isleofavalon | EVENT ✨ Tournaments & Trust

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EVENT ✨ Tournaments & Trust

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This is the event log for IC comments only! Ask OOC questions/plot/view event notes HERE or use the FAQ for general questions. Click here to view top-level comments only.

SUMMARY: King Arthur needs to go meet with Queen Elphame. Celliwig holds a tournament to invite other people to come with during the communication and celebrate their newfound friendship. A temporary barrier was put up so the river is currently mostly impassible.

After the departure from Celliwig last month, the people of Celliwig have been working hard to make the area around their town safe again from the angered specters. For now, there are makeshift barriers that are preventing anything from crossing the river, dead or alive, except over the Pure of Heart bridge. It will, at the very least, prevent more from coming over and overwhelming the land surrounding Celliwig again.

The city is open and, while the Elphame traders have stuck around to help train people in the proper use and treatment of mounts, the safest way to speak to Elphame is through Celliwig's hall of mirrors. King Arthur, Merlin, and a couple of other members of the royal court entered to speak to Queen Elphame directly in order to find out what information she knew about the Calamity and to begin discussion of what it would take to reclaim Excalibur. With the magics of Avalon having recovered significantly enough to not be at risk of falling apart if some of the otherworlders leave while still maintaining the barrier to keep Avalon safe, they need to begin discussing action.

At the same time, in celebration of King Arthur's arrival and a royal wedding within Celliwig, a tournament is underway! Celliwig's tournaments work a little differently, however, and focus on a little more than just combat skills-- a modern tournament for the modern person. (Though there is fighting as well, of course.) Celliwig's Top Talents Tourney hasn't been held in a good many years since it's been closed off, so everyone is invited to participate. Invitations have been sent to all of Camelot's residents. The tournament categories are as follows:

Cutthroat Cooking - For the chef's out there! Compete against other chefs to show off who has the best culinary skills. All contestants start with 2,500,000G which will be theirs to lose through the course of the tournament. This money can be used to purchase sabotages to use on other chefs throughout the course of the competition.

Vicious Vocals - Singing competition. Anyone may participate, there are no auditions. Each contestant will compete solo first, then have to do a competitive duet with another person who moved onto the second round. The final round involves performing and singing at the same time, so you may want to go find friends to give you tips between each round and help you come up with an awesome set-up that will wow the judges!

Speed Sculpting - This one's for the artists! Celliwig is really big on art, in particular sculpture. Any decent sculpture can be sold whether it wins or loses. Sculpture form can be made with anything you want-- glass, sugar, and ice are popular choices in Celliwig because of the city's aesthetic, but any materials are possible-- plants, stones, clay, chocolate, fabric, whatever you want as long as it stands on its own after you're done creating. (You can use your magic to sculpt if that's what you want.)

Melee Mania - Fight your fellow competitors one-on-one. Weapons and magic are both allowed. Healers will be paid generously for assisting after combat is finished.

Familiar Feud - Let your familiar have a little fun and combat each other! They're the star of the show here and otherworlders are only there in a support role.

Mario Party - It's literally a series of Mario Party games. If you win your block, you move onto the next round and so on. 4 max players per game. If you don't rage quit at any point, you get free energy drinks throughout the day because this party isn't stopping.

Silent Assassin - This competition will take place throughout the course of the tournament. All competitors are kept confidential, but required to wear a hidden body cam so that the experience can be shared online for audience viewing later. All competitors are given fake weapons (paintball guns, rubber knives, and so on) with sensors in them and have to find and "kill" the other competitors throughout the tournament period.

Anyone who shows up to either participate in or watch the tournament will receive 50% off a hotel room and a single (Potion) Counter-curse.

How the tournament will be run is a little different from an OOC standpoint. Any characters can participate, but in order to determine a winner, we will need anyone who thinks their characters skill is great enough to win to comment to the name of the tournament they are entering HERE! If your character would have canon advantages in a category, write +1 advantage in your comment. (So if you are from an idol series, you'll have a leg up on singing, or if your character is a skilled assassin in their canon, they could gain a +1. It won't guarantee they win, but it will give them a leg up so we're not ignoring their skill!) If you do not think your character has any chance at winning, please do not comment. (Someone who's never cooked a day in their life isn't going to magically win the cooking competition, you know?) If you think/want your character to lose even if they may have skills, we do not need your information. This is only an RNG for potential winners. We will RNG the winners from those who comment for each competition as linked.

