[WORLD ONE] AIMINTAS (INTRODUCTION)

[spellbindmods]

Who: The coven & Palai people
Where: In and around the city land of Aimintas
When: Days 13 & 14
Open/Closed: Open to All

The initial setting information found here should be utilized for threads here.

There's no official OOC account for the Palai people. You're free to roleplay their actions and reactions on your own, as in depth as you want -- asking questions, hand-waved interactions, becoming best friends. The new world is your oyster!

Just like how you arrived, the process of leaving the hub and reappearing somewhere else is quite quick and uneventful. Brie and Genette gather as many people as possible so that everyone can explore the new world together in a group, which is where they all land once Qri has worked her magic. If you weren't in the vicinity, or thought that not being social meant you'd get to stay on the island, you come along as well, though you didn't exactly show up with the group. A ▢ Everyone starts their journey a reasonable distance from the outer city walls of Aimintas. It's about a four hour trek to the rocks on foot, which Genette tells everyone to move towards -- though you're free to do as you please. You may discover that traveling on your own too far away results in something quite unpleasant. The initial terrain is quite interesting -- it's at least different from the hub island, though you may not be particularly impressed. There's sticky kelp to step in, water in the sky to look at and sand to get stuck in every orifice of your body. How do you like the new digs thus far? B ▢ Genette explains that the gang must enter the city of Aimintas to survive, but it's easier said than done. Maybe as something of an incentive, Genette climbs into Qri's caravan and it floats away, over the rock face. There go all the supplies you brought! The rest of you losers will have to climb through the craggy rock walls, hundreds of feet tall with very few crevices and cracks that are navigable. Hope you can climb...or maybe you can find a way to get through using someone's magic? The sun sets while the coven is busy trying to get through the craggy infrastructure (at least, that's the fate of those who don't find a quicker way to get into the city). Brie locates a large cave in one of the rocks, and that's where everyone sets up camp for the night. If you want to carry on, that's your choice...but who knows if anything that goes bump in the night is out there bumping in the night time? C ▢ What will your character be doing tonight? Sleeping on a hard rock? Stuck awake? Even if they do manage to fall asleep, they may be haunted by the occasional high pitched screech that comes through the night, though the location of the noise is unknown as of right now.

It takes about a day to travel to Aimintas, climb through the rocks and come into the city. Thankfully the city hub is close to the side of the city the coven managed to climb through, so civilization is awaiting. That civilization is decently modern, lizard-like and very, very nosy. D ▢ Upon entering civilization, the Palai are immediately curious and in awe of their taller, bipedal visitors. They've only seen people like those in the coven in pictures, and if they learn that your character has magic? It'll be as if an A-list celebrity just wandered into town. Because they're so enamored, the Palai will readily give coven members gifts as a token of their appreciation. What exactly do they appreciate? Don't be afraid to ask a few simple questions. They'll be more than happy to give out answers. E ▢ Some Palai, though, will want to see some of that magic before they offer up any gifts. Some may be a little demanding, just because their curiosity is so overwhelming. A harsh no will result in an apology and a gift anyways, but maybe just show them some magic anyway...? Even outside of interacting with the Palai, there's quite a bit around here to look at. Genette can be found in the middle of one of the parks, handing out the stored supplies to their owners. (Don't worry, she'll tell you where she is with a little telepathic poke. Your supplies will give you access to shopping and bartering...your status as a magical humanoid thing will only get you so far. F ▢ The Palai marketplace is rather large and home to a variety of businesses, shops and services. Want a good night's sleep? Want to eat a delicious shrimp wrap? Need your hub technology charged? You can do that here. What strange items will you fine? Is their technology level something you're familiar with? G ▢ Finally, the Palai are a people of culture. That culture can be quite unforgiving to those who choose to wander around alone. Some Palai people, after the initial wonder has worn off, will deny services to people who are on their own. It just doesn't compute! Your character is better off with a group of three, but a friend is fine. Travel in groups or couples and your character will find that they get fewer strange looks and questions.

It can be easy to get overwhelmed within the Palai marketplace, so no one will blame a coven-member for escaping the city for a bit. On the outside of the marketplace is a very large house with dozens of Palai congregating -- and my dozens, we mean at least 200. A Palai mate triangle just committed to each other, and this is certainly worth celebrating. H ▢ The guests feel blessed by the presence of a coven-member, and they readily invite any that happen by to the festivities. There's cake, alcohol, drinks, dancing. The Palai people certainly know how to get down. I ▢ Wildcard! How will your character interact with this new and unusual world?

Comments

w (c) lemme know if this works for you

[probablynoteren]

[The screeches vary in volume, intensity and frequency, but they're always there in the distance -- hovering until you're just at the edge of sleep before making a break for it, and by break we mean breaking your attempt at any shuteye.

Visibility is just about zero outside of their little cave setup: little to no light gets through the mass of ocean above, unless you count the smallest flashes of luminescent deep(?!) sea fish, coral, or other strange creatures Lenka doesn't have a clue what to make of. The sky moves, though, great big billows of currents and waves visible even in darkness, cut by the luminescent lightning. It's almost like the screeching is thunder.

