EVENT #2: BRAIN BOGGLING

[diceofthegods]

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.

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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

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Comments

[relativefugue]

What Cloud sees before his very eyes is so much more horrifying than it ever could have been as just a concept. It is one thing to think of child soldiers as young as twelve and to hate it- it is another entirely to watch it in action. To see just how little Sephiroth wanted this life- and just how much anger his teammates- were they SOLDIERs?- showed to him. Hearing his young voice say he doesn't want to be a hero threatens to make Cloud's stomach turn. It is hauntingly familiar and relatable, enough so that his hands tighten to fists at his sides. That sour feeling in his core becomes far more pronounced, blood freezing in the blond's veins as the images shift to show him this child asking after his mother (an especially sensitive detail, given the circumstances), seeking a locket, spending time with and seemingly bonding with the squad...Then ultimately, to a scene of the massacre of an entire people. His knees threaten to give out from the note of desperation in this boy's, this child's voice as he begs for there to be another way with the final survivor, another child named Rosen. The agony is clear in those hauntingly familiar but so much younger slitted eyes as he completes his mission as ordered, makes the call to save his team, and puts an end to Rhadore.

This is the truth of the world. His hero, who he looked up to with his entire being. The man who one day would shatter Cloud's life to bits. Pain begetting pain, he bears witness to the beginnings of the horrific cycle of human suffering he found himself embroiled in. It makes him angry. It disgusts him. But it also...Makes his heart ache in a way that confuses him.

He needs to find Sephiroth. That is the singular thought that rises after those initial, horrified, dazed moments of realization. If that explosion handed over his memories, it means one of those creatures got him. The least he could do is make sure things are ok...Right? After all, at this point, he'd already admitted that it wasn't the worst thing to be in the silver's presence. Things past him would call present him absolutely insane for saying. That, surely, is enough of an excuse to seek Sephiroth out. Certainly not out of worry, or anything of the like.

Though it means risking run-ins with both Genesis and Angeal, Cloud makes his way in the general direction of the home of the Firsts. Mithrun had dragged him there at some point during one of his sleeping spells- he never forgot the location after that. Perhaps, if Cloud is lucky, he will find Sephiroth along the way there. If not, Sephiroth will find Cloud knocking at the front door. Beyond any sort of formalities or greetings, the merc will get right to the point.

"...You run into any of those ID things Charlie has been warning everyone about? Cause one happened to dump a bunch of memories on me that I recognized someone in." He nods his head towards Sephiroth.

[silver_soldier]

When Sephiroth opens the door...it's as himself. No more scales, no horns, no dragon bits of any kind visible. As he's explained to Bejik, not unkindly...he doesn't actually dislike the idea of being a dragon at times, but now that he has the ability to look more human, that's going to be his usual preference. The idea of being a monster is one that's immensely difficult for him - for any of the Firsts - to shake, and the many arguments he'd had with his younger self about it, hearing his own fears in his own voice, have only made it harder. His younger self is gone now, but the impact remains.

Of course, Cloud may well have run into those who've completed their dragon transformations by now and achieved the coveted ability to shift at will - may even have already reached that stage himself. (There does seem to be some small, presumably natural fluctuations in the growth rates, even between people who arrived at the same time - perhaps just variances in natural metabolism. Sephiroth himself has already mused to himself whether the difference in metabolism can be chalked up to the person or the dragon.) So this may not be particularly surprising.

Sephiroth is clearly startled to see him - and doesn't even get to ask questions, much less greet Cloud, before Cloud fires off a question of his own. Obviously Cloud's question has been weighing on his mind. And when Sephiroth parses it...well, that might explain some of the urgency of his asking.

He frowns, however. "I...don't recall being attacked by one, no. But I have heard talk of them sneaking into houses in the night." His frown deepens. "If one got in..." Then their house isn't secure, and they need to make it so. That thought bulks large enough in his mind, his concern for Angeal and Genesis and Mithrun, that the idea of his own privacy being compromised scarcely registers at first. But then, he's a man who spent years having no privacy at all - perhaps such things mean less to him than others.

But, with effort, he pulls himself back to the matter - the person - at hand. Cloud having his memories messed with, again, is a serious matter. And so the first question out of his mouth, naturally, is "Are you all right?"

