you opened your eyes, spreading it wide

[promittere]

THIRD QUARTER ALLEGRO

While our newly-arrived wizards have been settling in, learning their magic, and getting to know one another, the sage and their mentor have been busy with a different kind of work behind the scenes—bureaucratic work. It hasn't been particularly exciting, but it has paid off.

Because now, the world is ready to receive them.

Put on your finest clothes, because Granvelle Castle invites you to a welcome ball in your honor.

Didn't bring any fine clothes with you? No need to worry—specially chosen tailors from Central Capital have been commissioned to take care of you, and they will be visiting the manor to get you gussied up in the fashion of your choice for the day (by this, we mean feel free to pick whatever fancy clothes you want for the ball).

As the sun sets on the designated day, all the residents of the manor make their way to the castle. Granvelle Castle stands proud in Central Capital, its lights a beacon in the darkening city, and its doors open to outsiders for the first time in weeks. Upon arrival they're greeted by brightly lit halls, welcoming staff, and a grand ballroom, windows flung open to let in the spring breeze and pale moonlight. Everyone and everything seems determined to make this a cheerful affair, despite the underlying sense of dread and tension.

Live music fills the air, played the greatest musicians in the world. There are some larger ensembles, solo acts; some pieces are of more traditional folk dances, while some are slower, and some are upbeat and avant-garde. Regardless, the floor is open for dancing—grab a buddy and dance the night away!

Lining one wall is a long banquet table, filled with plenty of food and drink, both alcoholic and non to sate the new arrivals. The hors d'oeuvres and small plates comprise an array of delicacies from around the world, with everything from savory lobster bites to the sweetest portions of tres leches you have ever tasted. It seems someone has also put in a specific request for Japanese food—a part of the banquet table has been set aside specifically for Japanese dishes, and this includes small portions of ramen. There also seems to be a plate on the far end of the table filled with lovingly stacked pieces of charcoal... Is that meant to be food?

You aren't the only ones in attendance tonight. Representatives and dignitaries from around the world are also present—they have quite a lot to say about the unusual situation, and they are most curious about these otherworldly individuals tasked with fending off the moon under their national banners. The most dignitaries are from Central, West, and East, while there do seem to be a few representatives from the less populated North and South. Those from Central, West, and South in general seem to be the most social, while the rest are more reserved. There are also a few of the castle staff that seem (begrudgingly) willing to speak with the new wizards. Most are here to chat and mingle—lend them an ear, you may learn something new...

For those tired of socializing, the ballroom opens out onto a breezy, spacious balcony. It looks out over the main thoroughfare leading to the main castle entrance, and the nighttime lights of the Central capital twinkle in the near distance. For those that would rather take a breather, there is a small patio table and a couple of chairs. Despite the waxing moon in the sky, it is a very nice evening.

If you would like to have a chat with an NPC, then please respond to this comment. NPCs will be assigned randomly if no preference is given. While everyone has something valuable to say, they're not giving potentially sensitive info out for free—let's hope your diplomatic skills are up to snuff. We're doing our best to give everyone meaningful conversations, so please bear with us!

JOB BOARD

Rejuvenation. Thanks to your Southern friends' hard work, the South has been saved from a potentially devastating crop failure, and these fledgling towns can continue to grow as they're meant to! Give them a pat on the back and a round of applause.

But the South is not without its scars. While the root cause has been taken care of, the damage has been done. A town's wheat field has been partially destroyed—help them tear out the blackened, dead wheat, till and fertilize the soil, and replant what can be replanted. The City of Clouds, the most prosperous of the Southern settlements, have also offered extra tools, hands, and seeds to help set the town back on the path to recovery. Transport these supplies to the town. Let's hope your broom skills are up to snuff too, because it's a long ride.

Shadows in the night. The residents of the Central capital have recently been reporting eerie sightings after sundown: shadowy figures lurking in corners, the constant feeling of being watched, and, in some extreme cases, these shadowy figures attacking when traveling alone at night. Many reports seem to indicate an odd concentration of these creepy figures lurking around the Granvelle Castle moat, as though trying to find a way into the castle. Residents are understandably frightened and unnerved and cannot go about their nightly business—beat back what shadows you find and make the streets safer for the Central capital residents.

