outofsticks | OOC PLOTTING: we briefly forgot we were a horror game for a few months, sorry!

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OOC PLOTTING: we briefly forgot we were a horror game for a few months, sorry!

Hello everyone! Before we get into our standard setup, we wanted to make a small announcement: September and October’s events are going to be linked together heavily, and the October event will focus on a fake rescue from the forest and ‘safety’ within another city on the continent of Ostorn. We wanted to let you all know ahead of time, since that is! Sort of a huge deal, and will involve a lot of false hope. We’re very excited for the plot for these two months though, and we hope that you also enjoy them.

SETTING UPDATES

The giant flower has been taken down with the combined efforts of Thorns and Sam fucking around and Shadow Milk hosting a coup with some of the most destructive men alive. Hurray! Those who’d been trapped will find themselves feeling lethargic as they recover from the Dream, and will be dealing with injuries from the Fucking Around by player preference. This will mostly involve light burns, but it’s possible to be even more drained than the others as well.
White Lily Cookie will return from the garden safely as well.
Autumn chills are starting to set in and the trees are turning, welcoming the change of seasons with grace. Certain plantimals have to start preparing for winter, if you can remove them from your house or business with any success, and the only thing unaffected are the ever-blooming fruit trees and bushes blessed by the Guardians.
Sehul, our bone dragon friend, has skin now thanks to Livio’s efforts. They now no longer rattle when they walk.
Despite the start of Autumn making itself known, cyclamen can be seen sprouting and blooming in small patches around the Grove as early as the fall of the flower bulb.
Eventually the cyclamen will make a path into an offshoot of the woods- even from a distance within the Grove, one may see bright colorful lights through the trees as well.
Should you follow the path or investigate the lights, you’ll find yourselves treated to the Cyclamen Circus! The entire crew seems to be Slightly Off somehow, but are friendly and eager to perform, though the real show won’t be until the next… …. Full Moon-ish, time is so strange in this forest. And everyone is invited!
… Though, some of the crew members and performers may be… familiar, somehow. They look like friends. A shame they don’t seem to recognize you, though.
New arrivals may wake up within the Grove, or find themselves snapping awake sitting in the audience during a show.

PLOT UPDATES

The night of the grand performance, guests are invited to watch and play. Outside of the main tent are stalls and carnival games, after all. Side show tents will eventually lead to the main tent, so you really have to try if you want to avoid the show… though, this does seem to anger the staff.
The circus will start as any ordinary show might, but through the night the audience will gradually find themselves in more and more danger- props being flung at people with the intent to hurt, circus animals mundane and magical lashing out and trying to get at the nearest person to maul, clowns and dancers weaving into the stands as they go, uncaring who they hit or stomp on- and you aren’t the only ones at risk, as soon enough the performers no longer care about their own fellow circus folks!
Eventually you notice that the doors are gone, the flaps of the tent nonexistent, and the Ringmaster is grinning menacingly. The circus performers may strike now, or you may try and escape, but the only way is down a set of stairs that should not be there.
The further you go, the deeper into a set of maze-like ruins you’ll find yourself, and waiting within the shadows are monsters some might find familiar: monsters made up of your worst fears, waiting to sink their claws and teeth into you. (As a note: while they can certainly coincide, we do mean fears! We’ll get into the traumas next month. ;) )
Your goal? Survive and escape the Cyclamen Circus!
For those who don’t wish to go to the circus that night, they might have a lovely night at home. … Or, maybe something from the Circus will go to them, instead.
Towards the end of the worst circus show ever, however, something will happen: a truck will break through the fog and into the grove, with several researchers and armed guards stepping out, completely shocked that there’s still life here at all.

