promittere: (Default)
lunae calamitas mods ([personal profile] promittere) wrote in [community profile] lunaecalamitas2024-05-04 01:06 pm

look at me, i'm the wound you tried to hide

ANDANTE ALLA WANING CRESCENT
Another day dawns for the Sage's wizards. It's been a month, now, since arriving in this world and being given a task nobody seems to fully understand—though after the jobs the Southern and Central wizards have taken on, it seems like it might just be possible after all.

And it seems like there's another task for the wizards, from the Eastern nation. However, unlike the other requests the Sage has been fielding, this task is far too big for five wizards alone. This is a task everyone will need to help tackle, whether they like it or not. Those that aren't particularly altruistic will still be whisked together by Tatara and Lazuli both, and they may still find the journey...illuminating. Answers to what happened to the original wizards may be just within reach.

Traveling via the elevator at the manor is familiar to some of you, at least, Lazuli setting a mana stone into the control not a surprise in a the slightest. The fact all of you can, somehow, fit in the elevator comfortably may be a surprise, but it's best not to dwell on it too much. You'll be staying at the City of Rain, Lazuli tells you with the air of someone reading you a court sentence, but you've been tasked with clearing up the site of some sort of disaster. He doesn't have much information beyond that—a fact that seems to greatly annoy him—and he warns you not to break any of the City of Rain's laws well before you're out of the elevator.

Which that shouldn't be too difficult, right? Right...?

Perhaps not, as the rules of the city are extreme. There are certain areas which forbid socialization and talking entirely, some areas where only talking to strangers is forbidden, only a handful of businesses allow chatter of any sort, and the list goes on. The most pressing law of all, though, is very simple: no use of any sort of magic within city limits. Do your best to follow the rules because breaking them will result in an arrest, and do you really want Lazuli and Tatara bailing you out? With the rules laid out and lodging sorted, Lazuli ushers you to the site you're tasked with dealing with. You will have downtime to explore the city, though, as it's expected to take several days to clear things up.


The site is a terrible, terrible mess. In what must have once been a peaceful patch of wilderness, there now sits a terrible gouge in the earth, several meters deep and twice as wide across, hollowed by what must have been a powerful force. The dirt is gray and sandy, dead in the manner the Southern wizards will recognize. Plants on the edges of the crater are dry and withered and splintered and broken. Permeating the air is a lingering dread, one both Southern and Central wizards will immediately recognize...

But it is clear now, now that your magic is considerably stronger, that the spirits are agitated by the disturbance in the fabric of magic. Dark clouds hang low over the site, and low thunder rumbles in the constant threat of a storm that will never come. The spirits' agitation, coupled with the dread hanging in the air, will feel uncomfortable, and perhaps leave the more sensitive of the bunch feeling on edge. This is not something that can will resolve on its own, so your most important task is to calm the spirits. That means doing the things they like: playing music, dancing, praying, telling stories, wearing fanciful and whimsical clothes to soothe their temperaments.

Your second most important task is to clear out monsters. The unusual energy in the air is attractive to beasts magical in nature—they slink out of their hiding places in the deep wilderness to the area, and their presence is threatening the humans who regularly use the nearby routes for trade and to commute. Kill them, take their mana stones for yourself. Win-win.

The third task is general clean-up. Remove the dead plants from the earth, remove the broken trees and any natural debris that might prove to be a hindrance. Characters are more than welcome to search inside the crater for any hint or clue as to what might have caused this strange explosion, but they'll find the site picked clean, earth having fallen into cavities where there might have been larger objects present at one point...like someone was here to clear out any evidence.

JOB BOARD
Reinforcement. Peace in Granvelle Castle has been restored. A liveliness and energy has returned to the castle and the surrounding parts of the city that hasn't been seen in nearly a month. Thank your Central friends for their hard work!

Their issues aren't quite resolved, however. The castle is asking for help in creating and then reinforcing a magical barrier around the castle. The barrier is a bit bigger than what one wizard alone is capable of at this point, so band together to create and reinforce what parts you can. Perhaps it's not a bad idea to use your own hair or blood as a conduit.

The type of barrier is specific, however—they want one that masks magical signatures. If you step inside, you'll feel a faint, but powerful presence within... What are they guarding?

Recycling. The Eastern country is known for its expertise in all things mechanical, particularly when it comes to clockwork. While not as bombastic or flashy as Western technology, the use of magic and mana stones being deeply frowned upon and rejected, Eastern artisans can create truly fantastical things just with gears and cogs and a bit of know-how... But, of course, sometimes it's better to scrap something and create something new than let the old items waste away, so some Eastern craftsman have asked for help gathering clockwork automatons and other creations in order to melt it all back down. Some of them seem a bit nervous and harried, but it's an easy enough job to scrap automatons and cart junk around.

Monster hunting. The few settlements in the North have been sending in frantic request after frantic request. There has been a disturbing increase in monster activity in the North, and the native Northern wizards are as unreliable as ever. They need your help in thinning the numbers, and that's all they really ask for—you can keep all the mana stones you earn.

For those of you who haven't been to the North yet, the weather is harsh, no matter the season. Protection on oneself to survive the negative degrees is crucial; make sure your magic is up to snuff enough to keep yourself at least room temperature. And using your magic to battle on top of that? This isn't going to be an easy job, not at your level. Be cautious, and good luck.

Mana areas & amulets. You've been here for a month now, and living in an unfamiliar place, alongside unfamiliar people, using unfamiliar magic must be wearing you down. Isn't it? In that case, it's time for the last piece of your wizardhood puzzle: your mana area.

Mana areas are spots where wizards feel most at peace with themselves, most whole, and a place where they can refill on the emotional load they've been chipping away at for their magic. It can be a specific location, or a conditional circumstance. Find more detail on the magic page. Your task—given to you by your sage and your mentor—is to traverse the continent, find your mana area, and recharge your batteries, so to speak. While there, make an amulet to take back with you, like a portable battery.

