{EVENT #3} ADVERSITY 1665648.6754

[expiationmods]

INTO THE DESERT

MOD NOTES: Please direct any questions to the corresponding comment below. Note that character decisions and actions taken on these prompts will affect future events, storylines, and relationships with other peoples of Expiation. You can find the OOC poll here. Please pick from the corresponding options with the appropriate character journal. If you use a personal journal or a journal not part of Expiation, your votes will not be counted. Remember that if your character did something different than what is in the prompts given, leave a comment in the OOC poll entry and link to your comment in the option made available. We will provide an IC post in exactly one week with the results of the poll that will wrap up the event. You may mingle on it if you like, but the most important purpose is to share the effects of character decisions on this event. The various prompts are, of course, optional.

FOLLOW THE FAIRIES

     

On the morning of the 14th, Chosen will wake to the sound of loud clanging outside as what seems like a band of fairies has arrived to town. Most of them don’t talk, they simply stare expectantly as they float above the ground and gain the attention of the Chosen. If a character tries to speak to them, most will roll their eyes or shake their heads—some possibly using rude gestures to get their point across. They seem like they’re waiting for something, and their stubborn silence might be a problem for some of the more impatient Chosen. Characters who are nice to them might get some sass, or some eye rolling. Characters who are more impatient and try to yell, fight, or harm the fairies might find themselves… afflicted. They might not be able to hear for a while, they might not be able to see—maybe they’ll be floating in the air as if in a bubble, not able to move one way or another besides squirming and yelling at the cranky fairies. It could be a lesser affliction, too—maybe your allergies suddenly act up, or you have a massive cramp in your legs so that you can’t go anywhere. These effects don’t last long, though, only about ten or fifteen minutes. Their purpose isn’t to harm anyone, they’re just trying to tell the ruder Chosen to kindly fuck off. Other lesser status effects might happen—but the intention is never to harm, just to distract.

”Good grief, how did I end up with this job today…”

A larger fairy comes flying up, and the others surrounding him roll their eyes in even more exasperation than anything the Chosen would’ve gotten out of them. He sighs in an exaggerated way, before putting on what seems to be a fairy’s sort of version of a Customer Service Smile. When he speaks, he’s smiling but he sounds bored out of his mind:

”Today, we’re taking volunteers to a blighted area that needs to be recovered. You may keep whatever you find there… probably. And before you ask, we can’t do it ourselves. So, if everyone’s ready–”

The fairies behind him make a motion, almost like they’re unzipping a zipper. With a sound of tear, a hole appears in the air behind him, almost as if the scenery itself has been torn. A couple more fairies pull and stretch the tear until it’s big enough for the Chosen to walk through. If the Chosen to look through the tear, they can see that there’s a desert on the other side of it. It looks to be some kind of ruins, actually—but don’t wait too long.

”Please! We don’t have a all day.”
Mr. Expedition isn’t too happy with hesitation.

**NPC will be available for interaction at this point!

JOURNEY TO THE DESERT

When the Chosen step through, they find themselves in the middle of some desert ruins. There’s not much on the horizon to see other than sand, and an oasis that looks like it’s off in the distance. If characters try to exit the city and go further out, they’re stopped and find themselves teleported back somehow. The fairies give a little chuckle when it happens, so maybe it was them? They can’t go further into the desert than where they’re at right now. There are stone buildings, but there are also metal remains of structures scattered around the area—just about the size of Aldrip. There’s remnants of businesses, restaurants and houses. Some are standing, and some are only remembered by a single dining room table sitting in the middle of the sand.

"Well ? What are you waiting for? Go on, do your… thing. Be tourists! Snoop! Investigate! Engage! Or… whatever it is you do. But I’d be ready when it turns dark. Oh! You might come across people – wait, I meant beings that don’t seem quite right. They are harmless enough in the daylight, but at night? Well, I’d be careful, if I were you."
**NPC will be available for interaction at this point!

I. THERE'S SAND IN MY SHOES

     

Chosen who wander the ruins may note that it looks like some of the buildings were left in a hurry. Some of them look like people just disappeared from the inside— everything remains intact, as if nothing has been moved or taken out of the building. Plates out, covered with dust and sand, as if waiting for a lunch that’ll never come, or at the bar with liquor still in smaller shot glasses. Twinkies that have been unopened and are, somehow, inexplicably,, still good—

The remnants of the interiors are covered in thick layers of dust, but when they look inside, everything is painted. Everything is treated as a mural, from the inside walls to the outside. From religious figures, partial landscapes, and even some cartoon-looking characters—there’s a little bit of everything painted. Nothing seems to be just plain, almost as if the people who had lived there had considered everything a blank canvas. There may still be buckets of paint that characters find still hanging around, dried up from disuse, but still there. Beneath piles of rubble, the Chosen can find canvases, easels and other art supplies, most in various states of disrepair from age.

