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avalonmods ([personal profile] avalonmods) wrote in [community profile] isleofavalon2021-09-22 01:13 am

EVENT ✨ Fall Equinot


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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: In the days leading up to the fall equinox, geese intended for eating escape and cause havoc around town, people share techniques to preserve plants for the winter, and Camelot's citizens compete to make the best light shows with traditional wax candles to draw spirits peacefully into Camelot.


With all the harder preparations gathered for the Fall Equinox, throughout the month people will notice that decorations start going up around town. The colors of fall seem to seep throughout Camelot, but more than that, so do more traditional sights and smells. In the days leading up to the equinox, traditional acts such as the sacrifice and consuming of flesh are performed. Well.. normally they would be. The fattened geese that are normally eaten in preparation for the equinox have escaped and are causing havoc around town. Geese are running around causing trouble for everyone-- stealing glasses, opening gates, putting up toilet seats when people try to sit down so they fall in the bowl... all kinds of madness! Even if you weren't intent on eating geese and were going to settle for the vegetarian option (pumpkin and nut soups are frequently served using the gourd itself as a bowl), you have to agree the general public needs to be rescued from these menaces. If you have the stomach for it, you are welcome to keep one of the geese you capture for your own table... but otherwise, please return the birds to the farm where they can be handled accordingly.

Birds are not the only sacrifice made to the autumnal equinox. As the flowers begin to reach the end of their life, there is a strong tradition of gathering flowers and herbs and preserving them for the upcoming winter, either to protect their beauty, scent, edibility, and sometimes magical properties. The simplest form of preservation is, of course, drying and pressing-- a technique you don't need magic for, but some of the locals will happily teach you. A more advanced technique can be learned to enchant glass bell jars to suspend the lifeforce of any living thing within its grasp for up to a year, if no one opens it. It's a technique used to preserve important or rare plants that may otherwise die out during the winter, such as herbs used in your favorite spell.. or dish. The glass bell jar will protect the plant, but each time it is picked up, a single petal or leaf will fall off of the plant. If all the leaves fall off, the plant becomes unrecoverable, and come spring the caster will find themselves cursed with a touch that wilts any plant they come in contact with. So if you choose to use this, be warned that there are consequences for misuse and a wide number of horror stories from people who have tried to use this spell for anything other than plants. Any type of mage can pour their magic into a bell jar to enchant it, and the type of magic will be reflected in a glass design that forms around the rim and handle. (An elemental mage may have glass flames form, or frosted etchings of your favorite animal may appear if you're an animal mage, and so on. Feel free to get creative.) Green mages may find this magic a little useless, since they can just replenish plants with their own magic, but it's still a good technique to know.. just in case!

Perhaps the most beautiful tradition that takes form leading up to the autumnal equinox is the candle pathway. Every street in Camelot will be lit up with thousands of candles for two nights leading up to the autumnal equinox, as a guiding light to help the spirits find their way to Avalon. The way the streets in Camelot are mapped out, the lights will form a path to the square where the fairy coins are being held until their release on September 22nd, the same area where the guardian egg ceremony had been performed. Some people get very creative with their lighting displays, which can sometimes result in beautifully lit streets and magnificent structures of flames. Accidents are quickly quelled by volunteer elemental mages throughout the city to prevent any structural damage. Some people might be compelled to make their own light display the most outstanding on the block, and it becomes a bit of a game to compete with your neighbors to see whose section of the candle pathway is the most extravagant.


SUMMARY: The autumn equinox ritual is interrupted by a huge earthquake caused by a Stone Giant bursting out of the Ash Mountains, bringing the closest Ash Mountain and Lestari to the ground. The purple dragon erupts from the ruins to attack Celliwig. The survivors of the collapse need help desperately. Characters must choose where they go to determine the fate of Avalon.


Calm and mundane preparations are a nice break from the sometimes stressful lives of Camelot's citizens and otherworlders, who often are asked to embark on life-threatening adventures and tasks. It's probably a good thing most of the month has been relatively peaceful, as things need to go a little bit differently this year on the fall equinox itself... but not as differently as they actually do.

