balance_logs | Field Mission 6: A Day in Thay, Part 2

	This is actually the nightmare scenario.
	NAVIGATION

1. TIME CASCADES FORWARD

Over the last month, the Reclaimers have been trying to investigate and uncover the odd and peculiar power that the Lamp of Unwinding has. You've all come to a town secluded intentionally by the mountains and snow that cover the region of Thay, and have met the best and brightest witch and wizard students the world has to offer. But this town, as you've come to learn, was in a state that can only be defined by the goddess of fate herself- as "time sick." The same set of hours, looped, every single day for the past several years.

You met the Council of Thay: Rainer, Casariel, Gromph and Onerion. They run the affairs of town and are deeply invested in the school's success, each holding several professorial positions to help mold the great thinkers of tomorrow. Each had their own set of personal problems to face, and a long history of deeply troubled pasts. Rainer, the great-granddaughter of the first Headmaster of Boarbumps, had to live up to the expectations her lineage offered. Casariel, a woman who intentionally wormed her way into the school grounds to further her sinister plans, had to weight the conflict of her every day life that she had built and reconcile them with her mission goal. Gromph, an archmagus who summoned demons into the world, sought redemption for the horrible atrocities he committed in the Underdark. And Onerion, an Aasimar who had lost his wings at some point, clung to order and regulation to make sense of a world that once shunned him from existence.

It was relatively quickly discovered that Rainer was the one with the Lamp of Unwinding, the events of which were fated once by the unfortunately all-knowing wizard Karsus. It had been handed down to her through generations past, with the sole intent of ensuring that, when the time came, the Reclaimers would come to town and stop something grave from happening.

Casariel waged a war, fueled on by centuries of hatred and contempt, and made her way to the Wellspring of Magic, deep below the city of Thay. There, she worked her dark powers to twist the intention of the Source of Magic, binding herself to it as a failsafe should anything come to pass that proved... difficulty in her goal. See, Casariel is an ancient being from a lost civilization that wants to see the world burn. Her kind had seen the face of the Hunger, and had worked to bring it ever closer to this plane of existence. Casariel's job was to wave the carrot stick in front of its mouth, to be the harbinger of the Apocalypse and ensure revenge for everyone that had done her wrong.

Which presented an interesting conundrum. Rainer, knowing Casariel was tied to the Wellspring of Magic, was forced to make a choice between letting magic die or letting her go through with her plan to welcome the end of days. An optimist, and someone who poured her heart into the town of Thay, the students she watched over in her career as Headmistress and eventually Regent of the High Council, she believed a middle path to exist.

The Reclaimers, with the aid of several godly blessings, went down to Wellspring of Magic to end this conflict once and for all. Upon arriving, they prepared to battle with an ancient black dragon who had been put there to protect the Wellspring, now under the thrall of the callous Casariel. And from here, everything cascaded downward. The relic was destroyed in the skrimish, the dragon escaped to an unknown fate, and as it turned out, the only way to defeat Casariel was to end her life. And with it, comes the eventual reckoning event that Rainer worked so hard to stop.

The death of all magic in Faerun.

Where do we pick up the pieces? How do we fight against The Hunger without the ability to do so? The Reclaimers head home with a lot on their minds, despondent over the conclusion of this mission. But all is not lost. Yes, it's a setback, but the Bureau of Balance will have to be more resilient than ever to the threat that they face. The threat of this world and every world after depends on them, and now- more than ever, they need each other.

Because the Hunger's here. And it's slowly eating away the Celestial plane.

2. TIME AFTER TIME

A. THIS SEEMS SPOOKY

You may remember the band of skeletons Rainer has been using as a cleanup crew for Thay — and you may remember that around 6 p.m. every loop, on the dot, they all suddenly froze in place.

For those of you who are outside, as your fellow Reclaimers attempt to put an end to the Lamp of Unwinding's influence, the first signs that the bubble you've all been trapped in is on the brink of popping suddenly lurch back to life.

Indeed, these once helpful bones, not quite so much under Rainer's necromancy now as they are utterly consumed by it turn hostile, mimicking the movements of a master underground, fighting with everything in their power.

Thay's surface dissolves into chaos once again.

It's up to you to return the skeletons to a rest they once enjoyed.

B. LURCHING FORWARD

And then, just like that, Thay breaks through to 8 p.m. and beyond, the first time it's reached these particular nighttime moments in nearly a decade.

But you see, that's actually a problem in itself.

With the Lamp of Unwinding destroyed, with at least some of Rainer's goals accomplished, replaced with an even worse outcome, within the boundaries of the town exists an anomaly in the flow of time that Istus is finally able to frog, and stitch back together properly.

You Reclaimers, who are something of an anomaly yourselves, enough so that the gods themselves have reached to you, nudged you forward in your attempts to destroy the Hunger, will be able to watch, unaffected, as a time bubble corrects itself to the tune of about six or seven years, in real-time.

