DECEMBER MINGLE

[etrayamods]

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: December 21st - Early January
WHERE: Etraya
WHAT: Newcomers, a surprise gift from Tatianna, and a visitor!
NOTES\WARNINGS:

⏵ arrival ⏴ Welcome to Etraya! Arrival goes as expected - characters awaken on hospital beds and are offered an explanation of their situation: that they have arrived in the city of Etraya, and they are their world's only hope. They are welcome to wander the hospital if they would like to - the upper floors are mostly empty, full of pristine hallways and numerous rooms filled with supplies, cots, and things one would expect from a relatively average 21st-century hospital. The lobby is filled to the brim with tables of freshly baked goods. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" banners are taped to the walls, and several other typical birthday decorations can be found in this area. A few of the baked goods tables are lined with massive cakes covered in unlit candles, just waiting for someone to grab a lighter and sing off-key. Is it anyone's birthday? Who knows! The companion bots seem to believe it's every new arrival's birthday and will greet them as such - with friendly waves and cheers as they make their way to the lobby. A coat rack is situated by the doors leading out of the hospital, covered in warm clothing that fits the new arrivals just right - whether it's to their preferred style or not is something else entirely. Some of them appear normal enough. Others? Well. They can't all be perfect, now can they? Outside the windows, the grass is covered in a couple of inches of loosely packed snow. We hope you enjoy your stay. ⏵ an unexpected gift ⏴ Out by the hospital stands a tall, decorated tree covered in candles and golden pinecones with a handsome, red velveteen tree skirt. In front of it are a few oversized wrapped gifts for show- and atop one of those sits a familiar woman. Or unfamiliar, if this is your first time. It's Tatianna in a slutty Santa outfit with a big ol’ burlap sack. “Hey, I got something for you,” she says, digging into the bag and rummaging for a moment. She produces a painted egg and holds it aloft. “It’s your Winter Solstice Egg! This is the egg holiday, right? Wait, shit. I’m mixing them up, aren’t I? ...Well. It’s a little late to change it. Here you go!” How one treats their egg is fully up to themselves. They can choose to ignore it entirely, or destroy it and leave the yolk and innards to rot on the ground. They can hand it over to someone else or care for it as if it were something precious. No one will prevent them from doing whatever they please with it! ⏵ naughty or nice ⏴However, how they treat the egg will define how the egg treats them in return. Those who keep the egg and tend to it will get the benefit of being able to watch it hatch seven days after they are handed the egg. Eggs that are treated with attention and love may yield a loyal companion, or a weapon of choice that always returns to its owner, while neglected eggs may yield a curious, cursed trinket or an animal who treats its new owner very much the same way its owner had treated it before it was born. Please submit an egg request below for what items you would like your character's eggs to hatch into! Please note that these cannot be things that would be applicable in the game. Those whose eggs are destroyed or forgotten will simply get the gift of... nothing! ⏵ free your spirit ⏴ With the winter chill gripping the air, a mysterious figure makes their presence known in Etraya - a towering, horned creature dragging a massive sack behind them. 𝓐 𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖊 𝖇𝖚𝖎𝖑𝖙 𝖔𝖓 𝖑𝖎𝖊𝖘 𝖍𝖆𝖘 𝖆 𝖜𝖊𝖆𝓴 𝖋𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓. Regardless of a character's strengths or weaknesses, they will find that when Krampus raises his massive sack over their head, they are powerless to stop him from catching them. Those capable of great magical feats or other supernatural abilities will sense something... otherworldly about Krampus, but will not be able to place the source of that sensation. Once within Krampus' sack, they are welcome to fight, but escape is impossible. It will feel as if Krampus is dragging them over every rock possible, dragging the sack in through the rivers to the point it soaks through and drenches them - potentially almost drowning them. When the sack opens, they will find themselves in an impossibly dark space. Around them are others who have also been captured and dragged here by Krampus, trapped in small cages hanging from a massive, wiry tree. Krampus will return often, banging clawed hands and birch rods on the walls of the cages and knocking them into one another. 𝕮𝖔𝖓𝖋𝖊𝖘𝖘𝖘𝖘𝖘𝖘𝖘. The whisper resonates through the darkened area, regardless of Krampus' presence. Confess your secrets, and be freed. Otherwise? You'd better hope someone figures out where Krampus has set up base; those who refuse to confess may find themselves stuck here forever. ⏵ NOTES ⏴ Krampus' base is under Etraya! Deep within the catacombs, he has set up multiple cages to capture those who inhabit Etraya to punish them for their naughty habits. Fighting him is possible! Defeating him by means of combat is not, however, possible. Think of it like fighting a god: Krampus creates the rules in the space around him, including who can use what ability. For all questions relating to this log, please refer to the mod queries comment. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ. ⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Comments

[clavesregni]

[Between learning that enforcers killed Vi's parents, Ekko's insistence that enforcers hunt the Firelights 'like animals,' Marcus' betrayal, Vander's comments on enforcers killing children, and now this...

