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

Even with the help of one of his potions, Dorian is going to be laid up to heal for quite some time. The few days following the fire he'll be in the Schoolhouse, likely posted in a cot in the nurse's station or potentially wherever Athena, Jeff, Carter, or anyone else may have thought to put him to make him comfortable or safe.

Now that he's awake, moving around, or doing much of anything is painful, the burns spanning up his whole left side make it so. Sitting up is uncomfortable so for the most part he remains propped on his right side. Luckily it seems Carter or whoever else has managed to find enough bandages to cover his wounds, with his tattered and destroyed leather armor and robes from home kept somewhere nearby. They may yet be salvaged given some time and if he can find anyone that knows how to sew or work leather. But alas, he will mourn their short reunion.

Familiar faces are a blessing and he'll flash a smile at anyone that he sees or takes time out of their day to visit. All the while it's covering his pain, boredom, and the guilt he feels at failing the village. Quiet, alone time will be spent staring out the nearest window or contemplating how weak and useless he feels in this place. He talks a good game, tries to ramp himself up with the lie that he somehow bought everyone time to get nearly all the residents out. He fought hard, he completely tapped himself out to the point of nearly ending his own life when he couldn't escape the fire.

In reality, he knows... somewhere in his gut that none of what he'd done really made a difference. His power, his abilities are so stunted in this world and nearly out of his control to the detriment of himself and others. But he tried, and that had to count for something. It still hits home, the burns reminding him of his failures and it's something that will haunt him for a long time. It won't stop his determination though, but he'll need time before he can even hope to get up on his own two feet and try again.

Anyone passing by may get a friendly greeting, especially if someone brings food or comes to check on him. He'll likely try to sucker anyone into getting him some books to read to pass the time or at least strike up a simple conversation. Especially about the strange noises he's been hearing over the passing days.

Otherwise, Dorian will likely be privy to any of the goings-on in the Schoolhouse proper, idly observing quietly and listening in to the conversations around him to gather more information about those he's found himself allying with. After all, they're all in this together, and learning what he can about the people aiding him or caring for him is something he's interested in. Even if it's little more than eavesdropping on more personal things.

Pls come visit a bored and lonely Mage.

Edited 2021-08-12 13:44 (UTC)

Since before the fires were extinguished on their own, Bucky hasn't stopped moving. He spent the better half of the night rummaging through the chard skeletal remains of houses and buildings, looking for people who might be trapped or injured or worse, dead. But, by sunrise, it was clear that most, if not all, survived and were safely placed in the hands of those that could help them with whatever medical needs they had.

After countless hours, he finally slows down. Bucky cleans himself up and rummages the kitchen cabinets at Poppy Cottage where he will stay with Daisy and anyone else who doesn't have anywhere to go heading out. He finds a tin of coffee and after making some, heads back out to check on the people he's shared a town with over the last fifty-some-odd days. As he often does after big events like this.

Entering the schoolhouse, Bucky, still wearing the same sooty clothes from the night before, begins his search, looking from room to room for familiar faces or anyone needing any obvious help for whatever reason. If not, he'll head towards the Town Hall next.

Most of the time Dorian enjoyed being doted over, but this? This was starting to get frustrating and his pride just simply would not have it. At some point, there were canned goods brought in for them to snack on when needed and a can-opener left for him to use. He was shown how for his first meal and reassured the others he'd be fine on his own. When in fact, he was not fine and it was an absolute struggle to try and even hold anything with his wounded hand let alone try to work some sort of contraption he'd never seen before. His pride wouldn't allow him to ask for help, so instead, he struggled, determined he would somehow get the damn can open one way or the other.

He wound up with a dented can, which of course, only made things harder.

"Vishante Kaffas!" In his utter frustration the thing was flung from his fingers, unintentionally, and it bounced before rolling out into the hallway. He looks forlornly on for a moment before just sitting back, settled into his fate of not having lunch. It seemed most people were out and about doing more important things, and it was a good thing too... he really didn't want anyone to have seen his childish display...

Little does he know that Bucky isn't far.

They're not really letting Doc move around too much either, despite all his protestations that he's doing much better today compared to yesterday, and yesterday compared to the day before. But alone with nothing much else to do lying in that cot, he busied himself fashioning a wooden crutch out of some broken chairs and tables, a crude but functional design that has helped him get to his feet by day 80 and has him venturing out of that repurposed classroom by day 81.

Dorian had been unofficially assigned the adjacent room, so Doc didn't go far at all before he comes across that mage. Looking pretty worse for wear, but that's true for them both. He does feel a little guilty about what happened in the woods, but that all seems so far away now given the fire that must have ravaged through half the town. While he hasn't yet left the school to take a look himself, the stories relayed back to him haven't painted a good picture.