Besides paper used for art work, it doesn’t look like there’s much in the way of books or newspapers.Instead, they’re able to find something that looks almost like a smartwatch: sleek, with minimal interface, but when touched, they activate a few seconds of what looks like decayed hologram log.

We have to work together! We can’t let them separate us—

The hologram disappears. The Chosen can fiddle with this device and try to restore the hologram, but it just repeats the same distorted words over and over in a loop.

Besides the watches are what look like datapads that are found around the buildings as well. Touching them will cause the screen to flash in and out, almost as if there’s something wrong with their wiring. But words on a screen can be found intermittently—

Those bastards, they left us THEY LEFT

But wait… You feel a sudden chill down your neck. Are you being watched? Was that a shadow moving from the corner of your eye? You look, but don’t see anything. No, that’s silly. Mr. Expedition is the one watching you. Of course. That’s all it was

Of course.

II. LEAVE NO STONE UNTURNED

     

The Chosen are a thorough bunch, aren’t they? As they continue to investigate the ruins, they’ll be able to access places like pantries, drawers, closets, and basements that are still roughly intact. Kind of. There are various things in these nooks and crannies: characters will be able to find various sundries like money, or sheer metal, or old dilapidated clothing. Jewelry boxes may still have earrings or necklaces, tool boxes may still have tools inside, things like that. A lot of it is personal, tucked away in storage, waiting for owners who have seemingly not returned. Some of it is useless junk: broken toys, half-disintegrated candy wrappers, and the like.

”You might want to keep those items for later.”

Mr. Expedition says this over the Chosen’s shoulder, but when they turn around, he’s gone again.

What he doesn’t warn for… are the traps. There’s tripwire, and devices on the doors to ensure that they’re not messed with. What kind of traps?

Well, they’re mostly harmless.

Most of the traps are just pranks: trap doors springing open beneath a character's feet, a loud burst of firecrackers upon opening a drawer, pie-in-the-face pranks with pie shells that have long since dried up. There is an endless variety, and nothing causes more than light bruising or startling. What will the Chosen pick up? What traps will they end up springing? Well, that's up to you.

---

THOSE WHO COME AT NIGHT

As Mr. Expedition mentioned earlier, there are some… people hanging around. Or are they people at all? Sometimes it can be as simple as a shadow, a trick of the light...others look as if they’re merely ghosts. Whether the Chosen try to talk to them or not, they don’t say much.

Why me?
Why us?
Why why why why why

It’s nothing that really makes sense to the Chosen… so maybe it’s not that important to interact with them. Right?

As the day gets darker and it turns to night, the figures become more tangible. Their forms become clearer, now: what looks like people with strange but possibly familiar markings running along their skin. They’re probably unnerving enough, with their incoherent speech that just gets louder and louder.But they're not the only concern here: the bigger problem is that something else is becoming more tangible, too. These creatures might have been humanoid, once: they seem to have two arms, two legs, and what looks like a head…but all of them look fuzzy, almost like they're half-there, with indistinct features and black holes where their faces should be. Even if they don't have mouths…they still scream when they attack.

III. DESERT'S HAUNTED

     

These creatures see the fairies—and anyone who might be accompanying them—as a threat, and they react accordingly. The marked humanoids ("Oh, ew, Infected!" Mr. Expedition will hastily explain, if asked), who had barely paid attention to the visitors earlier, turn more hostile at the sound of the screams, almost as if the shadowy mutations are encouraging them to join the attack. Curiously, their markings become more prominent at the sound of the screams, as well. They all seem averse to light, which might be why Mr. Expedition has encouraged the Chosen to stay close to camp. The campfire provides refuge from all of the hostile creatures, but for those enterprising enough to try exploring at night…well, good luck.

"Ah, yep, there they are," Mr. Expedition ponders aloud, ducking behind a group of the Chosen. "Now, let's see. What was I supposed to tell you about them? Hmm…something about 'the attack'." And then, just like that, he's gone again.

How helpful.

Chosen who attack the Ghosts will find this to be a futile effort: weapons, magic, and objects lobbed at the creatures are absorbed in the black void of their bodies. Physical attacks with fists and the like are repelled: the Chosen will find themselves thrown several feet away after trying.

