EVENT & TDM 024

[sticksandbonesmods]

MONSTER MASH

WAKE UP

Where were you last? Do you remember falling asleep, thinking you’d wake up in your own home, your own bed?

When you open your eyes, the room you’re in doesn’t feel like your own. In fact, you’re almost certain you didn’t fall asleep here. You’re given only a short few moments to get your bearings before the door to that room opens, the doorknob jiggling as whoever is on the other side is unlocking it. Is it a library study room you’ve found yourself in, or an inn room that doesn’t belong to you? A home that isn’t yours? A business after-hours?

An unfortunate few of you may find yourself face-to-face with the real owners of these rooms, homes, and businesses — and surely they’re just as confused as you are. The lucky ones might instead find themselves being “rescued” from their sleeping states by a heavily scarred man with dreadlocks and an impossibly sunny demeanour.

“Mornin’, sunshine! Up and at ‘em!” he’ll say, hands on his hips and the door held open in a way that says he expects you to simply come follow him, whoever he is. “You ain’t where you’re supposed to be, but I’ll bail you out before the person who owns this place knocks your teeth out for trespassin’. It’ll be our little secret, ‘kay?”

TRANSPOREMATION

cw: body horror, monster transformations, fungal parasitism

As usual, Aldric’s Grove is something of a hot mess, and that’s especially true lately. Aside from random people popping into existence in various buildings, there’s a bit of a fungus problem lately. A wee little problem with cute little mushrooms. …a major, unignorable, horrendous problem with some very large, purplish-coloured mushrooms, fruiting on still-living trees and the forest floor. They look quite similar to meadow mushrooms, but far, far less harmless. While eating one won’t poison anybody too badly — aside from an episode of horrible stomach pain — stepping on them or touching them at all will cause them to shower you in a spray of spores, all of which suddenly curve around and cling onto you as if they have a mind of their own. Any attempt to remove them, to wash them off, to brush them away from your skin and clothes, only makes the spores cling more stubbornly. Soon, they’ve started to root under your skin, unable to be pulled out.

The resulting transformation is, for what little it’s worth, extremely swift. Perhaps you feel it, perhaps you don’t, but the spores leave you fundamentally changed no matter what.

Your bones lengthen and rearrange, grinding together underneath your muscle tissue. Snapping, creaking, where new joints form over the breaks. Wings rip through your back in a spray of blood and torn flesh, the wounds healing themselves over a short second later. You drop to the ground as your back legs become something foreign and new, toes bursting free of your shoes, claws digging into the soil as you writhe on the ground. Your spine elongates, the muscles in your neck tense and relax as it gets too long. The spores are deciding what to do with you, it seems, as extra eyes rapidly appear and disappear over your body alongside feathers and scales. Within the span of sixty seconds, it seems the mushrooms have come to a decision on what you should be, and the transformations it inflicts on you rapidfire begin evening out.

Whether that leaves you something wolflike, catlike, ghostly, chimeric, or otherwise… that seems to be up to the spores. Regardless, you’re no longer in your own skin. At least you’re still “you”, and at least you haven’t lost much more than your old form… right?

…

Well, not to worry. Try your luck stepping on the mushrooms again! This time, they might be kind enough to revert you back to normal… assuming they don’t turn you into a different type of creature instead.

TIME TREKS ON

For the foreseeable future, many people are “stuck” outside their normal bodies. It doesn’t mean that life in the Grove stops, however, as people flit from building to building — assuming their monster forms didn’t bar them off from entering most of them anyhow — and their daily routines continue. From the Church of the Golden Sun in the north of Aldric’s Grove emanates a lovely, warm light, inviting all who are loyal to the Goddesses within its halls and barring the Corrupted or those loyal to the Fallen Sun from entry. Describing it as a “church” may not entirely be accurate; instead of an altar, there sits a throne that automatically prevents anyone who isn’t the Goddess of the Sun from sitting on it (despite the fact she isn’t currently there). Instead of pews, the first room is a large combat arena, golden weapons hung up on the walls that are free to use if you need to spar. Thankfully, the doors are large enough to accommodate most monsters, though the halls in the back may not be sizeable enough for anyone over eight feet tall.

