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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I have no idea what that means, but it sounds like us.

[ He enjoys the closeness for a moment, feeling touch-starved from all the stress. If it was Yasha or Jester he would have been all over them by now, but he knows Fjord isn't as comfortable with a tiefling in his lap. ]

You're different. It's not bad different, just really weird. You've changed so much.

[ Molly pokes one of his biceps. ]

Not in a bad way, obviously. Damn.

[ The way he clears his throat and blushes, glancing away, is a step up from the actual walking away he would have done once. The closeness is nice, maybe a little too much. ]

As a side-note, I'm definitely poisoned. Being near you helps ease the ... strain, though. Is it getting warmer out here or is it just me?

[ Molly glances up at Fjord at that and takes a closer look at the half-orc. ]

Oh, you idiot.

[ He mutters, checking the pupils and failing to understand them since they're so different from what he's used to when checking round ones. Definitely poison or drugged, though. Wasn't that on one of his kink things? Molly thought that would be the fun kind. ]

How about we just sit here and you put your arm around me. Tell me more about the Nein... if I'm not dead, what am I up to?

[ His eyes are dilated and human-like, but then again it is dark on the beach. He feels a little warmer to the touch than usual as he keeps his arm around Molly and takes one of his hands, thumb tracing over lavender knuckles. ]

We got separated from you, that's why I said I missed you. [ It's not exactly untrue. They were separated. ] But now that you're here and I have you, safe and sound, we can escape this place and go home. I can show you, firsthand.

[ Molly's so used to touching that it doesn't seem odd to him that he's being touched back until he thinks about who it is that is doing the gentle rubbing of his knuckles.

It's sweet but out of character. ]

Really? Shit. For that long?

[ He wants to believe this so badly. But why didn't they find him? Why didn't he catch up? Yasha would have... she would have... ]

How's Yasha...?

[ Lying his ass off about Molly being alive is hard, enough that Fjord tries to be distracting in ways that can mask the truth. The trouble with have a lot of charisma is that it's easy to overdo. ]

For that long, yeah. [ It doesn't matter that Molly died now that he's alive here and now, does it? It doesn't have ... to matter. Not if it's fixed. Isn't it? Fjord can touch him. ] Yasha's got wings! The feathery kind. It's amazing, you'll love seeing her with them.

[ Molly knows there's more to this, but his suspicious thoughts are fully replaced by the wonder of Fjord's revelation. ]

She has feathers on them now? Oh, my charm...

[ He sounds so proud, tail whipping a bit and fangs on display in a big grin. ]

They were amazing the first time I saw them, but you mean my angel is a real angel now? I can't wait to see her.

[ It takes everything in him not to sigh with relief, giving the hand in his a squeeze. ]

She is! She's doing a lot better, I can't wait for her to see you too. Can't wait for everyone to see you! They'll flip.

Has Beau kissed her yet? That was some heavy chemistry.

[ Molly turns his hand a bit so that he can lace his fingers with Fjord's, mostly subconsciously.

(Where did he go?) ]

Nine months... did everyone change as much as you?

[ He laughs once, a bit of a scoff, and lets his fingers be taken hostage. His nails are more claws these days, less filed just like his tusks. Molly's hand is so warm in his, and he feels a little hot-blooded at the contact.

He blames the food. ]

There's been a weird thing between Beau and Yasha, yeah, and also between Beau and Jessie for a while ... I think Beau's more into Yasha though, maybe. I try to stay out of all that.

[ Unless a crazy captain needs sleeping with to distract her from his friends. ]

Not everyone's changed a lot. Caduceus is our Cleric, he joined a little after you, uh, left. He's the one who taught me about the Wildmother.

Beau's a disaster, I'm not surprised she's overwhelmed by the women in our party.

[ He chuckles, fondly. She always reminded him of how Mona and Yuli butted heads, so Molly's pretty sure she's an annoying little sister to him. Even if she's technically older. (A trash person, but his trash person.)

Molly's tail twitches a bit as he hears about this addition to the group. They had adopted a new Nein? ]

Another cleric? And he taught you about this Wildmother thing?

A grave-Cleric with pink hair and pink eyes, a firbolg. He makes crazy teas and has the scariest perception of anyone I know.

[ Chuckling a little, proving he isn't really afraid of Caduceus. Just unnerved sometimes. ]

When I first lost my powers, he taught me what it was like to have a patron who actually cared. Which is ... why I'm rather unnerved not to have any powers again. The Wildmother wouldn't have revoked them.

I have no idea wait that means either, but pink hair and crazy tea sounds amazing. I can't wait to meet him.

