Day 3: Morning

[wizardseason]

Morning: 6:00am - 12:00noon

[ IRL Timeframe: April 22nd - April 29th May 8th, 2019 ]

It's the third day and, in striking comparison to day two, it is not a bright and sunny morning. The day begins for every hero with an unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar place in an unfamiliar time.

When your characters check their phones, clocks, calendars, or any other timekeeping implement they'll find that the year is 00 AW, forty years before the present day. The year before the Wizard's first game was held, the year before it came down to only two knights and the Princess facing off against the Wizard. It was before all of it.

Everywhere your characters go, there are no people. Their devices will not connect to the internet outside of the island, their companions will not appear, the Protector will not answer, but they can text each other without difficulty. If groups in the same city try to find each other, they will find that some kind of mystical plot barrier is keeping them from finding each other. A wrong turn, a locked door, a lost connection. Somehow, they're kept apart. All the support they have is who they woke up with. Oddly, everyone wakes up in their normal day-to-day clothing rather than pajamas.

There have to be answers somewhere, but where?

Third Morning Event: All Cities: The Past.

---

The Weather

• Eerily still.
• 64°F / 18°C
• The trees are unmoving, there is no wind.

---

Prompts:

• 6:30am Spa Hotel, Bamborough: Two sets of heroes wake up in the Spa Hotel in Bamborough. Garrot wakes up in the same room as Olivia. On the far side of the Spa hotel, in one of the waterfront cabins, Haizea and Joanna wake up in the same room. The hotel is empty, but every room is unlocked. Food's still in the dining areas, too. Oddly, things look like they were in use around the Hotel. Carts in the middle of hallways, half-eaten meals on tables, bags halfway up staircases. Odd.


• 6:30am Lodge Cots, Craydon: The Craydon lodge isn't much, but it's a spanning complex of cabins that maximize occupancy by filling them with cots for that "outdoor camping" experience. Rory and Gail will wake up in one of the cabins near the base of the mountain. On the furthest edge of the lodge, Gyre and Seth will wake up in their top-level cots higher up the mountain. There are a few campfires going with meat roasting over them, piles of raw meat to the side ready to cook, and various festivities left laying around. It's almost like everyone up and left all at once, but where did they go?


• 6:30am Cozy Inn, Far Haven: Far Haven's 'Cozy Inn' promises the 'small town feeling' in the middle of the big city. The inside is exactly that, a very cozy little hotel with three floors of rooms and a covered walkway with a glass floor over a garden into another section of the hotel. Zafika and Web will wake up in a room on the first floor nearest the train station exit of the cozy inn. No doors are locked here and it looks as if things were left strewn about like the people just teleported out of here. Terrence, Matilda, and Luka wake up in the glass walkway above, in sleeping bags. They'll find that the only way out goes to the cozy inn's far building, they'll have to go through a spanning cafeteria space with tons of empty tables that, strangely, look like they were just in use. Plates with half-full, or even untouched plates sit around on every table and there are even jackets draped over some chairs, purses on the ground. The city outside is much the same, vehicles just stopped in the middle of the street with no drivers, things dropped on the ground. What happened...?


• 9:30am, Exploration, Bamborough, Craydon, Far Haven: The scene is much the same in all three cities. When the heroes make their way outside, they'll notice that the sky above Harsen Island is a massive vortex centered over the mountain in the middle of the island. Heroes in Craydon will get to see it a little closer, the massive clouds occasionally crackling with blue lightning. All three cities have glowing cracks in the ground in various places, the cracks lead all around, some larger, some smaller, maybe there's something to be found? There are large glowing obelisks that are floating over each city and outside of them, they occasionally float down near the ground enough to touch or look closer at. Once the heroes make their way out into the streets, they might start seeing glimpses of a Wizard hat in the distance but each time it passes behind a wall or into shadow and is gone. Maybe they can catch up? Maybe your hero takes a moment to search through local news, the paper, letters, a television station. What's going on in the city right now?

---

Procedure:

Reply to the appropriate toplevel comments for events below. Indicate if a post is a private conversation with "Private" in the subject otherwise all threads should be open to interaction with others. Plan OOCly how you'd like to toss everyone around.

Important: 'Exploration' toplevels will unlock additional information as items in their descriptions are explored. If your character explores a feature, write [Character explores ____] at the end of your tag and send a ping on Discord to get a reply with further details regarding that item.

