5.3 Event Plotting

[wellie]

5.3 Event Plotting

Premise & Arrival ֍ FAQ ֍ Calendar ֍ Navigation

OOC info

Welcome to month 3! It's just rain, don't even worry about it!

Please heed the content warnings, particularly for the third prompt.

There will be no event post on the main comm. Instead, make your own logs to include these prompts, and any other prompts you want to add. There will be an end of the month log posted around the 20th.

Use the happenings form to report on what your character’s been up to! Did you break something? Did you get into a screaming match in the middle of town? Spill the tea! Everyone’s thirsty for gossip.

Post any bulletins to the bulletin board. Remember that this is now on the new wellcomms community. And remember that you can annoy everyone in town by using your walkie talkie! What will your character do with all this power?!
Plotting/CR form
Fill out as much or as little of this form as you like:
<b>Your name:</b> <b>Your pronouns:</b> <b>Contact:</b> <user name=USERNAME site=plurk.com> or PM <b>Character name:</b> <b>General ideas or plans for the month:</b> <b>Event ideas:</b> <b>Are you planning to create a log this month?</b> Y/N

New this month

At the Staywell

The dining hall features one long table and the same meals every day: a nice, continental breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and a roast for dinner.

Instead of flowers, all of the vases on the tables in the Staywell are full of mushrooms. Weird, big mushrooms. Yum?

Umbrellas are available at reception, in all shapes and size. Some are useful and some... are less so.

Throughout the month, new books appear on shelves in the parlor:

Beneath the Forest Canopy
Whispers of Moss
The Secret Garden's Song
Fungal Hearts Entwined
Turning the Soil: A Guide to Personal Transformation
Rotting Roots, Thriving Branches: A Journey to Self-Discovery
Mold Matters: How to Turn Life's Mold into Gold
SURVIVAL

All of the books are terrible, as usual. None of them make sense. The Secret Garden's Song seems to be a romance between a girl and a bee?! Who would write such a thing.

The General Store

The General Store has its usual selection of renaissance knick-knacks and themed charms for walkie-talkies. This month, they're all shaped like little umbrellas in different colors and styles.

Around town

The tavern’s special for the month: portobello burgers!

When you visit the few other locations in town, you’ll find the employees friendly and welcomingWhen you visit the few other locations in town, you’ll find the employees friendly and welcoming, although they may say some strange things, in addition to the handful of phrases they usually say:

The receptionist: Every time he opens his mouth, garbled static comes out in short, sharp bursts like it's replacing words. You can just make out a few words: "...dry...there...good!"
Owner of the General Store: Laughs a deep, hearty laugh and runs a hand through his hair. "All this humidity does a mighty good number on this head o' mine! What do you think?"
The bartender: Grumbles something about condensation and wipes furiously at the bar, whether there's water there or not.
The waiter: When otherwise unoccupied, seems to be searching the pub for something, mumbling unintelligibly to himself. If interrupted, he blanks out for a moment and then smiles. "Here you go! Downright tropical, am I right?" He hands you a drink with a little cocktail umbrella in it.
The gravedigger: Digging one large hole that keeps collapsing in with mud and water. When it collapses, she starts over.
The sheriff: Soggy. Miserable. Occasionally lets out a small, pathetic whine and tries to smooth down his damp fur with one paw.

The weather

It's a wet one out there. As the month turns, the rain picks up, falling constantly. It's warm, even at night, and feels nice on your skin during the first week. Thick, humid air crowds into the buildings. Fires aren't lit. It's just warm enough at first not to need them, and if you try, they'll gutter in protest and go out. All the wood is, seemingly, too wet. Even the candles are struggling. It's dark at night inside the Staywell this month.

Outside, the ground is covered with moss and small flowers poking up from between the cobblestones on the street. It absorbs water like a sponge, turning the ground springy and soft.

As the month goes on, the rain picks up. That can't be good.

The cistern

The cistern starts out as, frankly, a humid nightmare. The air is almost too thick to breathe, and it burns your lungs when you breathe in. The water level starts out a little higher, lapping at the haphazard platforms, making it difficult to get inside. Everywhere you look, eye-flowers and glowing mushrooms are sprouting, and the eye flowers seem to do the same as they do in the maze, trapping you in place if you look at them too long.

RAIN ON ME

Content warnings: dangerous rain, flooding, acid, acid rain, acid corroding buildings and people, body horror, meat monsters
The rain picks up at the turn of the month. At first, it's a nice, warm rain. Pleasant to be in if you don't mind getting a bit wet. However, if you've been around for another cycle, you know where this is going.

Each week, the rain picks up. By week three, it becomes torrential, day in and day out. It never seems to let up, slamming against the roof of the Staywell in a way that could sound nice if it weren't so constant.

The wet builds up in the ground, getting soggier and soggier day after day. By week two, each step squelches. Better dig some boots out of your closet!

By week three, it's difficult to walk without the threat of your shoes getting sucked off your feet. You may just lose one as you're going from place to place.

