Cao Pi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pure_havoc) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
logsinthenight2019-12-09 01:08 pm
pure_havoc) wrote in logsinthenight2019-12-09 01:08 pm
Round 2 [open]
characters: Cao Pi and everyone who wants to show up
location: town hall
date/time: Dec. 8, starting at moonrise
content: Community meeting, take 2! After the Dreamer/Defender incident, there's a lot to talk about and Cao Pi has encouraged everyone to come and publicly share what they learned while asleep or what ideas they have to make the next massacre less massacre-y. Feel free to handwave catching his post or hearing about it from a friend.
warnings: none likely but lmk if that changes. Threadjacking likely; if you don't want to be threadjacked, make some sort of indication.
As before, Cao Pi arrives ahead of time to ensure the town hall is ready for a session, righting any chairs that might have been thrown about in recent melees and checking the logbook for recent information. When a fair amount of people have arrived and he can see the waxing moon rising through the leafless trees outside, he rises to begin with a short intro.
"By now we know that those who succumbed to the food at the feast had a strange experience - they shared dreams with each other, in which they found themselves seeing Beacon as it was in the past. I encourage all those who dreamed, and remember it well, please tell us all what you saw. There may be considerable clues to our purpose and progress in even the smallest detail.
"The rest of us, well. We managed to make it through and I believe those who were killed are whole again, but for our part we can go over what worked and what didn't. Defending ourselves isn't merely a matter of being trained to use weapons. The spirits which attacked were formidable, powerful. We will need more than just our strength to outlast another attack. Ideas are welcome, as is any new information we have on everything from communications to threats."
That's all he'll ramble about this time, he'll take a seat and allow others to have the floor before he makes any more grandiose speeches.
location: town hall
date/time: Dec. 8, starting at moonrise
content: Community meeting, take 2! After the Dreamer/Defender incident, there's a lot to talk about and Cao Pi has encouraged everyone to come and publicly share what they learned while asleep or what ideas they have to make the next massacre less massacre-y. Feel free to handwave catching his post or hearing about it from a friend.
warnings: none likely but lmk if that changes. Threadjacking likely; if you don't want to be threadjacked, make some sort of indication.
As before, Cao Pi arrives ahead of time to ensure the town hall is ready for a session, righting any chairs that might have been thrown about in recent melees and checking the logbook for recent information. When a fair amount of people have arrived and he can see the waxing moon rising through the leafless trees outside, he rises to begin with a short intro.
"By now we know that those who succumbed to the food at the feast had a strange experience - they shared dreams with each other, in which they found themselves seeing Beacon as it was in the past. I encourage all those who dreamed, and remember it well, please tell us all what you saw. There may be considerable clues to our purpose and progress in even the smallest detail.
"The rest of us, well. We managed to make it through and I believe those who were killed are whole again, but for our part we can go over what worked and what didn't. Defending ourselves isn't merely a matter of being trained to use weapons. The spirits which attacked were formidable, powerful. We will need more than just our strength to outlast another attack. Ideas are welcome, as is any new information we have on everything from communications to threats."
That's all he'll ramble about this time, he'll take a seat and allow others to have the floor before he makes any more grandiose speeches.
Maes Hughes | OTA
But that's not what he wanted to talk about right now. Though maybe later. As soon as Cao Pi and then Riku were done, Maes rose to his feet. He had a notebook and some papers sticking out of it. Clearly he'd been busy preparing.]
I'll go first then. I didn't get a chance to meet all of you yet, before the feast, so I'll start by saying I'm General Maes Hughes. I have some previous experience with a similar situation in which I was taken to another reality and asked to 'fix' things...though the details are very different. If you want to talk with me about it after we can, I'd rather focus on the information my group obtained during the dream.
[With that, he laid out several sheets of paper. It was a rough sketch and map of the explored areas of Beacon. The areas are labeled and what will probably immediately draw attention are the multiple areas circled, places they had yet to encounter.]
I don't know how much parallel there is between the Beacon in the dream and the Beacon we now inhabit, but while I was stuck in Town Hall I discovered several areas that no one had been to yet and that might be worth organizing explorations to go check it out. Maybe set up teams to go scout or take them one at a time. [He glanced at those present.] Though we might want to wait until people have fully recovered or agree to only send those who are up to the task.
[He leaned over the map and pointed to the west.] There's supposedly a medical center here, which would be really helpful right now if not in the future. Especially if there are still any supplies lingering there.
