balance_logs | Field Mission 3: Brushing the Sun, Part 2

	I couldn't be more proud of you all.
	NAVIGATION

1. THE UNRAVELING (CTA RESULTS)

A. EVERYONE GET THE HELL OFF THIS CRAZY THING

With the Bureau quickly packing up and getting the hell out of dodge, four Reclaimers — Kaede, Komaeda, Minato and Lion — made an honest attempt to evacuate the dwarves and goblins still on board. They were mildly successful in drawing half of all the goblins into their fold, but the dwarves were much more resistant. Ultimately, only five agreed to leave behind their precious forge. Bread and Barry were also handily convinced that it was time to leave.

Their chosen method here included a lot of falling with style. With a little help from Lion, a breeze is whipped up to give the trip down a bit more wind resistance.

Even though they didn't convince as many as they would like to leave, this is still a very large logistical effort — you may help pass out treats to help evacuees float down. You may wrangle up any stragglers that wander too far away from the group. Ultimately though, everyone who agreed to evacuate, as well as the Reclaimers who are helping, will be able to safely make it to the ground.

Except for one.

Upon ensuring that Good Girl Cocoa makes it down safe, Minato will find that there are no more magic treats to help him safely evacuate, too. And when Maru perishes, so does he.

Additionally, Barry does go down with the evacuation group, but by the time Maru crashes to the ground, he's no where to be found, and presumed dead.

This also means that very nearly every dwarf and goblin who refused to evacuate also perished.

B. A CHAT WITH A TIRED SPIRIT, AND AN UNRAVELING

Akira, Zelda, Maya and Sayori are assigned to try to take on the Whomping Willow so they can reach the forge it's guarding. With an insanely good hit from one of Zelda's Light Arrows, the tree is stunned — and with the unfortunate curse of sentience that drives it, it is humbled by the raw power, and elects to speak to the group.

The Whomping Willow is several thousand years old, and so, so tired of this enchantment. After revealing the wisdom of the Beastmaster class, Maya is able to disenchant it, effectively reducing it to a simple willow tree once again — and with the help of a few Persona users, they are able to successfully transplant it to a small alcove in the Quad of the Moon Base.

What does this mean for Reclaimers? Well, you now have some very comfortable shade to relax under. You have a monument to your successes. If you happen to know a druid with Speak with Plants, it'll also dispense some of the wisdom it's accumulated over the millennia in the form of advice.

Meanwhile, Sans and McCree, with an easy entrance to the forge, make quick work of unraveling the yarn, setting the dwarves trapped there free, and successfully convincing them to leave the forge behind for their own safety.

And as they continue to make this mission look outrageously easy, they manage to unravel the yarn without causing damage to themselves and the forge. It's done so well, in fact, that the falling apart of Maru is less of an explosion, and more of a controlled, structured demolition.

It's actually quite a spectacular sight, for those of you on the ground to witness it. Like a ship slowly descending to the earth and breaking apart some 100 feet above it, it feels as if the entire planet shakes upon impact. Debris is sent flying in all directions — later reports that make it to the Director's desk indicate that mining equipment was found some 20 miles away from the impact site.

Unfortunately, another Reclaimer is lost in the unraveling of Maru. McCree perishes while trying to escape — but he dies a hero.

C. ON THE GROUND

Two teams — Franziska and Wash, and Akechi and Ryuji — are sent out to try to locate the yarn and, being as buff as they are, try to clear out as many surviving monsters as they can.

Along the way, Akechi manages to steal a priceless weapon off of Hethi, the guardian spirit of the paper mountain that once stood on Maru. Also along the way, Akechi says some really cute social link rank-up shit to Ryuji, which in turn causes his Persona to turn into a bear.

Later on, Franziska manages to convince Hethi to move to the Netheril, effectively becoming Vista Virs' new guardian. She's so convincing, in fact, that Hethi sees this as a divine intervention, and Wash and Franziska are both incorporated into the mysterious guardian's origin fable as divine advisers. Both groups also find survivors of the fall, and safely evacuate them to Phandalin.

While Ryuji and Akechi manage to blast through entire hordes of monsters with little injury, Wash and Franziska are not quite so lucky. Nobody perishes, but the both of them will probably need some assistance.

Finally, with the help of Cocoa and her nose, Akechi and Ryuji are able to locate the yarn, and a recovery team from the Bureau retrieves and delivers it straight to the Director's hands.

Congratulations, Reclaimers. Your third mission was a smashing success.

