childrenofbahamutlogs | EVENT #2: BRAIN BOGGLING

Entry tags:

EVENT #2: BRAIN BOGGLING

A CRASH IN THE NIGHT

In the dark hours of a snowy early morning, a sudden BOOM can be heard all across Town. It is swiftly followed by sounds of warping metal and then a screeching crash. Curious, albeit groggy, residents emerge only to find a smoking wreck just a mile outside of Town.

The strange craft appears to be almost nautiloid in shape with wrenched, broken tendrils streaming out the opening.

Much of it is metal although some of it almost seems... organic.

Those who with to get a closer look will be met by Charlie and Dimitri who are already on the job. They request curious onlookers keep their distance since this craft is, without a doubt, tremendously dangerous.

Later in the day, there appears to be an outfit of officials coming from the west to investigate and clean up the wreckage. Thankfully(?), you will all find out soon enough what's going on.

INVESTIGATION & PROTECTION

Deathcard Cabin by Jonah Senzel

4:07 / 13:06

▶︎

Click here to listen.

From the Inscryption OST: A unique and haunting sound paired with a unique and haunting game.

code

Charlie reports to the citizens of Town that an Illithid cargo transport. The pilot did not survive the crash, but they appeared to be transporting some kind of new breed of Intellect Devourers.

"We do not yet know what this new breed is capable of, but..."

Charlie does give everyone a rundown of what an Illithid and what an Intellect Devourer is, what they are capable of, and a keen warning to tread lightly. Many dead ones were discovered in the cargo but several of the enclosures were damaged in the crash and the likelihood of escapees is high.

Charlie reiterates: These creatures are to be killed on sight, or contained until someone can kill it. If you are not confident in your combat abilities, please remain in your homes as much as possible and seal all openings to your dwelling. Those who are capable though are urged to begin patrols of Town alongside Slayd, Dimitri and himself to ensure that Town and the surrounding areas are safe.

Please travel in pairs or groups, do not be alone! Attack from a distance when possible. Hoshiko will offer her assistance as a markswoman as well by picking off any Intellect Devourers from a distance that she can for those that are forced to travel alone. (Don't worry about any jokes she makes of her service not being cheap though. Charlie wouldn't actually let her charge you anything.)

Unfortunately, not even they can predict the blizzard that rolls through Town in the midst of all this. If you happen to see anything skittering through the snow, don't panic too much. It could just be a tiny woodland creature looking for a warm burrow to hide away in!

At least you hope it is.

PROMPT #3

Hybrid intellect devourers are unique from the regular ones in that the goal is not to kill their target, but to gather intelligence and act as a kind of spy network.

They will flee when confronted directly by greater numbers, but will attack a lone target. They do this by jumping at the target's head and wrapping a wet tendril around their neck. They will choke who they've wrapped around if anyone tries to remove it. They are also far more likely to try and attack sleeping target (hence the advice to keep your homes closed!).

These hybrids emit spores that will keep the target asleep during feeding. Their primary goal appears to be infiltrating the targets' minds and absorbing some of their memories. The target will have their mind left mostly intact... though they may suffer short term memory loss, confusion, distress, fatigue and head pain.

Here's where the fun starts!

Once one of these critters has fed on someone, they are onto their next target. When a fed Intellect Devourer feeds from another target, that target may absorb some of the previous target's memories. This can span across multiple victims and be erratic in whose memories taint whose mind. The memories will cross-pollinate in the form of dreams or waking visions and hallucinations.

If one of these creatures is killed, it will explode, releasing a powerful psionic wave and the memories it had absorbed from any recent targets. Anyone within ten (10) yards of the dying creature will be afflicted with extreme head pain in the short term and also witness the memories of it's previous victims.

Enjoy your muddled memories and leggy brain-hunting!

The outfit of people who have come to investigate are from New Svihelen's disaster containment squad and are investigating the hybrid creatures and the possible reason for an Illithid ship to crash here of all places. Right now, the running theory is that interference from the selfsame summoning circle that brought you all here could have caused the interplanar navigation systems of the ship to malfunction but nothing has been determined yet.

Eventually, these creatures will all be rounded up and taken care of. They are persistent and stealthy though in their efforts to survive above all else. Charlie assures that they're doing all they can to make Town safe once and for all but it will take some time.

Notes

⁂ The partner plotting post for this event/quarter is also up!

⁂ Additionally, we have a state of the game post available for people to read about updates, clarifications, and housekeeping items!

⁂ If you have any further questions or feedback about this event specifically, please comment here!

⁂ For even more ambient event music, you can check out this this playlist!

⁂ Full Navigation ⁂

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Hehehe, I certainly thought so!

