isleofavalon | EVENT ✨ The Winter Solstice

EVENT ✨ The Winter Solstice

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This is the event log. Reply with your character's top-level response using the prompts below, or come up with your own related scenario! Totally up to you. You're also welcome to make your own network posts, but we encourage you to keep logs in one place. If you have trouble loading, please click here to view top-level comments only. Please check the plotting post here for more details and questions. The event itself takes place on Dec. 21st.

As the moon rises on the 21st, all non-emergency businesses will be closing early as the Winter Solstice celebrations are of the utmost importance. Those who participated in the ritual will feel the night is different in their very being. Anyone who participated in the Winter Ritual preparations will be immortal for the next 24 hours. No harm may come to them, they will not be affected by the cold, and their magic will be amplified significantly as they are currently a conduit for the world's magic. Everyone, regardless of whether they participated in the preparations or not, is welcome to partake in tonight's festivities as there are many ways in which the Winter Solstice is celebrated.

The most significant event of the night is the Solstice Night Run. If you didn't participate in the ritual, you may be able to get a hit off of someone's Everwarm to participate. At the edge of the City of Camelot, heading into the Brocéliande, characters will be asked to remove their clothing (or if they aren't comfortable with that, change into very light robes provided by local donations) to return as close to a natural state as possible, then run through the forest. As characters run through the forest, despite everything being covered in ice and snow, the woods will begin to come alive. Will-o-wisps sprout out of the snow and shake the frost off, floating in the air to provide lights throughout the forest. The trees seem to move and dance as you pass by, flurries pick up, and even some animals will start running alongside you. It's a celebration for all, as magic flows through your body as becomes part of the forest.

Inevitably, somehow, someway, those participating in the run all end up reaching what seems to be a crack in the ground, slabs of rock surrounding a stream of water flowing through the crack. This is the fairy fountain of Barenton, a crack in the fabric of Avalon that connects its waters to other worlds. Though it's currently unable to connect now due to the time freeze, some of the fairy folk running with you will happily let you know that some of its powers are still in tact-- try sprinkling some water on the stone slab nearby. As the waters trail down the slab and form a puddle on the floor, the drops from your hand will open a vision of a treasured memory. Anyone near you will be able to see it, so only do it if you're willing to share. There are many other uses, but since you're still very new, this is the only one they're willing to share for the moment. Regardless of whether you choose to use that form of magic or not, as you approach the fountain, it will begin to bubble and glow, and lights like an aurora borealis will begin to glow around you as your connection to Avalon deepens. You'll be able to feel the life of the forest, a connectedness to the world you've likely never felt before. Every leaf, the wind, every living being, the magic in the fabric of the world, is a part of you and you are a part of it.

As the night presses on, a large number of fairies begin to form fairy circles, both in the forest and back in the City-- so you needn't have participated in the run to find one. Toadstools and flowers sprout up through the snow that hadn't been there before, forming near-perfect circles in nature. Stepping into one, whether on purpose or on accident, will shrink you down to the pixies' size so you can dance with them, if you promise to keep going for the whole dance. The dance lasts about 20 minutes straight and there don't seem to be any rules besides keep moving around the fairy circle, even if you bump into someone. In the last minute of the dance, pixies will fly above the circle and sprinkle dust over the whole party. Anyone who completed the dance will be returned to their normal size and granted the ability to fly for the duration of the witching hour of 2-3am. You'll be invited to drink with them afterward, if that's your thing, but will not be offended if it isn't.

Not completing the dance despite stepping into their circle, being rude to the pixies, or attempting to stop anyone who is dancing will anger the pixies. Pixies are a tricksy bunch, so you'd be better off avoiding this, but if a character happens to get on their bad side, there are a few different types of pixie curses they may be inflicted with:

Small Soul:

Pixy-led:

Bellbark:

As the night winds down, anyone who had participated in the ritual will find themselves rather suddenly sleepy regardless of where they are and may fall asleep as if under a spell right there out in the snow. They'll wake up normally in the morning, the land having used their slumber as time to finish off its work using you as a conduit. Don't worry, those under the influence of the ritual's effects won't catch cold or anything... though, we can't guarantee anything with those pixie effects-- they weren't really harmful, after all, just irritating. Anyone who fell asleep outside will find that the snow has melted in their area for about 5 feet and bright green plants have started sprouting around them on the ground, some vines growing around their limbs but ultimately nothing that can't be brushed off easily.

