EVENT 033

[sticksandbonesmods]

CRUSADER PROBE MISSION

Sometimes when you look outside, you think the Iris must be closer. That, or a month of isolation in the inn and not seeing the light of day has convinced you that the awful red moon has crept toward the realm you’re currently stuck in. Night after night feels largely the same; you go to bed to the awful shrieks of the Fake People, wretched hands tap against your window, and fleshy masses climb the walls. When you wake up, you hopefully remember to eat, and hopefully don’t fight with your neighbours you’ve been locked indoors with over the state of the kitchen, or the medical supplies scattered across the floor because someone tripped their way into the mobile clinic. Those of you who venture outside hopefully come back unharmed, maybe to the tune of worried friends and partners shouting that you should take a break. Surely the Goddesses must be working on a solution skywards, surely you need to wait, surely there’s some piece of the puzzle you’re missing, surely the magic will come back. Surely, surely…

Sleep, wake up, survive. Sleep, wake up, survive. Sleep… wake up.

There are twenty-five new moons in the sky.

Around the Grove’s sky in an uneven ring, your moon — the one from your home — joins the moons of your peers, bleeding, wounded, its craters unnatural and new. Sinew and tendon connect and pull like a sore being spread open by prodding fingertips. The twin moons of Elrios embrace Earthbread’s in a mass of unnatural tendrils. Valisthea’s moon is cleft in two, one half being pulled toward the east by a mass of goo attached to No Man’s, the other mid-collision with Earth’s. The debris that sprays out from it is a disgusting mix of blood and rock, frozen mid-splatter under the Iris’ gravity.

You swear when you look at the horizon that there are more Woodcrawlers than there were before, despite everyone’s best efforts. The wards on the inn hold, suppressed magic bubbling beneath the surface like a volcano waiting to erupt — one you can feel shuddering under your footsteps — and as the inn endures hit after hit from enraged creatures trying to get to you, you can’t help but wonder…

How much longer do you have left, realistically?

SLEEP IMAGE VISUALIZER

cw: promoting suicide

Out in the depths of the woods, the False God — the Forest, the Black Sun, the Creature — wakes from his slumber, to Zonari’s frantic shoulder-shakes and skyward pointing. The moons continue to corrupt, to bleed, to be consumed; the Heavens stay silent, and magic barely comes to the fingertips of those more powerful than you all. When the Forest glances at his fingertips, he can feel it suppressed under the surface, inaccessible even to Him. A Woodcrawler skitters toward his bedchambers from a shattered window and gets swatted like a gnat out of fury.

The Black Sun wants this hideous red moon to get out of his skies.

He does not approach the Grove. Rather, with the few dregs of magic that remain in a Fallen God and the blessings of his daughter at his side, he reaches into your minds — sleeping or waking.

“It’s been a while. If I wasn’t asleep, I would have cast that thing out of the sky before it got here for daring to mess with what is mine. It stole most of my magic, and I need it back — but I’ll get rid of it if you help me get my magic back. Consider it a gift.”

Whether sleeping or awake, you feel it — the burn of something on your wrist, like a tattoo needle being pressed down too hard for comfort. Some are marked with a black sun whose body is in the shape of a crescent; the other half are marked with one in the shape of a gibbous. When you try to cover the mark, or brush your hand over it to soothe the sudden sharp ache, it glows through your clothing and fingertips, unable to be hidden.

“Find someone with your opposite mark. Kill them, or give up and kill yourself.” The words hang heavy, but He does not pause to let you process it. “Don’t worry — you’ll only have things to gain from this. You already know how to give me the magic I need to get rid of that thing. Mizuki has told you time and time again, has he not? I promise there will be no consequences. I promise those who die immortality until the red moon is defeated, and if you lost something before… Zonari will give it back. And killers, well… you get the satisfaction, guilt-free. I know your fingertips must ache to pull the trigger, Wolfwood.

Chop chop.”

[CLICK FOR TEAM ASSIGNMENTS]

CRESCENT SUN	GIBBOUS SUN
Till	Viktor
Jayce	Ezell
Flamebringer	Faust
Mephisto	Mizuki
Elder Faerie	Pavlova
Pure Vanilla	White Lily
Shadow Milk	Silent Salt
Akaza	Genya
Senjuro	Kyojuro
Shinobu	Muichiro
Ain	Elsword
Aira	Vildred
Ras	Stan
Joshua	Ryan
Dipper	Zoey
Min-Gi	Astrid
Mystery	Luca
Lyle	Urbain
Kiera	Wolfwood
Corbeau	Cy
River	Lodi

GAMES FOR KIDS

Whether the Grove descends into immediate chaos depends on you. Do you immediately turn on your neighbour and try to kill them? Do you sacrifice yourself on the pyre? Do you grab your loved ones and hole up with the door barricaded? Ignore it? Hope someone else dies so you don’t have to?

