MAY MINGLE

[stellafortunamods]

May Mingle: Entombed City
Welcome to Teyvat - a vast magical world of adventure.
Everyone's hard work resulted in the gate to upper Dragonspine opening. These ruins have not been traversed in years, if not centuries - everything within has been lost to time and living memory. An entire city has been buried in the snow.

People once lived there. The broken buildings host damaged furniture and weathered streets. There are various cloth-covered mounds in a house here and there, accompanied by a sprig of blue flowers. Someone has laid these people to rest after they passed away.

Traces of technology can be found in the city - golden boxes that contain crystals capable of recording and playing back holograms. One of the boxes introduces this place as Vindagnyr; a land once full of greenery and life. Just what happened to these people? What caused the eternal winter?

The highest point in the city is occupied by a temple built into a Domain. Within the Domain is a pale white tree, split in half by a strange object that has fallen through the Domain's ceiling. This temple was once a site for worship for Vindagnyr's people, and even in death they continue to pray for salvation. The priests have been frozen in ice, and the sheer cold emanating from the Skyfrost Nail makes it obvious that it is the cause of winter.

The city's inhabitants worshipped Celestia. Why then were they left to die?

State of the World

On October 1st, the entombed city of Vindagnyr becomes open for exploration. Travelers can choose to look for clues or try to scavenge the city for ancient materials or tools. Recording boxes all around the city tell stories of Vindagnyr's greener past, and of the days when winter suddenly arrived. This is the cruelty of Celestia that Forneus wished you to see.

For all questions regarding May's mingle and events, please head over to our OOC post.

Comments

traveler meeting time!

[infreefall]

[ smash cut to a week or two into this month's adventure, and there’s been rumors among the travelers of a new meeting! there aren’t any formal announcements or invitations, but with so few people here, word gets around quickly. curious, right?

when the time comes, there’s food set out for everyone - don’t ask how it got there. ochako wasn’t in charge of that part. before long, though, she casually floats herself above everyone’s heads to get their attention, waving a little sheepishly before dropping herself back to the ground. ]

Hey, everyone, thank you for coming! There’s food and stuff if you want it, but more importantly - I thought it might help if we all came together to share any information we’ve found up to now. It’s been a while since the last meeting like this, and a lot’s changed since then.

To start, we can focus on whatever we’ve found in the city or the temple. And if there’s anything Forneus-san has told you that, um… probably isn’t something personal, please let everyone know. Anything will help, no matter how small you think it might be.

[ your infoshare is here!! you can make subthreads to focus on specific subjects if you want, but this is an open meeting, so feel free threadjack or comment around, share theories and info, whatever you need to do! ]

what happened to the previous travellers?

[poisontippedcure]

[Rose is not usually a person one would call "helpful" and she usually doesn't care to share information. But, given the situation they're in, it's worth it to be proactive. Especially since she has some very important information to share.]

I spoke with Forneus before our fight with Dvalin. According to him, we aren't the first group of travelers who have come to Teyvat. The other two were siblings killed by Celestia.

[fiddlestick]

[Elliot frowns]

Oh, that's not good...

[Yeah Elliot that's obvious]

Were they working with Forneus?

[poisontippedcure]

[Rose shakes her head. Forneus gave her some information, but not quite enough.]

As far as I can tell, they were at least working for him. It seems that he's unable to act on his own.

[fiddlestick]

So we're attempt number two, in other words.

[He sighs, not a fan of this!!!]

[sufferean]

[Yikes. But also... hm. There's several worrying parts of this to him, but one of which stands out to him in particular:]

...He mentioned that if one of us were to die, he'd bring us back. [Which, Rean has no idea how that's supposed to work, people don't just come back, but Rean already knows most of this god stuff is beyond him.] So why didn't he save those two?

[cranelike]

(Oh, he can answer this)

Their souls were unbound. When they died, their souls disappeared.

(Fwoosh-y hand motion into the air,)

This time, he's tied our souls to his.

[sufferean]

[ . . . ]

Sure hope he unbinds us before he goes through with his whole deicide plan.

[NOT THAT REAN WANTS TO GO THROUGH WITH THAT, BUT LIKE. WHAT THE HELL FORNEUS]

[beatnest]

[ Byakuya is somewhere between a wallflower and a very nervous dog, but he's here so clearly that's all that matters. ]

Ah, um, just so everyone knows it's possible to...fall out of this world and wind up back home for a little while. Though it's parallel so it's like a line? [ He is so bad at explaining things, sorry everyone else. ]

But yeah, it happens sometimes with maintenance, that's what Forneus said. It kind of felt like a dream, but more real than that.

The People of Teyvat

[whiteshroud]

[Jun hates public speaking. He's content to live in the shadows and not get any attention on him as he does his work. But this is something that's been weighing on his mind for awhile]

...I'm sure everyone here has strong feelings about what we saw at that city. But regardless of how we feel, most of us aren't from this world. Whatever we do about Celestia, it won't be us that live with the consequences.

Forneus said it's difficult to get people from Teyvat among us. [Which explains the few numbers of them] So...I think we should consider ways to find out what the people want for their world and future, without revealing ourselves to Celestia too early.

