let's set d o w n some (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
groundrules) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
lostcompass2021-11-07 07:08 pm
groundrules) wrote in lostcompass2021-11-07 07:08 pm
november plot rolls
With two towers activated and Taravast’s battlements reinforced, the witches of Bessis successfully take position on the citadel’s walls and rain down fiery hell upon Taravast’s beastly assailants. Following his brief confrontation with the Beastmaster, the undead warlord Anurr retreats to western frozen citadel Sa-Hareth — he can be pursued through the Stairs of Sigh passageway, if you so choose. The Beastmaster’s forces withdraw east.
In their wake, Taravast is partly savaged: the necromantic district has particularly taken a hit, after all the local undead and some resident necromancers were compelled to follow Anurr, the Huntress or the Beastmaster against their wishes. The damage spreads to ruined homes and necromantic schools, destroyed supplies and heavy looting. The healers’ and merchants’ sectors are also tarnished, with several roads blocked or rendered unusable and some damage sustained at underground aqueducts. Here, the great threat has been the theft of resources. The main sorcery area, Artes Mundi, has fallen under substantial and repeated siege. The southern residential district held by Anurr has been evacuated and remains exceedingly — but non-magically — cold, haunted and uninhabitable.
Much of the greenery of Taravast has withered, while some of the canals’ waters have dried. Taking advantage of the unrest, some citizens take up looting and the crime rate greatly intensifies. The rich of Taravast are sometimes robbed in plain daylight.
Some of Macaluso Spina’s foreign suitors withdraw, as their sponsors fear Taravast is slated for upcoming destruction by the undead and an alliance now would bring limited advantage. As Bonaccorso, Vannozza and Macaluso return to the Palace of the Doxe, many citizens crowd on site, begging relief, guidance and protection from the ailing Bonaccorso. Vannozza and Macaluso face a prime opportunity to further their political claim to their grandfather’s title by establishing themselves as reliable and efficient leaders in this period of immense crisis. Characters may return to their Palace lodgings, which have been only minorly raided. Dealer’s choice on what (if anything) of your characters’ was stolen.
Generally, across the month, characters can:
- ■ Help displaced refugees or the poor by raising and distributing donations of goods from Taravast’s nobility
■ Hunt down and kill any of the Beastmaster’s remaining creatures
■ Calm down the tempers of Taravast’s residents, whether by speaking to locals or making posts to the piazza
■ Save citizens (or nobility!) from looters and thieves
■ Lend a hand with reconstructing the citadel, rescuing and refurbishing the artifacts of the damaged districts, or exorcising some of the ghosts of the area formerly held by Anurr
■ Get involved with Vannozza and Macaluso’s campaigns to gain political favour.
The calendar has been updated here.
You can find this month’s plot rolls or follow-up to previous plot developments below. Your character can try to tackle the roll alone, or recruit help — feel free to use this post to plan or make your own OOC posts on the community. Whatever works best for you!
One small request: if you can try to share the information ICly, ideally with the entire game (think network posts, logs, etc) rather than with just one-two characters, that would be A+ — it helps get the word out and get more folks involved. Thank you so much!
