{"id":121,"date":"2025-05-23T17:22:20","date_gmt":"2025-05-24T00:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/whatspastcooperpoint\/?page_id=121"},"modified":"2025-07-02T12:44:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T19:44:51","slug":"danes-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/whatspastcooperpoint\/danes-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Dane’s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 16th, The Day It Happened<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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\u2019t see it<\/p>\n

At 8pm, as the calamity struck, I hid under a table, my instincts from old earthquake drills kicking in. This didn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019m 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\u2019t talk to any of my friends or loved ones at all.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t 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\u2019t know medical skills, but I can still talk to people and tell them where to go.<\/p>\n

April 17th-23<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The first day after the disaster is rough. Deprived of the much lazier option of \u201cnot eating three meals\u201d, I decide to make sure I\u2019m eating 3 meals a day, knowing that I\u2019m 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\u2019m not super athletic, but I am a large guy, so I\u2019m still able to help. I start to permanently live out of the alcove, wanting to make sure I am easily locatable.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s amateurish, and i toss it out in favor of waiting for a bigger group doing that to join<\/p>\n

On day three, I finally attempt to pierce the mist. It doesn\u2019t work, and I am further dissuaded from my plan to get to Olympia. Furthermore, I don\u2019t even know what the situation over there is like.<\/p>\n

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\u2019m 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<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

April 24th-May 4th<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It has been two weeks. Food has ran out, and the student body has been desperately searching for alternatives. I\u2019ve 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\u2019s 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\u2019ve decided that I\u2019ll make the monster guide easily consumable, but I\u2019ll have a layer of obscurity over my magic guide, as it could be far more dangerous in the wrong hands.<\/p>\n


Speaking of the magic system, I\u2019ve started to nourish a tree outside the CAB, and through that interaction I\u2019ve 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\u2019t go into details in this entry, but I\u2019m speaking from experience.<\/p>\n


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\u2019ll try and create a path back to campus a la Theseus\u2019s string in the labyrinth so that people can spend less time in the forest, but that is a project for later.<\/p>\n

May 5th-May 15th<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Another week has passed. I\u2019ve 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 \u201charmony with nature\u201d 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\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been preaching my \u201charmony with nature\u201d idea to everyone I see, so I hope more people grasp that soon. My magic guide isn\u2019t exactly going well, I’ll probably have to hide the url somehow, Call it a hunch, or paranoia, but I don\u2019t 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\u2019t people, is still slightly different from the plants being unable to do harm. Perhaps it’s because it\u2019s for survival and not out of malice? I\u2019ll have to try more experiments later. It\u2019s getting late, and i\u2019m getting hungry, so i’m signing off here<\/p>\n

May 16th-June 1<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Yet another week has passed. I\u2019ve 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\u2019ve 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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!!!<\/span><\/p>\n

Whoops, I think the angry fog has gotten to me. My nose is all stuffy, and my temper is considerably shorter. Hopefully this won\u2019t get in the way of the preliminary search and rescue mission happening soon.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d love to document more, but my eyes are super watery. I should get some rest instead of writing anything more down.<\/span><\/p>\n

June 2nd – June 9th<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I think the fog\u2019s fucking with my brain. I don\u2019t feel sick anymore but my brain feels like mush. I\u2019m tired, and I can hear the fog calling to me. The forest becomes more and more tempting every day. I think i\u2019ll go in soon. I can\u2019t ignore it, I don’t want to ignore it.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t forget. I can\u2019t 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\u2026<\/p>\n

June 10-20<\/h2>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Ok i don\u2019t 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\u2019ll 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\u2019t 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\u2019ll 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\u2019ve slept like total shit in the fog.
This should be my last entry. I\u2019m getting rid of these logs and finding a way to get out. If i do, i\u2019ll send help, if i dont, well, oh well. I\u2019ll be dead and free of this fog
Dane Goforth, signing off.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading Dane’s Story<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10723,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/whatspastcooperpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/121"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/whatspastcooperpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/whatspastcooperpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/whatspastcooperpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10723"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/whatspastcooperpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/whatspastcooperpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":501,"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/whatspastcooperpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/121\/revisions\/501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/whatspastcooperpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}