isleofavalon | EVENT ✨ Fall Equinot

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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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Untitled Fall Game

[Azul is in full business mode, which means he can be found doing one of two things during the festivities:

First, he'll be trying to flag someone who looks helpful and physically capable because, well:]

I need as many of those geese as you can catch, and I'll pay you for them. More than what whoever owned them would.

[That is free and easy holiday meals for Golden Silence, okay? Who cares that it's not fish, it's goose. That stuff is good.

When he's taken care of that, though, he can be found enchanting bell jars for herbs and speaking with a few people about the risks versus the rewards of using it himself.

And having decided that it's not worth it, he'll be offering the bell jars to anyone who looks like they might want a dark-magic-infused bell jar for their plants.]

Triage

[Well, this is about to be a mess.

But also a wonderful opportunity for Azul, who takes one look at the chaos erupting and promptly decides that of course the best thing for him to do would be to open his restaurant to refugees and aid workers!

So, over the network but also in person if he sees you standing around stunned:]

Help bring people to Golden Silence, or come help me get it ready for refugees. We were closed today, but I have a kitchen and plenty of space for people who need to eat.

[Any volunteers who accept may have to fill out a form, but really it's just so he knows who helped him! So they can be properly recompensed at a later date.

(Next month he's getting a safe to keep all of this stuff in so he can go through it and make lists. God, he needs lists.)]

Wildcard

[Azul will be around Camelot, so really just feel free to throw whatever at him!]

[It isn't until a few days after everything has gone down that Baldr realizes he's essentially gone AWOL on his brand-new job, and that doing so probably doesn't bode well for his future at said job if he doesn't go apologize for it.

So when he finally shows up at Golden Silence, it's with a very contrite expression on his face, fully prepared to be fired over this.]

Ah... my apologies for vanishing without a word. In retrospect, I should probably have sent some kind of message before I went chasing off after that dragon, but...

[... to say that things were chaotic at that point would be the understatement of the year.]

[Honestly, Azul's not looking much better, tired and frazzled and oddly cranky, but when Baldr approaches and apologizes he just sort of waves him off.]

It was a dragon. Either you went to try and stop it or it would come here.

We didn't stop it.

[He would feel a lot less guilty about running off like that if they had, to tell the truth. As it stands, they accomplished exactly nothing, and because of that so many people had...]

But... I don't think it will be back to try to bother anyone for quite some time.

[Little victories, he supposes. Still, he doesn't sound in any way triumphant.]

As long as it's stopped.

[Sure, Azul feels for the people who lost their homes but dwelling on it won't change the fact that shit happened and it sucked.]

Have you eaten?

I...

[Has he? He can't remember. Everything has honestly just been sort of a blur.]

... no, I don't think I have.

[Azul gestures to the kitchen, which is quiet for the first time in a bit.]

It's not anywhere near my best, but there's pre-portioned meals in there. They're mostly for the refugees, but volunteers need to eat too.

[At that, he looks up, frowning.]

Are you sure? It hardly feels right when I just disappeared and left you without help... I'm not sure I would qualify as a 'volunteer.'

Technically, you're an employee even if we're obviously not open for business right now. If you feel that uncomfortable, there's some heavy lifting that needs to be done you can do in the back.

[It's probably ironic that the offer of heavy lifting gets him to perk up a bit, but honestly? That's exactly what he needs right now-- to feel like he's doing something useful, that he isn't just standing around being unable to contribute at all.]

Perhaps I could help cook some more meals as well? I may not be anywhere near your skill level, but my cooking should be decent enough to help feed those who need something to eat.

Unless you can ruin soup, feel free. We need more.

[She's done trying to organise things at the alchemy guild building for the day when she's hailed by Azul. Though not quite stunned, she definitely looks like she is very deep in thought about something as she stands in the middle of the street and watches the dust cloud still slowly rising up from the collapsed mountain.

Poison blinks at him, looking like she doesn't comprehend what she's saying for a moment, then she shrugs one slim shoulder and heads in his direction.]

I'll help you set up. What do you need?

Tables moved, tablecloths brought out to be used for whatever we need cloth for, potions, medical supplies, someone to help start getting food going?

[She blinks.]

I can't do all of those things. I'm an alchemist, so I can help with potions. Or I can start some food. Whichever is best.

[Azul shrugs.]

You asked what I needed done. It's not my fault you didn't tell me what you were good at before then. I need someone in the kitchen, if you're offering.

EVENT ✨ Fall Equinot

Azul Ashengrotto | Twisted Wonderland

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