you can run but you can't escape

[singmod]

THE DARKWALKER COMES

The Darkwalker strikes again. This time, it does not come for one Interloper — but four.

WHEN: March 2nd.
WHERE: Milton.
CONTENT WARNINGS: death of playable character; supernatural death; mention of dead body; themes of death; supernatural beings; themes of terror; themes of peril.

YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T ESCAPE

The sun sets on another day in the Northern Territories. The night is calm but cold, scant clouds drifting low in the skies promising snowfall soon. A waning moon sits in the skies amongst its sea of stars, and those looking up may notice it — slowly, one by one, the stars begin to go out.

Then the moon's light is swallowed whole, and a blanket of green gloom descends upon the town of Milton. One more, the sky is dark and green and terrible. Many of those will recognise it, what this means and what will come. Others will not understand it, not know what it is that awaits them all.

They will soon find out: the Darkwalker comes.

Fear washes over you like a cold wave, a vice-tight grip that squeezes the breath from you. Interlopers will find themselves over-come, and everything in their bodies and minds tells them to run. To flee. And so you run, heading for cover indoors. Curtains will be drawn, some may hide under beds, within closets or wardrobes. Some desperate attempt to conceal themselves, make themselves small, unseen. Some Interlopers, in that fear, may rush to friends or loved ones to hide with them, others may simply cowered alone — crawling and whimpering away from the night. The fear is irrational, unable to be overcome — even by the bravest or most stoic of Interlopers.

The Darkwalker howls: indescribable, unnatural, demonic. Low moans and groans. It comes from the east, the faint booms of footsteps in the distance growing ever nearer. It is coming, once more. It's coming for one of you. And still, you are powerless, unable to do anything. And it is an agony, awaiting its arrival. You cry, you whimper, you cower. Curling up for some shred of comfort, and finding none.

The footsteps draw closer and closer, and you feel like the ground itself may be threatening splitting open beneath you. It isn't you that it hunts, but you notice its path — a straight line from the east towards Milton Church. It seems to go on forever, building into a crescendo. Your heart beats so hard you fear it may burst from your chest, as if you might die of fright.

There is an almighty sound; the Darkwalker devours and suddenly the sky is alight: streaks of pale colour shoot across the gloomy green — almost blinding for one long moment. A woman's scream fills the air and then snaps into silence.

The skies return to normal, the green is gone, the fear melts away from you. It is done.

There is no body in the street. Interlopers venturing out will need to go looking for whoever it is that's fallen victim to the Devourer. The answer will be found within Milton Church.

Towards the altar, peppered amongst faint glimmers of intangible green that will fade by morning, lie the twisted and mangled bodies of Nicholas Wolfwood, Millions Knives and both iterations of Vash the Stampede. There's no blood, no physical wounds — simply the contorted bodies that lie dropped like ragdolls. Each of their faces stare with wide eyes, frozen in horror — just as La'an Noonien-Singh was.

The Darkwalker has devoured more. There is a story, told by Methuselah: It is said that the Darkwalker will awake from its slumber and swallow the world whole. One head will swallow the stars and moon and sun. Another will swallow the seas and lakes and rivers. The third will swallow the land, and every living thing upon it — and only then will the Darkwalker be satisfied and return to sleep once more.

It feels as if the Darkwalker is making good on its story: one by one, it will devour you all whole. And now the Interlopers of Milton must grapple with more death.

FAQs

1. Essentially, a 'party post' for reactions to the Darkwalker's attack, the immediate aftermath, and any funerary preparations. Have... fun???

2. Information on the Darkwalker's attack can be found here.

3. An OOC Rundown for the original Darkwalker's attack, which includes some FAQs can be found here.

4. Notes about the characters:

Wolfwood: He doesn't leave any messages behind. Folks are welcome to go through his house, which is the cabin by the pond -- there's nothing in there of his, and the only changes he made to the house was pulling a twin bed over in front of the fireplace. The wall of the cabin is also scorched from inside, from where his Lightbringer power erupted at one point.

Vash The Stampede (Trigun Stampede): He really didn't have much belongings or anything in particular of note, so it is a free for all situation in terms of possessions.

Vash The Stampede (Trigun Maximum): He'll be leaving behind his meager belongings. all of it can be found on either his person or in the church's living quarters which is also decently stocked with foraged foods. alas he's prepared no messages because he is absolutely atrocious at saying goodbyes.

Millions Knives: He'll leave behind sharpened hunting and skinning knives (hah), some fishing equipment, and scattered feathers around the church.

Comments

[flanerie]

Lestat's pleased to have made enough of a good impression that his survival is a relief, although apparently not strong enough of one that she takes it for granted, as she should. He supposes that's the price of rough anonymity.

"I doubt anyone expected this to be the death that would come for us," he muses, looking at the bodies once more. "But first that poor woman, and now these unfortunates..."

He can pity them, in his way. Dying in a fit of terror at the hands of a horror isn't how most mortals would prefer to meet their end.

"Still. Perhaps it's kinder than starvation." He raises his hand and turns it over, as if balancing an invisible scale. "If this pace continues, we'll have little else to fear but this end."

[guidemyway]

Ruby pauses at that briefly. "Honestly this place had almost got me thinking there weren't deadly monsters lurking around like where I'm from until all this started." Might as well just be honest about that one. "But- I don't think there are many Grimm back at home that could pull murders like this." Not all Grimm were mindless but they weren't exactly subtle either.

But he did have a point there. Food was going to get scarce eventually. And they'd have to start finding other options.

"At least- We have a chance to do something about starvation. This... This is a little bit more complicated."

[flanerie]

"I don't care for impotency," Lestat says, avoiding any particular stress on the terminal word that might incite a lightheartedness at odds with the tone of the night. He means it strictly in the present sense of their helplessness here - their helplessness, not his own.

