Sandmares

Sandmare lore

I've been running tiny sandmare random events for a while, mostly lingering on the edge of being non-canon. This is an attempt to make the trippy nightmares and headaches a bit more canon, or at least the most recent ones.

Sandmares are remains from an old quest arc on day 35, from the trip to Old Town ruins:

[12:09:49] <Able_Tome> Old Town ruins - during that one time when team tries to rescue me and Hidden from the undead horde - and that horde died and 'morphed' into a large horror. After this, several PCs had IC nightmares
[12:10:20] <Able_Tome> Also - during sequences - powerful necromantic bursts were projected into environment, making everyone retch
[12:10:26] <Able_Tome> literally retch and vomit
[12:10:43] <Able_Tome> That horde basically escaped from Necromancer's control
[12:11:18] <Able_Tome> when I destroyed like 20 skeleton horde + a magi skeleton in the middle of it that was mind controlling honey
[12:11:21] <Able_Tome> *Honey
[12:11:43] <Able_Tome> this powerful surge happened with everyone who rolled less than 11 vomiting - others feeling really bad inside
[12:11:59] <Able_Tome> those 20+1 skeletons were destroyed by a firepot
[12:12:06] <Able_Tome> releasing Honey out of mind control
[12:12:24] <Able_Tome> after the surge, those bodies (and other straggling bodies) reformed into the large Horror
[12:12:31] <Able_Tome> and we ran the fuck away from there

During the quest, the group was exposed to a lot of necromantic shenanigans, and later returning experienced vivid, tiresome nightmares for weeks.
Sandmares are an attempt to give those random nightmares a cause and a goal. Their origins would be the bound souls, escaping from the necromancers control and hitching a ride on the living bodies thanks to necromancy messing stuff up. Being brought back into town, they have since hopped from the main PC's, and spread among the npc's for most of the time.

They started out blank, with little more than just basic desire to feed and find shelter. In time, they have developed something akin to personalities and goals again.

Sandmare operates simply.

A weaker one just focuses on a dreaming, wounded or a sickly pony, and 'latches on' to it. It creates vivid hallucinations as it attempts to feed, ranging from just a simple "Ghostly figure" approaching, to a fully trippy, "diaries turn to paper tigers while the floor cracks to oblivion" sort of things. The only thing that's necessary, is just the ghostly figure getting close enough to its victim, and touching the victims head. This causes a sudden, blinding exhaustion. Any rest that pony dared have that night is gone, and he or she wakes up exhausted. A weaker sandmare causes no damage during the first few nights, but continued harassment can be damaging.

A stronger sandmare is one that has been feeding quite voraciously on ponies, and has due to that become more 'real'. It might have a goal, a favorite target or preferences, and own preferences on appearance. Some might remember their past life, or just imagine remembering it, making up their own stories as they try and make sense of the world. It can be seen, felt, and can more or less move around freely without depending on their 'hosts' like the weaker sisters. But should it starve, it degrades into the weaker form, and possibly loses its personality again. The stronger one can feed on healthy, awake ponies, just by coming close and touching their head[provided its a dark place, more on that later]

Sandy's limits

A weak sandmare is bound to a host, pony, and can jump between hosts if in close contact. They prefer to not stay on one host for long, since continued nightmares tire out the food source. Again, it can only swap hosts if there is no direct light between the two ponies. Sun, moon, and even bright light forces Sandmares to stay hidden in their hosts.

A strong sandmare can hover and float around freely, and has usually a specific, ghostly pony look. It can pass freely through most materials, swimming effortlessly in ground or through walls. Its approach can be felt by nearby ponies, and often small flickers can be spotted moving along the ground or walls as Sandmare dives through them. Limited, extremely limited ability to affect the world around them, at most capable of lifting a small cup. A strong Sandmare will starve to a weaker one, if it cant feed for a week

All sandmares cant exist in bright lights. They will always try to coax the pony to cover up the windows, or join them in the shadows before feeding. Moonlight and sunlight both will cause it to instantly shrink back to its host, or dive underground/out of sight. Horn-produced light also causes them instantly to flicker away.

Sandy's trait

Since possession is quite actual, there are some tell-tale signs of sandmare activity. A weaker posession will be noticed by slightly tired, sickly look, as well as a much darker shadow under the pony. If spiritually inclined, perhaps a zebra could detect slight spots in the pony, but nothing worth rising alarms about.

A strong Sandmare is distinctly felt when it comes near. Many will feel a chill, a cold, or just as if something is watching them. Again, a zebra might feel it particularly strong. Should it emerge from the shadows, a sandmare has a distinct, see-through body according to its personality.

