DEVOTION ETERNAL,

𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐑 !

rivalries are put aside, and camaraderie takes their place. and for the golden deer, pulling neck and neck with the eagles and lions despite having the fewest contestants in the ring is all the reason to celebrate! or so rosado and hortensia thought. at the post-tournament grand banquet, the elusian pair have set up a golden deer corner, complete with yellow and cervid decor and drapery, and both hosts arrayed in house colors and face paint. "three cheers for knoll! three cheers for hilda! three cheers for eliwood!" "fear the deer!" a celebration lifting up the class heroes who'd carried them from underdog into the spotlight, and for all the deer who cleared the way valiantly to let them get there: —hip-hip hooray!

FOOD & DRINK:

—  CUPCAKE DECORATING  ╱  from yellow-sugar icing to pretzel antlers to cookie toppings shaped like deer, there's no shortage of supplies to make your cupcakes look any which way you want.

—  CARAMEL MERINGUES  ╱  a triple layer of chocolate and caramel in glass containers, tied off with a bit of string attached to a spoon. perfect to grab and take with you, or feed to a loved one.

—  DOE POPS  ╱  cake pops shaped like deer heads! and something sticking out of each one. a paper fortune? what does yours say?

—  GOLDEN SPICE CIDER  ╱  a warm and buzzy autumnal drink, perfect for the season and sure to banish any chills. both alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties available.

—  CROUCHING CHOCOLATE, HIDDEN STAG  ╱  a culinary minigame? a table is arranged with a terrarium-like miniature woodland display, complete with moss, trees, golden deer flags, and a herd of deer themselves. one item in this display is made of chocolate. how many things are you willing to bite to find which one it is?

ARTS & CRAFTS:

—  THIRTY-POINT CROWN  ╱  craft your own glorious headpiece with paint, twigs, and twine to show off your deer pride! who can boast the most impressive rack? ( of antlers, duh. what were you thinking? )

—  WOOD CARVING  ╱  for the dexterous and crafts-minded, a setup with display and instructions to carve your own wooden deer to take home. organizers are not responsible for injuries.

—  DEERLY BELOVED  ╱  a stack of deer-shaped paper and pens greet you. "write a compliment and stick it onto its recipient!" the instructions say. if you're fast, maybe they won't even know it's you.

—  READY-TO-PAINT CERAMICS  ╱  a station of unfired bowls and plates and small vases invites you to decorate them however you want! several stencils are provided for the uninitiated, or you can go where your hart takes you.

—  DECORATE A FRIEND  ╱  from washable paint to stick-on sequins, glitter bombs and pinnable deer tails. find a willing victim to array in deer spirit — or make one.

GAMES:

—  FÓDLAN CHESS  ╱  a traditional strategy board game using a triangle-shaped board that can be played by two to three people. the objective is to be the first to move all your pieces to one of the other corners by jumping over your opponents' pieces. are you up for the competition?

—  LIMBO  ╱  everyone knows that being a deer isn't just about strength or smarts, but flexibility. challenge mode: wear an antler crown while playing, and don't let it fall off your head!

—  ANTLER TOSS  ╱  you have five tries to land as many rings on the tines as you can for a prize. if a friend is willing, they can wear the antlers on their head for you to aim at instead!

—  DEER PONG  ╱  the classic party game, with alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions. some say that the non-alcoholic one misses the point of the challenge, but at least it lets everyone play, right?

—  HEADLOCK  ╱  in a classic show of strength, stamina, and bravado, it's time to wrestle like the stags do! put on a headdress of real oaken antlers ( not light, that ) and lock heads with your opponent to throw them to the ground! no use of other body parts or implements allowed.

GUIDELINES:

reblog this ask meme to indicate that your muse is participating! anyone who's reblogged the meme is automatically accepting asks, so no need to double-check. 　

please be mindful of not only waiting for interactions to come to you, but try to be proactive about sending to others too. it's not quite polite to always expect others to do the work! 　

muses from any house are welcome! it's a celebration meant for everyone. 　

Marianne 5/5HP critically hits Eitri 1/6HP with Blizzard [Roll: 11 + 2 = 13] [-2HP x 2 = -4HP] Eitri 0/6HP Eitri has been defeated!

She can't help but smile a little. She had taken another enemy out!

Valter and his silly hat are still too far away... Surely Hilda wouldn't mind... Too much...? If she targeted Chrom? It would be better to do as much damage as she could before wasting time moving right?

