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?

---

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.

---

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.

---

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

[itookashot]

[ Jesper can't go home. If he goes home he has to admit what happened and that all his hard work has been for nothing. He also can't make himself leave, he just goes from one place to the next, he's probably going to be kicked out soon. At this point he is still only spending his own money, which he's been hoarding, but he knows where this is all headed eventually. And he still can't stop. It feels hopeless. And incredible, he feels so powerful and bright too. He's jittery, twitchy.

He is about to head in when a surprisingly strong grip takes him and starts dragging him away. Jesper is genuinely shocked so he doesn't fight back at first, seeing that bright red hair and knowing who it is. They've talked about this. His guilt is immediate but not drowning, letting himself be manhandled. He feels both full of manic energy and absolutely worn out from fighting inwardly. The push up against the wall knocks the wind out of him.

Gray eyes do try to look straight for the open door, he can hear people in there laughing, and he wants to surge toward it, but Sylvain's in his face. Taking up his sightline. He breathes and looks at him, a little dazed. Not from the manhandling, from everything going on. The whispers, the vision. ]

Nothing, I'm fine. You're the one pulling a bloke around for no good reason.

[ Yes he's going to pretend at first. ]

[gynvael]

He gives a vague noncommittal grunt. It is in fact the longest they've been civil. He isn't sure how he feels about that. It's not as though there's not been an uneasy truce between them, but that had always been for Dean's sake. And his own desire not to be caught in human squabbles over what makes a monster.

This is different.

Maybe it's why, after a long few minutes, he says, "Did Lucifer have something to do with it? Your death?"

It's as much a question as a guess. Jo had not recognized Lucifer at all, but he wonders now in hindsight—between the hellhound now and those woods—if Dean's insistence they stay away from the demon is more than worry, more than that brand of overprotectiveness he's beginning to recognize from the man. If it lies deeper in some fear that history will repeat.

[itookashot]

The whispers stopped the moment he sat down at the table and at that point, it was over. The problem with relapsing is it can go from zero to a hundred in one good hand. If he lost right away, he might have shaken out of it, but that rush of winning he hasn't felt in so long, and then he was hooked. He hasn't gone home because he doesn't want to face it, he doesn't want to admit it. All that work, all of his effort, gone. He can't find solace in the Horizon because it doesn't help, fake gambling, and losing himself in other domains.

So he gorges and he hides and so far he's only spent his own money, money that he's been saving for them, but they both know his scruples only last as long as his own coin does, before he goes for someone else. For now, he is riding a high, he's in his winning mode again, flying, not even cheating although he can now, but he doesn't want to cheat, he wants to win. He doesn't think about Inej and Kaz because it'll only make him drown in self-hate. Just the cards. The smell of the table. The feel of coins under his fingers.

He is laughing with the others, seeming like he is burning with his usual type of charisma and glee, that brittle way he gets in these times. On edge. Jesper is about to suggest another when he is completely startled out of his delusions with the familiar crack of a cane in front of him. He jumps, as does everyone else there, and it's as if all the joy and bliss drains out of him in an instant.

Fear shows in his gray eyes, along with a lingering familiar fevered sickness, and he shrinks down in his seat. It's as if the others there understand without needing to be told that this is a battle between wills, or rather one will slamming down the other, and they don't interrrupt. He swallows and any snark or attempt at making this seem unimportant drains out of him.

"Guess my seat is opening up," Jesper says weakly, the opposite of the swaggering confident youth he was only moments before. He slides out of the chair and bites his lip, not looking at Kaz, not even needing him to say a word. Without that bright facade, little details are obvious. The circles under his eyes from not sleeping and being strung out. He forgot to eat. He slept outside, there's dirt on his coat, it's not the first time Kaz has seen all of these details and known what it means.

Despite seeming subdued now, he can't help a desperate look over his shoulder, laughter from within making him want to turn on his heel. He sways and hears one new dark whisper in his ear. You don't need him. You were fine without him. You don't need anyone.

"Kaz, I---"

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo's eyes shifted; that question weighed against the memory she'd tried to push down so hard, and that had swallowed her whole the second it sounded like the hellhound had run at her. It was stupid, but it'd already happened, and he hadn't said a thing about that part.

That question is easy enough. "No."
"There was a demon, this girl, Meg;
she brought the hellhound with her."

Her sly, slick, slimy as fuck smile. All pleased with herself when she looked down at her side, and the dog finally made itself known. The way Dean had reacted so fast to it. The way the three of them hadn't moved away from him. "But no Lucifer."

Jo frowned. Her brow furrowed. "But."

"She did want to take them to her father?"
"So maybe not entirely not part of it."

