repeter | NOVEMBER TDM + EVENT PT 2

EVENT + TEST DRIVE

NOVEMBER TEST DRIVE - EVENT EDITION
The city of Recollé...

...is way more crowded than usual. Who invited all of these ghosts?

PROLOGUE

As the ghosts begin to crowd around your usual haunts and fit themselves right in among your friends and family members, it becomes harder and harder to discourage them and send them away. Several of the people you know have taken a liking to the ghosts and developed attachments to them, welcoming them as a part of your family. In some cases, these ghosts may have even replaced you in your family. Who are you? Were you ever a part of their lives? It's hard to say now.

Despite the fact that the ghosts have made themselves comfortable, the death celebrations begin to wind down and everyone falls into routine. Ghosts infiltrate your school and your job and your favorite stores, mimicking stories you've told them to others around them to fit right in. Perhaps a ghost problem isn't the worst problem to have, but the longer they stay the more you begin to physically fade away.

It seems futile to try and get them to leave. The ghosts are ganging up together and forming strong packs of their own to take over, and they're ever-so-thankful for everything you've taught them about how to live again. Is there any getting rid of them?

It's only on the 17th that things change, and beginning at 9pm everyone in the city of Recollé is blinded by a vision. A large, dense patch of the earth is in the forefront as the tip of a staff strikes down to make the earth crack and crumble. Four separate landmasses begin to float away in the four cardinal directions. A wintery mass disappears to the north, the sea to the south, fiery caves to the east and a lavish forest to the west. Green lightning crackles through the sky and just like that the vision ends.

As you gather your bearings, four beams of white light arch through the sky pointing to the north, south, east and west. The lights stretch on forever, but for those who are brave enough to follow the light in any direction you will find a large silver door waiting for you. A welcome mat sits before each door, and a quote is engraved on each door.

"Chase your dreams, but always know the road that will lead you home again."

These doors just might be the key to sending your ghostly friends on their way after all.

I.

For those who choose the door to the south, you'll hear the croak of frogs and the chirp of crickets almost immediately. A rowboat awaits for you to paddle your way across a small lagoon, approaching a large manor. It appears gloomy in nature at first, run down and broken, but as you dock the boat the dinginess of the house seems to melt away and a lovely garden appears. The house is spotless and bright, the porch welcoming you ashore and large windows giving you a view into a house that greets you warmly. The lagoon behind you is still and peaceful, and the sound of children's laughter echoes in the wind. Upon further examination, more boats are in the water and little lake-side shanties sit proudly and are stocked with boating and fishing supplies. Despite the fact that you can even see a cemetery on the property to your left upon facing the house, there is no ill-will here.

The scent of delicious home-cooking wafts gently in the breeze and invites you to explore the house and this property. This house revitalizes you, and you feel a sudden surge of energy and warmth. Everywhere you go you'll hear whispers of encouragement and kindness in the voices of your most precious people, and as you linger in the house several ghosts will materialize. For those who peer in the foyer, you'll see identical portraits and busts of these figures with brass plating labeling them as members of the Spinnato family, and at the end of the hallway sits a large stone statue. Bearded with a silver crown inlaid with pearls, Phillip Spinnato continues to watch over his family with a soft smile on his face.

These ghosts wish to welcome you to their family gathering and celebration. There's always room for one more, after all. The table is filled with hot, delicious food and there are party games set up in the parlor and the garden including a turkey-shaped pinata. The ghosts will be incredibly chatty in this area and extend an invite to all living and ghosts alike, asking questions about you and being the perfect picture of hospitality. It's hard to believe, but it's only when you find a mirror and get a good look at yourself that you find your clothing and your appearance have changed to match the Victorian-esque vibe of the house and you appear to be…a bit monochromatic.

There's an easy fix, of course. Though you'll remain colorless should you close yourself off, partaking in the family's meals, one of their games or even just introducing yourself and extending kindness to someone else brings some color back to your face.

