[OPEN] Welcome to Solvunn!

[aquaveiled]

WHO: Anyone in Solvunn!
WHAT: Mingle Meet & Greet for new and old Solvunn Summoned!
WHEN: Early April
WHERE: Primary Settlement: The Drunken Lamb

[ ooc; This is an open log so feel free to jump in and make your own top-levels! The Official Unofficial Welcoming Committee will be trying to invite as many Summoned as possible so you don't need CR with any character to show up. You can also just assume you heard it through word of mouth! The Summoned gather semi-regularly at the tavern so it's likely expected by the locals as well. ]

i. The Drunken Lamb




If walls could talk, these certainly would. The Drunken Lamb, an old staple in the Primary Settlement is where many go to relax and chat after a long day's work. A cup of locally brewed ale and good conversation are a great way to pass the evening and some nights get livelier with heated arguments over local produce and game, and friendly contests over mead and cards. A few nights a week there may also be a musical performance by a bad or just an impromptu sing-along when someone gets the urge. Luckily if you're drunk enough knowing the words may not be necessary.

Don't forget to say hello to the there is an old ewe who hangs out by the front door inside tonight due to the inclement weather. Her name is Myrtle and if she spits on you it's considered good luck.

The atmosphere inside the tavern is warm despite the howling wind outside, stone walls lit by torches and candles. Everyone is welcomed by the local tavern owner standing behind the counter. You're free to grab a drink right away should you like. The tavern boasts some of the best mead Primary Settlement. It's a great time to chat and get to know your new neighbors, but your hosts for the evening also have a few things planned.

Normally you would be encouraged to try the tavern's meat pies, but this evening is a potluck! Your fellow Summoned have put on their chef's hats and whipped together their favorite (or passable) dishes to share as a welcoming gift to the newest members of the flock. Be sure to fill up and go back for seconds because there is plenty to go around. If you're lucky, you may even know what you're about to eat!

If you want to try your hand at the tavern's beloved mead drinking contest, you are highly encouraged. Some of your fellow Summoned have even been crowned as champions before! They will be facing off one another as well as taking on other Summoned who are also capable of making poor decisions. But worry not! If alcohol isn't your thing (or even if it is), there are a few card and dice games available for any patrons to take up and play with one another. There is also a knife throwing board on the far wall. Because you know knives and mead work well together. For the musically inclined, Wanda has created some simple instruments for anyone to give us an impromptu performance, or an instrument of choice upon request. Sing us a song, piano-man!

The Official Unofficial Welcoming Committee is down one member this time around. They normally take more time to get the festivities off to an upbeat start, but you may notice that Himeka, Wanda, and Rocket are a little down. There are no brochures to hand out this time, but Himeka will hand over a whole dried fish (thank you Zagreus for helping her catch so many), including a little bow. If you look like you want more, you can ask for raw as well.

ii. The Storm Bleats

At the height of the evening's festivities, things take a sudden turn. Or rather, the windows take a sudden hit by a flying livestock as a goat is sent crashing through and comically onto a table. It seems that one of the tornadoes has touched down too close to town and a few unlucky animals have been taken for a ride. To those who have been in Solvunn at least for the past month, you know that goatnados have been happening on and off for weeks. The damage the winds do to property is a strain on the community, but airborne goats feel more dangerous.

And it doesn't stop with just one--the walls of tavern shake violently as the storm rages. The thud and "baa"s of goats (and the occasional "moo" of a cow) add to the symphony of chaos. The doors fly open, another window breaks, and the barkeep shouts for help. It's time for action!

Help corral the wayward livestock and find them safe places to huddle together inside the tavern, protect the locals as some may fight the storm terrifying especially in a drunken stupor, or maybe they think they can actually go out and take the tornadoes on themselves. Liquid courage is a hell of a drug. Refortifying the tavern by making quick work of the resources around you against the onslaught is extremely important as well. A few tables may be lost to the cause, but it it may need to be done. Hopefully with everyone working together, you can weather the weather.

iii. Who doesn't love a sleepover?

