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

[abraxasmods]

Event #12 - COORDINATION (1)

go to the OOC Plotting Post or IC Event Log

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This post is for coordination to prevent the IC Event Log from being overrun by OOC mod and player communications. Forms and instructions are available in this post.

Use this post to:

◎ Coordinate event plots with the mods
◎ Request a mod dice roll
◎ Submit noticeable actions
◎ Write rapid IC exchanges
◎ Investigate a plot point or track ongoing investigations

If you have any questions, see the Questions thread on the OOC Plotting Post.

Available Forms

For details on each form, see the sections below.
Be sure to reply under your assigned category if applicable.

Mod Communications

If you have an idea related to the event plot, communicate and coordinate with us here. This includes NPC meetings, requesting resources, destroying the environment, or anything else that may require mod permission. If we can't accommodate a request for any reason, we'll do our best to offer an alternative!

Contact Us

<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Character Name:</b> <b>Request:</b> (Describe what you'd like to do)

Randomization Request

Request a mod dice roll at any time for outcomes and consequences. Some actions require a dice roll to proceed, such as attacking an acolyte NPC or attempting to break anything major in the environment (chains, doors, walls). If you aren't sure, you can check with us.

Request here

<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Character Name:</b> <b>Action:</b> (Describe what your character is attempting to do and how) <b>Thread:</b> <a href="urlhere">Thread</a> (Link to the thread where this is taking place) <b>Notes:</b> (Anything else)

Notable Actions

Submit notable actions that are likely to gain attention from other players, such as fights or disturbances.

Submit a notable action

<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Character Name:</b> <b>When:</b> (Approximately when is this incident taking place?) <b>Where:</b> (Where is this incident taking place?) <b>What:</b> (Describe the incident) <b>Link:</b> <a href="urlhere">Thread</a> (If applicable. Actions can be submitted without a thread if they're minor, such as if your character snores loudly every night.)

IC Exchanges

Use this option for interactions you'd like to play out, but setting up a standard IC thread would be impracticable. For instance, if your character wants to speak to several people about an event they witnessed together, you might want to do an IC exchange.

Treat this like an informal IC network thread done in person, where character reactions, snippets of dialogue, and other details can be quickly played out and concluded in-game without committing to a full log thread. Exchanges are game canon and can count towards Activity Check under the category of a Network thread.

Start an IC exchange

Using the provided form is optional. Begin a thread freeform if you prefer.

<b>Where & when:</b> (Where and when is this exchange taking place?) <b>Purpose:</b> (What's the reason for this exchange?) <b>THREAD START</b> (Write the scenario, your character's actions, and any dialogue as usual)

Investigations

Several investigation paths are available for characters to interact with. Each assignment group will have their own set of investigation paths. You can investigate something as many times as you want, as long as there's a reasonable explanation for your character making their second attempt. Interacting with investigations might carry IC consequences. We'll try to telegraph when characters are at high risk of triggering something major. To investigate, fill out the form, then comment under the item you're investigating.

Interact with an Investigation

<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Character Name:</b> <b>Other characters involved:</b> <b>Action:</b> (Describe what your character is attempting to do and how. If multiple characters are taking action, include their actions.) <b>Thread:</b> <a href="urlhere">Thread</a> (Link to a top level or any other relevant threads. This is so we can review what the characters involved have been doing to best flavor the investigation outcome for you!) <b>Notes:</b> (Anything else)

Comments

[carmesi]

I'll meet you in the Tertiary Settlement.
I have to attend to some business there tomorrow.

[it would give alucard enough time to travel there.]

[cryptsleeper]

I'll be there in late morning.

[And so he is. Alucard is good at trying to lurk and failing at it, which is exactly what he is doing at the Tertiary Settlement's outskirts, trying to act as if he isn't about to investigate someone else's house in the hopes of information.

And/or maybe break a few things not entirely by accident out of rage and spite.]

