EVENT ✨ Something (Celli)Wigged This Way Comes

[avalonmods]

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Autumn, despite the chillier weather, is a season of warmth and gathering. Perhaps moreso this year than normal, given the rather unplanned gathering of Celliwig and Lestari underneath Camelot's roofs. Though significant contributions from otherworlders have made food, shelter, clothes and other productions and donations, medical care, security and protection, and childcare an amazing group effort, typical individual celebrations for the departure of the dead from Avalon aren't being held, like Lestari's Death Ball. After looking at all the support they've been given, Lestari and Celliwig have looked at what they have to offer to help both their own people and the people of Camelot and other worlds.

The people of Lestari excel in cognitive magic, and while there are those who use it for mind-altering magics, there is a good portion who dedicate their studies to emotional and psychological support. One such method is the enchantment of origami paper into something affectionately called Worry Monsters: an specialized counseling technique used to help form support bonds between people with negative emotions. Having spent a portion of the month enchanting paper, two square sheets of paper are handed out to anyone the encounter. The first paper says: "Personifying your emotions can give them a tangible form and make them easier to face. Write down something that causes you worry, stress, fear, or sadness. This is your Worry Monster." The second paper says: "When your Worry Monster is present, how does it make you feel? Any reaction is valid."
When both papers are written on, the writing on both will disappear as if absorbed by the paper, then the pages will animate and fuse, then begin to fold into a monster! Halloween is this month, is it not? There is no sense in not having a little fun. These little Worry Monsters will stomp off and begin roaming Camelot until they find a match-- someone who shares those feelings. Once they find an emotional matching Worry Monster, the monsters will return to their creator and grow to the size of kaiju. They are very light, enchanted paper, so even if someone or something gets stepped on, they won't be hurt or damaged. However, they are strong enough to pick their makers up and carry them to the matching monster who will do the same. Don't worry-- characters will be invisible while being carried by their monster, so their identities will be protected until they are brought to their match. The paper monster will turn to butterflies and fly away once their task is complete. What matches do after they are brought to each other is up to them-- but they will know, undoubtedly, that they share the same worries-- they are with someone who understands. Do it as many times as you'd like, for as many negative emotions as your character wants. For finding something to do, Celliwig offers a solution. While Lestari's people have spent their efforts this month enchanting papers, the people of Celliwig are less apt to share so openly. Instead, they take their time learning about a variety of holidays from other worlds, and come to find one they can apply their particular talents to. While most of their showcase in the past has been on light magic, a holiday such as Halloween plays in particular to their talents in dark magic. A number of locations that have opted in and won't interfere with other relief efforts have been enchanted with dark magics for brave souls to venture into and test their courage! What's more, each of these locations will yield tokens for the victors that can be used to gain prizes. All courage tests must be performed with partners. Costumes are encouraged but not required.
	The library has been converted into a haunted art gallery, many of which have had their paints and other implements enchanted. Some paintings will seem like they're watching you, others will seem like a small figure in the background is following you throughout the library in different paintings. A painting of fruit may start throwing the fruit at you and materializing it into real fruit, so you may find yourself pelted with tomatoes if you don't run fast! A single painting filled with black paint might start leaking and filling the room you're in, pulling you into shadow until you're stuck in the library's underground labyrinth. (Reference monthly quests here and here for more info about the labyrinth.)
There are a variety of paintings with different curses applied. Navigate through the library and escape the haunted paintings-- pairs who make it through without turning back will gain a Celliwig Token.
Another token can be gained via scavenger hunt in the Broceliande. Find cursed dolls from within tree hollows. The dolls will giggle and try to run away, may move when they're only visible in the corner of your eye if you set them down. What's perhaps a little spookier is that they take on the appearance of the first person to touch them, though they will never exceed three inches in height. Beware during your search, however, as there are a good many trees that have been transfigured into mimics. Though the mimics are not going to attack anyone, they do have giant hidden, wriggling tongues that will reach up and wrap the unalert up above the ground for capture. The only way down is if a partner fights the mimic, so don't go alone! Find a doll of both you and a partner and make it back to Camelot to obtain your token. The curse will break once they're exchanged for a token, so you can keep the cute little doll for yourself if you'd like.

The last test of courage invokes a temporary blindness hex on one of the partners. Both partners are walked into a soundproofed room, entirely silent in a way that truly seems to mess with one's head. The unblinded partner is only allowed to answer "yes" or "no" questions, though no one will fault them for giggling as long as they give no clues otherwise. The blind partner is to stick their hands into a tank of water with mystery items hidden within. These items may be mere objects like peeled grapes in soggy noodles, or perhaps the tank is filled with chicken bones and those tiny garra that eat dead cells and are sometimes used for pedicures. All the items are set up to feel spooky, but ultimately are unharmful. As long as the partner who can give clues doesn't break the yes/no rules and the item is guessed within 3 guesses, a token will be rewarded!

