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

[quizpersona]

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

Comments

[melnik]

[ He had no doubt about what might have been lurking out of sight, especially after she confirmed sensing them herself, but beneath them? That really changes the confines of the search in a familiar way, and he realizes it's never occurred to him before what the sewers beneath Aldrip are like. There must be a maintenance access somewhere—or they could simply crawl their way through a manhole, but there's no telling if that would lead to anything accessible to them.

It's accessible to the snakes though. What a comforting thought to imagine they're slithering through the pipes right now...

As they continue along the road, he considers it with a frown. ]

Can you tell where they're conglomerating? Or is it too difficult to pinpoint?

[ Of course, all of this speculation might not matter much given the scene in the distance. First he simply sees another bizarre present... and then he picks up his pace when he realizes there are people there. ]

Damn! She's being eaten by one of them! [ He doesn't know if the other person can hear him, but ] Hold on! We're coming to save you!

[fieldtrip]

[ Why look for a maintenance access when you have a master earthbender with you, Toph would ask? But that whole direction is tabled when they come across a massive snake mid-digestion.

Toph snaps into action, half-expecting a crisis this whole time as it was. She trots ahead at a fast clip but is aiming off to the side, not directly at the scene ahead. There's a building made of sleek metal nearby -- thanks, Aldrip redesign -- and she wastes no time punching both fists into it, warping the wall. She withdraws them as shiny metal boxing gloves. ]

Get the other guy away, I'll armor up so I can handle the snake!

[ They're gonna have to get up close and personal to save that woman, and Toph figures if she's covered in metal she won't be too appealing to the snake. More sheets of metal start peeling off of the building, leaving a gaping hole in the side of it as she wraps them around her in blocky steel armor. ]

[cursegod]

[Having caught the man's attention, Miller suddenly has terrified eyes directed at him before the citizen stumbles to get to his feet. It's not fear for his own life. Rather than making a run for it, the man lets out a scream and flings himself at the soldier: "RUN, Lila!! I'll hold them off!" In his mind, they're the bad guys. But who knows exactly what form they're taking in his blood-shot eyes.

With all the commotion Toph is making, she should have probably expected a response in kind. Especially when she's ripped up part of a cozy place! The wide opening in the wall unleashes some of the snakes hiding inside, and there's some popping their heads out of a nearby sewer grate. Better leave no room for infiltration because a small swarm is coming for all of them.]

[melnik]

[ While he didn't know that earthbending extended to metal, with Toph's quick thinking on the makeshift armor and no time to ask questions, Miller has no qualms about following her order. ]

Good! Let's move!

[ Without slowing his pace, he rushes to meet the disoriented man with his gun held taut at his side—but what he isn't expecting is to see him rise on wobbly feet in an attempt to intercept him. When the glassy stare comes into focus, Miller realizes it's possible that the miasma has already taken hold of him. Too late, because the decision of how he should respond is quickly thrust upon him as he has to block the attack by holding the railgun up, not to shoot, but to act as a shield between them. He tries to shake the assailant loose once they collide, hoping that there's still some way to break through to him. ]

Please, listen! We just want to help you! There is poison in the air and it's corrupting your mind! Lila is in even more danger if we do not act now!

[ Meanwhile, he's oblivious to the barrage of snakes that may have just been unleashed... ]

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph is used to both giving and taking directions, part of the easy camaraderie she'd fallen into with her friends; she slips into teamwork with Miller automatically in all the chaos.

The snakes bursting out in a wriggling mass from the now-empty wall is highly unnerving, but they're an annoyance, not the objective. She finishes snapping metal pieces into makeshift armor -- with a small opening for her mouth to allow breathing, not for her eyes, of course -- and deals with the problem as expediently as she knows how. ]

I don't have time for you!

[ Bending with a layer of seamless shining steel coating her is its own challenge, given her feet are still numb and she has to simultaneously bend all the steel itself to let her take her bending forms, but Toph is more than up to it. If anything, the adrenaline coursing through her is gratifying, a chance to stretch her legs for real after weeks of powerlessness.

She snaps her hands forward, then down. The entire building in front of her sinks swiftly and with a massive groan as its lower level is forced into the ground, toward where she can feel the other snakes slithering around in the sewers. ]

Go join your friends!

[cursegod]

[The collapsed building does great work taking out the majority of snakes beginning to rise up. The demolition also helps to mask the sound of the reptiles being crushed to "death". Beyond the splatters of blood coating where they've been felled, there are no bodies left behind. Instead, any evidence of their existence goes up in smoke, adding to the miasma that spoils the air. It's "helpful" in another way: the man attempting to grapple Miller suddenly turns pale and doubles over from coughing. At least that frees up Toph's teammate!

