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redstringtheories2023-04-01 10:46 am
TDM #21
(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.) You might even arrive in a section of building that has been demolished, leaving a pit of rubble open to the sky–hope you're up on your tetanus shots! 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. The one exception is the demolition zone off what used to be one corner of the building: it seems the security teams are keeping a particularly close eye on that area to document new arrivals and bring them in quickly.
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: ghosts, hallucinations, warped reality, character death)
Rumors have been growing in recent weeks about an abandoned and overgrown cemetery just outside of Gloucester. The Alden Pond Burial Ground is a forested, 20-acre parcel that seems to have been part of the Village of Greenfield, which was a trapper's outpost around the same time as Dogtown. It was abandoned in the late 1800s after a bloody massacre, and has long since fallen to ruin. There are occasional tours around the area, particularly ghost tours in October. The rest of the year, it stands on ostensibly public lands and is open to explorers of all stripes.
Some of the most recent visitors claim to have received visions of their death from a ghostly undertaker after climbing the long stairway located in the graveyard. Some say you can tell if the vision is a real premonition by counting the number of stairs you climb and descend in the graveyard. If the number is the same going up as going down, the vision is false. If you have an extra step, 51 going down, though… then you will have seen your true death before you.
Those visiting the park will find it difficult to avoid the prominent (if poorly maintained) steps leading from a lower level to a higher level in the graveyard. It's not that there's some force compelling you toward it, but the place seems to warp and contort itself to always lead back to those steps. Should you resist too stridently, you might find yourself bludgeoned by some unseen foe and knocked to the ground. This assault seems to break the hold on those stubborn enough to avoid the stairs so that they can leave the graveyard.
For those who do walk the steps… it's a quiet affair as the world seems to hush with each step further until it's absolute silence at the top. For just a moment, the grinning visage of something appears before it's gone again and you're gripped by a viscerally intense vision of your own demise. This might be your true death back home, an imagined death, or even a second death for those who seem to have been brought back from the brink of death in Gloucester. You have seen your own demise, though, do with that what you will. And count the steps on the way down… some of you may find an extra one at the end.
(cw: bug-adjacent imagery (lobsters); unnaturally large lobster; altered mental states; animal cruelty (though the animal in question is an Avatar))
Lobsters do not stop growing and do not die of old age. They die when they become too large to properly molt.
What first crossed an ADI researcher's desk as a joke from the internet has abruptly led to a very real, if maybe underwhelming, investigation and apocalypse prevention mission. Memes have circulated about a lobster god for a few years now without representing anything of actual concern, but near the end of March a TikTok video showing an upsettingly large crustacean went viral before suddenly being taken down and the associated account deleted.
After some sleuthing, ADI has been able to trace the video and other brief social media appearances of the self-proclaimed "Cult of the Leviathan" to the basement of a residence in nearby Ipswich. Municipal records show several calls from concerned neighbors in recent weeks, with officials suspecting that a gas leak or carbon monoxide buildup could be responsible for neighbors' strange, unsubstantiated claims of having felt the ground tremble and heard strange, booming sounds in the area. So far, though, crews sent out to investigate have been unable to find the source of the gas suspected to be causing hallucinations.
Following recon by investigator Rae Hargrave, who adamantly denies charges that she took on the mission to avoid her administrative duties at headquarters, the higher-ups have determined that while the Leviathan is, however incredibly, a viable threat, the situation doesn't call for a particularly elaborate solution. The phrase "smash and grab" is uttered multiple times during the mission briefing, before volunteers load up into a couple company vans for an apocalypse-averting day trip.
The plan really is simple. Smash down the front door, grab the giant lobster out of the basement. Everyone on the mission is under strict orders not to harm the residents of the house or anyone else they might encounter except in self defense, and to keep their faces hidden. They'll figure out how to kill the so-called Lobster Leviathan back at headquarters if someone doesn't manage to do it on the drive home.
Upon breaking and entering, investigators will be struck by an overwhelming feeling of how small and vulnerable they are, how soft and small and weak against a great presence in this house. In the basement they will find a gaggle of people splayed out on the floor around a stock tank, weeping hysterically. This, it seems, is the Cult of the Leviathan: a bunch of millennial jokesters now swept up in the suddenly very real worship of a suddenly very real Leviathan Lobster God. Approaching the tank, there is a sense of something huge, powerful, and malevolent waiting to pull you down into the depths and drown you there.
But this is why ADI sent a mob, a collective hammer rather than a singular scalpel. Be brave, and you can come near enough the tank to actually set eyes on the Lobster Leviathan. Be braver still in cooperation with those around you and you can haul the creature out into the light of day, and from thence into one of the company vans. In truth, the Lobster Leviathan is "only" six feet long–a terrible size for a lobster, but not an unmanageable size for a monster. Try to remember that every step of the way; forget for a moment and you, too, will feel the ground tremble and fall to the earth in terrified awe of this creature.