Comments

Bamborough

[wizardseason]

6:30am Spa Hotel, Bamborough:

[wizardseason]

Two sets of heroes wake up in the Spa Hotel in Bamborough. Garrot wakes up in the same room as Olivia. On the far side of the Spa hotel, in one of the waterfront cabins, Haizea and Joanna wake up in the same room. The hotel is empty, but every room is unlocked. Food's still in the dining areas, too. Oddly, things look like they were in use around the Hotel. Carts in the middle of hallways, half-eaten meals on tables, bags halfway up staircases. Odd.

Garrot + Olivia

[daddykong]

Mmm... five more minutes... [ Garrot's protests are groggy, and it's not until his leg twitches that he realizes his bed is all of a sudden too short for him. His feet are dangling, which he's not a fan of, and- he's not in his bed? He goes to look at his phone, to see ]

What... the fuck?! [ The words are whispered, because he sees the year, and he sees that someone else is in the other bed. The cute girl from the bar?! But this isn't good- none of this is good. They barely know each other and they're somewhere they shouldn't be so uh

he gets up from the bed carefully and whispers her name. Loudly. He's not trying to be subtle, just less gentle than shouting. ] Psssst, Olivia. Heeeeeey, Olivia! [ And then he gives the blankets on the bed a little tug. He really doesn't want to scare her, since he's a huge, muscular, hairy, clawed beast with jeggings, a black sleeveless hoodie, and contacts instead of glasses. He looks like he was about to spend the morning on a long jog or training or something. At least the hood is down! ]

It's Garrot, are you awake? [ He wants to flop down onto the rest of the bed, but resists the urge. Instead, he gets a little frantic sounding. ] Please wake up...

Haizea + Joanna

[tropicalstorm]

Haizea wakes first, as suddenly she feels supremely uncomfortable. When she opens her eyes, she sees why; she's fully dressed, in jeans and boots and everything. She's literally never been able to sleep like this, and the sheer wrongness of it all makes her shiver a bit until she jumps out of bed.

When she sees Joanna, her eyebrows raise. What on earth happened?

"Hey, uh... Joanna? Joanna, wake up!" she starts of speaking softly, but reaches an tone closer to yelling by the end of that.

9:30am Exploration, Bamborough:

[wizardseason]

The scene is much the same in all three cities. When the heroes make their way outside, they'll notice that the sky above Harsen Island is a massive vortex centered over the mountain in the middle of the island. Heroes in Craydon will get to see it a little closer, the massive clouds occasionally crackling with blue lightning. All three cities have glowing cracks in the ground in various places, the cracks lead all around, some larger, some smaller, maybe there's something to be found? There are large glowing obelisks that are floating over each city and outside of them, they occasionally float down near the ground enough to touch or look closer at. Once the heroes make their way out into the streets, they might start seeing glimpses of a Wizard hat in the distance but each time it passes behind a wall or into shadow and is gone. Maybe they can catch up? Maybe your hero takes a moment to search through local news, the paper, letters, a television station. What's going on in the city right now?

[tropicalstorm]

Eventually, Haizea makes her way out of the hotel and into the street. The vortex sky is the first thing she notices, followed shortly by the cracks in the ground and the floating obelisk. She walks out into the street and squints.

"This town ain't got no business looking like this..." she mutters to herself, before deciding to approach one of the obelisks.

[fauntofwisdom]

With cellphones working - maybe not perfectly, but well enough for all the knights to communicate with each other - Joanna and Haizea split up to search separately. Covering more ground is more effective than searching in a pair, especially since there don't appear to be any other people they can talk with about what's going on.

Joanna begins by pretty literally covering the ground - she goes directly to examining the glowing cracks in the ground, checking for signs that they might be expanding... or that there's anything specific within them causing the glow.

[Joanna explores the cracks in the ground of Bamborough.]

[disguiseself]

[After taking one look out the window, Olivia runs outside, taking in the situation. She bites her hand as she looks around, trying to ground herself and not panic. She probably only has a very vague idea of what had happened in the year she's currently in; she dropped out of high-school and wouldn't really remember the history lessons from when she was younger. Regardless, this is really fucked up. We are not in Kansas anymore.

She doesn't wander too far from the hotel, not wanting to be separated from Garrot just yet. She carefully walks over to one of the cracks in the ground, crouching down to inspect it, ready to jump away if it does anything weird. She leans in a little, trying to see what's going on inside it.]

