Event Log: May, An Inauspicious Arrival

[faileas]

Event Log: May, An Inauspicious Arrival

I. Boaltinn (1st - 3rd) Boaltinn comes around again. A handful of Mirrorbound will remember the holiday from last year, but for others, it will be brand new. In both Residential Districts, bonfires burn in central locations through the night, frequented by the residents celebrating another summer come to Aefenglom. Curiously, while last year the bonfires seemed quite segregated by human or Monster, this year, there is more of a noticeable mix at each, and Mirrorbound are invited to join the games and festivities quite happily. Characters are invited to try and jump through the bonfire's flames to burn away any poor relationship experiences, be it romantic or platonic, past or present; to aid them in this, those at the Eastern Bonfire will give those participating rune-etched accessories to protect them from the fire. The city has quite a bit to offer for this holiday: shared rose baths at public bathhouses and pleasure establishments that increase feelings of friendliness and talkativeness, poles draped in ribbons meant to be danced around, wrapping a ribbon around the pole to bring good luck for the summer, food stalls whose offerings are meant to be shared, and fortune-telling set up by Divination students of the Coven, who can tell your day is going to go. To see last year's Boaltinn prompts, you can take a glance right here! Much of it, including the bonfires, baths, and entertainments will be similar this year, so feel free to use those in your top levels.

II. An Unusual Arrival (3rd on) A full year from the arrival of the first group of Mirrorbound, the 1st passes quietly, with no one showing up in the mirror-lined halls of the Looking-Glass House. Dates and times are important in most kinds of magic, and this is strange enough that some Witches of the Coven get together on the night of the 3rd to try a probing ritual, attempting to gather some kind of clues that could be useful in prying out the cottage's secrets. Boaltinn is the best time for such things, when the boundaries are thinner, and magic is stronger. Those who are awake that night at 3 am might notice a pulse of harmless silvery light that spreads like ripples on water throughout the whole city, originating at the Looking-Glass House, but nothing further happens, and the Coven receives no answers. Well, nothing happens in the Looking-Glass House. Before long, the reports start coming in: people are emerging from mirrors, regular old mundane mirrors, all over the city. Anything with a particularly reflective surface could be an entry point for someone from another world! Inhabited homes, businesses closed and locked for the night, pools of still water in fountains or the river, these unorthodox Mirrorbound pop up anywhere and everywhere, causing chaos for the City Guard (folks aren't happy to find strangers in their bathrooms at 3 in the morning) and the Coven both. Out of nowhere, a glint of light catches your eye; your heart thunders in your ears as your body moves on its own, your mind consumed with inspecting the source. Your reflection stares back at you, just as curious from the surface - a mirror, a pool of water, your most trusted sword, something fleeting that your mind can barely remember - then ripples at your touch. If you are one of these unfortunate arrivals, it's likely a rude awakening for you, to find yourself somewhere inconvenient, somewhere other than where you've been. It only makes sense to be confused. Hopefully someone finds you and explains to you what's happened to you. Resident Mirrorbound will hear a message from Miss Nessie shortly after it begins, a call to arms: "Dears, I'm quite sorry to disturb you, but it seems your fellows are arriving elsewhere than the Looking-Glass House this month! We're trying to track them all down for the usual welcome, but we could use a hand or several! If you could just bring them by the Coven, the usual spot, that would be lovely." She'll give her usual orientation and pass out Watches, but no doubt the Mirrorbound will be more helpful in this regard, with so many arriving.

