[Lair Task] Inciting the Masses [Mort/Leo] (Fin)

[medigel]

OOC

[ Task of War: ] The Feud
This task requires a group of AT LEAST two initiated members (students or Horsemen), to a max of five members. They may go anywhere in the Human World using the portal catacombs in the Lair. These catacombs lead to small human world towns only. All players must follow these steps to successfully create a blight and then harvest the Fear the battle that results from this

gaia_crown [ Step 1: ]

- You reach a peaceful town, and there seems to be absolutely nothing wrong with the town yet. It is time for you to take reins (ahem) in this town. First you must give them all a reason to fight each other. Only when the battle has stirred can you harvest the most Fear from their hatred and paranoia. War can be violent but first, it must start out small, controlled, like building a fire before it spreads

Roll a 100-sided dice. You may do as many times as you want, you are creating SUSPICION AND PARANOIA. Once your paranoia level has hit over 20 paranoia points you are ready for the next step. Rp out your results as you roll.
- A humans CAN BE NPCED that means you can rp as many "humans" as you want, including dialogue, etc etc
- War clan members start the team off with an automatic +5 paranoia points

1- 20: You see two lovers nearby, at a lake. They leave their oddly coloured metallic mount at the side. You quickly destroy their mount, watching as the couple return and begin to blame each other. Simpletons. +1 paranoia points
21- 40: You see a group of humans at a camping site. You quickly destroy their belongings, their tiny cloth home perhaps, or their metallic mounts. The group slowly and surely dissolves into chaos as they get angry at each other for taking and trashing things. +2 paranoia points
41 - 60: You see a crowd of humans waiting for something. You whisper words to the humans in line. They should be first. Why are they waiting. The crowd quickly dissolves into chaos. +2 paranoia points
61 -80: You see a small, tiny, fluffy creature that resembles a foxfire. You try to instill paranoia to it. It simply yaps and is annoying and does nothing else +0 paranoia points
81 - 100: You see what looks like a nearby school. You quickly do what you do best: kill one of the school wardens and sling their body for all those in the school to see. They are terrified. +3 paranoia points.

gaia_crown [ Step 2: ] - AFTER THE GROUP TOTAL IS OVER 20 POINTS.

Chaos and paranoia now reign supreme. It looks like humans are already fighting amongst themselves. This is the easy part, all you have to do is reap the rewards, and make sure that they do NOT resolve their actions. Resolving actions would mean that you get no fear.

Roll one 6-sided dice: Each player can only do this TWO TIMES MAX. Rp out your horsemen watching the humans engage in war.

- For each 1 OR 6 rolled, the humans have successfully resolved their actions. (No Fear points for this set of humans)
- For each 2 or 3 rolled, the humans have successfully fought and killed themselves, you can +1 Fear point
- For each 4 or 5 rolled, the humans have fought and not only that, they have spread their quarrel to other humans. This is a huge success. +2 Fear points

Tall YOUR OWN ROLL RESULTS from this step. This is the amount of Fear Points you have gained from this.

 

[medigel]

No matter how many times Mort went to the Human World, he never would be able to get used to the bright pumpkin sun there - and unfortunately there was no helpful Salbei with handy head wraps to help him. As they left the newly decorated Lair, the zomboil issued a soft hiss and put up an arm over his eyes, tugging his hoodie up as quickly as possible. Still hot, unfortunately, but at least not blinded while being so.

The dusty land beneath the pair was wrought with dry cracks from many days without rain, and sometimes it crumbled underneath their feet. While they might have been out to make war, Mort personally felt like this could have been just as much famine due to the weather alone. Perhaps the lack of water would make the settlement easy to manipulate.

"This, ah your first task?" he asked, turning to the ghoul with squinty eyes. He remembered her from before, the one who usually stuck to Mei. The name was . . . uhhh . . . Jack, he was bad with names.  

[Ephebe]

Ugh, this place was bright. Leo shielded her eyes, squinting at her companion - at least the boil had a hood to shield him from the brightness. She wasn't nearly as lucky. "Ah no, I've already done a task with Mei before. To kill some humans and reap their FEAR." She shrugged, scanning the terrain. There didn't seem to be anyone in the immediate vicinity, but they weren't all that far off from the little town.

