[Fern]

(OOC Note: This thread has many purposes, but mainly IC advertising of recent events so that people not involved with things can have basic ideas of what has been going on, as well as maybe new information on things. In addition to that, some extra fluff that you could probably use for your own roleplay outside of events. This might be updated on occasion. The Informer is an actual event character.)

A new post has appeared in laplaceNET, from a sender with a handle very similar to that of the BLACK.BLOOD@cradle.grm that almost no one knows about. Who is this, and how did they get access to laplaceNET? They seem like they might have something to talk about once in a while...

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From: theinformer@cradle.grm 

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Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! But specially THE ladies.
 
A pleasure to become your friend. Who am I, you ask? You can call me The Informer.
 
I'm just a person that happens to know a lot of things. A few too many things, dare I say. And people don't always like keeping all the saucy info to themselves. Sometimes they just wanna spill it out.
 
That's what I'll be doing here! From the newest, craziest potions being sold in the alchemy market, to the fanciest and most powerful weapons... or even interesting events that have transpired recently. I'll be telling you all sorts of things.
 
Whether the information I possess is useful to you or not... time will tell! Now then, how about we get to the most recent news I want to share? Here we go!
 
POTION MARKET

- Did you know that according to a lot of sales records, people have been really desperate for hair potions? Yes, the kind of potions that make your hair grow faster. I've heard a lot of folks have been getting so stressed with their jobs and lives that they've started to lose hair. So much so they're trying to resort to finding a magical, miraculous solution to their woes! And it works. It really works. So if you're looking to make a profit with alchemy, why not try selling some hair potions? Seriously, give it a shot.
 
THE FASHION FOR FRAGRANCE

- On another note, have you ever tried the Cute Alraune perfume? Yeah, it's just called Cute Alraune. I heard it's got such a good, entrancing smell that it 'entangles you with love'... whatever that means. I've never given it a shot, but it's being sold in some Karaten stores. If you can afford the 10000 Murai cost, see if you can put it on get the crush of your life to start drooling all over you.
 
NEW MONSTERS

- This one might be interesting for adventurers, but a lot of monsters have started appearing across the world as of recent. Some of them seem to be stronger versions of creatures we've already grown to know. Is something mutating them or are they just adapting? Perhaps just a natural phenomenon?! Who knows, but some of my buddies have been trying to study them. Seems that some of these species are just monsters that have likely never been discovered before. So maybe you'll get more people asking for help with killing them and all that mumbo-jumbo, since more monsters usually means more danger. And that usually means more money! So keep an eye out for requests, I guess.
 
WE ARE BEING OBSERVED... BY ANGELS?!

- I'm sure a few of you have already heard, but apparently there's such a thing as a white-haired woman dressed in monochrome that suddenly appears in different areas of the world. This woman goes by the name of Pandora, and has been giving out "Quests" to adventurers with fairly decent pay. Some of these Quests involve messing with the White Doors too (which I also have some juicy info on, but I'll get to that later~) HOWEVER, there's something that's caught my eye. She's apparently a special kind of Homunculus that's called Observer. Not an Amalgama, not a Chimera, and not a Salamandra-- an Observer! How's that work, I wonder? She reeks of a massive amount of magic, so I couldn't help but wonder how they are made. I started looking into it aaaannnnnnnd...!
 
I found out a few interesting details about her master. Do you want to know what her master looks like? He has white hair and yellow eyes just like her. But he has white wings and a floating halo atop his head, and he gives off a pretty divine-like energy. You read that right- a halo. What's all that sound like?
 
Like an angel!
 
For what purpose is this man making his Observer travel the world? What is this Homunculus meant to achieve? And most importantly, what IS her master? I really, really want to find out!
 
WHITE DOORS, SORRY, I MEAN PURGATORY (AND THE LOST!)

