stellafortunalogs | APRIL MID-MONTH MINGLE

April Mid-Month Mingle: Onward and Upward
Welcome to Teyvat - a vast magical world of adventure.
After the Windblume Festival wraps up, the outlanders' next mission arrives: onward to Dragonspine Mountain, where the remnants of the abyssal dragon and a lost nation await. The bright light shining at its peak seems almost like a lighthouse - calling to you.

It's hard not to be in awe of Dragonspine Mountain's size. The snow on the mountain never seems to stop falling, neither does it seem to melt - the biting cold numbs your fingers and brushes your face, muffling the footsteps of monsters in everlasting white. Dragonspine is dangerous, and has claimed the lives of countless explorers. You'll need to be extra careful to survive.

The pristine snow is marred in places by stains of red, and following the scarlet stones around the mountain eventually brings you to a dark cavern. A warm light shines forth from the stone buried within - just what is this strange object? Should you be leaving it here?

As the cold sets in, you come across the ruins of a buried city halfway up the mountain. The stone architecture and runes are eerily similar to what you have seen in Mondstadt's domains and temples. A locked gate bars your way up the mountain, but the five unlit runes that surround it hint strongly at missing keys.

The inside of Dragonspine Mountain is host to a rather large blue cave. The freezing cold permeates the inside of Starglow Cavern, so you're not likely to find shelter here. The cave is covered with ice crystals and blue plants, as well as large ice crystals that refuse to be melted by Pyro Vision users. You'll need something more powerful to free whatever is inside... like the power of a long-dead dragon, perhaps?

State of the World

After Dvalin's purification, there have been no further time loops as Mondstadt has finally synced up with the outside world. The Windblume Festival will run through to September 20th, giving characters plenty of time to relax and enjoy some vacation time. However, time waits for no man, and our heroes will be approached by the Adventurers' Guild on September 15th to join an expedition to Dragonspine Mountain.

For all questions regarding April's mid-month mingle and events, please head over to our OOC post.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Yep. Elliot hates this mountain. He was trying real hard to see the positives of this place, but coming into a cave to warm up just to find out it's got a creepy giant heart that's glowing omniously? He gives up, this place sucks.

Elliot was standing a safe few feet away from the heart any any of the surrounding red ore. Even if it was colder where he stood, there was something about that tinge of red that may Elliot feel way more uneasy. Curse bad man, curse bad.

He lets out practically a whine at Figaro's yolo idea]

Please don't.

[There is no way that'd end well. Elliot just KNOWS it]

[ figaro laughs at elliot's chagrin. ]

I'm just kidding. Even I know that it'd be a bad idea. You should at least try to get a closer look, Elliot. We didn't come all this way just for nothing, you know.

[ it's so warm and cozy here? there's absolutely nothing wrong with a literal beating heart in the vicinity, not at all. ]

[He gives a little sigh, though he's relieved. ]

Ah...I think I can see fine from here! Something about the red glow it's giving off ... I rather keep my distance.

Does it feel threatening to you? Don't worry, I'll do my best to protect you if it ever acts up.

[ it's his duty!! ]

[ 💧 ]

Er, thanks...but it's not something you can really protect from.

[He might as well explain himself]

If that's Durin, then that's the remains of the corrupted dragon Duvalin fought. And that red glow? It makes me think of a corruption curse back in my world.

Which if it is that...then that's really not something you should spend a lot of time near.

Edited 2021-04-21 02:36 (UTC)

[ figaro perks up. ] You've read up on Durin too? Zhongli had told me that this used to be a lush green mountain till Durin fell on this very spot. I didn't think we'd encounter his beating heart in the flesh...

[ he's just in awe, okay. but he does get where elliot's coming from. ]

We were able to purify Dvalin, didn't we? We could do the same thing to Durin's poor heart here. Although I'm not sure if I could perform a surgery of this magnitude just yet.

[He doesn't know who Zhongli is, but he makes a mental note of it and moves on] Well I am a musician. It's important to learn the local songs if you want work.

[And thus, he wound up hearing about Durin through those songs.]

Maybe, but it's probably it's easier said than done. Duvalin's curse was purified because we could still reach Duvalin's mind on some level. I... don't think we can do that with a dead body.

Point taken. Even then, resurrection magic on any level is forbidden in our world. Might be a bad idea to wake up the dead and have it wreck havoc on Mondstadt like its old buddy.

[ let sleeping dragons lie, as they say. ]

It was a good thing we reached out to Dvalin in time. If we didn't, we'll have no choice but to make another Dragonspine. Can you imagine?

[He's glad to hear you're against necromancy Figaro! But that last part...man. He makes an awkward sound that is almost close to a laugh without any notion of humor, and rubs the back of his head.]

...I don't have to imagine it.

[He lived it.]

Edited 2021-04-22 12:52 (UTC)

[ blinkblink. ]

Are you still afraid? At least take a step closer. Nothing's happened to me so far, if that helps.

[Sweet Aidios. This guy wasn't getting it was he? He makes an exasperated sound]

Boy, you really need things spelled out, don't you...

[He'll gesture at the heart and red glow]

In my world? We call this "The Curse". It was created a long time ago when two Sept-Terrion -- or "Archons" would be the closest Teyvat equivalent I guess -- clashed in battle.

[oversimplifying it by a lot, but Elliot don't have time for an hour of exposition]

If someone's affected, it'll slowly feed on any hatreds or insecurities they have, magnifying them in their mind until they lose all sense of reason. Then the Curse will compel them to commit atrocities: homocide, genocide, familicide ... some'll even try to cause the end of the world.

So...no! I'm not getting near it. And you really should step away from it too. We don't know what this Teyvat-variety curse can do and I rather not find out.

Edited 2021-04-25 06:04 (UTC)

[ he listens intently. ah, so elliot's world have something like that too. the world-ending thing, that is. ]

All right, all right, I'll back away.

[ holding up both his hands in surrender, he starts making his way towards the younger boy. ]

I have a friend who deals with curses, so I felt a little too confident over there. And just because I'm a simple doctor doesn't mean I'll let myself be cursed so easily. But you're right, and I apologize.

[ he just didn't want to be alone if he ever gets cursed, tbh. but hey, at least he doesn't feel anything weird yet. ]

What were you doing over here, anyway?

[He gives a little sigh of relief as he backs away. Yeah good]

It's alright...you just can't be too careful around this kinda thing. It got to people you wouldn't expect back home.

[it was a bad bad time]

Me? I was just exploring. I didn't expect to find this in here.

Haha, I'd say. No matter how protected you are, curses and illnesses will somehow creep up on you. Prevention is always better than a cure, as they say.

[ he turns to look at the heart once more. ]

Guess it's not hard to figure out what those blood-red stones are, if you put two and two together.

Yeah, true enough. Something to remember alright.

[He says to the man who was touching the obviously cursed heart just moments before.

He looks back at the heart as well]

...Yeah. It's probably his blood, or stones that were exposed to his blood. [Which means this is a mountain full of cursed blood rocks. Great] ... I wonder where he originally came from.

Maybe he came from outside Teyvat. There aren't a lot of records about the big guy outside of his fight against Dvalin, and his curse may not be the same as Dvalin with Abyss magic.

[ abyss magic doesn't tamper with blood, as far as he knows. ]

[Oh hey, they are surprisingly on the same wavelength. He nods]

...Yeah, that's possible. A similar incident happened in Erebonia a long time ago, and that dragon came from another plane as far as anyone could tell.

APRIL MID-MONTH MINGLE

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I thought I replied to this, oops!

welcomes u in my arms regardless

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