- Spoiler:
- Job:
Job: Nightmare Incarnate: The Beginning
Rank: C-Rank
Player Requirements: Maximum number of players is ten and the minimum is 2 D ranks. 10 posts per player minimum unless soloing(due to being higher than D rank) then 20 posts. 150 words per post.
Job Requirements: At least 2 D rank mages or the equivalent of. Find out what happened to the rune knights and escape while you are still sane.
Job Location: Spooky Forest
Job Description: One day you receive a large box from the mailman. After inspecting it, you see that it doesn't say anywhere what's inside or why it's been sent to you. All that is written on the box is your name as the recipient and the initials "SM".
Upon opening the box you discover that it's contents are a hardcover book, which upon closer inspection proves to be a person called Samuel Martin's personal diary, and a voice recorder lacrima, both covered in blood stains. Did that man send you this package? Despite the bad feeling you have, you open the book and skim through the entries.- Spoiler:
- "12 February, Day 647.
Today was a fun day. Me and Mary went on a picnic near the forest and spent the whole day talking about meaningless things. It really was a blissful experience and since she didn't have any problems today we were able to forget about reality, even if for just a day."
"19 February, Day 654.
It happened again. Mary collapsed again today and started mumbling about magical gates and how everything is going to be a nightmare. This is happening more and more often and I am getting really concerned now. No doctor knows what's wrong with her..."
"25 February, Day 660.
This is really getting out-of-hand! With each passing day Mary becomes more and more delirious. I don't know what to do any more. I've contacted every doctor and every mage I could find, but no one knows what's wrong with her. There has to be someone that can help..."
"1 March, Day 664.
This is my last hope. I contacted an exorcist who is said to be able to cure cases like Mary's. He's going to come tomorrow night. Maybe the end of this nightmare would finally come."
"2 March, Day 665.
It's a little before midnight now. The priest is going to come any minute and put Mary's troubled mind to peace once again."
"3 March, Day 666.
I... don't believe it. I remember last night... the purification ceremony... then something happened and I was sent flying, and Mary ran away towards the Spooky Forest. When I came to, the priest was lying on the ground with his heart gourged out. What on Earth happened last night? There's no time to waste, I know she's somewhere in the forest so I have to find her. I'll contact a couple friends from the Rune Knights and we'll set off to search for her. Please be okay, my love..."
From that point onward all pages are ripped from the book. After putting the diary down, you activate the recorder lacrima.
"Date- 4 March. Time- 1:43 PM.
This is Lieutenant Jacob Lars, recording an audio log to document the investigation and search. I am assigned due to my expertise in the field of demonology. It seems that a woman has been possessed by an unknown type of entity, presumably a type of demon, and has escaped in the Spooky Forest. We are currently within the said forest ourselves, having a local guide us through. For some reason when we entered it a thick, almost unnatural, fog descended upon us but we were capable of navigating through the dense vegetation regardless. Currently we are standing in a forest clearing about 2 klicks north of the entrance. So far there's no sight of of neither hostiles nor the woman. It's unnaturally quiet. A bad omen."
"Date- 4 March. Time- 2:30 PM.
This is Lieutenant Jacob Lars documenting the investigation and search for the possessed woman in the Spooky Forest. This is log number two. It's been nearly an hour since the previous log and we've spent the time delving further north into the forest. It's crazy here. Everywhere you look there are huge trees and if you look up there is nothing but branches and leaves. The vegetation on the higher levels of the forest is incredibly dense, so there barely is any light down on ground level. It almost feels like we're alone in another world with no way out, and that damn fog isn't helping either. All this is taking it's toll on the minds of the others.
We're nearing another clearing. I guess we'll rest there for a while."
"Date- 4 March. Time- 2:45 PM.
This is Lieutenant Jacob Lars documenting the investigation. This is audiolog number three. Things are not looking good. The others are getting seriously paranoid and I can't really blame them. This place plays with your mind in a very freaky way. A few minutes ago we continued moving deeper into the forest, following our course north. The guys are really getting worried now. They say that every now and then they see someone's silhouette in the distance, just beyond the fog, watching them. Observing their every move. I have yet to confirm the existence of this shadow, but if it is there then it might be the woman we were sent to find. Next time the silhouette makes an appearance we'll go after it."
"Date- 4 March. Time- 666:666 PM.
*The sound of someone's ragged breath mixed with their crazed running could be heard for several minutes. After that the barely audible thud, as if someone being hit against a tree, interrupts the running*
This is Leu*static*nt Jacob *pant* Lars. We *static*eed help! We...we got sep*static*ed and the *static* took us out *pant* one by one. It's b*static*n watching us all along! Tor*static*ring us while studying it's *pant* prey. It's close, *static* the only one left *static* coming f*static* me. *static* *static* *static* the time *static* thre *static* ourty-five. (after that point the static becomes too great and you can't understand anything)
Having listened to the lacrima, it's as if more questions have emerged than been answered. Who sent you these items? How do they know your name? What happened to the Rune Knights? What did they find in that forest?
