Let the Festival Begin [Day 143 | Day 144]

[bastionmods]

Who: EVERYONE
Open: Open
When: Day 143 & 144
Where: All over the Bastion
What: The first two days of the Harvest Festival
Format Any
Warnings: None

For the past week or so, it may feel like to some that the Bastion is gearing up for something. And not anything bad, either. Something good and oh so needed. It's not just the people, the Caels and the Ura that are aware of what the coming days would mean if the world was still intact. It's like the very Bastion itself has suddenly gained new life, and there's a power over it that's greater than any person, creature or Core.

Anyone who is still awake as dawn breaks over the Bastion may find themselves inexplicably tired for no reason at all, and unable to give in to an intense need to close their eyes, just for a moment.

When everyone wakes, and I do mean everyone, the Bastion will be transformed. Decorations, lights strung across every angle, wreaths, tables with colorful cloths over them, streamers and banners and so much stuff just seemingly out of nowhere! The entire Bastion, suddenly a vibrant, beautiful place for a celebration. And not just any celebration.

The Harvest Festival!

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DAY 143 : Day of Plenty and Chance

[bastionmods]

Note: Pyth the Mechanical Bull will need to be brought to the Bastion from a location on the Skyway. People can offer themselves up for this task. There will be no monster attacks, but it will not be an easy task, especially for anyone not all that technically gifted. This is a special quest and those who go to retrieve him will find themselves gifted with extra shards for their troubles.
-For the remainder of the festival, there will be a challenge to everyone to try to survive in a pit the longest on him. Those who don't get struck by the bull the longest will receive a special prize at the end of the day.

Now on to the festival proper:

There seems to be an awful lot of decorations that depict a shapely, beautiful woman either along side the bull, or actually riding him. These decorations will stay throughout the festival. On day one, though, pinwheels will also be present everywhere, along with a lot of thick, leafy branches twining around buildings and other structures, especially around the distillery and kitchen.

That said, there is also a massive long table outside. Think Nordic style, all of heavy wood and intricate designs. And on that long table? Food. So. Much. Food. More than anyone in the Bastion has seen since the Calamity. Where did it come from? Who cares! It's food. Food and a lot of drink. Booze everywhere? Booze everywhere! Who the hell cares that there are underage children at this thing, BOOZE EVERYWHERE. There are stacks and stacks of plates, baskets of utensils, and everything including the food and drink seems to magically replenish whenever some one isn't looking long enough. There is meat! (Yes, even mammoth meat) Don't like meat? There's vegetables, tofu, fish, fruit... basically anything you can imagine, it's there. Stuff your faces, these are going to be the best meals you've had in months and probably will be the last great meal you have for several more months.

Speaking of buffets that rival that of Norse gods, there's also GAMBLING! Yes, suddenly the Bastion is Vegas, with steampunk style slot machines, card tables, dice tables and everything else in between! The only catch? You can only play with your own personal shards, and the odds are almost always in the houses' favor. For the smaller children, they can spend a shard each to play other more kid-friendly games like ones you'd find in a carnival (but much less rigged). There also seems to be a constant, calm, softly playing stream of music coming from somewhere, though no one will be able to find the source of it. It's all very gentle tunes, instrumental and without vocalization.

Also, residents might become aware that as they're leaving their homes or places of residence to join in on the festival, they'll suddenly have a small silver chain bracelet shoved in to their hands, some how exactly their wrist size - no bigger, no smaller. It's light, but it won't break easily, and it's highly recommended that it stay worn throughout the festival and even beyond it. Why? Well, you'll find out sooner or later.

Most of the festivities take place during the day, including retrieving Pyth and the gambling. As the day winds down in to "night" via cloud cover, one might notice that Ura-raised NPCs and PCs have taken on strips of red cloth around their upper arms, and seem to be far more somber than their fellow Cael survivors.

For the younger residents (15 and below) of the Bastion, they will find themselves gifted with red hooded cloaks, designed to mimic a bull. Suddenly everything is like Easter for them, but instead of eggs they must find small hidden gears all over the Bastion. A booth will be set up near the temple that Serena will be running, and those gears can be turned in for small prizes like candy and little toys (most of them having something to do with Rothaus and Olak).

For the adults, there will be a chance to actually bet on the bull vs the people going up against Pyth. There's also an eating contest, as if we need more excuse to stuff our faces. Winners of these things will also get prizes, of course.

As the evening winds down, the younger children will be encouraged to sleep outside, and will be told stories of Rothaus and Olak and their various godly adventures in the world before the walls and the holes until they fall asleep. Drinks will be refilled for the older crowd.

If anyone was awake around "midnight" before all this started, they will have witnessed a tall metal torch of various intricate designs: a gear on one side, and a bullhead on the other. Zulf has chosen to take up the duty of lighting the torches at the top where a spiky star resides. It happens again when night falls on the first day, with two more torches with Roathus' and Olak's symbols along with the gear and bull arrive to be lit.