Dogtown Searches

[apocalypsehowmods]

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Dogtown Searches

Figuring out what is happening with Dogtown Commons and its growing threat has become a major focus for everyone at ADI. They have sanctioned searching the park as long as people provide reports on what they've found. With how challenging travel through the park has become, going any distance without knowing the threats you might face or what safe passages exist proves difficult, which means searching and mapping out the very changed park is slow-going.

ADI has opened up two specific points in the fencing around Dogtown to facilitate sanctioned searches.

OOCly, this is an interactive search mechanic that will give characters with an interest and willingness to face additional dangers a chance to uncover the mystery of Dogtown Commons.

Searches will be done by grid squares. There are Danger squares where characters will encounter different supernatural phenomenon based on the square they enter. Effects may extend across multiple adjacent squares. There are also Safe squares where nothing seems to be amiss. And then there are Landmarks that may appear in either Danger or Safe squares. Landmarks may simply be features of note that will help characters ICly navigate Dogtown, or they may represent points where puzzles can be found. Characters who discover the puzzle do not necessarily have to be the ones to solve it.

The rules of this mechanic are as follows:

• Characters must enter from either Entry 1 (R2) or Entry 2 (G17).
• One character may search one square per OOC week.
• Two characters working together may search up to two squares per OOC week.
• You may only do one individual search or one paired search per OOC week, not both. This is subject to change depending on how quickly players progress through the map relative to the game's projected timeline.
• The only accessible squares are those adjacent to visible squares, starting from the entrances. E.g., R2 is an entry point square. From R2, you could search Q3, R3, S3, or S2 for your search in a given week.
• For every 5 discovered squares your character is traveling across, your character must spend the night in Dogtown. E.g., travel across 10 squares = 2 nights in Dogtown. Spending the night in Dogtown is exceptionally dangerous. We would encourage players to ICly play out that particular danger. Dangers should align with whatever discovered square characters are choosing to camp in, but players are welcome to come up with specific twists on the daytime dangers that the square descriptions provide WITHOUT mod input.
• Moving up, down, or diagonally on the map from one grid space to an adjacent grid space all count as one square of movement.
• Squares are approximately 0.25 miles wide by 0.25 miles high (40 acres).
• Previously discovered squares with Landmarks may be searched by more than one person to acquire additional information or try to solve puzzles. Players who initially discover the Landmark DO NOT need to solve any puzzles to continue exploration.
• If you do not want to play out the particular effects that may be present in a square your character travels across or discovers, you do not have to. The character(s) would still experience the effect, it would just be something handwaved in the background. Some squares may have a player's personal 'avoid' items from our Content Warnings page, but mods will always provide content warnings with square descriptions and no visuals/pictures will be included that are on anyone's 'avoid' list.

To conduct a search, find the square you want to search in the comments below and fill in this form. Mods will respond to search requests at least once every three days.

<b>Search Type</b>: Individual or Pair <b>Character Name(s)</b>: <b>Date of Search</b>: <b>Landmark</b>: (delete this line if not needed) If you are specifically searching/interacting with a Landmark, what is your character doing? This could be an action to investigate the landmark (please give details of how they're going about their investigation) or an attempt to solve an existing puzzle (describe what your character is doing to solve things). Characters who discover a landmark DO NOT have to be the ones to investigate deeper or solve it. Discovered Squares

• B11 - Undiscovered
  
  
• C10 - Undiscovered
  
• C11 - Undiscovered
  
• C12 - Undiscovered
  
• C13 - Undiscovered
  
  
• D9 - Undiscovered
  
• D10 - Undiscovered
  
• D11 - Undiscovered
  
• D12 - Undiscovered
  
• D13 - Undiscovered
  
• D14 - The sky is heavy here, pressing down upon the treetops, upon you. The trees are bent at unnatural angles and many crack and seem to threaten falling over. The weight of it is enormous, and it keeps moving closer. Can a sky move closer? Move quickly through here or you might find yourself smothered.
  