"Is this your first?" The Mare glanced back at the boil; he was probably older than her, and if she remembered right from seeing him around school, he was also in a higher year than her.

She'd dealt with the human killing better than she thought she would, but she'd still been a bit apprehensive when she signed up that this task might require more of the same. Thankfully, however, it didn't. If there was any killing to be done, it wouldn't be by them; they were only here to incite discord and war, and reap the FEAR benefits from their actions.

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

Mort shook his head and said, "Second. Did some things with alchemist n' Alex." It was surprisingly easy to resist the urge to flinch at the mention of killing, not because he necessarily condoned the action but rather because death was starting to permeate everything the students did - it was almost a given now that something or someone would die, or come close to dying, or go through the motions like the Trials. And for a moment he felt a pang of horror at himself for how numb he was starting to grow to it

"Should, ah, be easy to make anger," he went on, betraying nothing of the conflicting feelings within as he gave the ghoul a small smile. "Looks like having drought. Name's Mort by the way." He offered her a handshake. "Since only have two've us, think should stick together - j-just in case are Hunters about." Mort wanted to believe that they wouldn't stir trouble after they took back their people, but another concerning habit that he was developing was the grimly paranoid thought that there would always be some sort of meddling from their lot.

"When ready, lead the way."

Ephebe

 

[Ephebe]

"Oh, nice. You know Alex?" It was pretty cool, Leo thought, how everyone seemed to know everyone once you got to talking - she hadn't exactly been nervous about the upcoming task, but she had been a bit apprehensive. It was always slightly weird to collaborate with someone practically unknown on something so important, and knowing that he knew Alex made her feel like they had some common ground. Besides the obvious. "He's really awesome, yeah."

She nodded as she listened to Mort talking, taking his hand and giving it a firm shake when he offered it. "I'm Leo, and sure, that sounds like a good idea. We'd probably get more done if we split up, but we'd probably be more exposed too, so if you think there could be Hunters about, we'll stay together." She threw a friendly smile at him, please that he was thinking so far ahead when she hadn't even thought about how to begin yet.

"Right, off we go then!" She spotted a lake and what looked like two human figures nearby and promptly set off towards it, every so often looking back to check that Mort was following her.

As dry as the ground was from the heat, she should've expected the lake to be just as affected. Still, it was a bit jarring to see the puddle that had, obviously, once been a majestic lake. It'd once been a great deal larger, the water definitely been higher, and what was left now could barely even be classified as a lake.

Still, the two human figures - a couple cuddling, she could see now that she was closer - didn't seem to mind the state of their nature. They were wrapped up in each-other and didn't even notice the two students approaching.

But they weren't here to attack the humans, and so Leo looked for something that could help them spread dissent. There didn't really seem to be anything, unless -

Maybe this odd metallic mount that the humans had parked a little way away? Well, that could probably work. It'd have to, because she didn't see what else they could do here.

So she went for the mount. "Should we trash this?" She glanced at Mort and then back at the metallic thing. "How to go about this, hmm." She grabbed hold of it, but the thing seemed pretty solid - but as it turned out, it wasn't much of a challenge to a sturdy Monster girl. Putting the thing on the ground and jumping on it worked great, and although the mount wasn't destroyed, per se, it was definitely bent and wonky. "Think this'll do?"

((Paranoia Points: 1))

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

Leo! There we go. He remembered her now as one of the new ghouls from back in Arel's Office. "Good meeting, Leo," he said as they shook, adding with a chuckle, "Yeah Alex is, ah, 'zombro'. Been through some fun things together to get title." But story time was for later - for now, to war!

Mort kept his shuffling pace behind her, not in any particular rush as he cast a few glances about. Since it was only the two of them, he would feel responsible if anything bad happened during the task - hell, he'd feel responsible anyway just by nature of their differing years. Nobody had given him that courtesy as a first year, but . . . that was a very different time now in comparison. And there were very few students who chose to take on the mark; Mort not just responsible but compelled to watch over Leo with these reasons in mind.

That, and it was refreshing to see someone not burdened by death. Or at least not so bothered by it.

