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072-078 » pages of possible futures

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: Mathias Township proper
WHEN: Days 072-078
WHAT: The future is set in motion once more.
WARNINGS: (PM this account to have a warning added!)
NOTES: Plotting post over here! Next log will be the weekend of July 31.
MOD NOTE: The week did not go as planned. Apologies for the delay on this log and thank you for your patience!

RECOMMENDED ♫ Marco Beltrami "Bad Omens"

DAY 072
“The visions are fragmented and a dark cloud spreads
like spilt ink across the pages of possible futures.”
— Garth Nix
Blue skies greet residents on this bright new morning filled with summer sunshine. It's a day when birds would normally be singing, when there would be boats taken out on the water, children laughing and running through the streets. But in Mathias there is only silence, eerie and almost deafening in its absoluteness, and those blue skies do not stretch on forever. Far off on the horizon are dark clouds stretching ominously in all directions, never moving closer or farther away. They are always there, dark and angry, as if waiting... For what, who can say, but they will remain there for the days going forward, circling the town like a shark circles a meal.

Despite that dreadful darkness in the distance, there is some good news. Residents will also wake to find that their previously missing belongings have returned to them. Clothing and other personal effects are right where they should have been, as if they have always been there, and there is no sign of them having been returned by someone or something. They're just there.

That is, however, the extent of the good news. Residents who visit the Town Hall will find the bulletin board much changed, and those who have thrown caution to the wind and made use the sedatives found within Baneberry Hall will begin to find themselves changing as well. They are easily distracted while awake and plagued by nightmares while asleep. They dream of Mathias burning, fire spreading from the east until it consumes everything in its path. With increasing intensity as the week continues, they will wake with terror gripping their chests and sweat covering their too-hot skin.

THE NEW ARRIVALS
The newest arrivals to Mathias will wake up on the lawn of Town Hall, at the center of the little town square. There are shops all around them, with houses just beyond, and at first glance, everything seems almost picturesque. Except for the silence that is at times so complete as to be maddening... Welcome to Mathias.

DAY 073-075
With those dark clouds still hanging on the horizon, some residents may find themselves watching the ocean a little more closely, searching for signs of whatever it is they are beginning to sense is approaching. If they do, they will find those signs, for every so often a dark shape will appear from out of the water before disappearing a few moments later. Residents are welcome to try getting a better look at those shapes, though moving to higher vantage points will be ineffective and swimming may not be the best investigation method.

Nightfall strengthens the sense of that elusive something. Though nothing can be seen in the darkness, there is something out there. They can feel it when they are outside themselves, a heavy presence that their animal instincts warn them against, urging them to flee to safety indoors. But once inside, they can hear whatever is out there in the night, the sounds horrifying and yet utterly indescribable and beyond the limits of their perception.

There is no way to glimpse what might be making those sounds, nor is there any way to properly record them, though attempts may be made to do so.

DAY 076-077
The strange occurrences of recent days continue as something attempts to lead residents out into the southern forest should they venture within view of the treeline. Unrecognizable voices may call out incoherently or the sounds of someone moving through the trees may pull at their attention. Or, perhaps, a dark figure entering the forest will catch their eye, pulling them to follow the possibly feminine figure with no discernible characteristics.

Whatever it is, it will lead them along the paths or even away from their relative safety, winding this way and that until they're completely lost within the expanse of sun-dappled trees that seem innocent and threatening at the same time. There is nothing left to do but continue following that figure that is always just ahead at the edge of sight.

Eventually, the trees stop and there is a stretch of clearing, the sky a crisp blue overhead, sun shining down and yet—

That dark figure is still shrouded in shadow, as are the other four that have joined it. All slight with long hair, something feminine in the way they stand with hands held out at their sides, facing outward in a line along the edge of the ravine that borders the township, though for some reason their features cannot be focused on enough for true comprehension. They stand there in silence as if waiting, so close to the edge that a strong wind could easily knock them over into oblivion. A concerned resident might try to stop them; a curious one might try to finally get a better look at the figures that led them to this place. Regardless of the reason, any movement into the clearing toward them will end in the same result.

All five figures step forward as one and disappear into the nothingness below.

The ravine so deep that the bottom cannot be seen and wide enough that the other side is tantalizingly out of reach. At first, there is the sense that safety is just beyond if only they could get there, but with that sensation is also the knowledge that if they stay here, death will be a certainty. The edge seems unsteady, like getting too close would set it crumbling and send them tumbling into that as well...

