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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That bell is super fucking cursed by the way.

Will approaches it and he can feel that cursed energy physically in his bones, though the feeling of his bones becoming mushy will abate if he backs up. The closer he or anyone gets to it, though, they'll hear a soft song...

🎵 Run rabbit, run rabbit, run run run... 🎵

I don't-

[ Know why the bell is what he goes to say, only for his ears to pick up on the music as he follows Will.

He stops in his tracks and blinks.

It's an orchestrion? ]

Hm...

Wait.

[Wolfwood suddenly blurts, sternly, the moment he picks up on that singing.]

Don't get too close to it. That's what we heard before the whole thing collapsed on us.

[Like, even without getting close enough to feel it, Wolfwood knows that shit is bad news.]

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.

[... fuck suri, fuck these creatures. livio has pursued millions knives' fucking ark. razlo will be goddamned if he runs away from these puny plants.

seeing the corrosive properties on the ground nearby, raz knows he can't just wrestle them with his bare hands. he moves to find a significantly sized piece of the rubble -- half the size of his torso -- and meets wolfwood's eyes as he lifts it.]

I fuckin' hate you.

[now that that's crystal clear, he's lobbing Giant Brick™ at the bitch beast nearest him. see how it likes disgesting bigass rock. thanks, dragons, for giving him his strength back.]

[Will's fur stands straight up]

He's right, the bell is cursed!

[Even backing away his hearing is too good to drown out the song. His animal heritage is all predators, true. But smaller ones. Ones that can and are eaten- the cat side especially. The fear runs hot and cold in him]

Hold them off, I'll see if I can break the curse!

[If it's from Suri he might be fucked though- divine wraith is beyond his skills. But with how old it is it's worth trying at least]

[ He does it without thinking. As Razlo lobs the rock, Clive reaches out with Ifrit and enchants the rock as he would otherwise with his own sword, wreathing the boulder in flames. Then hesitates, expecting to feel the creep of the curse, but is greeted with nothing. Excellent.

He draws his sword and nods to Will, before turning his attention to the creeping plants. This is the reason they're here, after all. ]

It would be rude to turn down their hospitality after they came out to greet us. Watch your flanks!

[ And he moves to do just that, positioning himself to keep an eye on Razlo's back and get his own towards Wolfwood, Ifrits flames still called to his hand. ]

[God, whatever.

Razlo looks at him and says that, and Wolfwood replies by flipping him a quick bird before he pulls out both Fangs, taking a few steps back so he settles properly with being at Clive's back.

He doesn't even say anything after that, he just starts opening fire (while also making sure Will isn't in his line-of-sight, first.)]

Good news: They're plants, they die quickly. Bad news is plant death pisses of Flamebringer so you now have a final boss on your hands (no, this is a joke, he is not here)

While the sounds of boulders being lobbed and gunfire and Ifrit goes off in the background, what is Will doing to try breaking the curse?

[So the thing about cursework is that it's a very delicate process. Doing it in a rush or while panicked was a good way to fuck it up-sorry about your arm that one time by the way Clive.

He tries to focus on the nature of the spell to get information first. Who cast it, their intentions- was it intentional at all or a collection of ill energies over a long period of time back-lashing against the environment? Is it aligned with any specific elements?

This is, obviously, hard to do with the sounds of battle behind him. So finally with a gritted huff he casts a small wind spell over his ears... muffling all sound reaching him. He'll have to fully trust Clive (and those other guys I guess) to have his back. That done, if he manages to get any info about the nature of the curse he will try to redirect it rather than break it. Breaking is for later when they have time. If it uses a specific element he will try and change it to a counter one- such as wind for a cursed sound into earth to stop the vibrating. Or something aimed at plants to aimed at rocks that can't animate due to not being alive. It's a slapdash measure, but it's easier to manage under duress like this.]

[ They're easy enough to kill so Clive won't worry too much, though his eyes will dart over to Will often enough. Do they need the damn bell? And what happens if whatever is cursing it, transfers over to him? ]

The plants are nothing but your typical dungeon trash mobs. You big burly men with guns and swords will be fine while Will concentrates. You have my mod promise until you don't anymore.

So, on the topic of cursebreaking:
- The spell was not cast, but rather is a collection of negative energies. If Will has talked to Nene and gauged her at all, it'll feel like her upset + years of agonizing torment + like something cruel whose name starts with an S and rhymes with Hurry was exacerbating it and enjoying it (+L +ratio)
- It is aligned with the element of Plant, specifically corrupted plants/the Forest's magic as a whole. It is different than the plant/earth magic of Moder, and the plant/life magic of Sinann.
- Redirecting the curse is... difficult. It will feel sticky to Will, like trying to remove a whole fly off a glue trap without having parts come off. A good counter-element to this is, likely unsurprising, Celestial magic; barring that since it's not suuuper accessible, Fire seems to partially do the job and break the "sticky" hold.
- Will is now the proud owner of Sticky Ball Of Curse, which he can redirect to one of the objects or monsters in the vicinity. Choose your favourite rock, tree, plant monster, or random flower.

