Event- Siren

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Siren

➥ The Public Eye

(cw: potential body dysmorphia, loss of control, human-caused pollution, animals in distress/animal cruelty/injury to animals (specifically seabirds for one small portion of this prompt), body horror, uncanny valley)

Like most towns of an appreciable size in America, Gloucester, MA, is graced with something of an overabundance of video cameras. Perhaps even more-so than most small towns given the presence of ADI and the supernatural phenomenon that regularly plague the place. The mechanical eyes gaze silently out at the world, sentinels or sneaks, gathering information. And there is something very, very wrong with them.

It's not every camera. It's not even consistent among cameras, but every so often, perhaps related to whatever hacker has already been causing problems, something shifts. Those walking nearby (or even far from) a video camera will find their consciousness momentarily ripped from their bodies and transported into the camera's viewer. There, they'll be granted the vision of the camera, whether that's grainy black and white, full color, or maybe even night-vision. For those lucky enough to be transported to a camera near their own bodies, they will be able to see themselves twitching, moving irregularly, as if something is trying to gain control.

There seems to be no way to control the camera they're in. It is stationary or perhaps it moves in a set turning motion. Those trapped within have no control for the minute or so they seem to be transported. If they can take a moment to calm themselves and take advantage of this new perspective, of course… there might be rather interesting things to see, including:

• A massive, scaled form moving out in the deep water off of Gloucester's shoreline. With the night-vision capabilities granted by these particular visions, those trapped might even catch sight of strange figures swimming near the impossibly large creature. They throw… something at it and the vast creature thrashes, kicking up enormous waves that rocket toward the coast.
  
  
• Piles of garbage are cast up onto the beaches by some of the rogue waves that seem to be kicking up. Some of them move and almost appear to have a humanoid form before they simply fall apart, becoming a pile of simple rubbish.
  
  
• Unidentifiable figures in dark clothes are moving around the city at night, spray painting eyes in alleyways, across buildings, anywhere they can find that cameras might be able to see. If someone were to catch a glimpse as they were just finishing up their artwork, they might notice that the spray painted eye blinks.
  
  
• A small growth of horrible, lamb-esque plant creatures seems to have cropped up in an alleyway near Things of Beauty, one of the curiosity stores in town. There aren't a lot of them and they seem to be small and young. They're also in an out-of-the way spot that might be difficult to notice for more people.
  
  
• A group of youths appears to have found a weak point in the fencing around Dogtown. As dusk descends, they can be seen traveling into the closed park. It would seem some refuse to be deterred by law enforcement and ADI.
  
  
• Head of ADI Security, Neil Grace, seems to be spending his lunch hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays entering into an unmarked building to do… something. He enters and exits completely alone.
  
  
• Non-native (recently demoted) PR person, Reyes Amador, seems to be in some remote back alley in town some evenings. They have a large fishing hook that may be familiar to anyone who saw the flayed bodies on the beach. They also have a caged seagull with them. There's clear upset on their face as they reach into the cage and manage to plant the hook into the bird before quickly shutting and locking the cage. The bird goes wild within its confines, attempting to attack Reyes as they cover their face and appear to cry to themselves.
  
  

➥ Rogue Wave

(cw: thassalophobia, large creatures, drowning, flooding, (un)natural disasters, human-caused pollution, animals in distress/injury to animals)

rogue wave (n.) a random, enormous ocean wave that sometimes travels at an angle to prevailing seas.

The beaches are closed.

To be fair, the beaches have been closed since bodies started washing up on shore and left ADI's PR department working overtime to keep the grim scene out of national news. Now, though, the problem is rapidly becoming more vast than what horrors the sea dumps ashore: the ocean itself seems to be trying to relocate inland. The first rogue wave to hit the harbor early in the morning on August 16 is devastating enough on its own, battering boats against their docks and drowning one unfortunate fisherman who was swept out with the wave when it retreated. That incident alone would have been a freak occurrence, a tragic and frightening tale but ultimately a mundane one born of the unpredictability of the natural world.

But then the next rogue wave hits, and the next after that, and the next after that. They're not regular or predictable; the waves don't hit in the same place each time or at regular times. One day might be a reprieve of calm, and the next see massive waves battering the coast one after another. Gloucester is taking a beating, and the rest of the region is suffering along with the city. Homes and businesses on waterfront property are left abandoned in the face of unpredictable, uncaring destruction, and flooding extends inland. The air in Gloucester is thick with salt and humidity, the ground increasingly soggy underfoot as one nears the sea. ADI sends out custodial crews to batten down and place sandbags at headquarters and the housing complex. Thanks to ongoing repair efforts, Bonnie's Flophouse is, for once, not flooded, though Bonnie and the Visionary are pessimistically preparing for the eventuality of having to evacuate their basement apartment once again. Neighbors around Gloucester are in similar distress; for the civic-minded there is no end of work for volunteers in water-proofing buildings or helping salvage that which has already flooded.

