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

[ Fabian??? Fabian??? ]

I'll come with you!? [ Bro. Bro. He is looking at you like you're looking to abandon him in this moment, even if you're not paying attention to him--which just proves his point!! He is standing there about as frazzled as anything, hoping the answer he isn't going to get is a negative, his hands uselessly held up but with nothing to hold or grab onto.

He might grab onto Fabian if he tries to shuffle by him so he can further plead a hopeless case. But he hasn't done that yet. But what if Fabian does!!! ]

[ He does look like he's about to leave.

But that's the weird thing. Usually when Fabian decides something, he just goes right ahead and does it, no hesitation or anything. But right now, even though he's making an initial move towards the baby to grab it in his arms, and even though he stands up with the armless baby and looks like he's about to move..

.. he doesn't.

He just stands there, looking so terribly unsure. Like he dreads doing what he's being told to do here, but also dreads what might happen if he doesn't. ]

It's-- It's telling me. [ He sounds so calm and so panicked at the same time, somehow. Like he's so baffled by this situation that it keeps him from loudly freaking out, but he looks so panicked all the same. ] It's telling me I have an appointment. At the hospital.

[ Maybe he's lost it, Gorgug. Fabian kind of looks like he's lost it. ]

[ This is weird. Is Fabian possessed? Is he getting a call that's telling him to go to the hospital? Is it both? And the thing is, is how much Fabian talks about how this place sucks--what if he's going into the weirdest trauma response?

What if he's scared? Gorgug is putting his hand on those shoulders, just to try and get the other guy to focus on him. ]

I'll go. I'll tell them I did it. You don't have to die for this, Fabian.

[ Gorgug sounds so serious, so sure. This has to be life or death, right? The way Fabian's acting, that's what it is--and Gorgug should be the one to die!

He's done it before! He's used to it! ]

[ Something about the word die seems to snap Fabian out of whatever just came over him - if not just because his brain is immediately latching onto the idea of Gorgug dying and decides it absolutely does not want a single bit of that.

So-- yes, he still has to go to the hospital. Whatever that means. Fabian will go to the hospital, because he doesn't care to fuck around and find out when Gorgug is inserting himself into the situation this heavily. It's one thing to fuck around and find out with his own life, and it's another thing entirely to do it with his friend's.

But first, before that.. ]

I'm not going to die, Gorgug! [ H-Hopefully?! He would at least go down swinging, just like his papa..!! ] And you are not going to die either!

[ It's a good thing the baby was already broken to begin with, because Fabian is clutching that thing far too tightly to his chest right now in the middle of his panic and all other emotions. ]

No one is going to die today..!

[ Well..

.. at least it does sound a little bit more like Fabian again..? That weird intensity about random stuff unprompted is very much like him, right. ]

[ They're not going to die? Between Gorgug's own frazzled emotions and the places Fabian's been going with his (especially with him becoming so un-Fabian-like!!!), Gorgug isn't sure if he believes that dying isn't on the table.

But with his friend sparking back into that usual life he has, speaking so assuredly that they won't die--it doesn't dispel from Gorgug's mind that dying could be on the table, but... ]

Okay. [ He speaks up with all the confidence he has in himself, looking at Fabian like they're about to confront a foe so impossibly deadly. ] We'll face it together. Whatever happens, it's you and me.

[ Dude. Man. Bro.

Gorgug really wants to apologise again for putting them in this position in the first place, but that would ruin this "we've totally got this" lie they're telling themselves, so... ]

Do we have to go immediately? I can grab my axe.

[ Just take a trip back to his place....!! ]

Yeah.

[ .. as in 'yeah, we have to go immediately.' Fabian is not going to fuck around and find out what it means when he ignores that message he keeps getting, especially when it only seems to be growing more and more intense with each moment. He may be wincing a little from how loudly it's blaring into his ears right now, honestly. ]

I don't think-- There's no time.

[ There's no time, Gorgug! In fact, Fabian is already moving with the baby in his arms in the direction of the front door - even though he's still looking like a mess. It's probably telling in just how much of a rush Fabian is that he's voluntarily going outside while looking like this.

.. he is, however, totally forgetting about the detached baby arm. Maybe don't leave that one behind, Gorgug.. Grab your spoils of war.. ]

We will have to make do with what we have! [ T-Their.. their bare fists?!

Gorgug, are you ready?! ]

[ O-oh, hi bro is going! Gorgug starts to move, but does immediately remember the arm, so he grabs that...just because it seems better than to leave it around, and maybe he can figure out something very smart on the journey to the hospital.

