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vestigelogs2020-07-20 07:46 pm
vestigemods) wrote in vestigelogs2020-07-20 07:46 pm
(event) SHATTER & DECAY
EVENT LOG: SHATTER & DECAY
JULY 21ST - 27TH
► IF THERE'S NOTHING BUT PAIN, PUT IT ON ME
- On the morning of the 21st, the sun dawns peacefully over the crystalline lake just as it has every day for nearly three weeks now. Birdsong melodies soften the crisp edge to the morning air, and woodland creatures retreat from many a cabin backyard, unhurried but unwilling to contend with the cabin's residents as they wake. It's... peaceful, more so than one might expect after such a dire fate spelled out in the pamphlets upon your arrival. Perhaps, after many such days, it has managed to lull you into a sense of something like security.
Today we'll be learning a valuable lesson on why that is, in fact, a mistake.
Sometime between the 21st & 22nd, you begin to feel a bit... off. Perhaps the source is apparent at once, the ends of your fingers or toes going stiff and crystalline or swelling and blooming in small rotting sores. Perhaps the source of your discomfort is a bit less clear as your senses begin to sharpen or dull. But make no mistake, this is only the beginning.
As time passes, your situation only worsens. The glass or decay carves a slow but steady path up your limb or limbs. Your sharp senses begin to overwhelm you. Your dull senses muffle altogether. Soon, you may not be alone in your own mind, bombarded by the omnipresent thoughts and feelings of those around you in a way that you can't seem to hide from. Or worse - maybe there's no one around you, and yet you hear whispers in your mind all the same... Whispers which turn to yelling and screams and sharp violent emotions and imagery you can't simply close your eyes to because it exists inside your head.
But there is a solution.
It's detailed inside your new coffee-table centerpiece, a book bound roughly in leather and written in a language none here know or can recognize. All you know is that this book was not here last night. Not far from the book's front cover, you'll find two pages of illustrations with a page of text between them. One depicts humans holding their heads as if in distress, then cutting themselves or one another, then no longer holding their heads in distress. The next depicts much the same, but instead of a their heads they hold a discolored arm or leg... and instead of simply drawing blood, it shows them rubbing one another's blood on their discolored limbs. Skimming the rest of the book will find a dozen or so pages roughly torn from the bindings. Perhaps those were further illustrations. You may never know.
Besides - you have more pressing issues to attend to. Like bleeding, or finding someone else to, in order to make this stop.
You who only suffer the mental effects are lucky, in a sense. Your condition is deeply uncomfortable but it almost definitely isn't fatal. If you've found your limb crystallizing or rotting away, however, you have little choice but to seek a solution or resign yourself to a distinctly unpleasant death.
Regardless of which effects may be lingering, you'll find blessed relief at midnight on the 27th. Over the course of an hour, your senses will fade back into their proper strength, the unwanted guests will evacuate your mind, and the glass or rot will recede from your limbs to leave them just as they were before this veritable nightmare of a week.
Now, it's time to breathe, to recover, and to lick your figurative wounds.
► MOD NOTES
- This log is a general dump for all log threads pertaining to July's Shatter & Decay event! Feel free to utilize vestigenet for any event-related network posts you'd like to make.
- The event takes place from July 21st - 27th. All characters begin to experience effects by mid-22nd at the latest. Any event effects lingering at midnight on the 27th fade away over the course of an hour, in much the same way as they would if provided sufficient blood during the event itself.
- All event information (in detail rather than the flavortext I've provided) can be found on the July Event Infopost!
- Important semantics reminder! While you can have a character experience both psych and body horror within the event, both must be either rot or glass, not mix and match.
- Limbs lost or irreversibly damaged to this event reappear next time your character sleeps (as early as right when the event ends) unless you OOCly choose for them to retain the loss, in which case they instead regain the limb upon their next death + respawn. (If your character doesn't sleep, they go offline/fall unconscious and return to consciousness with the limb fixed.)
- Any questions can be directed to this top-level or, for a quicker response, to Trace on discord/plurk.
no subject
We will figure that out [ he says, his voice far kinder now than before. He even tries for soothing, though that is only a halfway success, he's still far too furious to have anything soothing about him. ]
[ He keeps his hand on Huaisang's shoulder and even dares give it a tiny squeeze, though he nearly makes his own heart stop from fear that he will feel more glass crumble under his fingers. ] We will find a way to fix this.
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[Huaisang wipes uselessly at his face with his sleeve, he's too upset to care about the tears and snot he's getting on the exquisitely made robes. Cares for later.
But he notices that he's got cuts on his remaining hand from when he'd tried to sweep up all the shattered pieces on the floor. There's a little blood but not much. He rubs his fingers together, smearing the bit of blood between them with a sniffle and a frown.]
Maybe... maybe we can find some to put the pieces in?
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Let me take care of that. [ His voice is quiet now, actually something akin to soothing and reassuring. Even if he is mostly just subdued into such quiet by his own helplessness, but he's not screaming anymore. ] You just sit back and relax and... [ Okay, there are the furrowed eyebrows again. ] Try to stop crying, alright? You'll ruin your robes and then you'll have to cry over them being ruined!