(cw: Paranoia, warped perception of reality, body horror, implication of intended self-harm)
As useful as phones are in our lives, sometimes it’s easier or more preferable to settle in at a computer, or maybe you simply didn’t have a choice. Whether you’re within ADI or out in the town, computers are everywhere, they see all your secrets and hear all your fears. The evidence lies in an open search history, seemingly left on accident:
“How to rotate your eyes.”
How strange. The next one you notice isn’t much better.
“Working nose growth methods.”
People seem to be having an odd string of searches. Maybe. Or maybe there’s something else to blame. Maybe your neighbor isn’t your neighbor. Anyone who’s been here long enough in ADI can tell you there was a stint of time when people’s copies were running amok…those had to come from somewhere. Maybe they were grown. Or maybe these are messages, warning you of those around you. Those who aren’t quite right. When was the last time you really looked into your friend’s eyes? Maybe they aren’t quite turning right. Did their nose always have that little curve in it?
It’s the search you find next that really stars the gears turning: “How to get rid of excess body parts?”
Why…what a good question. Is that an odd bump that you hadn’t noticed before? Maybe you were wrong all along, maybe it isn’t about copies growing themselves (maybe….unless…) maybe it’s something in the water. Something slipped to you behind your back to grow extra parts and harvest them. Well, not if you get there first! How many fingers do you really need…?
- ARRIVAL (April 1-30): Two people will almost 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 (or the rubble that used to be part of 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, as well as information about the state of ADI Headquarters.
- 50 STEPS (April 1-30): Characters will be able to catch public buses to the Alden Pond Burial Ground. This is a wholly fictional place and town, so don't worry too much about finding it on a map. It's a good 15 miles out of Gloucester on the way to Manchester-by-the-Sea. Characters who are bludgeoned will not be able to find their assailants. Characters who see visions of their deaths will feel like they are living through their own demise. Anyone with them at the same time will witness that death, as well, as if an observer in the scene. For pairs, this means that they will experience both their own death and that of their partner's.
- THE LOBSTER CLAUSE (April 1-4): Research and briefing will take place April 1-3, with the mission itself taking place on April 4. Characters who do further digging into the Cult of the Leviathan can piece together that the "cult" appears to have formed around five years ago when two of the individuals now cowering in the basement caught an unusually large (i.e. three foot long) lobster and decided to keep it and see how big it could grow. Until recently the "cult" appears to have been nothing beyond a joke among friends. Reports of hallucinations in the neighborhood coincide with a sudden, rapid increase in the lobster's size in the first months of 2023. Admiring the lobster's size, admitting one's fear of the lobster, or otherwise engaging with the idea of the Lobster Leviathan as anything more significant than a big lobster will result in characters experiencing overwhelming feelings of being tiny and insignificant in the face of their new lobster god. Characters who attempt to fight or kill the lobster will find its shell impermeable; attempts to kill it will be unsuccessful until it is brought back to headquarters and boiled, which does kill it.
- WORLD WIDE WEB (April 1-20): Following these search results yourselves will lead to all kinds of conspiracy theory pages on par with mole-people propaganda, but something akin to implying plant people exist. Or rather, that people can grow like plants and the government doesn’t want you to know. The shrewd eye might notice that there is one website that keeps popping up, a place for recycling and environmentally friendly fertilizer solutions, sponsored to be one of the top results, it shows. Most disturbingly, however, it is not paid to show up on the search result borne of asking about disposing of body parts. Unfortunately, the plant where the soil is shipped from is not listed and the only contact is a P.O. Box in Idaho. Paranoia side-effects and perceived lumps can last hours or days, up until the 20th when all effects abruptly end. Any fingers or noses or anything else, extra or otherwise, lopped off over that time span will not grow back.
Elias Bouchard / The Magnus Archives / ota
Well. This is unexpected. Elias wakes up in a supply closet. It takes him a while before someone comes by to help him out - the door is 100% locked. But eventually, some kind soul lets him out. Their mistake.
At that point, more than a little annoyed by all of this, decides to go exploring. Yes, he does Know a lot already. Opening himself up to the Eye gives him a fair amount of information, even if it's mostly background. But there's a certain something to walking around and checking on everything yourself. So hi there, ADI. There's a bureaucratic looking asshole poking his nose in everything.
lobster clause
Yeah, Elias isn't fighting that lobster. That's what he has assistants for! So instead, as people suit up, he lingers at the sidelines, watching and observing, seeing how ADI would take care of this threat.
