[WaifuApple]

The Forest Of Fears

Summary

 

---

 

A group of 11 - (13 if you count the split personalities) joined one another in the purple forest of mystery, on the hunt for a creature of unimaginable illusory ability - though without any clear idea of what it was truly capable of. Going in blind, this group would find themselves at the location each getting a vision, though the three sharing one body got one each. At the start of the event, these visions were blurred - but cut the entire world around them out, leaving each person to feel like they were alone until the vision finished. Which is... where we begin the hunt proper.

 

The way seemed to close behind the group, a clear path out turning into a wall of trees as if by magic, obviously leaving people feeling as if they would have to resolve to defeat this creature now they were here - or be stuck wandering eternally, or least until their bodies withered away. So, the group would get a choice - to go north, or to go east. Choosing to go north, the group would find themselves cut off again - this time from going back, forward, or anything... as if the darkness was closing in like a solid wall. It would bring them all together into a small amount of space, much to the dismay of anyone claustrophobic, and make it hard to breathe. Though, after the walls closed in enough, everything would disappear - people would be alone again. The visions... returned.

 

People would now see friends, family, loved ones. Rivals, enemies - just whoever they were thinking about most in the moment. They could try to reach out to them all they wanted, try to catch up - but they would never reach the ones they cared about. The vision would fade away, and so too would the people they saw - into the darkness, as everyone returned to one another, processing what they'd just seen. Morale was shaken in some people who could not stand to see their loved ones go. But everyone would get a brief moment to compose themselves before...

 

In another trick of the mind, the ground would give way from beneath them and everyone would find themselves in free fall, seeming to have ended up above the forest - the expanse of which could be seen as far as their vision could take them. Fear of heights checked, everyone would crash to the ground, feeling the pain of bones broken, bodies bruised - until, of course, it all subsided and they would find that they were fine. Nothing damaged - nothing harmed. Just another vivid trick that seemed like reality...

 

Then came the creatures of the dark. Creatures of many people's fears. They emerged from the darkness to surround the groups as they came to terms with the world around them. Clowns, Spiders, Dolls, Snakes, Ghosts... all sorts of haunting creatures that posed a threat that seemed very real. But, of course... they were dispatched of easily in the darkness. Never underestimate adventurers, after all...

 

The group would then take pursuit once more of the creature, but it seemed like gravity itself began to work against them. Everyone felt themselves soon being brought to their knees, onto the floor. And once again, things cut to black... everyone was alone again. In their own minds. The last major vision... and it hit some strings.

 

People would see family abandon them, loved ones die, friends turn their backs. They would lose parts of themselves, all according to their fears - their attachments. Anything that mattered to them would be used against them - to haunt them. Much of the group could have been considered in distress - some needed snapping out of it to even go on. Resolve once more shaken, but some steeled themselves through the visions and grew a resolve to end this for all. To take out the creature, to decimate it and end their own miseries...

 

And so, they approached the last spot the creature had left to hide. And lo and behold, it would show itself to them. It was... a duck? That couldn't be right - and yet, in all ways it LOOKED like one. A duck with remarkable agility that would inevitably prove itself to be a real threat to them. It took no prisoners, but the first group against it were strong. They had resolve, and they were able to shatter it's disguise... somewhat, at least.

 

Under the guise of that duck was a shapeshifting creature of some kind. A powerful beast of illusory power that the second group would have to face head on soon after. It revealed much of it's prowess in getting around in this section of the battle, though team two was powerful as well, and would be able to bring it down to size... for the last team, a team of three.

 

This team of three held their own exceptionally well despite the circumstances. One of them was obviously shaken by the visions - but they were able to get it to it's last legs. That is, before a member of Team 1 intervened, and in the last moments the creature managed to strike two of them down non-fatally before being impaled in the head with a spear at the hands of one of the distressed few.

 

In it's last moments, the creature would revert all illusion around the forest and bring it's power into itself to send a final vision to everyone. The sounds of their loved ones screaming in pain as they had to endure watching a spear go through their heads. In it's last moment essentially forcing them to watch the person they cared about most die in the moment. The group left the scene victorious, but with many of them in distress and probably needing some vent for what they'd seen...

 

Thank you to everyone who attended! For an event about fears (which I was worried people would just ignore) you all did remarkably well in reacting to the situation and everything that happened. I hope you all enjoyed it!