voidtreckerexpress | A new platform [intro post September]

A new platform [intro post September]

For those on the train

“Good morning passengers, it is day one of the month of Bassoon.” The train announces the morning the month changes. It seems the train counts months in days of thirty. Team Points have been updated on the system.

The day continues as most days do, chores, eating, getting ready for another day. But those who suspect that a change of month may bring something else are correct. It is only an hour or two later that there is another announcement.

“Shortly arriving into a designated void platform. Exit from void imminent.”

By now they should know to hold on as the train jerks and jolts. There is only fog outside the windows but the train soon comes to a stop. The doors hiss open.

As they exit into the fog they may notice Evie exiting from the luggage carriage door. Much like Hibiki the last time they were on a platform. She leaves the train, backpack on her back as she walks through the station. She heads no call, reacts to no words and cannot be stopped as she walks to the ticket barrier and disappears through it.

Strange. But even stranger still is that there on the platform that whole time is Evie. Dressed in purple, backpack on back, with her are others. Waiting for the train.

For new arrivals

At first all they can see if steam. Billowing around them as they come to their senses. They are standing, in clothes that are not their own, styles they might not even recognise. They are carrying a rucksack on your back. For a moment it seems to just be them, alone in the white haze but then the steam begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform is not very large, but it hold twelve figures all facing the tracks, all wearing similar clothing. The tracks stretch left and right into steam, or perhaps fog. Nothing can be seen to either side. There is a wall around the platform and the only entrance is a ticket barrier. It cannot be open, nor do there seem to be any staff.

What there is, is a train. Jet black and gleaming where it stands on the rails.Voidtrecker Express is emblazoned in the engine in gold. There is a hiss as the doors slide open.

Out step a selection of people, some less human than others, wearing clothes just like those worn by those on the platform.

The Train

The doors hiss open. Those from the train may encourage those on the platform to board. It’s not like there is anywhere else to go and even if there was, you feel a pull. A need to board, a feeling that staying on the platform would not be a good thing.

Once on board there is lots to explore. Passengers both old and new will hopefully be delighted to see the boredom of this train journey is somewhat alleviated by the introduction of a game carriage. Plenty of games, both familiar and new to play with your new travelling companions.
Each ICP shows the same message. If Red team go and look they will find a box in the luggage compartment that contains their prize. A dralite themed cake lolly each. There are enough for the new members of Red team too, share in your teams previous success!

The food stores have been topped up with new fresh food. Salmon has taken over as the primary ingredient of choice. Hopefully everyone likes fish!

New passengers will find their tickets allow them into their cabins. They may need to negotiate for beds, especially if they want a top bunk!

Room is tight but there are storage cubbies at the head of each bed, beds fold up and the bottom bunks double as benches for the small table. There is storage under those benches and you will hopefully find a pillow for your bed if it has not been nabbed by a roommate, there are also spare blankets for if it gets cold.

Departure

A second horn sounds to encourage any stragglers and the doors slide shut. For those who boarded two weeks ago they will know what is coming next.

The train sets off, the fog obscuring the view as it picks up speed.

"Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express.” A female-coded artificial sounding voice echoes throughout the train. "Please take the time to read the passenger information displayed on the Information and Communication points and familiarise yourself with the layout and emergency exits."

The train begins to tilt, leaving the ground and rising up into the fog filled sky.

"Entrance into Voidspace imminent. New passengers are advised to remain seated."

Hopefully someone warns you that you really want to heed that warning because a moment later there is a shudder, a jolt, a lurch to the left. A flash of light, colourful and blinding.

As quick as it happens it is done. The train seems to steady. The fog from the windows is gone now, replaced with a kaleidoscope of ever changing colours.

Welcome to voidspace.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A man who was nothing but trouble, huh? People would likely say the same about Reigen, with varying degrees of fear or annoyance depending on how much they took him for his word. At the moment, he wasn't looking for trouble, per se, just evidence. The sleeper cabins were shockingly normal, however, so he would have to look elsewhere.

Elsewhere happened to be in the path of a blue-eyed man close to his age who appeared awfully confident considering their arrival in the void. There had to be a reason for that, and Reigen was very bad at minding his own business today.

"Hey, did you find something or what?"

He chuckled a bit. "And what am I to have found?" he asked. It wasn't the glazed indolent sleepiness of Daemon. Same game, but with his own personality.

"I don't know? That's why I'm asking?" Reigen was playing checkers compared to Khardeen's chess, so to speak. Similar game with less mystery. "Come on, we're on a mysterious train that's floating in the void, work with me."

He chuckled. Alright, he'd play the game. "That does seem to be the case, yes."

Ok, now he could try to get somewhere. Reigen was going to figure out what this guy knew. "Right, so you figure, how does it get that much power? I'm an expert on psychic power myself, but dimensional travel? Haven't seen anyone do that, especially not with a train."

"Oh I have a few ideas." Mostly that illusions take a lot less power than the real thing once set. "But then I grew up with Jaenelle, who built a bridge between the realms for the dead to cross." A reminder to whoever made this web just who would be waiting to have a chat with them once Khary was free of it.

