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

[particlebarrier]

[Lance nods, relaxing as he looks Boa in the eye.]

Mm, there are friends who are more like shallow acquaintances and maybe won't be there for you. But real friends don't give up on you. Just trust me on this one, the fact that Eddie and Richie got so mad at you is a way better sign than if they'd just ignored you completely.

[finalguard]

They're better people than I am by far.

[ Boa just lets that hang in the air for a moment, unsure how to proceed with what he wants to say. ]

I don't really want to be like them? Even if I could, I mean. But maybe it's better if they don't become like me either. Maybe Saturday showed them that, too.

[ And it's sad, but... perhaps it is really for the best. If they stay the kind and fun people Boa met them as, if they don't forgive a murderer. Boa smiles a little, sadly. ]

I might never see them again anyway, not for real.

[particlebarrier]

You don't really know that for sure.

[But that's dangerously close to a platitude, and Lance isn't oblivious to the fact that this is nothing more than a vague hope.]

But if you ask me, what we all saw on Saturday was a kid who made a dumb mistake because he panicked. Because this place makes you think all sorts of crazy things you'd never think if you were left to your own devices.

I'm not saying that this makes you less responsible for Usagi's murder. You'll carry that weight with you for however long we have left in this place.

But I'm saying that it could have easily been Eddie, Richie or any of the others in your shoes. You're not less than them, you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I was there, too.

[finalguard]

[ Boa didn't really mean the murder, in reality. The murder is just the tip of an iceberg in personality differences that are utterly irreconcilable yet somehow didn't play a role when it came to making friends. But is there a use to correcting that? He figures not. The rest of his self-doubt can remain locked up forever. ]

I think you still fall under actual self defense though.

[ That difference between him and the other two may easily apply to him and Lance as well, though Boa isn't as utterly convinced of it in that case. ]

[particlebarrier]

[Lance goes quiet for a moment, considering this. He's thought about this for a long while, then repressed it to hell and back because it just wasn't pertinent to their immediate survival as it were, but the days are long when you don't need to sleep and there aren't any distractions at nigh.]

I wanted him to back off, He just had so much crazy power behind those punches and he came at me like a berserker. I didn't have to pull a sword on him. It was just... instinct, I guess. To be honest I was relieved at first that the fight was over.

[He runs his fingers through . it's this hair, sighing.]

I didn't tell anyone this at the trial because I was too embarrassed to say it, but... this whole thing might've been avoided if I hadn't been stupid and assumed the guy was a spy for the hunters. I thought that's what he was doing at the RV park.

[He sinks lower, pulling his legs in tight to his chest.]

But then again, he seemed to think I shot that bullet at him with my bayard. The whole thing was just so... avoidable.

[finalguard]

Mhm. Avoidable is a good word for what happened to me, too.

[ He may have made the conscious choice to kill Usagi even when there was urgency to act like that at all, but in the end he hadn't sought her out for killing. He wouldn't have sought her out for killing. There was no reason to at all. ]

Anyone really. The only one who had a bright idea at all was Lillith, to be honest.

[particlebarrier]

I wonder about that. Pastor Dan was probably closest to Sol, since he was always weird about his Lord stuff.

[Not that they can do anything about it now, but in retrospect Lance wonders if their overall nonchalance over the guy's murder was a terrible mistake.]

I doubt someone murdering him the first week here did any of us any favors with Sol's fear levels.

[finalguard]

[ Boa pauses, caught off guard by this reasoning. Dan and Sol... here's one thing he's never thought about. Dan had just become a footnote in the general swamp of awful that is camp. ]

We'd have died if she hadn't. Unless someone else had done something 'avoidable', of course, but it didn't look like anyone was going to.

Has anyone ever spoken to Sol about Dan though?

[particlebarrier]

No, it's just something I've wondered. I don't want to bring it up now just in case it is a sore spot.

Sol's been.. a little temperamental.

[finalguard]

Shouldn't it be fine as long as it's not Lillith bringing it up...? We might gain information from it and it's not like any of us harmed Dan. Even if we didn't mind what happened to him.

[particlebarrier]

[That gets an honest shrug from Lance.]

I'm really not sure what Sol can and can't tolerate honestly. I woke up to Sol screaming about how much they hate all of us... and Sol hasn't been seen since.

Sol's not like Red or Stan where you can ask more or less whatever question you want and fish for potentially useful things. Stickpoking Sol is... I don't know. I just don't think it's worth asking the guy to elaborate on Creepy Dan. Come to think of it though, I"m not sure I've seen Creepy Dan around....

[finalguard]

[ Boa frowns at that description of Sol. Why can't they ever have it easy with someone for once? ]

Right, where is he...? Is Sol only retaining souls of the campers and just letting any others go or eating them instantly...?

[particlebarrier]

Sol ran off. I don't know where they are.

[A sigh as he scratches the back of his head.]

It's... possible that Creepy Dan touched the door next to where Red's room was in the real lodge. According to Tal, if you touch it you'll end up absorbed into Sol's consciousness. The guy was pretty big into being in the arms of the Lord.

[finalguard]

[ Boa physically shudders at that mental image. ]

I thought maybe that kind of brainwashing wouldn't apply here anymore, but we can't even be sure he was brainwashed in the first place... so I can see him doing that.

[particlebarrier]

Yeah... we never really did work out what Creepy Dan's deal was in the end.

[Lance shakes his head.]

There are others I think that just ran off into the forest, too. I thought I saw something that looked like Leon one time.

[finalguard]

.... that idiot.

I don't suppose he ever came back from that, did he?

[particlebarrier]

I haven't seen him on camp grounds at least.

There are a couple of others around besides us from earlier rounds. I met Ryoji.

[finalguard]

[ Let Boa think for a second here. The name rings a bell but he's not immediately sure what bell. ]

... the one who was coming on to Red?