Are we out of the woods yet?

[reddosmod]

MARCH 2022 EVENT

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY! All the following information pertains to how the entire event works.

- First two prompts feature forced relocations via Moss King's abilities.

- There will be "spill-over" from each prompt meaning certain elements from the prompts may be present in the ordinary Trench. The third prompt features how this is impacting the overall setting and could be a good option for those not interested in full relocation.

- Each level will be infinite in space and impossible to ever fully travel. It will however be very easy to run into other Sleepers since they will naturally be clustered in close areas. The Moss King wants Sleepers to be put together! More blood magic collected in one area = more magic for him to use!

- What does that mean? The longer you stay in one of the levels, the weaker your blood magic becomes and the more sapped of energy you become! You can customize this depending on your character's overall strength/power set.

- Characters with teleportation/reality-altering abilities will not be able to teleport in and out of these levels at will, but they can teleport around inside of these levels.

- All Omni/Omens can receive and send messages as per usual in the levels.

- If your Patron is the Moss King, you can either assume he will spare your character the trauma of the levels...Or send them more often than others.

- All levels and challenges can be experienced multiple times throughout March. All levels will be inaccessible on April 1st. Any characters who are not out of the level will automatically die.

- Characters can leave levels after completing at least three challenges. Some characters may be stuck in one location for the entire month. You do not have to necessarily play out all three challenges, but you should have a general idea of what your character did to get out.

- Only items on your character at the time of their forced teleportation will be brought with them into the levels. They will not be able to summon other items even if they have abilities to. If they have a bottomless bag, they will only be allowed what's inside the bag already.

- All challenges are really meant to be played with multiple characters.

- There is no way to research or get ready ahead of time for any of the prompts due to the Moss King regularly changing up rules and games every year. The only "records" of March caution Sleepers about the Moss King, comparing his chaotic nature to a "less violent version of Mariana" and with more chances of positive outcomes.

IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: Jumanji board game with moving piece towards the center.]
[Image Two: A hippo rushing out of the water and eating up a man while onlookers gasp in shock (comical, not graphic)]

Prompt Two
[Image One: Bloody hand grasping dirty hand as man is buried alive. Slight strobe effect.]
[Image Two: Flickering images between screaming people, burning car, gaping mouths on stone faces, shadow of human on dirt path. Slight strobe effect.]

Prompt Three
[Image One: Picture of two good boy Doberman Pinschers.]
[Image Two: Person in suit staring up at plants with blood like bubbles/balls growing off of them.]

[NAVIGATION]

Prompt 1 • Prompt 2 • Prompt 3 • Plotting • Newsletter

[JUMP TO COMMENTS]

JUNGLE LEVEL

WHEN: March
WHERE: ????
CONTENT WARNINGS: Forced participation via mental coericon, jungle-themed dangers such as animals and natural risks, potential animal violence/themes of hunting, survival challenges, potential body horror/changes, draining blood via mosquitos,

---

You think you hear a drumming. It's brief and easy to dismiss at first...But then it steadily grows until you can feel it vibrating through your body. It increases your heart rate and instead of feeling anxious or put off...You feel an inexplicable excitement and drive to see what's making that curious noise. As you seek out the source, the drumming becomes louder and louder and louder...Until finally, you find it.

A board game called Jumanji. Those who might be familiar with the movie have all information about the movie completely blanked from their mind. This game is completely new to all, looking like a relic of Trench technology. It has somehow appeared in your home or in the shop you frequent/work at. It might even just appear in the middle of the forest or on The Farther Shores. And when you open up, even if you aren't usually one to play games, you have the undeniable urge to play it. What can it hurt? It's just a board game...

But of course, this is Trench. In order to play, you need to offer a drop of your blood. It happens the moment you pick up one of the player pieces. A little prick of the finger and the sacrifice is granted. Roll the dice and make your first move. The pieces automatically stick to the board and move according to the dice. The goal is simple: move the pieces to the center of the board. There are no other rules. The center of the board gives a smoky message every move you make, some sort of unique challenge.

The first challenge is simple though: Enter The Jungle Level. You don't have a moment to wonder what that even means because before you know it, you're being quite literally pulled into the game. You are sucked into the center of the game and transported to a dense, heavy jungle. You enter with the people you were playing with, or if you were playing solo, you're arriving with other players who found their own version of the game. So, you're in a jungle and you have this board game. What now?

Turns out you can't escape the Jungle whatsoever except by completing the game. All consequences of the game vanish upon completion. Losing the board means you have to get the board back. Don't worry, the pieces will stick to the board and you can make dice if you lose the dice. Ignoring the game isn't possible. You have an increasing urge to complete the game no matter the cost...And boy, is there a cost! Some of the challenges are simple and easy enough, but some are downright lethal. You just have to survive till the next roll which might mean getting to the board and getting in a roll. Sounds simple until you're drowning in quicksand and the board is sinking right next to you. At least the board will appear elsewhere if you lose it through a challenge...But do you really want to risk the time it might take for it to reappear?

The challenges vary completely and there is absolutely no way to determine any sort of trick. If you roll a five, your piece will move five spaces, and on the space it lands, the challenge will appear in the form of a riddle in the center of the game. Then the world around you will throw a very real challenge at you. Some people may experience the same challenge twice in a row while others might never see the same challenge twice. You can play with up to six players but you can play side by side with another group playing on their own board.

