November Event: Madness in Darkness, Hope in Light

[solravehmods]

The assault on the altar room and Ozuma's presence is far from over. Though the attacks have abated since they began, there is still a heaviness in the air, and while Ozuma can speak his power has still dwindled leaving in his orb state and unable to do much else.

Unfortunately that leaves the current inhabitants with a problem - how can they continue forward if Ozuma can't even lend his power to the rest of the castle? Beyond that... the Queen has seen fit to make her presence fully known by appearing in the Altar Room itself, along with her horned boy minions at her side. These shadows, though not often hostile aside from infrequent shoving and knocking down, are there to aid her in taking back all that has already been touched by light.

Starting tomorrow and lasting until Monday (in-game, out of game there will be continued developments until next week, allowing for everyone that is doing holiday things a chance to get in) the Queen will appear in the Altar Room in the center, declaring to all that this is her domain, and that the waif-like child, Yorda, is her daughter and must not leave this place. Unfortunately even if you wanted to leave to preserve your own life and not interfere as she demands, it's not as if there is any way out of the castle or back home currently.

The only thing you can do while the Queen attacks is help Ozuma keep light in this place and prove to the Queen that these current heroes are actually a force to be reckoned with.

Naturally this is easier said than done.

Six unfortunate souls will become specific targets of the Queen. While she is powerful, much of her power beyond shadows and their control lies in illusions currently. Be grateful, because at her current power level she can't turn you all to stone and be done with it...

But what she can do is nearly as dangerous. Those six individuals that she will target will begin to hear, see, think and even taste and touch things that aren't actually there. Their very senses, senses that they should be able to trust will no longer be accurate or even truthful to them. And if any of them have made the mistake of not sleeping in the common rooms like they should be? The effect is only going to be that much worse.

The hallucinations are going to be entirely up to the mun, anything from the voice or presence of a long gone loved one, sounds of the townsfolk that used to inhabit the castle long since dead, or even horrors of their worst fears and everything in between. The visions can be ever changing or remain the same the entire time. It can send your character in to a corner, useless against the fight or even turn them in to a temporary enemy as they see allies as something they're not. How this plays out is entirely up to you, but realize that by these six being targeted there is a very, very high chance they won't be any good in the ensuing fight and can even be a hindrance. The strength of the hallucinations will wax and wane throughout the next two days, fading and eventually being gone by Tuesday following the Queen's eventual retreat.

Keep in mind, though that there are a total four locations currently "in light" that can be lost during the fight and that everyone else who has even a remotely fighting chance needs to protect these areas in one way or another lest they be lost and have to be reclaimed once again.

Ozuma, weakened as he is, will be willing to give what he can of himself in the form of light shields to the areas outside of the Altar Room. He will give three - one for the Tower of Winds, one for the Storage Room and one for the bridge to those who wish to claim and be in charge of them. Unfortunately they're not that strong so it will take actual teamwork to keep the places light so long as the Queen is sending her force.

Plan and plot accordingly, Ravehnites! The fight will soon be upon you!

Comments

Plotting > Victims

[solravehmods]

victims

[mrlivingskull]

Alright. In the usual Sol Man fashion, this could end up real rambly/stream-of-consciousnessy/first-drafty; in fact it might be close to certain. So as always, apologies for that ahead of time.

But with that out of the way, oh man. No vanity intended, but this kid's background is rich with possibilities for mental meltdownery. Lots of old regrets, lots of friends lost... some sins on his hands, too, though their grounding in reality is open for debate - but that's the beauty of it; break his head enough, and all that matters is that he believes it.

I can see the whole shebang. Babbling, bawling, sobbing, calling out names; pulling a Captain Haddock and frequently envisioning himself somewhere else, in the midst of different events. He could easily envision that his reality warper powers are back, whether or not they actually are. And most deliciously, that's not at all a constant - he could correctly perceive they're gone while hallucinating a greater danger, thus evoking a feeling of helplessness: be it known that this is a very big fear of his, perhaps even a trigger.

(Finding himself with permanent 0 MP was annoying to say the least. Other Things kept him from getting too deeply engrossed in it. Those very things might be turned against him here.)

With his powers inactive he's not going to be dangerous to anyone...unless the Queen should want to do something about that, if you modfolk were inclined. Not fussed either way, but as always, it's an option if you guys wanna discuss it.

BUT IN SHORT. His past? A treasure chest of weapons to twist against him. And he is going to melt down. I can't guarantee he won't assault anyone, but - barring some Queenly intervention - he won't be able to hurt most of them. And seeing as how this is under munly control, I can finagle things to prevent him from causing undue harm to the less combat-savvy. Unless, of course, anyone happens to want that...

The recent past - that is, his canon point - offers some goodies too. :3 But yeah, he'll envision/experience all manner of ill thing. We're gonna break this kid pretty hard. (Temporarily, of course.)

In certain instances, your muses may even hear a name or two they recognize...

VICTIMS

[eldindragon]

I AM SORRY I SET THE GRUMP DRAGON INTO RAGE MODE, except i am not sorry at all.

Early on, only the really observant people will notice he's seeing/hearing dead people. Its not like its particularly easy to tell what he's looking at, and maybe he's just walking different paths than usual.

Except when, at a wonderful time, he will swap to being "terrible past".

Volga's got one official really nasty bit of canon to use, and it goes along the lines of "independent thought is overrated in underlings". He's gunna think the lady who took his free will is back, and unfortunately for castle-mates, she can make clones of herself and he's going to want to punch / stab / light as many of her on fire as possible. Which is like four of her at a time.

So there will be an angry dragon, and a lot of shouting about "not pulling that on him again" /thumbs up

Re: VICTIMS

[scary_music]

WELL Ibuki's got... a really crappy past that her hallucinations are gonna draw on. For some bouts of her hallucinations she isn't even going to register that anybody is around thinking she is left all alone.

... she might kick, claw, bite and flail a bit but otherwise she's just going to mostly be a mess.

[mrlivingskull]

Interesting parallels. Ikki-kid isn't even here, but being completely alone? That's a fear she shares.

This guy too, actually.

...I don't know how usable that is, if at all, but I wondered that it might be worth mentioning. Also I should be getting to sleep, so yeah, useless triedbrain. |D

[scary_music]

YEAH like... Ibuki barely even hints she has loneliness issues but considering she needed something to trigger why she went and [spoilers], it's probably a big thing for her.

Re: VICTIMS

[8_bit_gamer]

Chiaki will stay by Ibuki's side through out this. After seeing Ibuki manipulated once, she will not let her suffer again through it alone.

Re: VICTIMS

[freedom_engineer]

Colin's probably going to stay with Ibuki, remain quiet, and pet her hair whilest he plots.

And if she turns hostile, he'll just grit his teeth and bear it. Sometimes, it's useful being a engineering-boosted cyborg.

[scary_music]

Just don't let her break her teeth on your arm.

[freedom_engineer]

Ibuki, you may get pulled into a dance. He's gone fight brain influence WITH brain influence. :D

[scary_music]

She'll think she's dancing with a Monokuma maybe?!!??

Victims

[blastiaobsessieanonymous]

Welp, Rita here's been tagged to be one of the Queen's victims, and I'm picturing three different effects, varying by encounter.

First, there's the wonderful nightmares of all the things that could have gone wrong, back home. Ways Rita could have failed coming to life, seeing her world - in various senses of the word - die horribly and it's all her fault. Most likely, she'll end up cowering in a corner when this hits.

Then, there's the confusing illusions, causing her to not recognize anyone at all - like her old feelings of loneliness. Also paralyzing, but prone to inspiring her to lash out at people on the slightest provocation, just like the other 'useless' people who surrounded her for so long.

Finally, there's that oh no nice worst case of her starting to perceive everyone as monsters - at which point she's liable to out-and-out go on the attack if not subdued.

Any of these could mix in at any time, so people can run into her in any of these situations! If people have other ideas, feel free to share them.

[soundmind]

Maka is more resistant to hallucinations/mental manipulation than most--at least, it doesn't send her off into despair event horizon and in her home canon she could dispell illusions.

Obviously that's not happening here, but what happen is her seeing Medusa everywhere and telling herself over and over it's not real and she's not there. When SE characters are threatened, though, they tend to flare out their souls--and that's what Maka has been using as a means of defending herself against the shadows without her weapon partner. Without a specific target due to confusion, though, the light will be shining everywhere and all over the place. It won't hurt people that aren't shadows/super duper evil insane, it might even help with her other tactic of reassuring people that it's going to be all right, but it will tax Maka quite a lot.

...Shonen logic dictates that she'll still go on even when half-conscious but at the end of it all she's definitely going down for a long nap.

[fortheempire]

She might find herself being taken care of by a tiny blonde emperor if that happens. :D

[soundmind]

Thank based Ioder, she appreciates it even if it's really embarrassing too.

[fortheempire]

shh accept his help child

[soundmind]

who u callin a child, I'm an adult, I have a job and an apartment and everyfink

[fortheempire]

yes and I'm an emperor therefore you are child

[tinyprotector]

WELL. HERE'S A SEVEN-YEAR OLD WITH /ISSUES/.

And there's quite a few of them. Yukio is dealing with a whole lot of fear, being able to see demons and basically attracted demons to him just by existing. On top of that, he is being trained to defeat them, but he has a lot of self-doubt about how to accomplish that, and is experiencing a lot of pressure from his father to succeed and protect everyone around him. He's feeling hopeless and also is constantly in his brother's shadow, since his sibling is the one with Shiro's attention, and the one who's been able to actually protect him in the past.

I think most of his hallucinations will prey on that hopeless feeling, making him imagine he's surrounded by demons and there's no escape. He might also start getting the feeling that he's... not exactly a child, but a tool, and I'd like to play with him just going blank for a bit and not responding to people. But mainly, I think he'll probably. Go around threatening to shoot all the 'demons', fffft.

Claim > Shield Carriers

[solravehmods]

Re: Claim > Shield Carriers

[scarybarrellove]

Ashton will pretty much immediately volunteer to take and hold either the tower or the bridge. Neither he, nor Gyoro and Ururun, are going to take this lying down.

[arrowroot]

Ana will go with Ashston o/

[dragon_moe]

Ixthalluz is going to defend the bridge, where she can take full advantage of her flight capabilities.

[lovelyscissors]

And she will not be alone, even if she rejects dragonriders!

[lovelyscissors]

She will, thus, take the light shield, as there seems to be no current other claimant!

[satanslash]

Rin will take the third shield for the storage room. Smaller area to defend but he'll likely still need help.

[eatmybazooka]

Ryuji will be with Rin!!!! He is after all kin to Lucifer and as such a light demon basically! =D

[satanslash]

Hell yeah let's do this thing!

[eldindragon]

Would Rin and Bon mind having to deal with a pissed dragon? of the groups, they look like the ones potentially best handled to deal with him flipping out-

[satanslash]

DOESN'T MEAN THEY'RE GONNA LIKE IT but sure

[eldindragon]

IDK WHY ANYONE WOULD LIKE IT

he is going to be implying they are female, not wearing anything helpful, and probably have a bad taste in would-be boyfriends at some point

[satanslash]

wow rood volga...

Plotting > Fighters

[solravehmods]

[dragonsorcsandwolves]

Rob's available to help wherever, though despite his appearance he's not an exceptional fighter. He does have three creatures to help him, one for melee fighting, once for long-range fighting, and one for scouting, though none of them are particularly strong yet. He also has some basic healing magic and a non-replenishable stock of potions and poisons that could be used to restrain the victims if needed.

Any preferences as to where he should go?

[arrowroot]

Tower is the second biggest area (not including outside areas like the bridge) so I would imagine they would need a decent amount of help?

Re: Plotting > Fighters

[notsoitsybitsyspider]

Arachne will fight wherever is needed. She'll probably set up web traps and such to try and slow any foes down.

[papiliocaeruleo]

Chloe's only weapon was a pistol she brought from home, which has barely any ammo left. Not that it works well against shadows. She's likely going to take Saul and Ico's method of "hit them with a stick" unless some one has another weapon she can borrow. She's not exactly skilled with anything but that hasn't stopped her in the past. She's just not content to sit on her ass for this one, even though these things terrify her.

[futurepaladin]

Shiro here can help with the fighting, though his effectiveness will drop as he starts to run out of bullets.

Luca will not be so helpful for the actual fighting, but he can be a strong backup. He has some weak magical abilities, but his primary power is that he isn't affected by most magic (the exception being from really really REALLY forceful magic users, magic is based entirely on willpower in his world), so he can possibly be used to help protect people from being affected by magical things.

Re: Plotting > Fighters

[former_endboss]

Mir may go on the offensive and try to hold off a lot of shadows without any help from stupid light orbs-or even counter-attack with AR TONELICO. That would probably blow holes int he castle and complicate things by creating new 'hallways' defined by the giant beams of energy punching holes in the castle's structure.

[arrowroot]

Actually the castle walls would some how hold! Because. Mod mechanics and we really can't have people skipping down new blast-made hallways to places they're not supposed to be yet. Plus this place isn't exactly as structurally sound as it looks anymore so we might not want to have it coming down around everyone's ears.

But that's not to say she can't use the attack at all. It'll still work. There will just be some odd scorch marks on the walls and not much else.

[former_endboss]

We're just gonna have to work harder on that Dungeon Bypass then. :| Because if there's one thing I know about Mir it's that she has no patience for these puzzles or waiting for her allies to reach minimum safe distance.

[arrowroot]

Shhh... all in good time, Mir.

[seaduke]

Duke... will be mildly helpful, if anyone wants to convince the grumpy krityan to come along. He comes with a fancy sword, and aoe magic, as well as very slight and easily overwhelmed resistance to magic (ATM)

He will be avoiding going into his real form and being an entelexeia around anyone though.

Plotting > Anything Else!

[solravehmods]

[fortheempire]

Ioder knows good and well without a sword he's mostly useless when it comes to fighting (and even then his skills are nowhere near as good as his cousin) so he's going to stay in the common areas and do his best to aid anyone who needs bandaging, food or water.

[reflectsmiles]

Zeno will help him with that! He doesn't really wanna fight again without a weapon and this way he can protect people there if necessary

[fortheempire]

Yay help! :D

[seaduke]

Alternatively, Duke tags along for a fight and then starts hauling injured back to safer areas? or providing cover for tiny emperor and fluffball dragon-

[fortheempire]

Something like that would work. Given that Ioder would be focused on other people he would only pause for a moment at this strange version of Duke and not really question it until later.