[Completed] The Halloween Challenge (10/27-11/3)

[Kamilla]

.

Eyes fluttered open yet again, catching a fleeting glimpse of something fading into the darkness as Kamilla let out a soft groan. She was back in the inky darkness accompanied by only the cauldron and it's ingredients. She could have sword she'd just seen a fair haired figure vanish from in front of the cauldron.

Approaching the accursed container, Kamilla pulled a copper ring from her finger, this time not bothering to take inventory of herself and possessions. She flicked the ring into the cauldron, rolling her eyes at the monotony of her dream. "I swear, if I'm even half as stubborn as my dreams are, I've got a serious problem."

Turning to the table of ingredients, noting that the ones she'd already used were no longer there, Kamilla decided to put some thought into her choice this time, appease the dream, lest she be condemned to spend her entire sleep cycle reliving the same dream. The mage went through each and every one of the ingredients this time, giving each a quick examination before moving on to the next before she finally decided on the two that had most caught her attention. What looked like a swirling storm contained within a bottle, it's beauty mesmerising and a moonstone. Since she'd only made use of a single ingredients in her previous encounters with the cauldron Kamilla felt good about her decision to use two this time. She added both to the mysterious brew and watched.

Item: Copper Rung
Ingredients: A Vial Containing A Swirling Storm, Moonstone

[Madeira Dusk]

It was reaching midnight, and Madeira's magic lab was dark and cold despite the fire blazing in the hearth. She wasn't entirely sure how she got there, or even what she was doing. Maybe she was doing something with the deep, wide cauldron that was hanging over the cackling fire, inside of which a mysterious potion popped and bubbled. How odd. Did she make that? She wasn't sure, but felt compelled to complete it. But what did it need?

Something furry brushed past her legs in the dark. It looked like her dazed, wall-eyed black tomcat, Spooks, had snuck into the basement to join her. Perfect. She scooped him up and lowered the unresisting cat gently into the potion, making kissy noises at him as he disappeared into the yawning mouth of the cauldron.

Luckily the lab of a spiritist and a maledictor was full of even more top tier ingredients! There was everything one could need for such spooky brews. Touring around her lab she ended up adding a human vertebre, wolf's tooth and a jar of grave dirt. And after a moment of wet, hacking coughing she spit a glob of fresh soulmist into the brew as well, which hissed and spit back at her in return. Now all that was left was... ah yes! A few colourful pieces of candy. For flavor.

With that last ingredient added Madeira took a big wooden ladle and stirred the potion, feeling off kilter and dazed. But there was nothing weird about this at all! Everything was just fine.

Ingredients, edited for more detail: Madeira's soulmist, dirt from the grave of a spirit Madeira has put to rest, vertebrae of a man killed in battle, a grey wolf's tooth, a black licorice candy
Item: A black cat called Spooks

[Autumn Rose]

Fall the 27th, the 17th Bell

A usually unused room in the Red Lantern

So I’m bad at directions (a.k.a. I enjoyed this idea too much and wanted to write more), and I wrote a couple post thread for this. The important part is that Autumn mixed her necklace (heirloom) in the pot with a vial of soulmist and bottled laughter, but I’ll do a summary paragraph.


In a room that usually lay long forgotten by most of the Lantern’s workers and patrons, Autumn had normally found solace, but today was not a usual day. Instead, Autumn discovered a cart full of little oddities with a sign that read Curiosities and Lost Things. Many fascinating things filled the jars that lined the shelves, insects and dead things’ body parts, dirt and stones, vials and food and poisons. But most unique of all these things was actually a cauldron that lay bubbling separate from the cart though no fire warmed it. To her it felt hungry, so she fed it a few things from the shelf, one labeled Soul Mist and the other, Bottled Laugher. She was so captivated by the bubbling, brewing liquid and watched it so long that the cart owner’s arrival caught her unaware. Startled, Autumn blinked to hide, dropping her necklace in to the cauldron.

