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heartstorage) wrote2023-09-16 02:15 pm
October Horror Event Log
October Horror Event Log
TRIGGER WARNING: This event features heavy use of psychological manipulation, drugging, isolation, paranoia and violent death. Please proceed with caution.
This side of the plot requires sign-ups to participate. Please head here to sign up. Sign-ups close October 9th and characters must be at least 18 years of age.
We Are Not Who We ArePerhaps you were taken in your sleep. Perhaps you were wide awake and aware, suddenly finding yourself somewhere else in the blink of an eye. Like an unknown hand had reached for you and scooped you up into the ether. However it happened, on the morning of October 7th, you are no longer where you were. You find yourself inside a log cabin, with no memory of how you got here at all. One small consolation is that you are not alone. A small group of other app users are here with you, all equally confused and clueless as to how they got here. You will also find none of your abilities work. Like the switch in your mind that lets you access these powers has been switched off. You are all as baseline as can be.
You will find a brand on your arm, as have all your companions. None of you have any idea how you got them, but they all have one of five possible designations: The Athlete, The Promiscuous, The Scholar, The Fool and The Virgin. There's no explanation as to what they mean just yet. With nothing else to do, it's time to explore this strange place you've been dumped in. The cabin itself is pretty standard, at first glance. A few animal traps and shotguns on the wall, some trophies- it looks like a regular hunter's cabin. The fridge is fully stocked with food, and the water and electricity are on. Sure, there's a few spooky-ass paintings on the wall, and okay, so the books in the bookshelves are all on monsters and the occult and yeah, the two-way mirror crossing some of the bedrooms is creepy and invasive, but otherwise it's just like any cabin you'd find in the woods. If you venture outside, you will find yourself in the woods- though not any woods you recognize in Kaisou itself. One of the pathways from the cabin leads to a small lake with a little boat deck (sadly without a boat) and another leads to a spooky-looking cave system which leads into what looks like a mine. Large valleys and cliff edges block off most means of wandering too far, and the one road you can find will only take you about a mile away from the cabin. After that, you hit an invisible force field. When touched, it flashes up in a honeycomb pattern. Nothing can come in, nothing can come out. Something - or someone - is keeping you here.
The invisible hand keeping you is also influencing your actions- you might not realise it at first, but it's there, silent and unforgiving. The food you eat, the water you drink, and even the air you breathe will be drugged to override your common sense and make you act more like the roles you have been designated. Athletes become more aggressive, Promiscuous folks become more flirtatious, Scholars retreat into their books, Fools can't take anything seriously, and Virgins become meeker. You'll be more inclined to explore dangerous areas, split up, investigate strange noises, or fall into equally foolhardy horror movie clichés.
As dusk begins to fall, the door to the cellar in the cabin, once locked shut, dramatically opens with a bang. Stepping down into it, you find a veritable treasure trove of knick-knacks. Old music boxes, old-looking jewelery, puzzles and journals galore, all just begging to be touched and looked at. No matter what, the item that gets inevitably picked up and looked at properly first is a wooden totem. Nothing seems to happen when the totem is touched, nothing to suggest that your nightmare has well and truly started. But the knock at the door? Well- that sure does.
Beware the HarbingerAt the door is an equally tired and nervous-looking man who introduces himself as Marty. He shoulders his way in, explaining that he's your Harbinger. That he was once in your place, and lost almost everyone and everything dear to him, thanks to these fucksticks. He steps in front of one of the animal heads, waving a hand slowly at it, before slowly flipping it the bird.
He explains that they have been brought here by a group known as The Facility - that every year, around the world, they gather a group of people together for ritual sacrifice, to appease The Ancient Ones- the things nightmares come from. If they're not appeased, "well, that's it y'know, end of the world, bye-bye everything." He was part of one such group, and the world nearly did end- it got real hairy there for a while- but the Facility managed to cut a deal- claiming him to have a metaphorical death- trapping him here to give the 411 on any other unlucky bastards they got from now until eternity. They have four days- more than what was once allowed- the Ancient Ones can't be accused of not moving with the times. He does admit that he's never seen The Facility take anyone from off-world before. That's new.
Marty advises that the brands on their arm is how the Facility has judged them - if you were already curious about how you've been acting, he confirms that it's the Facility's work. They're watching and influencing everything. He tells you it used to be that the Promiscuous had to die first, but thankfully, they've moved on from that. "It took me forever to get them to change the name into something less shitty, you guys have NO idea," he'll say. He will warn that only the Virgins have an optional death. Virgins might actually get through this alive - but they have to suffer, and there are some very loose definitions of what "still alive" can mean. The Virgin in his group is a werewolf now, which isn't super fun for her.
Finally, he tells you that you chose The Totem, so congrats, he hates that one. He hopes that you're ready to basically not sleep at night, because those things don't let up once the sun's down. He can't help much - he's not a fighter, after all, and you can't really fight them anyway, but he'll give some helpful hints: don't move, guns will only slow them down, and the only thing that'll kill them is fire. He stresses that you really shouldn't go into the fucking mines, but already, a part of your mind is telling you that you really want to go into the fucking mines. With that, Marty turns to go - the sun is almost gone and he wants to get the holy fuck away and hole up with Dana before the shit hits the fan. He gives you a sad look as he leaves, saying he really is sorry, and he wishes this could be different. Maybe this time it might be? But he doubts it.
