EVENT & TDM 020

[sticksandbonesmods]

BITTER WINDS HOWLING

WAKES AND AWAKENINGS

Are you one to find yourself plagued with nightmares? Do you dream at all? Well, worry not, because tonight you find yourself in a somewhat alarming peace. You’re asleep. You’re aware of this. Yet, you feel incredibly lucid, all the same.

You hear the sound of water, like you’re under the ocean waves. You don’t see anything, but it’s almost as if you can feel others around you, despite not touching anything at all. They’re your… family? No. Friends? No. You don’t seem to be able to find a word to describe them. They’re important to you! …You think. Who are they, again?

You think they’re trying to speak to you, but all you can hear is the sound of gentle currents and air bubbles. Or maybe this is what they’re saying to you? You don’t know. Dreams are weird, aren’t they? But then they sing. It’s the prettiest sound you’ve heard. It’s the most haunting sound you’ve heard. It encourages you to move, at last. You didn’t realize you could. There’s a light that filters through the surface of the water…

…and you wake up. You feel strangely refreshed, like that’s the best sleep you’ve gotten in ages! You also feel… distantly sad, like you’ve just remembered something horrible that happened a long time ago.

It’s probably nothing.

For the rest of the month, you find sleep comes easy, and dreams are soothing. How uncharacteristically nice! Maybe don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

A BITTER ARRIVAL

You wake up to bitter cold. It's dark, the winds howling and whipping through the air, snow battering anything not sturdy enough to stand tall against it... and even the trees seem like one more push could knock them over. This isn't a forest you know, yet it seems like home. If you're not prepared for the cold, the warm lights of a small town will guide you, call to you, and your heart yearns for warmth. As you stumble through the heavy snow and harsh winds, something heavy hangs from your neck and the winds begin to form words with your own voice- SACRIFICE... END THIS WINTER WITH SACRIFICE.

As more voices join the wretched wails, your eyes feel heavier. You're almost to the town, though. Is it one of the houses that you wind up knocking on? Or do you manage to get to the inn, big and tall and radiating more warmth than anything you've ever felt? Regardless, you are no longer alone, but the cold still aches and clings, and something with your voice still calls it's omens outside. Only when you melt the heavy snowflake-shaped amulet hanging around your neck in the fires does the cold abate and the foreign copy of your voice fall silent.

A COLD RECEPTION

In the forest of the lost, the worst winter you've ever seen has finally set in full. The lake and river are both frozen over completely, and even the most hardy of beasts have hidden away from the cruel blizzard. The sky is dark, the winds are sharp and the freezing temperatures permeate most buildings, creeping in like a thief ready to steal the breath from your lungs if you aren't careful. Even fires seem to bend to this cold, save for the ever-burning, ever-blinding light of the fireplace in the inn- though she's long since gone, it seems one woman's faith still protects those in the Grove. Shadows haunt the clearing and amongst the winds and even the deafest ears can hear the voices howling alongside the storm, always demanding the same thing: a sacrifice.

When shadows flicker across the window, that is when you know you aren't alone. Ghastly wraiths of frost and ragged sleet fly through the air, and it's hard to tell if they are commanding the winter winds or if they are working in tandem. Regardless, the cold seems to be enhanced by their presence and if they catch you alone outside, they curse you with a frost so deep it pierces the heart and spreads. To some, it may be familiar, like turning to ice from within. To others it may be entirely new. But it spreads slowly and with agony while the wraiths make their demand once more and then vanish. Thankfully, a bit of kindness can melt the ice, but the winter wraiths are always willing to inflict the curse again...

... But you are not powerless. So long as you don't go alone, so long as you have a weapon, you can fend these things off, for a time. But they will be back.

They must have their sacrifice, after all.

BEACONS

Not everyone can fight though. Not everyone should. The only peace that can be found is in the sleep that follows that odd dream... but eventually the large shadow woman known as the Trader, Ydalir, makes her way through the snow to find you. With a warm furry blanket and a cup of tea, she gives you a small kit.

"Build these lanterns and hang them in the window. Be a light in the dark, loves." Is what she says.

The lanterns consist of wood, paper and a little cup for a candle. They can be in any shape and color, and when you hang them in the window the candle sparks into light. As frost clings on the other side of the window and the snow shrouds the outside world and veils what lies beyond, you can see other lights. Other lanterns, shining brightly. It may not be much, but it is still a sign. A reminder. You are not alone in this blizzard.

