usir | Event #7 Crowning the Cat & The Celebration of Spring

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🜙 Crowning the Cat: Deception of Aegas

	The Celebration of Spring is being held across Idan, and normally the City of the Free Peoples is at its heart. This year due to the fearful farmers suffering losses in their families and herds to werewolves and the broken city torn between its fears and loyalties, the first sprouts of crops planted during the thaw are significantly less impressive than past years and the hunters bring their hauls back to the cities find themselves facing even more dangerous odds in the wilderness, outwitted and outmatched more often than not. Feasting, dancing, music, staged entertainers of illusion and elemental magic, and heavy drinking still overtake the cities and small outlying villages, putting a temporary halt to any work or other priorities, but there is an air of uncertainty that can't fully be shaken, and an uneasy and unspoken fear of a famine year lies just beneath the lighter festivities. Among the celebrating, people go out of their way to honor the feline constellation deity called Aegas. The youngest of the Constellation Deities, he is known for many things. Aegas' stars are fainter in the skies than most, seen just off the left from the Great Golden Dragon Atromo. In April, Aegas is not honored so much as tributed to keep the fickle feline's wiles and tricks at bay. Children and younger citizens of the cities or those with playful or devious minds play tricks on one another, some harmless pranks and others far more dangerous or deceptive. Despite this uptick of shenanigans, however, for most Aegas' day is a day spent ensuring the secretive trickster cat deity that he has not been forgotten, as well as a celebration of Spring. Openly jealous of Atromo's status and reverence, and long overlooked in favor of the other star gods, the people of Idan learned to show their reverence for Aegas in a ritual known as the Crowning of Aegas. Cat sculptures, paintings, figurines, or idols can be found all across Idan for those who can't make it to one of Aegas' shrines, and offerings of fish, sheep or goat's milk, silver or gold bells, silk, or saucers of water are left out for the many wild, stray, or tame felines of Idan to take at their leisure. Known for being a deity over secrets, pleasure, trickery, and charm, Aegas is a favored god of rogues, assassins, bards, bandits, thieves, and charmers. An enchanted spring illness common in Idan has long been attributed to Aegas not feeling that his charms have earned him the favor of the people. The illness is known as The Aegas Affliction and is actually caused by the pollen of a flower that blooms in April after particularly harsh winters (the Golden Bellflower) Aegas' Affliction causes those who have caught the illness to be easily charmed. Their complexion is often flushed and they give in to their whims with very little self-restraint. The main symptoms are: Susceptibility to personal suggestion (Their own whims, thoughts, and desires), susceptibility to charm-based magic, a tendency to be secretive or deceptive, and a heightened sense of hunger. The illness usually goes away on its own within 1-3 days and has no known cure. It's possible to get infected by Golden Bellflower pollen from April 5th to April 30th anywhere in Idan. Only exposure to a nearby flower is necessary. During the Crowning of Aegas and for the rest of April flocks of lesser winged cats can be seen migrating from their winter homes in the Wavecrest Isles back to the unclaimed lands. Occasionally these flocks of small, canary to bobcat-sized winged cats are accompanied by fiercely protective and dangerous greater winged cat guardians while other flocks travel on their own. The playful smaller felines can be seen frolicking in fields and playing over the rooftops all across Idan while the greater winged cats stay far from the highly populated areas, hunting the wild forests, cliffs, and open lands to stock up food for them and their small flocks of fur and feathered friends.