ICly, anyone who wants to thread any part of it out, go for it! You can thread out watching, you can thread out participating, interfering, anything you want! Thread out having an intimate moment with a healer after a battle, a tearful failure and hurt/comfort consolation, buying a round of vodka flashes for your fellow losers. Whatever you want! Just have fun.

SUMMARY: King Arthur & Co. are still in chambers. A woman shows up and claims they're in danger, argues with Glwelwyd that she saw it despite that those abilities are not possible right now. Players voted to determine the next course of this prompt. (This section may be skipped for prompts now, but is still posted for reference.)

The day after the end of the tournament days, all seems well and peaceful as usual within the city of Celliwig. The mirror hall that King Arthur's party had gone into is still closed shut. The Hall is guarded by a 7 foot tall man with a long, scraggly beard and huge rippling muscles named Glewlwyd IV. (You may have seen him around at past events.) None may enter until negotiations are completed, and it is his sacred duty passed down by his ancestors to ensure that none shall pass his guard. Most in Celliwig won't even try, knowing the futility of such an action, which is why it is particularly peculiar that Gwion can be found yelling outside of the halls that they need to be let in. After an argument and a call to action, some other worlders chose to find Gwion and ask questions.

	"Listen to me, there's something wrong, you need to let someone in there! Look for yourself! I saw it!"
	"Time is frozen, the future cannot be seen. A dream is but a dream, not a prophecy. Disrespect from the people of Celliwig interrupting a meeting of the fae and King Arthur's party would spell much more certain fate.

After one more failed attempt to get past him, the woman stomps off to a nearby bar to blow off some steam, and ends up posting to the AOL Network instead.

The King's party is in danger. No one is allowed in or out, but they're going to die if you don't work together to get past Glewlwyd. You can ask how I know, but it's a real long story and we're real short on time, so I'm kind of going out on a limb here. I'll be at Celliwig's bar if anyone wants more details.

SUMMARY: A very close battle ensues in front of the Hall of Mirrors, with the doors eventually being forced open to reveal a dark, possessed hall. Reflects prey on characters' deepest insecurities and anyone who falls victim to them are trapped within the reflections. King Arthur and the Pure of Heart and Brave of Soul Mirror used to communicate with Elphame are possessed by angry specters trapped on Celliwig's side after the river barrier was put up.

After the drama caused by Gwion's warning, the city of Celliwig is rather unsettled. There's an air of tension thick enough that you could hear a pin drop, and enough people who thought it was more important to protect the integrity and wishes of the fae than to worry about the unlikely chance that a seer had a vision while time was stopped. A large number of people have shown up to stand by Glewlwyd's side and defend the Hall of Mirrors, a show which will not be forgotten by the people of Celliwig... However, the strength in both numbers and battle goes to those wishing to enter the Hall of Mirrors. The battle is strenuous, a mixture of both Celliwig citizens and Camelot's otherworlders, and anyone wishing to play out part of it should put either defense or offense indicators in their prompt title to clearly attract those wishing to play out the fight.

Those who manage to break through the line will make it into the Hall of Mirrors. The first and most notable thing once the door is open is that it's as dark as night. Not at all conditions for a meeting. And it's cold, condensation and fog forming at the door where the freezing night of the hall and the summer heat outside. It is not at all like it was the first time visitors were allowed in to place their Pure of Heart and Brave of Soul crystals in the mirror to communicate with Elphame. There is absolutely something going on, and those on either side of the battle may want to redirect their attention to the Hall. None of the party seems to be seen. Those who dare to venture forward into the hall will find themselves rather quickly at a loss for where the door went. There is a dim light still visible from it, highlighting the other people in the room and the edges of glass and mirrors throughout the hall.

