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

The sight of those red dots on black and the silent gesturing all click together at the same time and she lights up with recognition. "Hang on, Emoji Dude? Oh shit, good to see you without the mask and uh, not on fire? Sorry about that, my man." Said with a softly embarrassed laugh because yikes, actually. She manages to look a little contrite, ears folding back slightly, even if it had been for the sake of their great escape and he kinda stuck his leg into that fire of his own volition.

Which is why she recovers pretty quickly and gives him a warm smile. "Still not a man of many words, huh?" His implied question about the house goes unanswered, mostly because these ruins have been kind of a bust anyway.

[Brian hasn't laughed in earnest, in a way that isn't bitter or hollow or sharp, for a long time. He doesn't laugh with Lup, but he does smile, an easy slide of his mouth under fabric that surprises him a little. He shrugs, hoping it conveys that he holds no grudge. No one forced him to stick his leg into literal fire.

He shakes his head, and looking a little uncomfortable, taps his hand against his throat a couple times.]

No hard feelings then, nice. And a bit of a dopey smile even, aw. Sure, maybe he's some kind of psychopathic ax murderer, because who else wears a mask with a blood red frowny face just... around the place, as a permanent accessory apparently? But so far her instincts tell her he's pretty chill, and shoving her out of the way of a lethal falling cage isn't really an ax murderer's MO anyway.

When he clarifies that he doesn't have any words, and not by choice by the looks of it, her shoulders and ears drop a little in sudden sympathy. "Aw dunk, that sucks, I'm sorry. Listen, I don't have any paper on me right now, but once we're back on the surface you come by the store in the temple ruins and I'll hook you up, okay? On the house." Whatever she can do to help him communicate. She's... real fucking familiar with being unheard, and even now that she's corporeal and remembered and here, she still... gets locked in her own mind some nights. It's not great.

[He follows the way her ears drop with calculating eyes. It's kind of cool, how they're so expressive.

Her sympathy makes him a little uncomfortable, but Brian can at least tell it's genuine and not like... for the sake of trying to sound kind. He holds his hands out in front of himself and shakes his head in refusal, trying to insist that it's alright. He hates feeling like he owes anyone, and he has plans for his next storytelling, anyway. But, well- it's nice of her to offer.

Brian gives her a thumbs up. Thanks anyway.]

Man she'll never get the people here, declining free shit. It's weird, and kinda dumb, but also a bit endearing honestly? Oh well, all she can do is offer. Maybe he has a reason for not wanting to communicate that way. "Alright buddy, your call. We pretty much founded the island's economy, so if you ever need anything, we probably have it or can conjure it up for the right price." Gotta take every chance to plug the store, make sure Taako doesn't run out of shit to do.

"Hey did your backpack come with a nametag too? I'm Lup." She's grinning again, happy to get the chance to introduce themselves this time around. Emoji Dude's a pretty dope nickname, but a real handle might come in handy.

[He doesn't respond to that first bit (of course), but does file the info away for later. Brian's more agreeable to the idea of a fair trade. There are a few items laying around his place he could do with swapping for something more fucking useful to him.

Brian grins back and mouths her name, happy to have something to match up to the face- but then his expression drops and shutters, as he realizes what the name on his knapsack would be. Right. Of course.

He's already introduced himself as Brian to several people. It's the only name he has. Not a shared moniker, not a representation or a symbol. A real name. But at the same time- it's really not helping him to distance himself when he keeps using it like this. When the universe keeps shoving it back at him. Wordlessly, he holds out the nametag for Lup to see. What's it matter, at this point, when Tim was never going to call him something else anyway?]

Not much is visible of his face under the mask, but the shift from his mouth happily forming the shape of her name to twisting into a thin-lipped, glum line is pretty damn obvious. So there's some shit there she kinda stepped in, huh. Like he's got some reason to keep his face and name obscured, even in this plane. But he offers his name anyway and she reads it, files it away. Maybe she'll stick to an array of colorful nicknames instead. Not like that's a stretch for her.

"Cooool," she acknowledges it politely, noncommittally, and in a rare display of tact, doesn't dig further. Taako's probably getting goosebumps somewhere. "So this is pretty wild, huh? Creepy underground caves, abandoned civilization that frankly didn't even leave any good loot. Or is that just another Tuesday for wherever you're from?"

[It's a good move on Lup's part. He's more than happy to drop it; she can call him Emoji Dude as many times as she wants.

He lifts one hand and makes a sort of 'so-so' motion, mouth tilted to one side. It's not like this brand of weird shit is normal to him, but weird shit in general? Yeah, he was living it for a while there. Teleportation, real actual nightmarish monster(s), reality warping- basically, it hasn't taking him long to adjust.

Getting sick of conversational guesswork, he uses his crystal to draw in the dirt under their feet.]

different
bt still wild
you?

Edited 2018-01-06 12:11 (UTC)

October Event: Crystal Clear

then i'm doin it right

def

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject