WEEK FIVE MINGLE

[grigori]

nerak: week 5 mingle at your service

25 Remain

Waking up this morning will reveal some unfamiliar surroundings. While Camebit had an autumnal chill in the air, things are a little different, now - the air is frigid, and waking up is an adventure, considering you are swaddled to the nines and cozied right up to your roomie of the week (where you have one, anyways). Everything around you is made of ice and packed snow, fogged glass and porcelain, and it is freezing. Who thought this was a good idea? Even the brisk chill of Camebit in the skies above everything was more forgiving than this! This isn't a transition! Whose manager can you speak to..?

About that.



You have to trek out of the lodging, and over into the building made of actual wood and stone, to actually see your Watchers of the week. They're all dressed in their full cloaks again to combat the chill, even in this building, although both Rameel and Satariel are standing much closer to Yomiel than they usually do - much like they had in Ahnkeen, actually.

"Good morning and welcome to Nerak! If you've ever wondered what it was like to stay at an ice hotel, then you're in luck!" Rameel says with moderate flourish as they make sure to keep close to Yomiel—their daemon currently not found anywhere near them as they make the announcement. Looks like they're without their black box of musical wonders this morning.

While the other two Watchers press close, Yomiel's daemon has wrapped itself around their neck like a polecat scarf. Warm. Arm cradled gently against their chest, they pause to glance at Satariel before greeting everyone. "Try to be careful. The ice can get slippery, especially when you're all looking like that and leaving a mess everywhere you go." Whatever that means.

Satariel seems a little more subdued than usual but offers everyone a smile, daemon bear-shaped against their back, large head peering around at everyone while they take in the travelers that come to join them here in the hotel lobby. Their cloak is completely closed around them - not even the front of their dress can be seen, and they're clearly holding it tightly shut. "Please be nice to the hotel staff - if I catch any of you being rude to them, I'll kick you clear across the tundra before sticking you in their outdoor 'jail' for timeout. We're guests, but they're working hard to accommodate us, alright?"


With the new week, travelers will find that they no longer the adorable animal features they did in Camebit, but something much less cute. Injuries from their pasts have come back to haunt them, major or minor, and they cannot be healed. The good thing is that they don't seem to hurt or really take a toll on the travelers at all - at least, not until they're touched, and then both you the other will feel the pain from the moment the wound was inflicted. This effect lasts all week.

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Comments

CAMEBIT

[greatdeduction]

[perfectdistance]

Power 'n I went to the lake.

Had a giant sunken, broken angel statue out from the middle of it, like the one from Citagazze, but it matched the aesthetics of Camebit. Lake water was crystal clear, could see pretty far down before it became murky. It had broken swords, shields, discarded armor, and some other stuff we couldn't identify.

Goin' into the water gave us a pressin' feeling of despair, and it didn't stop 'til we got far enough away.

[senjinrouha]

I can confirm this too. Kaeya and I had a look around the lake and found pretty much the same stuff -- angel statue sunken in the middle, weapons at the bottom of the lake. We found some abandoned campsites on our way to the lake as well.

... It might be an idea to make sure we spread our where we're investigating a bit from here on out. So, to note, I haven't explored anywhere yet so if there's somewhere that is looking pretty unransacked, shout and I can go check it out with someone.

[lefthandpath]

... Lady of the Lake...?

[perfectdistance]

... Who?

[lefthandpath]

It's from a story. King Arthur and Camelot...?

It's a British... myth, I guess. I don't really know it except the basics like King Arthur becoming king pulling a sword from the stone, Merlin the wizard guiding him, the quest for the Holy Grail, the Lady of the Lake and Excalibur--they're just stories that have been around a while. Not much to do with angels, though?

[malewife]

Herlock Sholmes and I also paid a visit to the lake as well, investigating the forest along the way. Through the forest, we found a corpse near one of the abandoned campsites. Based on the state of decay, it had been a long while, but the surroundings and what left of the remains showed little signs of a struggle. When we reached the lake, it is as described earlier by Nero Turner. I believe there were spectres below.

We fished up one of the chests and inside were technical papers and a book: “The Removal of Shadows” by The Magi. The papers are impossible to read and the book itself is without most of its pages.

This is most likely related to the note the group from last Thursday received. While some books in the castle library also refers to experiments on sinners, those may be also related or different...

