EVENT #10: AFFLICTION - IC POST

[abraxasmods]

Event #10 - Affliction

go to the OOC event info & plotting post

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With tensions heavy across Abraxas and all the destruction that's happened, it's no surprise that the dark shadows which sweep over the land go unnoticed...at first.

Winds initially stir in Solvunn, where the influence of the Old Gods remains the strongest. Slowly each Herald infects Thorne and the Free Cities, as well. The Summoned are the first to feel its effects and are the most heavily impacted.

Though no one will realize it until well afterwards, Nocwich remains unaffected. After all, the Summoned don't reside there.

NOTE: This event will deal with themes of death (people and animal) and horror imagery.

Emergence

It begins sometime in mid-October, around the 18th. Not everyone will experience it at the same time. You might even believe you're spared until days afterwards when you're visited by an unusually vivid dream.

The dream starts the same for everyone: you are going somewhere, anywhere, walking to your bedroom or enjoying a stroll on the beach. You might be driving down a familiar neighborhood. Wherever you're headed, you eventually come upon a stone tablet engraved with your Arcana. Laid on the tablet are three objects:

◎ A dead moth trapped inside a wilted rose, symbolizing Koth of Festering Lands
◎ A teacup inside which sits a single nightshade berry, symbolizing Adlewyrd of Poisoned Tongues
◎ An ornate cracked hand mirror that contains no reflection, symbolizing Sannleikr of Many Faces

Make a choice. Something inside your soul will be drawn towards one of the objects. Maybe you spend hours in the dream deliberating, but sooner or later, you'll pick one of the items up. The moment you do, the other objects vanish and the chosen Herald appears before you. Where one might expect a god to seek subservience, the strange figure instead extends a friendly hand towards you - as though it's greeting you as an equal.

Whispered around you, you hear its name. Then it fades and with it the dream. You awaken.

Affliction

You go about your day as usual. That's when you realize something isn't right. Creatures and people around you behave strangely. You begin to sense that you are the cause.

Depending on your chosen Herald, you'll experience at least one of its afflictions. The effects might start small, then grow. They might rush you all at once. You can't shake what haunts you, though you can try. Spells, potions, and willpower can help keep the afflictions at bay but you won't ever be completely free.

As the afflictions seep into your mind, you start to find shadows of it following you: a dead moth here, a nightshade bloom there, a cracked mirror elsewhere. You may even wonder if it's following you in the first place. What if instead, you are the one leaving these signs behind?

Corruption

The first time you inflict your ability on someone else, you don't mean to. It might be a stranger, some unsuspecting soul, or it might be another Summoned. Regardless, the afflictions that ail you seem to spread through you into another. Someone falls down as if in the throes of an invisible death or secrets spill. You brush by someone and they're suddenly upset and confused.

The more this happens, intentionally or not, the better you feel. You may grow full of life and energy, gain a renewed strength of heart, or radiate a charm that turns heads and garners compliments. The afflictions haunting you could even start to fade or completely vanish. And if you use your newfound power deliberately? You'll feel better even faster for longer. Of course, these boons are temporary, lasting at most an hour or so. When the feeling wanes, you might miss having it.

You are not possessed. You can't control this power that spreads through you, but how you respond or behave is up to you. You could be attracted to the allure of power, enjoy the boons you are granted, or realize you can gain relief from your afflictions if you choose a victim. Not everyone will fall headfirst into the pull. Some are not easily swayed by power, some struggle to overcome their dark impulses, and others would rather endure their suffering than inflict it on someone else. But others still might succumb to temptation and turn on those around them with purpose: once, twice, multiple times. The choice you make is yours alone.

Blight

With the call of the Herald at your fingertips, the world around you twists. No one knows whether this stems from you and your newly imbued afflictions, or if the Heralds are exerting power on their own. It's for sure easier to think of what occurs as the influence of something monstrous beyond your control. No matter the cause, the earth is changed all the same.

Omens

The omens arrive shortly after the initial Summoned receive their dreams, but they don't come to every faction at once. SOLVUNN is first, being home to the Old Gods' shrines, before THORNE and the FREE CITIES follow only days afterwards. Depending on where you are, the omens will affect things a bit differently.

