songerein | { into the city }

INTO THE CITY

Although a great distance, the speed of the worms will take them anywhere between half hour to an hour to reach the city, pending any disruptions on the way. And once they pass through the final tunnel and enter the transit station, they will be greeted with the chaos of people still trying to flee, some casting curious or distrustful looks at them. After exiting out of the station through a long tunnel, Dreamers will find themselves on a platform that looks over the entire city.

It's large, over twice the size of Reverein with multistoried buildings that stagger in varied clusters. Lights can also be seen along the side walls, houses and buildings built into them. Perhaps these were the original homes before the more "modern" ones were constructed. Yet while the many lights would normally depict a bustling city, it only illuminates the figures of those trying to grab their things and leave, many of those lights flickering off and darkness slowly spreading as more homes and buildings are abandoned.

The ceiling above depicts twilight, yet it flickers, sometimes changing to a different time of day. Sometimes the whole cavern will illuminate as if the sun itself was there, and then it would shift to late afternoon or fall to darkness with a random phase of the moon and stars.

More details on everything can be found here.

We will request any thread submissions for certain prompts during AC.

I. INTO THE CITY

COMMENTS

I. INTO THE CITY

A. Sandworm Express. From the Outer Range, the sandworms that were used to bring in the evacuees have had time to rest and recover enough to make the long journey back. Although a bit unorthodox, the carriage cars have been cleaned up and are ready for those heading back to board. Most will likely find this trip as the only chance to catch up with those traveling with them. As to whether it will be smooth ride—well. It's well equipped for the occasional disturbance.

🔫 Man the Guns. Every carriage car has a section where there are special cannons attached to help fend off any potential threats that might appear during the journey. Usually they're smaller, such as large bugs that can be repelled by a few blasts of the special chemical loaded into the weapons.
🦂 Clear the Path. But sometimes the sandworm completely stops when something larger appears in front of it, such as a sand scorpion or a shark that's found its tunnel. In such cases, fighters must disembark and fight directly while those on the sandworm support by blasting from above. The sandworm itself will try and help, pelting out sand chunks.
🩹 Healing Aid. There will be times the sandworm may get injured, either due to something in the tunnel or from an attack. Fortunately, they are tough, but it wouldn't do to have their main source of transportation be injured. Help soothe the sandworm as the designated worm doctor treats it, maybe even give it some treats or dreamotion to help it heal faster. This will raise the favorability from both the sandwords and the Orkilins, and the sandworm might reward their new helpers by giving them a special "sand nugget" and moving even faster to their destination.

B. Evacuation. Although many have since fled their homes, there are still others who are either being too stubborn or need assistance in getting out. And as the minutes and hours tick by and more nightmare energy leaks out, the conditions will start getting worse.

🏠 Out of the House. While some fled with just their clothes and the most important mementos, others are having difficulty parting from their homes, especially the elderly. They've lived there for so long, they don't know where to even begin, some overpacking, some not packing at all, and some outright refusing to leave. Perhaps finding the most important items and giving reassurance will help. Or just pick them up and drag them away.
🐍 Snaked In. Enough nightmare energy and the negative emotions stirred by the chaos have created snake-like noctaere that lurk in the shadows and will grab at anyone who is particularly panicked and afraid. They will coil around the victim's leg, and if not freed soon the person will be at risk of turning noctaere themselves.

C. Overexposure. Unfortunately, some Orkilins have already turned noctaere, especially those who were closest to the reactor. Some have even become so powerful they've turned into Tikbalangs, similar to the ones found in the dreamscape.

🐴 Tikbalangs. There are at least three individuals who have turned into Tikbalangs and are causing destruction and furthering the spread of nightmare energy wherever they go. Unfortunately the usual methods won't work, but those who recall the banana maces and the riding methods will be able to employ them again. Of course, there are no banana trees, so they must be conjured by dreamotion. Weaken them, and then get them to the Dreamotion Pods. Careful, Dreamers can change, too, from the overexposure.
🛢️ Dreamotion Pods. There is a designated building where special pods are located. Those who have accumulated a lot of nightmare energy are to be placed inside and dreamotion will be pumped in, purifying them. However, because of the low amount of resources, Dreamers are especially asked to stand there and place their hand on the machine so that they can directly pour their dreamotion it. Attaching their special items will also work.

