epidemiology | EVENT ★ SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

Following the sudden entrapment of a group of ALASTAIR diplomats, it's clear the true threat to Chantes is still afoot. The sun's disappearance may have been what was on the mission tin, but the man behind the plot is still alive and kicking.

On the day the people inside the castle go incommunicado, King Christophe's head is unceremoniously tossed out from one of the towers. The word travels like wildfire from there: the Order of the Chimera's leader, Michel, has taken roost on the throne. But he doesn't seem keen on leaving much to rule — he's been busy littering the city with symbols from his grimoire. And with the king's death, they begin to stir.

If ALASTAIR sent the recruits here to save Chantes, Michel and his rituals are why.

THE DEMONS

All around the city’s landmarks (and a few within the castle), runes have shimmered into existence. Remember those? Bothersome little things that nullify powers. But they’re not nullifying powers this time. These runes shimmer a low, sinister red, even by the bright light of midday. They wait, complacent, not really doing much of anything… that is, unless you try to destroy one of them.

The moment a rune is tampered with in any way it flares brightly, and a thin red mist seeps out into the air. Each entity from the rune is a little bit different and fights in a different way, but all of them are unquestionably demonic. Some of them manifest physical forms and attack with claws and bolts of energy, but many of them are not so blunt. In fact, most of these demons are much more insidious, as recruits will quickly discover.

POSSESSION

Most of these creatures use possession as their main tactic, although their methods vary. Some demons keep themselves invisibly after that initial red leak of mist, choose a target, and begin to whisper in their ear. They’ll promise anything — power, riches, fame. Their words alter what might otherwise be sound judgment, making their target believe that not only are these demons perfectly capable of delivering, but they will impart their gifts just as soon as the recruit takes care of this one little task. Attacking your friend isn’t really so much to ask, right? Just think of the reward, just around the corner!

Some demons spark a frenzy in their target. An unquellable rage rises within them, urging them to lash out at anyone around them. Maybe they see a nemesis from their past transposed over a friend, maybe they’re trapped in an unpleasant memory and trying desperately to fight free of it — whatever it takes, these demons relish provoking an uncontrollable need to fight.

And finally, some of them will outright inhabit the body of their target and control all of their actions and words. The recruit will be fully aware of their actions, but unable to prevent any of it. They can only watch as the entity within them does whatever it takes to disable the friends around them — treachery, outright attack, whatever is needed.

In each case the demons can be exorcised if you happen to be with someone with a knack for it, but otherwise impossible to drive out. The demon will remain in its host until someone else successfully destroys the rune it came from, which will finally kill it. The demons know this, of course, and will focus all effort on stopping any damage to their rune if it seems under threat.

The destruction of runes inside the castle will open a thin breach in the barrier spell over it, allowing those inside to slip out (or those outside to slip in). They’d better move fast, though, as the breach will heal itself again in about 30 seconds. Miss your chance and you’ll have to hunt down and destroy another rune. (NOTE: Characters trapped within the castle may escape with enough time to take part in the possession aspect of the event with the rest of the game.)

Anyone with a sense for magic can easily tell that the longer these runes go without being destroyed, the stronger their energy pulses. Eventually even ordinary folk will feel it. Townsfolk in the area become uneasy and restless, and proximity to intact runes will begin to fill you with a sense of dread and unnamed anxiety. Something is coming. Something that must be stopped before it can be let into the world.

THE SUMMONS

No matter how quickly the recruits move, there always seems to be one more rune to find, one more demon to defeat. And still that energy is building. When the town clock strikes 12 noon, the runes are at full strength, and they begin to launch into a coordinated ritual. A summoning spell, to be exact. The demons disappear, their energy sacrificed to bring forth something even worse.

All over the city portals begin to open and beasts begin to claw out of them. These are chimeras, straight from myth, each one half the size of a building. They have vast wings and three heads a piece, a lion, a goat, and a dragon — plus a live snake for a tail. The tail’s what you should really look out for. A bite from the snake turns the bitten limb into solid stone, which will take either three days or a splash of blood from one of the chimeras to return to flesh and blood.

It can be discovered that these monsters have an odd vulnerability to pure iron. If struck or stabbed by something made of iron their skin blisters and burns — enough of this could prove lethal to it. Or you can murder them the old fashioned way, if you’re good at killing giant monsters.

Attacking them isn’t the only thing to be worried about, though. They’re smashing down buildings and attacking indiscriminately, so some characters might find their time well-spent evacuating citizens rather than partaking in the fight directly. The structural damage might be inevitable, but it’s at least possible to mitigate loss of life.

THE AFTERWORD

A few hours after the final chimera is killed, un-summoned, exploded, whatever its fate might be, recruits will find their ALASTAIR-given jewelry coming to life. It looks like they’re finally breaking their silence. Words scrawl across whatever surface you see them on, written in ornate purple script:

On behalf of this land, thank you for your diligence and hard work. You have ten days to settle your affairs in this world before your return to Oska.

Just that, then the jewelry dies out again. It’s a bit of an underwhelming show of gratitude, but it gets the point across. Say goodbye to any non-recruit friends you’ve made here, get the last word in on any arguments with the locals, settle your bar tabs — or rack them up, as per inclination.

In ten days every ALASTAIR recruit will simply fade away into a white mist from the perspective of the locals. But until then the city is yours, and most importantly, safe.

OOC INFO

Welcome to the concluding log of Chantes! There's been quite a few pieces to it, so here's an overall list of the week's noteworthy plot posts:

Peaceseeking player plot

Loki and Ahad addressing Michel's disappearance

A request from Arthur

Event follow-up with the fate of Michel. Please note that regardless of Michel's end, we will be reading player suggestions and taking them into account for the overall fate of Chantes.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[This didn't seem good- it didn't seem like Rin at all, and Sieglinde knew that she didn't know everything there was about the older girl, but she considered herself to have spent enough time around her to know...

