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Event - Feeling Faint

Feeling Faint

➥ Flicker

Photo of a wild rooftop garden with a city skyline in the background.
(cw: Alterations in reality and perception, chance for violence or injury, potential chance of loss of name or other pieces of a character’s identity, depending on conversations with NPC)

Somewhere, deep in ADI’s basement, there’s a meadow in a metal room. That room has a door that always stays locked. Yet, after a couple visitors come by to talk to the inhabitant of that room, that door is unlocked and the meadow vanishes along with the inhabitant.

It isn’t a quick thing, no light switch is flicked announcing the change in the status quo, it’s an irregular thing. One day everything is as it should be and then, for an hour, all of the illusions and glamours making every non-human seem human simply vanishes. Then it’s two hours. Then a whole day. Then it’s only flickers now and then or only portions of a body left unchanged, all interspersed with days where nothing seems to happen at all. Like someone’s playing a game. Something that leaves the locals on edge as ‘monster’ sightings increase and send a ripple of fear and doubt through town. Fear and doubt that is sometimes answered in unkindness at best and violence and fear at worse.

Though, who the sadistic someone is might be difficult to pinpoint for those outside of the know. Anyone who goes looking or has ways of sensing where the fluctuations are coming from might come across a handsome stranger perched atop one of the now-vacant warehouses once used by Oculus where a rich carpet of grass and tumbling ivy now overtakes the roof and spills down the sides.

For the brave or curious or angry at heart, the stranger will turn to their visitor with a small, knowing smile from where they’re sat in their meadow, a flower crown in hand and held out like an offering. “Hello, who do we have here, then?”

➥ Feint

Photo of a forested area around a crimson red river.
(cw: extreme distress, hallucinations, supernaturally heightened emotions, blood, monstrous creatures, potential for violence and death)

"Please! Please"--your name, someone is shouting your name--"I need- please! Help!" The voice is a familiar one, someone you care for, or at least have no negative feelings about. They might be someone you've met here in Gloucester, or they could be someone from home. They're distressed, they're in Dogtown. You only hear them as you travel around the edges of the park. And there are even glimpses of them. Flashes of a face that seems to belong to the person who's shouting.

Even if you're wary, sensibly so, the pitch, the distress, puts some sort of feeling into you. Fear, perhaps, for the 'person' in danger? Anger that someone would try to impersonate someone you love? Hopelessness that you can't actually do anything to help? The emotion fills your belly, wells up like a tide and crashes through the mind. It's not impossible to resist going into Dogtown, but it's certainly difficult.

Those who get any substantial distance, will note that they seem to be drawn deeper and deeper into the wood and that the ground grows moist and ruddy. The scent of iron fills the nose and senses. Those who have a sense of Dogtown as it is now may be able to tell that they're being drawn toward the blood river in the southern reaches of the park. Getting closer, you'll be able to see a creature shambling along sideways on clawed and webbed feet. It swings a lantern from its head that flashes to look like the person you know now and again. The false form shouts in fear and terror, crying out.

Should the creature spot you spotting it… be prepared. It will attack immediately, and it doesn't seem to pull its bites or slashes. While ordinary means are enough to bring it down, there is definitely more than one creature. Perhaps a brood has recently hatched in the river.

➥ Figment

White billboard with the words This Ad Is Real written in black and red block font.
(cw: hallucination, altered mental states, gaslighting)

There's a face that keeps turning up around town, but it's not really clear who it is. It's a Caucasian, mustachioed gentleman who seems to be in books where he doesn't belong, in the background of photographs, both old and new, and even on advertisements. You might notice him only in a few things at first, but once you clock him… he's everywhere.

Inquiries into his identity net a mixed response from locals. He's just… some man. Nice mustache, though! Does he look a little like Matthew McConaughey? He just looks like another New Englander, maybe some founder for Gloucester? A reverse image search yields much the same results. There are actors and models who look vaguely like this man, but no one that definitively matches him.

The strange thing is that as you see him more and more, there's the feeling of a hand gently touching your shoulder. A large, masculine hand, as far as anyone with particularly acute senses can tell. It only lasts a moment, and then it's gone. You can never turn fast enough to see anyone, and they don't appear in any mirrors; though… there's a mild distortion in the air if you manage to glimpse a reflection somehow.

Those touched by the hand of the mustachioed man will find themselves feeling more and more inclined toward mischief. Have you seen the mustachioed man? No, no, you haven't. When shown photos including him, you might be inclined to lie and say you see someone else entirely. It's just a little mean. With things in Gloucester spinning out of control, perhaps you ought to grasp control where you can. Making someone doubt themselves and their reality? That's one of the most powerful forms of control out there.

