Boys and girls of every age...

[indigo_league]

TRICK... OR TREE?

Guess what, trainers? Halloween is approaching, and that means things are gonna get spooky around here!

Things start out simply enough...throughout October, as people everywhere are bulk-buying Rare Candy and hanging up ghostly decorations, there seem to be a steadily increasing number of Phantump floating around all over Johto and Kanto. Day and night, they can be seen in towns and cities, and even out on the routes. And if you’re really unfortunate, you might even spot one or two out on the Sevii Islands. Why unfortunate, you ask?

Because these Phantump are preparing for something. They’re very shy if approached, and will not battle-- if any trainers attempt to catch them, they’ll disappear before a Pokeball can even be thrown. But they seem to be clustering, passing messages and secrets between themselves, having spooky little meetings...and when it gets dark, they get a little bolder. Any human out alone at night, even if only for a few minutes taking the trash out, might feel a sharp chill pass over them as they’re tapped somewhere on their body by a swiftly passing ghost.

And anybody who receives one of those taps? Has been marked, and will begin to have dreams at night.

Bad dreams.

TIMELINE:

October 5th-12th: Phantump begin to appear everywhere, mostly within towns and cities but also out on the routes and on the Sevii islands more rarely. At night, they will mark participating characters, who will begin to have nightmares each night from then on, although by morning they will be difficult to recall, if remembered at all. Characters may also notice Drowzee lurking around windows and campsites at night, which will also flee if spotted.

October 13th-21st: The nightmares worsen, but strangely enough, many characters will seem to have the same or very similar nightmares as others. Characters will not be lucid or encounter each other during these dreams, but they do seem to be shared.

October 22nd-29th: Somewhere in every city, town, and route, strange copses of forest seem to sprout overnight where there were none before. Strange...and ghostly. Characters who were marked by the Phantump earlier in the month will feel drawn in, the feeling growing stronger the longer they resist until they feel entirely compelled to enter. Once inside, they will become lost in the trees almost immediately, even if the wood didn’t seem so big from the outside, and will be unable to find their way out. Eventually, they’ll have to sleep, and whenever they do…then the real dream (and nightmare) walking begins.

October 29th (evening): Event conclusion, characters will be freed from the woods and have a few days to get some rest before Halloween!

OTHER INFO:

SO EXPLAIN WHAT MY CHARACTER WILL BE EXPERIENCING BEFORE THE WOODS SHOW UP?

The first stages of the nightmares are just the average bad dreams your character might usually have, anything from forgetting that they had a test at school to something more trauma-fueled for those with Tragic Backstories™. These will be happening every night, although as said above… most characters won’t even remember the dreams upon waking. They will wake up feeling drained and groggy, as though something was sucked out of their head while they slept.

The second stage of the nightmares, beginning on October 13th, is where characters will start having more intense nightmares across the board, and also having the same nightmares as others. Who the dreams are shared with is up to the players, but they can be shared between anyone from anywhere, and with as many people as you’d like! The contents of the dreams are also up to player choice. They will still feel like dreams to the characters, and characters will not run into each other or be any more lucid than normal, even if sharing. The drained feeling and missing pieces will still be the same when they wake up, but characters will remember more of the nightmares than they did before.

Example: Luffy is sharing a nightmare with Steven Universe. Luffy is dreaming that his pirate ship is sinking and there’s nothing he can do about it. Steven will also experience a stressful dream about a sinking pirate ship, but will not see Luffy. Instead, Steven's dream will cast himself in the role of the panicking pirate captain on the brink of losing his ship! To find out that they were sharing the same nightmare, they’ll have to talk to each other about it once they’re awake.

WHAT IF MY CHARACTER WANTS TO CHASE/CATCH/INTERROGATE A PHANTUMP OR DROWZEE?

The Phantumps, despite their numbers, will vanish into thin air immediately upon being approached in the daytime. If your character (or Pokemon) is sneaky and manages to grab hold of one, it will disappear then too! If Pokeballs are thrown...well, obviously nobody’s toting Masterballs around, so even if one hits, the ghosts break out and flee. They’ve got more important things to do than be caught! The Drowzee, since they aren’t able to conveniently vanish, will be easier to chase after...but anybody who gets too close will get hit with a powerful Hypnosis attack. If someone with a Dark type manages to knock one out...well, they’ll be immediately swarmed by a lot of Phantumps, allowing the Drowzee to be dragged away by others in the confusion.

