EVENT ✨ Sugar and Siege

[avalonmods]

QUICK NAV: LOGS ⚔️️ NETWORK ⚔️️ MEMES ⚔️️ OOC ⚔️️ NAVIGATION This is the event log. If you have questions about y event, reply to this comment HERE. Click here to view top-level comments only.

 

 

The fairy queen is less than pleased, but not angry, with how her quest went. She has Princess Bluebell of the Guinea Pig Nation speak, and Princess Bluebell also has a favor to ask... which seems to be the calm before the storm, as an unknown third party who made off with the Fisher King earlier this month have performed a ritual to resurrect him and left the veil open, letting in untold forces that have engaged in a Wild Hunt... and the prey is Camelot.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

• 1st Prompt: --
• 2nd Prompt: Active: Battle, disease, famine, living death, rage; Historical/Not active in prompt: mentions of serial killers, murder, biological warfare, god/human love affair
  
• 3rd Prompt: --

This prompt is backdated slightly and takes place on February 18th.

A live broadcast comes to everyone's devices, featuring a rather peculiar speaker. "Attenchun, kindly o-otherwowders! Tis I, Pwincess Guacachia Bluebell of the Guinea Pig Nation of Nowth Elphame. Though our home is too small to be noted on the Laage Neighbow's maps, I asschuwe you I am caulified as Ambassadow for Chween Elphame. Though you had failed her chwuest, many of you have shown the twust she asked fow even if not the bwains. Those who have will be shown gweat gwatichude, but she does feel [squeaking sound of dismay that cannot be translated out of guinea pig adequately] as the Fishaa King's body was pawt of hew pwans to dishmanchle the Cawamidy and didn' want to speach chuday because of it. Evewyone send good wibes and wikes, she won't speak when she's not
[again: squeaking sound of dismay that cannot be translated out of guinea pig adequately]... the Cawamichy won't be ended if you all don't wowk with the Chween, King Awfur's gwaces or notch, you know! But that's none of myyy busy-ness! Elphame offews a rewawd fow the Fishaa King's body now, much to keep you "fat and happy" for many yeaws!    I also have a favew to ask on behaaf of my people. Our Festiva of Life is next week and the usuaw souwce of one of the chey ingwediench of our festiva cakes was a Leschawian, bwessings to them!" As it turns out, the Guinea Pig Nation (all talking guinea pigs who like to dress up in various outfits- in style now in particular is old western themed outfits, but the Princess must always wear her crown) are in a pinch because their Lestari hook-up for the feathers died in the fall of Lestari. They need help to pluck feathers from a bird called the Prism Tweeter! Their people love to decorate the outside of their Festival of Life cakes with their feathers, which are made of finely spun sugar in a variety of colors. These birds are typically found in the first Ash Mountain, but upon its fall, migrated to live in the Forest of the Felled as one of its new, more colorful residents. It only takes one feather to cover a cake, so pluck no more than one feather per bird and the whole flock will go unharmed... the only trick is catching these delectably sweet aviators: The birds can magically phase through physical, non-enchanted objects, so you have to surprise them to grab them. The plus side is, they really love vanilla beans, so they're easy to lure out of the trees.. you don't have to be George of the Jungle to help out the pigs.   More of a stay-at-home kind of helper? That's fine too. They need bakers to make as many tiny cakes as they need for the festival since it's so last minute this year! Hurry up and grab a friend to get to baking 3-layer 1 inch cakes wrapped in rainbow feathers to help these little guys out. The Elphame Traders will make a special trip to Camelot to pick up all of these cakes as a favor to the Guinea Pig Nation, so you can stay at home and bake with your friends no matter where you live. This prompt takes place on February 22nd and February 23rd.
	A few days after the fun and fancy-free stylings of the Guinea Pig Nation ahead of their Festival of Life (you weren't invited, sorry, too big you would destroy their homes- but they appreciate the help!) things are going pretty mundanely. That is, until what sounds like a battle cry is heard approaching New Camelot. On the horizon, what appears to be a massive cavalcade of demon horse-riding wraiths lead by four knights in what appears to be ancient armor rush toward the city. A few of the locals who hear the sound and come out to see what all the fuss is about immediately seem to spook, shouting something about the Wild Hunt. Usually it's something preserved for earth and those who find it will be taken along and dumped either in Avalon itself or taken straight to the underworld, but their presence here in Avalon.. well, that can't be good. The shouting seems to alert the castle, which seems to alert more people, and within a matter of minutes people are being rushed to take cover within the castle walls for siege.
