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

code

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Tch... [ Yeah, sure, okay. Mephisto has been through the fucking ringer for years now, though, so this is really nothing new. This time, though, he can't just burn the motherfucker like he did his father.

What a shame. ]

...Well, thank you, regardless. For your answers. I'll come to you soon for that trip to the beach.

[ Which will only take about a day. Mephisto wants to make sure he gets things together for the trip, like food, extra clothes, and matches. He knocks on Till's door with a spare bag of stuff that he's holding out for Till when he answers. ]

Come on. You're gonna see the ocean today.

[Well it sure is a good thing Mephisto elected to pack a bag for Till as well, because he sure wasn’t prepared even slightly. He’s so ill prepared, in fact, that he answers the door barefoot looking like he just woke up from a depression nap, smudging the heel of his hand against the corner of his eyes before blearily taking the bag without thinking…then kindof looking at it like ?]

Uh, thanks for the heads up…

[He mutters, shucking the fingers of his free hand through his hair. Till sighs though, because like…what better does he have to be doing, really? Maybe if they’re lucky, they’ll find some unknown gap in the Forest wall near the ocean and be able to escape, or something. That’d be nice.]

Give me a sec to change.

... [ Yeah, that's fair. Still, though, come on, Till. Where's your lust for knowledge! Mephisto has been exploring as much as he could safely recently...

Well, whatever the case, Mephisto waits patiently for Till to come out. ]

[For what it’s worth, Mephisto won’t be waiting long. Till throws on his clothes he showed up in (they’re clean, but more importantly, they’re the most comfortable ironically) before he returns with that bag of supplies slung over his shoulder.

Out the door they go, to the tune of Till drawling:]

Pretty sudden. Did something happen, or did you just decide to go today?

"Sudden"? I warned you about it, even if I didn't know how long it'd take to get ducks in row. We can't be wasting time twiddling thumbs. Inactivity kills more than anything else, and there's so much we still need to learn about this place.

[ ASMR Russian boy scolds you. ]

Those who've been here before us have been here for long, and they have so little to show for it. It's disgraceful. We cannot fall into their pattern, da?

[need to mention Moder is standing patiently outside. Little Bird Aurora is on her head like :>

She's even folded her handibles in Waiting Posture. Hi Till!]

Yeah yeah, I hear you.

[Better to be scolded than coddled, he supposes. He’s not one to want to just sit around either, especially since he’s been antsy to try visiting other places. Not to say he thinks trying to leave again will be a good idea, but…they haven’t visited the beach yet, so he has no frame of reference for what to expect. If it’s a relatively new locale that isn’t often visited, maybe there’s a higher chance something has been overlooked.]

It’s gonna take a while if we’re walking again anyway.

[Lol lmao oh no yall ain’t walking]

And waste perfectly good time? No, absolutely not. I've arranged for someone to give us a ride there.

[ Which is to say, Mephisto heads downstairs of the inn to open the door and gesture at Moder and Aurora both as he looks back at Till. ]

I hate walking more than necessary, as I'm sure you're aware.

[So Till has like…seen Moder before, obviously, but from like. A distance. He’s less familiar with Aurora…

…he takes a step back. Behind Mephisto.]

Uh. Y-yeah, sure…

привет, Moder, Aurora. I believe we're all ready, if you both are?

[ Mephisto will absolutely make the uppies gesture. He's not ashamed of being carried. ]

[Moder will Lift :) get Lifted :)

She makes clap clap motions at Till too. You want lift?]

[Noooooo he is exposed-

He is. Uh. Fucking TERRIFIED of you Moder, it shows in his expression and how pale he is. He even takes another step back and just

shakes his head no, quickly]

[ Mephisto is making himself comfortable next to Aurora, looking back at Till when he recognizes there's a pause. ]

...Hey, idiot, you're not going to be able to keep up with a big moose. If you don't want to be picked up, would you prefer a ladder?? Seriously, it's fine.

