balance_logs | Field Mission 7: The Queen of Hearts, Part 1

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Field Mission 7: The Queen of Hearts, Part 1

	Once upon a time...
	NAVIGATION

Click here for the RNG thread!

The day is met the way all others begin: the sun rises from the eastern stretch of land facing the sea, as the citizens of Emberwharf awaken to a fish market brimming with life and splendor. The same sun is seen in Ok'talar, where its warchief watches, as is tradition for its leader to be meditating under the warmth of its warm embrace. The clans of the Highlands pick up where they left off just yesterday, squabbling over minor infractions of land, marriage, or deals that have fell through. And in the cold clutches of Orrenvia to the north, people are bundling up and preparing to visit the mines at the base of the Spine of the World.

The general news throughout the Kingdom of Fanelia is that today is a day of celebration. It marks the 110th anniversary of the coronation of its ruler, the Queen of Hearts. While some people around the outskirts of the citadel proper consider this as a day of mourning, many are called forth to partake in festivities, dining, and the accompaniment of the finest musicians from the far-reaching town of Peppelfen.

For the last 110 years, the Queen has kept order and, somehow, relative peace throughout the kingdom she rules. Although open defiance and protest is met with swift justice and sentencing, no one can overlook how crafty and careful she is. Her manipulations resonate throughout the annals of the history of Fanelia, present in every major brokered deal throughout its vast land mass and diverse population. Her benevolent guidance is felt by all... as is her tyranny. She is a monarch of paradoxes: obsessed with control, but only acting for the betterment of the realm's self-preservation. Every passionate declaration of "OFF WITH HIS HEAD!" had been necessary up to this point; who else can steer and guide this world into prosperity than she herself?

The horizon in the far off distance swirls with its usual tumultuous temper. A dark cloud surrounds the continent where Fanelia is located, known to all as "The Expanse." Every year, the border closes a little bit more inward, narrowing the lands and threatening the civilizations that reside on the fringes. Its presence encroaches, and with it, a general looming sense of fear that one day only the capital city will be left standing, protected by a magical bubble of pure radiant light that allows only those permitted by decree to enter.

But none of you can remember your life before this illusion took hold. As far as you're concerned, you've been here your entire life. You don't notice that this farce, this world created by the usage of a Grand Relic, has only existed for a year. One whole year has passed since magic was cut loose from Faerun's fabric, and no one is any wiser that it's been gone at all.

You look down to your wrist, noticing the same three clouded, empty colored crystals that have always been there since the day you were born. Each one bears the shape of a heart, and it makes sense to you why Lucretia is known as...

The Queen of Hearts.

1. THE COURT OF HEARTS

A. ANOTHER MORNING, HOWEVER YOU SLICE IT

Good morning! Where are you right now?

Another day is creeping over the horizon, and your life as you know it is continuing down the path it always has. Wherever you are. However you're feeling. The crystals on your wrist, though you've managed to sort out at least one purpose for them by now, remain as dull and lifeless as they've always been.

Maybe you've long since figured out that not everyone has them — and maybe today is the morning that you finally heed a call to figure out why. The harder you think about it, the more questions you seem to have.

It's a wide world out there, and there are people you just might be dying to remember. Where will you go? Who will you run into?

B. NETWORK

Speaking of that one purpose you've stumbled upon: A series of messages that, if you choose to access them, dance across your mind as if they were your own thoughts. Over the years, the messages have ranged from confused — people on the other end wondering what this is, without really finding any answers — to just straight up sales pitches.

One day, though, a message under the name of Avalon appears:

Wandering fortune teller and adviser offering services.

Have a burning question you want answered? Do you wish for a quick peek into the void, to light a match into the unknown?

Giving out free samples now! Just message me ;)

[ooc: If you'd like a randomized way for a memory to begin unraveling, feel free to hit up the RNG thread for a fortune! Note: A low roll doesn't necessarily mean a failure to nudge your character in the right direction, it will just dictate how cryptic and/or troll-y the fortune actually is.

Or, feel free to come up with an unrelated fortune for a prompt.]

