Lunar Interlude 4 — corporate retreat

[balancemod]

I have a feeling that you'll find the next few weeks a little... in-tents. NAVIGATION 1. NEW RECLAIMERS A. WELCOME WAGON For those of you who will be arriving today, the story is the same: though you may not remember it, there was a moment where you were living out your life, at home or wherever you were ... and then there was the moment the Hunger came. And amid the television static that is your memory of that moment, a hand reached out to you, beckoning your escape as the tendrils of darkness destroyed everything that ever existed about your world. "Would you hurry this up, please? Your world no longer stands a chance. Come with me, we are the last bastions of hope for all universes everywhere. And we're going to need you." And then, unceremoniously, you are dragged through the universal wringer and plopped down on the soft, though not quite cushioned, grass of the Moon Base Quad. You're not alone, either. Along with the newest members of the Bureau, in a fashion probably not unlike this, there are people waiting here for you. People who wanted to see the heroes the Director has managed to bring in this time. People who are excited to see what you're capable of. You have a few minutes to talk with each other — or maybe lob a few questions at the impromptu welcoming committee, or any of the older Reclaimers who may happen to be nearby. But before long, you're whisked away to a different area of the Moon Base. B. THE VOIDFISH You are quickly divided into four groups, and brought to the easternmost geodesic dome, to an elevator in a well maintained, but sparsely landscaped field. There's nothing particularly ominous feeling about the space — in fact, the two guards who greet you at the elevator entrance seem pleased with your arrival. You are, after all, one of the few chosen by the Director, the few who will reclaim what the Hunger has destroyed. And in a few moments, you're about to find that out for yourself. After a tightly packed elevator ride, your group is ushered out to a rather grand looking hall, banners of the Bureau of Balance adorn both sides of smooth metal walls. And inside the Voidfish's chamber stands a tank — impossibly tall, and soaked in a black ink that obscures whatever the tank may be holding. You may notice a melody, someone playing the violin. It's a bard, on his fourth round of introducing Reclaimers to the Voidfish. When he's finished, he pulls out a few pieces of paper — sheet music — opens a drawer at the bottom of the tank, drops the papers in, and shuts it. And swiftly, you feel as if there's something you can't just shake off about the melody you just heard. If you seem alarmed, the bard takes notice of it. "Yeah, man, like... don't think too hard about it, it's like that every time. I'm guessing you're here to be inoculated? Just a heads up, you might want to, like, seriously, hold your nose while you drink it down. It tastes wicked gross, man." You sort of get the sense that he's said this speech once or twice in the past. It's well rehearsed, much like the stories you'd expect a bard to be able to recite. "Anyway, I'm supposed to tell you that you have a choice. If you drink the black stuff, you'll be able to hear through the, uh... Huh, how do I describe it? Through the [TSHCSCHTSHCHSC] sound. You guys like, hear that? Anyway, it's all about knowledge or something. I don't know, I'm just here to, like, feed the thing. We call it the [TSCHHSCHSCH], by the way. So, like. You get a choice. You can drink it and understand stuff, or not drink it and then hear that crackling noise all day every day. If I were you, I'd drink it. But, hey man, I'm not like, your dad or anything." The bard takes five cups and draws liquid from a spigot connected directly to the basin of the large tank. Stormy, muddy looking ichor is drawn into them, one by one. He offers each of you a sip. Drink it (he wasn't kidding about what it tasted like), and you're inoculated to the wisdom of the Voidfish. You try to remember the song this bard played a few moments ago and the melody, the meter, every octave, all come back to you. And if you think back to your arrival, some of the things you may have heard other people in the Quad say, that simply sounded like static, are suddenly clear. Bureau of Balance. Grand Relic. Reclaimers. Yet you still can't remember the Hunger or what it had done to your world. And as you look back to the tank in front of you, the water has become clear. There's a jellyfish, as tall as a building, floating within. You look into the body of the creature and you can almost make out a beautiful, tiny universe floating within it. 2. TEST OF INITIATION You're given approximately 48 hours to sign up for the test of initiation. Outside the Arena is a command console where you can push your biometric signature up against the device, pick a time, and get prepare to take your entrance exam. This one is a little different than the ones before it; the Director has posed a group challenge among her hopeful Reclaimers. One slot contains blank names for four people altogether. Two of them are backlit in a blue background, two in red. It looks like you're going to be competing against other Reclaimers. At the appointed time, you'll enter the arena's chambers and fill out into one of two rooms. You and your teammate will be allowed to dress and prepare accordingly. From the