079-081 » to the hideous end

[villagemod]

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

Comments

didn't get a notif :<

[thering]

"I don't think I'm much of a party animal anymore, Raylan," Doc says with a chuckle. Maybe when he was younger and constantly on the verge of dying, the encapsulation of that youthful and brash give no fucks, yolo spirit knowing he was on borrowed time. He would have brought half the town to the tavern with either his charm or his guns or likely a bit of both and lost the night to a blackout, woken up in jail and proclaimed it a great success.

"These days I would prefer a quiet affair with a half dozen people, cold beers on the porch, and a kindness from mother nature to spare us from a humid summer." These are the things that matter in the end. And there's really no need to make it explicit that Raylan would be on that short list of invites.

"Was it-- like the 'Other Mathias'?" Doc had managed to catch a glimpse of the unnatural way the fire moved when it landed, which got him hauling ass. Not that it helped any, in the end.

He would tell Raylan to go, to not let a laid up cowboy hold him up - he's immortal, remember? - but he trusts that Raylan will peel away when he's ready to go searching for the others. He won't chase him away now, when his company brings some small comforts, selfish though that might be.

"Yeah, alright." He doesn't actually need the water but he recognises that Raylan needs to keep himself busy - don't make him lean over and smack that restless leg - and it might make him feel useful, playing fetch.

"I buried some 'shine with the dead." That's all they'll have left if nothing can be dug up from the caches he kept on the burnt side of town. He doubts Raylan would be too opposed to desecrating some graves if there's promise of liquor.

"Is that... Eye still on the noticeboard?" Yeah, it gives Doc the heebie-jeebies too. "I ventured into the forest the other day. I swear something is watching us. Multiple somethings. Or someones."

:< *how dare DW rob us*

[tinstar]

"I dunno, you always entertain me very well," he said casually, letting a break in the cloud over him happen, a brief, fleeting reprieve from the shit bouncing around in his head. "But I like the sound of your plan better than any kind of frat party. You'd like a good barbeque too," he guessed. The assumption that he'd be part of that half dozen or so people wasn't said but it was there. Doc wouldn't dare to have a hopping porch party without Raylan.

Brief as the idea was, it was nice before dipping back into the realistic horrors of Mathis and Raylan ducked his head again, thumb worrying at his ring as his jaw went back to it's subtle work as he nodded. "Yeah. Same thing that-" That killed him and Neal last time. "Lightin' storm to start it an' all. Just like the historically recorded one, you remember hearin' about that?"

Henry had been at the Town hall meeting where it'd been mentioned, but time moved so weirdly here, that felt like it was forever ago. The fact that Henry had buried extra shine made Raylan's hands and throat itch, the former clenching rhythmically before he was pushing to his feet and going to get that water. As much as he would hate to agree, Raylan needed to keep himself moving as much as he could but that idea was in open war with the more base primal needs like sleep and food.

It only took him a minute, anyway and when he returned, he had a glass of his own that was worked back and forth in his palms, left mostly untouched.

"Yeah.. Far as I know.. Negan and I saw it at the theater once. Malcolm found it in the tunnels. It means somethin', I just ain't figured out what.." But his eyes had settled with a glint of concern on Henry's face. Had he seen the same thing that Raylan and Jeff had? Raylan hadn't been given much of a space to relay his experience, everything went to hell too quickly but it sounded like it.

"I followed Jeff in the other day too.." He leaned forward. "Did you see what happened to them?" He knew better than to lead in questioning; he didn't want to turn Henry towards what he wanted to hear.

[thering]

Who in their right minds would say no to charred meat, really? Certainly not Doc.

"Yes. There was a rather different crowd in town during that time." To tally up all the losses since then... well, he'd rather live in hope that they managed to find a way home rather than dying permanently to whatever it is Mathias has in store for them. It helps somewhat that they don't really know the fate of those who have gone and never returned, either, even if sometimes it did feel like a parade of imaginary friends in a fever dream.

He doesn't mention about wondering what happened to the others. They have enough of their own woes and sorrows and losses to deal with right now. All he offers is a quiet little grunt of appreciation when the water is delivered. He doesn't drink from it, although he does stroke the side of his finger against the outer surface of the glass in thought as the topic of the unfortunate ladies in the forest comes up.

"The women? They jumped," Doc said simply. There was nothing he could do for them. And he doubted they wanted him to do anything either. He's not even sure if those women (are they even women?) are in the same plane of existence as the people in this room.