An eerie blue glow reflects through the number of the mirrors, but it seems to move about as if passing impermenantly. Those who try to chase it will find themselves further lost from the entrance, until they find themselves face to face with a reflection that doesn't seem to follow their own movements. This reflection will begin to speak with the character's voice, then immediately target the character's deepest insecurities. Every bad thought that they've thought of themself is fair game. If the character can remain calm and keep moving forward, then they will not fall victim to the trap. However, should they react with a burst of emotion, argue, or be unable to move forward when faced with their own insecurities, they will find themselves trapped in the mirror, replacing the reflection.

Those who manage to pass the mirrors will find themselves at the Pure of Heart and Brave of Soul Mirror. The communication is still open to what appears to be an ornately decorated, natural throne. The Queen is long since gone, having been escorted to safety to keep her safe from the cursed mirrors. Notably, every crystal lining the edge of this mirror seems to have been infected by the blue, almost spectral color. Approached, a chilling laughter echoes from the possessed mirror, but the laughter is finished by King Arthur himself, back turned and facing the mirror. He turns around and wields his sword, ready to defend the mirror, eyes filled with the same blue as the mirror. As more people approach, reflections of Arthur seem to walk out of the mirrors as well to fight more and more people. It's hard to tell which is the real one, so can you really kill him to get him out of the way and get to the mirror? Fight the small army of King Arthurs and gather enough death mages to exorcise the spirits out of the mirror.. or maybe just smash it. Did you think this was the last choice you'd make this week?

Please refer to the plotting post for any additional plotting needs and to check added notes for the third prompt. Timeline-wise, the new/third prompt doesn't start until the 23rd. The poll for it is here.

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[Gokudera is standing, smoking a cigarette and watching the smoke clear to see if he’s won or not. Seeing that Hijikata is still on his feet, the boy scoffs and lights a few more bombs. They sizzle and he’s tossing them at the other, with the aim of destroying his cover.

The boy blows a ring of smoke and it expands until he’s stepping through it, scattering the marbles he’s made with his familiar. The aim is to trap his opponent and literally smoke Hijikata out, getting him within a barrier the boy will then fill with smoke. So yeah

He’s making his next move.]

[The abysmal start taught Hijikata to stay in motion. He sets off running, sheathing his sword - it's useless against Gokudera's rapid-fire long-distance attacks - and summoning his air magic instead. The sounds of explosions behind him show that he made the right call this time.

Here's hoping his hard training will pay off! He releases a miniature storm in the form of forceful gusts of wind, targeting the marbles and any potential further bombs with the intent of blowing them back at Gokudera. He lets the wind howl all over the arena, even behind Gokudera, hoping to catch even those marbles he may be overlooking and making them all close in on Gokudera in a whirlwind and ideally getting him bubbled, but of course there's no guarantee that's going to work out.]

[The bomber lifts his arms up to cover his face and keep the smoke out of his eyes. The barriers strike him, and he staggers, bombs going off around him and creating more smoke.

But as the Storm Guardian, a miniature storm is far from the worst he's dealt with. It makes enough cover by creating chaos. And when the bombs are done, the marbles rolled and all expanded at different points, there is a row of Gokuderas, one in each marble, and they all react the same, in unison. He's staring Hijikata down, pulling out his bow and readying an arrow at him. Each one is identical.

And none of them has Gokudera's collar about his neck. The real one is hiding, blown off to the side and in his own cloaking bubble, working to project his movements to his mirage selves. He's readying his own arrow, a bubble around the arrow head so as not to wound his opponent lethally.]

You don't think I can get out of my own barriers? You're senile now?

Sensei is just testing you. You're doing well so far! I think I can give you a good grade this year.

[Hijikata clearly recovered from the initial strike if he can make tongue-in-cheek quips about their shared dream now. Gokudera keeps surprising him... that's right, light magic can create illusions. Hijikata does see the accursed collar missing on the doubles, so he knows not to hold back (not that he'd truly hold back against the real Gokudera; the boy can clearly stand his ground).

