[IC] The Guild's White Elephant Gift Exchange

[Throndir]

Arelia the Banker

"Gather round, for now we start!"

Order
[spoiler]Callista: 5
Isaak: 6
Gandin: 7
Golas: 8
Kin: 8
Kryas: 8
Serena: 11
Lyolf: 19
Annia: 20
Katrias: 21
Grey: 23
Vladimir: 23
Nyuko: 24[/spoiler]

Waiting on Callista to choose a gift. Remember your character opens it for all to see once chosen. I will then let either the person who gave the gift describe it, or I'll describe it myself.

[Ella]

Callista Fae

"Eeeeeee~" Callista squealed with delight that she was first. "I'm first~ I'm first~" She sang as she flew up to the tree. She flew around the gifts, eyeing this one and that, going back to some she had already examined. Finally, she plunked herself down on top of a package which had pretty neat wrapping. It was the one with the red paper that looked like snow was drifting about it. It was by far the coolest one aside from her own. "I want this one!"

[Mysticsage]

Seeing the Fairy go to his rather large gift Kryas could not help but stiffle a laugh. He had meant that gift for someone else entirely and the item inside would no doubt be a little awkward for the small fey to wear and far from her style. Though If she wanted the present he supposed it was fate intervening on his behalf. Though because he helped in that particular items construction there may be some unseen complication once the box was opened.

As the fey went about unwrapping the huge box and removed the lid her magic senses went haywire. A feeling of pride, rage, lust and bloodsheed all mixed together came pouring off the contents of the box. To be honest anyone in the room who could sense such things and was not prepared would probably be sick from the feelings alone. But to be honest the Half elf had intended the coat for someone with very little magical acuity. So he had not bothered trying to hide the magical andn memory residue he had been dealing with when the coat was created.

Lifting it out of the box anyone would see a flowing fur and hide coat. Built for the hardship of war Kryas had woven the fabrics himself then taken it out to have the coat made. The coat was made almost entirely from the hide of several dire lions. With their coats dyed a beautiful but bloody crimson. The coat was also the perfect length for riding a horse since he had thought only the intended recipent would choose something so obviously from the bard. He had used special techniques to make sure despite the process that the hide lost none of its soft and warm texture while still being tough. The collar and hood were stitched out of the golden manes of the beasts cropped down so as not to detract from the red. Only a silver clasp of the guild symbol mixed with some kind of holy symbols did not ooze this strange mixture of feeling. If Golas looked closely It would remind him of his new tattoo he had recieved only weeks before.

It oozed the spirits of the beasts it was made of as he had intended. It wasn't every day that he went hunting himself anymore.  The magic pulling at its surroundings slighly charcging the air with energy. There was only one person in the room who obviously fit the color scheme Kryas chuckled, as he could see some of the mages reaction around the room. But if the fairy wished to keep the cloak and the power within for heself she was more then welcome. He would make the alterations so that it might fit her instead of being a tents worth of fabric. Though he wondered how the magic he embued might change. Plus the mental and or physical affects it might have on its new owner who's size was so easily changable.

[spoiler]Please Ella feel free to keep the coat if you like it lol Otherwise throw it to Golas and pick something else up to you XD

I can have fun with it either way tho be warned that cloak is gonna cause anyone trouble.

[spoiler]Made from a single male lion?s coat with the mane surrounding its hood, the lion cloak is an impressive sight. A creature wearing the cloak gains a +2 resistance bonus on saving throws made against mind-affecting and fear effects and a +2 circumstance bonus on Intimidate checks. Once per day, the wearer can pull the hood over her head, assuming the form of a lion (as the beast shape II spell, except that it allows only lion form) for up to 10 minutes. If the wearer has the smite class feature, she can use this power more than once per day by expending uses of her smite; at most she can take the lion form as many times as she has smites plus one additional time. While in this lion form the wearer cannot use its normal smite ability.[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]

[Ella]

Callista Fae

As excited about the gift as she was, Callista took care in removing the paper. She liked the paper. She liked it a lot. She only hoped the gift was as awesome as the paper was, cause she was soooooo hanging the paper up in her sleeping chamber. On hot summer days, she could just watch the "snow" drifting ... wherever it was going to. Once the paper was safely moved out of the way, the faerie moved to open the lid.

