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redstringtheories2022-03-01 09:51 am
TDM #9
(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: death, child death, semi-graphic description of injury, existential terror, memory manipulation (adding memories))
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.
There is a body on the side of the path. From a distance, it's hard to tell who it might be… apart from someone who's made terrible life choices about where to take a break. You might find the body propped up against a boulder, lying in the snow, or even slumped on a bench. Approaching, though, brings into view… someone. Maybe someone you recognize vaguely. Do you know them from- Where exactly do you know them from? Or maybe it's a complete stranger, someone foreign in face and form.
The body is never the same for any groups of people who might happen upon it. One time, it's a young white man dressed in what seems to be parachute pants, a boombox fallen or resting with him. Another, it's an Hispanic person, their clothes reminiscent of something out of a western. Still others, it might be a little black girl, looking like she's cosplaying one of the original settlers for Gloucester. People of all different races, ages, genders, times, all beside the path. Some of them look to be obviously dead, their heads caved in or blood splattered across the path. Others, it's harder to tell. They might be someone who's passed out? A drunk who's wandered here from town and could need help.
The moment anyone touches them, though, the body crumbles, something made of ash that simply wipes itself away. And in its place, it leaves memory. The person who touches the body will find themselves reliving the last horrified moments of this person's life. They will know precisely how and when this person died. Every death has some component of agony or fear. No one found passed quickly or painlessly.
Everyone dies, and it is never so kind a thing as they might have hoped. Never.
(cw: altered mental states, breathing difficulties, imprisonment, victim-blaming)
Repairs are going about as well as they can be at ADI; the building still bears the scars of last month's attack but day to day matters slump back toward the status quo now that the acute crisis has passed. For a few days it actually seems as though the press of unending needs and obligations has abated, like a massive crushing stone lifted from one's back to allow a gasp of breath, leaving workers and residents reeling in the exhausted aftermath.
It doesn't last, but when the pressure intensifies once more it takes on yet another new form. Things will seem to be back to normal when suddenly you realize that the room in which you find yourself is getting smaller–or perhaps the air has grown stale, perhaps that's why it's suddenly so hard to breathe. You're trapped in here, locked in, locked away. Windows seem to shrink and fortify into slitted openings too tight for escape; what might have been an ordinary office door is now a heavy metal thing fortified with deadbolts.
They've locked you in; they've decided that you're not to move about freely, that you're a danger to others. Are you a danger to others? You must be; you must have done something to deserve this. The question of who 'they' are is one without an answer, a nebulous sense of them, the ones who call the shots, the ones who must be looking out for everyone. They don't speak to you; there's no chance to plead your case, only this miserable, tiny cell and your own guilt over something you must have done. You hear them passing by your door at times, keys jangling, footsteps heavy, but there's no hope of aid from them.
None of it is real. The rooms don't shrink; the doors and windows don't change. To someone not caught up in the illusion, it will seem as though those caught in its grip have gone into hysterics over nothing at all, insisting that they're trapped when all they need to do is open the door.
(cw: monsters in the dark, altered mental states, semi-graphic description of injury)
When the crushing claustrophobia finally abates, this time seemingly for good, the shadow woman makes her first appearance. She is seen only in darkness at nighttime, silhouetted in a doorway or lurking in an underpass. Turn on the lights, and there's nothing there–it must have been a trick of the light, the mind making connections out of something seen from the corner of one's eye.
Turn off the lights, though, and there she is again.
She's patient at first, toying with her prey. Lights on, and you're safe. Lights off and the figure returns, still and staring and something you can almost convince yourself you've somehow imagined. But leave the lights on too long, play with the light switch too many times, or watch her too closely, and her patience has an end. When she finally moves, she's fast, charging across a darkened street or a darkened room, the only expression visible on her face is the inhuman light in her eyes, and there is nothing left except to run for the nearest patch of brightness in the night. Maybe you even get away–flee to the circle of sickly light under a lamppost and she must halt at the edge of the darkness, unable to follow. She might circle, waiting for you to make a run for it, or she might disappear back into the night. Will you chance a sprint to the next pool of light?
For those she catches, there is pain. There are rending claws that leave her mark, bleeding, on her victims–but the pain does not end in death. It ends in madness. You may descend into a state beyond thought, mind disappearing into a panicked fugue from which you will retain no memories. Or you may believe yourself to be still fighting off the creature of the night and legions like her, using your environment to protect yourself, to stave off attack.
