Event: Shimmer

[snowblindmods]

SHIMMER

It's not at all unusual for Norfinbury to be cold, but this most recent dip is a sharp, biting thing, and it comes on suddenly with the morning. It's more dangerous than usual to travel, and for more than just the increased risk of hypothermia: all around in the distance the air shimmers with a sort of haze, blurring the horizon. It makes it difficult to see where you're going and easy to get turned around or to fall off course from an intended destination. A shimmering, distant, ever-moving circle around each character. It's a weather phenomenon, of course, but each perspective is unique to the pair of eyes looking out, into the blurriness, into the way the air and the sky and the barriers between them warp. But such a weakened barrier between solid, knowable things is simply asking for the unknowable to slither in. Eyes, watching. Hands, reaching. Occasional glimpses of houses that aren't there, but perhaps they were before. Images of grass where there's certainly snow. The distance lies, the distance shows dangerous, peculiar things, and it doesn't help travel one bit. Film the strangeness, share it over the network, and it spreads--each unique vision crawls into the perspective of whoever happens to view it, and so on, until someone who watches enough of these will witness an endless circle of confusion no matter where they travel outside. If you're afflicted that badly, maybe you should just stay in until it blows over. As characters travel, they will be exposed to various mirages that go beyond what one would expect of such a phenomenon. These range from seeing rubble as houses in the distance and seeing different seasons off on the horizon to seeing eyes and hands and limbs watching and clawing in their direction. If shared on the network, everyone who views the hallucinations will find they can also see them on top of anything they were already seeing, so hallucinations could stack up quite a lot if someone allows them to. These hallucinations will last for the duration of the event.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[snowblindmods]

Re: QUESTIONS

[despiteeverything]

What sort of variations could someone who is underground expect to see, for example one of the tunnels?

[snowblindmods]

They are likely to see the air and surrounding snow, as if the tunnels weren't there at all.

[brokethefirst]

Three questions:

1) Can characters who are travelling together see one another's hallucinations, or does it specifically only transfer via the network?

2) Will these hallucinations also appear indoors?

3) If yes to the above, will they appear after lockdown?

[snowblindmods]

1) It transfers via video and images, so it wouldn't transfer just because people were traveling together, but if one person showed another person in their party a video, then it would transfer even if it wasn't uploaded to the network.

2) They will appear only when a character is looking outside.

3) Assuming a character is looking out a window, yes.

[awwnoun]

what's the extent on hallucinations? is it just things, or could they see people? Specific people, or maybe like figures in the snow that might be familiar?

[snowblindmods]

Seeing people is possible, but the wouldn't be clear. It would be more like blurry humanoid shapes who seem like they might be familiar.

[swatsflies]

Would pain help with seeing past the illusions for a short amount of time?

[snowblindmods]

No.

[swatsflies]

Okay, thank you.

Re: QUESTIONS

[0thingsonmymind]

will video taken during the event still show the issues if viewed after the event ends? or will it look totally normal?

[snowblindmods]

I'm sorry for the delay! Videos will still show the hallucinations after the event, though they won't give other people hallucinations anymore.