Event Log: September, The Price of Revolution p1

[faileas]

Event Log: September, The Price of Revolution Part 1

I. The Freedom Festivities Behind the fortress-like walls of Dorchacht, what was once a gloomy, imposing city is lit up for the festivities to come. Septeril brings with it many mixed emotions for the citizens of what used to be called The Black City, though the overwhelming atmosphere is positive - this is a celebration of freedom hard-earned and prosperity hard-fought-for. The triple stars of the Resistance, now the current reigning party, feature heavily in decorations and in clothing: in pins, on hats, golden stars enchanted into fabric to dance merrily across skirts and cloaks. Stars light up the streets in decorative strings hung from lamppost to lamppost, flickering gently over the cobblestones. Mirrors, as well, feature into the decor, tiny round ones hung in multitudes from awnings and in windows like ornaments, catching the light and playing it across the otherwise-utilitarian architecture, lending it a sort of understated beauty. Much of Dorchacht has been rebuilt and repurposed by necessity since the uprising last year, and many new small businesses and restaurants are being featured at the festival - their goods or their foods on display in markets of street-side stalls or on the feast tables. Local handmade wares and crafts are out for sale for modest prices, and every sale helps out both the small business, many of which are started by former slaves, and helps the local economy, which is better these days but still recovering. The festivities go for six days, almost a full week, with feasting and bonfires every evening, and tours and tales of the city by day, as they display the changes for the better they have all made. And then, on the final evening, all are invited to watch a grand fireworks show that will be put on in the skies over Dorchacht, presided over by the Circle of Three themselves. Mirrorbound are welcomed warmly, whether they were present last year or not, and treated much like family - get ready to be pulled into activities and plied with food left and right. a. Join the Fun The children of Dorchacht are out by the dozens during the festivities, excited by all the freely-offered, special sweet treats and the magical sparklers and poppers being handed out by the fistful. The poppers explode when thrown to the ground in bursts of bright colors, completely harmless, and the sparklers are enchanted not to burn little (or big) hands if mishandled. Mirrorbound passing through may find themselves roped into elaborate pretend games of revolution by eager faces: the children name themselves either Resistance members or Mirrorbound, and 'do battle' with their magic fireworks against scarecrow-like constructions cloaked in dark bed sheets as 'the bad guys'. Depending on one's perspective, it may seem dark, but this is what these children have known very recently in their lives, and their caretakers or parents (there are more of the former than the latter, especially for the young Monsters) let them play as they will. If asked, they'll just explain that some of those kids even remember the fighting when it happened; this is just another way that they try to understand how the city has changed. More organized, family-friendly reenactment performances are also common, with several of the orphanage groups putting on small plays about the uprising, or moral plays about kindness and togetherness between Witches and Monsters. This includes a prominent set of performances by the Mirrored Hearts Home for Children - maybe you're helping out with their sets or costumes, or maybe you assisted with their scripts and songs. Those Mirrorbound volunteers will want to see the kids do well, right? They'll be heartbroken if you don't show. Of course, kids aren't the only ones doing reenactments. The newly formed Dorchacht Historical Society, dedicated to protecting Dorchacht's history going forward, puts on several - and may drag in passers-by to play different roles! Only the luckiest are begged to play the role of The Dragon, who valiantly rose up against their cruel former master, Morgana, and helped lead Dorchacht to where they are today. b. Forget-Me-Not While the overall air is celebratory, among the adults who are old enough to understand just what was lost as well as gained, there is an undercurrent of sombre remembrance. Many visit the burned-out Old Coven, left as damaged as it was when the fighting ceased, as a monument to how freedom fighters suffered and fought. Plaques dot the grounds and buildings there seemingly at random, until you realize that each metal plate bearing names is laid where someone died. To decorate these plaques, and homes and businesses as well, there are tables set up in the yard of the New Coven, heavy with a rainbow of small magical flowers called Forget-Me-Nots, and the supplies to make remembrance wreaths. In this new tradition, the flowers are chosen with a dead, missing, or simply absent loved one in mind, and woven together with glass beads, small wooden charms, and a spell written on a slip of paper. The enchanted fragrance of the Forget-Me-Nots allows whoever smells them to witness short, happy memories of the person the wreath was made for - whether they knew that person or not. The memories come from the wreath-maker, and are only short flashes (less than a minute long) or mere impressions, but all are pleasant or warming. With the spell woven in, they'll last for an entire year without wilting or losing their effects, a souvenir from the festival to take home. Mirrorbound are encouraged to join in, and make wreaths of their own, whether or not they lost someone in Dorchacht's uprising. It can be for someone who has disappeared from Geardagas, someone who died long ago, someone living they miss from home, anyone who is not currently with them.

