event: a gentle explosion

[thestewards]

I see a world just out of reach
With shoulders of giants at my feet
There’s not a challenge I’m afraid to meet

► The OOC plotting post for this event can be found here.

► Direct all questions to the mods at this link.

STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND
You wake, warm and comfortable, and realize that you’re no longer where you were when you went to sleep. The dream was real. As you clamber out of bed and open your door, an impassive footman greets you and leads you to breakfast in a large hall filled with many, many people. They sit around a hodgepodge of tables in a mishmash of furniture—nothing matches anything else, and no two chairs are the same.

The woman from your dream catches your eyes. She stares at you with open shock. “Well,” she says, as a number of males turn to her with withering looks. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” She smiles at you. “Welcome to Draega, Stranger. Please, join us.”

Join them at the table and have your breakfast, Stranger. There isn’t much to offer: porridge, water, a bit of milk, some wrinkled fruits, and bread. Coffee, thankfully, is not in short supply. Meet your fellow Strangers, both the ones choosing to live at the Queen’s Residence and those who arrived in the night with you.

As breakfast draws to a close, the Queen’s Steward, Prince Loren Sorey, explains that you may choose to find your own home or stay in the residence for as long as you please. Those who stay will receive a modest stipend but are required to participate in Allairavar’s morning trainings every day. At dawn. Before breakfast. Those who go will need to find their own homes among the ruined buildings of the city and make their own money.

The court begins filtering out of the Great Hall, dispersing to attend their many duties. Linger, Stranger, and overhear…

“What did you mean?” The man leaning over the Queen is Prince Allairavar. His membranous wings flare around him, and his expression is menacing. “This wasn’t supposed to happen?”

Queen Fayura doesn’t look at all alarmed by the massive man caging her against a wall. “It was a one-time spell,” she says. “The web was—” Her eyes go wide. “I need to go look at the web.” She ducks under Allairavar’s arm, which could put a tree trunk to shame, really, grabs Prince Verim, and drags him from the hall.

Allairavar bares his teeth at the wall and snarls. The sound rumbles through the room, and dark temper washes briefly through the residence before all the tangled webs tucked in corners absorb it, leaving the building peaceful and clean of psychic feeling once more.

A TALE OF TWO IDEALS
At exactly 5:46pm, an explosion rocks the city of Draega. Black clouds belch fire to the northwest of the city. Concurrently, in Old Town, a mob of landens armed with Breakers and Muters descends on The Last Meal. They surround an older, Blood woman.

i. Black Out
The power plant maintained by the Tinkers and the Elektrics has exploded. Across Draega, e-line appliances shut down and the city plunges into darkness—the sun set some 45 minutes ago.

Prince Loren reaches out to approximately half the Strangers, asking them to go to the power plant. He shares a mental map with them so they know how to reach the building, as well as the Craft used for air-walking. The tutorial is quick and hardly complete, but now you’ll be able to run above the city to reach your destination.

The power plant burns. Black smoke pours into the air. Master Elektric Doriah organizes the Tinkers and Elektrics who were able to escape on their own. A quick glance reveals how absolutely exhausted she is. When Strangers approach, she sneers but isn’t about to turn away good help.

“There are still people inside. The Blood who did this trapped us in shields.” She hesitates only a moment before collecting Breakers from guildmembers carrying them. “Take these. Your Jewel may not be able to break through the shields.”

Inside, well-ordered building is a mess of fire and melting steel. Airwalking protects your feet, and shields can keep out the heat, but you’ll need something more to protect your lungs. Put out fires, stop systems from overloading, save the machines from complete destruction, and rescue missing workers who are suffocating and cooking inside shields. The guildmembers trapped in the power plant will assist the Strangers who free them, helping mitigate the damage done to the plant and keep it from exploding the rest of the way.

ii. Death of a Councilwoman
Councilwoman Vera enjoys dinners at The Last Meal, and this is well known by everyone in the city. Today, public knowledge of her schedule doesn’t work so well in her favor.

As she approaches the restaurant with her family, a group of landens descends on them. Muters prevent the Blood from taking any action that isn’t purely physical, and this is enough to throw most of them off their stride; they’re used to relying on Craft to fight. The landens separate Vera from her family in a short-lived brawl. She shouts and screams—“Let me go! Don’t you know who I am? The Queen will have you executed for this! Your families will be thrown out of the city! You’re making a mis—”

A shot rings through the air.

The landens peel away from one of their own, a young man gripping a Breaker in both hands. He trembles as he stands over Councilwoman Vera, whose expression is frozen forever in shocked disbelief. Her body crumples to the ground, blood from a gunshot wound on her chest staining the white fabric of her blouse.

