apocalypsehowcomm | Event

Entry tags:

Event - For Sport

For Sport

➥ Breaking It In

(cw: mentions of apparent mutilation of/violence against animals and animal death)

The conference room on the upper floors of ADI HQ is bright, airy, perhaps unnaturally so for the grim tidings that bring people here today. Those who have recently arrived will be ushered to the meeting by ADI employees or by Bonnie. It's not just the newest arrivals, but some other people who seem to be longer-term employees. The room is rather large and arranged like a lecture hall. Bonnie takes up a seat near the back, looking somewhat uncomfortable, but smiling at anyone who greets her.

At 9 AM sharp, a person steps into the room and heads to the front. They have curly hair and are wearing a gray business suit with a dark blue bow-tie. When they address the group at large, they speak in a calm, measured tone. "Good morning. I appreciate some of you may be here more reluctantly than others, but… there are matters of import to all of us to discuss. Some of you may have seen me already. I am Reyes Amador, assistant to Ms. Lehrer, the head of ADI. Earlier this week I sent out a message regarding some unusual activity at Coffin Beach. Thank you to those who investigated."

Their eyes seem to find the people who did, in fact, go looking, whether they found something or not.

"We have determined the creatures are shape-shifters. Some sort of, em... horse thing. In lieu of a term they might give themselves, we are referring to them as kelpies. Given the locations these were found, as well as other information into disappearances and deaths and mutilations of sea mammals in the area, we believe the kelpies are coming from the Essex Bay area to the north.

"For those willing to assist, we are mounting a reconnaissance mission. This is not intended to engage kelpies, just to find out where they are and how we might best approach an attack. All supplies, transportation, and monetary compensation will be provided. We will meet at ADI HQ in main lobby at 6 PM three days from now. Essex Bay is a remote site and conservation area, accessible only by boat, and not without a scientific permit. As you may guess, we will be traveling under cover of nightfall." Reyes smiles.

"I will be accepting questions about further details. I understand this is the first mission away for many of you, and you may have concerns. I will do my best to allay them. Bonnie also has some experience in these missions, if you would like first-hand accounts. Please also feel free to discuss amongst yourselves if this is a mission you think you are ready for. You will not be required to attend, nor penalized in any way if you do not. There is additional work to be done here, both with continuing examinations of the bodies we have and other efforts unrelated."

➥ Move the Goalposts

(cw: kidnapping, violence, sadism)

It happens away from the safety of ADI HQ one evening or so early in the morning, it's still dark, away from the potential for help, maybe. One moment, you (and possibly someone you're with) are walking, and the next, you will find someone has grabbed you and slammed you into the nearest surface. For those unable to fight back, a cloth will be held to their noses and mouths--chloroform, something to knock them out. For those able to fight or even to escape thanks to not actually being corporeal, they'll find that it is a trio of people who have attacked them. They wear jagged smiles and they're all much too sharp around the edges beneath their clothes. Those who saw the kelpies at Coffin Beach may recognize these people as something like them.

"Run, rabbit, run," one of the group says, voice rolling out like a gurgling tide.

Those who run will be chased and, if caught, chloroformed. Perhaps you're lucky, though. Perhaps you can race them back to safety. Or perhaps you'll find help along the way to protect you. Either way, the kelpies are relentless in their pursuit unless one of their number is injured or their prey can make it to ADI. The kelpies seem reluctant to actually enter ADI HQ or their housing, and will break off pursuit there, slinking back to the shadows.

➥ Curveball

(cw: kidnapping, violence/violence and mutilation against apparent animals, sadism, body horror, transformation, potential for claustrophobia)

For those unlucky enough to be caught, they'll find themselves waking amongst mud and bodies. Living, breathing bodies, thankfully. You have been tied up, but not gagged, and left with a group of other captives. A nearby fire casts light over everything, showing a large group of naked people with long, scraggly hair hauling a seal up out of the water. The animal fights them with a cunning that might seem odd, but the kelpies just laugh at it. They get it up near the fire, one raises a knife, and stabs into the seal, dragging the blade down its belly.

