returnjourneylogs | PORT: THE SKY-CITY OF BHUJERBA

PORT: THE SKY-CITY OF BHUJERBA

May 4th, 2022 – May 11th, 2022
Welcome, bhadra, to the city-state of Bhujerba! The Peregrine touches down on May 4th, in a proper port — airships are the only way on and off the city, so the Aerodrome is a busy and bustling place. As a sky-city built on a mountainous structure floating ten thousand feet above the ground, it has little in the way of wilderness, but it has a sprawling city with deep mines stretching down beneath it. Look down past the railings when the thick clouds part and you'll see the world below; look up and you'll see great blue crystalline structures, a mark of the deep magicks that keep the city in the sky.

The full OOC write-up for the port is here. If you have any questions about the event, please ask here.

1. Disembarking

It's been months since the ship made port, but whether it's been days or months, it's always exciting to see somewhere new. The Aerodrome is thriving with people, passenger ships and merchant ships and military ships alike making berth in the docks, all contributing to the rivers of people pouring in and out of the building. The sounds of the crowd bounce around the vaulted ceilings, humid tropical air hotter still for the press of bodies everywhere. Navigating the crowds takes a certain confidence, lest you get knocked aside by a burly creature carrying a crate on his back, or separated from your companions by a throng of chattering flight stewardesses.

Of course, not everyone will disembark. Inmates cannot leave the ship without a warden as escort, and wardens are responsible for inmates in port — they don't have to be glued to each others' sides, of course, but it's harder to make trouble under a watchful eye.

2. The Cloudborne Tavern

Thanks to the Navarch, there are rooms booked in the Cloudborne for passengers who do not want to trek back and forth from the Peregrine. Staying above a busy and bustling tavern isn't always the most restful affair, of course, given there isn't really a closing hour, but it certainly makes for a life experience.

The tavern below is full of colourful characters, drawn by the ludicrously cheap pints. It isn't uncommon for people to get soundly drunk, but a watchful Seeq keeps an eye out on the place: get too rowdy or violent and you might find yourself thrown out on your ass.

3. The Lhusu Mines

Though the mines are closed, there's plenty to do in the labyrinthine tunnels winding deep into the mountain.

The Paling — Talk with the locals in the taverns and on the streets and you might notice a frequent topic of conversation: the paling's fall. The paling was a Crystal used to create a magick barrier that kept fiends at bay in the mines, so that the miners could work safely. However, something — or someone — has stripped the paling of its magickal energy, and now the fiends have overrun the abandoned tunnels. Sometimes they even make their way out and attack the locals. It is imperative that some brave hero makes their way deep into the tunnels, finds the paling, and recharges its magick power. But so far no one has been up to the task...

Hunting Marks — A bulletin board in the Cloudborne has posters for bounties, seeking hunters willing to deal with the fiends that spill out of the mines. Many are for looking for materials, such as bat fangs fresh from the jaws of the massive, four-winged bats, or bone fragments from the undead skeletons. Or, for the particularly ambitious: the mighty Nidhogg, a colossal snake with a highly venomous tail spike. A prize awaits the first to return with its skin!

Filthy Pirates! — Not everyone ventures in to mop up trouble for the locals: the mines are a considerable draw to those who are happy to risk the fiends for the chance to loot the goods left behind. Many people have fallen in these attempts, leaving gil, armor, weaponry and other goods strewn through the depths. Be careful, though: not all treasure is as it seems.

4. Shopping!

The marketplace is as busy as the Aerodrome, with massive crowds clustered around covered tents, wooden booths, and humble cloths laid out on the stone floor, all bearing incredible wares. The atmosphere is raucous: people haggling boisterously, children scampering between adults' legs, people hollering for others to move, move, as they shove their way through with carts of purchases or goods for sale.

Food is plentiful: turnips and onions are particularly popular, given the season, and tomatoes fetch a high price. Street food vendors sell stewed cockatrice (chicken-esque!), chunks of moist cactus, flank steaks on sticks, and something aptly called "bacon bread".

