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

[impacter]

CLEANUP (EAST PROMPT)

[For those that are feeling a little too squeamish, Solomon has taken to the damages streets of the City of Rain specifically to help clean up blood. Not everyone can handle it, and he's been witness to far worse. So he'll focus on the nasty parts, on the evidence of the dead and injury, so that gentler eyes can tend to the rest.]

Watch where we drain this out. Don't let it run freely or we risk making the people sick.

GONE FISHING (MANOR + NORTH PROMPT)

[From Tuesday onward, Solomon will not be at the manor. A note will be left on his door, simply stating "Gone to see a friend! Behave, everyone. <3"

His room is locked up tight. His window is not. :-)

For those that venture out onto North missions, however, they may indeed spot Solomon here and there, outfit enchanted a brilliant white with the same cloak he'd worn the previous week. Slipping into the towns to assist with barriers, engaging in fights only to pocket the mana stones, the man never seems to stay for long before he vanishes straight back into the snow. He never takes their gifts. He only asks, in hushed voices and gentle smiles, for them to work on various things.

Keep the children away from this area. Let's work on reinforcing this building for the next storm. Count your rations, so the next wizards that visit can have a number.

If he runs into another wizard, whether out in combat or working on a mission, he'll give a hearty wave and a smile like he hasn't gone off into the wilderness. He looks a little beat up, but it could very well just be the effects of the weather. Hello, fellow wizard!]

DRIFTING DOWN TIME'S GOLDEN POOL (MEMSHARE)

[It's the same figure, cloaked in white, that can be spotted amongst the trees of the forest if one is spotted alone, skirting between the trunks and dead brush to pluck up stones and pocket them. Never putting them his mouth - not here, not yet. It's bitterly cold, and the poison sits like smoke in the air. But he still lingers like a ghost, smile distant.]

Unusually cursed, isn't it?

This forest isn't safe. Be careful.

[Memshare prompts can be found here, please let me know there or by DM or on your response title which prompt you would like, or if you would like it randomized. If you want something more mundane or a topic not on this list, let me know and I can whip something up for you!]

DRIFTING DOWN TIME'S GOLDEN POOL (MEMSHARE);

[foresightis2020]

[ Oh, there you are, Solomon.

Jing Yuan spots the other man a mile away upon trekking into the forest. His eyes are sharp like his mind, so no figures escape his sight. Especially not distinctly familiar figures dressed in white. ]

Worry not, my companion.

I am fond of taking due caution where it is warranted and thus it is how I have made it this far, though I am ever the more grateful for your concern.

...It could stand to be warmer, however...

[ He sighs, but at least he has brought upon a version of a warming spell. Still, he is from a place where the cold is a rarity and it always sucks ass whenever he hangs around the North. ]

[impacter]

[Here he is! He looks slightly more worn down than the last time he was in the manor, scraped up across the face here and there with the flush of red that comes from long exposure to the cold. But he'll easily extend his own heating spell towards Jing Yuan as a gesture, though it will only work if they stay relatively close together.]

The North isn't so kind, dear Jing Yuan.

Let's make quick work of what we need to do here.

[Behind Solomon, the long expanse of trees seems to shift, warping, the white of the snow bathing into tiles of red and pink and gold, windows of enormous height that show a sky as dark as night. The muffling of voices from all sides, the sound of guards protesting behind them at a figure unseen. It's like a mirage in its quality, hard to grasp without focus.

Solomon's face tightens a bit, but his attention stays on Jing Yuan.]

drifting doooown

[fallingsand]

[ Skirting about as Solomon is, Bruno doesn't realize he isn't alone in here until the white-cloaked man speaks up and startles the heck out of the green-cloaked (or is it green-ruana'd?) one. He jumps, spinning about to face Solomon on the verge of panic until... ]

Dios mío, it's only you. Could you at least try to make some noise when you're lurking around like that? You aren't making it any less dangerous doing that.

Cw: brief mentions of blood, destruction, death

[impacter]

[A chuckle, tired but humored. Ah, Bruno, never change. He leans his weight off the tree he's been resting at, plucking up another stone from the ground.

His face looks slightly more battered than the last time they spoke, face kissed red with exposure to the cold.]

Relax. There's nothing but us in here for a reason right now.

[Faintly, distantly, there's the flickering smell of smoke. Of dust and debris. Of blood. Of distant, mourning screams. Bruno's body will feel like a phantom of itself for a brief moment. Pained. Exhausted. Powerful. Powerful. It radiates like the heat of the sun in waves off his body. But he feels distress, not his own, but of a phantom, stumbling and bleeding and desperately trying to will something, something in him, something innate, to stop.

