logsinthenight | EVENT LOG: WILD HEART PART TWO

EVENT LOG: WILD HEART PART TWO

EVENT LOG:
WILD HEART PART TWO

characters: everyone.
location: all over town.
date/time: march 23-26.
content: in the aftermath of the kidnapping, recovery begins and information comes to light.
warnings: n/a

everything has changed and now i can't tell what matters.

Welcome to part two of the WILD HEART event! Kimiko and the Hunt are here to stay for the next three days, and will be answering all your questions below. If you've got questions for us, hit up the OOC post! Further details on how the Wild Hunt will work as a longterm mechanic will be released in our next gameplan, so stay tuned!

Certain status effects lingering from the torture have been sent out to a few random players, and have all been sent out at this point!

RECOVERY

For the next three days, the Wild Hunt seems intent on making themselves as useful as possible. To that end, they've set up a few temporary stations.

In survival skills, they'll teach others how to set traps, make rudimentary weapons, and find shelter within the woods. The teacher there is firm, but by the end of the first day, has set up a small competition to see who can make the most efficient traps and weapons, with prizes including small toolkits, perfect for home repair, and, oddly enough, small pieces of candy.

The station at the Greenhouse is all about horticulture and farming both. They teach skills about how to plant and grow food effectively, as well as what seeds require what kind of care, how to tend to flowers, and what plants are most useful in healing. There are no prizes in his lessons, unfortunately, but for characters who stay long enough, he'll show them his pride and joy: a flower in a pot that blooms only in the light of the moon.

Finally, over in medical training, there's a woman who knows her stuff when it comes to first aid. From sutures to emergency response, she'll teach characters how to deal with most common injuries. She even has a practice test dummy, who bears the unfortunate scars of lessons long since past. Characters can learn CPR, how to effectively administer stitches, tend to burns, and other such necessities.

While they won't always work for free, at least right now, the Wild Hunt seems intent on charity. Lessons are offered freely, services given without any thought of payment.

THE HUNT

[The woman who stands behind the bonfire seems, if not at ease with herself, at least outwardly calm. Her hand are clasped behind her back, her stance steady as she waits for everyone to settle down and around.]

Good evening.

My name, for those of you who missed it, is Kimiko Yasutake. I'm the current leader of the Wild Hunt. You may have seen us around . . . I'm sorry if we ever scared you, but supplies are limited, and frankly, it's easier to steal a suit than try and make one. Ordinarily, we live out in the mines.

We've a group of people from past resets. People who were just like you once. We woke on the ferry after our deaths, and for a time, we lived in this town and tried to get on with our lives.

But that wasn't enough.

[She pauses, then. Takes a breath, hesitates, and then resolves herself.]

I-- before I go on, I want to tell you a bit about myself. I think it will help you all understand.

I was a farmer when I was alive. A rice farmer, specifically. My entire family was, and we always had been. And we had a horse. Just the one. She was a vital part of it, though; without her, my father couldn't take as much into town to sell.

And then one day, she misstepped and broke her leg.

Horses can't recover from that. I don't know if any of you have ever dealt with one, but they just can't. It's inhumane to keep them alive afterwards, never mind try and set the leg. It's agony for them, and it usually ends with their deaths regardless. But we needed that horse, and so he tried.

And then, three days later, we had to put her down anyway, because she was suffering. Only a sadist would have kept her alive.

This world is broken. You must see that. It was vibrant once, alive, just as we all once were, but that's gone now, and you can't grasp for things you've lost. You can't . . . this isn't life. It's a pale imitation of it.

So please . . . try to understand what I mean when I tell you that the Wild Hunt's goal is not to hurt others. We have no interest in making you suffer in the least.

But to allow this place to live is every bit as cruel as my father leaving that horse alive was. It's selfish to keep that portal open, to force tens of hundreds of souls into living here only to be reset or killed or eaten. And I refuse to allow it to keep happening. I simply will not, I cannot in good consciousness force others to go through this over and over again.

We're the Fire Snatchers, yes. Because we believe that extinguishing the lanterns, the bonfire, the lighthouse, and killing this world once and for all is the only humane thing to do. Even if it kills we all of us stuck here as well.

[There's a pause, and then Kimiko exhales slowly.]

If you have questions, I'll be around for three more days.

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[he nods slowly, because he gets it. Yeah, Quentin has some damn powerful magic and it's as useful as his swordsmanship. And yet, the Hunt...]

They are. All theorizing aside, they're out there and we do not know them well enough yet to know what they'll do when rejected. Will they take matters into their own hands? Will they sabotage our efforts to find a different solution? Will they go after Dr. Solis so that lanterns can no longer be repaired? Any of those and worse are possible.

I don't mind giving the populace a few days to mull it over, and listen to each other's arguments. But this time, we cannot let it slide. Those of us who understand the weight of the consequences, we must move through the community and make sure no one can be convinced to join the Hunt.

I-- wait, what? No? Yes?

[Quentin doesn't really know, what or how to do this thing. This thing where you need to talk to people and be persuasive. Diplomacy and tact, talking people in to things they might be on the fence about. That was Eliot's thing. Quentin had been a shit king and just talking to Cao Pi hammers it home, just how ill prepared for something like this he really is.

Because Quentin doesn't want to gently convince people to not join the Hunt? He wants for people to just know. That this, burning everything down and letting the World Eater roam through the multiverse, is a bad thing. The wrong thing.

