sticksandbones | EVENT & TDM 022

EVENT & TDM 022

WAKE UP

Being out in the woods is, for some people, an ordinary day. You may or may not be one of those people — you almost certainly don’t remember going camping, do you? — and yet you emerge from a tent and think to yourself, hm, that’s quite odd! Where is the nearest civilization anyhow? If you’re brave enough, perhaps you set out to seek it, walking toward where you think you hear noise in the far distance. It sounds a bit like cheering. A party? A bonfire? You can’t be certain, not at first.

As you step onto the worn trail, something nearly clocks you right in the head. A nimble dodge to the left and a quick glance at the ground tells you that it’s some kind of tree branch made of… flesh? It’s certainly flesh-textured, though the colour is a deep blue that glows white. It seems to be rapidly rotting into the ground, and as you look up… a giant, several hundred foot tree of a similar eldritch makeup is falling apart before your eyes. Your walk back to civilization will be full of dodging probably-dead flesh tree bits.

Should you make it in one piece, the source of the noise becomes obvious: the people making up this small town are cheering and yelling about something else of eldritch makeup. It seems that some of the creatures who have lived in this civilization’s river for the last year, the Seaborn, have decided to evolve to be capable of flight. Some residents of this town seem extremely enthusiastic with this. Some are wary. Some simply don’t care.

You? Well, that’s for you to decide.

Welcome to the eldritch horror fae woods, dear friend. Enjoy your stay.

A SNAKE IN THE GRASS

While the black fog returns, some paths are left clear, or at least not as impacted as other areas of the woods. Mist fades in and out, and even if you aren’t one for nature, surely exploration can sing its siren song when the size of the town is too small and all the faces look the same. Paths line themselves with daffodils and chamomile flowers, with arctic poppies and clearings of wildflowers- foxglove and lavender especially prominent. They’re lovely, all of them, and bloom far more rapidly than anything else should be this early into spring, this late into winter, but they do.

But something creeps beneath the flowers, and something large digs through the earth, leaving upturned grooves in the dirt and grass, trails of flattened mud and roots with only bushes of camelia on the outskirts left behind. It’s quiet in the forest, not even birds singing. It makes the hiss of tongues all the more noticeable.

If you’re lucky, you might see a purple and grey stone shift in the distance, gone just as quickly as it was there. If you aren’t, you don’t see its much smaller, flower-patterned counterpart strike from the shadows. Snakes are working their way into the Grove, hiding in bushes and under steps, anywhere they can lurk and strike the unsuspecting, and their bite is venomous.

One bite brings excruciating pain, bone-deep cold, an increased frailty of the body and hallucinations. A second bite brings a deep, nightmare-filled sleep. A third bite brings death. All of them scar with a black sun over the bites, a mark of divine wrath — the Fallen Sun sends his regards, and his hate.

Those who perish to the snake bite will awaken in their bed in a few days, feeling nauseous and weakened, but…

'NEATH SERPENT'S GAZE

… This simply isn’t tenable. Between the paranoia and the snake’s stealth, it’s hard to feel safe outside of your home, and maybe inside, despite the fact that once again your homes offer refuge from the forest’s attacks—they hadn’t once upon a red, hot summer, after all. How did they face this last time? It was a flower, wasn’t it? And the new flowers in the forest seem special, if only because of their strong growth compared to the rest of the forest.

But if you go into the woods, two large stone snakes wait, ready to protect the natural gardens. Breaking them does little but slow them down for a time, and their bite is both larger and their venom stronger—the true version, the one that crippled a household in seconds. The severity of the symptoms are worse, murderously so, but survivable if it’s not the third bite.

They block the way, ambush would-be travelers, coil around the flower patches, and will not be stopped. Does this confirm that the flowers could help? Or are they simply protective of their master’s property? Is it play?

Regardless, they wait and watch.

CITIES & BONES

When all the violence of the month ends, and thank goodness for that, you decide to head to bed. For once, you might sleep well — there are no threats of snakes making you wonder if you or your friends might die tomorrow, and the Grove as a whole feels much safer. It’s as if someone or something is guarding over it — different from the Guardian Deities and the Goddesses as a whole.

