Trouble Stirs...

[all_onis_are_true]

[ACTION; IN AN ABANDONED BUILDING ON SIROCCO'S OUTSKIRTS 5 DAYS AGO]

"Junk... junk... junk..."

Not all people who explore the ruins in the world aim to remember. Some, particularly the lower class of residents, head towards the many parts of the city currently abandoned, hoping that some items of value have been left behind in the seventy year gap since the Vanishing. Occasionally, people get lucky; for the most part, however, all that's left are useless knick-knacks, if that. Some buildings lack even any copper wiring that had been present anymore.

Still, hope springs eternal. The young looter continues rummaging through the dusty desks and drawers of the abandoned office building, hoping for something of worth -- even just a little money to fund his, well, habits.

Something moves out of the corner of his eye. He stiffens and turns around. Nothing.

He goes back to it, but again senses someone else is there with him. Damnit, this is his claim. "Hey! I know you're there, asshole. I got dibs on this building, so find your own damn place to loot, got it?" he yells out.

Nothing responds. He grows annoyed. "I'm warning you! If I catch you trying to take anything good, I'm kicking your ass! I got this place right now!" He pulls out a pocket knife. "So I'm giving you one last chance to get the hell out, pal!"

More silence. And then...

terateraterateratera...

[TRANSCRIPT; FROM A CALL TO SAFE PRESERVES SECURITY'S CALL CENTER 4 DAYS AGO]

GUARD: Call center, come in! I need backup! I need backup now!

CC: This is Graham speaking. What's the situation?

GUARD: I need someone to help! Anyone! Please!

CC: Sir, calm down and tell us what the situation is.

GUARD: I... This building, they've been having me guard it for years! I can usually handle the shit that moves in, but this one's really bad!

CC: Is it a monster, sir? We can contact Monster Control --

GUARD: No! I mean, yes! It's a monster or something! But I can usually handle that stuff! But this thing, it's... I dunno, big, and blue, and it shouldn't be as freaky looking as it is, but -- I tried shooting it, headshots and everything, and it barely even flinched!

CC: This sounds serious, sir. We can probably get --

GUARD: Wha -- *sound of a crunch*

CC: Sir? Sir, are you there? Sir?

GUARD: *Silence. And then, briefly, the sound of crunching, like teeth crushing a device, and the line goes dead.*

[ACTION]

*Gradually, similar incidents occurred; some people were lucky enough to escape and tell the tale. Alerts are given on a daily basis over the PDAs warning adventurers away from certain buildings due to highly durable and vicious blue monsters showing up in various abandoned parts of town.

Hiroshi stares at the latest alerts, his face even paler than it is normally.*

((OOC: Starting from this post, Ao Onis are beginning to crop up within the city limits. Abandoned buildings have a high chance of an Oni or two being present, and the longer they've been there the harder it is to leave due to their strange love of puzzles and locks. Feel free to have people discuss the outbreak, or meet it first hand. Hiroshi is here, but feel free to talk with other characters in this post too.))

Comments

Action

[alittleblackmagic]

Hiroshiiiiiiiiiiii!

[Here is Palom rushing up with face pale; surely he has heard the dire news cropping up all over t -- ]

They're out of chocolate ice cream at the store!

[Oh.]

Re: Action

[all_onis_are_true]

*Okay, it's a banal, irritating thing to be brought up. But right now, he'd prefer banal and irritating to other graver concerns.*

You don't say. What an apocalyptic disaster, surely. They didn't say when there'd be more, did they?

[alittleblackmagic]

No! I can't believe it! They said the people who make it were attacked or something and got hurt.

[OK maybe this is relevant after all.]

I knew I should have studied white magic!

[all_onis_are_true]

*Oh. Well shit.*

There, uh, weren't any specifics about the attack, were there?

[alittleblackmagic]

I don't know. Something about trolls, I think. I wasn't really paying that much attention.

[text; sent out to JLS members]

[canthandleacape]

Those nasty blue monsters causing trouble. Any thoughts?

[stinglikeabat]

You need to ask? We fight them, of course!

[canthandleacape]

That's probably inevitable at this rate. I was kind of hoping for more in the way of intel. You know, like if they're explosive or something like that.

[Somewhat annoyed that nobody mentioned that little detail about the Prinnies ahead of time? Maybe a little.]

[stinglikeabat]

[Gosh Booster, it could've happened to anyone!]

[Say, you're not still sore about that, are you?]

[canthandleacape]

Sore? Why would I be sore about that? I mean, they were just exploding penguins, anyone could overlook that!

[text; sent out to JLS members]

[gogoghostpowers]

I don't know if we can fight them. I ran into them earlier and nothing we did seemed to do anything.

...And someone told me they can turn you into one of them too.

Re: [text; sent out to JLS members]

[the_ko_stands_for_tiger]

Well what the hell else can we do? Besides, we got a lot of powerhouses in the League! If we throw enough at 'em, something's gotta work, right?

[gogoghostpowers]

Maybe. We managed to keep 'em out by shutting doors on them, so maybe they can take physical hits like punches, but not stuff like energy beams or magic?

[canthandleacape]

Did they say how?

[gogoghostpowers]

They said if you die near them, you turn into one of them.

I don't know how deadly they are, though, aside from being able to resist a lot of attacks.

[canthandleacape]

Standing orders: nobody die, that's business as usual, but it's not going to be enough to get them out of here. Nothing you tried worked at all? Not even a little?

[stinglikeabat]

They can? Well then, I'm all out of plans. Who's this monster expert?

[gogoghostpowers]

I think his name's Hiroshi. He's the guy who posted this notice and stuff in the first place. I think he's got this monsters back home where he's from.

[stinglikeabat]

Then if anyone knows how to deal with them, it'll be him!

We should put a guard on him in case they come after him before he can remember how.

[shineslightintodarkness]

Blue monsters...?

[all_onis_are_true]

They're... hard to explain. Nobody can really stick around long enough to observe them in any meaningful way. But they're bad. And really durable.

[Video]

[youngestboxer]

Hey, did you hear?! About those... things.

Re: [Video]

[all_onis_are_true]

Yeah. Yeah I heard.

I'm going to the library.

[Video]

[youngestboxer]

Are you going to look them up or something?

Re: [Video]

[all_onis_are_true]

No. I'm going to look up how to get rid of them.