isleofavalon | EVENT ✨ Fall Equinot

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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

Steph huffs, then wraps her arms around the man's middle and drags him upright. She can only hold onto him with one arm, but she uses the other to help keep her balance as she wedges a foot in a crack in the slope a foot up from her current position.

Darkwing keeps his webbed feet firmly planted in the ground while keeping a tight grip on his end of the rope. He takes a breath and prepares himself... and then he starts to pull! Humans are heavier than he's accustomed to, so it's a bit tricky. The pull will be gradual, with the duck grunting while trying to reel him up. Slowly but steadily, he feels he can do this!

It's not an easy job for either of them. Steph puts all the strength she can into holding the man with one arm, climbing absently with the rest of her limbs. If it had been straight up and down she never would have managed it. As it is she struggles with each hold, hand and feet alike.

She finally reaches the upper end of the broken piece of wall and puts her whole forearm over the top of it, lifting her patient another good foot with the added leverage. Hopefully Darkwing can take him from here.

"Hrgh-!"

Here he goes. The rope securely tied, Darkwing's now free to reach down and grab onto the patient, to lift him up the rest of the way! It's a struggle for sure to life the fully grown human, and he almost falters, but ultimately he slowly pulls the guy up to the top. "M-made it...!"

Steph manages to drag herself up to the top of the slope, but she doesn't even try to stand up. Putting so much weight on small parts of her feet is seriously hard on her calves. She sits and takes a moment to catch her breath. Then she groans and rubs a hand over her face.

"He's gonna need an escort all the way back to Camelot. Do we have any mages that can make him wake up? I tried, but I think it's psychological." Darkwing has been here longer than she has, so maybe he knows more about the kinds of magic they have in Avalon.

With the slope cleared, Darkwing holds onto the human and supports him. He tries to catch his breath at the same time.

"I see... There are some mages whose powers have more to do with the mind. If our words can't get through to him, we'll have to take him to one of them."

Steph hasn't quite caught her breath yet, but she gets to her feet and pulls one of the human's arms over her shoulders to help carry the weight. Rest is a luxury here.

"Do you know anyone who can do that?"

This is definitely one of the less glamorous examples of hero work. With each of them helping to support the human, he starts to move.

"Not personally." He knows Monika, who can astral project, but he doesn't think she's come to Lestari - and he doesn't know if her powers are developed enough to be of help. "But there's got to be someone around! Let's get this guy to one of the makeshift first aid tents, and hopefully we'll find a volunteer who can help there!"

"Dammit." She has to hope there's someone in the tent, because she can't afford to waste time as a babysitter when there are people who need her as a healer.

Steph keeps an eye out around them for trouble as they make their slow, dragging way across the ruins. Luckily nothing comes after them before they reach the tent.

"Sorry, we'll have to take our chances."

It's a bum rap, but it's also an educational experience for Darkwing. Now he knows to forge more allies with specific types of magic, to call on when needed!

But right now, it's just them. And so they make their way to the tent, a slow and tiring but thankfully uneventful trip. Now it's just a matter of checking who's around. "Hey! Do we have any cognitive magicians in the house?"

It's the first time in a while Steph regrets giving up the cowl. She makes a mental note to set up proper operations, mask or none, when this is all over.

Inside the tent a volunteer points them to an empty chair. Most of the patients that can't be moved are laid out on blankets on the floor, so they have to pick their way through to set down their guy. The volunteer informs them that a cognitive mage has been stopping by periodically, and they can keep the man safe here until the cat comes back.

Steph doesn't bother wondering what they mean by "cat". Instead she steps outside and turns to Darkwing.

"What can siphon magic do, exactly?"

For Darkwing, this is his first time doing something like this. He's used to trying to throw himself at criminals and would-be supervillains, or maybe the odd alien invasion. Actual disaster relief is - it's a lot.

He watches as the man is accepted into the care, and he's sure it won't be long until the cat comes back. He doesn't bat an eye on the phrasing himself, and he wanders outside, giving a sigh of relief now that the worst is past them for a moment. Then he answers her question.

