nysalogs | ❪ event ❫ khalo? can you hear me?

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❪ event ❫ khalo? can you hear me?

In normal circumstances, this would have been near the time in which you're called upon to greet the newly awakened. Unfortunately, I speak to you to inform that we must postpone that — there is trouble on your horizon. What, I cannot see for sure. We shall continue to monitor the situation, however — we - ... we — [feed cuts off.]

OLYMPIAN PRESERVATION

The city of Olympia is preparing the send-off of its most prized artifact: the heart of the ancient dragon, Ysverai. In doing this, they've transformed the palace court into an exhibition detailing the centuries-old war between Wyver and Olympia. Sculptures of Nithor the Exalted and his men and women in clean, white marble, while their armors are polished in perfect gold. Among Nithor are the sculptures of stallions in all shapes and sizes that also aided in the great war. Further in the exhibition, one may also find other artifacts of much older weaponry, rusted by its time in the earth, and items found from a time when humans feared the dragons.

The Royal Guard has increased its numbers in wake of such a public event, particularly because the heart will be in display also. The heart is not what one might expect it to be: about the size of an average human, the heart's core is surrounded in stone, a red glow emitting from its still beating core. If that were not unsettling enough, one might also find that lingering around this particular exhibit will have undue affects on one's inhibitions. You'll notice your heart has fallen into sync with the organ, and your more selfish desires will come forth. Things that have long been buried will rise up and place you in a state of unease, encouraging paranoia about your companions intentions. Allow it to fester, and one will carry this feeling with them long after you've left the scene. It's probably a good thing this is leaving Olympia — perhaps it's a source of so much conflict you've endured.

It's easy to become mesmerized by all the historical artifacts that are present in Olympia's exhibition. Some even seem mystical or, like Ysverai’s heart, to hold unspeakable powers. Others are just a little eerie. Either way, Olympia prides itself in its generosity and their grand displays, and so refugees are urged to learn more about their artifacts by spending the night in Palace Court. Though, someone should probably mention that there are rumors of strange, almost occult things happening around these relics at night. People speak of armored soldiers casting shadows that have the ability to walk on their own, or gemstones that catch the moonlight in a certain way and show you visions. But those are just silly ghost stories, right?

TALL TALES OF KHALO VILLAGE

Because of Khalo's proximity to Wyver, it's no surprise that they would catch wind of the peace talks between Wyver and Olympia. In response, for the first time in centuries, Khalo Village has willingly granted passage to outsiders — but visitors will immediately find out that one cannot just simply walk into the village. Visitors will need to inhale the smoke of a fyrra herb in order to enter the premises without falling into slumber.

Khalo is notably different than what refugees are used to. Visitors, specifically refugees, will find that they are exceedingly accommodating. The Khali are very intrigued by the outsiders, thus they're treated with much respect and given instant access to some of the best lounges and fyrra the village has to offer.

In exchange, the village is interested in hearing about your journey thus far. Whether it be through a conversation with another individual or the Khali themselves, they'll very likely to have been eavesdropping and recording the tales of their exploits. Why, exactly?

Perhaps it will not be immediately clear, but if you happened upon a venasou, a tamed Khali creature, it may have guided you to their Enchanted Library. Upon entering the library, visitors will notice that it is quite the happening place — but not because it's occupied by the Khali, but because there seems to be an assembly of magical quills seemingly writing on their own. The quills are mostly undisturbed by the intrusion and will not stop writing even if parchment is taken from it; it will simply produce another piece of paper and continue its tales.

If you happen to read the parchment, you may notice that there is a daunting similarity between your story and the ones being written here. Tales of Thesa birthing new races and sending them from the sky, for example, are very popular in Khalo Village. They mark July 15th as the day in which the Moon Goddess, Thesa, created more people in her image and brought them to El Nysa as saviors.

The coincidences don't end there: specifics about your home world might be found in the writings if you search deeply enough — but it's not without its exaggerations. These stories are given all sorts of poetic and literary forms, from short stories to limericks, biographies to something similar to haiku. If asked, the Khali will inform visitors that the enchanted library has access to vague parts of your memories, and thus it is duty-bound to record. The Khali have not seen stories as strange as the ones being made by refugees, which is largely why they are interested in them.

