usir | Mini Event: Aftermath and The Oxen Gods

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Mini Event: Aftermath and The Oxen Gods

🜙 The Aftermath

	The re-animated fighters attacking both Krimnos and the City of the Free Peoples burst into flames as the waters of the glass ocean flooded back into the bay. Now nothing but ashes remains of the bodies and the bay has gradually returned to its crystal clear calm waters. Not a trace of the cloaked figures or the fog that had accompanied remains, and the phoenix marks on the survivors of the pit have faded away. The cities have been quietly dealing with their individual recoveries. Didymos' people pulled together to help clean up the shores of the bay, repair damages and recover boats that had been damaged or knocked loose into the bay. In Krimnos, efforts to clear away and repair damages from both the avalanche and the siege continue. With no one certain what has become of Captain Lykos in the general population of the City of the Free Peoples even the end to their second war with Tsekour's Stormers has not brought calm to the civil unrest as the Defenders attempt to force the city to fall into military control and the people of the city continue to resist with violent countermeasures. In this state of recovery, conflict, fear, and uneasy confusion the day of the Oxen Gods comes with few people truly in the spirit of what would normally be seen as a warm and cheerful holiday. An uneasy lull of peace settles on all three cities as people attempt to be faithful to honoring the spirit of the paired gods. Vodi and Voda's day of celebration is meant to be a time of community, love, and reflection. The day of the paired oxen gods of marriage and fertility marks the true start of the thaw, when the snow and ice begin to melt and temperatures begin to rise. Spring is still months away but the first true thaw comes mid-February, right on schedule. The snow in the foothills, plains, and open lands has begun to melt, small patches of greenery appear near the edges of thawed rivers and lakes, the outer edges of tree branches sprout new growth and small, fresh leaves. Animals that have been hibernating or hiding through the winter freeze begin emerging from their homes and can be seen exploring the land for more abundant food sources. Whispered rumors from Didymos about a dragon rising from the bay reach other cities but are never discussed outside of hushed conversations in the shadows or in huddled gatherings that quickly break apart. Speculation is widespread and varied over the origin of the fog and the masked figures that stole away over a hundred people in the night, the strange attacks, and the ultimate fate of those kidnapped. Many citizens who had lost daughters, brothers, sisters, sons, mothers, fathers, friends, or other relatives and acquaintances to the pit continue to desperately seek out the missing, their bodies never recovered and the truth behind their disappearance and eventual death unknown to any but those awakened who had come back from the pit and those they chose to share their stories with, if they chose to believe such horrifying tales.
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🜙 The Oxen Gods.

	Outside of these concerns, rumors, and the general unease across all three cities, attempts are made to forget for just a little while and focus on the celebration. Vodi and Voda are honored by a show of community and compassion. Gifts of fruits and flowers, usually those grown in greenhouses or by magic, are given to loved ones. Ceremonies take place at both dawn and dusk, offering food, gifts, and music to lift spirits and symbolize a union of peace. In Didymos a pod of fin whales can be seen returning to the bay, unusual for this time of year. They linger near the center of the bay, singing mournful whale songs to one another. Celebrations in the city have a heavy focus on Vodi, the moon god. Vodi's impact on the tides makes him a highly respected god, especially among the fishermen and sailors. As the moon rises and reflects on the bay's reflective surface the city comes together as one unified community. In the open squares people from both quarters gather over music, a fresh bounty of fish dishes from the repaired ships, sea shanties sung loudly over various types of liquor and beautiful displays by wild magic entertainers, pairing water, wind, and fire magic to create visual plays, displays of talent, and melting ice sculptures. Didymos' specialty of sweet and salty ice creams are offered by various inventive food fanatics who offer up new and exciting flavors and naming competitions. A pair of young ox calves are paraded through the town, dressed up with ribbons and colorful paints. People pet them as they go by, and the oxen are eventually taken to the temple of the oxen gods near the outskirts of the city where they will live out the rest of their years free from expectations and protected by the temple caretakers as symbolic creatures of honor. In Krimnos as most of the snow is finally cleared away from both sides of the wall, the great sundial is cleared off and the light of the sun's rays reflect off its many-faceted surface, creating dozens of rainbows in the light fog of the warming sky above the city as a colorful artificial aurora borealis. Voda is honored most strongly in the cliff city, the warmth of the sun praised for the thaw that pulls the city out of dangerous freezing temperatures. People throughout the city provide her with offerings in the hopes of ensuring a slow and even thaw that won't bury the city in snow or mudslides. Celebrations across the city happen near midday and are most often celebrated by couples in love and close friends or families, celebrating passion, family, and love with sweets, plants, and crafted goods made of rare metals or glass. Normally celebrations in the City of the Free Peoples revolve around a parade of oxen from local farms, banquets, music, and a celebration of the vastly diverse community of varied cultures with a heavy focus on the rebirth of a new year, the start of a new planting season, and a celebration of the farmers that help keep the city fed and prosperous. This year the city is divided by the conflict between the resistance and the defenders. The city is actively pushing back against the militant hold of force the defenders are attempting to keep over them with the preface of keeping the citizens under control and it is widely assumed Captain Lykos is dead, with the prevailing theory being that the current leaders of the Defenders have killed him. Several members of the resistance broadcast across the city a video of them in possession of Lykos' hooded cloak, claiming they recovered it from the Defenders' warcamp and insisting that the Defenders are the city's enemy. A pair of large orc captains, the duo currently in charge of the city's defensive army, return fire, claiming that the members of the Resistance have kidnapped or killed Captain Lykos and are attempting to destabilize the city so they can take it over for themselves. A hefty reward is placed on the heads of the Resistance and people who speak out against the Defenders are routinely taken into custody and locked up. Before the celebration in Krimnos, during the celebration in Didymos, and following the celebration in the City of the Free Peoples, a strange feline can be seen pacing about the trade district, meowing insistently at anyone with a vial like hers who passes her by. Did you see her? After the full moon on the 19th, several farmers report sightings of werewolves around the city outskirts or report close encounters with the dangerous creatures.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