And, given the war going on and fiends loose in the world, there is no short supply of weaponry and armor. Swords, pikes, bows, axes, daggers, even a small number of rudimentary firearms, all available to those with ample coin. Armor is popular too, with artisans prepared to make it custom within a day or two — leather is affordable, but the price of metal could feed a laborer for a year.

Beware of pickpockets. Happy shopping!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Loki drops the pen, running both hands through his hair before tugging on it with an annoyed groan.]

Just trying to think of an appropriate punishment. Clearly seeing the punishments from the last escape attempt did nothing to dissuade him.

[He drops his hands to the table where they curl into fists.]

I'm also contemplating just how many stupid mistakes I can make before the Navarch decides to replace me. Which is a fun thought experiment when I'm not even sure at this point how many I've made.

[Rough. And such bad timing for poor spirits, infrequent as new locales can be. She nods along until he's reached his final point, after which she fixes him with raised eyebrows.]

And why do you think that would happen, exactly? People mess up, it's not like every inmate's just gonna behave. Unless you helped him that hardly sounds worth your job.

True. And it's hardly the worst thing an inmate's ever done, on one of these ships.

[He shakes his head, shrugs a bit.]

It just adds to the series of stupid mistakes I've made. I mean, really. Trusting an inmate who's already tried to hide himself away somewhere. Truly idiotic, on my part.

[But, as much as receiving comfort is nice, he is trying to do something here. Sort of.]

Any suggestions, punishment-wise?

[Rattled off after she sinks back in her seat with a sigh, signaling the individual behind the counter for something to drink:]

Forced to sit out on the next port, two or three days in solitary, no access to wherever he got the means to knock you out, if he's had any powers or stuff from home given back you can take 'em away, make him do some kind of useful manual labor here, search his bunk every other day, explain why it was an unworkable plan, tell him real sternly that he's disappointed you...

[A shrug.] Mix and match, I don't really know him. No telling what'd work.

And no beating yourself up about it when he's the one that pulled the stunt.

[Loki's lips twitch at tell him he's disappointed you, but otherwise he takes it all in seriously. Enough so that he turns away at her calling him out, scowling, before he shakes that petulance off with a sigh.]

Fine. It's taking too much energy, anyway.

[He raises an eyebrow at her.]

Are those the kinds of things you did with William? Cavity searches and lectures with a side of weeding in the garden?

Not really, but I mean... [Fondly:] He's weird. Taking something away or locking him up for a few days wouldn't do anything but waste his time. And he wanted to be good, however mixed up his shit was. When he was up to his worst, it was him coming to me to broach it.

And I don't know, it was mostly talking. Picking apart the whys.

[And Randel was hardly a misbehaving type.]

[A smile creeps across Loki's face and he murmurs, mostly to himself:] Sounds familiar.

[He slumps back into his chair, running a hand through his hair.]

You'd think that would come as a relief, for me. But talking about this sort of thing-- disappointment, mistakes, forgiveness... [Hurt, he doesn't say.] It just makes me think of all the similar talks I've had. Where I saw everything the other said as meaningless sentiment at best or attempts to manipulate me at worst. I'm not sure how to avoid that.

I don't think there's a way, really. It's the kind of route that only works if there's emotional stake, you know? Probably not a level everyone's at, but...well, I don't know. Some people are that open.

[Current conditions are extraordinary, on top of that. Easy to walk around raw.]

You do seem to have a talent for it, though. You get me talking just fine.

[Although she did get a headstart from her simulation self, there.]

But I think you're onto something. I think we'd both be more inclined to take the other seriously if we were permanently paired. Although I think it's possible it might just make him hate me even more. But maybe we could work with that...

[A furrow develops between his brows. He's used to being hated. He doesn't enjoy it, though.]

He...did say he didn't intend to kill me, at least.

[So... probably didn't hate him at that point in time, at least.]

PORT: THE SKY-CITY OF BHUJERBA

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