[EVENT|4TH WALL] MYSTERIOUS INTERLOPERS - THE DREAMING DISCONNECTS | APRIL 22-30

[ironwood]

Characters: ALL and plus ones.
Date: April 23-30 2015 (2016 in-game)
Location: In the city of Keeliai
Situation: Infiltration - fourth wall event, week two!
Warnings/Rating: Add warnings as needed.

The festival initially ends on a vindicated note. The kedan at large are happy, chatting, even being unnecessarily gracious toward the Foreigners -- those they can tell are Foreigners, at least. Even the Woodsmen are pleased, on the whole, though it may occasionally be difficult to tell. It's also the Woodsmen who first get the news, trickled down from Heojin.

By the end of the first day, the rest of the festival-goers will have heard enough from the Woodsmen to be going on: that Lin, Heojin's bodyguard, ran across someone making trouble in a field on the day he was apparently absent. The exact details of what happened are blurred; some say he was kidnapped, some say he fled into the mountains to draw the interlopers off, some say he was just in hiding, watching their movements.

Regardless, it causes curious kedan to go investigate the fields themselves on their way back to the city -- never by encroaching on the Woodsmen's land, thanks to the strings of Woodsmen guarding the fence-lines, but enough to see the evidence for themselves.

Whatever the truth of the rumours, by then it becomes clear: there was more than one group of infiltrators in the festival.

The raiders are back. They've come for their own.

---

LINKS
Festival Grounds & Crop Circles | City Tensions | Outside Yunxu's Mansion | Palace Lands | Water Sector Memorial | OOC Post - Event Week #1 | OOC Post - Event Week #2 | 4th Wall Character Check In

OOC
Some starters have been provided in the comments below to cover the main areas of the event! Anything that doesn't fit into these can be added to the bottom of the post. Please direct any questions to the OOC post, thank you!

Comments

Festival Grounds & Crop Circles

[ironwood]

The Ni Zhihuan festival continues on gamely, despite the risen tensions due to Tu Yunxu's announcement about the captured Chihuelans. In fact, it looks as though the arrests will be nothing more than a one-off occurrence, until the first discovery in the field is made. Those who are familiar with crop circles in their own worlds will find it hard not to liken these designs in the fields to them. Even more strange is the manner in which they appear to be made -- or rather, the lack of manner. There are no tools marks and no evidence of it having been done by hand. Instead, the ground is disturbed in a way that suggests there was either something large and heavy resting there, or that the ground itself was pulled under immense pressure down upon itself.

And someone probably would have noticed something large and heavy just sitting in the field for a length of time.

It doesn't take long to identify the symbols made evident in these shapes: there were two main symbols used by the Chihuelans during the invasion: one, which looks like a lightning bolt curved into a spiral, and the other is a square made of four stiletto-like knives. Kedan who are willing to talk about the invasion -- and there are actually only a few who seem willing to go into detail, as though the memory of it was collectively made taboo -- will remark that both symbols were used during the weeks of incursion by the raiders.

The meanings of these two symbols aren't clearly known by the kedan -- although it was speculated that they were either some kind of platoon insignia, or else some kind of gruesome graffiti, considering they were often found next to murdered kedan. If asked, there still a few painted around the city that can be pointed out, although efforts have clearly been to remove them or cover them up, as if no one wants the reminder… and really, who can blame the kedan for that?

Re: Festival Grounds & Crop Circles

[bluejade]

Jade had been happy to camp outside the city. It smelled too much of fear for her to be comfortable there. Now she was starting to be perturbed by the fact that something was clearly causing that fear, and killing people.

Having the mentors from Indigo Cloud would be useful right now. But she could at least poke around the clearings and see what she could learn.

City Tensions

[ironwood]

It doesn't even take a few hours between the finding of the first field symbol for news of it to spread throughout the city, and before long, it's the only topic of note on every doorstep and public space in the city. Tempers are short, and with the announcement of there being some sort of new shapeshifting ability going around, the kedan are afraid of having their only defense taken away.

