lifeaftr | 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

[She watches carefully, one half keeping vigil for whatever might or might not have been in there once and one half waiting warily for anything to go wrong.]

[Eventually it's done. He's done, too, by the look of it.]

[Muffet closes her eyes for a moment and lets out a deep breath, a very small amount of the tension in her shoulders relaxing as the smashed remains fail to rear back up and attack them again. She lets the purple magic dissipate and looks over at Tim.]

How are you doing, dearie?

[Her tone makes it clear that she knows it's a bit of a stupid question, but sometimes even when the answer's obvious you still have to ask.]

[For several long moments there’s nothing but the ragged syncopation of his breathing and the tremor to his shoulders, the way he can hardly move to brush the worst of the moisture clinging to his cheeks away with the back of one hand.]

[He was always like this. It’s fine. He always had violent episodes, he was always dangerous, he was always a danger to himself and others and he knew that and it’s - it’s fine. He’s fine. He just took advantage of his own neurochemistry. High time he did that to himself, instead of another person’s soul living in his head.]

[How is he doing?]

...fine. I’m fine. [It’s automated and whispered, and he’s anything but.]

[Muffet gives him a flat look, clearly not convinced, but it would be unkind to call him out on the obvious lie.]

All right, then. There's a clear patch on the floor over there, if you want to sit down for a little bit.

[What the hell else is he supposed to say? No, I'm not really that fine, but just keep acting like everything's okay and maybe I'll get there in a minute? He's nowhere near that level of brainpower, to pull something like that out and just make it sound damn effortless in the process.]

[He tries to play it all close to the chest. Until it stops letting itself be held in.]

Just - just - it's gone. It's not moving? [Focus on something real. Something tangible.]

[Like the crystal maybe-illness that could possibly try to kill them all.]

[Honestly, faking it 'til you make it is probably not the least healthy coping mechanism he could have under the circumstances. Muffet certainly isn't going to judge.]

No, all the parts having stopped moving. It's just acting like the rest of the crystals on the floor and walls now.

...good.

[Good.]

[That's all the energy he has for, right now. He doesn't exactly take her suggestion, but one hand drifts out to cling to the walls, those mercifully bereft of crystalline growths, and he breathes.]

[Until, inevitably, he remembers he isn't alone.]

You should probably...go on ahead. I mean.

In a moment. I want to wait a little while, just to make sure it's not going to put itself back together.

[Maybe it's just an excuse to keep an eye on him, maybe she actually means that. Either way, it's not a bad idea.]

[Her gaze briefly catches on the hatchet, still lying on the floor of the cave. She walks over and picks it up carefully with one hand, then turns to Tim and holds it out handle-first.]

Ah, I think you dropped this...

Edited 2017-10-28 02:01 (UTC)

[It's obvious, sure, but at the moment, he doesn't have the brainpower necessary to care. It takes him several long seconds to draw the connection between the proffered axe and the words accompanying it, before finally he clasps it with his free hand.]

[He shouldn't drop his weapon. He should never drop his weapon.]

Thanks.

[Muffet hands the axe back without any apparent concern, politely not commenting on the brief moment of hesitance.]

You're welcome, dearie.

[She stands idly next to him, close enough to be present but not inside his personal space, and watches the shards. They'll leave soon enough, heading back with bad news to deliver... but just for a couple moments, they can watch and wait.]

[Just for a little piece of mind.]

October Event: Crystal Clear

Re: cw flashbacking

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Probably wrapping soon?

o7

Probably wrapped unless you want to add something.