"What is that?" Two of the Stars sat huddled over two of the many computer monitors set up within their abode. It had been a few days since it had appeared, prompting the city's defense systems to seal away half of the branches. One screen showed an impossibly long chain of code, while the other flickered through various images from within the quarantined areas.
The Mistwood's trees had been dyed crimson, affecting the lighting. When the screen showed the Sky-Strewn Islands, you could see what looked like bodies walking over the edge of the floating isles. "A gift. Likely from the ones who infiltrated through a backdoor at the beginning of the year."
"Bloody hell. Are those bodies? Is it affecting all of the life in the simulation? Even the plant life? What sort of virus is this?" A glance at the coding was all they needed to identify the cause. "Its glitching the data? Altering its behaviour... Like zombies? How long will the system be able to suppress it? Long enough for us to counteract it, I'd hope?"
"Not zombies, fortunately. Their behaviour is similar, but... Perhaps disconnect Ofiuco from the network for the time being? They've been banging on the barrier for 26 hours. I don't think it'll hold for long with that much data crashing into it. Actually, never mind. It already collapsed. Maybe activate the emergency protocols."
Cracks could be seen forming in the barrier on the second monitor. It didn't take long for it to shatter, unleashing hundreds upon thousands of bodies that crashed into the city. Anything that was living that they crashed into became infected with a virus and moved to attack anything that hadn't been infected.
But while the Isolans from other worlds would be attacked, they couldn't be infected. So killing them would have to do instead.
"It has infected the emergency systems. We only have one charge."
"[CENSORED]. That's not good."
WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING!?
Zombies! ...Kind of! A virus has spread among the NPC people, animals, and even the plant life. While the characters won't know what the Stars are officially referring to them as, they have been simply codenamed "The Glitched". Anything "living" they come into contact with will become Glitched itself, with the exclusion of the player characters.
That said, The Glitched will see the player characters as prey nonetheless and will try to kill them instead. There is also a glitching effect visible over them to indicate their status. Lets go over the types of Glitched in more detail:
GLITCHED NPCS
Your standard "zombies". They were the NPCs that lived among the player characters this whole time. They resemble traditional zombies in many ways. They shamble, they moan and groan, and their movements can be unsettling. But they aren't decaying at least! They will attack in ways similar to zombies, running at you in hoards, thrashing, and biting if needed. Whatever it takes to kill their targets. That said, they're generally slow.
GLITCHED CREATURES
Animals and monsters are also affected (not including character pets). They've become much more ravenous, including those that would normally avoid people altogether. If you've ever been terrified of the prospect of zombie squirrels crawling in through your vents to get you, well... Depending on the animal or monster, they might be faster and / or more dangerous than a regular Glitched.
GLITCHED PLANTLIFE
While not as outwards dangerous, infected plant life affects the environment. Any infected plants will glow crimson red and, once enough plant life in a contained area even the sky will begin to glow an ominous red. A phenomenon that will spread north as the virus spreads.
At the beginning of the event, every characters will be uncapped entirely since the Stars activated the emergency systems. However, these systems have lost power since. As a result, every usage of a character's powers will cause all of their abilities to weaken regardless of the one used, little by little, until their powers disappear entirely. This means that the characters will need to be smart about using them once they realize. This also applies to weapons, and their durability will degrade after each fight until they're liable to break. While we won't be policing this, we ask that you don't ignore this mechanic completely.
The respawn system is part of the emergency systems, so for the duration of this event your character will not be able to respawn. If they die, they will remain dead until the conclusion of the event! If you go this route, they will exist as something kin to a ghost that cannot interact with the living world, but will be able to interact with other ghosts. If your character is still alive and has the power to see and hear ghosts, though? You'll still be able to interact with them!
The ones who installed the virus in the first place also installed a modifier system. Every encounter with ten or more Glitched will trigger a modifier wheel to spin on the phones of every player character nearby and will all land on a single modified that may affect the Glitched or the characters themselves depending. A new modifier will be rolled every hour, replacing the current one. You can find a list of what the effects do here, as well as the wheel to spin before each thread here! You're not required to use the wheel, but we do recommend it especially if you're doing multiple threads! Characters will be able to check their phones at any time to see which modifier is active.
At the beginning of the event, the southern branches already be completely dyed crimson and is rampant with the Glitched. They've broken through the barrier and are now entering the city en masse. Throughout the event, they will move farther and farther north, leaving your characters with a choice. Will they hunker down in the city to try and ride out this storm, or will they flee to the branches across the water? Unfortunately, eventually nowhere will be safe.
When does the event officially end?
The official end time is 11:59:59PM EST on Friday, April 18th! You won't be able to make any new minis, opens, or starters after that point!
What are the requirements for participation?
All you need is one IC post within the event scenario!
What if we're not very good with horror elements?
While the Glitched take a lot of cues from the zombie genre and you could portray them to be as physically bloodied and ravaged as you'd like, because they aren't technically undead, you could portray them without less or no emphasis on what might make them visually disturbing if you need to!
Can we kill the Glitched? What will happen to the NPCs that are killed this way?
You can! They'll respawn as if nothing happened at the end of the event, but the characters themselves won't know this. This will surely bring about a moral dilemma for some, especially those that know specific NPCs personally.
If my character is killed, can I write a thread with them set before that death?
Of course! As long as it's set chronologically before they died, it's fine!
Will my character have any way to defend themselves if they have no powers?
Yes! Characters that are powerless can access an app in their phone that will allow them to assume their avatar from the Fantasia Interspace simulation! Even if you weren't in the group during this event, you can create this avatar by picked a player race and spells!
I have another question!
Feel free to ask through the masterlist! We'll answer it as soon as we're able to! We ask that you do not ask event questions in the server for this event, just so everyone is able to see the answers if they have the same questions!
