snowblindrpg | [network] @jwatson; text [Night 356] [open/semi-open] [shadownet]

[The second part of the message is OPEN. The first part is SEMI-CLOSED to anyone with access to the Shadownet - a text only app created by Winter. Winter is an NPC that you'll read about in the Survival Guide, but the basic primer is that she's a Russian AI who has been periodically contacting the Snowblind characters and trying to help them to some extent. She has been encountered in multiple events and aided characters in making private messages actually private.

Please see this post about Shadownet distribution. These are also characters who currently possess Shadownet. Anyone traveling with these characters will likely be able to read messages on Shadownet through their travel companions. We've found that a copy can be made for a character at the elementary school provided they have an existing copy and the keycard currently held by Ecks, which allows the characters to use the copy machine there.]

Shadownet Access Only
@dulcedeleche
Winter, it's John. We still haven't made it out of Residential Zone 3. They're working on the church. We've at least got another piece of the puzzle. Bullet points, as usual, covering Day 341 through Day 356. Others are welcome to fill in the finer details, of course.

Given some of the things that we've had happen since your last message, I'll go ahead and just withdraw the question about giving Shadownet to the Admin. There's a lot that's happened, Winter. None of it's cheery. I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for everyone who's been suffering through this. They're messing with our minds and our memories. More-so than usual. I think what happened to the original residents is starting to happen to us.

Open to Everyone
This is Dr. Watson. Please find a summary update of recent happenings below. For anyone new, an archive of my previous summaries can be found HERE. I'm available for medical consultation as one of the medics here. Please let me know if you need anything. I'm running an on-again, off-again blood transfusion service for those with severe MN Poisoning. It's only a temporary reprieve from symptoms, but blood transfusions from healthy donors have proven to alleviate MN poisoning symptoms for up to two weeks.

Every nine-to-eleven days we have new arrivals. The food situation remains stable, but everyone please be aware that our medication stocks for ALL medications are critically low at last check. If you need medication still, let one of the medical personnel from the Survival Guide know and we'll see what we can do for you, regardless.
Day 341, we started to see an effect from the red lines that people got when they fell or jumped in the pit I mentioned in my last summary. In brief, a lot of people were brought down to a room with a large pit in the center. We felt compelled to jump in. Some people jumped, others were pushed. The people who went into the pit ended up with a variety of red lines covering their bodies.

Nathan posted a game for everyone to play and it devolved into arguments with people without the red lines accusing the people with red lines of being wrong and dangerous. I saw first-hand how one of the people in my group without the lines was reacting negatively, highly paranoid of anyone with the lines.
Day 342, things got worse. People with the red lines were further segregated. People who had voluntarily jumped found they had red covering their eyes, even though it didn't impair their vision. The people who were pushed or fell into the pit just kept the red lines with no red on their eyes. Instead of just arguing, people without red lines started actively being more aggressive, particularly toward people with red in their eyes. Some people had their hair stolen or were physically threatened in other ways. There was something more insidious than just the physical danger, though. Information was also being stolen.

I don't know exactly how it worked, but people with the red lines and eyes felt compelled to share information. Someone without the lines even set up a post to collect information. The people with red lines but with regular eyes tried to warn off the people with red eyes from sharing information, but it wasn't very effective. Later on, we learned that each time a piece of information was shared out to someone without the lines, there was a burning sensation in the red-lined, red-eyed person. The people with red lines, but regular eyes didn't experience the paranoia or the need to tell anything about themselves. We didn't feel any kind of burning, either.
Day 343, Dr. House indicated that the mental effects associated with the lines and being without them had dissipated. Flynn also issued an apology for the information stealing. To anyone feeling hurt or upset by any of this, please remember that you were being manipulated. You're all victims here.
Day 344, the Obituaries brought news that another morgue experiment had failed and someone died horribly. Please consider very seriously the chances of survival if you intend to carry out similar experiments in the future. There is a 0% survival rate for the ones conducted so far.