THE CHALLENGES
GIANT FROGS: These frogs are massive yet masters of blending into their surroundings. Unless you're highly skilled at detection, you won't even realize that these frogs are hunting you until it's too late. Suddenly their tongues lash out and it's so quick, you're in their mouth before you know what has happened. It's as disgusting as it sounds, but it isn't a particularly fast death. You're more likely to get drenched in their saliva and fight with a strong tongue. But the moment you are swallowed, the acid of their stomach will quickly kill you...and painfully. Thankfully, they are just ordinary flesh creatures. You might be able to cut your way out of them or get them to puke you up if you have something gross tasting on you. Someone could even get them to spit you out by kicking dust into their face.

QUICKSAND: No matter where you are standing when you roll this challenge, the ground beneath you turns soft and pliant. This is more like movie quicksand where the sink is almost instantaneous, sucking your feet down so tightly that you might break them if you try to wrench yourself out. Struggling will only make you sink faster and possibly crush bones in the process. Leaning forward or laying flat backward will help get you out, and if someone is nearby and able to toss you a rope, they could slowly drag you to safety. Losing the game in quicksand is a common occurrence and something to try and avoid. Worst case scenario? You drown in one of the worst ways possible.

RUSHING RIVERS: Much like the quicksand, it doesn't matter where you are. You hear and feel the rumbling of water and a tidal wave of water comes crashing through your immediate area. You're immediately swept away by the water, slammed through trees and against rocks. This flash flood can last up to an hour, but if you're quick, smart, and a strong enough person, you might be able to find safe haven on a large rock or tree. Maybe you get lucky enough to find something to float on in the process.

PERKING UP: This doesn't seem to do much of anything at first...The person who rolls this challenge will feel a little like sneezing. Their skin will tickle and they will have a very funny feeling in their gut. Slowly they will begin to develop animal features: ears, tails, fur on their hands, turning into a hybrid between a jungle animal and whatever they already are (a human, elf, etc). These features will give some helpful abilities, such as speed if you become part cheetah or possibly flight if you become part bird or flexibility if you become part monkey. Some transformations may be full. Transformations will only revert once the game has been beaten.

TROPHY HUNTER: Unfortunately for you, you have summoned a very smarmy asshole who is an exceptional hunter of exotic creatures. And that now includes Sleepers. The thrill of the kill exhilarates him and he seems to have weapons capable of killing any Sleeper regardless of their abilities. He might look like an ordinary person, but he seems to have been enchanted by the game and is an unkillable challenge. You can hide from him and trick him, and you can slow him down with injuries, but he will keep getting back up. He is human in the fact that he needs to sleep, rest, eat, and take his time tracking you down...So you better hope you're damn good at keeping yourself concealed. If he catches you, he won't hesitate to kill you.

MOSQUITO MANIA: In such a humid, dense jungle, it's no surprise the air is filled with bugs. However, after getting this challenge, you will notice an increase in mosquitos buzzing around. These mosquitos are drawn to Sleeper Blood and the more they drink...The bigger they get. It's hard to notice at first, easy to think you're killing small ones and bigger ones are coming back for more. Your blood pollution fills the air, and soon, mosquitos the size of baseballs are slamming into you. Maybe even bigger...And the bigger they are, the more deadly they become, the more blood they drain. It doesn't help that their bites leave itchy welts that grow in size to match the mosquitos. It's hard to fight off all the mosquitos and they seem to be drawn to all blood equally.

One way to get past them, however, is by covering yourself with mud. It seems to cut your smell off from the bugs and they will quickly lose interest. Thankfully there is plenty of mud in a jungle! You just have to think to use it...The mud will help soothe bites as well.

CATACOMBS LEVEL

WHEN: All of March
WHERE: Catacombs beneath Trench. People who escape will find themselves crawling out of a grave in the Sanguine Graveyard.
CONTENT WARNINGS: Catacombs, death, skeletons, optional corpse/undead styled monsters, burning people/animals themes (but not actual), extreme themes of claustraphobia, being buried alive/being trapped, forced panic/hysteria/confusion, time manipulation/displacement, feelings of starvation/thirst but not actual starvation/thirst, mold/mushrooms/fungi growing on skin, drowning, extreme disorientation, extreme feelings of inadequecy.

---

One might wonder where all the dead bodies of Trench go. Trenchies will typically say the Sanguine Graveyard or people are sent out to the ocean...But it wasn't always that way. If you dig a bit more on the subject, you may come across a reoccurring piece about Trench having extensive catacombs beneath the city. Yet no matter where you look or how deep you dig, those catacombs never really seem to appear. So what's the deal?

The deal is it takes the power of a Pthumerian to get you to the now deeply buried catacombs. These catacombs are a testament to this world's blood pollution and power. These do not seem to be just the catacombs of Trench...But the entire world. They are endless, complex, and dangerous. Unlike the Jungle Level, there is no board game to bring you to the Catacombs. It is the mere whim of the Moss King wondering if you might be capable of handling what lingers within. This is a matter of surviving the challenges, getting through them, and seeing the other side.

You have no say in the matter either way. One moment you're standing around, minding your own damn business, next moment you're being quite literally ripped into the earth through vines and rubble. You get a mouthful of soil as you're pulled through whatever bizarre blood magic vortex the Moss King has created, hearing screams all around you, feeling smoke fill your lungs, the scent of grass burning your nostrils. The entire world feels like it's caving in on top of you, and then you're plummeting through open air and hitting the ground.

