etrayalogs | 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

[ 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.) ]

MISSION 004 (part 1)

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