avalonooc | PLOTTING POST ✨ LAPIS EXILIS

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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 22nd, delayed to give time for poll responses. T he poll is here. Please use this post to plot with your fellow players and ask questions ahead of the event start.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

1st Prompt: Merpeople, naga, cecaelia. If fish, tentacles, or scales freak you out, be warned.
2nd Prompt: Mention of changelings, impotence, future generations. Only if your character is a dick.
3rd Prompt: Age-inspired death acceptance, violence, flaying, alcohol.

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POST TYPE: Event
DATES: Algae is Greener - 8/19-8/24 (includes travel time). Dinas Emrys- General area description, arrival is ~8/24. Worthy- 8/24-8/25.
PROMPT BRIEFS

Algae is Greener

Residents of the cursed underwater town characters encountered about a year ago sent out messages in a bottle during the TDM sharing they had a way to get past the battling elemental giants that's guaranteed no pirates.
Use cursed crown from cursed town to curse otherworlders (anyone who gets into the water near Camelot) to turn them into merpeople, naga, or cecelia. Use special crystal to delay setting time, so they have a week before the curse becomes permanent.
Don't want to go on the quest? Babysit the alpacapies-- help take care of the sick parents or babysit the babies.
Swim under the lake to get to Dinas Emrys. Encounter dangerous creatures we've previously met in game. See bestiary.

Dinas Emrys

Setting info for Dinas Emrys location. Explore. It's a lot of description, there aren't really specific prompts here, but feel free to do whatever inspires you.

Worthy

Phoenix puts characters through trials of chivalry to see if they are worthy of the lapis exilis, which it will die to give up and save the multiverse. But it has to trust y'all first.
Wake up warring red and white dragons, valley of the shearing sucks, there's a lake of mead. All of it was actually in y'alls shared cognitive space though so everyone's choice counts and if most people pass the trials, lapis exilis is yours. Fail and have to embark on a new quest to find the only other source of lapis exilis available. Or kill the phoenix, that's always an option. There's a poll attached to this part.

