On March 10th, a routine patrol for sentinels Malcolm Bright and Lord John Grey became anything but. Three young half-orcs (an early-20s woman on a horse-beast + a teenaged girl and boy on an overlarge saddled pangolin) charged out of the forest in search of 'those who walk with the gods'. They seek help in rescuing some of their people from a cave filled with 'blighted aether', the likes of which is too strong for any but (perhaps, they hope) the god-touched Wanderers.

The visitors are taken to the gods, who funnel them into Tyr's temple for a pair of ambassadors (Mary Crawley and Jim Kirk) to hospitably probe for answers and information. Among the information revealed is the names of these guests - Gozra, Sil, and Otto - and a bit more about the culture from which they come. Most everyone in their village has magic once they come of age, you see, albeit in exceptionally limited quantities - including Gozra and Sil, though they declined a demonstration. The cave filled with 'blighted aether' has been the source of that magic since its discovery when Gozra was young and before the other two were born, serving as the destination for a lesser pilgrimage and coming-of-age ritual for each of their people, from which they emerge with an aether-born gift of their own. Two of those currently stuck in the cave are the latest deemed ready to receive their gifts. Another was the guide who escorted them to the cave. The remaining two got dragged into the mess when they went looking for the other three. Now they, too are trapped - and the Elders have declared all five a loss. But though the blighted aether kills them slowly, they aren't beyond rescue's reach. That's what brought this trio here, to beseech the Gods and those whom they've touched.

On the 11th, after hearing the tale, the gods make a brief address (found at the start of the event log) requesting that anyone willing to help these young visitors with their plight should prepare themselves now for travel and meet on the palace grounds the next morning (the 12th) at 9 AM, ready to depart.

Though no gods will accompany the Wanderers on this journey, any Wanderer spotted in some stage of preparation by their patron god and/or the god to which they're employed is given a thinner runed cuff to fit neatly above the immovable one they already wear, allowing them to contact the god in question over an incredible distance, but only once. (Feel free to handwave your character receiving one, and to decide for yourself which god they received it from!) They're told to contact them if help is needed, and the gods will rush to the Wanderers' aid.

On the morning of the 12th, all Wanderers willing to try to help depart via the woods along Odin's district, led by the half-orcs and their mounts.

The primary hurdle lies in the forest itself - these visitors managed to find Asgard, but for some inexplicable reason, the will of the forest seems set on preventing the visitors (or perhaps the Wanderers they lead) from departing the way they've come. The group finds that what seems like a sure path leads them in a loop, or they've somehow ended up heading west when they intended to head due north. This seems to frustrate the half-orcs, whose companions' lives may depend on the speed with which they return... But the more frustrated they get, the more the forest seems to thwart them. Any scouts or others with experience navigating this forest who'd like to try to help guide the group are welcome to do so - and in turn, the calm efforts of those scouts/navigators seem to soothe the forest's discontent.

Once they've passed beyond the forest, the landscape shifts to a swathe of rolling, grassy plains. Beyond the plains, just barely before the horizon, the plains seem to shift abruptly to something more akin to red-tinged mountains. Upon seeing this, though, the half-orcs slow to a stop, expressions ranging from grim to dismayed. They announce to the Wanderers that the estimate - 'not more than a day' - was by mount, not on foot. They set up a makeshift camp at the edge of the woods for the half-orcs and the Wanderers to get some rest. No danger lies on these plains at this time of year, they assure the Wanderers, and they'll be sitting watch shifts just in case.

Bright and early on the 13th, they set off across the plains toward the distant cliffs. It at first seems like the grassy hills are endless, like each blurs into the next and the mountains are no closer now than they were a couple of hours ago... But then, all at once, the travelers crest a particularly bulbous hill and find that you're quite a bit closer than you seemed.

The travelers enter this third, more drastic landscape via a mountain pass, with a river winding right up the center. The cliffs around them are vibrant red-orange, a bit sharper and more jagged than traditional mountains, though nearly as tall. The path carries you upward, occasionally steep but typically gradual enough not to cause strain. Before long, the group encounters trees again - sparsely littering the pass at first, but soon enough the pass widens into a sort of valley and the sparse trees thicken to a veritable forest. "We're almost there," Otto calls back to the group, voice laced with poorly-concealed unease.

Just before dark on the 13th, they arrive. The cave is tucked into the valley wall, a tall and narrow mouth that one might easily miss if they didn't know where to find it. Nonetheless, Gorza's horse-beast balks as soon as they've come into sight of it, and the pangolin only ambles a few steps closer before pointedly sinking down onto its stomach for its occupants to dismount. They do, the three of them continuing to lead on foot until they're not five yards from the mouth of the cave. The elder two stop there, but Otto rushes straight up to the mouth of the cave, peering urgently inside with his lip clamped hard between his teeth.

Gorza tells the Wanderers that their people are trapped deeper in the cave. That the blighted aether stops at the mouth of the cave, beyond which the three of them - those without God-born magic - don't dare to go.

This is one of two key decision-based moments in this event. What do the Wanderers do from here? Do they enter the cave, or attempt to troubleshoot from the outside?

Feel free to utilize this post to plot your character's course of action, and particularly, whether or not your character enters the cave. It's moderately important to decide whether or not they enter the cave by the second infopost on the 14th, though that's just for spoilers' sake and we won't be policing it. We will be keeping an eye on the plotting here to help decide how certain things go down, though it's not 100% crucial until the second infopost.


( ! ) If your character enters the cave at any point during this event, they will receive a minor blood magic spell upon the event's completion! However, entering the cave also ends in 100% chance of either death (not counted toward their three-death limit) or lingering physiological consequences that gods are unable to remove.


( ! ) Consider this also a content warning - 100% of those who enter the cave do experience physiological consequences for the remainder of the event!

• 10th: Visitors arrive, their plight reaches the gods.
  
• 11th: The gods rally anyone willing to help, giving them the rest of the day + night to prepare.
  
• 12th - 13th: The Wanderers, led by the visitors, depart & make the two-day journey to the cave.
  
• 13th - 14th: At the cave, Wanderers decide how they plan to face the issue, potentially venturing inside the cave.
  
  
• The EVENT LOG will go live on the 10th.
  
• INFOPOST #2, revealing further insight on the cave's magic + what happens to those who venture inside, will go up on the 14th.