etrayalogs | MISSION 004 (part 1)

WHO: Everyone!
WHEN: July 19th-July 27th.
WHERE: Moorecroft Village
WHAT: Enjoy life in your new suburban neighborhood!
NOTES\WARNINGS: Potential death.

⏵ welcome home ⏴
Welcome to Moorecroft Village, where the sun casts a gentle glow through soft white clouds. Pavement paths wind around the village, adorned with wildflowers in every hue. Birds sing a soothing melody, while a few content cats lounge in sunspots or on benches along the streets. Cars hum by, ferrying residents to work, the store, or back home after a busy day.

It looks almost perfect. The ideal little village, occupied by individuals from all over. Orcs, elves, faeries, werewolves, vampires, and dhampirs coexist harmoniously, each contributing to their quaint little town. Despite their varied backgrounds, they appear to embrace this place as their own. They take their baby carriages out during the day for a stroll, chatting with friends and neighbors about current happenings, discussing their most recent mission (a ‘game’ of Whodunit, in which one of theirs, Theo, was tasked with killing one of their own each day and they all had to figure out who had killed them before they could come back to life) and the difficulties therein, new job assignments, weird things the teens in their houses are getting up to... generic, neighborly conversations.

The village is full of life. There are numerous facilities to wander and things to do! The library houses a vast collection of books spanning history from countless other worlds and whimsical children's tales. Teens gather at the ice skating rink, while the movie theater screens films spanning generations. An aquarium full of wonders: glowing rainbow fish, miniature great white sharks, a colorful octopus with patterns running over it that almost look like ivy, and numerous others.

In the daytime, everyone can explore clothing stores, indulge in gourmet cakes from the grocers, and partake in leisurely pursuits without financial concerns; just like on Etraya, money does not exist here.

⏵ help wanted ⏴
Moorecroft surpasses Etraya in its development, offering attractions and activities to engage its inhabitants throughout the day. But with these advancements come additional responsibilities. By day, at least one adult from every household is expected to fulfill their shifts at 'day jobs', lasting anywhere from four to eight hours. Meanwhile, the youth are expected to go to school, absorbing knowledge in various disciplines.

Each job duty requires different skillsets, but whether or not those required skillsets are matched to those who are expected to work them... well. They’ll have plenty of time for training, won’t they? Or perhaps they’ll get dropped right into their job and be expected to figure it out all on their own.

For the younger residents, education is structured into two main institutions: "Sandalwood Lower" for those twelve and under, and "Maplewood Upper" for older students. These schools offer a broad curriculum encompassing Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, Technology, Fine Arts, and a diverse array of Foreign Languages. Electives range widely, from specific sports to Survival Training, Creative Writing, Journalism, and Sociology.

At lunchtime, the school cafeteria presents an array of choices. Options range from standard fare like school pizza to other offerings such as vampire's blood, brains, and hearts—just in case an unexpected guest should drop in. After all, one never knows who might show up in Moorecroft.

⏵ honey do's ⏴
But life extends beyond work and school. A structured routine of what is expected of each household is kept on digital calendars, and installed on the wall in the kitchen of each house. These calendars update daily with smaller tasks, and weekly with larger ones, detailing what is expected of those residing within its walls.

Typical tasks include simple activities such as:

Take the child(ren) for a walk outdoors.
Visit the local park.
Bake a pie for the neighbors.
Tell your spouse(s) how important they are to you.
Share a secret.
Shop with your child(ren).
Mow the lawn.
Don’t forget to attend your child’s school’s PTA meeting!
Help with homework.
Take family photos.
Go on a date.

More complex tasks are found under weekly checklists, and may involve:

Host a neighborhood barbeque competition.
Volunteer at the hospital.
Teach your child a sport.
Start a soccer league.
Create a garage band.
Get a part time job.
Join a club.

Eos will check off each task as it is completed. At the bottom of each calendar, a tally records the completion of tasks, providing a visual measure of productivity and community involvement.

⏵ night watch ⏴
As the sun lowers over the horizon, everything shifts. Every long-term resident understands the consequences of curfew and the threats within. They retreat to their homes, urging those unfamiliar to them who may not understand the rules just yet that they, too, need to return indoors for the night.

Within the confines of their houses, life continues under a fragile veil of normalcy. A peek into some of the homes of long-term residents will find them playing board games with their family units, completing homework or work assignments they were unable to finish during the day, watching a few family-friendly shows on their couches, or enjoying a late dinner. Eventually, they’ll return to their beds and wait for the sound of their alarms.

In Moorecroft, no friendly companion bots roam the streets during the day. In their place, highly advanced robots emerge to enforce curfew once the time comes. They silently make their way through the streets, sweeping away anything that isn’t part of Eos’ design: trash left out on the street, bugs left by suspicious men wearing cowls that have ears on them, graffiti, new decor that Eos decides she doesn’t like. No winds shake the trees, there are no cars on the road, but noises can be heard coming from outside that don't sound... normal by any means. Croaks, whispers, scratches against doors and walls alike.

Those who defy curfew will be asked, once, to return to their homes. If they opt not to listen, they are met with force: physically restrained, subdued, and dragged back to their homes. If they decide to fight, the bots are not above killing them and dropping their limp bodies just inside the front door of their houses. They will revive after 48 hours but not without cost. Each return carries an absence—a missing memory, a lost skill, or a fragment of their very essence, stolen away in the process of their revival.

Even those who manage to evade capture will awaken in their beds with no recollection of their death or what they may have witnessed before dying. They will instead have a vague feeling that something horrifying happened.

⏵ NOTES ⏴

Daily and weekly tasks can be chosen by players! We won't be listing these out for each household, but relying on players to choose what's most fun for them to play with within their households.

