EVENT;

[rainkeeper]

Each character is given an adjustment period. After all, to do otherwise would be gauche. And after they've had a chance to catch their breath and find their feet, a courier arrives for them with an invitation to a beautiful garden party at the top of the Sentinel's Rest the following evening. It's implied that attendance is less than optional, and the letter is signed simply with a stylized letter R.

Each letter will also contain a specialized series of clues that will lead them to several different corresponding areas throughout Avastarya. Each location will lead them to the next, and so on and so forth until they reach their final destination. Said destination is a small token, that can be presented at the party in exchange for a gift. The option to keep them is also possible. Surrendering the token or choosing to keep it will both come with benefits, albeit of a different and not necessarily equal sort.

UTA'S token (a small unbreakable wireglass globe, warm to the touch and very bright that seems to swirl and shift like the surface of a star) will be gifted to him after he completes a series of quests. These quests involve the musical arts. His first quest will lead him to a small, dusty workshop with every conceivable type of instrument. He must play the piano in a certain sequence of keys to unlock a secret compartment in it, which will give him directions to the next quest. This will lead him, with a very complicated poem in iambic pentameter, to an old opera house in the Plaguefire district. There, hidden under the 19th seat (they're numbered) he will find the wireglass globe. On the old, rotten stage of the opera house there is a simple mask that looks rather Grecian in origin and mimics the tragedy/comedy mask styles of the day (half of each emotion). It's not what he came for, but will he take it too, or let it lie?

CLARK'S token (a roughly ostritch-sized suspiciously green (but not actually Kryptonite) egg. It pulsates strangely - is it stone, or is it something alive? It's impenetrable to X-Ray vision) will be given to him after he has performed three acts of unselfish kindness throughout Avastarya. Is someone watching him? Hard to say, but once he has done these three things (of the player's choice) a young man will approach him to give him the egg. The young man will tell him to treat it kindly, even though it doesn't appear to be fragile at all...

BUCKY'S token (a small wolf made of steel) will be given to him after he spends a day in the Plaguefire District. This area is one of the poorest in Avastarya, and he has been tasked with reading stories to the children in the orphanage there. The children get to decide to vote on when and if he will be given his token, so he had better be willing to entertain them! The child that gives him the wolf will also tell him a story she's heard, about a demon terrorizing the streets at night. Children's fable, or honest truth?

STEVE'S token (a small striped badger made of petrified wood) is in the old city on which Avastarya has been built. He has been tasked with cartography of an area that was sealed off some years earlier after a plague decimated the spot. His natural immunity should, theoretically, serve him well. The badger will be found on the lip of an old fountain, next to a child's diary of the plague years.

GENE'S token (a long ribbon that seems to be a darker colour than black, it cannot be cut or torn) will be given to him after he helps escort a young woman through Dahl Ahouran. She is looking for her sister, she will say, and navigating the realm of the dead is no easy thing. Gene's being able to talk to ghosts may come in handy here, and once he locates the girl's sister, she will give him the ribbon from her hair.

ELERA'S token (a box full of bones. One familiar with the composition of living things might notice that the bones belonged to something in the Canis family once upon a time...) is a bit tricky to get to. She is going to have to infiltrate a lavish party, charm the host and find a series of small totems (maybe they represent halla?) to unlock a special door on the premises. The door leads to a hidden antechamber, and the bones - in their elegant carven-wood box - are in the middle of an ornate circle. Getting close to it might remind her a little of the Fade from her homeworld, but nevertheless - if she wants the token, she has to chance it.

NATASHA'S token (an unbreakable hourglass, filled with shifting red sand, but when flipped the sand will mysteriously turn black) will be given to her if she attends the trial and potential execution of a wanted criminal. Traditionally, trials and their judgement are not a matter of deliberation in Avastarya. The facts will be laid out before the crowd, lawyers will argue the case, and depending on the crowd's decision the man will either be executed (in a manner they will also decide) or set free. Natasha will have a role in the proceedings - she will be called on to read the tallies for and against the man's death. Will she read the true answer, or lie to the crowd? Either way, afterwards the executioner will hand her the hourglass.

