EVENT 25

[sticksandbonesmods]

HELLO, LISTENERS

GRAB THE KEY, LET'S GO OUT AND HAVE SOME FUN

While the fungus continues to thrive, life otherwise continues on as usual. The ever-flowing river of time carries the town along with it, bringing the soft concerto of crickets at night, a distant rumble of thunder during the day, and a warmth that whispers promises of oppressive heat and stifling humidity. Summer has arrived in the Grove, and before her work calls her into action, she is setting down her bags to sprawl on her hotel bed for a moment's respite after a long journey.

But there is something else. From a shrine in the forest comes an intense curiosity, and the world seems as though it is holding its breath, an odd tension lacing the air that even those in the Grove can sense.

And then, people disappear.

It isn't like a couple of months before, when Mr. Bone-Jangles had snatched up everyone in the center of town. The targeting is random - you may be in the middle of a conversation with someone, only for them to suddenly vanish before your eyes. Your friend might have gone inside to grab something and never returned. You may have settled down for a nap, letting your eyes close as you hope to drift off. Regardless of how it happens, anyone that is caught in the magic will hear a sudden, staticky jumble of sounds not unlike an old manual-tune radio shifting through several stations and picking up tidbits of broadcast in the split-second they're tuned to one. And then, everything feels as though it shifts slightly to the left.

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN SUCH A PERFECT DAY?

When the fog clears from your vision, you find yourself standing in the middle of a paved street, in a perfectly normal-looking little town out in what appears to be the deserts of the American Southwest. The buildings are modern and well-maintained, as are the roads, and there are people and vehicles about as would be the case in any town. Actually, you may want to consider getting out of the street, considering the traffic. There are perfectly good sidewalks, after all.

It won't take long for one of the locals to notice you. It's as though you're easy to single out, easily distinguished from those that live here. A man points his finger at you and shouts, "Interloper!" before continuing on his way as though nothing has happened at all. In fact, many people will do this. You'll get used to it, probably. Helicopters also fly overhead quite frequently, and in varying colors and designs, but none ever seem to land.

Eventually, you might find yourself at a bus stop, or maybe at a building labeled City Hall. It seems as though the local tourism board has put up a small kiosk full of fliers at these locations, decorated with a fun poster that reveals the name of the town: Night Vale. All of the fliers seem to be for a newly built Hampton Inn out by the convention center, however. Visitors are encouraged to stop in and stay a while, with rooms starting as low as "one brief, yet violently strong, emotion" per night. Continental breakfast is included! The only breakfast items shown in the photo are waffles shaped like continents. But hey, if you want a place to stay, that's hard to beat. Maybe it's time for a little summer vacation?

The Grove is not spared from the oddities, either. Old oak doors seem to be popping up everywhere. Perhaps there is now an extra door between the door to your room and your closet door. Maybe your front door is now doubled. Is that a free-standing door in the middle of the Grove? It sure is. But wherever they are, they seem to come and go - they're there for a little while, but eventually disappear, only to be found somewhere else. Should you try to go through these doors, you will experience the same thing as those that were picked up by the magic, and find yourself deposited somewhere right in the middle of Night Vale.

The good news is, if you can find one of these same doors in Night Vale, it will carry you right back to the Grove! You'll have to put in a little leg work to find one, though. They, too, like to disappear and reappear elsewhere.

WHAT'S IN YOUR MIND? LET'S DO IT ONE BY ONE

Night Vale seems to have no shortage of interesting places to visit. But the most interesting thing is the amount of radios present in the town. Everywhere seems to have one, ranging from modern stereos to boomboxes, from little travel radios to old-fashioned floor units. For the most part, they seem to function as any other radio would. Only two stations can be picked up, however: WTNV, the local community radio station, which seems to play various popular programs over the course of the day, ranging from the popular radio game show "Wait, Wait, Don't, No, Don't, Please, Don't!" to a radio program that can only be heard by dogs; and WZZZ, a station only broadcasting a woman's voice reading random numbers interspersed with chimes. If you listen long enough, the woman's voice may begin singing bits of the song "Roar" by Katy Perry, before going back to the numbers.

These radios also seem to be springing up in the Grove, and can only pick up the same stations as those in Night Vale. Very strange!

But no matter where the radio is, even if the radio is turned off, it will turn on by itself every evening at a specific time to let a voice through, and cannot be turned off until the broadcast is finished. And the voice may be very familiar to some.

"Hold your horses. I just cleaned the floor, and I won't have them tracking all that horse dirt in this house. Welcome to Night Vale!

