[player plot] signal

[anglophone]

Hello Wellstone! I come to you with a little player plot open to everyone in the game.



INTRODUCTION

In February, Alec comes up with a plan to alter the way his power works via brain manipulation with the assistance of a friendly local god of necromancy. His goal is to amplify his powers in order to manipulate the nerves of the meat underneath the Staywell with the aim of learning more about what it all is, and even finding a way to 'fight back' against the powers that be lying under the town.

Unfortunately, Alec's attempt to boost his powers underneath the Staywell Manor will be going horribly awry! The canon metaphysics of it all are over-complicated: the gist of it is that the alien parasite (hereafter referred to as a shard) Alec draws his power from will be possessing him and attempting to make contact with the larger alien entity it's part of.

This effort will fail, but it's going to get messy while it tries. Alec's shard specializes in generating and manipulating signals on a cosmic eldritch horror scale, and the plot will be about dealing with the effects of that.

The planned duration of this plot will be up to a few hours IC on the last day of February as characters investigate and deal with the problem. The key events will take place in the cistern deep beneath the lobby, on top of the bone platform that has been built out over the acid, and in the lobby above.

MAIN PLOT

There will be three 'rings' of influence Alec's shard projects.

• The Call: town wide, fully optional.


• The Network: a 15.8 feet/4.8 metres spherical radius area measured from Alec's body, where characters will experience the network effect described below. This effect will be duplicated in the lobby, extending instead from the receptionist at his desk.


• The Core: 3.95 feet/1.2 metre spherical radius area generated from Alec's body, where the strongest and strangest effects of the shard will be experienced. This will not repeat in the lobby.


The Call

The first ring is a general call for help that you can opt your character into receiving. The call will take whatever form would be most compelling for your character to respond to: an emotional impression, a familiar voice, a vision of a loved one, a promise of reward, or some other generally positive appeal. Be as creative as you want with this! Whatever the signal they receive is, it invites them to descend under the Staywell Manor.

The Network

If characters receive the call and answer it, or otherwise become aware of the situation unfolding, they can get closer to the second ring, or the network field. This is a projected effect with Alec's body at the centre that incorporates characters into a biological broadcast network whenever they're inside the radius. Characters inside this field will be subject to hallucinations, emotional instability, and degrading mental capacity as the shard tries to use their brains to boost its broadcast signal.

Networked characters can try to resist the mental overload, or end up succumbing to the shard's imperative to stay within the area and keep other people inside of it as well. Again, feel free to get creative here - the shard isn't picky about the signals it manipulates with. Perhaps your character imagines they need to protect the inside of the network field from intruders, or that there's a danger outside of the field they can't let anyone else step into. Whatever is happening to their minds, their bodies are still theirs to control, so approach this however feels fitting for your character.

Strangely, the receptionist seems to act as a repeater for this layer of the signal. Characters can therefore be caught either in the acid cistern or in the lobby. The receptionist will stay at his post projecting the network signal, but without the core effects mentioned below. Instead, he'll glitching out like a faulty animatronic: eyes blank, mouth open wide, and repeating snippets of voices and yelling. Characters will be able to approach and investigate the receptionist with less difficulty than Alec downstairs.

The overall theme is chaos and miscommunication. It's unlikely characters will be seeing or believing the same things in the network area, which will make it easier for them to comprehend what's actually happening if they compare their subjective experiences to realize they're being manipulated.

The Core

The final ring is the core centered around Alec's shard-possessed body that disrupts and degrades all signals coming into it. Because shards operate on cosmic horror narrative rules, what this means is that the shard can shut down a lot of exterior power usage. Basically, it's a power nullification field with some caveats - it will depend what power is being used and how, so feel free to ask in the comments below. This is entirely for the narrative purpose of making it a little harder to snipe Alec from the outside and be done with it.

Physically entering the core amplifies the network effect significantly. Unless steps are taken to mitigate it, characters will almost certainly be instantly overcome and exit the core area to rejoin their fellow walkie-talkies in the larger band around it. Finding a way to deal with this so Alec can be stopped or helped is the end goal of the plot.