party up: didymos, day of the celebration
A tendency to show off and utter arrogance is a terrible combination. Because as soon as Strange sees some of the wild magic entertainers, his thought is 'hmm, I can do better.' He's found himself a street corner and, just for the hell of it, is practicing and showing off some of his magic. He has had enough sense to lay a hat down for spare change: Bell the hare sits next to and guards it. Though from the few coins he's received, it's obvious that more people are willing to tip the actual performers who've done things like 'practice their magic in a performance context.'

Still, Strange keeps it up, causing some vines to sprout and flower from the ground or manipulating the air to move a small paper plane around in fun patterns. Though he's not averse to audience participation and occasionally tries to shout down someone for a little bit of help. "You there! This trick is best with someone else, come over here and give me a hand."

technically this is looting: didymos, day of the celebration
The problem with travel is that it uses up money. Having spent a lot of his time going back and forth between Didymos and the City of the Free Peoples, Strange has found that he's slowly depleting what meager funds he has left. He should settle down in Didymos and take up a job...but he doesn't want to do that just yet, not while there's still that interesting matter of the wolf back in the City of the Free Peoples.

Maybe he'll take up a job later this month. Yes, that's probably for the best. He can't help but think of how proud his wife would have been to hear he's actually seeking employment...and how disappointed she'd be that he's resorting to looting in order to make ends meet. Beggars can't be choosers, alright?

The sun has set and Strange is on the beach of Didymos, peering through various crates and pocketing anything that looks slightly valuable. He's a little on edge, to the point where when he hears something or someone move, he almost instantly looks up. "If you want to find something, there's more crates on the other side of the shore. Go look through one of those."

gossip: city of the free peoples, post celebration
Unsurprisingly, the annoyingly open person isn't that good at keeping secrets. Strange has returned to the City of the Free Peoples soon after the festival to the oxen gods but is honestly considering returning back to Didymos. Every time someone mentions Lykos, he finds a wonderful excuse to change the conversation or leave the room. It is not convincing in the slightest.

The most recent conversation involved a very drunk person at the bar of the inn he's staying at, speculating about Lykos's fate in a very loud manner. All the while, Strange just awkwardly stared at his notebook, focusing on his writing in a way that's deliberate as hell. It's only when the man is escorted out that he visibly relaxes.

"Another round," he says, with a little nod to the barkeep. His notes are messy, but legible, and his handwriting is such that someone could easily read it over his shoulder if they wanted to eavesdrop. The alchemical symbol for air takes up a large portion of one page, while the rest is covered in notes about the generation of electricity.

wildcard
Strange is spending most of his free time in the City of the Free Peoples, but he'll spend a few days circa festival time in Didymos. hit me up if you want to plot things!

Shishi smells Strange before he sees him, and for whatever reason, seeing Strange focused on rummaging through some crates seems like the best opportunity he's had yet to practice stalking all day. He's deadly silent as he approaches, but he steps on a stray chunk of wood as he approaches, and it cracks under his weight, giving his otherwise silent presence away. Oops. He freezes as Strange turns to look at him, his paw hovering in mid-air.

Strange can talk at Shishi all he wants, he's just going to pretend that he absolutely was not getting ready to pounce on Strange. He was just raising his paw up to lick it. Yeah. That's right.

For her part, Shura is nowhere to be seen.

Thankfully, a huge fuckoff lion is easy to spot even when it's night. Strange looks over at Shishi...looks down at his crate...and then instantly wonders and worries where Shura is. If her lion is here, then she should be nearby, right? He wouldn't let Bell go anywhere by herself, obviously Shura's line of thought would follow his! And considering how she might want to give payback after he messed with her a little while he was invisible...Strange is a bit more alert now than he was before.

Granted, he's still not good at things like 'searching for others' and 'looking for things in general', so a more alert Strange doesn't necessarily mean much. But it is what it is.