It would appear that while it was a permitted act during the Winter Solstice, the fae who may have told you about that little trick with the fountain and the pedestal may not have shared the whole story. As it turns out, the slab that everyone was trickling water onto is a stone known as Merlin's Step. Merlin's Step, when a little bit of water is sprinkled upon it, summons rain. When a lot of people put water on it, it summons a huge thunder storm. It is certain to, as many of the fairies are happy to attest, wash away the freezing snow so they can move about freely during the winter again. Fae often have ulterior motives, even if they're often coupled with good intentions. This may have gone a little beyond their expectations, however, as enough people have done it that the storm has brought about torrential rains and hail, frequent zaps of lightning, and strong winds. Most people are being urged and ushered into cellars throughout the city as the hail has been causing injuries, breaking windows, and the lightning is strong enough that it's been striking the ground frequently. You may end up crammed together in a small, dark room while a storm rages outside with little to do except what's in the cellar-- eat canned foods, play old board games, dust of a.. uh oh, is that a Ouija board? Get creative and have fun with what you think could be in the cellar you end up in.

After what seems like most of the day, the storm is still raging on, but the next moment you find still water, the Lady of the Lake's face shows up, with another woman beside her. The Lady of the Lake's ability to communicate via water is being used to reach everyone at once. The Lady doesn't say anything, once she's got it live, well aware that they're short on time as the lake surface is choppy and dangerous right now. They have a limited time above the surface to speak, so she leaves it to the woman with her.

”"It would seem my brethren have gotten carried away treating you all for helping with the ritual. I can put an end to this storm, but there is a cost. You'd do well to learn all magic has one sooner than later. The stronger the magic, the harder it is to stop. Your first lesson in breaking spells follows: In using Merlin's Step, you've awoken his Black Knight. Bring me his sword. Don't bother trying to kill him, he's already beyond that.

Don't be alarmed if you see more than one, dears. The Brocéliande is known to play with its guests when it's in a bad mood."

She smiles as she says it, and the image disappears out of the water. A small whorl forms in the water and a small vial pops out. An attached slip says "Pour me out and drop the sword into the water." for how to deliver the sword to her, as she certainly didn't say who she was. In order to obtain the Black Knight's sword, characters will have to find creative ways to fight an unkillable knight and distract him long enough to steal his sword. Using magic and teamwork is your best bet. Multiple groups of characters can obtain the Black Knight's sword and Morganna won't tell which one is real, as she won't be able to tell until she receives it and is always pleased to see those doing her bidding anyway. As a thanks and an apology, anyone who dares to fight the Black Knight and bring the sword to her will find a pile of fresh, edible mushrooms and herbs wrapped in a cloth on their doorstep the next day. The cloth they're wrapped in has a culinary recipe on it for a lovely mushroom soup. These are from the fairies who encouraged everyone to use the water, not Morganna. Her gift was to stop the storm, leaving the realm glistening as the sun comes out and sparkles against the rain on the ground and small remaining clumps of slush.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Water wears away the stone in time, my dear. [He sweeps her as elegant a bow as one can while sitting.] I'd never underestimate you, though. In fact, I thought I had a couple weeks of effort ahead before I cracked a smile out of you.

[And he was bowing to her? How long had it been...]

...

Well, so long as you do not believe the rest of my secrets will be exposed that easily. You aren't the first persistent being I've dealt with, after all.

[Oh, he has to chuckle at that.] Considering I still don't even know what you look like, I'm not particularly convinced you won't be a hard nut to crack still.

That is something, I suppose.

...What magic has this world seen fit to give you? Does it resemble the magic you had before coming here, at all?

