abraxasooc | EVENT #12: INVOCATION - COORDINATION POST (PART 1)

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EVENT #12: INVOCATION - COORDINATION POST (PART 1)

Event #12 - COORDINATION (1)

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Player Name: Jay, Noa, and Rynn
Character Name: Kyle
Other characters involved: Reno and Natasha

Action: Kyle, Reno and Natasha are heading out to the Hare & Harrow in Nott to talk to folks/listen in on conversation/and put bait out for any suspicious people looking to jump a Summoned. They'll be spending the evening in the tavern drinking, and after a bit Natasha will walk out on her own, looking like an easy target for any criminal types. They're hoping for leads coming from as far back as the first strange disappearances in Nott. Possibly any gossip on Lyle Vela or the Nott council too 👀
Thread: Thread here summarizes the plan.
Notes: This will take place the day after Kyle found this symbol. He'll be showing this to Polly, the innkeeper's wife, to see if it's familiar to her. He's kept up positive CR with her for some months now and would let her know they're trying to find both native and Summoned missing.

Polly will not recognize the symbol. She explains to tell Kyle that she doesn't have much time to leave her business, so she doesn't see a lot of what goes on beyond her inn and the marketplace she visits.

The group will indeed attract some attention. In particular, a member or two of the thieves' guild, which operates in Nott, will take notice of Natasha. They may be looking at any jewelry or expensive trinket she's wearing. If she leaves alone, they will follow her. They're subtle and skilled, but if characters know what to look for, they'll be able to spot the thieves. You can decide where and how your group approaches the thieves. They'll be lightly armed, but these thieves rely on intimidating easy targets and picking pockets rather than bloodshed to get what they want.

If the group bribes them, the thieves will cooperate immediately. Otherwise, they may require some moderate physical intimidation first. Once they give up, they'll insist that they're only interested in stealing money and jewels, not people. They admit that only a few days ago, they were following a young man to steal his gold, but when they turned a corner down an empty alleyway to confront him the man had disappeared. Although mages using portals are a common sight in Castle Thorne, regular people in Nott would not practice such magic. They will point the group towards the alleyway which lies behind either 1. a seedy brothel or 2. a seedy gambling hall, depending on your group's preference.

Makes sense, ty!

We were wondering if they might've got any gold from Thorne for this little operation - if we had to state that before we commented here then no worries! Otherwise Kyle has some silver on him from his work, and may offer some of his offbrand goodberries on top of that to be cheeky (they taste really good!) But I imagine there might be some physical intimidation from Natasha and co at the start when the thieves try to corner her, so maybe a little bit of column a and little bit of column b (we are still threading)!

Seedy gambling hall sounds rad! They will follow the directions to they alleyway with the expectation that this could be a trap.

Yes, Thorne will grant them some gold to do this operation. They'll need to explain what their plan is, but they'll be given permission and can sign out an allocated sum.

Once they reach the alleyway, they'll find that there is unexpectedly a fresh trail of blood. It's possible this isn't related to the disappearance as it appears very new, but they may conclude that this could be part of a new abduction attempt. They can also follow the trail to make sure no one is in trouble regardless of whether or not it helps their current investigation.

They can, of course, ignore the blood and go inside the gambling hall to question patrons, split up, report back to Thorne, or otherwise approach this how best suits your plans.

All three of them will investigate the blood trail together, reasoning pretty quick that the gambling hall'll still be there if they hit a dead end on that trail. They'll each be on guard since the blood is pretty fresh, just in case they're walking into a fight or trap!

Following the blood trail, they discover that it leads in strange circles, as though the victim has been wandering aimlessly. Eventually, they can track him to the forest west of Nott. There, they will find a gravely injured man beneath a tree. Nearby, there's a hypnotic floating light. The irrswisch, or will-o'-the-wisp, are usually only found in lowland wetlands, which Thonre has almost none of.

You can decide how much if any of them fall under the irrswisch's sway. The irrswisch itself appears confused, like it's also lost, and flits around the woods without direction.

If any of them are familiar with common myths and legends on earth, they might recognize what the light is.

Player Name: Court
Character Name: Thancred Waters
Other characters involved: Reno

Action: Thancred and Reno have decided to visit a seedy bar in Nott, basically in the bad side of town. The thought is that it sounds like other than the Summoned, it's people whose disappearance might not be noticed (or at least no one would care that much) who were targeted, so they might hear things/learn clues in this part of the city.

Reno specifically is also trying to investigate Mat Cauthon's disappearance, having heard of it from Dante.
Thread: Thread
Notes: We were hoping to do something where they either have to act a bit to get more info, or perhaps Thancred could have a reason to sneak somewhere in the bar while Reno serves as a distraction. Just some thoughts, though! Give us whatever would make sense.

