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

[mylawn]

i. town square (first loop)

[The advantage of being too old to be a student means that 76 has plenty of time to explore while others are pretending to be dutiful in class. He figures there’s nothing going on in there that he can’t ask Maya or Roxas about later, so he takes time in the afternoon to more fully explore the town.

76 can be found at the farmer’s market, even if he really doesn’t know what any of this stuff does. Please help him out.

If you’re a student playing hooky, here’s your convenient adult to excuse you from class! Not too shabby.]

ii. mirror mirror (any loop)

[The first day, when he encounters the mirror, he figures out what’s going on fairly quickly. 76 knows he should not spent any time dealing with this thing—nothing good can possibly come from a mirror like this, and for someone so caught up in the past, he knows he’s particularly vulnerable to this kind of illusion.

He considers himself lucky it’s not the relic. Well. He hopes it’s not the relic.

His curiosity tends to get the better of him and he spends a loop or two trying to figure out what it is, and where it came from. Should you happen by when 76 is in front of it, the reflection is that of an older woman, but 76 himself is puzzling over the mirror itself. Maybe if he sticks around he can see who’s putting it out here every day. He imagines it’s not the fellow Reclaimer rounding the corner (thats you!).]

You know anything about this?

iii. sleepy willow (any loop)

[Though he attends the dinner at the Red Keep the first time around, he quickly decides that it isn’t exactly safe to have time loop discussions with fellow Reclaimers while the Red Wizards are around. 76 is much more suited to an inn like this anyway, even if he’s not necessarily a ‘pillows around a fire’ guy.

76 has found a table and chair, where he drinks something most certainly alcoholic while surrounded by copious notes—people, events, locations, sequence, changes he’s managed to make. He’s quick to perk up when another Reclaimer enters the general vicinity. Maybe you also have notes to share. He seems enthused by the prospect.]

So, what’ve you got?

iv. wildcard

[come at me bro. I’ll do whatever you want. Jack is too old to be a student so he’s posing as a truancy officer for the reclaimers which means yOU BETTER GO TO CLASS. Hit me up on plurk at whitticus.]

ii- An earlier loop?

[cuttingremark]

[It's Loki rounding the corner! While he's never spoken to the other Reclaimer personally he has seen him around the moon.

He stands in front of the mirror, his place in the reflection is a rather regal looking woman]

I have encountered it before. It shows a person from your home, I believe. I was hoping to make it down in time to see who placed it here.

[mylawn]

[76 has no complaints about someone else stepping in front of the mirror--gives him a good excuse to tear himself away from it. He takes a few steps back and folds his arms, letting Loki have his moment.]

You ever see who's putting it out here?

[He's been through a few loops by now, enough to know that it's not around earlier in the day, and it's gone by later in the day. It seems to only be present for a short window, and 76 is puzzling over the why of it all.]

[cuttingremark]

[Loki looks at the woman in the mirror for a moment before tearing his eyes away]

No, I have not. I am curious if it has to do with all of this- [He gestures to the town around them] -or if it is merely a distraction.

[mylawn]

I’d bet on the latter.

[There seems to be a lot of distractions happening throughout the day, from the mirror to the spider escape, to the students fighting. He wonders how much of it is coincidental and how much of it is deliberately enacted to…well. He’s still working on this one.]

Question is what they’re trying to distract from.

[wrightingwrongs]

Oh! Uh.

[Phoenix is pouring over a notebook that has already seen a fair amount of use as he moves to a table with a drink (non-alcoholic, of course) when he looks to see the grizzled man ask him.]

I don't know if it'll be much help, but I can share some stuff.

It seems a couple people tend to vanish during dinner. I've tried looking for them, but no luck.

It's not much, but it's a start.

[mylawn]

I'll take anything.

[There's no telling what they'll be able to change over the course of any given loop. It's only seven hours, but that's plenty of time for the ripple effects to spread out. The more they communicate with each other the easier it will be to find best practices for each loop.

So to speak.]

Who's missing?

[wrightingwrongs]

Onerion, one of the council members, as well as Brian, a student.

[He double-checked the names, and everything.]

It's possible it could be nothing, but that's what I found to start. I'm admittedly a bit out of my depth with how much magic is here.

[Honestly, he's feeling pretty inept right now, that's for sure.]

But someone has to be responsible for resetting each day. I don't think it happens naturally.

[mylawn]

I don't think it's nothing.

[They can't accept anything as a coincidence, not when there are so many variables, and everything could be interconnected in ways they don't even realize. Two people being missing from an event is even more suspicious than the baseline . Then again, 76 is generally paranoid, and understands that he could be jumping to wild conclusions.

That said...]

Everyone's a suspect.

iii { second loop }

[mccreehaw]

Groupies.

[ Ah, the life of a bard. There are a few people in the background, gazing up at McCree in awe and whispering to each other. ]

Apparently playing the guitar in the town square to see if the violinist will reveal themselves gets you a lot of attention. But no one knows anything about it. It's the first day it's been playing.

[ He takes a seat at the table. ]

Someone said Erinne likes violin music. I'm gonna question her tom— [ He stops himself and shakes his head. ] Next loop. It's hard to remember we don't get a tomorrow.

[mylawn]

Groupies?

