[03: Promenade]
Intro
There's a long, potentially scary moment where the PCs find a narrow hall in the hospital/asylum with a single string of lights in the ceiling. And once they start walking down it, the lights start going out behind them, one by one. For a moment, there's darkness before the PCs find a light at the end of the tunnel, and come out into a place that clearly isn't a hospital. Instead, they're in an alley that opens up into a proper city. The area around them probably looks very familiar; chances are, they have memories telling them that this is the main hub of the city they live in. But now, something seems…Off.
The Promenade is one of the biggest levels, with long and multiple streets packed with restaurants, novelty shops, books stores, etc. The buildings also don't just stretch along the streets, but also up towards the sky. From canals in the lower part of the city to tall buildings and skyscrapers, there's a lot of space the PCs can explore, either horizontal or vertical. It's also the first time the PCs will get a clear look at the sky since the amusement park, and it looks a bit more...Fake, then before.
It's also the most populated with the NPCs, but this does NOT make it safe. The Strangers are still lurking about, and Tuning can always happen. Then, buildings sink and rise and reform, leaving one with a city that is quite easy to get lost in.
Features
On The Run
However, just because the PCs are out of the hospital doesn't mean they're off the hook. They might find that the medical faculty have woken up from that place, and have alerted the police that there are unstable, potentially dangerous people at large. Or, maybe by luck the PCs find themselves overlooked, but are still questioned by the police if they've seen PCs that have been reported, or if the PCs act too suspiciously.
The police themselves are normal, although those nightsticks and guns they carry are always something to take into account before starting trouble with them.
Breather
If they have any cash in their pockets, the PCs always have a chance to spend it here, possibly without feeling like the Strangers are breathing down their necks like during the Lotus Eater. There stores here are the same as the PCs would find in any other city. If they want to stop for coffee, they could do that and overhear some interesting gossip from nearby NPCs, or browse the news.
Home?
Given that the Promenade is the biggest level, there's also a good chance that PCs might find what they remember to be their homes in the city. A cramped apartment, a wealthy townhouse, and everything in between can be found in the Promenade, squeezed between the shops or towering above them in high rise buildings.
Whether they actually have a home or not, or if it's even full of evidence that supports their current lives is up to the players.
Water, Water Everywhere
Even though the Strangers have a phobia of water, the city still needs it; and there's water in abundance in the promenade; fountains in the upper, more ritzy parts of the city, with canals down in the lower, commercial areas. Any Strangers, either lurking or confronting the PCs, won't react well when/if they get soaked by it; water acts like a powerful toxin to the aliens.
Time
Anywhere the PCs go in the Promenade, there's likely a clock somewhere close by. It's a bit amazing how time concerned the city design can be, and how all the clocks seem to perfectly keep time. However, if all those clock hands point at twelve (whether it's AM or PM is hard to tell; it's always so dim and dark in this part of the city) then the PCs are in trouble. That's when it's time for the official Tuning the Strangers use for the city itself. The only warning is that the clocks might have one second to chime, before everything goes quiet.
If the PCs haven't learned from the Lotus Eater (or never experienced it there) breaking the clocks brings around this level's Tuning much earlier.
A Fine Tuned City
While the PC's surroundings are capable of getting changed during the Tuning in any level, it reaches a new height in the Promenade, as the Strangers have so much to work with. Here, changes can happen on a massive, building wide scale. Stairs get longer as the PCs try to climb them, doors open out into nothing but air on the 20th floor or vanish as the PCs try to reach them, and there's even the risk of having a building sink into the ground while the PCs are inside.
Mannequins
The store fronts aren't always safe when Tuning comes about. The figures in them might jerk to life, and come lurching after the PCs. Given that the mannequins are not alive, they don't feel pain or slow down much if an arm is lopped off. (A leg is a different story.)
Goddamn Bears
There's a small zoo nestled in one of the parks, in a section of the Promenade. PCs are not advised to stay around there for long during the Tuning, as there is at least one failed Stranger implanted in a bear there. And possibly one or two in things like apes, or other large, dangerous beasties.
Clue Fodder
-As said before, the stores sell just about anything, including things the PCs may have been fond of in their old lives. A brand of chocolate, good china, etc.
