[Open] The Mark of the Herald

[thewatchers]

Mark of the Herald Part I
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Despite certain disruptive events and ominous visions in the preceding month, August is seemingly still free of any problems.

That’s quick to change, however. Starting from the third of the month, strange, circular marks begin to appear on human students around the school - and, indeed, humans around the world. Those affected begin to feel incurably drowsy, something that no magical or mundane solution can seem to cure or relieve; eventually, they’ll fall asleep entirely, whether they want to or not, and enter a state of magical stasis. Not even nonhumans are immune, though whether they’re marked seems to be much more erratic.

Those who remain awake or are otherwise spared by the mark are free to do as they wish - the Academy won’t ask them to do more than keep themselves safe. But where each marked person falls in slumber, a portal will form; a strange tear in reality, offering glimpses of a surreal, nightmarish plane that differs vastly from individual to individual. One thing is certain; the cause of a victim’s seemingly endless sleep and these portals are linked somehow, and the only way to find out exactly how is to go through...and the only ones capable of doing so are those who are still awake.

This log can be used as a catch-all for event-related threads. The information for this event is here.

Comments

Adriel | OC | CW: references to torture and eye injury, body horror

[thaumatrope]

[Even if someone steps through this portal it feels like waking up after being knocked unconscious.

They'll 'wake up' leaning against the back wall of a small dimly lit room. It's dirty and smells strongly of rotten flesh. A metal chair has been placed in the center of the room and is bolted to the floor. Between the restraints on it and the bloody tools on a nearby table doesn't paint a good picture.

If the sudden, near-consuming feeling of needing to get out that you'll experience doesn't do it first. The iron door leading out is unlocked but the blood on it suggests someone was clawing at it. Someone who wasn't as strong as you...or as lucky.

Outside is a stiffening presence, a long hallway with two wooden doors at the either end. There are more iron doors around the one you just exited but going to take a look is pointless. Or at least still-lingering feeling of get out suggests it's pointless. It's just a feeling after all and you don't have to listen to it.

From here there are three choices: explore the other rooms behind the iron doors or choose between the wooden doors at either end of the hallway.

So what will you do?]

[ooc: feel free to PM me either at plurk or discord (zeetee/zeetee#7812) for any questions you may have. I'll match prose or action.]

[stavros]

How vile.

[Kokoro grimaces, thankful she always has her weapons on her. She tries another iron door, ignoring the foreboding feeling and keeping one hand on her whip.]

[emergensirations]

They grimace and their eyes open one by one. They know the smell but the room is new. If they were human, they would scramble back in fear. They start to get to their feet only to gasp then, instead. They're themself. Not the doll, not their old hosts but themself. And... formed?? No, they weren't old enough for that, not strong enough. They knew--

They shake their head. Now isn't the time for it. They push themself up the rest of the way to their feet, looking over the bloody tools. They go to grab one, then pause. Are they really sure it would be safer with a weapon? Are they sure it wouldn't make things worse?

Their clawed hand drops and they head for the hall. They know that pointless feeling well, but they've always pushed against it. They'll do it again now.

[alreadyhuman]

[ The room, its feeling -- it fills Vivi with fear. It reminds him far too much of his previous experiences, the memories that even now trickle back to him in the night, to make him even remotely comfortable.

But he's already here, so he has to push on. He faces forward, because there's someone he wants to find, someone he wants to help, and because a dream like this...

He can't help but feel sad, too.

He creeps down the hallway, and pushes open an iron door. All the doors are unlocked, and even that fills him with unease. ]

[kept_his_letters]

She'd been warned. Back home, she'd been told that things were dangerous here. She didn't know the extent, of course, no one would ever actually tell her anything but she thought she understood.

As she wakes and gasps sharply, a hand coming up to cover her mouth, she realizes she was wrong.

She shakes. She nearly retches. Something terrible happened and she needs to do something but what, what, what...?

Get out, says something, either inside her or out. She doesn't question it, simply going to grasp for the door and trying to touch as little blood as she can.

