021-023 » the ghosts of fallen leaves

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central/Western Mathias.
WHEN: Days 021-023
WHAT: A cold storm approaches.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: Plotting post over here!

RECOMMENDED ♫ Emily Kinney & Lauren Cohan "The Parting Glass"

DAYS 021-023
THE WORLD TURNS WHITE
“Are ye the ghosts of fallen leaves, O flakes of snow,
For which, through naked trees, the winds A-mourning go?”
— John Banister Tabb
The howling wind is what wakes the residents of Mathias each day now as the world turns slowly into a bleak stretch of white. Snow continues to fall in thick curtains of flakes that accumulate on trees and rooftops, swirling sideways in the gusts of wind that bow trees and whistle through any crack they can find. The drifts of snow grow taller against the buildings and the wind makes the already freezing temperatures feel bitterly cold.

By day 022, the far ends of streets begin to resemble the hazardous fog with how little becomes visible as the winds pick up. Buildings can still be discerned as dark shapes but the weather's warning becomes clear — a storm is coming. And by day 023, the storm arrives properly, the wind still screaming through the streets like a winter banshee announcing so many deaths to come. These conditions are far from hospitable and only the truly mad would be foolish enough to venture outside in weather such as this.


THE NEWLY ARRIVED
With an embrace of wintery white, Mathias offers a chilly welcome to its newest residents. They awake along the southern treeline bordering Mathias, near the small makeshift cemetery containing a handful of wooden markers erected without names or signifiers of those buried within. And not far from them is the schoolhouse, where in a snowdrift they will the frozen corpse of a young woman named Rey.

LIGHTS IN THE DARKNESS
“A lantern can give you light only when you light it”
— Munia Khan
When residents wake on the morning of day 021, they will find outside in the snow the abandoned lanterns of those shadowy spectres who have moved so silently through Mathias. Each nestled in a patch of frozen white outside their door, the lanterns are now cold to the touch, the half-burned candle within each one seeming to have been lit so very long ago. Inside the glass encasement is a small rolled piece of paper, upon which is written:

keep it lit
There is nothing more, and the prior owners of these lanterns will not return within these days.

There is one lantern waiting outside the building for each resident wherever they are sleeping — the exception for this is those who may have already claimed a lantern as their own. Removing a lantern from its resting place results in no apparent reaction, nor does lighting or not lighting it. However, whatever residents ultimately choose to do with these lanterns should be reported.

---

CONDITIONS UPDATE

— SNOW continues to fall, resulting over the three days in upwards of a foot of accumulation. The winds blow in gusts over 35 mph.

— 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.

— THE FOG has still receded from the town proper and much of the eastern and northern beach, with the path through the northern forest to the lighthouse still clear on day 021. On day 022, however, as the storm worsens, the fog returns to the paths in the forest, urging residents to stay huddled within the town proper or else.

— DISAPPEARANCES continue to plague the town. While Zed Martin has returned, Rey's corpse will be found in a snowdrift near the Schoolhouse; she disappeared on day 018.

— THE STRANGER is gone.

— THE SPECTRES are gone.

OOC UPDATES

— DISCOVERIES have been collected and collated for your review. Please note that this is OOC information only, put together for the purpose of helping you as players see connections and possibilities for CR and your own character's potential avenues of exploration and investigation. (If we are missing something, please report it so we can add it to the list.)

— AP REWARDS have a new option now — Ideas may be requested if you find yourself stuck. You may now claim up to 2 rewards per log: (1) idea and (1) other reward.

— SANITY may be regained in two ways: self-medication and treatment. In Mathias, this means such coping mechanisms as drinking or drugging oneself into a stupor that allows them to face their fears and issues, or talking to someone about those fears and issues. Since both of these will take some time, best get started. (A form will be added to the Sanity page.)

— REMINDERS — Don't forget about the bulletin board. Please continue reporting your updates to locations, plots, and discoveries. The map of Mathias has been added to the locations page for ease of reference. Make sure your character's sanity level is kept updated. Prospective players are still joining the TDM, so it's recommended to track new top-levels so you don't miss them.

navigation | faq | setting | mod contact

Comments

[notanemptymotto]

[ Helen turns her head to look at the voice that is familiar in accent, but that is regrettably all. She leans back on her ankles, the lantern in her hand, giving him a gentle expression.

Hello indeed, neighbor. ]

Oh, on the contrary. It's simply a far more retro design. [ Helen stands with the lantern nestled in her hands. ] Although, gathering from your tone, you're not one for the retro style.

[ Retro. The word makes her scoff slightly. She remembers living through these styles. ]

[cluing]

I'm sure there's plenty to be said about retro as opposed to classic or vintage.

