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

[ absolutely not who he was looking for.

but someone who was interesting. ]

Surprise! You've won the inter-dimensional lottery!

[ Loki holds his hands up at surrender, the loose, useless buckles on his jacket jingling ostentatiously as he moves. bright green eyes go from Anakin's face and then directly to the lightsaber, trailing up the light tactlessly as if he's weighting his options.

this little trip down to the dungeon had hardly been for the sake of the new recruits. instead, Loki found more selfish means of being down there, none of which seemed to be fulfilled, so he had decided to be of some help.

"help."

this was helping. ]

[ loki, no.

anakin's expression would not be out of place aimed at a particularly annoying fly. the held up hands do little to convince anakin that the loud…thing means no harm. not when he feels himself being mocked. ( not when the force ripples strangely as if he isn't looking at a human or even humanoid. ) ]

Who are you?

[ the tip of the blade sinks. arrogant enough in his own abilities, anakin does not yet feel threatened. but he's wary. enough so not to let the blade fall entirely. ]

[ Loki yes.

there's a cock of his brow and a small, stretch of his fingers like the slow flapping of a bird before he lowers them, dusting off his jacket like that's what he had meant to do all along. ]

Loki. [ it's said easily, carelessly. ] Who are you? Aside from a new recruit in a cell holding a sword of vivid glowing.

[ it's not essential to ask, he can tell from the outstretch of the lightsaber and the scar on his face. he remembers Billy's excitement and babble about the extended universe. there's a pang at the memory, but he obstinately ignores it. ]

[ eyes narrowed in suspicion, anakin does not immediately answer. the name means less than nothing, which was to be expected. it's a big galaxy without trying to wrap his mind around interuniversal travel, which is impossible. ]

It's called a lightsaber. [ because that is the piece of crucial information here. but he finally lets the lightsaber hang down at his side. ]

You work for -- ALASTAIR?

[ if he could pack more distaste into one word, he would. ]

You say it as if you—[ he counts off on one finger. ]—don't, and—[ another finger. ]—aren't forced to. There are very few who've the ability to take a jaunt across the multiverse whenever they please.

Unfortunately for us, those abilities are lost for the moment. Trust me, if there was a hole big enough for me to wiggle out of, I would've found it already.

[ of course, he's leaving out the part where the doesn't exactly mind being here. while the multiverse was a big place, it was also in the realm of great opportunity. he had an evil other-self to overthrow, and finding the best means of overthrowing destiny may be right under his nose. ]

I serve the Republic. [ don't try to change him. three months later, he will still be harping this point. ~~a week after, trade republic for empire.~~ ]

You say you're forced. [ irritating though his manner may be, loki is providing answers. the blue blade retracts into the hilt. ] How?

If you can find a way to get back to the point in which you came without fuss, I'd applaud you. Not as if you'd hear it.

[ Loki seems to be watching the blade at this point more than he's watching Anakin. as soon as it's gone, his green eyes move up to meet his once again. ]

Otherwise, you owe them a debt to get back to where ever home may be.

[ the hilt is barely visible inside the voluminous sleeve. though anakin takes note of his interest, it's hardly surprising. lightsabers are as valuable as they are dangerous. keeping one's eye on it means there's a semblance of a survival instinct, something whoever took him does not have. ]

A debt, [ anakin repeats flatly. his mouth twists. he thinks he knows exactly where this is heading. ] How much of a debt?

Undetermined.

[ the word starts out with casual cadence and moves into something flatter. it always seems like he's found himself into someone's debt, and while this debt is more like an opportunity, it's still dangerous for both parties involved.

no one wants a debt owed from Loki; he's surprised ALASTAIR's even kept it. they, after all, must know who and what he is. ]

[ undetermined. anakin's expression darkens. an undetermined debt is an impossible debt. an impossible debt, to those who would take people, results in one thing. ]

How long has this been going on? [ anakin's voice is even to the point of perfect calm. nothing could be further from the truth. ]

[ when Anakin's expression darkens, Loki's eyebrows raise in a brief display of his curiosity. ]

That's debatable. Though I'd say too long based on the nature of the beast.

