[PP - F2] Raven Hollow [Church]

[Lessa 1]

The Church

The great wooden structure towers higher than any other building in Raven Hollow. Its paint has peeled, and its cross is cracked, but the bell still tolls eerily - the rope that once hung from it has been missing for years. Inside, wooden pews still stand in silent wait, their only occupants now a fine layer of dust. A series of shapes and circles look very out of place, plastered to the wall with red spray paint. Those who have explored the church tell of chants, hushed whispers, and a feeling of general unease.

Spoiler

 

General Rules:

• If you are going to leave, make a post that you are doing so. Otherwise, you cannot post in another location.
• If you plan to spawn a monster, make sure that it is the appropriate level for the people who are fighting with you.
• If you are non-combat, and do not plan to partake in the battle, be sure to make it known that you are doing something else at the time.
• Post order does not matter unless you are in combat, but please be respectful of others.
• All OOC comments/questions can be directed to myself directly, or the Recruitment Thread.

 

 

[Calrex 0]

"Well...I think I made it...but where's the others..."

As the bluenette entered into the doors of the church he gave a small sigh to calm his senses, keeping his right hand gripped on the Grand Blade II's handle. He was dressed in his casual combat clothing, covered by the unenhanced Grand Dragoon. The Ultramarine Knight was previously recruited into the group to try and find out what happens were occuring in the town of Raven Hollow, but due to their delay in travel speed they had decided to split up.

While he had arrived at the church, night was already present, adding to the general unease of the setting, "Well, if this isn't part of the theme, then most likely is something wrong in this area. Better be careful that I don't get ambushed in the meantime. Roc, go ahead and scan above for now while I check around at ground level."

Materializing in a flash of light his familiar appeared and began to fly towards the rafter of the church as he placed his free hand into his jacket pocket, "Wonder if anyone else was able to make it here."

[Birdie 0]

In the distance, through the shadows of the trees, a cross-shaped silhouette blocked out the light of the moonlit sky. 'You're fine,' she told herself. 'You're fine, don't think about the creepy forest..' She trod carefully, gripping tightly at the clothes around her chest. Leaves crunched beneath her feet with every inch she moved, the girl's heartbeat pounding through her chest  A clearing approached, she and the cracked open doors of the church separated by nothing but twigs and fallen leaves.

'Someone's already here?' she inspected the entrance of the dilapidated building with her eyes, unable to make out another player in the low light. "Or.. something.." Stalled, the menu discreetly opened and she called forth on Glacia, the frost phoenix perching on Birdie's shoulder after a brief flash of light. "Sorry to drag you out for this," she whispered to the familiar. "Could you scope out the door?" The bird's head nodded in a hasted fashion, flying silently into the night to investigate.

With her mind at ease, she began to wonder why the others split up. Everyone disappeared one after another, gradually rendering them lone travellers. Or maybe she'd been the first to stray away, leaving the rest of the group behind- the truth was masked behind a sense of dread that plagued her rational thoughts. Glacia soon returned, swooping down and perching upon Birdie's shoulder once more. "Anything dangerous?" she asked, receiving a shake of the head from her familiar. Thanking the frost bird, Birdie recalled the familiar and stood up, carefully approaching the church doors.

She spooked herself as the door opened with a creak, and she made a player's figure within the church. "H-hello?" she called, stepping further inside the building.

 

Edited October 13, 2016 by Birdie

[Prince 0]

I’m so stupid. Idiot, Prince began to scold himself immediately. He liked Halloween—it was a fun holiday. He used to go trick-or-treating with his parents as a kid… well, actually, he continued to do so until high school ended, then went with Lindsey. The memory made him uncomfortable, knowing that Lindsey wasn’t here. Regardless, when he heard of a “spooky town” he thought it was be smart to join the expedition and check it out, forgetting about the fact that this is a death game, not a place to trick-or-treat. Was it even Halloween? His perception of time was too distorted to even know what month it was.

