Mission 014 Log

[etrayamods]

Mission Summary

Genre: Amusement Park

Premise: The bots are setting up an amusement park just outside Etraya, and attendance is mandatory. There's four different park areas, each one themed, with different rides, scenery, and jobs in each. The mission lasts 6 weeks, until April 24th.

Tone: Light-hearted forced capitalist labor, with some opportunities for dark scenarios.

Objectives: Complete assigned list of tasks.

❬ WE STILL HAVE TONIGHT ❭

At the beginning of the mission, Aurora opens a pathway that connects the dome housing the theme park to Etraya itself. Unlike during the previous mission within the dome, the pathway stays open throughout the entire mission time period, giving participants the space to return to their dwellings to rest before returning to complete their tasks.

When one first walks through the pathway, they will be met with a companion bot handing out tickets and note cards. Every participant will receive three tickets alongside three notecards with five tasks on each, for a total of fifteen tasks they must complete within the parks.

Once they pass the initial pathway, they'll reach the threshold that breaks into the numerous other parks. From one vantage point, one can see it all: pastel rooftops glowing softly under a storybook sky, immaculate gardens arranged with obsessive precision, jagged neon towers flickering with restless energy, and further still, a dim shoreline that light does not quite reach. Four distinct little worlds, all brought together inside the dome for Etrayans to enjoy.

There are no maps available, but the signs leading into each park clearly names what's beyond their gates, and the companion bots attending to them are pretty obvious, too: a cheerful bot in a candy-themed suit beckons visitors to Story Land, or elegantly gestures around an overly large powdered wig toward Parc Monceau. Another bot with glowing neon lines and a mohawk crosses its arms and gazes coolly at the entrance to Area 52, while a dark shadow lingers close to the gate leading into Crystal Lake, hands jutting out of the dark just long enough to check tickets and return them before it disappears back into the strange twilight surrounding the lake.

This is a place of experiences. Of wonder. Of joy. Of drama. Adrenaline. Fear. And with wide open arms, it invites Etrayans to join in.

🌈🚂🎠🎡🍭
❬ Story Land ❭

Story Land greets visitors like stepping into the pages of a half-recalled bedtime story: soft, glowing, and just slightly unreal. Everything here feels gentler, softer, like the park and all the contents therein have been rounded at the edges, protecting small hands and guiding wide-eyed wonder through its windy trails. Rows of gumdrop houses lean at playful angles beneath cheery cloud-washed blue skies, and if one walks through the park at night, they'll see the windows full of warm, honeyed light. Playful colored banners flutter in a breeze that always smells faintly of sugar and baked pastries.

Guests are welcome to wander the pathways leading through the park and encounter attendants in story-book costumes, either an eager companion bot dressed up for the part or a fellow Etrayan tasked with working Story Land as a character on that specific day.

And it seems that, regardless of how long someone wanders through the park, they can never seem to get lost here. The paths always wind back to the entrance of the park with its rows of food vendors and shops full of bright souvenirs and outfits similar to that of the attendants.

Scattered throughout the park are several rides:

• Tea cups spin in gentle circles, painted with gold and purple floral patterns that echo grandmotherly porcelain.
• A carousel with several creatures one may recognize from their favored fairy tales falls and rises in a soothing rhythm as if it's trying to rock those riding it to sleep.
• A small train chugs along a track that winds itself throughout the different areas of the park, barely going faster than one may have been able to walk through the park - but it does offer glimpses of hidden corners and tucked-away scenes, showing just how hard the companion bots worked to put this area of the park together.
• Close to the center of the park, a Ferris Wheel turns almost painfully slowly, each carriage a quiet perch above the pastel world below.
• The rowdiest section is for the carnival games, where you can try your hand at winning fabulous prizes or take a turn at the ever-popular dunk tank.

But every once in a while, the whimsy of the park seems to . . . slip.

The train veers off course, scenery around it shifting to cool eerie blues and a bright flickering white which slowly dims as the riders find themselves gliding through an underwater dreamscape, freshwater creatures drifting past the windows.

Or perhaps they're riding the Ferris Wheel when, rather than continuing in its rotation, the ride glides to a smooth stop. Suspended above the park, those riding within will be forced to wait out the ride getting fixed - or find an alternative means of getting themselves down.

Yet despite the mishaps, the park carries on as if nothing is out of the ordinary, encouraging more park-goers to invite themselves in and enjoy themselves.

🍷🥐🍰🌹🪞
❬ Parc Monceau ❭

Parc Monceau does not announce itself so much as it simply unfolds for those who enter it: a slow, deliberate reveal of the elegance within where every step feels almost rehearsed and every glance part of some greater performance. The air here is different - perfumed with roses and a subtle note of beans on toast, touched with the faintest trace of old paper and polished silver. Carefully spread throughout immaculately groomed gardens where hedges are sculpted into impossible shapes are gravel pathways to explore, where one could get lost for hours smelling the flowers and enjoying the crisp air.

Within Parc Monceau, there is no haste, only deliberate presentation.

