diplomaticimmewnity: (Default)
diplomaticimmewnity ([personal profile] diplomaticimmewnity) wrote in [community profile] sticksandbones2024-03-08 01:53 pm

March Family Meeting

Who: All
What: Town Hall / Family Meeting
When: Mid-March
Where: Inn Lobby
Warnings: Child death mentions, torture, body horror. More will be in post titles as they come up.


Silverash will leave a note in the inn's lobby, as well as one in the notebook about a meeting coming up — a town hall to let everyone know what's been going on and gather information between one another. The Guardians, as always, are invited, and Enciodes even lets Ydalir and Heimr know what his plans are, in case they want to attend, though he does mention it might get rather uncomfortable for them, and he understands if they would rather not.

Silverash will use the notes taken at the last town hall and write them down again for all to see and pay attention to. There is a lot of information to note, so he is sure to outline and title all the important things to look at via your own disclosure. (As an OOC note, this is also the IC reasoning of why a lot of this was copy and pasted from the last meeting.)

Reincarnation and Our Past Lives
Our lives as we currently know it, while it did happen, are because of we've originated here at the Grove in a past life. Some sort of ritual was meant to save our souls, thought we physically didn't survive. For the most part, it seems our personalities from our past life carried over somewhat, but overall, it doesn't seem like learning about them in detail provides any information on how to get back to our current home or how to best the creature.

The Residents
The Shopkeeper and the Trader — They lost their names to the forest, so their new names are Heimr and Ydalir. With this in mind, do not give the forest your name. They cannot be referred to by their old names, but Heimr used to be the person in charge of the Grove and Ydalir his sister.
The Guardians — the Guardians we can currently seek out within the Grove are Zahliya, our small gargoyle friend; Moder, the large moose-like creature; the River Guardian, a fish(?). Treat them respectfully and give them offerings if you require their assistance or plan to take anything that is theirs. There are more guardians outside of the Grove. They're akin to... demigods, in a sense of the word. Moder and the River Guardian used to be corrupted, though on their deaths seemed to have been cleansed of this corruption. Though, going forward, killing the Guardians to purify them may prove detrimental. We simply got lucky with the first two. They were strong enough to revive. If we try again, we might not have this luck.

Purification, Zahliya, and the Corruption
Zahliya is able able to purify things with some sort of holy magic. However, his purification is not as strong as it needs to be to fully purify something of corruption. As such, it's in our best interest to figure out how to do this so we can use this ability to cleanse other Guardians and residents in the future, like Elsword and Nene. If you know of anything that might be helpful, but don't think it's a good idea for the creature in the forest to know, ask those two to leave, first. They may be on our side, but their corruption lends to the forest being able to listen in anyway.

We've found shards of the sun, the moon, and know of Ydalir's star shards. They seem to be manifestations of holy magic, considering that this world reveres the sun and moon deities. We've given Zahliya the sun shard in hopes it'll help him purify things. So far, it seems to be going well, though it seems like there needs to be something a bit stronger to help.

Belief and the "magic" of this world
Belief in something gives it power. Names give it power. As such, refrain from giving the forest/the creature/the entity a true "name" of any kind. It's recommended to swap out the vague reference you use. Vice versa for our Guardians - please use their names, and believe in them intrinsically when we require their assistance. Mizuki has recommended before that we sing to Zahliya when he purifies things. Songs of protection and such might do us some good, I think. Just remember not to wish for things too frequently, only if it's absolutely necessary.

Forest Entity
It considers us toys. When it gets bored, which so far has been every handful of weeks or so, it will play games with us of some kind, as you may have noticed with the race. They seem to vary in intensity. Residents were trapped inside a volcano and meant to get to the top before else risk burning alive… and it also seems to know what our absolute worst fears are, respectively. It will get in your head. Don't give it that opportunity.

It is not a god, but it does possess a great deal of power, somehow. Finding the source of this may be vital, as it is a chaotic nature with a child-like, sadistic personality, which is a deadly combination.

Places of interest
Aldric's Manor is a place where Heimr's kids are currently. We can't get to it, but the children inside do have a notebook, and we hope they'll try to communicate with us. One of his children… There's a grave outside for her. Do not do anything disrespectful by it.
There's a part of the forest where you might find people you know, but as trees. It's… very upsetting there. Refrain from visiting it too frequently.
The Garden is where you'll end up if you die. Nene brings you back if you do end up here. Do not die. Do not end up here. Coming back will have you giving up something important.
The River is where the River Guardian is. Return any remains of the fish we eat from there back to it after we're able to fish there again. Thank the River Guardian when you take apples from the tree nearby there, and thank Moder when you take berries from the bush near it. Do not take bones from the river without permission. Be kind to the river's inhabitants, and don't dump any trash into the water.
The Well The well water will always stay clean. Don't go dumping garbage into it, of course, but know that the water there is safe to drink regardless of what happens, it seems. Also, the well is completely bottomless, so if you can't breathe underwater, I don't recommend trying to swim down it. Mizuki tried to, but at a certain point it felt like something was pushing him back.
The Burnt Part of Town and Other Expansions — The Grove, prior to stuff going awry, was a sizeable place, so we're likely to explore more areas as a "reward" for participating in games. For the people who weren't here, it seems to have been "frozen in time". Which also means any corpses that were in there haven't been fully decomposed or anything, so be wary of that. Please also look out for the sink holes at that part of town — it's quite dangerous there.
The Church was Nene's previous home, and a former place of worship for whatever sun-based deity this world revered. It has since been worn down and transformed into something to worship the creature.
The Temple is separate from the Church. Zahliya was formerly a statue guarding this place. It is also where the creature was previously contained.
There's other places within the forest and such, but if you want specifics, talk to Elsword. He has a map.
If you do end up going into the forest, bring a pair of the golden spectacles that Heimr has with you. They will show you a safe-adjacent way into the forest. It won't guarantee safety, but it'll be your best case scenario.

