villagelogs | 062 » that moment of experience / part i

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central/Southern/Western Mathias
WHEN: Day 062
WHAT: A storm rains destruction upon the town.
WARNINGS: (PM this account to have a warning added!)
NOTES: Plotting post over here! Part II details are below.

RECOMMENDED ♫ Deadly Avenger "Creeper"

DAY 062
THAT MOMENT OF EXPERIENCE
“A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one
chooses that moment of experience from which to
look back or from which to look ahead.”
— Graham Greene
The day begins like any other might. The clouds occasionally part to give glimpses of the sun, offering a bit of hope that the hours might pass without incident. It is a hope that is soon dashed, however, for midday brings with it a suddenly darkening sky. Those near the beach will be able to see the ocean churning as all light seems to be bled from the day, the sky darkening into a purplish-black more quickly than is natural, the process taking a mere ten minutes from start to finish.

And then it begins.

The rain is so heavy and pouring so fast that the ground cannot take it all in, sending rivers down streets and leaving lawns as lakes. The winds blow in gusts so strong that they could knock someone over, and the lightning that arcs brightly through the sky is immediately followed by thunder that shakes the town to its core, the tremors almost reminiscent of the earthquakes that plagued the town only days ago.

For some, the storm will be another nuisance of mother nature, forcing them to remain wherever they were before its sudden approach. But for others, it will be far more than that, for this storm is seeking revenge on those who sought to destroy the town. Destruction will rain down and it will not stop until its vengeance is satisfied.

THE NEW ARRIVALS
The newest arrivals to Mathias will wake up on the beach near The Grey Gull. It's a bit chilly out with their wet clothes, but surely there's something to help warm them inside the restaurant. If nothing else, the cowboys' homemade moonshine should do the trick.

ABOUT THE STORM
The storm will begin at midday and last until late into the night, only calming in the early hours of the morning. The heavy rain will flood the streets, though it will not be enough to flood the buildings themselves (except as noted below), and the winds and thunder will shake the town with such strength that it will almost seem as if the town is trying to tear itself apart.

But this is not a simple storm. For those residents who took part in any way in the destruction of the Town Hall, History Museum, or Stoker Park house, they will find the storm will destroy their shelter in some fashion. This can include broken windows, caved-in roofs, flooding from the rain, or even lightning striking the building. The details are up to player choice but something will be damaged by the storm.

— All damage to buildings will be repaired by the dawn of the following day as if it never happened at all. There is no way to witness this process taking place.
— If a resident is sheltering in a shared living space with others who did not take part in the destruction of the town, you may choose to have only your character's section of that location damaged. However...
— The storm's focus will follow the resident if they move to another area or location, meaning that the new location will also suffer damage in some way.
— Only those who took part in the town destruction in some way will be targeted by the storm, but innocent bystanders can be caught up in the situation as well.

CONDITIONS UPDATE

— THE WEATHER conditions remain fairly typical for early fall: warm days and cool nights. It feels almost like spring arriving except that there fewer red and orange leaves on the ground and more of them oddly returning to the trees and slowly fading to green. It's like watching one of those nature documentaries that have a timelapse of the seasons, only it's going in reverse.

— THE FOG has retreated from some areas!
— Residents may now wander the southern stretch of the forest surrounding Mathias Township — it is possible to leave the paths but potentially unwise to do so.
— The fog has also retreated farther into the western section of town, now stretching across town between Stine Road and Shelley Drive. This has revealed the Chasm in the earth that stretches from one side of town to the other between Stine and Hill Lane.
— Access to the northern section of the forest is still blocked beginning a few dozen yards past the treeline; this section of fog will urge residents to stay huddled within the town proper by inducing a physical reaction of panic and fear.

— DISAPPEARANCES continue! Ellie has vanished while others have returned.

— ALCOHOL supplies have run dry, save for any dregs that have been squirreled away by individual residents. Moonshine can still be acquired by those in desperate need.

OOC NOTES

— NEW MAP Thanks so much to Scy for this amazing new map of Mathias!

— PROJECT HELP Your mod needs help with some projects!

— PART II The next part of the log series will be have characters divided up (by OOC choice, not IC) into groups, so be sure to sign up for one asap. Anyone who doesn't make the deadline will be automatically assigned to an available spot.

— UPDATES Don't forget to report updates as they come up! Changes to locations (like toppling a few bookshelves in the library), big plots you have coming up that will affect the game (parties, major property destruction, etc), or exciting discoveries that may tie into the game's mythology (even the things provided by the mod) are very helpful to have in one place so relevant page updates can be made. IC events are also helpful to know about in advance so they can be included in the log write-ups.

