GUIDELINES.
This is the OOC plotting post for the August 2023 event! Here you can find brief summaries of the various event prompts which may help you engage in plotting with other players. To participate, utilize the code at the bottom of the page. This is not mandatory! Feel free to plot here or in private with other players, or simply wait to be part of the event.
NOTE: This is NOT the event log! The event log will go up on the 19th of this month.
ENDLESS PLUMMET INTO MORE OF THE UNKNOWN.
The main body of this event begins at 10:00 AM City time on August 19 and will continue for six days, until 10:00AM City time on August 25. At 10:00AM City time on August 19, every device in the city will start to buzz with a message: WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE, it says, with a single "OK" button below. Characters must press the "OK" button in order to escape the message; if they don't, the message will stay on the screen until the end of the event, rendering the device otherwise unusable.
Characters who enter the shopping mall during this time period will find themselves trapped inside and unable to escape without considerable effort. The trap is one-way, so characters can enter at any time during the event period, but will be unable to exit until the event ends on August 25. Once trapped, characters will find that the mall is quite dark, with the overhead lights off and illumination coming only from emergency lighting strips and red lights overhead. They will also find that the mall is considerably larger than it should be given its map footprint, and that the architecture seems to be changing to keep them away from any potential exits (for example, making hallways longer than they should be, adding twists and turns where none previously existed, etc).
Because any number of characters can enter the mall at any point during the event period, characters may try to go it alone, or team up with others, or team up and split up and rejoin again at a later time. Additionally, characters who are exceptionally sensitive to negative energy may feel that the vibes inside the mall are off in a bad way.
ENDLESS DARK, STILL TIME MUST ENTER YOU.
Once stuck inside the mall, characters can visit any of the available shops in the mall, and can also explore the employee-only areas, including the maintenance room, electrical room, and security office—the former for resources, the latter perhaps for knowledge. The further they enter into the bowels of the mall, the darker things seem, and characters will find the walls of the hallways decorated with graffiti urging them to RUN and DON'T STOP and remember that there is SAFETY IN NUMBERS.
Those with a particular affinity for electrical or mechanical engineering who pay a visit to the maintenance hallways of the mall will note that there is no immediately obvious reason why the lights are out and the mall is so cold. The breakers are all set to their correct positions, and the machinery appears to be functioning perfectly. Additionally, characters who take a look at the security monitors will be able to flip through live feeds of every security camera in the mall. This will allow them to see their fellow residents who are also trapped inside the mall, but may also allow them to notice someone—or something—else, an oddly familiar face who is moving with purpose toward the security room.
At this point, characters may, with some difficulty, flee the mall by finding and forcing open an emergency escape door to get outside. The emergency door will close immediately behind them and will not be re-openable by any means—to get back inside the mall, characters will need to enter through the front.
TO BE THE THING NOT TOUCHED BY LIGHT (NO, THAT'S NOT IT).
Characters who don't want to make an escape through the emergency doors may try to hide in the maintenance tunnels, or they may exit back into the main area of the mall. Either way, they will be struck with the feeling that someone is watching or even following them. For the first several hours, there is no one there when they turn around, but just about the time that it starts to be tiresome to keep turning around and spotting nothing—there is someone there, after all.
The person watching can be either someone meaningful from the character's past who should not be in the city, or, with OOC player permission, could optionally be someone who is currently in the city with whom the character shares a strong emotional bond. (There may be bodily harm that comes of this!) Depending on the relationship between the two, characters may want to flee, or they may want to pursue the person they see. This chase can last as long as players like—it may take minutes or it may take days, depending on the character. While at first it may be just a long game of hide-and-seek, with characters either hiding or seeking and then running when found, it will eventually escalate into a more serious pursuit that for some reason feels like it may end badly should the hider allow themselves to be caught.
When the seeker finally catches the hider, they—as well as every character in their immediate vicinity—will briefly be overwhelmed by a shared flash of memory of the hider's death at the hands of the seeker. This memory does not have to be real, but will certainly feel convincing to everyone who experiences it. This may happen several times during the course of the event, as every character trapped in the mall will have their own ghost to chase or be chased by.
WHAT IT IS TO BE QUIET, AND YET STILL BREATHING.
At 10:00AM City time on August 25, the lights abruptly come back on inside the mall. The mazelike twists and turns vanish, as does the seemingly mutable architecture keeping characters from escaping. The shutters on the front door come up from the inside, allowing characters to exit the mall at their leisure. Characters with sensitivities to the flow of energy will no longer feel any negative energy from the building. Any figments from characters' pasts who have yet to be caught, or to catch, are replaced all at once by mannequins. The mall is once again open for normal business.
CODES.
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cityooc2023-08-17 08:30 pm
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