"Nothing has jumped back yet, but. I wouldn't rule it out. Even if most of the town is all burnt to shits."

[tinstar]

Raylan bobbed his head with a huff. "Rather a different crowd indeed." Who was even left that had shown at the start? Himself, Doc, Malcolm, Klaus, Daisy. Everyone else had.. died or gone home. Raylan had to believe that they went home. There was no room for the myriad of dark possibilities that would follow the door to any other answer. He couldn't even entertain the possibility that they'd also been driven into the woods. Into the yawning chasm, chased by the camera monster they couldn't see.

But all that fell away as Doc got back to what was really digging around in Raylan's head. The Marshal found himself leaning forwards a little more in anticipation, eyes darting back and forth between Doc's blues, painfully attentive.

"You didn't follow them far enough," he muttered unevenly. "You didn't see what they jumped into, did you?"

It clawed at him, the way it absorbed the light, the way his neckhairs rose even thinking about it now.

"No, Henry. There's somethin' in there. Somethin' in where they jumped. The somethin that's watchin' us. It wants us to do the same thing. To be herded into its maw. The fire was only the start. It's gonna get worse. So much worse."

[thering]

"It wa'n't a whole lotta nothing, I agree." Doc knows a big black cavernous void of the nothingness that awaits in dark and lonesome places, perhaps after death assuming men like them would be spared from hellfire nipping at their heels and anything else that comes with the eternal damnation package.

That wasn't the abyss. There was something there. Someone. Maybe the someone who brought them here in the first place. But why keep them alive this long instead of swallowing them up whole like it did those womenfolk?

"If it wanted us to jump, jumping would have happened two months ago." Not that Doc is the type to jump when other people ask him to, even politely. "The fire could have taken us in our sleep, intentional that it was. Something else is at play here. Something I frankly care very little to speculate of at this point. There is nothing we can do about it. We caused that explosion at 1307 - we could have hurt someone. We could run out of food and water tomorrow. Those are things we can do something about."

[tinstar]

There was a lot about about Henry's pragmatic approach and view of it that urged Raylan's spiral to slow. If pressed, he wouldn't be able to put his finger on the no nonsense confidence of how Doc had said it all that stilled the wild edges of his psyche. It didn't stop the turn of the tornado in his head, but it helped.

Raylan stared at the floor as he listened, thumb working the backside of his ring again. He knew better than to chase an argument, speculative or not, if Doc wasn't keen to have it. It would get him no where and earn him more stress he didn't need or want. But he had his theories on why they were being pushed the way they were now.

"We didn't cause it. Mathis did," he corrected with a glance over. "Ain't nothin' wrong with the way we stored or handled that moonshine." His eyes fell back to the floor. "General store is still refillin'. I can't go into any of the houses yet to look, but Malcolm's been gatherin'. Faucets still work. We can't do nothin' about either of those things, if they run out." He failed to see the up side here.

Raylan took a deep breath and shifted his eyes to the walls where they continued to bound around from knot to feature to hook and back again as he waited for the three lobed eye to soak itself into the wood, drip it's deadly promise at them.

"No one's checked out yet, mentally speaking." However close he felt to doing so.

[thering]

"Raylan." And the way Doc says it with almost a silent L, you know a gentle chide is coming before he even manages the words. "Not for the faint of heart, and not without risks, this homebrewing business." Their hackjob of a brewery pieced together from salvaged bits of debris was never a safe setup.

"I don't think visiting the houses will be a good idea. Unless you plan on... falling through burnt floorboards right down into dark tunnels or checking out yourself." Doc is nothing if not perceptive. Didn't need to verbally check in to know that Raylan is slowly (not so slowly, these days) unravelling at the frayed and strained seams.

Unfortunately the school doesn't really have a porch for them to air all their grievances with Mathias. Their tiny (and sober - can't forget sober) corner of this classroom will have to do in the meantime.

"Might not be anything left to find around the old houses, anyway." Doc is carefully pussyfooting around the fact that they had once called one of those houses 'home'. That's all gone now. That and... A few other things Mathias had taken from them.

and if its okay, I'd love to tack his reaction to finding and burying Doc to the end of this thread

[tinstar]

He didn't need to be told but the declaration still didn't change his mind. It had not been their fault that fire had gotten close to the tub full of ethanol they were tending. What was it called? The God Clause. He shook his head a little, jaw tight with his resolve to not be moved off his point.

A shaking that continued slightly with Doc's suggestion.

