songerein | Saving Christmas

✵ SAVING CHRISTMAS ✵

As the sun sets and the moon rises on Christmas Eve, a strange sound of jingling bells is heard high in the sky as the snow suddenly begins to fall heavily upon the town. A heavy weight of sleep slowly overcomes everyone, and just as their eyes close they'll hear a loud, raging bellow—

That damn bastard!! I won't let you ruin—!

Before the words are finished, everyone will suddenly jolt awake and find themselves scattered in a strange looking town called Whoville. Although it looks as if it's supposed to be festive, none of that holiday cheer is evident. The town is completely ransacked with torn up decorations, broken gift boxes and toys. Even its colors seem faded, music distorted and muted.

All through the town the Whos stare listlessly at their hard work now ruined, some crying openly while others remain indoors in their grief. A brave few young souls try to help clean and bolster some cheer, chanting, "It's not too late, we can fix this! We can't let that Grinch get us down!" But many just shake their heads, their eyes dim. No one seems to have noticed the sudden arrival of new faces.

In the meanwhile, the tapirs appear to inform the Dreamwalkers that they are inside another large dreamscape similar to the one during Halloween. This time, however, an entity called "The Grinch" had suddenly appeared and attacked it, stealing all the presents and leaving everything to ruin as they see now. The tapirs point to a meter floating high in the sky, and although it's not rock bottom, it keeps wavering and lowering as time passes. The Dreamwalkers must help raise the meter to save the dreamscape from turning into a nightmare.

"But the big guy is really angry now," the tapirs chatter among themselves. "If they help fix things, maybe they'll gain a powerful ally!"

Dressed in Christmas themed attire, it will be up to the Dreamwalkers to try and restore the Christmas spirit before the day is ruined forever.

I. HELPING WHOVILLE

The town is an interesting looking place with its unique architecture, bright colors swirling and curving about that it make it look like it could be made of cake or candy instead. It's supposed to be adorned with all manner of Christmas decorations and lights, and yet all of it is missing and instead everything looks so drab and dreary, the colors faded and nary a carol sung. Its tree has also been stripped bare, the presents pilfered, and the much too big Christmas Star gone.

A. Gift Retrieval. The Grinch has scattered all of the presents and decorations throughout the surrounding forests and they need to be returned before Christmas is over. Dog sleds big enough to load up found presents are provided to be used, and the dogs will help track down presents. However, those who enter the forests should be cautious. While there aren't any huge threats, there are present mimics, monsters that pretend to be present boxes only to attack any who approach. They will also eat real presents, so be careful they don't reach the sled!

» BONUS: PRESENT DELIVERY. The last objective is to deliver the present to their rightful owners. However, it's possible the Grinch may have tampered the presents, and this will only be revealed upon opening. Players must RNG 0-5 to determine if the recipient likes the present or not.

» BONUS: SPECIAL PRESENTS. There are some special marked boxes that are guarded by present mimics. Get past them to retrieve the present. However, upon touching the box, it will disappear in a poof of orange and be replaced with a pumpkin pie that will help amplify one's dreamotion abilities if eaten.

B. Fixing Decorations. With broken ornaments and torn wreaths and ribbon everywhere, a massive cleanup is in order along with repairing and redecorating. While anyone good at crafts can help, positive emotions and dreamotion abilities will be key to help brighten everything from its current dreary atmosphere. Creative minds can help produce the necessary decorations while the athletic can figure out ways to bolster their skills to reach those high, hard to reach places. Another RNG for rating is here as the residents will judge their work.

» BONUS: JUDGMENT. Anyone can throw up decorations, but will it be to the residents' liking? Players must RNG 0-5 to determine what kind of rating their efforts receive.

» BONUS: CHRISTMAS STAR. The original Christmas star was smashed to bits so a new one is in order. Although anything can be used, the Whos do have some preferences on what can be used on the star, even if those materials may be hard to find. Rainbow crystals found in the forest will surely help give the start that glittery feeling; they prefer to have it gold; and it needs to illuminate on its own so some kind of light source is needed.

C. Christmas Carols. Carolers are doing their best, but everyone is stumbling over their verses and instruments are out of tune. A bit of positive reinforcement and Christmas cheer will help sort things out. Those who are musically inclined can lead the way by singing and even creating new songs to help inspire others.