Solvunn

In Solvunn, the ground stirs. A desiccated hand breaks through the grass, a cloven hoof. Human or animal, they crawl forth, animated against their will. Some might attack, but most do not. At the same time, crops around the settlements begin to fail. Some chickens lay rotten eggs while cows produce spoiled milk. Any livestock that perishes overnight will surface in the mornings with empty eye sockets - pecked out by crows or gnawed on by rats. From a distance, the ocean can be seen bubbling as leviathans beneath thrash.

Worth noting is that many of the dead are concentrated around the shrines, especially the ones deep in the woods. They're too decayed to recognize, and some might not even move from the site, as though they are waiting for the earth to take them again...or as though they once chose to give up their life at this very spot.

Summoned can assist by helping to cast spells or place warding charms around shrines, farms, and gardens to protect crops and livestock. As a commune, the Solvunnites will share their resources as much as possible and would appreciate those who might lend a hand bringing supplies, herbs, and offerings to neighbors who are lacking. The Summoned can also brew a common herbal remedy to aid any animals who have fallen ill or to help purify the well water.

Free Cities

In Libertas, the dead buried under the rubble dig themselves out. More crawl forth from graves in Cadens' cemeteries. Beasts and bandits slain in the desert wilds rise, hungry or searching for the ones who killed them. At the same time, dead fish wash up onto the shores of Aquila while birds fall dead from their perch, dropping like flies from an unknown illness. Vultures and other scavengers begin to prey upon the eyes of the dead, leaving behind hollowed-out corpses.

Worth noting is that in the Badlands, a few very old and skeletal corpses rise with a metal plate or two screwed onto their bones, which are also oddly elongated. Only one or two make their way near the city. The army is quick to dispose of them before many can notice. They will not disclose any information about this and will claim these are just monsters like anything else.

Summoned can assist by going on patrol with the soldiers to put down any risen dead. Merchant caravans are also hiring escorts for their journeys. Additionally, they can help look through any received supplies and packages to make sure the food isn't rotting or worse, use a special dissolving compound to purify the waters, and donate staple food items to refugees and the less fortunate who can't afford the rising prices.

Thorne

In Thorne, the dead emerge only from the outskirts of the castle city. Thanks to information from one of their Summoned and their recent monitoring of the Singularity, Thorne was able to act swiftly and was able to ward any royal or otherwise significant burial sites. Graves and tombs of less importance, though, will not be protected in the same way. There are fewer encounters with eyeless corpses, though some animals might appear outside the castle in such a state. Normally extravagant dishes from the Castle's kitchens use simpler ingredients as they struggle to ration their food stores.

Worth noting is that a few unexpected corpses make their way up from deep under the castle in places beyond the dungeons. These are twisted and mangled, missing limbs, heads, fingers. The castle guards are quick to dispose of them before they get too far into the rest of the castle, but one or two may be spotted.

Summoned can assist by contributing to the wards around Castle Thorne and the city, using spells to put down the dead without mangling the corpse, and taking inventory of food stores. Further, in Nott the situation is more dire for anyone who is traveling there to continue assisting with repairs following the attack. Nott will welcome help with any problems caused by the omens. It'll be clear the kingdom has neglected the city somewhat. Thorne will claim the Castle takes priority, of course, due to King and Queen residing there along with the entire royal court.

Apprehensions

Across the factions, locals are beginning to catch on that something isn't right with you, the Summoned. No one will say it outright, but there's an air of caution and wariness around you where you go. Merchants might be quick to hand you your wares so you'll leave or locals give you a bit of space when they walk by. Chatty innkeepers are more reluctant to hold lengthy conversations.

Much of the time, it may not be conscious. The natives might simply sense something off that instinctually makes them want to put some distance between them and you. The only exception? If you've chosen Sannleikr of Many Faces, you'll continue to exude your charm towards people you encounter. At least for as long as you continue to inflict that ability you've been gifted.

Displacement

Everyone responds differently while in the Horizon. You might exert better willpower over your afflictions or you might feel its effects more strongly. It all depends on the individual and their mindset. Regardless, the Heralds are only one part of the equation. There's a much bigger disturbance going on.

It could happen as soon as you enter or it might be as you're stepping over the threshold into another's domain. Whatever the case, you are suddenly not where you're supposed to be. Instead, you're in one of two places depending: transported into a domain you never meant to go into or in a foreign setting altogether.