Marianne 5/5HP hits Eitri 1/6HP with Blizzard [Roll: 11 + 2 = 13] [-2HP] Eitri 0/6HP

The sage does not even get the chance to scream. Any last words are swallowed by the vortex of cold, unactivated scarabs falling from numb fingers, nestling amongst the blades of grass. The cold is too much, and Eitri’s consciousness begins to fade. Before the world goes back, her mind scrambles to make note of a bionic upgrade she’d attend to the moment she reawakens…

... And as her gaze continued down the line of opponents, who might have guessed that she would find Chrom in the line-up? Perhaps somebody with a better grasp of statistics could have calculated the odds, but she simply sent him a charming smile that said, "Good luck! If you hit me, I'll kill you!"

Clearly, her message landed, as when Chrom's strike was unleashed, it was towards the Deer to her right, one she was unfamiliar with. It was an impressive attack; Hilda started to cheer but was reminded of their current status as enemies and settled instead for a congratulatory wink.

Pink eyes settled back on the one directly facing her. She knew of the knight -- she had painstakingly picked out a holiday gift for him one year, after all -- but not well enough to judge his intentions.

With a decisive step forward, she swung.

Hilda 5/5HP hits Valter 5/5HP with Iron Axe [Roll: 12 - 4 = 8] -2.5HP Valter 2.5/5HP

Her blade found its mark.

Sage makes her way down the field and finds herself new allies and new opponents. She barely gets a moment to take in her surroundings, to absorb the faces of those around her before she is encased in a thick layer of snow. 

Marianne 5/5HP hits Eitri 6/6HP with Blizzard [Roll: 1d20+2=21] -2HP Eitri 4/6HP Eitri is frozen!

For most of the duration of the first fight, Eitri finds herself struggling to dig herself out of the tomb of snow conjured upon her. As if that weren't enough, another shock of magic courses through her while she is imprisoned in her icy tomb, wracking her with a stinging pain.

Tormod 3/6HP critically hits Eitri 4/6HP with Tannenbit [Roll: 10 + 2 = 12] [-1.5HP x 2 = -3HP] Eitri 1/6HP

Fuming and cursing, she pushes past the icy sensation seeping into her skin and furiously punches through the layers and layers of snow. Gods, she misses her second incarnation, where she had dulled her senses to temperature.

At last, she breaks out of her snow prison, sneering and shivering. It is quite difficult to look intimidating with the point of her hat drooping and bangs plastered to her face. Which one had casted that blasted blizzard? Her eyes jump across the Golden Deer assembled before her, her focus narrowing on in the red head standing in between the two girls.

Eitri 2.5/6HP hits Tormod 3.5/6HP with Blizzard [Roll: 12] [-1HP] Tormod 2.5/6HP

From her bag of toys, her hands find a freezing cylinder, factures of ice on its surface. Eitri winds her arm back and throws, the object flying in a wide arc before landing at the red haired mage’s feet where it promptly explodes, unleashing an ice storm directly in the young mage’s face.

Alear 2/5HP rotates the team to the left.

Rather than prepare to strike again with his blade though, he sheathes it to swap in the pair of gauntlets he’d brought along as a reserve weapon, aiming to make what could likely be his last move count. Even if he can’t take out the thunder mage altogether, he can certainly set up the opportunity for his teammate to finish the job...

Somehow, some way, the enemy healer is still standing. Had she altered her machines too far? Out of the corner of her eye, one of the mages — the white haired one with quite the intriguing appearance — is pocketing the beetles that failed to detonate. Eitri’s eye twitches; she would need to have a word with them once the fighting ceased…

Eitri pulls a singular beetle from her bag and closes her fist around it. A current of seiðjárn courses through her hand, sparks jumping from under tucked fingers. She throws it into the air, its wings buzzing to life, and it hovers there for a moment. With a loud mechanical whir, the beetle grows, bronze plates shifting to accommodate for its expansion. It grows to the size of a foal, its fluttering wings kicking up a breeze, before diving right at Dwyer.

Eitri 6/6HP critically hits Dwyer 2/6HP with Swarm [Roll: 20 + 2 = 22, -2HP; Dwyer 0/6HP]

But she does, because she will not let her own misery be the downfall of those that have been declared her allies.

"Thank you..."

Pulled away from the bite of enemy blade, she is safe now to coax open her tome once more.

Ishtar 3/6HP hits Alear 3.5/5HP with Thunder [Roll: 10, -1.5HP; Alear 2/5HP]

Eitri had been expecting a true spectacle from the dragon man, but he proves his mortality quickly. Sneering, she watches him hobble off the field for the medical tents. A pathetic display. Such power would be better used in more knowledgeable hands…

“You do not need to tell me, I know what to do.” Eitri snaps, following her remaining teammate as they shift formation. She rummages through her belt bag and hurls another swarm at the healer.

