AUGUST INTRO LOG: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

[asgardmods]

Who: EVERYONE
What: the August intro log and first god house competition, More Than Meets the Eye
When: August 8
Where: Gladsheim Palace for breakfast, around Asgard for the game/curse
Rating: PG-13; please take anything higher than this to a private log!

morning: a warm invitation

Everyone wakes up to a friendly invitation to breakfast at the castle with the gods. For most of you, this comes as a message on your bracelet, reading:

Join us at the castle today to welcome some new Wanderers into our midst. Breakfast will be served and a lively game will be available to all of our guests, both new and old.

New Wanderers are curious on their own, and this is the first there's ever been mention of a game. Perhaps it's enough for you to make the trek to the castle, to see what all the fuss is about, or maybe even to see if there's someone you know. Perhaps you want to learn more about the game, or maybe you just want the food.

For our new guests, this comes as a bit more of a surprise. Wherever you were before in your world, without even realizing it, you wake up in a strange new place. No time or space inbetween, just an awareness of There and then Here. A matronly figure tries to explain your circumstances with a sympathetic smile, but ultimately invites you meet them all for yourselves: the Gods of Asgard, and the Wanderers that arrived before you.



The sight that greets you on the castle grounds is a rather festive one, regardless of where you're coming from. Colorful streamers and flags are draped above large tables with room for several guests. Natives bustle about, cheerfully offering food and drinks to anyone that wants some. Everyone is welcomed to mingle and greet the new Wanderers on this bright summer morning.

the game: a friendly competition

Among the brightly decorated tables are ones highlighted in a specific color for a specific god house, and most of the gods themselves can be found sitting behind it with a few of their district's natives. They are here to welcome the new Wanderers into Asgard - but they're also here to explain the rules of today's game. There are coins hidden throughout the city and disguised as mundane items, and the god house that returns the most of their coins will win an upgrade to their god housing! No hints will be given, but the natives are excited to help facilitate the activity and happily invite you to wander through their districts to find what you can.

But you don't have to know about the rules to be playing the game! The coins are already hidden throughout the city, and no one knows what they are until they've been picked up. Whether you're banding together with friends to find as many coins as you can or blindly stumbling over an unpleasant surprise, the game and the curse are in full swing!

evening: a fair prize

At sundown, all of the coins in the city disappear at once, whether they're in your pocket or still disguised as a bowl. Points will be tallied and a winner will be announced (OOCly, on August 17) - but Asgardians are keen to celebrate regardless of who wins a rather inconsequential game. The same colorful display of tables and chairs is still spread across the castle grounds, although now they twinkle with fairy lights haphazardly blinking throughout the air. Snacks and drinks are made available, as well as more dinner-shaped meals for those that request it. Mostly the natives simply want to bask in the strangeness of these Wanderers from other worlds for a moment longer - but they're also eagerly listening to any stories from the day's mischievous game. Relax, enjoy yourself, or again, just stock up on some freely served food. Whatever suits your needs today. Welcome to Asgard, dear Wanderers.

[ OOC NOTE: This is the intro log for August, as well as our first god house competition/curse: More Than Meets the Eye. You are free to play with the curse prompts and searching the city in any way you want! If you would like to submit a map to earn points for your god house, please check out the rules to learn what to do. We will accept maps until August 17, at which point a winner will be announced and members of that god house will be allowed to vote for an upgrade to their god housing. As always, please let us know if you have any questions or need any help on the mod contact page. Enjoy, friends! ]

Comments

[tealeafs]

.. Ah, I.. guess that's true.

[ It's definitely said somewhat hesitantly though. Not since she doesn't think it's true, but more just since it feels like an incredibly random thing to bring up out of nowhere. ]

Why are you talking about that though..? You didn't seem very interested in those kinds of deep thoughts the last time we spoke.. [ Unless, you know, talk about horses is now suddenly considered deep. ]

[skaldish]

You know? I don't really know.. I picked up a coin and suddenly...

[ There's a long pause. ]

It was the stupid coin, wasn't it?

[tealeafs]

The coins can do that? [ She looks rather surprised. Chizuru apparently hasn't had the pleasure (or, well, the opposite of that) yet of having picked up one of the coins she shouldn't have picked up. ]

So now it's just making you say odd things..? We should find a way to reverse it then!

[skaldish]

I think so.. I guess that's what they meant by something happening if you didn't pick a coin from your own house.

