balancemod: (Default)
balance mod ([personal profile] balancemod) wrote in [community profile] balance_ooc2019-11-29 10:10 pm

Field Mission 6: A Day in Thay, Call to Arms


Mou mou!!! (T/N: Die, Karsus!!!)
NAVIGATION



1. A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME


WHERE DO WE EVEN BEGIN?

Depending on how you look at it, our story begins in the town of New Aspen- or, for as some of you may know it now, New New Aspen. A long time ago, a mayor had made a deal with the Cult of Shadows in order to stop the pestilences that they brought upon their little town. His sister, Laurel Hollyweather paid the blood price that was required by their organization. A body, willing, so that they may take form in this world and return to walking the land of Toril once again. It never sat well with the mayor, who was lauded as a hero for saving his village. But what became of Laurel after the Cult of Shadows had left New Aspen? Her spirit merged onto the nearest creature, turning it into the Matronly Mother that once waged war against the town for forgetting her noble sacrifice. The Reclaimers put an end to a long and unhappy family feud, also claiming their first Grand Relic in the process: The Space Mittens.

This is the story of what happened to Laurel's body.

After the cult assumed control of an avatar for their will, Laurel headed to Waterdeep. There, she presented herself as one of the Seven Sisters, a group of women who were blessed upon birth by the Goddess Mystra herself; if in the event they were cast from their celestial thrones once again, she'd have one of seven options to choose from. The protection of the Weave, above all else, was paramount to the survival of the world as we know it. The cultist was smart, and cunning, and easily spun a believable story as to the whereabouts of her own tale, and why she had been missing for as long as she did. In the shadows, she assumed control of Blackstaff Tower, the prominent wizarding school upon which Waterdeep had churned out countless defenders of the realm. When you play the long con, it helps to have a goal in sight. And when you wage war against Magic itself, you better have a damn good convincing persona if you're going to infiltrate the town of Thay.

And thus, she became Casariel Silverhand.

DOESN'T IT START EARLIER THAN THAT?

From another angle, you could say that this all began eons ago, a time and place long forgotten by the annals of history, scant with records or accounts of a long-forgotten city. The Netheril, as you would have it, was home to a sprawling empire of city-states, banded together under a council of mages who pushed the boundaries of science and magic all the same. They propelled their capitals into the sky, keeping them afloat and sustained by draining unfettered magic from the land itself. It drained every ounce of energy it could just to keep itself going, and as all great empires go, the Netheril had to fall.

A brilliant wizard by the name of Karsus had been researching magics that were never meant to be toyed with. He summoned a 13th level spell, one whose casting would only ever happen once in the course of all Faerunian history. Named posthumously, or perhaps, by the man himself, as Karsus' Avatar, he enacted a ritual that brought about the winds of change for the world. In attempting to solve the Netheril's thirst for magic to sustain itself, he opened up a link between all planes of existence, and in doing so, saw the horror of what he had actually accomplished. He became a god, which is awful in its own rights, but worse- he invited the very thing that wound up ruining the Netheril and forcing it to come falling down from the skies.

The lone dissenter to this plan was a woman by the name of Mystryl. Rewarded for her stalwart opposition to Karsus' plan, she was gifted with the radiance of the Celestial plane, granting her the power to control the construct and flow of magic itself, and thus, the Weave was born. Through it, she could limit mankind's powers so that no one would ever be able to do what Karsus was capable of achieving.

But what truly became of the Netheril? Many cities fell and became occluded with the sands of time. The desert, having received such an imbalance of magic, experienced such ravaging torment that entire stretches of land became looming crystals, nullifying any magic that dared be cast in its range. But one city had fallen into a plane of existence, brought down into it by the rift Karsus had made. The Shadowfell welcomed this lost city with open arms, immediately claiming the bodies of every living citizen left. They wandered, as ghosts, in their destroyed home. They plotted for centuries to return to the home they had once loved, and watched from the outside as their greatness had faded to nothing.

Their dissatisfaction only grew as time went on. They saw beyond the universe and knew what was on the horizon, clutching the space between spaces in its unceasing appetite to consume all. The Hunger. The remaining Netherese banded together and sacrificed 90% of their population to bring their city back to Faerun, but without bodies to return to, they could only manipulate in the shadows. Their city began to fall, without the energy to sustain its levitation- until it was piloted into the World Tree. All to get one soul back into the land of the living.

And thus, the Cult of Shadows was born.

WHOA, TOO FAR BACK

And depending on where you look at it, our story really just begins with Karsus. Once the owner of the Grand Relic of Divination, Karsus had seen the expanse of time in both directions. He saw a future of this world that he couldn't bear to live with, and decided to enter the game and play with a timeline even longer than Casariel Silverhand's. You see, Karsus wasn't born in the time of the Netheril, no. His era is our own, and by merit of having the Lamp of Unwinding, he knew things that he would inevitably have to do--- because he was the one who would do it. Or had done it.

