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

[aquaveiled]

[ That's not a good sign. She's used to hearing strange voices whispering in the back of her mind, but when other people are also hearing them she knows that she can't chalk it up to her own unique experience. The groan echoes again and Himeka takes a step closer to her companion, looking about to see if she can discern the direction it's coming from.

But his exclamation grabs her attention. She whips around, the fireball bobbing about dangerously. ]

Are you okay??

[ He looks like he's prepared for battle--that's a good thing, isn't it? With a cool-looking lance? ]

[thedevilwhorose]

[There's a line here that he would normally say.

Multiple lines, in fact.

Burying alive amount of lines.

Instead, after grumbling about his literal in-game slip, and taking a new mighty study on the power-ups and their functions, something else comes out, still in that easy lull that he doesn't even quite realize it.] I've met some here that aren't so terrible.

[londonbound]

He is breathing perhaps too fast, heart pounding in his temples. Rhy blinks away the tears and struggles to find his voice again; after coming up unsuccessful, he nods, and just lets Mat lead him to the window.

Mat is here. Even if there's no one else -- and, truly, he feels like there is no one else, that same terrifying emptiness just out of reach but far too close, like he might fall into that place once again. Only Mat is there to stop it. The only one who stands between Rhy and the endless loneliness beyond.

[londonbound]

You'll be okay.

[ He says it even though they can't in any way be certain. Normally, he's been told no one can really die in the Horizon -- but is this even the Horizon? Do the same rules apply here, wherever here is? Wherever she is.

Still, the reassurance is automatic. Foolish and naive, but not empty. ]

I'm sorry. That sounds terrifying.

[ Though it's hard to sound reassuring when he's shouting over the wind. ]

...the fire isn't working. I tried. But- but I'll try again. Something has to work eventually.

I'm sure there are people looking for you. For us. We're going to get out of here.

[ushiri]

[ And lightning, he almost adds. That wouldn't help though, would it?

The admission doesn't seem to phase him. Maybe because he already guessed this was the case when he asked the question, from the way Jack had reacted just moments ago when he realized the cause of his memory lapse. He holds Jack's gaze, who will find him unyielding, but sympathetic. ]

Your power is dangerous, I get it. And these lapses doubly so. I know what it's like not to be able to trust your own mind. [ He lifts his hand to softly cup the side of Jack's face. ]

If you can't trust yourself, at least trust me. There's nothing to reconsider. I'm happy with where I am.

[ He's aware of the issue now, so he knows what signs to look for. He gives a small shrug. ]

Besides, who else should I bunk with? Lucifer?

[ He lets his hand drop to his side, then he goes to sit on the bed, reaching into the nightstand for a spare cloth. ]

This man you killed - was that the first time you took a life?

[catholica]

Something like that.

( well, he had still in at st agnes' when stick had found him so it could technically count, he supposes. he shrugs a shoulder. )

I learned young. I've had a lot of years to perfect it.

[catholica]

( if matt weren't otherwise occupied with things, he would have laughed. this whole thing isn't the first time someone's noticed the skills he probably shouldn't have as a lawyer.

and he knows that he could easily play it off, tell them that he needs something to do when he isn't helping protect good people from the bad in a court of law. )

I took one karate class when I was a kid.

( he quips it out just as he catches one of the undead things against him and twists it around, throwing it over his hip and driving the heel of his boot against his sternum. )

[philancer]

I... probably.

[ Not a very reassuring answer, he's aware, but he's so distracted by the appearance of this particular lance in his hand that he doesn't put a lot of effort into the answer, honestly.

Only that groan sounds again, closer now, and he hisses an annoyed curse under his breath, swinging the lance around into a ready stance as he purposefully puts himself in front of her. ]

Careful. I think whatever it is is getting closer.

[stations]

( He'd be way more insistent about it if it weren't for the hand that cups his cheek. He'd start shutting down, he'd start putting up that wall of his that he's had years to perfect, but something about this... the touch, the eye contact, the trust me... it's disarming in a way Jack isn't used to.

Rather, it's in a way that he was used to once, but it's been so long he can barely remember it.

He looks back at Kyle, sees him, but for just a moment he feels somebody else. The shape of another person. The dull ache of where they once were, the still-open wound that never healed, the want. I miss you so much; his eyes, suddenly shining over and a little wet, blink a few times in rapid succession, and he tugs them away from Kyle's face to settle them somewhere safer. Some distant nowhere-point on the far wall. )

No. ( He murmurs absently, shaking his head. ) No, there were- a few before him, but also he didn't actually... die. Somehow.

