030-035 » a-hunting they will go

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central Mathias.
WHEN: Days 030-035
WHAT: Unexpected changes come to Mathias, followed by a Hunt.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: Plotting post over here! And shiny new CR meme too.

RECOMMENDED ♫ Marco Beltrami "It Hears You"

DAYS 030-032
A CHANGE IN CIRCUMSTANCES
The day after the earthquake dawns like any other in Mathias Township. The sky is a light winter grey, clouds obscuring even a hint of true sunlight, and snow falls off and on in dustings that rest atop the piles left from the storm a few days past. The air is bitterly cold, a gentle wind feeling like ice in the sub-freezing temperatures, and residents should be grateful that the earthquake didn't do more damage than just breaking a few household objects.

It seems like business as usual. It will not be until the second day that residents will begin to notice the difference.

The General Store's shelves have not been restocked. Items in kitchens have not replenished in the passing night. Food from the previous day has aged as normal, and as the days continue to pass, things will begin to grow stale or become moldy as they would in the outside world. Two days pass, three, four... Still, the food does not return.

Perhaps rationing should be considered.



NEW ARRIVALS
The newest arrivals to Mathias will wake on the snowy beach near the Grey Gull restaurant. They should probably hurry inside and get warmed up before hypothermia sets in or something finds them out in the cold...

---

DAYS 033-034
IN THE NIGHT, IN THE DARK
These days, too, seem to be simply more of the same. The days are cold and grey, the food does not replenish, and they continue to be trapped in this eerie town. But when night falls, the story changes.

An hour after sunset, it begins. Scratching sounds at walls, like something searching for a way inside. The ominous feeling of something out there in the darkness, moving through the town, stalking through the night. The inability to find any sign of something being there at all. It's enough to make anyone feel like they're going mad. To happen just one night, it could be a fluke, a trick of the mind as so many things here seem to be. But to happen a second night, with more intensity... There is something there, or they are going mad.

It's hard to know which to hope for.

DAY 035
THE HUNT
This day is not like the others. There is something in the air, a dreadful anticipation that rises inside them all as the hours pass. Every moment that brings them closer to nightfall brings it closer too — if only they knew what it was.

An hour after sunset, the Hunt begins.

Those who are outside at this time are gripped by such terror that they can do nothing but run and be chased. They are prey and the predators that stalk them with steadfast determination are creatures never meant to be seen by mortal eyes. All lights outside go out, from streetlamps to flashlights, and the world descends into deeper darkness, only the clouded moonlight and curtained glow from illuminated houses lighting their way as they flee.

Those who are inside at this time are trapped in their safe havens. No doors or windows can be opened from within, nothing can be broken or forced, and they can do nothing but wait and listen while their friends and neighbors are pursued by creatures whose very presence they can feel in their bones and whose growls echo in the night, entwined with the screams of their victims.

In the thick darkness, these creatures appear little more than shadows, large and looming, deadly and unknown, but in rare glimpses in scattered pieces of light, the Hunted are met with a sight they cannot comprehend and will never be able to properly describe or fully remember, for these creatures cannot be fathomed within the limits of the human mind.

The Hunt lasts for one hour exactly and then the creatures vanish into the darkness, leaving only fear and death in their wake.


ABOUT THE HUNT
— Players may choose to have their resident be one of the Hunted or a Witness to the Hunt. None are exempt from the the Hunt and all will be affected by it in some way.

— Those who are hunted must flee the creatures or they will die. The Hunted may move throughout the town at any speed, for the creatures may choose to move both quickly or slowly, but the creatures will always inevitably find them. The only escape is to seek shelter — the creatures will not enter a building where living people are, but they will follow the Hunted into buildings where there are no other living people.

— Those who are trapped within buildings at the start of the Hunt are unable to open doors and windows from within, but the Hunted may open them from outside in order to take shelter in these safe havens.

