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

...Hey. You look lost. Did you just wake up here?

[He doesn't immediately approach but his smile is friendly and he waves a hand to get his attention.]

[ Someone speaks and Oscar whips his head around, visibly tense. It only takes him a moment to take stock of Dipper. A young man right around Oscar's age, a little taller and a little stockier; blind in one eye; facial scars; armed. Probably too young to be an actual Huntsman, but perhaps a student at a primary combat academy, and definitely someone that's seen his share of trouble.

There is, ultimately, no hint of recognition in Oscar's expression.

It occurs to Oscar that he is standing here holding his cane like a sword, while this stranger has been kind enough to leave his own weapon holstered. He forces himself to relax and lets one hand fall to his side. He shifts his grip on the Long Memory and, with a neat little flourish (that Dipper might recognize as a distinctly Ozpin-like gesture), flips it around so that he can rest the tip against the ground. ]

Sorry. You're right, I just woke up here.

[ Pause. ]

And... I'm not entirely certain where here is.

[There's no hint of recognition, and it further cements it. That this Oscar has no idea who he is. He must be fresh from Remnant. He remembers the last time Oscar had come from Remnant, and that he was black and blue with injuries from Salem. He remembered pulling him into their livingroom in Deerington and forcing him to sit while he cleaned him up, tried to coax out of him the story, and finding all the ways Oscar kept himself guarded.]

[He remembered thinking not so long ago how worried he had been if he ever went back. If the Oscar that returned once more would still be Oscar.]

[Oscar changes his grip on the Long Memory and Dipper swallows.]

This is called the Grove. It's- I'll be real, man. It's a long story, but you're really far from home.

[He pauses, awkward for a moment.]

Town is this way, you don't want to stay in the woods too long. I'll show you the Inn.

[ The hysterical urge to laugh bubbles up in Oscar, but he tamps down on it. He's been a long way from home for a while now.

But Dipper makes a good point. Oscar has never so much as heard of the Grove, and it's not like Ozpin is around to press for information. He can't even lean into the mental space where Ozpin should be. If he tries to pull up the relevant memories he just gets a lot of nothing.

Thinking about what all of that might mean is making that 'hysterical laughter' impulse a lot harder to control. Oscar forces himself to set aside all of those thoughts for the moment and focus on the problem at hand. ]

Please, lead the way. Perhaps you could explain while we walk...?

[ Kind of rude to ask like that, but Oscar is feeling a little desperate here. ]

I'm Oscar, by the way. Oscar Pine.

Yeah, no worries. You're not the first one I've had to give this spiel to. My family's place is on the treeline so, you know, sometimes people just come out of the woods, disoriented and lost.

[Which, is probably not the greatest way to open this up. Dipper takes a deep breath and tries to settle down that part of his voice that almost sounded hysteric. He really needs to try and keep his shit together. There's no way just springing their history on him is going to fly. That would be insane. But also, maybe... maybe Dipper doesn't want him to know. Maybe if he keeps them separate, they'll stay separate people and Dipper can keep his Oscar tightly locked away in his heart-]

[God, so much of his mannerisms are like Ozpin now. So much of how he talks reminds him of Ozpin. If Ozpin shows his face here he will NOT be held back.]

Dipper Pines. Nice to meet you.

[He'll try to use this to switch gears. Focus on explaining the Grove and maybe drop him off at the Inn so he can run straight to the Therapy Clinic and bang on Mizuki's doors.]

So, how good are you with the concept of multiple dimensions and temporal displacement?

Edited 2025-03-07 22:43 (UTC)

[ Oscar Pine and Dippers Pines? Oscar quirks a brow, amused, but doesn't comment on it. The name does nothing at all to dispel the notion that Dipper is just another not-quite-Huntsman from Remnant.

Though what Dipper says next certainly throws Oscar off his game. He falters and slows, then has to half jog to catch back up with Dipper. ]

I— that is— um....

