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 Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 1:08 pm
Quote: Destiny City is a large place, with a large population. It’s not uncommon to find a lost item here or there. Maybe a keychain, an earring, a book. But, a six sided die? That’s different. While traveling through Destiny City, you find a strange little object. It looks like old, stained wood, but something shiny in it catches your eye. How could you resist picking it up? But then, maybe you've found one of these dice before. Maybe you remember the Gameboard, already. That's okay. Even if you know better than to pick it up, all you have to do is look at it, and it's ensnared you. Again. It looks like a normal die in terms of shape, and each side has a gilded number, one through six, carved into it. The most interesting part of it all is that the dice seems to be made of old, stained wood with fossilized opal throughout the whole piece. Something about it called to you, and now that it has your attention, a harsh wind slams into you. Darkness falls all around you–and then, slowly, a path illuminates. It’s black all around you; there’s no light, but you can see clearly marked spaces. A line of squares unwind in front of you, each clearly marked. You can’t see anything around you, can’t feel anything else–just the gameboard. And the die. Whether its in your hand or on the ground where you left it, it's there with you. Even if you don’t recognize the game, you don’t really need instructions to know how to play–you have a die, and you have a path. In the distance, you can barely make out a dark wooden platform at the end of the path, but it seems to have the same fossilized opal inlay as the die–and pretty golden symbols along the rim. You can’t step out of your square. Trying to leave the gameboard results in you walking to an invisible barrier and it feels like slamming into a glass wall. You cannot leave your space–unless the die says you can. If you want to get out of here, you’re going to have to roll your way there–but it isn’t so easy. Strange gold markings differ from one square to the next. There’s no telling what they mean–you’re going to have to land on them to find out. Though, judging by the tension in the air, it’s probably not going to be anything good.
Although it having taken place three years or so ago was perhaps something of a factor in that given that Destiny City was a place that had more than its fair share of oddities.
Still, even though she wasn’t a true Destiny City 'native', she had lived in DC for long enough not to know better than to pick up strange objects from the ground–
Especially around the holidays.
Particularly around the holidays.
So when her boot nudged against something small and sent it skittering loose, Iðavöllr’d had no intention of picking it up.
Therefore it was with no small amount of confusion and surprise that she had found herself holding an old, wooden six-sided die with each face etched with a gilded number from one to six in her hand.
Something about the gilded numbers had sparked a dim sense of familiarity and unease–
But before Iðavöllr had been able to fully place why, a sudden wind had risen up from out of nowhere and surged up fiercely around her, before sweeping her away.
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 1:12 pm
Quote: Space 0:You have arrived here; nothing happens until you roll your die.
The second was the silence.
Not the silence of her snow-clad wonder, or the quiet hush of a library, but a smothering, deliberate kind of silence–
The kind that seemed to press in on her, heavy and smothering, almost as it meant to swallow her whole.
Then before her a path began to unspool, squares revealing themselves as they unfurled one by one in the darkness–
And something about it made her hesitate as it tugged at the edges of her memories, stirring a dull unease and an unsettling sense of something half-remembered and unwelcome.
But it was only when she spotted the dark mass of what appeared to be some sort of platform at the end of the path that it clicked and Iðavöllr finally made the connection.
Remembered getting trapped in a twisted gameboard with her cousin three years ago.
A gameboard that was not unlike this one. And a die, that was not unlike the one in her hand–
But back then her cousin had been with her, and whilst their paths through the 'game' itself had diverged, they’d still faced it together.
Not so this time however.
Because this time she was on her own, and Iðavöllr knew with a sinking certainty that there was only one way forward.
She stared at the die in her hand one last time before reluctantly raising it–
Because she knew that in order to move forwards that she was going to have to play.
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litian rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-6)
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 1:13 pm
Quote: Space 3:A strange fog rolls in once you land here. You lose sight of nearly everything, including the game board. If you want to roll, you’re going to have to get close to the ground to even see where you’re supposed to go next. Hopefully nothing sneaks up behind you.
But then a fog began to creep in, curling low at first before rising, tendrils of pale mist winding their way slowly upwards until even the shadows themselves started to be swallowed whole.
It swallowed the dim path too, the tendrils of mist slowly winding their way towards her, and carrying a damp chill with them that seemed to sink into the parts of her skin that wasn’t covered by her Page uniform.
Iðavöllr exhaled slowly, eyes going first to the die in her hand and then to the small and steadily shrinking circle of path, before she reluctantly crouched down, a part of her grateful for the thick outer layer of her uniform as it cushioned her knees somewhat against the cold ground–
Because whilst it seemed that rolling the die seemed like it was the only way forwards and out of a fog that kept pressing ever closer, Iðavöllr didn’t want to take the risk of losing said die to the fog.
So she cupped the die carefully and let it roll gently, the sound startlingly loud in the muffled air.
The response was almost instantaneous and Iðavöllr barely had enough presence of mind to snatch the die back into her palm before a strange force welled up and yanked her forwards.
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litian rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-6)
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 1:14 pm
Quote: Space 6:You hear a shrill, humming noise; it sounds almost like something is firing past you–and sometimes, you even feel a sharp burst of air, like something has just missed you. Maybe, even, it does get a slice out of you. Sharp, bladelike threads seem to string up around you; you’d best be careful not to get cut on any of them between now and your next dice roll.
At least for the moment.
And then the humming had started up.
High pitched.
Piercing.
Shrill–
And sharp enough to set her teeth on edge.
Worse, it wasn't constant, but seemed to come in bursts, as if something (or perhaps several things) was slicing through the air at an impossible speed.
The first had rushed past whining in the darkness.
The second had passed by so close that Iðavöllr had felt the rush of wind against her cheek.
By the third, she realised that it wasn’t just air.
Instead they were threads.
Threads that shimmered faintly in the gloom. Impossibly thin and razor sharp.
She’d found out that last the hard way, when one snapped past her right arm, and sliced through blue fabric as it parted the fibres like silk.
Iðavöllr cursed under her breath as she forced herself to move carefully, instinctively crouching down low before slowly and deliberately letting the die roll.
And as the strange force came welling up, Iðavöllr could only hope that she’d make it to the next area in a single piece.
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litian rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3
Total: 3 (1-6)
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 1:18 pm
Quote: Space 9:The smell of saltwater fills the air, and you can hear the water lapping against the shore. You hear boards creaking, and bells in the distance. And then, a song. Haunting. Ghostly, and calling you. For a second, you fall in love. And then, water fills your lungs. You’re choking, you can’t breathe. The song is loud and seems to caress you, even as a wet chill gathers in your square. Scaly hands reach for you, you gently caressing, and try to lure you into an endless sleep.
The sharp, briny scent of salt flooded her nostrils and coated the back of her tongue, whilst the sound of water lapping steadily against unseen shores filled her ears.
Something about the scene seemed familiar although Iðavöllr couldn’t quite place why, even as bells started to toll faintly from somewhere in the distance.
And then came the music, slipping into her ears almost like silk, smoothly seductive, as it wrapped around her thoughts, whilst a voice that wasn’t a voice sang a melody so haunting and impossibly beautiful that it made her breath catch.
But even as the song enveloped her, another part of Iðavöllr stirred - as a voice, sharp and insistent, urged her not listen or to follow.
The song beckoned, just as fiercely, even as the voice tried to scream at her that she’d been to this place before–
The sound of a die rolling echoed in her ears as she fell, hands wet, scaled and deceptively gentle, there to greet her and coax her down, down into the dark.
Then the water came, choking her and burning her throat–
And it was in that moment that Iðavöllr finally remembered, brown eyes widening as her horrified realisation cut through the haze of the song.
She struggled even as the scaly hands tightened and pulled her deeper only for the strange force to choose that exact moment to appear, sudden and violent as it yanked at her with invisible strength.
For a moment a terrible tug-of-war erupted.
Scaly hands clinging, desperate and possessive whilst the force pulled hard and relentless.
Then with a final, sudden wrench, Iðavöllr found herself torn free–
And coughed and sputtered as the force whisked her away into the unknown.
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litian rolled 1 6-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-6)
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 1:20 pm
Quote: Space 11:You hear a frantic flapping above you, but that’s all the warning you get before a hoard of bats descend. They scratch and slap and screech, but you avoid getting bitten. For now. You’ve invaded their space and they seem keen to defend it. You can try to fight them, but the only way to escape them is to roll again.
Sadly however it seemed like the game wasn’t done with her just yet as the air chose that moment to erupt with shrieks and the rush of frantically flapping leathery wings.
Bats.
Not one. Not two. Not even ten - but a veritable storm of them, screeching angrily as they headed straight for her.
Iðavöllr saw the descending bats and didn’t hesitate, instinct taking over as her fingers closed around a die that had somehow, miraculously managed to avoid sinking in the water of the previous square.
She rolled, hand instinctively reaching out to scoop the die up even as the strange force welled up around her.
She hated bats at the best of times, and this? This was far from the ‘best of times’–
Which meant that Iðavöllr had no intention of sticking around to see what they wanted.
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litian rolled 1 6-sided dice:
1
Total: 1 (1-6)
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 1:23 pm
Quote: Space 12:The smell of smoke is in the air. You can’t see what’s burning, but you can hear distant screams, and–carnival music? It feels like people are running past you, and the air fills with panic and alarm–but there’s nowhere for you to go, and the smoke is so thick. You’d better roll quickly so you can get out of here.
Thick, acrid and choking as it clung to lungs that were still raw from her earlier saltwater plunge–
And whilst she couldn’t see what was burning, it didn’t stop her from smelling it.
Or from hearing the inexplicable sound of carnival music, as its jaunty but tinny sound almost grotesquely cheerful playing as it was against the backdrop of smoke and what sounded like distant panicked screams.
Iðavöllr reached for the die grimly, and not for the first time found herself dropping into a crouch, doing her best to shield the die as she let it roll across the unseen ground.
The smoke thickened and seemed to press in from each side as the sound of the clattering die was swallowed almost instantly by the rising sounds of chaos and panic.
Rising sounds of chaos and panic that seemed to be stampeding in her direction.
She got the chance to see a source, the strange force that seemed almost to be a constant welling up and whipping around her–
Before yanking her forwards as it tore her from the smoke.
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litian rolled 1 6-sided dice:
2
Total: 2 (1-6)
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 1:24 pm
Quote: Space 14:The ground is sticky. You land on this and immediately dip, as though you’ve stepped on a trampoline. Close inspection reveals that you are standing on an intricately woven web–and your shoes are stuck. And something is skittering just on the horizon.
Almost as though she’d stepped onto a trampoline rather than solid earth.
Her balance wavered, arms flailing out inelegantly in an instinctive attempt to steady herself, even as the ground continued to lurch and dip beneath her boots–
And then she had made the mistake of looking down and wishing that she hadn’t, because the ‘ground’ wasn’t ground at all.
Instead it was the most intricate web that she had seen in her life and woven with a precision that seemed almost impossible.
Almost impossible except for the fact that Iðavöllr was trapped in the middle of the vast strands that glinted in the dim light.
Something skittered at the edge of her sight, quick darting movements from one of the corners in a rhythm that was steady, deliberate and far too full of intent.
Not that Iðavöllr planned to stick around to wait and see what was coming–
And fortunately it was her boots that were trapped, not her hands.
The skittering grew louder.
Closer–
But the strange force reached her first, strands of web snapping under its force as it yanked her forwards and away before the source of the skittering could reach her.
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litian rolled 2 6-sided dice:
6, 4
Total: 10 (2-12)
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Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2025 1:27 pm
Quote: Space 20:The end; once you have arrived here you are free to leave. You will see be basked in the glow of a beautiful, opalescent aura that will take you back home. If you arrived with a guest, you can leave without them or choose to stay until they make it to the end as well. When you arrive back in Destiny City, you may choose to keep the six sided die–if nothing else, it’s pretty! Though, it doesn’t seem to have any magical qualities, that might be for the best. However...if you have already acquired a die from last year, or if you are unlucky enough to encounter the gameboard twice this year, you may notice that the opalescent fissures of the dice glow when close to each other. There's no telling what this might mean, but you'd best be safe about it.
A gentle, soft, opalescent glow that seemed to shimmer across the space.
Soft, peaceful - and almost like moonlight spilled over water.
But even though Iðavöllr could vaguely remember that the final square had been safe enough, a part of her couldn't help but try and brace for the worst as it waited for the other shoe to drop.
Nothing happened.
No water.
No bats.
No smoke.
Just the light soft and unwavering as it grew brighter and brighter.
It swelled, luminous, warm and almost comforting, until the world around her dissolved into white - and then it was gone, vanishing without a trace, leaving behind the familiar surroundings of the city–
And the die that had caused so many problems for her resting innocently on the ground.[Fin]
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