That is when those who do venture to the edge see the truth of the ravine and what lies beyond it: nothing. There is a neverending dark nothingness below and beyond this ravine, beyond this town, and there is something staring back from within the dark.

DAY 078
As morning arrives in Mathias, so too does the storm. Those clouds that hovered in the distance move in quickly, plunging the town into a twilight-like darkness. The rumbling that breaks the silence is like that of a thunderstorm but infinitely more ominous, signaling something approaching that is not meant for the world of man. Within just a few minutes, the residents will learn why as lightning arcs across the sky, the cracks of powerful energy echoing through the air. Those branching spikes at first remain in the sky, but then suddenly they crash down to meet the earth, striking the Lighthouse. The sound of splintering wood and pierced metal fills the air, followed moments later by the roaring crackle of a fire raging into existence. Those cracks and crashes continue as the lightning moves inward, hitting the forest, the beach, and the Grey Gull before moving down Phillips Drive to attack the homes left rotting by time.

While the lightning eventually retreats to the sky, the fire spreads with purpose. It leaps from building to building, consuming everything in its path. It is a living, breathing thing driven by a need to devour. There is no stopping or controlling the almost sentient entity, for it does not behave as fire normally would — it skips buildings before doubling back, burns when there's nothing to fuel it, and seems to almost actively pursue residents fleeing to safety. Ultimately, the fire consumes everything east of the Library, from Jackson Boulevard to the beach and the northeastern forest to the Lighthouse; for an unknown reason, it does not venture farther inland than this.

Ash falls from the sky like snow throughout the town as the eastern half of Mathias glows a terrifying raging red. Residents may seek sanctuary in businesses along the square or in areas in the western half of the town, though the latter will not be without its own risks and consequences.

SANITY LOSS

There are multiple opportunities for sanity loss within this log. All instances of such should be reported before the next log.
— BANEBERRY SEDATIVES These will effect all who have taken them, regardless of type, quantity, or frequency, until the storm on day 78. Each night of nightmares will result in 1 point of sanity loss for a potential total loss of 6 points.

— FIGURES IN THE FOREST All who witness the figures jump into ravine will suffer 3 points of sanity loss.

— SEEING BEYOND THE RAVINE Any who see the truth of what is beyond the ravine will suffer 7 points of sanity loss that cannot be recovered. Additionally, any Madness that results from this sanity loss begins immediately.

— DEATH BY FIRE All who are killed by the fire lose 3 sanity points and gain the Madness pyrophobia for seven days, which should be reported. The pyrophobia will be experienced at an intensive level for the duration of the Madness.

CONDITIONS UPDATE

— THE WEATHER Summer has arrived in Mathias, bringing with it warm days that average 70°F and comfortably cool nights.

— THE FOG has maintained its recent boundaries.
— 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 from the western section of town entirely.
— 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 AND DEATHS have ceased for the moment but they're sure to begin again soon.

OOC NOTES

— ENDGAME We are officially heading into endgame. Over the next few months, things will begin ramping up and moving toward the always planned conclusion, with the last log projected to go up between the end of October and middle of December.

What does this mean? Essentially, hopefully, this will mean more opportunities to dig into the mysteries and lore of the game, as well as more chances for your characters to creep toward insanity. However, how things progress and what information comes to light will depend upon character interaction with the setting and involvement with the mysteries of Mathias.

— ITEMS FROM HOME All items from home have returned to the exact state and location in which they were last seen. This includes all clothing and possessions they had on their person when they arrived in Mathias (or, for arrivals in the previous log, what they should have had). Items from home that were left behind by other characters no longer in the game have also returned.

— THE FIRE A rough representation of where the fire spreads is available over here.

— REMINDER There are a lot of moving parts to this log, as there will be for all logs going forward. Read the narrative and all OOC notes thoroughly and carefully. Ask questions if something is not clear, but please also look through questions others have asked for further clarification.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"All of those are right except one and I'd call those facts, not details. That's where the devil is, after all." Talking to yourself was a sign of intelligence, in his opinion. Smart enough to work out something with only his own help.

"It's still more than I know about you. You're a thief. And you trained somewhere called Archie? Until you give me somethin' more than what I know was a joke, you're stuck with 'Miss Kitty'."