ILLYANA'S token (a small toy ship, beautifully handcarved, with impossibly ornate details) will be given to her after she does a series of small quests. The first thing? Her invitation will have a drawing on it of a precise skyline. Her job will be to find the place where the paper lines up with a real part of the city. She will find that this will have her standing directly on top of a storm drain. Should she choose to go down into it, she will find the next piece of the skyline mystery carved into a beautiful ice sculpture down in the bowels of the old ruin beneath Avastarya. The next phase will take her to the front door of a soup kitchen, where she will be asked to help serve the city's homeless. Once that is done, one of the workers will tell her to go down to the docks. It is here that she will be given the small ship (not a boat-ship, but a space-ship) by a child playing there. He may tell her about a monster that's been seen threatening the bay, but is there any truth to this or is it simply a child's story?

JIN'S token (a beautiful moon pendant, lovingly carved and hung on a chain of something that's almost more like mithril in its nature than anything found on earth) is something she will have to find on her own. She will be given a poem that speaks of fair forests and the rising moon and little else. However: at some point in her travels throughout the city, she will encounter an old man telling a story to a group of enraptured youngsters, and he will repeat the poem. Her IIMP's translation of the local tongue won't be exact, but it will sound like they're talking about a fairy or... spirit? If she chooses to inquire about the story, he will give her details, of how on a full moon in a forest glen outside the city, a magical creature will appear to grant someone's truest wish. Should she attempt to seek out this place, however, she will find that it has been burned down. However, at the centre of the clearing, nestled in an old tree stump, she will find the necklace. If Jin ever happens to use foxfire around it, she will find that her name has been inscribed on its back...

Sentinel's Rest will be decked out beautifully for the evening's festivities. There is an area strung with lights obviously intended for dancing, a table of beautiful canapes that contain myriad delicacies from each character's own world (and in some cases, their own life and experiences), there is an area blocked off for tournament fighting and also one for poetry readings where a young member of the Idyl Eben is reciting while her partner plays the lute.

Otherwise, choose your own adventure! After all, you're practically on top of the world. You are also free to have your character run into another one while doing their scavenger hunt. Team up, help with clues? Also possible!

Comments

[dazzlings]

'One does one's best.' [ Jin parrots back, gently mocking. Taking Clark at face value, she's inclined to think he's actually earnest. It would be cute, almost, on someone less physically imposing. ] Isn't that such a burden? Making the right mistakes is more important than making the right choice all the time.

[a_different_future]

[ He grins at the teasing, tilting his head thoughtfully to the question before nodding in agreement. ]

A burden, yes. But it puts some of the control back in your hands.

[ He waits for the next sway in the music. ]

You may need to be here, but what you make of it is your choice.

[dazzlings]

What you make of it is your choice. [ Jin drops her voice and postures for gruff, before shaking her head with a laugh. ]

Why so serious? [ She might be nagging, save for the amused lilt in her voice. ] Of course I know there's a choice, I just wanna whine a little. You should lighten up- we're at a party!

[a_different_future]

[ How loud he makes his breath out makes it clear he's groaning in something like companionable amusement. She gets a laugh out of him. ]

Ah, silly me. Offering sage words of wisdom when you're trying to grouse. Smack me next time.

[ He grins at her. ]

I promise to roll into it so you don't bruise your hand.

[dazzlings]

[ She knows the stories that humans have about foxes being trickster spirits to be superstitious nonsense, but there's no denying that little else can light her up the way that making someone else laugh feels. ]

Yeah, I remember that much, Mr Built-like-a-brick-wall... [ And this is where she would stick her tongue out if she knew him a little better. ] But I'll have you know I don't break that easily!

[a_different_future]

Well, I don't know how hard you intend to smack me!

[ Mock outrage, and he's grinning through it. ]

Far be it from me, apparently, to save you a little trouble.

[dazzlings]

Just wait and see; I'll knock you off your feet one day.

[ Her brows furrow briefly before her expression melts into another laugh. ]

I've always been likelier to run into trouble than away from it.

[a_different_future]

You'll certainly give it your best effort.

[ Not unkindly or even terribly condescendingly (for him) but it's clear he'll believe it when he sees it. ]

And there's a certain benefit to that. I'm... somewhat the same.

[dazzlings]

You learn more things getting into trouble. [ Jin knows that to be true- for her own life, at least. She's learnt and experienced so much more since leaving the comfort of a normal, cushy life. ]

Only somewhat? There's no halfway about it. [ She curls her fingers a little more tightly, giving his hand a squeeze. ] Go on. There's a story there and I'm waiting for it!

