sticks and bones. (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sticksandbonesmods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
sticksandbones2024-07-05 09:23 am
sticksandbonesmods) wrote in sticksandbones2024-07-05 09:23 am
Entry tags:
- !event,
- !tdm,
- arknights: flamebringer,
- arknights: gnosis,
- arknights: mizuki,
- arknights: passenger,
- arknights: sesa,
- cookie run: clotted cream cookie,
- cookie run: pure vanilla cookie,
- cookie run: sparkling cookie,
- cookie run: timekeeper cookie,
- cookie run: white lily cookie,
- elsword: ain,
- ensemble stars!!: mayoi ayase,
- gravity falls: dipper pines,
- in stars and time: loop,
- in stars and time: siffrin,
- isat: siffrin,
- original: felicity morais,
- original: kiera canorus,
- original: luca aurelius,
- project sekai: shizuku hinomori,
- the owl house: hunter,
- the world ends with you: beat,
- the world ends with you: joshua,
- trigun: vash,
- trigun: wolfwood,
- twisted wonderland: jade leech
EVENT & TDM 014
THE OCEAN IS ONLY SCARY IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT
WAKE UP
You open your eyes to a peaceful, beautiful forest. Whatever you were dreaming about — be it something happy, something sad, or something nightmarish — seems secondary to the bright wash of greenery and the comforting, cooling breeze that washes over you. It rustles the leaves of the canopy overhead, disturbing a small nest of two-headed birds who chirp as the sticks for their nests are blown away. A hop, hop, hop later, and they return to continue their building, unbothered by your gaze.
As you walk around, you will find that Aldric’s Grove feels… empty. You pop your head into the inn only to find a fine layer of dust on the furniture, and an ever-burning fireplace refusing to be put out. The General Store is unmanned, the door locked, and the lights inside completely out. The house to the south is abandoned, and a building labelled as a clinic sports no patients. The most life you’ll find lies in the church, where the pigeons see you and swarm at your feet, cooing and asking for breadcrumbs.
Flowers bloom, a deer with a halo of horns skips through the clearing, and a small lizard shaped like a leaf climbs the well. You spend several hours alone… and then from the woods to the east comes a giant capybara and a monstrous moose two stories tall. Upon each of them, they carry a hoard of people coming back from what is clearly a summer vacation, if the inner tubes, swimwear, and overwhelming stench of sunscreen are anything to go by.
Maybe the people dismounting the two animals will be nice enough to greet you and tour you around. It’s the least they can do, since you were excluded from the vacation activities.
As you walk around, you will find that Aldric’s Grove feels… empty. You pop your head into the inn only to find a fine layer of dust on the furniture, and an ever-burning fireplace refusing to be put out. The General Store is unmanned, the door locked, and the lights inside completely out. The house to the south is abandoned, and a building labelled as a clinic sports no patients. The most life you’ll find lies in the church, where the pigeons see you and swarm at your feet, cooing and asking for breadcrumbs.
Flowers bloom, a deer with a halo of horns skips through the clearing, and a small lizard shaped like a leaf climbs the well. You spend several hours alone… and then from the woods to the east comes a giant capybara and a monstrous moose two stories tall. Upon each of them, they carry a hoard of people coming back from what is clearly a summer vacation, if the inner tubes, swimwear, and overwhelming stench of sunscreen are anything to go by.
Maybe the people dismounting the two animals will be nice enough to greet you and tour you around. It’s the least they can do, since you were excluded from the vacation activities.
NOT A MOMENT OF PEACE
It’s still early in the month when a cacophony occurs; an enormous crocodile with too many eyes, known simply as “The Behemoth” suddenly rushes out of the river in a panic as some kind of blue, veinlike latticework covers the surface of it, nearly trapping her within it. It spreads across the entire length of the river from east to west, creeping onto the shoreline up to the church and across the back of the home to the south. When touched, it stings bad enough to paralyse the nervous system, and after making contact for too long while you’re unable to move? Death is imminent, unless someone saves you.
The Behemoth certainly doesn’t try to, too occupied plonking around on land to look for something to do while she can’t go into the water. She won’t attack anyone, but she’s normally searching for a meal, if you don’t mind sharing a snack. As for the other supernatural creatures in the Grove…
Ever since that latticework covered the river, the moose monster — Moder — and the gargoyle that sits on the church’s roof — Zahliya — have only stared and scrutinized. One wrong move, one fight with another resident of the Grove, means either of them are getting up to deal with the problem. It seems that they’re waiting for someone here to show the wrong hand, suspicious of everyone — including those who have been here for over a year at this point. And the second one toe is out of line? Either of them are willing and ready to kill.
Though the suspicion of the Guardians doesn’t wear off and won’t any time soon, the blue gunk covering the river disappears at the end of the first week of July, and it’s anyone’s guess what’ll happen for the rest of the month.
