reddosmod: (Default)
Deer Country Mod ([personal profile] reddosmod) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2021-09-08 06:20 pm
Entry tags:

All men must die, but first he must live.

SEPTEMBER 2021 EVENT
IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Prompt One
[Image One: Woman holding skull in bag. ]
[Image Two: Plants sprouting out of earth.]

Prompt Two
[Image One: Woman rocking back and forth in dark.]
[Image Two: Woman rowing down river with corpses on stakes on horizon.]

Prompt Three
[Image One: Beef cake man breaking arrows off of shield with a sword.]
[Image Two: Beefy man slamming axe into troll-like creature, spraying blood.]

[NAVIGATION]

Prompt 1 β€’ Prompt 2 β€’ Prompt 3 β€’ Plotting β€’ Newsletter

[JUMP TO COMMENTS]
GROWING PAINS
WHEN: September
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Minor blood ritual.


September, for many in Trench, is considered a month of personal sacrifice. It is the month of self-actualization and promise. To grow your future, you must first be willing to sacrifice your past. You cannot walk forwards while walking backward. All throughout Trench, natives can be seen in yards and on plots of land digging small holes and planting a variety of items. Some plant seeds, some drop in a ring, others bury small parts of a body. But the ritual is simple: bury something that represents your past and seal it with a promise for your future.

You can write yourself a note or cut off a lock of your own hair. The ways in which people do this are limitless since it's a largely personal experience. Find a small patch of soil and dig yourself a shallow hole. Bury the item inside, say goodbye to who you used to be, and cover the item up with dirt. Once you are done, you must shed at least one drop of blood onto the sacrifice. It must be your own blood willingly given. Once the blood hits the soil, a small flower will miraculously grow out of the earth within seconds.

A single, powerless flower, but this flower will be completely immortal. You can either keep it on the patch of land or dig it up and bring it home. The flower will be a representation of your progress in Trench: if its petals wilt, you are lingering too much in the past. If it is in full bloom and vibrant, you're on the right path to a better future. If the flower starts to rot, you're heading down a dangerous path.

The flower may not be able to sway you one way or another, but it may serve as a valuable reminder of the kind of life you wish to lead. Some people abandon the flowers entirely and never bother with them. After all, there are no real consequences if you let the flower rot. If a character is dropped, their flower will fleck away like dust. Many believe that the flowers are made of the same stuff omens are made of.

You can dig up other people's flowers and watch their progress (make sure to get player permission) instead. After all, not everyone will care enough about their own flowers to really observe them closely. The flowers can come in any species or size, even fictional flowers, but they will only be replicas. Meaning if your character's flower is typically used for healing, there will be no healing properties in this replica. The flowers cannot be destroyed.

Many natives in Trench will repeat this ritual a few times every couple of years since the ritual is for letting go of the past. After all, the promises you make to yourself now won't be the same promises you make to yourself ten years from now. People change and so too will their flowers. What the characters bury is largely open to interpretation.

RIVER OF REGRET
WHEN: September
WHERE: Some obscure location within Gaze
CONTENT WARNINGS: Mangled corpses of loved ones, birds eating corpses, themes of regret.


You will find raven feathers all over Trench. They may drift through the air, lightly touch you, or you might decide to pick one up. The moment you come into physical contact with a feather, a conspiracy of ravens tears through the air and scoops you up into a whirlwind of feathers and caws. It only lasts a few seconds before you're deposited into a canoe drifting along a still river. Another Sleeper is in the boat with you. You pass beneath massive stone walls carved into the likeness of Never Mind and his ravens.

The world is silent around you. There is no rain here. Instead, sunlight pours through breaks in the clouds. Sunlight dapples across the water and golden-red leaves of nearby trees. It's more serene than most places in Trench.

You turn a corner and smell it before you see it. The picturesque summer day is dampened by the stench of rot. Then you come upon them: corpses. Corpses tied up to posts with barbed wire, corpses put through spikes and suspended in the air. Ravens flutter to and fro, picking at strips of meat. It isn't until you're close enough that you realize you recognize the corpses.

They are the corpses of people you have hurt. And that doesn't just mean people you killed or physically harmed. These are the bodies of people you have deep regrets towards: a lover you wronged, a best friend you lied to, an enemy you wish you had forgiven. Not everything is as black and white as murder, after all, and this grisly graveyard of mangled bodies says as much. Sometimes our regrets haunt us like the dead, and it seems like yours have followed you to Trench. You might even see your own body up on a post or the body of your canoe companions.

You have one of two choices: ignore your regret or face it.

