THE SQUAD GETS INFO [mod event] [video] [open]

[konman]

Uuuuh, hey guys?

So I was wandering around in the woods collecting pears and I met some talking birds that we might want to talk to?

Being birds that talk doesn't really make them credible sources of information per se but they seem to know some stuff about what's going on?

[Kon turns his mirror around to face the two birds. They're large ravens, currently perched on a tree branch. He expands his mirror and leaves it to float. They start to speak to them, chirpily, rather excited to have someone to talk to.]

Huginn: Hi! Hello! Welcome to the Wilderlands, Chosen Ones, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I am Huginn and this here is my compatriot Muninn, and as you can see, we are birds.

Muninn: Talking birds. We're very good at it. [A brief pause.] Talking, that is. Not at being birds, we're actually rather terrible at being birds.

Huginn: We are indeed very good at talking, which means we can say a great many things about things we know.

Muninn: And we know many things! Lots of things.

Huginn: Yes, lots of things. Anyway, we know many things and have heard tell of your coming to this world. You know how people talk about a secret and say 'a little birdie told me'? Well I'm proud to say those birds would be us! In specific.

Muninn: We're maybe a bit too inclined towards the gossip, but y'know, it's quite boring being birds, especially if you can talk. A lot of the other birds can't. Just a twitter this, tweet tweet that.

Huginn: Anyway, we have heard gossip about you, whispers from the Green and other places, and we thought we should perhaps say hello and see if you've heard enough to carry on wherever you're meant to go!

Muninn: We don't know everything but we can at least tell you what we've overheard. You sound terribly important, at least according to the gossip.

[ooc: Everyone is free to chime in and ask all the questions they want. Not everything will get answers, but they'll get at least some information on their situation and where to go next.]

Comments

[mirror]

[greyerrant]

Why are we important, birds?

[wildernpcs]

Huginn: The world you're all in right now, this is the Wilderlands and this world didn't always exist. Long before our time, it is said that the many lands that exist here were once parts of separate worlds.

Muninn: Totally separate worlds! Completely different far off worlds in the grand ol' universe.

Huginn: I think it's called a multiverse.

Muninn: Completely different far off worlds in the grand ol' whatever-verse!

Huginn: But something strange happened: some great catacylsm that brought them all together. New ones keep showing up all the time, the people in them completely confused as to how they got there.

Muninn: As you might expectm it's led to utter disaster! Different people all crammed together willy nilly. Sometimes they get along but sometimes they don't and when they don't, whoo, what a mess!

Huginn: War and famine and pestilence. The works. You saw the Emerald City back there, all petrified. It wasn't always that way. Them statues? They were people once. But just like bright and beautiful lands have been pulled in, dark lands have been pulled in, as well. As just as good people have been brought here, evil walks among them, too.

Muninn: That's where you come in, ladies and gents. The Green are the nature spirits of this place, all strung together from the different worlds and melded into one whole. And they think something ought to be done about it all. There are whispers of the ones they've chosen and we think those ones might be you. Look at you all, mish-mashed from wherever it is you came from. You look an awful lot like a rag tag bunch of heroic misfits. Maybe a bit dirty and desperately in need of baths, so an unwashed ragtag bunch of misfits. But still, awfully ragtag.

Huginn: A motley crew, as it were.

Muninn: And very misfit-ey.

Mirror

[dirtyredneck]

Yeah? And what've you overheard?

[wildernpcs]

Muninn: Lots of things!

Huginn: But one of the important ones, aside from the whole chosen one rigamarole, is that you've already got enemies.

Muninn: Already. Hunting you down as we speak.

Huginn: Because of his spies, the All-Seeing Eye already knows of your coming. It was foretold.

Muninn: Foretold! By many oracles and seers. When you cram a bunch of worlds together, you get an awful lot of prophets and that means an awful lot of prophecies floating around.

Huginn: We're talking in the hundreds, gent. And those are just the ones we've overheard people talking about alone.

Muninn: The All-Seeing Eye already knows and if he does it's only a matter of time before the Unfinished Princess and the other dark powers find out about you as well. We overheard rumors, after all. And as we have said before, we're just bird.

Huginn: If loose lips sink ships, by now there ought to be a whole harbor full of wrecks.

Muninn: You're going to be hunted. You won't be able to stay in one place for long. Not in the wilds, at any rate. There are refuges that may be safe for you, places of power protected by powerful benefactors, but only in places like that can spend much time hunkered down. The only reason you haven't been caught yet here is this temple is a holy place. It's offered some protection from those that want to find you.

[Mirror]

[wherenoonegoes]

...wait, hang on. Are you the actual Huginn and Muninn, as in Odin's pet birds, or was someone just being funny when they named you?

[wildernpcs]

Muninn: The boy who named us just had a sense of humor.

Huginn: Bit of a cheeky fellow he was.

[the_hit_list]

[ Tim is used to being the little birdie, but he can share. ]

Chosen by who - by Odin?

[ Of course he knows the names. ]

Someone mentioned Alfheim the other day. Is that where the others are?

[wherenoonegoes]

To be fair, I said it was a creepy mockery of Alfheim, not that it actually was Alfheim.

[wildernpcs]

Muninn: Not Odin. He may exist here but he's not the one behind this. The Green! The Green chose you!

Huginn: The conglomerated spirits of nature! There are a few spirits apart of the Green that are separate, faces that can be spoken to, but many of the spirits of nature have been folded together into one consciousness.

Muninn: Bit of a hivemind kind of thing.

Huginn: And they want you.

Muninn: You mean the ones in the Brugh? We heard rumors about that.

Huginn: The Green can be awfully choosy. Nitpicky. Even a little controlling. If they've locked anyone away somewhere it's probably because they always try to control conditions.

Muninn: Micromanage the board, as it were.

