game lore.

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GAME LORE

This page will be occasionally updated with the basic larger plot beats, although there are smaller ones scattered throughout the game itself. It will probably lag behind actual game events by several days to several weeks in order to effectively summarize without being a play-by-play, and may be retroactively edited for past happenings for clarification and/or renewed relevance.

The information here can be discovered through discussion, gossip, eavesdropping, etc in-game or handwaved, or if you wish for a concrete IC source, you can assume such information was passed on by Ala parhellia (OC, played by the mod).

GENERAL OVERVIEW / CURRENT STATUS

It is the eye of the storm. There is peace and quiet throughout the town.

Event: March event

☀ Kaeya is discovered near Maggie(npc)'s house on the brink of death and revival, his body brutally torn apart following a battle with an unknown demon overnight while there was inexplicable and complete silence.

☀ This death is used as an example for the bingo cards that appear by the public notice board, encouraging participation as each completed task returns a star to the night sky. A completed 5 tasks in a row rewards the player with a silver coin. Completing all tasks rewards the player with ???.

☀ Rinne and Niki are murdered in the train station plaza, with Niki's blood used to "hatch" the giant gemstone in the middle of the plaza and Maggie(npc) walking away with Rinne's, Niki's, and Hiiro's gems. In the meantime, the ressurrected townspeople from the month prior begin changing into shadow dogs and attack the living. The town's population is 500 by the end of the month.

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OCTOBER 2022

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TDM: prologue (early oct 2022)

☀ The first group of characters awake in a moving train that smells of livestock and blood. Outside is darkness, with little pinpoints of light in the far distance, and train tracks that split like tree branches.

☀ Sans and Kokichi search for the keycard to unlock the conductor's car, discovering a scrap of uniform and the nametag of Robin(npc), an employee. Her death is later revealed to be staged. Returning to the conductor's car, Sans and Kokichi find the keycard stuck to the door with a yellow smiley face sticker, and inside, the conductor Jay(npc) is found dead. Rinne and Hiiro confirm his death by poison, and respectfully bury him at the edge of the cemetery.

☀ Without a conductor, Tiger and Bunny jump in front of the train to slow it down and bring it to a stop, eventually materializing the deserted town around them. Inside the train station, they find a "welcome" sign made by copy-pasted letters in the style of a ransom note hanging on the receptionist desk, and a box of bloody spears.

Mini-event: shadow dogs (mid oct 2022)

☀ A week after the train arrives, there is a night with no fog. At midnight, the bell on top of the church rings, and dogs made of shadow attack characters who are outside and drag victims off into the forest.

☀ The next morning, a boat reaches the lake shore carrying Lark(npc), a mailman of the town, who was send back early while the rest of the town is visiting family. In return for a drop of blood, he registers characters and provide them with phones that have access to the town's network and can unlock the residence halls.

Group meeting: infoshare (late oct 2022)

☀ Jiro and Papyrus report stealing the church's bell. After a failed attempt to capture the one responsible for summoning the shadow dogs, the bell is returned to the church. Jiro suggests the shadow dogs are being controlled, as they expressed sorrow when attacking.

☀ Rinne takes blame for the shadow dog attack, as Lark(npc) suggested that disturbing the cemetery grounds in the process of finding a grave location for Jay(npc) had angered the dead and prompted the attack.

☀ Bunny is bullied into celebrating his birthday.

NOVEMBER 2022

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Mini-mini event: cipher (early nov 2022)

☀ Lark(npc) delivers letters to Sans, Kanata, Ib, Haruka, Naberius, V, and Kokichi. Each comes from an anonymous sender, is written in copy-paste ransom note style, and contains a portion of a message that is decoded via a rot13 cipher. The full message reads:
GATHER AT THE CEMETARY
ON THE CUSP OF THE EVE AND THE LORD'S DAY
IN PRAYER FOR THE SAFE RETURN
OF THE DENIZENS OF THIS WORLD
AND THOSE OF BEYOND

Event: coffin (early nov 2022)

☀ Following the cipher note, characters camp out at the cemetery on the designated day. Skeletons underground grab at characters who walk over them, and shadows of familiar people appear in the fog at night. At midnight, the bell on top of the church rings, and thunder and lightning bring a heavy storm.

