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.
foresightis2020: (64)

[personal profile] foresightis2020 2024-05-04 04:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ ... Well, I mean, Jing Yuan is going to try to talk to the spirits near the castle.

But also, he rolled a 2 from a 1d20, so... ]
fallingsand: (41;)

[personal profile] fallingsand 2024-05-04 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Bruno has been trying to contact the Southern spirits on and off since their mission down there, so here he is, out by the South tower again, giving it another shot (18). ]
foresightis2020: (33)

[personal profile] foresightis2020 2024-05-04 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Alas...

At least the distant sensations/murmuring isn't like bad vibes, though. He will go and take a nap or something. ]
troublereduction: (Default)

[personal profile] troublereduction 2024-05-04 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Day is going to try talking to the Southern spirits, since he's kind of been wondering how things worked out that they decided to claim him. When he arrives in the South, he flies a bit ways out from the tower on his broom before he tries (15). ]
themanwhoerasedhisname: 10 (10)

[personal profile] themanwhoerasedhisname 2024-05-04 05:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh wow, rolled a 16 for spirit communing.

Having gotten word from the Wanderer communicating with the spirits would be good, Kiryu isolates himself in some corner of the town in Central, and focuses.

Hellooooo, trying to reach out]
leewards: (Default)

[personal profile] leewards 2024-05-04 05:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[Silencing his mind has never been easy for Ithaqua, when he is always thinking, or always doing something that occupies his attention... but he will try this time. He will try his hardest. He's climbed up onto the roof, breathing in fresh air, and meditating just so he can actually hear them if they decide to answer him this time.

(16)]
fellheart: (can yoυ мaĸe мe)

[personal profile] fellheart 2024-05-04 05:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[ he has a suspicion this will go little better than previous efforts despite his diligence, whether because of location or his lack of ... connection, so to speak, to their surroundings.

(wrong building, not a castle, not open fields and encampments under starry skies, wrong world, wrong time,

wrong him. this place is neither the sacred underground halls of the dragon's table, nor a messy strategy tent strewn haphazardly with maps and troop marching orders, nor the stonework of a foreign castle. it means nothing to him, either the man he was or the man he is now.)

anyway me waxing poetic in the meta aside, he's hanging out by North tower in the dead of night, probably on the roof or something, and rolled a 9. lmao.

(perhaps next time he'll properly pay a visit to the city that delegate came from, just to see for himself.)



(so on that note, given that the north is asking for help, he'll try again in a quiet moment between monster attacks. this is more familiar, the thrill of a fight in the middle of nowhere, almost nostalgically playing shepherd for a flock of humans rather than sheep.

except it's godsdamned cold up here even with magical protection for a creature of the desert capable of flight, and it's distracting. ugh. he'd never liked regna ferox either. anyway that's a 11 on the reroll.) ]
Edited 2024-05-04 17:31 (UTC)
impacter: (150)

[personal profile] impacter 2024-05-04 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[Time for a daytrip to the outskirts of the City of Ice while out on that North mission.

(He rolled a 4 and a 12!)]
Edited 2024-05-04 17:15 (UTC)
foresightis2020: (11)

[personal profile] foresightis2020 2024-05-04 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Just kidding!!

Jing Yuan carries himself all the way to the West instead, and even though he is still going to die with a reroll of 7, what are the results for spirit listening? Not sure about the architecture or particular places, but maybe he's hanging around a super fancy building of some sort. ]
shortleash: (pic#17072497)

[personal profile] shortleash 2024-05-04 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
( Fortunately they're doing work in East already, which means it's not too much of a task to slip off between cleanups and find somewhere quiet and properly isolated in the East to attempt to commune. It's likely somewhere deep in a forest, where the air is so still it seems almost like he's the only creature in it (11, 16). )
annihilator: (➤ 58)

[personal profile] annihilator 2024-05-04 06:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[Malice has wanted to communicate with the spirits since he first heard that they were claimed by them. So with the task, it's the perfect time to venture north and try just that.

(Of course, he's also here to kill monsters, because that's plenty of fun.)

The cold out here in the fields after slaying several monsters is biting, even for a vampire, but he attempts to clear his mind and focus and hopefully reach out to the spirits to hear something - anything - from the ones who have decided he's theirs.

So is there any response? (13, 9)]
fullspbar: (pic#17112458)

[personal profile] fullspbar 2024-05-04 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Because doing things in the kitchen at night has not ended badly for him lately at all...it's still the place he feels the most at ease, even if it's a bit rocky right now.

Either way, after a brisk bout of cleaning to clear his head and probably locking the door, Shinjiro will open the window for that breath of fresh night air and give it a go ( 10, 1 ). Sorry, he's not a big conversationalist. ]
Edited 2024-05-04 18:45 (UTC)
foresightis2020: (107)

[personal profile] foresightis2020 2024-05-04 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He just laughs back, I guess...

And then heads back, to nap. ]
fallingsand: (52;)

[personal profile] fallingsand 2024-05-04 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[ At first, Bruno feels excitement over finally hearing them directly and not merely through distant emotions and basic thoughts, but the question they ask? That falters, if only slightly.

Even so, he reaches out to them, seeking to answer.
]

I... am, down here, where it feels like home, but. But it isn't home without my family.
dadsandals: (yama37)

[personal profile] dadsandals 2024-05-04 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
[ They're in the East, so like...he's just gonna stay here and find a secluded spot outside. He closes his eyes and tries to get in touch with the spirts (19). ]
themanwhoerasedhisname: 13 (13)

[personal profile] themanwhoerasedhisname 2024-05-04 11:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh, a response...]

That'll have to seen. We'll see if I'm strong enough to protect this world.

[He's not alone, though, so that helps a lot. Kiryu is more willing to rely on others instead of taking the burden all by himself]
dyingtohealyou: ([Look] You could say I'm)

[personal profile] dyingtohealyou 2024-05-04 11:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ahito makes his attempt in the North; the vast empty is the perfect place to get away from the strange silence of the City of Rain to a more natural quiet instead.

Plus he needs to practice magic to keep himself warm in the frigid lands. That too. We are not going to have another Central situation if he can at all help it.

With feelings of pride and confidence tempered by sympathy and care, he listens for the voice of the Northern spirits (14, 15).
]