Day 3: Morning

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Web can easily stumble upon one or more available newspapers strewn about in shops or newspaper boxes around Far Haven. Despite not being on any country's side, Harsen Island has made available papers from all the countries in the world. Gotta keep up with what's going on!

Oddly there's nothing from any of the current inhabitants, no notes, no panic, no memos, nothing. Just the morning's printed papers.

Zafika, on the other hand, gets treated to a truly spectacular sight. When their dagger touches to the glowing cracks, there's a loud crackle of electricity that travels up into their dagger. A moment later it's glowing the same blue as the cracks, pulsing with an odd energy. The moment they pull it away, though, the glow immediately goes away and the dagger no longer feels like it's filled with static electricity in their hand.

Zafika reels back at the crackling of electricity, and reels back as it travels up their dagger, turning it blue just like the cracks. They can feel the static electricity in the blade, but when they remove the dagger to inspect it closer, the glow disappears and their dagger returns back to normal, making them frown. Well, that's odd.

Then, possibly the stupidest idea strikes them. This is stupid. This is so stupid, and possibly reckless, and they're 100% aware of how stupid and reckless it is. But it sure as hell isn't going to stop them. Tapping at the blade of their dagger they make sure it's normal before they put it back to their bag. And then uh. They touch the crack on the ground with their bare hand. Just straight up put it inside a wider bit of the crack.

[Zafika puts their hand inside the fucking crack on the ground.]

The newspapers don't look that old, but those dates...this isn't happening. This is a prank, right? But folks know better than to pull this kind of prank on the Knights, Web is pretty sure. Party vans at all hours of the morning, that's fine, but this is too much. So, assuming this is true - well, for one, it means folks are going to come back eventually. Hopefully.

For another, it means more Wizard shenanigans than usual because they've traveled through time, what the fuck.

Web is pretty sure this isn't gonna end well, so they grab the nearest newspaper (a Farida one) and run for it. Alas, a little while out of the shop, they let out an undignified "mehhhh!" of distress as they trip over a crack. Normally this wouldn't happen to them, but they are a bit distressed over traveling through time, so...

[Web is freaking out over time travel. They also took a Farida newspaper for further study.]

Zafika will get treated to something truly odd. When their hand settles into the crack, the wind picks up and starts wisping over them as they crackle with electricity. Their hair starts to stand up on end, their clothing crackles everywhere the air rustles it, and they feel like they're filled with energy (but not the kind they could use, just like they were holding it for someone else).

If they take their hand away, they'll return to normal. But the wind will continue, it's blowing from up the hill and through the trees. What's causing that?

Web, meanwhile, won't find much more in the newspaper. It's mostly all articles in the same tone and subject of the front page. The world's mostly in a panic over just about everything. Some countries ready for war, others trying to understand the world. The only thing that's certain is that nothing is certain. Their foot feels like it tapped something filled with static electricity when they trip on the crack, but they fall away from it.

Zafika had expected something like this, but they only barely avoid the knee-jerk reaction of yanking their hand away and reeling back, while their scales bristle at the odd feeling of their body being filled with energy.

They're relieved it seems harmless enough, but it's not exactly the most pleasant thing, it's making them restless, so they do take their hand away. Only to notice that, while they definitely return back to normal, there's still that strong wind coming from up the hill. Odd.

"Web...! Hey, come here for a second!" As they call out to them they stand back up, and looking around some more. They're tempted to see where that wind is coming from, but only if Web is okay with coming with them.

"Oof...yeah, sure, second," they garble as they right themselves. Static electricity on your hoof is really weird, 0/10, don't want to experience again. Newspaper in hand, they make their way back to Zafika.

"What's up? Aside from, uh, apparently some dang time travel, that is." They don't know how to break this gently, okay.

Zafika's hand moves towards their blindfold for a moment, before they still it just before they can touch it, and lower it back down. They can't exactly wear it in this situation, no matter how much they'd like to.

So they turn to look at Web, avoiding eye contact... only to have to take a doubletake on what they just heard, their tail starting to wrap around their leg. "Time... no, okay, first... a good thing is, these cracks don't seem dangerous. I touched one and it sort of, covered and filled me with static electiricity and this weird energy but, it disappeared the moment I stopped touching it. Though it also summoned this wind that is still up and I was thinking of seeing where it was coming from but... what did you say about time travel?"

"Yeah, same thing happened to my hoof when I tripped on one of 'em. Didn't get the wind, though, that's new. Probably is worth investigating, but first..."

