(event) H̸̠͉͖͌̓̋̽E̵̯͐ͅĻ̵͛̕̚L̶̨͈̪̗͑̀̀̚Ơ̵̢̠̣̐̏̚

[vestigemods]

H̸̠͉͖͌̓̋̽E̵͐Ļ̵͛̕̚L̶̨͈̪̗͑̀̀̚Ơ̵̢̠̣̐̏̚

NOVEMBER 25TH - 26TH

► WHERE DID THEY COME FROM, WHERE DID THEY GO?

Though November is, overall, a fairly dreary and nondescript month, one thing of note has certainly occurred: For the first time since characters were first turned loose in the containment zone, one month has rolled into the next and the increasingly alarming tree hasn't moved any closer. It still sits 50 yards from the barrier, creepy as hell, fucking your brains.

Until suddenly, it doesn't.

On the 25th, at the godawful hour of 5 AM, a ripple wakes everyone from whatever level of sleep they may or may not have been previously enjoying. It's not a sound nor a sight, nor is it even really a sensation that can be felt on the skin - and anyway, it's gone by the time most characters are properly conscious, leaving them wondering what exactly woke them. But everything... seems pretty ordinary, to be honest. They may even decide to settle back in to steal a few more hours of sleep. Wouldn't that be nice. What a shame that things have only just begun.

Five minutes later, with the obtuse buzzing of an emergency alarm, a senderless text alert arrives on every phone:

Do not leave your home. Do not draw attention. Remain unnoticed.

Wait for follow-up alert that situation has been contained.

That's definitely reassuring in no way at all. It's entirely up to characters whether or not they listen to it, but those who don't might be in for a bad time. You see, that creepy ass tree is now 50 yards closer, planting itself firmly in a brand new hole in the middle of the road in front of the gas station, asphalt uprooted and crumbling aside. And now, for the first documented time since the tree was first sighted, the figures perched on the branches begin to move.

They climb down from the tree, and over the course of the next day and a half, they wander the containment zone. Where are they going? What do they want? What even are they? All good questions, but unfortunately, no one seems to have (let alone offer) any answers. All you really know is, it's best to stay away from them. Things get a little bit fucky, if one of the visitors happens to be too close at hand.

Luckily, late on the 26th, the Technicians do indeed contain the visitors with a spectacular lack of subtlety, delivering one further message to the masses: The situation has been contained.

But the absence of the mysterious visitors doesn't necessarily mean everyone is out of the woods just yet, and their impact on those trapped within the containment zone will likely be felt for days to come.

► MOD NOTES

• This is a catch-all log for top-levels pertaining to November's H̸̠͉͖͌̓̋̽E̵̯͐ͅĻ̵͛̕̚L̶̨͈̪̗͑̀̀̚Ơ̵̢̠̣̐̏̚ event. Go ahead and utilize vestigenet for any event-related network posts you'd like to make.
  
• This event takes place between the IC dates November 25th and November 26th.
  
• All event information can be found on the H̸̠͉͖͌̓̋̽E̵̯͐ͅĻ̵͛̕̚L̶̨͈̪̗͑̀̀̚Ơ̵̢̠̣̐̏̚ Infopost! This log (unlike most of the others) is pretty much just poorly-concealed infopost copypasta just to fill the space.
  
• Please take care to label your top-levels with identifying information like the IC date and location, so that others can see at a glance if their character can hop in!
  
• There will be a separate Thanksgiving Feast log, so keep an eye out for that.
  
• Threads involving the after-effects taking place once the visitors are gone can go on the November catch-all!
  
• Any questions can be directed to this top-level or, for a quicker response, to Trace on discord/plurk.

Comments

ellie ; ota (tlou2 spoilers)

[backpacking]

library (early signs)

[ She'd seen the message, of course. They all had. ...But, Ellie also isn't one to trust the Technicians - or whoever is really behind all this - and had set off for the library in search of answers.

Too bad the whole place is thoroughly fucked. She heaves a sigh as she picks through the books, waterlogged and ruined, mentally chiding herself for having any hope that their captors would just leave anything useful lying around (at least, information-wise). She thumbs through a few of the damp tomes before a strange feeling sets in, sending chills up and down her spine.

Experience has taught her not to make a sound. Instead, she crouches down, wincing, but listening hard for anything (or anyone) that might be nearby. Something is obviously happening, because the world around her seems to flow like molasses, with an unnatural, goopy slowness.

In spite of herself, she finds that she's suddenly seated, back to the shelves. Ellie's never been drunk, but that's where her mind goes...before it drifts to drugged, and her pulse spikes with fear. For now, though, it's all she can do to brace herself against the stacks and breathe deep, mind working wildly to get the body back under control... ]


rec center (later signs)

[ What she'd been looking for were ropes, after having failed to find them in the store. What she'd found were more bouts of alarming oddity, the influence of something out of sight, but definitely not out of mind. She's rifling through a closet in the rec center when the overwhelming feeling from earlier washes over her again, and she's struck completely by visions of an unfamiliar scene.

She's standing in a house: one she doesn't recognize. Ellie swallows, fear and confusion heightened, and even more so when she exhales and sees her breath in the air. It's...cold, and she's been transported, and even her clothes are different.

Who...am I? The words don't make it to her lips, especially not when an agonized scream rips through the air from down below. Ellie snaps back to herself, feeling the bile rise in her throat at the familiarity of the scream, and she stumbles forward down the descending stairs toward a single door, one closed and unquestionably leading to the sound.

Ellie doesn't dare make noise, herself. Instead, she hurries down the steps and pushes through the door, reaching for her weapon -

And finds herself passing from the rec center closet into the center proper. She's breathing heavily and whips around to look behind her, but the vision is gone. ]

What the fuck?


the lake (visual range)

[ Two near-misses with the 'visitors' is enough for one day. Ellie quickly makes her way back to the cabin, avoiding anyone she doesn't recognize on the way, going out of her way to get back home anytime she starts to feel the unease caused by the strangers to wash over her. It takes a while, all things considered, but she makes it to the edge of the lake eventually, nearly to home base.

It's never that easy. One of the visitors ambles out from behind one of the trees, and she's immediately seized by a harsh and urgent survival instinct, stress and anxiety wracking her from the inside out. Ellie trembles in place, hands white where they're wrapped around the straps of her backpack. The figure just stares back, void-eyes boring through her. Fortunately, perhaps, she isn't able to look at them for more than a fraction of a second, and she finds she's instead staring at the ground after what feels like an eternity, but was in reality a few seconds.

Ellie is left standing, hunched, as she recovers herself, while the visitor wanders off elsewhere. ]