[Oh gross! He hates that! But 'lifetimes of death and torture sticking to a place' is kinda a classic 'natural' curse- he's sure if this wasn't so tied to That Fucker and the corrupted woods this place would be super haunted instead.

Thankfully Fire is his element- not enough to break it for Real (if he even could, with Suri being involved, regardless of if he didn't overtly cast it) but getting it Away is good enough. Holding it for even the short time needed to redirect it into a near by rock feels Bad and he makes a mental note to get Purified as soon as they return. You know, just to be safe. He considered one of the monsters but that just seems to be asking for it to get Super Powered.

He jumps down from the bell, snatching up the now Super Cursed Rock, and holding it aloft and yelling:]

Who can get this thin' as far away from town as possible!

[razlo smashes a bitch coming for wolfwood's 6 and he Hates that. he really hates it! it would be sooo funny to watch wolfwood get eaten, but livio won't LET him!!

thankfully, will provides him with the perfect excuse to not have wolfwood's back.]

I gotcha! [he's wide open, will, go long --]

[YEET! His aim is, in fact, super good. So it's rocketing right at Razlo's face]

[razlo is a freak of science and thankfully has the according reflexes and strength, so he catches that shit and bolts. just, like, straight past the temple. uh, bye i guess?]

WILL!?

[ Clive's tone is very ARE YOU FUCKING SORRY!? as he watches Razlo catch the damn thing and run off, and considering the only two with golden glasses- ]

Fuck... Wolfwood, go after him? Make sure he doesn't drop it on something that's going to make our lives worse.

[ This is Will being demoted. You are in big trouble, Mister! ]

[Redirecting the curse? Good, great, excellent we love not having curses.

Seeing Razlo run off holding a VERY CURSED ROCK to god knows where? That isn't very good, now is it? And Wolfwood has no idea if, like, that curse will redirect itself to Razlo or how-even-the-fuck it works, but it's not like he has time to think about it, does he?]

Mother fucker!

[He hefts both Fangs and takes off after Razlo, Clive is officially in charge of Will and the maybe-not-cursed-anymore bell while Wolfwood runs after Razlo to make sure he doesn't explode.]

[and then razlo exploded in wolfwood's face --

nah but on second thought, after sassing livio so much about the mind-fuckery-fire, he doesn't want to get their body eaten by the woods. so once he's a few feet in, he angles a straight shot between as many trees as he can, reels his fist back -- oops, clotheslining wolfwood in the process, sorry motherfucker you shouldn't have followed the guy who thinks that you bleeding out is hilarious -- and yeets that fucking curse rock as far as he possibly can.

which is farther than they can see, probably.

and when he turns back, he blinks at wolfwood.]

Huh. Thought I felt a lil fly, there.

[I rolled a 5, so Wolfwood gets clotheslined here as comedically as you'd expect. Just. Completely slams straight into Razlo's arm and falls flat on his ass. He's just on the ground now, winded.

He will be back in 2-3 business tags.]

[ meanwhile back at the bell, Will watches Razlo run off with dull surprise.]

Huh. Didn' expect that-

[ only to get hollered at by Clive. Uh oh. His tail amd ears droop, hunching slightly and looking at him with the wettest brownest eyes]

Oh come now, pally. I didn' know he'd go trottin' with it!

[ will what did you think WAS going to happen??]

Edited 2025-03-22 09:17 (UTC)

[ Clive just heaves a sigh and rubs his hand over his face. Especially as Will hits him with the sad puppy face. ]

You tossed it at him, he had his arms open. Will...

[ It's not disappointment, just more... please. He drops his hand and turns his attention to the bell, then off in the direction Razlo ran, waiting to see if the two make it back safely. ]

[it's fine, it's fine. razlo hauls wolfwood back up like a sack of potatoes, mostly because livio will exorcise him if he leaves the punisher on the ground to get attacked by plant monsters.]

Fuck that rock! [and fuck any more monsters around, he's not done pelting them with boulders.]

Can I humbly request an AU where these idiots are all in a college fraternity together? Thanks.

The curse rock goes hurtling off... very fucking far... you can't see it but it definitely whizzes past Zonari's head while she's out like 3 miles away or something ridiculous like that. It's fine. I'm going to assume Razlo broke the sound barrier with that.

The curse is removed. The bell is just a bell. Presumably all the plant monsters are dead. The church is still in tatters but y'all can fix that after it's recovered, right? Right!

...

So! What's the plan for moving the church?

[Well Wolfwood and Razlo will rejoin the party to work on that eventually...they have to actually get back first. Assuming Wolfwood doesn't rip Razlo limb from limb, of course-

(He would not, because this would mean hurting Livio, but boyyyy does he want to-)

He writhes free from Razlo's grasp, pushing off of him with his forearm.]

I am going to fucking kill you if you do that again.

EVENT & TDM 022

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hi sorry for the delay work ate me yesterday and then I died AFTER work-

pats a chi

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