(event) TWISTS AND BLOODY TURNS

[vestigemods]

MARCH EVENT: TWISTS & BLOODY TURNS

MARCH 18TH - 23RD

► INTO THE MAZE

The sky is a crisp, clear blue on the morning of March 18th. The breeze brings the pleasant aroma of flowering topiary, and the early spring sun warms your skin rather pleasantly as you wake.

Which is kind of a shame, since none of it should be possible if you're still in your bed where you fell asleep.

You aren't, as it turns out. In fact, you aren't anywhere recognizable at all - you lie on a well-trod layer of grass, framed to your left and right by hedge walls tall enough that it's truly a wonder the sun managed to filter down to you at all. With minimal investigation, you discover that though the hedge corridor you've awoken in does indeed end in a bend, turning it does little more than present yet another corridor just the same. The good news is, you're not alone! Others, too, are waking or soon to wake in this very same labyrinth, perhaps even nearby. With luck, they'll be even angrier and more confused than you are. Nothing like being the rational one in a crisis to boost your self-esteem a bit.

► AMIDST THE MAZE

The bad news is that you are not alone. Beasts roam this maze, some massive and others deceptively innocuous in size, and none are quite what you see on the surface (unless what you see is 'a goddamn problem'). Worse yet, they all seem quite interested in you. It seems like it's been a while since they've had-... no, 'prey' sounds terribly alarming. Let's say 'esteemed dinner guests'. That's not so terrible, right?

Well, at least there's a way out! A nice little courtyard sits at the center of the maze, one lined with benches but otherwise quite clearly designed to hold a little stone building with a barrier-protected archway. And beside that archway, an engraved plaque-... What? No plaque? Forgive me, it seems that because "we're already over budget, Conrad, stop being so fucking aesthetic all the time", the 'engraved plaque' bit has been replaced by a pair of carefully-laminated notices pinned to the archway. They make it pretty clear that the only way out is through that barrier and the only way through that barrier is to kill a fellow maze abductee - and yes, you sissies, a mercy kill does count, so maybe consider not trying to save your buddy just this once.

If you need a little more incentive, the beasts seem to be getting bolder as each day goes on. Bolder and closer until not even the courtyard sanctuary is truly safe anymore. All the while you're getting thirstier, hungrier, increasingly angry that you skipped dinner the night of the 17th because ~it's fine, you'll eat a big breakfast~. Y'know what's great for venting anger? Murder. Just something to think about.

► SAY GOODBYE TO THE MAZE

On the morning of the 23rd - day six of this godforsaken foliage hell, if anyone's counting - those still trapped inside will find that the labyrinth itself seems to be collapsing around them. Crumbling right to the ground, falling segments of shrub-covered brick and everything, in a terrible ruckus that kicks up enough dust to burn at your watering eyes and to make you choke and cough.

But when the dust settles, things make even less sense than they did when you were still trapped. Around you is the totally ordinary statue garden, with entirely mundane normal-sized hedges forming what very much seems like a joke of a maze at this point.

One thing seems for certain: The ordeal is over, at least for now. It's time to haul yourselves home, have a good meal, and sleep off this nightmare.

► MOD NOTES

• This is a catch-all log for top-levels pertaining to March's Twists & Bloody Turns event. Go ahead and utilize vestigenet for any event-related network posts you'd like to make.


• This event takes place between the IC dates March 18th and March 23rd.


• All event information can be found on the Twists & Bloody Turns Infopost! The logs are largely flavor-text to supplement the information offered in the infopost.


• Please take care to label your top-levels with identifying information like the IC date and location (e.g. inside the maze? in the courtyard? scouting around the outside of the statue garden?), so that others can see at a glance if their character can hop in!


• Those who begin the event outside of the maze can enter the maze later on - consult the above-linked infopost for more on that!


• A reminder that phone service does work and those inside the maze can communicate with the outside, though signal is scratchy for audio/video messages.


• Any questions can be directed to this top-level or, for a quicker response, to Trace on discord/plurk.

Comments

Jiang Cheng

[legbreakings]

hit me up for specific prompts

Hungry, 19th, OTA

We can't continue like this, waiting isn't enough.

[ Jiang Cheng stands up abruptly where he is huddled with a group of people at the center of the maze. He is holding his sword, his face dark, body taut with the fury he has been feeling ever since they found themselves trapped here. ]

If what the Technicians say is true, we will be stuck here until the monsters kill us. [ His eyes take in the people, wondering who may go for the shortcut. ] We need to make sure we have food and water in the meantime. The monsters are hunting us, but we have to hunt them, too. I'm not going to go hungry here.


Brooding in the maze, 20th, OTA

[ It's grueling to survive in here, and leaving the group by yourself on purpose is the height of foolishness.

Yet Jiang Cheng can be found sitting in a dead end on the ground, head buried in his hands, his shoulders shaking like he is fighting against tears - which he is, indeed, a fight he is quickly losing. They won't escape this place, not without dying, and watching everyone he knows die...

No, he doesn't know how he is supposed to handle that. ]

for Wei Wuxian

[legbreakings]

22nd

I know you're not willing to wait any longer.

[ Jiang Cheng has been fighting for days and watching people die for days much like everyone else has. It feels a little bit like the Sunshot Campaign all over again, only here Wei Wuxian is no insurmountable weapon who can take on armies by himself. The creatures they face here are dangerous to everyone.

So they fight and retreat and fight again, with less and less of them returning - and while he is grimly resigned to it, he can see it getting to Wei Wuxian in a different way.

He shakes his head, face grim as he sizes him up with a glower. ] I won't tell you not to do whatever you have planned. But I won't let you run off alone.

20th

[coolmotivestillevil]

[ Geralt has been spending most of his time in the maze alone, trying to map it out. He's been to the center and knows what it claims will free them, but so far, he's not to the point where he's willing to give it a try yet.

He hears Jiang Cheng before he sees him, as quiet as he is. When he does see him, he doesn't really intend to say anything, because of all the people in here he's definitely one of the last Jiang Cheng wants to see. Especially in the state he's currently in.

Except there are monsters in this maze, and they're moving closer to the center, and Jiang Cheng has lowered his guard to be miserable. It wouldn't be right to leave him to whatever fate decides to do. ]

Do you want to get eaten?