The forest offers some cover, but the ground is just as unstable by the fourth week, making it difficult to traverse. The graveyard is oddly bone dry, if you manage to make your way through the maze which seems to be full of pits of mud.

And wouldn't it be nice if it were just rain? That would be great! We can handle rain.

Midmonth, the rain is no longer just water. The rain starts to burn when it hits your skin, leaving angry red marks. It eats away at your clothing. Leather or metal seems to protect you a bit more, but only just. This rain might seem familiar to those who have braved the cistern. It's the same acid water that's down there.

Speaking of the cistern, the water level rises throughout the month. By week two, it's hip-high. Week three, it's halfway up the stairs. Week four, it's coming into the lobby, eating away at the reception desk and the chairs scattered about. The acid starts to eat away at the Staywell from the bottom and the top, the walls and foundation losing integrity throughout the final week. The other buildings down fair much better, collapsing throughout the final week. Be careful, or the Staywell will collapse around you, leaving you at the mercy of the rain.

Much like the water level, the creatures from the cistern creep up into the Staywell. At first, it's just a few fleshy bugs. Then it's more bugs. Then it's creatures that look like they may have once been human, but their skin has been burned away, leaving exposed flesh and unseeing eye sockets. They're present wherever there's acid pooling, and they don't want you to come near it. They seem to be protecting the cistern, but as the acid spreads, the area they're protecting does, too. The lobby of the Staywell will be inhospitable in more ways than one at the end of the month.

tl;dr:

• It's storm time again! It's raining, and while the rain starts quite nice: warm and gentle, it turns dangerous by mid month, the rain burning whatever it hits. The rain is now acid!
• As the rain falls, the water level in the cistern rises, and by the end of the month it's risen into the lobby of the Staywell.
• Along with the water level come the flesh monsters. They're wherever the acid pools, and aren't happy if you're there too.
• All of the buildings will collapse from the acid by the end of the month.

SURVIVAL

Content warnings: N/A
One of the books this month seems a bit different then the rest. It is somehow less coherent, in a way that should stand out. Instead of trying and failing to seem like normal prose, it's clearly not that at all. The book is titled: Survival.

It looks like it was hand-printed with stamps, the letters scattered around the pages. There's no code to it, instead you'll need to try and put together the pieces:

deep

woods

O̍V̜ͣE̠̾R͞

TALL

leaf

over

protE̬C̟T̵͎̳̓̔

e͙̤͎as͙̗͘t̷

f͍̦͈̊ͫ̈a҉͍͎ŕ͌̋

save

survive

su͇͔͇ͦͤ̑r̈́̾͆v͖̯͂͒ivě̼̬͌

S̴͝U̴̓ͤ̆ͫ̀̎͂̒̈̀҉̭̦̗̲̺̯̜̺͖Ř̵̔͐̑̂ͮ̒͗ͮ͋̚͟V̇̾̂̿ͥ͗͐̑͗҉̴̬̱̘͉̞̟͓͞ͅͅI̲̦͔V̼̲̣̆ͪ̎Ë͍͙͖̆̃

b҉҉̷u͇̠͈̥̥̬̣̠ͅi̶̝̣̠͎̟͚̹͗͆̌ͫ̇ͭ̃l̈́ͣ͑͑ͫͦ̂͑ͨ͆̃͒d́͋ͬͣ͗̈̐ͦ̈́ͮ̋̈́̓

With these pieces, you might put together that you need to go into the forest and search for a tall tree. The tree is deep, deep in the forest. You'll need to travel on muddy paths that meander, with no instruction other than "deep," "east," and "far." If you manage to find it, and keep your boots on while you do, it'll be worth it.

The tree is quite obvious once you find it. It's unnaturally huge, its trunk five feet across, massively oversized compared to everything else in the forest. On that tree are leaves that look impossibly big. Around this tree, you may notice that no rain is hitting the ground. It's dry and untouched by acid.

If you climb the tree and cut down a leaf, that leaf can protect you from the rain. They're as big as a large umbrella, and act as such. Climbing the tree isn't hugely difficult, but it is tall and the first leaves are at least thirty feet off the ground. The stems of the leaves are thick and will take some work to hack through.

If you manage to get one, congrats! You're able to fend off the acid. At least, the acid coming from overhead.

tl;dr:

• One of the books in the parlor is not like the others. It seems to contain a hidden message.
• If the instructions in the book are followed, as vague as they are, characters can find a giant tree in the forest with leaves that can protect them from the acid rain.

From one to another

Content warnings: altered mental states, compulsion, infections, eyes, body horror with eyes, too many eyes, rotting flesh, acid rain, acid eating skin, death by acid rain, suicide, compelled suicide
Strangely, there seem to be no doubles this month. At least, at first look. There are no duplicates of characters. Instead, some characters might be acting a bit... odd. They look happy, content, like the most perfect Wellstonian you could ask for.

These characters are infected with a spore, one that changes them, makes them compliant, takes over their personality. The goal of these characters is to infect as many other characters as possible by the end of the month.

