079-081 » to the hideous end

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: Mathias Township proper
WHEN: Days 079-081
WHAT: More mysteries are revealed in the aftermath.
WARNINGS: (PM this account to have a warning added!)
NOTES: Plotting post over here! The next log will be posted the weekend of August 22 29.
MOD NOTE: Thank you again for your patience!

RECOMMENDED ♫ Deadly Avenger "Kosho"

DAY 079-081
“If I am mad, it is mercy! May the gods pity the man
who in his callousness can remain sane to the hideous end!”
― H.P. Lovecraft
The day dawns red from the smoke that still hangs in the air, though the fires have long since burned out overnight. Ash covers the ground like grey snow all throughout Mathias, even to Baneberry Hall at the far edge of the town. There is still a strange heat clinging to the little town as if the fog that surrounds them has trapped even the temperature within its borders, but the skies have at least cleared of those ominous storm clouds.

While the fires have gone, the ruin they left behind remains. The eastern side of town is full of the charred shells of what were once homes, collapsed walls and questionable flooring warning off those who might consider venturing inside. There may be a few salvageable items within the wreckage but it certainly won't be much, and those foolish enough to try searching the rubble may sustain injuries in the attempt.

What residents are almost guaranteed to find in their wanderings through the town are decidedly more unsettling. Scattered throughout the town are the corpses of current residents seemingly still alive and well, their causes of death as varied as their locations: crushed bones and organs on the beach; asphyxiation on the steps of the library; broken neck in the tunnels under the residential district. The time of death is equally as varied, with some still warm to the touch while others have begun to rot and decay like the buildings around them.

And if that isn't enough to send their anxiety spiking, they will find that the darkness in Mathias has become even less welcoming than before. From nightfall to sunrise, wherever they have chosen to shelter, strange things may happen from one night to the next. These occurrences are not consistent, either across the night or the location, and no patterns arise to make sense of what happens. It is simply another oddity of Mathias perhaps designed to drive them further into madness.



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.



THE RESURRECTED
Those who perished on Day 078 will wake with the smell of burnt flesh still filling their nostrils, near what little remains of their former body. This will likely be in the crumbling, unstable remains of whatever building they were trapped inside. Welcome back to the land of the... living?

---

CORPSES BY DAY
— During any day of this log, characters may find one or more corpses in a location around town. This is an activity that must be opted-into by both players involved: the corpse-owner and the corpse-finder.

— The corpses that appear are only those of current residents within Mathias. The cause of death does not need to match any previous deaths that characters may have experienced in-game, though it should be only natural or possibly accidental — there should be no signs of the cause being an intentional death. (And, for the sake of your fellow players, please try to keep it light on the gore.)

— Corpses may be found in any outdoor location or inside any space where characters are not currently sheltering (such as the crumbling homes on the west side or the burned homes on the east side). The corpses will not appear inside any location where characters have been sleeping.

— The corpses can appear at various times throughout the day, meaning that a character may pass by the library in the morning with no corpse on the steps and then pass by again in the afternoon to suddenly find a corpse hanging out there.

— There may be items or clues found upon the corpses! These are not guaranteed for everyone. Players should submit this form to find out if they've won the Mathias Lottery.


TERRORS BY NIGHT
— Where players have chosen to shelter at night may have unexpected consequences, especially for those in the western half of Mathias. All characters must be accounted for.

— Mod feedback will provide either confirmation that nothing unusual happens in this location or details of any strange or unsettling occurrences on a given night and the potential consequences of staying there.

— If a player wants to opt-out of the consequences of their character staying in a particular location on a specific night, they must find another location at which their character can shelter.

---

SANITY LOSS

There are multiple opportunities for sanity loss within this log. All instances of such should be reported before the next log.

— CORPSE DISCOVERY Depending on your character's mental state, their relationship to the corpse, and the cause of death, sanity loss can range from 1-5 points per corpse found. This amount is up to the individual player. Items found on a corpse may also induce additional sanity loss per mod instruction.

— NIGHTTIME LOCATIONS Some locations within Mathias are safer than others at night. Players will receive mod feedback on their chosen nighttime locations which may include sanity loss for some things experienced.