He sticks with the wind magic, raising his arms as he strengthens the gusts to swirl the bubbled Gokuderas around. Any of them who fire their arrows may end up shooting each other's bubbles instead of him, but he still adds some defence to the program and raises an ice igloo around himself (he's opting against just an enclosed wall since with Gokudera there's always a good chance of surprises from above). He thickens the ice so it won't just shatter under the bombardment, though with sufficient force that may happen nonetheless.]

Won't you come out? I can't see you!

[Gokudera gives a groan at the quip, and so too do his illusions. The bubblederas wobble out of focus and the hidden one watches Hijikata before firing off an arrow at him. He stays invisible, then starts slowly walking around the igloo, giving it plenty of space.

He’d answer, but doesn’t want to give his location away. He’s pretty sure that the igloo grants some poor visibility. Gokudera creates an illusory ladder, climbs it, then fires off two aluminum-wrapped arrows, one on each side of the igloo entrance. They land in the ground crooked, one closer to the ice than he’d hope, which makes him scoff in distaste.

The bomber hops down and tosses more bombs before focusing his own elemental magic at the arrows. Electricity surges through his rings, he drops his illusory bubble, then places his hand down, creating a pulse. Sparks jump, and here’s a fun DIY electric fence to keep you nice and safe inside your igloo.]

Present, Sensei.

[Hijikata takes note of the direction that first arrow came from - it was well-aimed and only missed due to getting caught up in his wind magic -, but he's oblivious to where Gokudera is moving until the next two arrows land in the ground close to his little ice fortress. One Gokudera shows himself he smiles. He's is on a roll now; he'll probably only stop LARPing as a teacher when he gets his ass kicked by the next attack. He actually kept his igloo nice and clear, so he can observe Gokudera and his buzzing construction.]

Nice science project! Can you explain to me what it does?

[He isn't sure if the electric fence is purely intended to keep him trapped in place, or if Gokudera plans on expanding its functionality, so he mentally readies some earth magic in case he needs to break the circuit.]

[Well, if Hijikata is going to watch and stay in his igloo, Gokudera can't really stop him. The fact that the man-playing-sensei hasn't come out yet is only fortunate for the teenager. He knows his bombs should be strong enough to destroy the structure Hijikata is using for cover, but hasn't considered any earth magic.]

I'd rather show you first. Why don't you try it out?

Let's see, then.

[Honestly, earth is his weakest element. He finds it difficult to use the right amount of force in moving and directing it since it has so much more weight and solidity to it than the others. Well, all the better an opportunity to train himself in using it! There's a faint tremor in the ground as he upsets the soil around the arrows. Rather than shuffle them away he simply opens up holes that swallow them up, effectively grounding the electricity.]

Hmm... I'm not sure if that's a pass, Gokudera-kun.

[He folds his arms behind his back - an inconspicuous detail, but it helps him hide his next move. He's used to directing his magic with hand gestures, so forcing himself to use only his mind increases the difficulty by quite a lot, but he wants to have the element of surprise on his side. He has no intention of hiding out in his little ice fortress for the rest of the round, so instead he goes on the offensive by trying the same thing on Gokudera: opening up the ground beneath him and making the earth swallow him. Due to his lack of intuition for the element, though, there's a chance that the tremors will give his trap away prematurely.]

[Gokudera gives a slight scoff at the way his arrows just fall into sudden holes in the ground. He looks up just as quickly, uncertain about what he should really do, since it seems Hijikata's plan is to run Gokudera's stamina out. He has no idea what he's planning on doing to secure victory in this fight, but Gokudera's not going to stop attacking.

Ever offensive, he's tossing more dynamite and stepping back with a cocky expression. Gokudera can feel the tremors, but it's not like the boy is just going to stay in one spot. He has no idea what tricks his opponent has up his sleeve. The boy fully intends to destroy that igloo and smoke out Hijikata.]

[Hijikata honestly feels a little light-headed after his earth magic stunts. Did it take him that much energy..? It did, because he inadvertently used a pretty advanced technique ~~that's not in the game rules, oops~~ by manipulating the existing soil in the arena rather than summoning his own. He's so bad at this element that he unconsciously made it a lot harder for himself, and now he's drained as a result.

