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

[lupusxylem]

[HE DOES HEAR THIS...

...but.

Wolfwood is feeling spicy today, and also overconfident in his own abilities. He takes a few steps back.]

Nah, you heard 'im. [To Razlo.] He said he'd catch me, right?

[And without giving either of them much further time to prepare (or protest), Wolfwood will give himself a running start before he jumps off the roof (feet first at least, he isn't just belly-flopping like an idiot), flapping his wings as hard as he can to try to catch air.

Spoilers by the way he is NOT going anywhere he is plummeting like a rock, sorry-]

[lupusxylem]

[The lying comment makes him wince a little, and gives him a clear picture of what Meryl does and does not know. Oi.

He's glad, at least, that she isn't grilling him about it right now. Though he's not so naive as to think it won't come up later.]

Yeah. Surprised me too.

[Anyone would have assumed nobody could survive something like that, even a Plant, but...they're just built different, he supposes. It feels a lot of the time like Vash can survive everything, at least until something in the Grove comes sweeping in like a hurricane and reminds him that's not the case.]

Anyway...this whole wolf thing is new. Like, as in the last couple minutes, new. Shit like this happens here, but I was hopin' I could avoid it this time.

[Honking his clown nose]

[lupusxylem]

What? Why? You're the one who stole it!!

[lovelyredthread]

[ He can't promise that. He'll probably ask someone else later because not knowing a word for someone who reads as much as he does is a really irritating feeling. Not a single thought is given to the possibility he shouldn't know it yet. He pouts a little bit, plucking a lazy melody on his lyre. ]

I guess... What's your name? I'm Pavlova Cookie.

[ As if that doesn't very much give an impression with the other cookies around here. ]

[livlaughlove]

[razlo is just watching like >:D because surely he'll chicken out BUT -- HE DOESN'T! and to his credit, razlo doesn't resist livio scrambling to get under him. he knows from raising tomas that wings are fragile, though, so he doesn't know how best to catch wolfwood besides just -- making himself into a landing pad.

which means they all end up on the ground, anyway, probably a tangled mess, given all the extra limbs. razlo's snout most definitely ends up pressed up against nick's cheek, which makes him wail in disgust right in the poor guy's ear as he rears back.]

Fuckin' GROSS!!! Why the hell'd ya do that?!

[livio is so tired, nick. how does a snake have eyebags? he does.]

Are ya okay, hon?

[outofsynth]

It's fine. It was nice of you to offer.

[The distance is better, and it's not like Min wants to be rude. Especially since while the space has been nice in some ways it has left him with far fewer options for socializing when he does feel like it. He sits back from his collection, though not far enough he couldn't cover them back over if he needs to.

If Andoain has learned enough about the currency of the Grove it's actually a decent amount. With spending so much time in the river it's been a good opportunity to start building up his savings and it looks like he's been making use of it.

If he hasn't... it mostly looks like neatly arranged piles of worthless detritus. Some of the shells are pretty and a few of the rocks are shiny, but none of it especially stands out.]

I don't mind it. People still still come out here, and I have a friend who comes by every day.

[Multiple times a day, actually, but he doesn't mention that.]

[outofsynth]

Well, they're not usually here. Or at least there aren't normally this many. I guess they could be seasonal, but it doesn't seem even like people who have been here for long enough saw this coming.

[So it seems more likely to be another piece of the regularly scheduled weirdness that Meryl will come to expect around here.

Min had been worried, but now? Yeah. She's right. He's managing okay.]

I've definitely seen worse things happen. I actually don't mind being like this.

[outofsynth]

[It pains him to let it go, but it's maybe for the best. Thankfully Gnosis holds it carefully, and it doesn't take long for Min to stop checking in and let himself focus on pulling himself towards the river. It still isn't an easy task. He has few enough clothes he doesn't want to risk damaging them, and there are plenty of hidden stones or even pointy twigs that could cause him problems.

That, and his tail. The scales seem to offer more protection than his bare skin, but they aren't impenetrable, and being unused to it he doesn't see any option than to let it drag behind him like a dead weight. Occasionally it flops or twitches, but it's almost entirely unintentional and each movement makes him feel a jarring loss of his sense of self.

