EVENT #8: MÆRE - IC POST (MAIN EVENT)

[abraxasmods]

Event #8 - Mære

go to the OOC event info and plotting post or the IC faction intervention post.

---

Sleep can be a welcome escape from the daily toils of life. No matter one's magical affinity or physical prowess, many succumb to the need eventually. While some find refuge in it, others prefer to avoid sleep for as long as they can, fearing what lurks in the corners. For the latter, perhaps what happens next is just part of their nightly struggle.

Beginning on the night of JUNE 18, characters will be met with unsettling dreams and their worst nightmares. It will build slowly over the course of the following week as manifestations of their deepest fears and regrets make themselves known.

Night Walk

How does it start? Familiar, perhaps: experienced before or a recognizable concoction of events and feelings. Your old home, a town you've visited, a room you met an old friend in, a corridor where you faced off with a great foe, or a mosaic of the different pieces of your life. You don't yet sense danger. It's safe, you think. Or alternatively: you are consumed immediately by an unsettling feeling, finding yourself in a darkened room you don't recognize, falling endlessly, unable to move, already wounded in the middle of nowhere, or the growl of an animal. Whatever the recreated vista, you slowly get the distinct sense that you are not alone.

As you explore your dreamscape, this sense does not leave you. You may find a shadow looming over you, catch something in the corner of your eye, hear a sound far off in the distance. Wherever you turn, you seem to just miss it. Whether this unsettles you or not will vary, but you will remember this come the morning. If you are one of the lucky ones, it all ends here. Strange dreams are nothing unusual. Those happen now and again. But for many others this is just the beginning.

The Entity

If you are among those less fortunate, you will find yourself plunged into the same dream. It may not be the next night. Perhaps it happens later, when you're napping in the afternoon, or a few nights afterwards when you've already forgotten all about it. Regardless, it returns to you. The stage might be different, the details shifted, but the feeling of something watching remains. In your absence, it only seems to have grown. Each time you return to this singular dream world, its presence grows ever stronger. Oppressive, suffocating, you know you are being hunted.

When you finally see it, you know exactly what it is. The Entity that hunts you is born out of your subconscious itself, your deepest fears and traumas given form. A twisted manifestation of unshakeable guilt, a creature or foe you have fought with once before, a person you may have loved so dearly now turned against you - the sight of it chills your blood and you know in your heart that it is here for you.

The Guest

Should fate twist further, you might not be the only one. Instead, you'll find other Summoned with you. They might also be running from a presence of their own or maybe they're merely unlucky enough to have fallen into the path of yours. Whatever it is, they too will bear witness to that which haunts you - or you will see what haunts them, as well. Your respective dreamscapes might meld together, shift and change, or one might take over the other completely.

Though it's likely you won't realize you're trapped inside a dream, that doesn't mean you can't fight back. Gather your courage to face down your fears or try to help those you find yourself in the company of - you might just find your surroundings steadily shifting in your favor. A weapon here, a pathway opening there, a wooden door that transforms into steel. Be careful, though: should your awareness grow that things aren't real, the world will try to consume those thoughts and you within it, twisting things further in an attempt to make you forget that you're dreaming.

The Imprint

Luckily, you do eventually wake - unsettled, damp with sweat, but at least you're safe. It was only a dream, wasn't it? For some, that might be the case. For others, you'll start to hear the sounds of the dream in the waking world, glimpse the shadow of the Entity in a reflection, feel a breath against your neck. Marks or injuries might also follow you into the physical world: dirt staining your palms from where you fell, a cut from where you were struck, dampness in your hair from the rain. These occurrences could be obvious, but they might also be so minor you feel like your mind is playing tricks.

Still - what if it isn't merely a dream? As the week goes on, whether you experience the phenomenon for yourself or not, you'll most certainly hear of it happening to your friends, loved ones, neighbors. Word reaches you of fellow Summoned being stalked from the shadows, waking up with injuries they shouldn't have, possibly even suffering a near-fatal wound in their sleep. Clearly, there's more to this than uneasy visions in the night.

The Factions

While it is each Summoned who is the focus of their Entity's ire, they are not the only ones who seem aware of its movements. The factions will soon approach each Summoned with an offer: work with them to help contain the threat and aid the suffering of you and your friends - but the one thing they cannot explain is how they have come to know about the existence of the Entity.

Will you take the offer and try to convince your fellow Summoned this is a vital path to take? Or will your mistrust of those in power have you not only refusing, but trying to prevent others from making what you believe is a mistake?

