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nightmods ([personal profile] nightmods) wrote in [community profile] nightlogs2023-08-01 07:39 pm

LET'S ALL GO TO THE LOBBY


LET'S ALL GO TO THE LOBBY


For those that arrived early, the fearlings have been dissipated enough for the children to escape and go get help for the bus driver. For those that are just arriving, you arrive to see a crashed bus and a group of battered and exhausted myths, fresh off a fight. Before you have a chance to ask anyone anything there is chaos nearby.

Merely a street over, there's a fight that sprang up at the same time as the fearling attack. It seems chaotic. There's yelling and crashing and the sound of rending metal. A separate fearling cloud is circling above this other fight -

- until a distant figure with a staff rises up in the air to meet it. Energy crackles like electricity but there's no warmth to the color, it's white-cold. The fearling cloud freezes in mid-air and then explodes into something that looks like frozen sand before the frozen fearling particles start trickling off into the distance. The gust of cold is so chilling it can be felt all the way where the group is.

But then something is flung from the ground, knocking the figure out of the air.

For those curious for answers, the answers may lie that way. For those hesitant to go to another conflict (or a new conflict if you just showed up), there is now a whisper in your head that seems to come from above, urging you along. It's pushing into evening and the Moon has risen early, barely visible as the evening light starts to fade.

His name is Jack Frost. Please go to him; he fights the ones that attacked the children, that attacked you. They will hunt you until they kill or imprison you. He can bring you to safety, but only if he lives long enough.

The Moon warns you now because you deserve to be warned, regardless of how much Jack needs help and how true it is that you need Jack to help you:

You'll be walking into a fight but if you don't save him, they will never stop coming for you.

It's not a lie.

ENTER JACK FROST

The fight is taking place on a playground. The children there have long since escaped thanks to their savior, buuuut he's not doing so good.

Jack Frost, the last of the Guardians, had the situation handled - until his enemies told him about the bus, the Jersey Devil, and the cloud of fearlings a few streets over. The problem is that when you're desperate to end one fight and escape to another, you tend to slip up.

And he is so, so tired.

By the time anyone else gets there, he's down and nearly out. He doesn't look like much: a spidery-limbed white-haired teenage boy in a frosted-over blue hoodie, brown tattered pants looking ancient and bound to his legs with leather cords. He's barefoot and pale like someone who's recently died in the snow.

When you arrive, Jack is trying to extricate himself from the twisted wreckage of a metal jungle gym, a broken up geodesic metal cage. He's clearly battered and scraped up, his hoodie clawed and bloody in places, and bleeding profusely from a head injury.

He gets to his feet, sees there are new people and backs away from both you and the figures penning him in, staff held out and ready to fight. The two figures on the ground that were menacing him seem to be backing away slightly at the sight of the group. A terrifying woman with bloody claws, Bloody Mary, and the Trunchbull, a massive vicious-looking woman with a riding crop and stern school-marm-ish outfit that looks like she could bench press a steer, don't like the look of the crowd.

A red-haired man with sunglasses is staring down from above, where he stands on a floating cloud of fearlings. This is Mr. Benedict.

"Aw come on, Benny," Jack calls out. "Do you really need that much extra help to handle lil' ol' me?"

But a ray of moonlight casts down on Jack, and with it comes understanding, in an instant. He looks over at the group and slowly raises his eyebrows at what their existence might mean.

The figure floating above shakes his head. "They're not ours, Mr. Frost," says Benedict, signaling some of the fearlings to quickly swoop down and scoop up Bloody Mary and the Trunchbull before anyone in the group can bring them to harm, shielding them from any possible blows. "But if that means they're possibly fresh faces that might join your side, well then I've clearly got to bring in some of the help to clean this whole mess up, don't I? It's worth the wasted ticket."

Before letting him follow through, Jack Frost blasts ice at the man but some of the fearlings rear up and take the hit instead. The second the wave of ice passes Benedict throws something down, something gold that strikes the ground like a blade and sticks there. It's a large movie ticket, solid like metal and glowing with golden light. In an instant, the ground under the group's feet starts to glow, too late for any of you to escape.

The fearling cloud and its three figures starts to whiz off. Jack fires off a few more blasts but the fearlings block them yet again.