Caitlyn scowls.]

Unless you feel like airing out one of yours, we'll both become skeletons, sitting around in these cages.

[Not that Sevika confessing one of her secrets will help Caitlyn in any way.]

[ascarylady]

Yeah, yeah, like I hadn't already realized that...

[ Staying trapped here was about as appealing as sharing anything with Caitlyn; the latter at least meant they don't hang out here until they die of thirst. That would happen long before anything else.

She'll go down the list of possibilities in her head, idly tapping a heel against her own cage in a quiet, repetitive motion as she does. ]

Can't say I'm particularly thrilled about telling you anything, you know that, right? But if you have any crimes you want a confession to, shoot. Maybe I did do one of them. You never know.

[clavesregni]

How magnanimous.

[Caitlyn must admit, she hadn't expected an open invitation to ask about any crime she might want a confession to. And she does have a list: unsolved murders, robberies under mysterious circumstances, coordinated assassinations, missing persons, piles of cold cases and 'closed' cases that she'd spent hours and hours pouring over to untangle Silco's massive web of crime. But there's one cold case that always sat at the top of the pile, the first file she 'borrowed' once she'd earned her badge, the case that's haunted her for years. One she's suspected is connected, but she's never figured out how.

And, given this opportunity, she may as well ask about it.]

Do you know how Sheriff Grayson died?

[ascarylady]

Grayson? Huh.

[ Sevika sounds surprised by the choice. That may as well be ancient history by now. ]

Haven't heard that name in a while. You can't have been more than a kid when that one happened, right?

[clavesregni]

Old enough to remember it. [Caitlyn refrains from giving an exact age. If Sevika knows that, she could work out how old Caitlyn is now, and Caitlyn would prefer to leave open the possibility of the other woman mistaking her for older than she is.]

Are you going to answer my question?

[ascarylady]

I told you I'd confess if I were responsible, not that I would lay bare the whole undercity's dirty laundry.

[ So calm thy tits, copper. Grayson, though...

How much to say? That one isn't too difficult. ]

On that note? That little rat Marcus isn't one of us, so I don't mind shitting on him for the fun of it. I wasn't there myself, but I do know Grayson was in the Lanes to make an arrest. I also know Marcus sold her out.

[clavesregni]

[She looks over sharply when Sevika mentions Marcus.]

Sold her out? To Silco?

[So he'd been in Silco's pocket before he even became Sheriff. And the horrible possibility rears its head that he sold Grayson out specifically to become Sheriff. Did he lead her to her death to get her out of the way?

Surely not. Surely even Marcus couldn't be so cold in his ambitious as that.]

Was Silco responsible for Grayson's death?

[ascarylady]

[ To Silco? Of course. Who else would it have been? Only Sevika won't confirm that herself. Sorry, Caitlyn. You'll have to do a little more digging for the whole story. ]

I told you. I wasn't there. [ She saw nothing, copper, and that's the end of it. ] What else you got?

[clavesregni]

Your not being there doesn't mean you don't know what happened.

[Much like a dog with its favorite bone, Caitlyn is disinclined to let go of this. She's spent years desperate to know what happened to Grayson, and now she's trapped in a cage next to a person who might actually have answers.]

[ascarylady]

[ Oh, it'd be so easy to taunt Caitlyn over this. It's tempting. It won't get them anywhere, though, will it? ]

Remember what I already told you?

[ Don't make her tap the sign again (it's a metaphorical sign, but still). ]

Go bark up some other tree if you want anything more than that.

[clavesregni]

[The scowl deepens. Yes, yes, Sevika agreed to confess if she were responsible and nothing more, Caitlyn remembers. But she files this right at the top of the list of things she will be following up on once they're out of these cages.]

The bombing committed by Jinx at the Progress Day fairgrounds. Were you involved?

[ascarylady]

[ Ugh, that mess. ]

No. I wasn't.

[ Although she won't be expanding upon the crime this time. No extra tidbits, no fun facts, nothing. ]

[clavesregni]

[Unhelpful. Though she really shouldn't expect helpfulness from Sevika, of all people.]

