buttrinthum | TDM #1

Entry tags:

!tdm

TDM #1

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: poinsettias and mistletoe. You’ll soon find out that being around the poinsettias give you an odd sense of joy no matter how confusing the situation may seem and the mistletoe, which is left over from the holiday season, gives you the desire to kiss or hold hands with the nearest person to you. 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?

Somnius / Snow Angels

With the influx of new life, the humble town a barkeep tells you is called Somnius seems to come alive as well, with new faces to join that of the resident fairies, goblins and other townfolk. There’s bustling energy to the land that the townfolk will tell you wasn’t quite there before, and some suspect that the presence of the new arrivals might be powering the world around them in some way - but that’s a question to be answered on another day. The quaint town of Somnius needs a little bit of care, that rustic feel to the mushroom houses, old shops and weathered castles too evident at first glance, but it’s not a bad place to live, as the locals will tell you. It almost seems like everything will be okay…

But of course, things are never so simple.

Whether you have been wandering around to get your bearings, talking to the locals or exploring your new humble (very humble) abode, you can expect to find mysterious ice sculptures - fashioned in the shape of snow angels, with blades in their hands - appearing in random places around the town. There are some that manifest in the middle of the street, some that sit quietly at the edge of an inn, and even some that appear right beside your bed, staring at you as you wake up. It’s unclear how these sculptures even got here, but close proximity to them will conjure up feelings of unrest, like you should not step any closer.

It’s smart to trust your gut in these situations. Step too close to a snow angel and it will come to life, moving with the grace of flowing water. They make a vague request and will spare only those able to heed it.

“Cold … so cold … Even the days of Visium are so cold. Have you any warmth to spare us?”

Some angels will accept an article of clothing as warmth. Others are greedy and keep demanding more, wanting to take everything that you have on your body. Heed their requests and they will spare you. Resist even just a little, and that’s when they draw their swords.

It’s not too easy to defeat an angel with brute force given that they reform themselves immediately. Running away or blasting them with fire could do the trick. Be careful not to get cut by their blades, however…

Characters who get cut by their blades will experience an inconsolable sense of chill and emptiness, right down to their bones. They will find themselves desiring ‘warmth’ from others in different ways - whether through physical contact, or affectionate words and gestures. There might be the few who go feverish in their desire for warmth. For those characters – the open fireplace is looking like a very tantalizing place to sit in right now (Yes, sit in, not by). They might even feel compelled to pull a friend in with them. That can’t be good for anyone…

The effects will only subside if the condition of receiving ‘warmth’ is met. This can be in the literal sense (physical warmth and intimacy) or figurative (feelings of love, acceptance and happiness).

Bonfire

When night falls, the temperatures only drop further, which does no favours for the poor souls who had to give up their clothing. The locals want to welcome the new arrivals and give everyone an opportunity to unwind from a busy and chaotic day of being hunted by snow sculptures. That’s why they’ve set up a gathering in the middle of town square. Food and alcohol is being generously supplied by The Cask & Anvil, and marketplace vendors have set up pop up stands to try and cajole the new arrivals into purchasing some fancy new clothes or a pretty gemstone they claim will ward off danger (claims not verified).

At the center of it all is a large bonfire that’s warming up the square. Everyone is encouraged to warm themselves by it after a long day, eat, and make merry. In fact, there’s a certain sense of enchantment to the crackling fire that seems to draw even the shiest wallflower in, pushing them to sit with others and make conversation. As the night goes on, the newly arrived dreamers will find themselves settling easily into the warm and bustling mood, any stresses and anxieties melting away. With time, they’ll start to find themselves without a filter, more than happy to talk about themselves and the life they had led prior to coming to Visium. In fact, they will feel compelled to share a story from their past - one that might be joyous, comedic, thrilling, or tragic. Whatever sorts of feelings come attached to their story, it will be one of emotional significance.

In the back of their minds, they might get the sense someone else is listening.

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. Please comment here to request an outcome for your character's labyrinth exploration and a moderator will get to you shortly. (The longest a character can stay in the Labyrinth is 3 days.)

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

Arrival

[ "I don't know. And several beers in, I still don't know. Maybe there isn't a solution. Just, uuugggh. I don't like compromising, especially when it comes to living my life. Even if it's the adult thing to do-- I wish! I wish I could just stay like I am, and really BE immortal!"

The young woman remembers shouting this in the middle of a conversation with her friend, although a feeling had seized her heart at that moment she made her wish that in hindsight makes her wonder what had possessed her. The manner of spirit doing the possessing though, though...]

...What the FUCK was in that drink?

[The obvious question that must be asked when you happened to make your wish while depressed drinking at an e-sports bar, before promptly seeing a bird in flight and losing consciousness. Zapper didn't even remember what the type of beer was to begin with. Pressing the heel of her palm against her forehead, trying to think, she glances around at everyone there, then squints at her letter and the red potion. The wish? What ... that one? But that's impossible. It's so impossible it's silly...