The Infected, as Mr. Expedition called them, do not seem to be invulnerable. The Chosen are able to attack and push them back with weapons, magic, and physical attacks, which can prove fatal to them. When they die, their bodies disappear from the field moments after they're struck down.

Both the Ghosts and the Infected are able to hurt the Chosen, tearing at them with claws. The wounds caused by these creatures seem normal enough, but are invulnerable to magical healing, and take a strangely long time to heal…

IV. KNEW THAT'D COME IN HANDY

     

"Aha! I got it!" Mr. Expedition cries, reappearing over the Chosen a few minutes later. "Be nice! Remember the attack! And items have power!" He bows, as if he's made the most helpful announcement in the world, and then disappears again.

So…what does that mean? And why did he wait until now to even say anything?

Chosen that are able to think quickly may remember his words from earlier about holding onto some of the personal items they found in the ruins. They might also remember how some of their ranks had been Branded before, and how selfless acts helped them overcome those struggles. The Infected may stand down when they're held back from hurting others, or given a possession that someone found earlier. If given a personal item—any personal item—from the ruins, they pause their fighting, their faces going blank for a few moments. The markings begin to face, and they collapse on the ground. they're still alive, but unconscious.

The Ghosts are more formidable. They don't have the same reaction to the personal items, but they seem to be strongly affected by acts of protection. Witnessing the Chosen exhibiting these acts of kindness is what ultimately gets a Ghost to stop in its tracks. These creatures are too far gone to revert to a humanoid form, though—if their tastes are met, they simply fade away.

---

THOSE WHO STAYED BEHIND

We get it, not everyone trusts fairies. Those who choose not to go on the expedition to the ruins might find things eerily quiet in Aldrip. There are a few fairies who stay behind and continue to coax the ground back to life, of course—and just as before, they encourage the Chosen to help them do so.
But if they're paying attention, the Chosen might notice that something is amiss. Parts of signs on buildings have blinked out of existence. Some of the local residents of Aldrip act as if they're lagging. Some even flicker in and out of existence…but that's fine, right? Nothing to worry about.

Right?

V. IT'S NOT A BUG, IT'S A FEATURE

     

For those who have stayed behind, there's plenty of work to do in Aldrip and the surrounds. Buildings still sit in disrepair after the last event—haven't the locals been working on that? no? what have they been doing all this time?—and decayed wood and underbrush need to be removed from Pessiria Forest.

Now would be a great time to begin working on building up new things, too: plenty of Chosen have been talking about building homes or dorms to ease the pressure on the Inn, and some of the locals still whisper concerns about what happens if refrigeration fails again. Do they have enough crops to feed everyone, after that giant monster withered so much of the area? Where are you going to put all that debris, anyway? And what about the paths between towns that still lie in disrepair?

Unfortunately, the Chosen are almost entirely on their own for this. The people of Aldrip seem particularly helpless in the face of change, and some even seem to freeze up at the thought of helping out…wait. Are they actually frozen? They're not blinking. Or moving. …Oh, they're fine now.

This is fine!

VI. FUCK IT, WE BALL (WILDCARD)

     

Just because there’s not a prompt for it doesn’t mean that your character’s actions aren’t acceptable. If you wish to do anything that hasn’t been directly addressed by the prompts, leave a message for the mod team to say what your character would do. If you choose to go down this path, note it as a comment on the OOC poll when it goes up, and leave a link to your threads so that we can take all actions into consideration for the next State of the Game.

Comments

[likethestars]

Is that so? [ She doesn't sound entirely convinced. ]

A watch, is that what this is? [ It's a strange device to her, one that reminds her a little of the Allagan Tomestones.

After a moment the text once again appears, floating in the air in front of her. It takes her a second before she frowns, realizing it to be the same words as before. ] It seems this is all its capable of.

[emet_sulk]

'Tis either broken or its power source is lacking. By the state of things, everything here has long been abandoned.

[ Long enough for the food traps to dry out. But also long enough for a device like this to lose its power? The mystery deepens. ]

...I couldn't help but notice that you seem to have trouble reading.

[likethestars]

Mayhaps both. [ She tucks the device away. There's no telling if it could be useful in the future, broke or not.

The mention of her having trouble reading is me with a twitch of her tail and a frown. She had hoped it wasn't that obvious. ]

The words were jumbled is all. [ Not entirely a lie given how the device was malfunctioning. ]

[emet_sulk]

Jumbled, hmm? Show me.

[ He holds a hand out, fingers twitching in a 'give it here' motion. ]

[likethestars]

[ Of course, he'd ask after she'd already put it away on her person. She frowns and pulls it back out, making her way over to place it in his hand. ]

I wish you luck with it.

