EVENT ✨ Nightmare on Elph Street

[avalonmods]

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The ritual-wiping ritual wasn't the best news for Avalon and magic has been wacky for everyone since it was performed. However, if there was a time for it to happen, it happening before the Spring Equinox was just about the best time it could happen. The Spring Equinox, after all, is a time of renewal and rebirth. It's what you'd call a silver lining. As long as enough people participate in the Spring Equinox rituals, it should be fine... right?

CONTENT WARNINGS:

• 1st Prompt: --
• 2nd Prompt: --
  
• 3rd Prompt: --

This part of the event takes place on March 20th.

Though there is no Spring Masquerade this year as there had bene the last, there is a much smaller token of appreciation from the castle of Camelot to all of those who live within its borders: a gift basket with a salad of edible flowers, eggs, breakfast sausages, and a small bottle of champagne (or sparkling seltzer for those underage) and a bottle of orange juice to make mimosas with. Those of the vegetarian through vegan persuasions will receive vegan white chocolate eggs filled with coconut cream frosting and a mango puree 'yolk' and Avalon's best plant-based sausages. It's not quite a feast, but no one should go hungry on this day of celebration! Brownies will help to deliver these overnight, so you'll find them on your doorstep in the morning with a special spell to keep everything fresh through most of the early afternoon. Since there is no party this time, everyone will have the chance to see Avalon's plants begin to overgrow at a rapid pace within the city.
Those who saw it last year or locals who are normally residents of Avalon will tell you not to fear, this happens every spring. The plants grow around and not through structures, the buildings still safe and sound beneath large vines and leaves and pools and flowers. Most notably, huge beds of vines, open seed pools, and giantic flowers large enough to take a bath in have started cropping up around town, and they all seem to be filled with a vibrant, glowing liquid of some kind.  Each of these floral wonders, locals will tell you, is called a vernal soul pool. Upon entering one, you'll enter a lucid sleep state that connects you to everyone else in Avalon and the island itself. Doing so will cause your magic to be amplified and grow and stabilize, but also allow you to be cleansed and refreshed as a person. How much detail the person you're talking to gives is up to you (in case your characters would back off of it if they had the following details but you still want to experience it). Once someone enters, they will immediately feel as if they are at home and the pod will close over them gently, leaving them in a pool of that mysterious glowing substance-- vines grow further to encase, the pool closes, flowers close into buds instead of open blossoms.  Under normal circumstances, the pools would remain closed and in this state until the witching hour and slowly and gently awaken those within. However, even the magics of the spring aren't stable right now, and what ends up happening is the pools suddenly spill open before anyone's dream sharing can truly get underway, dumping their passengers out onto the ground into a state of jarring awakeness. With them, they will find they are unable to access their Avalon magics but instead have one of the following: Unstable, uncontrolled access to their canon powers. They may start shooting off random magic, they may be unable to shut down a normally passive ability gone into overdrive, or when they try to use their abilities, it goes outright wrong-- "Accio Excalibur" in an attempt to save the multiverse might result in all figurines of Excaliburs within 10 miles to come hurdling toward you, for example. Access to the beginner, untrained level of canon powers of someone whose shared consciousness you entered. Even if you don't have canon powers of your own, you will be able to access someone else's with this option.   This part of the event takes place late night on March 20th through slightly past midnight on March 21st.
	The fairy queen's envoy, Princess Bluebell, sends out a panicked emergency message (complete with the obnoxious alarm that sets off phones even on silent) after a couple of hours of this, and casts a mirror-travel spell to Nicnevin so that any may quickly arrive just outside of its borders, next to the river. The message states that the dream world and reality have melted together due to the majority of magic being funneled into the time freeze spell or the equinox ritual, which uses Queen Mab as a vessel through which the vernal soul pools channel everyone's magic. The Spring Equinox renewal did NOT go as planned, needless to say. Otherworlders must head to Mab's Cavern to locate Queen Mab and absorb some of her energy by touching her to stabilize their magics and drain the spring equinox's out of her before even bigger disaster strikes!
Mab's Cavern is typically a place forbidden to enter under normal circumstances. It is the world of dreams and nightmares takes from our subconscious what we most desire and what we most fear and our memories and turns them into reality. This is what your character will have to face without their Avalonian magic and the above either unstable or beginner-level powers. Mab normally goes into a slumber and connects herself to the whole of Avalon during the Spring Equinox to allow the vernal soul pools to utilize her magic, so she cannot let everyone in or help anyone navigate her realm. Mab's Cavern looks like a normal mountain from the outside, covered from head to toe in pink cherry and plum blossoms trees, shrouded in a fog that's pink itself from reflecting the petals. The entrance to the inside of the cavern is an ancient door, carved from white marble and enchanted to be impassible without an offering and engraved says: "Offer me your most secret dream and enter this forbidden realm. Dream with me for eternity." The offering, in this case, is simple: speak your most secret dream out loud for the door. The open door will allow one person to pass through per offering, and leads into a hall entirely coated in flowers of a variety of colors. These flowers speak, and will ask you how you are, warn you to turn back, tell you and whoever you're walking with that you make a cute couple, sing the national anthem of their people, whatever. They seem to get more and more chatterbox-y as you head inward and the lights grow dimmer until there is no light left. Even if you light one, it seems as if you are in a black space where nothing exists but you and whoever you walk with (if anyone), and voices.

