Stalkers RPG: Dustwoken - Main Action and Team Status [SEASON 1]

[C0L0R3D]

I got very confused regarding cycles and stuff! Turns out I can still do stuff, so let's roll with that uh yeah!

[Searching the Colbyi Estate. Still don't exactly care for the spelling
at the minute.]

[Neo Emolga]

ChiChi will put on the dreamwatch necklace and go talk to Drestan. Diplomatically.
Time to prove your innocence, or spin me a very guilty story, coastguard!

I like to think since ChiChi is glowing and also a weird species, it might be like getting a visit from the ghost of christmas past!
Pleasedontkillmeeeee

As the night falls, you decide to get to the bottom of what might be surrounding the Seabourne coast guard. It seems as though there are many who believe the coast guard may be compromised, and you can see their reasoning given Malco’s death and their lack of cooperation in working with the police department.

While you eat the delicious pot pie dinner that Benni has prepared for everyone, the taste and the conversation about the weather aren’t on your mind right now. You’re almost on autopilot as you think about what may discerned tonight and how it all fits into the bigger picture, and when the meal is done, you simply head to the supply cabinets, take the Dreamwatch Necklace, and place the Blessed Armband back in storage.

You then head out into the night, intending to confront Drestan to see if the suspicions are correct, or if they’re simply heresy and unfounded rumors. You might not be able to completely discern the truth by talking to Drestan, even diplomatically, but you can see what the Dreamwatch Necklace says…

ChiChi has removed the +|J| Blessed Armband+ (1S, 1P) and has equipped the +|J| Dreamwatch Necklace+ (Wearer gets notified if they speak or have spoken to a Stalker) instead.

For a moment, you revisit those past conversations in your mind. Mortek, Roboa, Santea, Ressi, Zakra, Ohu, Dantus, Yanza, and Kulsso… but the necklace confirms none of them are Stalkers.

You head to the Oceanwatch Condominiums and after a long, dark walk to the far southeastern side of the town, you finally arrive and look for Drestan’s apartment. Using the directory, you find he lives in a second floor apartment, which like many of the others, has a nice view of the ocean. Once you arrive at the front door, you gently knock twice, and shortly after, Drestan the Pelliper opens the door and stands before you, looking a bit dubiously at you given he’s never seen your species before. That and most Pokémon don’t glow the way you do…

…

…you feel a tingling sensation coming from the Dreamwatch Necklace…

…FALLOW… FALLOW… FALLOW…

For a glimpse of a dark moment, you behold the hidden apparition driving Drestan’s body. It becomes extremely difficult to hold back your shock, but you managed to do so without alerting the Demoni within…

#39 Drestan the Pelipper has been confirmed as the Stalker FALLOW.

“Strange, I don’t usually get visitors at this hour,” he tells you. “Who might you be?”

You know the truth… that Fallow is the one murdering children, probably one of the more egregious Stalkers, but you hide the knowledge that you have just realized.

“Hi Drestan, I was hoping you could help me out,” you tell him, introducing yourself. “I’m Giselle and I’ve been hired to help look into the situation with the Stalkers and some of the murders that have been happening around town. Have you been aware of their presence, or any strange happenings around town? Any little thing can help if you’ve seen it.”

“Can’t say I have,” Drestan replies. “Is that all? I need to get back to what I was doing, so if there’s nothing else you need from me, then good night.”

The fact you know he’s lying makes you feel far less guilty about your own lies to him. It’s clear Fallow doesn’t suspect anything, but you can already see he’s attempting to terminate this conversation as soon as possible and leave you empty-handed with no leads. In fact, if anything, you discern he would likely relay this encounter to the other Demoni.

“You’re a member of the coast guard, right?” you ask, ignoring his last question. “Listen, I heard about your boss, Malco. My condolences, Mister Drestan, that must have been a real shock to finally find your boss was killed like that. Thankfully my supervisor and I are always on great terms. Makes for great teamwork!”

You know Fallow couldn’t possibly care less, but he thinks he still needs to put on a convincing display. And it gives you an idea. Just how far would Fallow go to cover his tracks…?

…would he throw one of his fellow Demoni under the bus to save himself? It’s time to find out…

“Listen, I’ve been personally looking into Exonull, a Stalker who is known to murder flying Pokémon,” you tell him, imploring a sense of urgency. “They’ve already killed several flying Pokémon, including Tayou and a good friend of mine, Scy, among several others. Drestan, please, you’re a flying Pokémon, too. You’re in danger and I need you to help me! Help me so I can help you.”