C. AROUND THE CAPITAL

One way or another, you may make your way to the capital city, the seat of the Court of Hearts. Whether you're here for answers, or whether you're here just to see the sights, here are a few ideas to get you started.

○ Chaotic croquet: Indeed, you will be discovering how the capital city plays the queen's favorite game. You and a fellow crystal-bearer/Reclaimer will near immediately be roped into a round and pitted against each other, with a rather stern reminder to follow the rules.

If only the rules made sense! Each path to the next wicket is more treacherous than the last — you may find yourself quite literally navigating the ball over a bottomless pit, or bumping it up stairs that threaten to send the ball right back, careening toward your face. There is also the Stone Golem guarding the final wicket to contend with.

It's a bit strange, actually. It's almost as if this match of the Queen of Hearts' imagining would prefer that the two of you worked together, rather than against each other.

○ We mentioned earlier that the castle, should you wander past the common areas, gets a little ... strange. It's labyrinthine in nature, with staircases, doors and hallways that lead to no where, or straight into the ceiling. The neat line of roses planted along the hallways begin to wither the farther you walk — almost as if nobody dared getting lost just to water some plants.

And then, you wander into an empty room, that quite literally transforms before your eyes.

It's the place you call home. Or ... is it? This is most certainly not your bedroom back in whatever corner of Fanelia you hail from. In fact, you don't think you've ever set foot in there before — it might be a bedroom with views into outer space itself. It might be a place from another world entirely, one that you definitely don't recognize.

But as time passes, and as you stand there, your sense of longing grows stronger. You should probably get out of there, before the guards find you.

○ The Queen of Hearts, in a recent twist (not unusual for her), has a keen interest in the relationships her subjects have with one another, whether it's romantic or platonic. And she'd like to see to it that the people of Fanelia are able to find those important people in their lives.

Enter: THE FANELIA FRIENDSHIP (OR SOMETHING MORE?) EXTRAVAGANZA

Yeah, it's pretty much a dating show, for both the amusement of onlookers and for your benefit! Or friendship show, as it were. Sign up, answer a brief survey, and showrunners will pair you with a fellow crystal-bearer/Reclaimer that they think you may be compatible with.

Let the dating begin! You may:
- Slay a monster together
- Take a nice long walk around the capital city together
- Be given a series of embarrassing questions to ask each other
- Cook a meal together
- The list goes on

Is the right person, or your new best friend, waiting for you in plain sight? Sign up and find out!

D. EXPANDED WILDCARD

As we mentioned in the OOC post, we highly encourage worldbuilding and creating your own scenarios to recover your character's lost memories! Outside of the capital city, the entire setting is yours to alter, and play in, as you see fit. Want to haunt the Enchanted Forest, or hunt wild boars? Want to follow your character's fairy tale story and have them work their way to leader of a clan, or of a settlement in Kingstown? Go for it! This is your story to write.

If you have any questions, feel free to hit us up on the OOC post.

blurb code by photosynthesis

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[You often see a lot of things people don't when flying through the air. And a lot of things do often appear on the horizons. Usually mountains or buildings, so beanstalks? That's a new one on Roxas. So naturally he goes to investigate.

He and Pegasus hover around it, looking at it curiously from the ground to where it extends into the sky. And Roxas is about to fly higher to see where it goes when he hears the call and sees Hayner rushing down.

Followed by the giant.]

Need a hand?

[Holy hell is that a flying horse?? No, no time to gawk, Hayner's seen enough crazy things already. He waves at the person riding the horse as best he can.]

Yeah! Little help!!

[Better move quick, that giant looks aaaaangry!]

[There's a lot to take in and Roxas needs to act. What's his first move here? He's not really in a position to fight this giant, and rule #90 is that you have to know your enemy. Rule #32 is get others to safety though.

He flies Pegasus over to Hayner.]

Here, jump on!

[Hayner nods, and after a moment he leaps, landing a little awkwardly on the horse. He makes sure to hold the bundle in his hand, which makes it hard to hang onto the horse.]

