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deercountry2021-11-08 02:50 pm
reddosmod) wrote in deercountry2021-11-08 02:50 pm
Entry tags:
- *event,
- aether: seiko,
- ahiru: timmy,
- ange ushiromiya: jelle,
- ariadne: wizera,
- charlie kelly: ashlee,
- childe: bean,
- darth maul: shade,
- diluc ragnvindr: samuel,
- faolan: teresa,
- fern: pan,
- flynn fairwind: teresa,
- glitch: ceej,
- goro akechi: kei,
- illarion albireo: lark,
- izuku "deku" midoriya: tea,
- klee: gigi,
- lance: charley,
- levi ackerman: carmine,
- luke skywalker: skyla,
- lumine: trix,
- luna lovegood: cheryl,
- luz noceda: pedro,
- nehan: ray,
- orpheus: qv,
- peter graham: jhey,
- rose da silva: jhey,
- ryan akagi: billie sue,
- samatoki aohitsugi: carmine,
- scorpia: gore,
- stanford pines: kei,
- stiles stilinski: charley,
- tara maclay: rachel,
- the medicine seller: greenrivers,
- usagi tsukino: jax,
- varian: tf,
- wei wuxian: tohma,
- yuri lowell: mads
No tears, please. It's a waste of good suffering.
NOVEMBER 2021 EVENT
IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: Red mushrooms with white spots growing rapidly.]
[Image Two: Mushrooms on log with morning mist. ] Within Prompt: Orange mushrooms walking on small, greenfeet. Jellyfish-like mushroom with mini-mushrooms growing on top. Vine-like mushrooms with clear heads. Blue mushrooms.
Prompt Two
[Image One: Corpse pinned to chainlink fence with man standing in front.]
[Image Two: Limbless, headless, semi-naked bloody bodies wiggling in walls.]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Disfigured humanoid with skin stretched over eyes and chattering, exposed teeth.]
[Image Two: Large organ-like structure pulsating with a human head attached on top via metal contraption.]
MUSHABOOMING
THE SLEEPER FARM
BLOOD CRAZED ZEALOTS
CODINGPrompt One
[Image One: Red mushrooms with white spots growing rapidly.]
[Image Two: Mushrooms on log with morning mist. ] Within Prompt: Orange mushrooms walking on small, greenfeet. Jellyfish-like mushroom with mini-mushrooms growing on top. Vine-like mushrooms with clear heads. Blue mushrooms.
Prompt Two
[Image One: Corpse pinned to chainlink fence with man standing in front.]
[Image Two: Limbless, headless, semi-naked bloody bodies wiggling in walls.]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Disfigured humanoid with skin stretched over eyes and chattering, exposed teeth.]
[Image Two: Large organ-like structure pulsating with a human head attached on top via metal contraption.]
WHEN: Month of November
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Poisonous mushrooms that induce paralysis and suffocation and violent hallucinations.
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Poisonous mushrooms that induce paralysis and suffocation and violent hallucinations.
Come November, Trench is flourishing with a wide variety of mushrooms. Mushrooms can be found growing in the woods, around your house, and maybe even on your house if you're especially lucky...Or unlucky, depending on the type of mushroom.
The mushroom is considered to be arguably the most important food source in Trench. It's the easiest to find and grow, and one of the easiest to harvest. It's a dependable source of protein and can fill people up. They are filled with vitamins that directly help your blood and heart health and can help keep your digestive system on track. But not everyone is a mushroom farmer and most Trenchies wind up foraging for their own mushrooms. Woven baskets are sold just about everywhere to help forage. Omens are extremely good at scenting out edible mushrooms.
The following edible mushrooms can be found/grown throughout Trench: button, portobello, cremini, oyster, chanterelle, porcini, black trumpets, morels, enoki, shimeji, shiitake, and giant puffballs. If you are extremely lucky, you might even find rare truffles. Truffles can be exchanged for highly valuable goods such as magnificent jewels and specialized weapons. Or you can keep the truffles to yourself and use them in a nice dish.
It is said there are hundreds of unique species of mushrooms to Trench. The following mushrooms are permanent features in Trench and can be found most commonly during Bone Season:
WALKING TERRORS
These parasitic mushrooms seem to "walk" around the forest floor. Arcane scholars have determined that their motion is actually just a natural response to stimuli in the environment and helps the fungi to spread its spores onto living hosts. Once you have been exposed to a cloud of these spores, you will immediately begin to hallucinate the world around you warping into a terrifying hellscape. Some say that Walking Terrors have driven people to beasthood in a matter of minutes. But there is a huge benefit to finding Walking Terrors: their caps, once dried and crushed down, are an ample treatment option for corruption. The tricky part is actually getting them. Covering your entire body, head to toe, completely is one way of avoiding the spores and probably the easiest way. Does anyone have a hazmat suit? Another option is knowing a darkblood or someone with similar abilities who can manipulate the direction of the spores in the air by pushing them away. Once the caps have been removed from the rest of the mushroom, the spores seem to lose their nightmarish quality and, at most, will just make you sneeze.
FLOATERS
These mushrooms come out exclusively at night and float lazily through the air. They bob and bump around, their tentacles searching for something to cling to and settle on. They mostly search for tree branches but have been known to accidentally cling to animals and people. The tentacles paralyze any sentient being it lands on. The good thing is that the cap and the little mushrooms on top are completely harmless to touch so if you have a buddy around, they can pull them off with no problem. You'll regain the ability to move your body a few seconds after the tentacles have been removed. The paralytic quality of these tentacles do not impact vilebloods. These mushrooms dried out and cooked are said to amplify electric abilities in coldbloods for a short moment of time. They can also be used to enchant an item with paralytic properties.