window, you can see a single, solitary mountain that rises so high you can barely make odds or ends of the peak. An array of items stands before you, four in total. You can only choose two, as the second both of you claim one item, the other two become translucent and untouchable. Placing either of your items back on their pedestals makes them corporeal again. All in all, you have: ○ Booster boots - aids you in climbing and scaling the mountain, quadrupling your jump speed ○ Spiked boots - when landing on a surface of the mountain, it magically locks into place and prevents you from falling or being otherwise deterred in moving upward ○ An enchanted cloth - you're not sure what this is capable of, but if you try it out a little bit, you'll realize it resists the push of air. Essentially, a portable hang glider ○ Grappling hook - standard issue, its reach is about 50 feet. When it locks onto a surface, it's impossible to remove unless a button is pressed on the device to loosen it Both of your teams must make it to the top. What awaits you there is a wand, standing on an intricately carved, raised dais. The base is made out of stone, but written in very clear, etched letters around the bottom are the words: THE GRAND RELIC, WAND OF PLANAR DISPLACEMENT. Does it sound too good to be true? Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. You need to get that relic back down to the entrance room. The caveat here is if you happen to be tempted, and let's face it, the easy way out is always rather appealing, you can try to use it. It'll take you back down, easily enough, but the wand will not come with you. Looks like you're going to have to trek your way back up there. Either way, the first team to make it down wins the contest. What's the prize, you ask? Gloating rights, mostly. 3. THE REAL CAMPY FUN BEGINS As The Director mentioned, you will be spending this month on a corporate retreat! And she wasn't kidding when she said she said this retreat will be an exercise in working together. Shortly after the newest Reclaimers are all good and initiated, and shortly after the rest of you have packed what you can, you're all whisked away to Gwynneth — a beautifully lush forest on the Moonshae Isles. Blanketed in a canopy of lush greens and soft, comfortable grass that seems to grow even in the farthest corners where the light can't reach, the forest looks and feels like something out of a storybook. A peculiar, but not unpleasant, scent that is a blend of sweet olives and cherry blossoms wafts throughout the forest no matter where you turn. That is to say, for those of you who have been in the Bureau for the while, and are used to roughing it with your BIAS: Welcome! This should be roughly old hat for some of you. Not far from the clearing where you all land are two perfectly lined rows of cabins that are in particularly bad shape. On the door frame of each will contain some information... and you might have guessed it. "BARBARIANS," "FIGHTERS," "PALADINS," "DANCERS," "MONKS," "RANGERS & ROGUES," "BARDS," "SORCERERS," "WARLOCKS," "DRUIDS," "CLERICS," and "SMART PEOPLE." - you get the idea. Each cabin will have just the essentials (creaky bunk beds, chests at the foot of each, and a few spare desks per room). Rest assured, the Director's enchanted the cabins to reject entry to anyone who doesn't fit the proper description that's labeled above each door. You will... most likely have to clean the place up prior to habitation. Showering, toilets, and mirrors are communal, but divided into stalls in the administrative cabin, adjunct to the Bureau's cabin. And for those of you who don't fit into any of the above (hi Lucas), uh, well. There's an old shack close to where you were dropped off, but you probably don't want to stay inside for too long. It smells like something died in there — and maybe something did. And boy, does this whole trip have "campy corporate retreat" written all over it. When you arrive, you're informed that your "mission" here, so to speak, is to safely make it through the month's activities, including the penultimate task: Braving what staff is only referring to as the Tomb of Horrors. But we'll get to that later. Right now, you've got some camping activities to do. C. GET IN LOSERS WE'RE GOING CAMPING If there's a camp activity that you can think of, we guarantee that there is space set aside for it, and that a Bureau member The Director brought along to assist the Reclaimers is helping to run it. Here are a few of the more prominent activities to get you started, however: ○ Fight Club/Struggle Tourney/Whatever you want to call it: For those of you who are in clear need of more training, or simply like getting yourself into a good strife, a small arena has been squared and roped off for your said strifing convenience. You can sign up in pairs or go mano a mano against one opponent, but there's a catch. This activity is about improvising, and learning your fellow Reclaimers' fighting styles — an absolute must for when you're out on the field in the thick of a battle. You will only be allowed to use fighting ring issued weapons. A magical barrier will knock your regular weapon right out of your hands if you try to enter the ring with it! And, I mean. Who wouldn't want to fight with these Fantasy Costco exclusives? (Note: If you want to join an actual Fight Club, the magic barrier is down for two hours starting at midnight. Use