3 The Swamp

[SOTF: Discord]

At the feet of the mountains lies a big swamp spanning a big part of the island's western side. The (former) inhabitants of the island have done a good job in marking and creating safe paths, but a few steps in the wrong direction can still be deadly. Furthermore, many of the markings and warning signs are hard to spot at night, making this area a dangerous place to travel... or a good hiding spot. All a question of perspective.

[SOTF: Discord]

[+] I Survived Blighttown and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt

jillz [abel/harriet i guess idk] — 09/24/2021 11:11 PM
Name: I Survived Blighttown and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt
Time: Day 1 a lil' before noon I guess
Status: Closed

jillz [abel/harriet i guess idk] — 09/24/2021 11:12 PM
((Chloe starts here))

Chloe didn't know where she was going. But it didn't super matter, because she'd be whimpering along the way anyway.

It was so hooooooooooooooot

But she had to keep trudging along, through the mud and leaf things and whatever. Behind her gunshots already started going off followed by piercing screams that kept ringing in her ears. Like damn people, it wasn't even two hours yet. She couldn't stop, just yet.

Maybe if she kept walking, she could just walk right off the Earth. Anything was better than here with these idiots.

The mud squished under the equally muddy soles of her boots, doing their best to keep it from riding up her jeans but it was pretty futile. But there wasn't really anywhere else to walk, other than back there, or right in the water, which… lol.

She looked back up at the sky, the sun continuing to beat down despite still being sometime midmorning maybe.

Urrrrrgh.

Swear to God, when she was outta here she'd-

A tree root or something snagged on her foot. Chloe caught it in time to spin around in place, but not enough to actually really do anything other than fall right on her butt. Everything that went down with her was painted in mud.

She wanted to scream, to die, right there. Just take her fucking now.

…

She grabbed the half-caked backpack by the strap and slapped it back down in the mud, splashing a little of the mud back up. She pounded her hands down once or twice for good measure.

And then, she just sat there in the stillness of the swamp.

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 09/25/2021 7:24 PM
"Hey."

[[She Found Out What She Was In The Dark]]

"Do you need some help?"

The girl on the ground looked pathetic. Not exactly covered in mud and grime, but still dirty as all Hell. Apparently it hadn't taken long for things to go to shit for her.

She didn't recognize her. Not when she was looking at the back of the sitting girl's head. She didn't think she would recognize her face either.

It didn't matter. She had time to figure things out. To learn who she was.

jillz [abel/harriet i guess idk] — 09/26/2021 12:25 AM
"What does it look like to you, I'm clearly doing just great," Chloe whispered under her breath after the silence was broken by a new entrant to the scene.

She breathed heavy a few times, ending with a huff before replying to the new girl. "Nah, I'm fine. Just... ya know. Need a minute, I guess. I don't know yet."

Chloe sighed again, this time turning her shoulder around to get a better look at the new person. At least her glasses avoided the splashback.

"Oh, it's you." A smile formed on Chloe's face for a split second before collapsing into a frown, one even bigger than her natural RBF. Her hand moved to push her blonde bangs out of the way but stopped at the sensation of the mud slipping around the outside of her palm. "Sorry. Been a long day."

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 09/26/2021 12:56 AM
There were whispers, but she couldn't understand them. She doubted they mattered anyway.

She was tempted to offer the girl a hand, but if she said she was fine, she was fine. She could get up on her own.

The girl recognized her. Should she have recognized the muddy girl? Or was the muddy girl just a girl at school that recognized her for football? She couldn't remember. She doubted that mattered either.

She gave a small nod. "I get it. It's been pretty bad."

And THAT was putting it lightly.

jillz [abel/harriet i guess idk] — 09/26/2021 8:02 AM
Chloe mouthed some words to herself, but she couldn't think of anything to say. So she just huffed again.

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 09/26/2021 2:42 PM
The muddy girl didn't give her a response, so she didn't say anything. Just crouched down, an unused dart in one hand, watching.

She needed a minute, so she'd give her a minute.

jillz [abel/harriet i guess idk] — 09/26/2021 3:41 PM
And then, Chloe spoke. "I don't know, I don't need help. I was just gonna keep walking, off a cliff maybe. Anywhere's better than here. Got snared on this fucking tree root instead, but bitching about it isn't gonna do any good."

She started to get up, mud specks plopping off from the tail of her shirt and backside of her pants. "This crap's never gonna come out," she said to herself, "I hate the outdoors."