WEEPERS
These rare mushrooms can pop up just about anywhere. Only one grows every hundred feet or so and they don't get any bigger than a penny. Weepers are highly sought after since they have been known to greatly reduce corruption. Consuming a Weeper raw will immediately calm someone down, get rid of any current anxiety, wash away depression and paranoia, and clear the mind of hallucinations. Weepers can sharpen the mind and help increase focus. The effect lasts for days and sometimes even weeks. It isn't a permanent cure but it sure beats having a panic attack. Weepers can be collected and saved indefinitely. There are no other uses for them than mental relief, and they must be consumed raw. Cooking a Weeper will get rid of its healing properties - but it does add great flavor to a dish! If a mentally stable person eats them, there will be no effect.
BLUE CHEEKS
These radiant mushrooms grow in clusters on healthy trees and seem to thrive among vegetation. You might find Blue Cheeks in your own garden. They are certainly pretty, but you don't want to eat these. They will cause you to slowly suffocate - even if you don't typically need to "breathe" in the traditional way. It's an agonizing way to go. Your body will start to experience micro-seizures as it locks up, your throat slowly closing up, lungs squeezing inward. It will begin to feel like someone is sitting on your chest and there will be no relief. Your cheeks start to turn blue. Most who eat Blue Cheeks wind up dead, but if someone forcibly makes you vomit shortly after consuming a Blue Cheek, you may be able to survive. Some harvest Blue Cheeks and smash them up to coat their weapons in the jelly-like substance. This substance causes the same effect but must be used while the Blue Cheek jam is still wet. It will stay wet for an hour.
The mushroom is considered to be arguably the most important food source in Trench. It's the easiest to find and grow, and one of the easiest to harvest. It's a dependable source of protein and can fill people up. They are filled with vitamins that directly help your blood and heart health and can help keep your digestive system on track. But not everyone is a mushroom farmer and most Trenchies wind up foraging for their own mushrooms. Woven baskets are sold just about everywhere to help forage. Omens are extremely good at scenting out edible mushrooms.
The following edible mushrooms can be found/grown throughout Trench: button, portobello, cremini, oyster, chanterelle, porcini, black trumpets, morels, enoki, shimeji, shiitake, and giant puffballs. If you are extremely lucky, you might even find rare truffles. Truffles can be exchanged for highly valuable goods such as magnificent jewels and specialized weapons. Or you can keep the truffles to yourself and use them in a nice dish.
It is said there are hundreds of unique species of mushrooms to Trench. The following mushrooms are permanent features in Trench and can be found most commonly during Bone Season:
WALKING TERRORSThese parasitic mushrooms seem to "walk" around the forest floor. Arcane scholars have determined that their motion is actually just a natural response to stimuli in the environment and helps the fungi to spread its spores onto living hosts. Once you have been exposed to a cloud of these spores, you will immediately begin to hallucinate the world around you warping into a terrifying hellscape. Some say that Walking Terrors have driven people to beasthood in a matter of minutes. But there is a huge benefit to finding Walking Terrors: their caps, once dried and crushed down, are an ample treatment option for corruption. The tricky part is actually getting them. Covering your entire body, head to toe, completely is one way of avoiding the spores and probably the easiest way. Does anyone have a hazmat suit? Another option is knowing a darkblood or someone with similar abilities who can manipulate the direction of the spores in the air by pushing them away. Once the caps have been removed from the rest of the mushroom, the spores seem to lose their nightmarish quality and, at most, will just make you sneeze.
FLOATERSThese mushrooms come out exclusively at night and float lazily through the air. They bob and bump around, their tentacles searching for something to cling to and settle on. They mostly search for tree branches but have been known to accidentally cling to animals and people. The tentacles paralyze any sentient being it lands on. The good thing is that the cap and the little mushrooms on top are completely harmless to touch so if you have a buddy around, they can pull them off with no problem. You'll regain the ability to move your body a few seconds after the tentacles have been removed. The paralytic quality of these tentacles do not impact vilebloods. These mushrooms dried out and cooked are said to amplify electric abilities in coldbloods for a short moment of time. They can also be used to enchant an item with paralytic properties.
WEEPERSThese rare mushrooms can pop up just about anywhere. Only one grows every hundred feet or so and they don't get any bigger than a penny. Weepers are highly sought after since they have been known to greatly reduce corruption. Consuming a Weeper raw will immediately calm someone down, get rid of any current anxiety, wash away depression and paranoia, and clear the mind of hallucinations. Weepers can sharpen the mind and help increase focus. The effect lasts for days and sometimes even weeks. It isn't a permanent cure but it sure beats having a panic attack. Weepers can be collected and saved indefinitely. There are no other uses for them than mental relief, and they must be consumed raw. Cooking a Weeper will get rid of its healing properties - but it does add great flavor to a dish! If a mentally stable person eats them, there will be no effect.
BLUE CHEEKSThese radiant mushrooms grow in clusters on healthy trees and seem to thrive among vegetation. You might find Blue Cheeks in your own garden. They are certainly pretty, but you don't want to eat these. They will cause you to slowly suffocate - even if you don't typically need to "breathe" in the traditional way. It's an agonizing way to go. Your body will start to experience micro-seizures as it locks up, your throat slowly closing up, lungs squeezing inward. It will begin to feel like someone is sitting on your chest and there will be no relief. Your cheeks start to turn blue. Most who eat Blue Cheeks wind up dead, but if someone forcibly makes you vomit shortly after consuming a Blue Cheek, you may be able to survive. Some harvest Blue Cheeks and smash them up to coat their weapons in the jelly-like substance. This substance causes the same effect but must be used while the Blue Cheek jam is still wet. It will stay wet for an hour.
WHEN: Month of November
WHERE: Everywhere + The Sleeper Farm
CONTENT WARNINGS: Kidnapping, claustrophobia, harvesting blood/organs, imprisonment, temporary nerf of powers, blood sacrifice, brief amnesia, confusion, loss of time, breathing in blood, treatment of humanoids(?) like livestock, themes of meat markets, themes of torture, mutilated corpses, mutilating injuries.
WHERE: Everywhere + The Sleeper Farm
CONTENT WARNINGS: Kidnapping, claustrophobia, harvesting blood/organs, imprisonment, temporary nerf of powers, blood sacrifice, brief amnesia, confusion, loss of time, breathing in blood, treatment of humanoids(?) like livestock, themes of meat markets, themes of torture, mutilated corpses, mutilating injuries.
