isleofavalon | EVENT ✨ Sugar and Siege

Entry tags:

EVENT ✨ Sugar and Siege

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."

verbena flower

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[That would be Zidane's tail shooting up in surprise, and then he winces at Somnus's grip. It's not only a little painful, but an ungloved hand would notice Zidane's skin was clammy to the touch.]

[Still, gritting his teeth for a second, he lifts his eyes from Somnus's hand on his arm. And when the older man stands, Zidane... doesn't. Between the shock and rush of adrenaline at being practically hissed at, there's another wave of dizziness and sweat. He shakes his head.]

What do you mean? Geez... I can't reach your arm if you're standing.

[ The boy is clammy to the touch. This, along with the evidence that he is weak from only a superficial nick on his arm, is indicative that he, too, has been struck with one of the curses of the Knights. Does this garner any sympathy from the one who holds him? Not at all.

Cruelty is the absence of kindness, and Somnus watches him struggle with all the empathy of an executioner, his grip remaining as iron. Held up by his forearm, Zidane remains suspended no differently than a limp rag doll.

As for his reaction, Somnus will merely backhand him across the cheek, as if Zidane speaking at all had been the incorrect response. ]

[Still staring at Somnus, and confused at his behavior. Feeling himself leaving the ground is not without some protest and struggle, but he can't pull away.]

[There's no way he expects the knuckles suddenly exploding across his face, rattling his already ill-addled mind that his head remains turned from the strike. At least, until it processes and his manages to turn his head back in bewilderment.]

W-Why did...? Somnus?

[ Somnus does not flinch once once his hand connects, and afterwards, he lowers him just enough to have his feet skirt the ground, twisting Zidane’s arm to reveal the open knick upon it. Indeed, with no other wounds, the youth’s uncharacteristic malaise can only be the work of a curse.

Ice underlies each edge of his words, vicious and cold as sleet. ]

Speak, only when addressed. No more, no less.

[ And here Somnus appears to wait. If Zidane speaks again, Somnus will make to crush his wrist by force both his grip and the kinetic magic he wields. ]

[Cursed illness or not, now that something has completely processed as wrong, the most obvious instinct comes out. Feet on the ground, Zidane redoubles his efforts to pull away.]

Dammit! There's something wrong with y--!

[His eyes widen at the pressure, and it takes use of his own kinetic magic to make sure Somnus doesn't outright break his wrist.]

Let go!

[ With Somnus' crushing grip resisted by the force of Zidane's own magic, his head raises some, then inclines as his eyes narrow. What recklessness, this: a youth suffering from a curse-- an illness, that, for all of anyone knows, may or may not spread to others.

Somnus' expression doesn't change, but the force of his magic shifts, surmounting in the effort to hear the sickly grind of bone. Then he utters a lone, vicious word, the single syllable drawn out as if bored, as if on purpose, as if to prolong the other's suffering: ]

Beg.

[Glaring himself, Zidane continues to struggle, knowing that he's pushing his condition, but he could escape in one way which he doesn't want to attempt yet.]

[However, his eyes widen at the grinding and he bites down on his own lip hard enough to keep from yelling. His pupils thin and he pushes back with his magic, fur standing.]

No!

[And if he can't get Somnus off, he'll make him let go. It seems like he gets angered without much effort so taking hold of the forearm holding onto him, Zidane leaps with what little leverage Somnus has provided him on the ground, twists himself to ease the turn on his arm before latching onto the older man's arm with his legs and sinking his teeth into his hand. He'd apologize later, but he had to escape for that to happen.]

Insolent-- [ Zidane's gambit works, and it causes Somnus to release his hold and fling him off of his arm.

Afterwards, Somnus brings his bitten arm back to himself, nursing the teeth marks with his other hand. When his head snaps up, he look he gives Zidane is nothing but murderous. ]

[Zidane hits the ground with a grunt, but rolls back to his feet. He puts a little space between himself and his friend. Thank gods that worked. Tail whipping madly behind him, he exhales. This time he doesn't miss that look and it's wrong. Was it a curse then too?]

Stay here, and I'll find someone that can cure you.

[Someone with siphoning magic, right? Wouldn't be bad if they were a healer too.]

[ Weeks ago, they had conversed on the subject of family. Zidane had befriended his descendant, making one the Chosen's last days alive more vibrant. Somnus had thanked him for it, then offered the scarf.

Because of the curse, the memory of their interaction burns by acid in his mind, caustic enough to twist the sentiment behind the memory: Zidane would only hurt Noctis more by being kind to him, not help. (This is wholly untrue, some part of him knows, but the enchantment's grip is a vice.) For each reason the Chosen would wish to remain alive, as tragic as it is, their world plunges further into darkness.

