Echo Incursion: Monsters Walk the Earth

[raisednpcs]

New Los Angeles. A city that was a shell of its former self. While Locke City, on the other end of the continent, had mostly risen from the ashes, Los Angeles as still a ruin and home to those few people who had managed to escape the destruction that devastated half of their country. Lawlessness and corruption ruled the streets, between both the groups of criminals and the military that kept the peace.

But it seemed things were finally beginning to change, here. Construction was going on in the heart of the city, which brought jobs. The governing body seemed to have a task that they could build towards, instead of simply chafing against the might of general Miller. It seemed that with this, that even with much work to be done, the long nightmare was soon to be over.

... At least, that's what it seemed like, until October ended.

It began in the areas that once played host to the film industry's studios and backlots, but soon spread out to the entire city. Halloween had passed, but it seemed almost like the fixation on the macabre had brought something terrible to life. Creatures that looked like they'd literally been born out of old black and white monster films stalked the city, like grim reminders of L.A.'s former glory. By Sunday, the news reached the national stage, with video footage of the apparitions being spread around like wildfire.

The governor made a statement, stating that General Miller and his forces would do everything in their power to deal with these things. That New L.A. had been dealing with monsters of a sort already. As such, increased patrols began in earnest from the eighth onward. But for that time, the danger would come not just from them, or the various progressive forms of the Vermini (which were also present in the city), but from the creatures of the night that now walked the city's ruined streets.

[OOC: Please refer to the plot post for any details and specifics for the event, and the beastiary for any details on the Vermedi/Vermini.

If you would like to request a mod to npc a monster for you, simply put in a request in the thread below!]

Comments

NPC Requests

[raisednpcs]

If you'd like to request an NPC for any of the prompts above, just reply here with: 1) A link to your thread; and 2) Which sort of monster, along with an idea of what you'd like to have happen!

Do that, and the mods will come along shortly to help you out. Also note that we might pop in to help you along ourselves!

Re: NPC Requests

[gone_streaking]

One monster, please.

Any kind will likely do. Thriller dancing zombies. Gimme Thriller dancing zombies.

Re: NPC Requests

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

I'll also take a Frankenstein, please!

Re: NPC Requests

[dictator_ko]

Requesting a Black Lagoon Creature here.

Lily

[alilyinthemoonslight]

[A - Closed to Winter]

Lily was born in California. Every memory of her mother is there, up to and including her death. Since the echo zones opened to the rest of the world, since the invasion, Lily could have returned her at any time. Technically.

It would have been returning to a ruined home, though. Devastation stretching out from Las Vegas to all surrounding states still impacted things heavily. In a way, it makes her feel cowardly she hasn't been rushing back here - but at the same time, she knows she's been busy, and like she tells Winter, they can't be everywhere at once. Plenty of places need help.

Right now, this one has the weird things popping up - so it warrants investigation.

Speaking of her significant other, she's currently making her way down the street with her. Lily's hair is tied up, and she's wearing a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses to try and mask herself. She's not entirely sure how well General Miller's troops will take to them.

[B - Wild Card]

[No real specific thoughts here at the moment - I'm keeping sort of a light month with the holidays inbound, but I'm up for things if anyone wants them! Just gimme a poke.]

A

[peacefulwinter]

Winter isn't the sort that traveled much as a little girl; this is her first time out here to the West Coast. Or, well... what's left of it. There are little bits of beauty left, in parts of the scenery, and there's evidence of the human will to survive here. But it's also not particularly high on her list of vacation spots, as it is now. If it weren't for something apparently going down here, she would much rather be... almost anywhere else, honestly. But, duty calls.

Her nerves come across in how she's dressed for their little scouting trip: hair pulled back into a single, long tail behind her, with dark clothes and a more conservative skirt than she's been seen with for the last month or two. A set of stylish sunglasses and a baseball cap complete the unusual image. And perhaps tellingly, she's sticking close enough to Lily that she's probably having a little trouble not walking into her.

Of course, this was also home for Lily once. So that's another concern to add to the stack. Even as she scans the street, she's unusually somber. Too much has happened for her to be chipper just now. Give her time. (Or affection.)

[alilyinthemoonslight]

Lily is trying her best to not be to much of a dampening factor on this trip. Not that it's exactly one they're taking for the sights or relaxation, or anything - still, it doesn't necessarily help the problems at hand, does it? Even if it's hard not to think about things, especially after all the destruction that rained down upon this land.

Which also makes her feel a little selfish. After all, there were people still suffering, here.