The blood pollution is thick this month and the more a Sleeper is exposed, the more a Sleeper will find themselves falling into a strange stupor. You seem to forget what you were doing, where you are, what time it is. You will find it increasingly difficult to use your blood powers. Some may lose their new abilities entirely. It's like trying to wake up from a deep dream, everything's sluggish and hazy.
Then you blink. That's all. Maybe you went to sleep or wash your face. When you open your eyes again, you're somewhere else entirely and have no recollection of how you got there. Your body has a deep ache, you're filthy, hungry, and feel like it's somehow been days. You have nothing on you except a drab red jumpsuit. No shoes. No Omni. No weapons.
THE STALLS: 1st FLOOR
If you're lucky, you wake up in a stall with another Sleeper (or more). You can hear and feel the dull vibration of heavy machinery chugging around you; you can smell oil and something thick and musty fermenting.
You are in some way restrained upon waking, whether through shackles to the wall, one another, or some other means. Whatever put you here doesn't want you to escape. You can barely access your powers (for now), but maybe you can find help in nearby Sleepers.
Once you escape, you almost wish you had stayed in your stall. The stalls are the only thing that's farmlike about the Sleeper Farm. It's an architectural masterpiece of steel pistons gyrating, metal staircases heading in every direction, steam-powered doors that exhale open upon an approach. Oil drips continually from above, like filthy rainfall, but every now and then, so does blood of all kind. Never enough to detect the source immediately though.
Your only real option left is to...explore. And this metal palace is huge. You will find various tools for construction around: wrenches, hammers, saws, nails, anything you'd find at a hardware store. You could come across workboots, protective gloves, helmets with lights. The metal around you is boiling hot, and if you're not careful, getting burns is all too easy. You can hear something banging around above. You may even see movement through metal slots of humanoids rushing away. Then you start to find the source of the blood...
STORAGE: 2-9th Floors
Sleepers have been strung up in various locations. Maybe they are ones you recognize, maybe they are you (if you're unlucky enough to wake up like that), or maybe they are completely foreign to you, maimed beyond recognition. Many have been pinned up and mutilated in some way, whether fully skinned and bled dry, or body parts removed, skin carved into. Some have buckets beneath them to collect blood while others seem to have been decoratively destroyed. There is no saving some, but there is saving many. Some might have only just been strung up, still alive, still fully intact, and without any harm done just yet...But no matter what, most won't remember how they got there.
The further you go, the more bodies you come across. Some bodies have been rolled up into bags and tossed into empty rooms in piles. The floor is slick with blood, and the metal maze becomes increasingly complex with tighter turns and thicker blood pollution. It becomes difficult to breathe without ingesting in some kind of blood - but on the other hand...Your powers begin to work because of it. You can start to feel it coming back to you. You can feel yourself slowly start to regain your strength. Which is probably for the best, since you're not out of this hell just yet.
BLOOD HARVEST: 10th Floor
You enter a perfect, circular room built out of pure bloodstone from the different blood types, neatly flushed together in a mesmerizing display of artistry and architecture. At the center of a room is an enormous golden statue of The Tower, hands held out with palms open.
Filling the palms of the statue and surrounding the base of the Tower are hundreds of organs, perfectly intact, given to the statue in sacrifice. The miraculous thing, however, is the fact that most of the organs still seem to be functioning - or at the very least, they aren't rotting the way they should be. It isn't something one wishes to look at for too long.
More importantly, are the five doors that represent the five different blood types. Each door is made from the same gray wood, but with a single bloodstone in the center. Beyond the door is where you come to discover the true horror of where you are.
You're in a Sleeper Farm. Sleepers have been organized by blood types into a vast room. Some cannot be saved, opened up on tables, their organs already carved out and given over to the sacrifice. Others are still alive, but hooked up to tubes, their blood being pumped into vats kept in the ceiling. More disturbingly are the bodies of Sleepers that barely look like Sleepers at all anymore - they have been stripped so thoroughly of everything, left like hunks of meat on hooks. There are fires stoked towards the back, with shelves of jars with blood vials and bloodstones.
It's probably time to wonder who did this to you. Who brought you to this place?
And probably how the hell you get out.
QUICK FACTS
1. To avoid this prompt, you can simply handwave your character getting lucky or Wearing a gas mask and full facial/bodily coverage to help keep the likelihood of blood pollution impact lower.
2. If characters don't have eyes, any variation of vulnerability will count (ie; turning away from something, putting on headphones, etc).
3. Characters cannot have their Omni or any other item in this prompt except items they find along the way. They can still summon their Omens. Omens can help guide Sleepers, and provide communication. One can use Omens to transmit messages to the Network. However, characters cannot find their way to this location from outside. This is a by-chance location.
4. You can choose your character's level of restraint (muzzles/handcuffs/etc) and how easily they can escape them (maybe the shackles can be broken apart with enough strength or you need a nearby key).
5. Those whose Patron is the Tower will be able to more easily navigate the Sleeper Farm and figure out its continually moving parts. They may get a "telepathic" swaying by the Tower to go in the right direction. They will also instinctively know that they are inside the Tower's body in some way.
6. Characters can wake up in any part of the Tower and experience this prompt multiple times.
7. To get out, one must sacrifice some sort of blood or an organ directly to the Tower whether their own or someone else's. This will transport a Sleeper back into town in a random location. Alternatively: Moon Presence will be saving Sleepers by "pulling" them out of this place at random. It will feel a lot like traveling through the lamps, but Sleepers will realize it's the Moon Presence instead. She will place them back in their homes. This can be done at any time.
8. This prompt is meant to go hand-in-hand with the third prompt, but it is not required to engage with both.
Then you blink. That's all. Maybe you went to sleep or wash your face. When you open your eyes again, you're somewhere else entirely and have no recollection of how you got there. Your body has a deep ache, you're filthy, hungry, and feel like it's somehow been days. You have nothing on you except a drab red jumpsuit. No shoes. No Omni. No weapons.
