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

[purifyingwind]

[ That feedback loop feels – strange. The ruthless edge of Tengen's emotional subconscious shoved up against Sanemi's is distracting. He supposes that is part of the point. Throw one another off their game, forced to contend with conflicting emotions and perceptions. It does serve to quiet his own optimism as they creep along, at any rate. It also gives him a renewed appreciation for Tengen's efficiency.

That inherent respect is part of the reason that Sanemi pauses long before he mindlessly closes the distance from the entrance to the room to their weapons. That distrust is like sandpaper against his skin: not directed at him, not entirely, but harsh all the same.

Would it not be better to take the risk, trap or not? Surely their reflexes and instincts were honed enough, capable enough, of preserving them from most manners of surprise threats. Sanemi strongly doubted they could be caught wholly unawares, dark, dank maze or not.

He crosses his arms over his chest, mildly uncaring of how it tugs at their tether. ]

Could be. What, you wanna pass 'em by? No fucking way.

[souninind]

[He does have a point... he doesn't want to pass them by, but he doesn't trust them just... being there either.

He also does trust their reflexes for getting them out of dodge, but he would trust them more if they weren't tethered together - considering they'd be just as likely to trap one another in place by trying to dodge in opposite directions...]

Yeah, no fucking way... I'd assume we have one shot, though, so... straight through, here to the other door, I'll keep pace with you and we grab with our good hands.

[There's that ruthless pragmatism, that sandpaper again. If they miss... he could probably be convinced to take another pass, sure, but at the moment this feels. Safe-ish. A risk worth taking.]

[purifyingwind]

[ Sanemi is unconcerned about missing. They were both performing far more involved maneuvers than merely plucking up their weapons going far faster, and for a far greater distance.

Tengen's overwhelming caution is starting to rankle. If asked why it was bothersome, though, Sanemi isn't sure he'd have an answer. Had the former Sound Hashira always been this careful? His fighting style and his demeanor both had led Sanemi to assume a hint more recklessness. Chucking bombs that close to your own body implied at least a level of carelessness.

Or was this because he was chained to Sanemi? Irritation twinges at the back of his mind. He didn't need to be coddled by anyone, let alone Tengen.

He clicks his tongue. ]

Fine.

[souninind]

[That's the thing about his fighting style - it was flashy, over the top, even reckless... on the surface. But at its core, Tengen knew his limits, what he could and could not do - there was room for flashy recklessness in that. But with someone else so close? Someone he cared deeply for?

No room for mistakes. No space for carelessness.

He wouldn't call it coddling... but the other man very well might. So be it. He'll coddle and he'll weather the ensuing annoyance.]

Good. Go when ready.

[purifyingwind]

[ Sanemi will have time to examine the emotion that threads between them at a later date. Or, maybe not, since they were a beautiful bouquet of idiots far better at swallowing the difficult feelings! Only time would tell what the labyrinth would manage to wrest out of them before their time in it was done.

Without further ado, Sanemi breaks into a sprint from their tense standstill. He has little doubt that Tengen would be able to maintain pace – he was faster, after all.

Once he is within arm's length, he reaches out to grab his weapon. ]