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

arrival

[leggierissimo]

[ Well! It isn't every day that a familiar face stumbles into the inn. Particularly not one that Joshua ever expected to see here. From his invisible perch in the inn foyer - he's been watching all the new arrivals for fun and profit, mostly fun - he narrows his eyes. After it had only been him and Beat for the majority of a year, he'd thought the stream from Shibuya had ended. Apparently, he'd thought wrong.

There are plenty here that he's sure would help her, of course, but... Well. She's his responsibility. Anyone that comes here from Shibuya is. And she looks halfway to frozen, to boot. It certainly wasn't winter when he came here, and it looks to be no different for Shiki, considering what she's wearing.

Distracted by the cold as she is, she may not notice Joshua's admittedly silent approach, but surely she will notice the blanket being draped over her back. ]

Outside by yourself on a night like this? I didn't think you were the type, Shiki Misaki.

[nyantan]

[It takes a second to register that she's being spoken to through the loud chattering of her teeth, let alone that it was a familiar voice she was hearing. She didn't exactly have extensive amounts of experience interacting with Joshua compared to say, Neku or Beat, but enough to fondly call him "Josh", so that counts for something. Shiki immediately curls the blanket around her with a sigh of relief, before slowly forcing her protesting limbs to lift her into an upright sitting position to look up at her Partner's Partner.

First things first:]

Thank you.

[The blanket is much appreciated, and it earns him a smile.]

I don't know how I even got here, I was just... I was in Shibuya, and then suddenly, I was in the woods in the snow...

[Her brow scrunches, lips then pursing into a frown as the wheels start to turn in her frozen over brain. If Joshua was here, that didn't mean this was Game related, was it...?]

[leggierissimo]

[ Ah, look how far that blanket is already going. Good, good. She won't freeze to death. Not that she would, of course, being inside the inn with a nice, roaring fire, but that amulet around her neck may still pose a problem. Hmm.

The 'thank you' goes unanswered, for now. He just lifts his hand, waving his fingers in a dismissive gesture. ]

That sounds about right. Unfortunate for you, considering the weather back at home. Doesn't look like you were prepared for it.

[ Those shoes are not snow shoes, that's for sure. ]

Before you do anything else, you may want to toss that amulet into the fire, by the way. It's not doing you any favors.

[nyantan]

I chose the fabric for this outfit when I put it together to be light and airy despite the layers, in fact.

[So not for the snow. But then she looks down at her neck, blinking.]

When did that even get there?

[She's gonna do as he says though, and as it fizzles into steam in the fire with a pitiful pop and wheeze, the effects on her half frozen limbs are almost like night and day. Her face starts to return to a proper tone instead of being overly flushed from the cold, the blue tinges of her finger tips fading back into pink as she clutches the blanket tight around her.]

Sheesh!

[leggierissimo]

[ The surprise isn't really all that funny, all things considered, but Joshua chuckles anyway. Ah, the things this place does. An amulet responsible for freezing the wearer to death isn't nearly as bad as some things he's seen. ]

Welcome to the Grove. You'll find stranger things here than that, really.

[ At least it's gone now, and Shiki is thawing out. ]

So. Now that you're warming up - what's the last thing you remember?

[nyantan]

[Sometimes, you have to laugh so you don't cry at the situation at hand, so she lets out a slight exasperated laugh as well, shaking her head slightly.]

Thanks, I guess?

[Not the UG, then? She'll have to inquire further after she answers his question, as weird a question as it is, which actually draws the slightest blush to her face that she tries to disguise by nonchalantly brushing her hair back and looking away for a moment.]

Ah, well, you know. Neku had finally come back to the RG... we met at Hachiko with Beat and Rhyme.

[leggierissimo]

[ Definitely not the UG, unfortunately! Believe him, he's checked.

It seems like Shiki is... well, not really settling in, but adjusting, in the way that anyone would to finding themselves in such strange surroundings. Joshua sees that blush, by the way. He won't call it out - yet - but he sees it all the same. ]

Ah. That part. Well, good - that means you're all caught up on the home part of things, at any rate.

[ At least as far as what he remembers. But it means she isn't from a different world like Beat had been. ]

So, for lack of a better option [ Neku ] I guess I get to play the role of Mr. Exposition. Exciting, hm? Feel free to ask whatever burning questions you might have.