You’ve locked him into a tight spot. He knows he needs to show some cooperation and concern, as if he really was a Pelipper. Deviating that would be an open door for you to drill him with further questions, like why he wouldn’t be concerned… questions that he would have immense difficulty answering without flimsy lies and would have stark inconsistencies. He has no choice now but to comply.

#39 Drestan the Pelipper has become Compliant.

Drestan goes silent and fakes unease while you feign anxiety and concern when really… it’s concentration… …so you can read his mind while he ponders…

…

…I knew Exonull would be sloppy with this whole mission! That stupid bitch can’t help but try to treat this like it’s some stupid fucking race and she needs to show off like this is some damned murder pageant party and she’s gotta be the queen winning top prize. We were supposed to be covert and stealthy about this and NOT REVEAL OUR GODDAM NAMES. What the hell is her problem?

Damn it, I bet she did something that got these assholes on my case as well. You know what, to hell with her. And you too, Languished, you’re blowing my cover here and I’m not doing favors for you anymore. Seriously, you had to go and kill Malco, who is supposed to be this dumb birdbrain’s boss. There’s hundreds of other victims you could have picked but no, pick the one that makes me look the most suspicious and now I’ve got to change plans and work around this. How am I supposed to come up with some explanation for it and think ‘oh no, what would this dumb birdbrain do’ like I know what kind of fecal matter runs through a Pelipper’s brain. Thanks for goddam nothing, you useless whore.

First, I gotta get these pricks out of my face. You can go and eat your own shit, Exonull, you got yourself into this. Leave me out.

…

“I’m… really thankful for your concern and I’m sorry if I was doubtful before,” Fallow continues with his acting and his lying. “It’s hard to trust even my neighbors these days.”

“You’re really the only Pokémon that’s come to show some concern and you seem to have some good leads, so maybe I can help a little,” he continues. “I’ve done some slight investigations myself and one of the students at Beachwood University was one of the topics of discussion that Malco, Erine, and myself had. It’s about Kabi and some of the reports that have been surrounding her. While about most Pokémon have experienced some degree of anxiety during these times, reports about her behavior have been concerning and many of them say it’s quite drastic. Maybe it’s something to look into.”

“Sure, thanks for your time,” you nod with a simple smile. “I’ll look into that, have a good night, now!”

…“slight investigations” you think to yourself as he quickly closes the door without a word and you turn around to head back home. “and what discussions with Malco is he talking about? Some reports? It all sounds so vague!”

And it makes no sense where Drestan… no, FALLOW got this information from if he was really in Drestan’s place. You know the Coast Guard would not have involvement with what’s going on at the University unless it was a maritime incident, which obviously doesn’t fit with what’s been going on with Kabi. The claim of these discussions, reports, and investigations that Fallow is talking about seem fabricated and bear too many inconsistencies, especially with his false claim that he knew nothing about the Stalkers before but only started to reveal this information when you locked him into your crosshairs. No, his knowledge about Kabi comes from another source of information, and it has nothing to do with Drestan.

…“he really is throwing Exonull under the bus with this one, isn’t he…?”

But it makes sense why he would do this. He needs to buy time. They’re drawing closer and closer to their goal day by day, but so are you and the other Savants and the race is getting deadly. In the chance event not all of the Demoni survive, he wants to make sure he himself is among the survivors. There is a chance that while they may achieve their goal, some of the Demoni may be vanquished before that can happen. You sense he'd rather have Exonull take the fall in his place if it had to come down to either him or her.

But you’re not entirely sure if you can even remotely trust Fallow, either. In the end, you’ll need to decide if it should be confirmed by talking to Kabi again. She may have misled Nickelfool back when he first talked to her, but now things are different…

…and you know things are about to change even further…

ChiChi the Tatsujin Tapu Lele (M: Kūsho)

Health: 16/20 | Sanity: 20/20 | Purity: 10/20 | 10/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 30%
Perk: Diplomacy, Repair, Security
Reincarnation Forms: Corviknight, Milotic, Aurorus, Espeon, Alcremie
EQUIPMENT:

• Defense Armor: <Empty>
• Jewelry: +|J| Dreamwatch Necklace+ (Wearer gets notified if they speak or have spoken to a Stalker)

[Neo Emolga]

There's still a few places we've yet to search. So I'll help out by keeping up the search for more details!

