balance_logs | Field Mission 6: A Day in Thay, Part 1

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Field Mission 6: A Day in Thay, Part 1

	oh man best of luck out there dudes
	NAVIGATION

Click here for the RNG thread!

Ready or not, rested or not, it's time to get moving, Reclaimers. You've got a very, very long day ahead of you.

And another one. And another one. And, you get the joke.

Early Friday morning, with the Director there to see them off, the Reclaimers load up into the Bureau's transportation orbs for the sixth time since this whole ordeal began, and make their way to about a mile or two outside of Thay. It's important to try to stick to the story, at least — that you're all visitors from a faraway school, here to spend some time with the students and faculty of Boarbumps.

As much as Lucretia would have liked to join you, she can't. None of the other leading members of the Bureau of Balance can. Whoever enters Thay, after all, is entering a bubble, after all. A time trap. Nobody will be able to leave until the Relic, the Lamp of Undoing, is either retrieved or destroyed.

Someone needs to be able to continue if you all can't.

1. SEVEN O'CLOCK ALREADY

As we noted in the OOC post, prompts on this log will be a quick few sentences of specific things happening during each hour. It's expected that Reclaimers will be seeing all of these events multiple times! So feel free to play with them as you see fit.

If you're not sure if something you want to do would warrant a roll, please ask us in the RNG thread.

12 p.m.

○ The Reclaimers have arrived in Thay, much to the curiosity of the highly intelligent, occasionally highly ... suspicious ... residents. Nevertheless, they recognize you as visiting, esteemed students, and, though perhaps still suspicious, welcome you into their fold. Also, as a note: Every time the relic is used, time is reset to this moment.

○ Boarbumps Academy for the Magically Inclined opens its doors to the Reclaimers. This is your first opening to explore the school — afternoon classes begin in an hour.

○ Rainer Arunsun, The Regent of Thay and Highest of the Hermetic Order of Red Wizards, can be seen watching the new arrivals by the entrance to the Red Keep. It's difficult to discern any emotion on her face. Shortly before 1 p.m., she retreats back inside.

○ Afternoon classes at Boarbumps begin, starting with a lecture on the magical circuits of the common toad. If you happen to sit in on this one, as a visitor from another school, you may be asked to assist in the dissection. You will be heckled by the rest of the class as deemed fit.

○ Erinne and Adriel can be seen within the hallways of Boarbumps arguing in a very heated manner. Some... less than choice words are exchanged between the two before one, or both of them take their wands out and begin throwing magic missiles at each other. No one knows why the fight starts, but the two have had bad blood before, and this isn't the first quarrel to happen at Boarbumps between them. A staff member arrives on the scene and is accidentally paralyzed by a misfire.

○ The town proper, surrounding the Red Keep, is open for a farmer's market. A bountiful harvest of goods are on display, but in particular, Thay is known for its amazing quality of medicinal herbs and magical reagants, many of which are rare without travel to the area. The merchants typically shoo students off, unless they have a hall pass provided to them by the faculty to retrieve something of import for class.

○ The second afternoon class at Boarbumps begins. Are you three or four time loops in and in desperate need of a nap? This class, The History of Boarbumps, is for you. You will be treated to a long and droning lecture about how the students attending during Boarbumps' very first semester banded together to stop a particularly plucky troll. Which you'd think would be an interesting tale. It is not.

○ Someone's enchanted several books at the library to begin rattling and shaking from the shelves themselves. All over the racks, spines pop out from their homes and fall to the ground, magically lift up and return to some other, non-Dewey decimal approved locale. Other books begin dancing — yes, you've read this correctly — dancing on the tables. Leon would be going into cardiac arrest at the moment, but it looks like someone's playing a prank in here. Again. This librarian looks far less tilted by this. It must be a somewhat normal afternoon for her.

○ Over in the center of town, music, a single violin playing a mournful tune, begins to play. It's unclear where exactly it's coming from.

