Choo Choo Event Details

[simpathis]

— CHOO CHOO: DETAILS —

ACTIVITY CHECK WAIVER

In light of current events and everyone feeling about as dead as Piphron, we are waiving this month's AC to a simple sign-in. If players still want to submit threads they are more than welcome to do so, but otherwise don't worry about it. Anyone who does not sign in during the AC period will be removed from the game.

GENERAL INFORMATION

This month's event features a rather creepy, emotion sucking train and Grandpa Pippy needs help to stop and get rid of it. While it has some minor plot relevance that will carry through after it's finished, ultimately this is more of a "fun" event because a lot of it is based off memes. All aboard the meme train!

• Schedule: ICly this will occur on March 17th. While dealing with the train itself shouldn't take more than a whole day, it would be best to allot about 3-5 IC days into any character agendas. OOCly there is no set "end date;" we will not have a finale post as it will be mostly covered in the log itself. Note: The log was initially scheduled for the 16th, but we are pushing it back a day.
  
  
• Opt-in. This event is completely opt-in since it is set outside of Verens and main island. Characters can voluntarily participate or stay behind. However, for players who want to participate and need some kind of push for their characters, we do have a force mechanic! They come in the forms of baby crabs that will follow those uncaring to go and slowly induce extreme paranoia and anxiety. It will make characters feel more inclined and focused to deal with the train to get rid of it. Of course it can be resisted by those who are opting out, and the level of paranoia can range from mild "jumpiness" to hiding in a corner screaming. The crabs themselves will be mostly targeting those who are capable and are just not caring about the situation, so many will likely be left alone. Those who try to attack the crabs will find themselves suddenly encased in stone and carried off to Piphron's domain.
  
  
  
• Logging. There will be one designated log for this event. This information post will hold majority of the details regarding the train cars and the log itself will have simpler prompts that can be utilized in each, as well as the extra tasks that need to be done. Such as, you know, stopping the train.

And that's it!

PIPHRON'S DOMAIN

In the middle of the night, the people of Verens will receive a cantankerous summons from their favorite elderly hermit crab, muttering something incomprehensible about an ‘evil train.’ Regardless of what this means, the communications will continue every ten minutes with some variant of “hurry up you monkeys this is the whole reason I kept you around for five years" until they actually show up.

When they arrive, they will find that Piphron is doing Not Amazing. The fact that the notorious recluse has asked for any help at all is probably an indication that this is an understatement. His domain has never been inviting, but the so-called evil train has wreaked visible havoc, and the land is marred with evidence of its passage. It’s left more than just unsightly tracks behind, though — as Piphron will begrudgingly explain, the train has drained the emotions latent within his domain to power itself and has left vast swaths of apathy in its wake.

Unspoken is the obvious: the train is also draining Piphron himself dry. The Arehtei is doing rather poorly, though it’s hard to tell when you’re looking at a mountain-sized crab. The only obvious indications are the barely visible cracks running down his carapace. Regardless, he won’t be in a very conversational mood. He will, however, make a special request: his carefully cultured rock gardens have been thrown into disarray, and many of his prized specimens are missing. Actually, he’s quite sure they’ve been stolen. As the Otherworlders combat the train, they should keep an eye out for, well… rocks. Though they appear to be unassuming, there must be some special reason Piphron wants them returned….

ALL ABOOOOOARD

Who loves trains? We love trains. However this train definitely doesn't love us or anyone for that matter.

In the middle of the barren lands of Piphron’s domain, there sits a sleek, extremely long, ominously dark, technologically advanced vehicle. Sure does look like an evil train! Though clouds of something unpleasant billow from the smokestacks, it sits quiet and stationary — but with a strangely predatory air about it, almost as though it is lying in wait. ...so of course it starts moving again when the adventurers get on. But they won’t have time to worry too much about that as they are sucked into the oddities within.

Each car is essentially a meme, varying from the silly to the angsty dark, and is kind of like a self-contained dimension. Once inside a train car, it will look nothing like a train car and instead will be its own setting. Characters will randomly enter and leave a car at any given time, and should they manage to find the door, they will still randomly transport to a different car. That means there's no obvious linear progression, but there is a way to advance to the engine car, which is where they need to go to defeat the Conductor. Finally, there are what appear to be odd rocks of various sizes strewn throughout the cars. They appear to have been stolen by the monsters and foes scattered through the train for some nefarious purpose, but they need to be recovered and can be taken when each car is "defeated". More details on that in a bit, let's hit up the cars first.

