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lostcompass2021-09-04 09:40 pm
groundrules) wrote in lostcompass2021-09-04 09:40 pm
Entry tags:
bring your dragons, your hordes
Poison-free and proud, characters can tap deeper into their espionage skills over the next two weeks to prepare for an inevitable infiltration, as Macaluso and Vannozza officially compete for electoral favour.
A log covering the intrusion will go up on 17-18 SEPTEMBER. (Parts of) that event will double as a test drive meme, and we might try incorporating the suggestion to consider tdm activity as a game invite this time. Feel free to leave your own plotting comment!
At player discretion, characters who were poisoned during Macaluso’s banquet can fully recover within 1-5 days of consuming their cure.
The witches of Bessis promise their vote to whomever of Macaluso and Vannozza presents them the most extraordinary magical item at an upcoming celebration.
■ Macaluso asks help as he sets out to capture and enhance a water dragon as his offering.
■ Instead of participating in the competition, Vannozza deploys the party to ruin the draconic efforts and to inspect a recent mystery at the halls of the Bessis, hoping to blackmail the witches. An opportunity arises to steal a map from a visiting Bessis, which could help with infiltrating their headquarters later.
■ Characters can be volunteered for a RNG drawn encounter with Macaluso and Vannozza's grandfather, don Bonaccorso.
■ Characters can help with any of the quests below, irrespective of their team membership — just be discreet.
■ Setting out to stitch back the tatters of his reputation, Macaluso competes with Vannozza to win the vote of the witches of Bessis, whom he has previously patroned. His suitors remain at court.
■ The Bessis and Attaryl are Taravast’s two leading sorcery schools, both formally supporting the Doxe and the Conclave. The Bessis specialise in elemental magic, particularly fire. The Attaryl are given to diplomacy, prophecy and mental sorcery. The two schools were previously at war.
■ The Bessis challenge Macaluso and Vannozza to show them extraordinary or rare magic at the upcoming annual celebration of their alliance with the Attaryl.
■ Macaluso seeks out exotic magic. Vannozza takes a different approach to persuading the Bessis.
■ Past Taravast’s canals, in the city-side bay, Macaluso has rallied a fleet of fishing boats, offering fishermen and his supporters a substantial reward to capture a rare white dragon whose magic can be enhanced with ice sorcery.
■ White dragons migrate south this time of the year, seldom coming close to Taravast. Fishermen lure them by diving deep underwater with familiar shards, for some Sa-Hareth survivors — they originate from one of the mirrors that can consume anguish, fear or discomfort.
■ Some sorcerers will summon violent ice pellets or storm the waters to draw the dragons near — also catching the attention of nearby dolphins, sharks, sea creatures and mermaids now alive.
■ Dive in or protect locals throughout their efforts. Sorcery permits characters to breathe and speak up to an hour underwater, courtesy of a thrall can be applied thrice a day, with breaks in between sessions.
■ Those who dive very deeply can encounter the underwater wreckage of a former district of Taravast.
■ Capturing a dragon will take roughly a week. Once it is near, it can be subdued with cold magic, ice or borrowed mirror shards or any other similar tricks up your sleeve. Macaluso’s sorcerers will reduce its scale and transfer it into an ancient chest.
■ The captured dragon will sojourn comfortably in its new abode. Macaluso pledges it will be released after it is put before the Bessis. No dragons were hurt in the making of this quest.
■ Characters can take turns
■ Plot dragon shenanigans to directly detain the beauty.
■ Vannozza suspects the Bessis are too biased in her cousin’s favour to award her the vote fairly. Her associates in the necromantic district report that local necromancers have increasingly visited the Bessis halls, hinting the witches are hiding something fragile, potentially incriminating and valuable.
■ Obviously, that secret's game to blackmail the Bessis. Vannozza assigns characters in her employ who can discreetly draw in their counterparts who serve Macaluso to chase any information around court. Ask specific questions here.
■ She tasks her supporters to sabotage Macaluso’s attempts to increase the captured white dragon’s magical abilities by distracting visiting sorcerers from their rites, or removing the amplifying beacons left by the creature’s pool. Beware the guards — and destroy the cold beacons before they freeze your hands. Macaluso’s employees could, of course, always... accidentally kick one or two away too.
■ A last assignment: a leading practitioner of the Bessis, don Urbano de Fiescho, has returned from fundraising abroad. He is spending a few nights at the palace to catch up with Doxe Bonaccorso. He is overheard saying he has rescued many long lost artefacts of the Bessis from foreign hands — including a map to the Bessis halls. Get it.
■ Incidentally, don Urbano is also a lecher of great self-importance, given to gambling and flaunting his skills. He can be detained in the game halls, if needed.
■ Four guards are posted before don Urbano’s rooms. The balcony door is protected by a wall of fire that dissipates for five seconds every five minutes. Inside, only a small caged owl that sleeps. Several scrolls, three jewellery pieces and a tome are spread out over Urbano’s table. Move quickly and silently: if the owl wakes, anyone in its line of vision will be paralysed in place until she blinks.
■ Plot great theft here, vandals. Getting the map will give a substantial advantage for the next event.
■ Word has spread in the necromantic district that the Bessis request the services of able necromancers, feeding
■ Don Bonaccorso asks to speak to a character under Macaluso and Vannozza’s employment in an audience. Drop a line here to submit your character for a RNG draw. This will mean a quick lightly threaded interaction in the NPC inbox, so please be available for it!
HAVE YOU HEARD, HAVE YOU HEARD?
Here for all your very specific questions regarding Vannozza's assignment to get more information on what the Bessis might be hiding.
Please mention the kind of people your character would be asking.
