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

[katzenpfote]

... Well, I don't know that we have a cleric among us.

[illusionarymelody]

I have ideas, but I'd need my powers back and to be able to get to my world. At the very least, I'm not giving up on them.

[katzenpfote]

Of course not. As long as they are willing to return, it should work.

[Probably. He's not totally certain how divne magic works.]

[illusionarymelody]

[Vita knows that is one part, the hard part for her is accessing the soul. What she can do pretty much amounts to direct soul to healthy body.]

It is certainly my hope that they would, but I'd not force anyone who is at peace with it to return.

[necroyalty]

Should we be able to make it back to our own worlds, I can certainly pull a few strings for whoever needs it.

[katzenpfote]

You also have access to clerics or something similar?

[necroyalty]

Never been particularly religious myself, but I know more than a few clerics with the ability to resurrect the dead.

[katzenpfote]

Me either... I know Jester can do it if the death is recent, but I do not know about past that...

[necroyalty]

I know Kieron can have a go at it if it's been a few days, but no luck in asking her for anything past that.

[katzenpfote]

We'd have to ask someone very skilled, but we can likely find such a person.

[necroyalty]

Right. Let me file that away for later, but if there was ever a better use for diamonds, I've yet to find it.

[katzenpfote]

I could probably ask our... handler... if he knows anyone. ... It's a long story.

[necroyalty]

...if you've got the time, I'd love to hear it.

[katzenpfote]

Later, I think. The short version is that we crossed enemy lines to rescue someone and ended up handing a religious artifact back over when we were found. And some of us are of races that are not trusted in that area in the slightest. So we're being treated well, but watched.

[necroyalty]

Right.

[ Look she knows how tense these kinds of situations can be. ]

There's some things I wish to discuss later as well, I'd think.

[katzenpfote]

Our band of fuckups keeps fucking up, and somehow we are surprised. At least it usually ends up somewhat okay enough.

All right.