"Ta ta!" Banedict calls out. "Enjoy the show!"

Jack clearly has seen this ticket thing before. And he is waaay past overwhelmed with this crap. In the past, he wasn't the type to curse. Now?

"Son of a biscuit-eating bulldog!"

Okay, so he's kept it kid-friendly but he's definitely expanded his vocabulary and found something he can use as invective.

He holds two fingers to his lips and lets out a very loud whistle. There is the sound of jingling bells coming from the distance, as merry and sweet as a child's laughter. Before Jack can explain what they're from, he's suddenly gone because the area around the group expands and suddenly has walls. Everyone becomes separated.

YOU'RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BOAT

Mr. Benedict's tickets can do several different things involving the movies, and fortunately take time to form, slowly growing in Kuk's base. That means he uses them sparingly. Buuut you've had the misfortune of this being one of those times.

You are now trapped in the Multiplex. It seems almost like a normal movie theater, but it's not formed right, with each of the rooms connected in odd ways, sometimes to each other, sometimes to hallways. It's almost as if a computer procedurally-generated its own twisted idea of a movie theater layout. There are nearly countless theaters, hallways, and concession stands - all of them dark, lit only by the dimmest of floor lights and the light of the movie screens, which are currently flickering with nothing on them.

Jack Frost's voice suddenly comes over the intercom - he knows where it is because of the last time he and the Guardians found themselves in here.

"I don't have much time to talk, but my name is Jack Frost and yes, those people were exactly as mustache-twirlingly evil as they seemed. Benedict's tickets create a magical pocket dimension. I've been trapped here before and things are about to get rough."

Hooray, sounds fun, right? (God he wishes he could do that "fun" thing instead of this.)

"Stay away from the screens and get out of the theater through any exit you can find! The exit signs are mostly real." Just...rare. "You're about to be surrounded. Don't try to stop your attackers, just fight your way through, because they'll just keep coming. And don't bother trying to get into the projectors, it's a waste of time. I'll try to help you all get out. Once you're out, I swear, I'll get you somewhere safe, and figure out how you're even here."

The intercom cuts out. The nonexistent movie projectors can be heard in their closed off rooms, starting to whir. They project onto the screens with a light that can't be physically blocked - it just goes through whatever's in its way. The screens themselves are also indestructible.

Movies start to play, usually cutting right into the middle of the action. The characters on screen can be seen doing whatever it is they're doing in the movie...and then looking right at the viewer. Then they walk towards the screen - and out of it, slowly passing into the theater aisles and becoming three-dimensional. This wouldn't be a problem if these were good characters, but no. No no no, the group is not so lucky as that.

They're all villains, every single one.

"Hi, I'm Chucky, wanna play?"

"Ba-ba-dooook."

"We all float down here."

"Heeeere's Johnny!"

And hidden in the theater among all these movie monsters is a surprise for everyone - one of Benedict's sentient allies, a follower of Kuk, slithering between the seats and taking advantage of the chaos. Kaa is Benedict's secret weapon.

PROMPTS

a) HORROR
Hell is empty and all the devils are here. Countless horror movie villains are stalking the aisles now, ranging from classics like old school Dracula to modern slashers like the Scream guy. Some are fortunately not that powerful, like a certain axe-wielding inn caretaker who likes to shove his face through gaps in doors and talk about how all work and no play makes him a dull boy. All he's got is an axe and a bad attitude.

But others are nearly unstoppable. Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers just won't stay down, regardless of how much damage they soak up, and even worse: they've apparently struck up some kind of mutual non-aggression pact and are hunting in a pair.

But the worst one is a little bastard that keeps going around and stabbing ankles. Chucky is absolutely taking advantage of the darkness of the theater to try to take out some Achilles tendons and hit some arteries with a knife.

Only rarely can they be reasoned with, typically only in cases where their on-screen situation is truly tragic, like the blood-soaked teenage girl in her prom dress. Only then can someone perhaps talk their way out of a situation by offering kindness and de-escalation. And even then, they might only spare that person and who they're with before turning to attack others once more.

