outofsticks | DECEMBER PLOTTING: MEMORY LANE

Before we begin, we'd like to start with some important OOC announcements!

While we've worked on a bi-monthly TDM schedule since the beginning, this December we will be keeping the event closed to current players. What with the holidays and the focus on certain plot points, we feel this is for the best. Our next TDM will be in January, though applications are still open as always.
December will also have all activity checks waived, we just ask that you check in to let us know you're still here! Bonus AC will process as normal. That said, November still has regular AC, so please submit your 2 threads of 5 comments as usual, unless you are a new player who gets a bonus check-in month.
Speaking of, we've added to the bonus activity store! Check it out.
Matters of the Heart is still open to questions and discussion, and Heimrquest is still on track for February. We welcome everyone for this, but NPC CR is required on some level. Utilizing the NPC Contact page is the best way to go about this.

SETTING UPDATES

The mods are going to start sprinkling in the corpses of past life versions of players throughout the woods and in investigations! Please let us know if you would like to opt out of this, however.
Moder's rescue has caused a blackberry bush to grow at the edge of the forest, just outside the fog wall on the opposite bank of the river (aka you will have to cross the river to reach it). She can usually be found eating berries from it. They seem to regrow far faster than your average blackberries would.
Add built us a clinic, which is next to Gnosis' lab on the map; Toge built us a rec center to battle the nerds in open PVP combat because to quote Nat, "we can't let the nerds win". Both of these things will appear on the map when Wolfie's life is calm. Thank you.
Snow continues to fall, and the temperatures will be below freezing most nights. The NPCs are not concerned about this and seem to be immune to the cold, however, Rusty is going to start letting himself into people's rooms to snuggle at night because he is literally just a dog. Be kind to Rusty.

PLOT UPDATES

The Fears and the Shadows have been outlasted, at least, though not for a lack of trying on their part. With the month over and something stirring within the manor, they've retreated back into the forest... for now. But make no mistake: they will always be in your heart and in your head.
The Forest is still furious, but winter is the time of rest even for unholy forests and its creatures, so one may enter the forest without assault once more. However, everything is hibernating and wild plant life is dead and the river has iced over- even the River Guardian must bend to the weather. While the general store can provide fresh produce, fresh meat is going to be much harder to come by. The only things unaffected are the gifts of the guardians, the apple tree and berry bushes on the riverbanks.
There's a light on in the attic of the manor. But still its residents do not answer.
Magic is once more leaking from it- but this time, instead of the guilt and regret that plagues the mind, residents of the Grove will find themselves feeling wistful and nostalgic for a time they no longer remember.
Midway through the month, amongst the snowflakes, faint lights will also gently fall down to the earth. If untouched, they will sink through the snow and return to the earth. But should you touch one, it will take you and one other person into a brief flashback of your past lives, be it the both of you or just one.
- For new players who have not had the chance to come up with a "past life" for your character, we have a Past-Life Plotting Meme, but you don't have to utilize it if you don't want to (we know it's old!). Take a look if you'd like and use this opportunity to come up with something for your character, it can be pretty much anything as long as it falls within the constraints of the settings.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

every time i make well wishes for people they go sour so i'm not going to give anyone well-wishes anymore because i keep fucking jinxing it :(

Status: I wish I could give a comprehensive update on what my son Elsword who has every disease has been doing this month but November is a goddamn blur of SAD for me and he too experienced rolling blackouts that have not yet resolved themselves. Here is a summary of The Boy from the last ??? off the top of my head though.

Got infected with the forest corruption very early on in the game, now his right arm grows flowers and is turning black; some of it had its course reversed when Rinni made me commit the sin of RPing with myself, but it's gonna come back with a vengeance babes

Kissed Add on the mouth. If you were there months ago for the divorce arc you Know how this went down. They're fine now, Elsword keeps trying to do PDA. This will continue, if you see him doing this just leave him alone.

Mizuki kissed HIM on the mouth......... a triad will form. 👁️

Has a lion... his name is Leon, he's always been here, be nice to Leon. If you get that bone ring in the shop you can cast the spell Speak with ~~Animals~~ Leon.

Has a magic mirror that, as he finds shards for it, will restore some of his emotions and memories, bc the bitch has magical amnesia. I have not updated his emotions/memories tracker since fucking August. Please yell at me he's learned a lot. I also have not updated his physical changes tracker since August, which is relevant for his plant stuff. Please yell at me—

He currently possesses the overall map to the Grove and surrounding areas (that have not been unlocked) and the group photograph with everyone's past lives in it when we were little(r) than we are now. These are holdovers from when I was not a mod, I will permit people to make a copy of the map and someone to take the photo wholesale from him (he will not willingly give up a map bc he's a little geography nerd) (but he needs to stop hogging the plot).

Okay anyway so plans for this month: I am goring this bitch, he had it good last month it's time for suffering. He had it pretty bad over Halloween and I could be nicer but I don't want to be nicer. Eye horror cw: I am going to have his plant infection burst out of it. Some of you may go "hey that's like Nene" yes it is bc Amity and I mutually high-fived when we were both like EYE FLOWER EYE FLOWER. Some of you who are Chi may go "you did that to Rosso in Ryslig" yes well I am a funny little clown, folks.

Also if anyone wants to... come see past life Elboy......... he will be little and red and annoying and also the completely wrong class tree bc Genesis is his canon-AU class and not his canon-canon one... If you're REALLY nice to me I'll play him at base job and want to rip my gd hair out...

Seeking: Friemdshiieipp... I'm leaving that typo in I feel tired and feral today.

Not Seeking: The romance is locked in I require naught else thank you. Also don't murder him. Murder isn't on the table yet.

Anything Else: If you have not fought with him via netbook or snowball fought with everyone yet, now is ur chance to do so

Meme:

i need to make more genesis memes, y'all make sure i do this ok? thanks—

Status: Me 3 months ago: Idk if I like playing Gnosis as much as other characters
Me last month, breaking his fucking bones: Haha >:) Die >:)

Anyway, last time on the Gnosis Show: I gored him! These injuries are unable to be healed magically so he currently has broken ribs and a broken leg. He almost died it was great. I was honestly GOING to let him die but then Mizuki rescued him. :/ :/ :/ That all being said, he's going to be fukt up until January because broken bones need time to heal. All his other injuries can be magically healed, just not those, as is the hex of getting gored by the shadowy apparition of your husband's bodyguard dictates.

I will be nicer to him this month. Sign up for past life shenans today and I will let everyone see him as a stupid teenager with a stupid crush on a stupid catboy. And/or we make the babysitter arc real.

Also he has SilverAsh's bird Tenzin and has for a little bit now, you can buy the bone ring to cast Speak with Tenzin—

Seeking: Someone to make Gnosis take a fucking nap bc homeboy is gonna try to keep working despite breaking his fucking leg??? Can someone app Degenbrecher and punch him in the fucking face real quick so that maybe he goes down fr—

Not Seeking: ????/?//?/// come at me

Anything Else: we have One More Month until kjerag2 event drops on Arknights CN server and if ANYTHING happens with my precious bird I will NOT be the same, the hour of me going fucking batshit approaches. i hope he kills someone.

Meme:

Edited 2023-11-24 18:03 (UTC)

DECEMBER PLOTTING: MEMORY LANE

WOLFIE, WHO IS VERY TIRED AND IS SORRY

ELSWORD, WHO IS YET AGAIN BACK IN THE SEAT OF PAIN

GNOSIS, WHO I PUT IN THE FUCKING GROUND FINALLY :)