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etrayalogs2026-05-22 10:18 am
etrayamods) wrote in etrayalogs2026-05-22 10:18 am
Entry tags:
- !mission log,
- !npc: scylla,
- atla: toph beifong,
- batman wfa: jason todd,
- final fantasy vii-r: vincent valentine,
- final fantasy x-2: paine,
- jl gods and monsters: kirk langstrom,
- monster pulse: julie greathouse,
- my hero academia: izuku "deku" midoriya,
- original: knife,
- original: tristan,
- pathologic 3: daniil dankovsky,
- person of interest: harold finch,
- persona 3-r: junpei iori,
- resident evil 2: claire redfield,
- to be hero x: yang cheng (e-soul),
- vox machina: vax'ildan vessar
Mission 015 Log
Mission Summary
Genre: Dystopian / Horror
Premise: Echo can no longer detect what's happening in Pollux, and sends Etrayans to investigate. In Pollux, cut off from contact with Aurora and unable to return until whatever's causing the interference is removed, the Etrayans find things have really gone to hell...
Tone: Intense, heavy, and serious.
Objectives: Determine what's happening in Pollux and install a new A.I. if necessary.
We have no need of other worlds
Arrival
The Etrayans arrive in an uninhabited apartment complex, layered with dust and echoingly empty. The layout is often odd in places in ways that might normally be humorous -- a toilet in the kitchen, one unit with five closets side-by-side off of a single main room -- but now take on an almost sinister, unnerving cast. Nothing seems to make sense in this building.
There's remnants of there being residents once in the more livable layouts, but even that has some strangeness to it: identical baskets of men's hygiene supplies left in every unit, inhabited or not; half-eaten meals abandoned in a hurry, rotting on dining tables; or robots that look much like Etraya's companion bots slumped over in place, crumpled on the floor like puppets with cut strings. There's some supplies to be found and scavenged, and it's empty enough that it's a safe place to start.
Exploring the City
Or they can head outside into the central green space of the city, an unsettling lumpy mound looming in the middle of it off in the distance. The park is bordered on all sides by gleaming metal buildings that tower overhead, all in similar states of disrepair from the one they'd just exited.
Pretty quickly, they'll accomplish one of their primary objectives: discovering what happened to Castor. There's a human man wandering the fringes of the park, scouting for disabled bots that he, under great duress, is trying to repair. The enforcers leave him alone -- they know who he is -- and he can be approached and spoken with.
Maybe he has some answers. Or maybe the other Polluxians left around the city do.
Either way, Castor has become a full, organic human through magical means, and it's obvious they're going to need to install that new A.I. after all. Before long, a base camp is established by the Etrayans in a nearby pod-style hotel, and the mission is underway in earnest.
Dead as Dead
Approaching the mound in the center of the park, characters will come to the creeping realization that it is a pile of corpses, some of them recognizable on inspection. The bodies have been dragged there and left on display as a taunt and a threat. They've been killed in a variety of ways, most of them gruesome but some subtle. In all cases, their souls have been pulled out and obliterated, leaving them completely incapable of resurrection or reanimation.
There's evidence here and there that some Polluxians might have approached to try to take some for proper burials, but the corpse pile is as much bait as it is anything else -- the enforcers and undead regularly stop by on their patrols to check if someone's lingering.
Opposition
Those roaming the city will encounter two types of opposition.
Enforcers are former Polluxians who have either willingly signed on to be part of the new regime or have been coerced into doing so to keep themselves or their loved ones from the fate on display in the park. They come in the full array of possible characters who can be recruited by Echo.
The undead that assist them as minions are not the shambling idiots common in media: they're bodies animated by some other force, the original soul pulled out but left intact, hovering beside the victim to those that can sense its presence.
All of them, to a one, smile widely, a fierce grin belying their joy at their tasks. Though they have no superhuman strengths, they also feel no pain, and if cut off at the knees they will pull themselves with fingertips across the floor to continue to seek their targets, thrilled all the while.
These dead, too, can be recognized as castmates -- or perhaps as another version of yourself -- but if you speak their name out loud to them, perhaps in shock or perhaps to plead, they slump lifeless to the ground, the thread to their soul cut. It soon becomes obvious that this is one source of the corpses in the pile. Laying them to true rest will take something more than talking or violence.