Once you orient yourself, you will find yourself underground in an open stone shrine to the Moss King. A massive stone goat head is staring at you with two massive torches lit in place of its eyes. The ceiling above is covered with heavy vines and plant life, and there is no way to go back from where you just fell from. You are automatically joined by others and they might be people you were with or complete strangers. It could be just the two of you or a large group of people.

You come to the Catacombs with whatever is on your person, but fear not, the Moss King has thought ahead. Smooth stone cubbies line the walls, and in each cubby is a fully stocked backpack filled with things anyone would want for spelunking, cave-diving, and deep underground exploration. There are plenty of flashlights, head flashlights, ropes, harnesses, gloves, hiking shoes, some basic medical supplies, flasks of clean water, and a few mushrooms to fill up one's stomach. There are no maps, no compasses, but those things wouldn't do you much good anyway.

There is only one way to leave the stone room and that is through the giant goat's open mouth. It's a simple stone passage that leads to the Catacombs. You have no choice but to go through them. You cannot manipulate the space around you with abilities. There is a certain haze in the air that can dim abilities and make you rely more heavily on your intuition and intelligence. Thousands upon thousands of skulls and skeletons are compressed together. Some areas are well-lit with torches, but the deeper you go, the darker it becomes until you must rely on flashlights.

The Catacombs start off relatively normal, but in order to escape, you must delve in deep. The pathway changes for every party, and you may come across other characters completely lost in the Catacombs. Eventually, the skeletal remains become thoroughly buried beyond stone walls. There are tight, narrow passageways that are difficult to crawl through. Some places you need to actually crawl to get through, stone walls tight all around you. Other places you need to drop down into, relying on ropes and harnesses to get safely down. You may need to depend on rock climbing or crawling over bones or wading through cold, murky water.

But it isn't just the enclosed, dark spaces that are a challenge. There are vacant rooms with unique challenges and things lurking in the dark. You can hear unsettling sounds, such as the distant trill of a random phone that keeps on ringing, the sound of feet skittering away as you approach, the musky odor of fresh corpses, the uncomfortable feeling that you aren't alone no matter how quiet and still the air around you may seem. Can you survive the Catacombs? Will you see the world above once more?

Throughout the Catacomb one can find directions pointing you in a certain direction...Only these directions are quite unusual. It doesn't seem like one can rely on the usual Sleeper translation - you either have to know the languages or figure them out...But they aren't ordinary. You might find upside-down kanji directing you or come across braille engraved into the stone or backward French or Latin. Some Dothraki directions might point you in one direction while Na'vi points you in another. Riddles give you warning about possible challenges or solutions to the Catacombs throughout. Can you solve this giant, undead puzzle before you become part of it?

You may encounter a variety of the following challenges. Some only once, some multiple times. One can be trapped in the Catacombs for what feels like days/weeks, but once you get to the surface, it will have only been an hour or so in real-time. While it may feel like you are dying of thirst or starvation, it is not actually possible while in the Catacombs. The water in the packs will sustain you.

THE CHALLENGES
DARK WATER: There aren't too many sources of water in the Catacombs, but when you come across it, approach it with caution. There is a difference between regular water and the dark water of the Catacombs, and telling the difference isn't easy unless you're a darkblood and can detect the slight shimmer to dark water. Dark water will cause a severe disorientation of senses: it can deafen all sound, cause immediate vertigo, make you smell things that aren't there, make your mouth fill with an awful taste. Careful not to consume the dark water. If you wade through the water, the effects of it will last while you're in the water and about ten minutes after you have left it. Some have been known to accidentally drown in the dark water due to its disorientation even if dark water is rarely that deep.

CALLING FIRE: You hear the roar of fire and smell smoke long before you see it. You step into an open cavern and in the middle of it...is a burning house. An ordinary house. Up in flames. You see dark figures standing at all the windows, staring out at you with sightless gazes. They do not scream. They do not move. They merely watch you. Then the front door bursts open with the scream of a woman, and the screaming gets louder and louder. Those who feel the urge to help others will become overwhelmed by the desire to rush into the fire and "save" whatever lurks within, but those who are a bit more sensible about self-preservation will be able to resist this siren screech. They will likely realize there is nothing to be saved in this house.

Those who persist into the house will find, unsurprisingly, a burning house. Only this fire won't immediately kill you: instead, you'll go mad searching throughout the burning house looking for the source of the screams. You will smell the flesh burning, hear the cries of people or animals trapped, rushing from room to room trying to find them. It isn't the fire that kills you. It will be the smokey, strange figures watching you in every room. They slowly drain the life out of you, covering your skin in soot and destroying your lungs, your eyes, your nostrils, until nothing is left of you but an ashen heap. While this is a lethal trap, it is one that people can be saved from...Eventually.

UNTOUCHABLE TEMPTATIONS: You stumble into a room where there are heaps of treasures beyond rusted, cellar doors. All that glitters and more: gold, silver, rare gems, bloodstones, vials of rare potions and elixirs, stunning weapons, delicious smelling food, beautiful clothing, and possibly even relics from your own homeworld. Perhaps the rarest sword of your world is sitting right there. For many, this will be an obvious trap. One must simply bypass the temptations and enter through the next door and continue with your journey...But...Unfortunately, for many, this will prove a great feat. Paleblood glitters among the floor of this room and heavily sways people into being enormously tempted by the treasures, even if they normally might have better sense.

