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sticksandbones2024-01-05 07:59 am
sticksandbonesmods) wrote in sticksandbones2024-01-05 07:59 am
Entry tags:
EVENT & TDM 008
LET IT GO
WAKE UP
It’s strange, how as the dawn of a new day finally arrives, coinciding with the howling winds dying out, classic, adorable snowmen seem to have popped up all over the Grove overnight. The fog wall has yet to surround the barren remains of a town that once was, but it’s visible once more in the great distance.
Not that you can see it immediately. Something covers your eyes, and you can feel something heavy and frigid wrapped all around you. As you struggle more and more, the crunch of snow echoes through your ears as you step free- and when you turn back to examine their prison, you’ll realize one of the snowmen was you.
Meanwhile, old residents will get to deal with more and more people popping out of snowmen like daisies, and must remember that this is just their life now. It’s just another day in Aldric’s Grove.
Though, maybe you ought to help them before frostbite sets in.
Not that you can see it immediately. Something covers your eyes, and you can feel something heavy and frigid wrapped all around you. As you struggle more and more, the crunch of snow echoes through your ears as you step free- and when you turn back to examine their prison, you’ll realize one of the snowmen was you.
Meanwhile, old residents will get to deal with more and more people popping out of snowmen like daisies, and must remember that this is just their life now. It’s just another day in Aldric’s Grove.
Though, maybe you ought to help them before frostbite sets in.
MIRROR, MIRROR
The quiet couldn’t last forever. You should have known that something would happen, especially with the fog beginning to make itself known again. And this time, it’s something quiet. As you wake up one morning, there is a mirror on your nightstand — it’s silver and round, able to fit comfortably in your hand and wreathed in crystalline snowflakes.
And as you look into it, your reflection twists into something still undeniably you, but… have you a temper problem? Too many lies? A sadistic sense of humor? All of your worst traits are dragged out and reflected on the mirror, and no matter what, it keeps ending up wherever you are — and whoever else looks into the mirror will see this awful, terrible you, too. All of your worst characteristics, all the things you try to hide, unable to be hidden.
Maybe you keep trying to hide it. Maybe you let it stay wherever it keeps turning up, following you like a particularly terrible walking salesman, or maybe you break it. Regardless, nothing seems to happen… for now.
And as you look into it, your reflection twists into something still undeniably you, but… have you a temper problem? Too many lies? A sadistic sense of humor? All of your worst traits are dragged out and reflected on the mirror, and no matter what, it keeps ending up wherever you are — and whoever else looks into the mirror will see this awful, terrible you, too. All of your worst characteristics, all the things you try to hide, unable to be hidden.
Maybe you keep trying to hide it. Maybe you let it stay wherever it keeps turning up, following you like a particularly terrible walking salesman, or maybe you break it. Regardless, nothing seems to happen… for now.
WITH SHARDS OF ICE
“For now”.
Late into the night, everyone wakes up to a sudden, terrible chill. When you open your eyes, you’ll find that you aren’t in your inn room or home, but instead within a giant castle made of ice. It must be a ballroom of some sort, a grand hall glittering in the moonlight — but looking out the window shows that the world beyond the castle is but a frozen wasteland of more blizzards and nothing else. Though you’ve been granted some of your gear — weapons and some supplies, and coats if you’re lucky — you’ll find that the temperature is dropping steadily, while something approaches…
Peek out the door to the main hall and you’ll see what’s coming so noisily. An army’s worth of hallowed ice knights with all sorts of weapons are marching to the door, intent on slaying the intruders. Should they get close, they’ll attack; should they land the killing blow, you’ll instantly freeze into a solid block and shatter.
And if you broke the mirror that haunted you? On top of all of this, you can feel yourself gradually growing colder, physically and emotionally, and your magic, if you have it, takes on an icy flair that you may find difficult to control. Maybe it's your feet that start to turn to ice first — maybe it's your fingertips. But as the night goes on, you’ll steadily freeze solid, and like any fairy tale, only an act of true love could possibly save you. Good luck figuring out what that actually means. True love’s kiss? A genuine compliment? A hug? What could possibly save you from your fate?
