Event: The Very Hungry Nightblossom

[trainmasters]

Who: Everyone
When: Day 9 til ???
Where: places

[The plants and cracks that appeared yesterday evening have continued to grow, leaving the air full of the sweet, relaxing scent of night blossoms. In fact they're grown a lot, over the evening slowly covering the nearest trees in a choking layer of black vines.

Abruptly, around midnight, the train rattles as if being shook. It only last a bare couple of seconds, but anyone going outside will see that the vines have sprung up from the ground to begin coating the train itself -- and they're coming up from more of those mysterious cracks. This time, too, the cracks are bigger, and it seems as if the train is in peril of falling right through the ground.

From the intercoms, and displayed in text on both Chains and the big screen in the lounge, comes a message in the Construct's artificially chipper voice.

Systems have detected imminent danger. We are currently unable to relocate. Please remove obstructions from the train's exterior as soon as possible.

However, no matter how many vines you pull away, more grow rapidly to replace them, and the caustic sap when they're broken will get all over your hands and clothes. It doesn't seem like the vines are going to consume the train, though. They've grown just enough to hold it down, and will stop at that point even when they grow back.

The heroes, however, may find themselves in a trickier spot. Around the same time as the message, characters who go outside might find a crack suddenly opening below them, vines popping out to yank them down into the abyss below. These can even show up within the train floor -- in the hallways, anyway. The actual rooms seem to be safe. The cracks, this time, are oddly supernatural -- they close immediately upon swallowing someone, leaving no trace behind.

Those who've been dragged in will find themselves in an underground tunnel. Inside, your Chain can't connect to anyone else, and you're alone except for one other person -- or two or three, if you're lucky. With your partner(s), you must traverse a strange pathway coated in vines and filled with different colours and shapes of glowing mushrooms and flowers. The only light comes from the flora, and from the occasional gently wiggling blob of what appears to be some kind of living jelly.

These blobs seem harmless and cute from a distance, but when approached perk up and shift, growing upwards into a new form -- one that represents a fear or insecurity of one of the heroes in front of it. This could be a swarm of spiders or an angry parent, but regardless of the form the creature is quite intend on doing whatever harm it can to you and those with you. But it's only a blob -- any attacks magical or physical are ineffective, as it regains it shape nigh instantly. The only thing that can stop the attack is exposure to the opposite emotion: you have to be able to laugh. Characters who, with the help of their partners, are able to face their fears with a smile will find the blobs melting into inert puddles.

If you can't kill them with kindness, you could also run. You'll find the blobs are more numerous in one direction and fewer in the other. Running away from them will eventually lead you to an open crack and thicker vines you can climb to escape the tunnel. Facing them head-on (or running in the wrong direction), though, will lead you to a dead-end, where a glowing, pulsating mass of vines roughly the size of an adult human is affixed to the wall. Should you destroy this "core", the blobs will melt and the vines inside the tunnel will drop their flowers and turn into solid, dead wood, leaving only the mushrooms to guide you to the exit.

If you're not lucky enough to escape or destroy the tunnel's core, however... well. That's just a shame for you, isn't it? Characters killed by their fears will be devoured by the blobs to feed the plants, and will wake up in their bedrooms after approximately one IC day, fully healed but groggy and (optionally) with the sense that they've had a bad dream they can't remember.

There are many tunnels, it turns out, and the plants don't seem keen on leaving any time soon. Meanwhile, the announcement on the train repeats roughly once every hour, but after the first hours in its stead on the main screen comes a different one:

What's going on?

You can try to talk to the Construct or to free the train, but it's clear that something big is trying to eat you.]

[[OOC NOTES: This event will last OOCly til February 3. ICly, it lasts as long as you guys want. You are welcome and encouraged to make posts advancing time, especially if your character has ideas for addressing the plot as a group. If you need a refresher on the effects of the vines and their flowers, they're the same as the ones from this post. The mods won't be running the monsters, so it's up to you guys to attack your friends with your own fears!

You'll find a turn-in comment here -- on the third the mods will tally how many tunnels were cleared (core destroyed), escaped, or failed (all characters dead). Based on these numbers we'll post a follow-up. More info on turn-in is in the comment, but all results have pros/cons so play as much failure as you like! Characters can be swallowed as many times as you want, and you can keep playing after turn-in. You're also welcome to avoid it entirely, either by having your character stay within the rooms of the train or just through luck.