PLOT ROLLS:
- ■ Aang & Wrench
■ Alina Starkov & Diego Hargreeves
■ Anakin Skywalker, Eleven and Shen Qingqiu
■ Chu Wanning, Xiao Xingchen and the Doctor
■ Five Hargreeves
■ Lily Evans & Wei Wuxian
■ Su Xunxian
■ Wen Qing & Wrath
CHU WANNING, THE DOCTOR & XIAO XINGCHEN
The below three prompts all tie into the mystery of don Bonaccorso’s disappearing servants and take place over 15-20 November, though you are welcome to play this out ahead if you want! I encourage the characters to help each other out…
THE DOCTOR
Following the return to the Palace of the Doxe, the Doctor’s reputation as a sinister and efficient torturer earns him a visit and a request from don Bonaccorso’s
lead butlerprincipal attendant. Infuriated, the man shares that discipline within the servant ranks has deteriorated significantly in recent weeks, with several members of the staff “taking advantage” and neglecting their duties because of the presence and exotic habits of foreign guests and because of the string of recent tragic events that struck the citadel. He asks for the Doctor to instil the fear oftorturediscipline back in them, giving him full access to speak with them and even to visit their quarters.If he speaks with the servants attending Bonaccorso’s wing, the Doctor will find they are exceedingly skittish — constantly busily at work, and apparently terrified to open up to strangers (although some of this apprehension might simply have its roots in the Doctor’s reputation). Despite their bustling schedules, they are inefficient and erratic, as if they have been… drugged. Deep inquiries into their rooms will find stains of opiates on several items of clothing. All the lower-ranking servants, the Doctor may notice, are young and no more than 3-6 months into their employment.
One roughly fifteen-year-old boy who is tasked with sweeping and mopping the floors and keeping the silver polished asks the Doctor if he will help smuggle him out of the palace, so that he can return to his family.
What does the Doctor do?
XIAO XINGCHEN
Infamous blind cook Xiao Xingchen is called down to don Bonaccorso’s kitchens one night to lend the expertise of his exquisitely refined palate and taste test a few of the dishes served for the Doxe’s banquet. It is Bonaccorso’s first time receiving foreign dignitaries since Taravast’s brutal attacks at the
hooveshands of the Huntress and Beastmaster, and the citadel must put on a show of public strength and excellence.Xiao Xingchen is brought in to taste no fewer than eight courses and to supply his… renown… opinions and recommendations, should he find any of the dishes lacking. He is delivered the food in a more secluded corner of the kitchens, sat near the bread baking ovens. Perhaps his spiritual powers might help him feel the residue of something amiss — and, amid the embers of the ovens, he may encounter… human ashes.
With all the main cooks and their helpers required to bring together Bonaccorso’s meal, Xiao Xingchen is delivered his taster menu as the food is cooked by one of the regular maids in Bonaccorso’s wing. She takes advantage of the distraction to quietly ask for Xiao Xingchen’s recommendation so that she might be moved to serve in the kitchens. Although many might find this a demotion in status and an increase in workload, she insists that the transfer is infinitely preferable to the lack of safety in Bonaccorso’s wings, and reiterates her pleas for Xiao Xingchen’s help. There is no time to tell him more now.
What does Xiao Xingchen do?
CHU WANNING
All his ruckus and a public note to the piazza didn’t endear Chu Wanning to the staff of Bonaccorso’s wing. He is no longer given access to speak to the servants, though Macaluso’s attendants naturally continue to attend to his every need.
One fine day, Chu Wanning is brought his evening meal in his quarters by an unfamiliar old man nearing sixty years of age, whom Chu Wanning may have briefly seen in Bonaccorso’s wings or gardens in recent days. He was not among Bonaccorso’s servants previously. The old man claims he is the maid who once asked for Chu Wanning’s help and thanks him his attempt to save her, for all Chu Wanning proved unsuccessful.
The ‘maid’ cannot linger to explain, as all the servants interacting with Chu Wanning are watched closely — the old man only came to Chu Wanning again as a last recourse, to impose on him one final time, by passing him a note that he begs Chu Wanning to send to a certain home, along with a small purse of coin. The money is for the maid’s parents, while the note — should Chu Wanning read it — is (allegedly) written by the maid, urging her parents not to worry and saying she has caught the fancy of one of the stable boys from the foreign delegation of one of Macaluso’s suitors. They are eloping to his foreign citadel now, where the maid will live a good life, better than they can possibly imagine in Taravast, and wanting for nothing. They should be thrilled for her, and forgive her that she cannot ever see them again, but she must be with the man who loves her now and leaves them her final wages.
The old man leaves hurriedly. Does Chu Wanning deliver the letter?
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The seventy-year-old man thanks Chu Wanning profusely.
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Anyway: fine by me!
