EVENT LOG: ENTER MR SANDMAN (DEFENDERS)

[inthenightmods]

EVENT LOG:
ENTER MR. SANDMAN (DEFENDERS)

characters: those who signed up as defenders for the event
location: all around Beacon
date/time: november 16-29
content: the defenders attempt to drive off a spirit invasion
warnings: lots of horror! body horror, psychological horror, gore, violence, etc.. please cw all threads where appropriate! mods will do the same

in your closet, in your head.

It all happens in a matter of moments. Your friends, your companions, and even some people you aren't all that fond of; everyone who took so much as a bite of the spirits' feast suddenly collapses into a comatose heap. Which is bad enough already, but the worst, by far, is yet to come.

Before anyone can really figure out what's happened to the sleepers, the woods surrounding the town come alive with sound. Rustling, screeching, clicking, howling, and under it all, the characteristic hoots and whistles of the forest spirit tongue. But these aren't the friendly creatures that set up the banquet in the first place, and they aren't the familiar faces (or masks) from around Beacon. As they begin to emerge, bursting forth from the trees, these spirits reveal themselves as a horrifying army of terrors. And sprinkled among them, distinguishable by the emerald glint in their sockets, are the infamous "green eyes", the dangerous spirits that appeared once before.

Attempting to talk to these spirits is a moot point, made obvious by their immediate assault on anyone they get close to. They attack with claws and teeth, with limbs far stronger than they have any right to be, and the green eyes, as they are wont to do, will try to get into your head. Somehow, they seem to know what it is that scares you most, and they don't seem too hesitant to use it. It's not clear what they want— are they here to eradicate you? To frighten you? To send a message?

Whatever the case, one thing is very clear: you and everyone else, sleeping or waking, are in serious danger. Are you ready to defend Beacon?

QUICKNAV
comms	|	network • logs • memes • ooc
pages	|	rules • faq • taken • mod contact • player contact • calendar • setting • exploration • item requests • full nav

Comments

[worthallthis]

"Not answering. Network is fine. Spirits can use it, too," they add, in case Kuai missed that part. They go to the stove, where a large pot of stew has been simmering for a couple hours, available for everyone to dip into. Something hot sounds good, and there's plenty left. And they can't go back outside again yet, or Crowley will worry. They crouch at a cupboard and pull out two bowls, offering one to Kuai.

"If we prove ourselves trustworthy, that we don't try to kill each other, the original Beacon resident might come," they say. "She's the one who knows the language of the world eaters. Knows what happened here. Might tell us." They can't fix the problem until they know more about what happened.

[paletteswap]

At least that's one thing he did know. But if he survives this whole ordeal he needs to make a point of actually paying attention to everyone elses' conversations instead of jumping to conclusions.

"Why the wait? If we kill each other Robin can simply reset us. What's to gain by making us prove ourselves?"

[worthallthis]

"Because the original Beacon resident. Maridel. She won't come unless she can trust us not to try and kill her." The Soldier shrugs helplessly, then ladels stew into their own bowl. "I don't know why. Maybe she isn't dead like us. Maybe she can't be reset. Maybe she just doesn't feel like dying. Robin didn't say."

[paletteswap]

"Hm." He considers that, he hadn't thought anyone would simply attack without hearing what someone had to say. But then again he hadn't talked to everyone in Beacon - maybe there were many who would kill first and ask questions later.

His brother springs to mind.

"I'd rather hear what she had to say than attack. But I suppose there are those who would be angry enough to be unreasonable. For what it's worth I hardly think any of this is Robin's fault, nor the original resident. They're not to blame for our situation, but I do wish they were more forthcoming with information."

[worthallthis]

"Don't we all," the Soldier says with a snort, then pours a couple ladles full of stew into the bowl they handed Kuai, too. One of their self-soothing activities is apparently feeding people. "But she gave us a lot of information on her last message. You should read through everything she told people there. My conversation with her was privated, so you won't be able to see that one, but most of what we talked about. Was on other people's conversations, too." Proof that the Soldier, at least, does in fact read everyone else's public network threads.

[paletteswap]

He accepts it with a polite nod of his head, if someone wasn't actively feeding him he'd probably forget to eat until he passed out. He'd done it before.

"Read other people's conversations?" He grimaces, that sounds a lot like spying and a whole bunch of other dishonorable things he doesn't want to get into. "I read her post, but not what she told others."

His delicate propriety.

[worthallthis]

The Soldier tilts their head in mild confusion. "If they didn't want their messages read. They would make them private." Like the Soldier does. They absolutely expect public messages to be read by all and sundry, and private messages to be vulnerable to hacking. It's one reason they're not super fond of using the network. "If we didn't read each other's public messages. No one would learn anything."

[paletteswap]

"It seems... Improper." Like he's opening other people's letters or reading their journals.

"But such technology is not prevalent where I come from, it's quite new to me."

His world is actually far more technologically advanced than this, but his temple on a mountain in the snow barely has electricity so he's pretty far behind in some regards.