This portion of the event contains a FOURTH WALL EVENT element and takes place on March 21st.
 

That is, until you hear a new voice and the chatterbox flowers hush. Anyone from any canon can appear and team up with you within Mab's Cavern as this is a fourth wall event. Guest characters will have access to their canon abilities, but cannot leave Mab's Cavern or affect the environment outside of it. Your new party member can accompany you through Mab's Cavern, which takes the form of a location from in-game characters' memories. Within it, their darkest fear will turn into a physical enemy and attempt to hunt them down. (How you interpret this is up to you as a player-- please create your own monsters based on your character's fears, even if they are more conceptual than physical.) Within it, their deepest desires may find fulfillment (we leave this to player
interpretation again, but be sure to ask permission if it involves another character who is in the game or a part of the fourth wall) and their new party member may need to convince them to leave instead of staying in the dream world forever. Characters who are able to get past both desires and fears will find themselves able to see a door that wasn't within their memory before. Upon going through it, they will be able to find Queen Mab, asleep in the center of what appears to be a glowing, underwater pond with stones that raise above the surface that lead to her bed some hundred feet in. Beneath the surface, more of the talking flowers start to cry about their woes-- unveiling that they failed against their fears and desires, and those who do will find themselves turned into flowers within Queen Mab's cavern, only able to escape if they are able to touch another living person!  If you've trusted the flowers, you'll find yourself in trouble. These are actually souls who crossed Queen Mab and attempted to steal their desires away from her cavern and bring them into reality. Their curse? They can escape if they trade another soul for theirs. Now would be a good time for a partner to help pull you out because as soon as you touch one of the flowers, they will turn into vines and attempt to wrap around you to pull you under the water and drown you! The "water" itself is the same liquid used within the vernal soul pools, so you'll find your life literally flashing before your eyes as this happens, making it very difficult to escape without someone else's help. If you die in the water, the flowers who did it will transform back into their original selves and flee, and you will be transformed into a talking flower yourself. If you make it to Queen Mab, you'll need to place a hand on her and all dreams and reality will sort themselves out within you-- that is, your broken powers will disappear and your Avalonian magics will return. As you head out again, the guest character brought in to help you will begin to fade away slowly enough that you can say your goodbye before they are gone. There is no way to stop this. All memories of fourth wall visitors will be retained as part of game canon. After enough people have come to take Mab's powers enough to deplete the effects of the Vernal Pools, the Fairy Queen herself will come to Mab and run a strange-looking dagger through her heart. All of the Spring Equinox magic that was being filtered through her will be released into the land and stabilize magic for everyone, and a flower will blossom out of Mab's heart around the dagger. Within the center of the bud glows a small child version of Mab, and anyone still in the cavern will find themself just wandering around in a dark cave. The Fairy Queen glows in the dark and will lead them out with little magic glow bubbles that try to make them follow if they get separated from her vicinity, but is still not speaking to anyone. She will also transport anyone who has been turned into a talking flower out of the cave via some kind of levitation spell and give them to someone they know-- whether they know them in a positive or negative light is up to you, she can only register connection on sight with magic, not emotion. A little research will reveal the following solutions to restoring your character: Siphoners and countercurse potions can remove the curse to get them back to 100% normal. Animal mages can transform them back into their original species (but they will still smell like flowers for the rest of their life). Green mages can use their magic to cultivate them into flower people-- who look like themselves, but now require sunlight and water to survive instead of food and occasionally sprout a flower or two in their hair.