Suddenly everyone is suspect. Those who've developed any new habits, those who've recently moved, or changed a job, or even started styling their facial features differently. Neighbours who have lived near each other for years are suddenly mistrustful, and accusations start to fly, no matter how baseless. Most of these are quickly tempered, whether by the stern presence of the Snakes or by the perpetrators themselves realizing that this isn't a time to be divided, because that is what the Chihuelans would want.

But not every clash is ruled by a level head, and there are a few street brawls over the next couple of days, where what starts as fisticuffs between a few hotheads dominoes into dozens, all certain that they're in the clear, and everyone else is a potential threat. Thankfully, none of these clashes result in fatalities, although clinics all over the city -- both the legal, like the Hospital and Healer's Guild, and illegal, like the black market doctors -- will see a sharp uptick in broken bones, non-life threatening wounds, and general concussions all around.

Foreigners are not exempt from these suspicions, especially the new arrivals, although producing a soul gem seems to (for the most part) placate them. Foreigners who are familiar around the city can also vouch for the new arrivals, giving them added protection.

[bulletdiplomacy]

Shepard had no money but she could read the atmosphere alright - people afraid of invasion. She had no idea how realistic these fears were; apparently there'd been an invasion recently. Might be something to worry about later if she was gonna be here for a bit, but for the time being it was just an easy in.

A casual mention that a doorway wasn't secure and wouldn't hold out during an occupation - a harmless comment about how that hole would be a perfect entry point for a Chihuelan incendiary weapon. Then a friendly offer to fix it up, for a discount rate of only a few Juulan. Plenty of people took the bait, and those odd jobs gave Shepard just enough money to stay perpetually hammered.

She didn't generally care about the suspicion or the hassle (and your average Kedan could be sufficiently cowed with a good look from Shepard), but this one Kedan is very LOUDLY talking shit about Chihuelan spies, with her eyes fixated on Shepard's back, making awfully specific little remarks. Even then, Shepard was content to just let it go, until the bartender, for whatever reason, decided that it would be easier to just stop serving her.

He said it was because she looked trashed, but Shepard knew it was because of that loud mouth, and Shepard was done with this.

"You got a problem?" Shepard asked, marching halfway across the bar to put her face to face with the noisy patron.

"Yeah, I have a problem. You got a soul gem, foreigner?"

Shepard reached out to grab the Kedan by the shirt and balled her other fist up. "Yeah, I got a soul gem right here, you want to see it up close?"

That prompted two of her bar mates to get up, and things escalated quickly from there. Shepard grabbed a bottle off the table and smashed it in the face of the Kedan on the right. The Kedan on the left grabbed Shepard, who shoved back. The two of them fell backwards onto a table, interrupting five more Kedan, and from there the entire bar went up in chaos.

[sexdoctor]

It seems that adopting a position in an illegal clinic had been a fortuitous choice.

People were flooding into the clinic with minor injuries, and Mordin was glad to be busy again. Medicine was fulfilling and also prevented idle thoughts - well that wasn't quite true. Most of the injuries Mordin saw in the clinic were so minor that they barely took any thought at all to manage.

It was an ongoing quest: trying to find something to dull the ache. This helped a little. But did he really deserve to have the ache dulled?

Questions for another time. Another patient was coming, this one looked like a foreigner. He enabled his omni-tool in preparation for scanning vitals.

"What seems to be the trouble?"

[i_speak_softly]

Oh. Um.

"For starters, you're pointing that at me," Don says nervously. He can't quite hide his interest in the technology, though, and even leans forward a little as he asks, "What is it?"

Medical equipment aside, it's not difficult to diagnose the Turtle's actual problems: he looks like he's been in a fight, though the fact that he apparently got himself to the clinic afterwards suggests that his injuries are mostly superficial.

[sexdoctor]

Mordin continues to scan Donatello regardless of the objection. "Injuries are abnormally high volume. No time to indulge irrational phobias."

"Hmm, biology inconsistent with Kedan. Foreigner?"

[i_speak_softly]

"You're using it on me," Don continues to object, when he realizes the device is turned on. All he feels is a sort of faint humming, though, so it's hard to be mad.

"Third Earth. Ever heard of it?"

