April 16th, The Day It Happened
April 16th, 2025. It was a normal day, or so I thought. Since I didn’t have any plans until 1, I slept in until 1, where I participated in a tabletop game. When it ended at 4, I headed to the alcove in the CAB building and sat in one of the booths, chilling and playing video games until about 5:30, where I moved to the Sem II complex for class. When class started at 6, I sat casually in my usual spot in the back and pulled out my macbook, ready to take notes for or write in class, although oddly enough there was worse cell service than usual. At 7, as the sky started to change, I paid no attention to it, as i was very transfixed in the class activity, and the sky is also behind my seat, so i wouldn’t see it
At 8pm, as the calamity struck, I hid under a table, my instincts from old earthquake drills kicking in. This didn’t do much to mitigate the terror I felt in the moment, but it was something to try. At 8:29, I get out from under the table and try to see if my classmates are okay, but the scream from the forest gets me right back under the table. Furthermore, none of us have seen Sam since 7:55, which is a gnawing anxiety in my brain. Between the lack of cell service and the apocalyptic conditions happening, I am not having a good time.
Finally, at 9pm, I crawl out from under the table in order to check on my classmates, then I begin to explore the campus, looking for medical supplies in order to have them on hand. I leave my bag in the classroom as in this situation I am really wanting speed. When I get the word that the remaining staff are gathering students, that’s when I grab my backpack and head to wherever the gathering is located. As students head out to try and leave, I don’t go with them, but instead wait by where they left so they know by my presence if they were looped around. This comes in handy, as nobody is actually able to leave campus. By midnight, I’m in the Alcove in the CAB, not wanting to be alone, using being social to try to cope with whatever just happened, and especially the fact that I can’t talk to any of my friends or loved ones at all.
I don’t sleep much that night. When 6am hits, I stare at the red sun, the new sky and I just…shudder in fear at the new status quo. I may be uninjured, but there are many people who are, and i make it my goal to try and at least make sure people know where the injured should go. I don’t know medical skills, but I can still talk to people and tell them where to go.
April 17th-23
The first day after the disaster is rough. Deprived of the much lazier option of “not eating three meals”, I decide to make sure I’m eating 3 meals a day, knowing that I’m going to need the energy. I spend the first day figuring out where the injured are being treated, and I start looking for and moving the injured to those areas. I’m not super athletic, but I am a large guy, so I’m still able to help. I start to permanently live out of the alcove, wanting to make sure I am easily locatable.
By day 2, as very primitive communications are made with something outside of the campus, I begin to slowly plan an idea on how to get to Olympia on foot to try and access it to improve the signal over there. It’s amateurish, and i toss it out in favor of waiting for a bigger group doing that to join
On day three, I finally attempt to pierce the mist. It doesn’t work, and I am further dissuaded from my plan to get to Olympia. Furthermore, I don’t even know what the situation over there is like.
By Day 4, I lean back into providing help for the injured, especially when people injured by monsters start popping up by day 5. I’m no medic, but I can at least run messages back and forth, and the constant exercise strengthens me considerably. I spend all of day 6 running messages back and forth, going full courier mode
By the day 7 meeting in Evans Hall, I volunteer to try and get a message to Olympia once we have a route, as I’ve grown very used to running far distances.
April 24th-May 4th
It has been two weeks. Food has ran out, and the student body has been desperately searching for alternatives. I’ve been alternating between figuring out how the magic works and jotting down a survival guide about the monsters within the fog as I begin to venture out into it. With the limited electricity, turning this into something cohesive is a little hard, but I’ve been picking times where there’s more power and slowly converting all my data into a video guide on surviving. It’s mostly for my own desires, but having the info easily consumable will surely help the people who want to get to Olympia. Preparation is very useful, after all. I’ve decided that I’ll make the monster guide easily consumable, but I’ll have a layer of obscurity over my magic guide, as it could be far more dangerous in the wrong hands.
Speaking of the magic system, I’ve started to nourish a tree outside the CAB, and through that interaction I’ve been able to gauge how this system of magic functions. The first, biggest rule, is that you must harmonize with nature. The magic here appears to be based in a very give and take dynamic with nature, so so long as you are taking care of the environment, it will return the favor. The second most important rule is that you cannot, under any circumstances, use it to harm something. You will feel the magic refusing, and it will be painful. I won’t go into details in this entry, but I’m speaking from experience.
Mistakes aside, the magic is very fun to experiment with, and I’ve been using vines to reinforce some of the less sturdy defenses by where the more dangerous animals roam. Perhaps later I’ll try and create a path back to campus a la Theseus’s string in the labyrinth so that people can spend less time in the forest, but that is a project for later.