There is quite a lot less destruction than some of the people in his world might do. He doesn't want to think about how Gertrude Robinson would take down a lobster like that. Probably mercilessly.
So after the briefing, Elias will walk up to somebody, giving them a little nod before asking, "Is this sort of monster hunting common here?"
world wide web
How to rotate your eyes.
Admittedly, that does get a sensible little chuckle from Elias. The other search results...less so. He sits down at one of the computers, scrolling through the search history before adding a few terms of his own, names from his world that he might as well double check to see if they're here.
When he spots one of the other people pulled in from ADI, he looks up to ask, "Might I have a moment of your time? There's something I want to double check."
( ooc: please check out the permissions post for this trash man! )
arrival (for funsies)
Jon finds himself in some sort of air duct. He feels disoriented, confused, more than a little sick. Where is Martin? God, his head is pounding. Are air ducts supposed to be this big? Isn't that only in movies and video games? Why can't he sense anything? It's like being in the Buried. Everything is muffled.
He wriggles his way forward until he comes to a vent. Look out below because that's getting banged on until it falls... followed by half an Archivist. Jon hangs out of the ceiling feeling more than a little queasy as he looks around and spots-
"Elias." There's confusion, venom, fear. If this is hell, somehow, he wants to talk to the management about whom he's spending his eternity in proximity of.
Re: arrival (for funsies)
As he hears Jon's voice, Elias turns around to look...up? Up. Up at the Archivist. Ever the calm and collected (because he does not want to show how annoyed he is), he replies with a plain and simple,
"Hello Jon." Pause. Frown. "Do you need any help getting down from there?"
lobster clause
Lee has been listening from the back, hands in his pockets, his expression one of faint incredulity and mirth.
It's been a couple of long days and a lot of processing. From being transported to the 21st century to the marvels of modern technology and the futuristic apartments, the lobster briefing has been the cherry on top. He's taking it all in with the mild amusement of a man who hasn't been here for long and still wonders if this might be a bizarre dream or some actual grand adventure.
And who would be strangely okay with either.
"Do you think it's safe to eat? From the images I've seen, you could feed an entire town with that thing."
Just thinking practically here.
Re: lobster clause
"Probably. What matters most in cases like this is fully getting rid of the body, destroying it in such a way that it cannot heal, revive, reform, and so on. Boiling the lobster and splitting it between twenty or so people should do the trick."
There's a pause before, "Of course, this whole 'Cult of the Leviathan' business raises some questions. If the cult is around the lobster, then there isn't a problem. But, odd as this may sound, if the lobster started the cult itself, people might balk at eating something so sentient."
Not Elias, though. Slap some butter on that thing and call it a day. Also, it says a lot about Elias that he's talking about a possibly sentient cult-starting lobster like it makes perfect, total sense.
no subject
Okay, this is getting wild, even in theory. Lee snorts at the idea of the crustacean starting the cult itself because how could you not.
"Really? The lobster? What, is he like a cursed prince that wooed the wrong mermaid?"
But the way Elias says it makes it clear that he's not angling for quick joke and Lee pauses.
"You're serious about this."
no subject
"Why not? After all, there are certainly things that someone might think more ridiculous than a sentient cult-starting lobster. Ten foot tall owlish beasts. Visions of your own death. Suddenly being thrust a hundred or so years into the future. All patently ridiculous and yet they've all happened to or are people here."
no subject
Which. Kind of proves the guy's point, he guesses, and he pauses, then purses his lips as if to signal okay, that's fair. Because that's really, really fair, all things considered.
"You know, you're awfully calm about all this. I mean, for someone who's clearly new as well, since you asked me about the monster hunting and all. Why is that?"
no subject
"This world shares quite a few similarities with mine. The supernatural occurrences, this organization itself...though I'll admit, ADI is much more proactive than the Magnus Institute ever was—most likely due to the larger number of staff."
Shrug! "It is easy to adapt to the mostly familiar."
no subject
"You're in luck then. I got all this fancy new technology and things that go bump in the night to get used to!"
He grins with a shrug! in return. What can you do!
"Magnus Institute, huh? Can't say it rings a bell. You a scholar then?"
no subject
no subject
Interesting. Lee can only imagine the outcry and scandal and gossip it would cause where he was from.
"I'd say that makes you much more of an expert than myself! So what forms of evil lobsters did you encounter?"
no subject
no subject
He throws his hands up.
"A pig, really? You're just messing with me at this point."
no subject
There's a moment where he pauses and regards Lee with a critical glance, as if sizing up the man. After giving him a once-over, he asks, with absolute seriousness, "Do you want to know more?"