[sexdoctor]

"Only heard of the one Earth," Mordin says. "Not populated by a reptile species, as I understand, although many chemical phenomena present are indistinguishable from humans at more than a trivial level."

Basic anatomy scanned, moving on to actual damages.

"Mostly superficial lacerations and contusions, although there is one on the scalp that has penetrated into the aponeurosis and will require suturing. Concussion also possible. Are you experiencing dizziness, headache, nausea?"

[i_speak_softly]

"None of the above," Don replies, without missing a beat, "and thank you for calling me indistinguishable from a human."

He can't quite stop himself from poking at the head wound. He hadn't noticed it earlier, but at the slight pressure, it makes itself obvious with a sharp throb of pain. "Ow."

Outside Yunxu's Mansion

[ironwood]

The protest outside Tu Yunxu's mansion can hardly be called organized by any stretch, but it's not without its strength. There's a healthy mix of people attending, but a good many of them are older, and from their constant calls for justice against the Chihuelans, it isn't hard to figure out that many of these kedan are those who lost sons and daughters in the invasion.

Their claims are reasonable, they'll argue. There's no way that these two Chihuelans weren't part of the invading force under Celaunn's command, because how else could there be Chihuelans on Tu Vishan? The name of the former Basswood Commander is spoken with the deepest loathing, and many feel they were betrayed by the woman not once, but twice.

In fact, any who might speak in defense of the two Chihuelan men are very likely to end up on the cold, stony glare of the protesters. The immediate vicinity of the Snakes' headquarters keeps any potential violence in check, but be assured that names and descriptions of any who don't seem to be siding with the kedan will be passed along.

Open

[wolfstrike]

This has certainly caught Yuri's attention, and he can be found at the edge of the crowd, leaning against the wall of a nearby building.

He says and does nothing, at least for now. He's merely an observer, waiting to see if and when Yunxu or any of his lackeys will address the crowd. He's not really sure if these Chihuelans are responsible for the muggings or not. But the crowd of Kedans is obviously seeking blood. From what he's heard people say in the crowd thus far, about losing loved ones, he can certainly sympathize.

Either way he's curious to see what will happen.

[redlightgreenlight]

She had met Celaunn only once, back when she and Skulduggery had gone to speak with Evandau, and the woman had disappeared soon after. She had never had much respect for the former Emperor. He had been weak and foolish, more so because he had never realized the traitor in his midst. However, three hundred was not an invading force and no matter how surprised the kedan had been, three hundred was not even near enough to hold Keeliai should they manage to take it.

No. Celaunn hadn't brought her people here to take over Keeliai, of that Valdis was certain. She was also certain that whatever they had come for had to be in the Water Sector, or at least Celaunn had believed it to be, why else would the dead there number so much more?

It was unfortunate, but she would have to temporarily set aside her grudge against Tu Yunxu. She couldn't risk weakening the political structure now, not when the kedan needed to believe that he would protect them. No one else could lead the Snakes at this moment, so she would have to leave him be. It was irritating, but more important things were going on now. Like the angry mob outside Yunxu's mansion.

"I usually don't come this way," she commented, leaning against the wall next to the young man, "But angry people tend to give away more information than content ones."

[wolfstrike]

As Valdis made her appearance, Yuri looked over to her as she spoke. He knows he's seen her around, but he's not gotten personally acquainted yet.

"Sounds like we're on the same page," he said casually.

He didn't have nearly the information she likely had, having been here longer and all, but they were obviously both interested in the same thing.

[redlightgreenlight]

She watched the angry crowd for a few moments. It seemed unlikely that anyone would cause trouble so near the Snake's headquarters, but these people were quite upset, so she was on guard nonetheless.

"I am always watching," she replied, "It is almost time for action."

[wolfstrike]

"Yeah...," Yuri agreed thoughtfully while looking back to the mob.

"What kind of action do you have in mind?"

He already had an idea himself but he wondered what this lady was planning.

[redlightgreenlight]

"We let the Snakes get ahead of us," she replied, looking over the crowd again, "We need to know what they know, we need to know more than they know. Which means that we will have to take the offensive instead of just observing."

