TDM #25

[apocalypsehowmods]

↬ Main Navigation

➥ Arrival

(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 for English, 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.) The housing, itself is… dubiously all right. You might see the remnants of what seems to have been an all-out war of pettiness on the little apartment complex. A few places that haven't been painted over have things like 'MONSTERS' and 'GET OUT' written on them. One of the buildings (formerly Block D) looks downright derelict and shuttered. Exploring might lead you to find a hauntingly empty space that's been damaged beyond easy repair.

➥ Take a Gander

(cw: animal attacks, loss of limbs, potential animal death, compelled fear)

The news reports from the past month or so have become more and more serious regarding the presence of incredibly aggressive geese in Gloucester and the wider Cape Ann area. Light-hearted and punny neighborhood beat stories have grown to encompass far more harrowing tales. People have lost fingers and suffered lacerations so severe as to be life-threatening. Animal control personnel, avian biologists, local hunting clubs, and police from outside the area have been brought in to attempt to deal with the problem by any means necessary, lethal or not.

A team of specialists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have determined that this may be the result of a novel new virus, something rabies-like in its design, but for feathered creatures. They have yet to pin down what the source is or how it's transmitted, but it's being referred to colloquially as Feral Flock Disease. The specialists are warning anyone who sees a goose to move away from it quickly and quietly, whether it's displaying aggressive behavior or not.

Those more inclined for a dinner-based solution are being offered $10 per goose brought to a drop-off location near city hall. City officials indicate the geese will be used to feed anyone in need after a thorough testing to ensure the meat is safe.

Regardless of whether you've been following the news, you find yourself facing down a pack of three geese. It shouldn't really be possible for an animal like that to display emotion on its face. Birds are more about movements, the flap of wings, the turn of a head. But in this case… in this case you can see pure unadulterated hatred in the geese's eyes and the curve of their beaks as they stare you down.

This may, perhaps, be the natural state of a goose, according to some, but there's nothing particularly funny about it. The geese glare and you have the overwhelming feeling that you, specifically are hated. That you have done something unspeakable to them and their kin and you will be paying for it. Even for those who have never experienced fear, they'll feel a cold jolt of terror down their spine and the compulsion to run as the gaggle flaps their wings and take to flight with unnatural speed.

➥ Red Honk, Green Honk

(cw: compulsion, mind control, animal attacks, potential animal death)

While most goose encounters around Gloucester and the surrounding region seem to erupt into immediate violence, some who come face to face with wild fowl will be met with what might seem for a moment like a lucky reprieve. A select few geese around Gloucester return the human (or nonhuman) gaze with a look not of loathing, but of…interest. There's no hissing or honking on sight, no flap of angry wings nor long necks snaking out to bite. Instead, these geese just…look at you. Stare, even.

How long have you been standing here, frozen in that goose's gaze? You stopped in your tracks the moment you locked eyes with it, though you don't remember making a conscious choice to do so. The moments drag on and bring the realization that something in your mind or body is frozen in place, compelled to be quiet and still so long as the goose is looking at you. You…could move. You must be capable of moving; it's only a bird and you're certain that you could choose to move if only it didn't feel somehow impossible–

Then the goose looks away, apparently losing interest, and the spell is broken. It's like the air rushes back into your lungs as your muscles are suddenly freed and you're at liberty to move again, to walk or run away, or to unholster whatever anti-goose weapon you brought with you in order to dispatch this odd bird. In those precious few seconds of freedom you can make your choice, but at the sound of movement the goose's head snaps in your direction, beady black eyes locking on you again, and again you're compelled into perfect stillness.

On it goes, round after round of this animal compelling you to stop only to let you go again, so long as you're in its line of sight. It's not all-powerful, though, not perfect mind control. You can move as it stares at you, especially as the feeling of its gaze upon you becomes more familiar. At some point it's questionable whether the goose is still controlling you at all, or if you're choosing to stop and start, to follow the rules it set out at the beginning of this encounter.

Beware, though, the consequences of losing this game. Move before the goose looks away, or fail to stop when it looks toward you, and you're met with an admonishing hiss full of disdain and condemnation. Your legs lock in place and something bubbles up inside you in reply, irrepressible, uncontrollable, inevitable. No matter how hard you press the urge down, this is truly out of your control. It will happen and it will be your own voice that lets out a desperate, goose-like honk at the top of your lungs.

