goodmorrow | Event: It Speaks of My Death, but I Am Unafraid

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Event: It Speaks of My Death, but I Am Unafraid

it speaks of my death,
but i am unafraid

autumn squashed | devotion | clairvoyance | ooc notes

all hallowed plays

Autumn Squashed As the brisk autumn air bites and the sun reigns for less and less time each day, the farmworkers happily begin to share the fruits of their efforts. The group of gourds is bountiful this season, praise be to the Old Ones, and the offerings from the local cooks has adjusted accordingly. Hearty bowls of squash soup abound, creamy and loaded with heavy calories to facilitate hard labor outdoors. All these strapping novitiate lads can surely set their minds to rest and help out more than they have been

The children of the village also appear to be enjoying the season, grabbing the leftover vegetable shells and carving creatures into their skins. The result of their creativity is that the town has started to glow at night, lit by the ethereal radiance of dozens of candles filtered by the grinning shapes just barely shading them. It all seems to normal, as long as you aren't outdoors too late.

Just past midnight, when the moon has reached its height, the carvings seem to find their own cravings. Something about the moonlight seems to resonate with that of the lanterns and prompts them to sprout from the ground on gangly, misshapen bodies of their own. From then until dawn, they wandeer the town like sentries, hissing warnings in the incomprehensible tongue of the Old Ones. They aren't harmful if left unprovoked, but will retaliate if they encounter violence from those prone to beast-slaying. It is advised to stay indoors to avoid becoming gored by a gourd.

if we die tomorrow

Devotion The day of Devotion sends a thrum of excitement around the town every time it happens. It is an honor to be allowed to show the Old Ones that the community accepts and cherishes the watchful eyes looking over them. It is a time to meet with their own wretchedness and come to terms with the insignificance of their lives. This month is intended to be a celebration of longevity and the centuries-long legacy both behind and ahead. Those who attend the Devotion receive an anonymizing mask to shield their identities from all but the eyes above. They are encouraged to ply themselves on food and drink before the start of the ritual itself.

The speeches are long and droning as ever, detailing the infinitesimal smallness of humanity and the thrumming wait for the end of all things. And once the elders begin to chant in more ancient words, the rhythm of the unpronounceable syllables feels safe somehow. There is protection in the ceremony, an assurance that these chosen few are the ones who will live to watch the end of everything else. Those who truly believe will see it in their minds' eye: a rain of fire consuming the home they remember best. Corpses left unburied while the survivors flee. A sky cracking open to reveal an indigo thunderstorm. Skeptics might only witness confusing flashes, but all will bear witness to some version of The End.

When the visions subside, the affected will feel an urge to behave as if the gathering is the last day of their lives. Throw caution to the wind. Live dangerously. Tell that special person they are loved. Carry out the vengeance that weighs on your spirit. It'll all be over soon. Make the evening count.

the future refused to change

Clairvoyance After the masque ends, participants are free to remove their veils and return to their everyday lives. It's something the townsfolk historically do with ease. They never seem to struggle when coming down from the emotional highs of the devotional acts. But the comedown is never quite as simple as they make it look.

Those who were present at Devotion will experience small aftershocks for days afterward. Without warning, they will see visions of doom about the people around them. It might be a simple precognition, like seeing someone fell into an open pit while there's still enough time to pull them out of harm's way. But other times, the visions are more graphic or disturbing, such as watching that same friend be mauled by a bear or stretched out on the rack until they are rent limb from limb. Each look into the future seems more grotesque and awful than the one before, but at least there's time to change things before the worst of it arrives. Surely there's time.

As they drop off clean laundry and fresh gossip, the washerwomen insist that these visions, varied and sometimes entirely untrue, are the latest gift from the Old ones. It is proof that the town remains blessed.

ooc notes

It's an event! Hopefully there's something to your liking.

Regarding the pumpkin monsters in particular, this seems like a group that likes to randomize battles. If you're in the mood to roll for initiative and see how things pan out, here are some stats for appropriate critters: Pumpkin King, Pumpkin Tendril, and some smaller chompy pumpkins.

With regard to the precognition side of things, there's a lot of room for visions. They can be "something that definitely will happen" regardless of what a character tries to change things, "something that could happen but is prevented by a quick-acting psychic," or "something that will never happen but sends a character into a panic anyway." People seeing a doomsday vision at Devotion are welcome to envision the worst possible bad ending their canon has to offer.

Have fun giving your characters a little spook during the appropriate season!

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"I think that it is human nature to want to reach beyond that which is possible, but I honestly do not think that it is just a trait ascribed to human nature." He lifts up a single finger in the consummate sign that Gale was about ready to say some deeply inspirational and/or annoying wizard bullshit. It was fine though if Kaori was in the later, but heartening if she was in the former.

