Event: Worldhop #1 | Part III

[trainmasters]

Who: everybody
When: Day 55, daytime
Where: The Aurora, and...?

Right on schedule, in the morning a message blares over the intercom in The Construct's robotic voice, loud enough to be heard in the nearby jungle, and coming from anyone's Chain who happens to be out of range:

The Aurora will be departing Origin Star in one hour. All heroes please proceed to your team carriage. All residents of Origin Star please stay at least 100 feet from the train during takeoff.

The Prince of Stars would like to remind you that non-heroes are at extreme risk of corruption should they leave the purified sector. Likewise, heroes who remain on Origin Star will no longer have the protection of the Aurora's Prism and may face unknown adverse effects. We sincerely apologize for any concern and ask that everyone give their full cooperation as we proceed to our next mission.

Thank you, and stay positive!

PCs have exactly one hour from this notice to say any final goodbyes to the townspeople, and gather any last materials from the jungle. The Construct gives a warning at 15 minutes, at 5, and at 1, and then the outer doors and doors between cars close and lock and the train begins to lift off.

Outside the windows you can see Origin Star slowly drift away into the sea of stars for 10 minutes or so, before the train begins to warp -- a fantastic show of blurred light and square sparkles lasts about another hour, before the Aurora comes out into a starless, sunless sea above a Star coloured in shades of pink and white and brown and speckled in rainbow.

As you approach, you notice things are looking rather... delicious? The scenery below appears like some fairy tale witch's cottage, made of cake and candy and other such sweets, with lakes of chocolate and peppermint trees. You can't see what all is out there yet, especially given the darkness, but you can catch a glimpse of colorful somethings moving below.

Ultimately, the train lands on top of some kind of small plateau, next to a river -- and this Star's Prism, which glows balefully black, with a strong sense of unpleasantness wafting from it. The river is thankfully between you and it, but you're still parked awfully close. When the train is fully stopped, the Construct announces:

Congratulations on your safe journey. We have arrived at the Confectionery Kingdom. Please note this sector is currently completely corrupted. Likelihood of imminent danger is: extreme. Scanning and protection of immediate area will take six hours. Proceed with utmost caution until systems have completed setup.

From here, you can go outside, if you so choose. The plateau the train sits on, it turns out, is made entirely of brownie. Unfortunately, if you try to eat it, it's disgustingly salty. The river full of honey tastes good, however, as long as you're willing to brave the lemon-peel eels which give painful electric shocks. The grass is also sweet -- spun-sugar like, it shatters easily but seems to grow right back as soon as it does.

You don't have much time to enjoy it yet, though. As warned, there's imminent danger -- after mere minutes, the air is full of crackling growls, as you're beset by something resembling a very weird zombie nightmare. Faceless moving gingerbread men as big as a person approach in droves, smeared in rancid frosting that smells horrible and makes you feel light-headed. They'll try to grab hold of anyone they catch, and should they catch them, they'll tremble and beat them bloody, possibly even to death.

Despite their nimbleness, the gingerbread ghouls are hard as rock and not easily broken. They can be temporarily defeated by turning them to mush with water, but once dry their crumbs will roll together and they'll resume their old form. The only way to really beat them is to accept their resentment -- give them a hug and they'll crumble, their dust blowing away in the breeze.

Somehow, you must survive the next few hours... Good luck, Heroes of Distant Stars!

[[NOTE: We're still taking train upgrade suggestions here through the 12! The upgrade poll, along with the close of this event, will be posted on the 13th! Also, apps are open and will close on the 14th, so if you have an app in the works or a friend to invite, have at!]]

Comments

[malignstar]

[ This loser is chilling on a peppermint tree branch, black angel-like wings folded behind him (probably seeming out of place with the claws that tap on the branch), as a trio of gingerbread men try to smash it from the bottom. He's been watching Loki teleport around the place when the man ends up teleporting not too far from his location. ]

Well, that's one way to handle them.

[bestbrotherever]

Oh, this is just the start.

[The voice comes from seemingly nowhere, definitely not the Loki cheekily waving at the gingerbread monsters, taunting them to attack him and leave the tree alone.]

[malignstar]

[ He gives an impressed whistle. ]

You can do illusions too. You really are a Renaissance magic man.

[bestbrotherever]

[Loki's voice now comes from another branch on the same tree. Hope you don't mind the company.]

But of course. Illusions are my specialty. You can do so much with them...

[One of the gingerbread monsters suddenly looks like Loki and its fellows immediately begin beating it.]

And you can get others to do even more for you.

[malignstar]

[ He jumps a bit and then laughs. ]

Whoa—Maybe a little heads up next time.

[ He stares at the carnage below them. ]

Sure looks that way. Thanks for the assist. And the show.

[bestbrotherever]

You are quite welcome. Though I did assume that you would need little help in escaping, unless your wings are just for show.

[Loki's still staying invisible, so Lucien can't see it, but Loki's watching the cloaked monster get bits pounded off without showing any signs of stopping. Abruptly he drops the illusion and they both can see the damaged gingerbread man reincorporating any broken off bits back into its body without any issue. Loki sighs.]

It seems they cannot destroy each other. A pity.

[malignstar]

Nah, they work. It can just get tiring using them non-stop so I've been resting in between treefalls.

And yeah, they're pretty hardy. I'm still trying to figure out their weakness. But usually you just crush gingerbread men. My sword barely did anything to them.

[bestbrotherever]

You should have some distraction ready so you are not constantly under attack and can rest.

Crush, you say?

[A blast of green magic streaks from the voice's branch to the nearest golem. It hits and causes the monster to shudder and break into several large chunks, but it soon pulls itself back together and looks towards the tree. A Loki suddenly appears at the base and makes a run for a grove of trees.]

Well, that did not exactly work. [Loki's voice, however, hasn't budged an inch.]

[malignstar]

[ Felix sighs and waves at the scene. ]

You see the problem then? We need a more permanent kind of attack.

[bestbrotherever]

Or we can find some way to keep them from reconstituting themselves.

[He sighs. Guess he'll have to get his hands dirty. He drops down out of the tree and approaches the nearest one, turning visible and quickly attacking it with a magic bolt that drills a hole in its body. He throws some other sort of magic into the hole and jumps back. The reason why becomes obvious as the monster explodes. Unperturbed, Loki gathers up a few large chunks of gingerbread.]

[malignstar]

I hope you're not going to eat those.

[bestbrotherever]

[Withering look.] Of course not. That would be barbaric. I plan to enchant these, to keep the monsters from reclaiming them.

[malignstar]

Turn them into something non-organic.

[bestbrotherever]

Transmutation may not be necessary. [The pieces are surrounded by a glow and stop trying to tug themselves out of Loki's hands.] A simple spell to prevent them from moving may accomplish the same.

[malignstar]

Will it last though? If this place hasn't been de-corrupted in any way, it's likely strong in the dark magics.