OPEN ★ ARRIVAL LOG

[futurologists]

ARRIVALS ( OCT 2 ) The dragons are taken from you, sent off to a safe haven. You're back in Oska for less than a day when you hear the announcement and head to the rendezvous point. You blink, step through the portal, there's a loud crack, and... You're thrown into darkness. You taste copper and, for a moment, your ears won't stop ringing. All common side-effects of portal travel. The entire crew arrives just beyond the city gates, so you might also be feeling a little bit claustrophobic. It takes a second for the eyes to adjust, but one can make out buildings and the cobblestone beneath their feet. To the right is the Trade District, where all the vendors are gathered to sell their wares. Up ahead is the City Square, where the rest of the citizens out and about seem to be gathered. To the left of the square is the Commoners' District, and to the right of it is the Nobles' District, the two main residential areas. Further travel west will come to the outskirts, a makeshift residential area, this one densely populated with goblins. Many of the people are holding candles or lanterns. You might want to try getting your hands on one of those. If you have not already done so, your enchanted jewelry will manifest words in front of your very eyes — or sounds in your ear, if you're illiterate — asking you to identify yourself. A quick look around shows that you seem to be the only one able to see it. All you have to do is think or say how you wish to be identified. After that, you're immediately given a message. Those who participated in the dragon mission at Anwick will first receive this: We appreciate your help at Anwick. The wyrmlings will live to grow up and bring about the world's natural end. Thank you. -- ALASTAIR Afterwards, the crew will be given an abridged version of this, then told to familiarize themselves with the city and natives, report all information gathered back to ALASTAIR, and wait for further instruction. At the end of the night, wherever they may be, everyone will receive a letter with the royal seal thanking them for their efforts to end the goblins' defiance and inviting them to the Festival of Illumination on the 4th. FESTIVAL OF ILLUMINATION ( OCT 4 ) Candles are sitting on windowsills throughout the entire city, but the main event is in the city square. In the fountain float lit lotuses, and people all around are holding lanterns, waiting to light them. There's a minstrel playing songs, and several of the vendors have pulled their carts up to the square in the hopes of making a sale. Many sweets are for sale, including baked apples, gingerbread, cherry tarts, pudding, and more. There's also some drinks for sale. Some children are playing games in the corner, and others are dancing to the music or writing wishes on slips of paper to be sent into the sky with their lanterns. Everyone seems merry for once, but you'd better be careful. This is an ideal place for a pickpocket. About an hour and a half into the festival, the lanterns are sent into the sky. They're sent flying, the sky becoming filled with bright lights, until... A strong gust of wind sends all the lights out. At least, you think it was a gust of wind. What else could have done that? On closer inspection, however, you'll see that even the candles sitting on windowsills inside have gone out. For a minute or so, there's only darkness and chaos. Suddenly, the flames begin to burn again, revealing a message in the cobblestone in the center of the square. It almost looks as if it's been burned into the ground: IT IS COMING, followed by a symbol of a creature with a lion's head, goat's body, and serpent's tail. [MOD NOTE: This is a catch-all log for the first few days. For the sake of organization, all arrival threads should be posted under the subheader ARRIVALS and all festival threads should be posted under FESTIVAL. Threads that don't fall under either of those categories can be top-levels. Also, please remember to add your character's tag to the post! Thank you, and have fun!]

Comments

[becauses]

[ She actually expects houses of worship to be reasonably sober, because most houses of worship are her dad's and her dad is kind of a joyless dick. She gives the walls a second pass, looking for anything that might give her information about Ydite's role in this hatching, then turns back to the goblin who let her in. ]

Is everything quiet here, grandfather? [ She says grandfather with such respect that it's clearly meant as an honorific, not an insult. But what she wants to know is if the lights went out here, preferably without accidentally feeding him an answer by mentioning that the lights went out elsewhere. ]

[futurologists]

As quiet as quiet can be.

[He smiles softly.]

It's what our people hoped for. We feared there might be violence against our kind today.

[becauses]

[ Damn. The darkness was localized at the festival, then, unless the old goblin is a damn good liar and willing to gamble with the lives of children and the elderly. She wants to keep querying him about his faith... but she's concerned about how the cityfolk might react to being threatened at their own festival. She needs them to either get somewhere safe faster than a human mob can assemble, or to start shoring this place up. ]

There still might be, grandfather, [ she says grimly. ]

Something unseen snuffed out all the lights at the festival. When they came back, this -- [ she pulls a slip of paper from her skirt, with a quickly but reasonably accurately traced charcoal drawing of the lion-goat-serpent ] -- was blazing on the cobblestones.

[futurologists]

[He studies the picture for a moment.]

A chimera. A creature of legend. Not quite a lion, yet not a goat or a serpent either. It is many things, but it belongs nowhere.

[The elder looks up at her now.]

That's all I know of the creature. As far as I know, it does not exist.

[becauses]

[ Belongs nowhere in the way that humans seemed to think that goblins should belong nowhere? Belonged nowhere in the sense that a human-goblin halfbreed might belong nowhere?

There would be time enough for that later. Right now, she wanted to be sure that this group would stay safe. ]

Thank you, grandfather. [ There's a little bit of disappointment in her voice -- it would have been so nice if he had been able to connect the symbol to a culprit -- but there's real gratitude in it for his explanation. ] It's helpful that the humans won't connect the chimera to your people directly, but... [ She shakes her head, dark, tight curls swinging with the little gesture. ] Some of them will blame you regardless. Can you move somewhere safer?