May 5th-May 15th
Another week has passed. I’ve leaned a lot more heavily into the mage aesthetic, and i have started experimenting with some of the bears that have appeared to test whether or not “harmony with nature” applies exclusively to the flora, or if it also includes the fauna here as well. While testing has been, thus far, inconclusive, one of the bears has seemed receptive to at least a minor form of partnership, as i’ve been feeding it some of the hunted squirrels, and it has, in return, guarded me while i ventured out into the less foggy parts of the woods in order to mark them with vines. For the moment, it seems that while animals cannot provide the same kind of magical power that the plants do, there is a benefit to taking care of them, as they are part of nature.
Thanks to a quick weapon making workshop, I’ve forged a very basic bladed weapon, and am considering seeing if I can make a saddle or something to try mounted combat atop my bear. Of course, this would require something with a longer reach, but other than just combat, a mount would possibly help mitigate the very rough trip from Evergreen to anywhere else. A bear can run 30 mph, which is far, far better than anything I could accomplish with my own legs. Of course, this doesn’t take into account any enhancements that the bears may have received since the calamity, but is a good baseline. Also, I just think riding an armored bear around sounds badass, what can i say.
I’ve been preaching my “harmony with nature” idea to everyone I see, so I hope more people grasp that soon. My magic guide isn’t exactly going well, I’ll probably have to hide the url somehow, Call it a hunch, or paranoia, but I don’t know if I want this information to be out and easily accessible just yet. My bear partner has already been helping me hunt some crabs, which while they aren’t people, is still slightly different from the plants being unable to do harm. Perhaps it’s because it’s for survival and not out of malice? I’ll have to try more experiments later. It’s getting late, and i’m getting hungry, so i’m signing off here
May 16th-June 1
Yet another week has passed. I’ve joined up with a search and rescue team, as the isolation I’ve undergone while testing the magic has taken quite the toll on my mental health, as if it wasn’t already poor due to the freaking apocalypse going on. In addition to the bear that I’ve tamed, I’ve begun training a number of pigeons to keep eyes around the scarier areas of campus. My hope is that they can help the rescue team find people in the fog.
More than anything, I’m curious what the fog is doing. If there’s someone who knows the truth out there in the fog, then I must find them. My family is out there! My girlfriend is in another state! I want out of here! I want normalcy!!!
Whoops, I think the angry fog has gotten to me. My nose is all stuffy, and my temper is considerably shorter. Hopefully this won’t get in the way of the preliminary search and rescue mission happening soon.
I keep hearing about the situation in Olympia, and nothing sounds good. Apparently all the government officials ran to a bunker and starved, and there’s no cops out there either. As amazing as that sounds, I feel kind of bad for the residents. Their whole world has been turned upside down.
I’d love to document more, but my eyes are super watery. I should get some rest instead of writing anything more down.
June 2nd – June 9th
I think the fog’s fucking with my brain. I don’t feel sick anymore but my brain feels like mush. I’m tired, and I can hear the fog calling to me. The forest becomes more and more tempting every day. I think i’ll go in soon. I can’t ignore it, I don’t want to ignore it.
The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming. The fog is coming.
Whoa, Oops, temporary lapse in sanity! When I go in, I’m going to bring some sort of object to remind me of who I am. The present my girlfriend got me a few years ago should do. As long as I see that, I shouldn’t forget. I can’t forget. I need to get out of this fucking campus. I want to go home. I want to sleep in my bed. I want to see my family.
Tomorrow, I’ll head to the fog…
June 10-20
I have seen beyond the veil.
We have brought this event upon ourselves. Our hubris caused this, and nothing can fix it
The fog is coming. There is no way out.
Ok i don’t remember typing that, i remember walking into the woods and then waking up surrounded by concerned civilians. I gotta get out of here man it sucks.
I’ll be honest, the last several weeks have been a complete and total blur to me. I remember traveling to olympia, pissing off the fog, and the rest is progressively harder to remember. With my head cleared, I’ve just solidified my desire to get out of here. I won’t go through the fog again, but I need to find a way out. The fog showed me visions, but i have to assume they were largely delusions or tricks. Other than the occasional vision, my mind was a complete blank until one of the search and rescue team members gave me my wayfinder. I’ll have to thank Light for their puzzles later. If i had been left in the fog i would have most certainly died, and instead, all i have is just a bit of a headache and a desire to take a damn nap because i’ve slept like total shit in the fog.
This should be my last entry. I’m getting rid of these logs and finding a way to get out. If i do, i’ll send help, if i dont, well, oh well. I’ll be dead and free of this fog
Dane Goforth, signing off.