TDM #1 - Welcome to the Fae Wild, Winter Edition

[faewildmods]

'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?'

☙ Arrival ☙

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.



☙ Winter Proofing The Realm ☙

As the first frost strikes the land of the Fae Wild, all the pixies and brownies are running around to make sure that the cottages, huts and communal buildings are ready for the blast of the Winter Queen’s Full Power. The sylphs and dryads are plucking flowers and bringing in as many fruit trees and bushes inside so that they can continue to provide food for the upcoming season.

Hunting parties are being arranged to stock up on meat. Other groups are being formed to fish in the lakes. (Beware of the kelpie. They bite.) You can also offer to chop wood, check all of the buildings for any repairs that need to be done, and preserve some of the more delicate foods. Just because this is a land of magic doesn’t mean that they’re immune to the change in the seasons.

Player characters are highly encouraged by all of the faeries to join in during this time. Anyone who does will find themselves given three times the berries during this particular activity.

☙ Glimpses of the Winter Court ☙

As the Winter Solstice approaches, glimpses of the Winter Sidhe (faeries of the highest order) can be caught as they travel around the whole of the Fae Realm. Frost Trolls that look like walking chunks of ice that only a mother (and maybe the Winter Queen) could love are currently pushing out the remnants of the dryads and sylphs to make room for themselves and their kind. If you look carefully, a tall horned man leading a pack of dogs and being followed by a lot of vicious looking creatures has begun to prowl and the nights are filled with the braying of His Hunting Party as they look for prey.

Asking the normal denizens of the Fae Wild will win you the name of Der Erlking and his Grand Hunting Party. Anyone caught out after dark alone will find themselves picked for the “special honor” of being prey or asked to spend the night as one of His hounds.

Occasionally, a beautiful, pale woman strolls around. She is never alone, as her entourage of grimalkin (large, black cat-like beasts) are always in attendance. Sometimes, she appears melancholic and at others, she is regal, cool and distant. Anyone foolish to try to approach her will find themselves face to face with the largest of the grimalkin who calls himself Cait Sith. And he suffers fools never.

☙ Here Comes Santa Claus ☙

Winter has definitely arrived with the first snow. Plenty of elves in striped stockings and funny shoes with bells on their toes are running around the village, demanding that all the buildings be covered in holly and evergreens. Others are hastily baking as many biscuits and cakes as they can. Player characters are not immune to the assumption of assistance. Anyone caught resisting them will find themselves suddenly about the size of a five year old, wearing the very familiar garb of ‘Santa’s Little Helpers’ and being pushed by one of the elves that calls themself The Taskmaster.

If one asks why the elves are doing this, they will find out that they’re making preparations to keep Santa Claus out of the Handmaiden’s domain. These particular elves are escapees from Santa’s sweatshop in the Winter Court, where he forces them to slave away making toys for human children with no pay, no insurance, and with only gruel to eat for every meal year round. The only way to keep him away from this area—since he’s such an important member of the Winter Queen’s Court—is to decorate it with plants of the season and to leave a gift outside the houses. It can be food, berries or shiny objects, but the Big Man must be appeased.

Of course, should you choose to not help, come the time of the 25th of December, Santa might just come and visit your house.

Welcome to our first Test Drive Meme! We encourage you to please play around and have fun. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask here. (Or elsewhere!)
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Comments

[shadowsincryo]

[He brightens, grinning from ear to ear.] Yes, that’s perfect. Tell me there’s two of them.

[He takes the cup and a wave of nostalgia rolls through him. He sets the cup down for now. He turns to the pot and stirs it slowly.

With his mind flashed back he can picture the tall, broad Crepus Ragnvindr with a bright spot of red and his own blue on either side of him watching him work. He looks up as an elf walks over with a covered container.

Kaeya grins again. He removes the spoon from the pot and puts it on the rest. Then opens the container. He lifts the lid and there inside is toasted sugar. He sighs happily.] You did perfect. This is exactly what I wanted.

[teddybearpicnic]

[ As a matter of fact, there was two and Rainier reaches over so that he can pick up the other smaller cup and then brings it over so that Kaeya can fill it, and then once he does-- he brings it to his lips to take a sip. The chocolate deliciousness was creamy and did remind him of home; he let out a hum as he closed his eyes. ]

Perfection, it will taste even better in a full cup and laden with marshmellows.

[ Ah, if only he could write home to his mother and tell her that everything would be alright. ]

Do you make hot cocoa often, where you are from?

[ Leaving the opportunity of course for Kaeya to tell him about his world ]

[shadowsincryo]

Only during the winter. [He puts the tin down on the counter. He looks at the pot. This is good enough. But the toasted sugar could add a subtle sweetness with caramel notes.

The Ragnvindr family recipe. Screw it. He measures it out and adds just enough to give the taste. He stirs it in,] The finishing touch is important. I think it goes quite well with the marshmallows. Lets you add them and not over sweeten your drink. Unless you want to.

[He winks. It’s silly to do with an eyepatch. But he does it anyway.] Try it now.

[teddybearpicnic]

[ Well the wink still gives Rainier the impression that there is some mischief afoot, but not just that it conveys a very important point for Rainier and that is that approachability of Kaeya. He picks up the mug and gives a very measured sip-- and finds that the cocoa is very delicious, the slight browning of the sugar? It did give the cocoa a caramel flavor to it which was very nice. ]

This is amazing, I do like what you did with the sugar-- [ He did not how to food critique but if he did, he'd definitely say that there was a definite nuance. ] In fact it's so unique, and I can safely say I've never had a chocolate drink like this before.