Problem is that the few snakes that have survived annihilation are quick to get away from the metal bender and head straight for the incapacitated citizens. Think fast. ]

[melnik]

[ The struggle to break away from the affected local continues through several more attempts of words that fall on deaf ears and a back and forth of inelegant blows met by a refusal on Miller's part to budge. Until all at once, with a threateningly loud grinding and creaking, his attention is forced upon the sight of the whole nearby building being pushed into the ground, the lower floor crushed beneath the earth right atop the apparent mass of snakes below.

The rumbling and the light shower of dust and debris does not even have a chance to settle. A quiet beeping urging him to change his gas mask filter is the first indication of the thickening of the air, followed by the sudden, unplanned fallback of the man he'd been fighting with. The pull on his gun weighs Miller down as the coughing local loses his grasp on it, but he doesn't resist leaning down next to him for a moment either, before brushing aside his concern in favor of standing to face the dawning miasma.

It's no coincidence, but carried by the remaining slew of snakes quickly finding their way out of the sulfurous earth. Miller rushes back at the sight to get a good shot and immediately starts firing. ]

Shit! Goddamn snakes!

[ The pushback of the Hellbreath's ammo is significant enough to send any hit flying; the only drawback is it can't fire enough to take down them all without a reload. ]

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph wasn't necessarily trying to kill all those snakes but she isn't going to lose sleep on it, either. Especially when she can sense them mysteriously vanishing, dirt falling to fill in the space their bodies once occupied. She grits her teeth at the billowing increase in miasma, but resolves to address one problem at a time. The real priority is still getting that woman out of the giant snake in case there's still time to save her.

Far from being ungainly in her armor, Toph practically slides across the ground toward the advancing snakes, metal boots smoothly gliding across the earth. ]

I said, I don't have time for you!

[ Squishing them worked just fine a second ago, so she does it again. Toph comes to a skidding stop, gravel flying, as she throws her arms out in sharp jabs. A large square flat block of stone flips up and over onto the snakes like a domino, big enough to cover most if not all of them. ]

[cursegod]

[Between the spray of bullets and the crushing force of Toph's bending works to clear out the remnants. Their serpentine bodies twist in agony, leaking blood before their existence simply dissolves into concentrated miasma. Even with the talismans, they may still feel some sort of minor effect...

But the tangible threat of oncoming snakes has been dealt with! Except for the one already halfway up the woman's chest in its effort to swallow her whole. At least the man has passed out, but he's looking feverish on top of odd red welts popping up on his skin.]

[melnik]

Nice work!

[ Whichever snakes didn't perish in the gunfire are made quick work of by the slab of rock Toph pulls from the ground. The manner in which they perish should probably not go unnoticed, however. They only release more miasma into the already clouded air. But Miller is now focused wholly on the woman they were intending to save, even though it also means ignoring a slight but still palpable feeling of muscle weakness that has begun to creep over him. It manifests as beads of sweat clouding his gas mask as he casts his gun to the side in favor of a trench knife pulled from its sheath.

So much for the makeshift plan—but given the size of its attempted meal, the creature is not likely to be able to make any fast moves. He follows his first instinct to get low and go straight for stabbing the snake in its head. Should this prove to be an issue, he's confident his companion is already making moves of her own. ]

As long as this thing is dead, we can cut her loose!

[ He just hopes she's still alive in there. ]

[fieldtrip]

[ The miasma choking the air is starting to really get to Toph, who doesn't have an air filter like Miller, crumpled her talisman earlier, and keeps crushing snakes right next to her. Normally Toph is a paragon of self-control no matter how snappish she gets, but now rage bubbles up inside her, oily and twisting.

She strides forward on her tingling feet, shedding pieces of metal as she goes, face contorted in anger. ]

Let go of the knife, [ she says crisply, coming to a stop with one hand raised, fingers stiff and angled. ] I can cut it apart without hitting the woman in there. It's just more metal.

[ This is not an application of metalbending Toph would ever look for on her own, but presuming he lets go and presuming it works, under the influence of the miasma it feels viciously satisfying to direct Miller's blade to carve the snake into gory pieces. It whips through the air and through flesh back and forth with precise strokes, blood spraying. ]

[cursegod]

[The stab to the snake's head is enough for its body to start a slower evaporating process, but it's Toph's crazed slashes that brings disaster. Sure, she's able to rid the woman of its existence, but Lila is covered in its blood. The miasma completely sets in. Although freed, her unconscious body begins to jerk violently while the stained skin begins to decay before their eyes. It's like several freak medical disasters happening all at once, and by the end of it Lila is dead. If they don't move her friend out of the concentrated miasma zone, he may be joining her soon.]

[melnik]

[ The filter probably isn't doing much, to be honest, aside from being wasted on miasma particles that clog it up as fast as if he were still in Novosibirsk. But Miller doesn't know that, only knows the sluggishness that's trying to take over him, and he wants to fight against it while he still has time.