If you're lucky, you wake up in a stall with another Sleeper (or more). You can hear and feel the dull vibration of heavy machinery chugging around you; you can smell oil and something thick and musty fermenting.
You are in some way restrained upon waking, whether through shackles to the wall, one another, or some other means. Whatever put you here doesn't want you to escape. You can barely access your powers (for now), but maybe you can find help in nearby Sleepers.
Once you escape, you almost wish you had stayed in your stall. The stalls are the only thing that's farmlike about the Sleeper Farm. It's an architectural masterpiece of steel pistons gyrating, metal staircases heading in every direction, steam-powered doors that exhale open upon an approach. Oil drips continually from above, like filthy rainfall, but every now and then, so does blood of all kind. Never enough to detect the source immediately though.
Your only real option left is to...explore. And this metal palace is huge. You will find various tools for construction around: wrenches, hammers, saws, nails, anything you'd find at a hardware store. You could come across workboots, protective gloves, helmets with lights. The metal around you is boiling hot, and if you're not careful, getting burns is all too easy. You can hear something banging around above. You may even see movement through metal slots of humanoids rushing away. Then you start to find the source of the blood...
Sleepers have been strung up in various locations. Maybe they are ones you recognize, maybe they are you (if you're unlucky enough to wake up like that), or maybe they are completely foreign to you, maimed beyond recognition. Many have been pinned up and mutilated in some way, whether fully skinned and bled dry, or body parts removed, skin carved into. Some have buckets beneath them to collect blood while others seem to have been decoratively destroyed. There is no saving some, but there is saving many. Some might have only just been strung up, still alive, still fully intact, and without any harm done just yet...But no matter what, most won't remember how they got there.
The further you go, the more bodies you come across. Some bodies have been rolled up into bags and tossed into empty rooms in piles. The floor is slick with blood, and the metal maze becomes increasingly complex with tighter turns and thicker blood pollution. It becomes difficult to breathe without ingesting in some kind of blood - but on the other hand...Your powers begin to work because of it. You can start to feel it coming back to you. You can feel yourself slowly start to regain your strength. Which is probably for the best, since you're not out of this hell just yet.
You enter a perfect, circular room built out of pure bloodstone from the different blood types, neatly flushed together in a mesmerizing display of artistry and architecture. At the center of a room is an enormous golden statue of The Tower, hands held out with palms open.
Filling the palms of the statue and surrounding the base of the Tower are hundreds of organs, perfectly intact, given to the statue in sacrifice. The miraculous thing, however, is the fact that most of the organs still seem to be functioning - or at the very least, they aren't rotting the way they should be. It isn't something one wishes to look at for too long.
More importantly, are the five doors that represent the five different blood types. Each door is made from the same gray wood, but with a single bloodstone in the center. Beyond the door is where you come to discover the true horror of where you are.
You're in a Sleeper Farm. Sleepers have been organized by blood types into a vast room. Some cannot be saved, opened up on tables, their organs already carved out and given over to the sacrifice. Others are still alive, but hooked up to tubes, their blood being pumped into vats kept in the ceiling. More disturbingly are the bodies of Sleepers that barely look like Sleepers at all anymore - they have been stripped so thoroughly of everything, left like hunks of meat on hooks. There are fires stoked towards the back, with shelves of jars with blood vials and bloodstones.
It's probably time to wonder who did this to you. Who brought you to this place?
And probably how the hell you get out.
QUICK FACTS
1. To avoid this prompt, you can simply handwave your character getting lucky or Wearing a gas mask and full facial/bodily coverage to help keep the likelihood of blood pollution impact lower.
2. If characters don't have eyes, any variation of vulnerability will count (ie; turning away from something, putting on headphones, etc).
3. Characters cannot have their Omni or any other item in this prompt except items they find along the way. They can still summon their Omens. Omens can help guide Sleepers, and provide communication. One can use Omens to transmit messages to the Network. However, characters cannot find their way to this location from outside. This is a by-chance location.
4. You can choose your character's level of restraint (muzzles/handcuffs/etc) and how easily they can escape them (maybe the shackles can be broken apart with enough strength or you need a nearby key).
5. Those whose Patron is the Tower will be able to more easily navigate the Sleeper Farm and figure out its continually moving parts. They may get a "telepathic" swaying by the Tower to go in the right direction. They will also instinctively know that they are inside the Tower's body in some way.
6. Characters can wake up in any part of the Tower and experience this prompt multiple times.
7. To get out, one must sacrifice some sort of blood or an organ directly to the Tower whether their own or someone else's. This will transport a Sleeper back into town in a random location. Alternatively: Moon Presence will be saving Sleepers by "pulling" them out of this place at random. It will feel a lot like traveling through the lamps, but Sleepers will realize it's the Moon Presence instead. She will place them back in their homes. This can be done at any time.
8. This prompt is meant to go hand-in-hand with the third prompt, but it is not required to engage with both.
WHEN: Month of November
WHERE:???? Everywhere and the Sleeper Farm
CONTENT WARNINGS: Severe disorientation, psychological horror, paradoxical horror, feelings of being trapped/lost, Cenobites/beings with extreme bodily modifications, themes of mental and physical torture.
WHERE:
CONTENT WARNINGS: Severe disorientation, psychological horror, paradoxical horror, feelings of being trapped/lost, Cenobites/beings with extreme bodily modifications, themes of mental and physical torture.
You are not alone in the Sleeper Farm, and someone powerful has brought you here. It wasn't the Tower though. It was someone obsessed with the Tower. Or...obsessed with blood.
They lurk throughout Trench, never letting themselves be known until they want to be known. They abduct Sleepers in the blink of an eye, masters of reality-bending and experts of blood abilities.
Meet the Blood-Crazed Zealots.