that information how you will.) ○ Arts and Crafts: Another camping given. Stretched out between two large evergreens is an equally large canvas, though short enough that every Reclaimer should be able to reach. You'll be given a paintbrush — magic, of course, according to the Bureau member helping out with this activity. It magically fills itself with paint, allowing you to add color to the canvas without the need for a palette. Because curiously, it seems you're capable of painting in only one color. And more curiously, it's a color that's very unique to you: no other Reclaimer is going to have the same hex value as what's flowing out of your paintbrush. If you ask her, the Bureau member will smile somewhat pensively, and explain: That paintbrush allows you to paint in the color of whatever energy you're giving off right now. Take this with a grain of salt, of course, but the basic hues can be interpreted as follows: Red can mean that you have a problem that you need to solve. Yellow means there's a secret that you're keeping from someone important to you. Green elicits a feeling of calmness, but there's something else that you're not allowing yourself to address. Blue means there's something you need to confess, whether it's the fact that you have a crush on someone, or the fact that you stole something or told a lie. White means, simply, an energy at peace. Of course, you may find yourself painting in any color out there — and they may represent something else, depending on you specifically. Use this prompt however you'd like! And, that's not to say that these are all things that we need to sit down around the campfire and hash out — though that's an activity later on if you want it! These energies aren't necessarily a bad thing either. It wouldn't be much of a painting, you wouldn't be the person you've grown into right now, if you're always painting in white. ○ Ghost stories: Speaking of campfires, every night, you'll be invited to have a seat at a large campfire and to try to tell your best ghost story. Not too far away from the campfire are four busts of wizardly looking men and women on pedestals. Yes, they are haunted by the very same wizardly looking men and women. And yes, they will be offering frank commentary on whatever story you decide to tell. I'm just gonna leave this here. ○ Field Day: What's a camping trip without the likes of potato sack races, music, tye-dye booths like you'd find at the typical spring fair, and friendly games of capture the flag? If you find this whole field day thing a little bit childish, then, well ... yeah, you're probably right! But even stuffy old people like Lucretia know that the people even stuffier than she is need a chance to cut loose once in a while. So go right ahead and get yourself a fried charisma oreo. There's a dunking booth, by the way. Yes, you can dunk the Director if you want. You might bump into Lucas while you're here. He is having pretty much the worst month right now: sunburned, blown up on histamines and more than ready to go back to the Moon Base where there's air conditioning and technology. ○ Man eff that: If the campy camp activities are a bit too campy for you, then The Director certainly isn't going to twist your arm into participating. Well, actually, she might. A little? In any case, if you're hellbent on boycotting, you might join Lucas in the aforementioned Smelly Shack, as he tinkers with the tech he managed to bring with him and is generally a pain in the ass about having to be out in the forest. Saru and his band of kitsune, if you remember them from Vista Virs, now full-fledged members of the Bureau, will take you on hunting trips if you're interested. If you need to actually learn how to hunt, then Carey and Killian are here to help. If you're still gonna be a stick in the corporate retreat mud, then the Director might ask you to clear as big of a path to the Tomb of Horrors as possible (Note: You will not be able to go inside, or find a way inside the Tomb of Horrors, no matter how hard you try. This isn't Breath of the Wild, sadly, you can't defeat Ganon right after falling off the Great Plateau). It's about five miles directly to the east, and behind the thickest and densest part of the forest. Who knows what else you'll find out there? Have fun! D. AN OVERNIGHT SENSATION One more thing. Something strange is happening overnight, while everyone is asleep, whether it's in their bedrolls, or holed up in the Smelly Shack. Something — or someone seems to be draping a blanket of magic over the entire camp, leaving those who were asleep rather susceptible to it. You may find yourself afflicted with any number of inconvenient status effects for the day, whether it's a burn on your arm you can't seem to heal, more, uh. Well. More sleep. You blink, and suddenly, 24 hours have passed. Maybe you enter a 2v2 in the fighting ring and suddenly realize you can't tell friend from foe — even though you'd agreed on the teams before entering. Maybe all the food suddenly loses its flavor, leaving you to marvel at how intense textures suddenly are. If you happened to be painting in blue, maybe you're suddenly compelled to blurt it out to the next unfortunate soul who passes. It's a smorgasbord of minor inconveniences. Almost like something's spotted the corporate retreat, and has decided to use its participants as their plaything. But what? blurb code by photosynthesis

