⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 1

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: October 1st - 7th, 2017
Where: Portland area, in the new reality.
What: Memories begin returning to the displaced as the fall gets chillier. How the hell did we end up here, again? Also, apparently, the fair is in town.
Warnings: Individually marked!

PORTLAND BY NIGHT↴ Memory regains will come into effect at the beginning of October, to whatever degree you've decided upon, and may be regained at whatever pace you desire from then on. For those with their full carnival memories, it will be like waking up in the body of someone else - for those with half and half, it will be like rapidly recalling sets of memories from a totally different life. Those with full amnesia will simply feel as if this is how it's always been. Unfortunately for you, memories aren't the only thing you have to deal with. The supernatural community of Portland is bustling all of a sudden - could your presence and these events somehow be related? ► THE OUTER CIRCLE: As of the start of the month, the Portland Circle of Enlightenment will find itself starting to get swarmed with members from other chapters. Most notably, it would seem that a small cabal of top mages from the North American Enlightenment Council will be making their home in Portland's HQ. For anyone but the highest of ranks, the purpose behind their visit will be unclear, but it seems like something is definitely up on a metaphysical level. The Circle will be buzzing with rumours of unique planar activity and threatening omens. It seems that it all started with an unusual flare of activity in the planetary ley-lines, starting approximately a week ago. However, even if you would usually be the type to keep tabs on such things, you will find that you oddly have no memory of observing this phenomenon yourself. ► THE ANIMAL FAIR: Good news, the fair is in town! Or, at least, it would be good news... if this was a regular fair. Instead, what's being observed is a bunch of nearly identical flyers, spread all around Portland - each of which bears only the words "THE ANIMAL FAIR", a seemingly bloody paw-print of unknown origin, and the directions to a vague forested location outside of the city. It's dated for October 7th, and all instances of its posting having been discovered with a scattering of rose petals, crow feathers, and pre-burnt matches laying on the ground around them. Most are taking this to be some kind of bizarre viral marketing campaign, but others may know better. ► THE EARTH SPIRIT: If you have connections to The Pack or any of its many variations, you'll probably hear whispers of something very odd that occurred last week - according to the elders, it sounds as if the Earth Spirit, the magical and spiritual center of the planet, has suddenly taken a wound. It's not clear why or how, but there is a fair bit of concern among spiritual types, as it is werebeast belief and nebulous magical fact that the magical forces within the earth are the source of all magic here, as well as the source of life. While many werebeasts claim to have felt the Spirit succumb, you strangely have no memory of such an event occurring. Though things do feel strange, if you know how to tap into the Spirit yourself. ► THE WAR CRY: Though Anath's rain of terror across North America lasted for the first fifteen years or so of the Severing, most independent demons have had enough time to start taking the arch-demon's relative inactivity for granted. For that first while, the warrior queen had seemed determine to rebuild an army on earth by forcing her scattered brethren into service - only for her to gradually settle down in a fortress somewhere in Texas and dig in her heels. Of course, this was too good to last - it sounds as if she and her demonic legion have begun tearing their way up the west coast, their goals remaining a mystery. Their destination, however, is almost certainly Portland.

Comments

[ringleaders]

The detect magic spell definitely picks up magic - and lots of it. There is at least a little magic everywhere around her, this far into the woods, and unfortunately it appears to be of a variety someone foreign to her: innate magic of a powerful being rather than the type that utilizes the world's spirits like hers does. That is, probably demonic, angelic, or fae.

It seems like there is probably a magical center to all of this, but before she can zero in on it the tree she's perched in abruptly starts dancing around. Like, literally. It's as if it's suddenly turned its roots into legs and is waddling back and forth.

[periphrasing]

WELP SHE SURE DOESN'T CARE FOR THAT. The powerful being stuff that is. She doesn't care for the tree business either, and operating under the assumption that it's reacting to her magic, she's going to quit casting the spell to see if it stops moving.

(YUP, DEFINITELY TOTALLY A CONSCIOUS DECISION ON HER PART, and DEFINITELY NOT just a reflex triggered by the terror and break in concentration that occurs thanks to the tree under her feet suddenly deciding it feels like wiggling around like the pied piper.)

[ringleaders]

It doesn't stop. Perhaps, it can't be stopped.

It also starts making weird grunting sounds, like something that should be coming out of an animal instead of a tree.

[periphrasing]

Annnd the revelation of grunting trees exceeds Peridot's courage limit. She definitely screams and tries to fly off and leave the woods as fast as she possibly can, provided the tree doesn't like. Pursue her, somehow?

If she gets away, she's immediately going to invest in an energy drink from the nearest convenience store, and she's going to use her library access to go in after hours and do some research late into the night of the 6th/early AM of the 7th. This time, she will specifically be searching for stuff about magic relating to ambulatory trees, trees that can make noise, magic that can turn people INTO trees, fear inducing magic, and the sorts of magical entities that might be tied to any or all of these things. Her main goal is to try and narrow down what the source of this nonsense is. She'll be using both the internet and the library collection for this research.

[ringleaders]

The tree doesn't pursue her. If she's paying any attention, she might notice the sound of it flopping over onto its side in the distance.

Moving trees is fairly common as a magical concept, and most of the internet chatter about it refers to fae (though this stuff is always super garbled when on the net because people can basically say whatever they want about anything). Practically speaking, a mage could do this as well. A fae could also definitely turn a person into a tree, but its not like there is verification of that on the net besides someone saying it maybe happened, and posting a picture of a weirdly person looking tree. Maybe that was a creepypasta she read??

The grunting is more weird, though, and there isn't really much talk about it, besides people being freaked out by wind blowing through trunk holes.

Fear inducing magic is so vague it could mean about a million different things. For instance, it could be Slenderman. Or possibly The Rake. Shit, she's reading creepypasta again.

[periphrasing]

Bat hearing makes it hard to miss a sound like that, and it does strike her as odd, but she doesn't pay it too much mind because she's too busy fleeing in terror. insert "if a tree falls in a forest" joke here. Meanwhile, the mun hopes that the grunting tree is alright.

Anyway, what she finds in that first leg of research mostly just backs up everything that Lambert told her about the incident in the Cat Cafe, with regards to the advertised Animal Fair apparently being some kind of "party" orchestrated by an alleged "Fae of the Wylds". Bearing that in mind, the night of marathon research will roll on, and she is going to change the focus of her inquiries. She starts searching for rumors, mentions, legends, ANY information at all on fae of that particular variety, with the hope of getting a better idea of exactly who or what they are. So, powers, influence, habits, culture, anything that explains what their MO is. She'll also be keeping an eye out for any mentions of an entity known as "The Beast" related to that group, since apparently they are in charge of this Animal Fair.

Side note: As she's doing this? She's also starting to wonder if perhaps these fae have any particular affinity for or influence over the likes of werebeasts. She's starting to wonder... if maybe they have something to do with the disappearance of a certain classmate of hers.

(In other words, when it comes to figuring out who is responsible for Amethyst's disappearance, Peridot is barking up the wrong grunting tree.)

[ringleaders]

The concept if "wyld fae" will get you a lot of general internet blabber that is a mixture of folktales, fictional media, and possibly real life incidents that are impossible to tell apart from one another. "The Beast" allows some more specifications, but nothing very obvious. The Disney version (or this world's equivalent) muddies up her search as well.

Apparently this fae is a relative unknown. Or, at least, if they are known, it's not by that title.

[periphrasing]

WELP. Hitting a dead end at this point, Peridot has only one option to proceed: Time to plan a trip to the fair.

TO BE CONTINUED, I GUESS