  
• E7 - Undiscovered
  
• E8 - Undiscovered
  
• E9 - Undiscovered
  
• E10 - Undiscovered
  
• E11 - Undiscovered
  
• E12 - Undiscovered
  
• E13 - Undiscovered
  
• E14 - Undiscovered
  
• E15 - This is a land of murky bogs that may look familiar to those who have traversed Dogtown before. There's a path of sorts to pick your way along, but it's mostly hopping from one point of high ground to another. Slip into the muck and you might find something tugging at your leg and trying to pull you down. Hope you have a friend to help you out.
  
• E16 - The most prominent feature in this part of the forest is a cave. Entering into it, things seem normal at first, if a little strange. There aren't many caves like this in Massachusetts, after all. The sound of bats can be heard as they move above you, quiet rustling and chittering. There are also stalactites and stalagmites, which might well seem even stranger. As you press on, you will find that the stalactites and stalagmites behind you twist slowly until their tips interlaced and facing toward you. Touching them, they feel like soft, thick, sticky mud. You notice that more mud seems to be filling around your feet. It's a race to the other end of the cave to avoid being buried alive in this place. When you exit, you will find yourself forced into square E15 with no means of returning back the way you came. The cave entrance is smaller and completely blocked by mud on this side.
  
  
• F7 - Undiscovered
  
• F8 - Undiscovered
  
• F9 - Undiscovered
  
• F10 - Undiscovered
  
• F11 - Undiscovered
  
• F12 - Undiscovered
  
• F13 - Undiscovered
  
• F14 - Undiscovered
  
• F15 - Undiscovered
  
• F16 - This should be a simple meadow, one filled with red flowers in the spring and taller grasses in the summer. An old Water Tower stands as a Landmark (#30) at the northeast corner of the field. There is a large crater near the Water Tower where it looks like some sort of explosive was used. Stepping foot into the meadow brings with it a searing pain inside one's mind that must be fought through, one that burns at the edges of memories, taking important names, dates, something precious. Something you love is gone and cannot be recalled without the intervention of some other power. The Water Tower is a large and rusty thing, but it looks sturdy (if a hotbed of tetanus). Climbing up the ladder, you'll be able to find that the top has a notable hole. Inside, there's the slosh of water.
  
• F17 - Entering into this patch of forest is like stepping into a void. No natural or supernatural light sources work. Those with low-light vision will find even that stymied. This place is just dark. You can still hear and feel, though. Taste, if you really want to lick a tree. It seems... normal except for the unnatural darkness. At first, anyway. As you move through in one way or another, you begin to hear something apart from the rustling of leaves. The crack of a branch. Is something nearby? Those who spend any length of time here will find that the things they hear in the dark begin to sound more and more like something they know, something that would terrify them to face. They might even feel the brush of something against them that shouldn't be there. Linger too long and that thing you only think is there will be present. And it is going to try to kill you.
  
  
• G7 - Undiscovered
  
• G8 - Undiscovered
  
• G9 - Undiscovered
  
• G10 - Undiscovered
  
• G11 - Undiscovered
  
• G12 - The air is... strange in this part of the woods. It's hard to place what it is, but the sense that there's something off is pervasive. There are clear tracks on the ground from a variety of animals, most of them familiar. But then... then there are tracks with too many claws, tracks that are too far apart that are small, but incredibly deep gouges into the earth. There's the sound of things moving around that don't sound quite right.
  
  And then you come to the rock formation (Landmark #23) at the southwest edge of this search area. Rows and rows of rocks stacked in a seemingly natural formation. They look like... faces? Some of these definitely look like faces, maybe even ones that are familiar to you. Approaching, you'll hear the faintest sound of breathing, then the brush of warm air as the 'mouths' seem to exhale upon you. There's no movement, but the shadowed 'eyes' of the faces seem to follow your every move.
  