Karsus knew of the story of Karsus' Avatar, his own fabled myth, and struck with his own unfortunate time loop, knew he'd have to go back in time to begin the chain of events that had led him to where our story takes place today. He needed to give rise to the Goddess of Magic to ensure that the Weave would exist, so that one day... one day, the Bureau of Balance would come to fruition from Lucretia and Maureen's dream. Karsus had become his own boostrap paradox, completing numerous loops of time to ensure his own existence. Trippy, right? You might be wondering how a goddess of time like Istus would feel about all of this- and if you guessed that she was livid, you'd be... sort of right, and sort of wrong at the same time. In her infinite knitting, she only moves forward, determining the future of events, and you can imagine the moment she found Karsus' string in the city of Thay, long, long before the events of the current situation that we're all in. But she, too, had to see to it that fate was obeyed- and this was, for better or worse, Karsus' fate.

Mystra has dominion over the Weave, the force through which all magic is summoned in this world. It's existence isn't one of legend, but actuality. And it's power source is the Wellspring of Magic, a place that holds it together like glue. Remember when it was mentioned up there that Mystra blessed 7 children in case she ever needed to possess one of them from being cast out from the Celestial throne? It had happened once; dubbed "The Time of Troubles," the Celestial plane was locked off for a while and she was sent to roam the earth as a mortal. It left the Weave completely undefended. You can imagine the look on her face when Karsus had appeared to lend her a hand. She thought he was dead and long forgotten, but here he was, the Lamp of Unwinding in his hand, in a land that would one day be known as Thay.

And he agreed to ensure the Wellspring of Magic's safety. He tricked and lured an adult black dragon that was terrorizing the land around its home into visiting it, and put it into a deep, deep slumber around the Wellspring itself. Mystra, once she regained her status as a goddess, saw to it that Karsus would no longer have the ability to move forward and back through time. Karsus, knowing the events of his own story, surrenders willingly. Mystra takes the Lamp of Unwinding and leaves it in the hands of a trusted, far more sane wizard... Khelben Arunsun: Rainer's great grandfather. The city of Thay is then formed as a pact to keep the Wellspring of Magic safe. Karsus himself founds Boarbumps with 4 other great archmages of the time.

Once he's done what he promised to do, to perpetuate safety to the Weave, he agrees to whatever fate Mystra decides for him. But he knows... of course he knows. He's seen what happens.

And thus, Karsus is bound to the Tower of Avalon, deep within the Sea of Fallen Stars.



2. WHAT THE BUREAU OF BALANCE DID


In lieu of an expanded section here, detailing out the events that you've helped to accomplish, we're going to defer to the timeline document that we've been maintaining! You can read about all the important events that took place during A Day in Thay over there.



3. WHAT'S REALLY HAPPENING AT THE WELLSPRING OF MAGIC




Now that you're caught up to speed, a few of you know by now what's been happening down beneath the town level of Thay. Surrounding the Wellspring of Magic is an extremely old black dragon, tricked into a near eternal slumber by Karsus, and protecting the source of all magic in Faerun. Some of you have made it down here just before 7pm to see, or maybe hear, Casariel and Rainer down here, arguing over something that couldn't be audibly heard. You've discovered ways down into the deepest layer of this dungeon: a magic mirror that, once attuned by Ferran, allows safe passage down to the depths. An entryway in a bathroom haunted by a specter of Boarbumps past. A secluded and spider infested climb through the forests surrounding the town. All of it leads here, to this very confrontation.

Rainer, who finally feels that the gravity of the situation has been felt by a group of people she knows as responsible for destroying magical artifacts, sits between Casariel and the dragon, interrupting the well laid out plans of the Cult of Shadows.

This is her rock and her hard place.

On one hand, awakening the dragon destroys the town and unleashes a horror upon the world whose rage has been built up over centuries. Casariel glows a dark purple energy, ready to revive and control it to do her bidding: break through the barriers of reality and welcome The Hunger once and for all.

On the other hand, the thing that Rainer has kept close to her heart, is finally revealed. And no matter how many times this has been scripted, and how many stalemates she's found herself in, she's never been able to break the cycle. In her robes, the Lamp of Unwinding rests, waiting for its next use to turn back time. But this iteration, this cycle? This is it. This has to be it.

It's now or never.

Casariel smiles with vile intent in her every waking feature.

"You know you can't stop me, Rainer. I've drunk from the Wellspring of Magic. We're one now. Killing me will only destroy the Weave."

And now you know exactly why she's perpetuated this exact scene. She's done this over 2,000 times already. And she's never had a third option. From here on out, things are about to get dicey.