➥ 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! You're welcome to make up any details for your specific scene. Also, please remember that character deaths are permanent and plan accordingly!
FLICKER (16 August - Potentially Onward) - Players are welcome to control their own NPC interactions. Some might be understanding or come to their defense while others might turn a blind or turn to violence. These moments of violence shouldn’t be outright mobs so much as small groups close to a mugging that only happen once and a while, not a certainty. Characters will have the chance to talk to Milo and either convince them to continue the illusions or drop them entirely, what happens with the illusions from an IC standpoint will depend entirely on these interactions, so if you tag into Milo’s interaction, please make sure that thread is prioritized.
FEINT (16-23 August) - The monstrous creatures can be killed with enough bullets or other normally lethal methods. The figures they mimic will be perfect copies of characters who will elicit strong emotions in your characters. The only limit on who these can be would be for characters already in games. Please just get the other player's permission. If two characters are together, the creature will only mimic one important person. The mimicked individual will provide reasonable (if terrified) responses to questions that are shouted at them.
FIGMENT (16-31 August) - Characters will be able to find plenty of people who look vaguely like the mustachioed man, but efforts to track them down will lead to dead ends. They seem to be ordinary actors, models, and people who have had their photos show up on an image search. Characters trying to investigate the strange happenings in Gloucester and the surrounding area, particularly Dogtown, will find themselves seeing the man more often than others. They'll also suffer the effects of the man's 'touch.' Characters who feel compelled to gaslight and deceive others will be affected until they take out that impulse on someone. It doesn't need to be anyone they care about; though, that makes it feel better somehow. Individuals aligned with the Spiral may find themselves feeling particularly well fed for the month of August on fear juice.

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Please respond HERE.

If you would like to interact with the handsome stranger in the "Flicker" prompt, please reply here!

Please note that character interactions with this NPC will have a direct effect on whether or not the illusion for non-human characters in maintained. At least 5 characters will need to convince them, in whatever way they can, to maintain the illusion. If threads have not reached their natural conclusion by the end of the month, players will be asked what their strategy/argument will be OOCly and mods will work out with you if that would have/will have been effective. (Players are welcome to continue to tag to reach that conclusion ICly once the decision is made OOCly).

All NPC interaction tag-ins should occur by 8/22.

feint
There are many problems associated with the Eye. One of the ones that Elias is encountering right now is the burning curiosity. The desire to know. There were rumors of an anglerfish like thing in Dogtown and he wants to know what it is. It's affiliation is obvious enough, the Stranger was either very subtle or absolutely not. But is this anglerfish like the one he knows? Are the avatars, the anglerfish and the Distortions and the Archivists of the world as universal as the Entities themselves are? He wants to know.

The fact that the voice sounds like Jon Sims is the final impetus to explore. Elias doesn't care about his Archivist, not in a sentimental way. This thing, whatever it is, it isn't his Archivist. But that's just that. It isn't his Archivist. And there's a tiny little possessive part of Elias that wants to see the thing suffer for even making the attempt at clumsy manipulation.

When he spots someone else in Dogtown, Elias (who's got a handgun and a truncheon at his side for weapons), gives them a little nod. "On the hunt as well?" For someone who occasionally speaks in capital letters, that is a very lowercase hunt in his voice.

figment
Honestly, the more people who get touched by these Fears, the better. Elias doesn't think that anyone's collected the full set yet, but he has a few candidates in mind. So as far as he's concerned? Gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss, a phrase with Elias Bouchard has never heard in his damn life but what he's doing right now with style.

"You know," he muses, when looking at a photo of said mustachioed man, "he looks like one of those older film stars from the silent era. Perhaps they are remaking a film? The beard doesn't suit him, though."

It's a good thing that Elias Bouchard is adept at lying because he is just lying his ass off with every interaction he gets.

I. Nameless - For Steve(?)

Winter is waiting outside the ADI campus for his guy to finish his little infiltration. Or to perform a rescue, if he needs to. He spends his time in the little coffee shop down the street alternately staring through the window at the ADI buildings, or staring at his phone with the little tracker dot labeled "Steve".

Only when the dot starts moving out of the building does he get up, finish his coffee, and come out to meet him.

II. Flicker - For those who need the illusion

Winter figures out pretty early what's happening, and he starts kind of... loitering... around where people he has trackers for go, or where he thinks those he doesn't have trackers for might go. Maybe it's a little bit like stalking, but whatever, if their illusion flickers he's there, with a hood or a blanket to toss over their faces, a glower for anyone who is around making a fuss, and an arm around shoulders to usher them out of danger.

Or a gun if anyone is actively threatening his people. He'll have that, too.