That being said, there's a shift in Toph's attitude, a force that seems to aspire to get in the way of this. It's almost unnaturally calm, which causes him to take pause he normally wouldn't after he's plunged it into the snake's head. ]

Toph —

[ He lets go, but the slight confusion he starts with becomes silence as she uses her bending to begin cutting the creature in deliberate strokes. It didn't seem like the air could thicken any more than it already had until now. Miller stumbles back instinctively, and stares as the body of Lila comes into view, bloodied and... rotting. Grabbing his abandoned gun, he gets to his feet to rush back over to Toph, forcefully grabbing her shoulder in an attempt to interrupt her bending. ]

Stop! She's already too far gone!

[ In the pit of his stomach, he doesn't feel good about it, but there's no use in dwelling on the thoughts swirling around in his mind right now. There is a nausea setting in to join the exhaustion and that man who collapsed earlier—if they want to save him, it's now or risk their own hides as well.

When he realizes it, he leaves her side to go to his, but the effort needed to do this is becoming much more difficult to push past. Panting, he starts trying to lift the fellow over his shoulder. ]

[fieldtrip]

[ Toph had heard the warnings about the miasma from the monk they got the talismans from, and it wasn't that she didn't take them seriously, she just didn't let it stop her. Children are affected worse, pfft, she's not a child child. She can fight through some annoyances like her feet getting tingly and irritating. As for the rest, she can't see herself in despair, and she's never been prone to violent urges before. She loves fighting, but her violence is utterly measured and deliberate.

Then she crumples her talisman, and crushes a whole lot of snakes, and inhales a face full of concentrated miasma, and her adrenaline is up and she's fighting and she is, actually, a child in every way that counts. It felt so easy to slip right over a line she would normally never cross. Now there's blood and snake viscera and a dead, rotting person that she couldn't save. (None of this would've happened if Aang were here, two times over.)

Toph freezes, shock immobilizing her immediately after. Everything she'd been bending drops to the ground at once with a dull thunk or a rumbling echo, knife included. She closes her eyes to make sure the tears stay in. Her pride has been sorely tested lately by her loss of memories and abilities, and here, now, having her sense of herself not replaced like last month but warped, distorted --

It feels even worse. The anger twists and contorts and starts to approach the anguish she'd thought herself so above, but she'd been right about one thing: Toph Beifong does not despair. ]

I should be better than this, [ she says to herself in a low tone, wrestling with the impulses to keep going, lash out at whoever's nearby. Miller, and a man he's still trying to save, no thanks to her. Toph knows how dangerous she could be if she truly didn't care about morals, if her pride and integrity didn't matter to her. It could be terrifying.

But it does matter to her, a whole hell of a lot. ]

... I am better than this.

[ By now, Miller is staggering away and she's just been standing here, worse than useless. She breathes out, raises her arms again, and sinks the whole mess of snake corpses and dead woman into the ground with sharp, direct motions, burying it in feet of dirt so it can't release more miasma into the air. It's a massive rumbling shift, like the earth itself rises up and folds over all of the mess they-- she-- had made, and entombs it.

She can find the site later for a proper burial. Toph hurries over to Miller, expression tight with strain and distress, but focusing again on her self-appointed task. ] Wait, [ she says curtly, ] we should put our talismans on him.

[ She takes out hers and, much more respectfully than earlier, tries to slip it somehow close to his skin from where he's hanging over Miller's shoulder, maybe tucking it into a fold of clothing. She knows her lore, okay? But she will control herself without it. ]

[melnik]

[ It is a difficult thing to see this person who has, thus far in their interactions with each other, shown nothing but grounded self-confidence forced into a position where her actions are not wholly her own. Where her own actions make her waver. Miller hears her speak under her breath as he goes to the man’s rescue, and his wrinkles deepen with his frown, turned away and unseen.

However, it is the time to act. He doesn't know for certain if they ever had a chance of saving this woman, now buried with the mutilated body of the snake beneath the ground, but either way, one person is now dead. If they have any chance of preventing another casualty or preventing the loss of their own grip on themselves, this is it.

Miller remembers the weight of the intense amount of radiation in the dead city, how it would make one's body heavy and head light, and the sound and sight of things that one should never fall prey to believing in started flashing and ringing in their eyes and ears. It wasn't until that day that he started to truly believe those things himself. Perhaps it was a shared delusion, a challenge set upon them by God himself. But whatever it was, to fight back, they had to face it head on.

This gives him the same feeling. Anna's life had depended on it.

And now there is Toph.

Maybe it is not truly the same, but she is someone's daughter, too; and when he thinks of this, he suddenly despises this miasma, angry that it could get inside the both of them and start to twist who they are. He is a Spartan. Demonic presences be damned.