OOC UPDATES

If you need help coming up with a monster for your characters’ greatest fears, drop a comment on the relevant toplevel below. Amity will make up something evil for you. :) Since this is a TDM, a relevant toplevel will also be included on the event log proper. Amity does ask you give a general rundown on what your character fears though!
Some of you may have noticed this, but for dropped characters we’ve started to offer a “they don’t die, they get stolen by the goddesses” option for the deathless 100% speedrun. This option is only available to characters who have been in game long-term; if you app Bob and then drop Bob the next month, Bob is unfortunately going to die in the woods. Not every drop can live with the Goddesses, they don’t have infinite bedrooms.
- In addition to this, we allow players who have been here long term who drop with tons of unspent BAC to influence the setting if they’d like (the stars coming back, Sehul having skin, beefing up the fog wall, etc etc etc). We ask that you approach the mod team in DMs to hash out details.
- With that being said, we prefer if you change the setting via your own efforts ingame; please don’t app for a year and drop with 70 threads each time to “cheat” the system.
As usual, we don’t do TDMs in November and December, which will also be check-in months. Our last TDM of the year will be in October as it was last year, so double-TDMs and therefore double TDM AC (if applicable to you). This year has been rough, so we’d like to round it out by making your lives a little easier for these next four months.

Please use the following form for plotting:

Character:
Canon:
CR: Who is your character? Any special powers or things they have going on? Any specific CR you want to kickstart?
Plans: What’s on the agenda for this month? Any interactions with the monthly event? Other things you want to do?
Not Seeking: Anything you'd like to avoid.
Anything Else: A permissions post, opt-in for a character-specific power or whatever else.
Recent Posts or Toplevels: For things you posted that you want additional tag-ins on or that might’ve gone missed.
Past Life Plotting Toplevel: From ye olde post.
Meme: Make us laugh.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Please give us a rundown of what your character fears. If you plan on TDMing someone you can use this TL for them as well; the actual TDM will have a similar TL too!

-the typical more "scary" kinds of bugs like roaches, spiders, centipedes, etc.
-dying
-being invisible/disappearing
-not being in control of her body
-public speaking (during an acting challenge she became anxious when she learned it would be televised to people)

I offer a pair: a ginormous centipede and equally large spider, who tagteam their hunt for her. The spider can take control of her with it's web and use her to assault others if she cannot escape (roll a d20 and get higher than 14), while the centipede traps her in a strange fog that renders her unable to perceive anyone around her. The two will scitter and crawl in the shadows, luring her away from others if they cannot use her to harm them, before beginning the hunt in earnest.

AMITEA HEP ME (idk if i'll use ain's or not but I want to see it anyway)

Ain: Fears being alone, his friends dying, and his own emotions

Flamebringer: Fears dying to Oripathy, hurting Ezell beyond repair

Thorns: Fears succumbing to the Seaborn infection in his blood, losing more people than he already has, and failure

Passenger: Not many fears to speak of, but the biggest is that he fears losing Sesa in some manner, likely by betraying his expectation or pushing him too far

have fun ily

AIN: It looks to be one of his brothers, but every time Ain feels a spike of emotions, it lashes out and tries to attack him or break something around him. When it opens it's mouth, it will sound like one of his friends in pain.

Flamebringer: It looks like Ezell but with his own worsening Oripathy. Every time it touches Flamebringer, he'll feel like his own infection is worsening (it isn't), and he'll see something similar in his reflections. If he tries to defend himself it will appear as if the real Ezell is receiving the injuries in the fake's place! Discuss with Rubie if you want to make it legit. :)

Thorns: Thorns will find himself stalked by Seaborn different than the ones in the Grove- something ravenous and slow and persistent, never faltering in it's quest to claim him and drag him under. It will not stop. It will not die. It will never let him go. ... And heaven help them all if it realizes someone he loves is there, for it will try and consume them as well.

Passenger: It will look like Sesa- but unlike the fake Ezell, it isn't gentle or slow in it's torture. No, this false Sesa wants Passenger dead, tearing into him with every criticism and callout that it can. What's wrong? You wanted him to kill, didn't you?

-heights
-people she cares about being hurt or traumatized (cast members primarily)
-being unable to do anything about it despite any amount of preparation or ability
-better yet, failing to do anything about it even though she should have been perfectly capable

Odile's fear takes the form of a giant bird. It has two tactics: it will swoop up and snatch her from the ground with it's talons before dropping her from a great height, or with it's mighty caw, shatter the earth to create a bottomless pit or break off the road ahead of her, making a drop just as high for Odile to stumble into.