Then you've had at least a little bit of normalcy before this, that's good! I promise this sort of thing is highly unusual! Before now, the greatest threats we've had to contend with are bandits and hungry livestock! Please don't let it color your impression of our little community here too badly!

[ He laughs nervously and rubs the back of his head. ]

"Ah, well, I don't have all the context, but..." Avan places a finger on his chin as he glances up and to the side, recalling the memory. "You and Mr. Genesis visited your mother, and after he left, she told you about an experiment performed on the two of you."

He doesn't bother going into detail because, well, obviously Angeal already knows. He doesn't mention that he saw what happened after that because, well, obviously Angeal's already worried enough. Avan knows the knowledge won't be a problem, so there's no reason to concern Angeal with it.

He rubs the back of his head in embarrassment. "I'm sorry if I made a scary face! Not even I can forgive such callous regard for children!"

"Wish I could say that I felt like he learned anything from it," Gladio says with a slight shrug. He'd wanted Ardyn to have some kind of positive feeling about it, but now that Ardyn is expressing something like appreciation, Gladio doesn't know what to do with it. "Or that I fought him on behalf of the disgrace he was to what a Shield ought to be. That might have had some meaning to it. But obviously I didn't know at the time."

So he'd fought Gilgamesh just to deal with his own insecurities and feelings of inferiority. He'd felt proud of the accomplishment at the time, but as the years have passed...well, more and more, he sees it his father's way. Which, considering his issues with his father, doesn't sit the best with him, but...he can't deny that going off to kick some musty swordsman's ass just to prove something to himself didn't help Noct in any way. It was him being too weak to get his own head on straight without leaving the side of the man he's sworn his lie to protect. The more perspective he has, the more embarrassing and childish it seems.

That Gilgamesh deserved to have his ass kicked, and maybe didn't deserve any more honor than to be the insecurity crutch for a Shield who wasn't even doing his job right but was still doing a whole lot better than Gilgamesh and serving a better king doing it, makes it feel a tiny bit better. Not nearly as much as fighting him for a truly meaningful reason would have, but it's something.

He shoots Ardyn a sidelong look at the remark about Somnus. He senses there's a bit more there, but also he's eyeing that word eventually. "What, by persecuting his kingdom and tormenting his bloodline long after his bones turned to dust? I think psychologists call that 'displacement'."

"Of course. You've met one of them, haven't you? My younger self...he was fresh from Rhadore." He frowns slightly. "Though...there is some time discrepancy between when he went to Rhadore, and when I did...I was sent there years earlier than he was. I can't explain the difference, except that perhaps it's something like the divergent timelines you and I recall." He shakes his head. "But regardless...he had only just returned from Rhadore before arriving here."

He exhales, slowly. "And also...Glenn was here, briefly. I had no idea what to say to him, and we avoided each other...and I suppose as a result I lost my chance to ever speak to him again. He disappeared again not long after his arrival."

That's fine. Not even Ardyn himself really knows what to do about it. Regardless of Gladio's reasons though, Gilgamesh was put back to rest. While some might wish to hope he reunited with Somnus somewhere in the beyond, well- Ardyn, like Gladio, knows that isn't the case. Somnus is tethered to the ring and will be until all is said and done.

Only then can any of them know peace.

"I never claimed it was a good approach, just the one I was going with." He can be self-aware. Sometimes. Not often, but it does happen. "Two thousand years locked in a hole in the ground while the world forgets you even exist does things to a man." Not good things, is the obvious implication here. "Mostly, it gave me a lot of time to think. And the conclusion I came to was: I wanted that bastard and his bloodline to suffer even a fraction of what I did if possible."

Noctis looking like Somnus made it even easier, if he's being truly honest with himself. But it also made it immeasurably more complicated, more personal than he was about to admit too.

"Oh, that was the credit they gave themselves. Everything preordained, all part of their plan- Fate was just the word mortals ascribed to it in an attempt to understand." After all, it was easy to handle 'fate' as something out of someone's control and far removed. The reality that it was the Astrals themselves being dicks would be much less serviceable.

"But yes. They're the ones that got caught in this design of the gods too, in the end. As they were meant to, even if I added some... embellishments." Is that what we're calling genocide and attempts to raze a city to the ground now, Ardyn? Sure.

Avan isn't exactly a common person!

"Yeah... being a dragon doesn't give you extra mental defenses, and it's cold besides."

A cool new ability and now there's all these obstacles in the way of using it, isn't that always the way. At least Popp has his personal skill to fall back on: that's right it's whining.

"I'm cold, for that matter, couldn't these things have attacked in the day when it's warmer?"

