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

[timidheart]

[Mayoi goes ...very quiet while Aira talks.]

[He never thought ....never thought he would learn what happened to him in the aftermath of whatever it was he couldn't remember. It's chilling to hear, that his gem, which he reaches for self-consciously only to remember it's safe with Mafuyu, had been actively shattered. That another him had taken his place, almost born from it.]

[Though with his own gem, it seems. Was ...this other Mayoi some blank slate born from his foolishness? Or was he perhaps different entirely. Perhaps the Mayoi who he sees dancing in those lives he does not recognize.]

[Jealousy and grief rise up in him a moment, before he forces it down. He lets out a long, shaking breath. He looks miserable for a moment, before something else occurs to him.]

[He looks up in surprise, pulling back a little so he can look at Aira.]

You- You survived the town being destroyed? A-After we tried everything to get you free of that place, we thought- I thought- [They had lost him.]

[diplomaticimmewnity]

I was actually referring to my husband.

But I suppose if you believe you fit the bill, I won't take that away from you.

[love_swan]

[ Mayoi doesn't speak, but he doesn't have to. His expression is enough for Aira to tell how he's handling what was said. It's an odd situation, and he feels bad about mentioning it for a moment... but he'd slip eventually if he didn't mention it now, and Mayoi deserved to have closure as much as he could on what happened in that awful place. ]

I... Don't know if I did.

[ It's a genuine answer. He's not sure if he survived or what happened after he passed out. ]

You know I didn't make it on the train. It... left without me, and the earthquakes got worse and worse. The... The ground started tearing itself apart and eventually it all crumbled so much that I couldn't hide anywhere and fell in. But there wasn't anything below, it just opened into a void.

[ He shudders remembering it. The memory of that day alone is enough to make him tremble. ]

I fell through that void for a while but something grabbed me by the wrist. Nearly pulled my arm out of its socket, and then I passed out and woke up on the lake's edge. during some kind of z... zombie attack a whole month later.

[timidheart]

[He listens to Aira explain what he remembers. Ah, he really is crying now. Tears of sympathy stream down his face, as his own heart breaks. He had wanted so badly to save him from that fate, and in the end, Aira still suffered something terrible.]

[What good had anything he had tried done? What good-]

...I-I see.

[Zombies ...are not a surprise to hear about. They were always just below the surface. He recalls having to watch his step near the church for such reasons.]

I'm sorry. I- [He sucks in a breath, tries to quell his own tears, his own trembling, but its hard. A lot of this ...he had buried. Not thought about in a long time.] I gave everything ...everything I knew to give to save you from that fate ....in the end, it had done nothing but make you suffer. Forgive me, Aira-san.

[Does he remember now? The reason he had left that night? Was it some last ditch effort to retrieve Aira? And he had paid with his life?]

[love_swan]

I'm sorry!

[ Aira hugs him tighter, hiding his face in his senior's shoulder. Oh, he knows exactly what the others did trying to save him. He knows Hiiro and Rinne jumped into the void. He knows Mayoi tried to summon a demon. He knows the depth of grief he caused Kohaku and the others. ]

You all tried so hard over me of all people I-- I'm not worth all that! I'm not...

[ He can't accept that, because he wouldn't want them valuing him over themselves. ]

[timidheart]

[Oh, no, and Mayoi should have seen this coming, too. Aira's habit of putting himself down, even when faced with the sheer weight of how much he did mean to them. How much they believed him worth the sacrifice.]

[Mayoi holds him, fingers, bonier, longer and tipped in claws, very gently thread through his soft hair.]

You always have been, to us. You are our heart, and how can one live without something so important? For you, for Alkaloid, I would die a hundred times, if it meant holding you in my arms like I am now.

[He laughs a little, though his tears.]

I know you do not want to hear such a thing, but it's true.

[lupusxylem]

Ain!

[Yeah no, if Wolfwood is able to keep a grip on his slippery ass he will, tightening his arms around his deer-half midriff. If he ends up getting kicked then so be it, because he can't do another chase through the woods like that, Ain may very well just run away and never come back.]

