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buttrinthum2024-07-20 09:30 am
TDM #10 OVERFLOW
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: Sunflowers and Hibiscus. You’ll soon find out that being around the Sunflower makes it difficult to pass through the already disorienting garden, even with the light guiding you. Where patches of them grow, even if only waist-high, you cannot pass through them, over them, or even destroy them to get them out of your way. In each grouping that blocks your path, there is one that has a key-shaped opening in the middle of the flower. Maybe the key is nearby? (Spoiler: it's probably under a rock nearby that you forgot to check!) The hibiscus offers an entirely different effect - inhaling the pollen grants you the temporary ability to shoot fireballs out of your hands. But be careful, those fireballs are difficult to control and seem to bounce in random directions no matter how hard you try to aim (cannot be used to destroy the sunflowers). The effect ends once you step out of the garden.
Somnius is once again recovering from a devastating blow. Buildings need to be restored to their former glory and the emotional turmoil of the previous weeks surely needs to be alleviated. What better way to lighten the mood than a little fun for the whole family? A new arcade has appeared in town, beckoning residents with its stone doors set wide open.
With multiple levels, a variety of games and even a snackbar, Appl3 Pi Arcade is sure to be a hit!
Of course, as with everything that ever happens in Somnius, the arcades appearance is not without some complications. For one, playing the games inside might see characters teleported into the machine itself, perfectly pixelated to fit the game they're in. Hope you weren't about to fight the final boss, because now you might be fighting for your life! The good news is, if you die in the game... you don't die in real life and are just popped back out into the arcade again.
Strange things happen outside the arcade too. Walking down the road you might suddenly see a healthbar pop up above someone's head. Are you supposed to fight them? Are they going to fight you? Best to be cautious and reach for any trusty weapons you have just in case. Weapons that have become pixelated and can be pulled seemingly out of nowhere like some kind of hammerspace. They are also prone to breaking and shattering into glimmering pixel pieces (your normal weapons are still intact, don't worry).
Boxes and pots around Somnius are somehow more breakable than usual, smashed open with a single swing of those pixel weapons and producing gold coins! What a shame gold coins aren't the currency here. But if you don't want to destroy more things around Somnius, why not try fishing instead? That seems safe - if not suddenly more difficult with the fishing minigame that popped up in front of you. Quick! Keep the fish icon in the green bar or you'll lose it!
All things considered? It's all relatively harmless fun up until-
Vaeros wakes up. For those new to town, this means nothing. For those that were here for the castle raid? They can rest assured that they're in for a surprise. The Overlord of Visium has finally awoken from his Hyalily induced coma and he is furious. A shout echoes from the castle:
A wave of magical energy sweeps through the town, shaking it to the very core. Miraculously, the destroyed buildings and any remnants of the forest onslaught are gone and returned to their usual state. Perhaps Vaeros shouting was just another tantrum, an empty threat?
Not quite.
The town has been restored, but the locals? They are nowhere to be seen - cowering in their homes and fleeing to the sanctity of the Church of the Moon in hopes of staying out of sight of Vaeros and Dreamers both. The once tame video game effects are now far more intense - monsters from within those games are now rampaging through the town. They seem to shift through buildings, but if they run face first into a Dreamer, they will find them very corporeal and very deadly.
Not only that, but the lines are starting to blur between reality and fiction again, the healthbar above your head flickering in and out, the monsters turning from pixel beasts to real, live animals that roam Somnius - both feral and not. One second you are walking through town, and the next you are stepping onto a platform that starts to break under your weight, demanding you jump to the next platform before you plummet into an odd, multicolored abyss.
And strangest of all is that music coming from the labyrinth, growing louder when you approach and fading out when you move away.
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.
Garden.
Prince Diamond was still trying to make sense of the contract, which he was sure had to be a forgery, when the yelps and the random fireballs suddenly took precedence over anything else that was happening. He leaped out of the way of one fireball and then another, and another, his movements quick and graceful. He had already discovered he no longer had access to any of his powers, so how did this ... being have any, and something so destructive?
"Can't you control your power?" he exclaimed.
It looked more like the boy had never handled a fireball in his life. But what could grant power so suddenly?
Suddenly he thought of the bottle he carried with him. Perhaps it was something like that, if everyone here had been given one? He had seen he wasn't the only one in this strange place.
Re: Garden.
