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

[unsundered]

[Startled is a pretty understandable reaction, all things considered. But he seemed to be taking it well- or at least, about as well as something like this could be taken. Being transported to another world was perhaps not entirely new, but this was a place removed from Source or shard, and with powers gone with them....

Never even minding the whole 'literally running into someone you've recently killed' thing. That.]

So you're the one requiring an introduction this time, hmm?

[There's a flicker of a smile there, a suggestion of something resembling amusement, though it fades just as quickly. His tone also fades, drifting from idle into serious.]

Although... 'tis not a hello I imagine you expected having to perform, for several reasons.

[Thousands of years had passed from the destruction of Amaurot, the loss of his people and his world, and Emet-Selch had yet to recover from it. Yet to move on or to even cope in a way that didn't involve drowning himself in an impossible duty, a task he'll never complete. Coming to grips with his own imminent death wasn't going to be much easier. Another vain struggle, another thing he couldn't let go of--

He'd ignored it for a time, dealing with it by avoiding it, believing that he could find some way to prevent it. But time passed, and he was no closer to an answer, yet ever more reminded of his own powerlessness--

And here he was again, staring down at another of his murderers. Another of his friends.]

And yet, this city feels fit to disturb us both.

[thavnairian]

[It's certainly a strange feeling, seeing Emet go through all these familiar gestures and the faint and fleeting flickers of emotion he had grown accustomed to while they traveled over the First. Amal is insatiably curious, and had pestered Emet on as many occasions as he could for more information on the Ascians, on the world as it was, if he was so generous with his time... And he'd longed to ask more, but his free time had grown thin and then suddenly they were in a ruined Amaurot, fighting on a tower above the ruins.

It had all happened so fast, relatively. Despite some rest and then some running around, he feels like his head is still spinning from the craziness of it all. And now Emet is alive, as if nothing had happened-- as if Amal hadn't killed him with his own bloody hands.

His smile fades momentarily, like the sun hiding behind a cloud. He could be more difficult, rude, perhaps more cordial than the bit of openness he has now. But that isn't his way.]

You deserve to rest. And whoever thought to deny you that will answer to me personally.

[unsundered]

[It's a response that draws a blink, clearly not expecting that answer. And a quiet look to follow, eyes drifting to the side, to a space somewhere beyond Amal's head. It was- a different answer.

Not pity, nor a halfhearted-guilt of self-centered inclination. Oddly proactive. Though the Ascian remains deeply disturbed at the seemingly universal constant that his death provided him rest, Amal's expression of it earns a nod of acknowledgement, attention returning to the smaller man's face.]

Will they? Well... I'll wish you better luck than I at that. I could certainly use the break.

[He decides not to clarify that he hadn't yet met that apparent and impending rest. Though still serious, his voice attempts a more mild lilt.]

But for the time being, it seems we share a world once more. For a singular mercy, it's not one that requires your personal heroism to save it, nor does it warrant any ruinous attentions from my kind.

[That is to say, they weren't necessarily in conflict now. Something Emet-Selch had a harder time reminding himself of, these days, but- if nothing else, he was learning that all of these Warriors were different, despite originating from the same person.

So who was this hero? Perhaps one day he'd learn better and give up trying to find out- but yet here he was again, staring down this Amal, conflicted and resentful and tired above all, and yet... wondering of him, nonetheless.]

[thavnairian]

[He can tell when Emet pivots a bit, his tone turning slightly glib. He remembers this too-- and he's guilty of the same. But there are few ways better than that to change a topic gracefully, while signaling to someone you'd rather not talk about it. Amal keeps his cards close to ensure his chance at a winning hand.]

That isn't what I quite expected. Does it have something to do with my lack of... [He waves his hand.] ... blessing? [He doesn't even have a dragon dad to blame it on this time.]

I'm not a grand mage or anything, but I can tell when something's afoot. This place feels strange, and I feel strange, and to be honest I think you feel strange too. [a beat] Well, more than usual.

[unsundered]

[Being able to take a hint is a small point in Amal's favor, for all that Emet-Selch does little to show it. Being described as feeling strange gets a briefly raised eyebrow, but he can't really argue with it.]

Strange is a charitable way to describe it. I've been here for months, and the feeling's not even begun to pass.

[With a sigh in his tone, he continues.]

No, you'll find any magic-borne or magically-enhanced abilities to be entirely missing, with this world either forcing its poor substitution upon you, or deciding to transform you into some manner of beast.

[There was no point in hiding it, though the displeasure in his expression is certainly clear and likely completely genuine.]

Myself as well, reduced to the level of the rest of you.

[thavnairian]

((overflow))