etrayalogs | MISSION 004 (part 1)

MISSION 004 (part 1)

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: July 19th-July 27th.
WHERE: Moorecroft Village
WHAT: Enjoy life in your new suburban neighborhood!
NOTES\WARNINGS: Potential death.

⏵ welcome home ⏴
Welcome to Moorecroft Village, where the sun casts a gentle glow through soft white clouds. Pavement paths wind around the village, adorned with wildflowers in every hue. Birds sing a soothing melody, while a few content cats lounge in sunspots or on benches along the streets. Cars hum by, ferrying residents to work, the store, or back home after a busy day.

It looks almost perfect. The ideal little village, occupied by individuals from all over. Orcs, elves, faeries, werewolves, vampires, and dhampirs coexist harmoniously, each contributing to their quaint little town. Despite their varied backgrounds, they appear to embrace this place as their own. They take their baby carriages out during the day for a stroll, chatting with friends and neighbors about current happenings, discussing their most recent mission (a ‘game’ of Whodunit, in which one of theirs, Theo, was tasked with killing one of their own each day and they all had to figure out who had killed them before they could come back to life) and the difficulties therein, new job assignments, weird things the teens in their houses are getting up to... generic, neighborly conversations.

The village is full of life. There are numerous facilities to wander and things to do! The library houses a vast collection of books spanning history from countless other worlds and whimsical children's tales. Teens gather at the ice skating rink, while the movie theater screens films spanning generations. An aquarium full of wonders: glowing rainbow fish, miniature great white sharks, a colorful octopus with patterns running over it that almost look like ivy, and numerous others.

In the daytime, everyone can explore clothing stores, indulge in gourmet cakes from the grocers, and partake in leisurely pursuits without financial concerns; just like on Etraya, money does not exist here.

⏵ help wanted ⏴
Moorecroft surpasses Etraya in its development, offering attractions and activities to engage its inhabitants throughout the day. But with these advancements come additional responsibilities. By day, at least one adult from every household is expected to fulfill their shifts at 'day jobs', lasting anywhere from four to eight hours. Meanwhile, the youth are expected to go to school, absorbing knowledge in various disciplines.

Each job duty requires different skillsets, but whether or not those required skillsets are matched to those who are expected to work them... well. They’ll have plenty of time for training, won’t they? Or perhaps they’ll get dropped right into their job and be expected to figure it out all on their own.

For the younger residents, education is structured into two main institutions: "Sandalwood Lower" for those twelve and under, and "Maplewood Upper" for older students. These schools offer a broad curriculum encompassing Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, Technology, Fine Arts, and a diverse array of Foreign Languages. Electives range widely, from specific sports to Survival Training, Creative Writing, Journalism, and Sociology.

At lunchtime, the school cafeteria presents an array of choices. Options range from standard fare like school pizza to other offerings such as vampire's blood, brains, and hearts—just in case an unexpected guest should drop in. After all, one never knows who might show up in Moorecroft.

⏵ honey do's ⏴
But life extends beyond work and school. A structured routine of what is expected of each household is kept on digital calendars, and installed on the wall in the kitchen of each house. These calendars update daily with smaller tasks, and weekly with larger ones, detailing what is expected of those residing within its walls.

Typical tasks include simple activities such as:

Take the child(ren) for a walk outdoors.
Visit the local park.
Bake a pie for the neighbors.
Tell your spouse(s) how important they are to you.
Share a secret.
Shop with your child(ren).
Mow the lawn.
Don’t forget to attend your child’s school’s PTA meeting!
Help with homework.
Take family photos.
Go on a date.

More complex tasks are found under weekly checklists, and may involve:

Host a neighborhood barbeque competition.
Volunteer at the hospital.
Teach your child a sport.
Start a soccer league.
Create a garage band.
Get a part time job.
Join a club.

Eos will check off each task as it is completed. At the bottom of each calendar, a tally records the completion of tasks, providing a visual measure of productivity and community involvement.

⏵ night watch ⏴
As the sun lowers over the horizon, everything shifts. Every long-term resident understands the consequences of curfew and the threats within. They retreat to their homes, urging those unfamiliar to them who may not understand the rules just yet that they, too, need to return indoors for the night.

Within the confines of their houses, life continues under a fragile veil of normalcy. A peek into some of the homes of long-term residents will find them playing board games with their family units, completing homework or work assignments they were unable to finish during the day, watching a few family-friendly shows on their couches, or enjoying a late dinner. Eventually, they’ll return to their beds and wait for the sound of their alarms.

