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❅ SHITTY LITTLE TOWN ❅ PART 3
The cracks are starting to show. People have been reforging connections. Rebuilding their senses of self.
Digging into things that are potentially sinister, their curiosity dangerously piqued. Now, too many truths are coming back to the surface for everything to stay suppressed.
Somewhere deep in the MineCorp mines, a wire snaps. Then another, and another.
PROMPTS
a) A CRACK IN THE DAM
A feeling of déjà vu is commonplace, and people’s dreams start to contain more and more imagery that doesn’t align with the lives they know here in this shitty little town – fantastical sleighs, huge golden globes, fae and monsters. Some people stop automatically responding when their name is called, because the name they’re being called feels wrong. Others discover they have talents at skills they don’t remember ever trying before.
But it remains out of reach until they do something that affirms their true self, an act that goes down to the core of who they are. It might be true love’s kiss, or placing a hand on their signature weapon, or invoking certain words when speaking truth to power. One way or another, once that final requirement is met...it all comes flooding back.
A feeling of déjà vu is commonplace, and people’s dreams start to contain more and more imagery that doesn’t align with the lives they know here in this shitty little town – fantastical sleighs, huge golden globes, fae and monsters. Some people stop automatically responding when their name is called, because the name they’re being called feels wrong. Others discover they have talents at skills they don’t remember ever trying before.
But it remains out of reach until they do something that affirms their true self, an act that goes down to the core of who they are. It might be true love’s kiss, or placing a hand on their signature weapon, or invoking certain words when speaking truth to power. One way or another, once that final requirement is met...it all comes flooding back.
b) PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER
Your character remembers who they are, but their powers haven’t returned! The nefarious makers of the spell suppressing powers must be defeated. But who are the nefarious makers of the spell?
Several people have several parts of the puzzle. Time to put them together, anonymously, on the network. Skye has taken it upon herself to facilitate a discussion forum online with all accounts highly anonymized and access granted only by a password; details are being spread by word of mouth, friend to friend, always with the warning that just because the accounts are anonymous doesn’t mean that Goluboy or his people couldn’t try to sleuth people’s identities from context clues.
Skye sets a time for when the discussion forum will go live, and at midnight that evening, a website goes live with a simple comment post function and a message that all data will be deleted within 24 hours.
NETWORK LINK
The jig is up!
The source of the curse – and other mischief – is traced to Kyan Goluboy, and Noire Cygne. Confrontation with each of them will trigger counter-attacks and defenses.
Your character remembers who they are, but their powers haven’t returned! The nefarious makers of the spell suppressing powers must be defeated. But who are the nefarious makers of the spell?
Several people have several parts of the puzzle. Time to put them together, anonymously, on the network. Skye has taken it upon herself to facilitate a discussion forum online with all accounts highly anonymized and access granted only by a password; details are being spread by word of mouth, friend to friend, always with the warning that just because the accounts are anonymous doesn’t mean that Goluboy or his people couldn’t try to sleuth people’s identities from context clues.
Skye sets a time for when the discussion forum will go live, and at midnight that evening, a website goes live with a simple comment post function and a message that all data will be deleted within 24 hours.
NETWORK LINK
The jig is up!
The source of the curse – and other mischief – is traced to Kyan Goluboy, and Noire Cygne. Confrontation with each of them will trigger counter-attacks and defenses.
c) CONFRONTING CYGNE
As soon as Cygne is confronted, or receives word from Goluboy that the jig is up, wilis pour into town. Normally, these undead jilted brides will dance to death whoever they get their hands on, but in a hurry they’ll resort to tearing their prey apart. Any person who the wilis get their hands on will be overwhelmed by an empathetic sense of their grief, shame, and hatred, and control of their body will be taken over as they are swept into the deadly dance.
The wilis are strong against physical violence, but can be burned by sunlight, or artificial growlights. People dancing with wilis can be pulled out of their embrace and pulled to safety, but only those with formal dance training stand a chance of changing the course of the deadly waltz, once touched.
