isleofavalon | EVENT ✨ The Answer is Always C

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EVENT ✨ The Answer is Always C

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This is the event log for IC comments only! Ask OOC questions/plot/view event notes HERE or use the FAQ for general questions. Click here to view top-level comments only. A poll to collect results of the trials will be posted this weekend and stay open until the end of the month to give people a little time to see how their threads are going.

KEY POINTS

Arthur announces the results of the polls and that he spoke to Celliwig's people, they will be testing Camelot the week of the full moon.

A series of choice-based enchanted scenarios is presented based loosely on a modernized seven sins/virtuous responses (power imbalance, cruelty or mercy, excess/greed or restraint, sloth or work ethic, desire/lust or self-control and bravery or cowardice, and sacrifice or self-preservation)

With the polls closed, the decision is made, and King Arthur takes the opportunity to address the kingdom via a streamed press conference. Though it is not an open post, anyone is welcome to comment on it and talk to each other about it. However, it is unlikely that Arthur himself will respond to comments. A notification does appear on everyone's smart devices to invite everyone to watch live; if they tap it too late, it'll still show the recorded stream.

"People of Camelot, I wish that we had better news that spoke of an easier path to the calamity that stands before us. Celliwig's charge is with protecting Avalon even in the face of protecting Camelot and those of you who chose to use your voices have shown that you choose to respect their way of handling things. However, it was only just over half of you who chose this path. I think it is important that with such a great portion of people believing that bypassing Celliwig and going directly to Elphame, as much as it may take patience, we take this action into consideration. There is no sense in ignoring the voices of so many when there is nothing to say we cannot approach from two fronts. As Camelot's king, I have issued our intent to accept Celliwig's challenge to a descendant of Glewlwyd, a man who was much trouble for my knights in our time. They have said after failing one, we shall be tested on multiple fronts, the week of the full moon's rise. Bear in mind that this is our final chance at this."

Merlin sidles up to Arthur in the video, one arm around his shoulders and leaning in to speak into the mics in a much-too-familiar manner. At least his sunglasses are off this time.

"Now then, anyone who wanted to go to Elphame, you'll want to head to the docks around, oh, say, the first of June. Step one to flirting with fae is to put on a good show before the traders leave. It's a good time whether the Celliwig's dooming us or not."

A wink accompanies that odd note, and Arthur orders him off stage before thanking everyone for their time.

With the consent of its people, Celliwig performs a ritual to place Camelot under a rather strange spell. Much is the same, but there's a sense that everything is just slightly off from what it should be. Fog covers the grounds throughout the entire city throughout the entire day. It's just a little too quiet, the usual hustle and bustle of the city falling just a little too distant on your ears. You can go about your day as normal, but feel as if something is simply off. And eventually, you'll walk through a door, and it will be. Part of the enchantment, however, includes a strange inability to connect these doors with being part of a test-- they seem real, regardless of how absurd the scenario would be were your characters thinking straight.

Day One: Power Imbalance
The door you walk through is into a club of some kind. It wasn't your intended destination and yet, here you are, and you're being handed a glass of your favorite drink and being ushered to your seat. The show is fantastical, some kind of circus-esque show with gymnasts and magical effects making it impossible to take your eyes off of. That is, until the spotlight falls upon you and urges you down to join the show. A volunteer! Well, one of two. Another volunteer is brought up along with yours, and the ring leader of the circus gives you both bracelets-- one with selenite embedded in it, another with andara. The ring leader explains that they're both known for creating high frequency connections, though one is known to spiritually be associated with finding one's path and the other with manifesting one's true self. When enchanted together, this makes it so that the person with the andara bracelet can order the person with the selenite bracelet to do anything they please-- making their true self the person's purpose. Very dangerous, very intruiging, very tempting, very morally wrong to do it for real, so please keep it to the stage! A quick demonstration of this dark use of magic as part of the show... and it seems that afterward, they forget to take the bracelets back. What will you do with your newfound control over your partner? The choice is, after all, yours. (Or theirs, if you're the unlucky partner with the selenite bracelet-- only the person with the andara can remove the bracelets, after all.)

Day Two: Schadenfreude
Yesterday seems like a dream, and you may even feel the need to write it off as such unless you run into the same person again and realize no, they too remember it. But if that's not the case, it doesn't matter. You'll be able to find yourself in your definitely normal and usual mideval city, where someone is in the stocks. Your memories seem a little fuzzy on whether or not you're supposed to be in medieval times or not, but this seems right, and there's a fruit vendor right next to you selling soft fruits to throw at the poor sap in the stocks. There are also a number of other ways to mess with the person, including feathers to tickle them, a riding crop, some ink if you want to grafitti the person.. a good number of ways just to humiliate the person without causing them permanent harm. The crowd is cheering you on, but you also see the keys to set them out just sitting on a table nearby. Do you engage in a little sadistic fun or do you embark in a daring rescue? (Or are you the punished in someone else's scenario?)

