Entry tags:
graveyard
Graveyard
the town
Welcome to Deda
So, you're dead. Sucks!
Except you might not feel dead—after what feels like a long brush with dreamless sleep, you wake up in a quaint hole: a coffin in an uncovered grave, blanketed in fog. Entombed with you are any personal items (unless they're trial evidence, sorry), and a strange feeling of... lightness? Whatever corruption was in your blood seems to have cleared away with your death, and your injuries are healed, besides any cool scars and lingering aches.
Once you make your way out, a quiet, verdant graveyard (literal) awaits you. You could take a look around the various locations, but the same fog that greeted you surrounds this place, keeping you from venturing too far outside of the town limits.
Still, you may as well get yourself situated. You're not done yet.
Except you might not feel dead—after what feels like a long brush with dreamless sleep, you wake up in a quaint hole: a coffin in an uncovered grave, blanketed in fog. Entombed with you are any personal items (unless they're trial evidence, sorry), and a strange feeling of... lightness? Whatever corruption was in your blood seems to have cleared away with your death, and your injuries are healed, besides any cool scars and lingering aches.
Once you make your way out, a quiet, verdant graveyard (literal) awaits you. You could take a look around the various locations, but the same fog that greeted you surrounds this place, keeping you from venturing too far outside of the town limits.
Still, you may as well get yourself situated. You're not done yet.
Welcome to the graveyard! Here's a quick primer:
You are dead. However, characters are healed of their critical injuries; they may keep any scars or lingering pains that you like. Additionally, they are no longer corrupted. The monstrous force inside you has subsided; this means characters will no longer have powers, etc.
● Setting ● The graveyard has the overall look and feel of a small New England town from the '90s; characters can travel any of the Graveyard Locations, fenced in by fog and forests. But the fog makes this place otherworldly, and strangely permeable. Maybe you can influence your surroundings?
● Living Watch ● Where there are screens, you can view the living side. This includes televisions at the bar, Heaven's Night, and in the apartment lobby—you may even spot a passing glimpse of them in a mirror or glass of water. Only public gatherings like mingles, trial, etc, can be seen and heard this way.
● Items ● Personal inventory transfers over to the graveyard, including items that may be stolen during trial. The only items that stay on the living side are ones that are voluntarily given away. Thursday victims will receive their items in their rooms on Sunday, after Execution. Those who arrive any other day will have their items in their grave with them.
● Injuries and Death ● Characters can still be injured and die here. While characters do not stay dead, please let the mods know if it does happen, so we can inform you of how it works.
● Audiences ● You can audience Death in person, but none of the other NPCs are currently available. You can ignore the note section and go to the apartment penthouse directly to visit, or meet him wherever.
● Effects and Events ● Weekly effects still hit the graveyard, and you may use items on the living unless otherwise noted. Mini-events will go up at the same time as their living counterparts. CYOAs are still available for our sweet deda.
● OOC Notes ● Alluding to the fact that the graveyard exists OOCly is okay, but please keep details of what it looks like, what happens here, plot, et cetera, to yourselves. Feel free to ask the mods if you're not sure about anything!
You are dead. However, characters are healed of their critical injuries; they may keep any scars or lingering pains that you like. Additionally, they are no longer corrupted. The monstrous force inside you has subsided; this means characters will no longer have powers, etc.
● Setting ● The graveyard has the overall look and feel of a small New England town from the '90s; characters can travel any of the Graveyard Locations, fenced in by fog and forests. But the fog makes this place otherworldly, and strangely permeable. Maybe you can influence your surroundings?
● Living Watch ● Where there are screens, you can view the living side. This includes televisions at the bar, Heaven's Night, and in the apartment lobby—you may even spot a passing glimpse of them in a mirror or glass of water. Only public gatherings like mingles, trial, etc, can be seen and heard this way.
● Items ● Personal inventory transfers over to the graveyard, including items that may be stolen during trial. The only items that stay on the living side are ones that are voluntarily given away. Thursday victims will receive their items in their rooms on Sunday, after Execution. Those who arrive any other day will have their items in their grave with them.
● Injuries and Death ● Characters can still be injured and die here. While characters do not stay dead, please let the mods know if it does happen, so we can inform you of how it works.
● Audiences ● You can audience Death in person, but none of the other NPCs are currently available. You can ignore the note section and go to the apartment penthouse directly to visit, or meet him wherever.
