Weeks ticked on after the Spiramonster incident without much fanfare. The typical "normalcy" that came after a big event had arrived as it always did through the eyes of those that lived within the project. But for those who worked on it, the Stars? Not so much. To host the data created by the sheer number of Spiramonsters that had been created that data had been hidden away on the servers of the Selene Space Station, but...
"The data is already at capacity!? But no new Spiramonsters have been created in the past three weeks, have they!?" The monitors in the control room flashed red to indicate the rapidly escalating emergency. It had already been known that an outsider had compromised the data of this intentionally harmless creatures, yet apparently the many backdoors into their system that they had closed had not been enough to prevent the tampering.
The amount of data had been growing exponentially over the past several hours and their access had been revoked. They desperately attempted to regain control to no avail, only for the clock to eventually roll over to midnight.
A familiar melody played in a music box rendition, not only through the speakers of the Stars' computers, but it could be heard all throughout Spirale and Selene. "Happy Birthday!? Is this some type of joke!?" It wasn't funny. But a realization struck them immediately after. "Ofiuco? What's wrong?" The android had stopped typing furiously in the corner. Another sound came over the comms.
No, a number of them. It almost sounded like a pod of whales attempting to communicate with each other with distorted songs. Could this have been the source of the sound that had been playing erratically through the city over the course of the week? But that wasn't right. Their song rang out across the island for about a minute before cutting to silence.
And the entire island shook as a number of beasts burrowed up from beneath.
"I'm taking them off the island!" There wasn't any choice. Those monsters were not something that the citizens could handle.
And so the citizens of Spirale suddenly found themselves stolen from their beds, dropped into the Selene Shopping District with only a recollection of the song and sounds prior. But something was wrong. The lights were in disarray and no NPCs were out. It was clear the inside of the space station had accrued some sort of damage. And the same sounds that could be heard down on the island... could be heard singing from the moon.
"Thank goodness... I managed to transport you all in time. Things are... complicated at the moment, but I assure you that you're in the safest possible place at the moment. I managed to manifest your Spiramonsters there too, but the corruption... Actually I don't have time to explain in detail right now." Love her or hate her, it was Ofiuco's voice that sounded over the intercom. Around the same time, a number of Ofiuclones could be seen buzzing around the district in an attempt to clean up the mess.
A hologram monitor appeared in the sky showing what almost looked like helicopter footage of the city and branches. While the city itself seemed to be largely intact, shadowy figures as large as mountains stomped and flew through some of the branches. "You need to find your Spiramonsters. They may... attack you, but if you reason with them or worst case knock them unconscious you should be able to break through to them. They have properties that will help deal with the threat down on the island, but the one behind all this is trying to make sure that-"
The transmission cut out prematurely, only for another woman's voice to speak briefly before signal was completely lost.
"I hope you don't think it's going to be that easy."
Welcome to our 25th original event, DATA CORRUPT! As we mentioned during THE CHALLENGER'S PATH this event is a continuation of the previous event. This event will be split into two phases with phase 2 going up a week from now!
The threat established in the last event has finally made her move, unleashing terrible monsters on the island. While they have yet to reach the city proper, as a safety measure everyone had been brought up to Selene Space Station only for it to be made clear that the culprit had already foreseen this possibility. It is in Selene where the Spiramonster data had been stored, but she managed to get to it first.
For reasons currently unexplained the Spiramonsters created in TCP seem to be the one thing capable of helping defeat the monsters on the ground. Noting this but unable to delete them, she has corrupted them into shadowy versions of themselves that have inverted their natures. Your character will be able to sense where they are in the space station, but on sight they will attack any who draw close, and the only way to snap them out of it is to reason with them or having their partner defeat them in battle... you just need to knock them unconscious though!
But there are other critters about. Strange, alien-like beasts no larger than a dog. They have four sharp, pointed legs and too many eyes. They're small enough to run through the space station's vents and pounce on their prey that they attempt to consume with circular, sharp-toothed mouths on their undersides. Factor in the damaged state of the space station with flickering lights and damaged hallways, and it feels like something out of a space horror scenario.
While navigating Selene in phase 1 your characters will still have access to the powers and weapons they have unlocked to help deal with any threats. If you find and save your Spiramonster then that's another weapon in your arsenal!
For those characters without powers access to their Fantasia forms has been permitted. For those who weren't in the group at the time, you can pick a player race from this page and use spells from this page!
Phase 1 is not mandatory for participation! If you'd prefer to only write in Phase 2 while implying they reunited with their Spiramonster at some point that will be absolutely fine! For reference Phase 2 will be a more traditional combat and survival scenario with everyone's powers unlocked temporarily.
If your character was not in the group during The Challenger's Path you can still create a Spiramonster! Relevant information can be found in the previous event's post. Despite having never met, your character will feel the same strong bond pulling them towards their new friend.
You can skip over saving your Spiramonster if you want to do something else in the Phase 1 setting like fighting the little alien critters or helping reinforce save zones. Much of the station is damaged and infested, but by working together it will be possible to survive!
The respawn system remains active, though upon death you will respawn in the Selene Shopping District.
Your character will not be able to return to the island during phase 1 and will be stuck on Selene. Of course threads not set during the event can continue as usual!
There will be an event reward and Spiramonsters will be becoming a permanent fixture of the group in some capacity, but we'll have more information on these things in the Phase 2 post and conclusion respectively!
