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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I-it's not flattery! I'm being honest!

[Now she's blushing. Thanks, Darin.]

Oh, Crests? They're what we call a certain type of power people have back in Fódlan. The power is a gift from the Goddess, and it's passed on through bloodlines.

[She shrugs, her expression a bit sad.] The Crest I carry is considered cursed. That's what the monster in the mirror was getting at.

Wait...why is yours considered cursed? What makes yours different than anyone else's?

[This...sound sketchy. Something doesn't add up.]

[Luckily(?), the numbers do add up for Marianne.]

All of the Crests were given by the Goddess to the Ten Elites, whose deeds and bloodlines have been passed down through the ages.

But there were originally eleven. The eleventh, Maurice, allowed himself to become corrupted by his Crest until he became a mindless, suffering beast. For that, he was all but written out of history and his bloodline was considered cursed.

Maurice was my ancestor. And I bear his Crest, the same power that corrupted him.

[Her tone is remarkably even, given the subject matter. With each consecutive retelling, the story becomes easier to get through.]

Does that makes sense?

It does...

[So far, that tracks but...there's still one more thing he needs to know.]

So...what exactly is that power? What power does the Crest bestow that corrupted Maurice?

I'm still figuring that out. Every Crest's power is different, and I've spent so long running from mine that I don't fully know.

[She draws a sword that looks like it could be made of bone from her hip and looks down at it thoughtfully.]

Sometimes, I feel stronger when I'm fighting with a sword. And this sword, in particular, has special strength that only I can tap into with my Crest. It was Maurice's.

And... maybe some of the other rumors are true. Like being able to run wild as a beast. But there's no way for me to know that much.

[She turns the sword over a few times in her hands, then puts it away.]

I'm sorry, that's not the most helpful explanation I'm sure.

[Darin stares at the sword as Marianne draws it and continues her explanation. As a master in his craft, he knows something was special about that weapon. But now wasn't the time to inquire about it. Maybe when this was all over, if Marianne trusted him enough, he'd request to look the sword over.]

[But so much of what Marianne was saying seemed so...inexplicable. So mired in doubt and the unknown. But at the same time, he got it.]

...Before I arrived here, I was confronted by the brother I thought I'd lost when I was five. The Archfiends...they...took his soul over to their realm through magic. Crafted him a new body and trained him to use his powers so that he could be used as a weapon.

Me? I spent the last twenty years hiding who I was. I was too afraid to see what my powers could do so, at the most, all I explored was my abnormal physical strength. And even then, I had to hide it. People would have freaked out if they saw how strong I really was...

So...I get it. Why you're scared to look into your power.

[As he speaks, he chooses his words carefully. Something still bothers him. If Marianne doesn't know the nature of her power, everything she knows about Maurice and how he was corrupted was simply hearsay. For all she knows, she could have been ostracized over a myth.]

If Maurice's power was so cursed...why wasn't the sword destroyed? Why keep these relics that are tied to cursed powers...?

I'm...I'm not trying to doubt you, Marianne, I promise. But everything about your crest, your power? It sounds like an excuse to keep you in check. Like people are more afraid of what you could achieve rather than what you could be.

[Marianne will happily let him examine the sword. Her feelings toward the weapon are complicated, but she trusts Darin with those complications. He gets it in a way that becomes more and more clear every time they have a conversation like this one.

Marianne listens queitly as Darin shares his story and his doubts with her. She doesn't say anything to the former, although she takes his hand and squeezes it gently in sympathy. It's tempting to lean into it, but she suspects that he wouldn't let her get very far--this conversation is about her, for better or worse.

The concerns he expresses are simulatenously reasonable and hurtful. Marianne doesn't want to think of the Church as seeking to control and manipulate, but... well, that's been a lot of what Claude has unconvered and Byleth has intimated to her, isn't it? It makes her head and heart hurt too much to examine, and she deals with that by side-stepping it entirely to clarify one point of confusion.]

The sword was only recently recovered from Maurice himself. His curse kept him alive all this time, roaming the forests in mindless bloodlust. After we defeated him and finally put him to rest... the sword was entrusted to me. By a dear friend, who doesn't believe in the curse any more than you do.

[She smiles warmly at the memory of how much it felt like a weight had been lifted from her life in those moments after defeating the Beast. Her world is not easy, and she still has lingering doubts and fears, but her future finally looks bright and possible. It's a feeling she's not quite able to articulate, although she suspects it comes close to Darin's movement toward epiphany when she was a mossatee.

(She still needs to come clean on that, come to think of it.)]

She's here, although she comes from a different version of Fódlan than myself. Her name is Byleth. Have you met her?

I'm afraid I haven't had the pleasure...

[Not that he knows at least. He and Byleth haven't exchanged names after all!]

[But it's funny. Normally Darin would flinch if someone took his hand the way Marianne did. But with her...it felt natural. Like it was a sister taking his hand. Maybe it was because of their shared trauma, but Darin didn't feel scared when it came to discussing his history with her.]

[He hadn't felt this sort of kinship since his brother when they were children. It felt like family.]

