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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
Yeah, that's definitely different than what she was thinking, though it still seems to be believable enough in the girl's book. She certainly doesn't seem to be questioning his story either way though.
Instead she picks out what seems most interesting about this story to her. Or, perhaps, most relevant to their current situation. Which in this case means--
"Did you escape it on purpose? Or was it an accident?"
Sure, she can get that Emet-Selch didn't want that immortality taken away from him, but his wording leaves her unsure if he just got lucky, or if this was his plan all along.
no subject
It's one of two sights he will never forget: the darkened skies as their city fell to ruins, and later, the searing light which changed their star forever.
"The three of us lost our corporeal bodies as a result. Had we not abandoned them, I imagine we would have shared the same fate as the rest of the star and been none the wiser." He crosses his arms and glares at the floor. "Which was likely Her original intention."
no subject
Because that doesn't technically count as human anymore, Ange thinks. It's like the way she technically isn't human anymore in some ways too, and yet she feels like she's still closer to the concept than he is, considering this entire explanation.
Not that it really matters, it's just.. maybe Ange would like to know what she's dealing with here.
(Or maybe she's always just been too curious for her own good.)
"Or did this place give you a normal body?" She pauses, stares at him for a second, and then adds just as calmly as everything else: "You look pretty normal to me."
no subject
Ahem.
"To answer your question, I exist in an incorporeal state when I am not inhabiting a vessel. Obviously I currently possess one or else you would not likely be able to see me. This is the form of the man whose identity I last assumed."
i'm so sorry for how late this is, i must have lost the notif!
.. she can't. Granted, Ange does have other magical powers, so it's not like the idea of her being able to see spirits is that far off from the truth.. It's a power she actually wouldn't mind in some ways, honestly.
But she'll take his explanation anyway. It makes sense, mostly, if not just because Ange is used to weird magic mumbo jumbo from back home.
"But I get it. You took someone's body. Kind of weird, but I imagine you just didn't like hanging around as some formless entity that can't do anything."
no worries! always happy to tag back
He shrugs, gesturing. "I have no interest in abandoning this body lest you worry. Repulsive though it is to be wearing it after I thought I was done with it."
no subject
Well, you know, technically it would be a relief.. But considering the kind of stuff Ange has been through, it doesn't even score that high on her list of fears.
And even less so when he's already admitted he won't just randomly do it here. She imagines it'd be kind of pointless for him anyway to take over a body that belongs to a different world entirely, considering the things he wants to achieve back home. It's not even about trusting him necessarily, she thinks. It just makes practical sense.
"I guess that means we both have our own reasons to want to get out of this place and go back home as quickly as possible though, right? We both have stuff to take care of there."
no subject
"Indeed. Although I make no promises about temporary possession. Mayhap you have skills that I could make use of. I believe you mentioned something about witches and demons earlier."
But she's right - Emet-Selch has no desire to permanently hijack any of the other Chosen here. He's very attached to his own star, thank you very much. Solving the problems of other worlds is, well, not his problem.
"What did you say your name was, girl? I'm growing somewhat fond of you."
no subject
There's definitely a slight pause where Ange is trying to figure out if the first part of what he says is just meant as a joke or whether he's serious.. He sounds like he's serious, but on the other hand, Ange of all people knows very well just how easy it can be to make a joke with a totally straight face.
So without reaching a consensus on that in her brain, she instead just makes sure to put on the most dry tone and expression she could possibly muster, before speaking up with: "Wow, you're talking about possessing me and then ask for my name two seconds after? You're maybe only two steps away from being some sort of weird fairytale goblin that goes around cursing people."
...
To be fair, it's the dryness that keeps it from sounding malicious in any sort of way. It's not even really unfriendly, per se.
It seems like the girl just only knows how to counter anything with deadpan, more like.
apologies, xiv patch ate me
"Curse you? Oh no, my dear girl, I would never." He shakes his head, amused. "I don't curse those who could potentially be useful. That would be poor manners, to say the least."
...And now it's definitely difficult to tell if he's joking or not as he maintains an appearance of good humour.
"You may call me Emet-Selch."
it's fine, thank you for getting back to the thread! <3
Not like it's a surprise that a guy with such an odd, otherworldly story also has such an odd, otherworldly name.
And since she does figure there's little he can do with her name if he's so casual about giving out his own, she does offer in return: "My name is Ange. Ange Ushiromiya."
It helps that no one here would recognize her name, unlike back home. Here it's just a name, free from a very specific reputation, a very specific story.
"Thanks for finding me potentially useful. I'm truly so grateful." It'd probably help if those words sounded a little more sincere instead of just.. well, deadpan, but at least they don't sound fully annoyed in any way either.
It's probably just Ange's way of casually replying to something like this.
no subject
"Well, as pleasant as this chat was, I think I've had quite enough of this desert. I shall take my leave of you."
He offers her a small bow, one hand on his chest and the other on his back. Surprisingly formal, perhaps - in-character for him though. Unless she has any parting words to say, a dark portal will open up and whisk him away.