Those unaffected will see what is truly happening: victims of the creature run rampant in frenzied efforts to bring more and more darkness to the nighttime city. Wild-eyed and unaware, they may start at something as simple as unscrewing a lightbulb, or engage in something as complex as cutting power to entire buildings. Regular citizens of Gloucester fall victim along with the people of ADI and sabotage runs rampant through the city, but it seems that above all else, ADI itself is the target of these attempts to turn out the lights. Panic begins to spread throughout the city as the attacks continue night after night.
- ARRIVAL (March 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.
- The Road We All Must Travel (March 1 - 31): The bodies found can be photographed, but they'll turn up blurred. There's nothing that can be gleaned about the bodies from a distance, only by moving close and touching them. The bodies can be anyone from any time and any place, even other worlds. Characters might even see non-human races represented. In every case, the body will disappear when touched and characters will pick up the final moments of the person's life. Players are welcome to make these final moments anything they want. The person could have died by mundane or supernatural means, but they will have died a painful or terrifying death in some way.
- Prisoners of Consciousness (March 4 - 12): Episodes in which characters believe themselves to be imprisoned will occur exclusively on ADI property and in the Flophouse. The hallucinations may last for minutes or hours, though characters are likely to perceive time as though they were imprisoned much longer. Characters not affected by the hallucination may help pull others out of it by grounding them in reality, but it is also possible for them to be drawn into the hallucination themselves if they become frightened.
- A Trick of the Dark (Nights of March 12 - 15) While people who have been caught by the apparition seem to focus their attacks on ADI property, the shadow woman herself never appears within ADI offices or apartments. She may sometimes appear in the Flophouse, and frequently appears outdoors, in darkened hallways of local businesses, and in the homes of locals. ADI housing curfew at 11:00 PM each night is still in effect; characters who stay out later may crash at HQ but will not be let into the apartments (they may also be able to get into the Flophouse…if its residents are kind enough to take them in). Characters caught by the shadow woman will experience confusion, terror, and compulsion to sabotage lighting, particularly in and around ADI property, until dawn of the next day. Characters who attempt to fight the shadow woman will find that she fights back (and that any scratch from her claws still causes the fugue state); if they manage to pin her down she will dissipate into shadows.
no subject
"Yeah," she nods a little. "I know the feeling." Sometimes, it was just a memory trying to sneak up on her. In her brother's case, it was just as easily some sort of hallucination as anything else real or imagined.
no subject
He rubs his neck nervously, looking around, like he's still expecting someone to come ambush them, whether it's the shadow lady or the ADI.
"It's like... how witch hunts happen..."
no subject
“Look, why don’t we just… stick together and get somewhere safer than a random street corner?” She offers. “Two is better than one, right?”
no subject
"Good idea," he nods. Jeff looks around again, then starts to take a step towards Ainsley, a little apprehensive, like he's afraid of leaving his safe little spotlight. Then he joins her at her side, quickly, and looks around them one last time, just to be sure. They're still alone.
"I'm Jeff. Nice to... meet you? I guess?" He lets out a short laugh. "I dunno, it always feels like a fucked up thing to say in this place. Like--" He affects a perky, customer service voice. "Hi, welcome to Hell! Hope you enjoy your stay!"
no subject
“Do you know anything useful about anything here? All I know so far is my brother is adamant about me not going to someplace called Dogtown, and what the ADI told me.”
no subject
She has a brother here, in the ADI.
He wants to ask who that brother is, if it's anyone he knows, but he stops himself. The less he knows about her-- and her brother-- the better. He doesn't need to have more guilt eating away at him.
"It's not so bad out there..." he admits. Dogtown, he means. "I mean, it's creepy, yeah, but, um... sometimes it's peaceful." If you embrace the creep. If you stop trying to hide and look away from the strange and inexplicable. "Besides," he adds with a laugh, gesturing to the quiet, oddly empty city streets around them. "Not like this place isn't creepy, too, you know?"
He goes quiet for a few moments as they walk, and then adds: "The only thing I know is, you can't trust the ADI."
Is that the only thing he's said with any conviction since this conversation started? Yes.
no subject
She frowns a little at that comment, it might be the only thing he's been fully serious about the entire time. Which just piques her interest even more. "Why not?" Give her the dirt, man.
no subject
As for the ADI... His expression darkens.
"You think they give us jobs and housing 'cause they're looking out for us? We're just bodies to them, or-- or lab rats. A bunch of fucking John-and-Jane Does that they can throw at the--" He wiggles his fingers. "--'monsters' while they sit back and watch what happens. We don't even know if they're not in bed with one of the Big Bad Fears. The way they watch us..."
Is he trying to sow discord and distrust, or is he floating a very legitimate possibility that the ADI just might be aligned with the Eye? Fuck it, why not both?