( That last bit added with blatant disdain; he wishes the guy would've. In this case, it isn't the throat-slitting part that he regrets, it's the fact that he had no control over doing it. )

[godshattering]

[ What Wanda describes: it's both comforting in the sense of not being alone to see things and also decidedly not, because it brings him no solace to find she doesn't share seeing people who shouldn't be in Abraxas or that she's suffering in a completely different way, let alone suffering at all. At her description Claude's tempted to glance down at himself, to see if that crash upon the rocks is adding to the illusion somehow but he doesn't look away, brow instead furrowed as she explains. He's about to offer what's admittedly a platitude even to his own ears, but before he can there's a bone-chilling cry from outside.

His own instinct is to go still to track the noises as they approach and circle their shelter before he looks to Wanda again to meet her gaze to telegraph the same don't talk, don't move message to her, only to find they're already on the same page. At the knock on the door he looks to it immediately. For all that Claude controls his expressions, shock's apparent after - whatever it is tells them it knows they're inside because he knows that voice. It's Nader, but with none of the cheer his combat instructor usually had when saying something along those lines to coax him out from wherever he was hiding as a child in one of their many games Nader had humored him with. Now it's a reprimand like he's done wrong and he swallows hard.

The voice changes as the door rattles to a woman's voice, something sterner and every bit as authoritative, one he'd heard frequently when some prank or another had gone wrong during their days at the academy and she'd been there to lecture him each and every time with unending seriousness:

C'mon, Claude. This isn't funny. It's freezing out here so won't you let me inside?

Ingrid. There's more knocks and if he wasn't sitting as taut as a bowstring under Wanda's grasp before, he is now. Claude's gaze swings back to her with a quick shake of the head, but what's he confirming? That he knows who that is? That they shouldn't let whoever it is in? Or that he has no idea what's going on? Hard to communicate that and everything else in one gesture when he's holding fast to staying quiet.

The knocks on the door continue varying in intensity to polite to insistent and now there's more noises on the walls. Something sounds distinctly like fingernails running across the cabin's exterior, like it's searching for the smallest opening to pry open. More voices, more pleading, whispers and shouts, all of them looping over and around each other like some horrible out of sync chorus. ]

[carmesi]

When aren't we getting into trouble?

[it's a retort with humor, as it is common for them to be getting into some dumb things together. the mystery of the shrine showcases a truth in solvunn—that they are wrapped in this veil of everything is fine when the reality is that there is more than meets the eye.

they would be stupid to not see that.

but if there is one thing wanda knows, is that neither of them—and not himeka, either—wouldn't be able to handle whatever trouble brews. old gods or not, they have powers of their own, too.

nero leads the way towards an area that seems to have zero to no traffic of worshippers, and perhaps it's the right place to set up a shrine for thor as nero intends. he does stop, and wanda does, too, taking stock of their surroundings. there's something unsettling about the woods here, but she can't quite put her finger on it.]

Are you going to need help setting it up?

[carmesi]

[the fact, then, that he's ultimately not considering the alternative as a viable place to be lets wanda be at ease. it's easy to succumb to the feelings which depict the opposite, of wanting to be gone from this world. sentiments that she's faced and welcomed.

such pessimism makes it hard to break the chains of cyclical trauma.]

Claude mentioned that you have a beautiful monastery here. [she is only sorry that she was pulled in by the negativity of the well, that stands in the shadow of this world sylvain has created.] I hope to visit it one day.

[definitely one emotional disaster too many for the day.]

Under better circumstances.

[carmesi]

No, he's right. Her children will never really be here anymore, ever again. It is a cruel truth, but it is one that she grapples with every day when she wakes up, feeling the loss of them, knowing that she was a mother once—briefly—but it just is not in the cards for her, ever again.

Jayce does see them, though, and the illusory power of her magic has this effect of bringing the past into the world, whispers of souls that once were.

For all that he may try to keep her from hurting, even she, sometimes, has to face her fears face on. She can't just ignore them, even as she feels them standing there, hesitant, looking at her back. Wanda swallows, looks at Jayce. "I can't just ignore them." Because what mother could, even if they were just illusory constructs in the Horizon?

"Mom?" comes the hesitant plea for her to turn, and Wanda does—though she keeps a hand holding firmly onto Jayce's arm as an anchor.

She isn't certain of her emotions, currently, but she won't let her own grief swallow her whole. Not this time.

"Boys," she starts, voice quiet, and her heart aches as she sees their downturned expressions brighten as she talks to them, small smiles on their faces. "My magic is acting out. You shouldn't be here."

"That's the thing!" says Billy, and Tommy cuts in. "We can help! We can help get you both out of here."

Wanda thinks about this for a moment, and— it makes sense, doesn't it? If they are a construct of her magic, and her magic is acting out, they would know how to navigate it. Their form has done that before when her magic fumbled out of control and trapped Peter inside it in the past.