[emet_sulk]

[ He takes the watch and examines it. After a bit of fiddling, he manages to bring up the broken message again. ]

'We have to work together. We can't let them separate us.'

[ He reads it slowly, mostly for her benefit - not that he would ever admit to it. ]

Hmph.

[likethestars]

[ She'd already parsed what the words said but hearing them spoken out loud make it easier for her to understand.

Her lips press together as she tilts her head and thinks over the words. ]

I wonder who 'them' is.

[emet_sulk]

The so-called gods, perhaps?

[ He hands back the watch then crosses his arms. ]

Although they have yet to show even the slightest hint of their faces. Cowards.

[likethestars]

[ She hums thoughtfully, thinking over for a moment before shrugging. It's not a great deal of information to go off of. ]

Biding their time, I would think. [ For whatever reason she couldn't even begin to discern. ] Though, not even a message from them?

[emet_sulk]

Not a one. They brought us here and then abandoned us. Truly, one could not find better gaolers.

[ He says so in a sarcastic tone of admiration. Leaving prisoners to their own devices can be a double-edged sword, depending on the temperament of the prisoner. ]

...Which reminds me, what is your supposed crime?

[likethestars]

I see. [ Strange that they wouldn't even say something. She would have expected at least a word from them. ]

Would you like to guess? I'm sure you could get it in one.

[emet_sulk]

Hmm...

[ He makes a show of thinking, tapping his chin. ]

Could it possibly be some form of murder?

[likethestars]

I knew you wouldn't have a problem guessing it. [ She's not going elaborate, there's no reason to. ]

What about you?

[emet_sulk]

[ Wordlessly, he flicks his hand. The slip of paper which he just can't seem to get rid of whips out of his pocket and floats down towards Yuja's hand. Or if not her hand then it'll just hover in front of her face so she can read it herself.

"Mass genocide and failure to treat other living persons with respect." ]

[likethestars]

[ She stares at the slip of paper, squinting. That's too many words, only some of which she understands at a glance. ]

Ah, I see. [ She doesn't, not really, but she's doing her best to pretend she does. She only hopes he won't ask her to read it out loud. ]

[emet_sulk]

[ Wow. He expected more of a reaction than that. Accordingly, he raises an eyebrow. ]

'Ah, I see'? Is that all you have to say about it?

[likethestars]

It just makes sense is all? [ Yeah, real convincing the way she says that. ]

Anyroad! [ Time for a quick change of subject! ] Have you found anything of interest here?

[emet_sulk]

[ He clearly doesn't believe her but decides to humour the subject change. The slip of parchment gets plucked from the air and tucked away. ]

A few pieces of technology which do not match the environs, the same as your watch. I doubt they were made locally.

[ Nevertheless, someone did make them. Is there a township somewhere responsible for the production of these devices? ]

[likethestars]

[ She bobs her head in agreement. The area is covered in works of art, it definitely doesn't seem like the kind of place that would have created such technology. ]

I take it you haven't come across any such devices before now.

[emet_sulk]

On the Source and its shards, you mean? Or in this land? I have certainly seen its like on the shards.

[likethestars]

Here, I mean. I've no doubt such devices could exist on other shards. Certainly, the Source is not the only one to have had an empire like the Allagans.

[ Though that is something she'd like to hear more about, the other shards. Perhaps someday she'll visit those that remain and any information about them could come in handy. ]

[emet_sulk]

Then no, I have yet to see evidence of thid technology in Aldrip.

[ He wonders why. Is it simply that this place is far removed from other settlements? But then where are its manufacturing facilities? ]

I should like to know who made these. There are some who can only dream of such streamlined technology.

[likethestars]

Well, that's interesting. Mayhap technology from an age long past then? Knowledge lost to the people now.

[ Boy, that sounds familiar! ]

If anyone is to figure it out, surely it would be you. [ Or Cid if he were here, but he's not. ]

[emet_sulk]

Me?

[ He turns to her with hand hovering above his breast, eyes wide as though in shock. ]

Why, with such a glowing commendation from the Warrior of Light herself, I cannot possibly disappoint.

[ He bows with a flourish. As he straightens, he pivots neatly and flings out an arm towards the rest of the deserted settlement. ]

Let us venture forth and investigate then, hmm?

[likethestars]

[ She can't help but snort and roll her eyes in response to his theatrics. ]

Aye, let us continue the investigation.

[ She's not sure if he means with her, or not. Though she supposes if he tires of her presence he'll just teleport away. ]