January Undercurrent: Growing Pains

[lifeaftr_mods]

JANUARY UNDERCURRENT

Who: Everyone!
What: Hey bud, how's it growing?
When: January 3rd to January 20th
Where: Everywhere!
Warnings: This event has a potential for body horror and character death; please mark anything as it comes up!

A Notion Growing Inside Me

Those of you who weren't with us the last time Umui entered the archipelago didn't have to contend with the lethal illness known as the Overgrowth personally, but anyone who remembers it probably doesn't remember it fondly. Fortunately, this isn't quite the same strain of the illness that you had to contend with the last time. It's not unrelentingly and uncompromisingly fatal, for one! That's always nice.

For those that need a primer on the Overgrowth, it is best described as a sickness that overcomes you with floral growth both inside and outside your body that can only be cured by expressions of emotional honesty. Expressions of truths, affections, and admissions of things that you have hidden from yourselves or from others were critical in dispensing of the illness. These could be as simple as admissions of past sins or the revealing of secrets, or as grandiose and overt as confessions of guilt or love. That general idea will remain more or less the key means of curing this strain as well, though the stakes fortunately aren't as high this go around! Which is to say, if you fail to have any grand emotional epiphanies by the time this event ends, you aren't doomed to suffer a character death; symptoms will simply dissipate come January 20th.

So what's this sickness going to be like in this particular instance, then? We're so glad you asked! You can go the standard route, of course. Adventurers' first brush with the illness saw the following afflicted upon them:

[ ♆ ] Stage One: Germination. Initial symptoms involve fever, coughing fits, numbness to nerves and extremities, and general joint stiffness. Difficulty breathing or performing other basic functions will often occur. Fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and intense weakness or dizzy spells are also liable to occur as the flowers begin to harvest nutrients from the body. This will also generate extreme thirst and periods of intense nausea. Tremors and the sensation of something "itching" from inside are also common. The end of Stage One is usually marked by the act of vomiting or coughing up flower petals or spores, along with a not-insignificant amount of blood.

[ ♆ ] Stage Two: Budding. The floral growths spread more completely inside the body, and begin to grow on the skin or exterior. Difficulty performing basic functions will increase as, for example, airways become obstructed and flowers grow around joints and pinch them still. The site of affliction also yields rashes, blisters, and blood sores as the flowers sprout from the skin. The rate of vomiting or coughing up floral growths will increase dramatically. Flowers often bloom quickly, and very painfully. Numbness in affected areas will increase, oftentimes rendering parts of the body completely inert - a pair of legs claimed completely by blooms, for example, will no longer work.

This was followed by Stage Three: Bloom, which resulted in character death. However, this strain will not advance to this style of Stage Three. All symptoms will disperse by the time Umui resurfaces.

This strain is also rather more erratic, which can make emotional repression more of an inconvenience than a horrifying circumstance. For those who would rather not play around with intense sickness (or who have already endured this once before), you have the option to go that route if you like! With this variant of the Overgrowth, one can become, for example, so embarrassed that they hiccup up a flower. A vicious denial of their feelings may cause them to spontaneously erupt into a rash of dandelion puffballs, seemingly immediately. You might end up walking around with a bouquet for an arm for a few hours. Perhaps mortifying, but certainly not fatal! Isn't that nice?

Unless, of course, you want it to be...

I Can't Fight It Much Longer

Now, while the Bloom Stage isn't present in this strain, it has mutated its progression into a rather nasty end stage. Those of you who succumb a little too readily to this illness, who don't fight off the emotional repression quickly, who don't admit those difficult truths to yourself or confess to whatever you're bottling up, you'll be faced with a potentially horrifying transformation. Potentially, because it is your choice whether or not you see fit to commit your character to that fate - as stated above, this option might simply skip over your character entirely, and the worst they'll have to deal with are cartoonishly over-the-top effects that disperse in due time.

But maybe not all of you will be so lucky. Some of you might discover for yourselves how this particular variant of the Overgrowth has mutated.

We call this mutation Stage Three: Outbreak. In this final Stage, those beautiful blooms wither and harden into a fungus-like carapace as the illness grows into the victim's brain and shuts down virtually all higher functions. This can sometimes render them almost wholly recognizable, but not always - oftentimes, it's very obvious who this person once was. The victim is reduced to a carrier of the virus, which causes them to act the way you'd expect most viruses to act: becoming intent on spreading. Advanced brain functions such as speech, rational thought, and so on tend to shut off and become wholly inaccessible.

Now that the victim's body is no longer fighting the Overgrowth, the illness lends them increased speed, strength, and durability, making them dangerous foes indeed. They will usually seek to infect others by whatever means necessary - usually via biting or exuding breathable spores - but in some cases, they will simply reduce to base instincts, and just outright attempt to attack and kill whoever is closest.

Unfortunately, at this point, there is no hope of a cure; it's hard to make someone be emotionally honest when they're capable of little more than blunt, animal instinct. At this point, you can either wait for the Stage Three symptoms to disperse come Umui's return, or take manners into your own hands. You can probably guess what that might entail.

If you decide to put your Overgrown friends out of their misery, this will count as a character death. If it comes to that, be sure to let us know on the Deaths page! Death penalties, however, will not be reduced for this event.

