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.

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Comments

[bestfuneralever]

Klaus hates this place. He hates it more and more with every passing day that goes by. The schoolhouse had seemed logical, when Malcolm had found him and told him that where he and the rest of 1306 were going to be. He didn't want to be alone. He needed to be where people he knew were.

But.
Things got a little creepy in the night. But it's light out now.
Daytime felt safer and the building felt really fucking small. Somehow, reminded him of being stuck in the crypt at the Academy.

So he left. And then he wandered. He was good at that, always was, really, but it's even easier now that half the fucking town is decimated.

The screams get his attention. He debates leaving it– he can't help anyone, his head's a mess, everything feels like too much lately.

But.
No.
That's stupid. It's fine. He's fine.

And the screams keep happening. He can't ignore it, so instead he follows the sound until he reaches the house it's coming from.

Klaus is a little surprised to find Malcolm inside, and his face breaks into a look of concern. "Hey," he wanders over and grabs his wrist when he lifts the pipe again, "hey, hey, what's going on? What's wrong? What happened?" Paranoia is pretty consistent these days, and he can't help the rushed way his words tumble out of his mouth.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm is out of breath as his gaze follows Klaus’ hand up his arm to his face. He takes a deeper, shaky breath.

“Neal is gone.”

[bestfuneralever]

He doesn't know what he's expecting the answer to be, but the concern is rampant across his features. "What? But- he- he was ju– what happened? Are you okay? Stupid question– you're obviously not. But–"

God, he know what to say. He spiraled like the addict he'll always be at heart the minute he realized that Five was gone, truly gone. He has no idea how to handle things.

So instead of trying to make it better with words, he inches his fingers up to take the pipe away from Malcolm, set it on the ground, and tug him into a hug.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm all but collapses into that hug. There have been four pillars that have supported Malcolm’s mental health through his time here: Doc, Raylan, Neal and Klaus. His psyche is wobbling now, like a table with only three legs.

And with the lingering fear, now, that any of the others could disappear at any time; a possibility that had already existed but hadn’t touched his inner circle quite so intimately.

“This is one of the ways they’re going to destroy us.”

[bestfuneralever]

The breath is taken straight from his lungs at the way Malcolm falls into him. No… no, no, no, this isn’t right. He doesn’t deserve this. How can this place just keep taking from them?

“Hey. No. Okay? No, listen—” he pulls back just a fraction, just enough to look at Malcolm’s face. “No. We won’t let that happen, okay? I know that sounds empty right now, but we- we have to stick together, right? More than ever. The ones of us that are still here still need each other, and we can’t let go of that.” He kisses the top of Malcolm’s head and sighs softly into his hair. Klaus almost towers above him, all long, skinny lines and sharp angles, but he curls into him, letting the whole of his body circle around and protect Malcolm.

[abrightboy]

"Don't leave me," he whispers fiercely. "No matter what. Promise me."

[bestfuneralever]

“I won’t,” he says it immediately, without question or hesitation. They both know no one can truly promise that here; the disappearances are as random as appearing here ever has been. But Klaus will do his best not to leave. “I promise I won’t leave, okay?” He threads his fingers through Malcolm’s hair gently. “I won’t.”

[abrightboy]

"You were at the school last night, right? You're... you're staying with us at the school?"

It suddenly seems very important to know where Klaus is going to be. They'd brought Neal to the school and he's gone now.

He takes a shaky breath.

"I stabbed him. I stabbed him and he survived and now he's gone."

[bestfuneralever]

He nods, "Yeah. Yeah, I was. I am." At least, that's the plan so far.

"Not on purpose." he hasn't even heard the story, but he knows that, instantly, intrinsically, down into his bones. And it goes double for Neal, too– he didn't leave of his own free will, any more than any of them showed up here on their own, either. "Maybe he'll be back..." It has happened before.

It didn't work with Five.
Five just disappeared.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks around at the rubble.

“Raylan brought me here for that date I told you about. Neal helped him make it nice.”

His shoulders slump as he exhales. He reaches for Klaus’ hand. “Can we go for a walk?”

[bestfuneralever]

He smiles a little at the comment. "That's sweet of him." He refuses to say was, to put the past tense there yet. Maybe he'll be back. It wouldn't be the first time Neal disappeared and came back, after all.

He tangles his fingers together with Malcolm's as soon as the other man reaches for him. "Yeah, of course. Anything."

[abrightboy]

"Do you think it would be crazy, if Neal came back, for one of us to stay with him all the time?" Malcolm asks. "Do you think he'd think we were crazy?" He looks at Klaus. "Nobody ever disappeared while they were within someone's sight."

[bestfuneralever]

"No, I don't think it's crazy." He shakes his head a little. "And since... if he does come back, it'd be the second time it happened... I don't think he'd be against the idea, either." He has a point, there. No one has ever seen the others when they disappear. "Maybe it's a good ideal, maybe people can't disappear if they're with other people."

[abrightboy]

"Maybe all of us staying at the school house is a good idea, then." He pauses. "I'm worried about Raylan. He's been... having a hard time. And he goes out alone a lot." He takes a breath. "I don't know what I'll do if he disappears."