For the next several days after the snakes disappear, your dreams are strange, as if you’re receiving a vision from another world. A modern city, so different from Aldric’s Grove that you’re not entirely convinced it lies in this dimension, blinks in neon lights behind your eyelids. Between the cacophonous sounds of motorized vehicles rushing by, the din of people talking in a language you don’t understand, and the distant electrical humming from the street lights, perceptive dreamers might hear something else:

The soft clacking of dry bones.

Spark Notes

summary

Wake up: You were apparently camping. You don't recall this. As you head out toward the sound of civilization, bits of giant blue flesh-tree nearly hit you in the head. You'll have to dodge the remaining flesh tree bits as it crumbles while you walk back to town.

A Snake In The Grass: Flowers spring up far too early in the season, and the fog wall returns. Purple and grey-coloured stone snakes begin to attack from the bushes and flowers where they're hidden. One bite brings cold and frailty, a second bite brings nightmares, and a third bite brings death. All bites scar with a mark of the Black Sun.

'Neath Serpent's Gaze: You've heard of a flower that can cure the poison, but to get there, you have to face two far larger stone snakes who are guarding over nature here. Whether they want to play or simply kill isn't clear. You're in danger of death either way.

Cities & Bones: While you sleep after the snakes disappear, you'll have strange dreams that feel like visions and feel watched by something safe and kindly. While your dreams are absorbed in that of a cityscape that feels almost too real, you can sometimes hear the clattering of bones.

out of character

Welcome to March's TDM and Event! Spring is springing and we've got a lot of really cool events coming up in the next few months. The magic system should debut this month as well, which we're very excited about. It is a slow process but the rewards should be well worth it.

updates

Any potential updates, such as characters damaging something important or whatever else, will be put here.

submissions

❖ Questions
❖ March Plotting
❖ Past Life Plotting (Closed to Game Members)
❖ Investigations

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[ Mephisto just stares at the fog for a very, very long time in silence. He's definitely thinking, though with those dead eyes of his, it's hard to tell what's really on his mind. It's sort of reeling with a lot of information, but the main things seem to be, one, that there's definitely Rhodes operators, considering the first person he'd met here was Flamebringer, two, that they're trapped here, and three, this is not his world and he's stuck with people he doesn't know and likely will hate him because of... well, just how he is. ]

........Ehe...

[ Mephisto's hand drops from Till to cover half of his face, a deranged sort of smile on his face. It's not... great! That's for sure. ]

Ehehehahahahahaha!!!

[ He wants to cry. He doesn't. He thinks that he might have forgotten how to a long time ago. Instead, he makes very dramatic gestures with his hand. ]

Of course! What's a bird useful for except to be caged?! [ This isn't towards Till, but rather, the Forest. He'd heard there's something out there that's keeping them here, after all. ] If you truly wished for this to be Hell, though, I'm afraid you've missed the mark~! I've already been there~! I very politely refuse to play in your boring games okay~?

[ He laughs again, but eventually just drops his head down, his tone falling flat. ]

...Я так устал.

i'm giving him moder because we were talking about it last night. anyway, Moose Mom.

Moder is moosin' around (read: she is laying in the grass stuffing flowers into her maw, and if a snake crosses by her she physically picks it up and yeets it into the woods like begone construct). When Mephisto approaches, she rumbles:

I can assist you with insight. What information do you seek?

Little Bird Kiera sees with their eyedbarls... no beasties! Well, hostile ones anyway. The snakes don't come here (not many much things to hide in this close to the sea). There are the fruit sharks from last summer out and about, though they aren't necessarily on the ship and are more just vibing out in the water/in the air, as fruit sharks that do not have to be in the water constantly do.

The vibes are kind of cute to be honest. That may change when they enter the ship, though, because that thing is broken down to fuck and back. They get the impression that setting foot on it carries a risk of falling through the upper decks (in fact, last summer, someone already did, so there's a White Lily shaped hole there).

It's deathly quiet.

And then a single chess piece- a pawn that's carved to look like a small bird tucked into itself- drops onto his head.

Someone laughs, in the air.

[ Lets be real, he probably went to Moder willingly like :) big moose. You're like if Patriot were bigger!!! Wow- ]

I was reading books in the archive here, and happened across this one [ He holds up the book on the seasonal spirits. ] that tells tales of the seasons? And I've heard about the sun and the moon having their ruling "gods" over them respectively as well...

