Einladung Hospital

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood]

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Hey guys! I want to join this thread with my character Darien. is there like a front desk he could show up at?

 

[Fatebreaker]

4 hours ago, mathiau said:

@Fatebreaker

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Sorry, currently at Sea, and the internet has been spotty. I would just warn that openly seeing the cracks all the time is going to result in near constant pressure from the shadow creatures, and eventually the Stranger and Sudiov. That said, if that's the route you want to go with your character, it could make for some good tension. I'll try to get something up shortly.

 

[MacThorstenson]

1 hour ago, Thaidakar the Ghostblood said:

 

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Yep theres a front desk. I don't know if any player characters are there right now, but feel free to create whatever NPC's are necessary for a scene to flow.

 

[Fatebreaker]

Reshilore ran down the street at a brisk pace, breathing hard. He didn't live that far from the hospital, but he didn't run often. In his mind running was for masochists and people who worked with dangerous things. He was neither. He came to the front desk and smiled at the receptionist, who gave him curt nod as she spoke to a nurse. The cognitive ward was quite familiar to him, though it seemed uncharacteristically busy today. A glut of unfamiliar people seemed to fill several rooms and hallways, various conversations bleeding into one another. He pushed past, looking for a glimpse of dark, curly hair.

...

The creatures were drawn like oil across the surface of water. There were spots of energy, where they could smell those who were in contrast to the world around them. Minds that didn't fit, patterns of the wrong weave. And so they followed the smell of dissonance, as Mother had made them to do. One of their kin had visited the fractured one but a few moments previous, for she was a sweet familiar scent. Her mind was always ready to feed them forbidden memories.

But now they worked their way towards another individual. She smelled of metal, and her scent was growing stronger by the minute as she engaged with the tears that whispered lies to her mind. The beasts of shadow wove through lines in the floor, wires in the walls, cracks in the ceiling, moving ever towards their prey. She was slow, hampered in some way. 

Vulnerable.

They whispered in voices mortals couldn't comprehend, alerting the One Eyed God to the presence of the rift. They felt him stretch out his power and begin to close it. And the building began to shake.

@mathiau

...

Victoria had been busy today, as more and more cognitive patients had been admitted in these last few weeks. At first she had been simply working as a psychologist, analyzing a few incoming patients and doing her best to help them remember important details. But more and more she'd had to function as a Soother as well, as more and more people showed up in states of distress. These days she was working with half of the patients on the floor, doing her best to comfort, assess, and assist in whatever capacity she could. They often had various forms of amnesia, to varying degrees of severity. It was quite strange, as the last time she had checked amnesia wasn't contagious. But things were looking differently these days.

She tugged a glove onto her left hand as she stepped into a patient's room. She looked up and smiled as she greeted him, "Hello Liam, how are we feeling today?" Liam, an Alethi man in his early forties, smiled at her. "I'm feeling a little better, brightness, but my mind is as foggy as ever. In fact, I can't even remember your name today. I'm so sorry for my rudeness..." Victoria gave him a reassuring smile, "That's quite alright, it's never a burden to introduce myself to a polite gentleman, such as yourself. I'm Dr. Estrella, but you can call me Victoria." The man nodded vigorously, as if it was all familiar, "Dr. Estrella, of course, I remember now that you say that. it is so strange, it feels sometimes as if the memory is right in front of me, but I can't reach out to recall it. Other times all I can feel if a fog that muddles my thoughts, smothering my mind." His voice shook slightly, and Victoria could see the frustration building in the lines of his face.

"May I Soothe you?" she asked in a pleasant tone, interrupting his rant. He nodded wordlessly, not looking at her out of misguided shame. Victoria soothed the shame first, then the underlying fear that lay behind it. She did it subtly, letting him still feel them without being overwhelmed. That was the key of good Soothing, as it gave them a slight sense of agency. She was assisting, but they were the ones overcoming their struggles. That was one of the most important elements of her job, helping patients regain control of themselves. but it was hard to regain control of yourself, if you weren't sure who you were.

She worked with Liam for a little while before it was time to move on to her next patient. I hate the time constraint of having so many people in the ward, she thought as she left the room, removing the safe glove once she was out of sight. There just isn't enough time to give each patient all the attention they need. She referrenced her clipboard as she walked, cheing on who her next patient was. Ah, one of my favorite, if most challenging, patients. Mentally she chided herself for picking favorites, but this one made it hard. She was just so friendly and polite. "Good day, Vivica. And how are you feeling toady?"

She had just been about to sit down when she felt the hospital begin to shake, tremors growing in strength. The whole building felt like it was rocking slightly, an unsettling sensation. She heard sounds of alarm in the hall, the crash of a meal tray falling off a cart.

What on earth is going on?

@ZincAboutIt

[+ZincAboutIt]

Vivica woke up on the floor. 

That wasn’t so unusual; she woke up on the floor rather often. Bennington swam in agitated loops as she picked herself up and looked out the window. It was a lovely day, all blue sky and golden light. 

There was a sound at the door, and Vivica brightened. “Another visitor Bennington! So many visitors today.”

A woman entered, green eyes bright in a face framed with dark curls. “Good day Vivica. And how are you feeling today?”

”Good afternoon Dr. Victoria.” Vivica smiled, allowing her teeth to show. She liked the doctor. Dr. Victoria wasn’t quite like the Professor, but she was close. She didn’t always seem afraid of Vivica, which was refreshing.

And she was interesting, because Vivica never dreamed about her in the other life. Vivica liked interesting people. 

“It’s been a very busy day, Dr. Victoria. You’re my fourth visitor, if you count Ishima with the lunch tray. I would have put on my Baking Coat for all this company, but they still won’t allow me to dress myself.”

As she chatted, Bennington looped around the doctor, his body back to cheerful violet. He wiggled his tentacles and pulsed.

”Bennington says you look lovely today, by the way.”

Vivica felt the hospital lurch beneath her as the earth began to shake; out in the hall, something clattered as it fell.

