TDM #9

[labyrinevents]

Arrival / Enchanted Garden

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:

“Welcome to my LABYRINTH where your wish, you wish you wish youwishyouwish– Your CONTRACT is SEALED.”

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?

Liminal Spaces and Worn Out Faces

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.

Up is Down, In is Out

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.

Dream Within a Dream Within a Dream Within a Dream Within

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.

OOC

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.

Comments

C

[doctor_uhh]

[Li Lianhua's dreams are certainly not always the most interesting, but at least they're usually populated. This blinding white emptiness is bizarre and disorienting, and he half expects to feel a painful pressure change in his head, a ringing in his ears that sometimes accompanies his vision failing. The dread of it creeps up on him, still, even though he should really be used to it by now.

Solitude shouldn't be a scary thing, to Li Lianhua. Although he's practically not been able to hear himself think for many months now, with all the company he keeps, solitude of his own choosing was a comfort to him for many years before that. There is only one thing he's afraid of being alone for. That dread now grows, starts whispering doubts and fears to him. Could he be slipping away, just like that? What if this is all there is, at the end, and all he'll find here is a pair of ghosts, one black, one white? Li Lianhua shudders and starts, spins around in the emptiness as if feeling a ghostly hand settle on his shoulder. His voice, when he calls out in some small defiance against the dread, is too loud and thin to his ears.]

Hello? Anyone?

[prontissimo]

[ The voice cuts the silence like a knife. Alberto wheels round to see where it came from, startled to see Li Lianhua from a distance. He runs toward him with soundless footsteps, but it feels like running through sand within the nothingness, and somehow, he's there rather suddenly, for how far he'd been. Dream physics making this place all the more surreal and disorienting...

He's not fully aware he's dreaming. Maybe he's a slight sense, but not enough to call it quite a lucid dream. For all he knows, there's no magical, mystical connection happening here, allowing a visitor into his subconscious by chance. He may as well be dreaming of this guy he knows, plain and simple. But it's not like he's exactly thrilled to see Li Lianhua, of all people, in any case. Their last interaction left Alberto feeling inexplicably sour, in a way he's not really given much thought to — so the feeling's just hung ever since. And it's those sorts of feelings that really hang heavy most in dreams, after all, isn't it? He doesn't hide the confusion and hesitation on his face, surprised to see him at all, but— uncertain, even beyond that. Yet for all Alberto's panic about being alone just a moment ago, and for all his relief now that he's not alone, the first words out of his mouth still come out a little too... ]

What are you doing here?

[ ...pointed. ]

[doctor_uhh]

[The sudden sense of no longer being alone is almost worse than the preceding dread, and Li Lianhua absolutely and visibly jumps out of his skin at the figure of the boy running at him. It's really a good thing this is a dream or that scare might have been enough to finally stop his weak heart. Not that Li Lianhua's dream awareness is faring particularly much better, his mind and body beleaguered by illness and perpetual exhaustion. This close to death, frightening confusion and unreal phantasms of bizarre things could have any number of explanations.

None of which he's any more eager to make eye contact with than the embarrassment of getting jump-scared by Alberto. Luckily there's always dramatics to fall back on, only half an act at best as he presses a steadying hand to his own chest.]

Young man, can't you announce yourself properly? Rushing people out of nowhere, no manners! What are you doing here, eh?

[prontissimo]

[ Alberto rolls his eyes dismissively, but bites his tongue, instead shifting his weight to stand controposto. An ocean wave licks at their feet, appearing amidst the nothingness. And with each new wave, more appears around them. The haze turns to an island at sunset, the smell of salt in the air rushing in with it. Like dreams often go, Alberto hardly seems to notice the change, as if it's the most natural thing in the world. He certainly seems natural in this environment, once it engulfs them fully. He sets off along the beach with a bit of a stomp at first, but waves Li Lianhua along behind him — maybe against his better judgment. He still feels compelled to be polite, despite these accusations...! ]

Pssh... Fine, whatever. Just c'mon.

[ The senses are all notably heightened in this space. The sound of crickets, the waves beating the stones on the beach, gulls in the distance — all ring out loud and clear. The smoothness of pebbles on the beach under Alberto's bare feet is a vivid feeling in his mind's eye. It lends the whole dreamscape a palpable comfort in the sensation, a peacefulness that can touch both of them, however fleeting and ethereal it feels. Emotions in dreams shift as easily as the settings and plots. Alberto strolls along the shore, placing one foot directly in front of the other as straight as he can manage, holding his arms out for balance as he tries to walk in a perfectly straight line to amuse himself... For Alberto, simply walking can become a game. Who knows where he's leading Li Lianhua, but there's at least no foreboding feeling in the air — just the cool breeze and the steady singing of cicadas hidden in the trees dappling the hill above them. ]

[doctor_uhh]

[The lack of immediate backtalk from the boy is just as unexpected and faintly destabilizing as the ocean waves now slowly eroding the sand beneath Li Lianhua's feet. His scolding might be rejected or accepted, but it shouldn't just be dismissed. At least it kept Alberto from continuing to question his presence here though, when he doesn't have a good answer for it himself.

Li Lianhua is, perhaps surprisingly, unlikely to be all too confused by the change to their surroundings. It only seems right to him that the company of another person should give the emptiness form, that it would fill the silence with life. He can even borrow a little relief at it, now that the rude shock Alberto had given him has passed.

It's the scenery itself that gives Li Lianhua pause. The ocean he is deeply familiar with; the rhythmic rushing of the waves, the salty air, the vast and constant view... How could he not recognize it? For a moment, it feels like an old friend come to greet him. Or something more indifferent, but just as welcoming.

But that's not right. This isn't the peacefulness of the grave touching him, despite the light of the setting sun and the sound of cicadas... It's the peacefulness of home, and Li Lianhua feels out of place here. For a few absentminded paces he follows Alberto, watches him make a game of balancing along the shore like the young child that he still is. But soon he lets the distance between them grow, slowing his own steps as if he's just a little tired.]

Ah, you go on ahead, I'll catch up with you in a moment!

[He calls after the boy reassuringly. He has no intention of catching up, and indeed expects Alberto's attention to barely be bothered by his absence, to find something new to entertain him soon enough. That will really be for the best.]

[prontissimo]

[ In the distance, a motorboat speeds by on the horizon. Alberto doesn't pay it any mind, in fact doesn't seem to even notice it, as he turns round to look back at Li Lianhua over his shoulder. Alberto cups a hand to his mouth and calls back to him: ]

Dai, Signore, follow me!

[ The gulls overhead cry out. Another fishing boat appears on the horizon, and another motorboat zooms past it. You can clearly hear a fisherman call out: ]

What's wrong with you, stupido?!

[ Alberto turns back around and sets off along the shore again, playing his needless balancing game still. The sea is now dappled with more fishing boats, as if they multiplied in the blink of an eye. Alberto, still, doesn't seem to notice or care. ]