So, then, I'm to assume most occurrences that would be considered just the natural way of the world have some sort of supernatural force driving it? [ Like how in fairytales that's how they explain stuff to kids to help them "get it". It makes sense to him, in a way. He loved to read those sorts of books to Faust, at least. ] Am I roughly on the mark there?

So, then, what of the other spirits that we haven't talked about? Are there some for rainbows? Solar or lunar halos? Gravity? Magnetism? How about Catastrophes... or... natural disasters, I suppose? How about colors or different species of flowers?

[ And the thing Mephisto truly wanted to ask about, thus evident by the way his eyes get just a little bigger, and the tiny step forward he gives. ] How about death???

Perfect, Steph heads to the crystal cave then.

She will note a handful of things about it after about an hour or so of exploration:
- it goes down into the ground by ten to twenty feet, enough to be dangerous if you get trapped but otherwise safe to walk through provided you go during low tide. the incline is not very sharp, and the tunnel is incredibly long.
- it definitely floods during high tide, relatedly. conveniently it's low tide right now, but the inside is constantly wet.
- high tide does not seem to reach a high roof pocket of the cave. she can tell via the fact the cavern roof is wet until it hits That Pocket, which is marked by a cluster of glowing crystals arranged like a geode. it would be very difficult to scale the wall to get up there, however.
- the crystals make it hard to navigate to a point; there are several nooks and crannies steph thinks she can fit into, only to be stopped by a glowing mineral in her path. they are also incredibly sharp.
- the fruit sharks float in here with some frequency, though they're harmless and just here nosing around. they do not need water they're just vibing in the air.
- technically the path is a straight shot from one side of the beach to the other, but between the way it curves, the depth, and the random pockets/nooks/crannies/notches in the stone/etc, it's likely there's hidden stuff here... or stuff could Be hidden here.

The music continues either way, though those who don't stray too close may not hear it at full volume or at all, depending on how close they get.

Run rabbit - run rabbit - Run! Run! Run!

That said, if they don't start moving soon, they might just get to hear the next part of the chorus:

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Goes the farmer's gun.

...

It seems like some very pissed off forest creatures resembling carnivorous plants — ones that can ambulate freely without being attached to the soil, even — have started to shoot a syrupy, digestive goop at them. They're a mix of pitcher plants, venus flytraps, and sundews. A giant rafflesia crawls toward you from behind the bell.

It wants to bite you.

Well...

[ Min is nervous, but he's insisting on following. Oscar knows that he doesn't look like he can handle himself, either, so he won't keep arguing. ]

We can watch each other's backs, then. Lead the way.

( the noise sets him off- it isn't the kingpin, on account of there is no instinctual pinprickling of dread and spike in his heartrate, but... is it any of the others? clara, everett? ... that one bastard who he refuses to name? he hopes it's clara. he'd probably throttle the others.

instead it's a... rather fanciful man. one who's used to some shit, since the flare gun sets him off immediately into defensiveness. )

You could say that. ... Y'don't have to worry. It's just a flare gun. ... Use it to stun monsters, is all.

You recognize that li'l town in the distance?

[Moosemom is listening... chewing on flowers while she listens...]

That is true.

Aurora has power over rainbows. Solar and Lunar Halos belong to Goddess Beiwe and Goddess Ourania. Gravity and magnetism are based in the spirits, I believe, though I am not overly familiar with their principles. Natural disasters are what happen when the spirits grow restless and angry. Sinann and I control the flowers.

[Death, though, that one is interesting.]

Death cannot reach us in this domain. They are a name I have not heard in eternities. The Fallen Sun has banned Death from this isle, and I am sure Death is seething as they try to find their way back in to restore the natural order of things. They will be irate when they break through, but only because they believe in the laws of nature and are likely exhausted of the Fallen Sun simply ignoring them. To Him, the mere concept of death is a plaything. To Death, it is a necessary aspect of life, and what gives it meaning.

I have not spoken to them since I was an infant mourning the loss of my mother.

[ Oscar is not a mind-reader, but when Vash starts jumping around between the two snakes he figures it out fast. It helps that he's was already hoping for something similar.

It's a little hard to keep his footing on a giant stone snake, but Oscar's actually been in dicier situations. He watches Vash as he dashes towards them, bracing himself until the very last second and then—

He jumps, angling away from both the snakes and Vash. He doesn't stop to see if their plan works. He just takes off, glancing over his shoulder only long enough to see if Vash is also able to make his escape. ]

[Ah, yes. The monster stunning flare gun. He should have known.

