January Event: Fade to Black

[lifeaftr_mods]

JANUARY EVENT: FADE TO BLACK

Those who have spoken with Balance may be aware that the avatar is in extreme distress, given the absolute imbalance of their land. You may also be aware that they're more than willing to take action to resolve it. And in order to do so, they're going to need some help. Your help, actually. Any willingness to help is appreciated. In fact, anyone's conversations with the avatar of Monsun may have been taken as a blanket agreement from all adventurers for the events about to unfold…

In other words, you can't really blame them for what's about to unfold, can you?

Darker: You're Ruled by All the Things You Fear

By January 21st, adventurers may notice their friends are acting a little…off. Rather outspoken, in fact, about their vices, their negative opinions, their secrets…particularly when the voiced grievances relate to whomever they are currently speaking. Characters prone to or capable of violence may act on those instincts and urges more readily. Theft, arson, and apathy run rampant. Really, it's almost like no one is acting as themselves, anymore.

That might be due to them not being the person you know, though they'll stubbornly insist that they are. Their shadow, to be more precise.

Their true self. Those familiar with Persona and the more traditional sort of Shadow Event will have an inkling as to what comes next. From January 21st to January 23rd, characters' Shadows may be found anywhere currently accessible within LifeAftr - speaking the ugly truth, committing crimes, and ultimately seeking out a confrontation with their original. They will insist on being accepted for what they are: a brutal, bitterly honest recreation of a character's worst flaws, darkest fears, and deepest secrets. And, if they are denied, are happy to self-destruct with cruel finality - an action that will surely take their original down with them.

These facets of the self are practically identical to the person whose flaws they personify. The only exception is the animal shine of their eyes when exposed to focused beams of light.

Whether accepted or not, these Shadows will disappear from the archipelago by midnight on January 23rd - though, unfortunately for our adventurers, these mischievous spirits will not be the only ones dropping in for a visit.

Yet Darker: Can You Feel the Way Your Face Distorts

Having a heavy case of déjà vu?

If your character has already survived a similar scenario, if you yourself have experienced it several times before, or if you're not quite ready to expose some of your character's worst secrets, we have an optional alternative for this section of the event, for those who'd prefer not to opt out of a Shadow entirely.

As with many of our hardworking higher beings, Balance will be doing their best to create the desired effect and, as a result, inspire balance within characters. There is, however, a slight hitch to said plan. With the intended effect being projected across LifeAftr, to say that Balance is desperately pushing their limits is an understatement. Under such conditions, errors are likely…almost guaranteed.

As the Shadows converge upon the archipelago, some Shadows won’t be- precisely as intended. In some cases, Shadows won’t so much convey the bad so much as they themselves are- bad. There's edgy, and there's too edgy. Stubborn and tryhard. Character flaws and tropes that skim the line between realistic and...being features that, say, certain subsets of fans like a little too much. These, er, "shadows" will be appearing at the same time as their far deadlier counterparts, meaning that some characters may find their shadows are competing for the dubious title of "Can Make Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way Jealous" which…we suppose is an achievement. We suppose.

Unlike the more traditional Shadows, these unfortunate duds are rather harmless, about as capable of causing harm as they are in fighting their way out of a wet paper bag. Ignore them, if you like - or do away with them! It's doubtful they'll be missed.

Brighter: Bless My Darkness...Bless My Light

Following these potentially lethal (and lethally embarrassing) visitors, adventurers can be thankful for the small lull in activity come January 23rd. But alas, this respite won't last forever. After all, what's better than one doppelgänger?

Two, of course. The Shadows were intent on expressing the worst of what adventurers have to hide. But, because this is an effort made to establish balance, you can't have one without the other. And so this next expression of self takes things in the...opposite direction. You grappled with your Shadow, and now must contend with its very antithesis - your Light. From January 25th to January 28th, the islands will once again be doubly populated, as your second selves flood their shores anew. These doubles are far more approachable, and readily open about the fact that they represent only facets of a person, and not their entire self. But these Lights have plenty to convey nonetheless, ready to expose their original's best qualities and share a few of those softer sentiments with loved ones who may not have heard such affections voiced. Their true goal is to confront their real self, but Lights are unlikely to attempt this alone. Your friends are their power, and they'll collect as many as need be to back them up in what must be the first, and only, confrontation.

For rejecting your Light comes with much harsher consequences than failing to come to terms with your Shadow.

Rejection Rooms: The Real Face of All Your Enemies

Characters intent on rejecting their Light will find themselves irrevocably drawn to Monsun's shores. They might not even be aware of it - driven by their rage, their paranoia, their fear, or all of the above, and more. Monsun, for its part, is happy to receive them. Its landscape has become so warped over time...and those parts of Monsun consumed by shadow will start to distort, molding into structures that such characters are only too happy to hide within: Rejection Rooms. Rejection Rooms are similar to the Mind Palaces seen in Persona 5, wherein afflicted characters change the appearance of the room with metaphorical interpretations of their shaken psyche. For example: for a character bound by duty or the expectations of others, chains may be a common theme. Paranoia may exhibit itself with seemingly cute and soft objects that in actuality contain deadly sharp surfaces, or burn the hand that touches them.

In contrast to Mind Palaces, however, a Rejection Room does not contain several levels of twisted labyrinth to struggle through. They are, after all, just a singular room. Some will be large and wide, some will be narrow but impossibly high, and so on. A single room hardly constitutes for a labyrinth, most would agree - but it does make for a rather fetching boss room. And the boss?

Why, that's you, of course.

Characters driven to their Rejection Room will be capable of exhibiting additional strength and powers that may be approved from currently nerfed abilities, or created solely for this battle. And they're not inclined to listen to reason, either; instead, it's up to their fellow adventurers to beat some sense into their rattled noggins. Those who challenge the Rejection Rooms need not worry about death for themselves - damage taken within the rooms will simply translate to exhaustion outside of it, with seemingly mortal wounds leading to expulsion from the room itself, and an inability to re-enter.

The same holds true for the boss of each Room. Failure to beat them into expulsion means that the Room will continue to feed from their wildly catastrophizing mind, until there's nothing left to save at all.

Opting into creation of a Rejection Room will require completing the form down below. Keep in mind that players will be restricted to opting in one character only. As we may need to cut off the opt-in process dependant on interest, please note your interest as soon as possible. You are welcome to continue editing your opt in over the coming days as you flesh out the details. We also heavily encourage ensuring others are happy to plot out an intervention with your Rejection Room, as failure to save characters will result in a guaranteed death for the character influenced by the room itself.

Please extend a warm thank you to Coco, player of Ann Takamaki (ladytakamaki) and Acxa (sideswitch), for the suggestion and logistics involved in this part of the event!

Odds and Ends: Can You Stomach It Anymore

By January 28th, both the Lights and the Rejection Rooms will disperse. Monsun will be restored to its relatively clear self - no longer struggling with and overlap of shadowscapes and the patterns of Ziziphus's vines. Of course, all its usual effects will remain...and on the western side at least, more than a few spots of Ziziphus's meadowland and trees may remain. Almost like a memento. Please also note that should your character perish in this event, you should submit to our Deaths page accordingly. Balance, however, will be grateful for your aid in restoring their island to its more evened-out self, and will be lending the Storyteller some aid in bringing back those who perish. Thus, death penalties will be reduced for this event.

So take care.

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] January 10th: Monsun reappears, and is accessible via mana pool.
[ ♆ ] January 20th: The monthly Storytelling occurs.
[ ♆ ] January 21st: Shadows of both initial variants appear.
[ ♆ ] January 23rd: Shadows of both initial variants disappear.
[ ♆ ] January 25th Lights and Rejection Rooms appear.
[ ♆ ] January 28th: Lights and Rejection Rooms dissipate. Those still trapped in their Rejection Rooms by the event's end will suffer a character death.

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

REJECTION ROOM OPT-IN

[lifeaftr_mods]

Player Name:
Character Name/Journal:
Room Overview: To give us (and you!) an idea of what your Rejection Room conveys. What size is the room? What objects or elements can be found, and what do they represent? Is there anything that others can interact with? Can objects damage characters, or be used in the fight?
Desired Boss Moves: This is your opportunity to be a little OP. Describe up to five moves your character could have in their room. As we encourage moves that suit the nature of your character or the Rejection Room's theme, powers such as flight, teleportation, summoning projectiles or weaker enemies, and other varieties of magic will likely get the green light. Healing moves should be limited in use to allow others the chance of defeating your boss! Additionally, keep in mind that all moves should have the opportunity within for characters to partially or completely dodge an attack.

<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Character Name/Journal:</b> <b>Room Overview:</b> List your ideal room here! <b>Desired Boss Moves:</b> List as many as you like here!

EXAMPLE ONLY

[lifeaftr_mods]

Player Name: Our Most Beautiful Bird
Character Name/Journal: Chara (achievementhunter)
Room Overview:

Chara's room is almost cathedral-like; awash with a golden light, the high ceilings and walls are decorated with long, stained-glass windows. Each bears an identical depiction of a strange symbol. Marble pillars are almost randomly dispersed about the room- hiding in their shadows will make characters invulnerable to attack.

Crowds of monsters fill the edges of the room, constantly reaching for Chara with grasping hands and expressions that vary between reverence, grief, anger, and terror. Coming into contact with these monsters deals 3HP damage (explanation below), but they will always reach for wherever Chara currently is, giving a slight advantage for sharp-eyed characters.

Desired Boss Moves:

-Not Above Consequences: At the beginning of the battle, Chara summons the SOUL of every person participating in the battle. Any damage taken will be accrued by this SOUL, with all characters starting with 99HP. Consequentially, all Chara's attacks and environmental elements cause an exact amount of damage.

-How Do You Like My Knife Knife Knife Sword: Chara summons a ring of red knives that shoot outwards from their position; being hit by one takes 9HP.

-Who Am I: Chara splits into three exact copies- two fake, one real. Attacking the fakes will cause them to disappear, but also result in 18HP damage. If characters hit the real Chara, however, both copies disappear, and Chara takes the resulting 18HP damage.

-ERASE This Pointless World: Up to three times during the FIGHT, Chara can ERASE a section of the environment, up to 10ft in diameter. This black void can still be walked upon, but causes 9HP damage on initial contact and 9HP damage for every 30 seconds of continued contact after. This void cannot spread into the shadows of columns.

-LOAD SAVE POINT 1: In traditional FIGHT etiquette, Chara will only attack once, before allowing rescuers to take their own turn. Attempts to interrupt or attack during Chara's turn will LOAD characters back to the positions they were in prior to the interruption. Causing a LOAD twice in a row will cause the entire party to take 9HP damage, and Chara will attack before another opportunity can be taken.

On the plus side, this does mean during the rescuer's turn, Chara will only dodge, so that's nice!

[scourgingstars]

Player Name: Nao
Character Name/Journal: Ardyn Izunia | scourgingstars
Room Overview:

A destroyed throne room; the sky past the broken wall is without stars or moon, the only outside light a sickly glow from a mostly blacked-out sky. Indistinct human-shaped shadows line the walls at floor-level, standing at attention like a royal council in silent witness to a coronation. If one gets a chance to see outside, there is a massive city spread out far below...but with no lights or sign of life, scattered rubble and smoldering fires littering the destroyed streets.

The crystal chained above the throne glows constantly, and if in Scourge of the Stars mode Ardyn refuses to approach that side of the room due to the light, making nearer the throne a safer area from which to strategize or attack.

Desired Boss Moves:

Armiger - At the start of battle, Ardyn summons thirteen phantom weapons. However, of these he uses only four: Blade of the Mystic, Sword of the Wise, Bow of the Clever, or the detachable twin blades of the Sword of the Wanderer. He is only able to utilize one at any given time, and takes a few unguarded seconds to switch between them. Armiger must be active to utilize Apocalypsis Ardere, and can not be active in order to use World of Ruin.

Warp-Strike - Ardyn throws a weapon and teleports in a straight line and visible trail of red light to attempt a single-target attack with the weapon that was used to initiate warping. As the trail telegraphs where he's going, it's easily avoided or intercepted by moving aside/blocking.

Apocalypsis Ardere - Dismissing whatever weapon he holds, Ardyn's phantom swords realign themselves into a horizontal cyclical formation, all thirteen acting as wildly fired projectiles over a wide area of effect. The attack is inaccurate as it relies on numbers over finsse, and Ardyn himself is completely unguarded for the duration and following time it takes to realign the Armiger. Inflicts light-elemental physical damage.

Scourge of the Stars - If pushed far enough, Ardyn has a chance to completely dismiss his Armiger and weaponry, moving into a second phase by showing his true face. He fights unarmed at this point, commanding projectile shadows from his hands. Most of his combat skill and accuracy is lost in the process, exchanged for brute strength with far more openings and vulnerabilities. In this form he is also weakened by bright light sources as well as taking double damage from light-elemental abilities and anti-daemon weapons. Changing phases can be interrupted/postponed, as losing the Armiger leaves him without a defense for the time it takes to switch. No cutscene invincibility here, folks.

World of Ruin - Gathering dark magic similar to his projectiles, Ardyn unleashes an area of effect blast centralized around himself and reaching about a five foot radius. While the initial charge time is short, it is possible to interrupt. After the impact itself he is left completely unable to attack for a short time. It can also be blocked, leaving an even longer window for a counterattack. Inflicts dark-elemental physical damage.

CW undeath/body horror, mind control mushrooms, medical trauma

[cacoethes_mori]

Player Name: Raile
Character Name/Journal: Foster van Denend cacoethes_mori
Room Overview: Welcome to Escher's hospital room--the distortion is reflective of Foster's actual brainmeat, a spatial misalignment chamber made of shifting splinter fragments. Various pieces of a nurse's station, surgery, ICU, MRI chamber, and so on are all present. There's a static hospital bed with a copy of Foster in it, but he's nonresponsive. All objects in the room are physically real, from the MRI readouts to the IV poles. The walls indicate this may be a children's hospital--most of them are various pastels, pinks and blues and yellows and greens. There are no windows. The most useful object in the room are the syringes are full of radioactive green liquid known as Reagent, and those will actually buff you if you're reckless enough to inject yourself with their contents, bestowing super strength and stamina as well as healing physical injuries (broken bones, etc.) Foster never makes use of them himself for Reasons, so if no one tries it, they're basically decorative. Notably, picking one of these syringes up will make you his target immediately.

Otherwise, Foster himself will not approach anyone holding medical paraphernalia--his medical records won't save you, but a stethoscope will.

Desired Boss Moves:

Control Freak- Summoning/animating undead versions of his original human self out of the hospital bed to serve as weaker mob spawns. Like Magitroika undead, they don't need any specific body parts to continue to function, so you can decapitate them or cut their arms off all you want without ill effect, but they don't have any special abilities otherwise. Because they're 'animated' rather than 'raised' (ie soulless) they also operate in a 'static' or mindless fashion, meaning all action is entirely at his direction. If you distract him sufficiently they'll just continue to follow whatever command he last willed them to. Max of two at a time, and each time he replaces one, he's reusing the same body. The more of them he has to re-re-reanimate, the less stable they are and the more perverted from their original appearance. Eventually he'll just have an uncontrolled abomination and have to stop because fuck that.

The Earth Will Overflow - The precondition for this involves him bleeding onto the floor in some way. The Earth Spirit from AU Portland (I'm so sorry) coalesces out of it as a massive bear-shaped apparition and wrecks anything in its path as it heads for the door. You can dodge it if you're willing to cram into a corner or dive into the MRI machine, but it can't be killed and it will just run you over if you try. Good news is, it also obliterates any Undead Fosters that happen to be active at the time.

It's All In Who You Know - Foster becomes increasingly covered in rot and fungi as he takes damage, but he can use his mushrooms to produce spores (I'm SO sorry) that will charm a single opponent briefly, effectively turning them to his side. Whether this counts as pure mental domination or his opponent just takes his side for a bit is up to the player. He can only perform this on one person at a time, and cannot do this when Undead Fosters are active. This will cause mushrooms to proliferate somewhere on the afflicted person's body (I'm SO... SORRY), which can be removed by others to remove his control. This can result in anything from him attacking others using his controlled victim to using his control over the victim to make them damage themself. (For clarity: depending on the player's permissions, this might just mean he runs the character into a wall repeatedly.)

It's Britney, Bitch! - All his bodily fluids (which... hopefully just means blood and spit and like... sebaceous fluids) are acidic, and will inflict burns of increasing severity in accordance to volume of blood/length of contact. That's it. That's his last line of defence. He's basically one of those bosses that tries to keep you from hitting him.... er, while encouraging you enthusiastically to hit him. Whatever.

[ideismo]

Player Name: Dal
Character Name/Journal: Alexei Dinoia | ideismo

Room Overview:
The room is circular and very large in size; the walls appear to be made of waterfalls, perpetually flowing down into a deep pool of water below. Four columns are protruding from the water, equidistant from each other around the room, each bearing a bright green crystal hovering atop them. The sky above seems bright, though a long way off over the top of the waterfalls; it's likely that it's not a proper sky, just a construct of the room designed to look that way, but it's pretty convincing. The "floor", as it were, is a few feet above the pool itself - a raised, narrow structure leading out onto a large, diamond-shaped platform.

Welcome to the Enduring Shrine of Zaude.

A pair of people are here with him, blank-eyed and seeming to have no true will of their own; they're simply standing very still and seem to be waiting for orders. Otherwise, the room is very open; it's clear of obstacles, but it's also clear of anything that you may find useful in a fight. Basically, you're on your own.

Desired Boss Moves:
Overlord Reign - At the start of the battle, Alexei will incite those blank-eyed people near him to assist him in the fight. The former, Schwann Oltorainn, is armed with a sword and is singlemindedly focused on defending Alexei at the cost of not seeming to care if he takes damage. The latter, Princess Estellise, is armed with a heavy white rod and a shield; she will only defend herself if attacked and generally will not fight you, and is instead going to be focused on using her (very limited) healing abilities on Alexei if he takes too much damage. They will not use any proper artes against you, however, and while they're certainly a nuisance they go down like well-trained but otherwise normal people if engaged.

Ancient Catastrophe - The four stones set up around the edges of the room glow brightly for a few brief seconds before firing off concentrated beams of light into the center of the room in a large cross pattern, damaging anything they manage to strike. The rays of light are thin and easily dodged, and the pattern is obvious, consistent, and easily predictable, and again, there's a warning beforehand.

Blast Heart - Upon coming in close contact with someone, Alexei will grab them, pull them close, and magically inscribe a glyph on their chest. The glyph will glow for several seconds before exploding, inflicting burn damage that will worsen gradually but continually over the course of battle until the target is eventually incapacitated. Requires the target to be within grabbing distance and unable to break free of him before he can finish what he's doing. Can be interrupted by way of breaking contact with him before he finishes or otherwise interrupting him somehow. Incapacitation takes a fairly long time to hit in its entirety; the inflicted burns can also be healed completely if someone in the room has a way to do that. The actual blast is non-fatal, just loud and bright and otherwise there for the mildly alarming aesthetic.

Brilliant Cataclysm - Alexei's sword, Dein Nomos, is filled with a large amount of energy and thrown at his nearest opponent; if not dodged, the hit will do mild damage. The sword will then be magically guided into striking the center of the room, where the strike radius spreads to cover most of the room and detonates upwards into columns of light that will deal moderate to heavy damage. It's not an instant fatality, and can be avoided by being closer to the edges of the room as opposed to the center when it hits. It requires an invocation to cast, it can be dodged, and he always calls the attack before the strike to the center of the room lands. Alexei is rendered unable to move or focus for several seconds after Brilliant Cataclysm is cast. If Schwann and Estelle are still active, they are also hit by the attack and will take double damage from it.

