TDM #4

[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: honeysuckles & day lilies Time spent too close to the day lily invokes a state of forgetfulnesss. The longer characters stay in the garden, especially if they are close to the day lilies, they will begin to forget important things about themselves. What they forget is up to the player, but longer time spent in the garden can reduce them to a completely amnesic state. Better hurry out and try to find the way out while you can! Honeysuckles will have no effect on characters unless they decide to drink the sap from them. The honeysuckle nectar will give characters a temporary power boost. This applies to characters who have drank their potion or have regained their powers. This might be useful to salvage for later, especially considering the chaos that goes on in Somnius!

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. ]

It's Getting Hot in Here

Speaking of chaos, the current state of Somnius is.. not great. It's not by any other means than a natural disaster that is completely a coincidence and not because Dreamers rebelled against the Skeksis and didn't heed to townsfolk warnings, right? Right.

As the weather gets hotter and hotter, the obvious side effects become clear - most notably, the townspeople are closing up shop until the weather settles down. The usual markets don’t open in the wee hours of the morning and even the blacksmith has laid down his hammer during the midpoint of the days, trying to avoid the peak of the warm rush. Anyone trying to speak to the townsfolk about the sudden change in weather will find them oddly standoffish and almost rude - it’s obvious who they’re blaming for their predicament.

Another clearly dissatisfied group of society are the mermaids of Lake Omen, who may be spotted more regularly than usual across the span of the boiling hot heat. While still a rare sight, the warmth of the water encouraged a few more angry and bitter of their kind to poke their heads out and try and find the source of their woes - hand in hand with their usual siren call. It may be possible to have them leave you be if you offer them something a little on the cooler side, but with the weather as it is… It might end up being more of a challenge than anticipated.

The days go by and it doesn’t seem as though the heat is ebbing in the least, the sun blazing in the sky and the shops still kept under tight lock and key. Even some of the town staples - the bakery and the inn - have their doors close to strangers, trying to find some means of keeping cool. As the days go by, characters that have affinity to fire (or any kind of fire power!) may find that their powers are a little… Out of control.

With the sun high in the sky and blazing hot, some fire seems to be going a little haywire across Visium and not acting as it should. Be it burning a little hotter than intended, blazing out of control or simply refusing to work whatsoever, fire powers are acting with a mind of their own. Characters who have fire-related powers, be it their own or through potions, may experience the same hazards, on a scale of disobedience to refusal to work.

Finally, the heat does seem to die down and the townsfolk release themselves from their self-inflicted isolation, but they’re still not completely at ease with the strangers and keep them at an arms length: some things are not easily forgotten, and the damage seems to have been done when it comes to the skeksis. They may speak to characters once the heatwave is over, but will consistently refuse to talk about the Skeksis, the attack or anything to do with the taxes. You had your chance, you blew it.

So Take Off All Your Clothes

Somnius has, from everyone's knowledge, always been nestled around a giant labyrinth built by The Almighty Lord Vaeros, as some townsfolk say. What's so good about a lord who seems to leave a town in shambles and doesn't seem to help? He's sus. Everything about this is sus.

However, one morning during the heatwave, both townsfolk and Dreamers alike will hear a crumble and a crash.. almost as if a wall is broken. The labyrinth has always been indestructible, but as Dreamers investigate, they will find a hole broken through the labyrinth, opening up to a new era. Should you go through the hole, Dreamers will see an area they haven't ever seen before...

Welcome to the New Location: Indigo Sand Grove. As the name implies, the sand here isn't white or.. well.. sandy colored, but instead a beautiful dark blue with the occasional glitter grains. It almost appears black if the scorching sun isn't hitting it just right. Any other foliage or trees seen here will be typical of Earthly tropical beaches with the occasional unidentifiable vegetation. All in all, Indigo Sand Grove and its beaches seem welcoming and not harmful at all. In fact, there are bamboo garden chairs sitting out, enticing people to have a beach party and sun bathe! As soon as characters touch their feet into the indigo sands, their clothing will change into a swimsuit from their home. The swimsuit is for keeps! Enjoy!

