CHAPTER TWO, PART 2: THE LIVING ISLAND

[robbies]

CHAPTER TWO, PART 2: THE LIVING ISLAND

Event rundown and OOC plotting

---

Hey there, neighbors, and welcome to part two of February’s event! We hope you weren’t too startled by today’s earlier events; those televisions sure are something, aren’t they? Needless to say, part two will be kicking off with a bang! (Or a burst of static, but who’s counting?) Here’s what we’ve got planned: As you may have already seen, part two is kicking off a little bit early with a mysterious network post from an unknown entity. This will be followed by some interesting experiences for the characters over the next day, as their TVs turn on of their own accord, strange and garbled sounds coming from the speakers, and messages will be left for those who are still around to receive them. What’s the meaning of these messages? Why, that’s for you to find out! But do try to do so quickly: After the initial broadcast ends, you'll find that your new poltergeist friends don't want to leave you alone. As the month continues, they will act out more and more — it’ll start with ghostly messages written in the steam left behind after showering, but as time passes, books begin flying off of shelves and lamps may be thrown and shattered, sometimes as if by an invisible force, and at other times the house will rumble like it’s been caught in an earthquake. If you’ve got food cooking on the stove, a force may slam down on the handle, sending the contents flying. Though the poltergeists will never directly attack characters (the knives remain firmly in their knife block!), you may want to watch out; if you get in the way of a flying lamp, it won’t change course. On February 15, characters will be able to encounter Rosemary Craven and Dale Harding around the town. If you have any questions for them or want to ask them to shed a little bit of light on the situation, this might be your chance! Please note that characters may only thread with ONE (1) NPC and the mods may limit the number of threads that may be started. Choose wisely! Speaking with either NPC will provide a bit of information on what the phrase “Living Island” refers to. (We would, however, like to reassure all players that missing out on an opportunity to thread with these NPCs will not limit characters’ ability to learn plot-relevant information. Though the mods may limit the number of threads, we will provide pertinent information from the NPCs in the event post itself and you may handwave that your character spoke to one of them and learned the plot-relevant information. NPC threads on the event post will simply be a chance to play out the interaction.) From here, the timeline will depend partly on what characters decide to do — do you charge in immediately or take a day or two to come up with a game plan? Regardless, your missing neighbors will be waiting for you… Those characters who have been snatched will find that they are being held in sturdy cages spaced several feet apart in a dark, damp room. There’s no way to tell how much time is passing, though they will find themselves blacking out intermittently, swimming in and out of consciousness on an operation table, and will always awaken with fresh food in their cages and no sign of anyone other than them being here. There will almost always be one character missing, as whoever has captured you seems to have a lot of “work” they want to do with you... If your character was chosen to be taken, further details on what they can expect to experience during their captivity — for example, what memories they have of what happened to them and what kind of state they can expect to be in — will be provided via PM. These PMs will be sent out shortly; all players should know their character’s fate by the end of the day. Upon reaching the hidden laboratory, characters will need to work together to navigate the maze-like warren and find the missing — though the missing may find that they’ll gain a chance of their own to investigate and explore the lab as time goes on. Be careful — this place is difficult to navigate, and characters may find themselves getting lost! There’s danger to be found, too; last month’s doppelgangers have apparently found a new home in Santa Rosita and seem to have developed a little bit of intelligence since they were last seen. They can mimic voices of people from your character’s world and even other characters in the game yours are close to and may seek to spring traps on characters as they try to find their way back out of the lab to safety. We hope this gives you enough to begin plotting out what you’d like to do with the remaining half of the month! As always, this OOC post also functions as a catch-all plotting post. Please feel free to use the space below to connect with other players for potential meetings and CR. If you have any questions, please direct them to the FAQ top-level below or reach out to us on the Mod Contact page!

---

Comments

FAQ

[robbies]

Have any questions about the event as we've outlined it? Ask 'em here!

[peninhand]

Will Mrs Craven be only available on the 15th ICly, or can the meeting with her be possibly backdated to an earlier day (point in case, Monika's been scouring the city to try finding her since the 11th)?

[the_caped_crusader]

Can there be any bargaining done with their captor? i.e., if one person wants to take more physical damage/dismemberment in place of another character, if there were consent among players to do so?

[blackscales]

Similar vibes to the question about Mrs Craven -- Wrathion will have been ready to rip the entire place apart since Anduin went missing. Would Harding have just been ignoring them previously?