While physical attacks don't seem to do much against them, they dissipate rather easily under magic. Try not to wear yourself to the bone, though—there are a lot of them.

Escorting nobility. The Eastern Blanchett noble family have called an important meeting, inviting nobles and others of import from across the Eastern Country. However, their castle lies beyond Sherwood Forest, a very large, dense, and deep wood—while a fine natural defense for the Blanchett family, it's a bit of trouble for those looking to visit. While the Blanchett's own forest guard is absent, it is your job to safely escort these nobles to the Blanchett abode, and back out. But be careful: lurking in the shadows amongst the trees are all sorts of territorial predators like bears and wolves, not to mention the magical beasts that sneak up on unsuspecting prey. You may come across a brigand or bandit or two, since the forest is a near perfect hiding place for illegal activity. And please—try not to get lost.

Typical of any Easterner, the nobles are reluctant to make much small talk and are a bit suspicious of the new wizards, but they are otherwise pleasant and will generally comply with most requests.

WANDERER TASKS

Can you go a week without ruining food or the pots and pans? Stop being so wasteful and learn how to cook or stop trying.

Learn how to use magic to repair things. Again, if you're going to keep ruining the kitchen at least learn how to put it back together.

TATARA ACTIVITIES

I need milk. I'm trying to perfect latte foam art, but I haven't really gotten the hang of it yet... I used up all the milk (oops, sorry!), so I need more. Actually, could you grab me other kinds of milk while you're at it? I want to experiment! I'm sure other markets in the farther reaches of the world will have weirder milk... Please!

We should start a veggie garden! Or an herb garden? Doesn't matter! I found a nice sunny patch of grass in the training forest—we could dig up that spot, right? Help me get it set up! I need people to dig, and till... Oh! We need seeds to plant, too! Please and thank you~

OOC NOTES

🌙 Welcome to your second event post! Get out your snazzy outfits. It's time to party.
🌙 As you grow into your magic, your character might start realizing they can differentiate between everyone's magic. Everyone has a unique signature, and you may be able to start sensing who cast what, where. Someone put a magical seal on the kitchen door? Smells like Shinjiro's magic. Akira had some of Solomon's sugar? You can sense that, too!
🌙 As you start getting past the basics, your character might realize they have a much easier time with certain kinds of magic over others. For North, this will be offensive and attack spells; for East, this will be intricate seals and curses; for West, this will be manipulative magic like illusions and transformation; for South, this will be healing, purification, and protection. Central? A little bit of everything. Read up on your country if you need a refresher!
🌙 It's been peaceful at home in the manor thus far, hasn't it? Do you think that will last?
🌙 Your OOC plotting post is here! Remember to keep all wider plotting contained to the OOC post, since not everyone checks plurk or discord frequently.
🌙 Our next group to go on their mission is Central. Be ready, heroes...

» NAVIGATION

Comments

[revengier]

[ Ruh roh indeed! Goodbye, Akira's crime scene, Kurapika is stumbling out onto the balcony to work some healing magic on himself in private. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

[After talking with Solomon a bit, he realizes Kurapika has seemingly vanished and goes off to find him. Did he find a lead?]

[revengier]

[ He found nausea...

Ahito will find Kurapika leaning against the balcony clutching his head and looking a little pale. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

...

[Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh???]

What happened to you?

[Going over to check??]

[revengier]

[ He looks over at Ahito and shakes his head, trying to clear some of the fogginess in his head. ]

I could tell what Akira wrote on the floor with wasn't blood, so I tasted it...

[ And here he is... ]

[dyingtohealyou]

...

Was that the ketchup from the omurice?

[ffffffffucking hell Solomon.

Anyway, now that he knows, he'll come over and check on Kurapika.]

How are you feeling?

[revengier]

[ He gives Ahito a look that asks "what the hell is omurice" before clutching at his stomach. ]

Terrible.

[ Ugh. Muttering his incantation under his breath, Kurapika works on healing himself again. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

Let me try something? Give me the back of your hand.

[revengier]

[ He raises his eyebrows, but gives over his hand without much question. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

[Taking out a piece of chalk he apparently had chilling in his pocket and tracing a simple magic circle onto the back of Kurapika's hand. He's not sure if this will work, but...]

