An Arctic Advent - IC

Carn smiled, nodding. "It was great, wasn't it...? I imagine it's not usually so...chaotic...But it was intense, that's for sure. And I may well take you up on that offer later, timberwolf...But for now, I think it's time to see what else this festival has to offer...After the award ceremony at the least..." He seemed amused, chuckling as he enjoyed his meal, and talking with the others...But as time passed, it seemed he needed to be getting ready to head to the award ceremony, lumbering to the market...It was probably a bit rude, but seeing that griffon talking, Carn wondered what was going on there...

Spoiler:

Camellia hops off the bench for the table and slowly pads over to the award ceremony area with an ear out for Ebonblade's conversation.

---

Perception: 8 + 1 + 13 = 22

Z2 wrote:Adam flies over to the square. He hovers near the flaming stone - as near as he can without violating rules/risking immolation. Hmmm... I don't think I saw this before heading to the race... Curious, Adam inspects the stone from a variety of angles. The pegasus hovers moderately above the crowd, mostly focused on the stone, somewhat disinterested in the aftermath of a race in which he was already far too involved.

Spoiler:

You notice that there is a magical barrier in place around the burning stone. It prevents anyone from getting too close but also allows the heat to flow through and warm the square slightly.

LoganAura wrote:Blood mage slips his cloak back on and stays around the large bear, happy there was somepony- er bear- that wasn't going to hurt him just for his magic. He also tries to remember some things about the town and festival.

Spoiler:

The fire stone itself is a recent discovery (about 20 years ago) and it's mined in the very mountain that Frostfalls is located upon, it hasn't been found anywhere else. It's a great source of trade with villages that use the fire-starting rocks. The Firestone itself holds a magical energy along with it's normal fire and around this particular centerpiece a pentagonal barrier has been erected, tuned to prevent the passage of living creatures as a safety for children or inebriated festival-goers.

The festival celebrates, the moons stars and night. The members of the Constellations run the festival and it takes place during the middle of winter and is a time where the inhabitants of Frostfalls remember the importance of raising the moon and their duty as stewards of the North.

Frostfalls is a thick-walled city that prospers on mining. It's main attraction during the two months when the ice melts is the waterfall that separates the city in two sections (east and west). It's said that they have ten months of frostbite and two months of rainbows.

The city also has a place known as the Milch Hall, which is a mined out section of the mountain, which is within the confines of the city. In the Milch Hall they grow much of the food for the harshest months of winter rationing. Mainly mushrooms and edible mosses.

Within this city, the Constellations are known as the true political power, though the militia, hunters and the miners all have a fair amount of say in what goes on in the city. The Constellations are twelve unicorns that are responsible for raising the moon every night this festival celebrates that role in particular as well as the lifting of the rationing.

Caden2112 wrote:Carn smiled, nodding. "It was great, wasn't it...? I imagine it's not usually so...chaotic...But it was intense, that's for sure. And I may well take you up on that offer later, timberwolf...But for now, I think it's time to see what else this festival has to offer...After the award ceremony at the least..." He seemed amused, chuckling as he enjoyed his meal, and talking with the others...But as time passed, it seemed he needed to be getting ready to head to the award ceremony, lumbering to the market...It was probably a bit rude, but seeing that griffon talking, Carn wondered what was going on there...

Spoiler:

Ramsus wrote:Camellia hops off the bench for the table and slowly pads over to the award ceremony area with an ear out for Ebonblade's conversation.

Perception: 8 + 1 + 13 = 22

You overhear Ebonblade: "Please, Lady Aurora, you must let me accompany you, it's my duty as captain, I know I promised I'd win the race for you, but I have to make up to you somehow."
Aurora, the pale unicorn simply shakes her head. "You hold no such duty towards me. Besides I can take care of myself, just go out captain and enjoy the festivities."
"My lady, the only way I could enjoy the festivities would be to accompany you."
"Oh, by the moon, Ebonblade! Fine, you may accompany me, just remember your duty is to the people, not to me."
"Of course, my lady." The gryphon then notices you (Ursus in particular due to the his size) amongst the crowd. "Ah, it looks like some of the fine racers are here, true runners of the north if you ask me."
The pale unicorn looks your way with measuring gaze. "A warden of the north, if ever I did see one," she says with a nod of approval.

Blood looks to the sky, waiting for the two ponies to speak directly to him first so as not to interupt the conversation, but racking his brain about Miss Aurora.

