avalonooc | PLOTTING POST ✨ Finding Kymbyr

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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 August 20th, please use this post to plot with your fellow players and ask questions ahead of the event start.

SUMMARY: Celliwig asks for volunteers to go to the Ash Mountains and find a necromancer in a magical sleep. There is a sale on magical coats and a camping trip where you can tell stories by the fire.

It's around the 20th, somehow or other, that Celliwig manages to find the information it's been looking for for some time: a solution to how to clear out the Forest of the Felled and release all the trapped souls of fae, witches and wizards, and other magical beings that had been condemned to that labyrinth of wards and curses centuries ago. It wasn't something they had the power to do on their own or they might've ages ago, but with all the otherworlders around here.. it may just be possible. That is what they tell the local Camelot news when they put out a bulletin recruiting volunteers to go to a small village, hidden away in the Ash Mountains and find and awaken the great sleeping necromancer, Kymbyr (with two y's. It used to be Kimber, but they decided to rebrand themself.) The TV spot follows with an old magically recorded interview with Kymbyr explaining how they were totally the life of the party for more than one reason, but when things got super uncool toward magic in their world, they asked the fae queen to move to Avalon so they could take the most crazemazing nap for like a billion years in this way zen town built into the side of a mountain that this cute little monk told them about. They then proceed to ask the interviewer if she happens to know the way there and invite them to be co-nap buddies. The TV spot ends up snapping back to the present-day interview with the Celliwig representative who invites anyone interested to meet them at the northernmost part of Camelot's farmland for the trek there. They will bring some horses, but unless you want to share a stallion with a partner, you should secure your own ride.

Across Camelot, there seems to be some kind of huge rush to sell camping supplies for the journey, since you're bound to be outside for a few days and the Ash Mountains are known to have some... strange weather. It doesn't always fit the season, and thus far people have really only had a reason to go to the base of it so they haven't really experienced the range's strange weather. So throughout Camelot, there's sales on camping equipment, but none so cool as the (Item) Prismatic Coat that goes on sale for 100,000G ($1,000USD). It's a lot of money for a coat for sure, and it looks magical. It has special enchantments to go the opposite of whatever weather you're having internally. If it's hot, it'll feel like you're sitting in front of the AC. If it's rainy, you can feel the toastiness of a fireplace keeping you dry anywhere the fabric touches. There are some side effects, like your spells also casting with opposite effects (healing will cause pain, fire will come out as water, growing an orange will grow an apple, and so on-- please make up the effects yourself for your specific spells). What's more, if you manage to find and bring back ann egg of one of the Administrative Assistant Birds (more info- cw: snake stepping) that live in the mountains, they'll give you a 50% back rebate.

If you're done shopping, you can head out and meet the party at the farmland and discussed and around 2pm the first day, they'll leave to slip through the space between the Dusklight Woods and the Lands of Rot. The wards are back up and working, so there shouldn't be too many disturbances unless you disturb the undead first. After the first day, they stop at a plateau far enough into the first Ash Mountain that the denizens of the Lands of Rot are no longer a threat. It's around 11pm by the time everyone is settled, and the participants from Celliwig invite everyone to tell stories from their land over s'mores and hot cocoa or tea, be they scary or heroic or heart-wrenching. One of the Celliwig light mages uses a spell that they will teach to fellow light mages called (Recipe) Storyteller, which causes the light created by the fires to create miniature holograms of the story as it is being told. How artistic or realistic the light is depends on the caster, as it will present in an art style that matches their personality.

SUMMARY: A blizzard hits in the mountains and characters are forced to hide in a dragon's cave until morning. The journey continues in the slush until they reach a door that requires a riddle solved for entry, after which characters are able to enter the city of Lestari, a city primarily populated by techno and cognitive mages. Anyone who engages in altered states of mind mentioned in the prompt please use content warnings accordingly. (Not detailed in prompt, but possible.)

The journey into the mountains is mostly quiet up the first mountain. Down below once the party has crossed over to the other side of the mountain, miles down, marshes can be seen but it's too far to really tell any detail beyond that it's a wonderful view. That's when the first bout of strange weather begins-- a blizzard starts up, in the middle of summer. You've entered the realm of the Frost Fairies, who head up to the mountains during most of the year, alongside many other weather-specific fae that live in the mountains, constantly warring for territory. We hope you packed warm, as the blizzard makes conditions too cold to continue, and everyone has to hole up in a nearby cave. Adventurous souls will find that going deeper into the cave leads to a napping, fully grown, vibrant purple dragon with a hoard of treasure beneath it and a lot of skeletons from those who have tried to steal from it. Unless you try to steal, it won't bother you beyond opening an eye to peek at you before going back to sleep. Stop anyone from trying to steal or you'll be chased out of the cave by a blue-fire breathing dragon protecting its stash. Don't forget that dragons are sacred creatures in Avalon-- if you try to kill it, there's a good chance someone is going to kill you back if the dragon doesn't succeed.

