"I knew this would end poorly," Solaris sits at his desk, looking unimpressed. With the sight in front of him, who could blame him? Mimosa fans the currently overheating haphazard cube of a machine from much earlier. Though she tried to seem like she had everything under control, it was clear from the start that this hadn't gone entirely as she expected. Solaris' chidings fall on deaf ears, as Mimosa frantically tries to stop the smoke now coming out of the cube's vents. "Oh relax, I have it all under control!" she says, but the truth is far from that.
In the city below, the dreams manifested by the citizens carried on in abundance. Laughter, merriment, and joy filled the city with each new creation that came into being. Whether it be changing the environments around them or creating beings that could only exist in their imaginations, the city of Spirale seemed keen to make the most of their shared dream. Little did they know that this would end just as abruptly as it had started.
It starts as a low wail in the distance, soft at first but gradually growing louder. People looked around, searching for the source of the sound, only to see that the once blue astral whale that made its way across the city's skies had now darkened to a deep purple. And worse, it seemed to be rapidly growing in size. While it had initially only been big enough to partially cover the sun, it had now grown big enough to cover the entire city and all of its wards combined.
Its pained cries now reverberated through the city, some citizens even finding it hard to stand in the wake of it. Then it begins its descent toward the city, mouth agape. Before everyone knew it, the entire city had been swallowed whole by the whale; thus did they find themselves in the literal belly of the beast.
Darkness swirled around them, the shared dream now becoming tainted. Dreamed creations that had once been deemed harmless now become feral and untamed. Beings created from memories were now tainted versions of themselves, giving voices to the darkest insecurities of their masters. Worst of all, familiar yet twisted landscapes and scenery of peoples' homelands blotted the darkness of the whale's inside. The most horrible thoughts lurking in the depths of peoples' minds now became manifest without word.
And throughout this all, Mimosa stood in that hidden laboratory, watching the scene unfold before her with a worried expression. "Well, I guess I don't have it under control! But I can fix this!" Solaris only rolled his eyes again as he went back to playing damage control in any way he could.
Welcome to the second part of Phantasm Amalgam!
So… what's going on? To make a long story short, the astral whale that was up in the sky? Yeah, it's become corrupt because of the dream machine not being fully perfected, and so what was once a gentle and docile creature has now become the devourer of good dreams. The entire city and all of its citizens have been swallowed by the whale and while they were first floating in darkness, the whale soon started to create twisted versions of characters' homelands and loved ones! Oh, and those cute little dream creations or manifestations of memories they created? They're all evil and twisted now, while also being super powerful to boot!
Secondly, here are some brief explanations of what you can expect while in the belly of this beast:
Any and all creations or beings made from here on will quickly become corrupt and twisted versions of their former selves. This includes animals and humanoids, whose strengths will also match your character's, so they're definitely viable threats.
Now you can create scenery from your character's world. But be warned that while it may start normally at first, it'll eventually become twisted. How twisted depends entirely on you though! Think of it like a horror movie, where things start normal enough at first but become increasingly uneasy as time passes. (e.g., memories of characters becoming muddled, people saying things that they shouldn't or wouldn't, being met with random violence from usually docile people, etc.)
Landscapes from different worlds are melding together as well! This is something you have complete creative control over and we encourage you to make it as interesting as you'd like! You may find yourself in one place, only to be transported to another just as quickly. You can also find bits and pieces of another character's world melded into yours! This must be done with mun permission, however. (e.g., seeing people from A's world in B's world instead, scenes that played out in A's world now happening in B's.)
There is still no limit to what you can create or change while inside the whale. Still, it may have adverse effects (e.g., animals going feral, dreamt-up beings becoming violent, a character losing their sense of self after changing anything about themselves, becoming trapped in their own dreamscape, etc.)
Powers will continue to be fully unlocked for this portion of the event to give characters a fighting chance!
As always, please feel free to send any questions you may have to the masterlist!
You can keep making starters for Part 1 during Part 2, if you so choose!
The second half of the event will go from today, August 9th to August 23rd 11:59:59PM EST!
