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redstringtheories2022-01-01 10:30 am
TDM #7
(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.)
(cw: body horror; teeth; bleeding; tooth loss; implied harm to children)
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.
This month it seems at first glance that for once, there's nothing wrong. No looming clouds. No killer trees or mushrooms. No dead animals. It's literally just a walk in the park. Except…
It's easy to miss the bags at first, but once you start looking for them, they're everywhere. Little palm-sized pouches made of scrap fabric can be found bogged down in the sleety mud, tucked into the knots of trees, slipped between damp stones. Open one up and inside are a handful of teeth, mismatched in size and hue. An experienced eye (or analysis back at headquarters) will confirm that they're all human teeth, but it doesn't seem like any two could have come from the same mouth. Some are whole; some are broken; some have long, bloody roots still attached while others look like they were baby teeth, naturally shed.
The more you look, the more of them you find…and the more your gums begin to itch and then bleed. Your teeth shift inside your mouth, loose in their moorings, roots aching, until one or more finally drop out and onto your tongue, your mouth awash with the coppery taste of blood.
But that's alright. You have bags in which to put them.
(cw: hallucination; altered mental states; paranoia; potential for physical harm; tentacles; body horror; uncanny valley)
The Midnight Cinema is running a special, triple 3D feature to celebrate the new year from 10 PM on the 6th to 8 AM on the 7th. The Cinema's owner, Lucky Stryker, has even imported some custom 3D glasses for the event, claiming they're the highest quality goods purchased from a 'mysterious seller' out in Nevada, along with the accompanying movies. The event is being offered at a special price to try to drum up more business for the Cinema.
Those who attend will be treated to three horror films. The first, "It Slorped from Outer Space," is a rather camp production involving a slime brought back from a Mars mission. The second, "The Noble Mr. Greene," is your standard swamp monster affair with the monster turning out to be the hero all along, trying to destroy the evil developers and the fools they'd hired in an effort to keep their toxic wastes pumping into the swamp. And the third, "Now You See Them," is a rather more harrowing film, and one that seems to have an unnatural draw to it. Movie-goers who might not particularly want to watch a more serious and gruesome film will find themselves rooted to their seats, unable to look away as the protagonists are taken down one-by-one, by unseen creatures. By the film's end there's no signs of the monsters, just the horrors they've left in their wake. At least not on the screen.
Everyone will be encouraged to take the 3D glasses with them as a souvenir for the event and those who decide to test the glasses out once outside the theater will find that the unseen creatures on the screen are far more visible out in the real world. There are monsters among us. Tall, translucent figures, their bones visible through a gelatinous form, roam the streets of Gloucester. Their faces are smooth, featureless planes, and in place of arms, there are long sleek tentacles that they occasionally wrap around passersby. Those touched always seem to stumble or twitch, like they notice something is happening, even if they can't see them.
Anyone who does see and try to interact with the creatures will quickly discover that they are vicious and violent when noticed. Those tentacles turn razor sharp and will stab people attempting some form of communication or intervention. While the injuries sustained don't appear to be fatal, they will certainly feel that way, and anyone stabbed will find themselves severely weakened and suffering hallucinations (even without the benefit of the glasses) for up to a week afterward. Said hallucinations will invariably be of some sort of personally horrific monster moving about Gloucester. Are they real, in this case? Very hard to say.
After the 8th, the monsters, once swarming the streets of the city, will have vanished, even for those still using the 3D glasses.
(cw: self-doubt; body dysmorphia)
The new year is a time for change. That’s what everyone says, isn't it? To be the best you that you can be.
Starting off in the beginning of the year, a new commercial begins popping up, especially on local channels, but also as a pop-up when people go online. The visuals and graphics are nondescript but very sleek: shots of good-looking people smiling but not actually talking. "A new year calls for a new you.” A man's voice narrates over the graphics. A flower blooms in timelapse. "And we’ve got just the thing to help you in your journey to your new self. If you want to see what all the buzz will be about, come down to Things of Beauty starting on the 16th. Don’t miss out, because your neighbors certainly won't."
Watching this ad might just fill a person with confusion - it's pretty vague - or curiosity (for the same reason). It will also have a deeper, less immediate effect. If the new year is time for a new person, why aren't you that person? Why aren't you more or different? Why aren't you enough? Watching the ad will make people very aware of some deficiency in themselves... and others. It might be physical or it might be something about their personality or their habits. Whatever it is... something about them is wrong and if something is wrong then you have to fix it.