[bugger_quantum]

The ultimate non-partisan stands tall, dark and motionless in the shade, some distance behind the loudest of the crowd. Death has encountered riots, and overseen protests, often at the same time. But those were business trips, for the most part, on which it was not his job to understand. His interests were and are strictly separate. Now that he has been separated from what he was doing before, he's allowed to take some.

So he watches the ebb and flow of the kedan, somehow less and less ebb as the afternoon wears on, and keeps watching. It's very symbolic, right down to the small takeaway cup and colourful straw he's still clutching in one bony hand; a symbol begins with a familiar shape, and the shape of this crowd is as familiar as they come. The Turtle moves, and history turns. Even when it's the wrong turtle.

Just as a grey-haired kedan steps out before the protesters at the gates and begins to raise her voice for their third impassionate speech in as many minutes, Death turns away - but only to fix the deep blue of his eye sockets on the person who just moved behind him in turn. AH, he says, lifting his scythe and taking an obliging step to the side. PARDON ME.

In the heated crowd, his voice carries with the still, cold air of a waiting morgue.

[peacefullywreathed]

Behind the person who jostled the skeleton, Solomon stood frozen and staring. Most of the kedan had been giving him a wide berth all day; 'the shadow Foreigner' was well enough known by now that he had banked on being left alone while he tried to navigate the city blind. Aside from a few idiots who casts aspersions about his navigating shadows belonging to the vigilante going around, they had.

He hadn't meant to come here, but he'd been following ... something. It wasn't exactly a sense of power. It was more like power distilled to a point. If Skulduggery's undead presence was like a cold star, this one was a black hole.

It just wasn't until Solomon laid eyes on the ... thing that he realised he could lay eyes, that where he could only feel everything else in shades of hot life or cold crystalline death, the shape of this skeleton stood out to his eyes as a reverse silhouette. And so Solomon stared with naked terror combined with a kind of intense fascination as someone grunted and, from the rustle of fabric, brushed past the figure.

How, Solomon wondered, did they not drop dead where they walked, after touching that?

He reached out and blindly caught the sleeve of someone hurrying by. "Excuse me," he said, levelly in spite of his expression, and then wondered if he'd really spoken. His voice sounded practically reedy in comparison to the figure's, almost ... unreal. Everyone's voices sounded unreal, compared to that. "Can you describe the person about three feet in front of me, please?"

"Uh ..." said whoever he'd waylaid. "What?"

[bugger_quantum]

Somewhere inside Death's skull, eternity flickered. It's naturally a little nonsensical, for a being defined by unceasing presence, to try and apply the label "shy". But only a little. Atoms and forests and mayflies don't tend to point or ask awkward questions.

Before the crowd, the kedan raised two of her fists high over her head, casting a dappled shadow over her tears. Their daughters, she beseeched her listeners, their children -

Keeping quiet in case he upset the poor man any further, Death looked down to inspect his drink. Against all physiological probability, the existence of the straw demanded that he stick it between his teeth and issue a small, hollow sucking noise while probing at the edges, where once there were hopes and dreams.

[peacefullywreathed]

"Well, he's kind of ... you know ... and--like that?" The kedan's arm moved under Solomon's hand as he gestured and Solomon felt a pang of doubt. He could obviously see the apparition, but ... not actually see it. Was that deliberate, or a side-effect of the sheer density of the magic around it?

The figure's hand lifted and Solomon tensed, and then he heard the unmistakeable sound of a slurping straw. Disbelief warred with incredulity warred with amusement, and the last won and washed the paralysing terror away with it. Solomon laughed and felt the confused kedan pull away, and let him in favour of stepping forward toward the apparition. It wasn't the fact it was a skeleton. Solomon was quite used to skeletons, given Skulduggery.

It was the sensation; if death, general, was like cold crystal--and it was, at least to Solomon's senses now--then the apparition was the pressure that turned graphite into diamond. The closer Solomon moved, the more he felt as though just being near it took his breath away.

But it was rather impossible to be paralysed by that with the sound of gurgling liquid ringing in his ears.

"Does that have any effect?" Solomon asked, this time directly.

