buttrinthum | TDM #6

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: holly and bluebells.

Standing too close to the bluebells for too long or smelling them will make a Dreamer unable to refuse requests. This can last for however long a player may wish, whether it be for a few days or just a few minutes. The holly, however, also gives off a strange effect when getting too close to it: Dreamers will feel compelled to be more helpful & outgoing, no matter how gloomy and closed off they are. This effect can also last for a few days or a few minutes-- it is up to the player!

Eventually, Dreamers will find their way out of the Enchanted Garden and into the city of Somnius, whether it be by following the alluring light or on their own.

Webby's Sleepover Extravaganza

It’s funny how if you ask for something, sometimes that’s all it takes to have it given to you. Maybe Webby is just that lucky, or Vaeros is feeling just that generous the day it’s requested but for two days and one night only in the beginning of the month of November, a large castle stands where one didn’t before. It’s grand in that it doesn’t need repairs like some of the available housing does, but it’s certainly nothing too awe-inspiring. But, it’s big enough for its purpose—a sleepover party for every inhabitant new or old.

During the night a few days before the party, EVERY person receives a handwritten invitation to this sleepover blowout. It doesn’t matter who, young or old. For those who wake up in Somius after the invitations arrive, they’ll find an invitation just for them in their pocket or satchel, like they were always meant to be invited from the beginning.
Decorations are bright and colorful, spanning the whole rainbow. One giant room full of cots and sleeping bags, blankets and pillows has been made to be the centerpiece of the whole affair. This is where most of the partygoers will mingle and play games, if they’re not too busy with one of the other activities located in one of the other rooms nearby. There’s plenty of room to wander, though any room that has not been decorated and made up for the party is locked down completely with no way in. There are, of course quiet spaces provided for those who need a quick getaway from all the partying. Or maybe going outside for a stroll in the night garden would be calming too?

For those who don’t have anything appropriate to sleep in, pajamas are even provided. But they might be a little silly, since beggars can’t be choosers. Who wants the unicorn fuzzy pajamas?

Games Galore - There’s plenty to play with, at Webby’s insistence (and by insistence we mean she gives you the biggest doe-eyes you’ve ever seen) and she’s more than happy to give you overly-detailed means on how to play the following -

🎉Twister - a huge sheet blotted with colorful spots has been laid on the floor, along with a square with similar colors and a spinny arrow. The rules are simple - one person spins the arrow, and where it lands you put your foot or hand. First to fall loses, so amp up the embarrassment - er, fun as you all get tangled up with each other.
🎉Truth Or Dare - Two options, one chance for chaos. Surely you’re all going to be mature individuals and not ask mortifying questions or dangerous dares.
🎉Pin The Tail On The Donkey - Yes, Webby’s sole guardian was a woman whose idea of fun was from the 1950s, how did you know? But she’s also put up optional sheets of different animals to stick their tail/bodyparts on while you’re blindfolded, including past threats like zombies and skeksis.

Bountiful Buffet - The best way to stay up late is to stuff yourself silly with sugar, which is why the dining room table is loaded with all kinds of desserts. Remy and Aurora have supplied some of their own sugary confections, and you’re more than welcome to have added your own creations to the buffet. Just don’t start any food fights. At least not where Webby can see it!

As though the castle (or whoever ACTUALLY owns it) wants to help assist the party atmosphere, those who partake of the food might feel a little more inclined to be friendly and amenable to party activities. You know, just for those gloomy gusses out there. There are no drawbacks to this little bit of fairy dust, just a little bit of social greasing, you know?

Makeover Makeover Makeover - Vil has ever so kindly offered his beauty supplies for those of you who want to experiment with some new looks, and you’re free to have brought your own. Test it out on one another or try it out yourself. Then again, when he’s not looking, what’s to stop you from trying to paint yourself up like a B-movie monster?

Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark - Some of you may have had more than enough of your share of frights due to last month’s… fun, but surely you can handle a bit more fright? In a dark room with only one light torch, gather in a circle and share a spooky story from times gone by. Just be prepared for that one person who always sneaks up from behind and goes BOO at the right time. It’s inevitable.

