kaisou | March Event Log

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March Event Log

March Event
Dominant Element: Wind
Waning Element: Earth

Full Moon: March 8th - March 10th

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The seasons have finally begun to shift. As the Spirit Vein shifts to hues of green, the city experiences increasing warmth throughout the month. The snows of winter melt and from it the grass begins to turn green. Early buds on some of the trees and plants begin to sprout as the month progresses. Of course, being a wind month, it's not all nice weather. Strong gusts of wind will blow throughout the month, making any early spring picnic difficult. Enjoy the warmth, but be careful not to get swept away!

Top of the Season

At long last, spring is here. The citizens of Kaisou are more than thrilled that the winter has finally passed. Even though the temperatures are still on the cooler side, many people are acting like it may be summer from the way they are walking around in t-shirts amongst the melting snow drifts. People are finding just about any and all excuse to be outside, just to enjoy some fresh air and sunlight after being stuck inside all winter. Expect to see many stores offering outdoor seating, even though the strong winds keep knocking things over.

For the students, March is something of a reprieve month before the end of the year marathon kicks in. Spring break for all the schools will take place March 12th through the 18th, so everyone gets to enjoy a shared week off from their studies and homework. Those who still interested in involving themselves in school activities, they can begin practicing their auditions for the spring play at Kaisou High. Pride and Prejudice will be this years play, so you better work on your British accents! Meanwhile for art students its' time to start working on their piece for the spring art gallery, and those involved with sports might want to consider trying out for a spot on a spring sports team such as baseball or soccer.

But for the older crowds, there's no March in Kaisou without some good old St. Patrick Day celebrations. During the week of the holiday, bars throughout the town will serve green beers and have drinking specials. There'll be small parades throughout different neighborhoods with people sporting green, leprechaun hats, and clovers. Even the Undertown is getting into the spirit, with the vendors selling spells that turn anything green and hexes that will make someone dance an Irish jig for a minute.

The Rainbow Connection

Throughout the month, rainbows will appear sporadically throughout the town. Unlike the typical rainbows you see in the sky, these seem a lot closer too- sometimes arching between two buildings or sticking out of the state park's forest. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to why they're appearing weather wise, and we're several months away from Pride Month- so what could be going on? Should you ask the folks of Undertown or at the ENKI learning center, the answer they speculate could be none other than there must be leprechauns around. Why else would they be appearing this month of all months? And for those unfamiliar with the story of leprechauns, folks will more than eagerly tell you that at the end of leprechaun rainbows lie a pot of gold, if the legends are true.

Well, there's only one way to find out! A person determined enough can follow the rainbow to their end, whether it be on the top of a building or in the forest or behind a gay bar. At the end of each of these rainbows, will be a large cauldron where the rainbow and a golden light are emitting from. However, inside the cauldron is not a pot of gold but a few golden glowing salmon that are swimming around in the cauldron's golden water.

Well, it's may not be gold gold, but the salmon have their uses. Zodiac in particular will pay upwards to $1300 per salmon. You can also sell them to other folks in Undertown, albeit it for half the price, who will in turn cook them up and sell them in various food dishes for purchase. Of course, you can always cut out the middle man and cook and consume the salmon yourself. You could even keep them as a pet, if you have enough space for a salmon tank.

However, all these actions have consequences. Whether you eat the salmon (be it from your own cooking or eating it at an Undertown food vendor if you're not interested in chasing rainbows), or spend a great deal of time around them - you'll start gaining new memories of yourself in alternate universe, regardless of if you're an AU or an OU. These lives in alternate universes can take all sorts of strange and interesting forms: perhaps it glimpses of how your life would've been if a certain event hadn't happened, or it's a life where you grew up in a different setting, or maybe even a life as a rock with googly eyes. How many memories you get of this alternate life depends on how much salmon you consume or how much time you spend around them. [Mod Note: The only "alternate universe memories" that are off the table are memories for OUs that'd reveal plot points in their canons that are revealed past their stated canon point! Aka you still need to use the proper channels for a canon bump.]