The first infected volunteered in the Post, and are:

• Blythe
• Cecelia
• Diluc
• Light
• Satoko

Anyone infected will attempt to infect others throughout the month. When a character is infected, they gain 3 memory points. For each person they subsequently infect, they gain one additional memory point. Like a fun pyramid scheme!

How does this nasty little fungus spread? Touch, of course. But spores are small and you are large. Just one touch won't do it. It may take up to five glancing touches, or prolonged contact of five minutes or more, for enough spores to make their way across the skin barrier. Maybe hold off on cuddling this month.

When you're infected, it starts from wherever they touch you: a strange, numbing sensation running through your body. Not pleasant, sort of like the feeling of losing circulation in a limb. It tingles through you like an itch you can't scratch until it sets over your entire body, and you're no longer in control of your body. Instead, your body acts a bit like the NPCs: You go about your usual day, doing your usual routine, saying things that you would usually say. Your self is still inside there, but they have no control.

For the first few days, you can wrestle back control, only for a moment at a time. You have the will to fight against the thing in your mind, the thing that makes you compliant and seemingly content. After three days, the control is nearly total. You can't come back. Instead, you watch from behind your eyes as your body is puppeted by something, or someone, through your normal life. There is no way to fully come back after being infected, except for to die.

The infected look normal, at the beginning. The longer they're infected, the more a rot spreads on their bodies. It starts in the places you can't usually see: under the hair, on your stomach, your legs. The more days that you're infected, the more the rot spreads. Unless you infect others, that is. If you infect someone else, the rot seems to stop, for a few days, before it starts up again. And each time you infect someone, an eye sprouts on your body, anywhere on your body. You don't see out of this eye, but it is there.

At the very close of the month, in the final 24 hours, something in the infected changes. Acting as one, like they're connected by mental threads, every character infected stops what they're doing and starts to head outside. They are united by a burning need to be outside and as high up as possible. They'll start to climb anything left standing, spread their arms when they reach the highest possible point, and stay there while the rain dissolves them to nothing.

Characters who die this way do not suffer the memory penalty for dying. They will have only very hazy memories of their time infected. After the first few days, they only have impressions, a feeling of being trapped, or a dream that happened to someone else. This includes the death.

If your character has experience being puppeted, they may be more able to fight off the infection. This includes players who participated in the shard player plot.

tl;dr:

• An infection is spreading through Wellstone. Several people start infected, and can infect others through touch.
• People who are infected seem normal at first glance, but are strangely okay with their situation. They also seem to be rotting.
• At the end of the month, the infected will gather outside and die by acid rain.
• Being infected gains 3 memory points. Infecting someone else gains one additional memory point per person infected. Each character can only be infected once.

Comments

Questions?

[wellie]

[sighsheavily]

Is the memory point gain capped at 3? Or do the infected get more as you convert more

[forgeabettertomorrow]

During one of those moments of clarity early on, can someone infected do something drastic saaay

CW: SELF-HARM

Amputate a body part to halt the creep and regain control?

EVEN IF IT'S ONLY TEMPORARY I should add. My aim is to have Darin get infected due to his proximity to Cecelia but I want him to be able to accomplish some things regarding the tree. So if hacking off an arm gives him even an extra week before he goes full Last of Us, I'd be good with that too.

Re: Questions?

[hellonspectacles]

It's time for Pal's Psychometry Question Corner!

- Would Pal be able to detect to someone that is infected even before the physical signs show up? From what it sounds like, he might be able to psychometrically tell that some kind of fungus has infected them, though he'd have to be looking for it!
- Do these spores exist in Well outside of infected people? If Pal can detect the spores, he might go looking for the original source, if it exists.
- Does the Survival book have anything unusual about it that Pal might be able to detect? Say, does it have weird vibes that are different from the other books, or does it appear that ghosts have been near it?

And a possibly dumb question: would it be possible to get a rough drawing of the whole basement/cistern area? tbh I've been having a hard time picturing it, and a visual aid would be super helpful if it isn't too much trouble!

[d9x]

Re the spores clustering in the brain: if someone has two brains, would it be reasonable to play it as focusing on one before it spreads to the other for purposes of resisting weirdly strongly (until of course both are equally clustered in)? For flavor purposes, if that would help anything, how long would it last before they're completely souped?

[bolstafir]

Do infected characters necessarily act exactly like their usual selves aside from pleasantly compliant or can the infection make them act like they used to be at a different point in their lives?

I'm thinking about getting Qrow infected and having him act like his old bandit self in order to maximize the amount of infecting he can do -- things like lying in wait to grab people and infect them by force or flushing people out into a common area by setting fire to rooms, things like that -- but I want to make sure that's not against the spirit of how the event works.

[pereatmundus]

Sort of connected to what Batty asked, but could a character under full spore control fake the base character breaking through if it thought that would lure a victim closer? E.g., the character suddenly switches from happy placidity to begging and then snaps back to placid again, but it's really the spore in control the entire time? Or would that violate the "stay stealth" component?

Flynn Scifo

[thinkfirst]

Your name: Julian
Your pronouns: he / they
Contact: interplanetary
one note: I'll be on hiatus after April 14!

