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lunaecalamitas2024-05-04 01:06 pm
promittere) wrote in 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.
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?
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
🌙 Welcome to your third event! Everyone's lasted a month, congratulations! Keep working on your magic, keep forging those bonds.
🌙 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...
🌙 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.
🌙 Your OOC plotting post is here! Remember to keep all wider plotting on this post, as not everyone checks plurk or discord frequently.
🌙 Next up for missions is East. Let's hope they don't have to talk to anyone for this one.
no subject
[ everything in the quotes is in the most dubiously neutral tone possible, an unimpressed noble or god or whatever eying the ... gift ... some stray mongrel left at their doorstep.
and then he breaks character by rolling his eyes and stifling another chuckle. ]
What I am laughing at is how you managed to so clearly distill the occupants of this manor down to their truest essence in simple woodwork. For example, this one—
[ it's shinji that he plucks up now, dour expression from lack of sleep, beanie and all. holding it up, he drawls, ]
I would daresay it looks just like him. If you placed the real thing next to it one would be hard pressed to tell the difference.
no subject
Looking at the Shinjiro piece, Akira snorts a laugh himself. Yeah, look at that little cranky man and his big ol' beanie. Anyone would see that piece at a glance and know it was Shinjiro.]
I don't know that I'd let him get that close. He'd probably get mad and accuse me of using it for a voodoo ritual or something like that. Those protoypes are yours, so make sure he doesn't get his hands on it.
no subject
[ so he'll place the pieces back into the box, neatly and proper. at the same time he'll settle himself down— are there spare chairs? if not he's staying standing. ]
To that end, don't worry. Your hard work will be safe with me, far away from any hands whose owners might take exception to this little project of ours. On that note...
[ a wave of the hand across all the pieces laid out inside the box. ]
Why don't you go ahead and tell me about what roles you've gone and assigned everyone here?
no subject
Glad you approve. As for their roles, take a look at this.
[On second thought, excuse him while he pulls up a seat. Explaining might take a minute. Beside the box is a slip of paper with names, classes and roles assigned to each "character." Akira hands it to Robin.]
I tried to draw from your experiences on the battlefield when assigning everyone a role. We've got fighters on foot and mount, healers, and some less traditional roles too. But you're the expert here— how'd I do?
no subject
You managed to glean that much from our conversations over chess, hm? I would tell you not to be too proud of yourself, but ... I suppose I can neglect to mention it, this time around.
[ sure, he'll spare akira the lecture on humility tonight. especially after the lecture he definitely hasn't already given earlier.
robin picks his way through the box, gloved fingers delicately turning the pieces over as he glances through the list he's been given. his expression flattens out into something blank, thoughtful, as he organizes his initial impressions. ]
I think ... well, there's quite a variety, we'll start with that. Beyond that ...
[ his hand— the one not propping up his head in a lazy lounge— ends up on the table, fingers tapping out a repeating five count rhythm on the wood. ]
How, exactly, are you intending for them to be played? Are you going to make a second set to match the first, and thus the armies will mirror each other? Are we to each pick and draft out a number of them for our own individual teams for a given game, meaning that army composition now also becomes part of the strategy entailed?
Or are you going to craft another entity, a third party of sorts, for them to fight against together?
no subject
[Please don't leave him, Robin. He needs your friendship more than anything.]
As far as that goes, I had a few different ideas. Either players draw from a common pool of available units, or, and this is the good part—
[Akira hops over to his closet and hauls out an Akira-sized something-or-other draped in red cloth. Wheeling it over — because it's on wheels, apparently — he does a 360 and yanks the cloth off in dramatic fashion, revealing a hand-operated gachapon machine. Within are several empty glass balls.]
You put a coin or some other object in the slot, turn the handle, and receive a prize. Collect enough of them and you have your own army to fight with. I'm thinking of giving the different figures their own rarities and special colored variants, too.
no subject
Hmm? Now, where's this coming from? I don't recall having signed off on any adoption paperwork.
[ like, the way that akira's saying that, he is fully aware there's going to be other connotations to what's coming out of akira's mouth. robin, however, is once again going to be using his 'too anime ye olde for this' card to play deaf blind and dumb.
but also like. oh no. akira's been busy, huh. soon they may know of the rare SSR brunos... ]
... It seems, however, that you have turned this into quite the undertaking. You do realize exactly how many of these figures you are proposing to make now, right?