In the town square, elaborate celtic-similar symbols are carved out into the ground and filled with mysterious glowing liquids. All of those who gained guardian tattoos and their attendants were asked to attend a ritual to release them on the night of the 22nd, along with anyone else who would like to witness. Everything is ready and as the witching hour approaches, several individuals dressed in flowing robes with their faces painted like skeletons approach. As the leader raises his voice to explain why they've come and what to do to make this night a success, a sudden shock-- Avalon itself shakes with the might of an earthquake... or at least, that's what it seems like for the first few minutes as everyone gathers themselves until they hear mass screaming in the distance. Though it's hard to see what's going on... there are still some very, very obvious problems.

A stone giant rises from the first of the Ash Mountains, crumbling the mountain around it as if the ancient being were holding the very mountain itself up... and it was. Those who visited Lestari will have seen its giant feet within the underground city. The former city. Lestari is now buried beneath the mountain, along with many of the other creatures living on and around the mountain. A huge storm of mixed weather forms above the giant's head, blizzard and lightning raging around it to no avail. As the people of Camelot watch what's only visible at a macro distance, they may not be as quick to notice that all of the fairy coins have begun glowing vibrantly, then suddenly burst out of the jars they've been held in, shattering right through them to fly off en-masse toward the stone giant. They embed themselves in it, fueling the giant with enough power to both begin to walk away from the rubble and for the spirits that have begun gathering in Avalon to head toward it, rather than where they had been intended.

As if that were not enough, after the Stone Giant takes two large steps through the Land of Rot, the gargantuan cloud of dust covering the ruins of the first of the Ash Mountain range rather suddenly lights up with a vibrant, ultra-violet burst of flames that illuminates the smoke. The gargantuan purple dragon that once took up residence in the mountain clambors out of the dust and shoots straight into the sky, enraged and furious, and able to sense where the magic came from that raised the stone giant. The reason it immediately begins flying toward Celliwig with the intent to raze it to the ground is likely not immediately apparent, but it is quite odd that it bypasses the much closer target of Camelot with its rage. As does the Stone Giant, though it does not head toward Celliwig and instead seems to absorb the souls of the dead that were intended to be guided by the fall equinox's rituals as it lumbers through the land. If someone does not stop it, it is headed for the Forest of the Felled.

King Arthur is immediately on the emergency broadcast system to implore people to join one of three groups:
  • Investigate and stop the Stone Giant

  • Slay the dragon and save Celliwig

  • Rescue survivors of Lestari and the Ash Mountain


  • The success of each of these missions is dependent on character participation. See the poll for details about how certain character types may affect the outcome of the missions.

    Please refer to Event Poll Notes for information about aftermath of this event and additional event info > Event Outcomes.
    leicesters: (018)

    [personal profile] leicesters 2021-10-21 06:42 pm (UTC)(link)
    Uncouth? [He laughs again, his eyes bright as he regards her, even as he can feel the heat rising in his cheeks when she regards him with such pure affection. But there's nothing insincere or mocking about his laughter; it's simply funny. If anything, he's just elated to finally be honest, with himself and with someone else he cherishes so much, without any further need to build up unnecessary walls between them.

    But he won't dwell on the question too long, instead answering by capturing her mouth with his own, caressing her neck down to the curve of her shoulder.]
    chatwithdeath: (So that's it...)

    [personal profile] chatwithdeath 2021-10-22 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
    Considering what came down, there's no surprise in the lacking consistency when it came to rubble. However, Naomi does have to leave the larger pieces to Allura to move since she had no chance in moving them herself - not without risking her own person, or putting risk to the pile. It seemed solid, but that could always be subject to change.

    And upon seeing the teenager, they really didn't want to worsen the crush they're experiencing.

    "I'm on it. Eve, I can take over..."

    Kneeling down and extending her hands over their survivor's body, the snake will slither back onto her arm while. It's a quiet process, healing... though, Naomi does make specific motions over the chest, mentally visualizing which bones and organs would've been compromised down to the stomach.
    patchricide: (10)

    [personal profile] patchricide 2021-10-22 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
    [Her expression lights up, even if only slightly. Reluctant progress is still progress right? No matter how much he might want to stew in his own misery — as long as she's around, she can't sit back and let him be consumed by it.]