It seems that you have no choice but to go there and find out yourself.
Weak: Disturbing sounds- Are those footsteps? A demented laughter somewhere in the distance? A person's dying screams? Is that a whisper you can hear, carried in the wind? This place is really freaky...
(Causes paranoia or similar effects, depending on your character. Strong-willed characters or people with a great ability to maintain their calmness can resist this to a great extent, though not completely. Having multiple weak enemy dices means that these sounds "stack", and so their effect becomes greater and perhaps even capable of breaking even the toughest of people. Duration is 3 posts.)
Normal: Poltergeists- Trees falling down, rocks suddenly shooting towards you, having your body strongly pushed away without any explanation. These anomalies can deal some serious damage or scare the living daylights out of you. They might even separate you from your allies. Be on guard. (Single poltergeist per normal monster encounter.)
Strong: The unknown figure- You can feel it, can't you? Just beyond the mist, it's hollow eyes staring right into your soul, sending ice-cold chills down your spine. No matter where you look it's there. Always watching, always moving. And no matter what you do, it's always just beyond the mist.
(Greatly frightens you, triggering your fight or flight mechanism. Whether you choose to attack or run away and hide depends on your character's personality. If this occurs in the early stages of the mission, before you've encountered the other anomalies much it will not have that great an effect. Encountering this in the later stages, however, will trigger your fight or flight mechanism, guaranteed.
Duration is 4 posts, extended depending on number of strong monster encounter dices rolled.)
Boss: Fear impersonated- Your time is up. The chase is over and now you must die. And it is coming to do just that. The unknown figure that had been stalking you until then finally appears before you, for better or worse. It's a humanoid about 2,5 metres tall, clad in black, but that's all you can make out of the figure.
It's attacks are unnaturally fast, it's reach long and it seems that it can attack you with it's tentacles, cutting you with them and letting you bleed. (This is a B-rank monster. Also please note that defeating it means that it does not die. Instead it escapes back into the mist, which gets raised soon after, and leaves behind several torn pages).
Reward: 1,000 jewels. If the boss has appeared and was defeated, the extra reward is part of the ripped pages from the diary received in the beginning of the mission. Those pages grant access to the next Nightmare Incarnate mission.
’This place…is depressing.’
A few small voices in the back of the girl’s head advised her to turn around, to leave this wretched and cursed place alone, but scarier than the looks of these woods was how easy those voices were to ignore. An indescribable feeling forced the short mage here in the first place like the occasional instinct she couldn’t ignore, except stronger. Absentmindedly a hand reached into the side satchel to extract the beaten and torn journal, sad green eyes cast down in morbid curiosity. Out of all the fictional stories she read, Mao preferred those that ended happily for the main characters because it elicited some belief in hope.
This journal drained any such notions.
It detailed a poor woman’s descent into madness and potential possession with her helpless lover forced to watch. Even the promised aid proved fruitless - and if the last entry was to be believed, turned deadly towards the man of God. What happened to the owner of this forgotten diary? ’Then again, what of the other group?’ The thought occurred as her hand brushed another foreign object in her bag, a lacrima she’d covered in an old handkerchief as the blood refused to be cleaned. Neither owner could be found unfortunately as the bunny-eared girl tried on the off chance. Between one of the offices of the Rune Knights – who were just as clueless as she on the whereabouts of Jacob Lars – and the empty, last reported residence of one “Samuel Martin” the woman had little to go on aside from the fact one man needed to report back to his superiors and the other hadn’t picked up any of his newspapers or mail in some time.
More worrisome from the aforementioned facts: who sent her these items?
Why her? Before today Mao didn’t know the names “Jacob Lars” or “Samuel Martin,” never mind this “Mary” who captivated Mr. Martin’s heart and life. What became of her in the end? Did she, or the demon inhabiting her – if it was a demon – harm the other men? What of the squad lead by the lieutenant? Whoever sent the items, their handwriting was definitely not the same as the journal so it couldn’t have been the unfortunate lover, yet it only evoked the slightest hint of curiosity from her and for whatever reason Mao couldn’t be bothered to question it nearly as much as the items.
’This is starting to feel like a trap…and yet,’ almost inaudibly the mage sighed, ’I can’t bring myself to turn back now. If any answers are to be found, it’ll be somewhere in here.’ She couldn’t even ask a single guild member for help on the matter, the notion beyond grasp inexplicably. ’It’s probably best not to bother someone else anyhow. Some answers can only be found alone.’ So why did that feel so lonely?
Something snapped her out of the momentary trance, the sharp sound of a twig cracking in half caused the girl to turn around…and blink. ”What…? Who…? Why…?” So many specific questions in so little time, but if Mao had to choose which one to have answered first it’d probably be the last as it felt the most important. Though “How” now sounded like a good choice too, curious how the two men stumbled upon her in the first place.
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