Field Mission 6: A Day in Thay, Part 1

[balancemod]

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. ○ 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

Comments

[noblegarnet]

How About Fuck You [Loop 1 only; 3 PM]

[3 PM comes. Ferran, curious enough to go along with the routine, but not cautious enough to look up the curriculum, ends up in the worst class imaginable.

He absolutely refuses to be recruited for this—and instead of being target practice, he can be seen vehemently arguing with the professor, who's physically blocking him from leaving and insisting that he assist with practice with every well-meaning authoritative argument she can muster. Ferran is not having it, his hands in tight fists by his side and a distinct look of panic behind the anger he's brought to the front. Even his familiar, a sharp-eyed bearded vulture, is standing at her full height on his shoulders, feathers fluffed up like she's ready to throw down. It is extremely hard to miss them.

Ferran hasn't raised his voice to a yell as of yet, but he looks like he's about to do something drastic.]

I swear to every god in this universe, if you don't get out of my way, I will make you move.

School Days. [Many loops; various]

A: [The library is always a decent place to start any kind of research, so for many points at many loops, he can be found looking through the books, looking for anything on time magic, transmutation, conjuration, and magical beasts and monsters. Levitate and Mage Hand always come in handy in places like this, and his familiar Agate can be found perched nearby on a table so as to not disturb anyone. Eventually, he'll be found with a handwritten journal as well. At several points, he might also be found simply writing in his own tome, deeply engrossed in the process.

Need any help with research or finding a book, even if it's just for pleasure? He's here to help you out.]

B: [Of course, a knockoff magical school is also going to have some knockoff magical moving hallways and staircases. For Ferran and others with transportation spells of any kind, this isn't a problem. For other Reclaimers who aren't magically inclined or willing to climb all the way around to a different passageway, Ferran can offer a hand. If anyone displays any amount of distress when a stairway flips itself 90 degrees, he might approach with a sympathetic:]

Need a lift?

Nap time. [Loop 3 or so; 12-3 PM | every few loops; various]

A: [Ferran still feels a cold sweat on the back of his neck when time resets. His heart is pounding, and his breaths come in a little quickly as he adjusts to the change in setting. His familiar settles on his shoulders, her feathers fluffed out as she looks about nervously.

Rows of teeth. White fire. Enormous limbs. It's not much, but it's... something.

He'll start thinking about it later—but for now, he needs to collapse in the nearest available bed. Anyone who saw him and Maya voip into the mysterious chasm with a dangerous monster can probably guess that things didn't go so well by the look in his eye and the tension in his posture, and he makes a beeline straight to whoever he needs to ask for a nice dorm room, inviting Maya along.

He'll be found there for a couple of hours in this loop, and for once he won't brush off anyone who might want to contact him or see him. They only have to ask, and they'll get an answer.]

B: [But also, they've all got to get some sleep sometime, and cuddling up in a pile of cushions around a fireplace doesn't exactly sound like a relaxing time to your friendly neighborhood pyrophobic wizard. If anyone wants to join him in the dorms, he'll freely offer to share his space to one or two people at a time, especially if they look worn down or in distress.]

More Prompts!

[noblegarnet]

Not-Erised [Later loops, 4 PM]

[Ferran is working on a theory, currently. They've learned a little more about this mirror, from Ferran's own attempts as well as some other investigative efforts. Something is here. Whether it's something of vital importance, he isn't sure, but until they have the solution, it's worth pursuing.

So he's sitting in front of the mirror in a meditative pose, alternately looking at the artifact and keeping his eyes closed. After a while, though, he might have given up on his initial attempts and be found staring up at the reflection with his chin against his hand, or writing in his tome with a somber look. Try not to trip on him, thank you.]

Testing, testing, 1 2 3... [Several loops; various]

[Speaking of magical items! Ferran doesn't know how useful it might be, but he's got a cape he's been wondering about, and a town full of NPCs to test it on.

At any point in the day, upon Ferran entering a room with the wing-motif mantle on his shoulders, a flock of doves will suddenly fly in from behind him, and a chorus with fanfare will greet his entrance, all proportional to the size of the room. His own reaction will vary between a sheepish "uh, wow," and a more confident look that hopefully commands attention, but either way, he's soon to pull out his tome and start writing a few notes. Staying in a place where everyone keeps forgetting about you sure is helpful for the surprise factor.]

dove cape

[korekara]

[ Honoka's initial reaction is a startled ] Hwawawah! [ – perhaps a bit out of proportion to the shock, but with how many times the town's collapsed in on itself by now, it's not surprising she's a bit jumpy.

