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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
No, but we can look for clues. Maybe these people wrote something down--it's hard to imagine that they would have had to leave completely without warning. [She begins opening drawers in a nearby desk. Ancient pens and pencils, crackling old shopping lists for the market...] They left a great deal behind, it seems.
no subject
[ From what Ange can see, anyway, as the girl allows her gaze to sweep the room from where she's standing. Sure, the culture of this place seems to be different from the one back in her own world, much the same as things are in Aldrip, but even with that difference she can recognize: ]
It's like they just had to leave on the spot. [ No time to take anything with them.
Ange isn't quite looking through drawers the way Ethlyn is, but she is walking around a little to look at everything. ]
I wonder if they actually had time to write anything down. Maybe if one of them was worried about a family member that wasn't present in town that day and wanted to leave them a note, or something like that.. [ Of course that's where Ange's mind goes first, given her own situation - but she can't imagine it'd be totally uncommon either way. ]
no subject
I think you're right. They must not have had any time to pack for a journey. [Otherwise they surely would have made some effort to pack clothing, valuables, anything else important that they could fit into a bag.] But yes, someone must have written something down...
[She manages to rattle open a drawer as they're speaking, mostly by accident--there's a snap and the deteriorated lock fails. After a moment of hesitation, she reaches in and pulls out a few random items--including a thin, journal-type book.]
Ah--look! Maybe there's a clue--[She makes to open it, but she can feel the ancient cardboard start to snap as she lifts the cover.]--but it's very brittle. We'll need to take care.
no subject
.. not that she's touching the thing just yet. Especially right after the other said it's brittle. Ange isn't enough of an idiot to just go ahead and grab it and turn it into dust.
Even though that doesn't make its state less of a pain to deal with. ]
I don't suppose you've got any specialised instruments with you for this sort of thing. [ Judging by Ange's very dry and deadpan tone, she knows that of course no one here would have that sort of thing on them.. Especially after they got rushed through the portals by those fairy creatures. ] Maybe there's something in this pile of stuff here that's delicate enough to turn the pages without crumbling them.
no subject
Let's have a look. [She gently lifts the journal out and places it with equal care onto the desk so she can have a rummage around the drawers.] I wouldn't have thought about special instruments in the first place. Still, there might be something...
[Something turns out to be a yellowed plastic case whose faded leters proclaim it to be an eyeglass repair kit. Another cracked and flaking case nearby holds the glasses themselves... the screwdrivers and tweezers in the kit are rusty, but otherwise intact.]
You think this would do?
no subject
So it's not exactly stuff people in archives might use, sure, but.. Ange doubts they're going to find anything more specific here. This is a place people lived, after all, not some sort of huge bustling cultural center from what she can see. ]
Probably.
[ It's not like she can give a 100% guarantee when she's not an expert, and when Ange tends to be a little pessimistic of cynical.. But that means a 'probably' from Ange already means a lot. ]
I mean, in the worse case scenario, it just crumbles all the same after being touched with that, but we were going to have that outcome either way. [ Which is why Ange shrugs. At least they would've made a good effort, right? ] Do you want to try or should I do it?
[ Her tone doesn't really indicate a preference for either option. Ange's good either way. She doubts either of them have more experience with handling old and delicate stuff than the other.. ]
no subject
I've got a steady hand. [Years of experience carefully picking clothing from wounds and suturing them shut have given her that.
And so saying, Ethlyn carefully uses the tweezers to lift open the book cover. It looks like a to-do list--ordinary rounds of daily chores and errands to run, and she's disappointed, but the writing changes as she painstakingly turns the pages--even so, every so often one of them snaps under the tweezers and she winces. The writing is half-faded and half-deteriorated, but now it's filling the page top to bottom with talk of a mysterious illness.] Look at this--it's an account of a pestilence.
no subject
.. even if she's still leaning over to read along, because Ange is incredibly nosy when it comes to any sort of information about this place. Just in case one tidbit of it might end up being what liberates them from this world. ]
Huh.
[ It's a soft little noise at what Ethlyn mentions, and though it's kind of hard to read these things, what Ange can read definitely confirms what Ethlyn's saying. ]
Strange markings.. [ She does read that in the text, her eyebrows drawing together into a frown. Ange assumes that this text probably mostly tells them about what might have happened to the peopel who used to live here, but-- there's something else concerning about it, especially with how worried the people who wrote this seemed to be about its spread.