Spark Notes

summary

wakes and awakenings will bring you into a strange dream of being with many being, important ones, and a haunting song. Despite the melancholy feeling, it also brings a month of restful sleep no matter what.

a bitter arrival is how our new arrivals find themselves: lost in the woods in the middle of a terrible blizzard with only the faint lights of the Grove to guide you to safety. While you wear the snowflake amulet, the winter wraiths can use a mimicry of your voice to make their demands and curse you with a lingering freeze- only melting the amulets in a fire will set you free and silence the copy of your voice in the cacophony.

a cold reception shows just how bad the winter's gotten, with impenetrable ice freezing both the lake and the river solid. the wraiths curse whoever they see with turning to ice from within, but a genuine act of kindness or love will save their victims. the wraiths can be fought, but only with a companion or two, and definitely not with your bare hands. ... they will return though, again and again.

beacons grants perhaps a bit of hope in this dark winter- ydalir brings people supplies as best she can since the cold doesn't affect her shadowy body and there is nothing for the wraith to freeze, and she also brings a gift- a lantern to craft and hang in the window to show the others in town that you're all still here, cutting through the darkness.

out of character

Welcome to the first TDM of 2025! Regular AC resumes this month and as you can see, we're changing things up a little. TDMers are welcome and encouraged to reach out on our plotting post linked below. We're so excited to start the new year with everyone, and may the horrors stay in writing... because they are resuming now.

updates

❖ AFFOGATO COOKIE has used a magical artifact as a sacrifice. This has resulted in the blizzard lessening but still being present and the wraiths being banished from the grove, but still haunting the forest. There are further effects but they will come in to play during a player plot. ... Get your sacrifices in still though.
❖ MAYOI'S prayer to Ourania the day of the fight with Suri invoked a blessing: an aurora shines through the sky, and anyone in it's lights will be gradually healed and soothed.

submissions

❖ Questions
❖ January Plotting (Open to TDMers)
❖ Sacrifices (Plot relevant, open to all)
❖ Past Life Plotting (Closed to Game Members)
❖ Investigations

code

Comments

[lupusxylem]

[While Flamebringer does that, Wolfwood will wait by one of the pews, leaning against it with his hands in his pockets in a vain attempt to warm them up. God it's fucking freezing.]

I ain't ever had t'deal with my gun freezin' over before. Sucks.

[sailingfor]

[Upstairs they go! Luckily upstairs does not have any Aegir-Racist Fire™ to bother them. Just hallways of rooms... many of which seem occupied, many more of which seem empty.]

The shadowy woman I spoke to said we could take any of the empty ones. [Which he assumes people lock their doors or this is gonna be real weird when someone comes back to a whole sea urchin in their bed.] There's one with an open door up ahead.

[And he pushes that door back, aaaand this room is definitely owned. There's one (1) Dachsologie here who blinks up at them with his orbs like OvO?]

need you to know i almost banned you by accident, thanks dw

[sailingfor]

[Oh! Food! This is better than what he had while out at sea (their rations were running thin). Not picky at all, Thorns takes the fish, and sits down on the deck to eat it. He is... Sufficiently Distracted for now.

It is Cold you idiots you shouldn't be out here.]

[sailingfor]

[BIG COFFEE SIP.]

¿Hablas en serio? How long have they been here? Do you know what sort of danger you and the other residents are going to find yourselves in if you leave this unchecked?

[The Seaborn are gathered up under the ice now, nonplussed by the way Thorns is trying to Get Them. They're trying to speak to him, and he flinches away from the ice and stands. It's not that he's deterred, though, not yet. Mostly, he needs to focus on Sesa, or his brain will feel like it's splitting in half listening to them.]

[reydelostests]

Aah! Thorns, look! It's a baby!!!

[Elysium immediately crouches down and holds out his hands like!!!! BABY!! Let him pet you hiiiii]

This is Ain's companion!! Isn't he cute?

Timekeeper Cookie | Cookie Run | Current player

[ephemeralflow]

I.

[In spite of the bitter cold and howling wraiths, Timekeeper seems to be in rather a good mood this month. Amazing what some good sleep will do when you've dismissed it as unnecessary for eons I mean what. She is wearing that suit she got for the holidays, thank you - an ensemble in golds and blacks with a hint of deep blue and copper accents, sporting cogwheel shaped buttons and long coattails. This one has a proper jacket rather than the vest over a ruffled shirt she was wearing previously, better suited for the weather, though the ruffles of a deep blue shirt can still be seen at her neck and the cuffs of the sleeves. The matching top hat is especially fancy, black with a blue band and her goggles strapped on same as before - but there seem to be giant cogwheel halves sticking up from either side of it? And pointy bits out the back? No, wait - those are her horns. There's gaps in the brim for them to poke through. Even she's gotten a dragon blessing, huh? Though it's pretty subtle if you don't clock the horns for what they are or look her straight in the eye.

