EVENT & TDM 034

[sticksandbonesmods]

WAKE UP

Cleaving across the sky of Aldric’s Grove is a deep black gouge — a rift, an open wound, that blots out the sun and moon in their respective orbits. Looking into the rift so high in the sky yields little; it’s too high up to actually see into it, but on occasion, flashes of the cosmos seem to flit through it.

Then, as the current residents of the Grove might say, people start to fall out of it, tumbling through the skies and painfully through the sky barrier preventing those on the ground from reaching those falling. New arrivals will find themselves careening through the stars and suddenly through a constantly-reforming magic barrier that feels like glass against their skin. Lucky arrivals will be caught on the backs of either a large, rainbow bird, or a golden scaled dragon — Aurora, the Sky Guardian and Sehul, the Sun’s Aide, respectively — before they hit the ground and become a smear in the grass. Unlucky arrivals won’t hit the ground thanks to timely aid from the remaining Guardians, though it’s a tossup which hurts worse: getting caught in a conjured bush made of thorny vines to break the fall thanks to Moder, getting tackled out of the sky by the tiny stone-skinned gargoyle Zahliya and rolling across the grass with him, or being grabbed by a mass of Callan’s tentacles only for him to decide he might deliver to you a “hello” bite.

At least the River Guardian Sinann sees fit to heal your wounds.

The magic here feels thin, everyone notices. New arrivals may find out from the old hats that magic was nigh nonexistent for several months, and the steady trickle of it returning has been akin to running the tap through a snowstorm — a drip, drip, drip, but the pipes still appear to be mostly-frozen regardless.

It’s just as people stop falling from the rift that the pipes finally burst.

PERCEPTION CHECK!

Suddenly, magic in Aldric’s Grove is unfamiliar and foreign. Those of you with existing magic and similar powers may find that your abilities are uncontrollable — that candle you were going to light with your fire magic is suddenly entirely melted and your bedroom is ablaze, or the healing magic you tried to use bursts outward from you so strongly that it saps all of your energy for the rest of the day when all you wanted to do was patch up a scratch. Things like this are a common occurrence, as though you’re a brand-new spellcaster all over again.

In addition to this, the magically-inclined and perfectly benign alike will feel something else brewing beneath the surface: the Grove’s own native magic suddenly becoming your own. This, too, is impossible to control — visions from the Blessing of Foresight plague your mind, the alchemy granted by the Blessing of Life shatters the vials of potions you attempt to make, and the summons from the Blessing of Conjuration do not heed your command. The elemental spells now at your fingertips are far more destructive than you intended them to be. Whether you’re an experienced caster or not, the leylines of the Grove remain wild and untamed, lashing out from months of suppression.

At least when the occasional monster strolls its way into the Grove past the flickering barrier of the fog wall, it’ll be instantly vaporized by you trying to use your abilities on it. Probably. You may just nuke yourself from orbit in the process instead.

-Players should scroll down to the “magic” section on the linked page for the full breadth of their abilities that can be freely played with.
-Magic from each Blessing is available to use up to Tier 3; the Gifts of the Sun & Moon are unavailable.

ROLL FOR INITIATIVE

With the chaos of the Grove being new and different, Ydalir the Trader takes it upon herself to find as many old spellbooks as she possibly can. This native magic has been untapped for eons, and with the sudden influx of random fireballs and ice storms every three and a half seconds, she’s taken it upon herself to dig up the ancient texts.

Unfortunately, they are ancient. Ydalir sits in the centre of the Grove and waves everyone she can see over, you included, before handing out random tomes with discoloured and dusty pages. She’s surrounded by them, towers upon towers of unsorted texts walling her off from most viewing angles. “I think I need help sorting these. And identifying them. And seeing if they’re even in a language that makes sense to people. There are hundreds and I’m stressed.”

She punctuates that with a laugh.

“You can keep any tomes you like or that you think will help you get a handle on things. Ooh, and I’ll give whoever helps sort these dusty old books properly and neatly into the library — no cheating, and don’t lie to me — some candy. I made it yesterday.”

Unfortunately, Ydalir imbues her candy with magic, too, and with it being haywire… you can expect effects, depending on what you eat. Have fun! Or don’t! She’s not your mom!