The real Solomon flinches with a deep exhale, as though this is not the first time this hallucination has rolled into his view. His hand runs, reflexively, at the ring against his middle finger, unaware that the vision is being shared.]

... Be cautious of what you see. This place is... exhausting.

memshare

[leewards]

[Ithaqua ignores Solomon's warning, because he has already been here, the comment was wholly unnecessary. He simply waves his lantern over himself to form an invisible barrier against the toxic spores.

Solomon can't see it, but he's seething right now.]

[impacter]

[He can't see it. But the blatant dismissal still ruffles him a little. Fine, if Ithaqua wanted to be that way...

...

Still, something feels... strange. A pull, despite the displeasure, one that flickers with noticeable intensity at the barrier that flares up. What in the world...

Faintly, the air starts to smell thick with salt. The air starts to grow cold and wet. Solomon immediately starts to look uncomfortable, his frown thin towards the other Northern Wizard.]

Not even a hello? Are we truly at that point, Ithaqua?

GOLDEN POOL....

[erythropoiesis]

[It was inevitable for G'raha to end up in the Forest of Dreams, as it is where he entered this world. He's hoping it'll provide answers for him, somehow, but he also just feels out of his depth. He needs to learn more about this situation before he can do anything about it.

He looks over at Solomon, ears perked.]

I'm afraid I don't know what this place is usually like.

[An awkward smile crosses his face.]

I shall take your warning to heart, though.

Cw: brief mentions of blood

[impacter]

Ah. You're a new face...

[His smile is tired, slightly pained, scuffed slightly along the forehead and jawline and skin kissed raw and red from the cold.]

I'm sorry this is your introduction. But I hope you can make peace with our circumstances...

[Faintly, distantly, there's the flickering smell of smoke. Of dust and debris. Of blood. Of distant, mourning screams. Graha's body will feel like a phantom of itself for a brief moment. Pained. Exhausted. Powerful. Powerful. It's both very right, and very wrong.

Solomon seems to flinch as the sensation settles, as though bracing.]

...It can be a little unkind. Just be wary of where your eyes sit.

MEMSHARE - BASEMENT

[dyingtohealyou]

[...Oh. It's Solomon.

Ahito, too, had been going around collecting mana stones, but his bored yet still alert expression gives way immediately to one of distaste and wariness.]

...Obviously. I came here earlier on Lazuli's request.

[impacter]

Mm. You were with that group.

Are you alright?

[Faintly, the space around them starts to feel damp. Dark. Claustrophobic. As though trees are no longer trees, as though the sky above starts to feel like it isn't real; fogging up the sensation of openness, their space condensing with the innate sensation of feeling small. Alone.

Afraid.]

Memshare - Promise

[troublereduction]

Man, seems like it's gotten worse since the last time...

[ He seems to draw some quick symbol in the air with his finger, a gesture that has meaning for only him, to cast protection on himself. ]

[impacter]

You've been here before, I take it.

[Solomon will cross over to Day, extending his own heating spell. So long as they stay close together, he'll keep them from freezing, though it looks like the cold has already been enough to turn his face red in places, scuffed up like he's taken a bad fall.]

There isn't much here left alive besides us, so--

[Thanks for saving me back there.

It's a whisper of a phrase, as though on the wind itself, and yet Solomon freezes immediately, glancing behind him, even as what sounds like his own voice echoes in return.

It was the least I could do. No need to keep the only other human here in a pickle. Though... you do have me interested in how you got Lucifer so worked up.

There's stumbled conversation, wordless and muddy. And Solomon stays frozen, swallowing dryly.]

... we should... keep moving.

one memshare for a sad grandpa please

[1145pm]

[ Tatara sticks close by, mostly because he knows the moment he loses Solomon's protection, he's dead (and the one person remaining who knew the sage summoning ritual is now). He's bundled in a red jacket with fur on the hood, and wine-colored hat with a pompom on the top.

He shivers. ]

Should we go back soon, then? You've found everything you need, right?

[impacter]

For right now. I'll be fine to come back on my own. I'd rather not keep you any longer.

[He's been out of the manor for a couple days by now, looking a little ragged. Thankfully someone (hi Bruno) has tended to what few wounds he had, so Tatara shouldn't have visible need to fuss over him. Ideally.

With a huff as he straightens up from the snow, he'll hold out a hand for Tatara to take if he wants. ]

I can take you back. No need for you to freeze.

