[Vionora]

Reminder: special event tomorrow... Konro and Breygrah are to duel to the death in Mak'gora! This may be the most epic moment thus far in the story – don't miss it!

I will need a couple volunteers to help keep the peace. If anyone has a character who would have the Mak'gora seen through to its end regardless of its conclusion, and would step up to prevent interference if it were threatened, please let me know.

[Vionora]

Hello everyone...

It's really hard to judge things like this, but I would currently estimate that we're about halfway through the plot. It officially began on the 15th of last month, and my general outline calls for about two months, give or take a few weeks. Just long enough to be epic without getting stale. So at this point, with some major plot points behind us, on this day of an actual solar eclipse on the equinox (is that cool or what!), I wanted to take the chance to say a few things.

First of all, thank you, everyone, for your participation, and all of your amazing contributions. Not everyone is as deeply enmeshed in some of the central driving dramas of the plot – those probably being Brey and Konro's conflict, and Vionora's tragedy/Malhavik's treachery – but Eclipse isn't just about those. It's about all of the other storylines, too. From how this is affecting the Grim/Sanctuary war, to Taozhu's uncovering of more and more lore, the strain on Darrethy and Alfirin, Grimal's quest for vengeance, Ninorra's desire to have agency, Naheal's authority figure issues, Kerala working to help, the Grim struggling with their problem members, Tirien being forced to face his own problems, Smithe's embrace of corrupt power, Stepanos' pursuit to eradicate evil... and how a myriad of other characters such as Kex'ti, Xaraphyne, Malethia, Khorvis, Syreena, Aaren, Fidjit, Leyu'jin, Ruuki, Lupinum, Lilliana, Shaena, and Talfryn are affected... Eclipse is about each and every one of them. How they react, how they change – what the challenges they face reveal about their nature. That's what I want this plot to really be about. And I'm glad you guys are finding in it the opportunities to do just that.

So thank you all for your wholehearted enthusiasm, your willingness to collaborate, to suspend disbelief, and to give each other a chance in the spotlight. I love writing with you all, and hanging out with you out of character as well. I know I've made some really good friends over the course of this and there has been pretty much no drama to speak of, which says something about what an awesome group of people we have. In and out of character, Eclipse has been everything I dared hope for but didn't dare expect.

Of course it takes a lot of work for all that to be. And it will continue to. I encourage anyone who has concerns, regarding the direction of a plot or subplot, their ability to participate, or anything else, to come to me, and I will ensure things are worked out to everyone's reasonable satisfaction. Also, Naheal has been invaluable in helping coordinate the plot, so many thanks to him, and if I'm not available, you can always ask him things too.

I look forward to another amazing month of roleplaying and writing. And maybe to planning the next epic plot after that.

Happy hunting!

[Vionora]

Next special event: Konro's funeral will be this Saturday at 9pm server.

[Vionora]

Eclipse Battle System – A Flexible GM-Assisted Combat System

This custom battle system is a mix of GM direction and a randomization element to help balance characters. It is for use in game with the assistance of an arbitrating GM and employs the /roll feature. Most of it can be explained on the fly, and will be by the GM, so no need to absorb all the details – but here are the full rules if you're interested.

A /roll is used to attack, or to defend versus an attack. The GM will assign values to players; most characters start with the basic /roll, which is of course 1-100, though some characters may have extra powers due to developments or mechanics of the plot. Curse-bearers high up on a well-populated chain, for example, could be rolling 1-125, while Accalia's Herald rolls considerably higher than the average character. (She needs to, facing off versus entire parties!)

An order of initiative is observed, with each player taking turns, but players may request to interrupt if they are struck by inspiration. The GM will generally permit this when it is appropriate and sufficiently dramatic, as long as everyone is having a good time.

