EVENT #1: FAE FESTIVITIES

[diceofthegods]

INTO THE WOODS

Click Clock Wood (Spring) by Grant Kirkhope

2:05 / 4:59

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Click here to listen.

Grant Kirkhope is a Scottish composer and voice actor for video games and film. Some of his notable works include GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, and Perfect Dark, among many others.

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After making your way through the tiny farming town of Ich and out towards the rim of a massive raised crater, you will find yourself being led through a narrow split in the canyon wall. Inside, glow worms cling to the ceiling and create the illusion of a thousand twinkling stars above the moistened rocks.

When you finally emerge, it is into an impossibly lush landscape of massive, redwood-sized tangling trees and a soft moss carpet. Life abounds here. It feels like an oasis of birdsong and animal activity.

A short walk leads you to the prepared party-grounds. A large clearing with quaint huts all around decorated with strange flowers for partygoers to rest or otherwise entertain themselves.

There appear to be several games and stalls set up, the sweet and savory scents of delicious food fills the air, and so do the patrons of the forest. Seemingly hundreds of Fae folk zip around and greet the newcomers excitedly by placing garlands of vines and crowns of flowers atop their heads.

Glowing flowers and toadstools light your way here. It also seems that even the animals get in on the festivities! Really, just about everything talks here. Almost everything, anyways! Talking to a tree stump might not yield many results but you're welcome to try.

Each entrant is also provided upon arrival a copy of The Rules. A rolled parchment that resists water or any other damage. It also prevents you from writing on it so you can't just do what you want.

The rules read as follows:

DO:
⁂ Accept gifts from the Fae.
⁂ Sample the food provided at the party ONLY.
⁂ Play games with the Fae.
⁂ Feel at ease to rest in the provided huts.
⁂ Keep tabs on your shadow lest it wander.
DO NOT:
⁂ Make a TRADE with the Fae.
⁂ Provide any personal items as gifts or otherwise to the Fae.
⁂ Provide your true name to the Fae.
⁂ Wander away from the designated party area.
⁂ Ascend any staircases you find in the woods.
OTHER ITEMS TO NOTE:
⁂ If you see an old woman hiking through the area, feel free to stop her and lie to her. The more brazen and obvious the lie the better. She appreciates this!

GAMES & ENTERTAINMENT

Amongst the games and attractions are a variety of fun possibilities!

GAMES

⁂ Battleship! (Fae Style!) A number of Fae will be hiding on a large grid of flowers. You guess the locations and if you are correct then you will win a small prize! It is a cup of nectar that refills endlessly, and numbs any pains you may have. This works even outside of the forest and can be taken home.

Every time you miss though, you receive a small 'curse.' Nothing harmful! Maybe you’re just rotating in place for the next hour, your ears become daisies, or you grow a tree out of your head? (Feel free to come up with your own silly ideas!) All of the curses will dissipate after a time or upon leaving the forest and none will do any harm or cause pain. The Fae are all about fun tricks, not hurting anyone!

⁂ Dress Up Darlings! You enter a booth and allow the Fae to decide your outfit! Upon the agreement that you'll wear it the rest of the party, of course, no matter how silly or ridiculous it is.

⁂ Bobbing For Onions! Yes, you read that right. Bobbing for onions. There are onions floating around... in water. You have to catch them with your teeth. The prize for success is a Bag of Onions. This bag never runs out of onions. They are always fresh and always onions. Not always the same kind of onion, but always onions nonetheless. This bag works outside of the forest and can be taken home.

⁂ What's In The Box? There is a box. There is something in it. Maybe it's frogs. Maybe it's slugs. Possibly bugs? Maybe apples. We don’t know. Stick your hand in the box and take a guess at what you’re touching! If you’re right, you win the contents of the box!

We'll let players decide via coin flip, rolls, or however they want if their guess is correct! Any items won though will be common, every day items like mentioned and nothing especially exciting. Unless you're really into frogs. Then it's your lucky day, apparently!

ENTERTAINMENT

⁂ Slayd & The Possums! Slayd is here and he’s throwing down the banjo tunes with his possum pals. Feel free to join him if you are musically inclined! The Fae will provide any instrument your heart desires! They can't grant you the ability to play it though if you don't know how.

