PLOTTING POST ✨ Unnamed Event

[avalonmods]

QUICK NAV: LOGS ⚔️️ NETWORK ⚔️️ MEMES ⚔️️ OOC ⚔️️ NAVIGATION 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 18th and ICly the event will take place on April 18th and later. There will be a poll available here until 11:59pm PST on 4/29. Please use this post to plot with your fellow players and ask questions ahead of the event start.

At least one of the guests to the Unnamed Marsh who encountered the Will O Wisps had the right idea: get all of the candles lit at the same time. (Thank Emet-Selch!) Once the candles are lit, the Unnamed Marsh seems to warm up quite a bit-- which means it is very muggy and uncomfortable, but it also means the bugs that were underground that hatch a little later in the year are warm enough to start hatching and increase the food supply for the waning population. It's a temporary measure, but with the help of Otherworlders, the Unnamed Marshes have been given an extended chance at life with this little plan of the Wisps.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

• 1st Prompt: --
• 2nd Prompt: Drowning, poison, skinning, beheading.
  
• 3rd Prompt: --

This part of the event takes place on April 18th.

With the Unnamed Marshes' stay of execution, the Wisps head to Camelot and any townships nearby late at night, sneaking through window sills, door locks, any little crevices they can to break into the homes of Otherworlders and flitter around them as if to say 'Hey, Listen!' They are absolutely demanding attention and that people come with them. Though you may be able to resist after some time and shoo them off, it won't be without dealing with the will o' wisps rather... mischievous attempt to get your attention. The will o' wisps are causing all manner of trouble. They're possessing objects in homes and making them tease, taunt, and generally harass just about anyone who refuses to follow the leader wisp. If your house wasn't haunted before, it sure seems like it is now until you listen to that little wisp of light.
But if that doesn't work, perhaps cartoon-level possession will help get your character's ass in gear. Look in the mirror and see your ears have turned the size of Dumbo's! Pick your jaw up off the floor (literally) and go help those will o' wisps! (Or maybe find a death mage to exorcise them if you're really that against helping.) Regardless, these domestic disasters will continue for the first day until they've got a fair number of people on board with following them, whether your character is interested in adventuring or not. There's a group of those staying behind to help clean up these disasters too, so feel free to help with the clean-up efforts! This part of the event takes place any time April 18th through April 20th.
	Those who follow, however, will be led to the Unnamed Marshes. This time, there is a fleet of elemental mage-powered airboats. Those with elemental magic are welcome to drive their own (and may in fact use them at any time in the future to explore the marshes), but for those who don't, this one time they will be escorted by the elemental mages of the Unnamed Marshes. Where the airboats go? To the one and only village in the Unnamed Marshes, Malous. (Mal-us, not mallows- They don't appreciate the mispronounced pun and will attempt to push anyone who makes it into the marsh water). Only those who are both given permission by the marshes and have guides to get them through (like the Will o' Wisps, who are now willing to lead Otherworlders through as long as they don't do anything to cause harm to the marshes) are able to find Malous. The Malous mages will explain that the Unnamed Marshes are experiencing an
unprecedented loss of life ever since a newcomer- the Fisher King- had come to their settlement. He's since gone into hiding, but they need help to find him, as they cannot leave Malous unguarded for long. Anyone who offers to help will be provided with the recipe for Malous totems (which will later be available for purchase via rewards for anyone who does not participate). That said, unless your character is a master of their magic, they should not be wandering apart from the group. Beginner-level mages will be in big trouble here given the number of unfriendly creatures. As you travel to Malous, you are warned not to make eye contact with anything you may see in the water. They will leave you alone as long as you don't look at them. You're likely to get dragged to hell if you do. The Unnamed Marshes are known for their close connection with elemental magic, so each of the creatures within it have an opposite element that can be used to defeat them. None of the creatures explicitly have names (it is the Unnamed Marshes), so you'll have to use clues obtained from other travelers or prior research to figure out what to use. Be wary of what looks like a drowning woman with long, black hair. She will scream for help, but if you look at her or try to help her out, she'll pull you into the water and the last thing you'll see is her wicked grin, sharp teeth from ear to ear and hollow eyes. She seems to be able to control the water, so even if you swim, she'll move a tower of water above your head until your lungs burn from lack of air. They are weak against electricity/lightning. The lantern men can only see you if you meet eyes with them. These men, only called lantern men for lack of a better name, wander about the marshes looking for new lantern shells. Some have pumpkins, some have the skulls of those who have fallen under them. Their goal is to maintain the fire of the single coal lit said to have been illuminated by the fires of hell themselves. The fresher the kill, the brighter the coat shall burn, so they are always looking to find new heads to contain them. They are able to wield fire from the coals in battle. The best tactic here is the air element-- they can wield the fire, but it will get caught up in the gases of the swamp, so finding a way to blow their attacks back at them is the key! Mysterious, glowing herons with beaks and talons that glow an eery, unworldly phosphorescent color will go after anyone who wanders off alone-- which is why it's very important to stick together this entire trip. These herons eat bioluminescent fish that contain a toxin that makes the very touch of these herons poisonous, giving them their status as omens of death. Don't worry though- they're scared of fire. You don't even have to kill them, just scare them off. They do like to steal things though, so be careful you don't lose track of something if you accidentally spare them a glance! The last most dangerous thing you'll need to avoid are a variant of creatures known as nasnas, and are composed of half a human body split down the middle. The insides are entirely visible, it hops around on one leg, and there is a horrendous tail that trashes about behind it to maintain balance. Kill them before they use electrical impulses to paralyze you. These creatures eat their victims by slowly skinning them alive while they're paralyzed. At.. least you can still scream for help? It seems they rather like their victims' vocal cords in tact, which varies from one of their cousins that spends mere seconds getting the job done. What the fuck. You'll want to find earth/ground/rock magic means to defeat this guy- get them out of the water where their electricity can travel freely and you'll stand a much better chance as long as you avoid contact.

