TRAVEL LOG #3: KIDNAPPED CHARACTERS ONLY

[synfluxmods]

THE CHOSEN

CONTENT WARNINGS: cult-like symbols and implications, abduction, cult-like brainwashing.

▶ CASTLE BRAN

The last thing you remember might be speaking to a friend, making merry with a stranger, or enjoying a quiet night against the backlight of the bonfire. Your memories between then and now are a blur—one moment you were in the village, and the next you are here, arising from your slumber and finding yourself in a lavish room with gothic and archaic decor. The windows of the castle are bolted shut so no light goes in and no soul escapes, but candles have been so kindly lit for the captured to find their way. If you can manage to unbolt a window and peek outside, all you will see is a dark fog, obscuring all light and thrusting the castle into an eternal night. The room is old, dark, and eerie, but clean, looking very much lived in and cared for. Within every room, the skull of a wolf has been carefully placed, almost like it oversees the inhabitants.

Welcome to the Castle Bran.

Outsiders, whom attendants within the castle will so reverently refer to as the ‘Chosen’, will find themselves waking up spread across the many rooms of the castle. All their belongings were left behind at the village, and they’ll find that they’ve been cleaned up and dressed carefully in fresh, white linen. Another thing they might notice immediately is that they have been completely stripped of all their powers and weapons, rendering them as strong as any other human.

They are free to roam the many rooms and hallways of the castle but they cannot go any deeper than the ground floor. The attendants of the castle, who appear to be villagers from the town, will follow them and try their best to tend to their every need, be it food, water or a fresh bath. Attempting to question the attendants is a fruitless endeavor: they sing praises of the Lord of the Forest but provide no other useful answers, always diverting the topic back to how wonderful their protector is and how blessed the Outsiders must be to have been chosen by him.

▶ HOSPITALITY TREATMENT

Chosen who try to break their way out of the castle will be hit with a psionic wave, forcing them into a state of calmness, placidity and contentment. They might even be treated to pleasant hallucinations or relive happy memories. There’s no reason to be afraid, after all. The Lord of the Forest will take care of you. Any attempt to hurt or kill the attendants will be met with no resistance from them, almost like they are content to accept their fate. They will then be replaced with another attendant right away, rendering the effort meaningless. The bodies of any dead attendants will be left there to rot until someone complains about it enough, at which point the corpse will be carted off to the dungeons.

At this point, escape seems futile. The dark fog surrounding the castle renders it virtually invisible to the outside world and communications between the Chosen and the Outsiders in the town have been cut off. It may feel like there's nothing you can do but sit pretty and await your fate ...

▶ WE SAVE OURSELVES

After days of strange dreams and curious findings, it seems that help will take some time to arrive. The Chosen will have to save themselves even without their powers. Based on some observations, they may infer that something is cloaking the castle and making it difficult for others to locate it. They have to find a way to disrupt whatever is keeping them hidden.

With each day, they may notice something about the wolf skulls that hang in each room. Every time they look at one, it will trigger their flight response as if they are prey facing off with a predator. Some may feel frightened, anxious, hopeless, or submissive until the skull is out of their sight.

If they can push through those feelings and draw out their fight instinct, they can take the skulls and destroy them. After destroying a skull, a wave of energy will come from it. The energy will give them brief headaches, vertigo, and a short bout of irritability and impulsiveness. Some characters may recognize the feeling as Rift poisoning.

Each time they destroy a skull, the character will receive a microdose of Rift poisoning. Without their LILITH suits to protect them, they can experience extreme poisoning which results in flu like symptoms, mental and physical fatigue, and hallucinations which will make them more vulnerable to the psionic waves. However, with each skull destroyed, the fog around the castle begins to lift ever so slightly. After the air has cleared, the rooms feel safer and less oppressive, making them the perfect place to rest and recover. Unfortunately, if the servants notice, they may replace the destroyed skull with a new one.

▶ AFTERWORD.

Chosen characters may use this log to interact with each other and investigate the situation. It is HIGHLY encouraged to collaborate with other characters and share the clues you have been given.

Everyone who is kidnapped will have their ocular implants turned off, thus rendering communications between Chosen characters and characters who were not captured impossible, and any sort of location tracking will not function. However, certain characters will be given the opportunity to send a short message to the rest of the Outsiders. Players may use this post to have IC discussions about what information they want to provide to the rest of the team. If sending out a message, please submit your message by 11:59 PM GMT on the 10th of October so that mods may post it on the network.

Furthermore, characters can destroy skulls to slowly lift the fog around the castle. The number of skulls they will need to destroy is not specified, but it will lift during the next log.

