Floor 5, Room 3

[leewards]

ITHAQUA

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Comments

[dyingtohealyou]

[Ahito is similarly standoffish, partially because he had to be scruffed to come along and partially because he's just like this. He, too, spends most the meeting leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed, watching in silence as others give their reports. But eventually:]

The Western Magitek Army is up to something. I spoke to a member of their research group who happened to be the sole survivor of some kind of incident. Apparently, the wizards who came before us did something that led to an explosion that killed his entire crew except for him, and they were conducting an expedition for research in some hidden labs or something.

[He waves a hand in annoyance.]

It was all piecemeal - between his nervousness and hatred of wizards, the man couldn't say more than a couple sentences before going on and on about how all wizards are evil and caused the incident and all that.

Other than that... It seems Central was called to deal with some ghosts in the Granville castle, presumably because they're tied to this country. Totsuka warned me that as a Northern wizard I should be working on improving my magic as much as possible due to the dangers we're sure to face, so I'm sure we'll be called to the North ourselves sooner or later.

...Based on the person I talked to, it sounds like Central had a rough time of it. They touched a cursed object and - shockingly - it's cursed them as a result. Not that any of you need to hear it, but it sounds to me like caution's the way to go if and when we get called upon.

[impacter]

[Hm... quite a bit to touch on here. His expression shifts to something, a brief glance of... concern? Sympathy? It's kept short, though - he has no desire to bring that up, it's not his place.]

It would likely be safer to assume the distaste is not going to stop. That he told you anything at all with a hatred that strong... It's sort of surprising.

Has the Western concern been passed along to Tatara?

[dyingtohealyou]

No. What would he even do about it?

I was planning to talk to Jing Yuan about it.

[impacter]

Because our Sage is who ultimately holds the responsibility of sending us out for intervention.

Jing Yuan has a level head, so it's still a good choice. But Tatara needs to be kept informed as well. Maybe there's something he or our little sparrow know that could give more context.

[dyingtohealyou]

There's nothing stopping you from passing it along if you think it's so important.

[impacter]

Still sour, huh?

[dyingtohealyou]

I have no reason to have any faith in his work.

[impacter]

You really should tell him about that, you know. Your concerns.

[dyingtohealyou]

I did. He told me I should stop talking to him if it bothers me so much.

[What do you want him to do here, grandpa!!]

[impacter]

That's likely because he doesn't want to see you upset.

Talk to him anyway. His responsibility is just as important as ours. If he will not take you seriously, that doesn't stop the problems.

[Go annoy the shit out of him, Ahito, that's what Grandpa wants you to do.]

[dyingtohealyou]

Who said anything about being upset...

[It's just annoying!!]

If he doesn't take me seriously, why's it my job to fix that?

I've already got enough on my plate. You can tell him, Jing Yuan can tell him - there's plenty of other options. My time's better spent elsewhere.

[impacter]

It's not your job to fix it. I just think you might deserve to annoy him a little more for the trouble. [Blow off some steam, etc etc.]

[dyingtohealyou]

That would never work. It's like talking to air with that guy - everything just goes right through him.

[leewards]

[Ithaqua taps his claws on the arm rest.] There's more to be said about the mission of our friends, the representatives of the Central country.

The object, a rock, is what was drawing the ghosts in-- I presume they either lived in it, or it had some properties that were attractive to them. I think it's more the latter though, as it's tied to the moon in some way. I was told that the pain of handling the rock was metaphysical, rather than physical. Spiritual, I suppose.

Us Northern wizards are far more intimate with destructive magic, yes? Exorcism and cleansing... studying that wouldn't go amiss.

[A pause, then:] Did anyone speak to someone from the South after their little excursion?

[fellheart]

Not regarding their excursion, I'm afraid, at least not on a personal level. They did do a bit of a public debrief afterwards, that morning they tried to call us all down with that... summons.

[ vuvuzela crimes... ]

[dyingtohealyou]

...That must be what he touched.

[Tch.]

What's his name - guy with green hair had a meeting a while back.

[fellheart]

Hm-? Oh, the little nonbeliever raised among monks. Yes, he is quite the ... responsible sort, isn't he?

[ yeah that's the tag. and that's how robin knows day. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

Seems like it, anyway.

He was talking about... a moon rock, I think? It was causing everything around it to die, so they had to purify it. Oh - except I think he mentioned there was some kind of plant monster next to it, too?

[fellheart]

... A corruptive presence, then, we can conclude. And in that vein, we can likely also conclude the two yet seen so far are not the only ones of their kind.

Though truly, they did summon the wrong being if what our tasks will sum up to be is 'purification'....

[dyingtohealyou]

I wonder if the people on Central found a piece of the moon and touched it trying to purify it.

[fellheart]

Wonderful. We can only hope that none of us will be so foolish as to repeat their mistakes.

[ smash cut to in three weeks where we tpk ]

[dyingtohealyou]

"Don't touch anything suspicious or cursed" seems like a pretty small ask to me.

[fellheart]

One would think, and yet.

[ for some reason, robin expected better than the bare minimum from akira, and still he was disappointed. that'll teach him to expect better of humanity. ]

[dyingtohealyou]

And yet.

[fellheart]

Maybe we should take it less as a sign of potential incompetence and more of an indicator of the level of threat we're dealing with...?

[ dryly. look at how generous they're being. ]