Eitri 6/6HP hits Dwyer 3/6HP with Swarm [Roll: 15, -1HP; Dwyer 2/6HP]

Ishtar 3/6HP misses Alear 3.5/5HP with Thunder [Roll: 4, -0] 

She curses under her breath, frustration twitching benign features. Lightning scatters wide, not at all interested in its target, and Ishtar's tome snaps shut in her hand. How pathetic.

The man standing beside her disappears, replaced by a hulking dragon instead. Eitri’s eyes glimmer with excitement as he charges into combat. What power! What might! What majesty!

Eitri 6/6HP hits Dwyer 3/6HP with Swarm [Roll: 5 + 2 = 7, -0HP; Dwyer 3/6HP]

The thrill rushing through her veins is quickly replaced by sour disappointment. She throws another swarm of beetles at Dwyer, only for them to fizzle and pop midair, falling dead to the grass.

“Shit.”

He wonders if he’s at least a little more prepared for it, this time.

Alear rolls 5+2 = 7 for initiative! Alear 5/5HP hits Ishtar 6/6HP with Armorslayer [Roll: 15, -1.5HP; Ishtar 4.5/6HP]

The tall man on the opposing team carries a staff and is positioned to assist either of his allies as needed — troublesome even if it means one less opportunity for them to attack. Unable to reach him from his current distance however, Alear’s only option is to strike at the closer of the two mages instead, a sword meant for rending armor cutting into unprotected skin with even greater ease.

This was the only instruction imparted to Eitri when the staff had mandated that she sign up for the annual mock Battle of Eagle and Lion. She was not going to, initially; it all seemed like a waste of time to the sage. But her employers, for once, are firm and so off to Gronder she treks, grumbling the whole way. Where was the fun in a non-lethal battle? True war would not be like these games played on sprawling green lawns; loss is integral to the war machine. It was best that these students learn early.

She is fighting alongside two others against a trio from the famed house of mages: the Black Eagles. Eitri glances at her compatriots; the aura surrounding the two men is strong, almost oppressive, and surely nonhuman. A smile tugs at her lips. Perfect… post-battle cannot come soon enough.

The young man with a vibrant head of red and blue leaps forward, sword in hand, and strikes the mage standing before him; the blade cuts through cloth with little resistance. At this pace, the battle should be quick work. She hopes their third, a taller, older gentleman, is as competent. 

Eitri produces small metal things from her belt — bronze scarab beetles. She had spent hours upon hours tinkering with the mechanisms to render them non-lethal. A quick scan over the opponents gathered before them; her eyes lock on the young man carrying a staff. 

Eitri 6/6HP hits Dwyer 6/6HP with Swarm [Roll: 16 + 2 = 18, -1HP; Dwyer 5/6HP]

She winds up her arm and throws her handful of beetles at the enemy healer. As they fly through the air, the bronze bugs whir to life and swarm him, exploding in bright flashes upon contact.

“This is only won when they can no longer stand. We’d be wise to take out their life support.”

The commission proves much more interesting that she had originally assumed, much to Eitri’s delight. Upon arrival, the duke seems quite delighted to see that Garreg Mach had sent Eitri — he is quite handsome, but the more she stares, the more a faint suspicion tugs at the back of her mind. The answer to her many questions is soon produced: the heirloom turns out to not be some old, cursed relic or dusty collection of gems, but an alchemical solution that supposedly grants beauty itself. The duke tells her that he will leave Eitri to the scientific side of things, and she is more than content to sink her fangs into research before the night reveals yet another revelation: the duke is a monster. Eitri stands in the hall, watching as long, unnatural shadows spread across the wall, illuminated by the flickering candlelight. A hand goes to her belt, fist closing around a clump of small metal spheres… 

She does not know how long she stands in the hall, watching the writhing duke. She is only jolted out of her fascinated daze when his door slams shut, followed by the faint sound of tinkling glass.

By sunrise, it seems as though order had returned to the home. The duke reappears to check on progress, as beautiful as ever. She waits until the duke is out of earshot before turning to the student that had accompanied her — Eitri has no idea why he had been so insistent on coming along after her. Ephraim had no magical talent; he is the very picture of a muscle-headed oaf; tall, broad, and no aptitude for the finer subject of magic. None that Eitri could see, anyway. But he is not useless — in fact, the next phase of her scheme would rely on his cooperation. 

“Have you seen the duke after sunset? Or, well, the monster that wears the duke’s skin?”