Edited 2023-02-25 21:39 (UTC)

Throughout the course of their investigation, Reno and Thancred will overhear that there's a man who frequently comes and goes from a room upstairs. This is unusual, as the man is not an employee of the inn and tavern. Suspiciously, he doesn't stay overnight as a guest, either.

While they can attempt to gain access to the upper floor any way you like, the simplest method would be to rent an inn room for the night. Since this is an official Thorne investigation, they'll be provided money from Thorne if they need it for their operation. They may need to explain to the innkeeper why they don't have any packs or bags if they're supposedly traveling. However, since the bar is seedy they won't be questioned too closely. The innkeeper will only warn them no funny business.

From there, they can locate the room that demonstrates signs of belonging to this man. They can do this by observing who comes and goes from the other rooms. The inn has only 4-5 rooms, so it won't take long.

Should they successfully locate the correct room, they'll have a short amount of time to sneak in and look around. The room is sparse and worn down. Careful searching will reveal a trunk with a false bottom. Inside it is a ledger that contains dates and monetary amounts. Tucked inside is a map. However, this map contains a wide range of marked coordinates, so they'll need to return to Castle Thorne to narrow locations down further.

If they're investigating the disappearance of Mat Cauthon or any of the Summoned who disappeared while outside the castle, they may discover that one of the areas on that map matches that person's last known location before disappearing. Where this area is depends on which character you decide on and where that person was last seen.

Reno and Thancred can determine last known location if the Lost character has a dropped item reported to Thorne or if someone simply witnessed them being taken.

Hi mods, this is amazing! They will definitely be grabbing a room so that they can investigate further and sneak into this guy's room to find the ledger and the map. With that in mind, we had a few questions!

- If they return to the castle with the map and show it to others who are investigating, would all of the coordinates be places that a Summoned was abducted? Or would there be other unknown coordinates that someone might want to check out / further investigate?

- As for the dates and monetary amounts in the ledger, would those also seem to link up with when someone was abducted? They'd be wondering if this suspicious guy was hired to help with the kidnappings.

Not all of the coordinates would be relevant. Only one would match with a site where one of the Summoned was taken.

The dates and monetary amounts would not link up. The ledger goes back about 3 years, suggesting he's a type of (likely illicit) businessman who does a service and collects a fee for anyone who can afford him. They may notice his fees have risen over time so he seems to be doing well for himself.

The earliest entries contain a reference to certain "Kestrel" with whom he split his fees. This person is no longer mentioned after the first year, implying a partnership that ended for an unknown cause.

They can choose to investigate this name or continue to pursue the coordinates. They can also solicit other characters to assist in looking into both avenues.

Oh, this is very juicy and interesting!

So as far as Thancred and Reno are concerned, they'll choose to go to the coordinates that match up with Mat's last known whereabouts to see if they can find anything there.

I have another idea of Thancred and Stephen (which I'll cover in a different comment), but beyond that, he'll be taking the map/ledger back to the castle to distribute the information to other Summoned who are investigating so they can potentially follow some of these leads as well.

As a note, if possible Thancred would make copies of all of these items rather than taking the originals. I don't know if he'd actually have the time for that, though, so if he had to just take them, he would.

He wouldn't have time to copy much of the ledger, but he can copy down a few of the coordinates and a page or so of the ledger. You're free to decide what he can reasonably memorize on his own past that.

You can let us know where Mat was last found according to his player. We'll provide further details from there!

Edited 2023-03-01 02:13 (UTC)

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funbreaker - 2023-03-01 05:45 (UTC) - Expand

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abraxasmods - 2023-03-03 17:48 (UTC) - Expand

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funbreaker - 2023-03-03 22:14 (UTC) - Expand

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abraxasmods - 2023-03-03 23:53 (UTC) - Expand

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funbreaker - 2023-03-03 23:55 (UTC) - Expand

Player Name: Court
Character Name: Thancred Waters
Other characters involved: Natasha Romanoff

Action: Thancred and Natasha are in the dock area in the seedy/rundown part of Nott, somewhere past the Hooks. (I'm not sure of the exact layout of the city, I'M DOIN' MY BEST.) They want to see if they can find any witnesses to disappearances that have occurred, especially since there was news of people vanishing along the coastline.

They're going to start with some young dockworkers / lookouts who may or may not be criminal to some degree. They'll be offering coin as a bribe if it's necessary. Nat more or less laid out the plan in the most recent tag of the linked thread.
Thread: Thread
Notes: Depending how this first interaction plays out, they may chat up some fishermen or other people too!

Hello! Before we proceed, we'd like to ask if you wish to set this before or after this incident involving a fisherman and a sea creature. This will influence what the dockworkers and fishermen talk about.

This thread is set early in week 1, so it would be before this incident!