[bugger_quantum]

YES, said Death - each phoneme dropping into place like a line of gravestones, unimpeded by the straw still clamped in his teeth. THE EFFECT IS TO PREVENT ACCESS TO THE BOTTOM OF THE CUP. IN THE NAME OF EFFICIENCY, I SUPPOSE.

With that and its faint note of something far too professionally detached to be called disapproval, he fell silent again. Up ahead, a huddle of protesters cheered, if "cheer" were an appropriate description next to such grim faces.

Palace Lands

[ironwood]

The lands once occupied by the former Palace of the Landed Sky seem to be one of the few places in the city where the changing tide of the city isn't taking over, and work continues at its pace. If this keeps up, the majority of the housing will be build by this time next month, and the quarried out marble and other stone from the Palace's enormous walls is making appearances in all types of the construction -- large amounts of stone are difficult to quarry in from the mountains, and the kedan are not wasteful.

In addition to the major construction, many of these small properties -- for none of them are built extravagantly -- need small touches as well, and the workers seem willing to let just about anyone pitch in to help with that. Basic furniture needs to be constructed, the necessities of a house need to be gathered and put into baskets, allotted to each property. There's certainly enough to do, if anyone feels the need to take their minds of the swirling storm of suspicion elsewhere in Keeliai.

Water Sector Memorial

[ironwood]

The Water Sector has perhaps the quietest atmosphere in the city, and at its heart near one of the largest fountains, many kedan gather to lay offerings to those who were killed during the Chihuelan invasion. For those who haven't heard the tale, they will relate that approximately six months after all the Foreigners disappeared from Tu Vishan -- trapped unwillingly in the Dreaming, although they didn't know that at the time -- a well-armed military force arrived from Atamsichar, the capital of Chihuelo empire. Although they were only numbered about 300, the kedan were caught by surprise, and shocked to see that the force was led by the Basswood Commander, Celaunn. The woman was Chihuelan herself, but she had been Evandau's personal choice to replace him when he was forced to take over as Emperor-- and because of that, she knew as much about the city, about its weaknesses and pitfalls, as Evandau himself had.

They had moved throughout the city as if searching for something, although no one has ever been able to figure out what. Wherever they went, they left almost no survivors -- certainly none on purpose. Sometimes they painted symbols on the walls where they'd been, and those symbols are the ones having appeared in the crop circles in the field. The only marshal force in the city, the police, had been completely lost without their Commander and without orders, and most of them had died in vain attempts to stop the raiders.

All told, over 2000 kedan lost their lives before the general populace got themselves together well enough to provide resistance, and the raiders were eventually routed. The Water Sector had taken the brunt of that fatality toll, as as disproportionate number of Chihuelans remained there, seeking whatever it was they've been seeking. Almost a third of the dead were from this district.

The mourners, however, aren't mourning. Angry, and bitter, and even sad, but the normally lackadaisical people here were galvanized as the rest of the city's population.

All throughout the Sector, tiny paper boats ride the canals with candles perched in them, and long streamer tails of coloured ribbons float behind them. The tides will find them, is the most frequent blessing uttered, and it's never quite clear if the kedan mean the deceased, or those responsible for them… in which case, it's probably less of a blessing, and more of a curse.

open

[crapbearer]

Max is far too new to the area to understand the specific historical or cultural significance to the paper boats, but with the knowledge he'd absorbed from having an archaeologist for a mom, he has a general idea.

When he'd arrived, once he'd overcome the shock and panic of everything that had just happened and did a quick once-over to make sure he wasn't dead (still not entirely convinced) the next order of business was figuring out where he was, how he got here, and... what to do next. He tried to open up conversation with the people around, but the people -- Kedan, he'd later learn they were called -- ignored him at best and almost straight-up attacked at worst. It'd be nice to have his Guardian around to step in --

-- but he wasn't around. He wouldn't be ever again.

"Tough crowd," he'd finally murmured to himself as he sat down near the banks of the water memorial to try and figure out his situation. It's leagues better than where he'd just been immediately before showing up, but Max refuses to dwell on that any longer than he has to.

Still, Max is an active child, and even while sitting and thinking he needs something to do. He finds a piece of notebook paper in his pocket and starts trying to fold a crude little boat of his own.

...no reason why.