○ The third and final afternoon class at Boarbumps — Fighting with Fire — begins. The professor, known to be slightly more unorthodox in her teaching methods, will recruit any Reclaimer who happens to be there to defend themselves from the students' incoming fireball spells. The potency of the fireballs themselves range from the tickle of a candle, to that one time you ate a ghost pepper, to one particularly fiery spell that might actually hurt you.

○ There's a scream in the girls' bathroom on the 3rd floor of Boarbumps. Anyone who enters realizes, very quickly, that no one is actually in there. Apparently, this particular lavatory is haunted.

○ Szass Astrosz dips class to go visit the local shrines within the town of Thay. He's been known to skip class before, so his departure from the halls of Boarbumps is rather nondescript. He spends time there praying quietly to his god.

○ There's a slight catastrophe over in the Town Square. That is to say, a giant spider seems to have escaped from Boarbumps and is terrorizing the vendors, to everyone's surprise. Subdue or dispatch it, it's up to you.

○ There's a scheduled council meeting to take place within the Red Keep, a usual weekly affair where Rainer, Casariel, Onerion, Gromph, and the rest meet to discuss matters of the town. Today's is canceled, as Gromph is called out to take care of the arachnid chaos currently convening around the Town Square.

○ Someone places a standing mirror around the corner of Boarbumps. If you happen to stand in front of it, it doesn't show your reflection — rather, it shows the person that you desire most. The mirror is gone by 5 p.m.

○ Cleanup of whatever damage the spider did is underway. In the meantime, the faculty of Boarbumps and the Hermetic Order of Red Wizards invite the Reclaimers to a small dinner in one of the public meeting rooms at the Red Keep. Every member of the Red Wizards are present, aside from Onerion Wyvernspur and Brian Darling.

○ The shops around the town of Thay begin to close for the evening. People are somewhere between annoyed and blase — the spider escaping was new enough, but weird Magic Things are, as you can imagine, pretty commonplace.

○ Over at The Sleepy Willow, cozy, fluffy pillows are arranged on the floor around a large fireplace. The owners will also serve you dinner, if you decide to skip the meal at The Red Keep. This may be one of the only peaceful moments you have to study everything that you've learned thus far.

○ No matter where you are in Thay, you'll feel the ground rumble underneath your feet. The residents largely pass it off as an earthquake, but will note that they have become much more frequent lately.

○ Towards the latter half of the hour, the rumbling within the school grounds causes several of the animal cages used in Onerion's Wondrous Beasts class to come unfastened as they begin to escape. Shortly thereafter, various beasts of all shapes and sizes are set free and begin running for freedom. None of them seem intent on hurting students, but they look to make an exit out of town in the quickest way possible.

○ Droves of the skeletal undead that are used around town seem to freeze in place, no longer retaining their animation. Whatever they're holding currently falls to the floor. Whatever task they're working on comes to a halt. No one understands why that is, but even the best necromancers around town can't seem to wake them back up.

○ With a sudden loud roar, the ground of the town square suddenly begins to split. People, shops, and everything else begin to drop into the chasm, despite the Red Wizards, and everyone else's, attempts to save them.

○ In the last split second you remember, if you happen to look down in the chasm, you'll notice a pair of bright, glowing eyes. Whatever exactly is down there begins to claw its way to the surface.

○ And then, just as suddenly, your vision turns white, and you're briefly overtaken by dizziness. When the haze clears, you are standing at the entrance to Thay. The sun hangs directly overhead in the sky. You have returned to 12 p.m.

2. OOC: A SPECIAL SHOUTOUT

You are welcome to keep track of how your character experiences these time loops as much or as little as you're comfortable with — we'll also be tracking what you all are doing!

Our Minato player Kel came up with some extremely snazzy coding if you would like to track how each loop plays out for your character more closely. Thank you, Kel!

Of course, this is completely optional. Keep up with as much as you'd like, have fun as you see fit, and we hope you enjoy this mission!

blurb code by photosynthesis

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

2. Okay, so since he gets the followers on loop 1 at 2pm, on loop 2, he'll go to find Erinne before that and run into her fighting at 1pm. He'll stay out of it until the professor gets paralyzed, then he'll step in and ask them to cool it because bystanders are getting caught up in it.