Within that church, the kilns in the back are fired up, pottery baking while animal spirits resembling lions and dogs mix paint with their paws. It’s difficult, being a little guy — help a critter out? You can paint a selection of finished pottery when you’re done, which they’d tell you if they could speak to you. If they bring you a flower-shaped plate or a vase in the shape of a tulip and a paintbrush, will you figure out what they mean? If you don’t, that’s not a problem, as they’ll nudge you toward the pottery wheels and get you clay to work with. When you make your own thing, they think you’ll be more willing to paint with them. Hope you brought your art hands, assuming you have any at all after those mushrooms got you.

In the opposite wing from the pottery room, the kitchen is going strong, the smells of freshly baked bread wafting down the hall. Here is where Ydalir is, the shadowy woman wearing silks who normally casts magic and sells items, who turns to you and extends a flour-covered palm. Come here! Let’s bake something together — it’s the least she feels she can do, since she can’t exactly eliminate the fungus problem. There’s a host of food sitting in the dining room nearby already, with Heimr and Renard setting the table, Heimr nitpicking the setup while Renard focuses too hard on decorating with garlands and candelabras.

If you can’t fit into the dining room for any reason, one of the three will bring you food. They’d hate to see you go hungry, after all.

IT NEVER ENDS

While the Guardians themselves are immune to the transformations — Moder is, in fact, eating the mushrooms when no one is nearby to get spore’d — it doesn’t mean they’re not enjoying the fact that some of you can now spend more time with them in ways you couldn’t before.

Those of you with wings or flight abilities are invited by Aurora and the newly-resurrected bone dragon Sehul to come flying. Though Sehul won’t land in the Grove (too many buildings too close together for a hundred-foot dragon to feel comfortable, you see), they’ll land on the seaside, and even invite you to race them there. They do have something of a body mass advantage, but when they eventually win, they’ll fairly concede that it doesn’t really count. Aurora, meanwhile, wants desperately to teach you to do a midair flip.

Those of you who find yourselves suddenly aquatic will be literally accosted by Callan, who swims up into the river for once only to wrap his tentacles around you and drag you off toward the lake with a watery laugh. He expects you to do the same to him in return, but the Guardian’s extreme strength might make it difficult. Worry not, because if no one comes to your rescue, Sinann will chide him until he lets go, and show you the nest the baby Seaborn have built at the deepest point in the river. You’re welcome to live with them for a while, if you want. Their pastime is singing, and they’d love to sing with you.

And to the folks with a sudden craving for plants, Moder will gladly show you where the best snacks are — her favourite trees to reach into, the best flowers to eat, a fragrant patch of wild herbs. She’s happy to stroll through the forest with you, calmer than her peers are. If you need a ride on her mossy back, she’ll accommodate, so long as you don’t mind her telling old tales of a world long gone.

The final Guardian, Zahliya, doesn’t seem too keen on playtime, and will simply perch in various locations throughout the Grove to keep watch, as he normally does. Gifts of food given his way are rejected for the time being. He has a job to do; why don’t you go play with everyone?

It’s a beautiful, sunny day. This world isn’t often peaceful and playful. You should take advantage of it before something horrible happens… you and everyone else here know the good mood can’t last too long.

Spark Notes

summary

WAKE UP: Welcome to the Grove! You've found yourself in someone else's home/business/room it seems. Good luck explaining this one, but maybe Renard will be in time to bail you out?
TRANSPOREMATION: The mushrooms in the woods will spray you with spore clouds if you're not careful, and then transform you into something else. After a potentially-painful transformation, you'll find yourself in a new, more monsterlike body for a while.
TIME TREKS ON: Despite the monster mash, Beiwe's church is going strong, providing an opportunity to get creative or cook some dinner. Ydalir, Heimr, and Renard are all happy to see you and invite you to a home-cooked meal. They'd probably appreciate help with the dining room decor, too.
IT NEVER ENDS: Despite the transformations, it seems like the Guardians are all super pumped to spend time with you guys in their own domains. Many of them will invite you and your friends to hang out, some more politely than others. It's peaceful for once, so why not take them up on that?

out of character

Happy May! Here is your usual reminder that TDM threads are game canon. Per our plotting post (linked below) please keep in mind our rules for the monster transformations, and have fun!

updates

Any potential updates, such as characters damaging something important or whatever else, will be put here.

submissions

❖ NPCs List
❖ Questions
❖ May Plotting
❖ Past Life Plotting (Closed to Game Members)
❖ Investigations
❖ TDM NPC Contact

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Comments

[outofsynth]

No. Of course not.

