The Shimmer Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
shimmermods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
theshimmer2020-07-24 10:07 pm
shimmermods) wrote in theshimmer2020-07-24 10:07 pm
Evacuation.
MISSION START
It's taken a while, but for all intents and purposes, you seem to be back on track; the town you've been sent to investigate isn't far off now. Beyond a crest, just down one of the wooded hills; as you make your way, the strange wildlife watches you. Nothing much. Just one of those deer.
You get the feeling that something always seems to be watching you nowadays. This feeling isn't wrong.
The top of that hillcrest will reveal the town itself, sprawling out below in your line of sight; however, it will soon become obvious that there's something deeply wrong with it. What you're seeing and what you know of the town tell two completely different stories; it's up to you to decide which you believe.
But what your eyes are telling you is that the town is overgrown, the forest reclaiming it for its own – the streets are cracked and broken, grass and shoots of flowers poking up from the roads and the pavement; the ground is thick with fallen leaves, and the buildings seem to have a bright yellow moss growing over them in places. There are residences that seem oddly undisturbed, as though their occupants simply disappeared all at once; given that the town was allegedly evacuated, perhaps that stands to reason.
What doesn't is that this level of growth would take more than a week or two to develop. Maybe you'll find survivors. Maybe you won't. It's worth looking around, either way.
Perhaps it'll be worth your while, in the end.
You get the feeling that something always seems to be watching you nowadays. This feeling isn't wrong.
The top of that hillcrest will reveal the town itself, sprawling out below in your line of sight; however, it will soon become obvious that there's something deeply wrong with it. What you're seeing and what you know of the town tell two completely different stories; it's up to you to decide which you believe.
But what your eyes are telling you is that the town is overgrown, the forest reclaiming it for its own – the streets are cracked and broken, grass and shoots of flowers poking up from the roads and the pavement; the ground is thick with fallen leaves, and the buildings seem to have a bright yellow moss growing over them in places. There are residences that seem oddly undisturbed, as though their occupants simply disappeared all at once; given that the town was allegedly evacuated, perhaps that stands to reason.
What doesn't is that this level of growth would take more than a week or two to develop. Maybe you'll find survivors. Maybe you won't. It's worth looking around, either way.
Perhaps it'll be worth your while, in the end.
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There are some shards still present in the frame, however; be careful not to scratch yourself on them. Especially since they aren't too sanitary - there's small amounts of dried blood present on them.]
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Everyone, please be careful! There's blood on some of the glass; try not to let yourself get cut up!
[Said to anyone traveling with her, but Felicia's just going to be very careful and climb her way inside, then. They've got supplies to sanitize and bandage up any cuts if needed, but care first and foremost should be taken.
Once we're inside, what are we gonna be looking at in the building?]
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The floor is covered in broken glass, and it isn't just from the window; it seems the display cases have been seriously damaged. There's also a counter that one can go behind, if they want, and a few gun safes and cabinets on the walls.]
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Oh, there is a lot of glass here...please be careful.
[Does any of that have blood on it too? While Felicia's looking around. Felicia's gonna go behind the counter, though, and check around there. Anything juicy back here, friends?]
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It's no one you recognize; why would it be? But it's definitely someone, slumped down against the wall behind the counter; the lower portion of the wall - not visible from the main shop, but definitely visible from back here - is coated with dried blood. The person you're looking at is ostensibly male, from what you can tell; he seems to be in a state of decay, bones visible and jutting in places.
Perhaps decay isn't the right word; "erosion" might be better.
There are bullet holes in the body, most noticeably one in the skull, and deep crimson moss seems to be spreading over the corpse; the odd thing, however, is the pattern in how the moss is presenting.
Namely, it seems to be spilling and spreading outward from the body. Like it came from the inside.]
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Oh--oh, well, it definitely looks like whoever manned the shop didn't have an easy time of things...
[...Alright, well. Felicia's actually going to get some supplies out of her bag, mostly just. Gonna get some gloves from the first aid kit and put them on, and probably some kind of bag for transport, but that...is odd. Even if the moss was going to grow anywhere...but no, it doesn't make sense. None of this does, really.
But Felicia is going to put some gloves on and see if she can't get a sample of that moss for Hanneman or the other researchers to take a look at. Is it going to go well? ...Is this going to be a zombie jumpscare, Felicia has no capacity to worry for this but like, it has to be asked.]
