Though they're dreadful and Cthonic, they're still weak when embryonic...
As dawn approaches in the Wood, something rolls across the landscape like a thunderstorm - it comes with a sense of pressure, a soundless roar that shakes trees and earth briefly before moving on. It may wake some of the newcomers to the Wood in their beds; others may notice it only dimly, roll over, and return to sleep. Whatever it is, it doesn't last for long, the length of two or three deep breaths, and then it's gone, disappearing into the far reaches of the endless forest.
Something has been left behind in its wake, though. As the sun rises, the light glints golden off a cornfield outside the western wall of the barracks, where before there had only been trees. The plants are all the soft golden brown of autumn, and though some stalks hang heavy with actual corn, the husks of others, when pulled apart, contain row after row of candy corn, packed together on cobs of sugar.
Narrow paths wind their way through the field in loops and rings, a haphazard maze where every path leads, eventually, to one of several crop circles near the center of the field. Scattered on the ground in each of those crop circles are odd green... plants? They could be plants, possibly - even if plants don't usually glow, what's usual rarely applies in the Wood. Whatever they are, look at one too long and you might find yourself with an odd compulsion to pick it up and put it in your mouth.
[OOC: The cornfield itself is not dangerous at all. Poke it, wander around the maze, harvest some corn (or some candy corn!), whatever. Nothing bad will happen to you, and hey, your characters probably won't get another chance at no-strings-attached sugar any time soon. The cornfield will also be here for several weeks, so feel free to explore it in your own posts as well, not just this one.
The green things in the crop circles, though... As stated in the post, if your character stares at it too long, they will want to eat it. They won't be forced to, and they can still retain the good sense to... not do that, if they try, but they're going to be way more likely to do a stupid thing like that than they normally would. If your character does eat one, you are giving the mods temporary godmod rights a couple weeks from now when the second event of this plot occurs - your character will not die, but they will get hurt, and it's the kind of injury that will take a month or so healing. We hope they're not terribly attached to their appendix...]
Something has been left behind in its wake, though. As the sun rises, the light glints golden off a cornfield outside the western wall of the barracks, where before there had only been trees. The plants are all the soft golden brown of autumn, and though some stalks hang heavy with actual corn, the husks of others, when pulled apart, contain row after row of candy corn, packed together on cobs of sugar.
Narrow paths wind their way through the field in loops and rings, a haphazard maze where every path leads, eventually, to one of several crop circles near the center of the field. Scattered on the ground in each of those crop circles are odd green... plants? They could be plants, possibly - even if plants don't usually glow, what's usual rarely applies in the Wood. Whatever they are, look at one too long and you might find yourself with an odd compulsion to pick it up and put it in your mouth.
[OOC: The cornfield itself is not dangerous at all. Poke it, wander around the maze, harvest some corn (or some candy corn!), whatever. Nothing bad will happen to you, and hey, your characters probably won't get another chance at no-strings-attached sugar any time soon. The cornfield will also be here for several weeks, so feel free to explore it in your own posts as well, not just this one.
The green things in the crop circles, though... As stated in the post, if your character stares at it too long, they will want to eat it. They won't be forced to, and they can still retain the good sense to... not do that, if they try, but they're going to be way more likely to do a stupid thing like that than they normally would. If your character does eat one, you are giving the mods temporary godmod rights a couple weeks from now when the second event of this plot occurs - your character will not die, but they will get hurt, and it's the kind of injury that will take a month or so healing. We hope they're not terribly attached to their appendix...]