Comments

[ryuji]

[He's not sure how captivating he is with the other audience members, but when Haru smiles, it doesn't really matter to him whether or not they're paying attention to the story. He's always been like that with in-group members, and there's a reason the phrase goes "thick as thieves" or something like that.

If she's familiar with it, though, then all the better.]

Well, she had been talkin' to her back and forth on the internet, and eventually her and her husband invited her over. It was some sorta drive for her to get there, too, but when she got in front of the house, Mary refused to let the woman in and called the meeting off.

[His voice starts to grow more somber, and with a bit more intentional gravitas.]

She locks herself in her room and the husband comes out, all like "I'm so sorry about this, I don't know why Mary's behavin' this way."

Turns out, she started to ramble on about her nightmares, and she was goin' crazy in there. So the reporter and the husband listen and try to figure out what's goin' on. A few weeks before that, Mary had come across an image online through a bulletin board. It was called "smile.jpg."

[Ryuji's smile grows as he looks more menacing.]

Only a few hundred people had seen it. And strangely enough, they stopped postin' around on the internet. Their accounts all went inactive, but if you knew where to look on the anon boards, people were saying that they all died or went missin'.

[fleurdelyser]

[Haru listens attentively, eyes bright.

And she has too hold back her laughter the more Ryuji gets into it, if only to not ruin the mood. Oh, she definitely hasn't heard Ryuji tell enough stories.

The more he speaks, the more she stops trying to remember how the story ends, just letting herself listen to it now. It's much more fun than just reading it, at any rate.]

That's terrible! Mary must have been so scared that the same thing would happen to her.

To think just an image could do that...

[ryuji]

[The feeling's pretty mutual- Ryuji has to stop himself from brimming widely into a more natural smile and one that's not contrived to be rowdy and haunting. Or haunted. Hard to tell when you're telling a ghost story.]

Mary was crying... she was so terrified, like she knew somethin' was after her. Now, y'know, this image had been goin' around a few circles before it showed up on the bulletin board she frequented. Most people kinda thought it was just some dumb prank. You know, you get an e-mail and just hit the delete button automatically 'cause it's junk.

[To accentuate that, he pretends he's typing on a keyboard and hits the delete key.]

But this picture... this picture is dark. It's a dog, smiling, human ass teeth, and in the background, there's a blurry ghost image of a hand, just calling you to look deeper into it. That's probably what made Mary go mad, y'know? She looked deeply into the picture and it... it looked back at her.

The reporter wound up leavin' after Mary seemed to calm down, just a little bit. She never opened the door or anything, so it was impossible to know. Maybe she just went 'n cried herself to sleep.

It's just an image, right? Who the hell thinks any of that crap is real.

[Ryuji's been holding the suspense of the story out as long as he could, but it feels like it's coming to a crux, so he slows down, and very intentionally lowers his voice, as if to call everyone around the fire to listen to him very closely.]

Until she got an e-mail from Mary a year later.

[fleurdelyser]

[She raises a hand to her chest, partly in genuine excitement, partly to keep playing along.]

Ah! She shouldn't have looked so closely at the picture...

[Haru leans forward even further at that last line, nodding right along with every word.]

So if she was still all right a year later... Why did she contact the reporter this time?

[ryuji]

[GOD, he's eating the attention up way too much, and his excitement for that is just completely imbued into his speech patterns, but he knows he has to keep himself paced.]

Well, she, uh. She wanted to apologize for what happened back there. She explains the story. For a decade she'd be haunted by smile.dog.

[He takes a step towards the fire, his face illuminated in creepy spots.]

Every night, in her dreams, it would come to her. That she's paralyzed and the only thing she can see in her head is that same jpg she found on the internet. In her dreams, all she can do is look on, and the picture moves... It talks to her. It promises to leave her alone if she helps "spread the word."

She received an unmarked letter in the mail with a thumb drive, and she knew what was on it. She knew smile.dog was a being from another place, something straight out of the bowels of hell itself. And yet she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't show anyone a picture of the dog that haunted her dreams.