— Those who are hunted are unable to fight back against the creatures until the moments just before their death. This is due the creatures only having physical form in these final moments, rendering any attacks against them useless, whether they be physical, magical, or psychic in nature. Attempts may be made in those moments before death, but by then it is too late — the prey has been caught.

— When one of the Hunted is caught, there is no escaping, there is only screaming in madness as death falls painfully upon them. No one can come to their aid and their body will be found afterward, the bloody remains ripped and torn apart by something that cannot be identified. Large sprays and pools of blood stain the area around the corpse, turning the snow sickening shade of crimson that darkens as the hours pass.

— After the creatures have vanished, there are no signs of them to be found in the snow. There are no tracks or marks of any kind save for the carnage of the fresh kill.

— Those who have been sacrificed to the Hunt will revive two days later on Day 037. The conditions in which they revive will be detailed later, but there will be only minor lasting physical damage from the Hunt.

— The Hunted will lose 5 points of sanity. Those Witnesses who find the corpses will lose 2 points of sanity, or 3 points if they are not unaccustomed to this type of sight. Others who are merely Witnesses to the sounds of Hunt may choose to lose 1 point of sanity as a result of the experience.

---

CONDITIONS UPDATE

— THE WEATHER is fairly typical of a northern winter. The sky is almost always grey, the temperature is below freezing during the day (and colder at night), and a light snow falls intermittently. The sun sets early in the evening. Residents should bundle up when going outside and not venture too far into the dark night...

— THE FOG remains blocking the paths in the forest beginning a few dozen yards past the treeline, urging residents to stay huddled within the town proper, and it also now blocks the northern section of town, beginning just past Hill Lane, before where residents know the chasm in the earth to be between Hill and Stine Road. Venturing into the fog is ill-advised.

— DISAPPEARANCES continue. Sherlock Holmes is still missing, and Phil Coulson, John Constantine, Zed Martin, and Helen Magnus have vanished as well.

---

OOC NOTES

— FOOD will be restocked in some fashion in the next full log, don't worry. We aren't going full survival mode yet.

— DAY 036 The next log will cover Day 36 only and will include the locations of deaths and any corpse burials that occur the night of Day 35 or are planned for Day 36. (There will be prompts included for both the "living" and the "dead" in this single day log.) Please submit all information by Wednesday, Feb 17.

— MOD STATUS It's mostly just Amy steering this ship for now, so things will probably be pretty slow for a while. Apologies in advance, and please don't feel shy about pinging me if you're stuck waiting for something.

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Comments

Eliot Spencer | Leverage

[likeknives]

Plotting post

Day 031 - 032 OTA

[likeknives]

A.

[The food hasn't replenished.

Still being new to this town, the concept of food just replenishing is pretty new to him. Honestly, he really was expecting that one day it would just stop. Except now that it finally has, they're in for some serious problems if they don't get this sorted. If the food truly doesn't come back, their survival is measured in weeks once the last scrap of food is eaten. If they can be smart about this, they have a chance of extending that literal deadline longer.

Eliot can be found puttering around town, searching every nook and cranny he can find. He does his best to leave no stone unturned, literally, He's taking notes, and trying to find places to hoard food, and separate it out based on the number of people in town.

You might find him searching, taking notes, or going in and out of the Grey Gull muttering to himself. Sometimes he's lucky and he can find a package of saltines that someone's missed or a bag of jerky tucked under his arm.]

B.

All right, listen up.

[It sounds like he's gathered in front of a large group of people but it seems like he's simply tracked down you, in particular.

Good luck.]

If we don't get our act together we're in for a world of hurt. So there ain't any negotiation on this. We either do this, or we all die. Got it?

[He's just. Very intense.]

Now. Are you hoarding chocolate or not?

[It really looks like he might beat someone up for chocolate.]