For those who yearn for treasures of any sort, they will find the pull nearly irresistible. Only someone who genuinely wants for materialistic will find it easy to pass by the area. They will likely be the ones to save others. Those who break open the cellar doors and attempt to get the goods, your touch will begin to turn all around you to gold...Including the spots on people you touch. This might permanently render someone's skin gold, and can quickly kill people. Eventually, the cursed person will turn into a golden statue of themselves. They will reincarnate as usual, but a golden statue of them will be forever left in the Catacombs, possibly discovered by other Sleepers passing through. This Midas touch can last well after you have left the Catacombs and you may need to get some extensive darkblood therapy worked on your body to reverse the curse.

CHRONOLOGY OF SEASONS: You enter a stone room with twelve sliding tiles painted to look like the various stages of the seasons in Trench. Season of Bone, Season of Tears, Seasons of Blood. They are mixed around the room and you need to put them in the right order. Each tile depicts the Patron Pthumerian associated with their specific month with their moon in the background. To those who have been diligently studying the Patron Pthumerians, this should be a relatively easy task even if figuring out how to move the tiles might be difficult. You can generally tell where the tiles should go seeing as the wall you entered is decorated with floral carvings, the wall to the right is decorated with leaves, then the wall ahead is decorated with snowflakes. The tiles form one large cohesive portrait that wraps around the room. The moment you enter the room, the wall closes permanently behind you. Each time you move a tile, human blood begins to trickle into the room, and if you mess up enough...Well. You get the picture. Or, in this case, you didn't get the picture. Oops.

TIL DEATH DO WE PART: Throughout your journeys in the Catacombs, you will keep seeing glimpses of familiar faces out of the corner of your eye. Parents, friends, loved ones, people you haven't seen in some time...But it's always someone you know isn't actually in Deer Country. Someone who you know to be dead or to be back home, in another world, another time. Eventually, these loved ones will start to walk after you, looking like undead versions of themselves, limping along, completely unresponsive to things you might scream or say to them. They just gaze at you with unseeing eyes. They don't seem to want to hurt you though, no matter how threatening or unnatural they may look. What they want is some closure: some parting words you never got to say, one last embrace, a final "I love you." Once you have, they will turn to ash and you will be filled with a temporary sense of peace.

THE EXIT: At last, you see the light at the end of the tunnel. Literally! You see a familiar street lamp or maybe even the surprising sight of your own backyard. It's right there! You can even smell the fresh air. Oh, thank goodness! You have no idea how you wound up finding the exit all of a sudden, but let's get the hell out of this place! You take one step through the exit and suddenly you're pitching forward, falling, tumbling down into a massive pit of...very squishy mushroom. The fungi are growing all over the ground and over the cave walls. They gave you a vivid hallucination to lure you in and damn if it didn't work! Time to crawl out...

Except gosh, you're really drowsy and dizzy...Are those skeletons you see? Are these mushrooms already growing on your skin? Yup! These mushrooms trap living organisms with hallucinations and quickly consume the body by spreading rapid-growth spores all over your body. If you're strong enough you might be able to crawl out in time, or if you were with someone smart enough not to rush through the exit, they might be able to throw you a rope. You can wash the spores off with mushrooms and if the mushrooms had already started to grow, you will just have to rip them off your skin - and yes, that's as unpleasant as it sounds. Otherwise, people can die quickly in this trap. It only takes a matter of minutes for the mushrooms to start growing.

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW: The worst of the Catacombs rests ahead. You are given the warning: THE KINDNESS OF THE WORLD IS BEHIND YOU: HELL IS AHEAD. AS ABOVE, SO IS BELOW. THAT WHICH HAS BEEN, WILL RETURN AGAIN. Before you is a horrifying black hole and you don't necessarily know why it is horrifying, but even the bravest soul will find themselves trembling in its presence. It feels like a creature watching you, waiting for you, patiently evaluating every weakness you have ever had. You will feel a crippling sense of doubt, of anxiety, and you will be crushed into a sense of incompetency until you are bursting at the seams. You will feel the urge to admit to your companion, to someone, what your faults are. If you are alone, you will be driven to contact someone with your Omen/Omni. Some may even feel the urge to confess to the entire network the things they feel most incompetent about, begging for forgiveness that they are not a better, stronger, smarter, faster version of themselves. Only when they have admitted to their faults will they be able to step forward into Hell...

And that is when they will feel as though the world has turned upside down. They will be walking down and then suddenly, they are coming out of a hole and going up into Trench. Out of a random grave in the Sanguine Graveyard, no evidence of the Catacombs around them. Congratulations - you made it out.

BLOOD DETOX

WHEN: March
WHERE: Throughout Trench
CONTENT WARNINGS: Blood, blood blisters bursting, blood pollution.

---

While everyone is going off the rails in other levels, things in Trench are flourishing. Plantlife is rampant everywhere and things seem to be bursting with life. This includes the apparent expolusion of blood pollution from the earth! Part of Moss King's process apparently includes a phenomena known as Blood Blisters. You can see these Blood Blisters throughout Trench. Some look like the size of soccer balls while others are the size of cars. They are red fleshy lumps growing out of trees or out of the ground. Some grow out of the sides of buildings or maybe, unfortunately, in your living room. They are hot to the touch and reek like blood.