For ten years, she kept it up. Everyone she knew from the bulletin board she originally modded went missing or stopped posting.

She tells the reporter that she was going to give the thumb drive when they met, a year ago. She was going to finally pass on smile.dog to someone else- but she couldn't do it. She couldn't subject someone else to the torture she'd been through.

[fleurdelyser]

[Haru gasps this time, hands flying up to cover her mouth. Oh, it's suddenly so much more exciting!

She frowns. And terrible for poor Mary...]

I'd say that was very brave of her. It promised to leave her alone, but she still couldn't do it at the expense of someone else. And for ten whole years! Your story has quite an impressive protagonist.

[She shakes her head, smiling in Ryuji's direction again now.]

But what about after she told the reporter? Was she still able to keep it up?

[ryuji]

[The moment of anticipation has hit-]

She didn't make it.

[He looks around the campfire.]

Her husband emailed the reporter a little while later, saying that she couldn't take it anymore. [With a pause, he sighs and shakes his head.]

And at first, the reporter didn't believe it, right? So she went and searched around the newspapers, internet sites- she found the obituary and everything. And then she got... one last email. Someone had found the reporter on an online forum, investigating smile.dog.

It read.

[Ryuji can't remember it verbatim, so he's making it up at this point.]

"I found your e-mail address after finding out you were looking for smile.dog. I've seen it, and it ain't that bad. I've attached it here, just for you. Just spreading the word."

So, she uh. She downloaded the picture. She knew she shouldn't have, but the curiosity was really gettin' to her. And she opened it.

[fleurdelyser]

No! Oh, poor Mary...

[Terrible! That's terrible!

Aww, seems like she really did forget the ending. But it's fun to play along anyway, right? Even knowing there's no way it ends well?]

She knew what happened to everyone else by then! Especially after finding Mary's obituary!

[Haru does smile--though only for a moment--when he recounts the email though, realizing partway through that it sure sounds a lot more like Ryuji than whoever first wrote it.]

...Was it too late for the reporter, too?

[ryuji]

Yeah! And you'd think, the reporter would be smarter about it, y'know? Like... why tempt fate if it's just gonna smack you right square in the face.

[He seems to be pensive about it for a moment, and then shrugs.

And it's true; he's living off his memory of the creepypasta, which makes this a giant game of telephone.]

It wasn't too late for her though. She did the one thing you gotta do before you lose your marbles. And, I guess since we're talkin' about the entire thing...

[He opens up his bracer's comm link and fiddles with it a few times.]

I should probably spread the word myself.

[Ryuji holds his hand out, and what should be smile.dog on his screen is... well, a picture of a very cute, very fluffy white dog that the Reclaimers met on their last mission.

Her name's Cocoa! She's kind of adorable.

But Ryuji is smirking, having finally gotten to the point of the story where it's supposed to creep someone out.]

[fleurdelyser]

[Unconsciously, Haru pulls back, mouth falling open in another gasp. Her hands are halfway there to cover her mouth, her eyes wide...

...Then she ducks her head to muffle her laughter.

Wait a minute. That's definitely not the dog from the story!]

Oh, that's... That's so scary!

Goodness, I can't believe you showed us, after all!

[ryuji]

[The best sound in the world is Haru's laughter, and he chomps that up like it's an all you can eat meat buffet. It's been... so long since he's heard it, and it makes his heart feel lighter, prouder that he's able to give her something to chuckle about, and just.

Happy that she's here. He can never express his gratitude enough, at least- not in a whole lot of constructive ways, but maybe there's a hint of that in his sheepish, rowdy sort of smile that he beams back to her.]

Yeah, well, you know what you gotta do.

[He hits the "send" button to ship that image on over to Haru. Basically, this was a giant set up for a chain mail of a good doggo they discovered on their last mission.]

Send this to someone or a cute as shit puppy will haunt your dreams!

[fleurdelyser]

I'm not sure I'd mind if this puppy haunted my dreams...

[Oh, but no. No! She can't just not go along at this point!

She laughs again, then turns a grin on Ryuji.]

Oh, I suppose I have no choice now! After seeing the picture... [She shakes her head and looks down at her own bracer... which sure does make it hard not to laugh again.

But she turns to look around the campfire, still grinning.]

Ah! I should send it to one of them first.