● Effects and Events ● Weekly effects still hit the graveyard, and you may use items on the living unless otherwise noted. Mini-events will go up at the same time as their living counterparts. CYOAs are still available for our sweet deda.
● OOC Notes ● Alluding to the fact that the graveyard exists OOCly is okay, but please keep details of what it looks like, what happens here, plot, et cetera, to yourselves. Feel free to ask the mods if you're not sure about anything!
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no subject
Kate...?
[ can't be, though, it's too foul and menacing to be anything like kate, also he doesn't know if kate has teeth. but what if it's her second cousin twice removed or something, he might feel a little bad smashing its head open like a pumpkin.
so when he reaches back, erin won't find his hand in hers. instead, there's a candle, and the lighter. ]
no subject
it demonstrates this by suddenly surging forward, no longer constricted to the ground when it lunges at karma; its body is putrid, skinless, dark not with shadow but with gangrene and burns. the figure shrieks as it attacks him, its body ready to burn in that cursed way that everything else does—its teeth gnash and bite into whatever bit of flesh it can reach.
it has the energy of something purely evil. it is the malice of someone who has died and whose humanity has long been burned away. it might look a tiny bit like ishtar's remains, but the resemblance is so far gone from anything human. his medallion breaks in his pocket, unable to fend off this threat any longer.
erin has crawled into the hole, but it's not too late to intervene. is she going to go back for him? this is the real karma. he's left her something important, actually. the candle has a very similar energy to the medallions, even if it isn't activated yet. ]
no subject
Okay, okay, I hold the candle.
[She says with a sigh, lighting it up when she received the candle and the lighter. Erin had barely done so when she hears Karma ask something about Kate aloud, following by gnashing of teeth! That's more than enough to make her hurry to the opening.
Her immediate reaction upon seeing Karma being attacked by this? To shove the candle towards Ishtar's maybe-remains, flame first, while at the same time grabbing Karma and pulling from him. It was all done without thinking -- she hadn't even fully understood what she was looking at before she reacted with the immediate instinctual move of wanting that thing far away from herself and Karma!
It's rather lucky the candle has a similar energy to the medallions, really. With how fast she reacted she probably didn't have time to consider that. It was a fortunate move from her, to do this]
no subject
Run!
[ He nearly runs into Erin, trying to get them both moving again. the table leg in his hand slams against the wall, splintering, futility meeting desperation and both failing to collapse the hole behind them. ]
no subject
but the hole itself is actually not very long, now that they're both in it. or... maybe it is? it's hard to say how long they're scrambling for. but it's certainly safer than where they just were; while the candle burns quite quickly, compared to the average stick, it still lasts them through the entire journey through the hole.
when they emerge from it, they are at... a village. a familiar-looking one. it's the wall of the theater, back in scawwy. or at least—it looks that way? though the sun is a little brighter, and the fog is absent. it looks like a normal little village, when the sky is blue and birds titter about. ]
no subject
Did that thing mess you up? Any damage beyond the obvious?
[At broad daylight, Erin seems, well, pretty burned. Her shoulder is really affected,and the hand with which she wiped goop off is stiff and so tense and tender it's like a really bad sunburn. That's going to sting for days. She's coping purely thanks to adrenaline. Really dampens the pain that'll hit her like a truck once she can rest!]
Since going back is no option...where to now, Karma?
[Trying to get to the outer boundaries of the village is appealing but...also dangerous, given she has no trust even though it's all looking more normal than before]
no subject
[ It's like before, with the Karma at the door. The one that stands next to Erin now has his arm around his torso, the blood difficult to see with its black on black, but the both of them smell of raw iron and burnt flesh. Chocolate milk sours at the back of his throat at the smell, but he swallows it down and forces himself to look around. ]
The... the cabins. We need Daan.
[ They're back in town, aren't they? where is he? ]
no subject
their injuries persist, but sure, they can go towards the cabin. the village looks pretty nice like this, honestly—it's quiet, peaceful, and there's no sign of anything amiss like usual. ...maybe that is what's amiss? the normalcy? either way, they both feel safe here, in this very average little village.
however, there's no people. not as of right now, anyway. but as they stumble into the cabin, there's the chatter of a few people.
meanwhile, erin still has her medallion, so that's going to start to tremble a little again. karma will not feel this, obviously. to him, this is a safe space. it's where he's wanted to go. maybe all that's happened, that room, that night—maybe this is reality. ]
no subject
...aaaaaaargh this never ends! What nonsense did I get myself into now...
