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lostcompass2021-08-07 08:03 pm
groundrules) wrote in lostcompass2021-08-07 08:03 pm
arc ii: taravast | arrival
Welcome to Taravast! Spend some quality time with the the brief of the citadel locations & team assignments. The below events should keep characters busy until around 31 August. Feel free to make your own posts and logs, though some mod-led log posts will be put on for certain events. Don't forget to share your character plans here!
The Story So Far page has been updated with a summary of the Stairs of Sighs interlude happenings, and a new NPC inbox featuring Taravast's who's who is now up. You can find a link to the old inbox and all your threads there.
Lastly: questions.
Mazyar leads the caravan into Taravast in the footsteps of a grandiose convoy of large animals, carts of gold, artefacts and spices — the retinue of the foreign princess Odile, come to persuade young Macaluso to pick her among the dozens vying to become his consort.
- ■ Yes, characters are effectively Odile’s back-up dancers when Macaluso receives her in the main piazza of Taravast. Characters will receive local garments, their upgraded communicators and masks, as per Taravast custom. Anurr and his undead go mysteriously missing.
■ Earn an ally by supporting Odile's marital cause. Macaluso enjoys gifts and exotic act performances, and he might think better of Odile for an exceptional offering. Alternatively, there’s good old-fashioned wingmanery. Let Odile be your muse.
OBJECTIVE: Figure out three gifts or hustles to raise Odile in Macaluso's graces. Or she can go back to swiping right. Masks will keep Macaluso from recognising you later...!
Pride once tattered, the party falls in the sticky hands of eccentric and influential Lady Rigarda, a friend of the Merchant who reveals the game:
- ■ Macaluso and his cousin Vannozza will soon begin their electoral campaign to win the Conclave's support to succeed their grandfather Bonaccorso as Doxe.
■ Bonaccorso cautiously refuses to restart the ancient beacon of Taravast, but gratitude could compel his heir. To cover all bases, characters have been divided to support both contenders, but those assigned to Macaluso have been told to discreetly sabotage him so Vannozza triumphs.
■ Rigarda allocates characters their Taravast identities, introducing them to key noblemen and their benefactors. For good or ill, many in Taravast have already heard of their reputations. Characters will be put in Macaluso or Vannozza’s wing of the Palace of the Doxe. Rigarda will warn them against public contact that betrays their collaboration. The communicator channel is private to the party.
■ Bonaccorso’s kin will prove scarce: Macaluso busily receives his suitors, flaunting his marriage as a recourse to strengthen Taravast's foreign ties. Vannozza hunts or visits the healing and necromantic districts. Gossips say she is often indisposed.
■ Attaryl witches will be apprehensive distant from fire magic practitioners, while Bessis adepts will lure them into their fold, or begrudge them the liberal use of 'their' arts.
■ Over three-four days, characters can roam Taravast, explore court, start befriending the districts or poke and prod at various magical and art institutions. 'Borrow' local garments and guard uniforms to infiltrate the academies, the inner areas of the healers' district, or the reception rooms of Macaluso and Vannozza. Careful of curious glances: you may find yourselves followed by invisible eyes, amid a fleeting sinking feeling.
■ On day three, demonstrators will invade the gardens of the Palace of the Doxe, objecting to Macaluso for 'selling out' Taravast with his marriage plans. Macaluso sends guards out, escalating the largely peaceful demonstration to violent clashes. Help the poorly armed protestors escape — discreetly, if you work for Macaluso — seize them, or watch on. The floor is yours.
■ Some protestors (...or even characters) will end up imprisoned with shackles and magical wards in the jailhouse of the Rooms of Justice. You could break these folks out.
OBJECTIVE: figure out your stance on the protesters, set up base and explore. You'll need it.
Macaluso will welcome his visiting royal suitors at a masquerade ball, with beloved cousin Vannozza and her allies also in attendance.
- ■ The pair's electoral champions — that's you! — will receive top seats at two separate tables, with Macaluso even bringing a delicate celebratory confection to his guests.
■ Enjoy that sweet tooth while you have it. Those who consume the confection will find their senses and their strength gradually sapped, threatening to kill them within three days. The poisoning, which will not affect characters assigned to Vannoza, will be blamed on a protestor found dead in the kitchens.
■ Macaluso will bring in healers to address the sickness. Stumped, one of them will suggest a superstitious all-cure: the feathers of a magical owl, whose kind was last seen in the Spina hunting grounds. Alas, only the lady Vannozza enters the site freely, keeping the ground keys in her quarters. Another healer will recommend the necromantic district and its underground 'potions' brewers.
OBJECTIVE: ...stay alive?
NOTE: Sign up your character to get poisoned here, with caution: unless characters work to find an antidote, one might not be discovered.
Any member of either team can look for the cure, though Vannozza’s people should be discreet in their pursuit or package their attempts to save the enemy as somehow benefitting the lady.
Some pre-discussed quests or custom plot opportunities emerging from previous involvement:
no subject
A few questions:
1. Will this win her favor with any of the people allied with Vanozza? Or will she court suspicion from them as well?
2. Roughly how much of her time will be devoted to the lady, will she have time away from the court, and how extensive is the supervision by the guards? If she leaves, will she be followed?
3. What's the gossip on the street about Vanozza? Any speculation about her health/temperament/lovers/whatever?
4. How much access does this get her into the inner workings of the court - access to private rooms where she can explore, people she can meet, secret entrances and tunnels she can discover to sneak people in?
no subject
As for your questions :
1. Seeing that she will be yet another 'lover' in the eyes of the court, Wen Qing won't earn too much suspicion. Some jealousy, also a great deal of sycophantic entreaties from those who hope Wen Qing might whisper the right word in Vannozza's ear on their behalf. So, altogether, she'll have some favour with Vannozza's allies.
2. Mostly, she will undertake daily checks of Vannozza's pulse and conduct a physical examination. She will find that the lady has a weakness of the lungs and a spreading faintness, along with a startling... dark eczema that seems to spread on her back, now and then. Vannozza will share that she was born with her malady and urged to hide it — and that her grandfather Bonaccorso, who has always favoured her, supplied an ointment to help her navigate these breakouts. Unfortunately, Bonaccorso won't always be here to provide for her, with his willingness to retire as an indication that his time is running short. Vannozza must find her own cure — ideally, a permanent one.
3. The lady Vannozza is well-liked among the people for her firm, calculated, composed demeanour. Firmer than her cousin, she is believed capable to take the hard decisions that will defend Taravast against the undead, should the latter ever approach them. She is also feared and seems likely able to control both witches of the Attaryl and of the Bessis, implying a lower likelihood of the kind of war between sorcery schools that led to Arha's pilgrimage through the Stairs of Sighs. Some nevertheless think Vannozza's efficacy translates as ruthlessness and aren't too fond of her unwillingness to marry, while moving from lover to lover with disdain for tradition. No one knows anything about her health at court — if Wen Qing visits the healing and necromantic districts, she might be able to tell from the soft glances and meaningful silences of the medics and sorcerers there that Vannozza comes by often.
4. Wen Qing will have an easier time of entering Vannozza's quarters, and a more reasonable explanation for finding herself in dubious corridors. Her only trouble is if Vannozza hears back — she'd have to invent an excuse ( "lost that darn needle for the #487892038923rd time") then. She can also try to ask Vannozza questions in confidence — though you'll have to ask them, fair and square.