Bring tokens to the inn where a stall has been set up, with Gwion working the booth to exchange tokens for the following prizes: 1 Token: Celliwig glasswork glass set of 4-- spooky themed! It's filled with candy upon receiving, so they are friendly for everyone. 2 Tokens: Recipe: Smokescreen - Cast this spell on any liquid to make it billow plumes of fog. The smaller the water surface, the smaller the billow. A shot glass might just create a small whisp, but two mop buckets would be enough to fill up a medium room. Will not effect the contents of the liquid. Cannot be used on water bodies larger than a swimming pool (could screen about half a block). 3 Tokens: Recipe: From the Void - Summons a disembodied tentacle from the shadows. It takes a lot of energy, so you could probably manage up to three casts a day at most before becoming exhausted. Great for binding enemies, sneaking in small spaces, and reaching places you might not be able to otherwise. The tentacle will follow whatever command you have in mind upon summoning, so be sure to concentrate on the task at hand!

Comments

[umuperor]

I am aware. But is this not born out of a reverence for those spirits? The Celts and the Christians both mystify me...!

[ blugh. well, there's a certain grotesque charm to the art, she thinks. lovingly rendering twisted subject matter can, itself, be beautiful. even if it may not normally be to her taste. and soul cakes... a tradition from a time when halloween was altogether more christian, if she recalls right. still, in a place like this, that context has been separated. ]

... I am Roman. I lived in the time of the Empire, [ saber considers her words carefully. ] under the Claudii. The dead have a way of leaving their mark on the living. We marked Lemuria in May for a reason. Perhaps lanterns and soul cakes would be proper, even with the Equinox's events...

[ so many spirits who failed to pass on and were simply... gone. it was a deeply troubling thought. ]

[quotetheraven]

Yes, but one must still be cautious. Never know when a spirit may feel affronted by some unknown sleight. Best to give them their due. Though, I must admit to never holding much in the way of belief towards more spiritualist nonsense.

[He studies the picture a moment longer. Observing the life-like details in it. The hollow, sunken eyes and overall grotesque nature. Being Poe he finds beauty in the grotesque and in death. Beauty and terror. All rolled together in one indescribable, putrescent mess.]

Truly? Well now isn't that quite something! Perhaps we ought to throw black beans as well. But you are correct, the dead have their way of leaving their marks long after their passing.

...Tell me, madam, are you, perhaps, among their numbers? Of the dead that is.

[umuperor]

[ the more that saber takes in the piece, the more she sees its appeal. still, it's not something she might wish to have on her own walls. she huffs a laugh at the man's macabre excitement and the mention of black beans, as well as his curiosity. he's clearly an interest in classics, at the least. it gives them something to talk about.

she has a feeling that he's not likely to guess her identity unless she goes out of her way to drop hints, at least. history and those seeking to damn her memory had recorded her as a man, the way she often presented herself in life having paid off. ]

... Perhaps once...? It is a complicated question. [ a vague answer. ] You are correct that my own mortal life was long ago, in my eyes... but no, I still live. Unusually, but even so.

[quotetheraven]

[He switches his attention back to her; walking away from the wall and narrowly avoiding being grabbed by the painted woman as she reached out. He didn't even notice.

But no, he wouldn't recognize her in the slightest. For some rather obvious reasons beyond her simply being tiny and very feminine. One of which being a male living in the mid-19th century.]

Ah-- then perhaps we're more alike in that sense then. You see, I too, had passed. Though it was more recent for myself.

[And he's still trying to wrap his head around it.]

Could you perhaps tell me of what the Empire had been like during your time though. Truly like?

[Beyond what books would tell a person.]

[umuperor]

[ ah. yep. there it is. she notices, rearing back slightly and glancing between the man now moving and the painted figure behind him. once it's clear that... that's passed... she falls into step. from the way he talks about it he's not a heroic spirit. perhaps he just died before being brought here? ]

It was a difficult place, often a cruel one, but... beautiful. Far more colorful than you've likely imagined, as well. Ah, the marble buildings painted with brilliant reds and blues, the gilding atop it all...! [ she's briefly swept up, thinking of her own theater in particular. ]

... Still, no one reigns innocently, as the saying goes. Perhaps the old Senate families least of all. The idea of Rome, what it represented, that beacon to the world... I hold that dear, and shall never let it go. But empire is unpleasant business.