[It genuinely doesn't. Except he knows full well that prior to his transformation it absolutely would have. It's not something Min wants to dwell too hard on, which leads to being a touch more defensive than he probably needs to be.

He's still kind of stewing as he responds to Till's other comment.]

I'm not alone. Ryan's been coming out here every day.

[chickenchoicejudy]

[It's so hard to take his eyes off of Min-Gi. So many little things have Ryan's full attention. His hair, long and flattened from the water. His chest and arms - Ryan's seen them of course, but not for so long at once, and not in constant action from swimming. Even the more monstrous parts are beautiful. He could watch that tail swish for hours like a swinging pocket watch and end up hypnotized.]

Wow, you've got your own backup singers! I can tell, they're so talented.

[He echoes Min, but he holds his hand out and swishes it in the water in waves as a sort of "hello" to the babies. He would have been a little more wary a month ago, but after being a creature himself for a little bit it's hard to be too put off by seaborn. He's all smiles and little splashes.]

Maybe you guys'll have your own band someday!

[They're so talented. They could totally pull it off. But then his attention is back to Min-Gi, and it's hard to imagine his attention was ever off Min-Gi.]

I should've figured you'd be trying to crack those songs. Such a hard worker, even in the river~

[It comes out in a playful sing-song tone which...well it's not unintentional, but he can't hear the chord it can strike in someone's heart. It just feels as natural as breathing, and is it really different from how he is normally? He's always humming or singing something or strumming his guitar, so he hasn't thought anything of it.]

[outofsynth]

[For a moment he's happy to watch Ryan talk up his Seaborn friends, letting them eagerly eat up the praise, singing some of their own songs for him. There's a lot of overlap in their attempt to show off, but Min at least is starting to become distracted from them.

Ryan's teasing. Min-Gi knows he's teasing. But he still feels as though he could melt when Ryan says that. He laughs nervously, unsure how to react. He's only dimly aware of a couple of the Seaborn directly beside him singing his own song in an attempt to recapture his attention.]

It's not like there's much else for me to do. Besides, the Seaborn like it.

[His voice is kind of high, definitely flustered by him.]

[chickenchoicejudy]

[Ryan laughs, taking the opening he sees for a precious in-joke.]

Ooo~ a humble hard worker!

[Min might feel nervous, but Ryan can't help but find it charming. He doesn't want to make him uncomfortable of course, but a little bit is probably okay. Besides, it's hard to believe that Min is the one blushing here when he's the most attractive fish man Ryan's ever seen.

...Well. Maybe that's not fair, since Ryan hasn't seen a ton of fish men. But still! He's so handsome Ryan can hardly stand it and he can't even say anything about it.]

But yeah, it must get boring out here after a while... [He sighs, equal parts dramatic and sincere.] I should have wound up a duck instead. Then I could keep my wings but still swim out here with you all day every day...

[eidxiety]

[Ryan is a tiny bird, and Ain is a huge-ass deer-taur who is loafed in the grass while Ryan runs in and talks from the door. Do not worry buddy, no one will see your bits, Ain will make sure of it.

He looks back over his shoulder at Ryan and smiles, just in time for a light breeze to blow some of the fabric sitting in his antlers right into his face. RIP.]

Haha— [pff pbfafbfff] —I try my best. I'm going to have to take measurements, though, so you're going to need to come out and take the sweater off. Don't worry, I'll cover you with my wings, so no one will see.

[eidxiety]

[Wolfwood's herding wolf behaviour does wonders at keeping Ain from veering off into the woods again, because yeah— he keeps trying to, running left or right except for when he can see Wolfwood outside his peripheral, in which case he bleats in a panic and tries to redirect. They make it back to the Grove in one piece, but this doesn't mean Ain is done running.

He, in fact, starts to dart in a panic around the well, in wide circles and large hops.

Wolfwood might have to physically tackle him to get him to stop.]

[eidxiety]

[Look man, I'm sure most of the people here want to see your Wolf Wood but there are kids and married men here, put that thang away.

Ain will grab his tape measure after he sets Mew down (Dachie immediately runs over to pick Mew up and proceeds into the storage with him to show him where the fun bolts of fabric to knock over are), and then hop over to Wolfwood to start taking measurements again. Everything gets written down in his notebook as he works. Inseam, waist, hip... digitigrade legs are harder to work with, but not impossible. It means that he has to make something appropriate for them, and Ain does love a challenge.

Measurements done, Ain pops back to his hooves and clops over to his desk to start sketching out some loose thoughts.]

