WEEK 1

[biteys]

WEEK ONE

❝Don’t panic. You’re waking up somewhere unfamiliar, but try to relax. You aren’t dead, and I don’t have any intention to harm you. You’ve just been selected for a very special mission. A delivery, I guess. I’d do it myself but… let’s just say I can’t travel in the state I’m in. Take the blue container I’ve left to where I’ve marked on the maps within eight weeks, and you’ll be able to go home happy. More than, really. Any time or place you want to go… I can send you there. It's kinda my thing. Think of it as your payment. Everything else you need to know, I’ll tell you in time. Know that I’m sorry that I had to resort to this, and I’ll pay for my sins in Hell.❞

!

the beginning of the end

That’s what’s playing on repeat on a tape recorder, when the survivors come to.

Characters will find themselves in a humble, American townhouse, which other than being a bit dusty, is still mostly clean. All characters will be sprawled out on the floor and furniture of the living room, in front of what looks to be a giant portal. Characters will also notice they have a seemingly indestructible silver wristband around their wrists, and they have nothing with them but the clothes on their back.

Take a look around, and you'll realize that everyone in the room is likely a stranger. Aside from the tape playing, there's little explanation or proof that what's being said to you is even true. For all you know, one of the people in the room could be responsible for you being suddenly taken here.

Exploring the house's many rooms will reveal that there are small stockpiles food, water, weapons (a few guns, a few bats, a few knives), and maps, along with a large, strange container of blue liquid. The maps all chart a route from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and sport detailed recommended time stamps on them. Strangely, the recommended path occasionally diverges into two separate routes.

Upon searching the house, Haru Okumura finds a set of notes, while Leontuzzo Bellone finds a separate set. They are free to keep these notes to themselves, or share them with the group.

Nothing has anyone's names on it — not the notes, and certainly not the supplies. Everyone will have to compete for the same things. Or maybe all of you can be civilized about this, before anyone goes hoarding weapons and food? Maybe you can even introduce yourselves, while you're at it. For some strange reason, every window and door in this place is locked (and impossible to break), and will be for at least 72 hours, as if someone wanted you all to be cooped up together for a time before heading out.

Most interestingly, in the deepest basement of the house, there's a room with a large, heavy dresser shoved in front of it… and a low moaning and banging emanating from the other side. The door’s slightly ajar, and a closer look reveals a zombie is the source of the sound. Context clues around the basement, like the PhD in interdimensional travel hung up on the wall (for a Dr. Bei), hint that the woman inside is whoever left you this cryptic message - the woman who brought you here, allegedly. But she's long long gone, only this monster left in her wake. It seems she was smart enough to lock herself away to prevent you from being harmed, at least... and it'll give you a preview of the threat that looms outside.

sewer diving

After 72 hours have passed, one and only one door unlocks – in the very same basement that the zombie of Dr. Bei can be found. It leads down to a dark, dingy tunnel that connects to the sewers. Not only is the smell awful, but (non-infected) rats scurry about, keeping to the shadows – but the smell of any of the food you've taken from the house will attract them. Careful!

The party will need to create some light to navigate their way out and keep the rats at bay, or they’ll be bumping around in the dark for quite a while. Now might be a good time to share if you have some matches, or a special talent for being a lantern. Mercifully, there's only one exit that actually opens down in this labyrinth, as if it's a route the Doctor designed to take all the time.

At one point, Puppy falls into the sewage, and loses something they brought from the house.

oh! that's a baseball

Once characters make it out of the sewers, they’ll be a day’s travel to the first mark on the party’s map: “Dodger’s Stadium.” The road they’ll have to hike to get there is winding, curvy, and uphill, which will give the party a good overview of the now dilapidated Los Angeles, along with the many abandoned buildings and cars that litter the place. The stadium itself looks to have been cleared of threats and fashioned into a safe spot a long time ago, as all entrances but one have been completely welded shut. The high walls keep zombies out, and the winding path up here deters most of them from even approaching.

Inside the stadium, there’s some baseball merch (and equipment) to scavenge, not to mention some really old peanuts! Delicious. Maybe there are even some old fireworks laying around this place. Setting up camp here won’t be very comfortable… but at least it’s very safe. A luxury the party won’t have for much longer, if the map is anything to go by. You'll be heading through the city, next, so rest up while you can.

!

week one objectives

➤ make acquaintances with your fellow travelers
➤ decide what to do with the zombie of dr. bei
➤ arm yourself with what you can find
➤ scavenge some portable food from the house and while traveling
➤ make camp at the stadium

code

Comments

night!