All of Camelot's gates are closed and people are directed to a couple of different places: knights and those who wish to fight are to prepare for battle at each of the gates. Healers who wish to stay and help the wounded are to gather in the citadel, where the injured will be taken. Those who wish to battle and heal will act as field medics to get people into a state enough fit to be taken to the citadel. Those who wish to offer other support may be asked to hand out food and water within the citadel or fetch supplies around the city, or to rush to the library to try to figure out what the hell is leading this hunting party toward them. King Arthur will lead the knights into battle. Merlin will also be assisting in battle, using a variety of magic from atop the castle. If your character gets into a pinch and you aren't sure how to get them out, feel free to have him send a magic spell to block an enemy. Knights given the authority to direct other fighting characters as they see fit (though your non-knight fighter's compliance is, as always, depending on your choice as a player).  Those who wish to opt out of this event entirely will be whisked away by some of the Fairy Queen's spies to Nicnevin for safekeeping. If you do not want your character to remember or acknowledge any portion of this event, we can handwave that the Fairy Queen arbitrarily found your character annoying and put them under a sleeping spell for the duration of their stay. This will be done before the outer city gates are broken through, so your character can be safe the whole time and just chill in a hotel room in Nicnevin. Those who stay will be fighting wraiths (unkillable enemies) lead by four beings called the Knights of the Veil. Those who have rushed to the library to find answers will be able to spread the following information regarding the enemies, though first-hand experience may also be how your character finds out some of it: The Knights of the Veil live in the void between the world of the living and the dead and escaped when the veil was not closed during a ritual to raise a heavily cursed and protected corpse back to life. Though there's no way to know which corpse, recent news of the Fisher King's body going missing leaves some speculation and fear about who it was that was raised, but no one has any idea who did it. The Knights of the Veil have touch-based magic in addition to weaponry which you may have your character afflicted by at your behest. The four knights are as follows: Carlea: Once a proud Queen, she sold her soul to the darkness after her husband was killed by enemies and the prince of the enemy nation forced her to marry him. She used this ability to brutally murder every last citizen of her enemy's kingdom over time in secret and feed them to a pet bear she was gifted by her new husband, saving him for last. Carlea's touch will invoke a curse of famine, causing all food and drink to turn to ash in the touched individual's mouth. Rubion: Rubion was a serial killer in his world known for killing over a hundred people, though the exact number is not known. Who he was before that isn't particularly known, but as a killer, he was known for brutally killing anyone who crossed him in a fit of rage. He was from a time before forensics and tended to kill witnesses, so he was never caught. That is, until he missed seeing a small child hiding under his bed during one of his rampages. The child's grandfather took him in and killed Rubion himself after he found out why the child would not speak for a month straight. It is thought that his own god cursed Rubion to stay in the void where he could not torment his victims in the afterlife too. Rubion's touch will invoke uncontrollable, violent rage and turn even the smallest slight into a mountainous anger. Augusto: Augusto was the general of an army who used the blood of his people's sickly to spread disease in conquering nations. He did not choose to become one of the Knights, instead being cursed to eternal damnation by a priestess in one of the villages he wrought destruction upon. Augusto's touch will inflict a disease of the player's choosing upon their character, at full height of symptoms within 30 minutes of touch.  Pien: Pien is a god of an older religion who was banished from the heavenly kingdoms for loving a human so much she attempted to give her eternal life despite that it was forbidden to grant eternity to mortals. She has a high-and-mighty attitude, and if disrespected will disrespect you right back with dignity-obliterating consequences. Her followers tended to be on the M side of things. Her touch will invoke conscious zombieism, meaning that your body will die and begin to rot despite still being able to move, and you will be aware and able to communicate and feel during this experience.    The Knights and Wraiths cannot be killed by any means as long as the ritual remains in effect and their tie to the underworld is stable, so for the time being this is a heavily unwinnable battle. Thankfully, wraiths are not very coordinated even if they are aggressive in battle so it's easy to dodge, flee, or take cover.

