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avalonmods ([personal profile] avalonmods) wrote in [community profile] avalonooc2021-04-17 11:52 pm
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PLOTTING POST ✨ The Bill is Due for Peace


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This is the plotting post! Ask questions in response to this comment HERE. Click here to view top-level comments only. The actual event log will be posted on April 20th, please use this post to plot with your fellow players and ask questions ahead of the event start.

In case you missed it: this event was set up in the TDM this month and may require some context from the last listed prompt set.


Dangerous events have started to escalate. From the time they were formed, they have one month to absorb their original's essence, which means they're running out of time: the doppelgangers need to kill their originals. The doppelgangers are trying to draw their originals in by kidnapping people close to them. You may find yourself being held hostage by someone you thought was your friend, or being dragged into the Broceliande by vines that have become much less friendly than they were at the start of the month. The overgrowth is threatening to overrun the forest itself and is starting to spill into the city to try to collect more essences to create the Cereus de Anima.

Doppelgangers will work to create challenging scenarios to keep characters occupied while they try to kill them, making it more than difficult to overcome. People may be hung by their limbs from a spitroast over a growing fire, dangled over the White Cliffs while the doppelganger finds a way to occupy the Cliff Beast so there's no certain way to be caught during a fall, placed on a platform in the middle of hungry shark tank, or all kinds of villainous scenarios. (Come up with your own if you want, those are just some ideas!) Doppelgangers do have a rather dramatic sense of aesthetic, so there's a good chance it's going to be a scenario that can only be described as #extra.

Should you manage to free your friends and escape, information brought back by your peers from the old man beyond the bridge will reveal that the only known thing that can slay the Cereus de Anima is a venom from a creature in the Forest of the Fisher King. The path is already known-- you'll have to travel back up the Silent Shore, and be sure to take a rest before you venture further into the forest. If you stop by the archivist first, he'll warn you not to go further into the forest. It's a wonderous place, but going deeper than the Archivist's is dangerous for reasons far more than what your combative abilities can handle... or your magicks. Whenever someone tries to ask him why, however, he'll simply state that the forest is the final resting place of the Fisher King, a cursed corpse that infects the land and makes it and everything in it barren... "Something in the air...?" He can't seem to recall what.. which probably should be more than enough warning for what's to come.


Those brave enough to venture forward despite the man's warning of cursed lands ahead will find themselves surrounded by an ethereal magic forest. Everything is teeming with blue-green plant life, with life. There are strange, mirthful giggles that almost sound like echoes as you walk forward among the sounds of the forest. The wind rustles through the leaves, and sunlight only barely beams through a thick canopy of leaves that makes it impossible to tell how deep you've gone. There are mushrooms and lichen and all manner of strange and foreign plants, but certainly no creature that would seem to be venomous that's showing its face quite so easily. Those with green magic will get a sense of mischief, perhaps even malice, from the plants around them. And a wrong turn around any of the gargantuan foliage may result in a sudden release of spores right near your face from some of the fungal residents of the forest. As it turns out, though the Forest of the Fisher King is the final resting place of the king, it is so named for two reasons: The inner forest is saturated with drug-like magic spores that cause euphoria, rapid (15-20 minute) memory loss, a desire to stay and become a part of the forest, and general submissiveness with anything except attempts to get them to leave (which will be met with violent resistance). A special concoction that the Fisher King, who spent his life cursed to be in pain because of his sins, would've particularly found of use. However, the forest has another use for it than the loss of pain.

The trees, animals, and fae in the forest are all carnivorous and eat those who are overwhelmed by the spores into becoming willing meals for the forest life. Turns out, the Fisher King is buried in the forest and created the entirety of the Land of Rot, of which the Forest is a part of, but the residents of the forest found a way to keep itself alive-- by creating a willing food source out of any of those who wander too deeply into the forest. It's well-known for drawing in treasure hunters with its myriad of precious resources like valuable herbs and rare ingredients, lost valuables, and sometimes is used as a hiding place for that which people want to remain hidden. In fact, some say that the Fisher King was buried with impossible treasures like the Holy Grail... but that's a tale for another day. Right now, everyone needs to worry about how to overcome the wiles of the forest. Characters will need to remind each other of who they are to recover memories and sense of consciousness. Those who already know one another will find it an easier task than strangers, but those with cognitive magic will find that the spores also seem to enhance their post-cognitive magics. While in the spores, cognitive users may have enhanced use of their post-cognitive abilities which may turn it passive, allowing them to better access memories of items on other people. Blood magic users may also have an advantage in finding memories for people to hold onto. Animal magic users may be able to find some insects to interrogate and find out that there are black mushrooms with holographic spots on them that look dangerous to eat, but can actually counteract the spores when used with healing magic or an alchemical healing potion. Siphon magic users may be able to remove the magic effects of the spores from a person's body, but will find it immediately infects them instead of processing into energy as it normally would. Whatever you try to do, just make sure it's fast. Once someone is subdued, the creatures of the Forest start to come out to consume them-- soul and all-- to keep the forest alive. Trees will try to grow around people, things with teeth will appear as if from thin air, much like a Chesire Cat, and it wouldn't be surprising to find an anaconda attempting to swallow a person whole.

That does mean that some of those who are lucky enough will come to encounter the beast needed to defeat the Cereus de Anima and its doppelgangers. It's almost like a crashing sound that precedes each step the creature takes. Bony talons crunch leaves and debris on the forest floor. But those bird-like feet are not the terrifying part of this creature. Nor are its soulless eyes, nor the gargantuan size that makes this pelican monster-- the truly terrifying part of this monster is the gaping funnel of a beak, big enough to fit two or three people within its gullet in a single swallow. They, like the rest of the forest, eat any living creature that it will come across, and its saliva contains a venomous substance known to be capable of slaying even the most hardy of plant life. These avians, known as Titan Pelicans, roam the Forest of the Fisher King as former kings of fishing turned vicious through magics and the Fisher King's curse. Their feathers are strong as metal and capable of blocking blows from weapons. Don't let their roaming the ground like vicious dinosaurs fool you though-- they only roam because their wingspan is large and strong enough to knock down trees. They're still capable of picking prey up and crashing through the forest ceiling to drop creatures from a significant height and catching them in their beaks to swallow them whole and alive. Exactly how you're going to get a cup of that venom without getting eaten yourself.. well, good luck! Maybe they have a weak spot somewhere...?

*External Content Note: Pelicans swallow things alive and whole and can also pull their spines out through their mouths to cool down. So please be warned if you go looking for pictures of pelicans and are sensitive to that kinda stuff.


Not the heroic type and coincidentally don't know any doppelgangers, people who keep wandering off into the forest, or going off to dump a huge vat of gathered venom on an evil flower in the Broceliande for the safety of everyone in Camelot, there are a couple of things going on around town that might be of interest to you this April. Not everyone's involved in all that drama, after all. For one thing, during the whole fiasco, King Arthur seems to be away from Camelot City. Word is, he went to Celliwig just before this all started to try to negotiate to gain access to Celliwig to communicate with Elphame openly. Political negotiations such as this are difficult challenges and as such, a man such as Arthur is one of the rare people who are in such a position to truly ask for a second chance for entry after Celliwig has judged the people of Camelot City unworthy.

While Arthur is out, the Elphame Traders come a little early again this month with a showing of fabrics. While many of them are normal fabrics, there are those that are enchanted. Those who remain at home may be able to learn enchanting fabric techniques such as how to sew fabric that automatically resizes to your body size and shape for a perfect fit, how to enchant moving patterns using light magic and alchemy, and how to enchant elemental resistance into clothing. Among the fabrics, there is also a contest for the person who exhibits the greatest skill in the art of sewing for a specialized, one-of-a-kind rug: a magic carpet, capable of flight. Before the ride is over, people may take it for a test drive with a partner while it's enchanted to return to the Elphame Traders if it goes outside of a mile's distance from the grounds. Anyone can take a ride, and at the end of the day, it will be cleaned and disenchanted, then re-enchanted to be capable of flying anywhere in Camelot's side of Avalon. There's only one, so anyone willing to try their hand at sewing is welcome to try it-- on the condition that the winner is selected to create a ballgown as a gift for the Queen Elphame. It would seem that the Elphame Traders are wanting much easier passage themselves, despite their queen's hesitation. They will resume regular sales at the end of the month as usual, as they are focused on selling fabrics and teaching magical sewing techniques before that.

Which given Arthur's apparently failed negotiations by the time he's back toward the end of the doppelganger debacle, leaves multiple options for the people to decide how to proceed going forward: 1. attempt long-distance, slow wooing of Queen Elphame via the Elphame Traders of the next couple of months, 2. attempt to prove a balanced and deeper understanding of the need for both pure and impure hearts by suggesting an acceptance of trials from Celliwig, or 3. band together under Camelot's flag to invade Celliwig. Talk around town and debates are going on all over the place after Arthur's return indicate that this is a decision best left to the people, given that the otherworlders' are the ones whose fates are most at stake with this decision. Get involved in lively debates with each other about the result that will last past the time that people get back from saving the city from the Cereus de Anima. In fact, there will be a public vote set up at the start of the following month for the people to decide what path to take after all these heated debates, hashtag activism, and public demonstrations. Participate to defend your views and sway people to your way while you still have time!



NOTES:
  • Those who purchased the Magic Mask from the Elphame Traders last month will be able to skip symptoms; if you want to play it anyway, there's plenty of creatures, say a monkey fairy stole it right off their face!
  • Want to enter your character to win the magic carpet? Do so here! Characters with canon experience in sewing/fashion will get additional entries into the drawing.
  • A poll will go up alongside the test drive meme in the future, please feel free to argue and take your time having characters decide their views in the meantime.
  • There's no prompt for poisoning the flower since fighting the Cereus de Anima was on April's test drive meme, but if you're interested you're welcome to play out your character heading back to interact with it again! Here's a quick link to April's TDM if you need info about the Cereus de Anima.


  • Now then.. for your convenience, a little form for plotting:


Event log will be posted on the 20th, same date as the event takes place in-game.
irritated: (Default)

[personal profile] irritated 2021-04-21 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Character Name: Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin
Username: [personal profile] irritated and [personal profile] individuates
Sewing Ability: 5. Hikaru and Kaoru are the children of a high-end fashion designer and have been trained in this field since they were children, growing up around fashion and sewing.
Description of Garment: Fairy ballgown that works a little bit like a 'reveal' dress, but instead of having a layer that drops to reveal an entirely new dress, it's actually a semi-transparent gauze/mesh/silk in which one can place fresh flowers. So when the layer is loosened/opened they scatter. Since the fabric for that is basically see-through, the flowers would basically be part of the colour of the dress
irritated: (Default)

[personal profile] irritated 2021-05-07 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
They will make another one! A ball gown with a strapless v bodice that is a pale blue. Made out of the fabrics they got from Prismatica, with an oil-slick effect but with a light and dark blue coloring instead so it's one of a kind. Every time the dress moves, the colors shift so it always looks different.