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redstringtheories2022-04-01 07:15 am
TDM #10
(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: existential dread, altered perceptions, apocalypse, tsunamis, wildfires, meteor strikes, potential for botulism/food-based illnesses)
Weird things happen in Dogtown, everyone knows it. And the weird things have been getting worse. The Apocalypse Disruption Initiative (ADI) is not above taking advantage of that to test out the waters for its newest arrivals, but they're far more conscientious about it than early days. They're not looking to send anyone to their death, especially not with recent events that have transpired surrounding Dogtown and in Gloucester proper. An employee gives you a GPS device where you need only press a button to alert ADI there is severe danger and someone needs to come help you right away, 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, flowers are finally starting to bloom throughout the city and into the park. Bright blues, purples, pinks, and deep crimson. There's one set of flowers that seem to have formed suspiciously consistent patterns, though. The golden daffodils only seem to be growing in select spots. They're not quite in rings. More… rectangular? Something like that. In any case, those who observe the daffodils may note they're exceptionally fragrant, the sort of thing to draw one in…
Stepping foot into the middle of the daffodils causes a sudden, but brief, plunge. Congratulations, you've found a cellar, one of the old ones left behind and covered over by time and nature. Investigations will lead to mostly-collapsed root cellars, the sort of thing someone interested in local history might be fascinated by. The occasional tin or jar can be found, as well, which might net a healthy sum for collectors of Colonial Era foodstuffs. Those foolish enough to try to eat what's inside will likely find themselves exceptionally sick. Please Do Not.
Whatever adventures characters get up to in the cellars, there doesn't appear to be anything actively dangerous down there beyond the place collapsing and self-inflicted botulism. Stepping back out, though? There is nothing. Dogtown is a barren wasteland, and in the distance, in the direction of Gloucester, there are only the ruined remains of a city long-since lost, itself, to some horrible catastrophe. Different pairs might see different kinds of catastrophes. Perhaps it looks like an enormous tsunami swept through, pushing the town out before dragging pieces of it back into the sea. Perhaps it looks like there was some sort of wildfire with only the burned out husks of buildings left. Perhaps there are no signs, at all, just a crater where the town used to be, wiped out by something that fell from space. Whatever might be their worst visions of a decaying future, empty of life, this is it. They've emerged and-
And it's normal again. Just Dogtown, just Gloucester. Characters who fell prey to the daffodils will find that any time they get a whiff of the flowers in Dogtown or elsewhere, they will have brief, recurring visions of being in that desolate landscape, of the horrors that await in some future they haven't reached, yet.
(cw: potential for mild public humiliation, paranoia, altered perceptions, insects, claustrophobia/choking/suffocating, body horror/tooth horror)
After a certain AI's foray into the world of stealing account passwords, on top of other instances of cyber security lapses by new arrivals, ADI has decided to implement mandatory cyber security classes. It's not enough to prove you can use a modern phone and computer, everyone who arrives will be asked to attend at least one course put on by the Staff Development and Information Technology departments. Or perhaps you've proved your mettle already and are one of the ones actually teaching these courses. The topics covered are wide ranging, but some seminar highlights for this month include:
Cyber Security Awareness - What makes a good password? Why do we have those? What even is two-factor authentication. This course is your basic introduction to cyber security and teaches things like don't give everyone your password on the public network. Don't download anything that hasn't been pre-approved by IT - devices are locked to prevent this, but don't get wily. And if you see something, say something in terms of any oddities in your devices. IT would rather tell you there's nothing wrong than deal with something worse getting through.
Brute Forcing It - An interactive class where participants will create passwords and have a paired participant attempt to brute force hack it. Pairs are allowed to ask each other questions, but nothing will be compelling honesty. Better get sly if you want to hack your compatriot's login. If you manage it, you'll receive a congratulations and gift card to a local coffee shop. If you're the one whose password was successfully hacked… you get nothing apart from a stern lecture about picking a better password. Get to know your fellows and see if you can rise above them on the field of cyber battle.
Spooky Threats - A rundown of potential supernatural threats that have entered into this digital age. Worried someone is spying on you through a camera lens, even when your device is off? It's very possible. There are some Eye-based avatars with that sort of technopathy available to them. Worried you might have a bug in the machine? Have you considered that this is literally the case? The Corruption has a strong foothold, particularly in the social media space. Digital tech also tends to interact in strange ways with the supernatural. Participants will be able to take photos with their phones of a few different artifacts brought up from the lower levels and kept in a display case. They'll be able to see the strange warping and static effects associated with the photos as a first step to identifying supernatural phenomenon.
The artifacts brought up aren't the most dangerous in ADI's catalog, thankfully, but there will be reprimands and getting kicked out of the class for those who can't keep their hands to themselves. The objects include:
- A flute that induces severe migraines and temporary synesthesia when touched;
- A doodlebug pen that makes it feel like there's something crawling up your back for several minutes after touching it;
- A ticket stub for a car parking lot that looks perpetually damp. There is the scent of gasoline and a tightening in your throat the longer it's held;
- A wax apple that makes you want to bite into it, to consume it, to smile as your teeth turn to wax.