Mikey barely spared the man a glance, though less out of rudeness and more out of trying not to get flambéed. He might not have been making such a ruckus had it not been for the fact that the fireballs were coming from himself. The terror of not knowing how to make the burning hands of doom stop only had him more prone to flailing and screeching in the high-pitched tone he was more than a bit embarrassed by.
"I don't normally have these powers! I've never shot fireballs out of anything unless it was in a video game!"
He managed to remain unharmed, still able to dodge without overmuch trouble thanks to his years of training. The very end of his mask tails may have gotten a touch singed, but he'd fret over that later.
"It started to happen after I took a whiff of those flowers," he said, glancing at the regally dressed man before pointing at the aforementioned flowers, another fireball already beginning to burn out of his palm. "Sorry, dude! I'm not doing this on purpose!"
Re: Garden.
Diamond continues to leap around, dodging the fireballs. He had somehow never thought his training would serve him in this purpose. He’s not surprised that the boy isn’t doing this deliberately, as that is quite obvious. But the news that apparently the flowers are responsible is highly concerning. They’re not being damaged by the fire at all, either.
“We should try to find the path away from these flowers,” he says. He doesn’t want to end up firing random fireballs himself, nor does he want to keep dodging them. Across the area, he can see fireballs shooting out from some of the other people too. This is utter madness!
Thinking of the bottle again, he asks, "Did you end up here with a strange bottle saying 'Drink Me'?" There seems to be so many people here. Are they all a part of this bizarre adventure and have been abducted here the same as he had? He is still sure the contract is a forgery. He has no memory of signing it, and he certainly couldn't have anyway when he had been dying right before this. Seeing that even the flowers are deadly makes him even less likely to want to drink the bottle without knowing more about what it could possibly be. But then there is the slight possibility it might offer something that could help in this situation.
Re: Garden.
Michelangelo couldn't stop to see if the man with the white hair had a satchel like the one strapped across his body, pivoting his own and dropping low to avoid another near brush with a flame-induced end. Close to one grouping of tall sunflowers, Mikey noticed in his nearness that the center of one tall bloom bore a shape far too reminiscent of a keyhole to ignore.
Weird dream stuff..
A potion saying Drink Me..
They were all so Wonderland wacky that a flower with that specific shape in it had to be too meaningful to ignore. Seemed worth looking into.
"Hey, dude! Have you got a key? This sunflower over here has a keyhole in it! Maybe if we find a key we can get out of here before there's too much fire for us to dodge!"
If he were a hidden key in a funky dreamscape, where would he hide himself? Among the firebringer flowers maybe? Mikey wouldn't dare to risk looking there if it might make his very dangerous condition worse.
Re: Garden.
He comes to attention at this bizarre information. “A keyhole in a flower?” How utterly ludicrous. What can that mean?
“I most definitely do not have a key,” he frowns. “Where would we find one in a place like this?” The only things around are these flowers. And ... a few rocks?
He cautiously comes over, searching around and under the rocks while trying not to get any of the many flowers in his face. Ironic how he and Sapphire had longed to come to a place with flowers, but he could hardly enjoy them right now.
He blinks in surprise to actually find a key. “...” He holds it up, studying it in disbelief, and then comes over to the sunflower. The key turns and a pathway opens. “This garden doesn’t make sense.”
Re: Garden.
He'd sniffed a flower and turned into fire flower Mario without any of the control or a pretty princess to save. Though, if he could be honest with himself he sometimes had conflicting feelings about Mario in general. It was hard not to when he lived in the sewers and was a turtle while the beloved Nintendo icon was a plumber with a giant turtle-like creature as a nemesis. Though, in all fairness, Bowser was totally not chill.
How he managed to let his thoughts wander off like that without being cooked, he didn't know, but it far from escaped his notice when his potential ally managed to find a key. Sure enough, a path opened up, revealing an escape from the garden of nefarious blooms, and Michelangelo far from hesitated to head that way, swearing all the bouncing flames were hot on his heels. The moment he slipped beyond the garden's boundary, the heat in his palms dissipated, not another flame burning to life. Exhausted, Mikey fell to his hands and knees, gasping for breath.
"Are you...huff huff...okay, dude?"
LOL, Mario thoughts.
It was a relief to escape the garden, but Diamond stayed alert for anything else that could potentially go wrong. Being on guard was always wise, and in this place it seemed even moreso.