To make things easier for us and logging, we are releasing the types of train cars that will be on the train so everyone can go ahead and plot. Players are also welcome to suggest car ideas here.

» Magical Boarding School Car. Congratulations, everyone! You are now a student, or a professor, at the [glances at smudged writing on hand] Bogboils School of Emotional Witchcraft and Wizardry. We have all the aesthetic going on in this car. We have a castle, we have robes with scarves matching the color of your Arehtei, we have a field where you can fly around on a steampunk hoverbroom chasing down a rock of Piphron's which has inexplicably sprouted wings. You can spend your time in this car chasing the rocks if you like! Make a game of it. But explore the castle and you'll find that you can indeed attend lessons — and in these lessons, depending on your role, you can either learn someone else's dunamis power or teach someone one of your own. You can even keep that power once the event is over! However, there is a catch: You're going to have to come up with a really cool name for your dunamis "spell", the cheesier the better, and if you ever want to use the ability back in the real world, you're going to have to say the name of the spell to activate it. Those among you who are already accustomed to shouting out attack names in the middle of battle are one step ahead here.
» Mahou Shoujo Car. Everyone starts out as a magical girl in this car. Yes, boys get to play too. Hope they enjoy their wonderful costumes and the sparkling transformation sequence which is the only warning they will get that something weird is happening before they are dumped into the chaos. The setting within the car will vary from character to character depending on what the car decides would be the most challenging for them to deal with — some who have never touched a weapon in their lives might have to get by with sparkly magic swords now, for instance, and fantasy characters might find themselves dealing with driving a spaceship rather than a chocobo. Unfortunately there's not much time to adjust before the action starts. The car is full of monsters, each one intent on sucking a specific emotion out of you, and only channeling the opposite emotion through your sparkly magic weapon can destroy them. If the monster wins, it won't kill you. You'll just be way weaker when the next one finds you, and if enough of your emotions are removed, you will become a monster yourself, attacking other magical girls in turn. (Protip: Characters who have been transformed into monsters will be seeking a specific emotion too, just like the others, and can be restored to their right minds with influxes of the opposite!) Extra: Upon entering, characters may find themselves in the opposite gender of what they usually are. Alternatively, perhaps it's the transformation that switches their genders. (original suggestion)
» Shadow Baggage Car. Ever wondered what it would be like to be a dark, shadowy wisp with no form whatsoever? Now you are! All characters will transform into a smoky ball of blackness, capable of floating and bouncing around in an equally dark, shadowy space with loads and loads of baggage (luggage). They will be unable to immediately discern each other — even their voices sound like some strange ghostly warble. Although they retain a certain sense of self, the details feel just as wispy as the shadows, flitting through their minds in flashes only to slide away again seconds later. Probably this is why no one in this car is able to quite recall their names, or any name for that matter. This won't bother them very much, on account of everyone will be feeling more indifferent than usual. Not completely apathetic, but you know, it might not be so bad to be a free floating spirit for all of eternity, and the urge to just forget life before is strong. The way to piece together their proper identities again is to dive into the baggage luggage. Each one will release a small glowing light, which contains an emotional memory crucial to who they are. Once they collect enough of their old familiar emotions, they will remember their names and return to normal. Note that it's possible for wisps to recognize one another, even in these nameless states. If characters can find a companion, they can help spur memories and release emotion lights that way…assuming they care enough to bother.
» Bar Car. Do you just want to get away from this latest batch of annoying plot shenanigans and have a nice long drink? Now you can, perhaps even taking on the role of the bartender (experience not required). Super caffeinated sparkling juice or soda will be available for the very young or those otherwise uninterested in alcohol. Aside from meeting new people, getting smashed one way or another, and falling into despair or giddiness more easily than usual, sitting at a table with a group will force everyone to play a simple game: Never Have I Ever. One person states something they've never done, and everyone who has done that thing takes a shot. Take five shots and you lose...and get to deal with a sudden blast of an emotion you don't get to experience much on your own. Because never have you ever, you see. Extra: Alternatively, those partaking may find themselves suddenly recounting an alcohol inspired narrative from their past, their very own version of Drunk History. Or perhaps they just want to dance the night away. Why keep this a simple bar when it also could be a club party with bad music? (original suggestions)
» Random Icon Meme Car. We are calling it that, but in practice it's more like a "Strange Reactions Car." For those unfamiliar with the meme, the idea is thus: You hit the "random icon" option when making your toplevel, and you can either leave it blank or formulate a thread starter based off the icon. Those who tag will also hit "random icon" and must try to tag back based off their own results. Both players keep repeating and see what the heck kind of weirdo thread happens. It's basically a giant impromptu jam session. If you need reference, check out the the original. To help give some setting and context, in this car the surroundings randomly change depending on the mood of the individual. From calming beaches to explosive volcanoes, to even having random monsters appear, it can be whatever will best fit the situation — inspired, of course, by whatever icon you've gotten for that tag. The one fixture in the setting that will remain the same is a large, glowing statue that looks strangely like Piphron, and that's where you want to go. Touching it will end the randomness, but the car will do its best to keep you from doing that.
» Random Canon Car. We've had a lot of characters from a lot of canons over the years, all of which have left their mark on the world. The train's picked up emotion energy from those too, even if characters from those worlds aren't necessarily here anymore. This car is where it's storing those ideas, so tripping into this one will cause them to manifest. Maybe you've always wanted your character to get a Pokemon or to wield a lightsaber or to try out some sort of other cool thing from someone else's canon? Now's your chance! If you need a reference, here's the list of dropped characters so feel free to pick something out and give it a whirl! Much like the Bogboils car, characters may even get to keep some of the things (including abilities) from this car after the event's over, so keep that in mind! If you wish to go ahead and offer suggestions for your canons, comment to the Train Car Suggestion thread with the appropriate form. Current Suggested List: My Little Pony Mario (Luigi's Mansion) Tales of Berseria
» Mechawurm Car. Do you just want to fight things? Then this is the car for you—or the outside of it, anyway. Remember when good ol' Commander Sergei decided to drop the defeated mechawurm from last month into the hole left behind by the Memory Tree? Turns out it split apart in transit and some of it fell on the train. It needs to be taken care of before it fully assimilates to create an even bigger problem. So hack away, and mind the blood-sucking mechanical leeches the mechawurm has spawned in an attempt to buy itself time.
» Player Suggested Cars. Some additional cars that are robust enough to be their own car: Steven Universe Gemsona Rocky Grail War Note: Abilities can also be gained and kept from these cars.