Mostly, though, they're all just being pretty stabby right now.

b) ACTION
Some of these villains are fortunately a little less of a handful. Hans Gruber and his armed thieves are at least just like...guys. They have guns but not much else. But they sure do seem to be taking things personally, calling out to you as if you've really ruined their day, and are really laying down some gunfire in your direction. No matter how many times they're corrected, they also keep calling you "cowboy." Hans seems to just never shut up, either, taunting you the entire time.

Some are a little less chatty. The T1000 mostly just keeps pursuing people in a standard Terminator-like fashion, transforming its arms into blades and trying to stab you. Or, worse, it imitates someone you know, even taking on their voice. Its smart enough to not chase everyone, observing some people in secret while transformed as objects to later morph into them and imitate their appearance and voice. Only a warning from the real thing might be able to save you if it dopplegangers to get in close.

And nothing seems to be able to damage it, just slow it down.

One of the most dangerous one of all at least has a musical cue to warn you it's coming.

DUUUN DUN. DUUUUN DUN.

Yes, that is a fucking Great White shark swimming through the air of the theater like its water. And it's a man-eater.


c) SCI FI
The xenomorphs are some of the most dangerous of the sci fi bunch, slinking through the shadows and hiding in the rafters or between rows of seats, making it so you only see the occasional glimpse of shining black carapace.

They're definitely a handful. Their tails can spear people, their inner jaws can break through skin and bone, they can spit acid, and they spray acid when their exoskeleton is pierced - they also can sponge up quite a bit of damage, needing heavy gunfire or equivalent force to take down.

Even worse, they somehow found time to lay a few eggs...and the facehuggers are starting to hatch.

One of the other enemies from the world of science fiction is slower but unfortunately has strength in numbers. Figures appear in the humid fog spilling through one of the screens, from what looks like the twisted interior of a space ship. They're from one of the cinematic offerings in their particular franchise. Their voices sound out in unison from the fog as the red laser lights from their eyepieces pierce the fog in rapid arcs.


"We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile."

The Borg are slower and less cunning than the xenomorphs, but they have great numbers. They seem to never stop pouring through their screen, as if the entire ship's worth of them on the other side is invading, slowly and ponderously through the Multiplex. They are extremely strong, difficult to damage, and worst of all, have personal forcefields that slowly adapt to attacks over time, gradually becoming immune to some of them. The best tactic is retreat and laying down fire with different types of attacks each time they adapt.

If they successfully get their hands on someone, they're massively strong, with a strength many times that of a human. And that means it's a struggle to stop them from assimilating someone, piercing their neck with two nanotubules that puncture skin and pump nanites into the bloodstream that will eventually take over someone's mind and start to changing their body into something mechanical.

If they're not stopped, they'll try to drag an assimilated individual back into the screen to their ship for further augmentation - where they'll be forever lost, with no hope of a cure.


d) FANTASY
Maleficent seems to be making the most trouble today, trying to blast at you with magical fire. If she's particularly pissed, she may turn into a dragon that fills up one of the theaters. Her fire may not burn the Multiplex itself but it will burn you.

Gollum, on the other hand, is a much smaller threat - but good at attacking with surprise. The wiry creature may hop out from behind something and try to strangle you to death, screaming about getting back his Precious.


e) KAA

Kaa is Benedict's little surprise, originally intended to be left for Jack himself, but now a useful tool to kill some of them. The snake is able to split himself into many smaller snakes that slither and slink around the multiplex. A single one of them slithers to an exit to meet up with his allies outside. Back in the safety of Kuk's abode, that snake will regrow to full size. The others try to find good places to hide - and then strike, regardless of whether or not this leads to their deaths.

Though he was not venomous before, he is now, and his poison? Deadly to a myth in a way many normal poisons are not. Those that get bitten will start hallucinating wildly, either seeing frightening surreal visions, reminders of past regrets, or the embodiment of their fears. Slowly, the venom will kill them.

There is a cure, but it's back at the Pole, and you have to get there alive first.


f) WILD CARD
Not interested in one of the movie villains listed? Pick another one! Use a movie villain from absolutely anything, whether it's horror, sci fi, action, or fantasy. Have multiple ones appear in a thread.

You can even have non-npc threats from movies start to appear for your characters the longer they're there. They may turn a corner and find the temple traps from Indiana Jones, for instance, or a marshy area from the Swamps of Sadness in Never-ending Story, threatening to suck your character down if they let their sadness consume them. Some of these hurdles may be in the way of the only exit they can see.

