songerein_ooc | { dream notes: #29

DREAM NOTES #29: JANUARY 1, 2024

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVERYONE!! I had to change everything to 2024 it's weird. What will the new year bring our little dream world? Well for this month since everyone is still recovering from the holidays and the event, nothing too crazy. But we'll just put in some more building blocks to build up the crazy. And like we mentioned on the road map, if anyone would like to submit a Player Plot for canon world based events, please do so! Since we're still in the early in the new year, this would be a great time to get some ideas flowing.

CALENDAR

The Official Calendar has been updated. Here is our current schedule for the month:

01/01: Apps open

01/03: Final apps due, begin processing apps

01/04~5: Player Intro, Open Log, Cr Meme

01/29-31: Activity Check

02/01: New Mod Notes, Plot With Me Meme

02/05: EMP/ATP

02/??: Event/TDM

02/23: Reserves Open

02/27-29: Activity Check

DREAM TREND: This month's dream trends may involve any of the following themes: pancakes, overly satisfied or overwhelmed.

WEATHER: With the blizzard over, the weather will remain relatively clear with snowy days. Unfortunately, that snow will be filled with glitter.

OTHER NOTES: None.

Once again HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! Not much else to mention in this space as everything is covered in the following sections.

AC RESULTS

Congratulations to everyone who commented on our Activity Check! The following characters were removed from the game:

G'raha Tia |

crystalized_hope
Aymeric de Borel |

dualtiful
Susato Mikotoba |

judicialassistant
Alisaie Leveilleur |

leveillpier
Akashi Kaoru |

queenofminiskirts
Ken Amada |

whatsamada

If anyone was swept because they missed AC, you can reapply in the next cycle. Just fair warning, we will notice if this happens more than once and we may not allow immediate reapplication the next time.

This puts our player population to 66/85.

WORLD UPDATES

Be it new NPCs, creatures, places, or some other discovery or creation, the world of Songerein continues to grow! For official lists and information, refer to the World Directory and Bestiary. So here are a few things as a result of the Dream Board and other submissions:

Places:
The Wild Harvest serves various western and eastern style earth-based street food dishes. A special menu is rotated every month.

Sparkling Ade

Sparkling Ade: A variety of colorful and fizzy, bubbly drinks that are as pleasing to the eye as they are to taste! Refreshing to drink, they come with an added fruit flavor of the customer's choice. Hot Chocolate is also still available for this month.

Bunny Bao Buns: Bao buns made into the shape of cute bunnies, the buns themselves are wonderful bouncy and plump, stuffed with tasty fillings. Comes sweet or savory! Customer choice of a rich custard, sweet red bean, slow cooked BBQ(meat being what was cooked that day), juicy pork with green onion, spicy or mild sesame chicken(sorry Asougi), and more.

Pho: A warm, earthy, aromatic soup with a wonderfully rich taste that comes from a beef bone broth slow cooked with care and balanced with herbs to make this soup with rice noodles something that will pleasantly warm you up from the inside out. Toppings are customer's choice, otherwise comes topped with sliced peppers and some lime.

Cookie Poppers Fresh baked sugar cookies with colorful vanilla icing, and special candies that pop harmlessly in your mouth much like pop rocks. These candies come in a mix of sweet fruity flavors that add a little extra treat to your cookie.

The Wild Harvest remains rather cozy on the inside, inviting customers to come in from the cold and have a seat- and don't forget to take advantage of the blankets on offer as well if there's some extra clinging chill that needs hurrying away. Decorations from December gone, but the glowing fruits that hang from vines wrapped around rafters still give a pleasing glow from their crescent moon and star-like shapes. The Spice and Garnish noodle-dragons also eager to cozy up with customers that have placed their orders for food and drink.

To help celebrate the New Year, and the restaurant's 2nd Anniversary, sparklers are available- patrons will also receive a small complementary cake. Happy New Year, and happy two years of The Wild Harvest bringing you filling foods from other worlds!

