EVENT #10: AFFLICTION - IC POST

[abraxasmods]

Event #10 - Affliction

go to the OOC event info & plotting post

---

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

[magicalarchaeologist]

Istredd is not so easily fooled by the red tendrils or boxes that lead away from her or try to distract him, the broken mirrors that might get another person lost. His own strong sense of self helps him focus so that everything in his immediate space is his, picking out a small portion of the surrounding to be shielded and exist separately. It makes him seemingly fly through the confusing web of her out-of-control magic and the Horizon's own chaos. Finding calm throughout chaos is one of the first lessons he learned.

He spots her and while they're not actually on the same plane, he floats closer so they are face to face. Istredd looks like the eye of the storm, standing in place when everything is moving around him, fixed now on her.


Wanda, I need you to listen to me.


Istredd knows that she was never formally trained in what she is, but he has been. It is why control comes so much easier to him; it took time to get there, many years, and it is truly unfortunate she never had the same chance. This is why all magic users had to be trained in his world. They could burn themselves out otherwise.


Stop fighting. Stop trying to control it. Your magic is feeding off your reactions, you're fighting yourself.


It is impossible for this chaos to stop as long as she's adding to it. Istredd is in control, but it isn't easy for him either, he is swimming against raging waters around him. Luckily he knows what he's doing. He reaches his hand out toward her and she can see the blue color growing brighter, pointing her toward him, a lighthouse in the middle of a dark storm.


Come to me, let me help you.

[godshattering]

The response he gets is enough for mild alarm, the kind meant as concern for a battlefield companion rather than anything close to panic and alarm that serves as a warning about changing tactics. Claude spares as much of a glance as he can in the other's direction after firing yet another shot, then nimbly weaves around the shambling masses from where he's posted himself to get closer to his patrol partner.

"Not terrible, but I'm used to being on frontlines," he answers when he's closer, and now in between arrows Claude's scanning for somewhere to move to. If it could be slightly elevated that'd be ideal, though there's no balconies or even terraces for them to fall back towards that he can see. This open area - convenient as it is to avoid striking anything they shouldn't - is working against them.

From there it's an easy slip back into a commander's role, mind working through what tactics they could enact without too much planning. What he wouldn't give for a wyvern though he'd settle for a horse at this point for the ability to maneuver with more speed, and neither of those are available now.

"Here," he says after spotting the storefront of a merchant he knows and who still has heavy tables set out front ready to be tipped over as a makeshift barricade, and he gestures to it with one hand. "If we regroup behind that, it'll put some needed distance between us and them and a better view of the situation than being in the middle of it."

[stations]

( What's the last thing you remember? He opens his mouth to answer, only to have whatever he'd been about to say scrubbed completely out of his mind when Kyle touches his hair. That, he thinks stupidly, and very nearly blurts it out.

Are you sure this isn't a moment?

It's not. Of course it's not, he'd just said it wasn't — and besides, it's not like he's got people lining up around the block waiting to shoot their shot at a one-legged insomniac that apparently blacks out and stabs people. Meanwhile, Kyle's... Kyle.

Neither of which should matter for a reason, he just can't remember what that reason is. )

Um.

( Focus, Jack. Get your shit together. He stands dimly rooted to the spot, his voice soft and a little distracted. )

I- finished shelving, so I came up to the room, and I think... you said my name, and then- I don't know, we were on the floor. I don't even have anything to stab you with.

( Which is the more important detail than Kyle trying to stab him first. )

[techmaturgy]

[Viktor can see that. He can also see, easily, that he's not the only reason why it isn't going well. Something is wrong with their control over the Horizon, and it extends even beyond the place they're now trapped. For someone who takes great pride in the power of his mind (especially because of his lack of ability in almost every other department), this is not a situation he wants to be in.]

I'm slowing you down.

[He's going to have to state the obvious, because Alucard certainly won't. It gives Viktor no pleasure to admit any of this, he doesn't sound entirely convinced this will help either of them, but Alucard's chances are probably better without him.]

Go on ahead. I'll figure--I can figure something out.

[funbreaker]

It showed you things.

[ Thancred repeats the statement not as a confirmation so much as a way to help him absorb that information and what it means. It's not like the Horizon and the Singularity haven't shown them things before, whether it was memories or nightmares.

He isn't going to pry at the contents of what Geralt saw, well aware he wouldn't get much of an answer. Or perhaps too much of one, with what he's been subjecting others to without even intending it. ]

... That reminds me. If you find yourself telling me things that you wouldn't normally, blame the old gods and what they've done to us.

[ A quick word of warning as they continue to walk, since chances are they'll be trapped here for a while and there's no telling when it might trigger. ]

[techmaturgy]

"I should hope so."

