lifeaftr | October Event: Crystal Clear

Entry tags:

October Event: Crystal Clear

OCTOBER EVENT: CRYSTAL CLEAR

Who: Everyone!
What: Your exploration takes a turn.
When: October 20th - 26th
Where: The caverns situated underneath Ensō
Warnings: Character death, body horror, descriptions of illness. Please mark any additional warnings as needed!

Part I: Attack, Attack!
Congratulations! You've successfully gone where no Storyteller has gone or can go, and woken up in the network of subterranean caves buried beneath the island's mass, along with your designated supplies: a miner's cap, a week's worth of food, and both your knapsacks and their collective contents. And the further along you go, the vaster and more sprawling these almost labyrinthian tunnels seem to get. There’s certainly evidence that civilization once thrived here - old buildings hewed from the rock of the cave walls may very well contain old tools, or even salvageable supplies. Careful examination of structures and cavern walls alike will reveal sigils resembling those carved on the doors, each of which will need to be destroyed entirely at the Storyteller's behest. Whatever was down here was advanced enough to dwell without sunlight. But that raises a rather pertinent question...

If there were once people here, where did they all go?

Fortunately, one will soon discover that there's plenty of natural light underground, exhibited by the crystalline growths on the walls. None of them appear to be dangerous, and those attracted to shiny things might even find them useful for picking up or chipping away in order to better light their way. The crystal has about the thickness and hardness of quartz, and bathes its surroundings in a luminous green glow.

The closer you come to the center of the mass, however, the denser the crystalline growths seem to become, until one has to be quite ingenious in navigating them. Eventually, they'll simply be too dense to be squeezed through, even by the smallest and most agile of your number.

That’s when they it will start to become apparent.

Something in the crystal is moving.

Huge chunks of crystal are starting to detach from the center and move slowly, inexorably, toward those unfortunate enough to have explored the caverns. Unmistakably humanoid silhouettes, distorted by awful crystalline growths, most of which have completely swallowed any recognizable features.

...most.

The good news is that the creatures can be shattered, and beaten back. The bad news? Well...

Part II: Retreat, Retreat!
Those who get close enough to the crystalized beasts to get a good look at them will soon make a horrifying discovery - the fact that, underneath those thick layers of luminescent quartz, there was once something that might have been recognizable as human. These quartz monsters aren't native to this region, or indeed, to any region of the island at all. They were formed.

Formed out of the very crystal that you explorers have been touching, picking up, sleeping on, and just generally remaining in prolonged contact with ever since you set foot down here.

Indeed, anyone who has been in contact with the crystal for extended periods of time - sleeping on it or getting dealt a swipe from one of the crystalized monsters, for example - will find that tiny, quartz-like growths have started to sprout on their skin as well. Once the virus has taken root, it will spread rapidly until it has swallowed you whole. Indeed, the unpleasant symptoms will reveal themselves within twenty-four hours of the initial exposure: in addition to clusters of crystalline growths pocking the affected areas, the inflicted will begin to experience intense stabbing pains all over as the crystal begins to grow - both inside and out.

The transformation is slow and arduous and painful, and vocalization tends to be one of the first things to go once the crystals sprout in the mouth and throat. Within the span of about three days since the initial exposure, the transformation will have sheathed most of the physical body in crystal entirely, sealing the victim in a humanoid cast of glasslike green.

It has not been confirmed if the inflicted are sentient and aware of their state of being once they are completely consumed. Whatever their intentions, those are easily overridden by the virus's innate desire to spread to as many organisms as possible.

As this is an event with a high risk of death, the Storyteller will impose death penalties for one week only. Additionally, deaths succumbed during the event count towards the character's total. There is no known cure to the virus, but that doesn't mean characters can't or shouldn't try!

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] October 20th: Spelunking begins. Points of interest will be provided.
[ ♆ ] October 22nd: The Quartzalcoatl make their presence known.
[ ♆ ] October 24th: The final sigils are broken, and the Storyteller will return all uninfected to the Islets.
[ ♆ ] October 26th: All deceased will be returned at midday, suffering from a reduced death penalty.

Event Specifics

[ ♆ ] If your character perishes in this event, please let us know!
[ ♆ ] For those who opted out, please see the top-level below!
[ ♆ ] Item claims can be found on the OOC plotting post here!