In the interest of fairness: two questions/character.
Return of the paperman life:
I can have him schmooze around court too but why not use paperman life? It's been a while since it was last relevant, clearly revival is due!
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I can offer you a meeting with a Bessis messenger carrying news from abroad or a meeting with an Attaryl official.
Which does paperman want?
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The messenger is a woman whose deferential speech towards don Urbano suggests she is lower ranked than he is. She materialises abruptly within his quarters, though Urbano's lacklustre surprise suggests she arrives at an agreed time.
They exchange some pleasantries. The woman expresses gratitude for Urbano's efforts in raising coin for their school. They are not as skilled in seducing the gentry as the Attaryl, or as privileged in receiving donations. She has not been as fortunate in her own fundraising attempts. She travelled south, where Urbano headed north.
The discoveries of southern citadels frightened her. Everywhere, the undead have either infested the grounds, or show signs of rearing their heads. The lords of the dead have formed their alliance, seeking to conquer all available territories. She has heard of only one exception — Sa-Hareth in the west, where they say the independent undead force of Anurr has regained local ground. One group of undead is no better than another, she says.
Based on her findings, if there is a cure for the undeath sickness, the other citadels have not found it. Ellethia's experimental sorcerers would likely have taken on the challenge — but, unhelpfully, Ellethia fell first. They must consider donating some of their funds to the healing schools of Taravast and assist them in study, quickly. The question is not if they too will see the undead roaming their streets, but when.
They should also prepare for war, if the undead lords turn their sights on Taravast, though don Bonaccorso has done well to negotiate the citadel's freedom by offering magical resources that helped the undead take over other cities.
Don Urbano, for his part, appears concerned but resigned.
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I'll seeeee if I can get that out sooner rather than later, if just so people can potentially react to/make use of what's learned to decide if their take on Lord M is any different in the face of learning just what the Bessis are finding out and worried over... or what kind of healing schools in Taravast have been working on this. Or you know, if Bessis also are gonna screw themselves over in their fear!
Yaaay!
Plus that drop on don Bonaccorso, lmf, does he have something to guard against each way he helped other cities fall? Merchant, truly, would you like Taravast to burn? Asking for a friend.
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Also willing to transport your body shell as needed lmf. This is his thank you for dealing with the ghosts don't even mention it.
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He can put on his best "I am obviously a child who needs help" act (it's bad). And if that doesn't work he has family that were made for this... if he reaches out to them.
You're very welcome.
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I'll poke them and see if he'll have company. Just watch Five get very matter of fact about this. Don't question why any of this is happening, he's knows about this and it definitely works.
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I'll still top level gdiabout the poison treatment and ask- how the necromancers' relationship with the Bessis and Attaryl have been in the first place, before the contest between the cousins started
and
- has something been brought or created recently by the Bessis or the Attaryl that is of interest to the necromancers
... yes he will ask with regards to both schools, just in case.
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It would be nice if notifications were a thing.— the necromancers, the healers and the 'proper sorcerers' (Bessis, Attaryl, the minor schools) have always been distinct and disparate. They don't overlap in terms of remit, and they don't butt heads. The high position of the Bessis and Attaryl and their overall court influence make them the envy of most practitioners on a practical level. But necromancers wouldn't feel threatened by their existence, or the reverse. Attitudes within the sorcery schools towards necromancy largely vary, from interest to tolerance to disgust.
— nothing has been publicly created, shown or studied by either school that the necromancers are aware of. They find both schools have largely stagnated, too busy bickering among themselves — despite their public kinship — to really advance their crafts. It is known not to meddle with the Bessis, or — like the Attaryl learned — they'll burn you. It is known to thread lightly with the Attaryl, or they'll weaponise whatever political influence stays at their disposal to ruin you and your prospects. But, over time, not even the threats of these entities have changed. They remain as they were, and necromancers, who are more given to experimentation, find this unsustainable.
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She'll also ask among the guards if there have been any visits from the Bessis, unknown necromancers, or anyone who is unusual, to Vannozza's quarters.
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— Vannozza has continued to receive her slew of healers and necromancers. The only abnormality has been the increase of necromancer visits — though Vannozza will disclaim she is furiously exchanging information to glean the mystery of the Bessis. During their daily sessions, however, Wen Qing might notice that the mould-like eczema on Vannozza's back has deepened and expanded once more.
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Emilia and Lily are finally going to take the offered tour at the Bessis magic school. Lady V might not see it as a slight in this case, since she wants dirt on them and they can just be like it's all for you, boo <3.
Our questions*:
- During the tour, would they be able to learn anything of interest, even if inadvertently? i.e., restricted areas they're pulled away from, people from the school discussing things nearby where they can eavesdrop.
- In Lily's case, any interesting areas for potential apparition (to sneak in late at night, potentially)?
If this isn't specific enough and you need more, please let me know and I'd be happy to narrow it down further.
*This question is all mine, unrelated, and kind of silly but: would Emilia be able to gain access to any of the kitchens to make meals here and there? Or even just to gather some herbs every now and then.
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Sorry about this! If you'd have asked a bit earlier, or if you want to do this again later, the results would be a bit more promising!
ii. Given the recent poisoning, Emilia would be allowed to use a small part of servants' kitchens, for one hour of the day. She'll find they cleanse anything she uses and throw away anything she leaves behind — just mindful of any further poisoning. She can gather herbs as she wishes!
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Emilia is also worried about poison, so I think she'd want to make her own food for herself/others, and she'd understand their precautions. She is also not fussy at all about station, being a peasant from Sicily, and I can see her trying to befriend some of the servants if she can, the more she takes advantage of that hour per day thing.
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