The choice is yours, but the decision might impact more than just you this time.

A separate log located here will detail the reaction of the factions and so forth. You can tag in under the specific heading for each faction.

To thread out any arguments or conflict prior to participating, please do so in this event post. The IC Faction Intervention log should be only for those actively participating in the full process.

The Horizon

When dreams are no longer an escape, desperate souls might turn to the Horizon for safety - though they may remember that, previously, the Horizon was not safe at all.

It Follows

At first, the same doesn't seem to hold true. Things are quiet in the Horizon. There is no need for sleep or dreams here. You have full control over what's formed inside your domain. However, it doesn't take long for the remnants of that horrible dream to seep into your sanctuary. A field you grew may start to turn dark, becoming nightmarish corridors. Maybe the tower you placed so carefully begins to crumble, or perhaps the reflection you see of yourself in a lake isn't you at all. You will find that despite your best efforts, your Entity has followed you into Horizon and is corrupting your domain with it.

As menacing as the presence may be, the Entity will not be able to destroy other's domains. Within yours, though, it may twist the design to varying degrees, ruining carefully laid paths, staining blood on your walls, darkening what is most important to you no matter how much you might try to change it back. Conversely, its hold may only be strong enough to be a shadow in the corner of your eye. It all depends on the strength of your nightmares and how deeply its affected your mind.

Nonetheless, the message is clear: dreams are born of your mind and your mind is what the Horizon is formed from.

The Looking Glass

Whether you see the manifestation of your Entity in full or whether your domain is barely affected by its presence, all who enter the Horizon during the course of the week will find that they are once again plagued by a flash of a vision.

This is nothing like the glimpses into another's past, however. There are no headaches, no recognizable faces. This time, the vision will flicker in and out of focus like an old television trying to find the right signal, staticky and not quite clear at first. The flashes are brief, lasting only mere seconds, if that. In fact, at first, one might even mistake it for a trick of the mind. For some, this may be all they see. For others, it may return in another burst the next time they enter the Horizon, becoming clearer each time. It might appear as soon as you step in, or it might take an hour, two.

What you see will not be anything familiar. The scene itself will never change. It is a soundless meteoric picture. You may glimpse heavy winds stirring some sand, but you will not feel it on your skin nor hear the wind. You may see a flicker of the sea, but you will not smell the sea salt nor hear the crashing waves. All in all, this image which appears to you is abstract, strange, and impossible to understand in their absurdity - except for one part: the appearance of a single Arcana sign.

Intriguingly, this sign likely does not match your own. It might not even match anyone you know at all. It is an undeniable fixture, though, appearing emblazoned on the scene somewhere, not always in the same place, but always present: seared into the ground, carved on stone, scrawled on a page.

The six available images are below and each one is labeled with the Arcana sign your character will notice when they glimpse the scene. Choose any image you like, but only one may be selected. Characters do not need to be experiencing nightmares or the Entity to see these images.

As noted, the Arcanum on the image itself does not need to match your character's. At this time, there are no real details on what the Arcanum itself means or why it's appeared, though the possibilities are endless. Everyone in Abraxas possesses one, after all.

If you want to be surprised and assigned an image at random, comment here and we will do so for you!

The Hermit

The Sun

Temperance

Death

The Lovers

The High Priestess

CODE

Comments

[godshattering]

I'm glad that nothing got worse by coming here, at the very least. Hopefully that stays true for all of us.

[ Claude's also going to use that as a slight segue now that they've been chatting for a decent while and established what's hopefully enough of a rapport that what he's about to ask won't seem too suspicious. Or like it's fishing for too many details not ready to be shared, since that his question went unanswered didn't go unnoticed. Mostly, it's just his own curiosity since it's something he's been waiting to casually ("casually") pose to each Summoned he's come across so far. ]

What do you make of being here without a way to... get to anywhere else around Abraxas? Or even a way home, I guess.

[ And as a show of good faith, he'll add his own thoughts first in case that does sound too much like prying for questionable purposes: ] Seems kinda ominous to me. That on top of everything else going on doesn't really inspire a lot of confidence, not that we have much choice about anything.

[catholica]

Yeah, I don't like it.

( matt definitely doesn't mind that segue because he'd be lying if he said it wasn't on his mind. it was. ever since realization had settled in and he realized that this wasn't a dream that he was going to wake up from, he'd had questions.

but he'd had no idea where to direct those questions so he's glad )

I don't want to call it a prison because it's not a prison. But I don't know, it doesn't feel right. I don't like that choice being taken away from me.