It's the name she'd given him, and Raylan has no way of knowing any better, but Parker snorts a laugh when she hears it again anyway.

"Miss Kitty." She grins, way too amused, before offering an explanation of what's probably both the least important and least interesting part of all that. You're welcome, Raylan.

"Archie's a person. Not a place."

What was even funnier is that he did know her name, only didn't know that she was the one that owned it. When he finally found out, his jaw was gonna hit the floor.

"So Archie taught you how to be a high flyer. Only a little disappointed that you weren't in a circus or something." No, he figured it was more likely that Archie and whatever she learned from them had more to do with that vent she'd just crawled out of.

"And frightfully happy you didn't make me break a hip or something."

"He taught me to be a thief." Get it right, Raylan. She makes a face, shaking her head. "Too many clowns in the circus."

No, she won't elaborate. Instead she shrugs dismissively. "Eh, it would've healed."

Edited (oh my god im a mess) 2021-08-06 20:45 (UTC)

"Oh, so the high flyin' is part of that curriculum?" He hoisted his eyebrows with a curl of the outer edges of his lips before shaking his head and stepping forward and squatting down again, digging into a box.

"Sure, after 6 months and physical therapy. If you're gonna spy, you could at least help me look for shit."

She gives him a look that says well, obviously.

"How else are you gonna get off the top of a skyscraper?"

Go ahead, tell her. She's listening.

But she also follows when he goes back to the files he'd been looking at, crouching down next to him to look curiously at the box.

"Like evidence of tragic disasters?" She can do that. She can definitely do that.

Raylan turned his head back up to look at her, eyes wide underneath the lift of his eyebrows, like she might be slightly mad and he was waiting for her to realize it.

"How do you without turnin' into a pancake at the bottom? You the Six Million Dollar Woman?" Not that Parker looked old enough to get that reference anyway, but he could try.

He nodded at the paperwork. "Yeah. Anythin' weird or.. gruesome. Anythin' that will tell us how they responded to that kinda stuff. Maybe they got somethin' figured out that we're overlookin' as a community." He knew he wasn't the first or only one to dig into these papers.

"It'd help more if they used actual names instead of initials too but that's a hope to far."

"Six million?" She glances sidelong at him, clearly insulted. Who does he think she is, Oliver Twist?

Honestly, it's not even worth a response. Instead she looks back at the papers, picking up one from the top of the stack and glancing at it.

"Who do you mean, they?"

"Mm, rich blood, huh?" Well, she was a thief and to be fair six million in current day situations was a nice chunk of change. No where near the real market value of high end items.

"They, the people that lived here before. The community. The ones that happily sacrificed their neighbors up to god knows what. They're the ones I'm interested in. They're the ones that navigated living here before the last disaster." People made a place, not just the stone and earth and wood. Without them to be here, the town would just continue to rot into itself.

Raylan wishes that they would be allowed to let it.

She's quiet for a moment, thinking about it. Trying to imagine the people who were here before. What might have made them do what they did.

Sacrified their neighbors.

"Do you think they were like us once?"

She looks up at Raylan, and then back down, fidgeting idly with the papers. Any hint of happiness or amusement is gone now.

"Do you really think they were...happy? To do that?"

Or had they been horrifed? Desperate? Were they eager to turn on each other to save themselves, or had they held out as long as they could? Until they felt like they had no other choice?

Silence didn't bother Raylan the way it bothered some people. Too many years on the other side of an interrogation table, too many years sitting waiting for Boyd or Dewey to just get to the point of whatever stupid scheme they were starting to try and run past him. Too many nights on a porch with a similar looking hat and some moonshine.

"I think it's been hard baked into this town so long that it was as normal to them as a happenstance that the Editor of the local paper put into his goodbye note on the last edition and, quote, said 'It was a great honor to be chosen'." The passing lift of his eyebrows suggested just how unimpressed he was with that.

"I think they were like us, yes," he continue, voice and tone gentler when talking about the families themselves as he shuffled through another stack, scanning pages as he turned them over. Nothing to see here, just a man working. "The morning whatever happened happened, they started their day like everyone else. Breakfast, kids arguing over where a shoe is, leaving for work. Aside from all this insanity..."

He had no proof of anything beyond the way they'd found the place, untouched by the outside passage of time, and everything that was lacking was so odd, he was sure he was missing something. How had they, collectively, not figured out what happened on day 0?

