Events post #261: The return of Varach Scolrys

2/3/2021 at 17:48
Anonymous
Everyone
The return of Varach Scolrys

The sounds of a party in progress carried themselves across the Mhojave desert, sourced from the inside of a newly-discovered sandstone tomb. Revelers and partiers led by Lord Sorrelion Sammonward the Fifth were quick to make themselves at home within the tomb, celebrating its unearthing by the archaeologist team led by Shahina Bell.

While Shahina gazed and gawked at the marvelous find, the team she led instead turned their attention towards turning the tomb into the perfect staging ground for a celebration: streamers were decked across swathes of sandstone to hang in the air, priceless pottery became adequate resting places for tankards and mugs, and of course, a burial vault was turned into a swim-up bar.

As they tend to do, the party grew, gathering more and more to witness the spectacle at hand and engage in the celebrations. The swim-up bar was a particularly popular place to be it would seem. As Shahina began to grow more nervous about the integrity of the tomb's contents, Lord Sammonward grew more nervous about the lack of spirits, a dilemma that was quickly fixed by the impromptu creation of a drink with what happened to be within reach. Where most would typically find cremated remains a less-than-ideal cocktail ingredient, the partiers carried forth with reckless abandon in their hearts and ancient people ashes in their drinks.

One drink became many, and before you knew it, a game of sorts erupted: Who could throw their mug into the sunken sarcophagus below. Lord Sammonward was the first to successfully land his into the sarcophagus, followed just after by Mjoll as the second. Unfortunately for those assembled, the disturbance of the sarcophagus awoke the slumbering spirit within. Seeking to once more return to corporeal form of power, the spirit bestowed a curse on those present: Tirria, Lilein, Mjoll, and Celeun were to officially become the first of the Cursed, tasked with spreading the gift to any and all they could come into contact with.

As the weeks went by, the curse grew precisely as intended, spreading from touch to touch with the would-be targets none the wiser until selected to join the ranks. What started as a handful of people carrying the curse multiplied to dozens; haphazard attempts at spreading it evolved into coordinated campaigns to bring as many as possible under the influence of the curse.

With every new person that was cursed, the spirit from the sarcophagus grew stronger. His voice could be heard speaking to those that carried his "gift" as some would come to call it, encouraging them to act out in his name. Their movements and notions would become less and less their own as his power grew.

And then he called upon them.

The spirit would bid those he'd cursed to sacrifice their cursed power to empower him so that he might finally, fully emerge - and so they did. As this deliverance started, those that clung to his power in refusal to deliver it to him found themselves gruesomely murdered by his hand for their greed.

When finally he had consumed enough power, Varach Scolrys emerged from his sarcophagus, made corporeal once more for the first time in centuries. Bloody flesh started to form upon his aged bones as the ancient Hlugnic necromancer reformed before the very eyes of those assembled.

Fully reanimated now, Varach expressed confusion and frustration over the state of the continent, so different now from the time he'd left it. His re-acclimation was cut short as tempers flared and an assault was launched upon him; he returned this assault with one of his own composed of swarming scarabs and necromantic possessions that saw dozens drop like flies.

Finding the tide turned against him after a grueling battle, Varach set forth a vining tangle of green-tinted bandages that ensnared his attackers. The ancient necromancer had one more trick up his sleeve: a curse he'd set upon those that dared raise a fist against him, one that would, in time, inevitably, result in their painful and excruciating demise. His curse set, Varach disappeared, retreating into the sands that'd previously assisted in hiding away the very sarcophagus that'd held him previously at bay.

Over the coming days and weeks, Varach's Rot would lay claim to those that opposed him one by one.

Penned by my hand on Quensday, the 13th of Arios, in the year 493 MA.
Tetchta

Comments

  • TiurTiur Producer
    Rewards are on their way. I initially had it claim your own, but I don't like that, so I'm redoing it to give out universally. Expect today/tomorrow.
    Tetchta
  • BraxBrax Immortal
    I'm also chiming in here with a best-of! We tried to keep track of a bunch of things that happened with this one, and thought that it'd make for a funny/interesting look at afterward. I poured over as many of the logs as I could, and so..

    Curse Event: Highlights

    First cursed from event: Tina, Tirria, Lilein, Mjoll

    Their first Cursemotes:

    Tirria -> Zenobia with a pat on the shoulder
    Tina -> Zenobia with a peck on the cheek
    Lilein -> Kanivara with a hug
    Mjoll -> Tetchta with an excited shoulder grab + shake

    First non-event cursed person at midnight roll: Tetchta

    Total number of cursed by the end of the event: 148

    Most popular method of cursing: Hugs. You monsters. There were exactly 100 cursemotes using hugs as the method of delivery. Second place was a pat, typically on the shoulder, with approximately 80 cursemotes going that route.

