[CDR] Stands for Character Development Run. For this special event, you'll pick one of your characters to complete the prompts with! The goal is to specifically develop one of your characters, perhaps one you enjoy a lot or perhaps one that doesn't get much attention. It's up to you!
🍓 Overall Rules 🍓
🌿 This event does not have a time limit! Instead, it ends for you when you've finished it. If you never use it, it never ends!
🌿 You may only use one character as your primary, reward-receiving kekin. You can have other characters in the background, but they won't be your primary
🌿 Prompts must be completed in order
🌿 As this event is designed to be no-pressure, you may make your pieces for it as small are as large as you like. Written works must be a minimum of 100 words white art must be a sketch that's at least clear enough for us to tell what's going on! (Written works may be shorter if you're doing something like poems)
🌿 Entries go in the Event Entries folder or the drop-off thread!
🍃 Prompt 1: Townie 🍃
Today, your kekin is visiting Bumpytown. The little town has grown considerably in the last few years, especially thanks to how many babies they get during Bloom Season. There's lots of activity, from the massive nursery to the lines of shops, to the bustling art gallery. However, it's not quite as overwhelming as the largest of the keke settlements, Artisan City. There's still a quaint touch to the air.
What is your kekin doing in Bumpytown? Do they live there or are they just stopping by? Are they window shopping, making new friends, visiting any of the buildings in town...?
🌺 Depict you kekin of choice visiting or interacting with Bumpytown
🍃 P1 Rewards 🍃
Rewards are scaling. You may collect all that apply
🥭 For completing the base prompt, you may apply one simple upgrade of your choice to your kekin
🥭 If your piece includes a background or at least 400 words, you may apply a second simple upgrade
🥭 If your kekin is a resident of Bumpytown, completing the base prompt also earns you +10 GPS
🥭 If you feature any NPCs in your work, your kekin earns an extra +10 stars per NPC included
🌼 For the above, NPCs should be at least halfbody if drawn and mentioned in at least a few sentences if written
🌼 You may use NPCs from any settlement, not just Bumpytown
🍂 Prompt 2: Smoking Gun 🍂
Things are going averagely while your kekin is meandering about town. That is, until an explosion splits through the air. Everyone is shocked, some keke falling to the ground while others yelp in alarm. After your kekin takes a moment to collect themselves, they come to a realization that the rest of the crowd is slowly coming to, one by one. There's a multicolored mushroom cloud coming from the direction of the Alchemist's raft. Angry ripples still roll across the lake while orange and purple magic motes drift down into the canopy like fallout.
This is surprising enough, but the townsfolk have started to whisper. Has anyone seen the Alchemist lately? He wasn't in there was he...??
🌺 Depict your kekin seeing or being surprised by the explosion
🍂 P2 Rewards 🍂
Rewards are scaling. You may collect all that apply
🥭 For completing the base prompt, your keke earns +20 bonus stars!
🥭 If your piece includes a background or at least 400 words, you may apply one standard upgrade to your kekin
🥭 If your kekin is a resident of Bumpytown, completing the base prompt also earns your kekin one standard upgrade
🥭 If you feature any NPCs in your work, you earn +10 GPS per NPC included
🌼 For the above, NPCs should be at least halfbody if drawn and mentioned in at least a few sentences if written
🌼 You may use NPCs from any settlement, not just Bumpytown
🌳 Prompt 3: Scene of the Crime 🌳
Someone has to go make sure the Alchemist is okay... Due to collective concern, many kekin are drifting towards the raft while another group splits off towards the Healer's building. The walk through the forest isn't far, but many kekin find themselves distracted by the falling motes or are too unnerved about what they might find at the end of the road... Your kekin finds themselves at the head of the pack.
The Alchemist's raft still bobs gently in the water and thick plumes of multicolored smoke drift through the blown-out windows. The air nearby is hazy... almost a lavender purple. It paints the scene with a dreamlike air. The wooden door to the houseraft is ajar, but only slightly. Your kekin reaches out to cautiously push it open, steadying the raft with their weight.
Inside, the house is cluttered with all manner of objects, mundane and magical. Many glass vials and jars have been shattered by the explosion, leaving dripping pools of mysterious goop behind or dangerous shards littering the floor. Some of the puddles smoke and smell caustic. The Alchemist himself is sprawled out everywhere, his long body atop chests and under tables both. His cloak lies in a manner than obscures his face, and for a minute, you wonder if...?
