etrayalogs | MISSION 009

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MISSION 009

⏵ CAMP ETRAYA ⏴
On May 16th, Aurora and the companion bots direct those not heading off to Solmara to make their way to Camp Etraya.

Nestled away from everything else in a large clearing full of wildflowers and redwoods, Camp Etraya is a nostalgic summer camp experience put together just for it's residents! Cabins are assigned, scary stories are told around campfires, gossiping happens among friends on the trails surrounding the cabins - and don't be surprised when something goes awry. After all, this is still Etraya.

While the rest of Etraya is still accessible and will not be blocked off, characters are discouraged from venturing far from camp for too long: Aurora will specify that they are on a mission, and that missions do require participation, but she has intentionally left them the freedom to wander. Not sleeping in their assigned cabins, not participating in events, and staying away from Camp Etraya will end with her having to take more extensive security measures, so please be on your best behavior! The last thing she wants to do is start enforcing boundaries, but she will if she has to.

Camp is set up much like your generic summer camp! Each cabin is named, housing is assigned to characters as they arrive, there are camp counselors, and rotating daily tasks and chores. There are also multiple activities that characters are expected to participate in, and each activity is worth points that goes toward their camp graduation score. This score will be visible on their earpiece, and follows the A-F grading system. We are not be monitoring this, and are leaving character scores up to players. We do, however, ask that you please report your characters' camp grade HERE for rewards and demerits to be handed out after the mission itself.

Cabin assignments can be found here, which also has their roles, and chores assigned to that cabin. Those who are participating in Solmara have received an assigned cabin, too, but their absence toward the beginning will not harm the cabin's ability to compete given how spread out their assignments are.

⏵ WELCOME TO CAMP ⏴

Camp life is meant to instill a sense of belonging, connection with nature, encouragement towards the creative, all on top of a firm foundation of responsibility. Upon arriving, campers will be escorted towards a table of white t-shirts and countless buckets of dye!

Each Etrayan will be invited to make three Tie-Dyed shirts- as well as required to wear one as part of their summer uniform. Camp counselors must wear 80s basketball shorts or cut-off jeans. Campers may wear cargo shorts or a skort. For those with physical limitations to what they can wear, accommodations will be provided.

Here, bonding is the camp runners' priority. They will be pushed into various ice-breaker activities, such as trust falls, two truths and a lie, and Never have I Ever. As the sun goes down, there will be weenies roasting over the bonfire, followed by s’mores and a sing-a-long! With the stars well-visible, it’s off to bed with campers.

Each day after will start much the same: with the ringing of the bell and raising of the flag (Aurora, while unfamiliar with flag designs but an understanding of the concept, has chosen a rainbow flag for the camp. Rainbows make people happy, right?), followed by a meal at the Great Hall, morning assembly, activities with counselors, chores, free time, and then an evening winding down by the great fire. An hour after sun down, campers will be escorted back to their cabins for curfew. Camp Counselors are expected to keep track of their campers, and ensure they're all within their cabins for bedtime. This is part of their grade, too! Curfew lifts an hour before the first bell.

⏵ CAMP ACTIVITIES ⏴

As with most summer camps, Camp Etraya offers a wide variety of activities to participate in. While some of these activities may be mandatory, others are optional. We'll be leaving this up to individual player discretion: perhaps Viktor is mandated to report to arts and crafts, whilst it's optional for Silco to show. Silco, on the other hand, may be mandated to report to the archery contest. Characters are encouraged to participate in a minimum of one camp activity per day.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of camp activities.

Three-Legged Race - You and a partner are tied together at your ankles, and you must race others to the finish line. Those with abilities that would give them an advantage will find that the rope that ties them together hinders those abilities from functioning.
Archery - This can be more traditional, magical, or include moving targets! If you're particularly unlucky, your target may even shoot back.
Softball - What instills a sense of camaraderie better than a bit of team sports? Games will be held on Wednesdays, the field is otherwise available for practice.
Dodge Ball - Standing diametrically opposed to Softball is dodge ball, the bully’s sport. This is a great opportunity to claim dominance or be sent to the Nurse’s Office.
Obstacle Course - You are directed into a large maze with multiple obstacles for them to overcome, such as rock climbing walls, ramps, tires, and nets.
Capture the Flag - Small teams are put together in order to take the flag from a particular bot, whose entire goal is to avoid being caught.
Canoe Race - Canoes are placed into the rivers just off of the camp, and characters must race to the finish line.
Chocobo Riding - Learn how to care for and ride these magnificent birds! Newbies will be taken around the corral, whereas more experienced riders can take the trail around the lake.
Arts and Crafts - Make friendship bracelets, bead lizards, paint rocks, learn origami! Or perhaps you're tasked with putting together an enchanted necklace. Don't know how to do enchantments? Now is as good of a time as any to learn.
Campfire stories - Share scary stories amongst yourselves around the campfire late into the night. If you're particularly unlucky, you may just hear the thing you were just warning others about..

