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

[galaxyfarer]

[don't mind him hovering, watching as Pure Vanilla fixes up tea and light sandwiches]

Either place is fine. I do not wish to crowd you.

[buddy, you're crowding him NOW]

[ancientlight]

Do not worry! You are doing no such thing. I only wish for your comfort.

( He's just about done. He's waiting for the water to boil. Sandwiches are easy to make... )

In the meantime, will you tell me more of your home on Earthbread?

[galaxyfarer]

...

[he backs away, tapping his chin]

I do not live on Earthbread. I never have. But. My dough was created in the City of Wizards.

[ancientlight]

( He looks up from his preparations then, golden and blue-colored eyes widening in surprise and intrigue. )

... I see! Then... your creators were not the witches as they were with many cookies, I have only read a little about them. They remain a bigger mystery to us than witches themselves.

And yet, I cannot help but wonder... if you are not a resident of Earthbread, then where?

[galaxyfarer]

Space, mostly.

[Stardust crossed his arms, still watching Pure Vanilla]

The Wizard who created me cast my raw dough into space to save it from being tampered with or destroyed. Only through the grace of starlight was I able to be thawed and baked properly. Recently, I have been traveling to different galaxies while aboard the Sugarcloud Express. I do not currently have a stationary home.

[ancientlight]

It sounds as though the wizards were truly kind-hearted creators to protect you as much as they have.

( A cookie traveling through space... With all the magic and mysteries of their world, it isn't so far fetched. )

To think that you have had a chance to explore beyond what other cookies on Earthbread would only dream of exploring! I am certain that you have many tales of the things you have seen.

[galaxyfarer]

I do, I suppose.

[and yet, Stardust does not seem to be very happy or excited about his stories. but it's fine]

[ancientlight]

( He doesn't miss that fact that he seems to be fairly closed off. He'll gently slide the plate forward then, pouring some tea for the former cookie.

Time to change the subject to something else! There's things to prioritize as it is. )

Tell me, my friend. What have you come to know of this world?

[galaxyfarer]

The world we are currently in? Let's see... For starters, I've heard that we are brought here to be playthings for a dark entity. I've heard there are other Cookies here, beside myself, and have heard something about past lives.

[so, not everything, but a lot!]

[ancientlight]

Ah.... yes. It seems as though you have heard the general gist of what being here means.

( How should he start...? )

Perhaps... the best way to adapt into this world is to expect the unexpected. There are times when it can become dangerous here, and other times when one can enjoy themselves.

[galaxyfarer]

[yeah, just the gist...]

I've heard a little about the dangers. Has no one tried challenging the... whatever monster it is that runs this place? Is it really that powerful?

[ancientlight]

That is... a good question.

It is rather dangerous to approach the monster. It is not uncommon for those who have challenged them to leave with scars.

I myself wish to make peace with them. If they are angry, then I cannot help but think that there must be a way to quell their anger and understand them.

[galaxyfarer]

I would think reasoning with something so powerful would be difficult, as well. But... I do like that idea more than fighting.

[ancientlight]

Of course. Sometimes, it may feel as though solving something by force is easier, and yet--

In the mot ideal world, none would suffer. We would all live with one another in peace.

[galaxyfarer]

That is a nice thought, but I'm not sure it is feasible. If you wish to speak to the evil entity, though, make sure you don't do it alone.

[ancientlight]

Ah, yes... You are right, of course.

There are any different battles that should not be fought alone. I have seen what damage those in power can do here.

( And the last thing he wants to do is hurt those important to him again. )

[galaxyfarer]

[Stardust finally folds his hands around the cup, taking a drink of tea. it's nice, warm, comforting]

Maybe, if everyone here spoke to the entity as a group, it would understand the error of its ways. But getting so many people to work together like that... I'm not sure that is possible, either.

[ancientlight]

In my adventures, I always had my trusted friends by my side. I was always very fortunate. With our combined strengths, it truly did feel as though there was nothing we could not do.

Perhaps this situation calls for assembling a team, rather than everyone here.

[galaxyfarer]

[combined strengths... Stardust likes the sound of that! sounds... not lonely]

A team! Yes, that would probably be best.

[and if there were damages, then. the less people that got hurt, the better]

[ancientlight]

I am glad that you think so! It is important to be realistic, but optimism can only help.

( He offers a gentle smile then. )

For now, I hope that you can find a way to call this world a home. It may be dangerous at times, and yet... We are all trying to make the best of it.

[galaxyfarer]

Home... I hope that I will be able to fit in here.

[ancientlight]

I don't believe you have anything to worry about! For starters, you and I seem to be getting along well.

[galaxyfarer]

[????]

That is... very good, yes.

[he sips his tea, feeling happy that someone has said those words to him]

Thank you.

[ancientlight]

( He smiles fondly. )

Of course! Should you need anything or think of any other questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.