The sea is safe to swim in, filled with typical fish that would come from Earth and crystal clear waters. Characters will feel a sense of joy on the beach. It's not a forceful kind of magic, but something about this place really wants you to have a good time, so why not take advantage of that?

I am Gettin So Hot, I Wanna... Hunt Beetles!

CW: bugs, beetle imagery

Along with a swimsuit, characters will find a bamboo net, designed for hunting beetles. You may see that there is a bamboo forest neighboring the sandy beach where characters will find insects to capture with their net. If capturing beetles isn't your forte, maybe just go up to the person you have a close bond with and hit them over the head with your net. The choice is yours.

Among the typical insects, there are three types of horned beetles. Anyone familiar with beetle fighting may see this as an opportunity to find their new pet, but those with money on the mind may find out that the townsfolk will purchase beetles for bonus shards. Here are the types of beetles and their values:

CLICK FOR BEETLES!

Horned Dynastid (Red): 5 bonus shards.

Horned Atlas (Black): 10 bonus shards.

Horned Hercules (Gold): 15 bonus shards.

There will be a ruined down, old sign on the main path in the bamboo forest that lists these types of beetles and their price. Team up together and enter the forest to find a fortune!

Suspicious Message #2

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

Who or what has broken your heart before?

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. Characters who are disinterested in romance can also mention familial or platonic heartbreak. It can also be a devastating event or anything else.

[ 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 and Old characters are welcome to top level on the TDM. Please state in the header if you are a new or old player! Also, new characters may link their top levels under the new character comment so they are easier to find. Thanks for your cooperation!

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 a beetle hunting event. Be sure to comment under the RNG Beetle Hunt to see which beetle your character finds in order to exchange later for bonus shards! One RNG per character, please.

Comments

[reviling]

'A lot' just got a little bit more - Levi is obviously staring with no small amount of incredulity, taking in this stranger's appearance. Not at all what he'd expected, or like anything he's seen before, but he's quickly learning that's becoming a theme in this place.

His eyes linger on the elongated ears, but then even moreso on the wings. Something in him shifts, but he just stops himself from touching the blue and white winged emblem on his his jacket.

After a moment, he schools his expression, gaze finally moving back to the stranger's face, one eyebrow quirked.

"Don't suppose it'll make me sprout a pair of those?" Without his gear, they'd be useful.

[foundpurpose]

“Who knows. This was from somewhere else. What I got from this place might upset you.” Vax says without a pause. Being stared at isn’t that big of an issue. He leads the way to a space outside of foot traffic.

He crosses his arms. “My potion was gold. Vax’ildan. From a place that is probably a storybook to you.”

[reviling]

The insinuation that he'll be upset by something has him giving Vax'ildan a flat look. "Try me."

He's never seen people with pointy ears or wings before, sure, but the visage is considerably less horrific than staring down a twenty meter titan with too many teeth.

"Levi. Don't have many of those where I'm from, doubt any of them mention something like you." Perhaps someone wrote a fantasitcal tale about Survey Corps members sprouting wings to defeat titans, once, but he's never heard of it.

Levi rummages in the rucksack for the vial - cerulean, and shows it to Vax'ildan. "You saying you drank yours?"

[foundpurpose]

"I didn't want to be defenseless in an unknown place," Vax says and in a blink, he is far bigger. The massive elephant-sized bronze-scaled dragon shakes his horned head and spreads his wings wide. He flaps them once and stretches like a cat. Then he settles and flops over on his side with a heavy thud.

"Anyway, they wouldn't know elves? Damn. That's a surprise. The wings came later. Used to be in the spellwork of my armor. Then I was in this realm where they shoved magic into you and," He sweeps his paw out in a small gesture. His tail thumps against the ground. "But, that vial. I think my sister has one like that. She didn't drink hers."

