maskormenace | O4 👼🏼 GROUP VIDEO; [DIGITAL WORLD PLAYER PLOT]

(cw some violence, injury)

[This isn't an ImPort post with a User ID like anyone is familiar with. It seems more like a glitch than anything. The picture flickers. Grainy, monochrome. Someone’s panting on-screen in sharp little gasps.

It’s Claudia, or at least some version of her. Those who know her will realize she’s either doing a fantastic job pretending to be human, or has somehow stopped being a vampire. Her breath fogs the lens.] Mommy. Mommy, I think it got Foggy, [she whimpers. For those who have read her editorials online, she certainly sounds nothing like them in person. (Plus, she's wearing neon Barbie-pink shorts.)] I don't know about Grandpa. I don’t know what to do. I don’t--

[Then she suddenly breaks off into a scream. The camera whirls, taking you through a huge, empty house. Creaky floorboards and old, peeling paint, full of dust and spidery shadows.]

[Another scream, as the camera comes to rest onto a door. Foggy bursts through the door, eyes wide and panicked as he clings to the rusting doorknob—already bleeding profusely, one hand on the gaping wound in his side. He doesn’t look too good.

Those who know him might not recognize what he’s wearing: a band shirt, a college jersey, his hair done up in a ponytail. But there’s no mistaking the sheer terror on his face.]

Oh, god, oh, god, oh god, what the hell was— [His eyes flicker to the camera for a moment, confusion and terror clear in his expression, but then the moment of semi-lucidity passes and he tries to lurch out of the doorway, still clutching at his side. His fingers leave streaks of blood on the door in their wake.] Claudia, Gramps, where are you, I’m—

[He doesn’t get to finish. Something darts out of the shadows and grabs him by the leg, and Foggy goes down hard with a shriek. Whatever’s got a hold of him, it’s not something that’s so easily deterred by noise or by a good hard kick, and the camera focuses on his terrified face and the gouges his nails are making on the rotted wooden floors before he vanishes, back into the darkness.

Wherever he’s going, it doesn’t look like he’s got much time left.

A snarl echoes. The camera moves inside, and for a few moments there is nothing to see beyond the darkness.]

[A deep, elegant voice sounds, uncharacteristically panicked,]

Foggy? Foggy, my boy, where are you? I’m coming! Never fear, I’m coming!

[Count Dooku staggers into view, wearing dull khakis and a polo shirt. He looks genuinely, if melodramatically, terrified for Foggy’s safety. His eyes are wide as he beholds the claw-marks that mark Foggy’s last known location.]

Foggy! Dear son, no!

[Claudia fumbles back into view, right beside the older man. But this time, she's clutching a poker. You know, the kind for stoking fireplaces. She's so terrified that her hands are shaking visibly, and the cloud of ringlets around her little head trembles too. Her voice is cracking and breaking, tiny and high and girlish.] Foggy, we're coming for you, [she cries out. She raises the poker and swings.] Don't worr--

[And in that instant, the image blacks out, punctuated a ragged roar.

And mere hours later, the video is making the rounds on BlueTube.]

[NOTES: This network post is part of the Digital World plot! If you tag us, we'll respond as partially 'lucid.' Plotting post and event log are here.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Voice quivering:]

The beast is stalking us one by one... it is the prophecy. Foretold by the omen!

Grandpapa. I'm hiding in the closet. It's so dark in here.

Should we pray? Can we pray for a good omen. I'm so scared.

Yes, child. Pray. But pray silently. You must be very, very quiet, you understand? I will come to you and keep you safe, but you must be as quiet as the very grave.

A grave.

[Must you be so on the nose, grandpere!!]

How do you know God is real, grandpapa? If He was, would He have allowed this to happen to us?

I know God is real. Because I know the Devil is real, for I have seen his wickedness at work within our very walls on this cursed night.

[Grampa's voice is a hushed, dramatic whisper. For this moment, Christopher Lee is back where he belongs: in the structure and tropes of a horror movie, surrounded by supernatural evil.]

[And Kirsten Dunst is

well. Twelve. But she did sort of get her breakout in a horror-adjacent genre, if vampires fit in there.]

Grandpa. Does it hurt when you die?

[QQQQQ]

[Long goddamn pause because how does a grandfather answer such a question from his beloved granddaughter in such an awful situation?]

Not always, child. It can be quite peaceful. And for the innocent, Heaven awaits afterward.

But you still have a very long time ahead of you before you answer that question yourself. You must believe we can make it out of this.

[ Oh my god. Oh my god. What now? ]

Okay. Um, okay, obviously something's going on. Hello? Can any of you hear me?

[Absolutely something is going on, because a moment later there's a frantic:] Help!

That's what I'm trying to do! But first I need to know - [ what the heck is going on ] - where you are. Can you give me a location? Anything?

['Gramps' appears upside-down in the video. Somebody is suddenly having trouble with technology it seems.]

Hello? Whoever is there, I beg you to get help at once! My family and I are in terrible peril.

Um, I can - um, I can see that. [ Boy. They're really out of it, aren't they? ] And I'm trying. But I'm going to need more information before I can do anything. Where are you? How can we get to you?

[The video goes blank as Dooku speaks on, oblivious.]

We are within the old Winthorpe-Thistlewaite estate, on the outskirts of Gallows Hill village. I am afraid there is but one road that leads here, and it runs a winding path through the old woods, which are... not safe at night.

Right, okay. Does the city Heropa ring a bell to you?

[ This seems like a more - or less - demented version of that haunted house, way back when. ]

['Gramps' wrinkles his nose slightly.]

Heropa? What an odd name for a settlement. I'm afraid I have never heard of this place.

[Said the inhabitant of Gallows Hill.]

Yeahhhh, that's what I thought. Okay. I'm going to try to find you guys and help you, all right? Just stay calm and try to stay safe.

Thank you, whoever you are. But please, be careful. If you venture into this terrible place without caution, the curse will only claim yet another victim.

O4 👼🏼 GROUP VIDEO; [DIGITAL WORLD PLAYER PLOT]

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