Search: (30) Anchorpoint Warehouse A

With the night sky overhead, you join the others with a dinner of pot pie freshly made from Benni’s oven and once finished, you head out into the night, deciding to investigate the first of the Anchorpoint Warehouses.

As you drift through the quiet, still air, you recall the rumors that were said about this place, and that you overheard Pokémon from Beachwood University may have snuck their way into this warehouse to perform a hazing ritual, but then weren’t seen again. When you arrive at the warehouse, part of you thinks maybe the rumor was just a tall tale, or maybe these were actually victims that were never seen again and ended up as many of the missing Pokémon reported to the police.

You decide to start by searching the exterior, taking note of the dark metallic building’s condition. While it seems to have been used for many years, it still stands firmly and doesn’t show any signs of serious damage besides a dent in the metal walling here and there. Meanwhile, you notice there aren’t any windows, and while this does protect the inside materials from theft and exposure to the light, you know it prevents scrutiny as well. Any number of nefarious actions could have been performed in here and no one would know about it.

You don’t find anything suspicious on the outside, so you decide to search the inside. The massive sliding doors end up being locked, but you find a way to enter through the roof, using your small nimble size to make your way into a ventilation duct and then into the main storage area itself. It’s dark and dirty, but your new natural glow makes it easy to make your way around without the use of a flashlight or other light source.

Almost immediately, you sense a Stalker’s presence here, and it has you on high alert. One of them must have found there way in here and you begin to think that maybe the rumor is true after all. Among the many wooden and cardboard crates and boxes in towering stacks and piles, you search for anything out of the ordinary that might show a sign of what happened here and what might have been left behind as evidence. You follow the dark sensation, and it leads you to a dark, seemingly forgotten corner of the warehouse. Thanks to the fact you glow and illuminate the area around you, it becomes easier to see what it is that was left behind here.

On the dark, concrete floor of the warehouse, you find multiple dark, twisted flesh and skin-colored pieces that bear the stench of the Demoni. From your experience, you sense this broken, once cube-shaped device bears Fallow’s presence. What it might be for, you’re not sure, but you decide to gather up the pieces and use a nearby black contractor bag to hold them all in.

[=Broken Vacant Apparatus Cube=] has been added to the Team Inventory.

You have a feeling this might be another broken key that Fallow must have used before destroying it and leaving it behind, thinking no one would attempt to put it back together. You feel it’s worth a shot to try, especially considering you might already have an idea of where it belongs. A few days ago, you recall that Scy had reported seeing a cube-shaped hole upon an altar in the Jade Acres Park. While you haven’t seen it yourself, something about the name “Altar of Vacancy” has you thinking it might be related to Fallow, but first, you decide to take the black contractor bag back to Benni’s farmstead to see if you or someone else in the group of Savants can maybe put this back together and undo what Fallow did here.

After gathering the last of the pieces, you do one last check around the warehouse, but you don’t find anything else that seems out of place. It seems uncertain if the rumor about the disappearance of the university students was really true or not, but given the fact there was a Stalker here at one point, you still have to assume the worst if they never really did come back. While you haven’t found any signs of bloodshed or incident of attack, you’re fully aware that not every Stalker kills their victims violently.

Once you’ve found your way back out of the warehouse through the roof again, you decide to head back to the farmstead and get some sleep tonight. Hopefully tomorrow will yield more answers…

Chakra the Tatsujin Jirachi (S: Kūsho)

Health: 14/16 | Sanity: 11/20 | Purity: 15/24 | 10/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 40%
Perk: Diplomacy, Repair, Security
Reincarnation Forms: Pikachu, Pachirisu, Minccino, Victini, Mudkip
EQUIPMENT:

• Defense Armor: +|A| Guardian Armor+ (4H, 2P)
• Jewelry: +|J| Sapphire Amulet+ (1S, 2P)

[Neo Emolga]

I got very confused regarding cycles and stuff! Turns out I can still do stuff, so let's roll with that uh yeah!

[Searching the Colbyi Estate. Still don't exactly care for the spelling
at the minute.]

Yeah, the time limit for cycles is more of a thing to say “if you’ve made your action before time’s up, great, but if time expires and you haven’t made an action yet and all the other actions from everyone else have been covered, we may be moving on without you to the next cycle.” But if you get your action in before time’s up, it definitely gets counted. I would definitely not start the next cycle if there’s still time on the clock.