Chocolate Hearts	You turn invisible for 10 minutes, but your invisible form is surrounded by floating pops of heart-shaped fireworks.
Rootbeer Bottle Candies	You are completely immune to the effects of alcohol for 4 hours. When the immunity wears off, you immediately experience a type of drunkness that can only be described as "4 hours of drinking at the New Year's Eve party".
Cat-Shaped Sugar Candies	Wherever you go for the next 15 minutes, you do so by sprinting, leaping, and swatting at things uncontrollably. AKA: you have the zoomies.
Spiral Jawbreakers	You are instantly teleported to a different location in the Grove, forest, or beach. Anyone next to you is also teleported to that same location.
Gummy Pasta	Your hair grows uncontrollably long for 1 hour. Chopping it off only makes it regrow. After 1 hour, it will automatically return to the length it was previously.
Spicy Cinnamon Candies	Every time you exhale for 30 minutes, a small burst of flame comes from your throat. A harder exhale will let you breathe fire that smells like cinnamon.

SHORT REST

The month drags on and on. Every morning someone casts Fireball. Every night, someone’s summon bursts through a window, steals your food, and runs. Luckily, the chaos starts to slow as the magic flowing through the leylines is finally used up, and the Grove’s natural magic — and your own native abilities — start to listen to you again. It makes resting easier, at the very least. No longer do you have to wait for your window to automatically repair itself after something smashes it.

You know, unless someone wants to start throwing completely mundane stones at it.

With everything settling back into a sense of normalcy again, Ydalir is… still doing things. She never apologised for her candies setting off a chain reaction of chaos, but this time, she’s not feeding you. Kind of. “If you want to stay connected to the leylines here and maintain some of the magic native to this place, here’s a spellbook for you to write your spells in, and—” she slams a leather-bound journal into your lap, a quill on top of it next to a small crystal that looks like it’s made of quartz. “A star shard! You’ll need to eat that to anchor yourself to the magic here. It’ll taste like sugar, uh… and it won’t do anything weird to you this time, I’m so sorry. Anyway, you should go out and practice with your peers! It’ll make all of this easier.”

If you head out, it looks like you aren’t the only person who’s been snagged for a bit of a magic lesson. It might be worth asking the more experienced spellcasters to help you with whatever new school of magic you picked up, or you could grab a study-buddy that’s on your tier… or you could just rawdog it and see what happens. Surely it won’t be as catastrophic as when you tried to do that throughout the month.

-New characters that app while this TDM is good (March + April) & existing characters already in the game will be grandfathered into the magic system, automatically gaining one Tier One Blessing of their choice without the initial 10-thread buy-in. The rules on the page must still be followed.
-Existing characters with ties to Beiwe & Ourania are free to pick up Gifts of the Sun & Moon at this point, instead of a Blessing.

Spark Notes (Click to Expand)

summary

WAKE UP: New arrivals to the Grove are falling out of the sky! They will be caught by the Guardians, but they'll be injured. Please help them.
PERCEPTION CHECK!: Everyone's magic goes out of control, and new magic starts to spring up and be freely used. No one asked for this but you sure do have it!
ROLL FOR INITIATIVE: Ydalir needs your help sorting through these magic tomes. You're free to read them and try to make sense of anything in them as well as claim one for yourself if you find it useful. When you help her, you will receive candy that has Effects™ in it. Whoops!
SHORT REST: Magic levels start to equalize, and no longer is life a struggle magic-wise. Ydalir will give you a star shard if you'd like to anchor yourself to the Grove's magic and keep some of what you've learnt.

out of character

It's March! Reminder that TDMs are game canon. Don't mind my notes on the prompts this time (but do mind them because I need you to follow the rules also). Questions about the magic system should ideally be directed on the magic page itself. Also does someone know how to get anchor/jump links to work on my magic page because no matter what I did it wasn't registering my div id tags and I'm starting to go insane... please let me know thanks-

updates

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

submissions

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

code

Comments

Tengen Uzui | Current Player New Character

[souninind]

[ I | Ominous Bipa Strum | Closed to Shinobu she called dibs ]

[...This has to be what being pulled into the Infinity Castle was like for those who were subjected to the horrors, right? One moment, he's minding his own business, and the next breath he's free-falling through the air. Adrenaline hits at the same time as he smacks into an invisible barrier, replacing rising panic with racing thoughts on how to land safely.

The flashiest bird in all the land answers that question for him, thanks Aurora, but he'd really rather she be able to catch others who may be less able to handle themselves, so... maybe it's stupid, but as soon as they're a not-unreasonable distance from the ground, he's removing himself from her back, jumping and-

And he really should have let her put him down gently, huh, because that's a chillingly familiar figure! Who he'd really rather not harm, actually, so on the one hand he could shout for her and let her brace herself for him to somewhat awkwardly scoop her into his arm and roll into the grass, and on the other hand--]

Shinobu!