Sherlock Holmes | CW: Blood, decay

[improbablenotimpossible]

[When someone steps through the portal, the smell of old books, incredibly aromatic, apple-like scent, woodsmoke, and murky water, as they found themselves in a circular library that has clearly seen better days, with spiral staircases leading up to several floors and landings above them. Faint green moths flutter around, lighting on piles of scattered books, their wings shifting colors, blurring, before returning to their original hue and flying off again.

In the center of the library is a small waterfall that empties into a stagnant pool, and all around, growing from the walls, cracks in the floor, and even the underside of stairs are gnarled trees heavy with bright red, apple-like fruits.

The obvious route seems to be going up, but there are a few bookshelves that rests oddly against the wall... curious

OOC: feel free to contact on discord for questions]

[hatesdeerstalkers]

[The moment he'd felt the uncharacteristic drowsiness - at night? - he'd known something was wrong, and immediately set out to go find the vampire.

...Which led to him seeing the portal - and with a small moment of hesitation and not a little sighing, he stepped through into the library.

A small wrinkle crosses his face as he hears that waterfall, shaking his head and looking around.]

...Of course it's a library. I suppose that attic had to upgrade sometime, hm?

[Of course, he can't help but notice the green moths - and his own butterflies suddenly generate, as if curious to meet this new kind of semi-familiar being.

He says nothing - it'll be good to see the reaction of the creatures to something he could lose with no risk involved - and steps to the oddly resting bookshelves, looking to see if any books catch his eye.]

[stavros]

[So. About that fruit. Miss Eats Wall Food is sniffing at it and contemplating what it is. She reaches for one and then just... pokes it cautiously to see if it doesn't, I don't know, explode. If not, she'll try and break one open.]

It looks like an apple, but...

[alreadyhuman]

[ Vivi wanders through the library. Normally, he'd stop to play with the moths, or investigate the trees and the bookshelves leaning against the wall, but he's driven by a strange sense of urgency that he can't explain, even to himself.

He climbs the staircase, instead, almost tripping in his attempts to ascend as fast as possible. ]

[subconmodo]

[Let it never be said that Avery is one to turn his nose up at a trip to a library--even ones accessed via a portal next to an unconscious colleague.

Maybe even especially those accessed via unconscious-colleague-portal.

It's a bit dingy and dull, definitely in need of a remodeling or two, but he can't help but find the place almost homey, the sort of library he could easily spend several hours curled up in a chair with a good book.

He plucks the first one he sees from the nearest bookshelf and then wanders over to one of the trees to examine the fruit, reaching out with one finger to poke at it.]

[hattersgonnahat]

[She should've been more careful, before just walking into portals without knowing where they went. That's how so many got stuck in the Time Rift before.]

[But what waited on the other side was actually...not the worse thing. It was a library that looked a little run-down, neglected but would've looked amazing at one time. And the fruit smells weren't bad either.]

Hellooooo... [Puella walks closer to the spiral staircases. Thinking if no one is down here then they might be up there.] Does someone live here?

The Top Floor

[improbablenotimpossible]

[The creatures tearing the trees and lashing out at the 'intruders' made a valiant attempt to keep them from reaching the final flight of stairs but to no avail.

Upon reaching the top floor, they would realize they weren't the only ones who entered Sherlock's dreams, and what's more, the floor seemed to be an accumulation of knowledge ravaged by the same forces that ruined the floors below.

A giant astro-lobe is the centerpiece of the floor, the star-bedecked glass exterior was shattered, and the earth inside collapsed on itself, water pouring from the bottom to the floors below - the source of the waterfall feature.

On top of the damaged display was an unconscious and very familiar man, black blood dripping from his body over the glass. Coiled around the base was a black snake as long as a sequoia and about as wide as a barrel, with glowing red adder like markings. The Moths immediately flew towards the man as the snake whips it's head, hissing at the intruders!

Be on your guard!]