Craydon

[wizardseason]

6:30am Lodge Cots, Craydon:

[wizardseason]

The Craydon lodge isn't much, but it's a spanning complex of cabins that maximize occupancy by filling them with cots for that "outdoor camping" experience. Rory and Gail will wake up in one of the cabins near the base of the mountain. On the furthest edge of the lodge, Gyre and Seth will wake up in their top-level cots higher up the mountain. There are a few campfires going with meat roasting over them, piles of raw meat to the side ready to cook, and various festivities left laying around. It's almost like everyone up and left all at once, but where did they go?

Rory + Gail

[roaryrory]

Rory yawns loudly and stretches her arms as she wakes up. Somehow visiting the Protector made her rest that much sweeter. She rubs her eyes, and looks around her room... only... it's not her room?! She springs up panicked and quickly spots the centaur still sleeping nearby.

"Gail...? Gail?! Gail!"

Ill-advisedly, she goes to shake him awake. She's freaking out and she needs him to tell her it's just a dream, something, anything! What's going on?!

gyre + seth

[sustainer]

"Gh!" Gyre chokes as he wakes up. He's not where he fell asleep. He doesn't know where he is, but even these cots are too comfortable for him to be able to sleep. He blinks blearily around, shoving himself up onto all fours and looking out the closest window.

"Fuck. Fuck--" he mutters, repeating the word again and again as he realizes how early it is, and stumbles out of bed. He can't be awake right now. There's no way he's going to be able to function like this, and while he registers that Seth is in this foreign room with him, he's going to walk right by him without comment.

And then uh out the door. He needs to find out where he is or else find someplace to sleep. Either will work for him right now.

9:30am Exploration, Crayon:

[wizardseason]

The scene is much the same in all three cities. When the heroes make their way outside, they'll notice that the sky above Harsen Island is a massive vortex centered over the mountain in the middle of the island. Heroes in Craydon will get to see it a little closer, the massive clouds occasionally crackling with blue lightning. All three cities have glowing cracks in the ground in various places, the cracks lead all around, some larger, some smaller, maybe there's something to be found? There are large glowing obelisks that are floating over each city and outside of them, they occasionally float down near the ground enough to touch or look closer at. Once the heroes make their way out into the streets, they might start seeing glimpses of a Wizard hat in the distance but each time it passes behind a wall or into shadow and is gone. Maybe they can catch up? Maybe your hero takes a moment to search through local news, the paper, letters, a television station. What's going on in the city right now?

[sustainer]

Things have been weird enough for Gyre already. He's doing his best to not have a complete out of body experience, but every time he looks at one of these cracks in the ground, he can feel his chest tightening. Everything is wrong.

Everything is wrong and the one familiar thing that isn't deeply painful to him here is the flash of the wizard's hat in the corner of his vision. Suddenly, that's all he wants to focus on. He can process the rest of this later. She'll have more answers then the newspapers do, he's sure, and he darts suddenly after her.

"Hey! Wizard, stop!!" he shouts after her the best he can, his voice catching in his throat before he can call again. Hopefully that was enough to get her attention.

Re: 9:30am Exploration, Crayon:

[roaryrory]

Rory is dizzy from the anxiety in her chest pressing into her ribs, and for the moment she can do nothing but run. This has to be a nightmare, it has to be, there is no way this is happening otherwise. You'd think it would be easier to just keep running if it was a dream though, but that's not the case; she does have to stop eventually, and she falls on her knees next to a crack on the ground. It seems she's made it quite close to the mountain.

She takes a moment to catch her breath and hold her bad knee that's complaining about running so much so soon after her injury. Then the light from the crack brings her back to her senses. Well, that's new, but not the first new thing she's encountered today. Her curiosity beats her nervousness on this one, and she digs up a rock from her pouch to drop into it.

[Rory drops a small rock into a crack.]

Far Haven

[wizardseason]

6:30am Cozy Inn, Far Haven:

[wizardseason]

Far Haven's 'Cozy Inn' promises the 'small town feeling' in the middle of the big city. The inside is exactly that, a very cozy little hotel with three floors of rooms and a covered walkway with a glass floor over a garden into another section of the hotel. Zafika and Web will wake up in a room on the first floor nearest the train station exit of the cozy inn. No doors are locked here and it looks as if things were left strewn about like the people just teleported out of here. Terrence, Matilda, and Luka wake up in the glass walkway above, in sleeping bags. They'll find that the only way out goes to the cozy inn's far building, they'll have to go through a spanning cafeteria space with tons of empty tables that, strangely, look like they were just in use. Plates with half-full, or even untouched plates sit around on every table and there are even jackets draped over some chairs, purses on the ground. The city outside is much the same, vehicles just stopped in the middle of the street with no drivers, things dropped on the ground. What happened...?