"Morning," he greets, tipping his hat. Doc still feels like a fraction of his old self, but he'll get back there when he's sufficiently recovered enough to run around again. Blissfully unaware of what Dorian might or might not have heard when Raylan, Malcolm, Yennefer, Ellie and anyone else had come to visit him, Doc ventures a couple of small, slow, stunted steps into Dorian's room, leaning against the doorframe with a relieved sigh. It seems a little silly to ask how he's feeling - 'like shit' pretty much would cover it - so Doc opts to kick off small talk with another line of questioning.

"I don't suppose you have noticed any... inexplicable noises or occurrences here?"

Dorian may or may not have been privy to some of the conversations, or most of them, some of the voices he didn't recognize and others he did. The man had little else to occupy himself with and prying was really only meant to be a way to glean more information about the people here. Doc, or the others, and any information they had. If he happened to hear more than that, well... he'd keep it to himself, for now.

One way or the other Dorian relied on his charm, and despite feeling a pang of embarrassment at the state of himself when anyone saw him, he still managed to hide it with a small smile. That failure wasn't long from his mind of course, but for now, he'd keep a stiff-upper-lip, he had appearances to uphold. It certainly seemed like a lot of them needed someone to appear put together.

All the same, the charming tip of the hat gets a warm smile and a thought to himself about how Cole would have loved a hat like that. He wonders what sort of field day this place would give the spirit, everyone here had lots of different kinds of pain. Though, it's really very good Cole wasn't here. The boy might be driven mad or worse...

"Morning? Already? Goodness and no one's been by with breakfast yet." He's joking, mostly, "tsk"ing softly and shaking his head.

"Come to think of it, I have been hearing something going on in neighboring rooms but haven't witnessed what is going on. I just assumed it was noisy neighbors... Or someone looking for things."

"You do get used to the hospitality awful quick," Doc admits with a small smile. He's rather against the whole notion of being waited upon, even if it is just a couple of boys eager to be helpful, but it has been a nice reprieve, a much needed break even if it hasn't always been so restful.

"I had thought much the same. Commotion and general clumsiness." His eyebrows furrow as he leans back and tilts his head far enough to look down the long corridor before returning his attention back to Dorian.

"But when I was up and about - or up, at least - I thought I saw some... books. Flip themselves." There is a chance that Doc is cursed or haunted somehow. He happens to be a shit magnet par excellence. But he thinks it good to ask around in case it's not just him.

"I was starting to think this isn't a good place to settle down."

"It's all very sweet, and much nicer than I've experienced in a long time. It almost makes me homesick." Almost. But not really, Tevinter has it's issues and there needs to be a lot of big change before he returns. Or, realistically, he'd return eventually to fix those things, but there's too much to be done with the Inquisition if he ever gets back from Mathias.

"Considering all of the strange happenings in this town in general, I would not be surprised if this place was haunted. Could be lively spirits of children trying to get our attention or play pranks." He does give his concern some thought, then shrugs.

"Well, I haven't had any of them visit me in my dreams to try and coerce me into possession, so I think so far we're safe. I haven't noticed anything untoward." A pause, as all of this talk of death, reminds him, didn't Raylan say he buried Doc's body??? But he also remembers hearing his voice speaking with others over the past few days, so either he returned quickly or...

"You've been recovering in the other room, correct?" A pause, "I'm sorry if this is an uncomfortable question but, did you die and then come back? Raylan said he'd buried your body, well, yours and Malcolms..." Which that's another voice he swore he heard too.

Things could have just as easily devolved into every man for himself, but they had put in the effort to band together, weather through the various storms together, support each other. It is paying itself off tenfold with the amount of support they are extending to the others, regardless of how long they might have known each other for.

"You do seem quite comfortable amongst them," Doc observes quietly. He's... not too bothered himself, either, though a part of him thinks he probably should be. Children's spirits might sound like they ought to be benign, but nothing about Mathias so far could be described as benign. There has been an ominous, malevolent air to everything: the phantoms, the fog, the fire, the invisible eviscerating monster - everything.

"I am over there, yes," Doc gestures with a slow tilt of his head. "And I have not died, no." It's hardly an uncomfortable question for a man who is intimately acquainted with death and suffering. Dorian would have gotten much more discomfort if he'd tried to pull a Raylan on Doc and accuse him of being gay. But Doc had not from the fire and not from anything else that this town has tried to set upon them. He is, in fact, usually left to pick up the pieces. Current circumstances notwithstanding, of course. There have been darker days where he thought dying would have been the better fate, but so far, that has not been in the cards.

"Mathias probably does want me dead." It probably wants them all dead in some long, drawn out, gruesome, needlessly cruel fashion. Well, there just so happens to be a bit of a queue - a fair number of them have made enemies long before coming here - and Mathias can wait her turn.

"Has anyone else said anything about that? Were there bodies of everyone else?" It would take Doc hours to get around town like this, or he would go see for himself.

79-81 Schoolhouse Rock - OTA (TW: Burn wounds)

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081

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