Adstringéndum Mod Account

For the Adstringéndum RP

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24th-May-2013 08:56 pm - →SHAKE, RATTLE & ROLL

( (EVENT DESCRIPTION) )

Tags:event

1st-Mar-2013 03:47 pm - Gnome Housing Services

GNOME HOUSING SERVICES
Your Housing Brochure

Characters wake up one morning in a bed that's not theirs and in a dorm they share with three other people. Basic necessities and belongings have been transported into the rooms, but oh, are you trying to abandon your roommates? That's kind of rude, and your body seems to be against the idea of leaving them behind. There's this constant pull towards them, and if you get too far from each other (more than 12 feet when outside the dorm rooms), you might start feeling a bit dizzy, nauseous, even end up completely knocked out until the gnomes return you to your roommates.

The gnomes? Why, they're there to make sure you return to your dorm when curfew hits, and that you stay inside until it ends! You may not be able to leave your dorm building during that time, but at least you're not tied to your roommates with an invisible rope while curfew lasts. Feel free to explore and meet friends, just make sure to get back to your roommates by the time curfew ends, or you'll all end up feeling all sorts of terrible.

The Dorm Buildings

There is one dorm building per quadrant of the city, making a total of four. Each building consists of eight dorm rooms and houses a total of thirty-two characters. Created by the Animus, they're new(ish), unlike the rest of the city. Once the event ends, the dorms will disappear as well. The buildings are two stories tall, complete with roof access and common areas for recreational purposes. It's all fun and games! Until someone gets hurt~

The Dorm Rooms

Each dorm fits four people and comes with running water and electricity. Even if you don't like your roommates, at least you can enjoy the facilities, right?

The Housing Gnomes

Not your friendly garden gnomes. These housing gnomes are strong enough to pick you up and lug you back to the dorms if you misbehave. They may or may not knock you unconscious first for ease of transport. They take their job of keeping an eye on you lot very seriously, and woe to anyone who tries to sneak out of their dorm building during curfew.

They will find you, and they will bring you back.

The Curfew Times

DATE	CURFEW STARTS	CURFEW ENDS
March 13th	7 PM	7 AM
March 14th	9 PM	5 AM
March 15th	3 PM	11 PM
March 16th	7 AM	7 PM
March 17th	2 AM	10 AM
March 18th	5 AM	9 AM
March 19th	12 AM	8 AM
March 20th	4 PM	7 PM
March 21st	1 PM	8 PM
March 22nd	11 PM	1 AM
March 23rd	NO	CURFEW

Note: Sunrise in Adstringendum currently occurs around 6:50 am while sunset occurs around 6:30 pm.

The Dorm Assignments

ROOM NUMBER	NORTHWEST QUARTER DORMS	NORTHEAST QUARTER DORMS	SOUTHEAST QUARTER DORMS	SOUTHWEST QUARTER DORMS
1	Claudia Duo Maxwell Horst Cabal	Johannes Cabal Axel Fred Weasley Mitarashi Anko	Blair Mr. Gold (Rumplestiltskin) Vincent Valentine Teito Klein	Luca Macken Dave Strider Heiwajima Shizuo Ukitake Jyuushirou
2	Stiles Stilinski Jenny Karkat Vantas Kurogane	Gabriel (The Trickster) Sephiroth Rose Lalonde Fai D. Flourite	Sokka Kiryu Yoshiya "Joshua" Severus Snape Zelda	Wanijima Akita/Agito Jane Foster Olivia "Lily" Walker Original Fai (Yuui)
3	Genesis Rhapsodos Aidou Hanabusa Bitou Raimu "Rhyme" Chris Orcot	Anna Kushina Unohana Retsu Kida Masaomi Samwise Gamgee	Sebastian Michaelis Jack Frost Zackary Fair Jake English	Wander Armand Mochizuki Ryoji
4	Roxas Ginevra "Ginny" Weasley Tseng Castor	Raven Kiryu Yoshiya "Joshua" (Pink) Morgan Walker Gaignun Kukai (Nigredo)	Rip van Winkle Pitch Black Abel Nightroad	Leon Mary Weather Hargreaves Hanna Falk Cross Trisana "Tris" Chandler
5	Romulus "Rome" Hart Simba Frodo Baggins Gamzee Makara	Vanitas Hawke Starfyr Botan Azuma Genkaku	Terra Dirk Strider Dojima Nanako Korra	Meguro Gau Edward Elric Katara Labrador
6	Azula Cloud Strife Dean Winchester October "Toby" Daye	George Weasley Hino Rei/Sailor Mars Tony Stark Lin Beifong	Xion Lucifer Kadaj Tavros Nitram	Castiel Kanaya Maryam Mako Sakuraba Neku
7	Kiryuu Zero Crowley Demyx Davesprite	Hatake Kakashi Riku Ishtar Sirius Black	Rubedo/Albedo Methos (Adam Pierson) Alphonse Elric Jane Crocker	Alois Trancy Hermione Granger Xerxes Break Toothiana
8	Angeal Hewley Tybalt Alex Furest Oohira Tatsuki	John Egbert Urahara Kisuke Ryudou Amaru Sprig Madow	Rokudo Mukuro Sora Nagao Kagetora (Uesugi Kenshin) Aerith Gainsborough	Vriska Serket Riffael "Riff" Raffit Erik (Magneto) Magnus Alister Azimuth

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to voice them here!

Tags:event

9th-Dec-2012 09:35 am - The Curtained Sleep - The Final Dream

Note: Like with the Animus Gates, participation in the Final Dream is not necessary. It is technically possible for your character to have stayed back instead of trying to fight Saeclumda Cinis, and waited for others to defeat it to end the event.

THE FINAL DREAM

After wandering around so much, it’s frustrating to find yourself back in Teleos’ Dreamscape, but at least you’re with others from the city. Only this time, you can’t see Adstringendum from the windows. The view from them is empty space, as if you were standing at the edge of the universe, looking out at nothingness.

Absolute nonexistence. Can your mind handle it?

You don’t have time to worry about the fate of the city though, not when all the ground up glass around you is suddenly whirling in the air, glittering and somehow dangerous. Faster and faster they spin, shimmering sand cutting into your skin, slowly growing duller and duller until it is no longer glass that’s surrounding you...