You see his wings shiver. He's alive
🌺 Depict your kekin entering the houseraft or finding or helping the Alchemist
🌳 P3 Rewards 🌳
Rewards are scaling. You may collect all that apply
🥭 For completing the base prompt, your kekin earns one standard upgrade
🥭 If your piece includes a background or at least 400 words, your kekin may claim one Susish pet
or +20 stars
🥭 If your kekin is a resident of Bumpytown, completing the base prompt gives you 1 house expansion to apply to a building of your choice
🥭 If you feature any NPCs in your work, you may apply one simple upgrade of your choice to your kekin per NPC
🌼 For the above, NPCs should be at least halfbody if drawn and mentioned in at least a few sentences if written
🌼 You may use NPCs from any settlement, not just Bumpytown
🌹 Prompt 4: The Bottle 🌹
It takes your kekin a moment to safely reach the Alchemist's side. By the time they do, he's already groaned and attempted to heave himself upright. He manages to roll onto his side and prop himself up with an elbow, but much else looks like it's beyond him. He's sustained many magical burns and bruising... Not too much, though. Not too much.
He opens a slitted eye, evaluating first your kekin and then the wreckage of his home. He opens his mouth, perhaps to say something, but only coughing comes out. Your kekin can hear the other Snakekeys getting closer to the door, their muted murmurs growing louder. Before they can peer through the opening, the Alchemist is shoving something cool and smooth into your kekin's paws. They glance down, seeing that it's a simple potion bottle with an unassuming, pearly yellow liquid inside. Your kekin looks to him for explanation, but there's only time for the two of them to share a single, hard look. This is important, the look says. Don't tell anyone.
Everything else was a blur. The houseraft was flooded with concerned kekin that promptly ushered the burned Alchemist to the Healer's building. Your kekin was pushed to the side, accredited for being the first responder, but replaced by stronger, more capable arms. Afterwards, there wasn't much to do aside from attempt to return to normalcy. Your kekin struggled not to feel hollow and out of place while attempting to fill the hours before nightfall. As the dark fell, they returned to the place where they were staying, the potion bottle heavy and cold in their paws.
Was it meant for them...? Were they supposed to drink it or merely keep the bottle safe until the Alchemist could return for it? Why did he trust them with it...? What would it do?
🌺 Depict your kekin receiving the potion bottle, keeping it hidden during their day, or pondering what to do with it
🌹 P4 Rewards 🌹
Rewards are scaling. You may collect all that apply
🥭 For completing the base prompt, your kekin earns one non-anniversary ascended upgrade
🥭 If your piece includes a background or at least 400 words, you may apply another non-anniversary ascended upgrade
🥭 If your kekin is a resident of Bumpytown, completing the base prompt earns your kekin +10 bonus stars
🥭 If you feature any NPCs in your work, your kekin can apply one standard upgrade per NPC
🌼 For the above, NPCs should be at least halfbody if drawn and mentioned in at least a few sentences if written
🌼 You may use NPCs from any settlement, not just Bumpytown
🌱 Prompt 5: Dreamtreading 🌱
Eventually, the time for pondering is done. Your kekin needs to get some rest after their confusing and stressful day. They bed down and try not to feel like the potion bottle is watching them somehow, waiting expectantly... The liquid inside shimmers and glitters in the moonlight.
After some struggle, sleep comes. Only a small portion of it is restful. As the night wears on, your kekin settles into a dream. They see only black until two yellow eyes open and stare back at them, passive and pupiless. As your kekin watches, the eyes blink and then start to shimmer. Delicate swirls appear within them, swimming and dancing and looking an awful lot like... The eyes blink again before starting to run downwards, dripping into the blackness. The tears form tiny golden rivers before pooling together into the shape of a bottle. The Alchemist's bottle.
Your kekin's emotions are amplified by the dream and the revelation is so shocking that they jolt awake. Only... they're not tucked into bed. They're halfway across the room, the little bottle in their paws. It's raised halfway up to their face, the cork undone. What is this...?!
🌺 Depict your kekin dreaming or reacting to waking up
🌱 P5 Rewards 🌱
Rewards are scaling. You may collect all that apply
🥭 For completing the base prompt, you earn +20 GPS
🥭 If your piece includes a background or at least 400 words, you can apply one uncommon upgrade to your kekin
🥭 If your kekin is a resident of Bumpytown, for completing the base prompt, they may claim Susish pet
or +20 stars
🥭 If you feature any NPCs in your work, your kekin earns an extra +10 stars per NPC included
🌼 For the above, NPCs should be at least halfbody if drawn and mentioned in at least a few sentences if written
🌼 You may use NPCs from any settlement, not just Bumpytown
🌙 Interlude: The Plunge 🌙
After their dream, your kekin has too much to think about to go back to sleep. Was the dream nonsense or did it have a meaning...? Where had they seen those yellow eyes before...? What on Susie was the Alchemist trying to do?!