NOTE: This is entirely optional! You may make up your own "stories" ~~(fanfiction)~~ and it could be as accurate or inaccurate, or as serious or silly as you'd like.

While tales of the Thesa's descendants are still being written, visitors of the Enchanted Library might find intrigue in the more complete works —

KING AND KIN. If one is willing to delve deep, they may also find parts of Wyver's past that have been removed from their own archives. These pages will recount the tales of Shanrian and Rasyc. Though a lot of the narrative seems to divide at certain points in the story, it becomes obvious with some quick reading that Rasyc is not only the son of Shanrian, but that he glorifies the Wyver of old, more bloodthirsty and brutal than it is today.

Unlike his father, he does not take kindly to Olympia and the threat they will always pose for their people. He has not forgotten Olympia's past sins and he believes that, in his foolish quest for peace, the king has gone soft and no longer possesses the real will to fight.

His present voice in affairs of state is not a loud one, as he chooses to speak in whispers and move in the dead of silence. In these quiet murmurings, he boasts of his unwavering belief in the power and dignity of his people. Of how they should all return to what they once were — the kingdom, its citizens, and naturally the father who he had once admired greatly. Though perhaps it can be argued that any estranged son would wish the same.

It's difficult to pinpoint what becomes political and what is and always will be more personal for him. But, it hardly matters. It's clear that Rasyc will stop at nothing to achieve his objectives, even if it means never returning to place he calls home. Even if it means turning his back on his own father, Shanrian, King of Wyver...

DRAGONFIRE. While tales of the Thesa's descendants are still being written, visitors to the Enchanted Library might find intrigue in the more complete works. In particular, tales of Ysverai, the last of Wyver's great high dragons.

Ysverai is most commonly known for being slain by Olympia’s past king and legendary hero, Nithor, but here in Khalo he is depicted in another light. Ysverai is known to the Khali people as a wise being, old as the first inhabitants that walked El Nysa. The creature spoke in the common tongue to the early settlers, guiding them to refuge when his kin began to dominate the land at the cost of its own isolation. It ultimately becomes a tale of sacrifice, for its stand with Nithor became a testament against the Olympian Empire's long reaching influence. At the bottom, there is a quotation:

Your hearts will fill with greed and malice the moment my own stops beating. Take care in the Eye of the Storm. Find strength in one another, before it is too late.

It seems to end there. Refugees are naturally allowed to question the natives. However, keep in mind that many of their replies will seem more like speculation than fact. But maybe that can be fun too? If you have no interest in the library and the tales they've woven, feel free to explore any of the other areas of interest. Khalo Village is thrilled to be open for you all.

THOSE THAT SEEK PEACE, AND THOSE THAT SEEK --

The morning of the 20th is marked by fairly dismal weather. The sky is overcast and a downpour seems imminent. Regardless of the poor forecast, those who signed up to assist in this mission will be required to come early in order to receive their briefing.

Members of Group A:

▸ Jon Snow (song_of_ice)
▸ Daenerys Targaryen (dorzalta)
▸ Loras Tyrell (triplerose)
▸ Terra (earthy)
▸ Alisaie Leveilleur (adelphoi)
▸ Solider: 76 (personalwar)
▸ Ardyn Izunia (daemonized)
▸ Mai(maipokerface)
▸ Olivier Armstrong (wallsofbriggs)
▸ Atsushi Nakajima (gekkajuu)

Members of Group B:

▸ Kale (kaleorbekaled)
▸ Diana Prince (wondie)
▸ Pheonix Wright (objectionattourney)
▸ Revolver Ocelot (shashka)
▸ Frederick (pebblestone)
▸ John Sheppard (impavid
▸ Ianto Jones (torchwoodteaboy)
▸ Lena Oxton (quevarly)
▸ Allura (quintessent)

Due to the rain, members of Group A will have to immediately stop by the checkpoint at the East Watchtower. Additionally, the Royal Guard and Knightryders are well-prepared with extra cloaks for those who may require it. They also will provide basic refreshments such as water and bread. People are encouraged to take what they need prior to their departure on this mission. The checkpoints are a bit far between, after all. Members of the envoy will also be encouraged to utilize this time to become familiar with one another. Maybe some introductions are in order? You never know who will end up having your back...

