The Unanchored City - A Mystery-Solving Communication Quest
- Thread starter TheMaskedReader
- Start date
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- Tags
- eldritch horror mystery magic
ConfusedPotato
Unverified Verifier
- Location
- Australia
[X] Step 1: Don't look at the guy.
-[X] Step 2: Don't look at the guy.
-[X] Step 3 Ask Questions. Unless VTD stands for verbally transmitted disease.
-[X] Step 4: Don't look at the guy.
-[X] Step 5: Exit the room.
-[X] Step 6: Don't look at the guy.
-[X] Step 2: Don't look at the guy.
-[X] Step 3 Ask Questions. Unless VTD stands for verbally transmitted disease.
-[X] Step 4: Don't look at the guy.
-[X] Step 5: Exit the room.
-[X] Step 6: Don't look at the guy.
Yeah don't look!
Footsteps Approaching (Part 1)
- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Pronouns
- She/Her
You'd be right! I'm already turning away from him. As for questions...
Not planning on looking at the guy! I'll be leaving as soon as I ask...
This question, right here!
"Ah...what's your name? You're being treated by Doctor Lark? I can, uh, go look for them, see if they can come assist you..." I just need any excuse to leave here, really.
"I...would appreciate that...." A wheeze shudders out of their body. "I am...A..." And then they fall silent.
"Pleasure to meet you, A, but I'll be taking my leave now, thank you very much!" And with that, I hurriedly exit. That was a close one!
With the door closed behind me, I take a deep breath. What kind of Hospital is this? Not properly labeling their quarantine ward? I'm lucky it wasn't something far worse! I've got a mind to complain to this Doctor Lark when I find-
There are footsteps, coming down the stairs at the end of the hall. I can't tell exactly where they are, but they can't be more then a few seconds away from me. That's not enough time to run back to my room, and I'd rather take my chances then risk infection in there.
What should I do? The footsteps are getting closer as they come down the stairs by the second, and I need a plan.
[X] [The nature of time is in flux. The Connection is here.]
- Location
- Somewhere.
[x] Oh bloody hells, it's always fucking cognitohazards. We have seen a description of a fragment of something you wanted burned out for presumably similar reasons, given the bit where you're in their quarantine wards. I wonder if there's more we'll find out later.. But that's...another time, another place, certainly not for the now in which somebody is potentially going to kill you.
-[X] If preparing for combat: Press yourself against the wall from the door they're most likely to come in. It gives you a chance to ambush them, if you're sneaky enough and they're not some spec-ops squad that sees this coming from miles away because they're actually trained in these sorts of things. How many sets of footsteps do you hear? ...Augh, there is just not enough information to give a good plan here. And when we're done with this, you need to sit down and tell us all the basics.
-[X] It's theoretically possible that there's a chance for diplomacy, but I would not put money on it, or indeed put my advice towards it. Killing a hospital? What is this, some sort of Even Worse Quarantine where you have to murder everybody inside? Ugh. I've seen a few examples of things that need to be nuked from orbit, thankfully all very much things that can't exist on this end of the connection - and if they show up on your end, it's probably too late for me to tell you to run like hell - but as it is, I don't think we're in one. Unless we would have been one.
[X] ...What do the masks do? Any useful tricks there? You've got a Mask of Blank, right? Can you...I dunno, do anything with that? I mean, I doubt it, or else they wouldn't be given to children, but...ugh. I hate the not knowing things part of learning stuff.
-[X] If preparing for combat: Press yourself against the wall from the door they're most likely to come in. It gives you a chance to ambush them, if you're sneaky enough and they're not some spec-ops squad that sees this coming from miles away because they're actually trained in these sorts of things. How many sets of footsteps do you hear? ...Augh, there is just not enough information to give a good plan here. And when we're done with this, you need to sit down and tell us all the basics.
-[X] It's theoretically possible that there's a chance for diplomacy, but I would not put money on it, or indeed put my advice towards it. Killing a hospital? What is this, some sort of Even Worse Quarantine where you have to murder everybody inside? Ugh. I've seen a few examples of things that need to be nuked from orbit, thankfully all very much things that can't exist on this end of the connection - and if they show up on your end, it's probably too late for me to tell you to run like hell - but as it is, I don't think we're in one. Unless we would have been one.
[X] ...What do the masks do? Any useful tricks there? You've got a Mask of Blank, right? Can you...I dunno, do anything with that? I mean, I doubt it, or else they wouldn't be given to children, but...ugh. I hate the not knowing things part of learning stuff.
