agentlelog | event: a gentle explosion

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There were a few people at Jon's side, coughing roughly as they raced from the blaze. The sight of Piper was a relief, remembering her from before. He nodded at the people, urging them to head towards the other groups that had flocked farther from the blaze.

He glanced behind him, trying to catch his breath.]

There are a few more trapped in there. Do you think that you can help me? Between us, we can get them all out in one swoop.

[ ...running into a burning building was so not on Piper's TDL for today, but here we are.

She's been given enough innate knowledge with the Craft to be able to form a shield before entering into the flame, but even before she steps inside, it's easy to see that she's going to need something for the smoke. It stings her eyes. ]

Yes, I can help. [ She swallows, looking at the burning building, the big gusts of dark smoke. But being afraid hasn't stopped her before, she won't let it stop her now. ] I just need -- oh, excuse me!

[ She turns from Jon quickly to approach a rescued landen, a few words are exchanged and Piper returns with his scarf wrapped around her nose and mouth. ] Okay. Let's go.

[He doesn't know why he expected her to already have an idea how to manage her jewel, assuming she'd raise a barrier against smoke and flame. But even he didn't know how to do that. It was a bit ridiculous for him to believe she was already far more advanced than he was. Maybe because she had used her ability before.

He nodded, wrapping his scarf around him (having already brought one, as he dresses for Winter).]

I'll lead.

[With that, he charged full speed into the building.]

[ Piper is not keen on the idea of running into a burning building, but she doesn't suppose walking would make it any safer. There is a blast of heat as soon as she enters, and she moves to keep Jon in sight. The smoke is thick and the scarf is very little protection, but it's better than nothing.

She can see metal in the building, red hot.

She moves to catch up with Jon. ]

[He charges ahead, keeping in mind the obstacles in their past. As debris falls or flames rise up, he's quick to duck and weave, feeling as if he was back at the Battle for Winterfell. It was chaos and only adrenaline and instinct could be trusted. If he hesitated just for a moment, he could end up burned and injured.

He nodded at a grouping of shields just ahead. There were people cowering inside, hacking and coughing from the smoke.

Jon touched his jewel, feeling the power from it.]

I'll try and break as many as I can. You pull them out?

[ She follows along with him, instincts having her move and dodge with alacrity and economy of effort. There are some things having ADHD is good for, and battle scenarios are one of those things.

Seeing people trapped and left to burn makes Piper angry.

Her gaze goes from the people in the shields to the ceiling above them - it seemed secure enough for now.

She nods. ] Yes. Start with the one further back?

[ Easier to get the others on their way out. ]

[He nodded, not slowing his feet, immediately charging towards the larger flames further back in the plant. There were more people here than near the front, showing how quick the plant had nearly collapsed, stopping the Landen from getting to safety.

He didn't think, his body naturally conforming to the jewel. He pointed at a shield and instinctively, the craft shot from him, shattering it like glass.

There wasn't time to crow over succeeding. As soon as one was broken, he was shooting at another.]

Get them out before the smoke chokes them.

[ Piper moves quickly, wrapping her arm around the shoulders of the trapped -- much taller, much broader -- landen with ease that she really should not possess. ]

What about the third?

[ She bends low, beneath much of the smoke while supporting the landen to grab the other's hand and start to pull them out. She casts another worried glance to the ceiling. ]

The third?

[His mind is occupied by the shields and the fire, vigilent for any dangers and threats that he doesn't quite catch her meaning. He pauses long enough to cast a look back at her.

Another shield shatters and more landen emerge.]

Him - [ Piper gestures with her head to the landen emerging from the shield. She's kind of got her hands full here. This is on you. ]

[He nearly skids to a halt as he catches sight of who Piper meant. Quick to keep his speed, he darts towards the man, helping pull him from the shattered shield and towards the group. He was coughing and hacking. Without thought, Jon pulled off his scarf and gave it to the man, urging him to breathe slowly.]

We need to get them out now.

[ Piper is already starting to move - she only hesitated long enough to make sure that Jon saw the third and final landen. She glances back at him, but soon has to be more concerned with the coughing landen in her arms.

She's not doing so well herself; the scarf around her mouth and nose can only do so much. Piper forces herself to concentrate on breathing as best she can while leading the way to the exit. ]

[The heat was painful against his cheeks, turning his face red as he tried to hold his breath until bursting free from the building. The fresh air was a relief to his watering eyes. He doubled over coughing, trying to gather as much air as he could.]

How are they?

[He nodded towards the people she pulled from the building. Piper seemed to be managing, at least.]

[ Piper is carefully lowering down the second landen. She glances over at Jon. ]

They need some water.

[ She... thinks? She's not sure, what do you do for people with smoke damage? ]

event: a gentle explosion

It does!

\o/

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