February Plot and Nightmares.

[sphererpmod]

February Plotting and Nightmares.

Well, we’re now in February, so we’ve hit our first nightmare month! This month’s nightmare is Alone. This nightmare is one that’s been expressed by multiple characters, so it’s pretty easily shared across the game as a whole. The Nightmare log will go up on the 13th of the month and will run until the 28th. Please don’t put up any other logs than the nightmare log, which will be posted by the mod account on the 13th by itself.

Use this post to plot out nightmare stuff, communication misadventures, or whatever else your little hearts desire in February. (See what I did there?)

How the Nightmare works.

The nightmare itself is a rolling one, which means that various domes will be affected at various times, and as the month progresses, the periods when the dome is affected will be longer and more intense. This nightmare will happen in all domes but not at the same time. There will always be a way for an opt out. No one should be affected for the entire time.

While your character is in the affected domes, they will feel as if they are totally alone to the point where they will not be able to sense/hear/see/etc other characters who are in their vicinity. Even if they are standing next to one another or touching one another, they will suddenly feel entirely alone. The entire city should feel as if your character is the only one who is present when they are in the middle of this nightmare--think the beginning of 28 Days Later when Jim is wandering around London.

This feeling is lost by leaving the affected domes.

During the second week, as the nightmare intensifies, starting on the 20th while in the affected areas, the network will not work. Attempting to connect to it in any way, even to read old messages (even their own), will be met with the feeling of a void. When your character leaves the affected area, the communication is “restored.”

Messages crossing the domes that are affected by nightmares definitely can go astray, which may mean private messages can go public or the wrong messages can go to the wrong people. This is entirely optional, but it can be a potential way to lighten up an event that may go too dark for some characters.

On February 28th, the entire network will go down for approximately three hours. Communication, locations, and the accessing of any information or entertainment resources will be impossible during that time. This three hour period will happen during the middle of the day, around 12-3 or so. More information will come up that day, and lead into the March plot.

Plot: An increasingly hostile city.

However, the nightmare is not the only thing going on this month. Additionally, after the Sphere’s memory share and Annie’s post afterwards about the investigation, player characters will notice that characters who have been here longer (NPCs) are now much less inclined to be welcoming and hospitable to the characters who have arrived since the start of game, and as such, the welcome log will be a bit different and far less elaborate than they have been in the past. Further, they are less inclined to offer information as they have been.

“Luxury items” (i.e. anything beyond basic food and clothing) have had their prices raised a bit. As the month goes on, your character will notice that the prices are steadily increasing. By the end of the month, they will be double beyond what your character was paying. There are still some shops/restaurants that are reasonable, but they are the exception and not the rule. Further, the quality of food being served in the dorm domes has gone down--and will keep going downhill.

Despite this, the council appears to be countering this as best as they can, mostly by increasing people’s wages and stipends when things go beyond their current means. However, these measures are stopgap at best. With the increase is shoddy communication and with the nightmares taking over the domes, by the 28th, the Council is effectively missing and out of contact.

All three of them.

Comments

Questions?

[sphererpmod]

/raises hand

[noble_sentiments]

Small question! When will the Feb. welcome log go up? (Or should we assume that this month, the city isn't very hospital and there won't be one?)

[sphererpmod]

I had been unsure about doing one, but I'll throw one up tomorrow!

Welp.

[noble_sentiments]

Being alone is one of Steve's nightmares so uh ... there's lots of opportunities for awful things to happen here. I'm probably going to start him off okay, and make it worse and worse throughout the month. If you're interested in doing something, lemme know!

Re: Welp.

[inthewink]

Nico isn't too fond of it either, so this should be interesting. I'd love to do something though. Steve probably people's better than Nico though lol.

[noble_sentiments]

lol Steve is a good people person. But it looks like this event is gonna make them all think that there are no people around them, so he might actually be quiet bad at people for once.

Re: Welp.

[tdls]

raises hand!! idk what exactly but i'd love to do something. c:

Re: Welp.

[noble_sentiments]

YES PLZ!

Also I'm kinda just waiting for the welcome log to go up so I know how Steve initially feels about being here. Hopefully it will go up soon! Then I can start to plot out literally what happens next heh ^^;

Re: Welp.

[nobasisinfact]

I've got nothing solid, but I'd love to have either of my boys do something with Steve.

I know Richard will be investigating (with or without Alex) if that helps.

