[hr][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/VjYFXry.png[/img][/center][hr][hr][center][h2][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p79IBaksXU]♫[/url][/h2][/center][hr][hr][center][color=808080][i][b]Present:[/b] Esmii [@BlackRoseSiren], Oksana [@Ti], Yuliya [@Arte], Marz [@Th3King0fChaos], Yvain [@jasbraq], Roslyn [@Fallenreaper], and Khaliun [@YummyYummy][/i][/color][/center][hr][hr][center][h1][color=808080]Desperate Camaraderie[/color][/h1][/center]
[color=808080]Night came upon Kirimansk, and it was a cold, silent thing. The streets were somber and largely empty, save for the occasional howl of a dog or clatter of loose rubble skittering down a ravine that had once been scenic but now seemed threatening. The lone exception to this was in the immediate vicinity of the гостиница золотая река - the Golden River Inn - where light spilled out in warped yellow triangles from a handful of windows and the sounds of drinking, laughter, and revelry reached into the darkness.

Many of these were locals. Six were students of Ersand’Enise and their semi-local guide. Strictly speaking, all might’ve been better served by serious discussion on what had happened so far and what was to come. However, what had happened before and what was to come were subjects of overwhelming stress, and so they were here drinking, instead. When they drank, things happened…

[hr]
A small, scraggly Vossoriyan man was swinging at Sven. Penny blinked and sat stalk-straight as she witnessed the giant Eskandr block it with ease. The attacker was shouting angrily in his native tongue and Sven was responding in a confused and jarringly non-lisping tone. Her alcohol-addled mind told her to jump in and try to defuse matters, but within less than thirty seconds, Marz and three more locals had joined in and she was seated astride one of them, pounding the woman to a pulp. 

Then, Yvain was there, along with a giant of a woman, and it was an out and out brawl. For the next five minutes, they pounded each other, taking out all of the frustrations they must’ve felt at the recent calamities they had faced. In the end, Penny sat on the ground, chest heaving and someone else’s blood spattering her pretty dress. She brushed a few strands of sweaty, disheveled hair from her face and pawed gingerly at a nose that felt… [color=F7976A][i]Is it broken!?[/i][/color]

Then the boys were flexing and complimenting each other and - to be fair - her as well. It was a desperate sort of laughter and camaraderie that followed: something they were in sore need of following the disaster that had been Tagayungri. Yvain paid for any damage to the tavern and they filled the next half-hour with armwrestling. Of course, Penny didn’t legitimately [i]beat[/i] any of the men and, once the adrenaline started to wear off, she quickly realized just how many injuries she had picked up: a broken nose and pinkie finger, three split knuckles, a tender rib, and a badly bruised stump. 

The little group of four brawlers plus Esmii ended the night staggering outside through the empty streets, their breath coming out in crystalline puffs and lingering in the cold Stresian air. When they reached the cutoff point where magic started to return, they wasted little time in healing their wounds and trudging back towards the Golden River, the spirit that had animated them through the raucous night having faded somewhere in the intervening time. All of the others were abed by that unholy hour, and they were not long in following.

[hr][center][h2][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es6l3BHRgXg]♫[/url][/h2][/center]
Yet, for one more member of their group, the night was not something to be slept through. Having been sent along late after her peers, Roslyn Wicke, a brewer’s daughter and unlikely heiress to a rather humble fief in southwest Hendland, had spent the past night and day on a rickety river barge that rocked and groaned with the current. Four cages full of chickens clucked softly under the light of two full moons, old man Boris snored like one of the foghorns out by Morcester on the coast, and Andrei and Natasha were thumping, sighing, and giggling as they did… The motion of the ship had churned her stomach, stirring Roslyn awake and out onto the deck. Her chattering teeth spilled warm breath into the frosty air. She raised a palm, pressing it into the dark rings around her eyes. Feeling the grit dug away, she rested against the chilly rail to gaze at the stars. Gradually her gaze drifted down to observe the looming cliffside. Shortly, the Belykuska entered a gorge. Recalling her knowledge, this marked the final approach to Kirimansk.

[hr][hr][center][h2]A Rude Awakening  ||  [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0IKMm_Hz1g]♫[/url]  ||  [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_52K0E_gNY0]♫[/url][/h2][/center]
They were awoken by the ringing of church bells. It was Victendes and the Veterite Church was not so very different from the mainline Avincian Quentic one in that regard. They rose from various beds in various states of wretchedness, yawning, stretching, and blinking. A couple buried their heads under pillows. One or two were somehow bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. Nazih looked particularly rough, however: lethargic, cold, and repeatedly rolling his neck as he tried to work a kink out of it.

They gathered in the downstairs tavern where they had caused such a ruckus the day before, braving a handful of sour looks and narrowed eyes. Breakfast was nearly over and many others, for all that they might’ve seemed a rough-hewn people, were attending mass at St. Artyom’s Cathedral or one of the two smaller outlying churches. It was in one of these - Ahn-Dami the Shrewd - that the larger group had planned to meet up with Yuliya and Khaliun.

