activity check + spookytober

[groundrules]

Hi folks! You can find the October activity check (AC) and admin below:

OCTOBER ACTIVITY CHECK

AC is done in-house, and you do not need to do anything unless your character is listed below. Please try to use character tags for posts and logs you tag into — it helps track your activity.

Regular activity requirements are one of the following during the AC month:

■ a network post
■ OR 10 text/network-style comments across at most two threads
■ OR five log comments across at most two threads

Activity can be carried out on either the game communities or character inboxes.

In September, I couldn’t find sufficient activity for...

Shen Qingqiu ( softheartedshizun ) — RECLAIMED FOR REGULAR OCTOBER AC
Vanya Hargreeves ( remugient ) — SECOND STRIKE | RECLAIMED FOR 1.5 x AC IN OCTOBER
Wen Kexing ( wenderer ) — RECLAIMED

Comment here or PM @ groundrules until 5 October if you want to reclaim your character, or if they have September activity that was missed! In an effort to tighten up on AC requirements a bit, this is the last month when characters with two consecutive strikes can be reclaimed.

OTHER ADMIN

■ Our resident Eleven player has put up a COMMUNAL DRAGON RESCUE LOG, if you want to party and play out the beast smuggling until 8-9 October. Thank you!

■ A CR meme will go up tomorrow. Also, if you folks ever want to post OOC memes, floor’s all yours too.

■ The October calendar has been updated — it’s leaner until October to give everyone a chance to unwind from the bustle and pursue their own plots for a change.

■ Do you guys want a scary/horror event to mark the end of October, or are we good with the current creepy levels? DROP YOUR VOTE HERE over the next week.

■ The Story So Far page has been updated with a summary of September plot events.

■ For a refresher on who's on #TeamVannozza or #TeamMacaluso, the list lives here.


PLOT ROLLS & QUESTS

Some pre-discussed quests or custom plot opportunities resulting from recent involvement below. Comment here if you’d like to request a plot roll (or quest) — but you must commit to playing it out, without handwaving. Please mention if you want a funny/wtf?, political or exploration plot roll.Those who received unrequested plot rolls can choose to neglect them!

■ Chu Wanning
■ Hermione Granger & Anakin Skywalker
■ Beitang Moran
■ Wrath

Comments

[groundrules]

I'm afraid i need you guys to be more specific when you ask me this stuff, because unfortunately I can't figure out what 'animal friends' means — and where they would be (as I imagine he's not asking every creature in the palace).

[wooden_one]

Probably not, haha! Let me direct Kiki here!

[topoiran]

Heh, the usual - rodents, insects, birds tend to be his go-to ones - and after the findings in the Urbano journal, Su Xunxian will be interested in investigating fishy stuff. Since... the living matching the undead must come from somewhere.

So this will catch his attention.

[groundrules]

Okay — going off this, there should be no birds, rodents or fish in the relevant areas. Possibly some insects, but being the Doxe's wing quarters, I imagine they'd be breaking their backs to keep the place tidy.

You'd probably be better off sneaking in a dog.

[topoiran]

He can do that. Additionally, if the Doxe in his healing endeavors got one of the snakes they got from the way to Taravast...

[groundrules]

I'm unfortunately struggling to think of a way to introduce an animal in — it's the reception hall of an old and sickly high-level official, so I'm not sure realistically how that'd work. Do you have any ideas? How would you want to get an animal in?

It wouldn't be able to get any information retrospectively, but if you want to plant one for a few days to see if it can get you any clues in the wake of everything.

[topoiran]

OKAY brain maybe... slightly here before it falls asleep but.

- Someone showing how much power he (assumed) has by bringing in a pet
- Insects that did sneak in, or spiders
- An old and imperious cat who comes back in no matter how many times they chase her/him away

... also good gods, whatever happened was right in the reception hall... nice.

[groundrules]

I think inflicting a gift on the man might work too, you do have a few uhhhhh "godly" or "healer" type figures among the ranks. They could pretend to be giving a gift to bolster the Doxe's welfare.

[wooden_one]

...or maybe an apology gift? A Sorry I Interrogated Your Healers type gift? (Even if he doesn't entirely mean it but he perpetually has that sort of cold, emotionless face anyway who can even tell).

[groundrules]

N-no, lil dude.

Get someone else to sign off on the gift.

Yours isn't gonna pass, Chu Wanning.

But hey, a good CR opportunity, shrouding your shame? (Beg help nicely.)

[wooden_one]

LOL. Well, he tried.

He'll definitely, grumpily and very tsun-ly ask for help then. But also, incidentally, is the piazza still open for people to make go speak? Asking for a friend and not because Chu Wanning has all the subtlety of a bulldozer and is liable to make a Come At Me If You're Hard Enough statement of some sort.

[groundrules]

Yes, the piazza definitely is — it will stay open for the entirety of Taravast, unless Macaluso gets really over freedom of speech.

[wooden_one]

I have returned with a couple of new questions!

1. If he asks around the necromancer district about any new bodies matching the description of the maid will anything turn up?
2. Is there a place that poor people are commonly buried?

[groundrules]

So, our newcomer Sansa Alayne might be able to help with a few more clues regarding what happened to the bodies, but I can tell you "off-record" they've been burned.

Now, since our poor Chu Wanning wouldn't know that, your answers:

1. Nope, no new bodies.

2. Yes, there are some burial grounds in the outskirts. You're under lockdown, mind, so I would be discreet about getting in/out, lest guards suspect you're peddling poison or whatever it is that got our boy Bonaccorso!

[topoiran]

A gift it will be, then, and a very peaceful, placid animal it is, barely noticeable except for the staff who have to feed and clean after it...