That's because they are filled with blood. Blood from Sleepers, animals, humans, Pthumerians - everything. It's raw blood pollution the Moss King has extracted from the earth like a disgusting magic pimple. None of the blood inside is salvageable for magic and you do not want to be near these things when they pop. Rotten blood splatters the immediate area and it smells pungent. Worse yet? If you're caught in it, it's almost inevitable you rapidly turn into a beast. If you're lucky to only see it happens, don't count yourself lucky for long. The downside to this process is it calls in beasts from your immediate area within seconds.

Thankfully, that's what blood hounds are for. These solid black canines are stacked with a massive pair of antlers and bound around Trench to take care of the Blood Blisters. These dogs stand beside the Blisters and seem to have a magical ability that draws the pollution from the Blisters and gathers them in the center of their antlers. This blood seems to fuel the beasts and they might be one of the best examples of how some beasts in Trench maybe don't deserve to be killed. It's a far better alternative to the Blood Blisters bursting.

The bloodhounds can scent out Blood Blisters and seem willing to help Sleepers find them. Additionally, if someone is exceptionally gifted with animals or very patient, they may be able to adopt a blood hound and train it to summon the blood pollution from Sleepers on command. This process takes an enormous amount of energy and will take months to train a bloodhound. The bloodhound in the meantime does feed exclusively off of blood pollution, so be prepared to keep it fed or else it might just turn on you and eat your blood instead!

It isn't all bad in Trench though. For people who are regularly completing the challenges and levels in the other two prompts, you will find random prizes waiting for you back at your home! You can choose from the following list what kind of prizes your character might get from winning challenges. You can win multiple items. We ask our players to be reasonable and honest about what challenges and how many their characters could realistically win to obtain the following prizes. Some prizes may be more difficult to acquire than others.

THE PRIZES
MOON DROP: A highly valuable stone that can completely cure beasthood, blood pollution, injuries, and even bring one back from death. Gained only if at least three challenges are completed with the survival of two or more characters in a group and the escape from the Catacombs Completion considering "surviving" them. To those who have it used on them, they may experience hallucinations and a commune with Moon presence, feeling as though she is in your head.

A REALLY LAME T-SHIRT: A plain white t-shirt that perfectly fits your character with the bold print of: I'M BARELY SURVIVING TRENCH AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS T-SHIRT.

PTHUMERIAN BLOOD DROP: A blood drop allegedly gathered from a Pthumerian. The Pthumerian Blood Drop can cause instantaneous corruption and/or beasthood in those it touches. It can be used to greatly enhance weapons to cause insanity in those they strike. This blood drop is contained in a small vial and once it is used, it cannot be used again. Its enchanted effect on a weapon lasts as long as the weapon is intact. Once the weapon breaks, so does the effect.

A SPACE HAMSTER: This adorable Space Hamster! How adorable! It's a hamster that never needs to be fed! Maybe it contains the cosmos within its mighty, furry body...Or maybe it's just a suuuuuper cute hamster. Do you dare defy its sweet little gaze?

SUN CHALICE: A chalice you can place in the sunlight. This gathers sun magic. Once a liquid is poured into the chalice, a Sleeper can drink from it and alleviate monthly blood symptoms or blood type-specific abilities. It does not fully remove abilities or suffering, but consistently drinking from the chalice can drastically help. The chalice will need to be placed in direct sunlight for at least one hour to work. Its effects last a week before it needs to be placed back in the sunlight to charge once more.

A POKEMON: A non-legendary pokemon of your choosing complete with a pokeball. Can evolve as per usual in canon (which also means if it requires a Pokemon canon specific item to evolve such as a fire stone, it will still need that to evolve in Trench). Pokemon can maintain canonized moves as long as they do not break the game setting and are used reasonably.

CHAINS OF VASTA LI MAEVE: An apparent urban legend of Trench- a young woman who was once shackled in chains and left on the shore as a sacrifice to Mariana by her deranged mother. Vasta spent several days screaming to be freed. The legend says Mariana took pity on her by taking her life but allowing her shackles to remain as a curse in Trench. These chains have been granted to you, glowing a faint, ominous red. When you shackle a living creature with these chains, that being will not be able to move until you or another removes the chains from their bodies. While they are chained, the sounds of a screamed woman will terrorize the being trapped, and the scent of the ocean will fill their immediate surroundings.

WELL-DONE HAMMER: A massive hammer that is made out of...a...giant chicken leg that has been cooked to perfection! You can eat it and it will taste great, sure, but it is actually a very powerful hammer that can land a seriously damaging blow. The only downside is that it smells heavenly and you will probably summon a lot more beasts using it than not...But hey, you can get in some KO shots before it's eaten, I Guess.

A WEAPON FROM HOME: You can get a powered weapon from your character's canon world - whether it is one of their own weapons or another weapon from that canon. Weapons can come in with their regular powers as long as game-breaking abilities are nerfed/able to be stopped by Pthumerian intervention.

AN ITEM FROM HOME: A general item from home whether a trinket or some clothes or a picture. Something from your character's canonical world even if it wasn't from their storyline. For example, maybe Harry got his mother's necklace or Draco's necktie. You can have characters obtain headcanon-based items as well. Like weapons, any powered items just need to be nerfed to not break the setting.

CODING

Comments

Johnny Lawrence | Cobra Kai

[strikefirster]

Everybody was Kung-Frog Fighting.