Visitation

Whether you're the one transported or someone teleports unexpectedly into your space, the Horizon becomes unpredictable for the next little while. Rooms normally locked to strangers, areas you yourself may not even realize exists - you and your fellow Summoned continue to pop in and out despite your intentions.

The effect isn't painful, just disorienting, like missing a step you didn't see or stumbling through a door into a too-bright room. The person whose domain you've inadvertently visited might sense an unwanted presence, whether they're inside the Horizon or not, or they may be completely oblivious. This will depend on the strength of their connection to the Singularity and the Horizon.

Not to worry. You won't be trapped or anything in these cases...unless the domain you land in happens to seal from the inside. You might stumble on secrets you weren't meant to find, though, locked away in someone else's mind.

Ensnared

The less fortunate will be pulled into a space that they've never encountered before. The bizarreness of it resembles the glitchy visions that flashed through a few months ago, but rather than an image flickering by, you are now inside the space itself.

Trapped between minutes to hours, you can't use the Horizon's creation magic as normal. Attempts will falter or go sideways: trying to fly out might cause you to tumble, tools and objects are broken or not quite right, wounds don't vanish or heal completely, etc. More significantly, you can't seem to send or receive messages through your connection. Anything that manages to come through will be garbled and distorted. It's as though the place you are in is just out of the reach of your control.

Luckily, you may not be alone. Someone else may have gotten lost alongside you. They might already be there when you stumble through or they might arrive after you do. They might even fade out sooner than you, unintentionally leaving you behind.

Eventually, you'll be released back into the Horizon proper, spat out in a random place in the Horizon. While you're stuck, though, you can try to survive, explore, sit and wait it out, or make friends with your fellow trapped partner. Each area has its challenges and quirks that you'll need to deal with.

Scenes to Explore

JUSTICE ◎
FULL IMAGE

High in the clouds, these snowy peaks are as cold as they look. Giant marble hands reach out, though their sheer scale means you might not recognize them as hands from up close. You can scale the mountain, but if you try to go down, the hands will flip the mountain, which sends you tumbling to the top again.

It's up to you whether you can be injured when you fall. Maybe the snow will feel like marshmallows, or you'll break a bone on the jagged rocks. No two experiences are the same. If you have a partner, they could end up faring better than you despite being in the same place.

Conjure some warm clothes or a log cabin even if you wish - they might not manifest perfectly, but it'll be better than nothing. At least the view's fairly nice...while the sun is up. A blizzard will come through by nightfall. With it arrives a strange hovering light that entices you or your friend to follow it into the frozen darkness. What draws you out depends on you. It could be a familiar voice, an image, or a simple compulsion. If you're lucky, the person with you is unaffected and can try to stop you. Or maybe you're the one desperately chasing after the other person?

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THE CHARIOT ◎
FULL IMAGE

From a distance, it's hard to tell if they're shipping containers or houses stacked atop each other. A gooey mess covers the ground below. Oddly, the smell isn't as unpleasant as the goo looks. It smells like bubblegum or cotton candy, artificial and sweet. When you first fall in, you might land inside one of the homes, on top of the stacked structure, or the ground. You can try to reach anyone else who's there with you, but be careful: the ooze is spreading. Climb if you must or move from room to room. If you don't keep moving, you risk getting sucked into its sticky mass.

Each block of a home is different. Some are furnished, whereas others are empty or filled with strange knickknacks. Some might even have subconscious creations spawned by you. Keep ahead of the gloopy substance, and you'll be fine, probably. Or you can try to fight it back or block its path by sealing yourself in a room or otherwise, which can slow it down significantly. Mostly, you'll have to hope you fade out before the pink mass completely consumes the landscape.

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THE WORLD ◎
FULL IMAGE

The hazy neon glow obscures a nothingness that seems to extend forever. In the middle of the wet ground are several stacked television sets with wires plugged into nothing. Inexplicably, there's also a cat. At first, it appears perfectly normal, but keen observers will notice that its behavior is on a loop where it will walk a certain path, pause at specific intervals to lick its paws, and meow at set points. It does not acknowledge any of its intruders. You can break its loop by picking it up, at which point it'll go limp as a ragdoll. As soon as you set it down, it'll resume its actions as before.

