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.

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!

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Comments

[Avan] yesterday was better

[firsteditionbfs]

You're standing outside of your own house.

At least, it was your childhood home - a simple little two story with not a lot of room to it, crammed inbetween some other houses near to the square in this part of town. The part of town where a lot of the workers lived, including his departed father. It's not much, but it's been kept in better condition than some places thanks to all that hard work that they put into it.

And you don't dare enter, not even with Genesis. You're.... It's shameful to admit it. You're SOLDIER, First Class, and you've been in war. You've fought against monsters five times your size. Even as a child, you never felt any fear when you picked up a shovel to smack them away from the dumbapple orchards. But you're terrified right now.

You're terrified to look at your mother and not know what you'll find. What she'll think of you. But you can overhear the conversation Genesis has with her, the way she tells him don't do anything you'll regret. How she still calls him a good boy, after all this.

Genesis walks out the door like he can escape hearing those last words, but that's never worked for him. Not with his hearing.

So you take a breath, push yourself away from the wall, and step inside. Genesis is going to his own parents' house, and that... You don't know what the conversation with them will be like, but you should have enough time for your own. Genesis has a temper, and he's hurting, but... You should finish this up in time to go be with him.

Your mother sits there at the old dining table that's been in the exact same place since for as long as you can remember. Her face is tired, drawn, a life lived that you never had any idea about. Not the full extent. Her shawl is drawn tight around her shoulders, and she does the same thing you always do: a deep breath, in through her nose, before she looks up at him.

Before the mako sunk into you, you used to have her eyes. You wonder if yours look just as tired and regretful.

Even with all the time it took for you and Genesis to arrive back in Banora - Chocobo and then flight once you hit the island shores - you still don't know exactly what to say. You don't know how to feel. It is undeniable that your own mother held a part in what's so wrong with you, and Genesis, that she contributed to children becoming monsters...

But you sit at the same table, and her hand lays over your own large one, and you think about how much of your childhood - your shared childhood with Genesis staying over as much as he could get away with - how much of that was bright and shining and warm for all that you were just a poor family...

She confirms everything that Hollander told Genesis, and which Genesis told you. She confirms Project G.

And she says she's sorry.

What are you supposed to do with this knowledge? With the feelings choking your own heart and throat? You don't know what to do besides gently take her hand in your own.

That's around time that something feels wrong. It's hard to describe it, besides that the back of your neck prickles, and you realize you just - you have to go. So you're still holding your mother's hand as you get up to your feet, and you look her in the eyes. Can you offer forgiveness? Can you do it on your own, without Genesis right there at your side? You still aren't sure. But you know this: you can look her in the eyes and tell her softly, "I love you."

And you mean it, even as you let go of her hand, and make a run for the largest house in Banora, there at the top of the hill.

You've not even at the base of it before you can hear, distantly, Genesis's enraged roaring, and you kick it up a notch. A hill like this, it's not even that big, so why the hell does time drag so much as he goes up it? And the entire time, he can hear the Rhapsodos's voices. Hear an argument.

"Are you scared of me? A real father wouldn't be." Genesis's voice shouldn't be that quiet. Angeal can hear it, just barely, and it shouldn't be that quiet. Shouldn't be like a taut string. Genesis has a temper, but this-

Jean Rhapsodos, next, a voice he knows most from complaining he'd done at his own parents. "They said you were missing. The Director called-"

"A real father would be happy to see his missing son again."

"Why did you come to Banora-?"

"Real parents wouldn't have a shotgun to greet their son. Are you afraid of me? Are you scared of me?"

You're not fast enough to beat the speed of words, the quickening pace of the argument, a spray of firepower suddenly going through the open doorway up ahead. The spray of blood up ahead.

By the time you make it to the door, and screaming from Catarina Rhapsodos stops, it's far too late.

Your soulmate lets out a long, slow breath as though he hasn't breathed in years. You don't think he realizes it, but his body is shaking. From what he's done, or from his normally fast healing factor needing to pull all the energy to can?

Genesis's voice is - it's not right, it's not right. It should never be this quiet, should never be this unsteady and violent, a flame in a hurricane. You can't tell if it's going to be snuffed out, or become a firestorm. "I have a warpath to carve against ShinRa. I start with their deceivers. I stop the lies before they can hurt me anymore."