Steeling himself and pulling the local up, securing him more firmly to his back, Miller seems to catch a second wind. He pauses to accept the placement of the talisman onto the man and then begins to speed up, turning back in the direction that they came.

His own talisman is tucked into the belt of ammunition hanging from his armor, in contact with the local's dangling arms. ]

Good call. It's okay—mine is right here. But stay close to me.

[ He cannot help the tenuous worry that creeps into his voice. ]

We need to make it back to that priest.

[fieldtrip]

[ They work well together, and this is a large part of the reason why: Toph knows when it's time to act, too, and she's not about to stop them in the middle of saving a life to pay homage to her own sorry feelings. It's a relief and another reason to respect him when Miller wordlessly allows them to stay focused on their objective, and not her mistake. ]

Okay.

[ She agrees and follows him closely in relative silence, trying to scan their surroundings to detect if more snakes are coming. Words are nice, but actions are what matter. The best thing she can do is make sure this man survives, even if that means giving up her talisman.

Even if that means her numb, tingling feet and ankles grow worse with every step, the world around her fading out like peripheral vision narrowing and narrowing until there's only what's directly ahead. Toph stubbornly persists, refusing to accommodate this weakness, but it's a long walk back and she's eventually forced to confront it when she actually stumbles over a rock.

Over a rock. She can't feel it with her senses, and she can't even feel it with her feet, she just takes a few stuttering steps to recover. ]

Miller -- [ Stay focused. Actions, not words... right. Toph's voice is softer than usual, reserved. ] I can't feel anything anymore. My feet are numb. Can I hold onto you?

[ This isn't the first time she's been literally and effectively blind at the same time -- the desert comes to mind, flying, floating in water -- but there's a cruelness to it given she's surrounded by her element. It's been removed from her more completely than it was during her memory alteration. Then, she could at least try; she could keep beating her head against that wall until it produced something.

Now, there's nothing. The world is blank and all she has are the sounds and smells, and her small hand reaching out into the air, uncharacteristically hesitant. She doesn't know where he is. ]

[melnik]

[ Life can be fleeting. This strange respite that Miller has had from the feeling of constantly facing down death has not changed the years, decades, of needing to change plans at a moment's notice. While he takes no pleasure in leaving the poor woman's body behind, they can debrief once they're out of harm's way. Though frankly, he is just relieved that Toph didn't end up like the man they're trying to save.

Which is why as they make their way back, his focus is split between making headway as fast as they can and on making sure that Toph is still close by to him. They have this out now, but who can say how long it might last? He can't stop to think about it, or god forbid to pay any mind to the physical toll it is taking on him. The latter is easier to push past, knowing it will be fine so long as they get out of this hot zone, but it is becoming more clear the further that they make it that the former is something he is not wrong to worry about.

Still, this continues for a while, the two of them both silently pressing onward while he holds his tongue. This is in no thanks to the fact that his filter is completely clogged now and the heat of his own heavy breath, together with the muggy weight of the miasma, is becoming unbearable. But with no way to address it, he lets it go. That is, until a slight shuffling sound causes him to turn back to see her stumbling.

And then, the way her voice comes out makes his breath catch in his throat, and he stops in his tracks. Unscrewing the filter with his free hand, he throws it on the ground unceremoniously, his voice more clear in his response to her. ]

Of course. I'm right here.

[ Backtracking to grab her hand in his own, he adjusts the hold of the local over his shoulder once more, and gently pulls to lead her forward. ]

There is not much further to go. Just a little more.

[fieldtrip]

[ She hears something hit the ground, but she doesn't know what it is. The frustration burns inside her with an intensity she almost can't bear, the miasma deepening and twisting all of her darker feelings into pulsating knots. It reminds her of when she was stuck in that metal box, when her parents hired two shady men to kidnap her because it was better than letting her run around doing what she wanted, embarrassing them.

Toph remembers them taunting her that not even she could bend metal, and how she'd thrown that in their faces. It gives her the strength to mutely take Miller's hand and follow him. This isn't the first time she's done something like this with a friend, but it does require absolute trust on her part; Toph wouldn't allow just anyone to lead her around, not even when she believed she was fully blind and dependent.

It makes her realize that she trusts Miller. More than as just a casual acquaintance, but as a real friend and as a part of her team. They can depend on each other and shift roles in combat, they can handle a crisis together, he didn't scold her for her schemes, he respects her and doesn't treat her like a child even when she probably deserves it, and...

Toph can hold his larger, rougher hand and keep walking, frustrated and hesitant in her steps but still moving, pushing ahead, letting him lead her through a blank, empty world.

She doesn't let go even when, eventually, feeling starts to return to her legs at the calf. It's painful, like a limb waking up after being cut off from circulation for too long, and she winces, hand tightening on his. ] I think-- we're getting out of the worst of it. I'm starting to feel things again.

[ This is important information, so she reports it, but her voice is still subdued. ]