Open Log - Welcome to the Main Camp

[musoumods]

Moments ago, there was an earthquake. You might not have felt it, but it definitely happened. The collapsed tents and spooked horses serve as evidence that something unsettling shook the main camp not that long ago. The soldiers and citizens don't seem terribly frightened, as if they've gotten used to the ground trembling by now, but more than one stops to look toward the tall spires of rock separating the comfortable and well-ordered areas of the camp from a deserted battlefield. It's as if they wonder to themselves whether something deep in the pit on the other side might have caused it...again...

And then they realize that something else has happened.

You are here – or near here.

Prompt 1:

Immediately after the latest quake, people simply appear in and around the main camp. The residents don't actually see it happen, but they turn around to find a person where there wasn't one a moment ago. You might be that person! You might wake up inside a canvas tent, perhaps even lucky enough to be resting comfortably on an unoccupied cot. You might wake up on the open ground outside with an awful lot of gawkers standing around you. Or, you might wake up about ten meters down the road from the gates of the camp, in clear sight of the guards and the tents just beyond them. This is definitely the time and place to start grabbing strangers and asking them where you are, why you're there, and what the hell is going on.

Prompt 2:

Maybe it's not so right-away, but you've woken up all the same and had a look around. Maybe some of the soldiers have done their best to answer your burning questions. At least one thing is clear: the natives all dress in simple robes and tunics, the soldiers in similar plate or mail armor, making anyone in other garb stick out like a sore thumb. The women who run the Teahouse have noticed this first, and are doing a fine job offering the utmost in hospitality to the strangers in the off chance that they're allied with one of the lords of the land. They'll make sure you have a place to sleep, a good meal, and the best tea the Han Dynasty can provide. It may be a bit rustic for some, but it's comfortable and pleasant. Can it be worth settling down here for a while? Or is this place missing something crucial – like the ability to use your magic?

Prompt 3:

There's a lot to explore in and around the Main Camp. The various tents set up on different levels overlooking the middle area are open to be claimed, and some of them look a lot more fancy than others. As long as there's no famous lord laying his head there, why shouldn't you? The central ground of the camp contains the Merchant's stall, the Teahouse, and the Armory, as well as the stocks for the misbehaving. The bathing area is downstream from everything else, where the river passes under the rocks and empties out onto the plain beyond. There's a few areas of interest outside the camp perimeter, too, and none of the guards are stopping you from going out there. The main road looks well-traveled and vanishes eastward into the distance across rolling plains. On the west side there are high cliffs of cooled lava separating the camp from the former battleground where the Hydra was destroyed. It's rocky and perilous ground, but the adventurous can climb down winding, crumbling paths into a deep crevasse. There doesn't appear to be anything down here, but those of a magical or mystical inclination will sense the lingering aftereffects of great power.

If one were to travel a short distance northward, they'll find the Wuzhang Plains standing quiet and empty, the fortifications left in whatever half-damaged state they were in from the last battle waged here. There is also a temple along the southern ridge, looking decidedly like it doesn't belong there with more traces of mystical energy at its center. Here, the wayward traveler will be beset by small units of spindly, gray-skinned soldiers bearing spears and swords, no more than half a dozen at a time.

Prompt 4: Wildcard

Whatever floats your boat or isn't covered above! Refer to the Arrival page for details of what is and isn't to be found in the Main Camp.

In time, the Merchant makes an announcement. Not long after the Great Cataclysm, some of the mystic soldiers now guarding the main camp arrived with mirrors they claim to have enchanted so that the scattered warlords can speak to each other from a distance. He is under obligation to give one to anyone who asks, and suggests that they may try it out whenever they have the courage to do so.

Comments

[nyanhat]

He takes the bowl with a nod of thanks and a cheery swish of his tail. "The unfamiliar works up an appetite, after all."

[sorceress_polgara]

She noticeably pauses at the movement of his tail. Fortunately catches herself before any overt staring.

"I've found most things do. Especially according to young men."

[nyanhat]

"I'm older than you might think I am, but probably not old enough for that to stop applying." Just old enough to complain about kids these days, just young enough to get looks from the real old men when he does.

"So, what is dinner?"

[sorceress_polgara]

"Is that so?" Polgara asked amused. She's fairly sure she'll still win the 'doesn't look her age' game.

"Dinner, is just a simple beef stew." Simple by her standards, which is 4-5 star by other's standards.

[nyanhat]

He's used to not winning that game, given that the dragons have the other laguz beat by about a factor of ten. But he rarely loses, either.

"You know, my standards may have just dropped with the whole army on the move bit, but I think simple might be underselling that." The smell is fantastic.

[sorceress_polgara]

Polgara didn't preen at the compliment, but she obviously approved. "You do know how to talk to a cook, " she replied. "So friend, are you part of the army from this camp or are you a unwilling traveler like me?"

[nyanhat]

He's halfway into a bite when she asks, and after a couple of moments he finally swallows and answers. "The latter, just bounced from one army to another. Continent called Tellius, not that that's meant anything to anyone here yet."

[sorceress_polgara]

"I'm afraid I've never heard of Tellius either," Pol said. "But then, you wouldn't know any of my countries either."

She debates between bringing up the tail or continuing to politely ignore it. She doesn't want to offend anyone she may have to spend awhile with after all. "Forgive my asking," she started delicately. "But your...tail. Is that common in Tellius?"

[nyanhat]

He doesn't seem bothered at all; it's much more polite than he's used to getting, honestly.

"It is. I'm of a race called laguz; we're not the only race in Tellius, but there are a good number of us, depending on where you go."

[sorceress_polgara]

"I'm not familiar with that race," Polgara replied. "I know of other non-human races like the dryads. Are you at all similar?"

She'd wisely decided against using the term "monster" even though that's what all non-human races were called on her world. It tended to offend.

[nyanhat]

"Not familiar with dryads to compare, honestly." He could already tell that the cultural differences were going to be a source of constant hilarity in this world. "But some people also call us half-beasts, if that helps. We shift - most of the time, like now, we look reasonably similar to humans, but we also have full beast forms."

Human seemed to be the common term here, and not the rude one. At least that one was easy enough to pick out, and he didn't foresee much trouble in remembering it.

[sorceress_polgara]

That explanation got a more interested expression from Polgara. It had become rare to learn about something completely new after 3000 years of study. That might be the best part of this forced traveling.

"Fascinating," she said honestly. "We have nothing like that in my world. Sorcerers are able to change forms of course, but not because we inatetly have more than one as you described. Although...oh I wish Uncle Beldin was still around, or even father to properly debate this."

She slipped more into her own thoughts as she spoke trying to work out the new philosophical thought of multiple inate forms and why some feel more right than others. She didn't notice that the 'we' had slipped out. It was rare to not be completely in control of her language, but it was also rare to be exited by something completely new.