PHASE I [ 9 00 ] The peace of the morning in the Residential District shatters just as the wall caves through. It’s a small segment of wall -- no more than five feet across at most. And yet the crash and groan of the metal being stretched is ominously accompanied by the distinct piercing screech of metal and another sound. A raucous noise, a combination of ungodly wailing and sharp, victorious laughter spills forth from the hole left in the wall as a myriad of ghosts and spirits erupt from the newly created exit. Characters with any type of spiritual sense will find themselves nearly overwhelmed by the amount of negative ghostly energy that suddenly floods Cerealia and characters with no sense of preservation will find any attempt to enter the hole blocked by the fiercest of ghosts, met with deadly force if they try to pass, as the ghosts won’t hesitate to do things such as reach straight into your body to try to stop your heart.
These ghosts are out for blood, and they don’t seem to stop no matter how you try to talk to them -- they just hiss out, over and over again, “Murderersmurderersmurderers.”
From there, the ghosts move on. Their true target, after all, is CERES… but to them, there’s no difference between the character players and CERES. They’ll go for whoever gets in their way, phasing through walls and becoming tangible long enough to reach for characters before fading away again. Characters with special abilities will find themselves in a similar state. Their abilities may increase and decrease in power sporadically, or be completely gone. They may attempt to cast a spell only to find that the wrong spell is cast instead, or an attempt at healing may end up a more dangerous spell. Be careful with your own magical skills!
Those with items or powers specifically intended to ward off spirits will still fulfill their intended purposes when used – unless malicious spiritual energy gets to them first.
PHASE II [ 1400 ] It seems the ghosts have more tricks up their sleeves. It seems that a not-so-friendly ghost has decided to play a game with you. It doesn't matter where you are, or what you're doing, because a moment later a voice calls out -- Hey. Can you see me? -- and once you turn your head, you’ll come face to face with a surprise.
Who is it in this world (or your world, or any world) that you have managed to disappoint the most? A family member? A friend? Yourself? They face you now, eyes full of sadness, and they say, “I need you to do something for me.” Without another word, they’ll turn away and begin to walk. Your vision grows foggy, focused solely on the need to do whatever this person wants – they need you, after all. Your legs move to follow them, unless you manage to somehow resist.
But you apparently don’t seem to notice that you’re the only one who can see this person – or that they’re leading you stray toward that monorail track with the sound of the train coming closer, or that busy intersection, or right off the sky bridge.
PHASE III [ 600 ] Other ghosts don’t feel like borrowing faces in order to inflict damage. No, they’ll inflict their damage on a far more personal level. They manifest suddenly and without warning – then all it takes is a simple touch. A ghostly hand reaches out to you and it feels like the cold wraps around your heart, and your vision skews, and then... they leave just as suddenly as they came.
Those who have been around for awhile may very well recognize the ghosts, at that.
But the damage has already been done. Depending on a character’s assigned sense, they will feel one of the following changes:
Sight: Hopefully you aren’t in the habit of bending the truth. Dead men tell no tales, they say. But what happens to a living person unable to tell lies? Any attempt at telling any lie or falsehood will cause the character to feel as though their throat has closed off, and they can do nothing more than choke.
Smell: The cold passes, but in some way that it never really leaves. And then everything seems perfectly normal. Nothing has changed, right? You're fine -- except that in a short period of time with how crazy things are, it becomes apparent that you're unable to feel pain. The damage to your body is the same as ever, but dangerously, you can't feel a thing.
Taste: It would appear as though the ghosts have a sense of humor. From those who rest in eternal slumber, try a few days of being unable to sleep. Everything seems fine at first... but slowly but surely, that lack of sleep will start to take its toll.
Hearing: Most others would feel relief once the ghosts left, finally a moment of peace. But you? You don’t feel anything – nothing kind, anyway. Rather, you have been left unable to feel joy. Everything seems either bleak or as though it simply has no emotional impact at all.