[ She takes out the medallion, shoving it into Karma's hands. Feel the vibration, bud!]
It was a decent idea but this thing says no. Retreat.
[Whatever is in this cabin will probably burn them with more concentrated evil!]
no subject
Okay, fine. Where else, then? There's no fog... I guess this could be our chance to see what lies beyond the boundaries of the town.
[ still, he really just wants Daan right now. ]
no subject
meanwhile, it doesn't look like daan is home right now. but karma's injuries feel less severe (they are not less severe) when he gets into the cabin. it's nicer than he remembers; it has a fireplace, a dining table with settings, and nice, log walls. the burning curse in his wounds eases. the memory of all the hardship he's been through lets up. the room he was just in—its horrors and darkness—still sit there at the forefront of his mind, but he can opt to focus on what's in front of him, if he wants.
particularly because someone sits up and greets them both. it's kate this time, for real(?). no horrible skinless creature, just a girl sitting by the fireplace. there's something on the table as well, some sort of rock, but she doesn't seem too fussed about it.
"Karma? Erin? You're back?" ]
no subject
The nice place is appealing, though. It's like getting tugged from two directions -- the nice, usual calm of nothing seeming wrong, and the instinct that something is deeply wrong]
Yeeeeah the edge of town might be nice...
[But she sounds less convinced, a bit lost in the disarming calm. Chalk it up to the brief moment in which she lost full contact with the medallion making her more vulnerable, yup]
We're back. Nice to be back.
[Erin tries to stay alert and tense, clutching the medallion in her very burned hand, but that's far more difficult than expected]
no subject
Yeah, we're back.
[ He stands in the doorway, wavering, but doesn't move, knowing that Erin will pinch him or worse if he takes another step inside. ]
Can we talk? Outside?
no subject
kate pauses, then sets aside a book that she was reading, walking over to them as she smooths her dress down from where it's gathered a few wrinkles. erin's medallion shivers a little more.
but they can talk outside, yeah. further from the mystery rock.
"That was a long time to be gone running errands... are you okay?"
—a world where karma never died. where that blood isn't on erin's hands, and that memory isn't lodged in his mind. that's what kate is talking about, in a way offering it to them as the truth. ]
no subject
[She says that a little bit awkwardly, looking in direction of the rock that was over there. How does that look like? Anything noticeable?]
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Everything is just fine.
[ Karma throws a glance over at the book "Kate" was reading, honestly more interested in that than some stupid rock, but holds his hand out for "Kate" to take. They won't go far from the cabin. He glances at Erin, down towards wherever she has the medallion, back up at her: he'll separate "Kate" and the cabin; Erin he'll entrust with figuring out which the medallion is reacting to, and what secrets this sweet unreality is trying to hide from them. ]
no subject
erin can investigate the stone. it looks like a paperweight—an ordinary sort of rock, with some etchings in it. but much like the wednesday tomes, it feels as though there's something ancient about this, and perhaps the key to leaving.
however, it's not a promise. it is an uncertain exit; it's not nice like the village they're in, and the life she could have here. just something ordinary. nothing to push and pull her onto different paths, each more insane than the next; here, she can just live. the fire feels warm, and the seat by it is so comforting. it'd be incredibly easy to ignore the stone, and karma outside, and just give herself a moment's rest, especially after that nasty apartment they were just in. this place knows she's been trying so hard. has anyone acknowledged that? this place does.
she has a couple options here. she can sit and take a break by the fire, she can check her candle and see how that's going, or anything else.
as for karma and "kate"—without erin, the candle, or a medallion, he will find it very difficult to keep his head on straight. the allure of the living side is in full blast right now; the truth doesn't have to be the truth. it can be whatever he picks, whatever he wants. the memories of the monsters and the curses in the apartment start to fade, and he will have to struggle to keep them. he will have to fight it, and maybe even her. "kate" gives his hand a little squeeze, dark soot gently starting to flow from her hair, bit by bit.
"...Is something wrong?" ]
no subject
Probably is only thanks to Erin's stubbornness that she can do even this much. The same willpower that enabled her to keep the monster possesssing her at bay for the night before the execution! But, well...probably doesn't speak well that in the end, even that strong willpower eroded enough to start losing. When it's a constant battle, attrition settles in.