On the second day of the Siege, devices will flicker with a face we haven't seen in some time. She is this world's mother goddess, after all, so if threatened she will come to offer reprieve. Morganna looks almost amused at how much destruction had been wrought by the actions of, truly, one man and those he had strung along. Morganna will not punish nor reveal them, but she will speak on the matter: "Those wishing for this to end, rejoice. I have birthed verbena upon your doorsteps. Take another's hand, light a candle and burn the flowers. Whisper 'lights out' three times together, and pray to send some of your magic to me. I need as many of you to do it as possible, or else I will not be able to freeze time fast enough to stop the calamity from engulfing this place afterward when I complete the ritual shutter."
That is all she says. The ritual won't do much if only one person does it outside of today as Morganna is keeping secret what she does on her end to complete it. If your character's name is possessed by the fairy queen, they will be forced to participate in this ritual so they may notice something odd if they weren't intending to do it. After the ritual is complete, all personal rituals will be voided and need to be recast. (This includes things like brownie summoning spells or the banishing of lesser frost fairies if your character was doing that from last year to keep their house warm.) This will also cause both the sun and moon to black out for about a day afterward, so you may want to get on board with artificial lighting or spells until a party heading to Celliwig to repair that ritual can get out there in about a day's time. The most dangerous ritual that has been broken will be the time freeze. Morganna uses everyone's magic to give herself superspeed to recomplete the ritual to recast it, along with a significant portion of the Isle of Avalon's itself that had been built up in surplus having everyone here for so long. However, there are still 2 seconds in which the massive event that threatens the multiverse can move forward. It is now visible in the sky to the north during the night even without being at the End of the World, and will stay that way for the duration of isleofavalon until the multiverse is saved. It is outright terrifying if you travel to the End of the World now, taking up the majority of the sky. For a month afterward, those who participated may find themselves fatigued without clear cause... but in general, magic will be misbehaving and causing accidents for everyone for about the next month.

Comments

Fran || FFXII

[ranksinmistlore]

{Wild Hunt}

[For all that Fran is not, by her nature, anything she would consider a hero, the sound of the alarm being called is enough to catch her attention. More so, when it becomes aware that people are preparing for a siege, and though she has little idea as to the nature of their foe, and less with preparing for a siege, she is not without her ability to fight and so she makes for the gates, picking up fragments of information along the way.

(Ghosts, at least, are not anything new. There had been any of a number of spirits she and the others had fought, on their travels, though few that had been spoken of the manner these ones are.)

Her experiences only partially prepare her for the battle that ensues. While she is undeniably a good fighter - and nimble enough on her feet to dodge what attacks come her way - she soon grows frustrated at the fact that there is very little to show from any of her attacks or those of any others. Ghosts are one thing; ghosts you can't actually kill are quite another.]

We do nothing. There must be another way.

[What, she doesn't know. But it's clear enough that what they're trying is having no effect, and while she is not unwilling to continue holding the foe at bay, she is just as willing to leave to find another answer.]


{Lights Out}

[Magic rituals - in any form - are not anything terribly new to Fran. After all, this is not the first thing she has encountered where the solution has required some specific spell or another. Nor is it likely to be the last. That said, she does still have her doubts as to whether or not sending magic to another person is even something that will work, much less something that will help with the problem.

Still, there have been answers found in less, and should it not work they will at least have tried.]

Have you a candle?

