October Event: Crystal Clear

[lifeaftr_mods]

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 )

Comments

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet giggles lightly, pleased to have lightened his mood a little.]

You're quite welcome, dearie.

[She nods in acknowledgment as he continues. Some work is never truly done, if you intend to do it properly. And Roy doesn't strike her as the type to half-ass things if he can avoid it.]

Technically, given that we're supposed to return to the same instant we left, you aren't missing anything at all. Although I confess that trying to figure out exactly how time works here as opposed to home gives me a bit of a headache.

[greatcleavage]

...I have to believe that. Even though we know it's true. Because otherwise I will not have a home to return to.

[Right back to heavy thoughts, though Roy is not exaggerating in the slightest when he says his absence would result in the world ending. Knowledge that continues to lurk in the back of his mind, though.]

Just assume our time here is perpendicular to the normal flow, though. That's probably the easiest way to mentally reconcile it.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet gives him a sympathetic look.]

If it helps, I do have anecdotal evidence that supports it.

There are apparently other places similar to this one, in that people from other worlds have wound up being taken there with no warning. I was speaking with one of our number who had experienced this prior to being brought here, and he mentioned someone I was familiar with from my own world having been there with him.

The woman in question is a public figure among my people, due to having previously held a high-level position that involved working directly for our king. She's not currently in any major office, but she's still well-known enough that if she'd gone missing for more than a day, everyone would have heard about it- and he indicated a time period of weeks, at least.

[greatcleavage]

That helps.

[It really does. Roy makes a mental note that he owes Muffet yet again. What she relates is no guarantee at all, but any evidence to support a heretofore unsupported belief is a huge relief. For now, she gets a very real smile out of him.]

Honestly, all of this makes perfect sense if this were just a demiplane. Naturally, the Storyteller insists it is not. I have to wonder, hypothetically, if we're trapped in an illusion or otherwise not dealing with reality directly.

[prettypurpleparlor]

Glad to hear it.

[She can't do much about all this, but she likes to help wherever she can.]

I'm not familiar with the concept of a 'demiplane', I'm afraid.

As for whether or not this is real, I don't know if we have any way to test that- although given that the Storyteller has repeatedly demonstrated the ability to interact with us inside shared dreams, I could plausibly see this being the result of some similar ability.

[greatcleavage]

Call it a pocket reality. [Roy generally didn't hesitate to describe the concept in far greater detail, but if it isn't applicable, why bother?]

[That's a sure sign he's tired and worn down, right there...]

I've been trapped in an illusion before, but it eventually proved inconsistent with plausibility over time because it was tailored to be ideal and thus not something the person trapped in would want to question. This... certainly isn't that.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet notes the unusual brevity, but politely doesn't push him for more details. Perhaps another time.]

That it isn't- even when it comes to plausibility, I suspect most of us spent a fair bit of time at the start trying to make sure that this wasn't some kind of bizarre dream or hallucination.

If just suspecting this place could make it all fall apart, it never would have lasted through the first day.

[greatcleavage]

The problem with doing so is that you have to really understand, on a gut level, that you are in an illusion. You can be suspicious on a rational level all you want, but that doesn't stop your body and mind from reacting as if the illusion is real.

From the perspective of the illusion I was trapped in, we went years before realizing.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She notices the distinction there, and asks:]

And from the perspective of the outside world, how long was it?

[greatcleavage]

We're not certain, but on the level of hours.

[prettypurpleparlor]

Well, that's frankly rather terrifying. My congratulations on your managing to escape.

[greatcleavage]

In any case, you can see why I'm still not certain about this place. But until it delivers something completely inconsistent with reality, we have to continue treating it as if it's true.

[prettypurpleparlor]

A fair point- although the question then becomes whose reality, exactly? Do we know of any one thing that would be impossible in all of our worlds, given all the differences between them?

[greatcleavage]

Well, for example, if my father's ghost appeared before us and admitted he was wrong about everything and respected my life choices, we would know this is an impossible reality.

Just an example, but the point being that such things are more likely to occur on a personal level than a global.

[prettypurpleparlor]

Hm, noted. I suppose if a certain self-centered former acquaintance were to offer me a polite apology for his conduct, I might want to be similarly concerned?

[Look, Muffet respects the right to be snippy about things from time to time. And Mettaton never did say sorry for anything...]

[greatcleavage]

Yep that's the sort of thing. If the impossible happens, well.

[Roy is completely okay with Muffet being snippy. Everyone deserves it, especially her.]

[greatcleavage]

I can't take the credit. [Roy shrugs off her congratulations as being irrelevant to him.] Point is, that fits our scenario pretty well.

You did two comments for some reason, so I'm just replying to this one?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[And this is why she appreciates you, Roy- although she suspects you give yourself too little credit.]

[Still, tempting as the idea is, now really isn't the time to bitch about her grudge against Mettaton.]

Honestly, trying to take illusions or other false realities into account just seems to get more and more complicated the more I attempt to consider it logically.

There's a certain point where you have to wonder what, if anything, constitutes valid proof of fact when dealing with a sufficiently powerful ability to deceive- take it far enough and the whole thing ends up somewhere around that one old philosopher's quote. "I think, therefore I am"... and by implication, I can't quite be sure of anything else.

[Muffet may not remember exactly who Descartes was, but she's still surprisingly well-read for someone who hadn't known much about human culture until a year ago. She was never one to pass up a potential advantage, and knowledge was so often useful.]

Notif failure. I THOUGHT it was weird...

[greatcleavage]

Honestly, I'd be happy to explain. Just depends on when you want me to explain.

[All things considered, they never seem to have the chance to just sit down and talk. Which is a shame, because Muffet seems like exactly the sort of person Roy would enjoy sitting down and talking to.]

Probably wrapping soon, anyway?

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She wouldn't mind chatting with him for a while, either- it's genuinely fascinating to hear about all the other worlds out there, the strange and foreign things that other people live with.]

I really am quite curious- and from a practical standpoint, a little more knowledge is rarely a bad thing to have. Though I suspect we shouldn't get too distracted, since there's still a fair bit of work to be done here.

Yeah soon they will die or something :D

[greatcleavage]

Yeah, I wouldn't want to miss a sigil while explaining cosmology to you. Maybe someday we'll have a moment to breathe.

Maybe someday the gods will come down from the sky, personally apologize to me for the inconvenience they've put me through, and go handle things their damn selves in a way that doesn't slay millions, too.

[Roy shrugs, and puts more attention into his search for markings on the walls once more. They have a lot of cave to cover.]

Wrapped unless you've got more to add.

[prettypurpleparlor]

From your lips to their ears, dearie...

[And on that wry note, Muffet returns to her search as well.]