welcome to the horologium.

[acatamods]

I ▫ main IV ▫ premise       XI ▫ applications XIV ▫ activity II ▫ logs V ▫ rules VII ▫ bestiary   IX ▫ canon updates XII ▫ taken XV ▫ drop/hiatus III ▫ ooc VI ▫ faq VIII ▫ setting   X ▫ mods XIII ▫ reserves XVI ▫ players welcome to the horologium. Some of you know it is coming. The World Jump, the chaotic thrust into a new universe. But some of you are new, and though you know what the mission is, it is a bit . . . troubling, sitting around and waiting for something to happen. But eventually, you get a message on your watch. It shows Astoria . . . dark hair framing her features, her voice light and musical. She sounds like herself, for the first time in some time . . . that spark of determination back in her eyes. A MESSAGE FROM YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD WITCH. "It is time, my beloved Travelers, to go to our new destination . . . and I want you to know that I have the utmost faith in you. Akvos' loss has hurt us all, and I know that many of you doubt our mission. But please believe me when I say that you have done the best job anyone could ask of you. Akvos' destruction was not your fault . . . and to our newest members of our Circle, welcome to our journey. I can only hope that your journey here will work out to the benefit of us all." That being said, you are journeying to the Horologium . . . it is a ship that has sent out a distress beacon. I am not sure when, or where, but I can feel great darkness, emanating from that place. I believe you all can combat what is done there, without interacting with the Void . . . so please, be safe, and I will see you all when you return." And, just like that, there is a pull in your stomach . . . your vision blacks out and you feel the sudden sense of vertigo, a sensation of falling, and then . . . nothingness. You open your eyes, and you are suddenly waking up in the midst of . . . fog? THE AWAKENING. When you wake, you are greeted by metal — there’s an expanse of silver all around you. The cot you’re laying on is somewhat rigid, like a flattened wedge of cotton more than anything, encased in a capsule-like structure. Should you inspect your surroundings, you’ll find that there are three more cots in your room..or more notably, another person in the room in of itself. Depending on where you’ve been roused from your slumber, however, you’ll find that your circumstances differ. ➜ If you’ve woken up in the northeast wing of the ship, there seems to be a pool of saturated pink goo at your feet. It sticks to the bottom of your heel and collects at the very center of the room, oozing from the cracks and crevices within the metal lining of the walls. And even more notably, the goo has a particularly saccharine scent, as though it’s meant to be...consumed. Looks like you had the misfortune of waking up in the wing adjacent to the kitchen. ➜ In the northwest wing, the ship is functioning at an all time low. When you wake, the room is illuminated for a brief moment...before flickering out, only to leave you in pitch darkness. Power returns to the room intermittently and only for a few seconds at most, but it appears as though you and your newfound roommates will have to navigate the darkness if you want to leave. ➜ In the southwest wing, the fire alarm in your room has been activated for some inexplicable reason. It’s an obnoxiously loud siren that slices right through the whirring of the machinery around you — and it goes as far as to trigger the sprinklers hanging from the ceiling. Water sprays from above you, hopefully ensuring that you’ve woken up if nothing else has. It doesn’t seem to be draining either, so it may be for the best that you escape with some haste. ➜ In the southeast wing, your circumstances are for the most part rather unremarkable. An untouched room, mostly intact...until you try to open the door. It won’t budge — unless you have some form of super strength, your muscle power is rendered useless on its own. You might just have to commission someone else to help you... Beyond your room, the word “Horologium.” stretches across the wall. Welcome to your new home. WHISPERS IN THE DARK. In a way, it feels as though you’re suspended in time. The ship is always humming, always whirring as it makes a haphazard attempt to function. The noise comes to a halt every so often, leaving you with nothing but silence and the idle creaking of the floor beneath you. There are remarkably large, bright white doors that divide each and every wing. A circular window is positioned at the center of all 4 of these doors: but nothing can be seen through it. It’s likeness is that of a black hole’s, like someone had gone as far as to paint over it. On every door, the same word is emblazoned in black lettering: EXIT. Except the word itself appears to be scratched out to some degree — as though it were scrubbed out in a fit of desperation but remained no less. When you see the door, you might be overcome with excitement. Or perhaps not. Regardless of what your reaction is like, the lights around you will dim and flicker at an alarming frequency. For a moment, it’s almost as though the gravity around you has slowed, and the hallways are becoming narrower by the second.. Voices and faces from the past emerge in your mind. You see someone you shouldn’t; they’re calling for you. They’re here with you right now, beckoning you to come closer... If you reach the door and attempt to open it, it won’t budge. And the further you walk away from it, the more the effects will subside. But there’s no telling if you’ll sleep well tonight. INVESTIGATIONS The ship is fitted to house approximately 500 people — it’s a bit of a ghost town, however, lived in but abandoned no less. The chairs are in the mess hall aren’t aligned perfectly. The tables are a bit crooked. The lounge is lofty, but not pristine. The rooms may be barren, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that they were somehow someone else’s before they became yours. There’s an array of locked doors, varying in sizes and shapes, all of which withhold something potentially useful to you. You may be inclined to visit the lounge, the mess hall, rifle through the bedrooms . . . the ship is yours to explore. However, how you interact with the ship is….entirely up to you. There is something to be found everywhere. Regardless of what you do, where you investigate and how, you might be tempted to look behind your shoulder. After all, every decision you make matters...right? (Every Player’s investigation prompt has the potential to differ greatly as your investigation will require mod input. We encourage you to ask as many questions as you would like, we are here to help and provide you with the information necessary.) Additionally, please feel free to write up and work with your own prompts! These areas of the world are presented as jumping off points for your characters, not limitations. The idea of this world- as with all the others- is to explore -- you may use as much leeway as you want in order to come up with what your character will do. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them back on the various threads back in the OOC post from before!