[There is no other hand, he's from postcanon, brace for impact, babe.]

[ II | Baby Magic For Babies (no-) ]

[All this is new and disorienting, but the odd monster? That Tengen can handle. He's not even trying to use his usual abilities on this one - a kunai whipping through the air to plant itself in the forehead of the creature should probably be enough, right?

He'll never know, as it's followed by an extremely loud crack-BOOM as lightning strikes the creature, leaving him staring at it's charred, sparking remains in obvious confusion.]

Eh?

[ III | 🕪× ]

[Does your character have a lietmotif? Please link it if you want him to vibe check you. <3]

[It's hard enough dealing with the native magic going haywire, he didn't expect to be hearing the weaving threads of everyone's score so clearly when he's not going out picking fights. He doesn't need to learn yours, harmless twink number seventy-three, and yet there it is, echoing in the air around the inn like you're some kind of threat.

...It's almost worse when the world goes deathly silent, though.

For now, his cleavers have been left in his inn room, but with how noisy (or not-) everything is, and with how much that sets him on edge, he absolutely has The Bamboo Sword For Whacking Twinks And Otherwise in hand, and you may get bonked if you're not careful and end up startling your new resident ninja. Sorry not sorry.]

[ IV | Wildcard ]

[↻ ◁ || ▷ ↺ ⩇⩇:⩇⩇]

[infinitemist]

[ Though the mess of sounds, he might notice one thats pretty familiar among them. For one reason or another Muichiro's been giving the man his space to adjust before approaching

He's just outside the inn, speaking softly to his little bird artifact pet. ]

-- okay? Now see if you can take this to Senjuro. I'll wait here.

[ He seems to be training it to deliver messages. The boy watches the little bird fly off before realizing he's got company. ]

Oh, Uzui. Did you need something?

[ Maybe... acting like things are fine will help? ]

[souninind]

[The literal crash course arrival did give him warning that there would be dead friends around, that's... still something he's probably never going to get used to. The lingering trills of sounds he never thought he'd hear again was something else entirely. Little wisps of hope? Familiarity in strangers?

No, apparently not, because there's no mistaking that voice.

A once-over tells him Muichiro looks whole and healthy, so reacting like he knows of his end... might be a surprise?

But it might not. Best to be cautious then, lest he be torn apart for being an idiot. (Give him like two tags at best--)]

Muichiro? [You did not hear the surprised little strangled crack in his voice, thanks.] Are we all here or something?

[infinitemist]

[ Muichiro smiles, serene, but with a warmth Uzui didn't really get to see much before the end. ]

No, not all of us, but quite a few everything considered.

[ he looks to the bamboo sword and wonders mildly just how he's managing with all of this. ]

As hectic as it is now I'm glad you showed up now instead of last month. You'd have hated it.

[souninind]

[That warmth... he hadn't seen it much but it does give him a timeframe to work with at least. Near the end, then, if not...

Well.]

That right? What was wrong with last month that this [Rip in sky. Wonky powers.] is better?

[He's managing enough to be able to follow Muichiro's lead and pretend like things are normal-ish, at least? That's. Something.]

ii

[tempurahair]

[It's Kyojuro's belief that the more he lets out the latent, billowing flame, the less likely it is to completely explode over on him when he doesn't want it to. It's meant a lot of hunting and — when that fails — attacking training dummies and trees.

Which is precisely why he locks in on the errant monster. He draws in a breath, preparing to burst forward in a brilliant blaze of flame -

Only to be knocked on his ass by simultaneous crack of lighting and boom of thunder. He stares at the beast, bewildered at first, but honing in on that kunai. Something wells within his throat, but he does not dare hope as he turns his head and - ]

Uzui!! Do not tell me you are defaulting to basics these days!

[souninind]

[Dead friends can appear here. There's knowing, then there's...

Whatever this is.

He'd know that flashy shock of red and yellow anywhere, and the booming voice all but confirms it, making an unpleasant twist settle in his gut and-

And he's ribbing him for the thunder he'd called down and ripping a laugh from him before the ringing in his ears has a chance to drown out the world.]

Apparently I am!