Other figures drift along the paths in tailored coats and sweeping ballgowns as character actors, but those tasked with working in the park are nowhere near as glam: their uniforms mimic the designs of the aristocracy wandering around, but without any finery, all the same drab color and fabric. It becomes clear that the costumes offered for guests at the shops are those of the workers, not the nobility.

Music carries across the gardens, but where it's coming from is unclear. Companion bots appear to play string quartets beneath gazebos, but a closer look will make it clear they have no idea what they are doing. The music is completely unconnected to their playing.

Unlike other parks, Parc Monceau offers very few rides. It doesn't need them, after all: the experiences are the attractions, offering court gossip and luxury over base mechanical amusement. There are places to linger and socialize everywhere, from marble benches warmed by the sun to secluded alcoves half-hidden by ivy or terraces overlooking carefully curated gardens.

A turn down the right path might lead to a small and unassuming food stall -

unassuming, at least, until you taste what it offers. Dishes will appear all too familiar to those who approach it, as though the dishes themselves are drawn from memory rather than recipe. Perhaps it is a soup an aunt made during a particularly rough illness, or a spouse's signature casserole. A mother's go-to Friday night meal. Regardless of what it is, the dish is one with a strong enough memory associated to it to bring forth the memory closely associated to it - for both the one devouring the food, and those they share it with.

Elsewhere, crowds gather to watch staged historical reenactments.

Some of them are of dramatic romances, stories of betrayal or quiet longing. Yet sometimes, the stories feel too familiar. Not in their entirety, but in a specific line said or a specific gesture made, there's a moment that feels less like a play and more like memories resurfacing.

Tucked away along a canal going through the massive maze is the Tunnel of Love.

Small boats drift lazily into its dimly lit passage, carrying pairs into a world full of soft shadows lit only by the lanterns attached to their boats. It's a quiet place, where only the sounds of the water and one another seem to reach them - a place meant for sharing where words seem to come easier, truths slipping free without resistance and confessions are offered with confidence. For the length of the ride, honesty is not a choice but a compulsion.

Within the large central castle of Parc Monceau is the Hall of Mirrors.

From the outside, it looks almost unassuming - there are no signs telling park-goers what to anticipate within it, just a welcoming and open door which invites them inside. Yet once they have entered, they will find it more difficult to find their way out - corridors stretch and twist in near-impossible directions, reflections multiplying endlessly until it becomes difficult to tell which way is forward and which way is an illusion created by the mirrors. And within those reflections, things - shift. These aren't distortions, nor tricks of the light, but variations.

A different version of yourself, perhaps. One who is older, younger, or whose life was changed by choices that hadn't been made. Or perhaps what you see is someone else entirely, the reflection of someone else within the Hall of Mirrors.

They notice you. Speak. They carry themselves as if they, too, belong here. As if they also are on a mission given to them by Echo, under Aurora's care. Yet for the most part, these variations are bound to the mirrors - they step to the edge of the frame and find that they can go no further.

Well. For the most part.

As light begins to fade and the sun sets around them, the boundary between the mirror world and Etraya grows thinner. The figures within the mirrors may step forward, breaking free of the mirrors and into the park itself. They can walk beside others, speak with them, exist outside of the Hall of Mirrors, but only briefly. Once the sun begins to rise over Etraya, the mirror reflections begin to fade into the sunlight, returning to where they came.

⚠️👽🎢💫💥
❬ Area 52 ❭

Area 52 doesn't ease you in: it hits all at once.

Neon tones bleed across the skyline in electric blue and violent magenta, reflecting off of the chrome surfaces of buildings and rain-coated pavement that never seems to dry. The buildings rise in sharp, angular spires and stacked platforms, layered like a city that kept building upward long after it should have stopped. Holographic signs advertise their countless rides and attractions, but all in languages that are not quite recognizable.

All around, Area 52 feels electric. It smells faintly of rusted metal and rubber, and over the speakers throughout the park play distorted EDM that thrums through the park walls with a ceaseless throbbing beat.

Navigating the park requires venturing through narrow, sharp-cornered alleys between buildings. The workers' uniform of choice for both bots and Etrayans is black accented with eye-searing hues, some are sleek and synthetic and some adorned with exaggerated alien features that blur the line between uniform and costume.

Area 52 is built for the rush. For the thrills. Rides include:

• Roller coasters scream overhead in massive loops and arcs, their tracks weaving through the skyline like tangled circuity.
• A drop tower looms at the center, ascending slowly into the skies before unceremoniously dropping its riders in a stomach-wrenching plunge.
• Close to the drop tower is a sprawling obstacle course that stretches across multiple levels - an unforgiving gauntlet of swinging bars, spider walls, and sky hooks - that demands those courageous enough to take it on to be strong, fast, and willing to fall should they fail.
• A go-cart track circles the entire park with tight turns, engines roaring to life as new racers take their seats and buckle in.
• Tucked against an outer edge is the alpine slide. Conveniently, there's a medical station waiting at the bottom, stretchers at the ready should they need to carry off those too injured to walk.
• For those who prefer an adrenaline rush that is less physical but no less overwhelming, there is VR. A large, round building hosts several VR rigs, dropping participants into simulated chaos and high speed races through dangerous asteroid fields where they must precisely shoot targets in environments designed to disorientate them.
• A massive trampoline park pulses with kinetic energy, bodies launching skyward in controlled weightlessness beneath glowing lights. Laughter mixes with the ever present hum of machinery, offering a brief reprieve - until someone lands wrong, or hits a spring, or collides with someone else mid air. Nothing here is meant to be fully without risks.