...but rather stifling ash.

And you can’t help but breathe it in, no matter how you try to protect your nose and mouth. It’s like Pompeii, only without the fire and heat, and you’re suffocating, feeling your throat clogging up as you desperately try to draw in air even while knowing you’ll only take in more of that ash. Over the pounding of blood in your ears, you can hear bodies hitting the floor before you too join them in blissful unconsciousness and sink down into the darkness.

Deeper and deeper you fall...

Down a bottomless pit.

Lower and lower you tumble...

Towards an unfathomable emptiness.

Then you jerk awake, drenched in cold sweat, gasping for breath. It all just seems to be a bad dream, yet though your eyes are open, you still haven’t truly woken up. There’s still one more Dreamscape to get through—that of Saeclumda Cinis.

And not everyone is with you.

Welcome to the Final Dream.
FIRST NIGHTMARE

It’s that moment just before dawn, the sky has its first hints of light, but it never gets brighter. Or perhaps a day has come and gone each time you blink, who really knows? You seem to have woken up on the side of Mount Aporiatio that overlooks the city. The silhouette of the buildings can be seen in the dim light, and those might be vines you see when you squint. Of course, trying to get closer to the city leads nowhere—run as you might, when you stop and look back, it’s as if you haven’t taken a single step, despite how you may have exhausted yourself.

Look at how your legs are shaking.

Or maybe that’s the trembling of the volcano itself. The tremors get stronger and stronger as pressure builds up inside the volcano before lava finally erupts from the top in a torrent of noise and debris. Ash is spat into the air, coalescing into a shadowy figure that’s soon obscured by the rolling smoke. If you look closely, the ash seems to be constantly changing forms, always shifting so quickly between each that you can never quite tell what it is, but one thing is clear: that’s who this Dreamscape belongs to, which means that the only way out of here is to kill it.

First though, you’ll have to make your way up to it. Watch out for the lava and mud flow heading your way. And step carefully, who knows how many more eruptions are left?

And how do you kill something made of ash?
SECOND NIGHTMARE
Of Use: Ekpyrosis' Mark

Stars are the first things that greet you upon opening your eyes. They glitter and shift in patterns you can’t identify, and it feels like you’re standing in space, or falling in a vacuum—hard to tell which. The whole universe is moving, and you’re in the middle of it all. Look up, there’s a giant clock face above you. Circles lie inside circles, digits, symbols and unfamiliar characters inscribed on their edges, pointed to by intricately worked serpentine hands. Exactly what time they’re indicating, however, is a mystery. It could be the hour and minute, a period in history or even the end of eternity.

Tick. Tock.

Tick...

Tock...

Yet despite the ticking filling your ears, the many hands on the dial aren’t moving, and it’s only when you notice that that you look down and see the enormous hourglass under your feet. Made out of what appears to be impossibly hard ash, it’s empty at first, but as you watch, a star falls to the bottom, like a grain of sand.

And suddenly, you feel older.

Time is sped up in this world, and if you don’t want to die from premature old age, the only thing to do is to destroy the hourglass and clock. The only problem is that both timepieces seem rather impervious to physical damage—only magic, enchanted items or the spiritual can harm it. Of course, you get a little older each time you use your powers, so perhaps it would be best to try to have the children help you channel them. After all, younger minds are always more open to the idea of the mystical, and in this crush of generations and eras, perhaps even those normally incapable of wielding magic are able to do so now. That goes for time itself—any ability used against it is learned, stored away in the folds of years and centuries to be used against others later on.

Work fast. The more damaged this part of the Animus gets, the faster you age.

Who will be the first to die?
THIRD NIGHTMARE

The cold wind howls and stings your cheeks at the top of the wall surrounding the city. Rain pelts down unceasingly, matting hair to scalp as you do your best to avoid tripping over the vines and roots that have taken over the wall and started to pull it down.

It’s good that the sky is weeping.

The downpour can hide your tears and cleanse your hands of the blood of your former allies, even if it won’t wash away the aching hole inside. What else can you do when you realize half your allies have been taken over by Saeclumda Cinis? They’re a danger to themselves and the rest of you. There’s no other way than to subdue them quickly and relatively painlessly, because no matter how much you want to deny it, you know that they are all already lost, that there’s no saving them from that condition, and that they would never want to continue living this way.

Better to kill them all and move on.

But can you live with the guilt?
FOURTH NIGHTMARE
Of Use: Thalatte's Clues

Finally back in the city proper. At least, that’s what it looks like at first glance. Until you realize that there are buildings and walls built on once open streets. The usual roads you take are now blocked off, turning left might as well meant turning right, and nothing is where it’s supposed to be. In fact, it feels as if the entire place has been turned into a gigantic, winding maze.

You’re not wrong.

But let’s be a little more specific... You’ve found yourself in the minotaur’s labyrinth. Or at least you think it might be a minotaur— whatever’s chasing you guys is large, powerful, ever mutating and no matter what you try, unable to be slain.

How many allies had to die before you figured that out?

All that’s left for you to do now is run, but don’t take too many wrong turns. The city is crumbling as time passes. Paths that were once there may have disappeared by the time you double back to find it, leaving absolutely nothing behind. It’s like a planet decaying the moment it was born, with no way to save it, or anything on it. Your only hope is to find the escape and let the disintegrating world take the monster with it. Along with all the suddenly ferocious beasts usually found within the city. Don’t let them slow you down, and above all...

Don’t fall behind.
FIFTH NIGHTMARE
Of Use: Thalatte's Blessing ~~maybe~~

Wet, cold and dark, you’ve found yourself in the lake, underwater, the surface of it completely frozen over. You can’t breathe, the pressure is crushing you, but it doesn’t, and you’re not drowning, even if it feels like you are.

A paradox.

Make sense of it before your sanity is torn asunder.

Also, you’re upside-down. In fact, every movement you make ends up occurring in reverse. Left is right, up is down and back is front; everything is all jumbled and moving in the opposite direction. A little problematic when you find yourself having to fight Squid-tan. Or at least, Saeclumda Cinis’ Squid-tan, which happens to be composed of various gears, scrap metal and clock parts. It also squirts ash instead of ink, and unfortunately, isn’t affected by the contradiction of this world.

