let the magic take control, it's there wherever you go

[promittere]

CADENZA DI FIRST QUARTER

On this bright and sunny morning, Sage Tatara and Mentor G'raha call a meeting. It's mandatory.

Once every wizard is gathered in the lounge, Tatara settles into one of the plush armchairs, clearly too big for him, but absent is any of his silly expressions that might make light of the difference in size here. Instead, with a serious hue in his coral eyes and neatly pressed lilac dress shirt, he looks like he means business.

"Now that the Western wizards are back, we need to share what we've learned with each other. I know some of you have been sharing information privately amongst yourselves, but I think it's time we put all the pieces we have together.

"Everyone encountered a moon stone on their missions, and I think the general consensus is that neutralizing these stones brings the old wizards back physically, somehow. But we haven't received any reports of any of them waking up yet."

That isn't to mention the sage, who still remains missing...ostensibly. They'll get to that in a second.

"If there's anything else you've learned that you think might be related to these things, or to our situation specifically, then speak up now."

For a summary of everything discussed in the meeting, please see this comment. Thank you Mauyn!

When the conversation dies down, Tatara raises his hand to get his attention back on him and G'raha again.

"For the second order of business, I have good news and bad news."

His tone and expression are lighter this time.

"The good news is that we've found a ritual that can send everyone back. There are details we can work out in the meanwhile, especially if you've decided not to go back to your home world, but for now, we need to talk about the ritual itself.

"In order for the ritual to work, we will need rare materials from all over the world. I'll be posting the materials on the job board so you know where to look."

G'raha adds, "We'll need these materials by next week, before the full moon. There's a reason for that, but we'll touch on that in a moment."

Tatara glances at him and nods.

"The ritual is far too powerful for any of us to perform, so we'll have to wait until the old wizards wake up. But...I have a feeling we might be able to do something about that."

When Tatara stands, G'raha follows suit.

"There's one last thing I need to show you."

With a silent gesture, Tatara makes for the door of the lounge and expects everyone to follow. Yes, everyone.

Sage and mentor then lead everyone down the winding corridors of the manor, past an indiscreet door into a wing of the building that has remained relatively untouched. The lights here are off, but the chandeliers and sconces quietly flick on as they make their way down the dust-laden corridors.

Soon, all will notice that the halls they walk through are a mirror image of the residential section of the manor, except it seems no one has lived here for quite a while.

You're led up the stairs, where Tatara and G'raha stop before a door that is a mirror location to Tatara's room on the second floor. A faint energy pulses from inside, one belonging to a person unfamiliar to all.

After an exchanged glance, Tatara pushes open the door and G'raha steps inside. He gestures to the sight at the center of the room: there, on his knees, is a young man. His face is frozen, twisted in panic—in fact, all of him is frozen, and his image practically see-through, just scarcely flickering on the razor-thin edge of existence. He holds his fist high above his head, as though clinging, with dear life, to five faint ethereal threads—yellow, purple, blue, pink, and green—that float in the air above his head. The threads are just as faint as he is, fading before they reach the walls.

"This is the previous sage," Tatara says. "He appeared here a little before the Western wizards returned from their mission. I'm guessing whatever they did to the last moon fragment is related."

G'raha nods. "The sage's soul seems incomplete. Putting him back together may be the key to waking him, and the rest of the wizards, up. However—" he pauses, reaching to gently run a finger over the purple thread. It flickers faintly. "The energy in these threads is too faint to see where they lead. They do seem to grow in strength as we get closer to the full moon, though. It's likely we'll see what lies at the end of them when the time comes, next week."

"Next week," Tatara repeats. G'raha steps out of the room, and Tatara closes the door behind him. "We'll wake him up next week.

"But before that, we have materials to collect."

JOB BOARD

An important note for these tasks is that they are time sensitive. At least one completed thread of each material must be submitted before 11:59 AM EDT, June 22 for the gathering of the materials to be considered successful. Now's the time to coordinate and work together.

