010 » something wicked this way comes

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: ???
WHEN: Day 010
WHAT: Spooks happen. Some sanity loss may occur. (More on that next week!)
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: Thank you so much for your patience with this! My Friday was much busier
than expected, so I'm very sorry for the lateness on getting these out to you all.

RECOMMENDED ♫ Deadly Avenger "Gyuki"

DAY 010
“We make up horrors to help
us cope with the real ones.”
—Stephen King
The day dawns but few wake to see it. Only one, who has been exempt from the strange happenings about to unfold. She will face a day like any other, a farce of normality in an utterly abnormal universe — but she will face it alone. For none who will experience these strange happenings are to be found in the town until the next morning dawns. Each has been taken, whisked away to another layer of the town, peeled back and exposed like a raw nerve.

Mathias screams and there are none who can hear it.


THE DETAILS
Each exploration, encounter, and revelation happen separately from one another. Though some may include the same locations, none will overlap in time or space. The circumstances laid out in each prompt are exclusive to that situation — do not assume the answers someone else received will also apply to you.

Players may ask questions as they normally do for logs, but these should be kept as part of the designated thread. You may create a subthread under your header for questions, or intersperse them with your "tags". Your responses may be formatted as IC tags or as a more OOC "telling" what your character does rather than showing.

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DAY 011
All characters involved in this event will wake on the morning of Day 011 in the exact location where they began to sleep on Day 009, but they will find themselves covered in a layer of dust just as thick as that which had covered much of Mathias. The dust does not extend to their surroundings.

The memories of what they encountered or saw remain clear in their minds, no matter how impossible they might seem. Sights, sounds, smells, all may be recalled with crystalline clarity, even if they wish it were otherwise.

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Comments

[villagemod]

There is no calendar, no documentation of any kind. The building doesn't seem especially new, though, just well-cared for, so John could rightly assume that it has stood for at least a few decades.

[volunteertomatoes]

Goddammit. Quentin's going to take the book at least, tucking it under his arm to further inspect the bookshelf--just one last check to make sure there's nothing he missed.

(and, because hey, why not, he's going to shelve and reshelve as many books as he can. Just in case this is a scooby-doo mystery and there's a secret passage or some shit).

[villagemod]

Eliot has apparently never heard the saying about curiosity and the cat, or simply does not realize that the same might be true for magicians. Nothing happens when he removes the items from the chest, but when he picks up the knife and looks closely at it—

One moment it is a normal knife with strange symbols etched into the flat of the blade, curling spirals that at once seem to have no beginning and no end, and the next the knife is covered in cold wet blood, the thick liquid coating his hand and dripping down off the blade. The bowl is coated with it, the interior recently filled and emptied, and that red sheen on the walls is darker, shining in the light of the candle flame, almost as if...

[villagemod]

The check is unlocked and the lid will lift with a heavy creaking, the dim light glinting off the contents within: a polished black stone bowl and a small knife with the same stone for its handle. There is an engraving on the blade that cannot be made out in the shadows of the box from this distance.

[villagemod]

There is nothing to find but dead leaves and dying grass.

The wind whistles especially loud suddenly, whipping past the next headstone closest to those he's uncovered, moving a tuft of snow and unveiling another curved carving still half-hidden by frozen white. If he notices it at all, of course.

[hellblaze]

A sound of frustration and throwing his hands up. Just like everything else about Mathias - dead ends. That might be literal for all he knows. He sighs, scratching the back of his head. If he could find a paper and pen, he might just leave a nice note to thank their gracious hosts...

John makes his way to the door in the back of the living area with options seemingly exhausted. He pushes the door open to the proper part of the lighthouse. If it's dark enough, he'll pull out the lighter for some light.

[fika]

The wind's sharp howl snaps his head up, away from a task that's fruitless, just an outlet for restlessness, all bent and sharp angles. If he keeps moving, if he keeps doing something, he can ignore the elements all that much longer.

As his head whips up, caught in that sudden sound amidst the white wisps, his eyes catch the curving of the headstone, half buried.

Might as well check, he reasons, tireless in only his bulldog tenacity. He jumps to it, a blink in spacetime, and gets to clearing, once again.

[endlessflask]

“Holy — Shit -“

Eliot drops the knife. It clatters to the floor as he takes a step back, looking at his bloody hand.

Absolutely fuck this. He should have gone to the room with the papers and shit.

He feels behind him for the door frame and turns, looking for a hasty escape.

[enduresurvive]

"God, what the hell is this place. This has got to be some weird ass dream, right?"

But all her dreams lately are...well, a much different flavour than this. She's pretty sure her mind wouldn't conjure up some weird shit in a box surrounded by cobwebs. Though maybe it would, with her annoyance at not finding any fucking weapons in the town.

So she pushes the lid all the way open and reaches in to take the knife first. It's going to suck when this is a dream and she wakes up sans knife, she thinks, but for now it'll have to do. She considers leaving the bowl, because what does she need that for? But she sets the candle down there on the table next to the chest and picks the bowl up to examine it.

[villagemod]

What he finds: 5 umbrellas, 16 hash marks.

[fika]

What.

He finds himself on his feet, staring at the marks. At the count of umbrellas. Five. He counts them all again, standing in the clearing with his hands by his side.

All seven now accounted for.

There had to be an explanation for this. Maybe he was dreaming? His subconscious bleeding out? It felt real though, down to the tingling in his hands, numb cold flowing into that stinging pain.

So he stares and stares and stares, instead, jaw working, and with a cold sort of detachment, finally moves to see the remaining five stones.