    [Truthfully, with all their talking, she's only gotten so much done. She gestures to it with a tilt of her head.]


    The campfire is just about ready. But besides that, I haven't done much. We'll still need a place to sleep...

    [A pause, and then quietly and sincerely:] Thank you, Darin. [Not for the campsite, but for the effort.]
    forgeabettertomorrow: (Just Say Run Goes WIth Everything?)

    [personal profile] forgeabettertomorrow 2021-10-22 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
    [He certainly wasn't expecting to be thanked. So he turns to give her a confused look.]

    Thank you?

    For what? I haven't done anything yet.
    patchricide: (166)

    [personal profile] patchricide 2021-10-22 05:42 am (UTC)(link)
    [And she smiles back, finding something amusing in his innocent reaction.]

    I can still thank you just for volunteering, can't I? I was prepared to set up the entire campsite on my own, if you needed the rest.

    [And it's not as if she was doing a bad job. Maybe a little slow, though, given how distracted she was by their conversation.]
    forgeabettertomorrow: (Don't fail me now beautiful wings)

    [personal profile] forgeabettertomorrow 2021-10-22 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
    [He falls silent and starts to go about setting up the tent. Occasionally, he'll spare glances at her back in her armor. He feels foolish...how could she still have feelings for him after all of this...?]

    [And yet...here she was. Still working with him. For him...]

    [So, he'll quietly move up behind her while she's working...]

    [And lean in to kiss her cheek gently.]


    ...Thank you...
    patchricide: (148)

    [personal profile] patchricide 2021-10-22 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
    Setting up camp wasn't that much trouble...

    [Why yes, she thinks that maybe he's reciprocating her gratitude, rather than their previous conversation that ended roughly around a truce.]

    [But the kiss alone makes her avert her eyes and blush demurely.]


    I would do far more for you, if you ever needed it.
    forgeabettertomorrow: (I don't really get it but...)

    [personal profile] forgeabettertomorrow 2021-10-22 06:02 am (UTC)(link)
    ...Just...keep being there for me.

    Seeing something in me that I can't see...

    ...Just...being you.

    I don't know if anyone's ever said it to you but...

    I appreciate you...
    patchricide: (211)

    [personal profile] patchricide 2021-10-22 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
    While Naomi works, Allura continues to heave the debris — working slower and more carefully than before, keeping mindful of anything that might collapse back into the hole. Given how some of the pieces of debris overlap, it requires a surgical application of her strength, like a high-stakes game of Jenga.

    At some point, it becomes clear that one piece is far too large to move, even with her strength — the most that she'll be able to do is lift the end that's pinning him. But doing so is risky, considering how else might move. Perhaps if she braced it with her back while she lifted...

    She formulates a plan, and comes to a simple conclusion: She can only lift it for a few moments, so they'll have to make it count.

    "How is he doing? Would it be safe to move him, just a few feet?"
    patchricide: (282)

    [personal profile] patchricide 2021-10-22 06:41 am (UTC)(link)
    [She pauses, touched by his words. But her mind is turning over memories, trying to recall the answer. It's definitely not something she's heard in those words. And while she's sure others have expressed their gratitude, this might be the first time anyone's been so direct about it.]

    [Giving up, she leans her head back into him.]


    ... of course. I'll be here for you, Darin.

    [She can't say if she will be forever, but... that's not a question she likes to think about. For now, she's not going anywhere.]
    forgeabettertomorrow: (Don't fail me now beautiful wings)

    [personal profile] forgeabettertomorrow 2021-10-22 06:45 am (UTC)(link)
    ... ... ...

    [It's such a comforting feeling having her close. And if she can forgive him and even support him after the choice he made...]

    [Then maybe he can forgive himself. If only because it will bring a smile to her face.]

    [He wraps his arms around her waist from behind and clasps them over her stomach. He wishes she wasn't in her armor since it's a little difficult to really embrace her like this but...well, there will be other moments.]

    [He kisses her cheek again.]


    ...Do you promise...?
    patchricide: (148)

    [personal profile] patchricide 2021-10-22 07:36 am (UTC)(link)
    [To be fair, it's probably easier to hold her than if she were wearing a suit of metal armor from his own time. One of the smaller advantages to space age technology.]