She continued to talk, her back towards the newcomer. "...I'm gonna go look for Horace. He'd know what to do."

She bent down and picked up her backpack, brushing the mud off with her hand also contaminated with mud.

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 09/26/2021 4:49 PM
She didn't know this girl. She didn't know Horace. She didn't know if she knew anyone in this place except for Tyler.

But she knew what needed to happen. She knew before she walked out of that cave. Before Tyler begged her to stop. Before she even woke up in this nightmare of a place.

It could only be one. And she wanted it to be her.

So when an opportunity presented itself, she rushed forward and aimed for the back of the muddy girl's neck.

jillz [abel/harriet i guess idk] — 09/26/2021 5:32 PM
Chloe felt something jam itself into the back of her neck.

She collapsed face first into the mud.

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 09/26/2021 5:49 PM
It was so easy.

So horribly, horribly easy.

The muddy girl was down, with more mud being added. Her glasses had fallen, a result of her sudden tumble. She couldn't tell if she was breathing.

It wouldn't matter soon. She'd stop breathing no matter what now.

She drew the dart of the muddy girl's neck, before plunging it in again. The side of the neck. That was where the veins and stuff were, right?

The best mercy she could give at this point was puncturing something and making it quick.

jillz [abel/harriet i guess idk] — 09/26/2021 5:59 PM
Chloe stopped breathing at some point as the blood ruptured out of her neck. Though she had a lot to say, she couldn't speak anymore.

It probably would've fallen on deaf ears, anyway.

we should hug! | Whitney, Ava — 09/26/2021 6:07 PM
The mud and blood girl was gone. Nothing more than a body waiting to rot.

She knew the girl, supposedly. The girl knew her, at least.

She hoped the mud and blood girl had never liked her. Hated her with all her being. But she knew that was asking for too much.

She withdrew the dart again. No use leaving it in. She was tempted to wipe the blood off onto the body, but a final disrespect wasn't necessary.

So she simply grabbed the bag. Three at once was heavy. She didn't want to stay here any longer than she had to, though. She could stop somewhere else organize things.

It was for the best.

[[And she left Blighttown]]

[SOTF: Discord]

[+] Look, a Corpse

DerArknight — 09/28/2021 2:58 PM
Name: Look, a Corpse!
Time Day One
Status: Oneshot

DerArknight — 09/28/2021 3:12 PM
((Marty Freeman continued from Ich und Mein Holz))

It turned out that this island was even more crazier than he thought.

After some fretting, Marty had gotten over the shock of the attack. Surely Abel had been even more scared than him. This was just a case of a confused soul lashing out. Next time they met, Marty would talk to Abel and convince him that playing this horrible game was not worth it. Then he and the redeemed Abel would find a way to get the collars off and put an end to Danya and whoever else was behind this whole thing.

And then Marybeth would finally see what a cool guy he was!

Okay, the last thing was more unrealistic than the others, but Marty could at least daydream about it.
His daydreams ended just in time for him to notice a person laying further down the muddy path. He couldn't see much from that far away, but it appeared she was sleeping.

"Hey, you!" He cried out "This is like a very shitty napping-place, you know?"

No reaction.

Maybe she was still affected by the knockout-gas?

Holding onto his trusty wood, Marty closed in on the girl. The poor one was half-way buried in mud and clearly needed a hero like Marty to-

Then he saw the blood that had mixed with the water of the swamp.

For one moment, he tried to keep thinking of the corpse as sleeping. But then he kneeled over and vomitted the Snickers he had eaten before the abduction.

"What the fuck?!" He screamed, unheroic.

Why the hell would someone do that? Stealing was understandable, but actively killing made you a murderer!

Despite the tropical heat, he begun to shiver. Was this Abel's doing?

Probably not. At least the wound didn't look like it came from a gun.

But anyways, he needed to do something. Looking around, he found a weird swamp-tree with big leaves. Exactly what he needed.



One hour later, he had finished covering up the corpse of the girl with leaves. It wasn't much and would probably be washed away by the next rain, but-

No! He mustn't think like this! He was the hero of this story, so by the time the next rain came, all of this would already be over! After defeating Danya, Marty would make sure to take this girl home so she could get a proper burial!

Yeah, that would surely happen.

He repeated this to himself until the most part of him actually believed it.

