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

[oculusriffs]

Right, it's whatever kinda animal person appeals to you most.

[thank god this isn't 13-year-old Dave, who would have been utterly impossible to read — with no way to know for certain whether he's being sincere about all this or not.]

[and, uh. well, he's still that way a lot of the time?? but he always encourages creativity, even when it backfires on him and he's stuck listening to a troll rap about horse muscles. who knows? maybe Sayori will do the same. but him nudging her toward flexing her creative skills is 100% unironic sincerity.]

[hxppythxughts]

[As someone who is already a creative, Sayori would not doubt for even a moment that Dave was being sincere in this. (Un)fortunately???

Though it takes her a moment to realize that's what he's doing here. Her eyes go wide with realization when it finally clicks.] Wait, anyone can just come up with one? I could make one up?

[!!!]

[oculusriffs]

Sayori...

[he folds his arms loosely across his front, like the casual scholar and dork who partakes in The Internet that he is.]

[because he's about to drop a major truth in her hands right the hell now.]

That's literally the best part about fursonas.

[hxppythxughts]

[Gasp.

MIND! BLOWN!!!

She's practically vibrating with excitement, and her hands come up to rest on either side of her own face like that might stop the figurative vibrating. Or help her to bear the weight of the incredible truth she now holds.] I want to make one! Animal people are so cute!!

[Suddenly, a dilemma.] Wait! But— I don't know what animal it should be!

[oculusriffs]

[Sayori is so stoked about this, he has no choice but to take it as seriously as possible!!]

[Dave tilts his head very slightly, thinking about that, though. it's not unlike how he tilted his head earlier as his birdsona.]

I mean, that's not really a decision I can make for you. You gotta go with what feels right and is at least some level of furry and thematically appropriate.

Cats and dogs're popular, though. So are foxes.

[hxppythxughts]

[Dave is a good friend and fursona guide. Her eyebrows furrow and one hand moves to hold her chin thoughtfully, the other crossed over her chest to hold her elbow.] Hmm. I'm not sure, I don't know much about animals except for how cute they are.

[Truly a dilemma!

Perhaps sensing that cute animals are being spoken about, Sayori's squirrel familiar, Peanut, pokes her head out of Sayori's coat pocket. She scrambles up the coat until she can perch atop Sayori's head and regard Dave with some curiosity.] You said yours is a cat?

[oculusriffs]

[aw, Peanut is cute. Dave's pretty sure if he had a familiar it would, uh. well, it would be a bird again. Balance's version of the actual Davesprite.]

Yeah. His name's Akwete Purrmusk, and he's part of a rogue band of toned-ass leopard dudes for hire — like, a mercenary kinda deal.

[to give her a vague idea of what a fursona's backstory might look like — it's pretty standard, but the idea here is that the sky's the limit.]

Why don't you go with whatever animal you think is cutest?

[hxppythxughts]

[Peanut is a good girl. She also picks up on Sayori's affection for Dave, because after a moment she jumps from Sayori's head to Dave's shoulder.]

Whoooa.

[...]

Like a purr-cenary!

[Sayori meeting Sans is the worst thing that's ever happened.

And she's just going to breeze past that joke because Dave has given her an impossible task and she has to give that some thought!] They're all really cute though! Cats, and cows, and bunnies... And squirrels! [Of course she would not snub Peanut in this way by not including her on this list.]

[oculusriffs]

Like a — [Dave only manages to look slightly scandalized at that, if only because Ryuji lobs a pun at his head at least twice a day, bare minimum.]

[anyway, Sayori seems to be stuck in decision hell, and he can sympathize, and he also has a squirrel on his shoulder — man, Peanut is already miles above the probably evil fuzzy-tailed critters that roamed Houston's parks.]

[he already said he can't choose a fursona for her, but he can at least nudge her toward getting ideas on paper.]

Start off with a bunny, then — if that doesn't appeal to you, try another one until you land on the, like. One True Fursona.

[hxppythxughts]

[ :3c

Peanut would never do evil Texas squirrel crimes. She would only nuzzle the side of Dave's head, which she is doing right now.

Sayori seems to think about this for a moment, and then she clenches her fist with determination.] Yeah! Okay! Good idea! I dunno if I'm as cute as a bunny but I'll do my best!!

[!!!

She peers over at the shrine that Dave had been hanging out by as a bird, and then smiles at Dave again.] You wanna sit together while I draw it?

[And talk, is the implication.]

[oculusriffs]

Yeah, all right. I wanna see what you come up with.

[to the shrine it is — with his usual lack of reverence toward things like said shrine, and the perhaps implied codes of conduct for chilling out in the company of them, he plops right on down on the ground casually. then he pauses, and pats at his person for a second.]

[and then he pulls out what appears to be a smartwatch.]

[hxppythxughts]

[Sayori plops down next to him with similar irreverance—

Oh, wait. She does dust off the spot she has chosen to sit in first. Respect.

Anyway. She pulls out her journal as Dave retrieves his watch; Peanut sees the watch first from her perch on Dave's shoulder and leans forward with curiosity. Sayori takes a few more seconds, busy opening her journal to a blank page and uncapping her pen, but once she looks over at Dave her attention is caught too.] Whoooa, that's a fancy watch!

[oculusriffs]

Thanks.

[he flicks at the edges of the screen, as if trying to will it to life.]

I got it a universe and another space station ago, actually. If I can get it to work, it's got a bunch of stuff I wrote about my fursona.

Y'know, if you wanted a reference.