TDM #2 - Spring is in the Air~

[faewildmods]

Spring is In the Air; Our Second TDM is here and we're ready for some warmer weather!

☙ Arrival ☙

'You find yourself wandering through a forest of strange colors. The last thing you remember is a strange ring of mushrooms in a riot of shades, singing to you in ethereal tones, tempting you and telling you to step in the midst them to discover riches beyond measure. As you do, a bright white light flashes before your eyes. When your sight returns, the forest of bizarre trees and plants looms before and around you.

As you step forward, laughter—deep and menacing and also light and tinkling—follows your footsteps. Yelling, questioning, gets you nowhere. Only a narrow path of stones allows you to avoid the foliage that seems to want to eat you alive. If you step off of the path, you find vines wrap around your legs, dragging you into the dark interior of the forest, until you wake up later, your body covered in strange symbols that will disappear after a few days. For those wise enough to not tempt fate and stay on the path, soft blue lights—fairies of indeterminate sex—appear, and beckon you to follow them down the path through the trees. A few hours of walking brings you to a village of stone and wooden thatched houses that appear as if they're both brand new and ancient at the same time.

A creature that at once appears to be monstrously beautiful and hideously decrepit steps forward to greet you, holding out a small silver hand mirror with a smile that makes your blood run cold (if you have any sense). "Welcome to the Fae Wild, child. This is the domain of the Handmaiden of the Sidhe Queens. Come with me. The others are waiting. All will be explained once we are gathered." It is then that you see the others spoken of, people that look almost.... normal and just as confused and angry as you are.

Dare you step forward to learn your fate?'

So, you’ve survived the trip down the path and made it to the village that is the heart of the Fae Wild. The Handmaiden and her helpers, mostly pixies, brownies and some sylph and dryads, are handing out silver hand mirrors to all of the newcomers. Once you’re all gathered, the Handmaiden will explain that you’ve been brought here with the promise of riches and treasure through the magical fairy rings. While you’re here, you will be expected to assist the fae creatures in the activities the Handmaiden has picked for you to do.

If you agree to it, you will be richly rewarded. If you refuse? Well, how much do you enjoy the thought of being put under a cloche jar for a while? Don’t worry. You’ll be able to breathe in there. It wouldn’t be good to have someone die on their first day after all. After securing your agreement, your mirror will flash five times, and tapping the surface shows a letter-type of message in flowing script, telling you how to reach your new cottage during your stay.

Questions to the fae may or may not be answered, but never fear. They want you alive. For now.

☙ Clever Clovers ☙

With the warming of the weather, more small fae seem to be spilling into the Fae Wild all clad in green. Against the starkness of the snow of winter and the darkness of the long nights, the sight is a welcomed one by the regular denizens of the village. While these new fae travel around, they’re followed by trails of light that disperse in many directions. As the motes hit the ground, they burst into showers of sparkles that leave behind bright sparks of greenery that would make a fully stocked conservatory blush in envy.

For those that know, the closer you get to the new plants, the better you can tell that you’re staring at Trifolium, or better known as clovers. No flowers have bloomed yet, but the unmistakable clusters of three leaves gathered around a central stem are there in all their simple beauty.

The new fae—leprechauns from the Summer Court, of course—are happy to tell you that they will reward you if you can find their special shamrock among all the new plants. For those of you who pick the standard three-leaved clovers, you’ll be given recipes for teas and dishes that they can be used in, with the promise that any food products consumed of these varieties will shake off the last of the Winter’s blues that are sticking around stubbornly. If you are lucky enough to find a four-leaved clover, a real and true shamrock, the leprechauns will happily reward you with one wish (within reason, of course). And, those of you who find a five-leafed clover….

Well, you like having green skin for the next week, right?

Make sure that you sign up down below so the mods can RNG which clover you find.

☙ Rampant Blooms ☙

Spring arrives with the first few brave buds of crocuses and daffodils pushing their way up through the still snow-scattered ground. These blossoms are only the vanguard of what is to come, and soon the Fae Wild is awash in flowers, bright and colorful and full of the promise of warmer weather and brighter days.

And also full of magic. Because it’s the Faewild.

Each species of flower seems to have its own flavor of enchantment. Breathing in the scent of the flowers or even a casual brush against their petals will be enough for the spell to take hold.

