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October 2022 Trial Event Plotting
Trial 6 Plotting Post
Welcome to our plotting post for this month's event! This plotting page will not include any generic mingle introductions found on the live event. If you have questions about the trial, let us know down below!
Starting October 1st, Baba Yaga casts an enchantment over Folkmore, cloaking the world in a dense fog that will not clear until November. One may safely navigate the fog, as it is thickest at your ankles, but it does make things hazy in the near distance and distorts noise. It is easy to get lost in the fog, no matter your skill to find your way out of a maze, and you might just wind up walking into someone else's home by accident.
The feeling in Folkmore during October is undeniably eerie and the laughter of Baba Yaga can be heard throughout - even from the corners of your own home. You may see glimpses of her in the mirror or find wet paw prints that stop directly in front of your door at night. You may hear creaks in your home and feel like the beams that support it are shaking and moving.
This enchantment will cause widespread manipulated emotions, wardrobes, and settings.
Characters will be able to alleviate symptoms of the fog by eating apples! These apples will grow in enchanted Apple Orchards in Epiphany and Willow. The Kuma Lisa variant of Thirteen will be encouraging characters to go apple picking and letting them know that it may help make October more tolerable. Apples consumed in ANY way will count: raw, apple pie, apple cider, etc. Kuma Lisa herself will be making hot apple cider at the Kuma Lisa Academy and handing it out to those who may be in need. Alternatively, if your character does not eat, you can use soaps made with apple fragrances to alleviate symptoms as well!
Feel free to use the following form for your plotting!
Content Warnings: Altered personalities/bodies, possible monsterifaction of characters, monsterfication of items/surroundings, themes of monster horror and possible body horror. God-complexes, manipulation, abusive relationships, stalking.
Baba Yaga's enchanted fog cloaks Folkmore in mischief and magic. The fog seems to sometimes warp people a bit differently depending on their roles.
It isn't just the emotional changes one has to deal with in October.
Stepping outside can enchant your physical appearance. It can warp outfits into classic Halloween staples like witches, ghosts, werewolves, and more! This can force characters into just about any spooky Halloween aesthetic from the color of their hair to the color of their skin to any new appendages like tails or wings. For some, this is a mere physical alteration and nothing more...
But for others, they may truly become this being. A vampire or a ghost or a barely cognitive zombie! Which may drag them into basic needs such as an insatiable thirst for blood or the tickling need to possess someone's TV. Characters can gain temporary abilities that coincide with their new aesthetics!
It isn't just characters who become enchanted by the fog! Baba Yaga's magic is powerful and you will see lampposts turning into snakes, you will see houses sprouting chicken legs, and standing up to walk about. Harmless pumpkins grow fangs and start chasing after people. Trees open up their eyes and pull themselves out of the ground to stalk around seeking vengeance for their lost brothers. Your toaster oven might become possessed by the spirit of the lord of hell and demand you sacrifice your toaster strudel for the son of hell.
Blood or green goo might pour out of your faucets when you're looking for water, blankets might pull together and become monsters. It doesn't seem anywhere is safe from Baba Yaga's magic. It truly is mischief or mayhem though. Some of the enchantments are visuals, such as a bowl filled with "eyeballs" turning out to be mere peeled grapes, while others are outright violent and dangerous.
Characters may be altered PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY or one instead of the other dependent on player desires. Characters can have their physical appearances change multiple times throughout the month.
Those with familiar links will ALSO find their link has been distorted by the fog which can add to the confusion and surrealism of the month.
Baba Yaga's enchanted fog cloaks Folkmore in mischief and magic. The fog seems to sometimes warp people a bit differently depending on their roles.
Myths become increasingly deviant and prone to violence and manipulation. The more selfish parts of their personality begin to act up and they may bring harm to those they love purely in a desire to keep them all to themselves. They care less about how their actions may impact others and focus on their own wants. They don't care about tarnishing their reputation and may act with chaotic impulses.
