TDM #11

[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 nearby, being picked and torn at by a bird- is that a potoo? As soon as the bird sees you approach, it flies off. It leaves behind mangled scraps of bread, a smashed glass vial that seems to have spilled water all over the pack, 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 are scraps of torn, damp parchment, some of which have scrawling, jagged handwriting you can still barely make out:

“Welc” “aby” “r CONTRACT”

You’re in a garden, surrounded by flowers and plants– most of which are mundane, some you cannot identify. However, there are two that stick out: Faerie rings and Rafflesia.

The Rafflesia is easy enough to avoid, its horrid smell easily warning away anybody with a working nose. If for some reason you opt to approach, the only unusual thing you’ll see is that they seem to have attracted swarms of rats. The rats seem territorial and aggressive, but are otherwise unremarkable. The flowers seem similarly mundane. However, anybody who smells the Rafflesia begins to experience an odd fixation- the corpse-like smell of the flower makes you think about your own death. The more you were exposed to the smell, the longer and more intense this preoccupation becomes, from a mild distraction for an hour or so up to full-blown nightmares for the next week.

The Faerie Rings can be seen in the grass scattered throughout the garden, and they’re unfortunately a lot easier to miss. These, it seems, have been planted by the faeries infesting the garden this month, and anybody who crosses through them will catch the attention of the fae. Usually, this will be simple enough; teleporting you elsewhere in the garden, into the labyrinth, or somewhere in the village. However, those who are particularly disrespectful or unsavory might find themselves targeted for more malicious retribution.

Ill Wills and Omens

The tone in the village has changed since Vaeros retreated into his castle. The villagers seem anxious and paranoid, somewhat hostile to the Dreamers- even the newcomers will face their cold shoulder, despite having just arrived- and they’re spending most of their time indoors, except to angrily shoo out an over-curious potoo. They’ve also raided the garden and any shops and stores for all the pumpkins they can get, and overnight they’ve set up a variety of jack-o-lanterns outside their homes and shops. These seem to be intended to ward out evil, and notably, any Dreamer who approaches a warded home will briefly feel a sense that they’re unwelcome, though it’s easy enough to ignore.

Anybody who crosses through the warning zone of a jack-o-lantern and ignores it, however, might find themselves subjected to strange effects.

Jack-o-Lantern Faces

• Scary: Jack-o-lanterns designed to look scary will make you indecisive. You’ll be compelled to overthink every decision, no matter how trivial. The worst-case scenario will constantly weigh on your mind, and it will be difficult to accomplish anything.
• Funny: Jack-o-lanterns designed to look funny or cute will make you impulsive. Whims and emotions will pass through you extremely quickly, and it may be difficult to focus or stick to plans.
• Creative: Jack-o-lanterns with more unique, abstract, or artful designs will make you obsessive. What the obsession may be is dependent on the person; it could be something they already care about, or something that happens to occur to them after they encounter the effect. Either way, it will be all-consuming.
• Blank: Pumpkins that haven’t been carved at all do… nothing. Really. Nothing. We promise. Well, nothing internal. But after you get a glimpse of one, you’ve been marked, and the pumpkins will know. You may feel like you’re being watched. You may feel like you’re being followed. You may see a glimpse of orange movement. One thing is certain: The pumpkins are following you. They’re masters of stealth, but you know the truth. You know.

Regardless of which effect you experience, it should wear off after a few hours, a day at most- except for the blank pumpkins. They’re quite persistent, and may stalk you for days or even weeks; the pumpkins are patient and ever-vigilant.

Twinkling in the Darkness

Those who were in Somnius in spring of the previous year may remember- with no small degree of dread- the faeries who invaded Somnius briefly. Last time, they were in a good humor, and their jokes were playful. This time, something seems to have them in a bad mood. There’s no attempt to ask for favors, no negotiation… anybody who crosses the Faerie Rings in the garden might catch their attention, but you might just as easily catch their interest because they didn’t like your attitude or just objected to the look of you. They may simply try to lure you into the labyrinth until you’re hopelessly lost, trick you into more Faerie Rings until they’ve had their fill of you, or simply lay a curse on you.