• G13 - Undiscovered
  
• G14 - The forest in this area seems all right? Nothing immediately untoward. Nothing that looks overtly dangerous. Until you notice the fingers. They look like an ordinary person's fingers with just the tips emerging from the ground. Ignore that set and you'll notice others. More of them all throughout the forest. Touch them or put something in the center of them where a palm would be, and they'll immediately burst from the ground and curl up. It's a hand. No, it's... there are too many fingers. There are too many fingers and its proportions and movements are far too arachnid. It grabs, scratches, attacks. Shake them off if you can. Once you set one off, more appear, trying to swarm you. Should you be sensible enough not to engage the ones on the ground, you might still not escape the hands. They descend from the trees in some places, landing gently atop you. Caressing you. Don't panic and maybe they won't attack? At least not immediately. The hands will eventually attempt to scratch, pinch, and gouge sharp nails into anything they can get at.
  
• G15 - The breeze is calm here, the way is clear with trees rustling gently. The forest is open and easy to peer through. A path seems to wind along from the south to the north.
  
• G16 - This should be a simple meadow, one filled with red flowers in the spring and taller grasses in the summer. It stretches up to the north and down to the south. Stepping foot into the meadow brings with it a searing pain inside one's mind that must be fought through, one that burns at the edges of memories, taking important names, dates, something precious. Something you care about is gone and cannot be recalled without the intervention of some other power.
  
  
• H7 - Undiscovered
  
• H8 - Undiscovered
  
• H9 - Undiscovered
  
• H10 - Undiscovered
  
• H11 - Undiscovered
  
• H12 - The breeze is calm here, the way is clear with trees rustling gently. The forest is open and easy to peer through. A path seems to wind along, curving from the south to the northeast. A large, rusty metal fence about 10-ft high runs south to north along the western edge of the path. Around it are weeds and webs and overgrown ivy, but not on it. The fence itself and the land around it is completely pristine. Nothing can be seen through the trees on the other side.
  
• H13 - Undiscovered
  
• H14 - This area of the forest seems peaceful at first with open meadow areas dotted around. Pausing, you might see something darting through the grass. It's small and fuzzy, probably some sort of mouse. A longer survey of the field reveals what seems to be burrows here and there, some with soft noses and whiskers poking out. Take a step into the wrong spot and the peace is broken entirely. The squeal is tiny, but it is a definite battlecry. Small bodies flood from the burrows and towards those who have dared to invade their territory. With a better look, it seems these things could fit into the palm of the hand, but they are more mouth and teeth than anything else. Some sort of shrew? It maybe hard to determine as they will swarm and bite anyone they can, only relenting when the intruders have stumbled 'far enough' away or have been killed. They rip through clothes and flesh very quickly, and while the bites might not be bit, a thousand papercuts can be very deadly.
  
• H15 - The breeze is calm here, the way is clear with trees rustling gently. The forest is open and easy to peer through. A path seems to wind along, curving from the southwest to the north.
  
• H16 - This should be a simple meadow, one filled with red flowers in the spring and taller grasses in the summer. It stretches up to the north. Stepping foot into the meadow brings with it a searing pain inside one's mind that must be fought through, one that burns at the edges of memories, taking important names, dates, something precious. Something you love is gone and cannot be recalled without the intervention of some other power.
  
  
• I6 - Undiscovered
  
• I7 - Undiscovered
  
• I8 - Undiscovered
  
• I9 - Undiscovered
  
• I10 - Undiscovered
  
• I11 - Undiscovered
  
• I12 - The breeze is calm here, the way is clear with trees rustling gently. The forest is open and easy to peer through. A path seems to wind along from the south to the north. A large, rusty metal fence about 10-ft high runs south to north along the western edge of the path. Around it are weeds and webs and overgrown ivy, but not on it. The fence itself and the land around it is completely pristine. Nothing can be seen through the trees on the other side.
  
• I13 - Rows and rows of neatly lined rubbish bins can be found set out here, as though purposefully placed. Have all of the bins in Dogtown been relocated to this small area? It seems like they might have been. And is that... the sound of breathing? All around you is the sound of steady breaths being drawn. A bit of examination reveals the source: the bins themselves. Open the lid or peer inside and only darkness looks back, reach in or stare too long and something reaches out to try and pull you in.
  
  Join us in the trash, won't you?
  
• I14 - The breeze is calm here, the way is clear with trees rustling gently. The forest is open and easy to peer through. A path seems to wind along from the south to the northeast.
  
