EVENT & TDM 036

[sticksandbonesmods]

WAKE UP

Whatever you were doing, something doesn’t add up. For starters, you were most certainly not in this strange little village with a mishmash of cultures and strange animals everywhere. You might have been holding your weapon, yes, but maybe you weren’t- maybe you don’t even have one, and the heavy wooden beam or old pipe in your hands is foreign entirely. But as you stop to think, you also realize you were mid-swing, and someone stands before you; another fresh face being urged by whispers untraceable to fight? Or one of the villagers, alarmed and primed to defend themselves before your time seemed to stop and your mind awoke?

Even stranger, once you get that sorted out, is that the wildlife- all animals mixed with plants- are all nervous at best, actively frightened by something unseen at worst. Squirrels whose tails resemble hyacinths more than fluff and fur run through the trees chittering and shrieking, foxes and dogs with reeds and leaves and petals gently growing from their haunches bolt from place to place, alert and stanced for an attack before running off again. Getting too close to a warren may lead to something biting down on your feet.

Should you journey the distance to the beach- or use the Ark gate generously provided- even the Emerald Sea churns and roars violently, the cliffside whirlpool practically a hurricane beneath the sea. Something is amiss in Aldric’s Grove, and you are only the latest victims.

A LANTERN IN THE HANGING TREE

There’s something that wasn’t there before, one day. A dark, gnarled tree with a gaping hole in it- except the hole is pitch black, and a barrier stops you from entering despite the opening being large enough to walk into. Hanging from the almost-bare boughs are metal lanterns, all of them unable to be lit. As fog rolls in, so too does poor weather. It’s almost always raining, if not outright storming. Sometimes it lets up, but not for long.

The fog brings something else though. Golden lights wait in the fog, and approaching them sounds… incredible, actually? They do not move or give chase, but you may find them unavoidable regardless. Walking into the lights brings you to a memory, a scene from someone’s life… but not your own.

As it finishes, you might be where you’d just been standing, but there’s a slim chance you now stand before the owner of the memory; as if you’d walked there in a daze while lost in thoughts that aren’t your own.

With each light met by a villager, a lantern in the tree lights.

GUIDING BONDS IN THE DARK

It’s dark. It’s painfully dark even though your eyes are wide open. As you fumble around, hands outstretched for anything at all, your fingers catch on a metal curve. Instinctively, you slip it on your wrist- and as your sight returns, emotions that aren’t yours slip into your heart and mind. You aren’t alone, but maybe you will wish you were. A silver chain connects the bracelet on your wrist with your companion’s own before vanishing again, and if you try to put more than six feet of space between each other an invisible tug between you stops you. Removing the bracelet blinds you again, but if given the opportunity, wearing more than one overwhelms your mind to the point that you may as well be wearing none at all. Your powers are null, your weapons are not with you. The two of you are alone.

You find yourselves in a dark cavern of dirt and root. High above, a silvery blue light shines.You can hear rain hitting leaves and bark, water trickling down roots. Should you try to climb up, the roots shake you off themselves. Behind you is a solid wall. Ahead of you is a path to take, twisting and winding with ever shifting false routes and a chill in the air. There’s only one way forward.

As you traverse the labyrinth it will quickly become clear you aren’t alone. Something trudges through the caverns with heavy feet, stalking everyone within. Unlucky travelers will find themselves cornered by a minotaur looming over them, ready to fight and give chase- but it can be distracted by other travelers, or killed… temporarily, and it will come back with a vengeance.

Even outside of the minotaur there are other threats however. As you go from hall to room to hall, familiar scents and sounds creep in, all meant to invoke something you dread. Soon enough those scents and sounds will take shape, hunting you down just as fervently as the bull. Lingering in any space for too long also incites rising temperaments and lower inhibitions that you may struggle to shake off. Why would you? Smacking your partner for being a coward is so much more enticing. … Not just a smack. After all, about half-way through, when monsters born of your memories start to haunt the labyrinth too, you found your weapons, after all.

Your goal is to get to the center of the maze, while the maze wants to crush you with the minotaur, with memories of fear and regret, with its own rush of root and dirt while your emotions feed into each other, crashing against each other’s minds like ocean waves against a cliff. And should it succeed, should air leave your lungs one last time, you will not awaken in the Garden. This is a game, after all. No, as your companions filter into the center two by two, they will find you just barely breathing, strung up from the root, and the roots strung up in you. Plants grow from your flesh and blood, squeeze your lungs and heart. They may fade in a couple days, or you may well be corrupted by the Fallen Sun’s touch. You frame a single opening in the dreariness, but the sound of rain is louder than ever.

Little by little you make your way through, exiting from the gnarled tree strung in lanterns. The bracelets drop from your wrists and crumble to pieces. You’re free.

SOMBER RAINY MORNINGS

It’s been a trying month, and the rain does not stop. The lights do not dim, the lanterns in the tree do not flicker. All you can do is try to cope, in whatever way you can. And when something tugs at your mind again and the scent of dirt floods your nose, something roars in the distance.

The clouds in the sky are cut in half as a serpent made of the cosmos flies above, an iridescent rain falling from its body. Those corrupted in death will find themselves trying to avoid it, for its waters purify the rot in their bodies. Others may simply enjoy the warm beauty as the world seems to settle into a calm. The lantern tree seems to bloom and heal before vanishing into a flurry of petals, leaving only a few broken lanterns behind on the ground. Nene, the girl with flowers growing from her hair picks one up with a far-off gaze before returning to her cottage, leaving the rest behind.

Flowers begin to spring to life, embracing the warmer days of summer in the wake of spring, and gradually the wildlife begins to calm down.

