EVENT | ALL HALLOWED | Oct 27 - Nov 2

[cherrywood]

Hello lovely Tushies! I bring you the end of month / spooky times / haunting redux except not exactly plot to suit the season. Last year the Haunting Event had Foreigners dealing with ghosts in the city but this year, things are going to be a little more shady. (Okay, I'll stop with the terrible punny things now.)

There are actually two aspects to the festivities this year. The first is a lot lighter and intended to be fun so here we go:

GIVE A LITTLE, GET A LITTLE!

The kedan have observed the Foreigners for over a year and this season, they want to bring a little bit of home to Keeliai. As such, they've decided to adopt a well-known custom in many worlds: trick or treating! Kedan shops in all Sectors will be handing out surprise baggies along with their thanks for keeping Tu Vishan safe. Unfortunately the information they've perused on the holiday got a little muddled and so in addition to small trinkets (simple jewelry, small toys, etc) and food items in the bags, characters may also find odd things like still-squirming squid arms, pieces of knotted string and pickled fish eyeballs.

But hey, they tried!

In addition to these gift bags, some shops will be handing out pretty glass beads with colours that are reminiscent of that Sector. The beads are about the size of a large marble and if asked about them, the kedan will smile and nonchalantly say that they've heard a rumor about the Palace giving out a special surprise to anyone who collects a bead from every Sector. Players can decide what kind of discoveries they find in their goodie bags and there will be a thread starter for those visiting the Palace to claim their bonus surprise gift.

This part of the event is open to everyone, including those participating in the second part of the plot (presuming it happens before the second part, because...)

SHADOWS AND SHADES

Characters will receive a simple written invitation to "experience the Keeliai of ages past" with directions to an address in central Keeliai. Upon visiting characters will discover that an elderly kedan couple have put together a museum in a spacious building with each room laid out as a "snapshot" of life at that decade; basically a life-size panorama to wander through at your leisure. There are some interactive things to do like try "old-fashioned" games, samples of questionable food that there's probably a good reason no one eats anymore (sea prune cake anyone?) and clothing that would put the Swinging Sixties to shame. Most notably the more recent room show a clear improvement in artistic influence whereas the older vistas (particularly ones older than 100 years) are very simplified, spartan and subdued. Most of the tour is vaguely educational and seemingly benign, and the elderly couple are happy to answer any general questions about various rooms.

However not everyone who enters the museum will leave it untouched. Within 24 hours of visiting the museum, some characters will be knocked "out of phase"... essentially making them into ghosts! It can happen anywhere, regardless of what they're doing at the time. To any observer, they will simply seem to disappear suddenly if eyes are taken off of them for even a second; there one moment, gone the next. Characters who are affected will find themselves unable to communicate or affect anyone or anything they try to. Shouting at the top of their lungs attracts no attention at all and trying to touch something only results in their hands going right through the object-- even people. Those will magical abilities will find they seem to work as normal to their own perception, only that they have no impact on anything. It will be as though they're now in a sub-layer of Keeliai... not having left the Life plane, just out of sync with it.

However they will be able to interact normally with any other phased out characters and they will find with a little bit of experimenting an interesting discovery: strange things happen wherever they go! Doors bang, pipes rattle, floors creak and mirrors fog up for no reason. They might not be able to precisely control these classic haunting signs but they can be persistent with them! Most importantly, those who keep their museum invitations will find written on it an additional line that had not previously been visible, which can only be seen by phased out characters.

"In five days, you too will have become part of history."
As these phased out characters explore the city, they will discover that certain random landmarks (a fire fountain, a water sculpture, a particular street intersection, the side of a building, someone's kitchen sink, etc) have some unusual effects on them.

Sense of Loss: Characters interacting with spots will feel themselves losing something of themselves. It could be a sense like hearing or touch, or it could be a memory, or it could be the loss the ability to feel a specific emotion. It could be partial or full and the effect will be strongest when they're in the immediate vicinity of the landmark. There appears to be no rhyme or reason to what constitutes a landmark, so players are welcome to write them as anything they'd like! Depending on player preference, the changes can persist for a few minutes or hours. Unless otherwise noted (see: Bonus Plot) these effects will all be removed at the conclusion of the plot.