[noble_sentiments]

Ooooo maybe they could bump into each other while investigating the same clue?

[unknownmoirai]

I am absolutely interested in something! Angel really hates being alone too... it's a huge thing with her and being locked in a windowless cell for over a month because her twin sister is a jerk!!! Is there anything You'd like specifically? She's super hopeful and might be able to help. She would also probably offer herself as a punching bag which I realize is weird but her bones aren't breakable... it's a weird thing with her lol.

Let me know love! I am excited to play with your Steve.

[noble_sentiments]

Uhhhh the ramifications are terrible and therefore I love it???

I feel like letting him be violent because he's unaware of exactly what he's doing would be awesome. And then to have him realize that he basically beat up on an innocent woman? Awful. Which means I need it.

[verstoned]

yes pls! rhus knows intimately what it feels like to lose everyone SO he might either try to help or get fucked up himself, it could be interesting for them to both bounce off of!

[noble_sentiments]

Yes! This sounds great! I'll put up a starter for him soon, but I'll also poke around for other people's!

Kim plotting

[11calls]

So, you guys Feb is going to be a probably very light month for me because I'm having surgery on my arm on the 8th. But the nightmare log and posts to go with them are already written and will be going up on time, so no worries. As above, by the end of it, NPCs will be mostly out of contact after a certain point. As for what my other two characters are doing below! If you want to assume any interactions with them, or the NPCs, please let me know!

Alex is going to be investigating, and then she's going to be going on autopilot starting around the 8th. So, for the most part she's around until the end but I won't be.

Bev is going to be on hiatus and hiding in her dome because fuck this, you guys. She's going to be basically autopiloting too.

Re: Kim plotting

[nobasisinfact]

Is it okay to have Richard investigating with her? It would seem strange if he weren't.

[11calls]

Yes of course! until the 28th. I'm gonna assume that at some point he's gonna feel alone and have some feels about that which Alex will help with. Which I do wanna thread out and by that point hopefully I will not give a damn about my cast.

Haru Plotting

[nobasisinfact]

Richard: Richard will be doing the investigating thing and won't be excessively affected by the being alone thing. He'll end up in the patches, but he's also pretty used to not having anyone. There may be some light worry when his communicator craps out, but that's about it for the nightmare.

Seregil: He'll be trying his best to ignore the hell out of this nightmare since it's one of his big ones. If anyone he cares about gets stuck in it though he'll go through hell to try and get them out (and probably get stuck in it himself). I'm planning on having him get hit hard on this one.

Plotting for 1 Angel

[unknownmoirai]

So Angel really hates being alone and this is by far one of her bigger fears. She ends up being locked in a windowless cell for over a month in her story... so darkness is also a thing that really freaks her out. I'd love to do something with it. It was a time where she literally broke apart and then pulled herself back together again.

She will freak out but if someone else is freaking out she's more likely to gather strength and help. She's very hopeful and might be able to use some of her magic to help. She can help people calm down via singing. It's a thing she does.

I'm also thinking playing with the message system getting messed up. Angel still doesn't know how to use it so she'll probably mess up anyway and that could be fun.

Let me know what you want to do or if you want to do anything!!!

Re: Plotting for 1 Angel

[nobasisinfact]

Seregil really likes talking to her, so if something happens to her he would be there for her.

[unknownmoirai]

Aww that's so sweet.

She knew he was a nice guy behind all the evasion. lol

Re: Plotting for 1 Angel

[10milliondollars]

Rhys could be helpful with the messaging system (or the network system overall) if you're interested.

Plotting for Rhys

[10milliondollars]

He'll also be doing investigating things, in his own way. Through Max's and Alex's help, he'll have Dumpy fixed about midway through February (yay for no more screeching baby bot), so Dumpy will be helping him scout out things. Otherwise, he'll have a robotics/tech shop set up for anyone who wants to learn things about that stuff. He's also pulling shifts as an EMT for Laurie's medical team, so if anyone gets hurt, he's available for that.

Plotting for Nico

[inthewink]

Nico is relatively new here, and I would love to get him involved in some way. He is trying to connect with Laurie, to see about a hospital job, but other than that, he has been keeping mostly to himself. We both are up for all the things though.

[sphererpmod]

Hey Beth! I'm on hiatus and must have missed him trying to connect. In the future the npcs have a contact page that folks can hit! But yeah, Laurie gave him a job and is watching him closely to make sure he's not lying.

it's been a thing before.