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

[The fireball misses Taryon, but it strikes the tall robot walking by his side. Doty thankfully wasn't carrying anything in his hands, and the book is safe inside his chest cavity, but the force of the magical attack knocks him back a step while heating up his body to a dangerous level.

Taryon, meanwhile, ducks for cover, remembers that he also has some magic from his potion, then, rises to his knees with one hand held out.]

What's going on?!

[The robot calmly holds up his fists. Taryon scans the area for a monster or some new danger, but only finds a little girl.]

...Was that you? [He drops his arm to the side.]

(ooc: Eliza's meant to be about 18, by the way. Sorry, realized I forgot to link the impressions I'm using for this TDM.)

[Eliza lets out a gasp of distress when she sees the robot get knocked back, raising her hands to her mouth. He doesn't seem hurt, but she can't really tell from here.]

I'm so sorry! [She's about to rush forwards to check for damage when she sees Taryon holding a hand out and Doty raising his fists.]

Um...yeah! I thought I could control them, but whatever I try doesn't actually work...

((ooc: thanks for the info!))

How come you get to keep your powers? [He hasn't been around the new flowers for long, and he knows for a fact that no one shows up with any magic apart from what's in their potion. That large fireball cannot be from a single drink.]

Well. With that mess out of the way...Doty, stand down. [The automaton lowers his fists. Taryon stands and brushes the dirt from his trousers.] The name's Taryon Darrington. I see that you're new around here and have a lot of questions.

[She shakes her head quickly.] This isn't my power! I couldn't throw fireballs at all before I woke up here!

[She nods at his greeting.] I'm Eliza Owens! [She lifts an arm halfway before lowering it again.] I guess that might be a little dangerous right now... [As if to prove her point, when she lowers her arm, a smaller fireball comes flying downwards, bouncing against the ground a few times before just rolling away and dissipating.]

I'm pretty sure I'm here because of that weird bird I saw when I was about to fall asleep, right? I made a wish and this paper said something about a contract...

That sort of happens around here. You want something, then you wake up and you've signed up for something you don't remember agreeing to. I've never met the Archfey behind all this [Taryon assumes that Vaeros is this plane's version of an Archfey; who else could be this conniving and powerful?] but you hear his voice sometimes. He gets quite upset at little things.

[He watches the spot where the fireball landed and thinks back to his earlier days.] I wonder if the fire is another one of his tricks he plays on us.

[She sighs.] I didn't know that would count, or I definitely wouldn't have accepted it! Waking up in a weird new place with all my stuff gone was bad enough the first time.

[She blinks a little at the terminology he uses, though.] Archfey? What do they usually look like? [Now that she's thinking about it, the combination of "wish" and "contract" is actually a little ominous...]

Pointy ears? Really tall? That's what my friends told me. Like elves, only more extreme.

[But Vox Machina has an "ally" in one, so they can't all be evil. He supposes.]

Wait, this happened to you before?

[She nods along at the description.] And...they can't turn into small furry-looking creatures with big red eyes? [She waves a hand, then blinks.] Oh, right, none of my powers work...I was going to show you an illusion of what I was talking about.

And yeah! The first time it happened this weird phone appeared in my hotel room and it had a message and a button I could push to accept it. But according to the other people in Town A even if they didn't want to accept they still got forced to. But I think that still counts as more of a contract than just wishing something! [She crosses her arms, looking unamused.]

I would think they have the power to turn into animals. They're supposed to br magic experts.

[He turns to the forest. If Vaeros is as powerful of a druid as Keyleth, if not exceeding her ability, then he could disguise himself as any creature big and small. He may be spying on the city this way, always watching the movements of the population and waiting for a sign that they might be rebelling.

This isn't boding well.]

A phone? Something like this? [He pulls put his communicator crystal, the most advanced piece of technology he's come across.] This one sends messages in text and as a voice.

Huh... [That gets a frown from her. Is this a Kyuubey situation? Was Kyuubey an Archfey all along? Then again, lots of people have different terminology...] ...has he actually granted anyone's wish, yet? Mine could only be granted at home, but maybe some people's are easier.

[She nods a little at seeing the communicator.] Yeah, something like that! Mine was shaped more like an egg, though. [She makes another gesture as if to create an illustrative illusion, frowning again when it doesn't go through.]

No clue. I don't think....well. [He glances at Doty.] I wished for my friends to be alright during this grand battle, and someone from my future said everyone was okay. That could have been it.

[But Vex hid the fact that Vax died at the very end. She didn't think it would help Taryon when he was just panicking over the danger his newfound family found themselves in.]

An egg. That's a creative direction. [Is she making an imaginary egg in the air? He turns to the robot.] Doty, take this down: [It opens a chamber in its chest, pulls out a thick book and a quill, then opens it up to an early page to copy what Taryon dictates.] "Amongst the hibiscus fields in the garden, I came across a mystery girl with a secret: she had been spirited away by a creature that offered to grant a wish. This was a coincidence that was too interesting not the investigate...and I knew this mystery would run deep."

That's all, Doty. [The robot shuts the book and tucks it under its elbow.]

TDM #10 OVERFLOW

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Eliza as her long-buried Madoka knowledge reemerges: shit shit shit

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