ll stay close behind.]

It’s considerate of you. Tending to the injured, if that’s what you’re implying. [An astronaut and a medic?] Will you be doing that off the train, too?

[Kaito is trained at a lot of things, apparently, judging by some canon things, some first aid among that. Danganronpa is extra like that, haha -- but I guess it's plausible, since a lot of space trips end up with you having to do a lot of things by yourself]

It'd be better to get to the nearest town to get help, right? That way a crew can come and get everyone at once.

[He's...trying to keep an optimistic outlook of things]

[Really, an astronaut knowing first aid isn’t implausible at all; Yuri may be approaching this a bit too much like a novel, wherein each character has a primary designated role—with little to no overlap.

[Her own she has yet to determine, but there are benefits, she believes, to not standing out right away.]

I think that’s sound. [Yuri likes the way he thinks, that sanctuary in the town might be swarmed by well-meaning rescuers.] If we find the conductor, let’s hope he’s of similar mind…

[They’ll find the cabin empty again, of course. Save for that gold-eyed, blinking cat.]

[The cat still there, as if nothing is wrong...he had kind of expected it to have moved, or tried to hide under the dashboard, but no, it's still there, hanging out]

You good with cats?

[He asks Yuri that. He hasn't really handled pets that much, so he's not really all that sure if anything should be done to be sure the cat will be fine, but...hey, maybe Yuri knows more than he does about this kind of thing]

[Is she? Familiarity doesn’t occur to her, but Yuri does hold a hand, fingers lightly rubbing in a psspsps motion.

[Her heart’s not really in it. It doesn’t seem to appeal.]

Not particularly. [An admission after the fact, and Yuri glances back to her (presumably-)human companion.] But I’ll keep an eye on it, if you’re worried.

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[DAY 0] TDM.

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