Event. | 4/15/18

[awashmods]

I’ll Follow You
[ 4/17/2018 - 4/25/2018 ]

It’s been a peaceful month, dealing with Quests and delving into the mysteries of the forest. Unfortunately, it seems as though the characters stirred something up a bit through their repeated forays into the depths of those woods.

Starting 4/17, characters are going to start having some major issues...with their shadows. It’s easy to think little of them, since they’re always there, always following your character around, the usual black of a typical shadow. But it seems as though whatever the characters woke up or met up with in the woods?

It’s had a bit of an impact on those shadows. Early in the week, the shadows will gain just enough tangibility to be a bit of trouble. They’ll try to play little pranks on the character they’re following around: they’ll try to steal things that the characters have been working with, making them disappear as if they were never there when the character isn’t looking. They’ll try to trip them when they’re not paying attention, tugging at their heels or sticking out a suddenly solid tendril-y foot. They may even wait until the character’s back is turned, and say something mean or nasty about their CR -- in their voice, of course.

Still, it’s mostly harmless, right? Weird, but harmless, and the shadows are mostly focused on not being seen over performing their mischief.

At first, at least. About halfway through the week, though, it’s going to change from minor trouble to… Trouble.

At that point, the shadows will try to legitimately sabotage characters. They’ll try to knock them out via knocking over shingles or pots, whatever they can get their shadow-y, sometimes tangible hands on, and then try to drag the characters into the woods. They may try to dump them into the well by pushing them when they’re least expecting, or try to trip them into a knife. They’ll try to snag important belongings, or start legitimate fights between CR. The possibities are endless.

And most importantly? The more of these things the shadows succeed at the more tangible the character’s shadow will get, and the paler the character will get, as if their color is slowly being washed out. How do the shadows succeed? The more characters nearly die (or do die, even worse) from their tricks, the more fights between CR are caused, the more frustration exists in the town, the more a shadow is “succeeding”. Shadows will get darker, fuller, with tangible features (your character’s features), and be able to cause even greater mischief.

It will take a great deal of effort by the shadow, but if a shadow does manage to steal the majority of your character’s color and energy? They will eat them whole. This will naturally be left up to player discretion!

At that point, the character will disappear for the remainder of the event, returning as if perfectly fine when the event is over, remembering nothing but darkness -- though one of the colors they have returned to the town will be gone. At this point, that could be the food item they brought back, their text having color on the forum, or their house having color. If they live with other people, only the portion of the home they live in will be lacking in color again. Please let us know here if that happens, and what aspect will be disappearing as consequence.

A mingle log will be posted for the event, though you are more than welcome to have your characters make their own posts or logs for the event as well as soon as it begins on 4/17. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them below. You're more than welcome to use the rest of this post for plotting amongst yourselves, or the CR meme. Thank you, everyone!

Comments

QUESTIONS

[awashmods]

[queenofminiskirts]

Hello! As the shadows steal a character's energy and start looking more like them do the showdaos become able to use their powers as well?

[awashmods]

Hello!

They cannot use the characters powers, no matter how much of their color their steal. The characters can at least have that advantage over their shadows; the shadows are stuck doing usual shadow things and trying to sabotage the characters in other ways.

[queenofminiskirts]

Noted! o/

Another question! If a character dies, and someone is around to perform CPR can they be resuscitated? I know they started fading after death but like if someone is around to do CPR right away is that possible?

[swordfucker]

Can the shadows be... stopped, or their attacks/pranks lessened in any way? Both by weapons as they get more tangible or by magic seals? I'm wondering both if Guren would be able to retaliate against his own shadow orrr help others with theirs, the latter probably being easier because of the whole shadow thing.

[awashmods]

They can be briefly stopped, yes! Magic swords like Guren's will be able to do damage when they're more tangible, anything that creates light will be able to briefly stop them as well (because, after all, they're shadows) -- anything along those lines will work!

The problem is just that it's all temporary, since the shadow is going to be around so long as the character's around to generate a shadow. So he'll be able to help in the moment just fine, there's just no really good permanent solution, if that makes sense!

[swordfucker]

I think so! So the only way he can really protect someone is following them around and stabbing at their shadow if he catches the movement? Does hurting someone's shadow hurt them, too, or are they safe from that?

[pursestrings]

if you can manage to get your hands on a tangible shadow and you happen to have a Soothing Touch from the aforementioned forest adventure, can you...... soothe a shadow...

[awashmods]

Okuyasu....... sure, you can soothe the shadow. It'll probably leave you alone for a couple of hours, as it will then be a chill and tamed shadow. You're welcome to have that healing touch be as effective or ineffective as will be the most fun for you to play with!

Re: QUESTIONS

[i_cant_die]

Question!

If the Shadow does succeed in killing the character, does the Shadow win and just eat the corpse or does something else happen?

[awashmods]

The shadow will definitely try to eat their corpse unless another character is somehow able to fend it off for awhile. But if your character dies there is a high chance that they will get eaten, yes! Or dragged into the woods, which is pretty much the same thing, they'll just eat your character in the woods.

[ifionlyhadthecourage]

Aaa, I'm so excited for this mods!! Thanks so much

Two questions, 1.) if the shadows steal something important to the character, will it turn back up after the event is over?

2.) What happens in total darkness, like nighttime here? Because shadows don't really exist if there's an absence of light, right?