Returning home
Not outside the realm of possibility, but currently unable to. The creature in the forest needs to be dealt with first, as even if we find a way home, it can likely just bring us back.

The shards
Mizuki has the moon shard, and has since apparently swallowed it, giving him the ability to stop the corruption. Likely, the moon shard itself has calming, healing, and soothing properties. The sun shard is able to burn corruption away. Not as much is known about it, but we can likely ask Ydalir about it, and the star shards, if needed.


purevanillacookie: (116)

[personal profile] purevanillacookie 2024-03-12 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ugh that makes him grimace. But he did promise the crying behind the door he would try to help. ]

It is as sound a theory as any. They all yearned to go to the Forest. There must be a way to break the corruption on them...
bloodyopus: (troubled / thinking)

[personal profile] bloodyopus 2024-03-12 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
...

Is it possible that it was...merely an echo of the past? Ah, allow me to clarify: I meant the fact that...they yearned to go back to the Forest's embrace. [ It's just a hunch, however. He feels uneasy just speaking of this topic, somehow. Well, even more uneasy now that he'd acknowledged it. ]

Perhaps it was the rooms itself that we should be investigating, where we might find something that could appease the spirits, or put them at ease...
Edited 2024-03-12 05:05 (UTC)
purevanillacookie: (092)

[personal profile] purevanillacookie 2024-03-12 02:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Mm, that is possible.

[ He taps his fingers lightly on his chin, expression thoughtful. ]

Yet, I would not understand sealing the rooms so thoroughly to prevent mere echos... Unless they were so strong as to affect the people of the Grove, and need to be sealed away. It may explain the sense of apprehension if you attempt to meddle with them...

[The quiet words make him smile a little and nod. ]

I hope there is, I gave my word to them to try.
bloodyopus: (resigned)

[personal profile] bloodyopus 2024-03-13 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
I am no caster and my understanding of the mystical is limited to the practical use and application of my own Arts, [ At least the one that allows him to manipulate shadows and use them to his end, since he used to have a mentor who instructed him in the matter...back then when he was younger. Phantom paused for a moment. ] well, in addition to the...few experiences I have had with them in the past. But I suppose that might have been the case — perhaps the false god's corruption had something to do with it.

Or perhaps they were not sealed there intentionally. There are instances where...memories became trapped in places where the events occurred. We often call this phenomenon a haunting and the entity involved a phantom or a ghost, but perhaps that need not be the case. [ He knew that this often happened in the old castle, although that had something to do with the hallucinatory candles lighting the place, too. The Doctor had enlightened him of this latter fact at some point after his rescue operation, when he had deemed it safe enough to do so. ] Paired with a...strong enough Arts - supernatural ability or magic in non-Terran terms, I suppose - or the right medium, the memory could replay again and again in the exact space where the events had transpired, creating a perfect or near-perfect replica of those events...

[ ... ]

...These events are often highly emotional in nature. I suppose you could say that the strong emotions were a conduit, much like how actors used their bodies to channel their emotions.

[ Ah. He got carried away a little bit, and he seems quite embarrassed about it. He didn't expect Pure Vanilla to hear that last bit he mumbled in a smaller voice earlier, too. ]

Mm, I suppose a proper investigative operation is also in order, then.
purevanillacookie: (gen03)

[personal profile] purevanillacookie 2024-03-13 01:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Not actually spirits, but simply echoes. It's possible, Pure Vanilla couldn't withstand the pain of the shrieking in his head long enough to investigate further. The sheer agony there was overwhelming. And he didn't sense any life, per se. Not like the spirits clinging to the corruption.

He hums softly, brow furrowing lightly as he considers, listening to Phantom without interruption, nodding lightly. ]


It is worth giving it a proper investigation, yet I must admit, I fear what may occur if we are to disturb the binding that keeps the door sealed. The very nature of it invokes a dire warning.

[ Of course, that won't stop Pure Vanilla from attempting to find a way to cleanse it, or release it. Even echoes deserve rest.

And though he won't say it out loud yet, so as to not embarrass his friend, he is very proud of Phantom for being so invested as to talk so freely and openly. ]
Edited 2024-03-13 14:18 (UTC)