For a moment, you and Genesis just stand there, together, in his old home, the bodies of his parents at his feet. You feel sick. You should have stopped this, and you didn't. Even if they were just lying about their care for Genesis, even if they were just ShinRa plants from the day Genesis was born, you should have stopped this, shouldn't you've?

Rapier hits the ground hard, and you jolt, gaze snapping back into focus right onto Genesis, right where it always goes. He's swaying in place, now, unsteady, and - fuck, fuck, blood loss again, he got hit with a shotgun, and you dig your fingers into your pocket for a Cure materia -

"Mom?" You freeze. Genesis is looking right down to where Catarina's body is laying, cooling in the Banoran heat. "Mom?" he echoes again, and there's a hint of begging to his voice. Like - like he doesn't understand. Doesn't realize she's dead for good, even as he hits the floor next to her dead body.

You are going to throw up.

You should have stopped this.

"Mom..." He's sobbing, and you could kill yourself right now, guide his hand to your throat and slit it, too, but you can't do that to him, not in front of his own eyes. So you just force yourself forward as he crumples to the ground. Help him up, hand to his back and shoulders, even as he grabs Rapier to make the job easier. "Why you?" he mutters, tears carving a path down his cheeks, carrying blood splatters down with him. "I trusted you my whole life..."

On one level, you know he's speaking to people who can no longer answer him. You know he is demanding an answer from the lips of corpses. And yet, as you stand there besides him, you feel it's on you.

You should have stopped this, because Genesis trusts you, and you didn't.

All you can do is pathetically make up for it all, your arms around him, and trying to keep your breath steady from where it slips into his hair along with your face. "I'll dig graves," you say, and you don't know if your voice is steady enough. "Let's go, Genesis."

Genesis looks at you, then, and you try not to think too hard about - everything. The way his eyes have lost their shine, grown paler. How his skin has only lost color all the more since Wutai. It takes him a second to focus on you, really focus properly on you, and you're not sure if it's just because of grief.

"Angeal," he breathes, as though you're salvation, as though you're an answer, and you don't deserve it. You don't deserve the way he looks at you, his hand finding your wrist and tightening hard around it. You notice there's holes in the back of his glove, small wood splinters still clinging. "You'll stay with me, won't you? You'll help me - with them, with all of ShinRa?"

And what can you say?

"Always, Genesis."

And that's around the time that Angeal yanks an ID straight from where Avan had poked his head out a window, claws clenched tight around the nuisance brain. "Got you," he growls, the sound definitively more animalistic than normal thanks to the changes he's gone through. He doesn't destroy it immediately - not after the encounters he's had so far - but instead shoves it into... yeah that's sure a burlap bag. Do not worry about it!

Then again, if Avan didn't worry about things, he would haven't suck his head out the window in the first place at all the ruckus (perhaps mild explosions) that involved chasing a walking brain.

[1/2]

[avanture_time]

That sure is a lot to take in all at once! But Angeal will be able to see it on Avan's face when he peels the intellectual devourer off of him: his primary takeaway from what he's seen is anger, a righteous fury at this tragedy that never should have come to pass. The fierce scowl would make for a comedic contrast with the pink bandana tied around his hair to keep it out of the way in the kitchen, if it weren't so uncharacteristic.

[avanture_time]

And then it's gone, replaced with a more typical look of concerned confusion.

"Mr. Angeal? How are you planning to kill it?"

Because he can understand not wanting to kill it right here given the whole, y'know, exploding thing, but he is going to kill it, right?

[firsteditionbfs]

Angeal knows what that look means. It was quick, but he's on high alert due to the situation they're all in, so he spots it. Which, well.

Fuck him.

He tries not to think too heavily on that, at risk of getting distracted. Instead, he just ties up the sack quick and decisively, despite all the thrashing that's already kicking off inside of it. "At a distance," he says gruffly. "Going to turn this thing into fireworks. My husband loves a chance to shot a large enough fireball at something. And if we get it airborn, it won't have anything to hit in the aftermath."