[ can't wait for someone (ginger) to disappointedly hold up their five (throws dart) phils when all they wanted was the ssr mika ]
no subject
But also, in true Akira fashion, he has a plan in mind. It would take forever to hand-whittle another two dozen figures, so he picks up one of the ones in the box, chants his incantation, and a second copy of it poofs into existence.]
Pretty nifty, right? But it's a bit tiring making multiple copies at once.
[Bats lashes at Robin..............]
If you feel like helping me out of the kindness of your little black heart, I'll split the profits with you.
no subject
[ 'Laz' had made all their uniforms in the span of a night via magic, hadn't he?
Robin picks up yet another one of the figures in the box and eyeballs it, yet again, collecting up a good pile of the wood shavings as he does. Akira has the advantage here considering he's the one who made all this the old fashioned way— he's had plenty of time to familiarize himself with the lot, but... ]
Omnia mors aequat.
[ it's spoken idly, even experimentally. the shavings begin to swirl together in a nonexistent wind, building from bottom to top a copy of the figure he'd been examining.
though he'll pick up the result once it's done to compare the two. on closer examination, the second is lighter, probably hollow, so... ]
... hmm, perhaps it'd be better to work with more actual wood than to try to recycle scraps. While it looks fine for the most part, I suspect it'd break if subjected to a bit too much force. [ a sigh as he sets it down, but it's not really all that fussed, given his expression's relaxed as he looks back to Akira. ] Well, it's proof of concept that it works, at least. Or would, with proper material.
no subject
He sets the figure back down on Robin's palm.]
In that case, I'll gather more wood. It won't take me long.
[Said while he flexes his little twinky arm...]
...I appreciate it, by the way.
[Ah... He's trying not to clam up here, but emotional vulnerability? It's hard. A little less so when Robin is a man of sass and candor, but still! He'll trust that his little admittance won't leave this room.]
It helps having something like this to keep my mind off what happened. You're a good friend, Robin.
[Even if he is dragonking of the chuunis.]
no subject
[ his reaction to the segue in topic is, at first, to blink, so unprepared is he for it. the next is to visibly smoothe away his expression, keeping the line of his shoulders relaxed.
eurgh, gross, emotional confessions. what, exactly, is he supposed to do with this? what irony. would akira be so eager to confide in him if he didn't know so little about him by design? nevermind what happened to some of the last people he called friend. ]
... Spare me. Have you considered that I might put up with these games and discussions of ours simply for the sake of my own entertainment? A relationship that one-sided can hardly be called a friendship, you realize.
[ he isn't escaping the tsundere allegations, is he. ]
no subject
You're cute. Do whatever mental gymnastics you need to to cope, but you've lost this fight. If you're just using me for entertainment, then I'm using you the same way. When you put it that way, we're evenly matched.
[Akira snickers, smirk tight on his lips.]
Would a hug make you feel better?
no subject
[ do not. ugh. he's suddenly remembered why he hates the types who're that open with their bleeding sentiment.
it's not running away if it's a tactical retreat. ]
no subject
[Did he say that just loud enough for Robin to hear? Eh, probably! Akira will let the man run off with his tail between his legs if that's what he wants to do, but he will snare him into a hug at some point. That much is a certainty.]
Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
[Hehe!]
no subject
[ time to gently snap the box closed and set it to levitating by him. ]
Go collect your wood. I'll see about getting more efficient reproductions sorted out, hm? Perhaps then we can figure out the variant designs and work from there.
In any case, I imagine you know where to find me. [ and if not, then robin's sure akira will just break into rooms until he finds the right one. with a roll of the eyes: ] Leave any overflowing desire for unnecessary physical displays at the door, I implore you.
no subject
[Robin should know how these types operate, yeah? If he doesn't want to get protag'd, he better keep a wide berth, not that Akira will tolerate being ignored. They're friends after all, aren't they?
He'll see Robin off with a sweep of the hand and a grin, settling into the chair nearest his desk. He's got wood to work.]
Catch you later, Robin.