pillz: (Default)
joseph kavinsky ([personal profile] pillz) wrote in [community profile] thisavrou_log2017-07-09 01:05 pm

The Demon Plot: DEATH OF GRINDING MADNESS [July Player Event]

Who: Ensemble production, all individuals who opted in to the plot
When: July 9-21
Where: Two inhabited planets around the Ingress
What: The demon plot kicks off, in which malevolent shadow beings, copies of existing characters, begin to materialize and harass the PCs across the worlds. Plotting post is here, and a network post will go up within the next 2 days from several PCs advising on how to end the plot.
Warnings: Violence, psychological themes, possibly past trauma, etc.


Death of Grinding Madness
The Demon Plot
(mild spoilers for The Raven Cycle)

On July 9, a demon begins to make its way through the Ingress, summoned through by a shitty teenager.


July 9-12
Harrying
It's innocuous in the beginning. A movement in the corner of your eye, a shadow through a curtain-- merely a tree. But then the shadow figures begin to emerge into full being. Black-eyed wraiths that look like enemies, friends with whom you've had past conflict, or even you yourself. At first, it's merely harrying, minor harassment. Threatening gestures, broken gestures, jump scares.

Pursue them, and they disappear-- you might even catch a glimpse of how. They melt down into black slime, racing away across floors, through sewer grates, up walls, impossible to follow. By now, the worst of the climate freeze is over, but residual ice does pose a needles extra obstacle.


July 12-15
The Violence Escalates
In the days that follow, the situation only gets worse.

Sporadic harassment turns into outright attacks. The targeting is unmistakable. The shadow beings who can speak tell cruel tales of animosity, spite, even hatred. They are as deadly with their hands or strange powers as their doppelgangers are, and worse, they're functionally indestructible. Rip off one's head and it merely reforms out of sticky black ink. Limbs regenerate just as easily. The being might dispell for a few hours, but no doubt— it'll be back, if not to hurt you then someone you know.

The Savrii begin to notice. It's hard not to. While there is hardly an epidemic of panic, the disruptions are hard to miss-- broken windows, screams, random violence. Soon, the authorities begin to open safehouse facilities at which characters can seek shelter.


July 15-18
The Golem
On July 17, something horrific begins to happen— several shadow beings merge to form a massive golem in Kauto R1. It is a grotesque, horrifying spectacle, of limbs and eyes and pulsating flesh. It reaches almost sixty feet in height. Combined together, this shadow creature is considerably less intelligent than the individual beings were. However, it is also immensely strong and regenerates just like the smaller ones did.

Within the mall, hundreds of daytime shoppers are trapped within. Luckily, they have food and climate control. Perhaps you're one of them-- or perhaps you're trying to get in to provide medical care.

In the meantime, the attacks from the individual shadow beings don't stop. Despite the intelligence exhibited by some, all of them seem mindlessly bent on tormenting their targets until they are killed.


July 18-21
The Sacrifice
On the 9th day, a network post goes up (link pending, will be OOCly forward-dated to July 10th latest) revealing how to remove the invincibility of the attackers.

And by the 21st, the remaining beings utterly vanish without explanation— unless you happen to bear witness to the events that take place at St. Monmouth.



[personal profile] pidge_out 2017-07-28 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
[Pidge nods, trying to look less worried or concerned, and more... determined. The expression she ends up with still lands solidly in the middle of the two.]

You'll be the first, princess.

[She hesitates before doing anything else, chewing on her lip a bit. And then her eyes return to meet Allura's.]

And if you hear from anyone else, or- or if anybody comes into the house, contact me right away. Okay? We don't know if it can shapeshift into anyone else.
patchricide: (I'M FINE.)

[personal profile] patchricide 2017-07-28 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
Anybody?

[And that thought is enough -- Allura looks even more nervous than she did a minute ago. Without a moment of hesitation, she grabs the nearest thing she could point threateningly at someone. Which is... an umbrella?]

Right. [She keeps talking as she finds a cozy spot behind a piece of furniture.] I'll keep out of sight for now, then. I wouldn't want to get spooked and hit one of the real ones by mistake.

If it does come back here, will it be hard to tell the difference?
pidge_out: (what happened out there)

[personal profile] pidge_out 2017-07-29 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[Under normal circumstances, the fact that Allura's equipped herself with an umbrella of all things would be kind of funny. Right now? Pidge will take what she can get.]

They might be wearing sunglasses or something to cover their eyes. For some reason their eyes are just... black. Like, all black.
patchricide: (95)

[personal profile] patchricide 2017-07-30 05:46 am (UTC)(link)
That might be unusual for a human, but... those eyes could match to any one of a number of alien races. Mimicry, on the other hand, is a harder thing to place...

[But she doesn't elaborate any further. Mostly because it doesn't really matter. They can figure out what's happening as soon as they catch this doppelganger.]

All right then. I will keep an eye on the, erm, eyes. [And debates trying to match her skin to the wall. If he's wearing sunglasses indoors, he might not be able to see well.]
pidge_out: (let me explain)

[personal profile] pidge_out 2017-07-30 05:51 am (UTC)(link)
[Pidge shakes her head a little, frowning.] At the very least you'll know if it's not one of us. As for anyone else... it'll just feel weird. They'll probably say stuff to you that just doesn't sound right.

