daybreakacademy | EVENT - TO CRAFT THE NIGHT

Entry tags:

EVENT - TO CRAFT THE NIGHT

TO CRAFT THE NIGHT
Log Comm | Network Comm | OOC Comm | Navigation

The Facility is mired to humanity only in the ways in which it seemed necessary, but beyond that it was wholly alien. An edifice of writhing black masses forming a cruel simulacra of a building, with the texture of the walls rough and leathery, pulsing as if blood flowed through them but ice-cold to the touch. When viewed from above, the facility is a black pentagon with an intricate pentagram drawn in red fluid that seems to be flowing through it as if blood through veins.

Those stalking the halls will find the place awash with a dread psychic energy. Entering the compound will immediately give a sense of nakedness, as if your every secret has been torn from you and laid bare to ageless minds. They know you. They know everything about you. They find you disgusting, and the secrets you hold in your heart to be weak. And they will use every single one to make you suffer.

The beings that dwell here are not mortal. They are barely comparable to living beings as you might know. Beings of writhing tentacles, inscrutable aims, and an overwhelming hatred for mankind and the sun that fuels them, these creatures hail from the Deep Lands, an alien realm spoken of only in the darkest, cruelest of Outland legends. To most mortals, Outland creatures are what nightmares are made of. The beings that dwell within this dread edifice are that which give nightmares to the nightmares.

The facility seems to hum with intense psychic power at all times. This immense collection of power appears to have but one purpose. The creatures that dwell within are channeling their thoughts into a specific purpose, an overriding goal and duty to bring about the end of the sun and the glorious Nightfall. A combination of an abject hatred of humans and sunlight is honed into a dread song that gives glory to the end and to darkness eternal. Its lyrics are beyond human ken and to hear it is to risk madness, the words ripping and tearing at sanity and reason and substituting it with something utterly inhuman.

With the horrific powers at play, even a seasoned force would be fully outmatched. Fortunately, Daybreak is well-prepared for most any eventuality. As with Xelvak before, the Radiance of a Flame can cast aside and defend against the horrific powers these alien beings bring to bear. Radiance can heal the effects of the mucus, as well as help shield the minds of those within it, keeping them safe from the incapacitation the Flayers are so fond of employing. This, aided by magic rings of mind protection, should allow the Daybreak team to fight back, although it will do little to blunt the other considerable psychic capabilities of their foes.

While the mission is to capture the facility, Daybreak acknowledges that may not be possible. If things look bad, the strike teams are ordered to destroy whatever they can and escape in the confusion. While this mission is critical, even more important is that everyone survive.

A. BREACH THE GATES
Initial scouting endeavors have proven next to useless. The immense psychic power within the compound ensures that any intelligent being that enters into the facility’s airspace will be immediately detected and disposed of. Several advance teams have not returned, and are presumed dead - or worse. As the strike force approaches, the facility will be completely locked down, with a psychic barrier of palpable blue energy formed around it. With no visible entrances, the initial assault will require Daybreak forces to punch holes into the facility so that they may gain entrance.

B. STALK THE HALLS
Within the compound, Daybreak will come face-to-face with some of the most inscrutable and dread creatures who dwell within the Deep Lands. Known as Flayers, these beings stand as humans do, but in the place of a human head is a squid-like face with lashing tentacles where their mouth should be. Possessed of incredibly psychic ability, a Flayer can read your innermost thoughts as you might read a book. Any intrusions to the compound will be met with swift retribution, the Flayers unleashing blasts of psychic energy that overrides their victim’s ability to control their body. Thus incapacitated, the Flayers will then proceed to grip the victim’s face with their tentacles and insert them into the victim’s nose and mouth, where they will proceed to consume the brain that lies within as one might a choice morsel from a five star restaurant.

With the protections in place, the Flayers will quickly respond with other tactics. Powerfully telekinetic, they can attack with powerful psychic force, hurling objects at immense speed and even snapping limbs with a precise blast of psychic energy. They will also summon thralls, Daybreak forces from the advance party who have been captured and enslaved. So long as the Flayers hold the compound, the Thralls will obey their collective will without question, fighting without concern to their lives with the sole purpose of slaying any who stand against their masters.

In the cases of both the Flayers and the Thralls, they will shy away from a Candle’s Radiance. The Thralls in particular will slow and stay their movements within a Candle’s light, although the Flayers will quickly sweep them away before they can remain within the light for long.

C. SEVER THE VEINS
The Flayers are not the only danger held within the compound. Traveling through the blood-red fluid that ruins through the structure are twisted eel-like creatures with lamprey-like mouths and several fins splitting from their core bodies. These creatures, like the Flayers who roam the halls are possessed of immense psychic power, and will stalk any trespassers through their fluid-filled tubes. While they will not make any offensive moves from within their tubes, they do possess the ability to conquer a victim’s mind, taking control of them for a brief period of time which they will use to disrupt a team, making them easy prey for the Flayers. Should their tubes be breached, they will attack with lashing tentacles, flinging a horrific gray mucus that can inflict a horrific disease upon its victim, stealing away their ability to breath air and making the act of existing on dry land as corrosive as if they had been submerged in a vat of acid. Only by being submerged will they be able to breath and survive.