The storm still rages outside, but at least it seems like the goats have been collected and what fortifications needed to be done to the building are holding. It's clear that leaving is a no-go, though, for the safety of yourself and those around you. Looks like you'll be spending the night here after all. And not due to the "party all night" atmosphere that you may have hoped.

Well, that's unfortunate, isn't it? Or maybe it is fortunate if you haven't managed to find a more permanent place to stay in Solvunn just yet. The only bed in the tavern is in the back where the barkeep sleeps and he's offering it to an elderly man whose leg bothers him if he stands on it too long. So you'll have to figure out your own sleeping arrangements if you're planning on getting some shut eye. If you can.

But then again, who needs sleep? Maybe you still want to stay up all night and just wait it out. There are still card games and booze to be had if you need something to keep yourself busy. Or maybe you knows some games from your world to teach the people around you. And let's be honest, the goats have a mind of their own and will probably try to interfere no matter what you action you choose. At least you can say your welcome to Solvunn was anything but boring.

Comments

[beautifullies]

Claire lets him help himself, taking a sip of her own mead while pondering how best to answer his question.

"I've honestly never seen nymphs, but there very well could be more than one god of the sea. The citizens here do love their multiple gods, and when observing certain rituals, they seem to make offerings intended for multiple deities." She pauses, thinking of a suggestion and adding, "You may find out more from someone living in the tertiary settlement."

She does visit often, but someone who lives daily life surrounded by the lore could know more.

[heelies]

That this world is not only a distant country across the sea but an entirely different planet across the universe too has not crossed Achilles thoughts. In his time, the other planets occupying the solar system are nothing more than bright lights mingling among the stars, and what lies beyond the sea is a fathomless mystery. Thus, he favors his chances of calling on his mother if only he can reach the wine-dark sea.

"It is only meet to honor each of the deathless gods in turn — or else you risk incurring the wrath of one who feels slighted by the offerings you heap on the others while his altar lies empty and unlit. Now, as for this tertiary settlement... It watches over the shore? If you have traveled there before, can you tell me the way?"

[beautifullies]

"I can do you one better." Claire rummages in the pocket of her skirts and pulls out a pencil, then grabs a tavern napkin, drawing a rudimentary map. "If the weather wasn't so dreadful, I'd lead the way there, as I like to go for trading." Seaweed is fantastic for her collection, and in return, she's given salves, tea blends, and honey.

"Please don't be disheartened if you can't reach those from home you care for. I think everyone, all of us Summond, have been cut off from the lives we were leading, or from people we love." She spares a thought for Jamie, shaking her head with a soft sigh, still mustering a smile.

"I've managed to make my own little family here, though. It isn't all disappointment and homesickness."

Home, for her, has always been Jamie, but it isn't until now that she realizes she hasn't ached for home in a long while. She's been happy in Solvunn, has roots now, and she doesn't feel guilty for it.

[heelies]

Achilles studies the lines she draws on the map and in his mind fits them to his understanding of Solvunn's landscape.

"Thank you, Claire. When the storms settle, and the plains are no longer lashed by wind and rain, I shall borrow a team of horses and a cart that I may journey to this settlement that overlooks the sea. Until then, I can gather goods to trade, if that is the way of the men who dwell there. I have little, but I am an excellent huntsman — they might like fine pelts and sturdy horns from which to carve tools and trinkets."

He passes her a wistful look, an echo of that which he wore when he set the lyre down at the end of his song.

"You speak of homesickness, but well do I know already that for me there will be no homecoming. My father, noble Peleus, I shall never see again, nor my son, my own Neoptolemus, who was still small enough to dandle on my knee when I set sail for Troy all those years ago. Still, my deathless mother I might reach, even in this far-flung country, so long as the sea swells near."

[beautifullies]

Claire's own heart tugs; she must've longed for her own mother once, but she can't remember. Those thoughts quickly transition to Brianna, wondering if she's missed Claire the way Achilles aches to speak to his own mother, and she has a surprising moment of emotion, looking down so that her chin is almost tucked to her chest while she blinks back the sudden blur in her eyes.

