  
Beach City is having its annual Pride Festival and Parade! There will be food trucks, face painting, and LGBTQ+ resource and information booths. At night there will be picnic baskets, watermelon, and sparklers for sale to enjoy on the grass in Lighthouse Park. The park overlooks Rehoboth Bay, where fireworks displays over the water can be enjoyed twice this week. Or if music's more your speed, there will be nightly concerts on the beach with rotating bands and dancing. Beach City's Pride Festival will last an entire week, but smaller events tend to pop up throughout the city for the whole month.   Thanks to a generous donation from the AotM, the rides in Beach City's Funland are free for the rest of the month! Mr. Smiley would like to note that the rides are the only things that are free, and you will still have to pay for food, drinks, and games as normal.During Beach City's Pride Festival week, Funland is also a great place to watch the fireworks at night over the bay, especially from its Ferris Wheel.  The Rainbow RaceEach year, Beach City hosts The Rainbow Race! Contestants get dressed up in their flashiest rainbow outfits and run an obstacle race with plenty of room for silliness. One of the streets near the boardwalk is closed for the purposes of this race, which can be taken up by anyone at any time. The only rules are that you have to dress up, and to win, you have to complete the obstacle course. Some people like to compete against family or friends, but others just like to time themselves. Whatever the case, there's always an eager crowd watching. [THE RACE - CLICK TO EXPAND
BONUS! Draw and color some art of your character in their Rainbow Race costume and share it in our Discord server, and you can collect 500 Activity Points to use in the Supply Shop! Your character does not have to run the race in RP for you to collect this bonus, but for those who would like a little extra challenge, here's what you're up against! You can choose your own narrative for your character's race, or you can use the dice to spice things up a bit with the consequences provided below! All dice rolls are designed for the typical d20. The Glitter Pit  Your first challenge is to traverse one of several narrow beams across a wide pit. The beam is flexible, and bounces with every step. The faster you go, the more it bounces, but the slower you go, the more it sags. Finding the perfect middle ground is key.And if you slip off-- don't worry, the landing is soft enough, but it's into a shallow pool full of hot pink shaving cream that's been infused with eco-friendly, rainbow-hued glitter. And if you fall off, you have to start again. Roll once for three turns to cross unless you roll a 20! 1-3 - SPLORCH! INTO THE PIT WITH YE! 4-9 Your leg slips! You manage to catch yourself, but that unfortunate limb is now covered in glitter goop, as are your hands. 10-14 You're going just a little too slow. The board begins to sag. 15-19 You're going too fast! The board begins to bounce and wobble dangerously. 20 - You make it across the rest of the board without so much as a wibble! Impressive! The Purse Pursuit  Some enterprising souls have glued various brightly colored handbags to remote-controlled toy cars. It's your job to catch one and pull out the pride flag from within, then carry it to the last obstacle.The problem is, the little stinkers are fast, and the people controlling them are great at hairpin turns. You'll have to be quick! 1-3 - Not only do you miss, but you overbalance trying to catch the runaway purse and wind up on your behind. 4-9 You go right, the purse goes left! You stumble, but manage to catch yourself at the last minute. No dice on that handbag though. 10-15 Augh! So frustrating! It zipped off just before you could catch it. You swear your fingers brushed it this time. 16-20 Got the little monster! Get that flag and venture onwards! Strike a Pose  That flag you got in the last challenge? Now you have to take it to the finish line, and you have to do it in style. Or at least attempt to.You'll get one of four poses, picked at random, that you'll need to mimic and hold as best as you can, while still making your way to the end of the race. You'll have to pick up the flag from the table again after you've struck the pose too. You may bend your torso, your fingers, and move your knees and anything beneath, but everything else must stay in place. If you complete the race, you may take the pride flag home with you as a prize! 1-3 - Oof! That's a tricky pose! Good luck! You got Pose 1! 4-12 This is going to take some creativity. You got Pose 2. 13-17 It won't be easy, but you've got this! You got Pose 3! 18-20 Oo, you got lucky! This time. You got Pose 4.  Points & AchievementsBesides the points you can claim from the Rainbow Race, you may also claim 200 additional Activity Points if your character runs any kind of resource or informational booth during AotM's Pride Event. Any character who attends any of the pride events during the month of June may also claim the Pride Achievement for that character! You can claim any of these in the #requests-and-reviews channel on our Discord! |
  While Beach City holds its festival, Sanctuary has its own Pride Event. Fondly called The Big Gay Wedding, Sanctuary's event is for everyone who might have missed a prom, or a wedding, or any other sort of important celebration because of repressive culture in their own worlds or families.There's everything you might expect at a wedding-- cake, good food, decorations, and dancing after dark. Many people choose to dress up in their finest, but it's not a requirement. Come in what makes you comfortable. Each year has a theme. This year's theme is Prismatic, and each of the event venues the wedding is held between is decorated in shimmering crystals, glowstones, and shades of rainbow-hued chrome. You will also often see bubbles floating overhead from children who have been given bubble wands to play with. The event is held between three areas. Sanctuary's Main Square and The Fireside Market hosts the majority of the games and stalls, including the Ring Toss, the Handfasting Ribbons, and the Gift Game. But for a small fee, carriages dressed up with crystals and lights will ferry you across the Steppes to The Temple in the Pines, where one can find pampering and henna, dancing beneath the stars, and a feast of dinner options to choose from. Like Beach City's Pride Festival, Sanctuary's Big Wedding goes on for a full week, but smaller events tend to pop up throughout the month.  (EXPAND WEDDING MENU)