Character name: Flynn Scifo
General ideas or plans for the month:
Like I said, I'll be on hiatus after April 14th, so Flynn is going to get mercykilled by Yuri before then and then just not be around for the rest of the month, which should be very fun and not at all alarming, I'm sure.

Event ideas: Since this will be a short month for me, I want Flynn to get infected with the spores as fast as possible. Right now it seems like Diluc & Cece together will cover that, and then? AND THEN?

If you want to also turn into a horrible fungus puppet and need someone to infect you, hit me up!! I'd love for Flynn to do some real damage (read: infect quite a few folks) so he has more reason to feel guilty and awful and also so Yuri has a lot to murder him about! Happy to thread out how it happens or handwave, truly up to you.

Are you planning to create a log this month? No, but I will definitely be tagging around for the first half of the month!

[sighsheavily]

Like we chatted, i'm down for infecting this boy by way of asking for some healing

Darin Altway

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Your name: Ant
Your pronouns: He/Him
Contact: bitterbearface | Discord: bitterbearface

Character name: Darin Altway
General ideas or plans for the month: HAHAHA OH MAN so guess who's getting infected right away because he's sleeping with one of the Patient Zeroes? Iiiit's this guy! BUT THERE'S A TWIST. When Darin realizes he's infected he's going to CW: SELF-HARM/SEVERE BODILY INJURY cut off his arm at the elbow since that is what he will believe to be the source of the infection. It would be super rad if anyone out there can help him not bleed out! His natural healing ability will stabilize him but he won't have an arm for most of the month. He's also going to be very distrustful of people!

Event ideas: So yeah, Darin's not going to have an arm for the month. And with Cece spored out of her brain, he's going to want to have someone help him figure out the mystery of that book. Especially the business about the leaves. He'll be fighting the remnants of his infection for most of the month before succumbing and that means he'll likely be helping Yuri try and fortify the Staywell as much as he can before turning. I'm up for anything else including having Darin infect you late month.

Are you planning to create a log this month? Hell yeah!

[guidemyway]

Ruby is not medically savvy but I enjoy the idea of them both screaming through trying to get his arm to stop bleeding.

Light Yagami

[pereatmundus]

Your name: Tzvia
Your pronouns: she/her
Contact: TzviaAriella or tzviaariella on Discord

Character name: Light Yagami
General ideas or plans for the month: He's getting a taste of his own medicine this month - stuck under someone else's control. If you want to join the world's worst MLM, hit him up.
Event ideas: He will be making his usual rounds and waiting for opportunities to infect others. Characters who haven't met him before or met him in "pleasant, normal student" mode likely won't notice anything wrong about him until late in the month. Characters who got glimpses of his dark side before this may notice something is off a lot earlier. (Alec would notice for sure, and is also the one person Light would try to resist sporing.)

True to his underlying character, his method of trying to lure people in will depend on verbal manipulation and looking innocent. Once people become aware of the infection, if anyone notices something wrong with Light, he may even pretend to be the real Light having a moment of lucidity to guilt a sympathetic character into sticking around longer.

His main routine activities, if you want to interact with him pre-quarantine:
--help Darin study the cistern
--meals with everyone
--wander the town taking notes on what materials are available to use (if you peek at his notebook, you might see cryptic warnings mixed into the list)
--reading in the archive

Vague plot ideas I'd be down for:

--Sporing people, naturally! The more the merrier!
--I would also love for him to have unsettling Stepford Wife interactions with people even if they don't end in a successful sporing
--once he's in quarantine, he's free game to be studied for Science
--I'm open to the possibility of him being killed before the end of the month if you have a fun pitch for it

Are you planning to create a log this month? Y

TIMELINE SO FAR

[pereatmundus]

DAY ONE:
--Light infects Dax
--Dax tells Pal about it
--Light gets rounded up into Pal's quarantine zone/uses his minimal consciousness to volunteer as a lab rat
--Light agrees to let Alec try to counter-brainjack him to keep him under control

END OF WEEK ONE-ISH:
--Alec's control snaps due to advanced fungus growth, and Light breaks out of quarantine
--Light baits Qrow into trying to mercy kill him and infects Qrow when he gets close
--Dax once again tells Pal Light's causing problems
--Light gets rounded back up

REST OF MONTH:
--Light is stuck in quarantine lockdown begging to be released (will this awaken memories for him later? probably!)
--Light has a weird little "Hello, Clarice" chat with Darlington
--Light breaks out again on the final day and sees John kill Gideon
--Light dies in the acid rain

yuri & astarion

[vibing]

Your name: mads
Your pronouns: they/them
Contact: spudbud or huckl on disco

Character name: Yuri Lowell
General ideas or plans for the month: I want Yuri to survive the month, so he'll be figuring out about the leaves and trying to find someplace where people can hide from the infected. He's not the smartest cookie so he'll need some help finding the tree, and will need help finding and holding a suitable place for folks to stay safe from acid + zombie combo.

