expiationlogs | { Player Event } What's true of all the evils in the world is true of the plague as well

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{ Player Event } What's true of all the evils in the world is true of the plague as well

Who: You. (Open to all)
Where: All over Aldrip.
What: This is the log for what we’ve been affectionately dubbing The Organ Player Plot. Various places around Aldrip are facing dangerous supernatural occurrences. It’s a scavenger hunt in some way.
Warnings: MANY SNAKES, Body Horror, Organ Trafficking, Horror Themes, Violence, and we will be updating this as we go along.

A waking scream in the darkness is the first unheard omen.

Snakes, hundreds if not thousands, slither forth from the depths of Lorentia Cave and swiftly invade Aldrip. They are the heralds of the terrible things to come, and there are no corners safe from their encroachment. The serpents come in all shape and sizes, venomous or not, and are quick to become agitated if approached. Their readiness to strike and unwillingness to back off once provoked indicates the lack of survival instinct to flee. They are on the search for what's missing, and they will put up a fight.

An invisible haze sets upon the city , filled with anguish and fury, afflicting residents as it washes through the air and buildings. Children, the elderly, and the sickly are the first to complain of ailment. Within the next few days, patients begin to flood the doors of any hospital or clinic with more serious conditions-- fevers burning from them inside out and excruciating phantom pains that make them writhe in bed.

The longer what's stolen is not returned, the worse things get. Who knows how many bodies will pile high from these plagues if nothing gets done...

ooc//
[ Dara is currently locked behind a barrier in Lorentia Cave to stave off the further spread of deadly miasma. Please retrieve a protection talisman from Seimei and retrieve what she’s lost (and hopefully return it…) !

How This Works–
To begin the search for the supernatural sources a participant can select a number that corresponds to one of the squares on the map (seen below). To go on a route head on down to the numbered top levels in the comments and reply to it. This is your character kicking off their investigation. Some routes will lead to nowhere, some to something, and others to ;)? You’ll find out.

During exploration you will receive responses from either

quizpersona or

cursegod. This is not an interaction with that particular character unless indicated otherwise.

This event will handwave wrap up by the 20th if no conclusion is reached before then because Dara needs her poor organs back. ]

The Map

Happy Belated Easter lol

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[ If there's any place that ought to be cleansed of this horror that's descended upon them, Claude thinks, it's the residential areas. Some of the citizens are sure to evacuate, especially at the urging of their local healers, but more still are likely to stay in their own homes, stubborn as can be. In all honesty, all of this has Claude spooked. This is unlike anything he's ever dealt with before, and the clamminess that has descended upon his skin, the ache in his chest, is as unfamiliar as it is unwelcome. He likes to deal with facts, logic, reason.

Some horrific murderer going around hiding viscera like some sort of macabre treasure hunt has absolutely nothing to do with logic and reason. But here and now, sword in hand, Claude is trying his damnedest not to show his apprehension for one reason and one reason only: a teenaged girl had decided to accompany him on this particular journey.

He's against it, frankly. But he knows that Ange can't be dissuaded once her mind's been made up about something, and he'd much rather she stay by his side than go it alone. ]

Okay. You're a deranged murderer. Where do you hide organs? [ He sighs. ] I think we may need to do some light breaking-in-and-entering.

[ For all the levity to his voice, his concern is clear; he won't let Ange more than a metre away from him, always dogging at her heels in case some beast descends upon them. ]

I mean, it'd make more sense to hide them in places that are a little bit easier to access.. [ Public places, rather than people's homes. Then again, would it really be that strange for someone who's doing all of this in the first place to break into people's houses to hide organs on top of it? It seems like such a relatively small crime in the face of the larger picture.

For what it's worth, Ange sounds as calm as she ever does. Partially since it's easy at this point for her to project that sort of calm confidence outwardly, no matter the situation, but.. it's not like this is the worst situation she's ever been in. She knows it's dangerous, somewhere between the monstrous snakes and the haze in the air, not to mention the stakes of it all--

But Ange has lived that dangerous life for such a long while now. Having to be on guard since every single tiny misstep could mean death is an old familiar friend.

Her hands glow with a golden light, magic at the ready. ]

If you want, I could send some of my butterflies inside to check multiple houses at once. I just don't know how thin I want to stretch my magic right now. [ Especially when they might need it at full power and at the ready in the middle of this situation. ]

[If the butterflies are sent out, Ange will find that they're simply snuffed out around a set of dilapidated buildings. Like a match being submerged in water. Boarded up, the dark structures appear abandoned for longer than the duration of this current plague. At least they can feel less guilty about breaking in?