Kokoro Belmont

[stavros]

[You're in the hall of what looks to be a Baroque castle, light coming in from towering stained glass windows depicting a variety of scenes from fun (an ornate tower of food like they had at the grad banquet last year) to painful (that one there might remind you of that time the UN authorities bombed a Herald) to one that simply looks like a large hand slipping away from a small one. The ceiling is covered in a mural of people from the 11th century to the present, engaged in battle with all manner of daemons, monsters, and the occasional humans. There are also a few paintings about that depict similar subjects.

On the otherwise shiny tile floor, there's a series of footprints that look to have been worn in through repetition, leading to a tall stone staircase and a door at the top. There's also a hanging chandelier with something shining from it, if you can get up there.]

[silksoul]

[ Hornet passes through the corridors with near-silent footsteps, taking note of the windows through which some eerie light shines. This sombre place reminds her of a palace's halls, an empty, echoing corridor she has only distant childhood memories of.

Being herself, she spots the shining item on the chandelier fairly quickly, and decides to investigate. She hooks a loop of silk onto the chandelier itself and swings herself up in short order to inspect the curious object at closer range. ]

The Knight

[voidbug]

[As you walk in, you see nothing. You can hear nothing. You seem to remember this is how it's always been, along with a strange sensation of falling.]

[You can try to explore this blind area as much as you want, but you probably won't find much.]

[Fortunately, sound does exist after all. As you take your first step, there is a loud crunch. You are clearly standing on top of...something.]

[...]

[Perhaps it is best that you can't see anything.]

[soft_focus]

[Well, Reira's here. Of course she's here. She wanted to play with the cool new friend, and then the cool friend was asleep, and also there were portals, and.

Well.

She's super duper here.

Fortunately though, she has her sprites! All four are pretty handy right now, at the very least helpful enough to do a bit of glowing. ...Not that she sees much.

...

She wants to try and see what she's standing on though...]

[emergensirations]

[You step into a dark yet shining world, like a night sky with too many lights and stars. The darkness resolves itself and you get the distinct feeling that you're not alone, before catching that motion. Then, before you, is a mirror. Many, many mirrors, in fact.

You find yourself in something of a cavern, only in place of walls or ceiling, are more mirrors, flat and adjoining to each other in jagged splits, like the innards of a diamond. The deeper in you go, the more likely it is that the mirrors will show something other than your reflection as it is now. What or who makes up your fractures?

Behind you, you hear something that might have been a growl. But it's probably nothing. Up ahead, the path splits. Left or right? Which do you choose?]

[spelleton]

[ The growl puts him on edge, but making a choice is more important right now. The mirrors reflect facets he keeps his silence on; the grieving child, the tormented spectre, the young man who no longer exists. They shift and warp, moving as he moves. Of his true reflection, nothing can be seen yet.

He looks between the two ways, and then chooses one at random. Left it is. ]

Jonathan | Warnings to be Added as Necessary

[standless]

[The first thing you notice, will be sand. It should be, at least, given how much of it is around. It is everywhere. As far as can be seen- sand, sand, sand. Dunes of it, and yet after some focus maybe that isn't all that's there.

Immediately of course that's it. Sand, and a thick, pressuring haze that isn't quite a fog, grey and dreary and choking on the lungs. Distantly, dogs howl. Distantly still, someone seems to laugh- but as quickly as one hears that, the sound is gone.

The immediate surroundings are a foggy, foggy night surrounded by dunes of sand. But there's something else in the distance.

Buildings perhaps? They seem strangely Victorian in nature, nothing like the sand would imply.

The source of Howls?

Or maybe it's a figure...Beady Eyes, glaring from the dark.

Perhaps it's better to run from the latter.

Ah, but, it seems after all there is more than sand, and howls, and laughter in the dark.

Are those vines?]

[stavros]

[Kokoro raises the collar of her scarf to cover her nose and mouth. She looks around, hand going to the whip on her belt. This is why she always goes around the school armed.

She glares at the laughing figure, aura of terror or not, and begins to follow the trail of vines.]

I fear none of this, and not any of you.

Ekkehardt | general cws for death/morbid imagery and themes

[spelleton]

[ Ekkehardt's portal can be found, predictably, in the infirmary. Unlike the last time he collapsed, however, he had the sense to at least sit at his desk. Perhaps someone else would use a bed, but he's too responsible not to leave the spaces vacant for an emergency.