Pillow Fight - Pick a side or be a lone warrior, grab a pillow and show no mercy! The last one standing wins! The only rule is your pillow is your sole weapon! In fact, there seem to be more pillows available than there are people here, so let the feathers fly! If the castle magically produces more, who’s to say? Shrug and keep the battle going!

Bonfire of Growth

CW: memory share, character specific trauma

Some may be aware that harvest season is a season of growth and not just in the cultivating sense. Townsfolk take this time to evaluate themselves and really think about things in their lives that have potentially been holding them back from being their strongest and truest selves. With the newly accessible Indigo Beach providing plenty of room for multiple bonfires, Dreamers will see several bonfires stretched across the dark blue sand, logs and rocks assembled around each one, beckoning Dreamers near.

As soon as they step out on the beach’s sands, characters will find a slip of paper on their person (in their pocket, up their sleeve.. any readily accessible portion of their clothing.) On that piece of paper, they will have a personalized phrase catered to them, making them remember a painful memory that has held them back in some way. The phrase can be anything players want it to be as long as it jogs the memory back into the head of their characters. Those with a paper slip will feel compelled to sit around the bonfire and contemplate their memory; they also will feel encouraged to share that memory with anyone who is sitting nearby. If characters choose to throw the paper slip into the fire, those who have heard the story of their grief will have a very vivid visual of the event in their mind’s eye along with feeling the exact pain they went through as well.

Once these memories are shared and characters take a moment to grieve, they will feel significantly better about the past situation that caused them so much pain. This can be temporary or permanent, it’s up to the player.

Although refreshments won’t be provided, Dreamers are encouraged to bring their own. And yes, something adjacent to s’mores can be something characters may bring.

Suspicious Message #4

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

Who or what from home do you miss the most?

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 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. Special thank you to Melissa for the player plot and prompts!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Astarion can smell the blood; it's a thick, heady taste in his mouth, drawing him before he has the rationality to think it through. He's not exactly a kind man, but there's no denying the draw of so much wasted resource, so much being taken from someone - and if there is another vampire here, and their feasting is what he can smell, then that is going to be something he has to take an interest in. He's not going to permit anyone else to begin marking territory.

He's never been very good at sharing.

There's very little time between the first hint of blood and him discovering the girl, slipping through the flowers and watching her as she sinks, lower and dropping to the ground. If he was a kinder man, he might feel some level of empathy, understanding: he can recall crawling out of a grave, can remember how it felt when he was close to death, the smell of his own coppery, metallic blood. But Astarion is not a kind man; he's barely a man at all these days.

Crossing his arms, he coughs, a little dramatic and over the top, to deliberately get her attention. He wouldn't like to be observed during one of his little breakdowns, thank you very much. ]

Now, now. You're making the garden filthy. There are far better things to be doing with all that...

[ He waves his hand. Does he mean the blood or the trauma? Who's to say. ]

[ When her face snaps up, her expression is that of some sort of prey animal – the sort used to being batted around for something else's amusement, calculating risk and reward and ducking its head and cowering if it means surviving another day, hour, minute. She's usually good at covering it up and pretending she's not but in this strange garden with her clothes swollen with her own blood cooling against her skin, it's all animal as she looks up at this stranger.

It occurs to her that his voice isn't one she knows and that he's talking to her. Both those things together mean that both he and she are – probably – real.

Blink. Prey animal gives way to reeling, confused human. The hand on her stomach squeezes and blood oozes out from the fabric between her fingers. ]

Aah... I didn't think... [ Another wet laugh bubbles out of her without her meaning to make it happen. When she talks and her teeth flash, those too are red with blood. ] I didn't even know it was still on me until I looked.

[ Astarion might have been a little softened by time - Tav has worked miracles on making him a little kinder, offering him warmth and expecting it in return - but that doesn't mean that he's nice. He doesn't rush forward to try and take care of her, nor does he offer her any comfort. He's curious about what has happened to her, and he's a little overwhelmed by the scent of blood still.

His arms cross over his chest, and he raises his eyebrow. Well. ]

I'm surprised you didn't smell it first.

[ Leaning forward, he frowns. ]

Are you still hurt?

[ She smells it, tastes it. It sticks to her tongue and her teeth and the reek of it fills her head but it doesn't quite seem real. Surely it can't be if she's still here and still talking. Or so she'd like to tell herself. ]

I–I don't...

