{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

[emet_sulk]

"Well, if those creatures are impervious then what about them?"

He switches focus to one of the more tangible Infected instead. This time he shows more caution and fires a single, shadowy spear at them. The thing is pinned down. But it opens its mouth and looses an ear-splitting scream.

[grappler]

Vi claps her hands over her ears, wincing at the sound. She looks over at him, and backs up closer to the campfire.

"Maybe you shouldn't fucking do that either!!"

It's hard to focus, especially when that's the moment that Mr. Expedition decides he's going to float above their heads and shout-- but she can't hear it.

Of course.

[emet_sulk]

He removes his own hands from his ears and tries to unclench his jaw. Fine. Fine! So they are basically at the mercy of fiends whose singular fear is light. In other words, his least favourite aspect - and one he can't even control right now.

Vi's words barely make it through to him past the ringing in his head. It takes longer for Mr Expedition's own shouts to register, at which point he scowls upwards.

"Be nice! Remember the attack! And items have power!"

Once the...man? Fae? Seems satisfied they have both heard him, he bows and disappears, leaving Emet-Selch to shout pointlessly at the air.

"And what is that supposed to mean?!"

[grappler]

"Why the fuck do I wanna be nice to these assholes??" Vi shouts at Mr. Expedition, but it seems like... he's already gone.

Hell.

"Items have power..." She pats her pockets for what she'd taken from the ruins, trying to think if anything would've been useful there. The Infected watch warily still, not getting too close to the light. "The only shit I have is money and an old journal?? What the hell's that gonna do?"

[emet_sulk]

"Why don't you throw it at them?" he suggests witheringly. "Perhaps they'll fight over the coin and reveal a weakness."

Emet-Selch, of course, had pocketed nothing besides what few pieces of anachronistic technology he could find. Who would walk around with pockets full of decaying rubbish?

[grappler]

She'd been hoping to read through the journal eventually, but she pockets the coins and looks at the book. "That'll be heavier than throwing pocket change at them."

And she does throw it at one of the Infected, and it makes contact with their body. But instead of it bouncing off... it's almost like the person catches it. Vi doesn't watch for long (even though the Infected person is now opening the book, and their skin starts clearing from the mutation on them...), because she's still got a few others to deal with.

"Well, that's one asshole that's not trying to come after us!" Vi cries, looking around for anything else that she might be able to throw.

[emet_sulk]

He stares incredulously at the one with the book. Then throws his hands up in the air in disbelief.

"Of all the ridiculous strategies-- What kind of creature is distracted by reading a book?"

Their marks are clearing as well... He had been amongst the Branded. He knows what they are. But unlike some others, Emet-Selch had not had anyone to perform a selfless deed for him.

"At this point you may as well throw those coins too whilst you're at it."

[grappler]

"I have no idea! I just thought I'd throw it and see what happens!"

She considers it as she watches the Infected tenderly touch the journal, as if it had been important to them at some point. Vi lets her mind race as she looks around at some of the other things that'd been gathered here.

"Pick up something else and try it! They're not gonna go for fucking coins!"

She'll start rummaging, now...

[emet_sulk]

Well, as ridiculous as the situation is, he supposes that it's still better than being flung backwards by the force of one's own magic. Emet-Selch scowls but casts his gaze about for something likely. He conjures a small ball of fire in his hand to help him search and quickly locates some sort of pot. Possibly dropped by someone before the mass disappearance - it doesn't matter.

He picks it up, shakes out the sand, and then hurls it into the gathered Infected. Good thing he had moulded this body into Solus at the prime of his life or this would go very differently.

The pot lands with a muffled sound in the sand. It goes ignored by all except one of the marked creatures, who shuffles over and slowly picks the thing up.

[grappler]

Vi watches as the pot... actually works. She grins, not looking a gift horse in the mouth before she grabs another couple of items and flinging them at some of the last few Infected that was near them.