Or perhaps it’s already used to the confusion.

Either way, it makes things difficult as this part of Saeclumda is immune to magic—trying to use anything spiritual against it would be complete destruction. Only physical attacks with the basest of instruments will work. Any sort of unnatural enhancement or enchantment will only serve to make it even more powerful. Tear it apart with your hands or hit it with your fists if you must.

Punch out that Animus.
FINAL BATTLE
Of Use: Esoteria's Gift & Aelia's Lance

The final dream is set in a world where the city has been completely reclaimed by the Wastes, time and its mutations have destroyed the stability of Adstringendum, and all that’s left are you, the survivors. You have solved, fought and killed your way to the exit, carrying both the hopes and the despairs of those who have been lost. All that stands in your way now is one Animus, a multitude of gods—

Saeclumdas Cinis.

There he (or is it they?) stands, a cloaked and hooded figure buried so deep inside a monk’s cowl that nothing of his actual features can be seen. His hands are tucked in the broad sleeves, and even his feet are covered by the length of his frock. The outline is fuzzy, as if this form of them constantly wants to shift into something else, just barely held together through the sheer magnitude of their wrath. A raven sits on the monk’s shoulder, the tarnished metal of its body shining black in the dim light, two gleaming stars its eyes. Around them, various animals prowl, antique messes of springs, scrap metal, gears and broken glass all twisted together—physical manifestations of time in living, breathing frames.

Has been’s, worked into new forms.

Occasionally, smaller creatures break off the stalking cats, flitting through the air on delicate wire wings as dragonflies, settling on the tail feathers of the strutting peacocks before those too fracture off into fish that swim without water, shedding metallic scales that grow into orchids. Ash trails after them, coiling around the lumbering bodies, getting into the whirring gears of their joints, holding them all together. It’s especially thick around the monk and the raven.

There’s a raucous caw.

A single nod beneath the hood.

And pandemonium breaks out, the animals launching forward with unearthly, timeless shrieks and growls, pounding across the constantly transforming wastelands towards the more powerful of the group. Time is continuously shifting in Saeclumdas’ presence, but you have no time to admire the quick change of the seasons or the growth of entire forests. This is a war where even your own spells from eons past can be used against you.

Fight for your freedom.
NAVIGATION

Event Overview || The Animus Gates || Final Dream Plotting || Character Dreamscape Plotting 1 || Character Dreamscape Plotting 2
THE LOGISTICS

1. The final dream with Saeclumda Cinis can be viewed as a tiered boss fight where characters first fight against smaller, weaker parts of the Animus before finally taking on the entire entity.

at least

including

2. The event officially ends when Saeclumda Cinis falls. ICly, this will happen after two weeks have elapsed in the waking world, but your character may not realize that it has already/only been two weeks.

FAQ

Does killing a manifestation of Saeclumda Cinis/getting through a nightmare mean my character wakes up?
Nope! It just means that they have cleared that nightmare and can ICly move onto the next one.

Does my character have to participate in every nightmare and the Final Battle?
No. Your character can decide that one nightmare was enough and that they have absolutely no desire to continue forward, thank you very much! Or, you know, they could have died.

So exactly what happens when Saeclumda is defeated?
Time goes back under control, and everyone wakes up. The mutated "citizens" in the city disappear, and the Wastes will slowly be pushed back outside the wall as the Safezone stabilizes over the next week. There might even be some lingering effects, but... you'll have to wait until the of the event to find out ^ー^ ~~Because the mods are still thinking those up, shhh!~~

Tags:event

9th-Dec-2012 09:34 am - The Curtained Sleep - Animus Gates

Note: Passing through an Animus Gate isn't necessary, but venturing through and meeting their requirements is highly recommended. Each dream has its own conditions for success, but the reward for the effort is information and possibly even objects that will be useful in the Final Dream.

ANIMUS GATES

Sometimes, you'll stumble across several strange spaces that don't seem to belong to anyone. They're odder, more surreal and otherworldly than anything you've seen so far. Fish swimming in flames that lick at broken, stained glass while flutes and harpsichords play in the background. Hundreds of voices echo through the air, speaking in different tongues, suffocating and welcoming at the same time. You recognize some, others are completely foreign, unknown despite the knowledge you hold. These are timeless worlds balanced upon hours on minutes on seconds, poised on the brink of the eternal and the transient.

Hark!

The

Animus.

Each individual Animus has their own Dreamscape, but you may only pass through them upon joining a group that meets the requirements. And what odd requirements they are... 'Party of six' is easy enough to understand, but 'look through new eyes'? What about this 'find new faces' directive? One thing is clear though— the Animus' obstacles can't be gotten past by yourself, nor is it possible to reach the exit without going through their doors. Whatever the requirements, working together is the only way to escape, and not always with your usual allies. Some of the challenges need conversational skills, others knowledge, or a mix of strength and frailty, idealism and cynicism— combinations are the only way to escape.

TELEOS

Stained glass that might have once held the image of a curled up dragonfly makes the centerpiece of the first door. Most of it is now missing, fragmented into pieces or crushed into fine powder that glitters among the dust covering the ground. Sealed shut in its frame, the door doesn’t budge, so the only way in is to crawl through the hole in the glass, jagged edges catching on your clothes, and when you look up, the fall of Rome greets you with eerie silence.

Once grand domes and arches have fallen into disrepair, relinquishing their majestic structures to the natural disorder of the universe as grass and vines creep around toppled columns, overtaking the crumbled stone, pulling down the abandoned city. Marble pillars struggle to rise up towards the sky, cracked and ruined ghosts of what they used to be, and smashed windows that seem to have grown naturally from the once paved roads litter the earth beneath them with multi-colored panes.

The crunch of shattered glass under your feet...

...is disturbingly loud in this empty world.

Teleos is conspicuously missing, perhaps the reason why this Dreamscape is in such shape, but peer closely at the windows and tilt your head just so— There! Between the cracks, do you see?

Adstringéndum is being reclaimed.
THALATTE

Moving through the worlds, you trip over a metal ring on the ground, and upon looking down, see that it’s the handle to a hatch. Next to it, a piece of driftwood with a bit of art sits. At the top is some hatching that looks like:

“II → ∞ ??”

