EVENT & TDM 022

[sticksandbonesmods]

THE SERPENT UNDERNEATH

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

Comments

[eidxiety]

I've done it before. ...but here, it didn't go so well for anyone involved.

["I've stood in the presence of the embodiment of nothingness before", Aventurine says, and Ain gets that "oh me too" look in his eye that means he both a) took that seriously and b) absolutely also did that.]

At least if you lie low, things normally go well for you here. Just don't challenge any beasts in the woods, and you'll be fine.

[arbitrage]

Mm, sticking with the herd does tend to work out better in the long run, so that's not too surprising.

[Knowing his luck, though, he's likely going to end up pissing off said deity without much trying on his own behalf.]

This... Might sound a little rude, so I apologize in advance, as I assure you that's not the intention.

[He pulls a card from the bottom of the deck and flips it to reveal... Two of hearts. Not the greatest. He puts it back in the middle.]

Are you from the Xianzhou Alliance? I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting any Vidyadhara personally, but from the stories I didn't think migrating far from home was commonplace.

[eidxiety]

...huh? No, I'm Ain.

[Okay, that is not remotely what he asked babe.]

Haha, I'm from Elrios~. And I'm kind of a priest. [He is Lying Through His Teeth.] I do healing magic, and here I run the tailor shop. I've never heard of...

...

That. [he's genuinely not sure how to say those words sorry]

[arbitrage]

[Well, even he can't win every wager. He takes the loss in stride, nodding as he reaches into the inner pocket of his coat to retrieve the sleeve for his cards. Might as well put those away, since he's really just using them to fidget at this point.]

The pleasure of our meeting is all mine, mister Ain.

I've never heard of Elrios, so I guess that makes us even, mm? [Interesting, though; taking on as many field missions as he has for the Strategic Investment Department means he's heard of a decent amount of planets. It's of course to be expected that there are still an even bigger amount that he hasn't heard of, though, but he files the name away for further reference.]

The Vidyadhara are draconic humanoids, hence the guess. Admittedly, it probably would have been better for me to have asked before I started postulating.

[eidxiety]

Ooh... haha, the dragon parts are actually a blessing given by the baby dragons at the seaside. I don't normally have horns or a big tail like this. [No comment on the wings, though.] If my tail is in the way, you can grab it and move it, or kick it out of your way or whatever, haha. I haven't learnt to really control it.

[The feathered end of it is, in fact, lightly wagging. Ain has a generally cheerful demeanour most of the time, so.]

And youuuu're... just a normal human? You know, if I'm allowed to guess like you did with me~.

[arbitrage]

[Aventurine doesn’t have the opportunity to comment on or ask about the existence of baby dragons who give out physical changes as gifts. He also, in accordance with the former, doesn’t seize the chance to reassure Ain that the tail in question is by no means inconveniencing him.

No, the moment Ain refers to him as a normal human, it’s as if all the thoughts are chased from his head, leaving behind a blank canvas of apprehensive dread.

The people here aren’t familiar with the Avgin, are they?

Somehow, the concept is just as jarring and uncomfortable as it is… Comforting. Mostly the former, though, because complacency begets idiocy. Outwardly, the only sign of his inner turmoil is the quick darting-away of his multicolored eyes, gaze instead fixating pointedly on the fire for a few moments before returning to Ain alongside a playful smile that doesn’t quite meet them.]

The guessing game is a lot easier when it comes to myself, I think. [It’s not a confirmation, but it feels like a lie all the same.] The name’s Aventurine, by the way, since I neglected to provide it when you gave me yours.

[eidxiety]

[Ain doesn't seem to notice much wrong here, thinking the demeanour change is nothing other than maybe this guy is shy? Doesn't want to talk about himself? His eyes are pretty, though, and Ain was enjoying trying to look at them dammit — oh they're back.

Tail wags.]

Aww, haha, I know it's cheating~. [Aventurine, huh. That name will be added to his storage bin of names, and out of it will emerge a nickname instead.] You were playing with cards earlier, though! Do you gamble?

[arbitrage]

[There we are, a topic that's a lot easier to engage in.]

I've been known to place a wager or two in my time, yes. [This one is very clearly an understatement, not so much an attempt to hide the vice as much as it is a cheekily evasive response.] Why, you familiar with the idea? Wanna go a few rounds? I have dice and that deck you saw earlier on my person, which should prove useful enough for a number of games we could play.

[eidxiety]

Haha, I know about gambling... [Let's just say he's had an experience with one particular Hat Man,] but I can't say I know how to play anything more complicated than Go Fish or the matching game where you flip the cards over.

[The matching game where you flip the cards over. Thank you, Ain. How insightful.]

[arbitrage]

[Ah yes, the hit gambling game known as "The Matching Game Where You Flip The Cards Over." He is, of course, familiar with it, because obviously every good gambler would be.]

Mm, the classics. [Somehow he says this with a neutral expression, because he's got quite the insane poker face.] I can teach you a few more, if you want. Doesn't hurt to have a few more options under your belt, and they're good ways to pass the time.

[eidxiety]

Haha, okay, I'll play with you.

[He likes human games! They're fun! He has no idea what most of them are about but he likes them.]

Go easy on me, though~. I probably won't be that good at first.

[arbitrage]

I can't promise to let you win, but I promise the odds will be fair.

[With a snap of his left hand and a glittering shower of sparkling gold, the once clear table is now home to ten standard sized six-sided dice, alongside a pair of two wooden cups. They'll only be here for either as long as they play or until Aventurine stops paying attention to them.]

Have you ever heard of Liar's Dice?

[eidxiety]

Oh, I don't want you to let me win, I just want you to go a little slow so I know how to play properly.

[Letting him win isn't fun! A newbie cinching victory, however, very much is. This probably will not happen because he's Ain but let him dream.

The ability to summon dice and cups is pretty neat, though. Ain audibly "oohs" at it, the tip of his tail wagging, and he leans forward with his hands resting on his knees.]

I haven't. Haha, do I have to lie a lot? [turns out. he's pretty good at this, when he wants to be.]