![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
labyrinevents) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
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.
no subject
[He knows... He's been bitten by a few Pixies in his time. Whether because they were just frustrated with him or actually meant to try and eat him.]
Bigger doesn't necessarily always mean stronger, after all.
no subject
( He's learned a lot bout that through books... And dealing with his garden at home, but he knows it's not the same thing at all. )
Dealing with any kind of monsters sounds really scary. I think... anyone who can fight is really brave.
no subject
[But the fear of his own death is nothing compared to the fear of losing his friends.]
But sometimes you fight not because you're brave, but because you have to. Sometimes you don't have a choice.
cw bullying mention
( When he was being bullied back at home, all he could really do is yell for help. He had been too scared to really do anything. And then... he was cornered by a monster recently, too. If someone hadn't stepped in back then, he probably wouldn't have survived. )
no subject
I guess that depends on the person. For me, it was knowing that if I didn't do something, the people I cared about would get hurt. It's not a healthy mindset, but it boiled down to the fact that I'd rather get myself hurt than let anyone I care about get hurt. For another one of my friends, she fought because she believed it was the right thing to do, to help people who couldn't help themselves.
no subject
...
He still does. )
... I... I understand.
When someone is really important, it... feels like it doesn't matter what happens to you. But... I'm glad that you're alright. ( And he hopes that his friend is, too. )
no subject
[It's difficult, but he's glad his luck held out long enough to see to it that his friends were safe.]
I hope you don't get put into any more situations where you need to fight. Running away is always the better option when you can do it.
[Then no one has to risk getting hurt.]
no subject
Sometimes, it can be hard to run away here... But, when someone can-- I think so, too. A lot of people work hard to protect others here, that way it works out in that way.
( All the more reason why he's glad that they ended up going to the lake. After all: )
But, I-I don't want you to get hurt, either. Even if you're used to fighting.
( ... )
Uhm... Sorry... We were going to fish, right...?
no subject
[Do you know how many demons wanted a piece of him.
More than he cares to remember, and he's got the scars for it littered across his torso.]
But you're right, lets focus on something more positive for now. I know you haven't fished before, but do you think there's going to be fishing poles around?
[If not... Maybe they can just chill at the lake! He's down for that too.]
no subject
( If it was Basil's choice, there'd absolutely be no reason for anyone to have to protect him. )
Things have been changing here a lot recently, so... Even though nothing was like that before, we might be able to find some.
no subject
Even if we can't find any, I don't mind relaxing and looking at a lake.
[Seems peaceful!]
no subject
A little while back, you couldn't look at it without seeing a memory...
no subject
[Or... He assumes that's how that works. Because it seems natural that something like a lake would reflect memories, and isn't that usually how it works in myths? In stories?]
no subject
( He has mixed feelings on what he had seen. It reminded him of his photographs. In a sense, looking back at the lake at that time reminded him of when he had his album. )
no subject
But he is curious. ]
Did anyone ever get any memories from past lives?
no subject
( He isn't saying that he think Kazuya is asking anything strange by any means. The idea is... just something new to him. )
no subject
[But he guesses not, in that case.]
Most people don't remember their past lives anyway, since their souls get scrubbed clean of their memories once you die. I think that's what feelings of deja-vu are. Memories that haven't been quite scrubbed hard enough.
no subject
But, does that mean-- that you remember yours?
no subject
[ He shrugs. ]
My situation is pretty unique though, so I think I have clearer memories than most should.
no subject
no subject
no subject
If-- it wasn't for my old friends, there's a lot of things that would've been different for me before.
no subject
no subject
( He looks a little tired when he says that. )
no subject
It's not that I dislike them or we don't get along, but we're just not that close. I wouldn't trust them as completely as I do those two.
[And Yuzu and Atsuro mean the world to him.]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)