REVEREIN THAWED

Congratulations everyone! Thanks to everyone's hard work, the glass shard that was embedded in the Ice Queen's chest was shattered and removed, ending the dreamscape. The blizzard will also fade and disappear completely, returning Reverein and the rest of the world to a more normal winter… Well mostly. But for now, here are the rewards:

Regain Bauble. Wahoo, all that hard work means a giant bauble bonus! Within the first week of the month, everyone will find three special little baubles next to their pillow with a note that reads, "Thanks for helping! Throw this into the Wishing Well for a special item or use for something else (watch out for the glitter). Can also be used at the Observatory or gifted to others!" As briefly described, this bauble is basically the game's "regain token," though it has other uses. With this item, characters can throw it into the Wishing Well and receive the item they think about. All regains are manifestations of the item rather than the original and are affected by the game's limitations so nerfs may need to be applied. All regain submissions may be posted to the Regain Wishing Well entry.

ITEM: ICE CRYSTAL PENDANT. A special pendant that will give the wearer increased ice and cold resistance for as long as they are wearing it. It does not make them impervious to the cold, but it will be a massive help.

ITEM: GAME ITEMS. All the items that were obtainable in the board game are now available at the Candyland Shop with the same effects as they were originally. Here is the list as a refresher:

CANDYLAND ITEM LIST:

Ginger Plums. Special plums that will immediately thaw anyone who is frozen or starting to freeze. They have a bit of a spicy flavor to them.
Candy Cane Weapons. Special weapons made out of candy, durable enough to fight off monsters.
Energy Peppermints. Round peppermints that will help re-energize those who may be sluggish from the cold.
Red and Black Licorice. Red will burn for a long time, making it useful as a torch. Black is a risky one to eat due to its taste, but it will help warm one's belly—or give fire breath.
Explosive Gumdrops. Colorful gumdrops that can be used as destructive explosives that can break through ice and walls.
Peanut Brittle Bombs. Upon explosion, will make everything sticky.
lollipop wand. A special wand that will conjure a set of swirling portals that will allow those who go through to cross over short distances.
Ice Cream Float. A special serving of ice cream where upon consumption an ice resistance buff will be granted and will last for half an hour. It has a long cooldown before it activates again.
Sticky Molasses. A jar of molasses that if used can slow or even trap hostile foes on contact.

Those who obtained items in the game will find one set of the same items delivered to them immediately for free.

LOCATION: CANDYLAND SHOP. A new shop will appear in the market side of Reverein that will specialize in selling candies, sweets, and the aforementioned items. They will get their stock mainly from Candyland itself, which has now appeared in the world.

LOCATION: CANDYLAND. A part of the Wildlands has completely transformed to look just like the Candyland board from the dreamscape, including the characters that appeared within it. They're also a bit confused…but are a happy sort so they don't mind at all. There is a direct road leading from Reverein to Candyland, and anyone who visits it will not have to roll a die through their way through it. They can just venture freely, and it will be where a lot of future candy and sweets will be harvested as it is now a permanent fixture (unless something destroys it—).

LOCATION: ICE MOUNTAIN DUNGEON. The ice mountain from the dreamscape has also appeared within the mountain ranges around the Wildlands. It's notably colder, wilder, and more dangerous. Early explorers will note that there is a harsh blizzard that is always blowing through it, making it difficult to pass through without proper preparation. It is also unknown what creatures will lurk within and if it will be the same or different as the one in the dreamscape. Who will be brave enough to venture through it?

WHEN IT SNOWS

For our upcoming open log, it will have two different sections like usual, each one lasting for the entire month.

The first portion is Reverein focused as it deals with the after effects of last month's blizzard:

Glitter Snow. Good news, no more icy cold blizzard and most of the snow will have disappeared so people can walk around without freezing! Bad news, the snowfall is now full of glitter. Sparkly, confetti, rainbow, sprinkles—all different kinds are falling with the snow and it's getting everywhere. Good luck with that.

Cleanup. There will be some general cleanup and repair that needs to be done, especially checking on the food stores and animals out in the Wildlands that were caught in the storms.

Special guests: Mari Lwyd and her cousins. The reason that Mari Lwyd did not appear at the same time this December was due to the fact that she stumbled across some old friends and new cousins wandering. Now she's back and bringing them with her to Reverein for a little after December fun! Some things they may do: dance and have pranks; bonfire parties; special gifts for spring.

Hot Springs. The dragons are holding an open invitation to anyone who wishes to use their hot springs to warm up after that frigid blizzard. The dragons in particular will be practically living there, so hopefully others can squeeze in a spot.

Just some general, silly things as everyone settles back down into the new year, with Mari Lwyd and her cousins the main stars.

As for the second part, according to Jack Frost, although the group was successful in freeing the Ice Queen, the Ice Queen remains asleep with no sign of waking, which worries him. To make matters worse, he tried taking her to Orkili, hoping one of those dreamotion pods would help her, however that spectacularly backfired with unexpected results. Would it be possible for a group to dreamwalk and investigate?

Background. For some detail as to what happened, Jack Frost took the Ice Queen's sleeping body to Orkili to try and purify her from the remaining nightmare energy. However, the moment the machine activated she exhibited erratic behavior despite being unconscious, her powers going out of control. The machine even breaks, and everytime they tried to use more dreamotion on her, her condition worsened. Only when she was exposed to some leftover nightmare energy did she stabilize, and now the Ice Queen remains in an isolated room where she is exposed to neither type. It's a mystery that has confounded researchers and doctors, and they can only think that there must be something more going on within her dreams. Thus they now seek the help of the dreamwalkers to try and figure out what could be going on.

Shattered Dream. Those who volunteer must once again enter the Ice Queen's dream, but instead of the massive dreamscape from before, they find themselves in a strange white void with giant pieces of glass floating around. Each piece will have various scenes and images reflected on them, though they are mostly too blurry to tell. Regardless, nightmare energy exudes from it in large amounts. Those with strong affinity or control with nightmare energy will have an easier time resisting and even manipulating the shards to try and piece it together. Those who try to use more positive dreamotion to try and purify the shards, however, will experience a negative kickback.

Nightmare creature appearance. That noctaere-like creature that had been spotted and encountered will appear in this dream. Both nightmare energy and dreamotion will be effective in driving it out, but it will come back repeatedly and will focus on the shards. If not careful, the creature will eat a shard, which will make it morph and have a physical effect on the Ice Queen. This same creature will also appear outside within the Orkili tunnels, so there will be other chances to encounter and try to deal with it.

This portion will help lead us into the new stuff that will be introduced likely in March, but what a strange mystery~~

DREAM BOARD

How the Dream Board works:

This is all optional, the quests are just extra content for players and while they can sometimes relate to upcoming or current events, they're just kind of "filler" stuff. Some will be set out in Songerein proper while others may involve dreams.
The Dream Board can be found at the Plaza and quests will automatically appear on it like a bulletin board. Some will also appear in the journals. Anyone can accept them and rewards automatically generated upon completion of the task. It's a dream world, it's full of magic, it just knows.
Quests can be done as many times as a character would do them and rewards will be delivered to the character upon completion.
If you have any questions, comment to the designated subthread.

