WEEK THREE MINGLE 2.0

[grigori]

ahnkeen: week 3 mingle in the sands of time

32 Remain

Waking up this morning will reveal some unfamiliar surroundings. The soft ripples of the canals and dulcet tones of otamatone fade from your ears, replaced by a steady, dry breeze and the ambient noise of the local populace filtering in through open windows. Another thing you'll notice is that it's warm - very warm. Light dress is recommended here.

You all awaken in your beds—although they aren't the beds that you found yourself falling asleep in previously, and you might not even see the same face as you had the previous night. But one by one, as you filter out, you find yourselves in a house, a bit on the older side but still comfortable. The decor is neutral and inoffensive, much like you'd expect of a place that sees many visitors.

Unlike the previous worlds you've visited, Ahnkeen is a bustling, busy place, full of people of all sorts - and not all are human, so please check your biases at the door. Though the world around them is dry and scarce of resources, the market town itself is alive and well, business booming, and the merchants here keep a close eye on their wares in case of any thieves.



Traversing down the streets of the housing district are the Temporals. For the most part they seem ready to receive everyone. Throwing their hands into the air and meandering down Rameel will be spearhead the introductions this time—their puma daemon trailing behind them. As an extra treat, they'll even seem to have their “black box” from previous with them this fine morning on full blast.

"Hello, hello everyone! WELCOME TO AHNKEEN!! The home to the great markets...probably. I hope more of you are used to these scenery changes by now, and by popular demand are your favorite Temporals. We've changed the set for the hat trick, but we won't stop there."

Satariel is standing close to Yomiel, their undercloak absent and their daemon raven-formed on their shoulder - it squawks after Rameel yells the welcome, but they offer everyone a warm smile. They do reach over to... turn down the "black box" of Rameel's, without looking, smile still intact. "For those of you that kept your things from previous worlds, especially the treasure from our adventures underwater, you might find that they come in handy here. We are in a market, after all."

The last Watcher has also shed their undercloak, staring at Rameel while their polecat daemon chitters. "Anyway," they turn to the rest with a vague gesture at Satariel. "Try not to steal too much this time. The last few worlds were pretty quiet, but you might run into trouble with the locals here if you keep that up."


With the new week, travelers will find that they are no longer connected physically and emotionally to another participant. As opposed to being drawn to one person in particular, they'll find themselves with the need to be physically close to any other participant they speak to. Go on, hold their hand, get your snuggle on - it'll make you feel better. This effect lasts all week.

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Comments

TOWN HALL

[malewife]

[ We will pretend there was a note on every house door since the morning that says.

Courtyard. 8 in the evening.

Which should be enough for everyone to wind down and also get something to eat after the mini-event. No, he is not providing food. Also, there will be... A bulletin board... I guess. I will summon that. We will say we paid for it. Also as a reference, this was last town hall. ]

Same thing as always. Here are some topics we can go over or follow up.

[ Joonghyuk is not verbose. A LIST.

- General Discoveries / Findings
- Otamo (general)
- Otamo Location Investigations
- Anhkeen (general)
- Anhkeen Location Investigations
- Otamo Field Trips

OKAY. I MUST FLEE!! HAVE FUN EVERYONE... ]

actual bulletin board

[malewife]

GENERAL
dead?? (1)
notes, written on the board (1)

OTAMO
Garden (1)
Canals (1, 2)
CYOA (1, 2)

ANHKEEN
Trading with Locals (1, 2)
Outpost (1)
Church (1)

yjh will never be useful again in town halls

GENERAL

[malewife]

deada

[malewife]

[ Crossing his arms. He will bring this up here. ]

Have any of you spoken to the dead as of recent? Since the last time it was mentioned in public?

[ he is curious?? ]

addendum

[malewife]

If one of you is impersonating Revali, speak up.

[ HE IS NOT HERE FOR NONSENSE ]

[greatdeduction]

Yes, I have. Mr. Hoover sent me a message last week. It confirms that the dead are, in fact, alive and well somewhere...in some regard. We agreed on a message that only we would both know, the day before he perished, so...it is confirmation to me as much as any.

