villagelogs | 079-081 » to the hideous end

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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 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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[plotting post]

A - PUZZLE; OTA

[When she finds her own dead body lying broken and twisted on the library steps, Callisto doesn't react with horror or fear: she doesn't gasp, she doesn't scream, she doesn't stumble backwards or turn and run. Instead, she drops down next to it, examining it closely. She runs her fingers through its hair, tests the feel of its skin, pries open its mouth and checks inside, even pulls out her little butter knife and messily cuts into its arm - looking, essentially, for any piece of proof that this isn't what it looks like. She's here, after all, living and breathing. If this isn't a hallucination or a trick of the gods, then what in the world could it be?

She'll continue in this fashion for quite some time, showing her own corpse absolutely no care or respect. Unless she's stopped or distracted, there will be cuts and gashes on nearly every exposed patch of skin. Several chunks of hair will be missing, seemingly yanked out at the root. A top incisor lies on the steps, having been yanked out, examined, and then discarded. And if all that isn't enough, before she goes - before she leaves the pitiful body behind, unburied and uncared for - she strips it of both arm bracers and one boot.]

B - BURIAL; CLOSED TO TIM

[It's the legs that she spots first, sticking out of the rubble, and that's what draws her in. She hauls a charred wooden beam off the body hauls it out to get a better look at it - and then realizes who it is.

She stands over it for a minute or two, studying it, before kneeling next to it and prodding at the clearly-broken neck. Taking out the butter knife that's still stained with the blood of her own corpse, she makes one little cut on the palm, but when that course of action doesn't net anything unusual or unexpected she gives up on it immediately. Moving to stand, she grabs the body roughly by the legs, dragging it out of the ruins and down the path towards the beach. She's not in the least bit gentle or caring about it, alternating between dragging it behind her and rolling in in front of her. When she reaches the rocks, she hoists it up over her shoulder and carries it like a sack of potatoes. All in all, it'll end the journey in an even more roughed-up state than it had been at the start.

But when she reaches the sand and drops it onto the ground, she kneels again, and using nothing but her hands, she starts digging a hole.]

[ Tim recognized Callisto, though he did not immediately recognize his own corpse as the body she was lugging over her shoulder.

Curiosity drew him down to the beach and he ambled up to where she had set the body -oh, that was him- and was now digging with her hands in the sand. He thought she meant to bury him, but this was Callisto after all; there were ... options. But as he didn't see any firewood laying around, he was leaning towards burying.

He walked a little closer, looking down at his mangled corpse with a dispassionate eye, and then pursed his lips. ]

If you could cut it out, that broken femur there might make a good weapon.

[She looks up at his approach, startled - and then immediately bursts into laughter. Even discounting the situation that it's happening in, there's a slightly unhinged quality to it.]

Well, isn't this a picture.

[She says in Greek, giving the body's leg a little kick.]

[ He couldn't blame her.

It was funny and rather than looking concerned or disturbed at finding her laughing overtop his own mangled corpse Tim began to laugh as well. He had no idea what she said so he merely pointed at the corpse, then to himself and shrugged.

Despite his conversation with Raylan earlier in the day, Tim continued to struggle with what was reality. ]

It looks real.

[She tells him, bending to turn the corpse's hand over and show him the cut she made on its palm. Gesturing to his own hand, she mimes holding it out - wanting to see if a cut has appeared on him, as well.]

It's the third one I've seen today. [ He says the words and also holds up three fingers to help clarify his meaning.

When she shows him the hand on the corpse he has to step closer, briefly confused about what she's asking. Then he sees the cut and in all honest truth he doesn't know the answer.

Is his hand cut?

The way he turns it over and stares for a moment suggests he genuinely has no idea. But when he holds it out towards her, his palm is unblemished. ]

[She stands and approaches, bending to peer closely at his hand, looking for something smaller, or maybe something healed. But no, there's nothing. Turning away from him again, she regards the body - then moves to roll it into the half-dug shallow grave she'd been working on.]

You're not in the house at night.

[She says, without turning to look at him.]

Where? The woods?