The curses aren’t nearly so playful this time, either- they’re malevolent. Instead of petty inconveniences, these curses seem targeted to be personal. Somebody with a physical insecurity will find it magnified to draw attention to it. If you fear something about yourself, you may find it magnified and reinforced. If you’re desperate to keep something hidden, it will inevitably be revealed. It’s not clear if they somehow know what will hurt your character, or the curse simply finds it automatically, but it is vindictive and it knows how to hit home.

Fortunately, they mostly keep to the garden and the labyrinth, even when the potoo's around. These curses wear off after a day or so, but by then the damage may well be done.

The Times They Are A-Changing

There are many smaller side effects of Vaeros losing control of Somnius, changes that will last for the foreseeable future. Chief among them is that the labyrinth is no longer magical; it’s a mundane structure, albeit one that seems to have immediately attracted the same hostile fae and oddly-aggressive rats that infest the garden. Best not to meddle too much. Some other changes include:

• The Network Devices were powered by Vaeros’s magic. Without him, they’ve depleted to much more limited forms. Around the first day of October, the eye adorning them closes as the magic becomes dormant. Among other things, this means that Network posts will not be available for the time being. Sleepr will also not be taking place. Personal one-on-one or small group communication is still possible via text, voice, or video, as per usual, and old posts are still available to be perused, but mass broadcasts will not be available without Vaeros.

• The Crystal can still grant wishes, but Myrta seems to be the one granting them now; she’s trying to work out how to take full control of the thing and undo all the damage Vaeros has done. However, especially now that new arrivals are coming to Somnius again, she’s willing to do her best to grant stolen powers and objects; it only seems fair. Potion powers are also still granted to newcomers. [[The OOC reward mechanic has not changed, only the IC flavor and possibly the tenor of some of the results.]]

• Speaking of Myrta, she’s still asking the Dreamers for help in her work. She may send you on missions asking for all sorts of odd things. They might be extremely trivial mundane items that belong to random Dreamers, arbitrary bits and pieces of the setting, or even debris from the labyrinth itself, once the Dreamers start wrecking parts of it. Don’t worry, she won’t ask for anything suspect. (She might become indignant at the suggestion.) Occasionally, she'll pine over her missing bird, almost exclusively when you spot the potoo out of the corner of your eye. Coincidence? Yeah, probably.

• The Library now has more books on the world and history of the village before Vaeros took over, now that he’s not actively censoring them. [[Feel free to ask us any questions you may want answers to in our game FAQs!]]

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 the bubble of magic surrounding 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, which is no longer enchanted and will not move or shift to hinder them anymore.

You can find more information about the game here. Any questions regarding the TDM can go under the comment below.

Comments

[crouching_sin]

You could just ask me to go with you. Kidnapping is generally frowned upon.

[Not... that he hasn't done it in the past himself.]

[devilishkouhai]

Ughhh, you humans are so annoying. FINE, let's go the boooooring way. [ BB begrudgingly starts moving forward, as if meaning to lead him on. ] Come on, buddy, let's go. Chop! Chop!

[crouching_sin]

[He follows along, slightly fascinated but doing his best to keep it under wraps.]

You called yourself a 'God Eater'... is that literal?

[devilishkouhai]

Yeah, [ She toots her own horn, speaking matter-of-factly, leading him along down the road as they pass shops. A few pumpkins seem to be trailing them because of BB. ] BB has eaten like 11 so far.... The most recent one was Pele, from Hawaii. The spirit energy from God turned into data when I ate it - more or less.

[crouching_sin]

Into data? Fascinating. If you were able to come to my world I definitely have a deity you can eat.

[If he could open her and study it... oh, but. That would be very rude.]

[devilishkouhai]

[ BB seems to pout when he says that, not because of what he said but because - ]

You could probably bring them here - maybe if that's your power or ability to... It's just that whatever BB eats next, she has to study it a bit more first... BB ate Demi-fiend here, and the data he contained was too much that BB exploded and died.... [ She rubs her face, a bit annoyed and upset about it. ] Ugh, so stupid... BB is so angry at him; why didn't he tell me he had all that DATA? From so many stacking realities!!! It's fine, but BB knows all about Demons now, though!

[ At least there's that!! BB seems to cheer up with that fact and skip along down the road now. ]

[crouching_sin]

Oh, I definitely couldn't bring Him here. But it'd be useful, certainly.