This portion of the event takes place after the previous prompt, whenever characters give in to the will o' wisps' demands.

There's a reason that people don't get very far in the swamps past a certain point without guides. But those who either follow directions not to look at anything or stray from the boats, or otherwise expertly fight off whatever they've drawn the attention of, will end up in Malous: a village built floating entirely on the water out of reeds harvested from the marsh itself and woven together with the intricacy of baskets. The people of the village itself, including the mages that had been taking human form to greet you, are clearly not human... rather, Malous are fairies of the mushroom variety. Taking a wide variety of forms, all of these fae seem to resemble different types of mushrooms. Large caps, fibrous beards or hair, frilled bottoms that look like dresses but are in fact fungal, even some stranger ones whose heads look like intricate up-dos that are, in fact, mushroom caps. The younger they are, the further from human form they are, so it's certainly possible to see some of the children fae running around looking like portabellas with arms, legs, and beady little eyes. The older fae have a much more humanoid look.
The Malous act very serious and delight in chasing and terrifying others.. but they are secretly a kind folk. They may chase you through a haunted house pretending they're going to devour your soul, but if you get stuck behind a rusty gate they'll step past you and open it before proceeding to chase you again. Much like their name sounding like the word malice, but being a word that means "loveable" or "beautiful," they act differently than they actually are... you know, unless you say something along the lines of "They're actually pretty fungis." Yet another push into the water for you. Hope you haven't accidentally looked at anything you shouldn't be while you're in there. Their people actually seem to be thriving at the moment despite the rest of the marsh being in harsh circumstances because of the slow decay of all of its food. Mushrooms eat dead things, after all, and yet these kind hearted creatures are not intent on increasing their food supply so much as helping the rest of the swamp survive. They'll take care of things here, but the Otherworlders need to clean up the mess one of theirs wrought by awakening the Fisher King. Take some time to explore the city, gather supplies, ask the villagers around but do not cause a panic, and search the Unnamed Marsh up and down. The Malous don't have food as most humans would eat it, but they'll teach you how to catch and cook edible bugs and fish in the area-- but they do have a variety of herbs, melee weapons that are built to channel magic, tools, bioluminescent lanterns, and so on. Please note that Malous technology levels are well below modern day, so while you will still have a phone signal, you're going to have to deal with what amounts to technology from actual Arthurian times. Given the way the Unnamed Marsh works, intentionally confusing and making travelers lose their way, it will take a little while to gather information... especially since another tribe in the Unnamed Marshes specializes in Animal magic and is 100% behind the Princess and the Frog-style stories. Anyone who runs into these reed-clothed people will be turned into an animal of your choosing until they can convince someone to give them a smooch (of any variety) to turn them back. It's unclear exactly where they're hanging out and it's theorized they're nomadic as there is not another known settlement within the marshes. In the end, the intel gets around that the Fisher King has gone to Bermuda Station: an underwater train that is normally capable of traveling across universes underneath the waters of Avalon and through Otherworlders. With the Calamity closer than ever, it's extremely dangerous to approach this unstable area and is heavily guarded at this time... so the plans are put on pause for now and the people are called to a meeting at Malous to vote on the path forward.