Edited (hit enter too soooooon) 2021-08-12 19:27 (UTC)

A - KEY; CLOSED TO AINSLEY AND RAYLAN

[After finding her corpse the day before, Callisto walks away from the body with a spare left boot, two spare arm bracers... and the bottom half of a broken skeleton key. She has no immediate use for it, but still, she hangs onto it as she wanders: not motivated or focused enough to systematically hunt for the matching keyhole, but still testing it out when she thinks of it, trying to squeeze it into random door locks. Sometimes she drops the little thing, but she always picks it up again, muttering irritably in Greek.]

[Funny thing about metals, even older, cast iron type ones, they didn't really burn well. During Raylan's dig through the remains of the 1306/1308 household, he had managed to recover the skeleton key that John Constantine had found once upon a time. While he knew the man wasn't coming back for it, he also knew that it was important in some way he didn't fully understand. Recovering it was a weak salve for all they'd lost, but that didn't stop him from walking out with it anyway.

And now, Raylan was wandering the streets, everything he owned on his person at the time; his duster had been lost, but his badge, his hat - those he'd managed to run away with. The only sense of what he was that he could hold onto like a buoy in a storm.

He stopped when he saw Callisto, eyes narrowing as his path turned towards her and letting out a low, signaling whistle of 'Hey I'm here'.]

Callisto, [He greeted her with a lift of his chin and an almost nervous glance down the street.] What're you doin?

It's broken.

[She says derisively in Greek, lifting the key to show him.]

Or are they all useless like this in the future?

[She knows they're not, just as she knows he can't understand her, but she doesn't care. She's been even more irritable than usual over the past few days, and today she looks particularly awful: her skin pale, her face drawn, her eyes framed by dark circles. She curls her fingers tightly around the half-key, as if to keep him from taking it from her - but then, impulsively, she hurls it at him.]

[A key. He recognized those teeth, they weren't too dissimilar to the one in his pocket and he could guess what the first words were.

They both looked like hell; Raylan hadn't slept in days and it showed in a similar fashion on his face, frame a little leaner, shoulders a little pointier for his weight loss. Raylan had barely gotten half a hand into his pocket to fish out his version before Callisto was chucking her bit at him.

Raylan flinched, one leg lifting a little, off hand coming down though none of the reactionary moves stopped the thing from hitting him. He frowned at her, speaking as he bent down to pick it up.]

Ain't gotta be mad at me about it.

You're at the wrong door. These oughta go to the tunnels.. [No, he didn't know how to mime that.] Under the House of Books, under the building in the center of town- [All of which had specific names that he wasn't sure she'd understand. Nevermind all that, his brain was chewing over how to make the key turnable in these old ass, roughly forged locks.]

[Funnily enough, it's the word tunnel itself that she picks up on, rather than his attempt to explain to her what it means.]

I know the tunnels.

[She doesn't remember seeing any doors down there... but then again, she hasn't exactly been down there often, and thinking of them now sends a fresh spike of anxiety through her. Her hand strays down to her dagger holster, which now houses a flashlight.]

Getting accosted by blondes is just a pastime of yours, isn't it, Marshal?

[Ainsley perks an eyebrow as she walks onto the scene to find the pair of them. She doesn't know the other woman, and it's so strange when she realizes how strange that is. She's from New York, the idea of knowing everyone around her isn't even probable, nevermind possible at all. But here, it's almost more odd to consider she hasn't met everyone yet.

She probably shouldn't be wandering like this yet, that burn on her thigh is still healing, but Ainsley is nothing if not determined, and sitting around while everyone else is out doing things is not her style. Sue her.]

[Raylan glanced over as Ainsley joins them on the scene and huffed a breath, a smile barely touching the corner of his lips.]

You should talk to Tim, he's got a whole book on it and how it's likely my fault.

[Raylan held up the broken key and fished his from his pocket.]

Callisto found another key. We just.. gotta.. I dunno, nail it to a board or something so we can turn it. Find a pair of pliers or something.

[He looked over at Callisto.]

Have you been in them yet, the tunnels?

Yes, before.

[Callisto snaps, eyes flicking back and forth between Raylan and the unfamiliar woman. A while ago, she means, and only once; she doesn't frequent them.

