012-014 » even the air itself was grey

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central Mathias.
WHEN: Days 012-014
WHAT: The weather is behaving strangely. Again.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: Plotting post over here!

RECOMMENDED ♫ Michael Andrews "Liquid Spear Waltz"

DAYS 012-014
“The overcast skies had the colour of deadened stones, and seemed closer than usual, as though they were phlegmatically observing my every movement with their apathetic emptily blue-less eyes.”
—Simona Panova, “Nightmarish Sacrifice”

Rain has returned to Mathias. While those who remember the storms from nearly two weeks ago may fear reprisal of such tumultuous weather, this rain is far tamer. The cloudy grey skies let loose a steady drizzle that remains constant from start to finish, which is in itself, perhaps, a bit unusual. The patter of droplets against windows, small streams forming in the roads and on grass as the ground becomes saturated, all of it may seem normal to some, but a little too normal to others.

What is without question abnormal, however, is the sun. Though it cannot be seen distinctly behind the thick grey clouds, its light remains as constant as the rain throughout these three days. Hour after hour, regardless of the time of day, there is light in the sky. Unchanging, an inescapable reminder that Mathias is not home, and none who are brought here have any control over what will occur in this place.


NEW ARRIVALS
Once again, more unfortunate souls have been brought to Mathias by unknown means, deposited at the edge of the forest near the empty houses that tell of those who once lived in this strange little town. They may find themselves wandering through the trees until they encounter the strange fog that envelops the town, or stumbling upon the rotting remains of houses that have felt the passage of time more than others.

---

LOCATIONS
LIGHTHOUSE Residents will notice the lighthouse to the north of Mathias, situated on a cliff that is above the town level. Even the most observant individuals will not have noticed it before now, which might be quite unsettling to some. There is no path available to reach the lighthouse at this time, though residents are welcome to try — they will be blocked by fog in the forest and a sense of unease that becomes debilitating if they walk too far along the beach.

NO NEW LOCATIONS are available for exploration at this time. Residents are welcome to further explore available locations, including utilizing AP rewards at locations they may have previously explored.

CONDITIONS UPDATES

— CLOCKS continue to be unreliable. Some may keep irregular time at different rates, while others have ceased to work at all, each having stopped at a different time.

— VOICES are not openly haunting our residents, though they may still be occasionally encountered in the more heavily decayed buildings where some rooms seem to almost swallow whatever light tries to enter them.

— WEATHER conditions are both typical and atypical for late fall. Temperatures consist of chilly "sweater weather" days and nights that can dip below freezing — you don't want to be outside without a coat when the sun goes down. A constant light rain continues for all three days, only stopping on the night of the third day. And for all three days, there is constant cloudy grey sunlight, with the sun unable to be seen and tracked from behind the cloud cover. Darkness will return to Mathias on the third night when the rain stops.

— FOG continues to block the way of those wishing to travel further than the Town Hall, and all who venture into the forest will be met by its impenetrable wall after a few hundred yards. The fog will allow none to pass; those who try will find themselves overcome by fear and panic so intense, they can physically do nothing but flee back the way they came.

OOC UPDATES

— HOUSING LISTINGS now have a permanent home! A few of these may have been missed or information might have changed, so please do submit updates as needed, including if your character moves into a new location or if there are rooms still available at said location.

— NEW PLAYERS are still arriving with each new log, so make sure to keep an eye on our ooc intro post. (An easy way to do this is to track the post — click the bell icon, select More Options, and track when someone makes a new top-level.)

— INFORMATION may publicly be shared between characters at the bulletin board in the town hall. This is meant to be a permanent place for pieces of the Mathias puzzle to be shared and archived to both help information be shared ICly and to allow new players to easily dive into the mystery.

— THE CALENDAR has been updated through the end of the year. With the approaching holiday season, we will continue a lighter log schedule, but as always, players are welcome to create their own logs, conduct intensive investigators, and make more terrible decisions. (The mod is always happy to enable these shenanigans, never hesitate to reach out with ideas.)

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LOG?

HOUSING DESIGN/EXPLORATION

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Comments

[thering]

Doc keeps his head turned towards Negan as he moves. He seems to know where he is going well enough to not need to keep an eye out for landmarks or any signs of imminent danger.