The Etrayans arrive in an uninhabited apartment complex, layered with dust and echoingly empty. The layout is often odd in places in ways that might normally be humorous -- a toilet in the kitchen, one unit with five closets side-by-side off of a single main room -- but now take on an almost sinister, unnerving cast. Nothing seems to make sense in this building.
There's remnants of there being residents once in the more livable layouts, but even that has some strangeness to it: identical baskets of men's hygiene supplies left in every unit, inhabited or not; half-eaten meals abandoned in a hurry, rotting on dining tables; or robots that look much like Etraya's companion bots slumped over in place, crumpled on the floor like puppets with cut strings. There's some supplies to be found and scavenged, and it's empty enough that it's a safe place to start.
Exploring the City
Or they can head outside into the central green space of the city, an unsettling lumpy mound looming in the middle of it off in the distance. The park is bordered on all sides by gleaming metal buildings that tower overhead, all in similar states of disrepair from the one they'd just exited.
Pretty quickly, they'll accomplish one of their primary objectives: discovering what happened to Castor. There's a human man wandering the fringes of the park, scouting for disabled bots that he, under great duress, is trying to repair. The enforcers leave him alone -- they know who he is -- and he can be approached and spoken with.
Maybe he has some answers. Or maybe the other Polluxians left around the city do.
Either way, Castor has become a full, organic human through magical means, and it's obvious they're going to need to install that new A.I. after all. Before long, a base camp is established by the Etrayans in a nearby pod-style hotel, and the mission is underway in earnest.
Dead as Dead
Approaching the mound in the center of the park, characters will come to the creeping realization that it is a pile of corpses, some of them recognizable on inspection. The bodies have been dragged there and left on display as a taunt and a threat. They've been killed in a variety of ways, most of them gruesome but some subtle. In all cases, their souls have been pulled out and obliterated, leaving them completely incapable of resurrection or reanimation.
There's evidence here and there that some Polluxians might have approached to try to take some for proper burials, but the corpse pile is as much bait as it is anything else -- the enforcers and undead regularly stop by on their patrols to check if someone's lingering.
Opposition
Those roaming the city will encounter two types of opposition.
Enforcers are former Polluxians who have either willingly signed on to be part of the new regime or have been coerced into doing so to keep themselves or their loved ones from the fate on display in the park. They come in the full array of possible characters who can be recruited by Echo.
The undead that assist them as minions are not the shambling idiots common in media: they're bodies animated by some other force, the original soul pulled out but left intact, hovering beside the victim to those that can sense its presence.
All of them, to a one, smile widely, a fierce grin belying their joy at their tasks. Though they have no superhuman strengths, they also feel no pain, and if cut off at the knees they will pull themselves with fingertips across the floor to continue to seek their targets, thrilled all the while.
These dead, too, can be recognized as castmates -- or perhaps as another version of yourself -- but if you speak their name out loud to them, perhaps in shock or perhaps to plead, they slump lifeless to the ground, the thread to their soul cut. It soon becomes obvious that this is one source of the corpses in the pile. Laying them to true rest will take something more than talking or violence.
This is another lie
The Tower
The other source of corpses in the park is the magically hidden tower, and those that sneak in or are captured and brought inside will find that out. Characters can be forced into becoming either contestants or enforcers in a series of macabre games, and their role can switch round to round. Note: players are welcome to make up their own game scenarios. Those listed below are provided as starting points and ideas.
For contestants, they will experience complete power nerfing, but those that win make their way up one level in the tower, game by game. Maybe eventually they'll see what's at the top, if they ever make it that far. Those that lose can die, face mutilation, or some other consequence like reliving their worst memory in real-time.
For enforcers, keeping the contestants in line and running the games might earn them the goodwill of the person running the show. They can be as creative as they'd like with how to keep things running; by no means does death need to be the only possible penalty. Or maybe if they act out, trying to help contestants when they shouldn't be, they'd attract their ire...
