EVENT ✨ Sugar and Siege

[avalonmods]

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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

[morns]

( erm.

well. that's one way to snap her out of her thoughts. a talking cat is weird enough that the sudden changes to her flesh seem to fade to the background in favour of trying to rationalise what the fuck is going on in front of her.

can't be a familiar. she's pretty sure familiars don't use magic like this.

wait. the cat's right. she better move. or, even better— )

Got it.

( she's just gonna yoink that sword from the wraith and take ownership of it, thank you. )

[themogget]

Now, girl!

[He definitely can't hold this up forever and definitely not when the enraged wraith begins to hammer itself bodily against the shield he has put up to aid in Kate's escape. Mogget's fur stands on end, his tail like a bottle brush, but he waits for Kate to start moving before he does.

She would find that he always seems to be between her ankles and yet manages to never trip her up.]

You're looking worse for wear.

[morns]

( fucking hell. okay, let's move, kitty cat. teleporting is out of the question — she's been fighting for so long that the simple act of snatching that sword sends a wave of fatigue through her bones — but she can force her feet to move, sprinting back and around a corner, through a doorway which is slammed behind the two of them.

she's exhausted, and nothing seems to be getting better. and a fucking cat is making really obvious statements about the fact she looks a mess. )

I'll wear a gown next time.

( if she's sarcastic enough, she doesn't have to think about the fact that bits of skin are dropping off her, right? )

[themogget]

I don't think that would do anything to help the decomposition.

[And he's just... going to make sure he doesn't touch you, sorry Kate. Once they are far enough away through a combination of her stumbling running and his own barriers and illusions he looks back behind them and lets out a disgruntled-sounding 'mrowr'.]

Yet again, it seems, someone had meddled in something they should not have meddled in.

[morns]

( it's strange, how calming this talking cat's presence is right now. precisely because it's so weird, Kate doesn't find herself worrying about said decomposition.

the mind grabs onto stupid things, and for once, she's grateful. )

No shit.

( ugh. does it have to make all her skin feel slimy? gross.

but that complaint aside, Mogget's comment... haaa. well, someone would know all about that, though what would the emerald she lifted have to do with any of this? )

What did they expect? 'S a fuckin' riddle from a dream.

( even if people were curious enough to follow the clues, what reason did they have to listen to the person giving them? )

[themogget]

[Mogget is not unaccustomed to dealing with the Dead, though they are rarely so coherent as Kate is at the moment. That it has a stink of magic about it is what keeps him from being harsher in his words.]

I imagine they expected you to pay attention to it and solve it, instead of blindly rushing in.

[But going on everything he has seen of the offworlders here so far, that's really just too much to ask.]

I don't think there's anything I can do to help you with... this. [Hmm.] A healer might be able to bring some relief, but it looks like quite a nasty curse.

[morns]

( the whole thing happened in an instant, in such a blur Kate barely remembers the face of whatever caused it to happen. it's not like finding whoever was responsible is going to stop this, because she's been fighting this whole time and has yet to see even one of these things anything more than vaguely knocked back and retreating.

they can't seem to die, and maybe this is just what they've wrought. maybe they're not doing enough, not saving things fast enough.

but then the question becomes: what the fuck are they supposed to do? )

Could have been direct about it, then.

( Kate, don't snipe at a cat. even if you're kinda right. cryptic messages are no particularly helpful method of getting people on your side, are they? )

...Doesn't hurt. ( not exactly a lie. it itches. it feels disgusting and wrong, but it doesn't hurt, really. ) And I can still fight.

( that's the important thing here, right? she can keep fighting. keep fighting until the disgust is dulled to background noise and she's more focused on keeping others alive.

that's fine. she's been doing that for years. )

[themogget]

[Certainly they could have been direct but that would hardly be in-keeping with Fae custom and Mogget had not expected it. No use in arguing that particular point though, with the state that Kate is in now and the way it appears to be rapidly progressing.]

That is doesn't hurt is irrelevant. Do you think you can fight effectively when one wrong move might deglove half the skin from your arm?

[Because... honestly, general cohesion is looking a little shaky here right now.]

But I don't suppose I can stop you if that's really what you want to do. I'm just a cat, after all.

[morns]

( and the fact that some people don't normally have to deal with fae in their day to day lives. she'd still think it's stupid, though. can't they have some sort of "world ending catastrophe" override to their usual behaviour?

(she says this like she's been any more cooperative herself.) )

... Fair point.

( that's annoying, but correct. but what can she do? she can't just stop fighting. that's exactly what these things want. probably.

at least being in here gives them a moment's respite before shit gets worse? )

You know why I'm rotting?

( he? ...is this cat a he? whatever. he talks like he knows shit, so. )

[themogget]

[Mogget sniffs very slightly, his small pink nose working, and he makes a face almost immediately. For a cat, this entire situation is offensive on multiple levels.]

Not entirely.

[Mogget is certainly a 'he', more or less, but less certainly a cat.]

But I have seen this effect on others, and it appears to be due to at least one of those wraiths that are assaulting the city. You got too close, I suspect.

[morns]

( well, she might not have noticed the effects of the wraiths, too busy fighting, but that sentence pretty much clears it up for her; )

... So 'M cursed?

( ...great. she could try siphoning, but if it doesn't work, she's very likely just wasted a bunch of magic for nothing. or, worse, it could somehow backfire entirely. )

Fuck's sake.

( great. this whole thing crawls over her remaining flesh like worms and the gaps tingle with phantom sensations which send shivers down her spine. )

[themogget]

It would appear so.

[Mogget sits down and begins deliberately cleaning one paw, but he keeps his eyes slidelong and tilted up to her. It's not something that any normal cat would ever do... but Mogget does a lot of things that normal cats would not do.]

If it were me, I'd find somewhere to get some help for this. But I haven't managed to get myself cursed.

[Just saying.]

[morns]

( is she really here, rotting to pieces while the city is being attacked, getting life advice from a cat?

... yeah, y'know what, this sounds about right for the way life goes here. )

Don't. It sucks.

( so is she just glossing over the entirely sensible advice he's given? verbally, maybe. he's probably right, but even so... what can anyone do about this? and it's not like she's just around the corner from one of the makeshift infirmaries either. or like they'd even let her in if she turned up like this. she wouldn't. )

[themogget]

I really had no intentions of it.

[Does he look like the kind of cat who gets himself involved in things like this? The fact he's even here to begin with is a strange thing in itself.]

If you're going to fight, I can't stop you, really. [Honestly, what would he do?] But I think you're going to have to make a decision either way.

[morns]

( that gets an exhale. he's not wrong, and the sensations of this whole curse are disgusting, crawling along skin and bone in ways that set her teeth on edge. )

... I'll figure summat out. ( she has no idea what that something is. but either way, the only answer she'll find is by going out there again. ) ... Don't get in trouble.

( yes, she knows it's rich coming from her, as she's heading for the door to figure out what she's going to do with herself, but they don't need a cat turning into a zombie too. )