And for those who wish to spend some time in the great outdoors, the lagoon by the house beckons you. As you peer into the water several golden koi fish swim around and around, taunting you and tantalizing you. Tied to their tails is a box with your name on it and these fish aren't going to make this easy. Will you try to catch them? You may find a surprise waiting for you, a treasure to take home and cherish forever.

This is a spacious, welcoming place. The Spinnato family would be more than happy for other ghostly guests to join them...you simply have to lead them here.

II.

Heading east will bring you to a different door that's almost too hot to the touch, but as you step through the threshold you enter what appears to be a training yard. A large, spacious area of dead grass and thick trees, you'll want to keep your senses sharp. A building lies ahead of you but as you take a step forward…you may want to run. Immediately. Without warning, several traps begin to activate ranging from bear traps, hidden pits, flying tranquilizing darts and more, honing in on you and following you around the area. The path is long and the building is several yards away, but as you fight off the traps and utilize your strength you'll eventually find refuge at a red brick house. The property is fairly large and there are plenty of rocks and wood piles to hide behind, but it will take a clever strategy and quick skills to dodge your way through. The only way out is to get to the house itself, and as you approach a rabbit-shaped bronze knocker appraises you. A woman's voice speaks from above you, though there's no sign of life aside from you and anyone you may be with.

"Strength of body is nothing without strength of the brain. Answer my riddle and entrance you shall gain."

Entrance may only be granted upon answering a question correctly, and for every incorrect answer the foundation around you grows shakier as though it will collapse under your feet. Think fast.

When the house finally allows you to come inside, it appears…normal, almost. A cozy, lived-in home greets you with a fire crackling cheerfully in the front room and two floors of room to explore. A surge of energy settles in your bones the moment you step through the threshold and you find yourself using even less force than usual to open doors and drawers. Is that couch blocking the entrance into the living room? That's no problem for you! You can move it with one finger now. Did you enter a bedroom upstairs and come face to face with a sudden training dummy? You find your agility and speed stats boosted just enough to give yourself an advantage in a fight to defeat the trap and continue on your exploration.

Most importantly, you will note that this house doesn't have ghosts in it, but there are several family photographs lining the walls including photos of a woman some may recognize as Dr. Mahoney and photos of a younger Joanne Wiseman with her older sister, Janet. In fact, the house almost looks lived in with bedding and clothing in the bedrooms, food in the pantries, and even freshly chopped wood next to the fireplace. Be sure to look up though. Hanging above the fireplace is an oil painting of a short, petite woman with a commanding demeanor judging by the expression on her face. Curly blond hair frames her features and blue eyes seem to follow you as you explore her home. The diamond-studded gold coronet doesn't seem to bother her as the painting turns this way and that. Georgia Mahoney believes you should consider yourself lucky to have made it this far, but she respects your display of skill.

Exploring the property and testing your new skills allows for the insight of the mysteries behind this home. The Mahoney Estate is a training grounds for those who wish to protect those they love and find strength in the more unique places. This is a space in which those who stay here may thrive and grow...but you may have to physically wrestle ghosts through this door and defeat them in combat to pin them here. Good luck with that.

III.

To the west, this door has vines and grass growing around it and as you enter you step right into a mud puddle. That's nice. Before your eyes are miles and miles of woodlands and rivers and little valleys ahead of you. The birds chirp along in a happy sort of tune, and you'll find yourself approached by all sorts of creatures ranging from deer, rabbits, chipmunks, skunks, squirrels and even bear cubs. These creatures have no ill will toward one another and exist in harmony, circling around you and leading you…away…from the door? Wait, what's going on here? Try as you might the animals are insistent that you can't turn back and you must go into the woods and come along with them.

As you step into the woods, something swings toward you, rising from the ground and presenting a two-dimensional set of trees. The animals around you begin to transform into a similar two-dimensional style and the landscape around you appears to be held up by thin paper stands. As you venture through the forest, you'll begin to notice that the pop-up story is familiar to you and you've become the star of the tale. Are you being stalked by the Big Bad Wolf? Are you running away from the huntsman who wants to cut out your heart for an evil queen? Though you may be following someone else's script, you have the power to change your story. How would you change your fate?

It's only when you figure out how to deviate from the story that the walls fall away and you find yourself in front of a quaint little cottage. Your animal companions have returned by your side and as you approach the door you'll find a placard engraved in the wall. The name "CAVENDISH" sparkles in the sunlight and the front door opens with ease.

It's a one-room cottage with a bed and a stove, but the walls are flanked with rows and rows of books. Fairytales from all over the world are crammed in every free space along with ancient runic books in a language that's unidentifiable. Every now and then, however, the spine of a book will glow with a soft blue color and beckon you closer. Pulling the book out of the shelf, you find that it has your name on it, and a quill materializes in your hand. You're free to put them down, of course. But the handwoven tapestry above the bed of the young woman with dark braided hair and green nomadic clothing will try to encourage you otherwise. The stitching at the bottom indicates that Myrtle Cavendish has never left her home, but the thread begins to move on its own to spell out a message.

"Tell your story, young one."

Jars of ink in all sorts of color can be found in the cottage as well and the book in your hand is empty and ready to be marked upon. What will you write about? What sort of story will you tell? It would do you well to remember words are powerful things. After you've written in your book, it's only a short amount of time before everything you've written comes to life. The words lift off of the pages and swirl around you, flying out the door and materializing into people, places and things right in the woodlands. Hope you didn't write about monsters or natural disasters. The stories will be free for all to view and to hear, and the only way to banish them is to write from start to finish. "The End."

Perhaps this is a great home for the ghostly figures that plague the city of Recollé. From here, they can live out their lives however they want, but you may have to entice them with a story of your own to bring them here.

IV.

For those who venture through this door in the north, you find yourself inside the front foyer of a large, isolated castle. Dark and cold and empty, your footsteps echo around you as you venture forward. The door disappears behind you and the strangest part of this castle seems to be that there are no personal touches among the area. There are no photographs or decorations, no warm furniture or delicious scents unlike the other areas you may have visited and cleared. Checking the different floors and rooms, it becomes harder and harder to warm yourself up and find your way. The walls begin to close in and shunt you onto a narrow path through the castle, depositing you in front of a door with a wolf emblem engraved deeply in the wood. With the way you've come closed off, this appears to be your only route for escape.

Upon opening the door, several other doors open simultaneously and lead you into a large round room. You may have just found yourself with friends or family who have been lost in the castle, too. Large mirror glisten on both sides of the hallway as you and your companions make your way down the path. The mirrors themselves are rather easy to ignore so long as you don't pay attention to your reflection having golden eyes…or moving on its own…or jumping ahead from mirror to mirror to follow you. Strangely, now that you're with someone, passages and doors appear inside the walls between mirrors. If you're not looking closely you will walk right past them to wander the halls forever. The sounds of several women weeping echo the further you travel away from the round room, and though you would think ducking into one of the side passages or doors would grant you some relief it's not quite what you would expect. The room you've entered may be suddenly upside down. You may have just entered a chamber of solid ice. Perhaps you've tripped right into the lion's den. Challenges appear for those who try to cheat and you'll have to find a way to get past the illusion that's been specifically designed to challenge you.

Getting past your inner demons sends you straight to the end of the hallway where a shadow-y figure stands before you. Tall and thin with dark graying hair gray and a thin moustache, the man stands in front of a large mirror of his own and presents you with three hatboxes to choose from. The sound of weeping is louder and echoes in your ears, urging you to choose wisely to break the spell and save yourself.

Only one of these boxes contains a hammer to shatter the mirror behind the man. One of the boxes reveals a banshee in a bridal gown, the weeping coupled with shrieking and louder than ever. And the last box brings forth a different shadow-y figure...yourself. The golden-eyed mirror version of yourself appears and blocks your way home. These two other options will force you to choose fight or flight to get your way out of the house one way or another.

In this home, you can only look out for yourself. Good luck surviving. You may wish to pass on bringing ghosts back here.

BONUS.

With these four areas touched by your influence and made safe for the ghostly residences of Recollé, they find themselves drawn toward the doors and begin to vacate the city. They'll try to convince your friends and family who aren't on the app to come with them, of course, but it's easy to deter them and let them fade away once they choose a door to call home.

There's a rumble beneath your feet as you feel yourself moving, an invisible elevator lifting you up and up until it stops on its own. The scenery doesn't change, but all signs of the death-day celebrations have disappeared with the ghosts and the city is as it once was.

Not wanting to miss out on the holiday celebration, Mayor Mayer's quick to make the announcement that there's still time to throw together the Thanksgiving Day parade and begins to pull volunteers to create floats, put together costumes and more. How good are your crafting skills? Looks like it's time to learn how to paper maché.

With the city hustling and bustling again, it's easier to catch up with friends and do your last-minute shopping for the holiday. The stores are even more crowded than usual but supplies are never-ending. A feast is being prepared for all in Tribunal Terrace and there are even several members of ReVA offering cooking lessons if you're into that. For the little ones (or even those of you who just like petting animals) there's a petting zoo set up as well along with several wild turkeys up for adoption. Something doesn't seem right about that...but hey, at least they aren't running loose all over the city this year.

It seems as though the ghostly patrons have faded away to be nothing more than a memory and Recollé returns to a state of calm. The rest of the month is chilly with promises of snow and preparations for the rest of the holidays of 2018. But even as you go about your business, every now and then the rumbling at your feet continues and everything seems to be shifting a few inches at a time.

Welcome to

recolle's November's event pt 2 and our TDM! Please read these notes carefully.

-All characters who are TDMing will be begin in-game AU'd as Recollé residents. You may use any of the above prompts for ideas or make up your own depicting your Recollé AU! Prompts do not have to be set in the districts listed above. You can review our list of locations for what's available. Please note that TDM threads can be used as samples, can be kept as game canon, and can also be used for bonus points for future item regains. Share a few minor details of your AU, tag around, and have fun!

-If you are TDMing this round, please indicate this by including TDM in your subject line! This will help the playerbase know who is who.

-For prompt 1, attached to the koi tails are prizes! This would be any small 10-20 point item you wish for your character to regain from their canon (i.e. jewelry, a book, a small article of clothing, etc.) Current players who are claiming their free item must submit the regain request as normal and simply mark this as "koi fish freebie" for approval. TDMers, please see notes below for claiming this!

-For prompt 3, stories are not limited to Grimm fairy tales! Please feel free to make up other stories to toss your characters into that they have to rewrite themselves. Likewise, there are no caps on what they can write in their personal books as these effects will not carry over in the main city.

-For prompt 4, we leave the choice of which hatbox your character chooses up to you! If you want them to succeed, that's awesome. If you want to have them face their shadows, that's also fine.

-For current players, you may claim multiple freebies from this log! These include:
-One freebie memory for threading with a character that is test-driving.
-One freebie memory for exploring one of the four Founders' estates.
All of these threads must have at least five comments from you to be eligible. To submit for your freebie memories, please link us the appropriate thread with the trigger explanation of "freebie."

-TDM characters who app in and are accepted before December are also eligible to claim this month's freebies! Like current players, please be sure to submit your freebie regain threads before the end of the AC period. -As a special note, we will also allow current players to use a thread from this event/TDM for their AC proofs! As this ties into a game-event, we are making an exception. However, your other proof(s) (at least ten comments) must come from sources outside of this log. Likewise, as this is an event log instead of just a standard TDM, you may use this log to trigger regains as normal.

