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| 🜙 Mini-Event #2: The North Winds, January 11th |
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The Long Night has ended and the sun once more rises and sets with the short winter cycle. Although the cold remains, it has lessened considerably following the harsh freeze of the darkness. Krimnos, no longer having to put all their resources into defending the city from the terrors to come, has been able to clear the heavy snowpack on the cliffs above the city enough to safely begin running two of their three remaining airships.
The Skywhale has been making its regular routes since its repairs the previous month, but the two airships from Krimnos to Didymos and the City of the Free Peoples have been grounded in the cliff city for safety since the start of winter. Now two of Krimnos' airships join their sister ship in the skies over Idan.
The following routes are traveled once a day by each airship:
The Skywhale travels from the City of the Free Peoples to Didymos and then back once a day, docking nightly in the City of the Free Peoples.
The Horizon travels from Didymos to Krimnos and then back once a day, docking nightly in Didymos.
The Valiant travels from Krimnos to the City of the Free Peoples and then back once a day, docking nightly in Krimnos.
The Zenith normally travels from Krimnos to the mountain outpost of Preciposte and then on to Einjar. Unfortunately, it is still grounded due to inclement weather and winter threats in the northern mountains beyond Krimnos. The Zenith will not be able to travel until the thaw has begun.
A one-way trip takes 4-6 hours depending on weather and wind to go from/to Didymos to either city and 6-9 hours to travel between Krimnos and the City of the Free Peoples. Anyone can take a trip on an airship for a purse of silver coins, or try their luck and stow away. Mounts can get a lift as well, but they require an additional fare.
Not bad for a chance to see Idan from a bird's eye view for the first time for most people. |
| 🜙 Thlipa's Tribute, January 11th |
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As January progresses, pods of fin whales spend their nights in the safety of Fisher's Bay during their migration. At this time Thlipa is believed to be watching over Idan and many of Idan's people show their respect for the deity. Unlike the Day of Lefkokó, Thlipa's Tribute is a far more somber affair. Though she is the goddess of the seas, storms, and power, she is also the goddess of mourning and it is this realm she is believed to preside over most during the cold winter months.
People from all across Idan who are able to travel will make a journey to Didymos to be closer to the ocean, while others observe the fin whale goddess' day in their own homes and cities. Ancestors, lost relatives, and friends are remembered with offerings of handmade gifts and small collections of nuts and sweet-dried fish. Small, enchanted candles are set out on boats down the river and shore to be carried out to the ocean.
It is believed by some of the more power-hungry supporters of Thlipa that by calling on and revering the spirits of the departed Thlipa might gift her followers with the magic of the fallen. Gatherings of Thlipa's most devout followers can be seen on the shores or on small skimmer boats in the bay, and vandalism of fishing boats and nets that might endanger the fin whales runs rampant during this time. |
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| 🜙 A Tale of Three Cities - Krimnos: An Army Adrift, January 12-20th |
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It appears that a large company of former Atrómitos knights has awoken in an isolated and forgotten battlefield below Krimnos' twin mountains. The army has journeyed together through the blinding blizzard to complete their original objective: a full-scale attack on Krimnos. There's something off about the tattered army decked in the green and gold of Atrómitos that shows up at Krimnos' gates. They don't seem to feel the cold, and their eyes, if anyone is unfortunate enough to get that close, are a colorless and glossy grey. They continue fighting through weather and injury, undeterred as they focus their attacks on Krimnos' main gate, setting magical fire to the gate, the wall, and their perceived enemies.
The army can be seen using weapons, battering rams, and elemental magic to attack the city's gates. Though their eyes are a blank and glossy grey and they do not seem to be speaking or reacting with pain to counter-attack elements, it is clear there is a hierarchy and the commanding officers seem to still be silently directing their forces. They do not speak, and if captured it quickly becomes clear why. Though they appear whole externally, the soldiers of this army lack functional internal organs. No blood runs through their frozen veins and no oxygen is being pulled into their lungs. There also appear to be no thoughts in their minds, only the howling sound of the wind through the mountains around Krimnos.