Equally, the symbol/place name in the post -- will any NPCs (neighbours, HHA members, shopkeepers, anyone) recognise it if they're shown it? The symbol or the name 'Living Island'? TO CLARIFY I'm guessing it's a fallout shelter symbol but I am pretty sure they don't have them on Azeroth SO I was fishing for if someone would tell Wrathion what it was and where some might be, so he can go be stupid.

Are you Tired of Being Nice?

[blackscales]

Wrathion is gonna be going apeshit fully since the 11th. Please sign up to go apeshit with him and, as SOON as he has a lead, direct that vibe at this laboratory place.

I mean I guess investigate too but he's angry and he's a dragon, that's a lot of contained anger! It's a very good thing he's limited to his human shape let me tell you.

[peninhand]

Monika has not even met him yet, but as a fellow member of the apeshit club since the 11th, she'll tell him the exact location where to direct all his anger granted she gets anything out of Mrs Craven.

[ribticklers]

Sans is definitely going to go into the lab. His plan isn't tearing up the place so much as it's laser-focused on finding and getting people out, though. (Papyrus is his first priority, then Sayori, then the others, but ideally all of them.) He'll go in on his own if he has to, and his infiltration will be aiming more for quick and quiet and with minimal having to deal with doppelgangers and traps. But if people want to go with him he's cool with that, as long as they're not going to deliberately try to attract attention.

Sans does actually have familiarity with lab settings in general, so that might help with navigation? We'll see.

[peninhand]

Granted she doesn't get tranquilized by Mrs Craven and long as Sans doesn't mind someone who has zero familiarity with laboratories aside from high school science labs, Monika will be tagging along. Though her priority is Sayori first then Papyrus, Kiara and the others.

[hoshikiri]

People closer to Takame's CR than he is have been snatched up, but that's enough reason for him to want to storm the lab and try and get people out. Plus well that's what Warriors of Light do. I'm very very heavily considering him being distracted by a doppleganger imitating the voice of someone important to him from home, and depending on who's with him at the time he will either be successfully lured or they can talk him out of it.

Essentially, he's someone pretty easily influenced by both sides and the fact that he doesn't know anyone taken very well he won't have solid proof that something is a fake or not. For that he would definitely need second opinions, but his intent will be to find the people kidnapped and get them the hell out and he's very much the mission tunnel vision type. He is a very stealthy boi, but he's also extremely willing to wreck some shit with the right amount of peer pressure.

[peninhand]

Husband please help and look scary to make Mrs Craven say everything she knows and more.

[purplejaguareye]

Kipo will be going to the lab! She'll be offering protection to those who need it, as she can turn into a giant purple cat. She'll also be attacked by her doppelganger, who will be mimicking the voice of her dad. Since Kipo is not always that smart, she will definitely be falling into some kind of trap.

[weifinder]

Would Kipo like a hand getting out of a trap, Wei Wuxian knows how that life can go, it just happens sometimes... and also offer a ruthless reminder about ignoring familiar sounding voices in unfamiliar places, if that'd help any?

[apodictic]

angelo can do first aid if needed and can maim/kill where necessary, but honestly his main concern aren't the abducted but the lab itself. he'll want to investigate it!

[the_caped_crusader]

batman is captured

pls someone rescue the batprincess

[hoshikiri]

takame will save you neighborhood watch man

i figure he probably did notice off handedly that bruce was missing since Part of the Watch so There's That Incentive At Least.

[peninhand]

Monika is going to look for Mrs Craven and do whatever it takes to get her to spill the beans. She's already started looking for her since the 11th, so she's more than ready. She's gonna try dragging Takame along to play the part of the intimidating man who can punch Mrs Craven right in her face if she refuses to speak.

Following a certain thread, Monika is extremely emotionally unstable and risks exploding on Mrs Craven if she plays dumb. She's not going to be thinking rationally and go about things in a well-thought out manner. Exploding may involve things ranging from slapping her to closing her hands around Mrs Craven's throat to strangle her till she speaks, with the consequences it means for her own well-being. So if more people want to tag along and witness what happens to Monika prevent her from doing something extremely stupid, the more the merrier!

[hoshikiri]

Takame will be lowkey in being threatening since he's concerned about what the HHA is capable of since he's aware something in his memory got mcfucked in the past so he might actually try and hold Monika back from trying to actually harm Rosemary for her own sake...... if it comes to that anyway

who you gonna call?

[ourworldnow]

Louis is going to very helpfully not go on the rescue mission unless dragged and will rather be focusing on playing ghost busters!

Who wants to have fun poking at poltergeists, i.e just trying to see what things they can get the ghosts to throw across the room for fun?