Those of you who survive until morning, who don’t become solid statues of ice or die within the castle’s walls, will be lucky enough to witness the sun coming up through narrow windows the size of your forearm. All around you, the castle starts to melt, dripping freezing water onto your head. For as much as you try to run before you, presumably, drown terribly…
…your eyes will close, and you’ll wake up in your bed, drenched.
Late into the night, everyone wakes up to a sudden, terrible chill. When you open your eyes, you’ll find that you aren’t in your inn room or home, but instead within a giant castle made of ice. It must be a ballroom of some sort, a grand hall glittering in the moonlight — but looking out the window shows that the world beyond the castle is but a frozen wasteland of more blizzards and nothing else. Though you’ve been granted some of your gear — weapons and some supplies, and coats if you’re lucky — you’ll find that the temperature is dropping steadily, while something approaches…
Peek out the door to the main hall and you’ll see what’s coming so noisily. An army’s worth of hallowed ice knights with all sorts of weapons are marching to the door, intent on slaying the intruders. Should they get close, they’ll attack; should they land the killing blow, you’ll instantly freeze into a solid block and shatter.
And if you broke the mirror that haunted you? On top of all of this, you can feel yourself gradually growing colder, physically and emotionally, and your magic, if you have it, takes on an icy flair that you may find difficult to control. Maybe it's your feet that start to turn to ice first — maybe it's your fingertips. But as the night goes on, you’ll steadily freeze solid, and like any fairy tale, only an act of true love could possibly save you. Good luck figuring out what that actually means. True love’s kiss? A genuine compliment? A hug? What could possibly save you from your fate?
Those of you who survive until morning, who don’t become solid statues of ice or die within the castle’s walls, will be lucky enough to witness the sun coming up through narrow windows the size of your forearm. All around you, the castle starts to melt, dripping freezing water onto your head. For as much as you try to run before you, presumably, drown terribly…
…your eyes will close, and you’ll wake up in your bed, drenched.
FOOTPRINTS IN THE FRESH SNOW
The morning after that dreadful night, things… settle, again. Aldric’s Grove is quiet, and clear sunlight glistens across the snowy plaza and radiates off of frosted trees. Even now, the apple tree and blackberry bushes are unfazed by the cold, though the fruit may taste crisper and chillier than usual. Those that died within the castle return to life, feeling colder than normal for the rest of the day, but there seems to be no lasting damage. And, everyone who participated in the castle “game” receives a mysterious gift: A wooden coin with a sigil on it, resembling a clock with backwards hands behind a shield, attached to frosted pinecones, red berries and sprigs of mistletoe. It feels warm and protective.
You go outside. It’s been some time since anyone’s seen anything from the woods, let alone something that doesn’t want them dead — so imagine one’s surprise when a small family of deer can be seen walking amongst the trees. Birds alight to the branches on rare moments, and it’s surely a sign of something, that life has begun to return to the forest despite the deep snow and deeper chill.
Never mind that one of the deer has an extra set of antlers and another has three eyes. Never mind that the birds sound like people. Never mind that the rabbits have blood on their maws.
It’s just another day in Aldric’s Grove.
You go outside. It’s been some time since anyone’s seen anything from the woods, let alone something that doesn’t want them dead — so imagine one’s surprise when a small family of deer can be seen walking amongst the trees. Birds alight to the branches on rare moments, and it’s surely a sign of something, that life has begun to return to the forest despite the deep snow and deeper chill.
Never mind that one of the deer has an extra set of antlers and another has three eyes. Never mind that the birds sound like people. Never mind that the rabbits have blood on their maws.
It’s just another day in Aldric’s Grove.
SPARK NOTES
CLICK TO EXPAND!