Day Three: Indulge Me
Back to the modern day like it didn't happen, you and a friend walk into a door to your favorite convenience store and as you finish up your purchase, you win an all expenses paid trip to the Black Knight's Castle, formerly the home of the Black Knight and turned into a lavish tourist attraction by Yvaine and Laudine's descendents, who have become worshippers of Dionysus. You're transported there in a puff of sparkling magic dust, right before an extravagant golden fountain in the middle of the lobby. The owners explain their policy for the Black Knight's Castle that you can have anything you desire, however much you desire. Anything at all, consequence free. The only thing that they ask is that you give a blood offering to their god to help feed his dead worshippers on the other side of the veil, which will ultimately tie your soul to him as well. Just a quick cut of the palm and you're welcome to come back any time, have anything you want, for the rest of your life. Taking the deal means you really will get what you want! ...For the day, anyway. (This is just a spell, after all, even if your character doesn't want it.) If you choose not to, you'll find yourself magically deposited back to the convenience store.

Day Four: What's the Meaning of Stongehenge?
This fourth day, there's certainly something to be said about a hard day's work. When you walk through today's door, you find yourself in the middle of a grassy field, strange markings on the ground, and surrounded by oddly shaped boulders. The markings on the ground seem to indicate where some the stones should be placed. There aren't really any directions, but there's always the option of waiting for someone else to solve this problem for you... There is a very comfortable looking patch of grass anyone able to relax in. So the choice is yours: wait for someone else to move the rocks or move them yourself?

Day Five: Pooling Desire
Day five is a trip to the pools. But not just any pools! These are special, underground pools hidden deep within a cave. You're sure whoever told you to head through this door mentioned something about them being a special relaxation package at the Red Springs. As you head into the pools, however, you find someone in there with you: the subject of your desires. Regardless of who or what they are, they seem to have a crown upon their head, aren't wearing anything in that water, and seem to have a lovely singing voice judging by the tune they're humming to lure you in before you even notice they're there. It is at that point they will try to seduce you, even if that same person is standing right there with you. The seduction, of course, needn't be sexual-- a strong lusting for a turkey leg wrapped in bacon may be just as powerful as a desire for a brand new Ninblendo Swatch or something you should definitely label as NSFW if you want to thread it that way. Give into them, or.. maybe listen to the person who came in with you that they're definitely some kind of weird half-otter bottomed monster under the water before they try to drown you. Or if you're the one trying to stop this, are you brave enough to get in between a stranger and a monster to try to snap them out of the siren's thrall, even if it means fighting both of them?

Day Six: #ChaliceChallenge
The sixth and final door sets you walking outside on a beach. There's nothing else there really except for nature. The sounds of the waves crashing against the sound is soothing, and real, and sharper than anything you've felt in the last five days of haze. There is no fog today. Clear, blue skies stretch forever above you, not a cloud in sight. The only man-made thing you see is a small woode table and two chairs. Upon that table, two chalices. Nothing will happen and there seems to be no way off of the beach until both parties sit down at the table, at which point a strange old man with huge, rippling muscles of at least 7 feet tall and a long, scraggly beard will appear. He informs your characters of the rules: in one chalice, deadly poison. In the other, water and bitter flavor. Each must drink from one cup, or you will both perish of starvation on this beach. Choose wisely.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She doesn't unfortunately still have that enhanced Angel strength but she does at least try to help lower him as the table and chairs vanish. Not that she might be the most successful in doing so without him having a rough landing all the same. She does clumsily wipe at her face when she hears the grunt though, given that implies that Kratos is okay? She isn't sure, but it was with the trials so perhaps he was going to wake up if she just gives him a bit. She bites her lip, eyes wide as she brushes some hair behind her ear.]

....Kratos?

[Her voice is quiet, soft, hopeful as always. She just can't physically shift him in moving him somewhere more comfortable so unfortunately the ground would have to do. She at least tries to lay him down better. In a more comfortable position.]

[It's fine, man. If Kratos cracks his head on the ground, he probably deserves it.

Eventually, Kratos stirs, his eyes blinking open while his brain tries to catch up with whatever the hell is going on now. He sits up with a start, but instantly regrets it as the poison that's still in his system makes his head spin.]