Entering his dream will greet you with a seemingly endless plain of gravestones, lit by a scarlet moon. A few landmarks stand out; a mausoleum, a gallows, and, scattered here and there, open graves.

The mausoleum and the gallows will both take a bit of walking to get to; they loom, ominously, in the distance. The graves are simply open wounds in the earth, showing only darkness within.

Where to? ]

[subconmodo]

[Avery's been briefed on the situation, he knows about the link between the portals and the sleepers, and so when he sees one right next to Ekkehardt, he doesn't think twice before jumping in.

A determined scowl on his face, he scans the landmarks he can see, and immediately makes the decision to head to the mausoleum.

Graves just seem too simple for Ekke.]

Gunvolt | Future Warnings for propaganda, imprisonment, experimentation, and death

[shockingblue]

[Gunvolt's exhaustion seemingly caught up with him; having delved into a few portals around campus without knowing the risks... well, that certainly caught up to him, along with the general fatigue of overworking himself. Gunvolt had taken a seat in the gaming club's couch to take a break, but... a deep sleep befell him, creating a portal on the spot.

Those who enter it will find themselves thrown into a grungy alleyway, cramped, and dirty, the smell of big-city pollution in the air. The alley is dark, and the sky overhead is impossible to see through a thick mixture of heavy, gray fog. The only light coming in seems to be from outside the alley... perhaps, the lights of distant streetlamps.

Once one leaves the alley, they will find themselves on a street of a city; one that is densely built and populated. Buildings and skyscrapers tower through what little of the skyline can be made out through the fog. The light from the alley was not from streetlamps, but rather, tacky neon signs on all of these buildings. They add color and some faint illumination through the dense weather, but they bring no real comfort; a feeling of sleazy uneasiness permeates the empty, trash filled street. The neon signs themselves are written in nothing but nonsense gibberish; bearing some resemblance to kanji, but it is impossible to discern meaning from any of the symbols that illuminate shuttered storefronts. A savvy individual could probably guess this looked like some sort of red-light district, but at the same time, it was deserted, eerily quiet save for the electric buzzing of the lights.

Scattered around both the ground and taped to the walls and windows of the shut businesses are what look like various posters. Like the neon signs, the text and symbols on them is unreadable, but the pictures on them speak volumes. Almost all of them depict most humans positively, in a frankly unsettling way. Evocative images of humans standing above fae, daemons, and other supernatural creatures. It didn't take a genius to figure out the messaging here, and none of it was good. However, the only conflict would be that there are some humans who seem to be put with the fae, daemons, and such... but it was unclear why without the text.

Once a few of these posters had been looked over, a bright light in the distance ignited, piercing through some of the fog. It was painful to look at directly for long, but its intensity faded after a few moments. Still bright enough to pierce through the creepy fog, a massive, ominous skyscraper, almost a space elevator, cut higher than the others loomed before anyone who set foot inside the portal.

A bolt of crimson lightning flashed through the sky in the distance, giving the massive tower the appearance of shadowy wings for but an instant as the neon signs in the street flickered. It was as if the tower was... beckoning to them.]

Re: Gunvolt | Future Warnings for propaganda, imprisonment, experimentation, and death

[bejustorbedead]

[He crinkles his nose, the stank of modern cities never sat well with him, and makes it much harder to breathe.

The images weren't new, but the celebratory tone was unsettling to say the least. Before he could put to mind what it reminded him off, the dazzling light nearly blinded him.

The message was clear, he nods grimly as he heads towards the tower]

Tobias | cw violence, I guess??

[hawkwardness]

[A forest at night, only a quarter moon and the stars for light, filtering down through the leaves. The trees must be ancient, incredibly tall and thick... or perhaps it's the observer of this dream who has shrunk, because even the leaves are larger than normal. Imagine being two feet tall, if that, and lost in the deep dark woods. Smaller than a raccoon, weightwise. They'll eat meat if they can, won't they? As will cats of all sizes. Bobcats. Lynxes. Able to see perfectly well in this slow light, able to climb trees, deadly quiet monsters...