  
• J5 - Undiscovered
  
• J6 - Undiscovered
  
• J7 - Undiscovered
  
• J8 - Undiscovered
  
• J9 - Undiscovered
  
• J10 - Undiscovered
  
• J11 - Undiscovered
  
• J12 - Undiscovered
  
• J13 - Undiscovered
  
• J14 - Undiscovered
  
  
• K4 - Undiscovered
  
• K5 - Undiscovered
  
• K6 - Undiscovered
  
• K7 - Undiscovered
  
• K8 - Undiscovered
  
• K9 - Undiscovered
  
• K10 - Undiscovered
  
• K11 - Undiscovered
  
• K12 - Undiscovered
  
• K13 - Undiscovered
  
• K14 - Undiscovered
  
  
• L3 - Undiscovered
  
• L4 - Undiscovered
  
• L5 - Undiscovered
  
• L6 - Undiscovered
  
• L7 - Undiscovered
  
• L8 - Undiscovered
  
• L9 - Undiscovered
  
• L10 - Undiscovered
  
• L11 - Undiscovered
  
• L12 - Undiscovered
  
• L13 - Undiscovered
  
• L14 - Undiscovered
  
• L15 - Undiscovered
  
  
• M4 - Undiscovered
  
• M5 - Undiscovered
  
• M6 - There is no transition or warning. One moment you're not in scalding, dry, heat and choking smoke and the next you are. It stings your throat, your eyes and, if you're not careful, your skin. The forest is on fire here. No cause is evident and it doesn't seem to be slowing down any time soon. Stay too long and soon you'll simply be so much kindling for the hungry flame. Probably best to turn back or, if you're brave and quick, maybe you can move on with minimal burns to show for it.
  
• M7 - The forest thins out in this area, giving way to more meadows sloping down into nearby wetlands. This time of year, it's also possible to see some rabbits darting about in the grass, seeming to flee some warrens whenever anyone draws near. There's no path in this area, so it's really just a pleasant walk through the field. At least until one of the bear traps hidden in the grass snaps shut. You might get very unlucky if it manages to snap around your leg. If you're trapped until nightfall, the rabbits will begin exhibiting a much different sort of behavior. Prey by day, predator by night. They're not so cute and fluffy when they stalk you through the grass and gather in packs to hunt you down.
  
• M8 - Undiscovered
  
• M9 - Undiscovered
  
• M10 - Undiscovered
  
• M11 - Undiscovered
  
• M12 - Undiscovered
  
• M13 - Undiscovered
  
• M14 - Undiscovered
  
  
• N4 - Undiscovered
  
• N5 - Undiscovered
  
• N6 - The path is blocked. A great wall spans the area with no clear way to get around it. Worse, it seems to be moving. Writhing. Upon closer inspection, it's clear the wall is made of millions of squirming little bodies. Red and brown ants crawl over and under and sometimes through each other to make up a solid mass of living things that refuse to clear. Shoot them, slash at them, you'll certainly kill some, but not all. There's always more. Any bite received from the ants continues to burn like fire under the skin and nothing less than legitimate burn treatment techniques seem to help sooth them, leaving pin-head burn scars in their wake.
  
• N7 - The breeze is calm here, the way is clear with trees rustling gently. The forest is open and easy to peer through. A path seems to wind along, curving from the southwest to the east.
  
• N8 - Undiscovered
  
• N9 - Undiscovered
  
• N10 - Undiscovered
  
• N11 - Undiscovered
  
• N12 - Undiscovered
  
• N13 - Undiscovered
  
• N14 - Undiscovered
  
  
• O4 - The forest is pleasant enough here. As you walk along, you have the nagging feeling that you're forgetting something, though. What was it? What... are you even doing here? Did you come in here for a reason? It's so hard to remember. And which direction did you come from? You can't remember. Whatever brought you here and how to get out have left you mind. You're not sure of anything in this place... and the shadows seem to be looming more as the day wears on.
  
• O5 - Undiscovered
  
• O6 - The breeze is calm here, the way is clear with trees rustling gently. The forest is open and easy to peer through. A path seems to wind along, curving from the southwest to the northeast.
  
