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

[tempurahair]

[Since Lodi is returning to business, Kyojuro opts to do the same. He crouches over his own work, doing his best to draw the same sigil he's drawn countless times now. His own form is a little wobbly — he was never much of an artist — but so far no one has complained about his efforts being unworkable.

Judging by the way he laughs, he doesn't seem to be particularly offended by any of what Lodi has to say.]

I understand! You are worried about me, aren't you? What a good friend you are! [Another bout of laughter.] While I do consider myself quite talented, without my breathing techniques, I am woefully incapable of standing up to anything more than the Woodcrawlers!

[ninelines]

It's only natural to be worried, given everything going on outside. Honestly, I thought it was bad before but this is something else...

[And the fact it is beyond what a few of the residents had already considered worse than usual does concern him, even if he is trying not to focus on it. It would hardly do any of them any good if he were to start wringing his hands in fearful inaction right now. It's only a pity that he has to keep pausing his own chalkwork to flex his hands...]

Yeah, uh, with all the... stuff falling out of the sky, I'd definitely be worried about. A few different things if you went out there. Hopefully this is just the climactic moment and everything will... I don't know. Return to normal? Be less consistently awful?

[tempurahair]

[Teasing though Kyojuro's tone had only just been, his face lapses into something much more serious.]

It is indeed a very grave situation. And one I can only imagine looks particularly treacherous, given your recent arrival!

[At least Kyojuro had a few happier memories interspersed with the nightmares of this reality. It doesn't change how dire the situation is, but at least he knew that perhaps there would be something slightly less awful to look forward to in the coming weeks.

The same could not be said for Lodi.]

No matter what happens, we will manage to get through it. At least that much I know. Those fighting outside would not dare to fall and leave us to ruin.

[ninelines]

You've got that right. It's been a little difficult to keep up with it all, but... it's also one of those situations where you don't have time to sit and ruminate on it, right? You have to keep going, regardless of whether you want to sit back and try to gauge the scope of things or not.

[And he does believe Kyojuro's optimism, regardless of how things look now. What he doesn't know is how to reconcile with the state of the sky outside. Was that truly something that could just be... undone? After a moment, Lodi glances over his shoulder in the direction of the nearest window.]

I'll take your word for it. It's a bit harder to know what the after will look like, given... well, all of it.

[tempurahair]

[Kyojuro keeps right on nodding, clearly in agreement with Lodi's words. They hearken back to some of his own. No wonder he'd become such fast friends with the other man.]

Remembering to hold your head high and keep moving is one of the most important things you can do. It is also one of the most challenging.

[As another circle is finished, Kyojuro just so happens to catch Lodi's gaze. He might not be able to read his companion's mind, but he can make a few guesses as to how troubled those thoughts might be.]

What if I told you about some of those things? The better ones, I mean!

[ninelines]

[A small, insidious part of him near immediately rebels at the notion of needing to be mollified. The larger, logical part of him knows that Kyojuro is trying to help him, having surely taken notice of his uncertainty. The fact he is being so obvious about it rankles him in equal measure. If resources were being diverted to calm his nerves, they were being diverted from a grander, more important purpose. In this instance, that was their duty to maintain the wards.

He doesn't want to be the reason for their efforts faltering. He also sorely does not want to overtax Kyojuro, who had evidently shouldered the concept of acting as his protector.

Lodi breathes out through his nose.]

Sure, that sounds good. I could use the positivity.

[tempurahair]

[Ever oblivious to the way his words seem to irritate Lodi, Kyojuro simply smiles on. Though his eyes remain locked on the task at hand, he's done it enough times now to have the motions memorized. It makes it easier for his mind to wander back to the divine realm.]

Before these creatures arrived, we found ourselves in the divine realm. It was like being amongst the stars themselves! Of course, I was a bit startled at first. My partner is a bit... sensitive when it comes to the sun, and it seemed as if he might have been in danger. But all was well!

[He hums out a light laugh.]

The gardens were bountiful. I do not think I had ever seen so many colors. And the forest was lively and safe. I cannot recall the last time I was able to run through trees without worrying what might be lurking within!

[ninelines]

[It is less irritation and more... frustration. Still, as it turns out, discussing something other than how utterly dreadful it is outside does serve to soothe his nerves somewhat. As he works, he envisions what it must have been like. A part of him wonders if he would be able to envision such a thing through his Sight if it were not for the current dampening effect... not that it had stopped it earlier.

That is something he is still wondering about. A divine realm... could those figures he had seen casting be the Goddesses that he had heard so much about as of late?]

It sounds beautiful. It almost feels cruel, to experience that and then this immediately after. Were you transported there, or did it simply... will itself into being, this divine realm?

[tempurahair]

Unfortunately, that seems to be the nature of this place! Suffering and peace, back and forth!

[It's been his experience so far, at least, but he would be the first to admit that own time had been limited. Some part of him does wonder if that, too, is part of the torture they are meant to receive. To be pushed to the brink, offered salvation, and then pushed all the more.

Surely it would drive a weaker soul to madness.]

Transported, as it were! They were quite apologetic for the abruptness! I imagine it was no less abrupt that those who found themselves dropped here consciously!

[He can't relate. He just up and woke up, mostly patched together. Sucks to suck, Lodi!]

[ninelines]

In a way, I guess anything else would be unrealistic. And if the not-god not-divinity of this place really intends on putting us through the wringer for their own amusement, it wouldn’t make much sense to just have people sit around twiddling their thumbs. And what better way to make the stress more acute than to give them times of peace? It’s a cruel way of going about it, but I’m guessing that’s the point.

[Lodi glances over at Kyojuro with a faint smile. For some inane reason, it grows the more he thinks about that comment. It gets to the point where his nose is ever so slightly wrinkled from the size of his grin.]

