The Village Mod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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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
But he doesn't. He just accepts it all, like he deserves it, even though they both know perfectly well that he hadn't been the one who'd taken Jeff away. It was the town. The town taking everything, one piece at a time.
It's when he says none of 'em, that reminder and confirmation that it wasn't just Jeff, but Neal and Athena too, that she breaks. She lets out a ragged sob, finally letting her fists fall just to curl in on herself, arms wrapping tight around her waist. ]
What if they're dead?
[ It's been less than twenty-four hours since she found Eliot's body washed up on the lake, and she can still see it when she closes her eyes. Eliot's alive, but not everyone's so lucky. She knows there have been bodies found down in the tunnels, bodies whose owners never came back.
She's crying in earnest now, the words barely intelligble through her hiccuping sobs. ]
What if they're dead in the woods?
no subject
What he was or wasn't stops mattering though, when Parker breaks into her tears that he feels far too sharply and Raylan can't help but wrap his arms loosely around her shoulders, giving her room to accept the hug or shove him away as she needed.]
We can't think like that. If they were dead, we woulda found their bodies. If they died in the woods, Mathis woulda spit them back out onto the street. Last time I saw them, they were alive. It's better to think of them as having vanished.
[Still hard but less gutting, the safer assumption.]
no subject
But he feels like him, a little. She listens, and after a moment lets herself fall forward to rest her bowed head against his chest with another sob. Vanished. It's supposed to be comforting, and maybe it would have been at one point. Before she'd seen what was beond the chasm. Or, more to the point, what wasn't. ]
There's nowhere else. There's nothing else.
They have to be here!
[ Because, as far as she can tell, here is the only place left. ]
they're hurting me help
How many more would he hear? How much more death? When would his wails join hers?
As it was, he was trying and failing to keep the tears out of his own eyes, but he refused to let them fall.]
There's home. You remember home? Whatever that looked like for you, don't you want to go back to that? Life before this hellish place?
it gets worse
[ She hasn't actually said it out loud before. Not in so many words. Eliot had found her after she'd gone into the woods, after she'd seen the abyss that was beyond the chasm. The endless nothing.
Nothing beyond the town. No more woods. No more Earth. No way home.
She hadn't been able to articulate it then, too struck by the horror of what had happened. It had all been too new. Too awful. Now it's worse. Because her friends aren't the town anymore and there's nowhere else for them to be.
She falls briefly silent again after that outburst, before continuing more quietly, sounding miserable. ]
I saw it.
There's nothing else left.
:c
Raylan stared at the back of her head, hands rubbing back and forth in short, socially appropriate comfort, but his brow had furrowed further.]
Saw it? What do you mean saw it?
[Had she seen it too? The Beyond? That terrible darkness they were doomed to fall into? It wasn't good to share that thought - insanity begets insanity and he was uneven enough. He pushed the thought away and let her explain.]
no subject
Now, she hesitates for a long moment before slowly turning her head to look. Not that there's any way to see the chasm from here. But she knows it's out there. ]
I saw where it ends.
no subject
It might be the death (again) of him here.]
I saw it too. But it can't be nothing and stare back at us. That is a lie. Our fear, meant to shut down the rest of the reason thinkin' part of our brains.
[He looked back down at the small blonde that had somehow found her way into his arms, however temporarily. What a shift from hating him for not being Jeff.]
Home isn't gone. She can't take that. She can't take whole worlds. [He refused to believe that. Believing it gave Mathis a power over him that he was still and forever fighting against.]
no subject
Maybe she's stronger than you think.
[ Finally, she turns back to Raylan. ]
She brought us here. You don't know how she did that. How do you know what else she can do?
no subject
[This wasn't logic anymore, not for Raylan. This was what little faith the man could muster outside of his marriage to his badge.]
I refuse. I refuse to believe that. If whatever is runnin' this place is a Demigod or hell, a God God, then there are others. Ours. Power scale larger than us but I refuse to believe that Mathis can subvert all that.
no subject
People die here and come back. They leave their bodies behind and they come back to life again. Over and over.
[ She looks back at Raylan. ]
If there is something stronger out there, if there's something - something better, then why hasn't it stopped the town?
Why are we still here?
no subject
Because it doesn't care about us. There's nothing out there gonna save us but us. No reason to think this is.. any different than any other terrible thing in the world.
But that doesn't mean it's hopeless. We might not be able to stop it but we can sure as hell try and survive it.. Even if it means dyin' a few times to do so.
no subject
What does it matter if there's something bigger, if it doesn't care about them? If it won't reach out to save them? How is that different than being all alone?
She just looks at him, trying and failing to see the hope he's talking about. ]
We have to stop it.
[ Her voice is very small. ]
Or it'll just keep happening.
no subject
But they weren't alone. Help or not, they weren't alone.
Raylan pulled her back into a hug.]
We'll figure it out. It's gonna suck but we'll figure it out. You shouldn't stay here. Where can I take you?
no subject
She lets him hug her again, though she doesn't go so far as to hug back. And shrugs at his question, looking away. She and Hardison haven't returned to the movie theatre since they'd found Eliot's body. She doesn't want to now. ]
I dunno.
Why can't I stay here?
no subject
Because this is a graveyard and a mockery of what we used to find here. And it's gonna hurt more. You got anyone here? Anyone that you're comfortable with? Otherwise, I'm takin' you back to the schoolhouse.
[He wasn't leaving her out here if he could help it.]