The End of the World.

[The circle as well as the incantation and presence of his focus helps to channel the healing magic a bit better than simply casting, resulting in a feeling of a gentle wave of warm water cleansing away the debris from a wound... Or, in this case, soothe some of that stomach pain and nausea.

It's not a northern specialty and not super strong at that, but it should give at least a moment of reprieve, take the edge off a bit.]

[revengier]

[ It's strange, being healed by a spell other than his own, and Kurapika closes his eyes as the spell washes over him. His stomach feels better and the fogginess in his head starts to disperse.

He opens his eyes. ]

Thanks.

[dyingtohealyou]

It worked?

[Nice. Releasing his hand, he can dust the chalk off himself.]

Hopefully it'll do the same for Akira once I track him down.

[revengier]

[ He breathes out, letting the chalk remain for the time being. ]

Please do. He has to be feeling a lot worse than me, as I only had a taste.

[lighthaus]

[ khun goes to find kurapika after he witnesses him stumble away his self-appointed taste tester status. ]

The hunter hasn't become the hunted, has he? [ with a curious tone that manages to be lacking any actual concern. ]

[revengier]

[ Kurapika is busy hanging onto the balcony for fresh air and balance, but that doesn't mean he can't just as easily turn his head and shoot Khun a glare. ]

If you're only going to stand there and provide commentary, you can leave.

[lighthaus]

That depends. [ he steps closer to lean against the balcony himself, though keeps the distance respectable. ]

What was that substance? It wasn't blood and evidently wasn't innocuous either.

[revengier]

Some sort of tomato sauce or paste. Had a strong vinegar taste. Other herbs and spices too.

[ Ughhhhhhh... just thinking about it makes him feel ill.

But he puts up a hand. ]

I know it was stupid to try it.

[lighthaus]

Admitting it's the first step. And you did get more information that way.

[ So like yes it's stupid, but. with a chant of impero, kurapika will recieve a light heal. he's no southern wizard and there are no healer classes in the tower, but he always make sure he knows the basics. ]

A poison then of some sort.

[revengier]

[ He would shoot a glare at Khun, but the healing distracts him enough that he doesn't.

Just this once. ]

Thanks.

[ Kurapika straightens up a bit, but he still holds on to the balcony railing just in case. ]

Probably. I wonder if it's enough to be lethal in large doses.

[ It's possible. ]

[lighthaus]

Maybe, but I think there'd be more of a fuss if that guy actually dropped dead. He wrote something too, but I couldn't make sense of it.

[ pulls out the copy of akira's scribble in case kurapika needs a refresh, but also to look at it more himself under different lighting.

it's a moot effort because he does not speak anything close to Japanese. ]

[revengier]

I hope so.

[ He actually doesn't mind Akira that much, so it'd be a real shame if he died for real...

But Kurapika leans closer to get a good look at Khun's copy of the scribble, frowning as he looks at it. ]

Hm. Seems to be in a language I don't know. Hopefully someone else around here can actually read it.

[lighthaus]

[ he is himself so he's exchanged pleasantries with him as he has with everyone else (i do not have this energy have mercy), but beyond that he really doesn't know him well. ]

Most likely. Though considering he wrote something, assuming he wakes up, he'll have a finger to point either way.

[ though he doesn't really like making assumptions like that if he can help it, so hmm. ]

Do you think the poison could have been magical in nature?

[revengier]

Probably. Most of our place in this world seems to revolve around magic.

[ ... ]

Though, you never know. Maybe someone has read up on poisonous plants.

[ And sure, Akira is annoying, but is he annoying enough to try and kill? That thought makes Kurapika frown in thought. ]

Or they haven't done any reading and picked some random herbs that happened to be poisonous.

[lighthaus]

..if that's what it turns out to be, Aragaki is really having a difficult week.

[ are the cooks here actually that bad.

if it might be magical in nature after all, that does give him an idea. ]

You up for moving around yet? I want to check something.

[revengier]

[ Kurapika assumes that might be the guy he's seen in the kitchen a few times the past couple of weeks, but he hasn't met him just yet. Not formally, anyway. ]

I should be.

[ He lets go of the railing and motions for Khun to follow... and then immediately stumbles over his own feet. ]