((Marty Freeman continued elsewhere))

[SOTF: Discord]

[+] Come Fly With Me

Regdab — 09/30/2021 4:47 PM
Name: Come Fly With Me
Time: Day 1 (3pm)
Status: Open

Regdab — 09/30/2021 4:54 PM
Swamp was too soft to properly dig through, and the fubar wasn’t making much headway into the six-by-six hole he envisioned. He’d gotten it roughly there, but there was a longass way to go.

Chloe was situated beside him, face up, swamp slowly starting to reclaim her as he dug. Scotty didn’t like that much - the idea that she was out here, being… taken by nature like some wild thing instead of being set up with an actual, man-made place of resting. He was sure that some hippie type would likely see it as sacrilege, but Scotty wasn’t about the whole… live with the earth, die with the trees philosophy.

And sure, his grave was shitty. Fuck it, whatever. Least he’d tried, and trying had to fucking count for something, you know?

So digging. Digging with the weird demolition tool they’d given him. Digging through the high noon sun barely peeking through the viny trees that sheltered him from its rays and did little to allow the heat that did pierce it to escape again. Digging with the crowbar end, really just pushing marshy swampland away from a specific spot until there was space for the dead girl.

Good thing about the swamp is that the gases mixed with the smell of corpse and allowed him to pretend it wasn’t the same thing.

Scotty dug, putting more humanity into this place, just a bit more overtop of the fact that someone had stabbed Chloe in the back, taken more humanity out of it. Scotty dug to restore the… whatever, karmic balance of the place.

Scotty fucking dug.

almostinhuman | Monica, Douglas — 10/03/2021 10:25 AM
((Johnathan Vanhorne continued from Into Thin Air))

Scotty was joined shortly by a boy falling from the above cliffs to the swampy ground mere feet away from him, sending a repulsive spray of mud and blood everywhere on impact.

((Johnathan Vanhorne deceased))

Regdab — 10/03/2021 12:46 PM
There was a long pause.

"You have got-" Scotty began.

"Are you fucking-" Scotty started.

"I cannot believe-" Scotty launched into.

After a few beats, with a huff, Scotty shuffled a few feet to the left, hooking the first corpse with the FUBAR and pulling at it until it slid unceremoniously into his shitty little wet grave. With a forearm he wiped blood (and mud) off of his forehead, careful not to get his sweat soaked sleeve in his eye.

He stated at Johnathan for a moment before rolling his eyes.

He began to dig again.

"You're a real piece of shit, buddy. Of all the fucking places you could've taken a header, you chose to land here. Top tier asshole material. Real fucking jackass shit."

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 10/03/2021 3:05 PM
"Damn. That was sick!"

Tad came into the clearing near the swamp and he let out a loud whistling sound. He glanced at Scotty's graveyard of swampy bodies and then he let out a small chuckle.

"Hey, Scotty. Having fun with falling bodies? That guy sure did want to fly, huh?" He asked with a sly smirk and he was fiddling with the screwdriver that was now in his hand again. "Glad to see you alive, bud. Uh.... Compared to your guests of corpses. Heh...."

((Tad Livingston continued from F.M.L.))

Regdab — 10/04/2021 7:38 AM
Scotty paused, turning to look at Tad, tilting his head downwards to stare at the other boy over his aviators. The look didn't have the effect he wanted, with the mud and blood splashed on his face, cheek, neck.

His flannel was totally ruined, on another note. He shook it idly.

"Hey pal," Scotty said, pausing mid-hack at a rare stone in the marsh, standing to his full, sleight height. Warily, he rested the FUBAR on his left shoulder with his batting hand, mud sluicing off of the jagged tip and spattering in the swampland below.

"You too."

Scotty looked at the lopsided hole he'd dug for the fresh corpse. It'd keep for now. Tad was a little more interesting to him.

"You, uh, kept busy, pal?"

cardinal-cyn — 10/04/2021 11:55 AM
[[G011 — Stanislava Ionescu: BEGIN]]

The air smelled like shit.

Stacy had sat there for the last several hours. Watching. Waiting. Banging against the tree trunks. Screaming. When she realized nobody had heard her, meditating. Breathing the foul-scented air.

Oh, perhaps a taste of mushrooms would have helped her along further, but her body sank just enough into the cool, muddy ground to insulate her from the bugs and the birds and the traces of noonday sun peeking through the trees. For the first time since she'd finished her college application essays, she felt at peace. She was half-asleep, half-dissociated, dagger clutched to her chest. She dreamt of beautifully proven equations, of strange green crystals and Bunsen burners.

Something disturbed the dirt.
Men's voices.
Stacy dared to dream a little longer.

