EVENT #7: THE SIGHT

[abraxasmods]

Event #7 - The Sight

go to the OOC event info and plotting post

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The night before APRIL 18, your dreams are disrupted by a vivid image of the same eclipse that occurred last month. The black sun seems to be an endless void in the sky, growing ever darker - until it suddenly opens into an eye that stares straight at you.

When you wake up, much of your night seems a blur except for the vivid dream of that eye. Whether you find it unsettling or try to ignore it, the image is something you cannot get out of your mind. If you ask, you will discover that none of the locals of your faction saw another eclipse. Speak with your fellow Summoned, however, and you may learn that while there was no eclipse that formed over the world, you were not the only one who had this dream.

Of course, dreams don't need to mean anything. You can't feel or see any immediate effects, and nearly everyone around you is going about their day as usual. Maybe you should do the same.

The Awakening

It might happen that very morning or a day or two later. You could be discussing the dream with a fellow Summoned or perhaps you simply brush shoulders with them as you walk by. Whatever it is, as soon as you make brief physical contact, one of you is struck with a sharp pain in your temple that grows into a terrible headache. It's disorienting and painful as the world around you shifts to someplace you may or may not recognize. Like an old film reel, you watch the events of the past play out before you: the past of the other Summmoned. It might be something they would rather hide, a moment of failure or despair, or something they are immensely proud of and brings them great joy - or even a jumble of several images over the course of a person's life. But you see it as if it were real and right in front of you all the same. When you come to, you'll likely find yourself on the ground or bent over, possibly with one or more people around you to see if you're okay. It'll take you a bit to gather your bearings, and the subsequent pounding in your head could last from minutes to hours.

Or, maybe you aren't the one who receives the vision. Instead, as you watch, another Summoned might grasp their head and crumble in front of you. They may go silent or groan in pain. They'll be impossible to shake out of their stupor until it's over. If you ask what happened, they may be inclined to tell you the truth - that you, you were what happened to them.

Or, if your Arcana signs happen to line up in a specific way, you'll see each other in the shared memory itself. You may also find that for certain Summoned, you can help soothe the effects, calm their emotions, or help draw them out of the memory before it consumes them for too long. It's not entirely clear what determines which effect, but one thing is for certain - within each memory, every Summoned as they appear in the past seems to wear the mark of their Arcana somewhere on their person.

For some, they might experience this only once. For others, they might experience it multiple times: with the same person, with several other Summoned, or with a different memory each time. Over the next 7 days, you'll find the Summoned around you are all receiving a glimpse into each other's past, as if the Singularity has awoken an eye within each of you.

Flee for the safety of the Horizon if you want, but you'll find that in there, it's much the same. In fact, inside the Horizon, the other Summoned don't even need to be anywhere near you - just existing in the Horizon space itself together will be enough to possibly set off a headache-inducing vision.

The Factions

What has occurred between the Summoned will not go unnoticed within the factions. While it's difficult to say how faction officials have picked up what's happening, it'll be obvious they do know.

In THORNE, characters will be asked to remain in the castle walls until further notice. Characters will not be allowed to leave the castle grounds, not even to go into the surrounding city, and anyone who is already outside will be requested to not leave again as soon as they return. If asked, they will be told it's for their own safety, given the Singularity is behaving unpredictably and the Summoned have a unique connection to it. Soothing potions and healers are on hand to offer assistance, if anyone is particularly suffering from ill effects.

In the FREE CITIES, characters will find the army by the outposts show more activity than usual. A higher number of guards will patrol the streets throughout the event, particularly in areas frequented by the Summoned. Anyone who publicly and visibly experiences the effects of the memory share (pain, doubling over, etc.) will be offered assistance by the guards. They are generally there to help, but they are also there to maintain order and ensure anyone behaving erratically due to this incident is properly contained. This might include confinement for a day or two if anyone is especially posing a risk, but no one will be punished except in the most extreme cases, as the locals are aware this is not within the control of the Summoned.