She sat back down onto the floor and smiled at Dr. Victoria. Somehow she always ended up back on the floor. Ah well.

@Fatebreaker

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood]

14 hours ago, MacThorstenson said:

 

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mkay.

Darien Talned opened the door gently. lobby music played as he analyzed the room. five people sat in chairs with backs to the wall. Darien sighed, it seemed as if no-one would be a threat to him. 

Darien walked forward to the front desk, a short lady with vibrant red hair and a bored look about her looked up from her computer, "hello, what do you want?"

Darien rolled his eyes, "bored are we?" he leaned on the wall and said, "well, I would like to see the person who runs this place."

She looked up, "why would you need to? you don't appear to need anything."

Darien sighed. "don't trust em," said a voice in Darien's head. it was Darien's brother. ever since he could remember he had heard Elek's voice in his head. He had only recently realized a spike lay in his arm, which apparently held his brother's soul. 

Darien sighed and whispered under his breath, "why?"

"She seems like someone hired her," said Elek.

He turned to the woman and said, "well, I could motivate you." he shook a small pouch of coins at his belt. 

the receptionist smiled, "I can get you through to the manager in a few minutes, you can wait over there while I call him." Darien handed over the coins and she smiled broadly.

Darien sat down as far from the other customers as possible and began humming the ghanderflaffle theme song a random tune.

[MacThorstenson]

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Oh shoot. We love ourselves a good earthquake.

The other doctor appeared to be engrossed in a file, so he quickly made his way around the room gathering nearly every file on the list. The only one's he couldn't get were right next to the other doctor. When he was done, he made his way over to a desk in the corner. At the very least he could get a head start on reading these files, so he would know what to change for the ones that were currently admitted into the hospital. He pulled out the chair and sat down. Opening his briefcase, he pulled out a notepad and a Visconti fountain pen as if to take notes. then he started reading the first file. 

This was Mary Edinger's. He had been admitted for memory loss, but the doctors seemed to believe that it was connected to hallucinations that she experienced while in the cognitive ward. She would have visions of the city in flames, with buildings collapsed and people dead everywhere, but suddenly they would disappear and she would have a hole in her memory. Interesting. He moved to the next file.

Jack Edwards. A resident of the Alleycity for dozens of years, suddenly broke down screaming in the streets. When they brought him in, he came to with no memory of his collapse or how he got to the hospital. They let him go after he went a couple of days with no symptoms, but when he left the hospital he made it maybe a dozen meters when suddenly he collapsed again, terrified of something that wasn't there. When they tried to talk to him about what he saw, he would only mutter about how "the fighting had destroyed the city" and "they were too strong". Again, after a while he seemed to come to and couldn't remember anything about leaving the hospital or any fighting.  

Ronald scanned the rest of the names, nearly all of them describing what sounded like a post apocalyptic wasteland. Some people said the damage was caused by nukes, others said it was caused by massive conflicts surrounding someone named Voidus. Some people had this vision of the various guilds of the city being warmongering and terrible, causing mass deaths in their various conflicts. But most interesting of all, some people spoke of eldritch abominations coming out of the dark. Spiked men stealing the poor and the homeless off the streets, never to be seen again. They heard phantom cackling and the ringing of hammers as they struck metal. 

Those who spoke of eldritch abominations exhibited several interesting behaviors unique as well. For those who were admitted and then discharged, they would report in follow up appointments about needing to move away from the city. They couldn't even make it down a city block without feeling an unreasonable and unending bubble of fear rise to the surface every time they walked in front of an alleyway. For those who stayed in the hospital, many would act weirdly around cookies. After getting served food with a cookie in it they would only touch the cookies when no one was around, and when they eventually did they would carefully crumble them up to a dust, as if looking for something. 

Interesting, very, very, interesting. It appeared that whatever this DASU was doing was giving people an exaggerated fear of the DA. Of course the fear was well merited, but they hadn't destroyed the city or invaded it with eldritch abominations. Their operations were always subtle, and the catch and release policy was designed so that people who came into the alleys either didn't leave, or didn't learn enough details to point to anything beyond a mysterious kidnapping. Perhaps this was some form of manufactured fear designed to keep prisoners compliant? But why would they test people and then release them? Ronald shook his head. It didn't matter. All he needed to do was change the files of people who were still admitted to the hospital. He could change their stories, and maybe a couple of their symptoms. Not enough that people would bat an eye at their changing symptoms, but enough that they wouldn't piece together a picture of a shadowy eldritch organization abducting citizens.

He continued reading through the files, until he was distracted from them by a rattling lamp. He looked around, confused, but then reached up to stop the rattling. He realized, however, that it wasn't just the lamp rattling, but most of the room too. The filing cabinets were shaking, their aluminum drawers sounding like a middle school percussion band. It felt like the world was going to end, but before he could think he remembered the last time the world ended.

He looked out the window of his penthouse, grinning at the music playing in the background. Live entertainment was hard to come by today, but was worth it when he had guests over. The grin faded into a concerned scowl as he looked down at the city below, noticing that it was on fire. Thankfully it seemed like his party wouldn't be disturbed. If this deal fell through it would be nightmarish after all. Suddenly his phone buzzed, someone had texted him.

Department heads in the field. Take cover. Voidus is fighting.

Suddenly the worries about the deal were gone, and he felt very, very scared.

"What the?" He muttered under his breath. When had that been? It didn't matter, the room was shaking. And based off of what his mission was, he didn't know if the hospital was going to be standing after it. 

Crem. He glanced at the doctor. He needed that file, but how was he supposed to get it without being suspicious? The building was coming down for void's sake!

He glanced at his list, the last file or two was all for current patients, You likely couldn't draw any pattern with just two files right? Right?

Perhaps he would end up demoted for this, but his mind was made up. He needed to run. 

"Lady!" He screamed over the din of rattling cabinets, "We need to get outta here!" He shoved all the paperwork into his briefcase then ran to the door, holding it open for the doctor.

