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

4pm

[menarefrom]

You know, you don't need to torture yourself in front of that thing.

[It's taken a few loops for Spike to admit there's been a loop, and he's still not ever sure of where or when he is, but it doesn't take many times standing in front of this thing to get there's something melancholy about it. He remembers what it's shown him, and he figures it must be something of equal importance to everyone else.

That, and he just doesn't like this magic shit. He'd come down here to see if it was here again, and there it was, along with one of the cute little ladies he'd met at the halloween party. He remembers Mira.

So as much as he might pretend he doesn't like meddling, he'll stand a few paces behind her, hands in his pockets, and see if she needs anything.]

[philoxenia]

[ She's so caught up in what she's seeing that when he speaks, it startles her. She jumps, and then turns to Spike with a touch of apprehension. She doesn't even really have it in her to be sheepish. A moment passes, and she glances to the mirror once more. ]

It's... hard to look away from it.

[ She's markedly different from the Halloween party, unsurprisingly. Her voice is a lot more muted, her hands clasped tight in front of herself. And she sounds almost apologetic. ]

[menarefrom]

[Spike, for what it's worth, doesn't seem angry or annoyed. His face is as gentle as that low voice of his.]

It's a cruel piece of magic, showing you things it can't give you.

[He's standing in such a way as not to be able to see anything in the mirror himself, a strange angle, but a better one as far as he's concerned.]

As long as we live, as long as we have our memories, we'll always face reminders of what we once desired but never could obtain.

But a mirror like this is nothing but a bouquet of empty promises.

[Like a true cowboy he can't say anything in less than 50 words, but... still, as he speaks, he looks at the edge of the mirror. He isn't reprimanding Mira or anything; it's the mirror he has a problem with.]

[philoxenia]

[ Part of her is... admittedly, a little surprised. It's just-- it's not a smart thing to do, staring into a mirror that shows nothing but a painful reminder of her mistakes. That Spike is being so-- so understanding, it makes her heart ache in a strange way. She can't explain why, but her throat feels tight, and her eyes sting a little. ]

... Whoever made this mirror and put it here really is cruel, aren't they?

[ Her voice shakes a little. ]

Even knowing that--it's so hard to not come back to it.

[menarefrom]

[Aw, man, she's audibly upset. Spike moves after what seems like forever, rubbing the back of his neck. With a sigh, he gives a little nod of acknowledgement. There's nothing more to say about it, as far as he sees; it sucks, and it's hard not to come back to. Like an addiction.]

Human nature.

[It's chill. He gets it. But for the love of all that is good in this world he doesn't bore Mira with some kind of Philosophy about it.

He just holds out his hand. He can, he supposes, pay forward a favor from an earlier loop.]

Are you ready to leave?

[philoxenia]

[ It would be so easy to stay in front of the mirror. Even if it's not real, seeing her brother again, it's-- it's nice. But she guesses that's the most dangerous part of the mirror, isn't it? She could lose so much time just sitting in front of this thing. They have so much of it, after all, time. But--

But she won't accomplish anything if she does that. And as a Reclaimer, she has to do something to try and figure this out. She owes it not only to the people of Thay, but her fellow Reclaimers.

Mira gives the mirror one last lingering, longing look, and she places her hand in Spike's. ]

... Not really, but I know I need to.

[ At least she's honest. ]

[menarefrom]

[For a moment Spike's eyes widen, as if he's surprised by her honesty and determination. His face softens quickly, though, and a ghost of a smile crosses his lips. He's starting to see why all these young girls that he keeps getting tied up with became Reclaimers.

He holds her hand gently but firmly and gestures with his shoulder, his other hand still tucked in his pocket.]

Smart girl.

[And then, a bit teasingly as he leads her, he adds-]

Well, guess it's my turn to chaperone.

[philoxenia]

[ Smart? Mira isn't sure about that. She's done plenty of stupid stuff, made bad decisions--but she's not sure it's the time for some good ol' self-deprecation here. Honestly, all she wants is to get far away from the mirror.

And hope she never goes back to it. She wonders if she'll be strong enough to keep herself from returning. For now, though, this is more than enough.

Spike's a pretty good guy, she thinks. He at least draws a little laugh from her. ]

You do owe me one.

[ The amount of gratitude in her voice--has he ever heard so much? ]

[menarefrom]

[It's all a part of being a team, isn't it? Not leaving someone behind. There is honor even among gang members.]

Then we're even. One chaperone to any not-here destination of your choice.

[He'd very much like to leave as well, thank you.]

[philoxenia]

[ She's so impossibly relieved, and Mira starts leading him far away from the mirror. ]

I'd say let's go to the market, but... I think right about now, a giant spider is wreaking havoc.

[menarefrom]

Not much for spiders, huh? We're missing the fun.

[He is absolutely not serious,]

[philoxenia]

It's not that I necessarily have a problem with them...

[ it's just that she used allure to try and get information about the spider rampage and therefore, ]

[menarefrom]

Oh? Is there a story with that?

[Spike asks, brow raised with a smirk like a cat. He doesn't actually expect she'll tell him, but hey.]

[philoxenia]

It's-- it's sort of embarrassing.

[ ... really embarrassing actually! ]

[menarefrom]

Well if you say that, now I have to know.

[o b n o x i o u s]

[philoxenia]

I...

[ a sigh. ]

I tried to use allure to get information about the spider rampaging, and I sort of... well. Brian apparently got the wrong idea, and spent a few-- a loop trying to woo me.

[menarefrom]

[Oh, what? Spike's brows raise a bit-- he's surprised she said anything. Taking that hand out of his pocket to rub his neck, he shrugs a little.]

Woops.

[There's only a little bit of a laugh in his voice. Poor kid.]

Well. At least it was short-lived.

[philoxenia]

Thankfully...

[ Mostly she's just not used to that kind of attention. So it'd been... definitely a thing. ]

... well, I think I'll be a lot more careful next time I try something like that.

[menarefrom]

Boys are just as much trouble without magic, you know.

[Spike shouldn't be smiling, but he is. At least poking a little fun at Mira's made her seem less sad. Spike can do distracting.]

You're just gonna want to be careful.

[philoxenia]

[ Boy, does she know that! ]

Hmm... are you speaking from experience?

[menarefrom]

Hey now.

Do I look like trouble to you?

[philoxenia]

[ She lets out a tiny, brief laugh... which she covers by clearing her throat. ]

I-is that a trick question?