Plot Post for June 8th!

[theearth]

This format of plot post is designed for players to ask questions and find ways to influence the plot. Be bold and ask what you can or can't do; the worst that can happen is that we will say no. As plots in Save the Earth are not self resolving nor on a time limit they can evolve in many ways. Although some potential outcomes are given, they are little more than suggestion and can be changed by character action. What role you take is up to you.

The post is also open for players to plot and coordinate between one another.

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Events occurring currently:

• As of today - June 8th - Geoff Benwick is reaching out to those who spoke to him. He'll claim that he has confirmed where the car came from, and will offer to tell them more at a "meeting", if they'll come to one, aboard his spaceship on the evening of the eleventh. He'll let them know the location of and basic information regarding a warehouse/garage, and suggest that he - or they, if they'll be involved - infiltrate and investigate it. He'll let them take the lead on further discussion and decision as to whether or not they'd like to take over, or use a plan of their own up to them. He'll leave them on their own after passing on the starting information and base plan, and will only appear to a couple afterwards to check in and ask if he can offer them assistance. He will not mind if they say no, and he also won't object to anyone inviting comrades of theirs who he didn't speak to personally or "recording"/"livestreaming" anything that happens on the ship for the network.

• With the discovery of another body on the Las Vegas Strip, the rumblings of religion surrounding Las Vegas waterfront locations have been a-rumbling on, and on "Seedling" sites and forums, word has gone viral that they've snowballed into full-on sermons and "services". The rhetoric of participating groups centers around the concept of confronting and facing your true self in hopes of bringing yourself peace, prosperity, and fortune. Reincarnates feature as "Children of Shell", servants of the much-rumored lobster monster dwelling in the water, and there will be much discussion of Angeline Strauss as a "fake bird of prey", pointing toward Vegas performance as not "serving your true self".

They're increasingly running ads and press through some niche and some humoring sensationalist channels detailing their ideas. They're gaining an internet presence on social media and microblogging sites as well as radio spots, especially in the Las Vegas area.

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Events occurring in the immediate future:

LOCKE CITY, NJ
• On the night of June 11th - after dark, at approximately 9:30 P.M. - an explosive, crackling bang! will erupt from the former Dead District. Anyone who might happen to be near may be able to trace its origin as the Thunder Corp. compound in the area; anyone on Geoff's ship at the time is all but bound to be close enough to be capable. Whatever's taking place there, it'll be to blame for an instantaneously-beginning series of blackouts, moving and sporadically surging on and off throughout the city. The area of the city nearest the Dead District will remain out of power until after midnight.

Whether or not reincarnates make connection to the compound at the time, meanwhile, it will be apparent that something is especially fishy. Any time a reincarnate enters or is caught in a blackout zone, he or she will be hit with that telltale hollow heartbeat feeling - the first time it occurs, it will be accompanied by a true Echo, and on subsequent occasions, it will feel like a dampened Echo sensation with nothing gained.

In addition, characters will experience other... "sensations" within blackout zones. These may include chills, paranoia, and a sudden wooziness - which may induce brief fainting in those with weaker constitutions - as well as sounds and smells with no logical nearby source (for example, a character may hear what sounds like one end of a distant conversation, or a voice sighing; scents could include perfume, sweat, smoke such as from cigarettes, etc.).

If a character waits about, or decides to go poking around for a source, the chills and wooziness will intensify and take on an additional emotional read (e.x. sorrow, peacefulness, or fear) as they go - until they find one, manifesting as a levitating "ball" of faint, pale light. There may be as many as two to three in each blackout zone, each of them shifting as if to achieve focus as they're observed, the clarity of their attached sensations sharpening or fading in the process. Watch one long enough and you may see a human torso or face taking shape - and find that you'll get a coherent, if fragmented, answer to any speech directed toward it in an also-human voice.

The presences appear to idly wander around reincarnates, shy out of sight in the vicinity of non-reincarnates, and will seem to gravitate towards and/or linger around those who seem to react to their presence most strongly. If your character's especially paranoid or easily-spooked, in other words, well, fear them not - they might find a kind volunteer guest or two watching the house through the blackouts with them.

