[TCPDEX] TCP Research Initiative

[aeshihowl]

(The stack of papers has been folded carefully and placed into labeled envelopes based on what information they contain. The envelopes have then been sealed with sap and bound with apparently homemade twine.)

(Page 1)
I am Flicker, formerly called Buzz. I am living just outside the woods near small town in Luxson, with a Ruffneck named Ren. When we are finished foraging and working the land, they let me do as I please, sometimes accompanying me into the woods to ensure my safety.

SP-1-1
Ren was able to direct me to a spawn point in the woods, not too far from a lake. Others in town directed me to one in an abandoned theatre that had burned down in a grievous accident.



(Page 2)
SP-1-2
WOODS SPAWN POINT:
The spawn point in the woods was in a vast grove of dead trees and had an overwhelming aura. It was far, further than Ren and I usually hunt, and for good reason. My body was flooded with a heaviness, and a feeling of grief and desolation and loneliness. I created a few flytraps, wondering if I'd be able to catch something I couldn't see. Ren and I came back a few days later - two of them had been destroyed by a black fluid but the third was still intact. I tried using the scrap-viewing equipment on the destroyed ones, at Ren's suggestion, but it wouldn't focus. It kept rapidly flicking through images and feelings, which I am assuming were memories. Horrific scenes of Morbitans and TCPs alike dying of some sort of awful plague. I think I need to go rest now. (Scribbled in the margin beside this entry is written in blue: "Asked around town. Deep woods used as mass grave for Luxson's dead during plague. Ren is not native, did not know. Also says the soil in that area is corrupt and will not yield sustenence and that animals from around that area are strange, sometimes mutated. Some are completely feral.")

(Page 3)
I made camp in the branches of some trees and kept watch for several days. TCPs spawned: bastard, sigil, deer, chaos, coffin, anxiety, bird, corpse, leviathan, rope, dissociation, panic disorder. Several of them didn't seem quite right, but I'm not sure what was wrong with them. Some had too many parts, some not enough, some not the right parts, and any combination of these. I have attached a sketch of one of them, the sigil-type, as I was unable to take photos of these strange TCPs. Even just being in their vicinity filled me with dread. I can only assume the corpses buried here are from the horror plague, and their collective decomposing bodies are giving off enough horror radiation to taint this spawn point. (On the reverse side of the page is a sketch. The text reads "What I colored in blue was a soul-sucking black. It was terrible.")
   

(Page 4)
SP-1-2
THEATRE SPAWN POINT:
The aura in the main hall of the theatre was similarly unpleasant to the one in the woods, but it was more of a panicked terror than an oppressive sense of hopelessness and desolation. I used my scrap-viewing equipment around where the majority of the ash was - the memory I caught was of a rehearsal, where one of the actors carrying a lit candelabra stumbled over an unsecured rope and fell into the curtains. The other actors and staff spent far too long trying to unravel them from the burning, heavy cloth, and the flame caused the curtain to collapse onto the stage and break through it entirely. I kept watch here for several days but the spawns were far fewer: a burn type, a licorice type, a fantasy type, and a spotlight type.

(Written near the bottom of page 3)
SP-1-3
WOODS SPAWN POINT:
I followed the dissociation type. It left the dead zone in the forest and was promptly eaten by some predatory animal. The creature had trouble swallowing. I did not pursue.


(Page 5)
SP-1-3
THEATRE SPAWN POINT:
Every so often, at least twice a day, a Beatfox wearing an apron with many, many pockets would come by, at least once a day, and collect the TCPs. She would comfort and reassure them as she carried them away. I followed her to her house and snuck in through what was apparently a TCP door. After a short period of observation, I realized she was keeping them as cherished pets and pampering them, carrying them around in her apron and calling them her children. She didn't seem all there, if you get what I mean, but the TCPs seemed happy, at least. The unlocked TCP door gives me reason to believe that they can come and go as they please, or simply go. That being said, I don't dare attempt to interview her.



(Page 6)
HR-1-1
In the town Ren and I frequent, Maghem, there were no reports of horror vents in this area. However, one resident said there was a rumor of one on the northern island. Ren obliged me on the weekend and took me to investigate. Sure enough, we saw with binoculars from the top of a hill that the amount of horror-ed beings compared to our side of the island, excluding the deep woods, was significantly higher. There seemed to be a high concentration of eyespot mutations as well as aqueous-like growths. I'd call them fins but... Well, you can see for yourself. I've attached a map. (On the reverse is a sketched map of Luxson, a red X marking the general location of the vent.)
   



(Page 7)
DN-1-1
I have deduced from the amount of costumes and masks that are suddenly cluttering streetside stands that Maghem celebrates Darkest Night with a Masquerade. The town square is being decorated at a startling speed, and a straw construct of Spit seems to have gone up overnight. I have attached a photo of one of the stands. (There is a photo glued to the back of this page with sap.)
   

DN-1-2
Judging from the costumes being sold, it looks like most costumes are related to ideas. For evasiveness and vengeance, there are things like ghosts, spirits, zombies, cats, rats, and snakes. For protection and healing, there's been turtles, knights, goddesses, and medics of every type. Attached is my own costume. (There is a photo glued to the back of the page with sap.)
   

(Page 8)
DN-1-3
It's Darkest Night. There are various foods and sweets, of course, but it seems nobody's eating anything yet. The other foods all seem to have a gorey theme. There's spaghetti dyed pink labeled as brains, there's crazy bread with some sort of red sauce labeled as intestines, some eyeballs on a plate which are secretly gods-know-what... What a strange tradition. 

DN-1-4
I asked one of the celebrants - they said the masks are to protect their identities from Spit and the construct is to burn at the beginning of the night, to ward off her attention and violence by metaphorically killing her. I don't think that's the way it works with living beings, but it's a small enough town that it's probably fine? The tale behind the foods they serve is as a celebration of defeating Spit. I assume they will be eaten once the Spit is burned down.