---

CONDITIONS UPDATE

— THE WEATHER Summer continues in Mathias, with 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 & DEATHS have started up again. Neal Caffrey, Athena Carrigan, Jeff Calhoun, and Caitlin Snow have vanished from the town while Wynonna Earp died in the town fires.

— THE SHAPES in the water may be spotted more frequently, and residents may get the sense that whatever is out there is watching them and waiting for something...

---

OOC NOTES

— ENDGAME (Repeat message.) 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.

— SANITY NOTES

— Make sure that you're reported any sanity losses from the last log and claimed any madnesses earned with those losses. And report all the losses from this log before the next is posted!

— There is now additional guidance available about what happens when characters fall below 50 sanity points.

— A reminder that sanity may be regained through character actions.

— APPLICATIONS There are only two application rounds left before apps will be permanently closed. If you're trying to lure someone in for the end of the game, now is the time to get enabling.

— FORMS If there are comments on posts that have forms, please try to remember to respond directly to that comment. With DW notifs sporadically going missing, I rely on those comments ending up in the proper journal inbox, which is the only way I'm guaranteed to see them.

— MOD UPDATE The summer program I run is over but I'm back in person at the office for the first time in 16 months, so life is still incredibly stressful and I will continue to be slow for the next while.

I will be prioritizing sleeping location and corpse responses for this log since these are timely matters with information you will need in order to move forward.

— REMINDER Once again, there are a lot of moving parts to this log. Ask questions if something is not clear! Please also make sure to check questions others ask, as well.

navigation | faq | locations | report updates

Comments

Steve Rogers - New Arrival

[just_akidfrombrooklyn]

Town Hall.

It was the first and most reasonable place one might have come to - had Steve not opened his eyes and found himself there already. The lawn in the center of the village was quiet, and as Steve Rogers turned carefully around and took in his surroundings, he realized that it felt very...out of time. It was a feeling he could relate to, in some ways - but the rows of shops around the square, while looking at first glance like something Rockwell would have drawn, felt distinctly...Other. Ill at ease, he turned, and looked back towards the Town Hall building itself. It was a place where one might have easily gotten information about the when, the where of this place, if not exactly the what, why, or how. These days, Steve didn't put much stock into the sanctity or trustworthiness of government institutions, however, and as he had crossed the threshold into the otherwise welcoming building, that feeling was not much assuaged by the interior. He was just grateful that he'd awoken in nondescript street clothing - the uniform tended to draw too much attention.

Maybe this is a fever dream. Maybe I'm just exhausted from everything.

The empty halls seemed to stretch on, lacking warmth, and lacking the sterile, generic feeling of government facilities everywhere, really. It just felt...wrong. Off. He'd been on high alert since he found himself here, but if he could have just found some information, anything at all, that would have helped. He took a few steps in, towards the bulletin board on display at reception, and glanced to the side.

"...Hello?"

Yeah, he knew it was a dumb move, but the creaking front door would have announced his presence already, so there was no hiding at this point. When silence met his call, and he sensed no other immediate presences in the area, he strode towards the board to give it a look. At first glance, it appeared to be an old community board, though only scraps of paper remained. The eye in the center - his eyes narrowed as he reached out and touched his fingers against the strokes of red - and was resigned and not all that surprised to find that it was blood.

Well, this is just perfect. What have you gotten yourself into, Rogers.

At immediate glance, it didn't appear that there was blood elsewhere - no signs of a struggle or that a body had been dragged or moved. He glanced down at the floor and knelt, shifting a boot aside to survey the crumpled discarded remains of messages that had come before him. What he found did not ease that disquieting feeling he'd had about the blood either.

No mention of block parties, fundraisers, or general community events were among the refuse, but he saw cries for help. Pleas for missing persons, supplies, any number of plaintive requests. Frowning a bit more, he straightened, and considered his options. Normally, in a Town Hall or public records building, one could find, well, public records. Normally, he would have asked a receptionist or a clerk where he might pull documents to get a better idea of where he was and what was going on, but since he was apparently the only person in the building, that meant that he didn't have to worry about pulling documents - even classified ones.

Now, it was just a matter of finding the right room.

[exsto]

It had been a hell of a week and there's an underlying feeling that Mathias wasn't done with them. Not by any stretch. Bucky has gone from taking things in stride, dealing with events as they happen; to wondering what to expect when another day begins. And he wasn't the only one. That much was a certainty.

