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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:
Re: QUESTIONS
-He would also probably try to learn from the academics using his influence there based on his given role, pretending or actually doing 'miracles' to keep up his role. He'd be specifically interested in learning about visions here cause those tend to be pretty informative where he is from (if not incredibly difficult to interpret).
-What could be learned about the beacon? Is it easily accessible since it has been forgotten/off? Can any magic be sensed locked inside of it?
no subject
Let's say he'd get three disciples, for a start, and they'd like him to teach them the basics. To start, how to regulate their magic and focus on the dead. Would he be able to share any very low level spells or meditation methods or any other aspect of sorcery that could help with that? Depending on how he treats his starting group of ducklings, I am happy to give him more disciples over time.
They would, of course, pay him some coin. Call it............. 3,000 coins a week, each. Prepare his meal. Hey, they might even run his basic errands.
2. Learning about visions is definitely possible! In the first month, they'd start him on boring ol' academia — visions in history, how to tell visions from dreams, critical visions of the past. All theory for now.
3. The beacon is fully warded off, and it appears 'dead.' It can be visited like an archeological relic of sorts. Locals can, however, tell Wrath that the beacon can be 'revived' by the Doxe — though they wouldn't know how. Bonaccorso superstitiously refuses to engage with the beacon, and Taravast's isolationism under his rule aligns with that view. What good can more foreigners do?
no subject
That would be amazing! He has disciples (well, followers who sign their souls away to be in House Wrath) in his own universe, and he treats them fairly while still being their leader/ruler, capable of being harsh but only if necessary. He is even friends with one of his followers and calls him his most trusted-associate. He would be able to share with them some low level spells and rituals from his understanding of magic (they specifically have spells to help witches refocus on their magic that he has done for Emilia). He is quite familiar with the dead and souls in general.
What good disciples!!
2. Awesome! He loves boring ol' academia and would probably enjoy learning even if it's all theory at the moment.
3. This is great information, and I think he would visit to have a closer look.
no subject
That said, Wrath can start picking up general curse breaking: the first step would be curse containment, meaning... you've guessed it, time to look at wards. Oh, what fun that will be.
Re: afterlife/souls — Taravast is a bit of a blending cauldron of foreign and local mores, so you could expect a diversity of takes on what happens after you breathe your last: from various divinities believed to take your soul under their stewardship, to reincarnation theories, and notions that man only has one life before becoming one with the earth, or even denials that the soul exists.
no subject
Both for his own reasons, and it seems a useful skill to have in a place like this.
So nice, time to learn some wards. He knows how to do some warding against enemies/his brothers, but warding a curse would be fun.
Thank you for the information. I deeply appreciate it, and I love the lore of everything so very much.
no subject
Thank you!
no subject