logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: GRAVES

EVENT LOG: GRAVES

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.

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Well, I always need a drink so good on you there, friend.

( especially with the reminder of the nature of his death staring him in the face. witch hunters were the worst. angelic witch hunters? they were something you didn't want to ever face twice. )

I would like. ( no need to be sober right now. ) You saw, then?

Yeah.

[He'll admit it, but he sounds slightly regretful. It was his intent to look, but each death is hard to experience. Even the quickest, least painful ones leave him feeling a little hollow. Perhaps he won't end up visiting all of the ones he'd intended to see because of how exhausting they are.]

It's... strange, how they keep drawing me in even if I would rather walk away. Let's find somewhere to sit that isn't surrounded by these markers.

Lead the way.

( he's not angry about it. would he have rather no one see what happened? sure, but he also knows that it saves him the trouble of explaining that part, at least. )

How many have you seen?

Just a handful, but that's more than enough.

[Or like half of them at least. He hasn't kept count anyway, so he couldn't give a real number even if he wanted to.

For now, he sticks the bottle of whiskey back into one of the inner pockets of his coat and picks a direction to walk. He's spent too much time in the bar lately and it's too easy for people to just run across them there and try to join in and chat. He's not into that right now. But the riverbank shouldn't be far, and it's pleasant enough. He manages to get there without a stumble, which is lucky, and has a seat. The staff he carries his lantern on is laid down beside him with the lantern on flat ground - no toppling it, he's learned from that one - and he retrieves the bottle of whiskey and sets it out as well, then rummages in the bag slung around his shoulders for another one of those cups that's clinking around in there. He's glad he grabbed a few, though he's almost out. They've made for nice offerings, he hopes. This one he'll use for now - and he pours himself a plenty generous portion and leaves the remaining half in the bottle for Ambrose.]

Those people in your, uh, vision. You were calling them "witch hunters". What does that mean in your world?

Exactly what it sounds like.

( don't worry, he's going to explain. )

They hunt people like me. Witches, warlocks, whatever the word. They think us an abomination and thus, they think it their mission to hunt us down and kill us. The witch hunters that you saw, they were...particularly vicious.

( because they were jackass angels. )

They hunt people with magic? Are all magic users witches and warlocks, or is that a term for a particular set of skills?

[It would be nice if he was surprised by any of this, but he's just not. Even if Ambrose had used his magic in irresponsible ways (for being called a witch or warlock hardly seems like a positive thing), he should have been captured, retained, questioned. Not just killed outright by a mob of gangsters claiming themselves to be some kind of authority. Maybe he's misreading the situation entirely, projecting his own experiences on it, and he doesn't know enough context anyway, but none of it feels right.]

As far as I know, it's a particular term. They're not going to hunt down say...street magicians that pull rabbits out of hats.

( that was all smoke and mirrors anyway. flash and falsehoods. not what he did at all. )

So yes, it's witches and warlocks, mostly. People like me who are born with the ability, I suppose.

[Somehow he's not sure his question has been answered, but that probably meant it wasn't worded well on account of him simply not understanding the details. It sounds like Ambrose is saying that yes, all magic users are witches and warlocks - not that "witches and warlocks" are a subset in a world that might also have people termed wizards and priests and whatever other sorts of people might wield those kinds of powers.

The only reason it matters, of course, is that if witches and warlocks are specifically people who use dark powers intended to harm others, there might be room to consider that he deserved it.]

Earlier, you told me you and your people did their best to hide the use of magic from nonmagical people. How did these witch hunters discover you, then?

Because they are angelic. From Heaven, if that is something you believe in. Sent from God.

( and the christian god was a vengeful one when he wanted to be. )

Most mortal witch hunters would have to do their due diligence and make some educated guesses. Angelic witch hunters knew exactly where to go and who to target.

[They're concepts he's quite familiar with, for similar ideas exist in his world even if he doesn't personally follow them. Organized religion is not for him, but it's interesting, except for when it's awful and used as a reason to subjugate and torture.]

So for being born with magic, you are inherently an enemy of God?

[If the man hadn't just died, if they weren't all so full of sorrow, he might smile. Different worlds, different meanings, but there's a note of appreciation in his voice all the same.]

I am.

( and though he thinks the reason why might be figured out without elaboration, he thinks it might need to be said anyway. he doesn't know what the reaction will be but he's not ashamed of who he is. )

God doesn't tend to like my kind because of where I came from and who I tend to follow...in a loose sense of the word.

[In this case the elaboration is indeed necessary, for that's where the similarities between warlocks and the hidden clan known only by the letter D seems to break down. In Ambrose's case, things seem to be far more literal. Law had not come from Hell at all, but he had walked out of one - a war zone, made by entirely human hands. A follower of his own path, rather than a supernatural being, although it did always seem like there was something beyond his understanding protecting the boy.]

So all of that is real, where you're from. Truly real, in a way you could see and touch, and not just old stories. Am I understanding right? Gods, and devils, and angels.

