❅ SHITTY LITTLE TOWN ❅ PART 3

[nightmods]

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

OOC DETAILS
❅ 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.

Comments

[hallelujahjunction]

Dan brings them out to the patio so he can smoke a cigarette and keep an eye on the kitchen through the window and the front gate. "Yeah, we didn't need to put no thumbscrews to him, thank God. Reckon we can keep pushing him to give up more information about Cygne, maybe even who's pulling his own strings. He ain't working with her by choice."

He lights a cigarette. "I was thinking Swan Lake. I'm still thinking that might could by the case for Cygne, but he was genuinely thrown when I put Rothbart out there, so I reckon that's wrong. What sort of passport is that, anyway? It don't look American."

He takes a drag. "What do you think the story is?"

[ninjavampire]

"If it isn't Kuk, it's someone else we ought to be worrying about."

Or maybe that's just Miguel's first instinct. He rubs his temple for a moment, looking uncomfortable - or maybe he was pre-emptively getting the worry in. The scent of the smoke is acrid and hits him harder than usual. It was almost like the disorienting first night of the accident.

"The passport is French, if that means anything to you. Do myths even need to use passports?"

He finds himself wishing he had Sam here, with all the time he spent buried in North's library. Of all the knowledge Miguel had, little of it is particularly useful for this.

[hallelujahjunction]

"Someone with the power to really mess with our heads. That's beyond dangerous, given the stakes." Dan cuts his eyes towards the way Miguel rubs his temple and gets out of his seat, walking a bit further to the edge of the patio to give Miguel more fresh air. "French, huh? I reckon a passport's just for convenience if you need to show ID that works in just about any country without having to use no powers or nothing."

Something's nagging at Dan's memory, but he doesn't have any sort of command of French folklore.

"Wonder if he might could give us a tour of his house," Dan says, taking a deep drag and then killing his cigarette.

[ninjavampire]

The gesture is subtle, not something he would outwardly complain about. But he does seem to relax a little at a distance.

"I can sneak him in there, if that's what you're thinking."

Dan already conveniently tied him up for easy transport over his shoulder. A smidge of embarassment is the least this guy deserves for the horrors they've just begun to see.

"The house must have a lot of other clues he didn't think to hide, including the details of the machine."

[hallelujahjunction]

"Wouldn't could hurt to have a tour." Dan tosses his cigarette butt into the trash. "Besides, maybe he's got a bed of money we can spread around."

Dan doesn't expect he'll be able to do much except babysit Goluboy, but he's sure Miguel can figure quite a lot out from the location, and maybe Dan can capitalize on more face time with their big bad.

"Allons-y, Goluboy, nous allons chez toi maintenant.*" Dan announces as they come back in. Goluboy hasn't even tried to escape. Whether it's because it's futile or because he isn't that scared, Dan isn't sure.

"Va te faire foutre."

"He's being charming," Dan says, grinning.

*Let's go, Goluboy, we're going to your place now.
**Go to Hell / go fuck yourself.

[ninjavampire]

"It's not like he's making good use of his money."

Miguel is not opposed to some Robin Hood antics with this guy's wealth if there's an opportunity for that. He hears bits of the exchanged French with an even expression and figures they probably just got sworn at. Lovely.

Good excuse to unceremoniously grip their guest by the back of his shirt and flop him over a shoulder with preternatural ease. Unless Goluboy had some other powerful magic up his sleeve, escape looks pretty futile to Miguel.

"Nice and comfortable?" he asks with heavy sarcasm.

[hallelujahjunction]

Goluboy says something in English that's definitely a cuss.

"It's so nice having a tall guy around to carry the dead weight," Dan says, sincerely grateful that he doesn't have to try wrangling Goluboy any further, nursing his bloody nose with fresh tissue.

The drive to Goluboy's McMansion is filled with Goluboy muttering threats Dan doesn't believe he can carry out in the back of one of Bunny's cars. Dan keeps an eye on the town as they go, hoping not to see outbreaks of violence or monsters or anything like that, and if there is chaos happening, it's not evident from their route.

The McMansion is quite minimalist, the Web 2.0 of houses, all sleek lines and silver and white. It's far too massive for a single man to live in, and yet somehow Goluboy has found a way. There's a gate outside the front garden with a retina scanner, and someone already waiting to try and get into the building.

"Hey, I know you," Dan says, rolling down his windows to see Apollo. "You been missing."

[divasmio]

After the return of his powers, once everything at the mines seemed to be handled, Apollo had made his way to Goluboy's mansion to see if there were any other secrets that needed to be unearthed.

How serendipitous for Dan and Miguel to arrive shortly after him with a special guest in tow. He greets his allies with a warm smile. Even in the bloody shreds of what was once a tailored suit, Apollo's golden glow radiates charisma and determination.

"I was, and it seems I was sorely missed." He looks pointedly at Goluboy, remembering the list he'd leaked. "But the sun always rises again."

He turns to the gate, eyeing the retina scanner. "I was going to try to melt this, but now you've kindly brought the key."

[ninjavampire]

Stepping out of the car, he works on getting their hostage out of the backseat while they chat. They had quite the scare when they first rescued 'Paul' from imprisonment.

"Looking better than when you got out of the mine." he adds - a hint to Dan of what the tattered bloody rags may be about.

If Miguel seems to be avoiding looking directly at Apollo's Big Radiance, it's from his sight having its much sharper jump in acuteness than the other senses. The nocturnal tapetum glints in his gaze as he glances down towards the retinal scanner. They didn't have time to waste.