Event ideas: Flynn is going to get infected quite early and ask Yuri for help in a short moment of lucidity. He's going to kill Flynn, but will probably need help doing that so he himself doesn't get infected. If you want to help kill Flynn through some sort of long-distance attack or something, hmu!

Learning about all this stuff, Yuri's going full apocalypse survivor. He's going to try to build a safe space and gather a lot of leaves, and he's going to be pretty liberal with killing the infected. I don't need him to lead the fortress idea, if anyone else wants to, but he will definitely help and will defend whatever it becomes with his life.

Are you planning to create a log this month? Y

Character name: Astarion
General ideas or plans for the month: Astarion has some things to follow up on from his first few months here that I totally dropped the ball on. If he pissed of your character, or flirted with them, or drank their blood, I would love to do something with you this month (or next if your guy is too spore'd to participate...). He'll want to talk to the people who he knows thus far, even if he'll act like he very much doesn't want to talk to them.

Event ideas: I'd like him to get infected mid-month or so. Open to whoever wants to infect him! He'll fight back some, but won't be very successful at all. When he's infected, he'll use his talents to seduce people... or to try. If you want to get infected by a guy flirting with you, Astarion's your guy!

Before he's infected, he'll hide out wherever's safe and be generally annoyed with the whole situation. Why can't they have the cabanas back! He'll be hording any books he can get his hands on and reading them just to pass the time.

Are you planning to create a log this month? Most likely

[bolstafir]

considering their bulletin board thread i feel like it would be very funny for astarion to try to infect qrow via seduction and then have qrow find out he's the same guy he was arguing with before somehow

also offering qrow to help yuri out w making a zombie shelter

Qrow Branwen

[bolstafir]

Your name: Batty
Your pronouns: she/her
Contact: goodluckmodes

Character name: Qrow Branwen
General ideas or plans for the month: Before he gets infected, Qrow will generally be trying to be helpful! Whenever someone connects the book to there being an actual tree that can protect people from the acid, the fact that Qrow's a bird would probably make it easier for him to get there since he doesn't need to walk on the ground? At least in the short term since the acid might burn his feathers. Other than that he'll be trying to help fortify any shelters and such to protect people from the infected.

Event ideas: Qrow is going to get infected from trying to mercy kill Light. After this point, the way he'll seek to infect others is by playing up being some loser drunk, which has the side effect of keeping him from doing much even in his moments of lucidity early in the infection. I think it'd be interesting for him to try to let someone know he's infected but he just seems ordinary drunk so it's brushed off as nothing.

He'll be trying to infect others by being "passed out drunk" in common locations and/or otherwise stumbling around in the hopes of drawing people in to help him, or he'll be extra friendly and touchy while "drunk". This will likely have diminishing returns so he'll slowly shift toward sneaking around and getting the drop on people to infect them by force rather than as a trick.

Are you planning to create a log this month? Tentatively yes!

Urushihara

[closetdweller]

Your name: Basil
Your pronouns: They/them
Contact: woodrift

Character name: Hanzo Uruhihara / Lucifer / Luci
General ideas or plans for the month: He's going to be forced into action this month for a variety of reasons-- that aren't just related to him being soft on the staff around town!

It's also very fitting that he gets victimized by the worst MLM ever, without even the safety net of the Cooling Off laws that protect the youth in Japan.

Event ideas: /Cackles.

Because Urushihara's inherent laziness has led to him bunking with Diluc, he's going to end up infected by the spores pretty swiftly! He's very likely to be peppier, more outgoing, and acting like the perfect little customer service employee more than usual because of the spores' need to infect others. But, after the Signal plot, he is going to have some ability to resist this.

While he isn't keen on outright helping others, this does mean he will be a bit more proactive in the moments where he can break loose. Unfortunately, this will be in regards to matters that aren't inherently helpful-- like scrubbing down everything that he can reach with his short, skinny arms and leaving feathers all over the place. Feel free to redirect him to something more useful, like codebreaking... or just let him cry as the situation as a whole makes him do the one thing he's been avoiding this entire time:

go upstairs.

He might even finally find his actual room!

Underneath all of this he is very quietly freaking out because he has a theory that they will end up like the staff around town if they're not careful-- and this is confirmation of that theory in his mind.

He's open to a Mercykill. He just doesn't know how to convey this.

Are you planning to create a log this month? Maaaaaaaaaaybe.

[more_magic]

Love the idea of a non (or mildly) infected Darlington trying to help this bizarrely peppy teen find his room or clean up a mess or something, only to end up getting closer to full-on infection. He can also try to wrangle Urushihara into quarantine--successfully or not--depending what you're thinking?

[sighsheavily]

Your name: elle
Your pronouns: she/her
Contact: whyellewhy

Character name: Cecelia
General ideas or plans for the month: Being a goddam patient 0
Event ideas:

Cecelia is one of the starter infecteds! Let her GET YOUUUU
She will start out the month pretty normal-seeming, except she will not be addressing anyone by name.
There will be bouts of seizing up, seeming to be wrestling with doing or not doing something in a moment; the stress of this will have some scales growing out of her knuckle joints and around her ears at times.
She will attempt to cast spells when she can for attention! Hopefully not a flame breath!! (haha but maybe)
She will write notes to express the distress (hell, she may even use the bulletin board, her most hated enemy).