The other source of corpses in the park is the magically hidden tower, and those that sneak in or are captured and brought inside will find that out. Characters can be forced into becoming either contestants or enforcers in a series of macabre games, and their role can switch round to round. Note: players are welcome to make up their own game scenarios. Those listed below are provided as starting points and ideas.
For contestants, they will experience complete power nerfing, but those that win make their way up one level in the tower, game by game. Maybe eventually they'll see what's at the top, if they ever make it that far. Those that lose can die, face mutilation, or some other consequence like reliving their worst memory in real-time.
For enforcers, keeping the contestants in line and running the games might earn them the goodwill of the person running the show. They can be as creative as they'd like with how to keep things running; by no means does death need to be the only possible penalty. Or maybe if they act out, trying to help contestants when they shouldn't be, they'd attract their ire...
Game Ideas
Blindman's Bluff: One person is blindfolded and must find and tag another player. The blindman has shoes, whereas everyone else has had theirs confiscated. The floor is covered in glass.
Duck, Duck, Viper: This game is set up like an ordinary game of Duck, Duck, Goose with one notable addition to the fox, ducks and geese. One player amongst you will be a Viper, holding a knife. Should the Fox accidentally select the Viper as a Goose, the Viper will then chase the Fox around the circle and attempt to stab them. The Viper wins if they are successful in this.
Tortilla Game: Both contestants put water in their mouths. Take turns slapping one another with a variety of objects on the table to try to either make them laugh or induce pain and spit all the water. The objects are: a tortilla, a table tennis paddle, a deflated soccer ball, a ruler, your own open palm.
Red Light, Green Light: Classic! The giant robot turns its head alternatingly between the tree and the field. When the robot is looking at the tree, run towards the finish line. When the robot’s head is facing the field, stop and so not move! Under penalty of being shot, but not necessarily to death.
Sardines in a Can: One person is “it” and has to find the sardines. Everyone else runs and hides. If you pick the same spot as someone, you must either be making noise the entire time, or stab one other. Try not to be found by the hungry fisherman -- a guard with a gun.
Inchworm: One person must get on the other’s shoulders. The top person can only use their arms, the bottom can only use their legs. Scale a ladder as a chamber fills with water. Only one person is allowed to leave the exit, or both people must lose a hand or a foot.
Duck, Duck, Viper: This game is set up like an ordinary game of Duck, Duck, Goose with one notable addition to the fox, ducks and geese. One player amongst you will be a Viper, holding a knife. Should the Fox accidentally select the Viper as a Goose, the Viper will then chase the Fox around the circle and attempt to stab them. The Viper wins if they are successful in this.
Tortilla Game: Both contestants put water in their mouths. Take turns slapping one another with a variety of objects on the table to try to either make them laugh or induce pain and spit all the water. The objects are: a tortilla, a table tennis paddle, a deflated soccer ball, a ruler, your own open palm.
Red Light, Green Light: Classic! The giant robot turns its head alternatingly between the tree and the field. When the robot is looking at the tree, run towards the finish line. When the robot’s head is facing the field, stop and so not move! Under penalty of being shot, but not necessarily to death.
Sardines in a Can: One person is “it” and has to find the sardines. Everyone else runs and hides. If you pick the same spot as someone, you must either be making noise the entire time, or stab one other. Try not to be found by the hungry fisherman -- a guard with a gun.
Inchworm: One person must get on the other’s shoulders. The top person can only use their arms, the bottom can only use their legs. Scale a ladder as a chamber fills with water. Only one person is allowed to leave the exit, or both people must lose a hand or a foot.
... We need mirrors
Museum of Multidimensional Art
Searching through the city will eventually yield the location of the server farm: the special collections section of the Museum of Multidimensional Art. Castor might not know how to care for living beings (including himself, now) but he appreciates their creations, and the museum is an elaborate, sprawling structure with myriad exhibits.
The building itself is a vision of modern architecture, an art piece of its own, and the slanted doors open into a wide foyer with an arching thirty foot ceiling. From it is suspended a wire sculpture, each piece arranged separately so that standing from different positions in the foyer creates a different visual impression from each angle. Is that a bird, or a whale, or a baby? The overall effect is something like cloud-watching with wires.