The seal bellows and then goes limp, seeming to collapse in on itself. It isn't long before a woman is drawn from the skin, shaking, fighting, wild-eyed with terror as her captors shove her around the fire in their own game. A few others turn their attention to the captives who are just beginning to wake and move about. They approach, one grabbing the skin the woman had come out of, others grabbing more skins from a nearby pile.

"Hush, hush... you'll have your freedom soon... while you can swim." The words come just before the kelpie slices your bonds and throws the skin over you.

The skin grapples your body, twisting tight around you, encasing and restraining. Your body is different now, thick and round, ungainly in the mud. Your legs have fused together and your arms have shrunk to thin flippers. This is not your body, you can feel how foreign it is, how you're crammed into the too-small confines of it... but you have instincts to go with it. Water is freedom! Or it's an attempt at freedom. It's either swim for your lives as some mockery of a selkie or stay and see how it feels to be cut open. Luckily for you, you'll find yourself psychically linked to the other selkies around you. Maybe you can do something together? Best think fast because the kelpies are setting their sights on new prey to chase once they've finished with their latest victim.

➥ Below the Belt

(cw: violence/violence and mutilation against apparent animals, body horror, gore)

The journey to Essex Bay isn't a long one, but it's somewhat treacherous as a small group of powerboats make their way into the refuge. The mission is simple: find where the kelpies are and see if there are any strategic points of-

Was that a seal? There are, in fact, many seals that pop up once boats enter the bay. The animals might seem to have an unusual cunning about them. Will they lead you somewhere useful? Perhaps try to flop themselves into your boats? The point is, there are seals accosting you in the middle of the night, and that's weird. Perhaps they have something they want to communicate.

Or was that a horse? A crocodile? There's something that seems to have noticed you, and it's smart enough that it's going to try to tip you and anyone else in your boat into the water rather than trying to engage otherwise. Sit down, you'll rock the boat.

➥ Sticky Wicket

(cw: potential for severe burns/injury, pain)

ADI is engaged in far more than one mission at a time, and for those not dealing with Essex Bay, or even before that, there are pick-ups to handle. Artifacts, you've been told as you're paired with someone else, whether you like it or not. The mission is simple: go to the Docks, collect a package from a locker there, and return with it to ADI. You've been provided an exact location and a code for the combination lock. The section of the Docks you've entered seems to be one with a lot of empty warehouses covered in graffiti, but the locker is there, something heavily reinforced and designed to be virtually impossible to get into. There's evidence that people have tried to gain entry without success.

Your code works, though, and you have your prize! You've been given strict instructions not to open the box the artifact is in… but there's nothing technically stopping you now, and there is a strange pull toward it.

Those who can't help themselves will find they have just picked up… some piece of sports gear! It looks wholly innocuous. Touch even a finger to it, though, and a horrific, searing pain will consume your entire body as 3rd-degree burns bloom across the skin where you've touched your artifact.

Or maybe you have a will of iron and sense enough not to touch strange, supernatural objects. What should be an easy mission is quickly derailed by some young punk darting out of an alleyway to try to steal your package. Or, at the very least, knock it from your hands. The youth is not alone, either. You've found yourself on someone's 'turf,' and they want what you've got. Are you cruel enough to let them have it?