Raylan gets a longer look when he mentions Tim's name, but that's all - their English is fast and unfamiliar enough that she isn't able to pick out enough to understand what's being said, so she decides to just jump straight to assholery. Taking a challenging step towards Ainsley, she looks her up and down - vaguely recognizing her as someone she's seen at a distance, but that's all.]

Who are you?

[She snickers lightly at the comment about Tim and his supposed book of reasons.] Maybe I’ll ask him sometime.

Pliers would work better, wouldn’t they?

[Ainsley doesn’t actually flinch when the other woman steps toward her, all sharp lines and suspicious eyes at her. A part of herself Ainsley is having to put blinders on to avoid looking at more and more often lately smirks somewhere in her mind— but the girl who is very much her mother’s daughter in all of her unflappability, does not show that smirk on the outside.

Instead, she just lifts her eyebrows in silent meeting of the challenge Callisto put in her body language, and the bite in her words.

Ainsley’s own voice is cool and smooth when she answers.]

Ainsley Whitly. [Beat.] I’m Malcolm’s sister.

[If this woman knows Raylan, she can’t imagine her not at least knowing who Malcolm is; whether that is a fact that will be in her favor or not is debatable. Her brother is definitely an acquired taste.]

[Well, maybe he should have expected that response from Callisto. Since she knew the tunnels, it wasn't a far jump to assume she'd seen them in person. So instead, Raylan turned his attention back to Ainsley.]

If you can find one, [Raylan invited with a gesture around him before he was half trying to stop Callisto's aggressive stride over, the gesture dying inside one hand reaching out for her. There was no stopping this and he didn't have any place in doing so.

The world of Women was a feral, terrifying one that he didn't quite understand at the best of time. Better to let them work themselves out.]

[Malcolm's sister, huh. Ainsley gets another longer, sharper look, though one that's tinged with more interest than hostility. Callisto is angry and hostile towards everyone, and Malcolm is certainly no exception, but she does like the guy, in her own way.]

Do you speak my language, too?

[She asks in Ancient Greek, watching Ainsley's face to gauge her reaction.]

Malcolm is one of the only ones who can.

We'll raid a house, someone had a tool at some point, even in a town that's stuck arguably in the 90s. [She shrugs.

But at Callisto's question, she shakes her head. Not because she understands what's being asked, but she can guess well enough.]

Languages were never my thing.

Verses finding a piece of wood with a nail and a rock, [he argued back with a faint lift of his head before shaking it and starting to dig around in a pile for either of their suggestions. He remembered where the garages were, and it was easy enough to dig around and keep an eye on the ladies.

Maybe Callisto would afford Ainsley some of the social currency she'd built with Malcolm. So long as no one started swinging..]

That was too much to hope for, I suppose.

[She says with a sigh, giving Ainsley another glance before turning back to stick her nose in Raylan's business.]

What are you doing? Oh, and give me back my key.

[You know, the one she threw at him, if he's still holding it in any visible way, she's going to make a grab for it. Then, switching to English--]

You need what for this, wood? Do you have wood, Malcolm's sister? Or are you afraid of the forest, too?

Sure. We're on such a complicated time crunch around here we couldn't possibly spend any more time than however long it takes to be a caveman about it.

[She still thinks pliers would be better. But what does she know.

She shakes her head.] No, but there's plenty around. [She gestures to the woods, to the houses in varying states of disrepair.]

[Raylan looked up at Callisto talking at him - he understood none of it, of course, and there wasn't even tone to go off of. He was still holding the key and he jerked it away from her with a look of disapproval.]

Don't grab. [Only after that would he hold it out for her to take, glancing back at Ainsley.]

Hey. Cavemen got shit done. [A few seconds later, Raylan pulled up a decent looking board with a heavy breath.]

Now we just need a rock. [He looked over at Ainsley again.] You can guess where we're goin' after this, right?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

079-081 » to the hideous end

Callisto | Xena: Warrior Princess

079; cw: desecration of a corpse

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i'm cackling at her not using her name lmao plz call her "Malcolm's sister" forever

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