(cw: references to violence and death; scopophilia)
April's dawn has come to the seemingly endless nights of March as nightmares fade and the monster howling at the door goes silent. The days are growing longer, but they feel longer still than they are when the night no longer holds so many dangers.
The peace feels uncertain at first, but as the days and nights go on the shadow woman does not make her reappearance. A few at ADI voice the hope that she might actually be dead following the destruction of multiple shades. Others are more doubtful, claiming that they saw her as recently as the night of April 1st and that not all of the shades were caught and killed. The official word from the top is that she's all too likely to still be alive and field agents are on the watch for her to re-emerge in Gloucester or some other, easier target. Investigations around town in search of bolt holes and places she'd been spotted turn up nothing but the occasional drift of black sand…and, in a few too many places to be easily dismissed as coincidence, wax dripped on the ground or intermingled with the sand. Some characters may have suspicions about what this is, others may simply have questions.
Whatever ADI's lingering misgivings, the city of Gloucester is grateful for the reprieve, and more openly grateful for the help of ADI than ever before. Officially, the spring festival thrown in a city park near ADI headquarters is a show of gratitude for ADI's assistance during the blackouts that recently plagued the city and inspired an unprecedented crime wave. Unofficially, ADI quite suddenly has the city council's logistical support as well as its ear, and the festival is a thank you for quite a bit more than providing a few backup generators to local businesses.
Eat! Drink! Celebrate! There's live music as well as jugglers, stage magicians, and basically any entertainers that could be brought in on short notice on the promise of tips–that is to say, an effort was made but this is not exactly Las Vegas. There are homemade carnival games that have clearly made the rounds of a few community festivals and elementary school carnivals: bean bag toss, plinko, mini golf, and more. Try your skill at musical chairs or run an egg relay race with your friends. Get your face painted, jump in the bouncy castle, or volunteer for the dunk tank–no one will judge you (probably).
On the more sedate side of things, there are local crafters selling their wares. There's also food and beer from local businesses, with ADI staff receiving a generous handful of tokens to exchange for each. Or you might just want to take a stroll among the spring flowers further from the hubbub of the festival proper; they're coming in nicely now (including the daffodils). And if the spots on that one flower looked like eyes for a moment, or if you feel like you're being watched in the gardens–that's just nonsense. It's a beautiful sunny day, and you deserve to relax and enjoy yourself.
- ARRIVAL (Apr 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 FLOWERS CAME EARLY (Apr 1 - 31): Characters are welcome to find the odd relic from the 1800s tucked away in the cellar. ADI's IT department will be happy to help with listing it on places like eBay or Facebook Marketplace to sell to potential collectors. They'll also offer to just buy it for a few hundred dollars to avoid the hassle and then gift it to a relevant museum for the tax write-off. Players can come up with any catastrophic scenario they would like for this prompt. We would just ask that you pay particular mind to listing content warnings as they arise. Pressing the GPS Device's button while in the 'other' place will result in the device making a crackling error sound. It will work as soon as the vision stops. The recurring visions will last anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes and will be all-encompassing. Whatever the character is doing, wherever they are, they will feel like they're in this destroyed world. These recurring visions can carry past the April timeframe, should players want that.
- CTRL + ALT + DELETE (Apr 1 - 31): All characters will be asked to attend at least one cyber security lesson, whether they're a new arrival or someone old hat. If your character has the skills to actually teach these classes, you may handwave that they are an instructor, rather than a participant. For the Spooky Threats option, anyone who touches the artifacts (and is caught by the instructor) will be verbally rebuked in front of the entire class before being sent out. Characters will receive explicit instructions not to touch the artifacts when they're first brought in, and will be informed they're things that ADI is still trying to figure out how to destroy as they're surprisingly resilient to the usual flamethrower/incineration method.
- DAWNING REALIZATIONS (Apr 8 - 11): As far as anyone can tell, Katie Dunn is no longer in Gloucester and no immediate threat has arrived to replace her. Characters who killed or injured one or more of her shades have been commended with an internal announcement, a bonus to their pay, and a gift card for frozen yogurt. And yes, the flowers do occasionally have eyes, but it's probably fine. If examined in detail, the wax is high-quality and scented to smell just a little bit like a campfire.
flowers
He could just ask, except that sounds like a lot of effort.
What he was about to do is make a comment about old houses until there's crack, a shout, and George disappears. Crowley takes a second to be grateful that it isn't him going underground this time, not when that nonsense with the sand was so unpleasant. He's also relieved that George apparently isn't dead, or hurt; that would've been a whole other mess to deal with.