Spoiler:

Carn bowed slightly, showing respect to the lady, at least for the moment. "Thank you, Lady. It was a fine race, it was good to participate in it," he stated, trying to avoid causing offense. "I must admit, I'm looking forward to the main event as well, though..." He wasn't really sure if the griffon just had a hopeless crush on her, or if he had some white-knight complex...But he certainly seemed to want to latch onto her and never let go...It was a little odd, really.

Camellia rolled her eyes and gave a quiet derisive sniff. Honestly. She had bested this simple beast handily and yet these creatures all showed their biased prejudices by acting as if he was some way superior to those who were shown to be have bested him.

LoganAura wrote:Blood looks to the sky, waiting for the two ponies to speak directly to him first so as not to interupt the conversation, but racking his brain about Miss Aurora.

Spoiler:

Aurora Night, she's the Constelation: Taurus. Her cutie mark (currently hidden beneath her clothing) is a rainbow between two stars. She's one of the eight that are currently within Frostfalls. There are currently three other constellations who are out and about doing various tasks such as: visiting nearby villages, acting as an ambassador to the south, or investigating any troublesome problems that may have occurred. And there should be another constelation, but just last year, the eldest of the group had passed away and you haven't heard of any new ones.

Aurora Night is the unofficial leader, acting as a mayor would, for Frost Falls, and rumors say that Ebonblade has a crush on her. She'll be leading the ceremony at sunset to raise the moon, as is her duty. She's known to be the keeper of the Moon Opal, the centerpiece of the moon-raising ritual.

Caden2112 wrote:Carn bowed slightly, showing respect to the lady, at least for the moment. "Thank you, Lady. It was a fine race, it was good to participate in it," he stated, trying to avoid causing offense. "I must admit, I'm looking forward to the main event as well, though..." He wasn't really sure if the griffon just had a hopeless crush on her, or if he had some white-knight complex...But he certainly seemed to want to latch onto her and never let go...It was a little odd, really.

"Yes, the race has been a great way to raise our city's spirits," she says politely, "for that, all the racers have my thanks. Oh, and if you haven't seen the main event before, I do hope you look forward to it. It's a one-of-a-kind ceremony that we'll be performing. It's not everyday everyone gets to see how the moon is raised." She then looks up to the sky for a moment. "It appears we only have a couple minutes before the award ceremony, please you two," she points nods at both Ursus and Camellia, "if you would make your way to the pedestal. And now we just need that Timberwolf."

Camellia walks over to the indicated place and waits.

Carn nodded, heading to the pedestal as well, glancing around. There...Really wasn't much else to make of the situation at the moment.

Nihil doesn't say much but follows behind the rest of the group. He still looks a bit tired from the race but is doing his best to keep up and occasionally flies to give his legs a break.

Nihil is surrounded in a blood red glow and is lifted onto the back of the unicorn. "You tired kiddo? Don't worry, bud, if you're tired just climb onto my back." Blood hums a soft lullaby as he walks, waiting for the ceremony to start. Although something twitches at the back of hsi mind.
if there're supposed to be twelve constelations... shouldn't they try to find a new one asap?

LoganAura wrote:Nihil is surrounded in a blood red glow and is lifted onto the back of the unicorn. "You tired kiddo? Don't worry, bud, if you're tired just climb onto my back." Blood hums a soft lullaby as he walks, waiting for the ceremony to start. Although something twitches at the back of hsi mind.
if there're supposed to be twelve constelations... shouldn't they try to find a new one asap?

You figure that they probably are searching at this point, or even have their eyes on some ponies but you haven't heard of any new official constellations yet. Surely it won't be much longer until they announce the newest member of their order.

The timberwolf didn't exactly hide well in the crowd, being as tall as a pony, with its garish bow adding another head height. But he hung back at the stalls as they approached the centre area, to check things out... Most definitely not because of being afraid of the fire rock. It was just an interesting festival is all.

But when they started to clearly look for him, with the group beginning to step towards a podium thing, he resigned himself to his fate. If he wanted to accept his prize, he'd need to walk towards the flame. A small layer of snow covering him from casual walking, hopefully dampening him just in case, he comes up to the podium and ponies awaiting awards. "My apologies for cutting it close to time. It is my first time at the festival from the inside of town." He bows to the one clearly in charge.

"Ah Blood Mage are you sure that is the best of ideas? It seams to me that er Nihil was it wants to be treated as an Adult...actually how old are you or is there some sort of strange conversion into dragon years?"

Blood glances at the pegasus. "Well, even though he's possibly older than me, he's still technically a baby in his race. As such, I'll treat him like I do teenage colts and fillies." Blood smiles slightly- happy that he doesn't seem to have scared somepony away.