While you can see the same images as someone else on the screens, it's also possible you'll each see something different despite being in the room together. What you see is up to you. It could be an old fuzzy movie, home videos of your childhood, trivia questions you have to answer correctly, or even a memory or vision you wouldn't want to share. Words or faces taunting you could appear between staticky flickers, or maybe your very thoughts are projected onto the screens for anyone with you to read.

Break the televisions if you want, but given a few short minutes, they'll reform between one blink and the next. Looks like you'll have to keep watching until you're released.

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THE FOOL ◎
FULL IMAGE

Sprawling and massive, you're unlikely to recognize at first that you're trapped in a labyrinth. Stone walls rise around you, and your surroundings are pitchblack. Manifest a torch or a flashlight if you can, though these will be prone to going out at inopportune times. Escaping over the walls will only send you into another section in the maze.

As you navigate the twisting corridors, you'll encounter any variety of trials and troubles: gaps in the ground, spiked traps, haunting whispers, monsters, decaying corpses. Some of these might've formed from your mind, others might've spawned from anyone else who's trapped with you.

If you aren't alone, do your best to locate your fellow Summoned. Voices do carry and echo over the walls, and there could be landmarks that help you find each other. Finding the exit, however, is another matter. Walk and climb all you want. A way out is impossible until the Horizon chooses to set you free.

Players can pick any scenario that interests them from the four choices above. Unlike the visions from before, characters can accidentally be trapped in as many of the scenes as you want, as many times as you want. Another option is that they can stay trapped in only one scene while a variety of characters fade in and out to join them, or some combination of the two. Choose what works best for your plans.

Each scene will once again carry an associated Arcana etched somewhere inside it, which can change from person to person or instance to instance. It might be on a wall, a table, or on the ground. Characters with a stronger connection to the Horizon are likely to be trapped for longer but the extent of this is your choice and it won't ever exceed a few hours. It's also your choice whether the afflictions continue to haunt them or not. If you want characters to deal with both problems while stuck together, you're welcome to!

Generally speaking, there are no restrictions other than that they won't be able to communicate with anyone outside the area, they can't escape it until the Horizon chooses to release them, and their creation magic will go wrong just enough that it'll make things tricky.

Comments

[cointosser]

[When Jaskier hears a familiar voice, his gaze snapping up (and up) to Jayce's face, he jumps. A little. Almost as if he's been woken up from a dream. It is hardly a day that Jaskier doubts his abilities in his performances -- he has proven them for years, after all -- but something about today, this moment, watching that woman, had made him feel --

He'd felt.

And now that Jayce has drawn his attention from her, the feeling sort of lessens, though he still gives Jayce the same friendly smile he would normally.]

Ah! Hello, Jayce. [Jaskier pats the stage beside him. He's done performing for now. It's just rather surprising to himself he missed Jayce in the crowd. He's rather impossible to overlook. But it was something about her... and not just her beauty.] Am I? I do try to not look terribly distraught when I'm singing, after all. It'd be a bit depressing to watch. [He holds out the canteen of wine in offering.] That's a joke. I'm as all right as a man can be right now. But, as they say, the show must go on.

[enduringkestrel]

Cassandra thinks that perhaps she’s gone mad. Or perhaps she always has been, since the Briarwoods slaughtered her family and tortured her. Kept her. And she’d just been in denial. Able to pretend that she could be something more. That she could find peace. Find people who care about her. Love her. That she was more that her past. More than what she’d done. What she’d become, in order to survive.

“No one will ever love you but us, dearest,” she hears Delilah Briarwood’s bloodied, poisonous whispers murmur in her ear as she moves through the Horizon. The afflictions are stronger here, but she’d come anyway. Hoping for… a reprieve. To find sanctuary. Something. She doesn’t know what.

She’s taken to avoiding reflective surfaces. Afraid of what they’ll show. Or rather, afraid of what they won’t. Her reflection is gone, now. As Sylas’ was. Had been since she’d… known him. And the last time she’d seen it… she’d had fangs. Her worst fear. To have become like him. Vampiric. Evil.

The Roadhouse is… a place of safety, of sorts. Of noise and distraction and camaraderie.