The Behemoth certainly doesn’t try to, too occupied plonking around on land to look for something to do while she can’t go into the water. She won’t attack anyone, but she’s normally searching for a meal, if you don’t mind sharing a snack. As for the other supernatural creatures in the Grove…
Ever since that latticework covered the river, the moose monster — Moder — and the gargoyle that sits on the church’s roof — Zahliya — have only stared and scrutinized. One wrong move, one fight with another resident of the Grove, means either of them are getting up to deal with the problem. It seems that they’re waiting for someone here to show the wrong hand, suspicious of everyone — including those who have been here for over a year at this point. And the second one toe is out of line? Either of them are willing and ready to kill.
Though the suspicion of the Guardians doesn’t wear off and won’t any time soon, the blue gunk covering the river disappears at the end of the first week of July, and it’s anyone’s guess what’ll happen for the rest of the month.
UNDER THE SEA
cw: thalassophobia
What happens is pretty simple if you don’t think about it: Another week passes in peace, and then a disembodied voice somewhere in the woods says, “You guys still smell like seawater and sand, and it’s putting me off of my lunch,” and if you’re new and haven’t gone to the beach yet and have no idea what the voice is talking about… too bad, you’re being lumped in with the crowd. Being lumped in also includes, well… a burst of magic, the sound of fingers snapping, and a loud splash of water. When you next open your eyes…
You’re underwater in some kind of reinforced metal base, one thousand meters under the sea, and something is slamming against the outside of it in an attempt to get in and — presumably — eat you alive. If anyone finds the on-board torpedoes in the command room in time, you might be able to kill the creature before it breaks through the hull and kills everyone inside. And with that hopefully taken care of…
Welcome to your new home for the next two weeks. Your only objective is to survive. There are several rooms here dedicated to underwater research, a bedroom with enough uncomfortable single-person beds for everyone (sadly glued to the floor, too), and a “cafeteria” type room that you can eat in. While the seabase comes equipped with supplies — torpedoes, enough rations to last for everyone but not enough for big eaters to eat big, diving suits and oxygen tanks, and underwater planter boxes growing strange fruits — it may take some effort on your part to ensure that survival is guaranteed. After all, the hungry leviathans know exactly where you are, whether you go outside of the base or not. Water, of course, may pose an issue; there’s no way to filter the seawater here, so the bottled water you have is all you’ll get.
Should you venture out, make sure you’re equipped with the proper gear first. Those of you who cannot swim should probably stay indoors, as there are no fancy vehicles to take you anywhere. Those of you capable of going out may consider braving the danger in search of additional supplies… or perhaps you’re just curious about the ecosystem. You’ll be here for two weeks, after all, there must be something to do. Travel far enough from the base and you’ll find the skeletal remains of something far larger than the Grove itself… and if you’re not careful, a monstrous, snakelike thing who wants you for dinner.
Try not to lead it back to the base for the others to deal with. Who knows how kindly people will take to that?
What happens is pretty simple if you don’t think about it: Another week passes in peace, and then a disembodied voice somewhere in the woods says, “You guys still smell like seawater and sand, and it’s putting me off of my lunch,” and if you’re new and haven’t gone to the beach yet and have no idea what the voice is talking about… too bad, you’re being lumped in with the crowd. Being lumped in also includes, well… a burst of magic, the sound of fingers snapping, and a loud splash of water. When you next open your eyes…
You’re underwater in some kind of reinforced metal base, one thousand meters under the sea, and something is slamming against the outside of it in an attempt to get in and — presumably — eat you alive. If anyone finds the on-board torpedoes in the command room in time, you might be able to kill the creature before it breaks through the hull and kills everyone inside. And with that hopefully taken care of…
Welcome to your new home for the next two weeks. Your only objective is to survive. There are several rooms here dedicated to underwater research, a bedroom with enough uncomfortable single-person beds for everyone (sadly glued to the floor, too), and a “cafeteria” type room that you can eat in. While the seabase comes equipped with supplies — torpedoes, enough rations to last for everyone but not enough for big eaters to eat big, diving suits and oxygen tanks, and underwater planter boxes growing strange fruits — it may take some effort on your part to ensure that survival is guaranteed. After all, the hungry leviathans know exactly where you are, whether you go outside of the base or not. Water, of course, may pose an issue; there’s no way to filter the seawater here, so the bottled water you have is all you’ll get.
Should you venture out, make sure you’re equipped with the proper gear first. Those of you who cannot swim should probably stay indoors, as there are no fancy vehicles to take you anywhere. Those of you capable of going out may consider braving the danger in search of additional supplies… or perhaps you’re just curious about the ecosystem. You’ll be here for two weeks, after all, there must be something to do. Travel far enough from the base and you’ll find the skeletal remains of something far larger than the Grove itself… and if you’re not careful, a monstrous, snakelike thing who wants you for dinner.
Try not to lead it back to the base for the others to deal with. Who knows how kindly people will take to that?
AN OMINOUS RETURN
As always, when one of the Forest’s “games” ends and you’re returned to the surface when the magic wears off, there’s a reward waiting for you. This reward isn’t as obvious, however. The fog wall is, for the most part, rolled pretty far back. The folks that have been here before may expect to see it revealing more of the trees, or showing off some new area that hasn’t been accessible yet, but the Grove remains quiet upon return. The Guardians, too, have little to say. Normally, they’d be a little more overjoyed at your return… alas.