"No. I have to go. Only place I haven't checked, 'sides the lighthouse. I ran away last night, Henry. I got Neal out and went mad with fear and was headin' right for the woods. Won't be able to stand myself if I can't face it in the light of day. I gotta check. Every where. It'll be.. fine."

It wasn't going to be fine. The fraying of Raylan's seams were only going to get worse with what he found there. But for now, the Cowboy was resolute. Dishonor had been earned. He heard Callisto calling him a coward in the back of his mind more often than he'd care to admit.

Raylan rubbed hard at his face. "God I wish there was somethin' to drink," he muttered, sighing heavily as the hand dropped back down. "I'm so goddamned tired, Doc."

Yes sure!

[thering]

"It don't sound fine to me." And Doc more or less never calls Raylan out when he uses that particular F word. Or the equally meaningless 'I'm Okay'. He hates that Mathias is, God forbid, making them call each other out on these things.

"Why don't you sit here a while? That smoldering pile of burnt suburb ain't goin' anywhere." Doc can't offer Raylan any respite from all this, nor can he offer a drink other than telling Raylan where he'd stashed a couple of bottles, alongside the dead, but if the good Marshal can't sit still for a little while here, there's little hope he'll be finding any peace anywhere else.

"No one's gon' say anything if you found a corner to perch a few hours." And if anyone tries, they're getting a snowglobe between their eyes. Doc might not have done much since getting caught up in that little 1307 disaster, but the cowboys have done plenty since getting here. They're one of the very few people left who have been here as long as anyone else can remember, and they honestly haven't really stopped since they washed up on the now charred beach. If they just need to stop running around like headless, hatless chickens to catch their breaths, no one should fault them for being human.

[tinstar]

Raylan looked over at the gunslinger at that. If he was any less tired, he might have been surprised but they'd all been through the ringer the last few days. Sleep was short for everyone; running for your life tended to do that to a soul, to say nothing of the injuries and pain those caught in the fire were having to deal with. Raylan's eyes dropped back to the floor. Even if he could argue it, doing so would be pointless. Henry knew.

"I want to," he whispered, desperately wishing for just a few more hours of that peace they had previously managed to carve out for each other in the houses that they stole nights from. Those nights where Raylan let go and realigned himself after soaking in simple, relatively safe existence. "I can't. Had a new nightmare last night, in the five minutes I managed to steal, an' now I can't see anythin' except 1970's lapels and blood."

Raylan shook his head again. "And I gotta find Tim. Once I have though, either way.." He planned on coming back here, finding a nearby corner and trying again. Trying again before he went fully insane. He knew how important sleep was, helped by moonshine or not.

"'Sides. Malcolm needs help pullin' in food. He's handlin' all this.. better than I am, if I'm honest." There was a note of pride in there - look at how far Malcolm had come.

[thering]

Doc isn't sure of the relation between 1970s lapels and blood. He's not even sure what a 1970 lapel is supposed to look like. But he just gives Raylan a wordless nod. What reassurances does he have left to offer? Empty promises, their resolve, creature comforts - everything had been taken in the fire.

"Tim should be your priority," Doc agrees. He's been worried about Wynonna too, but he's not in any shape to be running around looking for her. He can only hope she managed to get out in time, and found a suitable place to shelter. Talking about her would only have him spilling his guts along with his worries, so he tries to bite his tongue and keep calm, sane, collected - for all their sakes.

"Malcolm, I am most certain, has everything under control." Yes, Doc is feeling quite reassured about Malcolm being able to run the show for a while, whatever Malcolm might feel about that. It certainly can't be the case that both cowboys have misguidedly placed their trust in him.

"I will see you later, when you're ready." There's no forcing Raylan to stay or rushing him to calmness. Doc isn't even going to bother trying.

"If you do see my hat, I hope you wouldn't mind bringing it back." Assuming it hasn't burnt up to a crisp, which Doc thinks is a far more likely fate, unfortunate though that might be.

[tinstar]

Tim and everyone else that was missing. The lists were too long; Raylan would be looking for any faces, regardless of if he recognized them. How many bodies would he find? Something he was trying to prepare himself for. "Shoulda dug more graves," he lamented quietly before nodding and heaving a heavy sigh that signaled him talking himself up into moving again.

It was good that Doc agreed with him on Malcolm, Raylan wasn't fully trusting of himself these days and the confirmation that his thinking was sound was relieving. Henry didn't have to worry about being useful when he couldn't walk; he was invaluable, no matter his state. Raylan wondered if he knew that he was the one Raylan would be running back to when the day was done, just to set up close by and keep an eye on him.