2. THE BEFOREMATH AND THE AFTERMATH

D. EVERY NOW AND THEN I FALL APART

You're only as good as your backup, as they say. And the Reclaimers who are not currently attempting to fetch a wayward overpowered ball of yarn are going to have a lot on their plates, before Maru comes crashing down in spectacular fashion.

That plate does not include Maru itself. Every hour that passes that you do not escape on your own, the ground's stability grows more precarious. You can feel it shifting underneath your feet, like it's straining, trying to contract into itself. In the distance, an ominous rumbling. The land is literally cracking apart, and you do not want to be on board when it finally tumbles down to the ground.

○ Convincing those who could be convinced to evacuate was no easy feat, but for those of you on board with immediately helping, there's a shortage of hands on deck to move people as quickly as possible.

○ Much like how the wildlife scatters for cover when a thunderstorm hits, the fauna of Maru are aware that a disaster is looming. To that end, nearly every single creature that has settled inside the mines have started pouring out into the open, making an already unstable ground a little ... crowded. Bring your best weapon and your best spells to this fight — you're going to need both.

E. THAT'S UNFORTUNATE

Once you're on the ground, if you choose to dig among the rubble yourself, you may find any last resources that the impact site may have slapped to the surface. They're very small, but gems and diamonds are your highest prize here.

The forge, however, was destroyed on impact, shooting a massive burst of magical energy straight into the sky, before it dissipates. Should you happen to find yourself anywhere near the remains of the forge, however, one of the following may happen:

○ You will be turned into an animal of your choosing for two hours.

○ Any remains nearby may suddenly be reanimated, again, for two hours, until the magical energy disappears. Enjoy your goblin zombie apocalypse.

○ A curse might follow you home — think things like tripping over your feet constantly, or not being able to sleep properly, or hell, accidentally passing along the curse to anyone you touch. Dr. Tank back at medbay on the Moon Base can remove this one for you.

F. THE TOWN OF PHANDALIN

The aftermath of Maru's collapse can be viewed from Phandalin, a nearby prospecting town that is now host to a host of floating island evacuees.

Well, a whole lot of dust can be viewed, anyway. For those of you who arrived here with said evacuees, or simply evacuated here yourself, consider yourselves put on something of a mandatory two-day vacation. The orbs back to the Moon Base just can't seem to get past the dust choking the air directly above the town.

Phandalin is on the small side, and inhabited mostly by prospectors looking for valuable resources deep within the nearby mountains. To say that this is the biggest influx of visitors they've ever had is an unfathomable understatement — and while they are hardly a settlement built for tourism, they're more than willing to take your coin. Or any remnants of Maru you happen to have on hand.

Now is your time to rest. Gather your bearings. Or, work more, if that's more your speed.

○ A small group of dwarves need to figure out where to go next, after all. Will you help them find a place to stay in town? Or will you help gear them up so they can set out on their own, once the dust (literally) settles? The blacksmith in town can't make anything new on such short notice — but he does have plenty of tools and weapons for sale.

○ Should you make your way to Stonehill Inn to escape the dust, you may find a Kenku in a corner, ignored by the other patrons as much as he's minding his own business, mug at the table in front of him. And should you decide to engage with him, he'll lean forward, closer, voice so husky it could pull a sled.

"Oi, you're one of those visitors, ain't ya? You know what happened. With all the dust."

There isn't a particularly discernible tone or expression here. If anything, he sounds on the brink of a personal revelation.

"You've seen it then, right? My house. Where the hell's all my stuff?"

(Some of you already know who this is — it's Jingler, the owner of the shack on Maru that is now part of a heap of sod and brand new landscape not too far from Phandalin. He is a completely pilotable NPC, meaning you are free to use him how you like for your threads. All you need to know is, he's a bard, that shack held all of his most valuable treasures, and Garfield owes him a lot of money. He won't say for what, though.)

○ Finally, not too far from the town square stands a fortune telling machine. It goes largely ignored by the regulars passing by, and if you happen to ask, it's because of one of the following reasons: It's a waste of money to begin with, or it's a waste of money because it keeps spitting out the same fortune.

Pop a single gold coin in the machine, and it'll print out your fortune. It's true that it seems to be running on repeat, though, because you're guaranteed to get one of the following two fortunes:

Disaster has invited itself to your doorstep.

Or,

Mild fortune bears down on you like the sun.

Another thing that's guaranteed: Whatever fortune you receive will have to manifest in some form. That's rather unfortunate for the ... more unfortunate ones.

