EVENT ★ THE SICK AND THE DEAD

[futurologists]

THE LAST HURRAH STATE OF WOODHURST Things are bad. There's more infected on the streets every day, ravenous since their would-be victims are all boarded up in their houses. Audentes members who are infected are likely feeling ravenous now, too, and some of them are far gone enough that they might need to be subdued. The city is in a state of panic, and the military has been given permission to use lethal force if necessary to stop people from leaving quarantine; keeping the virus contained is the number one priority of the federal government. As for the local government, all non-essential persons have been given leave until further notice for their own safety. The police department is still running, but they're in a constant war against the infected, forced to retaliate fatally more and more each day. They have no time to focus on any other crimes. Some citizens would be thankful if Audentes ran some "errands" for them — attempting to loot what's left of the stores, for example — or accompanied them outside as protection. Many people have family to see, some of them on the other side of the city, but it's nearly impossible to get there without a bodyguard of some sort. Someone could possibly make some cash this way, but there's something more important to do. MEANWHILE . . . The hospital, formerly chaotic, has devolved into outright bedlam. Theft and fights with the staff are increasingly common, and frenzied people are constantly demanding a cure the doctors don't have. Fortunately, it looks like Audentes does. Science-minded recruits have been hard at work creating a vaccine, which is widely available already, and a cure, which is rolling out slower. Administering the vaccine is risky, as it requires escorting people to the hospital without getting killed, as well as hoping the infected constantly wandering into the hospital have been taken care of. Administering the cure is even more so; it's highly recommended that the infected be unconscious before being given the cure. Even Bristol sufferers have to sleep! If not asleep, knocked out or otherwise sedated will do. It is absolutely not recommended for anyone to go at an angry infected with a syringe, but it's not like anyone's going to stop you... except maybe the infected. Escorts and security guards are necessary at the hospital. The police department has offered their services, with their main priority being the vaccine. Until everyone is vaccinated, the city can't afford to think of a way to safely administer a cure to the infected population, so anyone interested will have to do it themselves. Stock up on syringes at the hospital and get going! DR. PERCY For those more interested in seeking out the source of the virus rather than treating it, it's not difficult to surmise that "Doctor" Percy is hiding out in the sewers. Very deep in the sewers. He's apparently built a subterranean expansion: a series of winding, metallic tunnels with many forks and dead ends. Be careful when exploring, as you might run into one of Percy's robotic bodyguards before finding him. But once he is found, tucked away in a wide cavern . . . It seems he's preparing a hasty exit, with almost everything packed up and his human disguise dropped. Without it, he appears to be an alien of some sort, but not one that Audentes has run into yet. His skin is amber, smooth, and slimy. He has several pairs of wide-set eyes of different sizes, but no nose. His mouth extends far across his face, and below it is a wattle, not unlike that of a turkey. Peeling off him at all times are scales; apparently, he's shedding more than just his disguise. He's completely alone, without another Zymandis agent in sight, and not a particularly good fighter. Subduing or killing him would be easy, especially when it's several against one. When first encountered, he says nothing if spoken to, and only attempts to run. If attacked, he will summon several robot bodyguards -- seven-foot-tall bipedal constructs who only listen to Percy's commands, directed via remote control. They will fight to the death to protect their master, who will use the distraction to again try to run. It looks like the choices are clear: Audentes must choose whether to non-lethally subdue him or kill him. If subdued, what happens to him afterwards is still up in the air. Whatever your decision, it's highly likely you'll meet some resistance from the other members of the team, so get ready to argue. CYOA Each character will only be able to officially do one of the following choices. Confront Percy. Protect citizens. Spread the vaccine/cure. Other. For the sake of tallying, we ask that each individual character submit their choice separately rather than in a group. The Dr. Percy encounter will be open for 48 hours only, after which participants will receive the outcome, which will be based on their choices. The rest will be open for 7 days, will not receive a reply, and will only be used only for tallying purposes. Making a choice is not mandatory, but the choices will affect whether Audentes passes or fails the mission. You may of course thread out other options, but they will not count for the purposes of the pass/fail tally. Again, you may only officially choose one option per character. OOC NOTES Because this log is being posted late in the month, threads are eligible for March or April AC, but not both. Though the encounter with Percy will be a short one, the rest of this log will last two IC weeks. After that, characters will be immediately rifted away from Woodhurst without warning. THOSE WHO RECEIVE THE CURE: As the virus is not a degenerative disease, characters will suffer no lasting (physical) trauma caused by it. Side-effects from the cure may include nausea, weakness, vertigo, rash, brain fog, numbness of the face, insomnia, dizziness, fatigue, heart palpitations, or vomiting. This may last for anywhere up to four weeks. THOSE WHO RECEIVE THE VACCINE: Side-effects may include irritability and hunger for anywhere up to four weeks. Questions about Woodhurst can be submitted to this thread. Questions about the game in general should be directed to the FAQ. You may submit mission ideas or player plots at any time. All bounties listed with a 3/25 due date are now closed. There are two open bounties remaining on the Bounty Board, which will need to be turned in by the end of the mission on 8 April. ( 1 2 )