@Rushu42

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood]

Darien was sitting when the hospital started shaking. Everyone started screaming. Darien sighed. 

"what the rusts!" swore Elek in Darien's head. 

in the real world the receptionist swore. "wow," said Elek, "I need to write those down."

Darien rolled his eyes and stood up, the files had to be here, he had to track them down, it was the only thing that would help. He created an illusion of himself running out of the hospital and getting as far away as he could. 

Darien himself ran up the stairs of the hospital and came to a hallway which he ran along. he passed people running down the stairs and trying to get out of the building. He read the door plates as he dashed by. 

"Waiting room, Operating room 5, Surgery room 3, files, there!" muttered Darien to himself, he opened the door, inside were hundreds of file cabinets, "now to find the right one."

[Arlin]

"Um, Hello... Nurse? My name is Blondie Bell. I'm here to visit my father Strudel. I heard he was admitted to the Cognitive Ward this morning and I..." Bell griped his tupperware of fresh macarons tighter as potted plants and rows of chairs began rocking in the waiting area. Was that an earthquake? Where is everyone going? where is my father? Bell taped a little bit of Breath letting the extra oxygen air out his worry a bit.

Bell began going from person to person as they flooded out of the building "Hey! do know where the Conative Ward is? Is there A Strudel bell with you? Does anyone know a Strudel Bell?"

 

 

 

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood]

Darien went through the room as fast as he could. "David Jims, Dalinar Kholin, Jeffy Dash, Jimbo Geffery, Greg Farland, Brandon Sanderson, David Charleston, Cecil Bagsorth, hmm," Darien kept searching through the files, suddenly a big part of the roof fell off on half of the files with a gigantic crash! Darien jumped back as the dust settled in, Elek cursed. 

Files were strewn across the floor, but one in particular caught his notice, it read, "Arien Spear." Darien snatched it up, "finally," he tucked it into his bag and opened the door. the hallway seemed to be intact and he rushed down it. after a sharp turn where the stairs would be was a long drop. Darien and Elek cursed simultaneously. 

Darien said, "STORMS!" he looked at his satchel and searched through it hastily, he grabbed a small gadget with a sequence of glowing gems on them. he attached it to his arm and jumped off the ledge. he activated the fabrial and it slowed his fall, he landed gracefully on the rubble strewn ground. he ran out of the waiting room and outside of the building.

"Better seal the entrance," said Elek. Darien nodded silently and grabbed a small fabrial from his pouch, he pressed the gemstone and it flickered, going faster and faster, he threw it at the entrance and seconds later it exploded, making the entrance fold in on itself. Darien ran down the street auspiciously.

[Rushu42]

Aln slowly sunk down until she was sitting on the floor, her back against a filing cabinet, paperwork in her arms. The third page of the file had finally included notes on the memories the woman had experienced, and they corroborated her own. Her eyes caught on a phrase, apparently a direct quote from the patient. "They took what was mine. Harmony, they stole it from me. I remember... pain wrapped in sweet lies. A gift that was not a gift."

A shiver of cold ran through her. She knew of the DA's hemalurgic experiments - or, at least, part of her did. It was still hard to feel as if those memories had truly happened to her. It felt like a story, or a dream, that person she could have been. A first-hand account, even such a fragmented one, was a sobering reminder of what she was investigating. It was was so easy to get caught up in the questions, in the puzzle of it all, and forget the all-too-present danger. She wouldn't make that mistake again. Not like last time.

Last time...? A memory thrust itself into her mind, as if it had been waiting for the chance. Flashes of imagery: wings of fire emblazoned on a stormy sky; monsters streaming from cracks in the world; a looming figure, a cracked grin, millions of angular legs, a roar drawn like a scribble in the air; echoes of a pain that had never occurred. She closed her eyes. The worst part, though, had been afterwards. Sitting in her library, gazing across the broken city, and knowing that their protectors, their saviors, were no less malicious, no less dangerous, no less unpredictable than the monsters that had been destroyed. Knowing that her life, and the lives of everyone in the city, rested in the blood-stained hands of unstable gods.

Aln looked down and found that her hands were shaking where they clutched the file. Wait, no; that wasn't right. The room was shaking, like a giant had decided to use the hospital as a snowglobe. She started and jumped to her feet as papers began to fall from the shelves. The man in the suit was already at the door, holding it open, looking back at her. Had he said something? He was gesturing urgently to her, but she hesitated, then turned back to the shelf, scanning for the other file that Laurelai had shelved. There. She yanked it into her arms, grabbing a few others for good measure, and finally turned to leave. Only to see the filing cabinet behind her begin to fall.

She inhaled Stormlight in a desperate burst of panicked adrenaline, throwing herself instinctively to the ground. Her mind tumbled ahead of her, scrabbling for a solution, and suddenly her hands were thrust out in front of her, and Pel was materializing between them, a long, unadorned pole of silvery metal. The filing cabinet buckled as it met the Shard...stick, but it gave her the time she needed to roll out of harm's way and dash for the door. Pel puffed away as she ran, and she saw the crash of the cabinet out of the corner of her eye.

"What the storms is going on?" she gasped at the man. "We're not on a fault line - I don't think the Alleyverse even has tectonic plates - is something happening to the hospital?"

@MacThorstenson @mathiau

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Pinging @mathiau so you know that Aln called Pel back before he could get to Folorian. Or alternatively, he reached Folorian and was yanked away mid-conversation - up to you.

 

[Thaidakar the Ghostblood]

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just so you guys know my last post takes fifteen minutes so the entrance isn't gone yet for most of you.

 

[MacThorstenson]

Ronald watched as the doctor started toward the door, but hesitated. She quickly grabbed a couple of the files, and then jumped out of the way as the cabinet fell on her, seemingly conjuring a shard-stick? to buy her some time. So she was a radiant, he filed that fact away for future use. 