G. A REPRIEVE IN THE ORCHARDS

An old half-elf by the name of Daran Edermath tends to an orchard just on the edge of town. It's a bit of a locally hidden gem for Phandalin- the old, retired adventurer turned vintner keeps the trees well nourished and tended to all year long. It's spring time here in Faerun, and naturally, there should the crowns of budding apple blossoms coming up and ready to take shape. But wandering in here, you'll notice that they've developed into beautiful looking, ripe apples.

Daran is one of the oldest living people in Phandalin and while he hasn't been around long enough to know what happened to the Lost Mine of Phandelver, he does seem to wear a sort of smile when he hears about it. See, in his youth, he snuck down there with only an apple for rations to his name. He doesn't know how he stumbled upon it, or even how he really made it past the monstrosities that lie in there. But Edermath farms remembers. Those apples that are perfectly colored and perfectly ready to eat? They're all the result of that one apple he dipped into the forge. Must be about 100 years ago.

The sweet scent of cider, sauces, and butters fills the air in almost every direction. It's a time to relax and enjoy the days before returning to base, and he's more than willing to trade a few silver pieces for a bucket of the stuff.

For those of you with a little more adventurous taste buds, Daran offers you to try an apple from a tree that grows many different colored fruits. He'll explain that there's a little bit of magic in those too, but nothing that'll hurt you. Give it a try, see what happens! These will last up to 24 hours.

○ Red - your senses elevate far beyond what a normal human should be able to accomplish. You can hear, see, smell, and touch better than you ever have before. Take a walk out into Phandalin after the dust settles. The color and the scent of the flowers should be amazing.

○ Green - you become incredibly pensive, seeing insightful things about your life that you haven't noticed before. You recall past events with a crystal clear level of understanding, to the level of being able to close your eyes and remember details that are minute- like the sound in a memory you forgot, or the way the breeze felt on a particular day.

○ Yellow - you feel lethargic. Enough to probably take a nap wherever you're currently standing. It's not a bad thing, but if you've been feeling really stressed lately or pushed yourself in battle quite a bit, waking up is going to feel about as refreshing as humanly possible.

○ Blue - you become incredibly confident with yourself. Things that might have scared you to say or do in the past feel like small anthills compared to the mountains they once were. You speak your truth when you want to, you fear nothing and become closer to your true self.

○ Pink - you're hit with a wave of affection. You're all about hugs and hand-holding and being close to people you care about. It provides a sort of blissful state that makes you want to be around other people.

Eventually, though, the dust will clear, and with the jutted earth and remains of Maru in the horizon, you'll board the orbs and return to the Moon Base.

Because a true rest after this mission is waiting you back home. You could say it's going to be quite the retreat.

2. OOC NOTE

Congratulations on successfully reclaiming the third Grand Relic! We hope you enjoyed exploring, and ultimately unraveling, Maru.

For people new to the game, you may notice that there isn't an RNG thread. CTA logs generally do not have one, just to give us mods a bit more time to work on the interlude, and the next field mission.

You can check out our calendar to see what's coming up next! The TDM will be posted Monday, April 29. Reserves open Wednesday, May 2 and applications open Saturday, May 5.

blurb code by photosynthesis

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Maybe they did do a great job. But was it good enough?

Was it worth it?

There's still a lot that Sayori doesn't understand about their ultimate mission. About the Grand Relics. About why she was picked instead of someone else. She feels like she did everything she could--everyone did, they all worked so hard--and people still died. Some of them will return with pieces of themselves missing forever. Some of them won't return at all.

The little bump is all the encouragement Sayori needs. She squeezes her eyes shut and turns her body so she can fling her arms around Kaede.]

Oh!

[She's not expecting it, but it doesn't stop her from immediately hugging the other girl back, shifting her knees out of the way to hug her as closely as she can. She nestles her chin atop Sayori's head, just trying to wrap herself around the other girl and hold her close.

If she could just play a song, she knows she could make Sayori feel better. Even if she could hum something, maybe her magic would be enough to ease some of the ache in her heart. But selfishly, she doesn't want to play half a duet. She wants to play with Minato again.

She digs her chin a little harder into Sayori's head, fingers tightening against her back.]

Arisato-kun, [she starts, chokes up, has to stop and take a deep breath. Then a second one, fighting back her own tears.] I bet he'd feel bad if he knew we were sad, huh...? We'll have to- to make sure we scold him.

[Sayori's shoulders shake as Kaede embraces her, her breath hitching with the tears she can't hold back anymore. She didn't want to cry. Kaede shouldn't have to worry about her sadness. But--but people died. People died, and Sayori is alone, and all she wants to do is retreat into her bed and bury the pain in sleep.