"Yes, I'm fine," he said. "And yourself?"
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
Mikey slowly pushed himself up off the ground and back onto his feet, heart reaching a steadier beat. He lifted his hands to assess them, surprised that none of his skin was burnt or discolored, nary a sign of the magic he'd unintentionally wielded being present. He glanced Diamond's way, all hints of his prior panic gone, and he flashed his companion a smile.
"I'm Michelangelo. Nice to meet you and sorry for accidentally almost getting us both killed. My bad, dude."
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
Diamond wasn't so surprised not to find any trace of what had happened. Magic was like that. He had been able to shoot light energy balls from his hands before he ended up here.
"One would scarcely think flowers would be a deadly weapon," he said. That surely wasn't normal, right? From what he knew of Earth flowers, they were supposed to be peaceful and pleasant. "I am Prince Diamond of the Black Moon Clan."
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
"Yeah, you wouldn't think so, but this place doesn't look like it wants to follow the kinda rules you'd think it would. Makes you wonder what kinda stuff we're gonna find if we keep going."
If flowers could be so dangerous then who was to say that other unanticipated objects couldn't be even more so? Would they quest onward only to discover that the ground itself wanted to attack them? Michelangelo had been raised to be attentive of his surroundings and swift to evade danger, but even he'd been caught off by the fireball incident. To say that he was nervous about moving ahead was a huge understatement of his present mental state.
"Nice to meet you! Are you more the 'your majesty' or 'your highness' type? Or are you chill if I just call you Diamond? My family and friends call me Mikey, so you can too if you wanna. Won't bother me any."
He held out his hand for a shake, using the other to gesture over his shoulder with his thumb.
"Dunno what's down that way, but if you wanna go together, we for sure can. United effort and stuff, if that's your jam."
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
Diamond wondered indeed. Whoever was behind this must have a sick mind and enjoy catching people off-guard. They couldn’t be too careful. And yet they had to move forward; they couldn’t simply stay here and wait.
“Prince Diamond will do,” he said. He looked surprised by Mikey’s invitation. “We’ve only just met and you’re alright with my addressing you as your close loved ones do?”
He slowly shook Mikey’s hand.
“I think it would be wisest to stay together,” he agreed. Not knowing what might come at them, allies could prove very useful.
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
The prince seemed agreeable to banding together and to Michelangelo, that was a definite source of relief. He knew he'd probably be okay if he went it alone, but being as he'd spent so much of his life working in a group, it was hard to imagine doing so. Especially in a place that was so unpredictable. He waved a hand as he took a step forward, urging Diamond to join him in moving onward with a jovial smile.
He could be pretty good at not sweating the small stuff and now that he'd caught his breath, he was happy to put the terror of his fireball hands behind him. Way behind him. By dozens upon dozens of steps.
"So, what'cha think we're gonna come across next. If I had to bet on it, I'd say we're gonna hit a fork in the road, but there'll be an actual fork. Like, a huge one or something."
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
Staying together was certainly preferable to him as well, after having been with his Clan for just about all of his life. He had gone straight from the aftermath of the chaos they had caused and that he had tried in the end to correct, to this place. It was quite a culture shock. Weathering it alone when he wasn't sure what would come at them was not his first choice. At the moment, he didn't even have his powers, so he wasn't sure how useful he would be if something came up where fighting would be required.
The unusual thoughts definitely cause him to raise an eyebrow. "A giant fork?" He wasn't sure how Mikey had come up with that from their experiences with fire flowers and keyhole flowers, which seemed to make no sense. Not that a giant fork would, but at least that would be some kind of wordplay that might be clever on some bizarre, twisted level. "And do you think it will be stuck in the road or just lying there?"
He wasn't sure why he was even entertaining the odd train of thought.
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
Realizing that his idea for what possible dangers awaited sounded ridiculous, especially while he'd raised his arms for dramatic effect. Dropping them at his sides, Mikey chuckled sheepishly, looking ahead at the long, straight stretch of hedge walls before them.
"Or probably not forks. Things here haven't really made much sense yet, so it could be anything. Right now, though, it looks like a lot of walking. At least we've got each other, though, right? I'm sure we can handle whatever this place throws our way."
Never any real harm in being hopeful in the face of illogical, magical adversity, right?
"Hope we don't have to answer any riddles. M'not really good at riddles."