[Johnny Lawrence wasn't the most well travelled person in the world but the jungle felt more like home than Trench did for the most part. Besides a snake was at home in the wild.

Except Johnny wasn't actually a snake and the wildlife apparently wasn't as afraid of him. Out from the brush a long tongue lashes out and wraps around his arm. He turns to face it in surprise.]

What the hell!?

[He catches sight of the frog just as it tries to pull him in, He plants his feet and whips his arm back to pull the frog off balance instead of getting pulled in by it. The ensuing chaos continues with Johnny and the frog on the ground. Johnny's arm is half in it's mouth and he's wailing on it's face with his free hand.]

Get off me you slimy son of a bitch!?

[Please help him.]

As Above, So Below.

[Johnny has made it this far into the catacombs without dying. That's honestly a pretty good record for him here. But there's something about the warning and the void he's run into that's rubbed him the wrong way. He stares right back into the hole and tries to find whatever's lurking in there.]

Give me a fucking break.

Why don't you come out of your fucking hole and face me like a man!?

You think you're going to scare me by saying that life sucks- I know that!

[There's a pause and he picks up a rock and throws it into the hole in frustration before looking back to whoever's with him.]

This thing doesn't know the first thing about hell. Probably has never had to deal with a son who can't stand the sight of him.

[Wait what?]

Wild Card

[Choose your own adventure or hit me up at jjabarrett on plurk to plot something out.]

End of February/Early March. Post Leviathan Plot CW: Alcohol, Drunken Behavior, Bodily Fluid

[strikefirster]

[Johnny's fresh off reviving after the battle with the Leviathan. He's... Not doing the greatest at the moment. Every time he closes his eyes he sees a flash of Paul getting chewed apart by the monster. Of his students or the few people he could stand here getting hurt. He can't shake off the feelings that he was horribly out of his depth here, that he couldn't actually do anything to prepare his students or friends for the dangers that lay in wait here.

He copes in the best way that he can. By drinking himself into a stupor. If anyone comes by the abandoned warehouse Johnny's converting to a dojo it'll be a bigger mess than usual. While he's actually picked up some training dummies, boards and matts for training they've been thrown and knocked over. There's a strong sent of alcohol and maybe a little urine throughout the dojo and it's easy to understand why. There are countless beer and alcohol bottles strewn or smashed about.

Johnny can be found laying in the middle of the warehouse half hugging and half strangling a punching bag. His omni is on the ground and he's singing along with the song playing. ]

Ssssssooome will win, sh-hic-ome will lose
Some were born to siiiiiiiing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on, and on, and onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!

[forwantofahorse]

[While Kanon didn't feel any desire to attend to any of Sayo's social obligations... some part of him knew he should check up on Johnny. Putting aside her bizarre choice in mentor figures, his presence in her life meant leagues to Sayo, and was one of the things that kept her from descending into a full self-destructive spiral that if nothing else would make everyone's lives worse.

Speaking of full self-destructive spirals that would make everyone's lives worse, Kanon walks into the dojo and instinctively winces.]

...good grief, sensei, [he mutters, carefully picking his way across the trash. It's in his nature to clean up messes, even if he complains about it the entire way.] C'mon. Let's get you to the couch.

[Sayo had indeed installed a couch and several other amenities to make the dojo more habitable to human life before the leviathan... but who knows their state now. Grimacing, Kanon leans down and tries to pull Johnny to his feet despite Sayo's own weak, nerd muscles.]

[wapples]

[At first Billie mistakes the singing for someone just wailing and of course he goes to investigate. He hops right over bottles and bits of broken glass, and the broken glass like a kid jumping over mud puddles, as his cat Omen trails behind him, gingerly stepping over the mess. Normally, he might stop to collect a few pieces, but he's a little more concerned about the noise.

Seeing Johnny laying on the floor, with the punching bag in a death grip comes as a bit more of a shock.]

Scentsy? What's going on?

[Look, the drunk part isn't so much of a mystery - it's not the first time he's ever seen someone clearly absolutely loaded. The why is really what he's looking for here.]

(CW: potential underage drinking)--sorry, I just now saw this!

[nothinglikea]

[Rose had heard of the Leviathan, had heard that the battle was won, but at great cost. and she's heard that Johnny was there, saw the whole thing.

she's pretty sure Johnny didn't have any special abilities aside from an unwillingness to give up (a trait she shares with him, like probably calling to like), but such a thing is frequently tested by God or fate or whatever force which might be out there, shaping their lives. she had the sinking of the Titanic and the loss of Jack. the Leviathan...may be his, may not be his, she can't say. but she decides to check on him, just the same.

she tried his Omni first, unable to get a response even after trying multiple times and multiple mediums.

when she arrives, all she can think is that it smelled like a distillery. and that he's singing a song she didn't recognize, but that was most songs in Trench. when she sees him, she goes on over, crouching down next to him]

I won't ask how you're doing or any such foolishness. But, might I try to help, Sensei? Even if it's only by being a drinking buddy?

FROG TYMES

[imaglyphwitch]

Stay out of its mouth!

[Luz had already lost a shoe to one of those frogs, and she knew that if it brought this guy into its mouth, it was going to be a bad time. She at least had her glyphs, and she was able to use her light glyph to shine a bright light right at the frog's eyesight].

Grab my hand! We can get away and regroup...uh, guy! Also, stop hitting him or your hand is going to get stuck on the slime!