She's more worried about Kaede, though. Kaede has been here a lot longer. She's seen a lot more. And she's a lot closer with everyone. She must be in so much pain.] Yeah. But-- but he did his best, like everyone else did, right?

[She's sure he did. She tucks her face in against Kaede's neck.] I'm so sorry.

[She's crying, and Kaede feels so helpless. If only she knew the right thing to say, or the right tune to play. If only she had brought back enough of the hovering treats, if only she'd been there to add another voice to convince everyone, if only she'd been strong enough to convince the Director how important it was--

If only, if only. Kaede keeps making mistakes, and people keep dying for it. Her vision swims with tears, and she swallows hard against them, sniffling them back.]

Y-yeah. Everyone did their best. A-and we'll keep working really hard... so we'll do even better next time. I'm sure of it-

[Her voice breaks, and she lets out a little noise, squeezing her eyes shut. She wishes she could be sure of it. It's hard not to think of the destruction of Vista Virs when they're surrounded by this much rubble, by this many dead. If only she were stronger, more persuasive. If only she were better, she'd have the right thing to say to make Sayori smile.]

Edited 2019-04-29 16:40 (UTC)

[Hearing Kaede's strained voice is like a knife in Sayori's chest. She can't help but cry harder--for herself, for Kaede, for Minato. It feels selfish to cry at all. She hates the idea of making Kaede even sadder.

She clutches harder to the back of Kaede's shirt.] I'm s-sorry. I shouldn't cry. But-- but you and Minato are close friends, right? And he's-- he's so nice.

[She doesn't speak of the fears she's buried in the recesses of her mind. She can't. She just wants to help Kaede.]

He's...

[He's really nice. He's so kind and willing to listen to her, even though he hardly knows anything about where she came from. Hell, she doesn't know much about where he came from, either.

She'll have to ask him. If she can ask him. Have any of the Reclaimers who've been seriously injured like this had to wait this long before they could go back?

No, no. She can't think about that. She should tell Sayori something about Minato to make her feel better!]

Y-Yeah, I like him a lot. Have you ever heard him play the violin...? He tried to tell me he isn't that good at it, but... I really like listening to him play.

[Oh. Oh no. This isn't helping her own tears at all, and her voice starts to shake.]

I really... really want to play a duet with him again...

[Sayori manages a nod from her hugging position.] He was playing at the sleepover, right? [He played some pretty cool songs. She's not sure why he was so worried about writing inspiring stories.]

You'll play with him again. It's-- it's not forever. [Even though something about that feels deeply wrong. But even with the conflicted, fearful twisting in her gut, it's a relief in this moment to know that Minato isn't gone forever.]

Mmhm.

[Kaede wraps herself more fully around the other girl, holding her as tightly and securely as she can manage. It hurts, it hurts so much to think about what Minato might have thought as he fell. Wondering if he resented what was happening, if he heard her screaming as he fell.]

I'm gonna... I'm gonna try to find him a new violin. It's... it's the least I can do for him. T-That way we can play a duet for you! A fun, moving song that's sure to cheer you up.

[She gives Sayori a squeeze. She's trying. Oh my god does she try. It's just so hard to muster up her usual positivity.]

[Kaede's embrace is bittersweet. The lonely, yearning part of Sayori finds a deep comfort in it--even though everyone here has been so nice, it's hard not to feel disconnected from them. But it still hurts to know that Kaede is worrying for her so.]

Y-you don't have to do that. [She laughs a little through her tears and hitching breaths.] I'd love to hear your duet! But--but you should play what's in your heart.

[If she's sad--if Minato is sad--then that's okay.]

I always do!

[That much, at least, is very true. It's hard to lie using words, but even harder to fake how she feels through music. But,] I think... when it comes time for us to play a duet together, I think that's what'll be in my heart.

[She exhales a sigh against Sayori's hair, still keeping herself curled around her as she sniffles back a fresh onslaught of tears.]

Back during Christmas-- Candlenights, they called it -- we played a whole bunch of duets together. There was a big party on the base where we could all dance and have fun together. I can't... I can't wait for you to get to be a part of something like that, too.

[She listens to Kaede speak as if Kaede is telling a story, something faraway and impossible. Being able to play the happiness in her heart, and a Christmas party where people can have fun and be carefree...

She sniffles.] That sounds amazing. Like magic. [But she's not really sure that she deserves something like that. The people she'd most like to share it with are gone, and she's stuck here, stumbling her way through being a hero.

She's glad Kaede can't see her pained expression from this position. She forces a little laugh.] I can't really dance, though.

Field Mission 3: Brushing the Sun, Part 2

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