[EVENT] March Memory Madness

[khuimods]

Characters: Everyone!
Date: March 5-9
Location: All around Aifaran
Situation: The Dreaming is a bit enthusiastic about the research at the Aisling Tower. Memories ensue.
Warnings/Rating: Shouldn't need any, but add to subject lines as needed!


Outside the Aisling Tower, the first clue anyone will have that something is wrong is small. Little things: trinkets lost, but fondly remembered, appearing in your hand when you reach for something else. A snatch of song that tugs your heartstrings.

That alone might have been nice. Unfortunately, things escalate quickly.

How did memories get loose on Aifaran?

Science Fair

Well that all went a bit wrong. Researchers at the Aisling Tower sent out a request for volunteers, hoping to get to the root causes of just why Dreamfolk frequently wind up with memory loss. The tests are reasonably painless beyond the occasional blood samples taken and rather tedious questionnaire volunteers must fill out.

And then there’s the machine.

It’s not big or scary looking - just a small, strangely organic looking earpiece linked up to a console used to measure neural oscillations. All very new, high-tech stuff that the researchers just barely control their enthusiasm about. Again, the tests are mostly tedious. Just a lot of sitting around while researchers display pictures, ask questions, have you smell a variety of scents, and other things to spark various mental associations. Though side-effects may include dizziness and nausea afterwards. It’s still a little bit too ‘mad science’ for some, even if the researchers involved don’t even cackle maniacally even once.

But as all things of this nature must go, something takes a turn for the weird.

Memories On Display

The Dreaming takes an interest, insofar as much as an omnipresent force of nature can be assumed to take an interest - maybe it just reacted strangely to the mental probing of the Dreamfolk. The how, for now, is not important.

The immediate problem is that memories are running rampant in the city - and not just from volunteers for the little research project, but also any Dreamfolk who come in contact with them. It starts off small - little things appearing in and out of your peripheral vision such as an old toy or a beloved pet. Maybe the echo of friendly laughter, or the incomplete form of a first love’s smile. These flashes of memory only grow more potent, however, as entire scenarios begin to play out for you and those in your proximity - just as vividly as you remember them. And just as accurately as you perceive them.

---

OOC Notes: Your characters will have the option of seeing memories play out, and/or being drawn into a mind-share memory experience-- basically, however you want to play it, the Dreaming will accommodate! It's also more than possible that the Dreaming will oblige if someone really wants to show someone else something specific-- but there may always be a little more than bargained for.

There is a specific starter for shenanigans at the Aisling Tower but the rest of the post is open!

Please address questions regarding the event to the monthly agenda post.

Comments

[necrocabbage]

Trahearne had also opted to sleep under trees instead of taking up a park bench, but as was his usual lately, sleep didn't come to him easily. He was dozing when someone stepped up nearby, jolting awake when he was spoken to.

He quickly rose up to his feet, blinking a little blearily at him before saying, "I'm quite well. I'm sorry if I startled you. I was only-" Trahearne stopped mid-sentence, looking past Judai to stare at one of the pieces of coral.

As if in response to Trahearne's awareness of it, the world around them shifts. It's no longer a park they're standing in, but the wasteland of Orr. Even weeds struggle to grow in the packed dirt, the sky above clouded with miasma. Still, the landscape isn't featureless - there are stone ruins nearby, and large stands of dull-colored coral. Even the coral is dead, and the shuffling figures in the distance don't seem to be living creatures, either.

[eyeinfusion]

Aw, shoot. He suspected this might happen...

But thankfully, as he takes a closer look around, he realizes that the vision isn't his.

"I hope this isn't your home." Of course, he says that with the assumption that it isn't, so his tone is curious more than anything. Though the shuffling figures in the distance look a bit worrisome; his gaze lingers on them for a moment more, before he turns back to Trahearne.

"Sorry for interrupting." The nap, that is. The memory...probably wasn't something that Trahearne could control.

[necrocabbage]

"It's not your fault." Trahearne offered him a faint smile, shaking his head as he looked back to the memory landscape around them. "And this wasn't my home, though I did spend quite a lot of time there."

The memory changes somewhat now, showing two figures in dingy, grey hooded cloaks carefully making their way through Orr. Though they're trying to keep covered up, one of them is clearly Trahearne, the other a female sylvari with bark and leafy armor in lighter shades of green.

"We're coming close to the entrance of Arah now," Trahearne tells her. "That's where I suspect Zhaitan has housed himself. The Risen activity in the area is - Caithe! Look there!"

The memory shifts somewhat to show what alarmed Trahearne so much. Some distance ahead of them is a long, stone avenue leading up to the city, and it's choked with rotting undead. But even that's not as alarming as what comes next. A massive dragon rises out of the city, or at least, it has the shape of a dragon - the decayed hulk of the creature is a horrifying mishmash of parts, ragged wings rising to blot out the sun.