[tempurahair]

[He can only guess how odd this all is. Maybe Kyojuro makes it worse, by trying to remain casual. The intent is to make it all the easier to stomach his presence after so long, but it's hard to say if it's the right call or not.

Yet persists all the same:]

What a shame! And here I was looking forward to witnessing new techniques!

[He takes a step closer, studying all that's changed in the man before him. He's picked up a few details here and there from those who survived him. But like with Tengen's own reaction, hearing it is one thing. Seeing it is another.]

It is good to see you in one piece, Uzui!

[souninind]

[It is hard to know if it's the right call or not - and he won't truly know until he's alone some night, staring into the darkness, when mixed feelings will have no distraction to stop them from crashing into him.

For now, though, it's all too easy to fall back into step, as if they'd just seen one another yesterday.]

You might yet! Give me time!

[If this world really was intent on making him go back to basics, there was no way in hell he wouldn't make it his own. Again.

That comment gives him pause, though - not seeing his hand could be forgiven, with how he keeps the lack of it hidden in his sleeve, but...]

I think we've both left a few pieces behind, but! It is good to see you again, my friend!

[Why is it so hard to close the gap between them? Come on, Tengen, take the win where you can get them! He's here, for however long this stupid realm lets him be.

There's only one more long, lingering moment before he claps his hand down on Kyojuro's shoulder, heavy and warm and familiar.]

ITS FOR MEEEEEE

[chonomai]

( it's a rare day that shinobu isn't in uniform- she's dressed in something more fashionable, and completely unaware- though she would never leave her sword at home.

she's not aware of what's going on above, just yet- not until a familiar voice calls for her. )

--Eh?

( shinobu looks up- and she is immediately stunned. and scooped! what!!! )

Ah! Uzui?!

ITS FOR YOUUUUU

[souninind]

[Well, now he's glad he did a scoop instead of trusting her to get out of the way - she's fast, they both are, but she's dressed very cutely and it would be just their luck that a lack of scooping would ruin the fit.

You know. The fit of a normal girl that she should have gotten to wear back home, without-

...Anyway. Not thinking about that right now, nope.]

So, this is not what I thought he- [Don't say hell, don't do it, your girls have yelled at you enough for that kind of talk already, and besides Shinobu wouldn't be going there-] -eeeaven would be like. Or that I'd join you so soon. So what's going on?

[...Not putting her down yet, though.]

[chonomai]

( it's debatable on if she intended to be scooped the moment she read his movements, honestly. she'll never confirm nor deny.

shinobu's quiet for a moment, before brushing some hair out of his face delicately. )

Not Heaven. And it can be Hell at sometimes... but unless you remember dying, you are certainly not dead yet. I'm the anomaly here, really.

( ... ugh, it's going to be so much. but she can give him the courtesy she didn't get. )

There's an inn nearby, we can get your bearings there.

( also.

a little guy is poking it's head out of her bag.

beep? )

[souninind]

[He will believe she allowed it until his dying day. The fact she hasn't flatly told him to put her down and is, in fact, being affectionate in some measure confirms it.

He can't say that's good to hear - it sounds like she's been through a lot here already - but... Would it be selfish to say he's glad to see her? That she looks well? It hits him belatedly that she might not have been aware of her demise, but...

She is. So there's no need to apologize for letting that particular cat out of the bag.]

Ever reliable, aren't you?

[Reluctantly bending to set her down-

Oh, but speaking of cats in and/or out of bags? Hello?]

...And who's this then?

iii

[namuthing]

[Considering the fact that Genya wouldn't know sneaking up on someone if it bit him in the ass, he indeed does startle Tengen, and naturally gets thwacked. He reaches for his sword in response, only to remember that he threw it on the ground just a few days prior.

Boy, he's thriving.

In any case, he'll be massaging his arm and glowering at -

ah fuck, not this guy.]

The hell was that for, idiot?

[Respect who?]

[souninind]

[Considering the parties at hand, he could probably get to know sneaking with the use of a bite, but that's neither here nor there at the moment.

There's a certain familiarity to the body he whacks that registers before he gets a good look at Genya, but the glower and the Shinazugawa Signature Moodiness confirms it. They wouldn't know respect if it bit them in the asses, either.]

Fuck kind of greeting is that?

[Apology who?]

[namuthing]

[He could, but taking a bite out of Tengen would probably be like biting into a can of axe body spray. Which is to say. Gross.

The gruff response in kind only makes Genya bristle all the further. Without a sword, he can't do a lot of threatening, but he can clench his fists like he will. And if he bares his teeth enough, maybe he'll actually look sufficiently rowdy.

