THE GRAVEYARD

[divus]

THE LANDING

You’re having an out of body experience. That’s how it starts, dying. There isn’t any pain anymore, and for a moment, not much of anything else. Your thoughts are a dim hum in the back of your brain, the tips of your fingers seem miles away. Despite that, you find yourself moving, moving, moving from the last place you were in your own body and forward, until you reach a door that you haven’t seen since the beginning of the game. A door that wouldn’t open. A door cold to the touch and seeping with mist. It opens before you, and as if of someone else’s design you walk through it. As it closes behind you, you get the distinct feeling that if you turned around, you’d find it vanished.

What takes up most of your attention, however, is the tolling of church bells. They clang in rhythmic, almost maddening persistence--seems you’re just going to have to try and ignore them, as they show no signs of slowing or stopping, wherever they are.

Once the cacophony becomes easier to manage, the bong, bong, bonging evening out to a pulse inside your ears, you realize that where you are seems to be a world that's incomplete. The floor is nothing but a landing of invisible matter, a spooled red carpet leading you to a few rows of pews and a lone confessional.

You will notice, immediately ahead of you, a cute little mailbox fit for a suburban home. It bids you welcome, though the cheery paint job is a bit muted in this dark place.

Simple and neat furnishings dot the edges of where the landing seems to be: railings mark the unseen edges and draperies and sconces float in the void, giving an illusion of walls. Be careful, however, because they can easily be fallen through if leaned against. Fortunately, someone seems to have kept that in consideration, as a helpful sign warns just this.

On one side of the confessional, a room with bookshelves, a writing table, and pens and paper has been provided: a minimalist study for when you need a bit of privacy to think. On the other side, a wing of dorm-sized, lockable bedrooms provide another bit of space to oneself. There may not be enough for everyone, but nobody really has to sleep--so just take turns!

To the left of the pews, it looks like a miniature bar has been crafted with a small but decent selection of drinks. There's a small television seated on the counter, but it only seems to ever work two times a week: the week's opening announcement on Monday mornings, and Saturdays, tuning in at the beginning of the trial and tuning back out again at its conclusion. There's also a piano to one side of the bar, allowing anyone to provide musical accompaniment to their drinking.

Perhaps most interestingly, an ornate black doorway at the far end of the room leads to a curving hallway that ultimately leads to what appears to be a temple. It's similar to the altar room they'll remember from the living side, but there are no power inscriptions, and the only furnishings are wavering, grayscale candles on the walls that never seem to burn low and great sculptures of leaping rams. The two black-marble statues meet in the center, curved horns joined above a platform, decorated with nothing but a lone offering bowl. The dark marble of the item is cracked, but it seems like it'll still get the job done. Try sending something, if you wish!

Maybe this place is meant to be more. But for now, Patience is the only notable figure you have to place your attention on, and she comes forward to welcome you immediately.

"Welcome to my dominion," she greets in her usual, cheerful candor, and points at your hand, where you hold your godly token. "Now that you've been eliminated, I'll take that back and return it on your behalf. Don't worry, though, I'm not leaving you empty handed."

OOC NOTES

Hello, eliminated competitors, and welcome to the graveyard. Although it isn't much to look at, now, this area will be growing and expanding in time with the help of your characters' actions and participation in weekly events. What they unlock will have an impact on the living side, overarching plot elements, and ways to communicate between both planes!

When it seems like there isn't much to do, there's always one option left: gathering information. So sit back, enjoy the afterlife, and put on your thinking cap!

full navigation.

locations ♦ taken ♦ profiles ♦ weekly curfew ♦ murder proposals
ic rulebook ♦ temple offerings ♦ private convos

Comments

[sedulitas]

[ unlike a very angry 12 year old that comes in like a storm. here's jude who for someone has just been brutally murdered, is pretty calm about the whole ordeal. if anything he's just going to be surprised. ]

So, is this what happens to us?

[ he kind of...expected to, dunno, be dead dead. ]

[hymned]

[ julius is. hm, very deliberately calm. ]

Apparently so. This much was mentioned relatively early, at least, but I suppose it's one thing hearing about it and another thing entirely to be...

Well, not living it, but.

[sedulitas]

[ hello julius...sorry about saving your murderer?? ]

Yeah, I mean... [ he'll grab a hold of his forearm. ] There was the possibility of them lying to us about this happening.

A lot the finer details of how things worked kind of became more apparent later on, after all. Or I guess we just missed out on it.

[hymned]

[ don't be. he would have done more to take her down with him instead of leaving absolutely nothing on his end to indicate her if he'd thought at all it was premeditated.

shame it was all in vain anyway, but what's one more regret to the many he already has. ]

True enough.

[ he sighs, just a little, inclining his head to indicate a small stack of stuff over on the counter of the bar, topped with a... probably cold by now plate of mabo curry I don't know how convection in the gy works. there's no microwaves or stoves here I'm so sorry jude. ]

Ludger left that for you, I'm pretty sure, and there's probably other things for you in there too.