[He missed it.]

[But the fact remains...she was so scared of becoming that monster...]

[He squeezes her hand in turn.]

I want to show you something...

[He guides her to the nearest mirror where both of their reflections can be seen.]

I know how scared you must be. But I want you to know something.

[Slowly, like he was counting on, his reflection shifts. At first, it changes into the hulking monster he transformed into under Caster's influence...and then shifts again. It becomes a towering shadow, formless yet imposing. Darin doesn't know what Diomuhr looks like, after all. But his presence, his influence looms over every one of Darin's actions. When he speaks, he continues staring down the enormous shadow.]

Everyone, each and every one of us, has within us the potential to be a monster. That monster...takes a lot of forms. Some are literal. Some don't look any different from you or me...all it takes is a choice.

[He looks at her reflection.]

A long as you fear what you could be...I know you'll do everything in your power to be the opposite. You've taught me a lot about faith, Marianne...

[He turns to her finally and offers her a smile.]

I have faith in you. You'll never be a monster. Not to me. And not to everyone else who cares about you...

[Marianne has always been an only child, but she imagines that her relationship with Darin must be what having a brother is like. It's tragic and unfair that they've bonded so closely over their respective traumas and the vast overlap between them, but it's not like those traumas are going to go away even if they aren't close. And the kinship makes carrying the weight so much easier.

Especially in times like now, where he can speak directly to her heart as he shows her what he sees in the mirror. Her own reflection remains unchanged, increasingly small against the towering shadow of Darin's deepest fear. It's metaphorically appropriate, perhaps, that the difference in size was the same when he stood against hers.

Several moments of silence pass after Darin says his piece, but the effect of his words on Marianne is clear as tears spill down her cheeks. Her hand in his tightens, and after a heavy breath she finally turns to look at him.]

Thank you, Darin. I... I needed to hear that.

[Because he's right; some of the worst monsters she's met were merely people.]

And... I have a confession. I don't know if you remember talking to some mossatee earlier this month, but the small blue one... that was me. [Her gaze falls away from his guiltily.] I was practicing my animal magic when you found me, and I didn't know how to tell you that I could understand what you said.

Please don't be mad. I... I'm only bringing it up because I saw something in your eyes then that really inspired me. When you resolved to rise above everything. And... [She makes herself look back up at him, since this point is important.]

I have faith in you, too. I truly believe you'll find a way to remain yourself, no matter what.

[Darin listens to her confession with a baffled look on his face. And when she's done, he snorts and starts laughing.]

Oh man, that was you?? No wonder you were so cute!

[He's not betrayed at all. If anything, he almost seems a little relieved. And maybe slightly embarrassed.]

I thought it was weird that you were blue! But hey, maybe that's why I found it so easy to confide in you!

...But uh. Sorry about the tummy rubs? If it's any consolation you're very cuddly and you might give the best hugs I've ever had!

[Marianne stares blankly at him for a few moments, unable to register at first that not only is he not upset with her but is actually happy about it.]

That's not funny. I was really worried.

[That said, she almost immediately catches his laughter, the tension and guilt ebbing away and replaced by something of a sheepishly harmless blush.]

The tummy rubs were strange at first, but once I stopped thinking about it as a person and starting thinking about it as a mossatee, they were nice. So please don't worry about them.

If you ever need an animal companion to hug, I can provide that. I've resolved to practice, so that I'm less afraid of it.

[He seems to grow a little perplexed by the offer.]

I don't mind you practicing changing into animals with me but...

...What if I wanted to give you a hug as...well...you?

If... if you'd like to, that would be fine.

[That's actually a rather big concession from Marianne, who's generally reserved by both her personality and her pedigree. But, judging from her smile it's a permission she's giving him readily.]

But sometimes it just feels better when it's with an animal. That's what I meant.

[Or is that just her?]

[And with that, Darin gently drapes an arm around Marianne's shoulders. Darin rarely respects personal space but Marianne was always someone whose comfort was a priority to him. But now that she's given him the go ahead, he becomes like a doting brother, grinning all the while.]

Oh, absolutely! I think it's because the animals feel a connection they don't normally get from us. I mean, so many people think animals are just that. Servants. But they've got feelings too! And if you've got feelings, odds are at some point you've wanted a hug.

And I always say, the only greater things that come out of a forge other than top notch gear are arms made for hugging!

[It's a lame joke. But in that moment, it almost seems like all of the dark reflections grow weary of his optimism and levity and just...fade.]

[Marianne doesn't so much as flinch when he wraps his arm around him. They really are like siblings separated by time and space and reality.]

People can be awfully callous when it comes to animals. I think it's terrible.

[How many times has she had to soothe poor Dorte after having to deal with an especially rough rider? Yes, animals deserve hugs as much as people do. Sometimes moreso.

Darin's joke IS rather lame, but it has the intended effect: Marianne giggles in response to it.]

I'll remember that the next time I have an exceptionally bad day.

Thank you, Darin. Truly.

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EVENT ✨ Tournaments & Trust

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