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

[aneikonic]

[ Well it's certainly not the first time he's been on the opposite end of ice, and he winces and turns his head away quickly to try and avoid as much ice in his eyes as possible, his free arm coming up. Already feeling the painful burn in them, as well as his hand as the ice encases it for his transgression of touching before announcing himself.

It sinks in deep and causes his fire to respond to start to warm him, melting the ice along his eyes quickly and making him blink as tears and water mingle as he glances back.

Ah. A wild, senseless animal. He gets it. He won't stare, shaking his head as he tries to move his hand, setting the fire down to it. Or Shiva, to see if she can crack it. Ah, the burn of skin freezing away. ]

My apologies, I startled you.

[cryopathy]

[... yes, she knows this face and this voice, despite being in the forest, only seeing greenery and snakes for beasts know how long. a chill runs down her own spine, and she dispels the ice as quickly as she summoned it. her hand holds to his, though, lifting it to survey the damage she caused.]

[aneikonic]

It's all right.

[ His voice is soft, gentle, never raising above a low murmur. Like he's dealing with an injured, skittish Chocobo. He had come out here to put his own grief and rare to use, but seeing Kiera like this is cooling the fires. He lets them lift his hand to check it out, the ice having melted away and the skin an angry red with frostnip, but he will heal. ]

It's nothing that won't be undone. But I fear your own injuries wont be so quick to heal if you don't rest.

[ Less the physical and more the mental, the spiritual. ]

[cryopathy]

[the icy fury is certainly melting away quick as anything, being replaced with a guilt so potent it almost makes them appear timid. they drop his hand and look away pointedly.]

... I'm not hurt. But we should get you to the clinic. You shouldn't fight like this.

[aneikonic]

[ He will take it, because it means getting Kiera to relax as well. Founder, he's going to have to apologize to Joshua. ]

Neither should you.

[ His tone says he understands, and he moves to the side so they can begin to move back towards the edge of the forest, before the snakes come back. ]

Walk with me?

[cryopathy]

[how gentle he's being is really... bringing kiera fully back to reality in a way that brings out shame they've never shown before. they're very aware all at once of their appearance, straightening their clothes, subtly reapplying their glamour and eye patch, fussing with their hair. there's a long silence of nervous preening before they glance sideways at clive.]

How long has it been?

[aneikonic]

[ He doesn't bat an eye, nor give them any sort of look that might suggest he's taken aback by their appearance. As they begin to fuss over themselves, however, he will look elsewhere to give them to time in 'private' to compose themselves, glancing back to the question to notice they've straightened up a bit. ]

Long enough.

[ Clive doesn't know how long a death takes to come back from but Kiera's been out here, killing these snakes, for long enough in his opinion. So he will wait until they move with him otherwise he's staying here with them instead. ]

[cryopathy]

[weasel is a dumbass who forgot to say that she was ok with starting to walk back so here they go --

they would probably be content to just... let themself waste away or eventually fall to the snakes, if it wasn't for clive. they're aware that people in this place often return to life after a time, but they know just as well that many simply don't. the reality of the past few hours or days sinks in. they've subconsciously noticed his work just as sure as he's noticed theirs.]

... Thank you. For caring. [about luca, she doesn't say. it's maybe a bit fucked up to say "thanks for committing snake genocide" outright, but that just means the point may not come across as she wants it to.]

[aneikonic]

[ Clive would have stood there all day with them.

He shakes his head gently to the thank you as they walk, his hand going to the bracelet against his wrist, toying with the warm stone. ]

Of course I care.

[ For Luca. For Kiera. For everyone else bitten and everyone whose going to be bitten. But ... he thinks he knows what she really means. For caring so much his anger has only now been mollified by Kiera's appearance.

Otherwise he would have joined her in smashing those stone snakes over and over.

Studying them from the corner of his eye, he makes a decision and carefully unhooks the bracelet from around his wrist. He doesn't know if Kiera likes sentimental things but... it might help in keeping them together. ]

Luca's bracelet. Would you keep it for him, until he's back?

[cryopathy]

[clive is a good bean.

kiera turns to stare at the stone embedded in the bracelet. they instantly recognize the sunny stone, and understand clive's intention before he speaks it aloud.

it takes them a long moment to consider. as much as they had first been jealous, even bitter, deep down, that clive had figured out a way to keep the phoenix from harming luca before kiera did... in the end, they shake their head.]

It was your effort, your act of compassion for Luca, not mine. You ought to keep it. [it isn't an explicit no, nor is it loaded with hard feelings. kiera will find their own memento, and after all clive has done for luca, he deserves his own sentiment.]

[aneikonic]

[ Ought to keep it makes him smile a little, lopsided, and he hm's softly as his thumb rubs over the gem, thoughtful. ]

Maybe, yet I understand what it feels like to lose your sibling, and begin to unravel from the inside out. He'll come back [ surely? ] but in the meantime, keeping his bracelet around your wrist will remind you that he will. And that you need to remain together to greet him when he does.

[ The ear cuff attached to his ear. A reminder of his Kingdom, his father, his brother. Keeping him together for thirteen years. He wrinkles his nose at his hand and gently flexes his fingers, using the warmth of the gem to help temper some of that frostnip. ]

But I won't force it on you, if you say no again.

[cryopathy]

[clive's efforts aside, kiera doesn't feel like they deserve it after hurting him... but he doesn't deserve being argued with out here in the forest, either. hm...]

In Renova, we burn our dead, so that their souls can rise and be reborn. [if they sound a little bitter about the symbology at this point in their life... well. they do.] We gather their ashes and forge them into mementos -- a sprinkle in the metal for a dagger or a piece of jewelery... fused between panels of stained glass or gems. [their own hand travels to their breast, the red-winged blackbird brooch clasping their filthy fur ruff around their shoulders.

kiera blinks slowly with a long, quiet sigh.]

All of this is to say, regardless of whether you allow me to safeguard the bracelet, I will see if there is anything left of him that the wind hasn't scattered. But still, I will ask: what do you want? Whatever your wish, I will honor it.

[aneikonic]

[ He listens and his eyes go to the brooch, and he ah's softly in understanding. Her comment is met with silence as they walk and he considers. ]

... Would you let me aid you in gathering his ashes?

[ Hopefully the wind isn't been rough enough to remove it all, and that way he can keep the bracelet, though it feels selfish to do so, and he can help them make a memento to remember Luca with.

Just in case time passes and Luca doesn't return to them. ]

[cryopathy]

[kiera isn't entirely convinced they'll be able to hold themself together, but they did just say that they would go with whatever clive wants. as it is, they don't have the energy or willpower to argue, and if this will appease the man's feelings as he's appeased hers...]

Of course.

[aneikonic]

[ He reaches out with his left hand to find their wrist and gently squeeze it, his thumb pressed into their pulse lightly. ]

If you would rather do it alone...

[ Just as he plucked the bracelet free alone... ]

[cryopathy]

[if the look of her face earlier wasn't enough of an indication that something is off about kiera, her pulse certainly does. even after their fit earlier, and the exercise of walking through the woods, clive might feel that their pulse is much slower than it should be -- perhaps only half as frequent as average.

they think about his offer for a moment.]

I think... it would be better that I didn't, actually. [they might end up half-feral in the woods again.]

[aneikonic]

[ The slow pulse is odd but she's also from a different world then he is. He can't judge what is or isn't normal for people of Lucas world. But he understands enough about Luca yet to know she might yet be an outlier even for his world.

Or... something else entirely. But they're Lucas sibling, and his friend, and that's truly all that matters. ]

Then I will be beside you as you need me... and, I admit, it's a comfort to have you with me as well.