Legends may fall into delusion of grandeur - feeling as though they truly are the epitome of good. This can lead to extreme god-complexes that lead to them perceiving others as genuinely inferior and treating them as such. It can shorten their patience with other people which, for some legends, may lead to brutality. They will struggle to see how anything they do is a bad choice and feel like they know what's best for those they care about.
Familiars become obsessed with certain other characters in games. Maybe characters they are romantically invested in, people they admire, people they hate, people they want to be friends with...In any case, this may lead to stalking tendencies such as following someone around, saving their hair, and breaking into their homes. After all, a good familiar just wants to be by your side forever and ever and ever...Please won't you just let them stay?
It isn't just the emotional changes one has to deal with in October.
Stepping outside can enchant your physical appearance. It can warp outfits into classic Halloween staples like witches, ghosts, werewolves, and more! This can force characters into just about any spooky Halloween aesthetic from the color of their hair to the color of their skin to any new appendages like tails or wings. For some, this is a mere physical alteration and nothing more...
But for others, they may truly become this being. A vampire or a ghost or a barely cognitive zombie! Which may drag them into basic needs such as an insatiable thirst for blood or the tickling need to possess someone's TV. Characters can gain temporary abilities that coincide with their new aesthetics!
It isn't just characters who become enchanted by the fog! Baba Yaga's magic is powerful and you will see lampposts turning into snakes, you will see houses sprouting chicken legs, and standing up to walk about. Harmless pumpkins grow fangs and start chasing after people. Trees open up their eyes and pull themselves out of the ground to stalk around seeking vengeance for their lost brothers. Your toaster oven might become possessed by the spirit of the lord of hell and demand you sacrifice your toaster strudel for the son of hell.
Blood or green goo might pour out of your faucets when you're looking for water, blankets might pull together and become monsters. It doesn't seem anywhere is safe from Baba Yaga's magic. It truly is mischief or mayhem though. Some of the enchantments are visuals, such as a bowl filled with "eyeballs" turning out to be mere peeled grapes, while others are outright violent and dangerous.
Characters may be altered PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY or one instead of the other dependent on player desires. Characters can have their physical appearances change multiple times throughout the month.
Those with familiar links will ALSO find their link has been distorted by the fog which can add to the confusion and surrealism of the month.
Content Warnings: Forced/unknown source of teleportation. Wardrobe change. Siren-like effect from music, increased likelihood to be social/flirtatious, possible intoxication from "normal" food, alcohol, drugs, cannibalism, unusual appetites, optional aphrodisiacs. Optional orgy/open sex options: this is not a smut prompt but has smut elements that can be used by those interested. Possible themes of BDSM and sex toys.
As night falls over Folkmore during October, the sky is filled with an orange moon, and the air feels wistful and exciting. People will be drawn outside and seek the desire to do something. Whether it's mischief or magic...Well!
You already know about the mischief. So what about the magic? The fog will once again enchant people's wardrobes, but this time, it will grant people incredible ball outfits: elaborate gowns, tailcoat jackets, beautiful shoes, and eccentric jewelry. It will style people's hair and decorate them with beautiful make-up. It will make one feel more confident and social than they may otherwise. Those enchanted by this magic will feel a desire to go somewhere. Especially with someone - whether a friend or a complete stranger. You will be tempted to invite someone along. The other person may or may not be similarly enchanted by the wardrobe effects and may need a bit more convincing.
After all, where are you going? It becomes a bit confusing after that. The fog will pull you along until it is so dense you can't see your nose. Yet you feel you know exactly where you're going. And it turns out you do. The fog thins out and you're walking...
THE BALLROOM
Into a ballroom. There was no door, no building. One moment you're walking outside in the fog, and then you're in what appears to be a gothic mansion of sorts. The ballroom is filled with other player characters in similar ballgowns with no recollection of how they arrived...But it's hard to care. There's a spicy scent in the air and the room is filled with old and new music alike, coming from unseen speakers or perhaps none at all.
These siren melodies and their bone-deep vibrations are a spell in and of themself. Whether you can hear or not, the music casts a spell over the ballroom and cloaks everyone in a sense of mysticism and allure. People will feel more courageous, bold, flirtatious, adventurous...Even the typical wallflower may find it far easier to get plucked for the evening's fun.