[godshattering]

Prison is a pretty apt term for it since even if we're not in literal cells there's still a lot of limitations. Not to mention that also goes hand in hand with not having much of a choice in anything, including arriving here.

[ It's a relief to find that Matt's on the same page about this, even if Claude had been the one to kick that door open to asking. Enough that he heaves a slight, intended to be inaudible sigh over that confirmation he's not the only one thinking so. Even if they can't do anything about it, there's still comfort knowing someone else finds everything about this suspicious. ]

And I wouldn't be terribly surprised if we're being watched by our benevolent hosts either. Mostly because I know it'd what I'd do if I were in charge since you learn more that way than by asking someone directly.

[ Speaking from definite firsthand and personal experience, which only adds to his confidence about that surveillance. ]

[catholica]

Yeah.

( matt hasn't had a lot of time to ask people what they think of this place and what it's doing with them here. he hasn't met enough people to really gauge if the feeling of being in some kind of prison is a common one or not. he hasn't noticed any outright rebellion so obviously people aren't that upset.

it still makes him antsy, like he's being controlled since he's been put in one place, twisted around, and then made to do what this place wants him to do in this place. maybe there's no exact map of what to do but he still feels like he doesn't have a choice in some matters. )

Do you know anything about our hosts? Heard anything about them?

[godshattering]

Not as much as I'd like to on both counts, unfortunately. Those in charge out at the barracks weren't very keen on answering my questions, though I couldn't tell if they weren't allowed to or just didn't like me.

[ He's kidding, kind of, but he had bothered them quite a bit so it wouldn't be too surprising to find out the answer was a combination of both. ]

From what I've gathered, the Free Cities doesn't like Thorne very much and the feeling is mutual. I'm guessing that's part of why they wanted us around: to bulk up the military for however they plan on using us. There's also Solvunn, but I'm not sure how they factor into anything just yet.

What about you, have you heard anything?

[catholica]

Nothing.

( well, that's not entirely true. he just hasn't heard as much as he would have liked to. )

Except — I've heard about the Singularity. Have you heard about that? It sounds way too science fiction to be true but the people I've talked to insist it's something that can be reached only by those of us that have shown up here from other worlds.

[godshattering]

I have. I did a little research after coming into Cadens from the outpost just to see what's been written down about it. Most of what I read - which wasn't that much - matched what people out at the barracks said about it being an all-powerful thing that controls a lot about this world.

[ Science fiction as a description mostly went over Claude's head, but from context he's guessing that's what Matt means. It sounds like something that should be fictional, and if he hadn't just lived through events that were stranger than fiction himself he might be a little more skeptical about it all. But what's one more weird timeline to live through? ]

I hadn't heard that we're the only ones that can reach it, though. [ Claude goes silent to turn that over for a bit before continuing. ] It'd explain why there was less information in the library about it than I'd assumed there'd be. I wonder if they're counting on us to tell them more about it, somehow? Like maybe besides recruiting potential soldiers they want us to serve as... I'll say researchers since it's kinder than saying they want us to be part of some experiment, but the latter might still be likely.

[catholica]

Yeah, I think I'd like to avoid being a guinea pig if at all possible.

( he knows that human experimentation occurs and while he's never been subject to it, it's still one of those things that sticks in his gut and twists him up when he does hear about it. people have enough issues already and they shouldn't have to worry about someone messing around and tinkering with him just to see what happens. )

Though, I'm not sure if I'm ready to be some kind of recruited soldier either.

( he fights and he'll continue to fight but he does it for his own reasons, not anyone else's. )

What kind of things did your research find?

[godshattering]

You and me both. Neither situation sounds appealing, and I'd rather not get involved in war after just leaving the aftermath of one behind. Even without getting recruited I have a feeling we'll all be impacted by whatever the Free Cities decides to do.

[ Hopefully there will be ways to mitigate that impact - for them as Summoned and for the citizens since Claude hasn't been able to get a clear read from those he's encountered that there's any one set point of view. That could be a matter of needing to investigate more, which ties in with: ]

Honestly? Not a whole lot. [ A short laugh gets paired with that since some of it might've been as good as doing no research at all. ] I haven't set a lot of time aside to look more into it than surface level. Most of it matches up with what we've been told: the Singularity should be destroyed, the world would be better off without it, and so on. But none of that answers if it's always been so powerful or if we affect it, or any of the other million questions I have.