You can also talk to the Construct under this toplevel. It'll be more responsive than usual due to the plot -- but only sometimes, and about some subjects. Depending on what you ask/say you may get canned answers or a real response. It's a gamble!

Effects from the Dragon's game are still in effect, but you can have them wear off at any point if you wish. If you have questions, please reply to this comment, or ping Cleo on discord.]]

Comments

[nihilmancy]

[It is not Tabby that awakens in the Licorice car, but Hlasoh. Terrified at appearing suddenly in a new place, without any context, and without her magic seeming to function, she tried to rush out of the train in a panic, only to be snatched down into the tunnels.

That's almost familiar. She was wandering otherworldly tunnels before she came here. Tunnels between worlds, tunnels between reality and fantasy. She could almost laugh. She had gotten lost in the Chaos Corridors, and now the end is coming for her.]

[ewestmarch]

[Emilia almost bumps into her in the dark, and swears in a language that sounds vaguely Scandinavian.]

What- ?

[nihilmancy]

[Hlasoh yelps at bumping into the strange woman, and rapidly takes in her strange unhealthy complexion and glowing eyes. She backs up, glaring.]

L-Leave me alone!

[ewestmarch]

Alright.

[Somehow manages to pack an entire sentence into two syllables which is: dont know what's wrong with you but not willing to get killed over it so have it your way, I already have plenty of problems.]

[nihilmancy]

[Backs away, continuing to deathglare.]

Who are you? Where is this?

[ewestmarch]

[mm, okay. These flowers are extremely sketchy and might cause amnesia, mental note to not touch them.]

I'm Emilia. I'm with the - I'm a medic.

[Showing her two empty hands here - don't start something now, come on.]

Don't know where we are, I fell in a hole.

[nihilmancy]

You too, then. And you were in that vehicle before? The one with all the cars.

[She continues to eye Emilia warily, watching for sudden movement.]

[ewestmarch]

Yeah, it's a train. ...As far as I can tell, the plants attacking it are what made us fall into wherever we are now, but that's all I have.

[nihilmancy]

Do you know the way out?

[ewestmarch]

Of here? I don't know if there is one. Only thing to do is start searching.

[nihilmancy]

Fine. I'll follow behind you.

[ewestmarch]

Really? Going to follow behind and not... stab behind?

[this could be a trap thats all shes saying, you're clearly disoriented here and she's not sure what your motives are right now, Tabby]

[nihilmancy]

[She takes a deep breath. A certain incident earlier has had her rather rattled.]

I won't hurt you. I've just encountered some unpleasant things down here. It's possible you might be one of them, though I doubt it.

[ewestmarch]

I've been told I'm unpleasant to have a conversation with.

[very very very dry, but a joke. She starts trekking off in... a random direction. The tunnel just goes Forward and Back here, if they start hitting forks she'll start marking them off.]

[nihilmancy]

That's alright.

[She follows behind, either unaware of, or ignoring the joke, it would seem.]

[ewestmarch]

[In some places the tunnel is too small to stand, and Emilia sighs as if this is the worst thing that's ever happened to her and grabs a vine as a handhold.]

Try not to touch the flowers, I think they're magic.

[nihilmancy]

Oh, er, I'll try not to.

Ah, and if a creature tries to attack you, laugh at it. Apparently that works.

[ewestmarch]

[That's such a weird thing to say that Emilia turns around and bonks her head on the ceiling in the process.]

A cre- ow ... A creature, what kind of creature? Did you see something?

[nihilmancy]

Not right now, I met them earlier. They look like little blobs. Watch your head.

[ewestmarch]

Thanks. [for the early warning.] What's laughing do?

[nihilmancy]

It melts them. I think. I couldn't see very well at the time.

[ewestmarch]

Good. What happens if you don't melt them? Do they melt you first?

[nihilmancy]

[Unfortunately, a cute squishy little blob chooses that moment to ooze into view around a turn in the tunnel.]

I'm afraid so.

[ewestmarch]

[Emilia lets out a horrible, raspy witch-cackle at the blob.

If this is a practical joke, the worst that'll happen is she looks embarrassed. Worth.]

[nihilmancy]

[Unless it was sincere, the blob only draws closer! And it moans a word. "Hlasoh. Hlasoh."]

...Not again.