Daffodils will inspire uncontrollable joy. Even the most dour and curmudgeonly sort will find themselves all smiles and laughter, unable to contain the happiness, Hey, there are worse things, right?

Soft blue forget-me-nots on the other hand, are the source of sorrow and tears. They will dredge up the saddest moments and memories in your life and leave you a weepy, sniffly mess. Cry it out, babes. Maybe it’ll be cathartic?

Trumpet shaped petunias will leave you in a rage. Even if you’re not the type to ever lose your temper, you’ll find yourself lashing out. Verbally, physically, who knows. Could get dicey.

Hyacinths summon jealousy and envy strong enough to overwhelm your better senses, even if there’s no rational basis for it.

Regal irises stir terror inside those they afflict. Everything is suddenly frightening, even for the bravest warriors.

Red, pink, white, and lavender roses will have you absolutely bursting with love. Romantic love? Platonic love? Could be either, but wow are you just so full of love. Better share it. Hugs? Confessions? Crying over how lucky you are to know the object of your affection? Yeah, all that.

Orchids on the other hand, well, those are less love and much more lust. Orchids act as an aphrodisiac. Hopefully you at least wait until you’re behind closed doors? Or else the Fae are likely to get a free show.

Luckily for everyone the effects will pass in a few hours’ time as long as you get away from the flowers. Unluckily for everyone, you don’t build up a resistance to the effects, so second and third exposures will have the same effect as the first. Also, multiple flowers can affect someone at the same time. Hopefully you aren’t gifted an unfortunate bouquet.

☙ Kelpies, Kelpies, All Around! ☙

The Fae in the village are hurried around this time of year, openly talking of Kelpie mating season. There are open warnings to stay away from any body of water, whether it be the lake or the various streams in the forest.

Upon asking any of the village denizens, they'll tell you the tale of the kelpie, a beautiful and powerful black horse that preys on anyone it encounters. They seek companionship, in either form. In its equine form, the kelpie is able to extend the length of its back to carry many riders into the depths. In human form, they lure their victims into the water to devour them, then throw the entrails to the water's edge.

The kelpies are solitary creatures, able to transform into human figures. The only distinction is that they usually have water weeds in their hair. Traditionally, Kelpies keep to a male form, but are known to revert to a female one as well. A telltale sign a horse is a kelpie is that their hooves are backwards.

The villagers tell you that it's your job to keep them away from the village so everyone stays safe. It's an honor to be chosen for this because of how dangerous it is. There are several ways to do this - you can try to outright kill them. They have a weakness to silver and iron, the villagers say. The second way is to gain control of the kelpie's bridle while in equine form. It's a risky maneuver, but on rare occasions you can instruct it to go back to where it came from. Or put it to work.

The villagers mostly tell you to beware. They've lost too many to the mating season.

☙ Mirror Network ☙

The mirror plays its cheerful and difficult to ignore chime, flashing to let you know that you’ve received a message. Everyone has. And it’s not going to stop until you give it a look.

When you do, the face in the mirror belongs to a woman, eerily beautiful in the way the fae seem so talented at. Her hair is dark, skin fair but looking faintly sun kissed, cheeks flushed and full of life. Her eyes seem to shift, blue to green to gray to darker, to an impossible violet and pink and green and back again. This is the face of the Summer Queen, greeting her Handmaiden’s guests as Spring has finally arrived.

“Winter is ending, and all the secrets hidden by the snow are starting to be known. Tell me a secret, my dear? Share with me something you keep in your deepest heart?”

Her voice is gentle and musical, lulling, as if you can trust everything and anything she says. Of course you can. And why would you possibly refuse her request? Unless you muster up an impressive amount of willpower to resist the magical charm being cast upon you, you will find yourself compelled to reply, to share some unspoken secret with the woman in the mirror.

Sadly, your reply will be broadcast to the entire mirror network and shared with everyone. Oops. But hey, what better way to make new friends than a speed run to vulnerability and intimacy? Happy Spring!

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Comments

Vex'ahlia | Critical Role | New Character, Current Player

[stolentrinkets]

>> ARRIVAL

Vex has been to the Feywild before. Colorful to the point of nauseousness was the last time.