For both groups, the paths will be relatively straightforward with evenly spaced checkpoints along the way. The only issue seems to be the downpour, really. The rain is unforgiving and the roads easily become unstable and increasingly difficult for the carriage to be drawn through. Hence, there may be more than one occasion where you will be expected to lend a hand in prying out its wheels from a particularly pesky (and muddy) pothole. Or perhaps you will be called upon by a fellow guard to assist in getting a particularly stubborn creature out of the path ahead of you. Seems like it may be a longer journey than you expected. Dirtier, too.

While weathering the conditions may have been a bit tiring, this journey isn't too bad, right?

Well, maybe not.

GROUP A. Once the carriage gets through the worst of the terrain and finally manages to depart from the watchtower, it won't be long until the group is met with a physical roadblock. A large tree trunk will be set down the center of the road, acting as a blockade.

But, before the group can react or begin crafting a plan around this obstruction, the carriage will be attacked without warning. At first, it's unclear where the attack comes from or from whom, but you don't have the leisure to deliberate this. You hear one of your fellow guards mention something about bandits frequenting these parts, but maybe there's more to it?

Either way, your task is clear: protect the artifact, Nithor's skull, and fight the bandits off. You'll be encouraged to try and capture them so that they may later be turned and questioned by the authorities.

GROUP B. With clear motives to restock and collect a few more materials for the carriage, it's evident that the envoy will appear restless to arrive at the second checkpoint. However, despite their unspoken delight at seeing the South Outpost from a distance, it's clear something has gone awry.

There will be several hooded figures awaiting them right where the mud path meets the cobblestone of the Outpost's road. Soon, several more of these figures will come to flank them from both sides. While they seem like bandits, at least from their physical appearance, there is something far more polished in their movements.

They will be attacking the envoy in concise, practiced formations. For those who are more perceptive, it becomes obvious that they are moving around and acting as decoy to one central figure. This member is likely the "leader" of their group, but no matter how one may try to close the distance between themselves and this mysterious leader, someone will constantly get in the way of that. The fighting also seems to act as a distraction since by the time everything is cleared up... only two things are missing.

The leader of this group of bandits and more importantly — Ysverai's heart.

NOTE: Those RNG'd to thread out the capture and questioning of the bandits will have starters below. For everyone else that signed up, you will still have the opportunity to capture the assailants even though they were not selected to thread the interrogation; you are free to make up your NPCs with the same basic guideline: they will not reveal their motive or their organization. You may turn them in to authorities (Wyver or Olympia or otherwise) or find creative ways to get rid of them.

FINAL OOC NOTE

To reiterate: you may use this log as a general mingle for everything from the May Outline, including all Khalo Village activities. In other words, your top-levels don't necessarily have to be related to the prompts written here.

An AC-eligible thread in which your character participates in anything mentioned in the May Outline and/or Khalo Village location page may be submitted for 2 REP POINT FOR EITHER OLYMPIA OR WYVER. SUBMIT THE THREAD FOR OLYMPIA OR WYVER HERE OR HERE RESPECTIVELY BY June 10th 11:59 PM EST.

For those who participated in this month's plot-related portion, to receive IC recognition for it, a summary of the thread must be submitted HERE by June 8th 11:59 PM EST.

Please direct all queries to the question thread below. Thank you, and have fun!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Well, we're not careening planetside.

[ Too soon to tell. Jim'll have to stay up here for a full cycle, at least, or find an astronomy lab. Maybe both. He doesn't mind staying up here, anyway, feeling a little bit more stable - somehow - in artificial gravity than he does down on the ground.

