The Legion [Mods] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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legionmissions2017-01-03 12:57 am
letsgolegion) wrote in legionmissions2017-01-03 12:57 am
Entry tags:
SILENT HORIZON - [Part 1: The In-Between] [modplot]
Who| Everyone who signed up
What| 2 spoopy
Where| In The In-Between, the pocket dimension inside the Silent Horizon
When| After Valor's Day. Mission starts shortly before "No Sanity Clause" and runs simultaneously in game time
Warnings/Notes| Potential warnings for EVERYTHING. This is a horror plot that may tread a lot of ground. Please keep in mind that you can stumble on disturbing stuff in almost any thread. We advise all players to put warnings in the subjects of threads when they lean towards cut-worthy stuff.
The mission was simple. The team had to board the derelict Silent Horizon, a ship with an experimental stardrive, after it finally reappeared in UP space, many hours after it was supposed to reappear, during its first field test. No life signs were aboard, but the presence of several Roboticans on the crew -- who were undetectable by bioscan -- meant that the ship had to be boarded to make sure the Robotican crewmen were gone, too.
The United Planets government, concerned about the loss of the crew members, asked the Legion to step in, in case the threat on board was of a metapowered nature. Due to the massive danger implied by an entire starship crew going missing, the response team sent on the mission was relatively large, more than enough to handle any hostiles. None of this "we'll just send one tiny team to go alone into a giant starship against an unknown threat" business. No, if there was a hostile force on the ship, the plan was "let's drop 25+ Legionnaires on its head." Safety in numbers.
It was a good idea. In theory. In most cases, it would've given them the edge that would've let them face something very nasty without succumbing to it themselves. But in practice, it just meant that it was a much larger team that suddenly went missing after watching the last video log of the previous crew on the command deck.
Screams poured out of the screen the moment it started to play -- automatically -- when they entered the command deck. Onscreen, they saw the original crew murdering each other, tearing each other apart in a blood-soaked rampage.
"Wait, stop! What's wrong with everyone? Why are you --?" cried out one of the Robotican crew members, clearly immune from whatever was causing the madness, but his cries went unheeded as one of his Coluan crew-mates bashed his head clean off with a chair.
After the video played, the darkness swept in, wrapping around the whole team of Legionnaires, making them feel frozen all the way down to their bones and stealing consciousness away from them. When they woke again, they all found themselves separated, waking up in a realm of nightmares.
The halls breathe here -- at least in the places that have walls. They flex in and out, like the passageways inside the lungs. Sometimes the walls give way to open nightmare-scapes, remote and foggy, or bright and alien and exposed. The landscape bends and shifts around them, reacting to their thoughts and fears. And every so often, far off, there is the pitter-pat of something strange moving through this place. Like the sound of many feet -- or hands -- slapping against the ground or flesh-walls.
At some point, there is always a voice that each of them hears, tinny and robotic and distant, warning them of a being called the Faceless, that rules this realm. They're told not to feed from his blood, that if they do they'll be made a part of this place. If they accept his offer, and change forms, they'll eventually bleed to death, and if the Faceless isn't stopped before they die, those that die in their mutated forms will belong to him forever.
It's not the only voice they'll hear, though. This is a land filled with whispers. And screams. And the sounds of begging sometimes, too.
And for some of the Legionnaires, the In-Between speaks to them, touches something deep and dark inside them -- and it's calling them home.
What| 2 spoopy
Where| In The In-Between, the pocket dimension inside the Silent Horizon
When| After Valor's Day. Mission starts shortly before "No Sanity Clause" and runs simultaneously in game time
Warnings/Notes| Potential warnings for EVERYTHING. This is a horror plot that may tread a lot of ground. Please keep in mind that you can stumble on disturbing stuff in almost any thread. We advise all players to put warnings in the subjects of threads when they lean towards cut-worthy stuff.
The mission was simple. The team had to board the derelict Silent Horizon, a ship with an experimental stardrive, after it finally reappeared in UP space, many hours after it was supposed to reappear, during its first field test. No life signs were aboard, but the presence of several Roboticans on the crew -- who were undetectable by bioscan -- meant that the ship had to be boarded to make sure the Robotican crewmen were gone, too.
The United Planets government, concerned about the loss of the crew members, asked the Legion to step in, in case the threat on board was of a metapowered nature. Due to the massive danger implied by an entire starship crew going missing, the response team sent on the mission was relatively large, more than enough to handle any hostiles. None of this "we'll just send one tiny team to go alone into a giant starship against an unknown threat" business. No, if there was a hostile force on the ship, the plan was "let's drop 25+ Legionnaires on its head." Safety in numbers.
It was a good idea. In theory. In most cases, it would've given them the edge that would've let them face something very nasty without succumbing to it themselves. But in practice, it just meant that it was a much larger team that suddenly went missing after watching the last video log of the previous crew on the command deck.
Screams poured out of the screen the moment it started to play -- automatically -- when they entered the command deck. Onscreen, they saw the original crew murdering each other, tearing each other apart in a blood-soaked rampage.
