abraxaslogs | EVENT #16: THE ISLAND

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EVENT #16: THE ISLAND - IC INVESTIGATION LOG

Event #16 - The Island

OOC event plotting | wintertide event log

As requested, the Summoned from all three nations will be allowed to revisit the island where the abductions, experiments, and subsquent escape occurred nearly one year ago. Officials will send representatives on this trip: Jolene Sybell of Thorne, Reva Hym of the Free Cities, and Isar Hart of Solvunn. Although they won't be available for private conversations, they're there to lead the expedition and answer any questions you have.

The excursion will take place on DECEMBER 29, after the Singularity and all magic has returned to full strength. A portal will take you directly to the island, where you'll have 48 hours to accomplish what you need. Tents will be set up on the surface for resting.

For the main Wintertide Event Log, click HERE.

The Expedition

CW: Disturbing imagery (text and visual), death, folk and body horror, other dark themes.

At the start of December, officials will inform each Summoned Conclave that their request has been granted. You'll receive a letter detailing the date and time, as well as instructions on where to take the portal. When you step through the portal, you'll land directly on the island.

The expedition carries risks. Representatives have scouted the area beforehand to ensure its relative safety, but considering the cave's collapse and its flooded areas, they can't make promises. You're advised to bring personal weapons and protective equipment and are told to dress warmly. Be sure you can handle some hiking.

You'll see an unusual figure join the expedition. She'll introduce herself as Lorelai. If you're from Solvunn or were one of the Lost, you might recognize her.

◎ All characters are welcome to participate, including new arrivals. You do not need to have taken part in Event 12 to make this trip. However, if your character was not part of Event 12, they'll need to tell officials why they want to join. As long as the explanation is reasonable, such as wanting to help recover bodies, they'll be allowed to go.

◎ To learn more about Lorelai and interact with her, see the Investigations section.

Exploration

Island Surface

Above ground, the island is muddy and wet, and the temperature is cold. Where the ground hasn't turned to a bog, the dirt has hardened from frost. Trees show signs of the same blackened rot that was present during former investigations. The air is thick with a dark presence that leaves a strange grimy sensation over your skin. The more sensitive you are to magic or the Singularity, the stronger the feeling.

Desiccated corpses drained of life, both animal and human, litter the ground. Some animal carcasses - especially birds - are fresher than others, suggesting they died recently. Although many months have passed, it seems time has not been enough to help the island recover.

Follow the faction representatives. After a short trek, you reach the mouth of the cave. Here, a mangled mass of crushed bats and birds lay at the tunnel's mouth. A dried, bloodied residue sticks to the surrounding rock walls with bits of bone on the ground, as if a body was spread into a paste around the area.

Collapsed Cavern (Pit)

To descend into the cave, you'll need to navigate the tunnels. Some of them have collapsed, so be careful of potential rockslides and falling boulders. The worst of the blockage has been removed, but some areas still need you to clear the way by hauling off the rocks. Make sure you don't slip or fall - or worse, cause another collapse.

When you finally reach the pit deep beneath the earth, remnants of the horrors within confront you. The smell of death, rot, and unidentifiable herbs is overwhelming. Scattered at your feet are what's left of the blackened corn that some of you subsisted on. Fungal growths have sprouted in their place, pulsing and glowing.

The bulbous organic growths that once confined its captives have deflated into a gelatinous mass, its digestive fluids having eaten itself from the inside out. Dissolved corpses can be found still trapped under the mass, their skeletal remains rubbery to the touch. Other bodies appear to have succumbed to terrible lesions. Some were consumed so thoroughly that they became bizarre humanoid roots. Others still show signs of having been crushed under a massive beast.

Four disturbing statues are spread out across the area. The melted wax candles - now unlit - suggest they're shrines of some kind. All four shrines are severely damaged. The intestinal mace carried by one is curiously missing.

You might remember exactly what happened here or you can ask a Summoned who was there for details - if they're willing to talk about it.

Underwater

The western end of the island suddenly ends in a series of fresh jagged cliffs, so new that the erosion of water has yet to smooth the edges. A swirling whirlpool appears to have torn a large section of the island into the depths, washing away sins and secrets both...or most of them. Barnacles have formed on the rocky ledges. More disconcerting are the bloated bodies in various states of decay and mutilation that have risen to the surface.