"What the storms is going on?" she gasped at him. "We're not on a fault line - I don't think the Alleyverse even has tectonic plates - is something happening to the hospital?" 

Void bless us, she's a talker. "I don't know!" He exclaimed, "I'm not a weather-boy! This whole place is going to damnation as far as I know." He thought back to the not-memory he experienced earlier. Perhaps it had been a vision. And if that were so, he didn't want to be anywhere near this place when that vision came true. That said, was going out to the street was likely even more dangerous. But with this strength of earthquake, this could very well be the mysterious Allie 'dealing' with people. And if that were the case, he didn't want to be anywhere near it. 

"Void help me." He muttered, then louder he said "I don't know how strong this place is, but I'm not sure I can trust it." At that he spotted a fluorescent exit sign and started running as fast as he could while maintaining balance. 

@Rushu42

[Arlin]

Minutes later, Bell found himself outside pouring months of breath in from the woven Cadmium hanging from his wrist and out of his body. Hugging the still full plastic container to his chest. I don’t think there is don’t think there is enough air in all of the Alleys for this.

The rubble was everywhere. The entire entrance and waiting room had collapsed and the open walls of the broken edifice hung over the remains of the rooms they once held onto along with the pillars that stood them up  now scattered around in the mix. All of it had fallen before Bell’s eyes as the tide of persons eventually pulled him out to the streets with them. He couldn’t tell how much of the building had followed suit.  

He could hear the vial looped around his neck scraping against the top of Tupperware. Opening his eyes he saw that the sand inside still black as last night when he had reset it. “You said that means everything is going to be okay right Dad.” Bell shuffled his phone up from under him. His breath caching while going thru his contacts, as the metalmind finally dries up and the tears finally start streaming down his cheeks.

“H-hey, M-mom something happened at hospital…”

Edited March 17, 2022 by Arlin

[18th Shard]

On 3/10/2022 at 5:10 AM, mathiau said:

He started walking toward Emily. 

... "Excuse-me Emily" Folorian said nervously "there have been an incident in the Scholar Guild two days ago, there should be serval member here so I'd like to know if it was possible to know how they were going?"

Kerr, you should probably stay near Poller, in case something happens to him.

On it

Emily heard Folorian call her name out, and turned back towards him. She hesitated, trying to think of recent patients who'd come in. There were a lot of new patients, but the Scholar's Guild did remind her of something. Oh, right, the animal attack. 

"I remember hearing about an animal attack at the guild recently. A few members were checked in for injuries sustained. Some monsters from the Alleys attacked or something like that. The paramedics said it was pretty messy, but I think the majority of the guild were okay. Some cuts and bruising, couple of concussions, minor infections. A few members hadn't been found last I heard, but I'm not really up to date on the situation. None of them checked into the Cognitive Ward, just the Physical Ward, so I don't know details on patient status, but if you're looking for someone specific, I can tell you who to talk to though. They won't be able to give you a ton of individual information for confidentiality reasons unless the guild head or an emergency contact gives you permission, but you would probably be able to visit them if they're stable."

As she finished talking, something that felt like an earthquake rocked the building. Emily was familiar with the sensation - she'd gone to UCI for her BSN degree, but she didn't remember there being any faults near the hospital. 

@mathiau

Spoiler

I don't know if any of the people involved actually were injured too much - the thread ended a little abrubtly. I'm assuming Aylitha was able to wipe at least a few members' memories. 

Edited March 17, 2022 by 18th Shard

[Ashbringer]

On 3/14/2022 at 4:17 PM, mathiau said:

"Are you alright?" The nurse asked, not realising she looked more shaken than Cassandra did. "I you're afraid of needles then try too look away from it, it will help a bit"

NullBlade frowned, that was not the face of someone scared of needles. No, it was closer to the face him and his sister had made the first time they'd stepped in cognitive realm, or the one Mene did when she observed his Shardblade. It was the face of someone who saw something that according to everything they thought they should be impossible.

"Are you seeing something we don't, Cassandra?" He'd heard Radiant peered in the cognitive realm, maybe that was what she was currently doing?

21 hours ago, Fatebreaker said:

The creatures were drawn like oil across the surface of water. There were spots of energy, where they could smell those who were in contrast to the world around them. Minds that didn't fit, patterns of the wrong weave. And so they followed the smell of dissonance, as Mother had made them to do. One of their kin had visited the fractured one but a few moments previous, for she was a sweet familiar scent. Her mind was always ready to feed them forbidden memories.

But now they worked their way towards another individual. She smelled of metal, and her scent was growing stronger by the minute as she engaged with the tears that whispered lies to her mind. The beasts of shadow wove through lines in the floor, wires in the walls, cracks in the ceiling, moving ever towards their prey. She was slow, hampered in some way. 

Vulnerable.

They whispered in voices mortals couldn't comprehend, alerting the One Eyed God to the presence of the rift. They felt him stretch out his power and begin to close it. And the building began to shake.

"Are you alright? If you're afraid of needles then try to look away from it, it will help a bit."

"Stop," was the first thing Cassie said, directed at the nurse. They hesitated, needle still clenched tightly in a shaking hand. It would have to do. She was clenching the chair tightly, too.

"Are you seeing something we don't, Cassandra?" NullBlade called out.

"If you can't see it, then yes," she replied, trying to keep her voice calm. "There's a... the wall, to the left, there's a... gap in it. Like someone started redecorating in a random way. Except it's growing. Shifting. Like a..."

Void. 

Cassandra Adama did not know much about the history of the Alleyverse, but she knew it was built on blood and darkness. And that is what she saw. Maybe she was just looking at a dimly lit surgery room. Maybe it was something much more horrifying, something her half-alloyed brain was looking to justify away. But it couldn't explain the rift, the hole in reality. Cassie knew there was an obvious explanation - that her half-alloyed brain had gone completely bonkers - but that seemed... unlikely. It had been too fast. And she'd felt crazy before. This felt... calculating. Stubborn. Rigid.