THE FOOD
(THEMES OF OPTIONAL ALCOHOL, APHRODISIACS, DRUGS, INEBRETATION, AND SOME CANNIBALISM / FEEDING OFF BLOOD)
If you step out of the ballroom and into the next room, you will find decadent food such as chocolate fountains, bubbling champagne, little desserts, finger sandwiches, and the like. All of this food will fill you with a deep warmth and lull you into a nearly drunken state of being the more you consume, regardless of any actual alcohol content or what your usual capacity for inebriation may be. Some food may even encourage bouts of arousal and willingness to explore sexually. Of course, if you'd prefer to skip that option, you may simply have your character not impacted by the food.
It isn't just standard human food though. There seems to be a little something for everyone's special diet! Ropes of the human intestine and glasses of human blood are offered side by side. Goo from alien worlds or nectar from fantasy worlds can be found in this hall of tasty morsels. And the thing about the music's influence and the warmth of the food? No one cares too much about what one may be eating! Probably.
THE PRIVATE ROOMS
(THEMES OF OPTIONAL SEX, ORGY, BDSM)
What of the other rooms? Where do they lead? To dark rooms lined with velvet curtains, filled with intoxicating smoke, and filled with cushions and tables and walls filled with high-end toys. Some rooms are to titillate with pastels and feathers and gentleness while other rooms have leather and furniture meant for pain as much as it is pleasure. You may pass room filled with writhing naked bodies, or you may sneak off and find yourself in a room with an attractive stranger or two. Perhaps you find yourself alone with a friend, having wanted a break from the party, and one thing leads to another...
Or you just humor yourselves over the paddles and butt plugs and lounge about on the cushions to take a rest from partying!
THIS PROMPT CAN BE EXPERIENCED ALL THROUGHOUT OCTOBER. The Hallow Ball occurs every night. People can simply stay at the party all month long or come and go. Characters can leave by having the "desire" to leave and winding up back home the same confusing, unknown way they showed up. Alternatively, they can pass out from excess partying and wake up back home.
As night falls over Folkmore during October, the sky is filled with an orange moon, and the air feels wistful and exciting. People will be drawn outside and seek the desire to do something. Whether it's mischief or magic...Well!
You already know about the mischief. So what about the magic? The fog will once again enchant people's wardrobes, but this time, it will grant people incredible ball outfits: elaborate gowns, tailcoat jackets, beautiful shoes, and eccentric jewelry. It will style people's hair and decorate them with beautiful make-up. It will make one feel more confident and social than they may otherwise. Those enchanted by this magic will feel a desire to go somewhere. Especially with someone - whether a friend or a complete stranger. You will be tempted to invite someone along. The other person may or may not be similarly enchanted by the wardrobe effects and may need a bit more convincing.
After all, where are you going? It becomes a bit confusing after that. The fog will pull you along until it is so dense you can't see your nose. Yet you feel you know exactly where you're going. And it turns out you do. The fog thins out and you're walking...
Into a ballroom. There was no door, no building. One moment you're walking outside in the fog, and then you're in what appears to be a gothic mansion of sorts. The ballroom is filled with other player characters in similar ballgowns with no recollection of how they arrived...But it's hard to care. There's a spicy scent in the air and the room is filled with old and new music alike, coming from unseen speakers or perhaps none at all.
These siren melodies and their bone-deep vibrations are a spell in and of themself. Whether you can hear or not, the music casts a spell over the ballroom and cloaks everyone in a sense of mysticism and allure. People will feel more courageous, bold, flirtatious, adventurous...Even the typical wallflower may find it far easier to get plucked for the evening's fun.
(THEMES OF OPTIONAL ALCOHOL, APHRODISIACS, DRUGS, INEBRETATION, AND SOME CANNIBALISM / FEEDING OFF BLOOD)
If you step out of the ballroom and into the next room, you will find decadent food such as chocolate fountains, bubbling champagne, little desserts, finger sandwiches, and the like. All of this food will fill you with a deep warmth and lull you into a nearly drunken state of being the more you consume, regardless of any actual alcohol content or what your usual capacity for inebriation may be. Some food may even encourage bouts of arousal and willingness to explore sexually. Of course, if you'd prefer to skip that option, you may simply have your character not impacted by the food.