Conversation is awkward, but it's a welcome distraction even if it does make progress even more difficult. Or would be if it didn't immediately make him realize another issue with dragging himself down to the river.]

Ryan.

[Ryan doesn't know what's happened. He'll be expecting him back before long. He looks behind him, suddenly stricken.]

Maybe we should go back to town. It doesn't seem like I need water, and I'm more likely to find a cure if I can get back there.

[Town is significantly further. With Min moving at the pace he is it would take them hours.]

[outofsynth]

You don't have to swim. I don't mind being in the shallows, or you could perch on the stepping stones. And like... the forest's good for birds, right? It's not that far.

[He's aware of how needy he sounds, but it doesn't matter. There's only the two of them here and the baby Seaborn who seem just as eager for Ryan to stay as they are Min. He sings well, and he's fun! He should live here too.

Min's not paying too much attention to them right now though, instead basking in Ryan's praise. He goes a little bashful, sinking deeper into the water.]

I'm not good. It's just... right?

[It feels weird to confess that to Ryan, but he doesn't know if he's ever felt at such ease with himself. It had been scary at first and if he'd known how to change back when he'd first changed then he'd have done it immediately. Now, though? Now he's glad he didn't.]

[outofsynth]

Do you need an excuse? If you like it out here then what's stopping you?

[Min probably wouldn't be out here if you didn't have to be, but now he knows how much he enjoys it he's found he's become a big proponent for living away from the Grove itself.]

[chickenchoicejudy]

True, buuuuuut who would bring you picnic lunches and give you all the town gossip?

[Both of which are things he's done very recently. But, he does get up and move himself even closer, so that he's specifically as close as he can get without actually hopping into the water.

He laughs a little at how flustered he gets and offers him a hand. Min-Gi doesn't need it of course - he can swim better than either of them ever have before now - but he'd still like to tug him up and out of hiding.]

You are good though! It can be both? ...Maybe it's good on you because it feels right?

[It's probably something like that. Feeling good might be giving him a slight confidence boost.]

[sticksandbonesmods]

It does, actually! ... Except the black gunk seems to cling and crawl it's way back to the blood, as if it doesn't want to be separated.

Wack!

[cryptograms]

Ohohoho.

Alright, then! That's exciting! So let's say Ford puts the blood in the centrifuge again, and then quickly takes a sample of the gunk and seals it in a different bottle. What happens then?

[chickenchoicejudy]

[He's puzzled for a second when Ain doesn't seem to be there, but then the answer comes from somewhere behind him and he realizes he just breezed right past Ain without recognizing him. He stares for a second, wide-eyed and in awe, taking in all of Ain's new colorful gigantic form.]

Woah...

[But right! He's here for a reason! So he kicks up off the ground and flies over like he's been doing it his whole life, landing gracefully right in front of him as he unties the sweater.]

Thanks. Mine aren't really big enough to hide anything.

[He stands with his arms out and legs slightly apart so Ain can measure. As an afterthought, he spreads his wings out too and flutters them a little.]

[outofsynth]

I guess.

[He doesn't need either of those things, but he knows it isn't fair to expect Ryan to hold himself back, and the picnics give him plausible deniability about what he's eating the rest of the time. The river gives him plenty of options for food, but he hides that the same way he does cigarettes from his parents.

He'd still prefer Ryan to stay, but it's not like he can make him. All he can do is make the most of the time that he is here. Min sighs, reaching out of the water to let himself be pulled back up.]

Maybe. Like... I get how you pull it off. [Ryan can make anything look good. He always has.] I just didn't expect me to be so okay with this.

[eidxiety]

Haha, it's more accurate to say that I float... but yes, it is.

[Those ribbony wings aren't exactly made for moving air, but it doesn't matter if he can simply gather mana under his feet and float off that way. Wheeee~!

While they work, and Ain leans forward to try painting the more delicate details of flower petals himself — he didn't think it would be this complex when he started, admittedly, but he's not quitting now — the angel keeps talking.]

Oh, do you know Ms. Flower? [This is his name for White Lily Cookie. One can only imagine why.] She's nice~. She's kind of motherly, isn't she? I like spending time with her.

[Lord knows Ain needs a mother-figure in his life, considering his own was, uh. A Goddess who no longer talks to him.]

