{ mirror mirror }

[dreamposts]

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.

More details on everything can be found here. We will request any thread submissions for certain prompts during AC .

I. REVEREIN

II. MIRROR WORLD

COMMENTS

I. REVEREIN

It all begins in Reverein, where there's a strange shift in the air upon Jack's attempt to cast the spell. But instead of affecting just one mirror, it reflects off the surface and spreads out to the entire town, hitting every reflective surface instead. Ripples can be seen before the surfaces still, but it's too late. Every reflective surface—glass, mirror, window—is under a different effect because of the botched spell.

And some are being unwittingly pulled into them.

Fortunately 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.

A. Strange Reflections. While some mirrors may still reflect proper images, many will have…unusual changes.

🪞 You are what you see. Whether it's an odd hairstyle, change in skin color, or style of clothing in the reflection, suddenly the viewer will look exactly like what's reflected. The most extreme is a different form entirely.
🏡 Glimpses 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. For those who have memory issues, such visions will also be blurry, but perhaps they can help stir some things…
🔮 Most desired. Mirrors that have a bit of a pink hue to them will reflect the viewer's most desired "thing." It could be an object, person, place, or even a general idea. However, if not careful the viewer may become trapped in a trance and will need to be removed or smash the mirror.

B. Clone Wars. 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, and they will be very obviously fake: wrong colors, different voices, odd behavior, etc. and will usually be harmless. These "clones" will continue to appear and multiply until the mirror has been covered, and 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 in Mirror World.

C. 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.

D. 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.

II. 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.

Beware the strange creatures in the Mirror World. They are grotesque monstrosities, many of them looking as if they were stitched together from different parts. 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.

A. 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. If the fragment is injured, the original will also feel the damage but to a lesser degree. If the fragment is destroyed, then the original will be "knocked out" for a few seconds before a new fragment appears. However, this fragment will be much more distorted and worse than the one before.

B. 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.


C. 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.


D. Finding an exit. To leave the world, those inside must find a mirror that will connect back to Reverein, and those on the other side can also try to help by posing as "anchors" for those inside to recognize. Otherwise, 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, 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.

I. REVEREIN

II. MIRROR WORLD

COMMENTS

Comments

Part 2 - CW: bugs (houseflies), gross, horror, threat of being eaten, violence, body horror

[najaran]

Glimpses of home - Past Times With Zeneth Company. CW: bugs (houseflies), gross, horror, threat of being eaten, violence, body horror

Najaran, weirded out by her elf ears, finally made it to town. Just to be even more weirded out by all these mirrors all over the place. After what happened to her ears, she was trying to avoid them. Except then she thought she saw a glimpse of Goligan. She rushed over, hoping he'd appear in her hand if she did. She could put up with elf ears if that meant that Goligan was here with her!

But what she saw there dropped her to her knees. Goligan yes, but also her. More... a memory. And not one she particularly wanted to relive, but she found she couldn't look away. Eyes wide she stared.

Najaran was dressed nicely at one end of a long table with Goligan. On the sides of the table were rising... things. Part human, part house fly, all creepy. They were all focused on her and getting less and less human with every passing second. The worst of them was sitting at the far end of the table in a throne like chair. Unlike the other who had bug eyes and small bug bits showing, he was growing huge, and his bug form seemed to be climbing out of his mouth, as large or larger than he was. Flies. Huge flies that had looked human.

Najaran stood quickly, knocking aside her chair and whatever had been on the plate before her as she tried to escape.

"NAJA, DRAW A CARD! QUICLKLY!" Goligan cried, clearly alarmed.

Najaran reached behind herself. "GOTCHA! CARDS, FLY INTO MY HAND!" But nothing happened. The pouch everyone was so used to seeing hanging from her belt in town was not there in the reflection. "NO WAY! I DIDN'T BRING MY CARDS WITH ME!"

Goligan, crying, let out an expletive as countless leather straps with buckles, like belts for giants, flew at Najaran and Goligan, trussing them up in a nonce. Najaran cried out as they struck, blinding her with one, blinding and gagging Goligan both. It took very little time before both of them were utterly helpless.

Najaran, now, stared in horror at what she hadn't been able to see before, bound and blinded.