"Yes! It was a little touch and go for a while there, but she's back in the Source with her brother now, and that's what matters." She pumps her fists, her enthusiasm for this outcome palpable.

"I'd just finished saying my farewells to them when I ended up here instead. It was quite the shock!"

Mithrun doesn't respond, at first - halfway taking in the new information, halfway confirming the tracks he's found. He straightens, gesturing for Ardyn to follow him.

He also says: "If 'fate' was just making excuses for the decisions of the gods, what's the point in speaking of what others were 'meant' to be caught in? Come on."

Pedantic? Maybe so, but when has that stopped him. Also, rude to just kind of demand Ardyn follow him while he's being pedantic? Definitely, but that also will not stop him.

"Anyway, it's no surprise, then, that they would prefer you'd persisted."

Well, pride at least is a simple thing, mostly dependent upon one's own view of things. Ignis has a feeling that Dimitri will be far more embarrassed all on his own without Ignis having to mention a thing.

There are more important things, for now. Ignis observes the rabbit thoughtfully. "There are a few ideas which come to mind. The most likely, I suspect, is that they were both using the cover of snow to hide from predators, and simply had an unfortunate collision." The snow can make it hard to see, after all, and it seems that stealth is in the ID's best interests. Perhaps enough to accidentally sneak up on a rabbit that was in a rush, with neither of them knowing. And that's the most obvious idea, he thinks, although there could be others.

"Either way, I don't believe it matters too much on the specifics. If this is something from those creatures, than that means we might be able to follow the rabbit's trail back to where they encountered one another. From there, we might be able to find another trail... that of our true quarry."

That snag of pain does not go without notice. Elidibus, however, does not act, as the pain is inconvenient but not life-threatening by any means, and he will not violate Mithrun's agency for something like this.

"Let us be off, then."

But he will guide their patrol to lead the two of them closer to an area that he believes will have them encounter others. The immediate area has been thoroughly cleared at present, so it is not quite so underhanded as it is strategic.

The Emissary is a seemingly endless well of energy, but that is only because he has others that help him behind the scenes. Had he been alone in this place, he would no doubt be far less productive. As it is, however, he is able to spare enough to comfort both himself and Popp after this experience - and as Themis, the man.

Considering he had witnessed the memory himself, it does not come to a shock that the Avan here meets his end as he had seen. But the young hero is nothing if not clever, playing the fool for the public and holding all cards close to his chest. Themis pulls Popp slightly tighter against his side as a thought comes to him.

"He is the type to know more than he allows others to see. Do you think, perhaps, that he knows about it in some manner? Or suspects?"

So enough space, and visual contact. Ignis nods, understanding. Truth be told, it is a rather simple set of requirements. Goodness knows that they could be quite worse.

"Then, perhaps simply setting up bait would be far more practical for this sort of thing."

Which leaves very little options, but Ignis isn't opposed to what this assumes his position to be in this sort of suggested plan. Any sort of hunt is going to have dangers associated with it. Why on earth should he be surprised or unduly worried? (Which isn't to say he isn't at least a bit duly worried, because only a fool isn't.)

[Oh, how deeply does Themis resonate with those words. There are many reasons why he has remained vigilant to an almost obsessive degree, not the least of which was to protect the others from what lurks within his own memories. Much and more there should remain as they are, barbs tucked away where he heals from them still.

To have some forcibly seen and distributed? It is a violation that he despises. He itches to go forth and dispense additional justice - but he will not. Not yet. Not when Lahabrea speaks such words.

He bows his head and speaks softly.]

There is hope yet, that others may not witness that which you wish to keep unseen. Or that I, myself, will be the sole witness should I corner the creature that did this. Perhaps what they took was another memory entirely.

[Ever the hopebringer, he cannot help himself.]

I may steal this one, and credit you, of course.

Directly prior the adventure to the New World, it seems. Missing only the events leading up to it and the quest itself.

"That is good. I am happy that they still have one another, and will continue to do so for as long as dragons may live. Though, knowing you and your fellows, it is unsurprising that you were able to succeed."

He sighs.

"Our experiences are similar. One moment I was elsewhere and the next, in this place."

That there is a threshold, and that Ardyn has found it, is telling. At the time, there had been a faint voice in the back of his head that had wondered if perhaps even knowing everything he did that maybe he had gone overboard in the man's murder. With this knowledge that he's being given, he can quite soundly put that thought to rest.

Combine that with the Scourge, well... Perhaps he did only the bare minimum.

But more importantly than that...

"Ill in what way?" Ignis asks, in a quietly dry tone that says, actually, bullshit that is the only side-effect of something which warps people into daemons who have no hope of becoming normal again.