[justicefang]

[Something like respect flickers briefly in Shirou’s eyes before he speaks. That sentiment...it reminds him what Jun knows about him. He chose well. Or hopes he did.]

I agree. We shouldn’t decide their fates for them. ...exactly what did he say about the people of Teyvat? It might give us a clue to how to go about gathering their feelings.

[whiteshroud]

Don't know, I didn't ask too many questions. [He shrugs] Forneus has an agenda, so I figured he'd used the narrative that benefits it.

[His trust in Forneus isn't high, but thinking back with conversations he's had with Zhongli]

...But I do know that every human born in Teyvat has a constellation. This constellation dictates their fate. Though, I'm sure these "fates" are manufactured by Celestia.

[justicefang]

...so a possible reason they’re harder to get is their freedom would be noticed. [Just how closely are these people being watched? He can’t tell if Forneus meant to let such a detail slip or if he was off the mark.]

Still, I agree. He will use the narrative that suits his agenda. [He doesn’t sound that surprised about that. His work for the Mayor for the last ten years made him aware of how often people choose words to suit their narratives.]

How much do we know about how the people themselves govern each nation?

how to prevent corpse mountain, pt II, according to our host

[sufferean]

[Hey, so, everything on the mountain sucks! Everyone knows this! But there's a little more suckage at play here, and Rean is not looking happy about being the bearer of this particular bit of news.]

...I spoke with Forneus about what we saw at the peak of the mountain. Asked him what we could do to ensure such a thing never happens again.

[Which is clearly not the troubling part, since he definitely hesitates at this point before forming words.]

...He seems to think the only route is deicide. To kill all of Teyvat's gods, himself included.

[whiteshroud]

All of them...?

[UH. THATS NEWS TO HIM. This is why he doesn't trust you Forneus.]

That can't be the only way...

[sufferean]

[Rean sighs, trying to keep his voice stable as he repeats what he remembers from his conversation.]

"If we truly wish to end this mistreatment, stamp out any potential of gods abusing humans... then we must kill them all."

[He sighs.]

I said the same thing. He said we could try to bring them down to mortal again, and that might make them listen to us, but he seemed doubtful about that. And I certainly have no idea where I'd even start with something like that.

[evilisnotatoy]

[UM. Excuse him??? What the actual fuck, Forneus???? Sooga has enough self control that he's outwardly keeping his cool (mostly), but this? This is just reinforcing his thought that gods are exactly the kind of people you don't want holding phenomenal cosmic power.]

...I have no issue with deicide if it proves necessary. However, someone whose first plan is to offer themselves up for the slaughter is not to be trusted with plans of this magnitude without very careful consideration.

[dispassionatedevotion]

[ ... Ledah did not look bothered.

In fact, he did not look even surprised. It actually sounded like a plausible and rational solution to him. However, he did acknowledge it was A Lot, and he would like to know more before he decided to assist in killing off gods.

Of course, that's not to say he wasn't open to any other options (because there was one suggested just a second ago), but he's going to keep his options open...

For now. ]

I assume Forneus has reason to advocate for deicide as a permanent and final solution.

[ Beat. ]

I suggest we inquire about his reasons, which I am perfectly fine with doing so.

[ He would be fine if someone else did as well. ]

[sufferean]

[Somewhere, in the back of Rean's mind, there's the tiniest notion of a thought that maybe this statement also applies to him? Just maybe?

But naturally, it's gone as quickly as it came.]

I mean... I'm sure he's given it plenty of thought. When you're the god of time, I can only imagine you've got, well... a lot of time to think it over. But even so...

If he wants to stop this so badly he's willing to die for the cause, does he truly deserve to die? And he can't be alone in thinking that way, right? I can't imagine every single god here on Teyvat wants to watch the people suffer.

Redstones

[justicefang]

The red stones we've found around the mountain are the frozen blood of a corrupted dragon named Durin.

[He crosses his arms over his chest. This is information everyone needs to know. Before it's too late and the mountain is possibly unfrozen.] The curse and his will linger in the blood.

Forneus said there's a possible way to purify the corruption. The seeds of the white tree in the temple.

[unfriendliest]

[ hello you have kara's attention instantly ]

How do we get the seeds? It was hard to get close to the tree even with a pyro vision.

[justicefang]

I was told they're possibly scattered all over the mountain. We also need to locate the source of corruption. The purification has to happen there. [Or it just won't work.]

murals, mostly

[dispassionatedevotion]

Forneus stated in the event Celestia turns its wrath upon us, we would be sent home by him, ensuring our safety.

[ Moving along... ]

I also found some murals in a building.

[ He described the appearance of the, murals in excruciating detail, while making commentary about a third he could not make sense of due to its unfinished state. ]

I can give you directions to where they are, or accompany you if you prefer. I also found this.

[ He's holding up this circlet, which seemed to be made from white branches. ]

[whiteshroud]

[Jun listens quietly to what Ledah has to say, but it's the circlet that catches his interest]

...I think the frozen priests were holding those.

[dispassionatedevotion]

Yes, it seems to be the case.

[ ...He'll look down at the item in his hand, and then back at other. ]

It is clearly an item of significance to the people here. Though how, I wouldn't know. It could be the creation of these were part of a last ditch effort at conveying their devotion to the gods in an attempt to appease them, or something else entirely.