---

OOC Notes: The Unnamed Marshes will be opened on locations officially at the end of the month. No, characters cannot go ahead to the Bermuda Station unless the game decides that's where they want to go. They can approach and will find the gate guarded by what seems to be only a fraction of a humungous snake burrowed in and out of the ground in front of it. This is a fraction of the body of a creature known as the Falak, an Arabian snake said to be capable of consuming all of creation that will only rise to the surface at the end of days. It stays in check for fear of its opposing god. It seems to still be resting, but has come close to Bermuda Station as its time to rise feels near. Its flesh is impenetrable, and it seems the only way past it may be some kind of magic... but everyone will have to tell the Malous how they wish to proceed to learn the way. Poll is here!

---

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

<b>Player:</b> <b>Contact:</b> <b>Character:</b> | @username <b>Familiar:</b> <b>Magic Disciplines:</b> <b>Event Plans:</b> What are you interested in doing? Do you want to make a top level or are you just tagging around? No idea what you want to do but you want to do something? Whatever it is, say it here! <b>Other Notes:</b> Anything else you want to add?



Event log will be posted on the 18th, please check individual prompts for their IC timelines.

Comments

Questions

[avalonmods]

Joy | Jade

[mushroomaficionado]

Player:Joy
Contact:kanetsugu, Joy#8142 at discord or pms to this journal all work
Character: Jade Leech@mushroomaficionado
Familiar:A small sea serpent
Magic Disciplines:Healing and Green
Event Plans:I've been on hiatus and dropped all my old threads (will pick up though if people wish) but I'm back on Easter. Just in time for the event!

I'm up for pretty much everything because Jade will definitely go out to the Marshes. Once he sees those Mushroom people though, that's all he's going to care about. Jade will be in heaven.

But outside of that, he's gotten a lot better at both healing magic and green magic now, so he'll be of some use to other people. He's also good at not looking bad things in the eye, so he can be very reliable in those monster-related situations. He's a magician back home, so he knows this shit.

But outside of all that, his brother is here, so anyone who has met Floyd is free to be super confused. Even though it probably should be obvious who is who.



Other Notes: God I feel like I was gone forever.

Re: Questions

[tempredmental]

Can those with animal magic counteract the animal mage tribe magic?

Re: Questions

[avalonmods]

Yes!

[toasterdevotion]

In terms of making eye contact with the monsters... is it the act of making eye contact itself that gets their attention, or does there have to be proper eye contact made from both parties? So let's say that theoretically a character wears a mask that obscures their eyes, but still allows them to see in some capacity. They see a creature and make eye-contact, but as their eyes are obscured, it's unclear for anything looking at the character where their eyes are pointed. Would the creatures leave them alone due to the uncertainty of it, or is the act of making eye contact itself what sets them off?

Schmittchen | Toshirou Hijikata

[mayoninofukucho]

Player: Schmittchen
Contact: This journal or schmoechen#2732 on Discord!

Character: Toshirou Hijikata | mayoninofukucho
Familiar: Crow Tengu (Arashi)
Magic Disciplines: Elemental & Death

Event Plans: Hijikata will probably be willing to follow the Willful Wisps without much hassling, but if anyone gets possessed by them he can exorcise them!