An illness that spread in the exact area they're all in now. ]
You haven't noticed anything off about yourself, have you?
[ Who knows if there's still anything contagious left here, even after all this time. ]
no subject
And it's definitely true that she's felt vaguely ill during her whole time on this expedition. But when she thinks about it, that started the moment she saw the sands baking under the sun... when they were still quite far from the town. It's from the desert, but it's from the sight of it--not from any pathogen lurking in its dusts.]
No. Apart from a slight risk of dehydration and the distinct feeling that my skin will match my hair in a few hours. [Okay that was flip. It's a lot easier to think about sunburn than... than what happened to her in a desert far from here.] What about you--any unusual symptoms?
[She wonders if Ange was one of the Branded back in May, but doesn't ask outright--surely she will say if that was the case.]
no subject
Nothing out of the ordinary. [ And Ange sure has felt really strange things being wrong with her body before, so she likes to think she'd be able to tell at this point if there was something really new and unusual going on with her..
.. though.. ]
I suppose it's entirely possible that it's something that sneaks up on you slowly. But if that's the case, then there's nothing we can do about it at this point anyway. [ That sure is one thing to say to keep from panicking, huh.
Ange looks over at Ethlyn. ]
I promise I'll say anything if I see you acting weird.
[ Though it'd have to be real weird at that point - since Ange doesn't know Ethlyn all that well yet, so she can't tell for sure what regular behaviour is for the other, aside from just going by regular behaviour in general. ]
no subject
I appreciate it. I'll do the same.
[She carefully lifts the tweezers away from the book. Further entries look like they won't be accessible. At this point, the writer dug their pen too deeply into the paper--Ethlyn doesn't think she could turn the page without fracturing it.]
It did take some days for the brands from the monster to affect people's thinking. It would be a good idea to check yourself in the mirror after we return for a little while to check if anything looks abnormal.
[Being here gets under her skin in a way she's growing to detest--but at least she still can think clearly about health and injury.]
If it wasn't the same thing that afflicted our community back in May, it sounds like something close enough to be a sibling to it.
no subject
[ Ange easily agrees with everything else Ethlyn says, making sure to keep it in mind. The last thing she wants is for her to slowly lose her mind or anything here, after all.
(She briefly wonders if that has anything to do with the danger they were so vaguely warned around, but tucks away that thought for a moment.) ]
.. on the one hand, I definitely think this is important for everyone to know. [ Especially if it does start spreading and chaos ensues. Maybe there's some way to prepare. ] On the other hand, I don't exactly feel like causing mass hysteria either.
[ It seems Ange has enough faith in the intelligence Ethlyn has shown so far that she thinks it's worth asking the other's opinion, rather than making a decision entirely for herself here.
It's not a grace Ange extends to just anyone out there. ]
no subject
Still, when she weighs the pros and cons in her head, she has to come down on the idea of bein g forthright.]
...I think it is better to say so. Some people might panic, or choose to hide their condition out of denial, but I believe that most of us who came on this expedition would behave rationally.
Plus, if the branded marks do reappear, it wouldn't reflect well on us if we said that we did have an idea it might happen but decided not to tell anyone. I don't think people would trust me as a healer anymore, and they would have a hard time trusting you to be truthful with them as well.
no subject
I don't think anyone trusts me to be truthful with them in the first place.
[ .. granted, this has nothing necessarily to do with the impression Ange gives off, despite making such an effort to try and seem emotionless at all times.. It's got much more to do with the fact that Ange naturally doesn't think anyone would trust so easily.
Though the part about Ethlyn being a healer is something she'll remember - just in case. It could be important in a place like this, especially with things potentially threatening to get out of hands if the marks show up. ]
But.. fine. I don't think your opinion is wrong, so let's spread the word. [ Ange can see both the merits and the downsides of both options, after all. ] I'll make sure to tell people I come across about it.
no subject
Is that so? I don't have any reason to feel that way about you, at least.
I'll tell the people I meet, too. Hopefully, whatever caused this disease is no longer alive itself. From what I've learned of germ theory, many diseases need an active, living host to persist beyond their source. [It goes without saying that there's no such hosts available in this place, and haven't been for at least several decades.] There are exceptions, but they're not common.