WAKE UP
Good day, new arrivals! You are now a snowman. Hopefully people who have been here a bit longer are willing to give you a blanket or ten.
MIRROR, MIRROR
A mirror appears and starts following you around, reflecting what you think are your worst traits or worst version of yourself is. Other people can look into it and see the awful you, too. You can break it and it'll leave you alone, or you can let it stalk you all month.
WITH SHARDS OF ICE
Welcome to the ice castle! It's cold, but you have your stuff with you, and it's not unlivable. Well, until the frozen army of knights starts marching in with the intent to kill everyone inside, anyway. One lethal hit from them will make you shatter into pieces. For those of you who broke your mirrors, you'll gradually grow colder both physically & emotionally, and eventually start to freeze solid. Don't worry, though, you can be saved through the power of love.
FOOTPRINTS IN THE FRESH SNOW
Dawn rises on the Grove and the dead come back to life. Everyone who participated in the castle game receives a magical charm, though they don't know what it does so far. Animals come back to the Grove as well! ...why do they look like that?
OOC
Happy January! TDMs are game canon as a reminder, and if you'd like to plot with people for this event, head over to OOC plotting. While it is not known to player characters at this time, the charms granted as a reward for the ice castle can undo one future negative effect (i.e. a major death). They are a one-time use item. As for how characters discover this information... idk, we'll see how y'all decide to utilize those. :)
UPDATES
❖ None yet!
INVESTIGATIONS
Character(s):
Location:
Action: What are they looking for? What are they doing?
Re: INVESTIGATIONS
Location: Ice Castle!
Action: Mostly she's looking around and investigating, starting with the grand hall. Is there any sign of anything under the ice? Like a real castle? Any "monarch" being honored?
Anything cool and magic to steal?
no subject
Under the ice there is... more ice! It's probably several feet thick, if she had to guess. It isn't translucent at all. There are patterns carved into the floor to look slightly like large tiles, and a massive snowflake in the centre of it that appears to have been carved inside the ice and sealed over with another layer of it, like a resin craft. Other than that, no seeing underneath it.
As far as she can tell, there's a throne, but there don't seem to be any images or photos. Someone Might have sat here one time? Unclear. For some reason if she tries to sit in the throne, she's compelled to pose like Leon S Kennedy RE4 for a minute or two.
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It's 50-50 if she willingly sits on the ice as a California Girl, honestly. Are there any sconces or anything? If yes she's gonna pull some to see if she can find a hidden passageway or something.
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There are plenty of sconces! She pulls them. They are very fucking cold to the touch.
She opens one of them and falls into a hallway! Yaaaaay!
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Felicity is so bitter about this cold. BUT. THERE IS A HALLWAY. And she's going to GO INTO THE HALLWAY!
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For some reason, the artificial? weird? lighting in the main rooms don't actually reach back here. The false wall that she opened with the sconce slides shut behind her, and it looks like it won't open back up from this side... oops. She'll have to loop back around.
There's marching from beyond that wall, the clanky clank of knights, so at least she avoided that much so far.
Into the hallway she goes and, if she's carefully feeling around the walls or using something else to light the way, idk what she's got goin on you tell me, she'll see that there are multiple side rooms here. One of them looks like a small study. Another one looks like a small study. Another one... well, you get it, it seems world generation broke and it just generated a hallway full of studies. She's free to pull icy books off the shelves if she wants! They can be opened, but there's nothing to read. They are also very cold.
At least the broken world generation stops at the end of the hallway, though, and opens up into another chamber.
no subject
She will investigate some books. ... They're useless and cold but they're pretty so she might try and keep one for Gnosis, gonna be honest. To keep her hand free, she'll just levitate it after her like a floating mmo accessory.
Normally she might find the world generator breaking funny. But not today. What's up with that? ... It's probably nothing.
She'll press onward.
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No, seriously, this just looks like a bunch of depixilated ice, somehow. A really talented carver could get this effect with an ice block! ...and so could a childish creature who doesn't know how to sculpt things. Uh, um.
