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

[notsonewbie]

[Naturally, Meryl makes a face at his efforts. She glances up at the trees, trying to guess at the wind direction, before ideally moving out of the way of his eventual smoke cloud. Leave it to Wolfwood to be gross the second she finds him.]

Seriously? You already forgot how long it's been? [She puts a hand on her hip.] Two years. Two years since you took off and Vash -

[Wait a second.]

Vash?! How is he - we watched him -

[lupusxylem]

Two?

[Though Wolfwood did eventually regain his memories of the incident at JuLai, he only just regained them. As in, the very last thing he remembers was that. The city was blasted off the face of the planet, Vash disappeared, and...then he woke up. Though he may have a wolf face now, it's clear by the tone of his voice that he's not fucking with Meryl this time.

Him taking off after that...doesn't surprise him, actually. He had no particular obligation to stay after everything, and he'd almost left before Vash went on a suicide mission, but two years...suddenly, the whole thing with Eriks is starting to make a lot more sense. Way more time passed than he himself can remember.

Wolfwood lifts both of his...hands? Paws, holding them up for a minute with his ears swiveling back as he tries to pick this apart one thing at a time. Vash first.]

He's fine. I mean...fine might be a strong word, but he's alive. I know it's hard to believe, but he survived. He disappeared 'cause he like...

[He gestures at his head.]

He got some kind of amnesia after the fact, so he was off doing his own thing for a while.

[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.]

[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]

[notsonewbie]

[Wolfwood had come to her rescue, in the end. If nothing else, he seemed relatively on their side, even if she wasn't wholly convinced. That had to count for something. But for him to say Vash was alive after something so impossible, she couldn't help but have her doubts.]

So. Where is he, then. [She places a hand on her hip, staring up at him.] You don't expect me to just take you at your word, do you? [And then a scowl.] Or are you waiting to charge me for the information?

[To be honest, in the wake of Vash being alive she... doesn't exactly care about what or who caused Wolfwood's transformation. Like, she feels bad for him, and maybe she'll be more concerned later but... Meryl is like a dog with a bone, and Vash is her bone.

... Okay, maybe not that phrasing?]

At least your dog seems happy about it?

[She nods to Angelina.]

[lupusxylem]

[Wolfwood heaves on another beleaguered sigh, even as Angelina looks happily between them with her tongue lolling from her jaws.]

She's happy 'bout everythin'...but Vash is prolly back home at the cabin. He bought one across the river, and now me, him, and Liv live there. If you don't believe me, I can just take you there.

[Of course, there's no guarantee Vash will be home- he might be out doing something- but at least Meryl might be placated by the signs of life there, as well as things left that are very obviously from Vash? Least of which the various feathers he's constantly shedding around their home, these days.]

[notsonewbie]

She probably has about as many brain cells as you and Vash combined, huh?

[Translation, not many. No offense, Angelina, but you weren't exactly raised by the smartest people she knows.]

Lead the way. And quickly. You and I both know how slippery he is.

[lupusxylem]

[It's true...Angelina is his smart, perfect daughter, but she's never been the sharpest knife in the drawer either. Truly like father like daughter.

Either way, he'll pet the top of her head as she circles around him and starts trotting back towards the house, prompting Wolfwood to follow in her wake.]

Trust me, I know. Careful when we get to the river up ahead. The stones are slippery as fuck, so it's easy to fall in.

[Ask him how he knows.]

[notsonewbie]

[Meryl narrows her eyes up at him, even as a devious grin plays at her lips. Since she's trailing behind Wolfwood, maybe he'll see it. Maybe he won't.]

If that's the case, maybe you should show me how to cross first, just in case.

[And if she's lucky, she can get it on camera.]

[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.]

[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!

[lupusxylem]

Shit, what!?

[Wolfwood jumps nearly a mile, and that's really all it takes for him to lose his balance. He slips and falls backwards straight into the water, though thankfully he ends up falling between the stepping stones and doesn't bash his head on one of them or anything.

Angelina thinks this is her signal to play and crashes into the river after him, barking her head off.]

[notsonewbie]

[And true to form, Meryl grabs several pictures along the way. Once the barking dies down, Wolfwood will absolutely hear her click, click, clicking away. She doesn't even try to look ashamed if he happens to look at her. A toothy grin spreads across her lips as she gives her camera a wiggle.]

You know, something tells me that Firebringering guy might like these.

[lupusxylem]

[You know he honestly should have seen that coming, and YET...

Wolfwood sits up with a heavy growl deep in his chest, giving himself a bodily shake that's much more dog-like than it is human. Angelina is, of course, hopping in excited circles around him in the water because YAY we are PLAYING!!]

For fucks sake, what'd he tell you?

[notsonewbie]

Sorry, a journalist never reveals information that her sources may have given her.

[She's practically bouncing on her toes as she rubs it in Wolfwood's face, too. It's a good thing she's not on one of the rocks, otherwise she'd be in the water as well.]

Guess you're gonna have to ask him, huh?

[lupusxylem]

S'that so?

[Wolfwood is on his feet again by now, standing on one of the stepping stones. He isn't so much of an asshole as to pull or push Meryl in the water...

But he WILL take it upon himself to just give his body a brisk, violent shake, causing the water soaked in his fur to go everywhere.]

[notsonewbie]

[Meryl yelps, doing her best to hide herself from the water. She's very small, though, and he's both very big and very soaked. It's a pretty feeble effort.]

Gross! I'm going to smell like wet dog now, Undertaker!

[She huffs and glowers in his direction.]

[lupusxylem]

Oops. Damn, sooorry...I didn't realize you were standin' so close!

[His tail is wagging, he's full of it.]

Now c'mon, let's get across before you fall in this time. You don't wanna get even wetter, now do you?

[notsonewbie]

You're the worst! You know that, right?

[Regardless, Meryl carefully makes her way across. She doesn't look away from him the entire time. She doesn't trust you, sir.]