[relativefugue]

There's not a single scale to be seen on Cloud now- after being in his fully draconic form for a while (which admittedly made helping Wedge settle in a little awkward), he was happy to finally get back to some kind of familiar baseline. No matter how shattered his memories or mind may be, Cloud at the very least had the constant of his own body in his life. All of the dragon changes took that away from him, and with it the last vestiges of stability he felt he possessed alone in a new world and separated from his friends.

At least, his body was a constant under his control until he found out it was also used and abused in the name of mad science. This is not to even mention the entire other issue of seeming possessions by Jenova where he made attempts to harm those close to him.

It all moves so quickly: Sephiroth's subdued but clearly startled expression upon opening the door to see Cloud of all people. His thoughtful consideration of it, and his response.

....So he doesn't know or recall an attack. Of course he doesn't. This is Sephiroth, the sort of warrior that saw most dangerous injuries to normal folks as mild inconveniences. SOLDIER, but so much more. Yet here Cloud is, checking in on him. It's fine. He knew it would be fine. But that really isn't what he's checking about, is it? Simply a pretense to cling onto. That some awful thing got in at night.

At this point Cloud should be expecting it when Sephiroth's immediate choice is to worry about him with a genuineness that makes his chest tighten and his heartbeat quicken. Yet here he stands once again looking stunned, physically and mentally, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape at it all. He really needs to work on that. The whole looking like a dumbstruck fool in front of Sephiroth, of all people. He swears he can feel something tangible of that worry in a baser part of him that he cannot understand. The space where that strange, alien pull lives.

Glowing eyes flicker down to the ground between them. "I'm fine," Cloud says with a shake of the head. Fine as it gets. He knows he's already proven to be fragile to Sephiroth, but damn it if some part of him doesnt want to show he can be more than that...Which, Sephiroth already knows. Experienced himself in another timeline. Nonetheless, the instinct still crops up. To prove himself. To be tough.

Maybe, too, to impress his hero.

This isn't about him, though, is it? Luckily he was witness to the memories, but none seem to have infiltrated his already brittle mind. No, what is on his mind is purely in response to the contents of said memories. "Just. Saw some things. Wanted to be sure you knew one of those things grabbed your memories and make sure you werent hurt-" Cloud curses himself as his genuine side slips through and immediately smashes that flimsy pretense to bits. He can't help it. Who is he kidding when Sephiroth will see right through it as he already has before, anyway?

"....I saw Rhadore."

[silver_soldier]

Cloud says he's fine, which is par for the course...but what isn't par for the course is that it actually seems to be true. At least, Cloud isn't exhibiting strong signs of distress, any symptoms of headaches, anything to indicate his mind is in any more chaotic a state than usual. Sephiroth has certainly seen Cloud when his memories have been stirred recklessly with a stick - has even seen him when someone has carefully worked to untangle them - and it's been worse than this.

For once, Cloud might be...if not fine, then at least as close to it as men like the two of them are likely to get. That's a pleasant surprise, under the circumstances, and it's enough to relax him.

And then...Rhadore.

Cloud will see the way Sephiroth's whole body goes quite still, will realize just how surprisingly open and earnest Sephiroth's eyes tend to be when something deep in them shutters - they become distant, inscrutable, carefully blank. Whatever emotional response Sephiroth has to even the mention of Rhadore has been shut down as abruptly and ruthlessly as locks engaging on a bank vault at the sound of an alarm.

Something there, some pain...is being guarded there, so carefully. And even though, arguably, the vault has already been emptied, the security system can still be triggered.

Sephiroth's own memories of Rhadore, his violent stew of emotions about it, are so vivid that for several long moments he isn't even considering what it means that Cloud has some knowledge of them now - he's simply reliving his own agonies in the privacy of his mind. Only heightened by his impossibly convoluted feelings about Glenn having been in Town, so briefly, and disappearing again without ever exchanging a word with him...and, of course, his own younger self, so fresh from Rhadore, also gone now. Even as far out from it as he is, it's never gotten easier to think of it...and only harder still in recent days, with the recent reminders. And now this.

Finally, the wheels start to turn in regards to Cloud in connection to Rhadore. If he saw that...well, it's hard to know what exactly he saw. All of it? Parts of it? Sephiroth supposes it doesn't matter. None of it was good. None of it was excusable.

"Hardly memories worth seeing," he says, finally, through lips that seem to have very little feeling in them. "Context, perhaps, for some of the things I've said...but not sights or knowledge that anyone would welcome sharing."