Since sleep isn't much of a thing on nights like these -- they're familiar, in their essence, the cries in the distance and the knowledge that something is hunting -- Lenka's climbed up to a stony crag not far from the cliff face the cave is carved into.

The little bottle of shimmering water created from worm mist much earlier in their stay is tucked next to him, providing illumination. That is, until he shifts at a particularly loud screech, and accidentally knocks it off the crag. Hopefully it doesn't hit anyone--]

laughs totally works, let's go for ignoble meeting

[genice]

( -- and it does, of course, hit someone. Victor, to be precise, who had been on his way back after leaving for the sake of emptying a full bladder. Life was full of these ignoble little necessities, made all the more apparent when having to camp under bizarre forms of northern lights and the cries of animals that sound like mother nature herself rebelling against the absurd cage they're all rummaging around within.

The bottle bounces off his head, tumbling on toward the ground as Victor mutters: )

Ouch?

( with little emphasis, more surprised than injured. the light of the bottle has him glancing down first, then up, immediately, looking for whomever had tossed the dratted thing. )

Hello?

[probablynoteren]

... Ah.

[Lenka had been busy facepalming at his own clumsiness -- honestly, was he this bad at keeping things together already after just a couple of weeks away? -- so he's leaning over the edge of the crag now and staring down between his fingers once Victor makes his existence known. He's just lucky it was a coven member and not some kind of wildlife or something.

... Not that it's lucky for Victor, but the bottle had been small and relatively light, so hopefully no lasting damage done. He's pretty sure. He should probably check.]

Sorry. Are you okay? That's, uh, that's mine.

[genice]

( His eyes look dry even if his smile is a wry one to offset any tendency toward drollness. )

I guessed as much. So who are you? It's not every night I have the pleasure of bottles being dropped on top of my head.

( he crouches down, picking up the plastic bottle and tipping it this way and that way, curious as to its convenience as a light of sorts. like the sky above in all its riot of movement; the least restive thing he's seen painted across the heavens. )

[probablynoteren]

Utsugi Lenka. I think we're both part of the coven.

[He hasn't actually hit wildlife, right? Do the natives around here count as wildlife??

It's kind of hard to keep talking down such a ridiculous distance, so Lenka starts slowly making his way back down -- using the cave and the little beacon Victor's examining as a guide and feeling his way across the rock. It's a good thing he didn't climb too high, but he still feels better when he has a good vantage point in times like these.

Once he's back on equal standing with his inadvertent victim:]

I just wanted to... keep watch. It's-- [screech, goes their helpful heavens] --hard to sleep through that.

[genice]

[ Lenka is moving (first? last? he doesn't decide), and for that reason Victor stays relatively quiet, only returning the introduction at first. ]

Victor Nikiforov, and we are, most likely.

[ unless there's some other motley crew to be a part of here and now. he's not sure he wants any part with any of them; he also doesn't get a choice. not right now. once he's joined by his companion of the moment: ]

... It's definitely not the worst I've heard.

[ he muses this having been surrounded by screaming infants on airplanes for sixteen plus hour flights. he's admittedly learned some coping skills with loud shrieks and screeches in the night. still. he glances skyward. ]

The visuals are more unsettling to me.

[probablynoteren]

[Nikiforov, huh? It's certainly easier to pronounce than Alisa Illinichina Amiella (on an aside, I still don't know how that's a Russian name), but that isn't saying much. Maybe he should go with the first name just so he doesn't mangle it--

Anyway, Victor's response has him looking back up at what's above them -- it's not much for visuals, since you can barely see anything, but that's the other unsettling thing. Having what is apparently millions of tons of water rolling by above your head is bit...]

... Yeah. I don't like it, either. It doesn't make sense. [as for the screeches, for the most part he's learned the opposite of sleeping through them -- sounds like that were to be paid attention to, back home, unless you felt like being separated from your limbs or worse] Can I have that back?

[He's holding out a hand for the small glowing bottle.]

[genice]

( ... that name is... so very Russian..................... uncertain squint

Victor blinks, glancing back toward his companion. He holds the bottle out for him to take. )

Sure.

( ... Yeah, he. Waves a little at that, looking back the way he'd come. )

Planning to keep watch out here?

[probablynoteren]

[Lenka gingerly examines the bottle for any leaks or cracks -- it's a decent bottle, but at the end of the day it's standard issue and who knows what quality of things the coven scavenged up in the middle of their island (or... bearing present evidence, outside of the island too). He's a little attached to it, though. He doesn't have many possessions, here or back home, but.

The sky here makes him think of the one they saw the first night, just space with funny mist drifting down all colorful and soothing. It helps to think back on it; it's a little bit of the reason he keeps the bottle on him, besides practicality.]

I wanted a better view, but... [well, there isn't really a view, so] I can watch the cave entrance.

[It'll make him feel better to sit up for a bit, anyway, even if so far nothing has swooped in out of the dark.]