    [But she leans back into him, resting her head into the crook of his neck.]


    Of course. All you ever have to do is ask, and I'll be here for you.
    forgeabettertomorrow: (my story is long)

    [personal profile] forgeabettertomorrow 2021-10-22 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
    [He falls silent and just holds her tighter, nuzzling her. He doesn't know what to say. He doesn't know how to really process this kindness amidst all of the recent trauma.]

    [Exhaustion quickly catches up with him, and little by little the facade he always wears breaks. Before long, she might notice some wetness on his cheeks as the nights he'd spent torturing himself over the perceived guilt of his decision finally break him. He wasn't lying, he was tired. But not tired of trying, no...he was tired of always putting on this mask. Like everything was alright. Like he was alright.]

    [Because, thanks to her, he's finally realizing that it's okay to not be alright. To feel overcome with sadness and frustration. To want to let it out before it completely consumes him. She is his safe space. His hero. The person he always wished he could be for others. But right now, he's acknowledging his failures so that, maybe one day, he can be as great as she is.]

    [He holds her, refusing to let her go. He needs her. And finally, in a strained whisper, he admits.]


    I don't know what it's like...to share a burden...to have someone...

    I just want to be worthy of the way you look at me...

    I want to be the man you always seem to see...This...larger than life person who can do anything...

    [I want to be your hero...]
    chatwithdeath: Art by: Aralez (Haunt)

    [personal profile] chatwithdeath 2021-10-22 08:32 am (UTC)(link)
    It was only a matter of time.

    [And then she has to remind them where they are and do they want treatment. She can honestly pass them off to be a headache on someone else's time because she has research to do.]

    And, on your end? How has it been dealing with the living?
    patchricide: (125)

    [personal profile] patchricide 2021-10-22 09:07 am (UTC)(link)
    ["You are. And you will see it for yourself, in time." Those are the words that she wants to say to him, but she's not sure they'll be words that he accepts. Not yet.]

    [She reaches up, putting her hands on his forearms near the wrists. From the angle that he's holding her, this is the most she can do to hold him back.]


    If that's the case, then... I look forward to seeing it. Everything that you're going to become...

    [It's carefully chosen, words that will respect his feelings without contradicting herself.]

    [But is there more that she could say, to bridge that gap...? She lets her weight lean into him, and allows herself to enjoy the warmth of his body, wrapping around her.]
    forgeabettertomorrow: ([Allura] Far Off Promise)

    [personal profile] forgeabettertomorrow 2021-10-22 09:15 am (UTC)(link)
    [After a short time like this, he slowly turns her so she can look at him. He meets her gaze with a weary smile...]

    [And leans in to kiss her properly. He holds her close and tightly, just so thankful to have her in his life.]
    chatwithdeath: YouTube: babygirl91580 (How peculiar)

    [personal profile] chatwithdeath 2021-10-22 09:23 am (UTC)(link)
    The teen's breathing has already improved significantly. Though, from what she's noticed, age does seem to play a small factor in how efficient healing could be. Perhaps something that could be negated once she truly mastered all there was about its abilities and boons, but she would file it away mentally.

    Taking a glance away to see how Allura's doing, it looks like there's a problem. At least, she's taking a moment to observe the debris still holding their survivor's legs.

    "Yes, we can move him right now."

    Though, from the suggestion, she assumes there's problem with the debris stack's integrity since she wants the teen moved. Oh well, Naomi would rather not wait to inspect their legs anyway.
    lastexit: (407 - Moonlight and Magic)

    [personal profile] lastexit 2021-10-22 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
    Maya wasn't trying to be convincing. She could, she has, made people think she was fine. When of course that was a lie. Just to get them to focus on what was important. Here it was more- second nature, to make the attempt, without camouflaging the need to come back to this.

    "I have healing magic and-" Her mind clicked a thing into place, the sound all around her, if she could focus, she could tell a vague sense of where it was coming from. Blood. It could be she was hearing life, but if that were true it shouldn't be louder in this sort of catastrophe. But blood? Well, a lot of people would be bleeding having come down the side of a mountain. She didn't keep moving.

