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

Raylan started and looked up, eyes watery and red, and the automatic lift of his walls crumped as he recognized who it was. There was no room for even the deepest suggestion that Malcolm might not follow through; not when the rest of him needed one security to hold onto.

As Malcolm sat down next to him, Raylan bent his knee out to bump against his and stared at the sandwich for a long second before taking it almost woodenly, hand tremoring openly as he did so.

"I couldn't sit in there anymore. Not after last night. I can't help but think that she's tryin' to drive us mad. Like really properly crazy," he started, rubbing at his face with an uneven breath as he fought back a fresh wave of tears, voice cracking with his next words. "Tim and I buried you and Henry yesterday. Found you both on Phillips Drive an-"

Detailing it out loud was going to come with some tears. Tears, he kept hidden behind his hand right now, sandwich already forgotten. How could he eat at a time like this? With their blood and gravedirt under his nails, in his skin, no matter how much he had washed his hands. They'd all end up that way, bloody and spread across the ground in some fashion. And he'd left them there. His brain didn't fully wrap around the fact that it could be anything else; he'd drug and lifted and buried them.

Malcolm frowns in a sort of horrified confusion, his hand sliding up and down Raylan’s thigh in a bid to comfort.

“Me and Henry? But… I mean, I can’t speak for Henry, but I definitely didn’t die. Negan got me out of the house. I ran down here looking for everyone. I never even lost consciousness.” He watches Raylan’s face carefully. “What happened to me?”

It was a struggle to reign things back in, but he did, barely so, enough to sniff and shake his head, wiping errant tears away as he kept his eyes down between his knees. It was too real to feel stupid

"You were stuck on some- some rebar from the debris. You'd fallen. I had to work your body off the steel before I could do anythin' else. Henry died from.. God I'm not even sure what, but with the blood around his mouth and out his nose, I'm guessin' TB?" He shook his head and leaned more of his leg's weight into Malcolm's.

"I didn't find Jeff or Athena. I can't find Neal. I feel like we lost everythin'."

Fuck it.

Malcolm climbs into Raylan’s lap and wraps his arms around his neck, just holding him for a long moment.

“A lot,” he concedes in a murmur. “But not everything.”

It wasn't even a conscious thought, letting Malcolm straddle him, and Raylan set the sandwich safely off to the side before wrapping his arms tightly around the smaller man. He hadn't realized how much he had needed this, this base physical reassurance that the men he loved were still real and alive and breathing amid the horrors he'd seen the ultimate end of the day before.

The small, fragile part of Raylan that had been drawn out by everything dissolved within a few breaths of Malcolm's solid thereness before he was turning his face into Malcolm's neck, hands grasping desperately up his back as Raylan's shoulders started to shudder with silent tears.

"I knew you were here. I knew you were both okay but it didn't matter, it didn't matter," he managed to say roughly after a harsh draw of breath. "I couldn't leave you again, couldn't leave you up there in such an ugly fuckin' display." A few more erratic breaths as his body struggled to keep up with the onslaught. "Will would have loved it."

Malcolm breathed a huff of a laugh at that last.

“On multiple levels, possibly; I don’t think he liked me much,” he joked softly. He kissed Raylan’s temple and then pulled back just enough to look at him.

“I’m still here,” he said gently, slipping his fingers through the hair at the back of Raylan’s neck. “I still love you.” He kissed his forehead. “Doc’s doing okay; he going to pull through.”

Malcolm couldn’t directly address the disappearance of Neal Caffrey. He’d had his own little breakdown in the ruins of Neal’s hand painted ‘park’ that morning. He’d beaten it out on the crumbled walls. He’d screamed it out at the sky above them.

And he couldn’t do anything for Neal, but he could help hold Raylan’s last jagged pieces together.

"I don't think he liked anyone much," Raylan replied, still trying to tuck all his frayed and beaten emotions back into a secure box that didn't come with him breaking his most base rule of never allowing himself to cry over someone.

He hated the way he knew his face must look, but he couldn't deny Malcolm the silent request and let his face be turned up, showing all the raw feeling in his eyes. They slipped closed for half a second with the kiss laid on his forehead, a few more tears leaking out of his eyes.

So many terrible things were coming; Raylan knew this was only another chapter in it.

"I don't know how anyone is sleepin'," he admitted with a rough tiredness to his voice. "An' I can't without bein' woken up by nightmares and it's gone on for so long.. I don't feel right anymore Malcolm. Like a belt slipped in my gears or somethin'."

“I understand,” Malcolm told him softly, fingers still fidgeting gently at his hair. “And we don’t know what’s still coming. But I know you don’t have to face it alone,” was all he could offer. He gave him a warm kiss. “Do you think maybe you could get a couple of hours if I keep watch over you?” he asked. “I find that belt slipping feeling subsides a bit with a couple of hours of sleep.”

"Right now all I wanna do is sit here with you and breathe for a few minutes, before I'm rushed back into the way this place is," he said, unaware that he was half pleading for it.

Don't make him move. Don't make him stuff all this back just yet, he wasn't sure if he could do so with the grace that people expected and demanded of him. It was stupid, but he felt like if he laid down at this very moment and did somehow manage to sleep, he'd wake up to punishments for having done it. Wake up to them being gone or dead again.

"Then I'll try. Can we just-"

Edited 2021-08-16 17:43 (UTC)

Malcolm started nodding before he even finished asking, leaning into him again, steering Raylan’s cheek back to his shoulder, pressing his own cheek to Raylan’s temple.

“We can stay here for as long as you want.”

As long as he needed.