Ydalir and Heimr, cross with this entire charade and unmarked, breathe out sighs that carry thousands of years of fatigue. The Guardians look no less thrilled about the situation, but their concerns lie around re-killing all of the Woodcrawlers and Fake People they spent so much time smashing weeks ago. The river, covered in Nethersea Brand, protects Sinann and the Seaborn — and only just, as the Woodcrawlers repeatedly try to stomp through it, only to get paralysed on top of it.

Zonari does not enter the inn, despite Heimr trying to extend the olive branch and say she may as well come inside. Instead, she sticks closer to the barn as she typically does if she visits, only venturing out into the cold to retrieve the dead after they resurrect twenty-four hours later and lead them back to the Grove. “What did you want back?” She asks those who have visited the Garden and lost something — a memory, a limb, an eye, an ability. “I have just enough magic to give it to you. Don’t go losing it again, or this was all a waste, wasn’t it?”

It is the Forest, though, that grants your immortality for dying. He has just enough magic to spare a little to throw your way. If you lose a limb under this blessing, it’ll reattach. Fatal wounds heal almost instantly, though they’ll still hurt for a brief few seconds. A papercut barely tickles you. The Woodcrawlers cannot crawl down your throat, Deep Root Disease does not settle under your skin, and the Nature’s Mockery can do little to impede your steps.

The nights tick on. Days become weeks. The marks on the wrists of the dead-and-resurrected fade. The chaos begins to lessen, little by little.

Then begins an all-out war.

THE DEEP BLUE

The Iris is not one to go down without a fight. It and the Black Sun are in a deadlock, pushing back against the other in an unending game of chess. When one is in check, the other retaliates. The fused moons suspended in the sky act as vessels to beam more and more threats down into the Grove — fifty, one hundred, one thousand. The inn weathers the storm only as long as Heimr and Ydalir continually cast what little magic they can access from the corners of the lobby; chalk-stained fingertips repeatedly draw and re-draw magic circles and arcane wards. If you can’t help outside with the sudden swarm of creatures attacking the inn’s walls and drive them back, they’ll instead ask you to help draw further wards, knowing that this is the best anyone could do in this situation.

The Guardians take on newfound rage outside. Moder’s earthquakes shake the threats off their feet every time she rears back. What doesn’t get stepped on and whipped aside by Sehul gets devoured by Callan’s ceaseless hunger. Back-to-back, Zahliya and Zonari stand valiant in front of the inn to cut down anything that gets too close, Nightfall clutched in her hand as a show of tentative trust from the shorter Gargoyle.

The Seaborn, adults and babies alike, rise from the river en masse and form together into something larger, tentacles and tiny hands holding tight to create an enormous, knightlike being donning shell armour and a blade made from sharpened bones. The Behemoth, too, joins the final stand with teeth and claws gnashing. Within the mountain peaks far away, if you listen closely, you swear you can hear the solemn prayers of the Lord of the Mountains. And far in the distance, rising beyond the cliffside covering the sea, the Cosmic Serpent rises from slumber, the stars making up its form twinkling dimly against the night sky as water cascades off its form. Its jaw unhinges, the light of thousands of swallowed stars gathering in its open mouth.

For a moment, the world seems to stop. You take a single breath and hold it as the chaos surrounds you, and suddenly the sky sunders with the burning light of dawn.

“ENOUGH!” Beiwe’s cry of fury mixes with the Fallen Sun’s own in tandem, and at the same moment her blade of dawn bears down upon the Iris, a blade of black from him joins parallel to hers. The Cosmic Serpent’s beam smashes into the Grove, vaporizing the monsters — and almost vaporizing you, if you’re helping the war efforts outside — at the same time the twin blades cleave the Iris in twain.

A still breath ripples through the trees. The rift in the sky torn open by brother and sister wobbles and ripples, but doesn’t close. The mutated moons are gradually bathed in Ourania’s healing light, the Seaborn return to the river, and the drained Fallen God’s breathing becomes a laboured, exhausted laugh. As the twin Gargoyles bicker and break the silence — Zonari thought it was a good idea to give her brother a noogie, okay? — a sense of calm finally comes over the Grove.

