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ximilialog2022-10-30 10:17 am
CONCLUSION: the voice in the dark
It’s All Hallow’s Day.
There’s a noticeable shift in the air now: it’s excitement and thrill and the underlying fear that comes with people playing silly scary games on purpose; it’s a safe kind of fear that only lasts for the season. The orbers in Forsythe Heights know better.
The group waits until the day slowly turns to evening, when most of the townspeople and their families have left their homes to trick-or-treat in the busier parts of town, leaving Coldfort Circle a quiet place unbothered by people coming or going through the night. They file into the small, suburban house which is bigger without all of the furniture but still a little cozy for a little over fifty people. The Darkling stays on ground level and begins to build walls of shadow, obscuring all the house’s openings from being seen from the outside. To any onlooker, the house will look as it always does: plain, empty, abandoned.
But it is anything but that. Dean leads the charge now, with Castiel not far behind, arms full of supplies: salt containers, paint, a bottle of holy oil and the tools to set it all a blaze in holy fire. They move into Sam Cooper’s old room which is where the TV and VCR are still sitting, and Dean directs Newt, Rosinante, Alina and Castiel to set up the devil’s trap and salt circle. Joric, Daryl, Yelena, Ed and Daisy bring up the rear, finding places around the room to perch and observe and provide any back-up for something they don’t quite understand and can’t seem to predict.
The VCR and television set are placed in the middle of the circle with not a single grain of salt out of place. Wei Wuxian approaches the machinery, carrying the dark plastic case in his hands. He passes it over to Gwen who knows how to use the equipment — and it becomes quite clear now that the tape and the machine have similar, matching markings, like a lock and key. Wei Wuxian frowns, sensing the resentful energy around the unlabeled, black cassette, like a sharp-clawed predator lying in wait.
The team had discussed the possibility of Freddie’s relation to the orb, or whether he was the orb, and had unanimously decided that either way, they would watch the VHS whatever came of it. It dares them now to slide the rest of the tape past the VCR machine’s mouth.
Gwen does.
Suddenly the room feels different. As if all of the sound has been sucked out from the space between these four walls, everyone will feel as though their breathing is too loud, like they can hear their own hearts beating (or pounding) as they stay safe within the salt circle they’ve created. And outside of that salt circle, a dim figure suddenly walks through the wall from the next room over and into Sam’s old bedroom. He looks between the group and the VCR and television already set up. His eyes are wide as he looks back to those in the room, searching for a familiar face to plead with. And then he steps forward, right past the circle, as though it means nothing to him.
The voice that speaks might be familiar to some: Ziggy, Daryl and Alina will have heard it before during their encounters. And Bucky will recognize the boy, who has now taken on more colour than Bucky had seen him the first time they met. As though Freddie needed to blend in with the rest of them, he almost looks as though he could have walked in from a neighbouring house, just another student from Forsythe Heights Elementary School. He stands there now in a plain white t-shirt and blue shorts, his hair a deep reddish-orange colour, but there’s something strange about him, something deep and empty in his eyes, like perhaps the image of him had never quite been finished.
He flickers out of sight, and then reappears again in another part of the room, right next to Ziggy. And then again next to Suzaku. Another line of evidence that disproves the team’s suspicions that he may have been a ghost; the devil’s trap and salt circles seem to have no effect on him. Whatever he is, it isn’t so simple.
Lan Wangji will immediately begin to try playing several different tunes on his guqin, one to lay a spirit to rest, and another to pull one away from the orb. Neither of these things seem to have an effect on the boy.
“What do you mean?” Clayton asks, keeping his voice steady.
“Sam isn’t coming back,” Gwen says gently, “I’m sorry.”
The video starts to play, the sound of tape being looped around plastic cogs before the dark, cracked television screen goes from black to blue before glowing an almost blinding orangey light.
A chorus of laughter in several tenors erupts from the screen, pulsating long tendrils of orange light out from the confines of the VCR and the television screen like fingers. It blows right past the circle made of salt, sending grains in every direction, and ignites the holy fire that had been set up as a trap. And Dean, Rosinante, and Joric will act accordingly, their distrust of Freddie and certainly everything surrounding him, pushing them forward in the direction of perhaps violently subduing the restless entity of mysterious origins.
The chorus laughs again, tendrils seeming to wrap themselves around the crew currently in the room, administering their worst fears and taunting them with enticing offers, lending its power once again to the things that Freddie appears to like best in an attempt to lure the other orbers forward. Shadows from the Darkling’s power begin to ooze into the room, turning on the orbers instead, locking them in a wall of his making. Meanwhile, the fire continues to spread, licking at the walls and the synthetic carpet, at the woodframes of the windows and the door.
“We need to leave now,” Itachi says.
“Quick!” Ziggy yells, “the orb!”
Gwen immediately dashes back towards the television set where a glowing orange sphere sits past the screen. When she pushes her hand through the monitor, she isn't met with any resistance, no image is being projected, and no movie is being played. Her fingers grasp at the orb, pulling it back out as the Cooper house slowly starts to fall apart under the destruction of the fast spreading fire. The Darkling’s shadow, no longer under any other power but his, recedes, and Freddie’s voice is an almost imagined whisper that the orbers might hear—
— before they’re being pulled back towards the station.
Just before the teleportation light of the Ximilia calls the crew back to the station, Castiel manages to briefly locate Sam Cooper outside of Forsythe Heights. He’ll see a grown man about the same age as his former best friend, Thom Harris, sitting at his desk in a corporate building in a bustling city. He’s surrounded by important papers and files, and tall floor to ceiling glass windows. But before Castiel can speak to the man, the sensation of being dragged upwards is too strong, and a flashing light blurs his vision.
The stark white of the station may be a jarring change, or perhaps it's a relief — whatever it is, one thing is clear: Forsythe Heights has been left behind, and the team is safely back on the station. As always, Viveca and Degar are there to meet the returnees; this time, though, the orb doesn't float, doesn't move from where it is in Gwen's hand. Degar's usual cheer is subdued, and there are hints of dark circles around his eyes; instead, it is Viveca who walks to where Gwen is, holds out her hand so that the orb can be given to her.
N O T E S
This is the end of the ninth mission! If your character goes back to review the mission file, they will notice that next to its name, a little check-mark in green has appeared.
This is not an official log — however, for the next week or so, your characters have downtime on the station and all its locations (aside from the north wing) are available.
Players are encouraged to make their own logs for what they do during the downtime.
Should characters want to talk to Viveca or Degar, they can do so here.
Finally, your soundtrack for this conclusion: ♪