[tinstar]

He eyed the line of Malcolm's shoulders as the man seemed to sink into himself on the stairstep. While he didn't know what Malcolm was suffering personally, he could empathize with the man, especially if his drug usage was prescribed and for a good reason.

"The same thing we were lookin' for before," he replied quietly as he paced, strides slowing a little but unable to come to a complete stop.

"How're you feelin'?"

[villagemod]

When Ellie has the bowl in her hands, in the blink of an eye it is filled with blood. Fresh, hot blood that spills over the edge and onto her fingers. Beneath the cobwebs, the walls shine a deep wet red in the flickering candlelight.

ah this is what I have icons like this for

[enduresurvive]

Ellie stares at the bowl for only about a second after the blood hits her hands. She has no idea how it's possible or if it's real or if she's lost her mind, but it doesn't matter. She drops it, which doesn't seem to matter very much since there's suddenly just blood everywhere. She grabs for the knife with slick fingers again, though it's hard to hold it now.

"Fuck. Holy fuck. What the fuck," she says. She continues on like that because what else is there to say?

Time to grab that candle and run back for the door.

[abrightboy]

He shook his head and it wasn't clear if that was addressing the question or the assertion.

"We were disoriented when we woke up. Intentionally so," he said with some difficulty. "We might not be looking for a normal door; a lot of this building is metal. It might be more like a hatch."

He reached for the railing, trying to pull himself to his feet, but the section he was holding gave out and sent him sprawling back onto the stairs, lucky he had been pulling on it or he would have gone to the ground floor the fast way.

On his back on the stairs, he tossed the piece of railing in his hand over the side and it fell. Far enough that it took a moment for the clatter to reach their ears.

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a breath, scrubbing his hands over his face.

"Shut up," he implored... something. "Shut UP."

[tinstar]

"I looked for a hat-" The sudden sound of the railing break and Malcolm's fall stopped him. He saw it happen and had stepped forward but he was already too far away.

Well that looked like it hurt like hell.

Raylan walked over and down the steps enough that he was below Malcolm by one or two. Enough that he could stick out his hand with a gesture of his fingers. "C'mon. Nice and slow. We ain't got any other choice than lookin' again, no matter what we looked for the first time. Maybe we hit a button or somethin' - I wouldn't put that past this place either."

If Malcolm let Raylan help pull him up, Raylan would continue and guide Malcolm in against the wall. "You can use my shoulder if you need to steady yourself, just don't go shovein', else we'll get down a lot quicker."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looked at Raylan's hand for a moment, then took it, letting the taller man pull him to his feet. He fully intended to use the wall for support, but he was unsteady enough and it was uneven enough that, after a moment, he reached out and gripped Raylan's shoulder, putting a little weight on him.

"Sorry. This would be a lot easier with only symptoms of my problems or symptoms of withdrawal. Both at the same time is... a lot." And he gave a spot further down the stairs a withering look. "And he won't SHUT UP!" he shouted at it.

[tinstar]

He could take it and stepped slowly enough to match Malcolm's pace and stay the even one step ahead. There was a tactile counter in the back of his head that ticked up to 3 as Malcolm's hand landed and he glanced further down the stairs at whatever the smaller man might have been screaming at.

Nothing.

Raylan dropped his eyes back to the stairs. "What's he say?" He didn't know who 'He' was, but the question served to give him some sort of context on 'the way' Malcolm was, as he'd screamed before.

[abrightboy]

"He likes to think he's helpful." He looked down the stairs. "But he's not," he told the empty space pointedly. He looked at Raylan's profile just ahead of him. "I know he's not really here," he clarified. "He's a manifestation of an aspect of my subconscious." He frowned faintly. "The part that hates me, apparently," he added wryly.

[villagemod]

Treat the book with care, Quentin. It might not appreciate being manhandled.

Shelving the books again and again does not suddenly open a mysteriously hidden passage, but when one book is shelved with a bit more force than the others, the thus as it hits the back of the shelf is... different. There's an almost hollow sound from the wood.

[volunteertomatoes]

Holy shit.

"Oh my god."

The thunk is a tell tale sign of what he hopes is a false wall. Sure, this place is terrifying as all hell, but there's a bit of giddiness as he gently sets the book on the nearest table to pick up later.

"That was a shot in the dark." He's immediately moving to try to move the bookshelf in its entirely, first examining if it's wise to pull or push and on which end. He's going to look like an idiot, probably, but that's between him and the mysterious dream.

[waywardsister]

[ Well, shit. Claire has a sinking feeling in her stomach - the kind you get when you know you're about to run head first into disappointment and are gonna do it anyway.

Rinse and repeat then: She'll peek into the rooms, give them a quick once over to see if there are any differences. If not... to the end of the corridor it is. ]

[villagemod]

At the end of the corridor, the large black doors are unlocked, and going through them will present Claire with... the exact same sight. A dozen identical doors leading to a dozen identical rooms and another set of black doors at the end of the corridor.

[warfares]

( it doesn't take him long to realize that she hasn't followed. he casts his senses, again, wider this time, and is met by more of that oppressive silence.

she could be masking herself. she'd done so before ㅡ and, by all accounts, was quite adept at the skill if his months of chasing her had been any indication. it would be a cruel trick to play, considering.

fingers lift to rub at the bridge of his nose, a frustrated breath whistling through his teeth. he allows himself a moment to entertain the thought of leaving her to her fate and continuing on his own path. just a moment.

then, he turns and starts retracing his steps. )

[villagemod]

As they follow the paths, either alone or together, they will eventually notice something familiar. A particular tree, a collection of rocks, a certain unusual mark in the dirt... They are traveling in circles, whether intended or not.