sub-quest five | climb through the wreckage

[noobtrampolines]

CHARACTERS | all affected & unaffected characters!
DATE | The occasional night
RATING | PG-13
SUMMARY | All affected characters fall asleep come night time in the strange new town, and wake up in their comatose bodies for six~eight hours. Time for the unaffected characters to start mingling and find out what's going on!

LOG |

Comments

Dec 7th | first awakening

[noobtrampolines]

[ And still, the GMs are nowhere to be found. But at least your body's unharmed, right? Maybe it was just a bad dream. ]

[highwind_knight]

Kain wakes cursing and swearing in a blur of two or three mangled languages; and really the cacophony does no justice to the one in his head.

He had no idea what was going on or what he wasn't remembering, but every fibre of his being was telling him that this very mental fog was familiar and something hated.

"What is ..."

((no clue where he might be; I haven't been in the game long enough to find a guild X3;; he used to camping rough, though ~))

[enduringwinter]

The first thing Kain might notice in the room is the sight of dusty red hair. Richter didn't much care for either humans or half-elves but he wasn't heartless enough to just leave a former companion out on the streets. So he had pulled the fellow Blade Brandier into the nearest inn after leaving Albel with a blue haired youth. The somewhat volatile display of Kain's awakening was just enough to cause Richter to jump in surprise before settling down next to the bed, a mug of tea in his hands.

"If the end of that sentence is 'happening' then you're not the only one with that question." said the half-elf. "How are you feeling?"

Because if Kain was as confused as Richter was, then the former researcher had doubts about how much information he could pick up from this interview.

[highwind_knight]

The motion caught his attention and quieted the stream of invectives, though it took a few addled moments of sifting through memory to place Richter as a more recently-encountered companion of sorts. Red hair; it was not a common thing, red hair, some part of him felt the need to note ...

Sagging back against the bed, Kain shook his head slowly. He felt leaden, and his eye half-closed as he clumsily scrubbed at his face.

"... Weighted. Weak, like a paralysis -- spell, undead, whatever you want -- or when I was down with the hammer-lung and coughing blood ..."

... When had that happened, precisely? Damned mind fog ...

"... Weighted in the head to go with it. Hard to think, harder to recall -- to clearly recall anything. Like trying to think through wool."

Turning his head to eye Richter, he lifted a brow.

"You said I'm not the only one asking that question -- and I don't remember coming here. What did you see happen?"

[enduringwinter]

Richter quickly wrote down a couple of notes in a nearby notepad (most likely meant for use when he finally chased down a GM or a helpful NPC) before Kain's question interrupted his thoughts. He paused to think for a moment before speaking again, slow enough to make sure that none of his words would be mistaken but still at a steady pace.

"I wasn't there when you fell unconscious, but you're not the only one affected," he paused, "Right now there are other players - those who aren't unconscious - trying to find the source of this."

There was an unspoken question in that statement. Obviously, the ones who were awake could only do so much; any information from the ones who had lost consciousness would help to find a way to fix this... Or at least find out why this might have happened in the first place. Richter had his own theories, but without any solid evidence to support it, those theories would remain just that; ideas formed by a researcher based only off of observations.

[highwind_knight]

Kain's faint -- and faintly rueful -- smile as Richter explained the situation was as close as he was willing to come to admitting having noticed how the other man was speaking carefully for his benefit. No need to call attention to the small kindness, nor his own weakness; but he'd remember the consideration, so he would.

Unfortunately Richter's words did nothing to reassure him.

"'Player' ... Still a new concept to me, I'm afraid."

"If this were occurring on the Planet my first thought would be plague ... the second, a curse or a malevolent flaw in a Crystal. Plague seems ... the most likely."

So damned tired.

But also stubborn, was Kain.

"Whatever it is, it needs a common thread ... would you agree?"

"... Unless an adversary is being utterly capricious."

[enduringwinter]

"..."

Richter leaned back in his seat for a moment, arms crossed in front of him. A common thread... Yes, he'd been trying to find one out since this all happened and the closest thing he could come up with was quickly derailed because-

"Albel is also affected by whatever blight this is. However, I appear to be unaffected at all; if there was a common thread, that I am still awake throws quite a wrench into the whole affair." He pushed his glasses up before shaking his head. It took a second before he realized that Kain seemed to be nodding off again. "Hey! Don't drift off yet; what did you see? What's happening to the lot of you?"

[highwind_knight]

".. I don't know. There's a fog. If not for your hair, I'd not believe this was occurring either."

"Lessons? In a regimented building."

The sound Kain made hung somewhere between amusement and an irritated snort. He levered himself a little more upright, however, and eyed Richter through half-closed lids.

"... Don't throw out a theory yet. Is there something common to me and the barbarian that is different with you, I wonder ...?"

[enduringwinter]

If any would make Richter do a double take, the comment regarding his hair would be it. But he'll ask about it some other time.

"... A school?" Because it certainly sounded like one. Then again, that answer only brought up more questions- Any thoughts he might have had is interrupted when he saw Kain push himself up and the question that followed.

"A commonality, hm?" That he was a half-elf might have a hand in this incident was frustrating in and of itself. But Richter had lost most of his magic and ability to sense the mana of other elves upon arriving here; could this place take away abilities without changing someone's blood? "I wonder about that. As for throwing a theory out..."

"I'd have to do a bit more research before I could do that with a clean conscience."

[highwind_knight]

"I suppose that it could have been some form of school. The scale was larger than any I know of -- but I want to say I attended private lessons, once ... and there was a sense of detachment. As I said, regimented."

Hitching a half-shrug, Kain smiled wearily.

"Commonality, but only if it exists. A theory on my part, I suppose."

"What else I can offer your research, I have no idea."

[enduringwinter]

The first thought through Richter's mind was a memory of his time spent in Sybak's Academy. If it was a large school then what better description for it than an academy? But that answer only brought up more questions; why would they be dreaming of something like that? There didn't appear to be any logic behind the location other than, perhaps, stirring the memories of those people who had attended school.

Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, then, that Richter hadn't ended up falling asleep.

"Looks like I'll just have to make do with what I have..."