"That was a hell of a tumble, you sure you're right?" Does he care? Debatable, but it's one of those things that people should ask, so he does, even as he comes to investigate the cellar. He's going to hope there isn't anything horrible in there, because it'd probably look bad if he wandered back to headquarters alone.
no subject
He pulls a face as he looks around and stoops to pick up an old, dirty jar. A little wiping with the corner of his jacket reveals brownish shapes in darker brown jelly. "Looks like maybe somebody was storin' a bunch of old canning." He's about to toss the jar before he thinks better of it and bends to set it down more gently instead. No telling how old that mess is or what it would smell like exposed to air. Best not to find out.
"Goes back a ways, too. It's too dark for me t' see how far." There's an indirect invitation there. If he wants to come down and check it out with him, he's willing. If he'd rather not, then he's going to do his best to climb back out again. He didn't sign up to go poking around in dark holes by himself.
no subject
Being careful of the dirt around the edges of the hole, he crouches down to see what George is talking about, squinting into the gloom, trying to decide if he wants to do the stupid thing and go down there. The answer is that he doesn't, but it's probably better to know than to just walk away, lest something follow them out.
"Your phone's got a flashlight on it, I'll turn it on for you once I'm down."
First things first, he taps out a quick message to the ADI with coordinates, on the off chance there is something down there, then pockets his phone again, mentally braces himself, and hops down into the cellar.
Thank someone he had the sense to buy decent boots for this sort of thing. The Louboutins that he arrived with all those months ago really aren't suitable for traipsing around in abandoned cellars.
no subject
"Sorry 'bout that. I'm still learnin' this thing." He quickly sweeps it away and directs it into what looks like a black hole into nothingness. With the bright light, he can see part rough hewn walls, and part more finished areas stacked with old fieldstone and fitted with rotting away shelves. It's nothing particularly unnerving aside from the number of cobwebs trailing in some parts and the usual sad air of abandonment places like this seem to exude like a stale exhalation.
He spots quite a few old cans bulging at the middle. His mouth twists an expression of disgust. "Think we can write those off as a loss."
no subject
"S'fine, just don't do it again." The bright light wasn't exactly comfortable, but the major problem is the several seconds it takes his eyes to adjust to the darkness afterwards. With all his other senses dulled, it's unpleasant to lose his sight.
Once there's more than just bright and dark spots in front of him, he fishes out his own phone and quickly pulls up the flashlight, keeping it pointed towards the ground. "Think we should write off anything down here as a loss, if it's in a can."
He's careful when he steps around George, moving towards the darkness further down the tunnel, keeping the light trained on it. "You seem like a sensible bloke, but I'll say this anyway: if shit gets weird, don't panic, it'll only make it worse." That's more a theory than anything, the idea that reacting with fear only gives the Entities what they want and makes their tricks worse. It makes him feel like he has at least a scrap of control over the situation, though, so he's sticking to it.
no subject
"Yep. I been hungry plenty. Never so hungry you'd catch me eatin' out of a busted can." Or close to it. He'd made grass soup more than once in his life. He's willing to do it again before taking those kinds of risks. Also, there's no sense in unearthing them. What if there's some dumb, unsuspecting bastard like Lennie topside? Somebody who'd crack it open and dig in no questions asked?
"Awright. Look, you don't gotta worry about me. I ain't the panicky sort." If he was, he'd never have managed to do what he did. He balls his free fist deep in his coat pocket and keeps his light on the uneven ground beneath his feet, extra illumination added to Crowley's. "Jes' outta curiosity, weird how?" It's a strange enough thing to say he can't leave it unquestioned.
no subject
The question is more difficult to answer. He makes a thoughtful noise, to indicate he's thinking about it, pausing briefly to tug at a root sticking out from the earth. It's a relief when nothing happens. "Oh, you know. Walls turning to flesh, some horrible creature made out of eyes coming skittering out of the dark, your worst enemy suddenly right behind you. They can get right in your head and pull out whatever you're most afraid of, but you'll only be giving them power if you actually let any of it scare you."
He knows it isn't that easy sometimes. Satan knows he's already been tricked by the Entities, but he still does his best to keep a level head where he can.
no subject
The lines deepen at his explanation. He's been through the orientation. He knows it's not crazy talk no matter how much it sounds like crazy talk, and boy howdy does it. He finds himself silently thinking, But what if the scariest thing has already happened? The question bounces around in his head like some perpetual motion ball until the words stop making sense at all.
He abruptly snaps out of it with a realization Crowley is further ahead and hurries the few steps needed to catch up.
no subject
He'll give George a second, pausing when he hears footsteps again to give him a chance to catch up.
"It's a lot to take in, I know." Even for him, it was a lot.
no subject
"I appreciate the truth, anyway. Too much varnish jes' makes a mess a' things." Despite the idea something weird or awful could come out of the dark, he's not particularly frightened down here underground.
There's too much of a pragmatist inside for him to conjure terror with imagination. He has never had that kind of mental workout. His fears were all grounded in grim reality. "Shame all this food rotted down here." It could have fed a lot of people for a few weeks or one for months.