outofsticks | OOC PLOTTING: A CREEPING FURY SETTING IN (Reply)

SETTING UPDATES

Zahliyaquest is almost complete. While we don’t have a full breadth of updates for you now because it’s still in the final phase, we’re noting this here for everyone not involved. There will be a summary posted on OOC plotting after it officially concludes, please look forward to it.
The rains have stopped and the plants have returned back to normal. No harm was done to them during their growing-shrinking phase; they’re just as healthy as they originally were.
Autumn is rolling in! That means the leaves are starting to turn yellow and orange and will soon start falling. If you jump into any piles, mind the two-headed mice that live under them.
Nene has a cute cottage in North Aldric’s Grove now, near the pathway into it and close to the Archives/library.

PLOT UPDATES

Characters will wake up one day- or enter the Grove entirely- to Ydalir getting up to some antics! Specifically, she is running around with a cute poofy witch hat atop her head, and flowy wraps and robes, and handing out enchanted items.
These items will include a wide range of options from a wand that summons a (d20) amount of pigeons, to a goldfish that follows you in a bubble to far more! Players are free to come up with their own enchanted items or roll in the Pain-free gacha (as opposed to the latter event’s very painful gacha) for a mod-generated one.
These items will last for the month. Some may have special rules attached, i.e. the pigeon wand may not summon more than the rolled number of pigeons per day. It also may not summon Passenger. Any extraneous rules will be given upon acquisition; if you make up your own, a good rule of thumb is to not make up items that will give you immortality/a way around plot mechanics easily, and to keep it on the side of silly.
Of course, despite Ydalir’s best efforts, something has set the Black Sun off and he has another game for everyone. One that he’ll be taking much more seriously this time.
This portion of the event will consist of trying to hide from and escape three different entities hunting you down in the forest.
- A very large lichen-covered dragon with many, many legs. (14 or higher)
- A rock-like bear. (12 or higher)
- A giant, mossy frog. (10 or higher)
… and a multitude of small fairies wearing masks with only a single eye painted on. (flip a coin to evade being seen)
To avoid capture, one must roll a die and reach a certain number depending on your encounter(s)- freedom means you can (but are not obliged to) encounter another one of the seekers, up until you are finally caught. Their designated safe rolls are also listed above.
- If you very specifically want your character to be caught by, say, the moss frog — you don’t need to fudge rolls, you can just do it. The rolls exist to give you guys options in case you’re unsure what you want.
Unlike the other three, the fairies are not able to capture you- but they CAN rat you out and sound an alarm to draw one of them to you for capture. However, the fairies can also be bribed with food (honey, flowers, small animals) or sufficiently shiny things. If you wish to bribe a fairy into being your friend, let the mods know! Though… who’s to say how long this will actually last.
Upon capture, player characters will be brought to an enormous tree that seems to be withering. As more players are hooked into the tree, it will begin to drain their life force to reinvigorate itself. The goal of the game is to have at least 10 people free at the end of the game, with victory granting a small boon: every participant will be given a free, small, nonmagical item from home, dropped off via biblically accurate deer courier. If you want to try to free someone from the tree, hash it out with the player in question. If you're unsure or want some randomness to it, hit up a mod! We’ll work with you for a daring rescue. … Or a failed rescue. Depends on the dice.
As a warning, encountering the seekers will include potential mauling, other injuries, and being carried in things’ mouths (Very Gross). Death is only a risk with express player permission, and post-game revival will consist of two things: The first being plantlike scars over the areas where wounds were inflicted — these can either be permanent or impermanent, depending on player, but they will last for at least 24 hours either way. They are non-corrupting and simply meant to scare you. The other is that everyone who dies will be afflicted with 24-hour long total amnesia.
- Remember that deaths caused by a Large Game Event™ do not result in trips to the Garden.
… But, he has always rewarded your survival, and he will continue to do so. As you recover from the lingering effects of Hide and Seek, the entire river will come to a pleasant glow. Investigations will reveal… blinding light that is less pleasant up close!
The river water has always been oddly crisp and clear, but somehow it seems even more so now. Even the most unknowing of people can also tell there is a much wider variety of plant life growing in and around the river, alongside an equally wider variety of animal life.
The lining of the river is also graced with more blessings from the guardians! Alongside the apple tree from Sinann for its initial rescuing and Moder’s blackberry bushes, you can now find a peach tree and an orange tree…
And a durian tree, courtesy of Callan.
… There sure are a lot of small ducks around now, too…
Characters can now unearth more things from their medallion/shell/scale/bone scavenging as well- from the depths of the river and it’s banks, you may now uncover jewelry or old wood or stone toys from a civilization long since passed, or other small items!
And perhaps most importantly, with the river’s growth, Sinnan will undergo some changes itself! It will become much larger (though not quite its true size) — about four feet long now. It will also be able to speak to you guys, without you guys needing a bone ring, hooray! In light of this, it will be bumped up to the Contactable section of NPC contact (along with Callan, because Wolfie forgot to do that last month, rip).

OOC UPDATES:

Wolfie mentioned this in the Discord, but so that it’s on record in a more accessible place: The map is still not updated and I (hi, this is Wolfie) am very sorry about this. The TL;DR is that the program that is used for it is no longer shutting down (yay!) but without Patreon access, the program automatically removes custom-uploaded assets (which the Sticks map has tons of) once the map is loaded. My financial situation is a lot better than it was in summer when the shitstorm of computer/medical bills occurred and this issue will be solved, do not give me money, but unfortunately the OMM team is now having issues syncing up Patreon accounts with client logins. Yes it’s bad, yes I hate the dev team. It will be corrected hopefully this month since I can both afford their Patreon tier and they maybe, probably, will correct their weird issues.
The locations page will continue to be updated in the meantime.
This month and October are double-TDM months because we historically do not run them in Nov-Dec due to the holiday season. TDMs will resume in January!

Please use the following form for plotting:

Character:
Status: Who is your character? What did they get up to last month and how is it impacting this month? Did they discover something? Are they harboring a clue? HMM
Seeking: Any CR or plot thread you want to kickstart!
Not Seeking: Anything you'd like to avoid.
Anything Else: A permissions post, opt-in for a character-specific power or whatever else.
Meme: you know you have one.

OOC PLOTTING: A CREEPING FURY SETTING IN

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