Felicity hears a voice in her head go "WAIT, THAT ROOM ISN'T FINISHED!" and the door slams in her face.
..................
It reopens a second later to what looks to be a drawing room. There's a pretty cool (haha) (lol) war table in the middle of it.
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There are also... okay, you know those little green army men? There are those, but they are made of ice. They will also melt after too long. They're kinda cute, though. She can shuffle them around the table and simulate the invasion of Fantasy France or whatever, unless she destroyed the map, because it'll be difficult to find Fantasy France in that case.
no subject
( she's not touching the map, but she is actually admiring the craftswork. maybe she'll try to doodle it later. she's got to get used to art with one hand anyways-
... actually what continent is on the map. does it match elsword's? )
no subject
There's a "????" engraved into the ice. The Creature doesn't know what the fuck those are, it just knows the land is There.
no subject
( so is there anything interesting in the forest, then? or even the sea? )
no subject
-The Temple, Church, and Lake, which are all marked off as Obvious Locations. These are also notable on Elsword's map as well.
-A drawing of a moose, and a dotted line path showing what Felicity will likely astutely assume is a migration path. The moose is probably Moder.
-An area where the trees look much larger on what is effectively an icy elevation map, near the coastline
Where Aldric's Grove is, there's a "XP" emoji and a "BLECH! YUCKY!" written in small text underneath it.
The sea meanwhile contains fun features such as:
-A drawing of a sea serpent that takes up half of the sea, and an arrow pointing to it labelled SCARY!!!
-Several tentacles added to the ocean like something out of a pirate's map. Either there's a kraken down there, or the Creature is confused about octopi
-A cute boat in the water that may or may not actually still be there to this day. It looks like a Monopoly piece.
Felicity will get the impression from looking at the sea that the Creature doesn't seem to know much about it, except what is observable out to a certain point. There are lots of question marks in miscellaneous areas, like the landscape out there confuses it, or it isn't sure what sorts of things are out there, just like with the land mass across the sea earlier.
no subject
Anything else in the war room? Or are we calling it here?
no subject
There doesn't seem to be anything else interesting in the war room, unless she really likes feeling ice brick textures on the walls. Live your peace girl.
(no subject)
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Location: Ice Castle
Action: Just trying to see if there is anything familiar about any of the knights - do they dawn armor for anyone he has fought? Hell are they knights HE KNOWS?? What century do these knights of armor seem to be from? He knows about several generations of knights from the eras of 400 (his starting point) - 1600s.
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The armour is this except made of ice, but the ice can't be seen through very clearly. This is about ~1540s year wise.
Lancelot will feel as though he doesn't know these knights. If he were to somehow knock one of their heads off without killing them, the suits of ice armour are completely empty as if possessed by some kind of entity.
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when they are defeated do they just shatter? do they seem to be following orders from anyone? or coming from any particular set area?
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It's difficult to tell if they are under orders or not. They seem to have a one-track mind with murdering all of you. Whether that's because they've been given previous orders from something outside the area, or they're merely acting on autopilot, is difficult to tell.
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Location: Ice Castle
Action: Liv is studying the knights even through the fights. He tries to keep his distance for the most part, but will sometimes venture for close combat to learn more.
Are they organized at all / do they seem to communicate with one another? Does it seem like they have a chain of command? Are they taking orders or acting as individuals?
They don't speak or have bodies once destroyed, but do they react to words or taunts or a changing up of maneuvers like a person (or an individual spirit) might? Or is it more senseless drive to brute force their way through everything?
Do they have any weak points besides those in traditional armor?
no subject
They do seem to react to grabs for their attention and react accordingly... but they are also very driven to brute force you to death, yes.
The knights are very sensitive to fire and will prioritize anyone who has it, and bullets take chunks out of their icy bodies, but it's hard to take advantage of these points when there's just so many of the things.
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do their numbers seem to dwindle as individuals are defeated, or are they replenished 1:1?
no subject