an end is in sight.QUICK LINKS
WORLD JUMP # 4: THE HOROLOGIUM.
WORLD JUMP # 4: EVENT POST.
MOD QUESTIONS
GENERAL, THE MONSTER
SIGNUPS
KILL THE MONSTER, COLLECT AND CONTAIN THE CIRCLE, YOUR IDEAS HERECongratulations Circle Members. An end is in sight. With the information you have gathered and the sacrifices you have made, you have just enough knowledge on what to do to try and rid the universe of this horrible monster once and for all. You have decided to split into two teams: kill the monster, and collect the bodies. Your strategy and your assistance will make a difference, though how much of one you don't know until you try. THINGS TO NOTE:
➜ Congratulations! You have succeeded in killing the monster (aka, enough of the Circle signed up for monster hunting! Congratulations!)
➜ The monster itself will not be NPC'd by the modteam. Your team may NPC the monster (and, subsequently, kill it) however you wish. All of the powers of the monster (psychological manipulation, speed, and the like) will still be in play. However, characters on the Bridge discovered certain things. Use as you wish.
➜ Regular Astoria powers have returned as status quo.
➜ Both teams can interact with each other, as they have learned enough about the belly of the ship to not get quite as lost.  MEETING UP.The members of the Circle who went down below into the belly of the ship have returned. They are battered, bruised, and terrified . . . something attacked them down there, and while many of them may not be able to tell you what it is, it is certainly something terrible.
But as people begin to mingle, and interact, you begin to notice something. Not everyone who was down there came back up. Where are the remaining members of the Circle? What happened to them? You fear the worst, but as members of the Circle begin to talk, maybe you have some glimmer of hope.
Maybe, against all odds, some of them made it.
PROMPT IDEAS:
➜ Members of the Circle who were down below are beat up pretty badly. . . . but then again, so are members of the Circle who stayed on the Bridge. Healers are in desperate need, and so is basic first aid. Rally together, and ensure you all don't die before you go traipsing into the hell that is down below, shall you?
➜ Breaking up into teams is something the Circle feels is necessary. You want revenge, don't you? For not only your fallen comrades, but for being attacked in the first place. You want whatever that thing is to die, and figuring out how to do it seems to be the next thing on the Circle's agenda. Members who were on the Bridge uncovered some clues as to what the monster is capable of . . . maybe putting some heads together can figure out a good plan as to how to defeat it.
➜ Or, maybe, you just need a break. Setting up a base camp at the top of the elevator shaft seems like a good idea, doesn't it? Rest, recuperate, and take a breather. Try to ignore the voices in your head. Keep the madness at bay, while you figure out what to do. Or, maybe, find a shoulder to cry on. You've been through a lot. Rest.
➜ After the fighting, the Circle will need to rejoin, and recoup. Report the findings of going down below. Report about the dead. Feel free to create your own prompts and threads throughout this week. You're going to need all the support you can get.  TEAM: KILL THE MONSTER.You have decided that despite the dangers you face and the complications of this ship, destroying the monster is your priority. You have teamed up with others who have the same idea as you - you will kill this monster, one way or another. Even when faced with these horrors, you have decided that it is worth it - for revenge, for the safety of the others, or whatever else motivates you.
And you succeed.
THE HUNT:
➜ It lies at the very heart of the ship: the monster’s den is akin to a nesting ground. When you first enter, you’ll note the smell immediately; it’s the repugnant, sharp stench of rotted flesh. The odor is powerful enough to make you gag, and its source is hardly any more pleasant. Underneath the many layers of mangled wiring and discarded possessions are the remains of former crewmates. Watch where you step.
As you begin to draw near the center of the den, your surroundings are suddenly shrouded in darkness. The rumbling vibrations of the ground beneath you cause the entire ship to quake, and if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time, you’re likely to discover that wires have begun to snake around your legs and drag you down.
This marks the beginning of what is to come. Because when the den is illuminated once more, the monster towers over you and unleashes a primal screech that shakes the very ship itself.
