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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.
no subject
Ouch. For the sake of my ego, I'll take that as a compliment.
[He starts heading down the path, his strides long and confident, but his eyes betray his alertness. Him and forests just do not have a good history.]
no subject
Her own eyes are much less sharp, and focused. They're much closer to dull with apathy, something she's always felt but rarely let show. Lucky you, Claude. A few moments pass in silence before she speaks up with a sigh.]
It seems pretty stupid of them to grab people from other worlds and expect them to immediately jump to the front lines of their war, right? I haven't seen anyone else mention it and I'm just checking that this isn't a 'me' thing.
no subject
Yeah, it doesn't really make any sense in any direction.
[His gaze leaves Aelwyn, and goes back to the forest.]
Maybe there's just something special about us? I'd have to turn them down, though. I'm just not into eldritch horrors from beyond reality.
no subject
[She returns his joke with one of her own, yet completely deadpan in her demeanor. She catches the look, and a vague idea of what he's thinking. Hm. Yeah, she wasn't buying the whole 'laidback cocky boy' act, anyway.]
People keep saying there's something special about me. I suspect they might just be trying to get something from me. But, out of curiosity, what are you going to do instead?
no subject
Me? I was planning on just coasting by, for now. Learn some more things about the world, see the sights. Meet some people.
[He's planning to take over the world. He wants to take over the world and end racism.]
Anyways... how is it that you know so much about how eldritch horrors are in bed?
[It's just... really nagging him. Has she slept with one? Many? Does she know someone who did?]
no subject
A tourist, then. I'll probably do the same. I've got no interest in going back, might as well put my feet up here. Hopefully one hundred 'dollars' will be enough.
[Lie. Even now, on day two, she's worried about Adaine.
She actually fully giggles at his question though, and then winks.]
Why, Claude, how brash. A lady never tells.
[Dodge her question, she'll dodge yours. Especially because the answer is, 'I did a fantasy power-point presentation on the anatomy of Aberrations as monsters when I was fourteen.' And also peripheral knowledge of how horny people can get for monsters. We have half-dragons for a reason.]
no subject
Wait, so... you slept with one?
1/2
Oh my god, no. We just have studies about them where I come from. We get creatures from outside reality trying to take over every now and again, and we know what their anatomy is.
And, people being people, naturally they decide they might want to fuck that. Simple as that.
[She's too busy laughing that she's caught entirely by surprise when her eyes catch the rock and her smile fades...]
2/2
...Oh.]
no subject
Your grandfather didn't have to die.
Claude's expression melts from curious shock to a frown. He doesn't particularly appreciate a rock trying to make him feel bad about that whole mess, let alone a rock that is probably tied to some kind of malevolent alien intellect.
He turns back to Aelwyn, frown quickly and ruthlessly smothered by a grin. Might as well try and lighten the atmosphere, and Claude always has a quip at the ready. And Aelwyn looks like she could use the distraction.]
I think we've found what we're looking for: A bunch of rocks without manners. Truly horrifying.
no subject
I wonder which of us it's talking to...
[She frowns, holding a hand to her chin. It's vague enough that it could be about this guy, though she doubts it given that it's something Kalina once told her.
She feels... a bit... weirded out. About the words being there. Like something that knows her a bit too well. Hmmm. Wonder what that is.]
Don't these things supposedly feed off fear? I don't think there's much fear involved in rocks saying nasty words at you.
no subject
I think it's more of an existential thing.
[He pulls out his phone-- which, note, he's still utterly fascinated by the existence of the thing-- and prepares to take a picture.]
Like, how do these rocks know this? Did someone write it? Are they watching us right now?
[He chuckles, and then there's the distinct snap of a picture being taken. Claude stares at his phone for a second, silent, and sighs. Of course it's not going to be this easy. He turns the phone around, to show the picture he took to Aelwyn-- the rocks are, of course, completely blank in the photo.]
And apparently they're camera-shy. Any ideas?
no subject
Maybe they just keep it vague and hope it sticks. Or they use the Detect Thoughts spell and write on it with illusion magic. I don't know, I think I could do it.
Except that apparently can't be done here, for whatever reason. Because they're evil powers or something.
[She doesn't really want to take a photo of it but she'll make an attempt and pretend it was mysteriously deleted later. Yeah, that works.
She frowns at her crystal. Ah. Okay. Illusion then.]
We can try a different one, perhaps? I'm not sure there's a puzzle to this, or what they expect us to do. Draw a picture, maybe?
no subject
Seeing as I'm not much of an artist, I think I'll leave that to you. I'll be on the lookout for any more rude pebbles-- or maybe an insecure monster.
[That this means that he won't be talking about what he sees is pure coincidence. He's just making sure nothing sneaks up on them while they're busy. That's all.]
no subject
[That's right, she's doing this.]