Do they make their way inside?]

Whoever this guy is, he might want it to be as hard to access as possible. It's pretty clear that his intent was to sew as much chaos as he could -- or she, I guess. [ Diversity win: the horrifying murderer could be a woman! ]

I'm not willing to believe that the murderer stopped at just that poor woman either, but we'll find what we find. Send in your butterflies but not for long -- just long enough to spot anything terribly amiss. I've got your back.

[ Which he does. Underneath these sort of circumstances, he's more reliable than he may ordinarily appear, blade at the ready, hackles up, eyes darting around to spot every entrance and exit point. He's more comfortable tackling this sort of thing with a battallion at his side, but more than having been raised to be a noble, he was raised to be a warrior; if he were anything less, his parents would look upon him with nothing more than shame.

Once the butterflies are clearly snuffed out, Claude nods. ]

Okay, I think that's as much of a clue as we're gonna get. If they don't want us in there with magic, they're hiding something. Let's go in.

[ Ange huffs. ]

Yeah, hiding horrible death and suffering, probably.

[ But despite her - rather typically teenage whiny - complaint, it's not like she's saying no to his idea. Even though she does genuinely think that something dangerous could be hiding there if it can get rid of her magic so easily. Sure, her butterflies aren't too powerful, but she's not used to seeing them just disappear like that all the same.

Maybe it's that she's just reckless enough to go look anyway. Or maybe she trusts Claude having her back. For how nonchalant he can be about things sometimes, he's never been dishonest with her about anything important, she thinks. If something goes wrong, he won't run.

So Ange moves right over towards the boarded up places, raising her leg to try and kick in the boards so they head in.

(Hey, she's got a surprisingly good kick, and the places look like they have been abandoned for long enough that she figures the boards are likely old and rotten enough to break more easily.) ]

I hate to say that I share your pessimism, but... yeah, you're probably right.

[ He whistles as Ange kicks in the door, impressed despite himself. For such a small slip of a thing, she's got a kick like a donkey. Still, he gestures for her to get behind him as they venture inside, taking each step carefully, gingerly, aware of what dangers may lie behind every corner. This place is as creepy as anything else Claude could imagine, and his experience with what tends to lurk around places that stink of death has him imagining a monster lurking in the midst of the darkness.

He tightens his grip on his blade. ]

We could probably use some light, [ he mutters quietly to her. ] I can barely see a thing in here. It looks like nobody's lived here in years... but that can't be right.

[ They're in the middle of a bustling residential area. Is this a new quirk of their newly modern surroundings, or has the cursed viscera reshaped the very space around it? ]

[While a magic light source may be snuffed up, their tablets seem to work just fine. Or at least as good as it can get with the light warping in a way that it can't travel more than a few feet ahead. It makes the dust particles apparent, albeit seemingly frozen mid-air.

As for the interior itself, it's hard to tell which room is what. It's a haphazard demolition project, with the walls burst open for scrapped wires and piping, glass shards scattered about, and random floorboards ripped up from the ground. Eyes gleam from the cracks, but it's hard to tell from the brief glimpse if they're the invasive snakes or something else.

Was someone else searching this place? Perhaps a long time ago. Aside from any structures screwed into the walls or furniture nailed to the floors, every room is bare. They also may notice that the house seems to be growing colder every minute spent inside.]

Hold on.

[ She's content enough to stay behind him as they move. Arguing about who should head in first would just be a pain, and it's not like Ange really cares enough in the first place to bother summoning forth the effort. Instead she figures that she ought to do what she can do here - like trying to get some light going. The girl first does attempt to summon her butterflies to gain some more light, considering how hands-free they are, but clicks her tongue when they're immediately snuffed out again.

There really has to be something going on here. Nothing in this place has otherwise had this effect on her magic before.

At least she does have the plan B of taking out her tablet and using that to shine around them. It's not the most light ever, but it's better than nothing - and it's better for her to hold it when she doesn't need her hands on a weapon right now the way he does, she figures.

Though Ange mostly frowns at what they find when she lets the light shine around them. The state of the house is weird enough, but.. it's the eyes she can't help but focus on most. ]

There's something here. [ She points out to Claude - shining her light to show off the eyes between the cracks peering at them. ]

[ Claude huffs out a breath, feeling the chill settle over his shoulders like a blanket, the sensation of being watched crawling up his spine, unease growing in the pit of his gut. His arms, covered by fabric, still prickle with goosebumps. It's not a fear response so much as it is a physical response, he realizes with growing discomfort. ]

I've felt this before... or something like this. This is dark magic. I never much liked when it was cast on me back home either.