At this time of year, Krimnos can not afford to loose their main line of defense, nor can they risk the very real dangers of battle sounds and blood drawing out the hungry mountain hunters or causing an avalanche that could bury the city in snow. No one knows why this army is here, but with the familiar colors adorning the fighters, there are whispers in the air of an attempt to start a war. Already tense relations between Krimnos and the City of the Free Peoples could stand to suffer from this and the citizens of Krimnos seem horrified by the prospect.
King Sitka's first concern is the safety of his people, and as such he is driving his army hard into the attacking forces and even beyond its gates if necessary, anything to push the battle farther from his people and the dangerous cliffs stacked with snow that tower over Krimnos. |
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| 🜙 A Tale of Three Cities - City of the Free Peoples: The Disappearance of Captain Lykos, January 14-22nd |
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No one has seen Captain Lykos since the Long Night but rumors and knowledge of his disappearance have been kept quiet by the city's Defenders, fearful the city would spiral into a panic at the loss of its de facto leader. As word comes from traveling Krimnos merchants that the city is under siege from an army dressed in green and gold, the city turns to its Defenders for answers and finds more than they bargained for.
The Defenders attempt to calm the rising panic in the city by deflecting, stating that the Captain is out on a peace mission on his way to Krimnos but this backfires as the city erupts into conspiracy theories that he is actually leading the attack and trying to start a war, with reasons such as anger over a lack of support from Krimnos during the city's time of need being used to feed the growing fear.
As outrage and panic spread across the city, the Defenders declare martial law and put the city back on lockdown until answers can be found. The stability of the city quickly begins to fray. Chaos, disorder, and dissent spread and talk of overthrowing the Defenders and putting someone else in charge begins to spread.
The city needs answers for themselves and for Krimnos and the Defenders begin an even more desperate search for their missing leader. Meanwhile, the citizens of the city begin preparing for a revolt, with whispers of an organized attack on the warcamp of the Defenders quickly gaining traction. The more time passes the less reasonably either side appears to be thinking, and the longer anyone lingers in the city the more infectious this frantic and paranoid energy becomes.
Amidst it all, a Siamese with a familiar glowing adornment can be seen surveying the chaos from the safety of rooftops or tree branches, its eyes occasionally glowing blue while its tail flicks in what seems to be either irritation or frustration. |
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| 🜙 A Tale of Three Cities - Didymos: Tidal Troubles, January 14-25th |
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Starting the morning of the 14th, trouble comes to Didymos on the tides or the lack thereof. The tide goes out during the night and, to the dismay and concern of Didymos' citizens, it never comes back. In fact, it seems as if the ocean waters are only continuing to recede, leaving Didymos' fleet and her fishing ships awash in the shallows or fully grounded. Each day the waters recede further, leaving sealife beached or trapped in tide pools and larger dips in the seafloor. A pod of fin whales finds themselves stranded in the deepest section of the bay just within the Sunset Gate.
As the waters continue to recede, shipwrecks, sunken cargo, and unusual skeletons dot the rock and shell covered shores, turning the edges of the bay into an unending expanse of tide pools and dotting the horizon with pieces of warped and barnacle-covered ships usually only visible beneath the clear waters.
Within days it's possible for a fully grown human to wade out to the Sunset Gate without ever getting their neck wet. The confusion and complications caused by this unexplainable dearth of water starts a panic in Didymos that the dual rulers have to fight to control. The widespread fear is joined by whispers of a war brought along from people traveling to Didymos from the other cities, and Didymos finds itself caught in a tense place with the prospect of having to outline allegiances if war breaks out.
Everyone knows Queen Adira would put her forces behind Krimnos in an instant, but King Ardis seems reluctant, questioning the legitimacy of Krimnos' claims to a possible war and seeking information. |
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Trevor Belmont | Krimnos
[ Dealing with the undead is usually something of a specialty for Trevor. Channel arcane magic into whatever weapon-ish thing is convenient to hand, hit things with it, break whatever curse is keeping them alive, job done.
