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 cw: teenage corpses

[survivalthroughhate]

Oh, I already know that firsthand. No need to tell me your entire life story.

[If Maul's being flippant, it's only because he's trying very hard not to focus his attention on the corpses impaled there along the banks. He recognizes a few of John's, mainly the people from Deerington. But that one near the front, is that...? Yes, it is Constantine's father. Maul hopes the only regret the man has for that one is not killing the bastard himself.

As for Maul, there's a great number of them, though not as many as one might think. The Sith Lord doesn't have a lot of regrets when it comes to those he's wronged as Constantine well knows. There's a lot of teenage ones, some alien with most human, clustered in a group together like they'd all died at the same time, most with injuries that definitely make Maul live up to his name. At the front of the group is a Nautolan girl not more than sixteen years of age, remarkably pretty with her purple skin and deep dark black eyes. There's a knowing smile on her face despite being stabbed through the chest. But that is just the start. There's others too. Savage and his mother Talzin, both with stab marks consistent with lightsabers in their chests as well. Some people from Deerington are there as well. Usagi. Xue Yang. Reaper. Ben. Varian. Fern. Luz. His glance slides from person to person, taking them all in. Even Darth Sidious is hanging there, his corpse looking as if it had fallen from a great height. Maul pointedly avoids staring at that one as if he's trying to avoid staring into the sun for too long.

Curiously, Obi-Wan isn't among the corpses. But Maul has never much regretted anything he's done towards the man and only recently was even able to admit that what he'd done to him all those years had been because his main target in the form of Sidious was forever out of his reach.]

I for one am supremely tired of these friendship-building exercises or group therapy or whatever this place is trying to impose upon us. It was bad enough doing it in the last town and now the trend appears to be continuing here.

[His claws grip the sides of the canoe, digging deep grooves into the painted wood there.]

So do you want to go first or should I? Let's get this done and over with.

[oldhound]

If I could avoid it with all this nonsense, trust me, I would. Seems we don't get a say in who gets to learn what.

[ John's already feeling vulnerable and testy. He's done this more than once now and the last person he wants to spill his gut to is this sorry bastard. Still, that doesn't always mean he's going to be wholly cooperative with the process.

It's like group therapy at Ravenscar taken a turn for the absolute worst. He wonders what Mr. Habit Rituals would have to say about this. Stir that tea nine times, mate. Save us the trouble. ]

I think it just likes kicking us when we're down or not ready for it. Just got here, its trying to get claws in. Find the way through the armor.

[ He glances to the claws digging into the side of the boat and huffs. ]

You start. I'm all tuckered out from my last trip here.

cw: child abuse, emotional and physical, also gaslighting, stockholm syndrome

[survivalthroughhate]

I've long since said this is done because those in charge like watching us run around like little ants. Our torment amuses them.

[Maul really doesn't want to talk about this with John but knows this place likely won't let them go until they do. So he looks up at the corpses....so many. But there's a lot more regrets than Maul would have had when he first showed up in Deerington. He's not sure if that's a good thing or not.]

Where do I start? Half of those up there are because I wanted to please my master. That's him at the front there.

[The bag of bones that's propped up on the stakes is so thoroughly broken that he barely resembles a human being anymore. Most of his body is hidden by the black cloak he wears but the Sith yellow eyes, the same shade as Maul's and the only similarity between Sidious and his adoptive son, still gleam out from under the hood.]

I don't think anyone here quite understands what it's like to have someone manipulate you day in and day out with fear. To make you afraid of not being good enough, of punishment that will come no matter what you do. He left me on a forest moon once and told me to survive there for a month without him. He left me with no food, no water, nothing.

I scraped through somehow but I ended up being late in meeting him when the time was up. He snapped my wrist like a twig for making him wait. He didn't even blink as I lay there on the ground screaming. [There's a dark, grim, humorless chuckle.] I was eight. I shouldn't have stayed by his side as long as I did but it is hard to leave when someone, no matter how horrendous they are, shows an occasional spark of kindness to keep you there. I kept hoping for some scrap of love or affection, and when I realized he never could, I at least wanted to gain his respect. It never came.

[Maul hasn't spoken to many Sleepers about what he'd lived through as a child. He was too afraid they would use what they heard against him. But Constantine had already seen him as a child and knew enough already that Maul figures telling the worst of what happened won't do much. But if John makes one sarcastic remark as Maul finishes, he's going to throw the man right in the river and hold him under with the Force, curse be damned.]

cw: child abuse, emotional and physical, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts bordering on attempt

[oldhound]

Sounds a lot like Celestial types to me. Always poking and prodding. [ He raises his voice as if they'll hear it and even care. ] Too high and mighty to come down and show your faces!

[ The quiet settles in the putrefaction of the bubbling river around them. John's face twisting up has nothing to do with their surroundings and everything to do with the words coming out of Maul's mouth as he says it.

The place is different. The person is almost a mirror image. Maul talks and John remembers his father coming in stumbling drunk. In his face. Grabbing at him. Punching the side of his head and sneering killer in his ear. Stubbing out cigarettes on his skin, making him squirm and cry. Eventually, he managed to choke back the sounds and the tears. Only served to make the old bastard angrier with him. ]

Most people can't imagine anyone being that cruel to a child. Goes against their better natures and the idea that someone can be that rotten---it's horrifying to them.