[ Yeah, some people felt like it beat the hell out of being whacked by a training axe for the eighth time that day, but it had always unsettled him. The way you just felt achey, tired, cold afterwards, the way it followed you like a miasma until you got a proper night's rest, something that Claude wasn't particularly inclined to do even at his best.

He holds one arm out, motioning for Ange to get some distance - no point in both of them getting attacked at once - before peering further into one of the cracks, tapping his sword inside one of them to see if he can't inspire whatever's in there to come out. ]

Could be more of those snakes. Hope you're wearing your stomping shoes.

[There's a hiss in response to the sword invading its space, and Claude will feel a slight jostle as the snake inside the wall bites uselessly at his weapon. But when he retrieves the blade, it's dripping with blood. Too much considering how it could have potentially cut the reptile.

What's even worse is that the red droplets never make it to the ground. Instead, they end up suspended mid-fall then disperse through the air like a drop of dye in water. The spread appears to be contained, however, forming a line that flows out the room and around the corner. If they follow the trail, they'll find a door that...may or may not have been there before. Behind it is a set of stairs. Do they proceed? ]

... Is that also part of the dark magic you know?

[ The strange thing that's happening to the blood, that is. For a moment Ange figures that it might have something to do with how cold it is in here, that it's making the blood freeze and do odd things. But she quickly realises said things are far too odd to be explained by just temperature, making the girl frown as she attempts to follow where the line of blood is headed with the light of the tablet she's holding.

Ange starts following it almost instinctively. Though if Claude attempts to get ahead of her again to shield her, she won't stop him from doing so. Especially once they arrive at that door. ]

This is practically screaming that it's a bad idea to head there. [ Not that it sounds like a rejection of the idea on Ange's part. She doesn't feel like they can just turn around and leave now, ignoring they ever found a place as strange as this one in town.

But she at least wants to have said this before something bad happens, alright. Especially since she's ready to follow him if he decides to head towards those stairs.

Even if she also voices a careful warning. She likes Claude too much to just hide behind him, to not give him the full information he might need here if things get dicey.

No matter how much Ange hates it that voicing this makes her sound more vulnerable than she'd like to be. ]

I just-- I want you to know that I'm not sure if there's much I can do to help out if we get attacked. This house seems to swallow up any magic I try to cast here.

Oh, gross.

[ Claude grimaces as he removes the sword, wiping the worst of the blood on the wall before cautiously dipping his gloved fingers in it, rubbing it between his thumb and pointer finger to get a good feel for if he can divine anything other than, well... blood. ]

No, this isn't the kind of dark magic I'm used to. This is just a haunting.

[ Once they arrive at the door, Claude pauses just in front of it. He'd come here with Ange because she'd wanted to, and far be it for Claude to tell her no if she was just going to come regardless, but the idea of being the one to actively usher her into a danger he can't well imagine doesn't sit well with him. He's a soldier. And he's a damn good one, he knows. He's been trained in weaponry since he was old enough to grip a bow, and he's come away from some pretty fantastic battles no worse for wear.

But there's a big difference between running into battle accompanied by his battalion and being the only thing available to shield Ange from whatever sinister things lay within. ]

...I understand. I'm prepared to do all the fighting, need be. And it's pretty apparent that whatever lays beyond that will be at least one source of all of this decay; I'd bet my fortune on the fact that there will be at least one part of that poor woman's organs back there. But Ange, it's not too late to go back now. We can still leave.

[ He'd come back on his own, of course. But he'll never lead anyone into any fight without making it abundantly clear that they're underneath no obligation to do so, whether that be the Almyran army, the Alliance's army, or the friends who follow him, the gods only know why.

His gaze on Ange is firm, unwavering. ]

You know that, right? I won't think any less of you.

[ Especially not when she's been rendered absolutely powerless. ]

[ She knows he's serious.

Maybe that's why she doesn't reply right away, doesn't dive immediately into the dismissive sort of things she might usually say. Even though Ange already knows - even the moment he's still saying it - what her answer is going to be. It's never been different.

Maybe she and her brother are a little more alike than she thought after all. ]

I know. [ Her tone still doesn't have a whole lot of emotion in it, but it dips into something a little more serious. It doesn't sound deadpan. ] But I don't want to turn back now. Maybe if I try using my more powerful magic it'll break through-- or, worse case scenario, I just rip out one of these loose planks and start hitting whatever is in there over the head with it.