She makes a little sound as she feels Winter practically up underneath her, and reaches down, pulling up the lip of her baseball cap a little to look her in the face with a slight smile.

"Having trouble there?"

B

[jasminebloominginshadow]

Jasmine's memories of the west coast aren't as strong as Lily's. She was, after all younger. But she does remember, and she does have a lot of emotions tied up here. And... a lot of them are hitting home now that she's actually here.

Jasmine could just as easily played here when she was a little girl, and now everything as far as the eye could see was more or less scoured earth or rubble. It was like Locke had been after the invasion... only it was still like this.

Jasmine grit her teeth. She had to talk about this with someone. She took out her phone, and called up Lily.

"I'm in the city," she said, hoping her meaning would be obvious. "Can we meet up? I need... I need to talk."

[alilyinthemoonslight]

It takes Lily a moment to answer when the call comes, but once she hears Jasmine's voice it is indeed pretty obvious. As are the implications. She's tense and a little quiet at first, but lets out a held breath and finally answers.

"Yeah, of course, Jas. Just tell me where."

Wide Open

[gone_streaking]

For as much as things were changing in the ruined city of New L.A. things were pretty much the same at street level. Muggers and gangs still ran the streets, both the outlaws and the ones in uniform, monsters still scurried around in the dark.

... And there was also the lightning. Zipping in between the buildings and shacks of the refugee camps, crisscrossing the entire city in moments, there and gone in the blink of an eye. Here, a refugee with a hungry family suddenly finds rations lifted a military hoard at their feet. There, a mugger is abruptly spirited away from his victim and deposited in the street a mile away, disarmed.

Two or three circuits of the city later and Jason East suddenly slides to a stop in a quiet, remote area. The weird, red suit he'd regained may have felt a little silly but it was worth it for the mask that kept his face hidden... and the fact that whatever the heck it was made out of didn't seem to be prone to catching fire like his regular clothes.

"Okay." He claps his hands, pacing a few steps as he takes a moment to catch his breath. "So, I'm hiding a big scary machine. Where do I put it?"

His eyes drift toward the center of town, toward the big construction project and he pauses for a second.

"... Yeah. Okay."

A gust of wind rushes through the street, sending papers and bits of debris flitting about and he's gone. A streak of crackling lightning shooting toward the work-in-progress.

Hey, it's a good hunch.

[raisednpcs]

When Jason reaches said location, it's close to midnight, and something evil is lurking in the dark. Under the moonlight, he would see a sight that would almost stop your heart. Any normal person, anyway.

There's no construction workers here, but the location is well lit and what's lurking about is very obvious: zombies. Slow, moaning, grayscale, partially transparent zombies, shuffling about. There may be cries of "brains" here in there, as well.

But no troops. Nothing of that nature, no. Just the lingering, shambling reminder of Hollywood's vision of the undead.

Open to Network

[twinkletwinklesuperstar]

Another day, another special occasion. With the construction efforts going on in New L.A., Kirara had been invited down for another small event. A special screening of Valhalla and a chance to meet the governor of the Territories. Nothing major, just a few photo ops and back home to get to work.

She'd known the city was a dangerous place, but the area she was in was supposed to be the safest place in town so she hadn't thought much of stepping outside for a moment to take a break and get some air. Her attention was focused on the screen of her phone in her hands as she sorted through emails, enough that she didn't realize she wasn't alone until the shadow of a hulking, large figure settled over.

"Huh?" Blinking, she lifted her head and turned toward the source of the shadow... only to find her eyes staring at a massive, wide chest. Slowly, she turned her gaze upwards to see who had come up to her....

By the time anybody her agent came rushing out of the building with a group of security offers in response to her piercing shriek it was already too late. She was gone, and the only trace left of her was her cell phone on the ground beside an odd little dress-shaped trinket. From there, it probably wouldn't take too long for the news to break.

Kirara Hoshimoto had been kidnapped in New L.A.

[OOC: So, Kirara's gone... somewhere. For now, she's nowhere to be found but she'll answer on the network if anybody thinks to contact her there.]

audio;

[poweriscombined]

[This seems like a stupid idea, but.

Well.

No one ever claimed Mamoru had smart ones.]

Testing, testing. One, two, three.

Text

[dragon_blossom]

hey there starlet. word is you've been kidnapped. tell me you're alright.

[text]

[scarlet_devil]

Kirara! Are you hurt? Can you tell us where you are?