[booksleeves]

Miss Yelena, Xie Lian, Sir Rochalizo and I went to the Southern Isles last week. It was all rather beautiful, but I'm afraid the farther we traveled, we could see spectres at the bottoms of the cracked lands. They seemed trapped there, but it gave all of us a dreadful feeling. There were many campsites out there despite the presence of spectres, but a few were abandoned, suggesting that they had come for those people.

[And we all know what happened last week.]

[arcsplainist]

We spoke of this briefly yesterday, but for the benefit of everyone...

After speaking with Nero, we can possibly surmise that the areas beyond and below Camebit are what the locals called the miasma. According to him, you would become twisted the longer you were present within it, and he claimed that "something like ghosts" were also present. Does that seem to fit what you saw?

[booksleeves]

. . . Yes, I could see that being the source of the spectres.

[rerouter]

[Hello. Monika is here, bundled up for the cold weather while wearing an eyepatch that reads I L*VE NERAK.]

I asked around the tavern for information.

Besides being told to avoid the Southern Isles because of my age, I discovered that the people of Camebit have a really high opinion of the angels. They were seriously happy to sing their praises and hailed the angels for saving them. There was some "price" they had to pay to survive, but it was "totally worth it." No idea what that meant, but they were pretty set that the angels protecting them now are the only angels that matter.

[afterword]

I explored the Castle library for any useful information that might crop up regarding the history of Camebit as well as anything related to "angels."

There were some books detailing how the city kingdom of Camebit owes its existence to the angels that had saved them from the tyranny of the "opposing power" who had once been seen as their protectors. Then there was others detailing what it means to be under the existence of these "saviors", explaining that even though they are safe and that things are peaceful, there will be times where they'll need to make great sacrifice.

[ He'll pause for a moment, let that information settle before he continues. ] I also found some books tucked away deeper in the library, some about the experiments of some Church doing on "sinners". I kept reading and learned that these experiments would have been done as a means to rid themselves of being oppressed. I'm sorry to say that's about as much as I could find, given how limited, but the word "Magisterium" did appear a few times in relation to the experiments.

[rerouter]

... Hm, this isn't the first time the Magisterium has popped up. First the "magisomethings" in Ankheen, then in the documents we've found, and now here.

[afterword]

It seems to be important enough to keep coming up in our findings.

[rerouter]

It makes me wonder if they're the source of our problems, or close enough to it.

[lefthandpath]

[he squints because. sometimes you're Church-adjacent and the word soooounds familiar but you have no fucking idea because you're not a Bookman where the hell is Lavi when Allen really needs him???]

Is that like a magistrate...?

[afterword]

[ Dokja seems about to reply, but fortunately Alphinaud shares! ]

[arcsplainist]

—Ah, excellent. This is the perfect moment for me to elaborate, then.

The Magisterium is indeed an organization of religious intellectuals who perform these experiments—to be more precise, their experiments involve the permanent eradication of the angels. The denizens of Camebit do not speak kindly of them because, as you have explained, they look to the angels for their protection.

As for the "price" they paid for it... I am not entirely certain, but I do wonder if it involved giving up their own "humanity"—or, er... what ever appropriate equivalent of it applies.

[lefthandpath]

[Church org doing experiments because they think they're in the right.

yeah, that doesn't ping him--not.]

That... might make sense, considering what Yoo Joonghyuk-ssi said about ascending and the like.

[afterword]

[ Bless Alphinaud coming in with more to support his own findings. ]

That would make sense then. In their eyes, the Magisterium is more an enemy seeking to rid of what they wholly find themselves to be good.

And.. well, with great power usually comes a price. [ Still, this does help tie more things together. ]

[yueshen]

Ah. [ snapping his fingers. ] Before I forget.

In my research in Camebit, I also discovered that we can associate the sides of "Celestial" and "Temporal" with two terms. The Celestial would be "Xaphania"; the Temporal would be "The Authority". If either of those terms mean anything to anyone.

[lefthandpath]

Nothing that I've heard of...

[veraltwin]

[HELLO???????????]

Uriel used that term--"The Authority."

van Zieks asked him if the Authority referred to "God." It is apparently one of this being's many names; others included-- [oh god WHY IS SHE THE ONLY ONE WITH THIS KNOWLEDGE THIS BIT WAS SO FAR OVER HER HEAD] --the Father, Creator, Lord, Almighty, and "the First" and "the Last."

[lefthandpath]

The Alpha and the Omega.

[Allen nods.]

[yueshen]

Oh! How interesting...

I have heard the Creator as well. Many of these titles are the same that we would ascribe to the Heavenly Emperor, in my own realm.

It seems so pointless, to only have one god. This is why there are struggles.