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 10/04/2021 5:37 PM
"Man, mud and blood really isn't your color, Scotty." Tad's joke was in poor taste, but then he shrugged his shoulders and he took a step closer towards his sport friend. The only friend of his beside Alexis that is.

"Me?"

He twirled the screwdriver between his fingers and he clicked his tongue lightly. "Let's just say..... I took care of someone who wasn't going to survive this."

He didn't feel like lying. Honesty came to him naturally.

Regdab — 10/04/2021 7:50 PM
Scotty's motions stopped, frozen for what felt like five minutes, his fingers tightening around the FUBAR. Slowly, slowly, he shoved his right hand into his pocket, stepped a little closer, his feet sucking at the mud and moss that clung to his jean legs.

"Yeah?" he asked casually, his breath coming out in a staticky, rhythmic blast, "Who- uh, who did you... take care of?"

Professor Fether — 10/05/2021 3:24 PM
A short distance away, in the opposite direction of where Stacy rests, a bush rustles, then parts, revealing the tip of a spear. It is followed a moment later by the face of BILL.

BILL (aside): "Build it and they will come" indeed! If rain is God crying, then today He must be suffering hay fever.

Things look calm enough for the moment, but I'll keep my eye on these two. We've seen the smoke—the fire may be along shortly.

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 10/17/2021 10:36 AM
Tad thought back to the guy and then his mind was drawing a blank. Did he hit his head or something? He had no idea. Maybe the knock out gas got to him or some shit. He honestly didn't care.

"No fucking idea. He was some guy at the wrong place at the right time for me." Tad let out a childish laugh and he stopped twirling the screwdriver, holding it by his side. "So.... what do you want to do now?"

Regdab — 10/17/2021 10:44 AM
"Wrong place, wrong time, huh?" Scotty said, quirking his lips in a smile. His shoes carried him forwards, closer to Tad, close enough to swing, he judged. If he lunged forwards he would barely catch him, but he needed him to move, to get Tad away. Tad's face - did Tad always wear this expression? Did he always look like a shark back home, fresh from a midafternoon snack?

"Cool, man. That's... fucking badass, actually," Scotty said grinning fully now, "it's cool you can handle yourself. Did you do it with that screwdriver?"

Scotty's neck felt hot, the FUBAR felt heavy.

Professor Fether — 10/19/2021 3:28 PM
BILL (aside): I can't make heads or tails of them. I can't hear a word they're saying.

I'll approach, then, but cautiously.

The bush rustles again, as BILL's face vanishes back into it, followed by the spear.

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 10/27/2021 3:13 AM
Tad glanced at the screwdriver and then he glanced back at Scotty with a carefree grin. He felt his ego being boosted up a bit and he felt like he wanted to show off a little. He knew that he shouldn't be taking proud about killing someone, but well, it was a competition after all. He had to win all of this.

"Hell yeah, I used this on him. Twice. Since I kind of struggled to take him out the first time." Tad admitted honestly and he heard a rustling noise in the bushes nearby. Eh, possibly an animal or something. "Anyway, I'm gonna get out of this place if you want to tag along with me, buddy. We could be like a cool duo! Me killing people, you burying them." He let out a careless laugh as if he had said the funniest joke ever. "You up for a journey, Scotty?"

Regdab — 10/30/2021 11:28 AM
"Not even a little," was the reply.

Scotty turned his back then, resumed digging.

"Have fun storming the castle, bud."

Undead Sweetheart | Tad, Evan — 10/30/2021 11:37 AM
Tad gave a light-hearted shrug. He was kinda bummed out that Scotty wasn't going to join him to look for Alexis. It would have been cool to have them as a trio.

"Aww, too bad." He said with a small smirk and he started to walk away. "Good luck with all the burying and shit. Try not to die on me, Scotty!"

And then he was gone.

((Tad Livingston continued elsewhere))

Professor Fether — 11/09/2021 12:36 AM
A bush rustles again after TAD passes it, and seconds later BILL peeks out once more.

BILL (aside): Well, well. One goes, and one stays. Talk with the undertaker, or follow the joker?

But on second thought, are either of those worth the doing? I think not. Let's try again somewhere else.

Exit BILL

DerArknight — 01/16/2022 9:03 AM
((Taking over the inactive characters so a new thread can be started in this location))

When the other boy left, Scotty didn't look after him.

He just kept digging.

((Scotty D'nnough continued in Tabula Rasa))
Eventually, the girl stopped dreaming and went away as well.