That there was something wrong about this.

And Sieglinde was already emptying the packets of her satchel, establishing a ring of herbs and salts around her.]

- what is your full name?

[If there was a misunderstanding here, Rin could laugh it off... but if she wasn't...

Sieglinde needed to know if the demon possessing her had access to her abilities and memories.]

[her full name. her full name. of course she knows her full name, it's rin tohsaka, she's a tohsaka, due limitless riches and prestige. to ask her to state her name is laughable, so laughable she feels as if she could break out into laughter—but is that her, or the strange creature coiling in the back of her mind, hidden like a shadow?

rin does not budge. she just stares. her gaze slips down and she watches the dust of herbs and the pale salt scatter over the floor. quietly, her chin tilts backwards... backwards, far enough to expose the long column of her neck.

her hand's grip against the metal baton's handle tightens, and she lifts the heavy bat flawlessly from the floor.]

... Rin Tohsaka. Try harder.

[She didn't laugh at all.

It wasn't right, the movements or the reaction, the "try harder". Sieglinde hadn't felt fear like this in a long time- fear for her own safety. She'd felt fear for others, Masamune and Kida in the cells of a Chantean prison, and fear for others... those who carried her, or protected her...

But there's no one to do that for her now- there's only herself, on unsteady feet and only with what demon wards they'd been able to concoct in the castle kitchens, with no way to actually know if they'd work on the demons of this world.

She swallowed nervously, her gaze frozen on the older girl as she moved nervously towards a potion bottle.]

You are not yourself, Rin-

[She couldn't be...]

Let us go from here, away from that rune-

[sieglinde will note that "rin" attends to her every move as she switches tactics to employ a potion, instead. there's a mysterious tension in the air, as though at any moment she would leap forward and strike out with the bludgeon.

the metal weapon swims up farther, and farther, testing sieglinde's courage to run or else act—

but at the critical point in time, when it's held out straight before her in a stiff arm and perfect to unleash an attack with, rin's other hand shoots out to grab the grip, slamming the thick metal weight into the rune with at least twice the force used previously. the wall cracks with a splitting sound. the rune flickers.]

Give me a break!

[more and more slams carry out one after the other, as rin subjects the rune to her fury. if it ever needed to be more obvious that her possession has left her, rin stands now with her back to sieglinde, almost too eager to make up for scaring her by not turning away from the wall until this is done.]

You really thought that would work?! Please! I'll make you burn in a place worse than Hell, for that!

[prim and proper rin tohsaka is beating the shit out of a wall in front of a small child.

when the rune breaks, it's nearly possible to envision the poor demon sobbing for forgiveness.]

[To run or to fight. These weren't things Sieglinde has the choice to choose from, not really. Funny- hadn't she told that to Gilgamesh when they'd first met. She was a witch who could not run away even if she wished to. From the truth, from her problems, or from violence or even death. With her broken and bound feet, the thin, slightly atrophied legs of someone who had almost never needed to walk under their own power...

To run was simply to have ones back to what would kill you. To make the most futile of desperate efforts before the end. So "run", Sieglinde knew, wasn't an option. Rin... She was possessed, and there was little perhaps she could do, but she had to do something. So the potion's cap went spinning across the floor as the little witch squared her stance, locked her knees, and pulled a dagger from her skirts, pouring the liquid hissing and steaming over the blade.]

I call upon the goddess who governs, whom I beseech to aid me now- !

[Her knees were shaking beneath her gown, though, as she raised her head, prepared to meet Rin, or whatever demon that had possessed her if need be, when-]

[Wait, what?

It happened so fast that Sieglinde was left frozen, knees quaking, steaming blade raised before her in an inexperienced defensive stance as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped. Ah... The back of her mind was still working, processing that it seemed Rin's mental strength had been enough to overcome the will of the demon, to regain control of her body, to be able to destroy the rune...

But words escaped her, even as she felt herself flooded with relief... But she ended up staying in that exact same pose as Rin Tohsaka went to town on a wall with a metal club.]

[finally, the rune appears fit to shatter and disappear. the wall of the castle also harbors a sizable gash in it that wasn't present initially, but. details. rin's sweating and huffing as she drops the bat heavily, thinking better to lash it to her waist again over clunking it on the floor.]

And if you try anything again while I'm around, you'll wish you were in the deepest layer of Hell.

[it's immature of her, but she has to leave the destroyed demon with one last piece of smack talk. rin could and can explain her actions in many ways. the fiend was an invisible one that attempted to prey on her mind. this would be dire normally, lacking her magical powers as she is, but rin still has the "magic" content and the tactics to stymie most demons—she just had to wait for the right time to make her move.

explaining herself drifts very far away from anything she wants to do when she spots sieglinde behind her, salt circled around her and a drenched dagger in her hands.]

It's... It's okay, now. It was always going to be okay.

[she wants to reassure sieglinde. she adopts the composure of a confident, trustworthy older mage instantly.]

I would never have let myself hurt you. Never—

[but the time is perhaps not the best for any comfort she wishes to pass on. the rune dies, the barrier breaches, and rin detects the opening to the outside from the magical energy rushing in to her through the entrance. she runs to sieglinde, carefully hoists her up over her shoulder, and before the younger girl can object, she's off—superpowered strength and speed granted by virtue of her magecraft.

her number one priority was always ensuring sieglinde, at least, escaped out of here alive.

it will be a bumpy ride, but eventually she'll meet the relative safety of kida's arms. rin zips right back... to the castle.]

EVENT ★ SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

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we can end it here!! c:!!