I'm on the wrong account for this, 🐻 with me. I would like a Mephisto monster pls thx.

His fears have mostly, y'know, been realized. Being unable to pursue his dreams, losing everyone he cares about (Faust, FrostNova, the real Talulah). He wanted validation from Faust and Talulah specifically and he's lost that, too. He does have like ur standard abuse victim fears - losing control of a situation, being taken advantage of, etc. etc. Maybe also like getting too close to people again? I guess he's also afraid of all the bullshit he's done finally catching him. Especially re: the Ursus school girlies.

Mephisto will find himself being stalked by the Ursus Student Self Governing Group, all staring at him hatefully. Each of them will attack at random, or all together- all while tearing into him about his failures, and his losses. Each time they'll get more vicious than the last, visibly shifting somehow or another- until they're more bear than girl, ready to tear into him. They're so very hungry, after all...

being in large bodies of water (he almost drowned in the river as a child)

his brother dying or being taken over by Ultima

suffocating (mostly, his lungs fully petrifying)

being unable to reach someone in time to save them

Edited 2025-08-29 19:09 (UTC)

Joshua's Fear takes the form of... a woman, at first. She approaches like someone asking for help, a fellow captive of the maze, but... as time passes, her form loses stability. And when he least suspects it, she will shed the pretenses of humanity, showing her true form as a being made of water to try and drown him within her. Pulling moisture from the air will let her make herself larger, until she can flood the rooms and give chase more like a rapid river than a person. All the while claiming it's his fault, that he could have, should have helped her.

For Aira
- Darkness
- small spaces
- bugs of the creepy crawlie variety
- feeling helpless in a chaotic situation
- fire (ties into a trauma)
- heights

For Pav
- typical violence
- people losing who they are
- being forced to hurt others

Edited 2025-08-29 19:52 (UTC)

Aira's Fear takes on the form of... a little sooty spider! It could be cute, if not for it's piercing red eyes. ... And the fact that it can ignite itself into a raging blaze in an instant. It will try to herd him, but if it can push him towards the roofs of buildings within the maze or force him into small spots it will be very amused~ and the fire will spread.

It always does.

Pavlova's fear will be hard to see, keeping to the shadows- but he'll be able to see those blood red strings from the ceiling! If he gets too close they'll try to latch onto him, turning him into a marionette... and he sure is a powerful archer, isn't he?

gentle hands of u an elboy

His fears include: losing his friends, failing his duties to protect people, being the cause of things going wrong, something happening that he could've prevented while he was "relaxing" or "taking time to himself", and other stereotypical anime protag things-

Some of yall need to throw me a bone and gimme an animal or something /kiDDING I'M KIDDING

Elsword's Fear will take the form of a shadow, most of the time. He'll know it's there, know exactly where it is but no blade or magic can harm it... when it steps into the light, it takes the form of someone he's failed or lost- like Yuno, perhaps- dead but moving forward with lumbering steps and dead, hateful eyes.

Its your fault. It's your fault they're in pain. Why didn't you help them?

Hello amiteaa I am on hiatus this month so Idk how much I'll be doing but I want you to pick my characters' brains regardless incase I do a lil taggy tagging around so here u go:

WOLFWOOD:
-getting close to someone and then losing them
-related to the above, getting someone he cares about hurt because they stuck around him for too long
-loss of control/autonomy/being directly under someone else's control

SESA:
-being found out for living a lie and losing the trust of those closest to him due to it, losing Passenger

TILL:
-fears death, even though he doesn't fully realize it deep down
-the idea of being held captive the rest of his life (until he dies, see above)

Wolfwood's takes the form of... Vash, as they last saw him dead in the courtyard, dull eyes still warm and adoring. And if Wolfwood finds himself succumbing to Vash's embrace, he'll quickly realize his mistake as he becomes nothing more than a puppet to help hunt down the rest of the villagers, all while Vash claws his nails into him, harsh enough to draw blood.