Are you saying you were dropped here, unconscious, like a sack of potatoes? I was under the impression that most people were sort of, uh, plucked up from wheresoever they were at the time and had to endure possibly the worst motion sickness of all time being deposited here. I have to imagine that was jarring if you weren’t already used to the sensation.

[tempurahair]

[Lodi hammers home the point well enough that Kyojuro can only nod. Given it's into the first time he's experienced that logic, it had been exact conclusion on the matter. Still, he thinks the demon on the Mugen Train pales in comparison to the monster they had come to live with.

Given that sobering note, he is almost surprised when he glances up and finds Lodi grinning away. His head tilts one way, then the other, before he finds himself tittering out an almost nervous, certainly confused laugh.]

Well, considering the fact that I was already dead, I did not have to deal with any sort of movement! I simply woke up, alive and confused!

[ninelines]

[ Oh, shit. Had he forgotten that important factor of Kyojuro’s arrival here? Had he been told this already? Lodi’s expression morphs so quickly from halfhearted amusement at the idea to, like, the equivalent of abject horror at his thoughtlessness. He pushes his glasses halfway up his head as he buries his face in his hands and… also gets chalk all over his face. Oh, man. ]

I’m so sorry. Did you tell me that already? Jesus. I wasn’t trying to be heartless, I promise. Between you and me, I’m starting to think this is all starting to wear on my sanity a little bit. I really wasn't trying to laugh at you. The whole situation we've found ourselves in is just a little... ridiculous.

[ His voice is muffled by the fact he's burying his face in that much more. ]

[tempurahair]

[To his credit, Kyojuro only laughs. It isn't a sinister or mocking sound, but rather genuine mirth. Someone seems to be taking the impact of his death relatively lightly. He also doesn't seem to hold it against Lodi.]

We have been through a great deal since your arrival, my friend! It does not surprise me that it might have slipped your mind. I also prefer to not think of such dark and terrible things! [His laughter tapers off.] I made my peace with it, and can only hope others will be inspired to do the same.

[ninelines]

I almost feel worse that you’re forgiving me so quickly for the faux pas. I really feel like I've done nothing but stick my foot in my mouth since you swept in when I first arrived.

[ Lodi sighs, faintly, rubbing his hands on the front of his robe again in a faintly self-soothing motion. ]

I just… gosh. I don’t know. I struggle to imagine what it must’ve been like. Haven’t you ever felt… frustrated with the idea? Has it really only ever felt like a second chance?

[tempurahair]

I can assure you, I have likely said far worse in my days!

[Buddy that's not something to be proud of???

Though Lodi fusses, Kyojuro smiles. It's a softer expression than that of his earlier grin, one that's gentle and at peace. He holds that look as he reaches out, placing a hand against Lodi's shoulder.]

But no, I have not. When I died, I did so knowing that I had successfully protected some two hundred passengers of a train, not to mention my juniors. And I have always known it was likely I would die in the line of duty. I have had many foes, but death was never one of them.

That I am here is something of a miracle. Though I am well-aware of the dangers we find ourselves in, it is no different than what I have faced before. And though I am not happy that others from my home have shared the same fate, it is also a comfort to not be here alone, too.

[ninelines]

I – you know what, thank you. I… really, though, I am sorry. Regardless of whether you have said or heard worse, I still want to apologize.

[ The weight of that contact, the warmth of that hand on his shoulder, comes as such a surprising spot of comfort that Lodi layers Kyojuro's hand with his own out of pure instinct. In a distant way, being comforted by a man surely a decade his junior feels a little strange. A little silly, even. But if there is one thing that Lodi has learned, both in his previous time and this one, is that the depth of one's experience could afford them a level of wisdom at a younger age that few in more mundane existences could ever have.

In a larger way, he feels sorry that Kyojuro has been forced to grapple with it all. To understand such a complex concept at his age.

Abruptly stricken, Lodi finds himself squeezing Kyojuro's hand with his own. Not nearly hard enough to hurt, never, but enough to preempt an emotion he cannot quite immediately put into words. If there was one thing that Lodi understood deeply, wretchedly, to his core, it was that all those dedicated to service in the way that he had been, that Kyojuro had been, understood that it was always a sacrifice.

Few met that sacrifice with such grace.

Lodi shakes his head. When he can summon his voice, it is quiet, heartfelt. ]

Mr. Rengoku, you are a remarkably good man. Regardless of everything else, I have to stress that. We've only really just met, but – I'm so, so glad that I got the opportunity to count you among one of the first people I've gotten to know here. I don't doubt at all that what you say is true, because, really, few would have such conviction after weathering something so awful, but… if there is ever a time where you feel yourself wavering on that conviction, please, feel like you can come talk to me. I may not understand all the details, but… I at least know what it's like to be a soldier. We can compare notes, so to speak.

[tempurahair]

[The sudden reciprocation is enough to take Kyojuro by surprise, and the words that follow almost leave him on the back foot. He had heard such sentiments before, but never from someone so new to him. Usually, the senitiment was one expressed by his colleagues, ones who had shared similar burdens as he.

It makes him wonder about Lodi's own background — at least for a moment. Any suspicions he might have had are immediately confirmed by the other man's own mouth, though. In the end, he finds himself bowing his head in solidarity.]

I would say that I am sorry that you know how it feels, but I doubt you would accept that! [Said with a gentle huff of a laugh.] Still, I appreciate that you understand. You should rest assured, though, that my conviction has never once wavered, and I doubt it ever will!

[When he laughs again this time, it is a far more booming sound. With all of his promises, he knows he cannot allow himself to falter in the wake of what must be done. Especially when he has deviated so grievously when it came to what must be done.

Akaza was evidence enough of that.]