☀ Inside the church, an open coffin has a note copy-paste ransom note style stuck to the lid with a yellow smiley face sticker:
EYE FOR AN EYE
TOOTH FOR A TOOTH
SACRIFICE
AND BE REWARDED IN TURN
YOU HAVE ONE MONTH
TO BRING THEM BACK
☀ A variety of objects are "sacrificed" to the coffin, including blood, sentimental items, and gemstones, and there are several attempts at communication, including notes that point Kaeya towards the forest and the lake. One of the results is a corpse that is returned to life without any memories, whom Hiiro names "Hamtaro."

Mini-event: fire (mid nov 2022)

☀ Several fires are spotted throughout town: in the forest, in the neighborhood, and at the train. In the forest, Diluc and Kaeya uncover Jiro's dead body, which is missing his heart. When Phil makes a copy of the body, it turns to a shadow cat demon which attacks the group, leaving behind shards of gemstone upon defeat. Further inside the forest, Tsurumaru, Phantom, and Eula discover a pit with a large human-sized something charred black at the bottom, containing shards of gemstone.

☀ In the neighborhood, a house is on fire and Albedo, Kokichi, and Dimos work to save someone who appears to be trapped inside. Dimos chases this shadowy figure to a bedroom, where Dimos finds a box containing shards of gemstone. This house is later revealed to be Hamtaro(npc)'s, and Rinne and Nazuna find a burnt photo of him and his family, triggering the memory of his real name "Raven" and his goal to be reunited with his dead family.

☀ Rinne and Azusa investigate the train whose furnace is lit. They discover shards of gemstone and bloody cloth inside the fire, and a blanket nest underneath the train. Tsukasa and Ala attempt to unlink the furnace from the rest of the train, but the surrounding area goes cold and dark, and Ala disappears. She later admits being attacked.

Group meeting: infoshare (late nov 2022)

☀ Rinne hypothesizes that the gemstones are tied to one's life, confirmed when Sans associates an additional murder count to Tsukasa breaking a gemstone.

☀ Coffin sacrifices and results are compared. Notes received by the coffin are illegible, but Raven(npc) discovers being able to read them. He translates one of Barnaby's notes, written by "Princess Stephanie Astrapia" aka Maggie(npc), who requests six silver coins in order to return home with her family and friends. He also translates one of Hiiro's notes, which contains a list of herbs and mentions bones and a heart.

☀ Albedo breaks the orb he received from the coffin, is sucked into a black hole, and disappears. Wave climbs into the coffin, falls through a black hole, and disappears. Subsequently, the inside of the coffin turns into a black hole.

DECEMBER 2022

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Event: island town

☀ The church's front door becomes a portal to a different town, a fake island town influenced by the sacrifices made to the coffin last month. Characters see familiar faces on empty shells of people occupying the town.

☀ Wave, Ookurikara, and Kaeya stalk Lark(npc) around town and later break into his house, discovering many spices and herbs used in rituals in the kitchen. Aoi and Matoba show Raven(npc) the notebook Matoba had when he first arrived, which he translates as a report of some kind. Wave and Anya learn that Raven(npc) had died in a house fire, according to Crow(npc). Papyrus, Anya, Hiyori, and Yuri work together with Robin(npc) to start fixing the train.

☀ Kaeya, Eula, Diluc, Vivi, Marcus, Kotetsu, and Phil investigate the lake. Kotetsu and Eula dive in to reach a light at the bottom of the lake, finding a sword with gemstone shards in its hilt at the bottom. Pulling out the sword triggers a monstrous anglerfish's trap, but the group is able to escape after Vivi fries the entire lake's worth of fish.