Huginn: That's how some of these higher powers work, gent. By getting awfully picky about what pieces are on the board when.

Muninn: If you've got anyone in the Brugh, they should be safe. The place is cursed but the curse only touches those who were there at the time of the cursing. The faeries are all frozen in time.

Huginn: Which is awfully good for your friends, given their rep. Some of the faeries in the Wilderlands...they don't play nice.

[outofresets]

[ Someone has finally caught the mirrors doing their thing, and after just listening for a while, pipes up with what has apparently stuck his curiosity the hardest. ]

How are you terrible at being birds?

[wildernpcs]

Huginn: See the thing is [The raven lowers his voice like it's a big secret that he's slightly ashamed of] most birds don't talk.

Muninn: And we do. We're terrible! Just terrible at birding.

Huginn: And yet, we can't seem to master being people, either.

Muninn: No opposable thumbs! Or hair. Or taxes to pay.

Huginn: Tragically in between two worlds, we are.

mirror

[shyhara]

[He's still not really buying all this fantasy shit to begin with. But chatty, personable talking animals trying to prompt some kind of action? It feels very uncomfortably familiar. He definitely doesn't like it.

But that doesn't mean he isn't listening to what they're saying and thinking critically.]

Who are you hearing gossip from if other birds can't talk?

[That feels ridiculous to say. Probably because it suggests he believes at least some of this nonsense. He absolutely doesn't, but you can't figure anything out if you're immediately pissing people off or arguing every little point right away.]

[wildernpcs]

Huginn: Humans, gent! Or Elves. Or Dwarves. Or orcs. Or nature spirits. Or all them other different talking peoples. If they see us hopping around looking for scraps, as long as we keep our beaks shut, they tend to talk as if we're not there.

Muninn: They'll say all kinds of things they wouldn't say if they knew we could understand.

[somnioergosum]

[The raven on Ronan's shoulder cranes its neck so it can see the Huginn and Muninn. She croaks a warped "no" twice before Ronan nudges her beak away and tilts the mirror so she can't see.]

How do we get out? Or do we have to go along with this bullshit? What'd you hear about that?

[wildernpcs]

Muninn: We don't know! All we've heard is rumors from different beings and spirits. But only the spirits of the Green will know anything about how to send you home.

[prisonerofsasskaban]

If you're passing along anything you hear, do you know if any of it is true?

[If Sirius sounds suspicious, well, he's definitely got more than enough reasons to be.]

[wildernpcs]

Huginn: Like we said to that other gent, people will say all kinds of things if they don't think you can understand.

Muninn: There's always a chance someone might've guessed we could talk.

Huginn: But most of the time, people don't. They just talk about things like we're not even there.

Muninn: They might be lying to each other, though, that's a thing to keep in mind.

Huginn: We do at least know the Last Homely House is safe. Travelers in these nearby lands often go there for shelter and safety. We've flown nearby and it's peaceful there, with people singing songs in its great halls. Seems safe enough.

Mirror

[mothermouse]

Excuse me! But could you tell us exactly we are meant to do?

[ She thinks this is very important. They were brought together to do something But What? ]

[wildernpcs]

Muninn: Sorry miss, we don't know exactly what it is. But the Green probably wants you to do at least something to help with the mess that's been caused by the lands of the Wilderlands coming together.

Huginn: Lots of things that need to be fixed.

Muninn: They might even want you to find out what brought the worlds together in the first place. But you'll have to find a way to ask the Green yourself.

Mirror

[andaway]

[Oh hey, Kon.]

And is some of that 'gossip' about how we got here, and/or how to get back, by chance?

[wildernpcs]

Muninn: We do know some of that at least. You're the Chosen ones! The ones the Green has brought here to save the Wilderlands.

Huginn: But you'll have to ask the Green to send you back home -- or find someone powerful enough to break the magical bonds they've put on you to send you back by force.

[mirror]

[awfulcer]

Are we all terribly important or just some of us?

[Dixon sounds like he's being snarky about other people, but the truth is he still has no idea why he's here.]

Can we ditch people?

[Dixon votes Ronan or Daryl.]

Re: [mirror]

[balladin]

You're not allowed to ditch anyone. It's bad enough the group's been separated. You can't go around losing people at the mall.

[ He looks a bit disgusted. It may be the smell of the castle. ]

[astrarche]

[After careful observation it seems everyone else is already asking enough of the questions pertinent to the group and their quest. Therefore Sariatu doesn't waste time putting in any questions but her personal ones.]

Do you know what happened in other worlds, or just this one?

[wildernpcs]

Huginn: Sorry, miss, just this one.

Muninn: We may be talking birds but that's all we can do. Talk and listen.

[coiledscales]

[ Interesting. Alacruun makes a low noise, a single large eye regarding the mirror with a degree of interest. ]

And I am Alacruun. What exactly does this world say about us?

[wildernpcs]

Huginn: Mostly that the Green Chose you to fix the Wilderlands somehow.

Muninn: The how's a bit fuzzy. You'll have to find a way to ask them yourselves exactly what they think needs doing.

Huginn: But there's plenty that needs fixing. Aside from the various dark lords and whatnot that need to be stopped, more pieces of worlds keep getting pulled into the Wilderlands all the time.

Muninn: Causing displacement and untold chaos. Even aside from the evils it sometimes brings, there's even the simple tragedy of people pulled away from loved ones and all they ever knew.

[suckitblue]

So.

Do you guys know if there's anywhere with a shower around here?

[ Simmons has priorities. ]

[wildernpcs]

Huginn: Sorry, gent. Only a few places in the Wilderlands have discovered the joys of indoor plumbing.

Muninn: The Last Homely House at least seems to have a good system rigged up with streams routed indoors.

Huginn: That's your best bet for something nearby.