EVENT & TDM 008

[sticksandbonesmods]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

SUBMISSIONS

QUESTIONS
INVESTIGATIONS
PAST-LIFE PLOTTING
INTEREST CHECK

(CODE)

Comments

[reaperbunny]

I. Butterflies are kinda nice I guess (Grove - Open)

[ Ah, the mirror. The mirror that shows one their worst traits, the things that are truly the most deplorable, disgusting traits about themselves. Honestly? Brook is mildly surprised that such a mirror is not literally just a mirror for himself. Being as ridiculously old as he is, and living such a deplorable life, it’s hard not to be aware of his flaws. Impossible, even. Especially the flaws of “Brook”.

Brook is ignoring it entirely, though. He’ll give the occasional glance over at it when it speaks to him, but doesn’t flinch in the slightest. Unfortunately, for anyone who happens to be around the mirror at the time, one, will hear this deep, guttural and unrecognizable language from it, that is equal parts growled and hissed. Though the words themselves don’t make any sense, the sound alone seems to evoke an unnatural sense of despair and… guilt. Like you can feel your sins scratching against your skin. The more severe the sin, the more suffocating that feeling becomes.

You may even catch a glimpse of the Brook inside. Voidlike and only the vaguest of features, with shadows that both lick across what little skin shows, and in the surrounding space – not much unlike the merchant siblings. (Hey, Brook? Brook? Is that the reason you haven–)

Anyway, if you get too close, Brook is almost unnaturally quick in getting next to you, grabbing the mirror first, flipping it around. ]

Don’t mind it. He just gets a little sassy sometimes. [ ??? ]

II. But my tummy hurts, I’m getting sick of it (Ice castle - Open)

[ The ice castle is… big. It’s big and Brook might do well in the cold, but he hates waking up in new places. He knows he wasn’t there for the volcano, but the fact that now they’re in an ice castle doesn’t really bode well for them.

At least it’s not a race or anything, haha…

People will find Brook at one of the walls, a comically large fist in the form of conjuring shadows around his hand. He’s attempting to punch through the wall, it seems. He’s made a dent, too! Which… probably means he’s been at this for a while…

And when he seems to finally be making that little bit of progress, it seems to re-solidify. If Brook has a reaction to this beyond just holding completely still, it's hard to tell. He just seems to stare blankly. ]

III. Been bruised over and over again (Ice castle - Open)

[ Otherwise, he’ll just be helping with the knights once he realizes they’re an actual issue. Rather, he’s just avoiding them himself in various comical ways, slipping on his new mask (thanks, Wolfwood), and seemingly expressionless as he limbos himself past the swings of axes and the twirling of spikes flails and simply skating away.

But if there’s someone else in trouble? He’ll always seemingly mock whatever knight he’s killing by conjuring that shadow-y business he has going on into the weapon they’re using and slam into them with it, shattering or slicing the presumably non-sentient creatures and dispersing the shadows after. ]

We should move, before more show. …Are you okay?

IV. So, you know what?? (Wildcard)hmu @ discord or rubiesriot for plotting stuff!

I

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood hated his own mirror enough without feeling himself influenced by another god damn different one. But at least Brook's is far less personal, it's just that he doesn't like the feeling of being reminded of the things he hates about himself in the first place, and those many sins are definitely one of them. He's just a lot better at keeping it under wraps, unlike some people.

So when Brook tells him "don't mind it", Wolfwood's response is to scowl around the smoldering cigarette between his teeth.]

Why don't you just smash it? Ain't like you got anything to lose, unless you like having that follow you around.

[Do not listen to him this will prove problematic later-]

[reaperbunny]

It doesn't bother me any. What? You want me to feel sorry 'cause it's make you uncomfortable? [ Sorry, Wolfwood, he knows you got him a nice mask back, but he's still gonna be a sarcastic bitch. ] I'm not exactly keen on breaking seemingly cursed artifacts. That's like the number one rule of RPGs, dude.