How could she not sense this before? The power; the overwhelming feelings. Callista shuddered as the waves of various dangerous feelings coursed through her body. The package was still only half opened, but the tiny faerie could not finish removing the lid. Instead, she fell to the ground, holding her head in her hands. What kind of awful prank was this? Who would gift such an awful thing? Even Callista would not give somebody something that made them feel this... this... awful.  Curling up into a little ball, she continued to hold her head. She was not sure she could handle the emotions that the item within the box caused to well up in her little body.

[Throndir]

Waiting on Gandin.

[Fellow Rabbit]

Isa?k Amantes

Isa?k watched carefully as the mischievous Callista flew about to examine which gift she imagined was perhaps the most perfect, suppressing a chuckle as she expressed her childlike excitement over going first, even though Isa?k knew it was the least advantageous place to go in. Excitedly, the faerie pulled the gift back to her seat and hastily began opening it, but what happened immediately after admittedly after took him by surprise. She had frozen up, not even bothering to finish unwrapping the gift before assuming a fetal position and holding her head as if in painful agony.

He quickly got to work, feeling the arcane force emanating from the box and knowing that what she was experiencing was nothing short of a magical overload. Luckily, it had a simple solution, and he performed that solution visibly quicker than anyone else in the room. He jumped up from his chair and ran as eloquently as he could manage without losing speed until he reached her, then pushed her away from the present. Thankfully, he knew that the worst of the effects were concentrated in just a small area around the box and therefore the couple of feet he had pushed her should be enough to allow her to regain her bearings. Whoever put a gift like that in the exchange clearly didn't have small arcane creatures in mind at the time.

Fortunately, Isa?k hadn't quite an acute reaction to the spiritual pressure as certain others in the room might have; he was largely unaffected, though he knew what had happened clearly was a little too much for the poor little faerie. For a moment, he wondered who was up next to choose a gift from the tree, but he quickly realized that the next person was actually himself. The fact that he could actually do something pleased him, though he knew that going this early had its distinct disadvantages. For one, he probably would lose the present he chose if he opened it immediately.

"My turn, is it?" He brushed the dust off his longcoat, hoping to maintain his refined disposition as he strode over the tree and all its gifts. He could have chosen the big gifts, which were more or less painfully obvious choices for anyone who didn't know the contents. He didn't know their contents, of course, but he liked to think of himself as terribly modest, so choosing a gift so overcompensatory wouldn't quite fit. Indeed he had picked out a gift ? as well as a couple backups in case his was stolen ? long before the official beginning of the exchange. Thus, his turn was particularly brief.

The gift he chose was one of the smallest under the tree. It had golden wrapping paper and was tied with a striking maroon ribbon. He quite hoped the gift's inconspicuous size would cause people to focus on more gaudy gifts. Gifts like the two giant ones that were larger than the tree itself. Or even the gift he had brought himself, though it wasn't quite as attention-grabbing as some of the others.

Having taken his present, he returned to his seat and sat down before beginning to unwrap, taking special care not to tear the paper as he handled it carefully.

[Linwelin]

Isaak Amantes

The gift itself was light, but hard. Upon unwrapping it you realized it was a small wooden box of a simple design, one you'd expect jewelry to be within. Once opened, you beheld two well cut and polished crystals resting delicately upon a blue gems cushion within the box. One was transparent, yet tinted black, and gave off a faint, almost sickly glow; the other was bright green and circular, and seemed to radiate a pleasant warmth. Both were primed to be set into something. Folded and pressed to the cover of the box was a small paper that, when opened, displayed a note detailing the items.

Greetings My Random, Fellow Guildmate!

I do hope, that, whomever you are, your skills are of the martial persuasion so you might yield the most out of this gift. What you have before you are augmentation crystals; the black one is for your weapon of choice, while the green one is to be set into your armor. The weapon crystal drains life to a certain extent of whomever is struck, and uses this energy to heal the wielder. This quality refreshes over the course of a day. The armor crystal has no limits to it, but simply protects its wielder from extreme heat of cold, as though a magus had cast an elemental protection spell on the wearer. The effect, however, is constant and permanent as long as the crystal is worn.

Happy Holidays, and may these treat you well!

