TDM #5

[apocalypsehowmods]

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➥ Arrival

(cw: potential for severe disorientation/vertigo, claustrophobia, arachnophobia, body horror)

It happens in the blink of an eye. You may have been asleep. You may not have. You may have stepped through a door or turned a corner. You may have seen a flicker of something at the corner of your vision and turned to look. Or maybe you didn't.

It doesn't matter. What matters is that you find yourself somewhere entirely new and entirely unfamiliar. The arrival point is not always the same. (If you're lucky, it might be a canteen or an open office. If you're not, well... you aren't claustrophobic, are you? Or arachnophobic. These ducts do seem to be a bit cobwebby.) There is no one waiting for you but you don’t seem to be alone, either. Even in a janitor’s closet or the bathroom, you’ll find at least one person who seems to be just as out of place as you are.

If characters have arrived in a location devoid of NPCs, they may want to work together to figure out what is going on... or to avoid their 'kidnappers.' If you’ve arrived in the middle of the entry foyer or the gym, there may well be a few people who startle a bit at your arrival and try to approach (or discreetly leave the room... where are they going?). Will you cooperate or fight? Do you even understand what they're saying? You might need to find a translator, if you’re not immediately willing to follow a stranger.

After characters follow their new hosts (or are forcibly taken in) there will be a limited tour and the chance to settle in at the ADI-provided housing. (Do you enjoy living with strangers? Well. It's a new situation to navigate, anyway.)

➥ Both Sides Now

(cw: nephophobia, claustrophobia, agoraphobia, potential for a fate worse than death)

Weird things happen in Dogtown, everyone knows it. The Apocalypse Disruption Initiative (ADI) is not above taking advantage of that to test out the waters for its newest arrivals. They're not looking to send anyone to their death, though, especially not with recent events that have transpired surrounding Dogtown. An employee gives you a number to call if anything truly dangerous happens and you've been left with another person at the trailhead. Maybe they're a new arrival, as well, or a more seasoned 'veteran.' Either way, you're together for the next while and you've been asked to find and record any paranormal activity in the park. You have your phones and any other equipment you might have brought with you. Those who succeed in documenting anything peculiar will receive a $100 reward to be used as they see fit.

It's a cool and cloudy November day, which, given the season, isn't unusual. The sky's the sort of dark gray that promises rain sooner rather than later, and there's a weight to what's above as pairs move about Dogtown in search of anything unusual. For once, the place seems to be… normal. It's just a walk or hike through the woods depending on the paths you decide to take.

At least until you look up. It's hard to tell there's anything off at first. The clouds loom above, rumbling moodily with thunder and continuing to threaten a cold shower. Perhaps you planned ahead and have brought an umbrella or donned a poncho or raincoat. ADI would be happy to provide such things. But each time you look up, the sky seems to be getting closer.

It's not elevation. There are some hills around Dogtown, but certainly nothing that would make a marked difference on how close the clouds are. No, those are coming down. Slowly, but surely, the sky is lowering itself toward you and even the least supernaturally aware person will likely have the sense that they are being menaced. The sky wants them.

It may be wise to find a lower elevation and get out of Dogtown… if that's even the problem. The gray wall above seems to stretch in every direction without an end. No breaks for blue skies, no lighter spots where the sun might be starting to burn through. It's a uniform and inevitable crush downward. Seemingly. Whether one can overcome the fear or not, that sense of oppression and vastness is inescapable. The sky is coming down and it will crush you, much like the other pressures in your life that come bubbling to the fore. There are so many of them, aren't there? Little things start to seem enormous when they're all stacked up together. Impossibly huge. How could anyone overcome this?

Those who escape the borders of Dogtown will quickly find that it's only the park that's been affected. The broader town is fine. It's a hazy day, but there are spots of sunlight and the clouds are heavy, but far above where they should be.

Those foolish enough to stay and see what happens… well…

Enjoy sky blue. It's where you'll be trapped forever.

➥ Curiosity Shop

(cw: body horror; uncanny valley; organs; items made from body parts; anatomical models)

Also on ADI's radar this month is Things of Beauty, a small antiques and curiosity shop in the heart of the city. It seems the shop has recently made radical changes to its inventory and marketing; seemingly overnight the previously sleepy little shop full of run of the mill antiques is now home to a bizarre assortment of unsettling curios of unspecified origin. A local-born staff member had brought the matter to the attention of ADI's higher-ups after observing the sudden change to what had been a local institution, if a quietly failing one (and an equally sudden influx of curious tourists at the shop), and off-worlders have now been requested to engage in subtle investigations into the matter.

Those who take on the work will be given a small allowance for purchases from Things of Beauty. Their mission is to observe the comings and goings in the shop for anything suspicious, take note of the inventory, and bring back sample items for testing (failing to bring back either the money or an item with a receipt will result in a black mark on one's employee record). You'll also be encouraged to try to get names of other customers, particularly any locals, to enable follow-up investigations in case the shop is distributing cursed objects to the general public. Above all, you are requested not to make a scene, as ADI's purpose in sending multiple off-worlders on separate visits (particularly new arrivals) is to get eyes on the scene without alerting the shop's owner or staff that they're under investigation. As such, you'll generally be dropped off a few blocks from the shop in pairs at various times of the day.