The why of it all will take some legwork to discover. Within a few days ADI manages to spin up a story about seismological disturbances on the ocean floor, which...actually isn't that far from the truth, as far as anyone can initially tell. The rogue waves all originate from roughly the same patch of open ocean, and the best view from shore is at the far end of Coffin Beach. Investigators are strongly cautioned to have an escape plan to reach high ground at a moment's notice, and anyone known to lack outdoor survival skills will be officially discouraged from going. Observation efforts will be hit or miss; one might strain one's eyes for hours and see nothing but a few erratic ocean swells.

Get lucky enough to see more, and your luck might quickly run out. The creature that appears offshore might be mistaken for a whale breaching in the first few seconds, before one realizes that the shape is wrong, what one mistook for the whale's body resolving into the reptilian head of a serpent whose body goes on and on and on, heralding the realization that it is so much further away than one first thought. The creature is impossibly huge, a leviathan that could swallow a cargo ship whole. Its coils rise from the surface of the ocean before crashing back down with a low, bone-rattling bellow of pain. From this distance the human-sized creatures that surround it and provide the apparent source of its distress are mere specks.

Hope you remember your exit plan. A mere flick of this serpent's tail would be enough to capsize a ship, and this is a full-body thrash of pain. The waves offshore swell as the creature submerges, a wall of dark water heading all too quickly toward the beach, carrying yet more garbage with it.

➥ Thicker Than Water

(cw: thassalophobia, large creatures, claustrophobia, blood, siren sounds in the first link, hallucinated death)

Though few, the towering forms of the signal tower creatures still stalk about the edges of the town, largely still and passive but for the blaring tones they occasionally cause. They could almost be forgotten about, a new and eerie installation to Gloucester's skyline but nothing too distressing as long as you don’t look up, right? At least until the day a new sound issues from some of the phones.

The effect is immediate. The smell of rusted metal and a gentle chirp of electronic equipment mixing with a less than comforting creek of metal on all sides. One second you’re on the city street and the next, you’re in the cramped and stale-aired interior of a submarine. Large pipes line the sides of the sub and two bare-bulbs in metal cages light the interior with a harsh glare. Oxygen and depth meters frame the single porthole window to the outside above an instrument panel that displays coordinates, a compass, and simple controls for piloting the rust-encrusted submarine.

When you look around, the back of the sub is only a few paces away, the space clearly meant for no more than one or two people. At the back is a small, blank, video display surrounded by additional pressure gauges. A large map sits beside it, the topography of it faded and nearly useless, but the lines of the coordinate grid can just be made out. Between the map and the display, is a rectangular button backlit in dull orange. When pressed, the display struggles to life with a whirring sound before finally displaying an image of the empty ocean ahead in black and white.

Luckily, you’re not alone here and you and your new partner can quickly find instructions laying around; though, the edges seem warped and encrusted with a rust-red and flaky substance. It’s an easy task: move to the listed coordinates and angle, snap a picture of the anomaly, move on to the next. Simple. You certainly don’t seem to have much of a choice as any hatches appear to be welded shut and the forward window is covered by a sheet of metal as the sub lurches to life. Though, not before you perhaps notice the ocean outside isn’t a deep blue as you might expect, but an unsettling red.

Probably fine.

Eventually, you reach depth and idle, the submarine now left in your capable hands. Those more willing to explore will find the ocean around them entirely unfamiliar. While rocky outcroppings make maneuvering hazardous, there’s also the odd, sharp plantlife to consider and the occasional tube-like shapes that wave about and knock against the sub like over-eager worms. Those particularly lucky might even catch sight of something else out there. Something unfathomably huge. Whether the pair of you decide to follow instructions or not, in time, the creaking of the metal sharpens and feels as if it presses in on you, like it might just crumble. Seams warp and shift and the bottom of the sub begins to slowly fill with a thick, fresh, blood.

The oxygen meter steadily drops and as you move or don’t, something seems to knock against the outside of the metal walls, surely too thin to protect you from whatever lurks outside. Which will get to you first: whatever lives in blood or the threat of suffocation? Perhaps if you finish your task quickly, you won’t need to find out.

➥ Nereid

(cw: human-caused pollution, animals in peril, potential animal death, potential drowning)
(Additional Note: Thank you to Alexis, Katrina's player, for reviewing and contributing to this prompt.)

