fablelands | TDM/September.

TDM/September.

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away...
You snap awake with a sudden jolt, the sounds of nature surrounding you. The ground is warm beneath your hands, a press of fabric under your head. Sit up. Look around. This isn't where you fell asleep. Not even close to it. But with no one around you, answers as to how you got there in the first place are a little beyond your reach for now.

If you decide to head off, don't forget your bag. You'll want that if you plan on making it out here. If you want to survive. And if you don't want to move, well...good luck. There's a shadow on the prowl. A rustle of leaves, a snap of twigs. Glowing eyes in the distance...

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Characters find themselves waking up on the bare ground (or a bed if they're very lucky), a leather pack beneath their head, and entirely alone. It's not where they fell asleep that night. Isn't even close. The sky is the wrong shade, the ground isn't quite right. The only note of familiarity are the clothes on their back.

Searching through their pack, characters will find a change of clothes, a few food rations, and something personal to them. They'll also find a pouch of wooden coins and a shard of mirror. Before they get a real chance to investigate those items though, they'll hear a rustle in the distance. The sounds of something moving around.

It's their cue to get moving too. And somehow, all characters find their feet guiding them in the same direction. Off towards the Great Lake, less than ten minutes walk away, no matter where on the island they first woke up.

Welcome to the island of Leutheria.

Welcome to the first ever event/test drive for Fablelands. Above is an arrival prompt that players are welcome to use to introduce or test out any characters they are interested in bringing to the game. Below is an on-going event that will be taking place throughout the month of September (though the wolf will still remain a constant presence on the island for the months to come). And of course, you are free to use this post for any other prompts you wish to use, or mirrorshard conversations too. All threads are able to be used as game canon, providing both players agree to it, and can ultimately be used for bonus AC if you wish to.

If you have any questions, please direct them to the FAQ.

And without further adieu, let's get on with the show!

premise | faq | taken/claims | locations | wishing well | bonus ac

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away...

You wake to the feeling of being watched. Of a set of unfamiliar eyes, of warm breath on the back of your neck. A jolt back to the land of the living, and it's gone. No matter how quick you are, how sneaky, the source of the disruption has long since disappeared, so you have no choice but to try and ignore it. To continue on with your day and try to set that moment of strangeness aside.

You eat, drink, speak with others. Perhaps you explore a little. Whatever it is you choose to do for the day, that feeling from the morning won't return. And by the time the sun sets and the moon glows brightly above, you've likely set those moments of strangeness aside. It's not like it's anything new, after all.

It's the same again for the next few days. No better, no worse. Something best ignored, right?

A speck of blood on the doorframe. That wasn't there before, was it?

A snap of twigs in the distance. A crunch of leaves.

Claw marks gouged deeply into the door.

Into the wall above your bed.

Scraps of red fabric, turned darker with blood. Pieces of fur. Of flesh.

Do you run and hide? Do you fight? Whatever you choose, it's definitely time to make sure your body parts aren't scattered next...
...what a horribly big mouth you have.

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Since first waking up on the island, characters have been stuck with that feeling of being watched. It isn't a constant. Isn't more than a few seconds at a time, dotted throughout the day. Investigation has never turned up much, and there's never been any sightings of the cause of it all.

Until now.

Throughout the first half of the week, characters will find themselves suffering from that feeling of being watched on a far more constant basis. Rather than it being a one-off, few seconds occurrence each day, that feeling will last for minutes at a time, and on multiple occasions.

However, it isn't until the fifth day that they'll start stumbling across physical signs of their monitoring. There are claw marks on doors. Spots of blood on the paths outside. A crack of twigs in the forests, or the imprint of bloodied paws in the snow.

Ten days in and those signs start finding their way indoors. Wet footprints, tinged with red. Claw marks in the walls, the floor. Torn sheets and the smell of wet...something. Whatever it is that's been watching you, its finally decided to come and say hello.

Two weeks in and characters will begin to have sightings of the creature, its fur dark and its eyes a glowing yellow. At times it looks like a wolf, prowling in the distance. At other times, it's walking on its hind legs, almost human were it not for the muzzle full of gleaming sharp teeth. Get too close, and it slips away like a shadow, gone between one blink and the next. It decides when to reach out to characters, not the other way round.

