etrayalogs | DECEMBER MINGLE

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: December 21st - Early January
WHERE: Etraya
WHAT: Newcomers, a surprise gift from Tatianna, and a visitor!
NOTES\WARNINGS:

⏵ arrival ⏴
Welcome to Etraya!

Arrival goes as expected - characters awaken on hospital beds and are offered an explanation of their situation: that they have arrived in the city of Etraya, and they are their world's only hope. They are welcome to wander the hospital if they would like to - the upper floors are mostly empty, full of pristine hallways and numerous rooms filled with supplies, cots, and things one would expect from a relatively average 21st-century hospital.

The lobby is filled to the brim with tables of freshly baked goods. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banners are taped to the walls, and several other typical birthday decorations can be found in this area. A few of the baked goods tables are lined with massive cakes covered in unlit candles, just waiting for someone to grab a lighter and sing off-key. Is it anyone's birthday? Who knows! The companion bots seem to believe it's every new arrival's birthday and will greet them as such - with friendly waves and cheers as they make their way to the lobby.

A coat rack is situated by the doors leading out of the hospital, covered in warm clothing that fits the new arrivals just right - whether it's to their preferred style or not is something else entirely. Some of them appear normal enough. Others? Well. They can't all be perfect, now can they?

Outside the windows, the grass is covered in a couple of inches of loosely packed snow.

We hope you enjoy your stay.

⏵ an unexpected gift ⏴

Out by the hospital stands a tall, decorated tree covered in candles and golden pinecones with a handsome, red velveteen tree skirt. In front of it are a few oversized wrapped gifts for show- and atop one of those sits a familiar woman. Or unfamiliar, if this is your first time.

It's Tatianna in a slutty Santa outfit with a big ol’ burlap sack.

“Hey, I got something for you,” she says, digging into the bag and rummaging for a moment.

She produces a painted egg and holds it aloft.

“It’s your Winter Solstice Egg! This is the egg holiday, right? Wait, shit. I’m mixing them up, aren’t I? ...Well. It’s a little late to change it. Here you go!”

How one treats their egg is fully up to themselves. They can choose to ignore it entirely, or destroy it and leave the yolk and innards to rot on the ground. They can hand it over to someone else or care for it as if it were something precious. No one will prevent them from doing whatever they please with it!

⏵ naughty or nice ⏴However, how they treat the egg will define how the egg treats them in return.

Those who keep the egg and tend to it will get the benefit of being able to watch it hatch seven days after they are handed the egg. Eggs that are treated with attention and love may yield a loyal companion, or a weapon of choice that always returns to its owner, while neglected eggs may yield a curious, cursed trinket or an animal who treats its new owner very much the same way its owner had treated it before it was born.

Please submit an egg request below for what items you would like your character's eggs to hatch into! Please note that these cannot be things that would be applicable in the game.

Those whose eggs are destroyed or forgotten will simply get the gift of... nothing!

⏵ free your spirit ⏴

With the winter chill gripping the air, a mysterious figure makes their presence known in Etraya - a towering, horned creature dragging a massive sack behind them.

𝓐 𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖊 𝖇𝖚𝖎𝖑𝖙 𝖔𝖓 𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖘 𝖍𝖆𝖘 𝖆 𝖜𝖊𝖆𝓴 𝖋𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓.

Regardless of a character's strengths or weaknesses, they will find that when Krampus raises his massive sack over their head, they are powerless to stop him from catching them. Those capable of great magical feats or other supernatural abilities will sense something... otherworldly about Krampus, but will not be able to place the source of that sensation.

Once within Krampus' sack, they are welcome to fight, but escape is impossible. It will feel as if Krampus is dragging them over every rock possible, dragging the sack in through the rivers to the point it soaks through and drenches them - potentially almost drowning them.

When the sack opens, they will find themselves in an impossibly dark space. Around them are others who have also been captured and dragged here by Krampus, trapped in small cages hanging from a massive, wiry tree.

Krampus will return often, banging clawed hands and birch rods on the walls of the cages and knocking them into one another.
𝕮𝖔𝖓𝖋𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖘𝖘𝖘𝖘𝖘.
The whisper resonates through the darkened area, regardless of Krampus' presence. Confess your secrets, and be freed. Otherwise? You'd better hope someone figures out where Krampus has set up base; those who refuse to confess may find themselves stuck here forever.