The zomboil smiled to himself as he reached Leo and the strange metal mount, inspecting the damage she wrought. "Mrrr . . . M'not an expert, but if is anything like tech I know, is trashed," he reported with a rap of his knuckles. "Good job!"

And speaking of which . . . Aha! There were several more not far from them. Mort passed Leo a grin and shambled over, thankful for the shade the trees provided. When he was sure no humans were about, he investigated the mount curiously, trying to see where he could pry his hands into . . . aha! Now why were all these things under the head -

Zzzzzzzzt!

And out crawled a slightly shaken Mort, who as he got to his feet heard the contraption hiss and sputter. "S-S-sometimes s-subtely is b-best," he excused himself with a wide grin, shaking his arm of surplus charges before going to town on the second one in a similar fashion. Two humans were coming to see what the strange noises were about, and Mort sidled past them to join Leo with a satisfied, almost boyish look on his face. The humans began to banter about what had happened, throwing about words like "overheated" and "should've gotten more gas".

"For bunch've stupid humans, have pretty nice things . . ."

(( +2

Total: 3 ))

Ephebe

 

[Ephebe]

"Yeah, I guess so. That was pretty awesome what you did there." Leo nodded to Mort with a grin on her face. It was definitely more subtle than her approach, that was for sure.

They were now a bit closer to the town, and after considering the human buildings, Leo spotted something that looked very familiar. "Hey, is that a school? I think we have our new target." She grinned again and set off towards the building in question; she'd spotted loads of human scarelings in the building, and, well, who panicked better than scarelings?

As she was crossing over to the fence to the school though, she was spotted by a human. A very angry human, a bit old she guessed and it looked to be male. It was shouting very loudly at her and as she slid down the fence and into the courtyard, she considered the fact that this human was not being discrete at all; more humans were bound to come investigate soon, or at least notice that something was going on. Oh jack, what if the Hunters Mort had spoken about were nearby and heard the shouting--? She had to do something about this human, quick before it alerted any Hunters in the area.

Luckily she'd come down from the fence behind a shed that was shielding her from the view of the main building, and as the human went to scold her up close and personal, Leo took quick action.

A hard punch to the stomach and the human folded in on itself; it was fairly easy to grab it while it was down on its knees and smash its head into the ground. She kept smashing, afraid that if she stopped it would start shouting again.

Soon her hands were splattered with dark red human blood, and the Mare finally stopped her motions, to stare disbelievingly at the human she'd... the human she'd killed. It wasn't moving, it's head was completely out of shape and there was so much blood - this wasn't what she'd come here for, at all! It was supposed to be a nice, harmless task to sow discord, not to, to, kill more humans!

But it'd been self-defense, right? The human had been shouting, and they couldn't risk the Hunters, not here, they'd be no match for a group of Hunters at all, just her and Mort. She looked up at him, a bit shell-shocked. "I, I had to do it. It was shouting and-" her mouth kept moving but the words weren't coming out. The last two human kills hadn't been this bloody, there was blood everywhere-

"We should... we should move it or something." It could still be a part of their task, right? She got up from the ground, wiping her bloody hands on the human's clothes and trying to lock her feelings away. She was fine with human killing, she was.

Dragging the human turned out to be pretty easy, although it'd be clear to anyone following the blood trail where it'd originally been attacked. That didn't matter anyway, and she deposited it in the middle of the courtyard, where it could be seen from every window in the school building. "We..." She cleared her throat and tried again, "We should get out of here before they find it. Or the Hunters come. We should really just get out of here." She sent him a strained smile before moving away from the school - she didn't get far before the screaming started, faint at first and then higher as the humans came to investigate.

Oh jack, this wasn't how she'd wanted to scare the scarelings at all.
((+3
= 6))

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

Mort rubbed the back of his neck with a self-conscious grin at her praise. "I-I try." But oh did he feel a little giddy - he was going to be an awesome big bro. Hopefully.

He followed Leo to the outskirts of a school, blinking up at the edifice with some curiosity. How many students were stationed there? Leo was correct, this would be an optimal place to get FEAR, especially if the occupants were young; those were the easiest to frighten and stir trouble with . . . But then, as he turned the corner to follow her over the fence, something went wrong. Maybe the human was like those Hunters and could see the shifting shadows Halloweeners made, or maybe Leo had manifested herself too early.

