thousand dreams, lotus boats upon the waters

[promittere]

NEW MOON ADAGIO

Between the constant requests from the North and the sense of tension that pervades the manor, Sage Tatara makes an executive decision: we're going North, baby.

Of all the things that have happened thus far, let this be the ultimate test of your magic. Even as we near summer, it's frigid. Protect yourselves and your allies from the cold. Protect yourselves while also fighting off monsters (or other territorial wizards, should you make the terrible mistake of wandering into another's territory), flying through the vast wilderness, or protecting the poor humans who need your help to survive. Time to blow off some of your steam. Just be sure to obey Tatara's one rule: don't kill each other.

One particular problem of note is in the Forest of Dreams. Without its guardian, many of these rogue monsters and dangerous predators, displaced from their normal habitats, have found their way into the forest. Many of them, however, are unable to survive against the fatal toxin, and there are plenty of animal corpses and mana stones that litter the forest. It might be best to clean these up before the forest guardian returns...

That said, the toxin is yet another thing you must protect yourself against in addition to the cold. While you can likely keep yourself from dying from the toxins, you may not be immune to its effects. This deadly toxin causes anyone who breathes it in to dream and hallucinate vividly, be it images of the past, imagined futures, thoughts of the present processed and warped...

Strangely enough, those nearby may end up sharing in your dreams... Did you want the darkest recesses of your thoughts, hopes, and fears unearthed for others to see?

Those who decide to venture far past the more populated (in relative terms) parts of the North may find themselves stumbling upon what looks to be an abandoned bandit hideout. It seems it's been abandoned for quite a while—nothing to loot here, sorry!—but there sure are a whole lot of monsters that have decided to make this hidden corner of the North their home.

While you're at it, you may find a nearby cave. Beautiful crystals dot the walls and the floors, and there are small pools of hot spring water free for relaxing. It seems to be relatively free of monsters, too. So maybe this wouldn't be a bad spot to relax, away from everything else?

However, there's one thing that makes this cave truly unique, and it isn't the vistas or the springs—it's the bats. These bats hear echoes of the past and replay them for visitors. Should you stay a while and listen, a bat may pay you a visit. And when it does, it may play for you the voices from the memories of visitors past, whose stories may hold a clue or two to your circumstances...

While the Forest of Dreams is a memory/dreamshare free for all, the aural memories replayed by the bats in the Cave of Time will come from one of the original wizards only. If you'd like an audio replay of a perhaps significant moment either in their personal life or a clue as to what happened to them (it will be randomized), then please reply to this comment!

JOB BOARD

Clean-up and repairs. While thanks to the hard work of your Eastern friends the worst was prevented, the City of Rain emerged from their short ordeal a little worse for wear.

Buildings need repair, blood needs to be cleaned off the streets, the injured need help. This is, perhaps, the only time you will be allowed to use magic openly in the city (you've been given permits and everything!), but you still are not allowed to talk outside of designated zones. Please, please don't get arrested...

As for the scrap that litters the streets? Unfortunately, you'll have to take it back to the scrapyard. But this time, there's a big, roaring bonfire out there. Just chuck all the scrap and debris in the fire. The city isn't taking any second chances—extreme situations call for extreme measures.

Reverence. Several Northern villages are currently outside the protection of a wizard, and have requested the sage's wizards' presence. They're terrified of the monsters and worried the barriers for their villages will fail sooner than later. They don't simply ask for help for free, however, and these smaller villages are steeped in their tradition—they'll pay you their respects, praying to you, offering you gifts, groveling at your feet, in hopes for a modicum of your time and protection. Do their offerings please you? Then assist them with what you deem appropriate for their worship to you: kill a few monsters for them, or a lot if you're pleased. Strengthen the barrier a lot, or not at all if you're displeased. It's up to you! You have the power here. What's it like to be a god for a day?

Ladies' night. The monthly lady officers' gathering is coming up in the City of Affluence—it's an exclusive meetup for the women involved in and related to Western military and bureaucratic affairs. Anyone is welcome, so long as they meet two requirements: they are outwardly presenting feminine, and they have an invitation to the gathering. Here's your chance to flex your transformation and glamour spells! Infiltrate the meetup with a disguise and a fake invitation, mingle, enjoy the drinks, the jazz, the entertainment, and find out what you can... What's the Western army up to? Be careful, though—don't get caught and kicked out!

The attendees seem to be excited about the new phantasmagoria technology and the upcoming display, and many whisper about the upcoming Venator meteor shower...

G'RAHA TASKS

Greetings, new friends! I am G'raha Tia, and while I hesitate to call myself a mentor or a replacement for the one you had, I am eternally grateful for the assistance I received and will do my best to help your cause in any way I can. To that end, I feel I may need to be caught up to speed on the events and get to know all of you.

We can have some tea and sandwiches and have a discussion! That's the best way to learn, sometimes.