Underneath are a few crude stick figures, complete with fins and scales— more stickfish than stickmen, really, and all in varying sizes. Water can be heard underneath, gently lapping against the other side of the wood, beckoning you in.

Go on...

Take a swim!

Jumping into the water, you’re pulled immediately downward—down, down, down... until you touch the bottom of an ocean floor. Somehow, there’s no crushing pressure, and you have no trouble breathing. It’s as if the water is nothing but a bit of heavy fog, and you can move through it easily, feet kicking up small clouds of soft, smooth sand. All sorts of underwater decoration surround you: outcroppings of rocks, corals, cutely rusted over ship anchors, fake treasure chests.

It's a fishbowl.

The size of an ocean.

In the dim, green light, you can see that the world is full of life. Schools of fish dart around you, large sea turtles lazily float by, even the occasional dolphin or two frolic near you before swimming away. If it lives in water, you’ll probably spot it; no matter what kind of water habitat it originally had, it seems happy enough to be here. Thalatte herself will actively search out and greet any visitors in her Dreamscape.

Hello, hello!

She’ll attempt to take a human-ish form, though the proportions probably won’t be the best (Left arms are longer than the right ones, yes? Do legs bend like this?), and will be comprised of hundreds of identical fish packed together tightly to give some illusion of solidity. Rather scaly, her “human” form will have black holes for eyes and a row of tiny fish mouths as the mouth. The overall effect is somewhere between cute and disconcerting, especially since fish eyes will occasionally blink all over her body, staring at you from all sorts of angles.

And excuse her movements, the concept of walking is a little foreign to her, so she’ll just glide along, wiggling her rather noodle-y limbs as she chats away and apologizes for how dark it is. Don’t worry though... she does her best to make you feel at home! There’s always some sort of small alteration to her appearance, depending on who she’s with. Are you an angel? She’ll have “feathery” fish wings. A shinigami? Look at her being a wobbly swordfish with those fancy robes of theirs.

It’s always nice to have company.

Many apologies for splitting your group up at the entrance though. A bit hard to keep everyone together with the way this place is laid out— it's a maze, after all! Well, sort of... Relatively straightforward paths are made difficult to navigate in the general gloom, some of the waving fronds are easier to pass through than others, and there are just so many underwater decorations. Not to worry, Thalatte will show you around!

What do you mean you can't pass right through coral like her? Oh, fine, we'll take the long way around. Now, was it left or right first...?

Minimum Party Size: 2

Additional Requirements: Everyone in the party must be of a different age group (or maturity level) and from different worlds.

Quest Completion: Follow Thalatte through the maze to find the rest of your party and leave together. Keep an eye on your surroundings, and try not to get impatient with the fish should they keep leading you to (but not through) dead ends.

Rewards: If you were observant while traversing the underwater world and did not simply dismiss dead ends as unimportant, you'll notice that some areas of the maze in the fourth nightmare look rather familiar. Decorations, outcroppings of rocks, maybe even the shape of some of the coral here may show up as small landmarks later on. Useful knowledge to help guide your way. Additionally, you may find yourself with a helpful little visitor later on.

ESOTERIA

You stumble across a double door of ageless, stately wood. The frame is covered in carvings, and the entrance is one that wouldn’t look out of place on a rich estate or old, respectable government building. Slid under the door is an invitation, written in an absurdly decorative script.

"Cour des miracles. Mediation services offered on request."

Stepping inside, you walk into a fancy ballroom and find yourself in the midst of a masquerade party. People adorned with beautiful, intricate masks—all nature or musically themed—mill slowly around as they talk to one another, the comfortable murmur of a polite crowd mixing with a possibly familiar harpsichord theme piped in from somewhere. Neither it nor the voices are overwhelming in volume.

Heads turn towards you when you step inside, but no one quite meets your eyes. Conversations still when you walk by, and trying to speak to anyone will only make them turn away and hustle back into the crowd. The attitudes towards you are otherwise mixed—some are curious, others upset or angry, and the rest display confusion and a bit of fear. Yet no one answers your questions.

The music doesn’t stop.

The refreshments aren’t that good.

Loiter around a bit more though, and a well-dressed man will eventually approach you. Immaculate in a three-piece suit with a turquoise cravat around his neck and a peacock feather neatly tucked in the jacket pocket, he appears middle-aged and human-ish, but all other details seem to simply slide away from memory, no matter how hard you try to note them down. He has a short, punctual way of talking, and may seem a bit exasperated at your presence. If you’ve already spoken to the other Animus, you’ll notice that his attitude is more variable than theirs, and will change more quickly based on who he is speaking to. During his conversations, others in the room may come up to him, whisper something in his ear and then walk off, sometimes causing his tone and opinion to change entirely.

What a gossip.

Talk to him long enough and he might give more details on “Esoteria’s” composition—that everyone in the room is a separate animus, willingly banding together as one entity to keep from getting absorbed by the stronger ones. As weaker gods, it is the only way they can maintain their separate identities, and they use music as a way of keeping themselves organized. Gossip that he is, “Esoteria” is also more willing to talk about the other Animus, as he knows pretty much everything that’s going on with anyone. The man in the suit is more organized than any other part of Esoteria, which is how he got the position of spokesman, and if you give him a good enough impression, he might even share his personal name with you.

Kartikeya.

This might also be a good time to learn just why and how this event is happening, if you haven’t already asked the other Animus for an answer. Since Saeclumda Cinis is of a similar, if uncontrolled and aggressive, composition, some of Esoteria is more reluctant to do anything to stop it. The overall decision, however, is that it is too dangerous to be left alone.

So come... Dance with them.

Handed a mask upon your entrance, you find yourself donning it without really knowing why. Wander away from your party though, and you’ll feel a sharp tug pulling you back towards each other, no matter how you may wish to avoid their company. Annoyance rises, but try not to snap at each other— a raised voice, a look of anger, and it suddenly feels much more crowded in here. None too gently, people brush past with disapproving looks, as if warning you to behave; you have the feeling you’d be mercilessly crushed should a fight break out.

Minimum Party Size: 3
Maximum Party Size: 5

Additional Requirements: Everyone in the party must have a serious grudge against at least one other person present, or have strongly opposing moral compasses.

Quest Completion: Two requirements need to be fulfilled.