[ He trails off for a moment. There's the Vaults, sure, and the space in between that they used to get from Atlas to Vacuo, but those are technically still a part of Remnant. He thinks. ]

... Only theoretically.

[ An outright lie—but an easy one to tell. ]

[Somewhere in his closet, is a broach he used to wear back in Trench. Two pine trees, one gold and one silver. Though Oscar doesn't comment, perhaps it's even more tell that Dipper seems to brush past that detail like it isn't as surprising.]

[He pauses, quirking only a half-smile while Oscar catches up. "Only Theoretically", huh? It's probably an easy lie to tell, but Dipper already knows far more than he should about the world he's come from.]

[That's okay, he can be a good liar too. Most of the time.]

So you've probably read fiction or something right? [Like the through The Looking Glass he got Dipper once as a gift. He still has it, dog-eared and covered in notes.]

We're in another dimension. A world that's grabbed us all out of our home universes and dropped us here. The Grove is a little town that's covered with a strong magic barrier and we're trapped in here with an angry, vengeful spirit.

[ Dipper thoughts go to Through the Looking Glass, while Oscar's go to The Girl Who Fell Through the World—the Remnant equivalent, though he doesn't know that yet. Multiple universes is mostly something he's heard about in comics, though.

The story Dipper weaves does sound like fiction, like a fairy tale. But of course, Oscar—Ozpin has been the subject of more than his fair share of fairy tales himself. Is this really that farfetched after all of those, and after wandering through an infinite void to travel from one side of the world to the other? Not at all.

But it is convenient, isn't it? ]

That's... a hard story to swallow, you know. If there's supposed to be countless alternate universes, what are the odds it would grab two people from Remnant?

[ Because surely that's where Dipper is from, right? He hadn't reacted to the strange similarity in their names, after all. ]

[Yeah, he's familiar with them both, actually. One of their earliest conversations had been about the similarities between those two stories. A bridge between their worlds, it had felt like.]

[He opens his mouth to say something but he's struck terribly silent the moment he proposes that they're both from Remnant. Wow, that actually hurts in a way he wasn't prepared for, but yeah, he guesses he can kind of see it.]

Remnant ...isn't the name of my home world, but I've actually been dragged across the multiverse more than once. I will say that ...you would be surprised how often sometimes it grabs people from the same place. You'll find out when you meet the people from the Cookie Dimension.

Edited 2025-03-08 02:31 (UTC)

[ Well, absolutely anything else Oscar could have said or done in response to all of this is utterly supplanted by those last three words. ]

... The Cookie Dimension?

[ His expression sits somewhere in between amused and baffled. Like he's waiting for Dipper to drop the act and admit to fucking with him at any moment, while also being ready to hear him insist that he's being perfectly serious. ]

The Cookie Dimension.

[No, Oscar, he is dead serious.]

It's exactly how it sounds. There's a dimension out there somewhere full of sentient cookies. It's called Earthbread. You'll know as soon as one of them introduces themselves, their names are pretty on the nose. I am not making this up, I got to see what it looked like through their memories once.

[Which, is even more to explain probably but he'll try to brush past that.]

The people here are pretty diverse. There's another world, they call themselves Terrains, they tend to have a lot of animal features and stuff. There's a good handful of people from that place, too.

[ ... Either Dipper is the most adept liar Oscar has ever met in his life, or he's being perfectly serious about the Cookie Dimension. And about looking through memories, an idea that makes the hair on the back of Oscar's neck stand on end.

What the hell is going on here? The amusement and confusion fades from his expression, replaced with a sort of grim acceptance. ]

... Right...

[ He speaks slowly and thoughtfully, but not doubtfully. He's still deciding if he believes Dipper, but even if he doesn't then there's no point in arguing about it. ]

And this 'angry, vengeful spirit'?

[Oscar will figure it out when they get to town, so Dipper does not even try to convince him any harder than this. He will learn.]

[...It's disquieting, feeling this kind of distance from him. He can tell Oscar isn't sure if he can believe him, and he hates this feeling, like Oscar is debating if he can trust him. It makes him want to scream.]