I am harmless.

[Says Moder, and then she strides closer to Till and scoops him like a little baby deer before reaching to set him on her back.

Aurora, still small, will bounce into his lap and chirp at him.]

The journey shall not be long. Are you situated?

[Screams-

Till makes a sort of soundless yelp as he’s suddenly lifted, though he’s too frozen with terror to really fight back against Moder’s hold. He is scooped, and then he’s plopped down on her back behind Mephisto. He is suddenly like 20+ feet tall on the back of a scary moose thing.

Hopefully Mephisto doesn’t mind the way Till wordlessly grabs onto the back of his shirt because AAAAA]

[ He's fine with this. He's a little ???? why he's so freaked out. Why scared of moose.... moose is good. She's a woman, that's how you know she's good- (no) ]

Are you... going to be okay? Should we get you blindfold or...

I’m. Fine.

[He grips his shirt a little tighter. He does Not Like creatures like this still, okay, and Moder is FUCKING MASSIVE so he’s more than a little afraid of her. Understandably so!

He is going to try to keep his eyes closed as much as possible, though. If he can’t see he’ll be fine-]

[Aurora sings more to comfort him— meanwhile, Moder:]

You will be alright. I am harmless... to you.

[ :)

They go! They will reach the coast in 3-5 business days (no I'm kidding, Moder is going to stop by the river and be like Sinann please blessing and Sinann will look at her like. I've seen you run 100 miles in like 5 minutes before. but okay i see you have precious cargo, here.)

They will reach the beach in probably a few hours just to account for the fact that Moder is trying not to kill you guys by travelling at Angry Moose speed.]

[ Mephisto will just close his eyes and listen to Aurora, thank you. You might hear the occasional coo out of him.

Mostly, he's just making sure Till stays calm. ]

[Any time Till forgets that Mephisto is actually a bird person, he’s quickly reminded when he hears him coo and trill like one. It’s always a little surprising, admittedly…but if nothing else, it does distract him from the anxiety that welled in his chest. Both he and Aurora both.

Now if only he can just not focus on the fact they’re 20 fucking feet off the ground until they make it to the beach proper-]

[Watch out Till it's about to get scary when Moder suddenly tips forward and walks down the fallen tree toward the beach :) She's fine but your anxiety might not be!

In either case, they make it to the shore proper and Moder lays down to let the boys off her back, while Aurora flies up and becomes Large Aurora before landing in the sand nearby.

Sorry Till for your continued heart attacks.]

Little Moder said you may have wished to go further out to sea than she can take you. Till, sweet dear, would you be alright riding on my back?

[His anxiety! Sure is not!! He wishes Mephisto were tall enough for him to hide his face into his shoulders, but the best he can do is squeeze his eyes shut and pretend he’s on a particularly rocky spaceship until it’s all over.

When Moder does finally stop, he’s going to have to be…literally coaxed to get off, at which point he moreso…slides off, then falls flat on his ass into the sand. At least the sand is soft.

He hasn’t even seen the sea fully yet, but just. Give him time.]

I-…in a sec.

[ Mephisto, meanwhile, is doing great. This isn't too bad of a trip. He's had worse. Namely with W. Don't let her drive a car- ]

...He hasn't seen the ocean before. So it might be a moment for him to adjust and such.

[Moder is petting Till with her handibles :) Is this helping—

Aurora chirps:]

It's alright. Take your time, sweetheart, we aren't going anywhere.

[Hm. Would the fruit sharks swimming above the waves nearby freak him out... Aurora whistles out a short tune, and a banana fruit shark floats over and around her, harmless and dopey-looking.]

Do you like animals?

Huh…?

[Till looks up, having briefly zoned out while Moder was pat-patting him, and is met face-to-face with a fruit shark. Oh, you sure are weird looking. They call them “animals” but Till would 100% point at one of these and just be like “that’s an alien”.]

Uh…I guess…what animal is this?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject