Day 4: Morning

[wizardseason]

Morning: 6:00am - 12:00noon

[ IRL Timeframe: July 3rd - July 10th July 17th, 2019 ]

If any hero was expecting day four to be anything but absolutely bananas, they'd been living in a dream bubble. Fortunately for everyone, they wake up where they fell asleep the previous night. Unfortunately, though, everyone receives a decidely rude awakening at 6:06am.

An earthquake.

No part of the island is safe, everywhere and everything starts shaking and rumbling. Roads split, the train tracks bend, buildings fracture, buildings collapse...

...and bright, glowing blue fissures open up in the ground.

No city is safe from their new feature, but in every single city it's clear that the cracks are coming from a specific source. In Far Haven, the cracks lead west to Craydon. In Bamborough, the cracks lead east to Craydon. In Craydon, though, the cracks lead directly north up the mountain. They gradually narrow the further up the mountain you go, where do they end?

Heroes will, of course, not be able to immediately see this pattern. How are they going to find out about it? Social Media won't be buzzing about it until noon at the earliest!

But that won't be the only thing social media is buzzing about by noon. It looks like Web is nowhere to be found. A concerned local not a stalker reports the missing knight and there's quickly a deep discussion about it. Death? Ran away? Kidnapped? Abducted by aliens? No one knows. There's no body. There's nothing. Where'd Web go?

Fourth Morning Event: All Cities: The Quake.

---

The Weather

• Eerily still.
• 64°F / 18°C
• Despite the quake, there's a nice breeze.

---

Prompts:

• 6:06am Earthquake, Everywhere: Every town has fallen victim to an earthquake. The damage is unthinkable. Cars aren't moving anymore, roads and paths are obstacle courses, and everything inside has fallen over. It was a big one! Fortunately the citizens are out almost immediately to begin rescue and repair efforts. No matter where the heroes go, there'll be someone to help, something to do, or help to be offered. Do you need saving, or will you be saving others?


• 7:45am Train Station, Far Haven: Social media is going absolutely crazy. There's a MONSTER here! There's a monster in the train station!! Numerous pictures are posted of a Child-shaped monster with ten eyes instead of a face. Today, however, he's wearing a pair of black athletic shorts, some flip-flops, and a T-Shirt that says "I'm with Stupid" on the front and an arrow that trails around to the back of the shirt where it says "You're Stupid". At the train tracks, he's going one rail tie at a time repairing them to get the tracks straightened and fixed again. What's the deal???


• 08:00am International Cabin of Crepes, Bamborough: As if Social Media wasn't buzzing enough about the monster in Far Haven, it explodes again when the Wizard arrives at ICoC for breakfast. Several servers post that she asked for "the family table" and she invited all the knights and the princess to join her. Breakfast. Her treat. Anyone who comes to visit will find her sitting at the head of the biggest table, sipping a mug of coffee.


• 11:00am Mountain Base, Craydon: [Exploration] Several hikers have returned from up the mountain, reporting that they'd found "strange doors" blocking their path. According to the description they gave, it sounds like the doors can only be opened if one, or more, of the heroes make the climb up the mountain. The cracks go up past the doors, but there's an invisible wall all around the area that stops them from ascending any further. Whatever's going on up the mountain will need some heroic intervention to figure out. Good luck, heroes!

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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

[wizardseason]

It's a perfectly good answer, it's exactly what Ten does every year. But Ten tilts his head as he holds out a hand for one of the ice cream cones and tries to read him for a moment before one-handedly scritching up his response.

"only need one
depends on nine"

[wizardseason]

"It's certainly tougher that letting it be destroyed. That's easy to do." She watches him, curious how he'll react to the grim reminder.

[eutychia]

"Naturally." He responds. "It's always easier to be on the side of evil."

[zafika]

Zafika looks up at Garrot when he slides up next to them, and oh would you look at that, there's a tiny smirk tugging at the corner of their mouth. "Garrot, I'm *aware* you're old, with how often you call everyone here a kid." As he cracks his neck, they don't even blink, and actually go ahead and do just the same!

"I'd say becoming an assassin is... one of the most stupid decisions, at least, but you know what? Sure. Hearing some embarrassing stories could be fun." Especially if they're embarrassing stories about Garrot himself, because somehow they have a feeling that the said embarrassing stories will be so much. "So, once we're down from this mountain and we can have privacy, I'll answer your question and you'll get to share some stories. Does that sound good?"

[wizardseason]

"I'm glad we agree on that." She answers, waiting to see if he catches on that they are definitely not thinking about the same person in this moment.

[eutychia]

"So, you're on my side?" Luka raises an eyebrow. "Or do you admit you're evil?"

[sustainer]

His eyes widen slowly as he takes in what that probably means.

"He can strengthen the monsters...?" he asks slowly, and then jolts up slightly. "He can take our powers?"