In a single split second, the town of Thay, and the inhabitants who were trapped inside from the beginning, age six to seven years. Trees sprout from nothing. Stone buildings, meticulously maintained, suddenly lean, on the verge of crumbling, as if they'd been abandoned for a decade. An overgrown field of flowers bloom where a tidy row of shrines once stood. Residents find themselves suddenly seven years older, inexplicably.

The Lamp of Unwinding has long been considered one of the most dangerous Grand Relics in the set. These are the consequences, this is what has to happen, to correct the damage that messing with the flow of time itself has done.

C. CLEANUP

The Lamp of Unwinding has been destroyed. Casariel is dead. The dragon she was trying to control escaped, ultimately sparing the town of Thay from destruction — at least dragon destruction.

But considering the price you all paid for it, it's difficult to call any of this a success.

In the moments after Thay is returned to the correct point in time, the Bureau of Balance — they were, you're now learning, camping a few leagues away, waiting for the time bubble to finally burst — immediately move in.

Lucretia, Dr. Tank and several assistants are among the travel party, here to tend to the wounded and offer counsel to the Red Mages, to assess their next steps. Thay has lived, but it has lost the magic, quite literally, that so heavily defined it. Without anything to study, and several years of living to make up for, the students of Boarbumps begin to pack their things and leave.

The air is tense. A sense of foreboding looms in the atmosphere itself, as the implications of what's just happened sink in. Nobody immediately blames you for this, of course, but as the hours move forward as intended, Thay's way of life grinds to a halt. There will be a lot of soul-searching to be done in the months and years ahead. It will not be easy.

And then there's you. Without healing magic to patch yourself up instantly, some of you may not be fit to travel for a day or two. The usual orbs that zip you back and forth between locations around Faerun have ceased to function, but those of you desperate to leave immediately will find carriages to take you home, under bright blue skies that don't seem to even realize what's happened on the surface.

Time always moves forward. Regardless of when you depart Thay, you will eventually.

D. WELCOME HOME ...?

New New Aspen, as you may recall, sits directly below the Moon Base. Next to it stands a tree. A Candlenights tree where, an entire year ago, the Reclaimers' very first mission took place — a Candlenights tree that had been, through the magic of the Space Mittens Grand Relic, grown to absolutely outrageous proportions, stretching almost to the Moon Base itself.

And, uh.

Weirdly. That giant tree is still there, giant and festive as ever.

That's not what the residents of New New Aspen find weird, however.

What's actually weird is the entire freaking Moon Base that appears to have gently-but-not-so-gently landed in the expansive field next to town. The loss of magic was enough to knock the base ever so slightly out of orbit, and, well, it went in a logical direction.

As you settle down, you can hear the panicked yelling of a certain completely panicking scientist who may or may not be named Lucas, and the laughter of his technomancer pal, who may or may not go by Miss Zarves:

"I can't believe I had to do that — I can't believe I did that!!!"

"Dude, you landed that better than a gymnastics meet!"

At least some things never change.

Reclaimers, welcome home. The base is intact and will keep you safe now and through the next Interlude.

3. OOC

We've seen and heard some voiced concerns about what to do with magic no longer an option currently. While we understand that this plot event has created a major difficulty for many characters, we want to take a moment and- first of all, thank you for bearing with us.

As this DWRP is highly experimental, we knew that there would be two possible outcomes to this mission. We've prepared for both, and want to assure you that the gears are in place to lead us to end game conditions. With any epic story, there's bound to be hills and valleys that come up in the plot along the way. While this dramatically does change the landscape of the game in the immediate, please rest assured that we have planned out where things are heading. Over the past year we've all written something spectacular together, and this particular point is no different. We honestly think that the upcoming mission and what's in store for you all will be something truly memorable. Remember, this game has always been founded on the idea that character choices and IC mechanics will shape the world and the direction the plot is heading in. And we're seeing that take shape right now, as we speak.

Those of you who have characters that run on magical energy to sustain themselves will still be able to participate- we've baked in something that we plan to share with those individuals in the upcoming few days. Those of you who are worried that your characters will be useless or face severe CR regression from here on out, fear not. The current state of the world is not permanent, nor is it intended to last through to end game.

We will get there. And you're all going to be amazing.

A few very important things we want to note here:

○ Your path actions, abilities and magic items are not gone. To pull back the curtain slightly, and without giving away upcoming plot details, you will be able to use them normally again for the next field mission. One of the major objectives of which will be to return magic to Faerun. These are pretty dire circumstances! But Lucretia seems confident that this will be fixed, and she will happily sit down with and reassure anybody who needs it.

○ To that end, if you participated in the CTA, you can roll for a new gacha item. It just will not function until the next mission.

○ Everything in the Moon Base is intact. That includes simulutions — they are not magic-based, but built on very advanced technology. The only exception at this point are the magic effects of Bender's food.

○ The people of New New Aspen will welcome you into their fold once again, and we will include a few prompts with them in the Interlude. They are not nearly as reliant on magic as the rest of Faerun might be — and they're kind of used to all the weird things you tend to bring with you at this point.

