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

[ghostharasser]

[Oh, he's glad that his little baked good offering was well received. Of any hobby he decided to pick up, stress baking has by far been the most useful for just, cheering people up or helping others. Don't get him wrong, he loves photography and magic, but baking always ends up touching people in way he never expected when he started learning how to do it.]

Sure man, if you don't mind.

[He'll slip inside if he offers and then rub the back of his neck a little. It's always awkward starting these conversations, but-!]

I hope this doesn't come too far out of left field, but if there's like any kind of food you want at any point, that maybe you miss from home or something, you can hit me up. I've made a lot of different stuff over the years because I've got a lot of friends from around the multiverse.

[ninelines]

[ Lodi may have entered this conversation with no preconceptions about what it concerned, but that doesn't mean he doesn't notice the body language. He shuts the door behind Dipper with a gentle hand, then ambles over to the table set up in the inn room with tupperware in hand.

He seats himself at the table, lifting both his head and his eyebrows with a warm smile. He knows Dipper means well – he just doesn't know where this all is coming from, exactly. Had he seemed more downtrodden than usual, as of late? He certainly didn't think so... was he slipping? ]

Out of left field or not, I appreciate it. Since you seem at least aware of it, though, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to ask – is there a reason you're offering all of a sudden?

[ghostharasser]

[He's perceptive, or Dipper's terrible poker face strikes again.]

Oh, well, you know. It's important that all of us help each other out. We're all lost in this place for one reason or another, and it meant a lot to me that someone reached out and made sure I wasn't alone.

[Because remembers two years ago, the way he curled up under the ruined desk of his uncles, in the burned remains of his family's home from another life, and fell asleep wishing he had them with him.]

[He pauses a little, because he knows he's laying it a little thick and he really doesn't want to lie to Lodi so-]

The uh, the lights. I might have seen something of yours, and we don't like, have to talk about it or anything, but I guess I just wanted you to know that you're not alone, dude. Like- I can't in good conscious say I get what ...what all you went through, but I do get some of it.

[ninelines]

[ Little bit of column A, little bit of column B. Obvious about it or not, Lodi is trained to discern behavioral patterns. That, coupled with a dangerously sharp emotional intelligence, makes him... not uniquely suited to sniff out this very thing, but certainly well-suited to it.

He can sense that Dipper is meandering to a point that he isn't sure how to make. When he does make it, Lodi – isn't as upset as he might have been, if all that had occurred to him was new. He's well-aware of how much observation had been threaded through nearly his entire life at this point. It being viewed by other mortal eyes is somehow far easier to swallow.

The implication there, though, troubles him. ]

... I appreciate that. I don't mind talking about it if you'd like to. Even if it's just to solidify some of that common ground. And, to be honest with you, I can't help but be a little curious about what you specifically saw.

[ghostharasser]

[He wouldn't have been shocked if he was upset. It's reasonable to be upset when something out of your control shares a bunch of your personal biz without your consent. Lodi handles it pretty chill, really.]

[He wasn't tense or anything, but there is something that relaxes a touch when he confesses and Lodi takes it in stride. Dipper is an empath, which makes potentially emotional conversations a bit bracing, if he isn't sure what he's walking into. Luckily his pendant filters out most of the emotional feedback unless its particularly strong.]

It was a pretty complicated memory, it showed me a lot. A ringing phone, you being pulled off earth, something that looked very apocalyptic and ...

[He winces a little.]

Things got a little weird and metaphysical, I think. "The Nine" stands out to me, but I don't think I grasped everything I saw.

[ninelines]

[ Ah! It had seen fit to show Dipper the whole kit and caboodle. Lodi winces just enough for it to be visible, reaching a hand up to nudge at his glasses. Most would probably be bristling over having such a visceral recollection shoved down any and everyone's throats if they happened to walk by, but… even if he had severe misgivings, it would be easy enough to swallow them.

Besides. It wasn’t Dipper’s fault. ]

Ah, yeah, that. Well, I – first of all, I'm sorry that it saw fit to give you the whole rundown, and also that you could relate to it at all. The, uh, Nine, are – not fantastic at conveying information in a palatable way even firsthand! I can only imagine how disorienting it would’ve been secondhand.

[ Lodi spreads his hands with a humorless smile. ]

And, um, unfortunately you did witness an apocalypse level event. Of a sort. I hope that particular bit wasn’t familiar to you.

[ghostharasser]

[It probably helps that he's a little bit Eldritch in his own right, when it comes to digesting stuff like this. He is both resistant and a sponge for the kind of stuff that would drive people insane.]

...yeah, about that.

[He also smiles in a very humorless way.]

The first time wasn't a full-blown end of the world, it was localized to a small area and orchestrated by megalomaniac nightmare demon who tried to turn my universe into an eternal frat-party of chaos. It was a lot worse in practice than how I described it, but we kept it from spreading, and it only lasted about a week before we took care of the demon. The ...second time, it was a lot less violent, but I was trapped in a realm that slowly broke down over time, and collapses on itself. That entire world fell away.

[So yeah, more he kind of gets.]

That wasn't what I was originally going to bring up, but yeah, that definitely also counts.

[ninelines]

[ More than anything, there is a bitter draught of regret that pools on Lodi's tongue. It was one thing to have himself twisted inside and out, to bear witness to the end of a world: it was another thing entirely to hear that it had happened to another. He had had more than his fair share of troubles grappling with the reality of the end of one world, and it wasn't as though he was present when it happened.

His brow furrows. ]

I'm sorry. I – can't imagine what that must have been like. I'm... lucky, I suppose, to have witnessed it all secondhand. The fact that you had to endure all that, I... well. As nice as it might be to not be alone in all this, it's one of those things where...

[ He huffs out a quick breath. ]

I really would've rather been alone in all this. I really am deeply sorry.

[ghostharasser]

[Lodi seems like a really nice guy, and it's a real shame that he's caught up in something like this. He probably should have expected that bringing some of this up would have made him feel awfully sympathetic. He got that vibe alone from their conversation over the netbook.]

[It might be a little tricky to navigate this without the poor guy feeling worse for him, which is not what he wants. Dipper ...handles his business pretty good, he thinks. He knows what he's been through is rough and more than unfair, but he's fine. He's got his feet under him.]

It's cool man. If it's one thing you can't do much about, it's an apocalypse.

[Even if he did blame himself for a long time over the circumstances of the first one, but he doesn't want to get into that.]

Anyway, what I really wanted to say was, I know what it's like to have been put in a situation that was framed as a "choice" but it really never was one, and you're stuck making the best of a situation. Picking up a phone or walking through a door... I know what it's like not to be able to go home.

[ninelines]

[ They're having a empathy-off. Lodi, for his part, is... largely equally as objective, but god, he's has, what, two decades on Dipper? He threads his fingers together and lets his head hang for a moment. There is a part of him that distantly rebels at the idea of being comforted, but he also knows how healing it could be to commiserate.

He won't rail against this. It would be cruel, for one. For two – even allowing this connection didn't mean he would be shoveling his burdens onto Dipper's shoulders. God forbid. No, this was just – understanding. ]

... I appreciate that. Really, I do. At the very least, I can say that it's enabled me to meet some truly incredible people. See some truly incredible things, too.

[ He nods his head, slowly. ] Would've really loved to see a midwestern autumn at least one last time, though. Funny how the things that all started to seem a little commonplace get so special when you know you'll never see it again, huh?