[He then moved to the mountains.] This area was labeled as a farm and a train station, and something about a furnace. I don't know if it's another way out, nor is it the right time to grow crops, but either way it seems worth exploring for supplies and other methods of transportation.
[Lastly he traced his finger to the east.] This is marked simply as Downtown. It could mean more housing or shops, either way more space to occupy since it became clear with this most recent ferry load that we are coming up short on space.
[He moved back to let others explore the map and after a few moments added.] This was information that could help us now. We also discovered some information related to Beacon's past, if you'd like me to continue.
[He briefly heard the sound of giggling, but decidedly ignored it.]
We also came across mention of an amusement park, but it was so new that there was no depiction of it on the map. [He hesitated and then added.] Although, the flier for it was rather troubling.
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Alongside it, he unfolds the brochure he'd brought with him - a duplicate, as the first was lost in the wreckage of the cog. It's a dirtbike trail map from the cycling shop and among the trails listed is a very close-by trail labeled "to Downtown" that seems to start at roughly where the museum now stands.]
This is incredible, Sir. I can add this, found at the bike shop. Jason Grace and I recently tried to get there by water, figuring it would be faster to sail along the coast. I'm sure you've all seen the outcome of that, but I'd still like to try again - by land, this time.
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But still, it was a purpose and a goal, which was something. His eyes light up when he notices the brochure and the marked trail.]
That's good, it means it confirms, at least in part, the accuracy of the map. That there are more parallels between what I saw and what might be out there in this version of things.
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[That's going to be the hardest part of this, he figures. It's already absolutely freezing out there, and it's only December. They have limited time to accomplish everything in. What if January buries them in several feet of snow?]
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I don't suppose we have the supplies necessary for a winter weather expedition then.
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[Coats and blankets are fine and all, but eating cold food and drinking cold drinks on multiple-day expeditions below freezing sounds dangerous. They'll be limited to shorter trips, and every crew will probably want a medically-trained person with them in case of hypothermia or injury. Maybe some of the magically-inclined will have the ability to make warm shelter or heat drinks. Maybe.]
If there's anyone in Beacon who's familiar with winter travel, it would be good to consult them.
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[Which could mean the weather getting worse in the meantime.]
Unfortunately, I never got assigned to the joint training exercises at Briggs. [He's not going to know what that means, so Maes shakes his head and adds.] I mean, I unfortunately don't really have that expertise. We had cold weather in Central, but I mostly got to enjoy it from the comfort of home or out of the cold in the office.
[Desert survival on the otherhand...that he could get you though, but he had a feeling that just because they were opposite environments did not mean you could necessarily apply the opposite in terms of survival.]
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[It'll have to be generic, and maybe Rastus won't be able to get everything they need, but even a few extra pairs of snowshoes and skis and gloves and whatever else would sure go a long way.]
I've done my share of work in every type of weather I can think of, but less in snow than the others. I know what works for me but I wouldn't be that good at advising the inexperienced on how to prepare. Might be worth doing even for those not intending to explore, if we can find anyone here who's used to harsh winters and willing to tell people how to handle them. If nobody here knows, I can do my best.
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They'd be beyond the dark forest, wouldn't they? If we build bridges across rivers and keep exploring...we'll know where to look and what to look for.
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Building bridges should perhaps be a priority anyway since we still need to connect up the disparate points of Beacon.
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That’s also where I met the spirit that gave me these strange cards.
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What sort of spirit...and cards?
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They don't look like they do anything useful. [Duster brought a back with him, and he shows of what look like trading cards for a popular children's game in another world.]
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[He sort of had a fondness for the ice cream vendor.]
Hm...well that's odd.
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but then maes mentions an amusement park and peter glances up at him sharply, eyebrows knitting together into a frown. it could be nothing — they're all from entirely different worlds, all from different universes, there was nothing here to say that any of what they were dealing with had anything to do with anyone from his delightful gallery of rogues.
but that doesn't mean one of them didn't end up here, the same as him. ]
—Troubling how? [ he'll circle back round to everything else in due time. ]
holy shit i just read the filename for this coaster
The flier mentioned that the coaster would propel them and their loved ones into a better tomorrow. It also mentioned something about being peaceful and humane...and the only time I really hear those words used is generally in relation to killing someone.
[There's a beat and then he adds.]
And in this case it would seem those riders were children.
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They saw the end coming long enough to compile and print advertisements for that thing instead of trying to put a stop to the problem. They had lots of time.