"Who did what--like talking to ghosts? Any psychic can do that. Besides, if we're talking crossing to the realm of the dead, that means...being dead, right? I've ruled that out." That particular travel was out of his jurisdiction, anyway. Astral projection was as close as people could get to being a ghost. "Personally, I'm thinking the train is some powerhouse of spiritual energy from a lot of people, or it's a spirit itself. That or a telepathic mindscape."

"Demon Dead, actually, not ghosts. From what I understood, the ghosts remained a while." He eyed him. "It could be just riding the Webs like a coach," he said. "But I find it interesting that you put your finger on a telepathic mindscape." Why would the Web point out it was a Web? Because he had already figured it out? Or was his not the only mind trapped in it? An interesting thought. Intriguing. He had no way to communicate that to the ladies, so would have to trust Jaenelle to notice it.

"Oh. Of course...the Demon Dead. How could I forget about how, er, demonic they can be?" Ok, Reigen had no idea what this guy was talking about now. Time to just nod and pretend he knew what the webs and demon dead were. "I mean, it makes sense. If you have the abilities, you can make someone think they're anywhere with ESP. Easier than traveling dimension webs."

What was he talking about? He shook his head and focused on the issue at hand, and trying to tease out if this was actually another person or not. "What do you know of Black Widows?" Not all Black Widows had ego to spare, in fact, some of the best ones didn't. But they did take pride in their Craft. And there was a tartness to a Black Widow's personality that he could identify a mile off. Something few males ever managed. He wondered if any of that tartness would show in the conversation to follow. If this person was part of the mindscape that was being actively controlled, well, he was more or less about to throw water on a bag of cats, as the saying went.

Though like most in the first circle, he was careful to say that where any of the cats could actually hear him. He rather liked having a spleen, after all.

“They’re spiders? If they bite you, you die? ...unless we’re still talking about dimension webs. Then Black Widow...it’s slang for an evil spirit, right” At least, that was what Reigen was going with now. Were he and Khary even talking about the same thing now? “Maybe talk to the big spider on here, they might know if there’s other spiders here.”

He shook his head, about to speak, then went very very still. "What big spider?" he asked softly. For the first time there was no smile on his face. There was no expression at all.

Mother Night. Had he stumbled into one of the Kindred Spider's webs? Could he convince her to contact Jaenelle to verify he was first circle? What about the rest of the minds here? May the Darkness have mercy. Because he had been in Scelt he had presumed that whoever made the web that trapped him was human, canine, of equine. He never considered that he could have somehow ****ed off one of the Spiders.

Ok, the sudden shift in Khardeen’s face to what appeared to be unsettled was new. Reigen assumed he must be terrified of spiders, so he better clear the air so this guy didn’t freak out at his new spider associate.

“You know, the one in the orange hoodie and the sign. I talked to them...her?” Reigen wasn’t an expert on spiders, but he remembered reading in a book that the powerful ones were female. He’d have to ask Spider-san about that next he saw her. “We have an arrangement, so don’t worry about it. She doesn’t eat people.” At least, he hoped.

He shook his head. Mother Night. "Can you arrange an introduction for me and her?" Oh yes, the females were the powerful ones. The deadliest and the ones most able to make you WISH they had done something so simple as to just kill you.

"Sure, I'll tell her you want to talk to her...what's your name?" Reigen couldn't exactly go off 'the guy wearing blue' since that was a lot of the train from what he saw so far.

"Lord Khardeen of Maghre, and you can tell her that I serve the Lady. I appreciate it." All this being serious was hard, but this might be their ticket to freedom, all of them trapped in this Web.

"Khardeen O...yeah, no problem. Arataka Reigen is on the case." Yep, he still had no clue what this guy was on about. Maybe he was part of some demon-hunting society in Europe. ...Reigen might just sit in on that meeting between him and Spider-san if that was the case.

"Thank you, I appreciate it, Prince Arataka," hwe said, presuming that was the man's name.He smiled, feeling a little better now. They might have their way out of there soon, or at the least he'd have a chance to plead their case.

"...just Reigen is fine." He was desperately trying not to bust out laughing at being called a prince. Please, around this time last week he was trying to bargain with the convenience store cashier to let him use an expired coupon to buy instant ramen.

He nodded. "Prince Reigen then," he agreed. Hard to tell if he missed the point intentionally or not, given that the smile was back.

"Good enough." Ok, Khary had to be messing with him. It was kind of funny to be referred to as royalty though. Reigen would have to add it to the list of shockingly respectful titles he'd been given in his life.

He chuckled. "Alright, so we've established that we're both pretty sure this is a Tangled Web and that we're going to speak with a weaver who may or may not be the original creator of it. My guess is that she isn't, but that she might be able to help us contact those who can get our minds free, if she can't do as much herself."

“Yeah, sounds about right.” Reigen decided a while ago he was just going to go along with the idea of Spider-san knowing stuff. He couldn’t help but be concerned about a conversation between her and Khardeen turning into an interrogation, however, so he might have to mediate. “She seems like she’s as stuck here as us, so I doubt she’s behind it.”

"Then she might be fairly Light Jeweled, but she still might be able to help us. And if she's trapped too, she might have been the originally intended target, in which case she'll need our protection." Which sounded like fun!

"Exactly. She said she wasn't a bad spider, so I'd say we can count on her being, uh, Light Jeweled." That meant 'good', he assumed? "We can ask her about it later."

Team Smooth Operators, the Reboot

WHOO!

Re: WHOO!

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