TATARA ACTIVITIES

Even if we're not here for very long, I think we should leave our mark (not literally! Don't paint on the walls!). I got paint and big paper in the dining hall, but no brushes... Do you know what that means? Finger paint! Finger paint a portrait of yourself with your name and I'll hang it up in the library when they're all done!

Thanks to Cid and Khun, my camcorder works now. The thing is, what's the point of filming anything if we have no way to watch the film?! Could you guys work together to make some kind of projector? Or like...VHS player? We could have a movie night together!

OOC NOTES

🌙 Welcome to your fourth event! It's your dreamshare and memshare event! Ready to open up with your deepest and darkest secrets?
🌙 We're halfway through the game. How do you feel?
🌙 Back at the manor, Kurapika and Maya have set up a bulletin board! Leave comments, argue with your neighbors, have fun. Be nice. Don't set it on fire.
🌙 On the admin side of things, Lav has swapped out Wanderer for G'raha! Please say hello to your new mentor NPC.
🌙 Your OOC plotting post is here! Remember to keep all wider plotting to the post, and remember to check back frequently, since not everyone checks plurk or discord all the time.
🌙 The next country to go on their mission is North. Do you think a PVP-enabled mission will go well?

» NAVIGATION

Comments

[lustro]

[ Oh, that’s the first he’s heard of this. Wait - ]

… What kind of advice?

[ Please, Ginger understands that Solomon has pacts with his dad and other sexual demons - but please not that kind of advice. He’ll die. ]

[fallingsand]

He's alright, most of the time? I guess? But the rest of the time, he can be pretty frustrating.

[ Solomon's a weird topic. Bruno doesn't want to dislike him but at the same time, he makes it hard to like him. ]

Sure. I'll keep that in mind. Huh, how many people here speak Japanese, anyway?

[leewards]

You don't need to worry, I'm still alert. [For now. But he's putting on a face for Urianger.

But he does hold on up through the journey to his room, even if navigating the steps is annoying with his axe and stilts. Even if he wants to set them aside immediately though, he simply puts his axe down to open the door, and steps aside for Urianger to go enter first.]

[leewards]

Trust in my magic. I am a creature of the snowy forests, after all.

[Then he sits back down, crossing his legs.]

[lighthaus]

A bunch, it's what Tatara speaks too.

[ he snaps the notebook shut and looks at bruno. ]

Give me twenty minutes to hem the dress. Do you know how to do makeup?

[divineth]

[Ithaqua will have to forgive Urianger, but he can't help but worry anyway.

At least the ascent does prove to be uneventful. Urianger makes a discovery when they reach Ithaqua's room, too.]

Ah. Thy room lieth directly above mine own.

[That's a fun little coincidence. Anyway, he'll go ahead and enter after thanking Ithaqua for the hospitality.]

[leewards]

Ah? So you are neighbours with Yamato and Kurapika then. [Both of whom he's visited multiple times.

He deposits his axe and stilts inside just by the door, and Solomon's coat with the mana stones right next to them, under the couch-- the counter would be better, but he would rather not expose the rocks to his potions and ingredients, in case of cross-contamination of... something. Magical energies, he supposes.

Then he begins to undress as he heads for his bed, revealing, as he removes his belt and tunic, that he has more bruises on his skin. He may not have lost blood, but he still took a beating.]

spoilers for endwalker endgame

[divineth]

'Tis possible...

[Whether those voices are coming from wizards or not, something urges Urianger toward them. But before he takes another step, he looks up at Ithaqua.]

Let us investigate.

[He's not about to wander off without his excursion partner, of course.

As they press on toward the voices, the scenery begins to change yet again. The forest gives way to something completely foreign- a barren rocky outcropping and a nebulous sky. They are now in the far reaches of space, and the atmosphere is heavy with despair.

This time, Urianger remains right at Ithaqua's side, and the hardened expression he now wears means he knows exactly what's happening now.]

Keep calm, and listen well.

[A voice comes in loud and clear this time, unfamiliar to Ithaqua but quite the opposite for Urianger.

A dire scene is unfolding before the pair. A group of five stand tense as a howling cloud of darkness surrounds another. One of the onlookers is unmistakably Urianger, but there is another familiar face in the crowd: G'raha Tia. Between them are a pair of young elezen twins and what can only be described as the most generic and heroic-looking guy of all time. Inside the cloud is a miqo'te woman, who is quickly identified as the one speaking earlier as she continues.]

Though my body may soon dissipate, there may be a way to restore it: Azem's magick. So long as our souls remain, you can use it to summon us back.

[Azem? Summon her back? What's even happening to her?]

[leewards]

Aa~ah. Stubborn.

[As if he, himself, is not.]

Very well.

[foresightis2020]

Very well, then.

I shall see you at some point later to discuss.