"It's this kind of magic that allows me to drain energy from other magical objects. Then I can either fire that energy out, or absorb it to make myself stronger. ...It's apparently also possible to siphon power from fellow magic users, but I haven't tried that yet. I've mostly been focusing on my light magic so far."

Magic blasts, defusing magic items, draining mages. She makes a mental note. Those powers might be useful in the future, though there's not much need for them right now. If she's going to build a network for emergency response, why not start with another mask?

"Things are only going to get worse once we're done here. Do you have like, a beeper or something?"

"A beeper? Haven't had one of those since I was a kid!" he says with a nostalgic laugh.

"I, um, I don't really have any kind of comm set up yet for when I'm in the mask. If you post to a Darkwing Duck fan account, I'll... probably see it?" he admits meekly. This does really feel like something he'll have to get on! "Or maybe our familiars can pass messages!"

She chews her lip, thinking. If she'd had more than 3 minutes to think about this she might have some ideas already. She's never been so glad she gave up the cape and cowl gig.

"They're both bats, I know they don't like daylight..." She taps a finger on her leg, considering her options.

"It's not important right now. But if you come up with something, let me know. If nothing else you can put a signal in the sky." She draws the bat symbol in light in the air in front of her, just a tiny bit of magic to illustrate what signal she means.

Darkwing nods along, while stroking at the bottom of his beak thoughtfully.

"Ooh, a signal! That's not a bad idea." That bat symbol has a good look to it. No wonder people keep on mentioning this Bat Man! "Right, I'll make that symbol if I need you for anything. And if I see one I didn't make, then I'll know that you're the one who needs help! Or you can make kind of stylized Double D symbol, that would also catch my attention!" Hopefully he doesn't get caught up in talking about superhero branding.

The letters are a decent suggestion, especially considering her initial thought was essentially a rubber ducky silhouette. She opts not to mention that.

"Wish I could take credit," she shrugs as the symbol fades away. "We've used it in Gotham longer than I've been alive."

She sure did duck that awkward suggestion!

"Wow, I never suspected it had a history like that." He wonders about the bat symbol and the kind of 'bat' that people keep on mentioning, including her. "What, does this have to do with that Batman guy?"

"Oh, yeah," she answers casually. "It's his symbol. A lot of us kind of share it, though." She's actually starting to get used to telling people she used to be Batgirl.

"Interesting, interesting. It is a nice symbol! Simple, but kinda cool. And it deifnitely looks marketable!" But there's another part of what she said that stands out. "Wait, so you shared it? Were you like... part of his team?"

She definitely seems to be used to this kind of thing, so it's not too surprising, but still! He's curious about his ally.

"I was Batgirl," she confirms, looking out over the ruins. "Before the world ended." She shrugs. The world ends sometimes, what can you do?

"Batgirl. Wow! I never would have guessed that... considering you're not a bat." He might have been imagining Batman as being more of an actual bat. "But, uh, good for you! ...Not the world-ending part, of course. That wasn't good for any of us. But just remember, it's only ended for now!"

The multiverse will be restored somehow. He has faith in it. He has to!

She manages an actual smile, and a chuckle under her breath. She's heard the "actual bat" theory before, though by now it's mostly wacky conspiracy theorists. The encouragement is nice to hear, though, even if he doesn't really know her or her world.

"Yeah... I hope so. I've been able to do more here as Stephanie Brown than Batgirl, but I'm thinking it's time to start falling back on some old habits."

If it was in Drake's world, they would all be bat people! But he guesses humans dressed as bats can still be cool. And it sounds like they have some kind of crimefighting collective going on too!

"I see. I think Stephanie Brown's been doing a great job here. But a little mixing and matching can't hurt. Sometimes, we must wear masks..." he tries to state that dramatically. But really he's excited at the idea of seeing another hero in action!

There is also a Man-Bat! He's not always one of the good guys though.

She gives him an amused look.

"I'm not wearing the mask." For one thing, she'd have to make it with magic, and it's a waste of energy. For another, what would be the point?

EVENT ✨ Fall Equinot

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