[strikefirster]

What do you think I'm trying to do!?

[Johnny wasn't actively trying to get eaten, but then again that had been his goal with the Leviathan too and that hadn't worked out so well for him.

The frog let's out a cry as the light shines in it's eyes. And Johnny lands one more punch in it's eye for good measure. He takes Luz's and tries to pull his other hand off the Frog. At first it sticks but then he yanks harder until it and the slime rip off the frog.]

What, We're going to run away from this freak!? Cobra's eat frogs, they don't run away from them.

Frogs :3

[velvet_teen]

[ Alice has escaped her latest rendition of froggy friend funtimes by means of getting up in the trees and feels quite comfortable with the situation by now. She has absolutely no sympathy for Johnny in this. ]

Ha ha! That's the biggest frog I've seen yet! Look at him go!

[ She fumbles around with her Omni, not wanting to look away from the action but very much wanting to take a picture. ]

[strikefirster]

Yeah he's a real son of a bitch, alright.

Reminds me of someone!

[He reminds him of Alice. Who he has just met but he is convinced that he's not going to like her.

Not that he wanted her help. He was man enough to fight his own battles.]

That thing better be recording so I can show this to all my students. I'm going to kick this things ass.

[And he feels the tongue pull a little tighter on him and he quickly moves to punch the creature in the eye. They were in a stand still at the moment.]

Froggie!

[survivalthroughhate]

[Maul is drawn to the scene by the commotion he hears. Of course, when he sees it's Johnny thrashing away trying to not be eaten by the giant frog, he becomes much less inclined to help. Maul's hand stops hovering over his saberstaff and he takes a few steps back to watch to see what this dodo is going to end up doing.]

Punch it in the eye. Most beings are vulnerable there.

[He suggests, looking for all the world like he should have a bag of popcorn that he's munching on while he watches.]

[strikefirster]

[Johnny's busy struggling with the Frog tha he doesn't notice Maul until he speaks up. His eyes shoot over in his direction briefly but he doesn't look scared of Maul. There's a brief flash of anger but it's quickly hidden as the frog tries to get it's mouth over his head.

Johnny turns his attention back to it grabs it's lips with one hand to lift it up and pry his way out.]

Yeah- Fucking great idea there.

[It's hard to tell if he's being sarcastic or not because he does give it a shot. Pulling his fist back and punching it square in the eye. The frog groans as it's briefly stunned but it's not out of he fight yet.]

This thing is a real bitch, reminds me of the one who got me fired from my last job.

as above so below

[stealhearted]

[ Akira is:

1) lost
2) a little confused
3) moderately anxious after having stumbled across some disturbingly fresh corpses

so he's actually kind of relieved to find another person that is alive and normal enough to be cursing at walls and throwing rocks and things like that. It's refreshing.

Then Akira's second sense for Dads With Issues tingles. ]

... it's probably also trying to kill you somehow, if that helps.

[ Most things are trying to kill them in the catacombs, so it feels like a moderately safe bet. Right. Right. ]

I don't know that throwing rocks will help much.

[strikefirster]

[Johnny whips around to face Akira when he hears him speak up. He's tense at first but manages to regain a bit of his fragile "cool."]

Yeah. It and everything else in this hell hole. It can get in line.

[There's a pause as he feels there's something familiar about Akira but he can't quite put his finger on it. It's the legs]

Probably not. But it feels good. Give it a shot.

As Above, So Below.

[kyley_b]

[Kyle had found Johnny only a few twists of the catacombs back. He's too pale and too thin, and had followed Johnny with surprisingly little complaint. When they come to the void he stares at it, eyes blank. It's horrifying although he couldn't say why, yet a part of him wonders what would happen if he just... fell in.

At Johnny's words he looks over, shaken.]

What? You have a kid? Like, of your own? I thought you just had like, that student you really liked.

[strikefirster]

[Johnny had noticed someone trailing along behind him, but he hadn't quite put together it was Kyle until he heard him speak up. He turned over and while he was good at hiding it he couldn't completely hid the fact he was out of it too, not only from fear but a hint of shame too.]

Yeah... I've got a kid. He's in his teens. Same age as my student.

[He looks back into the void and at first he wasn't going to say anymore. But the words just sort of slipped out.]

I fucked up with him. Still fucking up with him.

We don't talk much.

As Above, So Below

[subject_013]

The fact that your son can't stand the sight of you implies that you've seen him. Some people don't get to see their offspring.

[A figure in black tactical gear with his eyes hidden behind dark glasses emerges from the shadows. A tall man with the build of a gymnast, a pistol holstered under one arm and a tactical knife strapped to the small of his back, approaches. He pauses before the black hole and a tremor of fear runs through his impassive face.]

Of all the impulses I could have obeyed, I failed to obey the impulse to marry my son's mother, even in a courthouse exchange of promises. It could have changed everything.

[strikefirster]

[Johnny glanced over the other man's way and gave a little bit of a shrug.]

Yeah, but that doesn't exactly make it better. I had a choice to be there for him and I never was. Some of those people don't have that choice.

It's... Probably middle of the road in terms of not right but that doesn't make it any better.

[He listens to that and gives a shrug.]

Maybe. I sat inside a dinner when my son was born. Too scared to go up there and be with them.

I kept screwing up every day after that.

So you aren't the only one.