The Song of Harmony: Having (mostly) cast aside their own egos in order to work together and survive, Esoteria is not tolerant of anger and discord. Dissension creates tension, so control your tempers, and if you must disagree, do so politely. Fail to comply, and the heat rises, the number of annoyed spirits increases and it gets ever harder to move through the dream. Think of Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Birds’ and tread carefully— with retreat cut off, you have nowhere to run.

The Song of Unity: Upon asking to leave, your party will be led to an inner courtyard that opens up to the blue sky. Platforms made out of musical notes and vines float in the air, forming series that rise up towards the ornate doors that can be seen waiting for you on the islet hovering high above. Some are stationary while others move left and right or up and down, and the occasional flying object darts through the air, adding another layer of obstacles. The task is obvious: make your way up to the exit and leave.

But it’s not that easy. The mask you wear only allows you to see certain platforms and obstacles while rendering the rest invisible, leaving you with large, vacant spaces and no idea how to move across them on your own. Since everyone in the group sees something different, and no one person can see the whole picture, you will all need to work together in order to reach the islet. There is no choice but to rely on your teammates to tell you when to dodge and which way to jump, even if it looks like you are doing nothing more than leaping out into empty air.

Teamwork and trust are key— refuse to work together, and no one will reach the exit. Take too long to follow instructions, and you’ll find the platform under your feet start to disappear. Give a teammate the wrong directions, and they may fall back down towards the masked, upturned faces watching from below. Be careful... The higher you go, the farther you have to fall, and it is quite possible to die from such heights.

Remember... waste your time with distrust and antagonism at your own risk— the gods of Esoteria will only stand for so much.

Rewards: Upon reaching the exit together, the masks will come off and transform into gloves for each person. Inside each pair will be a single peacock feather that will guide your party back together should you wish to work together again.

Other Notes: Since the focus of this part of the dreamscape is the interaction and teamwork between characters, the mods will not be NPCing the quest portion. As such, the layout of the platforms is up to player discretion/hand-wavey. Also, [THIS] video (starting at ~1:50) may help.

EKPYROSIS

At one point, traveling through a portal brings you to an infinitely empty space. Or an area that appears to stretch out infinitely. It's a little hard to tell when it all fades into the shadows the farther out you look. In the middle of this "room" is a thick rope cord, hanging from... well, nowhere. It stretches upward and disappears into blackness. Tied to it is a small bell, and ringing the bell pulls away the shadows, revealing and transforming the area around you.

It looks much like how the city did during the Ekpyrosis event, the trees of the Wastes a dark shadow in the background. The sky is burnt, symbols carved into it as if it were a flat surface. Fire drips down from the cuts, as if it's been wounded. Smoke, thick and cloying, surrounds you, and the heat is considerable.

An inhospitable world.

Forever stretched out around you, all that meets your eyes is the cityscape crumbling into ash and the lake boiling into steam while the steady, oppressive tick of a clock counts off each second until the very beat of it echoes in your head.

The source is a large, ornate timepiece, usually carried or dragged by a human girl— Ekpyrosis' real form. Occasionally visible in some corner of the world, the Animus is almost always corrupted— fire deities and spirits taking over its functions and burning away at its core, yet its ticking never wavers, only grows louder, more insistent, even as it lumbers away from any attempts at conversation. There's a sense of chaotic confusion underneath that slow, inexorable crawl of passing time, each second a piece of coal dropped into hell.

As a result, the land looks like a battlefield, a war (or is it wars?) raging in the middle of it. Figures— beautiful and hideous, humanoid and plantlike, all impossible to look upon— tear each other apart, even as their limbs burn, as the smell of scorched skin fills the air, as their charred remains fall to the ground. They scream, they die and are then replaced by yet another soldier.

It's a battle with no sides.

No victor.

No purpose.

Can you make it out alive?

If you manage to fight your way to the Wastes and through the forest to Aelia's gate without dying from your wounds, you'll experience the sensation of being painfully branded somewhere on your body. When you take a look, the mark burned into your skin is clearly one of time.

Minimum Party Size: N/A

Additional Requirements: None

Quest Completion: Survive.

Reward: Ekpyrosis' brand offers some protection against Saeclumda Cinis' second nightmare. The Animus is still too confused to truly battle 'age' itself, but it can at least buy you some time.

AELIA

Grand doors made out of old, seasoned wood bar your path this time, the simple carving of an orchid on its surface indicating just whose world you are about to walk into. Consider it a warning, rather than a decoration. Over the doorway is an arch. On it are inscribed symbols— the circle of life. A lion crushes an ant, which pushes the earth, which swallows the fire, which burns the stars... The signs flicker and change; there are an infinite number of combinations, all opposed to one another. No two signs are alike, but the cycle remains unbroken.

A lush field flanked by a thick, dense forest greets you when you finally managed to push the heavy doors open. It’s a warm day, and the smell of greenery is strong as you follow the simple dirt path up a hill to where Aelia awaits. The animus is unaggressive and polite, and the urge to linger in such a pleasant place is quite strong.

Stay and chat for a while.

The things that growl and scratch the dirt in the shadows of the forest around you can almost be forgotten. Why think about such an unpleasant place when you are welcomed here? Besides, there’s a low stone wall that keeps you protected from whatever creatures are out there, though the more you linger near it, the more you realize that it can’t actually keep anything out. It's not high enough, there are cracks in the wall, and if you look closely, a few pieces of shattered glass.

This is not an oasis of safety, especially not with that battle you can hear raging on the other side of that forest.

How do you leave?

If you can manage to pull yourself away from the serenity of the glade and ask to leave, Aelia will present to you an option: murder someone in the party, or fight your way through the forest and risk losing everything. Survive, and not only can you escape from her dream, but you will also receive a weapon to use against the god of ashes and time. Of course, it’s also possible to just have tea with Aelia and leave the way you came—empty handed, but still possessing all your limbs.

Minimum Party Size: 4

Additional Requirements: Everyone in the party must have a different skill type. People of the same species (i.e. shinigami, benders, wizards, etc.) would be classified as being of the same category. Normality, or the complete lack of any supernatural traits and/or abilities, would count as its own class.

Quest Completion: Pick a path and don't look back...

The Path of Treachery: Loss of life should never be treated lightly, and so taking a life has its consequences.