31a

[revvedup]

[ max pops in and out of the grey gull, but hasn't been there in the past couple of days. she's here today in hopes of finding cream for the coffee in the boarding house, but when she gets there there's someone she hasn't met yet already rummaging around the kitchen, stacking packages, bottles, and jars and taking notes as he mutters to himself.

it's...weird. and the possibilities of why he could be taking inventory of everything in the restaurant don't feel good, but she doesn't want to consider them yet. mathias has enough horrors already. ]

Hey. You got any cream among what you've counted already?

[likeknives]

[Eliot looks up, still distracted by the inventory he's taking. He frowns and pauses, counting something in his mind before digging through a small pile and handing over a small container.]

Powdered cream so far. Don't use a lot, that's all I found and we can use that to flavor some meals and make things stretch.

[He seems quite serious--even more so than he would be on a normal day, as if the container he's handing over is precious and worth its weight in gold.]

sorry about the delay!

[revvedup]

[ max takes the container, but frowns at the way he's talking about it, her eyes sweeping over what's already been set out on the counter and what he seems to be gathering and taking note of. after a minute, she sets the container back on the counter. ]

I'm guessing the stock didn't replenish itself this week. [ which is...not good. ] How bad is it looking?

no worries at all!

[likeknives]

[He pauses while he's sorting through a couple of small boxes. He's not an overly anxious person--overly cautious, yes. But even now he looks worried.]

It ain't lookin' too great.

We have enough food to last us for a bit, but with the amount of people here and in this weather? We're gonna burn through it.

<3

[revvedup]

[ max falters a little at that information, looking over what he's already gathered before looking back at him. ]

You need help taking the inventory? [ she can help out here and maybe go back to take stock of what's in the boarding house. ]

031-B

[ghosthuntuk]

[Melanie isn't sure who's talking to her, but the no-nonsense of his tone makes her more curious for a moment, long enough to ignore that he's come at her, full-stop, from absolutely nowhere near as she could tell, to apparently ambush her.]

What on earth are you talking about? Do what? [She half-snaps, voice pinched. Honestly, why do men always think someone knows what's going on their brains, without them actually putting it into words?

Aaaand then there's....the rest.

Everything shifts to flat annoyance that's obvious, even behind her sunglasses.] Really? Chocolate. That's what's life or death to you?

[likeknives]

Yes. Yes, you know how much energy chocolate gives?

[Not to mention how delicious it is, but still.]

They used to give chocolate out as emergency field rations in the Army. Of course, it's not like your regular ol' candy chocolate, they mixed it with oat flour and other stuff. Some of it was specially formulated so it wouldn't melt in tropical weather.

[Which is not their problem right now.]

Anyway, what I'm sayin is, that I need chocolate so I can mix it into some other stuff so that I can make our version of emergency field rations. So yeah, it is a matter of life or death.

[So there.]

[ghosthuntuk]

I don't eat much of it, really. [She shrugs slightly.

The rest though, is intriguing. Her eyebrows arch upward over the edge of her sunglasses.] Emergency rations. You know how to make them, then? Interesting... Though... I don't have any chocolates I'm holding out on. Is it all gone from the store? I know things are... low. Don't like that at all.

[So, it's actually good someone knows how to cook up something like this, all things considered.] Can you make these field rations out of anything else?

[likeknives]

A little. Never made 'em before, but I can make it work in a pinch. And I haven't seen much else, unless other people managed to grab 'em before things started gettin' low. So yeah. Things are gettin' scarce.

[He frowns, crossing his arms, trying to think. The lack of chocolate is a problem, but he might be able to come up with some kind of alternative.]

Peanut butter, maybe. I need somethin' to serve as a medium, to bind the other ingredients together. Peanut butter would keep pretty good. I could get some oats and almonds and make some energy bars.

[ghosthuntuk]

Though if anyone has a nut allergy, that won't do much good... [She points out thoughtfully.] But I've got a jar of peanut butter, if you want it. I don't mind contributing to your cause.

Day 034 OTA

[likeknives]

[It's more of the same for him. More rationing, more trying to figure this thing out. He's in a more foul mood than usual, but he's stressed about trying to protect everyone else.