As people cluster together and take refuge in the bigger community structures, Bucky is wandering down from Poppy Cottage to check on friends. He wanted to check on Doc and Raylan and offer up assistance to anyone who might need it. As he always does when something happens in town.

From a distance, he sees a figure moving up towards the Town Hall entrance only to disappear inside. It can't be. Though he wouldn't be able to confirm that a hundred percent unless he saw the man's face for himself and preparing for it to be someone else.

Still, Bucky couldn't help having an inkling of hope.

Pushing through and looking around, he doesn't see anyone. Not Steve or anyone for that matter. But he hears something. Movement.

"Hey, anyone in here?"

[just_akidfrombrooklyn]

Steve had made his way down the empty hallway with care, mindful of the fact that anyone could be lurking in the abandoned rooms, but he heard little in the way of movement. The strange symbols on the walls, the overall derelict destruction of the place - none of it had settled well with him, but he knew he needed to press onward. In one of these rooms was bound to be documentation, at the very least. It was a place to start, especially since he couldn't have been certain if any of the locals would be forthcoming with information for a stranger.

Steve had found himself in a room that he had guessed must have been a county clerk's office at one point - books of public records, deeds, titles, and other assorted documents and abstracts littered the place, some having been pulled from the shelves, others still neatly in place. He'd pulled the abstract just to get a look at the scope of the area of this small village, and was running his fingers down the wide book when he heard the door open down the hall. Immediately, Steve stilled, and turned his head slightly. It wasn't so strange - he had seen people milling about outside, and this was public property, but one could never be too certain -

That voice!

It didn't matter that it had been five years since Bucky had been dusted in the Blip, and it didn't matter that they'd had only scant conversations in the interim - he would have known the sound of that voice anywhere. If Bucky was here, then there was a little bit of hope indeed.

Leaving the book open where he'd been reading, he strode to the doorway and poked his head out, only somewhat confused, as they had both been at the Stark home the last he had known.

"...Buck?"

[exsto]

For the entirety of the fifty days he's been there, Bucky has been keeping a discreet eye out for his best friend, though less consciously and only because he does it by default. When Tony arrived, he expected it to happen sooner. That somehow everyone he knew would eventually make their way there.

But Mathias got crazier and his attention was no longer on the new faces that snuck into his line of sight when he was going about his day.

Seeing Steve's face brought back a host of different emotions. Disappointment that the town couldn't leave the hero alone. He'd been through enough. There was a pang of hurt that his best friend left him so soon after he'd come back. Relief. Concern. Even joy.

The corner of his mouth lifts in a tired smile before he nods and starts closing the distance.

"Yeah, it's me," Bucky confirms, stopping in front of his best friend before wrapping arms around him in a warm brotherly embrace. Bucky then realizes that like Tony, Steve probably isn't from the same timeline as him. "When did you get here?"

[just_akidfrombrooklyn]

So much of Steve's recent memory had framed with the loss of Bucky Barnes in some shape or form that seeing him here in this foreign place was jarring. He'd lost him in some manner or form five times since they'd met, and each time, he'd been left with the gnawing, hollow knowledge that he'd been utterly unable to save him despite Bucky having been there for him all throughout their youth. He'd only just gotten him back after five years of struggling with the loss of so much - so seeing him here left him feeling...confused. Relieved, but also deeply troubled. Hadn't he been through enough? He looked good, though - his eyes were a bit brighter, the smile a little easier. His shoulders relaxed a little as he met Bucky halfway and wrapped an arm around him in return. He embraced him firmly, patting his back, and stepped back.

"Like the haircut," he said with a bit of a smile, and rested a comforting hand on Bucky's shoulder. "I just got here maybe half an hour ago? I figured city hall was the first place I'd check for information about the town, maps, where I was - but so far, it's just a whole lotta nothing," he admitted. Steve dropped his hand and looked around, concerned. "...Where is this place? And...it feels like we've been Shanghaied," he added. "No one else in the town would talk to me; you're the first person who's approached me. And...this building is...it looks like it's been used for some weird rituals." Steve gestured to the odd scrawlings on the wall, the spatters of blood, the generally derelict look of the structure. Concern laced his features.

"...Do you know what's going on? How long have you been here - are you okay? I...I just saw you before I was here, after Tony's...after his memorial."