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

Sorry. I'm neither. [ less an apology than a precaution: yes, someone else is here, no, he's not a threat.

the lack of light bothers anakin less than another would. where his eyes struggle to discern shapes in the shadows, the force produces a crystal map. another man. the sound of his voice sets off a warning before the ghost of his pain registers. he had heard it before, more times than he should have, from more mouths than there should have been, all speaking with the same voice.

in the darkness, anakin's frown grows more pronounced. he slows his steps as he approaches, extending an arm in case the other falls over. ]

Are you all right?

Better than I was. Yeah, thanks. [Gingerly capping his canteen, good left shoulder still propped against the nearest wall, disappointment finally settles down into the marrow of his bones. It isn't them. Of course it isn't. He had to know better, even when he asked, somehow in his heart, he knew.

That he doesn't buckle and fall right then and there across the outstretched line of the stranger's arm is a miracle in its own right. ] --mostly.

[There's only a slight pause where his fingers grasp at the wall instead, attention redirected:] You haven't seen anyone else around here have you? A girl, scavenger. Or a uh, a pilot? Tall, dark hair. Orange flight suit.

No one matching that description. [ direct. he isn't one for coddling, even to someone injured. but that finn is injured at all keeps anakin where he is where he would have otherwise continued on his way. his arm lowers, but anakin is close enough to catch finn if he must. ]

What happened? [ this is spoken less abruptly, almost gently. he's not okay. anakin doesn't need the force to see that. no matter how much "better" he claims to be doing, he's in no condition to be left alone. answers will have to wait. ]

You wouldn't believe me if I told you. [He knows where he is now, at least in theory - people here wouldn't understand the concept of interstellar battle stations or the Force or anything else from back home, and the look he shoots Anakin's way says about as much. Still, it's not as if Finn has any other options at the moment. Maybe he could help.

Maybe he had at least a couple of decent medical supplies tucked into those weathered robes.] Got in a fight before I woke up here.

[Finn dips his chin, gesturing to the burned hole that runs right through the front of his coat, courtesy of Kylo Ren's hilt.] Lightsabers don't go easy, man, I'll tell you that much.

[ the mention of a lightsaber, the burn he now sees — his eyes narrow. not confusion. his countenance takes a turn for the severe. ]

Who did that? [ his first thought: grievous. but if it was grievous, finn's luckier than most. that monster only cares for slaughter. the other option… his eyes snap to finn's face. who are you sits on the tip of his tongue. ]

[Who, not what; whoever this guy is, he knows what lightsabers are. He has to. Which is good, maybe better than good-- it means he isn't the only one here from within known space. Republic space, no matter what the First Order says.

If he needs to find a way home, this stranger could be the one to help him.

It's enough to spark some eagerness in his stare when he lifts his eyes, expression more than hopeful:] Kylo Ren. Supreme Leader Snoke's apprentice - the Jedi Killer?

[ kylo ren. supreme leader snoke. names that mean nothing to him. ( the names they have wanted for three too long years. ) it's almost too perfect. coming across someone who knows and freely hands out that which they've struggled and sacrificed and failed to uncover. ( how? when not even the jedi could? )

the question he voices, however, is different. ]

Is this Jedi killer here?

[ he wouldn't be — he had said it had been before finding himself here — but the twin jolts of hate and thrill that arc down anakin's spine like electricity allow for only one need.

his fist, his mechanical fist, closes tight enough for anakin to hear the faint strain of its hydraulics. yet his voice is quiet. in control. the cold fury that had seized him when he stepped onto the invisible hand narrows his vision to a single purpose.

( the rage that shadows him tries to lure him in as it had only a few short hours ago. ( he can end this war today. ) anakin seizes it by the throat, and stamps it down. ) ]

I don't know. [Which is the truth, let out almost as quickly as the thought comes to mind. Finn swallows audibly, eyeline drifting down towards that hand and back again. The woman he'd first met said it wasn't likely, but here, now, he's talking to someone from back home - that Ren might have followed him could mean Rey was safe regardless. Could mean he was screwed completely in contrast.

~~What even is his life~~] I hope not. Really don't think I'm ready to go two for two with the guy just yet.

[But he sees the grim expression Anakin's wearing, and in spite of the ache running through him, his instincts drive him straight to concern: as often as he had to look out for Slip, it's only natural.] Don't worry. If I see him, I can let you know. Keep you safe.

[ keep him safe? the offer is just unexpected enough, and surprising enough, to almost prompt a laugh. an injured man offering to protect a jedi.

anakin doesn't. he remains wound tight as spring, and more dangerously so because one cannot see the spring. no one, not even anakin, knows the pressure that will be released until the snap.

but the fist opens and closes and opens again. ]

In this condition, you can't keep yourself safe. [ js. ] Let me see.