The next few days will be spent cleaning up the ashes of corpses, repairing broken infrastructure, and watching the skies gradually return to normal… yet the rift still hangs overhead, and the tickle of magic doesn’t return to your fingertips.

It still lies in wait.

Spark Notes (Click to Expand)

summary

CRUSADER PROBE MISSION: The moons are more mutated, with some of them smashed up or in pieces. Instead of rotating through the moons from various worlds of player characters, all moons from all player worlds show up in some state of decay.
SLEEP IMAGE VISUALIZER: Suri contacts everyone, places marks upon their wrists, and tells you all to kill each other to power him up so that he can get rid of the Iris. Everyone is assigned one of two teams... good luck!
GAMES FOR KIDS: Welcome to the Hunger Suri Games! Those who die and come back after 24 hours will become immortal for the month. If they died and previously lost something in the Garden, Zonari will grant it back to them with no questions asked. The chaos outside moderately lessens as more and more people become immortal, but the Iris makes a final stand.
THE DEEP BLUE: The inn's wards start to waver, resulting in Ydalir and Heimr asking for help maintaining them from those of you that can draw magic circles before they break again. Those of you who can fight should go outside and fight, they say. The Iris beams down thousands of threats through each wounded moon, and the Guardians, Cosmic Serpent, Seaborn, and the twin suns themselves attend the war. After the Iris' defeat, the sky is sundered and a rift hangs overhead, and yet magic still doesn't return.

out of character

Y'all, it's already February. Anyway, this is the second and final part of our GHE inspired event! Thank you for indulging in it with me, I've enjoyed running it. March and April will be our typical calm-after-the-storm months to make up for the murders I've inflicted on you all. Fun facts: Had I not gotten enough murder sign-ups I wasn't sure how I was going to end this log h-haha, so thank you guys for being SUCH enthusiastic little blorbo killers.

updates

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

submissions

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

code

Comments

[mooninthewater]

"Yes, I figured. But... I just wanted to check."

Is it fine to approach him while he's like this? He does his best to avoid the fog and such, even when he's talking to him normally...

...

He does so, for just a moment, as he sets the cutest bento box in front of him. The food inside doesn't look super appetizing, as Mizuki's food usually doesn't, but it is a meal made by him all the same.

"I would offer some healing, but between my amateur usage of it and the fact Miss Callie said it hurts you, I'd do more harm. So I made you food! Because a good meal is the best way to heal! And rest, but I know you just did a lot of that. Sorry you gotta do it again. At least it'll be warmer this time."

He fidgets, unsure really what he can say. He has a lot of questions. He wants Suri to talk about what he's feeling right now. He wants to tell Suri the stuff the Iris said to him. But... he's tired. That isn't fair.

"Thank you."

[sticksandbonesmods]

Suri stares for a moment, completely struck. He does not deserve this, he knows it. He is a bastard of a fallen god, a wretched soul who's stewing in his own misery and madness, and he's intent on dragging everyone down with him.

For the first time, his resolve to make everything around him burn in the most agonizing way falters.

After what feels like minutes, he picks it up and ignores that his hands shake.

"... No, regular healing no longer works for me. She is correct. It is born of love, and I have very little left within me anymore..."

And what he does have, is reserved for Zonari and his sisters.

...

"I do not deserve this."

[mooninthewater]

If there is anyone here who understands the amount of effort it takes to kill not only a God of an ever-present eldritch hivemind, but also a World Eater, it's Mizuki. In his mind, of course Suri deserved some kind of repayment? Even if he does not care for the Grove or it's residents, warriors of all kinds deserve their rest after a fight.

Then again, he hasn't always been the best sort of person to make decisions. It's why he actively doesn't!

"I am neither scales nor gavel, Mister the Forest. It's not up to me to decide what you 'deserve'. Even if you did this for your sisters, or for your own reasons, the consequence of that is that you still helped us, dummy." He laughs a little, almost startled that it makes sound this time. "I never understood things like that, anyway. Deserving stuff and consequences - it doesn't make sense. Everyone is going to believe they're justified for their actions in one way or another, right? So then who gets to choose who deserves something? Someone who believes their way is justified? Who chooses the consequences? If it's the divine, then who chooses for the divine? Sounds too complicated of a process for me."

If he pondered too much on it, it made his head hurt. "Retribution"... what does that even do?