🜙 The Bloom

	Among the celebrating the dangers of spring are temporarily forgotten. Not all threats come with fangs, talons, and claws. Creeping vines and sprouting plants lurk in the tall grasses of the plains and the dense forests. Some of the more dangerous varieties bloom and thrive in the earliest month of spring. Viperlily. A small free-roaming flowering vine with two thorns that protrude from the middle of its flower. The vine slithers along the ground in the grass toward sources of movement or sound and sinks its thorns into the feet or lower limbs of any living thing it encounters. The vine subsists on blood rather than water and uses the gathered blood to provide itself with the nutrients it needs to keep moving. It injects its victim with a venom that causes them to become weak, sluggish, and unable to use their magic so it can continue to drain blood. Most Viperlilys are too small to cause much permanent damage to their victim, but being left vulnerable in the wilderness does lead to many post-bite deaths, especially with the smell of blood in the air. Bloodthorn. A dying Viperlily that has gone dormant and taken root. Small Viperlily seeds grow all over its vines, each one prepared to drop off and grow into a new Viperlily. A thorn protrudes from the bloody sap-filled bulb of this vine. It points up toward the sun with a thorn as sharp and dangerous as a needle dagger. Those unfortunate enough to be stabbed by its thorn are injected with a modified Viperlily poison that causes victims to become feverish and reckless, encouraging them to remain nearby and engage anything near the Bloodthorn aggressively. The bloodshed caused by its victims or the Bloodthorn's own destruction causes the dozens of Viperlily seeds to sprout and take off to find their first meals. Creeping Dragontrap. A member of the carnivorous plant family, the Creeping Dragontrap is a fully mobile creeping vine with one to four heads that each have thorn-filled 'mouths' they snap down on the prey they find. The acidic toxins inside their mouths prevent their prey from being able to fight free on their own. An antitoxin is produced by the sap within their vines, but a victim captured by one of these plants will need help getting free and provided with the antitoxin before the vine escapes in a speedy retreat into the wilderness or ground. Rogue's Blush. The dense cover of this flowering ground vine is a network of sensitive thin vines can sense vibrations in the ground. The night-flowering vine is covered in dormant flowers that open in the darkness. They release pollen into the air when vibrations are sensed nearby. This pollen is collected and used in a common rogue tool: Flash Dust because eye contact with the pollen results in a blinding white flash that causes temporary blindness for 24 hours. Bramble Mimic can shape its vines into any form it has collected a template of. The thorny brambles rest in the form of a dense bush, usually settling itself partially into worn paths made by creatures or people. It uses the blood it collects from creatures or people that bump into it as a template to rearrange itself into their form, though its size is dependent on how large the original mimic has grown. It then uses its new form to hunt for food to sustain itself, holding a natural preference for predators, carnivores, and herbivores. The most common forms are those of predatory forest or swamp creatures such as jaguars, bears, wolves, and alligators.

🜙 A Mod Note

	A "Network log" will be going up the week of the 19th that will be paired with the next event log. The network log will contain courier messages from Queen Adira, King Ardis, King Sitka, Self-Crowned King Koroc, Resistance and Rebel Leader Lorna, Former Defenders Captain Lykos, and Former Defenders Lieutenant Alice. Player characters will be able to ask these leaders questions and attempt to communicate with them personally if they wish.

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Billie thinks that's great advice, thanks. Sometimes you just fail until you get it right. Safe to do with something as simple as throwing knives, a little less safe, she supposes, with magic, but what was he expecting? A pep talk? As it is, she raises her eyebrows at him even getting a knife in the board so soon.

It isn't actually a difficult task — hitting the target dead on is that — but that's still fast. Better than she expected, even if she doesn't tell the mage that. He doesn't need to get cocky.

"There are enclosed spaces on ships, Strange," she points out that instead. "And sailors don't spend all their time on their ships, either. You go into port, you pick up a hobby or two. Throwing shit at a target for fun isn't too uncommon in the bars down along the docks."

Her being impressed is only going to last a moment or two as with his next throw, Strange completely fucking misses the target. It's less 'better than she expected' and more 'he got lucky.' He sighs as he goes to pick up the knife, but continues talking.

"Most of the bars I've been to used darts instead of knives." Still, the bars he's been to were probably a lot different than the bars Billie went to. "Why this hobby? Surely there were others you could have picked that were more profitable or more useful."

Amazing. Well, even a lucky hit means he managed to figure it out once before, so Billie sure won't complain. Nah, she just settles back against the steps and carries on watching. Here, for once, she'll be patient. It isn't a life or death situation, after all.

"You must go to boring bars." She bets she's right about that, too. "And if you think this isn't useful, why are you wasting my time wanting to learn it? I could be doing other things, you know."

"I think it's useful now," Strange corrects, as he readjusts his position and his grip on the dagger. "I don't know how useful it would have been before all our business with the dragons happened. Especially since pirates can stab people just as well with swords as they can with projectiles."

He tosses the dagger, misses again, then goes to pick up the damn thing. At least he's getting in some exercise.

"You try shooting at another ship with a sword," Billie says more or less jokingly. A throwing knife wouldn't help there, either, but 'projectile' can mean a lot of things. More importantly, she has to ask, "Is that what you think? That I'm a pirate?"

"Why not? You were on a ship, know how to fight, and obviously did something illegal enough that you don't want to talk about it. Pirate makes sense."