"Wait, stop! What's wrong with everyone? Why are you --?" cried out one of the Robotican crew members, clearly immune from whatever was causing the madness, but his cries went unheeded as one of his Coluan crew-mates bashed his head clean off with a chair.
After the video played, the darkness swept in, wrapping around the whole team of Legionnaires, making them feel frozen all the way down to their bones and stealing consciousness away from them. When they woke again, they all found themselves separated, waking up in a realm of nightmares.
The halls breathe here -- at least in the places that have walls. They flex in and out, like the passageways inside the lungs. Sometimes the walls give way to open nightmare-scapes, remote and foggy, or bright and alien and exposed. The landscape bends and shifts around them, reacting to their thoughts and fears. And every so often, far off, there is the pitter-pat of something strange moving through this place. Like the sound of many feet -- or hands -- slapping against the ground or flesh-walls.
At some point, there is always a voice that each of them hears, tinny and robotic and distant, warning them of a being called the Faceless, that rules this realm. They're told not to feed from his blood, that if they do they'll be made a part of this place. If they accept his offer, and change forms, they'll eventually bleed to death, and if the Faceless isn't stopped before they die, those that die in their mutated forms will belong to him forever.
It's not the only voice they'll hear, though. This is a land filled with whispers. And screams. And the sounds of begging sometimes, too.
And for some of the Legionnaires, the In-Between speaks to them, touches something deep and dark inside them -- and it's calling them home.
Miku
The thought that it might all be over soon enough kept her from running screaming back to their ship.
When she awoke, it was on hard ground. Musty, mildewy air circulated, making it difficult to want to breathe. Miku sat up, a hand to the back of her head to make sure her hairpin hadn't come undone. Moonlight filtered through the opening of a well, and where the light struck were claw marks, as though someone had tried to climb up. Miku looked around for anyone else. Above her there was moonlight, to her left the well became a slick, dirty tunnel. It was covered in lichen and mold, and nothing about it particularly screamed, "Welcome!"
Still, there was something tugging her that way. If she followed it, perhaps she'd find the others. "Is... is anyone here?"
Her own voice sounded warped and distorted, like she was reliving a memory. Miku swallowed and called a little louder, "Anyone? Hello?" She saw movement down the hall, like a flicker of shadow in the shape of a person. It stopped, as though it heard her, and turned its head. And turned its head. And turned its head.
There was a noise Miku recognized as the snapping of bone, as the figure turned slowly toward her. It felt like it drained the color from all the world, leaving everything in a shrieking, monochromatic mess. Miku looked around, desperate for a way out, an escape route, but saw nothing. There was the tunnel, and the creature - which was beginning to gain speed as it barreled towards her. Its loping, uncoordinated gait seemed wrong for how fast it was coming at her, as if someone had pulled its limbs from its sockets and left them to hang from the torso.
Miku screamed, and put her shield up to defend herself from the impact.
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As if it would be so simple to get her to do that.
Still, she wanted to get out of here and find the others as quickly as possible. Being by herself in this spaceship straight out of hell was not something she'd ever recommend. As she moved, her surroundings began to change and shift. Before she knew it, Gwen had found herself inside a tunnel, with little option but to keep moving forward. It wasn't long before she heard the sound of... something. She wasn't sure what it was, but moved closer to the source regardless.
Gwen wished she hadn't, once she finally saw what was making all that noise. It was attacking someone, too.
"Miku? Hold on!" She yelled, firing her web shooters at the creature to get it's attention.
"Hey, ugly. Over here!"
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But the creature wanted its prize.
At first, it did not notice Gwen. But then the girl called out, and the scrabbling ceased for a moment as its head turned, and turned and turned. The sound of bone rubbing together seemed to fill the room, and did it ever sound wrong.
It didn't need to turn around to run at Gwen, oh no. Instead, it sped towards towards her backwards, arms moving out of joint to reach around behind it instead.
"Don't let it touch you!" Miku cried out, chasing after the ghost. She was a little too slow to catch up, and it was quickly gaining ground on Gwen.
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Though really she'd be doing more hurling later on, once she wasn't occupied. She could see it already, losing whatever food still remained in her stomach.
Thanks, creepy spaceship from hell.
"Got it." Easier said than done, though. It was coming straight at her, while... backwards? Ugh.
Okay, first? Webbing straight to the face, and what she thought were its eyes.
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So maybe he was overcompensating, a little. Heading straight into the darkest and creepiest corners with Koromaru at his heels, because there was no way he was going to let this scare him off -
But as soon as he heard the scream, it was a lot less about proving he wasn't scared and a lot more about finding whoever was in trouble, and he whirled around, trying to place where it was coming from. "Hang on, we're coming!" He glanced down to Koromaru. Dogs were supposed to have better hearing - "Which way, boy?"
A bark and Koromaru was bolting off down the appropriate hall, Ken half a second behind him.
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Further down the hall, Miku was quickly losing ground to the creature attacking her as it tried to open her bubble to get to the young woman within. Its too-long limbs scrabbled against the edges of shield that Miku was doing her best to keep up.
"Stay away from me!" she pleaded.
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For her part, Miku immediately moved up, to shield the dog as well from the attack. Her body didn't seem to be keeping up with the demands of her brain, feeling sluggish, like she was reacting through a vat of pudding.
