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
🌙 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.
fellheart: (gιve мe yoυr lυng)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-05-22 06:32 am (UTC)(link)
Hm? Perhaps it was slain alongside the other terrors trapped within when people started searching through the labyrinth that housed it.

Why do you ask?
dyingtohealyou: ([Down] They're transparent)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-05-22 07:41 am (UTC)(link)
I don't envy other test subjects.

[Simple as that.]
fellheart: (oppoѕιтιon accυѕaтιon coмplιcaтιon)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-05-22 08:03 am (UTC)(link)
... And what if it deserved the reaction it got? Forneus was a terrible man, after all.

What kind of terrible monstrosity must it have been, to make a man like that fear it?

Those who entered the labyrinth weren't exploring it to try to free any survivors, after all. Any of those ... would have starved to death long ago. Anything that yet survived must have been a monster.
dyingtohealyou: ([Sigh] whole self through)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-05-22 08:18 am (UTC)(link)
The girl who'd been turned into a monster tried to kill us when we woke her up, too.

[She'd lost her mind and become the living weapon her creators had so wanted.]

Doesn't mean I think she deserved it.
fellheart: (нe looĸed aт мe)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-05-22 08:40 am (UTC)(link)
... The creation was struck down like the other hostile creatures in the labyrinth, of course. Even if Forneus had originally strove to create a perfect being, those who first reentered the workshop had the power of a divinely blessed weapon to call upon, and all the creation would have known were the ages it spent in the tomb that man's workshop had become.

That said, first-hand accounts from those who traversed the depths mentioned that they could still feel a lingering presence there, even after the creation was slain.

So ... who knows. Perhaps it yet lives on in some form.
dyingtohealyou: ([Sweat] they're transparent)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-05-22 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
...Hang on... if you knew what happened, why didn't you explain it earlier?

[Are you an unreliable narrator robin!!]
fellheart: (ѕaιd мocĸιngly)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-05-22 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I honestly hadn't thought the finer details of old, dusty accounts that relevant to the ending of the story at the time?

Plus it's mostly speculation anyway, based off the accounts of those who had just made their way through a decrepit and quite tangibly haunted labyrinth— the main truth I told you earlier hasn't changed. It was slain by those who entered the tomb.
dyingtohealyou: ([Sweat] I was singing to)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-05-22 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
What a depressing end... but it's not like it's unexpected, either.

[Test subjects always lose out.]

How did you hear about the account?
fellheart: (now lιѕтen careғυlly)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-05-22 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
I read quite a lot. Whether it be fiction, historical records, autobiographical memoires ... there are a number of strategists who have left behind records of their life and more, and the future is built upon the past.

I would be remiss if I didn't study up on what came before me.
dyingtohealyou: ([Sweat] bury my loneliness)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-05-23 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
Do stories like that really help with strategy?
fellheart: (gιve мe yoυr eye)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-05-23 05:55 am (UTC)(link)
An understanding of people might. People's decisions are made not in a void; they act, influenced by the worlds they live in, the things they've seen and experienced. And history so often has a way of repeating itself when people forget the lessons they might once have learned from it, if they ever learned at all.

Will the warmonger king choose to press on and invade, determined to not let his enemies see in him any weakness, or retreat to lick his wounds, fearing the doom of his holy crusade should he fall in battle?

Can a gambit to demoralize the enemy and cause them lay down their weapons succeed if the heart of the peoples' faith is that it's better to die fighting than live as a coward or a traitor?

Would you count on fair-weather allies, turned to your side against a common enemy, to stay true in desperate times if you knew of their land's wartorn history, and that the people living in it take up arms merely out of fear for their lives?

[ ... ]

But surely you don't think everything I read is in the pursuit of tactics?
dyingtohealyou: ([Sweat] I was singing to)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-05-23 07:08 am (UTC)(link)
It kind of sounded like the implication...

[Not that he can argue any of the other points made.]
fellheart: (can yoυ мaĸe мe)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-05-23 07:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ a sigh. ]

I read historical accounts because some of them might indeed be useful, but also simply because I would like to read them. And I'm perfectly capable of reading a work of fiction just for the sake of reading it.
dyingtohealyou: ([Smile] Where you are)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-05-23 08:10 am (UTC)(link)
So you aren't just into stuffy history books, got it.
fellheart: (gιve мe yoυr claw)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-05-23 07:04 pm (UTC)(link)
At this point I'll happily take a novel of some sort, if only because it'd break up some of the repetition of going through the political histories of the countries here.

[ because guess what he's been going on his own time. is this what the other robin felt like when trying to catch up on the political landscape of the world post-amnesia. ]
dyingtohealyou: ([Look] long night with)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-05-24 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
What, you can't find any fiction?

[Not that Ahito's looked, he's busy with a million other pet projects and also harassing people.]
fellheart: (тнe wιnder oғ тнιѕ вroĸen world)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-05-24 02:19 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, I'm sure it's there if I look. I've just been prioritizing other things.

[ it really just keeps getting pushed aside, and he really only has himself to blame for his reading habits as of late, but look. he can admit there's some tedium in it. ]
dyingtohealyou: ([Sweat] they're transparent)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-05-24 05:35 am (UTC)(link)
So it's your own fault...