It feels like there should be more. More Jo should know. More actual context. More understanding. Between the last time she saw them and suddenly having the memory that started striding in a pack of four down that street. It was a puzzle of missing pieces, where it didn't have to do with. The rest.

[hextechhead]

With my luck the moment I try, I'll end up somewhere else. I'm having a hard time getting directly to our domain.

[ They don't know that certain people who spend too much time in the Horizon or have made things there, like Rio, can be affected a little worse. Jayce just knows that at this point, he shouldn't bother getting to the tower. Whatever the Singularity is doing, it's telling him not to go home.

After a beat, Jayce realizes where he must be and looks around.]

I think this is the first time I've been here.

[ They live in the same city and can see one another any time, he's never really had a reason to go looking. ]

[wiedzminka]

[ Something clatters to the side, and though Ciri can't see it, she surmises it must be his weapon. His grip seems to weaken, if only a little.

She shoves forward, trying to push away from the wall and into him, yanking at her pinned wrist. Her other hand goes for his throat, or his face, wherever she can reach, hitting and clawing like an animal.

Everything takes on a sharp edge of hysteria now. She doesn't know what is happening, and the anger begins to give way to fear and desperation, leaving little room for logic. If she were thinking straight, she might've tried a Sign. Maybe even tried to portal away, if she could just escape long enough to do so. But at this point, it's impossible to even make a plan like that, however short-term; the visceral fear digs into her lungs, suddenly so overwhelming, she can barely breathe.

An ominous grinding noise from above reverberates through the empty house. The wall behind Ciri shows visible cracks. By the time the echo of the scream subsides, shattered glass litters the hall. ]

[familysucks]

[Every sixty days. If that pattern holds, he's at no risk of facing the same boredom he did while he was locked in the Cage. It might coincide with some schedule the Solvunn locals keep in the worship of their monstrous gods. He's on the verge of suggesting as much when it happens.

Michael sees no change, but in the moment their fingers touch he feels it: a movement of energy, away from her and into him. He takes in a breath he doesn't need, feeling—better, stronger, vital. Renewed. It is as if he has cast off a weight he is only now aware of. He stares at his own hand for a moment, surprised.

He hasn't felt this good since he was first created.]

That was... [Evidently, not as good for her as it was for him. He blinks, looking past his hand to Wanda, crumpled to the earth.] Whatever just happened, it was unintentional. Are you alright?

[Despite falling she doesn't seem hurt, but he'll let her be the judge of that. Michael crouches before her. He keeps his hands to himself, this time.

He makes no move to collect the charms, either. Though he felt no involvement from them, it's as Wanda first said: magic within Abraxas can be difficult to read. They might act as a sort of catalyst.]

[thedevilwhorose]

Loathe as he is to admit, he's got to practice. Get into the habit of not being at full strength in a fight. What better than a bunch of shambling, nothing-to-concern-himself-with corpses?

He's armed with the small switchblade he had "acquired" from the girl in the woods and his bare hands, popping the blade free when Kyle goes in for a strike. For Lucifer, this is the ideal fighting style. He'd prefer the blade to be a few inches longer, but this is enough to make it work.

The bonus of this excursion is that he gets to see if Kyle's at all worth his salt.

Kyle goes for one; Lucifer goes for the other, pulling an arm away from dragging the body with his open hand, slicing the blade up through what little flesh remains, and then tearing the limb free with his natural brute strength.

Slice, rip, tear. Again and again. Hard to keep moving if all your limbs are in a pile.

The stench only serves to remind him of Hell.

Yaaaay.

He checks on Kyle and then glances at the body they were dragging, leaning away while he spins a severed limb crudely in his grip. "I'm not a medical professional."

Lucifer could, very obviously, tell if someone is dead or not.

It's clear enough that he just wants to make Kyle to it.

for max chaos

[impressionism]

Hennessy's been having a fantastic time making every terrible decision she can manage and -- better yet -- making others spill their secrets or merely give into their worst impulses. She's not gonna lie; it feels amazing. Better than any drug she'd ever be able to dream.

Every so often there's a nagging sense that it maybe shouldn't feel this good, but what of it? She's had infinite practice ignoring her conscience by now. She's wandering breezily through town when someone bumps into her, and she's not even going to tell him off for it --

-- especially since suddenly everyone around looks wrong somehow. Strange. Like she's never seen them even in passing before. It's not that big a town.

She blinks at the man whose name somehow escapes her, which is weird, since he's her only friend. She must have gotten higher than she realized on whatever magic this is.

"Well, thank fuck you're here, at least. Does everyone else look weird to you, or is it just me?"

[gynvael]

"And Dean. He was there?"