[wizardseason]

"I've always been on your side." She answers. Have fun believing or doubting that, Luka.

[eutychia]

"Weird. I'm not sure I agree."

[wizardseason]

The Wizard nods and there's a soft 'pop' in front of Gyre as a mug appears. Inside of it appears to be a meat stew and there's clearly several still-pretty-raw pieces of meat floating at the top. Who needs a spoon when it's in a mug?

In a kitchen nearby, no one notices that some of the stew from their massive stockpot that they just put on the heat is missing. It's too little gone to be noticed.

"He can, and he has."

[wizardseason]

"That's fine." She answers a second before there's a soft 'pop' as a magic mug appears in front of Luka. A moment later there's the gently wafting scent of hot chocolate.

[daddykong]

"So are you and Nine, like, a team?" Garrot raises an eyebrow with that question, and then takes a chomp out of his two-flavor ice cream cone. There's a slight wince because oh no, he's never prepared for this. He's still holding the other vanilla cone, in case Ten gets greedy. That'd be fine by him. It's a bribe.

"I mean, if you know any ways that we don't have to fight the monsters without them trying to kill us, I'm all ears. Most of us would be." Avoid the risk of unnecessary harm whenever possible. "None of us want to die, monster or otherwise."

If Garrot can convince a Monster to go fully non-hostile, he will. Saving everyone has been updated to include saving the monsters if they want, since they're capable of thought and communication and... liking trains.

[eutychia]

"For me?" Luka blinks. "A bit early in the morning for hot chocolate."

The irony of Luka having had several mimosas at this point is lost on him.

[wizardseason]

Ten shakes his head when Garrot asks if they're a team. No, he and Nine are absolutely not a team. That is definitely not what he meant when he said that. But he watches Garrot make a show out of taking a full-chomp of his cone and.

Well.

He's not much better.

In one swift movement, Ten raises his arm and the ice cream up to his face and just casually presses it into his head as if he were putting a coin into a slot. It slides in somewhere around the lower cheek and is just... gone. He doesn't even chew, the ice cream is just gone. He lowers his hand to prepare an answer a moment later.

"have to fight
or fake fight
pretend"

[wizardseason]

There's another soft 'pop' as the hot chocolate becomes a mimosa. The citrusy scent is more subtle, but it's definitely there.

"Would you prefer coffee?" She asks, despite just giving him another mimosa.

[eutychia]

"I'm covered in the beverage department." He says, taking a sip. "You're big on hot drinks though, I see."

[wizardseason]

Well, if Luka's going to take away the Wizard's one hospitality skill then she's really got nothing left here. Guess that Mimosa's going to go un-consumed.

Not actually, because it pops back out of existence and into the restaurant nearby. Thanks for letting her borrow it!

"They smell nice; and they're sweet."

[disguiseself]

[She hums in thought as she hammers the spike. It's definitely hard to have a conversation about the mysteries of the world and Ten's entire existence through an etch-a-sketch. She briefly wonders if the Wizard could just give him a mouth or something, but then again, is that how it works??]

We need to get you a whiteboard or something, huh. I could ask you yes or no questions if that's easier? We could also meet up some other day and find an easier way for you to speak if you want to.

[eutychia]

Luka shrugs. "I need more answers. Ones that aren't from them. It's getting too confusing trying to play sides."

He quickens his pace slightly with the statement.

"What's wrong? Don't like a nice, long hike on a mountainside covered in world-ending fissures?"

[eutychia]

"But you could say the same of my drink, too! I think you need to branch out. I know some good places..."

[wizardseason]

[ Well, Ten will have a phone with texting tomorrow. But that's tomorrow and this is now. He watches Olivia and then nods when she offers to ask yes or no questions. Those would work easily, but also... He scritches a quick response on the etch-a-sketch. ]

"will get better speak thing"

[disguiseself]

Oh? Good! We can have a little interrogation date when you do, then. Before the tenth day, I assume.

[She gives herself a moment to think about what she wants to ask first.] Are you from this world? [A beat. She figures he can write more than one reply in the etch-n-sketch.] Did you choose to work for the Wizard? Do you like her?

[wizardseason]

"I don't care for the bubbles, unfortunately." She answers. "Unless you're inviting me out for drinks."

Because if so: The Wizard will remember that.

[wizardseason]

[ Ten gives a thumbs up at Olivia's comment of an interrogation date. Sure, fine, that was a way to phrase it. But then she's asking yes/no questions and he keeps his eyes on her. All ten are focused on her. ]

[ He nods at being from this world. ]

[ He shakes his head about working for the Wizard, no he didn't choose. ]

[ He nods again at liking the Wizard. And then he gives a thumbs up. Good questions, Olivia. ]

[eutychia]

"Of course I am." He laughs. "The best places are off this island, though. Hopefully they'll still be around when this whole thing blows over."