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apocalypsehowcomm2023-10-16 07:43 am
Event - Ghosted
Much of Gloucester is in recovery mode. After the inexplicable damage wrought on homes, businesses, and the rail lines that run through town. The locals are ready for things to settle down. There are whispers in the streets of spirits roaming the streets of Gloucester at night. Some blame these ghosts for the destruction. Others seem to think there's a more 'sensible' explanation: gangs.
The young hooligans of Gloucester are being targeted by the older folk as scapegoats for the city's problems. If you're someone under or around the age of 20, be wary. You may just be fingered for the next thing that goes wrong in this city… whether you're actually responsible or not.
(cw: ghosts; body horror related to physically wasting away)
The ghosts that walked the streets of Gloucester at the start of the month have since faded away, those voices from the past fallen back into silence as the ghost sightings tapered out a little over a week ago now. What prompted their appearance and what put them back to rest (assuming it's rest to which they've gone) remains unclear, but it seems Gloucester's ghostly guests aren't sticking around for Halloween.
Of course, the citizens of Gloucester won't get off that easily. Mid-month, stories of ghost sightings return with a vengeance, though the specifics have shifted. At first it sounds like another case of copycat pranksters, though one would think the teens of Gloucester would have learned their lesson by now. It's a bit stereotypical, really–instead of a gaggle of ghostly individuals in old-timey clothing, it seems now the sightings are all of ghosts (or perhaps a singular ghost?), always with a gaunt face and skeletal hands that reach and claw at the ghost's victim, snatching at clothing and leaving a bone-deep chill wherever they touch.
Still, it merits investigation–and a few factors soon become clear. A handful of ADI agents are able to confirm actual sightings, though fleeting. Once the research teams begin plotting known sightings on a map of Gloucester, the data points to a concentration of encounters between the city's historic downtown…and ADI headquarters. Never, though, does this ghost appear within ADI property; whatever protection ADI's connection to the Hunt provides appears to be holding strong and keeping this particular apparition at bay.
As the month of October nears its end, though, encounters with the ghost seem to concentrate more and more on the outskirts of ADI property. It's as though the ghost (ghosts?) is actively selecting people associated with ADI for its attacks, appearing out of nowhere to corner anyone who steps far enough off property for the Hunt's protection to fail them. It doesn't seem, though, to particularly target people walking alone–groups are just as likely to have a run-in with the specter as lone individuals.
And then one day, whether because you've sought the apparition out or because you're simply unlucky, it's your turn. A ghost appears suddenly beside you, or even directly in your path. Panic, run, and you'll be left with no more information than others have already reported, the ghost disappearing rather than pursuing. Gird your loins and stand your ground, and there are more details to be gleaned. His eyes are wide and haunted, his face and body gaunt. He's not actually skeletal, if one looks close enough, but it's easy enough to see how one might come away with that impression on a fleeting, terrified glance. He's dressed in modern clothing, nondescript t-shirt and jeans hanging off him, and he looks simultaneously exhausted and desperate. He's not entirely present, not entirely solid, but he reaches for you with those bony hands and a deep, intense earnestness in those bloodshot eyes. His voice seems to come from so, so far away, half the words lost on the wind.
"Listen–listen to me! …….coming! It's coming!"
His touch brings the chill of the grave…but his voice seems to carry a dire message.
(cw: illness, fake children in distress, potential for fever-induced hallucinations)
A kind heart is a powerful thing. It can lead to helping others or sympathizing with those scared or in pain. Perhaps that’s why you feel a small hand press into your own. Whether you’re shopping or waiting to cross the street or simply standing in one place for too long, you might just feel the insistent press of someone choosing you for help
There, at your side, stands a child. The gender and appearance differ from person to person, but a couple things stay the same: the red-rimmed and wide eyes peering back up at you. The sniffle to their nose they try to fight, and the little voice that pleads to you: “Please..I’m lost. Can you help me? I…don’t know where I am.”
They tell you their mother was only just there, looking in the window of a shop. The child looked away and then their mother was gone! Please, won’t you help them…?