Makes him think about what she saw. If she's yet to experience her death, what were the pieces it filled in? Based on what she learned from Dean? (Had he watched it happen?) Things she envisioned could have been? Or is this deeper—some twisted gift of prophecy granted by the being that appeared in his dreams?

Where the Singularity is involved, anything feels possible.

"Had I known what might happen," he flexes his fingers, stained red and black, "I would not have..."

Touched her. Forced the vision on her. He doesn't explain further than that; it is not exactly sympathy or guilt. It's more—however he feels about someone, he does not toy with people or fuck with their heads. That's not who he is. Part of him hates that he was made complicit in it against his will.

He's fucking tired of the Singularity.

[thedevilwhorose]

This is not at all where he'd prefer to be. Lucifer had been adamantly avoiding the bar since his arrival to Abraxas and his accidental stumbling in on Dean Winchester.

This is a different kind of stumbling this time, like he has to catch himself from falling over as he finds himself in the middle of the room, and not only is that a very-wrong scenario, he knows something is off with the place the moment he steadies himself. Feels it, down to his core, but he can't place just what.

It doesn't matter; what does matter is how he immediately checks his surroundings for any one or three manic individuals looking to sink a knife in him just for being an intruder.

There's only the woman from the forest. The one that shot him with a crossbow bolt.

He assumes she's just a stand-in for this place, but better her being here than the other options.

So he just grins.

"What, did you finally choose to ditch the dead weight Winchester?"

[philancer]

[ You're a really shitty liar, Jesper. Or maybe he's just really good at telling when he's being lied to. He does have an exceptional amount of experience at it.

Jesper's gaze is glassy and he can tell he's having trouble focusing. So he grasps the other man's jaw, making it impossible for him to turn his head back towards the gambling hall behind him. Which is probably a good thing because he can hear the sounds of laughter and coins clinking from here as the door swings open with someone else going in or out. ]

Hmm, Sorry, but this doesn't look exactly 'fine'. You weren't about to head inside, were you, Jesper?

[cryptsleeper]

I suppose that is as much a sign as any that you need to cease what you're doing for a time.

[Alucard is relieved to be the only sentient thing in his domain. It is just him and the woods, with no animals most days or bird song, unless it occurs to him that there should be such things. Usually? It doesn't occur.

The dhampir looks snug and content enough from his perch on the porch, his eyes glancing over to Jayce, then to the woods.]

I don't imagine you've had much need to do so. My locations are fairly routine by now.

ᴇʀᴀꜱᴇ ᴅᴀʀᴋɴᴇꜱꜱ 'ᴛɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʙʀᴇᴀᴋ ᴏꜰ ᴅᴀʏ

[tobeclosetohim]

[ When Jo opens her eyes inside the Horizon to a dark forest woods, her teeth near snap, and its reflex to try—one hand goes out, and her sword materializes in her hand. Even as her ears are pricked for the slightest change in the noise, she tilts her hand several ways, checking along the memorized lines and edges of her blade, the pommel, looking for malfunctions. But, for once, it's fine.

Jo doesn't trust the Horizon right now or anything of it,
but she'll keep it as long as she can. A weapon is better than none.

She'd half-assumed it was the Pergaforest, the one out back before The Bar and over The Bunker, the one they tell people not to wander into even while Horizon drunk—but it's not. She's spent enough time near it to recognize it doesn't look the same. (Doesn't feel the same.) But she's not sure this is better by any measure at all. Not their forest. Not Wanda's.

Jo moves quietly and slowly through the rotting woods, looking in each direction. ]

[ushiri]

[ Relief starts to fill his expression as Jack seems to come back to himself - the grip on his wrists loosening by a degree, but a wariness remaining. He doesn't immediately get off of him as he begins trying to explain - ]

I... thought you were someone else. [ A grimace, and a quick look at the ceiling where the lightning was brewing before he turns back to Jack. ] Are you done trying to stab me?

[ He shifts his weight a bit, preparing to remove himself but waiting for the answer. Beneath his thumb he can feel the tendons and delicate bone beneath the pale skin of Jack's wrists. How a conduit of creation and destruction should feel so human - it makes him think achingly of John for a second. ]

[philancer]

[ They do, in fact, say that. And if they don't, they should. ]

Well, I was planning on visiting somewhere in the Horizon, just not here precisely. [ He admits this with a sigh as he looks around, searching for anything he can use to get his bearings. Not that it does him any good. He can't spot a single familiar thing to use as a point of reference from here. ] But the Horizon has been temperamental the past few days. Although this is the first time it's dropped me somewhere like this.

[aquilus]

I think that would be far too easy.

[But it's probably their best and only option, other than turning tail and running. And Altaïr has no intention of that.]

Ready?

[aquilus]

Then you're in good company.