OOC DETAILS

NPCing: The mods won't be npcing but players are free to npc any villains from movies they want. They will be exclusively from movies, though these can be movies that are part of larger franchises based on shows, books, etc. Other events over time may deal with villains from other mediums so we're playing with just movies for now. Players can have them speak, with their best approximation of their dialogue. It is okay if this is slightly ooc if someone is mostly working off some basic perceptions and catchphrases of a character. These constructs are not sentient and therefore won't always be the most accurate to the characters. It is more like they are just animating as puppets. This means you can npc them without concern for being slightly off on IC-ness.

Jack Frost: So that he can earn their trust Jack Frost may be popping in for the occasional save and extra bit of directions towards an exit. The mod will tap people in a thread to ask if it's a good place for it or you can request him for a brief interaction in the mod question comment.

Enemy damage: Players can have their characters successfully kill the villain npcs. The problem is...they just keep coming. Every time they successfully kill one of the solo villains a new iteration will walk out from their screen. This means that players can at least successfully finish off a villain in their thread to get clear without ruining the timeline of other characters facing that villain too. You can even have a character kill a villain and have the same villain walk out of the screen and come after them again to make their day even worse.

Status effects: Any injuries or damage that happens to a character will stick when they leave the Multiplex. That means that someone that gets facehugged by a facehugger will have an alien larva problem that may be causing some serious indigestion soon. Anyone that gets Borg-nanited through the neck will start having the nanites take over them. However the myth healing will slow these processes down until they can get to the Pole, and there are magical means at the Pole to help the characters survive this. For instance, the larvae can be poofed away before they cause any chest issues, Kaa's poison has a cure with some plants growing at the Pole, and the Borg nanites can be fought off by just the base myth healing, even if it takes time and is an unpleasant process of a character having a fever and being very ill until the nanite infection clears.

Healing: Characters will lose Kaa's poison effect the second they get the cure but the bite will need to heal. They will have to rest for several days without putting stress on the bitten area to keep their bites from bleeding too much. Characters with no myth healing will heal from Kaa's bite in about 1 week. Characters with myth healing will heal in 2-3 days.

Long-term effects: Players who go with some kind of status effect for a character can optionally have long-term consequences from it if they like, whether it's a curse, enchantment, or something else. The Borg assimilation, for instance, can be fought off but may leave characters with some mechanical body parts like reinforced spines, small mechanical growths on their faces, or permanent scarring in the shape of mechanical parts. (Normally myths don't scar but it can be permanent due to the sinister magic of the Multiplex.)

Environment: Feel free to manipulate the environment. There are lots of rooms to work with, curtains that can be pulled down (and set on fire, even if the whole building won't take), concession stands that have things that can be thrown at villains, butter substitute that can be poured on floors to make villains slip, etc. Chairs can even be ripped out and thrown at villains or used to barricade doors if someone is strong enough to do it.

Experimentation: We'd like to encourage people to experiment! Obviously ask other players if they're down first, but it could be fun to do something other than 2 person threads, like maybe 2 PCs banding together to rescue an overwhelmed 3rd.

Follow-up: There will be posts for escaping to the sleigh for characters to care for each other during the escape, and arriving/recovery at the Pole. After everyone has been healed and comms have been distributed, and after briefly conferring with some allies to get more info, Jack will talk to the group about what's going on. From that time forward, the standard welcome/intro will be fully in place where Manny is the one that infodumps the situation in new characters' heads. But for game start everyone gets to work through the confusion together.
ninjavampire: (pic#16556882)

[personal profile] ninjavampire 2023-08-06 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
“Yeah, because the Green Goblin isn't dead-set on destroying the fabric of his universe!” he snaps back, and then winces, because raising his voice irritated the lacerations sealed over by his suit. Oh man. They sure had a lot to unpack once this is done.

The aforementioned Green Goblin is currently gliding into the room with the concession stands, watching the Spider Showdown go down with his hands on his hips.

“Excuse me? I thought I was supposed to be the nemesis here!” he shouts in offense.

Norm lobs a pumpkin bomb at them to make the little spiders scatter around the theater and assuage his ego. How dare they talk about him like he's not there!?
thismaskismybadge: (atsv; mask blown away)

[personal profile] thismaskismybadge 2023-08-06 03:10 am (UTC)(link)

"Neither am— whoakay, angry Goblin!"

