EVENT #22: KHION - IC LOG

[abraxasmods]

Event 22 - Khion

OOC Event Log ⦁ The Nether

Despite the unsettling tremors from the previous month, the citizens of Abraxas are determined to enjoy their winter festivities. For you, the collective wintertide celebrations - The Dimming, The Festival of Enlightenment, and the Winter Solstice - have often been held in your home territories or Nocwich.

This year brings a change. You'll receive a personal letter from the Nether, signed by Aster, the Guardian themselves. Whether you were there to aid the Nether or not last autumn, the letter thanks you nonetheless for your assistance and informs you that much has changed in their lands...for the better. Indeed, so much so that the Draconae wish to invite you back so you can see for yourself the positive impact you've had.

Their gates will open DECEMBER 16 and close on DECEMBER 20. Because the Draconae do not possess magic as powerful as other races in Abraxas, they kindly ask that you stay for the week since they cannot maintain a persistent portal.

The major plot occurrence will occur at the end. The fallout of this incident will carry over into January.

Above and Below

Previously, only the Obsidian Heart - the volcanic city - was accessible as the area above was far too cold and desolate. Now, with the adult dragons having returned to their full strength and their hatchlings growing by the day, the Draconae have begun to reclaim their territory beyond the volcano.

You'll be able to explore areas within the Heart, but you'll find most of the festivities above-ground. The Draconae are a fun-loving people and they're quite fond of the Summoned after all the help you've given them. They also understand that tensions between the major territories have been high as of late...and would like to grant you some reprieve from a war many of you didn't ask to be a part of.

Accommodations

This time, guests will stay in stone huts built from the Nether's volcanic stone. The stones preserve an unusual amount of heat, meaning the huts are very warm. Bedding is comfortable, if simple, with room to store your belongings. The Draconae believe strongly in mutual respect, so the doors contain no locks. Your safety is assured, but if you're nervous, you can ask for a guard to watch you at night.

If you don't do well in the cold, the Draconae will offer you warming potions and thick furs. Curiously, the furs closely resemble what the werewolves in Luna wear, suggesting that the Nether and Nocwich have resumed more active trading in recent months.

◎ A larger community hut is in the center of the small village that's slowly being built. The dining area consists of open-fire grills, pots, and raw ingredients - including spices and fiery hot peppers. As great believers in self-sufficiency, the Draconae will leave you to make meals to your taste and liking.

◎ You can hunt and fish your meat, as well. There are numerous spots for ice fishing. Since the natural world is steadily being restored, game and fish found are of the common variety like deer, bison, and trout, as opposed to the stranger creatures that were found inside the Obsidian Heart's lava pools. Feel free to share your catch with your friends or offer to cook for the culinarily challenged.

◎ Hot springs can be found to the north. You'll have to hike to reach the area but it's a lovely walk. The waters themselves are crystal clear. At night, they glow with hundreds of tiny unknown creatures. These creatures are believed to be the result of the previously sickly hatchling, Anthusa, who creates bioluminescent algae. Now that Anthusa is much healthier, it can be spotted playing in the hot springs and lakes.

◎ Large fuzzy rodents the size of a small cat will occasionally invade your sleeping quarters or eating areas. They're easily chased off but they can be a huge nuisance by stealing your food and chewing holes in your blankets. You're warned only to chase them off not injure them. Unfortunately, their blood is quite corrosive and can cause a harsh burn to the skin. While the burns will heal up in a few days, it's best to avoid the situation altogether.

Sights & Activities

Opal Flats

The Opal Flats are natural wonders that have recently come into being with the dragons' increasing strength. The pearlescent icy surface glows at night which makes it the perfect place for ice skating after sunset. You can borrow a pair of ice skates and join the Draconae on the ice.

◎ When you're done with the ice, you can join one of the tents nearby that are hosting spiced cider workshops. Here, you can make your own spiced cider blend. Flavors include clove, cinnamon, and berries unique to the Nether. You can test infusing your blend into small cups of cider until you're happy with the results. Your final personalized blend will then be packaged into a jar and tied off with a ribbon. Enjoy it yourself or give it to someone special!

◎ Keep an eye out! The young dragons are troublemakers and will sneak into the workshops to steal cinnamon sticks, drink from the steaming cider pots, and knock down hanging decorations. You can help rehang decorations or remove the dragons from spaces they shouldn't be in...though they'll soon find their way back again. The Draconae seem exasperated but tolerant of the hatchlings so you shouldn't worry too much about the mild chaos. It's to be expected.

◎ Once more, Khloris is the biggest menace and it's grown larger since. While Khloris has learned to better control its powers, it's still prone to causing flowers to sprout in your hair should you come into contact with too much of its pollen. Fortunately, the effect is temporary - just a few hours.

