synfluxmods: (Default)
๐š‚๐šข๐š—๐š๐š•๐šž๐šก ๐™ผ๐š˜๐š๐šœ ([personal profile] synfluxmods) wrote in [community profile] synflux2024-09-28 12:07 pm

TRAVEL LOG #3: KIDNAPPED CHARACTERS ONLY

THE CHOSEN


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

โ–ถ 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 โ€˜Chosenโ€™, will find themselves waking up spread across the many rooms of the castle. All their belongings were left behind at the village, and theyโ€™ll find that theyโ€™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.

โ–ถ 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. Thereโ€™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 ...

โ–ถ 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.

โ–ถ 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.
harboredfeelings: (31)

cw more murder SORRY....

[personal profile] harboredfeelings 2024-10-12 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ Over the years Kaga's heard the whispers from her allies. That she's different when it comes to a fight, once blood starts spilling she becomes a demon obsessed with causing as much death and destruction as possible. It's nonsense of course! She enjoys a good fight, sure, but she's no different from usual in the midst of one! Just because she's good at it and enjoys what she does doesn't make her some kind of mad woman!

So when Dan Heng insinuates there's something wrong with her that pisses her off. Absently she thinks about how maybe his blood should be mingling with the damn enemy's on the floor...

she is very normal. And very much stepping up to him and poking him hard in the chest despite his grim burden. ]


What's wrong with you?! Why are you making excuses for these people, why are you more concerned for them than the rest of our group? I swear even if this is just a bleeding heart, you put the others at risk I'll make sure you join these people that you love so mu-

"Is everything alright over here?"

[ Kaga moves in a flash. Yanking the knife out of the dead woman's skull, turning on her heel, and whipping the blade forward as easily as she would one of her paper shikigami. Unbalanced as it is for throwing it still strikes true, lodging itself deep into the eye socket of the unfortunate male attendant that was attracted by all the noise. The man lets out a gurgle and goes down like a puppet with cut strings.

Kaga for her part just kind of stares in shock. That was... a pretty good throw, actually. But also an accident??? The man shouldn't have snuck up on them like that! ]


Look what you made me do now. [ She spares a glare over her shoulder at Dan Heng before approaching the body. Giving it a rough kick to make sure it doesn't twitch. It doesn't, she seems satisfied with that and bends down to once more retrieve the busy little table knife. ] If you hadn't been screaming your head off over nothing there'd only be one body to get rid of, now there's two. You want to keep preaching and try to lure in number three?
Edited (better wording) 2024-10-12 08:53 (UTC)
lunarchivist: (Alarm)

CW panic attack/PTSD flashbacks

[personal profile] lunarchivist 2024-10-13 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
[Mmmmyes this is all very normal behavior for a normal well adjusted individual...

Speaking of normal behavior. Dan Heng has to inexplicably force down the urge to bite the finger that jabs at his chest. He's broken a few wolf skulls, he knows that's just the irritability. Still. A low growl accompanies his words, which are otherwise cold and measured, strained like a barely held back storm.
]

I am not more concerned for them than our people. I assure you our team is my first priority. However, we were dispatched to help people. Not cause more violence and bloodshed- what if killing the servants inspires them to act earlier? What if needlessly killing them puts us more at risk? What if it incites the wrath of their aeo- guardian? Did you think of th-

[Dan Heng does jump a little when another enters the scene, but Kaga is faster, almost insanely so. One moment, the man is asking if they need assistance, and the next he lies dead on the floor, a knife jutting out of his eye. ]

W-What...

[He doesn't return Kaga's glare, just staring wide eyed, his mind trying to catch up with what just happened. 'Look what you made me do.' If you just paid the price, so many wouldn't have had to die. She kicks the corpse he stomps on the hand reaching out, begging for mercy.]

S-Stop.

[His voice is just barely above a whisper. She says he was screaming. Was he...? Did he really cause this? Sinner. Coward. Fool. This is all because of you, you know that? He shakes his head, unsure if he's seeing a woman in blue and white or a man in black and red standing over the corpse, past memories and rift sickness buzzing through his mind, making it hard to think through the shock.] I-I won't. Just...stop. Stop, please.

[The weight in his arms is heavy. It's that weight that keeps him in place...otherwise he would have stumbled away, would have run. Like he always does. Instead he stands rooted in place, unable to look away from the second corpse.]
harboredfeelings: (29)

[personal profile] harboredfeelings 2024-10-14 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ Kaga's a little busy leaning down to check the dead man's pulse, there isn't one, and retrieve the knife, it's stuck. After a few good tugs she gives up, sighs, and stands, turning to Dan Heng and... oh, that's not good.

The well meaning idealist is having a moment to stare off into space and go someplace else entirely. Given life from the memories and thoughts of humans in relation to a warship as she is Kaga's not completely senseless, she can tell a bad flashback when she sees one. On a scale of one to ten Dan Heng's looks to be about an eight going on ten and a half. ]


Honestly, now's a bad time for this...

[ She shakes her head and approaches him. Her tone goes more gentle at least. Aggressive as the rift poisoning may make her, an ally in trouble is something she can't ignore. ]

Deep breathes, try to remember where you are.
lunarchivist: (Brooding 3)

[personal profile] lunarchivist 2024-10-28 07:27 am (UTC)(link)
[Ew. If Dan Heng was aware enough to notice the knife getting stuck, he might have very well lost his lunch. Small mercy he doesn't...

He does notice the figure approaching, and Dan Heng flinches away, but...no blade raised toward him. Toward the literal dead weight in his arms--

'Deep breaths, try to remember where you are.'
]

Where I-? I don't-- this keeps h-happening I-you don't-n-need to-- [Which scene is this? He doesn't recognize it. Deep breaths. Deep...breaths? But there's so little air-

Still he tries, inhaling and exhaling stuttering, shaky breaths. It smells like blood. So much blood. He blinks at the figure of blue and white in front of him...red....but...Jingliu wasn't hunting him. And this is not Blade. It's...
] Miss...Kaga...? W-What... [He was...seeing something else. Oh. Oh it's happened again. Well. That's embarrassing. Doesn't help the panic though, so he tries not to focus on the embarrassment, just...breathing.] I-I apologize. I know th-this is not- not a g-good time or p-place...