"I'll keep an eye out, I promise," he said, pushing himself to his feet with a grunt to stand there for a long second, studying Doc's form. "Don't go no where, okay?"

--

Raylan had been gone for several hours and when he walked back into the schoolhouse, black hat in hand, he was filthy and looking significantly worse for the wear. As soon as he'd finished burying them with Tim, he'd tried to talk the sniper into coming back with him but had been refused. Maybe that had something to do with the way that Raylan burst into the room, eyes wild and eager to land over on Doc Henry.

"Henry. You're here." Here and not really dead. His face shifted through relief, heartbreak, grief and, after a glance around like he could find Malcolm in the same breath, finally, a pointed purpose as he strode over and knelt down on one knee, the other folded up against his chest as he grabbed for Doc's left hand. "Let me see your hand."

Not exactly polite, he knew, but politeness was for sane people and Raylan felt far from that.

[thering]

"If you make more graves, you'll find more things to put in them," Doc cautions. Maybe not always bodies, but what Raylan is doing isn't exactly classified in any healthy coping mechanism list. Now that drinking themselves into a stupor isn't an option anymore, he's not sure whether he should be looking forward to the next thing Raylan is going to find comforting.

For now at least, that isn't Doc's immediate concern. There is nowhere he can go. He is currently laid up and any efforts at even fashioning a prototype but functional crutch to aid him walking around out of repurposed furniture, for when his patience eventually runs out and the need to get up and find Wynonna is greater than his pain tolerance, is going to take him the whole day. He nods and encourages Raylan to leave, or at least not feel compelled to stick around on account of one banged up cowboy.

While Raylan is gone, Henry might have fallen back asleep, tried to catch up on some much-needed rest that has been more or less mandated by his injuries. He honestly wasn't expecting to see Raylan again so soon, so he startles awake with a sharp intake of air through the nose when he hears the frantic footsteps and the urgent tone in Raylan's voice. Doc couldn't have gotten anywhere in the past few hours, even if he hadn't fallen asleep, so he's not sure what precipitated this flurry, what horrors must have swallowed Raylan up to render him in such a state. Was he swimming in soot?

"Raylan, what's-- mmnh." Doc retracts his hand as if Raylan was white-hot fire, withdrawing and shrinking back from Raylan. There was nothing rational or calculated about the way he had pulled back, covering the back of his left hand with his right palm, but it was almost as if Raylan somehow managed to incite a panicked, panting, hyperaware state by a mere bad touch.

[tinstar]

Raylan had no clever, dry witted quip to come back with. Self fulfilling graves wasn't the craziest thing he had heard and while Raylan was not a religious or superstitious man, there were things at work here beyond his understanding. He couldn't rightly say that Mathis wouldn't give him more things to put in those graves.

But by the time he came back, those thoughts were miles away, taken over by the much more insistent, pertinent now and the way Doc had pulled his hand back from Raylan's grasp. Raylan stared at him, eyes narrowed fractionally as the hair on the back of his neck started to rise.

"Let me see your hand, Doc," he said quietly, turning his hand up and out but not grabbing this time. "I just wanna look in your palm, it's okay."

[thering]

"Sorry," Doc grumbles quietly, flexing his hand. "I've been-- a little. Unnerved." Loathe as he is to admit even that much. "Since the fire." He's still not overly keen on touching Raylan, or being touched, but he does slowly extend his hand, turning it over slowly. At least this time Doc is prepared for it, and while he still won't like it, he can probably try to behave, without flinching.

"What happened? You look like you've seen a ghost." A ghost that must have done something to his hand, if Raylan is taking such a keen interest in it. The Marshal isn't usually this interested to look at his hand, even when they're alone and getting, well, handsy.

[tinstar]

"I can tell," he replied, and the words, to match his face, were clearly worried. Gently and with only a few fingers, Raylan turned Doc's palm a little, licking his off thumb and smearing it across Doc's palm to move some of the dirt and soot that had settled there. "Nothing," he muttered, letting go and settling back on his hunches and looking back up at Henry's face.

"You havin' any.. nightmares about dyin? Have.." His jaw worked, unwilling to say it in the moment before he took a breath through his nose. Better to get through it than linger in this bullshit. "You die on me and ain't said nothin?"

A hesitant accusation, but as closed mouth as Henry was about shit that chewed at him, Raylan had to ask. Even if Henry wasn't closed off about it, he would have to ask. He buried him.

Least he'd found his hat?