Choosing to ignore your regrets doesn't seem to have any ill consequences at first. You pass by the corpses and continue on your river voyage. But the water grows thicker, and you come across the same corpses only in a worse state. The situation gets progressively worse each time you ignore it, and the river gradually becomes a river of blood and gore. The stench becomes insufferable and you will become increasingly corrupt. Some may even turn into beasts right there on the river.

Facing your regrets means talking about them, even mildly, to your canoe companions. You simply need to acknowledge the corpses, acknowledge the slightest truth to your feelings towards those regrets. When everyone in your canoe has acknowledged their regrets, the ravens will come for you once more. You will be brought back to Trench and awaken in the School of Mutter. Those who faced their regrets will discover that they have been gifted a white gold compass. The compass's needle will always point in the direction of the nearest Lamp Friend no matter the chaos going on in the world. But the compass only works once you have calmed down and focused.

QUICK FACTS

1. Each boat can hold up to 4 people. There can be multiple canoes in the same area.

2. If you try to leave the boat, you will drown in the River of Regret.

3. This does not have to encompass every regret someone's had. It can only represent one or two things. The regret should have to do with another individual or one's self. Something like "I regret not going to college" wouldn't necessarily work within the parameters of the prompt.

4. The river can only be accessed by touching a fallen raven feather. Touching a raven feather attached to the bird or a quill does not count.

5. Characters can engage with this prompt as many times as they touch a raven feather.

6. Characters with no regrets will not see corpses, but they will still be able to interact with characters who do have regrets.
BLOODSPORT
WHEN: During the Blood Moon
WHERE: Everywhere but specifically, The Gate
CONTENT WARNINGS: Violence, fighting, forced aggression/violence, forced fighting.


The Blood Moon invokes religious reverence among Trenchies. September and October are the ultimate months of sacrifice to pay tribute to the gods and the blood that rules this world. An energy begins to swell among Trenchies and you keep hearing the same word whispered excitedly around the city: "Bloodsport."

As the Blood Moon floods the streets in red, you begin to feel antsy, like you don't know what to do with yourself. You're not necessarily angry, you just have an abundance of energy. You don't need to be told what it is: your blood is reacting to the moon. The Blood Moon enhances blood powers significantly and you're simply not used to that yet. You don't feel in control of your own power or maybe even your own mind. At least until you exert some power, some force. Slam a door shut or swing a sword, shoot some electricity or spit some poison and you'll feel at peace with yourself. That nervous energy will ease out.

Only to come back twice as strong. It starts to put you in a real fighting mood and you start to realize why the locals call this Bloodsport. Hunting down beasts and monsters might seem like the fun thing to do right now, but the real attraction for Bloodsport takes place at The Gate. You can hear the roaring crowd blocks away. Hundreds of Trenchies have settled in to watch Sleepers duke it out with each other or with locked-up monsters. Maybe join in the fight. At least you know the other Sleepers there want to be there...Right?

Unfortunately not. Those who resist Bloodsport will find themselves passing out more and more frequently. Eventually, they will be taken by Mysterious Forces to The Gate to be pitted against other Sleepers and monsters. Some Sleepers will be forced into a gladiator-style fight that they either must win or die trying. Most fights at the Gate do end in death, but there are some circumstances where someone surrenders. Of course, that never stops their opponent from killing them anyway...Hopefully, you're fighting someone who is still relatively reasonable. Both parties can be resistant to fighting, but they will feel obligated to fight each other. If they don't, monsters will be unleashed into the arena and your situation will get a whole lot worse.

Bloodsport can greatly enhance a Sleeper's ability and many believe it is a gift from the Pthumerian gods. It is generally considered an advantage to Sleepers during the Season of Blood to prepare them and train them to hone their skills for the Season of Bone. Many believe it is wisest to submit to Bloodsport and let yourself get used to the motions of violence in order to survive the remainder of the year.

QUICK FACTS

1. Casual physical training will alleviate Bloodsport feelings. You could get through the month just by jogging around a lot.

2. Characters forced to the Gate will not remember how or when they arrived - they will just wake up and be thrown into the Gate by some shadowy force.

3. Characters who willingly participate in violence/fighting will feel temporary relief from Bloodsport only for the feeling to increase.

4. Effects of Bloodsport last as long as the Blood Moon shines through September and October.

5. You can treat symptoms of Bloodsport with calming techniques such as aromatherapy, meditation, medications, etc. Can be based on what would ICly help calm your character but it should require a lot of it.