» BONUS: A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS CAROL. In the designated thread, a new carol will be composed by the dreamwalkers. Each one will supply their own verse in response to the previous (click here for example). The thread is only for the verses, but there will be another thread where players can go ham for their characters to comment on the song as it goes on. Anyone can participate multiple times but must wait for another comment to be made first.

II. SANTA'S TOY FACTORY

Just beyond Whoville with just the Winter Forest to separate them is one of Santa's toy factories. It, too, has been attacked and smoke rises from the damaged buildings. With machines malfunctioning, toys are running rampant and everything is chaotic. If not fixed soon, there will not be enough toys for Santa to deliver.

A. Elf Rescue. The Grinch not only stole the presents and destroyed the toys, but they also sabotaged the machines running the factor. Now elves are trapped inside and are in desperate need of rescuing as toys malfunction and start to turn on them. The machines are even trying to box up the elves as gifts instead! Behaving similar to the present mimics, boxes, wrapping paper, and ribbon bounce around in search of anything to wrap up. Dreamwalkers must venture in to try to turn off the machines and rescue the elves without getting turned into a present themselves. The more elves rescued, the more allies gained to fix the factory and more favor earned from Santa.

B. Reindeer Games. The reindeer have been scattered all over and the only way to bring them back is to attract them with fun and games. In order to do so, dreamwalkers will transform into reindeer and will have additional abilities granted to them, such as flying and manipulating snow. As for what kind of games, they can choose from any of the following:

Ring Racing. High up in the air is a flying course with rings made of magical frost. Racers must pass through each ring to count, but they must fly quickly. As soon as they approach, the ring will start to contract, and if too late it will close and the racer will be disqualified.
Sleigh Pulling. This is a contest of strength! Sleighs will be piled high with presents and, if not enough presents are available, large rocks to weigh it down. Each reindeer must then try and pull their sleigh down a simple straight lane to the finish line. Just beware, rogue toys will appear on the track and will need to be dealt with somehow. There are no restrictions—each reindeer can use whatever ability or skill they can think of to help pull the overloaded sleigh. The contest can be 1v1 or 2v2.
Robot Reindeer. All the excitement does attract many of the reindeer back, but unexpected guests arrive as well—and they're not friendly. Sent by the Grinch, robotic reindeer will suddenly descend from the skies to ruin the festivities. It will be up to the dreamwalkers in their reindeer form to fight back against them—or try to convert them to help out instead.

C. Gingerbread Army. Giant gingerbread men occasionally appear and try to smash through the toy factory, hampering rescue efforts. Fortunately, they are only made of gingerbread and easy to fall apart. Unfortunately, they will not only regrow lost parts but grow from severed parts. Their weak point is the glowing gumdrop located among the many gumdrops on the body, and destroying it will destroy the gingerbread completely.

[Mod Note: Details can be read and questions can be asked on the Event Details post. Submit all special threads and ratings to the Event Thread Submissions form.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Why- Why would kids get presents on Christmas?!

[WHAT KIND OF THING IS THAT TO SAY.]

Kids all over the world in every world should be getting gifts for Christmas! That's what happens and that's why it's the most wonderful time of the year!

[He is so baffled that Zhao didn't have this or doesn't know about this?! How?!]

But- uh- Gifts aren't supposed to be monsters or kill kids, no! That was only the one time... But this time it's not supposed to happen!

I don't know, it might be good to develop reflexes if your present might cause injury.

[He is teasing, however. Possibly.]

If this is how it works where you're from then let's make sure the non-lethal presents go to kids.

[He lets out a relieved huff.]

When we're done this you're gonna tell me all about your kind of holiday. Okay?

[But for now it's time to work! Sora rolls a shoulder and then points at the conveyor belt.]

If we can get this thing started up we can start weeding out the rest of the mimics stuck inside.

Fine, fine, fine.

Lemme see it. [So this thing magically makes or wraps presents? Sure, let's go with that. He takes a little peek and very quickly rears back as a bit of razor edged ribbon tries to snake out.]

So if we get it started, then there's definitely more things to fight. Have you tried slapping the machine with your giant key?

Whoa! Careful!

[Yeah, that's right. It's a giant Christmas machine of some sort. Wrapping gifts and spitting them out for processing.]

Uh, I can't use my keyblade in a dream like this! But I can do this?

[He's just going to kick the machine several times??? It starts to rumble loudly!!]

Percussive maintenance, hunh? Works for me.

[He starts tracing lazy figure 8s with the tip of his saber in the air. But as soon as a present leaps out that tries to cause trouble, he's there, slicing up the present mimic with moves so smooth they flow like water on top of each other. The mimic flutters into nothing in a matter of moments.]

Let you take the next one for fun.

Hey, when in doubt... kick things!

[It works. Right?

The two of them are going to do a decent job of this together. With Sora kicking the machine and Zhao making quick work of the chomping gifts. The next one that kicks out of the machine tries to run away down the conveyor belt but that's not without Sora putting his hand out and blasting it with a zap of what appears to be ice magic. He's gotten a little practice with that lately.]

Got it!

[Zhao is making very quick work of the presents, slicing and dicing with his saber and when he wants to switch it up, opts for straight up punching and kicking the mimics into submission.

The ice is admirable and because he doesn't mind showing off, tries a bit more dreamotion energy, adding a streak of blue flame to his saber. Because why just slice something when you can set it on fire too?]

[Slice and dice! And why not add fire to your weapon? This is why Sora thinks he's pretty cool. He lets out a boyish should of delight as they start to get an upper hand on the mimics that are flowing out of the machine.

But they'll have to keep their wits about them! One comes out with ugly plastic wings this time! And it hovers angrily above them and swoops down at Zhao's head!]

Whoa?! Watch out!!

[The warning is appreciated as Zhao looks up, seems to abandon his saber for a moment and flips backwards on his hands. He begins to kick the flying present with gleeful abandon, leaning on his back and spinning around. When he's done, he flips back to his feet, blinking away the head rush.]

Well. That was something. Got any more?

[Wow, Zhao sure is agile for an old guy. Wait. Is he old? How old is he?

But no time to worry about that! The flying mimic swoops and tries to dive at them again and again and even Sora has to dodge roll out of the way. He yelps and hops back on his feet before opening a palm and throwing several explosions of ice magic at the mimic. It explodes on contact! Kaboom!]

I've got a deep freeze! Come on!

[~~HE'S 28 THANK YOU, YOU DINK~~This is all well and good, but flying presents now? Come on. This is getting out of hand.

A part of his training in kung fu is using anything he can as a weapon when the situation calls for it. So a ladder just standing against a wall will have to do. And it's one of those that can flip open to be taller, how convenient.~

Because now he's using it to swat, sweep and then throw presents to Sora in range of his magic.]

Special delivery!

[Zhao sure is intuitive! Or is that like some sort of gangster that uses whatever is around them as a tool in a brawl-]

Hah?! Okay! Got it!!

[But luckily Sora is quick on his feet. He'll jump up mid-air to grab the flying gifts that are swung at him. Grabbing the ones that seem real and tossing them onto the pile of good gifts and throwing the mimic ones with teeth on the ground to haphazardly stomp on them. Stomp! Stomp!]

Keep it up, Zhao! We've almost got em!

~~You keep this up and he'll paint your nails in unflattering colors~~

I hope so, I don't want them ruining my shoes. These are custom.

[Not to mention that swinging around a ladder of this size is getting tiresome, so he just throws it right at another flying mimic and crushing it.

But after he does that, things seem to calm down.]

Please tell me we got them all, yeah?

We wouldn't want you to scuff your shoes up, huh?!

[Sora lets out a warm laugh at that one. Someone is fussy but Sora can't really blame him.

But one last smash of the ladder seems to do the trick. Just to be sure Sora stomps on another one that is squeaking around on the ground so it's also a pile of squashed cardboard.

He lets out a huff and grins.]

Yup, we sure made quick work of them. We make a pretty good team!

Holy balls, glad that's over.

[If there's a chair in this workshop, he's sitting down in it and stretching out his arms.]

You have way too much energy. Do you live on sugar or something?

Ahah, maybe you're just old.

[There it is...! Sora continues to grin and he does stretch his arms over his head.]

I guess I'm just used to this kinda stuff.

Saving Christmas

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