[inpersonation]

I want Noelle and Louis to meet up in real-life since their thread is a BLAST right now. They can both be ghostbusting together!!

[spaghettimonster]

Papyrus is kidnapped, and he'll be looking to socialize while in captivity!

And so are a few of his ribs, and his face.

It's unclear where his ribs are going, but his (human) face is getting removed and given to one of the dopplegangers walking around, while he'll be returning from that session with something more like this smooth face-like mask. The first time he sees his reflection is going to be something.

[hxppythxughts]

hey uncle papyrus wanna be SURGERY BUDS???

jokes aside, Sayori would definitely want to talk to Papyrus during this whole thing! she's going to be trying to chatter A Lot to make herself feel better about this tbh. maybe she can gently fill him in on the whole mask situation... it doesn't look that bad really... (ಥ◡ಥ)

[weifinder]

Wei Wuxian will be actively attempting (and failing) to write back to the poltergeist, and will likely make a network text post about it; come the fifteenth, he's more likely to want to talk with Mrs. Craven over Chief Harding since he knows her, then talk with the... handful of people he's met here over possible courses of actions (so probably Sans, Daylight, and Nie Huaisang).

So right now that's about my plan, talking about message writing ghosts on network, and careful infiltration efforts in rescuing folks. Depending on how that lands out he'll be looking at other oddities (to him) as the month sweeps out toward the end, as you do.

[grice]

folds hands together and inhales our body horror meals from our villainous overlords....... 🙏 on top of that, your neighborhood twelve year old just officially turned thirteen on the day of his abduction, happy birthday kiddo! 🥳 and what a gift he got . . . (this is horrible)

• so just to reaffirm, falco is among the abducted. i’ll have a prompt that’ll be first come and first serve for a rescue, unless someone lets me know here that they’d like to snag that thread opportunity! he’ll be in a lot of pain post-op and must be guided or even carried, so we can work that out! afterward, i’ll keep something more ota for comfort interactions if there’s interest since he’ll really be spooked and painful about everything 😭

• on top on being subjected to various levels of tranquilization, falco will also be getting a modified mandibulectomy; his jaw will be completely removed, lengthened and reattached with metal rods implants to the head. he’ll also be able to unhinge his jaw from now on............ i plan to regain his actual jaw function/look, but not before playing this out 👀 lastly, he comes with a tracker as most of the others do implanted into both shoulder blades, but the catch: it also works as a adult content sensor. if he’s around anything considered inappropriate, it’s gonna go off. WHOOP WHOOP 🚨 i’m going to keep this around for a bit, but i’ll post a notice for any characters willing to cut him up to get it out once i’m ready!

• right before falco got abducted, he came across some findings in the middle school, both by observing during the day and sneaking in at night. mods have mentioned that he might have a leg up and recognize where the kidnapped might be, so if any fellow abductees would like conversation with him to exchange notes before his op, hmu or possibly catch my open prompt at the event for this! i plan to have that available! it’s too bad he can’t let the people outside know . . . outside characters who would later like to speak to him about what he knows can also lmk know as well, and i’ll be glad to write info sharing prompts!

[apodictic]

adult content sensor oh god falco just turned into an anti. only christian content right here, no horny allowed.

angelo is going to be fascinated by that body modification, i'm down to have the two of them meet? does he attend school?

[bowfaire]

slides in here

Claude loves a good mystery and is a protag so he's 100% down to look for the missing. He's just a normal human with no weapons or anything to fend for himself... but he's scrappy, athletic, creative, and will work with what he can. For the most part, he'll try to keep a level head and be reasonable. Stick together, watch out for traps, don't go following any strange voices, etc.

... Except I'll have one of the doppelgangers distract him by using the voice of someone very important to him. He'll feel really dumb after the fact but if anyone wants to help him get out of trouble here, he'll owe you big time.

On the flip side, if you end up needing help, he's down to fight/kill and is pretty chill about it. I know he's been presenting himself as pretty laidback/silly so far so it might be fun to show Another Side™️ to him. He isn't a healer or a medic by trade but he can probably manage some basic first aid in a pinch.

Also down for poltergeist things if anyone wants to do something with that!! I don't really have any immediate ideas here. He's a light sleeper so this is probably going to mess up his sleep real bad???

HIT ME UP... here or on plurk ( eski ) or disco (eski#9874) if you want to do anything!!!

[ribticklers]

Sans is Pretty Focused on just getting through to the kidnapped people but he and Claude should spend some time dealing with weird terrible doppelgangers together or something.