"Can't move. This is a Spell Card! Bind! Goligan, is the Lord, like, a Cepter?"

Unseen by the blinded pair, the being at the far end of the table rose into the air, looking almost human once more. He no longer looked like he was half monstrous house fly, but his face - especially with his conical hat - looked like a melting ice cream cone. He drooled as he flew closer.

Najaran's struggling was mostly futile, but she did manage somehow to uncover one eye. How given her blindfold had been strapped to her chin, was hard to tell. But she managed it.

Of course, as was clear from her expression, she was regretting that as the floating ice cream cone man was right up in her face and drooling all over her.

Then it got worse as the mouth opened wide before her. This time, instead of just bug parts, out of the moth also came a horrifying face. It was somewhat humanish, but split down the middle with one side dark with darker spots, the other side pale and clear. Each side had a faceted eye and above it an eye that might have looked human had it iris or pupil. Its nose was sharply pointed down and its teeth sharply pointed up from the lower jaw and down from the upper.

"I am a Black Cepter -- Depthera, the carrion bug! So pleased to meet you," the face within the Lord's mouth said to her as the Lord put one hand on her hand and another on one of the straps binding her arms. His hand pushed up her blindfold so she could see fully, but did her no other good.

"B..b...b..b..Black Cepter!" Najaran cried, horrified.

A figure entered through the door. Like Goligan he was a man headed cane, but he looked evil on every bit of his face, and his mustache was black and stood up in evil looking points. "Goligan, you are pathetic. You couldn't even sense my presence in the room! Your powers have diminished with age, I surmise."

"What's this? A fake Goligan?" Najaran asked, horrified as Goligan managed to get a single eye free of his own binding somehow.

"I'm no fake, you little fool," the evil looking man headed cane declared, "I'm for real. IT SEEMS GOLIGAN IS THE FAKE FOR FORGETTING HIS MISSION AND ENSLAVING HIMSELF TO A HUMAN!"

"Do I know you?" Najaran asked the evil looking one before adding to Goligan "What's going on here?"

Goligan somehow got his gag free enough to speak, " Id..d.. demand you explain yourself!"

The Lord, now standing on the table, grabbed hold of this second cane. He now had a mostly human body with huge bug legs coming from his back and smaller ones from his chest, though still that face showed through the extended mouth of the Lord.

"You don't even remember your true mission!" the now held evil looking man headed cane declared. "You're more piteous than I thought." One of the not humans was crawling on the table behind them, and others had pulled to the sides. They why became clear as the floor began to open, revealing a rectangular pit that the table stood astride.

"Such a long way down!" Najaran said, seeming to feel weak from how much she was sweating suddenly. "I don't think I like heights, Goligan!"

Something black reached up with claw like legs from the pit and grabbed the crawling man on top of the table. The former Lord flew up lightly as the thing brought the man - and the long sturdy table - down into the pit.

"YIKES!" Najaran cried, and then hearing the noises from below and seeing the table slowly getting smaller and smaller "He must be hungry! He's eating the table now!"

The creature - seeming mostly to be jointed chitinous spiked legs as thick around as a person - began to climb out as the Black Cepter floated above, laughing. "Our insect king eagerly awaits his meal. I am certain it will be most succulent and delicious!" Soon the whole of it could be seen. The body of it was to flies what body builders were to children. Its huge legs were spread to either side to hold itself above the pit, but it also had smaller and more delicate legs under its huge faceted eyes. Between and above the eyes was the beast's actual mouth - a horrifying mix of almost human and monster. It had sharp teeth in the bottom and upper jaws but also teeth that looked like sharp nailed fingers to either side. above that was another pair of eyes as well as still another pair to either side and feelers that ended in hands that looked small only in comparison to the rest of its monstrous size. "After all, my little Cepter," the Black Cepter continued, "You are the main course!"

The insect people, now looking more like zombies than anything else, advanced ahead of their monster, right at her helpless and bound self.

"NO WAY!" Najaran cried, freeing one lower arm enough to point at the creature, as though that were at all needful. "IS HE AN INSECT OR A MONSTER OR WHAT?!"

The Black Cepter landed on the head of the creature that was bearing down on Najaran and Goligan. "He is known to all Cepters! HE IS BEELZEBUB, THE LORD OF THE FLIES!" You could hear the implied mwa ha ha ha in his voice.

"B...b...b..BEELZEBUB, THE LORD OF THE FLIES!" Goligan cried.

Najaran winced and looked a bit sheepish. She freed a hand enough to press it to her mouth, then to scratch her face as she thought. "Let's see... The Lord Of The Flies? The Lord of Flies... I must have read about him in class, right, Goligan?"

"AAAARRGH! NAJA, THIS IS NOT A SCHOOL QUIZ!" Goligan yelled at her. "Beelzebub is an Anti-Creature created by Balteas,a God who turned rebel during the war of the Gods! He hates everybody, Naja, and everything! I thought he was destroyed ages ago!"

"He was," the Black Cepter said, "The Goddess Culdra destroyed him in the war. But we, the Black Cepters, brought the Lord Of The Flies back to life again! Long ago, we found Beelzebub's remains at the bottom of the sea off the cost of Soron. It took untold years and all the magical power we could conjure to regenerate him. My powers vaporized the seas and turned them into a desert. Beelzebub's remains were gathered and from them we discovered a small trace of living tissue! Then I killed and ate your Lord of Soron. And took his form. It was I who began the annual Cepters' tournaments as a way to find sacrificial victims for Beelzebub!"

"Sacrificial?" Najaran asked, horrified "Do you mean... you fed that monster all the winners of your tournaments? That's sick!"

"Ah, but the winners make the tastiest flesh, do they not?" The Dark Cepter taunted her. "And you, NAJARAN, are the fifth victim." And thus saying, he and Beelzebub descended upon her, knocking her to the ground. More of her bindings came loose, but nowhere near enough for her to escape.

"You mean he's gonna gobble me up now? Hang on!" Najaran begged. "Let's talk about this, can't we?! NO!! I DON'T WANT TO BE EATEN BY THIS UGLY THING!! I'LL PROBABLY GIVE IT GAS ANYWAY!"

a tongue that was very like a worm with fingers on the end and eyes along its side came out of the salivating jaws to taste her tears, the teeth close enough they could have given her a hair cut. As it leaned still closer there was a horrible crashing sound. It could be seen through the mirror, though not by her in the scene, that something had flown through a window, shattering it. That something, what looked like multiple crossbow bolts, slammed into one of the larger eyes of Beelzebub's, which now looked more like shoulder decorations than eyes as it continued to mutate and change. Beelzebub fell to its side beside Najaran, badly damaged.

Najaran skittered back as much as her bindings allowed. Which was not much at all. "A Magic Bolt?" she asked, confused.

"What's this?" the Black Cepter demanded. "Who dare intrude?!"

"I could hear your party all the way across town," a voice said from the far side of the broken window. The light behind him rendered him a silhouette with pointed ears, spiked hair, and a haughty stance. "Thought I'd drop by and crash it!"

"So, it's you," the Black Cepter growled, shaking with rage. "DRAGON-EYED ZENETH!"

Zeneth let himself in through the window, Cards in both hands.

Rather than looking relieved at being saved, Najaran looked somewhere between annoyed and afraid, with a touch of upset thrown in for good measure. "Zeneth?!" she asked, in disbelief.

"Glad you could make it!" the Black Cepter said, about to launch into a threat against this new intruder, clearly. But Zeneth cut him off, and Najran was also ignoring him in favor of the new comer.

"I came down here to even things with you, Najaran. But I think you got bigger problems than that!" He was laughing, and it was clear in his words as well. He marched right over to her and leaned down. "Tell ya what, I'll call off our fight," he taunted, flicking her in the nose while she was bound and helpless, "if you admit I'm the REAL Cepter champ. Then I might even give you a hand getting out of THIS jam. He flicked her again.

Furious, she glared at him, bit before she could reply with more than a frustrated sound, the Black Cepter dropped to the ground behind Zeneth.

"Silence! Now that you're here, Zeneth, I will destroy you as well! What a delightful evening."

Zeneth glanced bach, going from seemingly annoyed, to full on angry, even as he flicked Najaran again. "Did he just say what I thought he said?" One more flick before he gave the Black Cepter his attention. "Were you addressing ME, sir?" But then as he turned to face the Black Cepter and the Creature, he once more ignored the Black Cepter, addressing instead Beelzebub. "You're the Lord Of The Flies, right? You're a legend! I didn't mean to ignore you all this time," he sneered. "Come on out... BERSERKER!" He cried summoning a large human-ish creature with spiked shoulders and sharp teeth in a lizadish face from his Card. "Time to do your thing!"

Beelzebub was large. So was Berserker. While Beelzebub was the larger, he seemed at a disadvantage as he pounced and impaled himself on the shoulder spikes.

Najaran, forgotten about, struggled with both her bindings and her rising fury. Finally she lost the battle with the second and set about the first with her teeth. It didn't take her long to chew through the leather straps, eating herself out of the Spell Card's hold.

"HEAVENS!" Goligan cried.

Najaran grabbed up Goligan and started flailing about with him as a club. "URRGH! I'VE HAD IT WITH BOTH OF YOU!" she cried, flailing away fly men left and right. "I'M THROUGH PLAYING NICE!!" When she was out of standing foes in easy reach of her swing, she lifted Goligan high and drew one hand up along his haft to under his chin. "GOLIGAN! GIVE ME MY EMERGENCY CARD!"

Shoved out of his throat a Card appeared. She wasted no time on flashy shows of light. Even as she grabbed the Card Eidolon started to climb out of it. "LET'S GO... EIDOLON!" She cried. And she threw her Creature, head first, at the chandelier that hung over the raging battle of Beelzebub and Berserker.

Eidolon grabbed the edge of the light fixture and hauled itself up. It climbed the metal structure until it got to the chain that held it to the ceiling. As if Eidolon needed to prove its connection to Najaran, it began to eat the chain.

"LOOK OUT!" the evil looking Man-headed cane cried. "He's RIGHT ABOVE US!"

"OH, THAT FILTHY LITTLE RAT!!" The Black Cepter cried, furious.

With a decisive crunch, Eidolon ate through the last bite of chain, sending the decorative spiked chandelier down onto the combatants with a resounding crash.

"The Lord Of Flies is indestructible only when full-grown. Ours is still in its larval stage. He's vulnerable to attack!" The Black Cepter said to his cane.

"His safekeeping must be our only concern right now!" The man-headed cane declared.

"You're right! Let us give him a safe haven..." the Black Cepter said, throwing a Card into the air. It exploded outward into a spiral of energies over him. "DIMENSION DOOR!"

The winds of the spell threw everyone aside.

"Holy smokes!" Zeneth cried as he was flung back with his Creature.

Beelzebub and the Black Cepter and the evil cane were drawn up into the center of the winds.

"They're teleporting away!" Najaran cried, in shock, somehow keeping her feet.

"Dragon-eyed Zeneth. Najaran. Your days are numbered," the Black Cepter swore as he vanished into the spell. "HEED MY WARNING. I WILL FINISH YOU NEXT TIME." And then the spell closed before he could utter any more dire threats, leaving a hole in the roof, among other damage.

Najaran and Zeneth watched the spell fade, and then Najaran fell to her knees, eyes closing. "Phew. Thank the Gods!"

"Ha," Zeneth said, still looking up where they'd vanished. "One legendary monster and a non-human Cepter! Cool! I can't wait for them to show up again."

Najran's face said "ugh" while the words she actually spoke were "Give me a break."

"Good grief," Goligan agreed. Eidolon scrambled up to sit on her shoulder. But it and Najaran were both startled by the first drops of water. Najaran stood, lifting Goligan like the world's most useless umbrella. "Is it raining?" she asked as the rain fell harder.

"Highly unlikley," Goligan said, "Soron is a desert city!"

Najaran held her hand to the rain and then licked ha finger. "That's weird. This rain tastes salty. Is it sea water?" she asked as Eidolon's sour face showed that it had gulped down a mouthful and did not appreciate the experience.

"Did Depthera give you brain damage?" Zeneth demanded. "Sea water? Get real!" but even as he finished chiding her a fish dropped from the sky, landing on his head.

But by now, someone probably broken Najaran's view of the mirror, right? Right?