ioduanlogs | [EVENT] THE FOG COMES

Entry tags:

[EVENT] THE FOG COMES - Ship's Return

Characters: ALL
Date: July 10
Location: Aifaran Harbour
Situation: The Narrakra has returned, but those aboard are not the same as when they left...
Warnings/Rating: Creepy descriptions of things?

The night of the Narrakra's return, fog poured into Aifaran's harbour. It was thick, soupy and cloying in the summer heat, swirling and shifting with every change in the air, but never dissipating. Many Dreamfolk may feel heavy tension in the air, an eerie stillness about the night that seems unnervingly familiar. But beyond the occasional, inexplicable power outage, nothing seems to be otherwise amiss.

The Narrakra limps into the dockyard port on a single engine in the early hours of the 10th, steering itself erratically toward the nearest berth. The dock workers, having not expected to see a Sentry ship sliding out of the pea-soup fog, are quick to raise the alarm, which is hurriedly passed to a runner to bring to the nearest Sentry outpost. Heavy pylons keep the Narrakra from outright running into the dock itself, as the engine sputters and dies, leaving the ship without steering.

The ship itself is in poor condition, metal hull dented and scarred as if it had been in combat with some great sea beast. Deep gouges, like something had hurled sharp points into the metal sides and pulled, some even deep enough that glimpses of the hull's structural support can be seen. In other places on the exterior, what appears to be an advanced stage of corrosion and rust have affected sections of the ship, but not in any uniform way. A handrail might be corroded to the point of the metal disintegrating at a touch, but the stairwell next to it still gleaming as if it had just been put into place.

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OOC Notes: This is the culmination event for the Ships in the Night plot that's been ongoing for the last few months, although the outcome will play into future metaplot. Characters can witness the Narrakra's not-so-triumphant return at the docks, speculate on where it's been and what could have caused its disappearance, question the crew (if they can get past the Sentry), or sneak aboard the ship to do some reconnaissance and potentially find things...

Links: OOC Questions | On The Docks | The Survivors | Sneaking Aboard

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Questions about the Ship's Return event can be asked here.

The Sentry hasn't been the only ones alerted by the dock workers' discovery of the ship's return, and various people have thronged down to the harbourfront as well to get a glimpse of what's going on. While the Narrakra is too large to obscure, giving people a chance to see just what damages have been afflicted on the vessel, the Sentry has cordoned off a section of the dock that serves as a staging area for unloading the survivors. The excited babble of voices from onlookers carry tones of everything from Sentry conspiracy theories, to speculation that this was a Chihuelan pirate attack, to hushed murmurs about how the only thing this could have been was the Night Fisher.

Nearby, a veritable wall of armed officers have formed to keep one particular group of people from running toward the survivors -- their friends and relatives, many of whom are calling for, or straining to see, any sign of their loved ones. Tiaghae, the Arybar woman who made the video address on the network and who is also Faias' aunt, is among them.

The survivors are, for lack of a stronger term, a bit frazzled. They move slowly though, as if they're uncertain of their surroundings, despite the Sentry's urgent insistence of getting them prompt medical treatment. But their eyes are drawn to the crowd and they spot… you. And there is a moment of recognition.

"I know you," they may exclaim, or possibly utter. "I saw you - through my dreams."

The Sentry is largely distracted with getting the surviving crew the medical attention they need, and the guards set up to keep rubberneckers at bay seem entirely too unnerved to do more than perfunctory tasks. There's a palpable air of confusion and fear, and the guards only go where the crowd is thickest. It wouldn't be terribly difficult, if one were so inclined, to slip the ropes and sneak aboard. After all, the Sentry don't seem to want to get any closer to the Narrakra than they have to.

The interior of the ship is in even worse shape than the outside. Everything looks as though it's been there for at least a decade - any cloth is worn ragged, bits and bobs have been repurposed into various makeshift tools, and there are haphazard repairs throughout. The cargo seems utterly spent - no cans of food remain and everything that could have been used for some function has been. There seems to be a decade's worth of decay as well - most metal surfaces show some signs of rust and very limited maintenance.

Aside from the decrepit living conditions, there are strange oily residues and fungi-like growths that cling to corners of doorways and shelves. Insect-like carapaces, dry and brittle, gather near lights had once been, crunch underfoot. In the center of one room there is a pile of bones and shreds of matted fur, the skeleton carcass of a strange, four-legged animal with hooves and long fangs that is not similar to anything found on the archipelago.

Where have these people been? What have they seen?

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