PORT: THE SKY-CITY OF BHUJERBA

[returnjourney]

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.

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Questions & Answers

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!

Comments

1

[smugreport]

[ Rhys has always been the type to push his luck, but he also knows when something is utterly pointless. That's why when he catches Aki he doesn't just outright lie and say "Yeah! Loki totally said it was okay!" Aki is a stickler for rules from what Rhys can tell, and he knows wardens talk.

That's why he'll soften it. Just a request. ]

What about just a tour around the deck? Let me get some fresh air?

[ And while his read on Aki is 99% "will not fall for puppy eyes" he will still give a toned down version of them. No funny business here. ]

[spanning]

[If anything, the puppy eyes have the opposite of the desired effect. The look Aki directs Rhys's way is sharpened, focused.

But he does stop.]

Why should I?

[He knows Rhys is banned from port and for good reason; the thought drums up the memory of their conversation in solitary, particularly how it ended.]

[smugreport]

[ Thankfully for Aki, Rhys catches that the puppy eyes aren't getting the results he wants and quickly drops the act, putting on more casual airs instead. ]

I'm not going to do anything stupid.

[ Quickly: ]

I know my track record might say otherwise but c'mon, I've been on good behavior since.

[spanning]

[His head cocks almost imperceptibly, skeptically, at the very specific claim Rhys isn't going to do anything stupid—but Aki is willing enough to accept the claim of good behavior. Rhys, unlike certain people, hasn't been the topic of multiple warden reports.

But he still doesn't exactly like it.]

Did you ever apologize to William?

[smugreport]

Yes?

[ His posture takes on a more defensive stance. ]

I mean yeah. I did.

[ Leaving out some key information about how that apology was received but he did apologize. ]

[spanning]

[Unfortunately for Rhys, that falls under the umbrella of what interests Aki, in his effort to make a proper judgment call.]

What did he think?

[It isn't accusing, though it might come across a bit unwarrantedly intense, thanks to a combination of his default expression and eye contact.]

[smugreport]

[ Rhys gives a shrug. ]

He's a tough sell.

[ Sorry hadn't been enough, apparently. At least not a sorry over the network. ]

I'm working on it?

[ I have a plan. While he hadn't reported Theo to William, he was still banking on using that act of altruism to get in his good graces a little. That, and an in person apology. Maybe with some coffee thrown in to grease the wheels. ]

[spanning]

[Something about the phrasing—the suggestion that the apology is transactional—grates on Aki, though his tone stays even.]

I think I see why.

[He highly doubts that William took that apology in good faith.]

Have you tried being sincere?

oops the 'i have a plan was meant to be out loud'

[smugreport]

I'm always- okay maybe not always sincere. But I do actually feel bad about the whole giving a concussion thing.

[ He did basically from the moment his arm hit Williams head, but he'd been so caught up in the sting of all that went wrong after that that he didn't want to deal with facing it and admitting to one more wrong in a series of mistakes.

He'd had plenty of time to sit on it now. Months. How many ways could he say sorry beyond just saying it? ]

Do you think he likes coffee? He seems like a coffee guy.