There are no answers. There's only the little yellow bottle, waiting patiently. Ever since they awoke, your kekin feels an unmistakable draw to it. They want to drink it. From their very core, they want to. Resisting thus far has caused a tremor to take hold of them and they grit their teeth, trying to clear their head enough to think. They're trying to be rational, but... what harm could it really do...? Surely the Alchemist wouldn't have handed them poison. It just... wouldn't make any sense. And something that mundane wouldn't cause an explosion.
They drink it. They didn't even mean to, it just... ended up in their paws again. In one swift blink, the yellow liquid is gone and the bottle is on the floor, lazily rolling away. Your kekin looks about in vague horror, wondering what manner of magic this is. Wondering what will happen to them now...
🍃 Prompt 6: Presence 🍃
The day comes, slowly and gradually. Your kekin was unable to get any more rest after what they'd done, yet tiredness seemed to leave them alone. The sun rose and your kekin forced themselves to slip out onto the streets, to continue about their day. The town itself appeared to have returned to normalcy after the explosion. Your kekin hears the occasional gossip about the Alchemist and the raft, but many seem unconcerned. It's taken care of now - the Alchemist is at the Healer's and being tended to. He's in good paws.
No matter what they do - shopping, chatting, exploring... - your kekin just can't get what happened out of their head. It's too strange... And where are the potion effects? These things don't usually last this long... The not knowing is driving them crazy. Should they go to the Healer's themselves? Are they fine? Hello??
"...ell..o?"
There's a voice in your kekin's head. Okay. Okay... That's not that abnormal. There are a hundred and one things that could be talking to them telepathically. Totally normal. It was a totally normal, perfectly mundane potion. Good.
🌺 Depict your kekin after drinking the potion or hearing a voice in their head
🍃
P6 Rewards 🍃
Rewards are scaling. You may collect all that apply
🥭 For completing the base prompt, your kekin earns one uncommon upgrade
🥭 If your piece includes a background or at least 400 words, your keke earns +20 bonus stars
🥭 If your kekin is a resident of Bumpytown, completing the base prompt rewards them one scarce upgrade
🥭 If you feature any NPCs in your work, your kekin may apply one uncommon upgrade per NPC included
🌼 For the above, NPCs should be at least halfbody if drawn and mentioned in at least a few sentences if written
🌼 You may use NPCs from any settlement, not just Bumpytown
🍂 Prompt 7: Hello, Helio 🍂
The first question in easy. Who's there? your kekin asks with their mind.
"...y n...me i...ss... H-h-h-h-elio"
The connection is terrible. Static crackles across the line and the stranger's voice randomly cuts in and out. And then that stutter- gosh! Something big must be between the two of them to be causing such a disturbance. Hang on, your kekin thinks, I need a better signal.
"....on't get o...ne."
What was that? Your kekin squints as they hunt for a better place to stand, concentrating hard on the words that echo in a bad way.
"...'m a-a-awake. I c....n alm...ost see... ...mos...t move..."
Is this kekin in trouble...? They sound strained, like talking is taking all of the effort they can muster. Your kekin expresses their concern, but they almost imperceptibly feel a head shake in reply - the smallest of motions. That's... that's a little weird. Telepathy shouldn't really-
"...alk t-t-t-t---- to V...itae... ...eeds-s-s ...elp."
Who's Vitae? Your kekin's going to need a lot more than that to go on if they're going to be preforming their second rescue mission in two days. Suddenly, your kekin's head throbs, a sensation so strong and out of nowhere that it stops them in their treads. They throw their paws to their head, but it doesn't stop the second pulse, this one so strong that their vision flares black. But... not just black. There's something there, right in the middle. It's so blurry... They think it's... blue? Something blue? A ball...? No, wait... Something curled up on itself... Someone...
"...i...tae..."
The distant stranger emphasizes once more before going silent. Your kekin senses that the connection is broken. The potion has worn off, for better or worse...
🌺 Depict your kekin having the conversation or seeing the image
🍂 P7 Rewards 🍂
Rewards are scaling. You may collect all that apply
🥭 For completing the base prompt, your kekin earns one enchanted upgrade
or one clutch upgrade
🥭 If your piece includes a background or at least 400 words, your kekin earns one non-anniversary ascended upgrade
🥭 If your kekin is a resident of Bumpytown, completing the base prompt earns you +50 GPS
🥭 If you feature any NPCs in your work, your kekin may apply one scarce upgrade per NPC included
🌼 For the above, NPCs should be at least halfbody if drawn and mentioned in at least a few sentences if written
🌼 You may use NPCs from any settlement, not just Bumpytown