Rusts, maybe her brain was going. Just not the way she thought. But that wasn't important.

"Like a void to a place that looks different than here. I don't know what it could be. I haven't experienced any hallucinations before, and as far as I can tell it seems... like it's real. Is this a symptom, is this..."

The nurse suddenly gave a soft cough, and Cassie wrenched her eyes to see a black line detach from the ceiling and fall on the nurse like some eldritch snake.

"Rusts!" she said, standing up but unsure of herself. "Can you see-"

Then the whole building started to shake. A thermometer rolled on the counter, transforming into a wicked probe as it crossed the threshold of the rift. But the rift was closing, now. Still there, just shrinking. At the same time, more lines of darkness were springing from the door, the walls, everywhere. They were coming for... the rift? The nurse? Her?

Focus Cassie. One problem at a time.

 

 

Byron chased the three worms of ink until they eventually stopped. Then suddenly they split up, two heading back and one... burrowing into the wall? That was weird. This whole thing was weird. No. They were definitely headed this way, they'd gone around three turns together, where were they- 

The building shook. Byron stumbled forward, watching as doors crashed shut and bulletins fell off of the walls. He took a step, but another tremor throbbed and his knee gave out almost immediately. Okay, that's not working whatsoever. He reached a shivering hand into his coat and uncorked a vial of cadmium. Just a vial, for now. No need to spend the whole day in a bubble just yet, just needed some... he gulped down the metal. Calm. 

Byron burned cadmium. Just a little, but enough to notice the things on the walls falling slightly slower, the tremors having that wobble his legs instinctually countered, the slight shimmer of the edge of the bubble his eyes instinctually filtered out. His stride immediately shifted to a near run - still a little off balance from the earthquake itself, but much faster than his previous walk even after calculating the time difference. Cognitive Ward. Records Room. Where were these things going?

There. A doctor, maybe another, maybe a patient. The patient was on the floor, but she didn't seem to be attacking anyone. She didn't... he wracked his brain. It was an impulse, that maybe this was the right path. It was the first group of people he'd seen since those snake things.

The tremor shook harder. A crack appeared in part of the wall. There wasn't any time. His ability demanded it. So he just poked his head in, expanding his time bubble to encompass the group.

"Um. Does anyone know what's going on? There's... weird things happening."

@ZincAboutIt @Fatebreaker

 

[Fatebreaker]

The whole building was shaking as Reshilore pushed past the masses of frightened patients and staff who were fleeing the hospital. His eyes scoured the halls for signs of Victoria, but she was nowhere to be seen. "Has anyone seen Dr. Estrella?" His voice was lost in the chaos, drowned out by tremors and screams. He looked into each room he passed, pausing just long enough to ensure she wasn't within. "Vic! Can you hear me?!" His voice was raw with desperation, fear steadily growing inside him. Where was she?

...

Victoria smiled at Vivica's compliment. The girl often expressed her thoughts as the words of her imaginary friend. If she was just a little younger it might even have been cute. "Well, please give Bennington my tha..." She fell beside Vivica, knocked off balance by the tremors that suddenly shook the building. She could hear cries of alarm in the hall, but Vivica appeared unbothered. Victoria, meanwhile, was considerably more worried. She took several deep breaths before soothing her own emotions, something that had taken practice to get down. She gave the girl a half smile, "Well, this is something isn't it? I believe we should either evacuate or get under a table, which would you prefer?" Vivica laughed and rolled on the floor over to the hospital bed, where she grabbed the blanket and pulled it down to form a rudimentary tent. Victoria shakily made her way over and poked her head under the blanket. "This is fun, Vivica, but she should make sure we're still visible in case emergency personnel come for us." 

Suddenly, a boy burst into the room, looking frightened. Victoria turned to face him, realizing she didn't recognize him. Suddenly, things seemed a little distorted around them, shapes in the hallway moving oddly. Some sort of allomantic bubble, probably cadmium, she thought. "Um. Does anyone know what's going on? There's... weird things happening." The boy's voice shook, belying his fear. She reached out and soothed some of the fear away, to ensure he didn't act rashly. She hated soothing without first asking permission, but these were special circumstances. She spoke in a raised voice so as to be heard over the din "There appears to be an earthquake. You can either head towards the emergency exits, or wait with us here. I am Dr. Estrella, may I ask your name and whether you are simply visiting today or a patient?"

Just then she heard a familiar voice, echoing from down the hall. "VICTORIA!!!"  She unsteadily got to her feet and haphazardly walked to the doorway. "I'm in here, Resh!" she called out, searching for his tell tale curls. He came skidding around the corner, running full tilt. They collided in a fervent embrace, and Victoria felt his warm arms around her, soothing her heart in a way allomancy couldn't. "What are you doing here?" she asked as they held each other. He squeezed her tighter, "Making sure you're okay."

...

The shadow beasts closed in on various figures throughout the hospital, each one aglow with wrong memories, wrong thoughts, wrong eyes. They pounced, removing the false memories and a man who was crying in a corner. Their limbs held him as even as their jaws passed through him, leaving not so much as a blemish on this forehead. They fed on the lies, drank of them till they were gone. But they did not stay for long, splitting up as they ran invisibly through the hospital. Three of them closed in on a major source, a woman who reeked of investiture, staring into the tear before her. They barely paused for a moment before they leapt, reaching for her brain as they did. 

...

"We gotta get out of here Vic, Reshilore insisted, "this whole place could come down." Vic shook her head, "I need to stay with Vivica. She's unpredictable under normal circumstances, I'm not she exactly what she would do if given free reign now. We should stay here and wait it out." She turned and led Reshilore back into the room. "Vivica, this is my friend Reshilore, but you can call him Resh." Reshilore gave an awkward smile, then slipped during one of the bigger tremors. Under his breath he could be heard grumbling, "Oh course, brilliant, superb." Victoria smiled and turned to the unfamiliar boy that was in the room with them. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your Name?