It isn't just standard human food though. There seems to be a little something for everyone's special diet! Ropes of the human intestine and glasses of human blood are offered side by side. Goo from alien worlds or nectar from fantasy worlds can be found in this hall of tasty morsels. And the thing about the music's influence and the warmth of the food? No one cares too much about what one may be eating! Probably.
(THEMES OF OPTIONAL SEX, ORGY, BDSM)
What of the other rooms? Where do they lead? To dark rooms lined with velvet curtains, filled with intoxicating smoke, and filled with cushions and tables and walls filled with high-end toys. Some rooms are to titillate with pastels and feathers and gentleness while other rooms have leather and furniture meant for pain as much as it is pleasure. You may pass room filled with writhing naked bodies, or you may sneak off and find yourself in a room with an attractive stranger or two. Perhaps you find yourself alone with a friend, having wanted a break from the party, and one thing leads to another...
Or you just humor yourselves over the paddles and butt plugs and lounge about on the cushions to take a rest from partying!
THIS PROMPT CAN BE EXPERIENCED ALL THROUGHOUT OCTOBER. The Hallow Ball occurs every night. People can simply stay at the party all month long or come and go. Characters can leave by having the "desire" to leave and winding up back home the same confusing, unknown way they showed up. Alternatively, they can pass out from excess partying and wake up back home.
Content Warnings: Monster centric horror and violence, spiders, demons, stalking type monster ala Resident Evil style, forced trial. Temporary power nerf for the sake of reclaiming power/accessing new powers.
If you can avoid the mischief and magic of Baba Yaga's fog, you may find yourself taking a breather on your couch for a well-deserved nap. The moment one let's their guard down in October is when they will be immediately uprooted by none other than Baba Yaga herself.
Whether you are at work or at home or perhaps grabbing dinner with a friend at the Prancing pony, if you're in a building of some sort, the entire building will begin to shake and lift up. Good luck trying to not be flung around like a rag doll. If you weren't already exhausted, you sure as heck are now. The motion doesn't quite stop, but it does even out until it's clear that whatever's happening, you are now in a walking house. Leave the room and you will find that you weren't in your home or work or that little cafe anymore. You are in what looks to be a grand mansion...That looks a little bit like...
Oh, yes...You can hear the Hallow Ball going on ever so faintly in another part of wherever you are. Turn back around and the door to wherever you just came out of vanished entirely, leaving a wall with a portrait of a woman with her face scratched out. Why do you feel weak? If you have powers, you cannot access them in this space. (if powers keep a character alive, you can assume for this prompt they will be kept alive by Baba Yaga's magic). What is going on here and just where the hell are you?
You needn't wonder for long. You hear a whispering slide across the floor and an eruption of black smoke grows up out of the woodwork until finally, at last, the Baba Yaga iteration of Thirteen steps up with her cloak drawn. Her eyes are glowing orange and her hair has been slicked back. There is something decidedly feral and detached in her eyes.
"I believe it is time for your entrance exam," Baba Yaga announces, whether you hear the words or feel them deep in your soul. "Welcome to my school. I think you'll find it has more advantages than meets the eye...If you're clever enough, anyway. If you're a pre-existing student, welcome back. Consider this a test of what you have learned so far."
If, at this time, you try to speak or move, you will find that you cannot. Whatever spell Baba Yaga has cast is powerful. Staring at Baba Yaga herself is a bit disorienting. At times you see her as a woman, and at others, you could swear her face seems to melt between that of a fox and that of an unknowable beast. Her cloak floats behind her, curled up like tails, snapping back and forth like whips. This...This is the closest thing to the real Thirteen anyone has yet to see. Even her voice is not quite a woman's - it is a guttural blend sweeping between beautiful and haunting.
"You will be tested on your ability to make do with what is around you. If you do well, you will walk away with more than just your life. I'll grant you a new ability. If you like...or perhaps a magical companion. What's the test? Get through the night without dying." She holds her arms up, fingers curling, looking more clawlike than anything.
