Event OOC: Fear Itself Mk. II

[hadrielmods]

THE RUNDOWN

It looks like things have come full circle. By popular vote, it's time for a repeat of our very first event, Fear Itself. For those of you who were around back then, this will be familiar - for everyone else, it's time to reach deep down and figure out what your characters are scared of. Fear needs power, and it's all on the city to provide that.

This event has something of a slow build. For the first few days, everyone affected feels nothing more than a creeping sense of dread, a feeling that something is coming and it's probably going to be bad. That might be totally normal for Hadriel these days, but starting May 21st, things move into a higher gear. Characters will start seeing visions of their worst fears, hallucinations that only they can see. The only way to escape them is by staying near someone else - since they can't see your fear, it ceases to exist.

But that seems a little too easy, right? Don't worry. Beginning May 24th, the effects are reversed. Instead of proximity driving your fears away, now whoever is close to you will be able to see your fear, and you theirs. As if that wasn't enough, this closeness will amplify these fears, combining them or increasing their strength. So you can try to go it alone, or you can look for support - either way, you're not gonna have a lot of fun.

THE DETAILS

The hallucinations of these fears can be pretty much anything. Most common will be living beings - people or creatures that you fear - but it could be a place or an object or anything else that provokes terror. Though they are not real, they can be interacted with. This works more or less like a 'power of suggestion' sort of thing. The fear can't interact with the environment (no destroyed buildings) or anyone who can't see them, but those who can see them can be hurt by them. Better be careful.

They aren't real, though, and while that might seem reassuring, what it actually means is that it's impossible to permanently kill them. You can beat your fear to death only to find it back again the next day, possibly alongside something even worse. And once the event has progressed, your fears can amplify and combine someone else's. That movie monster you hate, now working alongside your roommate's greatest enemy to hunt you both? Great. Awesome. Thanks, Fear.

THE OVERVIEW

► May 19th-20th: Characters experience a vague, creepy feeling.
► May 21st-23rd: Characters will now run into full hallucinations of their fears, which can hurt them if they're not careful. Proximity to other characters alleviates the hallucinations.
► May 24th-26th: The effect of proximity on the event is now reversed: being close to another character now causes both fears to combine.
► May 27th: It's all over.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[hadrielmods]

[substances]

Klaus' fear is going to (obviously) be ghosts and dead people. What kind of dead people and ghosts would he see in Hadriel? Anything specific, or a specific kind of people or a common type of death, any common threads, or is it just up to me?

For ghosts that he sees that are tied to people (eg. he tends to see ghosts of people that were murdered by the living people around him) I imagine that would be up to player plotting?

[hadrielmods]

All of the human (ish) people who have died have been resurrected by Hope, so it's unlikely he would see them - though of course that's up to you. However, he could easily see the ghosts or spirits of the previous hosts, large nautilus-esque creatures with shells and tentacles. There are some living ones in a space beneath Hope's temple currently, but all the previous inhabitants of the city were killed in the very first Null attack.

As for player-specific ghosts, yup, that's totally up to player plotting.

[substances]

Perfect, thank you! This might be a stupid question, but how were the previous hosts killed?

[hadrielmods]

Most of them were killed via a weapon created by the Null that caused their brains to explode, although plenty more were killed in more 'normal' ways with projectile weapons, blunt force, or other means.

[substances]

Thank you. His life is gonna be hell. :)

[bloodbathing]

Maine will be haunted by his fear of his future-self: the Meta. (More accurately, Maine's interpretation of the Meta.) This is a future that Maine believes is inevitable and inescapable. Therefore, it's going to be a real son of a bitch to deal with.

The Monster

The Meta will be completely impervious to physical attacks. It might stagger if someone attacks it, but it will always recover. (Maine's own attacks will pass harmlessly through it.)

It will follow Maine wherever he goes, always staying within his line of sight.

If the Meta sees someone that Maine knows — especially if he cares about them — it will try to kill that person. This is the only time that it can freely move outside of Maine's line of sight. (The reason behind this: Maine turning his back on his future won't make it go away or save the people he cares about.)

How To Defeat It

One tactic is to try and talk to Maine to get him to overcome his own fear — or, at the very least, make it less unbeatable.

Another tactic is to contain the Meta with physical barriers. Cages, walls, etc. The only limitation is that the Meta has to stay within Maine's line of sight. If Maine tries to leave it behind, the Meta will follow.

Or your character can just knock Maine unconscious. That'll work, too.

If you have another idea, come at me! I'm down to discuss anything short of killing Maine.

If you'd like to do anything with this, leave a comment here or hit me up @ twofouroneten!