I'm assuming the Singularity is most of the reason they were able to get us here in the first place, so if that's true: I have to question why the Free Cities wants to destroy it so much. Seems like they'd want an infinite way to bring more Summoned in, right?

[catholica]

That is a good question unless...

( matt falls quiet while he thinks over the answer. he's new here and he's still learning, still figuring this place out so every theory that he manages is based on scant information and conjecture. it's not the best way to go about things but he doesn't want to just sit idle. )

Maybe they're afraid they'll lose their standing if more Summoned join the other regions. If they can't exert control because power shifts, I'd say it's a good reason for wanting to destroy it and stop other people from showing up and turning the tide so to speak.

[godshattering]

[ Now it's Claude's turn to be quite as he thinks through what Matt's suggested. It's too fitting, for a lot of reasons, and none that he finds particularly reassuring. ]

You know... that sounds reasonable. Unfortunately.

[ Bad news for all of them if it's true, and unsettlingly so. ]

I think you're likely spot on about them wanting higher standing compared to Thorne since from what I understand, the Free Cities split off from them. The nations back home where I'm from where like that: the Kingdom split off from the Empire, and the Alliance - my nation - split off from the Kingdom some centuries after that. If it's anything like that, there's likely some bad blood between them. No wonder they'd want to bring as many of us here as they can before getting rid of it.

[ But also, just as importantly: ]

I have to assume destroying the Singularity could effectively trap us here, and that's not an outcome I'm fond of either.

[catholica]

Yeah, I really don't like the sound of that.

( he can deal with being here for a little while, adjust, settle, help where he can but he's not looking to make some kind of permanent life here.

this isn't his place. )

Makes me curious as to what would be the parameters for being...sent back. What would we have to do? Help them destroy the other regions? The Singularity? Neither option sounds great.

[godshattering]

Both of those sound definitively terrible.

[ Normally that'd be the kind of thing he'd say sarcastically just to add some humor to the situation, but at this point: Claude's too weary to say that in anything other than a flat tone of agreement. ]

Neither of those bode well for us as a group, especially because I'd be willing to bet money - not that I have much rattling around in my pockets right now, mind you - that doing one or both of those things are the exact kind of bargaining they'd be willing to do with anyone who gets desperate to return to where they came from.

Assuming it hasn't happened already with people who've been here long before us. I haven't heard of that, but someone did tell me some Summoned who arrive here disappear.

[ There's so much they don't know, and much of it hinges on whether the other Summoned are willing to share. To Claude, that could easily go either way. ]

[catholica]

Disappear?

( so, that's another thing to worry about. people don't just disappear. they can be made to look it but he knows they're usually killed or held somewhere out of sight, out of mind. he doesn't like the thought of either happening to him.

he shakes his head. )

You know, I think I would have much preferred a better vacation spot than this. Somewhere tropical and warm would have been preferable. Somewhere without a brewing war/

[godshattering]

Yeah, disappear. Just for an added layer of comfort to that, it seems no one knows when or why it happens if what I heard was accurate. Or more like if I heard it accurately, I suppose.

[ Something else to ask around about on that never-ending list of questions, though he has to wonder whether it's even wise to ask. People disappearing is rarely for any good reasons and doesn't exactly grant peace to anyone who was close to them. Matt's next comment, however, does get a genuine laugh out of Claude. ]

I could've gone for that too. I was about to go on a... trip, of sorts, before I ended up here, but it wouldn't have been much of a vacation. You have places in your world that fit that warm and tropic description? Most of ours are along coasts or in mountaintops and right now I'd take either of those over being in the desert.

[catholica]

Yeah, we do. Warm and tropical. Beaches, sand, surf, and drinks with umbrellas. But we have the mountaintops too. People go on vacations to both spots. Really depends on the person.

( matt doesn't really know where he'd go if given the choice. but, he doesn't remember taking a vacation at all in his life so it's probably a moot point. )

I wasn't going to take a vacation before this, unfortunately. Too much work, too many deadlines. Guess I don't need to worry about those right now.

[godshattering]

That sounds about like how it works where I'm from too. Only it's usually the nobility who has the funds to take said vacations to different spots if it's not something done for someone's occupation, but the beaches are popular everywhere they're near villages if it's a much shorter trip to get there.