Water from the Lost Oasis. Mesa was once a great city of commerce in the southern part of the Central country...the part of the country that is now a vast desert. The city was once lost to the sands, and though it is said to have recently emerged from its sandy grave, it is still rather difficult to find in the desert. It is very easy to get lost, even on broom, so be careful.

Either way, your task is to collect a bottle-ful of water from this barren oasis. Your only choices may be to commune with the spirits to have them to show you a phantasm of what the bustling city was like in its heyday, before it was destroyed, or to brute force dig your way to the ground water. Why here, when there are other oases in the desert? This is an ancient place of power, and the land is special.

The Central spirits here are very old and very picky—Northern wizards beware, as your presence may not be entirely welcome. Acting out may cause the spirits to lash out and cause sandstorms.

The Frozen Oz Root. Named after the world's most powerful wizard, the Oz flower is a brilliant crimson and deathly poisonous. It grows in the vast snowy plains of the North, but it is said to be exceedingly rare, despite how the color of the flower stands out so starkly against the white of the snow. Finding it will not be easy and you will need sharp, tireless eyes.

Despite how beautiful the flower is, that is not what we need. All of the flower's poison is housed in its roots, and we need the poison. However, the most important thing is that the roots remain frozen. Do not let it thaw. Once it thaws, the poison loses the quality we need for the ritual.

A Storm in a Bottle. It's the fickle quality of the spirits in the Valley of Storms that cause the eponymous storms. They're shy and sensitive, a lot like the Eastern wizards themselves, and don't require a lot of prodding to elicit any sort of reaction from them. Your job is to agitate the spirits in the valley just enough to cause a storm, and to catch that storm, lightning and thunder and rain and all, in a bottle for use in the ritual. Western wizards in particular will have an easy time stressing them out, but be careful not to push the sensitive spirits too far—the valley is also known as the Valley of the Lost for a reason (don't get trapped, please come home!).

In contrast, if you accidentally make the spirits happy, they might take the form of cats instead... Which is nice, but the manor isn't exactly aching for more cats. Just don't get too distracted playing with them if this happens, okay?

Blood of the Last Monster. The Western military and word on the street will tell you that all of the magical monsters in the West have been slain, their mana stones harvested. But is that true, when there has been no word of the death of the mythical tarasque? The legend of the tarasque tells of a large, ancient beast with six bear paws for legs and a massive turtle shell on its back, who slumbers in the depths of a remote ravine among the mountains on the Western Country's northern border. You are to collect a vial of this ancient creature's blood. Nothing more, nothing less.

Be careful not to wake it, and be careful not to kill it. If awakened, there's no telling if anyone would be able to stop a creature of that size and caliber. And if killed, its mana stones would attract all the wrong kind of attention. Besides, doesn't the West still deserve to keep some of its native fauna, magical or otherwise?

Pestilence Frog Mucus. Though once a plague-ridden bog, the Swamp of Pestilence is now home to a thriving, diverse, and healthy ecosystem. It's now also home to a very rare type of frog, its stunning green, yellow, and blue stripes eye-catching and attractive. However, this frog only emerges from the depths of the bog on a clear twilight after a day of rain in the rainy season...except the Southern rainy season isn't for another few months yet. You don't exactly have the time to wait until then, do you? You'll have to figure out a way to trick the frog into thinking it's the rainy season to lure it out, or dig it out by force... Either way, you'll need at least a vial's worth of this frog's mucus. Make sure the swamp water (or rain water, for that matter) doesn't contaminate it.

OOC NOTES

🌙 Welcome to your final final mingle! It's time to share info and get down to business.
🌙 How do you feel about the bonds you've forged thus far? Was it all worth it?
🌙 Pair guesses are now closed! Thank you and congratulations to all who found their pair!
🌙 A reminder that rewards close at 11:59 PM EDT, June 19, and that includes mission rewards. If you have not submitted rewards for your mission participation yet, then now's your last chance!
🌙 Speaking of time limits, if you missed it above, all materials must be submitted before the finale for the gathering to be considered a success. Plan your time and your threads wisely.
🌙 Your OOC plotting post is here. Please note that this plotting post doubles as the sign-up for the finale and final encounter. Read it over carefully and fill out the form if you'd like to die play.
🌙 Speaking of, what do you think is happening next week...?

