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villagelogs2021-08-01 05:41 pm
villagemod) wrote in villagelogs2021-08-01 05:41 pm
Entry tags:
079-081 » to the hideous end
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 August22 29.
MOD NOTE: Thank you again for your patience!
RECOMMENDED ♫ Deadly Avenger "Kosho"
SANITY LOSS
CONDITIONS UPDATE
OOC NOTES
navigation | faq | locations | report updates
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
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.
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.
— 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...
— 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.
no subject
They'd even gained a face that Raylan hadn't met before and found one they'd previously lost.
They still hadn't found Jeff, Athena, or Tim. Raylan couldn't help but think about Daisy and Bucky too. Who had been left at the boarding house? But before he could go looking in that direction, he had to start where it all began. He had to make sure that Tim wasn't in that goddamned lighthouse when the lightning struck. Had to at least confirm where the man wasn't before he and his already half crazed mind looked anywhere else.
It was a long walk. It didn't matter. Raylan pushed himself through the trees, only just stopping himself from running the whole kit by virtue of him knowing he still had to go back and needing to conserve his energy for it. That whole idea was pitched out the window as he broke through the treeline in front of the lighthouse and saw Tim's figure standing there.
"Tim," Raylan breathed, breaking into a run and making short work of it, only to stop short of the smaller man at the posturing he was greeted with. The Others had never been violent. Ambivalent at best, but he knew Tim's face and he knew what that set tended to be followed by.
He frowned faintly, brow furrowing. "Tim?"
no subject
But it was hard to tell if that beloved face was ahead of the marching men, behind the marching men, or if those damn murders had taken over Raylan's form to torment Tim. That last thought caused the younger man's jaw to flex as he ground his back teeth and his expression became almost murderous.
"Don't you dare," he whispered, hands so tight his knuckles were white. "Don't you dare torture me with his face! You merciless fuckers! I will rip you into pieces! "
The last words were snarled with a near guttural, feral fury, through clenched teeth.
no subject
Raylan lifted his hands at that snarl, palms open and wide as he slowly stepped forwards, eyebrows hoisted over a soft, unaggressive expression. "Tim, whatever you're thinkin' is goin' on, it's not, okay? It's just me. Just Raylan."
He wasn't stupid enough to touch Tim yet and kept himself just out of arms distance. Not that it would help him if Tim decided to lunge, but it would give him a few steps of room to work with.
no subject
But before he could take that next step towards believe he glanced over to the side, where his arm lay in the ruins of the Lighthouse. The tattoo on his wrist was unmistakable, that was his body in there, which meant whatever he was experiencing had to be some Mathias generated weirdness.
...
Had to be above and beyond the usual Mathias generated weirdness, and Tim swung back towards livid rage.
"If you have hurt him to fuck with me," he began, still talking through his teeth. Unfortunately for Raylan, rather than retreat in confusion, Tim was coming at him with violence in his eyes.
"Show yourself, you do not have the right to twist his image into your games! You wanted me dead, FINE you lanky shadow sonofabitch!!"
no subject
You don't deserve them. Henry was right.
There were quite a few different choices, weeded methodically down in a fraction of a second. The instinct to respond to aggression with his own was off the table until his life was in danger; the instinct to go over, to check, to pull him out of the rubble and verify was rejected on the basis that it gave a distrusting Tim his back and might suggest that Raylan himself wasn't real. That left one option, with a sidecar of choice.
Raylan knew what it was to die horribly. Suicide wasn't the worst way to go. Seemed sort of peaceful, the self inflicted. Violent deaths were worse. Seeing your own body wasn't something that Raylan was going to put Tim through so he stepped into the storm and wrapped his arms around the smaller man, one over his arm, one under and spoke into his ear. The older Marshal expected a fight at the beginning, but hoped it would soften.
"If I were him, there'd be no Miami. No Tim Givens. I'm not him." If he felt it was safe enough, he'd pull back enough to see Tim's face, dark tired eyes searching his blues. "I'm not him."
no subject
He should have been able to react faster than Raylan moved. The cowboy should have been thrown across the ground, possibly towards the cliff's edge. At the very least Tim should have tried to throw a punch, but by the time his brain suggested any of these alternatives, Raylan had him wrapped up.
There was shocked stillness at first, Tim's sense screaming at him that this was Raylan. All the way down to that particular odor that came after too long in a stakeout car. But his jangled instincts briefly overrode his senses and he began to struggle. Raylan had him in a skillful hold but that didn't keep Tim from trying to execute an ankle sweep, a headbutt and grabbing at lanky arms. In Tim's mind he was executing flawless hand to hand combat techniques, but in truth his fingers were scrambling with awkward desperation and he was twisting and squirming, rather than leg sweeping.
