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

[fop_lop]

"...Yes, yes you are." Once Matilda finally settles, Terrence kneels down and fiddles with the zipper enough to get it unstuck and release the debutantefly from its cocoon. He's aware of her teleportation, of course, but this early it isn't quite occurring to him that's what she meant.

"I'm alright, at least," he reassures Luka, patting his body down to help convince himself of that fact. At least his suit is clean and his shortsword is still tucked away inside. "I suspect Wizard fuckery is afoot, since I didn't even drink last night..."

[scandeled]

Matilda’s much more easygoing once Terrence has helped her escape from her own personal fortress of solitude. She shimmies out of the sleeping bag, pouting and fluffing her hair and ridiculous buttercream colored skirts. “I’m fine, if not a little chargrained at our current situation.” She lets out a tiny hmph, adjusting her goggles, kicking the sleeping bag out of the way. “I’d never sleep in one of those. So uncomfortable!”

[eutychia]

"Wizard fuckery could explain a lot of things." Luka says, rising to his feet. "Including putting people in sleeping bags with their shoes still on, ugh. Disgusting."

He's poking at his phone a bit with a frown on his face. Did the Wizard put them somewhere with no service? How cruel.

"Glad we're all alive, at least. I think she may have killed my phone though. I can't connect to anything." He says, waving it toward Matilda and Terrence's direction.

[fop_lop]

Taking Luka's cue, Terrence retrieves his own phone and confirms much the same thing with one exception, "Mine is similarly disabled, other than a group text from Garrot. So it seems we can still communicate among one other, at least." After tapping out a response to Garrot, a few more seconds of pocket-patting further confirms another suspicion, "...And it seems I only have the phone provided to me when we arrived, but neither of my personal phones."

Yes, Terrence carries three phones. Doesn't everyone?

[scandeled]

Matilda has to pause and rustle through her pockets to find her phone— they’re stuffed full of various hard candies and miniature chocolate bars, the same way they usually are. “Oh, you’re right. I only have the one as well.” She purses her lips as she taps out her own response. “...I hope no ones worried and can’t contact us.” She says, softly, thinking of her fellow teammates with family to keep in contact with, as she drops down to her knees. It’s not in despair though, as she adjusts her goggles to keep her hair out of her face. She’s peering down into the garden below them with curiosity, looking for any traces of the others.

[eutychia]

Luka investigates the text from Garrot. A good idea, he thought. The Protector was an expert in Wizard-brand fuckery, or at least the closest thing they could get to one. Luka closes his eyes, focuses and attempts to speak with him.

Hey, Protector, what's going on? We woke up in some weird place.

...

When no reply comes, Luka feels his heart sink. This was completely uncharacteristic of him. Somehow the Wizard blocked his contact to the Protector, too. He opens the text again and quickly types out a reply.

"The Protector isn't answering me." He says out loud to his companions.

[fop_lop]

"That is... Troubling," Terrence unhelpfully observes when Luka shares the bad news. The rabbit knight still has his weapon, but Sucecq is nowhere to be seen either - also a bad omen. "One of our companions should have piped up by now as well, I'd think. Do either of you have a weapon or any other personal items?" Matilda and the young CEO have still yet to be formally introduced, but now doesn't exactly seem the right time.

He's already taken a few steps along the walkway towards the nearby deserted dining hall before looking back to the other two, "I'd like to look around, but we really should stay together."

[scandeled]

"And I can't teleport. Holy shit." Well, that was unrefined, and she shoots Terrence a sheepish smile-- oh no, they haven't officially spoken yet, and now she's made an awful first impression and things are just awkward. Her cheeks flush, but she decides to just continue on awkwardly with the crisis at hand instead, and rises back up to her feet, lowering her goggles down over her eyes again.

"...And probably find the others. I have my phone, and other than that, multitudinous candy." But the copious amount of candy in her pockets probably won't do them any good, unless they decide to pull a Hansel and Gretel stunt.

[eutychia]

"I just have my phone, and the clothes on my back, I guess." Luka says, still trying to connect to the internet with futility. "I won't be much help with looking around but maybe if a monster appears, I can feel it? Who knows, though, if the Protector's going silent and Matilda can't teleport..."

He trails off, letting the helplessness of the situation sink in.

