songerein_ooc | { dream notes: #31

We have another small app round and due to the nature of the event (and Laena recovering from sick), the usual open log is pushed back to the 10th. Those from the app cycle will be welcome to create their own intro posts.

AC RESULTS

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

Rei Suwa |

dadinside
Zelda |

foremother
Crow Hogan |

kaakaa
Hu Tao |

localweirdo
Denji |

mansbestend
Kazuki Kurusu |

papartner

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 63/85.

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.

The Wild Harvest still has the beginnings of spring time creeping within it's doors, many of the vines growing along rafters and walls blooming with bright little flowers. Even amongst the always growing -and glowing- crescent moon shaped berries that add to the lighting inside. A few flower petals little the floors, and a few mischievous flower cats seem to be the culprits playing with them when not snoozing in the greenhouse garden together.

A few patrons may find a little visitor or two at their tables; a possible third flittering about on petal-like wings.

Lively, really.

The Specials Menu for the month;

Corned Beef Roast - A juicy and tender corned beef roast served in slices, alongside the flavorful potatoes that were cooked with it, mushrooms that have cooked into a bit of a gravy, and carrots. A very filling plateful of a meal that comes with a side of fresh baked rolls.

Beef Stew - Any of the roast not eaten the previous day chopped up and used to cook in an overnight pot and turned into this flavorful and meaty stew. Chopped up potatoes and carrots alongside fresh peas and earthy herbs with a pinch of pepper to round out a delicious bowl of food. Also comes with some fresh baked rolls.

Irish Apple Cake - A buttery, moist, and mildly spiced cake that has an inner core of thinly sliced and wonderfully tart apples arranged within. Topped with a sweet and almost nutty oat streusel to help bring a balance of sweetness with that buttery, spicy, and tart flavor. Comes with a side of custard cream that can be drizzled along the top.

Steamed Custard Buns - Soft and fluffy bread coated on the outside with sesame seeds, the inside filled with a wonderful sweet(or savory!) custard and has been steamed to help soak in those flavors and make it tender to bite. Comes in Pandan custard, egg custard, chocolate mousse with vanilla, or a more savory filling of spicy pork/beef/chicken topped with a matching meat floss.

Tipperary - A cocktail made with Irish whiskey, sweet red Vermouth, green Chartreuse, and Angostura bitters. Garnished with a bit of sliced orange, this cocktail plays with a few bold flavors of sage and vanilla- amongst others.

Raspberry Slush - A slushy drink made with raspberry puree, orange juice, and lime juice to create something cool and refreshing. Balances sweet and tart, perfect for those spots of warmer weather or if you're feeling like something a little fruity.

As always, Dreamades are a permanent menu item.

SLEEPWALKER NO MORE

Congratulations! Enough copies of the flutes were broken to completely shatter the spell, and all who were influenced by the flute will have properly awakened so they are no longer trapped by its spell. One final song will play with the following cheerful lyrics:
Hooray, hooray, you're all now free!
Back to your normal lives with thee!
Farewell little Dreamers, it was quite fun
Until next time, oops gotta run!
Will they ever meet the Pied Piper himself? Who knows, though maybe for the Piper's sake, it's better if he stays away for a while.

Regain Bauble. Wahoo, all that hard work means a bauble bonus! Within the first week of the month, everyone will find a special little bauble 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: STORYBOOK. Surely everyone would like to enjoy a record of their special story, yeah? No? Well too bad, they're getting it anyway in a nice, leather embossed hardback cover edition. It may have some embellishments to make it a better story, but it's all in there. Those who TDMed and apped into the game will also receive their copy.

ITEM: MUSIC BOX. A special little music box that will play a much less enchanting version of the song that lulled everyone into the Enchanted Forest. Instead of sleepwalking, listening to the peaceful music will help deter nightmares and give the sleeper a more peaceful, relaxing sleep.

ITEM: FLUTE. A bit cheeky perhaps, but there will be a flute among the gifts, and it's really just an ordinary flute. An ordinary flute that is designed in the style of the storybook character they played, anyway.

ITEM: SLEEPING POTIONS. Simple but effective sleeping potions that will put the drinker to an immediate, dreamless sleep. The suggested dosage is five tablespoons, but if someone were to chug more than that, they will be put into a deeper and longer sleep that may or may not require a kiss to wake up from instead. So be careful!

ITEM: COSTUME. Whether they enjoyed playing their role or not, the costume they were put in while in the Enchanted Forest will magically appear in their wardrobe. It will even include magic to allow any transformations that may have occurred while under the spell.

LOCATION: ENCHANTED FOREST. The Enchanted Forest is here to stay! However those who venture through it will not be cursed this time and can freely roam through it. Of course, if anyone feels like doing some LARP there, by all means go for it. All the "setting pieces" from the event will be there, just without any of the notable characters.

MIRROR MIRROR

With the sleepwalking curse over, everyone will have some time to rest and recuperate—until Jack Frost comes barging in with news of a clue on how to help his beloved Ice Queen who still remains asleep. The clue was the mirror shard that was in her chest, and there are theories that it may have been a fragment of a much stronger, powerful mirror she had been given some time ago. Problem is, he can't find it nor can he remember who gave it to her. He does, however, have a magic incantation that will allow people to enter mirrors and hopefully find a trace. Unfortunately, this horrendously backfires and we have mirror chaos instead. Dammit, Jack.

Two Sides. There will be "two sides" to this event. One side will be focused in Reverein and will essentially be the "opt out" portion of the event. While things will be happening around town, it's possible for people to leave it to others to handle and only deal with what they are comfortable with. The other side will be the "Mirror World" which characters will either voluntarily or be forcibly pulled into. Both sides will have important merits and objectives, so even those who decide to stay in Reverein won't be feeling too left out from the event.

Reverein. Because of the spell, all the mirrors have become affected and this is causing some problems. While some people are pulled inside the mirrors, others will remain in Reverein to deal with it and try to help them back out.

Odd reflections. Some mirrors will reflect the view in odd hairstyles or clothing, and suddenly that is exactly what they look like.

No reflection. Mirrors that do not show any kind of reflection are to be quickly taken away and covered as it will begin to create duplicates in Reverein of what is reflected within it. Yes, even people (which will very obviously be fake, such as wrong colors, different voice, odd behavior, etc. and will usually be harmless). They will continue to appear and multiply until the mirror has been covered. These duplicates will need to either be destroyed or captured and shoved into the mirror, where it will lose its "no reflection" status and become a proper mirror again... only for them to appear on the other side.

Reflections of Home. Everyone will have a rare glimpse of their home world, and these can be instances from the past, present, or even a limited future. They are just reflections and cannot be interacted with, and future reflections may be blurry to prevent the person from seeing too much (this is not supposed to be a canon update after all!). For those who have memory issues, such visions will also be blurry, but perhaps they can help stir some things…

Mirrorsnatched. A mirror with a black rim has the chance of absorbing a significant personality trait or memory of the one looking into it, and when this happens, the person will walk away feeling very muddle-headed and off. The mirror will "keep" this part of the person and someone from the Mirror World side must find their essence and "shove" it back out onto any mirror surface so that the original owner can break the mirror and retrieve it. The downside of this method is that breaking a mirror means one less mirror those on the Mirror side can use, so they need to choose carefully.

"Mirror World." Everything in this "Mirror World" is, in a word, chaotic. Imagine an AI-generated monstrosity based off of Picasso, Escher, and Dr. Seuss, where everything seems to be upside down, backwards, colors everywhere and nowhere, and everything feels so fragmented that one step feels like walking towards the edge of a cliff. In a way it's nightmarish in an unusual sense, and those inside can feel that touch of "madness" that seeps through the cold air.

Fragment of their old self. In order to get out of the Mirror World, those inside will need to catch a small fragment of themselves that has escaped and is running around. This fragment is actually a piece of their old self prior to arriving in Songerein. For some, this self may not be so different, but for long-time residents, they may seem a lot more different. To make things more interesting, this self can be from any point of the character's past. It just has to be a version of the character from before entering Songerein. This version will also appear "homesick" and "want" to return to their original home, regardless if the character actually feels that way. Thus the fragment will seek out mirrors that will reflect anything of their home world. Shattering these mirrors will weaken the fragment until it can be caught. But that's only half the challenge.

Distorted Memories. At random points while traversing, characters may come across strange pockets of the world that they will feel drawn to. Following said instinct will lead them to a shifted landscape that will reflect images of home from different points in time (past, present, maybe even future) as if they've just walked right into it, but just like everything else, they are distorted. The changes can be as subtle as the wrong color of clothes, having too many limbs, to something major like the sky now being the ground. The only way out will either be destroying the anomalies or correcting them, and they will be rewarded with a mirror shard that will aid in their escape.

Warped Sense of Self. The longer a person stays within the Mirror World, the less "coherent" they will feel, and sometimes sound. Their memories will slowly become more disjointed, their personality feeling a bit "off", and they may even forget who they are or where they are from. Even their physical selves will start to twist and change, starting with something subtle (e.g. eye color) and then growing more drastic as time goes on (where did those extra fingers come from? Or why are they suddenly much shorter?) Finding those reflections of home will help with these anomalies, but those weak of heart be warned: the distortions may only exacerbate the issue and make them believe that they are the truth instead. Help anyone who might be caught in fixing these so that they can recover.

Finding an exit. The second part is finding a mirror that will connect back to Reverein. There are many mirrors in the Mirror World that will lead to different places within Songerein—presumably. However, perhaps due to the magic or needing something else, they will be unable to pass through any mirrors that are not connected to Reverein. This is where players have the fun opportunity to make up whatever kind of location or place the characters may see reflected on the mirrors. They could be existing locations in the game, or new ones that could be explored in the future. One unique place we can mention will be reflections of a city covered in night.