But once she realizes that it's just Ferran making a sick entrance and not the town blowing up again, her surprise very quickly takes a turn for wonder. ]

What the heck! Is your cape doing that?! I want one!

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran is making sure none of the doves messed up his very particular hairstyle when Honoka speaks up, and although he looks to her first to acknowledge her, his attention moves away so he can observe the other reactions. He's at least gotten some of the promised Awe.]

That's what it said on the label.

[... where did the doves go? They're just magical, huh.]

I got it at the Artificer's. I'd let you borrow it, but... you know.

[Ferran half suspects that the trading magic items rule would manifest physically to smite them.]

Fuck These Six Fish In Particular [Loop 1, 3 PM]

[unrecovered]

[Wash has spent this first loop wandering the school trying to get his bearings - he'll need them for future loops. It's weird to think about - was this how Wyoming thought with Gamma on board?]

[His thoughts are interrupted by a familiar, angry voice - that's Ferran - and follows it to a classroom with an open yet blocked door and an enthusiastically arguing teacher. He doesn't know what the situation is, but Ferran wants out, and a glance at Ferran's expression tells him there's more than anger at play here. Right now, that's all he needs to know.]

There you are!

[It's loud - loud enough to be heard over the teacher - and when she looks over her shoulder at him, he locks eyes with her, wearing his best Disapproving Commanding Officer expression. That glare is very nearly a physical force.]

He had a meeting with me fifteen minutes ago, and I don't appreciate being kept waiting.

the most unexpected rescue.

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran was halfway to retrieving his wand when Wash calls out, catching his attention as well. Although this is clearly an attempt to help, the tense look on his face doesn't disappear immediately.

The professor folds her arms, being faced with a dilemma. Her lips are pressed together as she considers the situation, and while she obviously isn't pleased at having her points about teamwork, risks, and responsibility invalidated, even she isn't quite up to arguing with another school's staff. After turning to exchange a mutually judgmental look with the boy, she replies to Wash with, Well, alright then, and turns to observe the other unfortunate Reclaimers.

Ferran steps out of the door as soon as he possibly can, Agate shuffling her feathers as she settles down on his shoulders.]

this class is actually Getting People Out of Unwanted Social Situations 101

[unrecovered]

[Wash just holds his gaze until the teacher gives up. It takes a moment or two, but it's worth it.]

Thank you.

[The words say gratitude; the tone says go fuck yourself.]

[Wash follows Ferran out the door and puts a hand on his back, steering him down the hall and into an open classroom. He closes the door behind them and makes for damn sure it's shut before leaning against the wall.]

Jeez. What the hell was her problem?

[The commentary is more for his benefit than Ferran's, and his tone softens considerably as he looks at Ferran.]

Are you okay?

schooldays B loop 2

[quiescis]

Ehhhh?!

[Yuri's grasping tightly onto the railing of the stairway with a tight frown. She doesn't like moving staircases?! Why would there ever be such a thing? Buildings, hallways and stairs should stationary so that people can always find their way!]

Ferran! ... Yes, whatever it is you're going to do. Please help me...!

[It's good to see him anyway, she has a few questions! Once she's not getting seasick on some moving stairs.]

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran pulls out his wand—a shiny thing made of crystal that looks very expensive.]

Yes, ma'am.

[A brief gesture is all it takes for Yuri to start levitating. While the spell itself can only move a target up or down, he has a very powerful bird to help out, and Agate spreads her wings and takes off from his shoulders to help nudge Yuri in the right direction: the platform the stairway originally connected to. She can be reassured that the familiar's talons won't hold her tightly enough to tear anything or hurt her, whatever part Agate manages to hold onto.

It shouldn't take too long, but the process isn't rushed so as to keep Yuri from panicking any further.]

[quiescis]

[Luckily he works slowly. Yuri lets out a soft yelp as the spell begins and she's careful to smooth her hands over her skirt so no one accidentally gets ... a look upwards. She blush furiously and frowns and nearly shouts at him to be quick but then that wonderful bird comes to assist soon enough Yuri is back on her feet. On unmoving ground.