[Dessarian]

Out of place and time, there was no thought, or acknowledgement, of anything beyond the blackness. It was the curious cauldron that drew his attention with unnatural magnetism. Whatever brewed within the iron pot, Dess sensed was not concocted as a meal. His senses tingled, as if the curious pot hummed with preternatural magic. He was there to fulfill a purpose, that Dess knew. In his hands were two of his possessions, both precious to him. Yet, Dess knew what was to be done with them. Two more strides brought him before the cauldron. No heat emanated from the pot, though the contents seemed to swirl and bubble of its own accord. The first of his offerings was a leather garment wrapped into a tight bundle with a leather cord. His night armor. Gently, it was slipped into the weird goo. What would become of his things was unknown, that was the way of the Cauldron, he told himself. From a bag on his shoulder, he withdrew a smaller leather pouch. Loosening the tethers, Dess upended the contents over the caudron. The handful of dirt, taken from the grave of his great great grandmother, dropped into the liquid and disappeared. Next, a small bottle was retrieved from the bag. Within the stopper vial was a black spider, its legs flailing uselessly against the glass. Puilling the cork free, Dess dumped the unfortunate arachnid into the brew as well. Satisfied at the bizarre cocktail he had mixed, Dess took up a large wooden paddle near the cauldron. With it, he stirred the magical goop. Item: leather night armor Ingredients: Grave dirt and black spider (Sorry, I guess that is more than one paragraph )

[Dessarian]

He was reluctant for the second try. Dess was compelled to drop in one of his most prized possessions. The iron wrist razors were his father's. Once again, he drew near the mystical cauldron. The weapon was dangled over the surface of the brew, then dropped in. From his bag, two ingredients had been chosen. The first was a vial of his own blood. The crimson vitae was poured into the cauldron. Next was a lock of hair. Some of the long strands were dark, some almost white. They were Kelski's. Bound with lace ribbon, the hair was dropped into the pot as well. Once again, he stirred the cauldron well, having given up his things to the whim of mystery. Item: Iron wrist razors Ingredients: Dess's blood and a lock of Kelski's hair

[Ennisa]

Ennisa pushed open the door. She walked as if she was in a dream, and perhaps she was, for none of her surroundings made much sense to her. The room she was in had an ageless air. The main focus of the room was the stout cauldron, which she duly approached. She looked inside and saw the gently bubbling, viscous liquid plop all of its own accord, for there was no fire to sustain it. She shrugged, unable to explain it, and decided to look over at the aged table of ingredients. The table was divided into two segments: one half had her worldly possessions neatly arranged, which she noted in detached surprise. The other half had an assortment of weird and wonderful ingredients, some of which Ennisa could put no name to.

She didn't know why, but she felt it was important to place the items in the pot. In which order, though? She mused briefly, then instinctually reached for her felted, wide-brimmed hat. With this, she selected a vial of fresh water, and a small dish of gelatinous brain, and deposited them into the cauldron. She lifted the ladle, and stirred.

Ennisa collected her black cloak and pushed it into the mysterious liquid. Her interest was piqued by a vial that seemed to contain a swirling storm, which she upended into the pot. A glistening moonstone soon followed, and once again, she stirred the mixture.

Finally, she selected a vial of black ink. She lingered for a while, not feeling as if any drew her, then suddenly saw a red candle roll from underneath a bat's wing. She picked the candle up and let both the ink vial and the candle sink under the liquid's surface. She stirred once more, and wondered what would happen next.

1. Black felted wide-brim hat + pure water, + fresh brains
2. Black cloak + vial containing a swirling storm, + moonstone
3. Vial of black ink + red candle

[Gossamer]

Hey everyone!

Do me a favor to make this a little easier on me. If you add an ingredient to your brews, be a little specific. I know I only specified this with things like candle color, but if you throw something in there.... like fresh brains or say grave dirt... be specific! Tell me what kind of fresh brains they are or what sort of grave the dirt came from.

The more specific means the more interesting your brew will be. With things like candles, the color matters... because color has power. But some of you have already used feathers and specified what species of bird it came from which was spot on to what I wanted! It helps sooo much! Remember, you have until 9pm to get these in. I hope everyone's having fun!

I'm really loving seeing these. I also think what Autumn did was genius, summarizing what she did, but doing the actual writing in an rp thread. That's perfectly fine. Everyone do what you need to do to have this make sense and be exciting.

Goss

[Baelin Holt]

What was...where was he?

Before him gaped a massive pot. Its lip was pitted with age, its sides thick and curved. Heavy cast iron, with a liquid quietly simmering within.

Baelin didn't quite feel right. He needed...he should go lie down.

Little bottles and objects―odd things that had no business being collected together―laid out in little rows next to the pot. Baelin blinked blearily, slowly registering that he had picked up a vial of dirt. He squinted as he tried to focus on it, but couldn’t quite make out what he was looking at.

Grave dirt. A whisper in his head. From a family plot.