Prior to the dosarak incident, one daytime dockworker says that 3 weeks ago when the ice was thicker, some of the fishermen who went ice fishing claim the ice trembled as though something was bumping up against the surface beneath. They were unable to see what it was. One fisherman claims his bucket of fish was stolen by a tentacle. He was alone and has a reputation of being a drunk. The dockworker shrugs and says the man must've accidentally knocked his bucket into the hole and was too embarrassed to admit it.

A second dockworker who works the graveyard shift will answer questions if he's paid a small sum. He says late one night about a week ago he was approached by someone who offered him money to let them rent a boat and to sail it across to the forested border of Castle Thorne. He turned them down, explaining he found the sum of money suspicious. He describes the person's appearance as "shifty" and that the clothing quite didn't match what natives in Thorne wear. Otherwise there was nothing unusual.

Hey mods! Sorry for the delay on this, and I know this was fairly early on in week 1 and therefore backdated by this point, but to follow up... Thancred and Natasha would definitely be curious about the second lead. If possible, they would try to hire a boat to cross the lake themselves (for a more reasonable sum) and poke around in that forested area in question. Would they find any of note when exploring?

Thanks!

They can cross the lake towards the forested area as long as the area is within Thorne's borders. Since this is earlier in Week 1, they'll likely find the same signs that others have spotted regarding the symbols and withered wildlife.

They can collect a sample of what they can including the painted black substance, which may have some use for Part 2 when seeking to dispel enchantments and protective wards on the island. The dockworker may also be used as a witness following the event, if witnesses are needed to apprehend the Acolytes or to collect more evidence.

Edited 2023-03-13 18:13 (UTC)

Player Name: Lena
Character Name: Rhy Maresh
Other characters involved: Lenore

Action: Rhy and Lenore are asking around the rural areas of Nott for witnesses who may have seen or heard anything from the abductions of either Summoned or the abductions throughout the last few weeks of their own. After hearing the rumor in Luna about the people in the countryside going missing, and since he's pretty involved in that area, Rhy was trying to learn more about it before the Summoned started getting grabbed as well and will go back to anyone he's already talked to with the additional context that they've been able to hear from some of the captive Summoned and that many native Abraxans are with them as well. They're all working on trying to find everyone. Rhy knows he doesn't have the power to promise anything, so he'll be careful with his words, but he will make it clear he wants to find and rescue as many people as possible, Summoned and native alike.

Thread: Thread

Notes: One of Rhy's recent event gains is the ability to read the prevailing emotion or general desire of a person through physical contact. This would only be in broad sweeps (e.g. they say they're angry, but they're actually sad). He hasn't learned to use this skill in depth yet, but if he was able to touch an NPC's hand or shoulder while talking to them, he'd get a clearer idea of how they feel, in addition to any info they'd be sharing aloud.

As a result of Rhy spending a large amount of time in Nott since their farmlands were burned, some of the townsfolk will recognize him and be on friendly terms with him. They may have even heard rumors that he got in a bit of trouble on their behalf, which they'll be grateful for. By proxy they'll assume Lenore is a friend of Rhy's and be friendly with her, as well.

The pair will receive the following details as they ask around:
1. One farmhand who used to work in the wheat fields tells them that the disappearances have been ongoing for months, if not longer. Though, in the recent week or two he's noticed the vanishings have increased. Several other farmhands can confirm his information. One says he saw a horse returning riderless from the woods to the west.

2. An older woman at the fish market will shrug off their questioning. If they pursue an answer, she will confess her husband disappeared last week. He went hunting and never came back, though she didn't report his death. Actually, she didn't try to look for him at all. She sounds bitter and resentful. Rhy can sense that she's afraid and dreads the idea of her husband returning safely.

Thank you! Following up first on #2 regarding the older woman.

Lenore will be very worried and empathetic the more she hears about disappearances, and she'll be especially empathetic to the woman who fears her husband. Rhy will privately share with her anything he senses from the woman, and Lenore's initial assumption will be that he's abusive. She asks Rhy to give her a moment alone with the woman, and Rhy will agree and back off, leaving them to speak privately.

Lenore's got some very specific history at fearing men and not feeling safe in one's own home. She would speak to the woman as one who has such experience, and will ask whether the woman's husband has hurt her or anyone dear to her.

The woman will reluctantly agree to meet with Lenore. She answers very little, and will only say that she can take care of herself now that she's on her own. She adds that she plans on leaving soon regardless to move in with her sister's family, and does not want anyone's charity as a result.

She will also tell Lenore the area he vanished from. This location would be consistent with any of the Summoned or other natives who went missing near the western woods in Nott. She wishes them well to find their friends, but firmly requests they do not look for her again.

Thank you mods! Lenore would like to ask her what work or industry it was that her husband did?

If she's disinclined to answer that, Lenore will thank the woman and wish her the best, and then she will instead ask around the area to see if other locals will tell her what the man's work was.

She will answer that he was a hunter but a poor one. This is what he was doing when he disappeared.

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