III. The Goblin Market (All Month) Life goes on in Aefenglom, despite the addition of so many new residents. With the City Guard decidedly busy dealing with the sudden flood of break-ins (or, more accurately, break-outs?), the vendors of the Goblin Market find opportunity to set up their stalls more openly than they have since the crack-downs some months ago. They pop up all over the city, but clustered more often in the Residential Districts and the Harbor District, where there are even fewer law enforcement agents out and about to run them off. These sellers, while not as devoid of morals as those major players of the Black Market, still have very few compunctions when it comes to lying, cheating, fencing stolen goods, and misrepresenting their wares to unsuspecting buyers. It's also the place to find those things that are- not quite legal, shall we say. They won't say a word if you don't. If confronted, they are quick to pack up their things and slip away, however; they know this city and its hiding places a lot better than you do. With a brand new batch of what the natives assume are Mirrorbound, many undergoing rapid transformations into their Monster forms, many of the wares on display are potions: supposed cure-alls for aches and itches, calming draughts for the full moon restlessness, some even claim their brews can halt changes entirely! Some concoctions are meant to increase a Witch's magical ability, or decrease it, or provide them a finer control. They offer potions that they say will eliminate the need for a Bond, or temporary Bonding potions of their own that they claim are more pure, stronger, than the ones offered by the Coven. Claims are only claims, though. A few remedies for the pain of changing or some regular temporary Bonding potions can be found here and there, but for every potion that works, there are twenty more that have less than pleasant side effects. A brew that will cause everything you touch to turn to solid gold for up to an hour; a potion that will invert your sense of direction - trying to turn right will make you turn left, trying to go forward will cause you to walk backward; a potion that will remove all traction from your feet, causing you to slide around as if cobblestone are the slickest ice. Worse, some shadier vendors sell things more sinister, including a potion that gives you the appearance of being moderately to heavily infected by the Cwyld. Even if you don't drink any, the vendors are not at all careful where they're sloshing those bottles around, trying to show them off, and they all activate on skin contact.

IV. A Wilde Hunt (7th - 22nd) All Mirrorbound, temporary or not, are likely to feel it. Monsters are always affected by the full moons, but this month, it is more. Stronger. Instincts rise to the surface as the Sisters emerge full and visible in the night sky, and for many Mirrorbound, they are undergoing rapid transformations into whatever type of Monster they are meant to be. Curiously, the natives get along like they usually do, noticing nothing out of the norm, other than the increased agitation and restlessness from Mirrorbound Monsters. Monsters' aggression fades when the Sisters start to wane, but as the new moons approach on the 22nd, Mirrorbound Witches will notice their magical reserves overfilling, and will find themselves stricken with the overwhelming urge to use it, until casting spells, pushing one's magical limits, is almost a compulsion. Those who are not in proper Witch-Monster Bonds will feel it even stronger, with no stabilizing magic to consume (for Monsters) or avenues to expend magic (for Witches) other than casting spells. (For those who are interested, the Coven does offer temporary Bonding potions which can be used to help alleviate the effects somewhat.) The Coven Witches notice the signs, and they take decisive action on the morning of the 6th, the day before the full moons. So many Mirrorbound, likely to be so heavily affected by the lunar cycle this month, many of them coming into new features and abilities at a breakneck pace, only spells danger for the city. They barricade off a massive chunk of Wilde outside Aefenglom, largely free of Cwyld and totally bereft of farms, homes, and Wilder outposts. They invite anyone who feels the effects of the moons too strongly to control to come out for a Hunt. The hunting grounds will be open nightly to anyone who needs to work off restless energy or overflowing magic; all participants will be warned that their safety cannot be guaranteed from others, but they won't be able to harm bystanders out here. The woods are thick, with the river cutting through them, and full of wildlife. There is room to run and chase prey, or room to play with your developing magic. Play cat and mouse with your friends or Bondmates, or stalk a stranger. If playing games isn't your thing, there is something else to hunt out here as well. With the deep Wilde entering into Winter, this patch of land so close to the city is much warmer, and fearsome Shades have emerged to search for prey. These were once living beings, Monsters, Witches, or animals, who have been overtaken by Cwyld infection long ago, leaving them dead but for the infection, white-eyed and seeking out sources of magic to consume and infect. Anything could become a Shade, but the most common out right now are the ferocious remains of bears, wolves, and nomadic Arachne and Turnskins. If not killed, these Shades threaten the people of the Outer City, when they inevitably escape the barricade. Careful to limit your contact, though; anyone infected upon their return to the gates will be escorted straight to the infirmary.

Welcome to May's Fourth Wall event, An Inauspicious Arrival! The comms are now open to comments from all registered users and will be until June 1st. Current players, if you don't want fourth wall characters tagging your posts, just say so in your text. Fourth wall characters can use this post for their own network top-levels, or this post for log top levels. This event is game canon; threads from this fourth wall can be used as application samples later and current players may use these threads for AC. As always, be courteous to each other! Let the mod team know if there are any problems and we will handle things.

