graveyard 2: electric boogaloo

[biteys]

GRAVEYARD

So, you've met your end. Whether it was at the hands of your allies or your enemies, whether your body is still roaming the earth as an undead cretin, all that made you "you" is gone.

Until it isn't.

the digital afterlife

When your eyes open next, you're in a blindingly light room, with colorful, flickering squares dancing all around you. Your form doesn't feel so physical anymore — if you look down, you'll see that your limbs and body are somewhat translucent and glitchy, as if made of pixels. You no longer feel hungry or tired, but the pain of whatever caused your death lingers constantly, as if to remind you what happened.

Approaching any one of the colorful squares reveals that each one corresponds to an electronic device in a place you've never seen; by looking out of these digital "windows," you can infer that the devices are in a prison of some kind. Bars in front of rooms, beige everywhere... you get it.

It's also weirdly silent, for how chaotic and zombie filled you know the world outside is. At first, it seems you can't leave this endless space — but, it won't all be just staring at the white walls for entertainment here. By concentrating, characters that find themselves here can conjure holograms of items, pictures, memories — anything they can think of.

They'll also find that they can remotely control the electronics in the prison they've found themselves in: they can type messages, play music, and turn lights on and off, to name a few. It's almost like they've been absorbed into the technology here...?

Oh, and you're not alone!

the (other?) doctor's master plan

After some time spent here, you'll be able to hear the voice of Dr. Bei, a woman you've never seen or heard before. It doesn't come from any one source, but rather, all around you. She sounds like any regular cold, intimidating, serious doctor — and photographs around the facility imply she's the scientist in charge here.


Bet you didn't think those bracelets might have another use than keeping you all together. My colleague interfered with CLOUD'S technology. She's always been the soft type... she seems to have found a way to keep your consciousness in tact apart from your body, along with a way to store it here. Without her meddling, there wouldn't be a way for you back. So long as you generate enough energy — well. Just don't think about it. You won't be useful in solving this. Just get to work.

!

work...?

Due to dead characters' control over the electronics in the facility, they'll be tasked with generating power for what looks to be a giant portal. How will they do this? By using their newfound powers of course! Conjuring memories, items, and visions generate power, as do utilizing the electronics around the facility. They'll also find they're able to warp to other parts of the city (San Francisco), and see how it's faring after the antiviral was deployed some time ago. The city seems devoid of zombies, but is still run-down and not very populated. Even still, civilization is beginning to stir again. Characters in the graveyard can sight see around San Francisco, with the caveat that it's still the apocalypse; nothing's up and running quite like it used to. But your bodies are holographic and you can't be harmed, so it might be fun to explore carefreely.

Doing all this generates some sort of latent power for the portal, apparently. Don't believe her? There's plenty of accessible files about the last group with a similar mission, though Dr. Bei is clear enough when she says she's not affiliated with CLOUD at all.

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Comments

[entwinedfate]

[ yeah sorry she's (platonically) his no one should have argalia attached to them

He rounds the table, fingers tapping a small beat as he remains otherwise apart. Almost trying to be, despite how he'd acted prior to death. ]

Indeed. I'm rather looking forward to helping the good doctor with her plans to return us with the others, though... I cannot say all of us hold the same enthusiasm.

[ Helly, ]

... Did you go as you wanted?

[familier]

[ The conjured facsimiles of her family carry on in their silent conversation, while Maria watches Argalia round the table, wondering what he's thinking, how... aloof he seems, in this strange afterlife. More alike to their first few weeks together. ]

...I did. I didn't think I would be able to carry on well enough. So I stayed behind at the church and drew the undead towards it so that the others could make their way to the next destination.

[entwinedfate]

Good. Good, that you did as you'd like. You've always been such a clever young lady, Maria.

[ ... Of course he'd known he would see her again, after arriving such a place. But it makes it no easier staring at her as he does now, heart-- filled, empty, bursting at the seams and wrung dry. He can't help the fondness that inhabits the syllables of her name, though. ]

I should hope that death has returned your energy and health in full as well, as it has mine. [ All that to say that she looks well and he hopes she feels it too. ] It's been rather nice being able to breathe without feeling my lungs give out.

[familier]

[ She— She feels it, she supposes, and the pensive look on her face at his remark says as much. She feels... whole, but not quite, when her body looks and feels the way it does. Unscathed, but not entirely... Here, either, like how she would imagine a ghost to be like.

But it's a blessing, both that Argalia doesn't feel the pain of the injuries that led to his death, and neither does Maria feel— well, she doesn't know. Her body being torn apart or crushed, she imagines. She lost consciousness before waking up here, in much the same way she had lost consciousness and woke up in the lab, all those weeks ago. ]

Right. You do look... as well as we can be, given all this.

[ ... ]

Do you believe what that woman said? That we might still be able to return?