[Roxas and Pegasus work as a pretty good team to set Hayner to rights and keep them balanced. He glances up at the giant with another quick survey.]

I'll get the whole story later. Where are we heading?

'Cause I don't think your friend's going to leave us alone.

[Hayner's grateful for the help. He rightens himself on the horse, holding the bundle close. It wiggles, and inside a honk! could be heard.]

I dunno, anywhere! Just, make sure he doesn't step on my house! My mom might be in there!

[There will be time for questions later. For now? Action.]

Okay, I'm gonna drop you off before going back up to distract him. You get your mom and anything else and get to safety.

[He nods, but then frowns.]

Yeah, okay. But, are you gonna fight him on your own??

I've fought bigger, believe me.

This guy is toast you just focus on being safe.

[Pegasus makes a bit of rough emergency landing, but not enough to throw anyone off.]

Besides, this is a hero's job!

[Hayner holds on tight at the rough landing, but nods to Roxas.]

O-Okay. But don't get crushed, okay?? He's really ticked off!

[The bundle in his hand moves again, letting out another honk! as if in reply. Hayner hushes it before sliding off the horse.]

[The honking is, admittedly, suspect. But Angry Giant is going to have to come first. Ideally, he'll be able to tie the giant up and subdue it.]

Don't worry! I got this!

[And he'll charge up with Pegasus, hovering in front of the Giant's face.]

Excuse me! But I'm going to have to ask you to calm down.

Okay!

[While Hayner runs into the house to alert his mother, the giant glares at the tiny human on the winged horse.]

[Rather than reply, it lets out an angry roar and tries to swat at Roxas and pegasus.]

[Why does that never work? Roxas wishes that would work.

Pegasus swoops around the Giant's hand, avoiding the swat and bringing Roxas around for another attack. He's not thrilled about doing this, but he leaps off of his winged horse to crack the giant in the head with his fist.]

[Unfortunately for Roxas, most creatures don't seem to take to the idea of democracy and peaceful resolution of problems.]

[A punch from someone so tiny shouldn't be a big deal to a giant, but the giant's head snaps back at the force of the punch, and he wobbles, barely able to hold onto the beanstalk as he does. What the heck?!]

There's a lot more where that came from!

[He's taunted the monster now, trying to to keep it's attention to give Hayner enough time to get away. He can't really tell how much of a mess this might end up making.

Not that he's trying for that.

But he'll go in for another attack. Keep up the momentum.]

[The first hit was a surprise, but the second attack the giant was ready for. The giant ducked under the attack, then, with an angry shout, aimed a giant fist at Roxas.]

[Well, we can't have that. Roxas will reach up to meet the fists blocking it with both hands and some god-given strength. It's a bit jarring, doing it from pegasus-back, but he'll shove back as hard as he can.]

[The giant was expecting to turn Roxas into a smear on his hand. He was not expecting Roxas to not only block the punch, but shove back. He flails as he's sent rocking, just barely managing to grab onto the beanstalk.]

[It's still high up even for a giant.]

[Roxas is going to fly in for a second strike now that he's off balance. Have to keep that momentum going, after all. Especially against larger opponents.]

[That second hit is enough to knock that giant right off balance. It's almost in slow motion how the giant flails, trying to grab the beanstalk, before it tumbles backwards and falls, down, down, down...]

WHUMP!!

[Roxas watches from atop Pegasus, with a grin on his face. Another monster overcome.

He takes a minute to do a fly-by, making sure that the Giant's not going to be getting up any time soon before going to look for Hayner.]

Everything okay?

[Nope, that's a fall that will take out even a giant. He's not getting up anytime soon.]

[Fortunately the giant avoided the house, and Hayner slowly peeks out from within.]

Y-Yeah! Is it dead??

Down at least. And he'll probably be out for a good while.

[The winged horse lands near the door.]

The things I hit tend to stay down.

Wow...

[He stares at the fallen giant outside his door. Then back to Roxas.]

[Then, he grins widely.]

That was awesome!!

It's just what a Hero does.

[Roxas looks a little embarrassed to tell the truth.]

You and your mom are okay?

A-2

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