But he does look a little sheepish, after he's said all that. Jeff offers a small, apologetic smile.
"Um. Sorry. Don't mind me, I don't know what the fuck I'm talking about. Anyway." He hugs his arms as they continue down the sidewalk. "I hate how quiet it is out here. Don't you?"
no subject
What he says sounds more like a conspiracy theory than anything that could hold a candle in the darkness. But that doesn't mean she doesn't file the hot take away for later. She doesn't know this place, or anyone in it, yet, who knows what she might discover. Maybe it will match up with these ideas. Maybe it won't. Only time will tell.
"I don't think that's true," she says, and it's easy to think she genuinely believes that. She's very good at seeming a particular way at any given moment. Her brow pinches as he points that out and she can't help glancing around, "Yeah..." she says, squinting into the darkness as they walk. "now that you mention it, it's really weird. There's no... city street buzz, you know what I mean?" she glances back over at him.
no subject
Gut instinct. Bad vibes. Whatever it's called, some holdover from the days when humans weren't the apex predators. It's fitting, all things considered.
Jeff breathes in, looks up at the sky, exhales.
"Know any good songs?"
An innocent question, totally conversational, to ward off the bad vibes in the air. What's a better way to banish the eeriness than a cheerful song?
no subject
"Um," she laughs a little at being put so randomly on the spot. "I don't know, I know a lot of them, but now that you asked..." she laughs again. Weird how that happens, isn't it?
no subject
Now it's Jeff's turn to think, then he snaps his fingers.
"Taylor Swift. You know Taylor Swift? I didn't, before I came here, but then I got really into her albums." Actually, he terrorized all of Bonnie's by blasting her at top volume. Those were the days. "I stay out too late..." he starts, in a playful, sing-song voice, though he pauses, waiting for Ainsley to join in.
no subject
She laughs a little, and doesn't hesitate to pick it up, "Got nothing in my brain..." she sings it through a laugh, and on the assumption that he'll continue, so does she, "That's what people say, mm, mm, that's what people say, mm, mm..."
no subject
Because right as they're getting up to the chorus, Jeff moves his fingers (a little flick, barely perceptible unless she's actively looking at his hands), tilts his head just so, and whether it's the Gift, or the Spiral, or whatever's fueling his magic these days, something reaches for the flashlight in Ainsley's hand and yanks it, hurls it across the street like an angry poltergeist.
He lifts his eyes up to a streetlight just a few feet ahead of them, still singing, as if totally unaware that anything strange just happened, and only a few seconds later, the bulb shatters and goes out, leaving them in darkness.
no subject
Well.
It was nice while it lasted.
Ainsley lets out a surprised yelp as the light slides out of her hand and across the street. "What the hell?" she whips her head toward where it had crashed, and quickly back toward the guy at her side.
"Did you see that? What the hell just happened?" Asked like someone who really, really doesn't know about magic is a real thing at all.
When the streetlight shatters, she jumps again, "Jeff?" her eyes aren't adjusted to the sudden lack of light, so everything is just a yawning, deep darkness.
no subject
If he didn't know any better, he might think it's his imagination. But he knows it's her; he can feel their connection, this kindred thread tying them together.
"Hey, it's okay." He reaches for Ainsley's hand, as if giving her an anchor in the darkness. "I'm here."
There's no more of that drifting uncertainty in his voice. He seems eerily calm, all things considered. And then he starts to sing again, a sweet melody that doesn't have any words, like a lullaby of nonsense. Its effect, though, is anything but calming. There's magic in the song, and it's reaching for her mind, with every intention of disorienting her.
cw: altered mental state, panic attack description, blood, claw injury
"Thank god," she mutters, clasping her fingers in his when he finds her hand. He is an anchor in the sea of this darkness right now. The melody starts and at first, it's comforting, a sound in the dark that lets her know she isn't alone.
But that thought shifts halfway through–
Ainsley can't think, she can barely breathe, as the gut-wrenching panic and fear war for control inside of her. It's all she can focus on, and her hand drops from Jeff's at some point, except she doesn't remember actively letting go.
Think, Ainsley, think, she scolds herself. She knows how to work herself through a panic, she's heard techniques before. Fingers. Count her– no, it's too dark, that won't work. Senses. She may not be able to see, but she has four other senses she can engage in.
It's so dark she doesn't have a chance of seeing it coming, and it happens so fast, Ainsley can barely process it until it's over. Claws from... something scratch deep into her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain. Blood wells up from the marks, but that isn't her concern. The panic from before increases and along with it, a clawing, gnawing, desperate need to make sure the entire town is coated in waves of darkness.