Toss, miss, go to pick it up. Strange is just continuing to practice as he talks. His form is loosening up a bit as he talks—Strange isn't hyperfocused on all the details, so he's not thinking himself into a circle now.

"Unless you'll actually tell me what you did for a living, that's what I'm going to have to go with," he says, knowing full well that Billie most likely won't tell him what she did for a living. She can be annoying like that.

Strange is correct on that part. Billie isn't saying but she finds the choice of 'pirate' funny enough that she won't fight it. It's close enough and if blathering on about it keeps him from obsessing over how well or not he does with his throws, that's fine.

"It does make sense," she admits, although she can't help but add, "I wonder if I can talk Daud into getting a peg leg or a talking parent to make it more obvious to everyone else."

Edited 2019-04-30 13:51 (UTC)

"That would require Daud to know what 'fun' is," Strange can't help but remark, as he gives Billie a wry grin. "That man's so dour, he wouldn't know what something enjoyable is if it bit him."

Though he won't lie, the idea of Daud with a parrot is charming the hell out of him.

That isn't a remark Billie can really refute, now can she? Daud is dour, enough of the time.

"He keeps what he enjoys to himself, that's all," is best she can offer. What those things are, she doesn't plan on saying. "Let me guess. He doesn't laugh at your jokes?"

"He doesn't laugh period. I don't think I've ever seen him smile." Strange sighs, shaking his head slightly.

"I know that you worked for him back when the two of you were alive but really, you don't need to stick around him just because of that."

Because that had to be why Billie stuck around Daud, right? She was charming, fun, and willing to work with him and listen to what Strange had to say. Daud...was pretty much none of those things.

He does, in his own way, is the defense that goes unsaid. It's rarer now, more than ever.

"No, I don't need to," Billie says that instead, not truly able to refute it. No one needs to stick around with anyone. That's just a fact. "But I want to. You think he's bad now, just imagine how worse it gets when I'm not around to explain how real people work."

Though he knows damn well how real people function, this is her trying to keep the conversation light. There's a lot of reasons to stick near Daud. There's probably even more for her not to.

Okay, she's got a point there. Strange winces a little before nodding. "That makes sense," he'll admit. Because yeah, Daud doesn't know how real people work. "I hope he appreciated how useful you would have been back on the ship—and how useful you are now."

Strange pauses for a moment, briefly lingering in his own thoughts and memories of being underappreciated before he takes the knife and holds it up. However, he's not throwing it just yet. Instead, Strange stares at the thing, contemplating if he should add in some magic to this toss or not. Better to focus on magic instead of getting lost in his own thoughts.

See, that's the part of this topic she was trying to avoid. He hopes Daud appreciated her, huh...

"Yeah, you'd think," Billie mutters. Think that she would be, sure. Used to think, anyway, but her own thoughts keep circling back to what Daud said, about how it was all one big mistake, so it's difficult not to sound bitter. She hadn't meant to say anything at all but there it is, even though she won't say anything more after.

No, she'll just shut up again and force herself to keep an eye on Strange, not dwell on one stupid argument. He's thinking something over, that much she can see, but what is it and how much of a disaster is it about to be?

"Can you stand back a little?" Strange asks, as he holds out the knife in front of him. He tosses the knife at the target: it misses. But instead of going back to pick it up, Strange gestures to the knife and murmurs something under his breath. Magically, the metal knife flies towards him. Strange catches the knife, but looks VERY surprised as he does so.

Huh! He thought that would work, but thank the gods he managed to catch it. "You might want to still stay back. I think I'll use the air to see if that changes my next toss."

A few good shots and already Strange is getting a little over his head.

Edited 2019-05-02 16:40 (UTC)

"I'm already sitting d—"

Oh gods, he's using that magic again to throw knives around or, in this case, pull it back to him. Overall? Good trick to have. She's still ducking lower than she was, though, at least until she realizes he actually caught the damn thing. This does nothing to improve her mood.

She doesn't quite sit back up straight, rather opting to lounge on the back steps. It's a relaxed posture that really doesn't match the question she asks next, tone deadpan and clearly unamused.

"Did I tell you that you could use magic, Strange?"

Edited (threats can come later) 2019-05-02 16:56 (UTC)

"No," Strange admits as he just keeps on using magic. With one hand, he holds the knife in the way that Billie taught him. But with the other hand, he gestures to the air and conjures up a small breeze.

