「 TDM : 01. 」
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deadempirememes
TDM 001
FAQ ➤ PREMISE ➤ TAKEN ➤ RESERVES
FULL NAVIGATION
「 YOU ALWAYS DID FEEL JUST LIKE HOME 」
THE ARRIVAL
You find yourself paralyzed when you wake. Mind coming to, you can't yet move for a couple moments and despite the shock of it, you feel calm. At ease. Like you just woke up from the best nap of your life. Your breathing evens, and you can curl your fingers, shift your legs.
The world fades in slowly when you open your eyes ... Natural light floods the room, and you sit up to see someone in a dark uniform watching you with hardened eyes.
They talk to you with a tone just as stony as their gaze, telling you what you are, how you've gotten here, and what to do now.
You're what they call the Displaced, meaning someone who has been pulled in from a universe far and foreign to the one you find yourself in now. Apparently, it's the work of a small number of Gods, and there should be a marking somewhere on you detailing who that God is.
They tell you what they're fighting -- dripping, clawed things with glowing eyes and fatal bites -- and they tell you there's no option.
You have to keep moving, no matter what.
THE SETTING
This village is a winter wonderland at first glance, when you trudge in through the snow; the people living here call it Olazan. Fires crackle in the homes and even on the streets, all for those working outside. And there are people working outside. You'll find that, if you ask about their tendency to work even during blizzards, the townsfolk will tell you it's just a good idea to keep busy around here.
There's not much in the way of technology, really. Everyone depends on radios and rotary phones and the cars are pretty old compared to what you'd see in modern earth times. Houses and such buildings are log cabins or made of stone, and the town isn't very big.
The locals are friendly enough, though they don't really know of the Nyx yet ... They're all anthropomorphic rabbits or mice or foxes; their fur is in all sorts of different and fantastic colors, but they tend to dress pretty appropriately and modestly for the weather, nothing too flashy. Thick coats and scarves and gloves are common here.
You should dress yourself warmly while you can; the Gods only know how long you're going to be in Olazan. They'll trade labor for clothes and lodgings, however, if you're able to help around the place. The windchill makes it freezing during the night and evening, but during the day the ice on the well-cleared paths freezes and then refreezes, creating black ice. It's much easier to slip on black ice, so watch out.
THE RESTRICTIONS
Powers are neither augmented nor nerfed here, so go nuts. If the townsfolk see displays of power or magic they'll immediately be wowed. They're an easily impressed bunch, generally.
The natives can't perform magic, but they used to be able to. But you'll hear different stories if you ask about where or when the magic went ...
「 IF ALL YOU ARE IS UNDER THE SURFACE 」
It's easy to get underground; the locals like to spend some time down there to honor their ancestors, mostly on their holidays. Some of them will probably tell you about the underground paths, the mouths of which are dotted all throughout the village.
They're a superstitious bunch and they sort of put the dead up to be demigods, remembered forever.
Yet their brand of magic is not the same as anything anyone has come across ... While they can't do what their grandparents did in the way of magic, it still runs through their veins, dormant.
It protects them from the true horrors of the catacombs.
At the deepest part of the underground labyrinth lies a massive room; it's like walking into a giant amethyst geode. The floor and walls have been carved out into seats and a low but long platform at the center, however, and its in this chamber that the big and heavy prayers are spoken. Candles burn and it seems like they'll never go out ...
It's rare for a local to go down this far, these days, unless it's a special occasion.
Foreigners to this place will slowly begin to go mad, the deeper they walk in and the longer they stay. Are those skulls talking? Did those fingers of bone just move? Where is that whispering coming from?
You'll grow paranoid and irritable should someone try to rescue you or attempt to speak sense ... The only way out of this is either patience or appealing to your sensibilities. Do you like to fight? The person helping should tell you that you can fight all they want if you get out of the catacombs and it'll slowly start to work. Those not afflicted just need to be patient.
Upon exiting however, the characters afflicted will now feel bereft of the paranoia and delusions, but they're now dizzy and nauseated and unable to see straight. It'll go away after about as long as they had spent in the catacombs; an hour inside means an hour spent ill.
「 A BOTTLE OF RED AND A CASE OF BLUES 」
The townsfolk, when they learn of the true nature of the catacombs, are utterly shocked and horrified. Seeking to apologize, they offer gift after gift to the Survivors and Displaced, even if they hadn't gone underground. They'll offer places to stay and food and drink and warm clothes. Eventually, it's decided upon by the natives that they should just throw some sort of party.
Within a couple days, there's roaring fires along the roads; food and drink line the tables. Hell, there's even musicians and dancing ...
The food and drink is pretty normal, and it's good. Except for the alcohol.
- Red wine: This one pulls your disposition to the forefront despite your current state of being, and it amplifies it. It could also be their most strongly felt emotion that gets heightened. Basically, if your character is typically pretty morose and pessimistic, they'll feel that even worse than normal, even if they were happy at the party just minutes before. This lasts five hours.