Things of Beauty itself might be described as cozy if only it weren't for the shelves upon shelves of uncomfortably organic-looking or body-themed knickknacks. Selections include beads and small toys carved from bone; half-animal, half-vegetable figurines; squeeze toys with realistic plastic guts that pop out of their mouths; and dolls that double as anatomical models, among others.

The shop is manned most of the time by its owner, Kahlil Nassiri. He's friendly enough but avoids engaging in conversation beyond small talk and won't respond to any questions about the change in inventory--if pressed, he'll find some excuse to go to the back room to deal with some urgent business there instead of continuing the conversation. Best not to take advantage of his absence, though; the shop does have security cameras.

➥ Screen Magic

(cw: ghosts, compulsion, potential for violence, severe injury, severed limbs)

TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube have all been buzzing with the latest meme: Real Magic? Real Magic! Cut together clips of what seems to be stage magic that can be explained followed by seemingly inexplicable 'real magic.' Fire, electricity, phasing through materials, flying… An endless parade of amateur and more expert videos have been popping up.

Some of them have been catching ADI's eyes as they seem like they might be legitimate. Particularly the ones with IP addresses that indicate they're relatively local. It's not the high production-value ones that ADI seems to be most concerned with, but rather, the ones where there's unusual blurring, distortion, or warping associated with the videos. For the most part, these are the ones that are, in fact, being roundly trounced on social media as being poor fakes.

ADI doesn't think so.

Given the sheer volume of these, they're farming out investigations to staff. Everyone will find themselves partnered up with another person and given a video or someone's account to investigate. The videos being investigated have all come from relatively local IP addresses, and ADI is requesting people track down the creators of the videos or the sites where the filming is occurring. More veteran off-worlders might well recognize one of the locations within the video. Or the tech savvy may be able to pinpoint a more specific location.

By and large, characters will discover that the videos are, in fact, fakes. But perhaps you'll get lucky. Perhaps you'll find someone who's got wrapped up with a cursed object or you'll find a location where something truly supernatural is going on. Strange toys that seem to move when you're not watching are especially prevalent around Dogtown, and ghostly figures linger in town, particularly in the remote graveyards and railyard just after sunset.

If the toys manage to reach you, you'll find yourself with an impulsive desire to stab someone. Just… one stab. Just a little violence. The spectral figures have a similarly vicious streak attached to them. Those who get too close to try to communicate will hear strange music, and find themselves compelled to inflict violence on the next person they come across. Violence that might coincide with whatever injuries appear to be present on the ghosts. A stab, a severed limb, maybe something else… Just the attempt at inflicting this violence seems to sate the bloodlust. For now.

➥ Mod Notes

• ARRIVAL (Nov 1 - 31): Two people will always arrive in the same general location together. Arrivals occur throughout the early month, not all on the same day or in the same place. Arrivals are not naturally fluent in English/other languages immediately upon arrival. Characters may attempt to evade capture, but they will eventually be snagged before they can leave the building. PC's already in-game are more than welcome to interact with and try to guide new PC's to get them oriented. Please refer to the Arrival page for details regarding the arrival and onboarding process.
  
  
• BOTH SIDES NOW (Nov 1 - 31): The descending clouds will cause characters to experience anxiety over the sheer number and size of problems in their lives. Even minor concerns will become mountainous, seemingly insurmountable in the face of everything else. Leaving Dogtown will stop the effects immediately. If a character remains in Dogtown to see the clouds come down all the way, they will be taken by an Entity to suffer a fate worse than death. Please bear in mind that if a character comes to this in the TDM prompt, they are gone. A different version who doesn't have TDM memories may be apped in their place.
  
  
• CURIOSITY SHOP (Nov 1-31): As Kahlil will not be available as a mod-played NPC for this prompt, players are requested to assume he generally avoids conversation. If you have any questions about how he or any unnamed NPCs would react to particular situations, please use the mod questions thread below. Characters who look into the shop's background will find that until very recently it was a completely ordinary antiques shop originally run by Kahlil's parents before he inherited it around ten years ago, and that the shop and its owner have been struggling financially. Items obtained from the shop will have no apparent supernatural effects whatsoever.
  
  
• SCREEN MAGIC (Nov 1-31): The videos your characters are investigating may be anything with a seemingly supernatural component. If you find an NPC making them, they will be an ordinary person (usually on the younger side) who has simply stumbled across something extraordinary. More likely, they're someone who's just faked what was on the screen and will be very upset that you're harshing their meme groove. It's just TikTok! It's just IG! They're doing it for the views! Toys in this prompt will vanish once they get close to your character or if a character destroys them. They cannot be collected. Ghosts will similarly vanish if characters get too close. Trying to communicate with them via ordinary or supernatural means will result in characters hearing strange music and feeling an overwhelming compulsion to go and inflict violence on the next person they see.

