logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: A MONSTER'S HERE

Entry tags:

EVENT LOG: A MONSTER'S HERE

characters: everyone.
location: the mine
date/time: october 19 - 23.
content: exploring the mines and figuring out what became of the wild hunt.
warnings: explorations and threads might include body horror, gore, and monster horror.

i craft my words to fit inside your head, because no one listens to the dead.

It's been a wild few months. The remaining survivors of Beacon have turned their sights on the mine. The last known location of the Wild Hunt, though they haven't been heard from in quite a long time. Thanks to the help of spirits, the group has managed to rally and split off towards the mines to se if they can find out what happened there and if there's any of the Hunt left behind.

THE LONG TRAIL.

The spirits have helped repair a handcart located at the train station. Though, it's probably not fair to say that it helped the journey all that much. Most of it was completed on foot, taking turns pumping rusted old levers. It carried the supplies and little else.

The start of the journey goes well, until the ramshackle handcart fails at the bottom of a particularly steep incline. The group eventually decides it's better to take the time and fix it than leave part of the supplies behind. A few work on the repairs and the rest split themselves between keeping watch and getting rest while they can.

It ends up as one night along the side of the tracks. It's out far enough in the woods that it's integral to keep some of the group on watch. A few spirits will sneak toward camp, though thankfully none actively violent. They mostly seem to want to make away with what supplies the group has. Good luck chasing them back down through the woods if they do make off with something.

The rest of the group should catch rest where they can, though... Rest does not come easy. Dreams will be wrought with fears, dark and personal. Ripped from memories and subconscious, seeping deeper and deeper into dreams that almost feel impossible to wake from. Sleep will be fitful, restless — and when woken, by someone else or bolted up and out on their own, the fears seem to linger. Some might experience sleep paralysis, frozen in their own personal nightmare. Either way, when they wake, it'll be like those nightmares were real. Like they might just whisper around in the dark. Not even those remaining in Beacon are safe from vivid, terrifying dreams -- and the effects will persist for the entirety of the event.

THE DESCENT.

The group arrives at the decrepit mines a few hours after the repairs are completed. There's an eerie silence as they approach, though some might have an uneasy feeling, like there's eyes on the group shrouded in the darkness. Based on a memory shared by a certain spirit, the group is able to get the elevator in Administration functional. It's a tight, claustrophobic experience, only 5 or so bodies at a time. The mechanics whirr, then chug, then creak overhead... and shortly after the group will make it to the mines proper.

As the group organizes itself, the group will quickly be able to notice they are in an observation deck above the mines, and they'll note that there are a few general areas they can explore. The dead tunnels are a closed off, depleted section of the mine. It's noted as dangerous, and it seems as if it had been walled off at some point... but the wall is demolished, allowing entry. There is a very limited crew quarters, a mechanics area, a storage and processing area, and of course, the open mine tunnel.

If your character is inclined to explore any of these areas, please see the comment here. Remember, characters are welcome to explore these areas in top levels — however, to find plot information, a character will have to do a mini-explore.

HUMAN NO MORE.

The group doesn't manage even a few hours of exploration before the worst happens. Spirits suddenly come crawling free of the demolished closed mine — bloodied, eviscerated, emaciated and incredibly feral. The spirits are completely unresponsive to attempts to communicate, and will rend and attack to kill anyone that gets close. Characters can attempt to incapacitate over kill, but they won't be able to talk them down or communicate in any way.

The group will likely sustain some injuries in the fight, but one of the feral spirits spots the active elevator and soon, there's a rush for the cramped escape route. The spirits tear through the top of the elevator and rush up the elevator shaft, cleaving the wires that make the device function. It won't be going anywhere any time soon. The group will need to find an alternative escape route... perhaps there's another way out waiting to be found.

LET THE DEVIL IN.

The spirits swarming in the mines (and escaped to the surface) seem to possess some of the abilities usually only seen in green eyed spirits. They can slip into the subconscious of characters, pull out ugly things better left buried. Fears will come alive unbidden, and there's no way to know they're not real. How this happens can be different for whoever experiences it. For some it's like a waking memory — for others it's completely inside their head and they're catatonic until they wake. It can be limited to a single character witnessing their ugliest fears, or it can drag everyone near them along into a tailor-made nightmare.

However it happens, characters will not sustain injuries from their fears, however, if they experience an injury in the nightmare they will have phantom pains left behind for the next week. That said, just because they can't be injured by the projections themselves, doesn't mean they're not in danger... because the spirits will take ample advantage of their impaired state, and attack. It seems they aren't even aware of the damage they're causing, only lashing out mindlessly and instinctively.