He meant to react to Gokudera's inevitable attack by letting the igloo take the brunt of the damage while shielding himself in a more temporary water bubble, but he can't muster the focus to summon it. A moment later the ice structure is shaken by explosions.]

Crap.

[He does try to duck and roll out of the dynamite attack, but when the smoke clears Gokudera will find him looking twice as bad as after the first bombardment, practically ghost-grey from all the dust, thoroughly scratched up, and coughing his lungs out. He's practically using his sword as a crutch, shaking to not collapse, so things are looking pretty bad on his end.]

Goodness, Goku-- [He coughs some more.] -- Gokudera-kun, you smoke-- [Cough, cough.] -- more than me--

[At this rate his little smack-talk is probably falling flat. He doesn't look like he'll last many attacks longer.]

[Gokudera watches Hijikata, squinting through the smoke and on edge, wondering if the other will come rushing out to return with his own attack. The coughing and the talking let him know that his opponent is still conscious, and so he's walking up, pulling out a new arrow and drawing it back, swiveling the cigarette in his mouth that if he fully draws the arrow, the dynamite attached to it will ignite.]

That's why I'm called the Smoking Bomb.

[Not a nickname he came up with, but if he's not blowing up, it's all smoke. Now with his magic it's more... smoke and mirrors with a cherry ~~bomb~~ on top.]

Admit defeat.

[Giving up here and now would be the smart thing to do. Hijikata knows that even if the arrow misses he won't have enough strength and stamina left to muster another attack, so it's only a matter of time until Gokudera takes him down. Still, his stubborn samurai prise is hard to keep a lid on. He and his Shinsengumi are a hodgepodge bunch, but even so, they always fight until the last! He gets back into a dueling stance, even with the coughs shaking him.]

Give me your best shot!

[His plan is to strike the arrow out of the air. If he can manage that, then he'll go out happily by whatever hits him afterwards. Also he's kind of hoping that Celliwig's press is taking photos, because damn if Gokudera doesn't look seriously cool right now. Despite never actually having been his teacher Hijikata feels proud of him.]

[Gokudera has no idea if the other is just tricking him or what, and still expects Hijikata to come at him. This is a bomb arrow. He doesn't want to seriously hurt this guy. He... likes Hijikata enough.

With a fluid move forward, he shifts, sticks one foot forward, and uses it to guide where he's directing a barrier taller than Hijikata and close enough to his side that the man could unintentionally lean on it if he wants. Gokudera isn't intending that, of course. No... he wants the other to hit it and get knocked out from the force of the bomb. It's not too big, more force than fire, and he aims it at the last moment at Hijikata's other side, the mini-bomb's fuse sizzling as the arrow plants itself in the dirt.]

[Of course it's a bomb arrow. Of course. Hijikata takes aim, but Gokudera's last-second change of direction comes a smidgen too late for him to adjust, and his strike fails to cut the arrow out of the air. He quickly adjusts, though, and uses his momentum to swerve around and cut the burning fuse with ridiculous precision.

The audience was already going wild at Gokudera's archery, and now there's a sound of surprise at Hijikata's feat. He's satisfied - he's still got it after all!! However by the time he turns to face Gokudera again he may already have the next surprise coming at him...]

[The shield Gokudera created to knock Hijikata out on impact from the explosion is still there. The bomb being diffused catches him off guard and as his opponent turns, he thrusts the shield sideways to bludgeon Hijikata over the head with it, his arm swinging with the motion in the same direction, as if he were slamming a door shut.]

Enough!

[Okay, that does the trick. Hijikata swerves around in time, but all the effect it has is that he gets to see the hard light barrier for a split-second before it slams into him. So much for light magic being relatively harmless!! He falls to the ground, thoroughly out of commission after all the explosion damage he accrued before this final hit.

Gokudera is the winner! The crowd is screaming and cheering as they rise from their seats; this was an entertaining battle. Hijikata, once carried off and patched up by the healers, will think so too. He really is proud of Gokudera.]

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EVENT ✨ Tournaments & Trust

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