[eidxiety]

[Ohhhhh he's going to have the BIGGEST bunny in a few months, mark his words. The way his tail starts wagging when she says "Flemish Giants" is indication of this.

God, he needs to expand his bedroom. There are too many creatures in there now and one (1) Add, there's no fucking room for anything. Or he'll just use his inn room as a pet room again. ...probably that, yeah.]

It seems easy to feed them, haha. Since we're on the topic, Dachsologies don't need to eat or anything, but they will if you feed them. I don't think there are dietary restrictions since they're made of magic, but I tend not to feed mine anything I wouldn't give to a dog.

[Mostly because, if Dachie learns he can have chocolate, it's fucking Over for Ain. He will never get to have a candy bar ever again.]

[eidxiety]

[Razlo, you're so cute. Get nudged idiot.

Anyway, Ain is giggling like a dumbass.]

Mmhm~. I didn't realise I could walk up walls. [The fear from earlier is gone, he is Calm now. Deer brains are wonderful things.] Haha, there were plants up there that I was eating. They taste pretty good.

[eidxiety]

[Ain goes down like a lead balloon, screaming like a panicked wild animal, kicking and flailing his hooves as the added weight topples him over. He's flattened onto the ground underneath Wolfwood, hooves scraping at the grass and dirt, kicking at the side of the well.

He cannot get back up. Prey brain is shrieking that he's going to die. There aren't even words leaving his lips, it's just a deerlike, distressed set of noises loud enough to alert a theoretical herd.

AaaAAAA A A AA A AAAAAA!!! AAAAAAA—]

[eidxiety]

[As always there is a dinky little chair in the corner by the mannequins that once terrorized Ain, the ones that Wolfwood shot and are now forever missing their heads because he Hated that thanks. Have fun in the chair :) ]

Don't worry, I'm not going to put you in leather and suffocate your balls.

[He's going to put Wolfwood in jeans, but the kind that are woven slightly stretchy because the shape of his legs kind of demands more room to move and he doesn't want them to be so bulky they drag on the ground. That would cause Wolfwood to trip. Probably into more mushrooms, honestly.]

[sesa]

I was thinking sooner, rather than later. I know the weather has gotten warm, which isn't the most pleasant for weddings, but you and I are both more acclimated to it than we would be having a winter wedding. We could even have it on the beach...

[He's been daydreaming about what a wedding at those cabanas might be like, if he's honest.]

It would be themeatically appropriate for us, to meet on the sand, and further solidify our union on it as well.

[eidxiety]

Haha, don't worry about it. I'll try not to make it too embarrassing for you~.

[He says, in that fruity way he says everything, but Ain will shuffle a little until Ryan is in wing-hugging range. Thankfully, the huge wings on his back are big enough to cover the little bird that is Ryan, wrapping around like the branches of a willow tree without actually touching him. Safe, shady, and warm.

And then Ain goes at him with the tape measure, stopping to write things down as he takes measurements.]

Wow, the transformation really shrank you!

[Says man who gained like, two extra feet of height and has to literally be sitting down in the grass to even be spoken to at eye-level by most people. Yeah Ryan is tiny to you, you leggy bitch.]

[lovelyredthread]

[ Motherly... he winces despite himself. He doesn't want a replacement Eternal Sugar, he wanted his mom who cared about him back. ]

My master told me about her once before but my dad's living with her here? So I've been kinda getting to know her~

[ They are supposed to be enemies and he's just. Trying really hard not to think about it. No one's brought it up yet, it's fine. ]

Why do you call her Ms Flower? Is it like my dad calling me his little cherub?

[ i.e. a nickname. Other than that one he's really never encountered nicknames. His name is already short as far as Cookies go. He's really putting Shadow Milk on blast with that though.

... back to the flying. ]

Can you carry people when you fly?

[thebladebringstheflame]

[...

Leans down, picks the broom handle up between his teeth. Scrunches up like he might jump back to the roof...

Bounds off away from the church instead. Goodbye he is taking your broom now!]

[thebladebringstheflame]

Legally a kid until you hit twenty-five.

[Only so that he can troll Till though. No other reasons.]

Yeah, I got some by the bakery, right out front.

[There's also a flattened grass patch out by the side of it where Flamebringer's fat ass has been loafing. Because cat.]