"Many wish for something more out there, or a way to achieve the impossible, honestly being here would be rather a dream if it were not for the fact that there was something at home that was more pressing." he would have enjoyed that yes, to observe this world-- to figure out what made it tick in the most figurative sense.

"Also.. astro.. astronomy. Is an astronaut something that has to do with the stars?"

A wordy bugger too.

"Er... yes, it refers to certain humans that have undergone special training to travel through the stars on spacecraft. It's not something they've perfected, but I think expense is always an issue..."

Admittedly, she hadn't given it too much thought, but the knowledge itself was there, in part because of travel being a specialty of hers and knowing it well as a concept of what some aspired to, even if any personal aspirations she had were muddled at best. As for Gale, he still fell into the category of interesting, even if she could sometimes detect a more superior way of speaking from him.

His speech patterns were something that he had to work on; he was perhaps far more humble than most wizards out there, but much like any wizard he did tend to get lost in the sauce when it came to conjecture. That was years upon years of magical studies and training and also very little in the way of socialization although he was social enough, the need was absolutely there.

What seemed to rise above that slight hit of intellectual snobbery was of course his willingness to listen to other's stories and tales and likewise add it to his own pool of knowledge. He did respect people who had things to say, and he was never resistant to learning something new. "Ah, yes-- there is probably always an expense, but to travel along the stars, now that is very interesting-- I can absolutely see why people would want to travel to try and touch the stars, I think I've had that longing for as long as I can remember."

"Ah, no wonder that caught your attention. I suppose, even if one of your magic books could create that feeling, it wouldn't quite be the same experience."

Which almost reminded her of someone, when considering certain tasks she'd been assigned before. All of the work which had led... nowhere, really, which has her frown briefly before returning to her current focus on her current companion's state. She should probably ask how he's holding up, but she's not too good with that part, instead relying on her observation as they talk.

"Indeed, and intra-planar travel? Well there are extensive studies into the multi-verse, or other branching worlds but I never expected to be drawn into one; it rather makes me a bit sad that I do not have my magic, what I would not give to document the experience or perhaps work some magic theory experiments to ascertain how similar this world is to mine own."

but there was no sense in talking about that, he was attempting to be pragmatic. "I admit though that I am still a bit angry at the end of the world that did not come; I am wondering why the Elders are giving us visions of things that may or may not pass?"

"Other worlds can be very different. A person...or being might try very hard to get somewhere else if they hate where they are, even if it means destruction of that place."

And yet with her own unique position, having been pointed toward causing destruction toward weakening a balance between worlds, seeing it all come to pass felt nauseating for the reminder of the lack of agency. An illusion of one, but definitely a lack. It made clinging to survival feel hollow.

"Right... did experiencing it make you feel anything strange? Maybe they thought it would be good motivation."

"Helplessness."

He'd felt helpless to stop the coming of the end, there was nothing to it but that feeling that one was weak, it was indeed as if it was a lesson in futility to even try. The vision had led him to make a very (what he thought) bad decision, and now there was an air of tension that wrapped up him and Astarion and he did not like it. More than a few arguments as well, as to the validity of whatever end may come.

"As if nothing that I could do could forstall what was to be. Which feels rather converse to what they had preached to us when we first arrived."

"Right... it just takes you for a ride, doesn't it? The feeling that you're going to be used for something no matter what."

Which was a little more candid than she had been hoping to get, but it's been a fairly stressful time. She tends to put off thinking about things for as long as she can, but now he has her started, thinking about the lack of connection to her "home", the oddities of being "here", she's twisting the ends of her hair again, an absent reflex.

"I do not mean to bring up things that are unpleasant, I am just.. well highly annoyed." he had been annoyed throughout the entire sermon, throughout the feast and then these visions and portends. Gale leans there against the well as he peers down into it, he cannot even see the bottom as the water is black to mirror the complete absence of light down below.

"The fact of the matter-- there will be more; they will not stop at visions. And I am sure that it is a process of wearing us down."

"Mm. It is like they're setting the stage for trials of some kind. First saying we're chosen, but wanting to test how long we'll stay that way."

A funny way to earn loyalty, but they probably wanted it from a 'giving in' perspective, if they were starting with things like harrowing prophecies. Her gaze follows his to the well's surface and she frowns again.

"It is annoying, though I'm not certain what to do, aside from maybe considering to not attend their next big party. On the other hand, they might catch on to that. And then what might happen?"

She likes contingency plans, and so far everything just sounds like one big trap, and she hates being made an example of for failure. Then again, if it weren't for the summoning, she isn't too certain how much of her existence is - hers, but that was another buried matter.

"There is strength in numbers.. so perhaps if we do not attend 'together'?"

It was a sound plan, but also it was an experiment of sorts; he was not inclined to believe whatever it was that they were offering and it sounded too much like the Cult of the Absolute for his well-being. One thing to give into the Tadpole's power if it was for a purpose other than mindless indulgence of the old ones, quite another to drink the wine and realize that it was merely sugared fruited water.

"That we can see if we are 'punished' for not attending, and then after we gather up our research, then we plan our next steps." of course he had no idea what would happen, and he was absolutely not going to like what happened, but the surest point to getting there is to well, find out part of the soiree as the case may be.

And then to clarify, "I already do not plan on attending, regardless of your decision or not. But what I am saying is that I will stand in support of whatever decision you make."

"Oh?"

She had been planning on making her own decision either way, but there was a certain gratification in hearing a similar sentiment expressed. If she changed her mind, someone else would still have a comparable result. Mostly, she was hoping the impact of the visions would lessen. As though that were something else keeping them in check.

"That would be good company, and it would be nice to not be alone in that choice, if that's the case."

"There is strength in numbers, there is also the phrase 'a burden shared is a burden halved." Gale was pulling from the infinite score of wisdom inherent in being rather well read, so he would toss out idioms here and there as the case would be. Even if Kaori decided not to go through with it (and honestly, Gale did understand that it was validly within her right to do so) he would at the very least share his results with her.

After all, the results would be interesting either way. He would not blame her either if she did, but he was rather sick and tired of being used and he wanted to test that chain that bound them to this plane. At the very least, he would come away with a better understanding of the layers that surrounded this place mired in superstition and fear.

It was a statement with an amount of heaviness in the meaning, not too dissimilar from what she would hear from her boss to get her to work better in tandem to her partner. Absently, she twists at her hair.

There was the latent fear of course, that something might go terribly wrong no matter the decision, with what she'd experienced and with what haunts her now. Hard not to be cautious, trust was hard, but at the same time, a sense of security would be nice.

"Oh? Are you speaking as a leader?"

"I am no leader, Kaori. Back home, there was someone who perhaps qualified as such, someone by the name of Tav. They managed to keep the lot of us from harming ourselves or each other. I am speaking as someone who is just as lost here in this place as you are."

Gale could make decisions for a vast number of people-- but he'd rather not.

"Oh?"

She wasn't too familiar with how other groups tended to organize themselves, given her own circumstances. Of course, she wasn't looking too much toward him with that expectation, but there was a bit of direction lacking in a place like this.

"I'm sorry, you just seemed to have that quality. I saw how you took charge at the house, after all."

"I am just doing what needs to be done, nothing more and nothing less."

Gale said with a chuckle and then a shrug; it was true that he did organize meals and make sure the place was clean (though he did have Kaori's help) but he did not do it alone and he was far more comfortable being sort of co-leader moreso than anything else. And for the most part, they were left alone when it came to the whole worshipping of the Elder gods.

The shoe was bound to drop one day or another, he was just waiting for it to do so. "I would hope that anyone would do that."

"Ah, maybe, maybe not~ there are many kinds of people, after all."

And not many that were as easy to talk to as Gale was, which also had the downsides of the concern she was becoming too comfortable talking to him, as if that might be risk for some kind of betrayal down the line. Right now there's much in common to keep some of it at bay - being trapped in this strange place and not wanting to fall for the immediate traps of their benefactors, for starters.

"But if you won't be called leader, then what would be best to consider it as, Mister Gale?"

Co-conspirator? Compatriots?

[ Equals, while there were people who possessed leadership and he could in a pinch; he never wanted to be a leader in a way that alienated others. There was much that could be said about where they were and the potential for things going south, but for right now at least, he wanted to be on even footing with Kaori. ]

What will be will be and at the very least, no matter what happens-- we'll be able to convene and share our findings either way.

"I see, I see. Well, I have no complaints with that."

Mostly, it was nice to have some appreciable direction; maybe it was something about his nurturing nature that spoke to her lack of it, especially with so little grounding here. Speaking of grounding, that did remind her more of what had brought them to the well in the first place. Best not to linger too long, with plans like these.

"Are you feeling more able to continue on our way to our cottage?"

"I am.." He reached for his makeshift staff and then he started to push himself off the well. "Much more invigorated, sometimes one needs a bit of water to see things clearly, though it is probably best to get back home erstwhile another episode occurs.. either of us." and of course there was chagrin all the way around.

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Event: It Speaks of My Death, but I Am Unafraid

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Thank you for your patience!

<3!

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