For what it's worth, Web isn't taking the lack of eye contact personally. They are, however, gesturing with the rolled up newspaper, attempting to hand it over to Zafika. "Check the date. I don't think it's a fake. Every last newspaper I found in the shop had the same date on it, you can go check if you don't believe it." They shake their head in bewilderment. "Wizard's really done it this time."

Zafika luckily is looking at Web, just not into their eyes, so they do see the offered newspaper, and quickly take it to check the date. And, alright, that's... that's fourty years ago, what the hell!?

They fish out their phone from their bag to check the date from it, and yep, even there it's the same year. They also notice a bunch of messages, and quickly respond to them before they put their phone away again. "Okay... fourty years in the past huh...? Seems like most of the other Knights and the Princess are in the same situation... but for now, I think we should do some more investigating. So how about we check where this wind is coming from? Could be nothing or we could find out more, but I think it'd be worth a try at least."

Web wasn't even a horribly-named twinkle in their parents' eyes yet. It's enough to make them a little nauseated, honestly. Their parents are in this timeline, but at the same time, they're not on the island -

The thought occurs to them that maybe, just maybe, nobody checked the woods...but they're not going to bother with that line of thought. They don't want to think about it. Their fur's already fluffing up from how not okay with this they are.

So it's time to focus on what Zafika's got planned, and they nod carefully. "Sounds like a plan. Though, uh, mind the woods near the mountain. That's where my parents should be living. Long as we keep to any paths, we should be fine, but it's - it's a concern."

"Your parents...? Alright, I have no idea where in the woods they'd be but, I'll stay alert in case we hear anyone, don't worry." Zafika reassures Web, before they motion them to follow as they head towards the source of this strange wind. But, they can't fully focus on their new 'mission', they're distracted by their own thoughts.

40 years in the past... if they'd get stuck to this time, no one would know them. No one would know what they've done, they could-
They stop the thought before they can finish it, sick to their stomach that they would even consider something like that. This isn't time for selfishness, they're a Knight for fuck's sake!

[Zafika heads into the woods with Web, looking for the source of the strange wind.]

Zafika and Web's trek into the woods rewards them with two things. The first, off to the left, is a low-floating obelisk making its way between some trees about a foot off the ground. It occasionally slows, shifting around trees before it continues. For the most part it's moving in a straight line.

The other thing they find is more wind. The wind picks up, getting louder and faster on all sides the closer to the mountain they go. If they press on towards the mountain, they'll start feeling electricity spark and crackle through them. It doesn't hurt, but the sounds and suddenness of it will definitely be startling.

Which way will they both go?

Zafika stops when they see that obelisk, and the first thing that comes to their mind when they see it, is that they really, really want to follow it. They want to follow it so bad, but they still want to see where this wind is coming from and they can't do both at the same time.

But there's also two Knights here. They don't want to split up, that's the worst decision ever, in anything and everything that could be dangerous, but curiosity is eating them alive. "Hey, Web... I'm not the only one seeing that obelisk, right?"

They wait for a confirmation, before they speak again. "What do you think we should do? Floating, moving obelisks aren't normal, but... neither is this wind. Do you want to risk splitting up?"

Web shakes their head and confirms what Zafika is seeing. "Yep, that's a floating obelisk. If you're seeing things, I'm seeing things too."

At the suggestion to split up, Web shakes their head again, hard enough this time to make their ears flap a bit. "Bad idea. Going off alone is how you get dead. Though both of these things are interesting...hmmm. Got a coin or something we can flip to decide?"

It seems like a reasonable enough solution to them.

"Okay, if we both see the same thing then I doubt we're hallucinating..." Besides, Zafika can't notice any other symptoms that would go with hallucinogenic poisons or drugs.

They are glad that Web agrees on splitting up being a bad idea, because nothing good would come out of that. "Yeah, absolutely not splitting up, we don't know what's going on nor do we know if we could regroup again...."

Flipping a coin however? Well, that's not exactly ideal for Zafika. So, instead, their tail grabs a regular dagger from their bag, and they carve a big 'X' onto the ground next to where they're standing. "Okay, obelisk first... we might lose sight of it if we don't hurry and I want to know what's going on with it... we can try looking for the source of this wind afterwards, but at least we know for sure that it's coming from the mountain."

Web nods at this solution to their problem, while also gesturing at a nearby tree. "Mind marking that tree, too? A mark on the ground is fine, but it might get blown away. A backup wouldn't hurt - just a line, and we'll be off."

They keep their eyes peeled for any notable terrain features, as well, just to be on the safe side.

