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seasonsrpg2025-03-21 09:15 am
seasonsmods) wrote in seasonsrpg2025-03-21 09:15 am
Event #13: Who Are You, What Could You Be?
Who Are You, What Could You Be?
LOGS | NETWORK | OOC | MEMES | NAVIGATION
March 21st
Nightwake is buzzing with excitement. The Dragon Lord, Opallios, has sent a proxy to Nightwake. This young dragon is an ivory colored, medium sized dragon, perfect for mingling with regular people. After a meeting with the guild leaders, the dragon addresses everyone with a booming voice, almost like it's coming from loudspeakers throughout the city.
"Otherworlders", he says. "My name is Einnainth and I'm here on the behalf of the Dragon Lord. You have been invited to the Abandoned Castle by Lord Opallios. We have worked hard to repurpose the place into sanctuary for all dragons and power holders. There, you may participate in a ritual to unlock completely new powers with our help. If you wish to hear details, I will be at the Solarpeak Beach."
The same message is also send to each device, just in case someone missed the announcement.
Those who come to meet Einnainth can see him enjoying affectionate pets from the local children. He will be explain that it was finally time to entrust ancient power holder magic to the otherworlders, as well as the four guild leaders. Dragons have always been the guardians of the powers so it was their duty to pass it on when the time was right.
He also requests to get some supplies for the castle, such as wood and stone, if they're able to spare them. They still have a lot of work to be done in the castle. While they can fix most things with magic, just conjuring materials from thin air is very taxing.
(March 22nd onwards)
New teleport crystals have been installed near the Abandoned Castle. All of the four guilds have counterparts for quick travel. Of course otherworlders are allowed to travel to the castle however they want. The crystals lead to a gazebo; those arriving from the summer and spring guilds end up near the summer side entrance, while autumn and winter arrive at the autumn side. It doesn't matter which side someone ends up in, as both entrances lead into the same area.
Those who have visited the Abandoned Castle before can notice a huge change. The walls that separated the two sides before have been knocked down. The only thing separating them is the way they're decorated and their general architecture: summer side is made more of stone and has no furniture or decorations left, while the autumn side has warm, wooden tones and plenty of dusty furniture and decorations in autumn colors.
Dragons have brought in plenty of moss and other soft natural materials for people to sit on. Their own sleeping quarters are in the rooms or outside on the roof. Peeking into them will reveal some of them have started hoarding different things in the middle of their rooms. Leaving them something they collect will result in the dragon becoming their friend.
There's plenty of time to socialize with the dragons before the main event begins. Plenty of berries, vegetables and fruit have been gathered for anyone to eat. Some dragons even have meat and fish.
Once everyone is gathered and settled down, Opallios makes an appearance. He's larger than most of the dragons present, white with gold accents. Many might remember him from the Frozen Falls.
"Welcome, everyone. We have gathered you here to help you unlock ancient abilities that we have been safekeeping. These powers are more difficult to master and some of them are even dangerous. However, we have full fate in you, hence why we are ready to pass the powers back into your hands."
He explains that the ritual will happen in special mindscapes, shaped by their minds. It will done in pairs and there's no rush. They can work on the unlocking as long as they need. No one has to do this right now either, as the dragons will remain here and help them anytime they want.
After that, he conjures very old-looking parchments from the air for everyone. They have a list of abilities they're about to unlock, written by the people of old.
The ritual to unlock the powers starts off simple. There are several small fires in the main room set up. Otherworlders are tasked with finding a partner and then sitting with them by one of them. However, the dragons warn that the more familiar the partner they choose is, the more dangerous the ritual would be. It's better to pick someone who they aren't so deeply bonded with for this.
Once the pair has settled down, one of the dragons approaches them. Next step is to hold hands or otherwise form a physical contact and close their eyes. The dragon will then breathe out a veil of mist that surrounds them. It feels comfortable, making it easier to relax. Slowly, the physical world starts feeling more distant.