* Martyr’s Offering: Blood must be paid to obtain freedom, and perhaps one person in your party understands that best. Are you the one who willingly lays down their life for their friends? Or are you the unlucky sacrificial lamb, chosen for slaughter without realizing it until the knife’s in your back?

Cross of Remorse (for the guilty): Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made in the name of war, and comrades betrayed so you can survive. Others die so you can live, that is the circle of life. You may have gotten what you needed, but at what price? The crosses we bear on our conscience are the heaviest of them all.

Mark of Practicality (for the uncaring): The choice was simple—kill one of your temporary allies and get what you want, or refuse to stain your hands with their blood and get nothing in return. You made your decision easily, but did you do so too carelessly? Aelia’s turned around and marked you for death as punishment for your treachery. Those left in your group are now your executioners. Do you yield, or do you fight?

Last Man Standing: Theoretically, this scenario could repeat until only one person remains. With Aelia as your judge, will you live or die?

The Path of Giants: If your party decides to brave the forest, beware. There is no trail to guide your feet, and the trees hide nothing but ruthless danger in their midst. The creatures within are brutal and vicious, able to scent fear and drawn towards it like sharks to blood. Fighting against them is not a matter of skill, but rather one of luck. No matter what you try, it all comes down to chance. Better hope the odds aren’t stacked against you.

Rewards: Permission to leave her clearing, along with a lance made out of ice that's capable of freezing time. However, (*) this ice will melt away if touched by someone with any sort of supernatural powers. Hope you didn't let all the normal humans die! Also, this lance is much easier to carry and wield without losing hands to frostbite with a certain pair of gloves obtained from a certain Animus.

Other Notes: The role of Lady Luck will be played by the mods tossing a coin (or hitting the RNG) should her involvement be necessary.

NAVIGATION

Event Overview || The Final Dream || Animus Gate Plotting || Character Dreamscape Plotting 1 || Character Dreamscape Plotting 2
FAQ
What's up with these 'additional requirements'?
There are two main goals behind the Animus Dreamscapes: to give characters/muns the chance to interact with the Animus and to encourage new CR! Perhaps you've always wanted to play with a certain character, but it would be OOC for your pup to interact with them. Now you have an IC reason to make characters who might have avoided each other work together!

So these parties, do the mods assign them or do we get to make our own?
Party creation is left to mun discretion, so long as the requirements are fulfilled. To help facilitate plotting, we've set up plotting threads in the comments below!

Wait... Is only one group/party allowed into each Animus gate?
Nope! Multiple groups are allowed, though ICly, they will not be traveling through the Dreamscapes at the same time.

If my character dies and wakes up after getting an item from the Animus, do they get to keep it?
Kind of! Esoteria's peacock feather will come across, but be nothing more than just a feather. Ekpyrosis' brand will also be present in the awake world, but will fade away in a week's time. Everything else stays in the dream world.

When a character gets branded by Ekpyrosis in the dream, will those tending to that character's body in the city see it?
No, the brand will only appear after the character has woken up as it's essentially tied to their soul/consciousness.

Tags:event

22nd-Nov-2012 02:55 am - The Curtained Sleep

THE CURTAINED SLEEP
(Like Dreamscape! But renamed...)

It's night (or early morning), you've closed your eyes and gone to sleep. Maybe you were already snugly tucked into bed, or maybe you just meant to give in the the weight of heavy eyelids for a few seconds, it doesn't matter.

You've fallen asleep, it's a new world.

When you wake, everything's as it was. You continue with your day: a walk in the park, an exploration of another part of this world, a conversation with an old friend, a cup of— Wait... That person's no longer around, you've never seen those buildings here before in the city, and this just isn't Adstringendum. Did everything shift again, or have you been returned home? But things aren't the same as when you left them. Wasn't time supposed to stop, and aren't you not supposed to remember Adstringendum when you leave? Why are people you recognize from that other place here? Why is it so hard to remember specifics from yesterday?

Nothing makes sense.

And then you realize you're not awake.

You're dreaming.

Welcome to the Dreamscape.
EVENT OVERVIEW

Angry and confused, Saeclumda Cinis was brought back into being when the cat lost his latest altercation with the orchid and shattered. A conglomeration of many of the gods Teleos had consumed on his rise to power, this newly birthed Animus is mad with hurt pride and the wounds of subjugation that they've nursed for what feels to be an eternity. It's time to take some of their own back from this accursed place. Furious and uncontrolled, Cinis lashes out and tries to engulf everything. Disoriented by the centuries they encompassed and once manipulated, this fledgling Animus has nothing more than a vague desire to destroy the stability of the city.

Ashes to ashes.

Dust to dust.

Still growing and bewildered, Saeclumda has yet to master their powers, but they are strong enough to mess with the already fragile fabric of time, even if they're not fully cognizant of it. Their out of control rampage is what has cast the city into this living death, even managing to pull the other Animus into this world of dreams and wrath and warped truths that floats through the ashes of time. Tangled in each other as they are, the Animus cannot undo time itself, not so quickly at least, and so the citizens of Adstringéndum must save themselves.

Similar to the previous Dreamscape events, every character has their own individual world. Unlike before, they are now trapped in this world— aware of it or not, there's no waking from this internal space. To return to the physical realm, characters must first escape from the dream world.

It's easier said than done.

Like a dream, these worlds have an unnatural reality to them that makes it hard to initially question, and time is even less linear in here than out there. You might be in your own Dreamscape, frozen in a past memory or protecting your deepest, darkest secret, while a later you is traveling through the maze of minds that make up this realm of dreams, helping others (or standing back and watching them flounder). Escaping the unconscious reality of thoughts, fancies and fears takes more than an individual though, and there's an outside limit to how long you have...

Back on the physical side, the city of Adstringendum is full of the comatose bodies of its citizens. Slowly starving, slowly drying out, fallen in heaps over their tables, collapsed mid-step in the middle of their streets.

Around the city, the Great Wall falls.

The Wastes are impatient.

Time and space had long been ruined outside the border of the Safezone, and the presence of Saeclumda Cinis destabilizes everything. The shifting landscape quickens, and creeps forward. Meters of the city are reclaimed by destroyed worlds, by timelines crushed before they had a chance to be born. Its "citizens" are mutations, pathetic amalgamations of a hundred different forms of life. They barely live, and they crawl in, cutting through the helpless bodies in their wake. Out of jealousy, out of despair— they scream.

...But who is left to hear it?

Only those who are still awake.

THE DREAM WORLD

You're not awake. You're dreaming, wandering through the minds of acquaintances and strangers alike. Doors and passages lead to different thoughts and memories, or to another person's mind. Some areas may be barred or concealed, hiding a terrible nightmare or secret that even the owner doesn't know.

The world of dreams... What you see may not be what you know, and what you know may not actually be real. Up may be down, night is now day, and white appears black! The sky could be painted in yellow polka dots, yet everything somehow still seems normal. Because it's your dream, and in your mind, wrong is right. But be careful! In someone else's, right might be wrong.

Or maybe it's the other way around...

No matter, no matter, come right on in! Are you the spider or the fly? Oh, do be careful where you step, wouldn't want you to fall down a rabbit hole now~ You'd end up in an entirely different world, someone else's dream, and its owner might think it rather rude of you to come barreling in like that without so much as a 'by your leave'. Not that you could help it— that door just sucked you in, gobbled you up and spat you back out here! Where in the world is exit? How do you get out of here? Why can't you wake up?

Best to team up in the meantime, you think. After all, there's safety in numbers, and some of these obstacles can't be gotten past alone. Of course, you could always try to go it alone! We wouldn't suggest it.

Might get messy.

You could die~

But who knows... You may wake up. Are you that desperate to get out of here? Are you willing to take the risk? Keep in mind, refunds not accepted! No one likes broken goods, too hard to sell again. Not worth the trouble. Besides, you'll miss the show~

And your chance to look inside the Animus.
ANIMUS GATES

Hark!

The

Animus.

Absolute nonexistence. Can your mind handle it?

...but rather stifling ash.

Deeper and deeper you fall...

Down a bottomless pit.

Lower and lower you tumble...

Towards an unfathomable emptiness.

And not everyone is with you.

Welcome to the Final Dream.
NAVIGATION

Character Dreamscape Plotting 1 || Character Dreamscape Plotting 2 || The Animus Gates || The Final Dream
THE LOGISTICS
1. By necessity, this is a city-wide event, but players who don't want to take part in the Dreamscape aspect can have their characters remain conscious in the city. There's a whole lot of bodies in the city at risk of dying sooner rather than later, and if someone is literally pulled apart and scattered among the Wastes, who knows how they'll ever revive? Someone's got to try to watch over them.

2. The event will last two weeks. However, since time flows differently between the physical and dream realms, some people might feel that they've been waiting years for their friends to wake up, while others might feel that they were asleep for a matter of hours. Horribly eventful hours, but brief ones. It's up the player's discretion how they want time to treat their characters.

3. Interaction between characters in Dreamscapes will occur in logs as they are all offline and 'in person'. One log will basically equate to one character's Dreamscape (unless otherwise specified). Because this is a very nonlinear event, continuity is thrown even farther out the window than usual. We also encourage muns to branch out their CR as well! This would ICly make sense since memories of 'B' in 'A's Dreamscape would act as a portal for the viewer to go to 'B's Dreamscape. Mods may even come around to logs to encourage log/dream-hopping.

4. Think of your character being inside the Dreamscape as if he or she were in an RPG game. You start in one map/area (Dreamscape) and different portals (memories/doors) on that map take you to even more maps/areas to explore. Along the way, you need to fight monsters/solve puzzles/do quests with a party in order to continue on.

FAQ

You've given us all this information about the event, but when is it, exactly?
January 9th, 2013 - January 23rd, 2013

What is the purpose of this event?
To promote branching of CR, cohesive gameplay through necessity of IC teamwork and interactions with the Animus. In other words, Adstring's been a bit quiet these past couple of months, so it's time to shake things up!

Can I opt out?
Of course! Keep in mind that if you do choose to opt out, your character will not be able to enter the Dreamscapes at any point in time afterwards.

Do character deaths in the Dreamscapes come with a death price?
Nope! Their only penalty is that they wake up in Adstringendum and are unable to access the dream world again.

Will characters remember everything that happened in the dream world?
That is entirely up to you! Your character can remember every single detail and know the event to have happened, think it was all just a really, really lucid dream, or only remember vague details. Think about your own dreams! Some stick with us forever while others just... fade.

When you're in someone's Dreamscape, are they aware of it?
Again, that is up to player discretion. The only obvious case is if the dreamer and the person whose Dreamscape they're in stumble upon each other in that Dreamscape.

Tags:event

27th-Oct-2012 06:08 pm - All Hallow's Eve

"Be perfect, make it otherwise"
For the past week it's felt like there was something lurking just outside your line of vision, that the shadows cast by the cheerfully colored trees were darker than they should be, and the creaking and groaning of old buildings louder and more ominous than they ever were before. But it’s all just your imagination, isn’t it? Or maybe the Animus messing with your mind, like they have so many times before. Just a week, then it will be over and you can relax instead of jumping at every sound or flicker of movement.

After all, the Animus haven’t been so bad this month. Rainbow trees and overgrown pumpkins aren’t the most terrifying things, so it makes sense for them to make things a little… uneasy. Besides, the worst of them is gone, or at least, still away licking her wounds, right?

"Yesterday is torn in shreds"
Wrong. So. Very. Wrong.

"Lightning’s thousand sulfur eyes"
Halloween starts out like everything’s alright (for most people), but daylight seems to be disappearing just a bit faster than normal, even with winter arriving. And that feeling you’ve had for the past week or so? It’s a bit stronger, you’re just a little jumpier and everything seems a tad different. More… sinister, so to speak. It’s a trick, simply figments of your imagination, the Animus taunting you, or simply the calm of this past month making you paranoid.

But you just can’t shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen.

"Rip apart the breathing beds"
Then night falls across the city, and the lights that you usually use in the evenings just don’t seem bright enough tonight. It’s okay though, because the darkness makes the moons stand out more, and my, are they beautiful! Only… the white one’s beams drifting down towards you through the clouds makes it feel like you’re in some horror movie, and you’ve only just noticed how incredibly eerie a green moon is.