Howdy, listeners! Particularly those of you in and from the Grove. It's been a little while, hasn't it? I've been enjoying my little vacation, but I missed all your shining faces, so I thought I'd come back for a visit. Did you miss me? Was there a Joshua-shaped void in your hearts? If so, you should probably get that checked out.

'But, Joshua,' you may ask, 'what are you doing on the radio?' Great question. Honestly, it's a surprise to me, too! But it seems like a hoot, so why not give it a shot? All this broadcasting technology has me glued to my seat, after all, and news won't tell itself. And I do love a good story.

First, we'll start with the community calendar. On Monday, the Night Vale Community College will be hosting their bi-annual What Even Is That Thing? event. Residents are encouraged to bring their strange and unusual unidentified items and watch as scientists peer and poke at them, murmuring things like, 'Hmm…' and, 'Veeeeery interesting,' and, 'Gosh, I just have no idea,' while frowning thoughtfully and scribbling notes on a clipboard. Sounds like fun for the whole family!

Tuesday afternoon may or may not be a myth—"

HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT SUCH A DAY WOULD COME?

As the month marches on, everything in Night Vale continues to be… well, strange. But that strangeness isn't just isolated to the desert town.

It starts with a tumbleweed. One small, seemingly innocent tumbleweed, blowing its way past the Grove's clinic and eventually finding its way up onto the inn's porch. And then there are more tumbleweeds. Hundreds of them, varying in size and tumbling along to clutter up the Grove, even going so far as to pile up in front of doors. Hopefully, you have another way out of that building.

After the tumbleweeds comes the sand. It's hard to say where exactly the sand is coming from, just that it's not there one moment and there the next, like it's growing from the ground. What begins as a patch on the grass eventually grows to a pile with the ambition of becoming a dune, and as they spread, scrubby desert plants begin to grow from them. Despite only being early summer, a soul-crushing heat begins to settle in, and the sunsets become unbearably, unsettlingly noisy.

And in Night Vale? The old oak doors are becoming harder and harder to find.

But that isn't all. In both locations, in the later half of the month, odd creatures begin to appear. They seem to be half-animal, half… tattoo? But they are aggressive and will attack anyone, particularly those experiencing negative emotions. And with the overwhelming desert heat taking over the Grove, it's probably pretty easy to find yourself in a bad mood. There aren't many at first, but with time, their numbers seem to grow, as if they're doubling every day.

In Night Vale, they seem particularly attracted to the Night Vale Community Radio building.

Spark Notes

summary

GRAB THE KEY, LET'S GO OUT AND HAVE SOME FUN: The fungi is still here! Also, you are being kidnapped. Well, some of you. There's a weird feeling of tension in the air and then bam, people vanish.
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN SUCH A PERFECT DAY?: Welcome to Night Vale! Things are weird here. Pamphlets are directing you to the Hampton Inn if you'd like somewhere to stay. If you weren't originally kidnapped, you can kidnap yourself through an old oak door for the low, low cost of Free. There are also old oak doors appearing in Night Vale if you want to go back to the Grove.
WHAT'S IN YOUR HEAD? LET'S DO IT ONE BY ONE: There are lots of fun places to explore in Night Vale! Take your pick. Or don't! It's all up to you. But there are radios everywhere, even in the Grove, and they come on every evening for an unskippable cutscene– I mean, a broadcast. Surprise, it's Joshua Kiryu, back from Fel's shrine and having a blasty blast on the radio.
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT SUCH A DAY WOULD COME?: Night Vale is trying to consume the Grove. Uh oh! Tumbleweeds, sand, and desert plant life are popping up all over the Grove, and it's agonizingly hot, and there's an awful, roaring racket every day during sunset. Also, there are Noise everywhere in both the Grove and Night Vale, and they're attacking anyone expressing strong negative emotions. They're also swarming the Night Vale Community Radio building! That can't be good, can it?

out of character

Welcome to the June event of Sticks and Bones! This month's event was brought to you by Kaed, playing Joshua and formerly the Other Joshua who is making a guest appearance. Signups for a special mission related to this event are open until Friday the 13th, and we will be reminding players periodically until then.

Kaed is graciously handling investigations and questions relating to Night Vale, while Wolfie and Amity will continue handling ... everything else. We hope you enjoy this special Pride month!

updates

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

submissions

❖ Questions
❖ June Plotting
❖ Past Life Plotting (Closed to Game Members)
❖ Investigations

code

Comments

library

[kingincognito]

[ Joshua, too, loves to read. He's also fairly used to traversing potentially dangerous places, and the combination of those two things here is not as startling as it should be, considering how the rest of this world seems to be going. He's experienced enough to know that plenty of important information has been hidden behind the barrier of peril, so checking out this place is just a good idea in general.