[cranelike]

(Glaaaaaaaaaaances away.)

ACCUMULATED NOTES

[malewife]

Cittàgazze

Angel is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is spirit; if you seek the name of their office, it is angel; from what they are, spirit, from what they do, angel.

.̴͛͘,̵͑̕.̶̊̎/̶͊̍/̶̿̄z̷͛̕/̷́̂z̵͓̆/̶̽̔\̸͐́1̷̔͂2̷́̃$̶̃́.̴́͑?̶͒̀+̷́̋_̵̇͗hile angels are typically formed from heavy concentrations of Dust, they need not always have been spirit alone. Given the right circumstances, a human may ascend to become an ang.̴͛͘,̵͑̕.̶̊̎/̶͊̍z̵͓̆/̶̽̔\̸͐́1̷̔͂2̷́̃

.̴̲̈,̸̟͒.̸̓͌/̶̿̄z̷͛̕/̷́̂-̴̒͆≠͐͝\̴͑͋`̴̣́nce was one group of angels, there have since been two discovered. some are faithful to t$̶̃́.̴́͑?̶͒̀+̷́̋_̵̇͗*̶̒̂^̵̈̃
— book excerpt

other things found on mini cyoas here.

KRANKAZ

— note

"These windows between our worlds, opened with greedy hands, have so foolishly been left open - and so we are all punished for that hubris, as the spectres take all that we are."
— note from cyoa 1

"Before the darkness takes us, know this - it took only a single night of misfortune to wash away the history, but we have eternity to rise again."
— note from cyoa 2

OTAMO

Clip their wings, Liars, Tyrants, False idols."
— message found in canals

"This explosion would not only change the world we know, but the worlds we would never see."
— note from cyoa 3

"THEY LIE. THEY DID THIS. IT'S THEIR FAULT. WE'VE BEEN FOOLED. TYRANY. OPEN YOUR EYES AND SEE THE TRUTH."
— message found in canals

"The earth bleeds when angels lie - clip their wings - the looking glass knows - tear them down - can't burn away the truth."
— note from cyoa 4

"Few are able to prove themselves worthy of ascending, to earn their wings and join the angels. For those that do, I wonder — is it worth it? Does this truly grant the power to save those they wish to protect? Or does it simply put them directly in harm's way?"
— note found in wallet from cyoa 4

AHNKEEN

"Little of the angels can be understood by man, for most are born of Dust and few ascend to join their ranks. Fewer still choose to leave those ranks, and return to the world from whence they came, for they can only do so as long as that which ties them to humanity is kept safe."
— note

y bring their blessings to th
ome and go as ever, we still have yet to learn h
seen in other worlds, not solely our
ust other patrons, not so reve
he snake protects us sti
— engravings from ruins

now in the right gd spot

[arcsplainist]

In regards to the disappearances that occur, there is something I wish to address.

[ Alphinaud glances around, checking to see if he has everyone's attention, then: ]

As some of us may know by now, all groups who return do not do so empty handed—indeed, we receive a fair amount of arguably beneficial items. There have been, however, two groups who have come back with one extra item; at first, or even second glance, they may not seem to have any apparent use. For example, I had been given a doll that was warm to the touch; the other I am aware of was described to be as a charm, said to be cool to the touch.

I confess it took me some time ere I learned what it meant, but I have recently learned these items were possessions of the Watchers. Should these disappearances continue, as... unfortunately, we may expect them to, I only ask if you find yourself in such circumstances, you keep close what you may suspect to be more of their belongings and return them anon.

[ He looks around again, brow furrowing. ]

If this reaches who it must needs, that is.

OTAMO

[malewife]

[perfectdistance]

Went with Roxis to check out the gardens. Didn’t find too much there, just some burned ’n scorched metal paneling on some parts of the garden. Some parts were missin’, just hard to tell with all garden growing the way it was. There were also broken glass fragments in the corners of the garden under the dirt.