🐸🔪

[laruetheday]

[ Clarisse steps in without thinking about it too much. She's caught up in the excitement of actually getting to do some monster-slaying again. It feels like it's been forever since she felt the rush. Trench has, so far, been a lot like Deerington, at least in terms of the bullshit psychological torture it throws her way.

Fighting things is good. Fighting things is what makes her feel most alive.

She goes in with a kick first, combat boot landing squarely in the frog's midsection. It's so satisfying. She's telling herself that she's not skewering the thing on her spear yet because there's still a guy hanging halfway out of the frog's mouth—can't have any civilian casualties, you know—but really it's just so she can prolong this battle. ]

Aw, yeah! You like that, you ugly piece of trash?

Death to all frogs!

[strikefirster]

[Johnny feels the Frog get the wind knocked out it from the kick. It's tongue loosens around him and he's quick to slip out from in it and it's mouth. He sees Clarisse and smirks. This kid was kind of badass, he liked that.

Before the Frog could recover he's quick to drive his fist into it's face just below the eye.]

See? Even the people spectating think your trash.

[Johnny will take a step back and raise his hands to offer Clarisse another swing at it.]

That was a pretty good kick. Felt it through this sack of slime.

( wildcard )

[fabrications]

[ It's taking up quite a bit of time, but Akechi has remained committed to he decisions to take lessons from all three of the martial arts instructors that have set up shop in town as of late. Though Ozpin still has the teach methods and techniques most congruent with Akechi's existing style, he still finds that he's learning something useful from all of them.

It's time for yet another lesson, and as is typical for him Akechi has shown up early. He walks through the door and sets down his bag, and he's looking up to offer a greeting to Johnny--

--when they're suddenly not in the dojo anymore. Getting yanked through the earth is highly disorienting, to say the least, and even once he's on solid ground it takes Akechi a few moments to reorient himself. When he does finally speak, his lights and carefree tone sounds much more dazed and disoriented than he prefers. ]

I don't suppose this is part of your lesson, sensei?

[strikefirster]

[It takes Johnny a moment to get his bearings after the sudden drop. He rubs his head and picks himself back up to his feet. It's the first time he's been dragged somewhere different in this place and he has to say he hates it so far.]

There better not be a fucking sinkhole in the dojo now. I just got that place set up the way I like it.

[Which is to say it's not finished but he can teach in it.

He looks over to Akechi and shrugs.]

It wasn't originally but it is now.

New lesson is sometimes life sucker punches you in the gut and you have to relearn how to breath and get back to your car.

Frog Fighting

[lightthedarkness]

[Just because Usagi didn't particularly LIKE Johnny didn't mean she wanted to see him killed... at least, not killed AGAIN.

And while the frog is ultimately just a GIANT frog, she imagines it would suck to be swallowed by one. A Honeymoon Therapy Kiss slams into the side of the frog and it... well, it's a frog, and she's Sailor Moon, it quite literally disintegrated in a flash of light as she moved to stand beside Johnny.

Only to become very aware that there was more than one as she landed.

There were even more than two.

There were... well actually, she didn't know what a group of frogs was called. A froggle of frogs? Like a gaggle of geese but frogs? Or maybe it was a weird thing like a murder of crows. So was it like a freckle of frogs? A frack of frogs? She's not sure why she thought it needed to start with the same letter and that was neither here nor there.

No, at the moment there was a froggle (she was sticking with the term until she could get Varian to tell her differently) of frogs surrounding them.]

Are you hurt? [Heal first, fight following. Besides, this was not her first time dealing with these things.]

[strikefirster]

[Johnny was in the middle of getting partially swallowed by the frog when it suddenly dissolved around him. He blinks and looks utterly stunned before it the realization that it was just gone fully hits him.

Then he hears Sailor Moon's voice and he turns to face her. ...And that get up-

That was girliest thing he had ever seen. If he was younger that might have been a bit more up his alley. But as it stood he just sort of laughed.]

Nah- I'm okay. A bit of stomach juice burned my gi but that's it.

Your parents okay with you running around in that?

[And he gets up to see the remaining frogs surrounding them.]

These things are in for a world of hurt. Feel free to get behind me- I'll take these slime balls down.

Punchin Croakbeasts for Fun and Profit

[alternia_strength]

Excellent! Finally a strife I can sink my teeth into!

[It didn't especially matter who Equius was moving to help out. He didn't seem to care. A gray skinned man with horns and broken shades came raging out of the forest, having seen the frog, and slammed his fist hard into its gut, only just then seeing the dojo master and grunting a nod of acknowledgment. The punch had enough force that it would be felt through the frog's body as it croaked in pain, releasing Johnny's arm.]

And here I had begun to think this place might get boring!

Frog battle!

[azurestar]

[Lance has been alternating between tree travel and ground travel, unable to decide where he wants to be in this hell hole. To some people it's pretty, but last time he was in a jungle was a bad time, so he's a little erratic and twitchy.

He spots Johnny with his arm half in a frog's mouth while he's up in the trees, recognizes him briefly as that guy from the network promoting his 80s American Karate dojo. And he found the guy obnoxious, but not so bad that he'd let him get eaten by a giant frog. So-]

Incomiiiiing!

[He yells out as he leaps from above holding a red and white broadsword over his head, and WHAM! He's landed hard on the frog's back and impaled it. The force of his weight forces its mouth open in time for Johnny to pull his hand back… and that blade goes right through where his hand used to be.]