[ he's not a medic droid. not even a medic. but three years in a war, you pick things up. and you carry basic supplies. ]

I kept myself alive. [It's harder than anything else he's said so far, stern-faced and solid as the stone under their feet. Mostly because it hadn't been about him at the time: Han was a good man-- he looked out for them when he didn't have to-- he didn't deserve what happened to him, and Rey--

He would have killed Ren if he had the chance. If he was faster with a blade the way he was with a trigger. If a lot of things that couldn't have been helped were different, he supposes, letting the anger die down in the pit of his stomach. This isn't the time for it.] Not a lot of people out there can say the same.

Might need your help getting the jacket off.

[Said absently as he moves-- ungracefully-- to try and find a way to kneel down and sit over cold stone without hissing out in pain. Careful breaths, cautious movements, expression pinched for good measure. Still, he makes it, that's all that really matters.]

[ no, they can't. with no denial he can give, anakin's expressions flattens to…nothing. the serenity that comes so easily to the jedi eludes him.

but anakin can pretend. ( can pretend not to hear the screech of the lightsabers when he pulled them together. )

sinking to one knee, he grabs the edge of the jacket. ] Be easier if I cut it off. [ because offering to use a lightsaber near the guy with lightsaber burns is a brilliant plan.

for the moment, he tries to get the jacket off without further damage to it or finn. ]

Who are you?

Don't. [Quick and sharp, head turning back as much as he can manage to angle a look over his burned right shoulder. This was Poe Dameron's jacket - the only thing he has left to remember either of his friends - no matter how messed up it is, it's staying with him. He'll fight tooth and nail for that.

But then Anakin shifts to help tug it loose, and he stops bristling for the moment. Turns back around, suppressing every noise of pain he might think to make with his tongue pressed flat against the back of his teeth as leather peels away, half stuck to dried blood and makeshift bandaging. Everything that's been cauterized only carries so much when he's moving around like this, cracking open healing tissue and tearing skin on stubbornness alone. The muscle of his back's been torn into, badly, that much is obvious even beneath what's been pressed over it; if he cares, it doesn't show.

Screw you, world, he's not sitting still.]

My name's Finn.

[It's not an answer. Not really, anyway - nothing that would bring recognition to Anakin's mind or snap his thoughts together with budding realization, but what else could he say? That he was a stormtrooper? That he's part of the Resistance? Neither really applies to him, and neither's relevant in the moment, and neither one means anything in regards to him as a person stuck on his own in a not-so-parallel universe. Here, he's just Finn. That's all there is to it.]

[ that's helpful, finn. anakin manages to bite back a snide response. the burns are punishment enough. further sarcastic thought is pushed aside when the jacket is removed. anakin's brow furrows when he sees the damage done to the other man's back. the jedi killer wanted him dead.

all the more reason to keep him alive. ]

Where were you? Before this?

[ from his belt, he removes the few medical supplies all jedi carry with them. not enough to treat his injuries, but maybe enough to make them manageable until they can get to a medical droid. ]

Starkiller Base. [It comes after a long pause, his mouth drawn into a thin, tense line. Some skittish part of him (instinctive urge to say as little as possible, born of years of evaluation under Phasma's watchful eye) doesn't want to say more without knowing anything about who it is he's talking to.

But the guy's helping, isn't he? Somehow that seems like it should be enough. Different than anything someone loyal to the First Order would show.]

[ a non-force user almost killed by a jedi killer. a stoicism he recognizes having seen it among among his soldiers. knowledge of a secret base. ( with a name like that, it could only be a secret stronghold. ) and the hesitation with which he answers. ]

You ran away. [ a question voiced as a statement. a potential traitor, then. by the severity of the injuries, anakin does not presume this a separatist trick. that and the honesty resonating positively in the force. but he knows to be guarded now. the dark side has a way of shadowing everything.

carefully, anakin dabs a numbing agent around the burns. he knows firsthand how much they hurt. to have every nerve sliced in half and set on fire. ]

Tell me if it hurts. [ a lot, he means. he starts to clean and redress as gently as he can but. lightsaber injuries are a bitch. ]

Edited 2016-02-17 04:59 (UTC)

I went back. [Even facing the other way there's enough determination in Finn's voice that the meaning carries, if not the context. Nothing to do with the way Anakin's patting at his wounds, but with the people he left behind without wanting to. Again.

Slip first, then Poe, then Rey-- Han. It feels like the universe is pushing him right to the edge of himself; unfair in every sense of the word.] Kylo Ren had my friend, I wasn't about to leave her behind.

[Still, the numbing agent helps, at least, if anything actually helps the grotesque sight of flesh and sinew cut away to the bone, crusted over in a sorry attempt at healing cut short by his own efforts to do more than just sit and bleed. He can breathe again-- really breathe, not just filter in air through tense lungs-- and he hadn't realized it until this moment.]

But yeah, I was a stormtrooper.

[The words feel empty. Hollow. Slow breaths, and it all comes bleeding out, same as it did with Rey.] They took me from a family I was too young to remember, raised me to kill for them. Fight for them.

Only the first time they threw me into combat I knew it was wrong. All of it. [At the mining facility it was Slip that shot the striking workers, not Finn-- the only thing that saved him from reconditioning, he supposes. Bought him time until Jakku, until Kylo Ren could tell the difference where Phasma never could.] I ran.