So, he huffs and rakes a hand through his hair and he throws both hands in to the air.]

I'm pretty sure everyone knows what's at stake here. At least the ones who've been here a while, and-and we all know that killing everyone is never the solution? To, well, anything? And why now? Why did the Hunt come to us now? Sure, we needed help but we've needed help before. We've needed help a lot more before, and they didn't come then. But now they suddenly need us? This is all just... it's a load of crap.

[he sighs softly, in total agreement]

It is. And I intend to press them if and when it's safe to do so. For now, the burden is on them to prove their point - so long as they don't do it by coming after us and our resources. [a deeper frown] They were spotted in town stealing from us, before showing their faces for real.

Stealing lanterns and torches, right? [Or maybe that had been the spirits? Quentin hadn't been in the right frame of mind at the time to really pay attention.] If they could have killed everyone and everything, they wouldn't have come to us. They could have just gone ahead and done it and we would never have known. No, they need us, or at least some of us, for something.

[OH BOY that sure is a brilliant thought there, Quentin. Cao Pi's expression flitters through several emotions in rapid succession - startled, then impressed, then annoyed. Vexed, perhaps.]

...you may be right. At some level, they want all of this to end, but it cannot send so long as the portal still exists and Dr. Solis can still house spirits in lanterns.

[aha...] The portal. They lack the manpower to dive into the lake, find the station, and shut it down themselves.

[Quentin is looking at the lake, the frothing waves and the dark water. Eye contact and watching faces isn't something he does much. It's short flicks of looking at someone to be sure they're talking to him, and then he's looking away again.]

Or, they know how dangerous it is and need us to keep sending people down. The human equivalent of throwing things at the wall to see what sticks? Maybe they're hoping one of us can do it- find the portal or burn this whole place to the ground.

Mm. Exactly. They need our help for it, in whatever manner they can get to work. If Pluto and the others at the station know so much about the Hunt, they would be wary of any of them showing up, but us? We are unknown, possibly allies and possibly spies. Some may get through. Some may not.

Without the portal there will be no new residents. Without the doctor, those already here cannot be resurrected after being killed. They will have to remove both to accomplish their final goal. [and then with a touch more anger] That cannot be allowed to happen.

They actually don't. [Quentin points out, rubbing a hand over his face.] All they need to do, is close the portal. Even Solis can't keep getting us back. Not without us... changing. Winters grew scales. Who knows what else we might become, if she has to keep bringing us back.

[After dying enough, Quentin felt kind of sure that maybe most of them would welcome a death that meant not having to stare in to your own mutated face in the mirror.]

Or, they need something from the Night Market and can't get it themselves, yeah.

...did he, now? [well that's some very interesting information. A little concerning. But changed is still alive, which is very much not the Hunt's objective. If he hadn't heard rumors that the theory that the spirits are changed former residents is incorrect, he'd be all over that anew]

In the short term, using us as a means of gaining anything from the Market, or the ferry, is something to be wary of. I am also concerned by the keeper's claim that Master Rastus encouraged the meeting with the Wild Hunt. I should not like to have to change my opinion of him and his purpose.

Yeah.

[Just that- agreement. Because learning about the fact that someone who he had never met that changed through enough deaths in this place, left an impression.]

The bird person did it? Well... maybe he wants to die? Maybe he didn't start out looking like that. [Which... is horrifying to think about and Quentin vividly remembers the sensation of tentacles sliding over his chin, the blinding pain as they pushed their way through the skin and the luke-warm feeling of slithering tentacles slipping over his lips with every word he spoke. He shudders.]
People should still get to make that choice for themselves. The Hunt shouldn't get to-- to just come here and kill everyone off.

I quite agree. We must do what we can to prevent it.

[yeah he doesn't want to think the worst of Rastus either but...it's a fact. Just one of a handful they have to deal with while keeping the rest of the community safe.]

And we are back to square one, because there's really no way to make everyone not join the Hunt, if that's what they want to do. Not without starting a fight and... [He shrugs] and then we risk Robin resetting us all.

[oh no, there goes the smirk, full-force]

Ah, but it doesn't have to be accomplished without a fight. It will take work, but I believe quite strongly that it can be done without risking reset.

[which, even if he wanted to chat this out with Quentin, he's not going to ask Quentin to do. Cao Pi shakes his head slightly like that's even a little reassuring]

Leave the thinking to me. But if you come up with any ideas, do let me know. I will gladly take assistance if anyone comes up with something brilliant.

[Was that just-- frowning hard, which might be hard to make out in the dark, since Quentin's face has a tendency to pinch together even if he isn't frowning, but he sucks in a breath and glares a little.]

Because you've been having great ideas here, right?

[He wipes a hand down his face, shoulders slumping.]

Right, sure. Fine, if that's what you want. If I think of anything brilliant, I'll be sure to let you know.

I do have several, yes, even if I have not openly shared them yet.

[aww don't be like that, man. The smirk quiets a couple of shades, into something a little more sincere]

I mean no offense. But in my experiences, it is easier to take the burden on my own shoulders first, before I ask anyone else if they'd be willing to share it. But, if you would be interested in spearheading any strategic moves against the Hunt, by all means, I wouldn't dare stand in your way.

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EVENT LOG: WILD HEART PART TWO

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