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

[Cecelia still hangs onto Barbara for balance, flinching a bit at the guttural noise Barbara gives. it's right next to her ear, after all!

visceral fear fills Cecelia's blood when that eye fixes upon her. long ago, barely sixteen, the girl she once was found herself in the ashen pit of a dormant volcano, and before she could even wonder how to get out, the dragon sleeping in that place awoke and leered at her.

there's dragon blood in her heritage, but it doesn't stave off the mortal fear of something so plainly seen as prey.

but she swallows, straightening up as much as she dares, and calls out.]

Tell me! [her draconic is rusty, but still eloquent. difficult to shout in, given some of the vowel sounds.] The reason for this madness! What could possibly have done your pride harm as to warrant this!

[The dragon opens its mouth enough to bare its rows of teeth.]

Pride? Foolish children! When you disturb the snowpack, does the avalanche fall out of pride?

[Barbara strains to catch the conversation. It is like the speech of the wind drakes, but not--like someone from America encountering a deep Highlands accent for the first time.

But even when she's able to parse the gist of the dragon's words, it... doesn't make sense. The metaphor, she understands, but not why.]

What we do? Say how fix--we fix!

Comparing yourself to idle snowfall... [Cecelia scoffs. this is no time for tit-for-tat banter, though.

as for fixing? how else do such powerful beasts take their recompense?

Cecelia squeezes at a Barbara's arm, her voice lowering as much as she can to still be heard upon the wind.]

There'll be no bargaining. See, his eyes -- you can tell, can't you?

[Barbara looks into those eyes--huge, fathomless, implacable. No. He is entertaining their inquiries from an idle whim. He has no interest in their feelings on the matter, much less in changing his course.]

This is the price of meddling with powers you ill-understand. Impede me at your peril, mortals.

[It puts on a burst of speed, buffeting Barbara and Ardenbury backwards with its downdraft. With a hurried exhalation of magic, Barbara manages to stop them from tumbling end-over-end to the ground, but she can't keep them aloft any more--she has to start the descent.]

City. Need warn.

[Cecelia yelps, holding fast onto Barbara, ducking her head and bracing against the blow.

once her heart's back down her throat and she isn't overwhelmed by the fear of a sudden plummet:] Best we can do, yes. Yes--let's--let's hurry!

[Barbara doesn't speak again until her feet touch the ground. It's a bumpier landing than usual, and if the situation were different, she'd be aggravated with herself for such a sloppy showing. But holding herself and another person in the air for that long is tough, and she needs a breather before she tries again.]

Ardenbury, magic make fast? Barbara magic need rest.

Edited 2021-10-12 21:03 (UTC)

[right-- that sort of magic can't be great for the stamina, even in short bursts.

once Cecelia's got her own feet on the ground, she puts an arm around Barbara to help keep her upright.]

Once I get you to a safer spot to catch your breath. Come along-- [she starts to move, searching around for some outcrop of rock or some trees for cover.]

[Wheeze... okay. That arm is in fact quite helpful. Between Ardenbury's support and the support of her lance, Barbara keeps on her feet long enough for them to reach a sort-of shelter, a few trees that have been severely buffeted by the dragon's wake.]

Dragon... not listen. Not care.

[she is not used to this. not at all.]

Clearly. [but matters of draconic disposition will just have to be tabled until after the greater population is saved from imminent immolation.

after helping Barbara sit:] Am I safe to leave you here? I can't linger long, you know.

[She nods, noting that the nod itself makes her head feel a little light, but it isn't spinning and she isn't faint. That's a good sign.]

Yes. Go city. Barbara catch up.

EVENT ✨ Fall Equinot

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