Between the chaos and adrenaline there is some shopping and dining to offer respite.

Merchandise stalls glow brightly, inviting others into them to inspect the strange curiosities within. There's plush creatures with too many eyes, odd mechanical pets, and behind a dark curtain marked 18+ ONLY!! at the back of one store, there's an alcove offering some disturbingly lifelike replicas of alien anatomy.

At the Cantina settled close to the drop tower, the atmosphere may be a little more lowkey: dimmer, murkier, with the air filled with scents of spice and iron - but the mood set by the food offerings matches the energy of the rest of the park. Dishes are presented as cuts of "alien flesh" though their origins are impossible to discern. Shelled creatures sit pried open and arranged with precision, sea slugs are displayed in delicate spirals, and jellyfish are handed out on shimmering plates. While it's all still edible, it's undeniably strange.

And there is always the lines. The long, unrelenting lines that seem to go on forever.

Posted wait times are outside every attraction, though some seem to list times that shouldn't be possible. There is no way it takes four hundred and seventy three minutes to get on the alpine slide, right? Right?! There's only like a hundred people in Etraya!

Anyone looking to go on a ride will find themselves dutifully guided by a companion bot to their place in a random queue completely unattached to the ride itself. Because obviously, standing in line is part of the experience, yes? You need to wait some period of time first? They certainly seem to think so. They're sure of it.

🪓🏚️🧛🧟‍♀️🔪
❬ Crystal Lake ❭

Crystal Lake sits at the far edge of the parks, far enough away from the tunnel to Etraya to leave the entire park dimmed and cold. The air carries the faint taste of lake water and something just beginning to rot throughout the park, even in areas where the scent should be out of place.

The streets here are mildly unsettling in their unrelenting normalcy: too quiet, too empty, the houses surrounding them too neat. The street signs might be recognizable to some -- Elm Street, Ocean Avenue, Doyers Street, George Yard -- but even if they aren't recognized, they seem oddly precise. Every street has a name.

Guests are encouraged to lean into the fear -- to dull their own strength, to allow themselves to be vulnerable, to play along. Some will be tasked with helping to coax the rest into playing along, told to don costumes and become part of the horror, from clowns with too-wide grins, shambling corpses, or bloodied figures wielding axes throughout the streets.

Attractions include:

• Haunted houses scattered among the plain suburban ones, promising cheap thrills and staged horrors where actors lurch forward from the shadows and walls drip convincingly with harmless blood and gore.
• Escape rooms invite guests to solve their way out of elaborate scenarios in ways that are meant to challenge their skills under pressure.
• Beside the lake's canoe launch is a petting zoo filled with writhing insects, cold-blooded reptiles, and one enormous Wiggly Boy.
• The Overlook Hotel offers rooms for overnight experiences of demonic hauntings, warning that you might have strange dreams, might be visited by the ghosts of guests long past. The bar in particular is known for setting off EMF readers.
• Another hotel advertises itself more bluntly as the Murder Castle, framed as a museum preserving the traps invented by a famous serial killer. The traps are hidden behind doors or wedged into crawl spaces, waiting for an unsuspecting victim to walk close enough by that they can drag them inside. Some of them require an operator, and guests can lie in wait to spring the traps on others for harmless interactive scares.

At the center of the park's town façade lies the lake itself, reflecting the evening sky above it in a way that doesn't quite match what it's reflecting. Ripples move across the surface, canoes repurposed from the summer camp bobbing in waves that appear to have no originating cause. Sometimes, the shape of something will linger just beyond the surface.

There are moments when the illusion doesn't stay illusory at all, and no one gives warning about which is which.

It could be a prop that isn't a prop, or a Wilhelm scream that doesn't cut off when the track would have. A room in the Murder Castle where mechanisms work a little too well, restraints too tight and locks too hard to undo. Most of it is theatre, all an act meant to get the heart pumping-- but not all of it.

Even the simplest tasks carry risk here. Candy apples gleam under fluorescent lights, looking terribly appetizing - until one of them manages to bite back.

A whisper brushes against an ear, too close to belong to anyone nearby and murmuring something it shouldn't know to whoever you're with, something you wouldn't share yourself. Your secrets don't stay yours for long around the lake; the water has its own way of sharing.

Crystal Lake thrives on uncertainty. Is it truly a performance, or is it real? Fear is rooted in the things you can never really know.

❬ MISSION NOTES ❭

📌 — There is power nerfing for this mission within certain areas -- you can use that at your discretion.

📌 — Please make sure to use the major events comment thread specifically to announce character actions that have a significant impact on the mission outcome or other characters.

📌 — For all questions relating to this mission, please refer to the mission queries comment on this post. Other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

🔵FULL NAVIGATION🔵