"Let's definitely stick together. I don't want to be wandering around alone and lost... wherever we are."

[fop_lop]

Hooking one thumb along the edge, Terrence pulls open one breast of his suit jacket to display his shortsword stashed beneath, in a sheath strapped to him via some rather snazzy tacticool nylon webbing.

"I'm still armed, so we're not completely defenseless at any rate," he offers, trying to sound somewhat chipper. "Though I suspect that I cannot..." he starts, mostly to himself, while placing his palms together and closing his eyes. Even after concentrating for a moment or two, nothing appears to happen. "...I thought not. My ability is uncooperative as well." The knight sighs and takes a few steps forward before whirling on his heel to face Matilda.

"I don't suppose you have any chocolate?"

[scandeled]

"We'll stick together!" Matilda says, her voice gaining some energy and enthusiasm as she nods cheerfully at Luka. Without a rapier, she's not much help-- even with one, she's not much help. But if she can reassure the Princess, that makes her a good and useful knight, right?!

She peers at Terrence's sword curiously, admiring the setup. Fashionable and convenient! "We'll just be careful until we find the others then!" She says, before twisting her mouth into a curious expression. "Chocolate?" There's a brief pause, as if she's confused, then she giggles and bursts into a grin.

"Of course I do! Not whole bars, those are in my bag, but--" She beams, and sure enough, she's got fucking fun size candy-bar squares in her pockets that she pulls out and holds to him. Who does that?!

[eutychia]

Luka taps his chin. "So what's the chocolate for? Just snacking or does it have some arcane purpose I'm not picking up on?"

He dusts off his clothes and slides his phone into the back pocket of his pants, finally accepting it's not going to give him much information.

"Either way we should try to find this hotel that Olivia and Garrot are in. Strength in numbers, right?"

[fop_lop]

"Chocolate is delicious," Terrence replies matter-of-factly before unwrapping one of the offered sweets and popping it into his mouth. Little weird, sure, and they might end up a tad melty and/or smushy, but as long as they're still wrapped who cares? He takes a moment to savor the flavor before continuing, "Sensible! They may even be in the same hotel, though we'd likely have heard one another by now." Between Matilda's tantrum and Garrot's... Garrot-ness, there's almost no way the sound wouldn't carry through the otherwise empty building.

Being the only one armed, the rabbit knight takes it upon himself to take point, leading the other two into the connected dining area. The look of the place - as if suddenly abandoned in the middle of the day by an entire city's worth of people - is unnerving to say the least, but not as much as what Terrence spots next on some of the myriad newspapers strewn about the tables and floor. At first, he's simply confused, but then checking a few more to verify that it's not just a fluke... And then a few more to determine that this is incredibly elaborate if it is a fluke... And then just a few more to double-check...

"Two... Thousand six?"

[scandeled]

Matilda flushes at Luka’s question, smiling sheepishly and fiddling with her goggles. “It’s... a habit. I know someone who really loves sweets.” ....Loves sweets enough that Matilda would carry it everywhere, but she doesn’t dwell on that. Instead, she nods at Terrence’s enthusiasm. “And, as he said— it’s delicious!” A little sweet for her, though. Still, she’s more than content to nod in agreement and trail after Terrence, keeping her eyes peeled for trouble.

When he speaks, she’s the first to roll her eyes, scooping up the nearest newspaper. “That’s ridiculous. That’s before I was even—“ Her eyes lock onto the date. “Why are there so many old newspapers? Creepy.”

[eutychia]

"That can't be a coincidence. It's when the Wizard first appeared, right? Maybe these newspapers are some kind of clue as to what's going on and where we are. You know how she loves to play games like this."

Luka feels around for a newspaper atop a nearby table. "What do they say? Anything interesting? Besides being decades old."

[fop_lop]

"The front page stories are all... Speculation about Harsen or other strange events just before the Wizard's first appearance..." Terrence trails off before he can continue, distracted with taking another look around the dining hall.

Some things never really go out of style and most clothing went with the vanished guests, but what's left behind is rather 'last year' to say the very least. Then there's plenty of personal effects lying around, but not a single phone or laptop..? The rabbit knight feels a sudden rush of nausea as his mind hops to an uncomfortable suggestion.

"She couldn't have... Actually sent us there..? Then, rather..?"