    First person to attempt to curse DIDI: Archelaus, WITH A HUG.

    First attempt to cursemote a god:

    Emote from Zenobia: inclines towards $Ivoln, her tail flicking wildly enough she accidentally makes contact with him

    ..followed exactly 4 minutes later by:

    Emote from Archelaus: rushes in, bumping into $Ivoln. The imp gasps in surprise before lowering his head reverently.

    Ivoln, unfortunately, was not cursed.

    That very same day, Tetchta stumbled into Omei via cursemote, followed by Axius daring to place a hand on Iosyne's leg only minutes later in an attempt to do the same.

    Severn presumably used artifice to not get cursemoted a single time.

    November 16th: The day Didi was successfully cursed :(

    First person from the Spirit Tether to be cursed: Melantha

    Most cursemotes:
    Archelaus: 39
    Mjoll: 33
    Fezzix: 30

    Most cursemote attempts made via sneaking cookies to people: Aolin, with 9 attempts.

    First person to cure themselves via delivering their accumulated curse: Gyana

    Players that ultimately died for not delivering their curse power to Varach: Azarae, Jarrhn, Jezreth, Tina, Menelaus, Rurthina, Legyn, and Zenobia
    RihrinLegynBenedictoTetchtaArchelausAlmolLinZeheia
  • RihrinRihrin Duiran
    edited February 2021

    Most cursemote attempts made via sneaking cookies to people: Aolin, with 9 attempts.
    NOOOO. NOT THE COOKIES!
    Aolin
  • BenedictoBenedicto Tentacles Errywhere!
    edited February 2021
    Brax said:


    First person to attempt to curse DIDI: Archelaus, WITH A HUG.


    image
    ZeheiaSaybre
  • TetchtaTetchta The Innocent
    Brax said:


    Mjoll -> Tetchta with an excited shoulder grab + shake

    Oh MAN I immediately caught Mjoll from this, too. The emote stood out to me because it wasn't a premote (GMCP grabbed it), and I remember being like "that's weird". So when this happened:
    Brax said:


    First non-event cursed person at midnight roll: Tetchta

    And I read all the Curse stuff I immediately messaged Mjoll and was like "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID!"
    Brax said:


    That very same day, Tetchta stumbled into Omei via cursemote.

    REALLY thought I was gonna get zapped for this lmao

    MjollSryaenLinDrystinIesid
  • LinLin Blackbird The Moonglade
    It is endlessly hilarious to me that during the event, apparently someone had greased the entire continent of Sapience
    Seurimas
  • You missed my attempt to curse Abhorash! Man just nudged me into the crushing embrace of one really huge rock man at BL west gate for the effort :(
    TetchtaAolin
  • TiurTiur Producer
    Rewards distributed. Sorry for the delay, no lie, my uncle died and I just lost the will for a day or two. Better now. There are some bugs, but I'm fixing.

    If you think you deserved a reward, email me, and we'll fix! The searching was intense and could have missed a person.

    Cursed = title, relicskill
    Supercursed = kitten
    Died to Varach = title
    Never touched = title
    TetchtaLegyn
  • TetchtaTetchta The Innocent
    Okay but can you at least explain how the shrub bug happened because that was hilarious.

  • I died to Varach -way- after the event. One of the last people walking around with the rot but no title for that one.

    Does Died to Varach here refer to people who died because they didn’t give up their curse when he asked?

  • TiurTiur Producer
    I searched everyone killed by Varach, including those that died to the rot much later. It was the major cause of lag when running the command.

    The shrub bug was because, in order to avoid input lag, we piggybacked off of shrubbing to make mummify. That's not too uncommon, because it's easier to check someone for an affliction (not the kind of affliction you're thinking of) of the type 'shrub' than it is to check them for possessing the state of mummification. So, when I tried to free the few people mummified, I stripped their mummification. I didn't realize it was piggybacking until halfway through fixing the bug, so by stripping it, but not the affliction itself, I made them into real shrubs.
    Tetchta
  • Oh, yeah, I'm dumb! I got cursed and cursed_rotten

  • how did someone get "super cursed" status? just curious.
  • TiurTiur Producer
    It was an amount of curse above a certain threshold I set. It required quite a bit of standing around in public, spreading the curse.
    Tirria
  • @Tiur sorry to hear about your uncle, mate. Hope you and your family are coming through it ok.
    LinTetchtaRhineSeurimas
  • TiurTiur Producer
    Thank you very much! It was unexpected.
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