» NAVIGATION

Comments

[dyingtohealyou]

A. A Normal Day...

[Between missions, Ahito can be found in the following places:

In Central, atop a roof or a tree from sunset to the faintest stars appearing in the sky, recharging his amulet,

In his room, scratching down notes and spell concepts, or

In the kitchens, preparing baby castellas! Leftover baby castellas are left on a plate for people to snack on, too.]

B. Water from the Lost Oasis

[Don't mind him casually attempting a ward against the fucking heat of this place, the temperature is so much less bearable without the ocean wind to cool it.]

Any luck talking to the spirits?

[They don't seem to want to talk to him for... some reason... mysterious.......]

C. The Frozen Oz Root

[He'll cast a ward against the cold for himself and, if whoever is accompanying him isn't a fellow north, for them as well. After that, it's just a matter of hopping on brooms and scanning the ground below for that tell-tale red.]

It's weird how quickly I've gotten used to this place...

[He's lost count of how many times he's been up here, these days...]

D. A Storm in a Bottle

[Wow, he did not miss the East. But still! Here they are, in the valley of storms, in which... it is not presently storming. Fortunately, that part's easy to fix. Unfortunately...]

Soo... Upsetting the spirits shouldn't be a problem, but how do you think we should go about bottling the storm itself?

E. Blood of the Last Monster

[Fortunately, he's not too shabby when it comes to stealth, and he seems pretty confident in that as they move through the ravine. However, stealth isn't the only issue, now is it?]

What would be the best way to extract its blood...? I guess if we can numb it first...

[Hmm!]

F. Pestilence Frog Mucus

[Ughhh heat ward does not help with the humidity of a fuckin bog, thanks he hates this. He's also staying on his broom for now instead of getting into the muck.]

...I wonder if there's a tracking spell we can use to find it instead.

[He is not a hunter, he just wants to be done with this one asap, thank you very much.]

Wildcard!

[Hit up my plotting comment and I can make a custom tl!]

blood of the last monster

[dadsandals]

Numbing...sounds like a good idea, if we can find a way to do that without waking it up.

[ Yamato is a Seals guy, so he could hypothetically try it. ]

I might be able to do it through a seal, but I don't know if it'll feel anything...but we can try it?

[dyingtohealyou]

If we can numb it while it's asleep, that'd be the ideal, I think. ...But I guess to be sure, one of us could weave a sleep spell, and the other could numb it afterwards.

[Surely if they just take multiple precautions they can manage it...]

[dadsandals]

Good idea. You think you can try the sleep spell?

[ Fingers crossed this goes well for them... ]

[dyingtohealyou]

If nothing else, I have plenty of power I can pack into magic now. I'll be sure to give it a nice, big dose so it doesn't cause us any trouble.

[WHAT COULD GO WRONG.]

Now that we've got a plan, we just need to find it.

D. A Storm in a Bottle;

[foresightis2020]

[ Jing Yuan shows up, looking unbothered at the state of potentially challenging affairs, because of course he does.

As for the planning specifics...he looks thoughtful. ]

That's the question, isn't it?

Perhaps a very strong vacuuming spell of some sort can make do as long as place great a good deal of power into it. But before that, we should also enchant the bottle so that it will contain whatever is gathered into it as well.

Your thoughts?

[ If Ahito has better recommendations, now is time to give them. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

[He definitely looked at Jing Yuan with disdain when he saw who his partner on this particular job was to be, but... Well, it's a job, and he'll get it done.

Still...]

...

Are you suggesting we vacuum up lightning?

[foresightis2020]

[ Jing Yuan has acted like he usually has even with the look of disdain. ]

I certainly am suggesting we vacuum up lightning.

Do you have other thoughts?

[ He will simply prompt again. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

You'd have to do it, because the only thing I know about vacuums is it's supposedly for cleaning, and that's what Yamato's weird machine is for.