Or, as you will come to learn through various interactions, ancient Sleepers who have been exposed to blood pollution for far too long and who have been completely corrupt by it. These are masters of their blood magic, darkblood magicians who can snap their fingers and rip a Sleeper off the streets. Palebloods who can make you forget who you are, where you are. Vilebloods who have mastered the exact skill of extracting blood and harvesting it for bloodstones and sacrifices. Warmbloods who have gladly given their bodies up to power the Tower. Coldbloods who keep the metal machinery of the Sleeper Farm running perfectly.
These are the Sleepers who learned to survive in a different way, Sleepers who learned to cohesively blend their skills together to not only survive but excel. Most have completely disfigured themselves, claiming it to be an act of religious commitment to the "Patron Pthumerians that guide us."
The Blood Crazed Zealots believe that they must continually sacrifice Sleepers to the Tower primarily in order to keep the city of Trench strong against corruption. And the thing is...They technically aren't wrong. The Bone Season is when Trench becomes the weakest, so the Blood Crazed Zealots work overtime to get the blood pumping into the streets.
These beings are naturally sadistic, uninterested in compassion. Yet they show the potential for what Sleepers could learn, and if you're clever enough, you may even be able to get a Blood Crazed Zealot to pause and teach you a thing about your own blood type. They are ruthless and powerful, but far from irrational or stupid. Corrupt they may be, senseless they are not.
Some of you may wake up to one of these creatures torturing you or torturing a friend. You may catch them in the streets of Trench, turning a corner, and that may be your chance to follow them into the Sleeper Farm by stepping into the black holes they leave in their wake when teleporting.
The Blood Crazed Zealots can summon hooks from nowhere and snare you in their traps. They can get extremely creative and oftentimes will enjoy dragging out the agony. They know how to drain Sleepers of their blood and their powers...So how is one to even combat one of these?
Use their own game against them, of course. Blood is power and you might as well use yours. Blood Crazed Zealots are tied to their word and obey the law of the blood. If you create a blood oath with one of these Blood Crazed Zealots that's just clever enough, you may be able to protect yourself and a few others. But be careful. Blood oaths with Blood Crazed Zealots can have loopholes. Ask to be set free and they might let your body go, but keep your mind to drive you insane.
Despite their power, they are still limited in what they can do. They can't be everywhere at once, and one can hide from them. They can even be killed if a Sleeper properly regains their strength.
QUICK FACTS
1. You can create your own variation of a Blood Crazed Zealot. Their general concept is inspired by cenobites, but the general concept is a humanoid-being who looks like they have sacrificed a good deal of their body.
2. They will communicate this information openly to Sleepers who ask about it as well as tell Sleepers about other lore and facts about blood types/the Pthumerians.
3. Their powers are based on regular blood type powers (ie; a coldblood BCZ could torture people with electricity.) Some are much weaker than others.
4. They would not accept a new Sleeper who wanted to become "one of them" since they are created after decades of exposure to blood pollution.
5. People can run into these both in the Sleeper Farm and in Trench. One could convince a Blood Crazed Zealot to bring them to the Sleeper Farm in order to save others.
They lurk throughout Trench, never letting themselves be known until they want to be known. They abduct Sleepers in the blink of an eye, masters of reality-bending and experts of blood abilities.
Meet the Blood-Crazed Zealots.
Or, as you will come to learn through various interactions, ancient Sleepers who have been exposed to blood pollution for far too long and who have been completely corrupt by it. These are masters of their blood magic, darkblood magicians who can snap their fingers and rip a Sleeper off the streets. Palebloods who can make you forget who you are, where you are. Vilebloods who have mastered the exact skill of extracting blood and harvesting it for bloodstones and sacrifices. Warmbloods who have gladly given their bodies up to power the Tower. Coldbloods who keep the metal machinery of the Sleeper Farm running perfectly.
These are the Sleepers who learned to survive in a different way, Sleepers who learned to cohesively blend their skills together to not only survive but excel. Most have completely disfigured themselves, claiming it to be an act of religious commitment to the "Patron Pthumerians that guide us."
The Blood Crazed Zealots believe that they must continually sacrifice Sleepers to the Tower primarily in order to keep the city of Trench strong against corruption. And the thing is...They technically aren't wrong. The Bone Season is when Trench becomes the weakest, so the Blood Crazed Zealots work overtime to get the blood pumping into the streets.
These beings are naturally sadistic, uninterested in compassion. Yet they show the potential for what Sleepers could learn, and if you're clever enough, you may even be able to get a Blood Crazed Zealot to pause and teach you a thing about your own blood type. They are ruthless and powerful, but far from irrational or stupid. Corrupt they may be, senseless they are not.
Some of you may wake up to one of these creatures torturing you or torturing a friend. You may catch them in the streets of Trench, turning a corner, and that may be your chance to follow them into the Sleeper Farm by stepping into the black holes they leave in their wake when teleporting.
The Blood Crazed Zealots can summon hooks from nowhere and snare you in their traps. They can get extremely creative and oftentimes will enjoy dragging out the agony. They know how to drain Sleepers of their blood and their powers...So how is one to even combat one of these?
Use their own game against them, of course. Blood is power and you might as well use yours. Blood Crazed Zealots are tied to their word and obey the law of the blood. If you create a blood oath with one of these Blood Crazed Zealots that's just clever enough, you may be able to protect yourself and a few others. But be careful. Blood oaths with Blood Crazed Zealots can have loopholes. Ask to be set free and they might let your body go, but keep your mind to drive you insane.
Despite their power, they are still limited in what they can do. They can't be everywhere at once, and one can hide from them. They can even be killed if a Sleeper properly regains their strength.
QUICK FACTS
1. You can create your own variation of a Blood Crazed Zealot. Their general concept is inspired by cenobites, but the general concept is a humanoid-being who looks like they have sacrificed a good deal of their body.
2. They will communicate this information openly to Sleepers who ask about it as well as tell Sleepers about other lore and facts about blood types/the Pthumerians.
3. Their powers are based on regular blood type powers (ie; a coldblood BCZ could torture people with electricity.) Some are much weaker than others.
4. They would not accept a new Sleeper who wanted to become "one of them" since they are created after decades of exposure to blood pollution.