Somewhere in the back of her mind she knows if she can't stay lucid, she probably will fall into all this and never return -- and chances are, staying too long will make such a moment inevitable. Picking up the rock, she pockets it, forcing herself to turn her head away from the promise of comfort and peace, returning towards Karma, albeit a little slowly like she's doing something she doesn't truly want to do.
May as well check the candle, let's see how that's going!]
no subject
No... This place is wrong.
[ his head hurts. ]
It's too good to be true, and that alone makes it impossible to not be on guard. Haha... nice of you to go easy on us.
[ his grip in Kate's tightens. he looks at Erin, then back to Kate. ]
So tell me. Who are you?
no subject
"...What kind of question is that?"
and even without all the aids available to them to help karma ply himself free of the dream, he persists in realizing the truth and trying to perceive it. it gives him a killer migraine, trying to see what's really there, but he can spot it in glimpses: the way the buildings are older, rust-bloomed, the ground turned to barren dirt instead of grass. the way that kate's hand doesn't feel quite right when he squeezes it, like it's softer than it should be. her voice distorts, the illusion fading now that both of them are so soundly rejecting it, choosing the harsh reality of their situation instead.
"I'm what you wanted."
it's a brave effort, but—again, he doesn't have anything that was meant to protect him right now. erin can start to see this too, the cracks and grime in the gentle illusion.
but most importantly, when she rounds back over, in the candlelight, they can both see that "kate" looks different. she moves with a sound like a screaming kettle, like smoke through a vent. but it's a little too late to stop her upper half from bursting outward into burning soot and smoke, sharp and blackened ribs enclosing around karma in an instant, like an embrace. ]
no subject
[Worst hug ever, probably.
The brief relief in feeling lighter was quickly overcome with alarm, of course. The things that hide under gentle illusion, goodness gracious! Lacking a weapon, not having anything, she just...a bit desperate, she grips the medallion in her hand and tries to get the ribs off Karma, pulling from them with her bare hands. Even though she already burned one and it's likely being in contact with this thing will be harmful, that's of
little concern when Karma is, you know, in this kind of problem!]
Karma, run as soon as you can!
no subject
He had been prepared for a fight, had taken "Kate"s hand in a vise grip to limit her movement and keep her from escaping, but he hadn't counted on 1) her body splitting open like a venus flytrap, nor 2) the fact that that hand in his is what keeps him from escaping, from ducking and pulling away and nearly wrenching his arm out of its socket in a reflex borne of self-preservation and fear.
Black ribs snap around Karma's entire body, intent on swallowing him whole, but his desperate escape attempt rewards him only with a rib punched through his throat, a second one glancing off his face to tear through his eye, an unbearable flare of heat and nausea that courses up from the pit of his stomach- bile and blood, hot and dark. This close to the furnace, Erin can see the tears prick at the back of his remaining eye, and when he opens his mouth, it's with a helpless gurgle, blood pouring down his chin like sludge.
She hadn't been there for his final moments that last time, but she can see it again now: just a boy, a normal middle school student, lost and frightened. she can hear the thumps of desperate kicking from within the monster's belly, dull and hollow like a wine barrow. she can see bloody fingers scritch-scratching at the monster's maw, blindly grabbing at the ribs, at Erin's fingers, trying to pry open its jaws with his failing strength. she can imagine his voice, if he had one, screaming out for anyone to help, if only there were anybody who could.
she can see him get swallowed up by the darkness, waves of shadow and bone over his head, sinking, drowning.
gone. ]
no subject
the black ribs and burning soot encompass her hands and arms as she tries to free him, but they threaten to pull her in as well. both of them, lost to this place. just a second too late to save themselves. ...but in the final moment, the candle burns out, the remaining medallion cracks against her palm, and the weight of the stone in her pocket seems like enough to pull her free of this nightmare. all at once, the smoke clears.
erin will find herself collapsed back at the apartments, which look normal again. she's chosen to step back into reality, and all the horrors that await her here: the first of which is karma's absence.
as for their reward, in her hands is a small, slate-like rock, with runes and images carved into it. from it, she can feel the potent thrum of magical energy, but to what end, she won't know from just a touch. more research may be required.
you may both keep custody of this, or otherwise do what you please! if it does change hands away from one of them, please let us know. good job breaking into this super normal building! ]