You'll be able to help gather those remains or dive into the water to investigate what lies beneath. Officials - and the Summoned who were here - will be able to tell you that an altar once sat in this area where the terrible rituals took place.

Key Tasks

Hidden Threats

Two major threats have survived the island's collapse:

The bone serpent, a creature whose sharp-spiked legs grabbed many unfortunate victims from the pit. With a substantially decreased territory, the bone serpent has become more aggressive and territorial. It's missing one limb while its other legs show signs of damage or scarring. It attacks wildly, relying on its massive size and strength to overcome its opponents, and hides within the dark depths above. The only warning signs it leaves are the carcasses of its prey. It'll require multiple people to take it down.

The ceiling monster. Its claws and blood are corrosive, and removing its head will disturb the swollen sack on its neck to cause a similar explosion. Due to its ability to respawn when killed, the captive Summoned trapped the beast in a narrow tunnel. With the cave's collapse, it's now loose once more. You're advised to lure it into a trap designed by Free Cities scientists, where the creature can be set ablaze to prevent it from regenerating, ending its reign of terror for good.
Mages have set up a protective barrier to keep the creatures out, but it won't hold forever. Guttural screams and explosions of magic rumble the ground and air after each attempt to break through. You should act quickly to make sure the situation doesn't worsen.

For a general sense of timing, players can assume both threats are properly dispatched 24 hours into the excursion.

Uncovering Remains

Due to the haste of the rescue mission, exacerbated by the rapidly flooding cave, only the living could be extracted at the time. Now, you've returned for the dead. Many of the bodies are in a disturbing state as described above under Collapsed Covern - not just from decay but from something that appears to have been done to them before their deaths.

Few of the bodies can be easily identified and not all of them are on the ground, either. Some are up on the high ledges, which you can reach by climbing up using climbing rope that's provided. Scattered bones or limbs may need reconstruction or to be matched upon return. You can also recover small objects such as jewelry or other innocuous possessions that weren't taken from the captives.

Your task is to collect everything you can. Luckily, you won't need to handle the corpses themselves. Officials will send along attendants who will do the job for you to ensure everything is properly contained. You simply need to direct them to the area.

Purification

Each faction is focused on one of three hazards on the island. Thorne wants to dispel all traces of corrupted magic, Solvunn wishes to cleanse the destroyed shrines to ensure no other dangerous entities remain within, and the Free Cities aims to remove all contaminants. Formally, you're charged with helping your faction with their task, but no one will stop you from pitching in elsewhere.

This assignment will occur at the end of the expedition, once all investigations and exploration are completed.

Dispelling
Thorne will provide a pouch of small jelly-like orbs the size of marbles. The orbs are clear and pre-enchanted. Your job is to place them around the island where they'll begin absorbing unstable magicks. Once absorbed, the orbs will change into different colors. Collect and sort each orb by color. Additionally, you'll need to guard the orbs from curious or hungry critters on the island. Rodents, lizards, and palm-sized beetles may try to snatch what they believe is a tasty berry. Critters who consume a ball will explode into a gory splatter. It's not dangerous, but it can get a bit gooey, so you'll want to avoid bursting too many lizards or beetles.

Cleansing
Solvunn will ask you to perform a cleansing rite used for places of worship fallen under dark forces. You'll be given a pot containing a red substance and brushes made from twigs harvested from the island. You'll paint eye-shaped runes on and around the shrines to call upon the Cardinal God known as Misrklen, Patron of the Unstained. His presence is marked by a distinct fizz or hiss, followed by a popping that grows louder and louder. Solvunn's Elders will perform a chant until the ritual is complete and all of the red substance is absorbed into the ground.

Decontamination
The Free Cities has determined the most thorough way of removing hazards is to burn them. You'll be given a pistol-sized flamethrower and a thick gel to spread on each item to ensure the flames don't spread out of control. Once the gel is consumed, the fire will naturally go out. Main hazards to burn are the deflated organic bulbs, the rotted corn, any odd fungal growths, and parts belonging to defeated monsters. The flamethrowers are prone to overheating, so be sure to give it a few minutes to cool down every once in awhile. Otherwise, you might risk minor burns to your hands.

Investigations

As you explore the cave and its submerged sections, you might be interested in interacting with some of the things in your environment. In particular, the shrines, the mysterious woman named Lorelai, and the submerged altar stands out to you.