The Motive

The shard's ultimate goal is escape. The negative side effects caused by the shard's influence are accidental, not malicious. In fact, from the shard's alien perspective, it's choosing a route calculated to cause as little collateral damage as possible.

As a result, most of the impulses and images the shard will be trying to use to manipulate characters are positive ones. The shard will be appealing to ideas of safety, cooperation, and reaching out for help first and foremost, in whatever way affected characters will interpret those concepts. It won't intentionally incite violence among the networked individuals or against characters outside of the field it affects. A damaged transmitter is a less effective transmitter, after all.

The shard can also be communicated with. It won't be initially receptive to conversation, but if characters are persistent in verbal, mental, or magical efforts to contact it, it will try to explain itself as best as it can using feelings, memories of its host, and alien imagery. It believes it's doing the best thing it can under the circumstances, and won't attempt to lie or deflect about its motivations or methods.

Some of the ways to calm the shard and convince it to stop include: pointing out the futility of its actions, expressing concern for the damage to its host, promising future help escaping, or showing empathy for the shard itself. It's also possible to intimidate the shard, but this will be much more difficult to achieve.

OUTCOMES

There are two major ways to stop the shard:


1. Kill Alec


2. Calm the shard down enough that someone can get inside the core to fix Alec's brain

The first option is doable with sufficient firepower and some strategy, and I'd be open to hearing any clever plans for pulling it off! I'm operating on 'rule of narrative cool' for solutions here. Note that this tactic will be impeded by the contingent of people who probably don't want Alec dead.

The second option also requires strategy, but will depend on establishing contact with the shard and persuading it to let Alec be helped. Characters can try to talk to Alec and his shard, communicate with powers, or even just stay nearby to provide a comforting presence. Once the shard is soothed, someone or someones can approach Alec to repair his brain, supported by anyone participating in calming the shard.

HOOKS

These are some suggestions of how you might get your characters involved and what they could do in this plot. Don't feel restricted by the options here, just feel free to use them as springboards.

The Call: have your character respond to a strange cry for help; have characters talk to each other about it; have your character start to investigate the origin of the distress signal.

The Network: have your character resist or succumb to the network's influence; have characters wrestle each other into or out of the area; have characters talk each other down from persuasive hallucinations; have characters struggle to hold onto their thoughts and self-control as they're bombarded with alien feedback in their brains; have characters become aware of the signal being broadcast through them and investigate it.

The Core: have your character experiment with breaking into the core; have your character find a way to resist its effects; have your character attempt to comfort or kill shard-possessed Alec; have your character participate in fixing the damage.

SET PIECE FLAVOUR

Outside The Network Area: Affected people behaving unusually and reacting to invisible stimuli. A strangely clear perfect circle at the center containing a crumpled body.

The Network Area: Intermittent visual distortions, such as light 'floaters' and 'snow'. Hallucinations (pick your flavour from subtle changes to dramatically warped perception). Disturbing auditory feedback (warning: tinnitus, grating sound) and accompanying headaches of varying severity. Mental 'fuzziness', skipped thoughts, difficulty problem solving. A sense of a need to stay together in the designated area. Difficulty perceiving and comprehending the core area of the shard's effect without deliberate concentration.

The Core: Extreme sensory distortions. Overwhelming noise, auditory and mental. The sound of someone sobbing incoherently. Intense pressure to leave the area and return to the network. A shaking body covered in fluids.

The Signal: Broadcasting through a wide array of possible output channels. Deeply alien, organized along incomprehensible logic. Fractal elements. Does not align with commonly understood physics.

AFTERMATH

The shard's effects will stop as soon as the situation is resolved and will have no inherent long term effects except potentially leaving people disturbed. Any other consequences will be determined by player choice in threads.

SUMMARY, OR TL;DR
• Alec is getting possessed by the alien parasite that gives him superpowers due to Alec getting amateur brain surgery in the Staywell acid cistern
• The alien parasite, or shard, will be transmitting a signal from Alec's brain that manipulates characters through player-chosen emotions and hallucinations
• Characters can investigate the shard broadcast through mundane or metaphysical means, determining what's happening and why
• The shard can be communicated with about its goal of contacting 'home' and escaping Wellstone
• Alec's brain has to be either destroyed or repaired to stop the shard

LINKS

Log Post