She hasn't strayed off the path - she knows what sort of creatures that lurk around the corner, and she won't let herself be deterred my anything lurking on this side of the Feywild. She doesn't trust this place, for a lot of good reasons.

Honestly, she's expecting Artagan to jump out of nowhere saying that he's pranking her.

The silver hand mirror is inspected and appraised by her well-trained eyes. It's a good quality, a nice weight, and something that could fetch a good price should she need to - oh. It's a communication device - her nose wrinkled. There went that plan.

She sighed, looking around. She really hoped she wasn't alone in this.


>> CLOVERS

How did she get dragged into this? It was the promise of gold, shhh.

She's on her hands and knees in the field of clovers, running her hands over the small leaves. She knows she has the best eyesight around here, so she knows she can find one of these shamrocks. The problem was, however, as she sat back on her legs, hands going to her his as her eyes narrowed at the sea of green around her - that everything just blended together and this was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack.

She knows others are looking behind her, so she tosses her braid over her shoulder, looking backward over her shoulder. "Any luck, darling?"


>> MIRRORS

[ The Summer Queen reminds her of the elves in Syngorn, and she's not sure how she feels about that. Vex contemplates the Queen's question carefully. She has a feeling that the Queen has ulterior motives, like most fae do. ]

You may ask for secrets, but you won't get any out of me. My walls are far tighter than you may think.


>> WILDCARD

[Any other ideas, let me know! I'm on plurk at earthkingdom.]

Arrival

[halfling_dad]

Orym knows he needs to get Seedling back at some point, but being weaponless hasn't stopped him from trying to do regular patrols and keep an eye out for new people. He spots Vex fairly quickly and frowns as he works out what to do. He knows who this is, but the question is how should he handle it.

He decides to err on the side of careful and he clears his throat and does his best to make more noise when he normally would have. "Hello there," he says with a smile, "welcome to the Faewild...."

He tries his best to look like an unassuming halfling dressed in familiar Ashari colors. "It may seem familiar but it doesn't always stay that way."

[stolentrinkets]

Shed recognizes those colors - Keyleth wore them constantly, and in the few times she's been to Zephrah, she's seen everyone else wearing them too. While she doesn't want to assume, she's pretty sure he might be from Exandria.

"So like it always is." Vex sighs, turning to face him fully. "Are you the welcoming committee, or someone stuck here like me?"

[halfling_dad]

"Someone who is stuck like you," Orym replies, "I've been here for a while and just like to keep a look out for new people. Things can get nasty around here pretty quick. I'm Orym by the way."

[girdyourloins]

[Scanlan isn't like to answer any fae any question about secrets. He's got his and he's not about to offer them without any real incentives. So far, no one has made it seem profitable to him.]

And which walls are that, Vex? Are we talking about the ones around Whitestone or Greyskull Keep?

Oh! Or is this sexual?

[stolentrinkets]

[She was fine up until he mentioned it being anything sexual. Sigh.]

I'm talking about the ones that prevent me from falling into some trap by the Fae. You know how they are with their words.

[girdyourloins]

[Look, did she really think he wasn't going to turn something as irritating as being stuck here into a huge fucking joke? He knows how to be serious, but right now, he's really just trying to find that place where they can laugh (or he laughs and she groans, whatever) and then plan their way out.]

To be fair, I think that airship has long since taken off, Vex. I mean, we should look on the brightside of things. [A pause.] At least you got to keep all your clothes?

[stolentrinkets]

You would have loved that, me showing up here naked.

[Look, she knows they've both already fallen into that trap, being stupid enough to even get to this ridiculous place in the first place. She's already beating herself up over that.]

I don't think they'd be able to handle you naked, though.

[girdyourloins]

What normal, alive man wouldn't have enjoyed you naked, Vex?

[She might not be the gnome of his dreams, but only Pike can be that for Scanlan. But at her comment about him, he gives her a wink.]

Not everyone can handle The Cube. It's a very elite club.

Clovers

[a_sharp_wit]

"It would seem luck has entirely abandoned me in this endeavor so far."

Elizabeth straightens up as well, laying her hands on her thighs as she sighs out. She had been running her hands through the patches of clover as diligently as she had once done as a small child through Longbourn's wild gardens.