@ZincAboutIt @Ashbringer

[+ZincAboutIt]

Vivica poked her head out from beneath her improvised blanket fort when she felt the world jolt a bit.

”Um, does anyone know what’s going on?” An unfamiliar young man asked, his voice shaking along with the walls. “There’s… weird things happening.”

Speed bubble, she thought immediately, though how she knew was not clear to her.

Vivica nodded at the young man and stood, managing to keep her balance. There were, indeed, weird things happening. Dr. Victoria didn’t see it, but the fear in this man’s face was a special kind of fear. Vivica had seen it many times in her dreams. People often looked at her that way. It was not terror - it was horror. She smiled and moved closer to the man, idly wondering if he had any pens. 

just then, someone else ran down the hallway, shouting and enfolding Dr. Victoria in a tight hug. Vivica froze at the sight of the man; Bennington floated beside her, nearly as still. There was… something about him. 

”Vivica, this is my friend Reshilore, but you can call him Resh."

Vivica cocked her head as the man smiled awkwardly and lost his footing, grumbling under his breath. She took a cautious step forward, then another, looking him up and down.

Her eyes flicked to the doorway - open. Unguarded, for the first time in… what was it? Years? A decade? More? But no, that would be impolite. It wouldn’t do to just leave when she had so much company. 

”It’s lovely to meet you, Reshilore,” Vivica said softly, stepping even closer. “Hmm, yes. Yes it is, indeed. You are strange.”

Then she grinned. Bennington swam a long, sinuous loop around the man, a sign of great respect. “Very strange,” she continued, stopping when she was about a foot away. “Would you like to try on my Baking Coat?”

@Ashbringer @Fatebreaker

[mathiau]

13 hours ago, Ashbringer said:

The nurse suddenly gave a soft cough, and Cassie wrenched her eyes to see a black line detach from the ceiling and fall on the nurse like some eldritch snake.

"Rusts!" she said, standing up but unsure of herself. "Can you see-"

Then the whole building started to shake.

Yes, NullBlade did see the oily slug fall on the nurse "Did that thing come from the gap you were talking about?"

He nearly fell to the ground as the building was shaken by an earthquake. When he was stable again he saw the slug had fallen from the Nurse and was no crawling toward Cassandra.

"No." He calmly said as he tried to squish it under his feet.

13 hours ago, 18th Shard said:

Emily heard Folorian call her name out, and turned back towards him. She hesitated, trying to think of recent patients who'd come in. There were a lot of new patients, but the Scholar's Guild did remind her of something. Oh, right, the animal attack. 

"I remember hearing about an animal attack at the guild recently. A few members were checked in for injuries sustained. Some monsters from the Alleys attacked or something like that. The paramedics said it was pretty messy, but I think the majority of the guild were okay. Some cuts and bruising, couple of concussions, minor infections. A few members hadn't been found last I heard, but I'm not really up to date on the situation. None of them checked into the Cognitive Ward, just the Physical Ward, so I don't know details on patient status, but if you're looking for someone specific, I can tell you who to talk to though. They won't be able to give you a ton of individual information for confidentiality reasons unless the guild head or an emergency contact gives you permission, but you would probably be able to visit them if they're stable."

So they were fine, good. He'd have to tell to Aln as soon as possible. "Thank you. Knowing they're fine will be enough for..." The felling of free-fall overwhelmed his bane. While it was to late to be able to stop it, the few moments of clarity did give Pel an occasion to speak to him, giving a short report of what had happened in the archive room before she called him back.

Folorian checked his copperminds to confirm what he already knew: there was no known fault near the Alleycity -or anywhere in the Alleyverse for that matter. Which only left one possiblity.

It's investiture.

Hmmm... And right before Aln summons Pel.

Yes, it's far too much for a coincidence.

Agreed. Are we helping?

Obviously.

Kerr hid Folorian's shoulder to watch for obvious threat while he was walking toward the archives.

@Rushu42@Fatebreaker

[Ashbringer]

19 hours ago, Fatebreaker said:

The shadow beasts closed in on various figures throughout the hospital, each one aglow with wrong memories, wrong thoughts, wrong eyes. They pounced, removing the false memories and a man who was crying in a corner. Their limbs held him as even as their jaws passed through him, leaving not so much as a blemish on this forehead. They fed on the lies, drank of them till they were gone. But they did not stay for long, splitting up as they ran invisibly through the hospital. Three of them closed in on a major source, a woman who reeked of investiture, staring into the tear before her. They barely paused for a moment before they leapt, reaching for her brain as they did. 

9 hours ago, mathiau said:

Yes, NullBlade did see the oily slug fall on the nurse "Did that thing come from the gap you were talking about?"

He nearly fell to the ground as the building was shaken by an earthquake. When he was stable again he saw the slug had fallen from the Nurse and was no crawling toward Cassandra.

"No." He calmly said as he tried to squish it under his feet.

"No, they're coming out of the door. And the rift's shrinking now. Like-"

Like what?

The two had to be connected, even if they were just in her head. So what were they doing, just attacking? The nurse didn't seem to see a rift or the shadows. Null just saw the shadows. She saw both. Why did she see both?

Cassie just reached out her Soulcaster, trying to watch the ceiling. NullBlade attacked the snake that just feel off the nurse, who'd simply collapsed, staring blankly. What was happening. What was-

Something wrapped around her face. Something she couldn't see.

Cassie thrashed her arms at it for a moment, but whatever it was had a grip. She couldn't feel it, couldn't Soulcast-

Everything is fine.

She flared iron, looking for something to Pull-

What's the matter?

Another feeling, trying to find purchase in a rigid mind-

Why can you see?

There's nothing to be afraid of.

 

Cassie blinked. She was sitting down. Of course she was sitting down, it hurt to walk. It had been a long time since she'd had to get pricked with a needle. Plus all the talk of Hemalurgy and seeing Lord's mercenaries... it was unnerving. Maybe she'd spooked the nurse, too. He'd dropped the needle, and was standing up from picking it up off the floor, muttering an apology. But NullBlade, was standing, looking at her, arms out.  