Anyway, her usual patronage of the cafe has resumed, and she can frequently be bumped into there, stalking Dipper having tea or a snack. If you find yourself staring at the surprise time cryptid steampunk fashion show once she removes her winter coat, she absolutely notices and stares right back, unnervingly, her perpetual smile widening in amusement.

Or, perhaps a weird little cogwheel void creature floats over to your table, hovers over your food for a second... then abruptly sucks it all into itself. Dishes included. Welp.]

II.

["Don't go outside alone" is something Timekeeper had figured out readily, able to watch quite a bit of the Grove from the higher levels of her clock tower as she is. Well, she has that covered handily!

...So, you might find her on her way here or there alone. Granted, she has Continuum Cog and Sidereal with her, that counts, right?

Well, it seems to work for her so far. That, and the wraiths that do try to descend upon her never seem to last long in the face of a well-placed giant scissor half and perhaps a bit of the scissor Craft that Loop taught her.

She won't go out of her way to help most others, of course. But, well. There are plenty of fools around here who happen to show up in her path anyway, aren't there? Perhaps, if you were struggling with the wraiths after you, you find them suddenly blown away by something large and sharp slicing through the air, a metallic scent lingering in its wake.]

My, this cold certainly seems to get to so many of you! Do me a favor and don't bend to the Forest's whims so easily, hmm?

III.
[Wildcard me!]

B

[ezellotry]

...Oh.

[ Ezell is pretty much beelining for the door in some amount of layers, with a box in his hand that's letting out steam from the cracks in the side. ]

I was actually... coming over here. Since it's so cold, I've been making hot apple cobbler and cocoa or coffee for everyone to make sure they're staying warm. [ Ezell says with the howling winds and the thunderstorms and the scary wraiths and like genuinely how is this twink still standing- ] I have some for you and the others here, too. I thought I'd come over since you're so far from the bakery.

[soundsurfing]

Beat's just gonna watch because honestly ABA is hilarious.

You unlock that floor, girl. Fucking key it.

"You know its prolly like, a basement under there or somethin', right?"

Kick kick kick kick kick his ear.

[sailingfor]

...what is it?

[Dachie will take pets. He is going OvO and tippytappying as they speak.]

It looks half-fowlbeast.

[reydelostests]

I think that's what he is? I didn't ask.

[Patpatting Dachie's head. Who's a good dachie? He squishes his feathery cheeks up, causing his eyes to scrunch up. He's soft like a mochi.]

A fowlbeast and a dog mixed together, haha. But yeah, this room's probably Ain's. We might want to look a little further down.

[sailingfor]

[Dachie is thoroughly enjoying this treatment thank you. He tries to sound cute, like how puppies will whine at you when they want something, but instead it's a horrifying barn owl noise and Thorns looks between him and Elysium like "uh" while Dachie enthusiastically licks Elysium's hand.

...

So he's friendly. Thorns thinks. But yeah, this is clearly someone else's room, so let's move on.]

He leaves his door open? [Yeah that's Dachie's room and Ain's room2 for when he's upset and needs to compartmentalize all his emotions away from everyone, duh. Anyway, down the hall they go. After testing several in a row, Thorns happens across an empty one at the end of the hall, undecorated and clean in that way that inns tend to be. Way, way too clean. Scarily clean.] Here's one.

[reydelostests]

I guess so? Maybe he just left for a little bit?

[He just met the guy, he doesn't know how Ain lives his life.

He will, however, give Dachie one more headscritch before waving goodbye and following Thorns on down the hallway, poking his head into the room they find behind him.]

Oooh yeah, this is definitely a free one. It doesn't look lived in at all!

[He saunters his way over to the bed, taking a seat on the edge of it. Honestly, he'd argue it's cozier than his quarters at Rhodes. Maybe it's the atmosphere though, this is like a cabin while Rhodes is all metal and cold.]

I'll let you sleep by the window, if you want.

[.................oh okay you're just living in the room WITH him you just decided that]

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood lifts his arm a little so Ezell can zoop under it, raising a brow before he pulls the door shut behind him. He was coming over...?]

Huh. Real nice of you, but prolly not a good idea comin' out this far with how bad shit is out there. Better stay here until the wind lets up a little either way.

[Angelina tippy-taps her way over to Ezell as Wolfwood talks, immediately trying to stick her nose on the box before Wolfwood shoos her away.]

Oi, get off. Here, we got a fireplace if nothin' else.

[sailingfor]

[...why is this not surprising at fucking all.]

What if I wanted my own room?

[He doesn't. He's lying. But he wants to see how Elysium reacts to this, because messing with him is 24/7.]