Defending her actions later, defending her life now. Gwen throws herself out of the path of the pumpkin bomb, a backflip with all the grace of a kid who was an acrobatic dancer even before she was a Spider, but lacking the full strength she aims for.

She makes it to the edge of the room, but not without a little help from the explosion that throws her against the wall.

ninjavampire: (pic#16525705)

[personal profile] ninjavampire 2023-08-06 03:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Miguel doesn't make the same mistake a second time. He webs up to the ceiling corner to successfully avoid the blast. His legs weren't propelling him as far as he was used to, either.

Stuck on with his claws, he can see that Gwen is fine from his elevation (if a bit rocked around), so he focuses on Norman.

"Oh, clumsy clumsy! What will your papaw think when his little girl doesn't come home a second time, hm? Oh, imagine the heartbreak! HA!"

The Goblin laughs in his shrill manner, and gets prepared to lob another bomb at her, but a red light-web lassos his wrist and yanks him off balance.
thismaskismybadge: (atsv; mask glare)

[personal profile] thismaskismybadge 2023-08-10 12:52 am (UTC)(link)

Okay, not good, very not good, why does she feel weaker than usual? She should have cleared that. Now she's hissing air through her teeth to replace what got slammed out of her lungs, as she pushes herself back to her knees.

And then Norman goes and brings up her dad.

The eyes on her mask narrow and, behind it, her teeth grit. That she ran off again so quickly after their talk, that she has no idea when or if she'd have returned even if she hadn't ended up here, a dimension she had no intention of going to—it isn't lost on her. What happens if she gets hurt? What happens—

Norman rears to throw another bomb. Gwen flicks her wrist toward the ceiling. Familiar glowing web yanks the villain off-kilter.

Well, good to know Miguel isn't so pissed at her he'll let her take a pumpkin bomb to the face. That's nice.

The web she launched connects with the ceiling a split second later and Gwen throws another to match it, giving her maximum leverage to throw herself feet-first into the Goblin's face to try and knock him off that glider.

"Bring up my dad again and see how that works out for you, you laugh-gas huffing maniac!"

ninjavampire: (pic#16644281)

[personal profile] ninjavampire 2023-08-10 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
Norman isn't facing the same debuffing problem as his foes. So Gwen gets her kick, knocking him off balance on the Glider, but not forcefully enough to avoid her leg being grabbed by his free hand and dragging her down with!

The Glider slips and knocks them both to the ground, the loose pumpkin bomb slipping from the Goblin's hand and ending up lassoed in Miguel's claws instead.

Well, this was a strange turn of events. He'll take it. Miguel drops down from his place on the ceiling.

"Wrong move, Gwen!"

The Goblin will not be kind in roughing up the Spider in his grasp - this time, by attempting to slam her into the ground and lightly crater the floor beneath the carpet.
thismaskismybadge: (atsv; mask pinned)

[personal profile] thismaskismybadge 2023-08-11 12:11 am (UTC)(link)

Shoot shoot shoot—! Gwen kicks out at his grip with her other leg as hard as she can, with her strength debuffed like it is, which just isn't hard enough. Again, she takes the hit, again, she loses her breath, and it's only pride and stubbornness and a healthy dose of annoyance that keeps her from yelling for Miguel to give her a hand, please, thank you!

With a wordless, frustrated noise, she yanks and kicks and shoots webs blindly behind her. The second she feels it latch onto something, she pulls to give herself the extra boost to drag herself away from him.

ninjavampire: (pic#16644291)

[personal profile] ninjavampire 2023-08-11 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
The Goblin raises a fist to continue squishing this particular Spider, before her well-timed web lets her wiggle out in time to avoid his punch through the carpet.

"Oh... Slippery!" he shouts, more amused than anything. "You sure you weren't bitten by a radioactive snake? That'd fit better for you and your pal Pete, eh?"

It was here that Miguel tosses his thieved Pumpkin Bomb from behind, knocking the Goblin against a wall with its explosion. Norm shouts in surprise as he's buried behind detritus, giving them a few seconds to regroup.

The older Spider lands in front of Gwen, taking point.