The floorboards of the ominous church lurched and squeaked when he put his foot on them. He jumped back and lifted his arm to defend himself, then scolded himself for being so idiotic yet again. I’m an adult. Don’t act like a little kid, stupid. He gulped and anxiously entered, careful not to jump with every creak of the floorboards. “H-hi,” he stammered, trying to put on a brave face when he noticed two players. The fear immediately melted into ignorant excitement as he saw two birds that were clearly not enemy mobs. “Birds!”

He hadn’t seen a friendly animal at all in this game, so the sight of two of them put his fears in the background. He quickly corrected himself. “I’m Prince. Who are you guys?” Perhaps he was being foolish for trusting strangers as soon as he saw the two pets, but he was too focused on them to consider his situation.

[Calrex 0]

"Hm?"

As he heard two voices behind him Calrex calmly turned around to see who it was. There was some rumors going around about Raven Hollow regarding the strange occurrences, and to him it wouldn't exactly be out of the ordinary to start hearing disembodied voices. However, to his relief the two greeting were from fellow players as he released his grip on the Grand Blade II's hilt, "Well, good to see some others made it into the town as well."

Walking over he could hear the creaking of the floorboards, as if to signify the level of disrepair the church had, or possibly just to add to the overall creepiness of the town, "I'm Calrex. Have you guys made contact with any of the others so far? I haven't seen anyone else in the area, so I'm not sure who else may have made it here."

Listening to the sounds around them his pupils continued to move from side to side, checking his peripherals for any signs of movement. If they were the only three so far, then that meant whatever else was moving around could either be another player, or potentially an enemy. He had encountered ghosts in the past on other floors, but none that weren't bound by SAO's mechanics. They had HP, and at best possessed some kind of gimmick that made them perceivably invincible until discovered and exploited. However, allowing such creatures to get the drop on them could put others at risk, something he wasn't going to let happen if he could do something about it.

[Birdie 0]

(Note: Italic text in speech marks " " refer to another player's words, italics in quotation marks ' ' are her thoughts.)

"Birds!" she heard.

"B-birds?" she stammered.

Twisting on the spot, the floorboard creaked as she readjusted her feet. Her eyes came face-to-face with a brown-haired man, his luscious locks seemingly well-kept. He spoke his name and she ran it through her multiple times, ensuring she wouldn't forget it for at least the duration of their time together. Her mouth opened to speak but the voice that replied was of another player's- Calrex, she soon learned.

"B-birdie here. I haven't seen anyone else. There was another girl heading in this direction, but I lost sight of her coming up this way."

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end as a stray creaking sounded from further within the church. 'Next time I'm not leaving Tobias' side..' Reluctantly, she shifted her vision over to the two players.

"Have you guys found anything yet? Scary monsters?" Her voice hushed into a mumble, "A way to finish this creepy quest.."

Edited October 18, 2016 by Birdie

[Prince 0]

Prince tried to remember what he saw on the way here. Stress made him forget things, and the walk here was creepy. “Mostly noises and shadows,” he said. His words weren’t organized and it seemed he was having trouble thinking properly. He was caught between being serious and focused, being terrified, and being in love with the familiars. Prince hadn’t even drawn his sword yet, but he had his reasons. This seemed to be a safe area to meet with other players. He was jumpy, and while that could be good in dangerous situations, it would be bad if he stabbed another player as soon as he heard their footsteps. “Shadows and falling leaves. When they jumped out.”

Make sense, he scolded himself. You’re being stupid again.

 

Prince cleared his throat. “Basically, no. I didn’t see much other than shadows and I heard some noises, but mostly it was just eerie and uncomfortable."

Edited October 18, 2016 by Prince

[Calrex 0]

"Yeah, that seems to be the general consensus of what I'm gathering here. Unfortunately you three are the only people I've seen since the group split up. Course if we're following horror movie logic that probably wasn't a wise move, heh."

