epidemiology | EVENT ★ OSKA BURNING

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EVENT ★ OSKA BURNING

The scene that greets you after the mist of world hopping fades isn’t a pretty one. You may remember Oska from your first, brief trip here — it was a stately, serene place, a grand castle usually wreathed in low lying clouds or gently sunny. Not so today. The damage done to Chantes by the demons and chimeras pales in comparison to what has been done to Oska.

Only one tower of the formerly impressive castle stands upright, the others have been knocked down and torn to rubble, some of which is still smoldering or in flickering flames. Most of the castle has been flattened, entire rooms torn apart and laid to waste. No exterior wall is without gaping holes, as if some army and their immense battering ram had needed a whole collection of entrances to storm this castle. Nothing is untouched, and worst of all, the underground larder seems to have been completely buried in a fall of rocks from the kitchen’s exterior wall. Even if you were able to dig it up, it’s dubious much of the food is unspoiled or intact.

If there is any up side to all of this destruction, it’s that no bodies can be found amid the mess, human or otherwise. Even the livestock are missing. Personal effects can be dug out of the ruins, and it seems very clear that this castle was populated until recently. There remains not one soul to tell what happened, though.

Well, almost not one soul.

The network that usually connects the jewelry is completely nonfunctional. Attempting to access it only brings up one static message, repeating for as long as you care to listen to it:

Something [ SHHKT ] --rrible has happ-- [ The message cuts out frequently, replaced with static. ] The-- [ shhhhhhkt ] came, they destroyed everything and n--

[ The static fades slightly. ]

We’re trapped. You’re on your own. But please, we ne-- [ shhkt ] your help. They’re still here. There’s worse to come. But when you [ SHKT ] --ind them, you can’t kill them. They need to be questioned. We mus-- [ shhhhkt ] know their motivations.

Some of the new recruits… they’re in the dungeons. You need to he-- [ shkt ] them, please. They can still be saved.

SURVIVAL

The dungeons are, of course, the only part of the castle left intact enough to present a challenge to escape. Some newcomers will find themselves lost in a labyrinth of cell-lined corridors, able to wander for hours before stumbling across any hint of daylight. How that’s even possible with most of the castle destroyed is anyone’s guess. Other newcomers might even be locked into the cells, with keys left nearby but just out of reach — or not. Better hope some sort of escape artist happens across you, if you’re one of those unlucky arrivals.

Food isn’t going to be easy to come across. You might try digging out the larder, but not much food can be salvaged from it. Are you going to put in the work to dig up a single shelf of intact loaves of bread, a cold roast chicken locked in a wood stove, and one barrel of apples? Maybe you try scavenging in the small, abandoned village outside the castle. This will uncover some food, but not much. Most of the food out there is either rotted through or missing entirely. You might find enough to last one person two days on your own, but who knows how long you’ll need it to last?

Wherever you find your food, if you find your food, rationing is highly recommended. Water isn’t so simple to find, either. There is a lake not far outside the castle walls, but the water in it tastes rancid, a sign to any right-thinking person that it’s no good to drink. Anyone brave or stupid enough to push through the taste and drink it anyway will find there aren’t actually any adverse effects, but is it worth the risk? Water can otherwise be found in very small amounts, collected by rainfall in buckets, on indented stones, in mislaid pots. It won’t be much, but if you search diligently it’s enough to keep you going.

Shelter will be a little easier to find… at least, at first. No one is using any of the beds in the village, they’re free to pick from as long as you don’t mind the eerie silence. If your character is particularly awful at scavenging, please see the end of this post.

HELL WEEK

Survival aside, that still leaves the question: just what did happen here? Characters are welcome to dig through the ruins for hints at what fate may have befallen Oska. We have provided a thread here to sign up to find belongings or other little signs of life, and try to piece together the picture. But what about that culprit, mentioned in the broadcast? Some characters will be able to stumble across very, very specific clues — riddles and puzzles, purposefully laid to guide the finders toward… something. Who knows what lies at the end of this oddly deliberate trail? You can sign up to find and solve the puzzles here.

Day one in Oska is easy enough to survive, an almost peaceful acclimation to the dismal scene. Things get a little bit tougher from there, though.

On day two the ground begins to shake. It’s just little tremors at first, easy to miss if you’re not standing still. But by mid morning they’re large quakes, enough to break some structures further. The quakes continue through the night and into day three, when they are large and severe enough to throw someone off their feet, tear apart a house, and even open wide chasms in the ground. They come with unpredictable frequency, anything between five minutes to three hours, but they definitely come more closely together as time passes. The village is safer at this point, without quite so many stones to shift and crush you, although those chasms are still a concern.

Come the evening of day three, the quakes stop entirely. A soft rainfall begins to patter down instead — still thirsty? Now is your chance to find some battered coffee tin and gather your drink. The rainfall continues steadily overnight, and by the morning of the fourth day it is a torrential downpour. It never lets up, not even once, and soon the water is more than the ground can handle. Flooding begins at this point, just a few inches deep in some places, more formidable in others. This also lasts for two days, and by the end of the fifth day in Oska most of the village is washed out. You’ll have better luck among the sturdy stones of the castle. Remember that still-standing castle tower? It’s not exactly the most structurally sound thing, but it is definitely out of the water.

