![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apocalypsehowmods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
redstringtheories2021-07-04 06:36 pm
TDM #1
(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: hallucination, potential mind-control)
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. That's far too much paperwork, you'd been assured with a wink from the employee who'd directed you to the park trailhead. You've been left with another person. 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, there seems to be something odd afoot with the stones around the park. Instead of the questionably useful advice they offer, there is, instead, something embarrassingly or horrifically true about you carved into the stone. Trying to show your companion or gauge their reaction will net nothing; they will simply see their own truth. It's only when you admit to what's on the stone that it seems to become visible to others or any camera in your possession.
Take a picture. The least you deserve for the trouble is some money.
"We'll have others with you, but all of you will be out on your own for missions, so to speak," the ADI employee who had led you down to the underground training facility explained. "You'll need to have some basic skills. Even if you're not going out soon or ever… it's safer to know these things."
Basic skills, in this case, appear to mean survival and weapons training. The room you've been brought to on Floor B3 below ADI Headquarters is a massive, underground gym, and there are sections set up for various skills practice. One side of the gym is dedicated to fighting: bare-knuckles, wrestling, knives, and tasers are all out on display. There are also a few guns, but those are reserved for people who can prove they can manage the other weapons first. The other side has areas for fire-making, building a shelter, navigating without a phone, supply preparation, cooking, and basic first-aid. Through a side door, there's also a small pool where people are being taught the basics of swimming.
Any or all of these skills would be useful in a dangerous situation, and there aren't enough native ADI employees to cover training for all of them. If you show that you're proficient with something, you'll be asked to man one of the areas to assist in training others. If you're at a loss and looking lost, you will be pushed toward whatever skills practice area is physically closest to you, whether you wanted to learn anything about that or not. Best make the most of it… and try not to kill anyone or burn anything down.
Even those who have refused ADI Housing and taken themselves to Bonnie's Flophouse will find that they're welcome for this training under the strict understanding that no supernatural abilities will be used. Bonnie will have informed them of it and helped them get to ADI to ensure they learn some of the things they might need to survive... and also just to bond with the people they'll be working with for the foreseeable future.
(cw: body horror, implication of near-drowning, violence, potential for blood, gore, drowning, death)
The beaches around Gloucester are numerous and varied with reported supernatural activity at many, if not most of them. For those working with ADI, they'll receive the direction in a mass email from Reyes Amador, the assistant to the Head of ADI. For those not technically working at ADI, Bonnie will provide the same information.
All,
We have received reports of strange noises and sightings at Coffin Beach. Please take at least one other person and investigate. A $300 bonus will be offered to those who bring back evidence of the source of these reports.
Take Care of Yourselves,
Reyes
Those who head to Coffin Beach will find that the sand beneath their feet squeaks softly with each step, like the faint sound of a poorly-maintained hinge protesting their movements. It makes stealth especially difficult, and those who wish to maintain their cover would do well to stay farther up into the vegetation and off the beach, itself. There aren't any houses out this way, just coastal marshes, the beach, and some higher ground with low-growing shrubs, tall grasses, and thin trees.
For the patient, those who wait for night to fall, they will be rewarded when they hear the sound of someone crying. Searching the beach, they will be able to spot a young person who appears to have washed up in a kayak on the beach. The young person is visibly injured in some way with blood coming out of them. Those who approach cautiously may get the sense that there is something not quite right about this person. Man or woman, their face is too long, their angles too sharp.
There is something wrong. It's not the injury.
There is something very wrong with what this person is.
They will not respond to any calls or move from where they lie, half-submerged in the surf. Anyone who approaches within a few feet will discover they're not nearly as helpless as they seem to be, though. The person will burst from the water with a powerful thrust, attempting to tackle anyone nearby and bite them. The person's face transforms into a long, fanged maw, trying to rip and tear and drag their prey into the ocean with them, away from any safety.
- ARRIVAL: 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. Please refer to the Arrival page for details regarding the arrival and onboarding process.