[reviling]

There's no fissure of crackling energy in the air as the change happens, but Levi feels a familiar prickle down his spine nonetheless, hair standing up on the back of his neck in alarm as adrenaline floods his veins. He reaches automatically, uselessly, for his gear and his blades, hands grasping nothing but air.

"The fuck-"

Weaponless, he takes a few steps back, gazing up at the strange creature now in front of him with a mixture of awe and shock. Decidedly not a titan, but something more obviously dangerous. Something he's definitely never seen before, real or in storybooks.

The lazy gestures and the fact that Vax'ildan can still talk somehow do make it somewhat less threatening - and it helps that Levi has encountered monstrosities easily ten times larger (though none with wings, admittedly). Still, he doesn't edge any closer, already studying this new creature as though trying to calculate just how he could escape it should it try to attack.

"Yeah..." he says warily, hands flexing. Damn fucking shit. "Never heard of any of that shit. Why didn't she drink it?"

[foundpurpose]

He settles on his feet and curls up like a cat. “Why didn’t you? Being paranoid is how we’ve survived so long. In our line of work, there are so many risks. So many things trying to kill us. I knew she wouldn’t.

So I tested it.” Because he will always step in front of swords, magic, and mighty things for those he loves. That selflessness is the basis of why he is Paladin of a goddess.

He turns his head. “And I ended up being able to become a dragon. So I’m plenty useful.” He grins and there are too many sharp teeth in that grin.

[reviling]

"You could have ended up something else much uglier, or dead," Levi says flatly. "Then your sister would have had to live with your choices."

He's not particularly impressed with that sort of supposed heroism. Recklessness was more likely to get people killed, in his experience. Even if Vax'ildan had technically risked his own life, there's still been no real need to take the risk; so far, Levi hasn't heard of anything that happens to people who don't drink, so why do it?

"So you don't know what the blue one does?"

[foundpurpose]

“No. The red is elemental. The gold is shapechanging. Everyone who took them survived.” He doesn’t say the truth built under the reckless behavior.

He is dead. He is on borrowed time and risking things merely means hours before he returns. He shifts onto his feet and spreads his wings slowly. Then folds them.

“We have a choice whether we drink or not. If I had to guess, blue might be healing.”

[reviling]

"Hm." Levi doesn't further argue any other 'what ifs' - he well knows that often all you can do is make decisions as best you can with the limited, shitty information that you have. Some things are always a risk. He doesn't particularly consider drinking a potion that's unknown and easily ignored a risk worth taking, but clearly this man had felt otherwise.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Levi looks contemplative.

"What kind of healing?"

There is some appeal to that, even if he can't help thinking of the way the shifters can regenerate their damaged bodies. Creepy. But perhaps...it could have its uses.

[foundpurpose]

“Not sure. Normally, I can tap into a little bit of it myself. Push a little mending into someone. I’ve known others who can do it on a grander scale. Heal a bunch of at once. Could be a small amount of magic to help others or yourself mend.”

Vax says as he tucks his limbs under him. A dragon loaf. “It’s up to you.”

[reviling]

"Is that a normal thing where you're from? With...dragons and whatever else?" He can't imagine what that would be like, for such a thing to be just...a given possibility. How many people could they have saved with such a thing at the Corps disposal?

Levi is also looking curiously over the dragon form in front of him, eyes traveling to what would equate to the nape of the creature's neck. He wonders if the transformation is something similar to when Eren shifts into his titan form - is the real Vax'ildan hidden within the dragon body, fully intact? There's seemingly nothing obvious, but...hm.

[foundpurpose]

“Yeah. Dragons, shit from the hells, undead, things from other realms… there is a lot that can terrorize people.

But, there are those who stand against it in equal measure. One side is more fucked over than the other. Life as usual.” He looks down at his claws then sighs, stretching out. He’s a big guy despite being small for a dragon.

“The latest fucking problem is waiting for us when we get back.” He returns to half-elf and folds his legs under him. “How many types of people exist for you? For us there’s many even those descended from dragons.”