There was still the risk of a headbutt; sorry Raylan.
Then Raylan was speaking, that voice that washed over raw nerves and made Tim want to believe what he was hearing. Cold logic insisted that the Shadow Man could know all these things. Miami, Tim Givens. Could be using these bits of softness to dig the barbs in deeper.
The Shadow Man doesn't speak. He just watches.
Raylan drew back then and Tim's eyes flicked up to meet the hazel ones just above him. His pupils were wide, as if he were drugged or otherwise altered and he practically vibrated with suspicion while he searched Raylan's features.
"Are we both dead?"
no subject
He'd spent the whole night worried about the man, running through the hundreds of morbid and grotesque way that Tim had possibly died and now that he had hands on him, he wasn't inclined to let go just because Tim was doing his best fish out of water impression. He wasn't sure if his imagination had done better or worse than Mathis.
But Tim stilled enough for him to pull back and Raylan hoped it wasn't going to end with a headbutt and more of a headache than he was already growing. He knew how quick this could change and there was no green sky to warn him, so he kept his hands a gentle kind of tight, tension still laced through them.
"No. Neither of us. Well.." He glanced to the side oh so briefly. "Not anymore." One hand came up to cup Tim's face, fingers dipping into his hairline as Raylan studied those blown out eyes. "Bit of a hard come back? Where did you wake up at?"
Or had he just ~popped~ into existence?
no subject
"Here," he answered the question and there was a hint of rote military tone in his voice. Anyone other than Raylan probably would have received nothing more than Tim's name, rank and serial number. "Right beside, that." He pointed towards the arm which was most likely attached to the rest of Tim's burned corpse.
The younger marshal licked his lips, a nervous twitch that he usually tried to keep under control around the office.
"I remember watching the storm coming in, from the top of the ..." again he seemed to stumble on the word and just waved his hand at the lighthouse rubble. "There was a crack, I was exploding from the inside and then nothing."
Except.
Except.
Tim tried to crane his head around without removing his cheek from the warmth of Raylan's hand. Blue eyes rolled, seeking something in his peripheral vision. Something only he could see.
"Before I ..." he really was struggling with words and the timeline of events. "I was in the tunnel, watching these men in Revolutionary garb," no idea if it was period appropriate or a reenactment. "They were drawing on the wall and then slit a man's throat."
The sniper rolled his head again, like he was having a hard time with physical awareness.
"All I could smell was blood, burned flesh, and dust."
no subject
So he didn't try to stop Tim's craning, keeping his hand along his neck as the Sniper looked and opting to not look himself. He would later come up and try to free Tim's body from the rubble, bury him the way the man deserved to be buried, despite life flesh and blood being in his arms. For now, the man that was alive mattered more.
Raylan's off hand flexed his fingers into Tim's back, making sure that lack of physical awareness didn't rock him too far from the safety of the older Marshal's arms, his own head more worried about trying to hook Tim into steady eye contact again.
"I wanna ask what they were drawin' but the rest of it tracks. It also doesn't matter right now. You're here," he declared, shaking the man softly with his insistence, his own desperation to not be forced to watch Tim slip down the same slope he could feel himself tightwiring across. "You're alive. And you're comin' back down this fucking shit hill with me."
One step at a time; one foot in front of the other, else - more death.
no subject
He grabbed Raylan's arm. Steel blue eyes, pupils struggling to focus, fixed on hazel full stop.
"They were in Revolutionary clothing, Raylan. Down in the tunnel, a man was reading out of a leatherbound book, directing others who were painting the three lobed eye. When it was complete, they dragged in a prisoner and slit his throat, making sure the blood hit the eye."
He was gripping both of Raylan's arms with hands that were tight enough to leave bruises.
"They summoned it, Raylan. Possibly because of the war."
no subject
"That's who they're sacrificing to." The words all but fell from his mouth as that all set in, the historical implication that begged to be explored. But that exploration could come later; right now, all he wanted to do was talk Tim down off this goddamned rock. He nodded, thumb brushing back and forth at Tim's fierce grabbing, trying to calm him down and utterly unbothered by the bruises he'd only half register later.
"Alright. That's important information. Is that how it ended?" He recognized that Tim needed to debrief, to unload that information in order to even begin to come down from this ugly madness he was strung out on.