Either way, one minute Mort saw the man shout and move towards her, and the next he was down and out and there was red everywhere.

The zomboil stood stunned for a few moments before he heard Leo's voice cracking, and as hastily as he could he joined her. "S'alright, s'alright . . . Y-Yeah, let's move . . ." Mort grasped the human's legs and helped bring the body out to the courtyard, whereupon he dropped the corpse and sighed quietly. "Jack . . . Needs be careful, Leo." But there was no disapproval or disappointment in his tone - rather, he sounded sympathetic. He gazed at the corpse with a grim look before clasping the ghoul's shoulder as a signal for them to get going; the screams they left behind gave him an unpleasant thrill.

Not knowing his way around the town, eventually Mort stumbled back into the wooded area from before, the shadows a glad reprieve from the burning sun. "S'alright," he said gently once they were there. "S'okay, mkay? Only was one, n' was old. Would've panicked too if human saw me. Just, ah, means shouldn't try going back there. Town's big enough." He offered her the best smile he could and then went to work.

Despoiling food stores onto sleeping bags, leaving the leftover trash strewn about the campsite . . . It felt less like making war and more like making mischief. But Mort scrambled away when he heard the crash of footsteps in the underbrush, returning to their spot with a huff and a handwipe over his mouth. "S-So, ah . . . first year?" he guessed, trying to dispel the gloom hanging over her.

(( +2
Total: 8 ))

Ephebe

 

[Ephebe]

Leo nodded despondently to his words. Yeah, going back to the school would definitely be a bad idea now. They'd have to find some other way to make mischief.

Like the camping site. He did a good job, she distantly thought as she watched him in action. Very thorough. But all her mind kept bringing up was the look of the human's head after she'd bashed it in and the blood on her hands was itching. "First year? Oh." She blinked, coming out of her thoughts to look at the zombie boil. "Yeah, I'm a first year." Best to keep talking, keep distracted - "I've been a first year for a while though, but I had some family troubles and my grades were always pretty bad and I couldn't keep up in classes. I'm doing better now, though. I'm hoping to advance soon, so I can still be in classes with Mei and such. What about you?"

Ol-j-man

Leo just needs a little break so she can get back to herself, I hope that's OK! <33 Will get right back on rolling after it

 

[medigel]

For a while, huh? The way Leo described her situation was just like Bells . . . "Since two weeks ago, third year," Mort answered as he leaned against a tree. "M'guessing by way of phrasing that Mei is second year then? Good, good . . . Tests aren't terribly hard, if you're wondering." Well, so he suspected. One friend's had simply been rope swinging from building to building while his had been a full on obstacle course. "N' even if you fail, still puts you in second year. So try best but don't worry if fail." He flashed her a smile. "Hell, I fell into pit right at beginning of test but still s-somehow made it."

Stupid pits. Zombies weren't meant to jump such far distances.

Mort then paused to look around the tree trunk and see if the humans were drawing near. Nothing told him so, but if one human could see them . . . "Mrrr. Should get going." He bounced himself up from the tree and readjusted his hoodie, glancing at the blood on Leo's hands. "You, ah, want to wash up before going out?" he asked.

Ephebe

NP~

 

[Ephebe]

She returned his smile, feeling a bit more grounded now. "Yeah, that's true - I hadn't really thought of it like that, I was just so worried about doing better."

"Right, that's probably a good idea." She nodded determinedly and marched in the direction of the small stream she'd heard nearby. Washing took a bit of time, if only because the blood had started to dry. Her shirt was probably a lost cause, but she did manage to get the red liquid off of her hands and arms.

"Okay, where to next? Hmm..." As she stood there thinking about their next course of action, an odd yipping noise came from behind her. Turning around, Leo spotted a little... foxfire? No, not quite, but it looked pretty close. It certainly had the fur down pat, although less colourful than what the average foxfire sported. "Huh, what're you?"

Maybe... maybe she could use this? Crouching down beside the thing (it was surprisingly cuddly and immediately attached itself to her leg), the Mare focused her FEAR and tried to instill paranoia in the little creature. Surely that would work?