- ARRIVAL (Jan 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.
- That Itch (Jan 1 - 31): Characters who spend too much time looking for and fixating on the bags of teeth will begin to lose their own teeth. If they continue to fixate past the point of initial tooth loss, they will feel the urge to put their own teeth in the bags and then hide the bags around Dogtown. Characters may snap out of it on their own or with help; if they fail to do so the process may continue until they run out of teeth. As with any injury, tooth loss suffered in the TDM is permanent…but at least ADI offers a solid dental plan.
- Now You See Them (Jan 6 - 8): Characters may find the 3D glasses either by attending the Midnight Cinema event or borrowing them from someone who did. The creatures are generally non-hostile, just pests, if they're only being watched. It's when characters try to interfere with them or communicate that they will attack. There doesn't seem to be any effective means of fighting these creatures, either. Whether that's because they're not really there or they're operating on a different set of physics is unclear. They cannot be hit with physical weapons or via most magical means. Those with the ability to remove their spirits from their bodies may have more success on actual interaction with the creatures… but they will also make themselves significantly more vulnerable and will suffer far worse injuries in any encounter that will translate to their physical bodies as actual puncture wounds/cuts.
Those who investigate the company that Lucky bought the glasses and films from will find that it's a small Etsy shop that's apparently gone out of business. Its name is listed as Topsy Turvy Tales, and its former owner is listed as Clarice Smiley, but it's hard to find anything more about Clarice beyond that. For now.
- New Year, New You (Jan 1 - Jan 15): Characters will be able to come across these commercials while watching TV or as pop-up ads on a variety of different places on-line (even things like Youtube or social media sites). Anyone watching will start to become acutely aware of something about themselves - or someone they know -that is wrong and will feel a compulsion to fix it. Anyone who looks into the source of the commercials will find that they are financed by a company called Faulkner, Yuan, Reid, and Eames, Inc., which upon further digging seems to be a mining company operating in Appalachia.
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He's not about to let her run off alone with this thing chasing her. Manji is right behind her. "So-- how far is the office again?" He calls out while panting.
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Now that he's running with her, she doesn't feel especially compelled to chide him for not coming when he should have. But there's still one thing... "You're really immortal?"
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Mercy chances a glance behind and-
Yes. Yes, it's still following hot on their heels, seemingly oblivious to any of the people out for a very early morning walk that they bowl past in their mad dash.
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Manji doesn't look behind him, but he does check on the person he's running in. "Don't you fall behind! I'm not gonna stand around to watch you be eaten!"
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Relief floods through her as they round a corner and Mercy spots the familir sight of reeds that ring the water outside the ADI HQ building. "There! It's just there! Keep- No!"
Her boot catches on the pavement and Mercy takes a tumble, only just managing to tuck herself into a roll. Her special glasses go flying.
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Almost instinctively Manji is reacting as he sees Mercy go down out of the corner of his eye. Pivoting on his heel to turn and face the charging monster once again. "COME ON THEN!" He shouts angrily at it as he draws his sword. Once more forgetting that his holy worms likely won't work after having come to rely on them so much over the past few years. His intention is to draw the creature's attention long enough to give Mercy time to get back up onto her feet. Hopeful that she can jump back up out of that roll fast enough that they can make it that last sprint to the office.
If not? Well, Manji isn't afraid to use his body as a shield if he must.
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"I'm up! I'm up! Keep going!"
Mercy can't see the creature anymore, but Manji will see it lunge for where she'd just been, tentacles forming int stiff, spear-like lengths.
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They're so close now. Mercy can taste bitter iron in her mouth and knows she's probably bitten the inside of her cheek or her tongue too hard, but there's nothing for it. She runs as fast as she can toward... well, what she assumes is safety.
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They make to ADI's property boundaries and as Mercy races ahead, Manji's likely to see that the creature slows, hesitates while tilting its head. There's something here that it's clearly sensing, and whatever it is seems to have deterred pursuit.
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Taking the glasses off of his head he holds them out to Mercy. So that she can look and see for herself.
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"Well, I'll hand it this, I ain't so tired as I was leaving that fancy theater. Wide awake for the day."
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