WANDERER TASKS
Listen to the spirits.

You've been here long enough that it's time to see if you can actually communicate with the spirits who've laid claim on you and have been empowering your spells. Try your listen and see if you can hear what they have to say to you.

OOC Note: For those attempting this task, ping one of the mods and roll a dice! Based on the dice roll, your character will get a little tidbit from the spirits... Or they might not hear anything yet, but they can always dedicate themselves to their studies and try again after leveling up!

TATARA ACTIVITIES
Don't make promises.

If you've made a promise, don't break it.

If you break a promise, you'll lose your magic. And I don't know if I can help you anymore or send you home if that happens. I'm sorry this is so late. But please...be careful.

OOC NOTES
๐ŸŒ™ Welcome to your third event! Everyone's lasted a month, congratulations! Keep working on your magic, keep forging those bonds.
๐ŸŒ™ As your characters settle into the world, they might find themselves irresistibly drawn to crowds, to music, to dancing. It's hard to resist the allure of a gathering, and it's hard to keep yourself from swaying to music when it fills your ears, no matter what sort of person you used to be. You're changing...
๐ŸŒ™ As we enter the second month, we are announcing a deadline for finding your pairs. This will be Friday, June 14 at 11:59 PM EDT. Remember, you may submit a guess at any time, and there is no penalty for getting a guess wrong, so long as you have a thread to back up your guess and consent from your partner. The pair page is here.
๐ŸŒ™ Your OOC plotting post is here! Remember to keep all wider plotting on this post, as not everyone checks plurk or discord frequently.
๐ŸŒ™ Next up for missions is East. Let's hope they don't have to talk to anyone for this one.
impacter: (135)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-05-05 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Ideally, it would be both. It depends on how picky the magic is.

[Sometimes you can go off vibes. Sometimes you can pick up a stick from the nearby hill. Sometimes you have to find 5000 magical parts that have to be installed in the right order. Magic sure is great like that.

His eyes travel one of the nearby displays as he continues speaking, letting the ivory cape over his shoulders drap just so to cover him fully.]


Hopefully you're feeling better after that bonfire incident of ours. You made some quick actions at the right moment.
themanwhoerasedhisname: 6 (6)

[personal profile] themanwhoerasedhisname 2024-05-06 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
It's always picky.

[Magic just seems to need a whole lot of precision. It's why Kiryu has been having some difficulties pinpointing the finest facets of it, his magic being pretty rough and widespread]

You should worry more for those who got injured.

[Kiryu stayed, once again, pretty intact. That luck isn't going to hold on for long, be sure of it]
impacter: (149)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-05-06 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Mn. I trust those that took their time to heal. The best we can do for them now is support them. But it doesn't change my gratitude for your choices, Kiryu.

[Solomon wasn't in a place to interfere in any meaningful way, after all. Or, perhaps to outsiders, maybe he looks like he was just refusing.]

Are you not used to the rules of life being particular?
themanwhoerasedhisname: 13 (13)

[personal profile] themanwhoerasedhisname 2024-05-06 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Sure. Don't mention it -- it wasn't like one could just do nothing.

[Kiryu feels odd being thanked for taking action, because really, what was the other option? Letting Akira stay possessed and murdering? Nah, as he sees it, he just did what had to be done, so he's not sure he did anything that needs to be thanked]

Every time I think I got used to it something new and strange happens.

[He thought he had a grasp of life around here and what not, and then came the matter of mana places, amulets, and promises being absolutely binding]
impacter: (001)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-05-09 04:58 am (UTC)(link)
[Why yall in Central so bad at taking a compliment or a statement of gratitude.... smh

As someone who did Very Little despite his active conversation with the ghost, he very much wants to argue Kiryu's statement for the hell of it. But they're all tired, and really, what amusement would he get from it at this point?]


Is it overwhelming? Or simply an annoyance of change?
themanwhoerasedhisname: 12 (12)

[personal profile] themanwhoerasedhisname 2024-05-09 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[Maybe that's one of the reasons these Central wizards got grouped together, hah!]

It's overwhelming. Guess I should have known learning this on the fly was going to be exhausting.

[Really, it's only by his innate talent to learn fast that he has managed to do well! Golly, if he didn't have that he'd be doing far worse]
impacter: (045)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-05-10 02:31 am (UTC)(link)
Adjustment takes time, no matter the discipline. No amount of pressure will change that. Just do what you can, and seek help from your peers for those things that still escape you.

[Solomon had always found that, like most things in life, magic was never guaranteed any level of success unless broken down and tackled in steps like any other project. What small victories that came from chance did not show the strength needed for an actual sorcerer.]

I imagine you're tired enough with your mission alone. From what little I heard from Akira, it sounds like you had your hands full?
themanwhoerasedhisname: 11 (11)

[personal profile] themanwhoerasedhisname 2024-05-10 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
We had to fight ghosts and invade a castle's vault.

[In other words, yeah! Had their hands full!]

I knew ghosts do exist but here they were more...corporeal than usual.

[It's, like, the one supernatural thing Kiryu does think exist, and clearly in this world that's even truer!]
impacter: (059)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-05-10 03:36 am (UTC)(link)
The vault? [He's already heard about the ghost part, at least, so he sets that aside for the newer information.]

Strange... What in the world led you there? Was that the source of their haunt?
themanwhoerasedhisname: 8 (8)

[personal profile] themanwhoerasedhisname 2024-05-10 03:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, that rock was in there. It had been there so long everyone forgot its existence -- nobody could tell us what was the source of their problems.

Guess the rocks we have to deal with in these missions have been around for a long time, and it's only now they activate.