Additionally, we will be accepting re-apps for previously dropped characters who would like to join us for the final mission/game ending! More details on that soon.

blurb code by photosynthesis

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Phoenix doesn't show any objections to Ferran sitting with him, looking up at him as he sits. He takes a sip of his coffee, staring into it as he lowers it, before speaking up.]

That's what everyone tells me. [And they're right. He knows. He knows that if he hadn't done it, something worse would have happened. The voice is quiet. Contemplative.]

It's a little hard getting it to stick.

[Ferran offers him a tired smile.]

We're all our own worst critic. [The smile fades, leaving concern.] I... know it probably won't be easy. But we're all in this together, right? You don't have to carry it alone.

[He looks down to his tea for a moment, then takes a slow sip.]

I'm sure you've had people thank you, but... I want to, as well. And I say that as someone who's only ever used magic here.

[So if there's anyone who "should" be mad about it, he's definitely on the list.]

[Phoenix looks at his coffee again, taking an unsteady sip as Ferran pours out his sympathies - and his thanks. He's trying to hold it together.]

Where I come from. Even something like this would get me landed in jail. I still killed something. And that's not something easily forgiven. No matter how many lives are at stake.

[He's seen and heard enough at this point to have figured out that Phoenix is Maya's friend, and from what he's heard about that place—]

Your legal system sucks.

[Sorry Phoenix, but it's true.]

Remembering how important every life is is good, but... this isn't just everyday life. What we're doing... we're fighting in a war, when it comes down to it. Every soldier that comes home isn't just thrown into prison.

[Maybe it's a dangerous comparison to make, but he sees it as true. The danger was too great to let Casariel live.]

[There's a small flinch at that. You're not wrong, Ferran, but he does what he can.]

We work in the confines of the system we have to help the people who are caught in it unjustly. That's what defense attorneys do. [He's not really had the chance to wax philosophical about his actual profession to people here, so congrats, you got the first hint of what Maya ses under her goofy friend.]

But... you're right. And you're not the first person to tell me that. But even so...

I don't want to ever do that again. Ever. If I'm forced to cross that line one time too many, I...

[He trails off. Hm. It's almost like murder is a subject he's well acquainted with.]

I'm sure you did your best, but it doesn't change that the system is awful.

[Ferran definitely believes in you, but good lord.

He does nod in understanding to Phoenix's proclamation, though. Even if they do frame it in the sense of fighting a war, it's not like Ferran wants to start killing people, either.]

Yeah. If we can avoid it, we will. And I can't blame you for not wanting a repeat, so... you can leave it to the rest of us.

[They can all be equally traumatized, it's fine. That's what teammates are for.]

[There's a small tightening of the grip on his mug when Ferran says to leave the rest to them. He knows Ferran doesn't mean it in the way Phoenix's own anxieties are jumping to conclusions, but it still takes him a moment.]

I have to be better than this. [He closes his eyes, trying to let himself a moment to relax.] I need to be able to carry my own weight, too. For people like Maya and Mia.

[He needs to do more than carry his own weight - he can tell, even if he doesn't know the depths, that they're both hurting. That they both were looking to him. And he feels like he's let everyone down, but them especially.]

[He thought a moment too late that his phrasing could have used some work, but when he said it, he specifically meant... well, killing. None of them individually should be forced to take on that burden. Phoenix has already done his part, in that way. He'll try to salvage it, though...]

You didn't go in there alone, and you didn't come out of it alone, either. The same goes for them, too.

[Maya especially, he knows is pretty capable of carrying her own weight... and then some......... although he'd like to alleviate some of her burdens, too.]

If you think you have to be better, then ask for help. It's what we're all here for.

[Asking for help is definitely not one of his strong suits, as ironic as that may seem. Phoenix is used to being on his own against the tide. But he takes a deep breath as Ferran says that, thinking about it.]

I messed up because I don't know enough about how this world works... worked. I don't understand what can and can't be done with magic. And how to counteract its effects. [Sure, that's not a problem now, but...]

...It's my fault it's gone. So I want to learn about what I cost everyone.

[Though Ferran would like to continue reinforcing the idea that it isn't all on Phoenix, he's not sure how effective that might be at the moment. He's almost unsure of what Phoenix is saying, if just because he can't connect it to a practical reason, but...]

Well... if you want to learn about magic, then I can teach you what I can.

[Sure, it might not work, but the knowledge is still there. He knows that not all their spellcasters have what he does; he's learned how wizards internalize the theory, each movement and incantation and circle, rather than calling to some external or internal power on instinct or prayer. It's not like how he was at home, where he got power out of a magical gem and had no idea how any of it worked.]

I completed the Wizard path—or, at least what the Bureau listed about it—and I was close to figuring out higher level summoning, so I know a decent amount.

[Phoenix nods as Ferran explains, putting the coffee to the side as he listens. A notebook comes out of a jacket pocket as he starts to jot down whatever Ferran is planning to say next.]

I did do some reading on the basics of magic while we were in Thay, of the Weave, and how it worked, but that's as far as I really got.

Field Mission 6: A Day in Thay, Part 2

Re: coffee

thank you for not objecting, he likes his hearing.

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