"Come get your shit! Guess I'd be pretty pissed if someone took my stuff too!"

A couple other Infected reached down, one grabbing a teddy bear, and the other a sort of extravagant looking handheld mirror. The mirror part was shattered... but it did the trick.

"Don't knock it 'til you try it, huh?"

[emet_sulk]

Emet-Selch is most certainly not the type of person to be picking up and throwing junk at his enemies. Funnily, despite his relatively youthful appearance, he stoops and grumbles like someone much older as he picks up items to toss unenthusiastically.

"This is ridiculous," he mutters. "Utterly absurd. The next time I throw in my lot with a mysterious sorcerer I shall hide all my worldly possessions."

Not that he has anything besides what is in his pockets.

[grappler]

"Maybe you shouldn't 'throw in your lot' with mysterious sorcerers in the first place." Vi points out, and then stops as the crowd of Infected seem to calm themselves... the ones that're closest to them, anyway.

She lets out a sigh.

"I'd think it was common sense."

[emet_sulk]

"It seemed like a good bargain at the time," he growls back. He scatters a rotting pack of playing cards - more like thread and flakes at this point - and watches one of the spectres slowly try to gather the pieces one by one. "Or what, do you mean to tell me you're one of those 'heroic' types who believes that there is no cause great enough to be worthy of sacrifice?"

[grappler]

"I don't really give a shit about heroic types. Most of the time they're fucking cowards."

Vi doesn't talk about this from experience, or anything. Definitely not some Golden Boy that freaked the fuck out and turned tail at the first sign of problems.

"I just don't hang out with shady types."

[emet_sulk]

At that, he can't help but burst out laughing incredulously in the middle of tossing over more junk at the spectres.

"Cowards? Really? What sort of heroes have you encountered to have such a jaded outlook?"

[grappler]

"The kind that don't want to get their hands dirty, and the kind that only want to look good for certain people and don't care about the rest."

She sits down in front of the fire now, seeing as how everything's starting to calm down.

"You have any better experiences?"

[emet_sulk]

He raises an eyebrow at her. After kicking one last bit of sand at the spectres in pettiness, he comes back towards the fire - although he does not take a seat himself.

"The heroes I've witnessed in my world all share an unshakeable desire to do good. Almost to a nauseating degree, really. Self-sacrificing, noble, decrying the deeds of my brethren, putting evil to the sword, and so on and so forth."

[grappler]

Vi huffs.

"Sounds like you got better heroes than me." She says, watching the people start to come to their senses before she rifles around for some water in one of the packs she'd ransacked a few minutes ago. "At least you're on the same page that the hero-types are annoying, though."

[emet_sulk]

"'Tis almost as if one of the pre-requisites for heroism is being an insufferable meddler in others' affairs." He snaps his fingers and creates a small rug laid out on the sand, which he then deposits himself on with a heavy sigh. Despite his appearance, he sounds for a moment like a tired old man.

"Regardless, I detest them. They are hypocrites blind to any justice other than their own. They clothe themselves in the mantle of 'goodness', ignorant of the fact that such virtue is completely relative."

[grappler]

Vi can't help it. She snorts at the fact that he has to have a rug before his ass even hits the sand.

But the way he carries on about heroes... and her approval of him kind of rises a bit.

"Yep. At least me and you can agree on that point. Goodness and all that shit is never that black and white. Even if people act like it is."

[emet_sulk]

"Indeed."

One more cautious look around their campsite. Then he flops back on his rug with another sigh.

"I am going to attempt to sleep again. If those creatures interrupt again, I'll--"

...Well, he can't threaten to blow them up or anything delightful like that. He'd just get hurt again.

"--I'll make sure they regret it."

Not the most elegant of finishers.

[grappler]

"Yeah, yeah. Go to bed."

Vi is going to stay up a little longer at least, partially keeping watch and partially just not tired enough to go to bed.

"I'll make sure the monsters don't bite."