D. Supply Run. The original crystal caves are heavily depleted. Those who go into these vast, deep caverns will realize how strangely empty and sparse it is as mole miners dig frantically, trying to take out as much as they can, whatever is left. But it's not easy when they are constantly harried by strange creatures that have appeared.

⛏ Dig dig dig. Unlike the mines underneath Reverein, there are barely any crystals to be found. Even stranger, there are what look like giant, crude claw marks and millions of tiny crystal shards, as if something had come through and ripped through the crystals. But for now, everyone must try and mine whatever they can find, no matter how big or small.
🦇 Bat Attacks. While transporting the filled cars to the city, strange red and black bats will appear seemingly out of nowhere, attacking both miners and the crystals inside the cart. They are not noctaere, but they are clearly heavy influenced by the nightmare energy. Destroy them before they destroy the crystals.
🦎 Shadow Thieves. Lizard-like creatures appear in the caves and are actively digging out and swiping crystals that are left unattended. They will disappear through large cracks or even smash the crystals right there. Stop them, and those who try to chase them will find themselves led further and deeper into the underground mines before losing sight, with only the sound of ominous rumbling and sand falling from the ceiling remaining.

E. The Reactor. Various efforts can be made to try and re-fortify the barriers around the reactor to slow the leak down, but until the reactor has been completely neutralized, even temporarily, no real progress will be made. Those who have ample dreamotion energy are called to help fill the large dreamotion bomb that will be used on the reactor in hopes of balancing it out long enough for repairs. In the meantime, smaller ones are being deployed to try and keep things at bay. However, because these are experimental, they are more likely to malfunction and "explode" too early. So the crystaltei and their many clones created back in Reverein will volunteer to carry them in with the plan to release their stored dreamotion energy alongside with the bomb as a boost. Problem is, they still need to be guided through, so volunteers will need to be quick to get in and out before the "detonation"! Fortunately nothing too harmful will happen if caught—just a case of having very strong positive emotions for a while.

I. INTO THE CITY

COMMENTS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Good thing we don't need axes, then.

[Leo's grinning wildly, googles in place over his eyes, with a lion sized bronze dragon trailing behind him. Festus quickly passes him, and his metal teeth begin to spin in his mouth. It's easy enough from there to start digging into the walls of the mine, and Leo stand by, catching the crystals as Festus tosses them his way.]

Brains over brawn, mi hermano.

[Reaper dropped the axe next to his boot as he turned to regard the mechanical dragon lumbering along. That's what happened when the spawnling of a god, he supposed. He watched the dragon bite at the stone, leaning on the pickaxe and making a classic Latino dismissive noise behind his mask.]

It seems to me you are skimping on an honest day's work. Niños en estos días.

[He looked at the dragon for a moment longer.]

Did you build that?

Trabaja inteligentemente y no duro.

[He works plenty hard all the time! But why not work hard on machines and let the machines do the heavy lifting?]

Yes and no. I found him and fixed him up, but he got blown up by King Midas, so I rebuilt him back home, but then the dumb well brought him here all tiny, so I've been rebuilding him again to get him back to his normal size.

Ninguna ética de trabajo no es inteligente ni difícil.

[He had, so far, seen no evidence of hard work here, just some machine wandering over and chewing on some crystal. He lifted the pickaxe from the ground again and smashed it into the stone wall one-handed. Crystals broke free of the wall, and then a shadow tentacle swept them up into a pile at his feet.

The next swing caused the handle to blow up into splinters of wood.]

Why don't you get a real dragon? You know those exist here, right?

[Leo gasps for dramatic effect, holding a hand to his heart just to get the point across.]

I am wounded. I have an amazing work ethic, thank you very much. Isn't that right, Festus?

[Festus makes some creaking sounds in reply, and at Reaper's words about dragons, the dragon looks at him with his ruby eyes and snorts a puff of smoke, before he eventually turns back to the crystals and hits the ground with his tail.]