Comments

[fairysong]

That's not really something to be proud of, you know. [Don't brag about being used to taking hits to your head, Ren!] Anyway, we'd probably have to find someone who actually knows the ship or does maintenance-- most normal crew members probably wouldn't have a clue.

I know that I wouldn't have much of a clue about the specifics about a ship where I lived.

[thedarkbond]

Hey, I'm just saying you don't need to worry... [He doesn't really consider it a brag, but they probably have more important things to focus on right now anyway. She has a point about them probably having to find a very specific kind of crewmember, though, and he lets out a bit of a huffy sigh.]

I don't know if we'll get that lucky... [A moment or two after he finishes saying that, the lights flicker on again, about three times on and off before they plunge into darkness again. But it's enough to show that they're definitely in a corridor with a door at the other end of it, and lined with other doorways that are probably more bedrooms.]

[fairysong]

Oh! They're back-- [Off.

Sheryl looks down the hallway where she'd definitely seen that door, and gives a very long-suffering sigh.] Great. Either it's faulty wiring, or they're screwing with us at this point.

You saw that door, right? Down that way. [She points, in the direction of where she'd seen the door.

Not that he can see her arm.]

[thedarkbond]

[Ren certainly can't see her arm, but he did, at least, see the door, and it's hard to misdirect himself too much on what's essentially a straight shot, so he keeps walking forward at a slightly more brisk pace now that he knows he's not just going to walk straight into something. Probably.]

Right, right...it doesn't look like it's too much brighter down there, but maybe we'll be able to see something more when we get there. [Even if the lights are on the fritz here, it's possible that door might have other paths from it, and that some of them might have visible lights to use as a guide.]

I wonder how many people usually live on this ship, if there's this many rooms...

[fairysong]

[How far away was it? Sheryl tries to keep in her mind, trying to count her steps. It's hard to judge distances, after all, and she doesn't want to bump into anything.

Which is why she makes sure his voice is coming from ahead of hers. He'll collide with something before she does.] I don't know; this is probably just a crew quarters. When you think about it, all the rooms we've seen are probably for... twenty people? Thirty?

They could sleep in shifts, though. I hear military vessels do that.

[thedarkbond]

[Ren's holding a hand out in front of him to at least make sure he's not going to break his nose walking directly into a wall or something, so he doesn't mind going ahead too much.] I guess you probably wouldn't want everyone on a ship like this asleep at once, would you...though there doesn't seem to be many Circle members around here, either. Maybe there's other sleeping quarters?

[It'd explain why they haven't run into anyone else just yet, since he figures there'd be more people to bump into if they were all in one place.]

[fairysong]

I don't think I've ever been on a ship where the crew all slept at the same time. Doesn't just that seem like a really, really dumb idea? That's why crew shifts exist. [She walks slowly, trying to gauge where his voice is coming from. Maybe she can tell where the walls are by how their footsteps echo?

...no, she can't, but it was worth a try.]