I ain't gonna hurt ya! It's just me, remember? Calm down!!

[love_swan]

[ He seems to tense at the creatures in the house, eyes darting as if they might attack. The Nest was known for mutated, hyperaggressive fauna after all. It'll take him time to readjust to some animals being docile. He doesn't say anything though, merely pauses in the doorway until it's clear the animals are not attacking, and... he wipes his hand anxiously on his already-ruined shirt before accepting her hand, assuming it would be more rude to refuse when she's offering.

He lets her direct him to a chair and startles slightly at seemingly nothing. ]

Oh, um... I can, probably... you don't have to, though. Um.

[ A little pause ]

Wh-who are you?

[ Is he in trouble? ]

[lupusxylem]

[He happens to miss her grinning at him...perhaps for a mercy, perhaps not. Either way, he's leading the way to the edge of the Grove proper, and Angelina seems to just not care about the river at all and goes crashing straight through the water instead of using the stones. Seems like she's used to this.]

Hah. Now how did I know you'd say that?

[He sighs, his ears flicking back as he indicates the stepping stones up ahead.]

They're just there. You should prolly be fine since you've got shoes, but...

[Wolfwood's out here with a bare paw and a prosthetic, so god only knows. He WILL head across first though so Meryl can watch.]

[love_swan]

[ He's loved so deeply and fiercely that he can barely comprehend it. Mayoi is plainly willing to lay down his life- has done so before even. All of them did when he was stuck on the island for the sake of comforting him- but he just can't accept that. ]

I don't... I don't want you to die. I just wanted to go home with everyone... B-but if it was between me and all of you I would have stayed there.

[ Mayoi knows how easily frightened Aira is. That's not an easy choice for him to make, but he means it. To him the others meant far more to their world than anything he could contribute. There's no changing things now, but that needs to be said to prevent a repeat.

If there's no way to save him, just let him go. He doesn't want Mayoi to tear himself apart trying in vain. ]

It... got so much worse. Things were horrible. I'm glad you aren't stuck there.

[ He searched. He'd checked the features of all the lake corpses to make sure that Mayoi wasn't among them, to his own detriment, really. He'd needed to be sure. ]

[lupusxylem]

[Given that it's Livio, he doesn't need too much additional convincing. After he's gotten up and shaken himself off after the tumble off the roof he took, he'll carefully make his way inside the church, holding his wings close to his back so he can fit through the door. It isn't long before he's checking the pews, not just one, but several, because...well.

The cult texts have been a plague ever since the church manifested here. He tried to get rid of them and suffered dire consequences, to the point where he'd just accepted that they'd be there forever and the best he could really do is ignore them. But when he looks now? They're gone. It's all gone.

And it's a good thing Livio does speak up before Wolfwood can, because he was starting to go a little pale when realizing what exactly he was looking at here.]

You. ...you did this?

[sesa]

[Wow!!]

Well!! Surely they cannot be poisonous, though? They transform people with their spores, but have they caused any other ill effects?

[timidheart]

[He knows they will talk in circles about this. He hates the idea of Aira considering himself expendable but… hadn’t he thought the same of himself? Hadn’t Hiiro-san taken his gem because he had tried to sacrifice himself in a misguided attempt to bring back Shinobu-kyun? Because he had deemed him more important to the world? Ah… it is hard to swallow the taste of one’s own medicine.]

[He decides to drop that where it is. What’s done is done, and they are here now.]

[He merely gives him a comforting squeeze. He understands, though it doesn’t make him happy. Goddesses does he love him, please can they cease suffering for a moment.]

I am sorry… That place was already for horrible, i-its hard to imagine it being worse. I am sorry I wasn’t there.

[He pulls away again, offering him a watery smile and taking his hands.]

Let’s go inside. I’ll make some tea, and I can explain where we are, Aira-san.

[notsonewbie]

[Well, she can't help but crack a grin at that, even gives him an approving tip of the head. Respect earned!]