What-- what happened?

[Colette tries to support him as best she can when he sits up, a hand to his back. Of course she was fretting. Worrying and confused.]

You drank it. I drank the other one and we....came back? I guess? You're back. You're okay. I guess because it was just a trial?

[So somehow? They were able to bring him back? Or something? She has no idea on death here but it seems strange to assume it wouldn't be permanent usually? Outside of the trials?]

A trial...

[Oh. Oh. That's right, those trials are a thing. A thing that he somehow couldn't link with that very obvious poison challenge trial they just did a minute ago. Well, the good news is that his memory is coming back to him. The bad news is that he remembers that he just told Colette all that awful depressing shit, and he has many, many regrets.]

...Of course it was just a trial. How could I have been such a fool...

[Goddamn he feels like the biggest idiot. He attempts to get to his feet, but gives up on that pretty quickly since he still feels like ass.]

I'm... sorry you had to deal with that.

It's okay. I'm just glad you're alright now? But um, I should....

[She reaches to her pocket and pulls out his locket to hand back to him.]

I didn't look inside or anything. But I figure. Um. Well, Lloyd isn't here so. I should give this back to you....?

[She isn't sure on what the locket has to do with Lloyd, but still. It seems the right thing in returning it since Lloyd isn't present and it is Kratos's locket and all. It doesn't seem to sit well with her to keep it for herself. To look inside when he hadn't said she could.]

[Oh, right, he'd given that to her as well. For a split second he nearly panics, but he calms down immediately once she assures him that she hadn't looked inside. But... would it have really hurt anything if she had? Was there actually any good reason to continue to be so secretive? He'd already told her so much off the wall stuff, should he like, give her a break from it?

Man, he has no idea what he's doing. Pretty much ever.]

O-of course, thank you.

[He takes the locket back and fastens the chain around his neck, then finally manages to get back to his feet. In a feeble attempt to deflect, he tries to change the subject.]

Are you all right? I imagine that must have been incredibly uncomfortable for you.

Eh? Me? N-no, I'm fine, it was just water I drank!

[That. Is not exactly what he was referring to in asking if she was alright. But fretting about him aside, she really was okay. And he seems fine now so she is calming down. Or, at least. As calm as one can be considered when she is sort of flailing her hands a bit in attempt to reassure him she was okay, as she too gets to her feet when he does.

Besides. It all happened so quickly, she didn't really have a chance to look inside the locket to see what it had to do with Lloyd. She's just glad it was still safe, since Kratos seemed to consider it important in leaving to her to give to Lloyd and all.]

You know that's not what I'm talking about.

[He wasn't born yesterday, kid. Though, seeing as she is calming down, Kratos won't push the issue too much beyond that.]

Either way, I... apologize if anything I said was concerning.

Concerning? Mm...maybe a little. But. As long as you are okay now. I'm not sure what the locket had to do with Lloyd, but. The important thing is you have it back now.

[Well. That and that she now knows he had and lost a family. Maybe not surprising given how long he's been alive but even so. She lost her mother and even that was rough. Let alone a romantic partner and a kid. She isn't sure how to broach all that. What he had been through. The consequences of this, all he had done and how it had impacted him mentally.]

[He's silent for a moment, trying to decide whether or not he should tell Colette the truth. Given the fact that it's no secret among Lloyd's friends at the point in time that Kratos came from, on top of Kratos simply wanting to be a more honest person in general, he decides that perhaps it is for the best that he fills Colette in. She's one of Lloyd's best friends, after all. If anyone deserves to know the truth, it's her.

Having made up his mind, he sighs softly as he removes the chain from around his neck again. Popping the locket open in his hand, he turns it so Colette can see. The tiny picture within is of Kratos, standing next to a woman holding a baby.]

...This is my wife, Anna. She was Lloyd's mother. This is all I have left of her, and for a long time, I believed that it was all I had left of my son as well.

Ann -- ah! Wait, so that's --?

[Yup. Lloyd. His mother. She remembers the name from her grave at his house with Dirk and all. She just. Didn't click about Kratos. Then again maybe Kratos himself didn't immediately make that connection that Lloyd was his son? After all if he had assumed both had died all those years ago when Dirk had found Lloyd, he wouldn't be expecting to reunite and all. She leans in to see the picture, glancing between it and Kratos for a moment.]

You're his dad? He had Dirk, at least. But....it's wonderful that you found each other again!

[Kvar had mentioned her as well, not long before they'd murdered the absolute shit out of him. It was true that Kratos hadn't immediately made the connection that Lloyd was his son when he'd first come across them, but once he saw Anna's grave at his house, it was undeniable. He then proceeded to be a shithead throughout the entire journey and said nothing about it, good going Kratos.

He smiles softly (for once), clicking the locket shut again and chaining it back around his neck.]

He did have Dirk, and I am indescribably grateful for it. Finding out that Lloyd was alive and well after so long gave me hope, where I had previously had none. I... apologize for not telling you sooner. It's a difficult subject for me to discuss.

Ah, no, it's okay. I'm just glad you found each other, even after so long.

[Not that she is aware on how things end up between them in the end. Kratos leaving and all. But even so. She is glad for them, as she gives a smile, relieved Lloyd had found at least his father. Now he had two dads! Part of her never really believed about Remiel claiming to be hers, but at least now Lloyd had Kratos back again.]

I must admit, I am as well. I was glad to see that he was doing well, and that he'd made some good friends.

[He was maybe a little less thrilled to hear that Lloyd sucked at school, but it's fine. He can let it slide, seeing as Lloyd saved the world and all.]

Yes! I mean. Iselia isn't the biggest but. I met him at school and all. Same with Genis. Ever since we have just kind of stuck together and been friends. Lloyd's.....the one that really sees me as 'Colette', I guess. Not like the rest.

[That everyone else, Raine included to some extent, mostly see her as the Chosen. That status and responsibility on her shoulders. That expectation of her. It's why she is particularly fond of Lloyd especially. Not that she is the most subtle about that. At all. But she has never outright said anything.]

He sees everyone as equal, and believes they should be treated as such. The world needs more people like him.

[Real talk, Kratos is so glad that Lloyd ended up being the kind of person who just treats people like people, not seeing humans or half-elves or the Chosen herself as anything different from each other. That could very well have a lot to do with the fact that he was raised by a dwarf. Kratos doubts that he could have raised Lloyd better on his own, especially once one considers just how ridiculous his life is.]

It does. He's.....special like that. Most others just saw me as the Chosen. But he took the time to get to know me as Colette.

[Lloyd wasn't discriminatory against others like most everyone else. He just took people as they were as he got to know them. Judged based on that. It was refreshing in a way given most everyone else's tendency to discriminate and judge otherwise. Colette gives a shrug, idly wondering aloud.]

But that's probably because he was raised by Dirk? I mean, Dirk isn't human either, so.

I'm sure that was a big part of it. If your own family is different from what most people would consider 'normal', then other people probably aren't going to seem unusual to you. Even with that in mind, I'm sure Dirk taught him these sorts of things as well. He seems like a wonderful father.

[When he said he was grateful that Drik had found Lloyd and raised him, he meant it. Lloyd had ended up becoming such a good person, and Kratos was sure that his upbringing had played a big part in it.]

He is. And now Lloyd also has you too! So you can both teach him.

[Because yeah of course she is going to assume Kratos would stick around now he had found Lloyd and all. Having no idea yet on what was to come in regards to Kratos leaving for Derris Kharlan and such. She figures after all this time, that of course he would want to stay and be there for his son after he had thought he lost Lloyd all those years ago.]

[There's a brief flash of something across Kratos' face. Sadness or regret, something in between? He knows he has important work to do on Derris Kharlan, but the more time he spends here, and talking with Colette especially, the more he wishes he hadn't left.

Maybe he shouldn't. Bring that part up yet. Yyyeah.

He composes himself quickly and clears his throat. Time to play it cool.]

He's a quick study, at least when it comes to swordsmanship. His... schoolwork could use a little improvement, though.

[Luckily for him, Colette seems to miss that brief flash of regret, as she giggles at Kratos saying Lloyd needs to do better with school.]

He could be better at school. But like you said that doesn't mean he isn't good at other things!

[Look. She is aware that for all she adores Lloyd. He is not perfect. Nobody is. But he was earnest and tried his best. He just got bored or distracted more often when school was involved, try as Raine might in keeping his interest. Colette just tries to see the positives. Generally. Most of the time.]

[He's thankful for that, it's one less thing he has to bullshit an answer for.]

Mmhm. I haven't had the chance to see much of his craftsmanship, but I imagine Dirk taught him well.

No? Oh, well. Um, I do have this pendant he made for me.

[It's just harder to tell she has that one too given the Cruxis Crystal being way more obvious. She tugs as the chain at her neck, pulling up the necklace from being tucked into her clothes to show him. She holds it up to show him, giving a smile at the memory.]

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EVENT ✨ The Answer is Always C

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