"But this relies on what you think of me. The worse my reputation is for you, the viler you find me, the more dangerous this will be. However, if you have faith in me, then I will return that tenfold." She leans slowly towards you, her eyes glowing like rings of fire now. She is suddenly bigger, infinite, her cloak swirling around you and blacking out the rest of the world, and suddenly, you realize it is just you...and Thirteen. Nothing else. Nothing else at all. There is an unfathomable emptiness that you cannot comprehend, cannot possibly begin to understand, and the fox is near, the fox is cruel, and the fox is kind. But which is the true face of the creature known as Thirteen?
Apparently, only you will be able to determine that yourself.
"I cannot convince you to love me. It will be so easy for you to hate me. All I can do is be me. The rest is history," Thirteen's voice emits from all around you, sinking into you, and finally, Baba Yaga relents. She pulls back and the world is pulled back into existence. You are released.
"But fear not, sweet Star Child. You will not be alone." With a wave of a hand, she brings forth another player character summoned into the school of magic where she had this same conversation with. Similarly, if you arrived in Baba Yaga with a companion, they will be left with you. Finally, Baba Yaga leaves you with nothing more than a twirl of her cloak. The house creaks around you and your trial begins.
THE BABA YAGA TRIAL
It begins like any horror game would begin: you simply get to explore. You cannot find your way to the Hallow's Ball and every time you feel like you're getting closer, suddenly the noise is coming from a completely different direction.
The house is complex, unwinding and moving around you, but there are patterns within its motions. Little tricks and secret passageways. Players can invent their own puzzles throughout Baba Yaga as the general house puzzles will change entirely based on who is solving them to bring everyone a genuine challenge. These puzzles should be akin to the mysteries you would solve in video games such as Resident Evil or Tomb Raider wherein characters need to find bits and pieces of clues to figure out how to move pieces of walls and floors.
But the real challenge is when They come for you. It doesn't take long before demonic entities begin to crawl out of the walls and hunt you down. The minor demons are easy enough to deal with: after all, you are depowered, so you can fight them off with weapons you have made from items around you. If you were lucky enough to have a weapon already on you, then you're at an advantage. If that weapon has any super abilities, they will also be nerfed for this prompt.
The demons look a bit like distorted giant bats with the faces of warthogs and the screech of a banshee. They can disorient their victims and will rip your head off as soon as possible. Thankfully, their wings are thin and easy to rip, and they are flesh and blood creature that can be taken down easily. But be careful: they can flock if there is too much noise and while you might be able to handle one, handling a whole pack of these bear-sized beasts could kill most people.
And what happens if you die? Well...You get put back at the beginning of the trial all over again...Only this time weaker than before and disoriented. This will get increasingly worse the more you fail, and increasingly more painful.
You might start to realize that it is wiser to hide from the demons.
They are sensitive to sound but have poor sight. Hiding under a table or in a cabinet while they are near can ensure your safety if you are patient enough.
There are a few other terrible little monsters in this wicked school. Black birds made from smoke and the size of your palm will burst out of paintings and try to peck your eyes out. These creatures cannot be killed, but they are terrified of light, so getting a torch made might be handy.
Massive spiders are known to set nearly invisible webs that, if you aren't paying close attention, you might just walk directly into them. Struggling will only tangle you up further. The web can be cut through with fire or metals, but only if you have them near or are lucky enough to be found by someone who has those things. The car-size spiders will drop down and wrap you up and save you for later...Or you eat you right then and there. These spiders can be killed with some serious blunt force.
Then there is the Baskilisk. This massive snake is clever as hell, sliding in and out of rooms with an unsettling calm. It can be easy enough to avoid with how big it is. It may even seem completely non-hostile.
To those who favor and trust Thirteen, the Baskilisk may come to their aid in combat against the other creatures and lead them to valuable parts of the house.
