Hellooooooo party people! As promised, the mod squad would like to try something a little experimental in terms of dealing with the first half of the month’s plot! If this is something that works/you guys enjoy, we would be happy to do this again! If this doesn’t, nbd, we’ll just give you our home addresses and you can come flog us.
THE BIG BAD Calderas, being magical in nature, have a handful of days every year where they produce extra magical energy. May 1st is one of these days, and in our lore, Beltane is a result of this magical phenomenon. Rituals performed on Beltane would normally invoke a Green Man-like creature that would bring good tidings to the area in the form of more successful spellwork, good weather, fertility, heightened abilities, and a chance to form a deeper connection with the magic inside the caldera. Since the Yellowstone Caldera is corrupted, so is this creature.
With many ‘old ways’ forgotten, THE SHADE was not strong enough to manifest without a ritual, and this is why the trees snatched up your characters. It sapped (hurhurhur) their energy to give to the Shade, and in turn, it sealed the deal by possessing the characters found in the clearing earlier this month and performed a ritual that enabled it to manifest.
The corrupted Shade doesn’t quite ‘remember’ what it’s supposed to be, but it’s still trying to do its job.
Sort of.
It’s brought rain, weird hookups, and out of control abilities, but it’s not done. The blackouts that characters are experiencing are due to the Shade possessing them, and attempting to walk them to Yellowstone to sacrifice them, so it’s probably a good idea if you guys stop him.
WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU We would love to use this post as a means for you guys to come up with a solution to defeating the shade! Input, ideas, suggestions, questions, etc. If you’re unsure of how to proceed, but would like to involve your character anyway, that’s perfectly fine! If we don’t have some viable options by May 15th, we’ll probably shoulder-tap volunteers on this post to deal with the Shade!