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

Yuri | closed threads

[quiescis]

[closed thread starters/rng threads with yuri go here! need to plan something with me? i can be found at michrure or by pm too!]

closed to roxas

[quiescis]

2:00pm loop 1

[Of course Yuri finds herself drifting towards the library when she finally finds her footing in the new magical school. She feels a little uneasy about all of this. But finding a relic and exploring a place like this also makes her quite curious as well. The library is busy with students but unlike most libraries, it isn’t as quiet as they should be.

She startles as she hears something clatter from one of the bookcases. Then there’s another clatter. And another! It’s not long before Yuri peeks her head around one shelf to see several books shimmying and wiggling in their places on the shelves like they’re alive.]

Ehhh? Do you see that...?

[seasaltkeys]

[Roxas is also in the library at this time. Libraries are good. They've got information and the kind he doesn't have to ask a barkeep for. Plus, there might be something new about Paladins that he can find here.

The clatter gets him to look up and almost drop the stack of books he's bee accumulating, but he adjusts and puts them on a shelf to grab later. Then he follows Yuri's actions.]

Yeah...yeah I do. The books are moving.

[Obvious statement, but books don't usually move.]

[quiescis]

My...

[She hums with concern. Then she turns to Roxas with a somewhat determined expression.]

Have you found anything in your other books yet? About the ... [You know, the relic.] Maybe those enchanted books have some special information.

[seasaltkeys]

Not yet. But, I've kinda been looking at a whole bunch of things.

[He's mostly been looking at covers, seeing if they're good for potential paladins and god information.]

Maybe? But I don't know if they're safe to even touch. If they're doing stuff on their own.

[quiescis]

[She frowns lightly.]

Roxas, could you help me? Those books... even if they're doing things on their own, they might have something we need to see.

[seasaltkeys]

Yeah, sure.

[He's not completely on board, but Yuri makes a good point. And they do need to explore all the leads they can.]

So, should we just wan them or try to grab one?

closed to natsuki

[quiescis]

1:00pm loop 1

[They had all temporarily went their separate ways to explore when they arrived after their ride down on the bubbles. But Yuri is finally able to meet up with Natsuki in the early afternoon. Wandering out towards the farmer’s markets seems like a good place to start. She’s drawn to the rows of medicine and trinkets for sale. Maybe some medicinal tea would be nice...

She tucks her scarf securely around her chin and a tiny little purple and black butterfly flutters up into the air near Yuri for a moment before fluttering back down to snuggle underneath Yuri’s hair near her neck.]

It’s really busy down here... Do you think we’ll find anything useful?

[parfaitgirl]

[ Natsuki, meanwhile, is like a little heater, thanks to her desert aura. She's still got her sweater tied around her waist as she surveys the market. ]

No clue. [ Natsuki says, but she doesn't sound too worried about it. ] But I guess we won't know until we try? It doesn't seem like anyone else is over here yet, so at least we can report whatever we find to everyone else.

[quiescis]

[Do they even have hall passes to be out here?? It's a mystery.]

Hmm. Alright. In the meantime, have you found a suitable weapon yet?

[She kind of wants to go shopping...]

[parfaitgirl]

[ Natsuki shrugs. ]

The one I have is okay. I added some stuff to it ...

[ Like some ribbons. ]

What, do you want to go see if they have some here?

[quiescis]

[She quickly nods.]

I want to find a dagger of some sort. Let's go?

[Yuri is already starting towards the merchant stalls. She wants to pick something new out for herself. Something pretty.]

Natsuki... How are you not cold?

[parfaitgirl]

[ A dagger, huh ...

She'll follow along, though, quiet until Yuri asks her the question. ]

Huh? It's not even that cold out here.

closed to monika

[quiescis]

5:00pm multiple loops

[She’s honestly so glad to be able to see Monika at The Sleepy Willow near the fireplace after a very long day. Looped or not. It was so strange riding down to this place without Monika with them and she’d been fidgeting the whole time and wondering how Monika was doing. For Natsuki’s sake, she didn’t make too much of a fuss on the ride down but it’s still on her mind...]

Monika, there you are.

[Yuri comes up to the other girl. The fire is warm and cozy and after being on her feet all day it’s nice to be able to find a place to sit and rest and talk with her friend. They have some catching up to do, don’t they?]

It’s been a long day...

[myliteratureclub]

[ Monika flops down next to her on the second loop. She had tried her best to enjoy herself on the first route... but now she's kinda not in a great mood. This loop she's worked a lot harder and made herself pretty tired from it. ]

Hey Yuri. How's your mission going so far?

[ The fire does feel pretty nice actually... ]

[quiescis]

[Wow, Monika looks more tired than even Yuri feels. That must be saying a lot.

She scoots a bit closer to the warm fireplace for the warm and to make some more room for Monika. Yuri's familiar, a tiny purple and black butterfly, flutters up into the air before landing gently in Yuri's hair.]

It's troublesome. [She sighs.] But you look worn out. Was it worse the second time around? I know going through books in the library was twice the pain.

[myliteratureclub]

It was uh... not too terrible actually. I'm just hoping we don't have to keep redoing this too often. [ Haha oops. ] I spent the whole day in the market this time. I was trying to see if I could help out there at all. Oh here-

[ She reaches into her pocket and holds out a toothbrush to Yuri. ]

A gift from 2B.

[quiescis]

[... A toothbrush? Yuri looks at Monika as she slowly takes it.]

Um. Why is 2B giving us toothbrushes?

[myliteratureclub]

She's trying really hard to be helpful, and somehow got the idea in her head that this was the way.

[ She shrugs with a small smile. ]

I promised to give some out too. Maybe thank her if you have the chance. I think it'll make her pretty happy.

closed to ruby

[quiescis]

3:00pm loop 3

[By now it's getting quiet tiresome reliving the same day over and over. Listening to the same classes and fighting the same issues. She wants to find something that will make a difference in all this. So maybe this time she decides to skip class... She's already sat through the lesson so that won't make much harm. Right?

She wanders down the hall and hears some sort of eerie sound. Almost like someone is whining and crying. Yuri stops in her tracks and looks down the hall carefully...]

Is someone there?

[scatteredpetals]

[ Well. There's more than one someone here, to be certain, because only a short moment after that whining and crying starts, there's a sudden startled (and very loud) shriek that comes from the bathroom down that corridor.

A moment later, a small figure in red scrambles out of the room to practically fall into the hallway, looking more than a little panicked and shaken. ]

Noooo! Stay back!

[quiescis]

R-Ruby?!

[She starts with a jolt, coming closer to the girl with a very surprised look. She glances towards the bathroom hall and back at Ruby with her hands clasped close.]

Are you alright? What happened?

[Why is Ruby scared of something? She seems like such a brave girl!]

[scatteredpetals]

[ Ruby's not feeling very brave at the moment. Especially when she'd just wandered in there to use the bathroom when someone had come right through the stall door at her to moan and cry over where she'd been! ]

Th-there's... there's a ghost in there!

[ Ghosts weren't supposed to be real! And they weren't supposed to surprise haunt you in bathrooms! ]

[quiescis]

Oh?

[Yuri blinks with some surprise, peeking quickly around Ruby as if she could catch a glimpse of a ghost right now. Then she glances at the poor girl again.]

Are you sure? Did it do anything to you?

[Ghosts in magical castles?! That seems pretty on par, actually.]

[scatteredpetals]

Yes! [ Rubys is still scrambled back against the far wall, staring accusingly at the door and definitely not moving any closer. ] It swooped right in out of nowhere and almost gave me a heart attack!