In the silence that follows the shot, Allairavar shoves free of the crowd. “Go home!” he snarled, Craft powering his voice.

No one moves.

Except the young landen man. He takes off at a run, and the crowd is still too horrified to do much to stop him. Allairavar wastes no time. He plunges after the young man. At the same time, he reaches out to the minds of the Strangers closest to Old Town. *The Ebon Council is, collectively, a sack of reeking shit, and Lady Vera was a bitch,* Allairavar tells the Strangers. *But if we don’t get between the Blood and the landens, we’ll have another war. We can’t afford another war. Keep them from killing each other while I deal with this idiot.*


AIR TIME
Whether you catch the news on a Far-caster in the city or you’re spinning the dial on your own device, you’ll hear…

the news
…angered local landen families by her hard-line position that Blood homes should receive priority as the city continues to recover from the fires set by the Hunter Guild last month. [The man speaks at a brisk pace, hurried and harried as though he has too much to say and not enough time to say it.]

Councilwoman Vera is known for her vocal disdain for the landen Guilds, isn’t that right, Garret? [Another man, nasally in tone. He doesn’t sound rushed so much as put upon.]

[Garret:] Correct, Wilt. She—excuse the interruption, but we are just now hearing— [The feed abruptly cuts off. Static pours from the Far-caster regardless of what local channel it is tuned to.]

Comments

[thedarkbond]

That and magic. [The underside of Ren's eyes curve up a little in a way that indicates there's probably some kind of smile under that mask. The way he says it is almost joking of it being totally just a trivial little detail that he isn't experienced with the kind of powers craft is similar to.

Well, he's experienced with shaping his imagination into the "real", but not quite to this degree. And that's information he prefers to keep close to his chest regardless.

The humour disappears quickly as soon as the shield does, though, and Ren steps forward quickly to catch the landen worker before they collapse. They're hot to the touch and rasping in breath, and Ren hisses quietly as he looks around for the most direct exit nearby.]

I'm guessing there's no craft we can use to make their breathing easier, right? [That would be too easy.]

[verstoned]

Not how it's done! You get 'em to safety then encourage 'em to breathe. Else they'd be takin' in bad air and get worse. [Because he may be carrying a sword now, but he's not forgotten how it is to be a healer.

Rhus shakes himself, and sheathes his sword on his back once more. Then he holds out his arms, just in case his companion wants to give over their rescued worker.]

Come, we'll need to get this one out 'fore we find others.

[thedarkbond]

I meant craft that would purify air and make at least a little of it safe to breathe, not forcing them to do it. [Ren points that out somewhat gently, as if hating to break it to him considering how passionate he seemed about the other point.

Ren eyes up Rhus for a moment when he holds his arms out. The prideful part of him doesn't want to be completely useless here...but the reasonable part of him says Rhus' build is a lot more suited for carrying a person. They really don't have additional time to burn for the sake of Ren not feeling like he's dead weight, so it's only a second of hesitation before Ren offers the worker over.]

Right...I came from that way, and it was about as simple a path to the door as I think we'll get right now. [He points over his shoulder, to where there's a doorway that looks like it leads into a short tunnel. Not the most fun route with things as they are right now, but if it gets them through quickly, Ren considers that the priority.]

[verstoned]

That is a healer's job, pretty sure, if there were somethin'. [Rhus hefts the unconscious worker over a shoulder with a rather obvious roll of his one visible eye. Carrying a man tends not to be so difficult for Rhus, especially when they're unconscious-- no flailing limbs, no danger of being smacked in the face, even if they're much taller than himself like this worker. The challenge comes from carrying someone when he has a weapon strapped to his back, hence simply using one shoulder like he's carrying a sack of produce.] Which I am not.

[Not yet, in any case. But he's not one to announce such things, not when he's officially recognized as one by the person training him.]

Anyroad.

Hurry on, I got this one.

[thedarkbond]

Hmm, if you don't have to be one to learn something like that, it sounds like just letting them do it would be inconvenient... [Ren sounds a bit doubtful about the entire concept of classed magic over here, but then again, while he is familiar with otherworldly mages in some respects, those of Cray tended to be a bit more flexible in the kinds of magic they could do. A healer might exist, but that wouldn't necessarily stop another kind of mage from healing as well.

Ren's already starting to go ahead once Rhus secures his grip on the worker, though he is looking back into the room at the same time, as if making sure they haven't missed anything.]

Which way did you come...? I might come back this way again, and it'd be better to know where someone's already checked...

[verstoned]

If it been somethin' other'n heat and scorchin' fire 'round us, I'd have been able to follow my own scent. [No, he instead has to use his weak eyes.

He hefts the limp worker further up his shoulders as he feels the man's body begin to slip, and looks around for something familiar, and trying to reorient himself, using his innate sense of direction.]

