Evacuation.

[shimmermods]

MISSION START

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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.

code by vuvuzela

Comments

[selfsacrificial]

[Alright, Rean will take a careful look in here, opening the door a small amount and peering inside to check the state of things before properly stepping inside.]

[shimmermods]

[There are no traps, and nothing seeming to immediately jump out at you as a threat; however, as the door opens there's something clearly off about the entire place.

It opens into a large entrance hall, stained glass windows high above providing a soft, multicolored light in the room that isn't entirely unlike the Shimmer's radiance itself. The walls, however, are covered in what look at first to be strange decorations of some sort, winding and twisting from floor to ceiling in branching patterns and tendrils twisting in a way that's almost decorative; a closer look, however, will reveal that they're quite alive. Thin trees bursting out from the ground, sickly-looking but supple, coursing and spreading up the walls like veins. The flowers they bear are white and withered, just as diseased as the trees theyre sprouting from; surprisingly, however, the place doesn't smell of rot or anything that would imply that being here is poisonous to you.]

[selfsacrificial]

This is...

[Once he determines there's no clear threat, he lowers his sword and steps inside for a closer look. Are the trees sprouting from cracks in the flooring around the wall or is there any sign of damage like they forced their way up?

As he walks through he'll also check for signs of other plants that may have grown in other areas of the entrance hall.]

[shimmermods]

[It may have started with cracks; some of the shoots nearest the door seem as though they started that way. But once one took root, the others followed, and they followed forcefully.]

[selfsacrificial]

[Interesting. Once he's gotten a better look at those, he starts to take the lead, heading further into the church, away from the initial entrance hall, taking note of the state of the rest of the building.]

[shimmermods]

[The sanctuary awaits.]

[abysstery]

...Intriguing. [He's going to be saying that a lot today, isn't he?] This certainly doesn't happen within a few weeks.

[As Rean takes a closer look at the plant life, Heinwald advances to the church proper. What's the state of things in here? Do the pews and altar seem untouched, or are they more in disarray?]

[selfsacrificial]

No. You're right-- not only did they have time to grow, but to wilt into this state as well.

[abysstery]

That could be attributed to the fact they've decided to grow inside rather than out, but still...the rest of the plant life around here did not seem so diseased.

[Makes him wonder what's in the soil around this church...assuming these trees are rooted in soil around here.]

[selfsacrificial]

That's true. While a decent amount of light seems like it would get in, trees seem like they'd need more care than normal plants to grow normally.

[planetary_bonds]

It's certainly unusual.

[As the person who's device led them here...yeah, Yusei's coming along.

That being said, Yusei's going to take a closer look at those flowers - between his gloves and a pair of tweezers from the Obligatory Researcher Tools (TM) he thinks he can safely poke at and possibly pluck a flower to let somebody else with the know-how analyze it.]

[shimmermods]

[You can, yes.]

[skelkro]

[and here's Emma, peering over his shoulder when she sees what he's doing]

May I take a closer look at that, Yusei?

[planetary_bonds]

Sure.

[handing over that withered flower now.]

[shimmermods]

[The main portion of the church is accessed by way of large double doors toward the back of the entrance hall; the trees are present near here as well, tendrils and branches curled up and around as though providing a sick, dying gateway, arching above you as you pass into the sanctuary.

The walls here likewise seem to be covered in the dying, veinlike structure, but it feels different here - the energy in the sanctuary seems to be pulsing, almost alive, as though you've somehow entered the very heart of something far larger than yourselves.

There's something here.

Several somethings, really, arranged in the pews; you would be forgiven for assuming at first that they're more of those dying trees. But they aren't; at first glance they're thinner but have more of a deliberate, firm sort of structure to them, and as far as the pews go they're everywhere. They're also flowering more vibrantly, small white flowers visible here and there.

Do you want to take a closer look, or proceed to the altar?]

[abysstery]

[Heinwald is on full alert once he steps foot in the sanctuary. With the energy as palpable as it is, he has to wonder if this area is the source of all the growth. Why, though? What was going on here to lead to it?

Considering the differences in whatever's going on with the pews, he's going to give it a closer look before moving on. What sort of arrangements and structure are we talking about, here?]

[shimmermods]

[They look like arboreal sculptures.

The thin branches seem to have been woven into one another, braided in a way that strongly implies the shape of human beings; they're intricate, some of them sitting in the pews with heads bowed, some of them kneeling in prayer. Some are holding hands. Some are very small.

All of them have white flowers sprouting from them, encircling their heads like crowns; some have them growing upward from spots around where their eyes should be. Some have them on their chests, placed over where their heart would be.]

[abysstery]

[That's very eerie. To put it lightly.

Heinwald approaches one of these sculptures to get a better look. How tightly-woven are these branches? He...wants to make sure that these sculptures are just that- sculptures, and not hiding something even eerier underneath them.]

[shimmermods]

[Fairly so, but not enough that light can't penetrate them. And light does seem to penetrate them; whatever they are, they're hollow.

Though it's noticeable, while that's being checked, that the main source of the branches is inside the sculpture.

In other words, they were created from the inside out.]

[abysstery]

[From the inside out, huh... He has to wonder if there was something there previously for these branches to grow out of. It's not a pleasant thought, but how else would these branches mold themselves into the shape of human bodies?

Is there anything else to be found in the pews? Books, personal belongings, that sort of thing. If not, he'll go ahead and join Rean at the altar.]

[selfsacrificial]

[Rean is aware of his limits with flowers and he's sure someone else can get a better read on those than he can so-- he will proceed to the alter.]

[shimmermods]

[The altar is large and ornate, made of heavy black marble that doesn't seem to be damaged in any way; behind it is a massive stained glass window, depicting a man sitting in the center of a long table draped in red cloth, hands outstretched to the congregation as if in invitation to join him.

There are a few things on the altar itself, if you want to take a look; there's also a pulpit to look at.]

[selfsacrificial]

[He'll start with the items on the altar itself, stepping up to take a closer look.]

[shimmermods]

[They're sheets of paper, both with handwritten notes on it; unlike much of the writing within the Shimmer, however, it's actually something you can decipher.

The first sheet is a hand-drawn map, with a rudimentary compass rose the main streets of the town sketched roughly in black ink. A contrasting line in bright blue seems to indicate a road out of town, winding along what's implied to be a path, coming to a stop at a place marked with an X. Following that path, according to the compass, is likely to take you much further up the mountain, and closer to your ultimate goal of dealing with the Shimmer at its source.

The second sheet is a note, written in a shaky hand that seemed to have trouble maintaining control of the pen.

Those of us that remain have gone. We embrace change; you may follow, such that you might know it and understand.

May we remain forever in the light.]

[selfsacrificial]

[Well that certainly seems important. He will carefully take those papers with him. With those things examined now he can take a look at the pulpit.]