II. The Uninvited Guests On the 25th, the final day of the celebrations, the partying lasts all day. Food and drink are abundant on every corner, upbeat music is played by street performers and over the radios that can be found in nearly every household and shop, and the bonfires have been enchanted to let the flames take fanciful shapes. Drinking games and dancing, storytelling and general partying all last clear into the evening, but once dusk falls, everyone gathers in the center square of the city for the fireworks show. The Three are there - the Witches Bryn and Hilda, and the Monster known as The Dragon, Starlight, or formerly Fafnir - with Nessie and Mhairi as guests of honor, and Hilda is the one to set off the first enchanted fireworks, after a brief speech thanking everyone for coming out to celebrate a year of freedom and independence with them. It's with bursts of colorful light in the night sky behind her that she seems to appear from nowhere: tall, dark and imposing, a sharp-eyed Witch that exudes power. Morgana Drummond is not alone, either, flanked by a dozen rough-worn Witches and a host of others. The chaos that ensues is immediate and violent. "All of this for me?" Drummond sneers. Attacks bounce off her, no matter how powerful - even Nessie's considerable spells. Witches will be able to sense the strong barrier spell close-fit around her body, and the others around her will not let Monsters get close. It's The Dragon who speaks, voice rough from disuse but loud enough: "How dare you return here-" "I built this city in all the ways that matter. I was never going to let you have it. You burned away my Dorchacht, so now I will make sure there is nothing left of yours but ashes." a. To Sleep, Perchance Unreachable, Morgana Drummond's form limns in a sickly violet light, the circle of a spell forming beneath her feet, steadily growing as her power gathers. So much magic gathered in one spot is bound to be felt by all the Mirrorbound, Witch and Monster alike, oppressive in nature as if it could steal the breath from your lungs. Perhaps it truly was a fluke that she was driven from Dorchacht, a happy accident caused by a timely distraction. The spell circle spreads, glowing, until it envelops the entire city, and it pulses once, blinding, before it sears itself across Dorchacht's streets and buildings in burnt lines and symbols. The fireworks continue to pop and burst overhead, casting shadows that seem suddenly sinister. Nothing happens for just a moment - and then all the people of Dorchacht collapse in waves. Next to a stunned Nessie and furious Mhairi, Bryn, Hilda, and the Dragon fall into a heap as well, the final three bodies to hit the ground. Mirrorbound and citizens of Aefenglom do not fall prey to the sleeping spell despite being in its area of effect. It happens in the span of just a few minutes, and then Morgana is gone in the blink of an eye, leaving her people to sow terror on the sleeping city. b. Battle on the Streets While she brought with her only a dozen Witches from her former Coven, she's collected a force in the Wilde. Blank-eyed rogue necromancers, mind controlled the way the Monsters of Dorchacht used to be, storm the streets controlling in turn their dead Monsters and creatures. A few even have with them dead Nuckelavee, which will require multiple fighters to take out. Wilders from Dorchacht gone missing on expeditions in the last year bear the signs of mind control as well - the ones who aren't dead, shambling around the necromancers. Maybe you recognize them, maybe you don't. Maybe you can help them, or maybe you can't. The mind control enchantments can be dispelled with a lot of effort or with the specific spells used often by the Resistance a while ago, for those who still remember it. In the slums of Dorchacht, the people who were convinced of Morgana's return, those who want to return to the days of slavery and terror, break free from the now-sleeping guards and failing wards that kept them contained and join the fighting, manic in their glee. The spell that put the rest of Dorchacht to sleep seems to slip right off them, perhaps sensing their loyalty to terrible causes. It is chaos, as the insurgents set fires and attack at will with magic, claws, weapons, anything they have. Mirrorbound will soon realize that they and the visitors from Aefenglom are not the only targets. The sleeping people of Dorchacht are ripe for the killing, unable to react or defend themselves. The fighting will continue into the night until the invaders are all dead or captured.