- Location
- Earth
[X] Maybe pretend to be VTD infected as well? This is a quarantine ward, after all. (Make sure to tell A to not say anything that could expose the lie) Then again, that might be risky if whoever is coming leans on the trigger-happy side of things when dealing with VTD victims.
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[X] run!
Footsteps Approaching (Part 2)
- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'm sorry, but if you think I'm going back into a room with a VTD-infected person, you're wrong. I would, to be frank, rather die than suffer through that.
I hear...just one. And, uh, I will, if I'm alive.
The Masks protect us, mostly. From the general hazards of the Void, or the air, or, well, most anything, really. Unfortunately, not from bullets. Maybe someone with a pact, or an Avatar, or maybe even a Thrall, could do something with their mask, especially if it represents the entity they bind themselves to, but...well, I've got you folks. And I don't think any of you are about to give me power beyond this.
I don't think this is a quarantine Hospital, though, luckily. That room, I think, was just this Hospital's quarantine ward. There are a lot fewer guards here than one would expect in a quarantine hospital, after all.
...Alright, here goes nothing.
They'd be able to tell, I'm not exactly smelling of burnt flesh or bleeding out.
I just don't have time-
The material realm encroaches...
I press myself up against the wall, and draw my knife...for luck, I flip an Empire coin. It spins in the air, and the footsteps approach the bottom of the stairs...
Throne-side up.
The being who is at the bottom of the stairs...shimmers. They're wearing some kind of coat. I can't see it too well, or what it is made out of, but it shimmers so brightly...it doesn't move, when they do. It just...is around them. They exude pure presence, a grounded existence. I can feel Reality, somehow, its order imposing itself on my surroundings. The world seems more stable, more vibrant.
They look toward me, and I can see their two-faced mask. A farmer, and a scarecrow. The Farmer's lips move. I hear beauty, a melody in a sun that I have never seen, this is Truth, this is Law, what they say is Objective. I feel a second tick by for the first time in forever.
"This one humbly requests your presence to the Second Floor, Investigator. You are in no danger, now."
...How can I refuse?
[X] [The Connection reasserts itself.]
- Location
- Florida
[X] Follow him, he's powerful yet still respectful to yourself or someone else he takes order's from, anything else seem's unwise until we know more of this situation and go from there. Ask if he know's where the doctors are, who he is, who expects you and why.
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Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] follow them, but keep paying close attention to your surroundings
- Location
- Somewhere.
[X] Well, I can't say I was expecting this, but I wasn't not expecting this.
-[X] Go with the spookily real thing. Ask for information. My priorities here would be
--[X] Briefing on what's going on here so far as this person knows
--[X] Who else is involved in this
-[X] Go with the spookily real thing. Ask for information. My priorities here would be
--[X] Briefing on what's going on here so far as this person knows
--[X] Who else is involved in this
Footsteps Approaching (Part 3)
- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I...feel quite strange. As if I just came out of some sort of...trance. Yes, yes, I'll do that.
Order or, in this case I suppose, Reality, most typically flows from Empire, though any number of lesser entities lay claim to small bits of it. As to what this person wields? No clue.
I don't think I could stop myself, even if I wanted to.
Understood.
In the material realm once more...
The aura remains, but I am...acclimating to it. The light shines a little less brightly, now. I focus on the mask, it hurts my eyes and brain less.
"Respected one, I have several urgent questions that require answering before I can go anywhere, I am afraid."
A lilting whisper into my ear, without them moving an inch. "Of course, Investigator. I am known as Fallow Fields, and I am at your service, for the time being." I can't help but close my eyes, just for a second, to catch some faintly hummed note of a song I cannot remember that is, even so, familiar to me. It is gone when I reopen them.
"Where are the doctors, Fallow Fields?"
The being titters. "Upstairs, I believe. They are performing an examination on the body."
"...Is this body the reason you are requesting my presence?"
"Of course!" A tiny giggle. "With an Investigator in the Hospital, this has become rather markedly more simple for us to deal with. Even one who has so recently undergone a procedure as yourself, with no offense intended."
...What should I ask them now? I feel like I have just stumbled into something far beyond my knowledge.
[X] [The Connection only transmits.]
- Location
- Florida
[X] Just so we're on the same page, as you'r apparently an investigator, are we investigating anything else beyond the cause of death for the body upstair's? And if we are how much does he currently know that he can tell us?
-[X] Ask why this hospital doesn't have quarantine sign's on their patients room's and no your not infected. Ask him if he know's the reason behind the war outside.
--[X] To you Mr. Amnesiac what do investigators/truth seekers normally dabble in?
-[X] Ask why this hospital doesn't have quarantine sign's on their patients room's and no your not infected. Ask him if he know's the reason behind the war outside.