"If you're going to stand there, help me dig. There's a small crate underneath here and I've a feeling it's valuable." He has absolutely no idea what the hell's in that crate.

Fortunately(?) for Strange, Shura doesn't (usually) hold grudges for petty things. Her vengeance came in the form of twisting his wrist, and that was enough for her. Probably. Either way, there's still no sign of her. Shishi is on his own, and he doesn't look too worried.

Whether or not Strange really expects Shishi to understand, the lion will move in, taking his sweet time sniffing the sand that Strange has overturned, even going so far as to paw in the spot Strange is working on, as if he is trying to dig. He looks to Strange, staring at him with an expression that might be expectant, but he's also a cat and that just might be his usual expression.

Does this dumb animal not know how to dig? Strange gives Shishi a look like he's a total idiot before he starts explaining, in a tone of voice that assholes use to explain something that really, you should know already.

"You take your paw and you use it to push away the dirt, like this." Strange takes his hand, moves it down into the sand, and pushes some sand away from the crate he's trying to dig up. "That's called digging."

He knew the lion was big and ate everything under the sun, but was he stupid as well? It's digging, everybody knows how to dig, it's instinctual or some nonsense like that.

Hm, yes. Digging. Like the thing Shishi does to hide his shit. Shishi is so incredibly impressed by Strange's lecture and demonstration, Shishi will take the moment to lay down, right over Strange's precious buried crate. Good luck trying to move him.

Strange just pauses before giving Shishi a look that's pure 'really? really dude.' What an amazingly unhelpful lion.

"That's not what I wanted you to do and you knew it," Strange scoffs. "Now please, move."

He does not have nearly enough physical strength to move the lion himself. So, Strange has to settle for pointing in the other direction and giving Shishi what he hopes is an impressive stare.

WOW WHAT A STARE. Shishi is very impressed. One might think Strange was going to do something about this. The lion rolls onto his back, reaching a paw out to bat at Strange's hand. Look! He means no harm! This isn't a trap at all!!

Meanwhile, at some food stall not far from the shore, Shura realizes that her animas is taking an awfully long time to do his business. It isn't that she's afraid that someone will try to capture or hurt him, but Shura remembers how Shishi lost a fight with a hermit crab not all too long ago. Better go and investigate, following the lion's footprints on the sand.

What a dumb lion.

Strange pauses, looks over at Shishi...then sighs before he goes to rub the lion's belly. This might be a very obvious trap but maybe if he rubs the lion's belly and tries to push him aside then Shishi will get off of the box? Maybe? He can only hope.

"Move."

Heck yeah, tummy rubs!! While Shishi wasn't aiming for that, he'll happily take it. That is, he'll take it until Strange shoves him, and that's just an invitation to play. Shishi wraps his paws around Strange's arm, and he's opening his mouth wide, about to gently bite down, but he stops suddenly. In the distance, the shrill sound of someone whistling can be heard, and Shishis's ears turn towards the sound. For a moment he's very still, then he's releasing Strange and moving to his feet in a quick motion. Strange gets access to his precious treasure back. Shishi is too busy making a weird barking sort of noise to care about Strange, the tip of his tail flicking excitedly. If Strange looks in the direction Shishi's looking towards, he'll eventually see Shura coming towards them.

"So noisy! You're going to get in trouble like that, hairball." A pause, then, "Strange?"

"Shura!" Man, Strange is happy to see her. Not just because now that she's here, she can deal with her ridiculous lion but also because he just likes being around her in general. He gives Shura a wide smile, which is almost instantly undercut by the fact that he's a little dirty.

"The tide's washed up a few crates thanks to that whole business with the pit. I want to see what's inside." And possibly sell what's inside, but that's neither here nor there. "Care to help me dig this one out? There's two small ones over here and you can have first pick."

That stupid grin is almost charming, even if he is a dumb, dirty elf. It’s possible that Shura’s spent too much time around teenage boys. Shishi waits until Shura’s closer before he trots on over to her, rubbing against her legs and making a contented growly sort of sound.

“This is what you’ve been doin’?” Shura asks the lion, tugging on his ear. Shishi seems happy to get any sort of attention and rumbles louder. Shura turns her attention to Strange, looking over his pile of sand.

“You’d think they all would have been looted by now,” she replies. Did she want to get down in the sand and get as dirty as Strange was? Not really. But she remembers the flute, and it might be worth it. She moves to crouch down beside Strange, and Shishi follows, very determined to keep in contact with her.

"You'd think. However, when the waters returned, it brought things back with it." Things including crates. Strange returns to digging, using his hands to help move smaller amounts of dirt but using magic to help remove anything larger that he can't carry with two hands.

And, in pure Strange form, he's talking all the while.

"I can't help but wonder if these were originally owned by whoever captured some of our number or if they're washed up due to shipwrecks or something of the sort. I've found bits of whalebone and plenty of spoiled fish but not much of use yet."

Jonathan Strange | ota

looting

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