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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.
Lee Coulter | When Calls the Heart | ota
[So Lee took the tour. Went through all the disbelief, the awe, the mild existential crisis. Freaked out about the future some (okay, a lot). Asked about a million questions a very social and curious guy from the 1900s would ask.
Does he believe or can he fully grasp what is happening here yet? Not really.
Will he be completely overwhelmed and overstimulated once this day is over? Absolutely.
But for now he's just walking around, fascinated and utterly delighted at the wonders he encounters. Everything gets inspected, every button is pressed. Pictures and videos are taken and the wonders of the tablet thoroughly explored.
Everyone is greeted with a firm handshake and pure, unending, extroverted energy before he moves on to go to town. Except he doesn't really get far.]
Oh!
[He just stops and stares, hands up in utter disbelief when he sees a modern motorcycle parked near ADI's headquarters. His face lights up like a Christmas tree and he circles it once, twice, with the giddy energy of a kid in a toy shop.]
Oh, you have got to be kidding me. ... Hey! Hey, do you mind taking a picture of me with this?
[He just hurries over to the next best person walking by, pushing his tablet in their hands.]
Thank you!
[And back he goes, posing next to the motorcycle with utter glee.]
Do you know where I can get one of these?
ii. 50 steps
[He's not superstitious. Far from it. And while lately, he's shown up to church more often than he used to, he's still fairly in the camp of Making Your Own Destiny. So the idea of learning about your own demise is as laughable as it is... disconcerting. Not that he'd ever admit it.
Strangely enough, he gets a sense of peace from the graveyard. The dates on the stones are the closest he's been to his own time ever since he got here and he can't help but keeping his eyes out for names that he might know, ridiculous and impossible as it may seem.]
So. You think there's anything to it? Messages from the great beyond?
[He brings his hands together, then spreads them out wide.]
So what do you think your vision's gonna show? Me... I'd say motorcycle accident, loose headsaw or assassination plot by a competitor.
[A bit morbid? Maybe. But humor's much preferable to letting that uneasy feeling fester.]
iii. the lobster clause
Soooo run that by me again.
[If there is one thing Lee is very good at it is expressive faces.
And he's making a very expressive face during that meeting, taking it all in, before he leans over to his fellow attendee.]
We're going on a trip to find and kill a giant lobster.
Because the lobster is evil.
[He just. He needs some confirmation on what he just heard.]
Sure isn't how I pictured the apocalypse, gotta be honest with you...
iv. wildcard
[hmu! lee is a very extroverted and sociable guy who'd probably spend his first couple of days just exploring just about everything at ADI and the town.]
i rip
Major Lorne suddenly rolling up in inexplicably dapper clothes excitedly taking a picture next to a motorcycle like he’s at Disneyworld.
John has to stare, just for a moment.
Obviously it can’t be Lorne—he’d have recognized him if it was, but it’s so wildly uncanny he’s got a chill down his spine.]
Uh, sure?
[At least the glamour is on so he appears, ordinarily human. But John seems to be having a difficult time using the tablet with both hands, as if he’s either afraid to grasp it with one hand or is reluctant to. He seems to settle on balancing it flat against one hand and using his right to take the picture.]
All right, say cheese.
no subject
[Cheese? That strikes him as incredibly funny and lucky for the picture he just grins broadly at the suggestion. Sorry John, he's definitely not Lorne. All that professional control and down-to-earthness has been replaced by an effervescent happiness.]
Do you ride? I can't believe how clean that engine looks!
[Lee hurries over to him and eagerly snatches the tablet back to marvel at the high definition color picture of himself. Sorry, give him a second to Dorian Grey here.]
This place is incredible!
no subject
[Wow, what year was this guy really from? It’s so weird, seeing him all giddy, completely different from Lorne’s usual demeanor.]
Uh, sometimes? I don’t have my own, though. You ever heard of Evel Knievel?
[That is certainly some admiration there. John shakes his head, amused.]
It’s…certainly something. Wait ‘til someone tells you about filters.
no subject
[It sounds like a brand. Pretty good one, too! Evel Knievel, that rolls off the tongue just right!]
Filters. What, like, coffee filters? I heard they were all the rage in Germany a few years ago...
no subject
[Let him see if he can translate this into old timey.]
He'd probably be in a circus, where you're from.
[Nailed it.]
No. Not...not coffee filters. Nevermind.
no subject
[It could be polite small talk, it could be sarcastic but somehow, it's not. Somehow he just sounds like he really means that and maybe he does. He's just taking it in extreme stride, everything that John is saying, really. Stunt man from a circus, sure, isn't that interesting?]
So what about you? I guess you're not a... stunt man? Since you don't own your own vehicle...
no subject
...yeah, no, I'm not. I'm a pilot, in the Air Force. Mostly helicopters...
[Should he blow his mind? He could just leave it at that...]
But I also pilot space ships. In space. I live on another planet, in another galaxy. It's actually the lost city of Atlantis.
[Let's see how much this poor guy can take.]
no subject
[John, you could have taken it a little slower than that!]
That must be incredible. I saw picture of the first airplane from a few years back-- wait, did you just say another planet?
no subject
Yeah, it is. Nothing like it in the world. I was originally a helicopter pilot but trained in—
Wait, the…first…airplane—
[That is seriously old timey, pal]
Another planet. Another galaxy.
no subject
What's a helicopter? A plane that can fly to other planets? Have you been to the moon? What is it like there?
[TELL HIM ALL ABOUT IT]
ii
I like the assassination plot. Ambitious, but not overly so. Suitably dramatic. How would this competitor do the deed?
no subject
[So much weirder! And clearly he's a regular teenage boy from the future if his strange gear and equipment is any indication.
Speaking of which, his eyes dart back to it from time to time.]
I'm sorry, but what is all that you got there?
no subject
Equipment. Uhhh lets call them mobility assistance devices. [that's bullshit] R-E the assassination plot: obviously, you would need to thwart it in order for it to be a decent story, unless you plan to leave behind a memoir. How would you escape the outlaws? Or re-attach your foot, I suppose.