How each turn goes is like this: Attacks are described in emotes, phrased as an attempt to strike. (Example: Vionora lashes out at Naheal with a wave of power, intending to throw him against the wall and pin him there. or Brammorn charges, bringing his sword down in a powerful overhead arc.) The attacker and defender then both /roll, and the difference indicates how successful the attack is. The GM can give some guidance, but the defender generally gets to interpret the results themselves, and emotes how they receive the attack. (Example: Breygrah catches the strike on her shield with a grunt, but is undeterred. She lifts her shield higher. or Vionora is struck by the blade, and staggers as blood stains her robes.) That completes the turn, and the next player makes their move.

There are thresholds for critical successes and critical failures. Anything within the top or bottom 10 points of a player's pool counts as a crit. For example, out of a /roll 1-100, anything between 1 and 10 is a critical failure, and anything between 90 and 100 is a critical success. A crit can either cause double damage, or allow an attack of opportunity. Rolling an actual 1 or 100 will result in... a very interesting turn of events.

Roll pools double as health pools. As damage is taken, the GM will direct players to modify their rolls. After taking a hit, a character may drop down to /roll 1-90 for example. This number can also go back up as characters are healed. "Tank" characters may take less damage than other characters, and certain characters may be more vulnerable to certain types of attacks. Area-of-effect attacks and heals do less damage or healing than targeted abilities.

Heals and buffs are rolled for to determine their effectiveness, with no counter-roll (unless someone tries to interrupt...). Debuffs are treated as a regular attack and can be resisted.

Buffs and debuffs that get successfully applied work in a flexible way. Depending on the type of buff or debuff, it will vary in how long it lasts, and what actions it applies to. Buffs or debuffs to attacks generally increase or decrease the attacker's pool. For example, berserking could raise a character from 1-100 to 1-120 for their next two attacks, when getting snared could lower it by a similar amount for the duration. Meanwhile, buffs to defenses generally increase the roll result – so after making the roll, the character gets to add a bonus to raise the final number.

The last and most important thing to know about this system is this... While the fight is ongoing, characters who are awaiting their turn are absolutely encouraged to make non-attack actions, continue the dialogue, emote their reactions, and otherwise contribute to the scene! This battle system is a way to help remove any concerns about unfairness, and give people a little mini-game to add suspense to play while having fun writing an awesome fight scene together. It is highly flexible, open to improvisation, and so far, very fun.

Happy hunting!

[Vionora]

Mark your OOC calendars: the Eclipse plot will officially have its last event on May 2nd. This will be the battle versus Accalia.

There will be several more events prior to that to participate in.

Happy hunting!

[Vionora]

Minor scheduling SNAFU... The end battle will need to take place one day later, on Sunday, May 3rd. Time TBA. Adjust your OOC calendars!

[Vionora]

The battle system explanation has been revamped. Don't worry, you don't have to memorize all of that! It's very easy to explain on the fly with the GM there to give directions. After a round or two everyone gets the hang of it. But if you're curious about the details, there they are. (Also it helps me to have it written down...)

[Vionora]

We're on track to break a hundred threads by the end. I may even be able to get a total word count... at least of the forum threads! Hard to imagine how much writing there has been total!

[Vionora]

The End of Eclipse

Hello all! I wanted to started organizing things for the end of this plot. There is a sequence of events to take place which will hopefully be fun and exciting and turn out some really excellent stories – on top of all the amazing stories we've had so far, that is!

If you have any loose ends, or wanted to have something in particular happen before the finale, please reach to me to coordinate. Here's what we have coming up so far...


Intensifying of the Curse

A thread will appear about this, but a heads up: for the last two weeks of the Eclipse, all marked individuals will feel the curse intensify. Those at the bottom of a curse chain will be forced to more extreme measures to cope, and those on top of one will find their power greatly increased. This may inspire some concern as to why this is happening...


The Final Battle

The battle against Accalia when she finally emerges into the mortal realm will take place on May 3rd at 2pm server. Horde and Alliance are welcome; I will do my best to communicate over battle.net to our wonderful Alliance players, who I'm sure will have an excellent time on their side.