Even what Raylan describes as normal sounds foreign to Parker. Kids growing up in the system like she had didn't argue. Family breakfast was something for other people. Hearing him describe it is as captivating, in his own way, as his theory of what had happened to end it all.

She turns and hops up on the desk, pulling a sheaf of papers into her lap, but watching Raylan at least as much as she glances through them.

"So what did happen?" No one knows for sure, of course, but he seems to have a lot of ideas. Maybe he'll have an idea for this, too. "What made them change?"

She thinks about what he'd said in the church ruins. That the town itself was watching them. Out to get them.

"Do you think the town was always...bad?"

It was what he was told things were supposed to be like back home. What a 'good' house was like, what a set of caring parents looked like who didn't crawl into several bottles of wild turkey and set into teaching Mama a lesson. What it might have looked like if he and Winona got started sooner. But now wasn't the time for any of that or the comparisons that came with it. They had work, after a fashion and he thrived on it's ability to keep him out of his own head.

"I feel like I oughta set up a cork board so I can keep it all straight but she'd probably just tear it down and leave me with my thumb up my.. Nose." He'd opted for the cleaner language with a glance back at Parker; No need to be so crude in front of someone he knew so little of. Doc would be proud.

"We don't know. That's the one piece we haven't gotten any clue of yet. What happened after everyone started their day. Everything was untouched, there was no.. no panic," he explained, tossing the file stack to the side to pick up another. "Maybe they all got called to the Lodge. We can't get back there yet either, but.. somethin's in there that is part of this puzzle."

He took a breath. "What we do know is that the tunnels are older than the version of the town on top of it, and yeah. I do think they have always been doin' this. Since their founding or shortly after. Worshiping some.." His jaw worked tightly for a long second.

"God." There was a bucket of distain there, of a vast variety. "I think the fire I was talkin' about before had somethin' to do with it. A punishment or a-a-a cleansing or somethin'. You believe in Magic?"

Does she believe in magic? Does she believe in magic? Everything they've been talking about is completely forgotten as Parker remembers the real reason she'd been...observing Raylan. She looks up at him, expression flat.

"I believe in Jeff."

She doesn't add unlike you. She doesn't need to.

Raylan looked up from under his eyebrows at her, unimpressed.

"Are we still on that? If you wanna go talk to him, go talk to him. Don't come in here, spyin' on me and shakin' my chain because you didn't listen to me the first time I told you who I was. I got enough people tellin' me that I'm useless and stupid and can't sort my life out, I don't need you here givin' me hell for a face I can't control. I'm sorry you're disappointed that I'm not him. I tried."

Hazel, unbothered eyes dropped back down to the paper, flipping through more of it.

"Anyway, There's still pieces missin' here. First step is seein' what they did in times of trouble. Ain't even a surivin' church here; I'd bet money there's one out in the woods if it ain't the lodge itself."

Parker endures the mini-lecture without taking any apparent offense, watching him thoughtfully. She's talked to Jeff. She's accepted that they're different people.

She's just not entirely sure about Raylan yet. Which is exactly why she's here.

She frowns, looking back at her own papers and starting to look through them. It's a cursory examination at best, but it's something.

"There was one," she reminds him. The ruins, where they'd met. "A long time ago."

But there's something else he's mentioned a couple times now. Her head tilts to the side curiously. "What's the lodge?"

"Long time ago says somethin'. They never rebuilt it. They replaced it with something else. As I recall, only twelve or so people survived that fire I was talkin' about. Good chance there weren't enough bodies to make rebuildin' it worth the trouble."

He knew, all at once, too much and too little about this place. It annoyed the hell out of him.

"It's this big mansion with too many doors and floors inside. It was important to them and we know that because there's a stack of pictures we've found spread out over the town; Townspeople, crowded together like they're at a family reunion and documenting it. Some of us got trapped there for a time. Not long enough. Now we can't get back. I know where it is, but the trees, the fog.." He shook his head and set the next file aside before rubbing at his face and carding a hand through his hair.

"I thought havin' another Marshal here would help me figure it out, but I don't think that's gonna happen until Mathis is ready." It wouldn't stop him from looking, but at least he was honest about the reality of the situation.

She frowns, trying to imagine it. A giant mansion in the woods? Why?