With a small laugh to attempt to lighten the mood Calrex gave another look around the interior of the church. It wasn't really doing any good, as the nighttime lightning made it difficult to discern anything above floor level. Roc wasn't giving any signs of seeing anything of use either. "What in the world could we be looking for around here? I don't see any clues so far as to a conspiracy or sinister plot, and the fact that no monsters have spawned here could even have players mistake this area as being a safe zone."

Stepping out of the church he began to inspect the exterior, with Roc flying out from the front door a few seconds after, "I guess the first thing we should try and look at would be anything which wouldn't fit a normal description of the building. This is a church, so things like door where there are no connecting rooms, strange symbols, and the like may provide a clue as to what we're looking for. Let me know if you guys see or encounter any monsters while we're checking around. I'm unassuming at the moment, but I have participated on the frontlines for the past few floor raids, so anything that spawns here shouldn't be too difficult to handle."

"Oikawa and a few others I know were in the party as well. So I wonder where he's currently at..."

[Birdie 0]

'Blue hair.. Frontlines? I wonder if this is that 'hero' people talk about..' Staying close, Birdie filtered out through the entrance of the church and recalled her familiar to her shoulder. If any threats lingered in the immediate area, the phoenix's sharp eyes would be among the first to spot them. "Gotcha- me and Glacia will search around this side," she informed them, holding her arm out to the right of the entrance. "Hopefully something turns up soon.. this doesn't feel natural at all."

With that, against her better judgement, she went on to start searching the church's outer walls, knowing to keep her distance in the event that a trap lied dormant. 'I might not look it, but I'm not stupid enough to fall for those cheap tricks. With Glacia by my side- considering there's anything worthy of note within the church walls- we should be able to find something to help us solve this mystery.' Pausing for a moment to inspect a nearby bush, she dismissed it with a light shake of her head, inching onwards.

'What are church walls even supposed to look like.. stained glass? Crosshatch windows?' She pondered what would even make the walls look strange- obviously, seeing a door two and a half floors up might raise some questions, but no such sight was bestowed upon her eyes. Gesturing Glacia with a nod, the familiar cawed and flapped its wings, flying high into the bell tower. 'Let's hope she has some luck up there.'

Footsteps approached from around the corner; with reason to believe it was one of the players, she shrugged it off and kept her eyes tied to the walls. "Did you find anything yet?"

Edited October 20, 2016 by Birdie

[Prince 0]

Prince focused intently on the interior wall of the church. He felt very drawn to the red shapes that were painted along the wall. The circles looked mostly symmetrical on all sides, but the jagged shapes were in complete disarray and unsettling. He ran his fingers along the spray-painted walls. Certain sections of it were more bumpy than others, as if different places were sprayed with more paint layers than the others. Other sections felt grimy and sick, like the plague in the form of paint. It stuck to his fingers and the palms of his gloves. To test the strength of this section, he put some pressure on it. The grimy spot he pushed his hand on felt like it was made of thick, spongy material. His hand slipped into the material and came out covered in the red paint. "There's goop here," he called. He touched the spot again. "Well, not really. It got on my glove, but it's not dripping or anything like that." 

He didn't like the way his hand felt now. It was a harsh, suffocating feeling, as if his glove were tightening around his palm and drying to cut it off. He unequipped his glove, but the red around his fingers still choked at him. "It feels really bad," he added. He considered that he might just be insane. With a defeated sigh, he added, "Or, maybe I'm just being overly sensitive and paranoid, and it's just regular paint."

[Calrex 0]

As much as he wanted to find some kind of mystery or object that would put them in the right direction for figuring out the strange happenings, Calrex was also unable to discern anything that would be particularly out of the ordinary. The church itself wasn't exactly large, certainly not the level of a Roman cathedral or monastery. It would be closer to the type that would suit these smaller villages, with just enough room for the community to sit together. That being said, it wasn't like the upper area of the building could not house potential secrets.