Unwelcome Guests

During the weekend of March 4th, an unusual Zodiac message will appear on the Libra app.

ALERT: SPIRIT REALM BREACH IN BLUE FISH LAKE PARK.
Element Classification: Wind
Danger Level: Unknown
Designation: Spirit Realm Breach
Zodiac has detected an unusual number of presences from the Spirit Realm appearing in Blue Fish Lake Park. Early reports indicate that they may be part of the Fae, but contact has yet to be established. This is a highly unusual situation, so please approach with caution.

If you decide to head to the Zodiac office first, the overall atmosphere is tense. The Zodiac attendant are there, as well as the fuzzy Professor, but they certainly seem to be working with less resources than usual. The attendant apologizes that they couldn't send out any earlier agents to investigate the situation, citing that the higher ups cut their department's budget to devote to "other projects". The Professor chides in at this point with clear agitation, "Yeah because creatures invading from another world isn't a high priority apparently!!", before he takes a deep breath and tries to calm down.

Even with their shoestring budget, the attendant and the Professor will try to answer the best they can. The attendant explains that normally it's impossible this this number of Spirit Realm occupants to come into this side of the world unless there's a manmade tear- and no new ones have been detected. They have concerns it's a sign the Spirit Vein is leaking energy, but the higher ups won't approve the resources to perform tests that'd detect that. Meanwhile the Professor will chime in. It turns out the "early report" mentioned in the message was him going to Blue Fish Lake Park, getting a look at the fae, and then scurrying away before they could spot his small puppet body. While he insists that history is his specialty and not myths, he will concede he's read some things about the fae. Particularly that they are nasty tricksters with egos and temperaments that'd give high profile celebrities a run for their money. Do anything to make them angry, and they won't hesitate to curse you and ruin your life. However, the fae can never tell a lie, and if you get them to promise something- they can never break that promise. Also if any types of diplomacy fails, iron works great on them!

That intel in hand, it's time to head to Blue Lake Fish Park to meet the guests.

Arriving in Blue Fish Lake Park, you'll immediately tell that something is off. Despite the rest of the city's flora still being in the very early stages of spring, the plant life in this park looks much closer to the late spring. The grass is fully green, flowers are in full bloom a month early, and the trees have their foliage fully grown in. In fact, it's almost like new plants and trees have sprouted and grown in the last few days. And it's not just the plant life that's unusual. Amongst the normal visitors of the park (many of whom are normal people who notice nothing unusual is afoot) are the occasional fae, sticking out with their insectoid wings and other inhuman features. All of them on the outer edges of the park seem to be moving with purpose, either guarding or scouting. Should you approach any of these fae demanding answers, they will state that they in service of the original leaders of the Fae court. Seeming to recognize that you are no normal person, they will inform you that you should head into the forest to speak with the court themselves.

Stepping into the forest, you'll find a forest that's further along in being changed than the rest of the park. The trees have grown taller and been warped in ways the Fae find more appealing. The lush green canopy looks like it belongs in the depths of summer than March. And there are Fae everywhere, among the trees and the underbrush, watching you as you come in. Head deep enough into the forest, and you'll come across a make shift throne room out of trees and stone in the area- its under construction, if you will. All around the court are numerous fae guards, ready to attack at a moment's notice. The leader of the Fae, a Fae queen who act as arrogant and dismissive as ever, will react as if you're the one who has stepped into her land.

It'll take some coaxing and insistence to finally get an explanation to what's going on. Since the kidnapping attempt last March, a division has happened among the Fae court between the Seelie and the Unseelie Fae. This rift grew only deeper as time went on, until it turned violent. The Unseelie managed to get the upper hand through a surprise tactic, managed to drive the Seelie - the Fae here- out of the court. The Seelie Fae decided rather than attempt to take their court back, that they would take advantage of Kaisou's ever growing spirit energy and lay claim to a court here. The entire time, the Fae Queen does her best to paint the Seelie as the wronged party and perfectly innocent in every way - but despite her attempts, many will get the sense that the Seelie are nowhere near as blameless as she's painting them as. And as for her claim that the Seelie fae intend to live with the humans of Kaisou in peaceful coexistence and won't cause any trouble? Well...

