polymods: (Default)
polymods ([personal profile] polymods) wrote in [community profile] polylogs2022-03-01 06:08 pm

where we're going--

POLYMYTHOS: EVENT HORIZON

EVENT HORIZON


Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
There has always been some confusion as to whether or not the ferry cuts through sea or sky, but this month as you glide along you will find yourself more and more convinced that it is the latter. It is nigh impossible to see where you are headed, the way forward shrouded in darkness.

At first you think the lights ahead are stars.

The ferry docks inside of a metallic bay of some kind. It’s an extension of what must be the island, although this one does not resemble any earthly land mass. It appears to be a deliberately constructed structure, contained on all sides. Maybe you’re familiar enough with technology or science fiction enough that you realise it resembles a space station more than an island.

Once you’ve disembarked from the ferry, you will find that you cannot go outside of the structure.

Inside, there are seemingly endless corridors for you to explore. The halls on the upper deck are rounded, metallic, with lights set at regular intervals. Here there are chambers roughly the length and width of a single bed, with sufficient height for a person to crawl in and sit up on the bed. There is a television screen set in the wall at the foot of the bed by the door, and sockets for electronics. That is all.


Also on this floor is a mess hall where you can get beige, mostly tasteless nutritional sludge dispensed from machines. Water and coffee are also available, likewise dispensed from machines. (There is a cookbook hidden on a shelf written by one Serak the Preparer, but no ingredients anywhere.) There are private showers and bathrooms, a small gym, and rooms clearly meant as places for people to sit and talk. There is a medical bay, although there is no staff. In fact, the whole place seems empty.

There are some rooms that are locked - these look like offices. The doors to these rooms are extremely difficult to break down, but if you have superhuman strength you could manage it. Or maybe you’re clever enough to work the electronic panels beside the doors.

Inside you will find round monitors on the walls and square tablet-like devices on desks. Attempt to work any of these and a soft, pleasant but emotionless voice will inform you that you do not have access. You can try to speak to the AI - called MUTHER - but it is supremely uncooperative. Someone very good with technology could use the tablet the old fashioned way, perhaps, to access files. You might want to be careful, though - MUTHER might decide to retaliate. Harshly.

There doesn’t seem to be a temple anywhere readily apparent.

Notes:
1. The High Temple and anything characters may have stored there is only accessible to those who are experiencing their first island outside of the TDM via a marked door. Everyone else must make do with what is available.

2. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.

3. The televisions play mostly game shows. You can also find a set of controllers for it and play Pong. Just Pong.

4. MUTHER will not deliberately kill any people on the station - her programming forbids it. She is not above releasing hallucinogenic gas into the air vents, though.

5. Have fun!



Ⅱ. CONSCIENCE
CW: psychological trauma, threat of death.
It’s easy to get lost; nearly identical corridors branch off from one another. As you walk along you gradually become convinced that someone is following you. Periodically you’ll hear footsteps, a sigh, a rustle of cloth. But every time you turn around you see nothing… unless it’s one of your fellow Travelers. Or maybe you run into them because you’re so busy looking over your shoulder.

Regardless, as you walk along the lights in the corridor flicker, and when they turn back on you will find someone you know standing directly in your path. Someone who you know absolutely cannot be there.

Maybe they died. Maybe you haven’t spoken in years. Whoever they are, the feeling they inspire within you is one of intense guilt. You did something to this person, something for which you think you can never be forgiven.

The apparition might speak, or it might just watch you with silently accusing eyes. You begin to wither under its gaze, feeling weaker and weaker until you can barely stand. You just want to lay on the floor and close your eyes… maybe forever.

Your fate rests in the hands of whoever is with you or finds you. All they have to do is introduce a smidgen of doubt into your mind, a recognition that maybe it isn’t all your fault. Of course, that means you might have to tell them what you did.

Oh, dear.

Notes:
1. The severity of the offense is of course up to the player - this can be deadly serious, or played for laughs. No matter how it is played the only way to save a character from sleeping on the floor until they die from dehydration is to convince them of even the possibility that they might not be guilty. They do not have to feel completely absolved.



Ⅲ. STOWAWAY
CW: monstrous creatures.
The lower decks of the station are darker, more utilitarian looking. These are corridors that lead to rooms full of computers and machinery that keep the station running so it’s probably best to keep out of there.

