The Mothman Equinox

Event: The Mothman Equinox is a seasonal event, running from December 8 to December 21, 2021 for its first two-week run

Quick walkthrough
Optional:
 * Speak to Interpreter Clarence ( 4m)
 * Listen to the Interpreter's instructions
 * Prepare for the ritual ( 10m)
 * Destroy the vines of containment around each Pyre (0/3)
 * Kill Cultist Prophets (0/6)
 * Collect and deposit albino radstag blood in blood troughs (0/15)
 * Destroy Totems of Warding (0/10)
 * Light pyres (0/3)
 * Defend the Ritual Pyres
 * The heretics are approaching the Church Pyre... ( 12s)
 * The heretics are approaching the Bridge Pyre... ( 12s)
 * The heretics are approaching the Waterside Pyre... ( 12s)
 * Fend off the first wave
 * Fend off the second wave
 * Fend off the final wave ( 90s)
 * Perform merriment atop the Mothman Museum (0/30) ( 90s)
 * Light candles (0/?)
 * Harvest perfect mothman eggs (0/?)
 * Deposit perfect mothman eggs into the Cradle of the Pretenders during the preparation stage. This will replace the vengeful mothmen with mothmen hatchlings

Detailed walkthrough
At the top of the hour (XX:00), players gather in Point Pleasant as they have been summoned by the Wise Mothman's followers, led by Wise Charles the Forewarned, to commence a ritual to summon the Wise Mothman to share his wisdom with them. Speaking with Wise Charles' assistant and the one in charge of the ceremony, Interpreter Clarence, Clarence asks the players to aid in the summoning of the Wise Mothman by first removing the various branches and vines that the "Dim Ones," the hostile cultists that worship the "holy" Mothman, have surrounded the ritual pyres around the area with. There are three pyres in all:
 * One by the waterfront.
 * One by the collapsed bridge.
 * One in the church that served as a Responders outpost.

Once the vines are removed, the observer at each pyre will then ask the player characters to take care of one of three objectives around Point Pleasant:
 * Observer Errol requests that the Mothman prophets scattered around the town be slain for contaminating the Wise Mothman's grounds with their heresy. There are six in all. They will easily give away their positions with the radium rifles they are using as the radioactive clicking from the bullets zipping past will be a telltale sign of their whereabouts.
 * Observer Marlon requests that the totems around town be destroyed to prevent them from disrupting the ceremony. The totems give off a red aura to easily give away their locations. At least ten of them need to be demolished to fulfill the objective.
 * Observer Johanna requests that the albino radstags around town be slain and their blood collected and deposited in the troughs around town as offerings to the Wise Mothman to help snuff out the stench of the heretic cultists. Fifteen units of blood from the albino radstags are needed. Any extra ones collected after the requirement is met can be held onto for the next attempt.
 * Secret - deposit perfect mothman eggs into the Cradle of the Pretenders. This will affect the defense stage, replacing the vengeful mothmen with mothmen hatchlings. Perfect mothman eggs may only be obtained by opening a legendary cultist high priest pack.

Once the observers' requests are completed, Clarence asks that the pyres be lit while he spreads the Wise Mothman's dust into the air to begin the ceremony from two large aerosolizers on the roof of the building across the street from the Mothman Museum and two on top of the museum itself. With all three pyres lit, the sky takes on a purple color as the players are now experiencing things from the Wise Mothman's point-of-view thanks to inhaling the fumes the dust gave off when lit. Clarence, his voice now sounding warped and distorted, warns the players that the Dim Ones have been thrown into a fury by the ceremony and will stop at nothing to destroy the pyres and ruin the ceremony and asks the players to defend the pyres at all costs from the heretics. Three waves of hostile cultists will then attack:
 * The first wave targets the pyre in the church.
 * The second wave targets the pyre by the bridge, and brings deathclaws with them.
 * The final wave targets not just the waterfront pyre, but all three, with hostile mothmen joining them, be they mothman hatchlings or vengeful mothmen, along with the deathclaws. This is the hardest part of this stage of the event as most cultists, deathclaws and mothmen will go after the waterfront and bridge pyres, so players will need to group up to protect them from being overwhelmed and destroyed. Mothmen hatchlings target the church pyre, while vengeful mothmen will go after the waterfront and bridge pyres. Most of the heretic cultists will use melee weapons, such as fire axes, sledgehammers and cultist blades, while some use Gatling guns.

Once the final wave has been repulsed, Clarence summons everyone back to the roof of the Mothman Museum to emote to summon the Wise Mothman. His voice will return to normal as he calls out to the Wise Mothman to see its "children" asking for his wisdom and to come to pass on its knowledge to them. The emotes have to be done 30 times before the Wise Mothman descends to the altar and the event is completed successfully, and within a minute and thirty seconds, or the event is failed. Communing with the Wise Mothman here awards the temporary buff "True Wisdom of the Mothman" of +15% bonus XP for one hour versus the +5% bonus XP communing with the Wise Mothman summoned in The Path to Enlightenment.

Rewards
Each reward in the "Mothman Equinox item" list has an 11.11% chance to drop. Rewards are determined based on the number of remaining pyres at the conclusion of the event, as well as the quality of the dance party finale. Best performance may only be achieved by successfully defending all three pyres, while Good and Bad performance result from two and one pyres remaining, respectively. If all three pyres are destroyed, or time runs out before speaking to Clarence, during the preparations, or emoting to summon the Wise Mothman, then the event will end in failure. In addition to automatic quest rewards, the Wise Mothman may be communed with in order to receive True Wisdom of the Mothman, a temporary buff which grants +15% XP for 60 minutes.

Tomes
Inside the Point Pleasant church, adjacent to the pulpit, are two glass display cases containing the sacred tomes of the Enlightened. Each volume contains a lengthy account by various members of the cult. By repeatedly completing The Mothman Equinox, access to these tomes are gradually unlocked.

Behind the scenes
The Mothman Equinox was originally teased as "The Ritual" on the 2021 roadmap as part of the Tales from the Stars update. On September 28, 2021, the roadmap was revised, including a rename for the event. It was released on December 8, 2021 as part of the Night of the Moth update.