What do you do?



4. CALL TO ARMS: RESUME


We hope you're ready for this mission's conclusion! Here are the rules:

○ Utilize this post as a discussion board if you're interested in teaming up! It might help to hit upon your character's path actions, strengths, magic items and abilities. This way you have an idea of what's available to you as a team when the assignments go live.

○ We will RNG team rosters if there's overflow. Each of the CTA missions below have the required archetype in the header, along with a maximum group size allowed to undertake the mission. Each group needs at least one character with the required archetype, so keep that in mind when signing up. If one group gets more than the maximum allowed signups, we'll RNG a final group roster for you.

○ Sign ups for the threads will close on Tuesday, December 3 at 6PM EST. If you've signed up for a CTA in the last mission, please be considerate and allow others to sign up this go-around! If we receive threads without at least two signups by that time, we will then reopen the thread and allow everyone to throw their name in the hat. If this happens, we will subsequently close CTA signups on Wednesday, December 4 at 6PM EST.

○ CTA plans are due on Friday, December 6 at 6PM EST. Results will be rolled and posted.

○ The CTA log will go live on Monday, December 9 at 8PM EST. Remember, if you signed up and submitted plans for a CTA, you must thread it out or you will be considered ineligible for the following mission's CTA plot.

○ Success or failure in this mission is largely relative to the overall state of Thay, the safety of the Wellspring of Magic, and the Grand Relic's reclamation. Read more below for more information!




blurb code by photosynthesis

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feytality: Hey it's Ema. GET IT. (Yeah I know I'm not funny) (FLAWLESS DISGUISE!)

[personal profile] feytality 2019-12-02 12:17 am (UTC)(link)
Is the clearing the town of casualties CTA like... timeloop versions of Reclaimers? Will we have to convince/fight each other?

Can the magical items/blessing items be lent to others for the dragon CTA?
napstar: (i'll just walk)

[personal profile] napstar 2019-12-02 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
Minato and Kaede shook hands with Szass. Is Szass only sticking with Kaede and/or Minato or would he help any Reclaimer?
wrightingwrongs: (08)

[personal profile] wrightingwrongs 2019-12-02 04:03 am (UTC)(link)
So, out of OOC curiosity, how would the Chance Lance's 'timeline splitting'(?) work?

Possible follow-up answers depending on the full details.

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ribticklers: (Default)

[personal profile] ribticklers 2019-12-02 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Just to be sure, Cas drank from the wellspring before the loops started, right? Also, will this CTA start from a new loop or from the time they're down in the dragon cave?

One more question: I've been having Sans's levitate skill flavored such that characters feel him grabbing their soul, since that's how it happens in canon. Is Sans grabbing and levitating people by their souls a valid interpretation? I never expected it to be more than relevant flavoring but I have a vague idea where it might be, so.
Edited 2019-12-02 23:25 (UTC)

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hxppythxughts: (sparkle♥ in such a hurry.)

[personal profile] hxppythxughts 2019-12-02 11:30 pm (UTC)(link)
I just realised I never asked what the fire from the Bahamut arrows actually...does... (ง ื▿ ื)ว The RNG write-up states "But when you knock it into an area, it does no damage to an enemy. Instead, the conflagration rages outward, to a circle of 5 feet in all diameter, staying stationary to where it landed." Does it actually burn stuff up? What are its properties and effects besides, presumably, Hot?

Also how many of them were in the quiver?

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feytality: seriously who the fuck is this girl (TOTALLY UNRECONIZABLE)

[personal profile] feytality 2019-12-03 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
If Maya's not participating in a CTA, can she still provide Summoner buffs for them and/or get animal friends to lend them a hand?

(no subject)

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parfaitgirl: (Default)

[personal profile] parfaitgirl 2019-12-03 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
If you can't answer this without it being submitted as a part of a final plan that's totally fine, but does Feral Instinct potentially work on dragons? The path action does say "animal" so on an OOC level I'm thinking probably no, but just wanna know if that information would be available to Natsuki or not!!
mylawn: (pic#10463781)

[personal profile] mylawn 2019-12-05 04:22 am (UTC)(link)
Inquiring minds want to know about:

1. The size of the wellspring
2. Anything notable about the surroundings and general terrain? How much space do we have to work with?
philoxenia: (Default)

[personal profile] philoxenia 2019-12-05 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
So the relic-nabbing bit says that "Rainer will most likely be support casting from the middle of the arena," which begs a couple questions--

1. Who's she supporting here?
2. Are we all in this arena space--that is, all those who're down in the dungeon? I'm assuming so, and how big is this space?
Edited 2019-12-05 05:45 (UTC)
ribticklers: (Default)

[personal profile] ribticklers 2019-12-05 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
What did Rainer reward Sans with in the RNG thread?

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