Granted, Viktor has no plans to go near any dead bodies, though from what she's saying, it might not be entirely up to him. Troubling, to say the least, and the nonchalance with which she relays this information is even more troubling, though he can't help but be slightly curious. He's still a scientist, above all other things.

"Reanimated...magically? How?"

[techmaturgy]

He nods, though Jayce can't see it. "I remember."

Viktor doesn't respond further than that, figuring that Jayce is going to make good on his assertion that he'll find his way. He does cast the spell, and it works, momentarily, but he finds himself without the energy to keep it going. It flickers and goes out, so he tries again, but Viktor only manages it sporadically. Whether or not that's helpful to Jayce has yet to be seen.

In the meantime, he sits, and listens. He finds it difficult not to nod off, the prospect tempting even though he knows he should stay alert. Who knows what else this place might throw at them? Some part of him knows that he's in danger just by sitting here, but he can't quite bring himself to get up. What would be the point? Jayce has a better chance of making it out if Viktor isn't slowing him down.

"Jayce?" Perhaps, due to the nature of the labyrinth, Viktor doesn't sound any closer or further away than he was when Jayce started his attempt to find a way over. "I'm sorry, I still don't see you. Have you found a path?"

[cryptsleeper]

[Unfortunately for Viktor, Alucard and logic are currently not friends. The oil slick things have now well and truly held fast to Alucard's ankles, and he feels himself thrown back in time. Silver burning his body. Death hovering above him. Pleading, pleading, unaware of the strange shapes starting to form below him.

He manages to snap his head back. Under any other circumstance he'd take care for Viktor to not see him full of bug fuck terror, eyes huge, no color to his skin, sudden shaking, but again, logic is gone. There is only red hot fear, and the attempt for Alucard to croak out a noise.

He fails, and another tendril wraps around his neck.]

[godshattering]

[ Hythlodaeus's explanation, is - in a word - fascinating.

Electing to leave one's body something he's entirely familiar with, though yet again it brings to mind those legends of Fodlan and what he'd witnessed with his own eyes. As a result his own tea is rather forgotten while the other speaks, paying close attention to each word and phrase like it'll reveal the meaning sooner than Hythlodaeus means for it to.

It doesn't, not exactly, but he does blink to show he was paying attention and not simply staring with nothing else behind it when it's mentioned that any change in form would be at his whim and not the other's. How curious. ]

I have to admit this is one of the stranger things I've heard, mostly thanks to my not knowing much about the worlds others come from besides the smaller things they've told me here and there. And changing forms or leaving one's self hasn't exactly made it on that list, though there's... stories of something like that, in a way, where I'm from. So long as you're not about to turn into a large dragon, I think we'll get along just fine.

[ This part is said with a half-smile which might insinuate he's kidding about dragon transformations and what they mean, just a little inside joke of sorts with himself, but Claude's wrapped a tiny bit of truth in there. Fortunately, it's the Horizon so if things get too strange, he can leave as usual. Probably.

None of that is enough for him to not grant what's being asked, so Claude's quick to follow that up with a casual shrug and the palm of one hand turned up to the sky as if to say, what could go wrong? ]

I must admit, you've intrigued me with what you've said so consider this your permission to do as you'd like to for whatever form you might need while here.

[provenforce]

Go to him, that desire in her ear flourishes as soon as he seems relieved to see her. She can see that he's been fighting, if not physically than mentally. She had regretted it the second she'd said his name, saw the way it hurt him, but she loved that name. Loved the people who gave him that name.

"It's me," she replies, her feet carrying her to him unbidden and she reaches up to touch his cheek, to ground him to her. "Whatever you're fighting, we can fight it together." She had made that promise, after all.

[philancer]

[ Sylvain doesn't actually know who "they" are, as Jesper is the only Crow he's met so far, but he can guess. He thinks he's seen them a time or two about the inn or the tavern below. It's pretty impossible to miss the near-panicked look on Jesper's face, however, which is enough to have Sylvain pausing in his intent traipse towards the inn.

He doesn't relinquish his grip on Jesper, however - just in case. Although he does pause to give the man's alarm due consideration before altering their course. ]

We'll go up the back stairs. It's the quickest route to my room anyway. They shouldn't be on my floor at all. They won't see you.

[ Although he's wondering if he should be worried about this. Whether it's fear putting that look on Jesper's face or guilt over having caved to whatever this is that's been wreaking havoc on all of them this week. ]

Hey. [ A hand to Jesper's jaw as he brings his face back to Sylvain, so he takes up the man's line of sight once more. His own expression intent as he drags Jesper firmly into the present and hopefully away from whatever his brain is currently doing to him. ] I've got you, Jesper.