THE FIGHT:
➜ PHASE 1: The monster will be utilizing a set of attacks Circle members may find themselves familiar with — it lunges forward, using its razor sharp tendons to slash at those within its immediate vicinity. It will be attempt to tear through any limbs within its reach and immobilize you. Your powers will be flickering on and off as well. Be careful! The back of its head appears to be vulnerable, as it delays its attacks for extended periods of time.
➜ PHASE 2: The monster’s attack range has expanded as it hangs from the ceiling and strikes from above. The ground begins to shake violently once more, and you will lose your grip on reality intermittently. Voices and visions plague you — you may find this to be a boon to your strength or a disadvantage, but regardless, the monster will be attempting to slice through as many Circle members as it can in a single sweep. Long range attacks are more likely to throw it off balance and send it hurling towards the ground.
➜ PHASE 3: The monster is aware of its own weakness. It skitters around the walls and spews out a vile, black sludge that webs across the floor. The black sludge will attempt to suffocate and consume you whole once it’s made contact with your skin. The psychological effects are prevalent as well, as you will find yourself paralyzed with fear...yet for some reason, this time the words of another Circle member still have the capacity to bring your back to your senses. Once the fear has left you, the sludge can be peeled off through sheer force. The monster is getting desperate — cracks begin to form in its skull.
Once the skull has shattered entirely, the cries of the dead will echo throughout the entirety of the ship. The monster disintegrates into the very same black sludge it had spewed out, threatening to flood the room before you make your escape.
It’s over.
And yet even when you leave, you can’t help but feel like something is watching you.  TEAM: COLLECT THE CIRCLE.A good number of Circle members have been left down in the lower level, as their teams had to retreat as quickly as they could to safety. Retrieving their bodies will be an arduous process, slow and cumbersome, but with magic down below seeming off, how can you tell if Astoria will be able to bring them back if you leave them down below?
Each team will need a couple of members - one to act as look-out for any activity of the monster, one to two to help carry the dead weight of the body back up the elevator shaft, and one at the top level to help receive them. Coordinate, and work together . . . you have to, if you have any hope of Astoria being able to bring them back. If she can bring them back.
PROMPT IDEAS:
➜ The silence that has overtaken the ship is deafening. Their corpses have been hidden away in the shadows, the crooks and crannies of the ships, isolated rooms and the corners you’ve been avoiding all this time. Who will you find, and what will you do? The trip to the elevator shaft will require at least one other pair of hands.
➜ But once you find the bodies . . . you hear voices. Again, you think, but it seems to be the voices of the members of the Circle who have died. Death reverberates throughout these halls, and you could almost swear you hear the voices of your fallen comrades telling you to run. Get out. But you can't possibly leave without them, can you? You can't really leave without finishing the mission . . . can you?
➜ The bodies of fallen Circle members have been gathered and lined up along the Bridge. You’ve won, but the feeling of loss permeates the air. The bodies will need to be tended to and stowed away appropriately. But can you bear to deal with them, let alone look at them? Their bodies are in pretty rough shape, depending on how they died . . .what in the hell did they run into?
➜ A makeshift morgue has been established. It's an unoccupied room on the ship, and appears to have been a storage room long, long ago. The bodies are in the process of being cleaned up and sanitized accordingly — there's still work to be done. But even in these times, it's necessary to keep your morale in check, isn't it? Work together, make sure the Circle members are ready to go back to the Temple . . . god, is Astoria even listening? Where is she? And why are they still on this damn ship?
mod note. ➜ The Test Drive Meme for the April application round is being pushed back until March 24th. We want you to be able to obtain some level of wrap-up in the Horologium before we launch you back into the Temple. Therefore, the Circle members will be on the Horologium until March 24th, which is the end of World #4 and the beginning of the TDM.
➜ Because of this, characters will return to the Temple 3 days later than normal. If characters have been through a few jumps and would notice this, they can.
