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

▶︎

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

▶︎

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

[avanture_time]

Ahahaha, oh, Popp, you have no idea.

"I really wasn't expecting them to act like that! Was it really that impressive?"

[snapp_crackle]

"Yeah, but I bet I could do it now that I've seen you pull it off."

Avan figured it out, which is half of the hard part, and they both have claws. He clicks them together thoughtfully. The other hard part, of course, is being bold enough to think you can measure up to it.

"My face might not get all the swooning yours does, though."

[avanture_time]

"My face?" Avan gawks at Popp and points at his own face as if he had some other face at his disposal he could be talking about instead. "This face?"

He's still got his glasses on, right? They haven't been magicked away without him noticing? Yeah, he can still see the frames in his peripheral vision, dweeb aesthetic is still firmly in place.

[snapp_crackle]

"Yeah, yeah, that exact face! They're bug people, right? Normal butterflies and dragonflies have those huuuuge shiny eyes..."

He chortles again and holds his fingers up in big circles around his eyes, like glasses. It's possible that he's spent some time looking at bugs close up because he's a lazy village boy who likes dozing around in the grass on a nice summer day. It's also possible that he apprenticed under some dweeb who could and would snag a cool dragonfly out of the air to make a point about instincts and reaction time. It is a mystery, who's to say.

[avanture_time]

Dammit, Popp, you got him. He looks stunned for a moment, and then bursts out laughing. "They're not bugs, Popp!"

They're small and have wings, but that's about it!

[snapp_crackle]

Heh he heh, ~got him~!

"They sure were bugging you, though!"

[avanture_time]

Avan snickers and points towards the top of Popp's head.

"By that logic, you must be growing antennae instead of horns!"

[snapp_crackle]

He reflexively touches his horns to make sure they haven't been cursed into antennae before what Avan said actually sinks in.

"Hey!"

[avanture_time]

Avan laughs, bright and clear, and takes a few steps away. If he happens to surreptitiously step on Popp's shadow in the process, then, hey, don't worry about it.

"Have you tried all the games yet?"

[snapp_crackle]

Curses, foiled from escape. It could have run free into the forests where there are so many exciting other shadows to frolic with.

"Not all of them, but I won this!"

Behold! He brandishes a lightly hideous frog shaped cup. It's the second ugliest magical item he has ever owned. The first is hanging up in the dressup tent somewhere.

[avanture_time]

"Oh," is Avan's automatic response as he brings a hand up to his mouth in contemplation, trying to think of something nice to say and coming up blank. "...Did you pick it yourself?"

[snapp_crackle]

Just because it matches his green heavy aesthetic doesn't mean he likes it! If Avan looks closer, he will notice that Popp has shoved a bread roll in the frog because if there is an option to not have it perpetually be filling up with liquid he does not know how to do that.

"No! I've got better taste than this! I thought you'd like it!"

Phrasing-

"It's magic, all right?"

[avanture_time]

Oh, don't get him wrong, if he saw this in a store it would be an instant purchase, but also he would buy it specifically to get reactions out of people. Look at it, it's hideous. Comedy gold.

Sure enough, he grins at Popp's defensive reaction.

"What does it do?"

[snapp_crackle]

"Never runs empty."

He shrugs and hands over the cup so Avan can fiddle with it. He tried some and liked it just fine, but a fairy collision doesn't really leave you with any scrapes to speak of.

[avanture_time]

Avan removes the bread roll so he can take a sip.

"...It's some type of nectar. That's good, we can use this instead of sugar for a lot of things."

Infinite onions, essentially infinite sugar, their kitchen is now truly blessed.

[snapp_crackle]

Ha ha, Avan kissed a frooooog.

"Like cookies?"

He knows if he says anything about baking chemistry like how it's a liquid and not a bunch of grains it will be a stupid question. Avan knows baking. He doesn't ask Crocodine if he knows what he's doing when he's swinging an axe around either.

[avanture_time]

And yet the cup didn't turn into a handsome prince???

Popp's question gets a bemused smile. "Yes, Popp, like cookies. I'll have to adjust my recipe, but it shouldn't be difficult."

[snapp_crackle]

"Let's make it a team effort. I'll taste test."

A selfless offer, befitting a companion to heroes.

[avanture_time]

What would he ever do without you, Popp?

"You mean you'll heat the oven again, riiiiight?"

[snapp_crackle]

Suffocate within a mountain of stress baking, probably.

"Heh heh, I'll even do it with a Sizz this time!"

He's confident that he has the power and focus to hold a heat spell for twenty minutes. He's been practicing and he wants to show off.

[avanture_time]

"Oh, very, very good! If you can pull it off, we can move onto things with longer bake times!"

Not that Avan hasn't been making pies and the like, but he could always be making more???

[snapp_crackle]

He doesn't know what he expected! Any version of Avan expects more and more from him!

...The older one didn't get to see him really unleash all that potential he cultivated, so he feels like he owes it to the younger one to help him with his goals, which is. Making pies. Avan, your priorities.

"Well, there's nothing to fight in the name of justice and friendship way out here, so pies it is!"

[avanture_time]

Look, if Popp doesn't think Avan should prioritize pies then maybe he shouldn't eat the pies???

"Pies it is!" he repeats, grinning broadly.