Eitri gazes over the papers littering her worktable, calculations and theories scrawled across every inch. With new knowledge of the monster in the house with them, her priorities and goals for the project have shifted to be more personal. Was it the heirloom that had transformed him into this beast? The idea of an army of beautiful monsters, able to slip into every corner of society…

 “I’m leaving. Just after dusk, tonight. And I am taking my research with me.” 

Eitri sweeps her collection of papers into a neat stack, and tucks the phial of distilled beauty into a pouch on her belt.

“You will go find the duke and restrain him. Tie him up. I do not care how you do it. I want him in my classroom upon my return.”

Her eyes flash dangerously.

“Am I understood?”

She was never one to listen or give time to gossip in the past. But in a large academy with dozens and dozens of fellow students, it isn't long before topical rumors reach her ears. One of the most prominent rumors being haunted beings residing in the nearby woods. And every time it is brought up, the whispers sound so fearful, so anxious...

So annoying! How is a girl supposed to focus on studying when she can't go ten minutes without hearing another horrified recollection of a ghost sighting. It's not like she is actually frightened by such silly claims. How could she be, when she's already faced down so many undead baddies and ghouls back home? Being scared by a simple spectre now, how ridiculous!

...but, hypothetically, just in case there was some ghost wandering in the forest, it is up to her to stop the needless rumor-spreading! All she needs to do is go in there at the supposed time of sightings, give it a little shot with these custom anti-ghost arrows, and they will simply go away! And then the academy can go back to normal without dumb stuff being spread.

With nothing but blind faith, Faye finally catches a lead in the woods: a wayward source of light. Surely it is just a scare tactic from the ghost to send everyone into a panic. But she won't be easily swayed! Just a little closer and she can get a better line to shoot from-

The light quickly swirls in a 180-degree rotation to face the student, revealing a short woman wielding...wielding...something?? The unfamiliarity of the metal in her hands and suddeness of the turn is more than enough to strike fear into Faye's heart, immediately making her pounce back and nearly drop her bow.

Her worry is retained as the senior (at least she assumes her senoritiy from her belittlement of Faye's student position) speaks, though a new feeling of vexation is thrown into the mix as she keeps talking. 

"Well, in my defense," Faye tries hard to make a comeback once finally finding her voice from the depths of her stomach, "I never believed in the spirits! I just wanted to prove they were all-"

Slow and shuffling, the ‘ghosts’ of the forests shuffle into view. Disfigured humanoid things made of mud and dirt and stone, animated by the souls of the dead Eitri had dug up. Maybe there was some truth in the superstitions, of the old crones who warned against disturbing the dead. Eitri is feeling the bite of her pragmaticism; the earthen shells couldn’t speak, but way the homunculi shuffle towards teacher and student conveyed a deep, deep rage.

“They can’t see,” Eitri breathes, voice a strained whisper. “I made them from the earth. If you move, the vibrations…”

Her voice trails off, eyes glued to the figures shuffling around the clearing. Eitri’s gaze flicks to the girl’s bow.

That predicament is what had led Eitri out into the outskirts of Garreg Mach, to a seemingly abandoned chapel town, to work on her more… dubious experiments. She had made her best efforts to keep her off-the-clock escapades as secretive as possible, and for a good long while it seemed to work — but given how volatile the nature of her work is, she supposed it was only a matter of time before something went horribly, catastrophically wrong.

It could be worse, all things considered. Her obsession with the soul and its transfer had consumed her thoughts even in Fódlan, and Eitri reasoned perhaps a living soul was too difficult to work with. To understand the principles of such magic, she would turn to the dead, who’s souls should — supposedly — have been laid to rest, and theoretically much easier to work with. The first couple tests had gone well, yielding results that near delighted Eitri. It was elementary magic, getting the souls of the deceased into the various statues around the monastery. She had only hoped that no one would notice a few missing statues from the garden — or a few missing bodies from the graveyard.

And then, one terrible afternoon, when she had returned to her makeshift workshop in the chapel ruins, the statues were simply gone. No where to be found. And then the rumors started — of ghosts in the woods, spirits haunting the grounds. 

That is how Eitri finds herself deep in the thicket, the darkness of the wood around her illuminated only by dancing firelight swirling around her fingertips. Footsteps behind her makes her spine stiffen, and she turns, Grim Brokkr ready to fire —

She sneers. “A student? Are you from that damned ‘ghosthunters’ brigade? Get out of here, it is forbidden to be so deep in the wood. Shouldn't you know that? There are no spirits, you stupid child, do you truly believe everything spouted at—?”

The rustle of leaves; the crack of a branch. Eitri freezes. Something else — someone else — is coming their way.

She grits her teeth. “Do. Not. Move.”