EVENT: HOSPITAL EXPEDITION

[asgardmods]

Who: Anyone!
What: Hospital Expedition Time!
When: Day 70
Where: The hospital and surrounding grounds.
Rating: PG-13 for potential scariness

Warning: This log includes reference to and optional effects of psychotropic medication. Those intensely bothered by such things should be cautious or steer clear.



After The Doctors found the hospital, an expedition was organized. Those who signed up in that post or who just want to tag along will be heading out on the morning of Day 70 (April 20, ICly). After a 3mi/5km or so walk, they'll find themselves at what looks like a mostly modern hospital and outbuildings, surrounded as a compound by a tall wire fence. The fence is now full of holes, and it's obvious that the buildings haven't been used in decades. There is very little graffiti or other human-caused damage to the place, but weather, animals, and neglect leave it pretty worn down anyway.

Inside, the buildings are mostly empty of medicines and things. There's some broken-down equipment and a few bits of both modern and herbalist medication here and there but not much. The records room however is pretty much intact, besides the wear on paper from sitting in a non-climate-controlled room for 30 years. The records date from the native's reckoning time of 376-385, and are mostly not very informative, but reading through a bunch will reveal how the greyness progressed as a "disease".

Emotion left first, so through 376 and 377 the records state that people just seem to be mysteriously losing all personality and are somewhat lethargic, just going through the motions for no apparent reason. By 378 people are losing colour, and the hospital turns from a specialty hospital to a quarantine zone. People are brought there the moment they're diagnosed, and while it seems the conditions at the hospital were humane, it was crowded and generally not a happy place.

By 383 the staff have been replaced multiple times as they too get sick, and the conditions at the compound were degenerating by sheer number of patients vs number of healthy staff. It got dirty and the food rations were a bit tight, but it wasn't any sort of horrible place where people died. It was just overcrowded and understaffed, for the most part. There's notes about how any animals or even inanimate objects that come into contact with the sick also lose expression and colour.

The last of the records will be notice that there's no more room in the hospital and no successful treatment or cure, so everyone is going back to the city and shutting it down, by order of the gods. Essentially, the entire city is doomed to go grey, so they'll turn the city walls into the quarantine zone to try to protect the rest of the world.

The one other interesting thing in the records might be that in all of the individual patient records, one file (that seems like it was very thick) is missing. There's also mention in the general notes of "the Queen" being sick -- one of the earlier patients, even. Most record of her has been blacked out, however.

Aside from records, there's only one other interesting to be found during the day. A large room in the old laboratory building seems strangely personal inside, having couches, tables, and stacks of basic board games lying around. If the door to this room is closed, it will automatically lock, and within a few minutes anyone inside will start feeling... funny. Perhaps as an attempted treatment for the emotionless lethargy of the disease, the room is equipped to be air tight, and a dosage of an odourless, colourless, mood-improving gas released. The effect should be no more than a case of the giggles and a sharpening of the characters' sense of colour. The room will unlock after ten minutes or so of the gas being in effect, and the symptoms should wear off in an hour or two.

Beyond that, there isn't much to find besides a general spooky feeling. The attic storage floor of the hospital may contain bats, and there's signs of other animals nesting (rabbits, etc). The creepy atmosphere should make for interesting exploration though -- especially at night. Anyone inside after darkness falls should stay there. There my be the sounds of nearby wolves outside, but running into any is entirely optional and won't happen inside the buildings.

Each Doctor will be leading his own team, so if your characters will strictly be sticking to their team, make sure you note that in your starter or wait for your chosen Doctor to set things up for his team. You're also welcome to have your characters explore free-form with their friends or with strangers, so don't worry too much about structure! Have fun and go wild!

Comments

[occulthymns]

[Euri's wandering down the hall, peering through windowed doors. Unfortunately, most of them seem to lead down more halls.] Is this all hospitals are used for? Injuries?

[lethechained]

Well, um-- mostly, I think. [Naminé does a little glancing around herself.] Things that have to do with people's health, anyway, like-- diseases.

[occulthymns]

Ah! Yeah, sick people would definitely need a lot of fresh air, you're right.

[lethechained]

[Nod!] And-- even if they're not sick, just injured, sometimes people still... need to get out. Even if it's not very far, or for very long. [....]

[occulthymns]

Yeah! I'd probably snap if I had to be kept cooped up in a place like this.

[lethechained]

Mm.... It can be hard, being trapped in one place.

[occulthymns]

Has that ever happened to you? [She's asking casually, since this is actually a subject that despite being close to herself is one she doesn't mind discussing.]

[lethechained]

....

[The answer would obviously be a yes, even if she didn't finally nod.]

[occulthymns]

[That most definitely seems like a 'yes' to her. And not just a yes, a yes that also says 'I don't want to talk about it'.

Which is fine with Euri. She's actually got an idea that might help the other girl feel a little less awkward.]

I definitely had to deal with that! It's why I decided to become a bounty hunter. That way I'd be able to travel around and see all kinds of new places.

[lethechained]

--!

[A subject chance is definitely a welcome relief. It certainly helps her look at Euri more directly again.]

A bounty hunter?

[occulthymns]

Yeah! Getting paid to beat the crap out of criminals! It's pretty great.

[Even if she isn't actually that good at it....]

[lethechained]

But... didn't you say you were still learning to fight? [-- Except, wait....] ... Did you use magic, before?

[occulthymns]

Correct! Magic that stupid human criminals had no chance against, and Dog! He's my partner.

[lethechained]

--....

[Hold on--]

So... you're not human, then?

[occulthymns]

[Euri sounds confident in her next words, even if they aren't entirely true.]

Absolutely not! I'm a Witch.

[lethechained]

[The girl stops short.]

A witch--?

[occulthymns]

That's right! And not the stupid 'human-who-can-use-magic' imposter kind, either. I'm not human at all.~

[lethechained]

--....

[She pauses, watching Euri for a moment before turning away.]

You're... proud of it?

[occulthymns]

[Shit, did she say something wrong?]

Well... yeah! Why shouldn't I be?

[Aside from the fact that it's half a lie, of course.]

[lethechained]

Well--....

Are there... other witches, where you come from?

[occulthymns]

Of course! There are tons of other families, and towns, and there's the capital city that's made up of only Witches and Demons.

[lethechained]

I... see. [She seems to be thinking about this very hard.]

So you weren't alone.

[occulthymns]

No, I wasn't. [She's sobering a little, watching Namine for a few moments.]

What about you?

[lethechained]

-- Huh? Me?

[She's startled; was Euri asking about being alone or being... something else? Her reflex is to be a bit taken aback, mostly because the second of those things is an awkward subject, for Naminé. But surely Euri meant the other.]

... Do you mean, was I alone?

[occulthymns]

[She nods, despite being interested in answers for both. But she's learned quickly that if Namine isn't mentioning it there's a good chance it's too personal.]

Mhmm.