The usual route will be:
Tea and breakfast at the crack of dawn
Papergoods gathering at the general store in the morning
Archive duty
Lunch at the tavern
Archive duty
Evening tea in the lounge
Bed

Are you planning to create a log this month? Y

[hellonspectacles]

As I mentioned on plurk, I 100% want Pal to come to Cece after he realizes there's an infection going on and receive one of her creepy notes. :D The caveat is that he will try to examine her and put her in quarantine, though we can definitely work out a way for her to avoid it.

[searingwing]

Your name: Sam
Your pronouns: He/They
Contact: skyheron or PM

Character name: Diluc Ragnvindr
General ideas or plans for the month: Being a patient 0.
Event ideas: So, you want a generic bartender? You got one. He will seem fairly content and greet anyone politely. But there will be messages all around the tavern and near his room that say things like ‘stay away, run, end me’ in little scorched marks at hand height or on counters. You might find a bread bun with a burnt letters in it.

Diluc will at first try to fight it. Strange scorch marks that are a whole hand. Then the messages. In the end, Astarion is going to take him down. But before that he is free to get you via a brush of a hand or so.

Anyone closest to him he will go for more touches than usual.
Are you planning to create a log this month? Y

[guidemyway]

I feel like Ruby kind of being unaware of him being infected and then slowly picking up on the signs around the bar would be wonderful.

John Gaius | The Locked Tomb

[necrolord]

Your name: Rona
Your pronouns: she/her
Contact: ochrona or PM

Character name: John Gaius
General ideas or plans for the month:
I have been hideously inactive all cycle, so it's time to get back in the game. John will be extremely useful at detecting infections and creating bone shelters against the rain until Cecelia infects him. From there, John can spread the infection! Anyone want a necromantic STI? He can make moves on anyone he's slept with in the past, and try affectionate contact with people he hasn't.

Given his grand powers over bodies, including his own, I expect he'll be able to resist for longer stretches than most. He is extremely difficult to kill, and trying will cause trouble with Gideon Nav, but I'm down to discuss that. Otherwise, at the end of the month, he'll stand atop the Staywell and just burn and burn and burn until the world ends.

Are you planning to create a log this month? Y

TIMELINE

[necrolord]

• John helps mercykill Flynn early in the month
  
• [helpful necromantic umbrella experiments?]
  
• John is infected by Cece
  
• [open for chaos]
  
• John spreads the infection to Gideon
  
• [open for chaos]
  
• John mercykills Gideon on the final day
  
• John stands in the acid rain until the world ends

blythe

[toxicyuri]

Your name: cel
Your pronouns: she/they
Contact: samielherbei in the game discord

Character name: Blythe (vessel of Pestilence, the Horseman)
General ideas or plans for the month: a lot of what blythe does is gonna revolve around being one of the initial infected. for the brief period she's able to resist, she's Not gonna be the one in the driver's seat, and after that it's only going to be the fungus.

Event ideas: who! wants! stepford blythe!! she's gonna be weird and very touchy-feely about stuff, kind of like how she was after midnight at the party, but it is all of course in service of getting! you! infected! the thing with blythe is that her entire-ass being is all about resisting this exact sort of thing; she doesn't want to assimilate, she doesn't want to be part of the Faceless Masses. she wants to enact some real actual tangible change in the world, and the only way she can do that is by relentlessly being herself.

while infected, she's going to drop all the weirdness and just be a normal and pleasant girl. while she's able to resist, the thing that does the resisting will be Pestilence, the demon that's seeped into every pore of her body. Pestilence is extremely unpleasant and will not react well to Her host being used like this, so if anyone would like a brief encounter with a demon that blythe doesn't even know is there, that will surely be a good time for everybody involved.

as a general advance cw, when Pestilence takes control, there's gonna be a lot of blood and bile and maybe a little bit of viscera as She tries to thrash Her way out of a situation that is no longer beneficial to Her. blythe is gonna get messy. i'll warn for this stuff as it happens but i wanna make that part clear up front too.

Are you planning to create a log this month? yeah, def, it's open season on touching the fungus

[closetdweller]

Yoooo.

Luci is getting infected pretty early but I'd love a chance for him to encounter his weird new friend in a bad position early in the month!

[more_magic]

Your name: Caitlin
Your pronouns: she/her
Contact: gripyfish

Character name: Darlington
General ideas or plans for the month: Seriously questioning why I decided to crash and burn last month and not now, when the monthly plot has been designed in a special lab just for me to hyperventilate in distress from Too Much Eyes And Also Rotting Acid Monsters every time I sit down to tag, but here we are!

That said, I would like to get back in the swing of things if I can--Darlington's here to be infected and/or infect others, and possibly engage in other shenanigans depending how quickly he gets got by one of our friendly neighborhood fungus carriers.

Event ideas: As above, Darlington's here for whatever the month throws at them all.