... You gain information from eating people? Interesting. I also know quite a lot about demons -

[He speeds up his pace to keep up with her skipping.]

[devilishkouhai]

Lame! Lame! Never say you can't, fuck the system! Break it down! [ BB muses out loud. ] Isn't that the point of being a Hacker? Anyway, yeah okay, interesting... BB does learn by eating only because, at this time, her Moon isn't here. So if BB wants to learn anything, she has to connect things here to her world, and the only way to do that is by eating it!

[crouching_sin]

Well obviously, it's just that a summoning of that magnitude would require an incredible amount of power. ... What is your 'moon', precisely? I imagine it's not simply a normal moon.

[devilishkouhai]

Well, that's a lot to explain, but to put it simply - a supercomputer created by aliens long ago that they left to observe humanity. You know, normal alien stuff.

[crouching_sin]

Fascinating. So aliens exist where you're from. It's demons where I'm from... but turning things into supercomputers isn't unknown to me either, though I obviously lack the supplies here. For now, at least.

[devilishkouhai]

Oh... Huh... [ Demons so then - ] You'll want to see the new data I just picked up, if anything maybe you can help me sort through the files. BB just ate... Well... BB just ate a whole damn Demon, and he didn't tell me that he was ... Hefty with the data. There's also a few issues that seem to be presented that he didn't let me know that I have yet to go over... Do you know about Magatama by any chance?

[crouching_sin]

I can definitely do that. As for magatamas… the item I’m familiar with, but past that I’m not certain. It doesn’t make sense in this context.

[devilishkouhai]

Ehh, well better anything than nothing. [ BB shrugs, her eyes looking off into the distance. ] Now that we are coming a bit closer to the housing units, you're supposed to be getting one, too? Unless you plan to live with Kazuya-kouhai? The houses kind of suck since they all start out with no water and electricity...

[crouching_sin]

I’ll probably crash with him for a while until I get things sorted out for myself. It takes time to adjust to a new place. Though the no water and electricity is annoying… they’re not essentials, but things are much more annoying without them.

[devilishkouhai]

They should be, especially for some of us who live off technology - jeeze. [ Passing conversation aside she points to her purple mushroom house. There is definitely a bed and chair in her garden. Outside, clearly, it looks like someone is living there. ] The door is always open, so if you ever wanna try to kill me, or say hi, you can come in whenever!

[crouching_sin]

[He notes the location... purple? You know what, that makes sense. The bed in the garden doesn't, but whatever. Not his house.]

I generally prefer saying hello to murder unless necessary. You seem rather... casual about that.

[He's one to talk, but no one ever said he wasn't a hypocrite.]

[devilishkouhai]

Well yeah, when BB is hard to kill, of course she is casual about it!

[ Off she goes into her room, and through the living room. It's a very small cozy sort of cottage core house inside of it. BB herself doesn't like that, she wishes there was more technology or modernism to it. Either way, she is fumbling around her house looking for some things. When she comes across her laptop, setting it on the table. The laptop itself is something made from Earth 2,500s+ but has the aesthetics of something from the 2000s. This is because by the 2000s, her world, Earth, had hit a trajectory with technology. Causing them to develop things in their realm rather quickly. ]

Here you go, do whatever with it. It has an AI that will likely work against you, but if you piss her off - BB will think its funny anyway. [ That AI is just an angrier and bitchier version of BB because she is made up of a LOT more trashed data than anything else. ]

[crouching_sin]

[Cute. Not his aesthetic, but cute. The laptop gets his interest immediately, though. It takes a moment to adjust to an unfamiliar interface, but relatively quickly he starts looking through the files on demons.]

AI isn't quite a thing in my world yet, but the concept is familiar to me from fiction.

[Now what do they have here... ?]

[devilishkouhai]

[ Same stuff here, including more information such as more listed individuals. With some private information, nothing that is incriminating, but some gossip if anything. General vital signs of everyone in Somnius, as well as some interesting information about Chise and her magic levels - this includes the Ascians within Somnius: Venat, Hyth, Laha, and Erich. BB has them listed under: Potential Archetypes

Depending on what HE IS looking for, there is potential for anything and everything in Fate Verse - so what does he want to know? BB is just watching; she doesn't seem to give a shit - again, this is her seeing what he is capable of. There is tons of information locked away as well. ]

Fiction? Interesting, it is not fiction in my universe, but that is only because the Moon Cell exists... To put it frankly, the Earth would be incapable of developing AI on its own without it.