Surely not. The little foxfire-thing just kept looking up at her with adoring brown eyes all the while. Despairing, she stopped her efforts and stared at the little creature accusingly. It stared back.

In the distance came a sound that sounded suspiciously like someone shouting 'Fluuuuuuffyyyyyy' and the little foxfire-thing cocked its head, gave her one last look and a lick on the leg before running off in the direction of the yell.

Right. So that'd been weird, and entirely un-productive. "I think... that was a definite bust." She got up and threw a smile at Mort. "So, where to next?"

(+0
=8 ))

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

Worried about getting better? He knew that feel, bro. He knew that feel so deeply. He still knew that feel, ever as a third year.

Mort shambled right along after her to the river, hesitating at the bank as she washed. Water and him . . . didn't get along for various reasons. Would human water agitate him more? Bracing himself and rerouting energy as best he could, he inched towards the water and slowly reached a hand down, an invigorating shiver traveling up his arm when he made contact. Mort washed his hands as quickly as possible and flicked the cold water off like an unwanted insect, glad for the chill but nevertheless wary of accidentally shocking himself.

He turned to see Leo had attracted a . . . minipet? Did humans have those? This one looked like a foxfire, but slimmer. Even though the ghoul failed to scare it, Mort chuckled as the thing gave her a lick and ran off. "Guess, ah, sometimes ignorance means bravery," he commented before nodding and leading them back to the town.

He hadn't meant to land them near another school. Really. Mort was just walking wherever the road took them. But this time would be different, he told himself. He could lead by example and maybe get Leo something better out of this than how to make humans angry, which as far as he was concerned was a minor skill. Was paranoia useful? Yes. But frankly he just liked outright scaring them. At least very little could go awry with that.

Mort crept through the open gate and motioned for Leo to follow as quietly as she could. "Humans can't see normally," he explained. "Not unless m-manifest ourselves. But still should be careful - some've them could've been Hunters if they'd been found by recruiters." Like that old man back a-

Stop it. Focus.

It looked as though there was some sort of lunch break going on, as there was a mass of students in their creepateria. As the pair moved along, smaller groups outside also became apparent, either to eat their food in the shade or to play on the equipment set aside for them. The scarelings looked like they were, what, ten? eleven? "Young humans are best targets," he told Leo. "Have biggest imaginations n're more open to influence of FEAR."

Spotting two males beginning to fight, Mort crept closer. What they were fighting about he didn't know, but the boils were entangled and throwing punches and attracted the attention of an older, thin woman wearing an ID. A professor maybe? She sought to end their conflict and, given the nature of their task, Mort knew he had to stop her. So he modulated a small amount of energy in his fingertips and sent a branch of electricity to stun her.

Whether it was residual water or miscalculation, however, the woman instead crumpled to the ground and began to convulse. The two scarelings immediately stopped their fight and shouted for help, and in seconds the whole of the playground was abuzz and drawing near. Mort stood mortified, tennis-balling his gaze between the woman and his traitor hand, as humans gathered, whispering, crying, yelling. And when he finally had the mind to stumbled back, he watched her convulses cease and her breathing halt. From one of the buildings nearby ran two humans in blue.

He hadn't - what - but it had been a small shock -

"I-I-I . . ." His voice failed him. He would've been rooted to the spot if it didn't look as though there would be more commotion soon, and with a pained expression he turned to Leo, tried to say something, and failed. All he could do was motion for them to get out and start for the gate.

(( +3
Total Points: 11 ))

Ephebe

 

[Ephebe]

Leo followed Mort, as shocked as he was. She kept glancing back over her shoulder, disbelieving. Once they got to the gate, she steered them back towards the woods - this seemed much safer than staying in town, or worse yet, going back to the school.

Once they entered the protective canopy of the trees, she turned to look at him. "What..." She gestured fruitlessly, trying to find the words. "What happened? I thought you were just going to, uh..." She trailed off again, looking clueless. He'd just meant to scare them, right? She thought he'd meant to show her how it was done, but then the woman, she...

Ah sod this. She took a step closer and laid a hand on his shoulder, looking determined and trying to be comforting. "It's okay, it happens. You don't need to worry, they were only -" she hesitated for a second, "only humans. And accidents happen."

