ercookies | TDM 005: HAPPY SPOOKTEMBER

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TDM 005: HAPPY SPOOKTEMBER

Arrival

This time, you come out of the water, the Nameless Island's own inherent energy drawing people in. It's like being suspended between realities and abruptly pushed from behind through a rift in dimensions. It may make you sick, or that might be the motion of the ocean, lifting you to the surface and carrying you to shore.

Waterlogged and covered in sand, new arrivals will be greeted by robots who welcome them with towels and bracelet devices. The A5 card is already loaded up. Feel free to explore the Island, though there isn’t much to see. Most of the buildings are abandoned and in dire need of repair, and beyond the city lingers a thick fog that obscures much of the wilderness from view. Wander too far into this fog, and you will find yourself mysteriously looping back to where you began, your memories of what you were doing and how you got there erased.

With that in mind, it may be wise to stake your claim on a rundown apartment, a tent on the beach, or a bed in the "comfortable" new barracks. Your inventory will be found a day later, wrapped up haphazardly and delivered to each person's makeshift home.

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I. Harvest Hunt

As the daylight grows shorter and the muggy heat of the island’s summer gradually shifts to temperate days and chilly nights, Erku’s accessible wilderness explodes with a colorful collection of tempting fruits, fragrant-smelling herbs, and nuts and seeds plumped and ready for harvest. With warnings to beware of monsters, the robots of Erku encourage Islanders to take advantage of the land’s bounty by distributing basic camping supplies to those who are interested in exploring, hunting, and harvesting. They strongly encourage making the journey with a friend! Any surplus foods that Islanders bring home with them can be exchanged for credits with cafeteria robots! Just be careful out there - some of these fruits have strange effects once consumed.

For extra protection out there in the wilds, the robots have fashioned crowns of flowers or foliage to wear on their adventures. The sweet and herbal smells from the crowns will discourage most Erku-native monsters from approaching, they assure - this is ancient knowledge from the planet’s long-gone civilization, so it can’t be wrong!

What the robots don’t know is that the crowns have a deeper, more ritualistic purpose: after a few hours, the scent of flowers or herbs begins to awaken primal instincts within the wearer. Those who are wearing the foliage crowns feel overwhelmed by an urge to hunt, while those who wear the flower crowns delight in every opportunity to tease, outrun, and outwit the hunters. What happens when the chase ends? Well, that depends on the personalities and the chemistry between the hunters and their prey.

While the robots are very insistent on placing crowns atop the heads of any Islander they see, they aren’t stuck on in any way and they are easy to remove, which can prevent or break the hunting trance.

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II. seeds and sap

Of particularly high credit value, the robots explain, is an elusive flower known as the skull sunflower. It appears exactly as one might imagine: at the center of an otherwise innocuous, towering sunflower is the gruesome visage of an open-mouthed skull. Don’t worry, the flowers are harmless! Even if it’s strange how the empty-socketed eyes seem to follow your every move. And why is it that the teeth - which, on closer inspection, are actually the seeds of the flower - only seem to chatter when your back is turned?

Any Islander who can withstand their heebie-jeebies long enough to collect the petals and seeds from the flowers will fetch a handsome reward in credits upon exchange with the robots. Beware the sticky, blood-red sap that seeps from the eyes of each skull, however. Those who absorb too much through their skin will begin to hallucinate, visions of frightening or emotional events from their past dancing in the shadows. One might even mistakenly imagine that another Islander is someone they recognize from their past, someone who meant something to them - no matter whether that person is alive or dead in the present.

The hallucinogenic effects of the sap can last for hours, or they can be shortened by a dip in the public baths.

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III. Tarot

Night comes, and in the darkness, a robot sets up a table by the beach. A solitary candle sits in the center, illuminating a deck of cards. F̶i̴n̵d̸ ̸y̶o̸u̸r̵ ̵f̵o̸r̷t̵u̶n̶e̷?̴

The robot reveals tarot cards and will do a variety of spreads to tell your fortune. Each fortune can be distilled into one central theme, which characters will find pervades their life for the next 24 hours. There is magic afoot: it can be sensed, and perhaps even dispelled, if luck is on your side.