Once exposed, the creatures will work to return to the tubes, even if they are spilling fluid. If removed from the fluid entirely, they will begin to dry up rapidly. Exposure to Radiance will hasten the effect, burning away their mucus and causing their skin to dry and shrivel at a rapid pace.

D. GRACE OF SALVATION
With the palpable danger this operation presents, Daybreak has wisely held some of its finest in reserve. Support teams, many comprised of multiple Faculty members and Graduate Students, will be released as part of the second wave to provide healing and extraction. These teams will sweep the halls after the first wave, providing aid and extricating their allies from danger.

[OOC Note: For this prompt, if your team isn’t specifically a second-wave support team you may include a prompt where your team gets into trouble and needs to be saved]

E. LARVAL HARBINGER
With the facility in disarray, Daybreak will push grimly forward to the center of the compound. Here, they will find the Herald... or at least the being that will one day become the Herald. Here is the focal of the tubes of red fluid which are continuously pumping liquid into the tank, although if Daybreak forces have severed some connections the fluid will be significantly diminished. Beyond that, the song of psychic purpose is concentrated on this chamber - although that too will be diminished if Daybreak has managed to defeat some of the Flayers. Either way, as the forces enter, the creature’s eye will open and, as it stares forward at Daybreak’s finest, a question will touch the minds of everyone within the compound:

"Are you my creator?"

[OOC Note: Based on the vote conducted on the plotting post, the creature found here will be spared. The IC results of this will be posted shortly after this event.]

code bases by tricklet

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Feel free ask any questions that you might have about the log here.

So just to be clear: At no point do you HAVE to cut into the veins to proceed, right? You can (in theory) get anywhere in the facility without getting wet.

Correct, but the creatures within will be trying to mind-control you constantly whenever you pass by.

i. (closed to medical team)

[ Ekkehardt keeps his initial explanations brief. He warns that this experience will likely be harrowing, and as a field team, they can't afford to spend too much time on each patient beyond stabilizing them and getting them out of danger.

Once the compound is breached and the calls start pouring in, the reasons for his initial warnings become clear as he leads those who have volunteered to go with him onto the battlefield proper. Professionals though Daybreak's forces are, the compound is still exceptionally well defended, and the monsters within it are fond of turning comrades against each other through application of psychic power - leading to some terrible injuries.

Ekkehardt stays close, giving directions as necessary but mostly giving his volunteers space to work. ]

Steady. [ His voice is as calm as ever, like it's just another day. ] Remember to slow down if you're feeling tired or shaky. Do you need any help?

ii.

[ At other points, Ekkehardt can be found inside the compound, usually carrying...bodies? Whether they're unconscious or dead is unclear, but he sure seems to be busy.

Still, he's not entirely closed off. If someone catches his attention, he'll come over, burden in tow. ]

Hello. Did you need anything?

[ He sounds mildly ruffled, but nothing more than that. ]

iii.

[ Maybe you've had a particularly bloody brush with some of the nastier inhabitants guarding this place. Maybe it wasn't a thrall or a flayer that got you, but an unfortunate fall or encounter with some wayward machinery. Or maybe you're just in need of help.

Ekkehardt isn't the only medic working on the battlefield, but right now, he's closest, and if you're wounded he'll drop whatever he's doing to attend to you first. ]

Can you still move? [ His voice is quiet, serious. ] We need to get you to somewhere safer for treatment.

iv. Wildcard!

[ For everything else! Hit me up with anything. ]

[Rebecca, as she had told Ekkehardt before, had dealt primarily with minor things prior to coming to Daybreak. That didn't stop her from accompanying him on this mission, and she largely considered it a reason to come along. His warning, while it certainly had its intended effect of preparing her for what she might see, had also served to tell her she was making the correct choice; she would be getting some real experience this day, experience she needed.

At some moments between any bandaging or other treatment that she needs to do, she takes what opportunities she can to keep one or both hands right there on whoever she's focused on at the moment, using her power briefly to help give them a little push toward recovery. Every now and then, she needs a moment's rest because of it, as its use physically exhausts her if she does too much all at once, but as long as she's not actually pushing herself, the moments where she isn't using that power are enough to keep it from being too tiring. In a way, it helps her keep to a pretty regular pace, one where she's not rushing herself.

She'd also made no secret of what she was doing; on their way here she'd expressed that she would be using her power where she could, assuring him that she wouldn't overdo it—he was aware that overuse was tiring for her, and would want her to avoid that.

Removing her hands from a patient that she just finished with, she turns only partly toward Ekkehardt for him to know that she's heard and is acknowledging him, but not yet removing her gaze from the person she's there with, just in case.]

I'll need a minute to recharge but otherwise I think I'm fine for now.

[ He uses his magic to check her patient over. She's done enough to stabilize them, so he doesn't feel like it's an urgent concern, but this is her first time in heavy combat. ]

You're not feeling overwhelmed in any other way? [ His concern is more about her mental state; her ability to use magic is secondary. ]

Questions

no subject

no subject

semi-open, will match format

i

i

iii

no subject

I

no subject

I

no subject

Closed

III

no subject

A

B

A

no subject

A

no subject

1

no subject

1

2