The water stops very suddenly at sundown on the fifth day, affording a pretty peaceful, clear night. Come dawn of the sixth day, however, heavy clouds move to obscure the sunrise. They seem to flame around the edges in the light of it, and then in the middles. That’s clearly not sunlight lighting up those clouds by this point. The clouds flash from within as they build more and more heavily, but no lightning has ever been that flickering golden color. At midmorning the first drops begin to fall: not rain this time, but liquid fire. By noon the firestorm is at full strength. It swings between sheets of fire pelting down, and clearing up only to pelt down great fireballs. The rain-drenched village and castle can only fend off the rain for so long. Eventually the water evaporates and anything that can burn will burn. Time your ventures out into the weather very carefully, because the firefall never lets up for long, and that’s the kind of downpour you don’t want to be caught in.

OOC INFO

Is your character awful at survival? Can’t scavenge to save their life, completely out of food and water and about to expire? Wherever they fall asleep, they’ll wake up with a small, inexplicable wrapped bundle left next to their head. Within will be a half an apple, a single leg of chicken, and a very small canteen of water.

~~This log will last for one week, and there will be new information available on the 17th~~. As per our informal poll, this log will last ICly for one week, and OOCly for two. There will be new information available on the 24th. What the setting will be from here will depend on characters' ability to work together to catch whoever is responsible for these events.

You can sign up to find hints about the people who lived here and what may have happened to them here, and puzzles left by the perpetrator leading to the discovery of them on this post. Please direct any questions here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ the perpetrator makes a brief, startled sound from high above. it sounded remarkably close to a tiny squeak. there's some scrambling (and unfortunately some more accidental debris-spraying) before a head full of fluffy pink hair pops in over the hole.

olivia blinks down at the cavern, trying to squint through the faint light. ]

H-Hello? Is someone down there?

[ Bariyan flails a bit as he tries to avoid the extra debris, and winds up submerging himself into the water during the struggle. He remerges a few seconds later, treading water, shaking water out of his hair. ]

Yes. Me. I'm down here. It's a long story.

[ (Not really). ]

[ she still can't really see him, but she can definitely make out the vague shape of him which, sadly, is all she can contend with for now. ]

Oh gosh! Okay — I'll try and find something to throw down to you. You're not hurt are you?

[ despite just asking him a question, she actually disappears for a bit, doing as she'd promised and scurrying about for a piece of rope or plywood or — basically anything that might be long enough for him to grab hold of. ]

I'm perfectly fine.

[ Just soggy. Bariyan waits a bit for an answer, then sighs when there's none forthcoming. He doesn't hold very high hopes about Olivia coming back with anything useful, or coming back at all. Not really a big deal -- Bariyan's pretty sure that if this rain keeps up, the hole he's in will eventually fill and he'll just rise to the top. Like pond scum.

He resumes his lazy float. He also sees a flat, oval rock buried into the dirt wall. Falling debris that had missed the water, he guesses. It looks perfect for skipping. He grabs it, examines it for a second, and instead of skipping it across the water, he tosses it straight up into the sky as far as he can. Maybe it'll even exit the chasm. ]

[ unfortunately, it's right around the time that pebble hits the crux of its climb that olivia returns carrying a broken slab of the wooden ceiling, so bariyan will know that it has managed to exit the chasm when she suddenly lets out a sharp, startled squeal of pain.

there is a thud, and then a louder thud of wood falling back down on the ground. ]

Owwwwwwww, what was that.... [ comes her low moan, from somewhere just around the mouth of the hole. ]

[ Down in the water, Bariyan's eyes widen in surprise, then horror as he realizes what he's done. ]

Oh, shit-- I'm sorry! Are you all right?

[ Nice. Nice! Way to brain his would-be rescuer with a rock. Bariyan's making lots of friends today. ]

[ a low groan is his only response for the first few seconds. but then soon there are the telltale sounds of some scuffling, and before long that bubblegum pink hair pops into view again. the headband just looks a touch askew. ]

I'm — fine..! I think... Something must have fallen from the ceiling or something, gosh it's really not stable here is it...

[ but anyway...

a moment later, he'll see she's starting to slowly ease a piece of plywood down towards him. it looks to be some sort of wooden beam that had been dislodged from the ceiling rafters. ]

Are you able to grab hold of this?

[ Bariyan hesitates. Debris from the ceiling. Right. Should he... should he correct her....

Well, the silence is just dragging on, and it'd be awkward to say something now, so he's just gonna let it go.

Bariyan coughs. ]

Um. Yes.

[ He swims to it, and gives it a gentle tug before letting go again. Whoever's up there sounds pretty young. And Bariyan's about one hundred and sixty pounds of dead weight. ]

It's not that bad down here, though.

