lesmodsalouette | Graveyard

Graveyard

The garden is still sprawling and green – despite having entirely lost all its riotous flowers and colors, along with any sign of wildlife or birdsong – though one thing stands out more than anything else: from Monday to Thursday, you can’t see the castle anymore. All that remains where it once stood (or perhaps, usually stands) is an incongruously large tree that towers over everything else and somehow looks larger and more imposing than the castle ever did. The tree’s branches are bare, without any hint of life nor leaf – however, on the weekends (that is to say, Friday through Sunday) a faint projection of the castle appears around it, cradling the only things that the denizens of this alternate garden can see in detail from the other side: the flurry of activity around the investigation, the circus-like dimension that holds the trial, and the mirrors and the grassy dimension that display the execution.

For those curious what the land of the living are up to, a mirage-like and upside-down reflection of the castle garden in its original arrangement can be spotted occasionally overlaying the sky. This strange illusion may sometimes show those in the garden on the other side, flitting in and out of view like stray clouds; but much like the weather, their appearance is mercurial – they cannot be reached and cannot be heard.

Water, Flower, Everywhere

The fountains remain active somehow, though their features seem to have eroded, obscuring the identities of the deities and the wings of the birds, cracking pottery down into nothing but worn shards and handles. At night, only maybe half the lights work (and here they are real candlelight, rather than magical), plunging most of the garden into crepuscular darkness. The trellis walkway looks quite overgrown (mysteriously, bamboo is taking over), entirely covering some statues and other features along its length, and it’s no longer walkable – a miniature canal runs the whole length underneath the arches, feeding into other new waterways around the garden that cut off footpaths seemingly at random. There are small footbridges here and there, but the lack of logic to the whole arrangement makes falling into one of the streams or canals a real hazard.

The waterways do all manage to converge at the pond by the pavilion – neither of which are all that soothing or classical anymore. The pond is only half-full, and entirely lacks water lilies or any dragonflies; its banks sit jagged above the dark waters, and perhaps that’s why the pavilion, too, is half collapsed down into it all. Gone are the curtains and ivies; only dead curling vines and half-collapsed columns are left, but there’s still someplace to sit if you put your mind to it.

Most of the flowerbeds sit fallow or overtaken by weeds – there’s signs here and there that someone might have tried to clear them out, but the bulk of the effort seems to have gone to the orchard by the gardener’s cottage. It might be more accurate to say cottages, given that there are a few of them dotted around that area for some reason. None of them are locked, but all of them have only minimal furnishings apart from the original; they’re also all provided with the full complement of gardener’s tools. Next to them, there are new saplings and half-grown flowering trees: some pear and apple, but also some not. There are new shoots in the kitchen orchard that have just barely taken root, the dirt recently turned.

Hedge Maze(?)

The other most eye-catching feature is what once was an ornamental hedge maze: instead of being a tame height here, it has seemingly grown wild and completely unchecked, towering above the rest of the garden almost like its own overgrown mountain. The hedge walls go up and up and up, making it entirely impossible to see the center or even how far it goes despite the fact that sections of the hedges have also died, reduced to the branches underneath, bristling with interlocked thorns.

Part of it had even spilled over into the garden itself, huge gnarled branches spreading out like burnt-blackened fingers all the way to the edge of the pond – wherever the branches touch, even the greenery is withered, and any statues look more ruined than those in the rest of the area. As of the end of Week 3, however, the branches have retracted entirely and the way into the hedge maze has opened even more. However, there is now a storm brewing over what might be the center or the general area of it. Getting close to the hedge maze or any of the hedge(?) branches is... unpleasant, though it doesn’t usually go beyond a buzz of wrongness and a slight headache.

GY 101 Main Nav

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Not long after they’ve finished dealing with the Witch, and any last-minute preparations they may feel necessary, there’s an almighty

KRACKABOOM

out of the sky, where the clouds have massed low and menacing and almost as imposing as the hedge maze itself – up in the firmament and in reverse, a mockery of the sky garden where they can watch the other side. The storm roils like a living thing, turning and turning and slowly stretching itself out feline-like over that end of the garden with the nose-stinging scents of ozone and impending rain.

And where that bolt of lightning struck – violent and bright enough to temporarily blind anyone who might have looked – the hedge maze has been split in two a fair ways, sizzling darkly, what looks like a muddy mist or miasma rising off the wrecked inky foliage and broken branches where several sections of wall have simply been obliterated. Perhaps it was more than lightning that laid the maze open like a horrible black rose, peeling back its layers to expose a rotting center, but now it’s quiet for a spell. You now have an easier way into the maze, but at what cost?

If they’re intrepid enough to take the trek in, they’ll find that at the location where they last found the basins with information and memories, the wall that was blocking them has been split as well. Venturing through that, and deeper, will invite back that sensation of headache and unpleasant buzzing that has been milder in the maze lately – but it’s back full force now. Still, they find that they can venture on.

Beneath the rain that starts, and the still-occasional threat of lightning, there are now rustles amid the hedges for those with sharp ears or sharper senses.

They aren’t alone in here.]

[OOC: Welcome to your graveyard endgame, Part 2! This will be a combat-related portion -- characters will be engaging with enemies within the hedge maze, whether physically or otherwise. Please have your character explore either solo or in groups of 2 at most, to make it easier for threading.

Characters who do not want to enter the maze can also participate to sweep any enemies that make it out of the maze and into the gardens.

Spectator characters can explore as well, though they will only be able to help in certain instances.

Also, here is a Tsukumogami Guide for easy reference, as the abilities will be relevant for character combat.]

Edited 2025-04-04 00:35 (UTC)

[It's a simple task to make their way to the basins, where the newly created split greets them. The headache as they venture deeper is a nuisance, adding to the tension in the mild frown she wears when her especially heightened senses ping at the presence of others through the rain.

Her eyes flit to Sabo, a muted question—has he noticed, too?]

[ it'd be more work to not notice and to notice it given all of the changes that have happened in such a short amount of time. and while sabo would be more than fine to run in on his own, he senses tia's gaze on him.

he offers her a smirk as he taps a long metal pipe on his shoulder. ]

Is that nervousness or anticipation?

[ it's just some gentle ribbing, of course, she was the prideful type who wouldn't be scared of something like this, but there's no reason why they can't have a little fun. ]

I'm curious to know just what our new friends will be capable of.

[Lots of chatter as they move through the maze — a great way to draw some enemies, though it’s also a good way to keep track of allies. Before long, Sabo and Tiamat hear footsteps around the corner, undisguised as their talk — and a bulky man in commoner’s garb walks into view.

He looks dressed about the same as the man who was in the garden on the other side last night, except that instead of a spear he’s sporting an unusual ring-and-rope bladed weapon. It glints in the rain as it swings from his fist.

The thing doesn’t look all that practical in the narrow confines of the maze, but the man doesn’t let that deter him. His hollow eyes lock onto Sabo’s hat, the closest thing to his surprising height, and he lets out a low growl.

A moment later the rope is swung, aiming at Sabo’s head — it clips the hedge on the way, throwing off the aim (8), but the rope might still entangle him if he’s not careful.]

We'll find out sooner than later.

[Setting the ribbing aside, sooner is exactly what happens. As soon as the bulky man strikes out at Sabo, Tia lunges forward, ducking under the attack's trajectory to drive a fierce fist into his gut, the weight of the punch amplified by the spiritual augmentation atop her natural strength.]

Looks like it'll be sooner than later.

[ oh woe as sabo to have his hat betray him in this time of his un-life, but imagine if he was immediately taken out by the rope? imagine that. fortunately, that isn't what gets to happen this time around as he's able to notice in time and move out of the way ( 16 ) though his hat will take the damage that his head managed to avoid ( 3 ). ]

At least we can make it quick.

[ so sabo says anyway, but he'll make his counter attack by following up tia with a swing of his pipe to their face while he is crouched over from when he had just dodged the incoming attack ( 9 ). it'll definitely make things weird but fighting in a hedge was always going to be weird. ]

[The man's growl cuts off into something that's almost a squeak when Tiamat uppercuts him (4) -- he didn't see that coming at all, and he folds; it allows Sabo an easier time escaping the rope weapon, despite it knocking his hat off his head. Luckily, in the reprieve he can probably pick it up again, wetter and a bit muddier.

Or so you'd think.

While Sabo is working up to his pipe attack on the man still trapped on Tiamat's fist, something rustles above them. A split-second later, there's a low roar and what looks like nothing so much as a piece of the lightning-strewn sky detaching itself and hurling itself down from the hedge at high speeds (13). Up close, its entire body seems to be composed of either clouds or miasma, dark and cloying; there's a flash of armor and a skull-like face, glowing eyes, and the headache and unpleasantness suddenly ratchet up to almost incapacitating levels.

This thing has rancid vibes and it's closed the distance in an instant. But instead of attacking, it reaches out to try and grab one or both of them, since they're close together.]

Week 4: Thursday - Graveyard Endgame P2

Tia and Sabo ❄️🔥

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Chu Wenshan and Yoonhee ⛰️🐍

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andy and the hickster

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& Shiv

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siffrin & yoru

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