Or it was. She can smell it, the moment she steps inside, the metallic tang of blood. She’s smelled it before, the night that Whitestone fell, and she can scarcely breathe for the smell of it. The memories choking her. “Have you brought ruin here as well? Everything you touch turns to ashes,” Delilah croons.

But there’s someone else here. Someone she knows. Someone she calls friend, even.

“Inej?”

steve harrington | solvunn | koth

[hairington]

[ plotting comment here, or message me at disarmingly ]

solvunn; ota

[hairington]

[ despite steve's years of experience with nightmares and ignored trauma, something about this dream has stuck with him. maybe it the oddness of it (how did his subconscious even come up with that), maybe it was the thought he had upon picking up the wilted rose (nancy, he was thinking about nancy, of course he was), or maybe it was the fact that when the strange, weird, freaky figure appeared in front of him and offered its hand, steve didn't even think before he reached forward and took it. shook it. should he have? probably not. but it was a dream. what was the worst that could happen?

koth of festering lands the whispers had echoed, and steve remembers thinking hmm, that...probably isn't good.

he feels like shit that next morning, but he chalks it up to the bad dream. to sleeping poorly. to the fact he's still not used to this straw bed or farming lifestyle. to the any number of reasons that make sense, to him, and he gets up anyway. heads in to help with the toddlers, like has become part of his routine.

but things seem to just get worse. food and drink all start to taste off, and then rancid. and steve can't shake the odd, terrible heaviness in his chest. he starts getting short, so much so that he takes off from helping with the children for a few days - especially when he starts hearing about zombies. freaking zombies. and he figures, you know, it could be worth letting off some steam and maybe zombies are the place to do it.

for those few days, steve kind of spends most - if not all - of his time at the shrines. he does try to help with the spells and placing charms (though he's less helpful with the spells part, and ends up more frustrated than anything. he goes out for supplies (usually when he's just trying to avoid other people, because he knows he'll snap at them, and after yelling at a couple of people he decides maybe he should just avoid them, instead). ]

horizon; ota

[hairington]

[ the worst part about this, steve thinks, is that it doesn't look all that different. the hawkins he remembers, the last version of hawkins he'd seen, it had been this version. it had been these woods, rotting and dark and wrong. it had been these roads, broken and crossed with vines. it had been this sky, dark and ominous, with erratic streaks of red lightning and a ground-shaking sort of thunder, promising something much worse on the horizon. steve doesn't remember the smell of rot and ruin being this strong, but then again, it makes sense if he tried to forget it. steve would never go as far as to say he was used to this, but after the lake and then going in after vecna, he at least knew what to do.

don't step on the vines. hide when the shaking starts. if you hear something amid the trees, run, run fast, and hide - it may not have noticed you. maybe.

if you find yourself somewhere out here, do not - whatever you do - linger. because that vision, right off in your peripheral, of a blossoming figure might not always look quite right. one moment, it will seem just as you may or may not have seen it before. but the next, it will look very different, and rather than standing off amongst the trees, it will turn to you and scream. run, before it catches you, because while this death may not be real, it certainly isn't something you want to experience.

if you happen to appear at the drive-through, it will be much of the same - empty cars, a corrupted movie, vines and dust and the prevailing smell of rot. but it's hardly safe, either, because the longer you linger, the more the erratic lightning will expose something much worse hovering right above the treetops. there is also, of course, scoops ahoy too - but this is a place you will most likely end up without meaning to, and it will look very, very different. instead you will find an oddly well-lit, cement room that does not appear to be affected by the vines or dust or rotting smell, with two empty chairs and a table full of 'medical equipment', though every now and then the lights may flicker, and with each flicker a new streak of blood will appear across the floor. if you search for long enough, though, you will find a door to an elevator, which will take you back up into the upside down, if that's really where you want to be. ]

[nightwash]

Ronan allows the silence to drag for so long that it would be easy to assume he didn't hear Sasarai say anything at all.

Then his shoulders sink, acquiescing after some internal debate, and he raises his eyes to look at Sasarai directly.

It was some time ago, already, that Ronan revealed his inhuman nature to Sasarai. In part, at least. There's no sense in being coy about it. The struggle now isn't whether or not it's safe to elaborate, but the words to use in attempting it. Because Ronan has no words for the thing he's been seeing in the mirror. He has no words for what it makes him feel to see it there.