[a_different_future]

Sometimes, the lessons aren't worth the trouble.

[ The barest edge of something real there, but he slips by it quickly enough. ]

And far be it from me to show a little caution, apparently? Which story would you like...

I do have more than one.

[dazzlings]

[ That's a sentiment Jin agrees with, and she nods to show it. ]

'Which story would you like', he says, like I know any of them to choose... [ She grumbles with an exasperated roll of her eyes. ] Hm. Something... that makes you think 'that's good' when you remember it.

[a_different_future]

[ Ah, so she's making this difficult. He frowns, pauses, opens his mouth, closes it again, then offers her an impish grin. ]

You have to promise not to smack me if I do. And I'll remind you that I've never claimed to be a particularly good person.

[dazzlings]

Yeah, yeah, go on. [ This is what happens when she gets more comfortable with someone- decorum? What's that? Can you eat it? ] 'Good' is almost always subjective anyway.

[a_different_future]

Well...

[ He breathes in, deep, siiiiighs, and tilts his head ]

I certainly don't want to be crude, but I did learn the, er, difficult way that I much prefer sex with two women over three.

[ If she doesn't smack him, he'll continue. He will if she does too, but with slightly more of a grin. ]

Three is just distracting. I always feel like someone's not getting the proper attention. Very unfortunate.

[dazzlings]

[ Jin doesn't smack him, but laughs instead- or perhaps 'cackles' would be more accurate, and it's loud enough to turn a few heads. She purses her lips together to smother her grin into some semblance of order. ]

What do you mean 'difficult'?! Plenty of people would count themselves lucky to experience that. I mean, experience both combinations.

[ She's still grinning, despite having stepped on his foot at least once in her laughter. ]

So arrogant. You think the other two can't have their own fun with each other while you pay attention to just one?

[a_different_future]

And I counted myself lucky every single time.

[ And he's grinning at her, a little bit devilish, a little bit wolfish. ]

But it's more that it always left one young woman to herself as I attended to two of them.

[ He gives a frown that isn't even remotely a frown. ]

I mean, I'm certain you've noticed I like to keep my mouth busy.

[dazzlings]

Then the obvious solution is to add one more. [ There's too much amusement in her eyes for a functioning semblance of 'deadpan', but Jin tries her best regardless. ]

Yeah, I noticed, but [ a small shrug ] some people are all talk.

[a_different_future]

Once you get to four, you're really better off simply moving onto a proper orgy.

[ Said with authority. ]

With two couples, it just becomes a sort of horizontal naked squaredancing. Honestly, it's really for the best.

[ He lets that sit in the air for a moment, shaking his head in sadness at the reality of the situation, before focusing on her again. He leans in, just a little, and there's genuine curiosity in his eyes. ]

Do you think I'm just talk?

[dazzlings]

[ A roll of her eyes is the only response she will dignify 'horizontal naked squaredancing with', because- Because. Jin knows she can't one-up that statement, so why try. ]

You?

[ She considers him, actually giving the question a little thought. ]

No, actually. [ She smiles- and this time it's sincere, no teasing at all for the first time since they spoke today. ] I don't get that impression from you.

[a_different_future]

[ And that smile... is much more genuine. It's not meant to convince her of anything or flavor a statement in a certain way. It's just... pleased. ]

I'm glad to hear that.

[dazzlings]

[ If there's a way to convey a fistbump through facial expression alone, Jin's doing her best approximation of it. ]

I think... [ She trails off, considering her words. ] You've got too much- [ Habit makes Jin want to gesture with her hands, but they're currently occupied. She'll have to make do without. ] -too much weight in what you say and the way you say it to be just talk.

[a_different_future]

Words should always have a certain power.

[ He's still smiling. It's clear now that he's actually, genuinely enjoying this time with her. ]

Even if it's not the power one might expect.

[dazzlings]

Yeah? Whatever power it is... [ She drops her voice, all gruff again- ] One does one's best. [ -before laughing at herself. ]

What would you do with power if you had it?

[a_different_future]

[ The impression makes him grin a little wider, an extension of the smile. ]

What kind of power?

[dazzlings]

[ She already knows he has physical strength, so- ]

If you were rich and powerful. The kind of power where you have money and status, and people listen to what you say.