'Grim', Ruby says, with the weight of a name. These monsters certainly have been that.

"And I agree that this is more complicated than I'd prefer." He sighs lightly, aiming to make it sound troubled instead of exasperated. "I'm used to the sort of predator that can be hunted down and dispatched. I suspect that this beast may be trickier than most."

He cants his head and looks at her, mild curiosity alighting in his vivid blue eyes: "It sounds as if you might know a thing or two about that."

[guidemyway]

Thankfully any other sense of the word flew right over Ruby's head. She was such a sweet and innocent girl after all.

"Never been a huge fan of it either. But- That's kind of the situation we're staring down at the moment. We just have to find a way around it." Because there had to be a way around it. She wasn't about to give up on that yet.

She gives a little grin hearing that. "Well- Most of the monsters back at home you could do that. ...But there was someone old and ancient pulling the strings on them. Unlike the monsters she can't be killed. I was still working on what to do with that before I wound up here."

[flanerie]

"An ancient immortal master of monsters? How utterly diabolical."

He'll venture the risk of a touch of dark humour, given this new development in his understanding of the dear Miss Rose. People who have truck with monsters in their day to day life, be those monsters real or imagined, tend to be less precious about the subject than those sheltered by modernity's loving arms - as her little grin seems to tell him.

"I suppose true evil can never be rooted out of the world." Certainly not any world he'd find fit to live in. "But if it can be driven back, or warded off, we would all sleep far more soundly in our beds at night. Tell me - you wouldn't happen to have any sort of potent talisman or sanctifying rites tucked away for just such an occasion?"

[guidemyway]

"You can say that again." Is the best she can say about that. Look- She knew Salem's story and there was a part of her that probably could feel bad for what happened. At the same time she had caused a whole lot of pain, and Ruby and her friends had suffered personally because of it.

The second question catches her by surprise and she shrugs. There was a time where she wore a couple crosses pinned to her cloak but in her world they didn't quite have the same prevalence that they did here.

"Uh- No. Not to my knowledge. I could shoot lasers from my eyeballs that could do things to the monsters back in my world. But I'm guessing if my other abilities aren't working here, then those are a no go too."

[flanerie]

"Alas," Lestat says, with a stroke of genuine sympathy befalling his tone - he knows how unfortunate it is to be so diminished, even if he will not be as forthcoming with his understanding as Ruby is with hers. Far more palpable to be a hunter of monsters than a monster oneself.

"...may I ask, what is a 'laser'?" But sympathy flickers easily into curiosity as he studies Ruby's peculiarly luminous eyes, which until now he thought only a strikingly unusual feature. He doesn't know what it is he ought to be imagining shooting out of them to lay waste to her enemies.

[guidemyway]

"Yeah. It's- Still something I was kind of getting the hang of using myself. But I think that almost makes it a bit more weird to have it gone." There were other people that had defined Ruby by what she could do with them. But it was still very new to her.

She can't help but grin a little at the question. It was always interesting to see what some people knew or didn't know around here. "Oh- A laser is kind of like a light. It's just really intense or bright. And concentrated in a certain area sometimes. When the monsters got caught in mine back at home it would either blind, stun, turn them to stone, or straight up turn them to dust."

[flanerie]

Well. Perhaps it's not such a tragedy that Ruby has been deprived of her gifts after all.

Lestat is too practised a liar to let his momentary apprehension - which is all he will call it to himself, since it is an irrelevant concern for the time being - show. His expression remains defined by warm interest, eyebrows quirking upwards in appropriate wonder at her marvellous, not even slightly concerning talent.

"All of that, as simply as casting your gaze upon your foes? You are a formidable one."

[guidemyway]

Vampires didn't have souls, right? Pretty sure that meant he might be on the list for people she could zap with them if they worked.

Either way she's happy to shrug and roll with it. He hadn't done anything particularly suspicious to her outside of some weird looks. No reason to look into this, right?

She gives a shrug. "I mean- I personally think the scythe and rifle are a bit more scary. But I've done some neat things with the eyes before. So yeah. I guess I am."

[flanerie]

Lestat wonders if it might be some sort of curse, that young women of a certain age and confidence seem doomed to recall to him an unholy terror. Ruby, charming and amenable, is nothing like the hellion in question.

But perhaps, once upon a time, before it soured and curdled, there was a streak of this same fearless assurance of her own terrifying might.

"They are certainly more...visceral," he agrees, tipping his head in acknowledgement. "If I were a monster, I'd shudder to think you had caught my scent, one way or another."

[guidemyway]

Ruby gives a bright smile at his remark. "Just be glad that you're not! I'd definitely rather have you my friends list than my "This guy needs to a lose a limb." list. That's not a fun list to be on at all." She's mostly joking. She's only really ever cut off another persons tail before. Did that count as a limb?

[flanerie]

Lestat clasps his hand over his heart, widening his eyes in due solemnity.

"I give thanks every day that I am fortunate enough to be counted among your friends, and not the ranks of the foul things that stalk the unhallowed darkness," he proclaims, earnestly, "I'm far too fond of my limbs to bear the thought of it being otherwise."

[guidemyway]

"Well- It's not exactly an exclusive club or anything. But I'd rather as many of us stick together as we can here. I don't think any of us are or should be gunning to make more enemies.

But I'll gladly take the thanks for what it is. And make sure you put those limbs to good use!"

[flanerie]

"I always do."

He tilts his head winsomely and smiles, refraining from a laugh due to their grim surroundings.

"And speaking of - I ought to employ them in circling the perimeter, so here is where I beg your leave, mademoiselle. May we part as friends and never meet as enemies."