The fact that it doesn't seem to be working is concerning. They're not extremely strong, not enough that they should have any particular resistance to his order's techniques. Traditional necromancy shouldn't hold up this well.
But it isn't working, and so he has to fall back on his strategy for dealing with things what are not undead. This strategy is being ten feet tall and well-accustomed to beating the shit out of things, as well as a strong hatred for that fucking tunic that they all seem to be wearing. By the time the current wave of the army approaches, he's found himself both a little better equipped than he started - he's taken a sword from a fallen soldier - and a little more injured. A few arrows, thankfully none hitting anywhere too dangerous on someone his size, some slightly more nasty-looking burns. No matter. Fresh blood at least means that if any of the local wildlife finds itself drawn to the battle, he can lead it away.
His animas is hiding under a few dead bodies, because of course it is. Flames gather in another of the undead soldier's hands, aiming at the city's gates once again, and Trevor grabs its arms, crushing both of them in one hand. ]
None of that shit.
(Oh, shit. - Krimnos)
[ It's when he runs into a fellow goliath that Trevor starts to encounter difficulties. He's largely been relying on brute strength so far, and it's served him well, but the goliath he's facing is large and heavy even for one of his kind and does not weary or feel pain. It doesn't take long for the fight to turn bad, both in terms of not looking good for Trevor and in terms of potentially being likely to start an avalanche.
And so he tries breaking the curse once more. He focuses all the arcane magic he can into the now-broken sword and shoves the jagged end of it into the side of the goliath above him. The effect is immediate. There's the sound of glass shattering, and a flash of blue light from the soldier's chest. And then it falls. On top of Trevor. ]
Shit, ow, shit. [ He complains, reaching his arms out. They fall on broken glass, and his hand closes around something. A vial, leaking the last of its clear liquid contents. And there's only one possible response that one can have to that. ]
Fuck.
Oh, shit.
The ax he carries looks too large for such a small beastfolk, the handle making it almost taller than he is, but Rocket wields it with ferocity and skill, making it seem like the obviously heavy and unwieldy weapon was made for him.
He narrowly manages to avoid being crushed by the goliath duo, but when your best friend is a towering arboreon you learn to look out for taller creatures toppling. He curses, and the words are ones normally only heard from goblins, but he hefts his ax onto his shoulder, crouching down to make himself less visible among the fighting. The trapped goliath speaks and that's enough of a difference from the rest of the soldiers for Rocket to guess he's not one of them.]
Need a hand? [Sizing up the mass of dead weight he shifts his grip on the weapon and offers a sharp, tooth-filled grin and a wink.] Removed?
[It and the swing of his ax might seem like a threat, but Rocket severs part of an arm, to his surprise bloodlessly, from the deceased soldier's body. There's no way even with his strength he could remove the soldier from the stranger's body, but he could reduce the dead weight one limb at a time if necessary until they could get him untrapped.
Provided none of the other soldiers interfere.]
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[ Now free to actually move and breathe, he does the former first, taking a few deep breaths before pushing himself up, wrapping his hand around the broken vial. Best not to show it to anyone he doesn't know is one of the other revived. ]
Appreciate the help. It'd have been fucking humiliating to die from having a man fall on top of me.
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Don't mention it. [An ordinary looking otter with a blood red marking on her back and a set of makeshift shoulder guards bounds over to them as Rocket tugs the spear out of the ground, lips curled back to bare sharp teeth, eyes searching for the assailant. She chitters up at him and then her eyes jump from Rocket to the towering man similar to Rocket's frequent companion in height but less viney. Her tail smacks at the ground in nervous agitation.]
Relax, Lylla. He ain't one of em. What're you doin' in this mess anyway? I thought only the knights were foolish enough to go looking for death. You don't look like a knight. [And dressed only in the bare minimum of clothing, without even shoes on his feet and barely waist high on most of the assailants, neither does Rocket. But he had his own reasons for sticking his neck out.]
Ohhhhhhhh shit
Probably for the best anyway. The past three days had been a constant shifting sea of emotions, and this was opportunity to purge all of them while being horrified that these things were harder to kill.