To those who dislike Thirteen, not only will the Baskilisk abandon you in your time of need, but if it catches sight of you, it will attack you immediately. And do be careful: catching the gaze of the Baskilisk is enough to petrify an individual and nearly turn them to stone. You can either have this kill your character or nullify them and allow another character to heal them later on after they have been removed from the trial. Fighting the Basikilisk means you will want to use mirrors and indirect sources such as a puddle of water or stained glass to look at the creature through. It has a deeply venomous bite and massive jaws with fast movements. It can be violent and smash through walls.
For many, it is easier to simply run away as the creature will merely move on. Killing the creature requires getting some of its own venom onto an item and stabbing it with that item. If you have done any research on mythological creatures in Folkmore, you will have figured this information out ahead of time. If not? Well thankfully you're at a school! Between sprinting away from the Baskilisk and hiding from other monsters, you can find the Library at Baba Yaga and look up some tips on these creatures!
The night feels like an eternity, but it does eventually come to an end. You can go through it without a single instance of violence, if you are clever and stay hidden, or you can come out the other side bloodied and battered but alive.
THE REWARD
As sunlight flickers in through the window, Baba Yaga comes before you. She looks gentler than the first version you saw of her, her hair loose and natural, her gaze a softer golden glow. The smell of cedar and pine fills the air as she steps towards you. You are once again made motionless in her presence.
"You did well, my friend...Or my enemy." She smiles at you, eyes glittering like stars, and if you are close enough, you will see actual stars glittering within her eyes. Perhaps Thirteen is a universe rather than a creature...Ah...But that is just a passing thought!
"Now for my end of the bargain..." She reaches her hand out and touches her finger to the middle of your chest. A warm golden light pours into you. You are healed and your powers restored to what they once were...But now, you have an entirely new power.
This power should be relatively simple. It does not have to fit your character's usual abilities! If your character is an ice manipulator, feel free to give them a random earth-based ability! This is a Beginner Ability such as the ability to conjure a simple flame or sprout a plant or gently move light items. You will be allowed to build off this power and make it stronger and more complex if you study it at Baba Yaga or at the very least in Exile.
You can give your character a power that they gain later on in their canon as long as it is the beginning version of it - even if it is very powerful.
If one does not desire more power, then you shall instead be given a mythical companion that Thirteen conjures out of a dusting of gold. This could be an invented magical companion of your own choosing, or a magical companion from an established franchise such as a moogle, chobbit, unicorn, pokemon, etc...Any magical companions with abilities will have their powers appropriately suited to the game.
We will not be moderating what powers people choose or what companions they wind up with. Every character who survives the night in Baba Yaga will be given this gift even if they didn't do anything but hide in a closet all night. All people involved will be equally rewarded. Characters can go through the Baba Yaga trial multiple times and obtain multiple new powers and companions from the experience. We do ask that players do this realistically and reasonably.
Baba Yaga will choose when she wishes to summon characters into this trial. It is very unlikely that Baba Yaga would choose the same people every single day of the month. She wants to test everyone in Folkmore equally. Just be responsible!
If you can avoid the mischief and magic of Baba Yaga's fog, you may find yourself taking a breather on your couch for a well-deserved nap. The moment one let's their guard down in October is when they will be immediately uprooted by none other than Baba Yaga herself.
Whether you are at work or at home or perhaps grabbing dinner with a friend at the Prancing pony, if you're in a building of some sort, the entire building will begin to shake and lift up. Good luck trying to not be flung around like a rag doll. If you weren't already exhausted, you sure as heck are now. The motion doesn't quite stop, but it does even out until it's clear that whatever's happening, you are now in a walking house. Leave the room and you will find that you weren't in your home or work or that little cafe anymore. You are in what looks to be a grand mansion...That looks a little bit like...
Oh, yes...You can hear the Hallow Ball going on ever so faintly in another part of wherever you are. Turn back around and the door to wherever you just came out of vanished entirely, leaving a wall with a portrait of a woman with her face scratched out. Why do you feel weak? If you have powers, you cannot access them in this space. (if powers keep a character alive, you can assume for this prompt they will be kept alive by Baba Yaga's magic). What is going on here and just where the hell are you?