Tess also raised questions about the "light" that people had or had stolen from them a while back. In brief, the light is the physical manifestation of whatever lets us exist here in Norfinbury. Maybe a sort of luck or coding trick that allows us to survive the transfer from another universe or maintain our neural pathways in the servers. Some of us had it stolen a while ago when we had the impression we'd turned into anomalies. People who don't have their light have had their faces reduced to static when posting with video on the network.
Day 345, Enoch shared a conversation he had with the Admin. Our medical resources are all being pulled from a single source. That in mind, please make every effort to protect yourself and others in your groups. The fewer deaths we have, the fewer medications we request, the longer we'll have medical services available from the Admin.
Day 346, Angel announced she'd finished compiling a code that Steph found in the high school. It's called the Ocean Eye App. Possibly it has something to do with Shelley Derricks, but it's also something that's tied to the cult, so please proceed with caution in its use. Angel is the keeper on the keys for it. Please contact @guardian if you'd like to borrow the app to test something around town.
Day 348, Tess requested spilling blood in her name, while not in her right mind. This should go without saying, but please do not murder each other. This isn't an experiment worth pursuing when we know all anomalies of any real consequence, including divine powers, are being suppressed.
Day 349, Rhys took a moment to share some campfire tales to help distract people. If you ever feel like sharing stories from your own world, evenings are a good time to share. Flynn also has a public library he's maintaining that can probably include an audio storytelling section.
Day 351, @ADMIN sent out a link for people to activate their Beacon App. Please carefully consider whether you want to do this. Activation may decrease the occurrence of MN Poisoning, but it can also increase your chance for encounters with anomalies and allows the Admin to track your movements more precisely.
Day 353, everyone with red lines was taken from where they were and put down in what appeared to be a cell complex. Quark put out a call on the network to indicate that we'd disappeared.

We were stripped and put into jumpsuits and left alone for a bit. We're not sure exactly how we got down there. After a while, there were hospital identification bands that appeared on our wrists. They listed off various medications, most of which none of the doctors in Norfinbury have ever heard of. There was one medication that everyone had, though, and that we did recognize: Anisomycin.

Anisomycin is an antibiotic that can be toxic to humans. It's also experimentally been proven to prevent the consolidation of memory in rats. Basically, it's a drug that can stop you forming long-term memories. I think this happened to us. We were taken by static creatures to an operating room and injected with a lot of drugs throughout what I assume was the day. We experienced a range of side-effects including nausea, vomiting, disorientation, hallucination, delusion, fever, and general malaise.

All of this was Robert Miller, the Admin's assistant. He said he was trying to fix us, but he's a sadist who's put us through torture before in order to fix some of the systems in Norfinbury.
Day 354, we fell asleep and when we woke up again, we found that there were new people in the cells with us. They experienced something very different than the people with red lines. They'd been taken by the static in the night and remembered being chained to the wall of a dirty, molding cell while people with red lines abused them. some recordings were made of these happenings that got out when we were given a tablet in the cells.

None of the people with the red lines could remember doing this, but we all woke up a little more lucid and injured to varying degrees, like we'd been fighting in our sleep. People without the lines were in much worse shape, overall. They experienced far too many horrors to name, but were able to move through the cell block freely for a time.
Day 355, I think must have been when we received the tablet. Just one. People without lines all showed up as a username that was just black static. All of us with lines showed up as red static. We were able to communicate with the people outside who said the Admin was looking for us.

At some point after that, we were drugged again, I think. It's difficult to remember anything. Everyone wound up in their cells, though, and people from above ground were brought in by I assume the Admin to help get us out. It might well have been Andromeda, too. The people who came down saw something completely different than any of the rest of us dragged there. They saw us all in an empty, moldy room, trapped in a delusion. They were able to pull us out of it and get everyone out of the room and back to the surface. None of us remembers exactly how we went from the underground to the surface again.
Day 356, Angel shared a conversation she had with the Admin which seems to indicate that Robert Miller is still at large, in spite of the Admin locking him out of the network.

The injuries we received down in the cells seem to be healing rapidly, from what I've personally experienced, and the red lines and eyes have disappeared. I'm note entirely sure whether or not to cheer that at the moment. Regardless, the immediate danger seems to be over.

For everyone who helped save us from that cell block, thank you. Thank you from the deepest part of my heart. We wouldn't have made it out of that place without you.

For everyone without red lines who was brought down and tortured, I don't know how many of you I'm personally responsible for hurting--I don't remember--but I'm sorry. That can't begin to make up for what's been done to you, but I will do everything in my power to make sure that doesn't happen to you again. If you need help, please let me know immediately.

To everyone with the red lines, you've been tortured, as well. It's important to remember that. Mr. Graham said it from the tablet while we were down there, but you are a victim, as well. All of you are victims and it's Robert Miller who's responsible for doing this, not you. I'm also here to help you however I can. Eve might not have been able to stop Mr. Miller forever, but we're forewarned about him and his methods now. That's forearmed, as much as we can be here. Angel said it right: remain vigilant and make sure you have a partner to travel with. We are stronger together, even when this place is trying to tear us apart. That said, if we ever have a situation like we encountered with paranoia running rampant and demands for information, please remember to take a step back and wait for those feelings to pass. They may very well not be your own.

[For the keen observer, they might note that John has not placed himself into either the heroes group that rescued everyone or the victim group on either side of the issue. More, now than ever, he can't afford to break. No rest for the wicked. He has to get people out of here.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[This might be a bit awkward, but he had promised John he would check in.]