[ The squeeze of her hand turns into a clenched fist, fabric squelching grotesquely between her fingers. Her body feels like some strange, foreign organism she's operating from a distance and it takes her a moment longer than it otherwise might have to catalogue everything – the absence of pain, the lack of that gouging wound on her stomach.

It had been there. She's swallowing the proof of it. But now– ]

It's gone. [ She says it to herself almost as much if not more than Astarion. ] I–it has to have been there but... it isn't anymore.

[ There's a sting of something inside of him, an ache of something that makes his heart ache a little. He can remember his own experience, digging his way out of his grave, clawing at the dirt and pushing himself up, not knowing if it was real or if it was all a nightmare come to life. He knows how it feels to come back to life after thinking you're dead, and there's nothing he can do to ease that burden.

He is making an assumption, of course he is, but given how much blood she's covered in and her reaction... It might be a fair guess for him to make, the empathy hurting him somewhere deep inside. In comparison to him, she's just a child.

(He had been just a child too, in the eyes of his elven brethren, but that isn't the point). ]

Apparently, we're healed here. They didn't take the time to clean you up, however.

[ Stepping over, he leans down and offers his hand, nose only wrinkling a touch. ]

We can fix that.

[ Healed. He makes it sound so quick and clean and convenient – and strictly speaking, this is all of those things. No doctor she can imagine could have fixed an injury like that. She'd told Aqua as much. For her to be here and still breathing then it really can only be something that miraculous. Maybe it's necessary for her wish to be granted. She doesn't remember what words she had used but the emotions ring through strong and clear even so.

Aqua and Ruby. No matter where or what she is, everything comes back to Aqua and Ruby in the end.

The pale hand he offers looks real and tangible. If she takes it – if she can take it – then that means that she must be both of those things, too. It's oddly comforting to entertain the idea of being a ghost if only for a moment. Ghosts can't bleed again, after all. But she's had one too many convenient miracles today to count on that.

She reaches out slowly with the hand that seems the least dirty and hesitantly curls her fingers around his. Perhaps unsurprisingly, her hand is cold as death. ]

I... don't know where to go.

Do any of us?

[ That's an existential crisis for another time, surely. Astarion shakes his head as he moves to tug her up, drawing her to her feet with at least a little bit of care. It's rather irritating, just how much he is concerned with her, how much he sees of himself and other spawn in her, but... That is a thought for later - much later.

Carefully, he draws his hand away; his own palm is cold, pale, not retaining much in the way of heat.

Turning back to look at the world around them, he hums absently. ]

There's the town, I suppose, or the houses, where you can claim one for yourself. You can even select a treehouse, if that's something you'd enjoy.

[ He lives in one: Karlach picked it. He tolerates it. ]

[ She rises to her feet in a trembling sort of way – again, the manner of some kind of prey animal uncertain of whether or not its legs will hold under it. To her surprise, her knees refuse to unhinge again and ground stays solid and steady under her. She becomes aware quite suddenly that she hasn't even been allowed the dignity of a pair of shoes... but when she considers the state her clothes are in, it's probably the least of her problems.

Her thoughts feel like they're fraying in all directions. It takes a second too long for her to realize her hand is empty and when she drops it back to her side, her fingers curl in to her palm, trying to remember her usual way of standing, of holding herself, of just existing.

Okay. She's on her feet. One problem is solved. So long as she only focuses on the immediate next step for a while, she might be able to manage this. ]

I can... claim one? [ Usually you'd say buy or rent, right? ] How much for? I don't... think I have any money with me... if it's even worth anything here.

As far as I can tell? They don't charge you a thing.

[ It's starting to get rather irritating, just how much he is finding himself relating to this scrap of a girl. He had been dead, once, crawled out of a grave and dug up, forced to start work immediately. He can see from the way she's moving, acting, that it hasn't quite settled in her mind yet, and he has to force himself to remain a kind of calm that he's not used to.

Empathy isn't his forte. He is far more comfortable with general anger and frustration.

Astarion's hand drops away and he nods his head once, sharply. ]

Anyone in town will be able to point you to whatever home you please.

TDM #6

im special

blows u a kissy

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