[ He can feel Fjord's heat through his hand and is slightly concerned, because it is climbing up to his own. Whatever the food was laced with, it was fucking him up... but he seemed lucid enough.

Hm. ]

You lost your powers before, and now you don't have them again? That's... then why do I have mine?

[ Did it have to do with deities? ]

[ Leaning into Molly's space a little more as the heat creeps up his neck, he shrugs. ]

I don't know. The devices they gave us have that sick game on them, there has to be a point to that. There's always a deal to be made, a bargain struck. You play any kind of game and you get rewarded ... or consumed, if you don't do it right.

I think I could. [ His brow furrows. Keeping Molly safe (and alive) until they return home has to be his priority and he's no good without his powers. He knows that. ] Sleeping with people doesn't matter to me if I can help protect us at the end of it, if that's what they want.

[ He's not the Fjord that Molly knew who spooked at the very idea of sex happening nearby. Change happened, alright. ]

[ He's about to talk about the increasing heat when Fjord's reasoning turns in a way he did not expect. Furrowing his brow, Molly reaches to touch a cheek and force the half-orc to look at him. ]

Hey. That doesn't sound like you at all.

[ Sure, sex was fun and one of his favorite things, but he wasn't Fjord - who struck him as either very uptight, very straight, very confused or just repulsed. (Yes, because that's why anyone would refuse an orgy invitation, Molly =/) ]

I'll do the sleeping around, if that's what this game is about.

[ The aphrodisiacs have him blinking slower than usual but he still has his wits about him, remaining calm under Molly's rising storm. ]

I've already done it once, Molly, to keep the Nein safe. It was fine. It was fun, mostly. I knew what I was getting out of it whenever it needed to happen.

[ His hand covers the one on his cheek, Molly's natural temperature making him feel cool by comparison even though he knows he isn't. ]

I care more about keeping us safe in this messed up dimension.

Edited 2020-10-09 23:17 (UTC)

[ He feels like he should have hackles up just from hearing that, but at least it didn't sound forcibly traumatic. Just... not great. ]

Hey. Fjord.

[ Molly says softly, trying to catch that slow-blinking gaze. ]

That is a really big can of worms right there that I am definitely opening later, but you're also not looking great right now. How are you feeling? You're really warm, even to me.

Edited 2020-10-09 23:25 (UTC)

[ He's real glad Molly is prioritising things because he's sort of thinking about finishing off that food package and that seems like such a bad idea. ]

I feel poisoned.

[ It's the best descriptor he has but he strives for more, looking at Molly. ]

Feels like I want to go to bed, have some ... company. [ Whew. ] I think you were right about the bacon.

Okay, you're definitely drugged. I'm not surprised, considering this place's obsession.

[ He tweaks Fjord's ear. ]

Idiot.

[ Letting go of the half-orc, Molly shrugs off his portion of the cloak and then stands, looking around. ]

Maybe some cold water will help. Or just some sleep?

[ The soft whine he makes at the ear pinching will go down as a secret forever in this realm. ]

We could head into the city and find one of the apartments I've heard people talking about. They have actual beds, from what's been said, and something called electricity.

I'm good to go, just. Just a little warm.

[ And distracted by the tingling in his body, trying to keep it battened down in company. ]

They have lightning there?

[ Molly looks fairly confused at that, but then again, he doesn't know much. He heard beds, though, and he could go for one. ]

If we find beds, you're sleeping in one if I so have to tie you to it.

[ He holds out his hand to help him up, and to get ready to leave. ]

I have no idea, the people are metal though so who knows.

[ Kicking sand over the fire and picking up his flowercrown, he takes Molly's hand and slides it into the crook of his elbow, partly out of manners and partly because he doesn't want to let it go. He guesses the main pathway will lead them to the Nameless City, so he nods at that for them to follow off the beach. ]

Let's go find somewhere to crash.

I am never going to be not confused about that, considering the last one we saw spun around and had like... blades all over.

[ That had been a weird fight.

He's happy to take the offered arm, because it's nice and will probably make Fjord blush in the morning, something Molly always approves of. The carnie can be an absolute asshole at times and take a little advantage to embarrass people, but from what he had just heard... someone really did.

He'll get to the bottom of that. Right now, Molly really needs some sleep, all the tension making his muscles ache. ]

[ Off they go into the night to pick out their own place, passing scores of similar newcomers who are in their revels; Fjord and Molly look like outliers and he's glad to get away from the beach, heading toward the city. As they walk the streets, he murmurs, ]

This place is a duuump.

[ Molly fiddles a bit with his horn chains as he walks, looking around. ]

It really is a fucking mess, isn't it? Maybe finding beds aren't going to be as easy as we thought.

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