WEEK 4

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WEEK 4

READY, STEADY, GO-KARTS!

After a harrowing week of forced honesty and a surprise attack from the God of Conflict, it seems the Goddess’ “gift” has finally faded - and just in time! Today marks the date of the highly anticipated Go-Kart Race, featuring a whopping twelve teams from the Goddess’ picks and a number of teams comprised of locals. Fortunately the weather is holding up well for the event, with clear skies and a radiant sun beating down on all contestants as they wait to begin, the heat reflecting off the asphalt. Hopefully everyone thought to use sunscreen!

The local arcade has decked out the go-kart track in flags representing the different teams, and some local businesses have set up both a spectator stand area near the finish line, as well as kiosks selling snacks and drinks for the spectators and anyone who happens to wander by! There are also some midway fair game booths and portable game machines if you're not really here for the go-karts and just here for a fun afternoon out. The best part is that everyone who enters the event zone gets three free tokens courtesy of the arcade, so you've got nothing to lose~ Unless you do happen to lose, which means that you'll probably have to purchase more tokens from the distracted teenagers volunteering manning the admin booth.

ALL'S WELL THAT-- HUH?

Eventually, all the preamble is completed, and it’s time for the race! A light counts down from red to yellow to green, and the racers are off!

While the start of the race is a jumble, a few in particular begin to pull ahead of the pack: Spade of the Sea and Kururu and Schneider in particular! Tragically, Team Bloody Angels just can’t seem to get the speed they want and seem to get stalled by various traps, falling further and further behind…

In the middle of the bunch, Atem and Sunrise manage to maintain their speed, while THE CUTIE PATOOTIES, Fire’n Ice, and Aaron and Morgan all struggle to surpass each other - leaving Beautiful, Bright Knights of Lovely Radiance, and Exquisite Midnight Shimmering unfortunately trapped behind the three and unable to pass at all. Towards the back of the group, Badass Ladies compete directly with TEAM ROADKILL for their place, while Frieren and Arven have a leisurely drive by comparison.

The first and second laps go without incident. But on the third…

Something about the local teams changes. Instead of the regular frustration of losing, some of them seem to fall into, well, road rage.

Schneider and Kururu, nearly caught up to Hiiro and Jordi, find their hopes dashed as a woman in a blue bandana bumps them from behind - the impact enough to cut their engine for a moment too long, allowing Hiiro and Jordi to pass the finish line in first place without any trouble.

The middle of the pack gets the worst of it. Jesse and Mafuyu find themselves hounded by a woman in aviators who manages to ram into their Go-Kart hard enough to dent the guard, putting pressure on the wheel - while they cross at the same time as others, they are unable to steer the Go-Kart due to the damages, and find themselves ramming into guardrail. While Mafuyu is miraculously without injury, Jesse takes the brunt of the force and will be feeling that whiplash the next day.

Aaron and Morgan get a brick - a literal brick - chucked at them, and while they manage to avoid getting hit themselves, they have to do a violent swerve to do so. That’ll also be a bit of whiplash for them, too. Badass Ladies get sideswiped by one of the locals and their kart ends up grinding against one of the guardrails. Eek.

The real destruction, however, hits the back end of the group - a man in yellow sneakers manages to bash hard into Eli and Kirumi, pushing them off course. The impact causes them to bump into Aerith and Maika along the way, who lose control of the steering wheel and knock Fray and Argenti into the wall. Fray sustains injuries as he’s dragged against the wall for a moment until Argenti is able to right their path again, pulling them back into the middle of the course. Eli and Kirumi don’t get off so easily, either - the bump against Aerith and Maika isn’t enough to stop their momentum, and Eli cracks his right shoulder against a barrier as Kirumi hits the brakes to prevent further injury. Fray, Argenti, Eli, and Kirumi will be feeling whiplash the next day.

Braphine’s chosen aren’t the only victims, either - a woman with red combat boots and a man in a green jacket each crash into local competitors, and the result is a six-kart pileup.

Frieren and Arven and Team Bloody Angels witness all of this from the back of the race, though neither team can do much except to continue on to the finish line.

What should have been a celebration at the end instead turns into panic as medics are called onto the scene and emergency personnel are summoned to the track. While many of the people in the stands seem roiling with discontent and beginning to argue and fight over the cause of all these injuries, a few of the locals hurry down to the course to help. Schneider, Aaron, Argenti, Aerith, Eli, and Kirumi will find themselves aided by familiar faces - the boutique staff recognized them and are here to lend them and their partners a hand in getting treated for their injuries.