...And Which One Will DieJust as Marty had warned, as soon as the sun dips below the horizon and the world is coated in darkness, things kick into high dear. You hear cries, at first- screeching, otherworldly noises that echo through the woods, coming closer and closer. At some point, the things making those noises reach the cabin, and you can hear claws skittering up the walls and along the roof as they circle their prey. They will smash windows to get inside- neither inside nor outside the cabin seems like a safe bet.
The creatures who attack you are gangly, misshapen things. They could have been considered human, once, but they certainly aren't now. Their limbs are too long, with razor-sharp claws and teeth that look like they'd be better suited to a shark than a human skull. They are EXTREMELY fast and strong- they move in quick, jerky movements and certainly have the upper arm strength to rip a person's head clean off if they so desire. If one of them catches you, your chances of survival are minimal at best. Marty's advice does hold firm, though. Their vision is based on movement. If you manage to stay stock still, they will pass you by- but the slightest of movements will bring them down upon you. Hope you were good at playing statues when you were a kid. You can use the guns on the wall to try and protect yourself, but they will only be a temporary solution. Fire really is the only way to kill these things. They will attack relentlessly all night, hunting and chasing anyone unfortunate enough to catch their eye. When dawn finally breaks, however, race off, hissing and screeching into those mines. Anyone they kill, they drag along with them.
As if these things weren't nightmarish enough, they are also smart enough to lay traps for the unwary. They have an uncanny ability to mimic voices. Anyone who managed to survive the first onslaught of these things might find themselves being led off towards the sounds of a fallen friend- the helpful persuasions of the Facility nudging them along- only to find one of the creatures leaping out to attack.
You might even survive an attack with only a bite. However, anyone who's horror genre-savvy enough might find that deeply worrying. What if it turns them into one of those things? They were blatantly human once, after all. If any Scholars are left alive, they might be able to search through the books in the cabin to find that the bite does nothing- but until that information is discovered, you might as well be living with a ticking timebomb, with the Facility upping your anxiety and paranoia all the way. After all, they don't care if it's the monsters or someone else that kills their sacrifices. Only that they die. The group turning on each other is just what they'd want.
This We Offer in Fear and HumilityAnd so, that's how it goes. Night after night, for four days. The relentless onslaught of the creatures at night, with the day being the only promise of rest. Even then, you will be pushed and prodded by the Facility as they try to deprive you of sleep and sense. The longer this goes on, the more tense and irritable you become. The harder it is to concentrate, to make smart decisions. You can only run on adrenaline for so long, after all.
Perhaps, though, you decided to finally brave those mines. Sure, Marty said to stay away, and it's where the damn things are nesting, but maybe an answer to survival is down there. If you are brave enough to venture forth, you will be rewarded. The mines provide a treasure trove to get you through this nightmare. Flamethrowers can be found on odd tables or hung up, something you can use to directly attack the things hunting you. Dynamite, too, is in abundance. It will certainly get rid of the creatures, but it will also get rid of you, too, should you be caught in the blast. Use it wisely. You will also find the bodies of your lost friends here, hanging upside down from the ceiling like meat in a cold storage unit- these things seem to be keeping them to eat later. Naturally, the mines are crawling with the creatures. They have less space to move here, but it won't stop them hunting you, and this deep in the earth, the sun's rays can't get to them. They can hunt you any time of the day.
It's the night of the fourth day when things finally change. If there are still non-Virgin survivors, the Ancient Ones are pissed about it, and the whole woods tremble with earthquakes. Even more of those creatures seem to be out than usual, in a last desperate attempt to get the job done before the deadline. Just when it seems like the odds are truly, completely, and unwinnably stacked against you, you hear a voice over a tannoy hidden somewhere in the trees. It's Marty, who's been notably absent since his cryptic warning. Get on the main road north! I got a crazy idea!!!" If you follow this request, you can find him hammering on the... inside of a tree? Wires and cables are spilling out of it, so it's definitely not a real tree. A huge werewolf stands beside him, snarling and beating back any of the creatures trying to take him down as well. He yells over the din, saying he figured out how to hack into the Facility's mainframe - he can bring the forcefield down, just for a few seconds. You need to haul ass out, like, now. He offers you a rueful smile as he flips the switch - maybe this time he can fuck these guys over properly, maybe it's about time this particular world ended. As promised, the honeycomb pattern vanishes, leaving the gate back to Kaisou open. Get the hell out now, as the ground cracks below you- the screaming yells of the Ancient Ones rising up to snuff this world out like a candle. Time to leave.
Once you get through the gate, come out into Brick Alley- the trendy hipster stores with their advertisements for pumpkin-spice-whatevers a far cry from the horrors you've just experienced. The gate TREMBLES with the rage of the Ancient Ones- but as Marty said, it could only hold for a few seconds. As soon as everyone falls out of it, the gate crumples in on itself, gone forever- a slight crack on the pavement the only mark of where it once was. Anyone who died is immediately resurrected on the other side, their injuries healed- or at least, their physical ones. Much like when they visited The Constant, there are no penalties for death this time. It seems whatever keeps Kaisou ticking decided they had suffered enough. Anyone who wasn't dragged into this nightmare will have whatever hold the Facility had on them drop- whatever may have kept some of them from looking for their loved ones will abruptly realize how drastic their absence was. Now it's just a case of figuring out how to heal from this mess.
The original OOC plotting post for this event can be found here. Players who have been designated for death can decide how they want their character to die so long as it's on the right day.