⁂ The Crowning of the King of Misrule! Randomly chosen by the Fae, enter a lottery to be chosen as the King of Misrule for the evening. You will be dressed in a stupid outfit and granted Fae wings for the night! You also have the insatiable urge to play harmless pranks on people. The Fae will also give you a "Special Gift" at the end of the party...

FOR THE FOOLISH

Ahh, but there are rule breakers amongst us aren't there? If you choose to sneak away from the party, chances are nobody will stop you; however, you are now on your own in the Talahee Forest.

FIRST LAYER

Rak'tika Greatwood Theme ( Civilizations ) by Masayoshi Soken

4:34 / 5:15

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Click here to listen.

"Civilizations" prominently features a female vocalist. The lyrics are in the Ronkan language, and has not been officially translated.

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The first layer of the forest is very much similar to what you have already seen. Everything is coated in a thick mat of moss and trees wind away like a massive birds nest to form the canopy above. The faint sounds of animals can still be heard. Up here, you may encounter Fae who did not attend the party. They'll ask you your name and other personal details.

Best that you lie.

SECOND LAYER

Click Clock Wood (Autumn) by Grant Kirkhope

1:12 / 4:11

▶︎

Click here to listen.

Grant Kirkhope is a Scottish composer and voice actor for video games and film. Some of his notable works include GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, and Perfect Dark, among many others.

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The further in that you head, the darker the forest gets. It seems you are following a downward slope. The trees get bigger here, as do the insects and toadstools. Bioluminescence rules down here it seems. You may encounter stranger creatures here. Ones that will try to make very tempting trades for your personal belongings. Things that will seem like an amazing deal to you. They offer magical items of great power, or even personal effects from home.

Don't be fooled though. These objects are cursed, and are not at all what they seem. You have the distinct feeling of being watched at all times here.

⁂ Possible Encounters: Owlbear, Displacer Beast, Giant Badger

THIRD LAYER

Saint Mocianne's Arboretum (Hard) by Masayoshi Soken

2:50 / 5:10

▶︎

Click here to listen.

...hordes of aggressive plant life exposed to the strange substance stand between you and the information you seek.

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Are you getting smaller or is everything else getting bigger? Were Slayd here, he would have told you about the concept of Deep Forest Gigantism. The deeper you go - just like the ocean - the larger that the flora and fauna get.

You are dwarfed by the mushrooms here in the pitch darkness and only guided by the latent glow of the creatures and fungi that dwell here. Bugs the size of house-cats skitter in your wake. Are you sure you want to be here? Should you encounter anything larger, you’d best stay silent. Or run!

⁂ Possible Encounters: Giant predatory Elk (RUN), Rodents of Unusual Size, Extra Large Bugs

FOURTH LAYER

Poison Tree by Grouper

0:30 / 3:16

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Click here to listen.

'Poison Tree' is a meditation on the complexities of anger and the internal conflict it causes. It draws inspiration from William Blake's poem of the same name.

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The trees seem to clear out here as you reach the bottom of the forest. There is no light here so hope you brought a match. The landscape down here is a blanket of moss dotted with countless shallow pools. Looking into one of these pools, you will see your reflection... though it may look different in some way.

You will feel extremely compelled to reach down and touch the reflection in the water. Should you give in, you feel as though your world is turning upside down. You could receive memories not quite your own. Memories of a different version of you, even! (CRAU, Canon Update, or Canon AU!)

Yet, you will be experiencing them as your own. A long time could pass in your mind while only seconds have only elapsed in reality. Upon waking, you will find that you have been ejected from the party and the forest entirely. You find yourself at the entrance to the crater. Disoriented, and compelled not to re-enter, you have only yourself to blame as you must shamble your way home with this burdensome knowledge.

Notes

⁂ For the game prizes, we're using the honor system here! So long as you clear the roll then you can receive a prize with no mod permission needed.

- Battleship: If you roll a d20 above a 13, you can receive one of the nectar cups.
- Bobbing For Onions: If you roll a d20 above a 10, you can receive one of the bag of onions. En...joy...?

⁂ To sign up for The Crowning of the King of Misrule, comment here! We'll RNG the winner likely within a few days to a week to give folks time to participate if they want!

⁂ The plotting post for this event/November is up!

⁂ Additionally, we have a state of the game post available to people read about updates, clarifications, and a poll to participate in!

⁂ If you have any further questions or feedback about this event specifically, please comment here!

⁂ Full Navigation ⁂

Comments

All cervidae are just fucking deer to him

[sugar_freed]

Oh shit. He's been spotted.

Not 'oh shit' as in feeling guilt or any pressure to actually do anything, mind. 'Oh shit' as in surprise it even happened.

"Eyes on the prize, bro," he says, waving Ardyn on 'supportively' from his place safely above the furious animal. Which is hot on that dude's heels. Damn. Even fuckoff huge deer are fucking fast. He never knew.

But now that he's been spotted, spectating is less appealing.

So, fine. He'll give this a shot. What's the worst he can do? Die?

He wishes.

Even back on Earth C, 'death by furious ungulate' wouldn't have kept him dead. So as the deer rounds the massive trunk of the sprawling tree, tossing its head up and down like it's ready to catch Ardyn's ass with those antlers if it could just get a little closer--

Dirk drops out of the tree. Straight down onto the back of the deer's neck, leading with one foot like a wingless eagle with martial artist ambitions--or maybe a particularly precise anvil from a Looney Tunes bit. The point is: either this deer is about to die, or he is.

That, or this is about to get phenomenally stupider very, very quickly.

cw: gore, unnecessary(?) violence

[fatedfinality]

That's something they'll have to bond over. While Ardyn would usually be of the belief he can't die, well- He's been proven quite wrong here! That will be a fun thing for Dirk to learn too, he's sure. He imagines they're similar at least since the reckless way that he drops down already indicates to Ardyn he's usually 1) quite powerful and 2) not much is likely as powerful as him, if anything is. Certainly not this elk on a normal day, in a normal setting...

Nothing about here is 'normal' though as either of them know it.

The attack strikes true, at least, and the deer cries out in time with a snap of one (or more) of its vertebrae. It isn't enough to unfortunately kill it outright but that's where Ardyn takes his opportunity attack. He pulls a dagger from somewhere - don't worry about where he was hiding it - and snarls as he digs it right between the creatures large eyes. He has enough strength to slice through skin, muscle, and shatter bone to reach the brain of it beneath. It's a bit comical that his entire arm is lodged into the creature's skull with the size of it but it does the job well enough.

He pulls it out with a squelch, arm covered in bits of elk and coated in blood, and wipes his dagger off at least on the waistline of his ridiculous pants. "Thanks for the assist," he says, casually, like they didn't just fucking annihilate this thing. He hopes that won't have any consequence for relations with the Fae. Too late to worry overly much about it now though, he supposes. What's done is done.

[sugar_freed]

Ardyn would be correct, and Dirk is a little annoyed about it. Not that Ardyn can tell he's powerful and godly--or should be. That part is fine, really. It's a reasonable and correct read on him. It's a good first impression to make, and a good conclusion to feel him draw.

It's just that the fact that Ardyn he thinks he knows anything about Dirk at all is irritating in the way saltwater residue is irritating. The sensation of being perceived, of being 'read' clings to him in a way he should have been free of and now is not.

So, while he's not personally spattered by blood and brain matter and conjunctival goo, he feels begrimed anyway. Which is the actual reason behind the face he pulls, watching Ardyn draw a blood-slicked blade out of a deer's forebrain. It's certainly not squeamishness.

"Don't mention it," he mumbles.

The tail end of some embarrassment ghosts the back of his brain. That was pathetic. A pathetic excuse for a response. And a pathetic display of 'strength' before it. Can't even kill a deer. What is even the point of you?

"Seriously. Don't mention it. To anyone."

[fatedfinality]

Another interesting intersection of their personalities. For all he 'reads' Dirk, he'd be just as annoyed to be so quickly and succinctly summarized. The scrunch of his nose and grimace is noted, too, but he doesn't seem especially deterred still. That's interesting in and of itself.

"Don't worry," Ardyn offers, "I wasn't about to." Granted, the idea of telling specifically to make Dirk squirm has its own appeal. That thought is immediately followed by a snap of distaste from within his own mind; it's not his thought, but his dragon's, and he's growing tired of it's incessant 'correcting' his trains of thought to what's 'right' rather than fun. How is that any way to live, honestly?

"Ardyn Izunia, at your service," the redhead continues with and extends his not deer-gore covered hand. "Are you a recent arrival to our strange circumstances?"