There must be something in the water

[maskormods]

WHO: Everyone!
WHERE: Lake Tahoe, the Nevada side
WHEN: May 17 all day
WHAT: Swear-In
WARNINGS: Some violence

Welcome imPorts new and old to the lovely city of Jeopardy! For the five minutes the swear-in is here, anyway. See, there’s been some unusual activity at the (relatively) nearby Lake Tahoe. The Better Believe It Museum of Cryptozology has appealed to the government for help, and the powers that be generously volunteered this Swear-In as a chance for imPorts to be voluntold to help. Of course, you can always skip the swear-in or just decide to kick up your feet at a nice lakeside property in May, but the local natives would really appreciate the assistance. So much so that they’ve rented out a legion of party buses to transport you from Jeopardy to the museum in style. Yes, there’s a bar and snacks (though only juice for the kids). It’s about a three hour drive, try not to get too sloshed on the way over.

Just what is the issue? It seems that Nevada’s most famous cryptid, Tahoe Tessie has...well. Been seen. And, yes, of course, there is that whole museum you are going to at the edge of the lake dedicated to fuzzy, shaky-cam ‘sightings’ of Tessie and other cryptozoological marvels over the years, but this is different. Like, ‘oh no, we actually found her’ different. And by all appearances, Tessie’s pretty pissed at being found. Any boats that attempt to go out into the lake are sunk, divers have vanished to never be seen again (whole, anyway. A few parts have washed up), and police have noted a sharp increase in random, violent attacks around the lake shores.

That’s where you come in.

The museum has requested Tessie be captured and transferred into their crypto-aquarium where she can be studied (and rubbed in the faces of all those ‘real’ scientists that called them crazy over the years). There are other options, though. The police are just fine with you killing the creatures; let the scientists dissect the corpse. And a very well funded individual party is more than willing to pay an exorbitant amount to the imPorts that hand her over to them.

While you ponder about the ethics and money involved, here’s the lay of the land.



First there is the cryptid museum itself. Not the tidiest of places, the museum is three floors of winding narrow aisles between shelves heaped with curiosities and walls covered in fuzzy photographs with plaques explaining what cryptozoological marvel is depicted in them, or poster sized print outs of ‘testimonials’ of alien abductions, bigfoot sightings, etc, along with artists interpretations of events described. There is also, of course, quite an expansive gift shop. Get your BELIEVER t-shirt before supplies run out. Please no powers in the museum, the owner is quite forceful about how everything in there is one of a kind.



For those of you not into monster hunting, or hunters that need to recharge, the cryptid museum is right next to a resort that has thoughtfully opened its doors to imPorts. It’s lingering around 40-50 degrees Fahrenheit at the lake, not exactly swimming weather, but there’s charming outdoor seating, fire pits to gather around, and free drinks and finger foods abound for every one to mingle with. There’s plenty of nice walking paths around the lake, some low-key events like horse shoe tossing or croquet to pass the time with. Just a nice break by the lake to recharge after a rough month.



Then there’s the lake itself. The locals have provided you with canoes, small fishing boats with radar, diving suits and snorkels, fishing nets, pretty much anything they could think of that will help you catch dear old Tessie (if you have a specific request for an unusual item, ask here if it will be provided!). A certain eccentric (the one offering cash money for Tessie to be turned over to them) even provided a one person submarine for use- though it doesn’t have any arms to grab with or much in the way of catching power, the gesture was still nice?

But catching a cryptid isn’t that easy. See, turns out that surge in violent attacks isn’t just dear old Tessie. If you just pressed A and skipped to the lake itself, you’re in for an unpleasant surprise. Those that took time to view the museum first, or chatted with the hotel staff about local legends, will have some warning of what is waiting for them. They’ll learn that in addition to cryptids lake Tahoe has a very real monstrous history- it’s a known mob mass graveyard. Through the 1900s, possibly up to today, the lake served as a very convenient spot for mobsters to send people to ‘sleep with the fishes.’ No one knows how many bodies have ended up under those placid waters, but it’s an unpleasant number. Just an interesting historical tidbit until you actually enter the lake. There you’ll see these dead are, somehow, awake. And not that happy about it.



The lake is crawling with revenants. These angry undead will fight tooth and nail anyone that comes into the waters of the lake, trying to pull you down to meet the same watery fate as them. We’re literal on the tooth part, their bites are strong enough to rip out chunks of flesh. They will follow anyone that disturbs them out of the lake, focused on destroying the life they no longer have. These creatures will need to be destroyed or laid to rest for the lake to be safe again. This can be done through sheer physical assault, break enough of the bones or destroy the skull and the creatures will collapse into the muk. Or they can be put to rest one by one with rituals specifically made for putting the dead to rest (from any religion or philosophy). Those that can talk with the dead and have the dedication can talk the spirits into releasing their mortal coil and returning to the void. Just remember their first emotion is rage at the living, and their first instinct will always be to attack. Those going for a more peaceful route may need back-up to keep the creatures at bay until they start seeing results.