[reydelostests]

[Elysium is swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, pleased as punch...then Thorns says that, and his head snaps over like ???]

Wha- why? I mean...I guess if you really wanted, that's fine...but you'd still have to put up with me having a room across from yours!

[He will leave his door open so they can talk. You are not escaping him]

[the_halfa_it]

[Funnily enough, ghost sight isn't on Danny's somewhat egregious list of powers. But you know what is? His breath becoming visible when ghosts are nearby. Which has continued to happen even though they're in the inn by the fire. He's sort of figured it's the wraiths outside and the creepy voice he can still kind of hear, though.]

Man, I hear that.

[He tries again to take the pendant off, and hey, it works this time! Welp, Danny's wasting no time chucking that straight into the fire, perking up a bit with a smile as the voice quiets and the cold abates some. (Some... but not entirely.)]

Hey, that actually worked, thanks! I'm Danny, by the way.

[sailingfor]

I don't get a moment of peace.

[Thorns is currently toeing his boots off as he says that, and taking off those extraneous bits on his outfit. The cape, the jewellery, all that stuff.]

...I'm kidding. How many years have we been roommates now? [Which is why he's just. Stripping, apparently.] You're just as easy to mess with as you were day one.

[reydelostests]

[Yeah you'd better be kidding he was actually starting to worry-

But that worry immediately disappears and he's all smiles again, practically cooing as he leans his weight forward on the heels of his hands. He could be dressing down a bit himself, but he's not. He's just.

Watching. Watching Thorns while he strips. It's fine.]

I am not! You're just so...genuine, you know? It's hard not to believe what you say.

[ezellotry]

I suppose, but... getting used to weather like this is something I need to get used to anyway. Catastrophes back home are about four times worse than this - and those are just the lower scale ones.

I appreciate it, all the same. It won't hurt to stay here for a bit. [ He scoots over to the nearest table with a little smile to Angelina before he sets his box down and opens it. Steam practically erupts out of it, and the small little camping heater is the culprit. You know, to keep the foodstuffs warm. As he said, there's a few little bowls of apple cobbler, and a couple of cups of hot cocoa and coffee, since he isn't sure what the folk here like. ]

Here, you can bring these to your housemates, if you'd like. Whenever, I mean. I hope you all are doing well.

[sailingfor]

[Gayass.

Thorns is taking his braid out, and that tiny ponytail he normally wears. Darting around the room, finding places to put things... he does wish he had decent winter clothing, and warm pyjamas suddenly. The man is a mess on the best day, but it's still the least bit cold.

His eyes dart to the pillows on the bed, then to Elysium. Hm.]

I was being sarcastic. [Thorns, buddy, you do not ever sound sarcastic.]

[lupusxylem]

Damn, you weren't kiddin'...you take food delivery seriously.

[Wolfwood is going to flop into a sit on the couch in front of the coffee table where the box ends up, resting his arms across his knees.]

Everyone here's a fiend for sweets, so those ain't gonna last long. 'Specially when you got Vash and Ain in the same room. That cobbler ain't gonna stand a chance.

[He will take one of the coffees for himself, though. Mmmm.]

[reydelostests]

[ :)??? ]

Oh, really? I couldn't tell.

[Lmaoooo

Anyway! Elysium stretches his arms above his head...mmm.]

I should remove my coat...but it's so cold I don't really want to...mmm....

[sailingfor]

[Yeah no shit you couldn't tell.

Thorns walks over to the bed now, standing in front of Elysium now, a single brow very subtly raised. It's those little microexpressions that Elysium can read better than Thorns' "sarcasm", apparently.

There's an obvious suggestion there. Elysium could take his coat off, and probably in his mind, he wants Thorns to say "we could cuddle :)" even though Thorns has never made those suggestions in his life. Instead, he leans closer, grabbing the edge of Elysium's coat like he's going to take it off for him.

His expression is completely unreadable. Or, he hopes it is, anyway.]

Really?

[reydelostests]

[Elysium likes to think he can read Thorns very well, even though he absolutely cannot. He reads him better than most, make no mistake, but there's still a lot that flies right over his head. So yes, he notices that little brow raise. And when Thorns comes over and takes the edge of his coat, he sort of forgets to breathe for a moment.

Ahaha-]

Ah...w-well. I mean. It is getting pretty warm in here, haha...

[But like. If Thorns wanted to cuddle, Elysium wouldn't say NO...]

1/2

[sailingfor]

[He sees, he sees...

Thorns, a man with absolutely zero rizz, leans in really close. Like, really obnoxiously close, to where Elysium will no doubt feel his quick breaths.]

I can think of a way to warm you up.