[ For those that lived it? It's just life. What else would they know? ]

I didn't do the old man, if you're wondering. [ Might as well lead with that. ] It got worse after my sister ran off, couldn't take what the bastard would do to me every night. I tried to top myself not long after. The idea of having to be alone with him--- Eventually, it all came to a head between us. I had a band. Ran off with my mates and left him well behind me. Tried, at least.

I'd check in once in a while. Suppose I thought distance might give us something we never had. Me dabbling in the occult and the like, I was used to monsters. Seen all kinds. Never expected this. Humans are the worst. [ His breath hitches quietly, eyes a little glassy from the memory. ] Ran afoul of this thing that called himself a man. Butchered whole families. Said he could feel the love itching at him and couldn't stand it.

He tracked down my dad in the Pool while trying to find me. Made a mess of him, had it looking like a robbery gone wrong but he knew I'd know. Found out when I called my big sister.

[ He still remembers Chas finding him huddled, emotionally wrecked and half terrified under the bar. Knees up to his chest and eyes wild like the bastard killer would wander in then and there and do his best mate, too. ]

[survivalthroughhate]

Most people have never faced someone pure evil. Some come close, but to see someone that is so vile and corrupted that there's not a speck of good in them....that's rare.

[Maul's misfortune was to be raised by one of them. But for all he might protest, he hadn't turned out the same way. There was good in him, small as it might have been. Some here managed to see it and he's finally begun to see it himself after all these months.

Maul well-remembers seeing John's memory of his father, how he'd been treated with nothing but cruelty. Honestly, he can't help but think the bastard deserved what was coming to him, the same way that Maul's master would when the time came to pay for all that he's done.

His word come slowly and are measured as if he's communicate effectively the way he often struggles with.]

So do you regret his death or just the fact that you didn't get to do it yourself?

[He doesn't mean it to come across as cruel or nasty. He's genuinely wondering how John had gotten through the pain of losing a parent, even if it had been a piss-poor one that abused him to the point he'd wanted to commit suicide.]

[oldhound]

That or they talk like they know it. Like they'd see it coming and it isn't walking down the same streets in the middle of the day, chatting them up, or some other nonsense.

[ For all of the horrible and terrible abuses he suffered at the hands of his own father, John knew the man wasn't evil. He might've thought that as a younger lad briefly but no. Instead, all that turned in on himself, like a collapsing star. The only thing he had to keep him warm.

The breath he sucks in at the question is like the gasping one when one's gotten the wind knocked out of them. He holds it a measure, two, and lets it out all shaky. Shoulders bunched like the decrepit form of his old man could wade across that water and wale on him some more.

His eyebrows gather in as his expression pinches, throat dried up so he has to clear it before talking again.]

That we couldn't---that I couldn't--- That we turned out the way we did. Couldn't manage anything better.

[survivalthroughhate]

It's difficult because no one is cruel every minute of the day. Even if they ignore you or get through a conversation where they don't beat you, you justify it that way to yourself. "Well, at least they didn't hurt me this time, so it's not really as bad as it could be."

[That's how Maul had gotten through the worst times. Sidious didn't hurt him 24/7, so clearly he wasn't completely vile and rotten all the way through. It was like having a heavy pack put on his back with a little more weight added each time he grew used to it, until he hardly knew what it felt like to walk without any weights at all.

Maul's eyes meet Constantine's blue ones and there's a fiery intensity in them as he speaks with passion in his voice.]

You shouldn't regret it. Any failing in the relationship wasn't on your part but his. That's something that took a long, long time for me to realize as well. That defending someone like that won't make them magically wake up and realize they've been treating you horribly and make them decide to change their ways. Only they can do that. They choose not to instead and that is their fault, no one else's.

[That's possibly the kindest thing he's ever told Constantine which is supremely strange considering the circumstances. But Maul has a lot of feelings about living with an abusive family member ]

[oldhound]

[ Maul starts in on all of it and John wants to snap at him for it. Wants to argue. Rage a bit. He feels like he should but honestly, he's just bloody exhausted. All this shoved into his face is one thing. But laid bare for the world and all the rest to see? That's a twist of the knife that's low even for a bastard like him.

He looks down near the end of it, shaking his head as his teeth grind and he offers a derisive half-laugh. ]

You think I don't know that? That I need hearing it or a reminder? I got my reminders, mate. Littered all over me. [ So then why is the boat having such trouble getting through the water, John? He seems to notice and a swell of panic threatens. Anger rises up and he snaps the next part out, though it isn't at Maul: ] I don't deserve this! I never did.

You were a bastard and it's not right that I've got to be the one living with it!

[ But he chokes to silence almost as soon as the words leave him, eyes widening a little. The man that will face down demons and monsters of all kinds struggling with one of a different kind. Maybe the worst. The sort that lurks in places they never should be and plays the devoted family member role all too well for any curious parties peeking in from the outside.

The words next are soft but no less bitter or venomous. ]

It's not right. None of it.

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul listens to John, just lets him get out all that he needs to against trauma that he’s been through. Strange that they have this in common despite all their other differences. Once John seems to have run out of words, Maul approaches him, and puts a gentle hand on his shoulder. It’s possibly the first time that he’s ever touched Constantine without trying to harm him. His voice is that same soft tone as always.]

No. It’s not. But that burden is not yours to deal with. Your father has to deal with it in whatever hell he resides in now.

[Then his voice becomes more firm.]

And yes. You do need the reminders. Because if people like you and me were able to deal with what happened to us, we wouldn’t have our fathers up there-- [He gestures to the edges of the river.] --To remind us of the scars of our past.