Presences and associated sensations will fade whenever the lights come back on, but will continue to be fully-perceivable:
- By characters who can perceive ghosts and ghost-like entities.
- On camera.
- In mirrors.
- Over network connection. If you plan on live-streaming yourself playing Bloody Mary to the network and asking your fellows if they see what you see, be warned that, curiously, the entities will seem as if they're able to hear what's being said on the other end of the line...

• The morning after the blackouts begin (morning of June 12th, Thunder Corp. will have publically admitted fault for them, and the news will report that fact along with an official announcement that the compound in the Dead District will be submitted to inspection. Inspection will run the next workweek - June 16th through June 20th - and take place from 2:00 P.M.-5:00 P.M. each day. During those three hours, the force field around the compound will be down. Authorized personnel only allowed to cross it, of course, but there are creative approaches to everything...

Temporary small-scale blackouts and associated presences will persist during the inspection period, and although inspection will end cleanly, they will continue indefinitely.



LAS VEGAS, NV
• Simultaneously with the initial blackout in Locke City (June 11th, starting at 6:30 P.M.), another pink, aurora-like light will flare through the sky over the Strip, with a bias and slight extension to the Strip's northwest, and under it, water in the Echo boundary will come alive - metaphorically, as far as anyone can tell! Water pressure will increase in faucets and fountains; non-flowing water connected to any source line will begin rippling and splashing, and so forth.

Meanwhile, reincarnates within viewing distance of the light may find themselves experiencing Echoes - even if they are not on the Strip proper. The next morning, anyone making trips in and out of the Strip ought to find that the Echo border has significantly expanded, with the boundaries now lying along S Decatur Blvd, Sunset Rd, and Route 95 - Las Vegas Expwy: for a visual representation see here.

The effects on the water will quiet at approximately 9:00 P.M., and the light will fade at that time - like the power problem in Locke City, however, it will not vanish entirely, and will brighten and fade in and out of obviousness for the immediate future.

• This incident will give the eccentrics around the waterfront areas another spark of "inspiration" toward increasing coherency and organization. Practitioners of the "Children of the Shell" rhetoric are likely to be seen carry mirrors and talk excitedly about the pink aurora being a "sign", and by the 14th, several high-ranking practitioners will begin wearing badges featuring this symbol; lower-ranking members of the group will be wearing this.

• The Vermini still patrolling around the Las Vegas Strip will be at least as "excited" by the light in the sky. They'll be swarming in greater numbers around watery and grassy locations, show greater aggression toward reincarnates (approaching the wrong fountain might just be a bit like shaking the wrong tree in an Animal Crossing session ((hopefully without the temporary disfiguration))).

This will lend to another big encounter on the 12th off of Lake Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip, in which - what else? - a host of shellfish escaped from restaurant tanks will be infected and on the attack. This encounter is a wide-open free-for-all, but for all-visible-in-one-place ease of plotting among anyone interested in their character being there, please refer to this provided header for coordinating! After this incident, cultists will begin appearing around the parkade of the Aria Resort & Casino - as if in search of something.

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Events potentially occurring in the immediate future:

• This week, a post about the garage/warehouse will go up for proper plotting and discussion, including an OOC vote re: accepting or rejecting Geoff's assistance and accepting, rejecting or revising his offered plan. During the week, there will be more public police presence in the Dead District, increasing over the weekend.
• Some cultists may buckle down and seem as if they're guarding waterfront areas and the Aria parkades during apparent meeting times for their fellows. This appears to be on a rotating basis. If you want to take a closer look, however, as long as you're a known "Child of the Shell", you may find yourself receiving an invitation to attend one of their services as a "special guest".

