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etrayamemes2025-01-02 03:19 pm
etrayamods) wrote in etrayamemes2025-01-02 03:19 pm
TDM 006
 ⏵ arrival ⏴ Arrival is absolutely not normal this month. Instead of a hospital bed, you wake in a tunnel with a large group of other people. These are the residents. A woman’s voice in an earpiece hurriedly clues you in with an apology. I apologize; I had not planned to introduce you this way, but we are low on time. Please proceed down the hallway. For everyone else, coming in is much the same. The instruction goes out to head to designated areas immediately, where companion bots will escort the residents of Etraya down into the depths, the area beneath where much the same is explained.  ⏵ disrobing ⏴ The tunnel eventually opens directly into the foreroom of an expansive library, painted in marvelous hues and patterns with skylights far above. There are wizards milling about, bearded and holding tomes, quietly chatting amongst themselves. The reception area of the library has tall ceilings with equally tall doors Before you get too caught up in the scenery, a voice directs you forward. A gentleman, hunched and bespeckled craws out. "Make a line! Make a line, everyone! You cannot enter the library dressed as you are... Come forward and give me your name." The receptionist asks your given name and then hands over a box from underneath his counter. You can give him any name you want, he doesn’t seem to mind. It is tied with a tagged ribbon- labeling it accordingly. “The _____ robe of _______.”
As you read what the contents of the box may be, they form inside- Looking and behaving as your character expects them to. After all, magic is all in the wielder’s mind. Don your robes and enter the library.  ⏵ unfamiliar familiars ⏴ For those without a familiar (like one hatched from an egg not too long ago) you may borrow one from the library counter. They all have strengths and weaknesses, but they will all assist in the very important mission. As you roam the library, they will make little indications that you are closer or further from finding a piece of the pearl.
 ⏵ the task at hand ⏴ With robes donned and creature in hand, you must now complete your mission. Find the pieces of the shattered pearl. As you enter the library, you may notice that it’s all very dim. There’s oil lamps around the place that may be moved with you to assist in your journey if your robes do not already emit light. Break off and search the library. There is a directory at the front to point guests to all the different sections.
Each section looks enough like the last, though the books within have immense power. Pick up the wrong book, and you might conjure a dragon or a historical figure! You must persist and avoid making too much noise or breaking too many things. Or else the Librarian, a tall mass of knotted fabric will confiscate your robe and usher you back outside. Your name will be struck from the list, and you must pick a new one to re-enter the library to continue the search. You can try to fight back against him- he may be set alight with the lamp. But should you be starting fires in here? Any thread with 15 comments between you and another may be submitted to find a piece of the pearl. There are 20 pieces altogether, and we will determine if the mission was successful by March 28th. A post will go live on the OOC comm for this! This mission occurs out of time, similar to how the spaceship had. Meaning, those currently in game can experience these events any time between now, and March 14th. Please direct all questions to our mod queries comment! | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
no subject
"Rose," he echoes back to her, before thrusting his hand out towards her for a handshake. "I admit you are rather lucky to have met one of the best bards around. You certainly could have gotten a worse impression!"
Some bards are cringe, Rose. He'll at least agree on that.
"I am Fabian Aramais Seacaster, Maximum Legend! And I must say-- I feel rather lucky for having met you today as well. You remind me of someone from my own friend group."
no subject
"My condolences," Rose says with a hint of her own smile. "Your friend sounds like an insufferable nerd."
She does accept the handshake--her hands are pretty frail due to atrophy, but her grip is sure. "I like your name," she says, apparently sincere, "but you don't have to call me Maximum Legend. Rose is fine."
Maybe she's not quite done fucking with him.
no subject
As expected, her statement immediately has the obvious reaction. Fabian's jaw drops, even in the middle of shaking her hand, and when they release the handshake he's quick to add-- "No, that's me!"
He's even dramatically pointing at himself with both hands now.
"That's my title!"
Maybe one day he'll figure out she's just messing with him. Maybe. Who knows. At least the offense doesn't linger for too long, since it's fading when he speaks up again.
"I earned that title, you know. I worked hard for it! In fact-- It is only thanks to my natural talents that I got it! It's not just something for anyone."
Take us to comment 15!
"Consider me corrected," she says, resting a bony-fingered hand over her heart in a facsimile of an apology. "I already have a legendary title--it's 'Seer of Light,' for the record--and I promise not to steal your title again unless it's really funny to do so."