They're not gonna chafe. [He adds as an afterthought.] I'll make sure you have lots of room and flexibility.

[eidxiety]

[Songs :) Ain will listen quietly to her song while they work together. He does like a little tune. Eventually, after he thinks he's memorized some of the repeating beats, he will hum along with her.]

[eidxiety]

Haha, noted. I can do that.

[He does live in a bakery.]

Do they stay the same size, then? Or is this a baby?

[eidxiety]

[looks at this opt out and nods, can't wait to write pavlova an essay some time—

A lyre, though? That's fun. Ain doesn't think he likes the term "master", he knows too many people who have had masters in the past, but the sour taste in his mouth is quickly ignored for something more savoury. Aka, Pavlova has wings, and so does Ain! Although... Ain's are more ribbonlike. He doesn't know what he'd do if he had standard feathery wings, or at least, he thinks Pavolva's are feathery based on appearance. Wouldn't he have to preen them? Hmm, sounds like a pain in the ass.

He has no idea what will happen to him later this month. Foreshadowing is a literary tool that—]

Believe it or not, these things on my back are wings, too. Haha, and we have lots of winged folk here. If you ever need new clothing, I can work around them. I have a friend who has a large, robotic arm, and if I can work around a literal weapon like that, I can work with wings.

[Although, Ain's own hover off of his back about an inch or so without actually touching the skin — angel wings are strange like that, where he's from — but still. The other winged people he talks to actually have them attached.]

[forwander]

[Oolong is bringing Lily some freshly-brewed peppermint tea, which will be poured as soon as Passenger sets the teacup down on the table. The honey is brought over as well, a whole bottle of it, as well as some ma'amoul cookies for her to snack on. These were made already and just sitting in the case, so here you go.]

I hope this offers you some amount of comfort.

[Just say "enjoy your food and feel better soon" like a person, Passenger. Anyway, Oolong likes patpats and will sploot out on Lily's table now.]

[forwander]

I was thinking "jump the gun".

[They're both things you can jump over. Maybe you should not jump over any of those things, though. Regardless, they're walking-slash-slithering over to the workshop, and Elliot nods along with what Sesa says.]

It has almost been a year. I think. [You know, time fuckery.] When should we officially have something like it? How quickly do you want to shotgun our union? I'm sure Heimr and Ydalir wouldn't mind helping us with preparations, at least — and I'm sure the others would love to have a party.

[When Sesa first announced that Elliot said "yes", Flamebringer had immediately suggested things to break for the wedding, so... y'know, at least Rhodes Island has their backs.]

[sailingfor]

I don't do much. I sit by the well and eat whatever flies into the flytraps and sundews making up my form. Simply walk outside and find me when you're ready, as long as it isn't at night when I have no energy to move.

I'm bored out of my mind.

["No YOU plan our hangout time"]

[sailingfor]

[By the time Thorns extracts himself from the soil, there's this sunken-in hole of loose dirt left behind to say "hey I was rooted here :)" and not much else. He imagines the grass will regrow over it eventually, but for now...

He is standing at his usual height, but with no legs. Just a mass of tangled roots he can use to walk on, some thorny vines providing particular grip while the rest allow some nutrient absorption and loose locomotion.

He is very, very slow like this.]

Not yet. Some people have it far worse than I do, too.

[Some people have been turned into strictly-aquatic things who can't venture outside the river for long. Thorns does not envy them.]

[sailingfor]

[Brant may not be about to mention the anchor, but Thorns sure fucking is.]

Sorry— I thought that mark on your chest was Oripathy. Why did it warp like that?

[Yes, he is a man who stares at the breasts of other men, what do you want from him.]

[succiduous]

Right.

[And he will stand off to the side and watch for a moment... and feel a little bad watching for a moment...

Mmm...]

Are you sure you wouldn't like help? I could carry you, or at least carry some of your discarded clothing.

[succiduous]

[He offers a small "I tried" smile, before walking around to pick up things that are ruined. The papers that are either charred or waterlogged or both go right into the trash. Anything salvageable gets dried off as needed.]

Losing control of your powers can be embarrassing. I didn't want you to feel too terrible about it.

[There's a look in his eyes that says "I get it" as he slowly ambles about.]

I'm glad I came when I did. Are you alright?