In Moorecroft, no friendly companion bots roam the streets during the day. In their place, highly advanced robots emerge to enforce curfew once the time comes. They silently make their way through the streets, sweeping away anything that isn’t part of Eos’ design: trash left out on the street, bugs left by suspicious men wearing cowls that have ears on them, graffiti, new decor that Eos decides she doesn’t like. No winds shake the trees, there are no cars on the road, but noises can be heard coming from outside that don't sound... normal by any means. Croaks, whispers, scratches against doors and walls alike.

Those who defy curfew will be asked, once, to return to their homes. If they opt not to listen, they are met with force: physically restrained, subdued, and dragged back to their homes. If they decide to fight, the bots are not above killing them and dropping their limp bodies just inside the front door of their houses. They will revive after 48 hours but not without cost. Each return carries an absence—a missing memory, a lost skill, or a fragment of their very essence, stolen away in the process of their revival.

Even those who manage to evade capture will awaken in their beds with no recollection of their death or what they may have witnessed before dying. They will instead have a vague feeling that something horrifying happened.

⏵ NOTES ⏴

Daily and weekly tasks can be chosen by players! We won't be listing these out for each household, but relying on players to choose what's most fun for them to play with within their households.

As noted on Mission Plotting, we're open to one group successfully staying out past curfew, but would like to keep this to one thread.

We have a separate log for NPC interactions for this mission!

For any questions relating to the contents of this log, mod queries thread on the initial plotting post to assist us in keeping all mission-related information in one place. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.
⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Of course Gorgug's willing to hear out Riz's adventures into investigation, his theories and thoughts--and why, in their meeting up at the diner between after school and whatever job Riz's suited himself up for this day, Gorgug, with a soda and an order for a large basket of fries has the question to ask to spur his quizzical friend into gear: ]

Do you think we blend in better if we do all the tasks our houses get, or only doing some of them? Because I was thinking no one here does all of them, right?

[ ... via Message, that is. Because Gorgug took a second to consider talking out loud on the subject of blending in, and maybe they want to be careful? And what's weird about pointing in your pal's direction in a smoooth motion while picking up your soda can to crack open?

Riz can decide which option to pick. The diner is lively, to possibly the dismay of the people being made to work there. ]

[ Riz's face visibly lights up as Gorgug Messages him. Without any magic abilities of his own whatsoever, sometimes he forgets that it's an option beyond good old-fashioned subterfuge, and he jabs a finger back at Gorgug as he reaches across the table to snag a fistful of french fries.

It also means that he can talk while shoving aforementioned crispy fried goodness into his gullet. ]

I'd say shoot for a, what, 65-75% success rating? I don't think doing any more would be suspicious, 'cause they could just think we're really keen during our first month here. But if we don't have to do all of them, I'd rather spend our time on more important things. [ Then, to avoid suspicion, he says out loud: ] How're things with your new 'family'?

[ Strategical laziness--or that's not really Gorgug's thinking, but he prefers it compared to caring deeply about the tasks (and would his fellow house-mates be up for it anyway? The parents don't look particularly thrilled about everything they get designated).

Fortunately, Gorgug doesn't have to think too hard between Messaging and talking on some other subject--which is thanks to being friends to such a group as the Bad Kids, where at least his pauses are natural. Very him. A furrowing brow as he considers the question. ]

They're alright. The parents get along, and I don't mind the guy I'm a brother with. [ He also doesn't visibly look like he wants to die talking about his situation, unlike some poor souls. Possibly the benefit of having a decent enough home life. ] Does anyone in your family know how to cook?

[ Yes, that your is very telling. But even as he asks it, he thinks, you know, this is Riz; and he's tapping at his hand on the table to a beat, decides to pull a similar move to him as he points in the other's direction as he takes some fries himself. ]

I've got some videos, on my crystal--if you wanna talk more. We can watch them, 'cause--I'm wondering if this is all this is. Really.

Is playing families all we're gonna do?

[ And it's Riz, so of course he's figuring that out. And as it's Riz, they'll need the excuse to not be talking for the length he'll need, and maybe when you're Gorgug, you just pack everything with you, and know that videos are better than the books in your backpack for this occassion. ]

[ Looks like Gorgug's whole home situation is pretty peaceful too, then, Riz thinks. His own situation isn't bad at all. Awkward, sure. But not bad. They're all nice people, which makes him feel a little like he won the lottery, not getting stuck with anyone who finds him terribly annoying, or who won't be irate and bossy at him for most of the day. ]

I volunteered to help with the cooking, along with Hob. It's not so bad. We can just about put dinner on the table most nights.

[ He scuttles over to Gorgug's side of the booth and leans over to stare at his phone, nodding at Gorgug's idea to watch shit on his crystal -- in public, because they're teens, so they get to act like the sort of teens to watch things without headphones from time to time. It's good cover. Probably. ]

You mean mission-wise, or us-wise? 'Cause us-wise, I'm already trying to gather as much intel as possible to figure out the root of what's going on here. We need to find out what they're hiding every night. It has to be something big.