As Rose speaks, her cat-familiar, Morgana le Stray, darts onto the scene, batting some speck or gravel along the ground while dodging between wizards.
"And in case you were tempted to ask how I got my title, it's a long and kind of stupid story," Rose says, watching the cat out of the corner of her eye. Without warning she steps on the cat's improvised toy, trapping it beneath her foot. She leans over with a grunt and retrieves the piece of detritus.
"But I like to think it's well-earned too," she says, as she tosses Fabian the pearl-piece.
no subject
Not that he could really judge that. He has no idea what Rose's story is like. What her life is like, what her world is like. If Fabian has learned anything here, it's that everyone's world is so different.
"Especially since your title sounds like my friend's too. She's the Oracle, you know."
A seer, an oracle.. Clearly the same thing to Fabian!
Life comes at you fast and makes tagbacks slow
"Maybe it wouldn't be," Rose acknowledges. After all, there are some good moments in her story. And perhaps more to the point... "You do strike me as someone who can appreciate a tale of heroism. And I suspect our stories might have more overlap than a pair of soothsayers. Maybe we can swap anecdotes next time."
Rose pauses halfway through turning away, realizing that even though she's accomplished the purpose of their interaction from destiny's perspective, she has her own wants, her own curiosity to satisfy. Her tone is soft, but her gaze is piercing as she asks: "Your friend, the Oracle. Was she happy?"
it happens! it's perfectly okay though c:
The guy slowly blinks as he's staring at her. Fabian seems surprised, though it's perhaps mostly because he didn't really see this question of all things coming. It feels a little bit out of left field, and though Fabian thinks about the answer, he finds himself.. not entirely sure, actually. He thinks Adaine is happy now, but he knows that it's been different in the past, and that she still seems to be struggling with this or that..
It makes it a little difficult to answer the question with a plain 'yes' or 'no.'
Instead, after a moment of thought, Fabian can't help but ask: "Why? Are you not happy?"
Is this a very personal question to ask someone you've only just met? Yes. Yes, it is. But Fabian is - if nothing else - extremely direct, so he can't help but ask it all the same as he stares at Rose.
no subject
That said, she doesn't have to be too clear. She repays Fabian's non-answer with one of her own: "If you'll forgive me a bit of drama, in my observation Oracles and their ilk are cursed. Supernal knowledge is a burden that inexorably draws one away from friends, lovers, and mundane goals. With too much knowledge about what might be, what can't be, and what must be, one gains the alienating responsibility of choosing who else is allowed to know what, and who must stay ignorant for the good of all."
Rose's tone is steady throughout that little speech, but as she goes on there's something of a hypnotic quality to her words, as if they transcend sound to become mere background fact. One could forget she was a person standing there in her ratty robe at all.
But after a beat, that effect evaporates, and Rose continues, "But that's just what I've seen. There are many worlds and many shapes destiny might take, and it's interesting to see how the same themes and roles might shake out differently, don't you think?"
no subject
Maybe that's why Fabian responds exactly in the way he does, not even having to think about what he wants to say before he's already speaking up. This sentiment comes that naturally to him.
"You should just talk about it with your friends," he simply says. That statement might also make him the world's biggest hypocrite in some regards, but.. eh. It's fine. Fabian just wants the best for other people, he can clearly keep so many things inside for himself. It's different! "You would be surprised what they can understand, actually. Isolating yourself isn't doing anyone any good. I mean, who would put their duty before their friends? That is crazy talk."
no subject
Fabian's no different. Well-meaning, accepting, optimistic, and blessed with a mind apparently incapable of comprehending or accepting the crushing weight of duty. A familiar mix of envy and pity swirls within Rose's gut, but she has no desire to stew in it. Her curiosity is as satisfied as it's likely to be; if Fabian's Oracle friend ever experienced the Seer's struggles, she was apparently smart enough not to share that with Fabian.
"You're probably right," Rose lies graciously. "Thanks for the performance. I might see you around, Fabian."
no subject
"You can go ahead and change that might. It's not that easy to escape this place."
And even though this place isn't exactly incredibly small or anything, it's still not big enough to not see each other around whatsoever. Fabian is pretty sure that anyone who has shown up here for this dumb wizard thing is going to be thrown straight into Etraya, after all. It's how this usually works.
"If you do-- lucky you, really. But if you don't, I suppose I wouldn't mind seeing you around."