[lovelyredthread]

[ They are a pain in the ass, though mostly in that it was going to take ages for the feathers his mother clipped to grow back in full length. And when they do it will be painfully obvious to everyone that they'd been clipped the whole time. He's not even very fussed about preening yet, there're bigger problems on his mind.

He does look to Ain's wings and hums in acknowledgement, something melancholy hiding behind his smile ]

They're pretty. Do you fly a lot? Is it fun flying up high?

[ As far as the clothes go, It'll probably be more of a problem once summer ends and things get colder. For now his clothes do just fine. More than that he's just scared of imposing too much on his father and White Lily Cookie. He's still treading the line, finding out where her polite tolerance of him ends. He doesn't accept the idea she doesn't mind him yet. Not when she knows who he is.

But that was neither here nor there. ]

Maybe at some point! I don't know what my dad and Miss White Lily Cookie are planning yet. I've just been wandering around and getting used to it here the past couple days.

[ He's new new. They're probably still figuring out what to do with him themselves. His wardrobe probably isn't a thought in their minds yet.

The boy put that aside a moment, focusing on trying to make an intricate pattern in the center of the plate. ]

the cw continues...

[thebladebringstheflame]

[Flamebringer was aggressing Wolfwood first, to be fair. So yeah, he got shot. He's been shot before, though, if the bullet scar on his left bicep is anything to go by.]

Nah. The stupid mushrooms made me into a cat. I had human legs before this week.

[But the second thing makes him smirk. There's a devious glint in his eyes, pupils dilating just slightly. Ah, cat eyes, always giving him away.]

Ha. Sure, I'll invite you along. Gonna hide in the shadows so he doesn't suspect anything, or are you gonna join in?

[thebladebringstheflame]

...

Say please.

[oh my gOD]

[notsonewbie]

[Meryl only scowls at his question, though it does soften when she finally gets a look at his face. Her arms cross, expression shifting into something a touch more troubled. She's going to get a headache if things keep being confusing like this.]

I wouldn't lie to you. [And since that feels just a little soft for her.] That's your job.

[She hasn't forgotten that Wolfwood was part of... whatever the hell happened in JuLai. And while she might have both missed and worried about him, she could still be a little mad that he was hiding things from them.

But... there are more important things to think about. Like, Vash being alive, not just here, but there, too. She had hoped, but after two years and no sign of him, what was she supposed to think.]

He's alive. [She wraps her arms around herself, feeling a weight finally lift off her shoulders. She still could have done more, but at least her weakness hadn't truly resulted in his death.]

[notsonewbie]

[She can tell the man is still irritated, so Meryl does her best to keep her voice light. There's still a seriousness to it, but she isn't as insistent now, either.]

So something changed you. What is it?

[She has a feeling she knows. The mushrooms, she's learned, are also not normal. But before she goes trying to avoid every fungus in her path, she needs to know. Besides, it'll help when she runs whatever report she puts together on this incident. Not that anyone will believe her back home.

If she ever makes it there.]

[notsonewbie]

The Mushrooms.

[It makes sense. Most of the people she had already talked to had implied as much. Still, it doesn't make her feel all that much at ease. The mushrooms are practically everywhere in the Grove. She can see why people might have accidentally stepped on them.

It doesn't give her a lot of hope for herself.

But there are more important things to focus on. Namely, Wolfwood looking like an idiot. It's what he deserves.]

The shadows, obviously. He'll never let his guard down if I'm around, trust me.

[Plus, she's a bit curious as to how these two fit together.]

[thebladebringstheflame]

[Flamebringer makes the Kitty Circles around the grass patch a few times before he flops down behind Mafuyu, pulling her into his bulky panther tummy. He is Warm and purrs very loudly, enjoy being cuddled by your REAL parent!]

...yeah. I dunno if it's that phenomenon where... y'know how you put on a costume and you feel like a different person? I don't know what it's called, but the point is, I don't know if it's that thing, or if the mushrooms have actually affected my brain or not. Regardless, I have cat instincts out the fucking ass right now, and I'm only partly aware of them at the best of times.

[See: Literally stalking people and trying to bite Ezell in the butt because Ezell is bnuuy.]

[thebladebringstheflame]

I did think about it. I take hits and injuries, that's my fucking job. And great, if I can give the pendant back to you, you're taking it full time. I don't need this eye, I was going to lose vision in it regardless of whether the Forest interfered or not.

[His tail lashes. He doesn't want to have this conversation, he just wishes Ezell didn't feel so guilty for things outside of his control.]