[And yet something whispers, a voice light and joyful and relieved, right behind one's ear.

Thank you for saving me back there.

Solomon starts noticeably, head whipping around. His exhale drags from his throat.]

CLEANUP someone's gotta

[specialinquisitor]

[As a soldier, blood is nothing unfamiliar to her. Is anyone here truly that innocent, she wonders?]

[Well, no matter. She'll spare them by preference if not necessity.]

Indeed, this is a problem. One we may need to solve with magic if we wish to be completely safe.

[impacter]

[Ah, the central wizard he'd seen patrolling around the beaches! What a sight. He looks up from where he's slowly separating blood from debris, offering Morag a smile that might feel a little out of place.]

Hah - That much shouldn't be an issue. But better to prepare for the worst.

Do you think we could manage some temporary barriers for the drains?

memshare

[lighthaus]

Is there a usual level of cursed? [ don't mind khun he's just cranky because he doesn't like the cold much. mana stone gathering calls though, because he's also here pocketing whatever stones he finds. ]

[impacter]

Haha... I suppose it depends on the surroundings, doesn't it?

Though that doesn't seem to be stopping you.

[An observation, neutral and light.

Faintly, distantly, there's the flickering smell of smoke. Of dust and debris. Of blood. Of distant, mourning screams.

Khun's body will feel like a phantom of itself for a brief moment. Pained. Exhausted. Powerful. Powerful. It radiates like the heat of the sun in waves off his body.

It's enough to give Solomon pause with an inhale, with a touch of his fingers to a ring he's worn since the start. A reflex, though it doesn't seem to do much for the growing discomfort.]

nuke me grandpa

[jokey]

[god dammit grandpa stop running off

Akira approaches Solomon, no effort spared to hiding the discontent on his face. He knows you've been fucking around, old man, and he's not pleased. His gait remains measured, remains steady, steps casual, but he's not letting Solomon out of his sight. Now that he's finally hunted him down, he's never letting him out of his snare again.]

Don't talk to me about being careful. What are you doing, Solomon?

Gone Fishing

[chronosynthesis]

[Syrlya had noticed Solomon's missing presence the past few days, but with no idea where he'd gone or who had seen him there wasn't much Syrlya could do to inquire about it.

And there's work to be done besides. Syrlya heads up north with a heavy cloak as soon as it's asked, and he wastes no time reinforcing barrier and deflecting creatures from the borders of the down. The people are grateful... perhaps too grateful. He wonders what it is that they feel the need to beg and grovel for salvation, as if they weren't worthy of protection in the frigid north. He wonders if they have struggled to survive since the disappearance of the wizards.

He turns down the excessive gifts. Assures them that he's here to help, and they owe nothing for it. Just the food and shelter while they're here is enough for him.

It's when he's getting some space deeper in the forest that he catches sight of a white that stands out from the trees and so. He pursues, of course, with a hurried step to confirm--] Solomon?

barges into memshare (basement edition)

[revengier]

Mm, you don't have to tell me twice. I hope you've placed plenty of protections on yourself?

[ He expects Solomon to have done so, but still. You never know.

That distant smile irks him, enough to prompt him to ask that question in the first place. ]

memshare (summoning)

[divineth]

[Urianger crosses paths with the hooded figure in the forest- a figure he recognizes all too well from the restoration efforts in the East. So this is where Solomon wandered off to, huh...]

Verily. 'Tis a true test of our protection magicks.

[Not to mention their mental fortitude.]

Art thou aiding in the cleanup? Or art thou simply seeking mana stones?

memshare memshare memshare

[dadsandals]

[ A white cloak, but a familiar voice... Yamato blinks when he hears Solomon speak to him. Why the obscurity...? ]

Ah, yeah, I'll be careful.

[ He'd promise, but those are never good to make, are they.

He walks so he takes his place beside Solomon, and gives him a nod. It's good to see him again (??). ]

Do you need anything for warmth?

[ On Yamato's chest is his emblem, a musical sharp – a mark that he's got something to warm him, himself. ]

DOWN TIME'S GOLDEN POOL

[fellheart]

... Not to worry. You do not have to inform me of that.

[ he's knelt over a stray rabbit on the ground, its white coat not quite blending in with the fairytale forest painted in hues unlike much of the rest of the north. its nose twitches like it's alive, but the faint light in its eyes, an obvious bite wound, and the fact that it shouldn't have survived the forest's toxins betrays otherwise. ]

There are such places in any realm. I'd wager that we are here for at least some of the same reasons, in any case.