[ there weren't many debts that Loki aimed to take seriously, especially not ones that he could exploit. it was a loose term to him, completely subjective based on who held and who owed, and for him that subjectivity was always key. ]

Our handlers are playing a dangerous game of push and pull with destiny, though the legitimacy of their organization is still ... ehhh. [ he waves his hand back and forth, as if it were teetering between two lines unsurely. ]

[ there is no legitimacy to an organization who would compel labor, no matter how they choose to dress it up. anakin looks away a second, breathing in through his nose before facing loki again. ]

Someone must have tried to escape. [ and likely failed. but anakin is more interested in what shape retribution took. it will tell him more of alastair than anything they say. ]

Oh, and I usually have the means to. I'm no slouch when it comes to the whole escaping thing—that includes inter-dimensionally. If there's a crack in their foundation, I would've found it.

[ but there wasn't. it left Loki with more of a challenge on his hands. ]

It just means one needs to be made. [ green eyes fix on Anakin curiously. ]

[ if there is any way to carve one into the air with his lightsaber, anakin would have. #not how the force works ]

You travel through dimensions? [ there's a heathy amount of skepticism in his voice. having experienced it once does not make him more likely to believe such a bold claim.

but the strange heaviness to his presence. whatever he's looking at may look human but isn't. the not knowing keeps him ever wary. ]

I have, yes; it's more of a "on occasion" thing when the circumstances are ripe. [ there's a casual tone to his voice, like this is something that he does every day. ] You either find a place to wiggle through, or you throw a few dozen warships at a weak spot and create a four-or-five—give or take—megaton explosion.

Since we're no where good for a kaboom, the former is preferable to the latter.

[ looks human.

there are some things about him that are off. first of all, no one really has eyes that green, do they? and his hair really never seems to fall out of place, even when it gets tossed back. ]

[ never the one chosen when tact was needed ( padmé is the one seemingly made of patience, and neither her advice or his old master's lessons stuck ), anakin opts for doing away with it entirely. ]

What are you? [ and he really thought he'd be granted the rank of master. this guy. ]

[ tactless and possibly insulting.

Loki taps a finger against his chin, and offers Anakin both a pause and a tip of his head in reply. ]

I'm a god, duh.

What are you?

[ that's our anakin. ]

A god. [ he smiles. ] Shouldn't you know?

I'd rather not be the one that defines you—wouldn't you like that luxury?

[ there's an easy way to his words, a cadence that weaves through them, but there's a weight. he'd rather not decide what Anakin is, instead he'd rather have him tell him. ]

[ you couldn't, he thinks. less confrontational, he supplies after a pause, ] I'm Anakin Skywalker.

[ as far as he is concerned, who he is and what he is are answered the same. not a jedi, not the chosen one, not a husband. 'anakin' comprises all of them, and is intrinsically his in a way nothing else is. ]

Anakin. [ he taps his chin. ] Skywalker. [ you're not the only one with that name here, Ani.

it's as if he's testing the name, but he's not. there's something akin to a spark of recognition on his face, but whatever's going through his head, he doesn't voice it. ]

Loki of Asgard. All proper pleasantries extended.

Now, did you want to stay in dark, damp in dreary, or did you want to head outside and into the apocalyptic nightmare awaiting you?

Edited 2016-02-28 13:28 (UTC)

[ of course a self-styled god should recognize him. only a base the size of a moon can hope to hold anakin's ego. ]

Depends. [ drily, ] Is it an improvement?

[ but he's walking again after taking the time to clip his lightsaber onto his belt. a tug on his robes and the weapon is hidden from sight. ]

Well, a few explosions would make a little better. The whole post-apocalyptic thing means we missed the apocalypse.

[ Loki counters his dryness with more dryness, taking the stairway up from the dungeons and to the surface. Loki liked things as they were happening, changes and new starts, when they were finished, well ... it was a bit more like stagnation. that was never something in which he found himself comfortable. ]

You don't sound too affected by it, [ he observes. #no judgment

ok, there's judging going on, but that is true always. ]

Has anyone learned who or what was responsible?

This isn't my first rodeo.

[ aside from Ragnaroks, the Earth that he comes from has its share of apocalyptic events. it was like a once-a-year thing. it seemed less here, but still didn't seem to jar him. ]

There are suspicions being thrown about, but as for a who or what? No, they're doing good at covering their tracks.

[ especially with him. ]

EVENT ★ OSKA BURNING

DAY THREE.

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