Try to Get Through It

Of course, there's a lot going on in the background as well. You're free to use this log as a catch-all for the duration of January's Undercurrent Event, as well as any of the other minor events listed on our Monthly Rundown post. And, of course, you are always free to create your own individual logs and posts as needed.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them over on the Questions header on our Rundown post!

January Timeline

[ ♆ ] January 1st: "This Sucks" begins and lasts until January 10th
[ ♆ ] January 3rd: "Growing Pains" begins and lasts until January 20th
[ ♆ ] January 11th: "No Water is Safe" begins and lasts until January 19th
[ ♆ ] January 20th: Umui returns to the archipelago
[ ♆ ] January 21st: "Impawsible Geometries" begins and lasts until January 31st

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[forwearemany]

(It is with immense relief that they see their ally managing to struggle across.

Shortly after the Drifter emerges, Legion follows, and immediately goes over to check if they're alright.)

Drifter.

[hyperlit]

[They're on their hands and knees, more or less, spitting blood and petals to the ground. Clots of whitish floral matter gummed up with their pink blood splat wetly to the ground. The Drifter shivers.]

KEEP MOVING

[Regardless of whether or not it's still behind them, and they assume it must be, this is hardly a good place to stop.]

[forwearemany]

We are not in danger.

(Even if it were still there, the Drifter's enemy never progressed to the point of attacking them.

They wait for the Drifter to recover.)

[hyperlit]

[The Drifter doubts that very much, which is why they're on their feet and sprinting forward again once more. The ice has shifted to searing heat. It's an environmental shift that does very little to ease their mood.]

[Speeding over desecrated landscapes is not what they would call a terribly scenic route, and is little more than a bitter reminder of what destruction could still shatter this world, if their vision was a reality.]

[forwearemany]

(For the moment they simply follow.

The Drifter is, to some degree, safe. The landscape is extremely hazardous, but their fears will no longer come alive to hunt them down.

Already, Legion is beginning to feel more at ease, a familiar presence hovering at the edges of their senses.)

[hyperlit]

[At several points, they wrench around to ensure that Judgment is not following. And, sure enough, it is not. That is...unlike it.]

[Is it?]

[No, actually. Not exactly. It has been known to bide its time, as needed. It has not finished them at every chance. Sometimes, often even, it has drawn things out. This confirms nothing.]

[They cough slightly.]

keep going

[But the Drifter stops.]

[forwearemany]

(They watch, as the Drifter continues to look behind them. To be afraid.

What is it that they saw?

When their ally stops, Legion stops as well.)

Drifter, when you crossed the river, the subject of your fears ceased to exist. It was a temporary construction of the local magic.

(It will, temporarily, exist again when they eventually have to cross back over. But for now, it is gone.)

[hyperlit]

perhaps
perhaps not

[That isn't enough for them. If there is even an infinitesimal risk that this is not the case, they will have to do something about it. They stand, adjust their cowl. Blood dots the ground beneath their feet - blackish and veined with magma. Unlike very few things.]

keep going

[forwearemany]

You will join us?

(They suspect the answer is no. In which case, their answer is also no.)

[hyperlit]

no

[The heat is, gradually, warming and drying their cloak. They're already shedding it to exchange it for another - this one blueish and almost feathery in texture.]

[forwearemany]

Then we will not.

(They're not going to just stand by and let the Drifter destroy themself fighting an enemy that isn't even truly real.)

[hyperlit]

do not get in the way again

[Their look is curt.]

not your concern

[forwearemany]

(They stare directly at the Drifter. Their expression is never easy to read, but defiance is, in some ways, intrinsic to their nature.)

Negative. You are our ally.

(This is their concern, actually.)

[hyperlit]

got in the way

[The Drifter yanks the cloak on the rest of the way and straightens, their eyes narrowed.]

interfered
not the behavior of an ally
behavior of an obstruction

[forwearemany]

Saved you. The enemy you saw is a manifestation of your fears, but it is still capable of destroying you.

(They are not backing down.)

[hyperlit]

unconfirmed

[How, exactly, is that different from how Judgment behaves normally?]

[It isn't.]

this is its standard behavior

[forwearemany]

All data points to this conclusion. This has also occurred with our feared enemy, who does not behave in this manner.

(They chatter.)

She nearly destroyed us.

(They know, however, that this is unlikely to convince the Drifter: they have already stated it before.)

Is there evidence the Drifter would not dispute?

[hyperlit]

does not matter
cannot take the risk

[If it is real, if there is even the slightest chance that it is real - they will all suffer for it. This world will burn.]

[And they will not risk that.]

[forwearemany]

(They chatter.)

Why?

[hyperlit]

if it is real
it will destroy it all
it will devour the world

this cannot happen

[forwearemany]

(They chatter.)

If such a threat were present, it seems likely it would be recognized by the local gods.

[hyperlit]

gods could not stop it

[Gods could only guide others to stop it.]

[forwearemany]

You misunderstand: we do not speak of stopping it.

We wish to confirm whether it does or does not exist.

(They could just ... ask the gods.)

[hyperlit]

if you wish to
then do so

[That can be their job. The Drifter has another, and they are more suited to it.]

[forwearemany]

Our desire is to prevent your death.