Of course since I’ve been really slow with doing these lately (I definitely want to finish this season but have been pretty burnt out), yeah, it hasn’t meant very much. But you can totally submit actions after time’s up and if I haven’t addressed the latest action posts from other people who have posted before you, your action is definitely getting in on the queue.

And yeah, I don’t know how I came up with the name “Colbyi.” I just try to hammer out whatever might sound like a fitting name for each Pokémon and then move onto the next. xD

------

Once the evening arrives, you join the other Savants in Benni’s dining room, enjoying the pot pie dinner she has prepared. The delicious taste feels like home, and it gives you a sense of warmth that makes it easy to forget what’s been going on around town, but once dinner is done, you know it’s time to head out and continue the mission as planned.

Tonight, you decide to head to the Colbyi Estate. Over dinner, Lyric mentioned a discussion that she had with Velay and that Velay had investigated the mansion, thinking it was abandoned. There was mention of a chest that was there that Velay had found, and you decide tonight would be a good time to try searching, hoping Colbyi is asleep or preoccupied while you investigate it.

You wait until a later hour before you head toward the estate itself on the far eastern side of town. From what you heard about Velay’s searching, it doesn’t seem like Colbyi has any kind of security or guards, but you decide to be careful and make as little noise as possible, hoping to not have to resort to any kind of banging or heavy pushing. Thankfully, as a Snivy, you find that’s going to be much easier than the kind of unintentional ruckus a large and heavy Pokémon might create. Moving through the grass and shrubs outside will be right at home with you and will easily keep you concealed during your searches while a Buizel like Velay would stand out easily. So you know you’ve got that edge at least.

While the night is young, you first search the exterior, just in case there was anything that might be suspicious that Velay might have missed. You find the estate is quite lavish with wrought iron fences, finely-carved stone walls with impeccable masonry, and gardens that are empty for now, but likely once were filled with colorful and lively vegetation, and only are empty now simply because Colbyi himself couldn’t care less about maintaining a garden or paying someone else to do so.

Meanwhile, as you deftly move and scope out the house from the shrubs around the outside, you see the mansion is old and dark and has seen many years of wear, but still seems to be in good standing condition despite a few blemishes of age. Still, at these nighttime hours, it does look creepy and unsettling and it’s not the kind of place you’d expect to see a happy and bubbly owner to live in. And you feel children would be terrified of the dark around here. Instead, now, you expect that the mansion itself is now a reflect of the owner in that it’s old, colorless, and lacking new life to it.

After waiting for a while, you notice all lights in the mansion seem to turn off, so you figure Colbyi has likely gone off to sleep. From your initial search discovery of the exterior, you use a lightly ajar window on the basement level to deftly sneak your way into the cellar. Thankfully, due to your small and nimble grass snake body, it’s easy and you make less noise than what a gust of wind would create. Once you’re inside, you find yourself standing in Colbyi’s wine and cider cellar, which looks old and covered in dust and cobwebs. You’re quite certain Colbyi will likely die of old age and natural causes long before any of these bottles even get looked at by him and whoever is in his will may end up having to deal with these. As you look upon the dusty bottles, you’re not even sure if there’s still liquid inside of them or if it just evaporated over time and Colbyi never knew.

Using a small flashlight, you search through the remainder basement cellar, finding mostly junk and old forgotten furniture that will likely never see much use again beyond being sold at an estate sale or end up in a garbage pile. Besides the long-forgotten belongings, you also find a small servant living quarters here, which doesn’t look like it has seen use for years either. Frankly, you’d feel sorry for any poor soul that would have to live in this cold, dark place just to make a living.

After heading up the dark stone cellar stairs, you arrive on the first floor, carefully making your way around silently and cautiously. Your small beige feet and light weight make it easy to stay silent around your search through the house, as if you’re simply a quiet ghost moving about the mansion. You decide to head your way directly toward the den, which looks well-furnished with cushy plush chairs set before a large brick fireplace while many fine paintings are hung on the walls. However, everything is dusty and old with cobwebs everywhere and it doesn’t look like the fireplace has been used in over a decade.

You then find the chest that Velay was talking about, a stark white chest with a jubilant Audino painted on it. Initially, the chest itself gives you the feeling of purity and innocence as your eyes look upon it, but something seems wrong. You look at the lock in the front and you find the black, oily substance that Velay warned about earlier, and you sense something he didn’t.

