Who: EVERYONE
What: the
Fear Itself mingle log
When: Day 528-531 ( Oct. 21-28 )
Where: all across the city!
Rating: PG-13. Anything higher than that should be taken to a private log, please!
- Day 528 ( Oct. 21/22 )
- Not wasting a moment, Odin, Hel, and Heimdall will set out for Ginnungagap once again before dawn and the other gods will stand vigil at the city gates. The natives will filter into the streets, curious for all that news of Tyr's very existence is eye-opening for them and reverent for the prospect of a new deity among them. They will pass around candles to any that want one to hold lit for their patrons until the sunlight is high enough to blow the flames out, and then they will mill around seeking comfort in anyone around them, whether to give it or receive it in this strange time between hope and grieving.
By noon, a great rumbling will crackle across the sky like the beginnings of thunder, despite the thinly clouded skies. The air will grow heavy and acrid, almost choking to breathe, as a pressure builds across the city and across the land. Just as it begins to reach painful levels, the rumbling will finally crack as one stroke of lightning spiderwebs to fill the entire sky, backlit by the distant sound of a woman shrieking in pain or anger or agony. The scream dies down just as the light fades and the sky shifts back into blue, the clouds scattered and the pressure lifted. Either the storm has past, or it has just begun; there's no telling for now.
A few hours after that, a strong wave will wash over the city, rustling plants and loose materials, and the Travellers will feel their hearts pounding once too hard, near painfully as though they've just received a severe fright. It's similar to what happened when Freyr was resurrected, but stronger and twisted into something uncomfortable, almost nauseating. The feeling will pass in the next heartbeat and just before sundown, the three gods will return from their voyage to Ginnungagap; this time, bandages will be wrapped around Odin's head and covering his left eye, and his right middle finger will be missing to the knuckle, same as his left index when they returned from resurrecting Freyr. They will make way directly to the castle and the other gods will filter in behind them, so be sure to grab them quickly if you have any desire to speak to them before the coming storm.
By dusk, the Travellers will begin to feel a creeping sense of paranoia, as though there's someone watching them from nearby and flickering out of sight just before they can turn around to catch them in the act. Over the course of the evening, the paranoia will bud into a headache and an itch at the back of their minds, like a thought they can't shake but can't reach either. By twilight, they will start to hear indistinct whispers not unlike the start of the Dream a Little Dream event, but the name of this game is hallucinations.
This first night will begin with auditory hallucinations: as the Travellers attempt to prepare for sleep ( or after long enough of not sleeping ), the whispering a will morph into crisp, clear voices that might sound as though they're speaking over your shoulder or from behind the couch or maybe it's simply inside your head. The voices can be male or female, familiar or stranger, one or a dozen, it doesn't really matter. What matters is what they say. For this stage of the curse, you will hear these voices speaking your character's fear(s) aloud, almost taunting or goading in the clear spelling of them. The auditory hallucinations will not cease at any point throughout the night and may continue on throughout the rest of the event as you please!
- Day 529 ( Oct. 23/24 )
- Morning brings no relief from the strange sounds, and as the Travellers go about their day, the curse will evolve into visual hallucinations. They will imagine seeing the very thing(s) they fear happening right before their eyes, despite the fact that no such thing is happening at all. It will be like a waking dream, wherein they are conscious and aware but perceiving a different reality built around their innermost fears coming into fruition. Other characters and NPCs can be involved in these hallucinations, but they will not actually be happening; physical contact or very strong words might be able to snap someone out of their visions, or they might further fuel it. Feel free to play around with this. These hallucinations can happen as frequently / last for as long or as short / cycle between fears as you'd like, and can continue to happen until the end of the event.
The general paranoia and unease will continue to grow and the day will pass under constant headaches, like an unceasing pressure inside their heads that follows them around and flares up during any hallucinations. They will begin to feel uncomfortable in their own skin, almost dysphoric with the vague impression that something is wrong and that they themselves might just be the very thing that doesn't fit. Paired with the hallucinations of their fears coming to life, tensions will be running high and even the natives will be affected, keeping to themselves until whatever this is might pass.
- Day 530 ( Oct. 25/26 )
- By this day, the curse will advance to physical hallucinations. What this means is that your character's fear(s) will begin to manifest in real time, no longer a trick of the imagination but a tangible embodiment of their deep rooted fears. They will be able to interact with their imagined reality, and the hallucinations will interact right back; those witnessing your character's hallucinating will only see the character talking to air, but coming in physical contact with them will absorb them into the hallucination as well. This can be a means of breaking through the episode, or further fueling the delusion.
At this stage, the hallucinations will take on a strength of their own, and they will play to your character's fear(s) to try and draw them deeper into the delusion. They will try to convince you that this is reality, that there is no escape, and that you will end your days shrouded in this fear. These hallucinations can kill your character! They are physical, which means that even if other people can't see them, your character will very much feel the weight of them if they attack or draw you into them.
- Day 531 ( Oct. 27/28 )
- For the last day of this event, the curse will all come together to result in catatonic hallucinations. This stage is simple: your character will be awake but inert, incapable of moving or seeing past their delusions. They will be forced to watch their fears overwhelm them without any means of snapping out of it by themselves. If your character succumbs to this level of the curse, the only way to break the hallucination will be for someone else to talk them out of it. Again, more on this in the plot notes, as this curse is fairly complicated!
While the majority of the city is either comatose or fighting off ghosts, another wave of energy will pass through the city exactly as it had at the start of the event just before sundown. Plantlife will violently begin blooming, leaves and petals bursting into the wind and carrying across the entire city - and immediately afterwards, they will wither within seconds, shrivelling up and dying on the spot. Vines will rapidly start encroaching across the sides of buildings and across yards, thick tendrils attempting to overtake any available soil and the area around it. Rain will pick up as the city starts to feel lost beneath the general theme of decay, and as the sun is setting, a new face will be seen walking through the Gate of Fire.
Vines will sprout from his footsteps as he sweeps slowly into the city as though in a daze, the storm following him and increasing in strength the further he comes into the city. Travellers can attempt to approach him, but he will be wholly non-responsive, and the pressure in their heads from the curse's headaches will increase the closer they get to him until it becomes debilitating within arm's length.
His path will head in the direction of the castle, but before he makes even halfway there, Loki will be seen running through the streets ( followed closely behind by Thor and Heimdall ) directly towards the new arrival. He will not stop for anything, and anyone in the vicinity at the time can see him use the full force of his running start to punch this frightful stranger in the face. The blow will send him flying a few fair feet, where he will lay prone and unconscious; at this point, the curse will stop, and the three gods will drag the body into the castle without a word. Explanations will have to wait For now, there's some cleaning up to do.
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OOC NOTES: This is the mingle log for the
Fear Itself event! NPCs will be available for interaction on the first day in the log header below. Please put [OPEN/CLOSED] along with the time/location of your character in the title of your comment. Let us know if you have any questions! ]