And the owls. Owls, who glide through the air soundlessly, who can see a mouse's nose twitch from a hundred feet away. Owls, who can't be escaped even with the power of flight. Owls the size of you, talons large enough to impale a person and snap bone with their sheer strength, before the feasting begins.

An owl hoots in the tree above your head.]

[stavros]

[Well. Being shrunken wasn't exactly on Kokoro's to-do list, especially not with a giant bird overhead and a crushing feeling from the atmosphere telling her that she should be afraid of it.

She steps back cautiously and tries to hide out of sight, pressing herself against the tree.]

Puella | CWs to be added whenever necessary

[hattersgonnahat]

[The dreamscape was nothing all that unusual, all things considered. No dreams about her future spaceship this time however, this one was more grounded to life, almost like walking into an old photograph. Perhaps it had something to do with her falling asleep in the library. So close to the brink of something...]

[It was a calm but snowy night, somewhere in the streets of Victorian England. It wasn't that incredibly late yet but there was no one else outside, though likely due to the nature of dreams. One could simply just explore the land, take in all the sights, and just enjoy themselves for a bit. But the longer one stays, the more things seemed...different. The dream will sometimes fizzle and distort, before it corrects itself. Faded apparitions of people going about their day will appear and disappear, almost like watching two images overlap each other. A recording worn out from age.]

[But well, maybe you don't have to think about that too much. Someone just zipped right past you. Someone that clearly wasn't an apparition, and also familiar. Puella.]

[She had not seen you though. She was too focused on the trail of something or another. And with this being a dream, her parkour skills were even more showier than usual. This was a dream after all, she can do whatever she wants.]

[stavros]

Puella?

[Kokoro runs down the street, even if Puella's clearly going to outrun her. Whatever the kid's after, she should be chasing, too. And if Puella starts jumping on buildings and such... well, Kokoro needs to get better at that stuff anyway.]

Becky — CW: dream will involve imprisonment, possible violence

[lifeforced]

[Becky is sprawled out on the couch in the common room of Lumière's fourth floor, looking like she'd flopped into it pretty hard rather than managing to lie herself down on it normally; the exhaustion had overtaken her pretty suddenly while she was putting some things into the fridge there, and she only barely managed to avoid taking a nosedive into the floor.

It didn't take long for the portal to appear.

---

Anyone who enters that portal will find themselves standing outside at night, facing toward an old office building, with nearby signs being unreadable, their letters scrambling and any other imagery on them similarly unable to decide what it wants to be. The area surrounding the building has the look of fuzzy static, perhaps suggesting that the dreamer doesn't actually know what the rest of this place looks like, and probably making it clear that the only direction to go from here is inside.

Once inside, it's pretty dark, with most light fixtures lacking their bulbs or tubes. One could possibly mistake the place for being abandoned because of that, but looking in one direction, some actual light can be seen from around a corner. In the other direction, some kind of noise can be heard coming from one of the rooms down the hall, but it's hard to tell what it is just yet.]

[nor_iron_bars]

[Humming idly, Jail wanders along through the dream, a half-remembered tune half-out-of-tune under her breath.]

[The noise raises an eyebrow, leaves her curious.]

What's behind door number two, then...?

[Inching forward, she peers down the hall.]

[heromedal]

A

Rex doesn't sleep easy, not naturally and certainly not when supernatural forces are trying to bring it upon him. The second he felt the unnatural effects reaching him, he was doing something about it. It won't do him any good in the long run, but someone might catch him shortly before his downfall in the infirmary- injecting himself with an ungodly amount of adrenaline.

B b is for bad

The realm crafted from Rex's subconscious is... wrong. It's at first glance a simple small town at night, distinctly lacking in people. But every seam, every intersection of two points, be that a wall, or paving slabs or screws in a surface slowly leaks pitch black tar. Even the door the visitor came through takes some pushing, as thick strands stick to each other and dribble down the edges. Everyone has to watch their step here and think twice about where they put their hands around here.

