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5.3 Event Plotting
5.3 Event Plotting
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
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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?!
Fill out as much or as little of this form as you like:
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 CanopyAll 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.
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
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:
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:
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 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:
deepWith 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.
woods
O̍V̜ͣE̠̾R͞
TALL
leaf
over
protE̬C̟T̵͎̳̓̔
e͙̤͎as͙̗͘t̷
f͍̦͈̊ͫ̈a҉͍͎ŕ͌̋
save
survive
su͇͔͇ͦͤ̑r̈́̾͆v͖̯͂͒ivě̼̬͌
S̴͝U̴̓ͤ̆ͫ̀̎͂̒̈̀҉̭̦̗̲̺̯̜̺͖Ř̵̔͐̑̂ͮ̒͗ͮ͋̚͟V̇̾̂̿ͥ͗͐̑͗҉̴̬̱̘͉̞̟͓͞ͅͅI̲̦͔V̼̲̣̆ͪ̎Ë͍͙͖̆̃
b҉҉̷u͇̠͈̥̥̬̣̠ͅi̶̝̣̠͎̟͚̹͗͆̌ͫ̇ͭ̃l̈́ͣ͑͑ͫͦ̂͑ͨ͆̃͒d́͋ͬͣ͗̈̐ͦ̈́ͮ̋̈́̓
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:
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:
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.
Re: Questions?
- 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!
Re: Questions?
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-Pal's psychometry can definitely detect the spore infections. This will, naturally, be easier in people who have been infected longer and more thoroughly. It will look/feel very similar to a cordyceps fungus, slowly spreading mycelium through its host to replace everything inside. It seems to spread particularly along the nerves, and cluster in the spinal cord & brain.
-Strangely, there aren't any traces of the spores outside of infected people, and they don't seem to shed onto surfaces that aren't living.
-As a matter of fact, the survival book does have weird, ghostly vibes, like ghosts have been all over it. Ghostly energetic fingerprints, if you will.
-Re: the cistern, it hasn't really been mapped yet, although you can find a description of it here if that's helpful! The thing about the cistern is it doesn't actually seem to have any walls or like... end. If you're looking for how the cistern connects to the Staywell, there is a small out-of-the-way door tucked into the entryway beside the bulletin board. This leads to a supply closet, which has a wall that has been broken open and leads to a stairwell, which goes down about a flight into the cistern. If you'd like a drawing of the stairwell situation, I can whip one up, but the cistern itself is purposefully sort of an amorphous, endless space. It's just columns, water, and darkness as far as the eye can see.
no subject
Cistern: ack, sorry, I didn't mean the cistern, then, I meant the connection between the cistern and the Staywell, as well as whatever space is around the cistern or immediately at the base of the stairs (if there is any). I know there's a big, cavernous acid water space down there, and I know there's a door in the Staywell, but I keep getting mixed up regarding what connects the two. Sorry, I'm sure it's not actually that complicated, but for whatever reason I can't get the visual to stick in my mind.
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