Sandmares are clever, intelligent, and deceitful. They have been among us for long enough to learn how much they can grab before a backlash occurs.

Example of a strong sandmare:

11:09:39] <Sandmare> *As you walk along the nightly-town, you only spot a few houses around you with light coming from them. The moon brightly out, making it easy to see in the dark. *The flickering leads toward a nearest shade under a tree, and stops, flickering against the tree stump at your head-hight
[11:11:33] Star_ follows the flickering to the tree, standing in front of where the flickering stops. "I see you found me again, Ms. Company. I was getting worried you'd lost me, heh."
[11:13:25] <Sandmare> *The flickering spreads, and soon the familiar ghostly head pops out from the tree. Its looks at you with a smile, and whispers to herself
[11:13:29] <Sandmare> [roll d20 for hearing]
[11:13:45] <Star_> !roll d20
[11:13:45] <GameServ> 8 == 8
[11:14:14] <Sandmare> *the whispers are too quiet. You need to lean in closer if you want to make out what she is saying
[11:14:32] <Sandmare> *She smiles a lot wider as she sees you not making sense, and keeps up her quiet babble
[11:15:10] Mercury [~Quick@host-92-1-80-179.as43234.net] has quit IRC:
[11:15:26] Starfire_Asleep [~Starfire@c72063.upc-c.chello.nl] has joined #fourcannon-townsquare
[11:15:33] Starfire_Asleep [~Starfire@c72063.upc-c.chello.nl] is now known as Starfire
[11:15:52] Star_ leans forward a little. "What are you saying? I can't hear you..."
[11:19:01] <Sandmare> *As you lean in, Company backs away into the three with a smile. You still hear murmurs coming from within the treestump. Seems you have come even closer to hear anything
[11:20:02] Star_ scrunches his muzzle and leans in closer, stepping forward and placing his ear up to the tree. "Not funny, Company. You know I can't go through stuff~"
[11:20:50] <Sandmare> *Reaching the moment you place your ear against the bark, the murmurs die down...
[11:21:22] <Sandmare> *Quickly, ghostly hooves pull out of the tree, and wrap you again in a freezing hug as her haunting laughter fills your ears
[11:21:36] <Sandmare> [roll d20 for usual, Company hug-stuff]
[11:21:45] <Star_> "G-Gah! C-Company!~"
[11:21:50] <Star_> !roll d20
[11:21:51] <GameServ> 6 == 6
[11:23:24] <Sandmare> *Once again, you feel blinding freeze shoot through your mind, the only thing you hear are haunting laughter and the sound of ice freezing. Soon after, the hug stops as you are let go, falling limb before the tree [1 damage of fun]
[11:24:00] Booze_Hound [~Booze_Hou@ip24-251-81-57.ph.ph.cox.net] has left #fourcannon-townsquare: I'm very drunk and I intend on getting still drunker before this evening's over.
[11:24:28] <Sandmare> *Soon after, Company pokes her head out of the tree again, seeming a bit more..."real", for the lack of a better word
[11:24:51] <Sandmare> *Star...happy to...see you"
[11:25:20] Star_ takes a deep breath, shaking the pain and laughter out of himself. "O-Ow...Happy to see you too..."
[11:28:19] <Sandmare> *Shaking your head to clear the lingering freeze, you notice small flakes brush off your mane from the corner of your eye. Company seemsas peppy as she can be, giggling happily "Star! We...grave! Gotta see!"
[11:28:44] Starfire_ [~Starfire@c72063.upc-c.chello.nl] has joined #fourcannon-townsquare
[11:29:46] Star_ notices the small falkes, but simply passes them off as more snow magic, sitting up as she talks about her grave. "What about your grave? What happened?"
[11:29:55] <Star_> "Take me to it."
[11:30:21] Starfire [~Starfire@c72063.upc-c.chello.nl] has quit IRC: Ping timeout: 186 seconds
[11:30:24] Star_ begins to walk there, knowing the way since he's been there so many times
[11:31:44] Starfire_ [~Starfire@c72063.upc-c.chello.nl] is now known as Starfire
[11:31:59] <Sandmare> *Company nods, and slinks into the ground. You feel a bit chill under your hooves as you notice her walking in your shadows this time, instead of leading you forward to the #ourcannon-cemetery


In here, a strong sandmare lures her victim to an embrace. The gesture seems innocent, but the moment it has him, it places a hoof on the back of the stallions head. This gives one damage to the victim, while the sandmare visibly glows brighter.