[irreversal]

[ Shoko has taken to sitting up in the bleachers, too, as high up as she can get, though she's taken her own seat a section or two over. When she sees Soujuurou climb up, too, she gets up and walks over to where he's seated. ]

Shizuki. Enjoying the view of Los Angeles? Man, Hollywood really isn't all it's cracked up to be, huh...

[mediator]

Ah, good evening Ieiri. [ a quiet smile settles on his features as she approaches, before he sets his sights over the horizon. ] I guess not. A lot of big movie stars live here, right? A friend of mine told me that once.

[ kinomi watches a lot of movies, even foreign ones, because he's... well, he's really into the actresses in them. ]

[irreversal]

[ Shoko's pretty casual about most things, and that includes movie-watching. But Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was #2 in the Japanes box office in 2007 so— ]

Yup, they do. Or did.

[ She takes her seat beside him, crossing her legs and leaning back a bit. ]

Huh... I wonder if Emma Watson turned into a zombie? Ahh, that'd be a shame.

[mediator]

Emma Watson. [ His pronunciation is strained and he doesn't recognize the name. The only ones he really knows... ] Maybe Tom Cruise is too. Or Harrison Ford. How sad.

[irreversal]

Ahaha, so you're into action movies, huh, Shizuki? Guess I'm surprised.

[ Then again, looking at him again, she's a little surprised by the scars on his arms. ]

What happened there?

[ Gesturing at said arms. ]

[mediator]

The stunts are impressive and I like the adventures the characters go on, but I wish they weren't so violent. I enjoy nature documentaries the most though.

[ Something about seeing animals in their natural habitat, even if they also behave violently, is soothing for him. A tiger has more reasons to be vicious than the modern day human.

But on the topic of his scars, he rotates his arm slowly for a second with a faint frown. ]

Run-ins with wild dogs. It wasn't uncommon for them to attack our encampment when they hunted for food. Most of these are from childhood.

[irreversal]

[ Nature documentaries... what a peaceful soul... (?) ]

Is that so? Ehh... You really did grow up in the wilderness, huh? Sorry to hear about the dogs. Must have been pretty painful.

[mediator]

It was, but it taught me a lesson or two about interacting with the wilderness. For that I'm grateful.

[ Maybe he's just trying to see the upside of it, or prescribe a meaning to a painful experience, but it helps to see it that way. He's not ashamed of the scars, but they aren't pleasant to look at and might invite unwanted pity. It's too warm to just wear a jacket all through the night too. ]

You're a city girl, right? I guess you might not have experiences like mine. I've heard Tokyo is rather safe for how big it is.

[irreversal]

[ For what it's worth, there's nothing like pity in Shoko's voice. Just a simple acknowledgment of what happened to him, and a statement of fact. There's no reason for him to be ashamed; the scars are proof that he survived. ]

I think your wilderness skills might be more useful here than my experiences in a big city. Don't think being able to figure out subway maps will be too helpful. But - sure. Tokyo's pretty safe.

[ at least, the normal person might think so. But cities invite more people, inviting more emotions, inviting more cursed energy... inviting more curses, stronger curses. ]

Say, since you mentioned those witches... that means you believe in the supernatural, right, Shizuki?

[mediator]

Yes, but you can navigate urban areas better than me. I don't get the impression we'll wander through the mountains.

[ Wherever they're going, he must assume it's somewhere with people. He hopes for that anyway. As for her question... hm. ]

I don't know if believing it or not is relevant. I've seen magic in front of my eyes, so it must be real. [ seeing is believing, in other words. ] Though truthfully, I have very little concept of what's normal or supernatural. When I first saw the witch using magic, I thought it was no different than the way a pachinko machine works through the wonder of electricity.

[irreversal]

You don't? Ehh... Maybe we'll get to do both.

[ California isn't... all cities like Los Angeles, right? Shoko realizes now that she doesn't quite know. But she wouldn't be surprised if their travels took them out into the wilderness, too. Probably less zombies in the forest than in a densely-populated area. Or so she'd like to think.

What he says next, though, earns him a questioning look. That's... really an interesting way of looking at things, and she has to laugh again. ]

Hang on, you're kind of refreshing, aren't you, Shizuki? I guess growing up in the wilderness gave you a different perspective on everything.

[mediator]

Refreshing? [ blink blink ??? ] I don't understand what you mean.

[ he didn't really expect that sort of response. most people have just looked at him strangely when he makes such comparisons. ]

[irreversal]

Just now, when you said seeing magic was like the wonder of electricity. I don't think most people these days would think of electricity as a wonder.