This way, I think.

[He motions his head to the side, to the east of them.]

[thedarkbond]

Mmm, that would make it pretty hard, wouldn't it... [Even with half his face covered by an impromptu mask, the scent of smoke is overwhelming Ren's sense of smell, and that's just a human-level one. It must be that much more frustrating for someone with more sensitive scent abilities.

Once Rhus points out the direction, though, Ren glances that way and nods slightly before focusing his attention ahead again. The hall is relatively short until it turns right into another one, but he'd rather not have anything cave in on him because he wasn't paying enough attention.] Maybe the ones left are all further in, then...there's enough people here that the ones closer to the entrance should have been found pretty quickly.

[verstoned]

[Because of the severity of the situation, Rhus sets a brisk pace for himself, nearly a jog. If they weren't floating his footsteps would have actually made a noise with how much importance he's putting into being swift for the sake of the man slung over his shoulders.]

Just means we need some way of findin' our way 'round the place when we come in a second time.

Otherwise we'll run in a circle... or I'll have to break a few things to make our own path. [Which he would rather not do, thanks.]

[thedarkbond]

The problem is a way of knowing where we went when anything could be destroyed in the time it takes us to get in and out... [Ren doesn't sound particularly satisfied with the situation, but at the very least, it seems he was right on this occasion about them still being not too far from the door. There's an intersection of paths just at the end of this one that he remembers being right near the door.]

I don't know that this place needs any help breaking. It might make something cave in quicker if someone tried to force their way through.

[verstoned]

Exactly why it's my last resort. [There is, after all, a difference between being able to do something, and doing it simply because you can-- and in this case, Rhus refuses to give in to the latter.

Neither the time, nor the place to simply say bollocks to this shite and destroy something in the ways he knows he's excellent at and is often called on for.]

Especially when the Queen shall likely be havin' my head an' shovin' it up my arse! [Perhaps after she plays with it like a kicking ball with her Consort and Guard.]

[thedarkbond]

Mmm, it probably wouldn't go down well, would it? Though I haven't been here long enough to know what the Queen is like normally. [He encountered her in his dream, obviously, and saw her speaking with her court at breakfast, but even Ren can only read so much out of a person in that little time. Ruling in a situation like this already sets her as presumably competent and no-nonsense, but the intricacies of it will take a bit more time to pick up.

A beam groans on their left, and Ren shifts to the right side of the path, eying the roof somewhat warily as he passes.] I wouldn't want to know what she might do if she catches who did this, though...

[Well, actually, he would, because they'd probably deserve every ounce of punishment they got, but that would probably sound a bit vicious.]

[verstoned]

Not our business what Her Grace does, but it's her First Circle what's got more temper than her. [Because he's spoken to her, and she's level-headed-- but the Warlord Princes are hotheaded and more than eager to show it.

Rhus is unphased by the creaking of the building around them, but would be far more reckless without the man over his shoulders.

Except he's noticed another issue as he turns his head to look about for the exit--]

Hells, issat another one trapped? [Or is he hallucinating?]

[thedarkbond]

The...princes, were they called? [There had been some understanding of the system in Ren's head when he woke up, but he hadn't had a lot of opportunity to actually exercise that knowledge just yet. Better to do it here than in a situation where a faux pas might have greater consequences.

That train of thought is broken when Rhus makes that remark, though, and Ren turns his head, eyes narrowing as he tries to parse shapes out of the smoke.]

I can't tell from over here... [He can see something that appears like it could maybe be the edge of a shield amidst the low visibility, but that's the extent of it. Still, he moves a bit closer, somewhat cautious with the roof here in the state it's in.] Is this way where you saw it?

[verstoned]

[He could be hallucinating. His eyes may be developed well for dealing with bright lights, but one really never knows, especially when Rhus has already weak sight in one eye.]

We might as well 'ave a closer look, just in case. [Bring two out instead of the one.]

Come, move faster!

[As fast as Rhus? Possibly who is already sprinting despite his burden.]

[thedarkbond]

Mmm, not much point leaving it entirely... [When Rhus starts pushing ahead, though, Ren's pace picks up a bit, since it means he's not going to be the first person to walk into it if something nasty ends up happening.

He's still trying to peer through the smoke at the shape, though. Whatever it is, it...doesn't look green, at least, and he's kind of hoping that if it is a shield, it's a weaker one than what they came across before. However, while Ren might have both eyes intact, he's not used to trying to see through thick and heavy smoke like this, and with Rhus in front, he's still having difficulty telling whether there's actually anyone there or not.]

Can you tell what it is yet?