It's not quite an apology - for once, Sephiroth can't pretend that this being inflicted on Cloud is his fault in any direct way - but it is an acknowledgment of how unpleasant it couldn't help but have been. Beyond that...Sephiroth isn't sure what to say about it. It's possible that Cloud thinks even worse of him now than he once did, but Sephiroth would hardly be the person to question or argue that if he does.

[relativefugue]

What is it that Cloud Strife feels rising in his chest when Sephiroth's eyes grow cold, and distant? Difficult to say whether it is dread, sadness, empathy....Or perhaps even anger.

What the merc may never realize is that it is all of the above, felt not at or against Sephiroth, but for him. That was a child, who had no say in anything, driven to heinous crimes.

Against all odds and against every one of Cloud's instincts, he's slowly come to understand and start to accept that the Sephiroth he knows here in Town is different from the monster plaguing his nightmares. A man possessed of his own mind, wanting nothing more than to do right by the man he scarred irreparably. One who...Genuinely cares about Cloud, enough so he asks after his wellness in the face of his own pain.

Monsters just aren't like that. Even the ones with the best disguises. The monster Cloud knew was this man, broken painstakingly over time by one of the most fucked up systems and men to ever exist. A weapon, forged in flame.

"Sephiroth," Cloud says quietly, head lightly shaking side to side. He can easily recognize the familiar pattern of shutting down to stop nosy others from. He's done it himself, after all.

"I think the question is if you're ok."

Genuine concern reflects in those mako eyes.

[silver_soldier]

The question...for a moment, it's baffling. On some level, Sephiroth recognizes what it is - a concerned friend? person inquiring after his current state of well-being. There are only so many ways to express that sentiment.

But perhaps because he's rattled, perhaps because he's always struggled not to take things too literally, perhaps simply because there is no more natural reaction for a man in his position to have, more words fall from his numb lips. And this time they bypass the usual screening process where he carefully analyzes what he's going to say, whether or not he ought to say it or what people will think of it.

"I don't know if okay is a thing I have ever been."

There's a touch of bemusement to the words, lingering still at the very idea of being asked such a question. He'd realized what Cloud really meant by it after only a moment, but that first kneejerk emotional response is taking time to fade. Strong enough, indeed, to have him respond to the feeling instead of the meaning.

He passes a hand over his eyes, breathing out slowly. "Forgive me, I know...that isn't what you were truly asking. But...I'll be all right. I've had more reminders of Rhadore recently than just this...and I've certainly been through worse. Mostly I regret that you've been forced to share in memories and burdens that aren't yours to bear. I have to live with them, but...that's my penance for creating them. You've done nothing to deserve it."

[relativefugue]

Cloud's seen it a few times by now- fleeting glimpses of Sephiroth's emotions beneath the calm, quiet way he has of both speaking and carrying himself. By now Cloud's also realized and at least partly (if not mostly) accepted that this Sephiroth's way of it is fundamentally different from the Sephiroth- or rather Jenova- that haunts his nightmares.

Even so, it still winds the merc to hear those levels of emotion come from the First's mouth. It hits as a shock every damn time, especially when the emotions are ones he hasn't yet witnessed.

And especially when the emotions and what's said strike Cloud as relatable on any level.


"...Yeah..."

Every interaction between them seems to result in more of their similarities coming to light. Cloud isn't recoiling from that as hard as he did initially any longer, instead landing in a contemplative space only lightly tinged with the remains of denial. After all, it keeps happening over and over.

His frown deepens at the initial response, and stays steady while Cloud bears witness to Sephiroth doing something he is no stranger to himself- pulling everything back together and putting the walls back up. The recognition of that in particular actually hits the blond with an unexpected pang of sympathy and understanding. For a fleeting moment, Cloud Strife got to see Sephiroth's buried self, felt a piece of what lay beyond the ironclad fortress around him. Perhaps, with moments like this, he can start to understand what Aerith and Tifa saw in him. What Wedge sees in him now.

Cloud actually finds himself shaking his head, the words coming out surprising even him. "You don't need to apologize when I'm asking." A pause. "...Just makes me want Hojo's head on a platter even more. You were just a kid." Sephiroth was a child. A child, traumatized and honed into a weapon against every shred of his own will as a human being. The memories Cloud witnessed are tangible proof. While it doesn't and would never erase the death and destruction the SOLDIER caused with his own hands, it certainly makes the situation far less black and white than Cloud ever would have dreamt of considering prior. "You saying there's things here now from back then?"

[silver_soldier]

"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."