You needn't wonder for long. You hear a whispering slide across the floor and an eruption of black smoke grows up out of the woodwork until finally, at last, the Baba Yaga iteration of Thirteen steps up with her cloak drawn. Her eyes are glowing orange and her hair has been slicked back. There is something decidedly feral and detached in her eyes.
"I believe it is time for your entrance exam," Baba Yaga announces, whether you hear the words or feel them deep in your soul. "Welcome to my school. I think you'll find it has more advantages than meets the eye...If you're clever enough, anyway. If you're a pre-existing student, welcome back. Consider this a test of what you have learned so far."
If, at this time, you try to speak or move, you will find that you cannot. Whatever spell Baba Yaga has cast is powerful. Staring at Baba Yaga herself is a bit disorienting. At times you see her as a woman, and at others, you could swear her face seems to melt between that of a fox and that of an unknowable beast. Her cloak floats behind her, curled up like tails, snapping back and forth like whips. This...This is the closest thing to the real Thirteen anyone has yet to see. Even her voice is not quite a woman's - it is a guttural blend sweeping between beautiful and haunting.
"You will be tested on your ability to make do with what is around you. If you do well, you will walk away with more than just your life. I'll grant you a new ability. If you like...or perhaps a magical companion. What's the test? Get through the night without dying." She holds her arms up, fingers curling, looking more clawlike than anything.
"But this relies on what you think of me. The worse my reputation is for you, the viler you find me, the more dangerous this will be. However, if you have faith in me, then I will return that tenfold." She leans slowly towards you, her eyes glowing like rings of fire now. She is suddenly bigger, infinite, her cloak swirling around you and blacking out the rest of the world, and suddenly, you realize it is just you...and Thirteen. Nothing else. Nothing else at all. There is an unfathomable emptiness that you cannot comprehend, cannot possibly begin to understand, and the fox is near, the fox is cruel, and the fox is kind. But which is the true face of the creature known as Thirteen?
Apparently, only you will be able to determine that yourself.
"I cannot convince you to love me. It will be so easy for you to hate me. All I can do is be me. The rest is history," Thirteen's voice emits from all around you, sinking into you, and finally, Baba Yaga relents. She pulls back and the world is pulled back into existence. You are released.
"But fear not, sweet Star Child. You will not be alone." With a wave of a hand, she brings forth another player character summoned into the school of magic where she had this same conversation with. Similarly, if you arrived in Baba Yaga with a companion, they will be left with you. Finally, Baba Yaga leaves you with nothing more than a twirl of her cloak. The house creaks around you and your trial begins.
It begins like any horror game would begin: you simply get to explore. You cannot find your way to the Hallow's Ball and every time you feel like you're getting closer, suddenly the noise is coming from a completely different direction.
The house is complex, unwinding and moving around you, but there are patterns within its motions. Little tricks and secret passageways. Players can invent their own puzzles throughout Baba Yaga as the general house puzzles will change entirely based on who is solving them to bring everyone a genuine challenge. These puzzles should be akin to the mysteries you would solve in video games such as Resident Evil or Tomb Raider wherein characters need to find bits and pieces of clues to figure out how to move pieces of walls and floors.
But the real challenge is when They come for you. It doesn't take long before demonic entities begin to crawl out of the walls and hunt you down. The minor demons are easy enough to deal with: after all, you are depowered, so you can fight them off with weapons you have made from items around you. If you were lucky enough to have a weapon already on you, then you're at an advantage. If that weapon has any super abilities, they will also be nerfed for this prompt.
The demons look a bit like distorted giant bats with the faces of warthogs and the screech of a banshee. They can disorient their victims and will rip your head off as soon as possible. Thankfully, their wings are thin and easy to rip, and they are flesh and blood creature that can be taken down easily. But be careful: they can flock if there is too much noise and while you might be able to handle one, handling a whole pack of these bear-sized beasts could kill most people.
And what happens if you die? Well...You get put back at the beginning of the trial all over again...Only this time weaker than before and disoriented. This will get increasingly worse the more you fail, and increasingly more painful.
You might start to realize that it is wiser to hide from the demons.
