southern mission

[promittere]

CALANDO OF WITHERING AMBER

It's mid-morning, with the sun rising high into a bright, cloudless sky, that Tatara summons Bruno, Comet, Maya, Yodarha, and Joyous Day to the manor elevator. It's urgent, he tells them with that soft smile on his face, and your services are needed.

When you arrive at the elevator, standing there to greet you is a young man, finely dressed and with kind eyes; that his mop of brown hair is slightly unkempt is not the only giveaway that he's incredibly stressed. He stands with his shoulders tensed, and almost flinches when he sees you.

"It's...a pleasure," he begins, hesitant at first. But when he inhales, squares his shoulders, he finally looks more like a government official than a meek boy. "My name is Cock Robin, and I am a secretary from the Central castle. On behalf of the minister of arcane management, there's an urgent request for you."

From his thick folder, he pulls out one paper—worn and handwritten. He glances it over briefly before handing it to Joyous Day.

"A town in the southern part of the Southern Country has been having problems with its crops. It seems there's some sort of...sickness that's taken hold of the plants that's spreading rapidly, and they can't seem to find a cure. The only thing they haven't tried is magic. That's where you come in.

"Find the source of the sickness and neutralize it before it destroys their crops. The South is already inhospitable as it is. I can't imagine how they'd fare if they lost a food source. And, personally..." he glances out the window, at the moon fading in the morning sun. "...I have a really, really awful feeling about this. I don't think this is going to be a regular request."

OOC NOTES

Welcome, Southern wizards (and witch), to your mission!

Missions are mod-guided events that are partial CYOA, partial play-by-post instances. In general, you are free to interact with a scene as you please, and the mod will tell you how the scene reacts as a consequence of your actions. Some scenes will allow for more flexible threading, such as exploration or conversation, while some scenes will require strict turn order to preserve rounds, such as combat or other time-sensitive conflict. The mod will inform you if strict turn order is required at the start of a scene. Regardless, always be sure to bold any important actions you take.

This mission has been specifically tailored to Southern disposition, attitudes, and magic. If you find yourself struggling to tackle a situation, refresh yourself on the description of the South on the locations page, and make sure to confer with your teammates too! But you've been assigned South—we don't need to remind you of that, do we?

As a bonus, here's your theme music!

You will have until 11:59 AM EDT on Saturday, April 20 to reach a conclusion for this mission. Good luck!

» NAVIGATION

Comments

[positivize]

[She accepts the cup with a smile and quiet thanks, watching as he serves the tea. When it's ready, she'll sip at it, just taking in the pleasant fragrance and warmth. Still, she can't let herself get too relaxed here when the topic turns to the reason why they're all here in the first place.]

That blackened area, right? We saw it on the way here... Do you remember when it first appeared?

[promittere]

It started about... a week ago, if I recall correctly?

[He looks thoughtful for a moment, sitting across from her at the table.]

So not that long, but it's been growing rapidly since then.

[positivize]

And it's that large already?

[Definitely concerning, although she'll do her best to keep that from showing on her face.]

Has it been growing at a steady pace, or are there times when it seems to slow down?

[promittere]

Mhmm... I'm afraid in another week we'll have no wheat left.

[He sounds pretty broken up by that, and it's clear it's not just as simple as having no wheat.]

It's been a pretty steady thing. Not really getting slower or faster, least so far.

[positivize]

[Having no food in a frontier land like this is probably a death sentence for the town, so she can see the concern. Still, would be good to know if there's more to this than that.]

Do you have any alternatives to the wheat, or is that all you have...?

[promittere]

[He shakes his head, seeming even more worn.]

This is the only crop we've gotten to take at all. The land here... it's hard to cultivate, so that field was something of a miracle for us.

[positivize]

[She can see why he's pretty down about this, so she'll try for a reassuring smile.]

Then we'll just have to figure out what's causing this!

[It's definitely easier said than done, but she wants to keep his spirits up at least. It's a dire situation, but their crops aren't completely gone yet.]

Do you remember anything unusual happening around the time the field started to turn? It doesn't have to be about the field itself, either. If someone saw something odd, or there were any strange rumors lately, that can be helpful for our investigation.

[promittere]

No, if anything happened it was when nobody was out in the field...

[His brows knit together.]

With how quickly things took a turn, we all thought the cause must be magical. We tried reaching out to the doctor in the City of Clouds, first, since he's a wizard and doctor both but we couldn't reach him.

[positivize]

[Hmm, well that was a bit of a dead end. As for the doctor thing... hm. Maybe she's wrong but she kind of has a bad feeling about that one.]

Has he visited your town recently, or was this the first time you've contacted him in a while?

[serenesinker]

[Yodarha makes his way into the Community Center.]

Hey there! Hopefully I'm not interruptin'...