It's after characters finally get a good look at the creature that it starts leaving...gifts. Characters will start to find familiar items from their home worlds amidst the mess. The remains of a childhood pet, perhaps. Photographs of loved ones, faces torn almost beyond recognition. It's only once it delivers its final gift that the creature retreats to the trees again: a blood-splattered item of clothing that clearly belongs to the person the character misses the most at the time, alive or dead.

[credit 1 & credit 2]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So I was left out in the cold. (arrival)

[ he wrenches himself off the ground with a violent snap, blinking his eyes unseeingly before rubbing at them to try and bring the world back into focus. ]

Crash landings really need to come with a gentle cycle.

[ he murmurs, rubbing at his neck. where's his team? he remembers a moment later that it was only drax, mantis and himself, rocket and groot having gone with that super dumb and not at all handsome thor guy, and gamora- he'd find her. he'd always find her. ]

Okay, Morons, Olly olly oxen free! [ he yells before reaching behind him to push up off the ground only to be met by a backpack under his hand. what the...? ] Okay, who left their... bag.

[ he looks around before digging through the thing, throwing things carelessly behind him. wooden disks? useless. snacks? less useless. good looking out, whoever you are. his walkman? wait. why is his stuff in here?? there's also a tiny sapphire frog, like the same one he buried with yondu. he takes it out and swallows. this is starting to really freak him out. he sets his personal items down more softly and dives back in, ripping open the leather pouch and immediately cutting his finger. ]

Who the hell does that? Ow. A-holes. I really need to stop gettin' kidnapped already.

[ it seems like it's on him at this point by now. and he can only really think of one person who wants to kidnap him. the thought makes his blood run cold. he sticks his bloody finger in his mouth before finally getting to his feet, glancing nervously around. ]

Clap for the wolfman. (big bad wolf)

[ something wakes him up, face dripping with sweat. he edges towards the door on bare feet, hearing the scratching and not all that eager to find out what's making the sound. still, he's the captain. he has to be the brave one, right? peter gulps and shoves the door open and - nothing. he's greeted with the cool air of the night and a whole lot of nothing looking back at him. peter starts to breathe a sigh in relief when he catches sight of the bloody claw marks on the door and throws it shut with a loud slam. loud enough to likely be heard by neighboring cabins. ]

Wrong Kevin Bacon movie. Wrong Kevin Bacon movie.

[ just give him a minute to not flip the eff out when you come to check on him... ]

Romance ain't keeping me alive. (wildcard)

[ once it becomes clear he's not immediately getting out of here, peter loads up his pack and sets out to explore as much of this unfamiliar planet as possible. it seems uninhabited save for the people inexplicably dropped here, but that seems highly unlikely for the infrastructure in place. and the terrain reminds him of earth, it makes him want to return more than ever before. feel free to encounter him anywhere along the way!

there's nowhere that's off-limits for him and he walks often from sun up until sundown, often making camp by one of many bodies of water. he always ends up at the same place, however, something about it intriguing him more than any other location: the wishing well. peter thinks it reminds him of stonehenge - some mystical place that should make him feel some type of way. when he peers into the waters around it and notices the wooden disks like the ones in his pack he's rifling through to tear one out. huh. ]

Peter? [She finds him on the road while approaching from behind. It shouldn't come as a surprise. Gamora was always the faster walker. She isn't in a rush to overtake him. This must be a trick. She doesn't want to find out what happens when she reaches him. She commits herself to saying nothing, walking slower. She forgets (or ignores) one vital thing: Peter, real or stone created, would always feel her gaze on him. He turns and she freezes. The fear in her eyes is plain to see. She doesn't think he's real. He's just another illusion to manipulate her. She has to be strong. The fate of the galaxy is at stake.]