Listening to Birdie and Prince call over what they had seen the one that remained of note was the young man's statement about the "goop" he had found. The bluenette would have attributed it to simply paint, but going from the condition of the church a spot of undried finish would be out of the ordinary. Any renovations or work done on it had likely long come and gone, meaning that the substance could be something of note.

"Especially combining that with the fact Prince just said it feels really bad. SAO doesn't have any symptoms of allergic reactions or the sort unless it is intentionally programmed into the game."

Walking over he inspected the spot, "Go ahead and take a rest for now Prince. See if you can't get more of that stuff off of your hand. Also keep an eye on your status bar. If it's anything that will hinder your combat abilities, it will likely appear as an icon there."

Heading back inside Calrex returned back to the spot, swiping on his menu to temporarily swap out the Grand Blade II for the Grand Blade, the first iteration of the weapon, "If there is some hindering effect, I don't want it hindering my strongest weapon. Better stick with this for now unless we actually encounter combat."

Drawing the sword from its sheath he flipped it into a reverse grip, testing to find a spot that appeared to be the border between the sponge-like material and the rest of the wall. Gently pushing the tip of his sword into that spot the bluenette began to pry, using his sword like a crowbar against it. There was the sound of squishing as some of the red paint-like substance seemed to seep out before he was able to detach the piece, inspecting the inside.

"That's not good. Whatever you found seems like it could be a fungus or something like it. It ate up most of that section of the wall. I can see through to the outside with it out of the way. It could be that there's more sections like this around the church. Could be what we're looking for."

[Birdie 0]

As Prince called out that he'd found something, Birdie's eyes flicked to the corner of the building. 'So the first clue is inside,' she pondered in thought, giving the section of the church she'd chosen to inspect a brief once-over before returning to the front doors. Poking her head through, she noticed Calrex sticking his blade into the anomaly growth, piercing it and eventually poking a small hole through the wall.

EEw..." She groaned, her legs carrying the rest of her body into the establishment. Standing a few feet behind Calrex, in the event that something dangerous were to happen with the goop, Birdie crossed her arms together and brought a finger to her lip.

"So there's a strange fungal-like substance around the church. Even if it's a clue as to what happened here, how much does that actually tell us?" Her eyes scanned the length of a wall as she continued. "And unless it's airborne, how'd that stuff get up there any way?"

[Prince 0]

Prince sat and stared at his hand. Despite removing his glove, his own skin felt like it was trying to choke him. His arms felt like they were being pricked with needs, and his face started to burn like someone was holding a candle close to his face. His eyes flicked back and forth as the brightness of the candlelight in his eyes almost blinded him. He watched as the robed figure held the candle close to his face, murmuring incoherent words.

He growled and pushed his hand out to try to get the stupid candle out of his face. Instead, his hand hit nothing but air. There was no candle, no robed figure, nothing. The brightness of another candle approached him, trying to blind him yet again. “S-stop it…” he mumbled, flicking his hand at the imaginary figure again. He aimlessly pushed at the air and let his eyes dart across the room, the uneasy feeling of fear and anxiety washing over him. Another candle appeared in his face. “STOP!”

[Calrex 0]

"It would be, at least if this was a normal type of fungus. But from what I've seen there hasn't been any sense of humidity or moisture in the air that would promote growth, like being in a rainforest or having fresh rainfall."

Getting back to his feet Calrex scraped of the residual liquid off of his blade before scanning around. He didn't get much of a chance when suddenly Prince began yelling nearby. Rushing over the bluenette quickly took in what he saw: It seemed that the player was potentially hallucinating, as he was swiping at the air. "This could be dangerous. If he is in fact seeing things, then there is the chance that he could attack us by mistake."

"Prince, if you can hear me I need you to stay calm. Try and tell me what you're seeing. For all we know there might be a connection to this place somehow."

Looking over at Birdie he gave a nod, "There may be a chance that whatever this stuff is could be linked to the church grounds. If that's a likely case we might need to take him away from here for now. I'll stay behind to see if I can find anything out. Either way if this happens try to see if you can find the others. There's strength in numbers, especially if we don't know what we're up against."