Hey. I know this is pretty gross, but I lost an eye, down there.

I think it's growing back. Figure I should just keep it covered? I'm thinking clean is best, while it's still bandaged securely. I have no idea what a human growing an eye back entails and I don't have saline.

[He knows what he'd be doing if the eye was gone for good, but this is new even for him.]

Also, in other news, if we lost pieces, they might be growing back.

[John switches to voice, even though he's mildly wary of it. He's not at his best emotionally right now and knows he sounds a little flat. He puts as much animation into his voice as possible to combat any sense that something is specifically wrong.]

I've lost an eye here, as well. Can't say I had the pleasure of having it grow back. Not that I can remember, anyway. Clean and covered are definitely best. Are you experiencing any pain associated with the regrowth?

Edited 2018-05-09 19:26 (UTC)

[Sorry, John. But at least Rhys is fairly easy company? And more importantly, backs off when told to.]

I've got a headache and muscle spasms. Some fluid, but not bad. Creepy feeling, kind of...sloshing.

I have enough tape and clean cloth to re-bandage it, at least. So I can rinse and re-pack it but it's already better than it was...yesterday?

[He's still a little vague on what day it is.]

Edited (Typo) 2018-05-09 19:36 (UTC)

[John's internal clock is also all over the place, so he's not going to fault Rhys for sounding uncertain.]

Some of the medication I prescribed you should help with the spasms, if you want to adjust the schedule you're taking it on.

Yeah, I was thinking that. I've only been talking it at night before I sleep, so I've got a little to spare.

[He also has vodka, though he's not too enthused about using that for an eye injury. His broken hand, however, might demand it. He'll have to see.

After a moment, he flips it over to private.]

You guys holding up okay?

[He's careful to leave it open, without specifically singling John out. Even if he's the one he's worried about and, to a lesser degree, Mina.]

We're about as well as can be expected. Mina, Sherlock, and I all had the red lines. We've got some scrapes and bruises, but they're sorting themselves out now. Are you still with Dr. Lecter's group?

[Yeah, about that.]

Too many people in one place, wasn't safe. So I went to the convenience store for supplies, and got busted in the face by one of Tess's psycho fan club trying to sacrifice me. That's why my nose is broken.

[He'd had A Day, even before the Cells 2.0 started.]

I'm gonna stay nearby, but...gonna hole up for a day and rest, then might see if I can catch up with Harley. Or maybe Angel and her crew?

What? Who hurt you?

[Who does he need to hurt back on your behalf, Rhys?]

You'll know him when you see him, 'cause I broke his face too. Hit back hard enough to make him change his mind and run.

[It's sweet you care, Watson. Rhys feels all fuzzy inside even though it's taken care of.

But he'll share for the sake of any other potential targets.]

I think he's done with it for now, but Brian had it in his head he needed a sacrifice for our resident blood goddess, so he jumped me at the convenience store.

Brian?!

[But he'd just been down in the cells with him. Tried to offer some comfort. Tried-

John cuts that train of thought off. Brian's likely already got his 'due' for that damage, but it's still frustrating.]

I'll let Alphonse know we really need to add him to the survival guide as someone dangerous. This isn't the first time he's tried to hurt people.

Yeah, I messaged him a few hours later to see if I could explain that sacrifice doesn't work that way, especially not here, but he was still full speed ahead. Then the whole cells thing happened.

House's group is in the area so I warned them about it, but he's probably hunting for solo travelers that he can take with an ambush.

Bloody hell.

[Just what they need.]

Thanks for letting me know. It's not the most stable kid. I didn't think he was randomly murdering.

He thinks he's gonna be one of Tess's new disciples. Pretty sure she's only got her murder-goddess thing going because of a death price, though. Once she's back to normal I doubt she'd be on board with it.

But yeah. I figured someone else should know, just in case.

Yeah, the problem is, I dunno if her telling him to stop would be enough. He's probably got it into his head that he needs to try, anyway. She doesn't even have her goddess memories, anymore. She thinks she's just a regular human.

Better to keep on alert in any case. I'm kind of hoping that... Everything from the past few days takes some of the enthusiasm out of him too, but we'll just have to wait and see.

[Everyone is tired, right now. And hurt. They deserve a break and most people are likely to want one.]

And try and keep the peace in the meantime.

Good point. I'll just see to Al. Keep yourself safe, all right, Rhys?

Sure thing. And I'm roaming around here, and catching up with a few people, so...I'll keep a lookout here, too.

[He's kind-of-sort-of sure that Brian took him seriously when he said that he'd come down hard if he saw him again.]

I'll check in, in another day or two, okay? But...yeah. Take it easy. I think we could all use a little time to get our shit back together.

[network] @jwatson; text [Night 356] [open/semi-open] [shadownet]

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