⏵ NIGHT TIME ⏴

Once campers have been put to bed, the counselors can still stay up. Unwind with hidden beers and the strumming of a guitar. Don’t get too comfortable, though, since without supervision, no one is keeping the campers in bed.

After dark, should campers evade their counselors, they can go exploring in the dark. Eerie lights glimmer from the lake. There’s rumors of a headless spectre walking from the archery field to the edge of the forest. Should you behave, you still might hear a scratching at your bunk house window.

And on the very last night of camp, there will be a talent show. Show off your hidden talent and bask in the excitement of wowing your fellow campers!

⏵ NOTES ⏴

Welcome to Camp Etraya! Please enjoy the s'mores and campfire songs. :)

Camp will last approximately two weeks, going from May 16th to May 30th.

For all questions relating to this mission, please refer to the plotting post. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.

⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ She doesn't have a flashlight or a torch. Doesn't seem bothered by the dark, either, moving through the undergrowth with the ease of practice. Carver tilts his head, curious. ]

You could. Hey, Shadowheart.

[She glances around, checking whether they're on their own out here, before approaching him.

The knife strapped to his hip does not go unnoticed, but it doesn't perturb her; in her world, it's more common than not for people to go about armed, and she's familiar enough with Carver by now to know that he always wants to be ready for a potential fight.]

Why do you suppose Aurora's so keen on keeping us in our cabins after nightfall?

Assuming something's in the works out here. That it's active at night.

[ Not disruptive enough to wake the light sleepers or draw attention needlessly. But something.

He sucks on his teeth, watching her. ]

There's always a game. Can you sense anything with your magic, or however that works?

Agreed. Why keep us contained if there's nothing out here to see?

[Whatever it is, it's not making itself obvious. Not yet.]

I can't sense anything, but I can make us harder to sense.

[And she'll cast pass without a trace, dulling the glint of her armor and masking the sound of their footfalls. It seems worth it, if they're both going to sneaking around looking for whatever it is they're not supposed to see out here.]

Don't stray too far, or it won't have any effect on you.

[ It's a subtle thing. No magician's stagecraft, but more of a feeling. A sense that something's shifted. Carver watches her close, taking in her armor. The sound it suddenly doesn't make.

Oh, that's useful. That's real goddamn useful. ]

How close do I have to stay?

Nine metres. Now come along, the night waits for no one.

[And she starts off again towards the trees.]

[ A bigger range than expected. God, he thinks, imagine what we could've done with this back home. How quick and quiet they could've bene in the dark.

Carver huffs. He pulls his scarf up over his face. ]

Yes, ma'am.

[As they move, Shadowheart glances at Carver's knife.]

Have you still not gotten a gun? Or have you brought a knife purely for the sake of stealth?

Got a gun. Knife's easier to carry around here.

[ They're under observation, more than usual. This time it comes in the form of grinning, too-happy counselors. Their own people playing watchmen.

Not that these are his people, Carver reminds himself. This is a game and it's always possible to lose. Always. ]

And quieter, [ he adds. ]

[Shadowheart still hasn't really seen Carver in a proper fight, but she's trusting, based on what he's said, that he'll be useful in one. With a knife or with a gun. He is, if nothing else, one of the few people around here who has the sense to walk around armed.]

Have you gotten any of your memories back? From the first time you were here?

[ That pauses him. He gives her a long look, secretly uneasy. ]

No.

[ And that nags at him, this past that he apparently lived but cannot remember in any way. Part of it, however briefly, was with her. ]

I'm imagining I was a shitty fake husband, though.

[She can't help but bark a sharp laugh at that, though she has the presence of mind to keep it relatively quiet; pass without a trace can only muffle so much, and she doesn't want to make a sound that will cut too jarringly through the otherwise fairly still night.]

Your words, not mine, though you'll not find me arguing with them.

[She pauses for a moment, considering.]

Still. I can imagine worse than you. And I'm not sure either of us is suited to playact domesticity.

[The whole experience had gotten her wondering, though, whether a proper domestic life might, someday, should she survive everything, be something she might...

Want.

Funny, to be thinking about what she wants. For so long, there was never any question of what she wanted, only what she needed to do to serve her goddess or to survive.]

Did you have anything at all like that, in your world? A home, a spouse, children?

I doubt it, [ he agrees, though not without some quiet regret. Neither of them are the domestic type. He doesn't know Shadowheart's story or why she does the things she does, but he knows enough to recognize the familiar. She's a fighter. Whatever made her that way won't leave easily.

Even so, he liked having a child. He never will again.

He's quiet for a moment. Then: ]

I had family. My team, they were mine. My brothers and sisters.

I don't remember my family, [she says softly.] What's it like, having one?

[ Carver sighs. ]

Noisy. Complicated. But...good.