[ Vacation is a word that doesn't exist in Claude's vocabulary either. Not just because of the war from the past few years but even long before that, what with having so many plans constantly in motion. Something else they have in common, perhaps. ]

Ah, a man after my own heart when it comes to having too many things going on. I don't know about you, but that's just one more reason that being here with nothing but potentially infinite time on our hands feels so... disconcerting.

[catholica]

Yeah, people have told me that I need to take a break but I didn't want to do it like this.

( he does feel at loose ends, like he should be doing something but he doesn't know exactly what. he gives his head a shake before sighing. )

I'm sure something will present itself but it feels more important to figure this place out first before I go handing out applications to various businesses.

[godshattering]

You and me both. I would've settled for being stranded somewhere totally unknown with at least the seas nearby. [ Said a little wistfully, until he remembers: ] Or - from what I remember of the maps, the sea isn't too far from Cadens, relatively speaking and if the map was to scale, and there's a couple other cities that look like they might be right up on the coastline, probably for the purpose of being ports.

But wandering through the desert unarmed to get there? Not even I'm that bold.

[ But he could be, maybe, if they're left to their own devices for long enough. Matt's idea of going around to businesses for fill that gap of something to do gets a short chuckle out of him. ]

You've got a point there, not to mention I'm sure not every business around here is as honest as they might appear to go with that whole figuring things out thing. Just to add another nice layer to everything else.

[catholica]

I don't think I'd well at all if I decided I wanted to wander around the desert. I've never been to one and wouldn't even know what to do to survive. Cadens, at least, is a city so I can deal with that. It's somewhat familiar.

( he can map it in his head over time. a desert was just some wide open expanse of space with sand. not his thing. )

I didn't even think of the fact that they might try and give me the run around if I did apply. Something new to consider. Maybe I'll just become a singing panhandler.

[godshattering]

I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, really. There's too many things that can go wrong, so even if being stuck here in Cadens isn't ideal - here's a better option.

[ At least a city has defined borders, only so many ways you can get turned around before you eventually find the right one unlike in endless sand. With them having to rely on others to guide them through just about everything else: not a good idea to add something else to that list. ]

Oh, I meant more that I'm sure there's some shady business dealings happening behind some of the storefronts. That might just be my own skepticism of our surroundings as a whole at play since the places I've stopped in so far have all seemed perfectly nice.

[ Still, a grin crosses over his face. ]

If you can actually sing though, I'm a little jealous. And I forgot to ask earlier, where are you staying here?

[catholica]

I can't sing. I've tried. I think I've been drunk enough to do karaoke at times but it's been a disaster and no one's going to pay to listen to me sing unless someone forces it.

( which he wouldn't want anyone to do. his singing voice is probably more lethal than anything else he has on him. )

Oh, the inn. That's where someone pointed me towards when I first got here. I considered the barracks but I feel like I should be more of a military person if I'm there.

[godshattering]

Karaoke?

[ The word's also totally new to Claude and he repeats it curiously. Something to do with singing, clearly, and possibly something Matt might not enjoy too much, from the sound of it. ]

I'm in the same boat as you when it comes to singing, it sounds like. I'm alright enough in a crowd but no one should be subjected to me singing by myself.

Good to hear you're also at the inn, too. The barracks felt the same to me - after I got whatever information I could they were willing to share, I left. Staying there felt like endorsing what they're doing and I'm sure they'd see it that way, too.

[catholica]

Oh, uh — it basically means singing in front of a bunch of people you don't know very badly. It's fun if you're drunk.

( maybe it was fun for other people if you weren't drunk too but he's only ever been drunk the one or two times someone had convinced him to give it a try. )

But yeah, I'm not a military person and I don't have plans to ever be so it feels like the barracks isn't really the place for me. Sure the military has a place especially if war is on the horizon.

I just hope it's not. I'm a little out of sorts with my war hero schtick.

[godshattering]

Huh. That almost sounds like the singing that can happen at different feasts we have, right down to it being a lot more fun if you've been drinking heavily throughout it all. And that helps make it so no one knows if someone's off key then, since pretty much everyone is.

[ Some parts of what karaoke is might've still flown over his head, but hey. He'll still pass on the chance to try it out for himself much like he does at any of those feasts where it's not singing rowdily with several tens or hundreds of other people. ]

I know what you mean. War is... I mean, saying it's awful is an understatement that doesn't begin to cover it. One where we don't even know if we're meant to be anything other than pawns? Pretty bad from a tactical standpoint, but even worse for civilians. [ Or - ] But they do outnumber us by a significant margin, so if they support going to war there's likely not much we can do to change that course of action.