Slowly, Aventurine lowers his hands, seeing as it doesn't appear like he's about to get shot by said flare gun any time soon. Oddly enough, he's more interested in finding somewhere to lie down right now than he is in testing his luck against death again.]

Not at all, actually. [And here he briefly pauses, trying to calculate just how much trouble he could get himself into by revealing too much here. Probably not much.] Truthfully? I just woke up here in these woods myself a few hours ago.

[ Mephisto does not need to write any of this down. He absorbs everything like a goddamn sponge. It's why he very rarely needs to bring files with him on people - and why he'd become commander in the first place. Still he listens, soaking this all in with a little nod once Moder finishes. ]

Understood. I have not really looked into the maps of this place, but how big of an isle is this? How far does the forest expand? Is he able to reach outside of it? Is the ocean keeping him at bay?

Oh, but more importantly, could you tell me a little more about the spirits? I mean, what differs them from the Gods? Can they become Gods? How can he ban Death? Would you say he is strictly a malevolent spirit, or just one trying to do its job? What will happen when it is here again, and will have reign to this place? I mean, I've been told about people dying and coming back - if Death is here, would those who died permanently go? Is there anyway we can help them, since surely having them on our side for our cause would... help, yes?

Sorry, I know this is a lot. I can start writing my questions down if that's easier, then you can go down the list one by one~

Well well well. I was wondering where you'd gotten off to!

[Did you miss him? You missed him :)

Elysium is here! Is he going to be particularly helpful, being here? Weeeell...

Yeah, anyway. He leans forward on the balls of his feet over the edge of the ship's port side before leaning his head slightly to the left to avoid getting beaned by a crate.]

Do you need some help?

[Sugar...cube? Till looks down at the little cube that Ain put into his hand, sortof marveling at it for a few moments while being consumed with the near insatiable urge to put it in his mouth. He's only ever seen "sweet" in a purely gelatinous form, usually a light pink or red...like he's eaten some food here, obviously, but not really any SWEETS yet (someone take him to the fucking bakery).

...

He puts it in his mouth-]

i. snooters
[not too far from town, there's yowling. like, straight up angry cat yowling, except this is way too loud to be a regular-ass tiny house cat. anyone who approaches will find what is, indeed, a cat up a tree, only this cat is human-sized and mostly human-bodied.

most of the time, he's clinging to the bark with his one hand, but occasionally he dares to let go long enough to shoot a bolt of violet lightning down toward the base of the tree. the thing he is screaming at is, of course, one of the invasive snakes, which is currently doing its best to scale the tree after him. electricity doesn't do much to deter a creature made of stone, so the poor kitty is resigned to eventually use his big boy words.]

Leave me ALONE!! HEEEELP!!!

ii. greebles
[as everyone does, val eventually settles in to the inn. he's avoidant for the most part, like any feral cat, and tries his best to only linger in common areas when he's alone. at some point, either the crackle of the fireplace or the hum of the fridge will distract him from someone's entering. as soon as they enter the door or round the corner or whatnot, they'll catch him licking his hand and rubbing it down his nose.

half a second later, he makes eye contact (with just the one eye), and immediately poofs up in one hell of a bristle. the hair on the back of his neck and his tail stands on end and twitches, and his ears pull flat back against his head. the insides of his ears and the lighter parts of his face flush just like a human's, even if it's muted by the fur.]

Can I help you?

iii. wildcard
[[hey it's your boy weasel with a cringe-ass catboy. you know the drill, message me or just throw smth at me.
i have a visual ref on his permissions page enjoy]]

[The way Mephisto just...starts laughing hysterically like that honestly isn't even that alarming to Till, because it's the kind of manic psychosis he's seen grip others in the past. Some just...fall into that kind of despair, when things get to their lowest. Till turned to anger, Ivan to obedience, Mizi rebellion. Others...

Snap.

Till looks over at Mephisto out of the corner of his eye as this happens, stonily silent. He listens to what he has to say to the Forest and feels it, on a deep level that he doesn't think Mephisto would care to hear about right now, nor is Till in a position where he wants to tell it.