Though most robots on the island show a capacity for greater-than-average artificial intelligence, this pseudo-psychic 'bot -- M.S. Cl30 -- is less advanced. It only has six interpretations prepared:

Always watch your back. - Characters will be compelled to walk, or even speak, backwards for the duration of the day. Those who mishear it as "wash your back" may spend longer in the shower than usual.
Fake it til you make it. - Characters will feel compelled to act performatively. They will more readily fall into acts for serious or flirtatious roleplay, or try on costumes that reflect a particular persona they're interested in exploring. Faked orgasms will seem quite realistic.
You will receive an affectionate letter from a friend. - Just as it is said, someone will be compelled to engage in correspondence - and whether it turns dirty or not, well, that's up to you! Characters may also quite literally receive an article of clothing with a red letter sewn on the top. What could it stand for?
Hold on tight. - Characters who are given this life advice will start to feel rather clingy. They'll attach themselves to someone's side and refuse to leave, or they may find a "security blanket" item and won't let it go.
You are a generous, giving person. - Characters will feel compelled to do something kind for someone else. Maybe they'll invite someone to the movies, come over and cook, or do that thing their partner is always asking for.
Don't think. Feel. - Even if they weren't before, characters temporarily experience impulsive and hot-headed urges. They will also become very tactile.

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N A V I G A T I O N

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These aren't tame, they're —

[ Suddenly in bright blue in front of him, the projected image hovering like an illusory spell as he startles and stares. ]

Fuck! What did I press? Shit.

[ Button-mashing to make the hologram vanish, words glimmer brightly against the backdrop of a dark sky. Breeding; in heat. Discipline. Multiple Partners. Oral fixation; Oral sex. Tattoos. Water ...

The board vanishes and he drops the bracelet onto the sand in relief, hiding in his hands. ]

[ Molly... just starts laughing. A mildly hysterical, full-belly laugh both from the fact that it was funny and the fact that he was stressed to the max with this bullshit.

He can't stop after he starts, and it's all just really stupid. ]

[ Reluctantly but irresistibly tempted, he starts laughing into his hands too, the stress piquing as he shakes his head and muffles a shriek of frustration. Once he's done and has taken a deep breath, he looks up at the night sky and finds his gaze roving back to the realistic illusion of his lost friend, smile lingering. It's one of the stupidest, freakiest situations he's ever found himself in, and that's saying something.

This time when Fjord sighs, he sounds less angry than tired. ]

I do wish you were real.

I am real.

[ Molly replies with a sigh, but it's too tired and a little sad to be as convincing as before. ]

We're not giving up on them. I still have to know if Fjord considers lobsters mermaids to scorpions, he 'fell asleep' right in the middle of that 2 AM nugget.

That's really messed up but absolutely.

[ Mystery solved! ]

[ When Molly has nothing else to do, he talks. Add this bullshit to that, and he's definitely going to let his mouth wander. ]

I ate some lobster, once. It was said to be this delicacy but I'm pretty sure another town called them 'rats of the ocean' and fed it to their criminals. I suppose anything can be true if it's plentiful or not... or if you make them sound fancier than they are.

[ He waves a hand dismissively. ]

Anyway, I almost chipped a fang on the fucking thing! Nobody told me you're supposed to crack them open!

[ Lies? Truth? Does it matter? ]

Lobsters were for fancy humans when I was growing up. Expensive shit.

[ He chats away too, too exhausted both mentally and physically not to need an outlet, riding that assumed bullshit like it's nothing but a road beneath his feet. His stomach growls loudly, betraying him. ]

... Gods, now I'm hungry.

Edited 2020-10-07 21:25 (UTC)

Ugh, me too. I didn't even know you could get hungry in some kind of messed-up illusion.

[ Ugh. ]

Those automatons tried to tell me things, I should probably have listened.

[ Maybe they had rules for this mess. Then again, this place had thrown Fjord on him pretty much immediately, so that seemed to be the main event. ]

Automatons.

[ Testing out the word, he glances down at his bracelet in the sand and does some hard thinking. ]

I can ... I'd better try talking to them eventually before I starve. Oh, sorry, before we starve.

[ Mister Illusion!! ]

Shouldn't be too hard ...

Whatever you say! I'm sure everything here is poisoned or something, just to make it worse.

[ It's really going on for a long time, though, and that's disconcerting. If they were in a spell, shouldn't it have ended by now?

...not that Molly's a magic expert, mind you.