[ there is a moment of two of confused silence from overhead before olivia speaks again. the higher pitch of her voice is definitely a bit misleading, but she's totally an adult! and not only that, but an athlete. though whether or not she can actually lift someone as heavy as him (haha i see what you did there "dead" weight) is another matter entirely...

...not that she knows where his reservations are coming from, but. ]

Are.. Are you sure? Won't you become uncomfortable before long?

[ Bariyan sinks further into the water and blows bubbles, which takes some effort on his part. His lungs don't like to be woken from their inertia.

All right, fine, he is bored. Most of his stay in Oska so far has consisted of being trapped in small places with no one to talk to and nothing to do. And while that's nice for the first couple hours, it gets a little boring after a while....

He shrugs, as if Olivia can see it. Then he puts his hands upon the beam, and gives it another tug. ]

Eh. We can give it a try. I'm going to let go if it looks like you're slipping, though.

[ she can't see a thing, but that's all probably for the best, anyway. her voice calls down not long after he pipes up. ]

Don't worry! It'll be fine, I promise!

[ and should be decide to climb up, he'll find the beam fairly sturdy, surprisingly! ]

[ Bariyan makes a face as he starts to climb, laboriously, ignoring the splinters that prick at his palm. He's still expecting the beam to snap in half just as he nears the top, or for it to slip off the surface and start falling.

But against all odds, he finds himself pulling himself up over the edge of the chasm and onto solid ground. He sits back on his knees and blinks in confusion at his surroundings. Eventually, he turns his gaze to Olivia. His stare is baleful, but all he's feeling is bewilderment.

He mumbles. ]

Uh. Thanks.

[ now that he's on the surface again, he can see how olivia managed to keep the beam steady all this time. its upper half had been lodged pretty firmly on the ground that makes up the edge of the hole bariyan had fallen in, and around its midsection are some sheets that seem to have been scavenged from a nearby housing area. these were wrapped around a post that still remains upright and fairly stable just a few feet away, and the ends were held steady by olivia herself, who'd planted a single foot on the foot to keep her grip and strength. she's a bit winded when she finally lets it go, and — as if the beam were just waiting for that release of her breath — it suddenly comes crashing down into the hole bariyan had just crawled out of. ]

You're welcome! [ she says breathlessly, reaching up to push some of her bangs out of the way.

now she's able to get a good look at him and— ]

—oh my gosh!! Are you okay?!

[ yOU LOOK ALL KINDS OF DEAD ]

[ Bariyan's pretty entranced by this contraption that Olivia's constructed, and so he just watches it fall apart as Olivia lets go, turning his head slowly to watch its entire dissolution.

But Olivia's outburst causes him to start, and he jumps back to attention, eyes wide with mirrored panic. ]

No, I-- I mean yes. Yes. I'm fine.

[ Bariyan hastily takes his cap off and ruffles his (wet) hair, trying to make himself more presentable. God, look at this... child...? With her bubble-pink hair? Bariyan squints. ]

I always look like this.

[ not a child at all, but there is a certain aura about her... that isn't helped by the bubblegum-pink hair, alas.

but olivia hesitates a little, hanging back when she notices how self-conscious he suddenly looks. then again, she supposes it's only natural to react that way, given what a big deal she'd suddenly made of his appearance.

embarrassed for both their sakes, she glances away suddenly, her smile small and sheepish. ]

Oh, um... if you're sure then... [ she almost wants to question it, but she figures she's been rude enough. ]

B-Because if you were hurt, I could probably try healing it...

[ Bariyan frowns, and raises a hand to his neck and the stitches that ring it. He tugs at one. ]

No. That's all righ-- there's nothing to heal.

[ He puts his cap back on and his stance relaxes. He looks up through the wrecked ceiling, into the grey sky, at the gathering clouds. Damn. He really could have just waited for the hole to fill up so he could float his way to the top. ]

You should find shelter. I don't think this rain is letting up. What were you out here for, anyway?

[ she appears to want to argue, but in the end she holds her tongue. it isn't really her place to push it, if he doesn't want it, and for the most part it does appear as if he's... quite alright. ]

I was looking for people who might have needed help, [ she says with a faint shrug of a shoulder, but she appears distracted, continuing to look him over.

after a while, she finally ventures, ] Won't you come with me...?

[ In response, Bariyan squints at the sky. He hears the words but it takes him a bit to process them, and in the meanwhile, the rain is very interesting.

He eventually jolts himself out of his reverie, though, and turns back to Olivia to shake his head. ]

I'll find my own way back. I'm going to keep looking around for a while. Thanks again for-- [ He smiles, briefly. Very briefly. ] --helping me.

[ she looks disappointed, but only mildly. what if something happens again? she'd like to ask. what if no one is around to help him then?

but he seems fairly adamant, and she recognizes it isn't really her place to push the issue... so, after a bit of hesitation, she finally concedes with a nod. ]

If you're sure... Please try to stay safe, in the meantime.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT ★ OSKA BURNING

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so sorry for the wait..!

NO WORRIES <3

<3!

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