[spoiler=The loot]
1 Lesser Crystal of Life Drinking (Weapon Crystal)
1 Least Crystal of Adaptation (Armor Crystal)
[/spoiler]

[Fellow Rabbit]

Isa?k Amantes

Isa?k slowly opened the gift, making every attempt to make himself as inconspicuous as he could while opening it in the off chance that he might not want to give up the contents. And lo, he was pleasantly surprised at the gift's contents, for inside was no less than two items which he found could be quite useful in future quests; a black crystal with healing properties he was eager to test the extent of, and a bright green crystal that would be invaluable in missions across deserts or through frozen wastelands. These he was very pleased to uncover. In a hopefully-unnoticeable attempt to ensure no one would steal the gift from him, he strained himself to suppress his merriment. It was his hope that the rest of the participants hadn't seen the gift as he opened it and would assume based on his reactions that it was just some dull, uninteresting gift.

[Fellow Rabbit]

Gandin, son of Gehin

Gandin slumped down in his chair like a bearded sack of potatoes as he waited impatiently for his turn to finally come to choose gift. Time passed... and passed... and passed again as his eagerness grew, He could hardly bear it. He wanted his gift right this second, dangit! Finally, after some unspecified amount of time (enough time to knit a sweater, paint a masterpiece, go on a quest, gain enough levels to kill a dragon, end all suffering on the planet, and enslave all life in the universe, Gandin would tell people), the exchange at last had begun.

First up was his tricky guildmate Callista, who undoubtedly was as anxious as he was to choose a gift. Her energetic mood was amusing to watch, enough so, in fact, that Gandin would forgive her for having enough luck in her favor to go before him. The gift was sort of nice. Neatly wrapped, fairly sized, perhaps a good item for her, though thankfully not the gift Gandin had already laid his eyes upon. She hoisted the gift back to her spot and began unwrapping it, only to just stop and begin acting like she was in pain. It sparked his attention, and he almost jumped to his feet to assume a battle stance and start cutting things with his crackle, but before he could, one of the guild members he hadn't yet grown very familiar with managed to act quickly to quench her suffering.

With that, Gandin eased back in to his chair once again, assuring himself that he wouldn't let his fury get to him over what may or may not have been an accident. Today was a day for enjoyment, not for anger. If he really needed to be angry over this, it could wait until the event was over and he could unleash his wrath as he reflected back. If he was lucky, he might even be able to find whoever had entered that gift into the exchange and give them a few pieces of his mind. And by "mind", he meant acidic smasher.

Next up was the guy who had just saved Callista from the evil gift. Gandin was sure he had seen the man before and maybe even had spoken to him once or twice, but for the life of him he couldn't remember his name. It sounded right to Gandin that it started with a vowel. Alexander? Omar? Isildur? Actually, that sounded right. It definitely started with an I. Indra, maybe? Infernape? It probably wasn't going to get Gandin anywhere trying to recall; he would have to ask the man after the exchange. Maybe he could even convince the man to help him find a dishwasher.

Then Gandin saw the present this guy had chosen, and without restraint instantly burst into vehement laughter. He had chosen the teeniest, tiniest gift under the tree! What a joke! Man, if Gandin was perhaps a little more southern, he might even slap his knee. He almost couldn't breathe he was laughing so hard. He didn't realize the guy was such a comedian. No doubt Gandin would have to meet this guy afterward.

"Ahahaha! You're killing me!" he proclaimed once he had finally caught his breath. He couldn't really tell from his position what the tiny box held within it once it was opened, but he was sure it was terrible, "Surely you're not serious! You call that a good choice of gift?" The dwarf could hardly contain himself. This was by far the most entertaining thing he had seen all month. The timing of it all, the execution, the outcome. It was just the most comical thing Gandin could think of. Oh, the fun he would have making fun of this human for his life choices. But before he would poke this fun at the man, he had a gift to choose. "Pay attention, laddy! I'll show you how to pick a real present!"

He stood up, still visibly amused by the man's horrible judgment, and strode over to the tree. Without a moment's hesitation and without any bother to pay the other gifts any examination, Gandin grabbed hold of the largest box in the room, barring his own. It was a gigantic white gift box with a red ribbon wrapped around it. Tied to the bow on top was a tag that clearly labeled the gift "best". This, Gandin was absolutely sure, was truth in every definition of the word. How did no one else see this yet? This gift literally had "best" written all over it! It was like everyone who had gone before him was just blind. Not that Gandin was unhappy for it. Quite the contrary, he thought. More for him.

He gripped the edges of the box and began pushing with every effort he could to move the abnormally large box to his seat, and there he began unwrapping it, smiling with uncharacteristically delighted grin. Truly no one could deny he had an eagle eye for choosing the best gifts. All that could complete this moments was a great big turkey feast.

