trainmasters: (Default)
Aurora Express Mods ([personal profile] trainmasters) wrote in [community profile] auroraexpress2019-02-15 09:27 pm

Unlock! (1)

Who: Everyone
When: Day 12, evening into night
Where: the Aurora

[As evening approaches, you hear the jingle associated with an official message from your Chain. It's the same balloons and confetti animation as the last time newbies arrived, and the same message as well:]
WELCOME NEW HEROES

[As anticipated, some newbies are waking up in their rooms, in the usual nondescript undies or team pyjamas.

Just after this, however, something much more startling happens...

Outisde, the bell tone gets all the louder, a beautiful resonating sound that fills the air. Then, suddenly, a flood of strange square-shaped sparkles appear, floating around like magical fireflies, bringing with them a pleasant warmth. They increase in size and volume until the air itself whites out with a bright but pleasant light. While you can't see, you can hear the bell, and the distant rumbling of stone.

Abruptly, the sound stops, and the bright light fades to reveal a sky painted in sunset hues. Where there was once a dark and hostile jungle with cracks in the ground, there's now a colourful rainforest environment and a floor thick with bright moss. The sounds of birds and insects and regular wildlife rise over the previous silence, and the aggressive plantlife is replaced by large flowers and succulent fruits. In one direction, a dirt path winds through the trees, and in the opposite, the brush gives way to a stone formation with a flat top and an opening flanked in carvings of water and plants.

If one were to enter the new cave entrance, they'd find the previous moon crystals replaced by rainbow ones that reflect sparkling light onto the floor, and feel soothingly warm to the touch. Further into the caves, there's a carved stone path that leads to the beach you initially arrived on. There stands the Prism: a large floating cube in the center of gyproscope-like concentric rings. Where it had been glowing black, it's now a royal purple, and the light and energy from it are significantly less malicious than before -- though still far from pure. The beach itself is now covered in fine white sand, and the sea no longer tries to pull you in -- provided you don't go out too far.

Because not all is well on this Star just yet. While the nearby water contains a reef of colourful fish, 100 meters or so out to sea the water turns black again. While under water in the safe area, you can occasionally see the shadows of great and terrible monsters deep in the dark.

Likewise, should you choose to follow the first path, after ~1km you'll find the forest fades back into the previous dense, dark jungle. At the edge of the darkness, there's something new -- the remains of what looks like a modern town. It's all overgrown, cottages twisted into ruins and streets covered in vines and prowled by tiger monsters and a new threat: towering reptilian creatures that climb the crumbling shells of apartment buildings and the empty City Hall, like geckos increased to dinosaur size. They're fast, and if they catch you they'll swallow you whole. On the one side, that makes it easier for someone to save you -- they could cut you out. On the other, those unable to be rescued will find their skin and muscles becoming slowly more transparent and stiff, the colour and feeling leaving them until their minds are trapped in a useless shell. Those found in that condition later must be saved via the healing pods -- but they'll remember their stay in their glass bodies, with their blood running and heart pumping like a living anatomical model of their organs.

On the Aurora, however, you're welcome to enjoy the first sight of the sun in 12 days. As the brilliant sunset moves into a night reigned over by a gentle moon, the Heartbeat Festival remains in full swing. So celebrate your victory with a glass of shimmery alcohol and a kiss, because you've done it -- your love has purified a part of this Star!]

[[OOC NOTES: CONGRATULATIONS on your first Prism purification, guys! There is a toplevel for ICly suggesting train upgrades here, so check it out! Next week we'll post a poll, and the week after the upgrade will be implemented.

The updates to the Setting page to reflect this post will be made soon, so keep an eye out!]]
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
The person who wrote the letter on the 'smartphone' I was given.

[She is still dubious that the device is really a telephone, or smart.]
ewestmarch: (stare)

[personal profile] ewestmarch 2019-02-17 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
[the whatwhat? ...At least she knows what the letter is.]

Yep. That one. Wants us to think he's our only hope.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
[look, its what her teammate called it.]

What evidence is there that he's correct or incorrect?
ewestmarch: (Default)

[personal profile] ewestmarch 2019-02-17 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
None either way, if you ask me. The cube outside has started to make the planet less dark, but all we have to go on is his word that we had anything to do with it, or that he didn't cause it in the first place.
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
What did he say you did to fix it? We could test that, surely.
ewestmarch: (Default)

[personal profile] ewestmarch 2019-02-17 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
[Emilia's expression goes to one of utter exasperation.]

Make positive bonds and good feelings with each other.

[she hates making positive bonds friends r gross]
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
That sounds useful, or at least harmless.

[Sorry, someone doesn't remember why she might not trust people]
ewestmarch: (stare)

[personal profile] ewestmarch 2019-02-17 02:26 am (UTC)(link)
It does sound harmless, but it's really weird. It's weird.

[why does no one else think this is fucking weird.]
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
It is weird that this is the 'heroic acts' we are called on to perform, but it is useful if this prince is not working in our best interests to be united rather than separated.
ewestmarch: (Default)

[personal profile] ewestmarch 2019-02-17 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
...Why?

[If you're separated out you can't get dragged down when everyone else goes under, tbh.]
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 02:53 am (UTC)(link)
Many of us have fragmentary memories. Or abilities, I'm told. That also gives us more sets of eyes and ears and hands to get things done.
ewestmarch: (Default)

[personal profile] ewestmarch 2019-02-17 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
Nobody even has a plan.

[Sulking, as if someone definitely should have taken lead on this by now but definitely not her.]
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 03:01 am (UTC)(link)
I just arrived, so I can't exactly offer one.
ewestmarch: (Default)

[personal profile] ewestmarch 2019-02-17 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
No. ... Oh, there's a post on the chains, where we all shared what we know about the Prince, if you want to go find it and read it.

[As an afterthought. If that will help you make a plan, to make this fucking Stop, maybe.]
wontforbidtherain: A side-view drawing of a bony dark-haired white woman looking down; folds in her neck suggest gills. (Default)

[personal profile] wontforbidtherain 2019-02-17 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
I will do that, thank you.