…this is the work of a Stalker. You don’t just feel it from your Savant senses, you can almost taste its stink.

Around the substance, you see the crawled word “sin” and “sins of all” as if someone took a quill and scribbled these twisted black words here. There’s also a missing metallic slot where the black goo is, and it seems like it used to be a metal plaque that was part of the chest, but now it’s gone. You’re almost certain there’s locking pins and mechanisms to this chest, but its too dark and it’s covered with the black ooze.

You have a feeling something was done to that plaque as well, wherever it might be right now. Still, you take care not to touch the black ooze itself, knowing besides being disgusting as is, it’s likely tainted and will likely leave you feeling sick and spiritually corrupted.

You carefully and quietly try to open the chest anyway, but it’s clear the plaque that’s missing is in fact the key and this originally wasn’t some kind of supernatural effect, it started as a conventional lock mechanism. However, some Stalker tainted this chest and now the plaque itself is some kind of tainted injection of darkness that you think might have some ungodly effect if you were to try inserting it back now.

{Chest of the Guiltless: Implantation of Sin} has been noted in the Team Records.

Still, unless it’s done, you’re never going to find out what’s inside this chest.

Carefully, you decide to leave it alone for now and search about the rest of the estate as much as you can without disturbing Colbyi. You managed to search the entirety of the first floor and the attic level, but you’re only able to search half of the second floor before you get too close to Colbyi’s master bedroom. And you decide that’s far enough and itself worth searching inside that room itself. You don’t sense any kind of unusual presence coming from there, despite all your concentration and focus. In fact the only sensation you feel directs you back toward the den where the chest is. Nothing comes from the master bedroom or master bathroom itself.

While you make significantly more progress throughout the old, lavish mansion than Velay did, you don’t find much else besides neglected fancy furniture, old libraries, many oil paintings, lavish carpets, and other fine and expensive furnishings. After seeing most of the remainder of the mansion without finding too much out of the ordinary, you decide to head out to report your findings, heading back through the cellar before heading back into the night. It seems like you’ve had much more luck than Velay did and Colbyi would never know you were here, but you imagine a Snivy such as yourself is definitely better at getting around and doing this kind of stealthy searching.

As you head back toward the farmstead and consider what you came across tonight, it's unknown where that slathered plaque might be right now and you don’t think you’ve seen anything in the farmstead storage that looked like it would belong to that lock. Still, at least you’ll know what it’s for once you find it and you imagine it will be pretty unmistakable when you see it.

And right now, you’re hoping you come across it sooner than later…

Colored the Snivy (S: Grass)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 12/20 | Purity: 24/24 | 6/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 40%
Perk: Diplomacy, Repair, Security
Reincarnation Forms: Morelull, Palpitoad, Mega Audino, Pidgeot, Cinccino
EQUIPMENT:

• Defense Armor: <Empty>
• Jewelry: <Empty>

[Neo Emolga]

#26 Kasso the Heracross has been murdered by the Stalkers.

As Yanza had gazed upon the hollowed-out husk that was all that was left of Kasso’s corpse, she knew it had been a while since Deadpus had struck. And while time was notorious for burying the truth and the answers, here it had revealed them.

The sign of rapid decay was evident. It was the signature murder method that she had seen multiple times before, leaving only skeletons and shells behind. Less than a few hours ago, Kasso was alive and breathing, and now he looked like he had been dead for decades and was never buried that whole time. Clearly, there was dark, supernatural work here. Supernatural… demonic work.

“You think it’s the girl again, don’t you?” Dantus asked his Purugly companion. “Betta. You’ve been taking notes on this for a while.”

Yanza nodded as she furrowed her brow in frustration. As much as she wanted to gut whatever demonic force was causing this devastation to the town, she couldn’t, because she knew there was still a young child trapped in that body while a dark and wicked puppet-master was using her to do the unthinkable.

“And to think I didn’t believe in superstitions or demons or stupid afterlives just a few weeks ago,” Yanza muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. “Damn. Now I know… just because you haven’t personally seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.”

After sighing, she used her paws to cover the rapidly-decayed body of the Heracross and prepared it for the forensics cleanup team to take the body to the morgue. Burial would have to wait until the coast was clear, Kasso’s next of kin could be notified, and funeral arrangements were complete. But it was anyone’s guess as to when even those somber days would come after this was done…

…unless those somber days were never meant to come.

