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buttrinthum2024-04-30 10:34 pm
TDM #9
Whether it be sleep or death, you feel your eyes close, and as your body begins to let go, you see a barn owl that is flying through the darkness, soon sweeping you across the clouded sky. You feel yourself mouth the words, “I wish, I wish..” and utter your deepest and darkest desire.
When you regain consciousness, you’ll find you are in an unfamiliar place with no recognition of how you arrived here. You have the clothes on your back, but nothing else. No weapons and if you had a particular superpower, you’ll notice it is missing. All you have is a satchel with a piece of bread, a vial of water, and a potion. The potion could be red, blue or golden. There are no instructions about these potions other than two words: Drink Me.
Will you drink it or not?
There is a parchment, handwritten in scrawling, jagged lettering that seems a bit... ominous:
You’re in a garden, surrounded by flowers and plants– most of which you cannot identify. However, there are a few that you can make out: Larkspur and Anemone You’ll soon find out that being around the Larkspur makes you almost overwhelmingly tired, to the point you might even feel sluggish and in desperate need of a comfy place to rest. Why not lie down right in the garden? Or better yet, find someone to snuggle up with and sleep your worries away. The only truly strange part? You don’t seem to dream. At all. Straying too close to the Anemones, meanwhile, grants an entirely different effect. One second you’ll be walking through the garden and then suddenly you’re twenty feet away and facing the wrong direction. Even worse, whatever those flowers have done to you will sometimes make it so you “glitch” through solid objects – your leg might suddenly be lodged in the ground despite it being perfectly solid a moment before, or your arm could be shoved halfway into a wall that… actually, was that wall even there before? Nevermind that. The effects only last for a few minutes at worst, so at least you’re not stuck there forever, right?
Thanks to the combined efforts of dreamers and dragons, Vaeros is asleep. No one knows for how long. The locals aren’t particularly pleased with this turn of events and the village is a mess, but at least the moon is high in the sky again and everything is back to normal… relatively speaking. Things start to change... morph into something more dreamy, more surreal. It's subtle at first but after a few days…
The aftermath of the overgrowth, animal attacks, and the overall chaos of Vaeros' tantrum has left the village a little worse for wear. While most of the damages are cosmetic and could be fixed by the local's efforts alone, maybe a little help would be appreciated? If nothing else, it might help alleviate a little bit of the tension still lingering in the air after the events at the castle.
That, and the locals seem to be acting kind of strange. Leaving them to their own devices might not be the best idea. The Gelfling you are aiding in repairing a half-broken wall has been hammering for what seems like hours and when you look to see what they're doing, they haven't actually made any progress - they're just hitting the same spot over and over again, potentially making the hole even bigger. Did the goblin you just passed have a completely blank face for a moment? Others might walk into things, off of things (Starlight Cliff might be a hazard zone), or suddenly and inexplicably become aggressive toward dreamers, grabbing anything they can get their hands on (kitchenware, vegetables, a goose??) to use as a weapon. It's a very bizarre scene and the villagers don't seem to notice there is anything wrong with the people around them.
It’s not just the locals either. The animals have been acting equally strange. There's a wolf inside the clothing shop trying on suits, a goat standing (or trying to stand) on its hind legs, bleating out random words like a town crier while jingling a bell around its neck to get everyone's attention. Where you should find the local baker, suddenly they're replaced with a deer holding a paddle in its mouth to stir up a batch of brownies.
To top it all off, there's an eerie sense of deja vu no matter where you go or what you do. Didn't you just help that goblin with the wheelbarrow an hour ago? So why is it halfway across town again? You could have sworn you had to go and grab groceries, but your pantry is full like someone already had.
Days pass and the oddities continue to make themselves more and more apparent. The sidewalks seem uneven and wobbly at times, threatening to toss people walking across them to the ground or even fling them into the air with a sudden violent ripple. Walking through the forest sees the leaves of the trees melting into green goo that sticks to your clothes, your hair, and your skin - potentially staining them green and leaving you in dire need of a bath. You can always wash off in the lake, of course, but even that is not free of the strangeness occurring in Visium. The water of Lake Omen has turned to lava, at least in color; although there is no heat radiating from it when one approaches. That, and the locals are still fishing in it without issue, save the fact that they keep pulling up fish with tophats on.
Speaking of fish - they're raining from the sky now (tophats or not) in all sorts of different colors, shapes, and sizes. Good news! They're still edible. Bad news, they're probably trying to sell you something.
If you do decide to try the fish or any other meal in town, especially those served by the locals, you'll find that it doesn't taste like much of anything and most certainly doesn't fill you up, at least not at first. Everything is bland and unappealing until left in the presence of dreamers - and the more you share the meal with, the faster the taste returns.
