sticksandbones | MINI-EVENT: RETURN FROM THE MOUNTAINS

You are tired.

Without the truck to come get you — where did those people go? Were they even real? — you have to walk, hike up to the mountain peak, only to go back down. Did no one tell you that just the base of the mountains to the Grove itself is a seven-day walk? Perhaps someone would have, if they were here to tell you.

As all of you escape Roseroot, leaving behind the horrors slaughtered en masse, poor Astrid is suddenly blinded, his eyes turning completely black as something whispers in his mind. “Please. Please, you have to help them. You have to help them. Please, please, you have to—” As quick as it came, he regains his vision, his eyes clearing back up, and the message cuts off. Whether he shares this information or not with the rest of you… that’s up to him.

Either way, to get over the mountains, you have to hike. The winged, the flighted ones, those who can float, they might be able to take people up to the peak faster, but the blizzards rage atop it. Is flying really safe? You have only a few supplies between all of you — do you look for firewood and rest along the path? Do you traverse the mazelike caverns and hope one of you spits you out at a higher peak? Do you take shelter underneath the crystals growing on the mountainside?

If you look at those crystals for too long, they seem to reflect your nightmares back at you, but sleeping beneath them gives an incredible sense of calm.

At the mountain peak is the scene of something nightmarish itself — a group of people, some humanoid, one shadowy, a few monstrous, all collapsed. Each of them sleeps beneath the bulk of a golden dragon, tucked up underneath their bulk for warmth, while the unconscious dragon itself is mostly-buried under the snow. In the air float three charms, one of the sun, one of the moon, and one of half a sun. And just under those, maintaining some sort of magic — though even the magically-inclined may struggle to tell what exactly it is — is a leucistic deer-centaur holding a staff with a dreamcatcher head, wearing furs and leathers and braving the blizzard in his unconscious state solely to keep whatever this magic field around the peak is running.

As soon as you step further into this field, your memories come back en masse. These people are yours. They are your Guardians, your friends, your almost-family, and they disappeared one day, and you did not remember them. When you go to wake one of them up, your mind is pulled into theirs, a fragmented web of memories spanning before you.

Do you fix them? Or do you leave them here forever to suffer with a fragmented mind?

Spark Notes

out of character

Per the plotting, please remember that it is ONE character per player for the NPCs minus the Lord of the Mountains — meaning for example that Amity cannot have White Lily fix Ydalir, Sidney fix Callan, and Mafuyu fix Heimr. However, players are free to select what NPC they want to help, even if multiple players are currently helping that NPC. Guess comments will be screened and replied to as they come in to avoid cheating when someone gets one right, and all will be unscreened at the end of the event. :)

If everyone lumps into a few NPCs and others don't have interaction, I will lift the rule saying one character per player in the Discord and make an announcement.

Participation in an NPC thread will be good for Bonus AC regardless of length. Please do not use these for main AC. You can get main AC off your toplevels on this event if you choose to do so.

Please refrain from general threading with the NPCs on this post; bar Lord of the Mountains, other NPCs should be threaded with on NPC Contact if it's irrelevant to the event proper. In the case of LotM, he is the exception to every rule — everyone is free to try solving his memories regardless of if you have another character solving another NPC's memory puzzle, and general threading with him is allowed.

I maintain the right to cut a threading-thread short at any time; this is to avoid overwhelm and flooding the post with irrelevant details to the event. Guess threads will not be cut until all guesses are correct at minimum. (This is more in defense of my wordiness than a slight at you guys, I know how I get so this is a rule that exists to protect Me lmao.)

code

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Zahliya has 8 memories. Please put them in a numbered list order when guessing.

When Moder crushed his skull, he found himself wondering if he was doomed to a life of solitude. The other Guardians were Corrupted, and he was the sole immune one. Why was he alone in this world?

Why does he resent his own existence?

When humans went extinct, he found himself lonely.

Humans are fun to him. Humans always brought him trinkets as offerings when he was a statue.

He wonders if he should be this bitter over his circumstances. Is he not "important"? Is he not "necessary" and "needed"?

He missed humans.

He wished he could talk to them.

All he knew was that he had a duty to perform, though he could not discern where that duty came from.

[Luca's touch is predictably gentle as he approaches Zahliya and takes his hands. He forces flame to his palms, as if this might somehow wake him. It had worked before, right? But when he fails, he takes a different tack.

Yes, something in the back of his mind does whisper in a sinister tone: alter them, change them, make him love you once more, but he shoves the thought back with as much force as he possibly can. Whatever was between them (bitterness, hate, betrayal) was Luca's to shoulder. Difficult though it may be, it was what he had wrought.