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oct 22nd; Retreat [closed to Tim]

[When trouble goes down, Chip wastes no time in turning tail and fleeing. Whatever those crystal things were, whatever made them, Chip could see the hollowed-out place where a soul had once been. Being firced to come down and break a bunch of sigils had been one thing, but if something down here could do that, they wanted no part of it. Stumbling and puffing hard, they run at breakneck speed through the tunnels trying to remember which one led up to the surface.]

[But, of course, they trip on a rock and eat dirt. They can hear the--the things still behind them, and Chip immediately starts scrambling to get to their feet.]

Oct 23rd; Safety [OTA]

[The way out is still blocked. Some people have been spirited back out of this trap, but so many are still here--Chip can't help but wonder if it's a show of favoritism or just sheer bad luck. But either way they're here now, and if they're here they should at least try to be useful.]

[Chip, however, isn't the greatest with social graces, so they hover near anyone busying themself with making bandages, tending a cooking fire, or really working on anything at all in an awkward silence, glancing away and back again as if trying to work themself up to do or say something. They're not exactly in the way, but...well, it's a bit awkward being watched, isn't it?]

[His heart skips in his chest, a static tear-and-thump of the overworked muscle straining in its cavity at the sight of them - a child sprawled untidily across the grit and gravel, trying to clamor upright in time to get the hell out of the warpath of the crystalline monstrosities looming up behind them.]

[His lungs hate him just a little bit more for the way he breaks into a sprint. The tickle in his throat and the ragged quality of his breath is a firm indicator that he's going to regret this, he knows, he knows.]

[He knows. He just - doesn't care.]

[His shoes skid and slip over the dirt underfoot, the traction all but eaten away by too many months of dashing over Castle flagstones and too many months of trekking over dirt and mud and sand. It aches, straining to speak over the overpowering urge to devolve into hoarse hack-coughing. He almost doesn't manage it.]

C'mon. We g-gotta - [And there he goes, his respiratory system finally giving up its long and painful struggle. He still extends a hand regardless with the clear intention that they take it.]

[Were they anywhere else, Chip would have balked at the offer. Run off on their own, in another direction, not trusting the man they only barely knew to really have their best interest at heart. No one ever did, no one, and even when one rare person came around that might care they were always whisked away again.]

[But these aren't the familiar streets of home. There's no alleys to dart into, no swarms of students going up and down the street to lose someone in. Here they're lost, trapped and horribly alone, with monstrosities they can barely understand ready to trap them in that crystal mass until their soul is a rotten, barren void. So when Tim holds out his hand they grab for it desperately, pushing themself up and forward and hauling him into a start once again.]

[His fingertips snap around their wrist when their tiny grip closes over his, and they might be small but they've got enough of a dug-heel desperation to galvanize him into more continuous motion. He can't speak for the sheer, venomous hell of his lungs, the pressure clamped around his chest, but right now, he's got one priority - and that priority is getting this kid out.]

[The clamor around and behind them doesn't make it easy, but he's still got a little oil left in his lamp. He clicks it on, waving it like the world's most unwieldy flashlight, sweeping the weak beam back and forth. He stops only to huff into the crook of his elbow.]

This way. We're gonna get you outta here, okay?

[Chip glances behind them both, paranoid of the grinding sounds and ominous crunch of crystal on stone. The sounds echo so much in here, they can't tell if the things are far behind or just about to come up upon them. The light from the lamp is a relief, but only a faint one.]

H-how? The Storyteller--they left the doors closed! We can't get out!

Then we'll knock on the doors until they stop being closed.

[He's gonna throttle that goddamn bunny for this. He will - he's gonna rip them a fucking new one.]

We'll dig our way out. I don't care. No one else is dying down here. [His jaw tightens, his expression locking into something briefly pained.] No kids are dying down here.

[No more kids.]

[Chip is pretty sure a being that powerful isn't going to open a door just because someone is banging on it--certainly not someone like them, black and ugly and something the world would be well rid of.]

I...

[Is this their fault? Were they supposed to be the one found by those things, gotten rid of without anyone else in danger?]

I'm sorry...

Chip Abaroa | OTA

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

23

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

oct 23

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

23rd

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject