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mini-player plot; spoilers for agatha all along
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A little while back, I asked the mods if I could take a small group of characters on an adventure. And they said yes!
The tl;dr of Billy's powers is that he's a reality warper capable of... altering reality and creating pocket dimensions. Within the AAA storyline, he was the one behind creating every trial the coven faced (subconsciously) using all of their fears and memories against them to create personalized rooms for them to face and overcome.
This is sort of what we will be doing here! Some suspension of disbelief will be needed for Billy to not immediately figure out he's doing something and shut it down.
Essentially, my aim is in early-to-mid January for the characters involved to be trapped for 48-72 ic hours (since it should be a TDM month). My hope is to have six-to-eight characters involved (not including Billy). And the main focus should be cr building/bonding as well as facing trauma and finding peace/being rewarded for it.
Injury should be a possibility and while characters can die I would rather keep this rare and figure it out to be a part of the story of this mini-plot then something used maliciously later as a, "you intentionally killed me" (because the way this would work IS that Billy's mind would avoid intentionally killing someone, so it'd be circumstantial/by choice).
The tl;dr of Billy's powers is that he's a reality warper capable of... altering reality and creating pocket dimensions. Within the AAA storyline, he was the one behind creating every trial the coven faced (subconsciously) using all of their fears and memories against them to create personalized rooms for them to face and overcome.
This is sort of what we will be doing here! Some suspension of disbelief will be needed for Billy to not immediately figure out he's doing something and shut it down.
Essentially, my aim is in early-to-mid January for the characters involved to be trapped for 48-72 ic hours (since it should be a TDM month). My hope is to have six-to-eight characters involved (not including Billy). And the main focus should be cr building/bonding as well as facing trauma and finding peace/being rewarded for it.
Injury should be a possibility and while characters can die I would rather keep this rare and figure it out to be a part of the story of this mini-plot then something used maliciously later as a, "you intentionally killed me" (because the way this would work IS that Billy's mind would avoid intentionally killing someone, so it'd be circumstantial/by choice).
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when/timing/speed: I'd be aiming to start this anywhere between Jan 1-4 or the 13th at the latest. Please mentally prepare for the weekend of the 3-4th. I am going to ask that people be willing to put time to keep up with this! Ideally, I would like all "rooms" to be done in a month but I am okay pushing it to two if there's a full eight so there's an OOC week in each room if needed. This miniplot will not ICly take place until all rooms are done, so I am putting that as my hard limit.
is this first come, first serve?: it is not! ultimately, i am going to prioritize cr over people he barely knows. this doesn't mean you lack a chance, i am also going to prioritize people with characters who emphasis their character would gain something from the experience. it is very possible, since i'm just opening this to my plurk pool of friends, that everyone who signs up will get a chance to be in it. and if not, if i can pull this off well there's a chance i may do something similarly later
what kind of experience should i expect?: think of this kind of as a dungeon crawl/mind palace escape room. each character that is present will have a trial custom tailored to them. i'm undecided if there will be individual rooms or four rooms (with two trials in each overlapping) to kind of keep things moving. but each room will have individual stylings as well.
what do you need from me: outside of a form listed below, i am going to need your help with mental information throughout the trial. while you don't need to hamfist every thought or reaction, please be aware that any thought / thing said will be used to potentially alter your surroundings. if your character suggests that there should be a mountain made of mushrooms there may in fact be a mountain made of mushrooms. if they think about how they fear the ocean, then the next trial may have some ocean theming. basically: half of this experience is going to be what your characters say or do, so please try to keep me informed as a dm!
other then that what i'm going to need from you is:
character name:
how impactful do you think a mini-event like this would be?:
what is the a thing you think your character needs to face (and can reasonably overcome in this scenario): you can make this as deep as you want. please remember whatever this WILL be the core of their trial. this should be something impactful, but not something they can't work through with a group of others. this does not necessarily mean they're good forever, but they made a significant breakthrough.
how would you like to see this subject brought up?: i'm not going to know every canon and while i am happy to run/direct - i still need your help to make this fulfilling! in agatha, a woman who felt lost by a family curse beat it by singing the song her mother made to protect her from it. someone who thought they lost their powers successfully saved the coven via remembering and making a potion in a critical moment but it wasn't until later that she could unbind herself. basically: give me any details you want/can for how you think the problem should be approached.
please know that escaping each room will be pivotal. they will not be able to spend a significant amount of time in each room and the longer characters procrastinate in a room the more deadly it will become.
what do you want them to gain at the end?: is the journey all that matters or is there something [reasonably] that i can help provide at the end of it?:
how would an escape room for your character look?: basically what tiny little details would you like to see. these won't be portraits of specific people but maybe they're from a certain era and there'd be books/games from it. or maybe a certain style of clothing, etc. is there any kind of puzzle you want them to have to solve to get out?
any other information you think will be useful?:
can you be reasonably active?: things will definitely happen and we may slow. while i'll let each room go until it's finished a new room will start at the beginning of every week at latest (and earlier if we're actually being speedy). i am happy to adjust to make things as fun as possible, but this isn't a mini-event that should take months and months!
PLEASE CHARACTER ESSAY ABOUT YOUR BLORBOS AS MUCH AS YOU NEED, THANK YOU
is this first come, first serve?: it is not! ultimately, i am going to prioritize cr over people he barely knows. this doesn't mean you lack a chance, i am also going to prioritize people with characters who emphasis their character would gain something from the experience. it is very possible, since i'm just opening this to my plurk pool of friends, that everyone who signs up will get a chance to be in it. and if not, if i can pull this off well there's a chance i may do something similarly later
what kind of experience should i expect?: think of this kind of as a dungeon crawl/mind palace escape room. each character that is present will have a trial custom tailored to them. i'm undecided if there will be individual rooms or four rooms (with two trials in each overlapping) to kind of keep things moving. but each room will have individual stylings as well.
what do you need from me: outside of a form listed below, i am going to need your help with mental information throughout the trial. while you don't need to hamfist every thought or reaction, please be aware that any thought / thing said will be used to potentially alter your surroundings. if your character suggests that there should be a mountain made of mushrooms there may in fact be a mountain made of mushrooms. if they think about how they fear the ocean, then the next trial may have some ocean theming. basically: half of this experience is going to be what your characters say or do, so please try to keep me informed as a dm!
other then that what i'm going to need from you is:
character name:
how impactful do you think a mini-event like this would be?:
what is the a thing you think your character needs to face (and can reasonably overcome in this scenario): you can make this as deep as you want. please remember whatever this WILL be the core of their trial. this should be something impactful, but not something they can't work through with a group of others. this does not necessarily mean they're good forever, but they made a significant breakthrough.
how would you like to see this subject brought up?: i'm not going to know every canon and while i am happy to run/direct - i still need your help to make this fulfilling! in agatha, a woman who felt lost by a family curse beat it by singing the song her mother made to protect her from it. someone who thought they lost their powers successfully saved the coven via remembering and making a potion in a critical moment but it wasn't until later that she could unbind herself. basically: give me any details you want/can for how you think the problem should be approached.
please know that escaping each room will be pivotal. they will not be able to spend a significant amount of time in each room and the longer characters procrastinate in a room the more deadly it will become.
what do you want them to gain at the end?: is the journey all that matters or is there something [reasonably] that i can help provide at the end of it?:
how would an escape room for your character look?: basically what tiny little details would you like to see. these won't be portraits of specific people but maybe they're from a certain era and there'd be books/games from it. or maybe a certain style of clothing, etc. is there any kind of puzzle you want them to have to solve to get out?
any other information you think will be useful?:
can you be reasonably active?: things will definitely happen and we may slow. while i'll let each room go until it's finished a new room will start at the beginning of every week at latest (and earlier if we're actually being speedy). i am happy to adjust to make things as fun as possible, but this isn't a mini-event that should take months and months!
EXAMPLE; half-serious one because he's only half important
how impactful do you think a mini-event like this would be?: (: he has to be here
what is the a thing you think your character needs to face (and can reasonably overcome in this scenario): what is happiness??? can he not mask for five minutes??
how would you like to see this subject brought up?: you know what would be funny is if his empath/telepath powers turned off but everyone else got them and he can't lie anymore- (no)
what do you want them to gain at the end?: honestly hopefully people won't hate him forever
how would an escape room for your character look?: not a morgue this time.
any other information you think will be useful?: i meant to take this more seriously but i am actually like huh other than dming what would he get
can you be reasonably active?: i hope so
no subject
how impactful do you think a mini-event like this would be?: not at all billy is a nerd he's too powerful to be affected by nerd shit
what is the a thing you think your character needs to face (and can reasonably overcome in this scenario): nothing cliff is perfect in every way
ok the list of Possible Issues runs deep but one that hasn't been brought up too much yet is Being a Monster and whatever the hell was going on with Raven in his canon
tl;dr Cliff doesn't like the idea of not being human and has also met up with someone like him who is 100% a monster because he got infected with monster rabies
Obviously this is something he thinks about and is afraid of happening. He's not afraid of the wolf transformation bit so much as he is afraid of ever becoming like Raven.
how would you like to see this subject brought up?: hmmmmmm I am not sure! I imagine something like Cliff turning into the Madness-infected animal person while still in control of his conscious mind but I'm not exactly sure how that fits into the idea of an escape room? Maybe you have some better ideas? Early on of course it will be easy for it to be 'escape the room while these Madness monsters chase you'. Maybe there could be people he thinks he knows who come with him for a bit and then they also transform and start hunting him?
what do you want them to gain at the end?: a smooch and a gold star
Cliff will hopefully leave with the feeling that while there is a non-zero chance that something like this can happen to him he will always have people who love him and don't think he's a monster
how would an escape room for your character look?: he plays a lot of video games, so maybe video game-esque. Otherwise, the woods are an important part of his setting so forest-y and brambly.
any other information you think will be useful?: please be aware cliff will noogie billy aggressively after this
can you be reasonably active?: no i only tag people i like (yes)
cw fictionalized (within the canon) suicide, bullying, etc.
how impactful do you think a mini-event like this would be?: Potentially very impactful, although she's new to the game, so I'll have to be measured about the upheaval!
what is the a thing you think your character needs to face (and can reasonably overcome in this scenario): Claudia needs to deal with the fact that she failed to save for her companion, Madeleine), and cannot kill/destroy Armand (who was responsible for Madeleine's death). She needs to accept these unfortunate realities, and weigh the best course for moving on with active and strategic choices.
how would you like to see this subject brought up?: She underwent a nightmarish 'groundhog day' in canon, having to perform an infantilizing, humiliating dark comedy play called My Baby Loves Windows, for over five hundred nights. Video here. She chooses to do this in order to win the acceptance of the coven, which Armand had led, because she was so desperate to be with other vampires. Incidentally, this very same stage has a skylight that, when opened, is the means of her ultimate execution.
I think a solid arc will be to have CLaudia sense something amiss, and choose to stop/end the play, even with the audience screaming at her. She can escape just as the whole roof comes off or something of the like. Maybe she can escape backstage, where other coven vampires gaslight her into thinking she imagined it, and/or actually find Madeleine trying to convince her to stay in Europe.
She'll have to progressively leave each room as the ceilings comes open to expose the sun, until she ultimately escapes into the sewer I'd be cool with Armand, perhaps even played by Gabbie, featuring in an ultimate room as well, if they want!
I do think maybe 3 rooms is a safe max. I'm also fine with 2. And if you have other ideas, or a Billy-ish/Agatha All Along type of flair, I'm happy to adjust any of this.
what do you want them to gain at the end?: The journey is what will matter here, I think!
how would an escape room for your character look?: Kind of blew my wad up there in the previous section, I think. But the 'skylight'/ceiling could definitely have some elaborate clockwork mechanism, perhaps replicated on each room, that she has to get open in order to leave. Maybe the mechanism can be singing or performing the opposite of the Baby Lu play. For example, fight back when attacked.
Also, rather than escape through a prop window (to her death) like Baby Lu, maybe the real exit is disguised as something else, like theater curtains, stage trapdoors, etc.
any other information you think will be useful?: I don't think so.
can you be reasonably active?: I have a 4-5 day trip in early January but should be pretty fast apart from that, and can prioritize these tags as needed.
no subject
how impactful do you think a mini-event like this would be?: It depends on how it's resolved!
what is the a thing you think your character needs to face (and can reasonably overcome in this scenario):
Kate's big issues at the moment are:
- Being afraid that everyone sees her as a monster, or that those who don't, would change their minds if they knew more about Shadows. (like about how they are fairies, and that some of them do fae shit like kidnapping and enslaving humans.)
- Living a lie. Kate is part human, part fairy. While she's here, surrounded by people who have been hurt by the fae, she tries to obscure her ties to the fae. On the contrary, in the Shadows House, she hides her human history and pretends to be one of the Shadows. Wherever she goes, she's always playing a role and hiding some part of herself.
how would you like to see this subject brought up?:
- Some kind of blurring of settings between the Shadows House manor and Castle Faerie?
- Maybe her soot could spawn not just clingers, but other dangers, maybe spectres of threats and ominous things found in Faerie, as if to highlight the connection between herself and the fae?
- Maybe other characters in the same space have to wrestle against the oppressive power of faerie brainwashing, feelings of irrational loyalty and reverence for the fae?
- Maybe something spooky with mirrors or paintings?
- Maybe there's a danger she can overcome by using her soot powers? (Such as her power to create soot-ropes or to sprout soot-wings to glide with.)
I dunno, I'm spitballing and I'll roll with anything.
what do you want them to gain at the end?: is the journey all that matters or is there something [reasonably] that i can help provide at the end of it?: It could create an opportunity for Kate to open up to someone about her connection to the fae and her conflicted feelings about that. But either way, I'm here for the ride.
how would an escape room for your character look?:
Victorian nobility stuff! A fancy manor with lavish furnishings and decor that maybe includes a lot of portraits of nothing (why did they do this). Lots of meaningless extravagance and fancy knick-knacks. (here's a glimpse of kate's old room that she was literally trapped in for weeks. her life is an escape room actually.)
Specific visual things with significance to Kate include: soot (representing Shadows and the filth and danger that overwhelms Kate, as well as being a shroud of lies that conceals truth and clarity), mirrors (representing her lost family and the person she was supposed to be), coffee (representing the powers that control Kate's friends, quite literally through brainwashing drugs used in coffee), roses (representing the person who Kate has become and the friendships and alliances she's built in the manor), brambles and cages (feelings of being trapped)
any other information you think will be useful?: if I am given any excuse to link random Shadows House panels I will do it
can you be reasonably active?: I think so! Winter tends to be otherwise not-too-busy for me and I'm used to murdergame pace. Earlier is generally better for me as it's easier to plan stuff for the coming weeks than things that are far-off.
no subject
how impactful do you think a mini-event like this would be?: Potentially pretty huge!
what is the a thing you think your character needs to face (and can reasonably overcome in this scenario): The 'reasonably overcome' bit is the kicker. Possibly that he only feels deserving of love when he is sacrificing himself in some way. Terence always made a point to love him no matter what and he's made a lot of friends in Faerie, but the love Dion never received from his father still left a deep wound that leaves him doubting he deserves any genuine kindness without ulterior motive. The whole mess with his dad being Bad, Actually and the massive guilt he feels for killing both his father and blowing up a city over it are all too big for a single escape room to handle. So...one of the daddy issues...
how would you like to see this subject brought up?: I like the idea of a deceptive trap for Dion, where escape seems easy at first so long as one person is left behind; obviously a role Dion would volunteer for. Maybe it loops back in on itself only now Dion has to be rescued, or each time the sacrifice becomes greater/more painful until they figure out an escape where no one gets left behind.
what do you want them to gain at the end?: You want to see Dion sob like a baby at the end? Give him one of these. Alternatively the journey will give Dion a lot to chew on as it is. :)
how would an escape room for your character look?: FLOWERS and PETRIFICATION! A bunch of religious iconography would not be out of place either. I don't have a specific location in mind but an overgrown royal garden or cathedral could possibly slap.
any other information you think will be useful?: oh yeah dragons uh...Dion's always going on about how his goddess sent the dragons to aid mankind while also strongly (if quietly these days) identifying as the biggest dragon around so. That seems relevant.
can you be reasonably active?: Normally my pace is on the slow side but I would gladly put these threads as a top priority for the duration.