Comments

binges the entire thing in one sitting tbh

[hundredths]

[This is a lucky break really, he's usually not the most astute on the best of days either...it's ok Aqua, he isn't judging.......

He wasn't expecting what she does next, though, in lieu of explaining out loud; instead she's raising a hand, and the energy that's been rather feeble on the edge of his perception of her surges very briefly...before there's a warmth on his cheek, and--ah?]

Oh-- [He hadn't even realized there was a scratch there......but now it sure is gone. Before Mob can spend more than a moment marveling at this, however, Aqua is slumping over, and Mob staggers a bit under the additional weight. Fortunately for the both of them, he manages to not topple completely over, but it's still kind of a near thing...alas, this noodle life.

Never mind that, though?? Far more importantly--] No, it's okay...I think I understand now. [Magic...well, why not? There's been a lot of other things happening anyway. Mob might as well accept this for now too. Especially here...] It seems--that you're running very low. I...

[Mob straightens as much as he's able under her renewed weight, glancing around. Oh, good, there's a bench over there...] I think maybe I could help with that. Let's sit down over there for a moment...

s a m e

[keeper]

(( also i promise i will get back to cats!!! >n<9 ))

[ His offer comes as a bit of a surprise, but she doesn't voice any objections as he carefully guides her over to the nearby seat. (...She won't admit to it, but it's a huge relief to be off her feet. Her entire body feels like its encased in lead, heavy and stiff, but she holds her posture as well as she can. No need to make her friend here worry more than he ought to...) ]

...You can help...?

[ She's so drained even her usual, metaphysical senses are turned off, body culling all extraneous functions for the sole sake of survival. (But she closes her eyes briefly, reaches out with what little focus she can muster... And she can sense a sort of Light emanating from him. Soft and gentle at the surface, but harboring something deeper and much brighter within that she simply doesn't have the energy to grasp.) ]

[hundredths]

((AND WHAT A CUTE CAT TAG IT WAS......))

[Mob hovers with a hand on her arm until she's properly seated, a bit unwilling to leave Aqua completely unsupported with her most recent display of exhaustion just then. Ah, probably, it'd be a lot more convenient to use his telekinesis to make things easier...but the notion never does occur to him. All his astuteness has been used up vaguely channeling Reigen for approximately ten seconds, apparently. But well, at least it gets them this far...

Once she's settled on the bench, Mob opts to sit beside her, shoulder close to hers in case she ends up needing one to lean on. Very presumptuous, that...but he's sidetracked by too many thoughts to worry so much about politeness at this precise moment.]

Yes. I think... [Though he's only really done it once before, hasn't he? With Reigen, that time...and he'd inadvertently poured in all of his energy, in that instant. The whole affair had been kind of emotionally charged and intuitive. But here, with a clearer head and an awareness of the ability now...

