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lostcompass2021-09-04 09:40 pm
groundrules) wrote in lostcompass2021-09-04 09:40 pm
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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!
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