As noted on Mission Plotting, we're open to one group successfully staying out past curfew, but would like to keep this to one thread.

We have a separate log for NPC interactions for this mission!

For any questions relating to the contents of this log, mod queries thread on the initial plotting post to assist us in keeping all mission-related information in one place. All other questions can be directed to the FAQ.
⏵FULL NAVIGATION⏴

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So you met your future kids -- your future bio kids before you even got a chance to have them? Man. That must have been weird. But I guess, kind of nice too? To know a little about where the'll end up.

[ She'll at least have that guarantee that her children live long enough to become powerful enough wizards to have access to chronomancy -- or they have friends powerful enough to have access to it, which is more or less the same thing at the end of the day.

At the end of the day, it seems that Ororo's status on children is simply: it's complicated. That's fair. Riz doesn't know much about parenthood, never particularly wants to have children of his own, but he knows enough to realize it's always complicated. Just in different ways. ]

Did you like them? Hell of a chance to have an unbiased opinion.

It... was very strange. But they were never unwelcome, even if their future is ultimately uncertain just for visiting me. [ Her voice turns a touch melancholy there, as she gives the whole thing more thought than she has in a while. She hasn't thought of Kymera in some time, the way she stole out of the mansion once her self-professed duty to keep the infant Shogo safe was done. The letter she left behind for her to find on her own. ]

By coming back and letting me know of their existence - they've created a new branch of timeline, separate from their own. I myself may never have them at all.

But knowing some version of me was able to have them in the first place, and that they grow to do noble, self-sacrficing things is... good. It's enough to know that they were raised well enough to do something important, and that alone has me feeling more than proud of them.

I guess that's true. But coming back to visit you means that they must really love you, [ Riz says thoughtfully. ] Even knowing about creating new timelines, if I went back in time, I don't know that I'd be able to resist seeing my parents either.

[ A young Sklonda and Pok Gukgak, young and in love, having not yet started their families or even their careers yet, with a sprawling world ahead of them, untouched by what the world had yet to throw at them. How could he resist? How could he do anything but tell them how incredible they were going to be -- or to tell his Dad not to get on that damn ship?

Even if they met with Ororo for more pragmatic reasons, he's certain they must have loved her very much. If not, they wouldn't have seen her in the first place, not even for the powers she so clearly possesses. ]

Were they -- huh. We have totally different vocabularies for this sort of thing. [ Not in an Adventuring Party. Something else. ] Were they caught up with the whole time travel thing to complete some sort of mission?

[ They're not really hers, they were not of her body after all, but she'd also felt like they were. Their missions had just always been so paramount that it had been hard to think about what their existence implied and meant. At least until after they had to leave her once all was said and done, or moments like this when someone brings them up. That's something that she's alternately glad and maybe a little regretful about.

She might have been quiet for a beat or two longer than typical, studying the road, getting with her thoughts - until she shakes her head and clears her throat gently. ]

Ah, the term is quite appropriate. So - yes, they had missions to complete, both times. Not without cost, of course, but I've yet to meet a child of mine who'd not ultimately succeeded at whatever it was they came to the past to do. I'm very proud of them, and made sure they knew it before they had to go.

[ They come to a stoplight, and Ororo takes that moment to glance over at Riz curiously. ] But - I see that you are very familiar with time travel. Is it something you have encountered often?

Principal Aguefort says that chronomancy is the most powerful kind of magic there is. [ He pauses. ] We tried to convince him that friendship was the most powerful magic of all, but he wasn't having it.

[ Privately, Riz thinks that they're still correct. He's not one of the ones who said it - that's one of the girls, as openly sentimental as they are - but he'd nodded vigorously along with it anyway. ]

I've never encountered it in a way that's like... as extreme as what you're talking about. That's some seriously powerful magic. But I know a lot about it, theoretically speaking. And we got to freeze time long enough to rest up in the middle of a battle once.

[ That had been awesome. He'd love for Kristen or Adaine to figure out how to accomplish that. ]

But I don't have much to do with it. [ He shrugs, spreading his fingers wide apart. ] I'm not magical. I leave that to the rest of my party.

[ All of them can perform a little magic, even Gorgug. But him? Not a chance. He sneaks, he shoots. Next to them, he's an ordinary guy. ]

Maybe friendship is not magic. One does not have to be magical in nature to have a friend, or do awe-inspiring things because of or with the support of true friends, after all.

[ Ororo herself isn't (technically, depending on who you spoke to) magical - but she knows she's capable of many things when her friends are threatened, or when she has friends at her side. She would certainly be on the side of these friends of Riz's who say that it's some kind of force - but she'd argue that it is a force that transcends magic. ]

So you may not be magical, but it sounds like you have helped do great things. Because of, or with your friends at your school, I assume?

Friendship can be a little bit magical.

[ His tone is light, playful; it's sweet of Ororo to affirm him like that, but by and large, he's a teenager who thinks it's funny to drive his teachers crazy with that particular insistence. ]

We've done one great thing, I'd say. But we're just starting out. [ The second great thing is in the making, he hopes. But he won't be back to see it through for some time, it seems; he has to save the world before he has to go back and... save the world. ]

The whole point of having a party is to make sure there's people there who can do stuff that you can't. We all fill our niche. [ He sometimes feels a little selectively useful - only underneath specific circumstances, unlike Fig and Fabian's easy way with people, or Adaine's ability to pluck the perfect spell out of mid-air - but he knows when his skills are needed, they're really needed. ] But magic's a common enough one that most students will get into it, a little. Basically everything where we're from runs on magic.

MISSION 004 (part 1)

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