- STICKS AND STONES: If so desired, to facilitate CR, characters may feel themselves compelled to ask about the stones when they see their truth written on it. Resisting the compulsion will become more and more difficult as time goes on.
- I WILL SURVIVE: Characters may be students or trainers in this scenario. They might be able to get away with small displays of supernatural abilities if they want to risk it and if they find themselves with the necessary reserves of power. Anything significant will have them immediately removed and asked not to return to ADI for a few days.
- SHIFTING PERSPECTIVE: Characters may fight off, capture, or kill the creature. If they successfully capture it and bring it back to ADI (or call for someone to come and do that for them), they will receive a significant monetary bonus beyond the promised $300 for their work. If characters successfully kill and document the kill, they will also receive the bonus and instructions to push the body out to sea. If a character is taken by the creature, they will be killed. Please bear in mind that if a character dies in the TDM prompt, they are dead. A different version who doesn't have TDM memories may be apped in their place.
Kieran Trevarde | The God Eaters
[ Kieran comes to in the canteen, first struck by the fact that the floor he's lying on is even harder than the desert ground he went to sleep on. And there's no one pressed against him; as far as he can feel, he's alone. His eyes snap open and he sits up to look around, his eyes sharp and almost feral. ]
Where the-- Ash? Ashes!
[ The room has several oddities in it, strange objects on the counter and a large box that he doesn't recognize beside it, clues that Kieran has found himself somewhere unfamiliar. Not just out of place, but out of time, if he were thinking that far ahead. But he isn't. He has one thing on his mind and it's that if he's been brought here, Ash must have as well. Right?
There's someone on the other side of the table, and he pushes himself to his feet and stomps over. He takes his gun out of his waistband to point it at them, nudging them roughly with his foot. ]
Hey. Wake the fuck up.
[ He sounds like he means business... ]
sticks and stones
[ So this is some bullshit. Go out and look for ~signs~ but don't use powers, something Kieran scoffed at. He still has them, he can feel them, and has no qualms about terrorizing strangers to be able to use them. Half of what he can do is deadly anyway, terror comes with the territory. But for now he'll play along. Bide his time and gather information, until he can rip a hole in this world and get back where he belongs. Or find Ashes. That's the goal.
Whoever's paired with him to go to the park will be hard-pressed to keep up with him, his stride at 6'6" and quick pace leaving shorter or slower individuals scrambling. He walks with a frustrated, restless energy, phone in his pocket and the camera they've been given clenched in one hand. Marvels of technology to be sure, but ones that Kieran doesn't dare show his appreciation of lest people think he's impressed by them. See how unimpressed by all of this he is? Fucking bullshit.
Still, his eyes scan the landscape, looking for anything out of place. Anything suspicious. He probably wouldn't have given the carved rock a second glance if it hadn't used his name -- the name he doesn't let anyone but Ash use.
YOU'RE A MURDERER, KAI
No shit, rock, but how the fuck do you know? He stops about ten paces away, squinting at it angrily.
His hunting partner can catch up now, at least. ]
i will survive
[ Continuing the bullshit, Kieran doesn't need any of this training. He can fight and kill just fine -- hell, he did it professionally. He can keep himself alive in the wilderness, and where he comes from there's no such thing as a phone. Everyone here is soft if they need this, honestly. But when he says as much he finds himself made an instructor on the survival side of the gym, and that's worse than going through the motions and pretending to learn. He's going to have to watch his mouth from here on out.
Students will find him shredding branches for tinder just to have something to do with his hands while he waits, tense and angry. He speaks to whoever approaches without looking up. ]
Lesson one: fire. Try not to burn the whole place down, but if you do I won't be busted up about it.
shifting perspective
[ Bring back 'evidence' they said. '$300' they said. But what would they pay for the corpse of this thing, Kieran wonders, as he dodges its attacks. He moves like a whirlwind, dancing back from its swipes until one slashes across his arm. He just laughs and kicks it back with a boot firmly to the chest. ]
Now you've done it.