Like mending? Mending might be an idea. But Gorgug isn't thinking about fixing things more than he is a fight, and while Fabian is heading for the front door- ]

W-wait! [ Sorry, bro, he knows this is urgent, but Gorgug is...panicking for just a second in place, before rushing over to the kitchen. Which he at least knows the location of, thanks to most of these houses being identical, and he's looking around more frantically than he needs to for what he wants.

But Gorgug finds it, and there's a loud clattering and smashing that we don't need to think of--Gorgug isn't, though there's a loud ] SHUT UP! [ directed, apparently, at the noise as he's rushing back into the hall.

Cheeks flushed a dark colour, and Gorgug holds in his hand: a frying pan.

Bro, he's armed. And ready.

(And he might've just torn off the pan rack from the wall, but nevermind that.) ]

[ Fabian is definitely more than a little worried about what could possibly be going on back there - especially when he can't see it, and when he's a little worried about rushing over while he's holding a broken baby that's still making some sort of alarm go off. It means Fabian stands there in the doorway, rooted to the spot, but his eye nervously darting around as he tries to catch a glimpse of Gorgug returning - and hopefully alright! - as soon as he leaves the kitchen.

.. at least Gorgug's appearance once he does explains a whole lot. Mostly the frying pan he's holding. Fabian would dread the current state of his kitchen, but let's be real - that place was already a mess. Gorgug can't possibly have made it all that worse even if he might have wrecked the whole place.

He stands there, looking half like he's in a rush to leave, and yet like half of him is still hesitating, still looking awkward. Mostly because-- ]

Y-You are going to fight them with that?!

[ Because that thought doesn't sit right with him. Even if Gorgug tore off that arm, Fabian still feels like this is his problem. Gorgug shouldn't go down in the world's weirdest blaze of glory trying to beat away whoever might want to punish Fabian for this with only a frying pan.

Especially when Fabian knows his friend well enough to know that Gorgug will absolutely jump in front of him with that to protect him. It's what he's always done for the party, after all.

Bro-- ]

What if you get hurt?! [ Yeah, sure, okay, Gorgug getting hurt is what always happens, normally, but..

This is different!! He can't get hurt if it's just for Fabian, alright! Not allowed!! ]

[ Given that companion bots have been known to leave dead bodies outside doorways for the crime of breaking curfew, Fabian's worry is warranted. Even Gorgug knows there's a risk taking place here, and that their world might go down in flames and no glory.

But can't they try to aim for glory? With a frying pan, and also a broken baby arm in hand. ]

I'm strong! If they try anything, I'll--! [ He shows what he'll do, which is: swing the frying pan. Perhaps while always wearing the same anxious face he is now. ]

It's just a warning, okay! We're gonna show them we're not scared! We're gonna show them, Fabian! We're not scared!

[ They're totally scared. ]

Gorgug!

[ You may think Fabian is about to say something really inspiring here. Something that will help his friend through this situation, when he's holding a baby that's basically just an alarm going off that's shaped like a baby, when they're clearly in trouble.

Clearly Fabian, local party bard now they haven't had Fig with them for a good while already, will say something inspiring. Something that will give Gorgug inspiration. Something that will get them through this.

By which I mean he just says, with the volume of his voice rising throughout the statement: ]

You already look scared now!

[ BRO!!! THIS IS A BAD START!! ]

I'M NOT SCARED!!!

[ Wrong response, Fabian. Because Gorgug is now showing off how not scared he is by turning towards the wall next to him and smashing the frying pan against it. The result: the head of the frying pan dent considerably where it hits and also leaving a mark in the wall itself, before Gorgug turns back to Fabian. ]

I'M NOT SCARED! [ His face... he looks ready to cry if they keep this up. That baby arm he's also holding onto is looking kind of...squished, too.

Do you want to try this again, Fabian. Do you really want to tell the overwhelmed half-orc how he's feeling for a second time. ]

[ Please don't mind the sound that escapes Fabian when Gorgug suddenly hits the wall with that frying pan. No, he did not just shriek like a girl. That definitely didn't happen just now.

It's a good thing that Gorgug is being so loud that his shouting likely covered up the sound that came from Fabian.. No one has to know now.. ]

A-- Alright, alright! You're not scared!

[ Clearly. This is not the reaction of a scared person with perhaps a little bit too much rage in them. Obviously not. ]

You're so brave, Gorgug! You are the bravest man I know! [ .. after his papa.

But it's fine. Fabian is slowly learning here that maybe you don't have to say absolutely everything out loud. If you want to keep up your walls, anyway. ]

Can we go now before I have to arrest myself?!

[ BRO!!! ]

[ Good, Fabian, we're glad you're on the right page now which is: agreeing with Gorgug. He's nodding through Fabian's affirmations, even repeating, ] I'm the bravest, [ after him--never mind the soft note in his voice.