[Birdie 0]

Birdie nodded. 'He does make a good point, the air doesn't feel wet at all.. it's late at night on the second floor though, surely that's out of the ordinary?' 

"Huh?" As she swiped a hand to dismiss the open menu, frantic screaming from one of her party members sounded nearby. Prince seemed to be panicking, asking for something to 'stop' even though nothing looked to be physically irking him.

Calrex was one step ahead and rushed to the boy's side, and Birdie wasn't far behind him. The Frontliner seemed calm and collected and knowing of what to do, whilst all Birdie could do was stare wide-eyed and allow her arms to dangle at her sides. She snapped out of it as soon as the bluenette addressed her, nodding at his proposed plan. "Gotcha, I'll get him someplace safe. What about you, sure you'll be alright?"

Her gaze switched to Prince. 'Poor guy..' As she positioned herself to where his arm could drape over her shoulder, Birdie carefully attempted to help him up. "Come on Prince, t-try not to struggle too much..." she asked of him, her voice as gentle as could be. "What are you seeing?""

Edited October 29, 2016 by Birdie

[Itzal 0]

OOC- Switched from Woods topic to Church Topic

Itzal rushed to the Church building, running from a different direction than the original group, coming to the side door rather than the front.  He had heard a player scream and ran up with the medallion he had found in the wood not too long ago.  The medallion had a skull with demonic horns, and the edges had spikes pointed at the skull.  In the skull's open mouth was a dark ruby and words Itzal didn't recognize were written along the edge.  He wondered if it had anything to do with this random church that had clearly never been here before.  He opened the door swiftly and yet silently.  His light footwork allowed him to make the most minimal sound as possible as he navigated his way around the church.  He activated his <reveal> mod and spotted a group of players nearby.  He was about to rush over to them when he spotted a trapdoor beneath a collection of furniture and carpet.  He left it alone for now, deciding to help the players.  He rushed into the hallway and stopped suddenly as he saw a robed figure with a candle make it's way over to him.  Itzal reached for his sword but stopped when he didn't see any health bar above it.  He let go of the sword and watched as the figure kept approaching until it passed through him, doing absolutely nothing.  Huh, just an illusion.  He walked over to the player in the area and saw that he appeared terrified.  Figures continued to emerge and pass through him until it was clear he wouldn't be startled by them.  When it was apparent the images stopped.  He saw Calrex appear as well as Birdie, both trying to comfort the player and he smiled.  "Hey guys!  Good to see you again!  By the way, I don't know your name but those are illusions, they aren't real.  Just pretend they're not there.  I don't think there's anything to be afraid of here unless there ends up being a field boss too strong for us to handle.  Although I'm not afraid anymore since Calrex is with us."

@Prince

[Prince 0]

Prince’s eyes flicked back and forth as more candles kept popping up in his face while unknown figures chanted softly at him. He flinched when Birdie touched him, but quickly recognized her to be the player with one of the familiars he saw, so he relaxed and trusted that she wasn’t going to hurt him. The figures were still frightening him, though. He heard them ask what he was seeing, but as he tried to speak, he found his throat dry.

Another player rushed in and said something about pretending the illusions weren’t there. As someone who had experiences horrific bouts of hallucinations and delusions as a young teen, Prince knew better than anyone that these were unavoidable and incredibly real to him. He was unable to respond, because he found another bright light shoved in his face. He shouted with surprise and stumbled. He didn’t hit Birdie, but he certainly slammed into her. “A-ah… I’m sorry…” he whimpered. The voices laughed at his stumble. “STOP!”

Fear washed over Prince as he considered the possibility that he pushed Birdie into the red paint-like mold. “Don’t touch it…” he breathed, staggering back and forth as he tried to point at the mold that he unfortunately had touched earlier, which prompted these strange hallucinations. His eyes were filled with so much bright light that he couldn’t find the red markings.