Suddenly the pair will feel like they're floating. If they open their eyes they will be greeted with clear blue skies and a vast meadow they're about to gently land on. However, the moment they land the scenery changes; the scenery shifts according to what fits their states of mind. It splits neatly into half, one side for each person.
The state of mind can be visualized in different ways. Someone who has no problems or burdens may just have the same meadow with the blue skies while those with heavy burdens may have an approaching storm on the horizon. The meadow could also be withered and gray instead of the lush bright green, or even on fire.
Even if the two would have similar minds, there are still obvious changes. However if the pair is very close to one another the scenery will seem like it fits together seamlessly, no matter how different their minds are. They even have the risk of melding completely together, which can end up with both of them dead. They have to be constantly focusing on their sense of self to keep the two mindscapes separate. Whenever they stop doing so they will feel it as an ache all over their body.
Several different colored energy lines travel across the mindscapes. All of them have a different purpose. The bright golden ones are their touch energy, which are currently actively burning. Other colors vary between what season they represent; blue for winter, pink for spring, green for summer and orange for autumn. They have several different shades, representing all kinds of different abilities. Those with special powers from home will also notice an energy line for them.
The pair must follow the right colored lines through a variety of different landscapes; forests, mountains, rivers, and so on. Their lines follow the same path; straight in the middle of the two mindscapes. There's even a chance of enemy counters (representing enemies from home or from Ellipsa), depending on just how dark their state of mind is. All of their powers, seasonal or otherwise, work here so they are able to fight the enemies off. Dying means failing the ritual, injuries will reflects as unpleasant pain for a while after.
At the end of the lines they will find a wall with a gate. Only by touching the gate at the same time will it open and behind it they will find several illusions of themselves. Approaching them will have them tell them something that is either a complete lie or the absolute truth about the person.
Their next task is to find the ones that tell the truth. Accepting the truths, no matter how unpleasant, will the the person absorb energy; this energy will feel like they're unlocking something new. Denying the truth will break the mindscape around them, causing cracks. Too many cracks will completely break it down, waking them up from the mindscape and ending the ritual in a failure.
Accepting a lie as the truth will also result in absorbing energy, but this energy will result in a minor injury in the real body and feels unpleasant.
The amount of accepted truths needed to unlock the abilities varies between each person, but there has to be at least five different ones. These can be just simple things like "he has brown hair" or "she sucks at karaoke", but also truths they necessarily don't want anyone to find out.
Optionally, characters can also capture a floating ball of energy inside the gate that will unlock the ability to do emotion magic. However, this can either be completely ignored or just unnoticed.
After the pair has gathered all the possible energy, they are ready to wake up again. To do this, they must join their hands together and focus on the physical feeling of their own bodies. Their mind starts feeling more distant and eventually, they can feel like they're sitting once again.
The dragons congratulate them on their success and offer to tell them all about their season's abilities in more detail. Some even enthusiastically tell them all about emotion magic that may become something like a wildcard for them in battles.
People can redo the ritual with others, should they wish to help them unlock these abilities as well. However, they do not gain anything by doing it (unless they missed the emotional magic part) - other than possibly a deeper connection with the other person.
With all this excitement, don't forget that all around the city, the End-of-Winter Festival is in full swing! Ever since long ago, this festival has been a cultural mainstay to say goodbye to winter and bring in spring (on the calendar, at least, since the seasons all stay in their places).
In every district, there are bonfires set up here and there. They're all in places far from the centre and away from anything particularly flammable, for the sake of anyone uncomfortable with fire -- but they're all festival hubs for people to gather. Just like last year, all the traditional activities are back: dressing in costumes and masks to symbolize winter and spring; singing and dancing around the fire; dramatic improvised plays where people are asked to act out a battle between winter and spring; and, of course, the pancake breakfasts! Thanks to the recent quests, most of them even have real maple syrup instead of the cheap golden corn syrup in the packet. Or berry syrup, if you're not into maple.