He holds his bent pan and gives another, more determined nod--sniffing, his expression either a look of determination or misery. Maybe both. ]

Let's fuck them up, Fabian.

[ That's what they're going to do... don't fight it, he'll hopefully calm down in the car ride to their doom.

But one last thing he can do, probably because he noticed it while wanting to hit the frying pan against his hand (but facing complications, such as: the hand being full, and the pan head being crooked), is hold out the singular baby robot arm that he's been carrying to Fabian. He'll let it go once Fabian reaches out to take it...

...and it will disintegrate into two pieces as he does.

(please don't be mad, bro.) ]

[ Fabian's jaw is practically hanging right onto the floor the moment he sees that arm just.. break even further. Somehow. He really didn't think it was possible for the baby to get more broken than it already was, but somehow it happened, huh.

Usually this is the part where he'd whine about it. Or freak out, given the stakes they are dealing with. But even though Fabian trusts Gorgug with his very life, he isn't entirely sure the other won't just hit him with that frying pan if Fabian throws too much of a fit here. Mostly because it'd also just drag Gorgug along into a fit of emotion.

So Fabian says.. nothing.

It's as if he's in shock, really. That silent, frozen kind of shock. He simply tries to tuck away the two pieces as well as he can, and then turns around to walk out of the door in the direction of his Cop Car.

Just. Silent. The entire way. Looking like he's seen a ghost. ]

[ ...the way that Fabian says nothing is deafening--more so than Fabian saying anything could be. It doesn't erase the anxiety buzzing around inside Gorgug, but it does keep him quiet, holding onto the frying pan as a kind of lifeline for his nerves.

He lets one of his hands free so he can open the car door on the opposite side of Fabian, glancing at him, feeling all shades of Bad.

Should he say something himself? Remind Fabian that it's going to be alright? ...what he tries to do instead is to be on his best behaviour, swallowing down the emotion inside him, keep it at bay as best he can as he slides into the seat next to him. Watching him, to see what he does to the baby--put it in the back? In the front? Hold onto it for dear life?

...he's only going to offer to hold it if he sees Fabian get in the front with it. ]

[ Indeed, it really does seem like Fabian is making an attempt to get behind the wheel with the baby.

He only seems to be realizing what kind of bad idea it is when he actually sits down and reaches out for the wheel - because that's the exact moment the very practical question of how he's going to hold on to both the wheel and the baby kicks in. It's practically impossible. H-He's still trying though, because he feels extra protective of this baby-turned-alarm in this moment, so he feels like it's important to hold it close and hold onto it, but-- h-how is he going to drive at the same time..

Gorgug, will you offer your help now. While looking at Fabian trying to adjust his hold on the baby with more and more fluster with each failing attempt to find a good spot for it.. H-He's not about to cry, you are!! ]

[ Gorgug is staring at the situation....unfolding in front of him, but in a very "unfolding by nothing really happening". Except for Fabian fumbling with his baby, and Gorgug does just let him...do that for a while, not sure if he should say anything...

...and still not, even while the words are there in the back of his throat, his lips rolling together as he deliberates on what's best, on what Fabian will agree to. Honestly, he doesn't want Fabian to reject him.

...

... but... ]

...You can put the baby in my lap, [ he offers, finally: trying to find the best solution here that doesn't make Gorgug the threat. Look, he's even lowering the frying pan between his legs to potentially drop onto the floor! ] I'll just-- I won't touch it. I'll make sure it won't fall off.

[ Minimal touching, Fabian!!! Look at this whole lap that a baby can fit on! ]

[ The good news - though Gorgug may not realize it - is that Fabian wasn't holding the baby so close to him to keep Gorgug from touching it again. It's more just that he's so panicked over the entire situation that keeping the baby close to him just felt like the safest thing to do in general.

.. especially when he isn't fully sure there isn't a crowd of robots trying to track down the person who broke a baby right now, and if that happens, he wants to make sure he's the one holding it and getting the blame, and not his friend.

But Fabian is slowly realizing that he's not going to be able to properly drive this car while holding the baby. Especially not if he's panicked on top of it all.

So he does look over at Gorgug, gaze dropping to the other's lap, and he asks: ]

That's-- Do you think it will be safe there..?

[ See, the problem? He isn't asking it because he's worried about Gorgug hurting it. He's just worried about the safety of a baby resting in someone's lap like that, when they're supposed to be all fragile and all. (Even if this one is screaming its lungs out with some sort of car alarm-like sound at the moment.)