((Stanislava Ionescu continued in Tabula Rasa))

[SOTF: Discord]

[+] Blind Without em

DerArknight — 02/13/2022 6:25 AM
Name: Blind Without 'em
Time: Around the Third Announcement
Status: Inactivity-Cleanup 3

DerArknight — 02/13/2022 7:09 AM
((Douglas Wilson-Horne continued from Didn't Have Too Much To Say))

Having lost any sense of time, Douglas had no clue how long he had been under the bridge. But judging from the way the light had faded in the last few hours, he had probably spent the better part of a day here.

Not that he minded. The underside of the bridge was home to a dead river and surprisingly dry. The sound of the rain hitting the bridge was kinda comforting.

None of that could divert his attention from how fucked he was.

The single fight he had gotten into had left Douglas unharmed while costing him his most priced possession: his glasses. Without them, everything that was five meters away from him was just an incomprehensible mix of colors, even in broad daylight. How was he supposed to shoot anyone like this? How was he supposed to win?

He needed another pair of glasses. There were several other short-sighted kids in his class who could be here. Their glasses wouldn't be as good as his own, but they might make his sight a little bit better. Douglas knew this was a faint possibility, but he had to work with what he could get.

Suddenly a voice boomed through the area, predominating even the rain.

„Good evening, everyone. Or rather, everyone who is still around.“ Douglas needed a moment to recognise the voice as belonging to Danya.

Douglas listened attentively to what their captor had to say. Information was a strong weapon in a situation like this one, so he needed to get everything. Apparently there had been a big fight somewhere. Good thing he had missed that one. He especially liked the reveal that there weren't much people left. It meant he had better chances.

What came next wasn't very likeable for him.

„And since there are not that many left of you, we have quite a good number of Danger Zones for you so you can't spread out and evade trouble much longer. The previous zones are cleared, but from now on, you better stay out of The Cave, The Swamp, The Southern Beach and The Mansion."

"Oh fuck!" Douglas cursed. Of course the nice hiding spot he found had to become a Danger Zone. Why had he expected anything else?

DerArknight — 02/13/2022 7:17 AM
Without even waiting for the announcement to finish, Douglas stood up and packed everything except his DoubleTap .45 ACP Derringer and his flashlight into his backpack. Surely he would miss this hiding spot, but it wasn't so great that he would agree to get blown up in half an hour. While Danya finished up his announcement, Douglas stepped out into the rain, cursed about instantly getting soaked, and...

... realized he had no clue where to go.

Thanks to the rain, the swamp has changed. Even with his limited vision, Douglas could see that the path he had taken to reach the bridge was gone, fully submerged by the muddy water.
And then his collar let out the first of many beeps.
Douglas took a few deep breaths. Sure, this was a problem, but if he approached it calmly, he would make it out of this place. He just had to find another path.
With this in mind, he started to search for a place where the swamp appeared to be still shallow enough to go through.

The rain didn't make this task any easier, but he found something looking like a path. Carefully, he set his first foot into the water. The coldness of the swamp gave him a chill, but he preserved. Two steps later, the mud reached him to the knees.

DerArknight — 02/13/2022 7:24 AM
Four steps later, he could make out the outline of a small hill with a tree. Surely this place would allow him to get a better grasp on where to go next.
He made another few steps.
And another.
And another.
Wait, why is the hill getting higher?
It was then that he noticed the mud was reaching his hips.
Shocked, Douglas stood still for a second. This sealed his fate, as he sunk in a bit more.
"Oh FUCK!" He spat out while trying to raise his left foot.
It was useless. The swamp had gotten it.
The beeping of his collar slowly rose in speed.
Douglas forced himself to slow his breathing once more. He had to find something to grab onto.
There was nothing in his reach.
"Fuck!" He repeated, as if it was a magical spell that would teleport him away. "Fuck!"
Swallowing his pride, he did something he had always hated to do.
"HELP! ANYONE, I AM STUCK HERE! PLEASE!"
...
...
...
Nothing. Only the falling of the rain and the dirty sound of the swamp he was already halfway submerged into.
Over the next few minutes, he kept on screaming. He even shot two times in the air, hoping to get attention.

DerArknight — 02/13/2022 7:33 AM
By the time the ultimatum to leave all Danger Zones was over, there was no need for the terrorists to detonate the collar of B025, for Douglas had long since disappeared in the water.

B025 Douglas Wilson-Horne: Deceased