There's a long, potentially scary moment where the PCs find a narrow hall in the hospital/asylum with a single string of lights in the ceiling. And once they start walking down it, the lights start going out behind them, one by one. For a moment, there's darkness before the PCs find a light at the end of the tunnel, and come out into a place that clearly isn't a hospital. Instead, they're in an alley that opens up into a proper city. The area around them probably looks very familiar; chances are, they have memories telling them that this is the main hub of the city they live in. But now, something seems…Off.
The Promenade is one of the biggest levels, with long and multiple streets packed with restaurants, novelty shops, books stores, etc. The buildings also don't just stretch along the streets, but also up towards the sky. From canals in the lower part of the city to tall buildings and skyscrapers, there's a lot of space the PCs can explore, either horizontal or vertical. It's also the first time the PCs will get a clear look at the sky since the amusement park, and it looks a bit more...Fake, then before.
It's also the most populated with the NPCs, but this does NOT make it safe. The Strangers are still lurking about, and Tuning can always happen. Then, buildings sink and rise and reform, leaving one with a city that is quite easy to get lost in.
Features
On The Run
However, just because the PCs are out of the hospital doesn't mean they're off the hook. They might find that the medical faculty have woken up from that place, and have alerted the police that there are unstable, potentially dangerous people at large. Or, maybe by luck the PCs find themselves overlooked, but are still questioned by the police if they've seen PCs that have been reported, or if the PCs act too suspiciously.
The police themselves are normal, although those nightsticks and guns they carry are always something to take into account before starting trouble with them.
Breather
If they have any cash in their pockets, the PCs always have a chance to spend it here, possibly without feeling like the Strangers are breathing down their necks like during the Lotus Eater. There stores here are the same as the PCs would find in any other city. If they want to stop for coffee, they could do that and overhear some interesting gossip from nearby NPCs, or browse the news.
Home?
Given that the Promenade is the biggest level, there's also a good chance that PCs might find what they remember to be their homes in the city. A cramped apartment, a wealthy townhouse, and everything in between can be found in the Promenade, squeezed between the shops or towering above them in high rise buildings.
Whether they actually have a home or not, or if it's even full of evidence that supports their current lives is up to the players.
Water, Water Everywhere
Even though the Strangers have a phobia of water, the city still needs it; and there's water in abundance in the promenade; fountains in the upper, more ritzy parts of the city, with canals down in the lower, commercial areas. Any Strangers, either lurking or confronting the PCs, won't react well when/if they get soaked by it; water acts like a powerful toxin to the aliens.
Time
Anywhere the PCs go in the Promenade, there's likely a clock somewhere close by. It's a bit amazing how time concerned the city design can be, and how all the clocks seem to perfectly keep time. However, if all those clock hands point at twelve (whether it's AM or PM is hard to tell; it's always so dim and dark in this part of the city) then the PCs are in trouble. That's when it's time for the official Tuning the Strangers use for the city itself. The only warning is that the clocks might have one second to chime, before everything goes quiet.
If the PCs haven't learned from the Lotus Eater (or never experienced it there) breaking the clocks brings around this level's Tuning much earlier.
A Fine Tuned City
While the PC's surroundings are capable of getting changed during the Tuning in any level, it reaches a new height in the Promenade, as the Strangers have so much to work with. Here, changes can happen on a massive, building wide scale. Stairs get longer as the PCs try to climb them, doors open out into nothing but air on the 20th floor or vanish as the PCs try to reach them, and there's even the risk of having a building sink into the ground while the PCs are inside.
Mannequins
The store fronts aren't always safe when Tuning comes about. The figures in them might jerk to life, and come lurching after the PCs. Given that the mannequins are not alive, they don't feel pain or slow down much if an arm is lopped off. (A leg is a different story.)
Goddamn Bears
There's a small zoo nestled in one of the parks, in a section of the Promenade. PCs are not advised to stay around there for long during the Tuning, as there is at least one failed Stranger implanted in a bear there. And possibly one or two in things like apes, or other large, dangerous beasties.
Clue Fodder
-As said before, the stores sell just about anything, including things the PCs may have been fond of in their old lives. A brand of chocolate, good china, etc.