[EVENT|4TH WALL] THE NEWCOMERS’ ARRIVAL | APRIL 15-22

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL and plus ones.
Date: April 15-22 2015 (2016 in-game)
Location: Farmlands outside the city walls, but this log can also be used for locations within the city.
Situation: Spring planting - fourth wall event, week one!
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

The days for the festival dawn sunny if a bit chilly, but the air is clear and the soggy ground has dried enough that there isn’t too much mud in the lanes between fields and homesteads. The broad dirt path to the Woodsmen’s land leads past the tram-line construction, lined with waving ribbons on sticks along the sides. The Woodsmen’s territory circles the city, separated from the city’s walls by five hundred yards of neutral land.

The festival’s central area is Liangken’s Clearing, and this is where the festival will begin and end each day. Liangken is an ancient tree, among the oldest on the turtle’s back. Though it doesn’t flower or bear much in the way of leaves anymore, the kedan have cultivated it carefully and now it’s an excellent representation for the revitalisation of old wisdom.



The lanes between the fields and homesteads will house the stalls, contests and walking areas. The Woodsmen will be keeping an eye on these to prevent anyone from walking off the marked paths. The homesteads provide ‘hotspots’ in among the lanes and fields, with Woodsmen families lending their yards to the comfort and entertainment of their guests.

In general, the Woodsmen are a taciturn, soft-spoken lot who nevertheless take great pride in their work. Their lands are all but sacred -- they accept no attitude, no trespassing, no attempts to thwart their authority. This causes some noticeable tension with the Snakes, who are accustomed to being the sole enforcers within the city; but though there may be some ill tempers and raised voices, at no point will anyone come to blows. It’s hard to argue with someone built like a brick wall and carrying sharp farm implements.

The Woodsmen are a touch anxious about having strangers on their land and this shows in them being overly officious or bossy, but at the same time their pride shows clearly and they are eager to show off the state of their lands, their greenhouses, and their farming processes -- practically without being asked. The residents of Keeliai tend to think of the Woodsmen as ‘cowards’, and the Woodsmen are taking this opportunity to prove themselves otherwise with feats of strength and tall tales.

Due to the farmers’ hours of “early to bed and early to rise”, the festival ends in the early evening at sundown, but begins again before dawn -- usually by greeting the sun with a song.

---

LINKS
Heojin, Ran and Lin | Liangken’s Clearing | Stalls and Lanes | OOC Information post | 4th Wall Character Check In

OOC
While Heojin and his bodyguards are open to everyone (including fourth-wall characters!), they are not available for small talk and general directionless CR. For the integrity of the mod’s inbox, please only request a thread with him if you already have an idea of what you’d like your character to ask/do. Other NPCs can be requested by sending a PM to the appropriate journals directly, with the same guidelines.

The top-level comments are for the festival, but fourth-wall characters should feel free to use the rest of the post for anything within the city of Keeliai itself! Just remember to label the top-level comment for location and date.

Comments

[ruinsprofessor]

"Useless?" Raine echoed, raising her eyebrows. "Practically speaking, 'useless' is the state in which it's most necessary to have a friend along." Though she could acknowledge such times might also be the times in which one least wanted a friend around to witness that weakness. "If, however, by 'useless' you mean 'emotionally compromised'--"

She broke off there, and the look she gave Skulduggery in return was a little wry. "Dead or not, you're still human," she told him. She thought it obvious, but perhaps he forgot sometimes. "I'd be more worried if you felt nothing." A breath, and then, judging it appropriate, "I'm sorry to have intruded." And, however belatedly, for his loss.

[skeletonenigma]

How was it Skulduggery managed to befriend everyone who believed friendship was a cure-all? Granted, most of those friends had gotten the idea from Larrikin, but Valkyrie hadn't. Raine certainly hadn't. Was the idea a universal constant, or was Skulduggery simply that much of a magnet?

She was right about one thing, though, especially in Skulduggery's case. Being upset was scores better than feeling nothing.

Skulduggery dismissed the apology with a little wave of his hand. "You couldn't have known. Unless this was all some intricately elaborate scheme to catch me off my guard, you have nothing to apologise for. Shall we start heading back?"

[ruinsprofessor]

In fairness to her, Raine had spent a good deal of time in the company of a young woman who believed that people, at their hearts, only ever misunderstood each other, and that every person was only a friend she had not yet met. Who had aggressively befriended an assassin sent to murder her.

Friendship could solve a lot.

"I don't think I could possibly have planned this," Raine said dryly, taking that for what it was. She tilted her head a little to one side, studying Skulduggery like she could divine meaning from his featureless countenance. Finally: "Yes, let's head back. You were saying something about the sea wisps?"

[skeletonenigma]

"Ah, yes." Skulduggery led the way back through the narrow lanes between fields which would eventually take them back to the main thoroughfare. "I'm not a scientist, but whatever quality allows them to glow used to allow Asti's shell to glow, too. It should be possible to pinpoint what made the shell stop glowing..."

And so the conversation went, taking them all the way back into the city.

So sorry this took so long.

[lordhotman]

"It's been over a year since we defeated Malicant. A lot has happened."

And that was putting it mildly. Still, he frowned with concern.

"Everyone that comes here now has a soul gem instead of a lantern."

Until just recently anyway. He wasn't sure what this meant.