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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

[This was nothing compared to the images that already haunted Theo every day. He finally takes a few steps back now, getting ready to run the second he has the chance.]

It doesn't matter! I already know what everyone thinks of me, a-and I don't fucking care! I care about getting the fuck out of this goddamn prison! And so what - it'll just be like back home. Everyone will hate me, but I'll be gone, who fucking cares!

[His voice begins to waver towards the end, close to cracking entirely.]

[Viktor's hardly raised his voice, but the urge is gathered there beneath his diaphragm, pressing, grinding at him like the knuckles of a fist. That squeeze doesn't belong to Theo, he's only summoned it; better to swallow it back.

(A small, broken body. The last thing he did was sound an alarm. A common container so no one would notice. The last thing she said was his name.)

A sniff of breath, out shallow through his mouth. Again, slower. The backlit gleam of his yellow eyes. The momentary offset of his jaw. He's shaking his head, letting his gaze fall to Loki's prone shape, demoting Theo to a shadow of peripheral awareness.

Quietly,]

Go, then. Run. [He's reaching across his chest for the CommLink tucked there.] You won't make it to the door.

Stop!

[Theo finally breaks, making a dash at Viktor. Whatever he might be reaching for - his comm to call the other wardens, his stun gun, the cuffs - Theo wasn't risking it. Thanks to the adrenaline coursing through him, he comes at the warden with a surprising burst of speed. He makes a grab for the arm Viktor was reaching with, using the hand holding the plant. All he has to do is hold it there for a few moments. Viktor won't have enough time to get the oil off before it does its job.

When he releases Viktor's arm, he stumbles back a few steps. His eyes are wild with conflicting emotions, and has to take a few moments to get his breathing under control.]

I warned you!

[Theo comes rushing up, squeezes him above the wrist, and Viktor snatches at his arm in return. His grip is tight, verging on unkind. It pulls to keep him close—staring, blazing angry, his mouth a thin twist, parting for teeth—until the facts of physicality assert themselves, and Theo wrenches free of his grasp. With this jerk, the crutch falls away, lands with a clatter.

He did warn him.

The oily vegetative smear left on his skin invites him to consider collapsing, which he declines for whole seconds, improbably long. He staggers one crooked step, and it's a corpse's movement, at once stiff and loose, wrong in the shoulders, one foot turned in. Heavy eyelids, too much white beneath them. His mouth barely opens,

the moment hangs,

and then he drops, loose as a doll.]

( he returns since bucky hasn't much reason to hold onto his recent purchases while he continues exploring, familiarizing himself with this fascinating world that's entirely unlike the one he knows beyond the basics. really, it's rather good he's saved up more of his funds recently, and he can't wait to get back out and earn more of that sweet gil to invest in his next purchase, some more varied fruit and veg to add to his and grace's growing collection.

of course, what he doesn't expect is to overhear a commotion coming from down the hallway, particularly after the inmate incident at the last port. who could be so foolish to try something again? maybe someone new, someone who doesn't know better, but the sight that greets him after he sprints toward the source indicates much the opposite. )

Theo? ( the sound viktor makes when he hits the ground sends a tremor through him, far too reminiscent of old familiarities he'd undo if he could. a frown accents his disappointed tone. ) The hell are you doing?

( he really doesn't want to shoot the kid when he's unarmed. instead bucky reaches for his cuffs, a decision he'll certainly regret several hours from now. )

[Theo is in a complete panic. The moment Bucky enters the scene, he whirls to him, breathing ragged, eyes blazing. It wasn't supposed to go this way. It was going to be so easy. It was supposed to be more than just him. But once again, he was alone, digging his own grave. Same as it ever was.

Theo stands between the prone bodies of two wardens, something clutched in one gloved hand. The other is held out in front of him to caution Bucky from proceeding further. It didn't matter how many wardens showed up, he'd keep going until he ran out of poison.]

Don't! I swear to Christ, I am getting out of here! Just let me go!

PORT: THE SKY-CITY OF BHUJERBA

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arrives super late with sbux

<3