[ Companions can feel free to help, simply watch, or be an easier target for the creature and require rescue! Kieran is aiming to kill the thing. ]
wildcard
(( ooc: i'm down for anything! but be warned that kieran is a prickly bastard. ))
i will survive
Lesson two: it's really not good for much else. It might be an improvement if someone set everything on fire though. [ His humor is flat at best. ] Do you want help with that?
[ Because he isn't the only one who needs to occupy his hands. ]
no subject
Knock yourself out.
[ He takes a moment to look around the room at the other teacher-student combos happening, his gaze settling back on the newcomer. He looks a little older than Kieran, almost unnaturally pale and utterly disinterested. ]
You already know all this stuff, too?
no subject
Something like that. [ Another snap, and he frowns at the pieces he needs to break down further. ] Have you ever thought about why they're having us do this? I think we're missing some details.
[ Call him somewhat paranoid for a reason. ]
no subject
We're missing a lot of details. What kind of forces do they fight? And how the fuck are we involved in their apocalypse?
no subject
If we ever know that, we might know everything. [ Which leaves Larus silent for a minute or two, no longer so focused on making kindling and tinder. ] Have you heard anyone say anything else? Specifics, I mean. Maybe they're distracting us with this so we don't have time to think about it.
[ But joke's on them; Larus has plenty of time. He's had nothing but time since he died. ]
no subject
They've sent me out once already, and the only instructions were to look for 'paranormal activity.' That's it. I don't think we're going to get specifics out of these assholes unless we take it somehow.
no subject
[ It's kind of strange to put it in such a wide umbrella considering how little he believes in excess paranormal things. He's a vampire, and the world he comes from consists of many other creatures and those with extraordinary abilities. But even Casimir's desire to commune with ghosts hadn't really ever swayed him much. ]
If we took it, we certainly wouldn't get any answers. [ An exhale, and he squeezes the stick in his hands so hard it shatters. ] Outright, anyway. We should be subtle about it.
no subject
What did you have in mind?
no subject
[ It's what Larus is good at anyway. Stalking is probably another word for it, but he isn't going to go into details there. He dusts off one of his hands on his knee and extends it almost casually. ]
My name's Larus. [ His expression remains neutral but lighter. ] It's not ideal, but we should learn to trust each other.
no subject
He flexes his fingers in frustration, one hand and then the other, and goes back to shredding his branch... until Larus dusts off a hand and offers it to him.
Kieran just looks at it for a moment. His trust is hard to come by, and there's a chance that Larus is a plant. Something he'll have to keep in mind in the long run. He has to stay on his toes. Because as much as he wants to play the lone wolf here, he also knows that ultimately it's not good for him. And if this guy's legitimate, they can gather twice the info.
So he reaches back, taking Larus' hand. ]
Kieran.
[ There's a threat on the tip of his tongue and he bites it back. It won't help him here. What would Ash do? He'd play it sweet and friendly.
Hah. ]
You got any experience with the supernatural?
shifting perspective
the objective was, after all, to gather evidence, and that's exactly what Crypto is planning on doing as he watches from a safe, hidden distance a ways away. Kieran should be able to hear the whir of something mechanical above his head, and that's mostly because there's an aerial drone hovering above the two currently embroiled in a skirmish. a little red light on the machine indicates that it's recording.
easiest $300 of his life. the only important thing left is to ensure he manages to get back to his employer before whoever this doofus is.]
She should've gone to the dentist before biting the dust. [no one around to hear his puns. the usual.]
no subject
Kieran lets out a roar of pain and rage, and reaches for the thing's strings. Its life force. He couldn't care less about using his power against orders, and as far as he knows there's no one around to terrorize. Not that it would stop him.
But Crypto is in range, and there's a cost for using one's abilities. He'll feel the same supernatural pull on his soul, strings drawing tight like he's being choked. ]