6. You can invent the monsters/beasts that are at the Gate. They should be killable creatures and easily captured for the purpose of the Gate.
CODING
possessum: (πŸŽπŸ‘πŸ–)

[personal profile] possessum 2021-10-06 08:15 pm (UTC)(link)
( It's almost comically accurate and socially out there, but all Peter can do is nod quietly, mouth still tipped open a little as the boat slowly bobs down the river's gentle current. All the while, staring at Charlie. Yeah, it'sβ€” they're little. When you're around them so much, it's easy to forget, to... get used to having to look down so much, having to hand them things they can't reach. His sister had the habit of following him around like a duckling, head tipped forwards, shy and always so out of place in the world around her. He still remembers that exact spot where her forehead would meet his back when she'd bump against him, a gentle pressure so far down. She was very small. )

Thirteen. She was uh, thirteen. ( Peter sniffles again, neck turned to try and keep watching her as the boat continues. The other bodies are starting to conceal her, and he doesn't want to lose sight. What he doesn't know is that it'll loop anyway. Until he talks more about her... about what he did, it'll keep looping and looping.

Peter lowers back down into the boat to sit properly, draws his knees to his chest and wraps his arms around them. He's quiet for a few long moments, before he mumbles it, not wanting to ask but maybe he's supposed to. )


....Do you recognise anyone out there?
eudaimonikos: (fear and trembling)

[personal profile] eudaimonikos 2021-10-08 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
Some of them look...faaaaamiliar...

[Michael turns to track the body of a blonde woman they're passing, frowning. At first he might have been able to dismiss it, but now...a few too many have seemed familiar to be mere coincidence. It's not just the fact that he's familiar with the kinds of damage inflicted on them; it's something else.]

I've met a lot of humans. Usually I've got a good memory for that kind of thing, but...

[But he didn't always care enough to really see them, even when they were right in front of him. Even when he was opening them up like that himself.]
possessum: (πŸŽπŸ‘πŸ‘)

[personal profile] possessum 2021-10-14 11:33 pm (UTC)(link)
( Met a lot of humans.... Fuck, that's right, Michaelβ€” well, he used to torture humans. It's not that Peter's forgotten, how could he? But... he has developed what he would consider a friendship, with the demon. It's still very strange to think about if he does too hard, but Peter likes Michael. They've been through a lot together, and there's.. a trust in him.

So it's like it's split, in Peter's mind. There's "Michael his friend" and "Michael the demon who used to torture people" and right now he's realising he's sitting in a boat with both of them.

The teen finally draws his eyes down from the corpse of his little sister. It feels like he's literally in Hell right now; this is what it would be like, if he were to imagine it. )


Is this what it was like? Where you used to... work?
eudaimonikos: (so please come through)

[personal profile] eudaimonikos 2021-10-18 04:41 am (UTC)(link)
It's quieter.

[Michael rests his chin on a fist, leaning against the side of the boat. Peter's not wrong about the general oeuvre. A lot of this dΓ©cor would fit right in - although Michael's got the tact not to refer to it as "dΓ©cor" out loud anymore. But this place is peaceful, almost, in a way that the Bad Place absolutely never was. If you closed your eyes and ignored the smell, it could just be a calm, pleasant boat ride.]

Different neighborhoods do different things, but they've all got demons in and out, doing...whatever. Or, they did. I'm not that up-to-date with their daily operations anymore.

[Does Peter really want to know how it used to be, though? Maybe he'd better just not talk about it.

This place isn't super conducive to that, though. After another moment of silence, Michael sits up suddenly. There's a tall, dark-haired woman hanging from a tree. Her skin is covered in burns, and her once-fine dress is mostly charred.]


Oh. That's...Tahani. [He sounds mostly confused, at least for the moment.]
possessum: (it's hard to stop loving someone new)

[personal profile] possessum 2021-11-10 02:32 am (UTC)(link)
( Quieter.... The implications of that are horrifying β€” of course Peter's imagining every scary movie he ever saw that depicted the anguished screams of the damned burning alive in Hell, or being tormented in a colourful variety of other ways.

It's an almost morbid curiosity in him, one he's not sure he does want to indulge in too much, and he's quietly flinching away from it after that initial question. No... no, he probably doesn't want to hear too much about it.

He still can't help thinking that he might end up someplace like that, someday.

After a few moments of his own brooding silence, Michael recognises someone, and the boy's slowly looking up to see the woman hanging there. Peter stares, taking her in, then looking down after a few beats too long; her visage is imprinted in his mind. He wishes it wasn't. )


Was she... one of your friends? Your human friends.
eudaimonikos: (give me a boost)

[personal profile] eudaimonikos 2021-11-15 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah...she is.

[Is, because Tahani's still...well, not alive, but still extant somewhere. He knows how this place works. It's like Deerington, right? You see things all the time.

He swallows and looks away. For all his sins, Michael's actually never physically harmed his four human friends. But that's only because doing so would have defeated the purpose of the exercise. He sure thought about it, back when he'd get angry.]


I put her through some stuff, back in the day. Did that to all of them, of course, but...I don't know. She was really easy.