The purpose of this log is for investigation and collaboration. We understand that players are excited to have terrible things happen to their characters. You can expect that information to be given on the 15th. Timeline-wise, characters will be kidnapped late at night on the 7th and then be freed around the 15th.

EVENT BREAKDOWN/RECAP (CLICK TO EXPAND)

1. CASTLE BRAN: Some Outsiders will awaken to find themselves in a mysterious castle and referred to as 'Chosen' by the castle servants. They are stripped of their belongings and powers, and have been freshly bathed and dressed. They are allowed to wander the castle but cannot leave or go further than the ground floor.

2. HOSPITALITY TREATMENT: Outsiders who try to leave will be hit by a psionic wave that leaves them feeling placid and happy, and may even cause them to hallucinate pleasant events or relive happy memories. Since there is a heavy fog around the castle and communications are cut off, there appears to be no method of escape.

3. WE SAVE OURSELVES: After several days, Outsiders may begin to infer that there is something cloaking the castle and preventing it from being discovered. The source is a multitude of wolf skulls hung up around the castle. Though the skulls induce fear and hopelessness in anyone who looks at it, destroying the skull will cause the fog around the castle to slowly lift. Outsiders who destroy skulls will suffer the effects of Rift poisoning.

code

Comments

[coordination]

[ He is sick and mad and not in the mood for this level of tomfoolery. Even with the fever hitting him, he's still a Coordinator, so he wrenches himself free of Kaga and whirls on her, face redder now from frustration. ]

Don't touch me! And stop fucking around with the crude remarks!

[harboredfeelings]

[ It's all fun and games until a robot pilot from the future begins thinking in archaic terms even a manifestation of a 1940s ship wouldn't use. Tomfoolery...

Anyway Kaga sighs, resting her hands on her hips, her amused expression gone. If he wants to be serious she'll be serious.]

Fair enough, Captain. We still need to get your temperature down before youe brain boils. You've got a serious fever.

[coordination]

[ Yzak always wants to be serious. He's mister serious business.

Once she lays off, he ... calms down the slightest bit, at least. ]

I shouldn't just get a fever though...! So something has to be ... going on here, just like whatever enchantment they have around this place to keep us in.

[harboredfeelings]

[ A more calm and semi-reasonable Yzak she can work with. She spares a moment to flag down one of the Very Annoyingly Brainwashed but Somewhat Useful servants. ]

You. I need fresh water and a cloth to that room. Now.

[ The tone of command is entirely unnecessary but old habits die hard. The brainwashed peon smiles and nods much to Kaga's obvious distaste. Once they hurry off she gestures to the door of one of the rooms the Outsiders have been huddling up in. ]

It's likely related to what's effecting my powers. If they can block my magic and Rigging it's almost tame that they can mess with your immune system. Come along now Captain, let's get you taken care of.

[coordination]

My immune system is supposed to be a lot better than the average human! So why the hell is nobody else acting this way!? [ Speaking of old habits dying hard, the way Yzak speaks sometimes of himself as a Coordinator in comparison to a Natural can still be, well, not so tactful. Even if the particular sharpness and hatred of his past prejudices aren't there anymore.

He says, and does, nothing to 'come alone', but he does squint at Kaga. ]

Aircraft carrier, rigging ... what the hell are you on about?

[harboredfeelings]

No idea. Some of the others have been having strange problems, maybe you're just lucky. Or it's magic, although not any kind I'm familiar with.

[ She sighs and crosses her arms (not going to be able to do that in the future!), even taps her foot impatiently. Really, really need to get on writing up that primer on kansen. ]

I'm a kansen, we're made from the memory and soul of warships. My rigging are the parts of my ship side that allow me access to its equipment and abilities. I can't access it right now, so I'm effectively human. I'd assume something similar has been done to you.

[coordination]

[ Yzak just frowns deeper, not pleased by hearing those theories. Nothing about this FEELS lucky, and he still feels ... well, himself - still like a Coordinator. So magic ... yes, magic is still what he's going to keep telling himself because it's the least embarrassing. At least magic is an entity he knows doesn't exist in his world, so an argument could be made for that affecting him.

He looks her over, as if expecting to see something he hadn't before after she explains that. She did say she can't access it right now, though ... whatever 'it' is supposed to look that.

But, one interesting thing she said catches him. ]

Warships ... from memories, you say? How does that work?

And what do you mean by soul?

[harboredfeelings]

You wouldn't let me get away with saying "it's magic" and leaving it at that, would you?

[ Yeah that just solidifies it. First thing she's doing when they get back is writing up an entire info-dump on kansen for her allies so she doesn't have to constantly explain this. She certainly will be in a good place physically and mentally to do so and not in the middle of being hallucinating vampiric fox with possibly developing DID. ]

Ships are special, people name them, they personify them, and they enshrine them in legends, this collection of things essentially forms a soul. We have a technology in my world called wisdom cubes. When they're activated alongside relics of a ship they absorb the collective memory of humanity and combine it with that soul to form a kansen.

