Graveyard

[lesmodsalouette]

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

Comments

[lesmodsalouette]

[It's not a bad idea to use the wheelbarrow as a battering ram, or to fling or wave knives either as a distraction or as a legitimate attack -- however, the enemies don't seem deterred by these attacks, nor do they seem as easy to distract as the mad people back in the maze. As they've demonstrated with their movements so far, there's a little more intelligence behind those eyes, a focus of some kind, and a goal.

Moreover, physical attacks will not meet proper resistance when used against these warriors; blades will pass through them, impact attacks may glance off their armor and push them back but doesn't seem to properly incapacitate them, and their sheer numbers are a big advantage, too.

The worst part is probably that they're not attacking. Instead, they try to throw themselves at anyone in the group that is going for the gates, grasping arms and legs like sticky black filaments out of the dark cloud of themselves.

Andrew herself is able to evade them for now, but others might not be so lucky.

Roll to evade the facehugging from hell.]

[spotsalone]

[ Hickey has his hands a bit full with this wheelbarrow battering ram situation, but hey he rolled (11). Maybe that's enough to avoid the worst of it? ]

[snakeblood]

[ A (15) thank god, stop freaking touching him! ]

[diel]

[ one less limb means one less thing (14) for the warriors to grab maybe?? yippee ]

/2

[siffriend]

[ Can you just kill him already. (2) ]

[siffriend]

[ Before they INEVITABLY GET PILEDRIVED BY MEN THEY DON'T CARE FOR-- ]

Block it like the library!

[diel]

[ me, sweating, w the memory of a goldfish, hoping the others remember how the library was blocked, ]

[siffriend]

[ THE POKER, SOUPIE. THE POKER. ]

[diel]

[ !!!!!!!!!!!!!! THERE IS ONE (or more)!!! IN THE WHEELBARROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ]

[dumbface]

[ Oh wow, look at that. Chu Wenshan kind of glances as he goes, spots Siffrin, and thinks: hey??? Don't I know them?

Without so much as hinting at what he's gonna do, he picks up Siffrin and tosses them at the gate! (15)

...and apparently fucking wuxia steps the rest of the way?? (19) ]

[diel]

[ cws!!!!! ty for their life ]

[vivens]

[ facehugging....

but thank God that the dice like me on this day ( 13 ). unless that isn't enough then FUCK YOU I GUESS. ]

[distain]

[Andrew's managed to weave her way up here as mod tag says, but now that she's at the gate, she... needs to figure out how to pull it closed.

The mob is grasping at her, but she manages to reach out with her bloodied poker and wrap its hook around the wrought bar on one side of the gate, pulling with as much strength as she can currently muster (11)]

[lesmodsalouette]

[Thankfully, all of them are about as dexterous as Andy and manage to get out of being captured by the group of dark-cloud warriors as they rush in, wheelbarrow and all -- all except for Siffrin, who's getting an express Chu Wenshan ride toward the gate.

However, thanks to his personal luck, or lack thereof, they get yeeted straight into a passing warrior.

Siffrin will feel the headache and unpleasant sensation ratchet up severalfold, making it hard for them to move. And on top of that, they'll get hit with a vivid vision of one of their greatest regrets as well. The gate is before them, at least, but it might be hard to see it.

Siffrin must flip a coin; landing on Heads will free them from the vision.

For the rest of you, you've run into being surrounded, so that might be a problem momentarily. But for now, you're at the gate, where Andrew has managed to move it a few inches; it's a big gate.]

[spotsalone]

[ Now that they're here, Hickey unceremoniously drops the wheelbarrow and runs to help Andrew with the gate. But before he does, he turns to Yoru— ]

Get Siffrin.

[ This thing looks heavy and they'll likely need all of them to move it, but Hickey figures his strength is better focused on the gate given... Yoru's missing hand...

Plus he's not doubling back and risking himself. Sorry pals. ]

[diel]

[ he's torn between going to siffrin and closing the gate, but if the gate is closed faster, then that may solve siffrin's problem too.

andrew pulls, so yoru pushes at the far end of the same gate, shoulder against the frame. his feet dig into the ground to push hard. ]

[dumbface]

[ Rather than choosing to use his free action to be helpful and close the gate, Chu Wenshan slows his steps near it and glances back...

Hm, yeah, that's going to be a problem eventually, right...? Nodding to himself, and once again saying nothing, he turns around and rushes back to try distracting the ghostly warriors to give the group more time! (9) ]

[fillintheblanket]

[Behind them, Yamanbagiri has managed to forcibly drag himself from under the warrior that's still trying to grasp at him, slashing through them with a swing of his sword. The creature disperses to some extent, only to reform a few feet away -- it does mean Yamanbagiri is free join Chu Wenshan where he's fending off the incoming warriors.

He's a little paler after the scuffle, though that had been almost silent, but he's got his sword up and slashes at anything that comes near.]

Don't go out too far. I don't think they can be lured from the gate completely.

[dumbface]

[ He would've answered, but oops!! He's having a vision, sry bbl!! ]

[distain]

Siffrin?!

[She can barely see him because they are surrounded.

But she's locked into closing the gate. One thing Andrew has always been is determined to finish what she started. She isn't one for turning back or averting her eyes. This... needs to be finished. It's what she committed to do a long time ago.

Andrew locks eyes (eye...) with Yoru and pulls as hard as she possibly can on the poker in her hands.]

[snakeblood]

[ Working helping close the door I guess? Probably the other side of the door. ]

[vivens]

[ THIS IS SABO ALSO HELPING WITH THE GATE.

he'll try not to get blood on anyone or anywhere people are touching. sweats.... ]

1/3

[siffriend]

[ Tails.

(You

remember, suddenly, something you'd forgotten -- had it slip out of your fingers, time rewound to cover your sudden lack of speech -- and

you wish you could forget it again, but--

"■■■■■■, dinner'll be done soon. Come on inside."

You hadn't wanted to, because it was-- vegetables, and you hadn't wanted any. The face is obscured by light. You don't remember who said it anymore.

The boat lay not so far from your ■■■■■■'s pier, ■■■■■■■■■ painted darkless on the side to better catch at night, the deftness of a ■■■■■■ born and raised on the sea making quick work of the rope that lashed it. A gentle push, bared hands wrapping around the smooth wood of the oars, and you watch as slowly

slowly

slowly

the island grows smaller in the distance, the heat from the sun having little effect on you thanks to the cloak your ■■■■■■ had made for you, something that had grown with you, had always kept you warm and cool when the temperatures dipped and risen as they ever would on your island, with its lightless beaches striking against the darkless snow that dragged down mountain peaks, houses and community stretching from the seashore to the inner woods.

You laugh to yourself, seeing your ■■■■■■ on the pier with ■■■ hands on ■■■ hips, exasperated as ever at your tricks, and turn the boat like always, starting to push back) ]

2/3

[siffriend]

[ (Before there's an odd moment, sense of indescribable loss, a whole life flitting away in a half a second.

You turn your head, staring at

nothing

the sea

you don't

know your name

you don't

don't

know anything

remember where you were going

or










what were you doing out here?) ]

3/3 cw suicide ideation

[siffriend]

[ The vision is brief and vivid, but from the way Siffrin gasps so harshly you'd think the warrior had a blade ready to stab between his ribs.

(You think you would've preferred that.) ]

Please, please, I just-- I want to remember, I want-- I can't say-- I know it, I can't say--

[ Choking, half a sob among the rest going on, shaking as they crumple on the ground, possibly some of the most emotion that anyone's seen out of them so far -- anger aside, but this-- this isn't that. ]