Wild Hunt

[menphina]

[ She'd been racing to aid whoever she could with her potions and field healing, but she knew she couldn't just sit around while others were fighting.

That's when she joins the fighters, even as the knights take command- she hasn't attained any rank yet, but she's rushing in to help whoever she can off the field herself. These wraiths aren't taking any damage from her.

And when she spots the viera-shaped figure, she immediately recognizes her- and her voice. ]

Fran!! Watch out!

[ She calls out to her, quickly launching herself into the air to dive with her lance onto a wraith approaching her- it does nothing to harm it but there's enough time to reach out her hand to her- ]

Let's get out of here, quickly!

[ There's no time to linger, they have to move! ]

Re: Wild Hunt

[ranksinmistlore]

[There's a blink at the sound of a familiar voice, but Fran is no stranger to moving quickly at the sound of a shouted warning. Better still, with Megumi's attack to draw the wraith's attention it's easy enough to step out of the way in time.

She does not, however, take the hand that follows. She is rarely inclined to such things, though there is a nod of agreement at the sentiment.]

Lead, I will follow.

[Megumi seems to have some idea of where she means to go after all, and better they not both try to go somewhere and end up losing track of each other in the chaos.]

[menphina]

[ Even if Fran had taken the hand, she would have been interrupted with the wraith mob slashing down in between, quickly separating them- but at the very least, her reflexes are fast and she slams her spear backwards into its form to at least give them some room to move. ]

Just run!

[ She knows viera can run as fast as an active miqo'te, so she quickly readies, holding her weapon to her side at the ready to slash out at any oncoming attacks— ]

The citadel! If we run, we can make it!!

[ She points in a general direction- come on, Fran, they're moving, and she calls as she begins to run. ]

Watch your sides!

[ranksinmistlore]

[Fran doesn't need to be told twice. There's a nod, brief but enough to indicate her understanding, and then she does. Much like fighting, running is also a significant portion of the life of a sky pirate and though she does not have the easy escape route of the sky that is no significant difficulty.

(And would perhaps not be helpful, given the enemies they happen to fighting.)

Still, she says nothing, even at the mention of where to head. There is nothing she could say that would be of particular use, and she has already indicated that she will follow where Megumi means to go - to further reiterate it would only be to waste breath that would better be spent running, and so it is that she says nothing until the comment about watching her sides - which earns a soft noise of annoyance.

But not one meant for Megumi. Instead, it's meant for the wraith that is drawing near, and given how ineffective more mundane weapons have been Fran turns instead to magic, as a gesture and a burst of flame drive the wraith back yet again.]

They grow bold.

[menphina]

More up ahead!

[ She's spent most of her growing life in the forest- and on the fields. She's a huntress, and she doesn't hesitate in making use of her surroundings- able to keep them in her sights and periphery to her advantage.

There's not much her green magic can do here, but she calls to her familiar- a dragonet, who also follows Fran's lead and blasts a big burst of flame at an approaching wraith.

She should do something, they're going to get swarmed like this, and she can see more wraiths approaching. ]

Shite. Fran, leap on my back when I'm ready!

[ That's all the warning she'll get- and what she does next- her body shifting and feathers blading across her back and shoulders and her form begins to change rapidly as it suddenly-

She ends up taking the shape of a large, silver falcon, and she lets out a loud screech as she glides across the ground, enough for Fran to grab onto and hopefully, get her off the ground before those wraiths lunge at them! ]

[ranksinmistlore]

[The comment about jumping onto Megumi's back makes absolutely no sense, at first. Fran is certainly not unaware of the fact that are other kinds of magic here than simply the ones of Ivalice. But she has seen little and less of many of them, and knows nothing of all of the one that Megumi means to use. Not that she says anything of it, and though there's a brief flick of one of her ears and a slight tilt of her head in response it may not be immediately recognizable as the confusion it is.

The confusion lasts only until Megumi starts shifting, and though the magic is all but alien to her, she is hardly about to argue.