In SOLVUNN, the locals will be watching what's happening with a mixture of trepidation and curiosity. Host families and neighbors will be on hand to help with charms meant to offer protection, as well as general care and assistance (soup, blankets, and so on) if your character seems to be especially under the weather or afflicted by the event. Towards the end of the event, more elders and mages will be out and about to check up on the Summoned to make sure they're doing okay. If asked, the mages will say they aren't sure what's going on, but that they are currently divining with the gods and hope to have a definitive answer soon in the upcoming days.

None of the factions appear to be doing much more than keep a watchful eye on the situation - but as the week comes to a close, officials will start making a decision as to what they want to do and how to handle the Summoned who have demonstrated this unforeseen connection to the Singularity.

Comments

[gynvael]

[ So far, the memories that have assaulted him come from those not near him at all in the Horizon. When his vision clears as he stumbles out into the snow and he sees the man before him, he stops abruptly. Blinks.

He releases a breath. Right. ] I don't even know what the fuck you saw.

[ The reply is gruff, a sense that this is less personal and more that Geralt is: one, naturally curmudgeonly on his best of days; and two, is especially not in the mood after a few days of this shit.

Still, he seems to soften a hint, as though he recognizes the man standing in front of him isn't. At fault. Exactly. ] You were with a boy. Training him.

[meiren]

[ If he's bothered by the brusque response it doesn't show, though that may be in part because Zhou Zishu is still trying to make sense of exactly what he'd seen. ]

There was a man. A...tree?

[ Something like that.

He shakes his head slightly at the continuation, one side of his mouth tipping up slightly at the acknowledgement that something had been given in return. Training a boy. If there was only one, then. ]

My disciple. [ There's an edge of something almost like fondness in his tone, though it's tinged wry. Of all the things his mind could give up, this is one of the least concerning. ]

[gynvael]

[ That. He blinks. It's personal. And unlike some of his other memories, his other losses, it is fresh. Something he's learned only a few months ago. ] He wasn't himself. The infection spread.

[ It's complicated. He's never known a leshy to infect like that—but it was no normal leshy, was it? Nothing about that winter qualified as normal.

He exhales, leaning against the stone walls just outside. A disciple. He knows that fondness—recognizes it. ] The memories are spreading in here, too. You shouldn't linger.

[meiren]

[ The declaration gets a simple nod of acknowledgement. What infection could do that to a man is a question, but Zhou Zishu tucks the curiosity away. He's put comrades out of their misery before. He wouldn't have wanted to talk about it either.

Instead, he lets out a breath that might be the ghost of a laugh. ]

If it's going to happen regardless, it might as well be here.

[ At least here, his body is protecting during those dizzying moments of pain and memories. It may not be as much of a worry as it might have been back home, but it's not a habit he can shake either. ]

[gynvael]

[ Can't say he agrees with that. Out in the world, he at least knows who's glimpsed inside his head. Who passed him by and caught a flash. In here? It's anyone. Someone halfway across the fucking continent.

Normally, his past is enough to unsettle him. Now he's someone to protect, too, on top of that. ]

Where are you? Out there.

[ He owes no one an explanation. But this shit, it's affecting all of them. If there are answers, he knows he can only find them among the Summoned. ]

[meiren]

[ One of Zhou Zishu's eyebrows immediately lifts, though the rest of his expression stays impassive. He's been professionally paranoid for far too long for a question like that not to set off an alarm at the back of his mind, but part of him can also see the wisdom of it. In a place like this, where someone is from is worth knowing. ]

Cadens. [ It's at least a general enough answer for a large city. No real fear of someone tracking down his currently unprotected body without considerably more effort.

But he still cocks his head, curious to see if the answer will be returned. ] And you?

[gynvael]

[ There's that—but Geralt's reason for asking is more practical. Which perhaps becomes apparent when he follows it up. ]

Find me there. If you want to talk.

[ The man may not mind lingering in here, but Geralt doesn't feel the same. He doesn't like the idea of someone far off, unknown to him, peering unasked into his mind.

They're both in Cadens. So this makes it simpler. ]

[meiren]

[ The dismissal is obvious, but something in it threads wryness through Zhou Zishu's expression. ]

And will you answer?

[ It's more rhetorical than not, an acknowledgement that even from the brief exchange Zhou Zishu can see the edges of the sort of conversationalist this man is.

But he follows it up by cupping his hands in front of himself to fold into a polite bow. ]

This one is called Zhou Zishu. I will do as you say.

[gynvael]

I wouldn't offer otherwise.

[ He's not a conversationalist, no. But he's a straightforward man, too. He doesn't give invitations out of courtesy, and perhaps that shows when he only nods in return to the formality of a bow. ]

Geralt. Ask around Mag's. Someone there will know.

[ Whether that's one of the Summoned who frequent the tavern or the barkeep, Geralt is a familiar presence there when he's in town. He's a hard figure to miss, where he goes.

Whatever the case, Zhou Zishu will find him one way or another as promised within the next day or two—at the stables nearby, tending to a large black mare inside if it's morning, or at the tavern inn with an ale if it's closer to evening. ]

[meiren]

[ Taverns are familiar enough ground, and it doesn't take long for Zhou Zishu to find what he's looking for. If Geralt is hard to miss, Zhou Zishu is very good at making himself easy to ignore, and all it takes is a slight nudge into a conversation about the local Summoned to put himself in a position to overhear everything he needs.

The stealth games probably aren't needed, but old habits die hard. And honestly, Zhou Zishu needs to get his entertainment here he can. If that means playing games with himself, so be it.

Still, the result is Zhou Zishu appearing out of the crowd one evening, two cups in hand. One gets set down in front of Geralt as he passes, the other at the empty spot across from the man as he helps himself to the seat. ]

Geralt. [ He nods a greeting, one eyebrow slightly cocked. ]

[gynvael]

[ Zhou Zishu is correct, in that it probably isn't needed; Geralt has never particularly blinked when it comes to someone seeking him out or asking questions about him. Anonymity is not a space he occupies. He is extremely shit at being stealthy outside of active hunting.

Whether the man finds him or not, Geralt does not concern himself. He's not eager to talk about his personal memories spilling over like an overflowing dam. He'd have no problems if he never saw the other man again. But he does, and Zhou Zishu gets a glance upwards in return.

He accepts the drink. In or out of the Horizon, Geralt appears no different: black, leather, the sleeves of his loose shirt rolled up, spots of dirt under his nails and his white hair a certain shade of dusty. The same medallion of the snarling wolf hangs around his neck. ]

You're new around here. [ He tilts his head. ] Or elusive.

[meiren]

[ Giving a spy an invitation is just asking for trouble, especially when the spy in question is bored. It doesn't take much to rouse Zhou Zishu's curiosity these days, even aside from the current trips into other people's minds. If the offer is there for more information, he'll take it.

Zhou Zishu doesn't look so different himself, aside from the long tunics he's cobbled together in an approximation of the long flowing robes he'd been wearing in the Horizon. Perhaps a bit more tired and drawn looking. But something like amusement filters through his otherwise placid expression as he studies the man across from him. ]

Relatively new. [ Where does a few months fall, in the scheme of things? As for the other option, well. It's not the worst term to describe him. ] I've been around. Do you usually know every person here?

[gynvael]

[ A few months, if Zhou Zishu were to ask, would fall under new enough, at least where Geralt is concerned. But he's been here from the start. Everyone who arrived after the prisoners fled is, in some ways, new to him. Absent a piece of history that only a few of them remember now. ]

I know faces. [ He offers no real explanation other than that. It's just what he does. Remember faces and names. ] City's big, but the Summoned tend to congregate.

[ Part of that is on Sam, who often gathers up new arrivals and bringing them here, to the inn they're sitting at. Geralt's proximity to Sam and those who live at the inn means he rubs shoulders frequently with the Summoned, whether he intends to or not. It is not his habit to make easy friends, but he's old enough to know the value of an acquaintance where one can be found. Sometimes you need a door to knock on, a favour. ]