TERRORZONE

TERRORZONE

Excerpts from Dytja's 'Journal', translated somewhat poorly

                Now really, who calls a place the "Terrorzone"? Probably someone making fun of a bunch of kids. Of course, those kids grow up and tell their kids it's called the Terrorzone, and so on and so on, none ever questioning why it has such a stupid name. Mostly because to them it isn't a stupid name - it's what their parents called it, so it's fine.

                You'd need to be an outsider to see the comedy in it. Terrorzone, hah! And the way they say it, like the emphasis on the needlessly conjoined words is a necessary part of pronouncing it. "Beware of the TERRORZONE." Hahaha!

                Well, it's a change from the term that's emerged everywhere to describe the countless unliveable regions; 'blight'. The Terrorzone would probably be the 'rather large monsters' blight. Or the terror blight, since descriptive names seem to be out of vogue (huff).

                Name aside, I've got things to do here. The monsters can't leave the Terrorzone; I suspect because their biology isn't viable in this world so they're limited to a region around... Something. Initially I suspected it was a former portal, but the shape of the region is more of a cone (rather than the rough circle more common with portals) so some kind of directional device seems more likely. There's also the lack of decay - the Terrorzone hasn't been shrinking, which is a rarity for areas interfered with by portals.

                My guess is that it's located not far from the 'tip' of the cone; second guess is two or more devices in some kind of array. I'm hoping it wasn't a one off 'warp reality' zap, as reversing that is probably beyond my capabilities (even if the technology is still present). The dangers of such a thing are also... Troublesome.

***

                The Terrorzone has certainly lived up to its name, at least assuming you subscribe to the local slang for the various giant monsters as 'Terrors'. They're mostly giant versions of various animals (including some that I suspect are not natively found in this world) with minor alterations to improve structural integrity. It is a combination of these, their unnatural resilience and the effect of the device (I think...) that allows such huge creatures to exist without some form of magic being at work.

                Yes, no magic. Well, the device probably qualifies; but I mean to say that the creatures have no innate power to hold themselves together beyond normal physics in this world. My autopsies have shown as much.

                The other investigation - making sure the nature of the device is what I suspect - has not borne fruit. The creatures are too large to cut off from the field, and the largest 'chunk' I was able to work with was not large enough to be a proper sample. It did not collapse, but given that it was only roughly thirty cubic metres instead of the massive one thousand cubic metres that makes up an entire creature this was not surprising.

                I am drawing close to where I believe the device should be; likely concealed but possibly just protected from the monsters that roam the Terrorzone. Breaching from the tip of the cone was a good choice - I've killed almost a hundred of the damn creatures already. Beating a path right through this place would take more time than I care to spend here...

***

                It appears that, once again, I'm going to need to create a smoking crater. The active device was where I expected, sitting atop a rather large and impossible to scale rock. Several doors at the base of the rock lead into a laboratory and from there up to the device itself. The lab contained dorms, experimentation rooms and what I assume was a portal room - all long since empty. Like many others did, I suspect the former inhabitants left after they realised that the portals would soon be cut off. As I, perhaps, should have done myself...

                Now, the immediate question for anyone who somehow reads my journal might be 'why would they leave the device on if they left?' Perhaps the wiser will ask, 'why is their lab not in the centre, where the monsters - obviously a defence - are guarding best?' The answer is sadly this: the device does not enable the existence of the creatures. Instead the device attracts them, keeping them contained.

                So far as I can tell, the creatures are limited to a region around the portal these intruders came from - but this region, even now, is far larger than the Terrorzone. The device attracts the creatures, causing them to remain close. When set to its normal mode, the Terrorzone would be a large circular area around the lab; but it has been left in a directional 'point-defence' mode (likely deliberately, in case someone like myself should wander through).

                Turning off the device would be catastrophic. Through whatever bizarre means they use to support their ecosystem (I have no clue how so many giant monsters live in such close proximity to one another) the creatures have reached swarm level numbers. After 'escaping' the zone they'd easily destroy everything, probably right up to the limits of the portal's effect.

                My plan - my somewhat terrible plan - is to engage the 'focused defence' mode, which will draw all the creatures in close around the lab. This should restrict the Terrozone to a small circle around the lab - small enough that even the current 'near' edge is outside of the new zone.

                Then, once all the creatures have arrived (this should not take long - the draw to remain within the devices area seems to be overwhelming, as creatures chasing prey will cease chasing at the border without fail) I'll blow the entire place up, leaving a smoking crater just slightly bigger than the defence area. Stupid weapons of mass destruction to the rescue again. With the frequency stuff like this happens, I'm kind of glad I collect the ones I can carry, instead of destroying them.

***

                Boom. Well, not quite. I went with the 'white fade' terraforming device that converts a very large area (sixty kilometre radius on this one) into a flat, empty plain. A flat, empty plain fertilised with mulched giant monster, tree, and all the rocks that were formerly underground.

                The 'Terrorzone' is no more, although it'll probably be a little while before the locals believe it. I'm sure some adventurous sod has already breached the border - it took a few weeks to lure all of the creatures in. Perhaps a rumour will quickly take hold, perhaps not. Most of the former zone is quite fertile territory, apart from the bit I destroyed with the white fade. That bit...

                One of the ... issues with the white fade devices in this world is that they don't mulch very well. You wind up with chunks the size of maybe half a finger? So the new 'ground' is about 3% lumps of giant monster, and that stuff's rotting already. It smells like death. I'm sure it's going to kill everything near the edge pretty quickly; probably in a catastrophic gas explosion. Actually, I've never checked whether rotten gases or any other kind explode in this world. Huh.

                That's it for this little adventure. Although I'm sure some clever bastard, upon reading this, will wonder 'what about the eggs'. Well, the creatures all carried their young, even when it was inappropriate for what they were supposed to 'be'. So they're all dead, babies or not. They ate their cripples and weak, as well. Vicious beasties. I'm still seriously wondering how they grew so great in number; maybe the device or near portal area nourishes them?

                Bah. Sod mysteries I can't answer. I've got a couple of probably-evil empires to investigate to the north. Though seriously, Terrorzone? Hahahaha! I won't see anything beat that for a while.