He still didn't care for the steering but it was a small price to pay to bury his face into Malcolm's shoulder again with a shuddered breath as his hands tightened gratefully around him. It would took a few minutes for Raylan to settle himself, to wrap himself up into the hug as he focused on breathing and pushing the tears from the back of his eyes.

"I had a dream last night. A nightmare. One I ain't had before. It was of Penhew house; these.. they were havin' a party and as they filed in, they cut themselves and started drawin' on that big ass mirror. An offerin'. I don't know what for but.. It had to be for somethin'. And they weren't bothered. At all. Barely even blinked at it," he whispered into the ill-fitting t-shirt. "I can't stop seein' them when I close my eyes."

"Do you think it was real?" Malcolm asked. After his own view of his future - one he was somehow sure was real - he would believe it if Raylan said 'yes'. "Do you want to go check out that mirror?"

"It had to be, it-" He inhaled sharply, shoulders lifting unevenly in something of a shrug. But at the second question, he fervently shook his head. "No," he urged, hands gripping into Malcolm as he lifted his knees, wrapping himself a little further around the smaller man like that alone would stop them from going anywhere. "No, I can't. I can't do mirrors, not right now, I can't stand to look in them, to see myself and whatever the fuck is living over my left shoulder. Whatever followed me out of that damned chasm that Jeff and I almost fell into. She's watching us, I can feel it."

Malcolm held him tightly, rocking faintly.

"Do you think it's the mirrors that they use to watch us?" he asked.

Unexpectedly, that rocking helped ease the edges of Raylan's anxiety and he tried to focus on breathing and getting his heart rate back down. His breaking down wasn't without a fight; even in his despair, giving up wasn't a point he'd been pushed too yet.

Just damage management.

"Yes and no. I think they're more direct than that, but the mirrors... it's where they can manifest in somethin' more than noises and spooks."

“Like they’re some sort of door. Maybe the fear they spur in people is a defence mechanism, to keep us away from them. Maybe you’re feeling it so strongly because you’re onto something and they don’t want you to get any closer.” Malcolm stroked his fingers through Raylan’s hair. “I mean, you’re a pretty smart investigator and you’ve been poking this puzzle since you got here.”

Raylan took and let out a shuddering breath, letting his mind focus on and work over all that. Where was Constantine when you needed him?

"You really think that's a possibility or you just sayin' that to make me feel better?" It wasn't a bad idea. Wasn't a bad way to look at it and Raylan didn't know if he couldn't find any holes because he didn't want there to be any.

Malcolm’s fingers stroke through his hair again.

“All of their barriers feature a fear component. Like if you try to cross the fog. Like when we approached the chasm. They use paralyzing fear to keep us away from the things they don’t want us to see. It’s a pattern of behaviour with them.” He strokes through his hair and meets his eyes. “And I know you’re a smart investigator. They should be concerned about what you’ve discovered so far; what else you’ll discover if they don’t stop you.”

Progress was being made; Raylan pulled back easily to meet Malcolm's eyes with wet hazel ones. No matter which way his pessimistic brain came at that, he couldn't come up with anything other than - "And what if it all means nothin'? What if this is all chaos and I'm chasin' my own goddamned tail?"

There was no anger in the swearword, just desperation to not be foolish enough to know that he was being led around the merry mulberry bush.

“There’s something to know,” Malcolm told him. “Because they went to some trouble to bring us all here. To herd us around. They want something from us and anything we can discover, determine or deduce about them will only help us whenever they spring that something on us.” He pressed a kiss to Raylan’s forehead. “Rest when you need to; they’re pushing us hard. But don’t give up. I know they’re afraid of you,” he said. He pressed his forehead to Raylan’s forehead. “And I know they fucking should be,” he whispered fiercely into the space between their mouths.

Raylan took a deep breath, pressing his forehead into Malcolm's as he huffed his exhale, shoulders slumping down in a relief of tension he hadn't consciously been holding. It felt foolish to need to hear these things, to have his reality defined around him because he'd started to lose grip but he was grateful that Malcolm was there to help. To reaffirm what he already knew and desperately needed to hear from someone else.

"Lotta faith to put in a guy," he said oh so quietly, feeling more tired now than he had before in a way that wasn't strictly bad. "Thank you."

He took another breath and sagged into Malcolm again. "Can't believe we're stuck out here, the way we are. She coulda left us the houses. What I wouldn't give for a few quiet hours in a bed next to you an' Henry." There was no pretense and no reason for one. No reason for him to not be totally honest, he'd been spoiled the last time this happened.

Malcolm smiled and slid his fingers through the hair at Raylan’s temple.

“We’ll find somewhere. This is temporary.” He kind of liked how he fit between them. It was the warmest place he knew. “Doc needs to recover a bit anyway. I gave him a hug when I saw him. I thought I avoided his injuries, but he jumped like he was scalded.”

"He should be in a bed, not on the floor," he complained from Malcolm's shoulder. "Him and Dorian both." But Raylan pulled his head back to focus up on Malcolm's face, brow pinching in consternation. "He did that with me too, I went to take his hand, look at his palm to see if he was still bearin' that mark.. It was like I'd hit 'em. You think Mathis got her hooks into him like she has with me? Like me with the fire?"

That sounded solid but he had to check and verify.

“Disproportionate fear response,” Malcolm murmured. “That makes sense.”

As much sense as things made here; it fit the pattern.

“Being touched hurts him. Or. At least, scares him like it hurts.”

Raylan nodded, frowning deeply and closing his eyes.

"It'll pass. It passed for me. It'll pass for him. Let's give 'em a week or so.. I think I've lost count'a how long I've been here. And that bothers me a.. a lot."

079-081 » to the hideous end

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