[fanoperator]

Huaisang is going to the lab, but he would like very much to avoid combat himself. He's here to keep watch or to help you navigate the maze. He's got a surprisingly good sense of direction and an art sketchbook to map this place.

More importantly, given some of the things I've read in this post, Huaisang has basic field medic knowledge. He comes from a martial sect, but he's rarely ever actually been in the field with this knowledge so it's mostly theoretical, plus he's got an artist's knowledge of anatomy. So he's not the worst choice if it comes to characters who need surgery, but... yeah. If 'artist who knows how to stitch up a wound' is your best medical choice, he's here for you.

[sunborne]

//finger guns heeeey

If you want, Daylight can play the role of bodyguard when he isn't looking for the others who are missing! Maybe they meet up in the maze and he helps Huaisang map it out and stuff so he can share it with the others via the network?

Either way, I'm down for them interacting during the event! Let Daylight protect people he cares for!!

[13thcommander]

They took his husband, AND his son, AND his skeleton friend, AND his nun friend, AND his wife's best friend?! Erwin is feeling personally victimized here and is ready to go all in on getting everyone back.

As it turns out, his new son, Falco, had noticed a bunch of weird things around the middle school, which he told Erwin about, so Erwin has a bit of a leg up on where to look. He's also been working at the high school, and in true teacher fashion, will happily bully any middle school teachers he comes across and try to pull rank.

Once he gets into the lab, Erwin will be willing to take insane, deadly risks to rescue people, which is probably going to lead to him getting banged up or possibly directing other people to set off traps so they don't get him.

[righthandstand]

Okuyasu is one of the abducted and will have some operations that will include lobotomy (it won't be major enough to lead to noticeable mental changes, but the scarring and post-operation effects will be there) and removal of a lung. He won't be able to do any sick athletic moves during his escape, and it will last for some time.

I'm going with one thread for his personal rescue, so let me know if you'd prefer a group thread or a one-on-one rescue mission.

[hxppythxughts]

hey...lobotomy buds 👀 lobotobuddies. if you're up for a same hat on the head trauma thing I would love for them to thread again while they are trapped!! in case Okuyasu did not get his fill of this aggressively friendly girl already LOL. she's gonna be pretty wigged out from knowing that SOMETHING happened to her head but not exactly what it was, so she'd be pretty worried about anyone who had the same thing 😔

[freeflight]

So Levi is one of the abducted and he's getting a number done on him.

That's kidney transplants, tranquilization bullshit, and height augmentation surgery. That last one is bonus terrible because "he can no longer fully extend his arms or legs due to the muscle/bone length mismatch." Bones don't fit. Fun fun fun.

I'm here for all the sweet sweet abductee CR while they wait to be rescued.

[righthandstand]

OH FUN NO BONES

Okuyasu is used to body horror but not that freaky

[thotsandprayers]

Kiara's getting abducted and in for a terrible time like everybody else! As far as physical changes go, she'll have lost her left eye (though she'll have a too small glass eye as a replacement), and will have been fitted with a pacemaker that'll zap her if her adrenaline spikes too high. She's also experienced repeated tranquilization and interrogation. Fun stuff.

Open to plotting out rescue stuff if anyone wants to specifically rescue her! And while everything that's happened is awful and she'll agree with that, she won't be quite as horrified about this ordeal as she probaby should be. So I'm definitely up for doing something with that too since it might be a good chance to see another side of her personality or get a better feel idea of what she's actually like!

[hxppythxughts]

hey this seems like a GREAT TIME for Sayori to get to know her sort-of aunt!! (ಥ◡ಥ) she's still gonna be pretty horrified by this turn of events, but given that she is going to be trying very hard to pretend that she's fine, Kiara seeming to actually pull it off would probably catch her attention! she's also in the boat of certain things about Santa Rosita not bothering her as much as they should, though for........less troublesome reasons than Kiara LFMFKLDJG but it could be an interesting interaction!

[hxppythxughts]

Sayori is one of the abducted! Her operations include partial lobotomy, which will not significantly change her personality, but will occasionally yield mild side-effects of lessened executive function and emotional regulation! And also auras sometimes. She will ofc also suffer post-op effects and be bandaged up pretty good following that surgery. To her distress, she will have visible scarring afterwards — and missing hair. :( BUZZCUT TIME, BABEY

She has also suffered eardrum trauma, which has lessened the hearing in her right ear and causes intermittent tinnitus which renders her unable to hear anything else when her ears are ringing. So she's gonna have some trouble with mishearing/missing sounds a lot while she adjusts to that!

