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

doki doki :)

[hxppythxughts]

[Now, Sayori is not the type of person whose physicality applies across the board. She's big on hugs but not so much on things like punching or shoving.

But there's something very unpleasant inside of her as she stumbles upon this scene and takes it in. Not just because of what's happening to Maya, though that's enough reason on its own to be angry.

There's just something about this boy that strikes a familiar but gut-wrenchingly dissonant chord inside of her as soon as she sets eyes on him. And that's what really settles the profound disgust that propels her forward into the situation.

It's a chain of wrist grabbing now as Sayori snatches the boy's wrist, her shoulders squared like she's not just barely taller than Maya. An edge of Vicious Mockery laces her quick interjection:] Hey!

[Just a little. Just enough to get his attention. And then she continues without magic.] This is super rude, you know! Who the heck taught you how to talk to girls?

[feytality]

[ sayori, the real hero, steps up just in time to do what she should have done long ago to a certain protagonist who won't be named. c. hungryman barely gives her a look, muttering something that sounds suspiciously like What an annoying girl under his breath, but he outright yelps at the well-aimed vicious mockery (he's a bit of a weenie) and lets go. just in time to glare at her. ]

[ What's it to you, messy girl? Can't you see we're having a conversation here? ]

[ maya, immediately: ]

Hey, don't be rude to Sayori!

[hxppythxughts]

[Get him, Maya!!!

She should let go now that he's released Maya. She knows she should. That was the goal here. She glances between Maya and Hungryman, clearly continuing to evaluate the situation.

What an annoying girl.

She can almost hear it in his voice.

Her fingers squeeze tighter as she looks back to this guy.] Sorry, I guess I couldn't tell because that's not how you have a friendly conversation! It's just creepy.

[And then, Vicious Mockery again, much more powerful with the force of this sick burn.] It's kinda sad that you can't tell the difference.

[feytality]

You tell him! It is creepy! And I'm not letting some jerk pick on you!

[ maya has no purpose here other than to wipe her finger off on his clothes and be sayori's hype maya. you're doing amazing, sweetie. ]

[ c. hungryman staggers back from the force of sayori's sick burns and disses, but doesn't get far since she's still hanging onto him. he tries to swat at her hand. ]

[ Whatever you're doing is illegal magic and I'm going to get you expelled! ]

[ draco doki literature club. ]

[hxppythxughts]

[She just looks at her own hand holding him by the wrist when he tries to swat at her. And she could let go, but:] See, it's not very nice when you don't want someone touching you, huh?

[Only then does she let go, and it's basically only so she can grab Maya's hand now that it does not have disgusting manbaby spit on it. The look she gives C. Hungryman as she positions herself between him and Maya is almost a glare. But more than anything, it's disappointed.] Don't ever— [another touch of magic] —talk to someone like that again.

You can do better.

[That has never been said in so devastating a tone except when you kill Papyrus.

That said, Sayori moves to usher Maya away. Protecc!!!]

[feytality]

[ c. opens up his mouth to retort -- but he literally can't. he's so utterly destroyed by sayori, that he can only stare, gape-mouthed, as he feels bad about himself and his choices for the first and probably last time in his life. sayori is too powerful. ]

What she said! And just to be safe, don't ever eat chocolates ever again!

[ he falls to his knees once it's all over, not knowing what to say but feeling vaguely humiliated --- but maya takes the invitation and flees with sayori. ]

Wow.... that was so cool.

[ once they're away from c. ]

[hxppythxughts]

[Once they're a safe distance away from that guy, Sayori turns, quite clearly intending to fuss over Maya.

But then Maya says that and Sayori's face goes red, a flustered squeak escaping her. It's not even that intense of a compliment, but her emotional equilibrium is still a little thrown off from the unpleasant familiar-yet-not feeling of the boy.] Wh-what? C'mon, I was just— you know, he was acting gross! There's no way I'll let anyone treat you like that!

[Embarrassed!!!]

[feytality]

[ honestly? making sayori blush is just the icing on the cake. it's very cute!!! she's very cute. and it's fun to embarrass people, especially with praise. ]

No, you're my hero! I had no idea what to do and you just.... totally wrecked him! I bet it's gonna stick with him through the timelines!

[ she's genuinely starry-eyed, not just being a little shit ]

It was amazing!

[hxppythxughts]

[Someone throw Maya in jail because she has just committed another murder.

One of Sayori's hands comes up to rest on her own blushing face. (The other is, of course, still holding Maya's, and squeezing it like Sayori might explode at any moment.)] Ahaha, geez, I didn't do anything that special! [she didn't even threaten his life so what did she do rly.]

But I hope it does. He's gonna be in big trouble if I see him doing that to someone else!

[feytality]

[ sayori had no chance against this villain. ]

[ maya continues to beam at her, starry eyed. her hand hurts a little, but it's worth it. this is feeding her!!! sayori flustered and embarrassed and cute. ]

You did.... my Sayoknight in shining bard armor! And you're cute when you blush.

[ she's a terror. ]

I guess if he acts up again, you'll just have to rescue other damsels in distress.

[hxppythxughts]

Awawawa—!

[MAYA IS A MENACE??? There's too much to take in here!!! Sayoknight. The cute thing. That smile (is this why people react that way when she smiles at them sometimes? Terrible!) Damsels in distress??? That sounds a lot like gonna have honeys swooning all across Faerun and Sayori feels like she might die on the spot.

She tries to shrink into the collar of her coat and hide her face that way, but it's all smashed and flat due to her being terrible at uniform maintenance so she's not doing a very good turtle impression. She should probably say something else but all that comes out is:] M-Maya!!

[feytality]

[ genki wars episode 1: the maya menace. maya giggles at her misfortune and puts her hands on sayori's cheeks while she's trying to turtle, smushing. ]

What are you hiding your face for? I was just telling you how impressive and cute you are!

[ there's no escape ]