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

Re: arrival

[the_halfa_it]

[Well, he's barely conscious, enough to tell that someone has picked him up (kinda roughly, but what else is new) and hauled him somewhere warmer. Flamebringer will likely immediately notice that not only is this kid scrawny, he's startlingly light.]

Mnnnrrgghhhh...

[It takes a minute for Danny to register that words were said, and a minute more for him to stir, pulling himself up with a shudder and scooting a few more inches closer to the fire, holding his hands out to it to warm them. A strangely fast recovery, considering.]

I didn't do it on purpose, okay? I-

[And then he turns to see who'd spoken to him and just sort of. Pauses a second. Ah.]

...aaaand I'm talking to a... dragon. Guy. Is this somewhere in the Ghost Zone? The Far Frozen?

[thebladebringstheflame]

[Yeah kid, you need to eat more, you weigh like one feather to him. Anyway, he's about to get corrective like "we're called Sarkaz >:(" but he has dragon bits and yeah uh you know nevermind, gonna leave that alone.]

Nah. It's called Aldric's Grove. [And yeah, he did recover fast, didn't he?] Dunno what all of that stuff you're going on about is, but "frozen" isn't a bad moniker, considering the weather.

[the_halfa_it]

Wait, the Grove!? Again? I thought that was a dream last time!

[Danny shivers particularly hard, pulling his arms back to wrap them around himself. It's warmer in here, but it's only helping so much.]

No kidding, it wasn't like this before. What's up with all the voices and... [He picks up the pendant hanging around his neck, making an annoyed face at it.] ...the tacky snow bling?

[This close to the fire, the pendant is actually starting to look a little melty, but Danny doesn't seem to notice.]

[thebladebringstheflame]

Gonna be real, I have no fucking clue myself. [He's used to hearing voices, though! So he's been pretty good at ignoring it just because he's having a difficult time discerning which voice is "angry wraiths" and which voice is "the dead Sarkaz souls that surround him". Which idk if Danny would see that, but? If so??? Have fun lol—] People have been melting the necklaces, though. I'd throw that into the fire if I were you. Mysterious items that show up on your person here are never a good sign.

[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.

[thebladebringstheflame]

Flamebringer. That's a normal name where I'm from, in case you were wondering. I picked it myself.

[He sounds so proud of this.]

Earlier, you said you'd been here before. You didn't die, did you?

[the_halfa_it]

Flamebringer. Got it.

[Yeah Danny's not really batting an eye at that. That tracks. He's met ghost dragons before and also like every single ghost ever has an incredibly edgelord name. Just mentally marking Flamebringer as fire type and moving on.

...he also can't help but stifle a morbid snicker at being asked if he died.]

Nnnnno? I just woke up back home. Is... dying and coming back something that happens a lot here?

[thebladebringstheflame]

Yeah, pretty much. But if you didn't go to that place called "The Garden", then I dunno. All I know is we can't actually escape — but it must've been nice to get a taste.

[Or maybe it sucked, he doesn't know Danny's home life.]

I'm told you get used to the constant cycle of life and death. That shit pisses me off more than anything, though. Reincarnation, or reviving after your heart stops... fuck, just let me fucking die. When the lights go out, they're out.

[the_halfa_it]

Oh man.

[This is all starting to sound uh, pretty heavy actually! Danny, the kid who's literally half-dead, doesn't really have a comment on Flamebringer's mini-rant about not dying for good, so he bites his lip and stares into the fire instead.]

Hey, uh, I'm guessing it's actually warm in here, but I'm still not really feeling it even after getting rid of that pendant. Is that normal?

[thebladebringstheflame]

[Yeah that one tends to make people pretty uncomfortable—]

You don't feel warm? You're right by the fire. [Huh. Hm... uh.] Any idea how long you were out there? I bet you were worse off than I thought when I grabbed you. ...also, do you prefer tea, hot chocolate, or hot apple cider?

[You know, to warm him up!]

[the_halfa_it]

Oh, hot chocolate!

[He certainly perked up at the thought of a hot drink! Although, if that doesn't help... Danny has a sinking feeling that this is a ghost thing. He rubs at his upper arms, though it really doesn't help much with the chill that feels like it's literally oozing outward from inside him.]

I don't really know how long it was. It felt like forever. I started out in the woods and just headed towards town.

[thebladebringstheflame]

[Great! Flamebringer's going into the kitchen around the corner real quick, but he'll yell back to Danny as he shuffles around:]

Yeah, time here is fucked up. Do you have a watch or a phone on you? Look at your clock for a minute. The hands move backwards, and digital clocks glitch the fuck out.

[There's a clatter, the sound of a fridge opening, another clatter... kettle clanking on the stove...]

[the_halfa_it]

[Danny slips his phone out of his pocket, scrunching his nose up at the clock that is, indeed, "glitching the fuck out." He's seen that before, actually - it does the same thing in Clockwork's lair. (Is that why Clockwork hasn't shown up to bring him back to the right timeline yet? Or is this the best timeline? Danny's not sure he likes either option, really!)]

Yeesh. You're not kidding.

[He pokes around on his phone for a minute, seeing what still works. No signal at all, even though Tucker had managed to get all their phones working in the Ghost Zone, too. Well, that tracks.]

Is like everything about this place messed up??