[carmesi]

[alucard stands out not because of what he is (so much), as to the fact that such a fair man has not yet graced the summoning rituals of solvunn. an outsider, if nothing else, and she is sure those in the tertiary settlement might react to him accordingly.

wanda approaches.]

I never got your name.

[he got his—should he connect the dots.]

[cryptsleeper]

Alucard.

[He's not in the mood for pleasantries or politeness, but Alucard can at least own up to not having his best manners on.]

Apologies for not sharing that sooner. I am not at my best.

[carmesi]

You're not the only one. [she, too, isn't here for pleasantries. it's just easier to refer to him with a name for later referencing. she starts walking towards the settlement.] This way.

[should he need a crash course on any specificities of solvunn, she is open to questions.]

This is the settlement Josselyn oversaw for some time as part of the council. It was around the Dimming when we noticed the other two council heads being restrained around her.

[at least alucard's approach into the settlement won't be questioned much with wanda being at his side.]

Families had been 'disappearing' for some months now. People just assumed they moved out of the commune. It's likely she was working her rituals from back then.

[cryptsleeper]

[He'll get there. Right now, the important stuff is what is up with Josselyn and the strong desire to break and enter.]

--Interesting. It was during those negotiations that guards were overheard remarking about disappearances in Thorne as well, which is what should have made all of us start to take notice. [That issue is for later, admittedly.]

Was it known that she had any particular problems at hand? Or strong disagreements about a topic in the past year?

[carmesi]

It apparently has been happening there for a while, too.

[wanda nods, in agreement. it makes her wonder if the free cities did not also have people disappearing? not that she's heard of.]

I spoke with Lyle from Nott who confirmed as much, but thought it was because people moved away from Thorne.

[as it were—]

They— ...the Council tends to be very secretive about their circumstances, even with us. I know that after our boat trip during the Dimming, this agreement about sending wood for building to the Free Cities made her pretty unpopular with those in her settlement.

[cryptsleeper]

We're all going to look back and berate ourselves for not realizing the problem sooner.

[There is no point Alucard is certain of beyond that one. He knows how grim his tone sounds, the statement about Thorne's failure to catch the problem doesn't help either. His face can't become more morose, but he can become more tense as they walk.]

Was it because she was redirecting resources? Or something else entirely that inevitably feeds into this nightmare?

[carmesi]

[they certainly will. perhaps it was their own ignorance, but more so the natives' desire to look the other way. she wonders if those involved had some say in making it seem like this was really no big deal at all.

wanda steps aside for a gaggle of children who run past them, turning back to glance at alucard, and keeping on the path toward josselyn's house.]

Redirecting. Solvunn needed the lumber to build boats for fishing, but we found ourselves lacking. There was no prior action that hinted to her being involved in this.

—but maybe she was trying to smuggle something into the Free Cities, not so much mess with the fishermen here.

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard doesn't exactly try to shrink as the group goes past, but he feels exposed here in a way that he doesn't in the Free Cities. There are crowds. He's just one face among many, not an obvious stranger. Strange how that is what he misses most in the moment.]

Perhaps. Or maybe it was just getting enough people there to do what needed to be done, and a lumber shipment was an excuse so. This-- [Alucard reaches into his pocket, retrieving the wood sample from the Libertas work site. The maggots in the jar have since passed, but are still there all the same.] Was what we found in the Free Cities.

[carmesi]

[that's the question, isn't it? how many others were involved, not just in solvunn—but throughout the different factions?

when alucard produces the wood sample, she stops and looks it over, before putting up her hand should he allow her to take it. her walking pace slows, but her eyes are fixed on the piece of wood.

rotten, and... something else. something oddly magical about it.

she returns the jar to him.]

Did you find out anything about it?

[cryptsleeper]

I was informed in the other settlement that it is used for rituals, usually with animal sacrifice, and that it's supposed to be highly regulated.

[Alucard doesn't let go of the sample. It is the only one he has now, the rest of the pile burnt and then burnt again to be on the safe side.]