As always, please direct your questions to this thread!

Comments

god i just saw all of my typos, what is even wrong w/ me (apologies!)

[bravers]

...Uh-huh.

[He assumes it's a matter of not wanting to talk, rather than actually not knowing anything. The world Kaine came from is a special degree of fucked, to the extent he'd honestly be surprised, so while she's being truthful about it being a matter of can't rather than won't, he... can't really imagine it being more a matter of the truth than anything else.

...But regardless, he's fine with what he assumes it to be. Wasn't his business anyway, and it's not like he's not declined to comment about matters he could've.

So he focuses on the question.]

Pretty much. Your body winds up getting resistant. It's alright for a couple of months though. Maybe three. So you've got time.

[shinkunochou]

[Sae shakes her head at the question, eagerly eating the strawberries until all that remains is the stick they were stuck to. It wasn’t enough to really make her full, but it staves off the hunger for now—which is amazing in and of itself. When was the last time she’d felt hunger or sleepy or anything like that?]

Everything is just... a little overwhelming. There are so many people. Everyone’s so... alive. [That’s such an odd thing to say, really, but considering she’d rarely seen living people anymore where she was from...

She turns her head away to watch people as they come and go, twirling the stick idly around her fingers. After a moment or two she speaks up again as she watches some more obviously monstrous people walking with their witches] They said— They said...I was a monster...

[voktys]

What would justice be for them?

⟪ there is genuine curiosity in her voice. nobility has had... interesting thoughts on these matters, if they thought of them at all. none of this is melisandre's own mission: smallfolk or not, the long night will come for them all, and is the matter that must be primarily resolved if all these kings and queens want their lovely iron throne to matter, in the end.

not to say that she has no preferences in this at all. but they must all be set aside in turn. ⟫

[demonass]

[ Nero has never once in his life pretended to be a people person. Before it just didn't matter because the number of people he actually wanted to interact with, he could count on one hand--

...Well, okay, that part hasn't exactly changed. He'll give himself both his hands now, but he knows that he's not here for PR. Not that he thinks Nico has a velvet touch when it comes to civilians. Nero raises a brow and motions widely with his left hand towards the courtyard, "be my guest" left unsaid.

And she does about as well as he expected. Nero purses his lips, trying to stop from looking a little too amused as he takes a few steps forward to stand beside Nico. He crosses his arms as he watches the local retreat. ]

Oh yeah, you sure showed me. What's your secret?

[ That is until she looks like she's actually going to go after the guy. There's a moment where he considers letting her go make a mess of things--because that's exactly what he would want to do--but he thinks better of it. At least because they're dealing with people, not demons. ]

Whoa, whoa--!

[ Nero grabs Nico by the shoulder, forcibly hauling her backwards. ]

Hey--guy's an asshole and that's probably not gonna change because a couple of out-of-towners told him to shove it. Let's find someone else to work your charm on.

[rootstalks]

[ Something settles in her once she has them both, and she takes a deep, fortifying breath. He's right. They are here; nothing terrible has happened, and if it does, they can face it together. She aches to imagine his having to grow up without them, when Zixuan has so much affection to give him. She hopes that her brothers love him enough in their place.

She ignores that she has no idea where here is, or the strange rasping the skin of her arm makes as her damp sleeve pulls across it. One crisis at a time. ]

Xiānzǐ. That's a good name. [ She says, firmly. Well. No. But it's the name of her son's dog, so of course she likes it. ] Please, tell us everything. Are you eating well?

[zewu_jun]

Owlbears? I haven't heard of those.

[Although he does make a point. Most dangerous creatures don't kill indiscriminately. There is usually a reason of some sort. Still, Lan Xichen is trying not to be that sort of hostile person. Raised in a secluded sect that focused so much on dignity and restrained actions despite any other influence, he's still finding his own reasons to act out--sometimes selfishness take time to understand, even if you have selfish desires.]

I do not wish to hunt you in any case. That would be too much for a first meeting.