[ But Sherlock isn't really the one that wants to get into it. Not now, anyway, but if the opportunity came up he'd probably enjoy the discourse. ]

Me? No. I prefer the modern, in every sense.

[notanemptymotto]

Hm. Straight lines and no sense of character. A very strict way of seeing the world.

[ She gives a small shrug before she gently shifts how she carries the lantern. ]

Have you been here long?

[cluing]

Character makes things messy. Just arrived today, in fact.

[ In regards to her question about how long he's been here. ]

I felt that, given the way the weather seems to progressing, it'd be in my best interests to find shelter. I don't think anyone will be returning to their homes any time soon.

[notanemptymotto]

Messy is interesting. [ A nod. ] This morning for me as well. Not the warmest welcome I've had. [ At that, she gestures to the snow behind him.

She turns to the door that is behind her. Her eyebrows raise slightly. It seems like the occupants could return at any moment... yet, she had yet to see someone in this town that would seem like a local. ]

Care to join me to find some tea?

[ Apologies to the locals could also come later. ]

[cluing]

[ Messy is annoying.

Normally he'd shun such an invitation. Sherlock enjoys tea as much as the next person, but usually alone. However - she's also just arrived, and perhaps he can find some sort of common ground between them that would bring them both to this place. ]

I'd be delighted.

[notanemptymotto]

[ She gently opens the door to the humble abode and steps inside. Her make shift hood comes down and she gently places the lantern on the small table beside the door. It seems very of the period -- which is to say older. Hm. ]

It looks rather like a New England town, doesn't it? Though, I'd think there would be more blues involved.

[cluing]

Most likely. The trees along the edge of town are particularly abundant in Maine, but until the snow melts and the flora can be examined, it's nearly impossible to pinpoint a state for certain.

[ Sherlock follows her inside, noting the home is quite similar to his in the sense that it's well maintained but abandoned without anything of value being brought with the occupants. ]

[notanemptymotto]

Maine. Hm.

[ She supposes it makes sense. Possibly New England, after all.

Helen looks over her shoulder at him. ]

Are you a scientist of sorts? Studying fauna isn't quite in someone's normal scope of hobbies.

[cluing]

Of sorts, yes. You'd be amazed at how useful an in-depth knowledge of flora and fauna may be. I'm particularly good at identifying muds, though not so much outside of Great Britain. Trees, though, trees are easy.

[ He sees himself into the kitchen, assuming that, if tea exists in this home, that seems the most likely of places. ]

[notanemptymotto]

Quite the hobby. Scientific career, by chance?

[ She follows after him, gently placing the lantern at the counter. A shift happens. She turns her head back to it, opening the small glass door attached to it. Out comes a small piece of paper.

keep it lit.

Helen blinks once and tilts her head. ]

Now, that is rather ominous.

[cluing]

Hmm? Oh no, all that laboratory work on someone else's schedule, how terribly mundane. I'm a consulting detective.

[ He decides not to bother adding on that he's the only one in the world and that he invented the job, because it doesn't seem to really matter here in the moment. He's not trying to impress her. ]

A fear tactic, most likely. I'm hoping to see exactly what it is that happens should we ignore it.

[ He's already checked out his lantern and left it where it stood. ]

[notanemptymotto]

Ah. Is there a particular field that they ask you to consult on?

[ Honestly, in her world? She knew the man that inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's adventures. The idea of a consulting detective isn't that odd to her. Especially when her protege had been it in some capacity now that he works for her and not the local police. ]

That is the scientific method, isn't it? Two controlled tests. One to see what happens if you leave it lit, and one to see what happens if you never light it. What about the third option?

[cluing]

Homicides, mostly. The so-called "unsolvable" ones.

[ Because, as far as Sherlock is concerned, nothing is unsolvable. Some things just require a bit more effort than others. ]

What might the third option be?

[notanemptymotto]

Ahh. So, a puzzle solver. Profiler. You're good at seeing the little details that pass most of us by.

[ Helen raises her eyebrows at that. Then, she gestures to the room. ]

What details do you see here?

[ She perks her eyebrows. ] What if you only leave it lit part of the time? A medium between both options.

[cluing]

I'd say that, as the note explicitly says to keep it lit, that only keeping it partially lit is as good as not lighting it at all. No one rewards partially good behaviour.

[ He raises his eyebrows at her in turn, and glances around the home. ]

A family with decent means, but not what we'd consider to be well off. No doubt the earners had reasonably paying salary jobs that allowed them to live comfortably but not luxuriously. If it wasn't for the dust and slight ill-repair, I'd say the home would be nearly too perfect a picture of domestic, small town life.