[shadowsincryo]

[He sips from his cup and notes the mouth feel and taste. It’s spot on. It is a habit to use the same motions he uses for wine tasting. He nods once then a grin blooms on his face.]

Yes, unique isn’t it? Normally I have a certain pyro user toast it. No one gets it as accurate. But this is quite close.

I can show you the trick later. It’s very useful.

[teddybearpicnic]

[ Excuse me, did you say the magic word pyro? Even Rainy knows what that word means and he perks upconsiderably because flames are an aesthetic for him-- not in the 'fire killed everything I love' sort of a way but in more of like 'I like the way the flames flicker'

And Rainier was absolutely someone who thought that a blowtorch in the kitchen would be a very good thing. So he cannot resist the sparkle to his eyes. ] I would like that? I mean, I did not mean to phrase it as a question-- and I do not know why my tone came out like that.

[shadowsincryo]

[He grins wider. The pot of hot chocolate is moved from the burner. He calls for an elf to bring him cups and the marshmallows.

Then he turns back to Rainer.] You’re fine, I know. Pyro user when I see one.

Thankfully I learned this long before I awoke to my magic. So, no temperature issues to account for. [He motions for Rainer to assist as a tray of cups is set nearby. He moves the pot off the stove onto cork rests.] Once this is done, of course.

[teddybearpicnic]

[ Rainier felt seen, but not in that incredibly awkward way that he usually did when he said something potentially off-putting; it was those emotions that were not as developed as his intelligence; while kids were playing with others, he was studying the book, and also the hobby tools. ]

Oh I know full well not to touch the stove before it's time. [ That was how he learned, it was all apart of the finding out process. ]

So you possess magic too? What sorts? [ And of course there was that overwhelming need to just understand all of the world around him. ]

[shadowsincryo]

[He accepts a bowl of marshmallows and offers them to Rainer.] I'm a Cryo user. I'm stronger when it rains, etc.

[Once the bowl is taken he fills up each cup with a ladel, not spilling a drop. Crepus would be so proud. Better not to think about that. He continues as he says,] Now, I came into it as a teenager. Our Master Diluc...he was ten when he received his vision and was awakened to fire.

[teddybearpicnic]

What is Cyro?

[ The good thing about Rainier was that he was vastly curious about the world around him and so there would be no end of questions about the world that Kaeya was from, and so he considers this as he starts to stir some marshmellows into a mug of steaming hot cocoa, then he reaches over to add a candy cane to it as well.. to give it a minty flavor. ]

[shadowsincryo]

Ice magic. [If there’s something to tell him he is far from home. It’s this. He adds marshmallows to his cup and stirs in a little more toasted sugar.]

Magic users at home only have one element. Ice is mine. It flows from my core and through my god granted device to focus it.

[He waves a hand.] We’ve called Genshins. Supposedly if we live powerful enough lives we can ascend but who knows if that is true.

[teddybearpicnic]

By what way do you mean 'Ascend'? [ It felt almost like godhood of sorts, he'd heart the various cultists they've interacted go on about being ascended to become closer to their gods, but then Rainier had always sort of associated that with death of sorts. A finality, he was not sure how much further you could go after ascension save for perhaps to become god. ]

I can cast different elements, but I prefer fire-- [ He had ray of frost but that did not resonate the way the others did ]

[shadowsincryo]

Exactly how it sounds. We become greater beings.

There is evidence it isn’t a rumor or a myth. But whether it is true or not. [He shrugs. He takes a sip of his drink as he observes the elves taking the tray away to set it up for the coming of their former employer.]

How did you come to magic? I’ll share you how we come to it and we can see where the similarities are.

[teddybearpicnic]

[ His magic, well that was tricky because he did not precisely know how he came about it except that he had always had a knack for inventions, and there was evidentally a bit of sorcery inside of himself that could fiddle with the weave and imbue it into the things that he created. ] Well my father is Owner of Lutz Toys, and he is a pretty skilled artificer in his own right, taught me everything I know.

[ He took a sip of his hot cocoa ] but my father, Sagan.. he said that you either have a knack for it or you don't. I guess I did, I just miss being able to give magical properties to my items, I can infuse a string with an alarm spell.. and usually I set it up across the perimeter, but I've never really dissected how that process happens, it just does.

[shadowsincryo]

Well, that is somewhat how it is for us. We either have it within us or we don’t.

[He leans against the counter and calls over his shoulder for the elves to get some specific ingredients. He pushes away from the counter and sets his drink down to clean up.]

But it doesn’t awaken until we hit a pivotal moment in our lives or come to some sort of conclusion. In my home city, our fair Master Diluc awoke to pyro when he was ten. That is quite rare.

And as you would guess. His fire is extremely powerful. I was just under coming of age when I awoke to the winter within. [He sets the dishes in the sink and an elf nudges him over to another station. They take over cleaning up as he nods and heads over. He starts measuring out what he needs for puff pastry dough.]

It’s about will and ambition. If yours is strong enough the gods turn their gaze on you. The magic wells up and is released. Or you find your new focus somewhere close by.