Terrence + Matilda + Luka

[fop_lop]

Terrence is one of those people that can become attached to spaces remarkably quickly, the kind that almost feels a twinge of sadness when finally leaving a hotel room they've stayed in for a week at most. So even after only three nights in his place on the island, the knight can immediately tell that something is wrong when consciousness returns to him. Without even opening his eyes, it feels different and wrong.

He slowly rises, taking stock of the room and the other two here with him. The situation itself isn't all that bad, but the fact that they're in here at all seems to remind the rabbit of something. For a moment it looks like his face is about to go a few shades paler (if that were even possible), but he manages to repress whatever is bothering him quickly.

Best not to startle the other two and let them wake on their own terms. At least Terrence doesn't have to worry about where the Princess is!

Zafima + Web

[zafika]

Despite their exhaustion from the previous day, Zafika isn't tired enough to miss the changes in their surroundings, so the moment their sleep becomes light enough, their eyes snap open and they bolt upright. They instinctively reach for a weapon, only to notice that, this indeed isn't their room. They're not even in Craydon anymore. Anxiousness starts to pool in their stomach, they feel their heart hammering against their ribcage as they take in their surroundings and their own state.

They're weirdly enough fully clothed, in their usual day-to-day clothing. Their blindfold is tied around their forearm, and they quickly check the contents of their bag. Weapons, check. Antidotes, check. Trap and lockpicking gear? Check. They have all their usual things, except... the glasses they got from Garrot are missing. Fuck.

Meaning when they hear breathing from the same room, their blindfold is over their eyes in a record time, but right after that they're not moving an inch, and instead listen for other noises. There's only the breathing, and some general noises that come with buildings, but they sound more like... old building noises. The most disturbing fact is how there are absolutely no other noises coming from anywhere, not even outside this building. But they'll get to that soon, now they peek from beneath their blindold at the room again, and spot the other person in there. Wait, they know them! Web, the Rooster Knight. And the person with the vuvuzela from the first day.

They carefully poke at Web's arm with their tail, they don't want to be kicked by those hooves any time soon, but they need them awake as soon as possible.

9:30am Exploration, Far Haven:

[wizardseason]

The scene is much the same in all three cities. When the heroes make their way outside, they'll notice that the sky above Harsen Island is a massive vortex centered over the mountain in the middle of the island. Heroes in Craydon will get to see it a little closer, the massive clouds occasionally crackling with blue lightning. All three cities have glowing cracks in the ground in various places, the cracks lead all around, some larger, some smaller, maybe there's something to be found? There are large glowing obelisks that are floating over each city and outside of them, they occasionally float down near the ground enough to touch or look closer at. Once the heroes make their way out into the streets, they might start seeing glimpses of a Wizard hat in the distance but each time it passes behind a wall or into shadow and is gone. Maybe they can catch up? Maybe your hero takes a moment to search through local news, the paper, letters, a television station. What's going on in the city right now?

[eutychia]

The first thing Luka notices is the absolute stillness of the city outside. Save for the rumbling of distant thunder, Far Haven is eerily quiet. Absent is the droning hum of industrial factories, or the roaring engines of planes overhead.

This would be great for his hangover, Luka thinks, if it wasn't so fucking creepy. As he tentatively explores further out, he picks up on the presence of the glowing cracks spread across the streets, pulsating with light.

Luka crouches close to the ground to inspect one of the smaller cracks, and, perhaps recklessly, reaches down to run his fingers along it's shape.

"What the fuck?" He whispers softly under his breath.

Far Haven exploration, Zafika + Web

[zafika]

For now, Zafika is keeping their blindfold hanging around their neck, as they look around on the streets, trying to ignore that vortex up in the sky over the mountain. Instead, they're paying close attention to the cracks all over the streets and the ground, and walk over to one of them. They fish out one of their normal daggers as they crouch down, lightly poking at the cracks to see if there'll be any form of a reaction.

[Zafika pokes at the cracks with their non-Knight dagger.]

Group Texts

[wizardseason]

If your heroes are texting each other, put those threads here. You can link to these text messages in your comments to show what they're reacting to. This way they're all in one place.

Include a "To: ____" recipients list as the comment subject or "To: All"

To: All, Pinging Luka

[daddykong]

olivia and i woke up in some hotel alone is everything okay @luka does the protector know anything

Available Newspapers

[wizardseason]