- So you've probably already heard about those new BDPs that sometimes pop up in the laplaceNET reports. The "White Doors" as most people know them, with all the monochrome monsters and dream-like places that look like they came straight out of somebody's dreams! Well, guess what? These things have a real name. One given to them by past researchers. A White Door is actually called a Purgatory. Kinda specific name for a house of weird monsters right? But then it turns out that the creatures inside these doors are called the Lost, and they're things that have been transformed into abominations through unknown, scary methods. A lot of them used to be real people from what I've heard, so if your kid and puppy have gone missing... well, now you have a potential reason why!
 
I've heard a few interesting things in regards to matters involving Purgatory. One of them is that a woman recently and accidentally entered one of the doors with her husband. They found a small town inside, with a lot of shadows lurking in the area. Not the usual Lost creatures-- shadows... in the form of people! They were wearing clothes and everything. A big, biiiig shadow suddenly appeared and started chasing them around, whispering words! Words they couldn't understand! Unfortunately for them, the little chase would result in a bad ending, as her husband got 'swallowed' by the shadow, never to be seen again.
 
My source? Well, the woman made it out and didn't become shadow food like her sunshine. She's currently undergoing extensive therapy with the help of several doctors from Karaten, because ever since that event she's been traumatized and has supposedly lost her mind. She won't stop thinking back to what happened, and the words spoken by that shadow ring in her head over and over and over and over...
 
That Purgatory is gone now, for some reason or another. Still, kind of creepy, eh?
 
So, the other things I've heard, although I don't know much about them (yet)...
 
Word on the streets have spoken about -shady- on-goings with the Lost and some greedy folks. As in, they've been trying to use them for their benefit... like magic research, and I don't mean a cure (not like one exists apparently, some people have tried that to death!) I mean like, turning them into guinea pigs! Servants! All sorts of things. And man, it does kind of remind me about those black parasites that were running around in the Sigrogana Empire a long time ago. People LOVE messing with dangerous things! So I guess we'll see what happens with that! Maybe they'll get arrested, or maybe nobody will ever find them doing these shady things, or maybe it's all made-up rumors. I'm excited to find out.
 
Speaking of, apparently there's some... weird variants of the Lost out there. I've only ever heard of three Lost like this, but they are called 'Pilgrims' instead. Unlike the typical ones, the Pilgrims look less monstrous and happen to keep some of their emotions. Like an incomplete transformation, sort of! One of them is really desperate for a wish granter or whatever for some reason, but I don't know much about that one yet. Actually, this is pretty much the gist of what I know about them:

1. One of them is a Shaitan looking to save her little brother from some 'white tree' by wishing him back with the Lazarus Shard. She's got kind of a temper and is prone to blowing up (literally.)
2. One of them is a Homunculus, a special one, called Echidna. He needs to eat VERY, VERY SPECIFIC monsters to reach his full potential.
3. One of them is an Oracle. A remarkable swordswoman... that had a terrible time with her crush!

That's the super basic gist of them, though I don't know much els-- OH! I ALMOST FORGOT!!!
 
A WISH GRANTER, THE LAZARUS SHARD

- You reeeeaad that riiight! A wish granter, baby! A thing said to be able to accomplish all of your dreams! Become a millionaire? Get the love of your life? Become a Karaten idol? It can do everything! Or that's what the rumors say. A wish granter in the form of a shard with flowers blooming around it, said to possess a massive amount of magic power... carrying out the most sought miracles. They say it tends to appear when tragedy occurs, but almost no one has seen it. I have some news for you, though.
 
I have seen the Lazarus Shard.
 
It looks beautiful. Absolutely splendid. Magnificent. It doesn't even FEEL like it's from this world.
 
When I touched it, I was in AWE. I can't even begin to describe the feeling one gets from making contact with it. It's crazy, I'm telling you.
 
And of course, I made my wish. I had to. Why would I miss that chance? I had the shard all for myself, so I could ask for everything I'd want!
 
... Unfortunately, after I made my wish, it flashed and disappeared before my very eyes. Did it break? Is it somewhere else? Surely it's not that useless.
 
If someone finds it again, I'm sure I'll hear all about it at some point. I look forward to it! Although... I guess I'm also pretty satisfied with the one wish I got.
 
That's all, folks! I'll bring you another short and sweet barrage of news when I learn more. Toodle-loo!~