"Brother, get back!" Caithe hissed, tugging Trahearne by the arm into the shelter of a crumbling wall. "That creature in the city, that must be-"

"It's Zhaitan." Trahearne confirmed, with a tremor in his voice.

The two sylvari share a look at each other before their gazes are pulled upwards again. They remain frozen in place for a tense moment before Caithe pulls on Trahearne's arm again, having not yet let go of him. "We have to leave. Quickly. We'll be found if we linger here any longer."

Trahearne gives her a nod, taking a deep breath in an attempt to still his trembling.

[eyeinfusion]

...That's two Trahearnes, so this must be a distinct memory and not just an image of a place...which becomes much more obvious as the scene plays out.

That dragon was scary...but good thing that it wasn't humanoid; that would have struck a little too close to home for Judai. As it is, he looks back to the Trahearne of the present.

"You survived, right?"

Which might not be much of a relief, depending on what happened later, but it's at least something that Judai knows for sure. (...Somewhat sure. But he hasn't met anyone here who'd died on their home world yet.)

[necrocabbage]

Trahearne does seem rather relieved when the memory fades away, showing the far more comforting greenery of the park around them. That one hadn't been easy to watch again. He knew it wasn't real, yet being under the dragon's shadow once more had still left his nerves on edge.

Taking a deep breath, he steadies himself enough to give Judai a faint smile. "Yes, we did. Caithe and I were quite lucky - our distance from the dragon meant that it never saw us, and we were careful enough to not alert any of the Risen when we left. I'm still fairly certain that, before the dragon was destroyed, we were the only two living beings to see Zhaitan and survive."

[eyeinfusion]

"That bad, huh?" He couldn't have failed to miss Trahearne's reaction to the memory. He wishes he knew a way to stop it, but it seems pretty uncontrollable. And he doesn't think he should leave Trahearne alone with it, anyway.

"...What was that, anyway?" Aside from a scary dragon, that is! "And, uh, why were you there, if it was so dangerous?"

[necrocabbage]

"That bad," Trahearne echoes in agreement, giving him a considering look before motioning to the grass around them. "Would you like to sit down? It is a bit of a story."

Trahearne settles back onto the grass himself, close to the tree he'd been napping under. "Zhaitan is one of the elder dragons - terrible, ancient beings that exist to consume magic. All of the undead you saw were minions under its control. The place we stood in is named Orr, a dead nation that Zhaitan dragged up from the bottom of the sea. I spent quite a lot of time in Orr, studying Zhaitan and the Risen, trying to find a way to cleanse the dragon's corruption from the land. I invited Caithe with me that time, so that she could see for herself what challenges would be involved in getting close enough to Zhaitan to do any damage."

[eyeinfusion]

Well if he's invited. He flops down on the grass next to Trahearne.

"You're that kind of guy, huh?" Responsible, driven. Doing things for the good of doing it. "It looked scary enough..." He wouldn't have brought a sibling to show them, but he also...isn't a sibling. The insinuation that Trahearne's sister had insisted they could fight the dragon was easy enough to pick up on, at least, and he really doesn't know enough about her to say what else would have worked. "You see the dragon a lot, then?"

Since Trahearne was studying it and all. "And, did you ever find a way to treat the corruption?"

[necrocabbage]

Trahearne gave him a small smile. "No, Zhaitan's appearances were rare. But I wonder if I am that kind of person. There's a phenomenon among sylvari that we call the Wyld Hunt. It's a mental impulse that calls us to undertake important tasks. In the end, that's why Caithe and I were there - because we weren't trying to resist that impulse."

After all, Trahearne had dragged his feet in making progress towards his Wyld Hunt for years. Without the Commander's influence, he's not sure he would've ever been able to do it. There's no telling how his life might've turned out if he didn't have something like the Wyld Hunt nudging him towards his destiny.

"In the end, we were successful. It took uniting bickering guilds to do it, but with that aid I was able to purify the heart of Orr, and Caithe helped the Commander of that army in destroying Zhaitan. Lives were paid for our victory, but it prevented many more from dying at the dragon's claws."

[eyeinfusion]

"Oh, uh—" That's kind of awkward. Especially with Judai knowing a thing or two about destiny, and he's never (consciously) resisted it, either.

"Mental impulse, huh...?" Okay, saying that out loud was pretty lame. But he turns it into a smile right after. "Glad to hear you were successful. That means it all worked out, right?"

So, the memory would have been scary, but tempered by the good news that came later. Right?

"Sounded pretty rough though."