[ There are other matters he has to attend to, but he will definitely follow up on this. ]

[foresightis2020]

[ Jing Yuan doesn't tend to look surprised much, no. Not even when the worst is upon them (not even at mission arrivals, including the upcoming one), so yes, it is in fact a rarity.

He listens to what Khun is saying with rapt attention however, simply because this is pretty much an important divulgement of certain matters. So, this Maria must have been real dear to Khun for the amount of kindness that she held.

He thinks it also solidifies Khun as the type of person to do quite a lot for those he cares about, even potentially at his detriment. ]

I can't say I've met many who would be willing to do as you did, especially since most who have that much wouldn't want to lose it, nor bear such great consequence.

...But, I believe I understand well enough your reasoning with that answer.

[foresightis2020]

What a terrible cost it is indeed, to have wrought something like this.

[ Though he certainly doesn't believe this effects all magic users. Mayhaps just the ones in Ahito's world. ]

...Your class seems also more lively than I could have ever imagined.

[dyingtohealyou]

[Ah, he sees where this is going, and there's a quiet approval even if it's rather grim. Seeing just how effective your abilities will be on the others when the time comes - yeah, that's smart, and he'd expect no less of Kurapika even through the brutality.

While his expression tightens as he watches the man die, he watches nonetheless - watches, too, as Kurapika lays him to his final rest.]

...More respect than I'd give him.

[divineth]

[Urianger takes a few steps in to examine Ithaqua's room setup. It has a comfortable vibe to it, reminiscent of the cottage he recalls seeing in Ithaqua's past.]

Aye. They are fine neighbors, though it can be...noisy, at times.

[What with all the roomba shenanigans and all.

As he's still looking around, he turns and is immediately met with the sight of Ithaqua taking his shirt off.

...

He then swivels on his heel to look literally anywhere else. If Ithaqua were to look, he'd see the tips of the elezen's ears burning red.]

While the blood may not have been thine own, thou art still injured. May I heal thee?

[Apparently he looked at Ithaqua's bare skin long enough to see the additional bruises.]

[dyingtohealyou]

...You eat a rock and then you feel stronger?

[He's not sure what part of this is confusing.]

[troublereduction]

...I really have been overthinkin' this.

[ Maybe if he hadn't been introduced to the concept via "How do you feel about cannibalism?", he wouldn't have! ]

[dyingtohealyou]

Because of all that?

[Makes sense tho.]

[leewards]

[Frankly, Ithaqua had noticed how his muscles felt when he was making his way back to the manor, but had not realized that the bruising was this extensive. At Urianger's words, he looks down at himself, and sees what he means now.]

Ah-- Allow me to remove my clothing first. [See the extent of the damage and all.

And now he's just stripped to his undergarments, sitting on his bed and examining his legs. Bruised as well. In fact, his face might have the least bruising on them, it's a wonder his mask didn't break sooner.]

[leewards]

Open wide then. [Because he's clearly the sort of person to stick his hand into the mouth of a dragon.]

[leewards]

[From the start, Ithaqua can tell that Urianger and G'raha are from the same world. An interesting detail, but unimportant for now. Instead, he looks at the scene, notes the tension, and looks back at Urianger, how his expression is tight.

But he's not so silly as to not understand the words.

Someone's about to die, likely sacrificial, but while this is a memory and there is already some assurance that she (they? why are there more?) have likely been restored as she said, that doesn't dismiss the emotions as fake. Ithaqua's priority is Urianger but his best enemies are physical, not emotional.

He can only put his hand on Urianger's back to remind him that he's here.]

[dyingtohealyou]

But they keep sending them instead?

[shortleash]

( ?

Well, how does he put it... )

... Um... about personal things, I guess. I can tell you later. I still have a lot of things I should tell you.

( He doesn't even realize this makes it sound sus, he doesn't know what Ginger's assuming, he just doesn't want to talk personal things near earshot of other people. )

1/2

[divineth]

R-Remove thy--?

[Urianger freezes up, suddenly regretting this at least a little bit. But...he'll commit. Healing Ithaqua is important, no matter how embarrassed Urianger is about it.]

[divineth]

[He takes a deep breath, reaches for his star globe, and turns to come over and assess the damage. Focus on the bruising. Focus on the bruising. Focus on the bruising.]

Goodness, Ithaqua... [He murmurs as he takes note of it all, ears still burning.] 'Tis a wonder thou didst not suffer worse than this. Or didst thou already receive healing from G'raha?

[fellheart]

[ can he telepathically convey the sheer 'this might as well be happening' vibes of all this right now? being hand fed the remains of someone, that is? sure, he can't say he's ever quite seen someone turn into rocks when killed before, but hey, first time for everything. it's not the same as being able to rend the flesh from her bones, but...

whatever. the draconic maw opens wide. snakelike? crocodile-like? either way, give the witch here. ]