Event: They Live - Part One

[snowblindmods]

THEY LIVE

A beam of light shines again an hour after the doors lock on night sixteen, and shifts. Closer, closer, there, on top of you, from above in the residential zones or from the sides in the tunnels, bouncing and reflecting off glistening snow and ice. It only lasts a few seconds, but it's the sort of brightness that leaves spots in your eyes. At first, nothing else happens. Then, as the night deepens, things move and twist through the snow. Barely-there figures, like you but not. Like you, no matter what you are, no matter who is looking--there's always something familiar. They don't seem to see you, don't seem to be able to see anything. Unless you turned on the Beacon. If you turned on the Beacon, they wait at your windows and claw at your door and they don't go away, not even when morning comes and the doors unlock. If you don't block the door, they will come in. They are twitching, flickering monstrosities, like everyone and like nothing all at once. Close proximity to these creatures without a closed door in the way causes nausea, nosebleeds, unconsciousness, and death if they are allowed to touch you for any period of time. They cannot be fought--the only recourse is to run from them, to run to the nearest shelter, block the door, and hope you were fast enough. If you turned on the Beacon, you're in for a long week. At best, you'll be trapped in the house you spent the night in until they go away. And how to get them to go away? You'll have to rely on the bravery or foolishness of others who did not alight their Beacons. If someone outside draws close enough to one of the buildings the things surround, they will chase after them--and leave the building they surrounded. There's enough time to run to another location, if you're quick. If you know where you're going. If you're lucky. Still, at night, they'll always surround your shelter again. Even if you didn't turn on your Beacon, even if you can avoid all the houses where they're lurking in wait of someone inside, you still might run into them in the dark corners of Norfinbury. Waiting and twitching in buildings, they will pursue anyone who approaches until they catch and kill or until that person hides behind a sealed door they cannot open. They won't leave until nightfall if that happens, but at least they do leave. Unfortunately for those who travel in groups, they seem to show up far more often the more people are gathered in one place. Hopefully all of you are good at running. This lasts for two days--for the seventeenth and eighteenth, this is how life is in Norfinbury. Surely things will change, though. Hopefully things will change. Maybe things will change. You'll have to wait and see.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[snowblindmods]

Re: QUESTIONS

[spoileralert]

What about combat through projectiles slash bludgeons?

[snowblindmods]

Ineffective. The weapons seem to pass through the creatures.

[warriorscribe]

Will they look any different on camera? Alternatively, does filming or attempting to photograph them do anything in particular? "Weird Things That Seem Wrong" have been shown to respond to cameras so Enoch may try it as a distraction tactic if he sees someone in need of rescuing.

[snowblindmods]

They don't look different on camera, but filming them does cause stretching along the edges of the film, general visual tearing, and distorted audio. The distortions are worse the closer you are to the creature.

How the creatures react depends. If two people with the same Beacon status are there, and one is filming and one isn't, the creatures will be more drawn to the person filming. Beacon status overrides it, though--they will always prioritize someone who turned on the Beacon unless they can't get to that person.

[itsasteamroller]

Do they look like the ghost things filmed in the school, given that filming them has the same effect on the video?

[snowblindmods]

No; these appear much more solid and tangible, and also they tend to resemble bits and pieces of various species familiar to the characters.

Re: QUESTIONS

[fataliteas]

Combat doesn't work, as mentioned above, but what about snowballs thrown to attract attention? Will the things respond?

[snowblindmods]

Assuming they aren't in pursuit of someone they will react and turn toward the direction the snowball was thrown from. If they're chasing someone they won't react.

[maskintape]

SO MANY QUESTIONS

Can they climb? And if so, how high? Like, would a pair of idiots attempting to jump out of a second-story window (and probably horribly injuring themselves) to get away be a feasible-looking option?

ALSO. What would happen if someone who turned on the beacon threw their tablet away/left it behind in the hope that it was the device attracting the things? Would that work, or would they continue following the now-tabletless person?

AND FINALLY how instantaneous is death-by-creepy-figure? Is it an "oh dear its fingertip brushed my elbow and now I am dead" kind of thing?

[snowblindmods]

They can climb very well, as well as any character can climb--maybe better, but that's difficult to discern when they're focused on chasing people down.

They would be temporarily slowed, but ultimately would continue to follow the now tabetless person.

They have to grab hold of a character to actually kill them, though if they're that close it's likely the character in question would be near unconsciousness anyway if they stay that close for any length of time.

[maskintape]

WONDERFUL. Thanks for the quick answers!

[lancingintherain]

How fast can these things move? Like, obviously you have to be moving at more than a brisk walk to outpace them, but if they're chasing someone, would anything less than a flat-out sprint mean getting caught?

Also, do they make any sounds?

[snowblindmods]

You have to run to outpace them, but not to the point of a full sprint (though that would help you get distance on them).

They don't make any sound.

[warriorscribe]

OH RIGHT so if one dies to one of these creatures, what is the cause of death, or I guess the more important question is, what does it feel the cause of death is? Like what sort of last impressions, if any, would it leave?

[snowblindmods]

There don't seem to be any physical injuries aside from those caused simply by proximity. Unconsciousness would happen before death, so they wouldn't feel the actual death taking place.

[villainously]

Hook and Clarke are in Building 28 which boasts basically a room of windows. Can the creatures break the glass or will they just stare through it like creeps?

furthermore if they did get in a building and characters were trapped barricaded in another room, would they attack the door, break it down, etc?

[snowblindmods]

They will just stare through it like creeps.

They would attempt to push through the door, but assuming it's properly barricaded, they wouldn't be able to get through.

Re: QUESTIONS

[rattlingthestars]

Do they react to noise at all? Jim's attempting to startle them by banging on the wall of the house he's in.

[snowblindmods]

They will move toward noise assuming they don't have a visual target to focus on (IE, they would chase someone they know they can reach before they would react to a sound that may or may not be relevant).