[Does it matter how many meetings it has been? Xichen is just hesitant in general.]

Ah, there are Shades here. They are the animated corpses of monsters that have been infected and killed by the Cwyld. If you meet one, you should be careful. Not only are they very aggressive, but we can contract that disease from them as well. There is a cure, but it may take some time to completely heal.

[zewu_jun]

Even if the two of them are of a similar nature, Lan Xichen can't really stand by and watch them fight. Nor can he pick a side, since he is true to his sect and dedicated to helping even the worst kinds of people find peace. In this case, he has not choice but try to reason with them and search for a compromise.

The vendor looks just as displeased by Wang Lingjiao and Xichen realizes that perhaps compromise won't be coming easily. Especially when the lady puts down her terms and the merchant sets his jaw like he's about to argue harder.

"Ah... and what would you say would be a reasonable price?"

The sharp look from the man behind the booth says that question is not going to lead to a good place, but it's too late to take it back now.

she'll make him beautiful

[overannchiever]

Better safe than sorry! Although, maybe none of this would have happened if I'd been more careful...Dedue's always telling me to pay more attention to my surroundings.

[ Her hands still for a moment as unhappiness crosses her face. Five years, and she's still making some of the same mistakes as she did back when she was at the monastery. It lasts only for a moment before she's shaking her head and talking herself back up. ]

But this should heal up in no time if you don't bump it too much. And you really don't need to thank me, I'm the one that got you hurt in the first place.

[ As for that magic question...she waits until he's all patched up before leaning back, a sigh escaping her lips. ]

I don't know if they really stole it...but yeah, I can't use the magic I used to know anymore. Which is a real pain, I'll have you know! [ She crosses her arms, looking momentarily annoyed. ]

What about you? Did they take something from you too?

[voktys]

⟪ asshai seems a dire choice for safety, but the explanation that follows all but explains it. wise she would not call it, but then, it may be wise enough for a traveller, one who does not intend to stay until the city by the shadow has made leaving harder and harder.

birthplaces and claims and a queenly title, and the slim suspicion she has had and suppressed time and time again over the course of their talk for it's absurdly low chance now fully proven, it is, finally, the mention of another priest that nearly breaks her serene expression. of course the temples would seek to press influence. now, if they could use their god-granted sight and turn it to beyond the wall, where the long night is edging nearer and nearer –– ⟫

No one born into shackles who has not listened with bated breath.

⟪ surprised, there, she is by her own honesty. it was a change she had not thought she would see in essos. there were other rumours, too, of dragons, and she had seen their shadows in her flames, but as all old magic rises –– 

no matter now. dragons are no use to her in essos. a fledgling queen will not ease her tasks unless she joins the one war that matters. if azor ahai loses his life before, then all is for naught to begin with –– and why do her flames betray her sight? why is it snow she sees, not stannis? what use were years and years of showing her the same face when it now falters? ⟫

I have come to know Dragonstone well. ⟪ better still the man who took it. how strange all of this is, to a woman who is so rarely surprised by any turn. ⟫

[trulygifted]

( Nico is almost tempted to round on Nero for stopping her—she can fight her own battles thank you very much, especially when there doesn't appear to be any demons involved—but the fact of the matter is she knows that he's right. She huffs and puffs for a moment before finally letting her anger begin to drain, and pushes Nero's hand off her shoulder with an unimpressed roll of her eyes. )

There was no need for him to talk to me like that. I won't let anybody treat me like I'm nothin' more than garbage.

( She folds her arms across her chest. )

But ... ( A deep breath. ) Since I don't wanna get us into any more trouble, fine.

( A quick scan of the area again, then she nods towards a row of inviting looking buildings. )

C'mon, there's a bar over there. Maybe we can get information—or at the very least, some free drinks.

( But that's smirk is back, which means Nero probably doesn't want to know how she plans on going about it. )

Jiang Yanli | MDZS / The Untamed - Merrow

[rootstalks]

[goblin market]
[ You would think buying food in a market wouldn't be a tremendous task, but two hours and countless potion and tincture merchants later, and she still hasn't found anywhere that will simply exchange some of her jewelry for plain ingredients and a pot.