RavenscroftRaven wrote:The timberwolf didn't exactly hide well in the crowd, being as tall as a pony, with its garish bow adding another head height. But he hung back at the stalls as they approached the centre area, to check things out... Most definitely not because of being afraid of the fire rock. It was just an interesting festival is all.

But when they started to clearly look for him, with the group beginning to step towards a podium thing, he resigned himself to his fate. If he wanted to accept his prize, he'd need to walk towards the flame. A small layer of snow covering him from casual walking, hopefully dampening him just in case, he comes up to the podium and ponies awaiting awards. "My apologies for cutting it close to time. It is my first time at the festival from the inside of town." He bows to the one clearly in charge.

"Ah, perfect, right on time." Aurora says. With the three first-placers on the pedestal, she looks at a list of paper with numbers and names, which she slid from within a pocket of her jacket. "Let's see... we have, Glenrir... Blackwell... and Ursus. Is that right?" She asks. Nodding at each of you as she says the corresponding names.

Ebonblade seems to frown, in a way that only gryphons can, at the mention of Blackwell. "I could have sworn that there was a minotaur that went by that name," he mutters.

"I am Glenrir, that is correct." He confirms as he approaches the others.

"I'm Carn Ursus, yes." He looked at Glenrir, smiling a bit in recognition of the racer.

"Sure." Camellia replies, content with them saying whatever name they want to the crowd who will forget the name and what she looks like soon enough anyway.

---

Yeah, she's gonna use her Untraceable racial feature on the crowd once she's up there. Though not on the PC characters, because that would be just annoying.

"Good," the unicorn says. She then uses her magic to cast a spell on herself. In the next moment, her voice calls out clearly through the market square.

"Good citizens and traveler, before you stands the Champions of Winter. Placing first in the competition, smashing the previous record and earning the 100 bit prize is Glenrir." She levitates a sack of coins over to Glenrir and then levitates a crescent moon-shaped blue-metal medallion and places it around his neck.

"In second place, only seconds behind, is none other than," she pauses a bit and glances down at her list, "Blackwell, she is awarded 50 gold for second prize." She levitates a smaller sack and places a silvery star-shaped medallion around Camellia's neck.

"In third place, following just as closely is Ursus. For third place he shall be awarded 20 gold." Yet another smaller bag is levitated, and Ursus is awarded a circular bronze medal, presumably resembling the full moon.

"A fine race was run today, and I say a special thanks to all who participated, and hope for as spectacular achievements for next year as well. Thank you!" The crowd let's out a cheer as she finishes her award speech. Once the cheering dies down she speaks up again. "Look forward to the 'Exquisite Equestrian Extravaganza', the troupe of southerners which have graced us by agreeing to perform tonight and keep the holiday cheer until the moon rises"

(OOC: You three gain the title Champions of Winter, which grants you a permanent +2 bonus to all persuasion checks made within the city of Frostfalls. Even if Camellia is forgotten, as long as she has the medal she can gain the bonus.)

The crowd erupts in cheers. During which you hear two children arguing about which one is faster, the bear or the wolf. Many members of the crowd come forth (particularly toward Ursus and Glenrir) offering congratulations and asking for signatures.

After a minute or so the rest of the crowd gets back to enjoying the celebration.

Carn enjoyed himself a little, happy to be honored for his actions, and giving his signature as requested (Though it was still more of a scrawl,) chuckling as he heard the debates...Though he had to admit he was content to see the crowd disperse after a time, looking around for his recent acquaintances, as well as trying to puzzle out what he wished to do next. Perhaps he could listen to the music for a time...Though he had to admit he wanted to see the main event up-close, but it wouldn't be for a while yet...

Camellia decided she'd at least stick around to see what the event would look like. In the meantime she could kill time by finding that amusing dragonling. Not that she really cared one way or another about having anyone to keep her company, she told herself.

LoganAura wrote:Blood glances at the pegasus. "Well, even though he's possibly older than me, he's still technically a baby in his race. As such, I'll treat him like I do teenage colts and fillies." Blood smiles slightly- happy that he doesn't seem to have scared somepony away.

"Ugh. Ya know what? Fine. If you really wanna treat me like a kid, I'll try to enjoy it," Nihil says with a disgruntled frown despite being somewhat thankful for the ride.

Blood bounces a little, trying to make the ride fun for the kid as he wanders around. "So, Kiddo. Anything you want to do?"

At about this time Camellia came up and said wryly, "Why's he keep callin ya a kid? You're a baby dragon, not a baby goat."