III. Feint - OTA

While Winter is not a hunter per se, and actively rejects the Hunt, that doesn't mean he's not good at tracking and taking down monsters. So, armed with his trust earplugs, Winter prowls the edges of Dogwood relying on vision only for snatches of the beast.

And only once he spots it-- or its lure-- does he plunge in with his rifle and handgun and a couple of his precious grenades. And hopefully backup. You want to come help him kill monsters, right friend?

I. Flicker (a)
She's out with someone when it happens. The glamour hiding an inhuman appearance suddenly falling away. Mercy's heart leaps to her chest. With the strange vans around town, this seems like the thing they've been waiting for, a chance to find non-human and drag them away to be dissected, like Rue had said on the network. Her response is immediate. Whether they're inside a shop or out on the walk, Mercy interposes herself between the non-human and any people in the vicinity.

"How now, friend?" she says, addressing the stranger. "You're looking like you seen something frightening. You all right?"

II. Flicker (b)
With the illusion flickering like a dying candle, Mercy is on high alert. She carries Garner's glaive with her about town, even when it's not strictly normal. The weapon garners more than a few odd looks and questions on if she's cosplaying someone. The word is one she's heard before and agrees to. Of course this isn't real! That would be dangerous to carry around.

The weapon is treated as much less of a toy when she sees or hears the sound of a non-human in distress. Her feet carry her swiftly to the scene where she looks to see who's in trouble and what they might need. She's fully ready to be far more the intimidating monster than any non-human could hope to be.

II. Feint
"Did you see that?" Mercy's gaze is sharp on the woods around Dogtown. She's not one to patrol the edges of the park often, but with the recent departures at ADI, it's all hands on deck. She also wants to walk the walk given what she'd told Kate about needing to do this to help in the effort to get them home.

"Looked like someone over there." She points off toward the treeline on the other side of the fence.

[Feint]

{a}

[Even from the first, Emet-Selch knows with absolute certainty the voice he can hear drifting from Dogtown cannot be who it sounds like. He would, after all, have known if Hythlodaeus had recently arrived. Or so he assumes And yet... he has longed to hear that voice for millennia. Knows it as surely as he knows his own soul; as surely as he knows that all is not often what it seems in this place. It cannot be Hythlodaeus because why would it be. And yet... it's enough to give him pause.]

Do you hear that?

[He knows the answer may be no. He knows the voice may be false. But still... he wavers.]

{b}

[Misgivings or no, it perhaps comes as no surprise to those who know him that Emet-Selch does eventually make his way into Dogtown. Even should the voice he has heard not be Hythlodaeus in truth, he has to know. Especially when there is only so far his soulsight will function, here.

On the other hand, the fact that he has yet to see anything that even remotely like Hythlodaeus' soul does at least keep him from charging straight ahead. Even if he is keeping up a semi-constant stream of grumbling, some of which seems to be loosely addressed to the voice he's been hearing, even if he doesn't seem to much be expecting an answer.]

{c}

[It is both a disappointment and not at all a surprise to find himself faced with a monster. It is even less of a surprise to find himself immediately attacked, and faced with the option of turning his back to an angry monster or fighting he turns to the latter, calling a greatsword out of quite literally nowhere. It will not last forever, that much he knows. Few of his creations have. But it will hopefully give him enough time enough to reassess his options.]

Edited 2023-08-31 20:27 (UTC)

Flicker
Yelena's grocery shopping the first time it happens, shuffling up to the front of the line, coupons in hand, only to be met with the surprised stare of the clerk. "What's wrong with your eyes?" the boy blurts out, and Yelena's stomach drops as she catches sight of her reflection in the plexiglass divider, eyes wall-to-wall black.

She wrinkles her nose and laughs, dipping her head in feigned embarrassment. "Did I forget to take the contacts out again? It's for a film a friend's making. It's not contagious, I promise."

Encounter her out and about after that, and there will be mirrored glasses firmly in place, in case it happens again. Those she knows well - the few remaining - who are more visibly inhuman in their natural forms, she might pull aside to an out of the way table in a coffee shop, or one of the green strips along the road, to ask, "Has your illusion been slipping?" and, "Do you remember where you were when it happened?"

Feint
It's a trap. Yelena recognizes it, just as she recognizes the bright hair that appears briefly through the tangle of trees, and the voice she doesn't expect to ever hear for real on this side of the grave. Anger washes over her, first scalding and then deathly cold, and she's halfway to the fence before she catches herself. Stops. Pulls out her phone and fires off a quick message.

Something's trying to lure people into Dogtown. Come help me find it before someone gets eaten.

Maybe you're the backup she's called for. Maybe you're not someone she trusts, and happen to be in the area for reasons of your own. Either way, there's a compact blonde woman pacing near the perimeter of Dogtown, each circuit bringing her just a little closer to that thin border between city and nightmare.

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