She loves impossible and silly. Well, the poinsettias surrounding her may have something to do with it too, but still. The red of her hair and clothes makes her look very natural here. She might wave (showing off her Gamer Tattoos) at someone else who's nearby to see how they're dealing with all of this - there's so many people here with letters, after all.]

Hey, you know what any of this is about? Some kind of ARG? Don't tell me we all joined a cult.

Somnius

[At some point Zapper found her way here, and now that she's out of the gardens where it was mostly (I presume) other humans, she's rather agape at the muppety-ass townsfolk. Someone has clearly never been in a fantasy realm before, or exercised familiarity with the genre - it's been a couple hours since she found this place, so she's gotten hungry enough that she is now very casually partaking of the bread and potion that were in her satchel as she walks around. Actually, she stops in her tracks after a swig of the potion, blinking.]

This is so damn good!! [With a huge grin, she makes a finger gun at a random goblin, as if it was responsible for providing this to her (for all she knows everyone here is in on this?) ...But in her excitement, a tiny zap of lightning flies out from her fingertip. Insert Wilhelm Scream here while Zapper looks completely confused.] !?!

Snow Angels

[There's an angel wearing a bra swirling angrily around this fiery looking lady - Zapper was willing to help a little, but it got greedy, and now she demands satisfaction!]

You picked a fight with the wrong bitch, blizzard tits! I'm the Metalgeddon IV lightgun champion. Bring it on!

[Electric attacks are not as effective as fire, but her aim is highly efficient. Firing from both her fingers, the zaps are still tiny - however, she is aiming at its sword, a good conductor for the electricity! She may not be killing it, but it's having significant difficulty swinging at her, so this is kind of a stalemate.]

Rrghh... c'mon, die already! Die! DIE!

[She's having a great time! Will you break the tie? Point and laugh?]

Into The Fire

[Unsurprising that Zapper would have a few cuts after tempting fate like that, right? At some point she decided the city full of angels was too much of a pain to deal with and explored the labyrinth instead. The happiness she experienced at the delightful Pond Of Round Frogs was enough to stave off the bitter cold the entire time she was there, so she was almost able to ignore it, and she even came back with a cute friend as she joins the crowd at the big bonfire! The ice is slowly starting to spread again, but that's no reason not to mingle - maybe it's even more of a reason? She could find someone to talk about the past with... but with her past, that would just make her even colder, really. Instead, she's going up to a person who's standing close to the flames and hold out her buddy to them. She looks rather out of it.]

Hey, you wanna hold my frogger for a second? I have to go in...

[IN WHERE?! (It's the fucking fire. Of course. At least she doesn't want to endanger the friend but...) She's already backing up toward it, grinning as the heat tickles her back. It feels great!! She's SUPER casual about this!! Also, shivering.]

Aw, don't look so scared. This probably isn't real anyway, but if I'm wrong, welp! Making mistakes is sort of a hobby of mine to begin with. Someone's gotta be the object lesson, right? C'mon, take it.

ARG? ...Proooooobably not. Don't remember signing up for that. [Kokichi would remember. DICE has probably orchestrated at least a couple of those as side-projects. Just for fun.] Cult, though...that's still on the table.

[He waves the small parchment he got, giving it only one more glance.]

Something about granting our wishes in exchange for us staying here, so. We're at the mercy of this host of ours. Until we find him, maybe...buuuuuut he had the power to teleport us here, so hey. Might still be a lot to go up against.

Teleport? What? [as she groaned out earlier, she just assumed someone spiked her drink and hauled her off to wherever this is. A bit of a huff.]

Whatever, doesn't matter. It's enough that we were taken - the whole "you consented" thing is total bull, all I remember is wishing for something and then, randomly passing out. Not much room to agree in there.

But I dunno. This all seems kinda whimsical. I mean, a labyrinth? That makes it seem more like a game.

[This is, unfortunately, not his first rodeo in this regard.] Yeah, I've done this song and dance before. Consenting to something, not knowing why, or how...'least nothing's trying to kill me right now. It's something we'll have to look into when we meet this host of ours.

[He snorts.] Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. Maybe it's like a big game. Y'never know... [He hums.] By the waaaaaaaay. Did you get a potion?

Well, that sucks? At least you seem confident. [Zapper's really not sure what to make of him being in a similar situation but with killing. She doesn't even have a handle on THIS situation.]

Yeah, red bottle with a Drink Me tag. Also very whimsical.

That's basically my go-to for anything. Boundless confidence. [Kokichi tilts his head.] Yours is red? Mine was yellow. [Interesting. He's noting that in the back of his head...]

[His cat ears pop out from his head, and his cat tail pops out from behind him.]

Anyway. You should try it. It's fun.

[is he telling her he drank a catboy potion. She is too online for this.]

Whoa, careful little boy. You might wind up participating in our overlord's fetish!

Zapper | Arcade Spirits: The New Challengers

arrival

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Into The Fire

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Snow Angels

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Snow Angels omg she looks like they could be besties

tall and short foul mouthed gingers, let's goooo

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Into the Fire (mild AiSom: Nirvana Initiative spoilers hinted at)

mumble mumble AINI spoilers as well

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