➜ The Game HMD will also be posted on March 24th, to give current players the opportunity to give feedback on the world and the game writ-large!
➜ EMP/ATP will go up as scheduled on March 18th.
➜ Reserves will open as planned March 24th at 9:00 PM EST, as will applications April 1st at 9:00 PM EST.
Be careful in the dark.
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acatalepsy_logs2019-03-17 09:29 am
1.
Awake, he hasn't moved from said sofa, but Waver has had one eye idly on Hunk and his card tower. Attempt at card tower, at least.]
Y'know I think I saw a bunk of old checkers pieces and poker chips in here if you want to build something sturdier.
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Not as much of a challenge...dominoes could be fun though. Have you seen anything like that? [He frowns though and then shakes his head.] Never mind. Those would be a little loud. You're trying to rest.
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[Waver's pleasant enough even if he's resting. To the comment about noise, there's a shrug, clearly unbothered by the potential clack-clack-clack of tiles through the silence.]
People who're tired can sleep through just about anything, dominoes included.
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[Something new to focus on. Hunk hops up to his feet and starts perusing the games again.]
If you're sure...I can always try building a tower somewhere else. Although this place is really the only spot I feel any kind of calm any more.
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[He doesn't really turn to try and follow where Hunk's going. The sofa's comfy, moving means effort, and Waver could honestly just go back to sleep in a few minutes.]
It's fine. You're fine. Especially since this place is probably the best place to be right now.
[It'd be a dick move to tear anyone away from that.]
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[Perhaps not until Astoria pulls them back to the Temple even, though he doubts he can stay away for that long. Inevitably someone is going to need help and Hunk isn't the type of person to ignore that. He just needs a break. Finally, he pulls out a box and while he can't read the alien text, when he opens the top it reveals itself to be some version of mahjong for sure.
Hunk sits on the floor now, taking a look at the tiles. They seem squatter than dominoes, but he's fairly certain it will have the same result. However, instead of setting them up as a tower, Hunk begins to stack them end to end in a line.]
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[Food is the only thing worth even entertaining the loss of safety for. Such as it is, Waver's content to try and curl up a bit more, reaching lazily for more pillows. He...he's out of luck. Not that he'll complain, that means other people are using them. That's a good thing.
He closes his eyes for a few moments but exhaustion's left him. For now, Waver is awake, and at least Hunk's given the impression of being pretty even-keel in the face of the situation. So he watches for a few minutes before asking:]
That's not building. What're you doing?
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[Hunk HAD done a lot of work on the Bridge. Surely he could convince someone to help him out with that aspect -- a little food service. Of course, he hadn't had much of an appetite lately, which was concerning.
He looks back, pausing with a tile between his fingers.]
It's still building. I'm just not making a tower. More like...a path to topple over. If I had enough, I could make like cool designs and stuff.
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[Not that the kitchen is far away, but the kitchen does have things like knives and that could still be a problem if something suddenly goes so very, very badly astray.
Waver's accepted that he's not sleeping anymore, so he sits himself up carefully on the sofa he's claimed for himself. There's a yawn, then he stretches his arms up and over his head.]
A path? [That sounds ridiculous.] I guess a step pyramid would work but... [A path still sounds rather silly.]
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Best to get someone else to play fetch.]
No, no. Like, you set them up in a row and then you knock them over. You can even turn it into a kind of...Rude Goldberg machine and have it knock balls across the room or flip coins or inflate balloons based on how you set up the path.
[He figures it might just be easier to show him, so Hunk continues placing tiles in a line, adding in a little loop, and then stacking some of the other games so he can make the path fall up and then down. By the time he's reached the other end of the mini-game hill he's out of tiles.]
Here. Watch.
[He carefully makes his way to the 'front' of the line and gently nudges the first tile. That tile falls over, hitting the second, and then third and before long the tiles are falling over and following the path. Eventually it makes the loop and the finally each tile knocks over the other up and then down the mini-game hill. It's not as exciting as it could be with more tiles. But he'd have to see if there were more mahjong or even domino pieces first.]