Nor does she waste any time in jumping on, once the transformation is finished. Flight is flight, and this is hardly the first time she has taken to the skies by means that others might consider unorthodox. She doesn't stay idle, either, sending another blast of fire at the wraiths as soon as she's sure of her position on Megumi's back.]

Go! Before they return.

[menphina]

Don't have to tell me twice!

[ She speaks normally, between the loud warning cry she lets out as she gains momentum and lifts herself off the ground, taking to the sky higher and higher. To her, this is no different than her high jumps as a lancer, and she's practiced enough in the year she's been here.

Soaring, she spots the citadel down below and calls- ]

Hold onto me. I'm going to dive.

[ She has to hurry, but she doesn't want Fran to fall- still, she knows viera have as good a sense of balance as miqo'te, so she's not worried. ]

Are you hurt at all?!

[ranksinmistlore]

[Though there has been no shortage of things Fran might consider to be odd about the situation as it stands, the fact that Megumi is yet capable of speech even transformed thus is perhaps the strangest. If also a welcome boon, given it means communication has not become suddenly impossible.]

I am prepared.

[For the dive, that is, and indeed, her hold has shifted appropriately; something that she expects Megumi may have noticed, but it is still best to say as such, she figures.]

I was not injured. You?

[menphina]

Just a touch, nothing I can't heal. Hang on!

[ She has the confirmation that Fran is secure and she makes a dive towards the citadel, but making sure to land somewhere at a distance because she'll have to run a bit to stop herself as she does.

It's a smooth landing at least, and once she comes to a halt, they're just a few steps away from the area, and she waits for Fran to climb off before the transformation is released and she ends up gasping as she kneels, a little winded from that full body change. ]

Go on ahead.. I'll catch up.

[ranksinmistlore]

[Once she's landed, Fran wastes very little time in jumping off. Not because she's had any trouble with the ride itself, but because there is quite simply no point in waiting any longer than she absolutely needs to.

That said, she does not go on ahead, simply offering a shake of her head at Megumi's request that she do so.]

Better someone is here to watch.

[The wraiths do not seem inclined to have followed them. But that is no reason to not be cautious all the same.]

[menphina]

Not complaining, but I'd rather not have our escape be a waste...

[ They seem to be fine, at least. She hasn't heard anything yet, though she's still feeling a bit woozy from the transformation. ]

Don't usually get to be that size. Ugh. Would that something would just lift me...

[ She isn't going to ask Fran to carry her, but she'll be a little longer. ]

What about your friends? Do you know if they're alright?

[ranksinmistlore]

[For all that Fran might be physically capable of lifting her, she makes no offer. She hears no sound of pursuit for the moment, and she knows very little of the other woman. Certainly not enough to offer such things, absent any significant reason.]

I do not. But I trust those that matter most to be able to fend for themselves.

[...Mostly. She might yet need to come to Balthier's rescue, but she'll deal with that when - and if -it becomes relevant.]

Lights Out

[rustyhonesty]

[Jean's exhausted by the time rituals are talked about. His wounds have been healed, but he's still aching all over.

Still, he's ready to aid with Morganna's request to end this madness, tired or not. He raises a candle higher up.]

Yeah, I have one.

apologies for the delay on this!

[ranksinmistlore]

[It has not been the easiest of days, Fran will agree. Nor the easiest of nights, for all that she has not been much involved in the fighting. But if there is a means to stop it... better to try than not. Even should it prove to have had no effect.]

Then let us try.

[She holds out a small bundle of the flowers required by the ritual, though she does not yet make to burn them.]

it's alright I'm slow

[rustyhonesty]

So... hold hands... burn the flowers right?

[He does offer his hand even if he asks for confirmation.]

[ranksinmistlore]

That is what has been said, yes.

[Still, she doesn't sound particularly put out to have been asked for confirmation. Not when she might well have asked similarly were the situation reversed. Instead, she takes his hand when he offers it - careful, as ever, to not catch him with her nails - and then brings forth the flowers to be burned.]

When you are ready.