Frustrated, she gives up for the time being, and begins to look for a friendly face instead. Ah, maybe-- ]

Pardon me, could I ask a moment of your time?

[wilde hunt]
[ She isn't one for night hunts usually. Turning into some kind of aquatic monster, while equipping her with fins, a set of needle-like secondary fangs and golden scales that are slowly creeping along her skin, doesn't actually help. Neither does her set of ornate robes and weighty hairpiece. Fortunately she isn't alone, having fallen literally into the arms of her husband on arrival, and so now she has graciously ushered both Zixuan and A-Ling off to hunt and exchange pointers while she waits in a sheltered pool just off the main river through the Wilde.

A little boring, maybe, but she would rather determine the extent of her change in private, where she can panic in peace. Besides, the water is oddly soothing. More so than usual. ]

[wildcard]
[ Want to do something else? Grab me on evildoers or on Elle#2335 on Discord! ]

[fairyherder]

[ if only she knew the animosity and awful things that have gone down... or that Jin Ling spent most his life hating the name Wei Wuxian.

together. they are together, and he's overwhelmed, both by an indescribable lightness and the heaviness of everything and the responsibility of knowing what they don't. or at least the little he's been told, experienced.

tell them about himself...? he's not even good at that with his friends, with anyone. and talking about growing up with Xiaoshu is... painful, right now, and also the root of every problem he's experienced the past few months. he looks at his hand in his mother's as he talks, feels the smoothness of it against his palm, despite how she's still dripping from the fountain, a little cold. he mumbles, a little indignant, feeling very small in front of the people who brought him to the world. ]

I do... eat, I mean. I don't... there is a lot. A lot has happened, and it's complicated, and I don't even know everything. I thought...

[ he just shakes his head and reaches up with the hand holding Suihua, rubbing his knuckles over his cheeks. he doesn't know how to talk about himself. what do they want to hear? everything? that would take several days and he's not sure he has that long with them. ]

[trulygifted]

( Oof, but now that she's looking closer? This guys looks pale. Deathly pale. Possibly even edging towards a "might fall over at any given moment" pallor, although he doesn't seem to be showing any outward sighs of being unwell or faint. Still, Nico hesitates for a moment as an eyebrow ticks up towards her hairline: )

Yeah, you an' me both ...

( Nope, sorry, she's gotta ask! )

Hey, you okay? You look kinda—

( How to put this delicately. )

Tired! Yeah—you wanna sit down or somethin'?

no worries

[seductless]

[ She takes a step back further as someone appears, but something in her relaxes a bit. Whatever happened, it resulting from someone's hand rather than some sort of enchanted weapon acting on it's own is much preferable.

Grace can't find herself particularly surprised when he lifts the weapon as if it's paper, she's seen all sorts of things wielded with ease. But she does blink at him once in a sort of bemused confusion. ]

Lucky? For having the sword appear or for not being hit by it?

[ Whatever numbers have to do with it. Grace shakes her head with a small smile. ]

I suppose that could have gone worse, yes.

goblin market!

[courtintrigue]

[ Morrigan stops short, her eyebrows slowly rising. She stays where she is but something in her stance rears back a bit, reminiscent of a cat who has not yet agreed to be stroked. ]

No.

[ The truth is that she needs to bond after refusing to for months and she brims with so much magical energy right now that her presence is undeniably electric. Though the quick golden-eyed appraisal he gets from her is simply how she would evaluate any stranger, there is an open skepticism in it. Completely earned, in her opinion. ]

...You do not waste time, do you?

[cartking]

[ Silver has never affected him in such a manner before. He should know, for as many times as he’s had to sell his worldly possessions just to scrape together a few silver coins. But Viserys has never been particularly bright, and he’s always blinded by his rage. He doesn’t notice how Melisandre is careful to avoid skin contact with the item. All he knows is that something is wrong and it must be with the silver, not him.

He glares. ]

One of those which is false.

[ He spits, more like a kitten than a viper, really. He’s too scrawny and malnourished to cause any real harm. ]

I should have his hand cut off for the injury he’s done to mine with his poor quality goods.