Provided they actually stop fighting and disperse, McCree will ask Erinne what the fight was all about. He wants to get a sense of what her headspace is before suggesting they head out to the marketplace, because he heard through the grapevine that there's gonna be a violinist there at 2pm and some music might be nice. He wants to watch carefully for her reaction to that to see if she's maybe surprised he's heard about it or intrigued to go or whatever.

Getting them to stop immediately isn't really in the stars here — but the fighting does have to end eventually. We'll offer you a roll to get some information out of Erinne: She's quick-witted and not prone to handing it out, but we did knock a point off for mentioning the violin music. She would be intrigued — actually, she might even seem quite surprised to hear about it.

Does a DC of 12 sound OK?

Yeah, that's good! Hit me with it!

You rolled a 19! You won the Erinne lotto.

How ... how does McCree know about that? She hadn't even finished set — er. Hm. Erinne stops herself very quickly.

The violin is nice, doesn't McCree think? She admittedly finds something very nostalgic about playing it. She is from Lyrabar, you know — and her sister, Irene, is particularly good at it. She personally thinks people should find good, and be good, on their own merit, but there is something to be said about how music can change someone's attitude.

You rolled pretty high here, so Erinne is much more open to answering another question or two.

McCree looks pleased to hear about Erinne's connection to Lyrabar and says, "Oh, hey, our academy took a trip to Lyrabar not long ago. And Irene — I saw her play. It was amazing. When's the last time you two talked? Maybe next time you could tell her how much the Bureau Academy enjoyed hearing it."

He also nods along to what she says regarding music and goes on to add, "I'm a big fan of music myself. I brought my guitar, and was hoping to strum a little later today. You got room in your schedule for a duet?"

"I'm."

It's difficult to tell whether Erinne looks mildly embarrassed, or if she's just clamming up at McCree's question.

"It's been a while. We lead pretty different lives, right? If you were there recently, then you saw that much. I should write her."

She, despite herself, perks up a bit at the offer for a duet.

"Sure. I can show you where I was going to play — that you ... seemed to know about, somehow."

"Right. Looks like she's doing a good job." He doesn't elaborate on what that job is, however, just in case this time loop has been going on awhile.

"Yeah, strange thing, that. But hey, it gives us the chance to play together, and I haven't had much opportunity to play with others. First time in a long time was a concert some of the students put on last month. It made me gain an appreciation for performing with others."

That ... gets a genuine smile out of Erinne. It's small and a bit strained, but it's there.

She nods, though, and will lead McCree to her violin playing spot: It's a bit of a climb, but he looks like the sort of person who does a lot of climbing? Adventuring. Yeah. That. But they both eventually wind up on the roof of The Red Keep.

"Don't tell anybody about this spot, all right?"

He's honestly a little winded (being a smoker and all), but the view is pretty good and he can tell it's special to her. So much so that her request leaves him torn. He should probably let everyone know that Erinne's the one playing the music, and definitely should tell them that she's Irene's sister. But... that doesn't mean he has to reveal where she was playing music from, right?

He gives her a wink. "You got it." He can't, of course, stop anyone else from finding out on their own, but he won't reveal the spot.

"You wanna start a song and I'll see if I can't follow along?" Since he has his guitar strapped to his back at the ready like a true bard.

She feels like this is a weird encounter to begin with, with a weird fellow from a weird land, but nonetheless, she doesn't necessarily deign him with a verbal answer, but rather, draws up her bow and starts playing something she learned when she was very young.

It goes something like this.

McCree is able to strum along with her, providing some harmonic counterpart to the piece.

Erinne looks moved. She doesn't play with other people often, and it's a weird feeling to hear two sounds coming together as one. Ultimately, at the end of the performance, she lets her violin hang downward and her shoulders slump.

You get the sense she's thinking about her sister. And then, as if her pluck returns, sighs and stares at McCree.

"Remember, you promised. See you around."

He nods, says thank you, and let's her go. He'll hang out for a little while longer to scope out the town square before going back down.

