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

[pillz]

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.

Comments

covered in traces of flammable alcohol

[squadgoals]

[There's a skid in her slide as she turns, gritting her teeth, watching the room burn. The automatic fire system screams into action, high-pitched alarm blaring, auto-targeting the smoking areas with sprays of fire-retardant chemicals. But it seems as if every time one flame is extinguished, two others crops up, whistling through the furnishings.]

You're not Lavellan. I don't have any qualms about dealing with a face-stealing impersonator attempting to burn my apartment down!

[The blue eezo flames wreath her form — and suddenly, she's slamming in to the elf with all the force of a wrecking ball, a crack of displaced air and ozone filling out the sound of crackling flames.]

[lavelly]

[This time, it doesn't dissipate at the contact. In fact, she manages to careen them fully into the wall and it even stays there, pinned, its features twisted into an approximation of disdain.]

Aww. You do care. But I didn't steal anyone's face, Commander. So what are you going to do now? Beat me to death?

[squadgoals]

[Death was out of the question, but delay could work. Enough to stop him from lighting the rest of her quarters aflame.]

Just a little light bruising.

[With little warning, a right hook comes smashing into the side of the shadow's head. Surprise. It chipped away at reaction — at least for a little while.]

[lavelly]

[It makes a show, at least, of the blow striking true. It reels, stumbles a little. Doesn't strike back, at the very least.

But in the end it isn't flesh and blood, and something like this can only hurt it as much as it chooses to allow.]

Ouch.

[It straightens up, as if Shepard hadn't even touched it. And then, apparently, it decides it's done playing around.

The flames it's already set around the apartment begin to circle, despite the spray of water, beginning to form a vortex with the shadow at the center; as they move they begin to grow in size and intensity until they begin to coalesce into what starts to look like a small tornado of fire.

Apparently, it's decided it's simply going to burn Shepard's apartment to the ground.]

[squadgoals]

[Shit.

So much for talking, monologues or otherwise. Now, it was just time to move. With a grunt of effort, she succeeds in uplifting, and then swinging the solid steel-like coffee table through the air — designed to look like a blow towards Lavellan.

Instead, it slices past him, whether he moves or not.

Behind his back, there's the gritty reverb of spidering, cracking pseudoglass.]