Fail once, and the game goes on once you've paid your noisy penance. Fail again, and the goose's beady eyes bore into you as you honk and honk and honk, unable to stop yourself as the sound draws the attention of other, much more violent geese.

➥ Your Goose is Cooked

(cw: gore, cannibalism, body horror, compulsion, potential violence or disfigurement)

It’s an innocuous little thing: a picnic in the park.

The same open field that once held a local fair stands largely empty as it does everyday: a thoroughfare for those wanting to cross blocks quickly. Except now it has a veritable spread in the middle of it.

On a delightfully red and white checkered picnic blanket sits an old-timey radio playing tunes from a bygone era to draw the ear and the eye. Arranged around the blanket are all sorts of distinct platters: fried balls, one of which seems to split open and ‘blink’ around the eyeball within. A platter of hair under a rich and clumpy red sauce, lady’s finger sandwiches that twitch and move now and again, iced thumbprints stacked on a plate, and balls of a pinkish and wet nature that seem to expand and contract with the same timing as the nearest person’s breathing.

All set up for you! Partake alone or bring a friend, dig in and enjoy! Or perhaps, looking around, you realize there’s still something missing in the amassed array of various viscera, recognizable or not, and you know just where to get it. Perhaps you know someone who could donate intestine sausage or a side of tongue…or maybe you can yourself. After all, you’re already here and it’s not so difficult to find something sharp.

Those who decide to stake out the place to see what happens might come across others offering to the picnic, but it’s around midnight that something arrives to feast. A person in a long trench coat limps over towards the blanket and hunkers down to begin gorging itself on the spread. It’s sensitive to sound, however, and even the smallest crunch of a branch turns its head.

It has no eyes to speak of beyond what it might have ingested, and the mouth appears circular, the teeth a grinding mechanism not unlike a sink disposal. Great, moth-like wings spread from its shoulders, twisted things of thin flesh suspended between branching cartilage and every part of its limbs are wrong. From feet to fingers, every joint sits oddly and the flesh around it shifts to accommodate. Even the trenchcoat isn’t what it seems, the color right but the fleshy quality of it is all wrong in how it hangs and flaps. Unfortunately, it does not like interruptions.

➥ Mod Notes

• ARRIVAL (July 1-31): Two people will almost always arrive in the same general location together. Arrivals occur throughout the 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.
  
  
• TAKE A GANDER (September 1-15): The geese can be dispatched by the standard means that one would use to dispatch a goose. Please be sure to mark TL's or comments with cw's where any animals may come to harm. For those seeking a more humane approach, the geese can be captured, but they are unusually strong. What you choose to do with them… well, you can cause so many problems with a goose in an office building or apartment. Especially one that's out for your blood.
  
  
• RED HONK, GREEN HONK (September 1-15): These geese follow the same general rules as the geese above in terms of effective methods for dispatch or capture (once again, please be sure to mark TL's or comments with cw's where any animals may come to harm). Also, if one of these geese are attacked but are able to lock eyes on their attacker(s), the character(s) attacking them will be frozen in place and forced to make honking sounds, which will attract the attention of violent geese as per the Take a Gander prompt, allowing the Red Honk, Green Honk goose to make its escape while the characters are under attack. Finally, observant characters may notice that these geese leave footprints with faint web patterns that stretch across the webbing between their toes.
  
  
• YOUR GOOSE IS COOKED (September 8-10): Feel free to make up your own horrible organ or body part plate, the entire picnic is made up of nothing but flesh in some fashion. It’s not limited to human anatomy either, perhaps you come across an Owlbear claw or siren fish tails. Characters can come across the picnic and step back quickly enough to not be compelled, but those who linger in either curiosity or disgust might find themselves wanting to add to the carnage, even if they don’t partake. Any harm done to themselves will be permanent going forward, so keep that in mind, and attacking another character should always be done with permission!
  
  Anyone can confront the flesh mothman if they hold a stake out, they’re welcome to kill it too! The next day, the picnic will be back.
  ↬ Main Navigation