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

[illequipped]

[Hmm, okay, maybe he does have complaints to lodge about his pratfalling embarrassment being soooo... visible. He accepts the hand up, hastily trying to wipe his face clean with his other sleeve before the filth is also readily visible—

So the rescue mission is going great. He's dirty and sheepish, which is par for the course.]

Yes, yes, whatever... We should go before the rest of this place comes down on us.

[thedarkbond]

[There's a good point to be found there, but Ren hums a little doubtfully as he backs out from where the bearing had fallen, glancing around the area.]

Actually, if it's going to come down I kind of want to stay long enough to check it properly...it'd kind of defeat the point of this if we accidentally left someone behind to save our own skins, right?

[Things are chaotic enough in here that it's entirely possible they could pass over someone in the area until it was far too late, either because the place caved in on them or they were stuck in a shield too long. It's not a thought Ren particularly likes entertaining.]

[illequipped]

It would defeat the point if we die here—

[He says this, and as if on cue some dust and pebble-sized bits of debris crumble from somewhere above and land on his head and shoulders. This makes him understandably kind of nervous, but—]

Nnnnn—fine! We'll do it your way!

[Congratulations, Ren, +1 tiny follower is yours for the time being. Emil shuffles after him, looking back over his shoulder like safety in numbers is a real thing that will protect him from a building collapsing.]

Where do we go?

[thedarkbond]

[Ren isn't too experienced with this sort of thing, but he quickly sweeps over the parts of the roof that seem most precarious, and the general area around them with his gaze, and where visibility is least. Their immediate area seems clear, but the entire room looks at risk of falling in at some point, potentially middle-first, and it's large enough that the furthest edges are swallowed from sight by smoke and there's plenty enough room there for someone shielded to be hidden.

Ren gives a short sigh, muffled by his mask.] I don't really like the idea, but if you want to get out of this room quicker, it might be best to split up, with one of us checking one side and one checking the other. The doors are okay-- [He indicates where there's smoke escaping from the doorways in front and behind them, making visibility less dicey in those directions.] --but there could definitely be someone hidden closer to the walls. And we'll be able to call out if we find something.

[Whereas most of the workers seem to have been actively suffocating when found, judging by what he's seen so far.]

[illequipped]

Oh, uhhh, hmm— [Actually... here's a new idea... What if: they don't do that, for the simple reason that Emil has a terrible track record for "splitting up." Getting lost, attacked by monsters, covered in grime - there isn't a single "splitting up" incident that's ever gone well for him, so.

After he stands there for all of two seconds, looking awkward, then glances up at the smoky haze hiding whatever part of the ceiling is going to fall next:]

I think we should stay together, actually, if that's alright. I'm not— Let's just not risk it?

[thedarkbond]

[Well, it might cause problems if they hang around too long, but Ren can understand not wanting to risk it. Given that, though, he turns towards the edge of the room nearest them, gesturing for Emil to follow as he starts heading in that direction. While Ren isn't built for physical exertion, he is skinny and long-legged, which means he's absolutely fine for speed when he needs to be.]

We'd better be quick about it, then...I don't really like the look of that. [He nods towards the middle of the room, where there's a visible downwards pitch to a section of the roof, the shape of it visible through the smoke. It's holding for now, but that could change at any time.] Hopefully if we find anyone, they're not under green...

[He's seen a few green shields here and there, but most of them seem to be purple dusk or lower, which is a whole lot more useful for him even if he does have a Breaker. If the Breaker can't shatter a green shield in a single shot, reloading would waste a great deal of time they don't really have.]