So he doesn't have to see anyone else's memories either.

Fucking thing.

"Do you need a second to sit down? I know these things can be problematic."

[avanture_time]

"No, I'm alright. I'd be in trouble if they actually devoured intellect, though!"

He laughs at his own stupid joke and rubs the back of his head.

"I'd invite you in for some tea or snacks, but I'm guessing you want to take care of that thing right away. Oh, but hold on a second before you go!"

With that, Avan disappears from the window. If Angeal looks in, he'll see that Avan was cooking something, but smartly removed the pot from the heat before sticking his head out of the window. Avan himself is rapidly working on something on the counter nearby, but his back is to the window, so Angeal wouldn't be able to see it. Regardless, it's not long before Avan returns to the window, holding a small pouch that he holds out.

"Here, take this. It's full of candy made from fae nectar. It'll help with the headaches if you can't get it far up enough!"

[firsteditionbfs]

Well, it's good to see someone that knows a bit of kitchen safety. The last thing they need, with everything else that's going on, is a sudden fire. Sure, there's probably plenty of houses to move into that would replace it.. but that doesn't do anything for the trauma and pain of losing a house, nor the effort it would take from the rest of them to put out the flames. Plenty of time for other critters to escape on the loose.

So Angeal just braces himself against the window sill, making sure that the ID is tied up securely. The candy he's given is familiar, thanks to patrolling with Popp, and he accepts the little pouch.

"Thanks. I have a pretty good throwing arm, so it shouldn't be too bad." But better to have something than not. Although before he goes...

Ugh. There's no good way to bring this up. His jaw tenses a bit. "...Listen. Whatever you saw, don't worry about it."

It's.... fine. ish.

[avanture_time]

Ah, his reaction must have shown on his face. But now that face broadens into a wide, toothy smile.

"Hehehe, it looks like maybe I should be the one saying that!"

And then that cheeky grin softens, becoming something more gentle and sincere.

"I didn't see anything that would change my opinion of you, and I'm not the kind of guy who gossips, either. You don't have anything to worry about from me."

[firsteditionbfs]

That's at least something, but Angeal doesn't look entirely reassured. It's nothing against Avan, of course, just... Well. Words are easy to say. It's just hard to figure out immediately what will stick.

That, and, well... His mouth twists. "Even so, you probably understand that something even leaking out a little bit isn't exactly... pleasant to know." Just an uncomfortable feeling in general, in more than a few ways. Still, he guesses he has to be upfront. "What was it?"

He should at least put the anxiety of not knowing to rest.

[avanture_time]

"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!"

[firsteditionbfs]

That may or may not be the play, since the future is unpredictable as hell sometimes, but for now... It seems to be working out in Avan's favor, not telling Angeal everything. Just knowing he saw that conversation between him and his mother is enough to have him flinch a little bit.

The rest is.... a lot. Yeah.

But for now, just hearing that response about his mother has him pulling away from the uneasy itch of being known, and he frowns instead. "Listen - fine, don't forgive her, but that's my mother you're talking about. I'm not going to pretend I know everything about her and that project-" After all, well, it's not like he ever had a chance to ask her ever again. "-but she's.... she was always a good woman for as long as I knew her."

Which is why it hurt so much to learn the truth, to learn what happened, but... it's why it's complicated as well.

[avanture_time]

"Mmm, even kind people are capable of cruel actions. That's one of humanity's more difficult truths."

That's... quite the weighty wisdom for a boy Avan's age! And it seems he's cognizant of the disconnect, as he follows it up with a nervous chuckle and scratches his cheek.

"But like I said, I don't have all the context! That's all the more reason for me to not go running my mouth about it!"

[firsteditionbfs]

That sure is some deep insight there! Maybe Avan should talk about it! Instead of being squirrely about it!

Maybe on another day, it's the sort of thing Angeal would take an interest in. However, today, well... Today, he's just a little too stress to do much more than take note of it in the back of his brain while he rubs a hand over his mouth.

"...Well. I appreciate it. Sure you'll be alright after that blast? Don't want to leave you in a lurch."

Sure, he has to take care of the damned thing first, but also that's no excuse. He can multitask, or at least come back if something is really off.