[ Likely not a very succesful plan, given how tiny and thin Ange is in front of a trainer soldier like Claude, but it's not like she hasn't had to struggle for her life before. Ange knows how it's done.

And she's never been afraid of looking danger or even death in the eyes, anyway. ]

Just.. [ Now she does actually look a little more troubled. Her eyebrows slowly knit together into a frown. ] Promise you won't get too distracted with having to protect me in there. I'd be super annoyed if you got hurt just because of me. [ Annoyed. Of course. Clearly it's only that. ]

[ He had a funny feeling that that was exactly what she was going to say. He isn't sure if he's disappointed or not. Her being here without any use of her magic is a foolish endeavor, he knows that, and a part of him wants nothing more than for her to bow to reason and accept that she has to leave. But he can appreciate her bravery, too, the desire to help others, the desire to get to the bottom of things. It's a desire that Claude shares.

He knows, too, that if it comes down to putting himself between her and danger, he'll do that. He'd be a real piece of shit not to. But she doesn't need to know that, does she? He's always put on his fair share of bravado, has his reputation as a schemer and a coward (he still remembers how disappointed and disapproving Edelgard and Dimitri looked when he turned tail from those bandits, tutting about a lack of courage as though it's meaningful to get your throat cut), but that's only when he doesn't have someone else to care about. ]

I'll be just fine, [ he promises her. ] But I want you to remember one thing, and that goes for both of us: it's never cowardice to run. The only winner in battle is the one who gets to live another day. Nothing more, nothing less.

[ It's more than battle strategy. It's his life philosophy. You can't do anything when you're dead. ]

So if it's looking bad in there? We get out. Both of us. Got it?

[ His speech done, he takes a deep breath, makes sure to put the bulk of his frame in front of Ange, and forges onwards. ]

[While the base of the stairs is pitch black, ascending leads to a gradient of light cutting through. The stairs empty into a large, dilapidated room without any doors or furniture, and its light source are several holes in the ceiling that has been through the slow process of caving inward.

The chill remains, dust still suspended in air, and there's the addition of an odd dripping sound plip plop plip plop...

Nothing in particular stands out about the room, but Ange might pick up on something unseen inside the walls-- a sense of magic resonating the closest to wherever Claude's blood-stained glove touches a surface.]

Edited 2024-04-28 19:34 (UTC)

[ Though Ange doesn't answer what Claude tells her, her silence is likely speaking enough in the face of a lack of words. After all, it's not like Ange ever hesitates to protest anything she doesn't agree with. As long as he means it, as long as he does think it applies to them both, then-- sure, Ange can agree with what he's saying. But there's no way in hell he's going to allow him to make some dumbass last stand while she runs.

She follows him right after, into the room. When she realises there's actually a bit of light here, she slowly lowers the tablet - not putting it away in case she needs to examine something, but at least they can look around a little without needing the light of the device for now.

.. not that there's much to see. For all their anticipation of some big monster, the room is surprisingly empty.

But when the girl looks around, she realises she's feeling more than she's seeing. Something that nags at her. A sense of something concentrated, something-- ]

There's.. magic here.

[ Not that there likely hasn't been some the entire time, given what was snuffing her own magic out, but it feels stronger here. Like it's resonating.

The girl frowns and tries to focus on the sensation, turning around until she can point to the wall that Claude may happen to have a hand on right now. ]

I can feel it from there. I don't know what it is, but-- I can feel it.

[ Ange may not be answering him, but at least she's not fighting him either, Claude thinks. There are people back home who would cuss him out for proposing such a thing, calling him craven, accusing him of thinking them craven, staunch in their belief that there is no nobler fate than dying with a sword in your hand and a spike through your belly.

Claude quite disagrees, which is why he intends to get the hell out of here as soon as it seems like an unwinnable fight, with Ange tucked underneath his arm if he has to. Heaven knows she's small enough. So he forges ahead, breath shallow, trying to keep as quiet as possible as they creep forward, try to see if there's some horrible thing lying in wait. ]

Okay, [ he breathes. ] So the magic gets stronger here. Maybe this magic was counteracting your own -- some sort of Silence spell. [ He looks at the wall he's touching, frowning as he senses nothing of his own. He only ever scraped by in his magic classes; these days, he regrets that negligence more and more.

He balls his hand into a fist and punches the wall where the magic is coming from, hard enough that for a particularly shallow, delicate wall, his hand would go clean through. ]

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{ Player Event } What's true of all the evils in the world is true of the plague as well

ROUTE 10

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