Don't do this. [Gamora pleads as she backs up. Her only comfort really is that it isn't Groot or Nebula. They'd be even harder to take than this already. She stops moving back if only because she had a lifetime of cowering to Thanos. This is low, but she can take it. She stands firmly and her resolve returns. She won't fight back if only because it's a fool's errand. It'll be another illusion. She doesn't have to run away either.] It isn't going to work. I wouldn't believe a single word you put in his mouth.

[She braces herself for the next trick. He won't take kindly to her resistance for long.]

[ he feels her presence though that isn't how it should work and as always, her steps fall silently. peter spins on his heel quickly like if he were to turn around in measures she'd vanish. but there she is: gamora. his throat immediately grows tight, eyes filling up with water. her words echo in his ear, I love you more than anything but then she's upset with him and he frowns. it stops him in his tracks from trying to close the gap. he opens his mouth and then shuts it again about three different times and he realizes what's happening. a hot tear trails down his face as his heart squeezes in fear. she thinks thanos is controlling this simulation, and honestly the thought had crossed peter's mind as well. ]

I love you, Gamora.

[ he says it with every ounce of conviction he feels in his chest, both of them knowing it's the one thing thanos would never allow him to say to her. even as a cruelty, his ego is too much for anyone or anything else to love her the way he does. bile rises up his throat even as he runs to her, physically unable to restrict himself anymore. he doesn't stop until his arms can slide around her shoulders and grip tight as he drags her in against his chest, not caring if she fights him now. ]

I love you.

[Gamora's heart skips a beat. She can feel that true and powerful affection in her chest. Even if she didn't know all too well Thanos would never accept Peter's feelings, always dismiss him as a boy with a crush that needed to be pushed to act like a man worthy of his 'daughter,' that feeling would tell her the truth. Somehow they're together. She's never been more afraid and happy at the same time.

She stands there numbly as he collides with her and yanks her into his embrace. This can only end in pain so she may as well fall apart again. She sobs against his chest in regret. She should have never let any of them love her. She should have killed herself years ago to spare them all this. She can't take it back now so all she can do is let it out.] I love you too. I'm so sorry, Peter. I'm sorry.

[ the moment she says i love you back his grip turns bone-crushing, or it would for anyone else. he's never letting her go again. ]

No- no don't. Shhh, it's okay. It's all gonna be... okay. [ somehow. his face presses desperately in against hers as if they could make everything else disappear just by clinging to one another. ] It's my fault, I should've- I shouldn't have hesitated.

[ he made her a promise. god, he hates it when she cries. peter smooths back her hair and lets her get it all out. ]

[Cybernetic limbs help when your boyfriend has you in a death grip. She welcomes it. It's healing considering the last man who had a grip on her. Gamora gives herself a minute to grieve before settling down. Her voice is shaky, but clear as she talks.] I asked too much of you. I should have taken care of it myself a long time ago. I was selfish.

[Now everyone is going to suffer for it. He'll tire of her resistance sooner or later and simply go after the mind stone to force the answers out of her.]

How can you say that? You are the most unselfish person that I know. Really.

[ his eyes still shine with tears as he pulls back enough to catch her eyes, but there's a budding smile on his face now. the thought of her killing herself to spare him is too much to bear so he never allows it to be a fully realized thought. for however long, they're in this stop-gap and they need to make the most of it. they need to find a way to exploit thanos' ignorance of their reunion somehow. ]

Like Mother Theresa except a lot prettier, and less old.

[She forces a shaky smile. There's no sense arguing it. Neither of them are going to budge on their positions. They have bigger problems like the psycho who claims to be her father. Gamora finally reaches up to cup the side of his face while the question of what will happen next eats away at her.] What are we going to do, Peter?

[They appear free if nothing else. They're together. How can they turn the odds back in their favor?]

[ he leans into her hand automatically, eyes sad even though a tremulous smile works its way across his lips. ]

We're gonna win, Gamora. Whatever it takes. I met these weird guys- from Earth? They're gonna fight him, too. We can do this. I know we can.

peter (the lame one) quill ☆ starmunch

So I was left out in the cold. (arrival)

Clap for the wolfman. (big bad wolf)

Romance ain't keeping me alive. (wildcard)

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