-Please note: you will need a reserve to apply, and current characters must have full AC posted at the time of their reservation. This means for players reserving second characters you must link us your full November AC, and players reserving second and third characters must link us to your October and November AC!

Finally, you can visit November's AU workshop here! Any questions you have regarding this event/TDM may be directed to the mod comment here. Be sure to review the mods' question thread on the plotting post for important information as well!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

oh my gosh i definitely did punch a ghost once, didn't i, heehee
i can't believe i almost forgot about that!

are magically reanimated training dummies the same as a ghost? because i think i'm going to be doing a LOT of punching on those and i want to diversify my resume

Say you punched a golem, it's technically not inaccurate and it's shorter and snappier than 'magically reanimated training dummy'.

golems are protectors though :( i feel like if my life has taken a turn where i'm punching an actual golem then something has gone horribly wrong

Okay, not golems. Magical constructs? Still accurate, maybe with less positive associations.

i'll take it! no magical construct will stand in the way of Lina G and her massive glistening muscles ;)

ooh miss Lina ooh

heeheehee :3

i'm glad you think it's funny but i don't actually have very big muscles yet? which is strange because i'm pretty strong... maybe training here will help? i wouldn't mind surprising my girlfriend when i come back

I'm in a similar situation, I can lift a scythe that's half my height and almost entirely metal and I still look like I'd fall over from a strong breeze. Maybe we could train against each other later?

oh! i'd like that a lot, i think!

um the only problem is i'm not very good with a weapon... i use my fists, and i guess i have some "brass knuckles" that's just a keychain with spiky parts that make it look like a cat's head. so i'd be worried about maybe going too hard? i don't want to hurt you...

Thankfully I'm pretty easy to heal up. A bottle of ink and I'm good as new, even if you half-killed me which I sincerely doubt will happen. I'd be more concerned about hurting you. My scythe doesn't exactly have a safety mode.

oh you don't have to worry about that, it's not really a problem anymore and i'm sure you'll be able to keep your strikes under control!!! ^^;

Alright. I don't mean to underestimate you or anything like that, it's just that I couldn't live with myself if I seriously hurt you.

that's... really touching and i wasn't really expecting it, so, um, thank you a lot, i mean it

i don't think i can get hurt anymore.

Just guessing, it's useful but also feels kind of unnatural? It's that way for me.

i know it's unnatural because it means i'm an Intoner now, and Intoners aren't human and i don't really know what that means for me now

i've barely told anybody this, i haven't had time to process it, i'm sorry

It's alright. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to. I'm not human either, I'm some kind of spirit. I have ink instead of blood and I can go inside of books.

that's kind of why i'm telling you? instead of anyone else. because i remember you telling me you have ink instead of blood, and i think going inside books is new but either way it's not something humans can do.

we're still us. we're still people. i just don't like what else i am now. and i don't know how/if i should bring it up to people.

It's definitely not introduction material, unless you're in a support group. "Hi, my name's Lina and I'm an Intoner." "Hi, Lina." I think mentioning it as it comes up and is relevant is probably a safe bet. It does affect some things and it's important to know in some situations, but most of the time? You're the same Lina as before. Same person.

yeah... yeah.

[she lowers her phone to her side and just takes a second to walk around the house. to get her bearings, to just... try to relax a little. there's a couch that looks like it's been used, and right now it's really tempting to just take a nap on it. she did have to move it into place, after all, even if it was effortless.]

you're pretty smart. i knew that, but still. thank you for helping me... not freak out? i mean i'm not freaking out right now and i wasn't when we started talking, but. you know what i'm saying.

[It helps that Shuji's not in a creepy mansion right now, or he'd need to relax himself. Self-care is avoiding Retrospec exploration.]

I get you. You don't have to thank me, I'm here for you anytime.

NOVEMBER TDM + EVENT PT 2

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