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.

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Comments

[prevenance]

You act as if that is...uncommon here? Do some people really want to just live their lives here without doing something to get back to where they were?

( he dosn't see how any life lived here would be fulfilling. you were apart from everything you knew, dealing with a town that quite possibly would kill you.

elijah shakes his head. )

But yes, I am willing to do something. Whatever it takes, actually.

[hellblaze]

Most people aren't willing to go to extreme lengths for answers. Most people sleepwalk through life without knowing what monsters really lurk in the shadows. Some will look through paperwork, think there's not much there, and not think to put a bloody hole in the library floor.

[ he has a point to make, which is, most people don't dig enough. they don't go far enough. they can't fight evil at its core--and that's fine. that's why people like him exist. they're the ones that kick the demons in the bollocks so everyone else can sleepwalk through life. ]

I got a mate, name's Coulson. We've been putting together a way for information to start flowin' between everyone in the town. I'll drop your name to him. That way if we find somethin' that looks like it might need a new set of eyes... we can rope you in.

[prevenance]

There could be a myriad of reasons for that, I suppose. Some might not possess the skill to go to those lengths, some might be scared of it, some might be...

( he pauses and shrugs one shoulder slowly. )

The reasons don't matter, though. People will do what they feel they can do. And I can do this. So please, drop my name and I'll do what I can to assist.

[hellblaze]

Most can't handle the life I - and presumably you - live. The truth of reality would snap their minds. Those sorts of people are here in this town. Normal people, living nine-to-five jobs. The sorts that don't know what really walks in the dark.

The ones that inevitably get feasted on and people like me need to go in and kick their sorry asses back to Hell or whatever bloody dimension they came from.

[ just as a way to explain some details about who he is. what he does. the business card is one thing, but, always good to know more. ]

I will. The more people we've got looking into things deeper? The more we might figure out where the hell the people in this town went... and how to get back to our realities.

[prevenance]

I'm still getting my bearings so it might take me some time to get up to speed but —

( elijah trails off and then nods. he wants to be out of here and if that means offering his services and using his skills, he will. )

I don't intend to be stuck here for long so anything I can do.

( it's the most altruistic he's going to be. )

[hellblaze]

Well, here's to hoping we're not here another bloody month, huh?

[ a bitter smirk touches his face. yeah. he doubts they're going anywhere soon. still, let's not burst the bubble of our new neighbor. ]

I'll be sure to give you a ring, mate.

[prevenance]

Thank you.

( elijah eyes him and then nods, getting to his feet and buttoning his jacket. )

I'm sure I'll be around should you need me. There's nowhere else I can go, after all.

( ha ha, he's hilarious. )

[hellblaze]

You could just not get up in the morning.

[ that smirk turns into a grin before he winks. he takes a few steps back and turns, walking back to the house. ]