The realization about whatever Clark's got a location for isn't surprising. ]

Can you point to it and try to estimate whereabouts it is? I can always see if there are crawlspaces or Jeffries tubes.

[ The what tubes. ]

[ Yeah, he has no idea on that one. Maybe another Clark, with a bit more experience with space travel, but to be honestly, the only time he's really been in an orbiting space station was here... and that time with Zod. So as it is, he points down and then, near the window, somewhat around. ]

It might not even be what you're looking for. But that was the closest I could tell to what you described.

A lead's a lead.

[ Who knows how Clark figured it out, or if he's fucking with him, making blind guesses because he doesn't have a better idea - but Jim's not in the business of doubting everyone. Especially since all it'd do in this instance is keep Jim from looking more at the layout of the station.

Which he does, at length, though strikes out with that, too. ]

Well. [ He shrugs. ] Back to the drawing board.

[ He's about to nod when he realizes something, thinks back to something he's not sure if Jim is aware of. ]

Do you think any of the space shuttles that were here a few months back are still here? Maybe the two of us could take one out and take a look from the outside?

You mean the ones that are currently in a dozen scorched pieces at the bottom of the Murkwell swamps? [ Slightly dry. Jim definitely remembers shuttles, Clark. ]

I'm sure there are others docked here, but the safest thing to do is to let somebody who already has a space-capable craft outside the station take a look at it.

[ And Jim's got the hookup on that one. ]

[ He wasn't sure if Jim got to fly one and knew about the strange dual pilot requirement. Or how they worked. And that can't have been all of them, surely. But there's apparently another option... ]

And do you know someone who can do that?

[ Because he certainly doesn't. Normally, he'd have gone and taken a look himself but unfortunately, they're orbiting a red sun. His abilities exist as they do because of the Natha. Which is another thing to take into account. ]

...the Natha are still powering some of their work, other than the capsules. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to see the engine.

[ He's not sure what it means, but it might mean something. ]

[ It's very possible they're talking about different shuttles, but Jim's skeptical of taking Natha tech out right now anyway - there must be some kind of threat looming, and their shuttles went down versus projectiles launched by the 'low tech' cities dirtside. If they need to send out a scout, it'll have to be unmanned, or one of the kids with the giant robots. ]

Sometimes the Natha grant requests, and some refugees have requested spacecraft. Did you attend the coalition meeting? [ Because while Jim's not sure if Duo's cool with offhandedly talking about Deathscythe (which Jim just! learned about!! blueballin' him, man), Mika had Barbatos parked outside the South Outpost all day. Hard to miss.

And then, he tilts his head to consider the implications of what Clark's saying. ]

Do you mean, you have inherent abilities that shouldn't be working in this environment, but the Natha are granting you their continued use?

[ He shakes his head, because no, he'd avoided it. Everything that's happened lately, on top of his death, has seriously shaken his belief that he should do anything other than try and be a decent person and help where he can. Involving himself in politics had seemed like the worst idea possible. So he'd... avoided it.

He doesn't know what Lois would think of that. He doesn't want to think of it. He hasn't asked Bruce either.

For the moment, though-]

I do. And they do. Or rather, I think there's protections on this station and the planet that give me the ability to do what I can usually do. But without the Natha, I wouldn't have use of them at all.

[ At least not without the sunlight capsules Bruce had made him. He has one with him but he's not using it for the moment. Too dangerous for what they're planning, unnecessary for anything else.]

[ Jim might not have any room to talk about skipping it - though in his own defense, he was posted outside of it for the duration, and loaned out his invite to a new arrival. (And now he's on the dang council. Somehow. Sigh.) He doesn't know enough about Clark to think one way or the other about the guy. ]

That's.. good to know, actually. It means that the protections they're offering people might not be in danger. You know, masking people who don't appear to be human.

[ He stares out the nearest window, thinking. ]

The stasis pods are fine, too, [ he notes. ] Everything we have agreements with them about is steady.

But how much did it cost them?

[ He can't help that's where his mind went, that his mind is on sacrifice. What the Natha might have sacrificed to maintain their deals and protect them. ]

And how long will it last.