[stopfen]

[Enjoy the stare. Because there's nothing she can say to that, not when she still thinks it on an almost daily basis. How had that been for the first people who'd arrived a year ago? With no one who could tell them what was happening.

But then Jean asks about that. Ans she blinks, breaking the stare to frown. Not at him, not at anything in particular. She knew. Even she couldn't lineface enough to act like she didn't.]

Yes...I heard Eren too...

[The strange dream-like place, where time didn't pass. For a short time, she'd thought that had been connected to the dream she'd had before awakening by her mirror.]

That's the last thing I remember. Being stood on a roof with Armin as the titans walked by.

[strongspirited]

[That sounds like a story.]

I...do not know what a Golden Core is.

[Instead, she flexes her fingers and conjures up a little swirl of wind.]

But I am a Speaker Magician. I can do all sorts of magical things.

[But nothing can make her humble.]

[zewu_jun]

Well, you are more than just a dog.

[Is that helpful? He is trying to make it sound better than what it seems like at face value, but that is difficult when there's no avoiding the obvious transformation.]

You are still able to do some magic, if I understand it correctly. There are certain magical traits that belong to individual types of monsters. And... a dog does have keen senses?

[Sorry, Jin Ling. He really is trying to reassure him.]

And during the full moon, monsters transform into fierce fighters as well. It is part of their natures.

[voktys]

⟪ her idea of 'distance' seems to mostly extend to no longer directly touching him, though she's soon enough stepped close again, as if to spy into the waters to see what he sees in the same spot. she is hoping for fishes, signs of life that tell her how well or unwell the city is – asshai's canals hold plenty of fish, all of them malformed, with too many eyes or too many fins, and poisonous, of course, to anyone who is not a shadowbinder. ⟫

It would be foolish to discount the words of one who has experience beyond the vague hope that things may be quite similar.

⟪ and if that is a 'hope', it's not one she truly wishes to fall back on. her powers may be great, but they come at terribly steep costs. ⟫

See, the bonds are different. ⟪ then, a frown, a tilt of her head, a faint smile. ⟫ In some ways. There is power in the joining of two people in passion or pleasure in mine own world, too, the kind that can be harnessed for all manner of things. ⟪ because discussing sex magic atop a pier is an ordinary habit.

at the rest, she is quiet, mulls it over. to trust the coven seems to strike her as particularly risky. ⟫ And they have yet to betray your trust?

[seductless]

Ah.

[ She offers a smile that shades just a bit towards the wry. If Grace is at all put off by the brusqueness, it does't show, and she presses a hand against her chest and dips her head slightly in acknowledgement. ]

My apologies for startling you. I'd come to try and practice my spells a bit more.

[ And it seemed safer to start throwing lightning around in the Wilde than it had in the city. Perhaps she's misjudged that a bit, too. ]

I didn't hurt you, did I?

[sealeted]

No, the Moon Cell is a Grail itself, in my world. And I won it shortly before I ended up here.

[A corrupted Grail...

She thinks, unwillingly, of BB.]

My Servant is Gilgamesh. He's hard to miss.

[lieutenant_lineface]

[A nod.]

Yes...and apparently that seems to be a common thing with those who arrive here. I've been told that this is a city called Aefenglom, a place which pulls in people from various other worlds for reasons yet unknown. [He glances around briefly.] I had wondered if I was perhaps dreaming, but this world feels quite real...and different from Ephinea.

[Goodbye, eleth.]

[seductless]

I see.

[ There's definite amusement in her voice now as her eyes dart between the cat and the increasingly frustrated seller. ]

So you've been sitting there the entire time warning people off? That's rather kind of you.

[ Or just extremely annoying to the person trying to sell them. ]

[stopfen]

[One day, people would learn to appreciate her sense of humor more. Instead of freaking out when she tried.

The yelled intro gets a blink. You sir, you're as loud as you are big. But it was refreshing, most people got kinda quiet after a while where she was from. So she shrugs, rolling her sleeves up to show dem guns.]

Don't you need any then?

[She's joking. Mostly, it'd probably be shared luck if it worked...Maybe. And it was good luck weather. Still she grabs a nice vivid green ribbon, the colour of fresh leaves. Looking at the best spot to tie it.]