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Potential Echo Opportunities
• Boarding Geoff Benwick's spaceship for the first time will grant one plot Echo.
• A Locke City character will experience one plot Echo the first time they enter or are caught in a blackout zone.
• Anyone who might brave crossing the Thunder Corp. compound barrier - or the imaginary line where it should be, from the 16th to the 20th - will also receive one Echo!
• Characters in Las Vegas will be eligible for one plot Echo from a direct look at the aurora after it first lights up on the 11th - even if they are not on the Strip and are rather elsewhere within the new Echo boundary.
• Regular Vermini encounters, as usual, grant one plot Echo on a first time to each character. In addition, characters attacked by or who come close to the infested shellfish near Lake Bellagio on the 12th will be eligible for one additional plot Echo, regardless of any Vermini-related Echoes they may have already received!
• A first encounter with this symbol as worn by head waterfront "cultists" will also grant one Echo per character.

Please direct questions regarding these plot points to the thread below and not the post in general.

Comments

GENERAL QUESTIONS

[theearth]

[grannyfucker]

Initial question right off the bat (I will probably have more later haha SORRY MODS)--

I don't know how it works for other people who can see ghosts but right now Jovan has only been able to see/feel...about the level that's being described here. Does this mean that ghost-seeing-powers-ness is getting an 'upgrade', so to speak, or is it still limited to exactly what is being described here?

Also: does seeing/feeling these things only apply within blackout zones? If so, are characters with ghost sensitivity and whatnot capable of perceiving them beyond just the zones?

[theearth]

It is still limited to what is described, unless his ability to sense ghosts receives a boost on its own prior to or during that time - however, ghost sense will indeed be able to pick up on presences outside the blackout zones!

[youngestone]

Just to make sure I've got it right: the glowy orb thingies do not trigger Echos?

[theearth]

Not on their own. Being in a blackout zone does, though, and of course canon recurrences related to glowing white orbs of light will still cause an Echo.

[wonk]

roxy's going to head into the thunder corp. compound with her intangibility, on the very first day at least and probably on the other three as well. what's the compound like?

Re: GENERAL QUESTIONS

[needsmorezippers]

Do police count as authorized personnel with ThunderCorp, and would the cop characters have heard anything extra re: the patrols and such?

[earnedmystripes]

Would it be possible for Kotetsu to talk his way into being involved as an ~authorized personnel~ with the compound inspection?

Since he's police and all >_>

[detectivetroll]

Is the warehouse/garage the same one that the mafia's been having guarded? I'm not sure if this would have come with the detailed layout of the place, but if Nick had given the location to some reincarnates and they'd wanted to investigate, would they have been able to, and what would they have found?

As far as authorized personnel goes, would Nick be included in that?

[featherduster]

Creating an echo chamber with all the LCPD questions, but how does the FBI factor into the subsequent investigation/do they also count as "authorized personnel"?

[italktofish]

Okay, so since Arthur is heading to Vegas...

- What would happen if he tried talking to the infected shellfish?

- What would happen if he were breathing water when the water in Vegas freaks out?

[grannyfucker]

ONE MORE FOR THE ROOOAAADDDDD

this one is probably more of a long-term thing but. if characters were to investigate several of the blackouts (both the ones that happen soon and the ones that will continue indefinitely), would they find any factors in common between them that might hint at what's causing them, since the Thunder Corp compound is going to check out?

[alilyinthemoonslight]

What is the timing of the meeting on the spaceship VS the blackouts? They happen on the same night, but are they at the same time?

Further, the timing is coincidental, and the possibility of Chuck's information not lining up is liable to raise some eyebrows. This has potential to raise some sort of suspicion or at least questioning, but how does Geoff's charm effect modify that possibility?

[pianistofraielin]

I'm not totally clear on what the situation is with the aurora/water shenanigans in Vegas. The initial incident lasts about 3 hours and then the effect vanishes, but both the aurora and water shenanigans reappear/disappear randomly after that? I assume in conjunction with each other (water only when the aurora is visible)? Is the aurora completely gone in between incidents or is it still there but just faded?

And, in order to qualify for the Echo, do you need to be there during the initial incident, or just see it at any time it reappears?

[pianistofraielin]

Wait I have one more.

In Ravi's setting, offensive holy magic can be used to attack noncorporeal things like ghosts and spirits. It tears into them and actually causes pain/damage. It can't kill them (you can't kill ghosts. obviously) but it can weaken them enough that they won't be able to manifest for a while (how long a while depends on how badly you were able to damage them).