As an elemental mage he's well-suited to brave the Marsh Malice! I'll probably make a general prompt, and anyone who wants to go with him can choose which monster(s) they'll encounter. He's a notorious do-gooder, but he's also still a bit of a scaredy-cat - he may have gotten used to his ghosts, but he'll do his damndest to ignore any fake cries for help or whatnot from the water! The nasnas will probably freak him out the most, but he'll do his best to protect anyone who looks at them or their creepy swamp peers.

I'm waffling between sparing him from being turned into an animal in Marsh Malous and turning him into a bull (his zodiac animal and hence my first go-to in these kinds of situations)... we'll see! In any case he still wants the Fisher King to be handed over to Queen Elphame. He may not like her, but he trusts her to know best how to deal with him.

Other Notes: He's still afflicted with the giant hogweed potion's effects, but evidently too stubborn and proud to seek out a healer, so if anyone would like to throw theirs at him perhaps they can accelerate the recovery process a little!

[over_the_sea]

UGHH NOOO, no more mushrooms!

Floyd is going to hate this...

Also I echo the people being confused by the two of them, as they are often mixed up in their canon until people get to know them and able to tell the difference. Until they talk that is, that's a clear give away.

[over_the_sea]

Hi there!
Going by the Bestiary page, I am guessing the Will o'Wisps that will be invading houses are ethereal lights and thus cannot be interacted with physically? So trying to hit them or smack them isn't going to work on them?
In regards to the drowning woman, would she be a match for a merfolk who's able to be underwater/not needing to breath? Is she physically strong?
Thank you!

Edit to add on top of this: will it only be homes the wisps show up at, or can they also show up at work, in particular Golden Silence, and cause issues there for those working?

Lanie | Doppo Kannonzaka

[doppomine]

Player: Lanie
Contact:Discord: Noiz#0511, honorableshadow

Character: Doppo Kannonzaka | doppomine
Familiar: Komainu
Magic Disciplines: Alchemy/kinetic

Event Plans: Very open to most things here but so far:

Willful Wisps

Not totally into having Doppo be afflicted by the cartoony body horror bit, but otherwise I'm very open to have him get harassed by the wisps.

Marsh Malice

Yeah, ok. He doesn't 100% have the confidence to suddenly go out adventuring on his own, but he'll do his best as always~ Every prospect of this scares the shit out of him HAHAHA. He's on the beginner side of things and will see himself more as a liability. It won't stop him from trying to help anyone in danger though. If anyone would like for their character to be assisted/rescued by this salaryman, I'm definitely down! By this time, he'd have a better handle of his abilities and is literally, better equipped to deal with things.

Marsh Malous

Doppo's gonna be the saddest looking quokka the world has ever seen and it will be glorious. There are plans for him to get a smooch from a certain someone, but otherwise.........wanna take selfies with a Doppo!quokka? Dokka...Kannonquokka...

Other notes: I'm a Japanese salaryquokka

Fiona x5

[cantgetanyworse]

Player: Fiona
Contact: DM to any journals, hardtostarboard, hardtostarboard#7737

Jane Porter

[cantgetanyworse]

Character: Jane Porter | cantgetanyworse
Familiar: Fischer's Lovebird
Magic Disciplines: Healing / Dark

Event Plans:
🎨 Willful Wisps: being fascinated with all manner of fae magic, Jane will be paying attention to the wisps more or less as they demand it and will keep the shooing to a minimum after she sees what they start doing when she tries to ignore them. She may be found suffering some minor issues with the door/windows of her house, which will not stay closed.
🎨 Marsh Malice: yanno how she says she tries to stay out of trouble? That's just a terrible lie isn't it. She will be immediately concerned that the Fisher King has been about making trouble, but also has a nasty tendency to wander off on her own... so she's likely to get into some trouble in the marshes.
🎨 Marsh Malous: she's easily given to being startled even now so if someone could kindly inform her that the Malous fae actually mean no harm while she's getting stressed about it that would be great. After that, she'll be very happily helping them out as best she can.
🎨 Jane being turned into an animal is a definite possibility.
🎨 She will also be around doing painting when she has some down time, though given the tendency of marshes to be humid she may be struggling with this.
🎨 The technology levels might cause some minor problems, as it's been a while since she had to do anything close to 'living rough'.