Carefully, he begins to sift through those memories, trying to shift them into the right position.]

1. Humans are fun to him. Humans always brought him trinkets as offerings when he was a statue.

2. He wished he could talk to them.

3. When humans went extinct, he found himself lonely.

4. All he knew was that he had a duty to perform, though he could not discern where that duty came from.

5. He missed humans.

6. When Moder crushed his skull, he found himself wondering if he was doomed to a life of solitude. The other Guardians were Corrupted, and he was the sole immune one. Why was he alone in this world?

7. He wonders if he should be this bitter over his circumstances. Is he not "important"? Is he not "necessary" and "needed"?

8. Why does he resent his own existence?

LUCA sorts the memories, but finds that they stubbornly refuse to play the whole memory and associated emotions, getting stuck in a loop.

Memories #1, #2, #3, #4, and #5 are in the incorrect order.

Come on, Zahliya. You have to come back. We need you. You have a purpose here, with us.

[Gritting his teeth, Luca tries again.]

1. All he knew was that he had a duty to perform, though he could not discern where that duty came from.

2. Humans are fun to him. Humans always brought him trinkets as offerings when he was a statue.

3. When humans went extinct, he found himself lonely

4. He missed humans.

5. He wished he could talk to them.

6. When Moder crushed his skull, he found himself wondering if he was doomed to a life of solitude. The other Guardians were Corrupted, and he was the sole immune one. Why was he alone in this world?

7. He wonders if he should be this bitter over his circumstances. Is he not "important"? Is he not "necessary" and "needed"?

8. Why does he resent his own existence?

Some memories try linking up with the rest, but it seems something is still incorrect...

Memories #1, #3, #4, and #5 are in the incorrect order.

Idiot. Come on. He needs you!

[Don't worry, Luca is just mad at himself, nbd.]

1. When humans went extinct, he found himself lonely

2. Humans are fun to him. Humans always brought him trinkets as offerings when he was a statue.

3. He missed humans.

4. He wished he could talk to them.

5. All he knew was that he had a duty to perform, though he could not discern where that duty came from.

6. When Moder crushed his skull, he found himself wondering if he was doomed to a life of solitude. The other Guardians were Corrupted, and he was the sole immune one. Why was he alone in this world?

7. He wonders if he should be this bitter over his circumstances. Is he not "important"? Is he not "necessary" and "needed"?

8. Why does he resent his own existence?

The memories get scrambled again, to minimal avail...

Memories #1, #3, and #4 are in the incorrect order.

[Luca takes a minute to hiss through gritted teeth before shoving his (metaphorical) talons back into the (metaphorical) brain guts.]

1. He missed humans.

2. Humans are fun to him. Humans always brought him trinkets as offerings when he was a statue.

3. He wished he could talk to them.

4. When humans went extinct, he found himself lonely

5. All he knew was that he had a duty to perform, though he could not discern where that duty came from.

6. When Moder crushed his skull, he found himself wondering if he was doomed to a life of solitude. The other Guardians were Corrupted, and he was the sole immune one. Why was he alone in this world?

7. He wonders if he should be this bitter over his circumstances. Is he not "important"? Is he not "necessary" and "needed"?

8. Why does he resent his own existence?

LUCA sorts the memories... and the full event locks into place, unable to be changed further.

In the nest of bodies kept warm by Sehul, ZAHLIYA starts to stir.

[Maybe Luca should mind his hands, or give the Gargoyle space now that he seems to be coming to his senses. But instead, Luca's hands grip the Zahliya's shoulder anew. He gives a faint shake to further coax him into reality.]

Ahli. Please, please wake up. We need you.

[Zahliya is eepies...]

I'm working on it... [Right now he has to squirm out from underneath the comatose body of his so-called sibling, and all of Callan's tentacles. Eugh. Frozen calamari, Gordon Ramsay would be horrified.] Stars, my head hurts.

[He really should mind his hands but... Luca gingerly holds Zahliya's face, studying him for any further signs of injury or anything else.]

I - am not surprised. How do you feel otherwise? Nothing out of place?

My brain, very briefly.

[He's fine, a little scuffed up maybe, but he's usually scratched by something so honestly he looks no worse for wear. He will pull his head back from Luca's hands, though.]

Otherwise, I'm largely fine.

[Ah. Likewise, Luca's hands pull back, then settle into his lap. He toys fitfully with his fingers for a moment, before pulling them into fists. Otherwise, though, he keeps his tone even.]

That is good. [He straightens up, careful of the other bodies.] The others are probably worried about you. Never mind how much you probably need to catch up on.

I'll not keep you.

MINI-EVENT: RETURN FROM THE MOUNTAINS

ZAHLIYA

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject