[Matope]

Sometime after the first Obelisk was discovered, Lull in Sunlight was visited by a dream -- and this dream told her to lead kin out into the plains in search of another.

If you were not one of the brave few who ventured out on this quest, then last night, after you sprawled out in your safe bed (whatever that might be), you dreamed of this journey, the second Obelisk sitting in the plains, and its puzzle:

Being near her stopped the Ache from overtaking you, allowing you to journey outside of the swamp -- many of you for the first time in your lives. The journey was arduous, but eventually you found your way to another Obelisk, much like the first -- but this one had different symbols scattered on the ground around it, half buried in the tall grass of the plains, each with the design of a running cheetah carved into it.

After some poking around, kin determined that clearing the grass revealed stone paths beneath, which they determined they had to run quickly, in a specific order, before they could reactivate the Obelisk. Once they completed this arduous task, it lit up the Obelisk with magical power, leaving you certain that simply touching it would grant you safe passage back to the swamp.

If you touched the Obelisk:

(click to show/hide)

You are immediately overtaken by visions of a colorless, formless place. As far as the eye can see, there is nothing but empty air. You hear nothing. You see nothing more than grey. Underneath your hooves is a ground made of small colorless pebbles that seem to reject being seen. Trying to examine anything too closely leads to the exact opposite, your eyes slipping away and losing sight of whatever it was you were looking for. Almost instinctively, you begin to walk.

There is no sense of movement, and that is distressing, so you begin to run. Despite the fact that it seems as if you are making no progress, eventually you see a tall tower rising in the distance, glowing from within. It seems as if you are moving now, but as you approach, darkness creeps into the edges of your vision, threatening...

Then you wake.

You are in the swamp, at the foot of the obelisk that's already been found there, and you are unimaginably tired. The walk here should have taken you at least a week, but you can't even tell whether the sun's position in the sky has changed. Overcome by the need to sleep, you lay down and tonight you dream...

If you helped pull up the grass or run the paths, when you dream you dream that you are chasing after something - or someone - that you want very much. It's so close - just within reach. You just need a little bit more speed. What do you do when you reach it? What have you been chasing? The feeling of success lingers in you for the remainder of the day after you've awoken, despite the eerie realization that the void that you saw before falling asleep was not just a vision, but reality. You are back in the swamp, where the first, dark obelisk lays, foreboding as ever. Touching it doesn't trigger any more strange dreams or out-of-body experiences, and it is completely unresponsive.

If you did not either pull up the grass or run the paths, your dream is tumultuous, unsettling. You are lost on the plains, but it is not as you left it. The grass has died, turned to rot underfoot. The trees have lost their leaves and stand curled over as if in pain. You run, hoping that you are heading back to the swamp, but instead, you come across the obelisk. It is glowing so strongly it hurts your eyes to look upon it. Ever step you take towards it weakens you, but you are sure that it will bring you home. You wake in a cold sweat, home in the swamp, but you feel unwell. Touching the obelisk here, in the waking world, does nothing; there is no pain, no reaction, no weakness. The next time you sleep, there are no strange dreams.

If you attempt to travel out of the swamp again, you are beset by the Ache, as usual. When you ask around, it's only been a few days since Lull in Sunlight's expedition first left the Swamp. And if anyone asks how you got home...you're really not sure. You're not sure how you could return to the plains, but something has changed...

If you are a kiokote who has never left the plains before, having entered the swamp, you are now affected by the Ache. Attempts to go home are met with failure. For now, you are stuck...

If you did not touch the Obelisk:

(click to show/hide)

You are able mingle for a while, enjoying the sights of the plains, but the crowd has thinned immensely - where has everyone gone? Eventually you are overcome by the need to sleep.

No one dreams in the shadow of the obelisk on the plains. Their sleep is so deep and so peaceful that nothing can wake them until they are ready.

If you have previously set foot in the swamp, when you wake, you Ache - physically and mentally, and Lull in Sunlight is not there to help you. All you can think about is returning home, to the swamp. Your travel is tired, painful, and slow, but you will not die--though that does not seem a mercy at the time. You've never traveled this far while feeling the effects of the Ache. It takes several days before you reach the swamp again, and when you do, you learn that the rest of the expedition has already arrived. If you attempt to travel out of the swamp again, you are again beset by the Ache, as usual.

If you are a kiokote who has never left the plains, you wake up and feel fine - but it looks like the expedition from the swamp has just vanished overnight. The obelisk is dormant again and all you are left with is a mystery.

[Matope]

OOC:

This is a meta refresher Wandering Prompt: reminding you of where the meta stands, what happened, and giving you an opportunity to have your kin explore it, to some degree, via a solo.

When replying to this prompt, please make a new RP thread in this forum with [WP-002] in the title.

If you were not at the second Obelisk, you should write a solo of your kin dreaming of the original scene. We suggest you read the original thread to get an idea for what happened, so that you can appropriately respond. Keep in mind that if your kin was not there the first time, they cannot participate in solving the puzzle this time, though they can watch and think.

When you complete your solo, you can collect one extra RP point on top of the standard rewards for completing your RP.