Well, I can't exactly blame you for that. [And since he's managed to carve out a bit of approval from her, she doesn't feel quite as bad by adding:] Where I'm from, even a gun won't do much good. It's a distraction, if that.

[She rustles in her pocket and pulls out the derringer.]

One shot, and then take off. It's the best someone like me can do.

[Which, when she thinks about it, stitches her stomach into knots. If someone as big and imposing as Sidney had to stun and run, then what hope did she have of ever getting ahead in a fight?]

[ezellotry]

That’s the first thing you have to say to me?! Andoain, you haven’t tried to contact me at all, and— are you serious?!

NEVER BE SORRY. SMORCHES YOU

[unheiring]

[That hand is carefully, so very gently squeezed.]

It's early enough in the day that I can close the bar without a fuss. It shouldn't be too far from here, if you want to come with me? You can rest there.

[unheiring]

Oh. Right.

[The feathers he's used to. The hair is a bit new. It makes him feel all the warmer, even as he allows his shoulders to relax. Since Till is probably really studying Luca, he won't miss the way his cheeks seem to flush all the darker.]

This, then?

[eidxiety]

[SQUEAK SQUEAL SCREAM EEK EEK EEK

...

Looks over his shoulders at Wolfwood.]

Ohhh!! Nikolaus~! Hiii~.

[Deer brain vs Ain's ADHD: Fight? (They're not fighting, they're actually harmoniously married right now.)]

[eidxiety]

Haha, I'll make them look good, I promise~.

[And, like, whatever else Ryan wants — but let's focus on getting proper pants on him first before a stiff breeze flashes everybody in the Grove.

After a brief sketch of the general design, Ain starts laying out sheets of fabric to cut them. Thank you, antlers, for storing those for him!]

If you want, you can sit with me while I work, or you can hide inside since you're naked~. I don't mind either way.

[eidxiety]

[It's in the storage closet where the Dachies are causing Dachiecrimes.]

Ah... yeah, I've been breaking them. It's fairly hard to break sewing needles, but I've been using them so much that I guess I've just worn them down. Watch your paws.

[Sighs, he's such a mess.]

[livlaughlove]

[livio's head bows a little in embarrassment.]

I mean -- I asked for it, yeah, but the hard work was all Hers.

[he swallows, glancing away. unfortunately, even in a moment like this, he can't help but feel he didn't do enough.]

I'm sorry I can't fix -- how he hurt you. But I... tried, right?

[from outside, razlo snorts derisively, but doesn't interrupt. maybe he's waiting to see how wolfwood reacts to livio's self-admonishment first.]

[livlaughlove]

[oh, ain wants to nudge?? raz can bonk their foreheads together forcefully like an overly enthusiastic cat, uncaring how their antlers and horns probably clack together.]

Yeah? Maybe we can figure out what they are 'n grow ya some. [it doesn't occur to him that deer can eat plants that people can't...]

[eidxiety]

Haha, one time... [Ironically, he can't say he liked it very much, but that issue's been solved luckily.] But not really. I think a lot of people give nicknames that are shortened versions of their full names, but my preferred name is just "Ain", which I guess is a nickname... but I'd hate to use my full first name at all, haha.

[A n y w a y]

How come no one ever let you fly? I'm willing to take you flying some time, if you want. You seem light and easy to carry, judging by how small you are~.

[notsonewbie]

[And Meryl makes no effort to hide the way she picks up the camera and points it directly at him. She might not be able to develop the film yet, but once she can, she'll be sure everyone sees this.

And if it even slightly seems like he might be about to cross without issue, she raises her voice up -]

Look out! On your right!

[sailingfor]

[does eyjafjalla know that you stole her fuckin sheep

Thorns is already beginning to extract himself from the dirt as Sesa approaches, although his very hungry flytraps are currently trying to Homph on Sesa. Sorry— he's trying to control them he swears—]

No. [Translator's note: "No" is Spanish for "no".] I can get out by myself, if you don't mind watching me squirm for a minute. To be honest with you, I'll need more help getting over to the edge of the forest again.

[Otherwise it'll take three hours.]