[Web's trying to find landmarks so they don't get lost!]

Zafika raises their brow the tiniest bit, and look at the 'X' they've carved to the ground. It's really, really deep, it won't be easy to blow off but... fine, they'll do it. So, they mark up the tree Web is pointing at, cutting a vertical line to the bark of the tree.

Once it's been marked, they head after the obelisk, making sure to stick close to Web just so they won't lose them. They're not risking any more weird bullshit happening that could keep them from finding each other again.

[Zafika heads after the moving obelisk to investigate it from up close.]

The woods are pretty easy to leave a trail in, but the Obelisk's path is anyone's guess. It isn't moving overly fast, though, so pursuing it isn't a problem. The 'X' stays put where they've left it, conveniently marks in the ground don't just up and walk away so it'll be right where they've left it.

When they get within ten feet of the obelisk, Zafika gets the first surprise. A child's voice speaks up far, far too close in their ear. It's like they're right beside Zafika, but if they whip around to look: There's no one, only the wind.

"Are we playing hide and seek?"

Web doesn't get left out, though, because less than thirty seconds after Zafika hears the child's voice (and Web doesn't hear that voice), Web gets a child of their own whispering in their ear (that Zafika can't hear). The child sounds like they're directly beside Web's ear, but if they look there's no one.

"Are you looking for me?"

This time, Web really does bleat from surprise, and they very nearly fall over as they whirl around, trying to find the source of the voice.

There is none.

"...Zafika, did you hear that?"

Zafika, meanwhile, has had a bit more aggresive reaction to their own creepy kid. They didn't hear anyone approaching them, so when there's a sudden voice right next to their ear, their tail lashes at the air behind them as they whirl around to look who the hell it is, hand jerking towards their bag before they manage to stop it, but they're at least not grabbing a dagger. Yet.

But when they turn around, there's no one behind them. They only get a little bit of confusion, before they hear a bleat from beside them, clearly coming from Web however and less threatening too, thank heavens. Their question, however, makes them think that Web heard the same voice too, since they didn't hear their creepy kid. "Yeah, I did... first floating obelisks, and now creepy kids? Fuck this bullshit..." they mutter, and quickly pick up the pace to catch up with the obelisk, their tail carefully tugging Web to follow before letting them go.

[Zafika hurries towards the obelisk, in weird hopes that investigating it would get the creepy kid's voice to leave them alone.]

Unfortunately the child isn't going to be ignored and they're definitely not going to go away. They're right there again, whispering as two voices simultaneously in both Web and Zafika's ears. One voice is in their left ears, the other voice in their right ears.

"Look, you found me!"
"Look inside, it's me!"

And sure enough, when Zafika and Web get close enough to look past the smooth, crystalline surface of the huge obelisk: It's a child. It's hard to make out any details, but their dark hair is definitely some kind of cool color. Purple? Blue? But they look asleep, eyes closed as they're floating within the crystal.

"That's a kid -"

Without thinking, Web reaches out to touch the obelisk, trying to find some kind of opening, a hinge, some way to get that kid out of there.

[Web is an idiot and touched the obelisk!]

Zafika's hands snap up to cover their ears, and they make a tiny, quiet hiss as they step backwards from the obelisk, glaring around at the voice. 'You found me'? What does that-

Then they look at the obelisk properly, and freeze to place for a moment. A kid!? Why the hell is there a kid inside this obelisk!? They have the same stupid reaction as Web does, and get close enough to the obelisk to touch it and peer inside properly, trying to get a better look at the child inside it.

[Zafika joins Web in being an idiot, and touches the obelisk too, trying to peer inside it better.]

Unfortunately for both Zafika and Web, nothing happens when they touch the Obelisk. They're left with this giant rock still slowly floating away from them with a child inside of it. The worst part is that it's now starting to float up and off of the ground, it was about a foot off the ground before and now it's up to a foot and a half. It won't be long before it's two, three, and... well, it's on some kind of path.

But the voices in Web and Zafika's ears come back separately. This time it's one voice each, in one ear.

"Are you a hero?" The voice asks only in Zafika's right ear.

"Will you do the right thing?" The voice asks only in Web's left ear.

The right...thing?

"...Well, I'll try my best, voice in my left ear," Web replies. They look over at Zafika briefly, then at the slowly rising obelisk.

"Think we ought to turn back now, or hang on to this thing and see where it goes?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Day 3: Morning

Morning: 6:00am - 12:00noon

The Weather

Prompts:

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