☀ Hiiro, HiMERU, and Diluc attempt to repair the broken stained glass window in the church, with trials of substituting Diluc's superheated sand glass and gemstone shards for the missing pieces, with various effects on the fake island town's npcs. Lumine's elemental sight leads her from the church to the train, where the trail then runs cold.

☀ Sans, Kuja, Chisato, and Kokichi investigate the fake island town's church, discovering a hidden room underneath the floorboards that contains a void. Kuja Dispels some other universe's magic by casting Dispel into the void. Kokichi, Kotetsu, Kuja, and Rantaro investigate the stained glass window, which depicts a tree with different colored leaves. They discover that the glass leaves soak up blood and become greener.

☀ Kotetsu and Yuri break into the fake island town's post office, finding a package meant for Crow(npc) tossed in the trash. Inside is many clear gem shards, but while Crow(npc) recognizes the handwriting on the package as Maggie(npc)'s, she denies knowing anything about it.

☀ Azusa, Barnaby, and Andy meet Sparrow(npc), who helps them summon a demon in order to find Ala. Rinne and Kotetsu explore the fake island town's forest and find a frankenstein heart, which Sparrow(npc) determines has not been used yet in a ritual, but would be a very powerful catalyst if it were to be used.

JANUARY 2023

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Event: island town redux

☀ Leo and Kaname investigate the fake island town's church, later coming across Maggie(npc) in the forest. She demonstrates the tree soaking up blood, and back in the church, Leo smears blood all over the stained glass window, turning some of the yellow leaves green.

☀ Hazel and Nico shift tunnels and lava in the collapsed caves to the northwest, discovering a main tunnel leading towards the volcano, and a massive gemstone in the lava chamber at the end.

☀ Arashi falls into the void and reappears as a ghost in the Nest several days later. Rinne and Hiiro use a demon summoning book given by Sparrow(npc) to Mayoi, summoning a demon to save the island and its townspeople. As a result, the two fall into the void and reappear as ghosts in the Nest several days later.

Mini-event: murder

☀ Crow(npc)'s body is discovered to have been murdered in his own home, and his ghost reappears as a ghost in the Nest several days later. A cryptic note is found stuck on his bedroom door, a fake shattered gemstone in the fireplace, and later Crow(npc)'s real gemstone in Maggie's room, but while characters conclude he was poisoned, hit on the back of the head, and had his heart removed, the murderer has not yet been discovered.

☀ Diluc, Kaeya, Eula, Sunrise, Hiyori, and Kokichi take the fixed train from the Nest into the void outside town and out the island volcano. Sans, Papyrus, Phil, and Nico turn the train around and board the npcs for escape. Hazel parts the magma for Kotetsu to grab the large gemstone inside the magma chamber and bring it back to the Nest.

FEBRUARY 2023

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Event: resurrection

☀ Ghosts of those who died on the island find themselves back at the Nest carrying paper cranes. Among the resurrected are a number of those previously buried in the cemetery, who return with skin and flesh over their skeletons, and a single red eye paired with a normal colored eye.

☀ The large gemstone sits in the train station plaza. Proximity causes drowsiness and the brief experience of emotion and/or memory. Following Kuja's night of memory auras, these memories include those of player characters. There is something alive within the gem.

☀ Matoba, Tsurumaru, and Aoi return to the blanket nest underneath the train, attempting communication with sweets and notes. With Raven(npc) as an interpreter, they learn that the being is hungry, and its preferred food is blood, energy, emotion, and/or life force. They name the demon Nao. Later, Hiiro and Tsukasa encounter the same demon, which curses them with insomnia when Tsukasa threatens to harm the gemstone. In a well-meaning but unfortunately foolish offer to help, Tsukasa becomes possessed by the demon.

☀ Eula and Sunrise seek out the giant armored bear in the forest, finding its den surrounded by small footprints. They encounter a demon inside which fails multiple times in scaring them away with memories of bear mauling, but they are eventually chased out after learning that the demon knows who Raven(npc) is.