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!]]
nihilmancy: (Laugh)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-17 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, but only with the lights off. I'm not that easy.

Ah, we've gotten quite off topic. Yes, our host as an individual who calls himself the Star Prince. Although several of us are skeptical, he claims that he has saved us from an evil force called Malice that has consumed many worlds.
crimeboy: (g13)

[personal profile] crimeboy 2019-02-17 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Hugging with the lights off, oho~

[Wait, this is off-topic?]

Yeah yeah, the zombie girl said something like that. So everyone got that bullshit, eh? Well. Least they got the story down. So far.
nihilmancy: (Neutral 2)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-18 12:04 am (UTC)(link)
The story is not inconsistent with what the people here have been experiencing, anyhow. Yesterday, there was no sun here. Things are gradually being restored in this realm, so it is plausible that he is somehow using us to restore worlds.
crimeboy: (108)

[personal profile] crimeboy 2019-02-18 12:29 am (UTC)(link)
Really...? Hm!

Well. I don't really like the idea of being used, but. I mean I guess we'll see. If it's really helping...

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-18 01:52 am (UTC)(link)
Nor do I, but I know of no way to return to our realms of origin. Indeed, if he's telling the truth, they have been swallowed by darkness.
crimeboy: (035)

[personal profile] crimeboy 2019-02-19 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I heard that from that zombie chick. Sounds like a load of crap, but it's not like I can DO anything about it right now.
nihilmancy: (Neutral)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-20 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
Indeed. Our hosts, or captors, or emotion extractors, if nothing else, seem intent on providing a comfortable environment.

The problem is that there also appear to be many dangers in our environment.
crimeboy: (022)

[personal profile] crimeboy 2019-02-20 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
That makes sense, I guess. Like they wouldn't need 'heroes' if it were really safe. It's not some luxury cruise.

Oh well!
nihilmancy: (Neutral 2)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-20 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
Just warning you. I had an unpleasant run in a few days ago.
crimeboy: (022)

[personal profile] crimeboy 2019-02-20 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
Well uh... thanks. I'll at least keep an eye out, though I got no idea what to look out for.
nihilmancy: (Neutral 2)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-20 04:56 am (UTC)(link)
I imagine that the threats can take many different forms. In this particular case, it was slime monsters that transformed into what people feared, and ate flesh.
crimeboy: (057)

[personal profile] crimeboy 2019-02-20 04:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, lord...

[That's probably a little weird coming from a demon, but whatever.]

That sounds pretty horrific.
nihilmancy: (Neutral)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-20 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
It was. So, be ready for that, I suppose.
crimeboy: (058)

[personal profile] crimeboy 2019-02-20 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)
You got it! I'm ready. Fully prepared! You got nothing to worry about with me!
nihilmancy: (Wistful)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-21 12:18 am (UTC)(link)
Mm. I'm still new myself. So I have to say, it's pretty daunting.
crimeboy: (003)

[personal profile] crimeboy 2019-02-22 01:25 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I... yeah. That makes sense. It's kinda scary, but I dunno. Can't sit around paralyzed with fear, you know?
nihilmancy: (Neutral)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-22 04:27 am (UTC)(link)
After a while, you just start running on instinct. Can't stop breathing, stop moving.
crimeboy: (2u05)

[personal profile] crimeboy 2019-02-25 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah... But you gotta run on something, right?
nihilmancy: (Smile)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-25 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
I subsist mostly on spite.
crimeboy: (g13)

[personal profile] crimeboy 2019-02-25 01:09 am (UTC)(link)
Hey man, spite works! That's right. FUCK THE MAN!

FUCK THE SYSTEM!
nihilmancy: (Sneer)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-25 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
Death to the king.
crimeboy: (g17)

[personal profile] crimeboy 2019-02-25 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
EAT THE RICH!

[That line will be funnier when he figures out that's what he might actually do.]
nihilmancy: (Neutral 2)

[personal profile] nihilmancy 2019-02-25 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
[She nods seriously.]

We'll work together well.