It's taken a few days to arrange for the boat and organize their forces, but an expedition out into deeper water is underway, spearheaded by Katrina, to investigate the flayed bodies that have been washing up on shore. Sable, ADI's primary contact at the Docks, has volunteered her small vessel for the task. It might be dangerous, but with the waves lashing Gloucester's banks and infrastructure, it's either help with this or deal with the fact she's not going to have a place to do business in town soon.

With the bodies cropping up at night, volunteers who take to the water are outfitted with night-vision goggles, harpoon spears, knives, and nets. However, the boat heads out during the day for anyone there to freedive. "This is not race for speed or depth," Katrina advises. "Be calm. Do not waste breath or strength. Save both for when you fight. If creatures here are like ones from my home, they are strong, and they fight. Do not swim here if you are afraid. Do not push your body." For weaker swimmers, there's plenty to do on the boat under Sable's watchful eye. Keeping a lookout, prepping the nets in case there's something that needs to be hauled aboard, and spotting and disentangling sea creatures that might need some help with whatever plastic or line that's been caught on them are the primary duties.

The boat sets anchor, keeping an eye out for any rogue waves, and it's into the water for the freedivers. The first thing that becomes abundantly clear is that there is a lot of trash off the coast of Gloucester. Far more than seems reasonable, in fact. It's as though someone tipped a cargo ship containing heaps of the stuff out nearby. The second thing to become clear is that at least some of the trash is alive. The mermaids, if you could call them that, seem to be made of the stuff. Their long fingers are made of hooks and broken bits of metal, their webbing is plastic bags and discarded netting, their hair is fishing line and wires. Whatever has been thrown into the ocean has been pulled together into these merciless beings. Any diver grabbed by one will need to think quickly and fight hard to escape, or they'll find themselves rapidly pulled deeper, limbs entangled.

It's not a completely one-sided fight. The harpoon spears seem to stun them momentarily when pieces are knocked apart or off. But it's getting a net over the mermaids and hauling them up into the open air that seems to kill them. Mermaids raised out of the water for more than a few seconds break apart into lifeless trash. Maybe get some trash skimmers. There's a lot of clean-up to do out here.

➥ Mod Notes

• 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! Although, the people of Gloucester seem to be becoming more and more aware of supernatural phenomenon and they are frightened by it. You're welcome to make up any details beyond that for your specific scene. Also, please remember that character deaths are permanent and plan accordingly!
  
  
• THE PUBLIC EYE (16-31 August) - Characters who do not have actual bodies can still have their consciousness hijacked and pulled into a camera. In those instances, if they can see where their 'body' was, they'll simply be able to see the device that their ghostly form is usually attached to. This seems to be an entirely supernatural phenomenon with no coding or commands being executed to cause this. Cameras that are checked will appear to be completely ordinary to the technological eye. Those who might have some kind of supernatural sense that they are feeding might get some read off of various cameras that indicate they might be about to snag someone's consciousness. The various items that characters observe in cameras are welcome to be followed up on. For prompts that involve unnamed NPCs, players are welcome to assume interactions and take control of those NPCs. Anyone wishing to try to fix something (like the vegetable lamb infestation) will be encouraged to take care of it directly by ADI with another team member. Named NPCs can be found and/or confronted in the NPC Top Level below.
  
  
• ROGUE WAVE (16-31 August) - Characters will have the opportunity to assist locals in a variety of ways; players are welcome to invent their own scenarios for assisting local residents and businesses (as well as shoring up ADI property) and play any unnamed NPCs as desired. Characters who are able to get a better look at the serpent through magical or technological means will see that it has fishhooks and other detritus stabbed into its scales and that the creatures harassing it are the same mermaids seen in the Nereid prompt. The serpent's thrashing and subsequent rogue waves will diminish as the mermaids are killed off following the events of that prompt.
  
  
• THICKER THAN WATER (16-31 August) - No more than two characters will be trapped in the submarine at the same time, players are welcome to come up with alien plant life and structures they might find in the camera, but there will be very little life found beyond the encounters with the leviathan. Bones of impossibly huge creatures, brief snaps of a fin or a scale, huge teeth, and other such oddities may also be spotted at the listed coordinates. Characters can either finish the assignment or simply wait it out, but the pressure will increase, filling the chamber slowly with blood. Before they can drown, however, the sub will be crushed either through pressure or through the jaws of the creature, and characters will find themselves suddenly jolted awake again where they’d been before the siren sounded. No time (or very little time) appears to have passed. They will be unharmed; though, they might find blood still lingering under their nails or trickling from the corner of their mouths or eyes.
  