The jellycats (cats that have jelly-like shells protecting them. The shells wiggle everytime they purr and they can retreat back into them whenever they're uncomfortable) also make another appearance, staring at anyone eating pancakes and hoping they'll share a bite. They come in various colors and scents (each jellycat smells different to different people). The scent becomes stronger the more a jellycat likes and trusts a person.
The traditional festivities aren't the only festivities this time around. After a very successful showing at last year's Arts Festival, the fanclubs of assorted otherworlders who have become minor or major celebrities through quests, missions, or even just plain social media presence are back. Not just that, but they've gotten serious and have opened an Otherworlder Fan Merch Store down a side street in Nightwake near one of the festival hubs.
They've certainly gone all out, even compared to when they just had festival merch booths. Otherworlders can find themselves on all kinds of merchandise like buttons, keychains, mugs, art prints, acrylic stands, and even 3D mouse pads and body pillow covers. Further back in the store are more esoteric goods. How many people are buying collector plates with the city's heroes on them? Who would buy a wallet with their face on it? Pasta shapes in a can?! Someone's gotten creative.
Past a curtain (wait, no, that's a shower curtain with life-sized images of characters, also available for sale), there's a section advertising "Unauthorized Biographies." Flipping through the comics and novels, one thing is clear -- this is the doujin section. How much of a market is there for RPF of the otherworlders? It's not even all dirty; at least half of these are coffee shop AUs shipping people with their friends or overly personal gushing about the time the subject of the story saved the author during a quest or a time monsters got into the city.
The Amberfall Library doesn't have a bonfire (for obvious reasons), but it's also running as an event hub of a different sort. Following the Dragon Lord's announcement, they've brought up some archived books for people to peruse about the old days of the now unsealed season magic.
There aren't very many, owing to how long ago it was, but a few still remain. The biggest feature is a book of short stories, where two specific stories are bookmarked.
In "The Tale of Spring and Autumn," two lovers on a mission, a Spring and an Autumn power user, find a massive and powerful monster beyond description that threatens their home. Pushed to the brink, the Spring mage increases her own magic over and over, disregarding her own safety, to wound the monster gravely, but the overuse of that ability turns her into a tree, and the monster knocks the tree down. The Autumn mage breaks down in a fit of grief and uses her wood powers to kill the monster with the wood of the tree.
In "The Tale of Winter and Summer," a Summer power user is guarding a Winter exorcist when they come upon a spirit searching for help. The Winter channels them to fulfill their last wish to save their town from the pirates that killed them, but the spirit turns out to be lying and is actually a ghost pirate themself, and the Winter struggles and ultimately fails to take back his body from the ghost. The Summer, seeing the rest of the ghost crew gaining on them, causes a landslide with a magical explosion.
Thankfully, they're not all that depressing. Any would-be scholars can read gathered information about their new abilities, though these ancient sources might not always be the easiest to parse.
And as a festival activity, the library has also provided paper and writing utensils for attendees to write about what season magic means to them. They can be anything the writer wants and will be posted up in the library for the duration of the event!
Summary of the prompts [ Click to Expand ]
SECTION 1• The proxy for Dragon Lord Opallios arrives to Nightwake
• Dragons are ready to bestow new powers for the power holders
• There is a request for wood, stone and other materials for the dragons
• Quick travel has been unlocked to the Abandoned Castle
• Dragons have redecorated the castle and provided natural cushions to sit down on
• Some dragons have started hoarding and will become friends with people who contribute to their hoard
• Opallios explains the ritual
• He also provides lists of abilities they're about to unlock
SECTION 2
• The rituals begin with holding hands and dragons breathing mist
• They ascend to a mindscape meadow that will take shape based on the pair's state of mind
• Those bonded closely together have to focus on their sense of self
• Several different colored energy lines appear
• The pair has to follow the right ones through different sceneries
• Enemies may appear
• They encounter a gate that has illusions of themselves inside
• They have to find the truths from the lies and accept them to learn a new power
• Waking up means holding both hands
• Characters may help others to unlock these powers as well
Do You Remember When Days Were Like That?
•Nightwake City is celebrating the spring equinox with bonfires, festival games, plays, dancing, and costumes
•Pancake breakfasts pop up around the city, and stray jellycats appear more often trying to get people to share
•Fanclubs open a merch store for unauthorized otherworlder fan merch
•Fan merch can be anything from common types (think artist alley/fan shop offerings) to weirder things that have been offered as merch (anything from pasta shapes to ice cube trays or fancy plates)
•A section in the back of the store sells fanfiction and fancomics written by Ellipsan fans of otherworlders
•The Amberfall Library is participating in the festival with a display related to the ancient powers in the dragon ritual
•Some old short stories are tragic cautionary tales about the risk involved with the stronger powers
•Nonfiction also exists to figure out things about the new powers
•A related activity is for attendees to write what season magic means to them
• Ask event related questions here
• The new abilities can be learned by anyone, even those who have just started learning their regular ones. They're separate from the original powers, despite both being seasonal abilities.
• The ritual can be done anytime after the event as well and it can be handwaved. However, NPCs can't help with the rituals in this one so everyone should have a playable character to plot with.
• Characters are free to help the dragons repair the castle and otherwise just hang out with the dragons.
• Smut is not allowed on the event post, so if your thread is heading that way, please move it to a separate entry (like to your musebox or characters' journal).
• Remember to content and spoiler and content warn as necessary!
• Reminder to players that this month is Activity Check-in month and check-in ends on March 31st, at 23:59 PST.
Re: merch bonfire
Need? [ That's a tough question in its own right. ] ... Talking helps. If I'm talking to you, I'm in Ellipsa. And you mostly call me by a nickname; that helps a lot too.
Re: merch bonfire
"I'm sorry this place added this horrible shop. They really should be more considerate." He'll be having a pointed conversation with someone about this.
Re: merch bonfire
[ Momentarily pauses feeding the fire in favor of gently headbutting his shoulder. Hi. ]
My super cool and awesome dad who I love very much, and who loves and takes very good care of me. [ Sits back again. ]
The people I talked to at the store were reasonable enough. But ... I have some concerns.
Re: merch bonfire
"Yeah? What concerns, babygirl?"
Re: merch bonfire
You take the best care of me. [ The absolute bestest. Number 1 Papa In The Multiverse.
She picks up a doujin next. Ponders it. ]
Entitlement. [ Sets the doujin on fire while it's still in her hand, and then chucks it in with the rest. ] ... People being hoisted onto pedestals.
Re: merch bonfire
"Would you want to elaborate a little? I want to make sure I'm catching your meaning all the way."
Re: merch bonfire
[ And she's so unspeakably grateful to have him in her life. ]
Mmm. … I can try. Let me know if I'm not making sense. [ Where to even start, though? ] I guess, to preface … I don't think they meant any harm.[ She's trying! To keep an open mind! And to not let her trauma drive the train! Something something optimism something something hope and belief something something.
Ugh. ]
They don't know me. They have their idea of me … their image of who I am. And they're invested enough to take that image and create with it, and to share their creations with the world. It means something to them. [ Hum. ] Well … more or less. Maybe it just means mooncoins.
[ She shrugs. ]
Either way, there's some weight to it. Maybe, depending on the person, a certain amount of expectation. And maybe … depending on the person, they'd feel some kind of a way if those expectations weren't met.
… Oh, and for extra ick factor: there's already an exceptionally stupid and tenacious gang of creeps overly invested in my family.
Re: merch bonfire
He reaches through a portal, grabs a drawing of himself and MK arguing, and tosses it in the fire. Extra fuck you for that one.
"Yeah, you'd think they'd have learned long ago to stop screwing with us. Some criminals just aren't very bright."
Re: merch bonfire
You'd think! Whatever Donnie did, let alone the rest of you ... [ She doesn't know exactly what down. Nobody has said a word and she hasn't asked. But she has done a fair amount of snooping, which led to some ... interesting ... results. The whole affair was enlighteningly obfuscated, one could say. ] But nnnooooooo, they've just got to keep fucking around and finding out. [ Huffs! ]
That, plus this [ waves a pack of paper plates decorated with a border of round pigeons and her face ] feels ...
[ ... ]
[ Trails off, lips still parted. ]
Re: merch bonfire
"Feels... like they're making your safe place feel a little more unsafe, maybe?"
Re: merch bonfire
- huh? [ Shakes her head, refocusing back on him. ] Sorry, I got sidetracked for a second there. My safe space ... well, that's home and wherever you are. No shaky foundations there.
[ ... ]
Say, Dad ...
Did any of us figure out who was behind the cursed game?
Re: merch bonfire
Ah, the game. Macaque makes a sour face.
"I don't think so. We were pretty busy dealing with the fallout after we were done in there." Namely Red murdering MK for benevolent slash frantic reasons.
Re: merch bonfire
[ She leans very lightly against his side. ]
That's what I thought ... mmn. [ Rubs the back of her neck. ] Feels precarious. Work, too ... maybe. I'll talk to James-san tomorrow.
[ Scratches a bit. ]
I don't wanna rush into joining dots that might be entirely unrelated. Probably are unrelated. But, these fanworks, the store ... that's one side of fandom. I can't help wondering ...
What about the other side? What if, instead of making fanfiction or doujinshi, someone decided to take things a step or six further? [ Puffs out a cheek and blows a sigh. ] Call me paranoid — it's probably true, but on the other hand: once upon a time an Echo tried to run a kill game because they wanted references for guro porn.
So maybe I'll dig out my detective hat.
Re: merch bonfire
"I don't claim to know much about this fandom stuff, it wasn't high priority for studying about when I was newly not-dead. But what you're describing sounds pretty creepy."
"You think the gangs are behind some of this mech weirdness, or are you thinking they might take it as inspiration?"
"I wouldn't call you paranoid right now. Vigilant, I think fits. But if you were paranoid you have a million good reasons for it and a good personal awareness for these things."
Re: merch bonfire
Yes. Yes, it is.
The man radiates big "people before profit" energy and goes out of his way to take care of his team. Hell, he earned Korone's loyalty so hard he got Choco Rights over a year ago. ]
It just … feels … [ Drops her hand from her neck in favor of tippy-tap-tapping at her knees, not so much hesitant as searching for the right words. ] People know I work there. Eve-chan too. They know it's a popular spot for Birdtiles … that P&P doesn't tolerate bullies or bigotry and welcomes non-humans … and that we, as a family, look out for each other.
Most people, these days, think twice about crossing me when I'm on shift, let alone if Donnie or Red Son or Lott are hanging out. But if someone from that gang wasfeeling really brave or stupid or both … or if Eve-chan or I weren't there and they just wanted to be awful … it'd be a potential target, right?
[ Whew, that was a lot of words. Korone grabs a thermos of hot chocolate from her infinity purse and takes a long sip. ]
Potentially both. … Mnn. Kinda. [ She takes another sip as she mulls it over. ] They could feed into each other. But I think … setting aside the gang for a moment, I really think it's important to look into that game. Who made it, how, and how feasible it'd be for some super creepy, overly invested fan who wouldn't know a boundary if it bit them on the nose to make and distribute something similar.
[ … ]
… Do you really think I have good personal awareness?
Re: merch bonfire
Macaque doesn't really want to think about that game more than he already does. But it probably is important. "All right, babygirl. You're making a good point." Normally he'd be first in line to suggest investigating it, he realizes. Trauma, man.
"Sure I think you have good personal awareness. You had to fight hard for it. I trust your judgment."