The scratching is back for a second night and he can't stand it.

After his experience with the fog, after seeing the impossible and feeling the impossible, he's prepared for this to be something bad. Something big and bad, probably. He's a skeptic but even above that, he's practical and if there is something out there, if the supernatural is real and is a thing, then that meant he had to do everything to prepare himself to fight it.

...if you could even fight this.

He's in the Grey Gull tonight, as much as he's worried about getting trapped in here again, it's become somewhat of a familiar place and safe haven. He slams the door open when he hears one particularly loud skrrrrrrriiiiiiitch.]

The hell is going on out there!?

[prevenance]

( well, that's certainly one way to be greeted. elijah stops short at the angry, loud greeting before he looks over his shoulder to see if maybe he's speaking to someone else.

no, it's just elijah there and once he realizes that, he tilts his head. )

Nothing good, I assure you. ( he thinks he recognizes the man from his time trapped in the grey gull before so he nods. ) You're hearing things too, then?

[likeknives]

Hearin' things?

[He calms down, just a little, taking a step back.]

Yeah, guess you could say that. But I'm not hearin' things, those noises--they're real, I swear it.

[Unless he's losing his mind. At this point he's not entirely sure what is going on with this town, or that they all might be collectively losing their minds.]

[prevenance]

I believe you.

( because he's been hearing things for awhile as well. it's different than the noises he'd heard while they'd been in the grey gull but no less concerning.

he looks around, trying to find some kind of source for the sounds but all he sees is snow and the houses in the distance. )

Have you seen anything accompanying those noises?

[likeknives]

[Eliot releases a small breath he didn't even realize he was holding.]

Nah, man. I haven't seen a damn thing. You?

[He looks around too at the same time, squinting in the dark, but still.]

There aren't even any tracks in the snow. What gives?

[prevenance]

Besides yourself and a few other people that I recognize?

( elijah shakes his head. if there's something out there, they're doing a very good job of disguising themselves. he should be able to see it considering what he is but he's seen nothing. )

There has to be a source for the sound though. I'd thought to look here since there were similar sounds when we were trapped here. Maybe this was the source.

( somehow. )

Day 34

[moderatelymaladjusted]

[Things are twisting. Outside. And in. Quentin's stomach has been in knots for hours, the food at the house is running dangerously low, even with what he can scavenge or beg for, it's still running low and there's two of them. Three, if you count Melanie, and why not? Why not count the blind girl from next door, because it's not like she can go out as often as Quentin can.

He's searching further and further out, going in to building with people in them, if only to ask. And ask, and ask-- for food, for help, for some way for this to stop. The scratching at the walls and the feeling of someone, or something watching him when he hurries down the dark streets.

That's why he's currently pacing the kitchen... area? Of the Grey Gull and trying to not just go straight to ransacking the cupboards. Because other people need food, too and there's just. A line. That he can't cross.

Yet.

Pacing because someone has to come back, right? If they live here, if they're still alive and why-- the scratching takes on a fervor pitch, winding up like nails on a chalkboard and then-- BOOM!

Quentin turns to the now open door, hands outstretched and fingers already twitching.]

HEY!

[likeknives]

[Eliot doesn't jump but he's close to it, the HEY nearly startling him as much as the awful noises. He whirls around and points at Quentin, torn between yelling and just growling in frustration at--well, everything, everything just sucking really bad right now.]

You heard that too! Don't tell me you didn't!

[It's almost accusatory. Or mostly because he doesn't want to be the only person hearing those things because it would mean that he's losing his mind.]

Day 035 - OTA + Closed

[likeknives]

A. OTA

[He's been hunted before.

He knows this feeling, knows what it's like when someone bigger, badder, and stronger is after you and will stop at nothing to see you dead. He knows the fear, knows the sheer and utter fear of making a mistake in your escape--because one mistake, even just one slip of the foot, being one second too slow, taking one wrong turn--could make a difference between life or death. The familiar adrenaline is coursing through him, and he falls back on his training. It's strange, how easily his old self keeps coming back and fitting like a glove.