Alucard's never worried about Trevor in the middle of a fight. He's big, he stands out so tracking Trevor's whereabouts is never a problem, and there are few things that cause a problem. The wolf is content to help where she can, tearing throats out when there's a fallen soldier.
Last Alucard looked up, Trevor was fighting someone taller than himself. Rare. Now he's...
...shit. Not in line of sight.
He waits until the soldier in front of him falls. Lets Ellis tear him to bits, then runs over to find Trevor trapped under a fresh corpse More than that, he's holding onto something. Maybe? It's impossible to tell.]
Where's the weight pinning you worst?
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[ His voice is just a little strangled, illustrating the problem here. The body has fallen on top of him in the exact sort of way that makes breathing difficult, and a pretty terrible position to lift it off himself, forcing him to move his arms in awkward ways. He's unlikely to die from it any time soon, but only being able to take very shallow breaths after a fight that involved some exertion is making him feel dizzy. ]
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It is downright comedic, considering such careful applications in the middle of a battlefield, but that is what the moment requires. Once Alucard is certain that he knows how to proceed, his eyes flash a cold and dangerous gold. He knows Trevor has seen such a thing before, and there is too much going on around them for anyone else to notice. Or care, since battles are all dhampirs are good for in the minds of most.
Alucard shoves at the fallen goliath's side, tilting up, up, up until the thing's balanced on a 45 degree angle.]
Move.
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Heavy fucker.
[ He says after a few long breaths, ignoring the fact that he is also a heavy fucker. ]
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[Alucard's eyes are no longer gold. He lets go of the corpse, and when it flops back down onto the ground, everything around them shakes terribly. That would be more than enough for the entire encounter to be upsetting (Alucard's eyes go down to the goliath's shoes for a moment, Trevor said his were terrible, didn't he?), there's too much memento mori (eventually) in the air.
His eyes go to the path up the mountain. There is another wave coming up the pass, but it will take ten precious minutes for it to happen. The stragglers from this wave are all occupied. Being beaten down, on their last legs, whatever one wants to refer to it as.]
Nothing else is worse for wear?
[He asks the question without looking at Trevor. His eyes are on the approaching wave.]
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Nothing that won't fix.
[ Cuts and bruises and burns, a couple arrows in him that were thankfully made and shot with force that had a human-sized target in mind. Nothing that won't mend with rest and food and ale for the pain. He exhales heavily, looking at the broken vial in his hand. ]
These things are fucked up. I don't like it.
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[Alucard's eyes go to Trevor's hand. Then they widen, because that cannot be what he fucking thinks it is in Trevor's hand. Absolutely not. He hisses, horrified, even as he leans in to study it closer.]
Please tell me that didn't come from...
[He gestures to the corpse.]
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[ Not that he's given his own vial that much thought, but he does get the idea that it breaking would be a bad thing. ]
Usual Belmont shit didn't work on them. Tried something bigger on that fucker, and- ugh.
[ Look, it's only that he doesn't want Alucard to go having emotions at him that he isn't just breaking his own right now if turning into one of these things is a possibility. ]
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[Alucard breathes out, his hand gripping his sword much tighter than it really needs to be holding onto it at the moment. His loathing for being pulled back from the dead has only intensified, and he looks at Trevor with all the horror in the world. No one else is around, this is permissible.]
Your usual approach doesn't work, they've been pulled back from the dead as we've been, and yet they don't seem to retain faculty of reason or intelligence. It leaves us with too many questions, and doesn't tell us who is responsible.
Only that it seems they are looking to start a real fight.
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[ He's still largely unmoved, at least to look at his face alone. He'll deal with the horror of this once it's safe to. For now, it's easier to just continue as they are and fight these fucking things. ]
Incidentally, I don't really care for that, either. Either things keep their minds or they don't. I don't like this middle ground.
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[Alucard's own attitude of horror is shifting. This next attack requires he be nothing but ice, and that is easy to fall into right now. Ice cold anger means that the next wave shall be treated more brutally than before.]
It could relate to how the spell is performed. More or less of the self is retained depending on different factors. [He breathes out.] Not that you're going to like that more.