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
He definitely hoped they could handle it. A normal battle, perhaps, but if things got strange again, would either of them be prepared for that?
He pondered this possibility. He might be able to handle riddles, and he really quite thought he could, but it depended on what they were.
"Why would we especially have to answer riddles?" he wondered.
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
Personally, he was of the mind that a healthy imagination wasn't a bad thing. Heck, his life had possessed its share of actual, for real bad things like evil ninja clans and stuff. He didn't seem the harm in entertaining bouts of whimsey.
"Just seems like it could happen. I mean, this place has been super weird and anything could totally happen. Riddles feel like they'd probably fit here, but maybe we won't even have to deal with any. I hope, at least. Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be smooth sailing. You got any ideas about what we might end up dealing with?"
Whatever would happen, at least neither of them were alone.
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
"What kinds of ... comics do you read?"
A strange question. But he wanted to learn about the kind of peaceful life that would allow for such things. He might have participated in that had he not become bent on blind revenge that had led to his downfall.
He sighed, looking out over their area. "This peace and serenity feel like a trap, an illusion, something that hides a far more sinister purpose. The flowers were likely just a small sample of what whoever is behind this can do to us. There could be riddles, as you say. Or there could be some sort of monsters or other enemies we'll have to fight. I wonder if we will meet who has brought us here."
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
Michelangelo had to bite back the immediate urge to start chattering gleefully about his favorite issues and storylines, his energy for talking about his passions intense. Sometimes, he knew, a bit too intense for some people. He had a feeling Diamond was just trying to be polite. For as much as he would've loved to teach him about superhero comics, see if maybe the fellow might become interested in them, it seemed doubtful they'd come across any. Best to focus on where they were and how to get out, at any rate.
"I dunno, dude. Whoever they are, they've gotta have some pretty strong magic to run a place like this. But, hey, now that I'm not throwing fireballs around, I can be a lot more handy in a fight if it comes to it."
He reached out, giving the prince's shoulder a firm squeeze that he hoped would be reassuring rather than unwelcome.
"I may not have my chucks to fight with, but I'm plenty tough without 'em. I've got your back, my princely friend."
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
The gesture was certainly startling too. He wouldn’t have allowed that in the past. And his pride wouldn’t have allowed the impression that he needed looking after. But here, when he had lost access to his powers, knowing his companion was a fighter (if he wasn’t just talking) was welcome. For some reason, he felt Mikey was telling the truth.
“That’s good to know,” he said at last. “Your ‘chucks’?”
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
It felt a little hollow making a pointed crack that would make Raphael bristle when his brother wasn't even there to hear it, the humor of it immediately losing its appeal. Rather than relent to any of the negative feelings stirring up within him, Mikey resolved to keep his spirits as high as he could. If not for himself then certainly for his new friend.
"You were really spry on your feet with all those fireballs. Bet you could give anything we end up dealing with a run for its money."
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
He nods, pleased at the compliment. "I was trained to be quick during combat, as you likely were as well."
Staying alert for any future problems, he asks, "What is your world like?"
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
Diamond had the high fashion and good looks of an upper crust type that he'd seen plenty of times in the Big Apple. Somehow, though, he doubted the guy was from the same place. He had a sort of unique vibe that said he was somewhere way different.
"How about you? Big city type of guy?"
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
And would he ever get to now? He had thought it was over for him, but now he was here. He did remember wishing for a second chance, but this was hardly the chance he had hoped for. Still, it was better than being dead.
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
"Well, hey. Maybe whenever we get out of wherever here is, you can come back to New York with me! It's a great city and I think you'd probably dig it! I could show you all the cool places to visit and introduce you to my friends, April and Casey! They'd be able to help you get settled!"
He doubted that getting out of the realm they'd entered would necessarily allow for traveling to different dimensions than where they originally came from. It never hurt to indulge in some positive, wishful thinking, though, right?
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts.
He also rather doubted he could travel to another's world, but at this point, he didn't know what to think about anything. And the offer was kind and good, better than someone such as he deserved. Were most Earth people like this? He had missed out on so much by buying into Wiseman's lies.
"Thank you for your invitation," he said. "I would like that, if we are allowed to go where we wish when this experience is concluded."
Re: LOL, Mario thoughts. (ooc: end here?)
(OOC: Sure. :) It was fun threading with you!)