"I would offer, but I am also an overstaying guest." Even if Raylan might not think of him in that way. Besides, the three bedrooms in the house they are staying in are currently occupied, and there are much nicer places to be spending the night than the garage.

"Perhaps you would like to consider the boarding house, should you want some company, or one of the vacated houses on Phillips Drive? They are all... abandoned. Only few are currently occupied."

[vampirebats]

"Oh, I'll find some place to kick up my heels, I'm sure." It's not like he's picky, really. Anywhere he can sleep without some undead fucker trying to eat him was all he really needed back home and here? Well, that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Well, I'm never opposed to some good company, but you know what? It's been a hell of a long time since I got to stay in an honest to God house. Maybe I'll check'em out. We get running water in this place?"

Because if he gets a motherfucking shower? He'll be happy as can be.

[thering]

"There is," he assures. "And electricity, too. The houses have functioning refrigerators and appliances, stocked with food. I doubt whoever was staying in them will be returning." He is not one to advocate for looting but, circumstances being what they are, it seems a waste not to salvage what they can, make the best of their situation.

They are down Phillips Drive now. It has been mere days, but he knows these streets now. He has come to expect to see familiar houses. And as they approach 1307 they can smell the fumes before they are able to read the handwritten signs pasted around warning people not to go inside.

"Best you stay out here." Doc won't be long, just ducking in quick to grab a bottle. Making homebrew is dangerous business, potentially explosive, and the house is not safe to hang around in.

[vampirebats]

"Well, holy shit... it's been a long time since I've had any of that. Sounds like a dream, if this rest of this place didn't give me the heebie jeebies." But even then, nothing's tried to eat him yet, so he can't say anything too bad. Not yet.

He nods when he's instructed to wait. "I'm not going anywhere."

He's come across enough homebrewing back home to know enough to leave that shit well enough alone. Hopefully no unfortunate explosions happen though.

[thering]

"So. What happened, if you do not mind me asking?" Doc asks when he emerges out the front door again, holding a full bottle of moonshine in one hand and closing the door behind him with the other. The way Negan talks about these creature comforts, he must have had them before and lost them somehow. There's not many scenarios in which all these nice things get taken away from you, and most of those scenarios make for interesting stories.

"Here." He offers the bottle over. It is not his intention to hold the drink hostage in exchange for information, so he doesn't want to give that impression. He is merely making conversation as they head further down Phillips Drive, coming up to a few vacant houses that Negan can take a pick from.

[vampirebats]

"Hm... something started going through the population. We thought it was a nasty flu, but then people started dying, started coming back. It all went to shit after that. Real quick. One day, we had everything, next day? Military's shooting down civilians, the phones are going out, power..."

End of the line for how things used to work.

He takes the bottle with a grateful grin. "Hey, thanks, man. You didn't have to give me this, but I appreciate it. I'll owe you one."

[thering]

"Hm." Sounds like nasty business, if you ask him. Ellie had described something similar, some kind of disease, only she had called it a fungus. And she failed to mention that people had died and subsequently come back from it.

"You are welcome. Sounds like you need it. And uh..." Doc flashes a half-frown and shrugs. "Perhaps you are better off here than back home." Silver linings and all for an otherwise shitty situation.

[vampirebats]

"Maybe. But I got people I need to get back to... soon as possible. Promised to keep them safe and I intend to do that." It's just Negan's maybe starting to realize that there's no easy path back, no way to be sure what's happening back home.

Shit, maybe he does need a drink after all. "Is there anything I should be aware of around here? I don't like to get taken off guard, you know?"

[thering]

"Gon' be difficult from here." Doc understands that sentiment though. Many people are in the same shoes, himself included. "We know nothing about how we can be getting back." So far the information has been sparse and they have been fragmented in terms of where they live, what they know.

"The store kind of..." he purses his lips and tilts his head. "Replenishes itself. Sometimes you may hear voices. It is normal, apparently. Best not to follow their instruction. There are no locals that we have been able to find, so. Anything that has not been claimed by others is yours to take." He hasn't really prepared any sort of orientation, though he probably should. Negan is not the first newcomer he has greeted.