MINI-EVENT: RETURN FROM THE MOUNTAINS

[sticksandbonesmods]

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.)

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Comments

[sticksandbonesmods]

Events lock into place, unable to be altered further. The old man starts to stir. Heimr groans, not from the headache of mind fuckery, but because he's too damn old to be in a pile like this-

"Stan?"

[charlastan]

What's that old saying? Third time's the charm, or something?

Once everything locks into place, Heimr will find Stan leaning over him with a friendly grin, despite...well, everything.

"Heh. About time you woke up, old man."

He holds out his hand though, so he can help Heimr up out of the Arthritis Hell Pile.

[sticksandbonesmods]

Heimr readily accepts the help, pausing to crack his back once he's standing before he looks around.

".... Take it the escape attempt was a shitshow."

Pause.

"As per usual."

[charlastan]

Oof, that sounded like it felt good.

"Yeah, something like that." Stan counts off on his fingers casually. "More amnesia, bunch of monsters, the whole city rotting out around us...so, yeah. Per usual."

This is not Stan's first horror show.

[sticksandbonesmods]

Heimr sighs, shaking his head.

"Ain't that just the way. We were hopin' to get you to the real Roseroot... It's a bit pretentious but it was wealthy and well-protected, last I checked. There a camp set up? It won't do to try and travel in this storm..."

[charlastan]

"Yeah, over there--" Stan jerks a thumb in the general direction of the camp. "Not all of us are cold-proof after all, and visibility's terrible anyway."

Stan can be a reckless person now and then, but he knows how to survive better than a lot of people do. Heimr's right - it would be stupid to try and go back before the storm clears up a little. Stan gestures for him to come with - the guy's probably freezing after being passed out there for who knows how long.

"So...there's still a real Roseroot out there?" he asks. "I figured we got tricked into, y'know. Hanging out in its ruins or something."

[sticksandbonesmods]

Oh, precious warmth. Heimr follows along, holding himself tight.

"There should be. Might go by a different name, but- the kids kept the threat contained to the forest itself, and Roseroot was a good deal away. But it's been centuries, so... who can say?"