There are also storage bays filled with both prosaic wooden crates and large metallic pods. Most of these are locked up tight. But not all. Investigate some of the pods and you’ll find that the floor around them is wet with some sort of milky, slimy substance that sure seems like it came from a living organism.

Maybe you should get out of here.

Before you can get good and gone to the upper decks, however, you find exactly what you probably didn’t want to unless you have a very exciting Tinder profile: an alien.

At least eight feet tall, with pale almost translucent skin, the creature has an elongated skull and a mouth that hosts two sets of jaws like a moray eel. It has a whiplike tail and spiky protrusions along its upper back. It is bipedal, and very, VERY fast.

Better hope you’ve got something to fight with! Your chances of survival are definitely greater if you work with a partner.

And you better hope there’s just the one.

Notes:
1. The aliens are extremely dangerous, but they CAN be killed. Their blood is thick and yellow but is not acidic or poison.



Ⅳ. TEMPLE
CW: potential insanity, violence.
If you wander the dark lower decks long enough, you will find yourself moving ever inward toward the very center of the station. There is a door there that is supposed to be locked, but often isn’t. It’s waiting for you, beyond that door and down a dark corridor: the station’s heart.

The room the solitary corridor opens into is round, walls sloping gently up to a domed ceiling. In the middle of the room is a machine of some kind: a series of concentric thick metal rings rotate in different directions around a sphere. The only noise it makes is the gentle swooshing of the circles as they spin out, up, around.


The air feels heavy and charged. It’s not pleasant.

Before you can leave, all of the rings line up so that they appear to radiate out from the sphere in the center. Light flares, and then in the space where the sphere once was you can see it:

Home.

It’s your homeworld, perhaps exactly as you left it, or perhaps earlier or later along in the timeline. It may be pleasant, or it may be awful, but it is undeniably the place from which you came. The place where you belong.

Stare into this portal home long enough and the compulsion to return will slip over you. You just need to jump into the glowing, trembling center of that dimensional gate.

Whoever is with you, however, realises that leaping headfirst into an unknown dimension might not be the smartest idea you’ve ever had, especially considering how ominous the whole place feels. They might be able to talk you down. Hopefully they can talk you down, because the longer you stare at the portal the more convinced you become that you MUST leap into it, and the only way to do so is to kill whoever is trying to get in your way.

If instead you turn away from the dimensional gate, the lights will flare once more before the rings resume their movement. That brief glimpse of home is gone. In its place is the sound of soft voices; people you have left behind, calling out to you with accusations of things left undone, begging to be told why you won’t come home...

These voices will follow you throughout the ship. They are not constant, but they never leave you alone for very long. They won’t be silent until you give them an answer to the question of why you have chosen to remain.

Notes:
1. If characters DO jump into the gate… They can pass through and emerge on the opposite side gravely injured or completely out of their minds. Or you may use this as a very dramatic exit from the game.

Is anybody out there listening?


Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

kyley_b: https://burquillos.tumblr.com/ (ugggh)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-03-24 08:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes, actually. Like just SAY shit, dude, your friends won't judge."

Kyle is basically a huge ragdoll at this point. He can barely put an arm around David.

"I know. I suck. I suck so bad and I'm a terrible person. David, I think maybe I'm evil."
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-03-26 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
"They often do," David counters as he adjusts Kyle in his arms. TIme to get going to get him somewhere safe to lay down.

"You're not evil. I've seen evil. You're not the greatest person, but you're good."
kyley_b: https://burquillos.tumblr.com/ (ugggh)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-03-26 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
"Well WE wouldn't. We're better."

Kyle turns his head to look at David with his miserable eyes. "Am I, though? I ruined LIVES. And I was four! I did that when I was like, still pissing my pants sometimes!"
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-03-28 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, and four year olds are absolutely the best at knowing what is and isn't wrong," David grumbled as he kept them walking. "You were a kid. Repercussions, cause and effect, things like that aren't often understood at that point."
kyley_b: https://sleepyeule.tumblr.com/ (shook)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-03-28 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyle looks at David hopefully.

"They really don't, do they? Like. I wouldn't hold Ike responsible for the dumb shit he did when he was little. Although he usually got into less trouble..."

Still, the glimmer of hope makes him feel less lethargic.

