Event || A History of Light and Darkness

[eternitymods]

Who: Brave Explorers and/or Those Poor Souls Being Dragged Along by Friends
When: Oct 15-30th
Where: Thilmit Border Post, inside the Old Heranean Doll Museum
What: The Heroes of Light received a strange letter, and are now being asked to investigate the strange occurrences at the old doll museum.
Warnings/Notes: OOC Post Warnings for Spookiness, Creepy Dolls. Post toplevels for each group. Please post warnings as needed for memory fragments and exploration. For random numbers, use the dice functions on Plurk or Discord.



The Old Heranean Doll Museum is a small building, but somehow the dark, dusty windows and poorly maintained roof give it a menacing feel as you approach. The sign says, "OPEN"...although, as you approached, you think it might have been turned to "CLOSED".

The door creaks as it swings open, though there is no one from the museum to greet you as you enter. A cold breeze blows in behind you, sapping any lingering warmth in the room. The building is dark, and cobwebs are starting to form in the corners of the lobby and on the velvet rope stanchions that guide the flow of traffic in and out. Out of a shadowy corner, a large centipede skitters across the floor and into a crack low on the wall.

At the reception desk, one of the antique dolls sits, unmoving, unblinking. That goes without saying. Its eyes do not follow you as you enter.... The hairs prickling up on the back of your neck are just coincidence, that's all.

There is another doll perched on the wooden brochure display stand near the door. It's strange that the curator leaves the display pieces out where visitors can touch them....

As you enter, you hear something whistling through the air toward you a moment before it makes a impact. A tiny pebble, too small to do any damage other than a brief stinging. During this moment of distraction, the door slams and locks.

When you look at the spots where the dolls were perched a moment ago, there is now just empty space. There is movement in the shadows, and the nearly imperceptible sound of tiny shapes creeping around.

As you move past the lobby into the exhibits, a sign above the entryway declares:

Welcome to the Old Heranean Doll Museum. We hope you enjoy our historic Heroes of Light displays.

Comments

[wheretheresawill]

The dolls were pretty, but some of them were eerily familiar. Like, very familiar. "Is that...Riku? Or Takeshi?" Terra kind of edged into Prompto's frame before noticing what he was doing and backing away. "But these are supposed to be really old?" Everything about this was confusing.

Encounter!

[shinra_dog]

"Thanks." Reno nodded to Prompto. Angeal's idea was good, especially if any of these things did start walking around -- or there was collateral damage from something else. Reno watched Prompto carefully for another moment, understanding his feelings about Ardyn. As much as he wanted to destroy some of these dolls, too... he knew they were evidence.

"And yeah." Reno gestured to the doll Terra was looking at. "That's him -- Takeshi, not Riku. All the dolls here were those of us who'd been on Crystallis."

He pointed to the doll of himself... or would have... because suddenly the doll was gone. "Wait..." With furrowed brow, and now on edge, Reno spun to look for it. The sinking feeling only got worse when he saw the Reno doll and the Johnny doll together across the room. And if dolls could look uncomfortable? Those dolls did.

"The fuck..." It soon became clear when Reno turned back to the dais to see a shimmering, ghostly form take shape. With a crackle and snap, a Lightning Elemental -- or at least the angry remains of one -- spun into place.

[charming_jerk]

This whole place was making Johnny uneasy, though he tried not to show it. But these familiar doll faces staring back at him? It was a little much. If this really was a horror movie, someone was trying pretty hard.

The distraction from the lightning elemental is almost welcome at this point.

"Whoa, hey. I guess this is our ghost, huh?"

[roseinbattle]

Olivier still isn't educated on the finer points of Crystallis' history, but he is making a mental note of his companions' responses. The dolls here seemed to be tied to another place, that had a connection with this world.

All of this he immediately drops as soon as the Elemental appears. He may not have his orbament here, but he can do some damage. He starts to gather a small ball of fire in his hands, as he calls to his allies.

"On guard, everyone!"

[failtsuninari]

Kenichi turned around with his spear in his hand."An elemental, huh?" This was troublesome. If he remembered what he read about them, then he knew he was at a bit of a disadvantage.

Instead, he took a deep breath to concentrate to activate spirit surge. The one magic skill he had access to need all the boosts he could get.

[kuposcreed]

Reno's distress caught Bonnie's attention, and when she whirled to try to find Mary's doll again it too was gone. "Ah! Be careful! She's probably climbed up somewhere, kupo!"

The noise made by the appearance of the elemental elicited a less than dignified shriek from the moogle, and she fumbled a bit as she pulled out her own knife. Her preparing of Transience was in spite of or perhaps because of her panic, hard to say at the moment.

[angealwings]

Angeal's eyes are on the ghost, but he considers for a moment. As a monk, his attacks are physical, which might not be particularly effective against a spectre. On the other hand, switching to Scholar wouldn't give him a particularly great attack power... but he would be able to support others.

"I will... need a moment. But if anyone's not strong on magical skill, I can imbue your weapon with an element, that should be helpful. In a moment."

And, still at the ready, Angeal slips out his iMog slate to do the switch to Scholar, a series of actions that he's actually practiced for so it takes him as little time, and as little away from his attention, as absolutely possible.

[wheretheresawill]

Terra gratefully stops fiddling with his sword and holds it properly, moving himself toward the front of the group as a shield for the more fragile among them. Moving his heavy blade in a familiar configuration, he activates Rampart to boost everyone's defense - not by a huge amount, but every bit helps.

"I'm not great when it comes to magic, but try to get it to attack me if you can."

[chocobosnap]

"Can you even attack a ghost?" Prompto said in a rush, the surprise is evident, but he reacts like he's used to things popping up on him.

He raised his gun and took aim.

rolled Ollie

[shinra_dog]

With a crackle and pop, the elemental attacks Olivier, shooting a small bolt of lightning out from itself to hit the man in the chest.

Reno dodged to the side. "Shit, what even is the opposite of lightning here?" With swift hand symbols, he retaliated with a Fire Ninjutsu. "You okay there, Hunter of Love?"

[charming_jerk]

"Um... water spells?"

Maybe getting everyone and the surroundings wet might not be the best idea when something's hurling lightning around.

Johnny opts to Last Charge the elemental, thinking similarly to Prompto - he wasn't even sure if it was going to hit, but it was worth a shot.

[wheretheresawill]

"I hate when they're resistant to physical damage..." Terra's magic power isn't going to win any prizes, but he gives Saint Cross a try anyway. He's spent his fair share of time chipping away at elementals frustratingly.

[chocobosnap]

It might have been resistant to damage, but that didn't mean it wouldn't take any.

Prompto unleashed Trigger Happy finishing it with a little whistled tune. Old habits died hard.

[kuposcreed]

Bonnie had the same worries as Johnny, but she had a feeling it would be a bad time if the dolls caught fire too. "I'll give it a try, kupo!"

Her paws flashed in a flurry of cute flailing that was the closest she could muster to hand seals. But in the end her toebeans were indeed dexterous enough to form her Ninjutsu and a small jet of water shot at the elemental!