[Itzal 0]

Itzal watched the player freak out once again and bump into Birdie who was pushed to a painting.  He spotted the red substance and when the boy cried out not to touch it Itzal's hand shot out, grabbing @Birdie and barely kept her from making contact with the mysterious material.  He pulled her back on her feet properly and saw that the boy was still being messed with.  Itzal let out a sigh before he backed off a little and pulled out his sword.  He charged his blade with Lightning Fall before stabbing his blade into the ground with all his strength, the energy shooting out like a nova bomb, both light and energy shooting everywhere and bounced off of the hallways, reaching the next door rooms.  The blast moved the players a little but didn't harm them.  When the action was over he looked at the player.  "If that didn't help we'll need to give you an antidote.  In game this has to be a status effect.  What does it say on your status effect section?  And how much longer does it have?"  This was an interesting effect and he didn't think he had ever heard of it before.  However, a long powerful blast of bright energy should have sent any hallucination away.  If the player's vision was replaced with light rather than darkness, the hallucinations must have changed or vanished entirely.

@Prince

[Birdie 0]

Ava felt a dull pain pulse through the left side of her body as Prince stumbled into her, forcing her to tumble dangerously close to the red substance with an "Oof!" A hand caught her mid-flight- Itzal's, whom had arrived only moments ago, and she managed to keep upright with her mentor's assistance. "T-thank you," she managed, recomposing herself as the situation with Prince only seemed to worsen.

Her light blue hair swished as she shook her head, trying to remain calm as she glanced behind her. If Itzal wasn't there to save her, it's likely she'd befallen a similar fate to Prince, leaving the higher level players of the group to formulate a solution. "I-it's fine," she reassured Prince, however shaky her tone. Her eyes drew to the scout as he asked the young man about the status effect- if not useful now, it would be helpful to know about this specific effect for future reference.

Listening in, she turned and faced the wall that housed the infected painting. She pressed a cheek against the painted wood and lifted the painting, and noticed that the substance ate right through the piece of art and into the wall behind. "It's eaten through this canvas too, the red stuff is oozing out the other side." She spoke to nobody in particular, though the knowledge was useful for all involved. Hoisting the painting from its hook, she made sure to keep her face clear of the red stuff and gently placed the canvas onto the floor, slipping it behind a bench to keep it from blocking any exit path.

Her eyes fell to Prince. 'Poor guy..' Ava's thoughts echoed once more.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Birdie

[Itzal 0]

Itzal nodded to Birdie when she thanked him.  "No problem."  After he had used the sword art he turned to watch Birdie carefully examine the painting and mentioned how it ate it's way into the building.  Itzal walked closer and as he observed, activated his <<reveal>> mod and his eyes narrowed as he saw a small thread of the substance make it's way back and...  Joined a web of much more going throughout the church, getting thicker the further down it went...  As he looked down he said, "Or the substance came from the church and out through the painting..."  He deactivated the mod and turned to the group.  "On my way here I spotted a hidden trapdoor, possibly a basement or hidden dungeon of some kind.  I used the reveal mod and noticed there was a vein of this stuff all throughout the walls of the church, but the further down I looked the more it seemed to grow thicker and gather together, almost like a huge web.  But what it is exactly and what it's effects are..."  Itzal looked at the substance again before reaching over to place his hand on it.  "Only one way to find out.  I doubt the other player will be telling us any time soon."  The moment he placed his hands on it he snapped his eyes to where a status would appear.  He waited.  One...  Two...  Three...  Then it appeared.  Three seconds.  That's how long it took.  He let go immediately and observed the status title.  "Hallucinations and heightened fear," he stated before the effects really kicked in.  He could feel a bit nervous, almost as if there was something nearby, watching his every move.  He began to see movements that he knew weren't there.  While they sometimes startled him a bit, he had been through worse fear simulations and could handle it.

Edited November 3, 2016 by Itzal