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

[kingofunification]

Ah. [He hums, trying to parse together what is not being said. Of course, they were marching on Embarr, it was the last stronghold of the Empire...though, hadn't Sylvain left to defend Gautier territory shortly after Merceus...?]

I'm also campaigning for a march on Embarr, though you seem to be eluding to something that I've yet to understand.

[It's a riddle, and as much as they usual excite and frustrate him in equal measures, at the moment frustration is winning out. Maybe it's the fact that he's drenched, cold, and in a completely unknown place against his will.

He falls into step just behind Sylvain, waiting for an elaboration.]

[crestfallenfor]

I am... Aaha forgive me, it's just so rare to know something you don't, that I couldn't resist...

[He has to take the small (genuine) pleasures in life when they arise, after all, though he'll have mercy for now.]

In my memory, the professor joined the Blue Lions house. I assume he... or she...? Joined the Golden Deer in yours. Everyone here from home seems to have a different memory of what happened, but oddly enough the only apparent constant is Edelgard starting an unnecessary war... I'm sure there are more, of course, but that's the one I've been privy to in my own memories.

[But then he sighs in what is actual, open and clear frustration.]

Apparently, in some... timelines, I guess, my own loyalties are far too easily shifted, along with everyone else's. No one changed house that I can remember, but I've been told I joined the Black Eagles, according Edelgard and Hubert, and the version of Petra that arrived here not too long ago joined your house instead, not that I can blame her for that.

[kingofunification]

[Oh.

Oh.

Claude is silent for a long moment, repeating the words over in his head, prodding them from different angles to see if there was somehow he could've misinterpreted the words Sylvain said.

Different timelines. Different ways the war went about. And Teach leading different factions in each one.

It's...unbelievable. The skeptic in him has one thousand other questions to ask, on what exactly differs besides allegiances, how the Empires invasion seems inevitable...]

I wish I could say that you're spouting nonsense, but I've certainly seen stranger things in my life so far. [His hand is back in his hair, a ruffling it idly as he sorts his thoughts.] So you're not the only one from...our world here, so to speak. Incredible...

[He eyes Sylvain's back, lips curved downward.] So. Teach lead the Blue Lions in your memory of events.

[crestfallenfor]

[Yeah.

Yeah.

He can't blame Claude for falling silent - it's a lot to take in, and considerably more... brutally worded than some others present might have chosen to put it, but he also sees no reason to sugar coat the reality of their present situation, strange as it is. So he keeps walking towards home, keeps quiet, lets Claude process, and fully expects either a series of further questions or... acceptance, if Claude decides to try and work more information out of everyone in the long term.

Apparently he settles on the latter.]

Believe me, I wish that was all nonsense, too. [Just like he wishes that he'd gone home after that initial shared dream here...] I'm not. To my knowledge, those present are myself, Dimitri, Felix, Bernadetta, Petra, Lorenz, Hubert, Edelgard, and a version of the Professor that is so unfamiliar to me that I haven't gone out of my way to meet her. And, now, you.

He did lead us in my memory, yes.

[kingofunification]

[A different version of the Professor--obviously not leading the Deer, if Sylvain's phrasing is anything to go by. Which means...

Ugh. Nothing he really wants to think about right now. There was enough to parse through without thinking about the logistics of his own reality verses these differing ones. All that baggage would have to wait until later--hopefully when he was warm and dry, and safely somewhere else.]

That is quite the number... [How did this place pick out who to drag here? All of these familiar names couldn't be a coincidence, right?] And some people I haven't seen in quite a while.

[Some who he wouldn't see again, if not for these circumstances.]

Our old classmates aside...what does this place want from us?

[crestfallenfor]

[He suspects, with the way the war has gone, that if the professor who had been brought here had led the Deer, her presence wouldn't have been so... strange. Such is not the case, unfortunately, and isn't pleasant to think about, Claude's right.

The main objective is to get Claude safe and warm, at the moment, though. Something that apparently will be happening soon, if the soft glow of streetlights appearing at the edge of the trees is any indication.]

It is. And some people I never thought I'd see again.

[Don't worry, Claude. He'll voice that morbid thought for you.]

It's hard to tell what it wants from us. No one seems to know how or why we were chosen, [Preemptively answering that question...] but the coven believes we can help mitigate the effects of this... blight on the world they're calling the Cwyld.

[kingofunification]

[That goes without saying. Beyond being on the other side of the war, some of those names they had definitely left behind to be buried in a shallow grave...

He tries to clear his head of those somber thoughts, focusing on the task at hand. He had to make sure his own life was secure before he began to grieve about the past, and "what ifs".]

And this blight? [Claude looks up, his steps becoming more cautious as they approach the lights of an unknown town.] How exactly does it manifest?

[crestfallenfor]

[Ever pragmatic, even in the face of... all this. Something he could appreciate about Claude - especially now - so it isn't much of a surprise when he asks about how the cwyld manifests.]

It... doesn't quite kill things, though what it does is likely worse, and it manifests in different ways depending on what it's infected.

[Here, have some infodump, Claude:]

Everything in an environment - the plants, mostly, but even the ground and the rocks - grow and become charged with this odd, unsettling magic. Everything turns black, except where the growth makes it crack apart, which glows with that magic.

Monsters and wildlife turn black, too, first. Then they slowly become disfigured as the infection consumes them... I'd say it's like the shift into a demonic beast, but as far as I can tell the process is much slower than that. The end result is similar, though, since the infected is unrecognizable at the end. They're... basically dead at this point, and there's no cure once it passes past the discoloration stage...

Witches and humans are similar, but... the influx of magic can also make them overload and, well, explode, instead, and take out everything around them with them. It's hard to tell if that'll happen, but if it gets to that point, there's nothing that can be done anyway.

Luckily, it can be cured if it's caught quickly enough, and the environment can be purified, but it's... risky.

[Does that speak of personal experience? It sure does. He'll even pause in his walking to dig out what looks like a pocketwatch at first glance, but... is what shows on the glass changing as he touches it? It is - and he eventually finds what he's looking for, turning to Claude to show him an image of an arm, skin blackened from the hand to up just past the elbow in creeping tendril patterns, veins looking raised and painful and just starting to glow.]

Looks like this, in the early stages, on a witch.

[kingofunification]

[Claude brows pinch as he takes in all the information, turning it over in his head. It would make sense that some would see the arrival of otherworldly help as salvation in a time of need with such an invasive plague--though he's sure there are schools of thought who believe the opposite. Who else to make a better scapegoat than strangers who mean nothing to you?]

Quite an invasive thing, even beyond curing those infected. If you can't stem the problem, then you wont have enough resources to support the survivors... [It's mostly a mumble to himself, watching Sylvain fiddle with what seems to be a watch of some sort.]

[At the sight of the picture Claude frown sets deeper, a sympathetic hum in the back of his throat. It reminded him of what some of that darker magic those strange mages could do.] A nasty thing to watch out for...