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

[poisonwish]

"Hmph. More for me, then." Snow White had no qualms about killing. If this was meant as bait, then the creature who left it made a fatal mistake. He gathered the bag to carry with him. He could use the coin.

Following the others, he noticed the scent first. "Indeed," he had to agree with Naomi, but he shrugged it off. "No matter. It won't affect me."

Clearly, this gold was compensation for him having to save the others from this room. Let the Gourmand handle it. Except... as Snow White casually walked further into the room, he began to cough and his eyes began to water. His brow furrowed with confusion. This wasn't supposed to happen. He coughed again and covered his mouth.

"Ugh... this can't be right!"

[princeandscholar]

Checking the room again, he directs the beam to the ceiling, then the floor. It’s faint, but there is a growing violet haze sliding along the floor, previously hidden in the darkness. A more frantic search circles the room with light, but there is no one to be seen, nor even a vent into the room that would explain the miasma. It doesn’t matter. They sprang a trap, and it’s time to get out. His own alchemist's instructions to him in such an event were to hold his breath and get out into an open area as quickly as possible. For once, Orcelito agrees wholeheartedly.

He covered his nose and mouth with a cloth as soon as Naomi raised the warning; now he coughs a muffled, “Retreat to hall.” He does shoot a worried look to Snow White – Gourmands are usually resilient. And Orcelito has inhaled the result of his own miasma spell enough that it shouldn’t feel like this. Moving swiftly, staggering a little, he retreats to the previous room and towards the passage back to the main hall, though he will pause if one of his teammates falls behind.

[chatwithdeath]

Naomi doesn't say anything, but for all the effort to get them out here, should it really be a surprise the miasma was working on all of them? In another world, it wouldn't be abnormal for her to breathe this in - except for certain chemicals, but this cloud wasn't it. It was different enough that natural and asterisk-provided immunity weren't working; not that she would betray the fact she was being affected too.

"You two go first." At least that way they wouldn't notice her feeling ill if she began to show the symptoms nor would she possibly block one of them if it somehow overwhelmed her. But she thinks she can mediate the worst of it if they continued to be exposed beyond the hall.

[poisonwish]

This was wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong! Every fiber of his being was screaming at Snow that this was wrong. His entire life had been spent developing a tolerance to all poisons, and even on Vaikuntha he should be shielded as a Gourmand.

He shouldn't feel this.

Snow White looked at Naomi when she said she'd go last. Was she serious? But... she was larger than he and Orcelito... And as a man with pride himself, he could understand. He nodded, covering his mouth and following Orcelito, picking up the other man by the back of the shirt whenever he stumbled.

[princeandscholar]

Orcelito pauses, looking back to make sure Naomi is following. When she does, he returns his attention forward. His throat burns too much to protest when the back of his coat is grabbed, though Snow's efforts pull him away from a collision with a door frame.

He was afraid someone would try to lock them in, but no such obstacle awaits; the doorway to the hall stands open, and he bursts gratefully into uncontaminated air. Immediately, the suffocating feeling ebbs, leaving a lingering soreness that marks a decline in his health. Ugh….