[Lance]

[spoiler=A necessary roll.]
[blockquote]Rolled 1d100 : 6, total 6[/blockquote]
[/spoiler]

[Lance]

At first, all was well. Joy and fanfare ran rampart as usual amongst the boisterous members of Galas'nor. The dwarf was up for his choice of gift next and it seemed he would not settle for any of the smaller, lesser gifts surrounding him. His decision was already made, his resolve set. With but a few proud steps, Gandin found himself face-to-face with his target: a monolithic present, a work of art, and a blessing from the Gods themselves-truly this "best gift" could encompass any of those definitions. After all, this gift came from Lyolf himself; What was there to fear?

The people were watching expectantly. Cheering and jeering alike came sporadically from the tense audience, as the dwarf tore his way past layer after layer of the mysterious box. Numerous arcane symbols and magical formations promptly appeared with the revealing of each new layer and likewise disappeared with the layer's sudden end. It was only after the 9,001th layer that a glow began emanating from the layered wrappings, signalling the end of Gandin's laborious crusade. Oddly enough, the present did not change in size throughout the process, remaining as gigantic as it was before.

[spoiler=Finally, the dwarf managed to open his gift...]http://www.youtube.com/v/SLuW-GBaJ8k&autoplay=1

The room grew dim, as the last wrapping's came undone. A light, initially faint but steadily brightening arose from the depths of the box. In no time at all, the light grew as bright as a miniature sun, basking all those present in it's glow. It was a splendid sight, not at all glaring or harmful to the eye. Many random onlookers stepped forward, intrigued by such an oddity appearing in their midst. However, those that knew better, those that knew Lyolf, wisely took a step back.

As for the mischievous elf himself, Lyolf took two steps back, his hands already in motion as an arcane formation took form before him, rivaling his present's light in its intensity. "Magis R?s" he spoke simply into the air, his smile never fading. It was then, as if receiving some cue, the present immediately erupted into a geyser of dung, complete with a multi-colored rainbow forming overhead.

It was no turkey feast, but at least it was brown.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Contents of Lyolf's Gift]

5x Bag of Everlasting Dung
1x Bag of Tricks, Rust
1x Summoned Wolverine (10 minute duration)
And a whole lot of dung.

[/spoiler]

[Fellow Rabbit]

Gandin, son of Gehin

It was everything the dwarf expected, and more. After finally reaching the end of what was perhaps the most extraneous unwrapping session of his life, Gandin feasted his eyes upon the sheer magnificence exuded from the contents of the gift. Glory and what perhaps could only be described as the essence of Celestia's majesty literally lit up the room, brightly shining and blinding anyone who, unlike Gandin, was not prepared for something so flashy to grace their eyes. Gandin grinned widely, admiring his luck and truly amazing judgment. It had been settled then and there; he had undeniably chosen the most fabulous gift in the entire universe. He didn't even need to see what could be inside. This shining light was all he needed to show off to the world that he was the greatest gift exchanger in the Guild of Galas'nor!

Many onlookers had taken a step forward in order to further bask in the splendor of Gandin's gift. Others, in their incredulity, had taken a step back, clearly unable to behold such a majestic sight with such proximity. Gandin, however, may as well have been hugging the gift. As he looked up, the dwarf saw the gift just adding more and more to its sheer immensity. A rainbow of every color, including some new ones that Gandin had never seen before, adorned the space above it, spreading fabulosity in every direction as far as the eye could see. In the corner of his eye, Gandin could see a head poking into the doorway to see what uncontainable beauty could possibly show up in a Guild so wretched in comparison.

But then things changed. Smiling widely, Gandin beheld the technicolor ribbon of light above him. For a moment, he thought he had died and went to heaven, but the gift clearly wasn't done with him yet. After mere moments of uncontested beauty and splendor, the gift showed off a side of it Gandin never though it would see. From deep within the gift's busty innards, a great eruption of stench and brown goo spewed like a geyser, splattering all over the ceiling and falling back onto everyone below like rain in an intense storm. The bright light and the rainbow had gone, now replaced with naught but a cloud so green it was perhaps glowing. He could swear he even saw electrical discharges as green lights popped and crackled within it. The dwarf was in disbelief, but certainly not for the same reasons anyone else might be.