The only source of light is an abnormally tall lamppost in the direct centre of the town, shedding long shadows everywhere. Towards the outskirts, away from the light, soft music can be indistinctly heard. In one of the buildings, what seems to be some kind of warehouse a mighty crashing can be heard as if something large is trashing the place.

B

[spelleton]

Ekkehardt follows the music first; the crashing seems like something he'll have to fight, which he's not entirely in the mood for. He moves as fast as he can to avoid even the dream-possibility of being stuck; having his movement hampered in any way, even in a dream, doesn't sit well with him.

[nor_iron_bars]

I. feel the rhythm in my cold heart
[In the chaos of all the events surrounding the marks, it can be easy to miss something at first:]

[Namely, the fact that Jailbreak seems to have disappeared entirely.]

[This impression will last up until someone picks up on the very faint sound of snoring, and carefully follows it to the grate covering one of the very, very few ventilation ducts in the campus buildings large enough for an actual human being to fit inside.]

[Sure enough, closer examination will reveal a lock or two of pale silver hair dangling out through the slats of the grate, and removing it will reveal one (1) trashy crimegirl slumped against the ductwork, completely unconscious, mark on the back of her left hand shining brightly enough to be seen through her work gloves.]

[Someone should probably move her.]


II. i've been living on the far side
[Moving through the portal into Jailbreak's dreamscape will take you into a landscape that seems almost deceptively simple.]

[There's nothing but pale grey smoke or mist as far as the eye can see, obscuring anything that might be present, a blank and empty world... except for the single massive structure in the center.]

[It's an unbelievably huge birdcage made of dark iron and pale, clear green glass, dangling down on a massive chain that goes so far up into the sky that the other end of it can't be seen.]

[At least, it was... but something seems to have shattered it, cracking the cage open and leaving a massive hole in the side, damaging it so badly that it lists at an angle as it hangs from the chain. Upon closer examination, what you're standing on proves not to be solid ground, but a large piece of debris from the breaking of the cage, floating gently in the air around it.]

[You can navigate to the cage itself by hopping from piece to piece, travelling across the little islands of glass shards and chunks of twisted metal to reach the source, but examining it will only confirm what the feeling of emptiness in this place has been trying to tell you all along:]

[Jailbreak isn't here. She left a very long time ago.]

[OOC: As discussed in planning, Jail has left her own dreamscape and can be found wandering around the dreams of others at random. If you want her to show up in your dreams, or explore hers while she's out, feel free to let me know.]

I

[kept_his_letters]

Coco Rivera was told that this was a prestigious and wealthy school. People from all walks of magical life honed their skills here in an effort to stop nightfall. This included some of the most talented and intelligent people in the world. This was the place of the brave, the incredible, people far beyond her.

What she didn't expect was that "beyond her" might mean "in an air vent". Having removed the vent, she now stares at a grown adult woman.

"Uuuh... Señora? Hey... Are you okay?"

[hatesdragons]

[Whoever enters the dream will likely end up on their back, staring up into the hazy grey sky. The air smells faintly of smoke. Upon moving, they will realize that they are laying in a pile of orange flowers that tinkle slightly upon being rattled. Do not worry; they are not poisonous in this state, but they will shed orange pollen that will float through the air and mix with the smoke, creating orange streaks within and alongside the grey wisps.

Once regaining their footing, the guest will see that there is a stone path winding through endless fields of orange flowers, some seemingly on fire, and others releasing their pollen into the air. There is a blue glow counteracting the orange and grey coming from the far end of the path, and what seem to be faint figures standing on the path ahead...]

[spelleton]

[ These flowers are familiar, in a foggy way. He remembers a mask, some kind of story, a bloodied knight in a forest...

He spends longer than he'd willingly admit lying on his back in the field of flowers before finally pushing himself to his feet. After that, there's nothing to do but follow the path to the figures. As he walks, he drags parts of his dream with him; the sound of chains dragging haunts his steps.

He calls out as he gets closer, in the hope of potentially making this easy. ]

Emille?