abraxaslogs | EVENT #22: KHION

Event 22 - Khion

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( it doesn't work. though her pointed look falls, it turns a more to a look of disappointment, not in the fact that he's lying to her but that he hasn't been honest with his brother )

How is Samuel supposed to be forewarned about this place if he isn't told about what it may do?

( rather than specifically telling him off (she's gotten to know him over the years, she doesn't want to make him defensive) she's trying to make him think about the situation from another point of view. even if it's perhaps the slightest bit manipulated )

He can be told about being given magic or who is here but... would he know that there is more than magic? How you've been affected?

( you showed her, dean, she feels like samuel would be easier )

( If he had a dollar for every time he's ever disappointed someone by not being honest with Sam, he'd have enough to retire on that little island where all those cultists did those hallucinogenic spores. )

Hey, I've told him stuff!

( He returns, holding out a placating hand, the entire thing maybe just a touch too defensive and slightly higher in pitch than his Honest Voice is. )

He knows the Singularity screws with people, he knows about the magic and the gifts and stuff. He just doesn't know my whole- deal. Yet. It's a lot for him to process, okay, there's- there's- there's a lot to unpack. He doesn't need all of it thrown at him in the first month.

( she waits for him to finish and settles with a look that very clearly just says dean. that tone is far too telling which only makes hers a little softer in return )

You showed me. And Samuel does need to know, an adjustment period won't be the best thing for this.

( she trusts samuel, trusts him to respond well to whatever dean may throw at him, though she trusts that will go better if dean hadn't hidden it for months first.

which is where she assumes it's fear on dean's part, a discomfort in having to admit it. he'd told her though it hadn't been easily and samuel is a very different thing )

He'll still be your brother. He won't step away from you because of this.

( she's seen so much of them, lies, things uncovered later, terrible situations and their bond had survived it all )

( It only takes that one singular look to deflate him — his shoulders slump, and all sense of bullshit fades out of his posture. It's actually kind of impressive, the shift. The way he goes from fully aloof and feigning ignorance to absolute resignation, belying just exactly how deeply he's been thinking on this, and just how on the money she is.

And also... perhaps tipping his hand on what a good actor he is, and how hardcore he represses his true feelings beneath the front he slaps on top of it all. This isn't something he reveals to many people. Sam, for sure. Castiel, absolutely. Jo... somewhat, more recently, right toward the end. Geralt, maybe moreso than anybody else because he has no prior history or strings attached. And now her. It's a level of vulnerable he doesn't usually choose to be with people. )

Look, it's- complicated, okay? The way our dad raised us... it wasn't exactly- kosher with the concept of things being anything other than factory-default human. If he could see me now...

( He'd hunt me. He wouldn't call me his son anymore. He'd think I was a monster. He would be disappointed in me. He'd kill me.

Sam was raised by the same man. )

I know the feeling of being on the end of that.

( it may not have been from her parents, though if rowena thought about it she'd doubt they'd have supported her choices, but from society at large. she knows what fear does to people, how unkind they can be and how it made you feel in return. so maybe rowena understands some of dean's hesitation even if she's trying to see the other side of it )

You may have been raised by the same man but I doubt Samuel would show you that same belief.

( and this part is coming from personal experience: dean had always been quick to point a gun at her in the beginning, samuel had spoken with her, listened, shown her a kindness she wouldn't have believed from a hunter and that had been before any friendship, before she'd shared any fears with him. he'd seen through her, seen something that she didn't wish to admit existed )

And I'd possibly say that this isn't the worst thing that has happened to you in your long years of hunting. Trust him, Dean. Let him know.

( I know the feeling of being on the end of that. He says nothing, but there's a gentle wince in his features, just for a moment. He knows the role he played in all that, the role he's played in the lives of a lot of things he had narrow opinions on. He's gotten better over time, for the most part, but... he really was his father's son for longer than he cares to think about. He won't apologize here, now — it'd be a stupid and pointless platitude, it won't change anything, but...

He knows. He's not proud.

He does almost let slip: you might be surprised. Of the two of them, though Dean's always been far more dutiful to John, Sam's always been far more like him fundamentally, and the way he got along with Benny...

But still. She's right. He's not just some random vamp that caught a lucky break out of Purgatory. Sam's not gonna cut him out of the will or anything. The real problem is that the thought of talking to Sam about it makes him look at himself through a lens he used to force himself to wear, it takes him back to being the guy who lived and died for even one iota of his father's approval, his company, his attention, his time. Telling Sam is like telling John through an echo and knowing he deserves better than the consequences but not feeling like he deserves better than the consequences.

There's a lot wrapped up in this that he couldn't articulate even if he went to six months of group therapy and started a Feelings Journal.

Ironically, the answer is to do something else John baked into him: just man up about it. Take responsibility, take accountability, and just do what needs to be done. So he sighs, and he nods — more earnest, this time. )

I will. I'll tell him.

EVENT #22: KHION - IC LOG

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