  
• NEREID (19 August) - Sable's boat, the Minx is a large vessel with plenty of room for as many characters as might like to come on this adventure. Characters do not have to get into the water and will be relatively safe as long as they stay in the boat. Sea creatures tangled with the garbage include things like seabirds, sea turtles, and even a few dolphins, seals, and sharks. Sable will be able to guide characters on how to safely catch creatures to free them or to help them from a safe distance. There's plenty of deck space for if and when characters need to start hauling up mermaids. Once characters provide info on what's going on, ADI will take efforts to start a large-scale clean-up operation with multiple rented vessels to dispose of the mermaids. Players are welcome to have their characters assisting with those endeavors throughout the end of the month.

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Comments

[clavesregni]

[She finally finds the leash in a basket by the door. It's a little damp, but surely the dog isn't so afraid of water it can't even be near anything wet, so she drapes it over her shoulder. The dog sniffs it a few times before returning to its solemn duty of chewing on Caitlyn's hair.]

Have you ever wanted to settle down? [She can't imagine not having a stable home. But on the other hand, it must be exciting to always be on the move, always seeing new places.]

[friendsfordinner]

Not anywhere I've been, [ Hickey shrugs. He looks over at the dog, still very set in his mindset of not touching the thing as he continues to talk. ]

I know where I'd want to settle down, though. Oahu. Maui. One of those tropical islands where the sun shines ten hours a day. Somewhere warm.

[clavesregni]

I've never been anywhere like that.

[She doesn't recognize those names, but of course there are tropical places in her world. Places she's read about in books or seen pictures of.]

I've never been anywhere at all, really. My mother barely let me stray more than a few blocks from home. [She sighs a short, soft sigh of frustration.] I'd love to see a tropical island.

[friendsfordinner]

[ Hickey frowns a bit, looking Caitlyn intently as he gives her a once-over. It's definitely the sort of vibe of someone studying her. ]

You're what, twenty or so? Don't tell me you still do everything your mum says.

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn frowns back at Hickey, shifting somewhat awkwardly as he scrutinizes her.]

It's not easy when your mother's got as much political power as mine. She had me fired from my job because it wasn't befitting my station. [The sarcasm is thick enough to cut with a knife.] I couldn't very well hop on a ship to Bilgewater, she'd have me dragged back by the ear before I even reached the docks.

[friendsfordinner]

Course you could, [ he points out, with a little grin. ] There's always a way to get around these sort of things. Stowaway, take a fake name, cause enough of a mess at home that you could slip away in the confusion.

[ Fun fact: Hickey has done at least one of those things himself! ]

If you're determined and crafty enough, there's always a way to get what you want.

[clavesregni]

Take a fake name? Even if they didn't recognize me... don't people check for that sort of thing? [She's avoided giving her name at times, but making one up? She's never been good at that sort of thing. The one time she tried, it went poorly.] And if you stow away, won't they find you? Ships are only so big, aren't they? How would one... acquire food? [The question of how one uses the toilets as a stowaway also crosses her mind, but she can't even bring herself to ask that.

The dog has finally calmed down. It tucks its head under Caitlyn's chin and, within seconds, is sound asleep. Of course, now it's a dead weight, and she's already been holding it for a while. She shifts slightly, trying to alleviate some of the strain on her arms while not waking it up.]

[friendsfordinner]

It's fine if they find you eventually, [ bullshits the man who's never been a stowaway before and yet is still acting like he knows what he's talking about. ] Just make sure you're hidden for long enough that they can't turn back. If it's more of a hassle for the ship to turn around to drop you off than to keep going, they'll just keep going.

[ At least that's how Cornelius 'I view the entire world through practicalities' Hickey thinks of these things. ]

And with the fake name business, it's easier than you realize. Bloke back home, back on Terror—that's the ship I sailed on, don't know if I mentioned it. Anyway, he said that on a different ship, someone just took the place of a dead crewman. Showed up, gave the dead crewman's name, spent the entire voyage under the assumed name. Only got found out when they made port back in London again.

[ That someone is himself. And that dead crewman was technically murdered. He is not telling Caitlyn those details. ]

[clavesregni]

He gave a dead crewman's name and no one recognized him? No one asked him for any credentials?

[She's both shocked that such a thing worked, and that someone would have the audacity to try it.]

[friendsfordinner]

[ Hickey shook his head. ]

Nope. See, the way things worked with ships back home, is that it didn't happen all at once. You sign up for the voyage, get your papers, and then there's a bit of time in between when you sign up and when the voyage starts—need to purchase supplies and outfit the ship before you put people on there.