"Fists aren't gonna work this time. Use your webs."
thismaskismybadge: (atsv; mask hurt)

[personal profile] thismaskismybadge 2023-08-16 02:23 am (UTC)(link)

Gwen grunts, pushing herself back up to her feet, arm around her ribs until she forces it away. "Why thank you, Miguel, for your valuable insights, I totally wasn't already getting that idea."

The frustration and dull ache from getting thrown around are in no way improving her already near-venomous teenage attitude towards Miguel, right now.

"What're we doing? Webbing him up and praying?"

ninjavampire: No!!!.... Yes (pic#16644283)

[personal profile] ninjavampire 2023-08-16 04:46 am (UTC)(link)
"You seemed to be pretty attached to punching and kicking uselessly."

He can be sarcastic too, Gwen. He doesn't have to be nice! And he isn't doubled over on the floor in pain, so he can feel rather dignified about it.

"I can try to get a bite on him, but we'll need to tie him up and seal the exits on the way out. Death isn't an option - it's impermanent."

The Goblin all hopped up on super serum is going to be a hassle for him to wrestle in his current state. But he's fairly certain his talons could still tear into the metal and find some flesh to envenomate with his fangs.
thismaskismybadge: (itsv; mask closeup spidey sense)

[personal profile] thismaskismybadge 2023-08-16 06:38 pm (UTC)(link)

"Right because I'm going to just stop kicking once he has me by the ankle," she snarks again, because acknowledging that she could have gone for her webs faster than she did would be admitting Miguel has a point. Which she absolutely refuses to do. "—also who said anything about death? I didn't say anything about death."

She takes a big breath, which actually kind of hurts right now, and releases it. "Let's just get on with it so you can do your vampire thing and we can be done with—"

Her whole body straightens up and her head turns. Miguel's been around enough other Spiders recognise the reaction. Spider-sense.

ninjavampire: (pic#16643790)

[personal profile] ninjavampire 2023-08-16 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh shit, he knows that look. True to form, he follows Gwen's gaze to find a sharp gray blur launching right at their faces. She can enjoy his half-second of panic on his face in response.

Miguel flattens his entire body to the ground to avoid being impaled by the sharp end of the Goblin's Glider, limbs spread out on all fours. Being a jumbo Spiderman meant being a big target!

The Glider swoops up to return to its owner, a dinged up and singed Goblin.

"I'll say something about death - I'm looking forward to yours!"

Ah, those are two bombs in his terrible little hands. It's go time!
thismaskismybadge: (atsv; mask thwip)

[personal profile] thismaskismybadge 2023-08-17 01:45 am (UTC)(link)

Here they go again— Gwen does take a moment of amusement at Miguel's expense as she's flattening herself back out, but it doesn't last. The Goblin is back in the game and it's time to finish this.

The first thing she does? Fire a splat of web from one wrist aimed directly at the Goblin's face, aiming to gum up his mask's eyes. The second is slinging two webs to latch onto the Glider and yank, swinging low off the anchors to use her weight as the primary force instead of her lessened strength. Keep on moving, no giving the guy a pair of easy bunched up targets to (hopefully blindly) throw at.

ninjavampire: (pic#16644291)

[personal profile] ninjavampire 2023-08-17 06:36 am (UTC)(link)
Miguel leaps up as she does, falling easily into familiar coordination. He moves opposite of her, circling around with his light-web.

"Running away from your problems again..!?"

With two Bugs to keep track of and no Glider to speed up his movements, her web catches the Goblin's visor as he lobs the bombs in their direction. His aim is thrown off, and the explosives land somewhere behind them with a BANG! A bunch of theater chairs have combusted into clouds of stuffing and molten plastic. Well, now he has to struggle with the sticky web over his face.

The Glider is swaying in place, controlled remotely. A little inspection may reveal that it did in fact have some weapons: rockets and razorbats. There was a manual control panel too, if she wanted to try and crack it open.

Miguel takes this opportunity to gunk up the works even more by lightwebbing the grasping hands to his mask. He manages to get one decent slash of his talons into shoulder armor before he has to narrowly weave away from an elbow to the face.

This was so not his style! He was used to brawling far more aggressively, not hovering back cautiously and chipping damage. But Miguel was drawing attention like he wanted.