The Seelie are Assholes

Yeah, so as time goes on, it becomes quickly apparent that the Fae Queen's claim of peaceful coexistence was, to put it, an exaggeration at best. These are still the same spiteful and vengeful Fae that kidnapped a bunch of app users last year, after all. Throughout the week, there are numerous attempts by various Fae to kidnap babies and children to bring them to their court to raise as their own, so have fun sorting out those incidents. By the end of the week, they've gotten it in their mind without any discussion that all of Blue Fish Lake park is their territory, and therefore everyone who steps into the park is subject to their rules. And what rules are these you may ask? Well honestly, there'd be too many to list, and they seem ever constantly changing. They all seem to boil down to not doing anything at all that'd annoy one of the Fae, especially if they hold status in the court.

Should one break one of these rules, a number of consequences can happen. They may decide to curse you in some fashion, either with a classic curse or start turning you into some monster. Thankfully, being on Earth renders their powers weaker, so many of these curses are either weaker or not as long lasting as they could've been if they were in the Spirit Realm properly. Alternatively, they could just decide to attack you or try to kill you. And if you really make them mad? They might decide to kidnap a loved ones of yours and bring them to the fae court to curse them instead. Great.

That said, for some endearing yourself to the Fae Court may come with some advantages, though it may also run the risk of them deciding to try to change you into a fae. But whether or not you avoid that fate, you can get something truly valuable. Namely: information. Should you get into their good graces (by them doing favors, offering them gifts, flattery, etc), they will provide what they know about the ongoing situation. Their ability to be in Kaisou? Is thanks to the unusual levels of spirit energy coming from Kaisou's Spirit Vein. The ruptures caused by Professor Willow (with a certain portal in August exacerbating the issue) has caused spirit energy to flow into the city unchecked, making the Spirit Energies rise to levels not normally possible on Earth. The new powers and monstrous forms that people have been exhibiting? Is due to the increased Spirit Energy levels. Normal human bodies don't typically do well to prolong exposure to the Spirit Realm. Some may have a higher tolerance than others, but it's still unhealthy in the long run. The Fae mitigate this problem by changing their ~~kidnapped victims~~ honored guests into Fae with their magics. Most likely, they speculate, the increasing Spirit Energy is attempting to do the same in its own way, as a way to prepare for...

Prepare for what? The Fae at this point become more evasive, not wanting to give a direct answer. If you push them enough without angering them, they will ask "Did they ever find Roanoke?" as a rhetorical question, before dropping the subject altogether. While this may lead to more questions than answers, it wouldn't be a bad idea for someone to inform everyone else of what you learned.

Tír na nóg

So yeah, it's safe to say that letting the Seelie Fae stay is not going to work out, right?

While Zodiac itself continues to be preoccupied with other matters, after the third Fae mistook him for a human baby and attempted to kidnap him, the Fuzzy Professor is thoroughly done with their new guests. He sends his own message on the Libra app, proposing a plan. He's done some research and found that per the rules of the Fae, should the leader of the original Fae court (the one in realm of Tír na nóg) announce that it's time for a Gathering - all the Fae associated with that court are required to return to the Court to attend the Gathering. So if they travel to the Spirit Realm these guys came from and convince the current Unseelie Ruler to announce a gathering - the Seelie Fae will return to that realm and once they're all gone, they can seal any gates so the Seelie can't come back in the city. If asked if the Unseelie ruler is unwilling to cooperate with this plan, but Professor gives an ambivalent "well then uh...overthrow them, I guess? Look, I just want these guys gone okay! I'm sick of getting kidnapped!"

You know what? Fair enough.