Edited 2016-02-17 05:49 (UTC)

[ the hands working on finn's back still, then resume their task.

for a long moment, he favors silence. tempted through anakin is to brand him a liar… a fool would know a better lie. the disconsonant parts of his story are not tinged so through the force. ( the jagged peaks are tied to the pulsing injuries to the phantom pain anakin would share if he focused. ) nothing fits. soldiers bred to fight — not clones, no accelerated growth so how…?

could this have been what master sifo-dyas had seen? it's the only option that makes sense, yet it feels wrong. something about where they are, their supposed purpose continues to intrude. ]

If he is here, [ it isn't likely, but the presence of the dark side is undeniable, ] you'll be safe from him. My name is Anakin. I'm a Jedi.

[ he voices the title as simple fact: he's a jedi with the promise that entails. having done as much as he could for finn's back, anakin comes around to do the same for his shoulder. he works faster now, the burn so much smaller yet as deep. he keeps quiet his almost grudging respect. either finn is that well-trained to still be stumbling around looking for his friends or he is just that stubborn. ]

Is she the girl you mentioned? The scavenger?

[To that he says nothing, but the look on his face (regardless of what his own thoughts might convey) is telling enough: eyes wide, mouth open for what few beats it takes before Anakin's fingers switch their focus to the untreated burn at his shoulder, prompting a vivid grimace that only briefly interrupts his awe. A jedi. They're still alive-- more than just Skywalker, others survived Ren's vicious agenda. It lifts his pulse for a half-beat; he thinks more than anything he should tell the Resistance, that they needed to hear it firsthand, only belatedly realizing he can't.

That ship's sailed an entire universe away.

So instead he settles for staring, nodding low and quiet beyond the heartache in his own chest that comes with switching focus back to Rey.] Yeah.

They came after me, found her instead. [The pain that bores down into bone feels warranted, fingers tensing:] It was my fault.

[ anakin's eyes flick to his face and back down. ] Thinking like that won't help you here. It won't help her wherever she is.

[ a piece of advice he has been repeating to himself if for different reasons. releasing a heavy sigh, anakin leans back, and considers the options they have. not many. only one, in fact. ]

I've done what I can, but I'm not a medic. [ he glances behind him, up to the dank ceiling. ] We have to get out. You need rest.

No-- no, I have to stay.

[Jedi or not, if Ren really is here the others could be, too. Hell, more than that, the Resistance might be here, and if they wander around blindly they might run themselves right into the end of Kylo Ren's blade. It's not a scenario he wants to think about.]

If there's even a chance they're here, then they need me.

[ anakin shakes his head. he can understand finn's response. he would do no less for his people. but removed ( for once ) from the situation at hand, he can also clearly see the flaws in the decision.

not that this breakthrough will carry over when someone he cares about is in danger. ]

If they have any sense, they'll be trying to find an exit same as us. Finding it is your best chance of finding them.

[Thinking about moving to his feet is like asking for an ice pick to the skull: it's easier to stay put, and he knows the numbing agent's the only thing keeping this bearable - but there's a limit to what it can do. If he stands up, it's going to be hell all over again.

So it takes him a second. Two. Just long enough to buckle down and tell himself he's ready for it, left palm against the wall as a brace for pulling himself upright again.] Okay.

Okay, I can do this. [ I can do this...]

Give me your arm.

[ if finn lets him, anakin will pull him over his shoulders. it's not ideal. anakin finds himself wishing for a stretcher. but it will be better than making him walk in circles until they find the exit. it will provide finn with more stability. leaving him behind while anakin searches is not an option. ]

[Giving him his arm? Fine. Doable. Nothing weird about that. The rest, though...

It makes him feel too much like Slip, getting hauled around. Uncomfortable in the sense that he feels useless and uneasy for it beyond the way his own wounds bite at him beneath the numbing medicine, but-- it's fine. It's all fine. He's alive, he's found a Jedi, he's got more hope in him than he has any right to given the circumstances. That has to count for something.]

Hey...thanks.

[It comes out as more of a grunt between steps than he means for it to.]

Don't thank me. [ breathing through his nose, anakin adopts a smooth, long stride. ] It's what we do.

[ this, more than anything, he believes.

the jedi way is to help. to protect. the war has twisted it all. made them soldiers when they are meant to keep the peace. tied their hands with light-years of bureaucratic red tape so that people suffer while the jedi are made to sit idly by. it's wrong, all of it. peace has been a far-off dream. order is an illusion. sometimes anakin cannot remember a time before the war. he can no longer remember himself before it.

his faith in the jedi has been shaken. ( with one request, it will break entirely. ) but his faith in what they should be remains. the thrill of piloting a starship into a hail of blasterfire is unmatched, but anakin finds he's happiest elbows deep in wires and servos. more at peace, fixing what needs fixing than destroying that which begs to be destroyed. the skill he has for technology, he will one day transfer to people. he'll be able to protect them too. from anything. there will be no fear of war. not of illness. not even death.

it's what a good jedi should. it's what a great jedi will. ]

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