"Null? Is something wrong? If you want to go first I don't really mind."

Spoiler

Didn't see Cassie getting out of that one  but if Null's still a witness to the attack and resists the little ones by being aluminum, this could be fun.

 

19 hours ago, Fatebreaker said:

Suddenly, a boy burst into the room, looking frightened. Victoria turned to face him, realizing she didn't recognize him. Suddenly, things seemed a little distorted around them, shapes in the hallway moving oddly. Some sort of allomantic bubble, probably cadmium, she thought. "Um. Does anyone know what's going on? There's... weird things happening." The boy's voice shook, belying his fear. She reached out and soothed some of the fear away, to ensure he didn't act rashly. She hated soothing without first asking permission, but these were special circumstances. She spoke in a raised voice so as to be heard over the din "There appears to be an earthquake. You can either head towards the emergency exits, or wait with us here. I am Dr. Estrella, may I ask your name and whether you are simply visiting today or a patient?"

...

Under his breath he could be heard grumbling, "Oh course, brilliant, superb." Victoria smiled and turned to the unfamiliar boy that was in the room with them. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your Name?"

16 hours ago, ZincAboutIt said:

”Um, does anyone know what’s going on?” An unfamiliar young man asked, his voice shaking along with the walls. “There’s… weird things happening.”

Speed bubble, she thought immediately, though how she knew was not clear to her.

Vivica nodded at the young man and stood, managing to keep her balance. There were, indeed, weird things happening. Dr. Victoria didn’t see it, but the fear in this man’s face was a special kind of fear. Vivica had seen it many times in her dreams. People often looked at her that way. It was not terror - it was horror. She smiled and moved closer to the man, idly wondering if he had any pens. 

Byron was beginning to realize that finding the thing shadow snakes were trying to hunt may not be the best idea. There were two people in the room. One was very clearly a doctor. The other was... clearly not. She didn't look sick, aside from a few old scars, but Byron knew enough that those ones tended to be dangerous. They were also both on the floor. No wonder he'd fallen too, this earthquake must be stronger than he thought. They both stood up quickly and looked at him.

Great. Well, now wasn't a time to get all scared of socializing.

"There appears to be an earthquake. You can either head towards the emergency exits, or wait with us here. I am Dr. Estrella, may I ask your name and whether you are simply visiting today or a patient?"

Byron opened his mouth to respond, then noticed the patient's stare. She took a few steps closer to him. Okay, that was... unnerving. But he trusted his reactions.

Then suddenly another doctor - maybe he was a doctor - ran past him and hugged Dr. Estrella. That drew the patient's attention. Nevermind then.

The doctor looked back. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your Name?"

"Oh. Sorry," Byron said, feeling a bit more sure of himself. "I'm Ben. I... think I'm a patient here, but I don't really know how I got here. I think my cadmium got a bit out of control and I just froze until it burned out. But there's also little black... snake-like things that were crawling on the walls. And then the earthquake. And three of those things were headed this way before they went... somewhere else."

What had happened that day? He still hadn't really figured it out. He'd overcharged his cadmium, which meant he was really scared of something. But he couldn't remember what it was, just that it was... dark. Had it been one of those things, or just a thug that he wasn't able to handle?

Then he felt... something. A twitching in his bubble. Not in this room, but maybe the next one. Something different than the small tremors that kept happening. Could that be what the dark things were going for?

Because it was moving very, very fast.

"Something next door is moving. Weirdly. Something's wrong."

@18th Shard (And the others, who are being quoted which takes up more space than I thought it would...)

[18th Shard]

Sanax woke to a trembling in the world. It was an unusual trembling - Sanax knew there was no tectonic activity in this world. Like Roshar, the continents had been made unnaturally. There was no slipping of faultlines, no volcanic turmoil that could unleash this furor. This was the wrath of the gods who had wrapped the world in lies. Sanax stood warily, swaying with the building. He'd never done measured the liquefaction potential of this world. Maybe the ground would fluidize. Sanax had never seen fully fluidized surfaces, though he'd heard about some of the effects. It would make a fascinating experiment. 

Sanax stepped carefully toward the nearby doors. Down the hall an open door revealed people standing around in the room - four persons to be exact. The first, Victoria, a neat, nurturing nurse, normally nearer the northern wing, Sanax thought. She was a circle, for sure - Soothers often were. The second, hugging her, had curly black hair in tangles about his head. Sanax almost thought he should be blinking or beholding blindly, but perhaps he just reminded Sanax of an old friend - a tangled knot or maybe a spiral. The third - a triangle's point, that number - glowed faintly to Sanax's eyes, and a distortion diaphanously dangled disjointed the doorway. Time bubble. The fourth was a woman who seemed familiar. There was a hunger in her eyes and a piercing look to her eyes, glazed with an empty Light. Sanax had never seen this woman before, he thought, but he recognized the look. This woman was a maze of Alleys, a fractal image. This must be the resident of the room. This must be the one who saw an imaginary octopus. Three more, and we could have a real one, Sanax chuckled internally. 

Sanax stepped into the room, the slowed time sliding from him like water on a slick slope. The bubble dragged on him, but it had no hold to slow him. Sanax walked with an exaggeratedly slow stride, trying to match the bubble's pace. It was like a gentle dance to a rhythm, pulsing through Sanax's chest spike like an heartbeat. Light swirled about them, and Sanax could feel its attention on them. He smiled and waved at Ms. Victoria, then bowed deeply to the other woman. "Always a pleasure to meet another Baker. My name is Sanax Khaevarin." He paused, straightening. "Oh, I have a last name. That's new. Tell me, is your hallucinatory mollusc also affected by the time dilation occuring?"