Characters can investigate or interact with any of the items provided in whatever way you want: poke it, smash it, try to talk to it or use your abilities on it (within reason!). We'll do our best to make sure every interaction yields something interesting.

See here and here for examples of how investigations and interactions work. The ones available on this log will play out on a smaller scale.

Shrines | Interact

The shrines, as described above, are situated around the pit. Stained with wax and blood, they no longer emit any strange energies or whispering voices. All of the magic contained within is now gone. You might recall that unlocking the shrines unleashed an enormous creature, causing the cave to collapse as it fled. It was last seen disappearing into the ocean, but where is it now? Your answer might lie in the shrines that once trapped it. Though broken and missing pieces, you can attempt to engage with each shrine such as relighting the candles, using magic you possess, or anything you can think of. You can also coordinate with others to test something on all four shrines at the same time.

Lorelai ('Hydnellia') | Interact

Originally called Hydnellia, Lorelai is a former Acolyte who, along with her brother, helped the Summoned escape. The Summoned agreed to let her and her brother return to the Tertiary Settlement where they live in their old home. She is the only non-Summoned survivor of Josselyn's ritual experiments. Lorelai has requested to join the trip to find closure and help recover bodies from her community. She is quiet and polite, and very grateful that she's been given the chance to make a new life. You can speak to her at any point.

The Altar | Interact

Beneath the water lies an altar that's now broken into pieces. To reach it, breathing enchantments will be provided that'll allow you to swim and see beneath the water, as well as protect you from any contaminants. You'll need to dive a distance down, but not too far - about 30 feet. Those held in the room during their captivity might recall a disfigured woman inside the mouth of the altar. What happened to her since is unknown. Perhaps you might try to find out?

A Decision

After the excursion has concluded, the Summoned will be sent home to their respective nations. Conclave representations can call a meeting to discuss the results of their investigations and what steps might be next. They can do this using any method they prefer, whether that be in-person, in the Horizon, or using the Network.

Most importantly, Summoned who were part of the abduction incident, as either the Lost or the Spared, will be asked to decide if they want to raze the island or restore it.

◎ Razing the island will strip it of all growth. This has the benefit of ensuring no corrupted creatures or flora can grow on it again, but will prevent nature from reclaiming it and will leave the area barren for many decades.

◎ Restoring the island will stimulate the regrowth of healthy vegetation and wildlife. This has the benefit of allowing the biome to flourish once more with nature, but may risk the growth of corrupted flora that needs to be removed every so often.

Officials will allow the Summoned affected by this incident to choose, including those who didn't return to the island. You'll be able to accompany officials to execute the decision made. Individuals in each faction can vote to support one of the two choices. The majority vote will be the decision that reflects the Summoned in that faction as a whole. Officials will implement the option with the support of 2 out of 3 factions.

Vote HERE by December 31 at 11:59 ET.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

They had never talked about what happened down here. Once it was over, Wilhelm wanted to just keep the whole thing buried. Only, it wasn't really over, and it was never properly put to rest. What happened ambles on, like a corpse, in the way he's afraid of the dark and the way he's on alert every time he leaves the castle walls. It leaves its mark in softer, subtler ways too, in the way he feels safer around Claude. When the man comes to stand by the water with him, he subconciously shuffles closer.

His going here is not about digging up the grave another time; it's about destroying the grave so that what it holds won't haunt him anymore.

"If it wasn't underwater, I'd burn it down."

Never mind the investigations that are still underway. The questions he has can't be answered by whatever has been left behind.

The slight movement at his side is noted in the mildly abstract way Claude tracks most things within his peripheral vision, but it doesn't sink in that Wilhelm's moved closer until he looks away from the water where his gaze drifted after speaking and realizes some of the distance between them's disappeared. Not that he minds; it's solidarity in being here together again, terrible as the place is. But it doesn't have to remain so forever, he thinks, even if he wants nothing more than to also burn it down.

"You and me both," is what Claude mutters at first, absently kicking a rock near his feet to send it tumbling down towards the crevice leading to what'd once housed a living hell somehow even worse than the hell within the greater area of the cavern. It holds nothing but rumble now, nothing but what's best left sealed behind the collapse, and nothing he wants to see again up close. If only the memories were quite so easy to erase.

It's with that in mind that he looks out to the horizon for a moment to give himself something to consider besides the remains of those below yet to be retrieved. To find something positive to focus on as he so often does in times of strife feels disingenuous now, though he's also not certain he wants to press upon old wounds in more detail without Wilhelm alluding to them first. Which doesn't eliminate everything to ask, starting with this. "Why'd you choose to come back here?"