He doesn't understand any of this, and he's frankly really done with seeing this image of Fjord being all... Fjord. ]

Well, then I'll be poisoned and not hungry, which is starting to sound preferable.

[ He stows on his bracelet and looks around for the nearest bar of robots up a-ways near the heart of the beach, then strides over.

Time to see how his charisma is faring. ]

[ Molly watches with a frown, but then gets up to follow. Just to see what 'Fjord' was going to do, mind you. Not for any other reason.

Even the dumb idea of preferring to not be hungry over possibly poison honestly sounded like Fjord. Or Nott. ]

[ Fjord ~~rolls decently!~~ manages to charm a couple of the robots into giving him two packs of rations, something about he and his friend being too hungry to concentrate on their bracelet prompting the metal creatures to agree that's no good at all. He thanks them and compliments their generosity of spirit, gaining a pat on the arm that he takes with grace; his smile only drops once he turns his back on them and makes his way back to Molly, who may be a fake but at least has a moving face. ]

It's definitely tampered with in some way, but ...

[ The packs look a decent size for now. ]

[ He watches Fjord smooze his way in with the robots and charm them out of food. It was... fuck, it made him think of all the fun bullshit they got up to. Screaming bloody murder in the middle of a hospital. Playing in the middle of fights. Talking to Fjord at 2 am while the poor man whines and begs for Molly to shut up.

He crosses his arms, watching as the half-orc returns with the spoils. ]

You're still gonna eat that, aren't you...

Of course I'm going to eat it, there's bacon in here.

[ He shoves one pack at Molly, trying not to look like he feels stupid for feeding an illusion. ]

Just take one.

[ He's... so much like Fjord. So much it hurts, because he knows it isn't. Too different, too convenient.

Still, he takes a piece of 'bacon', even if he has no intention of actually eating it. Instead, he does a bit of that sleight of hand he has mastered with his cards and just makes it look like he did. ]

Okay, you're right. It's not bad.

[ Fjord doesn't trust him at all, making a point of very obviously taking a big bite. Maybe it's not bacon; he thought it looked like it when the robots showed him, anyway. Tastes similar. It's a little spicy, but not bad ... ]

I really hope I don't get seriously poisoned from this shit, I don't have any healing spells. [ He finds some sort of fruit and tears in on his way back to their beachside fire, wiping juice off his beard and licking clean a tusk. ] Or potions.

They probably don't have any of those here to buy either ...

[ Staring at the fruit, he has a Fuck It moment and keeps eating. ]

I can't believe I have to sit here and watch an illusion fuck himself up.

[ Molly says with a deep, bone-tired sigh.

(Why would Fjord have healing spells? This dumbass just kept getting things wrong.) ]

I'm extremely real, okay. I don't think when I cast Major Image that the poor bastard has anxiety on top of his orders to kill.

[ He's got his priorities sorted: food taken care of, he can spare more time eyeing up the fake tiefling. ]

Unsurprised you're not eating though. Would it fall straight through you?

[ Ugh, all the right things this obviously fake Fjord is saying is grating badly on Molly. ]

Of course it wouldn't fall right through me! I just don't want to start puking blood because I couldn't handle being hungry for a day.

[ He reaches out a hand. ]

See? Totally solid.

[ ... Fjord picks up a small shell and throws it at Molly's hand to see if he's. Solid. ]

[ Molly snatches it up without problem, and even juggles it a little just to pack the point in even harder. ]

Weak. Could have at least slapped my hand or something.

[ It's far too easy to slip into this friendly banter, and he hates it. ]

Frumpkin disappears if you smack him, you might do the same. I don't know.

[ Oh !! ]

Not that I care if you're here or not, because you aren't Molly.

Come on then. See if I disappear.

[ Molly takes a step closer, red eyes challenging. ]

I dare you.

You're such a dick, even as an illusion.

[ Getting to his feet, he sets the food pack aside on the log and brushes off his hands. He mentally takes a moment to psych himself up at the idea of touching Molly again, then something warms beneath his skin at the prospect and that's enough to make him close the distance.

Only a step away, Fjord feels somehow bigger than he remembers being. Maybe it's the memories of Molly getting all up in his face or being louder than life, but it feels like Fjord can't hide at all right now. He clears his throat and raises a hand, giving a somewhat ginger pat to a shoulder. It's weird, knowing what that fabric felt like and experiencing it again. ]

... Okay, you're solid.

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