[Jack is not sure he wants to know, but McCree takes it upon himself to explain anyway. He keeps it fairly short and Jack gets the idea, finding it difficult not to smirk at the thought. Still, he's not sure that attention on McCree is the best thing, not when they're essentially trying to solve a mystery. He can only assume that it won't matter in about an hour, when everything is set back to square one.]

Do you have to go out and get them every day?

[Questioning Erinne, however, seems like a good place to start.]

[mccreehaw]

Yeah. But I figure if they enjoy the music, they might come in handy.

[ He honestly doesn't consider how he could abuse this power, which is probably a good thing, so maybe he'll just think up more questions for them. ]

How about you? Got any leads?

[mylawn]

[Jack smirks into his drink a little at the thought of McCree having to assemble a cadre of fans over and over again, but he’s not going to judge how anyone spends their time here. They have plenty of it, after all.]

I’m working on that spider.

[Or, rather, whoever might be instigating the spider to go on its daily rampage.]

Someone’s letting it out. It’s got to be a distraction for something else.

[snyaiper]

[If he shaved, Ogata could probably pass for a student, being fairly young still and incredibly short. But he's not doing that. No, he's going to nose around the town for a bit. He's dubious of all the more foreign-looking plants, especially the ones that seem to have something magical about him. But he's still curious. You might even catch him sniffing tentatively at some of the herbs the way a cat might.

When he spots 76, though, he'll act casual.]

Looking for anything in particular, old man?
[It's probably worth noting that Maya seems to have allowed him to have his weapons back, a new bow and arrows in addition to his rifle. Interestingly, there's a ribbon tied to the barrel, with a note attached that reads FOR REAL EMERGENCIES ONLY!!! and then, in smaller writing underneath, PS: Someone making you mad isn't a REAL emergency. A helpful reminder from Maya to try not to be such a horrible gun gremlin.]

[mylawn]

[76, too, is attempting to act casual, even if he's not very good at it. They're on a mission, which means he's just as uptight as ever, his only saving grace the fact that such a demeanor is perfect for a truancy officer.]

Just browsing.

[He can't help but spend a moment on the bow and arrow. The note is, unfortunately, perfectly legible.=

She gave you your gun back?

[snyaiper]

She did, just today. After all, we’re working now and I can’t do my job without it.
[He seems satisfied enough with this. But the glance doesn’t escape him and he’s well aware of what there is to see. And how foolish it makes him look. He sighs.]

She did say if I removed her note she would take it back, though.
[Orherwise he absolutely would have removed them, you see.]

[mylawn]

Very nice of her.

[He says, not particularly sympathetic to either party in this situation. It seems 76 would rather none of this business had ever happened at all, but it's a little late for that. The plan seems to have more than a few holes in it, but it's not his concern.]

Better not lose it, then.

iii

[doubledsofjustice]

[Mia nods in acknowledgement of 76. Perhaps this is just the Reclaimer she's looking for.]

Dragons, actually.

[She takes her own notes with her to his table, pulling a chair near-but-not-across from 76.]

Tell me, do you know anything about them?

[mylawn]

Not really.

[Well, that isn't entirely true. He doesn't know anything about dragons existentially, seeing as they're no more than myths and legends back home, but he picked up a new pamphlet the last time they were on the Moon Base, one with some...interesting implications, in this department.

76 is still trying to wrap his mind around it all.]

Probably wouldn't want to cross paths with one.

[It sounds like. There's a dragon they may or may not have to deal with.]

[doubledsofjustice]

Mm, well, that's a shame.

Because there's a dragon under this town.

[Ma says, matter-of-factly, as though this is not necessarily the hugest problem.]

[mylawn]

[Well. It's what he suspected, but that doesn't make it easier to swallow. She wouldn't be telling him this with so much fanfare if she thought the dragon could be on their side.

He frowns.]

How do you figure?

iii

[feytality]

[ maya takes a seat at the table in front of him -- whether or not she paid to be here or just snuck in is a bit of a mystery -- and she's got a glass of orange juice. ]

[ she downs it in one shot like it's whiskey, and shudders.... making an 'ah' noise. so... grizzled. so... tough. surely, jack will be impressed ]

Mostly dragon stuff, but I think Rainer is kinda shady. Also, um, have you seen any other version of yourself?

[ asking for a friend. ]

[mylawn]

[Yeah, the dragon is something he's heard about by now, and he's still not sure how he's going to tackle it. Theoretically, he's at some sort of advantage, given his new abilities, but he isn't certain how forthcoming he should be about something like that. He doesn't want to volunteer himself for this kind of task, not until he has his feet under him. He'll have to talk to McCree about it, first.]

I...have not.

[That sounds kind of distressing, and he raises his eyebrows in a way that indicates the way she's drinking orange juice is not the only thing that's alarming.]

Have you?

[feytality]

[ he can be forthcoming with maya!! she knows his secret jack identity, after all. ]

Oh, good.

[ she gestures for the waiter to leave the bottle of orange juice and pours herself another shot, dramatically. he's right to be concerned, but probably for other reasons. ]

I did, yeah.... she told me to turn back and go talk to Rainer. I don't really know what to make of it.

[mylawn]

That's not--

[Comforting. Right. Probably it's a harbinger of doom more than anything else. He's not sure if it would be a good idea to take that advice or not--it could be anyone posing as Maya, and if there's someone around with that sort of ability, that throws a wrench into everything.]

You're remarkably calm about this.