D

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

Lightning in a bottle is a saying for a reason. If we trap some of that perhaps it'll recreate the storm inside.

In that case attracting the lighting into the bottle will have to do.

[It's not like we can swing a bottle and trap a storm that way, after all. We'll have to intentionally attract it]

[dyingtohealyou]

Maybe if we attract it to the bottle and stay very, very far away.

[He would like to not be struck by lightning today if it's all the same.]

[themanwhoerasedhisname]

We need something to be a lightning rod -- thin enough to be in the bottle, and long enough to raise somewhat high.

[dyingtohealyou]

...Do we have anything we could make it out of, or should we just try to attract it with magic?

f for frog

[revengier]

[ Ugh, he's not looking forward to getting into the thick of the bog to get this damn frog, but... they might have to.

Fanning himself with his hand as they venture deeper on their brooms, he shrugs. ]

It supposedly comes out after a day of rain. We have the timing right, judging by the sky, but I doubt the weather is.

[ It's too humid for it to have just rained... he can't sense the relief in the air that the release of rain typically provides. ]

We could likely find it with a spell, but getting it to come out would be an issue, unless one of us were to dive into the bog itself and dig it out.

Re: f for frog

[dyingtohealyou]

I'd be worried about injuring it, or messing it up some other way.

[And then they'd just need to find another...]

The air's so... wet. Think we can pull some of the moisture out of the air and make some fake rain to check the bog as we go?

[revengier]

Mm... and we'll need the sample to be uncontaminated.

[ He summons his chains, Kurapika letting the one with the ball on the end of it hang loose. ]

I think we could. I have my dowsing chain here that I can use to locate it if you want to focus on the rain part.

[ All he has to do is project a bit of magic into it. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

Works for me.

[He's got plenty of magical power these days, thanks to all those mana stones!

He'll go ahead and pause the broom ride to instead focus on drawing the water out of the air, letting it patter in what he hopes is a convincing rainfall upon the mud... though it's not enough to get any frogs to appear, unfortunately (3).]

lost oasis

[fallingsand]

[ Bruno's certainly been trying to contact the spirits and yet... looks at the big fat 1 that got rolled oops ]

Hmm, no? Not yet. Which is, uh, weird. Usually, I don't have a problem with this.

[ He's been sitting on the sand trying to meditate and reach for the spirits but he's coming up with absolutely nothing. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

[He frowns. His first attempt was pretty basic and he immediately got a less than friendly response, but...]

I guess I can try one more time...?

[Closing his eyes for a moment. C'mon spirits, his partner's one of yours, he's just here to help (15)...

...!]

...They said go north.

[Vague as hell but better than nothing.]

[fallingsand]

They did? That's great! Good work, Ahito!

[ Bruno is relieved that the spirits are giving up info to at least one of them, whew. He'll hop back to his feet and dust the sand off of himself. ]

Welp, let's get going, then. Maybe we'll spot something that way.

[dyingtohealyou]

Here's hoping...

[But time to head North!]

I wonder if we could just try a dowsing spell for water to help, too.

[Central spirits willing...]

Lost Oasis

[troublereduction]

[ Day, while not exactly fond of the heat, is used to it after two years of living down in Creation's South where a huge chunk of it is just desert.

The good news is that the spirits apparently decided they like this South (17). ]

C'mon, just show us where it is...

[ In the distance, somewhere Westward, there's an image of what was once Mesa. ]

Ah!

[dyingtohealyou]

[At least one of them can!]

-!

Let's go before it fades!

[The more ground they can cross now while it's vaguely in sight, the better. And what better way to do that than on broomstick?]

[troublereduction]

[ Ahito has the right idea. Day's summoning his broomstick too, and hops on. ]

Hope you can keep up!

[ Because Day immediately goes fast, in what could be described as thrill-seeker fashion. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

[While he's initially surprised that Day takes off so fast, he just grins and pours on the speed himself, catching up reasonably quickly.]

Trust me, that's not gonna be a problem!