⏵ NOTES ⏴

Krampus' base is under Etraya! Deep within the catacombs, he has set up multiple cages to capture those who inhabit Etraya to punish them for their naughty habits. Fighting him is possible! Defeating him by means of combat is not, however, possible. Think of it like fighting a god: Krampus creates the rules in the space around him, including who can use what ability.

For all questions relating to this log, please refer to the mod queries comment. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Carver just grinds his forehead against the bars, trying to think. Maybe, if he goes for the hinges again -

But that won't work. He knows even as the thought bounces around his skull. Okay.

Okay. Fuck. ]

What're you confessing, anyway?

[ castiel frowns in the direction of the banging, but says nothing. occasionally, he reaches out toward his powers, but there's just an absence. no response.

it's not encouraging. he stares into the darkness, before abruptly speaking. ]

I'm the one who turned Anna in.

[ He stills, turning his head back toward Castiel. Calculating. Any source of information is an important one, Pope liked to say. So pay attention, son. ]

Who's Anna?

[ anna is a lot of different people to him. how he answers will give a very different impression between one and the next, something that he's well aware of. ]

My former commander.

My sister.

[ unfortunately, the krampus may also require context.

besides, he'd like to know carver's reaction to this piece of information. ]

[ Ah, Carver thinks, and he doesn't say anything for a long moment. By right, he should clam up. Push for greater context, for information that he could use against Castiel one day. It's what Pope would have done. It's probably what Shaw would've done, given the givens.

But.

He grinds his forehead against the bars, breathing out slow. ]

Why? She fail?

[ He has a sister, too. His commander, now. And he locked her in to burn. ]

She fell.

[ same difference, really. and now he has, too.

what a hypocrite he is.

but the admission doesn't seem to be enough to free him, he finds when he checks the latch a moment later. unfortunately, he suspects this secret wasn't so secret, though dean never confronted him on the matter. ]

There had to be a reckoning.

[ He says it more to himself than Castiel. There had to be a reckoning. He had orders. He suspects maybe Castiel did, too. Yet, the consequences still came to conquer. Shaw could have died.

He twitches, grinding his head against the bars. ]

My sister faltered. There was doubt. So I did it, when the commander said, test her.

Is she still alive?

[ he has to ask.

perhaps it will make his own answer to the same question obvious. ]

I don't know.

[ And that's the truth. That's the part that haunts him. ]

Not because of the test. But I failed her.

How? My sister is dead.

[ but what else can he confess? he looks to the black sky. ]

I fell for a human, but that isn't a secret. Is that what you want from me? I rebelled and I fell and I would do it again.

[ Carver breathes out slow, trying to center himself. Confess, is the echoed whisper. Confess fucking what? A secret?

Maybe he was wrong about the aim, maybe it's not about sin after all. ]

It's not working. It wants something else.

[ it wants something else.

yes, it does. it wants a real secret. it wants something no one else knows. it wants someone that couldn't be taken, and it wants it willingly. castiel takes a breath and leans both shoulders against the bars, staring down into the inky blackness below. he closes his eyes. his cage swings slowly.

when he speaks again, his voice is cast low. ]

When this is all over, both here and back home, I... want to be done with it all. I want to die.

[ there's a pause, and then he hears it: the lock sliding free. the door swings slowly open on its hinge. ]

[ Even in the dark, Carver can hear the lock click. He closes his eyes and breathes out slow. It wants something true, deep in the soul. Something secret. ]

My world’s not worth saving. But my brothers need to be buried. When that’s done, I want to see my kid again. I can stop then.

[ castiel thinks he'll wait until he hears carver's cage unlock before he moves from his own. if they both escape at the same time, the creature's attention will be split. or would it be better to get its attention now so carver can flee in the confusion? he turns his head in the man's direction.

castiel holds onto the bars either side of the open door, one foot hanging out over the abyss. he lets himself tip forward, bit by bit. the chains holding his cage creak, and the door squeaks on its hinge. just another moment more... ]

[ The lock goes click. Easy as that. Carver opens his eyes slow. He doesn't hesitate to jump down, back into the dark. He doesn't want to stay here, regardless of what Castiel does or doesn't do. ]

[ castiel lets himself fall the moment he hears the sound of carver jumping from his birdcage. he makes a hard landing, but recovers quickly enough to disappear soundlessly into the dark.

he won't be remaining for a confrontation, with either carver or the krampus. ]

DECEMBER MINGLE

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cw suicidal ideation

Cw death of a child, suicidal ideation

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