"Jayce," she turns to her friend, uncertainty on her features, but a better understanding of the magical puzzle before her. "They can traverse through my magic and find the exit for you. They're constructs—from my subconscious. We can trust them."

She can deal with the aftermath of this pain later, after all this is done.

[carmesi]

She sits still on the ground of the small cave she's made for them with her magic. It seems a similar circumstance—that he can't leave the Horizon. She, too, is trapped in her own space, but she at least has the powers to keep herself safe, of avoiding that which stalks the forest she's bound to herself.

Standing up, she puts a hand to the wall, holding on to soil; she extends her other hand for Wilhelm to take.

"Perhaps," she says. Wanda wants to move them from where they are without breaching the surface, but she needs him to anchor himself to her. "I had a nightmare, too. A moth inside a rose. Both were dead."

—and as far as dreams go? It's strange to remember it so clearly.

"Hold on to me."

[carmesi]

[for her part, wanda circles the tentacled beast, carving runes of witchcraft across its body, weighing down the tentacles so that they don't reach her. she zips her way around its carapace, boots hitting the ground as she ends up behind it. it gives her enough room to breathe, before she's jumping off again to escape newly-formed tentacles that reach for her in a burst.

all this leading her to the front of the creature's form, in time to hear stephen claim that they can slip through—through a space that he's cut for them with magic.

except he comes wheeling towards her, caught with a tentacle wrapped around his waist. wanda loses her balance when he connects with her, scrapes her hand against the ground, and uses that sharp sting on her skin to flare magic at her palms.

the runes carved onto the tentacles glow, and with one swelling thrum, wanda jerks her arms to the side. the tentacles explode at the base, falling flatly, and the creature rolls onto its ball-shaped body in agony. she grits her teeth, enveloping stephen in scarlet magic to drag him away from it.]

Get a hold of yourself.

[arguably, fighting words.

crawling bodies behind them start moving in closer, closing in the space stephen's created for them to slip through. wanda frowns.]

What if we just flew up?

[they'd land somewhere else entirely, if their theory proves correct.]

[carmesi]

The girl—Wanda—hears him, but her mind seems undecided. It is like she recognizes him, and recognizes that he also cannot exist in this particular memory. The world has already shattered into thousands of irreparable pieces, here, and she's trying to hold on so tightly to the broken glass that reflect comfort rather than destruction.

But I'm scared.

She doesn't want to let go of her brother's hand. If she lets him go, what will happen to Pietro? They have to stay together, no matter what, especially now—especially now that their parents are gone—especially now that the bomb tick-tick-ticks in the rubble.

Biting her lip lightly, her free hand moves just so, as if to hold onto Istredd's offered hand.

Wanda, don't!

The echoes across fractured glass, shrill and sharp. Wanda hesitates, looks back at her brother, at how tightly he holds her hand, then back at Istredd.

Will you help him, too?

[carmesi]

[not a chance to respond to her question— wanda would have expected by now that it was more commonplace for people to have been in a strange horizon-space such as this one. regardless, she is right to be alarmed, and wanda turns, too, towards the sound.

her expression pinches.]

That wasn't here before.

[steve and her hadn't encountered anything other than the pink glob. is this space changing in accordance to those who find themselves here? like an intelligent creature, adjusting?

—no time to think.

almost immediately, there's another crash, through the wall across, and now through theirs. wanda senses it coming, recognition just but a notion in the forefront of her mind. she quickly twists her hands unto each other, then casts a spell in red and tosses it towards ciri.

it moves the other woman out of the way, as the creature slams through the wall like a bull, wanda shielding herself with her own wall of pulsing scarlet magic. familiarity, now, in her eyes, as she sees the monstrous sentinel that guarded wundagore castle appear within the rubble and the smoke of destruction.

no, she is not the scarlet witch in this space. this shouldn't be happening.]

Ciri— get back.

[as for wanda, she doesn't know about ciri's fighting prowess outside of her magic, but this is something wanda could try and handle on her own.]

[tobeclosetohim]

Jo can't decide if it's weirder he's trying, or if it's weirder she's actually thinking about it. What in the hell would you (would she) ask? What fucking game is he playing by trying to trip her up with it? Why the hell would she trust that somehow after asking and answering a question each, he'd ever leave?

The space of half a second, eyebrows raised, before it rolls out as:

"What would I possibly want to know about that you know? How to keep a house at a thousand degrees?"

[assembles]

[ From there, burning a batch of undead to stop them from ever getting up again goes as smoothly as such a thing can. The scent of rotting flesh being burned is potentially one of the worst smells in the universe, but Steve and Matt oversee the process nonetheless, until the flames have died out along with the roused corpses, leaving nothing but piles of ash.