It only takes a moment to look away, maybe find this missing mother or anyone else who might be seeing this child, but in the next moment you blink, they’re gone again. In their wake, they leave a red and veiny spot in the center of your palm. The fever comes quick after, chills wracking your form before the day is out. Sneezing, coughing, trouble breathing, and these bright red veins that traverse your form, regardless of what form you might have. Organic or inorganic. Symptoms can range and how long they last and how severe they are seems to differ from person to person. Perhaps you’re one of the unlucky few that never quite shakes those chills or the pronounced veins or the cough. Still, in the deepest hours of the night when the chills and the fever wrack your body and set your mind aflame and vision filled with things that are not there….at least once, you might just wake to see a small hand gently petting at your brow, willing you to simply…give in. You must be so tired, after all.
(cw: theft, puppets, derealization, dehumanization, potential limb loss, uncanny valley, supernatural compulsions)
There's a chill wind blowing through Gloucester, and it brings a final burst of pollen for the season that spirals throughout the city, creating swirls of gold, red, green, a whole kaleidoscope of colors. It lights the air with a pleasant (if sneeze-inducing) scent. The arrival of this pollen also seems to coincide with the disappearances of various Halloween decorations. At least… some decorations, specifically those with a humanoid appearance.
Halloween planning, itself, is in full swing throughout the city. While much of the month (and those preceding) have been a bit miserable, at least some seem to be trying to capitalize on the 'mysterious and haunting charm' of Gloucester.
The decoration thieves swiftly make themselves known, for good or ill, in the form of social media posts that start to go up and… street performers? Questionable street performers. It seems the ventriloquism craze that struck TikTok back in July has finally made its way to Gloucester. People are snatching anything and everything they can find to use as a medium for talking through,a nd that includes all of the holiday tat they find around.
It's a bit… strange, really. Those who have spent any significant time outside, who have watched the pollen spinning through the air may find themselves having a harder and harder time talking directly to others. But if one were to use a puppet… that skeleton over in someone's yard, perhaps? Or the little doll outside a store? Maybe even your hand if you're very desperate?
You need that intermediary, though. To have eyes focus on the friend you have with you. The friend that, as time goes on, you find yourself giving more and more personality until it seems to be a wholly separate entity of its own, talking for you, around you, over you to others. And those others may even start to see that puppet as more of a person than you. What are you, after all? Just the one propping up the real person here.
Maybe it would be best to get rid of your puppet before things go too far, but that's your friend, isn't it? And what are you supposed to do if it's your own hand?
Perhaps it's time to get creative! And to consider what you're willing to lose in order to maintain the person you think you are.
- GENERAL - Players are welcome to play background NPCs for themselves when they are needed in a thread. If you need more information on general behavior for these types of NPCs, please feel free to ask! In general, the information provided in the prompts should be sufficient and ordinary people will act like… ordinary people! You're welcome to make up any details for your specific scene. Also, please remember that character deaths are permanent (unless you are using this as an opportunity to shift to an Entity alignment) and plan accordingly!
- THINGS GONE A-RYE (16-31 October) - This prompt is open for NPC interactions with the "ghost," Bryn Fletcher. The apparition is extremely cold to the touch, and if touched by him the sensation of cold where one made contact lingers for at least an hour, and up to three days. Repeated physical contact will compound this effect. Characters who are able to identify and address Bryn by name, or who met him previously, will have an advantage in terms of getting his apparition to linger and solidify long enough to carry on a conversation. Characters may make multiple attempts at contact if they are not initially able to get Bryn to appear long enough to deliver his message; multiple attempts may or may not meet with more success.
- TAKEN ILL (23-27 October) - The details of the children and what answers they might give characters is entirely player-decided! They won’t be exceedingly helpful, but they might offer their name or even a direction where they last saw their parent, but as soon as characters look away, the hand in theirs will vanish along with the child. Some of them might be picked out in old news editorials, especially those about sicknesses that wracked the area, but none of the children seem especially identifiable. For some, once they’re well enough to look into it, they might find the details are gone entirely from their mind.
The symptoms, as well, can be entirely player-decided, complete with losing a sense, or numbness, or even festering and bedsores. Anything else that might come with a really bad cold or the flu is fair game. How long these symptoms last are also up to players, though the children will only be around for a little while, anyone who ‘gives in’ might find themselves very close to death if not giving into it entirely.
- STRANGE COMMUNICATIONS (20-31 October) - The progression from just talking through the puppet to it developing a whole separate personality that people start to recognize more than you will take place over a minimum of 48 hours, but can take longer. Stopping the effect is as simple as getting rid of the puppet, but characters will find themselves very attached to their new 'friends,' and communication as themselves very challenging until sometime toward the end of October.
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