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.

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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

[sustainer]

"Seems like a lot of trouble to go through," he murmurs, looking around the table at the other knights.

"It's kind of you though, I suppose." He certainly appreciates it. It's a better breakfast in this town then he's had in awhile, and he tucks into his plate a little more now that he knows she's not going to instantly launch into a monologue.

[wizardseason]

"Did you not like it?" She asks, curious why he'd call it a lot of trouble. She'd offered breakfast, and she'd provided breakfast. She'd thought she'd picked something for everyone, and this was Gyre's pick. Perhaps...

"Would you rather have caught them yourself?"

[sustainer]

He snorts, taking a moment to slurp a bit of the raw bacon up like a fuckin noodle. It's disgusting, but he seems happy.

"I'm not much of a fisher. This is the first I've had in... years maybe."

[wizardseason]

Anyone else would've responded to Gyre's bacon-slurping shenanigans with a "Gyre, manners please." Whereas here, now, the Wizard just has her little smirk as she watches him. Apparently noodle bacon doesn't phase her.

"Fishing is fun." She answers, curious if he'll agree. "And, of course, rewarding."

[sustainer]

He wouldn't expect it to phase her. He actually doesn't expect it to phase anyone because he's always eaten like this and it's only recently that he's been around people who don't. He had manners forced on him as a kid, but it's been forty years of his own whole thing since then.

"Sure," he says, looking thoughtful for a moment. "Fun, sure. Rewarding sometimes. I have an easier time hunting."

[wizardseason]

"Hunting." She repeats, looking him over. There's a soft 'pop' on Gyre's plate as an absurdly tiny knife appears on it and, beside it, is a little meatball that looks like it's made of a pureed meat of some variety. He probably doesn't recognize it as a liver Pâté, but that's absolutely what it is.

"That will be necessary if this world ends" She offers, twirling a finger over her mug to stir the coffee in it.

[sustainer]

He blinks down at his plate, tilting his head very slightly at this little meatball? The texture looks completely wrong and he leans closer to try to figure out what the hell it is. He's just about to try it when she makes that statement and he looks up quickly.

"Will there be... things to hunt?" he asks skeptically. He always assumed ending the world meant a destruction of civilization, but he's been around these people for nearly a week at this point and all of them seem to think she's going to just completely destroy the entire planet.

[wizardseason]

"There will be" She answers, simply, watching the way he's examining the new food in front of him.

"You will not know many of the creatures, though." Because a lot of them are, well, not of this world.

[sustainer]

"Will they be able to survive here?" he asks pointedly, taking a swipe of the liver and licking it off his finger. It's... liver. He knows that immediately, but the texture of it is just as wrong as he thought it was going to be. He wrinkles his nose in confusion, looking down at the plate as he clarifies his question a little.

"Or are you expecting us to go there?"

[wizardseason]

She watches him as he tries the liver, intrigued that he'd be displeased by it but also understanding. It's something in a new shape with a known taste, that could always be weird.

"You'll all be somewhere new together." She clarifies, amused at how he's breaking this down in his head.

"Everyone will be able to survive, unless they're hunted of course."

[sustainer]

"Every single person?" he asks, glancing up at her for just a beat before he goes back in for this liver. The second taste is not as bad as the first, and he licks the flavor off his teeth. Okay this is growing on him.

[wizardseason]

"Hopefully." She answers, cryptically, before deciding to give him a little more than that while he savors his liver meal.

"Or just as many as we can save."

[sustainer]

"Those are two different answers," he says dryly, leveling an irritated glance at her. Cryptic bullshit is so absolutely tiring to him, and he's sick of it from her.

"How many do you think you can save?"

[wizardseason]

So ask her for more details, Gyre. If he just leaves it at that statement, she's not going to elaborate at all. Sorry buddy, she's just assumed he's okay with the answer.

"A thousand or so, by myself." She answers, curious if she's being accurate before she elaborates further.

"It depends on how much time I have and how willing people are."

[sustainer]

He did ask for clarification. He's just so annoyed that he has to ask for it on every single thing she says, often multiple times before he gets even half an answer. It means it's a relief when she gives most of a straight answer here, and his mind is immediately racing to figure out what he can do.

"By yourself? Can we help?"

[wizardseason]

The Wizard has had forty years of habitually being vague in order to guide things towards her own goals, unfortunately for Gyre that's a hard habit for her to break out of. It'll take some reminders and assurances if he wants her to believe he's on her side to get more out of her. Or he can dig in his heels and be the good knight. Whichever way he's gonna play this, she's going to be anything but predictable.

"If the Protector is killed, yes you can." She lifts a mug of cocoa up to her lips, taking a slow sip. When she pulls it away, there's now whipped cream with rainbow sprinkles on top of it too.

"I hope you won't be the only one helping."

[sustainer]

"Mm," he murmurs, glancing to the side. His gaze returns to his food after a moment, and he nods very slightly.

"I'll do what I can. It would help if you were more straightforward."

[wizardseason]

"Is there something you want explained?" She offers him her typical small smile, watching him over her mug before she takes a sip.

"I can be straightforward if you need me to be."

[sustainer]

"I think I understand it all so far. Just uh, a note for next time, I guess," he says, setting his cheek in his hand and throwing another raw egg into his mouth.

"Unless you want to explain it all to us," he gestures around the table at the other knights who are here, "right now in as much detail as possible?"

[wizardseason]

"Only if they want to hear it." She answers, glancing around the table at the others that are either eating or wrapped up in their own conversations.

"I'm sure they'll ask when they're ready."

[sustainer]

"You know they think of you as the enemy of the world, right?" he asks, sounding deeply skeptical. He can't picture any of them just walking right up to her for an explanation.

"Has just waiting worked for you in the past?"

[wizardseason]

"Sometimes." She answers, vaguely, looking him over.

"Better than leaving them for you-know-who to bump off." She adds, taking a sip out of her now-Protector-decorated mug.

[sustainer]

Fair, he supposes, chewing his lip in thought as he remembers that there are more dangers here then he realizes.

"How have you protected them in the past, when they've known?"

[wizardseason]

It's like playing chess but someone dies every time a piece is lost. 'There's always next game!' some would say, but this is the last game.

"I've told them to keep it a secret. But he makes sure I'm not looking before he moves."

[sustainer]

He sits back in his chair, glancing towards the ceiling as he tries to imagine the Protector making a move. He doesn't even know what the guy looks like. Damn.

"What has he done in the past? He's not... here, right?"