"But I don't see why I shouldn't. Magic is a part of me. If a beastperson was learning to fight, then they'd use their claws and teeth. Likewise, I'm certain you know a few tricks that make use of your shiftling form. It would be silly to learn something and not apply magic during the learning process."

He tosses the knife at the target. The wind keeps it slightly more stable than before, but Strange still misses. He pauses for a moment, debating what to do next.

This is one of those moments where Billie wonders if this is how obnoxious she was when still in training and thinking way too highly of herself. She got shit for it then and she doesn't see any reason not to give Strange the same kind of shit for it now. So, she's getting back to her feet without a word, moving silently as she leaves the back steps and crosses the grass to come up behind Strange.

She doesn't argue with him, not yet. Rather, she opts to grab for the back of Strange's shirt. If she gets that? She's following up by lashing out with a knee to knock one of his legs off balance and yanking back, hard. Essentially, she's planning to topple him to the ground as rudely as possible.

Strange is too busy focusing on his magic, trying to mull over which aspect of the wind to change next, maybe if the metal manipulation magic could make the thing move easier, that he doesn't realize Billie grabbing the bottom of his shirt until it's too late.

Needless to say, he wipes the hell out. As her foot connects with his knee, Strange falls to the ground with a thud. "Hell!" he swears, looking up at Billie with an incredulous look. "What was that for?!"

With Strange sprawled on the grass, Billie does him the one kindness of not putting a boot on his chest to keep him there. What she does do is crouch down right next to him as she gives him an entirely unamused look. This also has the added bonus of her looming over him real close while he's down there.

"Magic is a part of you, sure. A part that can be ripped away with the right spell," she corrects his earlier words. "That cult that keeps popping up? They can do that. They did it to me. They'll do it to you."

Assuming he ever runs into them but, looking at the City right now, that seems really plausible. She gives a second or two for that to sink in before continuing.

"I had to learn everything I do the hard way before I even touched magic. When a spell isn't going to help me, I'm not shit out of luck for it. So, you can use magic when I say you can. Until then, you hit that target without or you go find someone else to teach you this. You understand?"

Edited 2019-05-03 21:56 (UTC)

Strange can't help but simmer with annoyance. Because he knows that Billie's right. He knows that he could lose his magic and that he would be shit out of luck if he didn't have his magic. But at the same time? He desperately does not want to admit to Billie that she's right.

So, as he pushes himself up off of the ground, he attempts a compromise.

"At least let me use my magic to bring the knife back to me after I throw it. That doesn't involve aiming—and if anything, I need to work on catching just as much as aiming."

Billie won't move to shove him back down, leaving him free to get up. She'll follow suit, even if his attempt to compromise gets a grimace. For good reason, too.

"You know you're more likely to stab yourself doing that than you are throwing them, right?"

"Then I'll just have to practice harder at not being stabbed." It's a glib remark and one that he knows Billie will sass back at him, so Strange continues talking as he gets to his feet.

"I'll have to practice catching things at some point. My metal manipulation magic is too useful for me to ignore it completely and I can easily bring daggers to myself from across a room. Why not kill two birds with one stone?"

If Billie weren't being serious about this, she might have. 'Practice harder at not being stabbed' is something she's done and it's a lot harder than catching blades properly but she's hoping a mage isn't going to worry about that particularly big picture.

So, what Strange gets is her crossing her arms and looking thoughtfully at him, actually considering whether to agree with him or not. Ultimately, he does have a fair enough point.

"Fine," she says at last. "But you hit me or anyone else while doing that instead and you're in trouble."

"I'm not going to hit anyone," Strange responds, as he rolls his eyes. But he is taking care to change the spell slightly, magically calling that knife back to him at a much slower speed than the previous time.

As he adjusts his position and re-establishes his grip, Strange continues talking about magic.

"I've gotten better at shaping metals now. Bring me some silver, and I can fasten some silver arrowheads for that crossbow of yours. Or what about copper? Bring me some scrap and I'll fasten it into wire for you."

Sure, he's not going to hit anyone. He says that now but Billie's going to retire back to the smithy's steps, sitting back down there and hopefully out of range of any direct mishaps. Plus, she can lounge back against the other steps, so, that's comfy enough.

"I think I'm good with the wolfsbane," She says as she watches him pull the knife back and prepare to throw it again. Copper, though... "What exactly do you think I would do with copper wire?"

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