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[But Waver does lean over to try and get a better idea of what Hunk is on about. He watches carefully, nodding along but not daring to say anything, lest he screw up all the careful precision involved here.
And then the obvious thing happens, like tiny more colorful dominoes, and Waver nods to show that he's understood. Then his eyes go back to where the tiles originated from, and there's a thoughtful noise.]
There has to be more tile type things in there. One single game on an entire ship makes no sense at all.
[As thoughtful as it is, there's an air of mischeif in the words too.]
May as well double check, right?
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Hunk rises from the floor.]
It's not like this place is very organized. I'll check and see if there are any sets on the other side of the lounge. I think you're right though...there should definitely be more than one set.
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[Hunk's not wrong. Building like this seems like an amazing distraction, demanding just enough brain power to shutter everything else out. Waver slides off the sofa, and he goes back to where Hunk got the original set.
His definition of searching means taking everything out, putting them into careful stacks, and then making louder and louder annoyed noises as he fails to find anything of use until...]
I've got a plastic baggie full of dominoes here!
[It's accompanied with a shake of said bag and the unmistakable noise of plastic tiles clinking together.]
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Great! With this many we can really build something even more complicated and longer.
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[With victory, Waver walks back over to the table that Hunk had been using. He puts down the baggie o' dominoes, satisfied with the sound the tiles make when they're dropped.]
Because there's a lot.
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[He knows they won't be the only ones to think to come here. But, maybe those people could also join them.]
Let's just see what we can build and do in this space.
[He puts with his fingers, drawing out a decent sized portion of the lounge where they won't be in anyone's way who is coming or going, tucked to the side next to some of the tables and shelves.]
This just means we can do more with designs really.
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[That's probably the wiser, fairer thing to do. Waver's pretty sure that this kind of thing is bound to invite more people to help and poke at whatever's getting done. Maybe then they can take over more space.
Designs though. Waver taps his finger to his chin, considering what kind of designs might be possible.]
I guess we should draw it out first, so we can maximize the space we're working with/
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[When he'd been searching he'd seen a notepad and pen, likely for people keeping score in the lounge. He quickly finds it in a drawer and tosses it on one of the tables, he's quick to draw a likeness of the room -- being an engineering student meant he had an eye for such things though the sketch is very rough since Hunk isn't an artist.]
Okay, so here's the room and these [he adds a few smaller rectangles.] are the shelves and tables and things. We can work in this area [he points with his pen and then taps his chin.]
Where would you want to start?
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His fingers ghost over the map, and he settles on a point that has no particular furniture or obstacles in the way.]
This would give us the most space to start out, and if we wanted to have two or three branching off points, we can start them all here without crowding the space too much.
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[Hunk takes a few minutes with his sketch. He starts adding little dots to represent the tiles they'll stack -- it starts with one and then branches into three and then each of those three branch into two. He stops when some of the branches start to reach furniture and shelves.]
We could add a loop here...working in a weave around the chair legs. And we could even make a bridge out of some of the other board games that this branch could go under while this branch goes under. [He points as he speaks, indicating the branches he's talking about.]
Eventually I think we should be working for them to all converge back together...maybe over here.
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[More than two bridges seems overly ambitious. As it is, Waver's content, following the flow of the design and nodding along.]
What'll be the big finish then?
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Hmm. A big finish... [He glances around the room, looking for ideas. He spies a small ball, squishy and likely lost from someone's game since it was just sitting out. He also takes note of a game that looks surprisingly like Jenga. He gets up and goes to grab the supplies.]
What if we made the row of tiles converge back together, knock into a ball, that then topples a tower?
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That ball looks kind of soft. Will it have enough force to knock over a tower?
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[There's a pause.]
Or you know...just find a slightly heavier ball that would still roll when hit by a tile.
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[Waver pauses, considering where he might begin.]
I'll check out the bigger cabinets first.
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