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood just sort of. Stands there, watching Brook with an expression like the guy just reeled back and slapped him. It only lasts for a second though, before it melts into more of a look of "Oh you're THAT kind of guy, alright we're doing this-"]

Tch. Sure sounds like somethin' crawled up your ass and died, more like. I could care less what you do with the damn thing.

[reaperbunny]

[ Were Brook even more cynical, he might point out that something did crawl inside of him, and it's less dying and more keeping him alive and he doesn't entirely want it there, but he's not going to go spilling that information around so blatantly. ]

Sure. That's why you decided to tell me to get rid of it, instead of just moving on from it. You don't seem to be the type of person who makes conversation because you're an oh-so sociable fella.

[lupusxylem]

[Probably for the best. Wolfwood isn't the type of guy you'd just give all your secrets to, at least not willingly.]

I didn't suggest "moving on from it" because it's not possible to do that, dumbass. Believe me, I tried. It's just gonna keep showin' up no matter where you go.

I. Butterflies are kinda nice I guess

[amethystic]

( felicity quirks an eyebrow, before shrugging it off. )

Thought mine reformed for a moment. With how eerie these things are, I wouldn't put it past it.

( "are you holding up okay?" dances on her tongue but she swallows the words with a quiet ease. compared to how she used to be in the grove, making meals for the inn every day and then going about her business trying to stave off boredom, it's hard to play the caretaker like she tends to. she's bone-tired and as much as she does care, she wishes she didn't. )

[reaperbunny]

I tried locking mine up, but it just kept appearing by me. It's proving to cause more trouble to others than me at this rate, too, so might be wise to keep a distance until we figure out what the deal with them are.

… [ Hey wait- ]

What do you mean "reformed"? Did you break yours?

[amethystic]

... Woke up from a night terror- ( her room is so, so very soundproofed via sigils on every wall. ) -and there was a weirdass mirror with a wack aura moving and talking to me. So I threw it at the wall and we're just going to leave it at that.

( was it smart? well that is a question for another day. (the answer is no. she won't realize the magnitude of this mistake until much later. )

Figures it'd follow you. Haunted lil' thing, isn't it?

III. Been bruised over and over again

[amethystic]

( felicity doesn't answer right away. she thinks... her ribs are cracked. there's a frozen-over gash, and the ice has crept past her wrist, now. the first few words are barely a whisper... )

So... petrification, again.

( ... before she straightens up from how she was hunched over, leaning against the wall for support, and looks up at brook. her hair is starting to frost over, too.

so.

no, she's super not. )

... Thank you.

[reaperbunny]

[ No, she is super not! There's a brief silence that indicates that whatever Brook is feeling right now certainly isn't good by any metric. He knew it was cold, but the fact she's literally turning to ice doesn't seem fault of cold alone. He doesn't think knowing the source of the issue would even help at this point, would it?

…

At the very least can't he try to get her to find someone who can help? "Who?" He'll figure that out later. He holds his hand out. ]

Come on. We gotta get moving. That'll warm you up and we'll figure out a way out of here before anything else happens.

[amethystic]

( she almost hesitates to accept the gesture- what if this is contagious?- but after a moment, relents with a nod. her hand is just as cold as expected, and her fingers feel stiff where frozen. a little heavier, too. )

Alright. ... I found a secret passage earlier. I have a civilian hiding in there right now. You open it by pulling one of the sconces in the throne room down.

( ... this isn't a suggestion, per se. its more like, "check on the kid when i die". an unspoken last request. faith is for the ones not too far broken, after all. )

I. Butterflies are kinda nice I guess

[devilishkouhai]

Hey!!! It made my tummy hurt a bit, why is that? [ BB asks genuinely curious, and upset that he took away the fun toy!!! She tried to get a glimpse of it and managed to before he snatched it away. Though frankly, that may be for the best. ]

[reaperbunny]

[ Oh, hey, it's that freak who causes problems at the family meetings- ] I'd say "maybe you're allergic to sass," but then your stomach would probably be hurting all the time.

You shouldn't be nosy with these things, anyway.

[devilishkouhai]

[ #1 FREAK. ]

Oh, and why not?

[ Not be nosy. ]