III. The Aftermath When the fighting ends, the work begins. An entire city deep in the throes of an enchanted sleep is a worst-case scenario that none of them could have predicted, even those who had a hunch Morgana didn't die out in the unexplored Wilde. Miss Nessie and Mhairi will remain on the scene helping to direct the aid efforts in the aftermath of the battle. Fires must be put out, corpses must be rounded up to be buried or burned, captured attackers must be secured and questioned, sleeping citizens must be whisked from the streets to safety and shelter, and buildings ensured to be safe in the meantime. Aefenglom's Coven are called in to assist, anyone who is available, and Mirrorbound help is more than welcomed. They will need everyone they can get to make sure not all is lost in this tragic attack. Nessie herself will ensure the Three are taken to safety in Aefenglom until the people of Dorchacht can be woken. Action needs to be taken quickly. Morgana needs to be found as soon as possible, and capable hands will be needed to search the Wilde far outside Dorchacht, the most likely place for her to go. More urgently, however, are the sleeping citizens. Nessie announces late the next evening, the normally-bubbly woman gone solemn and serious: "I believe I've found a counter-ritual for the spell that nasty woman used, I have. I will need your help, though, Mirrorbound. Volunteers only, of course, of course, as it's likely to be quite dangerous, though the Dreamers and I will take every precaution we can. Discuss among yourselves, decide if you're willing. Those who are, meet at the Coven at midnight on the 27th. It's not right to just leave them all like that, not right at all..."

Welcome to September's event log, Part 1 of The Price of Revolution! This event will continue in the TDM posted on the 21st, with a foray into purposeful dreamwalking. It will be a hybrid test drive and event that current characters will be allowed to top level on as well. Quests into the Wilde to search for Morgana will currently bear no fruit beyond small clues, but Part 2 in early October will deal with her whereabouts and her final fate. As always, direct your questions about the event HERE! And finally, for those who are wondering what's up with Dorchacht, we have a Setting update for you.

Comments

[beariot]

We don't like thinking about it this way but... Age doesn't stop this kind of thing.

[ Ursula's shoulders shook with a heavy breath and sigh, just letting the children cling to her, exuding as much mana and warmth as she could for them to calm themselves with. Without it being a bond, she'd drain quickly, but she didn't... really care. ]

So it's up to people like us to help. To give them somewhere safe. To foster them and care for them...

That's part of why I became a teacher, you know?

[sparkstrikes]

Yeah.

[It's all she says for a while, because there isn't much more to say to that. Being older doesn't make them any less afraid. Hell, Lightning is scared... but it's all in how they deal with it. Later, it'll turn into anger and in turn, strength to help take down Morgana and her witches. For now, the children need a pillar and she wants to help in any way that she can.]

Became a Guardian Corps for the same reason. Wanted to protect people... [It doesn't quite line up with being a teacher, but their motivations are similar, she thinks.] There anything I can do to help? Not real good at magic, but...

[She can feel the warmth and magic exuding off of Ursula, and she wants to make sure the other woman doesn't overexert herself before the fighting is over.]

[beariot]

I'll just need a moment to rest and to drink one of my recharge potions...

[ Why had she brought them? It had almost seemed paranoid on her part before. Part of her just never trusted that there would be actual peace awaiting in the Black City. Morgana's scars hadn't gone away, as much as The Three desperately tried. One didn't walk away from that situation without some paranoia...

Well. Turns out she was right. She hated it. ]

Know any good lullabies?

[sparkstrikes]

[Lightning is surprised by the question, showing as much when her eyes go wide for a moment, but... she relaxes with a nod. If this were any other day, she would have vehemently denied any such thing, but this is something much bigger than her pride and outer image.]

Yeah, one. Take a minute.

[The children gather around her, the sobbing girl slipping her arms from around Ursula's neck so that she can sit next to Lightning and rest her head on her arm as she sits flat on the ground with the rest of them, and she begins to hum a short melody. Although it's off-tune and far from perfect, it's warm and gentle, just like how her mother used to sing it to her as a kid, and just like she'd do the same for Serah.