Mogget

[themogget]

Character: Mogget | themogget
Familiar: Gore crow
Magic Disciplines: Animal / Light

Event Plans:
🐈 Willful Wisps: with Mogget's recent canon update he is more inclined to be helpful without being snitty about it, but make no mistake that attitude of his is still firmly in place. As he doesn't have an actual home he may be around in other people's homes when they are hit with the wisp's antics, though his cockiness is likely to end up with him being caught in the crossfire.
🐈 Marsh Malice: only here out of curiosity and probably regretting it within ten minutes of arriving. He won't be wandering off on his own but he may be keeping an eye on those who do, and can offer a well-timed hard light shield to keep people out of trouble.
🐈 Marsh Malous: he is still instinctively lazy and won't really be doing much to help, but he'll happily sleep on your shoulders or on top of whatever you happen to be doing...
🐈 Mogget's smart mouth is likely to end with him being pushed into the marsh at least once. He will learn his lesson at that point.
🐈 He can make himself useful for the right price and has a human form for those convenient opposable thumbs.
🐈 If you are fishing you may find that a fish occasionally goes missing.

Poison

[writtendestiny]

Character: Poison | writtendestiny
Familiar: Atheris hispida
Magic Disciplines: Alchemy / Cognitive

Event Plans:
⚗️ Willful Wisps: Poison is quite frankly sick of all this fae bullshit at this point but this will be the push that she requires to finally come around to the fact that she's just going to have to deal with it. She lives in the Alchemy Guild so anyone walking by may be treated to some bangs and flashes from inside the building before Poison herself comes out yelling bloody murder and possibly dyed several different colours. She will not be a happy camper and will curse the wisps with every bad word she knows.
⚗️ Marsh Malice: as it turns out, Poison actually grew up in a marsh very much like this one. Once the irritation from the entire scenario has worn off she will probably be somewhat melancholy in the actual marshes themselves, and will certainly wander off on her own. Luckily she is very aware of the dangers fae pose and won't be making eye contact with anything, but I'm open to plotting some misadventure here!
⚗️ Marsh Malous: the mushroom fae won't faze her and she will be quick to inform other people that they aren't a problem, just treat them with the same wariness you would any other fae. Since this is the kind of place she grew up in she will be gathering supplies and searching the marshes and will be completely comfortable with the level of tech.
⚗️ Open to having her turned into an animal if someone wants to plot that!
⚗️ She will be grumbling a lot about fae the entire time.
⚗️ This will be a small turning point for her being less verbally/overall aggressive towards fae in general... though quite a small one.

Red Wine

[judgementor]

Character: Red Wine | judgementor
Familiar: Purple Dumpling
Magic Disciplines: Elemental / Blood

Event Plans:
🍷 Willful Wisps: he's going to learn pretty quickly to not ignore them, especially after a few domestic disasters and several occasions of simply tripping over nothing, banana-peel style. Red is not going to be impressed with this at all.
🍷 Marsh Malice / Marsh Malous: when the people who are heading off to the marshes are gone, Red Wine is going to be staying behind to help with the cleanup effort. Contrary to what his general bearing and attitude might convey he is actually pretty handy when it comes to cleaning and fixing things up.
🍷 Want to help a guy off the floor? It's going to become less and less funny the more it happens.
🍷 Pairing up for cleanup and repair efforts is always good.
🍷 Red Wine hasn't really taken the time to learn too much about the fae up until now but after this he is definitely going to... so he may be in the library once there's no risk of flying books.

Thanatos

[inevitablerest]

Character: Thanatos | inevitablerest
Familiar: Three-headed hellhound
Magic Disciplines: Kinetic / Death

Event Plans:
💀 Willful Wisps: despite the relative harmlessness of the wisps' antics Thanatos is not going to be amused by it in the slightest. One death mage here more than happy to exorcise these nuisance things if anyone happens to ask him to. He won't be paying them much heed unless prompted to do so by someone else who is far more curious about them than he is.
💀 Marsh Malice / Marsh Malous: no firm plans either way here, it will depend on what CR is up to! If he stays behind he will be helping with the cleanup efforts like a good citizen should, and if he goes along he will probably find the whole thing more interesting than he expected to. Open to plotting!
💀 Easily irritated, likely to stay easily irritated through the entire ordeal.
💀 Kinetic magic is very useful for repair work but also very useful for gathering supplies and yoinking people out of danger.
💀 Honestly just hit me up :V

[avalonmods]

It'd be rather unexpected if any characters' brought masks like that, since none were given forewarning they would need it! However, these supernatural creatures can sense when they are being looked at. So even if you look directly at the back of one of their heads, they may snap right into direct eye contact if you don't shy away quickly enough. That said, if the creature looks at your character, they will not react unless your character looks at them. It would be possible to shield the eye contact with magical interference, however, such as the use of light magic to create a reflective illusion (thus, the creature would be making eye contact with themselves), curses that obscure ones own vision, or astral projection (they cannot see souls separate from the body) may be good ways to avoid it.

[readytolearn]

Player: Shiranna
Contact: sasageyo / unofficial game Discord

Archer

[unknowntodeath]

Character: Archer (EMIYA) | unknowntodeath
Familiar: Phoenix
Magic Disciplines: Cognitive & Blood
Event Plans:
● He won't have to suffer because of the Wisps too long as he will just go investigate the situation. He knows better than to actually ignore them.
● He will likely also be able to avoid eye contact with everything, but he can help others from trouble or give warnings through cognitive magic.
● He will be turned into a very, very grumpy panda and will need to be smooched to turn back.
Other Notes:

Elsa

[readytolearn]

Character: Elsa | readytolearn
Familiar: Snowgie
Magic Disciplines: Kinetic & Elemental
Event Plans:
● It won't take long to convince Elsa to follow the wisps and that is what she will do
● While her elemental magic is just secondary she will help with the airboats
● She will definitely help anyone who might get into trouble with the creatures, especially with elemental magic (mostly ice, fire and water at the moment)
● She will need a smooch as she will be turned into an arctic fox
Other Notes:

Jean Kirstein

[rustyhonesty]

Character: Jean Kirstein | rustyhonesty
Familiar: Mythological Lynx
Magic Disciplines: Animal & Healing
Event Plans:
● Jean will take a little longer to convince to follow the wisps, but he will do so eventually - especially after the first time he gets Dumbo ears or something
● Staying out of trouble, but going to help people out of trouble definitely
● As an animal mage, I see this funny scenario in mind where he keeps getting turned into an animal and he turns back before getting turned into one again like a comedy
Other Notes:

Mamoru Chiba

[reincarnatedprince]

Character: Mamoru Chiba | reincarnatedprince
Familiar: Skvader
Magic Disciplines: Light & Green
Event Plans:
● He will follow the wisps after some time thinking and getting bothered by them
● I would like to get him into trouble, actually, since it's been a long time coming and he hasn't been in proper trouble yet! Most likely going for a drowning woman with long, black hair for this one...
● On top of that he's getting turned into a penguin later because of course he can't catch a break
Other Notes:

Ren Jinguji

[saxsongs]

Character: Ren Jinguji | saxsongs
Familiar: Fox Fairy
Magic Disciplines: Healing & Siphon
Event Plans:
● He will be able to ignore the wisps
● He stays behind for clean-up efforts
● Hang out with him while you clean, he makes good smalltalk
Other Notes:

[groundzeroes]

Can only animal mages understand what transformed-into-animals characters are saying? (I assumed as much since that's the usual, but wasn't sure if the reed people were particularly advanced with transformation in the name of "getting people to ask for a kiss" hahaha)

[avalonmods]

Exactly! What true pests they are, untouchable and yet able to interfere to get attention.

The drowning woman is a little stronger than a regular woman, but not excessively so. Someone who's more used to the water than land would be able to be on more equal ground and stand a better chance in hand-to-hand, sure!

As long as all the involved characters at Golden Silence are fine with it, go for it!

[avalonmods]

Yes, that's correct! Good luck!

However, I will also add that those who have been turned into animals can speak to others who have been turned into animals via Disney-universal-animal-language-logic. Don't ask for the details on how it works, it's magic.