deercountry | Are we out of the woods yet?

Are we out of the woods yet?

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Chizuru has absolutely no idea what's happening. One moment she's just trying to make her way through these catacombs with Luz, and the next moment the other is suddenly doubled down on the floor like that. Chizuru does get the sense of dread radiating from that hole, but since she didn't look inside of it, she has absolutely no idea what could have driven the other to such a state.

But rather than looking through the hole herself, Chizuru is more focused on - more worried about - her companion here. She quickly moves to kneel besides Luz, putting a hand on the other's upper back.

"What's wrong..?"

Who is she talking to? Not to Chizuru, that's for sure, but it's just the two of them here.

"I-It's okay, I think you might be seeing something that isn't really there..!"

"Noo," Luz moaned. A part of her knew she should be listening to Chizuru right now, that the girl was probably right, that her mother couldn't be there, but that was the problem, wasn't it? Her mother wasn't here, her mother was a million thousand lightyears away for all she knew.

And she was the person who made that decision. It almost didn't matter that her mother wasn't here: she could still HEAR her, wherever she was, because Luz knew her mother would always worry about her, and even if there was a Luz back home, hadn't she still made the choice to go?

"I'm the worst. I left you. I'm sorry Mami, please! Don't forget me!"

It doesn't help that there's still some sort of unsettled feeling in Chizuru's stomach. She figures that it's just because she's so worried about the other here, but little does she realise that it's the darkness asserting its pressure on her too, even though she hasn't looked into it enough to feel the similar need to confess something.

But the nerves? She still feels that as she looks at the other, frowning, frantically trying to think of anything that could help Luz right now.

"P-Please, you're not the worst! I'm not sure why you're saying that.." After all, Chizuru is missing a lot of context here. Who did Luz leave? And why? "But please listen to my voice and trust me..! You're not!"

It is a lot.

She hadn't known what she was going to see when she looked into the hole, but now it was unearthing feelings that had swept over her when she was corrupted. She was still trying to muddle through the complicated feelings of having been the one to choose being here and what that meant. No Boiling Isles, no demon realm, and most of all, no mom.

Knowing that there was still a version of her back there didn't make her feel better. She was still cut off from a world she was starting to love, and apart from the person who raised her and been her rock a long time. How could she feel like she'd done anything but betray her?

When she heard Chizuru, she lifted her head, looking at the girl.

"But you understand. I'm here, without her, and I've had days where I was happy, like it didn't even matter! What kind of daughter am I?"

At least what Luz is saying now makes things make a little more sense.

Maybe not entirely. Chizuru is sure that there's still context she's missing - but she can at least grap some stuff from what Luz is saying here. The person she's talking to is her mother, even though she isn't actually present here. And she seems to be worried about having left her mother behind by ending up in this place? But then again.. it's not like any of them had a choice in that, did they?

(Oh, Chizuru, you sweet summer child.)

".. Do you think you're being a bad daughter if you're happy..?"

Chizuru says it gently. She doesn't intend to scold the other in the slightest, but at the same time she doesn't exactly think that sort of thought is right either.

"Don't you think that your mother would want you to be happy, even if you're not near her..?"

"It is bad that she isn't here, that I can't ever see her!"

It was a very complicated thing. On the one hand, there were plenty of moments Luz was happy: being in the house with her current housemates thrilled her, and she loved sharing in their happiness and sadness. On the other hand, feeling that way felt like she was distancing herself from everyone else she wasn't with, her mother highest on that list.

"It's been so long. Almost...more than a year. Would she even forgive me if she saw me here, with my own kind of family and being so carefree?"

That black hole seemed to give her the answer in spades.

"Yes. Yes, she will forgive you."

It feels hard to say so. Even though the words come naturally to Chizuru, it's like something about that darkness in front of them is sucking up everything that's good in the world. Like it's weighing down on Chizuru, trying to steal her ability to be optimistic, to believe in people.

But it's such a strong belief that she does her best to cling onto it, even in this moment. Because Luz needs it. Because she can't just let the other fall into despair here.

"That is what parents are like." She stops for a moment, biting her lower lip as she thinks of her own father.

.. of all the complicated matters surrounding him.

"They love you, no matter what. So.. they will also always forgive you, no matter what."

"That's not always true."

But. It would be true for her mother. Even if she were made about Luz going to the Isles instead of going to the camp, she'd at least know that Luz had every intention of going back. When it came to Deerington, Luz had been whisked away there, she hadn't had a choice.

When she came to Trench, that had been her choice, but she knew there would still BE a Luz trying to get back to her. That was her, even if saying that out loud to herself was still a little weird. Luz knew that her mother loved her, and she knew she would always, always love her mother no matter what happened.

"I think...you're right. I'll never stop loving mom, and I'm sure that its the same for her. This black hole, its just making me think about all of that. I think its trying to crush our spirit."

Chizuru isn't so sure how she feels about Luz saying that it's not always true - but it's not something that has to be argued about, especially not here of all places. And when Luz seems to agree with what Chizuru is saying at least when it comes to her personal case, it seems that they don't have to think about it more than that anyway.

