Solstice Plot

[coniurati]

It's going to be a long night Fortuna.


The Winter Solstice for Fortuna is approaching and will take place on December 26th. Typically the longest night of the year, this one will be darker and deeper than perhaps any of Fortuna's ragtag residents have previously known. The cold will be biting deep in a way that overcomes all clothes. Even fires and supernatural powers can't keep this chill from stealing right into your bones. And the next day...

The sun won't rise. Prepare for some overlasting night Fortuna. Who knows, maybe the dark won't be all that bad. ...Right?

Through the 29th characters will find themselves growing depressed, increasingly so. Warmth, cheer, hope; all of these feelings will become harder and harder to hold onto. It seems as if all the things you can remember lately are the bad ones. How you failed this or suffered through that, how there's not one single redeeming thing about this world. This life. If you're not careful you might even... become a little suicidal.

Of course. wandthief will know what's going on. He'll see the signs as well as the "faces" to your grief. He might even tell you! Regardless whether he does or not though on the 30th all of you with chips will be able to see what he sees:

Dementors.

Soul-sucking fiends with the intent of feeding off all your happiness and leaving every man, woman and child in a state of absolute despair. Think you can handle this threat, Fortuna?

Dementors can't be killed but they can be driven off. For a time. On the 31st every character will receive a private message on their communicator with one of three maps attached depending on their current location.

"And within the bottom of the box lay one final ill."
[Dissimulo | Discedo | Spero]

At each location characters will find a plain, simple wooden box with a familiar looking note attached. Use this  H O P E. Strange... Yet are you really going to question it?

While you do ponder be careful. The longer you're around each box, the more you'll attract the dementors. Wait too long and they'll come at you in waves. One might even attempt to give you a little kiss. When opened each box will unleash a wave of silver light that will engulf its respective city, driving the dementors out for good. ...But at a price. The opener of each box will find themselves aged. Decrepitly so. Bones that creak, hands that tremble, eyes that peer from deep sockets- it's as if the box has stolen all your years and then some. As if you almost became... a dementor. Physically at least.

The effects will reverse themselves over the course of the next few days and by January 4th each box opener will be the same as ever. If perhaps a little older in spirit after their harrowing adventure if no longer body.

On January 1st the sun will finally rise and the event will be over! For their trouble everyone will receive a small stash of chocolate. When eaten it'll bring warmth and good cheer back to those still feeling the effects of the dementors.



This is the end of December plot and as evidenced by the above we're in need of THREE VOLUNTEERS. On December 31st we will be throwing up a log in discedo_logs for those who wish to find the box and fight off the subsequent dementor hoards (note: even if your character doesn't end up being one of the box openers we encourage you to participate in the log; for fun and well, it's no good for someone to open the box if they turn into a soulless vegetable before they can, right?). If more than three people volunteer we will assign each character a number and use a random number generator until we have three chosen volunteers. The chosen volunteers will be announced December 29th, this gives everyone five days to volunteer.


FAQ
Q. I want to run into a dementor! But I'm not comfortable/don't wish to NPC the dementor myself.
You can leave a request here on this post and either a mod or another player (if any players want to volunteer their time) can NPC a dementor for you. Just make certain to link them when you eventually put the thread up!

Q. Can my character commit suicide/go crazy from despair and run on a mass murder spree?
Yes! Death is not a requirement of this plot, but if anyone wants to spread a little of it around we encourage it 8)

Q. My character is unchipped, can they still fight the dementors even if they can't see them?
Yes! Though they might want to team up with a chipped character to help them pinpoint the dementors locations and avoid any incoming attempts on their soul.

Q. It's going to be awfully dark for a long time, where can my character get a light?
Aside from making their own torches and fires or finding the random old flashlight in buildings, characters will be able to find lights in the following places:
Dissimulo→ the Hunting Supply store has camping lanterns and a small supply of flashlights, the Hardware store has more flashlights and a small supply of usable batteries
Discedo→ the Hardware store, North Star Super Store and Convenience Stores carry a small supply of flashlights and usable batteries each
Spero→ the Mall carries a large supply of flashlights and usable batteries, the Police Station has a small cache of flashlights and road flares

As usual all questions/concerns/etc can be asked on this post!