It seems to calm a lot of them down, and after a few repetitions, some even start to hum along with her. One girl reaches out for Ursula's hand, and urges her to sing, too.]

[beariot]

[ It doesn't take long for Ursula to hear out the note progression, and follow along, even able to harmonize to a degree. Even with occasional shakes of the building and distant booming sounds in the distance, the energy of the room was able to maintain, the song working its own special magic.

Ursula held the hand in her own firmly, but still gentle. It was all they could do... ]

[sparkstrikes]

[Lightning lets her own voice fall off here and there, to listen instead to the harmonizing that Ursula and the children manage to pull off, and once it's gone through a couple more rounds, she speaks quietly, not wanting to interrupt the ones who are still humming along.]

What was that back there? You looked... different.

[She's been wondering what she saw since it happened.]

[beariot]

[ Ursula stopped humming.

In fact, despite the noises outside the building, the children humming to themselves, even the sound of her own heart in her ears things felt... deeply silent when Lightning asked that.

And she supposed... she really couldn't avoid answering, could she? ]

This is... what I look like naturally. When I have to focus my magic, I can't use it to keep up the glamour that hides this...

[sparkstrikes]

[Hides it...?

Lightning's brows furrow. As far as she knows, she doesn't think there's anything to be ashamed of. Ursula's always been a beautiful soul inside and out, even she can admit that, so...]

Why do you need to hide it?

[beariot]

It's a long story... [ Longer still, now, that she's used both identities within Aefenglom. ]

The short of it is... I have a complicated and uncomfortable relationship with my own past. 'Ursula' exists to shield other people from that... and myself, too.

[sparkstrikes]

Hm. Yeah... I get it.

[Lightning can't fault her for any of it. The need to hide from your own past, and to hide it from others... she was afraid she'd be seen as weak, and that was why she became Lightning. It's no glamour, but it did the job.]

Dangerous?

[The way Ursula worded it, that's her first guess. The prompt itself is gentle and nonintrusive, giving her the room to not answer if she chooses not to.]

[beariot]

No, just... shameful.

[ And even that didn't feel like the right word, but she didn't really have the time or energy to fully flesh out the feelings in the matter. ]

[sparkstrikes]

[And Lightning isn't one to pry, so she simply nods her head to that.]

Whatever it is, you're helping. That's what matters.

[She puts an arm around one of the smaller boys, pulling him in close and letting him nestle his head against her side.]

These kids need you, so no room to be ashamed of it right now.

[beariot]

[ Chariot sucked in a breath and gave a firm, agreeing nod. It was why she hadn't bothered throwing the glamour back up, after all. Right now, it didn't matter. Life or death, she needed to set aside all of her identity conflicts and just be... who they needed her to be.

She was a teacher. This is what she had to do. ]

[sparkstrikes]

[Lightning smiles, the corners of her lips twitching only slightly upwards, but it's there with the warmth in her gaze.

Outside, the noise seems to have quieted down just enough that she can hear the ragged, scared breaths of the children.]

... Think it's safe to get them out of here? Back to the teleporter?

[beariot]

Probably... And I know how to get them there.

[ She turned to the kids, sucking in a breath. ]

I'm going to summon one of Mr. Ozymandias' Sphinx's, okay? And it's gonna make sure you guys get back to the teleporter. And Ms. Lightning here.

[ But it was hard not to notice she didn't include herself in that group... ]

[sparkstrikes]

[Lightning definitely notices her very blatant exclusion from that.]

Summon whatever you want, as long as you can get to the teleporter, too.

[The kids don't seem to understand that, or what's going on, but a few of them nod with determination firing up in their eyes, like they're ready to run at a moment's notice.]

[beariot]

[ Chariot managed a smile, though it was obviously a fragile one. ]

... Eventually. My bonded are out there, Lightning. If we're leaving, we're leaving together.

[sparkstrikes]

Right.

[That's good to hear.

Fang is likely out there somewhere, and if Ursula doesn't go out to find her, then Lightning certainly will. She's a big girl and can take care of herself in the meantime though—their first priority is finding a safe route for these kids to get out of the city.]

You wanna go first?