DEADLAND

[petoskeymods]

[Some time after your character dies, they will wake up in their bunk in camp. But something is wrong here, so very wrong.

Venture outside, and you will see that you're still in camp, but it's trapped in a foggy twilight. Time doesn't seem to pass, and it's quiet. Too quiet. No animals, no breeze, nothing.

The only sign of anything living is in the trees, where dozens and dozens of ghostly figures roam. Sometimes they might come into camp, but you'll probably have to go out to meet them if you want to talk to them. They all seem to be watching camp, but are shy and might flicker away if they're approached.

Finally, in the chapel in the lodge, there is a shadowy figure. It looks like a preteen, perhaps? Maybe 11 or 12 or so. But that's about all you can get from it at a glance.

But you're here now, and there are things to do. Where will you start?]

Comments

MEETING

[particlebarrier]

[They've learned a lot of new information yesterday from Sol and with all the newly deceased arriving today, it's time for yet another gathering in the clearing.]

Alright cool gang, gather around. First of all, welcome. Sorry we had to have this reunion in gloomsville, but on the bright side, we've got Sol back on our side, helping us out with information. The others can jump in with more details about it, but to make a long story short -- we may be able to leave this place after all. The organization that brought us all here have the technology to transfer our souls to artificial bodies.

[A beat.]

Oh right-- surprise! That wasn't your real body back at camp. Sol says they've taken our real souls and put them into new bodies -- those gigai things that they were talking about in that video file. Sol doesn't know what happened to our original bodies, but considering what Mitsuru told me about how nobody really noticed Ryoji disappeared from her world, I'm gonna guess that either there's some weird time glitch that happens that makes it so that nobody back home notices we're soulless husks.

[....Which okay, not the most uplifting thing in the world. Lance waves his hand.]

More importantly to what's going on right now is that we've all been lied to about what "final protocol" is. Sol says that every round before ours ended with the organization wiping out every single camper. Usually one of the campers loses it and kills the rest ... or the org forces them to kill by drugging them. We gotta do something to stop that. Red [A split second pause here. He's still not sure what to make of this.] Red's not been totally truthful with everyone -- I think she means well. Sol thinks so, too. But it does beg the question of how to warn the others about her. I don't think it's in their best interest to turn against her right now, you know?

If we can make it past all these hurdles, Usagi thinks we may be able to put a stop to the Org completely by using her powers to turn Sol into a human. That's what Sol wants too, and Sol's just as trapped as we are so we gotta help make that happen for Pinocchio, too.

[Frowning slightly he thinks about what else to add and:]

Also. The org's real name is the Dark Road Organization. Just so you know the level of creativity we're up against.

[finalguard]

[ It's been a whole day, but at the mention of final protocol, Boa is seething again. ]

Red said she'd make sure he gets back home safely if he survives this.

[ And he's believed her. Hell, he'd believed her enough to tell Mitsuru and Mitsuru had believed it too. ]

Instead he's the one they think is going to snap and......

[ ... kill all the others. Everyone else Boa loves, everyone else Mitsuru has been working to protect this far.

Boa hits his fast against a wall in frustration. ]

[particlebarrier]

[Well THAT reminds him they have something else to discuss here. Boa does get a sympathetic look first, though Lance doesn't stop him from assaulting the wall.]

....Red promised him that? [The hell??] What else did she say to Mitsuru that he hasn't told the rest of us about? We need to figure out just how trustworthy she really is.

[finalguard]

She promised me.

[ Which makes this even more infuriating to Boa. He grits his teeth. ]

Mitsuru, he... He can't lose time back home. He might die if he returns after months of absence. Red told me it will be no problem to send him back to the point in time he came from.

[kitchen_witch]

I think one thing we have to is to convince Miss Red we're really here, and not just - cuckoos.

[particlebarrier]

Right. Did any of you guys have a good relationship with Red? She might be more inclined to believe someone she liked before. I... uh.... I think I used up all my good credit with her after I asked if she uh....

[Hrm actually maybe this is where he should shut up.]

[kitchen_witch]

Men...

[She said it with a long sigh]

I barely spoke to Miss Red myself.

[seekingsunrise]

If she....?

[You have a foot fetish don't you Lance? Why else would you put your foot in your mouth so often?]

[lovebun]

Me!

[ Raising a hand! ]

We were pretty close. She... She reminded me of a real good friend back home.

SELF ESTEEM CIRCLE

[particlebarrier]

Alright so we got a lot of plans settled for next week. We all deserve a pat on the back and some team spirit. Everyone sit down and say something nice about everyone else.

[diesifkilled]

...Are you just taking ideas from Nine now?

[Granted, this isn't as bad as what Nine did, but still.]

[particlebarrier]

[Pointedly ignoring that comparison, tyvm.]

Shirou, you have nice hair.

[lovebun]

[ HM. So it's like that? ]

...Shirou. You're really important to me. You keep me grounded and give me a reason to be Usagi and not just Sailor Moon. A reason to keep coming back to being... Well. a person and not just what's basically a weapon for humanity. That means more to me than I can say.

[ A LITTLE OVERBOARD MAYBE BUT??? ]

[seekingsunrise]

Was Nine's idea that bad?

Even if it derailed the meeting and made us all make fools of ourselves.

[Why is he dating this boy again? A deep breath and here goes nothin?]

You're a really selfless person Shirou which, trust me, I've seen get taken so far it's destructive and, to be fair, you're kinda on that line but... the value you place on the people around you, even when you don't know them well.

The world could use more of that.

[lovebun]

[ And that is the sound of Usagi's brain screeching to a halt because this does not compute. ]

...What? R-Really?

[ DOES THAT MEAN... PEOPLE COMPLIMENTING HER??? ]

[diesifkilled]

[OKAY COMPLIMENTING USAGI HE IS FINE WITH]

You're the cutest girl I know.

[particlebarrier]

Yeah, why not? Good to keep up morale, right?

[Let's see, Usagi.]

Usagi, you're one of the bravest and most selfless people I know.

I hate this

[seekingsunrise]

[And complimenting Usagi is so hard. So incredibly difficult because...

he has to tell her something his brother said to him once, something that he's failed to live up to.]

Y'know sometimes hoping is the hardest thing to do. When everything is at it's darkest you... keep that spark alive. No matter what.

I'm proud of you.

[He's not tearing up, he's really not, and there's definitely not a gruffness to his voice that wasn't there before. He remembers everything so clearly that even when he's not trying to he changes his tone and inflection to mimic the person that said the words originally.]

[seekingsunrise]

Lance...

[He is so unsure about this. What is this going to achieve?]

[particlebarrier]

Tal.

[Throwing that tone right back at you, buddy.]

C'mon, lighten up. Don't you want to hear something nice about yourself?

[romancekiller]

Wait— what? [technically she gets what he is saying but that doesn't compute with her at all]

[particlebarrier]

[Clarke, please.]

I don't care what you say, you're an amazing person and you need to stop giving yourself a hard time for the choices you made.

[seekingsunrise]

Clarke I... gods I know we butt heads a lot but that's because you're such a fierce, pragmatic woman. I admire that, I really do.

[You remind him of Aranea and that's a huge compliment.]

[love_seriously]

[ She can't help a little snort of laughter at that. ]

This is how you guys stay optimistic, huh?

[finalguard]

.... you're serious.

[ Boa wishes you weren't. ]