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balance_logs2020-01-03 01:32 pm
balancemod) wrote in balance_logs2020-01-03 01:32 pm
Field Mission 7: The Queen of Hearts, Part 1
  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... 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. [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.
 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 |
○ 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.
○ 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.
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[with every question, "Micah" needs to think of a new bluff. It might have been easier if Mia'd just not signed up for all this, but her curiosity about the crystals on her wrist- and the presence of those crystals on others in these games-- had one out over her fear of being outed to the Khura'in army. There's got to be a way to get more information without raising suspicion.
....it'd be a lot easier to do if Sayori weren't all in her face like this, though. Mia leans back and looks away, pushing her hair out of her face while trying not to let Sayori get too long a look at said face.]
N-no, actually, I haven't done too much of it.
[She lies, forcing the tone of her voice lower.]
What about you?
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[Why does she sound so happy about that...]
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[Douse flames it pretty useful! And exactly what she's focused on, and not that she won't let a spirited girl like this Sayori fail that hard while she's around.
'Micah' gives Sayori a gentle and reassuring smile.]
If we work together, I'm sure we'll figure it out. Ah, besides, there's-
[Mia reaches over their workspace to pick up the recipe they've been assigned. It's a pan bread with fish and vegetables, pretty standard fare.]
This. As long as we follow this, I'm sure it'll turn out.
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Her eyes scan it and she realizes quickly that they're directions.] Oh! Fish, wonderful! [She loves food in general, but fish does remind her of her old home.
She gives a determined nod as she clenches her fist.] Yes, this'll be easy!
So— [And once again she's in Micah's personal space, leaning in to place a finger on the recipe and find the first direction.] First we have some things to prepare, right?
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[Micah pauses, staring at the recipe and very much not at Sayori, trying to seem as natural as possible-]
I-I mean, I think that sounds... like a good idea.
[She's bluffed her way to being General, she can bluff her way through this.]
And, I guess cut everything, ahead of time. Are you alright with knives...?
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[The answer to that would be "no," because that's a very dexterous task and Sayori is not terribly dexterous on land. She shrugs sheepishly.] Not exactly.
[—but then! A realization!] Oh! But I have a friend who might be!
[She wiggles her fingers and...summons a Mage Hand!
Sayori looks between the spectral hand and Micah with a grin, and then gives...three thumbs-up! This way she won't cut herself. Genius!]
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Good thinking, Miss- ah... S-sammy?
[look it's fine]
That should save us some time, too.
[Mia looks to the recipe again, and then;]
Alright. So, would you like to wash the vegetables, or prepare the fish?
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Sayori glances over her shoulder like maybe there might be another person here by the name of Sammy, but there's not. At least, not doing the cooking challenge with them. There are some onlookers for the game by now.
Realizing after a moment what's happened, she giggles and indicates herself with a hand to her collarbone.] Close! It's Sayori!
[She doesn't seem offended, at least.] I can prepare the fish! It's my favorite dish so I think I can do a good job!
[Which is true, but also she used to hunt them, so, you know. She's acquainted with the parts.]
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[A bit more timid socially than the Mia she doesn't remember, Micah dips her head and swallows, a bit pink. She's never been good with names. Her own disguise's name had been pulled out of the sound of her given name, a desperate reach when neither she nor her caretaker had one prepared.]
Well, I'll leave you to it then, and get started washing.
[Which she does; Sayori sounds WAY more confident about the fish than the fire, so Mia's sure she can trust her with that one.]
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[And so the mage hand sets up the fish on the cutting board and holds the fish still while Sayori takes the knife...and...
...uh...
She leans over to peer at the recipe again, squinting thoughtfully. She's noticed that humans don't have sharp teeth, so they can't eat the tough parts like bones. And...probably not the scales either? Come to think, the fish she orders from taverns usually don't have scales, so that's probably where she should start!
She tries to scrape with the sharp end of the knife first and—] Ah, [—immediately makes an unintentional cut in the fish.
After scrutinizing the knife for a moment, she tries the back blunt edge of it. Which is much more effective!
The excitement at figuring this out is obvious, and she can't help but look over at Micah for approval.]
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When Sayori turns to look at her, 'Micah's' eyes widen and she nods, gesturing a thumbs-up to Sayori and giving her a bit of a smile. She's not able to do this without tipping a vegetable from her own basket, and though she looks nervous about the fumble, she quickly catches it and saves it from the ground.
No problem. Easy peasy.]
Keep at it!
[she encourages when she's done sighing her relief.]
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[Focus on fumbling the vegetable in the first place? Absolutely not. Admire the successes only!
She returns to her task of cleaning the scales, her fingers safely out of harm's way due to use of the spectral hand. After a moment, a giggle escapes her.] This is kind of fun, isn't it? I've never cooked with someone before!
[Unless someone else rushing in to put out her fire counts. She's pretty sure it doesn't?
...actually, something strikes her as weird about that statement. But she can't put her finger on why, so she dismisses the strange feeling.]
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[Mia admits, but all the same she moves around Sayori and her mage hand like she's not at all unused to dancing around someone else in the kitchen, after all. She isn't doing a great job of making it look like she doesn't cook, either, cleaning those vegetables and then separating leaves to chop as if it's nothing.]
but I'm sure we'll make something great because of it.
[And even though she's keeping an eye on Sayori, she's pleased with the mermaid's progress.]
That really is a handy trick you've got there.
[She muses, a slight smile on her face at her little joke.]
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And then the joke.
It takes a second to sink in, even though she's literally made that exact joke. She's just very focused on figuring out the next logical step of preparing the fish...
And then she straightens up with a stroke of realization, followed quickly by a peal of laughter.] Ahaha~ Wonderful! Yes, it is, isn't it? But I think everyone can use an extra hand now and then!
[Heheheh.]