Dusk Falls

Each day, starting at dawn, two Draconae guides will lead a hike up the mountains. Make sure you bring your hiking boots! The slopes are frosty and can be dangerous but they'll keep you safe as much as possible. Otherwise, it's a lovely trip and takes about two hours to reach the top. You'll encounter a beautiful view, fresh mountain air, and a cavern at the peak where you can go inside and look at some frozen waterfalls.

◎ Unusual ice-like spiders infest some portions of the cave. While they're quite big (about the size of a wolf spider), they're harmless and seldom bite. On the occasions that they do, the bite is easily treated with a bandage and a few days to heal. However, they do have a bad habit of dropping down from the ceiling onto the heads of passersby wandering through the caves. The experience can be startling if you're not expecting it.

◎ Once you've all finished enjoying the sights, you can return to the bottom. Luckily, you won't have to climb down. Instead, the group will get to ride one of the two adult dragons in the Nether: Hierus, the Obsidian Drake, and Kruos, the Glass Serpent. They'll bring all of you safely back to the base of the mountain.

Cinder's Core

Walking through the Ashlands no longer requires any special potion. The air is now clear. Cinder's Core lies at the southern end. Previous visitors will recall that it was full of petrified trees and fossilized bone. The detritus of a fallen ecosystem remains, but alongside it is new growth of flourishing green thanks to the young dragon Okenus. This includes the trees growing the unique kydros fruit.

◎ You can help harvest the kydros fruit to contribute to the feast above the surface. Now that they're growing freely again, the Draconae are no longer reserving them for the potions and have reintroduced the fruit into their regular dishes! Mildly sweet with a hint of citrus, it tastes somewhat like a pomelo.

◎ Be careful when harvesting or traversing the area! While the jungle is starting to recover, it's still a jungle full of tripping hazards, slippery vines, and high cliffs - some of which now have refreshing waterfalls. There might also be a hidden snake or aggressive birds. These creatures aren't dangerous to any real degree, but if they bite or peck, it'll leave a mark!

Mysterious Gifts

While the Draconae participate in traditional gift-giving, this occurs only between the closest of mates and friends. More common is an activity they call Krypto's Box. Krypto's Box is a massive jar in the middle of town with a hole carved out at the bottom to function as a sort of dispenser. Filling the jar are hundreds of vials containing a mystery potion. Each year, the batch of potions is blessed by magic from the young dragons of the Nether. In other words - these mischievous creatures have influenced the potions' effects.

You can take a potion and gift it to someone. Neither of you will know what the effects are until the recipient opens it, but you can trust it'll be something mild, temporary, and amusing. During Khion, it's not unusual to see the Draconae wandering around covered in glitter, swirls of flowers, or hovering 2 feet above the ground. Accepting a mystery potion is part of the fun. The local Draconae will gift you some alongside your Summoned friends!

If your character has received a potion - whether from a Draconum or another Summoned - comment HERE to see what effect they'll receive. If you don't like the effect, simply disregard your character having received a potion to begin with.

Making Friends (NPCs)

The occasion is less formal this time, so Anneth and Aster will each be available for you to meet regardless of your status. There's also one surprise guest that some of you might recognize from last year's Epulum event in Ikorr: Babis, the cheerful Draconum who was merely looking for a good time and found himself embroiled in a mysterious theft.

Descriptions about the three NPCs and where they can be found will be in their character comments below. Depending on who you talk to, you can learn a little more about neighboring Endsmuth, the dragons, and relations with Nocwich. The meetings might not last very long, but you'll be able to get in one or two questions!

Characters of any rank can speak with one of the three NPCs available.

To do so, TAG IN with your character under the NPC you want to meet.

Renewal

The Nether's limited magic means that they seldom feel the effects of the Dimming. However, even the Draconae begin to notice something is wrong as the final day draws near wherein the Singularity should go completely dark, falling into its usual state of hibernation. The dragons, in particular, are disturbed and have communicated as such to both Anneth and Ermis, the Keeper.

Before anyone can determine what's truly happening, a massive quake strikes all of Abraxas. As far away from the epicenter as the Nether is, even they feel the effects, a tremor that knocks over decorations and cracks foundations.

For any who are near the cliffs overlooking the ocean below, they can observe a giant tidal wave that consumes the island where some of you recall being held captive on.

Portals Awry

Naturally, you want to return home after such an unexpected event. The Draconae hurriedly open the portals to your individual territories and assure you they will assist in any way possible, though they are equally unsure of what's just happened.

Stepping through the portal, you expect to pass through and face the familiar sights and sounds where you reside. For a small handful of you, that may be exactly so. For many others, however, you'll find yourself in a completely unexpected place.

Indeed, it seems that whatever force has caused the quake has also disrupted the Singularity's no longer waning magic, corrupting the portal magic and sending you into an opposing territory. In a time of war, this could be disastrous for all involved...and it's clear from the locals who greet you on the other side that they are as baffled as you.

Players can choose to mix things up and send their characters to a new territory for the duration of January. Since this will be temporary, feel free to separate close CR or put your character somewhere they won't enjoy. It won't last long!

Characters will not be placed under any restrictions for accidentally landing in a strange place. They will, for the time being, be treated as guests while officials determine what to do next.

The Wrap-Up will detail how characters' experiences will go once they are in their new territory.

---

Comments

[godshattering]

What do you mean?

[ He's been caught! Claude knows this - Steve certainly knows it - and yet here he is, just going to act like he has No Clue what his friend means or like that's not the exact thing he was (barely) hinting around. If it can even be called a hint; Claude's going to pretend it was.

The completely absolutely and never anything but look of total innocence he gives Steve just to play up that immediate response lasts for all of a couple of seconds. Tempting as it is to continue spinning that out just to see what Steve would do if he did, it's far more so to compare vials now that they've got the chance.

Claude holds his own up next in the same light as his friend's for a closer look. While Steve's is a color that reminds him of a night sky, it turns out his own isn't the same as he'd thought at first glance. While it shares the same dark palette, his own is filled with a curious green shimmer he hadn't noticed until now. ]

Huh, they're definitely different after all. Have you seen anyone else walking around with either one?

[assembles]

[ Putting on that innocent face and playing dumb does actually remind Steve of Hilda for a moment, and he's struck by how these two really are like peas in a pod, though they use their powers in different ways. For Claude, it was usually for some kind of harmless prank (or not-so-harmless, depending on who the target was). With Hilda, it almost always went hand-in-hand with her trying to get out of something she didn't want to do.

Either way, Steve can see why the two are so close.

Now that they're both studying the vials, though, Steve can see that they're slightly different. Whether that means anything, he has no idea, and he shakes his head at Claude's question. ]

Can't say I was paying that close attention. [ Because he had zero intention of drinking one, but now here they are. He gets the feeling that Claude isn't going to let this go. ]

It seems like the effects are pretty harmless, though. [ He raises an eyebrow, his mouth shifting into a crooked smile. ] So if you're that curious, why not put your money where your mouth is?

[ If Claude drinks his, Steve will follow suit. That's his best offer. ]

[godshattering]

[ Well - there goes any chance of finding out any hints about the potions considering Claude also hadn't been totally paying attention either. To the literal potions, that is, since the effects themselves were noted plenty from others around and now are just a mystery about the ones in their actual possession.

Turning it over and over in his fingertips isn't revealing anything; the next step is probably to uncap and sniff it to see what it reveals. Of course, there's absolutely one way they could find out much faster. Steve's hit upon it in no time at all and Claude immediately grins right back at that smile sent his way. ]

Oh, I dunno. We could always make some guesses of what might happen first just to make the reveal more interesting. Any thoughts?

[ As if this isn't enough of a gamble already even with the absolutely harmless effects. Another thing Claude knows and he's fully expecting Steve to raise an eyebrow over this too (a well deserved one, at that) since there's another plan also in mind and one which doesn't involve him alone. One which might take some added stalling which is what this is with the bonus of it being a little delightful to tease a close friend.

Meanwhile, there's a familiar shade of pink Claude can spot nearby in the corner of his vision and getting closer all the while. Now all he has to do is delay Steve a bit longer. ]

[assembles]

[ The stalling tactic is pretty obvious as being just that, but Steve hasn't quite figured out the why of it. No, he just assumes that Claude is looking for any way to get Steve to be the one who drinks first, but that isn't going to happen.

Honestly, it reminds him a little of some silly contest he and Bucky would have gotten into when they were younger, and maybe that's why he's willing to just go along with it. ]

Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the dark color was meant to be misleading. So maybe it'll make one of us glow?

[ He'd seen Istredd earlier glowing a bright purple, for instance. That was the sort of slightly annoying but ultimately harmless thing that these seemed to be designed to do.

He does raise an eyebrow, as predicted, waiting for Claude's guess. ]

[godshattering]

Hey, that's not a bad guess. I could see one of the dragons going for something like the potion looks like the night sky so then you get to shimmer like it or glow like the moon, or whatever they might've had in mind as a prank.

[ Probably nothing that deep since this seems a lot more like the mischief he used to get up to himself at the academy - without any dragon's influence and simply the opportunity to try out things on people who didn't know him. Claude's attempting to look serious (or just like the suggestion of wanting to be is somewhere on his face) but that eyebrow raise of Steve's gets one corner of his mouth to twitch in amusement which isn't at all disguised. ]

It's probably a good thing we didn't bring our wyvern here since I don't want to know what he'd come up with. [ On second thought - that's another good path of thinking to go down to stall, isn't it? Here's feigning a bit of thinking. ] If I had to guess, he'd pick something less on the effects side of thing and more like... whoever drinks one of the potions will never get tired of throwing his favorite toy to fetch or will always give him endless snacks. That sort of thing.

[ He's really stretching the believable limits of stalling here while looking totally at ease, though Claude wouldn't be too surprised if Steve suggests they just drink the potions instead. Fortunately for Claude (and unfortunately for Steve having had to listen), the chattering on has worked out well in terms of timing. Hilda's close enough now that it'll just be a couple more steps until she'll be here if she doesn't speak up first.

[assembles]

[ It's true that they need to think like the young dragons of this place if they really want to guess at what the potions might do, and Claude probably has a better chance of being correct with that, given how his own mind works. Steve isn't usually the pranking type, nonsense that he got up to with the Howling Commandos aside.

(That had been a lifetime ago, and Bucky was responsible for most of it. Steve will stand by that until his dying day.)

Then Claude moves on to talk about his own pet dragon (a wyvern is a type of dragon, right?), and Steve can't help but be endeared. He remembers when Claude, Sylvain, and Hilda first ended up saddled with the wyvern, and it's good to hear that the little guy is still doing well. He can't help the brief chuckle at Claude's musing. ]

That'd be pretty self-serving, but also pretty clever. I should make a trip over sometime to see how he's been doing, it's been a while.

[ Honestly, the fact that their chat has turned more conversational is unfortunately what causes Steve to let his guard down, the potions more of a distant thought (though he still has no intention of drinking first). He's not at all prepared for what Claude and Hilda have cooked up for him, and is little more than a sitting duck. ]

[theidlemaiden]

[ And of course it is in Hilda's nature to simply appear fashionably late. Did she get sidetracked from the task at hand? Had this thread simply SLIPPED THE WRITER'S MIND? Yes. No. Don't be silly.

She was simply biding her time, ensuring that Claude and Steve got plenty of conversation in that would ease the latter into a false sense of security. Despite how often she'll (affectionately) accuse Steve for being stuffy, no fun, and old he is sharp making pranking him decidedly more difficult than either she or Claude would like.

Every attempt had been foiled thus far but now. Now is surely their time to shine. Sure, could Steve make a broad sweeping guess that Hilda had done far more research than she had ever done for a paper during her time at the Academy just to ensure that this potion that she holds in her hands will successfully bleach a man's eyebrows. But he wouldn't have proof. Hence the beauty of this (hopefully) coming full circle.

Hilda breezes in just as Steve completes his musings poking him in the side with a little pout formed on her lips before sliding up beside Claude. ]

Oooor you could come and visit us every once in a while. Not every visit to our door has to be dragging me out to go running or training you know. Claude was saying just how much he missed the days when he didn't wake up to me crying as you hauled me away over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

[ And because Steve got a poke in the side it's only right Claude gets an elbow to the side. ]

Isn't that right?

[assembles]

[ Steve isn't expecting Hilda's sudden appearance, but he also isn't all that surprised that she's decided to come over if she happened to be passing by and saw the two of them. While her intro comes with yet another complaint about his training regimen, Steve will admit that she has a point. He should make more of an effort to visit the three of them (and their pet wyvern) at their place, rather than just dragging Hilda off.

But of course, she has to make it sound far more dramatic than it really is. He can't remember the last time he hauled her off like that. For better or worse, she's gotten used to the routine.

Though Steve is curious to see what Claude says about Hilda's comment, and shoots him a glance with a raised eyebrow. ]

Well?

[ (For now, he remains oblivious to any prank that's potentially unfolding beneath the surface.) ]

[godshattering]

Absolutely not. Those are my most favorite mornings of all.

[ That's fired right back with hardly a single pause after Hilda asks for confirmation even with the overly dramatic oof immediately preceding it thanks to the familiar elbow in his side. More for it being an expected response after many years of nudging each other back and forth and absolutely not in any discomfort, perhaps furthered evidenced by the quick grin he flashes to Hilda before wrapping an arm around her waist. ]

Takes me right back to the academy, really, except I think Steve falls for it a little less than Teach ever did.

[ Also an exaggeration - mostly - and something that'll surely convince Steve to stop by more often. Something for the future, however, since now Claude turns to Hilda with an eyebrow raised. Right back to mischief it is. ]

Steve and I were about to try some of the potions being handed out, but we were working on some guesses for what they might do first. Want in on it?

[ Complete with holding up said bottle of potion in his other hand to tilt it back and forth between his fingertips. Just for emphasis and not at all what might be about to happen, of course. ]