[thedarkbond]

We don't have spaceships this big where I come from, so I guess I never thought that hard about the logistics... [He shrugs, as if it's not that big a deal. His voice is still coming from a little bit ahead, but he's leaning back to talk to her, so it might make it a little bit harder to tell which way he's actually walking.]

There doesn't seem to be anyone else here right now, anyway, so either they're awake or something else happened to them.

[fairysong]

[Sheryl stops in her tracks for a moment, and though he can't see her, he might hear the huff she gives as she crosses her arms in front of her.] Don't say weird things like that!

They better be here. If the witch just sent the two of us, she's crazy.

[thedarkbond]

What~? It's not like I'm saying they disappeared into the void on the way or something... [Except he is now, because there's plenty enough of a spooky mood here for him to innocently throw some creepy ideas around.]

But it's probably-- [He's about to say "fine" when his fingers touch the far wall, and he breaks off into a small "oh" instead.] I found the wall, so we're pretty close to the next area.

[fairysong]

You don't have to "disappear into the void" for something to happen to you! There could've been... I don't know, a serial killer or something! [Did she just jump to the most dramatic possibility? Yes. Yes she did.]

Is there a door?

[thedarkbond]

Hmm, that would be kind of boring to start with... [Serial killers are overrated. In other words, Ren's seen too many horror movies for this business.

Ren takes a few steps to the right, where he remembers the doorway having been when the lights came on, and sure enough, he walks forward through it without issue.] It's right here--oh...

[Most of the area beyond seems to still be dark, but there's a faint pinprick of light in the distance to their right.] Maybe we should go that way.

[fairysong]

I'm sure that whatever's going on here really cares about being boring or not to meet your approval. [She says, dryly, continuing to follow where she hears his voice coming from.

The light makes her audibly perk up.] Oh! Of course we could go that way! Even if there's something awful there, at least we'd be able to see it.

[thedarkbond]

Well, if you're going to put it like that, a serial killer doesn't really make sense, either... [It'd be pretty silly of Astoria to throw them into a situation where they could all just die immediately before being able to fix anything.

Ren starts heading in the direction of the light, though he hums a little in thought when Sheryl mentions the potential of awful things.] Maybe it's something like an angler fish, luring people in with light...what do you think?

[Okay, now he's just basically telling horror stories.]

[fairysong]

[Sheryl huffs at his attempt to freak her out.

Mainly to disguise the fact that it almost kinda worked.] Whatever! I'll take my chance with being able to see it myself, you know? Better dealing with something nasty where we can see it than just stumbling around blind back here.

[She moves to try and push past him, now that there's some sort of light-- and as soon as she passes him, the lights flicker on for just a moment.

Enough to be a little blinding.]

[thedarkbond]

Hmm, not if we're walking right into its mouth, though-- [And that's about when the lights come on. Ren is not the most fond of having lights suddenly flashed in his eyes, so he stops for a moment and puts a hand up to his face to try and hide from it a bit.]

I hope the lights on this ship aren't all that bright...

[fairysong]

[Ow. Sheryl covers her eyes with her hands, squeezing her eyelids shut, the sudden flash of light leaving a dazzling imprint on her closed eyes.] That's--

I don't think it's that bright, but they could've warned us at least! Or included a dimmer!

[thedarkbond]

[Ren starts blinking his way out of it after a moment or two, and glances around quickly - it's pitch dark again now, but it doesn't sound like anything's taken advantage of the moment of blinding.]

I guess it's fine for now...hopefully once we get over to where all the lights are on, we can ease into it a little more...

[fairysong]

[Great. And now her vision, which had been acclimatizing to the darkness, is back to seeing naught but black again.

At least that pinprick of light up front is still present.] I'm going to have words with whoever designed the lighting on this ship. [She hisses.

No, she isn't. But she's irritated.] As long as we make it to the light, it'll be fine. Then we never have to come back here until the lights come on and stay on.

[thedarkbond]

It's probably not on purpose, though... [Okay, maybe the brightness is on purpose, but that seems like it'd be preferable if you were living on a ship for extended periods of time. Nobody likes dim lighting everywhere.

Thankfully, so far it seems like the corridor is bare, though Ren starts tilting his head a bit as they get closer to the light ahead.] I still can't really hear anyone...it's kind of weird. Maybe they've all gone ahead.

[He'd think most people would have tried to get out of the darkness as soon as possible.]