"Mind giving the scanner a look for us?" Wrangling their guest is hardly elegant, but he keeps it brief and to the point. Head to scanner.

[hallelujahjunction]

"You might could melt it anyway. Just for the fun of it." Dan may draw a hard line at murdering people who're defenseless, but property damage and theft are both fine with him, which is why he figures he'll help himself to Goluboy's expensive gadgets once they get inside. Does Dan know how to use an iHome? God no. Does he know how to sell it on the black market for money he doesn't actually need now that he lives at the Pole? Absolutely.

Goluboy tries to screw his face shut, suddenly seeming less annoying and more nervous now that they actually may cross the threshold into his home. Dan has to hold his eyelid open, which isn't fun for either of them and leads to some choice slurs thrown in Dan's direction, but then they enter and Goluboy shuts right up.

It's subtle, but there's a strange scent that burbles under the generic air freshener and men's cologne smells in the building, which is as loveless as anything else in MineCorp's pocket - aggressive minimalism, bland, unpersonalized technology, expressions of wealth that somehow fully lack any air of luxury or indulgence. There's a pool that probably never gets used, expensive but abstract artwork on the walls, a pristine white countertop that doesn't look like it's ever been used, spotless kitchen appliances and a TV the size of a truck.

"Oh. Oh, I know that smell," Dan says, face losing color as he squints as if that would heighten his sense of smell. "We got to find where that is. Something's dead."

Or someone.

if you're ready for him to find The Room just assume he charges inside when he finds it

[divasmio]

At Miguel's comment, Apollo replies, "I wasn't exactly alert, but I understand you're one of the ones I have to thank for that. So thank you."

As the crew steps inside, he considers Dan's suggestion, then presses a hand to the door's hinges. With the intense heat, it melts just enough that the door would be difficult to close in the future.

It doesn't take long for the stench of death to reach Apollo, and he feels his heart drop as Dan confirms it. He doesn't waste any time; He knows what Goluboy's capable of, after all. Apollo darts in the direction where the smell seems the strongest, melting off hinges and locks to quickly break doors down and find the source. The odor is getting stronger, and he tries not to gag as he powers through it.

[ninjavampire]

The bodily wince is hard to miss as the scent of death hits his nose, jostling Goluboy in his grasp. His mask flicks up like an instinctual blink, getting that filter over his senses before the overstimulation starts to make him hurt and feel nauseous.

It seemed that Apollo was on finding the source of the stench, so he drops their hostage onto the floor (a little rougher then necessary) and fixes a very effective glare through the suit.

“You live like this? You’re even sicker in the head than I first thought.”

He folds the claws back into a fist as the wave of outrage finds its way down his body. He won’t hurt Goluboy, but damn does he want to conveniently drop him off a high place somewhere.

Dan gets a terse look, his patience with interrogation running thin.

“Are you going with him or should we split up?”

[cw: death and gore]

[hallelujahjunction]

"If I hadn't been so busy addressing you lot, I would have had time to address the odor," Goluboy hisses.

Dan pushes Goluboy the ground and stands in front of him, looming as much as someone of his stature can. "I'll take care of him. Y'all start looking, I'll see if there's anything here that might could need his eyeballs or memory to access."

He hopes Goluboy understands that Goluboy should be grateful. He hopes Goluboy understands that it's not from any sort of love or affection that Dan hasn't gotten on board with punishing him.

When Apollo gets deeper into the house, he'll find a locked room with a beautiful, ornate door with crystal handles and a padlock. When he approaches, there's the sound of someone feebly croaking for help with the voice of someone dehydrated to the point of near-death.

The door opening spreads the stink of death through the first floor like a wave, and it's easy to see why. Two corpses are hanging like street meat from the ceiling of a small, windowless room, decay draining into a basin. The bodies are old, weeks at a minimum, and fully rotting.

In animal kennels, five women are crouched and cramped, either unconscious or listless and unresponsive except for the one weakly begging for help. They appear unbeaten, but severely dehydrated and malnourished and with the sorts of injuries that come from trying to escape a box for too long, all broken fingernails and dislodged teeth from gnawing at the kennel door and sores from being stuck in the same position too long. The conscious one pokes her fingers through her kennel's door. "Help me..."

The room is spotless except for the kennels and the basin. A Roomba noses around the corners, blissfully unaware of the gruesome scene around it, whirring diligently as it gobbles up an errant fingernail that's detached from one of the corpses and dropped onto the floor.

[divasmio]

It takes all of Apollo's willpower to hold back a retch — Not from the smell, but the horror. He can barely process what he's seeing in front of him. It takes a moment for him to decide he doesn't need to process it, not now; He just needs to fix it.

"Dan! Miguel!" He calls over his shoulder, "We've got survivors, call an ambulance!"

Without another word Apollo charges in, heading right for the prisoner who had weakly called out to him. She's not the only one who's still alive. With a brush of his own godly power, he can sense how desperately some others need treatment. Unfortunately, it seems the dead far outnumber the living.

He kneels next to the kennel, brushing the fingers poking through the bars with his own, channeling his healing power. "You're safe now." Apollo's unsure if he's back to full power yet, so he focuses on stabilizing her, wanting to make sure he's got enough in him to do the same for all the survivors. Shortly after, he takes hold of the locks holding the kennel shut, melting them off and opening the door. He repeats the process with every survivor he can find. Whenever Dan and Miguel make their way in, they'll see him in the process of stabilizing an unconscious woman.