"I do feel like I had much more luck with this as a child."

[stolentrinkets]

"I distinctly remember having more luck as a child as well."

The fields outside Byroden were full of wild flowers, patches of clovers among them. She would spend hours outside with her brother trying to find them. The rest of the kids in town would leave them alone, leaving them to themselves. She never used to venture out after she went to live with her father. "I feel like they might be lying to us about them."

[a_sharp_wit]

"That certainly would make more sense than the thought of a five-leaf clover."

Looking back down to the tufts of clover again she leans down to ruffle her fingers through them idly. She doesn't much hope to find anything.

"Now the four-leaf ones I do recall very well. I've certainly never seen a five-leaf one however."

Clovers

[chosenkingoflucis]

Yeah, Noctis has no idea how he got roped into this either. Ok, that's a lie. He's on a mission to find one of the four-leaf clovers so he can get the Ring of the Lucii back. As conflicted as he is about it, too many sacrifices had been made to assure that it made it into Noctis' hands. Like hell is he going to let these weird creatures keep it.

So there he is, Noctis Lucis Caelum, CXIV King of Lucis, on his hands and knees, considering calling it a day when the woman addresses him. He's been crawling around on the ground, in the dirt, for longer than he'd like to think about and would much rather get on with the whole filling his stomach, taking a nice hot bath to get clean and faceplanting into a soft, warm, bed.

Wait. Did she just call him darling?

He glances around to see if maybe he misunderstood and she was talking to someone else, but it seems they're the only two in the area. How is he supposed to even respond to that?

"Uh... No?"

Very eloquent there Noct. Spoken like a true king.

[stolentrinkets]

Vex turns to Noctis, also on her hands and knees. "Seems we're both having a bit of bad luck."

She looks like she should be part of the natives here, with her pointed ears and high cheekbones. She could easily fit amongst the fey - the perks of having fey blood in her lineage (the curse to her father though, that dick). She should be finding these easily, but she's having the absolute worst luck right now.

She rubs at her eyes, wishing her bear were here to be a comfort to her. "How long have you been searching?"

[chosenkingoflucis]

"Can't say I'm surprised. Me and luck haven't been getting along lately."

Noctis did notice the ears, but he also figures this person must not be one of the locals or she wouldn't have been duped, like he was.

"Too long. There are so many things I'd rather be doing than." He answers dryly and gestures around. "This."

Though those things aren't necessarily any less unpleasant. He continues commenting sarcastically.

"Not like I got anything important to do at home. And I need the ring they stole before I can go back."

Mirrors

[dangerousnerd]

Hm, I can think of a few ways to break those walls of yours down, dearest.

[is percy being a smart ass? 100%]

Though I don't think there are any secrets I don't know about already.

[stolentrinkets]

[Much like with Scanlan earlier, Vex looked unimpressed with her husband.]

Darling, you and I both know that the fae only want our secrets so they can use them against us. [A pause, and her face softens.] I would hope not... there's too many things we've shared together.

god i'm so rusty

[dangerousnerd]

Oh, I know. [He did study them after all.] But it could be worse, it could be Artagan.

[A pause] Actually, be it the Summer Queen or Artagan, both are a losing scenario.

you're doing awesome bb

[stolentrinkets]

On second thought, Artagan against the Summer Queen? I'd pay to see that.

[She considers a moment.] My gold would be on Artagan.

[dangerousnerd]

An archfey against a member of the Seelie Courts? [Percy dares a chuckle.] Artagan may be formidable because he choked your brother out dearest, but it's all but guaranteed you'd lose gold on that wager.

Though knowing our luck, they'd both team up and we'd still lose.

[stolentrinkets]

I'd wager he'd either trick her into something, or he'd show her one of those drawings he used to do, and she'd collapse from laughter.

...no, you're absolutely right, I'd lose that bet. Perfectly good gold, too.

[dangerousnerd]

Perhaps we promise to not put bets on archfeys lest we lose our gold? [It's a joke, clearly, because he knows how Vex can be with money] I don't want it backfiring on us.

That aside, what do you make of... this? [in reference to being stuck in the feywild because their dumbasses got charmed and enticed to step into a fairy ring] I don't recall this ever reading about this happening, and that makes me quite wary of what they truly want.