This is all Chizuru wanted to do, after all. To remind the other of the fact that surely her mother would love her all the same, even if Luz would ever make decisions that her mother would find difficult to deal with.

"I.. understand that. It feels odd to me too.." Something about the sheer presence of that darkness is making her antsy, after all. Chizuru has no trouble admitting to that - especially since many things in life make her antsy. This isn't the moment to start hiding that.

"But we'll have to go through it anyway, right? I mean.. we have to find a way out of here."

They can't stay down here in the Catacombs forever, no matter how scary the idea of confronting the dark abyss in front of them is right now.

Luz nodded. Honestly, she should have realized there was going to be one of those situations where she had to come face to face with some deep-seated fears she'd rather not face. That was the nuts and bolts of these kinds of situations that happened anyway.

Weren't they supposed to be playing a game anyway?

But clearly being confronted by her own guilt had not been something Luz was expecting. She was under the assumption it was going to be another one of those life and death situations, not coming to grips with your shortcomings.

"Do we have to face one of your own things now, to go forward?"

Luz is grateful for Chizuru and would tell her so later: for right now, they'd have to figure this thing out.

".. I don't know."

Maybe they will. If something appeared for Luz when she stepped closer to it, then maybe something will appear for Chizuru when she takes a step closer. It's why she might be hesitating for a moment here.

She'll push herself to do it, but it's just.. she needs another moment to gather her courage.

And to do one more thing, namely--

"Don't worry about it though. No matter what happens, I'll do my best to face it."

-- reassuring Luz. She doesn't want the other to have to worry about her.

"That's usually how these things go."

Luz actually moved closer to the girl. She didn't know any of Chizuru's secrets, and they'd only met once so far, but she had tried to help her in spite of that. Luz was going to have certain feelings about that.

"You won't face it alone. I don't think either of us were meant to."

Luz moved closer to the girl, not taking her hand because she didn't want to be rude, but nor was she shirking away.

Chizuru nods. Honestly, she's grateful. She'd rather have Luz not going through this at all, but.. well, the other has already faced her own trouble just now. Maybe stepping forward towards the abyss won't do anything for her anymore now - or so Chizuru hopes, anyway.

Which means she just has to prepare herself as she moves closer towards the darkness. The closer it gets, the more and more nervous she gets, like a feeling that keeps building up in her chest.

But she keeps moving all the same. Even though every step is getting harder, like a pressure weighing down on her, she keeps moving. Step after step.

Until it becomes too much. Before Chizuru even realises it, words are already flowing out of her mouth.

"I.. am too weak to protect anyone."

There's a pause, and the girl sucks in a shuddering breath.

"I can't do anything for other people by myself. Even though I want to help others out, I only bring them trouble.. I-- I only get people killed, because I'm such a bother."

Luz had promised to stick close by, and that was what she was going to do. If there was something she had come to understand by now, it was that everyone was going through a bit of something. Sometimes it was stuff from back home, sometimes it was things here. Sometimes it was both.

With Chizuru though, Luz could see it was the former: she was sure the girl hadn't been here long enough to have had a proper Trench encounter to secure that though, but she was still taken aback by how heavy it was.

And how, in a way, there was a small similarity of something she felt. Or had, once.

But Luz was focused on her friend now, and as she faltered, Luz took her hand, taking a breath.

"Chizuru. No one is a bother. People are around you because they care about you. Why would you think you only get people killed?"

"Inoue-san.. died. Because he was protecting me."

Rather than looking sideways at Luz, Chizuru is looking ahead. As if she can see something out there in the abyss rather than just darkness - perhaps just her memories being replayed right in front of her eyes. The image of the man getting killed is still burned right into her eyelids, after all.

(She definitely lets Luz hold her hand though.. or rather, it's just that Chizuru doesn't seem to resist it when the other grabs it, passively letting her hold it.)

"Yamazaki-san, too. If I wasn't there.. then people wouldn't nearly be suffering as much." It's definitely more extreme than she'd ever admit to out loud, but there's no doubt that the thoughts linger in the deepest of her heart.

And they're being pulled out in this moment.

Luz took in the words her friend was saying. So she'd had to see two people she cared about killed, likely because they wanted to save her. Of course she'd have survivor's guilt. What more could she have done, she maybe could have stopped it if she were stronger.

Luz knew that feeling. Every time someone she cared about in Deerington died, she wondered why it wasn't her, how she managed to keep surviving even though so many people she cared about had been killed somehow. There was no real answer, but of course you imagine you could have done something if you just tried, if you took a stand and were there.

"Don't you think they know that? If they were not with you, that they'd be safe? I'm sure they knew, and chose to be there anyway. If they were willing to do that, don't you think they thought you were worth protecting?"

Luz is right, really. And Chizuru probably knows that, to some level. It's not like Inoue didn't seem very willing to protect her, after all. But something about that - and perhaps with the added effects of this abyss in front of them - makes it only hurt more.