For the first time in weeks, a sunny day awaits and the sky is stained with rainbows.

Spark Notes (Click to Expand)

summary

WAKE UP: New arrivals in Aldric's Grove arrive holding weapons, covered in blood, and most likely pointing them at someone. Surprise! On top of that, all the animals are on edge, and some might attack you if you agitate them or get too close.
A LANTERN IN THE HANGING TREE: A tree appears one day with hanging lanterns. Getting close to a golden light means that memories of others will enter your mind, and with each person who touches a light, a lantern on the tree lights.
GUIDING BONDS IN THE DARK: Within the labyrinth, everyone is connected by a bracelet and are therefore sharing emotions. Getting more than six feet apart will stop you from moving further forward, but without a bracelet, you'll be fully blinded in the maze. Your weapons and magical powers aren't with you, and threats loom around every corner.
SOMBER RAINY MORNINGS: To potentially cure the Corruption that some characters may have endured by dying in the labyrinth, the Cosmic Serpent rises from the sea to spew purifying rains across the Grove. Flowers bloom where the corrupted ground was healed, and you're given a break - for now.

out of character

Happy May! This is a reminder that TDMs are game canon. Current players in the game may redeem TDM AC this month (meaning: if you tag a new player/character and the thread reaches 5 comments from you, your AC is that entire thread for the month if you want). We'll find a better way to clarify this rule in the future and we're sorry for anyone it's confused in the past. Have fun with the event!

updates

Any potential updates, such as characters damaging something important or whatever else, will be put here.

submissions

❖ Questions
❖ May Plotting
❖ Past Life Plotting (Closed to Game Members)
❖ Investigations

code

Comments

[flowerbreathing]

... yes. It helped for a time. I don't think either of them anticipated that I would ever need to use it in the field of battle, though.

[ Kanao pockets the coin, but not before the pad of her thumb digs into the surface for a moment. Sorrow threads in between a steady affection as she remembers Kanae. It had been distant, back when she had died. Like trying to hear through thick wads of cotton stuffed in her ears. ]

I don't know for sure, but... I think they both wanted me to grow up to be a normal girl. Certainly not a slayer.

[namuthing]

Yeah, that. Seems a little dangerous. Not a lot of time to be able to make a decision.

[Not that Kanao hadn't managed well. She was was a tsuguko, her master's protege. She seemed to even put Tanjiro and his friends to shame, which was saying something. Clearly, she'd managed to figure the whole thing out.

Not that she was perfect, apparently. He winces sympathetically at her confession.]

... My brother is the same way, I guess. He tried to push me away, to make sure I never got involved with the slayers. It only made me want it more.

[What an idiot. Both of them, really.]

[flowerbreathing]

[ The fact that Genya seems comfortable enough to share something in kind overjoys her! He had always seemed so terribly tangled up inside. It was never something she had conceptualized trying to tackle herself – she would surely have worsened it with her own agonies – but she knew Tanjiro had reached out to him. Had witnessed some of those struggles with the elder Shinazugawa firsthand, in fact.

Their relationships with their older siblings had been incredibly different. Shinobu had never been unkind to her. Hard on her, yes – distant, assuredly. But she had never been forced to endure anything physically from her sister's hand. A part of Kanao wonders if... Genya even wholly questioned that violence.

But this was hardly the time to bring such a delicate topic up. She nudges forward on the toes of her boots, peeking her head round a corner. The distant rumbling was far closer, now, but... ]

It sharpened your resolve. You wanted to close that distance between you in any way you could. My decision to participate in the Final Selection was similar.

[ She smiles at him. ]

You should be proud.

[namuthing]

[Without a weapon, there isn't much that Genya thinks he can do. He might not have been enough to best a hashira, but at least he was adept at taking out a few demons here and there. He could survive with something in hand.

Or maybe if he took a bite of whatever was down there? But Genya pushes the thought far from his head. He'd given his word to never tap into that ability again. More than that, he doesn't want to. Not when the chance of losing control, of hurting someone else, was on the table.

Still, he hates feeling weak. Kanao tells him to feel proud, but he only feels small. His hands clench into fists and -

something faintly electric sparks from them.]

I wouldn't go that far, but - [He shakes his head.] Listen to me. I think I might be able to distract whatever's out there, if it comes toward us.

[flowerbreathing]

[ That frustration threads through their connection. Kanao can sense that she has said something that prodded at the wrong, open wounds. Before she can dwell on it overmuch, though, her eyes are drawn to the sparking in his hands. The magic borne from the Grove...? They could use it down here?

But then he suggests providing a distraction. For a split second, reflexive fear swarms their emotional link. She, for a moment, vividly recalls how Shinobu had waylaid Upper Moon Two. Surely he didn't mean to sacrifice himself? A bead of sweat wells on her forehead. ]

... how?

[namuthing]

[Genya feels that fear, sharp and brief enough to overwhelm, but only for a moment. He draws in a reflexive gasp, squeezes his eyes shut, and tries to find himself through it. Mentally, he repeats his chant. Through it, he's able to trace at least some of where that fear might come from.]

I'm not going to get us hurt. [He's quick to shake his head.] If it shows up, I can use my magic from here. Make a tornado, cause some thunder. Draw its attention elsewhere so we can sneak past.

[He can't die down here. Not if he wants Kanao to live, and not if he wants to make it back to his brother. There's no other way but forward.]

[flowerbreathing]

[ She's affecting him. Her own fear is having an adverse effect on him. Kanao's fright twists into ugly, self-directed anger for all of a split second before she does the same as him, though they might not know it. She starts to repeat the chant in her head. ]

I'm – not worried about that. I –.

[ She fidgets in place. ]

Didn't want you to sacrifice yourself.