Pre-infection, he's here to help people get umbrella leaves or help move folks to quarantine (assuming Becca goes that route with Pal's plans), or...idk, help people move their stuff from room to room as the acid takes over the Staywell? He's here, is the main thing.

Post-infection, assuming he doesn't get yoinked into quarantine right away, the gentleman of Lethe gets a lot more...gentlemanly. Now, he really is here to help. Let him in. Let him reassure you with a friendly arm around the shoulder, a casual touch as he passes you a plate at dinner or a cup of tea as the rain falls down. He's here for you.

Are you planning to create a log this month? No plans to!

[sighsheavily]

i am more than happy to be spooky and offer some infection if darlington makes an archive visit c:

emerald sustrai

[hallucinogem]

Your name: cel
Your pronouns: she/they
Contact: samielherbei in the game discord

Character name: Emerald Sustrai
General ideas or plans for the month: em's gonna eventually get infected via ruby, but otherwise i haven't figured out much in particular with her yet.

Event ideas: she's had a few excursions into the forest already and might be able to navigate her way through to that giant tree written about in SURVIVAL. she's absolutely read the book and will probably make a post-it about it just to drum up attention, because this is weird and everyone else should see how weird it is. otherwise, she'll be down in the lobby as usual until either she gets infected or the lobby starts overflowing, whichever comes first.

as she gets infected, in the brief periods that she's wresting control from it, the one thing she'll be trying to convey is "it's in ruby", as though whoever she's talking to can do something to help. if anyone wants to try to save her from it, she won't stop them, but her main concern is going to be making sure that ruby is okay, somehow.

Are you planning to create a log this month? probably yes. i'm also gonna throw her at people because she needs to make more friends

[sighsheavily]

wiggles my infected fingers at u when u come to submit findings to the archive

[hellonspectacles]

Your name: Becca
Your pronouns: she/her
Contact: historein or PM

Character name: Palamedes Sextus
General ideas or plans for the month: It’s time for the return of Doctor Sextus and his Necromancy Physicals!

Event ideas:

My primary plan for this month is that Pal will be setting up a quarantine zone in some unoccupied corner of rooms in the Staywell in order to stop the spread of the infection, while also trying to find a cure! It’s gonna go something like this:
- After being infected in the early days of the month Dax (still fairly coherent and in control) will come to him to tell him something’s wrong. He will then examine her and discover that spooky, infectious mushrooms are taking over her nerves. Yikes! They will agree that a quarantine is a good idea.
- He’ll make a public announcement on the bulletin board and through the walkie talkies to please come to him if you feel weird! He will also recommend that people wear PPE as much clothing as possible to help stop the spread. Because Dax was so in control, he won’t immediately realize that people might say they’re fine but not be, though he’ll eventually figure that out.
- Pal will try to examine as many people in Well as possible and bring infected folks to the quarantine area. Eventually he may enlist some swole friends to help him drag people if necessary (any volunteers??)
- He’s also going to ask for infected volunteers to help him study the illness (including Light and anyone else who’s into it!)
- Obviously anyone can avoid Pal if they so wish! It’s also very possible to break out of quarantine once put there! The world is your oyster (mushroom)!

Near the very end of the month, Pal will get infected and will lock himself away. As the infection takes over, he will beg to be let out in the manner of The Silver Chair or Odysseus and the Sirens. Good times.

I am open to any and all nonsense happening around this. I’d love to hear from folks whose characters would help him manage this epidemic, people who would thwart him, and anything in between. Also open to suggestions/ideas about what the quarantine itself would look like or where in the Staywell it should be, since I’ve given that no thought at all.

On an unrelated note, while he won’t have any time to go on the tree quest, he WILL notice that the Survival book has ghost vibes and will share this info with anyone who is interested (which could be handwaved or played out)

Are you planning to create a log this month? Probably yes

[anglophone]

Per confirmation Alec can control the infected up to a point, but it gets harder as it progresses, I'd love to have Alec helping Palamedes with the infected and maintaining the quarantine zone. He can't drag anyone due to his wilting Victorian orphan constitution, but he can knock them down and he will be offering to use his power for hijacking on anyone consenting as a counter to the fungus.

This is not a Fun Prospect for Alec so he'll be a little bit intense about his commitment in a way he'll be more surprised by than anyone. I'd love to do some 'discussing the problem/ethics of body jacking in this context/just talking about mind control and why it's bad' or Alec talking to trapped, infected Palamedes for the emotional content of him being like, kind of actually maybe, sort of upset about this? Pal?

Gideon Nav

[gideoncav]

Your name: Nat
Your pronouns: they/them
Contact: crow47 or PM

Character name: Gideon Nav

General ideas or plans for the month: I'm going to do as much CR building as I can this month (great month for it, clearly). If you'd like an eternally stressed girl with a sword who overcompensates with bad jokes,,

Event ideas: Gideon is going to be healthy until the last week of the month. While sick, she'll talk more than usual, she'll want to spar hands-on. Weirdly, she'll be venturing out from John's side far more than usual - because she wants to get to know people! Come closer. Until then, she'll be muscle for anyone wanting to gather leaves or wrangle sick people.