5. People can run into these both in the Sleeper Farm and in Trench. One could convince a Blood Crazed Zealot to bring them to the Sleeper Farm in order to save others.
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Except when he turns, he doesn't see Diluc, but another man, a man who's too familiar, who's begs for mercy haunt his dreams. Ragou, the Magistrate of Capua Nor back home, is standing there, smiling his awful smile at Yuri. No, he can't be here. He can't. He's dead. Yuri saw to that, made sure he can't hurt anyone again.
He has to tell Diluc, to get them both out of here, even if it means killing these two, again ]
Diluc! Diluc, where the hell are you?
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He steps back, slow step by slow step as the horse moves closer. The figure to his right moves too. It reaches out and he can almost feel the darkness rolling over his mind.
He swallows and speaks up,] And I’m not alone. That damned ghost horse is here. And whatever it was that made loneliness a sickness.
[He moves back again, navigating around mushrooms to make sure he doesn’t add drugs to the issues in front of them. Or so he thinks.] If they get me. You need to run and find a weeper. Then make me eat it. If you’re at risk, take it instead. It cuts corruption.
[No one needs to die. He won’t allow it when they have another means. The damn fog makes it hard for him to see. The horse keeps moving, walking with the steady cadence of the inevitable.]
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[ But the other Diluc and Ragou are coming closer to him. He turns to try and find a way out, only to be faced with Cumore, the knight captain he killed in the sands of Mantaic. Dread drops into his gut ]
How many times are you going to make me see these guys!?
[ Fight it, something in his says. Fight it, it isn't real. They're dead. Even if Diluc is alive again, this version of him isn't. This version is dead.
The walking corpse come closer to him, taking slow steps, and they seem to surround him no matter where he moves. He turns one more time and sees someone he hasn't seen in a long time: Repede's father, Lambert. His old captain, Niren's, dog, who he killed not unlike Diluc, when Lambert was taken over by a corruption that turned animals into monsters.
Yuri lets out a desperate gasp and stumbles back, and he stumbles back into the real Diluc, a solid body, if not a warm one. Yuri grabs onto Diluc's arm, but when he looks up at him, it's the awful loneliness Diluc again and he's ready to try and kill him again, raising a fist as he lets go of Diluc's arm ]
Get the hell off me!
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It's hard to forget who killed you no matter how necessary it was. When he turns his gaze to where he felt him. He sees that white haired corpse version of himself again, reaching for his face. Something is wrong. Diluc narrows his eyes.
He sucks in a deep lungful of air and everything looks worse. Colors drag like a child smeared the colors. He snaps his hand out down low to grab for a chain and instead grabs Yuri's arm. At the same time he calls out.]
Don't attack! It's me. Our eyes are being tricked!
[Then he tips his head back and shouts,] Dellingr! Give him my proof!
[There is an answering rumble from somewhere he can't see. In reality, Dellingr expands until he dominates the sky with a roar that crashes like thunder and Diluc says into the following silence,] We've been drugged somehow. Hold on, I'll burn the air around us and see if that clears this up.
[Motes of fire dance in the air as he lets his magic flow through his body and out. Flames wrap around his shoulders and pour down to cut through the air around them. Time will tell if it helps.]
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The fire magic fills the air, and Yuri doesn't trust himself to help right now, a trickle of blood trickling down from the corner of his mouth.
At least, somehow, the fire works. It burns whatever was in the air around them, and as Yuri breathes, the hallucination slowly ebbs away. He still seeing Ragou and Cumore and Lambert and that other, awful Diluc, but they're fading, and the alive and solid Diluc next to him is coming back into view ]
Good thinking. Uh, sorry. Didn't mean to attack you. You looked--
[ Like someone he's killed before, isn't really a great thing to say to someone he has actually killed before. ]
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Then he snaps back into the size of a falcon and flaps around. Diluc slowly eases up. But he speaks low, as if he can’t raise his voice.] You didn’t look any better. …my memories are still a little patchy about what happened just before I was taken by the sickness.
But I remember what I saw just before my will was crushed.
[The fire is a shield against whatever is in the air. But there is something else he has to say. Because he feels it needs said.]
I could barely answer you during that fight. But I was conscious and aware enough to see how hard you tried to reach me. And I feel you need to hear something important.
[He gestures to him then his own chest.] You and I are not the killers we think we are. We are bending and damaging ourselves to be what we feel is necessary.
Your true nature is to protect and shield those you care for or are weaker than you. I’m sorry that I failed to hold out and you had to deal with me. But, I am also grateful that when I fell you were there to prevent me from harming others.
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But the tone of Diluc's voice doesn't let him say any of that. Diluc is saying that they're the same, that he understands, and maybe Yuri does kill to protect others, but he still kills. He hurts himself by doing things so others don't have to, but it doesn't change what he's done.
Maybe Diluc is the same. He watches his friend, forcing himself to stay silent, to listen to those quiet words. He isn't quite as eloquent as Diluc, not one for beautiful words. He grips Diluc's arm ]
You would have done the same thing. It's not your fault, man. That... it got to a lot of people. Not just you.
[ He should respond to what Diluc said about him, but he can't quite make himself ]
You know, you have friends in me and Flynn. If you feel something like that coming on again, or you just feel like you need some company, our door's open. I think this place is gonna come for us when we're alone.
[ So: the more of them there are, banding together, supporting one another, the better. ]
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[He lays his hand over the one on his arm. He would have killed Yuri if it were the reverse. And it would have haunted him. There is so much blood on his hands. Some of it he doesn’t regret.
But people he cares for? People who he couldn’t get to before mercy was the only option? They keep him up some nights. He breathes in slowly and nods,] And I agree. This place will come for us when we’re alone or when our guard is down. It holds that consistency with Deerington.
As does banding together to survive. [He glances towards his omen and coughs slightly,] The omens are new. But I can’t say I actually mind their being with us.
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[ Even if Diluc's roomie won't welcome Yuri quite as much, he thinks.
He watches Diluc, and wants to pull his hand away. Sometimes, it's like he can see the blood on his hands, like he'll never be rid of it, the blood of the people he killed, for the greater good. Even if he doesn't regret it, he still did it.