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[Huaisang gripes, letting his head fall back as he sniffles. He's trying he promises. At this moment in time his robe is not as important, so he wipes at his face again, watching Jiang Cheng carefully trying to collect up the pieces of his arm.]
... thank you, Jiang Cheng.
[Quieter. Truly he is thankful for him being here and trying to help. After some more awkward snotty moments, Huaisang sits up a bit straighter, peering around.]
Did you um come here for something?
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When he sits up and turns the attention back on him, he gives a little scoff and rolls his eyes. ] Of course I did, but who cares? This is more important!
[ He'd just come here to look for food, nothing that takes precedence over the state Huaisang is in. ]
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Truly you mean that? I'm more important than food?
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Of course you are! Don't say stupid things!
[ He gets up and offers his hand to him. ]
Come. I'll take you home. You shouldn't sit around crying here. It's embarrassing.
no subject
Wiping at his face again he'll reach up and take Jiang Cheng's hand, standing.]
Embarrassing to who? It's just you here.
[He's not embarrassed to cry in front of Jiang Cheng. He's his friend after all! He will stoop down to grab the magazines he'd dropped when everything had gone to heck, still wanting to take those back to the cabin.]
Are you sure? You don't want to get anything while you're here?
[He's not crying anymore, but he's definitely doing the little hiccupy sniffles that is hard to stop when you've been crying hard.]
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He shakes his head curtly. ] Nothing, no. It's not important. If I change my mind, I can come back after I've taken you back to your cabin.
[ Is that too sappy? It could easily be, so he adds, ] I'll need my hands free. You're too clumsy. You'll shatter your face if you fall again.
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And being too sappy isn't a bad thing, Jiang Cheng.
Huaisang tucks the magazines into his robes and pouts at his helper, which looks very pathetic with his face so splotchy and eyes red from crying.]
You won't let me fall right, Jiang-xiong? If I shatter my face I'll have nothing left!
[What is he if he's not pretty?! A shattered face would be the worst thing ever! Huaisang moves to saddle up close to Jiang Cheng, arm around the other man's and fingers curled tight into his sleeve. Sorry, he's gonna be a bit of a limpet right now.]
I hate this place... bad stuff keeps happening since we've come here.
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[ In light of this, he's not even going to protest Huaisang firmly attaching himself to him, or holding on to his sleeve. It may even be for the better, just in case some new awfulness comes their way.
He's almost gentle in leading him out of the gas station and down the trail back towards the houses; protective for sure in the way his eyes are alert and his hand ready to draw his sword. ]
I thought it would be mostly a matter of killing what tries to kill us but this is different. It's like a curse but well outside of anything we could break or fix with cultivation knowledge.
no subject
As they head back to the cabins he'll think suddenly, looking at Jiang Cheng, his grip lessoning.]
... you're not turning to glass too are you? You don't feel that hard.
[His tone is concerned. He'd rather not snap Jiang Cheng's arm off or something terrible.]
no subject
What do you mean? Is it because I'm being nice? I can be nice, you know! It doesn't have to be only because I'm turning to glass!
[ He pouts a little to himself before admitting ] I was sick. My leg was rotting. But I'm better now.
no subject
[If he's going to be a butt about it, Huaisang will pour in turn.]
It's good your leg didn't rot off, but I asked to make sure I wouldn't break any of your limbs off by accident! That would be the worst.
no subject
[ Wait, why are they even bickering now? They aren't even disagreeing on anything?
Jiang Cheng looks visibly confused for a moment before deciding to just roll with it. Bickering is always good. ]
And you're short and scrawny, you would be awful at carrying me if my leg got damaged again!
no subject
You-!
[Well if he's fine now then it won't matter if Huaisang shoves him away, walking a little faster now.]
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[ Jiang Cheng stumbles, caught completely off guard by the shove, and hurries to catch up to Huaisang again as soon as he has regained his balance. ]
Hey! Didn't you just say you're worried about shattering me!
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He can find his own way home!]
You said you were fine now! Go back and get the stuff you were going to get before I made a mess of things!
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Jiang Cheng barks at Nie Huaisang's back and he is so close to stomping his foot. Or even sending a pebble at him. The latter of which he only resists because he really is worried about more shattering. ]
Go home alone and break your face when you trip! See if I care!
[ HRMPF! ]
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You you-- Jiang Cheng you're absolutely insufferable!
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Oh! So now I am the insufferable one! Who started this, huh!
[ He takes an indignant step towards him, all puffed up wounded dignity. ]
You picked a fight with me!
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You insulted me!
[And usually he'd brush it off or teasingly whine, but not today. Today is a bad not very good day for this sort of thing.]
G-Go away, leave me alone.
[He will walk home and trip and break his face! He doesn't need Jiang Cheng's help!]
no subject
Jiang Cheng's mouth opens and closes a few times as it slowly sinks in that yes, he has actually offended Nie Huaisang for real. This is not like when they were boys at Cloud Recesses and would bicker about trivialities.
Here, in this place, where your arm can turn to glass and shatter into a thousand pieces, nerves are frayed for everyone. ]
Nie-xiong... [ His shoulders slump. Today, he fully believes that Huaisang will use that fan on him and that it won't be play hitting either. ] Alright. I will leave you here. Please be careful.