Event log: Who What Where Wendigo

[hadrielmods]

Who: Everyone participating in the wendigo event!
What: The accidental-cannibalism-turned-horrifying-monster event that is the Who What Where Wendigo event!
Where: All around the city
When: Feb 14th-March 1st
Warnings: Cannibalism, body horror, evil monsters lurking around.

Don't forget to check up on the Wendigo Guide that Ami posted!

On February 14th, Rage and Fear decide to give Hope a little bit of help taking care of the residents of Hadriel - they'll provide some food for awhile. How nice! Except, of course, that there's an extra ingredient in this food. A can of beef stew? Yeah... that might not be beef. But hey, it still tastes pretty good! Unfortunately, some spirits slipped through the Door last time it opened, and they're ready to possess anyone who participates in cannibalism - even if they don't know it.

Anyone who eats the provided meat will be possessed by a wendigo spirit. Over the course of twelve days, they will transform into a monster that feels little but rage and hunger. While at first it can be explained away easily enough (people are super annoying, and isn't everyone a little hungry most of the time?), by February 18th, wendigo transformations are impossible to ignore. A few days after, on February 22nd, the anger and cravings of the wendigo spirit will overcome all other emotions, and possessed characters may begin hunting.

The physical and mental transformation will be complete by February 26th. The possessed characters will have lost themselves completely at that point. While physical healing (done by a character with Hope's blessing or another healing ability) can turn back the physical and some mental effects, they will remain possessed until death or until Hope removes the wendigo spirit - which can only be done on the altar of Hope's temple. So have fun dragging your angry, possessed friends there!

On March 1st, Rage does Hope a solid (because she feels sort of bad) and kills all remaining wendigos. Upon revival, the spirit will be gone and the character will be fully recovered. Hopefully no one holds what they did while possessed against them!

► This log covers February 14th-March 1st.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► Please report any character deaths right here!

Comments

[closerift]

[ The truth is, though the damage would have been much worse without his barrier, the slash to his arm had been aimed that way. The wendigo, however vicious, is still Cecily, at least in part. Wide, milky eyes stare at the mage, nostrils flaring. Quick is a word that occurs to her, fingers flexing instinctively. It would be more satisfying for the angry spirit to pick him apart, to make it slow, to taste fear in his blood, but the voice in the body it shares says quick instead of slow. Which is why, when she lunges again, before the new barrier and the fire, she goes to tear at his throat.

She should have been faster, had aimed for lethal sooner. The monster, already leaping, passes through the small explosion. Shrieking, reeling in pain, it smashes into the fresh barrier, and with its weakened skin, the effect is compounded. The wendigo crumples to the ground, still alive, but badly wounded. She twitches, long limbs a mess of fires still lit and formerly-human skin crackling, smoking, the stench rising already. It releases a long, loud sound, trying to regain its bearings, but the fire is so impossibly hot and strong that there's more than enough time for another attack before she can recover and rise.

As if sensing a threat, the anchor crackles pitifully on her palm. ]

[sparkler]

[It should be easy to finish it. Dorian knows that, it should be. It's what needs to happen, and if she were herself, it's what Cecily would want to happen. But it's not easy, it's not at all, and as monstrous as she might be right now, it pains Dorian deeply to see her like that. To know that it's her he's wounded so badly, to know the agony she must be in.

His arm hurts, reminding him of the danger. He sees the anchor flicker. He has to keep going, he has to end this. It's the best thing to do, the only thing to do.

God. He's out of liquor. He won't even be able to drink until he blacks out, get this out of his head for a few hours. That's for the best. He ought to hold on to this, painful as it is, difficult as it is.

He drives his staff into the earth, summoning more power, and before he can talk himself into doing something utterly stupid and letting her go, Dorian casts another spell, another explosion of flame and heat, centered on the wendigo that was once his best friend.]

[closerift]

[ Later, she'll be able to thank him. She would never want to live as a monster, particularly not as one that could hurt or do worse to others. The fact that she's scratched at him is bad enough, a reminder of how deadly the wendigos really are. For as strong and quick, the fire is an overwhelmingly effective weapon. The first spell almost completely incapacitated her, and the second that he sends hits her full-blast, finishing it. The monster screams, twisted and sounding nothing like a human, writhing and twitching, form blackening beneath the bright flames. Eventually, it goes still, when the fire has eaten away through the armor and done fatal damage to the living thing beneath its tough skin.

The host is dead, but an almost-smoky wisp bursts from the corpse, screaming, still, into the night with rage and pain. The spirit of the beast goes free, leaving its victim still and lifeless on the ground. ]

[sparkler]

[It's over. It's over, but Dorian feels no real sense of satisfaction or accomplishment. He didn't want this, didn't want to have to do this. But it's over, and she's dead, and it's for the best. She would not have been able to forgive herself if she'd done something awful to an innocent, and Dorian did what needed to be done.

He leaves the body. He thinks he's supposed to, that Hope just takes them and remakes them, and anyway he doesn't want to stay here anymore. His hand tightens around his staff, and he goes home, tired and hurting and wishing desperately for a bottle of wine to drown himself in.

She'll be back. That helps. A little.]