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

[stilljustyou]

( Frisk turns their head upon hearing the sound of retreating footsteps, not daring to move as they look around for any sign of the gunman. They just barely catch the sight of the man quietly walking towards the source of where they believe the footsteps came from.

It takes them a little while before they dare open their mouth to speak -- waiting for him to disappear into the distance.

It's only when they're certain that he's gone that Frisk speaks, but even then, their voice is quiet. )

... I think he's gone.

[manipulative]

For now.

[ she doesn't mean to be so glass half empty, but she's played this game of cat and mouse before. the hunter seems experienced. once he realises that the cause of the sound is either long gone or was never there at all, he'll be back.

katherine tilts her head to the side as she listens closely, wanting to confirm that his footsteps are, in fact, far away enough for them to move. ]

We should leave. Which direction did you come from to get here?

[stilljustyou]

( The way she responds is something they're used to by now. Their partner is the same way. They can have a rather pessimistic way to see things at times. Frisk simply nods their head in response, frowning heavily. They should keep their guard up, just in case the gunman heads in their direction again...

The point in the direction that they had arrived into the area from. )

But, uhm-- we shouldn't go that way. There are big frogs over there.

[manipulative]

Big frogs. Gross.

[ despite being over five hundred years old, there are some things that make katherine curl her lip up and do stop her in her tracks. big frogs is one of those things.

listening for a moment, she nods. cocking her head in a new direction (the direction opposite to the where the hunter has disappeared), she only glances at frisk as she keeps her gaze ahead. ]

Maybe that way. I can't hear anything strange coming from there. No rabbits, too.

[ thank fuck. ]

[stilljustyou]

Did a rabbit attack you....?

( If that's the case, than this place is a little more odd than they initially thought. Then again, they've been the victim of innocent-looking monsters attacking them. But, ever since they woke up in the trench, they've been attacked by things far more terrifying than rabbits.

It's just further proof that it's important to expect the unexpected here. )

why did i write rabbits??? we'll just never know

[manipulative]

A dog hunting one once tried.

[ the dog was a werewolf, but werewolves are dogs all the same, no?

gently starting to walk, katherine is in no rush to lengthen her strides or her pace. while the underground may seem quiet and lifeless, she knows better. monsters lurk in the dark and in the tightest of corners. ]

Have you ever heard of Alice in Wonderland?

FDAUIEFA NO WORRIES...

[stilljustyou]

( Frisk looks to Katherine with a thoughtful expression. They can't help but wonder why she might be asking about a book in this situation. )

Yeah. ( They nod. ) It's about a girl who ends up in a magical place.

💜

[manipulative]

Because she trusted a rabbit.

[ and that rabbit had left her to grow tall and small and shrink and unshrink until she found her way to a magic mushroom and to a queen who wanted to cut off her head. perhaps the story's a lot nicer than that, but katherine's learned in her long life not to trust everything she sees.

she wants this to be a simple cave—and she hopes it will be—but she didn't become mystic falls' top survivor by letting her guard down. ]

I've been around a long time. Don't trust every fluffy rabbit you see. [ she cocks her head to gesture to the underground's cool walls. ] I'm hoping this is going to be a leisurely stroll underground, but there's a chance that it won't be. Be careful where you step.

[stilljustyou]

Someone else said that, too. They said that not everyone will be nice.

( It was someone who had dealt with some hardships in their life, and in turn -- they had ended up becoming cruel themselves. )

Even if you can't trust them... I think that the people who seem mean are the people who need kindness the most.

( They look to her then, offering to take her hand. )

Uhm -- maybe we could help each other.

[manipulative]

[ with a sigh that has nothing to do with frisk, katherine looks at their hand and doesn't hesitate to take it. a year or so ago, she would've—and it might have been painfully obvious to an uncomfortable degree—but she's since learned ironically from deerington and the trench that letting people help isn't a fatal flaw of her own. not letting them tends to be. ]

I'd like that. [ she says that with a genuine smile.

then with a shrug of a shoulder, ] I don't… really let people. [ she looks off to the side, to the thick bushes that shift gently as if disturbed by a gentle hand. ] Be kind to me or help me. It's hard.

[ and embarrassing, but she trusts frisk to never weaponise that like others would. ]

[stilljustyou]

Why is it hard?

( They can't help but ask, concerned. They can't help wonder if it's because of what she went through beforehand. If that was the case, they.... think that they can understand. Frisk may be young, but they've come to know so many people - and with that, the pain that some of them have gone through. )

[manipulative]

[ katherine likes to keep her cards very close to her chest beneath many, many impenetrable layers. deerington and the trench have made her soft.

she could make up a lie. considering she's had over five centuries to be many different versions of herself, she could easily pluck an answer from her arsenal. but it wouldn't be the truth—and she's doing her best to tell it. ]

I spent five hundred years running from someone who felt I had betrayed him. Have you ever heard of Little Red Riding Hood and her big, bad wolf?

[stilljustyou]

... Yeah. He tried really hard to trick her.

( Being fooled by someone who called them a friend is something they know well. Despite that, Frisk forgave him. But, they can't imagine that she had done anything like that to anyone -- not on purpose. )

[manipulative]

My wolf almost succeeded. I did a lot of things to make sure I was always several steps ahead of him. Not many people like me for that.

[ and katherine, while sometimes regretful, simply accepts it. she did what she needed to do to survive. others have done the same with very little backlash.

she smiles at frisk. ]

It seems like Little Red always gets a happy ending.

[stilljustyou]

If they were trying to do something bad to you, then why are people mad at your for it?

( They don't really understand. If someone was trying to hurt someone else, wouldn't they want to protect that person instead? )

[manipulative]

Because that person was someone they cared about. Or they didn't like that I hurt someone else in order to get away from the person who hurt me.

[ it's a little bit of a hopeless case in katherine's opinion. she doesn't want to bore frisk with the five centuries' long stories of trying to outsmart and outwit in order to survive. ]

I think if Little Red Riding Hood had hurt the Huntsman who helped her, everyone would see that story very differently.

[stilljustyou]

It sounds like they were mad because they didn't understand.

( It's not the first time that they had heard a story like that. )

[manipulative]

[ katherine shrugs a shoulder and tilts her head toward that shoulder not to brush off what frisk has said, but to protect herself from the truth of frisk's words. that's exactly the crux of it all. ]

I've met a lot of people in my life, and not many of them were as smart as you. [ she smiles, ] I'm not saying that to be nice.

[ she's saying it as a "thank you" for actually seeing her. ]

[stilljustyou]

( They can't help but smile at that. )

A lot of people say that I'm just a kid.

( And that in itself makes Frisk feel as though people see them as helpless. )

[manipulative]

[ katherine's half-tempted to tell them what she sees—a young adult—but what she sees isn't as important as to what frisk sees. she regards them with an arch to her brow and a small curious smile. ]

Is that how you see yourself? As a kid?

[stilljustyou]

I don't know.

( They answer the question honestly. They don't really feel like they did before they went through what they did at home. )

... But, a lot of people call me that like it's a bad thing.

[manipulative]

Those people sound like they felt threatened.

[ although frisk definitely does seem young, she doesn't think of them as a child. a young adult for certain, with so much of life to explore and stumble into. ]

I don't think you're a kid. [ she teases, ] You're a little too tall to meet the height requirement.

[stilljustyou]

( Frisk can't help but smile at that. )

I still have a lot of room to grow.

[manipulative]

[ katherine smiles. ]

A few more inches, but nothing more than that. [ she laughs softly. ] I don't need you showing me up.

[stilljustyou]

It's okay.

Even if I got taller than you, I think you'd still be like a big sister.