[worthallthis]

Well, now you're making the Soldier nervous. They frown down at their soup. "Every time I have replied on the network. It has been in the middle of someone else's conversation. No one has told me that was wrong. It might be okay." They really hope it's okay. Otherwise they will never learn anything. They get so much good intel from the network.

[paletteswap]

"If no one said anything it's likely acceptable." Usually people get annoyed when things are done incorrectly. Usually.

Kuai isn't the most adept at understanding how others think. His social skills may need a little work, but at least he's aware of it.

"There's probably no rules at all, and what you're saying makes sense. I did not know you could make things private."

[worthallthis]

"Oh. Yes. Here." The Soldier puts their soup down to pull out their tablet. They go to a random network thread, opens a reply they don't intend to actually make, and show Kuai the "private" option. "Like this." Everyone should know how to do that, whether for their own opsec or to keep things from the spirits. If that even works. Who knows if it does.

[paletteswap]

Seems easy enough. He watches, eating his stew as he listens to the Soldier's instructions.

"And then it becomes invisible to others except who you're talking to?" He gets the basics at least.

"I should have put more time into learning it, but physical threats are what I'm more used to dealing with and where I can be most useful. Not that I feel particularly useful now when we have been under attack for so long."

[worthallthis]

"This is the first time I have felt useful," the Soldier admits, and tucks the tablet safely away again before collecting their own soup again. "This is really what I was made for. Killing things. But here I can use my skills for something good."

[paletteswap]

Kuai shakes his head ruefully, "So many of us are fighters that know nothing else, and here we are fighting and it still feels unfulfilling."

It feels more than unfulfilling, it feels pointless, like they're simply delaying the inevitable.

[worthallthis]

Speak for yourself. The Soldier is protecting people and taking care of people and fighting alongside people against a common enemy, they have plenty to eat and a strict routine of patrols and meals, they don't have to sleep and have nightmares, and Crowley is diligent in helping care for their wounds. Even death might not actually stick if it happens. This is... kind of great.

At Kuai's statement, though, they start to kind of worry that's not normal. "Why. Unfulfilling?" they ask, a little hesitantly.

[paletteswap]

"We're not gaining ground, this seems less like a battle that can turn the tide of war and more a skirmish that we're losing. If it's a test of our strength then we're coming up wanting."

Fighting a losing battle for long periods of time is not his idea of a good time. Reminds him of home - but at least there was a vague hope they might succeed. He doesn't have much of that here.

[worthallthis]

"We aren't losing," the Soldier says, baffled. The mission parameters are fairly clear, to them, and those parameters continue to be successful. "We are holding ground under siege. None of our charges are hurt. The Invincible is still whole and safe. There haven't been any deaths so far." There will be deaths later, but everyone comes back from those. "Why do you think we're losing?"

[paletteswap]

He frowns, not understanding the disconnect in how they're viewing the situation.

"Because we are not winning, we're holding the line which feels as though we're simply delaying a defeat. Don't misunderstand, what we are doing is necessary and I will continue to do so, but I would rather us make strides to turn the tide."

He's normally the optimistic one, being so fatalistic for once is a sign of how exhausted he is. "How do you see this?"

[worthallthis]

"The mission is protect. Stay alive. Keep comrades alive. We're doing that." They tilt their head, have a bite of soup, and offer, "We're thinning them out. I've killed a lot of them already. And this may not last forever. Or until they kill us all or we kill them all. There have been. Events. With limited time range." They shrug one shoulder, the metal one, and admit, "Can't count on that here. But it's possible."

[paletteswap]

"You make it sound so simple." Protect. Defend. If they're doing that then they're doing enough. But its definitely not enough for Kuai who feels like this whole thing is one big disaster after a myraid of smaller set backs.

"There's nothing much else to be done now, but for all the planning we tried to do previously, it all seems to have fallen apart. At least most remembered to fall back to the Invincible but that may also be because it was the closest structure."

He finishes his stew, staring at the empty bowl for a bit, "Don't listen to me, I've been in too many battles to judge. I'm getting old. And out of touch."

[worthallthis]

"I've been in a lot of battles. Just don't remember most of them." The Soldier leans back against the counter with a frown. "Your experience is probably more. Complete. Than mine. You can't be more out of touch than a murder machine with very scattered memories. What do you think we should do differently." Because while the Soldier is probably technically older, their experience really is much less than their birthdate would suggest, and Kuai might well have a point. They trust their training, but not their instincts, and they know their protocols have some very glaring holes in them.

[paletteswap]

"It's difficult to explain. It's not that we should do things differently, even though we should. It's that..." he trails off because he's not really sure how to explain the sensation he's feeling.

"In my realm, we are attacked incessantly, there is nearly always a battle, and every one is critical. Losing a single one might doom the entire world. Yet we are often victorious, and when we are not we rally to find a way to prevent our realm's demise. And now here, in this place, we cannot even win against forest creatures." he's having trouble expressing it, but he's feeling a little worthless and like maybe his contributions don't matter.

[worthallthis]

It doesn't feel like they're losing against the forest creatures, either, though. The Soldier thinks for a long minute, finishing up their stew. They phrase what they want to know in a different way: "What does a successful mission look like. To you. In this situation."