— MOD STATUS The usual reminder that it's just Amy steering this ship, so things will are going to be pretty slow for a while. Apologies in advance, and please don't feel shy about pestering me if you're stuck waiting for something. (All outstanding matters will be taken care of in the next few days!)

navigation | faq | locations | report updates

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ugh. She races after him, spitting rain out of her mouth as she speaks.

"If I couldn't avoid dangerous flying things on my own, I would have died a long time ago."

"That is true," he concedes. He rushes through the door of 1307 and, as Callisto joins him, the bay window of the living room blows in. He glances over there for just a moment, then he heads to the corner of the room and pulls the hatch open. No time to get a ladder. He turns and lowers himself down, hanging there for a moment before letting go and landing on his feet at the bottom. He pulls out his phone and shines the light so Callisto can see where she's jumping.

Callisto hisses something under her breath in the direction of the window, then leaps down through the hatch without preamble, landing in a roll before getting to her feet.

"Yes, and--" She cuts herself off, distracted by the phone and the light coming from it. "What is that?"

Whatever it is, she doubts he'll be able to name it in Greek - it looks wholly unfamiliar.

He looks at it and looks at her.

"....Candle?" he suggests uncertainly.

"Is it hot?"

Without waiting for an answer, she reaches out and pokes the screen.

“It’s...” the light goes off. “Not.” He turns it back on. “Lightning candle. Captured lightning.”

In response, she pulls a cheap plastic lighter out of her knife sheathe and gives it a flick - but of course, it's soaked, and doesn't turn on.

"At least your 'fire' works," she muses, then turns to face the gloomy tunnel yawning ahead of them. "Come on, let's go. We might as well explore while we're down here."

“My fire has time then stops. Needs... new lightning every day.”

There’s a rumble and dust falls from the ceiling. He looks around warily.

“Not that way,” he says, pointing in one direction. “Ends. Go there,” he points down the other one. “There is town.”

"It's awful down here," she says, wrinkling her nose, but it doesn't stop her from continuing down the indicated path. "Too much like Tartarus. You know, if whoever can cause a storm because they're angry at me, they might be able to cause earthquakes, too. We could end up in a cave-in."

Malcolm shakes his head. "There have been earthquakes. Nothing happens to these caves. I think they use them. I think they use them for their 'magic'."

"There's a cultist here," she says, very seriously. "Is he likely to be involved? Is blood magic common in this town?"

"A cultist? ...Do you mean the Shadow Man?" Malcolm asks. "I don't know blood magic."

"He said his name was Elijah. I found him drinking the blood of one of his sacrifices."

Translation: she came across him in The Gray Gull and made a lot of assumptions.

“Elijah? He’s a...” Vampire. He considers it for a second. “Blood eater. He needs blood to live. Who did he sacrifice?”

"I don't know. Have you found any other dead bodies?"

Malcolm looks at her. “He promised he wouldn’t kill anyone,” he tells her and that sounds weak even to his ears. So “He knows he’s outnumbered here.”

She shrugs carelessly. Her intention hadn't been to tattle, but she also doesn't care about protecting Elijah's secrets either, and the (entirely correct, in this case) possibility of a willing, still-living blood donor doesn't even occur to her.

"Well, he got blood from somewhere. Maybe he got lucky and found one that had already been killed."

“Did you see the body or only the blood?” He clarifies.

"Only the blood. He was drinking it out of a cup."

"He might have a person to give it," Malcolm tells her. "He was with a girl at the town building before."

"You say he's not a cultist, but that sounds like something cults do to me," she retorts. "Some young virgins willingly choose sacrifice."

She slows for a moment as they reach a fork in the tunnel, then randomly picks a direction and surges ahead, though it may or may not be the direction that Malcolm wants. Realizing that his incomplete knowledge of Greek might lead him to not know what a virgin is, she adds in a few synonyms: "Young maidens. Young girls."

“I think she’s his.... bride?”

Did they have a word for ‘girlfriend’ in ancient Greek? It never came up in his studies, but ‘bride’ sounded more savoury than ‘concubine’.

"All right, not a virgin, then," she says breezily. "If he needs blood to live, is he not human?"

“He is not human,” Malcolm tells her. “He was a human and he changed.” If he understands vampires properly.

"Did it happen here?"

From all that she's learned, the possibility seems likely enough.

(no subject)

abrightboy - 2021-06-04 02:52 (UTC) - Expand