Per the Professor's instructions, while the main gate the Seelie Fae used is heavily guarded, they can reactivate the old gate from last year that's hidden away in Brick Alley. Sure enough when they arrive in Brick Alley, there's no obvious standing tall gate. Instead, they will have to search around until they find a circle of mushrooms that have popped up on a patch of grass. If you can't find it, the blue little puppet who is standing nearby will be a good clue. He wave you over and gives anyone who cones by a piece of Ariandhe's Yarn, so they can teleport out of that realm immediately once their job is done. The mushrooms that make up the fairy circle are impervious to harm, and you'll have to stand in the center of them if you want to enter the realm. It'll take a moment or two to activate, leaving you feel a little awkward as normal people pass by and stare at you standing in a circle of mushrooms, but hold fast, because soon you'll find yourself warped into another realm.

Some older app users may recall their previous visit to this realm as stepping into a beautiful fairy tale realm. Certainly, many of the old familiar features are there: the rocky cliffs, the meadows, the Fae castle in the distance. But past those familiar sights, there's been a lot of changes. It's colder in this realm, with everything having the look of late autumn and early winter. It's darker as well, with the daylight hours being no brighter than twilight, and the nights lasting much longer than normal. The forest has become overgrown, wilder and more twisted. This place looks less like a fairytale and more like the setting for a halloween story. Seems this is what happens when it's only the Unseelie controlling the land.

Your goal is to once again reach the castle. However, the journey is much more perilous than before. The path that was once a straight shot to the castle now has become more winding. It now crosses through bogs full of Will-o'-the-wisps which attempt to lead you off the path and into the bog...which is still full of undead skeletons who are more than happy to try to drag you under. And these are hardly the worst dangers, as unlucky travelers may happen upon a banshee whose screams may paralyze anyone. Going near any body of water runs the risk of happening upon the Kelpie's more violent cousin, the Each Uisge.

Also remember the Dulahan and the large, fire breathing, dragon from last year? Yeah, they are no longer restricted to their little spots and are roaming free, able to attack and breath fire on any poor soul they happen upon. The trip is a long one, possibly taking a few days (though luckily, barely any time will pass in Kaisou itself). So go prepared and...have fun!

The Unseelie Court

After a long and dangerous journey, they finally reach the castle. Just like the rest of the realm, its been twisted and turned darker to represent the Unseelie's particular aesthetic. And if you think that the danger was over now that you reached the castle, oh, you're quite mistaken. These Fae, either because they know your intent or they simply do not like intruders, will likely attack on sight unless you're extremely good at talking your way out. Either this will do this with direct assaults or through trickery, conjuring illusions that reflect your own personal nightmares in order to break you.

Struggle through the winding halls of the castle best you can until you reach the throne room of the court. There stands the Unseelie King. You can go about this a few ways, either attempt to persuade him to initiate a Gathering, though he will protest quite a bit - and has every bit of arrogance that the Seelie Queen showed. Should persuasion tactics not work, it's a matter of fighting. Either kill or incapacitate him, all you need to do is take his crown that sits upon his head. Though be careful, he's not the king for no reason. He'll be a tough opponent, with both fighting prowess and magical skill alike.

If you fight him and obtain the crown, all you need to do is put it atop your head and declare that it's time for The Gathering. A bell ringing sound will ring out throughout the realm, alerting all the Fae. The task done, it's best to make your hurried escape before the Fae have caught onto your deception or you get sealed in with them. Use the yarn that the Professor gave you, or find another way out and head for home.

Aftermath

When you return to Kaisou, you'll find the Seelie Fae are quickly making their exit back into the realm they came from, having been summoned for the gathering. As soon as the last one steps in, the members of the Black Order can use a sealing spell granted by the higher ups in order to seal the gate. With the Fae gone, Blue Lake Park will slowly turn back to how it looked before. Some of the temporary curses will fade. Unfortunately, not much can be done to cure the more permanent curses. And for many, the information that the Seelie Fae provided may still trouble you. Just what is going to happen to this town? Is there a way to fix it before it's too late? Why is Zodiac suddenly so disinterested? Only time will tell, it seems.