As the racetrack descends into chaos, it soon becomes difficult to keep track of everyone. However, Hiiro, Schneider, Sally, Morgan, Argenti, Aerith, Frieren, and Celeste all notice a figure in a strangely ancient hood standing among the stands, a fierce grin on their face - before the figure turns and disappears into the crowd.

Mina - having come to spectate and cheer on everyone from the stands - gets a rather panicked look on her face as she watches it all unfold. She quickly takes out her phone and begins typing frantically at it, before hitting “send.”

All at once, all of Braphine’s chosen will hear their phones begin to beep.

CALL FOR HELP.

I've added emergency commissions to the app - please take them on if you are able to/need to!

We can get through this if we all work together. So, please... look out for each other out there, okay?

COMMISSIONS

HELPING HAND

Please help the injured! Even if it's as small as first-aid or comforting a scared child who's gotten lost in the aftermath of the go-kart crash, any little bit of help would be appreciated by the overwhelmed medical staff at the scene! Unless you’re already injured, in which case, please allow yourself to be tended to!

(OOC note: For clarity, this commission reward applies both to characters who are helping the injured and those who are injured in the thread!)

HOLY HEALING

The hospital is going to need more supplies. For those who are strong enough, please seek out Archangel Shadows in the Nekyia. They should drop blessed feathers - these feathers then can be taken to Braphine’s Temple, and the priest or priestess there should be able to turn them into medicine for the injured.

RACETRACK REPAIRS

In the aftermath of the go-kart pileup and everything associated with it, it's time for people who are good with their hands to roll up their sleeves and help the locals with repairs - clear the debris off the track and make sure the way is clear for the emergency vehicles and construction crews who need to access the site!

OOC

READ ME!!!!

• Welcome to your Week 4 event log! While this log covers the go-kart race and its immediate aftermath, please feel free to use this log to thread out anything else happening during the week after and we will see you next week for the Week 5 event!
  
• Note to all go-kart participants that there has been some shuffling in the team compositions due to player drops as well as Everything That Happened on Friday. Regardless, you can claim event participation gacha rewards if you signed up and have one thread of at least 10 comments with a go-kart related prompt on this post.
  
• Archangel stats and information have been added to the bestiary!
  
• AC is due end of the month! Make sure you get that in~
  

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Comments

General Meeting

[beautifulknight]

[ This is for a response to the above. ]

[vogelfrei]

[ Alright, if we're here to reason things out, let's reason things out. McGillis still feels aimless - he has no specific reason to go along with Braphine and no long term goals either. But he does have a curious mind and the mysteries of their situation are nagging at him. ]

Between the incident at the dormitories and today's sabotage at the go-kart track, we have an identified adversary now - not counting Braphine anyway, who has not proven herself to be particularly trustworthy.

[ They're all nominally on her team but. He's still pissed about honesty week. ]

Speaking of Braphine, has anybody managed to speak to her through the proposed method of offerings?

[ ... he's actually taking out a notepad and a pen now. If people say something interesting, he wants it jotted down. ]

Further than that, do we have any leads on the elusive 'human' lackeys that caused the incidents of the last two days? I find it curious that they are acting here, in the normal world, rather than in the Nekiya, which is our presumed field of battle.

Nekiya and normal world are meant to affect each other mutually, but which influence is stronger if any? Is there a reason for them to come for us, and now the citizens, right here?

[drawnorigin]

A challenge is being issued to Braphine, but we already knew there was a divine conflict.

[Jeno has his arms crossed over his chest, watching the meeting with the same neutral expression he always has.]

"If it's a war you want, it's a war you'll get." That was part of the vandals' grafitti, yesterday. Mina said it had to be from the God of Conflict, though she didn't have any answers for how he was influencing them, nor if he was drawing in people from other worlds like Braphine.

[Which he thinks is a very likely possibility, even if he's not going to definitively say there's a double isekai situation going on.]

I've not sought out Braphine myself, yet, but I think we can assume more sabotage and perhaps more outbursts of violence against us.

[imperiosity]

[He doesn't have much to say about contacting Braphine because he sure as fuck is not going to be kissing up to her with offerings, but the people are another matter.]

Dunno where they ended up sneaking away to, but I'm looking to find out. If they've got a base somewhere in the city like we do, I'd rather hit 'em back first before they decide graffiti's not enough of a message.

[Like try to burn down the dorms or whatnot.]

And as for the whys, guess it means we're finally registering as a threat. Anyone else who gets caught in the crossfire's just a bonus.

[vogelfrei]

It's nice to know our efforts in the Nekiya aren't just pointless busywork, if nothing else.

[ Not that he hasn't been enjoying beating the crap out of monsters... but with the way they constantly keep respawning it has been hard to see it making a real difference. ]

Our adversaries seem to have a nasty habit of disappearing into thin air, making them hard to track. I wonder if they're making use of the Nekiya to vanish out of our sight as quickly as they do.