[But he has to hold onto it. It won't make things better, especially now. Just focus on explaining and get him to the Inn. He can process the rest later.]

It's called by a lot of names, which is on purpose. Names have power here, and so any time you refer to it, make sure it's as demeaning and dehumanizing as possible. It used to be a God, but it's since fallen and now possesses the forest. It's what's keeping us in, and it is not nice.

Edited (THAT changes the word a lot) 2025-03-08 03:36 (UTC)

[ 'Names have power' isn't a concept Oscar is unfamiliar with. Even if it's not quite so literal in Remnant, just hearing the name 'Ozma' is enough to make Oscar want to cringe out of his own skin. But regardless of how well he understands the mechanics behind it, he understands the instructions well enough: don't let it have any dignity.

What would Nora call something like this. ]

So... the world itself brought us here? To handle the Forest Edgelord?

No, the Forest Edgelord brought us here, because it wanted more toys to break.

[Forest Edgelord is good, though and it almost makes him laugh. However, here comes the hardest part of this explanation.]

[He takes a deep breath.]

So, this next part is going to sound even crazier than anything I just said, and I'll be really honest, we've had some proof of it being true, but I'm still not 100% sold myself.

But, the reason we're here is because we're reincarnation of the original inhabitants of this town. Hundreds, and I mean hundreds of years ago the Forest Edgelord escaped from its prison deep in the woods and obliterated this place. Apparently to keep it from eating our souls or whatever, a ritual was done to send everyone out into the cosmos.

[ Well. That's... something.

... Reincarnation, huh? He's got a strong reason to doubt the truth behind that, if only owing to the time-related logistics of it all. Ozpin has been stuck in this cycle for thousands of years, for one. But it's not a hard concept to wrap his head around.

Oscar realizes that he's lapsed into a silence that's probably a little too telling. He shakes his head, but he can't force the somber expression off his face. ]

There's a fairy tale on Remnant—the Infinite Man—about a man who comes back every time he's killed. So I think that part's even easier to understand than the 'multiple universes' thing.

[It takes everything in his power to not immediately react to the bringing up of the Infinite Man. To not scream yeah, he fucking knows, and he hates that guy, as loudly as he possibly can and to scare off the birds.]

[Perhaps Oscar will miss the way Dipper's shadow writhes a little behind them as they walk.]

Hey, if that makes it easier to digest, then cool.

[Cool, cool, cool.]

Anyway, we are definitely working to get out of this place, it's just, you know, taking some time. Until then, the people here are pretty cool and the Inn is free to use. There's a bakery and a cafe, an Archive, and Mizuki has video games at the Therapy clinic-

[And that's when Alcaid bursts out of Dipper's chest with a billow of smoke to screech at him.]

Wh- Alcaid-

[ Oscar does, in fact, miss it—or at least, most of it. He does catch a flicker of movement from the corner of his eye, but it's already gone by the time he turns his head to look closer. Still, that doesn't ring any alarm bells. They're in a forest. Even odds it was a lizard rather than anything dangerous.

Oscar makes for an attentive audience as he and Dipper walk, almost relaxing as they make their way towards the village. And then Alcaid makes their appearance.

Oscar reacts in a flash, stepping aside to give Dipper room to maneuver. He reverses his grip on his cane, bringing it up like a sword once again. It takes a moment for him to parse that not only is Alcaid not a threat, they're something that Dipper seems to recognize. Even so, he stares at the little puffball. ]

What is that?

[ His voice pitches up sharply and even cracks a little at the end, and for the first time this conversation Oscar actually looks and sounds like a fifteen year old boy. ]

[Holy Paul Bunyan a lot happens at once. Dipper grabs onto Alcaid, who squeaks with indignance. He's immediately aware of how fast Oscar jumped into action, and his eyes go right to the Long Memory in surprise, right before Oscar seems to realize Alcaid isn't a threat. He's fluttering in Dipper's arms in all a Tizzy.]