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fight scene!
She had worshipped the God enough to know its nature, had lived alone in forests and wilderness to see it first hand, had lived it twice; she had died twice and knew the burdens of it like her own heartbeat. This is different - the people are different, and there's an edge of something feral and panicked about her as she rushes forward, trying to find a means of dealing with them without losing herself again. As much as she had relished the chance to learn during the Long Night she is not sure how strong her body is; she is not sure if she can survive another death.
That and, in her heart, she is not sure how her allies might react to hear of it happening again.
While her knowledge lies in blood and wld magic, she knows very little of what might have brought these things to life. She does not know enough of them to try and make a demand - but she knows how to fight well enough, her hand wrapped around a dagger, teeth bared. Fighting wolves is not the same as orcs or the undead, but she does not care - she is small and vicious, moving forward and doing what she can to sink her blade into whatever she can find, fuelling her strength with a thrum of wild magic, the earth shaking around her.
Her eyes widen when she sees Trevor, blazing and practically twice her height, and she rushes forward. She would attack were it not for the sign of his power and his animas - Rav'ahm makes a loud caw from above her, raven wings flapping as she breathes out sharply, eyes narrowed. ]
Their eyes. [ Quick, sharp. ] Blind soldiers cannot aim.
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Very well.
[ And he reaches out a hand to pinch either side of the top of the soldier's nose, pushing inward with a sickening crunch. ]
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They are foolish. Brainless. [ She bares her teeth like a wolf and moves to one that seems to be attempting to sneak up on Trevor, pushing herself up and to attack it next. ]
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[ He complains, looking back at the one he missed. These things shouldn't be this organised, let along capable of something like sneak attacks, without something controlling them. And yet there's no sign of that at all. She's right that they're not particularly intelligent, but that they're even capable of basic strategy is worrying. ]
You watch my back, I'll watch yours. Not fair, I know. I have a lot more back.
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[ Something is clearly controlling them, guiding and commanding them, and Lauralae glares as she drags her dagger into another set of eyes. A part of her considers keeping them, to investigate and study, but now does not seem the time. Instead, she turns back to look at her new companion with a sharp nod of her head. ]
I have four eyes. It is fair enough. [ Above her, the raven caws. ] Can you see the one commanding them?
fight
So when she sees some capable-looking goliath, though maybe a little more injured than she would prefer, she'll take her chance, approaching from the side, her sword drawn, but lowered.]
Not bad~ Think you can keep him alive for a bit while I try somethin' out?
[Keep the knight alive and hopefully keep her alive at the same time. It's called teamwork.]
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[ But he's good at following instructions, so he does so all the same. He lifts the mage up by their crushed wrists with one hand, using the sword in the other to fend off its allies. ]
Whatever you're meaning to do, you might want to do it soon. I'm going to need both hands again before long.
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[ Drawing a seal in the middle of a battlefield isn’t possible; Shura will have to make do. She stabs her sword into the ground, folding her hands together to form a hand seal. ]
Gotta keep ‘em alive if we wanna figure this curse out.
[Well, alive-ish. But trying to untangle this magic will leave her defenseless, so she’ll have to trust in this goliath’s strength as she starts to murmur, trying to unravel the threads on magic.]
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[ He moves to better put himself between the oncoming foes and the woman. Thankfully not too many are behind them and those that are are occcupied, so he only really needs to protect the two (three, if you include the one he's holding) of them from one side. ]
Normal methods of curse breaking don't seem to work. Not tried anything bigger yet myself.
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[Only if you wanted to get into some overdrawn philosophical debate--these guys were kicking, but not alive.
Still, there's some kind of magic behind it, and taking the spell apart might lead to the source. As she continues to murmur, a cold breeze begins to swirl around her and the sword, frost slowly coating the blade. Once she gets into the magic, it doesn't take long for her to figure out that this isn't the sort of necromancy she expects. It doesn't resemble any of dark magic she knows.]
Something's around his neck--can you get it?
[She breaks in her sutra to speak, but picks up the chant immediately after.]