Finally, there’s Tessie.



While legends have reported, and the cryptid museum lead you to expect, a more serpentine creature, characters are once more in for a surprise. Those that finally get past the undead to Tessie herself will discover she is none other than a legendary lusca: half shark, half squid, all attitude. For those still trying to apply biology to this, Tessie’s front half looks like a bull shark, a species infamous for its ability to swim in both salt and fresh waters. There is a little good news: unlike the revenants, Tessie isn’t looking so hot. Some of her tentacles are rotting off and teeth are falling out. She is mostly working to avoid anyone that wants to bother her, darting to deeper waters and running away from close encounters. Anyone that does get too close will face a fight, but it’s that of an animal in its death throes. While an unlimited number of characters can see Tessie, the final decision of what happens to her will be decided by a poll.

After a long day at the lake, imPorts are bused back to Jeopardy in the same party buses. Hopefully still more or less in one piece.

OOC PLOTTING AND QUESTIONS SHOULD BE DIRECTED HERE!

Comments

[fireandhoney]

The bottle toss lets Finn get more distance between himself and the zombies, swimming in long, strong strokes. Thankfully, he doesn't have too far to swim, and Jonathan's swinging blows a pair of revenants to the side as Finn scrambles to his feet once the water is shallow enough.

"I wasn't told there would be zombies!" Finn starts casting, throwing a spell at a nearby foe to encase it in an ash shell.

[drivesadesk]

"Yeah, me neither," he says, taking a mighty swing and managing to knock a zombie's head right of it's shoulders. "Usually there's a consistent theme to what tries to kill us, but apparently not this time."

[fireandhoney]

"Nice one!" Finn continues to be impressed by how strong Jonathan is, watching the revenant's head go flying. The brief distraction gives a few others a chance to get closer, reaching their arms out to claw at him.

"Ven!" The word of power causes a small whirlwind to show up, which turns into a water spout, tossing a few of the revenants away from them, back into the water.

[drivesadesk]

"Finn!" he cries out when he sees how close they are to him.

Then he feels a skeletal hand grabbing him from behind, but Jonathan quickly spins around, impacting the revenant firmly on the ribs before he raises the two by four again, bringing it down firmly on the revenant's head.

[fireandhoney]

Finn takes a moment to admire his boyfriend smashing the revenant's head in, before he freezes one in place with magic. He can't use lightning, because that might risk shocking himself and Jonathan. He throws a fireball at a nearby zombie, mostly on instinct, only to realize fire on a wet target isn't a sound strategy.

Something grabs his leg, causing him to fall over, making a loud splash. Finn frantically kicks at the thing's head and hand. He aims a frost spell at it, freezing its head and parts of his shoulder, but the grip is still tight around his ankle. And while this goes on, another revenant is coming up upon him, claws out.

"Jonathan!"

[drivesadesk]

"Finn!" Jonathan rushes over, swinging at the revenant that's coming for Finn. With a few forceful and frantic blows of the make shift weapon, he's able to destroy this revenant as well, before he turns, bending down so he can pry the other revenant's fingers from Finn's ankle.

[fireandhoney]

"My hero," The revenant's rotting fingers snap off easily under Jonathan's prying, freeing Finn. His leg has a few scratches on it, but nothing too deep. "And usually I'm the one saving your ass. Must be a nice change of pace." Finn manages a weak smile, and it's pretty obvious he's just trying to mask the situation with humor.

[drivesadesk]

"It is, yeah," he comments, standing back up and scanning the area for more revenants. "Feels kind of great, actually."

Then he spots another, standing up out of the water and he rushes to go beat it down.

[fireandhoney]

"Of all the days I decide not to wear jeans," Finn quips. And he forgot his knife too. Lucien would kill him for forgetting his knife. Luckily, he still has magic and sets the nearest one on fire.

[drivesadesk]

"Yeah, I'm not dressed for this, either. But hey, at least this is something we can definitely--"

Suddenly he felt something snag his ankle.

"Well, crap."

He kicks, just as the revenant is opening it's mouth to bite him, and a tooth breaks the skin...which only ends up giving it some acid in it's mouth before he quickly sends the head flying. He looks at the injury. It's very minor, but...

"We should probably head back and see if there's something I can bandage that with."

[fireandhoney]

Finn curses loudly when he looks over, seeing that revenant that came out of nowhere. Instinctively, he rushes forward, before Jonathan's acid blood and the piece of wood takes care of the problem.

Instead, he looks down at the bite with a worried expression. "Good idea." Turning back to the revenants, he quickly shouts, all in one breath, "Fus ro dah!"

The shout throws the revenants back, away from them, which will give them a good opportunity to go back inland. Taking hold of Jonathan's hand, Finn quickly makes his way back to dry land.