Touch: How many deaths have been caused in the name of heroics? Apparently in an attempt to keep future casualties down (or perhaps for their own laughter), the ghosts have left you unable to be brave. Suddenly, a situation you'd face fearlessly is one that has sent you running, panic sharp in your chest.
These effects will last throughout the event, if a character is caught by them.
PHASE IV [ 1000 ] While chaos erupts throughout the city, some of the more misguided ghosts (but still bloodthirsty, so very bloodthirsty) just happened to run into the wrong part of town and don’t know how to give a proper scaring. One ghost seems to think that it was a great idea to possess a masseusebot from the Spa. You’re grabbed suddenly! You fight for your life but can’t seem to get yourself out of its metal grip! With expert precision that only a robot can mange, it finds your pressure points – and releases all that tension from this Incredibly Bad Day. The ghost inside the robot is confused, distressed -- why is this human suddenly so relaxed? It only wants to murder. But the only illegal thing happening here is how good this massage makes you feel.
Maybe later you’ll walk down the street and get stopped by the ghost that possessed a balloon dispenser. Perhaps a ghost has possessed the friendly McCERES mascot, and is now handing out coupons with murderous intent. And of course, there are always the hug bots...
Look, they tried really hard, okay.
Of course... they might end up possessing technology a little closer to home as well, at which point it's not so funny.
BONUS [ xxxx ] Hopefully you have friends who have ghost-fighting skills. Or ghost-taming skills. Or ghost-bellydancing skills, who knows, we won't judge them if you don't. But what of those poor people who come from worlds where the supernatural is some weird television show?
Worry not, poor souls, for CERES is here to provide! Some time after the ruckus begins, characters will find what looks to be a hand-held vacuum cleaner situated innocuously in their rooms (only one per person, you greedy gus). The logo on the side will helpfully inform you that this is of CERES make, because the paper pamphlet beside your new device? Well, it's more like a picture book. Observe Stick-Man Sully as he uses his vacuum cleaner to capture ghosts! Learn from his stellar example! Do not stick the hose in your mouth or attempt to give the vacuum CPR, there's a big X over that picture. Also of the one where Stick-Man Sully sets his captive ghosts free once more, we don't want that, do we?
Your new ghost vacuum should prove effective against any ghastly ghoul that shoots your way, but beware! Should you capture a ghost and not turn in your vacuum to CERES for weekly ghost disposal, your ghost will serenade you in the wee hours of the morning with its song of choice. If you capture a whole horde of ghosts, well, congratulations. You have a boy band living in your vacuum.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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Sorey is not about to let Hiro fall like that, so once he spots him, he's very quick to start towards him. ] Hey, wait!
[ It's a good thing he's generally faster and stronger when he's armatized, because he practically lunges towards Hiro as quickly as possible to grab his arm and pull back on it.
DON'T JUMP ... ]
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Mikleo will help by summoning a wall of water to act as a barrier between Hiro and the edge of the skybridge. Sadly, he knows that the teenager can't even hear him without the aid of the CereVice or Sorey closing his eyes to open up that connection.]
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Sorey, what are you doing? [He's already glancing back at the edge of the bridge where that barrier's blocking his view, frowning suddenly.] I've gotta catch up with Baymax!
[But it's clear he's suspicious. That water's a pretty big tip-off, guys, even if he's not sure how to phrase what he's thinking or wants to ask.]
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He looks pretty shocked, though. ]
By running off a bridge?
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Sorey, I don't see Baymax anywhere, and I'm not separating from you to take a look over the bridge to make sure.
[Because that would be dumb and might cost them a tiny human. That's not a risk Mikleo's willing to make.]
Maybe ask him if Baymax can come up here, if you get a chance.
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He's going to try to casually do what Mikleo suggested in response to it, though. ]
You sure he's down there? Could you ... ask him to come up here for me?
[ He's doing his best to do this casually ... He just needs Hiro to realize Baymax isn't there. ]
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[It's a genuine compliment, despite the sass and the situation they're in.