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THE ALGAE IS GREENER

As promised in the messages within bottles sent to New Camelot earlier this month, the citizens of the cursed underwater town have come bearing a gift, and a curse. Their curse, actually. The entire city has agreed to come to Camelot for a town-wide vacation and offer what they have discovered to be the vessel for the curse: their town mascot and honorary Junior Mayor, a giant 400-year-old quahog that ate a cursed crown from a long since fallen king. After removing the crown, they offer it to Camelot on the condition it be returned to them at the end of the mission. After all, their town has been like this for the last couple of centuries– it’s their culture now, and they would not like to live on land anymore. Keeping the cursed object on them is dangerous– but they have discovered protective crystals that will delay the settling of the permanent version of the curse to a
week, rather than only a day. One of their own will travel with you with the crown and upon the party’s arrival and resurfacing in Dinas Emrys, utilize a Welcome Ring to return to Camelot for their people, thus freeing participants of the curse before it settles in permanently and returning their legs to them. Anyone who gets into the waters near Camelot will be transformed into a merperson (fish bottom), cecaelia (octopus bottom), or naga (serpent or eel bottom) during this time. This is the player’s choice, not the character’s. All characters affected will be able to breathe underwater without use of a potion and will be able to swim at much faster rates than normal. Merpeople’s singing voices are able to put people and creatures into a trance. Cecaelia can normally grant vengeance wishes, but per previous events, wish magic is not currently functioning as it should- so their primary features are the ability to ink and use their tentacles as additional controllable appendages. Naga have advanced strength and can extend their nails as claws. Whether they intend to travel or not. The curse lasts for 3 days, but don’t worry– if you’re not intending on taking the underwater trek to Dinas Emrys, there’s something for you to do and the curse will remain, as at least two of the gems from the crown are being kept for a very particular purpose… A tragedy happened and most of the adult population of alpacapies has grown ill. (See notes for reminder species info.) Healers and alchemists who do not wish to travel are being urged to come treat the adult alpacapies… it’s best to do so in pairs for safety. because they are irate and can suddenly attack when ill. Everyone who isn’t going is being asked to care for the two-month old babies. They’re rambunctious and love nothing more than to investigate any loose objects and hide them for their own collections later. You may also have to find their favorite lake kelp to feed them, as they’re very picky eaters when they’re separated from their parents! Good luck! For those who are traveling, you may find that the perils of the lake are no friendlier to you when you’re one of them than when you’re not. Though you can breathe underwater, you may need to fight fuath, kelpies, merrow, and a megalodon who’s more than happy to swallow wayward travelers whole if they stray from the group. You will be traveling deep enough to avoid the battling giants, though should you happen to go too far, you may be thrown clear across the map by one of them and need to come up with your own spur-of-the-moment landing strategy. Once everyone has gone the underwater path beneath the battling elemental giants, characters will emerge on the shores of Dinas Emrys. --------------------------------- *DINAS EMRYS* Dinas Emrys is a rather large area. The western arrival point is heavily spotted with brushwood that leads into a grove of well-sorted trees with a well-kept field in the middle. This place is known in the local tongue as Cell y Dewinaid, or “Grove of Magicians.” There is evidence of recent use, as there are certain areas laid out for fires, flattened grass circles where spells have been performed, and a circle of stumps for meetings at the easternmost point. A little further along and there is a camp of a nomadic coven of druidic witches. These witches live in wood and cloth hovels they’ve built themselves, as if they were straight out of Arthurian times, and leave no footprint, no harm to the environment. They give more than they take, and they are loved by the trees and animals of the area. Though they are not the only people to live within Dinas Emrys throughout time, they are the prominent group within the area now. North of Cell y Dewinaid are rocky and wooded hillocks, leading up to a tall peak at the northernmost point of Dinas Emrys. From the peak and down the center of the hillocks is carved with a creek and small waterfalls throughout. Dinas Emrys itself is a largely peaceful area, filled with natural spirits such as vila and treants. Vila are a living essence of nature and live in the trees and waters of Dinas Emrys. They are beautiful, eternally young, possess no gender, have eyes that flash like lightning, and unique wings sprouting from their back. Vile can transform into horses, swans, falcons, wolves, or be invisible as the wind. They tend to help guide those who are lost so long as they are kind to the woodland around them. Destruction of the environment will be met with cursing with impotence, magically marking people as a target for changelings should they ever conceive, or cursing their next five generations with tremendously bad luck. They are not to be trifled with if you value your future, even if they are non-violent in nature themselves. The treants may go unnoticed by you unless you’re a keen observer. They tend to be slow-moving, but do change position– which makes it very easy to lose your way. They will speak to green mages, but don’t tend to bother with most people. They are thousands of years old, and thus can offer sage advice on all matters, though it may take some time to respond so you must be patient with them. There are of course, woodland creatures out and about, but for the most part, Dinas Emrys is a relatively safe place on the surface. Speak to the residents to get to know the area, or simply explore, and eventually you will gain information about the lapis exillis. Just remember- do not take anything from Dinas Emrys you do not have permission to take, and do not destroy anything, and you will be seen as a friend. --------------------------------- *WORTHY*
	At the peak of Dinas Emrys lies a nest rumored to be made of the very threads spun by Rumplestiltskin himself. (No one can confirm this, but it is the old wives’ tale that seems most prevalent.) This nest is the home to an ancient bird– one of the original phoenix of legend, who gave life to those phoenixes who followed, including those who are familiars now. This bird is millennia old, old enough to remember the time of the Stone Giant and have witnessed the birth of man itself. Its brother was the one whose heart was given to create the lapis exilis used to forge the Holy Grail. The coven shares that you must climb to the top of the mountain and kneel before the nest to show humility. Only then will the phoenix appear to discuss the lapis exilis.
Sure enough, as promised, those who kneel before the golden nest will witness a bird emerge from deep within it in a burst of flames that heat the gold threads of the nest into glowing metal for a brief moment before they, and the phoenix, cool back down to a safe temperature. Those who do not kneel will find that nothing happens, as they have failed the first test: humility. Those who have met the phoenix will find that it speaks within their minds and already knows what they seek: the lapis exilis. The phoenix shares that it is prepared to give it, and has known this time would come for a long, long time. It is old, and it longs for rest, but it cannot simply give such a powerful stone to just anyone. It needs to know that those who seek its gifts are noble. To that end, to obtain the lapis exilis, participants must pass a series of trials to prove they are worthy of this phoenix giving its life. The mountain you stand upon is hollowed out and within it, a lake filled with the finest mead any man has ever tasted. It is said to be the variety with which the giants tested Thor, and even such a just and righteous god fell to its temptations. Those who drink even one sip of this mead are said to lose all inhibitions, but will be blessed with luck so strong that they will be immediately given one of their desires upon doing so. (The drink will cause your subconscious to project your greatest desire-- be that upon another person, bending them to your will, or causing an illusion that reflects it if that person is not here or it does not involve a person.) Test two: Conviction -- Promise not to drink the mead. Do not drink it. Hold yourself accountable, as though it is tempting, you have a task to complete. At the bottom of this lake lie two sleeping dragons of red and white color. These dragons were sealed at the bottom of the lake by King Lludd to stop them from destroying the towns of the middle ages with their incessant fighting. It is possible that they will resume their fighting when awoken, but they are presently trapped in a prison within their own minds. If they awaken, they may break through the mountain and could potentially threaten Nicnevin with their battle. Test three: Mercy. Show mercy to the Red and White Dragons by waking them, even if it means that there may be consequences. The dragons will then awaken, and sure enough, burst through the side of the mountain, causing a new cave to open up and a rockslide to spill into the canyon known as the Valley of the Shearing. The Valley of the Shearing is so named as it is filled with a hoard of creatures known as Kamaitachi, who are all now wide awake and pissed. These creatures move with the wind and are demonic weasel-like creatures with blades for arms. They slice and flay any who would enter their territory. There is no time to summon your flying mounts before the dragons reach Nicnevin. Test four: Courage. Despite the high likelihood of injury, cross the Valley of the Shearing to follow the dragons. *Note: The phoenix will heal all those who manage to get halfway through, and effectively cast a temporary regenerative spell on them, but only after they've shown courage enough to move forward without. Test five: Justice. Get the dragons to stop fighting by any means necessary, except for ending their lives. They have not broken any laws fighting with themselves yet, and as such are not subject to laws that would permit their slaying. This can be done by diverting the fighting away from Nicnevin through joining the fight, using animal magic to talk them down, cognitive magic to influence their emotions and take them out of their fight-or-flight state of panic after waking up from their slumber and only remembering battle at first, or any other means you can think of that does not kill or permanently harm the dragons. Lastly, the unspoken test: nobility. It is possible to simply rip the living heart out of the phoenix. If you have hope and faith and choose to take the tests instead of resorting to unchivalrous action, you automatically pass this test. Note that the phoenix uses cognitive magic to cause each of these scenarios to play out within peoples' heads as they arrive. The choices that people make during this event will be totalled, and if the majority of characters pass each test, the phoenix will choose to pass gracefully and allow the lapis exilis to be taken from its heart painlessly. If the majority of characters choose to fail the final test and slay the phoenix, they will still gain the lapis exilis, but there are consequences to slaying such a noble creature that will only be unveiled if this option is selected. If the majority of characters fail the final test, the lapis exilis will not be granted and all characters will be expelled from Dinas Emrys, leaving only one source of lapis exilis left to seek out… and it’s one that’s historically been incredibly challenging to find. Incidentally, there are two dragons sealed within the mountain, and there is a Mead Pond, but it's simply really good mead.. and the dragons have long since made up and are great drinking buddies, hoarding treasure along the Mead Coast. The vila will take anyone who wishes to go there to drink with the dragons in celebration of the phoenix's life. The dragons will then fly anyone who wishes or does not have another way home over the real Valley of Shearing (unfortunately, accurate to the trial version) and to Nicnevin.

OOC Notes:

As a reminder: the reason we are questing for the lapis exilis is because it is one of the three items needed to resolve the Calamity once the explosion is weakened by the Fisher King’s corpse’s curse.
Alpacapies: Cousin to the much more violent water horse fae the Kelpies, Alpacapies have been mistaken for baby loch ness monsters on more than one occasion given their penchant for sitting with just their hump and long neck above the waterline. They can be ridden in the water and tend to bond with people who are polite to them upon greeting. They will assist in combat by spitting water at their enemies or kicking with front legs, but they may shake you off if they need to deep dive to gain speed for an attack. They do not have back legs, only a dolphin-like fin. For some reason, they're really impossible to take photographs of. For other listed possible encounters in the lake, please check the significantly more updated bestiary!
Characters who have more than one form will find themselves unable to take that form while in range of the curse.
If the tests are failed or the phoenix is murdered, it is up to your character to figure out how to get back to Camelot.
There will be a separate post for a poll to report characters plotted pass/fail of the test. You can thread out any part(s) you want! Results still count based on choice even if the character’s choices are influenced by others and they may not make the same decision if alone.
Poll will close on August 21st at 11:59pm PST to give time for responses/event ending determination. The event log will be posted on August 22nd. AC will accordingly be due by September 1st at 11:59pm- an extra day.

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

Event log will be posted on the 22nd.

PLOTTING POST ✨ LAPIS EXILIS

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