Only upon finding a mirror that leads back to Reverein will a character be able to exit, but they will also need help from the outside. Someone from within Reverein must also be there to physically reach in and pull them out—while hopefully not accidentally be pulled in themselves.

Beware the Mirror monsters. There are a number of strange creatures in the Mirror World, and a lot of them are on the grotesque creepy side. Again, think AI-generated monstrosities. Fortunately they are susceptible to weapons and dreamotion and those inside the Mirror World will find they are able to use different abilities, especially those with reflective properties.

The Unknown. Appearing in both the Mirror World and Reverein will be a strange mirror masked, black cloaked figure called "The Unknown." It traverses through the mirrors and through the walls, seeking those with happy reflections and will try to corrupt them with nightmares. People on both sides of the mirrors will be able to confront and try to stop the Unknown, though beware its chocolate attacks.

Communication between both sides. It is possible to communicate and even watch people from the other side of the mirror, but it's only through certain mirrors and at certain times. It also will be temporary, so while one mirror might work one time, it may not work again.

Fortunately, except for "The Unknown," nothing seems to be trying to escape the Mirror World…yet. The event will last 2 IC days at the most which will give everyone some time to recover from the aftermath.

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
301	Sweet Child O Mine. A basket of orphaned baby animals has been found that need some gentle comfort and care after a strange traumatic nightmare. They need to be swaddled in soft cashmere wraps so they stop crying and they can have peaceful dreams. Make some animal wraps with the cashmere cloth, rock them to sleep and help them dream again. If they can dream peacefully they’ll be able to blow bubbles in their sleep!	A soft cashmere cloth that smells like dreams.
302	Running Out Of Time. Pocket watches are flying through the sky, following people and smacking them in the back of the head! Where did they come from? They are floating around stalking people and making sure that they keep on schedule with their insistent and annoying ticking. It will probably be better to smash and break the pocket watches rather than let them continue to pester people. Time to catch some time!	A pocket watch that will tick in time with your heartbeat.
303	Yin and Yang. Two massive koi fish have appeared in the ocean and have been emitting a powerful glow. One is as bright as the moon and one is as luminous as the ocean. They are swirling around each other in a circle and are gently creating waves that wash up on the shore. Unfortunately, the longer the two fish do this the higher the waves will get so soon enough a tidal wave might occur. Before that can happen use dreammotion to calm the two fish with thoughts and experiences of when you accepted the good and the bad, or when you accepted the light and dark sides of yourself. If you struggle with this it might agitate the fish to swirl faster but if you can accept yourself for the good and the bad, they will calm down.	A moon and ocean bell charm.
304	Blob Invasion. Tiny pink blobs have started popping up around the wildlands. While they seem harmless and friendly, they're more like merciless vacuums—they inhale everything they see, seemingly unsated. Weapons don't work, and regular dreamotion only seems to make them bigger and hungrier. You'll have to use nostilium—nightmare energy to subdue them.	The drops are good. Whatever the blob sucked up is now yours.
305	The Bird Bride. A particular fae has been causing a lot of trouble recently in and around Reverein. It's searching for its lost bride, and seems to assume that anyone and anything that captivates its attention must be its bride, and immediately turns them into a bird and sticks them in its birdcage. While it seems to let most go after a little while, it doesn't seem it will stop until it finds its bride. Help this poor fae find its mate and save the town from this birdemic.	A beautiful quill from a bird that can write on air.
306	Personal Raincloud. A pocket of personalized weather seems to be clinging to you, seeping up every bit of negative emotion of yours to turn into rain that falls only on you. It seems you'll have to make a concentrated effort of positive dreamotion to dispel the clouds. You don't want to be soaked all the time, do you?!	Dryness at last, and maybe a little rainbow above you for a short while!

END NOTES

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.

Do the fragments have the dreamwalker's memories of Songerein or only memories of their canon point?

Just of their canon point!

Hope it is okay to ask this here. But in the notes for Sleepwalker no more you posted:

COSTUME. Whether they enjoyed playing their role or not, the costume they were put in while in the Enchanted Forest will magically appear in their wardrobe. It will even include magic to allow any transformations that may have occurred while under the spell.

Adrien's dream power as Rapunzel was transforming himself. And Najaran gained the power as Red Riding Hood to transform things into food. Would they regain these abilities when wearing those outfits?

The transformations above only apply to physical transformations that occurred along with the costume. That would mean Adrien would appear as Rapunzel and Najaran would appear at Red Riding Hood, but the ability to transform things into food would not carry over.

Cool! Thank you for the clarification!

{ dream notes: #31 - march 1, 2024 }

DREAM BOARD QUESTIONS AND REQUESTS

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Sleepwalker no more question

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