peckenpaugh | HE IS HERE

the vines have run wild

it's over Everything is in shambles. Walls and floors torn and broken from roots and branches sprouting through. They block doors and crowd passages and pulse with sick life. The Thing sits in the center of it all, angry and starving, its trunk both still and moving in ways you catch only when it is in the corner of your vision. Branches that look less like bark and more like skin stretch in every direction, lush with shadowy leaves and dotted with bits of glowing blue. The ruined floor is littered with those little twinkling dots. Seeds. Everywhere, seeds. They hang on boughs, and rest on banisters in the upper levels. The one thing in this nightmare that doesn't radiate that awful, pervasive hunger.

The roof is gone, replaced with a writhing canopy of shadow and muck. Some parts of it are complex spiderwebs of tendrilly shapes, others solid formless movement. The only consistent thing about it is that it is terrible to behold, faintly nauseating to look at for too long. Ash rains down between gaps in its branches, and what glimpses of sky are visible are nothing but swirling gray clouds. What stars still shine are magic, man-made, floated between balconies by prom committee before the dance.

Those remaining begin to stir. Each one of you has heard Pocket's words, "Find the roots." And if you want to save your friends, your family, the holler — hell, maybe even the world — that's exactly what you're going to do.

You climb from protective cocoons of dying moss, push your way past walls of solid ice, emerging into utter destruction. Things move and make noise at the edge of your vision, but for now, at least, all is calm. What to do? Where to start?

it's ruined Among the twinkling maple seeds are the dropped possessions of students and staff, lost when they were pulled away. A compact mirror, a cell phone, a pair of glasses, cups of punch spilling across the floor. A single red heel sits at the edge of the jagged pit that peers down into the Sorting Path. The air here is hot. Too hot. If you jump, you'll surely be boiled alive.

Though locked when everyone tried to flee, vines and roots have torn the doors to the auditorium off their hinges. The splintered remains of heavy oak doors litter the entrance halls and stairwell alcoves, leaving an open path outside. Not that you'd want to flee, by the looks of it.

A cool night breeze is the only relief from the growing heat of the auditorium, yes, but even that is tainted by the heavy scent of flowers. Outside, vines and purple flowers have exploded over every surface. They climb up lamp posts, engulf buildings whole, hang from trees. It would be beautiful if it weren't horrifying. Campus is unrecognizable.

there is no hope Roots and vines clog the way to the Sorting Path, and most stairwells are completely obstructed by the growths of that horrible tree. Up above, something buzzes and wails, a mockery of a cicada's cry, and beyond that the twittering of birds nesting in the tree's highest branches.

Pouch coalesces in the middle of it all, a one-winged magimagicicada, weak and weary but undaunted. Resolute, if not reinvigorated. He bends down to touch a seed, and the moment his obsidian fingers light on it, a blue-white portal to somewhere else rips right through reality. A memory begins to play. Somehow, the bug seems to know what he's seeing.

She gave us what we need, the one who ran says to the gathered students, his voice in their heads as much as the air. Let's all not let her down, huh?

Find your friends. Find my siblings. It's time to fight.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yeahhhhh!" Imogen cheers, like this is a Quidditch game and Armani just did something really cool.

She shakes and kicks her foot urgently, doing her best to pull up and away as he attacks.

Initially, the vine is able to hold onto Imogen's leg, but her violent twisting and kicking eventually overwhelms the enervated plant and she's able to slip away. Below her, Armani lands several frantic but shallow blows to the vine...before the blade becomes embedded in it and the handle breaks off in his hand. (ROLLED 4). It's just a kitchen knife, after all.

The still-sluggish vine twists and writhes, slowly turning toward its new target.

Ah, yes, the approval he craves!! From a cool older girl!!! He is thriving!!!

"Keep going!" he calls up to her, feeling very cool and brave in this moment despite being left holding only a knife handle. He drops it and hops a step back, pulling his obsidian pendant from his neck and spinning it around by its chain.

Obsidian is a protective stone. And now it's an ass whoopin' stone.

He swings at the vine with it, hoping to wrap it around so he can strangle it and cut through it with the chain.

Slightly concussed, Tony props himself up on his left elbow and hollers, "Whip its ass! Wh-CHEH!"

"Keep 'em busy!"

Now free, Imogen clambers up the tree and onto the roof, where she stretches her arms, waving her hands until something happens.

While speed and sense are beginning to return to the vine, its state gives Armani enough of an advantage that he's able to strike it a few times with the swinging stone and then catch it with the chain, the metal fitting neatly into one of the cuts created by the knife. (ROLLED 7) He pulls hard and the chain tears through the plant's flesh, finally severing it. The vine goes still and flops to the ground like a dead snake.

Above, Imogen finds that she has to get up on her tip toes, but she's able to reach out and touch one of the stars. It's warm and unexpectedly solid, allowing her to wrap her hand around it.

Once she pulls on one of the stars, the whole constellation begins to come free like bright gems on a golden chain. When the final star comes free, motion slowly returns to the scene behind them and the group turns to see Kes taking Merlin's small hand in hers and pointing it toward the stars. The Draco constellation now shines with unparalleled brightness, even brighter than the golden mimic in Imogen's hand.

"...Right there."

Able to see it for himself now, Merlin seems relieved and gives a small nod. A few more words are exchanged between the siblings, but they've become softer and more difficult to hear, and then the little boy is pulling himself to his feet. He offers his hand to his older sister as if he can actually pull her up and the girl does an admirable job of selling that as she too rises to her feet. The pair then disappears into the caravan. The door remains open, now seeming to lead somewhere else: back to the studio.

[MEMORY COMPLETE: NPC defeated. Linchpin recovered. You may continue to thread or move back to Peckenpaugh by taking the rowboat through the portal.]

Edited 2020-06-06 02:20 (UTC)

Armani heaves a sigh of relief. "We did it!" He wipes his chain off on the inside hem of his cloak then drapes it back around his neck.

He offers out his hands to Tony to help him up, looking a lot like baby Merlin trying to help his much bigger sister.

"Merlin should be right through that portal. We can see him."

Edited 2020-06-06 03:32 (UTC)

Imogen, Armani and Tony have completed the memory "Saying Goodbye"!

Upon emerging from the memory out into the auditorium, the portal snapped shut behind them.

At the base of the tree, Merlin Pletcher was freed.

Imogen, Armani and Tony receive 7 tokens for solving the puzzle and completing the thread!

They receive another 3 tokens for completing an encounter and 1 point for retrieving the linchpin.

You can check your token totals in Pouch's shop here, and maybe see if there's anything worth grabbing while you're there!

HE IS HERE

MEMORY: Saying Goodbye

MEMORY: Saying Goodbye

MEMORY: Saying Goodbye

MEMORY: Saying Goodbye

MEMORY: Saying Goodbye

MEMORY: Saying Goodbye

MEMORY: Saying Goodbye - COMPLETE

MEMORY: Saying Goodbye - COMPLETE