stellafortunalogs | MAY MINGLE

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yyyyep.

( forgive her dry tone, she's really... not up for any of this. the cold, the dead- before she was a hero, she was a glorified mercenary. but maybe despite everything, hers is a kinder world.

standing up straight, jinx just shakes her head before looking around a bit. the box is curious... )

Is it always like this?

It depends on what you mean.

(He lets out a heavy sigh, white clouds forming in the cold in front of him,)

Before, things were... nicer, I guess you could say. Mondstadt was warmer and the people there were well enough. It had some troubles but... nothing like this. But maybe we just didn't know better.

(And things were always troubled behind the scenes or something? There's still a lot they don't quite know.)

( so the necropolis isn't a common occurrence. ... thank goodness. she's not screaming or crying or flinching away from the corpses, but that doesn't mean it's a good thing. no, she's still keeping herself withdrawn, arms crossed as if it's not a shielded attempt at comforting herself.

not that she'll ever admit to it.)

Things are always like that when gods can get involved. Even the kindest will have horror stories about their wrath, you know.

( but warmer weather does sound nice. stupid lousy ice mountain. )

Call me Jinx, by the way. Since we're going to be working together and all.

"The goddess giveth and the goddess taketh." (Yup, he's no stranger to the idea of the extent the divine can go to for whatever reason. ) Things like this kind of make you wish they wouldn't get involved in the first place, don't you think?

Claude. (And he smiles! Warm, friendly, you know... he's that knid of person,) Since we'll be working together and all.... how about lending me a hand?

(Did he just directly quote her to rope her into something? He sure did. He holds up the golden box for her to see,)

I'm looking for more of these lying around.

It's why I stick to worshiping nature instead, generally. So yeah, absolutely.

( that's a neat bit of information though- his home specifically worships a goddess, rather than gods or a single god. if they weren't denouncing the divine like a bunch of heathens to begin with, she might consider asking about it. )

I walked right into this, didn't I? ( despite the flat smile, she isn't saying no, however. ) What's special about them? I'll see what I can do.

(Likewise, if they weren't currently freezing in a ghost city with more important things to do, he'd ask her more about what she means. Color him intrigued! And he makes a note to try to catch her at the camp later if her can. Surely, a nice warm cup of tea would be a great chance to make some new friends and learn more about each other, right............)

I'm not sure how they work but they seem to have preserved memories in them. What people thought, what they were experiencing... it might shed more light on what exactly happened here.

(And with the box he's currently holding, he tries to open it. It's so bent out of shape, it's stuck,) Some of them are pretty busted, though...

( it sure would, but is he ready to grind for those supports? channel your teacher, claude. you can do it!

curious, jinx gives the box a glance over. so they were records, then... )

I'm surprised they all aren't. But yeah, I'll take a look around. ( that's putting it lightly. ) Where have you looked already?

( lucky for them both, she is a thief. finding things worth finding is what she does! )

It looks like someone left them where most of them would be safe.

(Which leads him to his next point,)

Just this room. I haven't checked the back yet. But most of them seem to be out in the open instead of hidden around.

Huh... wonder why. Unless they were meant to actually be found?

( like flinging a record to the future, a dying light saying 'we were here'. ...

time for the thief to do her thing, then. without waiting, jinx slips past claude to investigate further into the building. whatever debris awaits is gently upturned, but if nothing is found she puts it back. no point in desecrating things too much, after all. )

(He's still goign to take this broken box with him. He might be able to ask Forneus or Zhongli about it later.)

They probably didn't want to be forgotten. (Assuming they were the ones who left the records behind,) Unfortunately, it doesn't look like many people have made it up here beside us.

... Someone was definitely here before, though.

The flowers? ... Yeah. I was wondering what was up with those... A burial rite, maybe?

( still, in her search it doesn't seem like she's found anything. )

We can check another building.

I was afraid you'd say that.

(Because leaving to check another building means going out into the cold again. He's bundling up, pulling his scarf over his face,)

If we can find any of those flowers growing around, I want to grab some too.

(To look at and figure out if there's any special propreties to them. Or to show to Forneus or Zhongli to ask about.)

Could be worse. They could all just be outside.

( not that she doesn't expect some to be out there, but like... not all of them. that's the key thing here. adjusting her own winter gear, she sighs. she's not much happier about the idea of leaving the old house herself. )

Right, I'll keep an eye out... let's go.

MAY MINGLE

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[we can end here ofc, i just wanted to get this out]