He just waits until he falls silent again before he says anything else.]

We should get back.

[..........................oh thank god a child.

Okay well. No. He knows too many child soldiers to be TOO relieved seeing a child here, because he knows that looks can be deceiving...even if he imagines whatever Arts Mephisto may have had before have been heavily nerfed. He absolutely doesn't trust that smile given how filthy his mouth has been thus far, and it shows in the way the Vouivre carries himself as he looks down at Mephisto with a slight grimace.]

An enemy of Rhodes. ...were you with Reunion, by chance?

[ Mephisto gasps a bit, snapping him out of it when he's hit with the chess piece. He just frowns at the bird carved into it, not fully grasping how monumentally fucked it is, but certainly getting its meaning. He grips it in his hand tightly for a moment, then shoves it in his pocket. ]

Tch... [ Mephisto has long since stopped having love in his heart. But he's certainly got so much more to hate. And boy, does he hate the Forest. ] ...Alright.

[ He reaches his hand out again to hold onto Till's shirt and turn himself around so they can start heading the other way. He doesn't really want to be here, anyway. ]

[Yeaaaah while these two are being silly they are definitely attracting snakes. It's probably fine...?]

And maybe you're only sayin' that cause you're coverin' for her crimes. Or are you gonna stand there and tell me I'm wrong?

[Oh that's a lot of rubber snakes. Does somebody think that's funny, because Wolfwood might have if these snakes weren't so incredibly dangerous-

But then there's add, hissing and spitting like a feral cat with a snake gripped in his fist, and Wolfwood just kinda

Raises both of his hands, as well as a brow.]

Uhhhh.

[Haha UHHHH

UMMMMMM

HE RECOGNIZES YOU. YOU'RE NOT THE DOCTOR-

His mind can't help but immediately flash to that memory of Ain's, where he and Add were threatening each other with blackmail. Ohhhhh no. It's you.]

I was gonna ask you the same thing. Calm down.

[Why is he not surprised you couldn't make a decision- but okay! Over easy it is. Wolfwood flips the egg to get that going as he pulls a piece of toast from the toaster.]

I'm fine. Just havin' some weird dreams I guess. They woke me up.

Does it matter? Either way, an enemy of Rhodes is an enemy of Rhodes, right? [ Not that Reunion is an enemy of Rhodes now. But Mephisto is entirely unaware of this. ] What about you? If I had to guess... [ Mephisto tilts his head from side to side, investigating him. ] Sniper. Artilleryman? Judging by your accent, Sargonian. The wear on your gloves... technician? No... engineer. [ A glance at the gun again, recognizing the firearm to be very much not from Laterano, and very much not the hand cannons from Iberia. Hence, very illegal. ] Huhu... gunsmith. Very little in the way of actual combat experience, though, am I right? That posture, no scars...

Mister Vouivre, how interesting you are.

[The chess piece suddenly falling out of the sky onto Mephisto out of nowhere is more than a little alarming. Not just for it's sudden nature, but because- beyond the snakes- it's Till's first time seeing direct response from the Forest itself (himself?) to their actions. He has no idea what it means, but clearly it means something to Mephisto, and that's enough to make him not want to stay here much longer.

They're being listened to. Watched.

So he'll turn and start to head straight back the way they came with the boy at his side, again keeping his silence as they go.]

[As Mephisto takes him apart verbally, bit by bit, Sesa's tail lashes behind him again. Honestly, if he weren't a pacifist, he'd be able to do something with his bulk. He'd just pick up Mephisto by the collar and knock him down a few pegs...but he's right. He's no fighter, he doesn't want to be one, and the only times he has engaged in combat have been out of necessity or going straight feral (hi remember that time Elliot got attacked by monsters during one event one time, he sure does because he ripped one's throat out with his teeth-). Not that Mephisto will ever know that.

His gaze narrows ever so slightly, and though he does reach down to let his hand settle on the grip of his gun, he has no intent of using it. Especially not here.]

I only know you to be Reunion because of your clothing.

[He admits, because otherwise he would have just been guessing blindly. But hey, Sesa's been using that empty head of his for something!]

I was not there for those battles...but I have heard much about you and your compatriots.

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EVENT & TDM 022

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bites u bites u bites u b

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gnaws u gnaws u gnaws u gna

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iii

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valentine / original / current player, new character

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