When John gets infected, she'll knows but doesn't want to deal with it. He's being weirdly nice to her? It's disturbing. It's not that big a deal. It's probably fine. She'll argue with people about it - he's not actually contagious, he's not infecting her, it's fine. ( On the last day, John will mercy kill her and she'll lose her only clear memory of her actual necromancer. It's narrative! )

Are you planning to create a log this month? Y! Will do opens

timeline

[gideoncav]

* Gideon spends the first three weeks fine and is open for socialization.
* She 'confronts' Qrow.
* She runs into Darin?
* She does rounds to check for infected.
* John gets infected and she has a slow exposure build-up.

FINAL WEEK
* Palamedes gets infected; Gideon and Cam stand sentinel for his quarantine.
* Gideon is infected.
* Gideon infects Noelle.
* Gideon gets mercy killed by John when they step out into the rain.

[outofsynth]

Your name: Joey
Your pronouns: He/Him
Contact: thlayli or PM or fourthling @ disco

Character name: Min-Gi Park
General ideas or plans for the month: Gonna be trying to get myself back into things after a rough few months.
Event ideas: I think I'm going to have Min-GI find that tree, so that could be a fun adventure to have with someone! If he gets infected it will be closer to the end of the month, but it would still be fun for him to have run ins with characters who are infected.
Are you planning to create a log this month? Unsure!

noelle meinhardt

[gastro]

Your name: floral
Your pronouns: she/they
Contact: moonlanding, the game discord or PM

Character name: Noelle Meinhardt
General ideas or plans for the month: 5.3 marks a significant development in Noelle's early character arc: she will finally be living at the Staywell! The outside is much less feasible now that there's acid rain. She'll still be relatively reclusive but will be easiest to spot very early in the morning and late at night, with brief quick excursions to the kitchen here and there.

Event ideas:

Rain on me: Noelle is more resistant to acid rain than most, so she's available to rescue people from either (1) getting caught in a surprise storm outside or (2) getting cornered by the water in the cistern and associated creatures. Could be good for a first meeting for characters who do not know her well!

Survival: This is extremely up Noelle's alley, and I'd love for her to help someone solve the puzzle! It's just like in her video games...

From one to another: Noelle is shy and touch-averse, so she'll be spared from the infection until the fourth week, when Gideon infects her. I'm up for a few things with this prompt, including but not limited to: Noelle and your character strategize how to stay safe in the hotel while there are zombies about (Noelle will make many video game analogies), Noelle meets your infected character, or your healthy character meets Noelle after she's infected. Noelle's powers have some similarities to the infection, so for this part of the event, I'm interested in themes like captivity, illness, and the slow loss of self.

Are you planning to create a log this month? Yes I think so!

ariane yeong

[toteninsel]

Your name: floral
Your pronouns: she/they
Contact: moonlanding, the game discord or PM

Character name: Ariane Yeong
General ideas or plans for the month: Ariane comes straight from an infection-based bleak survival horror game, and boy do I want to cultivate those vibes this month!! She's going to be even more of a ghost roaming the halls of this here manor than usual.

Event ideas: Right now, Ariane is pretty open and flexible this month! I haven't decided on whether she's going to get infected, so let me know if you have a cool way for your character to infect her and I might be about it. Otherwise, I think Ariane will be providing her weird brand of moral support - both for the healthy and infected. She will also have extremely complicated feelings about the quarantine if you want to have debates in medical ethics with her. Support for the infected will look like talking to them and helping them on their routine without touching, and I'd love for her to hang out with your infected character!

Are you planning to create a log this month? I'll probably do more tagging in with Ariane.

[d9x]

Dax will be mostly coherent for the first week if Ariane would like to have an ethics conversation with one of the quarantined people who helped institute the quarantine 👀

edit: you know, if this is a 'stuck in their own heads' thing these two could probably still communicate later into the month too, huh

Ruby Rose | RWBY

[guidemyway]

Your name: Josh
Your pronouns: He/Him
Contact: jjabarrett or PM

Character name: Ruby Rose

Are you planning to create a log this month? Y

Event ideas:

Rain on Me/Survival

So Ruby will be out and about doing her best in the rain whether normal or acid. She'll be making a trip to the tree to get a hold of one of those leaves. She already wears a fair bit of leather so will have some protection against that. But only so much!

Also because she wears big thigh high leather boots odds are when she gets them stuck in the mud they're going to be hard to get out or off. So she's going to need some help with that? Please pull this girl out of the mud.

From One to Another

Ruby will be slow to get infected! She was infected during the signal plot, along with a couple canon attempts to hollow her out to be piloted along. So she'll have some added resistance to this at first.

That said she isn't always the sharpest knife in the crayon box and will be doing her best to either try to help out the infected people or try to shake some sense into them. So odds are that'll involve some touching that'll eventually break down the barrier on and get her.

Welcome to have people try to infect her or have her team up to try and figure out just what the heck is going on here if possible.

[gideoncav]

I come to offer an uninfected cavalier to pull Ruby out of the mud