But he isn't really expecting to find the body of a librarian stuck well and thoroughly through with a slew of colorful arrows. While the sight brings him to pause for a moment, it's an indicator that he isn't alone, and so he keeps moving. Until--

Ah. A child...? The fox ears atop his head perk in interest, and the gentle, curious sway of his tail comes to a stop. ]

... pardon the intrusion. Might you be responsible for the, ah...

[ He lifts a gloved hand, gesturing back to the porcupine of a librarian laying on the floor. ]

[lovelyredthread]

[ The boy blinks owlishly at Joshua for a moment, a little hesitant to answer despite the clear and obvious matching arrows in his quiver and the bow he was holding.

Who else in this town had meticulously designed strawberry arrows.

It's an awkward stretch of silence that follows, but Pavlova eventually responds. ]

Okay, yes, but it attacked me first!

[kingincognito]

[ Listen, he could be hallucinating for all he knows. This place is very strange. ]

With what I have seen in this place, I do not doubt it. That you are skilled enough to defend yourself is a blessing in itself.

[ Joshua offers a warm smile. His sword is securely sheathed at his hip, and his hands are open and empty. Nothing threatening whatsoever. ]

Are you here looking for something?

[lovelyredthread]

[ Don't scare him like that, he thought he was being judged for defending himself!

He loses a bit of his defensiveness since that is not the case ]

Not really. I didn't know there were gonna be monsters.

[ He says that, but given the state of the one he dealt with and his effectively infinite arrows, he's not in any rush. Confident in his skill even though that thing had frightened him. ]

I was gonna look and see if there were magic books though. I think my dad would like those. I like fiction novels.

[kingincognito]

[ Confidence is a good thing. When being attacked, confidence in one's abilities could make the difference between surviving and succumbing. He isn't about to dampen that.

Though, Pavlova's quarry being magic books is surprising, just enough to get a raise of Joshua's eyebrows. ]

Magic books and fiction novels. I see. Admittedly, I do love a good story. And I'm a bit curious about possible magic books myself.

[ Well. He wants to check out everything, really, but magic books! Imagine! ]

Who is your father?

[lovelyredthread]

Yeah! I read all the time. Its nice to have actual stories to read now though. Dad used to read for me when I was little and the Garden didn't have many books.

[ Oh but he was asked a question huh. He looks up from the shelf he was searching and smiles ]

My dad is Shadow Milk Cookie. I'm Pavlova Cookie!

[kingincognito]

[ Shadow Milk Cookie is a father. Joshua blinks in surprise, just for a second or two. The mental image of Shadow Milk next to Pavlova doesn't reflect any readily apparent likenesses, but... then again, he doesn't know much about Cookies. Perhaps it isn't like human likenesses at all. It wouldn't do to make assumptions, at any rate.

So, he smiles and nods, pressing a hand to his chest with a polite bow of his head. ]

It is a pleasure to meet you, Pavlova Cookie. I am Joshua Rosfield. I work at the clinic with Lady White Lily Cookie.

[lovelyredthread]

[ Pavlova is very careful not to let his distaste show in his expression. His relationship with White Lily Cookie is complicated at best and while he doesn't want to bring that out of the house into other people's view, it does make him considerably less apt to trust those who are close with her. ]

Oh, I've been staying with her and my dad. She's nice. I never met her before ending up here.

[ He could at least say that much. She has been nice to him so far, even if he doesn't know how to feel about this whole situation. ]

What did you come looking for?

[kingincognito]

[ And he does a very good job, because Joshua doesn't notice at all. He simply smiles and nods, lowering his hand back to his side. ]

I have not known her long, but she is kind.

[ And they've both been in similar situations lately, as far as the dearly departed go. But he won't say that out loud. It isn't his business. ]

It is difficult for me to pass by a library, particularly one in a place such as this. Books have always been very close friends of mine, ever since I was a child, and I'd like to compile all the useful information that I can.

[lovelyredthread]

[ He's glad the issue didn't overstay its welcome, and that they moved past the topic of White Lily quickly. He's not really sure he wants to linger on how he feels about all of that right now. ]

I'd say I like libraries but I've never been in one. Dad's spire had so many from how he described it to me and I always wanted to see it. Does the Grove have a library..?

[ It's less an actual question to Joshua and more of a musing to himself. He'd still been exploring after all, he hasn't seen all of the grove yet. ]

My mom always said I was too curious for my own good, hehe. I was always getting into stuff at the garden when I was little. Dad brought me books when he visited too, so I loved books.