He doesn't know exactly what Diluc means, that he's not a killer, either. Does he know what Yuri did? Did Flynn tell him? He wouldn't, Yuri doesn't think. He wouldn't, without good reason.
He could stay quiet. He could, but his mouth is moving before he can stop it: ]
What did you do? [ To be a killer, like him ]
cw: patricide
I killed my father. He told me to do it. Then I spent three years wiping his enemies he didn't tell me he had from the face of Teyvat. I wanted answers and they were my only source. They're evil and causing so much suffering. That's how I justified it.
[In some ways he still does.] Three years passed simply as track my next target, kill those who opposed me, and get my answers before moving on. Then I went home and killed those I deemed too large of a threat.
What the knights can’t get to. I do. [His hands are red and he doesn’t think that will stop.] I do what needs done. So, yes. If things had been the reverse, I’d have taken care of you.
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[ That, at least is familiar. He can barely imagine falling into that mentality for three years. He did it twice, and it was hard enough.
He looks up at Diluc, watching him with a small frown on his lips. Three years of trying to rid the world of monsters, but the kind who come in the shapes of people. Three whole years of knowing you're hurting yourself to better the world. ]
It's not easy. Right? Doing that. Even if it's for a good reason.
[ He can't imagine killing his father, for so many reasons, but he knows the pain of watching someone who acted like a father to him die in front of him, knowing he could have saved him if he'd been faster, smarter, stronger.
It all hurts. It hurt when he killed Ragou and Cumore, even though he knew he had to do it, he had to stop them from hurting more people, he had to clear Flynn's path by taking them out. It hurt when he killed the Don, even though the Don asked for help, and none of his own people stepped up. It hurt when he killed Diluc, too, even though he was too far gone, a danger to himself and others.
He doesn't regret any of it, but he still carries around that pain like a weight, something he has to bear so no one else does.
Except Diluc. He bears a similar weight, and Yuri looks at him a little differently now, as someone who might understand, someone who had the same experience.
We're not killers, even though they are. Yuri knows he's a killer. He's killed, and he'll do it again. No matter the reason, it doesn't change that he did it, that he should have been punished for it and he wasn't. He was let free because of Flynn's power, because of his connections to the Empire. He should be rotting in a cell right now, but he can't even want that, either. He doesn't know what he wants, but knowing that Diluc might feel the same way as him?
That helps. ]
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[It’s the truth. He knows he would have approached all of it differently as he is now. All his life he tried to live up to what his father dreamed of. He desired to protect the world around him. Yet that night he learned how much of that world was lie.
The cords holding him snapped and all was left was a shattered mess of hurt and rage that didn’t even know what he was. Or who. All he had striven to be to someone lying to him. So he did what he felt best. Cut through the darkness and find the truth.
Find the reality behind all the pretty glass. So he can rebuild himself and press forward. Faith in an ideal not a person. The new Diluc rising from the ashes resembled the old but he was colder, more refined.]
I don’t regret any of it. It had to be done eventually. They are trying to choke all of Teyvat.
[But it still hurts. He can’t get around that. He sighs and lifts an arm up in a classic falconer’s pose. And Dellingr flies to him, shrinking to the right size and landing on his arm. He runs his fingers over the dragon’s jaw as he says,] It’s not easy. I always prefer when I can obliterate their capital and they back off. An option no longer available.
[He shakes his head and looks ahead to the weeper he can see.] So cures and preventatives measures it is. Getting stronger.
For that far away dawn beyond the darkness.
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[ Smokey comes down to Yuri, too, but he doesn't hold up his arm, doesn't have that bred into him the way Diluc clearly does. Instead, Smokey lands on his shoulder, his talons marking his leather jacket with little imprints that mar the leather.
He feels like he should offer something, too. Offer up what he did, how he feels about it, but the words won't come. His eyes skip away from Diluc ]
Cut off the rot to save the whole... I dunno. I used to think that might be true. I don't know anymore.
[ Even if killing is necessary, sometimes, like killing Diluc when he was too far gone. ]
Rage can do a lot, but it can't last forever. Reality comes back, in the end.
[ Whatever that reality might be. He's still waiting for his punishment to come. ]
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It feels a bit like staring in the mirror sometimes. To the darker part of himself no one knows.
Cut off the rot to save the whole. Noble. And right in line with his own former thoughts. He sighs.] …removing the rot is important but rot can be more complicated than it looks. I went about it as a knight on the field of battle.
That only works on a battlefield. I had to learn to be a gardener. …sometimes it’s a lot of waiting. Applying treatments that will work over time. Something as small as listening. I think Father knew all of this and never taught me any of it. What does a sword need with knowing how things can grow.
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Killing, it's easy. [ In the moment, at least. He looks away from Diluc as he speaks. It's uncomfortable, as much as it's a comfort, to see himself reflected in his friend. In the man you killed ] Solving the problem, is harder.
Flynn, he's a gardener. He has so much patience, to deal with all the terrible things that happening in the moment, because he has this grand idea for the future. He would get there, too, if we were back home. I... I cut off the rot. I was the sword.
[ The brute force, before the end, at least. In the end, they found that solution. He knows he's not telling the story in order, but his mind is still trying to figure it out, too ]
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...but now you think there are other ways. [He has been the boy that didn't question his father. Dutiful. Loyal. Letting his edge get honed because of his father and all happy faces around him.] Swords don't think.
You might not be a gardener yourself yet. But I think you could be one with time.
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[ He doesn't know why that faith strikes him so much. He glances at Diluc as they walk. He killed Diluc, no matter the reason. He killed him, and here Diluc is, having faith in Yuri, in his skills, in his decisions.
He doesn't quite have that same faith in myself. ]
You-- how did you do it? Stop, uh. Being the sword?