    "...I'll catch up, I need a moment."
    emet_sulk: (16 all according to plan)

    [personal profile] emet_sulk 2021-10-22 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
    Good. Just to be safe, why don't you drink this common antidote I made? I would hate for you to die again after all that trouble you put me through.

    [ He takes a tightly folded packet out of somewhere and wiggles it. The sound indicates there is powder inside, meant to be mixed with water.

    ...He's smiling a little too much though. Is he enjoying the discomfort?? ]
    flame_emperor: (64)

    [personal profile] flame_emperor 2021-10-23 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
    Edelgard can't match Darin's strength, but instead as she reaches him tearing away at the debris field, she kneels down, and places her hands on two separate bits of fallen masonry.

    "I understand the urgency, but we need to be careful." She reminds Darin, her expression focused. "If the debris shifts the wrong way the whole thing could come down on whoever's trapped beneath." She focuses her Dark magic into the stone with her corruption curse, letting the stone be weakened and rotted by the magic that flows from her hands. The debris begins to collapse into sand at her touch, revealing a heavy wooden plank that might have once been rafters...and a figure trapped beneath it. A Fey, bloody and wounded, but still alive...for now.

    "Can you stop the bleeding?" Edelgard asks, looking at Darin. "I'll begin clearing the debris around the plank so we can move it more safely. In the meantime, try to stabilize her if you can."

    inevitablerest: (061)

    [personal profile] inevitablerest 2021-10-23 05:21 pm (UTC)(link)
    [He can't help but let out a soft huff of almost laughter. The god of death, dying. Wouldn't that be ironic?]

    Ah...

    [It's a little tricky to check when most of him hurts but he does eventually locate a spot across his ribs where it looks like something glanced across him, cutting through his clothes and into the skin. There's still blood oozing out onto the fabric.]

    Mm. Here. It doesn't look too serious.
    dragongrrl: facing away from the camera (no talk me i angy)

    [personal profile] dragongrrl 2021-10-23 07:47 pm (UTC)(link)
    [Is she okay... no. No, Barbara shakes her head. She's not okay.

    It isn't often that Barbara regrets her difficulties communicating in human language. She might not be able to string together eighteen-word sentences covering three topics at once, like some people she knows, but she's always been able to ram her point across sooner or later with the words she does command.

    But she would like to know how to express these feelings--the deep pit of her own failure, the rage at knowing they were all tricked into making such a monumental error, the sorrow at seeing so many lives torn and ended by a creature she had revered.]


    ...Barbara... not know good words.
    trueltning_fury: (Default)

    [personal profile] trueltning_fury 2021-10-23 08:34 pm (UTC)(link)
    Actually, no. Such magics aren't used where I'm from, I've only heard of them here.

    [he's silent for a moment, as they stroll on. Thinking. What can he do with that information? Something in the future, not exactly now.]

    I'll have to consider it. You're a real fount of knowledge, Miss Ardenbury. I appreciate it.
    mayoninofukucho: (Satisfied)

    [personal profile] mayoninofukucho 2021-10-24 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
    Yeah. I signed up for the spirit guardian thing.

    [He says it so casually, but he actually is a bit apprehensive... what if things go haywire? So far he hasn't sensed the presence of the spirit guardian at all, but hell if he knows what the equinox ritual proper will entail.]
    mayoninofukucho: (Routine)

    [personal profile] mayoninofukucho 2021-10-24 12:35 am (UTC)(link)
    [Yeah, he's that kind of guy. At her question his expression turns a little blank.]

    Hm? Jog my memory, will you?

    [To the best of his recollection when they set out to the archivist's she was looking for guidance on the structure of the local magic and the etiquette for its usage, while he wanted more information on the Forest of the Felled and to further his understanding of death magic, and while she was left rather frustrated by the lack of clear-cut information he more or less got what he wanted.

    They had talked about more concerns after the battle in the Hall of Mirrors - a need for better protection for the citizens and for better organisation of everybody's magical skill development, etc. -, and about yet more items, such as the lack of certainty regarding the circumstances surrounding the calamity, during and after their studies, but he can't pinpoint what she's inquiring about.]