- White wine: White wine makes you very ... competitive. You'll want to do a drinking contest with more wine, or you'll want to challenge someone to a foot race. Anything, really. Some people get so competitive drinking this that they'll be incredibly angry if someone turns down a challenge or they lose. And losing is how they'll snap out of it ... But good luck getting them to acknowledge their loss ... Otherwise, white wine's effects last two hours.
- Spirits: You'll slowly turn into a ghost if you partake in the rum or the vodka. How apt! Drink any of that hard stuff and over the course of ten minutes or so you'll become intangible and invisible. Thankfully though, you can become visible again by focusing hard enough. Some with weaker wills will find this more difficult than those with more determination. The way to reverse it is by eating real food, or by waiting it out for three hours.
- Beer: It's just very mild-tasting but also very and immediately addicting. You'll drink some of this and need another mug and another and another ... It's also incredibly strong, despite the lack of that alcoholic taste. Goes down like water. The way you get rid of these effects is by drinking a lot of non-alcoholic fluids, or if you ... manage to walk a line? Better hope a cop comes along for a sobriety test.
There's something very odd about the bedding in this place ...
It's all just a bit too cozy. Even if you're sleeping in a sleeping bag on a inn's floor, you've never known rest quite like this. As time wears on, days and nights passing, you will find you want to leave your bedding less and less. Sleep just seems like the best form of comfort in a place so strange and so foreign and far from home ... What's the point of getting up? This isn't my fight ...
Yet if you can't be convinced to leave bed, then you'll start to enter a sort of fever dream without the sickness. You'll wake up frequently, but the nightmares they experience are so vivid and alive that it's hard for you to move out of their dreams when you awaken.
Impressions of your dreams will stay with them in your waking hours, and the dreams can be of things that have happened in your past, or dreams of the Nyx tearing you apart. When you wake enough, you might sweat and scream, feeling sharp teeth and claws raking into their skin ... But then sleep comes again, and it's back to the carnage.
Not everyone is affected, however. Those unafflicted Survivors realize what's going on when they go to find their Displaced comrades, and they're not sure how to reverse it ... But it turns out to be some special herbs placed under the pillow of the dreamer ... The townfolk will give this information up should they be asked, but they'll appear scared and in disbelief ...
「 DEALER'S CHOICE 」
Play with the setting! This TDM's setting will be the setting for the next couple months, and more information will be revealed as time goes on.
Have fun with it, and ask questions on the question thread below should you wonder about anything!
Re: Hawks | My Hero Academia
Date: 2019-06-30 08:35 pm (UTC)[ Death is not afraid of... Well, death. Skulls and bones, decaying flesh and tendons, those are things he knows like the back of his hands. Worse, he was just out of the Land of the Dead! Walls of fossilized remains is the norm here. So no, he is not afraid in the Catacombs.]
[But if he has to be honest with himself, Death is somewhat... Uneasy. Yes. Let's go with that.]
[There is death here, of course, and if it was the only thing there wouldn't be a problem. But there is also something else, and that trouble the Nephelim much more. Some kind of... malice, dripping through empty sockets and loosened jaws, slithering between scattered teeth and finger bones.]
[He can swear he heard Absalom call his name from the darkness. But it can't be. Not again.]
[It's the only excuse he has, really, for not realizing he's out of the tunnel he has been exploring and into some kind of underground temple. And he is not alone. His first reflex is to simply turn around and leave the... Angel? To their troubles. But the natives told him there are no angel around, only people ripped from their world just like him. And they sounded... Afraid.]
[Creator damn it.]
I'm here. [Death groused, stepping out of the darkness, glowing orange eyes and all.] I just arrived. Rather surprised to see a bird so far down underground. Are you lost?
no subject
Date: 2019-06-30 10:58 pm (UTC)His heart quickens, but his company doesn't seem malicious despite the fearsome appearance. Hawks is still well enough to be able to tell that much, at least. )
Lost? ... No, I ...
( Well ... Is he? His brows furrow; he can't remember, can't quite think right. )
no subject
Date: 2019-07-01 08:04 pm (UTC)This place is not made for the living. I think it would be better if you left, little bird, before we have to scrape your remains off the bottom of that charming little chasm over there.
[Death casually leans against the mouth of his tunnel, resolutely ignoring the way he could feel the skulls here seemingly move, and waves a dismissive hand toward the narrow walkway Hawke is currently standing on.]
no subject
Date: 2019-07-03 08:13 pm (UTC)This isn't like him.
Were he in a right state of mind he might be embarrassed, but at the moment he's far from that. )
I think I'm supposed to be here. Along all this death.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-05 10:26 am (UTC)Why would you be, little one? The dead have no use for the living. I would know, I just came back from the Land of the Dead. They have no need of you, while the living up here could use some more help.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-05 06:07 pm (UTC)( He admits, eyes lingering on the skulls and spines just a little too long. There's a measured pause before he speaks again, eyes ringed with red and seeing something not quite there. )
It just ... I can't ...
( He can't imagine what it's like back up on the surface; like trying to hold water in cupped hands, it slips from him. )
I can't go back up there.
no subject
Date: 2019-07-05 08:02 pm (UTC)Nothing is keeping you down there but a few illusions and your own mind. Come now. If I linger here, my crow is going to have a fit and I have no wish to endure that.