Even with Vaeros asleep, only a small portion of the labyrinth is still accessible. Those that attempt to explore will find sections made up of pillows and cushions, and no matter what time of day it is elsewhere, this portion of the labyrinth seems to be stuck in perpetual twilight. Explorers will also immediately feel drowsy, then lulled to sleep by the quiet singing whispered through the air like a lullaby. Anyone brave enough to try and rescue those poor souls from their impromptu naps would be wise to plug their noses and cover their ears with earmuffs to block out the sound.
At night, dreamers dream. They will be visited by the same melody heard in the labyrinth, though it is distant. They will also hear a woman telling them to spend more time together, to bond and create things together in order to soothe the effects of Vaeros' magic growing wild in his dreams. Dreamers will also have the ability to visit other's dreams, meeting in a dreamy light liminal space that will not feel so real when they awaken.
Welcome to the labyrinthum TDM! Characters will arrive depowered and with only their clothing, and will be given a satchel with a crystal pendant, a communication device, some water and bread and a magic potion. If they drink the potion, they will manifest an elemental, healing or animal transformation ability.
With the exception of Castle Vaeros, characters are free to go as they please, so feel free to place them in any of the locations available on the map. Yes, this includes the Labyrinth - though characters will not be able to clear the maze.
You can find more information about the game here. Any questions regarding the TDM can go under the comment below.
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"No, not silly at all!" Puck assures him with a head shake. "You're not the first business owner I've spoken to with a love for the supernatural, I'm sure you won't be the last." Puck watches the sky as they keep flying, mentally tracing the clouds before he looks back to Kaiba and then down to the remaining dragons who are trailing both behind and alongside them.
"How were you introduced to them? Stories? Movies?"
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He gently pats the dragon's neck. "She's from a card game, Duel Monsters. I used to be the champion of it, with Blue Eyes by my side."
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The flight is continuing to go well, and Puck reaches down to also give the dragon he's riding a few head scratches in appreciation.
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The one he's riding roars appreciatively, and he gently pats her neck. "I want to recreate the cards here sometime, to show people."
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Seto was rather proud of that idea, but he needed to forge deeper bonds with people to get it going.
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"If you're going to be doing something that nice for everyone, then we'll both need to be there for it." He looked down, seeing nothing but more dragons and sky. No town, no giant wish crystal. Nothing that had ties to the community Seto was speaking of.
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"Whoa. All right. Maybe we do need to get back home," he muttered. "Where..."
He squints at the ground.
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Puck follows his gaze, seeing nothing but ocean. He looks to the horizon and sees nothing that looks like Somnius. "Odd. Do you remember where you were before this?"
Being jolted awake could be jarring for either of them, so Puck decides on gentler questions. Ones designed to get Seto to think about reality instead of the dream they're currently in.
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"I think...I poked my head into the labyrinth..."
There had been a melody, he'd seen odd things, and...a glimmer of understanding hits. And he feels a spike of anger.
"Then. I have to. Wake up---"
And everything suddenly shifts, he feels himself falling away...
---
He feels weighed down as if he's been lying in heavy molasses. After the past few days that wouldn't surprise him. But he needs to get up and get away from here...he forces himself up with some struggle, forcefully ignoring the noise. He'll stumble toward the exit a bit.
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----
And Puck wakes up in the labyrinth near Seto. Right. He had gone back into the labyrinth to check for anyone that he knew and the magic had gotten him before Puck could do anything besides locating the other. It's pretty devious, really, and Puck will be more impressed when his friends aren't in danger. He'll quickly catch up and stay close to make sure that Kaiba and himself both get out before things can start up again. He offers one of his shoulders. "Here, lean if you need to."
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"That was a nasty trick, even by his standards," he grouses as the exit comes nearer. "Thanks, anyway. That was dangerous."
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"Sometimes it seems like he wants to keep us in a dream forever...it's dangerous. We can't just avoid reality."
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"That would explain the name of the area, but it doesn't make it any less creepy. You can't sleep your life away, and avoiding reality doesn't work long term."
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"...Now to see if we can get to our homes, or if all the roads have tied themselves in knots."
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"Thanks again-- and I noticed some of the roads have, but there's no rhyme or reason to it." Same as it ever goes, but that doesn't mean Puck has to like it. "If you'd rather fly, I can carry you."
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"...I don't want to put strain on you after we were both knocked out. More important that we make it somewhere safe."
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"Right, then let's keep walking. Lead the way, I'll get you there as safe as I can."