• O7 - Undiscovered
  
• O8 - Undiscovered
  
• O9 - Undiscovered
  
• O10 - Undiscovered
  
• O11 - Undiscovered
  
• O12 - Undiscovered
  
• O13 - Undiscovered
  
  
• P4 - The forest is pleasant enough here, just off the path. As you walk along, you have the nagging feeling that you're forgetting something, though. What was it? What... are you even doing here? Did you come in here for a reason? It's so hard to remember. And which direction did you come from? You can't remember. Whatever brought you here and how to get out have left you mind. You're not sure of anything in this place... and the shadows seem to be looming more as the day wears on.
  
• P5 - The breeze is calm here, the way is clear with trees rustling gently. The forest is open and easy to peer through. A path seems to wind along, curving from the southwest to the northeast.
  
• P6 - Undiscovered
  
• P7 - Undiscovered
  
• P8 - Undiscovered
  
• P9 - Undiscovered
  
• P10 - Undiscovered
  
• P11 - Undiscovered
  
  
• Q3 - The breeze is calm here, the way is clear with trees rustling gently. The forest is open and easy to peer through. A path seems to wind along, curving from the southwest to the east.
  
• Q4 - The breeze is calm here, the way is clear with trees rustling gently. The forest is open and easy to peer through. A path seems to wind along, curving from the west to the northeast. One of the Babson Boulders sits here as a Landmark (#2). The text seems to be altered from anything on the visitor's guide to Dogtown. It now reads: "HOLLOW INSIDE."
  
• Q5 - Undiscovered
  
• Q6 - Undiscovered
  
• Q7 - Undiscovered
  
• Q8 - Undiscovered
  
• Q9 - Undiscovered
  
• Q10 - Undiscovered
  
  
• R3 - It's quiet in this part of the woods. Strangely quiet. There doesn't appear to be anything wrong. At least until you speak or make some other notable sound. The bullets zip through the trees, with no other warning. They come from nowhere and everywhere all at once. You'll need to be quick to avoid being grazed or even more seriously hit. Probably best to stay quiet. The violence prefers the silence, it would seem.
  
• R4 - Birds chirp merrily in this area. They chirp and chirp and chirp. The woods are alive with sound, and it's too much. It's overpowering, even for those who might be hard of hearing. The bird song fills your ears and your mind, and stopping it may become a singular purpose for those who can't mentally block it out. And if you can't find the birds? Maybe you can find something else to take out that aggression on. Or someone.
  
• R5 - Undiscovered
  
• R6 - Undiscovered
  
• R7 - Undiscovered
  
• R8 - Undiscovered
  
• R9 - Undiscovered
  
  
• S2 - It's quiet in this part of the woods. Strangely quiet. There doesn't appear to be anything wrong. At least until you speak or make some other notable sound. The bullets zip through the trees, with no other warning. They come from nowhere and everywhere all at once. You'll need to be quick to avoid being grazed or even more seriously hit. Probably best to stay quiet. The violence prefers the silence, it would seem. You can move to the south or the east, but directly to the southeast, the way is blocked by an enormous river made of blood. Jumping, flying, swimming, whatever is attempted seems unable to bridge the distance. And there's danger lurking beneath the thick red waters. A sea serpent that some might have caught glimpses of whilst trapped in a horrible submarine.
  
• S3 - Birds chirp merrily in this area. They chirp and chirp and chirp. The woods are alive with sound, and it's too much. It's overpowering, even for those who might be hard of hearing. The bird song fills your ears and your mind, and stopping it may become a singular purpose for those who can't mentally block it out. And if you can't find the birds? Maybe you can find something else to take out that aggression on. Or someone. You can move to the west or the east, but directly to the south, the way is blocked by an enormous river made of blood. Jumping, flying, swimming, whatever is attempted seems unable to bridge the distance. And there's danger lurking beneath the thick red waters. A sea serpent that some might have caught glimpses of whilst trapped in a horrible submarine. You think there may be some sort of building directly south, but it's hard to make out across the river.
  