This is not the time and place for finding the silver lining: the silver lining is just the fact that they're alive at all, and to say that is to dismiss everything they endured down here. Here and now is for confronting it. Looking it in the eye and refusing to run. Wilhelm holds onto Claude's question for a moment, turning it over with hands burrowed in his pockets and gaze sinking in the dark waters.

"I guess...it's because I was afraid." His eyes pinch shut as he shakes his head. "I am afraid still."

He knows it doesn't make sense. He's not explaining it right. Letting go of a sigh, he now flicks a look to Claude.

"And I'm tired of it. I don't want to be that way anymore."

Claude catches the look sent his way from the corner of his eye and turns his head enough to regard Wilhelm in more than a glance this time, studying the other as he explains. The sigh seems like it says that there's something not fully expressed, but it feels complete enough to him.

"I know what you mean." The simplest place to start while he considers how to segue that into what he wants to say, though much like Wilhelm it feels like what he does find to say still isn't enough. It's also something he doesn't want to overshadow what Wilhelm feels here when it's meant to be support, and that requires a few more moments of thinking.

"It's the same reason I came back here. I wanted to see it again - much as anyone can want to see this place, that is - to try to... remember something besides what happened here, I guess. There's no forgetting what did happen, but," with a nudge of his shoulder to Wilhelm's, "neither of us are still alone here."

True as it is, it feels a bit too much like platitudes when that's not what he means to offer. There's no glossing over any of this, and it's with that in mind that Claude finally also says, "For what it's worth. Being afraid, feeling like you're stuck in some kind of uncertainty of what you'd lived before this happened and how to go forward from there... what I lived through before beyond the war wasn't this but there were other things as painful. What I wish someone had told me then is it's alright to not be alright after it."

It's alright to not be alright after it. The words sink in and, like pebbles striking water, send ripples through him. He has tried to be strong by keeping the lid on what happened here. If he could just beat back the memories every time they rose up with snapping jaws, they would eventually lie still. If he could just stay silent about it, the whole ordeal would eventually erase itself from history. But almost a year later, it's all as fresh and raw as it ever was.

And there's a part of him that, no matter how much he trains his body with Kyle, still feels weak. A part of him that, no matter how he masters his magic, still feels helpless. Like everything is out of his control.

Tears prick his eyes. He holds himself with arms crossed over his chest.

"I don't understand why this had to happen. Or...or how they could do this. How could they see us suffering so much, hear us screaming in pain, and—" He sucks in a sharp breath as his voice wobbles. Quick knuckles swipe away a tear. "Letting all those people just die? How the fuck could they not even care? I don't understand."

Wilhelm folds in on himself and Claude watches in concern to see what it's from - not that all of this wouldn't be an entirely valid answer. If he were the type to reach out and offer a hug as comfort this would be a time for it, if it would be welcomed. But he can offer support from where he stands here next to Wilhelm looking at a place which threatened to end them both and where there aren't any easy answers to serve as a salve to the less visible wounds it left behind.

"I don't understand how they could think any of this was right either. To say what they did was absolutely horrifying isn't a strong enough description for what happened before and after we arrived, and same for what it came to so we could escape." Despite his earlier thoughts, Claude does reach out to rest a hand on Wilhelm's shoulder in a steadying grasp. "Not having the right words to describe it - or all of this - it doesn't make the fact that you and I plus so many others are still trying to come to terms with this still something any less heavy to carry."

A pause where he watches as a group working nearby works to bring the remains they've gathered back to be catalogued, and someone else walks by with what was someone's belongings once waiting to be returned. Another reminder of what they'd gone through - and been the ones considered lucky to have survived it.

"What they did was wrong in every sense of the word. If there's somewhere you want to burn down, we'll do it together. It's the least this place deserves."

He welcomes Claude's steady hand on his shoulder. Letting go of the wool of his coat, where his fingers are knotted, he grasps at that hand. Something warmer to hold onto. Claude hadn't been able to protect him from...whatever happened to them in that room with the altar, but he hadn't abandoned Wilhelm to it — he'd endured it beside him. What he can remember from that night, most of which is lost in a dark haze in his memory, is Claude's hand on his shoulder just like this as they stumbled onward.

"It's all this place deserves."