For those who do manage to make it through the night without pissing off the dragon, they wake up to the frost fairies having lost territory, instead replaced by Slush Sprites who leave the ground slippery and wet but the sky clear and visible, it's time to move forward. It makes the journey trecherous and it's recommended everyone latch arms with a partner to secure themselves as they move forward, lest they slip. The journey isn't much farther... though it comes to a stop when the party reaches a door that seems unable to be affected by magic, and instead asks a riddle of each person who enters it. If you answer the riddle correctly, the door will disappear from your vision and your vision alone. Try to walk someone through it, and they'll run face-first into a rock door.

Once in, the view at first is odd. Just carved doors into walls, as if the doors were carved out of the mountains themselves. They're offices, like the visitor's center and gift shop, the sheriff's station, and so on. Once you're past the small shops, it opens up into a much more advanced-looking society underground. Welcome to the underground city of Lestari, much more a city now than it had been when Kymbyr had been seeking it out. As players explore Lestari, they'll learn that it's probably more magitechnologically advanced than Camelot-- interactive holograms, video-storing crystals, video games that physically suck your consciousness into the video game until you're done playing, and much more. Deep within the city, there appear to be giant mechanical stone legs of some kind as well, but it goes far up into the mountainous ceiling, so it's unclear just what they're for. Technomages will find themselves with plenty of inspiration in this town... as will anyone interested in the art of meditation. With technology comes all kinds of connectivity, and a need to relax and destress. They're incredibly into yoga, meditation, spas, massages, crystalized relaxation ranging from a chamomile tea level to a wizard by the name of Zanacks who will sell you mood-altering crystal jewelry. Cognitive mages, for this reason, will also find experts on astral projection and dream walking as a means for therapeutic techniques and inducing altered states of mind in themselves or others using magic. It's a strange, but overall relaxed place. No wonder Kymbyr wanted to come here to get away from it all.

SUMMARY: Get through a rocky maze and complete Survivor-esque challenges to get to Kymbyr's condo. Magic is blocked in this prompt, combat is optional.

Exploring the town and asking around about Kymbyr results in quite the conundrum. Apparently, they got this cute little condo hidden away in a hedge maze carved out into the mountain. Since it's inside the mountain, there's no way over or through, and special crystals placed throughout the mage prevent magic from being used within its walls. No cheating the maze! Furthermore, it seems Kymbyr got really into this show called Survivor a few years ago and renovated it to have challenges that require multiple participants. The first one out of each challenge is teleported back to the start of the maze.

The challenges will vary (and players are welcome to make up their own as well, or go with what's here). Some people may find themselves engaged in combat with giant slime creatures that break into smaller slimes when they're attacked. They won't harm you, but the will try to swallow you up so you're just a head sticking out of a giant slime ball and need to be rescued. Others may find more traditional survivor challenges, like jumping across foam floatation platforms to retrieve puzzle pieces and then assemble a puzzle at the top of a rock climbing wall or standing on a single pole while balancing an egg atop their head. Others may find themselves in a tug-of-war rope pulling contest against a friend through a mudpit. Solve at least three challenges and the exit to the maze will appear-- it's the only way to get through, so you may be lost for a long while if you refuse to participate.

Those who make it through will find Kymbyr asleep in what appears to be a glass coffin, in a very Snow White-esque scene. The place is well decorated and clean (brownies can be thanked for that) and Kymbyr doesn't seem to wake up... Some of the Celliwig people suggest trying traditional ways to break sleeping curses, like true love's kiss.. but ultimately, it's probably best to just kidnap them and take them back to Celliwig to get some professionals to wake her. Help carry the coffin back through the maze if you'd like, or help deal with bureaucratic nonsense at the sheriff's office on their way out.

Notes:

Feel free to come up with other types of challenges in the maze-- whatever sounds fun to you! They will be fun types though, not tragedy-inducing. Kymbyr don't vibe that.

Lestari and more of the Ash Mountains will be added to the locations page by the end of the month.

You can come up with your own riddles! Mods will not be providing them. ICly, if your character is stuck, friends can help them as long as they don't say the answer. Pictionary or charades are good ways to communicate it if you aren't a cognitive mage who can share your thoughts.

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

Event log will be posted on the 20th, the same day the event starts.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Haha... a dragon you say? And it's guarding a horde of treasure you say? Haha... how interesting!

...Is it possible for... say... someone that's killed such monsters before to... I don't know... manage to slay this one? Or is it protected by PLOT???

All of the Celliwig people in the party would try to stop him (and possibly some player characters, but I can't speak for them) so he may find that to be an incredibly difficult task. If you still want to go forward with it, there's a good chance he's going to get arrested and/or stabbed and sent back to Camelot. Especially with everyone jammed into the same cave, he would definitely be putting others in danger too.

If you think he can overcome all the Celliwig people and the dragon and any player characters who may interfere, then let us know we will discuss his punishment because despite Beowulf's enthusiasm for slaying dragons, they sacred creatures here in Avalon. There will definitely be consequences!

ONE DAY HE CAN DO SOMETHING EXCITING LIKE PUNCHING A DRAGON OUT

In all seriousness though you've kind of already answered this question. But if someone decided to approach/take some of the dragon's horde how much danger could others around them be in?

Like is the fire just regular fire, or does I have magical properties to it?

It's just regular fire, but blue! The dragon is further back in the cave and won't burn the whole cave unless it gets engaged in full battle-- which would only happen if they didn't back off after being attacked the first time as a warning or if someone tried to attack the dragon. Only the people in the immediate vicinity would be in immediate danger if the dragon hasn't been thoroughly pissed off.

Is the dragon amenable to conversation? And/or Bargaining?

It's trying to sleep. 😫 Y'all barging into its home like this... It may be amenable to bargaining later, but not now with so many people around. If Morgan comes back alone later and proves himself respectful and worthy it will be open to bargaining. But it's just guarding its treasure and trying to nap during the night people are staying.

That's totally fair. The poor guy can sleep. We'll talk later.

How will this plot tie in with what Yuber was intending to do with a group of death mages (free the trapped spirits)? Will his bottled spirit have any thoughts on the matter or Kymbyr if asked?

He's not at all the type to go on a camping trip but if he smelled a chance to get information that could help him later (fOr cHaOs) he'd go.

Just trying to decide if he'll be involved or not! (The Luminary absolutely will be.)

We'll hold off on answering this question until later once Kymbyr is awake! Yuber may have a chance to talk with them directly.

Sounds good!

Okay I mean, like…stealing bad obvs. But can we:

Pet the dragon?
Feed the dragon?
Hug the dragon?
Befriend the dragon?
Give it chin scritchies?
Give it an kissy on its big ol snooter?
Tell the dragon they are a good, good dragon and we love them very much?
Sing to the dragon because they need their beauty rest?

seconded

thirded

Does a full permissions sheet for the dragon--

It will accept pets and hugs to its side but will get snippy if you get near or in its face or tail (since that will feel like you're trying to come at it from behind). Since y'all are smol it will feel about the same to him. Praise and singing are also acceptable unless it is already sleeping at the time, which it will probably do a fair amount of because it's hoard guarding.

That said, it will be more open to befriending if someone comes back later on their own, since it will be on guard around so many people at once.

Cognitive mages, for this reason, will also find experts on astral projection and dream walking as a means for therapeutic techniques and inducing altered states of mind in themselves or others using magic.

Could you tell me more about this? What kinds of "altered states of mind" are we talking, here? How does it work? Could someone adapt this kind of magic in future for other uses? (Nervous laugh is not a real emote and god I wish it was)

What it says on the label.

It works because magic. 👍 I'm not explaining how any magic works, it just does. We have historically avoided answering this question specifically because we want players to get creative and have always wanted people to decide how their magic presents on their own. Different mages may have different methods! Does your magic only work with touch? Do you need an item like a wand or staff to channel it through? Do you eyes or hands glow when you cast or are you a silent caster? Can you induce effects through singing? That's all up to the player. As long as you are asking permission of other players before magicking their characters, exactly how you go about using the magic is up to you within the FAQ-stated limitations. The exceptions would be for more powerful magics (so he couldn't do more than one person at once for example) that would require rituals to cause larger scale effects.

Go for it on future use, it's fine. It may just take a lot of practice to get it right at first through, so expect some disasters. 👍

Edited 2021-08-19 07:33 (UTC)

How would the dragon feel about people adding gold to its hoard, rather than trying to steal it?

No takebacks. :)

PLOTTING POST ✨ Finding Kymbyr

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i'm sorry about maruki all the time

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