Should he be worried that it's always so easy?

Breathe in, breathe out. Take sight of your surroundings. Locate movement. Locate sound. Locate scents.

And for the love of all that's holy, don't make a sound.

This isn't the same, though. The ones chasing him before, they may have been shadows, but they had names. They had breakfast in the morning, they preferred coffee or tea, they exercised, and some of them even paid taxes.

Whatever these were, they sure didn't pay taxes.

The only thing Eliot can do right now is work with the fear, and get everyone he sees to a safe haven as soon as possible.

He spies someone up ahead in the darkness--why is it so dark--and he waves his hands, keeping low, trying to draw their attention. It's a low, whispered hiss.]

Hey! Behind you!

B. Closed to Daisy and Carter

[It's been a long night. He's covered in mud and snow, his clothes soaked through at this point with sweat and melted snow, the steam coming off him and his breath, he's sure, is making him far easier to see by...the predators. Whatever they were.

There's another empty building ahead. He squints, trying to see the address. 1305, maybe, over on Phillips--maybe, if this is even Phillips. It's so dark. There's nobody inside right now which meant no good for staying inside--these things just followed you in--but maybe he could rest here, catch a breather. It wouldn't do him or anybody any good if he got too exhausted and ended up twisting an ankle 'cause he got careless. And then he'd be a sitting duck.

He pushes the door open, gingerly, trying not to make any noises or sudden movements as he slips into the living room.

He could only hope that the place was empty.]

B.

[setthetone]

[The place is not empty.

Or at least not anymore because Carter comes storming in through the back door only moments later. Unlike Eliot, however, he's quick about it and he's loud. Look, panic does that to you. He's out of breath, snow dropping from his hair and shoulders. There are bruises and scratches on his face, telling the story of someone who slipped several times and fell down at least one slope trying to get away from these things.

Before he can even take note of Eliot, he dives and disappears behind the couch to cower there. The small end table topples over noisily and then his ragged, terrified breathing rings out uncomfortably loud from his hiding place.]

[chuju]

[ No, the place is very much not empty. Needing just a few minutes of respite from the freezing cold that clings to every wet patch on her clothing, Daisy found temporary refuge in a random house on a street she couldn't even name. By now, she knows most of this side of town like the back of her hand, but she'd gotten turned around somewhere along the way in the darkness and it had been too risky to double back to get her bearings.

The front door opening is almost missed from her spot in the kitchen where she's sipping at a bottle of water, but the almost crashing cacophony following the opening of the back door absolutely gets her attention. Recapping the bottle, she and it quickly and carefully move through to the living room in the darkness, ginger steps keeping her wet boots from making too much noise. ]

[likeknives]

[He picked the one damn place in town that's having a party.

He practically jumps, jolts like a cat when Carter comes crashing through the house--clearly he's had a time of it, what with the bruises and scratches on his face but now he's hiding behind a couch and then there goes the table--]

Jeez, what's wrong with you!?

[It's a low hiss, quiet. His annoyance is so great that he's absolutely going to speak out loud to address it.]

How the hell are you even still alive!?

[How can anyone this clumsy survive out there?

At least he doesn't notice Daisy at first or the sound of her footsteps, his attention fully focused on Carter and his disastrous existence.]

[setthetone]

Mr. Spencer? I-is that you?

[There is some shuffling behind the couch and then Carter peeks out over the backrest, his eyes wide and panicked. At least he's mindful (or terrified) enough not to raise his voice, the words coming out in a ragged whisper. He gestures over at the door, hand trembling.]

T-there's something out there! It, it, it was chasing me and all the lights went out and I didn't know where to go and it's so fast and then I saw-- I saw-- I don't know what I saw!

[He knows he did see something but it's impossible to remember, to make sense of, and it leaves him with both a headache and a strange, lingering sense of wrongness, like he... bruised his mind or injured it somehow.]