They endured some kind of attack months ago when the first refugees arrived, but shared no information about it. They made their choices - in that, and in trying to save all of us. They knew there would be risk. There always is.

[ Jim doesn't have time for his bleeding heart to spill over for the Orbiters. They have things to do. ]

Which is what we've got to consider. The first thing that'll happen when power runs out, if anyone with any sense programmed this thing, is life support for areas unconnected to stasis to give out, followed by a descent onto the planet. We'll have to prepare for that potential eventuality. If the moon goes, the natives' entire world will be upended.

[ Clark doesn't know how to divorce his heart from things; he'd died for his world, for the love of his life, and now both of those things are...

His world is gone, his mother is here asleep, and Lois doesn't remember anything they'd shared over that time. He's not sure if he's glad of that last part or not. It hurts, but so does so many things about this whole experience. ]

What about your friend with the ship? Would it be possible to provide energy through an alternative method?

No, not through something like that. The amount of power required to fuel something this size is incomparable to an individual craft. We've got time, though, because the size of this station dictates that it should take months to get to a point of forcing us to intervene.

[ It's definitely something to keep in mind and on deck, but the more pressing issue is: where the fuck are the Natha, and is whatever happened to them coming for the refugees, and the planet. ]

Alright. I've gotta make some calls, and see if I can get into a computer with the power like this.

So are we heading back now or looking to see if we can find a console that's available?

[ He hates this. He absolutely hates this. He hates that he feels helpless, as if for all that he can do, he's utterly useless to change anything here.

That doesn't mean he'll stop trying, though. ]

Oh-- I'm staying up here for a couple days, at least.

[ Jim's walking again, no sign of being particularly perturbed. He's been in worse situations as far as tech mysteries and unknown assailants go. ]

You can come with, if you want, but I'm just gonna be running through it.

[ Translation: he doesn't want to take twice as long having to explain what he's doing every step if the way, at least not right now. So if Clark feels like accompanying him he might be in the dark until Jim's got anything to report. ]

[ He can hear that translation loud and clear, and it has him bobbing his head in an affirmative nod as he leans back towards where they'd come from, how they came in. ]

Is there anything you'd like me to do down on the ground? Anything I can look out for or... I don't know.

[ Wait- ]

Are there any readings you'd like me to take down there so you can keep working up here?

Yeah, actually. That'd help. I send the equation to your communicator - you really only need a ruler and some geometry.

[ Jim pauses, then-- ]

I think the Natha have communicators too. You could try contacting them and seeing what kind of response there is, if anything.

That I can do.

[ That he most certainly can do. He's done reckoning from the ground, plenty of it while at sea. This will just be a fresh coat of paint on some old skills. ]

I'll see who I can hail when I get down and I'll shoot you a report as soon as I've got something.

Excellent. [ Jim smiles. ] Oh, and uh - if you're planning on heading down via transporter sooner rather than later, be careful, maybe clear out so you're the only one. No one's sure if the 'once per 24 hours' thing is a Natha rule of conduct or an actual safety precaution. Recombining people once they've been de-atomized and scattered into space is beyond my skillset.

[ Maybe not Chekov's or Scotty's but they ain't here. Stay in one piece, Clark. ]

[ That has him pausing, blinking, and... yes, ducking his head a little to blush. He forgets a lot of these things far too easily. That's why he gives him a nod of thanks before looking towards one of the other sections. ]

I'll see what kind of supplies are still here and what state their in, I think. See if I can do anything about keeping any foodstuffs good since I'm sure we're not the only ones who'll be coming up here.

Would you like a sandwich in a few hours?

I - sure?

[ A little taken aback by that. Partially because he feels bad treating anyone like a yeoman, but also, he forgets to eat, sometimes. (It's okay. That means there's more for other people. Please do not inspect this reaction at all.) ]

I'll head in that direction and see what I can do.

[ When he sees the reaction, he gives Jim a warm smile. ]

I can't do much about starship engines, but I can keep a person well-fed just fine. I'll find you then.

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