Mission-wise... I don't buy that this is it either. Eventually, the other shoe is gonna drop.

[ But Gorgug knew what Riz's answer was going to be anyway. Riz's whole deal is waiting for the other shoe to drop. He rarely goes long without becoming immediately consumed with the sensation of imminent destruction. It's okay, though. It's a super normal way to feel. ]

[ Whoa whoa, Riz, moving on over without any heads up? Gorgug guesses that getting up is heads up, and so he throws in a (slightly awkward), ] Oh, we're watching those videos now? [ as while Riz comes to settle beside him, Gorgug shuffles over to plant his butt on the other side of the seats, grabbing his bag to kick along at the same time, but also so he can get his crystal too.

And we hope you don't mind the video choices once Gorgug can get them up, taking a moment to shift through some files before, hmm, wait, no, does he want to pick that? --no no, he's backing out, and-- he's going into a different collection, and there: he's brought up some live acoustic variation of a metal group, with, at the very least, the volume turned down.

...but it's still certainly got those drums and cymbals getting a workout, and it might distract Gorgug for a second (and he's definitely starting to tap his fingers of his free hand against the table to the erratic beat). But-- ]

Uh-- there a reason we think they're hiding something?

[ Tap-tap-tappity-tap-tap-tap-- ]

[ They've got bigger fish to fry, but Riz does find himself wondering momentarily if Gorgug's missing the Cig Figs right about now. The spirit of music has never taken to Riz, and he doesn't know what it's like, but... he must like it, right? Or else why would he have made a career out of it?

Well, he should have plenty of time for drumming. Maybe when they're not trying to get to the bottom of a seriously creepy mystery. A little belatedly (a little obviously) in the midst of their Messaging, he blurts out: ] Oh, uh -- yeah. I am. Hi.

I mean, even if they just sent us here to live out this weird white picket fence dream, it would be fishy, right? No place that pushes conformity this much isn't hiding anything bad. Even Kristen's old cult would probably say this is all a bit much.

[ They specialized in soft control, not hard control, after all. ]

What we know we're hiding is what's coming out after dark. I hear that if you break curfew? Those robots will really fuck you up if you don't just agree to go home immediately. So what's so big that they're willing to straight-up kill people to hide?

[ There is a level of suspicion that Riz has that isn't natural to Gorgug, that even as he explains it, Gorgug really has to think: is it a big deal that they're being made to stay in at certain times? Except for the affront it is to them personally as people, and that level of control present in enforcing such a rule.

But he doesn't find it a waste of time, at least. It has him wondering, thinking about his own attempt to understand the whys to the way things are in these bubble cities. Like there's some kind of secret component to every choice made that he has to unravel. For a good score. ]

They really want us to follow the rules? [ Which would be the simple answer, and of course not enough to satisfy a rogue. So: ] ...Do you think they want us to break the rules, or to really not break the rules because they're hiding something?

[ Because Gorgug would like extra credit on his mission homework.... ]

They're definitely hiding something.

[ Riz had decided this since their arrival. But that's probably of no surprise to anyone who knows him; prone to fits of conspiracy and paranoia, Riz thinks that anyone and everyone is hiding something, even if what they're hiding happens to be relatively benign. What doesn't help Riz very much in battling this tendency is the fact that he's usually right.

Such is the world they're from, and such is the world they're in now, as far as Riz is concerned. ]

If it was just about control, I don't think they'd be so... violent about it? They're so concerned with everything here seeming normal. Nice. Having killer robots going around attacking people is way more strict than they are about anything else.

[ It's supposed to be idyllic here; students in school, no single-parent homes (save for Fabian, who seems like he'd been forgotten in a paperwork shuffle), stable, middle-class jobs, big yards and nice houses... it stinks of artifice. ]

Something that only comes out at night. Or something that the people in charge can only do at night. I haven't decided what theory seems more likely yet.

[ There's no reason for Gorgug not to follow Riz's reasoning, and it even makes Gorgug a little more curious about what might be out there. It makes him inch his gaze from the moving shapes of the crystal to right above it, just so he can think better without the distracting imagery. ]

No one can see anything from their windows at night? [ That would be too obvious, but he might as well ask. ] We know Aurora doesn't come out... [ ...well. ] We think she doesn't. Isn't she a hologram?

[ He's never met her himself, so all his information came from the other Bad Kids first. ]

She's at least partially a hologram. But her, uh... brain? Is probably located elsewhere. I've actually been pretty curious about seeing if we could find it at some point, but I think if it's available, it's at some inaccessible location.