[imperiosity]

Don't think it was 'cause of our stellar record of community service?

[The sarcasm is practically rolling off him here. But in any case, after the go-kart incident and especially after the voice spoke to them directly, it's a lot easier to believe that there's an actual threat that they're fighting against. As for the Nekyia speculation--]

Huh, that's not a bad idea. [They don't really have proof either way, but it would make sense. Incidentally, that also reminds him of something else too.]

Speaking of which, I actually tried using the app while we were trapped. Just gave me some kinda error on my Xipha, so I figure that conflict guy blocked it somehow. If he can do that, then it wouldn't surprise me if he had a way of getting his lackeys there too.

[vogelfrei]

[ Well, look at that. This theory is coming together nicely. ]

The question is whether or not they can move back and forth at will, like we can, or need the active assistance of their master.

Further, whether or not they have any powers in the Nekiya. Since they have not bothered us there, my base assumption is 'no' but it would be foolish to count on that.

[imperiosity]

If nothing else, those barriers showed us he's hands on in a way our resident goddess isn't. Might be best to assume that they have an app like ours and their guy can bail them out at any time.

[As for the Nekyia angle... hmm.]

Not like we've seen 'em prowling around over there. They could easily be avoiding us just 'cause they're afraid we can crush them with sheer numbers.

[pharology]

[Raises his hand slightly.]

When it comes to Braphine, I can try it. I used to be a church caretaker, I'm comfortable with handling religious affairs. Of course, it depends on the sort of deity...

[But Braphine has already shown herself, perhaps Jordi can take something from that? And he did attempt to clean her temple up at some point.]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ all of this was before the murder confession anyway so guess who's still here ]

I wanted to try but Manslayer didn't want to.

[ Probably because Eli's idea was stupid and therefore not doing it was the correct choice. However, he's been convinced drawing Braphine out and then attacking her is a bad idea, so, hey, ~progress~. ]

So if you do try, I'm willing to help. It's just. The whole thing that was suggested was, what? Make something that proves a connection? I have no clue what to do with that.

[pharology]

[Eli's nicknaming sense needs some work... Some help. Because that's a scary one.

Okay, Jordi. Focus.]

The easiest way would be a show of friendship, wouldn't it? [But... he and Eli are not friends.]

[fullmoonmutt]

[ Long silence follows... long... longer... Eli is giving poor Jordi such a cross look. Eventually, though, ]

You saying you don't want to be friends with me, pointy?

[ lmao lmao ok he sounds offended wow ]

[pharology]

[Wow. Okay. What an escalation. He can handle this, he's handled the irritable old conservatives and traditionalists in the Inquisition, he can tolerate this kind of behavior.

But... perhaps he shouldn't be too lenient...? He bites his lower lip once before steeling himself.]

Friends don't act like this towards each other, don't you think?

[fullmoonmutt]

[ He has a point, but... Eli will do his best to rein in his irritation. It isn't what he meant, it isn't what he meant, he tells himself again and again. ]

Well. No. I guess.

[pharology]

[Now Jordi smiles, though it's less friendly and more tight. Stiff. A little cool, like he's holding himself away emotionally. He looks like he's steeling himself for more grief.]

I'm willing to work with you if you're willing to work with me, Eli.

[fullmoonmutt]

[ Wowww, he does not like the look of that smile. He isn't completely oblivious when it comes to body language, okay? This leads to a hint of hesitation and maybe a tiny bit of backtracking. ]

Look, I am. Sorry if I was being... pushy... or. I don't know. Mean. This is sort of why I don't have any friends in the first place. I'm not really good at it.

[pharology]

[He inhales then exhales. He was a lot colder than he liked to be at any given moment, but... maybe it was effective? Looks like it was. Protect himself from someone wild... When has Jordi ever done that? Perhaps never.

Then he nods.]

Then we can be friends.

[fullmoonmutt]

[ More effective than returning fire with more fire, that's for sure. Eli has a hot temper. Being cold in the face of it does seem to get a better response in the long run. Less ammo to react to, fewer reasons to get upset. ]

...right. Then I guess, uh. I have no idea what the next step is.

[ He wasn't joking about not having friends. He has no idea. ]

[pharology]

Now, we need to decide what to do in front of the goddess. [Because just saying they're "friends" isn't going to work.

Besides, gods don't just pop into existence when someone is in their home.]

[vogelfrei]

[ After that whole comedy skit with Eli: ]

I appreciate your efforts in dealing with this.

[ Does he mean the goddess or Eli? Yes. ]

Your own religion doesn't get in the way of praying here, then?