Especially when it’s shining down on the sight of those zombies from earlier in the month and skeleton dinosaurs clawing their way out of the graves in the cemetery. Or when you’ve got creepy, child-like giggling coming from the abandoned amusement park that appeared after the earthquake in January. You could have sworn that there were more stuffed animals on those dusty shelves earlier in the year…

"Hear bones crack and pulverize"
Not that you have much time to worry about that, because those trees and overgrown pumpkins are no longer as harmless as you thought they were. It’s what happens when they all come to life on All Hallow’s Eve! Creepy faces (some of which look like clowns to better match their rainbow foliage) and sharp, branch fingers don’t make for pleasant company, and you’d really best hope that the wind doesn’t blow too strongly when you’re within their reach… those leaves have become rather razor-like overnight. As for the pumpkins… Well, some still look rather normal (except for those crawling, strangling vines that creep along the ground and up the walls…), but the rest have become rather malicious looking jack o’ lanterns out for blood and seeking revenge for their brethren that have been made into pumpkin pie. Don’t be surprised if you come upon local wildlife with oversized gourds for heads, acting as if they've become possessed.

After all, it’s only fair for the humans to know what it’s like to have others wanting to carve them open, scoop out their insides and make pies out of them!

"Doom creeps in on rubber treads"
The coming of a new day brings no relief, not when the sun’s weak rays shine on the results of last night’s horror contrasted against the innocence of now faceless trees and pumpkins that certainly weren’t there the day before. Nighttime comes even earlier than the day before, until there is no longer a sunrise by the time the weekend ends. It’s complete and utter darkness that’s only broken up by the light of grinning pumpkins. Any light you manage to create ends up getting suffocated by the darkness surrounding you, your circle of safety slowly shrinking and shrinking as things prowl and hunt on the edges of it. It’s torturous, because though you might not be able to see them, your sense of hearing and smell has most definitely been heightened.

Putrid, rotting flesh and vegetation… Panicked shrieks and blood-curdling screams followed by sudden silence… In a city that is a mix of many, many worlds and times, who knows what horrors have been unleashed on the city?

"Minds unraveling like threads"

☠ Welcome to your ~*~PARTY~*~ citizens of Adstringendum! ☠

Note #1: Poem © Dorothea Tanning
Note #2: The Animus will not be providing any 'clean-up service' after this event
Note #3: If you have questions, please feel free to ask them at the calendar post

Tags:event

23rd-Jun-2008 12:33 am - [ANIMUS]

[ there is a static hum on everyone's palm pilot, as the screen goes black. it starts to whisper, before ghostly voices seep through the communication lines ]

SAD.

They do not learn.

No, they never learn.

It seems we must

AMMEND

your ways once again.

How sad

You must learn to get along.

ENEMIES

May become friends.

Keep both

close beside you.

And never

may you fall

APART.

Tags:animus, event

17th-May-2008 01:49 am - [ANIMUS]

[ there is a static hum on everyone's palm pilot, as the screen goes black. it starts to whisper, before ghostly voices seep through the communication lines ]

PATHETIC.

Depressing, really.

Do you never learn?

Must we send the

EXECUTIONER

again?

Alessa helped us before.

No, they all have sinned.

SINNED.

You must learn from your mistakes.

Before you fall too far from grace.

See

what it is like

to live in full

SIN!

(( OOC; EVENT ON! :D ))

Tags:animus, event

26th-Feb-2008 02:37 pm - [ANIMUS]

[ there is a static hum on everyone's palm pilot, as the screen goes black. it starts to whisper, before ghostly voices seep through the communication lines ]

So sad.

PATHETIC.

Look what you've done!

You've made a terrible mess.

TERRIBLE.

How dare you.

Intruding on our existence.

Disgracefully intruding on us!

DISGRACEFUL.

If you wish so deeply to make the dead...

Then be

DEAD.

yourselves!

( OOC: Event Explanation! )

Tags:animus, event

6th-Feb-2008 05:53 pm - [002]

In order to make this unstable environment safer for the incoming and current residents, the Unified Universe Project is implementing new security about the border, of what we are going to call the Safezone, a twenty mile radius in which you are currently inhabiting. It is wise to stay within the limits. We are setting up a fence about the border to keep some of the less stable elements and creatures out, however...

It has come to our attention that, while this fence is still in it's trial stages, has, inadvertently called attention to our Safezone. You may notice creatures coming in from what we are calling the Wastelands, or the unstable world beyond the Safezone's borders. It is advised to stay away if you encounter any of these.

Thank you.

(( OOC: Okay, so basically the Project f'd up again, and now weird things are coming inside the city. And we mean WEIRD, because time is compressing, after all. You may see a croc with man arms, purple giraffes that eat people, dragons, a chocobo that's half Betta-fish - whatever you can come up with. Some creatures look relatively normal, and some may almost be exact copies of those you are used to in your world, but not quite. Some are friendly, some are not.

Feel free to get mad, fight things, pet them, whatever you want :) This event will last until the 13th of February. Oohh~ ))

Tags:event, unified universe project

adstringendummod: (Unified Universe Project)

13th-Jan-2007 11:00 pm - Happy Holidays!

At 2:05 a.m. Christmas morning, residents will experience a moment of odd peacefulness. There will be odd complete silence in the city for a few seconds before sound returns, with a quick feeling of the air pressure changing.

Welcome to reverse decompression. There are many obvious changes to the city – 33, to be exact. Thirty-three new structures are now in the city. In each quadrant there is a small neighborhood of five houses each, and then three other buildings. This means there's shelter to be found, reliable shelter. It also means that characters might wind up with new neighbors. as they look to take advantage of the new situation. All new buildings are unfurnished unless otherwise noted. None of them are hooked up to electricity or water. If they've landed in the right area for it, residents can connect them.

The City Map has been updated to show the new layout of the city. If one of the buildings has landed where you headcanon your house to be, the house has been safely moved out from under it. Here's what's new!

( NW Quadrant )

( SE Quadrant )

( SW Quadrant )

( NE Quadrant )

But wait, you say. That's only 32.

You're right.

The fences are gone around the city. In their place are portions of the Great Wall of China, some restored and some left in their run-down state circa 2009.

_{Original post [HERE]}

Happy Holidays, Adstringendum. <3

Tags:*game information, *mod post, event

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