buttrinthum | TDM #10 OVERFLOW

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. 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: 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.

It's Dangerous to go Alone! Take This.

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-

But Enough Talk, Have At You!

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:

"Did you think you had won, dear Dreamers? Did you think you had bested me? Go, play your games, but know that there is only one winner here, and it is me."

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.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Poppy looks up as a voice calls out from overhead (even farther overhead than most voices that call out to her.) ]

How do you...? [ A bellow from the ogre as it prepares to swing interrupts her thoughts. ] Never mind!!

[ She reaches up and grabs for the offered hand! ]

[And she's swiftly pulled onto the carpet beside him.]

Hang on!

[He then ducks down low against Carpet and flies them right under the Ogre's swinging arm, avoiding its attack. Even as the ogre grunts in frustration and turns for another swing, he flicks his wrist and a clump of dirt erupts from the ground and flies into his eyes.

While the ogre recovers, they fly back out of range of those huge flailing arms.]

Are you alright?

[ Poppy ducks as well, trying to flatten her already small boddy against the surface of the carpet. She does catch sight of her savior's neat little trick with the dirt, however, and looks interested. She can't immediately identify the spell used, and her arcane curiosity is piqued. ]

I'm unharmed, thanks to your quick intervention. Thank you. I... have no idea why my magic didn't work back there.

Wow, you... really don't remember?

[Welp. He sighs and takes a look at the ogre, frowning. He feels like they should stay and take care of it, but if Poppy doesn't have her magic and she's still disoriented, it would just be putting her in danger. He doesn't even have his sword with him...]

... When you first show up, you lose your magic, and any other special abilities or items you've got. You have to get them back with wishes.

[ Poppy clears her throat in annoyance, as though being reminded of things she has forgotten is one of her least favorite activities (it is). ]

Yes, well. Such things happen when your mind gets scrambled as mine has been. If I have been here before, I have no memory of it. Just as I have no memory of many other things.

[ Her past, her family, who she was before she ran into the beholder lich known as Zerox. ]

[Oh, there she is. That definitely sounds more like the Poppy he remembers. He's just gonna give allowances for her having a rough day and not take it personally.]

When you woke up, you should have found a bag with a potion in it. Did you drink it?

[ She levels a Glare at him. ]

Drink an unidentified potion? Without knowing what it would do to me? What, do you think I'm daft?

[ That would be a no. ]

[Yeah, he really hasn't missed this particular variety of interaction.]

Well, it gives you magic! Not as powerful as your normal magic, but it's something.

[Sigh.]

Look, forget it. Let's just get out of here for now.

[ Harumph. She sits back on her heels and just lets him steer this carpet away from danger.

But, after a moment... She can't help but fish in the pockets of her cloak for the small pouch she had arrived with, pulling out the vial of scarlet liquid inside. ]

...You say this will give me access to magic? What sort of magic?

[ If it's a one-and-done sort of consumable potion, she needs to know if she should be saving it for the right time. ]

It's red, so it'll give you one of the four elements. No way to guess which one.

[He gestures back to the ogre behind them.]

That trick I did with the dirt was earth magic. I got it from a potion like that. I've been working on it for a year, but I bet you'll get it way faster, since you already know magic.

[ Elemental magic. Sounds like someone evocation related. Poppy will keep that in mind, but won't drink it just yet. She wants to be sure of what she's getting into first. ]

Thank you, for elucidating me.

[ She stows the potion bottle back into her bag, and puts the bag back into the pocket of her cloak. Once it seems that they are well and truly out of danger, she will continue. ]

If I may ask, how is it that you know me? As I said, my mind is not in its rightest state, and there is much that I do not remember, but... if we were close I would like to know.

I... I guess you forgot when you went home, but you were here before. You were younger, I think it's been longer for you than it was for us.

[He gives a little bit of a chuckle.]

You, uh, didn't really seem to like me much, but you were friends with Jasmine. My girlfriend.

[ Interesting. Poppy thinks out loud, muttering under her breath, ] I was younger... So some sort of time dilation?

[ Something to look into, later. ]

I can't say when it was that I forgot, as I've forgotten many things... In fact, I've forgotten pretty much everything that happened before approximately a month ago.

I'm sure I don't know why I wouldn't have gotten along with you. You seem like a perfectly reasonable, helpful, dare I say kind man.

Oh... th-thanks. I was never really clear on why, but I guess you had your reasons.

[Truth. It was always a little baffling to him.]

Anyway, I'm glad you're back! Means we have a chance to be friends properly this time.

[... oh, and he actually has some useful information for a change.]

About the time thing, I don't really know how it works but I guess time doesn't really match up at all. People can show up here months apart but back home it was the same day... or they can show up on the same day and back home they were in totally different years. And people who go home and come back say that no time passed while they were here at all.

[He seems oddly relaxed about a situation that also makes no sense to him. Laid back seems to be his default state of being.]

TDM #10 OVERFLOW

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