{ 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]

[ 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. ]