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Comments

[abrightboy]

Malcolm leaned forward, conspiratorially. “I was on assignment. That shop recently changed formats from mundane antiques from grandmothers’ attics to the little shop of horrors we just left. ADI has suspicions. They want any information we can discreetly gather,” he explained.

[tinstar]

Raylan didn't lean forward in kind, though the impulse was there.

"How many of the people here work for ADI?" He'd hold his hole punching questions back for now, one thing at a time.

[abrightboy]

“I don’t know,” Malcolm admits. “It changes all the time, but you learn to pick them out from the locals.” Like he’d picked out Raylan.

[tinstar]

That earned a little frown and a hum, distracted for only a moment by the waitress dropping off their drinks, which he collected out of habit. It was obvious he didn't like the situation, the lack of information, the whole goddamn set-up if he was honest, but it didn't look like much was going to shake out from him turning the place end over end in the search for the answer to the wrong questions.

Raylan took a breath and let it out of his nose, glancing up at the oncoming waitress with a quiet 'Thank you' as she set their cups down and he collected his.

"It changes - What does that mean?" He assumed that it meant people died and were replaced by whatever brought them here that ADI couldn't identify but there was so much here he hadn't wrapped his head around yet.

[abrightboy]

“People arrive,” Malcolm points out with a sweeping gesture towards Raylan. “And people disappear just as suddenly. My roommate works in records. She says they don’t turn up dead or anything; they’re just gone.”

[tinstar]

"They just vanish?" His face crimped and he took a thoughtful sip of his drink. "Guess at least that's consistent with how we got pulled into this place. You said you'd been here a few months, right?" He waited for a nod or something before continuing.

"How do you find it? How's it treating you?" ADI, the town - It was an open ended question for a reason - Training.

[abrightboy]

Something ghosted across Malcolm’s face.

“Better than my life, in some ways,” he admits. “ADI keeps me in a roof and in meds. I wouldn’t exactly call it the lifestyle I’m accustomed to, but a friend of mine from home is here and I got lucky in the roommate department.”

[tinstar]

Not being one to run those kind of ghosts down, especially with a man he didn't know, Raylan just nodded with a soft friendly smile. But the meds were noted.

"So for all the Supernatural bullshit that they talk about, it's not as dramatic as they say?" He nodded, lips shrugging down in a passing pull of a frown. "I figured about as much. If I hadn't been kidnapped here, I wouldn't believe even what they've offered so far." He liked having the Proof of Experience.

[abrightboy]

Again, his expression falters and his fingers fidget at his cup.

“It can be. It’s not all the time.”

[tinstar]

His brow furrowed slightly. "What do you mean?"

[abrightboy]

“There’s been… a few different things. A carnival where the house of mirrors made people hallucinate. Some… music that pierced everyone’s subconscious… made us walk in each other’s nightmares.” He shifted uncomfortably. “People turning into their hallowe’en costumes.”

[tinstar]

His frown deepened. Fucking with someone's subconscious was a new level, new dangers and not something that had been broached before, even with his specific questions. No one needed to walk through his nightmares. No one needed to see the dark things his brain gave him.

"Mass hallucination?" A logical jump, but something in his gut twisted a little. And if it wasn't?

[abrightboy]

Malcolm swallowed and shook his head.

"Too specific. It was... it was from my actual nightmares."

[tinstar]

"How is that possible?" The question was out of his mouth before he could stop it. 'Supernatural' should have cut it and until this suggestion, it was but his knee had finally jerked.

"Did anyone else have their nightmares.. experienced?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm pressed his lips together and nodded.

“Everyone I know.”

[tinstar]

Raylan's frown deepened and he sat back, coffee mug turned back and forth in his fingers thoughtfully.

"Is it just those of us taken or everyone everyone?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm glances around, then leans forward.

“A friend of mine was trying to talk to the locals and something killed a bunch of them, so we kind of… don’t. Talk to them. Socially. Just in case.”

So he doesn’t know.

[tinstar]

"Shit," Raylan muttered, glancing around the place and tapping his horseshoe ring on the handle of his mug. "So what's the ADI got you doin' on a day to day basis? The pamphlet was.. light on what the mission statement actually is."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm shrugs.

“Preventing the apocalypse, I guess, but the assignments are much less… grand than that makes it all sound.”

[tinstar]

"That's what I'm not understandin'. Apocalypses tend to be large scale disasters or massive collapses of society. They can't be sayin' that whatever is triggerin' one is here, are they?"

He'd nodded and smiled and took their fucking pamphlet but he had a lot of questions and, frankly, didn't trust them to tell him the truth. That being said, he didn't expect Malcolm to have all the answers.

"We huntin' down mad scientists or.."

[abrightboy]

“The road to the apocalypse starts with a single… brick. Or. Some sort of metaphor, I guess,” Malcolm mused with a shrug. He took a sip of his drink. “It’s been as… gory as one might expect from… apocalypse seeds,” he offered.