Travel Diary- Undertow

[skinstealer]

??-???-316, Carcass, Consumption

Today I’ve arrived in Carcass, a wonderfully named city of small size and unfortunately large cult presence. I was able to take a train in after my...camping incident, but I had the misfortune of being seated next to someone who at minimum was very into Spit’s cult ideology, if not being an outright cultist themself. They tried to get me into their propaganda very, very eagerly, smiling all the while. Not a good omen coming in, and saying I was unnerved was an understatement. 
 

The most distressing piece of ideology attempted to be fed to me was definitely the line “giving into vices allows you to be your true self”, something so vile that it stuck in my head line for line. I remember it that exactly because of what came with it- this feeling that “vices” extended to anything, and that nothing was off limits. Judging from the warnings I was given coming into this zone, I have reasons to believe that might be the case. I did my best to play it cool during this conversation, but if I wasn’t disguised, I worry that I might have looked more than a little stormy. My suspicions were confirmed when they started talking about violence unprompted- it seems to them that violence is in fact the answer to many of their problems, even if it’s no longer openly allowed on the surface...I dread to think of what they were openly allowed to do before this whole “cleanup” thing. 

Against my better judgment, I asked what happens to those that do not participate in whatever the cult demands...though I definitely chose my words carefully. People get tossed out or ostracized, or...well, it was implied that worse happens, but exact details weren’t given. Maybe I don’t want to know.

We passed by the suburbs on my way into the city itself, and in my silence my wonderful companion told me about “bungles”, a creature that preys upon the residents of neighborhoods like this by lurking on top of their houses and waiting for them to emerge, sniping them with their huge beaks. 
 

I didn’t say much else on the ride. What else was there to say?

Miserable experience. Really fucking hate this place.