And since there are plenty of feral spirits that escaped to above ground, even characters in Beacon proper can still suffer the effects of fear share. They can be more limited if desired, or just as visceral and horrible as you'd like. However, characters above ground cannot apply for a mod-generated fear experience!

Character response to these spirits is important to the ending result of the event. If characters kill the feral spirits, or if they incapacitate and attempt to keep them contained, please indicate that in the toplevel here.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Cao Pi did not go to the mines. Someone needs to guard the town, and after the relatively breezy time they had down at Helix Station (proximity to dead World Eater notwithstanding) he came back feeling like the other shoe was about to drop. They don't need any more food, supplies, or lanterns falling to mischief, so one pair of swords is still in Beacon.

At the very end when the spirits begin to find the town and infect it with fear, he can be found standing with his back to the bonfire, staring at the remnants of the bluff where the lighthouse once was with a look of angry fear knitting his brows. No one else can see it unless they come close enough - an arm's breadth away and you might see the shimmer of mirage, a haze around the bluff, suggesting that there is something there. Stand there long enough and you can get an idea of what it is. Touch Cao Pi, even just brush his arm, and you'll be drawn into the shared nightmare:

There is a massive, eight-headed serpent monster sitting on the rocks, roaring a challenge to the skies, occasionally blasting something distant with a fireball from one or more sets of jaws. It's as if it will spot the Bonfire and come for it any second now.

Cao Pi is frozen where he is, though how much of it is fear and how much of it is uncertainty is hard to say. He has no idea how to handle this thing, now that it's here. If you haven't spotted it yet, come closer to hear him murmur.]

How did it get here...? Did the portal do this...?

Edited 2020-10-24 20:37 (UTC)

[Things are most assuredly not going well. And not simply because Kuai is fretting over those who went to the mine (which he will never admit under threat of torture), but the sense of impending dread that he's had since the return from the Helix Station has finally somewhat come to a head.

There's certainly something happening. He keeps just barely seeing something, and then it'll disappear as soon as he looks at it, until it doesn't. And then he's seeing all kinds of things he would rather not.

At least Cao Pi is a normal grounding presence.]

My lord, I would have thought you would go to the mine with those who have ventured forth.

[He has not spotted the monster yet.]

[though he keeps his eyes more or less fixed on the distant hallucination, Cao Pi rouses a little when he hears the voice. Ah, Kuai Liang, the steady presence...]

I have had my fill of narrow spaces for the time being. Even if the lights are on now, the corridors down under the water...

[he's not claustrophobic but everyone has their limits, and clunking around those metal hallways is definitely one of his.

But the grandmaster seems rather calm for HEY THERE'S A GIANT MONSTER HERE so...]

...but we are more in need of blades up here on the surface anyway, or will be shortly.

Ah. Of course.

[It makes sense, he'd already been in one dangerous unpredictable situation that had slim chances of succeeding. This was another.

Still unaware of giant monster he turns to look out towards where it is, the darkness engulfing everything in the distance. Just two guys being stoic and staring off into the distance pensively.]

Indeed. Splitting forces like this always carries a risk that one or the other will be overwhelmed. And we're bound to lose contact with the other group once they're underground. Poor timing should we need assistance.

[

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[<that's exactly it, never mind that one of said guys thinks he sees a ghost]

I don't mean them. I mean...that.

[he nods firmly just once, in the direction he's been staring. Like, come on, man, giant eight-headed snake! He knows Kuai is stoic but this is taking stoic a step too far]

[Sorry bro, he's not seeing it. And like hell is he gonna touch the Emperor randomly, instead he stares out at the darkness wondering what he's supposed to be looking at, vaguely confused expression on his face. ]

I'm not sure what you...

[Ah. Now that he's taken a step closer that sure is a giant snake monster! Well how about that. He backs up into a defensive stance immediately.]

What.. why couldn't I see that before?!

[Because eight headed serpents shouldn't just manifest in front of him at any time, but especially when only one of them could see it.]

[oh thank goodness, now he doesn't feel like he's completely out of his mind]

You do see it, then? Good. I have been watching it for a short while now, and no one else seems to have noticed that we are all about to be crushed. [a hesitant pause, very obvious] At least...it seems so. It hasn't moved from the cliff yet, I don't know if it knows there are people here.

[he hasn't quite yet entertained the idea that it might not be real but some corner of his mind is open to that possibility]

[He watches it with the same wariness. While that's definitely a big snake monster, and it certainly looks real, it also doesn't really seem to be doing anything.]