Sesa's takes the form of his brother, and later (with Wolfie's permission) Passenger, both intent on hunting him down as they tear into him for his patheticness, his weakness, his lies.

Till's takes the form of Sua, dead and bloody and gently smiling as she reaches for him, follows him playfully. She never reaches out to hurt him, only offering her hand to return to Anakt. Come on, silly. It's time to go.

girl wolfie's permission is so fucking granted. this pigeon's face is forfeit.

Not being good enough, not being able to protect people she cares about, failing at her mission... you know, the usual.

I feel this one will be a tricky one because Tex doesn't fear, like... things she can fight, whatsoever.

Thank goodness this thing isn't here to be fought! Whatever it's true form is, it lingers far out of reach, it's voice both booming and a whisper as it chimes in on how she's such a fuckup. How many times did Church have to die on you, honestly? How many more? Do you really think you can do anything here? You couldn't stop the Freelancers, you couldn't stop the aliens, so what makes you think you can stop a god? The more it natters on and on, the heavier her body feels.

Almost enough to just... take a nap. Right there.

daily reminder use opt outs etc etc, i'm fucking w the boys again

the same thing i provide every month

Character: Ain
Canon: Elsword
CR: Ain is an angel and was previously trying to hide it... He's no longer trying to hide it like he does in canon because there's No Point to doing that. Anyway, largely his goal back home was to stop the world from ending (done) and defeat the evil cult that wants to end the world (in progress), and also he's made of God Rock Substance (the El) which in this game's terms basically means he's made of nuclear energy I guess. I don't know how to explain Elsword to people anymore, I've been here 15 years—

Ain is a healer, he's sweet but can be passive-aggressive and generally loves to fuck with people, he has a difficult time grasping emotions often, he has an anxiety disorder, and his definition of friendship is incredibly nebulous. Some of you have already gotten this but Ain very rarely registers negative CR, you can yell at him all you want but he'll sit there like :D we're friends! because his canon group of idiots are always arguing about something and this is just friendship to him. He... has only been around humans for 5 years he doesn't get it, okay.

for Stix: Ain runs the tailor shop and lives in the bunny bakery with Ezell. He likes gardening but he doesn't help maintain any greenhouses, he's just having fun. Despite being a healer he doesn't work in the clinic much anymore, he's largely focused on other things. You can come to him for healing still but he won't really be in there much.

Ezell is his fiancé. Wolfwood and Elsword are his boyfriends. Anyone else has dropped or died so oops.

Crazy updates:
1. Right now he's in a bad mood. He is not being a nice boy. He will still lean toward being "teehee, heehee" but he's currently more likely to smack the shit out of you if he doesn't like you so oops.
2. Add is dropped/dead and Ain's reaction to this has been. Expected. Which brings us to:
3. Although Ain hasn't said anything to anyone, some people he's threaded with are already aware of it: his brain is currently borked due to the dream event, and Zahran in the library fixed the lingering nightmares to make them more dreamlike. This has the consequence that he's hallucinating all his fwiens from canon now to cope with solitude, so he might be spotted talking to them out loud sometimes. I don't think I'll harp on this tooooooo much for people outside of Ain's major CR but it's a thing for the foreseeable future.

Plans: So I'm largely going to keep Ain out of the horror events at least with this one. We'll see if I do anything with the fear monster, it might just gently haunt him. I don't want to be too heavy-handed because the boy is dyyyyyyying. May or may not hiatus, may or may not stick to just tagouts, idk it's one of those "play by ear" months.

Not Seeking: No death, no or minimal neg CR because of his crashout, and no new romances please... hell no returning romances either. Give him a sec to breathe.

Past Life Plotting Toplevel: yeah

Meme:

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OOC PLOTTING: we briefly forgot we were a horror game for a few months, sorry!

QUESTIONS

MONSTER GENERATOR

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doing this without dipping into trauma is hard!

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Re: MONSTER GENERATOR

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wolfie's little guyses

Ain's depression arc worsens