The sheriff’s department forms the final level of defense around Noire Cygne’s mansion and person. Get past the chaos of the wilis throughout town, and Sheriff Mallard and her deputies stand between your heroes and the town matriarch.
As soon as Cygne is confronted, or receives word from Goluboy that the jig is up, wilis pour into town. Normally, these undead jilted brides will dance to death whoever they get their hands on, but in a hurry they’ll resort to tearing their prey apart. Any person who the wilis get their hands on will be overwhelmed by an empathetic sense of their grief, shame, and hatred, and control of their body will be taken over as they are swept into the deadly dance.
The wilis are strong against physical violence, but can be burned by sunlight, or artificial growlights. People dancing with wilis can be pulled out of their embrace and pulled to safety, but only those with formal dance training stand a chance of changing the course of the deadly waltz, once touched.
The sheriff’s department forms the final level of defense around Noire Cygne’s mansion and person. Get past the chaos of the wilis throughout town, and Sheriff Mallard and her deputies stand between your heroes and the town matriarch.
d) CONFRONTING GOLUBOY
Destroying the torture machine hidden hidden in MineCorp will end the curse and restore all powers. Too bad everyone will have to sneak past mine workers and security guards who’ve been promised a big fat bonus for bringing your characters alive and restrained to Goluboy’s office. As the man himself would say, nothing makes a person work harder than money. Some of the wilis have made their way into the mines as well...
Destroying the torture machine hidden hidden in MineCorp will end the curse and restore all powers. Too bad everyone will have to sneak past mine workers and security guards who’ve been promised a big fat bonus for bringing your characters alive and restrained to Goluboy’s office. As the man himself would say, nothing makes a person work harder than money. Some of the wilis have made their way into the mines as well...
e) AFTERMATH
The villains have been defeated!
What will your heroes do with them? Can any of their past victims still be saved? It’s time to convene and pass judgement on your captors, and check that every I is dotted and every T is crossed.
The villains have been defeated!
What will your heroes do with them? Can any of their past victims still be saved? It’s time to convene and pass judgement on your captors, and check that every I is dotted and every T is crossed.
❅ Event Length: This part of the plot will last until 10/15, and the situation with the npcs are meant to be resolved by then, though general CR threads can continue to be backtagged after that.
Closed to residents and visitors to Aster Warren's farm
But he manages to make it there without incident, at which point his car slows to a crawl up the driveway. He's keeping his eyes out for any familiar faces. And true to his comment, he's waving a kitchen knife playfully out the window.
no subject
He's been happy to be with Bunny again with the full knowledge of who they are, but getting his memories back has been difficult. Dan thought that his family was just missing, not dead, and he had tricked himself into thinking closure would ease some of the pain. Closure, when it comes in the form of bloody memories of people dying, isn't actually a balm, it turns out. He looks a little strung out, and when he undoes the chain on the gate, he almost drops the lit cigarette from his mouth.
"Come on drive this way past the shed. We can hide your car where don't no one see you." He gestures with his hand. "Reckon we got a lot to chat about."
no subject
"Indeed we do. Should we start with what we have both shared online?"
no subject
He gestures for a seat Loki can take and sits down at a small table, where his firearm is currently dismantled for cleaning. He starts to work on it, still smoking.
"Make yourself at home. Alright, so, just so you know," Dan figures this is going to end up being common knowledge to everyone at the Pole at some point or other, "I never learned to read growing up, so Bunny read me out what was posted on that forum, but I got no frame of context for things like emails and legalese and the like that came out of Goluboy's information. I understand hunting monsters in the wood lots better."
no subject
He sets his bag down on another small table, letting it spill a little. As might be expected, it's full of sharp items that would be found around the house. He takes a seat as well, taking "make yourself at home" at face value.