@Ashbringer @ZincAboutIt @Fatebreaker

Edited March 18, 2022 by 18th Shard

[kenod]

Mari looked through the rubble at the main entrance, ignoring the panicked and pained noises around her. The whole mess seemed decidedly odd, to say the least. Who'd go around bombing hospitals? It wouldn't be Acquisitions, she figured, this would draw too much attention. Something seemed to be looking out of the alley, one of her old friends, but they came for her, they had never done this. Had they? She shook her head. She didn't remember it, and she didn't want to draw their attention by thinking of them.

Perhaps inside there'd be more information, maybe even some actual action. For a second she debated simply phasing through the rubble, but she was already being watched, and she didn't want to get grabbed as she shifted. So instead she started walking around the building, hoping to find a way inside quickly, before finally coming across an emergency exit that, unbeknownst to her, let to the Cognitive ward. Quickly she grabbed the handle, slipping through the door, glad to finally be away from the staring eyes in the alleys. If they were actually eyes.

Quietly she started walking down the hallways, hoping that there would be something interesting inside the hospital.

[mathiau]

Nullblade's foot missed the slug. It was probably for the better, in retrospect trying to squish an eldrich slug under his shoe would probably have backfired

"Null? Is something wrong? If you want to go first I don't really mind."

Null's heart skipped a beat, why had she called him Null? Only Perfect had ever done that. Probably more importantly, why did she ask that? Of course something was wrong they were attacked by slug slug!

The slug disinterested itself of Cassandra and disappeared in a crack of the wall. That seemed very unlikely to be a coincidence, and both Cassie and it be affected by something at the same time? Had the slug somehow cause Cassie too... what, forget what had happened in the last five minutes? That was the only explanation thing he could think of.

Either way, it was probably better to act like everything was alright, whoever had done that probably expected him to be affected too.

"No, I'm alright, just a bit surprised by the earthquake. Though if you want to shorten my name, please call me Blade. 'Null' is how my wife used to call me so hearing you say it feels weird."

He really wasn't over her, was he? But then again, how did you go over someone who sent you loving hugs from the past?

@Ashbringer

 

Folorian couldn't see a thing while he walked through the hospital. Not in the sense that he only saw darkness, like when you close your eyes at night, nor in the sense as if he'd been blinded by a flashbang and persistence of vision was preventing him from seeing anything else, not even in the sense that his vision was blurry and he couldn't make out any details.

No. His sense of vision was purely and simply gone, like it had never existed.

Well, not exactly. His sense of vision was perfectly working, and could pick up all of the details of the well-lit corridor of the hospital he was in. What didn't work was his ability to be conscious of anything he saw that was not directly linked to the task he was currently doing. Meaning Aln, the archives and panels indicating the direction of the archives.

Any other information was transferred to the subconscious parts of his brain, which took care of the 'standing straight', 'walking' and 'avoiding other collision with other persons a bit too narrowly for their tastes' tasks on its own.

@Rushu42

[Fatebreaker]

Reshilore smiled awkwardly at the girl as she got closer to him. "Hi, lovely to meet you, um, Vivica. I'm okay without a coat for now, but thank you all the same." He made nervous eye contact with Victoria, asking silently with his eyes, "Is this safe?" She nodded curtly, most of her attention was on the boy who'd just come in.

Victoria smiled at the boy and took his hand, "Well, we'll do our best to help you." Just then, another patient entered. Sanax, from the same ward, Victoria had seen him before, but hadn't worked with him very much. She knew Sanax had displayed worrying tendencies in the past, though she wasn't sure of the severity. He greeted them, and Victoria was about to reply, when the earthquake slowed and eventually ceased. Reshilore breathed a sigh of relief, but Victoria knew that there could still be aftershocks. She was torn between sending Reshilore for help and having him stay with her so she wasn't the only sane person in the room. Ben seemed fine, but she had no guarantee that he was mentally stable. 

As she was trying to make a decision, Reshilore squeezed her hand, as if hearing her thoughts. "I'm staying right here, Vic. We can help these folks together." Victoria gave him a grateful smile as she squeezed his hand back. They would face whatever strangeness together. It'd be best to keep Vivica and Sanax separate, both have severe delusions and they could easily have a negative affect on each other. "Alright," she said as she turned to the others, "We need to remain calm, emergency personnel will be on their way. Now Vivica, would you keep an eye on Reshilore for me? He's a bit useless in emergencies, you see, always going on about his research." She gave Reshilore a nod, trusting him to get the message. He gave her a quick grin, and walked over to the girl. She turned to the two remaining patients, "Sanax, would you mind joining me in making some introductions? It might help Ben feel a little more welcome."

On the other side of the room Reshilore smiled at Vivica, in what he hoped was a friendly way and not a forward way.  "Well, Vivica, you said there was something strange about me? I hope I don't make you uncomfortable."

@ZincAboutIt @18th Shard @Ashbringer

[Rushu42]

The man in the suit sprinted off towards the exit, but Aln barely noticed him go. She held the papers clutched to her chest, mind whirring rapidly. They were almost certainly dealing with some kind of large-scale Forgery; that much had been corroborated by the symptoms expressed in the files. But setting a side the theoretical implications of such an action being possible for a moment, there was clearly something strange going on with the pattern of people regaining their memories. Perhaps it was simply an ordinary manifestation of a SoulForgery slipping; after all, there was hardly prior research on the topic of Forging entire cities. What really puzzled her were the other people that she'd encountered in the records room. Laurelai, at least, had clearly been looking for the same information that Aln had - but she'd fled without pushing the issue. What was she motivated by, then? And who had she been signaling?

A tremor ran through the building again, reminding her suddenly of where she was. Well, she'd gotten what she came for... mostly. She shoved the files into a pocket in her coat and strode down the hallway, heading towards the main exit. She hadn't gone far before she rounded a corner and nearly ran straight into Folorian.

"Folorian!" she said. "There you are - I think we need to get out of here. Something very strange is happening in this hospital."

@mathiau

Quote

I'll probably put an encounter with the shadow creatures in the next post (I doubt that Aln's plan to leave the hospital will go super well), but I wanted to reunite her with Folorian first.