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

[eidxiety]

[The good news is Ain's heart is very full of love for everyone — he has many friends here, many friends where he's originally from that have left a mark on him (and he misses them dearly enough to sometimes have mental breakdowns about it), and many people he's very in love with. He may have a whopping five partners here with a sixth particular interest in one (1) other, but a lot of him also still belongs to his original world, where there are many more people he'd snuggle up to if given the opportunity.

It's a whole fanfic indeed. Love is stored in the Ain. So much to read, while he's sitting there happily with his flower cups.]

Haha... you're very nice~. I like making things for all of them. This is my first time doing any real pottery work though. I normally run the tailor shop, so they get clothes from me.

[He was taught to sew from one of his friends back home, and having nothing better to do here, decided to make a whole hobby-slash-career out of it.]

[lovelyredthread]

(Going to link his opt-out so you have an idea of what that entails)
[ Oh this is like a 50 chapter fanfic and he is going to read the hell out of it when he gets the chance. Not right now though, since they're having a conversation, but he can certainly pick up the broad strokes from a cursory look. He is positively delighted. With the state of relationships here he'll have plenty to read for a while. He does have to wonder if he doesn't feel tugged in half with so many of those threads not connecting anywhere here. ]

Oh! My role at home was to spread love and blessings. Love is my favorite thing, no matter what form it takes~

[ He's not being 'nice' in his mind. This is indulging in some ways, for him. He does mean it, but... Hmm. He has a hard time looking past the reality of what he does. He really did used to think he was helping people by guiding them to the Garden. Pavlova shook his head lightly and looked down at his plate, the glaze was dry enough he could probably add more colors... He starts in with some other colors, making a heart pattern around the outer edge. ]

Really? They look really good! We did a lot of artsy stuff around the garden so I'm used to the painting part at least. My-- master taught me how to play the lyre too.

[ The mention of clothes makes him look down at his himation and puffy bloomers. He's never really... needed anything other than this or something close to it. And certainly nothing that wasn't red or pink. ]

I think accounting for my wings would probably be hard, haha. I've never had a lot of clothes. But it was nice in the garden so I didn't need much anyway.

[ he gives the cute white and pale pink appendages a little flap to call attention to them, but they notably... didn't push as much air as they probably should have. They're tucked away before they can be inspected too closely. ]

[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.]

[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. ]

[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.]

[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?

[eidxiety]

[Ain is putting two and two together...]

Is Mr. Clown your dad?! [this is wholly unhelpful thanks bud] Uh— haha, sorry, Shadow Milk?

[He is learning so much about cookies today. But he shakes his head; he owes another explanation.]

I prefer to give people nicknames, rather than use real names. Haha, I've never been too fond of it. I do know everyone's names, but isn't it more fun to give people other names? [Well, sure, that would be true if Ain's nicknames weren't downright offensive at times.] I call my partners by their names, though, most of the time.

And I can carry people! But probably only one or two, depending on how big they are~.

[lovelyredthread]

Yep! He's the best dad ever.

[ biased as hell. He loves his dad SO much. But he also knows more sides to him than unhinged clown man. ]

Do you ever get them back? I could try giving you one!

[ He's never tried it before. Never really had a reason to. Most people in the garden were way older than him and he didn't tend to hang out with them much. It'd be like giving nicknames to extended family. ]

I don't think I'd be hard to carry... Master never let me fly above the trees.

[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~.