"Like Baneberry Hall?" It's the closest thing she can think of, the giant building with all its rooms, and the associations aren't cheery ones. Not after what had happened there. The memories. The drugs.

She shudders. The lodge must still be out there. Empty and waiting. Or maybe not so empty. There's no shortage of ghosts in the rest of the town, after all. Why should the lodge be any different?

"Who built it? Why's it so far away from everything else?"

"A different footprint, but Baneberry is a similar kind of place. The Lodge was someone's home. Several libraries, a expansive kitchen, and endless amount of hallways upstairs it seemed." It's where he'd found Will Graham, covered in blood and hysterical, where Klaus had questioned if he was an alcoholic or not. John Constantine had been here too. He still missed that British fucker.

"There's old maps and keys and I know they went to some of them doors, now I think they might have gone to the tunnel gates. I'm convinced the tunnels connect to it. As to why it's out there.. I'm not sure. Could be that it's the oldest building, the original. It was beloved, that we know for sure. Could be that it stand on some spot of power, but we'd have to consult someone who knows somethin' about Magic to verify. Still the weirdest goddamn thing to say that out loud like it's a rational idea," he scoffed at the end.

"Now that the chasm is gone, we're closer to it, but we still gotta find a way to it that ain't wooded. Unless Mathis pulls that curtian back, then it's the first place I'm headin' and damn the consequences. There's too much there to not."

Raylan didn't deal with this kind of stress well. He was a Fixer. Someone who resolved issues, not wandered around like an idiot chasing his own tail. Ignoring all his personal issues, Raylan was frustrated and slightly obsessed with this town that seemed insistent on tearing him down. Obsessed with getting them all home and away from this hell, no matter what they got to keep of the nightmare they were living.

Edited 2021-08-16 00:03 (UTC)

A giant, mysterious house in the woods. Ancient maps and keys. Secret passageways to the tunnels running underground. A connection to the town's origins. And possibly magic.

There's only one thing to do in the face of all that danger and creepiness. Parker practically bounces with joy when Raylan says he's going there, and she pins him with her gaze, near-vibrating with excitement.

"I wanna go too!"

Raylan looked over at the sudden enthusiasm, face hesitant and reserved - the polar opposite of her bubblegum chaos enthusiasm. But he'd met the sentiment in a few various forms, Ellie, Athena, Claire, and he couldn't help the faint curl of the edges of his lips. She was very much like them in a way. Young. Bright. Not beaten down to a numb by the world.

"Soon as I find a way to it, trust me, everyone and their mother is gonna know. You can bust in the front door with me or climb your way up to the second level and break in through a window. I'll let you know.. Do I get to ask why you're so enthused about this possibility?"

Is this a trick question? She just stares at him, unsure.

"...You just said I could climb up and break in through a window."

Right? She hadn't just imagined that?

"What do you mean, why?"

Was that really reason enough? Just that? With all the cons stacked against them, it was as easy as the allure of breaking in somewhere? Raylan stared at Parker for a long moment before blinking harshly out of his bewilderment.

"Do.. Do you know what could be layin' in wait in there? I talk about goin' to the Big Bad's house and you're excited because you can break in through a window? That's the headliner for you?"

He didn't understand it. And instead of building up anything that might blow up at her, Raylan dropped his case file and pushed to his feet.

"Interest I get. Hell, obsession I get. Glee though. That's.. I don't get that." Running into hell was normally saved for the brave or the stupid. He wasn't sure which one she fell into in this moment.

He really doesn't get it, does he? She looks at him, her expression more serious now.

"I get to break into a window," she explains again. "And we get to take down the bad guys. Right?" She tilts her head up as he stands, keeping her eyes on his face. "Right? We go and find out what happened, we find clues, and it helps us figure out what's going on, and that helps...helps stop it."

It'll be risky. She's not stupid. She knows that. But it'll be worth it, if it helps them all get out of here. If it helps keep Hardison and Eliot safe.

"Right. It's only your enthusiasm for the window breakin' that I'm questionin'."

His arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the closest desk to stare, half furious, at the puzzle before him that he'd been consumed with for months.

"We get there, we're walkin' in the front door. I can't promise that gettin' there will stop this but it's the next place to start. There's something there. Something important... How are you at remembering maps," he asked suddenly, looking her way with a new intensity.

The Marshal had an idea, for a backup plan, at least.

072-078 » pages of possible futures

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