[ He says this like he knows what he's talking about even though he is just straight up bullshitting about how boats work. But it sounds right, right? So there we go! ]

In that bit of time, steal someone's name, steal the papers, you're good to go.

[ Things will make more sense once Caitlyn learns that Hickey comes from a time that didn't have things like "a widespread use of cameras and surveillance technology." ]

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn absolutely believes that's how ships work where Hickey's from. It may very well work that way with ships in Piltover as well, but she wouldn't know.

She raises an eyebrow at the way he speaks about it, as though it's the easiest thing in the world to borrow someone else's identity. She can't shut off her detective brain, and this feels like the sort of underhanded activity she ought to know more about, should she ever encounter someone trying to pull it off.]

And how does one ensure that the crew member whose name is one borrowing fails to show up for the voyage? People dying in the window between signing up and departing must be fairly rare.

[friendsfordinner]

[ Hickey can't help but raise an eyebrow as he points out, ]

I think you're smart enough to figure out the one fairly obvious way to ensure that.

[ Murder! ]

[clavesregni]

[It takes Caitlyn a moment to arrive at the obvious conclusion. She's simply not someone to whom the idea of murder, especially as a solution to a problem like wanting to get on a ship, comes easily.]

You're suggesting... murder?

[friendsfordinner]

Obviously I'm not suggesting murdering someone myself. That would be wrong. [ says the man who's done a lot of murder in his time. ]

All I'm saying is that it is an option.

[clavesregni]

Yes, I suppose one does always have the option to murder one's way out of one's problems. [The sarcasm is heavy.

Caitlyn's not any more prone to thinking ill of someone than she is of plotting a theoretical murder, so Hickey's flippancy when it comes to the subject isn't ringing any alarm bells. At least not any loud ones. But more and more she's convinced that she probably shouldn't be following any advice he gives her.

And she can't exactly turn off her detective brain.] The man you knew aboard the Terror, did he take that option, or did the crewman whose identity he stole die by pure coincidence?

[friendsfordinner]

[ He shrugs! ]

Call me a coward, but I'm not going to go up to someone and ask them 'pardon me, did you murder a man?' That's a way to get yourself murdered next.

[ It was absolutely murder. As he talks, Hickey has a smirky little smile on his face, something that looks far too weaselly for the situation. ]

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn frowns. The alarm bells still aren't ringing, per se, but they are definitely quietly tinkling in the back of her mind.]

You were sailing on a ship with this man and he might have been a murderer the whole time? And you never tried to figure out whether that was the case? [she asks, incredulous. If she suspected someone of murder, she might not ask them directly, but she'd certainly investigate.

She has to adjust the sleeping dog again. Her arms are starting to get tired.]

[friendsfordinner]

Yeah? I'd like to stay alive, [ he points out, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. ] If a troublesome sort like that finds you poking around, trying to get more information on him, what d'you think he'd do to you?

[ Hickey is absolutely not offering to help hold the dog. In fact, both of his hands are in his pockets. Nope, that dog is Caitlyn's problem, not his. ]

[clavesregni]

I've dealt with troublesome sorts before. [And she did, in fact, almost die.]

Wouldn't you still rather know, though? Even if only for everyone else's safety? Someone who's killed before might very well kill again.

[The dog's becoming a problem. She looks around, trying to decide if there's anything else they need before they can go.]

[friendsfordinner]

The only person's safety I care about is my own, [ Hickey shrugs. ] If I don't think that person likes me? Then yeah, sure, I'd like to know. Otherwise I don't give a damn.

[ He spots Caitlyn looking around and changes the conversation to, ] Come on. I think we've gotten everything we need from this place.

[ Time to pick up the bag of groceries and perishable items and just head on out. ]

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn is taken aback by his frank admission of selfishness. There are really people in the world who are that self-centered?]

You just... don't care about anyone but yourself?

[She heads for the door, only she can't open it with her arms full of sleeping dog. So she has to stand there waiting for Hickey to open it for her.]

[friendsfordinner]

[ And Hickey does open the door, shrugging slightly as they leave. ]

Who's there to care about? Sure, I like you people in ADI. But I wouldn't take a bullet for any of you.

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn opts to indicate her displeasure with Hickey's attitude by doing something truly egregious: not thanking him for opening the door for her.]

Oh, well, I'll be sure to make a note of it should someone start shooting at us. [she snits, rolling her eyes]

[friendsfordinner]

Oi, what's with the attitude? [ he teases. ] Suspect most people in the complex feel the same way.

[clavesregni]

I doubt most people would say they don't care about anyone's safety but their own. [Most people aren't that self-absorbed. Most people in the world are kind and selfless and have decent intentions. ...Right?]