Doom Tracker:
8/15

[Neo Emolga]

Morning has arrived in Seabourne Town
Submit your Day 8: Day Cycle Actions now!

Time Remaining:
CLICK HERE

(Tuesday, October 18, 2022 10:00:00 PM)

@C0L0R3D @Chakramaster @ARandomTool @EmeraldSky @sammy0295 @Scytherwolf @Noblejanobii @Lychee @DayBreak

[DayBreak]

[ Spent almost 4 hours putting the Vacant Apparatus Cube together. Lyric is going to see about that cube shaped hole in the Jade Acres Park altar. ]

"Okay. Maybe this goes here.... And this here.... And, no that goes here..." Lyric has been focused on fixing the Vacant Apparatus Cube for the entire morning all the way into early noon, only stopping briefly to eat their food. Thankfully, once they get the general skeleton of the cube repaired, they go ever so slightly faster than a Slowpoke moving up a mountain in the middle of January.

"Aha, finally!" the Water-type shouted, holding up the cube in victory as they slot the last piece into place. "I finally fixed it!" After letting out the rush of energy they had from their success. Remembering that Scy had mentioned something about a cube shaped hole in an altar in Jade Acres Park. Instinctively, they thought back to their last visit, where they had gotten some closure for one of their previous lives, and effectively became a walking light show.

Wrapping the cube in their cape and tying it around their shoulder, they head out for Jade Acres Park once more.

[Scytherwolf]

Well...let's see if there's anything left to find in the remaining unsearched areas. Search (26) The Embermark Plant

[C0L0R3D]

Okay, Sanity is dipping a bit. Let's not go over the top, and instead just focus on an area I'm surprised we haven't poked yet: right here.

Search (1): Beachwood Farmstead

[Neo Emolga]

[ Spent almost 4 hours putting the Vacant Apparatus Cube together. Lyric is going to see about that cube shaped hole in the Jade Acres Park altar. ]

"Okay. Maybe this goes here.... And this here.... And, no that goes here..." Lyric has been focused on fixing the Vacant Apparatus Cube for the entire morning all the way into early noon, only stopping briefly to eat their food. Thankfully, once they get the general skeleton of the cube repaired, they go ever so slightly faster than a Slowpoke moving up a mountain in the middle of January.

"Aha, finally!" the Water-type shouted, holding up the cube in victory as they slot the last piece into place. "I finally fixed it!" After letting out the rush of energy they had from their success. Remembering that Scy had mentioned something about a cube shaped hole in an altar in Jade Acres Park. Instinctively, they thought back to their last visit, where they had gotten some closure for one of their previous lives, and effectively became a walking light show.

Wrapping the cube in their cape and tying it around their shoulder, they head out for Jade Acres Park once more.

You spent nearly 4 HOURS ON THAT!?

Owwwww, my apologies, I didn’t mean to make it that hard, but very nice job, you got it!

[=Broken Vacant Apparatus Cube=] has become the [Vacant Apparatus Cube].

------------

After spending the night and early morning piecing together the fragments of the Apparatus Cube, you finally slide the last sliver into place, and the completed hellish-looking cube lays before you. While it is safe albeit unpleasant to touch, there’s no doubt that a hideous aura of Stalker presence radiates from it like a psychic stench that irritates your mind and spirit.

After eating breakfast and preparing to head out, you take the cube with you and make your way south toward the Jade Acres park, not sure what to expect when you come across the altar and you plug this hideous cube into it.

Once you step outside, it’s unusually dark for being this late in the morning, and it almost seems like the sun seems muffled and suppressed behind dusty gray clouds that almost seem supernatural. Still, there’s plenty of light to make your way toward the continuously-shrinking park, but it does make the trip seem quite gloomy.

When you arrive, even during the day, the park seems pale, barely showing any kind of color as it seems the green of the trees now seems gray instead. Still, you press forward as you use your fins to push your body along, making your way past the dying trees and more toward the area where the forest is still alive, but now clinging onto life.

Finding the Altar of Vacancy isn’t a difficult task as there’s not much forest here for the altar to hide in now. It appears to be a small stone table that’s easy to mistake for a park bench. As Scy reported earlier during a dinner conversation, you’ve been told the altar is rigged with a trap, triggered by looking into the square hole. You decide to make sure you don’t make the same mistake, looking away as you attempt to slide the flesh-colored Vacant Apparatus Cube into the square-shaped hole.