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Gross or not, it wasn't enough to faze him, and he hardly missed a beat (despite the commentary) as the corridor began to brighten - a side effect of the light energy coalescing around his weapon.
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"D-don't let it touch you!" Miku said. She didn't know what would happen, but the reeling in her mind told her it wouldn't be anything good.
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The light around his spear intensified as he stabbed at the limb reaching for him, hard - though he was pretty sure that anything organic couldn't be laserproof enough that hard was necessary, when he was stabbing it with the basic equivalent of a long-handled lightsaber?
Then again, was this thing actually organic? Did they have any way of scanning for it? Could he actually work his omnicom one-handed well enough to figure that out when he was kind of busy fighting for all of their lives?
He was starting to really miss Fuuka. If we live through this, I will never roll my eyes when she tells us to attack a weak point I already know about ever again!
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lightsaberspear phasing through as the light broke it up. That's when Ken had the long-armed creature's full attention, though it whipped around to get rid of the annoyance keeping it from its meals.Miku's head felt light; the cost of keeping the barrier up was quickly catching up to her. It flickered for just a moment.
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...he hadn't really had time to figure out the rest of the plan yet. They'd have to improvise.
Ken wasn't entirely sure what the effects of his attack really were, but it seemed like a better bet than anything else he could think of, and he backed up a few paces, the light around him gathering into a dozen points in the air surrounding him. One is good, more would have to be better, and in the meantime -
"Keep her safe, Koromaru!"
Koromaru barked in acknowledgement and moved to Miku's side, brushing up against her leg in wordless support.
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It was a lie, but it was a useful lie. A little, white one, it wouldn't hurt the boy or the dog.
She hoped.
Meanwhile, the monster stops for a moment, eyeing the spears of light. With the darkness changed, it's clear this might have been a man at some point, but with the awkwardly elongated limbs, and the too-long fingers, it's horrifying indeed. "Hide and seek?" it asks, and tilts its head to the side too far. It's lips spread too-wide across its face, showing a row to sharp teeth.
And then suddenly, it vanishes.
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"I always hated that game," he said, a bit irritably. (It had, to be fair, been less about the game itself and more about his many complexes about liking anything he perceived as childish, but that was beside the point.) "How about a different one? Like, the one where I kick you in the face?"
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Re: Miku
So he runs and, as a result, almost falls headlong into the well that appears before him. He catches himself against the lip, scraping his finger nails against the old stone as he tries to catch his breath and tried not to vomit on the monster below him, clawing at some sort of pink bubble with someone inside it.
Wasn't that one of his new teammates?
Victor's feet touch the ground again, but he doesn't let go of the edges of the well. It's too far down for him to help her, unless he works the stones up here loose to drop them on the monster. He looks down to figure out how hard that will be, and the sight of moonlight on gold distracts him from that train of thought.
"You can fly!" he shouts, wincing as the echos bounce his words back up at him. "You, Legionnaire, you can fly!"
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Miku looks up at the voice, and recalls that yes that little ring they gave her allows her to fly. (Not that she is necessarily very good at it.) But the shield doesn't go all the way round her feet, so as Miku jets into the air, and the creature's too-long arms come up after her. She reaches up for Victor, to both stop and to be sure she can get out of the well, when it wraps its long, slender fingers around her foot. There is a dull numbness spread out over the limb followed by a sharp pain as all the nerve endings in her leg are suddenly over-stimulated.
Miku uses her other foot to kick off the monster, still trying to reach for Victor. It's hard to breathe, and harder to think with one half of her body lighting up with pain.
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Once-- Twice-- The third time, he manages to catch her hand and secure it with a proper grip. Hopefully he's not crushing it too badly, but a sore hand is definitely an improvement over whatever that thing wants to do to her. He braces himself with his free hand and starts trying to haul her up.
"Kick it again!" he says. "Count of three! One, two, three, KICK!"
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Miku, however, weighing quite a bit less than the monster that had clung to her shot up at Victor, unable to slow down.
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"Oof," Victor protests anyway. "Do you...do you think that thing can get out?"
Because if it can, they need to get up and leave. Now.
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Miku feels a sliver of fear spool up her spine. "Thank you, for helping me."
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"You're welcome," he says. "Let's stick together; I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly equipped to fight anything like that on my own."
Her shield thing at least seemed to have been holding up well until she'd risen up off of the ground and revealed the hole in it.
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Which is something really only emphasized by the difference between his speed and hers -- she's lagging behind enough that he has to slow down to compensate. Of course, it can't help that she's missing a boot.
"Is your foot hurting you?"
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What if it stopped working?
"Don't worry if I fall behind, I can hide somewhere." At least until whatever was threatening them stopped chasing her. As they ran, it felt like the field they were in was narrowing, further and further down until it turned into a hallway. The air smelled of old, mildewed fabric, musty, but the style of the hallway was undeniably Japanese. Holes were punctured in rice paper doors, the lattice between them cut open. Miku gripped Victor's hand, a sudden, screeching fear rocketing up her spine.
"I... I really didn't want to come here."
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