[verstoned]

Person, definitely. I can see an outline of a... What is that colour? [Rhus squints through the smoke and heat haze, before giving up attempting to use his eyes and reaches out with other senses that have not been used much since arriving here in Draega. With the strange aether here, the way Blood Craft is so different from Eorzean magic...

But he reaches out with senses and latches on to that little psychic thread that's common in this world.]

Purple Dusk?

[thedarkbond]

[Ren's not quite been here long enough to be used to the psychic thread system, but as soon as Rhus mentions Purple Dusk, a slight "ah" slips from his mouth, and he steps ahead a bit more readily.]

That I can deal with. So you can keep going ahead if you want, and I'll catch up. [He nods towards the worker Rhus is already carrying - there's no sense keeping that man in this environment any longer if they don't need to.

He peers through the flames himself - it's easier to see the shape of it the closer he gets, and the person inside the shield doesn't look like they're going to last a great deal longer if they stay in it. So Ren tries reaching for his jewel's power in the same way he'd reach for his own natural powers if he was using them, and a bolt of power responds, cracking forth and putting a split in the shield that'll easily cave under another hit. It's not exactly practiced, but it's functional for now.]

[verstoned]

Bollocks. [That declaration is accompanied by a deep frown.] If'n you think I shall leave you behind, you've the wrong impression.

[Stubborn Miqo'te as he is, Rhus waits and waits, with his burden on his shoulders, though he's still a little impatient to get a move on, leave their rescued folk outside, and delve back into the depths of the power plant to see who else needs help. Tries not to be however, with what they're doing.]

Can you carry 'em? [He's reasonably sure he can support another body.]

[thedarkbond]

[Ah. Honourable people. Ren knows more than enough of those to know that Rhus isn't going to budge on that point, so he doesn't bother arguing it, instead focusing on sending out another bolt and smashing the shield into nothing. The freed worker slowly starts to sink, and Ren heads over to loop an arm around their shoulders before they do.]

This one's lighter than the one you're carrying, so I'll be okay. [He pulls one of the person's arms around his own shoulder and pushes him upright, heading back towards Rhus. Ren might not be built very impressively, but he seems to be fine with the load. He might just pretend to collapse when they get outside.]

Let's keep going, then. They're both in pretty bad shape... [The one they rescued earlier seems maybe slightly better, but neither of them is going to be helped by hesitating to find the exit now that they've got a second person.]

[verstoned]

Aye, fine. [The Miqo'te tosses his head to one side.] We were headin' thataway, and we best keep at it.

[And he begins at a quick pace once more, taking the loping steps his people tended to be known for whenever they ran.]

But if you think you cant carry that person any longer, give 'em to me.

[thedarkbond]

Right, right... [Ren can definitely use the directional pointer, honestly, since his sense of direction gets scrambled pretty easily. While he doesn't really want to run like this, Ren has long enough legs that just quickening the pace of his walk gets him a similar sort of effect anyway.]

Oh, I'll be fine for as long as it takes us to get out. If we were doing it for longer it'd probably be worse, but the space of just one building is okay.

[Even if it's a pretty big building. He's had to drag his burly six-foot friend around on occasion, so a comparatively much smaller worker isn't too much of an issue for the moment.]

[verstoned]

[Rhus grunts in return, a sound not unlike the rumble a great cat makes deep in their throat.]

Luckily for you, it ain't far-- I smell fresh air. [That sort of sweetness cant be hallucinated, so good in contrast to the burnt smoke permeating the building and scorching his nose.]

[thedarkbond]

[Ren would probably find that noise cuter if it weren't for the situation they were in right now, so the smile he gives at it is somewhat fleeting. Though he does definitely look somewhat relieved to hear about fresh air.]

Oh, that's good...this kind of thing isn't really my strong point.

[He knows his limits and how far he can press them, and he's faced some pretty physically trying things in his past. But they're not usually this kind of endurance test, so he can't afford to be too frivolous in his rescue efforts.]

[verstoned]

What, runnin' through dangerous buildings an' carrying folk 'round? [Rhus is definitely not judging him. This is, after, something rather dangerous, even if it's not too strenuous for himself. Indeed, carrying someone around through the rest of a dungeon or some sort of ruin... well. Isn't new.

But saying it out loud would be boasting, would it not? Even if he did not mean it as such.]

[thedarkbond]

Mmm, kind of both, but the second thing slightly more than the first. [He's fled skyscrapers that had weird otherdimensional gates and stuff crashing down on them, so it sort of counts as running through dangerous buildings. He shrugs a little, as if it can't really be helped.] In my world we have people who do this sort of thing as a job, so people who don't have less experience with it, I guess.

[Despite his lack of experience, though, he seems comparatively unperturbed by the situation beyond his own personal lack of familiarity.]