Comments

[morganknight]

It wasn't a contest, she didn't need to hear about torture and all that fun stuff. Let's go for teasing instead. "Hey, I didn't think that weekend was that bad, I had a good time..."

[ichoosefight]

The only way she can appreciate pain is with the knowledge that she's had worse. Which is actually kind of helpful, now that she thinks of it. It's hard to transition mentally while she can feel the blood pounding in her arm, but she tries.

"Just so you know, I've only got one set of memories of that. We didn't like, merge minds when she poofed."

[morganknight]

"Good, you got enough going on..." Like what's his name over there. Not gonna ask, he'll either get to hear the story or file it under 'Steph had a hard time' and go from there.

[ichoosefight]

Having doubled memories of that (admittedly not even a full) day would only be a drop in the bucket of weirdness that was meeting herself. She just shrugs, and winces.

On that note she looks over at the dead elephant in the room again. She should probably feel bad about that, right? If she thinks about it too hard she might feel bad about not feeling bad.

"...You're really not going to ask?" She's surprised he's not bursting with curiosity after the show they just put on. She certainly would be in his place.

[morganknight]

Morgan responded with a very eloquent grunt, then tried again with less exertion on the ol' abdomen. "I mean, either you're gonna tell me and I don't need to ask, or you're not and asking would just be super-awkward, right?"

[ichoosefight]

She glances back over at him at that grunt, taking a quick look to make sure he's not bleeding through his bandaging.

"I mean, you're my boyfriend. I don't think it's awkward to ask about the guy I just murdered." She quells the urge to shrug again, and looks back at the body.

"You know most of the story already. You remember I told you about the gang war? That I almost died? He's how I got from point A to point C."

[morganknight]

No, Morgan was fine. Just kinda stung, you know? He wasn't gonna say that most people would have dropped in shock by now, but that didn't make it less true.

"It is if you're not gonna tell me! Now I see why the verbal cheap shots, too."

[ichoosefight]

She grimaces. From Sionis, those cheap shots can't even be considered shots.

"That's how he got his kicks. He likes to hit you where it hurts. For as long as he can stretch it out."

She turns her head, not wanting to look at that monster anymore but not quite wanting to look Morgan in the eyes either.

[morganknight]

Welp. Okay. Time to drop the general good cheer and make with the heavy hits of his own.

"He'd have a harder time of that," Morgan murmured, "if you didn't keep the wound open yourself, you know."

[ichoosefight]

Her heart twists with the knowledge that he's right. She's tried to think about the things they talked about, what she really wants and really thinks, but it's hard to untangle the mess that incident made in her mind. Unconsciously she reaches up and rubs at the spot where the bullet went through her shoulder all those years ago. It's still the brightest scar she has.

"That's not... really the kind of hurt I was talking about." She turns back to look him in the face, hoping he understands.

[morganknight]

He nodded, because he got her meaning -- but he knew, and he was pretty sure she understood, that hitting her in that emotional wound was the most effective attack anyone could me. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can cut far deeper.

"He should've gone for my feet then," he said out loud. "I'm ticklish."

[ichoosefight]

She sees the understanding in his eyes, but blinks at his statement. That was really not a response she was expecting. Finally she snorts an almost disbelieving laugh.