[That's valuable to know, though, probably. Their end was slow, not immediate. They had time to do other things too - to put into action whatever it is that happened to this world. Shrouded it in darkness to shield it from view, perhaps. Killed themselves in order to save a few. The bleakest, cruelest sort of hope he can imagine and he's just not sure it could possibly worth it. Not if they had to slaughter children with something dressed as an amusement park.]
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he doesn't joke; he doesn't comment, not at first. the world eaters, as a concept, are horrifying and frightening, he gets it, he does, but he's not convinced that alone would have led an entire population towards okaying an amusement park designed to kill its children. he wonders where the idea came from — as far as schemes go, it's grand and not entirely unlike something he'd have expected from arcade, but it lacks the drama, the — god help him — illusion of grandeur and excitement that comes with a villainous murderworld, so the question is: what was so bad that they'd have chosen this.
there had been the bodies in sheets beneath the trapdoor; there had been the smell, the foul, pungent mix of tar and what villanelle had disgustedly exclaimed as sickness. not for the first time, he wonders if a plague had been brought back through the portal. a sickening disease they'd had no idea of how to combat.
maybe it wasn't just the one thing.
he glances at rosinante. his expression says that he doesn't disagree, but there's not a whole lot to say to that — they had time and this is what they chose. he thinks of the note bruce had found in the church: we're all going to die. ]
They'd lost all hope. [ a pause. ] —I'm really not trying to sound flippant when I say this: but do you think that the furnace might have been used to dispose of the bodies?
time for some hallucinations aftermath 8D
He doesn't verbally reply to Rosi, instead ignoring the sudden screaming in his ear. Pawlina's mother screaming What have you done? What have you done with the children? and for a moment he swears he sees her at the edge of the crowded meeting. He looks quickly, but all the faces in the town hall are non-canine. He forces his shoulders to drop, refocusing on Peter. He swallows, mouth dry.]
It's possible. We could find out more if we made it there I would imagine. Although the furnaces were on the map, so perhaps they weren't so nefarious at first.
[After all, the amusement park hadn't been on the map as far as he had been able to glean. He taps his finger against the flier.]
These were all in the mayor's office in Town Hall, hundreds of them, scattered everywhere. I feel I should mention that what led us there was a series of notes, supposedly from one of the mayor's own children or at least that was who had signed them. They weren't exactly reassuring either, but could offer some insight into the bigger picture we're trying to grasp here.
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Excellent work, general. This is all extremely valuable, and I agree that we must find these other locations. The medical center and downtown area if nothing else - we need resources first, information second. [though, he doesn't know what a train is so is that important? whatever]
Please, continue.
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[He glances over at Rosi.]
Though there is the matter of possibly worse weather coming and we don't know what the winters are like here. We either need to plan fast and start going out as soon as possible, or plan more carefully, allow people time to heal their wounds, and then see what is out there if the weather is still in our favor.
[He's not sure which would be the better option -- there are a lot of unknowns.]
Is there anything in particular you would like me to continue with?
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Exploration can be balanced against what we might already be able to learn or at least theorize with what we have, here, so as to focus our efforts later.
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[Maes flips his notes to a new page]
The statue you may have noticed finally had a plaque in the daylight version of Beacon. Woofington Von Bone. He was also a husband and father. We eventually learned that he had three children, Pawlina, Puppette, and Barkley because we found notes written to him...unless of course their father was a mayor following Mr. Von Bone. Either way, one of the mayor's children was writing letters to their father that grew progressively more concerned and with a lot of hints that something might have been amiss. Unfortunately, the child that wrote it didn't include much detail about WHAT those issues were, just the concerns a child might have for a distraught family and overworked father.
There did seem to be hints of mass disappearances and unrest in the community that even a child was able to pick up on.
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ahem. Not important]
So disappearances, and other problems, were already happening before the darkness. I see. It is, certainly, important to piece these puzzles together, so we can know the speed things progressed until the appearance of the World Easters, and the order in which it happened. I feel it will be of use to us, even if it turns out there is no way to repeat such past mistakes. We simply don't know enough to say for sure one way or the other, so we may as well work on finding out.
Thank you, general.
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It could have been what led to or even exacerbated the problem in the first place. There's really no telling with just these parts of the puzzle. Did they know the darkness was coming and do something to prevent it? Or did something start happening on their world and they sought ways to fix it...not knowing what they'd be inviting in.
Either way, you're right, we NEED to learn more.
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