[ She pauses for a moment to consider this. Is there an easier way to phrase it? Hmm... no, not really. She gives up with a shrug. ]

Or something like that. It just works, I'm a shipgirl, there's hundreds of others. Any vessel humans named has the potential to form a kansen. [ Like the pirate ship girls in Tempesta! Although they're a lot more... tentacley than the rest of the kansen. Also possibly ghosts. ]

[coordination]

That...

[ Maybe his fever IS cooking his brain? IT SURE FEELS LIKE IT, AFTER HEARING THAT. ]

... is one of the weirdest fucking explanations I've heard here. And I've come across a lot of things that are pretty unbelievable where I'm from!

[ He understands what Kaga explains, though, odd as it is. ]

Why was technology like that made? Are you guys just born from those memories to be weapons again in some new conflict?

[harboredfeelings]

The wisdom cubes? No idea. Pretty sure they just found them in the Northern Parliament's territory, someplace called Tunguska? It's all mostly classified, doesn't really matter either. [ They were the straight up cause of the Tunguska event in her world. Fun stuff! ]

Of course we're made to be weapons, why else? My world's being invaded by beings called Sirens, us kansen were made to fight protect humanity and fight them off. We've been doing a good job of it too.

[coordination]

Tunguska...?

[ ... ]

I know that place. Or rather, I think I know what you're talking about. [ Only it's the normal history and not the cute shipgirl AU timeline one!

And maybe it's because she's indulging him now because he keeps asking questions, but he'll thank her for it by being slightly less of a stubborn fuckhead and actually head towards his room. ]

So you all fight ... on the same side? You kansen.

That sort of answers my next question.

[harboredfeelings]

[ Mission halfway accomplished! Kaga doesn't let her relief show as she follows him to said room, she's too busy looking guilty over his questioning while she opens the door and holds it for him. ]

Currently...? Yes. The Azur Lane and the Crimson Axis don't always see eye to eye, there's been conflict between both sides before. [ She rubs the back of her neck awkwardly. ] Things have settled down a lot in the Atlantic since Bismarck came back, as for the Pacific...

[ Well the entire reason she DIED was to try and break her sister out of a completely crazy downward spiral that was going to see the war flare back up between the Empire and the Eagle Union so if all went according to plan... ]

Should be calming down there too. War will be over by Christmas. [ That's a joke. A very grim joke. The war is never over by Christmas, doesn't matter which war. ]

[coordination]

Well, my next question was going to be about what exactly forms you. The memories and feelings of your crew? What history's written of you? Both would have their own biases, especially since as the saying goes, history is written by the victors. And I'm sure there are many who've done atrocious things with the twisted but very real-to-them belief that their battleship was some noble weapon of peace when it was the opposite. Does that have bearing on your sense of self or how you view 'enemy' ships?

[harboredfeelings]

[ ...]

...

[ Wow he talks a lot. ]

You ask a lot of questions.

[ Where does she even begin with that! Half of those questions aren't even ones she can answer, she may not even know the answers herself. She's at least not going to bullshit him. ]

It's complicated. [ A shrug. ] The wisdom cubes form us, something about writing the information stored in the relics, and our history is...

[ A pause.

Here's the the thing about the history in her world, it's messed up. There's at least two time-travel paradoxes at play and while the kansen know they're made from ships from an old war they're also in a timeline where that war didn't happen. Nobody questions this! They all just seem to accept it and move on! ]

Look, Captain, I'm a kansen. Whatever ships were built for is irrelevant, kansen were made to end the need for war and protect humanity from Sirens. [ With mixed results all around. ] I am my own person, any of us are, and I'm also a soldier. The only thing that effects how I view other kansen is if we're in conflict or not, history be damned. The only victory that really matters to us is final victory against the Sirens.

[ That is a lie. She has a huge grudge against Enterprise owing half to "I need to fight the strongest person" blood knightnness but the other half is she's baring a grudge from her "first life". That may or may not have actually happened. ]

[coordination]

You don't learn things if you don't ask questions. [ A quick, simple reply, because he's, at his core, a straightforward and honest sort of person.

He lets out an exhale as they wander down the hallway where the Outsiders are staying. He listens, even if his brain still feels foggy and heavy from this fever. ]

I'm just asking. Because I wonder what the ships I've been on and commanded myself would be like, based on those things. [ The ones that still exist and the ones that have been destroyed. What sort of things would his own experiences and thoughts put into them? When he was such a different person on the Vesalius compared to the Voltaire and now the Eternal. ]