Dark Cacao Cookie

SETTING UPDATES

• The Divine Library has been unlocked! This is a permanent fixture, available through crossing the portal, a doorway standing within the Grove. The Divine Library will always feature a hint of randomness to it when used for explorations and settings on account of it’s very magical and ever-expanding. It’s also run by bibcoons and a mysterious spirit who is reluctant to show themselves.
• As Summer hits in full swing, so too does the heat. Residents of the Grove will find it hot, humid and muggy- especially down by the beaches, which are just as pleasant as always. Should you seem like you’re going towards the beaches, the Dragon Hatchlings may bother you to come along.
• The mushrooms continue to spread and spore, meaning that the monster transformations remain. This is purely optional, and will continue into July.

PLOT UPDATES

• Joshua (Kiryu, not Rosfield), out at Fel's shrine in the forest, has caught glimpses of what's been going on lately with Mr. Bone-Jangles teleporting everyone to a futuristic city and with the efforts made to create a portal to the Library, and… well, let's just say he's intrigued! And inspired to try a bit of magic himself, empowered by his possession of a star shard. So, he tries to reach out to his own world. Naturally, this doesn't go as planned. This means that, surprise! Some of the Grove's residents are kidnapped. Unlike Mr. Bone-Jangles' portal back in April, this kidnapping is entirely random and not isolated to one particular location. Anyone caught in the spell will hear a sound like a staticky tuning radio, and then they disappear.
• Meanwhile, throughout the Grove, old oak doors mysteriously begin to appear, some in walls like a door should be and others freestanding. Should a character enter a door, they will hear the same noise as those that have been kidnapped, and also disappear.
• Whether they've been picked up by the spell or gone through one of the doors, congratulations! They are now in a small desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while everyone pretends to sleep. Welcome to Night Vale!
• Night Vale is a weird place. Like, really weird. It looks like a normal town on the surface, but it's surrounded by an endless desert. If one were to try to walk out of town, they would find themselves walking a while through the desert and looping around and walking right back towards town again. Also, time doesn't work correctly there. In our situation, this translates as sometimes having been in Night Vale for a few days, but back in the Grove it's only been a couple of minutes, or vice versa. Or, time can just work on an even balance! Use this mechanic to your happiness, it's there for fun.
• Which leads me to say, you can go back and forth between the Grove and Night Vale! You just need to find an old oak door in Night Vale to get back to the Grove. This is easier said than done, as if/when you enter Night Vale through one, it isn't behind you once you get there. But don't worry! You can find them. Notably, there is always a free-standing door in the Dog Park, but no one is allowed in the Dog Park, not even dogs. It's probably fine.
• When entering Night Vale through one of the doors, it will drop you in front of one of several fun locations! This does not mean you are restricted to that location, though. Have fun exploring the town! A map will be provided in the IC log. Deposit locations are as follows:
  • The Desert Flower Bowling Alley & Arcade Fun Complex
  • The Moonlite All-Nite Diner
  • The Hole in the Vacant Lot Out Back of the Ralphs
  • THE BROWN STONE SPIRE
  • Dark Owl Records
  • Big Rico's Pizza
  • The Night Vale Public Library
  • Gino's Italian Dining Experience & Grill & Bar
  • Jackie's Pawn Shop
  • Night Vale Community Radio (though, there are no visible doors or windows, so you can't enter)
  • The Dog Park
  • Night Vale Harbor and Waterfront Recreation Area
• Also, there are radios everywhere! Both old fashioned and newfangled. They're popping up all over the Grove, too. Most of the time they're quiet, but off and on during the day, a local radio show comes on. Even if a radio is turned off, it will turn on for the broadcast. If a radio is destroyed, a new one will pop up in its place. Apparently, you have to listen to it. And when you do, you might notice a familiar voice. Or don't, I'm not your dad.
• If you do notice that familiar voice, though, you might recognize it as Josh! As the instigator of the situation, the world has drawn him in to be the Voice of Night Vale, so he is the voice of each and every broadcast. Which are, like Night Vale, notably weird. He also seems to know what people are doing at any given moment and will openly talk about it on the broadcast, so if you want your character/their behavior to be put on blast on live radio, there will be a submission area for that! I won't be making daily broadcasts ICly though because that's a lot, so the submission area will sort of serve as a collection of things everyone would hear.
• There will also be an ultimate conclusion investigation! Because getting Josh out of his new profession is what will trigger the smooth separation of Night Vale from the Grove. Characters will need to break into the Night Vale Community Radio building, which will not be ICly possible until the end of the month, but I'll probably toss the log up for it mid-month or sooner. There are sign ups for this! One character per player, please.

OOC UPDATES

• … All this to say, everyone thank Kaed for running this month’s event, a really fun Welcome to Nightvale episode!
• Any and all questions and investigations relating to the Nightvale aspect of this event will be handled by Kaed as well.
• As mentioned earlier this week, we will be making some minor tweaks to our AC policy:
  • Normal AC stays the same (2 threads of 5 comments from you with 2 different characters). However, we're adding something to incentivize helping TDMers. During TDM months, submitting a thread with a new character that reaches app length (5 comments from you, enough for a TDMer to complete their app) will count for your entire AC that month. This is only usable during TDM months, meaning the month the TDM goes up. (During November & December when we don't have TDMs, AC will stay as "check in" like it was last year.)
  • Any thread with a TDMed character will count for 2x the threads required for Bonus AC during any month it's redeemed - all you need to do is indicate to the mod team that it's a TDM thread in some way so we can make sure to count it properly.
• With summer coming in real life as well, we expect a lot of weather nonsense. Please stay safe and make sure you stay hydrated!

Please use the following form for plotting:

Character:
Canon:
CR: Who is your character? Any special powers or things they have going on? Any specific CR you want to kickstart?
Plans: What’s on the agenda for this month? Any interactions with the monthly event? Other things you want to do?
Not Seeking: Anything you'd like to avoid.
Anything Else: A permissions post, opt-in for a character-specific power or whatever else.
Recent Posts or Toplevels: For things you posted that you want additional tag-ins on or that might’ve gone missed.
Past Life Plotting Toplevel: From ye olde post.
Meme: Make us laugh.

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