"If you're really opposed to taking it, though, I could ask a favor of you? Like an offering~!"

[sticksandbonesmods]

Suri watches the young man almost impassively- or it would seem so if not for the fact that he's practically vibrating with anxiety, energy and exhaustion alike. It would be an interesting debate had he not just spent an entire month fighting only to end with a surprisingly quiet anxiety attack.

After a moment, he cracks a smile.

"And just what could you even ask of me? I am not a giver."

[mooninthewater]

He shuffles in place.

"Um, I suppose, if you could give Elsword his eyes back...? You can take my voice again, too. I'd understand." Pause. "After you rest, of course. Don't try to do anything right now. Do you need help getting back to your home?"

[sticksandbonesmods]

Oh, shit, he actually had an answer. Suri balks for a moment before sighing dramatically.

"I suppose."

He holds out a hand and closes it tight, a flash of light emitting from beneath his fingers before he opens them again. A single longan fruit rests in his palm.

"Have him eat this, though I recommend you not tell him it's from me. I know he detests me so. It's hilarious. After a full night of sleep, his eyes shall be restored."

[mooninthewater]

Oh! Okay! Mizuki holds his hands out and waits for the fruit. He doesn't have the heart to tell him "Oh, actually, everything I know he knows," or anything like that. He just needs to pout at Elsword a bunch, probably.

Mizuki, however, seems delighted. Overly so, perhaps - with one of those sickeningly sweet, bright smiles.

"I told you to rest, first! But... Food for food, huh? Hehe~ it's like we're having dinner together!!" He's not eating it, of course, but just the thought of food being passed is important to one food obsessed jellyfish. Food is... life to him, after all.

"Thank you, Suri!"

[sticksandbonesmods]

"Oh, this is nothing. It's but a simple boon and restorative growth, it's not that hard."

Suri you are regrowing eyeballs overnight with fruit.

He watches Mizuki, frowning slightly despite the joy on the other's face.

"Is it? ... I keep forgetting, you're a strange one..." ... His voice is warm. Fond, even. There's a surge of energy- and surprise- at his name being used, though- he blinks, whipping around to the young man-

... Does he even know what he's done?

... No, no he probably doesn't.

Suri leans down, cupping his cheek with a dark smile.

"I do so love how my name sounds with your voice. Perhaps this was worth it, after all."

[mooninthewater]

It's hard to forget Mizuki is a weird one, so props to you, Suri. There is a brief moment when he puts a hand on Mizuki where Suri will catch the shadows around him grow violent. The tentacles, obscured as always. A wrath of Gods who hold no power here. Who do you think you are? You, who cannot even keep your own kin together? You, who believes grief is all-consuming? You've experienced Our all-consuming grief. Yet you seek to harm Us? The Iris was but trivial compared to Us, Failed One.

But Mizuki does not voice any of the sudden sea of thoughts that aren't his own. Rather, he just looks up from the fruit with a very small pout.

"If you liked it, you would not have taken it, you know. No need for lies with me." Though, he supposes it wouldn't be the first time someone has taken something from him when they liked him. "But! I did get really good at typing, so I got extra strong thumbs now~! Best in the whole world. Hehe."

He's weak now. Is it not the best time to strike? We don't use magic. Don't need it. Never have.

"Oh... Though... with my voice... ᚾᚢ ᛗᚨ ᛖᚲ ᛊᚨᚾᛚᛁᚷᚨ ᛗᛇᛚᚨ ᚢᛁᚦ ᚦᛁᚲ ᛁ ᚦᛁᚾᛁ ᛏᚢᛜᚢ, ᛖᚱ ᚦᚨᛏ ᛖᛁᚷᛁ ᛊᚢᛟ?"
« I suppose I can actually speak to you in your tongue now, can't I? »

[sticksandbonesmods]

"It's not a lie. I hated you for quite a while. But you've grown on me." It is a simple truth, and he thinks for a moment. "You're like a fungus like that."

... Gee, thanks.

Still, he would be a fool not to see the flash of emotions that do not suit the man. A shame, he thought that Mizuki would fluster. It would have been cute. Suri lets go, and its for the best that he does when he does it because he's not sure how he would have responded to Mizuki using the olden tongue naturally like that if he hadn't-

«"... So you can. Though I do not understand why you go out of your way for me still. But if you continue, I might have to take you for myself."»