OOC Notes

The dominant element this month is Wind! Anyone with an affinity to the wind element will find themselves boosted throughout the month. This could mean a boost to their power, having more energy, feeling more inspired with creativity, having better luck on different attempts -- the boost can manifest in all sorts of different ways. By contrast, anyone with an affinity for Earth will be experiencing the opposite. Perhaps their powers will be weaker, they have less energy, they're having a creative block or general worse luck - again it can manifest in all sorts of way and players are free to play with this mechanic as they'd like.

For the month of March, courtesy of the Fae, characters can obtain up to 3 monster transformation purchases for free. This does not count for your usual monthly limit, so you can also pay for 2-3 more if you wish! And for this month only, characters can regain monster features for up to two monster types (for example your character could gain monster feature from a unicorn AND an avian if they wish to be an alicorn). The IC justification for this is that it's Fae magic. After this month, the monster transformations will go back to their regularly scheduled limitations.

The original OOC plotting post for this event can be found here. Another Zodiac Post will be going up March 15th to serve as an intro post for new characters and allow characters to react to developments over the network.

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"I-"

Unfortunately, she didn't get to finish the sentence. There were sounds all around, and Luz sucked in her breath, knowing full well that they were not going to have time to actually bury the crown full and well.

"We gotta go! Just have to chuck the crown, and they'll sort through it themselves!"

It wasn't their world anyway, and Luz knew it was probably best that they got out of here. She had had her fill of the fae this month!

Isabela did not waste anything with the crown as she takes it out of her head and throws it as hard and far as she could to the other side so the Fae fight it among themselves. Thus allowing her and Luz to escape from this godawful place.

At least she was able to avenge her sisters and give the Fae some headaches too.

"GOAL!"

Luz couldn't help herself as she zoomed away faster, calling out in glee and already fumbling for the yarn the Professor gave her. The moment of dorkiness was ill planned though, as one of the incoming Fae managed to blast Luz with some kind of magic just as she was readying their escape. Luz shrieked, and unfortunately, both of them went tumbling off the staff as Owlbert reverted back, concerned about his friend.

Luckily, Luz managed to hit them with her hover glyph, so they don't hit the ground and hurt themselves.

“Whoa! That is really terrifying” Isabela was scared when a blast of magic hit Luz and they fell off from Owlbert in his staff form before they were saved by the hover glyph.

“I can’t believe that we got attacked while we are tying to escape. Do we need to find another way to get out of here from this castle?”

Did you think that Luz was going to say something right away? Luz didn't dare. With everything that was happening coupled with the blast she just got, Luz was not about to start talking unless it was to shout they were going to leave at right that moment!

"Get to the yarn!" Luz managed to say, albeit strangled: it looks like they were aiming to hobble Luz with a crackly voice. For right now it was minor, but if they stayed?

They'd want to get even with the humans that messed in their realm.

"That's our only way!"

Isabela immediately grabs hold of the yarn from her bag as quickly as she can, tugging onto it like she is holding onto dear life. Thankfully she was able to hold onto it throughout the entire journey so all she needed to do is to bring it out and unwind it a bit to make the escape possible.

But she is not going to leave this realm without Luz though so she urges her to hold onto the thread as well, hoping that it can send the two of them home right away from this godawful place.

Luz is still dazed with the attack, but she thankfully hasn't lost sight of getting out of there. There were more Fae coming, and unlike in her rescue attempt with Danny, she'd had no time to prep her glyphs. So getting the Fae out once and for all and leaving the Seelie here was the ultimate goal.

This didn't stop her from sending one glyph of plant vines toward oncoming Fae that were pursing them. They weren't strong, but it was just enough to buy them time.

Once she saw the yarn in Isa's hand, she manages a smile and grabs hold of the yarn, and the two of them are transported out of there just as another volley of Fae magic was coming toward them.

Whew. Just in time.

The landing was a little rough as the two of them returned back to Kaisou from the terrifying escape out of Tír na nóg. For a while, Isabela still felt like her head was feeling dizzying and disoriented but she and Luz are now safe and sound from any more Fae magic.

“Whoa, that was pretty scary back in the castle but we finally did it. We got the Fae out of here and back to their realm.”

