DEADLAND

[petoskeymods]

[Some time after your character dies, they will wake up in their bunk in camp. But something is wrong here, so very wrong.

Venture outside, and you will see that you're still in camp, but it's trapped in a foggy twilight. Time doesn't seem to pass, and it's quiet. Too quiet. No animals, no breeze, nothing.

The only sign of anything living is in the trees, where dozens and dozens of ghostly figures roam. Sometimes they might come into camp, but you'll probably have to go out to meet them if you want to talk to them. They all seem to be watching camp, but are shy and might flicker away if they're approached.

Finally, in the chapel in the lodge, there is a shadowy figure. It looks like a preteen, perhaps? Maybe 11 or 12 or so. But that's about all you can get from it at a glance.

But you're here now, and there are things to do. Where will you start?]

Comments

SATURDAY MEETING

[particlebarrier]

[Lance has people gathered around the clearing again. The atmosphere is a bit tense, considering, but they still have things to discuss.]

Okay, guys. These past two days have been rough on a lot of us. There are unanswered questions about what happened and come Sunday when they're here, we'll get some answers and some closure. That all said, we have to keep moving. It's what they would have wanted, too.

[A brief pause.]

Since we can't rely on someone using their powers to talk to animals to understand us, we have to come up with some alternative ideas for communicating with them.

[warmyyarny]

Writin' and playin' charades isn't an option. There should be a way for them to realize it's us and not some random animal messin' around.

[He has no idea, though]

[kitchen_witch]

Let's see... an animal doing things it wouldn't do normally would draw attention - deer are extremely skittish normally...

[She ponders]

[particlebarrier]

It'd be hard to communicate as deer though. Like Kanji was saying, things that have thumbs might be better if we're going with the phone plan.

But what other animals might be helpful you think?

[kitchen_witch]

Let's see...

what do we have? I think squirrels and chipmunks, they do have little fingers kind of.

[She tilts her head, thinking]

Maybe birds with loud cries if we need to draw their attention to a specific location? Like Loons, what are all the animals in this region? The wild plants book only mention insects and hummingbirds.

[love_seriously]

I don't know about specifics, but birds are a good idea. I mean, they don't generally get up close to people, right? I think if we just fly right at their faces they'll know something is up. [ Floe no. ] Birds can tap out messages too...and they can get anywhere if they're small enough.

[seekingsunrise]

I know morse code, I can teach anyone who doesn't know it enough to get messages across.

Crows have the capacity for human speech, too [Fucking Kenny Crow is a godsdamn creeper and a relic of the past but he was based on a sound concept I guess?!]

Larger birds that are strong enough could also use sticks to draw in the dirt a little. But then so could raccoons and opossums and stuff.

[kitchen_witch]

I heard about crows talking, but I had assumed it was just stories, that might be something to keep in mind!

[She smiles, clasping her hands together]

I think an animal like Spice Block would have an easier time drawing.

[seekingsunrise]

I agree but if we need something readily available in a specific location and there's a bird already there...

[He just kinda shrugs. It'd be better to use a bird that's already right next to someone than waste time getting there? Maybe? It'll depend on how these mechanics work exactly.]

[love_seriously]

Morse code, huh? Wait, do you know if you any of the campers left would understand it? You should still teach us, but it's no good if they aren't able to translate.

[seekingsunrise]

[It boggles his mind a little that this isn't common knowledge. Ah military family.]

I would think anyone involved in the military would know it. Probably Nine, maybe Lenka. I know Ren recognized it but I don't know if he knows it?

[particlebarrier]

[He's thinking about this for a moment.]

I have a phone. If I could somehow get inside Cabin 2 and steal it from myself, we could probably use it to type out text messages.

Maybe?

[warmyyarny]

That can work! As long as you have something with thumbs.

]It's worth a try!]

[diesifkilled]

Would a raccoon work for that? We know there's at least one running around camp.

[finalguard]

... that raccoon.

[ He's not protesting this or anything, just the thought of any of them posessing Spice Block is.... weird. ]

We might want to coordinate groups for this as well to get more info out, like we did on Monday.

[love_seriously]

If we figure out what we need to tell them, we can split it up and make sure everything gets covered. We don't know exactly how long we'll have, after all.

[warmyyarny]

I don't think we have much time left. We either do this in the next few days or it may be too late.

[There are seven campers left, after all]

[particlebarrier]

[Lance just makes a face.

God, stop reminding him of Spice Block please. (Please keep reminding him).]

...I guess that'd work We can try passing on a message to Lenka to bring my phone with him to the trial for us to use, since uh...

[SOL IS EATING THEIR BODIES WTF.]

[finalguard]

Yeah, we should warn them that we're going to be animals. It'll save us the trouble with our people at least.

Even if not with Archer.

[ And boy does Boa resent Archer. ]

[love_seriously]

We also have to figure out what we want to tell them. There's gotta be stuff they still don't know, right?

[finalguard]

I'm not sure how many new things we learned since...

[ It's frustrating how slow their progress is while his friends are dying... ]

I asked Sol to stop final protocol. They can control our bodies as well as Ren, so they will attempt to control Mitsuru should Red try to force him to kill the others. I will tell him this on Monday though, I think my time is enough for it.

[warmyyarny]

What'll they do to Mitsuru? Put him away in Cabin 4 or somethin'?

[He's all for the zombies stopping him, but he'd feel a bit more confident about this all if he knew what Sol would do]

[finalguard]

The primary idea is for Sol to just act within Mitsuru's brain alone, essentially nullifying Red's control. The stone has been growing in our brains all since camp started, so it seems possible that in the final week, it's big enough for that...

[ But if that doesn't work, holding Mitsuru back from their end would be another option. One that Boa is also less likely to trust for, uh, obvious reasons. ]

[love_seriously]

...that's super morbid. But if it works, I guess it's fine. We'll just have to trust Sol on that one.

Anyway, he should definitely hear about it from you instead of a bird.

[finalguard]

... now only he is left as an option for it, too. He needs to know that he'll be okay.

[ Boa's voice is very quiet as he says this. There's no way he can promise that it will actually be alright. Just no way. But... what else do they have but this vague hope? ]