If Aqua lets him, he very carefully takes one of her hands between his, frowning very faintly. Normally he'd ask, honestly, but she seems in such dire straits...he probably ought to try as soon as he can?] I've only done this once so far. And I've never--met somebody with magic. But it sort of feels like it might be almost the same...if it's an energy? So I'd like to try helping you with some of mine.

[It's surprisingly almost imperceptible, really, especially as careful as he's being right now--a normal human (like Reigen) would not notice it at all whatsoever. But perhaps to someone with Aqua's perception, even tired as it is, there's the faintest sense of something slowly filtering in, like sand through a sieve. If the sand was psychic energy, and the sieve was their hands. Whether it'd do anything as far as replenishing Aqua's own reserves, though...] ...Is this okay so far...?

[keeper]

(( ALKSJDFLK no ur words are just fine!! ALSO WAILS SO LOUDLY, HE'S HOLDING HER HAND...... just let me die ))

[ She blinks down as he delicately takes her hand in his, her fingers curling ever so lightly by instinct. With the contact, she can feel his power much clearer—

(It's... comforting. Warm.)

Enough so to lull her eyes briefly closed. She sits as still as she can as he begins the transfer of energy...

...Quiet but permeating, she can sense his power twining with hers, bolstering her strength and her spirit. She breathes in deep, pushing oxygen far into her lungs, down her chest, wills healing into her injured abdomen.

The curse resists at first, like the clenched maw of a beast, but begins to loosen its hold, barbs and thorns slowly unstitching from her flesh. (It's not without a great deal of pain, and before she realizes it she has a white-knuckled grip on his fingers. She does her best to relax, to keep her hand from trembling while she's at it.) ]

I'm all right... Are you...?

[ She glances back up at him, brow knit in concern. (He is dealing with foul magic here, though she herself is the medium...) ]

[hundredths]

((NO OMO DON'T DIE, WE STILL HAVE SO MUCH PURENESS YET TO THREAD.......))

[Comforting and warm would certainly be one way to put it--that's what he's sort of trying to be at the moment, anyway, as well as he can manage. Unbidden, there might be very small trace amounts of emotion too, as there always is when it comes to psychic powers...but fortunately Mob tends to keep them well under lock and key, when he can, and the most prominent thing to glean at the moment is simply a sense of concern towards Aqua's wellbeing at the moment.

He's never healed anything before--never thought to try, and is pretty sure he couldn't anyway--but like this, he finds he's sort of getting a secondhand sense of it anyway. The stubborn clinging of the curse is tangible as well, a remnant of some strange and foreign power that almost wouldn't be out of place on a cursed artifact someone might bring to Reigen's office. But, charged with his own energy now, Aqua's healing powers seem to be having quite a bit of effect over it...and it starts letting go, bit by bit.

Mob almost doesn't actually notice the numbing tightness of her grip in his hand until Aqua loosens it, letting feeling flood back in again. Mob blinks, first down at their hands and then up to her; the inflow of his psychic energy, gentle but steady up to this point, begins to ease considerably but does not entirely cut off just yet. Not until he's certain she'll be able to take it from here on her own, anyway...]

Yes, I am. This isn't much...so it's fine. You can take as much as you need to. ...Are you starting to feel better now?

[keeper]

(( rip me, goodbye... ))

[ Well, it's good to know she isn't taxing him with this problem, but regardless she gently pulls away from him as soon as she feels even remotely fixed. ]

I'm feeling much better. I don't know how I can thank you...

[ She has nothing to offer him at this point that he'd really need. (Perhaps she might escort him somewhere, but judging from how much he's aided her with minimal effort on his part... She has an inkling he can hold his own against the infected.)

Still, it wouldn't hurt to ask his itinerary. He's still new, still fairly young, and it doesn't sit well with her to take off without making sure he has some direction to go in regardless of how competent he is. ]

I should get to the hospital... Where will you be going from here? [ And just in case he doesn't have anywhere in particular in mind, ] You're welcome to join me, of course.