What good would it do me to tell you a story like that? If I wanted to lie, I would make up something much more outlandish than what I've told you.

( and his death would have been cooler. )

No, that's all real. EVery bit of it. It's my life and I've lived it.

Oh, I didn't think you were lying, I've just... I'm not used to people talking about those things in such concrete terms. I had to make sure I understood.

[He's doing a lot more of taking people at their word these days than he's used to. The stories just get crazier and crazier. What's more telling is how quickly Ambrose gets defensive simply because he sought some clarity. Poor man must be used to having to hide so much he's gotten bitter about any sort of question. Deserves a drink of whiskey, that realization.]

You're understanding just fine and the fact that you haven't tried to kill me is a good sign.

( ignore the fact that he was...already dead. he was still tangible so he guesses that he could still be hurt if someone tried. didn't someone die again already? )

Basically, if you've ever been told something's fantasy, it is probably, in fact, reality somewhere.

That's what I've been finding out. There's something new every day here.

[Usually something totally bizarre, and he comes from a world where strangeness from place to place is its own sort of normal. Perhaps that's what has primed him to keep an open mind as readily as he does, while still being skeptical of some claims.]

You seem like your handling it well, though. Most people aren't hanging around to answer questions, they're having small breakdowns and trying to chase people away.

My feeling is that there's not a lot I can do about it. It's there and if people really want to see how I died, so be it.

( he sees it every single day in his head so they'd have company. )

It isn't exactly the nicest topic of conversation but breaking down and losing my mind isn't going to do me any favors. If this place can show people the manner of my death, what else can it do?

That's what I've been wondering, as well.

[Though he's careful to say so neutrally. A casual thing to wonder about, rather than deep anxiety that grips him on a regular basis. He's already begun thinking about what he can say to defend himself, to tell people that no, it's not what it looks like, not at all. The thing he fears deepest, however, is a thing that holds no meaning here for these people. It will be easy to shrug off as unimportant even though his origins have haunted him every day of his life.]

It's the tip of an iceberg, isn't it? Tell me, though, since you understand magic. What sort of magic makes this happen? Graves appearing overnight, experiences of others' deaths attached to them - have you seen it before?

No, this isn't a type of magic I've seen.

( well. he hedges a bit and then shrugs a shoulder. )

Not in a legitimate way, that is. There are, of course, people who would set something like this up as a joke. Maybe for a birthday party of someone getting older but the graves wouldn't do anything but make the person laugh. They wouldn't actually show your death. That is...beyond what I can do. That's giving visions and while there might be people powerful enough to do that, they are not me.

I see. I suppose that makes sense. Whoever or whatever brought us here had to be powerful in the first place.

[On the level of gods - real ones - to reach across the boundaries of worlds. The more he hears about it, the more that comes to be the only answer, and he likes it less and less.]

But if it was a magic you were familiar with, is there also magic that can remove the spells others make? Cancel them out?

That's an interesting concept but not something I've yet to encounter. Someone might be able to suppress your magical abilities but if you are a warlock or a witch, they can't take them away.

( god, the horror of that. )

I suppose there is a magic out there that can do it but I haven't faced anyone with that. The witch hunters, we could affect them with our magic but it wasn't enough.

I didn't mean taking it away, but that's also good to know. I meant, like - say these markers were placed by a spell. Or say someone does magic that makes the river here turn pink. Is there a kind of spell that reverts things back to how they're supposed to be? Magic that erases magical effects?

[Though, good to know about the rest of that too, honestly. Even if he's terrible at wording what he means out of sheer ignorance to how magic works, he's learning useful stuff here.]

( ah, he misunderstood. to the question, he pauses, looking thoughtful. he doesn't know if there's something specifically like what's being described but there's probably spells and incantations that can come close. )

I don't know if you would consider it a spell specifically for erasing magical deficits but if someone turns the river pink, there's going to be a spell that turns it back to its original color. That doesn't mean it erases the magic, it just...puts more magic over top of it, if that makes sense.

I don't know of an undo button for magical spells. Once something is done, it's done and unless you can control time, it stays done but it can be corrected in other ways.

No way out quite as easy as that, hm?

[Oh well. It's why he asks. Some of his questions are probably ridiculous to those who know magic, but he's not too ashamed to speak up anyway. Nobody should expect him to know these things. But if they're real, which it seems they are, then they're worth learning about.

Of course, if what's going on is the work of gods as some have claimed or speculated, then a single magic user probably isn't likely to be able to do much anyway.]

I suppose if it were that easy to undo in your world, you would have people focusing on learning how to do that, rather than the methods they seem to be using instead.

Magic wouldn't be as fun if there were people out there that could just undo what I did.

( boring. the world would be boring. )

After all, I have to figure out how to live in a mortal world sometimes so they it's only fair they deal with the ramifications of what I can do should I need to use my magic.

EVENT LOG: GRAVES

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