➥ Mod Notes

BREAKING IT IN (21 July): Both Reyes and Bonnie will be available to answer questions that characters might have or listen to their complaints. Please put "NPC Requested" somewhere in your top-level response if you would like a mod response. For characters who can access their supernatural abilities and have some measure of supernatural spidey sense, both Bonnie and Reyes will register as off, but in different ways. Characters are welcome to attempt to use whatever powers they believe will work on the NPCs. There are potential IC consequences for this.
MOVE THE GOALPOSTS (23-24 July): Characters are welcome to capture or kill the kelpies. The only information they will be capable of providing to those who capture them and attempt to compel them for information is that they consider the entirety of the Massachusetts coast as their 'hunting grounds.' Whether that's true or not, it's what they believe.
CURVEBALL (23-24 July): Kidnapped characters will become seals! Sort of. Psychic seals who are extremely ill-fitted to the skins they're in. The only way to escape their current state is to be cut open and pulled out. As soon as they start to flee, the kelpies will chase them. Those who are captured will be cut out, toyed with, and shoved back into a skin again and again to continue the chase until they simply can't go on anymore.
BELOW THE BELT (24 July - night): Characters may encounter their selkie-fied comrades! Unfortunately, while the selkies can communicate with each other psychically, they are incapable of human speech. They are also being actively hunted by the kelpies. Characters may kill any kelpies they come across. Capture will not be possible in this case while they're in their horse forms. If PCs do not eradicate the kelpie threat that night, NPCs who have joined the mission will do so. Unfortunately, reconnaissance has become engagement, whether they like it or not.
STICKY WICKET (21 July - 5 August): You may select any piece of sporting gear you'd like for your character to pick up as long as it can fit in a reasonably-sized box. The pain associated with the burning will last only as long as a character is touching the object. Holding onto it for more than a minute will likely result in coming very close to death. Characters with inorganic appendages will find that the artifact will start to melt that appendage, whatever it is made of and it will still, somehow, hurt while it does it.
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Breaking It In

Caduceus stands at the back of the room. The chairs are kind of close together and he doesn't want to scrunch up to fit. He also doesn't really want to risk someone stepping on his tail or something. Besides, even sitting, he's tall, so... it's really just easier to stand in the back near Bonnie.

He listens as Reyes Amador explains the situation. He meets their gaze when they look his way, but says nothing. It doesn't really surprise him to hear the weird aberrations are shape-changers.

Caduceus doesn't ask any questions, but he does listen to other people.

"This is weird," he murmurs, loud enough to be heard by anyone nearby but not enough to carry far.

Move the Goalposts

He hears someone breathing hard, feet hitting the pavement fast. He also hears a more distant taunt, the sound of the voices--wrong. And unfamiliar. Caduceus moves toward the opening of the alley nearest him and shifts his grip on his staff. Someone flies past him - he's pretty sure they're human - and for a second Caduceus can see... lines? Like roots, rushing along the pavement after them. Can't investigate those now.

One of the weird things - kelpies? - doesn't stop fast enough and Caduceus slams the staff across its chest. They don't seem undead and so in his next action, his free hand flies out as he casts Bane. And it works. He'd been prepared to run but it works as the other kelpies run into range.

[Be the one he saved or come across him while he's fighting.]

Below the Belt

One hand grips the edge of the boat tightly as they make their way through the bay. The sound of the powerboats is distracting, and he dislikes that it gives away their position for a solid distance. The water itself unnerves him, though he tells himself that's unwarranted.

Then he sees the seals popping up around them. That's enough to make Caduceus forget his anxiety in favor of leaning over the edge of the boat to try to get a better look. To avoid capsizing them, it might be best if someone grabs the lanky firbolg.

"There's something about the seals," he says as they move around the boats. He makes eye contact with one or two, and there's something there. Caduceus frowns. Well, it's worth a shot, right? He might not understand anything they say back, but he can try.

"Hey slow down, I wanna talk to them." He looks at whoever is manning the motor, then turns his attention back to the seals gathering around them. "Hi everyone... what's going on?"

[For anyone playing a seal who wants to tag in, I'm gonna do a nature or intelligence check for Caduceus for every interaction. There's a chance he'll actually understand you. There's a chance he'll get a sense of whatever you're trying to communicate. Or he might get nothing.]

Sticky Wicket

A. Getting a box shouldn't be too hard, right? Package. It might not be a box. Caduceus is more than happy to help out and go get it, but he definitely needs a partner, and he's clear about that to whatever ADI agent he talks to.

The ADI agent rattles off the location and the code for the combination. Caduceus repeats the numbers quietly to himself, but then he looks side-long at whoever he's been paired up with.

"Numbers don't always stay with me." He has no idea what they'll encounter along the way, but if anything becomes more important than those numbers... there is a solid chance he'll forget them. And it would mean coming back here to start all over. "Figured we'd be better off using the buddy system anyway."

