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]

Nott the Brave. Sometimes there's a comma, sometimes there isn't. With two Ts, by the way.

She is... well, she looks like a goblin, but she is not. The details of that are her own business to tell. We have known each other for a year - six with the group we travel with, and six months before that. We broke out of prison together.

[relieable]

[we broke out of prison together.

nice]

Ah, I get it! So, she's like your partner-in-crime, huh? A good pal.

[katzenpfote]

Absolutely. We've saved each other more than a few times. I tend to go down easily in fights, but I can also deal a lot of damage with a single spell. She is more precise usually, though.

[relieable]

[Osomatsu nods! Caleb is really interesting, fun to talk to]

She sounds fun.

[he wants to say that he hopes Caleb can get back to her, and his group but... he probably shouldn't]

[katzenpfote]

She is. She really leaned into the whole pirate gunner thing when we ended up being pressed into Avantika's crew.

[relieable]

[???????]

Man, a pirate gunner! Badass! You've got a lot of great stories!

[katzenpfote]

All that and an escape from an underwater temple, and killing demons, and winning a drinking contest against a team of halflings and dwarves, and helping to kill a dragon...

I have only been with these people half a year and all of this stuff has happened.

[relieable]

[dang]

That's pretty cool! You have an exciting life. My life isn't nearly that interesting.

[katzenpfote]

[He just looks at Osomatsu and gestures to where they are.]

I think both of us have had exciting lives. Maybe different kinds of exciting, but...

[relieable]

[well, okay. but this is the kind of exciting Osomatsu could do without!

he chuckles anyway]

Well, I should try to figure out what to get Gerard for food. Maybe the hosts will let him eat something that doesn't taste like sand.

[not that he has any way of contacting the hosts, currently]

[katzenpfote]

What does he normally eat, anyway?

[relieable]

He really likes fish.

[Osomatsu rubs his chin, thinking]

But I've seen him eat other things, too. Meats and fruits.

[katzenpfote]

I'm sure we can find something like that around here... maybe not the fish, but still...

[relieable]

[a nod, and Osomatsu's grinning again]

Yeah! I'm gonna look!

[for now, he politely bows his head]

Thanks a lot for taking care of him, up 'til now. And for returning him!

[katzenpfote]

Ah, of course. Let me know if I can help out somewhere else, too.

[relieable]

I will! [a small wave of his hand, and then he’s heading off with Gerard.

that was a lot of fun, actually. slowly, he’s getting to know people here]