--[X] To you Mr. Amnesiac what do investigators/truth seekers normally dabble in?
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- Location
- Somewhere.
[X] ...I don't want to directly undercut another voice's position, but good gods don't do what the previous fellow said. I don't know much about what's happening here, but we need that veneer of legitimacy that those questions are very directly undermining. And the operational security! Really, what on earth would possess you to suggest we disclose all of this to a random stranger? ...Also, it occurs to me that I could perhaps introduce myself. You can call me Fish. It's not my name, but it's close enough.
-[X] I would, in counterpoint, suggest: "Brief me on what you know so far of what has happened. And, for that matter, why I have been asked to intercede."
-[X] ...what the hell are those doctors doing? The body should have been left in place, if they found it, unless it was an active health hazard - that could have disturbed clues to how it got that way, if it hasn't been documented! And if they know who did it, and how it was done...why are we being asked to investigate? For that matter, what are we being asked to investigate? The body, yes, but surely not only the body?
[X] We'll help you investigate, if you can read us in on what we should be expecting of the world you're dealing with.
-[X] I would, in counterpoint, suggest: "Brief me on what you know so far of what has happened. And, for that matter, why I have been asked to intercede."
-[X] ...what the hell are those doctors doing? The body should have been left in place, if they found it, unless it was an active health hazard - that could have disturbed clues to how it got that way, if it hasn't been documented! And if they know who did it, and how it was done...why are we being asked to investigate? For that matter, what are we being asked to investigate? The body, yes, but surely not only the body?
[X] We'll help you investigate, if you can read us in on what we should be expecting of the world you're dealing with.
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- Location
- Somewhere.
He doesn't know what procedure we underwent. Just that we underwent a procedure. And we can gather the picture without looking to be gathering the picture, if we play smart about it.
Footsteps Approaching (Part 4)
- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Alright, I'll ask that...
I've got no idea. This seems far beyond anything I know?
This is a good point. And I'm not sure how to resolve this dispute. So, I'll combine the two, as best I can. Here we go.
Also, I mean. There's a lot. How would you explain whatever plane of existence you reside in, from scratch? You'll need to narrow down what you want me to explain, even just a bit. However I'm bound to you, I believe I'm obligated to provide at least some things in return, so, questions are the least I can do.
The material world once more-
I am speaking, now. "Could you give me a briefing on what exactly has occurred, what I am to expect, and why my intercession is required? In addition, I'd very much like to ask as to why the quarantine wards in this hospital are left unlabeled, thank you very much. One last thing, has the body been disturbed?" I point to A's room, emoting knowing indignance with my gestures as best I can. It's mostly true emotion, so it's not that hard.
Fallow Fields's other mouth, the Scarecrow, starts talking, now. It's more baritone-ish. "Oh, Investigator, I'll do you better than that, I'll show you, as soon as we get to the scene of this rather grisly crime. The body has been left undisturbed, this I swear to you, Doctor Lark and Mister Flowers are merely taking a look at it. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could restrain their curiosity! It's not every day a conceptually powered immortal is murdered, and more interestingly, leaves a body behind. I imagine that this one will be dispersed for quite some time if they ever reform at all. Poor Windowsill..." They shake themselves, a full-body twisting, at that.
...They're not answering directly, but I...think I'm getting the gist, here. Allow me to explain: conceptually powered immortal are entities that are powered by belief and practice of ideas. As you can imagine, they are very hard to kill without doing something extraordinarily damaging to them, of the kind that doesn't leave much of anything behind. Windowsill was either very weak or whatever killed them was very strong.
I'm, apparently, either an investigator, or they believe I am one. There's been a mysterious murder. Nobody can enter or exit the Hospital, to my knowledge, without being shot by a sniper. If they thought it was a sniper who shot Windowsill, there would be no need for my involvement. Therefore, the Doctors must believe that someone within the Hospital committed the murder, therefore requiring my aid. Maybe? This is relying on a lot of assumptions.
Should I go with them? Should I ask more questions?
[X] [Connection.]
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- Location
- Somewhere.
Please could you don't.
[X] Fish here again. As far as things I want to know - what is a normal day like? Who holds power over this place? What do you value? Okay, now for advice on your current situations:
-[X] I'm pretty sure that we've exhausted this line of conversation. Time to go see the body. Also, don't ask about your reputation. Good grief, GAWR. Don't needlessly draw suspicion. At best we have an ego.
-[X] "I make no promises as to my usefulness in investigating this. It's the first time I've been involved in something of this caliber, to my recollecton. But I shall do as best I can." Steel yourself, John Doe, because this wild ride we're on is just beginning. ...Actually, do you have a gender?
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