Kinetics. [Kinesis is the proper term, but damned if he can ever remember to keep the two straight.] It's part of a scope of a much larger ability -- I knew how to manipulate forces in general, to a certain extent, and kinetic energy was just one of them.

Ah. That has the potential to be rather useful.

I was given Dark Magic, which...well, is one of the fields I was practiced in back then.

What does that involve, exactly? Curses, or something?

[His mild annoyance isn't for her, but for the name.]

Hm? Now what's that look for? Disappointed I was a sorceress of dark arts in my lifetime? After everything you've already heard, I thought that wouldn't be highest on your list of concerns.

[A shrug, before she continued. Even if the annoyance wasn't for her, she saw the worst in people's feelings toward her.]

Curses, mostly, yes. I'm still exploring what exactly I can call upon it to do.

[Morgan shakes his head.] Naw, I'm irritated at the name. Why is manipulating probability 'dark'? A curse of clumsiness, I could do just by kinesis someone every time they tried to move. It's just a general term, they might as well have called it 'curses' at worse. Unless it involves summoning actual darkness...

I could call upon shadows to conceal my form and protect me with the power I held before, I'm hoping to be able to replicate it here.

[A pause, before she added: ]

What would you rather it called, then? Most people would call a master of curses evil, no?

It's not what you have, it's how you use it. Curse an invading army, and you're a hero to the people who would have been their victims, right? So just call it curse magic, I say.

You can't be sure of that. They might simply turn on you for using curses, even if it was to their benefit in the end.

But yes, perhaps curse magic would be more sutible.

That's them being idiots, though. Or at the least, misinformed. I could stick a guy with my sword, but no one looks sidelong at me for it or thinks I'm evil because of what I could do with it. Magic should be the same!

So magic that can tear people apart is not evil? What about that which drains their lifeforce?

...A world where all magic was seen like as neutral, I can't imagine a world like that.

[Morgan shakes his head. The term for what she's thinking, in Awakened terms, is 'Entropy', and that same sort of prejudice often hounds the ones most proficient with it.]

What's the difference between tearing someone apart and fireballing them? Or like I said, hitting them with a sword? Dead is dead is dead, however you achieve it. The end is what matters.

That's a simplistic way of looking at it... depending how you kill someone, that can have its own uses. Whether it's a distraction, to make someone else suffer, or to save yourself.

...But I suppose someone like you finds the idea abhorrent, regardless of the methods.

Edited 2021-01-08 22:23 (UTC)

[She'd invited him to talk about it, so...] The ends define what means are acceptable. As for me personally, I'm of the opinion that any time I need to kill, it was my fault for my own weakness. It's harder not to kill, and requires far greater strength and discipline.

[She was certainly not adverse to debating darker topics like this.]

This talk about showing mercy to your adversaries and walking away without harming them again...you stick to your principles, I'll give you that.

...I won't ask if you've ever killed before, that seems a little unfair.

Go for it, the answer is that I totally have. [No lies and no shame in admitting it, because it's the truth. Denying it would be a pretty hypocritical stunt considering everything else he's said, right?]

And you speak so casually of it as well. Something you claimed was a personal weakness of yours.

Well, you're not the only one.

If you don't acknowledge where you aren't strong enough, how do you ever get stronger?

[No real need to tell him you've killed people, Caster; you've kind of been all but saying that outright for a bit now.]

[She thought to herself for a moment, when would she say she was truly at her strongest...?]

You get stronger through conviction, in my opinion.

[Morgan nods agreement, but adds:] And your convictions grow stronger through challenge and tempering. An untested conviction is a weak one.

Is it that a test empowers conviction on it's own merit, or that only those who have fostered enough conviction have the ability to confront those challenges in the first place?

It's because every conviction has nuance. Like take mine. An untempered conviction is that killing is wrong, right? Simple, straightforward, a lot of people hold it. But what do you do when you're actually faced with the reality, that if you kill someone you might save dozens? Is it still wrong? Whatever answer you come away with, your conviction will be stronger for the test.

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