B. It really does just seem like a box. Caduceus looks at it, vaguely curious, but he doesn't really have a need to open it. He's encountered enough weird and arcane stuff that he knows a little better now.

His partner is looking at it kind of funny though. He tips his head.

"Want me to carry it?"

[If you burn yourself, there's a chance Caduceus can heal. And he might lecture a little in a "what did we learn?" kind of way.]

C. Great, he and his partner have the box, and they're in one piece, and they're heading back--when a bunch of kids appear and demand the package. Caduceus looks at all of them and they all seem young to him. Teenagers, maybe?

"Don't," he warns them. Whatever is in the box, letting them have it seems like a bad idea. And he also doesn't really want to fight them.

[How do you wanna do this?]

Wildcard

[Happy to match format, action or prose. Feel free to toss a wildcard my way and I'll roll with it. If you'd like to plot, Caduceus has a comment here or you can ping me at givemedragons. I'm also open to doing pre-event things with housemates or random encounters.]

Edited 2021-07-26 00:55 (UTC)

As soon as the boat even starts to wobble, Tak leans over to grab Caduceus's tail. He would have grabbed somewhere else but, you know, that was the thing sticking out waving near his face, and he doesn't want to go overboard because this... alien thing? is getting a little overexcited lunging here and there.

He's never actually met anyone who doesn't resemble a human. Well, you know, he's met rich people, and they're not really human anymore, but batshit insane in flesh and meat suits don't count. So, yeah, he might have spent some of their together time on the boat saying a curt hello to his new friend and studying him with his eyes.

"You can speak manatee?" Tak asks flatly. This is some fucking bullshit man.

"Whoa, hey." Caduceus looks over his shoulder to see who's got his tail. He tugs it a little, just to test the grip on it. Oh, it's the guy who's been staring. He's used to that, especially since getting here. So far, he's at least a foot taller than most of the people he's met. And, well. The pink hair. And everything else that makes him a firbolg.

"Oh, they're seals." Now he wants to know what a manatee is. Caduceus eases back into his seat, gently pulling his tail free. "I usually try talking to the locals wherever I am if there's something weird going on. They usually know."

Some are more helpful than others, but the seals are hanging around the boat, which... seems weird? In his limited experience with seals.

Even if Caduceus was human, he would likely have been subject to some staring. Tak doesn't look too imposing whilst sitting down watching everything around him, but he leans heavily into the natural taciturn gangster vibes he's already giving off simply by existing.

"Most people would refer to the ADI when they talk about the locals. Or Bonnie." Not the seals. Tak lets go of the... man's? Tail and leans back in his seat again, crossing his arms. Granted, those people haven't been particularly helpful. Tak is wary of what might be turning out to be some kind of stupid fetch quest. No guarantees that they won't get sent out to do the same thing ten times over once they get it right the first time.

"So what're the seals saying?" This should be good.

"Yeah, sure. But all this was probably here first," he says with a vague gesture to the landscape and whatever animals are in it. Caduceus looks at the handful of seals congregating around the boat. They've gone quiet for the time being, but they're still there.

"Something's not right. I'm not really sure if it's these little guys or the kelpies or both."

It's not a straight translation, but it's a sense of things. Maybe it's just getting used to this place, but he doesn't feel quite as connected as he usually does.

"They're hanging around, though." They want something. Or are trying to tell them something? Even though some of them bump up against the boat, Caduceus isn't inclined to let anyone chase them away. "You ever have an animal really try to get your attention?"

"It's happening right now as we speak," Tak replies, humour coming in a deadpan dry, if slightly caustic flavour. He doesn't shy away from rudeness, clearly, but he does turn a moment later to look at the seals as though he wasn't referring to Caduceus just then.

"If you really want to talk to one why don't we just bring one on board?" They can always shove it off once they're done - or Caduceus can stop Tak from trying to shove it off the boat - and that feels like a safer alternative than them all potentially going overboard.

Caduceus Clay | Critical Role | OTA

Below the Belt

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below the belt!

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Sticky Wicket, B

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Below the Belt

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Sticky Wicket A

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