No, the “reward” for surviving — or blowing up the base immediately and dying, either way — is that the fog wall obscuring the lake ever so slowly rolls back. From within it, something jumps out, a dark black shape, and disappears into the forest.
…
Perhaps you’ll see whatever it is another time.
No, the “reward” for surviving — or blowing up the base immediately and dying, either way — is that the fog wall obscuring the lake ever so slowly rolls back. From within it, something jumps out, a dark black shape, and disappears into the forest.
…
Perhaps you’ll see whatever it is another time.
SPARK NOTES
CLICK TO EXPAND!
WAKE UP
Welcome to the empty Aldric's Grove! ...oh, here come the people, back from summer vacation! Hey hello.
NOT A MOMENT OF PEACE
The river and shoreline near it are messed up for a week. The Guardians are suspicious of everyone here. The Behemoth is taking big steppies around the Grove asking nicely for food. A week passes, and the Guardians are still suspicious of everyone. Yaaaay.
UNDER THE SEA
And then, everyone was trapped underwater in a seabase, made to survive the horrors of the open deep sea. Watch out for leviathans! And try not to eat and drink all of the rations immediately; that's all you'll get.
AN OMINOUS RETURN
Your reward for playing in yet another of the Forest's games is the fog wall over the lake rolling back. Of course, what jumped out of it and ran off into the woods could either be your greatest boon, or your biggest nuisance. It all depends on you.
OOC
Happy summer! This is a reminder that TDMs are considered game canon. For your threads, feel free to make up your own leviathans/weird fish/whatever you want for spice, or just steal from Subnautica, it's all good. OOC Plotting Lives Here if you'd like to plot anything out!
UPDATES
❖ None yet!
SUBMISSIONS
i.a
Hi White Lily, you're interesting! Although Timekeeper had rather been hoping her approach would not be noticed. Oh well.]
Oh? I've seen its like in some timelines. Fish, however, are not my area of expertise.
no subject
( she slowly turns it around in her hands a little before she looks back up to timekeeper cookie. )
Is this something similar?
no subject
[Timekeeper chuckles, leaning back against her scissors. There's... not really enough room to float around in here, alas.]
Then perhaps it would be easier to think of it as strange magic - they say that magic and sufficient levels of technology are indistinguishable from each other, after all!
[But is she going to help White Lily find the power button? Nope. She wants to see how long it takes.]
no subject
( there's a flash of something across her face- guilt? grief? it might be hard to understand why for any stranger save for timekeeper cookie herself, what with her knowledge of the timelines. after a moment, she decides she'll take a look again later. )
...
Do you think there are any kin of that skeleton left? It's size must have made it difficult to support itself.
no subject
[Nope, she doesn't mind the topic change at all. Not with how her own mind bounces around constantly, anyway.]
But, the one who orchestrated this little relocation enjoys seeing us in peril, correct? Maybe we will find out. The beasts already at our doors could be merely the beginning.
[She says it blithely as anything, though her smile does lessen some. Timekeeper is well aware that she's as vulnerable as anyone else right now, even if she's trying not to act it.]
sorry. i died.....
no worries, I've been pretty dead myself
Is it now? I've heard a bit about this Serpent, here and there. As you say, this place certainly seems prone to grand beasts - it brings to mind the dragons of our timelines, in more ways than one!
fans us both gently
Dragons... I think... I met a dragon once before... But it's hard for me to remember some things. What are they like when you're from?
no subject
[Timekeeper's smile widens slightly, her eyes sliding over to watch White Lily explore the datapad.]
They're certainly curious creatures, to affect the timelines so heavily with their mere presence. Ah, but very few have taken the stage yet in yours, if I'm not mistaken. Hmmm... what was the last thing you remember, before arriving at the Grove?
[It should come naturally to Timekeeper to sense when another Cookie is from, even if they've found themselves adrift in time. So long as the rifts have not corrupted them too badly... but here, this place and its time is a problem. Can she even trust her usual senses on such things? Only one way to find out.]
no subject
( by which she means: how much does she have to explain, first? there's no hiding the fact that timekeeper cookie is- well, exactly as her name says. but how much time did she keep for their timeline? what does she know? )
no subject
[Sure, Timekeeper hasn't actively meddled with the "Kingdom" timeline much. (Aside from maybe seeing what would happen if some notorious time criminals wound up there; now that was funny!) But that doesn't mean she hasn't been watching with interest, like it's just her version of Game of Thrones night.]
no subject
It's very strange, isn't it?
no subject
[Timekeeper tilts her head curiously, lifting her fingers off her chin and tapping them back down in quick succession.]
The flesh, you mean? Hmm, more complex than dough, perhaps. What do you find so strange about it?
[As if she doesn't have an inkling herself, also being a former cookie. The perspective of a cookie somewhat less constantly aware of the existence of humans on the fringes of their timelines is an interesting topic, however...]