Event
The Day of Change was the day on which Deirdre Green defeated The Churning Storm, with the help of Cole Sumner, Martin Rank, and The Mountaineers.
Description
The Day of Change was the name for the day when Mountaineers planned to take on the Storm, with Deirdre Green, Cole Sumner, and Martin Rank, which was September 23, 2017. With The Council of the 18 Gates’ protection slowly fading, the Mountaineers needed to make a move to recover the Book of Briars from 1998, after the modern-day version of the Book was destroyed. In order to retrieve it, they planned to use a part of the Storm, Nate Fallon, who had the ability to exchange one object in time for another object of equal power. Using a series of complex spells, the Mountaineers told a story to Nate about the Book they wanted, and what they wanted to exchange it for, as well as a story to shut the storm down. Ultimately, the Mountaineers were able to recover the Book, and Deirdre was able to strike down the Storm using figuration magiq. Deirdre was named Stormslayer by Lauren Ellsworth, who joined the forums for the occasion.
History
The Day of Change came about after Benefactor alerted the Mountaineers that they only had a week or so before the Book of Briars would vanish from the 1998 timeline. Benefactor urged the Mountaineers to get the second half of The Lantern of Low Hollow spell from Ascender and decide what they could trade for the 1998 Book. To do so, Benefactor suggested the Mountaineers use the Calling the Corners spell to bring a pool of magiq to their side, tell a story to end all stories, figurate the storm into doing what they wanted it to do, find an object of equal power to trade, and figure out a way to shut down the Storm. The Mountaineers compiled a list of possible items, eventually deciding to try Deirdre’s wool scarf and silver hippocampus pendant. However, The Little Red House was considered as a failsafe—trading one inaccessible book for another. September 23rd was chosen as the day to attempt the trade, and the Mountaineers splintered off into groups to try to build the necessary spells.
There were several groups of Mountaineers that worked together in preparation for the Day of Change. Operation Gladitor was formed in case the Storm preemptively attacked the Mountaineers and was later used to charge the lantern bearers. The Sound of the Storm group selected a lantern bearer to rally around. The Telling the Tallest Tale group devised a story about a child trying to find their lost book. Operation Aorthora was a defensive group that helped shield the forums from the Silver. Before the Day of Change, Deirdre encountered Mr. Wideawake, who subtly warned her that the Monarchs were aware that the Mountaineers were considering sacrificing The Little Red House and were trying to prevent them from doing so, so they could study and protect it.
On the day of change, Cole and Marty met up at Central park with the planned items of exchange. Benefactor told the Mountaineers that Marty was planning to sacrifice himself as a last-ditch effort if the exchange didn’t go as planned. She also revealed herself to be Knatz, telling the Mountaineers that she couldn’t bear to erase her memories, so she hid from the Storm and raised her daughter, who was known on the forums as AlisonB. Before these events started, several individuals from the Mountaineers’ past showed up in the thread to wish them well, including Ascender, Reader, Steve the Balimoran, and AlisonB. Lauren Ellsworth, saying that Marty claimed she owed him, agreed to relay the events from a distance.
Operation Gladitor started off the day, with Mounties posting their quotes and images of their hands with the Gladitor symbol on them. Then, the Lantern Bearers started their spell and were briefly possessed with the commands of the Storm. Cole opened a door to Neithernor and attracted the Storm there, while the Storytellers prepared to tell their story. The Storm stopped in front of Cole and Marty, and Cole tossed his backpack, hoping to exchange it. The exchange didn’t succeed, and Cole, knowing that Marty intended to sacrifice himself, tossed him into the warren instead. Cole began to run but was struck by lightning, unable to get away on his own.
While Cole and Marty faced the Storm, Deirdre was frantically trying to get The Little Red House before the Monarchs took it. Realizing they would be able to track it down from her blog post, Deirdre hurried and found that a small group of Monarchs was attempting to unlock the book. Deirdre was able to distract them long enough to take the book for herself and escape out a knocking door. Deirdre then ‘caterpillowed’ herself to get to Cole. The Little Red House began to unbind, not being able to exist in the mundane world, but Deirdre was able to blow the ashes into the Storm. Before the Mountaineers could shut down the Storm, the Silver realized they were inside, and they made the eye of the Storm kill the part that the Mountaineers were controlling. However, Deirdre ran to the eye of the Storm, to protect Nate and avenge her family. The Storm attempted to strike her down, but she covered herself in translucent armor from The Myth of Elainnor. Deirdre used Gladitor and struck down the Storm. After Deirdre destroyed the Storm, Lauren named her Deirdre of the Isles, the Mountain’s Will, and Stormslayer.
Search for Magiq
During the Search for Magiq in 2019, the Mountaineers led a campaign of elemental disruption to protect Eaves and the members of the Sanctuary from the Silver while they traveled to their new stronghold, Lion’s Heart. In the six weeks it took for the Sanctuary to make the journey, beginning on the Day of Change, the Mountaineers bore one alchemical symbol per week, creating pings of elemental energy all over the globe in the hopes of distracting and confusing the Silver as to the Sanctuary’s whereabouts.