If you have not read parts one and two, please do so. They explain what the game is, why I am playing it, and how my character, Maddie, came to be where she is now.
This section in Koriko is called Arrival. I don’t know if others experienced this but this section ended up a LOT longer than I expected it to be. The introduction of the main NPCs in Maddie’s life plus some major events and mishaps were a lot to dive into.
Hello Koriko!
I left the boarding house before dawn. It wasn’t like I was getting much sleep – my neighbor snored so loud I swear it shook the walls! Edward and I resolved to tour the city, hopefully find a better spot to live, and get an idea of what work a witch like me could obtain. Determined and cautiously optimistic, I set out and was immediately run over by a motorized bicycle!
All I heard when I stepped off the curb was a squeal of brakes and the sound of my head hitting the shell covered road. Neighborhood kids laughed from the nearby alleys and stoops. I looked up at a hand clad in fingerless gloves held out for me. Beyond was a girl, around my age, with shaggy brown hair, wild golden eyes, and a crooked smile. “Watch out,” she warned too late as she helped me up. Some kid called out something about witches not knowing how to walk. Another called, “What her, Hel! She’ll turn you into a toad!”
Hel turned out to be the cyclist. Hella technically. She’s a messenger who travels all over the city delivering letters and parcels.
After checking on Edward, safe and sound if a little frazzled in my pocket, I asked her about the city.
“No time, witch-girl,” she replied.
My disappointment must have been evident so she patted the seat behind her from which hung two saddle bags. “Get on!”
Back home I would have declined but isn’t going on this journey about taking risks and trusting fate?
Once I got used to the speed (Hella is faster than a diving bat!) I looked around. We took back alleys where buildings loomed close enough neighbors could kiss (but seem to prefer insulting each other). Some of the walls were covered in graffiti. A repeated motif was a broken green cog or messages in green but we passed them too fast for me to read. I noted Hella’s bomber jacket was in the same verdant shade as the paint and wondered if it was simply a color in style or if it had a local cultural significance. It certainly stands out against all the white and brass around us.
I held on for dear life when Hella turned out of the alleys and onto a busy main street. Lumbering brass machines carrying goods and people dominated the lanes but Hella whipped around them before they even knew she was there. I would have been impressed if I wasn’t so terrified.
All the while, Hella told me about parts of the city. Where to get the best chips (a mobile stall on the corner of Bass and Shore), when its cheapest to get into the shows at the Siren Theater I’d seen so many posters for, and so on.
Delivering Rumor
We stopped at an old clock tower, the clock itself broken with both hands hanging limp at 6. The windows were shattered and much of the brick crumbling. Still, it was busy with dozens of people going in and out as we arrived. Hella parked and grabbed her bags.
“Coming?”
Inside, the main room was filled with boxes, bins, crates, and stacks of parcels. In the center, near the back, was a long table dominated by a broad figure that bellowed like a bull.
“Thats Sigurd the Snake,” Hella explained as we approached. “Don’t let the name fool you. He’s a fair dealer and the most well-connected rascal in the city. You want informaty, Siggy has it, for a price.”
Today, Siggy had packages and letters for Hella as well as rumor. “The Verdis has struck again.”
I asked who The Verdis was and Hella was stunned. I had to remind her that I was new to Koriko.
Turns out The Verdis are a group of vigilantes. Some say its 1 person, others say a group. They take down union busters, help out strikers, and play pranks on the wealthy. There symbol is the broken green cog.
I learned quickly that Hella is a fan.
Hella introduced me as “witch-girl.”
Sigurd asked if I was looking for work but I didn’t much like the idea of delivering packages by broom so I told him I’d think on it. He said any time, then asked Hella if she still was wanting night jobs. She did and they stepped away, spoke in hushed tones, and shook hands. When I asked her about it after she just said it ways more then told me to get on the bike if I still wanted a ride – cutting off the thread of discussion.
I had Hella drop me off near the center of the city where she told me I could find libraries and various “boring” heritage buildings.
After being rudely informed that only members of the Heritage Foundation, college, or the Artificer’s Guild could access the library, I went for a walk.
I was enamored by a weedy patch of lavender growing in an alley between an old gothic church and some dusty shop. Picking it and thinking about Mahb’s lavender caramels, I was surprised again.
From the shadows a large monster accosted me. Without thinking, I crushed some of the lavender in my hands and cast a Slumber Charm. It failed but the flash of magic stunned the dark creature enough for me to escape. As I ran, I looked back and glimpsed not a beast but…a boy? I didn’t dare check to see if it were really the case and not a trick of glamor or my stressed mind but hurried to a trolley. From there I rode back to the relative safety of the boarding house.
The Beast
I learned back at the boarding house that reports of a “Beast” terrorizing Koriko citizens have been in the papers for weeks. Angry with myself for running, I resolved to look into the matter myself.
The next day, I set about making protection charms from blackberry jam as ink for sigils drawn on garlic skin paper. I sewed these into the hemlines of my dress and felt a little better about my magic after the failed sleep charm.
Despite the numerous reports, no one seems to know what the creature actually looks like other than tall, dark, and scary. Ass in that none of the reports think the Beast has harmed anyone or anything other than breaking into a few buildings, I didn’t have a lot to go on for identification. Especially when I recalled looking back and seeing a seemingly human shape.
Edward listed off possible creature identities as I traveled to the older part of Koriko where the Beast was most spotted.
On the way I stopped to buy a few sweet buns. The hard rolls and thin soup served at the boarding house aren’t fit to feed chickens!
Most of our stops were fruitless otherwise. I was about to give up when, near dawn, I discovered a squatters nest in the mouth of an abandoned tunnel. There, I saw my quarry hiding in the shadows.
Not wanting to upset him by intruding, I stepped out and attempted communication but failed.
As the sun rose I decided to try again later and left behind my remaining sweet bun, telling him I’d be back.
Offerings work for spirits in their place of honor and rest so maybe they work for Beasts too?
Sweet Sweet…Failure
On the way back to the boarding house, I walked by a sweet shop. Peeing in and thinking of Mahb, i overheard voices in the side alley. One of the men was crying and another was trying, and failing to comfort them.
Eavesdropping, I learned the shop was going under. A moneyed shop in the circle district was running them out of business. A recent shipment sabotage was the last straw for the couple. They’d need a miracle to keep their doors open.
I don’t know about miracles but I do know candy and magic so I offered my help.
Fizzlers candy is a simple glamour recipe using sugar, soda, acid, new moon water, and dragon scale powder. It pops in your mouth and changes your tongue various colors while eating. Mahb makes it for kids at Carnaby’s harvest festivals.
Everything was going fine until…it didn’t.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have substituted moon water with well water infused with moon stone. Maybe my dragon scale powder is out of date. Either way, the recipe exploded.
I won’t go into detail but…at least I was warned with a vision that appeared in the bubbling sugar. It gave me time to get the two men out of the room or we’d all be nursing sugar burns.
I cleaned up the mess and paid for the sugar I wasted. One of the men thanked me fore trying while his husband only cried as I left.
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