The Fireside Market The Fireside Market has all of its usual vendors open, but there are some notable additions that cannot typically be found here at other times of the year-- often because the ingredients are hard to come by. But Sanctuary does love its celebration, so prices, today at least, are kept affordable for everybody. Candied Almonds - 2 Copper A bag full of candied almonds in rainbow hues. They each have a sweet, crunchy coating around them. Getting an odd number of almonds in your bag is supposed to be good luck for your relationships. Mini Cakes - 4 Copper Each Tiny, two-tiered wedding cakes, just enough for one. They come in peach, chocolate, or cloudberry jam and are vanilla frosted with buttercream. A little rainbow-painted, white chocolate heart sits on the very top. Banquet Noodle Soup - 6 Copper A steaming bowl of soup full of extra long noodles! The broth is savory and rich, made with anchovies, kelp, and shiitake mushrooms. There are small slices of radish, zucchini, and carrot on top. You can also order yours with beef or a duck egg. Ukrainian Wedding Bread - 7 Copper Mini wedding breads decorated with everything from birds, to moons and stars, to pinecones, then dusted with edible prismatic glitter and served with a drizzle of honey. You're sure to find a symbol that suits you and those you love. Warnog Ale - 8 Copper Specially secured for the occasion, this ale is strong and warming, with a brisk, malt-forward flavor and an after note of clove, caramel, and banana. Served hot. The Temple in the Pines The Temple in the Pines has a lovely feast set out for its nightly guests, including crispy pork from a whole pig roasting behind the building in the garden. Unlike the goods in the Fireside Market, the Temple asks for one price up front, then you may feast all you'd like. The banquet tables are located above on the building's observatory terraces. There are several notable dishes listed below, but hungry party-goers will also find delicacies like fresh fruit, hot teas, salads, and roasted vegetables. The price for dinner is  6 Silver and includes most drinks, though anything stronger than mead will require additional payment. Overnight guests to the temple get automatic inclusion.Birria Tender goat meat stewed in a rich broth with tomatoes and red chilies. Topped with cilantro, chopped onions, and a lime wedge. Crispy Roast Pork A slice of roast pork with crispy skin, served over white jasmine rice and pickled green papaya with a sweet, vinegary sauce. Bem Casados - Brazilian Wedding Treats Two small disks of soft sponge cake sandwich a thick, caramel-like dulce de leche filling for a bite of delicious, gooey decadence that represents sweet union. Pomegranate Juice Sweet, tart, and cold-- made from the pomegranates of the Temple's own grounds. Honey Wine Smooth honey, citrus sweetness, and floral aftertaste. Also known as mead. It isn't terribly strong, though. Smoked Salmon & Sweetcorn Tarts Rich, smoked fish baked with sweetcorn in a dill-horseradish sauce and topped with savory fish eggs that pop in the mouth. Asparagus Flatbread Grilled flatbread with ricotta, shaved asparagus ribbons, lemon zest, and mint.   HandfastingHandfasting, the act of symbolically binding one's loved ones to you, is an ancient ceremony. Typically, the context is romantic, but Sanctuary has hundreds of different beings from hundreds of different cultures, so who's to say what the ritual means but those who are partaking in it? In Sanctuary's Fireside Market, you can find a stall that will allow you to create your own Handfasting ceremony. Choose from rope, or silk, or ribbon of all different shades and hues, and adorn it with beads and crystals, and other beautiful charms that represent your union. When you are done, the vendor will happily bind you to your partner, or partners, with what you have made together.  Give a Gift, Get a GiftIn many cultures, it's tradition to give gifts to those who are being married. But since this wedding encompasses so many lives and loved ones, Sanctuary has a little game instead. With Give and Get, you can sign up and give a small gift to the gift pool. It can be silly or serious, heartfelt or practical. The courier then whisks it away to someone else who has signed up for the game, and later, another courier will find you with another gift that someone has given. The couriers tend to keep things fair though, and they're not without their sense of justice and mischief. Give a selfish gift hoping to get something better in return and you may just find yourself with a surprise you didn't anticipate. OOC Note: If you would like to submit a gift for the gift pool from a character, please DM Jabberwookie with a description of your gift as well as the name of the character who submitted it.  Ring TossThe Ring Toss booth is set up in Sanctuary's Main Square. Beneath a gossamer canopy strung with tiny glowstones, those hoping for luck or love attempt to throw oversized golden rings onto a board of tightly crowded silver pegs. It's a difficult game, but manage to get three out of the five rings you are given, and you will win yourself a small Sunbird Love Charm. The charm isn't magical. It's merely one of their metallic feathers woven with small beads and crystals, but the feathers are collected from a Sunbird's first molt after they grow their adult plumage in. They're supposed to keep the ones you love safe, and should the wind take them, to bring you to those you were always meant to find. If you would like to add an element of luck to this game, roll a d20 dice! Rings only land if you manage to roll 16-20. You have five rings to roll for, and must get three of them in that range to win a feather. |
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