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Alright, so, stepping around our...very, very dead friend here, is there anything else of note behind the counter? Maybe anything underneath? Felicia's gonna be pretty thorough at the very least.]
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[Oh. Well, he was just meandering over here because the safes were a little too safe, but now he's just blinking at the highly decorative botanical centerpiece here. Bit morbid. He doesn't say anything for a little while after that, but his eyes stray from the body off around to the moss and...
Wonderful. At least they're making indelible memories after losing a bunch.
His lips thin briefly before he returns to his usual expression, pacing over behind the counter to help keep an eye on... whatever is happening here...]
... Be careful.
[He still has his stun gun out, at least.]
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[She does at least mean that much, even if this is kind of getting a lot of "[nervous laughter] what the fuck" out of Felicia. It's fine, she's fine, she's just collecting a sample of this stuff so one of their researchers can get a good look at this nonsense.
Either way, though...]
...It's strange that it's...like it grew out from the inside of his body, isn't it?
[She's not sure what to make of this, honestly.]
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[It's hard to remember usually, with her attitude and bearing, but there's also that little 'soldier' part of her occupation sandwich that doesn't seem to fit at all. Well, until you get to things like moss-molting bodies and whatnot. Jean is studiously going to look elsewhere than directly at the wreck, even if his eyes come wandering back either way.
He probably could help with the sampling, but this is a too many cooks in the kitchen situation at this point. It's not bad that they have more medics on site, though. He pauses to think.]
That might explain the weird readings from some of the plants. I'm not sure it's a good explanation, but it's better than nothing.
[His stun gun is staying out for the duration of their exploration, 'cause damn.]
... Right. The safes are locked. There might be keys, somewhere.
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Yeah, that’s not great for two weeks!]
...what on earth happened here?
[...it’s less about the dead guy and more about the weird red moss, but.]
—ah, thank you for collecting samples, Miss Felicia. I believe I will... work on testing them for now, but if you encounter anything else, do feel free to alert me.
[...speaking of, his own gun is loaded right? Okay good.]
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That's what I'm wondering. It seems like there may have been a big confrontation here, but...
[Well, all things considered, it looks uh. Very one sided. And also full of a lot of fucking moss. Entirely too much moss, really--]
I'll certainly do so! I'm just trying to see if there's anything else that might have been around here, but...I wouldn't be surprised if it all got stolen...
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[...he looks kind of helplessly around the store...]
...well, I suppose there is likely no one to compensate for it. We will likely need it, however...
[......right well let him take his own little sample of horrible moss for testing purposes, the other stuff can be saved to discuss with the other researchers with a later point... what’s the deal with this stuff, DNA-wise. Is it cougars? Is it people? Is it... just moss, as a surprise change of pace?]
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Checking out their current state comes first, maybe gingerly opening them comes later, but he ain't enthusiastic about like losing fingers to plant monsters hiding behind doors or anything.]
... Just break any glass that looks like it'd be dangerous to work around.
[Hanneman might want to get on the glass before Jean breaks it all, is what I'm saying.]
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It seems that whomever was in here wasn't particularly careful about how they went about things; the cases and cabinets have been seriously damaged, and most of the guns have been stolen. You may find a few here and there, mostly small pistols and basic shotguns, things that one would fill with birdshot and use to defend oneself; anything high-powered is missing.
The safes are still intact and unopened, however.]
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He'll make a note of the extra guns, just in case their combat division wants some spare, but he's already carrying two not-quite-actual guns and does he really need a third. It's not surprising that people would want to arm themselves around here, though, is it?
Okay, time to poke at the safes. Are they locked?]
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Surely you'd be able to find them someplace in the shop unless they've been shipped off to one of the residences, like for example behind the counter--
Taking five on useful investigations, we're going to stare at a body now.]
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[...it is, admittedly, a bit of an impulse with exuberant but klutzy girls... in any case, since Hanneman’s got his testing kit, he might as well see what that blood’s from! He’ll carefully scrape it off some of the glass.]
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[Worry not, she's being careful as can be!! ...It's definitely a contrast from her usual klutziness, but this place has vibes that feel like she needs to be aware, so it's all good.]
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...
he hasn’t seen the dead guy so uhhh look]
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