I don't think you can reverse it - I think it just happens. I picked up a coin and couldn't stop myself from talking about stuff but now that I talked about it, I don't feel like saying it anymore. I guess you have to be really careful with the coins!

[tealeafs]

I guess you're right..

[ For a moment Chizuru grows silent - mostly since she's thinking. Being careful with the coins is all well and good, but she still feels bad for Tuuri for being stuck with the effects now. Surely there has to be something they can do about that, right? ]

But we don't know for sure if there isn't anything you can do to reverse it, right? Maybe if you pick up a different coin, it'll cancel each other out, and you'll go back to normal! [ She actually seems a little proud of herself for thinking of that idea. ]

[skaldish]

Hmmm... I think you're right! I don't feel like talking like that anymore right now but who knows if I'll start chattering on about stuff again?

[ She starts picking up a pebble in hopes that there's another coin around. ]

[tealeafs]

Exactly! We have to make sure you won't say anything by accident that you really don't want to say! [ She's not too sure how that coin's effect worked, but it's good to make sure Tuuri won't blurt out secrets or something either way.

And with as helpful as she is, Chizuru immediately starts touching and picking up some random nearby objects. A chair! A doorknob! Nothing is safe.

Except nothing vanishes when she touches it. (Granted, it'd be kind of weird if a doorknob disappeared, right.) ]

.. Hmm, none of this seems like it's a coin.. What kind of thing did you touch to find one earlier? [ Maybe that'll give them some clue as to where to look for one. ]

[skaldish]

That wouldn't be good at all! [ Admittedly the worst secrets she keeps are fairly benign but to her they're deep and dark and imagine if she blurted something out to her brother.]

Hmmm... I've been grabbing a lot of stuff.. But I think I picked up a small wooden horse toy. It looked like a child's toy and I thought it was a little weird sitting out by itself so I picked it up and it disappeared because it wasn't a coin my house! [ There's a pause. ] So we just need to find something normal that looks a little out of place but isn't?

[tealeafs]

[ She listens patiently to the other, and once Tuuri is done talking, Chizuru slowly looks around them while muttering: ]

Something normal that looks a little out of place...

[ After a moment she points to a book that's lying on a table nearby. ]

How about that book over there? I guess someone could've just left it there, but it's still a little odd for a book to be here by itself outside..

[skaldish]

Right! [ The diminutive Finn moves quickly and grabs the book and then..... ]

I think someone must've left it behind. [ She's says as she's rather anticlimactically holding the book. ]

[tealeafs]

[ Chizuru was actually pretty hopeful about this one! But the moment she picks up the book and holds it like that without anything changing about it, Chizuru's facial expression quickly drops. No good, huh.. ]

Sorry, I really thought it looked like a place for a coin to hide.. [ Now she's a little bummed. She really wanted to help her!

For a moment she leans on a chair to come to terms with the disappointment, but then the chair just.. vanishes. Poof. In an instant. Chizuru only barely manages to keep standing, but when she glances down at her hand, there's a coin inside of it.

And not one of her god. She looks at Tuuri, and before she even realises it, she says-- ]

I'm actually a demon!

[skaldish]

[ There's a small yelp of surprise from Tuuri as the chair goes poof beneath Chizuru and as the Finn is about to ask if the other woman is okay she blurts out something about being a demon. There's a pause. ]

Oh, okay!

[ Tuuri takes it in stride since Chizuru doesn't look like a mean sort of demon. Not like the piru she heard stories about as a child. There's another pause.]

Wrong house coin too?

[tealeafs]

Yes..!

[ She quickly admits - and not even under the influence of the coin anymore, since apparently blurting out a single secret is all it did to her. But despite that being the full extent of its effect, Chizuru still looks incredibly flustered even now.

Even though it's weird that the other barely seems to react..? Is this just normal to Tuuri somehow? Or does she just not know what they are? Either way.. ]

I.. I couldn't help it, that just left my mouth without thinking..

[skaldish]

Do you think we need to find you another coin too?

[ There is a pause. She is a little curious... ]

And.. What kind of demon are you? [ Sorry not sorry, if she's a piru, Tuuri is outtie. ]

[tealeafs]

[ Welp, looks like she's not escaping blurting out her secret that easily, huh. She doesn't want to lie now the truth is out there though, so she just ends up looking really awkward as she answers it with another question. ]

Are there different kinds of demons..?

[ Despite being one, she doesn't know enough about the demon world to be able to tell, really. ]