"I don't know what else to do," he admits, far more wearied than scared. Like he's been trying to fix a pipe and just keeps finding more leaks. "It's out here now. I don't know how it got out but now it's everywhere I look."

[cryptsleeper]

No, it hasn't.

[They can agree on stating the obvious. Just as Alucard can agree with himself that Jayce had a 50-50 chance of finding the right path anyway. There is a long, tired sigh from the dhampir, and he gestures tiredly at the woods.]

But if you need quiet, the forest hasn't flared up beyond the path issue.

[catholica]

Yeah.

( he knows what dante's seeing and he doesn't want anyone else to see it. he walks up to the television screen, that red hot anger still coursing through him and he puts his hand through it again.

he sighs as things fall quiet for a moment. it won't last. )

Little bit more interactive than pictures in an album.

[cryptsleeper]

I'd argue that those things hurt more, but perhaps that is a discussion for better times.

[And moreover a statement of the obvious. Alucard has not mistaken Thancred as an unthoughtful man, and he wouldn't dare presume to say as such now.

Ahead, the fog of the forest rolls by on the lightest of winds, a few stray leaves following. If nothing else, this place has quiet going for it. An almost splendid isolation.]

I've been having the same issue. [So have many, it seems.] Tell me, did you find the issue to become worse when in conversation with others with the same affliction?

[cryptsleeper]

[Great news, Jaskier. All of the anger about to explode from the dhampir has been stopped. His face sours, and gold eyes burrow into the bard.]

Did you just make a pun?

[Of all the things to be sobering, leave it to a shitty, shitty pun. There's been a bucket of water thrown over the moment, and that is a good thing. Essential, maybe.]

Have you been saying more than you usually would? [Alucard has never heard his own voice mix anger with curiosity. It is slow. Precise. His lips set in a thin, unhappy frown.]

[catholica]

Wouldn't mind.

( even if he's always been the type to work alone, he knows that's really not possible when the people he's fighting have numbers like this. so, he doesn't mind at all when someone takes out one of the undead who'd gotten a little too close for comfort.

he'd have probably been able to take care of it but it would have been close so he's grateful. )

You all right?

[nightwash]

Ronan stops, his hand frozen halfway along its journey to touch Kylo's arm. He can't remember a time when Kylo didn't want to be touched by him. He's pretty sure it's never happened before, Kylo rejecting him so suddenly, so thoroughly. But he can see it's happened now. That — for the first time — he's intruded.

He's so stunned by it that he can't even muster up indignation. He stares at Kylo for a second or two, then withdraws his hand and drops it back to his side.

"Nothi—" he starts to reply, but then his eyes are drawn to the rain of shattered mirror-glass, and he thinks he understands now. Kylo must have seen it in the mirror as Ronan approached. That would make sense, why Kylo wouldn't want him to come close. Why he looks like he hates Ronan right now. Wouldn't anyone?

[hairington]

[ he has the second bottle out and is trying to light the fabric, because as well as geralt can look at this situation and know not to split his focus, steve does not. he keeps glancing to where geralt has not started running, sees how very much instead of leaving, he actually gets off his bike and pulls out his sword. steve wonders if he should tell him it's not worth it, they can't beat this thing, but then the mind flayer actually starts towards them and steve realizes he needs to focus on the cocktail in his hand.

which he does - he lights it up and tosses it, this time the fire sparking out in what ends up looking more like fireworks this time, the flames spreading out across its neck and shoulder. this time the effect has the mind flayer stumbling, rearing back for a moment, and it gives steve enough time to pull out his bat. to see geralt running forward and shit shit, okay, well, here they go.

one of the demodogs lunges at him, a faster one or maybe one that had just materialized closer. steve lands a single hit directly to it's not-face and starts running. there's too much happening for steve to follow, dogs coming out from under the mind flayer, from the woods around them. he hits one, and then another, nearly stumbling as he jumps over a particularly large vine.

it's probably right when geralt is wondering where steve got up to that he'll hear the damp crunch of steve's bat making contact with another of the dogs, right as steve comes to a stop from behind where geralt had been standing. he's breathing hard, both hands wrapped around the bat as his eyes are up to the metal roof, watching more of the dogs make their ways towards them. ] You can't kill it. [ he says, even as his eyes don't quite leave the approaching creatures. ] We have to get out of here.