"I regret nothing!" he shouted, holding his arms out as if enjoying the plethora of filth raining upon him, "This gift is amazing!" And that it was, for he had now acquired what would perhaps be one of the most important things once he finally built his very own home: fertilizer!

Around him, however, he could see that bits of the gift were going to waste. Others present for the gift exchange were getting their disgusting grubby body grease all over it! They were all trying to steal it for their own nefarious, evil plans! And this he could not allow. For the first time in at least two hours, Gandin's expression turned furious. They would never get away with trying to get with his hard-earned winnings!

"You!" he shouted, this time much less excitedly and much more angrily, at the nearest dung-covered guildmate to him, Golas. "How dare you lay your filthy hands on what is now rightfully mine! You remove it from your possession at once or I will unleash the wrath of ten thousand alicorns upon you!" And then he motioned to the rest of the attendees who were also covered in his beautiful gift. "And the same goes to the rest of you! You will surely rue the day you crossed Gandin the dwarf if you do not give me back what is mine!" There was a great fire in his eyes, which was good, because it helped get rid of some of the smell.

As members here and there began disgustedly trying to rid themselves of Gandin's amazing gift, the dwarf noticed something even more unexpected and pleasant. There, standing in front of the great white box, was a wolverine, completely disoriented and probably slightly vision-impaired from the bright light it seemed to come from. It was also probably about to pass out because of the smell, but Gandin had his doubts. He gently moved toward the unaware creature, using his great skill in animal handling (+3) to coax into a true sense of security, whereafter he would put it in his lap and pet it until it felt the need to leave. After all, he couldn't risk letting a rampaging beast damage his fantastic goods. Especially not the Bag of Everlasting Dung which he had also found inside the box.

[Fellow Rabbit]

Isaák Amantes

The dwarf's gift had taken an unexpected turn coming from someone like Lyolf, glowing as brightly as it did, though after what came next, Isaák knew that it was a false sense of security that only such a conniving elf could orchestrate. The gift seemed to literally explode into a wave of dung the likes of which Isaák had never seen before. Not even after a Thanksgiving dinner. Perhaps he might have appreciated the hilarity and intensity of the prank gift had it not been for the sad fact that even Isaák had found himself victimized by the vandalic deed. Even in his most masochistic dreams he could have wished for such a disgusting prank to be played upon him. Isaák had set it in his mind at that very moment that he would prank Lyolf back tenfold for the "gift" he entered into the gift exchange this year, no matter how much the deranged dwarf seemed to adore it.

On the bright side, however, this was an opportunity he might not have again for the rest of the exchange. The ruckus caused by the Lyolf's shenanigans meant everyone else had much better things to focus on than a simple human sitting comfortably, albeit disgustedly, in their seat. And that meant he would be able to do what he had hoped to do before without the consequences he expected he might have had such a perfect distraction not taken place. With all the swiftness of a coursing river and with the subtlety of a whisper in a loud and crowded room, he reopened the gift he had received, retrieved what he considered to be the more superior of the two crystals ? the Lesser Crystal of Life Drinking ? and slipped it into his pocket, careful to ensure that no one had seen what he had done. The other crystal, he determined, would still seem like enough to make the gift worth it to anyone else who wished to take it from him.

[Throndir]

Other players can attempt to roll Perception if they want to try to notice Isaac's pickpocketing.

Gandin
You near wolverine cautiously but with a sense of familiarity and surprising amount of gentleness. The wolverine responds amicably and it lets itself be coaxed on the dwarf's lap. The creature made no sudden movements, though you notice it grabbing a nearby brown-colored bag with its teeth. For a moment you thought that the fertilizer must have dyed the bag brown, but upon closer inspection realize that it was it's actual color - an almost rust-like hue.

[Golas Rorn]

Golas Rorn

The large man only roared in laughter as the brown storm of dung shattered and dispersed on everyone. He took a deep breath of manure as he went about cleaning his cloak.

"You can have all the dung you want!" Golas replied, his eyes searching out for the small fairy in their guild. "I have my eyes on something greater." He grinned as he recalled the crimson cloak that came from the first box Callista had opened. In fact, the cloak looked almost identical to his own, if not for the lion designs etched on it - which Golas immediately linked to the tattoo he now had.

"Callista!" Golas bellowed. "That cloak's a bit large for such a small missy!"

[spoiler=Golas actions]Finding Callista through all the dung, and once found 'steal' the cloak.[/spoiler]