For the final battle, there will be some roleplay combat followed by a raid boss encounter. Keep an eye out for emerging forum threads to set up the event, including the location.

Immediately following the final battle will be a special forum roleplay event. Due to the timing, please read the next part now so you can be prepared on the day of the battle to incorporate this second event into your roleplay.


Twilight Nightmares

While we're still about two weeks out from the final battle, I wanted to get everyone started preparing for a special roleplay event to be held via the forums, as it will be occurring chronologically immediately after the in-game event. We'll want to aim to have most of this sorted by then, but do expect a little bit of timing haziness for awhile... it's inevitable!

This forum event is open to any character who was involved with the Eclipse in any way, who could have attracted Accalia's attention somehow – getting marked, investigating the curse, being at the final battle... any excuse, really. It doesn't matter where the character is at the time it happens; whether they were at the final battle or in another place entirely, they can still participate.

It is also possible for anyone to decline participating in this event by saying Accalia simply didn't pull their character in for one reason or another, including an unknown reason (who knows what those crazy ancient gods are doing!). But if you are interested, it's a unique opportunity to present your character with a very personal, possibly life-changing challenge.

What is this challenge? A small spoiler: When Accalia's mortal form is defeated, she is not done. She retreats into the twilight realm... and she takes the heroes with her. There, their own psyches, under her influence, will concoct a scenario in which the characters find themselves – each one their own individual nightmare.

It's very anything goes. Your character can face their inner demons, horrors from their past, fears for the future... There are no set themes other than it's supposed to be a nightmare of your character's worst imaginings. What that means is up to you.

However, the twilight realm is limited in some ways. Some nightmares will end up overlapping, and characters may find each other within the twilight. Feel free to coordinate this with other players.

Of course, it's all Accalia's doing... so it's possible she could make an appearance in your character's nightmare. Perhaps as the main instigator, or even wearing a familiar face turned hostile. But she might simply hide as well. After all, it's in the twilight realm where she truly exists... and therefore could be finished off.

Depending on how the warning spreads, characters may or may not be aware of the nightmare's coming; but even if they are, with influence over their psyche, Accalia might be able to suppress that knowledge for a time when it happens. Characters may or may not be aware of or remember the need to defeat Accalia in the twilight realm as well. Should, however, enough characters prevail over their individual nightmares, and defeat Accalia in the twilight realm, the curse cycle may be permanently ended.

Please speak to me if you have any questions or concerns, or if you'd like to discuss ideas for individual circumstances. I will be posting here to keep everyone apprised of events as they develop.

Happy hunting!

[Vionora]

Nightmare FAQs

Who will get drawn into in the nightmare?
Anyone who wants their character to participate can, so long as they can provide a modicum of explanation for how Accalia, the curse, or the Eclipse touched them in some way. Any player can also choose to not have their character drawn in for whatever reason they like, including an unspecified reason.

My character won't be at the final battle, but I want to do the nightmare.
Such is Accalia's power that your character can get drawn into the nightmare from wherever they are at the time of Accalia's defeat.

Where are the characters during the nightmare?
They are physically transported to the twilight realm and do not exist in Azeroth (or wherever else) for the duration.

How much time do the nightmares take up in reality?
This can vary from character to character. Some might return from their nightmare to the instant after Accalia's defeat; some might be gone from the world for days. It's up to you. It also has no bearing on how long the nightmare seems to take, much like dreams do.

Where do they appear when they come out of the nightmare?
Anywhere, really. They could return to the scene of the final battle, or otherwise where they were, or could find themselves in a place more familiar or symbolic. The twilight is funny like that!

How do they get out of the nightmare?
This can vary as well. It may be a symbolic exit, or a triumph of some kind, which allows your character to escape. Or perhaps defeating the shade of Accalia that lurks in their nightmare...

Any other questions, please let me know!