If it's all right, I'd like McCree to do the same thing in several additional loops (obvs not the ones where other Reclaimers find Erinne alone at the top of the Red Keep) because he thinks Erinne could do with the nice duet and thoughts of her sister after that fight with Adriel. He doesn't try to pry more out of her; he's just wanting to play the duet a few more times.

It's curious. Every time you do this, you get a little better at pre-empting her initial pushback, the way she tries to shrug you off, and after a few loops of the same thing, it's not... exactly a sense of deja vu that's occurring here, but something more akin to feeling her defenses start to wane a little more each time, like her gut tells her to wait for someone here... even if she has no idea who it is.

Eventually there comes a loop where she's playing and you just start playing with her, and there's no words or contact- it just happens. And at the end of it, she breathes in, unsteady and says:

"It's the weirdest feeling.

It's like I know you'd be here. I don't know how I knew that, and I don't even know who you are.

But you remind me of my sister, Irene."

This is weird for her, to be so open and honest.

"I don't really tell anyone much about her, but she sent me off to school here when I was young. Lyrabar was going to hell and she wanted to keep me safe."

She shakes her head, though, and continues playing.

And in the end, she realizes how much she loves Irene and wants to her again one day.

It's kind of weird for him too. He wonders if it's possible for a person to suddenly become conscious there's a loop going on here. It's something to talk about with the others.

"I wish I'd gotten the chance to talk to her, but obviously she was pretty busy. I think a few of the students might have gotten the chance though."

He pauses to find his place in the song, but at length, he speaks again.

"Is there a reason you don't like telling people about her?"

"Everyone treats you differently if they know that you're royalty--- especially around here. I want to make something of myself without my title or my accolades here. You've seen how much of a dipshit Adriel Fontane is. He'd be treated so differently if no one knew he was a Silverhand."

She sighs, again- it's weird for her to talk about herself like this.

"And part of me still probably... I don't know, it's weird? Like, schooling is great and everything, but why couldn't I stay in Lyrabar? She always thinks she knows what's best for me and sometimes it's just overwhelming."

"Yeah, I could see that." After all, he's guilty of treating a rich girl from his past like that. She left home and her privilege behind to build her own empire, but Ashe was never able to drop that rich girl attitude. Erinne seems to have found it a much easier thing to shed.

"Maybe it's something you should talk to her about? I don't know the ins and outs of the place, but while we were there, we had a bit of a hand in stopping the pirates that were patrolling the waters."

He can't just keep omitting that anymore. It's clear she misses Irene and misses home. If she wants to return, maybe letting her know it's safer now will open up a conversation between her and her sister.

Provided they even get out of this loop, of course.

She doesn't quite know why she trusts you either, but for a moment, she looks around and makes sure no one else is privy to this conversation and, ultimately, relents.

But something McCree says catches her extremely off guard.

"The... pirates?"

You get the sense that this is news to her, definitely.

"What are you... what're you talking about? Irene never said anything about pirates. I just got a letter from her last week."

You see, she did say that Irene sent her here because Lyrabar was getting more dangerous. But there never was a mention of pirates.

Which might make something click for McCree about the situation currently in Thay. Erinne unfolds a piece of paper that she's kept in her pocket. Indeed, it's a letter from her sister.

She shows it to him, and it's dated: 1505.

McCree, you know what today's date is. The current year is 1511.

He looks at the date and lets out a very well thought out: "Huh." Welp, seems this situation is more effed up than he realized.

"Maybe she didn't want you to worry about things. Or maybe it wasn't a big deal to her." Or maybe it's been six goddamn years you've been stuck here and your sister thinks you've gone missing.

There's really no way to undo what he's said, but at least he has the luxury of her not remembering next loop.

"Yeah... figures."

Erinne takes a deep breath of the cold winter air, and salutes McCree with her violin bowstring.

"Er, anyway, old man. It's been great talking, but I got some first years to terrorize."

He puts a hand over his heart, looking offended.

"That one hurts, y'know. Not even forty yet." But he moves to put his guitar on his back instead. "I enjoyed it. Maybe we can do it again sometime. Y'know. Before my school leaves."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Field Mission 6: A Day in Thay, Part 1

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