The words cut sharply despite the thickness of his voice. His eyes fix on the water, murky with mud and rot.

"I don't even remember what they did to us down there," he admits quietly. The altar — does he only remember it because of what others had said? Somehow, even forgetting wasn't enough to heal the hurt. What if nothing is ever going to be enough?

At that he hums his agreement. Unlike the decision of what to do with the acolytes who remained steadfast in their beliefs which had wreaked so much horror upon them, this decision was easy. The only right thing to do in Claude's mind is to make sure nothing can thrive on this place. That there's nothing for anyone to return to, and nothing left to be looked for if anyone tries to look.

It's also, just maybe, his own hope that leaving it behind as a shell of what it might've once been before their imprisonment that it'll be enough to replace what's etched in his memory and put it to as close to rest as possible.

And it's with that in mind that it's immediately on the tip of his tongue to suggest that Wilhelm's better off not knowing. In the same instant he knows that's not necessarily true. A fear of the unknown, of what might be lurking in shadows, of his mind inventing things to fill in the gaps where he had no knowledge of something happening - all things Claude's too painfully familiar with and after he grasps Wilhelm's hand he squeezes it for more reassurance.

"Do you want to know?" That's not a question he asks lightly after a small stretch of silence passes where he debates what to say and lands on this. "Someday, I mean, if not now. I won't pretend that knowing helps, but I know what it feels like to not and what that can do in its place."

Does he want to know? It bothers him, like an itch under his skin, that something happened to him and he can't remember it. In the same way it bothers him that even long after the last spore was excised, and the scars all faded, and Josselyn was executed, some remnant of what they did to him still sticks. But—

"I don't know. What good would it do me?"

There's a splash nearby as someone emerges from the water, with a piece of someone else's body in tow. Wilhelm's eyes drift to the row of bloated corpses laid out a short distance from the water's edge, all covered in tarps and awaiting transport. Here a tangle of matted hair spills out, there a cold grey foot. The stillness hurts his heart. He can't describe it, but there's a feeling you get when you look at a body and know that the person who used to inhabit it isn't there anymore.

"It's not like I can do anything about it now. I...I survived. This whole place is going to be destroyed. What more can I do?"

"I wish I could promise that knowing would make it better somehow, but it has just as many problems as not knowing. And you're right, too, that regardless of what this was - we made it out."

Physically, at least; there's no denying his grip on Wilhelm's shoulder and hand tightens just a bit when all it takes is to look around them to see the mental parts they still have with them. The emotional part - one he can vouch for taking much longer to heal. For this, and for the past.

"You find a way to carry it without letting it consume you, and in whatever way that it means for you. In the past, what it meant for me was finding something worth fighting for to not let it define me. Or not completely define me because there's no forgetting some of it, and this is much the same.

"But what we can do right here is get through being back here together since neither one of us is alone in that, and same for figuring it out later. I didn't leave you the, and I won't now."

You find a way to carry it without letting it consume you. He's been carrying it around — this place and all its shadows — for almost a year now, and it never feels any lighter. It never feels any smaller. But maybe coming back here is just the first step in learning how to bear the burden better.

Wilhelm hopes so.

"So it's just one big, long fight," he finally says. Weary, but not defeated.

The thing is, he's learning how to fight. How to punch and kick and thrash and keeping going no matter how hard it is. Right now, there's a part of him that wants to fold in on himself and bawl his eyes out over everything that happened here. But there's another part of him that accepts...he can do more. He has to do more.

It's not until Wilhelm says something far more direct and a good summarization of what all he'd said that Claude winces just a little by scrunching up one side of his face, since - that's a good way of putting it. A better one, really, though it's another second before he nods slowly in agreement.

"Like all things worth fighting for, yes," he answers, looking out to their surroundings again. "Whether that's yourself or the world around you, and where to go from there once something happens that puts you in a place to have to deal with something whether you want it or not. In this case I think I can safely say none of us wanted this, but I meant what I said about not being alone. If you ever want to talk about this at any time, I'll be there whenever you need it."

That's part of being here, or so he hopes not just for himself but also for Wilhelm. It's why Claude looks back to Wilhelm again, and nods back towards where the tools await. "Let's find something to burn this down after all. From all those years of when I'd plot revenge, I can tell you destroying something might not be a permanent solution but it does feel pretty good as a step forward."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT #16: THE ISLAND - IC INVESTIGATION LOG

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