"I'd've shot him in the hands first. I don't know if my aim is that good."

[morganknight]

Look, you can't stay too serious in a time like this. Then you start to spiral. He should know.

"Him having a second gun was totally unfair. Cheater."

[ichoosefight]

She makes a face.

"You're lucky you probably won't have to meet any other Gotham villains. If it had been the Joker he probably would have had an exploding bowtie or something."

[morganknight]

Morgan let out a huff that he immediately regretted, with a wince. "You know, in any situation where I didn't have my magic or any advantage, I'd have one too, damn it. Martial arts against a firearm is never a winning combination, I don't care how good you are."

[ichoosefight]

She frowns worriedly at his bandage. His injury didn't look nearly as bad as it should have, but she doesn't like sitting here doing nothing while both of them need more medical care than her utility belt has to offer. But she still feels shakey, and if they run into another enemy they'll be in much bigger trouble than if they took the time needed to rest. She'll hold on to the gun, too, just in case.

"That's why our approaches to fighting are so different. Believe it or not, I've been doing this since I was 15 and I've only taken a direct shot twice. Not that it doesn't still hurt like hell when it's not direct..."

She looks over at her own bandage. It's starting to bleed through, but only a little.

"God, what I wouldn't give for a coffee right now."

[morganknight]

"You're an addict," Morgan said with another grunt. "So what else is new?"

After a moment, he added, "I think I can walk, if I have to. Just don't ask me to do push-ups. Or sit-ups. Pull-ups would be fine, though..."

[ichoosefight]

"I did just kill someone," she mutters to herself, "is that not new enough?" She's focusing hard on the image of a cup of coffee, half-hoping one will appear. It's a dream world, is it really too much to ask? She gives it up after a few seconds. At least the pulsing in her arm is starting to fade.

"At least one of us should be able to stand up on our own before we go looking for more trouble," she points out at a more normal volume.

She rolls over onto her knees and uses her good arm to pull herself to her feet. It's a very shaky process, but once her legs are under her they stay that way. She stands still for a moment, just to be sure.

"...We should take that other gun with us too." She points at the weapon still in Black Mask's hand, as opposed to the one at her feet.

[morganknight]

"Right." For a technical pacifist, Morgan had no qualms at all about grabbing the gun, and every sign of knowing just what to do with it, right down to proper trigger discipline. At that, he did much like Steph, pushing himself up with one arm to keep as much pressure off his core as possible. "Man, I look so uncool in front of you right now and I hate it."

[ichoosefight]

Steph wobbles some more, but manages to pick up the gun at her feet without falling over again. That taken care of, she smiles at Morgan.

"Lucky for you, I like guys who aren't too cool. Makes it easier to pretend that I'm cool."

[morganknight]

"But you have my personality for that!" Morgan said, giggling just a little. Not that it was a joke worth giggling over, but he was just a tad scrambled right now. "And you're super-cool, I thought so from the very first."

[ichoosefight]

"That means it's working," she retorts, then starts slowly back in the direction she thinks they'd been heading at the start. She sticks close to Morgan, so they can support each other if they need to.

"Does that look like a door over there?"

[morganknight]

"I dunno," Morgan said, with that particular tone of voice and look in his eyes that warned Steph he was about to be terrible. "I think it's ajar."

Yes, he got even sillier in moments like these. All out of an effort to downplay the whole situation -- to focus on moving and action, instead of hurting and overthinking everything that had fallen out.

"Either way, we know it's ahead."

[ichoosefight]

Steph manages to keep a straight face and sighs tiredly.

"Oh... put a lid on it." Then she grins back at him.

If she can make jokes, then clearly she's fine. And she's totally fine, therefor she must make jokes. She doesn't make the rules, she just lives by them.

[morganknight]

Morgan understood that logic perfectly. And her making that joke has him giggling furiously -- not because it was funny, mind, but because he appreciated it, and her, all the more for that understanding.

"You know, this is our own fault for being too damn attractive. The couple that's hot together, gets shot together."