Festus said, and I quote, "come tell me I'm not a real dragon to my face." Rough translation, but you get the point. He's as real as any flesh and blood dragon. Real thoughts. Real feelings. Real cravings for hot sauce.

[What a little asshole. It's too bad his own son wasn't more like this where Reaper could have bugged the hell out of the kid. His offspring took after his mother and while both could take some of his acidic personality, there was a line.

This one was nothing like that. Perfect. He already liked this kid, and that was rare because he knew boys were the literal worst.]

Do you? The two things you appear good at are complaining and swearing.

[He turned his gaze back on the dragon momentarily, shaking his head as he smashed his pickaxe into another vein of crystals and both the vein and the axe itself shattered.]

I just did, dragon. If you want to fight me, I'm more than willing to take you apart at the seams. Or I'll watch Specter do it.

[Not true. Specter was a massive drama queen who was far less combat effective than he would have liked, but the dragon had attached to him and now refused to leave when he was top side.]

One have can have many talents. Those just happen to be two of them. [In all honestly, though, Leo's got a bad habit of working himself until he nearly passes out or his friends intervene. He built the Argo II back home, the giant flying trireme being the peak of his accomplishments. The Argo III that he build here was still pretty grand, just half the size and definitely not flight worthy, but there was only so much he could do literally by himself and without his dad's power or bronze to make it happen.

Even now, he's barely rested, barely slept, given the state of things.

As for his comment to Festus, the dragon just huffs again, this time trying to swipe his tail at Reaper in an attempt to trip him up.]

His name is Festus. Si nombre es Festus!! And don't even try, dude. Festus survived blowing up a goddess, he's tougher than you might think.

[nevermind that Festus has also been blown up, destroyed, stuck as a suitcase, and literally glitched out so many times. The dragon requires very regular maintenance to stay functional, due to his original parts being so old and damaged when Leo found him. But he's definitely not going to mention that to Reaper.]

Many talents? Flaming hands is more of a rave style; it's not that much of a talent. [It was, but Latino elder attitudes couldn't come with an actual compliment unless it was really earned. There was something worth poking about this kid, though he would admit that there were far fewer swear words on this particular meeting.

Reaper's legs dissolved as the tail passed through, reforming a moment later as if they had never gone to smoke. He inclined his head towards Festus, making a noise of disapproval behind his mask.]

Neither of you have seen me in action. God hasn't killed me permanently yet, and I doubt your Festus is going to do more than the big guy upstairs.

[For now, he wasn't looking for a fight. There were far more pressing matters to attend to and that would require getting to the reactor as quickly as possible.]

It's not just flaming hands, ese. [Leo rolls his eyes, not bothering to give further explanation. He can, quite literally, burst into flames if he wanted to. Go full on Johnny Storm - Human Torch. Blowing up was how he killed Gaea, after all.]

Yeah, yeah. We heard it before. Died fifty times or whatever, yadi-yadi-yah. [He's really not impressed, especially with the capital G he name drops. When you comes from a world where the Greek and Roman gods are all real, one god isn't so impressive.]

Well Mother Earth herself tried to kill us, and we're still here. [WHICH KILLED YOU TO DEFEAT HER LEO but he's going to leave that out, Reaper already heard about his return to living. That's old news.]

So you can flame-on other parts as well? Careful, you're going to start to sound like a superhero from comics if you keep that up.

[That was a unique skill but not wholly original. Considering these kids seemed to all about killing other gods and strong types, it made sense that they would have extraordinary abilities. He'd died by being burnt alive. 6/10 wouldn't recommend.]

Oh yes, I'm sure that's common practice for you and your kind. Humans tend not to have the same extended lifespan. [And given his state and the number of times he had died, he didn't think that Festus would keep him down for long if it did go that way.]

Yes, yes, and you died but look at you being here with your mechanical dragon saving the Sleepers by collecting bitty crystals. [He didn't sound particularly impressed either. Kids needed to keep the tales rolling.] What's your superhero name again, cabrón?

{ into the city }

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