Other pieces on display vary widely with examples from across every dimension, such as a framed photograph of a dress that some might see as blue and black, others white and gold, and other interesting exhibits. There are, of course, plenty done in more traditional mediums, but even those tend to be experimental in some way.
Special Collections
Special collections is located in the basement levels beneath the museum. An elevator provides access to those with either a keycard or the abilities to hack past the security system, and then characters are presented with a massive open-air chain-link framework serving as a gated wall, protected by its own locks. These no keycard will pass, and must be dismantled with other means.
Beyond is, at first, actual art. Several levels have nothing but vertical slide-out racks containing carefully preserved paintings and other works, and one must wander past them to encounter the final door before multiple floors of stairs that descend to the server farm. It's impossible to miss the transition, as the final door is a chambered air-lock they must pass through into a space fully devoid of air.
Heart of a City
Similar to Aurora's server floors for those who've been there, there's an additional sub-basement level with machinery for constructing companion bots, the equipment non-functional and utterly silent in the vacuum. Without air to carry vibrations, sound is impossible -- hopefully, anyone pursuing this has another way to communicate.
One more level down is a massive white-walled cavern, the stairs simply ending, cutting off abruptly above a pool of cool blue liquid stretching out before them. Bulky inert vines of mixed organic and inorganic matter wind across the ceiling and down the walls toward the liquid.
Set in a wall to the side of the stair's landing is a more conventional computer terminal, and a place to key in commands. A softly blinking red light indicates emergency. Opening the briefcase Aurora had provided with the associated keychip reveals not a hard drive but a mechanical seed resembling the winding vines.
Booting up the terminal will prompt a series of questions, and for those with enough computer knowledge to move through them, ultimately, instructions: throw the seed into the pool.
Searching through the city will eventually yield the location of the server farm: the special collections section of the Museum of Multidimensional Art. Castor might not know how to care for living beings (including himself, now) but he appreciates their creations, and the museum is an elaborate, sprawling structure with myriad exhibits.
The building itself is a vision of modern architecture, an art piece of its own, and the slanted doors open into a wide foyer with an arching thirty foot ceiling. From it is suspended a wire sculpture, each piece arranged separately so that standing from different positions in the foyer creates a different visual impression from each angle. Is that a bird, or a whale, or a baby? The overall effect is something like cloud-watching with wires.
Other pieces on display vary widely with examples from across every dimension, such as a framed photograph of a dress that some might see as blue and black, others white and gold, and other interesting exhibits. There are, of course, plenty done in more traditional mediums, but even those tend to be experimental in some way.
Special Collections
Special collections is located in the basement levels beneath the museum. An elevator provides access to those with either a keycard or the abilities to hack past the security system, and then characters are presented with a massive open-air chain-link framework serving as a gated wall, protected by its own locks. These no keycard will pass, and must be dismantled with other means.
Beyond is, at first, actual art. Several levels have nothing but vertical slide-out racks containing carefully preserved paintings and other works, and one must wander past them to encounter the final door before multiple floors of stairs that descend to the server farm. It's impossible to miss the transition, as the final door is a chambered air-lock they must pass through into a space fully devoid of air.
Heart of a City
Similar to Aurora's server floors for those who've been there, there's an additional sub-basement level with machinery for constructing companion bots, the equipment non-functional and utterly silent in the vacuum. Without air to carry vibrations, sound is impossible -- hopefully, anyone pursuing this has another way to communicate.
One more level down is a massive white-walled cavern, the stairs simply ending, cutting off abruptly above a pool of cool blue liquid stretching out before them. Bulky inert vines of mixed organic and inorganic matter wind across the ceiling and down the walls toward the liquid.
Set in a wall to the side of the stair's landing is a more conventional computer terminal, and a place to key in commands. A softly blinking red light indicates emergency. Opening the briefcase Aurora had provided with the associated keychip reveals not a hard drive but a mechanical seed resembling the winding vines.
Booting up the terminal will prompt a series of questions, and for those with enough computer knowledge to move through them, ultimately, instructions: throw the seed into the pool.
❬ MISSION NOTES ❭
📌 — 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. In this mission, the outcome will be largely determined based on events reported here. Please also report if your character dies while in Pollux.