[sedulitas]

[ excuse you what? also cold curry is better than no curry. ]

Ludger did...?

[ cue jude wandering over to the table to look at what was left for him and just— ]

There's a note from Senri too.

[ wow now this is unfair and didn't even know that this was something he could do. ]

[hymned]

[ what!! ]

I get the feeling that many on the side of the living weren't aware they could do this and that we would actually receive it.

[ or maybe they didn't think that it had a point, who knows. ]

[sedulitas]

[ you heard me!!!!

though almost immediately: ]

What are the requirements of us being able to send them things?

[hymned]

[ I don't actually know what you're going EXCUSE!!! at me for it's one I haven't had my coffee julius is smarter than me!!!

but he inclines his head towards the ominous black doorway. ]

We have our own facsimile of an offering room just through that hallway. It's nothing as fancy as we had over on that side, but it seems to work all right considering that the living managed to receive at least some of our letters. I don't know if everything makes it through, considering that Patience is responsible for bringing the things sent to us over.

Ah. If you're wondering why we didn't send anything over sooner- that would be because before Dr. Geiszler, Luna, and Ai arrived, we had to create the connection to that room ourselves. This was a much emptier area when I arrived two weeks ago.

[goatsongs]

[weirdly this isn't much better]

Some of us are in another part of the graveyard, for some reason, but yeah.

...Sorry about what happened to you.

[sedulitas]

I was noticing that. [ hmmm... ] No reason for why we've been separated so far..?

[ the apology makes him feel a little weird and sad all at the same time. ]

But it's okay; it's not as though you had a hand in it.

[goatsongs]

Patience isn't that good at making these spaces yet.

[mrrm.]

It's not, but maybe if I'd been a little less stupid I'd still have been on that side, and I could have done something.

[sedulitas]

I see.

[ he smiles a little. ]

Thank you, but the same could be said about me. If things had been different—I'd still be there.

[goatsongs]

Nope. You get a twenty-four hour post-mortem pass on being called out for any stupidity.

[he's absolutely making this up]

[sedulitas]

Really? Why only twenty-four hours?

[ yeah but jude will believe it. ]

[goatsongs]

Because I didn't think you'd accept a permanent pass.

[artificialhighness]

[Mood. It's debatable whether he wants to share a mood with this one. She's still reading after Ray came whirlwinding through, and doesn't look up.]

If there's something else to come, I haven't seen nor heard of it.

[Why can't she just answer the question 2k19.]

[sedulitas]

[ it's okay...jude will be okay with it. ]

I see... Well, I suppose time will tell.

[ because he wanted to know for certain: ]

You were the one who killed Fortune, right?

[artificialhighness]

[Well, they have plenty of time. For all kind of conversations, apparently. Luna does look up from her book, but she doesn't seem surprised to be asked.]

Yes.

It seems you all did well that week.

[Probably it was a week or so ago, given the timing of their slightly unreliable telethons. She sounds just a touch like a schoolteacher giving grades, for some reason.]

[sedulitas]

Thanks..?

[ her reactions are weird but okay??? at least she's agreeable. ]

Could...you tell me why? It was the common belief that it was likely because you wanted to eliminate the number of gods that could win.

[artificialhighness]

[Have her reactions ever been normal, Jude—]

That would be more or less correct.

[Annd you made the professorial tone slightly worse. Or perhaps she’s simply reciting now, as though from a script or from memory. There’s no particular emotion to it.]

More gods means less consensus. Reduce the number of gods, and the game may be shortened, or consensus may be reached more easily.

tmw i thought i hit post comment and i didn't....................

[sedulitas]

[ look. jude is used to abnormal. ]

It sounds reasonable but—

[ but what? it was within the rules of the game and killing was part of the system in place. the only thing that really stood out was something they learned during trial. ]

No, I can understand where you're coming from. I just think it was cruel to go after someone who couldn't defend themselves.

[arockstar]

Yep. Welcome to the party.

[Jude may or may not have realized Newt was lurking nearby since he's lying on a pew and isn't bothering to get up to greet the new arrivals. Instead, a wine glass raises from the pew in mock toast.]

Who did you in?

[sedulitas]

[ jude wouldn't have but he remains calm for it. ]

This is the most parties I've been to in a while...

[ you know because there was a party just before he died and now there's a ""party"" here? yeah. humor? ]

It was Guy—I think you might have spent time with him?

[arockstar]

Huh. No kidding. I didn't think the kid had it in him. Any idea why he went after you?

[He shrugs.]

Eh, we spoke once or twice. That was about it.

[in_a_bottle]

Sadly.

[Ai's sitting on a pew, but she looks a little more... corpse-y than the last time she was seen alive. Bluish-grey, covered in bandages, eyes a darker red, and honestly probably decomposing. She looks cautiously at Jude.]

Patience is in charge here, and way too happy about it.