She staggers, holding her hands in her lap as she sighs weakly.]

Thank you, Ferran...

[A tiny little purple and black butterfly flaps angrily up near her. Seemingly appearing from somewhere in her clothing before.]

Camellia, it's alright. I'm alright.

school days / B

[parfaitgirl]

[ Yeah, Natsuki is clinging to the railing with her eyes squeezed shut when she heard that offer. Her eyes snap open at the sound of a familiar voice.

She takes a moment to look around before letting out a relieved sigh. ]

What I need is for these stupid stairs to stop doing that.

[ ... So, yes. ]

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran lets out a sympathetic chuckle. He knows a tsundere call for help when he sees one.]

I'm afraid I can only do the next best thing. [He pulls out his wand—it's easier than spell components, okay?—and holds it at the ready.] I'm going to levitate you, okay? And then Agate can help you across.

[The bird sitting on his shoulders fluffs her feathers as she gets ready to fly, watching Natsuki with patient curiosity.]

[parfaitgirl]

H-help me?

[ She at least seems to have relaxed a little seeing that he's going to help her. She looks at Agate, a little confused. She's going to carry her ... ? ]

nap time B

[ryuji]

[The basic consensus for all this time loop bullshit, when it comes to Ryuji, has mostly been... keep going, because every second is important! Except when that second is seen 5 or 6 or even 7 times, and now all of a sudden, he's gone about 40 hours without sleep and not realizing it.

The downside, of course, is sleeping off one entire loop. It's kind of existentially wearing him down when he thinks that his alarm clock is going to be his own death, but hey.

Don't think about it like that!]

Dude. Move the hell over and I'll punch you.

Or I'll punch you.

Wait, it's you.

Nevermind, jus' move over anyway.

[noblegarnet]

[Not thinking about their half a dozen deaths and counting is a valid strategy and Ferran endorses it fully. At this point, he's pretty damn sure he would have noticed if it was chipping away at anything other than their collective morale at this point, anyway. So it's fine.

He does not move. He's very comfortable where he is, curled around his sleepy bird, thank you. There's only so much space here and he's going to fall off if he moves! Ryuji can deal with it.]

God, you are tired, aren't you.

nap time nap time

[feytality]

[ maya's followed along as he invited her, but she's been quiet, pensive, thinking. obviously things didn't go as planned, and they only have a slightly better idea of what they're all up against. ]

[ when they get to the dorms, she flops down near him and rubs at her eyes. ]

I wish we got a better look at it. It got a pretty good look at us.

[noblegarnet]

[Agate flaps over to land on the pillow on Ferran's side, which is just fine with him, given the way he immediately lies down face first. This sucks. He sucks. Why does this keep happening?

A muffled hum of agreement is his first response, followed by a few seconds of silence and a deep breath.]

Do you think that's the furthest it's ever played out?

Loop One!

[scatteredpetals]

[ Ruby is... actually running late for class, which is not at all strange for anyone who actually knows her. She's actually looking forward to whatever this defense class is, but that's only until she skids into the hallway outside of the classroom to see Ferran arguing with the teacher.

Hearing that tone in his voice immediately alerts her that Something Is Up, even if she doesn't know him that well yet. But he's Blake's friend, and therefore sort of hers, too, if only by extension.

So Ruby to the rescue it is! ]

Ferran! One of the teachers sent me to fetch you, they need your assistance right away! [ Skidding to a halt beside the irate professor, she gives the woman a cheerful smile, the one that makes it impossible to be irritated with (of course she's using that to her advantage right now). ] Sorry, Professor, it seems that it's quite urgent!

[noblegarnet]

[It might be difficult for the professor to get mad at Ruby, who is apparently doing her best to help the staff of her school, unlike some stubborn youngsters! She folds her arms, displeased, but relents after a brief moment.

I'll be expecting you when you're done, Mister Gallagher, or your school will be hearing about your refusal to contribute!

Ferran's reply is the absolute least polite the following phrase has ever sounded coming out of his mouth:]

Yes, ma'am.

[Now that he's been given the space to move, however, he marches right past the teacher, very nearly clipping her. His familiar meets the woman's eyes as they move, and for half a second she looks like she's about to screech or peck her, but then turns forward a moment later and settles down on Ferran's shoulders in a sulk.