[ He really hopes that comes across as more reassuring than creepy. ]

[nadine_he_loves]

"Yeah...you're probably right."

There's a goodly amount of cemeteries. Last time this happened, it wasn't exactly localized. There's no reason to imagine it is this time.

"If nothing else, it's probably causing a lot of chaos." Nadine really isn't that concerned, but she hasn't encountered any violent zombies yet. But she supposes that doesn't mean all of them will be as relatively harmless. The more she thinks on it, the more it seems likely that some were bound to cause actual problems.

"Do you know where the graveyards are?"

[philancer]

[ He huffs out a deep breath at that, hand scrubbing over his face, as if that might brush away the last of the lingering panic and dread that still have his hand shaking slightly.

Well. That explained some things, at least. Although he doesn't know whether or not he should be more alarmed over how much she might have picked up from him. He's not exactly one to trot out old traumas for just anyone, after all. But he brushes his fingers over the back of her hand, hoping she doesn't think he's mad at her. He's not. He's pretty sure if she can pick up on things like that, there's little she could do about his own subconscious practically screaming about it. ]

Logically? Sure. But emotions don't really pay much attention to logic in my experience. Still. My apologies, Wanda. That particular memory... is not something I'd wish on anyone.

[hextechhead]

He knows that the longer they are apart the harder this will be. He knows that the path to Viktor was over the wall, the three directions open to him not there, so he needs to think it through. Jayce lifts his hand higher with the light spell to look all along the edges of the walls and see if anything shows handholds. When he spots something that looks reasonable, he climbs up. It isn't easy but he is strong and quick and strategic.

"V, I'm coming!"

Viktor might hear him in the correct direction he is, but still not in sightline. Yet. Jayce is now on the top of the wall and he waits and watches. Hoping that he'll remember to do the spell. The sporadic attempts may not be that helpful, but all it takes is one. He sees the very quick spark from the darkness ahead of him and runs all along the top of the wall, following as best as he can. He does have to swing and jump up and over a sudden break that he couldn't see until he was on it, but he manages to land hard only a few feet away from Viktor. It probably felt like he appeared out of no where, considering the path there.

It hurts and his eyes hurt from trying to see better in the dark, but it doesn't matter, because he's found Viktor. Jayce kneels next to him and cups his face, anxious since he seems ... exhausted? As usual he is a ray of warmth even in here.

"I'm here. I found you. How long have you been here?"

[gynvael]

Geralt does none of those things. He plants his feet instead and lets her barrel straight into him. He doesn't need to fall, but he lets it happen, landing on his back.

If she swings her knife a second time, he'll try to catch it again. But it's not really the blow he's thinking about. It's that she must, deep down, remember something if she recalls this dagger. So maybe—

He reaches, quick, for the medallion she wears on her belt, the one she's never taken off: the silver wolf head decorated with florals. Snatches it off with a twist. It is not identical, but the familiar edges are there.

"Then who gave this to you? Why does it look like mine?"

[philancer]

[ Sylvain just pauses to cast Thancred a skeptical look, unsure what that was even an option right now? ]

...Have you ever scaled a mountain in the middle of winter before?

[ This is a terrible idea, Thancred. ]

[nadine_he_loves]

It wouldn't have been that big a deal, if Dean had told her he was alright being alone tonight. It wouldn't be Nadine's first rejection. But she's glad he invites her in, and she moves through the doorway and inside.

"Yeah, sure." Why not? That seems to be the mantra these days. Why not? She's been drinking more than usual lately. Of course her 'usual' isn't much, but in a way that only highlights the difference. A drink or two a day from hardly any drinks is a marked increase.

But it won't hurt, and she gets the sense that maybe Dean is the one who needs the drink. She can't blame him, she's hardly given him any indication she had an interest. It had never been something she gave any serious consideration to, beyond a vague acknowledgement to herself that he's handsome and appealing. She just never allows those vague ideas to grow into anything else.

Until lately.

"Whatever you've got, I'm not picky."

[philancer]

[ He hears the hissing crack and pop of something giving way above them, the fire eating through the supports of the roof, perhaps, or the second and third floors up there. He knows there had been a giant hole up there somewhere after the battle although he had no idea what had caused it. And has no idea what stage of anything they're in right now, with the fire raging as it is.

He just really hopes they're not about to have a dragon land on them. Or some dark mages show up to rip a hole in the fabric of reality and suck them all into the void beyond. Not a pleasant fate, as far as he's heard. In comparison, a little fiery mayhem is no big deal.

He'd paused to grab the stranger and shove him against the nearest wall, using his own body as protection from whatever was about to drop on them from above. He had some of his armor on, at least, and his instincts as a knight were too well-honed to ever leave someone in danger when he could do something about it.