Thus he straightens, his voice low enough to be a growl: ]

Spare your pity.

[ He attacks by blade this time. ]

[Of course Somnus isn't just going to let him leave, and he reluctantly draws his daggers. At the moment he's not too confident about outrunning and then escaping him.]

It's not pity...

[Blocking, he moves around again, but doesn't strike back.]

[ With his attack countered, Somnus takes a few steps back, beginning to pace to the side, predatory and slow, his sight locked upon the other as if to read for any opening. ] Hear me: had you only sought help for yourself, you would not have found yourself in distress.

[ Mud sloshes beneath his boots as he takes one step, then another, and now it's Somnus that seems to have forgotten there is a would-be garden at his feet.

If he cannot find an opening, he'll attempt to create one by kinetically manipulating the ground at Zidane's feet to bring him forward. ]

[Zidane keeps his daggers up and moves in counter to Somnus's motions, ready to defend himself.] I saw you and decided to help you. Is that a bad thing all of the sudden?

[But honestly, don't answer that. It's apparent that it was.]

[Feeling the ground shift, Zidane will alter his own gravity with magic to lift himself from the ground. Not too high - Somnus might just try pulling him back down... er, slamming him back down.]

[ Zidane is quick to parry, despite whatever injury he caused upon his wrist. Somnus answers in kind-- but it seems as if he's still waiting, perhaps, for whatever affliction with which Zidane suffers to take him down further.

Instead of reaching out to force him to the ground, Somnus lifts his free hand to dispense a shockwave of lightening towards the other. ]

[Right, elemental magic. He can try blocking, but it doesn't do as much, and the spell makes him drop to the ground, coughing hard. Okay, future note to himself: being electrocuted while sick is awful. And instead of light-headed, he feels a bit numb trying to recover this time, managing to stay on his feet, but slumping again.]

[Dammit, he shouldn't be fighting Somnus like this. They still had the damn wraiths to deal with...!]

[ Once Zidane drops to the ground, Somnus' hand lowers. The last of the sparks of magic fizzle at his fingertips, quieting.

Beyond the fields, and towards the city proper, the battle wages on. The longer it continues, the more Camelot cries for salvation as her people perish, one by one, at the might of the wraiths. If nothing is done, it will fall. All of it is beyond the other-worlder's power to stop. Here are but two of them, battling off to the side.

Somnus continues his subject from before, concluding: ]

So it is that your selflessness is your weakness— and your undoing.

[ While still crumpled upon the ground, and if he's not scrambled to his feet, Zidane may soon feel the cool tip of Somnus' blade against his neck, forcing him to look up. Mercy remains absent from his expression, as if he looks upon something that is vermin, far from personhood. ]

To whom may I deliver your corpse?

[Glowering still at Somnus while he regains enough of himself, he feels the sword at his neck and bears his teeth. It's not Somnus's fault, but damn does he hate how he's acting right now from the curse. It's not a weakness to be selfless, nor was it going to be his undoing, but... snorting, Zidane will bother him with an answer.]

My wife... but you're a dumbass thinking that's today.

[Because a moment he's there, and then not. The telportation doesn't go so far, but there's a distance Somnus would now have to cover while Zidane wobbles and takes a moment to be sick next to a fence post. Also fortunate for him, the amount of distress he's under seems to finally make his familiar appear next to him with a 'kupo!'. The moogle doesn't even hesitate to draw its knife from its fur.]

[ Zidane is wed? ¿ ?--

Teleportation and flight is the pinnacle of kinetic magic, as well as the most draining of it, which is why Somnus has not used it himself for this battle. Perhaps he would have pursued Zidane after he uses the tactic himself, but a chorus of wails cuts through the air.

A group of wraiths descend upon them. Somnus leaps back as one charges into the ground, cutting a deep crevice into the turned soil of the nascent garden. Whipping his attention from the sickly youth to the monsters, he lifts his sword in their direction, ready to counter their attacks.

Zidane can escape now, as Somnus is distracted. It seems he intends to defend this little plot of land, a once-king of a ruined castle. ]

[Raising his eyes as he wiped his mouth with a harsh swipe of his wrist, Zidane would've been more than willing to just fight the wraiths instead o Somnus, but a furry face and threatening 'kupooo' makes him reconsider. Casting a look back Somnus's way, he'll still see about getting a mage with Siphon magic to find him.]

[For now, Zidane allows his familiar to teleport him away instead.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

EVENT ✨ Sugar and Siege

no subject

Cw: violence ongoing…! :Cc

Cw: violence oh my…!

ITS SAD…

It's terribllllle

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

cw: emetophobia

no subject

no subject