EVENT LOG: GRAVES

[inthenightmods]

EVENT LOG:
GRAVES

characters: everyone.
location: Bonfire Square.
date/time: July 12-19.
content: mysterious shrines appear and bring visions of death.
warnings: likely violence and potentially gore.

time to pay your respects.

It happens when no one is looking, when most of the town is asleep and the rest are inside. A makeshift cemetery has come to Beacon, taking up residence in the middle of Bonfire Square. Each monument, shrine, and altar is dedicated to someone who now resides here, a memorial of their previous life.

Some may be drawn by curiosity, others by fear, and some may simply have to pass through this strange graveyard to get to the Bonfire itself. Whenever a person gets near, the altars beckon with a mysterious urge— an urge to approach, and an urge to leave something behind. They will feel compelled to make offerings at the various shrines, but doing so has a curious effect; it causes one to experience the death of the person whose grave they've honored.

Whether you resist the compulsion or give in willingly (or something in between), you'll also have to wrestle with the fact that a grave exists for you. Will you let your death be known, or try your best to keep it secret? Destroying it sure won't work, as it will return— with a duplicate somewhere else in town.

However you choose to deal with this, one thing is hard to ignore— this a tangible reminder of your death, and the fact that it's probably permanent.

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

Comments

i; death (two for one!) and destruction (July 12)

[hardwearing]

[ Those who leave an offering at Wash's grave will suddenly be thrown into a war zone. It's like something out of a science fiction movie and viewing it through his eyes means you're also inside his armor, his helmet's HUD flashing proximity alerts and status messages as he fights. No one else around him seems to be in armor as they struggle to hold their position around an old, alien-looking temple, but stranger than his comrades' lack of equipment are the enemies themselves.

The Null are a race of shapeshifting robots, and in this case have been specifically engineered to kill. Although they vary in size and form they are all articulated with hundreds of thousands of small moving parts and seem to be constantly rearranging and adapting to attack or protect or repair themselves, and they're communicating instantaneously through a hivemind although none of them "speak." Some are like tanks, others small and spindly and agile, still others seem to have an extra protective exoskeleton and carry strange cylinders with them. The largest among them are about eight feet tall and 2500 lbs, and they dramatically outnumber the group that Wash is with... and just keep coming, firing off crippling electric blasts from a distance to stun targets in hopes of getting a clean kill with what looks like a laser cutter.

Wash is exhausted, hungry, and hurting, running low on ammo and having trouble keeping track of the chaos around him. Although many of the fighters (Wash included) are mostly using conventional weapons like guns and explosives and swords, there are also magic users attacking with lightning, ice, and fire, summoning shields and spectral entities to help. It's a whirlwind of metal and movement and cacophonous sound, and they can't stop. This is endgame, if they lose this fight they lose the war, and no one will be spared.

At first, Wash is dismissing the alerts on his HUD about as fast as they're coming in. But then a motion tracker to his right seems to get his attention and he turns just in time to see one of the fortified Null units closing in on a small woman with dark hair and pointed ears. Many observers will recognize her as someone in Beacon, some might even know her name is Kyna. She raises her hands and an obviously powerful bolt of lightning hits the machine, but it doesn't seem affected like the others. It only speeds up, skittering forward on three elegant metal limbs far faster than the woman can scramble back. Wash breaks into a run, but it's no use -- he isn't even halfway there when the robot stabs her in the abdomen and then shakes her body off its weapon, leaving her to fall to the ground in a crumpled heap.

The cold terror that rushes through Wash is all-encompassing, panic and denial and the irrational belief that if he can just get to her, she'll be fine. Unfortunately for everyone, this was never going to be the case, but especially not when Wash screams her name and starts firing at the Null as he gets closer. It turns to him and with eerily smooth movements raises the cylinder held in its other upper limb. He's too overwhelmed by the need to kill it and get to Kyna to dodge what he thinks is just going to be an electric blast his armor will take the brunt of, but what hits him instead is far worse. As he stumbles back he suddenly has no idea what's going on.

Where is he? Was he fighting? There's definitely a fight happening, but what was he doing...? He looks down at himself, giving the viewer a good look at his armor as he raises his hands in bewilderment, and when he glances back up the Null is on top of him. To add insult to injury he's too stunned by the brain scrambler to even attempt to defend himself, and it stabs its laser cutter straight through the chest plate of his armor and drags it down diagonally. His HUD blares warnings, but they're unnecessary. Wash doesn't need his armor to tell him he's done for, the blood already bubbling up into his mouth, splattering on the inside of his helmet. The pain is unbearable, but at least it won't last long, and honestly that's not what hurts the most. He drops heavily to his knees and the Null moves away impassively, on to the next target, giving him a clear view of Kyna lying a few meters away, obviously dead.

Again, he's failed. He couldn't even make it there. There are a few final frantic thoughts as the battle fades out around him, mostly incoherent. The names of friends he can't call out to because he's choking on his own blood and hysterical bursts of grief, then a fleeting and unclear "we can't lose" and "he'll bring her back."

She's the last thing he sees before he falls visor-first into the dirt. ]

--

[ As soon as Wash is compelled to leave his first offering and realizes what's happening -- an event, it's a bullshit event, just like Hadriel had, and if the lighthouse keeper is another wannabe god screwing with them for their own benefit he fucking swears -- he goes hunting for his and smashes it to bits with a borrowed sledgehammer. No one needs to see his death, to feel what he felt, or to know his name. If someone already made an offering... sucks for them, but at least it won't be an issue anymore. Right?

Anyone who sees this memory is welcome to figure out Wash's identity whether they've seen his armor or not, based on Kyna's presence and obvious importance. The two of them are usually together around town and they're not very subtle. ]