He's going to be walking until he gets completely out of sight of that classroom, so Ruby will have to follow him. He'll thank her when the fight or flight instinct settles down.]

School Days B, Loop 2

[antiqueclasp]

[Boarbumps isn't so different from Garreg Mach— though the latter is more monastery than school beyond the Officer's Academy, the architecture is much the same, as is the general feel of the place. Flayn actually finds herself feeling quite at ease here, and many of the magic lessons being offered have piqued her interest— surely the best thing she can do to assist with the mission is do her best to blend in and participate.

Of course, lest she get too comfortable, the school itself seems to see fit to remind her that this isn't as much like Garreg Mach as she might like, and she's only barely hit the middle of one of the school's many moving staircases when it proceeds to move beneath her without warning, causing her to cry out as she lurches forward to grab hold of the railing.]

Oh! They should really have some way of alerting—

[The stairs swing towards the right and she loses her balance, screwing her eyes shut as she tries to use the banister to help herself regain it. Fortunately, she's not been caught here alone, and she lets out a sigh of relief when she hears Ferran's voice, smiling sheepishly as she looks towards him.]

I'm afraid I may have gotten in a bit over my head... how do the students here manage?

[noblegarnet]

[As an example of his answer and a demonstration of how he plans to help, he steps towards the staircase and lifts himself with a levitate, pushing himself with a brief kick off and with his familiar flapping her wings. He "lands" on the railing near her, the spell still keeping him aloft.]

With magic, most likely. As for the students without movement spells... it's probably kind of a hazing.

Naptime B

[doubledsofjustice]

[By this time Mia has heard of Ferran and Maya's adventure and, in fact, been on her own little adventure with Maya's dimension door-- but she hasn't gotten the chance to check in with him or thank him for accompanying Maya, and so when she sees him and can actually pin his name on his face before he's disappeared into the dorms. She catches him outside, just as he's about to enter.]

Oh-- Ferran!

[She calls, as if she isn't going to be slightly mortified if that isn't him and she's gotten his name wrong. All the same she approaches.]

That's you, right?

[noblegarnet]

[Ferran is at least keeping up with a relatively sane sleep schedule, so he's not overly exhausted by the time Mia catches him, and thus not in a rush to dunk himself into bed. He turns at the sound of his name, watching his fellow Reclaimer come closer with a curious look on his face.]

Last time I checked. [He smiles a little.] Mia, right?

[They haven't really spoken before, but it's clear she's sought him out, and he has to wonder why.]

Closed to Ogata and Shuichi

[noblegarnet]

[The Abyss.

Ferran has faced a fiend before, stalled it long enough with words alone for the Director to deal with it. He made it through Wonderland, a place that did its best to terrify him into submission, and picked up the pieces (whether they were his own or someone else's) and walked out of there... eventually. Even death itself, facing Adrian, could have been worse.

None of that was the Abyss. There are no allies here except the three people around him, and one of them just threw an enormous fire spell into their enemies. Ferran stares wide-eyed as the creatures are incinerated, stock-still and his breath caught in his throat. He would have started to sweat even without the oppressive heat.

It's only when Gromph snaps at him that he startles and remembers the need for oxygen, breaths shaky as he scans the surroundings for the sake of strategizing. But he'll be the one concentrating, not fighting—and after a brief moment, he meets the eyes of Shuichi and Ogata.]

[diffidentive]

[For his part, Shuichi is more than a little unsettled by the fine print on the waiver Gromph gives them. He signed it because there was really no other choice, and it's not like he would have blamed Boarbumps for anything, anyway but...loss of soul? Where exactly is he taking them that something like loss of soul would be an issu-- oh.]

[Well that explains that, though it does nothing to soothe the detective's nerves. This is, after all, the first combat situation he's been in that's actually real. That isn't just a simulation in the arena or training with Maki in the dojo.]

[So much for easing himself into fighting. This is definitely a tossed into the deep end, sink-or-swim situation if ever he's seen one.]

[He swallows thickly, glancing between the other three as Gromph explains things, wondering vaguely why he didn't do that BEFORE he decided to drag them to hell but whatever man, you do you. He offers the Drow a small nod as his best attempt to "look alive" before turning his attention to Ferran and Ogata, just in time to catch the former's eyes as he does the same.]

It...it'll b-be okay, Ferran-san. Just worry about the mirror, w-we'll take care of everything else.