While kidnapped, she's going to be doing her absolute best to keep it together and comfort the other captives 😔 this is more horrific than anything she's dealt with before, but she doesn't want anyone to worry about her, so she will be more concerned with group morale. This is a totally normal and healthy way to deal with all this.

I believe Monika and Sans have first dibs on Sayori's rescue LOL but tbh she'd want to help the other captives if she can, because she won't be as physically incapacitated as some of them are ╯︿╰ so I'd be happy to do a couple of short rescue-related threads along those lines if anyone would like! She'd also definitely be trying to keep team morale up while navigating traps etc during the escape. JUST LET ME KNOW IF YOU'D LIKE A SUNSHINE INJECTION AT SOME POINT and we'll make it happen!! I would just love to have some good Bonding Moments during this whole thing (❁´◡`❁) so I'm flexible! Feel free to add me at ceesawseesaw if you'd like to get ahold of me more easily for plotting!

[inpersonation]

I'd love for Noelle to meet Sayori post-rescue! She'll be fucking about with Louis, trying to figure out the ghosts, letting the others deal with the weird kidnapping bullshit.

-But when she sees how much Sayori has been physically and emotionally affected by this, she will feel bad and want to look out for her in some capacity.

[shalamayne]

cw: body horror

Anduin is one of the kidnapped and is in his cage trying to keep everyone's spirits up where he can. He fully believes that they will all somehow get out of there, that their enemy will eventually slip up or the others will somehow find them. Don't lose hope! He may be a bit quiet after his surgery though; they'll be removing his right arm from above the elbow and attaching one that...wasn't his. Also tranquilised and questions asked a lot. Oh and they also chop his beautiful hair off into a short bob. That'll teach Anduin to tease his friend about cutting long hair.

During the escape Anduin will be focused on getting out of there and helping others who may not be able to get around so easily after their ordeals. He'll be the first to hang back and guide others where he can. As for doppelgangers I haven't decided yet but his world is full of lovely baddies that are all horrible so it'll be like some old school WoW raid I'm sure.

Which brings it around to after the rescue. After a few days his arm will start to go necrotic and he'll need to have it...removed again. So if anyone volunteers to help with that hmu.

Other than that, totally open to anything so feel free to reply, yell, post gifs or even ping me on sailorstarmaker

[blackscales]

Wrathion calls getting Anduin out of his cage. If anyone else gets there before him he'd probably fling them out of the way anyway.

[m1895]

Vasiliy's going to be identifiable as an EMT because he will be in uniform when this transpires, and he's going to accompany those trying to go on rescue operations. He'll do his best to offer emergency care and will have his kit bag on him - as well as his gun, a regain from December and an authentic Purge-era Soviet weapon.

If he encounters your character and sees that they're able to offer even basic first aid, he'll try to tell them to go help x person, depending on their skill level; those who have met him may note that this is a pretty drastic swing in personality from the quiet non-leader that's been seen around the neighborhood. He's going to triage any wounded people he encounters; if your character was kidnapped and you'd like to opt in to have him write an indicator on their arm, forehead, what have you, ranging from 1-5 or X, hmu.

If he has a chance to fire his weapon, characters could possibly notice that:
A) his aim is clearly trained and not just a natural, unhoned talent
B) there is a Soviet star and the year 1937 engraved on the frame of the gun
and
C) he shoots with one hand and doesn't cradle the bottom of the grip with his non-dominant hand like most modern shooters would.

It's also possible for those who encounter him to notice that his facial expression doesn't really change, nor does his body language, when he's first confronted with assorted highly graphic sights. What they do with that observation is, ofc, up to you.

He will be defaulting to Russian and letting the world's translate do its thing so that he can direct his full attention to the crisis at hand. Because of that, characters will be able to hear the anachronistic way in which he speaks - his tone/pitch/patterns of inflection will transfer to whatever people in the 1930s sounded like in your character's culture, if they're from our world.

[sploosh]

Ok, so, my brain shut down and needed a hard reboot. i have been out of it for over a week and I am so sorry to everyone! That being said, ideally Pam would go on an Archer series standard Rampage (tm) to find/rescue her missing husband. Likely, I have missed the boat on this and I'm not 100% sure how to make up for it/plot around it. She would also be super-freakouts over the haunting stuff because she hardcore believes in ghosts.
Any ideas how best to get Pam caught up and back into things? Anyone up to let her join your rampage/rescue crew or handwave that she took part?