He didn't even get a chance to call out a warning as he jumped in to move them. But then nothing happens. Or... something happens off to the side instead of directly on them where he'd been certain the debris would land.

Still pressing the other boy to the wall, he glances over his shoulder with an expression of surprise on his face. ]

Goddess. That was too close.

[philancer]

[ He's sure the undead are going to demand his attention again in a moment, but for the moment, he just blinks at Altair before casting the other man a sly grin. ]

Did you just call me pretty? Aww, this night just improved by at least tenfold. That almost makes up for all the dead things who won't stay dead and keep trying to eat me.

[philancer]

[ Sylvain leans on his spear and attempts to catch his breath. Not that he's all that winded, but it had been a decent amount of exertion. He's pretty sure their threat level was mostly in their sheer numbers, not their strategies or fighting skills. ]

...By 'attend', you don't mean 're-bury', do you? Will that just mean we have to deal with this again tomorrow night?

[magicalarchaeologist]

Istredd is truly flabbergasted, there is no better word for it. He is briefly without words entirely as the ground shaking turns into a very strange and unique sounding hum. He was lost in the Horizon but moved around to other domains before that, and he never experienced this.

"It's not connected to me directly, otherwise it would only happen when I was in here. And I would ... feel something wrong, psychically."

Especially when he is in here, but nothing precisely feels wrong or off. If anything, this seems completely disconnected from his own awareness and ability to make change. It is easy to assume it's him; his problem, the Singularity mad at him for some reason, but he feels like something else is going on. There's just no logic to hold onto.

"Do you know if it's happening anywhere else?"

[philancer]

Unless we're both unlucky.

[ It's fine, he'll voice it. Even if he does so in a cheerful manner, as if not bothered by that possibility at all.

He does blink at the flame she suddenly summons into being, however, eyeing it curiously. ]

Huh. That's useful. You're not going to, uh. Set yourself on fire or anything though, are you? [ That would probably bad for your health.

Also that question... How is he supposed to answer that with a straight face?

He doesn't even try, instead drawling in a dry tone. ] I'm pretty flexible. I suppose it depends on the situation at hand.

[magicalarchaeologist]

"Oh should I have been accusing you first?"

Istredd says to her with a smile. He is teasing, which is actually very rare for him, but that is because he doesn't exactly have many friends. He doesn't know the comfortable ease one has with someone they trust, he's been a very isolated person for most of his life. He has found humor and wryness occasionally, but maybe he has a streak in him that's simply not realized on most days. She's his best friend. It's different.

"I don't know, I feel like we should get to the bottom of this."

His humor wanders off as he grows rather pensive and serious, responsible to a fault. But everyone looks like strangers and it's unsettling, being surrounded with new people. Istredd may want to try and figure things out, but his tendency to avoid crowds wins out.

"Alright, maybe. This is probably something the crown should handle." Hey, if they want to be absolute rulers, than absolutely rule.

[philancer]

[ There's a few things he wants to poke at in what Claude says there but his brain literally trips over the words 'those who passed away'. It's enough to make him pale, swallowing convulsively and suddenly he regrets drinking or putting anything of substance in his stomach. ]

Wait. We're all... They're all dead?

[ The words come out a little choked because while he'd known that was a possibility after Gronder, in an abstract way, hearing it phrased like that is something else entirely.

Claude's being haunted by the rest of them as dead ghosts. Not just hallucinations. That dread that's been haunting him for days now of all he fears might come to pass... is what is actively stalking Claude, it seems. ]

[supersoldier]

[And there, like slipping past an invisible veil, she’s come back to him. Grounded in reality, hot off the heels of an illusion. As shaken as she must feel—nerves still alight with adrenaline at the very least, Sephiroth assumes—he cannot help but let relief tendril itself through him, like it were a tightly wound thing finally, finally uncoiling.

He’s forgotten everything else; his sword strewn somewhere down the hall, the state of the windows and cracking plaster, even the warm burn of a fresh cut across his cheek. He sees Ciri and only Ciri, keeps her steady with one hand as she clasps his shoulders, and raises his other to cup at the side of her face, slow and careful.

The whispers in his head soften and recede; maybe they twist into something else, even more tempting, as he catches her gaze with his own, but he doesn’t note their transformation if they do.]

Whatever you saw, it wasn’t real.

[The words themselves are no different than what he would speak were he not under the quiet thrall of some ineffable thing. But today, they may exert an influence unintentional; they might implore in ways unspoken, wheedle into her head more pleasantly than a nightmarish illusion, and offer the tempting comfort of getting lost in something altogether different.

Sephiroth tilts his head until their foreheads touch, exhaling. His lashes are so dark, so long.]

There’s no threat. It's just you and me.