ID	QUEST	REWARD
101	Snowball Tonics. A bit of the glitter snow has interesting properties: when mixed with certain types of agents, they change color! A local scientist has been experimenting and has developed a tonic that allows the user to transform into massive, different colored snowballs. Test them out for the scientist, and maybe you'll get to take all seven different tonics home with you!	Mix the tonics together to get one that turns you into a black snowball. Have fun.
102	Bell Choir. There reads a hastily scrawled note on the dreamboard: "Help! My entire bell choir quit just a few days before the concert! I need people to play the bells. It doesn't matter how good you are, I just need warm bodies holding bells! Please! It'll be worth it!"	A sense of pride and accomplishment.
103	Never-ending Scarf. Someone dedicated all their lockdown time in the blizzard to making a scarf. But it got very, very long, and now the maker doesn't even know where it ends! Help untangle the beautifully crocheted scarf, dodge cats, and get the whole thing together in one place. The owner will be ever grateful, and perhaps even share a bit of their handiwork!	A matching scarf for you to share with your friends.
104	Keg Brawl. The brewers have so much leftover beer this year, they've decided to make a little game out of it. Take your keg of ale from one end of the court to the other to score for your team, preserve the ale, and get a chance to take it home. Here's the catch, though: the brawl takes place on a field of ice. Try not to break anything when someone tackles you!	A lot of free beer (and hopefully no broken bones)!
105	The Inugami. A pair of dog spirits with matching eyes have lost one another out in the Wildlands, and have been causing problems because of it. Lure them out from their hiding spots with treats or wishes so that they may find one another again and find peace.	Peace in the wildlands, witnessing the touching reunion of two pups.
106	Falling Stars. Stars are falling from the sky. Literally. Stars of all shapes and sizes are hitting the ground and creating little craters everywhere. Protect buildings from taking damage. The only way to stop the stars from falling so rapidly is to wish for things. The more wishes that are spoken out loud the more the stars will stay in the sky.	A starry sky for cold nights, and perhaps a dream made real for you.

END NOTES

I'd just like to apologize because as I reflected back on this year, I realized I maaaaay have gone a little overboard on some events (like last month cough) and basically doing this to everyone:

SO I will do my best to keep things more focused and less overwhelming lakjdf I'm sorry my little dreamers.

And that should be it! If you have any questions, just comment here!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Any specific Dream Board questions or future requests go here.

One quick question: how many regain baubles will characters have earned for their efforts this month?

Whoops thought I included the number and I didn't! It's a whopping THREE BAUBLE BONUS!!! So three baubles for all!

Edited 2024-01-02 01:51 (UTC)

Excellent! Thank you!

Would those claw marks those happen to be the same claw marks left behind on Ferran some time ago? :)

Edited (i accidentally a word) 2024-01-05 19:06 (UTC)

Alas! In this case the claw marks are unique to the ones that have appeared around Orkili and are an entirely different entity.

gotcha! thanks for the quick response!

About the productive use of nightmare energy: how intuitive would you say it'd be for someone who is an anxious wreck and often has nightmares but hasn't really explored harnessing it themselves?

I ask because I've been working under the assumption that like, culturally speaking, the populace of Reverein is more likely to encourage the use of dreamotion, and using nightmare energy is this niche thing people know you can do, but you're less likely to find people willing to talk about how you can do it, you know? So I'm not sure how much information about the subject is ICly available just in general if a character hasn't participated in a nightmare energy plot already. If I'm wrong in this assumption, please let me know! I didn't see anything about it on the game info page, but maybe I wasn't looking in the right place.

This is a bit of a "new" field and there is definitely wariness about it. There have been people who have had more exposure and experience with nightmare energy, but it wasn't until around March, summer, and the Orkilins arrival did the concept of using nightmare energy productively in "positive" ways really start to gain understanding. Even then, it's not really a widespread thing because nightmare energy still has more negative, dangerous effects, so most people are wary to try. Especially when normal dreamotion is easier and safer to use.

So it's a bit of a mixed bag on how much a character or anyone else can pick up on the info. In general it's not talked a lot still—not that it's taboo or anything, it's just not something people will be like, "Oh yeah nightmare energy is so cool!!" yet, and this is because of the cautionary feeling people still have about it. Orkili will be more forthcoming, but it's only been recent that there's been chances to interact so not a lot of info has dropped.

Which is all to say, you have been working under the correct assumption so having your character not know much and try to learn in this event is definitely fine and won't be "wrong" in any sense! You can also have them at least know that yes it is a thing and can be done, but have to be careful about it.

I hope this helps! If there may some specifics or anything you'd like to know, feel free to ask.

(This does remind us that we do need to update things, so thanks for asking and pointing it out!!)

{ dream notes: #29 - january 1, 2024 }

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