"I honestly didn't mean to do it. I just wanted to play fireman."
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-03-29 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
Well, it seems he was finally making progress with Kyle. The question was how to keep pushing I forward. How did he break Kyle free?

"Kids aren't the greatest with that you know. Kids want to play with things. Including fire."
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (uhmm)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-03-29 08:03 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyle nods. "Yeah, exactly. And okay, it was my bright idea to get Trent to start one, but I just assumed we could put it out. Which is still dumb." He sounds a lot more animated.

"I guess you never did anything that stupid and horrible when you were a little kid."
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Marvel Comics (Brains of the Operation (Computers))

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-03-29 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"Little kids believe they can do big things," David points out. That's not too shocking, right?

"I wouldn't say never. I may have been really not nice when I was first learning to skate. To the other little kids. I was just really good to start with. Looking back, I might have had some earlier manifesting of my powers."
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (hey)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-03-29 08:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah."

He chuckles. "You ever push anyone over?"
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-03-29 08:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yep," David sighs. "I pretended it was an accident. They were making fun of me earlier. I should have been the bigger man, but I decided to just push them. They got hurt."

And it was his fault. And he hadn't felt bad.
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (uhmm)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-03-29 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyle nods. "Yeah, but I bet they didn't lose a finger or something.

"I think I can walk maybe, dude."
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-03-29 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"No, they didn't. Broke their front two teeth," David answered. So not as bad, but still not great.

"Are you sure?"
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (uhmm)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-03-29 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"Baby teeth at least?"

Kyle nods and wriggles down. His legs are shaky, but they hold.

"Thanks."
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-03-29 08:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"One of them," David answered with a shrug. Once Kyle was on his feet he left an arm on Kyle's shoulder to keep him standing. Be careful.
kyley_b: (trying my best)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-03-30 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
"Ouch."

He leans on David, but he can walk.

"Oh my god, dude, I'm so tired."
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-03-30 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
"I know. I think... It hink something's messing with you. It can be like that sometimes, after a telepath messes with you. Maybe it's similar?"
kyley_b: https://thedoublepp.tumblr.com/ (o yeah eh?)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-03-30 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
Kyle nods. "Yeah. Yeah, it's a bit like that I think. The brain fog."

He looks at David closely. "David? You're a really good dude. Please never forget that. Now can I bribe you into shoving me into a pod so I can pass out?"
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-03-30 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
Kyle had experience with Telepaths onw, so David supposed it didn't need explaining.

"You don't need to bribe me, I'll shove you in a pod for that reason. But I'm a good dude because I work really hard to remember the ends do not always justify the means."
kyley_b: https://thedoublepp.tumblr.com/ (o yeah eh?)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-03-30 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
Kyle pauses, looking at David with more concern.

"Are you worried about that? That you might forget?"
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-03-30 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes," David answered quite seriously. That seemed to happen to smart mutants. More than a little bit too. "I spend a lot of time thinking about stuff like that."
kyley_b: https://thedoublepp.tumblr.com/ (o yeah eh?)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-04-02 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
Kyle is quiet a moment, a crease between his thick brows. Then he shakes his head.

"David, you're one of the only people I have ever met who worries more than I do," he tells him. "I'm not saying you shouldn't think about that stuff. You should. It's kinda your responsibility. But maybe like... learn when to let it go, huh?"
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-04-02 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
"It's hard to. My memory, except for the spot where my sister is missing, is... I can't forget things easily. It's my nature. So it's not easy for me to let it go."

He's no ice queen.
kyley_b: https://thedoublepp.tumblr.com/ (o yeah eh?)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-04-02 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyle sighs. "Yeah. But like... look after yourself, dude. That's all I'm saying."
helpdesk_hero: David Alleyne  / Prodigy - From Young Avengers (Default)

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero 2022-04-03 01:06 am (UTC)(link)
"I've got you and Carter and Hawks to look after me too," David points out. He doesnt' have to do this all on his own.
kyley_b: https://mcnuggyy.tumblr.com/ (hey)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2022-04-03 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
That gets Kyle to grin. "Okay. Good. Now put me in a pod. I'll make Quentin baby me, heh."

move to wrap?

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero - 2022-04-05 04:55 (UTC) - Expand

Yass <3

[personal profile] kyley_b - 2022-04-05 20:14 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Yass <3

[personal profile] helpdesk_hero - 2022-04-05 21:17 (UTC) - Expand