I couldn't until I stood right here.

[Experimentally he moves away again to see if it goes away, but no, now that he's aware of it, the monster persists.]

Perhaps it cannot see us in the dark, or doesn't realize the lanterns are attached to people. I've not seen a creature quite like this in my world, is it familiar to you?

[Well, that was truly one of the most terrifying experiences of his life. And he's still deeply worried about the fallout that could come from it. That plus the injury really means he ought to keep to himself for a while, let it blow over, let people's urgent questions simmer until they come up against some other catastrophe to worry about instead.

But he has questions of his own, especially after realizing everyone's fears had run rampant in the last week. How had people here fared? Had they heard yet about what had been encountered in the mines? If anyone needed to be caught up on those facts it's Cao Pi, and so he knocks on the man's door once he feels less like dying in a corner of his own room.]

We found the mines. Found what happened to the Hunt.

[unfortunately, Zihuan is also still sort of reeling from the effects, which might not be completely past anyway. His head comes up sharply at the knock, but Rosinante's deep voice is reassuring, even if what he might have to say with it won't be]

Enter. It's unlocked.

[he's at his makeshift desk, trying to distract himself by writing down everything he knows and has recently learned. It's all he's got when the poetry just won't come]

[He pauses a moment before pushing the door open and letting himself in, ducking as always just in case he somehow manages to scrape the doorframe with his head otherwise. He nods to Cao Pi in muted greeting as he closes the door behind him, then finds a seat against the wall for support. He's torn up enough, he needs it.]

Thank you. I thought you might like an update. We only got back recently. Things... took longer than expected. Although I hear it wasn't easy here, either?

[as much as Rosinante looks like hell, Cao Pi refrains from immediately grabbing his bottle of wine. It can't always help, plus...well, no glasses.]

I would like to hear your perspective, yes. Here it was... [ugh. wipes a hand down his face] ...mind over matter. Though I've been on constant guard for green-eyed spirits given the nature of our troubles. I can't imagine anything else would have caused it.

You're right.

[Sorry, give him a second, he needs like twenty cigarettes. But he'll settle for one, first. Once that's lit, he continues.]

Mines were full of them. Or spirits that were in some stage of transition, maybe. The people we met, the Wild Hunt - green-eyes got to them and were doing experiments like at the hospital. But this time I think they got farther with their goals. We found... pieces. Buckets. I recognized some of the remains.

[well that's just absolutely gross, thanks. He considers going to open a window but...nope can't risk spirit invaders]

Then, like the station, they're all dead.

[he wants to just leave it at a conclusion and move on to the next step, but might as well ask the worst, even if the answer adds to his nightmares]

I want to know everything, so we can be prepared, but I'll settle for the most important points. Valuable details that may determine our survival, so that we do not end up like them.

Of course. From what we found, it looks like there was an initial conflict. They were trapped in the mines when the flood caved in some of their tunnels, and although they must have dug the way out, there was infighting before that, so they might have been already reduced in strength and numbers when the spirits found them.

One of the green-eyes we ran into was larger than the rest. In charge of them, by how it acted. Even other green-eyes obeyed it. When we entered, we were trapped by a faulty elevator and I assume that was intentional on their part. So it's smart. It can plan. It escaped before we could kill it, but it was huge. Long limbs. Lots of eyes.

[Though, puzzlingly enough, one detail didn't make sense until in retrospect:]

For a while, it looked like it had many heads on long necks. Exactly like the monster that killed you, in fact.

[He saw that memory over a year ago now, but it was enough of a shock at the time to stay memorable.]

[for all his vaunted composure, there are rare times when Cao Pi completely loses a grip on it, and this is one of them. He startles and double-takes before he can stop himself]

The Hydra. Did you see it? No one else here did, the Grandmaster...

[Kuai helped him figure out that it was a hallucination in the end but now he's second guessing all of that.]

The thing...if it knows all of us that intimately, can read our minds and draw visions and memories out of them...

They've been doing it from the start, I think, we just weren't always aware of the cause. But thinking back, every time those sorts of horrors appeared... it must have been the green-eyes.

[It was about a year ago when they first saw how truly horrendous it could be, wasn't it? He remembers. He had just finished wishing Law a happy birthday across the vastness of space, and then found himself faced so vividly with scenes from his childhood he wishes he didn't remember so clearly. This is much the same, as have been so many times in between - the hospital included. He still hasn't told Law what they made him see there and he never intends to.]