Wh- Alcaid, what's wrong- [Dude please don't blow his cover, he knows he's really fucking upset right now but he is trying so hard to keep this under wraps.]

It's. This is Alcaid, it's fine they live in my soul. They're probably just-

Oh.

[Dipper goes very still, looking down at his feet where a ...stone? Snake? Has managed to curl up his boot far enough to sink it's fangs into his leg. He takes a deep breath.]

[And then the pain slams into him like someone pumped pure fire into his veins. Despite his best efforts not to, Dipper screams.]

They live in your—

[ And then Dipper is screaming. Oscar tenses up, but he's already following Dipper's gaze down. He's too late to stop the bite but even so he lashes out with the Long Memory, smacking the snake hard enough to fling it away with a bizarrely solid sounding tonk.

Okay. Snake bite first aid. This is something that Oscar—just Oscar—knows very, very well. He doesn't have the right supplies, but he has 'good enough' supplies. He tucks his cane under one arm and yanks one of his gloves off with his teeth. Then he reaches up and starts to unwind the top few loops of the bandages wrapped around his throat. He'd rather not sacrifice all of them, but he can spare a couple feet to make a compress. ]

Dipper, where's the nearest doctor?

[Alcaid is in more distress, as if screeching to Dipper This!! This is what I was trying to prevent! Why didn't you listen! They try to pull on Dipper's clothes a little as if to try and ease them down, while Dipper just straight up collapses.]

[Holy shit, it finally hits him what this is. As the molten lead runs through his veins and the deep chill goes down his spine, he struggles to keep his head clear, but this is up there for him. It's up there with losing his eye.]

C-Clinic... [He gasps. The bite is frming some dark, almost black mark around the wound. Something that looks like a sun.] God venom...

[ Oscar lurches forward to catch Dipper as he drops, though the process ends up being kind of awkward. His cane clatters to the ground behind him, and he gently strangles himself with the loose end of bandage still in hand. But he pulls it off! He eases Dipper to the ground without further incident. ]

Clinic, got it.

[ The question of what god venom is will have to wait. Oscar tears a length of bandage free from his throat. He folds the glove over and presses it to the bitemark, then winds the loose bit of bandage around it over and over to form a compress. Already it's pretty clear that Dipper is in no condition to manage a piggyback ride. So once the compress is in place and the Long Memory has been collected, Oscar hauls Dipper across his shoulders and into a fireman's carry.

Oh, he can already tell he's going to be exhausted by the end of this. But rather than dwelling on that, Oscar heaves himself to his feet and sets off down the path after Alcaid. ]

Ohhh my God, Affogato, if this is somehow your-

[He was supposed to be reformed! Why are the snakes back! Holy shit this sucks.]

[All he can do is let Oscar handle him, he’s trying to get back to his feet but he is so void of strength suddenly he has no choice but to let Oscar fireman carry him. He’s right there but he’s never been so far from him in this moment.]

[He heaves an upset noise, but it wouldn’t be strange for Oscar to mistake that as a pain response.]

[Alcaid does their best to get them to the clinic, but as they get closer, the smoke off of them dwindles, grows sparse, snd even the fluffball looks like it in great pain. Dipper has succumbed to some kind of fever and begun mumbling.]

[ Affogato...? Isn't that a type of coffee? Oscar doesn't ask. He's having to keep most of his focus on putting one foot in front of the other without dropping Dipper in the process. He wishes he'd had more time to take up Jaune's offer of weight training—but that thought makes his throat feel tight, so he pushes it aside.

Oscar still has no idea what Alcaid is, but even he catches on that they're struggling that the smoke drifting off of them has lessened. He's not sure that touching them is advisable, either, but he doesn't like the idea of just leaving them to struggle. ]

Alcaid, you can land on me. I can see the village already.

[ He'll just get more precise directions once they're closer. In the meantime, Dipper's muttering is worrying him. ]

We're almost there, Dipper.

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

1/2

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject