Event Log: October, The Price of Revolution p2

[faileas]

Event Log: October, The Price of Revolution p2

Imperfect Solutions With all the crystallized energy harvested by the volunteer dreamwalkers in the nightmarescape gathered and counted and found to be just enough, Aefenglom's Coven turns to putting it to use. It takes three full days, until the 1st of Octeuril, to purify and prepare the black glass-like orbs, even with most of Aefenglom's skilled Witches on the case. Learning the purifying process is open to Mirrorbound Witches as well, since even their own needed to be taught - the magic that allowed this energy to be brought into the waking realm is a type of spell not seen in many decades, and will likely not be seen for many more. Purified, the crystals turn clear and iridescent, exuding power, and each one is imbued with instruction by Miss Nessie and her inner circle. From there, they're taken to Dorchacht along with volunteers - Monster and Witch alike - who wish to help with the waking process. It's simple from there: each small crystal is laid over the heart of a sleeping citizen, and within the span of half an hour, they wake, confused and disoriented. They need filling in on what happened, and the comfort of friendly faces, because they will be angry about what happened, or scared, and may accidentally lash out before they come around fully. With the Three woken as well, and a little problem like Morgana lingering like a storm cloud, the talks begin on how to proceed, but it becomes apparent that they cannot agree on what to do. Aefenglom's Coven under Miss Nessie want to strip her of her magic and imprison her indefinitely in order to draw information from her, while Dorchacht's Coven, furious about how they were attacked, simply want her head. Finally it comes down to who will have the strength and numbers to reach her and take her down. Whichever Coven arrives first, with Mirrorbound assistance, will be the ones to decide. Neither are terribly happy with the disagreement, and Mirrorbound may see relations between ally Covens a bit tense in the coming weeks. Both parties will set out on the 11th, after regaining their strength, and set a course through Dorchacht's largely-unexplored Wilde.

I. The Trees Have Eyes Far past the borders of the Wilde that Dorchacht's explorers have mapped and begun to reclaim, the landscape twists overgrown and sprawling. As you delve into the birch forest the sky overhead grows dark and gray, with little sunlight filtering through the thick mist even at midday, letting you know you're on the right path. Monsters with night vision have a distinct advantage here, and others may find themselves stumbling over uneven, treacherous ground in the dark - roots that weren't there a blink of the eyes ago, sharp stones buried under the carpet of dead leaves, sharp branches that almost seem to reach out for them, aiming to cut and scrape and spread their Cwyld infection. Taking a lantern or learning a light spell is highly recommended to help you avoid the natural dangers. Of course, some of the dangers are unnatural as well. In the dark, tendrils of fog curling over the thick carpet of dead leaves and brush, the birch trees stretch toward the sky like pale, jagged fingers all around you, all their trunks littered with strangely shaped knots in the bark. You might feel as though the eye-like knots on the trees are following you, blinking and shifting, tracking your movements; many of them are, and it isn't hard to figure out who is keeping eyes on you as you get closer to her stronghold. If you want to maintain some element of surprise, the trees must be blinded. These eyes can be damaged physically or blanketed with spells. They weep blood down the white bark when cut into, which may be unnerving, but it's better to continue on without surveillance if you can. She knows you're coming, regardless, but she may not know what you're capable of.

II. A Maze of Thorns The Forest of Eyes gives way to rocky ground and thorny bushes rising into the darkened sky. Up here, it's not quite mountainous, but it's more difficult to traverse than any explored ground closer to Aefenglom. It becomes a significant hike to keep going and once again, Monsters are likely to have the advantage, especially those with adaptations that fit the climate. Off in the distance, far uphill, a grand, dark manor comes into view, looming oppressive over the land much like its owner. It's out of place in this swath of Wilde, unmistakable - it could not have truly been raised without notice, and so is most likely an elaborate illusion. This can be confirmed by your Fae brethren, or Witches who specialize in illusion magic: they see twisted trees with screaming maws set into their trunks and bleeding eyes, huge stones engraved with runes of power and covered in blackened, Cwyld-infested lichen, and the thick webs of massive spiders draping the branches like tatters of silk. Dorchacht's Witches confirm the particular stench of Morgana's magic, an elegant black mist that may smell a little like sweet rot to those who are sensitive to such things. You know she's there. But you have to get there first. A true, labyrinthine maze of thorny brambles stretches out between the illusory manor and you, filled with magical obstacles meant to slow progress and confound. Puzzles, minor curses and enchantments, and enchanted barriers requiring the blood of particular types of Monsters combined with a Witch's magic litter the way, ensuring you will need to work together - and work against the blanket curse that covers these grounds. a. To Those Unbonded, We Salute You As you traverse the maze, hopefully dispelling obstacles and leaving markers to help your fellows behind you find their way, it becomes clear that not all is well with some of your traveling party. A sense of heaviness in the limbs and a fog over the mind sets in when you enter the maze, and grows stronger and harder to ignore the deeper you go, the closer you get to Morgana's domain. It's a feeling that can be brushed off by holding fast to your Bonded - not necessarily physically, although contact helps, but emotionally, mentally, feeling out that connection between you and drawing strength from it. The stronger your Bonds, the easier a time you will have fighting off the curse laid over the land. Without a Bond, the sluggish feeling will persist, and it cannot be shaken off by even the strongest of wills. Maybe you can keep going, but your progress will be slow, and you'll find yourself weakened, your magic fizzling or your rational mind slipping away in fits and starts. Each step forward will be a torment until it grows physically painful, your lungs too heavy to expand and contract. Dorchacht's Coven believe Bonds are important, however, and most carry temporary Bonding potions with them in their emergency supplies. You'd best hope someone is willing to Bond with you, even for a little while, because it's the only way forward. b. False Moons As you progress, the dark clouds in the sky part, revealing a new trial to pass. Whereas before in Dorchacht, Morgana's thick fog suppressed the glow of the Sisters in the sky, now she has recreated them in shades of red, hanging low in the darkened sky - false moons, huge and glowing, their effects stronger than the natural lunar cycle ever could be. The tug on the mind and body feels just as unnatural as it is, profoundly different from the Sisters themselves. Monsters will feel the sharp yank toward ferality crawling in their every thought, heightening their more animalistic instincts and traits. Some may even slip into their full moon forms unbidden. Witches will feel their magic increasing, but to dangerous levels, until it's difficult to control and easy to go haywire. Losing yourself is inevitable if you slip even a little. Emotions go off the rails. Your fear, your hatred, your anger or your sense of righteous justice - they become gripping, impossible to ignore under the soft red light of Morgana's false moons. It's easy to see it in the Witches and Monsters from Dorchacht and Aefenglom both, who often start to bicker with each other and turn on one another. Can you keep the peace, or do you join in, turning on your companions in your red haze? Or maybe your better nature wins out - but even that can be used against you. Your love, your protectiveness, your loyalty, those too are enhanced to extremes with the intent to debilitate. The fake moons are easier to stave off with a Bond to turn to, someone to support and stabilize, to help you see through the curse that blankets the maze, but everyone will feel it stronger and stronger as they grow closer to their goal.

III. Black Magic Woman The maze of thorns emerges to hilly ground set with twisted trees and shards of stone jutting from the dead grass, many of them long ago engraved with runes and spellwork, now splashed with rusty, dried blood. The Cwyld is not present in this clearing, where the illusory manor sits atop the highest hill, but Morgana Drummond is probably more dangerous right now. She exudes power, and it's clear that a fight is imminent. The followers she has left are not present, nor are any of her mind-controlled thralls from the attack on Dorchacht - she stands at the top of the hill alone, the wind whipping at her skirts. Her voice rings out loud even though she doesn't seem to yell or project at all. "Mirrorbound, always poking your noses into the business of those who live here. Always so certain that you are right and just. What gives you strangers to this continent the right to decide what the way of our world should be?" Her piece is said. She's not much of a talker, but her eyes tell tales of contempt and disgust for the mixed Covens, the Mirrorbound working together, Witches and Monsters standing as equals. That contempt practically flows off her like water, tendrils of black that seep into the ground until it rumbles beneath your feet. a. The Clay Men Those erratic shards of rock jutting out of the ground start to shake before your eyes, reforming, rolling together with mud and stones and thick, heavy magic into vaguely humanoid creatures several feet tall, their "eyes" glowing as Drummond gives them life. Her clay men are sturdy creatures entirely bent to her will, the dead land given animation and strength and killing intent. They have multiple weak points, places the materials don't hold together as strongly, that can be used to dismantle them. They don't seem to reform after they've been defeated, but there are so many of them that they just keep coming. And worse, their stony, lumbering limbs that hit and kick are not the only weapons in their arsenal. Each clay man has an element, denoted by the glow of their "eyes": fire, ice, earth, water, lightning, some can even pull on two or more of these elements at once to make them difficult to take down. Somehow, these clay men have a way of using your own natural elemental weaknesses, whatever they may be, against you. A two-pronged approach is probably best: one person to counter the elemental attacks while the other attacks the weak points. The clay men will defend Morgana to the end, spreading out to push you farther from her, but you and yours have plenty of tricks up your sleeves, right? b. Sowing Division It should come as no surprise that mere clay men are not the only trick Morgana has to defend herself with. Her empire was built on mind control magic, and it comes as naturally to her as breathing. The blood-splashed rocks that litter the clearing like jagged teeth pulse whenever you get close to them, and tendrils of her control reach out for your mind. Her whispers are insidious, her commands clear: kill your fellows, your friends, your Bonded. It can be fought off, but not easily, and not without help. Your friends will have to bring you back to your senses, remind you of what's real. In the midst of the battle, with Mirrorbound and natives working together, a path is cleared for The Dragon, representative of Dorchacht's Coven. They get to Morgana before anyone else can, and she closes them off within a dark mist barrier to keep others from interfering. It enrages Morgana like nothing else, that her runes carved into the Dragon's body have healed, that her magic has no sway on their mind any longer. These two have a long and personal history, and the conflict between them ends here in blood. Morgana's throat sprays the dead ground as The Dragon's claws draw across it. They take her head off her shoulders, retribution for untold years of slavery and abuse at her hands, and in that moment, Morgana Drummond's magic dies with her. The illusions fade, her remaining clay men crumble, and the sweet-rot tang of her magic dies down, leaving only the silence and scents of a dead patch of Wilde. After a long moment, a riotous cheer goes up from the Dorchacht Coven members, while Aefenglom's look at each other with unease. Over the next several hours, the Three keep custody of Morgana's remains, burning them on a pyre. Interestingly, whatever they add to the flames makes them burn black - burning away her very magic, they explain, to lessen the chance of her remaining followers using any part of her remains for wicked work. Her ashes are bundled up into a box engraved with seals and will be taken back with the Three to be monitored for a week to ensure nothing happens, and then they will be disposed of. It's obvious from all the precautions taken that she will not return, but Aefenglom's Coven remains solemn and concerned; everything she knew is lost to them all.

Welcome to October's event, The Price of Revolution Part 2! Morgana's final fate was determined by a 31 to 17 vote to end her permanently. While this does mean she will not be returning (no twist endings here) and relations between Mirrorbound and Dorchacht's Coven remain strong, it also means any knowledge she may have had is totally lost. As always, if you have any questions, please direct them here!

Comments

i'm good with it

[yesdoubt]

[Momo still looks a little bit on edge (not least because of the combo of the moons and now the voices that he can still hear despite his protective tattoo), but the fact that this man seems to be familiar with the stones makes him cautiously optimistic he might have more information.]

Was there something like this during the revolution? I wasn't here for that, I just felt something trying to get into my head.

[He touches at the back of his neck, where his tattoo rests on the join of spine and neck, and near the brainstem. He figured a logical place to put a ward against mind control would be at the path anything from his brain has to follow to get to the rest of his body.]

yay!

[boneofsword]

[Archer nods. Under his calm demeanor he's as much on the edge as his companion.]

The whole city was under several compulsion spells. Runic inscriptions were almost everywhere. Monsters were bound to obey any Witch that did order them. There were spells written on the walls surrounding the city, some to hide the sky while others did manipulate memories and added subtler forms of compulsion that affected everyone. [he frowns, his expression darkening.] She fuelled it using energy stolen from sleeping people.

[yesdoubt]

[Momo's heard about the brainwashing that went on in the old Dorchacht in broad strokes, but he hasn't really gone deep into it with anyone that was there. The fact that it involved both subtle and more direct manipulation is one thing, but the mention of how she fuelled it makes his eyes narrow.]

Think that sleeping spell might have had another cause besides revenge, then? [This is definitely a hell of a hideout for one Witch to build off the back of her own magic, even one as powerful as her. It would explain the gravity of it if she'd been able to make off with something else out of that spell.

For now, he drops the barrier, since he figures there's less need for it beyond the initial warning.] I can understand why they're so cagey on letting people learn this kind of magic, but I gotta wonder if knowing it would've made it easier to protect people from it more broadly. It seems kinda rare for people to even prepare for it.

[Since it's not broadly known, it's understandable in some respects - but it also means everyone who actually knows it is invariably awful and can take horrific advantage of it without much recourse.]

[boneofsword]

[Archer chuckles darkly, his lack of amusement obvious. He can still remember what he and his Bonded found in the basement of Dorchacht Coven. His eyes darken at the memory.]

I'm quite sure it had. This all— [he gestures at their surroundings,] would be impossible without a huge supply of energy. She could have some spells still active within the city, but not as much. Besides using those who oppose her as a fuel for her spells is what she excells at.

[yesdoubt]

Well, I guess that explains one thing. [Momo doesn't sound very impressed by it, even though it is objectively pretty impressive magic. He just thoroughly dislikes people dragging the innocent into their business.]

It is possible to destroy them at all? Since warning everyone on the field not to get too close to them is gonna be kinda hard, and otherwise anyone who didn't prepare in advance for this kind of spell is going to be in trouble.

[boneofsword]

Let's move away first. [Archer nods and taps his bow thoughtfully. It's not his only weapon, he has short twin swords too.] How well your barrier holds against fire, or explosions?

[yesdoubt]

[Momo's primary weapon, a large enchanted hunting knife, is currently hidden well up one of his loose sleeves. He fistfights when he can, though, and he's been using elemental magic (and offensive applications of barrier magic) when he needs anything stronger.

Which is why he seems confident enough in his answer to that question, as he moves away from the stone as suggested.] Fire is fine, explosions depend on how big they are but anything on a battlefield this crowded I should be able to tank with one pretty easily.

[Can't exactly let off anything too massive when there's so many people involved in the fight. He's also been doing defensive magic almost as long as he's been here, so it's one of his main areas of expertise.] Are you asking because you're planning to blow something up?

[boneofsword]

I'm going to use enchanted arrows. Best to try at a distance and something that won't link to you like Witch's magic. Exploding arrows use fire magic, and there's a possibility that either the enchantment rebounds or that the stone will explode. Enchantment activates upon the impact. [Archer explains as he walks as far as he deems a safe distance. From his quiver he chooses one arrow— at the closer glance there are only minute differences between the arrows but Archer shows no hesitation.]

What kind of barrier do you think will work best?

[yesdoubt]

[Well, he can't really argue with that logic, so Momo follows him to that safe distance. Once Archer explains what he's planning to do, though, Momo's already starting to scrawl some writing on his forearms, the physical motions of drawing it out his usual focus method of choice for spells.]

Something the arrow can leave but nothing can come back into, for one thing. And I'll have to make sure it resists physical impacts and magic, so it'll take me a second.

[Defending against just one or the other is fairly simple, but if it could be either the arrow rebounding or flying lumps of stone, better safe than sorry.

On that note, once the lines of the spell sink into his arms and he raises them to actually cast the barrier, he makes a full hemispherical one. Just in case any of the flying detritus might've rebounded behind a more wall-like barrier.]

[boneofsword]

[Archer watches with rapt interest. His Bonded uses runes as focus but it's very different. There's no need to rush, so he waits patiently for his companion to cast the spell. While the finished barrier gains his approval he doesn't say a word, drawing his bow instead. All of his moves steady and focused as he takes aim to shoot an arrow—

Explosion sends a wave of fire and heat, as well as tiny bits of sharp rocks. Archer takes an instinctive step forward and spreads his wings a bit to shield his companion if the barrier fails. Being a fire dragon making him immune to heat and fire. Flash of annoyance crosses his face before he reins his feelings in, aware that fake moons and Morgana's spells are messing with his emotions. Slowly he takes a breath before glancing at his companion.]

Are you okay?

[yesdoubt]

[Well, at least it broke something. Momo covers his eyes against the explosion, not wanting to be dazzled, and the wave of heat that washes over him is reminiscent of a worse version of standing next to pyrotechnics. The extra barrier is appreciated even if it's a sensation he's somewhat familiar with, and once things settle, he drops his arm to see the result of the destruction attempt.

His own condition doesn't even seem to register before Archer asks, and he blinks briefly as if having to recalibrate his priorities slightly to even answer that.]

Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for the heat barrier. [The barrier Momo made did its job, at least, having held up against the multiple impacts despite looking a touch thin in some places that took both the brunt of the explosion and multiple hits from debris. That's not a lot of spots, though, and most of it is still holding well.] Is the rock gone?

[With that wing that had gone up, Momo's having trouble seeing if there's any of the stone left standing.]