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He tells the maid that it's possible danger may find her here, as well, but if she still desperately wants the recommendation he'll give it. But please be careful. Keep your wits about you.
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The girl gratefully accepts his recommendation — which, once presented to the head chef, earns a bewildered but easy endorsement. It emerges that Xiao Xingchen's word amounts to something.
He can count on the eyes and ears of young kitchen helper Cicilia, moving forward.
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Would Xingchen be able to move relatively freely in the kitchens under a pretense of keeping a watchful, ah, eye on preparations for the banquet? Or would he have to be sneakier in contacting Cicilia going forward?
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Would any amount of snooping give him some hint as to the opiate delivery method?
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If he asks with the air of his torturer's authority, the Doctor will learn that... unfortunately, the opiates are provided to staff by Bonaccorso's aides. Servants are, in fact, encouraged to take the powers, in order to beg leave of their nerves when attending to a man of such high position and to his equally high-standing visitors.
Opium lessens worries, you see. It's for their own good.
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And yes, it certainly does dull the senses.
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Opium is good for everyone.
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While Five and the Doctor slip back inside to snatch the boy and potentially teleport away with him. It's a loose plot as we are thinking about putting up a log to play this out.
But given the recent rumblings about body swapping the Doctor now feels he had better check on the boy's story before actually helping him get away. I mean if you think about it some one approaching a man with the reputation of a torturer to help them get away is strange to begin with! To this end during the rescue the group would like to ask the kid some questions.
What is his name? Where does he live? Must be nice to be on your way back home, why you might even make it back in time for your next birthday... when would that be? The Doctor would be trying to slip in general subtle questions like that while trying to work out if this kid is actually who he says he is. He would also pay close attention to the boy himself to see, his pupils and mannerisms, to see if he too has been taking the opiates. If not there would be another question as to why that was.
Additionally Slick would try to ask the boy about when he ate/slept last and offer him a bit of food if he hadn't had much. He would also try to ask about anything the kid can tell them about the schedules of the Doxe and/or his staff and does he know any good hiding places in there? Either people-sized, or for hiding objects, as he in the planning stages of dropping a few bugs in the Palace for eavesdropping purposes.
While Five would try to ask about any interactions with the Doxe, if the boy noticed anything strange going on with the other kids or overheard any conversations that seemed odd with the staff. Did his family make a deal to get him ??? (Five's dad bought him as a baby so personal question) It's weird to have a staff made up of kids what's the deal.
Sorry this became rather long and involved.
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1. What is his name?
Francesco.
2. Where does he live?
Currently, in the servant rooms of the Doxe palace. He shares with three other boys of roughly his age.
3. When is his next birthday?
Not for another nine months.
4. Does his physiology suggest he has been taking opiates?
Yes, though he's not deeply entrenched as he's newer in service than some of his colleagues.
5. When he last ate?
The servants' morning meal, rye bread with pottage and, blessed day, an egg.
6. Slept?
Last night, some six hours.
7. Anything the kid can tell them about the schedules of the Doxe and/or his staff and does he know any good hiding places in there?
That's above his pay check. He knows that the Doxe retires early and begins his days late because of his sickness, typically taking his correspondence and morning meal in his bedchamber — the servants are happy for this, as they can clean the various reception rooms without navigating the Doxe. Francesco is a servant, so not very prone to spying, he'd just tell you to hide things where you find drawers or space. There are furnitures, after all.
8. Any interactions with the Doxe?
Not really: he handles the sweeping, the mopping and the silver polishing — that's too crude to be done in the Doxe's presence.
9. Anything strange going on with the other kids?
Some randomly disappear, and there is no trace of them. Hence why he too wants to leave urgently, never mind his service contract. But he'll be beaten and brought back if he tries to leave peacefully, since money has already paid in advance to his family, for his toil.
10. Did his family make a deal to get him?
To get him back? No, his family doesn't expect him. To get him into the palace? The standard service contract, no more, as far as the boy knows.