The scrape of a boot sliding too hard against snow and ice. That's what has Ignis turning his head, and he hears the guttural intake of breath just a split-second before he can see what's happening.

See that creature wrapping itself tight around Gladio's throat, trying to throttle him into unconsciousness, trying to devour all it can as it presses its maw against his head. Not physically devour, but something else.

Ignis knows this. Knows the briefing he was given by Charlie and Dimitri. Just like he knows they will cause a psionic explosion upon death.

And yet his first immediate instinct, all violence and panic, has him lunge forward. "Gladio!" Perhaps the sound idea would be to pull a dagger out from the Armiger, but this Ignis hasn't quite gotten into the habit yet. What he does have is a long nail in one hand.

And teeth.

Surprisingly sharp teeth.

One hand grabs at Gladio's shoulder, primarily to make sure the other doesn't thrash about or move too much, because the other hand is driving the nail directly towards the base of one tentacle. Not enough to sever it - especially not with a nail, not meant for cutting - but enough to damage the muscles there surely. Enough to make it weaken its grip.

And if that's not enough, then he's already digging his teeth into the flesh to do a much better job of severance.

"Sol-" He frowns harder. How does this man come up with new ways to confuse him with every word out of his mouth?

Noct finally huffs out a growl of frustration, shifting to lean his weight against the stupid hunk of debris in the path with the sullen annoyance only a teenager could muster. Part of him wants to just tell Ardyn to fuck off. Most of him, even. There's enough fury there under the surface, rage that's been simmering since he found out what the man did to Prompto, that he almost wants to do more than tell him to leave.

But there's no sense in it just now, not with how Ardyn is behaving. Lost and confused and either a damned good actor or genuinely unable to understand what's going on.

"You really don't remember..." He intends for there to be more there but he is at a loss for words to explain. Especially when he hasn't personally experienced most of it. He'd only briefly met the man, had no idea the weight of who he was at the time.

At least he has a ball. That's always something.

Speaking of balls, or at least things vaguely related to balls and indeed a ball is there, Ignis raises a brow at the description of Popp's football. "That... is interesting. In my homeland, while we have a sport of the same name, martial arts aren't involved in the slightest. All the skill and focus involved is how to maneuver the ball and get it across the field."

He tilts his head towards Popp. "Why would your arm get broken during a bout of your football?"

In fairness, Lahabrea hasn't mentioned that the spellwork is not exactly the simplest either. True, he is well used to doing it an situations that might otherwise be less than ideal. But there is no denying that it's a complicated spell, by nature and design.

Still, he figures he should be able to adapt well enough to whatever should happen.

"It would prove the easier. Should you be willing to trust to my skill at magic to ensure your safety."

Eventually, their assailants are dealt with, and Byleth looks down at the decimated quarry without emotion, examining his brutal but efficient handiwork. Eventually, he turns his gaze back to Lahabrea, confirming that he is uninjured, and wipes his hands in the snow before approaching.

"Nicely done. I feel as though this calls for some tea, if you care to join me at my home?"

After all, what other way to celebrate disemboweling some creepy brain creatures than a nice hot spot of tea? Right? Anyone else?

Ah. Byleth visibly wilts. Even though he doesn't immediately reject it, there is a distinctly terrible feeling about-

About being known. He could imagine that Emet might tell him that's how he felt when Byleth had initially divulged all those memories. Just desserts, Byleth decides. It doesn't make him feel any better about it.

"Yes... please do not tell Dimitri of it. I do nit know what this timeline may bring for him, and I don't want to influence him either way. He has and will go through great hardship. I cannot even begin to quantify." He glances away, looking at the door for a moment, thinking of the currently younger charge of his.

"Thank you, for your discretion. I will answer any questions you may have but- otherwise I am satisfied to drop the matter if you are." He sounds stiffer than usual. A hand folded into his tunic clearly grasping, and he does not make eye-contact. It's an odd feeling. Shame. Not something he used to feel much at all.

It sounds more than merely nice to Themis, as he gets himself standing and immediately places a hand on Byleth's lower back. For support or comfort, he knows not. Only that the touch is needed.

"I would enjoy having your head upon my chest, yes." Byleth has always enjoyed hearing his heart beat, steady and strong, while he relaxes. And the weight of his beloved has quite a bit of appeal to him right now. He guides them both to Byleth's bedroom and takes a moment to lock and seal all doors and windows.

The vigilance will allow him true rest.

After, he shrugs off his robes and footwear, leaving him only in his podea. He rests his mask upon the pile of clothing as one final act before slipping beneath the blankets. It takes a brief moment of shuffling to find a comfortable position for his wings but afterwards he is able to settle.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 23 of 27

EVENT #2: BRAIN BOGGLING

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject