[EVENT] 4th Wall - SHADOW WALKERS

[khuimods]

Characters: Everyone
Date: July 16-31, 2018
Location: Aifaran and the rest of the archipelago.
Situation: 4th Wall! Temporary Dreamfolk have begun appearing in Aifaran.
Warnings/Rating: None. Though please warn for things in the headers at your own discretion.

Khu Ioduan's first 4th wall event is here - so we'd first like to extend a warm welcome to anyone newcomers to the game. We're excited to have you here and hope you enjoy your time in Khu! For everyone, this is a great opportunity to try out new characters and bounce around ideas - we hope everyone has fun!


And the silence of short days, the silence of the year, the shadow...

ANOMALIES

July had already been a strange month for the inhabitants of Aifaran. The Narrakra returned with more questions than answers about its crew, and the thick fog and and the oppressive heat lingered like an awkward and unwanted houseguest who couldn't take a hint to leave. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, or perhaps it was just the torrid weather getting to people, but some could swear to seeing shadowy figures in the persistent haze.

By the 16th, the sanity of these individuals is no longer in question. The shadowy figures had become abundant for all to see, wandering the city as though in a daze before fading into obscurity.

ARRIVAL

The strange shadows that had appeared throughout the city have manifested… people. Perhaps even people other Dreamfolk recognize. As they step into existence, the obscure phantasms have taken on a sinister countenance. They peer at the world with blank, hollow eyes, and bare a mouth of invisible teeth with malevolent grins. They are otherwise indistinguishable from other shadows save for these alarming features, and they are attached to the newly-arrived Dreamfolk, marking them as somehow...different. Hovering at these visitors' heels, following them around at every step, impossible to banish.

The citizens give them a wide berth, some even crossing the street or outright fleeing in terror to avoid these new arrivals. There have been so many bad omens of late, none are keen to take any chances.

The shadows can't physically affect anything, but boy do they have personality; there's a lot of sinister grinning going on, and they tend to mimed mockery, sometimes going so far as to mimic the emotions of the person they're attached to -- sometimes even those emotions that person might not wish were shown. The extent of this is, of course, within your discretion to play with.

FESTIVAL

The arrival of these especially transient Dreamfolk is usually met with celebration, an impromptu festival that aims to give them a condensed experience of Aifaran in the short time that they're here. The grinning shadow companions that come attached to this particular batch of Dreamfolk has put a slight damper on the usual festivities, but some people are determined to make the best of it.

In order to help make the new Dreamfolk feel more at home, some enterprising individuals have taken it upon themselves to paint the town… greyscale. Instead of the usual riot of color, a small area around the Dreaming Bridge is quickly decorated in greys and blacks. An few enterprising confectioners start selling candied versions of the grinning phantasms; some of them are true to nasty form, but others have been made to look much cuter than the actual shadows attached to people. All, of course, are delicious. In the same fashion, some tailors have conspired to provide plushies in similar form.

It's not all fun and games. A theatrical troupe takes over a shopfront for rent and turns it into a haunted house featuring spooky legends from around the archipelago. The troupe makes a serious effort at being scary, including a convincing representation of the Night Fisher lurking in the building - although if anyone comments on this creature, the staff will only give them confused looks and insist that wasn't one of the attractions.

---

OOC Notes:

4th Wall visitors are going to be arriving with a maniacally grinning shadow dogging them for their stay in Aifaran. These specters cannot be banished or destroyed, but nor can they interact with anything physically, including the visitor themselves! They make up for it in BIG PERSONALITY though, because they're kind of shitheads.

* * *

Just a quick reminder that anyone is welcome to the 4th Wall event whether they play or have ever played in Khu Ioduan or not, and that both canon and original characters, as well as CRAU and canon OCs are allowed. If you are unsure whether your visiting character falls under these categories, check out our Application FAQ for more detail!

Please note that we do not accept AU characters like genderbends/Rule 63 characters, crack versions (like fandom Abridged series), etc. If you have any questions, please ask us!

The newcomers are Dreamfolk and will ICly be referred to as such by the native residents of Aifaran, but there are a couple of important differences between them and the Dreamfolk who live in the city long-term, namely:

• Fourth-wall characters will not have Talent tattoos. In a nutshell: Dreamfolk usually get a magical tattoo with that provides them with a new ability upon arrival. This tattoo is also what keeps Dreamfolk anchored to Aifaran's world, Konryu.


• Fourth-wall characters will be able to reply to network posts, but not create their own. This will be explained as a Dreaming glitch -- the consoles and yimos will register their names, but not let them make their own broadcasts, similar to how a real-life forum distinguishes between someone being logged-in and someone being logged-out while still labeling their replies with a nickname. Fourth-wall characters can also reply to character's IC inboxes using this same reasoning. Similarly, due to the way the community’s posting/membership allowances work, fourth-wall characters will not be able to make their own logs but are encouraged to make use of the mod-posted or catch-all posts made by members of the game. (Catch-all posts are essentially those made to cover a great length of time or a particular setting.)


• We'd like to remind everyone that this is a "live" 4th wall, meaning that what happens during the event will be completely remembered after the event ends, and any setting impact/changes/decisions that occur because of the 4th wall characters will be upheld.


• If you are bringing a character back that you've played during a previous 4th Wall event in our legacy game Tu Shanshu, you are welcome to have them remember that previous time! Or, if you'd prefer to bring them in "fresh", that's fine too. And of course, any characters who were previously played in game (either Tu Shanshu or Khu Ioduan) can retain those memories.


• Don’t forget the Setting page is available here as well, for your setting-related needs as the event progresses. Please note that while powers are typically not nerfed in the Khu Ioduan setting, we do limit world-or-game breaking powers as a matter of course. We welcome everyone to try out the game’s setting, but characters who are brought in solely to disrupt or "break" the game will be asked to leave.


• For organization purposes, we'd greatly appreciate it if logs and network posts involving 4th wall characters could be tagged with the %4th wall comm tags. Your mods thank you!

CHARACTER SIGNUPS & POSTING

Our 4TH WALL EVENT CHECK IN comment for characters wishing posting access for the duration of the event is open! Remember that you can request new characters to be added even after the beginning of the event, up until July 31st, the last day of the event and the day when the fourth-wall characters will ICly disappear from the city.

After that point, posting access will be maintained for any guest characters up until August 8th, to allow any threads still being played out to finish up. However, we do request that no 4th wall characters tag any posts dated August 1st and onward, as ICly their characters would have left the city by that point.

If you have any questions regarding these rules for the 4th wall, please ask them in the OOC Questions comment below.

Comments

[starryscales]

"Yes, two readings, ten of currency. You catch on quick." There might've been a note of sarcasm in his tone, but he doesn't pause long enough to make it obvious, instead giving her a quick, intent look before picking the deck back up. "Then we start with first question. Watch the cards. Keep your question at front of your mind." Tolunai cut and shuffled the deck twice over before placing four cards on the table in front of her, face down, each at a diagonal to the next. Once finished, he set the rest of the deck aside and hovered a hand over the four chosen cards.

"To know how to answer question, we start by looking at family's mood and energy. It matters more than you think." He flipped over the card to reveal the Five of Cups, illustrated with an elven man looking down upon three overturned cups, the other two still standing. "This is not good sign. It is showing that they struggle to accept what is happening. They start to grieve, though she is not yet gone. Your family begins to lose hope."

"The second card shows what you need to know at this moment." Tolunai flipped over the second card, which showed The Lovers - two goddesses in elaborate robes, facing each other with linked hands. "Eh. This is strange in reading for family, but the Lovers also show partnership. This partnership, it is important that you seek it out soon as possible. It is vital in some way to solving this problem."

"The next card shows what outside force is influencing problem." He flipped over the card to reveal to her the Wheel of Fortune, with strange winged creatures dancing around a wheel marked with symbols. "This card stands for cycles of inevitable change. This means more than a change in season - it is fate coming to call and it cannot be ignored."

"The final card is what you must not do, no matter what." Now Tolunai turns over The Hierophant. The image is of an aged elf with a long beard, sitting on a throne of cold stone. "Hmm. This is card for conforming to tradition or following rules. This reading says, don't do that. If there is way to save your sister, it won't be by ducking your head down and doing what others do."

Did that answer her question? Perhaps not, but Tolunai does add, "Seeing future in certain terms is difficult. These cards say, it is too early to know for sure when you can take these steps for better outcome."

[ilda]

Whatever misgivings Ilda might've had with Tolunai began to vanish as his reading progressed, replaced by a growing horror at how bleak his predictions seemed to be. Not yet gone, but already grieving? Losing hope? But what could she do, for Ingride and for the rest of her family, when she was trapped in another world, so far away from home?

She took a deep breath to steady herself, just as he moved to the second card. A partnership to seek out, to solve the problem... what did that mean? A wish? She thought of Yato, but didn't he already say that her sister's situation was beyond his power? So it must be someone else, or something else. But what could she do, when she had no idea what she was looking for?

And then Tolunai said something about fate. Fate, destiny -- she hated those words. To be at the mercy of others who actually had power to make things better, but simply wouldn't, for one reason or another... the anger she'd felt a couple of weeks ago, the same anger that led her to start that temple riot, albeit unintentionally, was beginning to resurface. But what could she do, when she was just a girl, when she didn't have the power to alter fate?

But it was his reading of the last card that struck her the most. The Hierophant, the card for conforming to tradition. And she was to not do what the card said, no matter what. No matter what.

And all of a sudden the solution, the way out, was crystal clear. Yet the cost---

"I... I think I'm good." Ilda was deathly pale, like she'd seen a ghost. Her voice quivered as much as the hand she extended to set down five rhinn on the table. "T-Thank you for your time. I..." She stood up, wobbling for a moment as if she might faint. "Thank you."

If there is way to save your sister, it won't be by ducking your head down and doing what others do.

She ran.

[starryscales]

The reading hadn't been on a pleasant topic, so Tolunai had been expecting the usual response to readings about death - dejected comments, perhaps a little weeping, and a need for his customers to get their feelings off of their chest. It was quite rare indeed that he had a customer that had a reading done and then walked off without talking about it. Even rarer still was to see this girl turn so pale in response to it.

"Wait!" Tolunai called after Ilda, the thickest parts of his accent suddenly gone as he dropped his act. "What about your love reading?!" It seemed that his protests came a little too late - she was already well down the road, leaving Tolunai alone at his table as his shadow mimed pointing and laughing at him.

With an indignant huff, Tolunai scooped up the rhinn and shoved it safely in one of his pockets. "Damn it all. I'm spinning it into a pleasant platitude next time."