[hairington]

[ he doesn't really see the look eddie gives him, not really, because he's too wrapped up in that feeling in his gut. too wrapped up in how eddie isn't supposed to see this, how no one is supposed to see it, and that's all translated into the nearly aggressive way steve closes in on eddie. how part of him really does just want to grab him and shove, even when he knows - because there is some part of him that does know that shit's been off since he had that dream. he's clocked his own irrational anger, noticed how it's been nearly impossible to just let things slide.

and eddie's reaction - the sarcasm, the quick spike of his own anger that fizzes out just as quickly - is justified, in a way. but unlike steve's, his is gone again as he stumbles back before steve can push him, just out of reach.

the question catches him a bit off-guard, though, and through that spike in his own aggression, steve finds himself coming to a stop. something you need to discuss? eddie says, as he glances over steve's shoulder to the chairs, to the exact place where he and robin... steve's been out in his domain since everything's gone to shit. he knows how fucked up everything is, how it's not what he means it to be, but this isn't that. this, steve has known, has been here since he made his whole thing, but it's always been locked.

steve's brow furrows, his eyes going to the elevator behind eddie, almost as if he's staunchly refusing to turn back around to see it again. and his jaw is tight, too, as if it takes effort to keep himself from doing it. ]

This isn't...this wasn't in the Upside Down. [ a beat, and then steve's looking at eddie fully again, that anger having subsided to something else. ] Can we not do this here?

[catholica]

( he knows what steve's done. he knows what he carries, what he uses for his weapon so when he hears the sounds of metal hitting skin, he knows that steve's thrown it and it's all that matt can do to just make sure he stays out of its way until it's done.

eventually, the shield does clang to the ground and matt takes off like a shot when one of the undead seems to have been far enough off to not get hit.

he plants a foot, jumps and comes down with a hard shot to the thing's jaw, hearing bone crack and feeling the thing go down. he follows after it, feet on the ground before he glances back in steve's direction. )

You good?

[carmesi]

[it doesn't take long to find that himeka has gravitated towards the stream as well. she's always been in tune with water, it seems, and though she's a bit further up the stream, that is where wanda starts moving to.

she, too, offers a small smile in return.]

Same as yesterday and the past couple of days.

[—himeka probably isn't asking about the situation around them, that much is clear with just looking around, but wanda's thoughts and intentions are so muddled with what's been happening. whatever she feels comes second, even when it gnaws at her.

no. not thinking about it means she doesn't have to feel anything regarding it.]

The water's still foul.

[wanda sits on her knees besides himeka, with a soft sigh, and senses her use of magic on the water. her eyes turn to the other.]

Any luck?

[philancer]

Easy.

[ The coughing fit has Sylvain pausing in sudden worry as he turns to offer the other guy a shoulder, should he need it. The smoke isn't as thick here as it had been in the Hall, but it's still far from great. ]

We're almost there, just through that arch, see? There's a well out there, too. The water should help.

[philancer]

[ At least Sylvain is as easily distracted by the sound of shifting earth and the clattering click of bones as more unearth themselves. He speeds his pace, making sure he's in the undead's line of sight as he finds an open space that gives him enough room to maneuver. Graveyards aren't really great for a lancer's typical moves, but he'll make do. It can't be much worse than fighting in the woods, right? ]

On it.

[ Luckily, the experiment, as it were, seems to be working successfully. High ground not only gives them a good vantage to defend from, but also means they can see the majority of the cemetery around them.

And even better, the majority of the cemetery can see them.

Which seems to be doing exactly what he'd hoped, because he can already see several figures lurching in their direction, beyond the ones they'd passed to get here. He calls out a warning to his companion, even as he dispatches the one that had clawed itself out of the earth on his right. ]

More incoming.

[godshattering]

[ Something is wrong. Something he can't put his finger on: the voice that greets him certainly is Edelgard's, every bit of it what he remembers, and it confirms what he sees. Surely he can trust that if both match - and yet. Edelgard would've had some almost too proper quip ready for him instead of a question, wouldn't she? Much like the ones they'd traded as students and then again later on a battlefield until it'd ended with a promise to carry on what she'd started. One still ever so slightly bitter for they never needed to reach that point if things had only been different.