[malewife]

I cleaned up the garden when I was there with Reze, Yuri Lowell, and Kim Dokja. There were some broken statue pieces, but one shard stood out the most.

It read “tyrant,” so it confirms it most likely was an Angel statue.

big cyoa deets

[yueshen]

When we all disappeared last week, we found ourselves in the catacombs of the city, underneath it, where a group of people were living. As we made our way through the catacombs, we came across all sorts of graffiti, that read along the lines of -

[ there's a moment where he unfolds a small piece of parchment from his sleeves and begins to read what must be notes. ]

"The earth bleeds when angels lie - clip their wings - the looking glass knows - tear them down - can't burn away the truth" written on the walls.

As we made our way through the catacombs, we learned a little of the fear of the locals - that a great calamity struck down the city. The catacombs themselves were haunted by creatures called "hellbound" - while the locals would not tell us what, exactly, they were, we learned through the use of the looking glass that the hellbound were citizens of the city who had burned into what seemed to me like resentful spirits. The one we encountered was desperately hunting down angels, after they brought a rain of fire down upon the locals after an incident where their looking glass caught their true visage as one of coldness and war; however, the hellbound were so warped they were unable to tell what was an angel and what was simply human.

[ he sounds solemn as he recounts these details, quietly solemn. ] Yuri, Rochalizo and Kaeya can correct or add on to the story, I'm sure, but...

...Each of our cities comes back to these angels - and the golden Dust that they are made of. I can't confess to know much about angels, besides what you all have shared with me, that they are supposed to be figures of true benevolence, but that seems not to be the case.

[callalilies]

I'd like to add this note that we found in a wallet down there as well. [ he'll place down both the original note as well as a more legible copy for others to read. ]

Few are able to prove themselves worthy of ascending, to earn their wings and join the angels. For those that do, I wonder — is it worth it? Does this truly grant the power to save those they wish to protect? Or does it simply put them directly in harm's way?

It's been on my mind... especially after my talk with Baraqiel regarding their... contracts so to speak. What they signed on for, and what they did not sign on for.

[burnstrike]

Ah... Yeah, that overlaps a lot with what we saw in the memory shards in the city.

[spydey]

We just got a note that says...

[ she pulls out a paper. ]

This explosion would not only change the world we know, but the worlds we would never see.

[burnstrike]

Checked out the floors of the canals with Tsurumaru last week. There were a ton of glass shards down there, but instead of our memories, they showed memories of the city, or the people in it. How nice it used to be... and then that whole rain of fire and everyone panicking and escaping to the underground.

During all that destruction you could also see these messages they'd written on the walls in blood that all looked to be about the angels: Clip their wings, Liars, Tyrants, False idols.

They really felt like they'd been betrayed.

[senjinrouha]

They all seem to worship them, and then something happens to change people's opinion. We don't know what that something is yet, really.

[ ... ]

But it leaves a bad feeling thinking about how populated this place is, and all the angel murals in the Church.

[syndromed]

Kim and I saw similar writing when we went deep in the canals, too.

There were angel engravings that had been all messed up, and writing on the walls like "They lie. They did this. It's their fault. We've been fooled."

[greatdeduction]

Yes, yes! Hello. Last Monday, I, Mr. Kotetsu, Mr. Van Zieks, Miss Susato, and Mr. Kijima took a boat down the canals to investigate. We discovered many a thing.

First! There was numerous amounts of rubble in several of the canals from the fallen buildings - the buildings themselves almost appeared as if boulders had struck them from above. There was also plants that had grown throughout the brick and mortar of the buildings, a sign of their age. We also caught sight of numerous amounts of glass fragments in the bottom of the canal. These worked as most of the others would, but...when I picked up a fragment, and angled it a certain way...it showed a most horrendous view. A blood red sky with fire raining from above...and I do believe I saw blood splatters, and feathers! Most ghastly.