[crouching_sin]

[While he's very tempted to start digging through all of her files he simply notes the file names for later. The fact that she has such information is both amusing and concerning - what is she planning? He glances over at her for a moment.]

Moon Cell being the 'Moon' you referred to earlier. So what are aliens like, where you're from?

[He's going to try to make sense of her file system - since everyone uses a different sorting system - but he's going to go directly for the demonic data. ... He's just going to try to make note of if there is an IP address for him to start digging in through the back door later. He's not sure how well he'll manage it, considering what he already suspects about her nature... but he certainly can try.]

[devilishkouhai]

Mm, mostly trying to kill humans. There are a few who haven't and have otherwise been subdued. [ Velber, Ort, the list goes on. BB giggles a bit, leaning away a bit more and finding herself a seat upon a tentacle that she summons from her shadow. ] The one that made the Moon Cell, well, the Moon Cell has no information about it anymore. As another alien destroyed most of its content around 4000 years ago... So we only have about 4,000 years of shit now... That laptop has a lot less, but, you know, where there's a will, there's a way.

[ No IP at this time since the network is down, but you probably find info that dictates this is one of the only laptops within Somnius at this time. It might be fun to try to hack into, considering its rule system - but at any rate. The demons have yet to be sorted, they could use sorting.

Everything is sorted in a logical and precise manner. Everything is subverted in a way that an AI would chronological things together. There are several ways you can find information; specifically, this laptop has information within Somnius in the past 5-6 months, including specific individuals, where the live, what they can do, etc.

Information she put here, is inputted from HERSELF, meaning there is no connection to the Moon Cell through this computer. However, there is a lot of information BB herself has been inputting from her existence into the computer - manually at that. Much of it is just magic systems, magic laws, cosmic laws etc, that exist in Fate's universe versus this universe. It also includes some information from other people's universes within the Somnius. People who have spoken to her about it.

BB was clearly trying to find similarities between each of their universes.

At this point, if he digs deeper, there is some interesting information to find: Reality warping. BB has been trying to do research about leaving this reality and going to other realities. However, more interestingly, she is more interested in bringing more people here than leaving. The information weighs that way more than then it does the other way. The trying to leave way. Again, BB seems more interested in bringing more people here than leaving. ]

[crouching_sin]

Ah, I see. ... 4000 years is a very specific time. So the Bronze Age, roughly. Assuming your chronology is similar to mine.

[He starts making folders and starts putting the demons in the categories he knows of. Faerie, Dragon, Avian, and all of those. There are some that he doesn't recognize which he puts in a file named 'Unrecognized', just for BB's perusal later. As he's scrolling through the folders, he eventually pauses and gets sidetracked for a moment.]

[The folder names would indicate reality research. He does open up a file on magic systems while he's sorting, flipping between it and the sorting so he can read while he works. ... Fascinating. Unlike his own world's, but fascinating.]

It's very difficult for mundane humans to do magic where I'm from, but it's possible. They can definitely do it with assistance, though - and generally they learn it from demons.

[devilishkouhai]

Oh, huh, yeah, exactly! [ It is always exciting to see similarities across other universes. Especially to the AI who loves compounding that sort of information. ]

I see; Magic is nearly nonexistent in my universe. As it is called magecraft instead, science has moved beyond the capacity of magic in itself. Though, the information found is from circumstances that may... Say otherwise; it isn't very easy. [ So many singularities..... ] BB is interested in knowing about how Demons come into conception, is it true that they are manifested?

[crouching_sin]

Technically it's very rare in my world as well - since demons come from the demon world, and you need specific rituals to summon them.

Under most circumstances.

[With the barrier down it's not... hard for them to get in, at least not in the Yamanote Circle area.]

They're manifested, yes. Enough emotional energy gets invested in a belief and a demon comes into being. From the smallest Fairy to the biggest Orochi, it's all up to humans. Which is why I think they should be in charge of their own destinies.