[reviling]

It should perhaps feel stranger than it does to be talking to a fucking dragon, something he hadn't even known could exist even hours ago. But Levi is nothing if not adaptable, and even the strangest shit becomes manageable once he accepts it for what it is. For a moment he just looks down at Vax'ildan, having returned to his regular (he assumes) form, overlaying and cataloguing both in his mind.

"Types?" Truthfully, he doesn't quite understand the question. "There's humans, and there's titans who eat humans, so there's not many humans left."

His eyes flick to the pointed ears briefly. "Nobody like you."

A pause, and then: "How the fuck are people descended from dragons?"

[foundpurpose]

"That explains that." He runs a finger along the edge of his ear. "I never asked how Draconias and Ravenites came to be. All I know is it is something about their god. But types - elves, gnomes, halfings, goliaths, etc. People like 'me' are half and half. Half human, half-elf." He rolls one shoulder as feels out a hard knot, and works it out with his fingers.

"Tieflings are technically descended from demons but they're not demons. Just other folk." He waves a hand. Tiefs are just kind of pretty. But the word titan. His eyes widen and he looks at him. "Titans...elemental? Or something else?"

Probably something else. But you never know.

[reviling]

Levi shifts his weight to his other foot, shrugging. "Never even heard of any of those." Not even in storybooks. Gods? Perhaps he has a vague notion of something about that. Such things never really made it to the underground. Fantasy there was about making it to the world above and living comfortably. Except he had escaped (or rather, been dragged out), and then it became a whole other fight for survival.

After another moment, he finally drops down to a spot in the shade a few feet from Vax'ildan, sitting cross legged, elbows resting on his knees.

"Just monsters that look like bigass, creepy humans. They can't speak, and the only thing they know is to devour any human they find. And they're fast, for how fucking huge they are. The pitiful remains of humanity have been confined behind three walls for generations."

Well, two, now, for some years, and there's people who can turn into titans, and other shit about humanity's past that they've only recently discovered. But there's a lot about all of that that even he hasn't had time to fully comprehend.

[foundpurpose]

Vax crosses his arms over his chest. His brow furrows. The details are worrying. He doesn’t know how Levi’s world works.

And yet. “I don’t know if any of that is natural. But it sounds to me like someone messed with something they shouldn’t.”

It has the ring of some of the undead creatures he has encountered. But he can’t say if this is true or not. “Stuff like that at home is the work of necromancers. And mages.”

[reviling]

Levi looks frustrated, but it's hard to say if it's with Vax or with the topic itself.

"Natural or not, it's reality. The information most anyone has inside the walls is that we are what remains of humanity. Supposedly no one knows where the monsters came from, just that they appeared over a hundred years ago and began eating everyone. Humans have been fighting for survival ever since."

He falls silent, contemplative. So much had happened in just the past few months - new revelations that the king is false, that the true history of the titans has been deliberately obscured by one particular family, that everything they had believed about their world could be false. That titans, even the ones mindless with hunger, had all once been humans.

And he has killed more than anyone.

"Perhaps it is as you say. Someone at some point fucked with something they shouldn't have, and the people in power covered it up to save their own filthy asses. There's a lot about what is left of the world that we don't know. I don't know anything about necromancers or mages or whatever the fuck you call them. I can only act upon what I do know, and hope that maybe some day, because of the things that I and others are able to do, there will be a world that people don't have to hide behind walls anymore."

[foundpurpose]

“Then you and I are the same. We’re fighting for a peaceful world for everyone.” He considers everything and offers his hand for a shake. “Whatever is going on here. If it’s to keep others safe. You can always ask me to come along.”

And it has to be useful to have a dragon in the sky as back up. And later, a very deadly fighter. Not that he isn’t vicious and skilled now.

[reviling]

Levi looks at the hand for a brief moment. There are still many unknowns, and trust is a slow thing, but he likes to think he has a decent intuition about people. So far, Vax hasn't set off any particular alarm bells to make him especially wary. Plus, it would be good to have at least one alliance.

He takes the hand, grip firm but not overpowering. "Thanks. Same for you."