[awashmods]

Hello! We're definitely glad that you're excited for it!

1. Important items can show up after the event is over, yes! They can be stolen for just the duration of the event or forever, depending on what works best for you as a player.

2. They'll still be around! And even worse, you really won't be able to see where they are or what direction they're coming from then... it's definitely for the better to not stay in pitch blackness, even if the shadows don't show up there.

[unghost]

hello! i have two quick questions:

1. what does it mean exactly by the characters will remember nothing but darkness after the event is over if they die? does that mean they won't remember the specifics of dying/getting eaten/etc or that they won't remember anything that they did throughout the event?

2. since the shadows get stronger in the dark, would a character be able to stop a shadow from dragging someone into the woods at night time?

thank you!!

[awashmods]

Hello!

1. Sorry for being unclear there! It means characters will remember nothing after having been eaten by their shadow; everything before that will be intact, they just will have no idea what happened to them after their shadow swallows them whole.

2. An enterprising character could certainly manage! Light, bright magic or magical swords, even something like a candle could startle a shadow into stopping its actions if used properly! We don't want this to be a forced situation by any means; characters can be rescued or not depending on what you would all prefer to play out.

Re: QUESTIONS

[tendershepherd]

1) So I see someone asked about magic swords, but what about normal/blunt swords like Sorey's ornamental sword? Would that be able to do anything to a tangible shadow?

2) With all the malevolence he's been sensing and seeing the past few events, he's bound to suspect it being an influence here as well. Is there anything to know about that? Any that he could potentially actively sense during the event besides what the Well already emits?

3) So the shadows will do things while the character is awake.....but what if a character is sleeping? Or will the shadows not even allow anyone to sleep?

[awashmods]

1. Normal swords are going to pass right through them! Even though they gain some tangibility in order to trip up characters, they are still regular, normal shadows otherwise, and you can't really cut a shadow!

2. He could absolutely sense an extra amount of malevolence during this event -- it doesn't come from the shadows, if that makes sense, but it is clear that the characters' shadows are influenced by some sort of outside malevolence.

3. If characters sleep by a bright light source, they should be okay for a little while -- enough to get some shut eye, anyway! It might be time to build a bonfire in the middle of the Town, or something. But if a character sleeps in total darkness, then yes, the shadows will probably try to cause them harm later on in the week. They'll probably be left alone early in the week, though, when the mischief is more light-hearted and less dangerous.

[salutations]

1) If the shadow can speak in the characters voice, could they also mimic other people's voices? (i.e. people from their canon)

2) Would the shadows be capable of using the laptops to post on the network or is that too complicated for them?

[awashmods]

1. The shadows can only mimic the character's voice at this time! They're just that character's shadow, after all.

2. They might manage to turn on the laptops, or hit enter or a key at an inopportune time, but they won't be able to write up entire posts or anything like that. We hope that clears things up a bit!

[good_ideas]

Hello! I'm always asking these same kinds of questions haha...

1. If Shiho tries to touch a shadow, whether it's intangible or not, what will she be able to see with her psychometry? More specifically: does the shadow have any weaknesses? Any reason in particular why the shadows are doing this or what's causing it?

2. Also! Back in canon when espers use their own powers on themselves it can result in something called a feedback loop which can cause brain damage or death. If Shiho touches her own tangible or intangible shadow, would it be like using her powers on herself or just as if it were a normal everyday shadow? (Or like something else entirely?)

[awashmods]

Hello!

1. If she somehow manages to touch a shadow (though she'll have to catch it when it's being tangible, such as touching it when it tries to trip someone, because I'm not otherwise entirely sure how you would touch an intangible shadow!), it will still feel like a regular shadow. It doesn't have any "weaknesses" per se, because it isn't exactly a monster or anything -- it's just your character's typical shadow, being a bit ruder than usual. She may be able to tell, however, that the shadows are being influenced by some outside force into acting this way, and that the source of that force is the woods.

2. Using her powers on her shadow won't have any impact on herself! Just as stabbing or harming the shadow won't cause any harm to the characters, she can try using her powers on her shadow without fear.

We hope that helps!

[inheritance]

Hi, mods! Just a quick question about the characters being eaten by their shadows.

Does this count as a game death? I just wanted to make sure since the FAQ says there's a few other consequences for it that aren't mentioned in this post.

[awashmods]

If a character is only eaten by their shadow, they will not be dying, no! They only disappear for those few days, and the only consequence is the single loss of color.

Naturally, if your character dies before the shadows eat them, all FAQ death consequences will apply after they return from being eaten by their shadow when the event is over, so it'll be a bit of a double-whammy there!

We hope that clarifies things a bit!

Re: QUESTIONS

[parodeity]

when the characters get washed out, what happens to their items/clothes from home? are those effected? also is being eaten by a shadow like being swallowed whole or what logistically

[awashmods]

The entire package gets washed out! Their clothes, their hair and skin and face, their items from home, everything that makes them ~colorful~ will start to fade and lose color. It'll all go back to normal after the event.

When a character is eaten by a shadow you can roll with whatever would be the most fun way to have your character be eaten by their own shadow, but they are probably swallowed whole or dragged down like quicksand or something along those lines. Feel free to roll with whatever other horrifying shadow eating you can think of, though, if you can think of a more entertaining option!