It's supposed to be blessed by elders too. Multiple times. Which is also worrying. But that was it. I've half a mind to contact Luna and ask for their perspective.

[carmesi]

Blessed by elders.

[highly regulated, too. were some elders forced into this, or did they do it voluntarily? or was that part of the processed waived through some other means?

worrisome throughout.]

Josselyn's home has many jars there. Perhaps you will find something similar in there once we get there.

[and she must also add—]

A boy in this settlement had been recently haunted by a 'white-faced demon'. I followed the trail to a corrupted shrine, and I had to — purify it, so to speak. I asked the boy again, and it was someone wearing the masks those taken have described to me.

This has been in the works for a while.

[cryptsleeper]

If the ritual it is meant for was done recently, perhaps a sample was kept. That fact is going to raise eyebrows when the immediacy is done and the question of how did we miss this and what do we do to that woman arise.

[Politics, in the end. Nothing Alucard has ever dealt with (often to his detriment, as it so turns out. He's still wholly unaware of the power vacuum the death of his father created. That he created.)]

I wonder if any empty spots on those shelves might be of help.

[What's missing, can something be retroenginered? One might live in hope.]

May I ask how the shrine was restored to it's former glory? Religion is hardly a factor in the Free Cities, so I am wholly ignorant.

[carmesi]

[josselyn better hope that wanda is not the one to find her first, for she has a number of ways she has considered how she wants to kill the woman. she leaves those thoughts of him unanswered for the time being.

no point in berating themselves for things they 'missed' until now. the fact that they were separated from each other and kept busy with the threat of war hanging over their heads did not help matters either.]

Faith had nothing to do with it.

I was able to enter this... dark aura in the shrine using magic. [wits and skills, using her chaos magic to draw herself out of the beast's jaw, so to speak. to destroy its entirety, and remove it from existing within their realm.] I battled dark shadows.

[cryptsleeper]

Interesting. [The statement is genuine, although what Alucard doesn't do is prod for details about what the shadows were like. He doesn't demand personal details as a matter of respect. He's private, that need extends to everyone else.]

What was the most effective magic, and how long did it take? And in retrospect, was there anything in that fight that might make sense of our current moment?

[carmesi]

I used my own: Chaos Magic.

[neither high nor academic nor new—just her own. wanda takes a turn, expects alucard to follow. they are at close reach of josselyn's house now.]

But I cannot tell you exactly how long it lasted. It was as if I had been swept away into another realm for a moment. The companion I had with me could not enter with me. [hm—] I saw the arcana that others have found—with the keyhole and the upturned star.

[all the signs, but nothing to make connections with.]

[cryptsleeper]

From your home, I imagine?

[Alucard just wants to have the right of that detail. He follows Wanda with the turn, considering the information.]

I wonder if we'll need to do something similar in the days ahead to bring this to a close. [That arcana sign though. Alucard breathes out, annoyed at the information rather than at anyone in particular.] We're missing one or two context notes that would slide everything into place. Even a hint of motivation would be useful.

[carmesi]

From home.

[that way he can tie that before it becomes a loose end.

his frustration is something that she, too, shares. they're working with sufficient information, but missing those pieces that will really let them see the whole picture.

they pass by several houses, and stop at one that seems quite abandoned. no one but josselyn lived in it, after all.]

Here we are.

[she could leave him to his own investigations, for she herself has not outright looked around the house herself. she trusts the findings of those who have.]

I'm meeting with someone I know back in the Primary Settlement. There are some pieces of information we're trying to pull together to get the warded door in her house open.

I can send word to you once I know what they've found.

Okay we can end it here and move on to new things!

[cryptsleeper]

[Alucard considers the house he's looking at. Beyond abandoned, it seems ordinary enough. Still, he supposes, but that goes with the territory. Foreboding, but only because of what it might hold now.

They come to a stop, and for it, there's a polite nod of his head.]

Thank you for seeing me here. Hopefully I'll locate something that has been missed.