They are sensitive to sound but have poor sight. Hiding under a table or in a cabinet while they are near can ensure your safety if you are patient enough.
There are a few other terrible little monsters in this wicked school. Black birds made from smoke and the size of your palm will burst out of paintings and try to peck your eyes out. These creatures cannot be killed, but they are terrified of light, so getting a torch made might be handy.
Massive spiders are known to set nearly invisible webs that, if you aren't paying close attention, you might just walk directly into them. Struggling will only tangle you up further. The web can be cut through with fire or metals, but only if you have them near or are lucky enough to be found by someone who has those things. The car-size spiders will drop down and wrap you up and save you for later...Or you eat you right then and there. These spiders can be killed with some serious blunt force.
Then there is the Baskilisk. This massive snake is clever as hell, sliding in and out of rooms with an unsettling calm. It can be easy enough to avoid with how big it is. It may even seem completely non-hostile.
To those who favor and trust Thirteen, the Baskilisk may come to their aid in combat against the other creatures and lead them to valuable parts of the house.
To those who dislike Thirteen, not only will the Baskilisk abandon you in your time of need, but if it catches sight of you, it will attack you immediately. And do be careful: catching the gaze of the Baskilisk is enough to petrify an individual and nearly turn them to stone. You can either have this kill your character or nullify them and allow another character to heal them later on after they have been removed from the trial. Fighting the Basikilisk means you will want to use mirrors and indirect sources such as a puddle of water or stained glass to look at the creature through. It has a deeply venomous bite and massive jaws with fast movements. It can be violent and smash through walls.
For many, it is easier to simply run away as the creature will merely move on. Killing the creature requires getting some of its own venom onto an item and stabbing it with that item. If you have done any research on mythological creatures in Folkmore, you will have figured this information out ahead of time. If not? Well thankfully you're at a school! Between sprinting away from the Baskilisk and hiding from other monsters, you can find the Library at Baba Yaga and look up some tips on these creatures!
The night feels like an eternity, but it does eventually come to an end. You can go through it without a single instance of violence, if you are clever and stay hidden, or you can come out the other side bloodied and battered but alive.
As sunlight flickers in through the window, Baba Yaga comes before you. She looks gentler than the first version you saw of her, her hair loose and natural, her gaze a softer golden glow. The smell of cedar and pine fills the air as she steps towards you. You are once again made motionless in her presence.
"You did well, my friend...Or my enemy." She smiles at you, eyes glittering like stars, and if you are close enough, you will see actual stars glittering within her eyes. Perhaps Thirteen is a universe rather than a creature...Ah...But that is just a passing thought!
"Now for my end of the bargain..." She reaches her hand out and touches her finger to the middle of your chest. A warm golden light pours into you. You are healed and your powers restored to what they once were...But now, you have an entirely new power.
This power should be relatively simple. It does not have to fit your character's usual abilities! If your character is an ice manipulator, feel free to give them a random earth-based ability! This is a Beginner Ability such as the ability to conjure a simple flame or sprout a plant or gently move light items. You will be allowed to build off this power and make it stronger and more complex if you study it at Baba Yaga or at the very least in Exile.
You can give your character a power that they gain later on in their canon as long as it is the beginning version of it - even if it is very powerful.
If one does not desire more power, then you shall instead be given a mythical companion that Thirteen conjures out of a dusting of gold. This could be an invented magical companion of your own choosing, or a magical companion from an established franchise such as a moogle, chobbit, unicorn, pokemon, etc...Any magical companions with abilities will have their powers appropriately suited to the game.
We will not be moderating what powers people choose or what companions they wind up with. Every character who survives the night in Baba Yaga will be given this gift even if they didn't do anything but hide in a closet all night. All people involved will be equally rewarded. Characters can go through the Baba Yaga trial multiple times and obtain multiple new powers and companions from the experience. We do ask that players do this realistically and reasonably.
Baba Yaga will choose when she wishes to summon characters into this trial. It is very unlikely that Baba Yaga would choose the same people every single day of the month. She wants to test everyone in Folkmore equally. Just be responsible!
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