They get in our heads, they read our memories, they display them to us and those around us. And the harder it got for us in the mines, the more we struggled and suffered, the faster and stronger it got. Like it was feeding on our reactions, somehow.

[So how do you stop a thing like that? There's no way to meditate, to empty one's mind and focus on breathing or silence if you're fighting just to stay alive.]

Edited 2020-10-31 02:09 (UTC)

[yes, that would make sense. A creature stronger than the others, already capable of drawing on his thoughts of the Hydra from miles away and displaying it to those in the mine. That's downright disastrous, in terms of its strength and capability. Zihuan sits forward in his rickety chair, steepling his fingers against his lips]

We have been forced to view it - them - as our enemy until now, because of what it can do. If we can somehow find a way to forge an alliance, to prevent them from using us...

[it's a fair thought but he huffs a cold, dread laugh, straightening back up]

Yes, let us work on forming an alliance with green-eyed spirits while also investigating the bombs and weapons effective against World Eaters and on top of that learn how to reverse the portals so things can leave this world. Why not? I'm sure we can just happily do all of it if we simply put our minds to it.

[SO. MUCH. SARCASM. His voice drips with sardonic darkness.]

An alliance...

[Likewise, he finds that utterly ridiculous if not for the exact same reason being implied. He focuses on the cigarette for a moment, then shakes his head.]

I don't think it's worth our time reasoning with a monster like that. Some things simply exist to cause us pain. We need to be aware that it's out there and ready to defend ourselves, but we can't focus on befriending something like that. Even if Diode could translate for it.

[If he's bitter, it's because he and Law and the rest barely made it out alive. He can picture Diode standing there, trying to talk to it, only to get eaten in one bite. Or worse, it would probably prefer drawing out the death slowly and tortuously to traumatize them all. After seeing the piles of limbs and flayed faces it's a little too easy to imagine.]

[on paper it would actually be a brilliant idea if they could get past their personal feelings. And if they had time. Well, Cao Pi wanted a strategic challenge, how about coming up with ways to prevent Mr. Eyes from interfering while they tackle World Eaters first? That'll stretch his brain.

He's quiet for a moment, mulling over the news and the whole idea of the horrors that went on underground]

They wanted death, it seems they got it. Well, some of them at least. It is likely some of the spirits you met down there would have been the Wild Hunt themselves, isn't it?

Yeah. That's exactly what I think happened, with how intentional it all looked. We know that when people die here - really die for good, I mean, when their lanterns go out - that they can come back as spirits. Or maybe they always do. But something Reiju found from one of them talked about the green-eyed spirits changing the people deliberately. I think... especially with the spirits that were sort of in between, I think it was trying to change them all into more green-eyes.

[Thank whatever higher powers there might be that it didn't succeed. The few green-eyed spirits they ran up against were bad enough. Always are. Imagine if the entire Wild Hunt had become those horrible things.]

I'm worried it might start trying to kidnap people. Or trap groups out exploring. Do the same to them.

Deliberately?

[DO NOT WANT]

Then...we shall have to take far more care with security and defense than we have been. It seemed good to let it go for a while, to assure the general spirit population that we want to work together, but if the green-eyes are genuinely out to get us, then that's just how it'll have to be.

No one died this time, did they? [he asks sort of as an afterthought]

[He knew that question was coming, but it's not a pleasant answer to have to give.]

Matt Murdock, and Elektra - we lost them at some point in the tunnels, trying to escape. I was hoping they made it out before us.

[But he'll admit the amount of hope he actually had was a pretty thin margin. They're lucky any of them made it out at all.]

If not, we'll have to go back in. Look for lanterns.

[oh, no. Not Matt. Zihuan's icy eyes darken and his brow actually knits at that news]

If we have no sign of them by a set time, let me know. I stayed back this time but I will join a search for their lanterns.

[they keep losing the smart and capable ones, if they can't replace the brain drain with the portal properly...no, it's more than just that. He's also unhappy to lose people he actually likes, since those are so few.]

We are in dire straits, are we not?

More and more dire with time. We've been struggling to bring in new people, too. I have to wonder if we're doing something wrong. It's not as easy as pushing a button.

[But maybe it's not their fault. Maybe it's the World Eater's presence, stopping people from coming to them. There's a black thought, for if souls are indeed real and if they have some other destination after death normally, but are being pulled toward Beacon by the portal only to be intercepted and devoured in some way...

Monstrous, but complete speculation and he won't damn them all for trying to get help.]

We should act. Get a plan put together before we lose so many people that we stand no chance at all.

EVENT LOG: A MONSTER'S HERE

Cao Pi | open

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post-escape

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