The smuggling incident at the hexgates, then. Jinx shot one of her own people. [At least, she's fairly certain it was Jinx. The shots were fired from a minigun – of the same sort she now knows Jinx uses – and in the sort of erratic manner Caitlyn now associates with Jinx.] Were you involved in that?

[ascarylady]

Now you're getting somewhere.

[ Because for Sevika, this is all old news. There's no longer any secret about what happened on the airship. ]

That one was me and my crew. As you saw yourself, it went to shit real fast once the Firelights attacked us.

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn had seen the Firelights throw the same sorts of crystals at Jinx that she'd found at the crime scene; most of the missing pieces of what happened on the airship fell into place rather neatly once she'd spoken to Ekko and learned of the Firelights' intentions.]

Why did she shoot one of her own people? And one who was restrained at the time, no less? Or is she simply too irrational to care?

[ascarylady]

Doubt it was on purpose.

[ So, irrational? Yeah. Irrational. ]

One of the Firelights got their mask knocked off and just happened to have pink hair. It set her off, and she started shooting up the place indiscriminately.

[clavesregni]

She thought the Firelight was... Vi?

[Though she'd call Vi's hair closer to red than pink, the implication seems fairly clear, especially given that Vander described a younger Vi as having pink hair.]

I'm hardly surprised. She's certainly shot at Vi, or threatened to, enough. [And still, why Jinx would want to kill her own sister, she can't understand. Especially since Jinx was all Vi has cared about from the moment Caitlyn set her free.]

[ascarylady]

Couldn't tell you what she thought, only what I saw. She always has a lot going on in her head. Best I can do is guess, and even I'm only right half the time.

[ Despite helping raise that crazy brat. Well, half the time is probably better than what most people can figure. ]

[clavesregni]

[That Sevika has no real idea what's going on in Jinx's head doesn't surprise Caitlyn either. The girl truly is mad.

She glances once more at their surroundings, trying and failing to pierce the darkness, but there's nothing in particular to see. And another rattle of her cage door accomplishes nothing.]

I don't suppose that confession of yours had any effect? [Her eyes flick to the door of Sevika's cage.]

[ascarylady]

[ Did it? Time to find out. There's the resounding clunk of the metal door being kicked hard, followed by a rattle. ]

Hm.

[ Another kick, harder this time, but there's no telltale creak of it opening or being forced open. Well then. ]

It gave a little this time but still won't open.

[clavesregni]

Your confession wasn't scurrilous enough to warrant your release, I suppose. You haven't got any murders you'd like to take credit for, have you? Kidnappings? Perhaps something along those lines would be enough to appease our captor.

[If admitting to an instance of smuggling isn't enough of a confession, Caitlyn truthfully doesn't know how she'll make it out of this. Yes, technically she's broken the law once or twice... or three or four times... but... would admitting to forging documents or impersonating an officer or taking case files she wasn't assigned really be considered a more worthy confession than Sevika's?]

[ascarylady]

Maybe I do.

[ She does. ]

But I've already confessed something. Your turn, enforcer. For all we know, it takes two to get these open.

[clavesregni]

[Caitlyn frowns. Should she confess to one of those instances of law-breaking that her mother was so incensed about? Should she try to think of something else? What, exactly, is their captor looking for?]

You offered to confess to anything you'd done that I might ask about. I suppose it's only fair that I offer the same.

[ascarylady]

So what is it? Stole some cookies when you were a kid? Crossed a street without looking both ways?

[ Yeah, she isn't expecting anything too depraved from Caitlyn over there. ]

[clavesregni]

I...

[She probably has crossed a street without looking both ways at least once in her life. She's never stolen cookies that she remembers, but she has failed to wipe her shoes on the mat. Once, when she was very angry with her mother, she even failed to do so on purpose. She's snuck out of galas after her mother specifically told her to stay until the end, she's kissed a girl or two of whom her mother would not approve, and various other youthful misdeeds.

The creature that's locked them in cages in the dark might not care about kissing waitstaff or tracking mud across the rug, though.

She presses her lips into a very thin line, her brows drawing down sharply as she contemplates which thing she'd least like to confess to, as she imagines that's the thing most likely to get her out of this cage.]

I may not technically be an enforcer at present. I was fired by the Sheriff the day after Jinx bombed the fairgrounds, and I arranged to see Vi in prison based on the pretense that I was still an officer. But, [she adds quickly,] a corrupt Sheriff's actions can hardly said to be official.

[And if a corrupt Sheriff's actions don't really count, then, in a way, she was never truly fired and she is still an enforcer. Never mind that her parents were also involved in her firing. She'll worry about that if it becomes a problem.]