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

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.

[perfectdistance]

Have we seen any other inscriptions about angels so far?

[malewife]

There were some books that mentioned angels... If that counts at all.

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.

[yueshen]

[ san lang bristles, a ferret sitting on xie lian's shoulder. still hate this note, thanks! ]

...yes. It seems their higher powers are keen to punish, and slow to inform.

[callalilies]

The wings come in exchange for a tight leash. Which reminds me... these feathers that we're receiving. Do you think there's some sort of irony in this? We may not have wings but... we do have feathers of our own...

[senjinrouha]

It sounds like it's been one big smoke and mirrors for them, and it's only hitting home how bad things are for some of them now.

[burnstrike]

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

[yueshen]

[ he presses a hand to his chest, gently at his heart. ]

I pray that the souls of those warped into those creatures will be able to find peace.

Miss Nanaly, what you said certainly matches - it sounds as if you found a similar chamber to where we ended up.

Liars, tyrants, and false idols... I had thought when the Angel first visited Bertolt, that perhaps it was some sort of resentful creature instead. I wonder what motivates them to cause such destruction. This 'conflict'? Or a whim of some kind...?

[ a true calamity; the idea of which twists in his gut. ]

[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.

[senjinrouha]

So… it’s something like a core event that happened, but had an impact that spread across countless worlds?

[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.

[burnstrike]

...Yeah.

[ god she's so fucking sick of cult bullshit!! ]

It's probably worth talking to some of the people here to gauge how they feel about the angels now. Like, maybe the angels are just really petty and turn on people when they start thinking they don't appreciate them enough or something. Or decide they don't want to accept their specific brand of salvation.

[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."

[senjinrouha]

…


We’re calling them angels, but are they something else pretending to be angels? We’ve gone over the fact angels are present in lots of different worlds in some way or form, enough that it’s not weird they’re here. And that they’re held in high regard.

Is something using that to their advantage to win people over and then… [ he makes a slicing motion over his throat. ]

[rerouter]

Rochalizo and I noticed similar writing in the marketplace. "Clipped" was written on the wings of the statues, and "snipped" on one of the walls inside a shop.

[senjinrouha]

[ … ]

Are they referring to the angels or themselves?

[uncoincidental]

Scheherazade and I found something similar when we looked around.

[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.

[senjinrouha]

… Did the glass look like anything in Otamo?

[greatdeduction]

You know, I can't say. I do believe it was...