Chizuru's hand reaches up, grasping the fabric of her top, like she's trying to keep herself steady that way in the middle of all of this.

"But why..?"

Usually she would feel awful pouring this out over someone else. Even in this moment, as she has no other choice, she feels that way. She shouldn't bother other people with her trouble, not even someone as kind and helpful as Luz, but the words spill out of her mouth before she even has the chance to think about them.

"Why would someone like me be worth protecting? There's so many more important people.." Chizuru's voice shakes a little as she speaks. "I don't get it."

Luz knew that the abyss as working its hold on her, and now that she'd been under that sway, she understood how easy it was to only see your own faults. It was as if you only dwelt in that one place, and you do anything but see how small and flawed you were.

And this would have been the very question Luz would have struggled with, in a different way.

"You ARE an important person, to the one that risked their life for you. I've only known you a little while, but I can see how you'd be endearing, and they'd want you to live. I would want you to live. Sometimes it's enough if we don't get it: we just get to be happy someone felt that strongly about us. They wanted you to keep going, and so here you are."

"They wanted.."

Chizuru slowly repeats those words. As she does, something other than the abyss in front of her fills her mind. The memories of that moment twist, making her remember what Inoue had told her a moment before he died. That he was old enough to have had a daughter her age, and that no parent would want to see their child die before them..

.. Luz is right, isn't she. Even though it's still hard for Chizuru to wrap her mind around, and even though she still feels massively guilty.. the other is right.

Hot tears start silently pouring down Chizuru's cheeks, and she shakes her head.

"Sorry.."

It's meant to Luz this time, though it might be hard to tell, with her not directly looking at the other.

"Sorry.. for getting all caught up in these feelings and making this harder for you.."

"It isn't hard."

It isn't really. By Luz's own nature, she wanted to help, and if someone she knew was in pain, Luz would be the first to make a fool of herself or say something to try and make that friend smile. It wasn't something she was always successful at in a place like this, and she had to struggle with her feeling of failure when it didn't pan through. Despite this, Luz would still do what she could and not ask for anything back but friendship anyway.

And it seemed like Chizuru was going through a fair bit on her own end.

"You don't have to apologize. You helped me, so I wanted to help you too. Are you all right?"

She raises a hand, trying to wipe the tears off her cheeks, and she shakes her head.

"It hurts," she says.

Apparently just the sheer presence of this darkness is enough to make her be a little bit more candid about this stuff than she'd usually be, even now the worst of it has passed. But she does mean what she says - even if the worst of it is over for now, it still hurts to have had to think about all of that all over again.

"This place.. it's so cruel, forcing us to go through things like these."

At that response, Luz's resolve buckles slightly, and she looks into the abyss. She sighed and lowered her eyes.

"I know."

Because she DID know. Saying the things you've been keeping to yourself, humbling you and still managing to remind you how badly you messed up. It was a lot to deal with. Now it came with fun consequences like blood corruption and you being a whole emotional mess!

"That kind of thing always comes up, one way or another. A trial. A time where all those bad things we hate about ourselves, the worst moments, are all laid bare. It's a horrible feeling. Sometimes it feels like it'll never get better."

She exhaled. "It does, eventually. It might come in small bursts, sometimes on top of some more pain. You get stronger. You learn to forgive yourself, as crazy as it sounds."

.. If Luz says this, then Chizuru just believes it's true. After all, the other has been here for longer than she has. Even though Luz is younger than her.. surely she would know better than Chizuru when it comes to matters like these.

Especially when Chizuru has so little experience with Trench as a whole.

"I'll try my best," she slowly says, "to endure it."

Because what other choice does she have? It's not like she can just give up.

"Even if it might end up happening very often."

Deerington and then Trench had been Luz's crash course in horror, but the Boiling isles would always be her first insight into the strange and wonderful. There were plenty of both in Trench.

"It helps to have your friends around," Luz said, with a small smile. "Or your family, if you happen to find them here. Their support can go a long way."

With Luz, that was quite literal.

"Hopefully you can avoid the worst of it. Unfortunately, what happens to people with certain blood types can make things super weird. It's a roll of the d-ok, actually, you know what? Not going with that phrase."

Definitely had enough of that.

At what Luz is saying, Chizuru finally manages to tear her gaze fully away from the abyss in front of them, instead looking over at the other girl.

"There's no one here from the same place as me, as far as I can see," she softly says. Chizuru knows that it's not quite what Luz meant, but she'd just like to make that clear here first. It'd be easy to rely on the reliable Shinsengumi men she knows from back home, or even just her father who she hasn't seen in such a long time..

.. but it's not exactly an option.

"And people here are nice, but.. no one knows me super well yet, you know..? So I wouldn't want to impose on them when I'm basically just a stranger."

Are we out of the woods yet?

as above so below

Re: as above so below

no subject

haha sorry to drop Luz's freak outs on you!

omg don't worry!! i love this!

ah, the sweet trauma

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)