"Ah. Well, nothing in that information explains how we ended up here. It is mostly proof of general long term wrongdoing on the part of Goluboy, with Cygne's cooperation. It should get the townsfolk talking. Presuming any of them, aside from us, our captors, and their goons, are real."
no subject
Dan leans over and looks at the knives and ice pick and box cutters, sticking his lower lip out and nodding in a satisfied gesture. He pulls the big hunting knife from his belt and places it on the table, although he doesn't offer it yet. He doesn't know Loki well enough to want to place a weapon in his hands yet.
"That's a scary thought." He takes a drag and exhales. "All these folks not being real. My question is if we myths are somehow part of powering how this place works, or if they just were already doing whatever they're doing before we got here and did what they did to neutralize us as a threat because they thought we'd eventually find out what they're doing here and intervene."
no subject
"It was the case the previous time I was kidnapped and given a new identity to fit into a place. Everything other than the captives were imagined by our captor. Though that one exerted direct control over their creation and took swift action against rebellion. I have not seen that level of omniscient control here, or else I would not have been able to post what I did. So our current captors may not have the power to create living beings. Only imprison and alter them." He taps his fingers against his chair's armrest. "We may only learn the truth after we break our captors' power. I am uncertain if it matters overmuch if the other inhabitants are real, so long as they are not turned into a threat. We can simply avoid them until we are fully restored."
no subject
Dan doesn't want to ask for names because if Loki hasn't offered the name yet, there may be a good reason. But he does want to know if there's evidence that Goluboy and company have already started making their moves. He listens closely as Loki describes a past experience, killing his cigarette and starting another.
"It matters to me if they're real," he says, smoke pooling at the corners of his mouth. "Because if they are, they could be hostages as well as a threat. Anyway, I reckon we can assume that the townsfolk are a liability instead of an asset. I also think that's why it's vital we keep Cygne and Goluboy alive. We ain't got no idea how they pulled this off or if there are other folks who know how to do it."
no subject
That bright spot was needed, with Apollo on his mind. "Unfortunately I last talked to him weeks ago. Paul, MineCorp's lawyer. I was probing him for blackmail material on Goluboy, but he did not give me anything. Then today I received an email from him. The contents are what I posted, along with encouragement to go after his boss. But my reply could not be delivered to his account, and when Boimler and I checked his apartment, it was entirely empty, as if he had never lived there. Boimler is himself now, too, though we have gone our separate ways for now."
He spreads his hands in a placating gesture. "Of course. I would recommend treating them as hostages unaware of the danger they are in, until they give indication otherwise, and then on an individual basis. Though as you may guess, I am not opposed to alerting them to at least a part of the danger they are in. Resources Cygne and Goluboy spend keeping them in line are resources they cannot use against us. And if they are not real, they will likely disappear in short order, or be turned on us."
no subject
Dan leans back in the garden chair and blows another plume of smoke, mulling it all over. He doesn't like that someone's already been disappeared, and he thinks if Goluboy intended to keep Paul alive, they would have gotten word of a hostage.
"Right. At the very least, we can't assume none of them will be allies to us. What do you think we ought to do, round up folks we recognize and try to press them to remember? I reckon even those that don't will be more amenable to doing the right thing for heroic purposes than the average person."
The Man in the Moon tends to select for altruism and bravery.
no subject
Loki doesn't think Goluboy wants to use Paul/Apollo as a hostage, but that he might not have broken the man yet and made him reveal who he leaked the information to. Goluboy is ruthless enough to disappear all of them who received that email, especially as they were already kidnapped myths, and the fact that none of them had seen any goons yet strongly suggested that Goluboy didn't know who they were.
"That was my plan, such as it was. Everyone is starting to realize something is wrong in this town, not just us myths. The more we break the illusion of normalcy, the more the other myths will think about their surroundings and what is wrong and start to remember themselves. So we find those we recognize and poke at them as much as we can without scaring them off."
His mouth quirks. "I might have more luck than you. You do not seem to have a good reputation among town. Though I might not soon, either. I have not staged my disappearance yet, but as soon as I am certain of a more defensible home, I intend to."
no subject
He pulls out his speedloaders to count ammunition. "What are your plans for staging your disappearance?"