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expiationlogs2023-07-13 02:36 pm
{EVENT #3} ADVERSITY 1665648.6754
| 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.
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:
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.
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.
**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 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.
no subject
[ With the kid on his feet and ostensibly unhurt, Claude removes his massive bow from where he'd strapped it to his back again, feeling better with his weapon safely in-hand. ]
Why don't we try exploring together? What's your name, anyway?
no subject
I don’t know about that. I kinda spook one way or the other.
But I would appreciate that, a lot! I’m Tsuna! Thank you for helping me.
no subject
[ He plants his hands on his hips, regarding the home in front of them with a small sigh. He likes to prepare his battles. This whole thing is a mystery, which he typically enjoys, but right now? It's inconvenient. ]
So... can you fight? I'm willing to bet we're gonna run into something here.
no subject
[If you can call this helping? Well, he did set off enough traps as an example of what not to do.]
But yeah, I can. I mean, I hope it doesn't come to that but I can fight if I have to.
[He doesn't look like much though. Aside from the rings on his fingers, he doesn't look like he came with anything. And he looks kinda weedy.]
no subject
[ The kid doesn't look like much -- young and scrawny, not a weapon on him, a certain innocence plaguing his demeanor that generally makes Claude awfully sad on the battlefield. But he knows better than to underestimate anyone; he's still got some height and muscle on Lysithea, and Lysithea's a veritable fire bomb on the battlefield.
He takes the lead easily, naturally, winding their way through the eerily empty hallways of the ruins. ]
Words first, fists second, but those fists better be ready. [ He peers around a corner. ] You have any idea what we're actually supposed to be looking for here? I gotta say, that was my first time meeting a fairy.
no subject
[Reborn in a costume doesn't count after all.
But, Tsuna is heartened after Claude's words. It sound like they share a similar philosophy, and circumstances.]
I was mostly looking for clues. Something that might explain what happened here, or like, useful objects. Mostly I just ended up finding traps.
no subject
[ Claude gestures for Tsuna to follow him as they tread down the hallway, his eyes darting to and fro as he attempts to take in their surroundings. ]
But the traps themselves are pretty weird, don't you think? You'd think if they'd want to seriously hurt trespassers, we'd be hurt. These feel more like bad pranks.
no subject
Yeah, that's one way to put them. But they were pretty thorough, whoever set them up.
But it's like they were waiting for someone, or a bunch of someones.
no subject
[ Claude skims his hand along the wall, as though checking for more traps. Hidden ruins, secret switches, maybe some room behind an askew painting, but nothing of the kind shows up. ]
Not that it changes the fact that we gotta explore everything we can, but... it's starting to occur to me that we might not wanna take those fairies at face value. They say it has to be recovered, but from who, if they're setting all these traps? And why? It's a big world out there. No reason to need to reclaim this place specifically.
Unless they're hiding something. Which, in my experience, people generally are.
no subject
But maybe this place has some meaning to them. Or was theirs before something happened?
[He's just spitballing suggestions while tentatively shoving a door open.]
I mean, I agree with you. I don't think we have all the answers.
no subject
[ It was refreshing not to think about politics -- for a while. Now, he finds that he kind of misses it. He feels as though someone cut him off from one of his senses, leaving him flying by the seat of his pants. ]
You're right, though. We don't have all the answers. But if we snoop hard enough, we might get a few more! [ He follows Tsuna into the next room, digging through things until he comes across an odd device. It does look like a smart watch, but a guy like Claude has no context for that sort of thing. ]
Huh... what's this?
no subject
But thankfully, a distraction.]
Huh? I think it's a watch! Can I see it?
no subject
[ Claude frowns down at it, yet again put off by the fact that he feels so terribly behind half of the people here. He's clever enough to adapt, but no amount of cleverness will make up for the sheer bulk of things that he simply doesn't understand.
Still, he freely hands it over. ]
Here. You can see if you can figure out how it works.
[ Not that Claude expects much to come of this; what more could a watch do than tell the time? ]
no subject
[Tsuna takes the watch with a nod and starts fiddling with it. Mostly he's looking for a way to make the time pop up but instead there's a flash and a hologram appears.
But in his shock, Tsuna nearly drops the watch, causing the image to wobble and Tsuna to miss part of it.]
Hie!~
no subject
[ Claude moves closer, almost cautiously. This isn't that big of a surprise after his familiarity with the devices they were given once they arrived here, but every example of new technology is always a bit of a shock that gets his mind buzzing away; what could they possibly do back home with this sort of thing? But he shakes it off to focus on the matter at hand, holding his hand out. ]
May I?
[ With the watch in hand, Claude plays it again, then again, then again. It's the same thing over and over again. ]
We can't let them separate us... looks like we were right. Something fishy is going on here. And I for one would like to get to the bottom of it. [ He tips his head back, thinking. ] This seems like a cautionary tale more than anything else. We should try to avoid getting separated too. What d'you think happened here?
no subject
It's kinda hard to say...but...some sort of conflict, maybe? It might be why this place is in ruins as well.
I don't like it though.
no subject
[ It's the technique Claude himself would have utilized. But that's neither here nor there. He walks through the room, hand skimming across the wall and rustles through the drawers before producing one of the data pads and flicks it on, only to find the ominous message: Those bastards, they left us THEY LEFT.
He hands it over to Tsuna. ]
Well, here's more evidence. Maybe they were set up? Or abandoned by whoever they came in here with... as small as those pranks were, I'm beginning to wonder if we oughtta be looking for bodies.
no subject
[The suggestion is a scary one for Tsuna. He's not unfamiliar with the idea, but he's managed to avoid situations where there would be a lot of carnage. That's getting a little to close to the line of work he's trying to avoid.]
I think, we might have seen more evidence of fighting, if that was the case. Rather than just things being abandoned.
The pranks seem more like defences that were never set off. Until I found them anyway.
no subject
[ He really shouldn't give away how quickly his mind drifts to more morbid things. It's unbecoming. Still, it's hard for him not to jump immediately to the worst eventuality; the desperation of the messages mixed with his recent experiences with wartime has had its impact. ]
But the question remains: what was it that they were so panicked about? Maybe there was no physical fight, but these messages... they're no joke. [ He rubs at his chin. ] Maybe we can find more if we keep looking.
no subject
Yeah, we should keep looking.
We know that something was coming, or came, that made people leave. But they had warning to set up traps.
I can't even guess what that would be, but maybe there's another message. If we can find another smartwatch or something, maybe it'll have something different.