"Ow."

Luz had, predictably, landed face first into the dirt as soon as they left Tir na Nog, and Owlbert had changed back so he wouldn't be injured by the rough landing. Lus slowly got to her knee, groaning a little.

"Good. They were already messing with a friend of mine, so they can solve their own problems and stop giving us theirs."

She leaned back and winced, her bones feeling extra tender now.

"Ugh, they got me that time though. I hope this doesn't mean I do some weird changing thing."

“They had placed Mirabel and Luisa in harm’s way over a year and I am still mad at them for making them face a rightfully angry dragon,” Isabela sighs as she tries to regain her bearings.

“Oh gee, the spells are really that scary. I can’t imagine what would it happened if I got hit by a curse of theirs too.”

"Yeah, Luisa did tell me about that," Luz said, and winced a little. "Alberto, one of my friends, seemed to get along with them back then, but I haven't heard anyone else talking about them the same way. Now we have clarification that they're just total jerks!"

Which Luz had thought was the case anyway, with what happened with Danny.

"Ugh, really? Well that's bad news. It'll probably go on all month too. GREAT."

“Wait, he thought that it was a great idea to hang out with them some time ago? Oh dear. I was worried that they might have done something to him by now. Yeah, great indeed. Freaking curses messing with people everywhere.”

Isabela was surprised that Alberto, of all people, thought the Fae are pretty harmless. She isn’t sure right now if his opinions have changed since then but if the Fae do try to harm him in some form, she will fight back again.

"I think he told me that he actually got kidnapped by them. Apparently he had a grand old time with them though, so he always spoke pretty happily about them. I think at the time, he might have been limited with his involvement with magic though, so it might have given him rose colored glasses?"

That was Luz's guess anyway, since this month they seemed like little more than squatting, uninvited bums with magic.

"Think I'll ask him what he thinks of them now though. I'm sure knowing that they were attacking us might make him think twice."

“Yes. That could be the case. He probably didn’t know how dangerous they can be at the time. So is it highly possible that they must have duped him into thinking that they can be trusted as anyone else?”

She really hates having to burst someone’s bubble whenever bad things happened in the city so far, but either her or Luz telling him of what happened in Tír na nóg could give him a much clearer picture of the Fae.

“Sounds like a good idea. Hopefully he will come to realize that the Fae are much more dangerous than anyone can imagine or admit.”

"Yeah, go figure, right? But maybe he was still just getting used to magic, like I said, and I would probably have jumped at the chance to see the Fae realm before I was traveling to the Boiling Isles myself. The IDEA of going someplace exotic with magic is probably pretty enticing."

Considering what Luz's life had been like before the Isles? She probably would have jumped at the chance even faster than Alberto would have.

“Yeah, it is entirely possible as well. Plus the idea of anyone wanting to go to somewhere exotic is pretty tempting enough for anybody to fall, especially when it comes to the matter of the Spirit Realm. Wait a minute, Luz. Did you just said you have jumped onto the chance to visit the Fae before you came to the Boiling Isles?”

Luz nodded. "You got that right."

At that, Luz put a hand at the back of her head. "Yeah, you could say that. I wasn't exactly in the best headspace right before I wound up on the Boiling Isles."

“Wow, that must be tough not to be in the right headspace at the time. But you did managed to get over that in the end, right?”

Isabela certainly would have felt the same had she not experienced her gift potential revelation. The old her would have been stressed out beyond words and her head not clear enough from years of bottling up her own voice behind a façade.

"Well yeah. I wound up in the Boiling Isles. I wound up making friends. I met Eda and King and Owlbert and Hooty. I met-"

Luz paused, taking a sigh. "I met Amity. Being there, in the Boiling Isles, I learned to meet a lot of great people, and I loved all of them. But it also showed me that it has its own problems, and that once you're there, the things you do have an affect on the people around you. The last thing you want is to make a mistake that changes the place for the worst."

Yes, Luz absolutely had that hanging over her head.

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March Event Log

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A twist (I didn't want to make it TOO easy)!

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