Brave Vesperia - The sky above seems to ripple, darkening in a hexagonal fractal pattern from a fixed point; the fractals spread quickly, enveloping the sky above and casting the room into a darkened state. As long as the darkness remains active, those attempting the fight will not be damaged, but will be struck with crippling fear; however, fear can be fought through, and the effect will be broken once someone manages to land a hit on Alexei directly. What constitutes a hit does not have to be conventional battle damage; you can slap him across the face and tell him to knock it off and that'll count. Cannot be activated while Schwann and Estelle are still standing. If one looks upward while the room is still darkened, it's possible to see some sort of black...mass that's shot through with strange purple energy up there, though it doesn't seem to have any defined features outside of that and it isn't approaching. It's just up there, being ominous.

did i name them all after vesperia mystic artes? yes. do any of them work like that? except for alexei's, absolutely not. do i care? nah.

[timaeus_testified]

Player Name: Sam
Character Name/Journal: Dirk Strider timaeus_testified
Room Overview:

Dirk's room is fairly straight forward. The battle will take place on the roof top. The room is awash with green light and lightning splits the sky fairly often but it's all harmless. Even his companions aren't a threat. Not at first anyway.

Throughout the fight, there will be a sense of a looming threat and of business unfinished. The longer the fight goes on the more lightning will be in the sky and some distant light in the distance. When Dirk is clearly struggling the boy in red will tense up and shift the grip on his sword. If Dirk goes down, he will rush in. This is a high damage phase, where Dirk takes twice as much damage if the other boy is hurt.

If one can't follow Dirk's speed don't worry, the boy will have his eyes fixed on him at all times. Explanation on high damage phase and all below. This battle will be done in turns so it's always possible to dodge or deal some form of damage.
Desired Boss Moves:

The Prince is awake: Dirk enters the fight at high speed with the intention to throw fighters off and stunt them if possible. The damage taken here is light. Being stunned lasts one turn.

Your shit is wrecked: During the start, middle, and end of the fight Dirk will attempt to strike every combatant one after the other in moderate damage strikes of his sword. You can dodge it. The trick is to see his shadow in front of his next target.

Time is on my side: It takes three solid hits to stun Dirk then Dave enters the fight. He's fast as Dirk but will be hampered by trying to stay where Dirk is. Every strike on Dave causes double damage to Dirk. Three hits to Dave and Dirk will come back into the fight, causing Dave to back off and be unable to be damaged again.

Beatup: Dirk charges up and lashes out with his soul powers. If you're hit with this you're stunned, but he has to take a turn to charge it and turn two is aiming and firing. This is super easy to dodge. Once he completes it if failed he enters a stunned phase and Dave is available to be damaged to land double damage on Dirk. If he is successful the other character enters double damage instead.

Sweet dreams, Timaeus: After the last dash about to attempt to hit everyone, Dirk dodges more than he fights. It's as if he surrendered to inevitability. All characters take half the damage they did before from Dirk. Two more hits later and he's down.

[alchemisted]

Player Name: Sam
Character Name/Journal: Alfor / alchemisted
Room Overview:

For those who know Voltron, a bit like the simulation flower fields of Altea. For those who don't know Voltron, it's a open, idyllic, beautiful field filled with pink/purple flowers. It's beautiful. Except in this particular room, everything is on fire and crumbling to pieces like the whole world is coming apart at the seams. Because it is. Because he's got some guilt issues given what he's found out recently.

Desired Boss Moves:

1. Fire - Basically a fire-breathing Altean now, a large cone of fire. Enjoy the burning. Luckily he has to recharge and can really only manage to use it twice in the battle, and not in immediate succession.

2. Sleep - If Alfor can get a hand on someone else, that person will be dropped to sleep temporarily. The effect is temporary, and anyone else intervening (or the character being attacked/touched) will break the sleep spell.

3. Rift - A chasm opens in the ground, and shadowy tendrils reach up to drag people down into it. The rift is only open for a few seconds at a time, and the shadow entities can be physically attacked and fended off.

4. Flight- Alfor will be able to fly, even without his lion or his jet pack.

5. ...TBD.

[fireindreams]

Player Name: Zee
Character Name/Journal: Troupe Master Grimm / fireindreams
Room Overview: For those who enter this room will find that the Nightmare Realm and Dream Realm have collided together in a jumbled mix. Despite the mess, it appears as if they are supporting each other, light covering the veins of the Nightmare Heart so they cannot be cut or destroyed and the Heart itself containing nothing but pure light and housing it for safe-keeping. Large patches of the floor will be either be filled with red or white while the rest will be blue. Stepping on the white patches will cause the characters to feel sleepy (although not powerfully so) and stepping on the red will cause them to feel wide awake while the blue does nothing.

On occasion the room will shift appearances. The light will vanish, the Nightmare Heart will slowly die, and all the patchwork on the floor and the Heart's veins will tear themselves apart, occasionally belching flames that will do damage upon contact. The effects of the floor will disappear but Grimm will become much more aggressive until the room changes appearances again. Particularly he will be intent on keeping characters away from the dying Nightmare Heart so the key to avoiding his anger will be to simply stay away from it. As Grimm grows weaker this change in appearance will become permanent.

Desired Boss Moves:

Nightmare Binds All: On occasion black tendrils of regret will appear and attempt to latch onto the characters in the room. If successful the tendrils will ignite with flame and consume those attached, which will do no damage. However the affected will suffer a nightmare hallucination. These hallucinations can range from the "appearance" of a character's mortal enemy or being forced to experience a phobia of theirs, although what form these nightmares take will be up to player choice. The visions can last up to three minutes but will be shorter if the affected have taken personal steps to conquer their fears. In addition the visions will do no physical harm (if a character is struck by a blade, for example, it will not hurt them) but if they are not quick on their feet once it ends there is a good chance of taking damage from Grimm's other abilities.

Spikes and Blades: Grimm disappears and spikes erupt from the floor, leaving space for characters to safely stand in-between. However the second the spikes disappear The Radiance's swords will rain down from the sky in sets of four. They too have spaces to dodge in-between but they are quicker then Grimm's spikes so one must act fast. This ability will only activate when the room is in its normal state and is lost when the room permanently changes to its dying form.

Stagger: When Grimm takes enough damage he will stagger and burst into a swarm of Grimmchildren. As in his normal battle in Hollow Knight, characters can still damage Grimm if they strike at the Grimmchild with red eyes. However unlike his boss battle, rather then reforming back into Grimm at the end of his stagger, the Grimmchildren will sink into the ground and suddenly erupt into flame pillars. There will be gaps in-between to stand in where it will be safe. In addition Grimm will always re-appear near the Nightmare Heart so if characters catch on to that it will be easy to sneak in some extra damage.

Flame And Light Wall: A wall of light will appear on the right side of the room and move quickly to the left, stopping just a little ways before hitting the opposing wall and leaving a gap for characters to stand in safely. Shortly after the wall of light disappears, pillars of flame appear and repeat the same process only going left to right and leaving the same amount of room to avoid the attack. This ability is only usable when the room is in its normal state and is lost upon its permanent change.

Beating Red: When Grimm is on his last legs his own heart will rot and occasionally belch ash. Grimm will continue to attempt to attack but will only be able to bring up tiny flames that do little damage. His Nightmare Binds All ability will still be active but those caught in the tendrils will only hear the sounds of a battle they have nothing to do with and a scream.

This is the end.

[lesbeau]

Player Name: Alex
Character Name/Journal: Beauregard (lesbeau)
Room Overview:

Beau's dungeon opens into what looks like an incredible, opulent library. The room is cathedral-like and massive, the ceiling so large the top can almost go unseen into a deep blue dome. Bookshelves stand around the entire expanse, carved into twisting staircases where one may climb and find whatever tome they seek, and even reach higher levels as platforms jut from the walls up the expanse of the tower. It looks like a beautiful place... if it wasn't completely trashed. Books are laid bare and ripped, shelves are knocked on their side with adjacent platforms slumping towards the ground, one even cut in half like it fell just before the door. Chairs and tables lay in splinters or simply shoved to the edges, all culminating into what looks like a massive sinkhole in the center of the tower. If one looks into the bottom level, they'll see the basement entirely filled with sand in a lowered pit speckled in drops and splashes of blood. Around the borders of the room stand what appear to be other monks, in vestments similar to Beau's, but clean cut and at the ready. Four, one in each corner, hold bows and arrows ready to strike. The unarmed monks will be quiet until a challenger enters, and then announce their presence, as well as speak over the course of the fight- they will correct Beau's posture, inform her if an attack is coming after it has hit her, or tell her where she is failing with every strike. None of it will be remotely useful to anyone, except as a distraction and a beat down of every move she makes. A single light, still dangling from the ceiling in the main chamber, is the only illumination. Underneath, Beau stands at the ready, dressed only in brown robes tied at the waist with her hair in a bun of a single blue ribbon, staff on her back.

Welcome, explorers, to the Archive of the Cobalt Soul.

Desired Boss Moves:

You Shall Not Pass: If you get into or try to leave melee range (5 feet) of Beau, you will provoke an attack. If she hits, you are unable to move from where you stand for the next 15 seconds. The sand itself will come out of the ground and anchor your feet into position, where you must stand and fight. Another person can come defend you, and if Beau hits them, they will also be stuck, but on their own counter.

The Next Karate Kid: Each of the archers in the corners will shoot a bolt at Beau once per minute. If she is not directly fighting someone, she can catch those arrows from midair. When she does, she can throw them as if she was shooting the arrow at another character. If she is sufficiently distracted (2 or more fighters engaging) or being held by another character, she will take that damage instead.

Just Getting Started: The more damage Beau takes, the stronger she becomes, but the angrier she gets. When she's under half health, she has an additional 50% less chance of landing hits and catching arrows, but any damage she does is automatically doubled.

Stunning, Ain't She: Beau can choose 3 times per battle to turn her strike into a Stunning Strike. The target must succeed on a DC 14 or be stunned for the next 30 seconds. They can take no movement or reactions, and must simply get fucking wailed on or defended until the duration is over.

Always Watching: When not currently engaged with someone or being attacked, Beau falls into a defensive stance. If she is being attacked by only one person, the first attack will automatically miss, but she will get into combat with that person.

[demonpuppy]

Player Name: Casey
Character Name/Journal: Chip Abaroa demonpuppy
Room Overview:

Chip's room is clearly modeled after a suburban Christian church, though the architecture is warped in increasingly Escher-like ways the closer one is to the pulpit. Everything is leeched of color to the point of only being black and white, with no gradiation even in the lighting. While the pews are empty there is a constant low murmuring among them, alternating between prayer and doubtful whispering speculating on the worthiness and moral purity of the listeners. Behind the pulpit itself the cross has been broken apart and partially lodged into a twisted formation of obsidian that looks almost like a half-broken egg, inside of which Chip does their best to remain hidden. The only light comes from scattered outcroppings of sizeable quartz clusters, all of which glow with a warm and comforting light. Pieces can be broken off and used as weapons, but Chip will do their best to stay away from anyone weilding them.

Chip themself looks normal, save for their eyes being completely black and not reflecting any light.

Desired Boss Moves:

Play Pretend - Chip's main method of attack, they scribble into a notebook and then imbue the drawings with life and power to act as summoned guardians to fight for them. The form of many of these will be strange and demonic in nature--they're a scared little kid, after all--but those with canine attributes will be both tougher and far more tenacious in protecting Chip from harm. These scribble creatures will suffer heavy damage from contact with the quartz, and also avoid getting near the clusters if at all possible.

The Monster Within - If someone manages to get past the scribble creatures, Chip will launch themself out of the egg to attack. When they do so their body warps to make them taller, stronger, and equipped with meaty and massive claws. They are extremely fast in this form and will viciously attack anyone that comes close to them, though if combatants manage to disengage Chip will immediately retreat back into their egg.

Curse You Out - Periodically Chip will inflict combatants with curses of varying forms, generally causing disorientation, general weakness, uncontrollable aggression, or a sapping of vital force to heal their own injuries. Each effect lasts from fifteen seconds to a minute, and a new target is chosen thirty seconds after the last effect has ended.

YEET - This ability triggers automatically if Chip is put in physical contact with any pieces of quartz, no matter what their current state of health is. They scream at the top of their lungs and emit a blast of black energy that pushes all intruders away and slams them with damaging force against the walls, then immediately retreats back into their egg to heal. Better hope you don't hit one of those quartz outcroppings, that's gonna hurt!