Never mind the fact that Tengen is so much taller than him. Don't worry about it.]

Should be askin' you the same question! You hit me first, old man!

[souninind]

[Rude! See if he helps you practice storm magics! (He will, he's too soft not to-)

But Genya does succeed in looking sufficiently rowdy. Unfortunately, rowdy, shouty boys get bonked a second time. This one is a little gentler, at least, on account of it's aimed at the forehead and Genya is not Tanjiro, but still. Put your training where your fists are and dodge.]

You're the one doing a poor job of sneaking around!

[Said the ninja. Everyone does a poor job of sneaking compared to you.]

ii-ish

[bluebasketballed]

[overlaid atop the crack of thunder with uzui's latest monster kill is a second earsplitting boom. following that by approximately half a second is a burst of light and air that launches the barbecued corpse... at least to the northern half of the grove. maybe farther. who knows. akaza, who comes skidding out of the forest on what was, seconds ago, the monster's tail, certainly can't fucking see how far it got ragdolled.

he does, unfortunately, meet the gaze of -- huh. the hashira who fought upper six, as supplied by the snippets of memory shared amongst the kizuki's highest ranks.

... this particular song and dance is getting old, he thinks as he rolls his eyes far too lazily for a demon capable of killing most humans in a heartbeat. as usual, tengen won't catch him striking first, but most of the humans seem to need to get it out of their system.]

Alright, go ahead.

[souninind]

[That's... for a moment, Tengen thinks the ragdolling corpse is due to some escalation of the grove-enforced back to basics, maybe a double-strike with the kunai as a focus point of the...

No, of course it wouldn't be that simple. That demon comes skidding out moments later, and there's the fleeting notion that he could probably make an attempt on his head - plausible deniability after the monster corpse went flying, and all. Reflexes too fast. Thought it was a bigger, scarier monster. (And he wouldn't even be wrong, technically-) But. He said he wouldn't kill him.

Ugh. He hates this.

He almost hates the nonchalance more. How is it supposed to be satisfying if the asshole just stands there and takes it??? What the hell?]

...You're just asking for it?

[He sure isn't putting his swords away yet, though.]

[bluebasketballed]

[his head tilts to one side as he eyes the human, as if sizing him up in spite of staying his hand.]

Almost as strange as a Hashira hesitating, isn't it?

[egging him on is probably not the best move, but akaza sees a nichirin blade -- or two -- and it activates that part of his brain that wants to fight until he's drenched in blood, and then some.]

I'm not going to begrudge you... well, holding a grudge.

let a man listen to the boss music in peace, god

[souninind]

[He's not wrong. He shouldn't be hesitating, here, and he usually wouldn't, but he had to have figured out that Tengen had been filled in on certain pertinent details. The truce, at least. The courting, if he's unlucky. (He's unlucky.) The desire for some twisted redemption that, somehow, doesn't involve him doing his penance in hell.]

I'm retired, you know.

[So he's allowed to hesitate, because he's not a Hashira. Obviously.

One of the blades starts to spin anyway.]

And I said I wouldn't kill you.

iii you have her leitmotifs pick one

[lilyberation]

( no, no, you're going to be sorry. the startled cry at the bonk may sound almost familiarly like one of his wives... except it quickly takes a much more soft and gentle tone than maki normally uses as she rubs her head. owwww... )

W-was that really called for...?

[souninind]

[Oh. That voice is so familiar - so much so that he dares to hope for a fleeting second... but he can't hear her, and this other woman's sound and tone is softer, gentler.

More western, too, honestly.

But he can't just ignore her, either.]

Ah-... [Well. He doesn't think bonking people who can sneak up on him is a bad thing, actually? But he hadn't meant to do any real, actual harm, either. Hm.] Sorry. Guess I'm a bit on edge.

[...Also he'd be such a dead man if it really was Makio, oops.]

[lilyberation]

( she rubs her head still, and the flower in her hear even seems a bit droopy. wild. there's a pause before she shrugs it off, finally sighing a little- )

I'm sorry. I must have been more quiet than I thought... I didn't mean to startle you.

[souninind]

[Even the flower... did he hit it? It doesn't quite seem like it, but... if so...

Immediately he puts his hand up in an almost placating gesture, waving off her apology.]

No, I shouldn't be so easily startled-!

[It's. Mostly safeish here (For now...), so obviously he should be less on edge, and yet...]