[It's said in a light tone, for Altaïr, but he means it. He'd mistrusted the Horizon when he'd first learned of it and now he sees he was right to do so; for all its uses, it has a power beyond man. Beyond any of the Summoned, if they can be trapped this way.]

This feels like a trap.

[Pleasant senses, designed to beguile and fool the rational mind. Memories of his master Al Mualim, who was rumored to have used drugs to do the same and is dead now by Altaïr's hand, rise up and he frowns slightly.

It is at this point that another oddity emerges, but only in Alucard's mind, not in this close-to-real maze they walk together. This close now, Altaïr's presence stirs something. The finality of death settles down upon him, and whether or not what he sees could ever be real, it feels like it is.]

[aquilus]

[He glances down at his sword, over at the head, and back at the other man.]

I expect you're right.

[Altaïr gives him a long look, curious about the wince and the dirt, but says nothing. Part of him wants to offer a spare knife; he has plenty at this point. The rest of him isn't at all sure the man could use it well, but also thinks he might not need it.]

More are coming. Are you ready?

[shadowthief]

"Cassandra," she turns toward the familiarity of her voice, stepping carefully across the bar to her friend. "seeking asylum as well?" she asks curiously.

It was the only thing she could think to do, with the horrors taking place in the city, the Horizon seemed the safer option. Less so now, suddenly, given the state of the bar, of the way she can just almost feel the presence of Heleen in the place.

ensnared.

[monomachy]

Though Diana has experienced cold and snow before, it is nothing compared to the frozen agony of this mountain. It was never so cold on Themyscira, so the only reason she knows what kind of clothing she needs is because of the time she spent traveling across Europe. The long, dark coat is bulky and restricts her movement, but it's certainly better than nothing.

She estimates she is about halfway up the mountain, but attempting a descent is less than productive. Over and over she falls, and cannot help but think of Sisyphus, doomed to climb and fall over and over. But surely she hasn't been damned so. She is still in the Horizon, that much is clear, which means something else is at work here. Some other power that the Summoned do not yet have a name for.

So she climbs instead, making her way up, against all reason. It is during her ascent that she hears a string of words from a nearby snowdrift, grumbled in a familiar voice. Diana adjusts her course slightly (to the side, not down, which does not seem to make her slip), and her brows raise towards the fur-lined hood of her coat when she sees who it is.

"Garrus?" She dashes towards the bank, and stars scooping away the snow. "Garrus, are you alright?"

[nadine_he_loves]

What is this place?

It's definitely not where she was trying to go. Nadine hesitates, unsure, not wanting to interrupt or startle anyone. But...she knows one of those voices. That's something. So it stands to reason this is likely Garrus' domain. She's never seen it before, but this certainly looks like where you'd find an alien.

Walking forward a little bit, she clears her throat loudly, not wanting to seem like she's sneaking around or anything.

Or that she'd been trying to eavesdrop.

omens.

[monomachy]

When she was a child, part of Diana's lessons included learning about signs from the gods, things to watch out for that could spell bounty or disaster. Dreams were the most important of those signs, though their interpretation was best left up to the oracle and priestesses. Still, it is not difficult for Diana to recognize a meaningful (perhaps prophetic) dream when one comes to her. She had stared down at the tablet engraved with the symbol of the Empress, the flower with the insect, and had known it was important. The moment her fingers touched the tablet, the wind in her dream was filled with one repeating word--or name. Koth, Koth, Koth.

A god of this world--for it could only have been a god--had appeared to her, and extended a hand. It had all been so beautiful, and grotesque, and had left her disturbed upon her waking.

So, as she often does, she had taken to the streets, walking around the city to clear her head. When Nadine approaches her with a warning, her brows furrow and she tilts her head to one side. "What is a zombie?" It's a genuine question; she's never heard the term before.

[a_better_man]

There's no protest from Mat, who hurries inside. He rakes his hands through his hair, shaking. Now that he's here he finds his throat tight and the words hard. When have words ever been hard for him? Blood and ashes.

"It's happening," he manages to choke out. "It's happening, I'm...I'm seeing things, I'm hearing things, that's how it starts...."

And it only gets worse. Once it starts it's a quick trip to raving, dangerous insanity. What the hell is he going to do?

[magicalarchaeologist]

"I think it was hours." Istredd can tell he's lost time. He is very good at keeping an eye on it because he often snaps out of studying with a long time having passed. Once he is paying attention, he gets a sense of how long. It felt like hours at the least.

"No, I didn't get a message." He was in the labyrinth! No helpful messages were coming through that annoying situation at all. Istredd sighs and rubs at his eyes, an ache beginning in the center of his forehead. "I went in there because I keep seeing a face everywhere and it was annoying."