📌 — This is a meta-plot heavy mission with opt-in heavy / intense content. It will last until there is enough IC activity to determine how it ends. The mission wrap-up post will summarize actions taken by characters and what the ultimate outcome is.
📌 — 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.
📌 — This is a meta-plot heavy mission with opt-in heavy / intense content. It will last until there is enough IC activity to determine how it ends. The mission wrap-up post will summarize actions taken by characters and what the ultimate outcome is.
📌 — 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.
no subject
Go ahead. Enlighten me. What'th worse than a lithp?
no subject
[He's going to start listing these off on the fingers of his free hand.]
I know a brat who almost curses constantly, but she replaces any swears with 'super' or 'ultra.' I also know a bunch of brats who narrate their speech, thoughts and emotions in the third person. And then there's the brat who uses the same kind of narration, but also doubles her name when she does it. [Sollux would probably get a kick out of that one.]
no subject
[ But he's grinning, so maybe he's being sarcastic? ]
You know how I type? Everyone on my planet doesth thomething like that. Thince we all mostly type to each other, everyone has their own quirk. Usually it'th an embodiment of how we also thound in real life, and how we stand out from others of our blood type. Tho the guy who typesth in all capsth does that becauthe he also yells everything he says.
no subject
Shit. People get on my case about my cursing, they'd have an aneurysm over an entire planet like that. But what do you mean 'blood type'?
[Normally he'd guess this is some blood type personality bullshit but he's learned not to make assumptions about Sollux's alien nonsense.]
no subject
[ Historic, even. But that's another story. ]
Uthually thith thort of thing kind of pisses me off to talk about thince I'm one of the lowest of the lows, but not being reminded of it tho much makesth it easier to talk about. Trolls have a caste system, based on blood type. Maroon, rust, mustard- we're lowbloods. Greens are middling, then there's the bluebloods, and then the highbloods- purples. In the past, if you're a lowblood that makesth it to adulthood, you're probably immediately enlisted to be cannon fodder or thome equally shitty role. But Alternia's dead now. Tho, doesn't really matter anymore.
no subject
He's quiet as he listens to Sollux's explanation, and after taking another sip of soda he makes a bit of a face. He had bought into the whole esper leveling system for years, and it was only recently that he's come to see it as ridiculous. In comparison, this blood system takes the cake. At least most low level espers can expect a relatively normal life.]
That's a really fucking extreme hierarchical system. [Probably the worst he's ever heard of. Normally he wouldn't agree with a planet containing sentient life being dead is a good thing, but getting rid of a society that toxic is probably for the best.] What happened to your planet?
no subject
[ After all, someone needs to be the cannon fodder. ]
Three-times combo'd by meteors, psthychic shockwave of the the Vast Glub, and thome code I wrote using ancient technology. Part of the prophecy thing I told you about. It'th complicated. We'll be here all night if I have to get into it.
What about you? You thaid you were an artificial esthper. Why not just float everywhere?
no subject
I've got a brain injury from getting shot. It means I can use my ability all the time anymore.
[He's stating that frankly, and giving a shrug.]
It was my own fault. I've learned to deal with it.
no subject
Oh wait, that doesth suck. More than I thought. I guess that meansth you won't actually want to fight with me.
[And it means that even if they fight, it's not going to be a fair fight, is it?]
no subject
He shouldn't really be surprised Sollux is circling back around to fighting, but he sighs regardless.]
You still really want to do that?
no subject
[This is sounding like........... PITYING, DOESN'T IT?]
no subject
That's probably what bothers him most. He could try to explain he's still perfectly capable of fighting and defending himself with the limited amount of time that he has, but he isn't sure how convincing that would be. Loads of people picked fights with him back home before he had the brain injury, knowing full well he's the #1 Level 5, so he's doubtful he could be that persuasive.
Plus, it's really annoying to be the coughing baby in that equation.]
..........................
[Accelerator reaches up to drag a hand down his face. He's going to regret this, he knows he is.]
Fine. Assuming we can get the new AI installed and Pollux doesn't go to complete shit, we can have a fight.
no subject
Eheheheheheh, nice. Now I really have a reason to make sure thith all worksth out. And becauthe I'm super magnanimous and you've got brain damage, I won't uthe my power ups or anything.