[ Riz should know. He's the guy who's explored Etraya so thoroughly that he walked up a frankly insane amount of flights of stairs when the city popped up in the off-chance that something cool was hidden in one of the empty buildings.

It wasn't. And all he got for his trouble was legs so sore that he'd straight-up refused to get out of bed the next day. ]

It's possible that her real form is in another place like this one, but that's getting a little too deep in the weeds, even for me. [ He rubs at his forehead. ] We haven't seen anything from our windows. And I talked to some of the locals here about breaking curfew and it got them spooked. All they said was disobeying was a bad idea, and not to do it. So, I mean, obviously...

[ Obviously, they have to do it. ]

[ Obviously, they have to do it. ]

Okay... [ He's slow, thinking, and there's a way to even feel the clogs in his brain moving, like a fog that becomes more present in the space where words aren't being formed but on the verge of existing. ] It's not gonna be easy if the robots are built to sense if anybody's outside. If that's their whole job and half the people come from worlds like us, we should find out what tips them off or how to distract them. If we can trick them into thinking there's people on places there aren't?

It'd help to find where you wanna head too.

[ That's as much as Gorgug can think about it, though. They can't just rush through or bash in these things that are willing to kill them if there's a larger amount of them compared to those going out. Gorgug doesn't mind breaking some bots, but not if it's going to lead nowhere. ]

There's a lot of investigation that has to happen before we can tackle this. I don't want to half-ass it. When we do it, we go in with a proper plan. I've taken on a couple of jobs to snoop around people's homes, and I've already broken into the police station and into one of the teachers' desks, so I've at least gotten a head-start on investigation.

[ Riz is a stickler for the rules, but it's not breaking the rules if he's a Rogue. It just means he's good at his job, he rationalizes. The moral ambiguity of rooting through the personal affairs of people who are for all intents and purposes innocent people who were dragged here just like the two of them is something that never occurred to him, even when rifling through their personal belongings and discovering things about their intimate lives that they in no way would want some nosy kid to find out.

It's not like it's personal. It's just him, doing his job. ]

Testing their limits is a good call. And we can't possibly be the first people who've tried to break curfew. If we can talk to others who've tried, that would be a great start. And maybe send, like... a drone or something out? [ He's trying to keep his eyes on Gorgug's crystal so they have some plausible deniability here, but he can't help but twist his head to look Gorgug in the eyes, subtlety be damned. ] Whatever we do, let's avoid facing the robots head-on. If we're not the first people to break curfew, then we're definitely not the strongest either.

[ They're pretty strong, admittedly. But Riz has the capacity to be realistic about this too. They're still just teenagers, after all. ]

[ Riz talks about doing this all so effortlessly, but then: this is Riz. Maybe even Fig would be similar (she certainly has no qualms breaking into places), but it's still admirable from where Gorgug sits to listen (in his head) about the ways that Riz has just been waltzing around town sneakily, checking everywhere out.

There is a discrepancy here between a police station and a teachers' desk, but that feels like it's only time. Soon, it'll be all the teachers' desks. Because that's who Riz is.

Gorgug does turn his own head when he sees Riz's move from the corner of his eye, and gives his message a nod. ...at the very least, he doesn't move his mouth. ]

I'll see what's in town, yeah. I brought everything I asked for with my points and my books, so--I can see what I can make. I think... if we find out how they react to magic or the electronics they use here, I know my books have some stuff on hiding from detection. I can look into it. See if there's any strong spells.

[ Granted, everything is a singular lesson and he didn't study it deeply, but he can go back, re-read detection and masking schematics. But if they have time, then he can spend his time working on something that's relevant to what he's studying.

He circles a finger against the table, nails chipped and still some stubborn flecks of nail paint clinging in the corners. Looks at Riz again, then turns right back to his crystal and just change the song playing. ]

Sorry. [ Whoops, shouldn't have looked that time. ] Uh, if you sneak anywhere with cameras or recording equipment, that would be good. Yeah.

[ You know. Good for taking with one wonderful briefcase. ]

Okay, sweet. Sounds like a plan. [ Right. Don't look at Gorgug. Look at the screen. He focuses his gaze back onto the screen, which makes it look like he's grinning at -- heavy metal music? Oh, whatever. Maybe people will assume that he's really hardcore instead of the sort of dweeb who grew up listening largely to his Dad's old jazz records. ]

You work on the cameras, I'll work on snooping, and we'll reconvene after that to figure out what our next move is. [ He leans back in the booth, stretching his arms out in front of him. ] It's been a while since we've actually been able to plan something properly. It's just been react, react, react, react for like, forever now. It's nice. We'll actually be prepared for whatever it is we've gotta tackle.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

MISSION 004 (part 1)

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