She gave his shoulder a squeeze and sent him a tight smile; she meant well, but she wasn't quite sure how to get it across. No-one would judge him for killing a human. Not here.

Slipping her hand off his shoulder and scanning the underbush, she noticed - another campsite? Yeah, that was definitely the back of one of those human tents like the ones she'd seen earlier. With a more relaxed smile to the zombie boil, Leo beckoned him towards the campsite. "Come on, let's get some harmless discord going."

Ripping their little tent apart was pretty easy, and as she was done, a small group of humans made their way into the clearing. As soon as they saw the remains of the tent, they started shouting, and Leo watched on with a bit of triumph. So easy. She moved back to stand beside Mort, nudging him slightly with her elbow. "So, where to now?"

((+2 = 13))

Ol-j-man

 

[medigel]

"Mrr . . . Overloaded somehow," Mort murmured, casting Thor a dark look. His palm, home to the fragment gifted by Medea, pulsated innocently. "Accidents happen, yes, but . . . Was hoping to be better example than that. Will try harder, Leo."

She didn't have to judge him; he did a fine job of that on his own.

Still, her words and her touch pulled him from the temptation to brood, and with a nod he watched her decimate the camp of another human family. It was hard to stay down when the ghoul came back with such a triumphant air. "What do? Mrrr . . ." Well they had another metal mount hanging around, so . . .

Zzzzzzzzzt! Out went a discharge of green lightning, followed by a satisfactory hiss and moan from the engine; one of the wheels also looked punctured, overwhelmed by the overcharged air held within.

"Now try t-to have fun, I guess," Mort answered with a little smile of his own. "N', ah, get to know fellow Initiate. Think've us as small new family, mm? Lessee. Foxfire thing seemed to like - have any minipets?"

(( +2 = 15 ))

Ephebe

 

[Ephebe]

"You're still a good example, don't worry. You're handling this much better than I was, and if that's not something to learn from, I don't know what is." She sent him an encouraging smile.

She watched with interest as he disabled another one of the strange metal mounts. He was pretty darn good with electricity, wasn't he? Leo had no real technical skills to speak of, and she was always impressed by people who did.

"A little family?" She thought that one over for a second before smiling. "Yeah, I guess we kinda are. There's not a lot of us, so I guess we'll be spending a lot of time together as a group." She nodded along to her own words.

"Oh yeah, minipets! I've got a Pathling and a boat-load of Fruttens. Like, a little horde of Fruttens. They're awful for my room but I love them. What about you?" She threw a grin at him and poked the metal mount, trying to find anything else in the vicinity to wreck. There didn't seem to be anything left; they'd been pretty thorough as a team.

"Right, let's get back to town and find something else to do." She set off in the direction of the town, checking for any humans to mess with along the way. There didn't seem to be any in this part of town, sadly, and pretty soon she was standing in front of the school again. There still seemed to be scarelings in there, and she spotted a few of the older humans as well.

She glanced at Mort, looking a bit unsure. "I... guess this is a pretty sure bet for racking up the humans' paranoia. Let's give it one more go, then." She moved towards one of the smaller playgrounds in the courtyard, bypassing the scarelings and aiming for the older human female sitting with a few smaller ones in the sandbox.

No-one seemed to notice the Mare, which was a plus; another sensitive human like the first one and she'd probably have lost her nerve. As it was, it was easy to push the surprised older female back and climb onto its stomach to strangle it. It took a few minutes, but not nearly as many as Leo had feared it would - her natural ability made sure the human couldn't fight back, and so the fuss was kept to a minimum. Most of the scarelings had scattered, probably looking for another one of the older wardens to help them, and the few that were left were either screaming or staring at the corpse with a horrified expression. So it was still effective. Frankly she didn't know why the school hadn't sent home its scarelings yet, with all the deaths. Surely that was the normal procedure? But whatever, it was to their advantage.

Quickly moving off of the body, Leo went to stand by Mort's side again. She didn't say anything, but the silence was more determined than traumatized this time.

((+ 3 = 18 ))

Ol-j-man

oh god dice, why do you do this