[ The metaphors are getting tangled on his tongue, but this feels important ]
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After he'd been rescued...He stares into the middle distance with a faraway look on his face. It makes him look younger as if the years are bleeding away too.] I was rescued before I could be put down like a wild animal on the rampage. A hidden intelligence network had saved me. All of them were dedicated to keeping all of Teyvat safe not just Mondstadt. They abandoned rank, businesses, names, everything to work together towards that singular goal.
...It made me remember why I dedicated myself to the sword at all. Because I loved those around me and wanted to protect them. To bring them peace so we could all be safe and happy. You said you saved your friend and the world at the same time. That's a harder road to take but you did it.
In making that choice you chose love over hatred. Faith and care over brutal judgment and logic. I think they all matter. All these things make up a human being. Thinking things through...the fact you're asking how to stop being a sword is already a sign you've stopped being one. The more times you make the choice to solve a problem instead of taking the easy way, you're a little less a sword.
[He raises his head and looks at Yuri. He looks a little tired, but still as resolute as ever.] You could have chosen to avoid me when I came back. But you didn't. You faced me. That's not the decision of a sword. A gardener doesn't have to have a grand vision. As long as they care and want to help things grow, that's enough.
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His voice is a little weak, creaking out of him when he says: ]
That's... why I did, too. Why Flynn and I did. Knights were always beating up the people of the lower quarter, and no one took our side. We did that. We wanted to, to make a world where people like us, like our community, where we could live safely, happily.
I gave up that dream. [ He walked away, he couldn't hack it in the knights, couldn't live out the dream they'd worked toward for so long. He can't help but think that Flynn wouldn't have gotten as far if he'd stayed, too. Yuri would have held him back.
He lets out a breath, tapping his fingers on his thigh as they walk, the trees passing around them, Yuri's eyes sharp for more mushrooms. They all look pretty harmless, but how would he know? ]
It's good. That they brought you back. You're a good guy, Diluc. You, yeah. You're smart, a good fighter. [ Good at stringing words together coherently, a skill that Yuri is severely lacking right now ] If I had the chance to face the other people I've killed, I would. You're... not the first friend I've killed.
[ He'll let Diluc do what he will with that information. He's still waiting for the other shoe to drop, for one of his friends to give up on him, knowing what he's done.
He doesn't feel like much more than a sharp weapon, to be pointed where he's needed most of the time. That's what he's good at: he's good at fighting, he's good at protecting people, he's good at killing them. He can embrace that this is who he is, even if that part still hurts, a pain that rears up and makes him see red, blood covering his own hands, carrying the weight of what he's done. ]
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It doesn't matter that this world takes things that shouldn't be used as swords to cut at the soul. The failure is why he is starting to reflect. How can he rebuild, make himself a better force to bring the light?
His father's words in Deerington drift up as if he were walking with them.
Take more than just your light into the dark.
If one light can shine in the depths of the abyss. What would happen if more were gathered together? He thinks that over as he spots what looks like a ball of most waddling around covered in mushroom caps. He squints, but his voice comes out a little gentler.] Knowing this place you may yet face the rest. ...I wish I could tell you that it gets easier.
[The mushroom caps are emitting spores. The flames around them in a circle to keep them back and burn them before they can reach them like before. But as Dellingr takes to the air he turns his hand and threads of cold magic wind up his arm.] But, I think they're like scars. All we can do is keep living and trying to make a better world. So other people don't have to make the choices we did. There's never just one path to that.
[He cracks his knuckles and the cold magic spills over onto his other hand.] I'll contain that trouble maker if you'll get the Weeper it's wandering near. The Weeper is that mushroom that looks like a raindrop.
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Yeah. That's why we do it, right? So other people don't have to. [ So Flynn didn't have to go against his own moral compass, so the Don's people didn't have to be the ones who killed him, so someone else wouldn't have to kill a fellow Sleepers. Yuri can do it, he's glad he did, so no one else had to.
He puts the Weeper into a little pouch he collected some others in and straightens up, turning back to Diluc ]
Think we can make this place better?
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Ice bursts forth like someone pouring gasoline into a bonfire. It binds the thing and prevents the spores of continuing. He cuts off his flames moments later as he adds,] It will be a battle. It will be like fighting uphill on rainy rock but we can do it.
[He turns to face him now the danger is over.]
And we’ll need as much help and intelligence as we can get. The more connections we build the more we have a chance at even a foothold up the mountain.
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They would probably still be trapped in hallucinations if not for Diluc, and that knowledge lodges itself in his throat. ]
Yeah. That... yeah. We can do that.
[ He's not sure he can. He isn't good at that kind of stuff. Point him where you need him and he can fight, but he can't work the long game, can't do that. It's part of why he left the knights, part of why he never did anything with his life before going after the blastia thief all those months ago.
He just wants to have his small life, with Flynn and Blue in their little house, with friends he can help, take care of, feed. He doesn't want to start another guild, doesn't want to fight another institution. Those dreams were Flynn's really, and Yuri went along with them because he loves Flynn and wants to help him, but he doesn't have the drive to do that on his own.
Maybe he can just stand behind people like Diluc, lifting them up, supporting them, fighting for them to do what they need to get done.
He doesn't say any of that out loud, though, looking away from him ]
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For now, I apologize but I deeply need a moment to rest before we continue. Channeling two elements like that is...deeply taxing. If it were any element complimentary to my fire it would be another story. But it's cryo.
[He slowly lowers himself to the ground and sits down. He bows his head to focus on breathing for a moment.] Maybe Kaeya was right. They're not compatible magics at all. ...I never asked but which of the three did your blood grant you?
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[ Shit. He should have noticed, should have helped. But he let Diluc take care of it, because Diluc is capable and took charge.
Man, he feels like he fucked up. He steps over to Diluc, dropping down next to him and riffling around in his bag. He pulls out a muffin, a little squished, and offers it to him. ]
Here, made this morning.
Kaeya had ice, right? Where you guys are from? Guess that makes sense, if you only get one. I got all of them, I guess. Ice is easier to use, but fire's okay, and I've gotten lightning to work for me a couple times. You only got one?
[ Because he had fire already, maybe. Yuri watches him for a moment ]
Thanks. For the save.
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