[He sidles over next to Maya.]

We looked around the nearby forest and found no signs of magic or malevolent ills. Whatever's causin' this rot is centralized here.

[promittere]

[ When Yodarha enters, the mayor gets from his spot at the table, and gives a little bow. ]

You must be one of the sage's wizards. Welcome. [ He gestures to one of the seats at the table, an invitation for Yodarha to join him and Maya. He begins readying a cup of tea for him as well with a little nod. ] We had a feeling, but did not think to eliminate the possibility of an outside actor. I appreciate you looking into it nonetheless.

[ He slides the cup of tea to Yodarha, sits back down, and to Maya: ] No. This was the first time in a long while that we've contacted him. Perhaps he's simply busy—I did hear he was summoned to serve the sage... Did he come with you today?

[ He seems hopeful. ]

[positivize]

Oh, Yodarha-san! Glad you could make it.

[She’ll wave at him from her seat at the table and nod at the new information before turning back to the mayor. She shoots him an apologetic look at the question.]

No, I’m afraid we’re the only ones here today. Would you be able to tell us his name? That’s part of something we’ve been looking into as well.

[serenesinker]

[Yodarha quickly bows for the mayor in return, then jumps up into the seat provided for him. He takes a tip of the tea, quietly humming in contentment, letting Maya keep the reins of the conversation for now.]

[promittere]

Ah. [ The mayor seems mildly disappointed by his absence, but he continues: ]

Doctor Garcia. May I ask why he did not come with you today? [ He seems almost apologetic about asking, meekly wringing his hands. ] Did he have a prior commitment?

[positivize]

[Hm. It's kind of a dire situation already, so she'd rather not panic the mayor even further by saying he's just straight up gone, but.]

I haven't spoken to him myself, but he's been away for the past week or so. The sage has been wanting to speak to him, so we've been asking around when we can.

[promittere]

[Ah... The mayor's brows knit, again, his concern palpable.]

Ah, I see... I hope all is well with him, though... You Southern wizards, you're good at healing, yes? Could you check on some of the villagers who have fallen ill?

[He's already apologetic for asking so much, but the villagers are like his family.

He looks to the windows of the community center.]

After your companions return and you get some rest, if you'd rather, but...

[Hopefully the trio will be back soon. This may or may not be a convenient way to segue them into the thread once they've wrapped the thread, ohoho!]

[positivize]

[Healing, huh... Well, she doesn't think any of them are doctors, but if it's a magical illness then maybe it'll be fine? She'll nod in response.]

We'll check in with them about the timing when they come back. Would you be able to tell us a little more about their symptoms while we wait?

[She'll look to the window too just to see if there's any signs of field team too?!]

[promittere]

[His face goes a bit pale.]

They've all gotten so pale, and it seems like they can scarcely breathe or move. Deathly cold to the touch, too.

[He takes a breath, eyes going tight as he keeps looking out the window for the other wizards. For more hope.]

One of the farmers, his leg... it's all shriveled up and going black.

[positivize]

[Okay wow, that sounds pretty bad!!]

Were they all working in the field before they got sick?

[Or is it actually like... spreading like an infection......]

[promittere]

No, no, they didn't...

[Oh boy!]

We've tried quarantining them, because we're not sure if it's spreading or if some of the wheat we harvested before had been impacted without us realizing.

[If he sounds very troubled it's because this is Pretty Dire.]

[fallingsand]

[ That's about the time that Bruno and the others make their way into the community center, a full burlap bag tied to the back of the former's broom (which is slung over a shoulder like some kind of hobo stick-and-bag) with a shovel in the other hand. He'll slow down on seeing the mystery man — to him, anyway — and the other two. ]

Er, hey? We're back? [ Why sounding so uncertain, Bruno? It's just him being him. He'll reiterate, ] Yeah, we're back. Or. I guess we can't be back if this is our first time here but... y'know...

[jorunna]

Hey.

[ Comet follows after Bruno because it's funny to imagine them being in the middle after what happened. The reckless sandwich between responsible loaves... They wave to the people originally here. ]

We're back from... field research? We'll call it that.

[troublereduction]

[ Day follows in right after Bruno and Comet. It is, indeed, a reckless sandwich between responsible loaves. One is arguably more responsible than the other (it is not Day). ]

We're back. [ Just to help reaffirm Bruno, less uncertain sounding. ] Hope we're not interruptin' anything?

[promittere]

[The mayor blinks, jumping to his feet the best a man his age can jump to his feet.]

Oh! Oh, you must be the other Sage's wizards, please, take a seat...

[Time to get more tea for everyone...]

You weren't interrupting at all. You were just looking at the field, I heard?

[serenesinker]

Welcome back, friends!

[Yodarha hoists up his almost empty tea cup as a greeting.]

Did ya manage to find anything in the fields?