Clarification! Characters can be ghosted and not experience their Loss until later, the two events are not simultaneous.

Touch of Memory: Some spots will act like time capsules and interacting with them will drop an unfamiliar memory into the character's mind, vivid and detailed from the mind of a random citizen from an earlier time. This could be anything from what they had for breakfast to watching an important event, it will be randomly generated and written as an NPC response to characters. These memories will remain fully accessible after the end of the plot.

Shift of Perception: These landmark spots will push characters partially back into sync with regular Keeliai so that they'll appear as transparent images to other people. While kedan who witness this will just shake their heads and move on, characters will now be able to communicate with their fellow Foreigners, albeit they will sound like they're being heard over a terribly static radio connection. This effect lasts approximately ~5 minutes and then can't be triggered again for a few hours.

FOR NON-PHASED CHARACTERS
As noted, the remaining Foreigners will not be able to detect the phased out characters through physical means except where their presence causes "haunted" occurrences. Those with extrasensory capability (either tech OR magic/powers) will be able to detect abnormalities so long as they're located within close proximity (something like ~30 meters).

Investigating the disappearances will prompt vague confusion from the kedan, who will liken it to a folktale they've heard that tells of a group of kedan who mysteriously disappeared decades ago. While no one seems precisely certain when it happened, the general consensus is around ~100 years ago and that they were never seen again although some will say that shortly thereafter there appeared strange, glowing messages written on walls: accusations by the lost against those who didn't save them in time. It is definitely implied that whatever has happened to these unfortunate Foreigners, there is a time limit in place before it becomes permanent.

When the connection is made that affected characters were all visitors to the museum, the elderly kedan couple will seem quite distraught. They will assure anyone who asks that they know nothing of what happened, offer to let investigators go over their museum with a fine tooth comb, and reveal no falsities to those who can detect such things.

The way to rephase these characters back to Keeliai
will be discovered through IC threading!

SIGN UPS

We are looking for up to 30 characters who will be affected by this part of the plot and become "ghosted". For fairness sake, we will ask that players with multiple characters only submit one from their roster. If we have more than 30 sign ups, I'll use RNG to choose and if we get less than 30, then everyone who signed up will be affected.

Bonus Plot! We are also looking for volunteers for some Loss affected characters to have these changes (a diminished sense, missing memories, etc) become long term. While it may not be permanent, at this time there is no confirmed regain point for them. So please only volunteer your character for an on-going effect if you're willing to stick with it!

<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Character / Canon:</b> <b>Will your character experience a Loss?:</b> If yes, what is being lost? <b>Would you be willing to have this Loss to be long term?:</b>

Signups close on Thursday, October 24th @ 9:00PM EST and results will be posted shortly thereafter to give people a couple days to plan. That said, this is officially the plotting post so feel free to hash out details in comments.

SIGN UPS ARE CLOSED!

ETA: There is now a short term Loss option!

When signups close, I will RNG the characters who will be ghosted AND RNG a number of days (between 1-15) during which that character's Loss will stick with them after the end of the plot, after which point they will wear off by themselves. This allows some extra flexibility for plotting and for people to play around with the effects. (Of course if anyone wants the Loss to still end immediately at the conclusion of the plot, that's fine as well, just let me know!)

If this changes your sign up preferences, please go ahead and edit your comment! Many apologies for not having this is place ahead of time. ;~; Hopefully this will be good middle ground!

Comments

[mrsarcastic003]

Player Name: Tim Drake/Red Robin
Character / Canon: DC Comics Preboot
Will your character experience a Loss?: Nah. Not this time.
Would you be willing to have this Loss to be long term?: N/A

[cherrywood]

Tim Drake will be ghosted but not experience any losses.