@Void Rapture – GHOST (5 Sanity Damage)# Trap 80% Disarm Trap Test: 100 out of 100: Failed!

Unfortunately, as you discover, the trap itself isn’t triggered by looking into the hole. Simply being in close proximity is all it needs and you suddenly open your eyes to see a disturbing black and violet wisp trail playfully and sadistically make its way into your nostrils and f̞͇͙̳or̦͓̳͎̫c̬̬̣͓̲e̪̣ͅ it̳s͍̥̗̖̦̩̘ w̫̯̫̙̮̹a̭̱ͅͅy̰ ̟͇̼̻i͔̞̤͓n̬̺͍t͇̳̖̲o ̭͖y̺͔o̭̼͍͍̘͓̱u̠͚̯͍r b̘͍͎̼̤r̲ai͚̟̼̫̦̹n̯̜̻̭͖̰͇…

LyrIc ha͍͎̩ͥ̽̽s sufFerEd 2 DamAg̦͇͉E to SaNitY.

Hot, foamy saliva rolls out of your mouth and down your chin as your head t͚͚̩̖wi̠̭t̬̯͔̙̞ͅch̝̪̙͚̙es̳ anḓ̖͙̗ ̳͍ͅs̪̟h̻̟̤a̭̪kes̜͉͚ v̗̭̮i̦̼̭o͖̥̩̩le̟͔̳̣ntl̳̼̟̰̗̥̙y̝̮͖̹̳̰͇, and all you can do is utter a hideous s͚̭̪̥͓̞̤̄̍ͪ͑ͧ̏̒c̝̲͇͓̳̭r̦ͩė͎̪̺͂͗e̝̬̬̋ͮ̏ch͈͔̀̚in̍ͦ͑ ̲̪̯̥͌g͌ as you feel like you might forcefully snap your own head off and send it rolling across the forest floor.

For a moment, your cognitive functions go ẖ̦͎̞̇̓̿̆ay̯̋w̟̠̬͙͓̔ͤͦ̏̚iͥr̻ͦe̗̰, and it leaves your body performing a hideous and deranged dance of nightmares that thankfully no living soul had to behold save for these already dying trees that cannot communicate the abomination they had witnessed.

LyrIc has͍̾ SuffeRed 3 DamA͚̥̜͔͓̋̾̃̌̚ge to SaNIty.

You wake up nearly in a seizure-like state, twitching and turning like flaming Durants were all over your body gnawing generous portions of your flesh away. You suddenly realize it was some hideous vision, but engrams of it still persist as if the nightmare only partially ended.

Lyric has used the [Vacant Apparatus Cube].
@{The Altar of Vacancy: Cube-Shaped Hole} Void Rapture GHOST – (5 Sanity Damage)@

The altar opens as the dark energy for the cube makes the two stone halves slide open. You carefully look inside to see what seems to be a black bowl-shaped object. You swear you’ve never seen anything in your life as black as this thing.

Upon careful observation, you see that it looks like it was sliced violently down the middle and was once a dark globe at one point. You can’t even begin to guess what might be powerful enough to slice through a void orb like this, but you can imagine it couldn’t be anything within the mortal realm of this world.

@Dread Contagion – DARK (4 Sanity Damage, 2 Purity Damage)# Trap 80% Disarm Trap Test: 30 out of 100: Success!
The Dread Contagion Trap has been disarmed.

You decide not to go even near the orb half until you wrap your flippers with massive cooking gloves, but even then, you still feel dread and darkness radiating from the orb itself. However, it can’t make direct contact with you and it’s enough to protect you from its ill intent.

[1st Half of the Void Orb] has been added to the Team Inventory.

Carefully, you make your way back to Benni’s farmstead with the orb half, not sure where the other half is and where it might belong, but there’s no doubt it’s some hellish contraption devised by the Stalkers…

Lyric Winterheart the Tatsujin Brionne (M: Kūsho)

Health: 20/20 | Sanity: 15/20 | Purity: 20/20 | 10/10 Kurosuōbā | Dodge Rate: 30%
Perk: Diplomacy, Repair, Security
Reincarnation Forms: Brionne, Mega Ampharos, Hisuian Goodra, Latios, Amaura
EQUIPMENT:

• Defense Armor: <Empty>
• Jewelry: <Empty>