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!

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

⁂ Full Navigation ⁂

Comments

Erichthonios | FFXIV [CW: death]

[awesomegaolgreatjob]

1) Even now

It takes not but a moment to go out the side door and gather more dry wood for the fire. The snow has encroached significantly but not enough to reach the little overhand area he made for their spare logs. He's quietly proud of it as he lets himself out into the chilling air. He's aware of the danger, and he keeps a chain at the ready anyways.

Once he has a good sized bundle wrapped up in another chain, he turns to start for the door.

It takes not but a moment to get the wood, and for the nasty crawling predator to spot him. It waits until his hands are occupied, and he turns his back to strike. He does actually manage to wound one of it's legs, turning as he hears the rapid shuffling to send it whipping down on the Devourer's limb, but it's not enough. Soon enough he's limp on the frozen ground. At least he's under a covering for a mercy...

When he wakes again, he cringes at the too harsh light, squinting up at his would-be rescuer.

"Oh my... my head."

2) Am I dreaming again?

Whatever unfortunate soul is granted access to Erich's memories might expect to learn of his unusual childhood. Perhaps of his strained relationship with his father, or learning how to become a warder of Pandaemonium. Maybe even of his budding love for Themis.

There is some of that.

The strongest memory stands however, the most vivid.

A hand releases a memory crystal into the aether. A message most dire to set adrift to someone. Someone who can help, he hopes. From that, he turns, pausing to close his eyes. His final duty done. His walk down the now very empty halls of Pandaemonium save for the creations interred there. He is the last one.

The last warder. He breathes as he removes his shoes. His ritual of getting ready for bed. He hangs his mask on the wall above, then crawls under the covers. He knows, as he closes his eyes, the world is being torn asunder. He knows this will be his final sleep.

He tries to be brave.

Don't open your eyes. No matter what you hear, nor what you feel. Sleep does not find him. No... not before the nightmares do.

He keeps his eyes closed.

Even now

[aisandfyr]

Erich will find himself gently propped up by a woman even taller than he is. "Hey, are you alright?" she asks. "Let's get you inside, okay?"

[awesomegaolgreatjob]

"Uhhhgnn?" Erich once again, finds himself waking up to someone leaning over him. If he had a crystal for every time this happened... well he'd have two crystals but that's far too often for his liking and his pride.

"What?"

[aisandfyr]

"Inside, Erichthonios," Aisthota repeats gently, as she starts hauling Erich to his feet. He's a tall boy, but she's taller, so it should be fine. "Is Themis home? Do you know?"

[awesomegaolgreatjob]

He is hardly in a place to argue, and allows himself to be guided. How interesting. He doesn't quite recognize this person, but she sounds as though she likely knows Themis. Probably a friend of his.

"Nuh? No... I think he's out-" He pinches the bridge of his nose. Give him a moment. He's still quite out of sorts. "Who...?"

Am I dreaming again?

[abyssalflames]

Lahabrea knows some of the details of the Final Days. Of what happens and - thanks in part to Emet-Selch - the true cause of the Final Days. But none of those have involved Pandaemonium, though he knows well enough that it must have survived. Would have, at least, had to whether what he knew of the Final Days, lest the creatures interred there be loosed onto a world that had already been thrown into turmoil.

Nor is the safety of Pandaemonium something he would trust to anyone less than Erichthonios. He, of all people, has seen it at its worst and its best.

None of this prepares Lahabrea for what he sees. For knowing, seeing, that Erichthonios had been fully prepared to lay down his life for the sake of Pandaemonium's safety. To knowing that he almost certainly had been the last one to walk those halls, to ensure that the creatures remained locked away.

He tries, when the memory fades, to keep his expression neutral. He does not succeed even remotely, as he turns from the corpse of the intellect devourer to see if he can ascertain where Erichthonios is.

[awesomegaolgreatjob]

Erich arrives just on queue, rounding the corner and freezing, staring at his father with a mix of shock and concern. He scowls at the now deceased creature.

"Father?" He calls him that so much more often, now. "What happened? Is aught wrong? Are you injured?" He knows he shouldn't fuss, but he hurries to close the distance anyways, stopping just short.

The helpless look of 'what can I do?' paints his face. Though the initial examination at a glance sees no serious wounds on Lahabrea, and thank goodness for that. Still. He looks... off.

[abyssalflames]

"I am unharmed."

True, he'd not seemed injured even on a first glance. But it is no doubt a useful thing to hear, especially when he cannot quite hide the relief that flickers across his face at seeing Erichthonios safe and well.

Still, he does at least know that he is... not entirely his usual self, and if little else he knows that Erichthonios deserves an explanation for that. One that he does not mean to make wait any longer than necessary.

"However, I beheld a memory, on the moment of the creature's defeat. One of yours. The final moments of Pandaemonium, in the wake of the Final Days and that which followed."

[awesomegaolgreatjob]

The relief is short-lived, until Lahabrea simply states that he saw likely, one of Erich's most vulnerable moments.

He can feel his frame sag visibly, and his hands fall to his sides. Eye-contact is not in the cards right now, either.

"...Ah. I-" He isn't sure what he can even say for it. "I see. I'm sorry you had to witness that." After all, what man wants to see his son simply... give up and accept death? Well. Sundering, as it turns out, but tantamount to death, anyways.

[abyssalflames]

It is not a comforting thing to know, it's true. To know that while he might survive past that which follows the Final Days, Erichthonios will be forever lost. But there's still a bittersweetness to it. To knowing that, of all the people to whom he might have entrusted that duty he trusted no one else but his own son. Even should it have resulted in the memory he has just seen.

Still, though there's a nod at Erichthonios' apology, it's not that which Lahabrea addresses. Nor even the fact that it's not a memory he would have chosen to see, had he any sort of control over the moment.

"There is none other to whom I would have entrusted Pandaemonium, with the Final Days upon us. That I have seen this moment does not sway me from that choice. No matter the difficulty in seeing it. I am only sorry I could not see to your safety as well."

[awesomegaolgreatjob]

He doesn't really care to admit how much that means to him to hear. Earnest praise from Lahabrea was not a common thing and the man rarely ever says anything he doesn't absolutely mean.

"It's all right. We all had our duties to attend to, and from what I understand now, you were right where you needed to be." He doesn't quite fully understand the intention of Venat's design, nor her reasoning, but he does know that at the very least, the star was eventually saved thanks to Obsidian's efforts, and their own. In the most roundabout way possible, naturally.

[abyssalflames]

It's true that none other than he could like have conceived of Zodiark and forestalled the Final Days, even if in part. Nor can he deny that for all that he might have wished to assist in Pandaemonium, even after the quelling of the Final Days his efforts had often be required elsewhere. He had built Pandaemonium to be secure, after all. Something that could not have been said of many other places throughout the whole of Amaurot.

Still, even knowing that and what little he has been told of what awaits in his future doesn't make it any easier to bear the fact that he had very much left Erichthonios to deal with both the Final Days and the various things that had come in its wake on his own.

"So I have been informed."

He's not sure he likes the idea of needing to be somewhere other than with what few family he yet had, when the whole of their world was shattered. But he can at least accept the truth of it, unpleasant though it might be.