We continued to explore, and lo and behold, we saw angels engraved in the stone buildings, though...they were mostly destroyed, as if someone went at them with a hammer or something similar. Several other words were found, which read, and I quote: - "THEY LIE. THEY DID THIS. IT'S THEIR FAULT. WE'VE BEEN FOOLED. TYRANY. OPEN YOUR EYES AND SEE THE TRUTH." Some of the words had some awful red substance over them, and yet others were covered by lush green plants. I suppose that some of the buildings in that quarter were stores, or homes...we saw doorways here and there.

We then proceeded to explore said buildings. There seemed to be plenty of broken glass, as if a mirror had been shattered, and the rooms themselves were in ghastly shape, trashed and destroyed, likely from the overall destruction. We attempted to pull away some of the plants, and...it really was interesting, but we found that the walls and floors were quite scorched. A fascinating find, don't you think? That's all, I believe.

ANHKEEN

[malewife]

[perfectdistance]

Flat ’n I went out to the outpost and the buildin’ that’s beyond it. No people out there, but that’s not too surprisin’. Not much in the way of animals either. Plenty of bleached bones under the sand. Looked like there were exploded trees, but when we picked up some of the pieces, they were stone.

The outpost seems like it’s been unoccupied for a while. There’s sand everywhere, and where there wasn’t sand, there was dust. City's full of people who are casually passing through from different worlds through portals. Stuff we found was old and broken. Saw the memory glass from the last world, a shattered glass orb with an angel wing emblem, I… think there was an angel idol, but it was in bad shape. Didn’t see much in the way of hidden notes, but there was some kinda parchment with the letter “N” and “K”. And… an arm of somethin’? Coarse fabric, might be a toy or some kinda doll.

The buildin’ further out looks like it’d been in a war. Bricks are still solid, but there are holes in ‘em. There’s just a single cot in there from what we could see. There was also an old smudge of blood against the metal door.

[rerouter]

[After the conversations above, Monika looks pretty worried to say the least.]

... I think something really bad is going to happen to this world soon. Yesterday, when A-Qing and I traded some of the locals for information, someone brought up a group that was getting involved with higher beings. We couldn't get more details, but... It sounds similar, doesn't it?

And then, we heard a couple of comments about other worlds that have gotten attacked or gone completely silent. One of them a world with a lot of strange glass. [She bites her lip, looking around as to make sure their emotional support NPC Lup isn't here to overhear this part.] ... That's totally Otamo, right?

[uncoincidental]

I went with one of the shopkeepers - the one who makes... robots? I hope that's the right word... - out to look for supplies in exchange for him making things for me, and we found some ruins. I didn't get to look around a lot because the wind was really bad, but I found some stuff engraved on them.

[pulling out the paper she wrote it down on!!]

y bring their blessings to th

ome and go as ever, we still have yet to learn h

seen in other worlds, not solely our

ust other patrons, not so reve

he snake protects us sti

[her nose wrinkles a little.]

I don't really have enough context to know what all of them mean, but I think the last one is "The snake protects us still." Which...

[just... glancing... at the big honkin' skeleton...]

...seems significant, since the locals don't really talk about that whole thing much.

[lefthandpath]

Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi, Xie Lian, and I went out to check into the church with all the mosaics. The first one pictures a garden where what looks to be angels and humans lived together peacefully.

The other mosaics were damaged, so it was difficult to make out some of it, but... there were scenes showing a rain of red with swords and spears coming down upon the garden, a serpent looming over the garden, and finally, the garden laid to waste in ruin... but with people still rebuilding in spite of that.

Whenever we tried to ask anyone about it, people nearby became very strange. They'd say that the church was from a long time ago and no one practices whatever religion it's for. And when we tried to push them more, they'd get even stranger. They all said things like “...was it worth it?” and “How long can someone live from the light?”

[he fidgets a bit, right hand rubbing over his red left arm.]

It... the mosaics looked to be depicting the story of what I know from home, somewhat. The Garden of Eden. The War in Heaven. The Serpent. But I... don't know if it's the same?