[raisednpcs]

Frankenstein. Kirara had been kidnapped by Frankenstein.

The massive, bolt-necked apparition had been surprisingly gentle as he dragged Kirara into his lair. It was far away from his familiar surroundings, and it was no windmill, but there was no fire nearby. The perfect place for him and his pretty new friend.

Right now, he was tossing flowers into the nearby flooded portion of his lair. He looked over at Kirara and smiled. Did she want to join him?

Emilia | Open

[scarlet_devil]

First things first, this machine, wherever it's been hidden away, has to be destroyed as soon as possible.

So, of course this means that Emi has headed over to New L.A. and was ready to beat up any of these grayscale monsters that were unfortunate to cross her path. ...That said, barring any sudden crises, she and perhaps some others will be focused on that.

Now, where to start?

[raisednpcs]

At that moment, an ear-piercing scream rings out. At that moment, a wolfman is attacking what appears to be a young woman, having cornered her at the end of an alleyway.

Open

[charcoalfeather]

A: Around
Rakka wasn't as connected to the western United States as some of her friends may have been - which isn't to say that she wasn't concerned about their plight, no! She was just a foreigner, who had spent most of her time in the east coast. She had always wanted to see California though.... but not like this.

She lands in a street that's oddly barren of, well, anything and begins to walk. Everywhere, there was danger, and not necessarily of the monster kind. It's not long before she finds someone attempting to shoplift during the chaos, and that is quickly put a stop to, much to the thanks of the owners. And Rakka is on her way again

"Okay, we just need to find whatever it is they moved here." She murmurs to herself, eventually crossing an alleyway... that growled at her.

"...." She gulped, eyeing the dark passage. "Umm... hello?"

B: Wildcard
[Rakka's around the city, trying to help where she can. Maybe you've run into her?]

B

[dictator_ko]

And it's when Rakka's fighting some werewolves that was menacing some innocent bystanders, when suddenly out of nowhere a golf club descends upon one of the creatures, striking in far too an efficient manner for the untrained noncombatant Mina had been.

A

[dragon_blossom]

Marina was in much the same boat. Although she was aware she'd had some family out west she hadn't met them - and now, probably, they were squarely in the 'had' category. She tried not to think about it but devastation like what had happened across the continent brought it back.

While she's not specifically following Rakka or anything, she's just across and a little down the street as she walks by an alley.

Curious, she turns back around, watching. Nothing better pop out and eat her.

B

[jasminebloominginshadow]

In the days since coming here, Jasmine has... actually taken to trying to make a difference out here. She's been volunteering, passing out supplies, community centers, in between all her searching and scouting. If there's anybody who needs to learn how to trust the Numbered, it was the people of new L.A.

Sadly, she'd been turned away just as much as she'd been given a chance. She'd ended up frustrated. So now... now, she was trying to blow off some steam. And she'd found it: A group of undead who'd been trying to accost some civilians.

Of course, she couldn't cut loose. She didn't know how alive these guys were. She had to pull her punches, even if they seemed pretty fragile. In any case, it was loud, and probably something Rakka would hear if nearby.

Open

[dictator_ko]

A: Black Lagoon Creature Encounter
"Get away from me!"

Mina had rushed over when she'd heard about the device being moved to Las Vegas. And she is prowling around looking for a lead when she smells a fishy smell. As soon as she pinpoints it down, a suctrange fishman she doesn't recognize (it's not like she watches dumb old black and white movies) lumbers toward her.

Ordinarily she would run away, but she's in a mood for Confrontations. So she kicks it in the shin.

B: Rampage around the city
Her fight with the fishman hadn't been enough to satisfy her need to hurt something. So she's on a rampage, attacking monsters where she sees them. Since her stealth skills aren't a slouch, such attacks tend to come rather suddenly.

As such, she might suddenly plow into a monster that's menacing you, or that you happen to be fighting at the time.

B

[mangata]

There's no real need for Umi to be here, but she hasn't had anything to do in Infinita, as far as improving the world is concerned. Despite that, she came out more to investigate than fight, and, at Mina's prior suggestion, is wearing a sweatshirt that comes recommended from fashion blogs and jeans that match her body type.

And then, of course, she's being 'menaced' by zombies, backing away with her sword held out. "You really don't want - uh?" And then those zombies were menaced by Mina.

"Hello?"

sorry for the delay here

[raisednpcs]

The creature may not be all there, but it's certainly enough like kicking a solid object. The fishman lets out a hiss, before grabbing at Mina and trying to throw her over its back.