W͜͏̶Ę͏E͝͠K͝͞ ̧1̵͟

[strangerpeople]

W͜͏̶Ę͏E͝͠K͝͞ ̧1̵͟

[The national council just announced the blight to the country.

There was no sugarcoating it anymore. This was a critical time. Saving all of the vines is paramount, but what does one do when the blight hits? It keeps encroaching on the grapes, day by day. Entire clusters, entire bunches, dead and rotting, while allowing the blight to spread, and the leading botanists and viticulturists cannot identify the origin or the cause. They can't even successfully isolate the culprit in their labs; it seems to disappear like air no matter the precautions taken.

It is a catastrophe that seems to be beyond science, and it will result in the complete collapse of the entire country's wine industry. Already, embargoes on this year's crop have forced other grape-growers to close shop for the year after they'd sold their previous stock; it is all too possible that no grapes might ever be grown here again if a cure cannot be found. The tourists have stopped coming. The towns have grown silent.

You, meanwhile, are devastated. With the way your business is going, it will be on the brink of bankruptcy within the year. You will soon have no choice but to close shop and let every grapevine die, let the land go fallow. There must be a cure for this, there must be. Yet everything that can go wrong is.

Then, as you watch the news, it happens. Breaking news. The blight has been found in another country.

It is a pandemic-and it is only getting worse.


-

Well. This is...what else can can anyone say? You all know the deal. You all know what situation you're in. All that is left is to figure out what you can do about it. If there's anything that can be done.

You still feel that compulsion to distrust. To know you cannot win. To know that only the hosts have your best interests in mind. It would be easy to just do all that. But would it be the right thing to do? You can't be completely sure. Indeed, nothing is certain here, except for that damned ticking sound. If only you could stop it.

But you can't stop it. It is inevitable.


There are 15 strangers in this place.]

Comments

[narcoolepsysensei]

Ah...

[WELP. Well, there's at least one thing he can say that's hopefully helpful?]

No, I don't believe it was. I think it was just a natural viral evolution.

[poorlovefool]

Good. [a beat.] Well, not GOOD good, it sounds pretty terrible for humanity, but at least I'm not gonna have to deal with that back home. ...My world's already as messed up as any of these ones we get taken to.

[He'll leave it at that for now.]

[necroyalty]

...The year 3000, with the defining point of our world's history being the Unchained Revelry millennia prior.

I'm not too sure if the dates mean anything, given how disparate realities work.

[poorlovefool]

...Yeah, that definitely wasn't what I was expecting. It's more like, I'm supposed to be on the lookout for stopping an apocalypse we know about for the future, so that virus story - I just had to be sure.

[ONE case of epigenetically mutated bird species are one thing... BUT THERE'S NOOO WAY D&D USED TO BE A NORMIE WORLD, RIGHT]

[narcoolepsysensei]

[Nanaki yawns, then resumes speaking.]

Hm... well, it's hard to call my world an "apocalypse," but I suppose for humans like yourself, it just might be.

[And it'd be great if it sounded like you cared about that literally at all, Nanaki.]

[poorlovefool]

Yeah yeah, I'm sure you bird dudes are just living it up with your new sentience and shit, but for humans that's just Planet of the Apes but with quails.

[he is not surprised nanaki would sell them to satan for one corn chip]

[narcoolepsysensei]

Haha... I understand that. We do try to accomodate what humans are left, but... well.

You all are quite violently protective of what you deem as your rights. It's quite like you never learned to share.

[He doesn't continue with that thought, and he certainly doesn't really emote about it, but... well. The implication is out there, isn't it.]

[poorlovefool]

[it sure is. Eric scratches his scalp, a little uncertain.]

Maybe we should stop talking about this then... I don't think I could understand the politics of this sorta situation without all the context. I don't know what you've been through and there might be too much to tell anyway since it's a century of difference. As long as we're all equals here, it's fine, right?

[narcoolepsysensei]

[And, to that, a simple smile. As always.]

Understandable. We are all equals here, as far as I'm concerned. I should hope it's the same for all of you!

[Which is to say, not a damn one of you can be trusted, but he's fine with that...]

[poorlovefool]

Well, I think we do.... We met at your house cause it's safer for you, right? So, you know you're not going to be excluded.

[necroyalty]

Ours was caused by the destruction wrought by a mad god, so I'm not sure if anything any of us could've done would work there.

[poorlovefool]

That... does sound tough...

[mad god, huh.]

His name wasn't Sheogorath, was it?

[necroyalty]

It most certainly was not.

I take it you've never heard of the wrath of Tharizdun?

[poorlovefool]

It doesn't sound completely familiar, no.

[read: maybe he played some trpgs in high school but i don't fuckin know]

[necroyalty]

...I thought you might not.

[poorlovefool]

So this guy's wrath destroyed most of the population, or what?

[katzenpfote]

I understand the feeling, we're dealing with a war and someone attempting to poke holes in the walls between planes at home.

It sounds like everyone has issues they need dealt with.

[poorlovefool]

Holes...? But what would that do?

[Eric is a geek so he's loosely familiar with the D&D meaning of planes enough that he's not going to assume he means an airplane, but he still doesn't entirely get what the implications are here.

Still, he is acknowledging this attempt at finding common ground whether for good or ill with a nod.]

[katzenpfote]

Tear reality open so demons can climb into the Material Plane.

[No biggie.]

[byanyother_name]

...ah, that happens in your world, too?

[poorlovefool]

Christ...

[well it's not their fault demons do this but HE THINKS IT IS A BIGGIE]

[byanyother_name]

[In all fairness, it was humans doing it where Kurama comes from.]

Some people can't leave well enough alone.

[katzenpfote]

Oh, it's a recurring problem, then. We have a lead on who might be behind it in our world, though we don't know why and don't have a name for him. Fortunately, we have a number of people in my group who can cast illusions to look like anyone, so we can always use that to ask someone.

[byanyother_name]

Two people have tried to open a tunnel between the human world and the demon world in the last year where I come from. We shut both of those down and hopefully won't have to deal with a third.

[katzenpfote]

Wunderbar. The Abyss should stay where it is, we do not need it leaking into our plane. Demons are difficult to deal with and it has taken all of our group a great deal to just take down some low-tier ones.