Mikleo parts the suspended wall of water, but only at Hiro's eye level and above in height. He's definitely not parting it where the teenager can still leap through it.]
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I can't get him to respond to me. There's something wrong with the communicator channel in our helmets, something's blocking the signal. But I just need to get back over there and I can call him up.
[But he notices the flail of the water and he looks up, pausing again.]
…Mikleo's with you, isn't he? [He feels super stupid saying that when he can't see the seraph, but it's an educated guess.] You guys have to trust me.
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[ More like they're the same person right now, but —
But that last part of what he said ... gghh. Sorey wants to trust him. And, well, he does. It's this environment and all these ghosts that he doesn't trust. He's always been more the type to lean towards trusting people than distrusting them. And he knows Hiro couldn't possibly be trying to jump off to hurt himself.
So he ... lets go of him. ] ... Okay, I trust you.
[ It sounds like he's just going to call Baymax up anyway. Maybe he won't just jump now. He's prepared to leap into action if he has to, though. ]
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If he leaps off this bridge, he's going to have to earn my trust again.
[For once, the seraph is glad that Sorey's the only one who can hear him. Besides, Hiro probably knows that.]
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He's confused. It doesn't make sense that Baymax just disappeared and flew off without him and he frowns suddenly.]
He's gone. [He looks back at Sorey.] I missed my chance to catch up with him and now I have to find him all over again. [Guess who's Not Happy.]
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I — uh ... that's ... that's because he wasn't there to begin with. We didn't see him.
[ Mikleo didn't, and neither did Sorey. So he couldn't have been there, right? Gah ... ]
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They must have been separated, and if the two of them haven't been able to communicate since then....
[Then it makes a ton of sense as to why he's unhappy.]
Those ghosts must be playing another of their dirty tricks again.
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Then what was that? [He has to wonder if it's something beyond just a normal ghost, but he can at least accept that it wasn't his best friend.]
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Crossing his arms. ]
We think it might be the ghosts messing with you. If we couldn't see him, but you could ... That's gotta be the work of those ghosts.
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I'm pretty concerned by the fact that we didn't see the ghost. That means that they can alter who can perceive them at will. Or they're able to tamper with our perceptions.
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The trees do that, too, but usually it's people who aren't here. The ghosts are getting better if they can mimic people that're here and that we know really well. If that's true, what're we supposed to do to stop it?
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And he'll go ahead and response to Mikleo real quick — ] I'm concerned about that, too, Mikleo.
[ And then he focuses on Hiro. ]
They might not just be mimicking, but changing what you're perceiving. We couldn't see him, even though you could. [ Hmmm. ] Maybe if people stick together, they might be able to snap each other out of it if it happens again. Do you think you could've gotten out of it on your own?
[ Since he can't think of anything other than the buddy system, unless Hiro thinks there's a way to get out of it alone. ]
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Sounds similar to what we had to deal with at the lake in that ViViD level. Let's just hope that we don't run into multiples or the buddy system won't work.
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Probably? Eventually. [By falling several feet and breaking his legs, probably.] I pulled myself out of it when we were in the jungle because I knew my aunt wasn't here, but Baymax--he's really particular, most things shouldn't be able to mimic him that well. [The fact that the ghosts can worries him.] And who says they won't just target everybody in a group?
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But you're right. They might just go after everyone at once. [ Guuuh. ] There's gotta be something we can do to prevent this ...
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[Wonderful. More danger in a place that's already dangerous.
Mikleo considers the problem.]
Sorey, I'm going to use your CereVice.
[Because screw this. Hiro's getting a video call from Sorey's CereVice. Gaze upon Sorey's water armatization glory, tiny teenager! And also hear Mikleo's disembodied voice come through the speaker.]
Hiro? Can you hear me?
[He hasn't actually tried communicating to people with the CereVice while armatized. This will be a good experiment!]
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Now I can, yeah. What's going on?
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We probably should've done this earlier.
[ So Mikleo could've spoken to him easier, oops ... He'll leave Mikleo to answer Hiro's question, though. ]
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