Madness On The Loose ?

[*Hydra]

As namer Kazuko returned to the gatehouse this morning, she immediately inquired in a quite bored and depressed tone what could have happened there and if she could see the source of the problem with her own eyes at a reasonable distance. She then sighed, feeling that this day would be even more depressing than as usual feeling a deep pain in her stomach.

[*Selebius]

The gatehouse is shut down tightly, there are even some armed guards but Kazuko is let in after showing the badge.

Something seems to be going on, there are whispers and some doors are barred despite new 'barmy' arriving every minute, the queues outside even longer than usual.

However many are also released again.. it seems some madness is quite temporary?

The atmosphere is tense and somehow the inmates are more unruly than usualy, the building reeking of madness and fear....

[*Hydra]

Kazuko stopped for a moment to imbue herself with all the madness, then she began to rationalize until she got bored and asked if she could take care of some of the barmies for the rest of the day.

[*Hydra]

Kazuko was panicked, she never felt like a heroine, always like betrayer of everything, because she refused to give way to any sense in her life. Once, she had stabbed a conqueror in the back letting everything he had build fall apart, and now she was witnessing the fall of something she was used to be familiar. The Gatehouse always was, the madness was comforting, reassuring once you reached the point beyond; an ocean of endless possibilities, a boiling magma of lively chaos that didn't made any sense at all, this was the pure essence of the multiverse, you just had to let the waves carry you day by day and act with a kind of detached dignity.

But this time, it was different, this chaos wasn't the one of life, but of something completely alien, she knew she could only reject it, because it was slowly destroying the sense of stability she had found. She clenched her teeth, and griped firmly her Katana, breathing deeply before she decided she had to stab another another conqueror in the back... The original chaos had to be restored. She sat for a few seconds, fighting against an intense feeling of depression, she felt dead inside for a few minutes. "They are too powerfull... why should I do something ?". Then she raised, filled with rage as a cornered animal with no chance to escape : she had to fight, to live, plain simple.

Her rage kept her going for the day, she tried to gather a few other responsible people, yelling at them, shaking them as she explained her revelation, she wasn't a leader nor had she the charisma to gather the masses, but she insisted, threatened and kicked some rears, she spoke softly, hugged and cried. Trying to gather as much forces as she could, the goal was to put everyone back in place or at least maintaining the illusion, she soon considered herself as a prophet a mad prophet wanting to restore back the madness to its usual course. Her plan was though very simple : sealing and locking the contaminated areas, leaving the infected and the most dangerous people behind and gathering those clear enough in the safer zones, be they barmies or bleakers.

[*Selebius]

At first her actions are just a spark of chaos among chaos but slowly, very slowly she succeeds, gathers a few Bleakers who are slowly trying to return the status quo, continue with their everyday's tasks.
Soon a few wards are reopened, some patients treated, a few Bleakers meditating, finding the solitude they seek.

And it seems to help.

More and join her efforts and her example and soon something odd happens:

Which every little normal (for the Gatehouse!) tasks the alien influence lessened, the surroundings turned back to how they were.
But it is a constant struggle, whoever- whatever- growing there slowly trying to expand.

[*Hydra]

After the chaos that brought a bit of order, Kazuko couldn't sleep. Actually she was to afraid to even try. She decided to walk away from the gatehouse searching for something that could help. Fortunately, she was able to obtain two wands of the famous Cerulean Sign (100 charges). Once she came back to the gatehouse, she decided to do some cleaning. Garbing her katana she started to use the wand on a few people that behaved "normally" at least from a bleaker standpoint. Once she made sure they where clear, she asked them to assist her while she continued the examination of the potential dangerous cases, grouping people as reasonably as possible. She warned/commanded/suggested/pleaded her assistants to stomp and kill every crawling beast if possible.

[*Selebius]

It takes two days but Kazuko manages to slowly push back the influence of the Hivemind, containing it in the Criminally Insane Wing.

But she has never time to relax, her task never ending as whatever grows in there wants to expand its influence and slowly grows in power- despite no new 'patients' having being brought in by the Hardheads the last few days...

Her wands are useful in driving those possessing worms out and even remove a possessing Hollow from its host but the charges will soon be used up.

((roll 6d8 and add 10 to see how much charges she has used up))

[*Hydra]

Kazuko / Ash had already used a wand, the hoped the second would last a little longer, things where getting worse, how could it be otherwise ? It wasn't a test, it wasn't an obstacle she'll be able to cross alone, just something too big for her ready to stomp her as she stomped the bugs. There was only possibility that made any sense : survival, just for the sake of it, to die another day on another dark shore, but not this one.

- "We must move away from here while we still can" She said as she raised from her long depressive meditation, filled with a sense of despair. "Its not a good place to die, to close our eyes and let things go away to find the emptiness of silence. Too many noises, the cacophony... yes the cacophony... let us find the silence !" She said then with her usual sense of desperation filled with enough madness to drive her. She tried to persuade the others they should move, out from the gatehouse to find the silence and some rest. She had asked Dace to find something, maybe retreating to pandemonium was good for the Bleakers, but the barmies needed something else... a more proper place.

[*Selebius]

The Bleakers who decided to support her will also suppert this choice and action- one of them even forwards some papers to her- calculations how much space they need, how much food, how many patiens need to be locked up, ect, ect.

Again this purpose helps them to shift their focus away from the corruption that is spreading, slowing this process down.

[*Selebius]

Evacuating the gatehouse is no easy task but it is doable and soon the she and her helpers are able to find a few suitable houses and rooms spread over the Hive.

Scouting the areas controlled by the hardheads is risky however- and nit just for the lobsters but also for the danger to get possessed or controlled- navigating the corrupted areas making the her head hurt and she even gets lost a few times in tunnels that once were familiar to her.