The ashes will need to be swept up and disposed of elsewhere, but by that point other people join in to help now that the immediate danger is gone. Steve and Matt are thanked for their assistance, but it seems they've done all they can for today. It's been a long day and the sun is threatening to go down, meaning it's about time they moved on. ]

... I think there are a few taverns that are running in the part of town that hasn't been firebombed. If you wanted to grab a drink.

[ It's more a pretext for them to have a more in-depth chat now that they don't have a horde of zombies to worry about. ]

[aquilus]

I can tell.

[Technically a compliment, but it's delivered more like a frank assessment than flattery. Still, he'll take note of this; some worlds' schools are quite different from the places of education that he knows of.]

Which path has served you better here?

[Present situation excluded, he assumes. Scholarship isn't going to do anything about the ghouls, but this state of affairs will pass. He hopes.]

[aquilus]

[It's not obvious, but Altaïr's expression slips a little at this. It's not that the description is surprising. Rather, it's more familiar than he'd like.]

To take pride in one's skill is a fine thing. But there is a point at which that becomes arrogance.

[He speaks from experience.]

[aquilus]

That implies a certain order to this. A higher power with a certain aim for us in mind.

[And granted, magic is a thing here and there could theoretically be some powerful conjurer who has created this maze, but it hews a little too close to faith for Altaïr's taste. He has faith in himself and in the wills of men, and that is all.]

Have strange things happened here before? Stranger than such a place usually is.

[godshattering]

Maybe. But considering what the alternative is? I don't think there's any harm in trying to do something besides be another uniform for them. There's only one Summoned I know of that's joined up with the military and it's because it's what she knew before coming here. So we have that in common, sure, but I got the impression she was starting maybe at a lower rank despite that. If it's going to take a long time to get any kind of trust that way, then I'd rather spend it actually helping people who need it instead of just pushing papers around for someone who needs to say they're successfully ordering us around.

[ Not an exaggeration; he's pretty sure that's exactly what Shepard was doing with that information check in. Or information gathering, even if there wasn't much provided besides some basic things the government most likely already knows about all of them since Claude finds it hard to believe they aren't under some kind of surveillance. And while he'd also love to know what's known about them before and after arriving here - and any kind of insider information - there's still too much risk involved in his mind.

What's left of his drink's mostly forgotten now as he turns to lean an elbow on the bar and face Sylvain more than just a look to the side now and then. Don't mind him as he continues right on into a familiar routine: convincing someone he's right. ]

Think about it. The unfortunate side of being through war is knowing what it costs. But then there's also what comes after, and that's something valuable we have to offer and far more productive than waving weapons around in training like we're back at the academy. There's going to be a lot needed in both Cadens and Libertas for some time to come and with it more opportunities to assist.

[godshattering]

[ The darkness - and the monster taking up the space between them - makes it difficult to see what's really going on even despite the axe's glow illuminating the immediate area. It does so in flashes with each swing Claude makes to parry or attempt striking only to be countered each and every time, and eventually he has to focus on what he's doing and hope Kyle's okay after that answer which isn't reassuring at all. Maybe that they're both lost on what happening makes it better somehow.

Until there's a sharp cry not from the creature or him, unless that collision from earlier jarred him more than he realized. He opens his mouth to call out to Kyle again when the beast turns. Claude doesn't need light to realize it's zeroed in on the exact person he's concerned about so without hesitating he lifts the axe again. Now it glows with an ominous pulse as if a heartbeat's inside, the blade's protrusions reaching like fingers for its target as - he thinks - bone recognizes bone. Claude extends it to answer the Relic's call as red light streams out which become like ribbons to light the walls around them as he whirls to put all of his body weight behind his next swing.

It connects and there's a crunch of bones that doesn't belong to Freikugel as the creature falls. There's no movement, and Claude has to hope for the best as he lets the axe go.

He's now well aware of the drain it had on him what with his breath being even harder to catch unrelated to the sharp ache in his side, but that's not important. Claude ignores it to limp to where Kyle is, one hand placed on the other's shoulder with a brief downward shove in the universal (he hopes) signal to be seated. He'll kneel down himself a moment later to send the same message again. ]

Here. [ Basic battlefield medicine will come in handy in the aftermath of this one. He first assesses the open gash on Kyle's wrist with no questions before summoning another healing spell to mend it, ignoring the drain it has on him before yanking the sash off his clothes to wind around the mostly closed wound. ] This'll have to do for now.

[cryptsleeper]

You're right. [Alucard can realize how much sense the man makes.] And that's not been the case, not here..

[The dhampir is certain there's a deity back home, but mostly because what other Hell was his father summoning demons from? That's a thought for later though, and he instead focuses on the question. An easier one by far.]

Once before, yes. But it was brief and more focused on the individual, not wholly independent scenarios with seemingly no trick to being rid of such a take over. [He leans back, head brushing against the wall.] I keep trying to envision my own space at the end of this maze, but that's not working.