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

[gynvael]

[ It's the sound of a girl's voice that makes him turn back around. He frowns, glancing through the treeline just in time to see her barreling straight at him. The dragon? ]

Black, scorched a deer? [ He tips his head towards the flaming grass. Smoke rises in the night air, wisps catching in the moonlight. He hopes that's the one she means. Two dragons sighted in the area is going to be a bit much. ] Took off. Just hungry, no doubt.

[ If there's a vague attempt at reassurance there, it's because it doesn't occur to him that she's worried for the dragon. She must've seen it, he assumes, either coming at her or something nearby, and run off. Either way, he doesn't see it anymore, which means it's likely hunting elsewhere. ]

[freeing]

Which way?

[ Her gaze was off left and right, as if trying to follow any smoke she could see bellow into the sky. Of course, she failed – and instead was relying on this stranger (perhaps a huntsman) to help find Drogon. There's worry, it washes over her face as she starts in a direction without his guidance. ]

He's not hungry, he's – I don't know.

[ Why would Drogon stray so far when he had been taken care of? She feels lost, but even as the moonlight pulls from behind a cloud, he can catch sight of the scales peppered on her neckline and temples quite clearly. ]

I must find him.

[gynvael]

[ Which way? Geralt takes a second, blinking once. When she turns to leave, the glimpse of matching scales trailing up her neck answers the questions he has. Also opens up a few more. ]

You know him? [ Her friend? Ward? Or is she a dragon, too, whose taken human form? In any case, she's turning the wrong direction. He doesn't say so out loud, but he falls into step beside her and gestures west where the dragon flew.

So much for a simple hunt for deer. Maybe a monster or two. How is it dragons are incredibly rare and yet he's been roped into helping one twice now? ]

[freeing]

Yes. [ It's quick, it's tactful, but she takes a moment and realizes – not everyone is so fond of dragons. ] He is mine.

[ She so proudly claims him to be her child, but there was precious time for that later. For now, as Geralt leads into a specific direction, west was their destination. It was clear that she seems focused as if set in a tunnel she will not see the end of until she finds Drogon once more. He is getting too large to carry on her shoulders or scooped into her arms, and part of her is fearful of it.

Daenerys glances to him as they make their way through the brush quickly. ]

Thank you. I've been in these woods for hours and only just got a glimpse of him before losing sight. ...Did he seem...

[ Alright? Safe? ]

[gynvael]

[ That can mean a lot of things. Mine. Especially here, in a world he doesn't yet understand. Her scales are unusual, but so are his ears and teeth. He tables the question for later. If there is a later. ]

He didn't stop for conversation. [ Seemed keen on breathing fire, was all he gathered, which feels typical. He glances back at her. A girl and her runaway pet dragon. That's new. ] And don't thank me yet. I'm not helping you wrangle your dragon home.

[ He'll show her the way, if only so she can get it out of here, if that's what she's planning. Beyond that, he's not willing to get involved. ]

[freeing]

I never asked you to. [ Her words sting, confident that she knows how to handle the temperamental whelp that strayed too far from home. ] He's... my child and has gone missing in the past day. I bear the burden of if anything happens to anyone or him all the same.

[ Daenerys knows how crazy it sounded back at Essos, when she would plead for her knight to save her three children of scales and fire itself – but here when her features bore the same as his? It comes easier to admit. ]

It is difficult to track him, unfortunately.

[ The fire and smoke had been the only indicator of his appearance in the woods. Fortunately, Geralt seemingly helped her in the right direction – that much was at least helpful. ]

[gynvael]

[ The sharpness of her reply doesn't seem to faze him. He just makes a noncommittal sound that implies he isn't going to say anything about it either way. Not a runway pet, but a runway child. It's true: with the scales marking her skin, it isn't difficult at all for him to buy that claim. ]

You have a plan to convince him to come home?

[ He's pretty sure dragons don't get lost like a newborn pup. Especially not one that's old enough to roast a deer alive. Which suggests it's likely wandering off because it wants to.

Not, of course, that any of this is his problem. (It's starting to feel like it might be soon.) ]

[freeing]

I... hope so.

[ Look! Daenerys had no exact method to return him to safe grounds. She had learned before never to chain a dragon – much less her children. It was something she regrets, however... ]

He understands me, perhaps more-so now that I am of the same kin as him. [ Literally, not just symbolic blood of the dragon type stuff. Geralt may be along for the ride, but she can appreciate the company, at least? ] I believe the Shades are aggravating him. I think... he wants to claim this land as his.

[ It wasn't the first time he wandered, but dragons – were known to roost and to traverse a domain freely as their own.

However, despite how they were focused on a dragon... Geralt could pick-up on a hissing, screech behind them. If he had encountered the Shades of the woods prior, it certainly sounded damn similar to one. ]

[gynvael]

[ His gaze narrows briefly at that. The implication of what she's saying isn't lost on him: that she's had this dragon before she was ever changed in this world with her scales. ] And how does one become kin only after having their child?

[ He's gathering there's a lot she's isn't saying. Which, truth be known, he isn't sure he wants to know. Not for lack of curiosity but because it feels like he's inching ever more close to being dragged into something he hasn't meant to be. That's never turned out well for him.

The Shades might be new, but the sound of a threat is the same anywhere. He stops short when the screech cuts through the night air. One hand goes to his sword and the other reaches for her shoulder, intending to keep her behind him.

The glow is hard to miss in the dark. It shines in the distance. The light grows brighter, the shadow larger, as it comes closer: if it hadn't caught their scent before, it sure as hell has now. ]

[freeing]

Here. I am not as I was before being brought through the mirrors to this world. [ She isn't bitter, perhaps, merely only just accepting what she is now. ] I had no scales, no horns, no tail when I brought him and his siblings from their eggs.

[ Daenerys was more rough with her steps as she tries to traverse through the thicker parts of brushline and overgrown weeds – but just as she thinks she hears something, his hand presses to her and stops her in her tracks.

The sad truth was Daenerys was no hunter, no fighter – but she fumbles for her own weapon just in case. Drogon was mid-flight, she knows, he wouldn't be stomping through their line of vision. Geralt did wise to take lead. Springing from shadows, a rush of movement is heading right towards Geralt – a Shade mad with its own infection and looking to simply destroy.

It leaves little for Dany to do but cry out – the embers of her chest raising to the surface of her skin in a hot flush of fear. ]

[gynvael]

[ No. He supposes she wouldn't be, seeing as none of them were. That isn't the interesting part. It's the dragon eggs. The fact that she's had them long before this world ever took her.

But the Shade's a more pressing matter than her dragon child. Geralt's hunted monsters his whole life. He knows that they're all different; that the last thing he wants is to fight something he isn't familiar with. Which is apparently why he's wound up doing exactly that.

Whatever changes have overcome him, it at least hasn't fucked with his speed. The Shade is fast, but it's also single-minded in its hunger. He ducks under its elongated arms. This close, he can see the faint markings of feathers on its shadowy skin. It's blacker than the night, almost absorbing the moonlight into itself. When it charges a second time, he pins it to the ground as its teeth snap, bringing his sword down to pierce where the heart should be. Whether it still has one that matters, he has no damn idea. ]