Might the same be true of these blackout ghosts, or will his magic have no effect?

[abhero]

Question about the cultists!

Russel is going to try to… off Emil in Vegas by brainwashing a bunch of non-reincarnates with music and turning them into a lynch mob. Apart from the obvious attention this will draw, how might the cultists react if some of them were forced to get involved in a reincarnates’ fight this way?

[pianistofraielin]

Sorry, more clarification questions:

- How frequent are the continuing sporadic blackouts?
- You're saying they'll continue to happen sporadically until otherwise noted, right?
- How long can we expect a blackout to last for?
- How large can we expect a single blackout area to be?
- It's my understanding that the spectres/ghosts/whatevs are ONLY present during a blackout and will disappear when power is restored, is that correct?

(I apologize if these seem like really specific questions but I lived through California's rolling blackouts era so they seem like relevant details to me)

[gogoghostpowers]

I LIED I'M BACK

Danny's gonna echo back these big metal gloves that are specially built to grab onto ghosts so that they can't phase out or slip through the grasp. Would those work in holding the orb ghost things, or does that not apply here?

[espigeonage]

Are the ghosts any more distinct to people who can see light frequencies humans can't?

[seed_of_memory]

Fuyuka will want to try to break into the compound. She's a former policewoman and current private investigator, owns a firearm, knows how to pick locks, and has a good sense of evading security cameras. Would she fit under the purview of people who use, erm, alternate methods?

Also, Amy recently gained her ability to see plavsky particles and other strange energy based phenomena. This is a long shot because her powers aren't expressly supernatural, but would it be reasonable to say she'd be able to see the ghosts?

Re: GENERAL QUESTIONS

[buildyourworld]

I'm thinking of having Eugen sneaks into Thunder using the excuse that LCU sends him to help because whatever happened caused a power down to the whole city and messed up LUC's stuff/projects (whatever reason he can cook up). He's well known enough his field with his credential, will this work to get him into the compound so he can check on what's happening? He'll most likely bring company under the guise that they are his partner/assistant (and they would sneak off to investigate separately) while Eugen snoop around the engineering side of it. He'll need fake ID for them, will the uni be okay providing these or does he need to find a different source?

If this is allowed, what can they find out engineering wise and snooping around wise?

Re: GENERAL QUESTIONS

[icy_heavens]

So, about talking to the ghosts. I know that any speech they have would be fragmented and thus likely not give out any significant information, but would it be possible for them to say their names without interference, since names tend to be brief? I don't expect the names to actually hold any significance, especially with so many ghosts about, but it seems a natural thing that Toushirou would ask them when he tries to speak with them and something he'd mention when discussing interactions with them.

Re: GENERAL QUESTIONS

[evowhisperer]

Really late question, but...

Cesar works at TC. It sounds like the cover story they'll use is that something went wrong with the generators they're using for a project for clean energy. Would anyone actually working at TC notice anything that might add or be fishy about this story? Like, would the clean energy project be ultra top secret, would strangers be working on it, would the project even be going on in the building Cesar is in, and would any of the employees be talking about it?

EDIT: Read the post a bit more thoroughly, and I'm realizing that the source is in TC's stuff in Dead District, rather than whatever main HQ they have in town. In this case, would there be strangers visiting HQ on business from it, would there be mentions of meetings, would any of the employees be talking about it? Cesar is keeping eyes and ears out, at this point.

EDIT TWO:okay I swear I'm going to stop editing soon but would Cesar be one of the people sent out to inspect the plant? TC knows he's numbered, so that might or might not be an issue, but he's a hydraulics test engineer, so he might be useful as a consultant for safety things?

Re: GENERAL QUESTIONS

[squicksilver]

How have these serial murders affected tourism in Vegas? Big cities have murders all the time, but random convention guests getting killed like this is very different.

[testsonseashells]

couple of quick questions:

can anything be found within the aria resort/casino? and the waterways the cultists are near—do they tend to have vermini in them?