villagelogs | 062 » that moment of experience / part i

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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

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[ she understands, it just doesn't make any sense. or it wouldn't if they weren't where they are. max looks back at the house, then back at the other woman, mouth pressed together in thought. ]

Okay, uh...maybe we can find somewhere else for you to wait this out.

Yes, but--

[Whatever she's about to say doesn't end up being said, because at just that moment, honest-to-god lightning hits a tree not twenty feet away from them. Callisto whips around, the electric energy making the hair on her arms stand on end - but rather than running for cover, she switches back to Greek and yells at it.]

Oh, come on! If you're targeting me, show yourself and say something about it!

Jesus -

[ max leaps back and turns from the lightning as it strikes, in stark contrast to the woman, who starts screaming back in greek again. the exact words are difficult for her to make out, but she can discern 'targeting', which - what the hell? ]

What do you mean, targeting? Why would you be targeted?

[The tone is clear, even if the English words aren't; the woman is asking what's happening, and Callisto is all too happy to tell her.]

Look across the street.

[She says, pointing at the blessedly peaceful (in comparison, anyway) 1301 and 1303. The storm is raging everywhere, but some houses are definitely getting more battered than others.]

It's following me. Everywhere I go, roofs cave, windows break, and trees fall. The trees--

[She points to the smoldering, lightning-struck tree, switching yet again to her rudimentary English.]

This, the forest. Down on me, everywhere.

[ the message she's trying to get across is made pretty clear, even if max can't understand everything she's saying: the storm is more destructive wherever she happens to be. which doesn't make sense, but given that they're in a town where nothing makes sense, that's not altogether surprising. ]

Why? [ she responds in greek again, trying to meet the woman where she is, though it won't do them much good if the woman doesn't understand the dialect she speaks in. ]

[That just happens to be a word that's different in modern Greek versus Ancient Greek, and so Callisto stares at her in confusion for a moment - able to guess at what Max is asking, but still baffled by how different their versions of the language are.]

Tíi.

[She corrects her - not out of any strongly-held beliefs about dialectal superiority, but just because it really doesn't take much to bring out her bratty side.]

I don't know! I don't know.

[Said in both languages, just to cover all her bases. Peering through the driving rain at the supplies that Max is carting, she asks:]

What is this? For who?

[ max is confused enough to not realize what she's doing at first - it clicks after a moment or two that she's being corrected, and her mouth purses (she can be plenty bratty herself). but then callisto speaks in english again, and then she asks her a question, about the box she's holding. which she'd kind of forgotten she'd been holding with the storm attacking them.

or maybe just her. ]

For people waiting out the storm.

In The Grey Gull?

[She comes closer, and will peer in if it has an open top.]

[ the top is half-open, since she's trying, mostly in vain, to keep anything inside from getting wet. it mostly contains blankets and a few boxes of food. ]

Yeah, probably. Once I get over there.

It's going to get soaked.

[She says critically, giving the lid a poke.]

Ugh. It already is. Why are you even bothering? Don't they already have food over there?

[A pause, and then in English:]

Why don't The Grey Gull have food?

[ this time only a few words are able to get picked out, but she can still read the tone. ]

They might, but people holing up there might not be able to cook it if the power goes out.

[If the... what. This is a double whammy: she's unfamiliar with the word and unfamiliar with the concept, because while she's taken advantage of electricity while in town she's never actually had it explained to her what it is or how it works.]

I'll come with you.

[She decides, tapping the box and gesturing Max forward. If nothing else, she might get a chance to learn what the hell she's talking about. Switching to English, she adds:]

Who are you? Name?

[ the woman receives a raised eyebrow at the way the other woman not only invades her space, but directs her where to go, but she doesn't comment on it since she's clearly out of her element in this place and having a difficult time with it. she eventually nods, starting off towards the grey gull and answering her as she walks. ]

Max. What's yours?

[If they don't want The Grey Gull to be at risk of broken windows, caved-in roofs, and lightning strikes, Callisto will need to split off at some point, but for now she's happy to investigate this stranger, storm be damned.]

Callisto. I am not from America.

[Obviously.]

Yeah, I gathered. [ given how she'd been speaking in not only greek, but ancient greek. ] When did you get here?

[ probably during the time she'd been gone. ]

[All she really needs to understand in that question is when; beyond that, she can extrapolate.]

Days.

[Callisto mimes counting on her fingers, then gives a dismissive wave, trying to convey that she hasn't bothered to keep close track and has lost count. The time-looping definitely hadn't helped things.]

Mathias is very weird, but before I am in Tártaros, and this is more--

[She wrinkles her nose, not knowing how to complete that thought. It's more a lot of things, but she doesn't have the English words for any of them.]

You know Tártaros? Here they say "Tartarus".

[ manticore hadn't given much of an education in greek mythology, but she'd done a good amount of reading once she'd gotten out. it's been a while since she'd read up on it, but she remembers it being a sort of prison. ]

I've heard of it, yeah. I didn't know it was a real place.

It's a place of dead people.

[She says, completely casually.]

Like me.

[ if callisto is hoping for the news to phase her, it doesn't. she's died before, too. ]

Welcome to the next level of Hell. [ she's being sarcastic, but it occurs to her that the other woman might not get that. ] I'm kidding, I don't know if that's what this is. But it doesn't feel that far off.

[She does not get it, if only because she doesn't know what Hell is. Her eyes narrow as she studies Max, trying to puzzle out the words. She'll switch back to Greek to respond, speaking slowly and enunciating clearly in hopes of making herself better understood.]

Nobody knows what this place is, really - that's what they all keep telling me. But everybody seems sure that the gods of my world have no domain here.

[She shrugs her shoulders, like this doesn't particularly bother her. Above their heads, a large tree branch sways ominously as they pass under it, and Callisto quickens her pace.]

You might get killed walking with me, you know.

[ the specifics are mostly lost, but she can pick out enough words to glean most of what she's saying. she ends up nodding, though she can't really think of the words to say back to her in greek. ]

I don't know what does rule this place. No one's been able to figure out what brought us here or what the purpose of us being here is.

[ she glances up at the branch, eyeing it warily and moving a little quicker when callisto does. this time, her translation is clearer, and max smiles grimly. ]

That doesn't tend to stick around here.

"You're telling me about how people come back, aren't you?" She doesn't wait for confirmation before continuing. "Most people still try to avoid it. Don't you care? Isn't death scary? Death, scary."

Those last two words she does know in English, so she'll repeat them in an effort to drive the point home. She doesn't fear death herself, but all the same, she's well aware that she's an outlier.

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062 » that moment of experience / part i

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