[Unconsciously Pidge's free hand moves up to touch her throat... But then she seems to catch herself and drops the hand again.] Just- be careful, okay? And send out an alert if anything weird happens.
patchricide: (72)

[personal profile] patchricide 2017-07-30 06:18 am (UTC)(link)
Of course. The same goes for you.

[If the circumstances were different, Allura wouldn't have wanted to split up like this at all. And surely, Pidge would have preferred to be having this conversation in person, right? It's safer in numbers.]

[But the fact of the matter is that someone had to stay behind in case they came back, and someone had to head out in case they didn't. Besides, either one of them should be able to handle themselves if they did get cornered... right?]

[Best not to think too hard on that one.]


What if it is one of the other paladins? Do you think you'll need support?
pidge_out: (forgive me?)

[personal profile] pidge_out 2017-07-31 05:06 am (UTC)(link)
[To be honest, Pidge is in total agreement with Allura. She'd turn back and wait for everyone to come back to the house if that were an option. But it's not. This is the plan that they have, and they need to stick to it.

She's frowning at the princess's question, though. She's hesitated maybe a bit too long to instill stronger confidence in Allura, but honestly... Pidge isn't sure.]


I... should be fine. But I'll send an alert if I need back up.
patchricide: (Should have listened to the space GPS.)

[personal profile] patchricide 2017-08-01 12:05 am (UTC)(link)
Right. If not, I could send them out to cover more ground. But to be frank, if this thing fights like Shiro, working in teams is the safer option.

[She doesn't really have the ship's holographic displays to help her. So, y'know, she's drawing lines with her fingers on the back of the furniture. She redraws a map of the surrounding area from memory.]

[If Pidge went this way, then there's still this entire area that's not being checked... and depending on whether Pidge turned left or right here...]


Sorry to continue bothering you, but where are you right now?
pidge_out: (that's odd...)

[personal profile] pidge_out 2017-08-02 05:57 am (UTC)(link)
[She frowns a little. Working in teams is the safer option. Allura's absolutely right.] I know. But we don't really have much of a choice right now.

[Pidge keeps moving though, eyes peeled as she hurries down the street, pausing every few seconds to check if her computer has managed to pick up on anyone's TAB signals. Nothing yet.

And at Allura's question, Pidge raises her TAB so that the camera can get a look at her current surroundings, rattling off the closest street intersection. Once that's done, she looks back at the TAB with one eyebrow raised.]
Why? What're you checking?
patchricide: (38)

thought I replied to this! whoops.

[personal profile] patchricide 2017-08-04 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
The ground you've covered. In case you don't find him soon, I can start plotting out the next best route to check. It would be far easier if I had the ship's mapping system, but I should be able to make a good guess, at least.

[And that way, Pidge can focus on the search itself.]

[It's actually a reasonably good map that she's drawing, considering the medium. Not enough to get into the cartography business, but all the streets seem to be going at the right angles, at least.]
pidge_out: (what happened out there)

asldkmacl SO DID I lollll i'm doin' great over here

[personal profile] pidge_out 2017-08-06 07:49 am (UTC)(link)
[Pidge nods in understanding, turning her eyes away from the TAB to survey her surroundings again.]

You've probably got a better map figured out than I do down here and being in it. Where would you suggest I go from here?
patchricide: (Should have listened to the space GPS.)

we are the strongest members of team voltron

[personal profile] patchricide 2017-08-06 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Let's see. Left at this fork should eventually take you to a large bridge. From there, you should be able to see halfway across the city, and all the way to the perimeter.

You won't be able to see well, but given our two friends, they shouldn't be hard to spot from a distance. Especially if they're using their respective abilities.

[Like Shiro's nightlight hand, or Darin's casual destruction of private property. Also, any large unusual buildings like a coliseum would be easy to spot, but neither of them know about that detail yet.]

After that, keep following the street. It keeps leading uphill. That's only the first of several points where you'll be able to survey.

go us~!!!

[personal profile] pidge_out 2017-08-08 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
[Pidge nods once.] Got it.

[And then she's off to follow Allura's suggestions, quickly moving into a full out run. They don't know how much time they have, after all. Every second at this point is precious. She doesn't talk much once she's on the move, saving her breath for the strain on her muscles, for the possibility that she might need to yell out the names of her friends. Her TAB is still on video mode, despite the fact that the constant motion might just make Allura feel nauseas; it feels more important that there be more eyes available to scan the surroundings.

She doesn't stop until she gets to the first good survey point, moving to the edge of the path so she can look out over the cityscape. Since the TAB is still on, she raises it up so Allura can see as well.]


I feel like... [She stops to gulp down some air.] I should be able to- to see something blow up...
patchricide: (Don't tell me it's another illusion)

[personal profile] patchricide 2017-08-08 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
[Considering how much time Allura has spent on the ship, it's pretty safe to guess that she's not all that vulnerable to motion sickness.]

[And this is incredibly convenient in its own way. More eyes can only help, right? She peers at the tab screen...]


Wait, what is that?

[Out of reflex, she gestures to focus on a spot and enhance -- ah, right. This isn't the ship. There's only so much she can do with the visual, here. On the other hand...]

Pidge, can you confirm what I'm seeing? Over near the edge of the region. I hesitate to call it out of place -- [since this is the timey-wimey mismatch region, after all] -- but I don't think that large structure was there before?

['Large' is a good word for the arena. Too large to have been built up overnight. It reeks of supernatural activity.]