All men must die, but first he must live.

[reddosmod]

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 • Prompt 2 • Prompt 3 • Plotting • 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

Comments

river of regret

[bolstafir]

[There's definitely more ideal circumstances than to get forcibly relocated by corvids (the betrayal!) into a boat with an unknown teenager, but at first it's not so terrible. He shares her suspicion, though; there's definitely an intent to this ride, and he is already certain it is nothing good. Whenever he lost track of where he was in Deerington, it meant he was about to have to submit to some manner of uncomfortable trial, and he expects no different now.

Then the smell hits his nose and ah, there's the rub, isn't it.]

It's probably related to whatever we need to deal with to get out of this boat.

[Hopefully it won't be like the car ride and involve crashing.....or so his train of thought would've gone, if the boat wasn't pulling up to the source of said smell, and Qrow's entire frame tenses up. The young woman on the bank looks almost like Ruby Rose...or at least, the way she might look if she were a decade or so older, if she swapped out her red cape for a white one. The silver eyes stare lifelessly out into the void, seeing nothing. They feel like an accusation all the same.

After a moment, he forces himself to close his eyes. He can't come undone in front of some kid he doesn't even know.]

well guess i didn't need my heart today :')

[creidim]

I had a feeling that might be the case, yes. [ She utters it quietly, shirking back slightly in the boat. When wouldn't it be, really? It seems Trench is keen to deal them some difficult blows. Her hand stays at her nose, taking breaths from her mouth. But even then she still feels like she can smell it, taste it — it's a smothering stench, something that clings like a cold fog.

Nothing they can do, unfortunately. She looks to the man for a moment; they'll just have to be too unhappy travellers, trapped on this boat ride. And then the body comes into view and Luna baulks, white as a ghost.

While he's able to tell the difference, Luna isn't. She knows Ruby has a striking resemblance to her mother but she's never seen any photos of her to tell the difference. To her, that's Ruby — the longer hair and similar appearance almost identical from this distance. It... really, really does look like her.

And from the way he tenses up, maybe he knows it's Ruby too. ]

... Ruby—? No, no— [ Luna shakes her head, quietly pleading. ] We.. we have to do something.

sorry for the delay!! life happened at me real hard lmfao. boards the pain train late with starbucks

[bolstafir]

[For all he'd tensed up, the girl's distressed reaction catches him off-guard. She must be one of Ruby's friends from Deerington, one he hadn't gotten a chance to meet in the dream. Qrow had never really gone out of his way to meet people in Deerington, honestly, preferring to stick close to his family and those that came to be affiliated with them -- The Pineses. Willow. Gerry. Vyng, for all they had awkward history now.

Somehow, the fact that Luna's terrified for Ruby's sake makes this easier to handle than it would've been if she had no idea who the corpse in the river resembled. If all she could piece together was that she was a skeleton, as it were, in his closet. Qrow shakes his head.]

That's not Ruby.

[His tone is too tight to be reassuring, but perhaps Luna can take some comfort in the words themselves, if she can believe them.]

It's her mom. Summer. She's been gone a long time.

it's no worries! life do be like that sometimes

[creidim]

[ It's no surprise, really. Luna's always thought Ruby the sort to make friends with all sorts, she does seem to know a lot of people.

She grips the side of the boat tightly, her knuckles white. She has to do something, maybe there's something — a spell to remove her from the spikes. But she knows deep down that the figure on the shoreline is dead, and there's nothing to be done about that. Luna doesn't even know how death works here, yet. Ramona's magic isn't here to protect them anymore.

But the man speaks up: not Ruby. The body isn't Ruby. Luna inhales softly; maybe there's some kind of relief in it. Instead it's replaced with a new kind of horror: it's Ruby's mother. She makes a soft sound, voices her upset. ]

That's Summer Rose—? [ But why would she be here, like this—? Her gaze shifts from the woman to her fellow 'shipmate'. ] You're from Ruby's world—? You... you knew her—?

ty for understanding c:

[bolstafir]

[Even though he's just given Summer's name, there's something in Luna's tone that suggests to him she had heard of Ruby's mother before. Qrow's not sure if that makes things easier or harder.]

I'm Ruby's uncle.

[That's the easy answer to start with. Maybe Luna's heard of him, too, he doesn't know.]

...She's told you about Huntsman teams, right? [He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath.] Summer was my teammate. Team STRQ...the coolest team to ever graduate Beacon.

[It sounds casual enough, almost comparable to the kind of swagger he might usually say that with. But there's a tightness to it, like the levity is forced. The truth is, Qrow has never really gotten over his team falling apart. Even having accepted this new world and life, it's a knife that sticks in his ribs, still bleeding seventeen years later.

Seeing her body over there--a closure their family has been denied for so long--makes it all the harder to focus on the good times.]

<3

[creidim]

Oh. [ There's a slow nod at that. Her uncle. She knows Ruby has family here, as well as her friends. ]

She told me her mother was a Huntress. [ Like Ruby is now. There's bits and pieces she's heard from Ruby here and there. They have the unfortunate common ground of having mothers who died when they were young. A little about the academy where those would learn to become Hunters and Huntresses. She understands what he means about 'teams'; another nod given with the smallest of smiles. ] 'Slayer of giant monsters and baker of cookies'.

[ Things a good mum is, was— the smile doesn't last. She looks to the man for a long moment. ]

And that she died when Ruby was little. [ Although she doesn't know how. That's something even Ruby hasn't mentioned. She'd told Ruby how her own mother died, but there isn't an answer from her in reply. There's a pause, Luna's brows furrow sadly — looks at Summer's body briefly. Part of her is glad Ruby isn't here. ]

Were... were you there when she died?

[bolstafir]

[He shakes his head. This is one of the mysteries that has haunted their family for well over a decade, now.]

She went on a mission on her own, and never came back. We never actually found her body, but eventually...we had to accept maybe there wasn't one left to find.

[He leans forward, arms on his knees, and rests his chin against interlocked fingers.]

I doubt we'll ever know what really happened to her.

[Qrow does have some suspicions, though. If it'd just been a Grimm attack or something, it shouldn't have been so hard to find a body. And she did have silver eyes.]

Not sure if that's what the boat wants me to say or what, though.

[creidim]

[ So that's why Ruby never said. She doesn't know. And not only Ruby, but the rest of her family, her teammates don't even know what happened to her. She just... disappeared. Never to be seen again. ]

You never got to say goodbye. [ She quiet when she speaks, her brow furrowing. ] There's a different kind of cruelty in not knowing one way or the other. I'm sorry.

[ Although who knows what this boat wants, what this game it is. Luna looks about them, nothing seems to change. Maybe it asks for more. This place... always asks for more. ]

Do you feel bad that you didn't go with her? [ It's not accusatory, not at all. ] I just... you were a team. Why did she go alone?