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

It's okay, I'll wait forever for dearest Petra <3

[kingofunification]

[With personal research from the library he found himself sleeping in and his daily trips to these markets since he heard of them, Claude had amassed a fairly good knowledge of the plants he had not recognized on his arrival in this new place.

The gossip he had manged to pick up...was a little more lacking that he would like. Most of these vendors were tight-lipped, expertly steering conversations toward the wonderful benefits of their products.

He had been keeping his ears open anyways, trying to see if he could pick up anything useful, when instead he picked up a familiar voice.]

But the root at the base of this cure also is known to cause tremors and all sorts of muscle spasms when ingested, is it not? [Claude slinks to the side of Petra, offering her a wink as he pointedly ignores the annoyed look he's shot by the vendor.]

[islandhuntress]

[That voice- Her head immediately snaps to look at him, eyes wide with a barely contained mix of emotions - excitement, relief, joy and then a good dose of nervousness. What is she to him? She isn't sure what she'd do if Claude saw her as his enemy. Just the thought of it made her heart ache.

What he says doesn't even really register but his tone is obviously smugly dubious and the vendor looks annoyed. Through body language alone it's clear that Claude thinks the potion is no good and the vendor doesn't have much of a retort.]

Claude! Seeing you is giving me great joy. [The vendor is all but forgotten, much to the goblin's annoyance.] When... Are you just arriving? One of the ones the message was speaking of? [Even with the chance that they're enemies looming over her head, she can't help but practically vibrate with excitement, using all of her willpower to resist the urge to pull him into a tight hug.]

[kingofunification]

[He offers her a smile, her joy infectious.] I could say the same to you. I just arrived a few nights ago, your assumption is correct.

[Ah yes, Petra--Sylvain had mentioned Petra. Something important--] One can't have too many allies when arriving somewhere new, and I heard that you might be someone I know pretty well.

[He wasn't sure...exactly how these time-traveling things worked, since she had been here longer than him, and he remembers Petra being at the monastery a few nights ago. Was she pulled from a time earlier than him? Later? Would she know how the war ended? Was she from some different timeline all together?

Even so...even so, it was still good to see her, to know that at least in the bases of terms, they had been classmates and comrades.]

So, even though I don't know when the last time you saw me was, I can safely say it's good to see you again. [The smile he gives is small, but it crinkles the corners of his eyes--and he puts a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze.]

[islandhuntress]

Yes... I would be saying we are knowing one another greatly. [Her expression turns, full of concern. Not so much worried that this Claude is not the one she knows but that this Claude knows her as an enemy, a general in the Empire.] In your experiences are we not allies? [She looks away for a moment.] I am hoping we are not enemies. I am hearing that in other... other's realities that I am supporting Edelgard and the Empire.

But for me, I was joining you, the Professor, and the Alliance. I am fighting the Empire. For the people of Brigid. I was choosing not to be a hostage of the Empire any longer.

[She feels her heart swell, skin tingling under his hand. Without hesitation, she puts her hand over his, returning his smile.]

What are you remembering last? In Fodlan.

Oh! And are you knowing if you are a witch or a monster?

[kingofunification]

[He sees her hesitation, feeling bad that he's made her worry by being vague. His smile grows brighter, a fond chuckle leaving his lips.] The last thing I remember before I came here was preparing a march on Embarr after dealing with some nasty business at Fort Merceus.

And-- [Claude gives her a wink.] --I happen to remember a brigand of Brigid warriors preparing to march with us, lead by their own Princess. So yes, we're allies in my version of events.

[In answer to her other question, he shrugs.] To my knowledge, here I am but a witch.

[islandhuntress]

Is that a truth?! That is giving me so much relief.

[After everything that's happened here, the revelation is such a relief that she almost feels emotionally drained, a huge weight off his shoulders. Letting her hand slip away from his, she steps closer and gives him a hug, leaning into him for a moment as she composes herself.

She lets him go after a brief moment, stepping back a half step to give him his space, head bowed, a little embarrassed by just how much emotion she was dealing with.]

It is good to be hearing that we were having victory at Fort Merceus. We were marching there when I was appearing here.

[She looks up again when he says he's a witch.] You are lucky. That is meaning you will not be changing. Not be... becoming a monster.

[At the moment, Petra's changes were all things she could mostly hide. Her nails had turned black and grown into sharp talons but, with Bernadetta's help, she kept them filed down and manicured. Her forked tongue was also easy to hide and the few scalier patches of skin that had appeared around her hips were easily hidden by her clothing. In short, she was 'fighting' and hiding her changes, refusing thus far to think about bonds or acknowledge that her body was changing.]

[kingofunification]

[He returns the hug, rubbing a comforting hand between her shoulders before they part. Her happiness is infectious, and he's chuckling again, eyes crinkling with joy.] Trust me, it's giving me a lot of relief myself. It's enough to be faced with strange timelines where allies are now enemies, so I'm relieved that this is not the case.]

We did emerge victorious...[His smile falters for a moment, a small sigh escaping him.] ...but not without some other troubling event transpiring. I can tell you more about later it if you truly want to know, but I'm more interested to know what you have discovered about this world.

[But her hesitation at speaking about changes--he can only assume one thing.] You must be turning into another creature, then?

[Claude's curious about the process--curious what Petra could be turning to--but again with the hesitation. Perhaps it was not an comfortable thing to her. He lays a hand back on her shoulder, a comforting smile on his lips.] There are a few changes that I'll supposedly go through, but nothing like changing my whole physiology. It must be a...strange thing to deal with.

[islandhuntress]

I am having great relief as well. There is... so much strangeness here. [Everyone seems slightly different to how they should be, monsters and witches, and of course the strange sickness that's barely being warded off just outside the city.]

I... I am glad to be hearing we were victorious but I am thinking I should not be knowing the future. In Brigid, some spirits can tell fortunes, but the price of knowing is always great. [She shakes her head, sending her hair cascading over her shoulders.] I am not needing to know.

[She stiffens slightly when he deduces that she must be transforming. Of course, she is. She has to be if she's not a witch.] Yes... I am. [She looks down at her hands, curled into loose fists, turning them to show her nails, black and hard looking but meticulously filed down so they didn't come to the sharp points they quickly grew into.]

I... I could be showing you more... but not here. [She isn't sure why she offers to show Claude. She hates that her body is twisting into something monstrous and inhuman. The only other person she'd shown any of her changes to was Bernie, a monster herself.]

[kingofunification]

[There's a small laugh from him.] Your people are always so wise when it comes to gambling with forces that perhaps should not be gambled with. [It was always nice to hear her straight-forward way of accepting events, making the jumble of thoughts in his head seem a little less daunting.] I should perhaps take that lesson to heart.

[But his eyes follow her gaze, catching the dull blackness of her nails. A sign of...what sort of creature? Are the nails the beginning of claws? Talons? He's curious, but--]

You don't have to share with me if you don't want to. [Claude's gaze draws back up to her face, flashing a reassuring smile.] If I can be frank for a moment, I can tell the whole process seems...uncomfortable to you.

[islandhuntress]

Knowledge is often having a price. [She gives his shoulder an affectionate shove, smiling at him.] You are knowing this also. [If he didn't, he wouldn't value it so highly. Knowledge had a price but knowledge was also a powerful weapon.

Her smile fades slightly as he tries to reassure her.]

It is... but you will be seeing soon enough. [She looks down, frowning.] Everyone will. There is no stopping it. Though I am not knowing what I will be looking like... when it is all finished. A... a snake? They are called 'naga'. That is what I am thinking I am becoming.