But it's very easy to misunderstand Fabian's question, especially while the guy still looks so panicked. ]

[ Gorgug, as Big Time Fuck Up when it comes to the baby, isn't going to take any deep offence about causing more problems with said baby. It's a legit question, and Gorgug looks at his lap again, and-- the baby might fall off? If they somehow get into a speed chase, and doesn't everyone consider that as a real possibility?

So Gorgug tries, with his limited resources, to make adjustments. He rests an arm on his lap in an attempt to curl it to make a cradle for the baby with his arm, explaining as he does: ]

If you rest the baby on my lap...its head can go here-- [ He uses his free hand to point towards the crook of his inner elbow ] --and then, you, if you put the baby in there, [ the space of his lap, ] I'll put my arm around here...

[ He tries to show what he means, making a crib space with his arms. Or it just looks like he wants to stick the baby in a hole of his arms, which, same thing, right? ]

I can't crush it if I'm not holding it.

[ Right? See? ]

.. okay.

[ If Fabian was in a better - read: less panicked, honestly - state, then he might have thought a little bit better about what to say here. He may have realized that it would have been important to point out that his reluctance and worry had nothing to do with Gorgug being a danger to the baby as much as it has to do with the entire world being a danger to the baby.

Right now it's kind of hard to think of anything though. Everything around him is so overwhelming, so Fabian just moves, letting go of the wheel so he can bend over to put the broken baby so very, very gently onto Gorgug's lap.

He watches for a moment as his friend moves to cradle it, and then turns back to the wheel to start driving. Thankfully Fabian seems to be such a natural at it at this point that his driving skill isn't suffering because of his thinly veiled panic. (Or really - not at all veiled panic, especially since he keeps glancing over to Gorgug and the baby even as he drives.) ]

If they-- If they pull us over, you have to tell them it's my baby, alright?

[ Gorgug does as he said he would, letting the baby's head rest against the side of his arm, and then wrapping the other around its body, trying to create a basket with his limbs to give it protection. He's still touching it, technically, but this can't be bad, right? So Gorgug is hoping, being careful with how his moves in trying to make the baby comfortable. ...as comfortable as a baby can be, having freshly lost an arm.

He is not going to move anymore. He will not do anything that will threaten this baby machine's life. He is going to be the bestest of friends, or so Gorgug has decided. ]

Wh-what if we tell them it's our baby? Let's say it's our baby.

[ Bro. Wouldn't that be better, somehow! ]

[ W-Would that be better, bro?

Actually, no, it wouldn't be! Because that means Gorgug would get dragged down in Fabian's shit, and that's the last thing he wants. Especially when the half-orc is also clearly uncomfortable with this whole situation. Taking the blame on himself feels like the least Fabian could do here.

But he also knows Gorgug likely isn't going to agree if Fabian poses it like that, so..

Even though he's keeping his eyes on the road as he drives, he instead says: ]

Wouldn't they know you're not an adult?

[ Bro. You're literally bigger than him, but what if they know? ]

I don't want to get you or your family here in trouble. [ THINK OF YOUR DADS, GORGUG!! ]

[ Why is Fabian trying to use facts and logic against Gorgug right now? Even if Fabian being considered an adult when they're both going to the same school is kind of rude to Gorgug, but he's trying to think of how this works within the restraints of Moorecroft's system. ]

Well-- [ Well- ] What if we-- say that we're family back home? Or that we were dating there, and it's not weird there, and we don't know why they made you a dad in the first place! They can't kick me out!

[ He's not getting overexcited again, fortunately, but-- Gorgug is just desperate to not let Fabian go through this alone, okay! This is all he can think on the fly! ]

[ ...

This is not the time.

It is so not the time.

Fabian is here. Panic driving a car. A broken robot baby in Gorgug's lap. And Gorgug's mouth just keeps on moving, and the half-orc keeps firing off words at him, and Fabian is entirely unsure on how to deal with any of them.

Please don't mind it if he sinks a little lower into his seat, like he's trying to vanish somehow.. I-It's okay, he's still driving, he wouldn't dare take his eyes off the road while he's still so worried about this whole baby situation.. ]

Y-You want to fake date?!

I-I don't want you to get in trouble! [ D-don't get worked up, Gorgug, don't get worked up! He's making sure he does absolutely nothing with his arms as he responds to that, frankly, too outrageous-sounding comment. Please!!

Focus on the goal! And also- ] Don't hide! I'm trying to help!

[ Even if that has gone pretty poorly so far... but Fabian sounded so worried about parenting and making it sound like Gorgug had nothing to do with the baby--doesn't this work too?

(Gorgug is hardly following any logic, in honesty. He is only existing in the moment.) ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

MISSION 004 (part 1)

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