And yet.

None of that changes the fact that Edelgard is standing here looking back at him, sounds the same - that can only mean one thing. Claude hasn't moved since he spotted her. If there's a small furrow in his own brow in that brief confusion and that when he blinks she seems to blur for a second like looking through a clouded window it's there and gone when she comes back into focus. ]

I'm talking about the fact that you shouldn't be here. [ Because you died, he almost adds before he catches himself. A relief, considering he hasn't the slightest on what the etiquette is when telling someone about their death, and so he avoids it once more. Jesper told him months ago it was a possibility for someone deceased to be here, and even though Claude had believed him now, apparently, he has proof of it. ] Or - that you somehow didn't arrive when everyone else did, whatever that means. But you can't have been here in Cadens or we would've... known that.

[philancer]

[ He dislikes lying to his friends, even when his answer is a shitty one.

Instead, he takes a deliberate swallow of his drink again and gives Claude a pointed look, one eyebrow arching upwards in skeptical regard. ]

You wanna talk about what has you down here drinking alone at this time of night? I'll spill if you do. [ He's all about fairness, after all. ]

[philancer]

Well, you know what they say about redheads always having more fun.

[ He grins as he reaches out to take her hand. And then promptly bows over it, brushing a kiss against the back of her knuckles. He's far more used to this kind of greeting, after all. ]

Sylvain Gautier, at your service. And no, I'm afraid it was the Free Cities that conscripted my services.

[philancer]

Some people like snow and winter, you know. [ A pause, before he shrugs. ] I'm not one of them, but I know they exist. I think they're all just masochists.

But you're right about the Horizon being strange. I've been trying to get back to my Domain and it seems intent on sending me anywhere but.

[ He doesn't miss that shiver from the other man and he realizes Thancred really is not dressed for this weather at all. He, at least, has familiar armor beneath his cloak, an outfit already prepared for somewhere like Faerghus. It's not cold-proof, but it's better than what Thancred showed up with, so he's quick to slide the fur cloak off his shoulders and drop it around Thancred's instead. ]

Here. You're going to turn blue otherwise. I'm not sure it's your color.

[gynvael]

[ The nature of the medallions are, perhaps, not too difficult to guess given the one Geralt wears around his own neck. But it is true that he has no inclination to explain much about them.

He gives a half-shrug. ] We'll see.

[ He does not mean to be ominous, though that's probably how it sounds. He simply does not know.

Geralt's eyes roam over the man before he adds: ] I've seen you. In Cadens.

[ Red hair. Hard to miss. ]

[philancer]

[ He would like to think he's pretty memorable in general, thanks.

But he still grins and inclines his head in agreement. ]

I think I've seen you around the stables once or twice, haven't I? [ It's a tossup of there or the tavern where he's seen the man before, but both are frequent spots for the Summoned in Cadens. Plus, his hair is pretty distinctive, too. ]

But yeah, the Free Cities were the ones to conscript me. I'm a friend of Claude's, if you know him. We come from neighboring kingdoms. [ Claude seems to know just about everyone here, so he takes a guess and offers that in introduction. ] I'm Sylvain.

[philancer]

[ He doesn't know how many days Jesper has been out here on the streets, but as Sylvain wanders back towards the inn at the end of the day and spots the man outside of one of the city's gambling halls, he knows it has to have been at least more than one. He recalls all too well the conversation they'd had in Nocwich, knows what Jesper has probably been struggling with. And the sight of him there, caught up in a craving all over again, is enough to have Sylvain changing course, heading straight for the other man.

He doesn't slow as he reaches him, instead grabbing him by the arm and dragging him all of a building away, pushing him up against the wall as he gets in his face. Sylvain is almost the same height as the other man - something he rarely encounters - but he's considerably more built, not that he often uses that to his advantage. His typical demeanor isn't about intimidation, but all about the charm. At the moment, however, he puts himself directly in Jesper's line of sight and does his best to give him something else to focus on, rather than the urge to give in to an entirely different temptation. ]

What's going on, Jesper?