Omri's Account of BW '22Black and White. October 22, 1022.A day of wonder and enchantment! I was told the reason for a few of the Clan Riverhawks to attend this gathering was that it was the Chimeronian celebration of their Day of the Dead, and one of the largest and safest gatherings, especially for folks of the adventuring persuasion. At the time I lacked a lot of context that made this sort of information stick in my head, so this is by no means the most comprehensive of accounts. In contrast, a year later when I went again, I was able to dip into the Dreaming a bit to get a sense of events before they occurred. Although as is frequent with the Dreaming, sometimes it's more of "oh that was significant" after the fact, rather than give adequate preparation. There wasn't much merchanting done by those of us in the clan, though there was a Madame J around who offered doo-dads and shiny bits. She helped with my face in exchange for water and some company. I've since learned she is fond of my fire cookies, so keep those on hand. I spent the day partaking in a quest to get to know people of the Realms. Tuilli of the Blackhearts kindly guided my efforts, making me grateful they were one of the first I ran into and asked about. He even got me into a bit of gambling, as that was another challenge. Earning and losing that same coin, what fun. I started the day with my dear friend Nixiel, having prepared for the day with her, but as she was focused on finding magic teachers, we ended up splitting and touching bases every so often. I fought in a tournament, eagerly. Understandably did not place. From that tournament though I was given a mask and a shiny gold quill! It is not magical, dear reader, but it adds to my current business dealings, I feel. I'm going all out of order on the day in my excitement of recollecting that wondrous day. Some of it is due to having forgotten which follows what, it has been little more than a year and my notes are more like snippets and are themselves not in any particular order. One of my more notable interactions happened very early on in the day. I was given a challenge, as did others, to see what we could do and what we could observe in order to get certain events in a row, column, or diagonal for a non-serious Bingo, although some of the events were rather serious. One such event was "participate in a regicide". I didn't have a particular interest in that, before anyone reading gets any ideas, but it did make me wonder who were the royals that could be subject to such regicides. And turns out this event was much less alarming than it seemed, for reasons I'll soon get into. But it resulted in me wandering over to where a throne was being set up, and asking folks wearing Chimeron tabards with a crown over the branch if they were the royals and/or knew who the ruler was. They asked me why and I recited the above, it being a bingo event, and my curiosity about it. I can't recall faces but one directed me to one similarly garbed, a bit sparse as he was still setting up and getting his accoutrements on, and told me to ask him who the ruler was. So I did. I don't remember how but he kept me going long enough without revealing his identity until he put the crown on. And that is how I met King Cecil, asking him about the ruler that might be subject to regicide that day. He was met with a bow and explanation that I didn't intend to murder him, then I ran off. Given our cordial if not friendly relationship now, I'd say he doesn't hold it against me. And at least at the times, King Cecil did need to be murdered at least once every large gathering he was at, to feed his soul to the not-so-friendly sword Soul Taker. See the entry on notable Dream Demons. http://library.cityofivory.org...Taker And I did eventually join the club of people who got to stab King Cecil to enable this feeding, at a later event. Apparently different events and threads of things coming together and apart occurred at this event, but all I knew about were the challenges laid and the people I got to meet, such as YPNN, having never yet met a person of plants, and Kovaks, who facilitated these challenges and gave me and others goodies, which is where I got a gold quill and a mask for court. At Black and White, celebrating day of the dead, it's Death's day, and they appear during court and the masquerade, giving a consequence to those who are unmasked. I remember during court I did not have a seat, and stood with some other of my Clan in the back. I remember specifically being behind/beside Dame Freesia, who provided entertainment via commentary of court, and certain unnamed actions. Court was long and confusing, due to my aforementioned lack of context. It is truly odd what I know understand retroactively from additional context. A brief overview of court, with much missing Order of the Peacock; awarded well-dressed members of the crowd, and announced the seasonal color, which I've been told was Periwinkle. Lovely color. Eagle's Rook conflict; -I believe it was the Witch of Gimlet who spoke, urging the Realms to support Sir Guthrevin's claim to Eagle's Rook. Spoke that it was his historical right to it, him or his ancestor having been driven out. http://library.cityofivory.org...imlet -The fae of Eagle's Rook had a rebuttal, or may have spoken first, denying this claim and that they want the aid of the Realms, or they wish to aid the Realms, if the Realms would allow their aid. Again, writing on this a year later, and only later did I understand what was going on retroactively. As the Witch of Gimlet left someone struck her down. Certainly not one who was sitting near me, nor their unnamed actions. Nope. Certainly not because one of my challenges was to see someone struck down at court and voiced this idly to the people around me. Nope. Voraniss and the Lost Kingdom; Apparently Voraniss land is/was Lost Kingdom land, and they've returned to claim it. More on the Lost Kingdom can be found elsewhere, but a representative of the Lost Kingdom probably made a claim towards magnanimity, offering that the Voranians could give up the land or could stay and swear loyalty to the Erl King or something like that. Voraniss refused and with a howl of agreement amongst their nation members declared war on the Lost Kingdom. This led to a multi-month conflict which ended in a truce. Sir Orion and Sir Saka; Magic shenanigans were done, allowing Sir Saka and Sir Orion to be knighted on the same night to the same order, as King Cecil had apparently promised them he would do. I believe it was to the Avatars of Chimeron. These are really the only significant events I remember, which isn't to say these are the only ones that occurred. I may come back to update as I find pertinent. The rest of the night passed with dancing and raffles for me. And food. I got a lovely horse headed dagger, which remains a prized possession. And a wooden box which I put trinkets in. At one point Dame Freesia kindly sought to help with one of my challenges, which included saving someone being kidnapped, and had me informed of a golem attacking adventurers. I would much later learn through piecing things together that this was N being put into a golem body and things going wrong. At the time, finding no golem, the group I gathered went to her. She had us look away, knocked out J'ortsa, and ran off into the woods. We chased after and disabled her, then somehow she died. Definitely not a mishandled sword blow to the head that turned a blow with the flat side of a blade into a kill with a sharp side. Nope. Telling Sir Orion about her being dead was odd for us both as I had remembered her name as Freya/Freja, and J'ortsa filled in that it was *Freesia* who was dead in the woods now. The change in Sir Orion's expression was immediate and drastic. But all's well that ends well. That ended well as Dame Freesia was brought back and I got to cross out that challenge, and the golem situation got resolved, including how Margaret and her knight Sir Laika got mixed up. It remains one of my fondest days. A day where it feels everything is magical, and not the literal magical sense. |
Created by Omri (Kyra/Kieran Barry) at 01-20-24 09:23 PM
Last Modified by Omri (Kyra/Kieran Barry) at 01-20-24 09:23 PM