Clearing her throat, she looks apologetic and manages a wan smile.

"You mentioned your son. I have a daughter, Brianna. It's been years since I've seen her now as well, and I miss her, deeply."

For his sake she hopes that at the very least, the sea brings Achilles comfort, if nothing else.

"My husband has never met our daughter. She's far from us because of war, but I at least had twenty years with her." Claire doesn't mind questions if they arise and for now takes a large drink of mead. "War and separation, I unfortunately understand all too well."

[heelies]

Though he has long since left behind boyhood, his deathless mother has always been as constant in his life as waves in the wine-dark sea. Wherever he dwelled, whether in his noble father's house on the fertile plains of Phthia or Lycomedes' on steep Scyros, on Mount Pelion under Chiron's tutelage or the shores of Troy under the sons of Atreus' command, the sea was never far, and so neither was Thetis.

"The love shared between mother and daughter must surely be as strong as that shared between father and son. Now as my Neoptolemus nears the cusp of manhood, I can only wonder what sort of man he will become without my guidance. Still, it comforts me to know that he will hear tales of his father's deeds in Troy, the glory I prised from the bloody jaws of war — and perhaps such tales will guide him in my stead.

"But what is this you are saying? Here I thought the ten years the sons of Achaea battled tirelessly round the walls of Troy lasted far too long, yet your husband has kept his sword sharp and bronze-tipped spear bloody for twenty!"

[beautifullies]

For a moment, Claire stares just over Achilles's shoulder as her thoughts turn to Jamie, of his twenty years of hardly existing, living as a wanted man in caves for nearly a decade before turning himself in to protect his sister, rotting in a dank prison underground for years and years.

"A prisoner of war," she finally says, not wanting to mislead a new friend, and not wanting to confuse things yet with time travel. "I was with child, I couldn't go with him, or we would have run together." Her eyes meet Achilles's again, and it's clear that no matter the time that passes, the pain of being wrenched apart is still strong when she dwells on it. "He did manage to hide, for a while."

But not forever.

Inhaling sharply, she exhales; her child's father is alive, at least, and there will be a husband to return to. Taking a chance, she reaches out to gently squeeze Achilles's wrist.

"People speak of you now, in my time; they tell stories of you and your heroics at Troy. It's been thousands of years by my time, but we know. We all know." Various interpretations matter, but for now, she hopes reassurance that his legacy lives on for his son, for the future, will be a soothing balm. If even she has heard tales, then there is no way his son didn't.

so sorry for the delay! we can wrap this up soon

[heelies]

Sympathy shapes his countenance. Often has Achilles been on the other end of the spear, capturing horse-breaking Trojans for ransom, haling men away from freedom and family — and on the other end of the worry that love plants deep in one's breast, awaited by a father whom he shall never again see, draped in the prayers of a deathless mother who wished that she had never been forced to share a mortal king's bed and thus been doomed to bear a son who must die. He understands all too well the burden of loving one bound to win glory in war.

"How it gladdens my heart to hear that tales of my deeds shall live long after I have passed through death's hated gates. If there is any comfort to be found in what remains of my life's lease, then it must be this," says the son of Peleus, clasping Claire's hand in a sign of respect.

"Just as my Neoptolemus may know me through the stories I leave behind, wrought by dint of my spear, so too may your daughter know your husband."

no worries! and that works, hopefully we can thread again soon!

[beautifullies]

Claire has yet to live to see that day, but she will, and that's enough to make her smile in gratitude at his words. Her hand squeezes his in thanks before she glances toward a window with a slightly worried expression.

"Thank you, Achilles. I hope that here, you're able to build up a family of your own. It isn't only blood that creates bonds, after all. And now if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to chack to be sure any stragglers outside are on their way in. It looks rather nasty out, and only getting worse. But please, stay and enjoy the rest of the food and mead," she offers as she rises.