OKAY OKAY, SO EXPLAIN THE FOREST! WHY IS IT HERE?

This forest is super cursed and haunted and it’s here to give your characters a bad time and you, the players, a dreamsharing event! THIS IS HALLOWEEN THIS IS HALLOWEEN.

HOW MUCH OF IT IS AROUND?

There are patches of it all over the place! These patches could span anywhere from an entire city block in Goldenrod to a little copse the size of a living room out in the middle of Route 29. There’s no set standard and multiple patches in each location on the map, so your characters will definitely be able to find them no matter where they are. Or avoid them, if you’d rather not participate! This would be a great time for those who don't appreciate a good scare to look out their window, decide "Nope", and stay indoors with a cup of tea and a good book instead.

WHAT DOES IT LOOK/FEEL LIKE FROM THE OUTSIDE?

The trees are tall and thick, with a dense canopy overhead, even in the smaller patches, and looking into the woods won’t get much of a view besides darkness and more trees--the other side will not be visible, even if it really should be. There is just enough room between them for a character to walk inside. And despite growing out of streets and buildings, they don't seem to really be causing any structural damage. It’s as though the trees were always there. In spite of that, there’s a distinctly unnatural aura about them, and unmarked characters getting close will feel chilled and anxious. Marked characters, even those who wouldn’t normally want to get within twenty feet of them, will feel drawn to them, like they need to see what’s in there, and this feeling will grow stronger over time until it is irresistible.

WHAT ABOUT WHEN MY MARKED CHARACTER DOES GO IN? GIVE ME THE DETAILS!

Your character will not begin sharing dreams right away! When they first walk in, they will remain awake, although once they’ve gone more than a few steps into the forest they will not be able to find their way back out again. Even if they go in tied to a rope, it will be severed by an unknown force. The trees can be climbed up to a point, but the higher a character goes the more oppressive the air becomes, until they will not be able to climb any higher. It takes a significant mental effort just to keep one’s bearings within the trees, and even the slightest lapse in focus can leave a character alternating between feeling like they’re in territory they’ve never seen before, or like they’ve been going in circles the whole time.

The Phantumps and Drowzee are in here too, in numbers, and can be battled, although if they are close to defeat they will flee into the woods and get away easily. And occasionally, your character might catch a glimpse of an enormous, lumbering Trevenant or a bright yellow Hypno, although those two seem to melt away into the trees if approached at all.

At this point, your character may run into any other character awake and lost in the forest-- they all seem to be connected regardless of where they came in, so someone who decided to investigate the woods that sprung up all around Olivine’s Lighthouse could easily encounter an unlucky person who took a wrong turn up on Cerulean Cape!

Characters may also discover items, on the ground between tree roots or higher up in hollows, if they dare stick their hands in. These collected items will be the only event prizes!

SO WHAT ITEMS CAN BE FOUND?

Your character will be able to find up to three items from the list below: two (2) regular items, and one (1) “Rare” item. The list is as follows:

REGULAR:

Tiny Mushroom - A small and rare mushroom. It is sought after by collectors.

Revival Herb - A very bitter medicinal herb. It revives a fainted Pokémon, fully restoring its HP.

Old Gateau - Old Chateau’s hidden specialty. It heals all the status problems of a single Pokémon.

Dusk Ball - A somewhat different Poké Ball that makes it easier to catch wild Pokémon at night or in dark places like caves.

Ghost Gem - Increases the power of a Ghost-type move only once.

Dusk Stone - A peculiar stone that makes certain species of Pokémon evolve. It is as dark as dark can be.

Fallen Twig - A small (any size that’s easily carried with one hand) twig, fallen from one of the trees. It gives off an unsettling aura, and placed underneath someone’s pillow will induce bad dreams.

RARE:

Cleanse Tag - An item to be held by a Pokémon. It helps keep wild Pokémon away if the holder is the first one in the party.

Rare Bone - A bone that is extremely valuable for Pokémon archeology. It can be sold for a high price to shops.

Reaper Cloth - A cloth imbued with horrifyingly strong spiritual energy. It is loved by a certain Pokémon.

Smoke Ball - An item to be held by a Pokémon. It enables the holder to flee from any wild Pokémon without fail.

Spell Tag - Increases the power of Ghost-type moves.

Sticky Barb - A held item that damages the holder on every turn. It may latch on to foes and allies that touch the holder.

CAN I BRING IN POKEMON?

Yes, whatever Pokemon your character had with them when they entered the woods will remain with them! But those who plan to just set the whole place ablaze with their Magmar or send their Farfetch’d on a mad “Cut” spree will find that getting out will not be so simple.

The trees, while they can be damaged, seem to simply grow back as soon as they’re out of sight range. And no amount of burning, cutting, or teleporting will bring a trainer and their trusty team back to the edge of the forest.

The best thing that your Pokemon can provide is emotional support… which is nothing to be sneezed at. Y’all are probably gonna need it!

AND WHAT ABOUT WHEN THEY DO SHARE THOSE DREAMS?

Well, your character is gonna have to sleep eventually...and the atmosphere in the forest seems to lend itself to falling asleep the moment you sit down for a breather, or think you’ll just rest your eyes for a second. The most stubborn characters might have an unfortunate Hypnosis encounter with a Drowzee! This forest wants you to s l e e p.

Once asleep, your character will enter a dream (which should be at least a little nightmarish, although the severity is up to the player) of your design. It can be of whatever you want: something meaningfully tailored to the character, a dream-like memory, or even something that you’ve made up that sounds fun to play with! And, unlike before, your character will be lucid and aware (although if you’d like, they don’t have to start out that way), and other characters will be able to come into their dream and interact with them and it-- because just like the forest seems to somehow connect the entire Johto-Kanto continent, it’s also the ever-present bridge between everyone’s dreams.

Example: Luffy might be wandering through the trees and come upon his ship sinking once more, but this time into a patch of wooded swamp instead of the open ocean-- and this time when Steven shows up, he and Luffy can frantically bail out nasty pond water together instead of going it alone.

Characters may wake up at any point and continue wandering the forest, although in the latter half of these days, the forest itself will start becoming more and more intertwined with the dream worlds of the characters, until nobody is really sure when they are or aren’t awake. They may even “wake up” multiple times, only to realize that they’re still dreaming. As the days go on, the Trevenant and Hypno will appear more and more frequently...until they seem to be almost always in the background of whatever’s going on, watching.

ARE THEY BEHIND ALL THIS?

You bet they are, these two are real hungry for some dreams and some lost people and they’ve got a whole bunch of little follower buddies helping them make it happen.

CAN WE FIGHT THEM?

No boss battles this time around! Characters can certainly try to chase after or confront either of the two, but they will retreat faster than they can be approached. They’re interested in leeching dream-energy, not in fighting. Closer to when the woods appear they will vanish entirely, while near the end they will remain in sight, but always out of reach.

ARE THERE SIGN-UPS OR A WIN CONDITION?

Not for this event, no! This event is more about the opportunity to have characters share dreams and have a spooky forest experience than to have to solve the plot themselves, so the event will have the same ending regardless of what characters do in the forest. Please feel free to use this post for plotting!

WILL THERE BE A LOG FOR THIS?

There will be a log going up when the forest sprouts! This will be where you’ll put your toplevels of both the dreaming and waking kind.

I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS!

Ask them here!

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Comments

Yo, Modskillets

[borschtkot]

This event sounds amazepokeballs! Should we go ahead and use this event post to comment and gather people for combined dreams??

[indigo_league]

Absolutely!

Please feel free to plot to your hearts' content!

[seeingeyesteward]

Me again, clearly without any form of account consistency --

I know the woods are all intertwined so I wanted to confirm.. When the event ends everyone will still be where they started?

IE Luffy was in Cerulean Caves but ran into Steven who was over at Mt Mortar. They both would remain in their locations at event end -or- they may end up in a different location?

[indigo_league]

If you'd really like for a character to come out of the woods in a different place, then feel free! Otherwise, yes, they will generally come out in the same place they went in.