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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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His finger points northeast.]
Explore the area beyond the north gate, and see if there is anything that suits. I can't say how the area may have changed, but I expect that it may be good enough for the time being. Enough sparse and scattered places or else hunting shacks to use until the winter melts and you can build properly in the spring.
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Lifting her head, she pushes herself up to look over. ]
Perhaps I can make a house. In a tree. [ She's entirely serious, no hint of a joke. ] You may visit.
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[The question is genuine. Because if she is speaking of rebuilding, then what else can there be but quiet encouragement.]
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[ She is, after all, only small. ]
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[In this case, a positive. Besides, it isn't as if Alucard's let it slip that he can float.]
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[ She glances up to him, hesitating. She's not good at labelling friendships, or partnerships, or anything of the sort, and she feels embarrassed as she looks away. ]
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[That's called Trevor has actually made the wolf too spoiled and now there's naught but regret.]
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[ But that is enough to distract her from looking too closely at Alucard and she hesitates for a moment. ]
Where is she?
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[The wind changes direction again. It's enough for Alucard to turn around entirely, his back to the railing, wind forcing his hair and coat back, smacking against the side of the ship.
There's a very thin, faint smile on his face.]
An old...[he pauses, searching for the right word. What the hell are he and Trevor at this point? The goliath departed so soon after all was said and done with Alucard's father that it's impossible to pin anything down that feels right.]
Someone I knew in life is spoiling her at the moment.
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[ Something, at least, and the smile on his face makes her pause, curious. Few people smile around her for any reason at all, and she watches, curious for a moment before he speaks.
Someone in life. Lauralae thinks of the few people she knew - Myr, Aramas, her heart stolen and broken - and she frowns. She would not want them to find her again. ]
Then she is lucky. I hope to see her soon.
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[Lucky, she says, and Alucard's smile goes. The return of any of his dead (not his, never his, but it's the quickest way to describe their relation to him, they're the people he cared about in life) has been a churning sea of mixed emotion. As wonderful as it is to not be so alone, the fact that even one person has been disturbed upsets him beyond measure. Rest is well earned. To disturb it is a horrible thing to do.
With the two of them, the anger mixed with relief of not being alone is easy. With his parents it's so very different. Who is to say how his father might react? His mother, that's easier, there's relief and then there's telling her what happened in full, breaking her heart. A good son, a messenger of horrible news.]
There's still some time left.
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[ Being in the wilderness did not have her losing all the manners her mother had taught her; she had been raised in a temple where she was at the behest of strangers, making sure they were comfortable, able to worship in peace, welcomed as a guide because she had no other place. There's a quiet part of her that longs for a place now, somewhere she might call her own in the same way she had then, but she fears the consequences of that.
She cannot lose more people.
At the same time, she looks up at Alucard and sees his smile go and there's a small part of her that hurts. She does not want him to be sad, does not want him to suffer, and so she reaches, almost without thinking, and touches his hand with her own, covered in black fabric. Her hands are warm at least, despite the paleness of her skin, and she offers that comfort gently before she glances away, suddenly nervous. ]
I am content for now.
[ He is her friend as well, now, isn't he? It started with Ellie, but with what he knows - ]
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[The response is mostly just a soft hum due to Alucard becoming lost in his own thoughts. It happens often enough, just usually not around other people. Trevor's seen it a century ago, but that always just came with rude commentary. (So that means going back to the castle is going to be fun.)
The hand on his is a surprise, but Alucard doesn't react to it with any sort of shock. He simply lets it happen, knowing his skin probably runs cooler than it ought to. (Even if he has gloves on.)]
I hope that feeling lasts for a long time to come.
[From all he's gathered, it is an exceedingly rare thing for her.]
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They are kin, she tells herself. Pack, like wolves; not as close as they might be in years of life together, but close enough. She can trust that, even if she is nervous and afraid of the reaction she might get.
Compared to him she is so slight and small that her hand might be dwarfed by his, but she ignores it. ]
I would not imagine it to be so. [ Voice quiet, soft, but - ] It is not as alien as it once was.
we may be hitting an end if you'd like to wrap us up?
Standing next to Lauralae, only they know what a funny pair they make. She's older by some years, but much smaller, looking less her age than Alucard does. He's the one with more experience in the world.
And so for that reason alone, there's something like a little pride in Alucard's response.]
That is growth.
sounds good!!
This is different. She had not wanted to offer that affection to anyone other than Myr and Aramas, and this is more different than she would like to admit. It is not love, but it is something gentle all the same. Perhaps this is what friendship was meant to be. How alien and strange - how odd, that she should feel so nervous and so content at once.
Her eyes lift to look at him and her lips twitch, almost smiling. She recognises pride, she recognises a compliment. ]
It is something. Something different.