It should be noted that this train is moving, so those who manage to be outside of the train should take care not to fall off as they are dashing like amazing super cool action heroes across the tops of the cars. Fortunately, it's only going in circles for the moment. Piphron's land has an awful lot of tasty, tasty emotion to absorb before it moves on.

For those wanting to gain and keep abilities from the specified cars, please comment to the Spells/Abilities subthread to make it official.

THE CONDUCTOR

At the head of the train is the engine car, inside which awaits the conductor. A black, amorphous figure with armor made of the remnants of the mechawurm, it is hyped up with immense emotion energy, enough to fire condensed blasts that cause a lot of damage. As the adventurers ‘conduct’ battle, they will find that they can protect themselves and fight back with apathy. An apathetic state can help with minimizing the force of the emotion charges and attacks fueled by apathy can physically damage the conductor.

Beside the conductor is a roaring furnace and a pile of Piphron’s rocks waiting to be used as fuel - apparently, they are the primary source of the emotional power fueling the train. Characters who have retrieved some of the rocks throughout the train will find that they begin to pulse gently. If used in this fight, they will absorb the emotional attacks, becoming warm to the touch and more vibrant in coloration. As the rocks drain away the excess emotional energy, the conductor will grow weaker and more susceptible to damage.

When enough emotional power has returned to the rocks, the train will grind to a halt and the conductor will be fully exposed to damage.

TRAIN CAR SUGGESTIONS

As mentioned in the other section, we are allowing players to not only suggest other train car settings, but also cars based off canon settings. However, for any of these to actually exist, you must comment to the Train Car Suggestion subthread. There is no deadline, so if you randomly think of it even after the event started, that's cool. But because we can't feasibly list everything on the log itself, we will be linking back to this subthread to keep things organized.

POST-EVENT

Just a quick note that there will be opportunity to revisit and help restore Piphron's lands after the train has been dealt with. This will be included in April's schedule, but will be more of a minor extra thing since we do have Flower Festival later that month.

If you have any questions regarding the event, please comment here.