[mooninthewater]

It’s for the best Mizuki isn’t emotional here. When that happens, he gets bitey, and hurting Suri while he’s already recovering from the Iris… Well, Mizuki would feel bad. His tendrils calm, at least. It takes some effort on his part. He does not mind the Seaborn blood intervening sometimes, but he wishes the Firstborn had a little more faith in him. He knows what he’s doing… probably…?

Though, maybe he doesn't. There's a particular tenseness to him to him at those words. He does his best to brush it aside, because of course he does. This is Suri, and he owes it to everyone here at the Grove to not let the prospect of being called "mine" rattle around too much in his skull. He's better than this! He has this! It's okay!

Hh.

« "Oh! Respectfully, I do decline." » How unfair. « "It is not going out of my way in the slightest. I… am not anything special, anyway. Even if you needed help getting home, helping you would not be going out of my way. I quite like walks!

I will say I worry about you being here for too much longer, though. Even if no one has their magic back, there are some that would like for you to hurt more. I'm sure you know that, though." »

[sticksandbonesmods]

"No, none of you shall know my domain. I will not let the lot of you ruin my child's home again. Even if we were due for an upgrade. But you are correct, should you be caught with me I doubt they will take kindly to it."

He's not worried for himself. Even drained as he is, fallen as he has, he is still a God. He is still the sun. Beiwe and Ourania are both weary as well, so they cannot harm each other.

No, Mizuki's the one at risk. (Why does that matter to him-)

"... If you insist, though. Perhaps next time. And... I thank you, Mizuki. Go rest, yourself. I know these months have been... difficult."

[mooninthewater]

"Difficult months hasn't stopped you before, silly," he laughs, waving it off like it's not actually a big deal. It probably should be.

He does pat himself down a moment and grab his phone, before offering it out to Suri. "Before you go, though, I don't really need this immediately anymore, since I can talk now. So, you should take pictures of your interior, so I can see what you've done! Then next time we talk you can give it back to me."

'Next time', he says, so casually as if he hadn't been tortured for fun by this fallen god for the past two years. The fact Mizuki can be so friendly with someone who's only hurt is... well, maybe not surprising. It's just... who he is? If he could even be described as an individual with uniqueness at all is something he would debate, but...

"Oh, it's like... technology. You, ah, okay, so you have to tap the screen like this and hit this button here, and then this white circle takes pictures of things!"

Mizuki will demonstrate, of course, by twisting around and taking a selfie with Suri in it. Sorry, Suri-

[sticksandbonesmods]

"Yes, well, its different when I do it."

Only he's allowed to break his toys, duh. He almost begins to prepare to leave, but then Mizuki is... handing him his phone? Pulling him down for a photo? Mizuki will find Suri to be almost comically startled, wide-eyed and confused above all else.

He blinks. Blinks again. And then sighs, though it isn't out of displeasure.

"You are such a confusing thing. But very well."

[mooninthewater]

Mizuki smiles are a dime a dozen, but the one he gives to Suri here, while soft and small, reaches his eyes. His voice falls low, soft, like reverence, "I suppose it is."

Mizuki... understands, to a strange extent. Perhaps it is because his mentor was not much different in this regard. If Cicero had been in Suri's shoes, he may very well have not have done anything much differently. Less wrath, perhaps. More scientific intrigue. He very often pushed people to see what their breaking point was. He very often observed people to see what a "will to live" looked like. He very often put them through trials to see where one's will stopped, and We Many began.

It is why Cicero took such interest in Mizuki. We Many began, but this sea jelly's will did not stop.

Mizuki has so many questions he wants to ask Suri. Wants to know, wants to pick his brain for. That scientific yearning, that endless need to know stories, that hunger. He does not stay, though. He will not follow. It can be done another time.

That, they have abundance of, surely. For now, Suri should find his respite.

"I get that a weird amount? I do not think I am. I am not trying to be, anyway~." He laughs, and takes the time then to make sure Suri has both the bento and his phone and gives his hands the smallest pat before giving a wave good-bye.

"And no worries, Suri. I will check on the goddesses and make sure they are okay in your stead!"

[sticksandbonesmods]

Suri isn't sure what this feeling is. He's not sure how to handle it or what to do with this, or what these twisting, fluttering, tense sensations within are.

What the fuck, honestly.

He stares at the objects in his hands before he realizes-

"Beiwe will pretend she's fine, even when she's clearly not. If you have any sunberries preserved, give her those. Ourania will especially need rest- mint tea will help her chest."

...

Okay no he has to go. Bye!!!!