• S4 - You can move to the west or the east, but directly to the south, the way is blocked by an enormous river made of blood. Jumping, flying, swimming, whatever is attempted seems unable to bridge the distance. And there's danger lurking beneath the thick red waters. A sea serpent that some might have caught glimpses of whilst trapped in a horrible submarine. You think there may be some sort of building to the southwest, but it's hard to make out across the river.
  
• S5 - To the south, the way is blocked by an enormous river made of blood. Jumping, flying, swimming, whatever is attempted seems unable to bridge the distance. And there's danger lurking beneath the thick red waters. A sea serpent that some might have caught glimpses of whilst trapped in a horrible submarine. A translucent rope bridge (Landmark #5) over the river becomes visible as you draw near. Up close, it becomes clear the bridge is made of spiderwebs. Countless tiny spiders swarm all over it, constantly repairing and rebuilding every little tear in its structure.
  
• S6 - You find yourself upon a lovely hill overlooking the lake. You find yourself compelled to sit at a lovely picnic spread on a lovely hill overlooking the lake. Everything piece of food is covered in puss and other pungent body fluids that you can't immediately identify. Stay awhile for a lovely time! Haven't you earned a break? The grip of the picnic will only release its victims after an hour or until they partake in the vile repast spread before them.
  
• S7 - Undiscovered
  
  
• T2 - You can move to the north, but directly to the east, the way is blocked by an enormous river made of blood. Jumping, flying, swimming, whatever is attempted seems unable to bridge the distance. And there's danger lurking beneath the thick red waters. A sea serpent that some might have caught glimpses of whilst trapped in a horrible submarine. You think there may be some sort of building directly east, but it's hard to make out across the river. There are insects at the edge of the river here, mosquitoes that seem to be out for blood even more than the standard. They rise in a swam from the banks and will gorge themselves immediately on blood if they manage to get on you, swelling and swelling and swelling until they simply pop. Anemia may come swiftly if you're bitten too many times.
  
• T3 - This part of the woods seems pleasant at first blush. It's a nice little jaunt beside a blood-red river toward what appears to be a small cottage. The building (Landmark #1) is in disrepair, the roof caved in in places and little paint remaining on the broken boards around the sides of the building. There's a little porch with a rocking chair on it that looks like it's in equally poor condition. Mind the splinters! Upon the chair is a corpse of a old-fashioned hunter. It's far less decayed than it should be for a man wearing those clothes. There is a flask of something situated in his lap. Above the hunter are thick spider webs that appear to have words spelled out in silk strands: ANTIDOTE 4 NE SPIDER VENOM. Inside the cabin, scratched into the wall is another message: If you hear the whistling, he's found you.
  
• T4 - You pass into a clearing in the forest that appears... normal, but the way home is distant. Perhaps this is a safe place to camp, if you must? Those who test those waters will find that the night brings its own horrors. Whether inside a tent or not, the stars grow visible, and they are wrong. They howl and shriek their pain. They laugh, rich and full-bellied. They whisper to you in an unfathomable language that slowly pushes you toward madness. In the morning, anyone who has rested here will find themselves in a fugue state, racing for the exit as quickly as their feet will carry them, mindless to spider bridges, to violent birdsong, to bullets that sing through the air for blood. Any supplies and collected items are left behind to hopefully be retrieved at a later date. For now you run and run and run. The stars chitter in your mind for hours after, but you understand nothing. You understand nothing.
  
  
• U3 - Undiscovered

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Comments

[apocalypsehowmods]

You can move to the west or the east, but directly to the south, the way is blocked by an enormous river made of blood. Jumping, flying, swimming, whatever is attempted seems unable to bridge the distance. And there's danger lurking beneath the thick red waters. A sea serpent that some might have caught glimpses of whilst trapped in a horrible submarine. You think there may be some sort of building to the southwest, but it's hard to make out across the river.

Search Notes: The river appears to be flowing from west to east. A quick search online or in a local library would tell you that's not unusual. Everything in this area would logically flow that direction into the Babson Reservoir, then onward into Mill Creek and north to Ipswitch Bay. There's no apparent source in this area.