Like I said, it feels like you have a different perspective, maybe it's strange, but I don't think it's bad thing.

[ Especially since as far as perspectives go... it's not harmful. Just a different way of looking at the good in the world, maybe. ]

[mediator]

I guess it's a matter of what you're accustomed to. [ he still feels a little sheepish and maybe that's why he leans toward expanding his thoughts even further- ] A person who lived with electricity all their life would never question that lights can turn on with the flick of a switch. For me, those small every day luxuries people take for granted were miraculous. And what is magic if not that?

[ magic is making the impossible possible. electricity, clean running water, cars, the list could go on. things a person like shoko accepted as part of her every day life seem other-worldly to him. he just assumed watching aozaki shoot bullets out of her hand was the same as all those other things.

but this does get him wondering now... ]

You asked me if I believe in the supernatural. What about you? Do you have some familiarity with it?

[ he noticed in the sewers that she never seemed surprised about anything he said when it came to the witches. perhaps shocked at their behavior (and rightly so) but not at their existence. ]

[irreversal]

[ It really does make sense, when he puts it that way. Everyday things that someone like her wouldn't even consider as a luxury at this point, but truly are, if they're to simply look at what human beings have access to without technology and innovation.

Many of which are things that, coincidentally, they won't have access to here, where human civilization seems to have fallen apart. All the more reason why Shizuki's refreshing perspective might be a blessing. Maybe he'll keep them sane. That would be nice, she thinks.

To his question, Shoko reaches for her unlit cigarette and draws out of her mouth, instead fidgeting with it between her fingers, sighing as if she were exhaling a puff of smoke before answering. It should be all right to talk about these things. It's not like Shizuki's lived a completely mundane life himself, anyway. ]

Yeah. Things like spirits and hauntings and curses. At home, they're everywhere, but most people don't have the ability to see them. Those who do are part of a society around jujutsu sorcery. I'm one of those people.

[mediator]

I see. That's why you weren't surprised when I spoke about my roommates. [ He suspected she might have had some familiarity with the concepts, but it's good to get confirmation. ] Hm. Does that mean you're a witch too Ieiri?

[irreversal]

[ You know what, ]

Yeah. So you better watch out for me, Shizuki. I might just curse you and make you follow me around everywhere, too~

[mediator]

Will you now? [ hmmm ] Can I at least live with you rent free?

[irreversal]

Geh— no waaay. I have to pay rent too, y'know!

[ no she doesn't she lives in a dormitory ]

Ahaha. But no, it's different from your witches. Jujutsu sorcerers protect normal humans from cursed spirits. They use energy from our bodies and go, buuuuun, and exorcise. Not me, though. I just use it to heal other sorcerers.

[mediator]

Ah I see. So you're in that sort of situation too. [ clueless.jpg ] Healing people with magic is still impressive. And I imagine other sorcerers must get into danger a lot.

[ just from what he saw of kuonji and aozaki's wounds when they first went up against touko... it was horrible. he doesn't want to remember that night. but before his mood gets dour he realizes something- ]

Wait, you call yourselves sorcerers? Are you by any chance friends with that white haired guy?

[irreversal]

Ahaha... White haired guy...

[ oh boy ]

Yeah. Gojo? We're classmates, so that makes us buddies, too, I guess.

[mediator]

[ hm, he gets the sense that it might be a little more strained than that? or complicated. aozaki and kuonji would never admit to being friends, even if that's ostensibly what they are to him. ]

Is it a case where you work together because of circumstance? He seemed strong but a little arrogant about it.

[irreversal]

[ It's definitely complicated. ]

Unfortunately, it's somewhat justified in his case, though it'd be a lot easier if he wasn't such a dirtbag about it, too, huuh? [ she siiighs. ] We don't work together that much, honestly, especially nowadays. I don't get sent out on missions very much, and he gets sent out on them all the time.

[mediator]

A powerful person who brags about their superiority. I'm unfortunately familiar with that sort of attitude.

[ he's glad aozaki isn't here. her and gojo might end up killing each other with their overinflated egos clashing. ]

Do you wish you were sent out more, or are you just concerned for when he comes back?

[irreversal]

Ahaha, no way. I don't wanna get killed out there, too...

[ 'Too,' because, well. Sorcerers don't exactly have a long life expectancy, a fact of which they've been reminded, as of late. ]

I might have been worried before, I guess. But Gojo figured out the same technique I use to heal people, but for himself, so I guess he doesn't really need me anymore~