[He's like, actually giddy. Most humans in Pollux can't even hold a candle to him in a fight, and even if he's not as bloodthirsty as most other trolls, he still has the base instinct to want to fight something. Usually it's arguments on the network or video games, but the strongest human psychic would be such an accomplishment.
And maybe, you know. Maybe he just really likes this guy.]
no subject
Fine. No power-ups, and no killing. [Could he even pull out his wings in what is ostensibly a friendly duel? He isn't sure and doesn't really want to find out at this point. He keeps a straight face as he drinks his Mountain Dew, like none of this is any big deal.] Those two rules are reasonable.
[Also a bonus is it sounds like Sollux is now fully on board with the mission, which is great. Having another expert hacker and powerful psychic around increases the chances of this entire mess succeeding, so he inwardly pleased with that.]
no subject
[ And, out of respect, he does not mention he doesn't want to hurt Accelerator that much, in case the tides are in his favor. ]
Thince Finch mentioned he doesthn't want to re-write the new AI even if it sucks, I'm going to do thome of that once we're in there. Castor needs to be about 50% less of a bitchass wuss, and I'm going to make thure of it.
no subject
Okay, I can agree to that rule, too. [He doesn't want to hurt Sollux at all, and assuming the troll isn't exaggerating, he'd rather not possibly end up with something even worse than the brain injury.] And if there's a fourth rule we can add to square it, fine.
[He's kind of smirking a bit as he says that.]
Yeah? You can do that?
[Is it ethical to re-write an AI? Would it be more pre-programming, or changing who they are? Or more like making sure they get off on the right foot instead of whatever Echo has decided?]
no subject
I can write code as good as I can hack. I'm not going to rewrite all of him or anything, but whatever makes Castor be like thith hath been a total wash, and we can't go calling him two-point-oh if we don't even change anything about him.
If we're going to get ethical about it all, then what'th most important ith that we do it ath soon and ath fast ath we can once whatever you brought with you ith booted up. He'll grow into the changes within the first few minutes. Then we set him loose and see if I completely fucked it up or not.
no subject
But then, wasn't that what happened with Last Order to make her the person she is? He isn't sure what to do about this.]
.... Are you planning on checking the programming first? If there's anything in their code about being considerate or having some empathy reprogrammming might not be necessarily. It'd just be a matter of fucking raising them right.
no subject
But if you're looking for uth to "raise Castor right," we have exactly zero people here good at that. We're going to make a total pthycho.
[ Speaking just from... everything he's seen here. ]
no subject
Finch is usually right about this kind of shit. [Understatement of the year.] It's good to listen to his advice.
[He's just a little bit biased towards Harold, too.]
You must have decent people still around here, though.
no subject
no subject
That said....]
You're that intent on staying here?
no subject
[ A beat. ]
...Oh. You mean... go with you to Etraya?
no subject
[He's finding it awkward to suggest and finds a nice spot on the wall opposite them to scowl at. This is the kind of thing some nice, cheery, optimistic person does, not a prick with a chip on his shoulder.
But it could be an option, and Sollux isn't annoying or anything. There are worse people in Etraya, so why not?]
We've already got Polluxians there. Maybe Echo won't give a shit if there are a few more.
1/2
[ Sollux looks to Accelerator, who seems to be dedicated to not making eye contact while proposing this, and Sollux bites his lower lip and looks away as well. Cool guys don't look at each other when they make these kind of suggestions, right? He swishes his soda around in the bottle, refraining from making some sarcastic comment because this is actually something he'd need to consider. It truly didn't cross his mind before that it was even an option for him to go with them.
There's plenty of reasons why he shouldn't. Pollux is going to need rebuilding, structurally and internally. If Castor really does need to be reeducated by hand, then someone needs to at least try and make that work.
And it hasn't escaped him that anywhere he goes, doom follows. There's a matter of prophecy, and a matter of aspect and class, but even here? Outside of Alternia, or SGRUB, or even paradox space? At what point is it no longer coincidence?
He'll just make it harder on the Etrayans. ]
2/2
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