[pharology]

It doesn't. [Frankly, he's not very religious, and Iberian religion is in shambles anyway.

Then he smiles, just so he can reassure McGillis when he adds:]

As long as no one from home finds out, then I'll be fine, but I have no personal problems with praying to another deity if need be. [He's sure The Law will understand!]

[bloodandstars]

If anyone's got anything better than speculation, that'd be the real news.

[ But, you know... there's actually a note of questioning in her tone. She hasn't totally given up yet or anything. ]

All I've got is more of the same. If they're acting here instead of Nekyia, there'd be two obvious reasons. That they can't access it, or that there's no advantage to them to do so. We've got no reason to trust the goddess, but if she's so useless that she's got us pushing on the short end of a long lever, then we're all too screwed to save anyway. So I'd put money on the first option.

[ Not, like, a lot of money. But maybe some pocket change. Although after a pause: ]

That, or Braphine and these bastards aren't fighting the same war. Braphine wants Nekyia, and they want this territory.

[vogelfrei]

So you propose that they are incapable of accessing the Nekiya, yet aware enough of the goings-on within it that they'll respond to our actions.

[ He doesn't think this is impossible at all, but it's a different angle than his own had been. Hmmm. ]

If I understand the description of the Nekiya properly, it's basically the 'mind' while this place is the 'body' of collective society. The impact from there to here should thus be stronger than vice versa... so you may have a point.

On the other hand, there is an advantage to attacking us here: it's where we</> are more vulnerable.

[bloodandstars]

[ Maika just shrugs her good shoulder; it's still just guesswork, but at least she's not seeing the obvious holes in it when he says it. ]

It's one possibility. We've been plenty conspicuous in our activities on this side, too. Although from the sound of that little honesty trick they played on us yesterday? They've got some amount of info on what Braphine is trying.

[ Which... fun. But his next thought is exactly where her own mind had been going. She flashes a quick, sharp grin for that. ]

Exactly. Here, we're all just... human. We can't heal, and we can't blow things up with our minds. Even if they could get to the Nekyia — if they don't have those kind of powers there, this is the safer bet.

[ Or even if they did, really. Fewer variables to work with and all. ]

so, about that goddess ama...

[beautifulknight]

[ Argenti's feelings on Braphine are still complicated...not exactly positive, because her methods are questionable, though he also isn't going to consider her his enemy either. He just doesn't think well of her. Besides, his loyalty is to one goddess and one goddess alone, which will ultimately drive a lot of his final decisions, really. ]

Yes, this adversary is the dastardly God of Conflict.

I have also spoken to the Goddess Braphine myself! So, I'll endeavor to convey as best as I can how it has gone, my friend.

When I asked about her...unique methods to get us to bond, including regarding how she handled the Nekiya situation, the goddess said it was because there wasn't like there was much time, and...

[ Argenti will pause as he gives a considering expression. How to explain this. Somehow this explanation doesn't seem like it would truly fit or align with that of Beauty given the descriptor. But, he can potentially translate it? It's fine. ]

...She gave quite a unique euphemism, but the gist of it was that at times the gloves must be taken off, and people must eventually be forced out into the open.

I also inquired about ways to potentially seal the other god away and she said she didn't know anything regarding that. That she hadn't found any way herself; after all, we were brought here to help resolve the situation, as she reminded me once more. She also stated that just the presence of this god alone causes conflict to break out, and that she believes he intends to use the power generated from...corrupting the city to grow his influence elsewhere.

Though! It bears mentioning that the Goddess mentioned that his strategy in focusing his attentions on this city itself is quite unusual compared to his ploys in the past. Maybe because this place has been a historical place of worship for her. But, she also implied that she believes that his ultimate intention is to truly use his power eventually to conquer his world with it.

She said that there is no guarantee to truly get rid of him for good, though I wouldn't think it's impossible to find a way to seal him at the least. Where I've come from, I have heard of vague legends where Aeons are said to have been sealed. I don't see why it would be impossible where he's concerned; even if, as she says, 'conflict will always exist'.

Though, that perhaps may be because she has mentioned that she's existed for as long as community and bonding between others has come to be, while this God of Conflict has existed for as much as conflict between man has persisted.

Either way, she has claimed that once she sends us back she will rid us of any supposed god-stink from this God of Conflict attempting to exert his influence on us.

And so, that is the most important part of what I managed to get from our conversation.

Oh, by the way...the goddess seems to generally like offerings that indeed show well bonds with others! Whether by the efforts, intent, or simply that the offering was worked on with another. So I am very certain if anyone gives her anything like that, she will be most ready or eager to meet or speak with anyone.