TDM #3

[labyrinmods]

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, and it simply gives you a welcoming:

“Welcome to my Labyrinth. Per our agreement, you have consented to live your life here for an undetermined amount of time. In exchange, I will grant you the wish that you desire the most.”

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: lily of the valley and hawthorn. Time spent too close to the lily of the valley invokes a state of forced honesty. Victims will blurt out anything on their minds with no apparent filter, whether embarrassing, sentimental, or incriminating. Pollen from the hawthorn flowers do not appear to do anything until the individual is near other people. Then, both (or more) people will become increasingly drawn together, until their body parts are touching and cannot be separated.

It looks like there are plenty of others who are just now waking up from their dream-state as well.. why not go ahead and say hello?

[ The arrival aspect of this prompt is reserved for new characters, but anyone can interact with the garden flowers. The effects will last for a few hours or days. ]

A Jungle Out There

Existing dreamers will wake up one day to find that everything is the same as it was - the zombies roaming the streets and the mysterious beings known as devils have all but vanished. The townsfolk and various creatures have returned to the small town, and they continue to man their shops like nothing had ever happened. When asked about the events of last month, they appear confused. Was all that just a dream?

The change in seasons has led to increasing rainfall in Somnius. Better have an umbrella on hand! While that’s hardly an issue, the rainfall has led to the proliferation and mutation of the local flora. Plants and flowers that were simply harmless before have now grown to monstrous sizes, and they’ve developed a taste for flesh! To make matters worse, they are sprouting all over town, be it the town square, your local library, or right in your kitchen sink! These plants range from creeping vines that bind, twist and try to pull people apart by their limbs, to pitcher plants and venus flytraps that trap and devour their poor, unsuspecting victims. There is even a small army of humanoid mandrake roots that have sprouted from the ground and are running amok, invading people’s homes and shops and moving in. These mandrakes appear to mimic human behaviours and likeness. This means that, yes, if it was your routine to have a morning coffee then kick your legs up on the couch and read the paper, you might find a mandrake that looks eerily like you, sitting on your couch and attempting to drink from your cup.

How do we curb this problem? Brute force is one option. Slicing, burning or ripping the plants out by their roots will stop them in their rampage and save the lives of any unfortunate person caught by them. Through trial and error, it was also found that taming the carnivorous plants is possible! This is done with soothing touches, gentle words, and offering trickles of blood or a piece of your flesh to eat. Once tamed, the wild plants are almost friendly and affectionate and can obey very simple commands. The mandrakes can be tamed by allowing them to engage in those human-like behaviours and acknowledging them as other humans. They are drawn to displays of dominance and leadership, and anyone who can impress them may be able to amass their own little army of minions. We’ll leave it up to players to decide what this looks like.

This vegetation overtake will run until the 11th, where the rains start to die down and the sprouting plants gradually become smaller, less aggressive and less mutated. There might be some stragglers running around for a few days after that, but they will be weak and easily destroyed.

Playing House

In the chaos of the vegetation infestation, it’s easy to miss the dragon eggs that have been left within the bushes and in the homes of some people. These eggs are about the size of a bowling ball, and they are armoured and scaly, much like the skin of a dragon. They come in many different colours and are warm to the touch, much like something that is very much alive.

It’s dragon nesting season, but with the aggressive and carnivorous plants running amok this year, the dragons haven’t found it worth raising their eggs. They’ve simply left these eggs and flown off the island.

For reasons they cannot remember or explain, the townsfolk hold a strong reverence for the dragons. They will fight to save an egg from being cracked or destroyed by any of the rampaging plants, even at the cost of their lives. They are also rallying to ensure that each and every dragon egg is cared for until hatching, no matter what it takes. This means they will be begging the dreamers to help them in this endeavor - and yes, there will be compensation in the form of food and currency. Anyone who refuses will be regarded a true monster!

Strangely enough, there’s no manual on the care of dragons within the library of Somnius – or any record of dragons within any recorded text at all. It’s almost too eerie, given that the Raven’s Quill Library holds information about just about anything else, across the worlds. Just like meaningful information about Vaeros, you will not find much about this specific thing.

The Forest Witch does, however, resurface again to provide her well-needed insight. According to her, the only way a dragon egg can hatch is through gentle and loving care, much like parenting a child. This responsibility has to be shared between two, and it’s encouraged that dreamers cuddle together with the egg in bed to share warmth, read to it, take it on excursions and talk to it. Cuddling together with the egg, in particular, can trigger Dreamfasting, which is the sharing of memories. This particular memory will be a pleasant one.

All dreamers are encouraged to find a partner. If they can’t find one, they can be shoved together at the whims of the townsfolk. Maybe you both just look cute together?

[ Eggs will remain until the Relaxed Event (or via an announcement of their hatching once we re-work the schedule from the Feedback Post) on the 27th and characters will be expected to continue caring for them until that period of time. In the event that characters are paired up with a character who doesn't app or drops, they can easily just reach out and find a new partner. It is possible to care for more than one egg with different partners if your character has the time for it, but one egg to two parents is mostly recommended. ]

A Suspicious Message

On the morning of the 1st, some dreamers will receive a message from an unknown user.

What or who do you love most of all?

They will feel compelled to respond with a truthful answer, as if their brains had gone into a trance, and before they know it, their response will be there for everyone to see. It cannot be deleted or changed. The user will not respond personally, but you get the sense they are definitely reading.

[ This is an additional network option for characters to interact with. Feel free to add a network prompt into any of your top levels. If you do not want to interact with this prompt, simply assume your character did not get the message. All threads are public unless actively privated by characters. We generally encourage threadjacking and engagement, so feel free to mention if threadjacking is fine with you so that others are aware. Note that the NPC will not be actively responding. ]

OOC

Welcome to the labyrinthum TDM! All events are game canon. New characters (invited or not) and old characters alike are welcome to play in it. Existing characters can start their own logs or network posts for the event if they wish to.

New 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.

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

Unique to this TDM, we have dragon egg co-parenting prompt that will be relevant throughout the summer. You can read more details about it here.

Comments

3

[cranekin]

(Despite being named after the crane... Tsurumaru Kuninaga has never cared for an egg before. In fact, he isn't even allowed near the eggs in the kitchens but that's more because he's a terrible cook than a terrible person. He glances over at Zagreus,)

Names are powerful. If it's going to be named... well, we should think carefully.

[emancipating]

[ zagreus nods; that makes sense. he’s never really thought very much of his own name, but he knows the power behind invoking them, especially those of his relatives. ]

That's very true. I can't say I have much experience with naming things, unfortunately. Do you have any ideas?

[cranekin]

Pistachio.

(Literally all that talk about the importance of names and he chooses Pistachio.)

[emancipating]

[ he has no idea what a pistachio is. for all he knows, it's something profound and important to tsurumaru; he's not going to judge. ]

Alright, Pistachio it shall be henceforth.

[ a beat. ]

Or, well. Whenever it hatches.

[cranekin]

(He should probably feel bad about this. And maybe he will later. But for now he is guilt-free.)

None of that, none of that! If you wish for it and give your all, it will certainly happen.