[ The world made sense with his family inside it. ]

[Noisy. Complicated. Good. Words that could be used to describe the time she had with her friends, so long ago now, in Fearûn. Lae'zel's endless sword-sharpening. Karlach's boisterous carousing. Gale muttering to himself. She's spent far more time in Etraya than she did with them, but she misses each and every one of them still. Were they family?]

I was no better a fake wife than you were a fake husband. [There's a faint hint of wistfulness as she thinks back on the garden Aerith helped her plant, how beautiful it had been. She'd been sad to leave it.] But I can't remember ever having gone on a date before we went to a restaurant together, isn't that absurd?

[ He tilts his head back, watching her. There's a great deal he doesn't know about Shadowheart and never will, but he thinks he understands this part. The way she talks about missing an experience that's supposed to be universal, or near to it. ]

Sometimes it just works out like that, [ he says after a moment. ] You give things up, or just they just never happen.

Or they're taken from you.

[She glances around, double-checking that they aren't, as best she can tell, being followed.]

It wasn't actually our marriage I wanted to discuss, you know. You asked me, once, to put a knife through your skull, should you die here. In turn, I asked a similar favour: that you make a quick end of me, should I start transforming into a tentacled monster. I wanted to let you know that it may not be a concern for much longer. I've found a doctor who says he may be able to remove the thing that would cause the transformation.

[Despite herself, a hopeful note creeps into her voice.]

Or that.

[ It's impossible not to think of Matthew in that moment. Sometimes Carver thinks it would've been easier if he'd had someone to blame. A stranger he could hunt down and sunder apart with his bare hands. Maybe then the grief would've been easier to take instead of settling in his soul like poison.

He breathes past it. He doesn't say any of that. Just watches Shadowheart, eyes narrowed slightly. ]

Good.

[ This is meant genuinely. His voice softens ever so briefly. ]

This doctor, they any good with diseases?

[She knows so little of Carver still, but she catches the way he breathes and the look in his eyes. She knows there's pain hidden there, just as she knows he's unlikely to ever even confess to that pain, let alone explain it. Not to her, at least. But when his voice softens, she finds something in the pit of her stomach softening too.]

You'd have to ask him. Dr. Romano.

[She looks over at him again.]

I tried casting a few spells on you, the last time you were here. I'm not sure whether any cured your disease, but I'd try again. If you like.

[ The surgeon, Carver realizes. He doesn’t have a worm in his head but there’s always a chance another person from a different world might be able to help. And even in his worst moments, Carver doesn’t hate these people enough to want a plague on his consciousness.

He tilts his head as Shadowheart continues, though. ]

Okay, [ he says slowly. ] What kind of spells?

I know you tend towards the paranoid, but I assure you, I've no desire to trick you into letting me cast any sort of ill-intentioned spell on you. You're just about the only person here as pragmatic as I am, and a far more useful ally alive and well than dead with a blade in your skull. And besides, your company isn't dreadful, I suppose.

[An awkward sort of attempt at a joke.

At this point, she can't recall what she's told him of her abilities that he'd remember, so she opts to explain it all again.]

I'm a healer. I can heal injuries, cure most any mundane disease, remove most curses, neutralise poisons, and provide protection in battle. I tried casting spells that would do all those things.

[ Flattery, Carver almost says, almost teases, will get you places. Sometimes he flirts for the fun of it, going through the motions with no intention of following through. This time, though, he watches Shadowheart close and considers her words with the same care. There's a lot he doesn't understand about how magic works and probably never will. But there's an understanding between the two of them, he thinks, and that includes some small measure of trust.

If she fucks with him, it'll be for a good reason. Best not to give her one, Carver thinks.

He sucks on his teeth. Okay. ]

Last time, could you tell there was something wrong with me? We thought it was in the blood back home, but nobody really knew for sure.

[Carver doesn't seem sick to her. But then, no one would be able to tell she carries a fatal parasite just from looking at her or speaking with her.]

Unless the primary symptoms of this illness are rudeness and unwashed hair, I can't tell that there's anything wrong with you, no.

[Ahead of the them, the trees begin to thin, and the lake comes into view. There are lights glimmering over the water, and Shadowheart vaguely wonders whether they're supposed to be there.]

You told me you have insomnia. And that your corpse will come back hungry, should you die. I believe your exact words were that it's a 'fucked-up disease.' I know nothing more of what your illness is or how it works.

[ Carver snorts at that. But there’s a part of him that worries about all these things she knows that he can’t remember telling her. Those are his words and none of them are false, but he doesn’t remember deciding to share them. What risk assessment he made at the time, or why.

There’s nothing for it. This is simply what’s happening. ]

That’s all true, [ he says slowly. ] Our corpsmen couldn’t figure it out back home. Nobody could. I’m just not enough of an asshole to want it to spread here.

MISSION 009

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