First, however, they had to make their way through the town, and this was chaos, what with the ongoing rescue and reconstruction efforts - sans magic - the normal Victendes traffic, and their unfamiliarity with Kirimansk, save Oksana, who was only passingly familiar. It was during this winding journey, complete with at least two wrong turns, that Esmii shared the harrowing story of her journey into a sealed-off cave the evening before and what she had learned. Gravity itself seemed to be askew, and it did not take long before people were already proposing this as a cause of the quake that had so devastated the town recently. 

They did not have long to speak, however. 

Wandering about the port, a flutter of butterflies raced within Roslyn's midriff. She had stepped off the boat onto the sparsely crowded dock. Her hand clutched her bag close, comforting and anchoring in her in the moment. She frowned as frustration and worry built in her chest.

Her head turned from one direction to another, seeking any sign of other students here. Roslyn worried she had gotten lost upon arrival. She paused as she debated on her next actions and a small sigh escaped from her lips. The young woman had started back to retrace her steps when a voice called her name: [color=F7976A]“Roslyn!? Roslyn Wicke?”[/color] It was Penny’s voice, but she was addressing a confused-looking woman who was wandering about near the docks, in distinctly foreign dress. [color=F7976A]“I know her from conversion class with Jocasta!”[/color] she assured the rest of her party.

Rolsyn turned about to face the source. A familiar face brought her anxiety down as she recognized her classmate. With a quick step, she made short work of the distance between her and the group. [color=#ebe7a3]"I thought I had gotten lost for a moment there."[/color]

Thus, the party’s final member joined them, resulting in a delay of a further twenty minutes while she rushed over to the Golden River to deposit her belongings, and then back, where she was filled in on their earlier discussions.

By the time that the group of now [i]eight[/i] arrived at the doors of Dami the Shrewd, the church was busy disgorging its worshippers back onto the muddy streets. Presently, a decade of monks in dark robes shuffled past in the direction of the near-distant cliffside monastery they had seen on their way in. Eight wore blue [i]kamilavkas[/i] and the remaining two, red. For half of the students, this was the first tingle of magic they had felt since arriving, though it was fuzzy and hard to grasp, as if their manas remained agitated. They found Yuliya and Khaliun soon after, seated in the rearmost pews, engaged in idle - and mostly one-sided - conversation. After slightly confused introductions were made, for nobody had expected Roslyn, it was quickly down to business. Sven, surprisingly, took the lead and laid out their objectives as succinctly as one could with their limited information:

[indent][b]One:[/b] find the crate that they had been sent to retrieve.
[b]Two:[/b] discern the extent of the anti-magic field and try to use this to find its origin.
[b]Three:[/b] learn more about the recent quake and see if it might be connected to the other two.
[b]Four:[/b] investigate the strange phenomena in the caverns.[/indent]
To this end, their local guides offered the following: 

[indent][b]One:[/b] the monks were members of the Druzdyan Order of St. Artyom, dedicated to the care of the sacred springs that existed in the caves and caverns that peppered the cliffs beneath the town.
[b]Two:[/b] The caves had once been a minor holy site and subject to some pilgrimage, but were now sealed off to visitors and had been for some years.
[b]Three:[/b] Kirimansk was one of the last places conquered by the invading Vossoriyans and many of the residents were of mixed blood or even descended from its original inhabitants. Khaliun, though not from the city itself, was one of these people.
[b]Four:[/b] A good deal of trade from Hoch Dorumvir and even Hagh Ramorghand passed through the town, and hegelans were not a rare sight, though they had become so lately.[/indent]
With these ideas squarely in mind, it was decided that the group would split into pairs and work to cover as much ground as they could, with Nazih eagerly volunteering to investigate the caverns and the strange phenomena there. It was up to the others to decide who they would pair with and where they would go.

[hr][hr][center][h2]Action Opportunities[/h2][/center][/color]
[hider=Action Opportunities][color=808080]Your job in this chapter is simple: start information gathering. However, before you do, let's look at a few optional and mandatory things to address.
[indent][b]One:[/b] You'll need to pick your partner and your focus. Who goes where and does what? Some jobs may require more people and others less. You'll have until Wednesday at noon EST to figure this out or you'll be auto-assigned partners.
[b]Two:[/b] Feel free to describe the previous night's brawl and revelry or whatever else it was that you did.
[b]Three:[/b] Any impressions of Kirimansk so far? Don't worry. You can ask for feedback and you'll learn more soon anyhow.[/indent]
In terms of the information gathering itself, we'll be playing that out live this week on discord, with pairs searching as they go. I will give both live feedback and prompts. Be aware that there are two particularly spicy encounters. One is guaranteed to be that involving Nazih, who will die or disappear so, if you'd like to be involved, please say so! The other is... a mystery :deviousjocasta:[/color][/hider]
[hider=Map][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/0uuVk6E.jpg[/img][/center][/hider]
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