Into the...he had to...he had to put it into the pot. Why did he...why would he...No. Into the pot. He had to put it into the pot. Numb fingers wrestled with the cork, struggling to coordinate over each other. But eventually, he popped it open and poured the soil into the cauldron.

The items called back to him, little whispers crowding over each other. With a frustrated hiss, Baelin snatched up the two items that seemed the most insistent on being picked up. A little vial of an off-white gel, shimmering in a way that...oh, soulmist. And a small bone; a digit of a finger, he thought. Human bone, it assured him, Good with his hands. Yes, that was good. Baelin poured the soulmist into the pot, and dropped the bone in after it.

The very world seemed to get heavier, weighing down on him with an intensity that screamed that he wasn’t done. More. It needed more. It needed something of his. But what…what could he give it? Baelin struggled through the sluggish mire of his mind, trying and failing to link thoughts together.

Oh. Yes, his knife. Laying innocuously on his table, waiting for his next meal. He was in his room? Before he could think of why that felt off, Baelin found himself picking up the old knife. It’d been with him since he’d left Black Rock. Forged and sharpened by his uncle, and gifted to him by his aunt. It had survived Syliras and Ravok; caravan rides and seafaring trips. Sharpened over the years to a slim figure, it was forgettable, yet essential. Baelin took the knife over to the pot. And―with only a dull throb of alarm―he dropped it in.

List:

• Grave dirt, "from a family plot"
• Soulmist
• Human finger bone, "was good with his hands"
• Baelin's eating knife

[Ialari Pythone]

I have gone the separate thread route with Ialari's Cauldron Experience.

Here is the Link to the Thread.

The five ingredients are detailed in the thread but here they are for brevity.

Vial of Air Velispar Blood
Dhani Brains
A bat wing
Grave dirt of "a champion" (meaning is up in the air)
Vial containing a swirling storm

Each ingredient has personal significance and symbolism for Ialari, her life and experiences.

The item: Silk Robes of a Sentinel of the Silver Tower; non-magical but holding powerful nostalgia and personal significance.

[Asterope]

???
Unknown place and time

Aster's head felt soft and fuzzy; she blinked, staring around the room she stood in. A lantern swung overhead from the ceiling, illuminating a circle around her, showing her a few things. Beyond that, darkness stretched on, so deep and black she thought maybe she wasn't in a room after all, but an endless void.

Where was she? How had she gotten there? Still, there were more pressing curiosities. To her right was a shelf, overflowing with all sorts of strange ingredients and objects. Bottles of liquids, dead insects, live insects, stones, jars with unidentifiable substances, bags of candy...a whole assortment of things. Even more tempting than the shelf was the cauldron.

A few feet in front of her, the dark iron cauldron bubbled, despite hanging over empty floor with no discernible heat source. Mist flowed from the top of it, sinking down onto the floor and rolling away. Aster approached tentatively, peering inside. The liquid inside shifted colours, deep purple, sickly green, glowing orange...bubbling all the while. A ladle sat in the cauldron, as if inviting her to stir, but something stopped her. Not yet. It wasn't ready.

The shelf of ingredients suddenly made more sense. Aster walked over to it, perusing the shelf for a long moment. Certain things called to her, beckoning her, and unresistant, she allowed her hands to pluck them off the shelves before she returned to the cauldron...a lantern with a warm yellow glow, a white feather, and a white candle.

It needed something else, though. Her hand wandered to her throat, where Navi's tooth sat on a cord. Carefully, she pulled it from where it sat around her neck, and gently lowered the maledicted dog tooth into the brew, followed by the white candle, before giving the liquid a few stirs with the ladle. Something else...

Satisfied with her first stirring, Aster then carefully bundled up her newfound soft woolen cloak, pushing it into the bubbling liquid, mindful not to get any on her hands. The warm glowing lantern and a white feather followed, and Aster gave the brew another few stirs, finally feeling satisfied.

1. Item: A maledicted dog tooth from Aster's beloved deceased pet, Navi* (It's power is this: any animal (not monster or kelvic/shifter) will be prone to trust Asterope at least to the point where it will not growl or snap at her)
Ingredient(s): A white candle

2. Item: A Cloak of Comfort** (This fine cloak looks to be made of light spun okomo wool and has embroidery around the edges. It appears as the color its owner wishes it too and perfectly regulates its owners temperature regardless of the harsh or mild conditions of the weather that surrounds it)
Ingredient(s): A glowing lantern and a white swan feather