((OOC Note: This rp is for Ochre & Mirage's (Mika_Yumi) replies to the prompt at the end of [META ORP] JOURNEY ~ to The Desert Obelisk. This first post will hold the prompt for easy viewing by us, further posts will be rp.))

The ending prompt

If you were a part of Red-Stained Blossom's expedition from the start, you feel very certain that touching the Obelisk now will grant you safe passage back to the Swamp.

If you are an Acha who was born in the Desert and have never left the Desert, you feel a pull toward the Obelisk. Somehow, you know that touching it while it's glowing might mean that you won't see your home for a long while, though...

With this knowledge, you have a choice, do you touch the obelisk?

If you touch the Obelisk
You are immediately overtaken by visions of a colorless, formless place, which may be familiar to you. Strangely, though, the air has been touched with a distant smell of something unpleasant, like decay. But like before, as far as the eye can see there is nothing but empty air. You hear nothing. You see nothing more than grey, at first. 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. You're almost there, but darkness creeps into the edges of your vision, threatening...

Then you wake.

You are in the Swamp, and you are unimaginably tired. Overcome by the need to sleep, you lay down and tonight you dream...

        If you participated in the Mastermind game by causing the rocks to glow in any way or commenting on someone else's guess at any point during the thread, you dream of a familiar, comforting song, which you haven't heard in a long while. Who - or what - is singing? What does it remind you of?

        If you did not participate in the Mastermind game at all, you dream about an ominous sound - a predator or the world creaking beneath you, or even some distant voice, taunting you. Who - or what - is it? How do you react?


If you attempt to travel out of the swamp again, you are beset by the Ache, as usual. And if anyone asks how you got home...you're really not sure. You only know that it has been seven days since the trip set out - which, according to your memory, is the day that you arrived at the Desert Obelisk in the first place. You're not sure how you could leave the swamp again, but something has changed...

If you are a kiokote who has never left the Plains before or an acha who has never left the Desert 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 do not touch the Obelisk
Yu are able to mingle in the desert for a while, although you notice that some of your companions are here. Eventually, though, you have to get tired, and when you get tired, you'll fall asleep. You are not plagued by strange dreams.

If you came with Red-Stained Blossom...When you wake up, Red-Stained Blossom's presence will no longer help you, and most of the group is no longer there. You must travel back to the swamp on your own strength, Aching all the way. You arrive a full week after the rest of the group. What exactly happened?

If you met up with Red-Stained Blossom in the Desert of Plains...When you wake up, most of the expedition has dispersed, even though you did not see them begin to walk back. You return to the Desert or to the Plains, left wondering what exactly has transpired here tonight.