the coup | now, with questions

[groundrules]

THE COUP

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Grab a witch, a threadbare conspiracy, a harpoon — it's time to kick an old man off his throne. Our latest event has gone up here, also subbing as a test drive meme. Anyone trialing a character can app in until 21 December without an invite.

As a reminder, apps will not be judged over 24 December-2 January.

✘ Test drive meme questions

✘ ...and regular questions!

✘ Quest sign-ups: Moretti | Vannozza | Macaluso

✘ Vote on the fate of Doxe Bonaccorso Spina.


Feel free to make your own plotting comments here & tag around!

Comments

REGULAR QUESTIONS

[groundrules]

...whatever it is you want to blow up, the answer is probably yes.

[topoiran]

How effective would venomous snake bites be against witches... Just in case an additional hand is needed.

[groundrules]

Jesus Christ, Su Xunxian.

They're only human. Vicious snake bites for doing their job will work.

[topoiran]

Thank you, he'll use that sparingly.

[song_of_fire]

Less blowing up, more protecting. Dany during the lead up to the coup was going to enlist some help from some of the merchants and other more well to do crowd to help her find a building large enough to act as a safe haven. She was going to reinforce it against potential violence and be sure that the injured and homeless had a place to go.

Most of what she'd end up doing during this plot is related to this. If it's at all possible, I'd be grateful.

[groundrules]

Yes, absolutely.

I can offer you a choice of three few venues below, with their respective pros and halls. You can have one venue, or Daenerys can get the help of at least one other played character and you can together have all three sites.

Options:

i. Old warehouse at the intersection of a few canals: a pack of looters lived here, until Aang and Wrench stole back their goods and reclaimed the space.

PROS:
— Very big space, you have some physical reinforcements already
— You can find some accommodations (mattresses, dried food goods, minor looted items) present

CONS:
— In a less than stellar and reputable location, and some of your refugees might hesitate to make the journey or stay here
— The occasional petty thug who didn't get the memo that Gherardo's crew disbanded might try to make his way back in


ii. Abandoned healing halls: one of the many large areas in the actual healing district, which was left behind following the Huntress' raid. It is sadly in a state of disrepair.

PROS:
— The healing district is well regarded, and you have healers nearby who would find it easy to work here
— It is already well supplied with healing instruments

CONS:
— The healer sector was previously privileged and well defended, so no wards or magical defences are currently present — you'd be starting from scratch
— Drafty and humid in some parts, with significant (but repairable) damage to the roof


iii. A necromancy hall: a site of necromantic learning, where some of the practitioners carried out their revivals. It too has been abandoned after necromancers found themselves targeted by curfews and other restrictions, in the wake of the undead siege.

PROS:
— Like the healing halls, it has some surgical instruments on hand, along with some exotic herbs and brews
— It is a very discreet underground venue that survived assault against the necromantic sector — you can ward it, but it has the advantage of already being more out of sight than other locations

CONS:
— It's probably at least a tiny bit haunted and you might find some (preserved) bodies around
— Underground locations can be harder to ventilate
— The rare rat

Let me know which you'd like (or take your time finding another PC to help so you can get all three).

[song_of_fire]

I'll take the abandoned healing hall! Dany wouldn't really think about magic wards unless someone tells her that's possible. So that con wouldn't occur to her. She'll have worked as much as she could on repairs and reinforcing it, as well as putting volunteers to work.

Thanks so much!

[blackscales]

Could Wrathion use his leverage with the rebels to organise a sort of focused distraction to help the rescue attempt for Macaluso, try and draw away some of the guards? There are presumably still sympathisers and he'd explain that was what he wanted to do.

[groundrules]

Yes, absolutely. You can sell them on the fact that Macaluso has been imprisoned, so he clearly isn't why Bonaccorso has been acting up. You can have....... nine men. But some are drunk.

And one can't tie his laces but wields a harpoon.

[blackscales]

..... Well

Drunk people certainly are distracting.

As are people who wield harpoons.

[blackscales]

Hello! A FOLLOW UP QUESTION so I don't have Wrathion unintentionally misrepresent things to Macaluso (intentional misrepresentation is sometimes required, but not just yet!)

How do Giacomo Zanardo and Sebastiano Bianchi feel about things once Bonaccorso starts raining fire on people? And how do they feel about Wrathion's idea to free Macaluso? Do they seem sympathetic to him and reasonable, or are they embittered now and dangerously angry?

Do they still have power over the rebels?

Context: I was thinking Wrathion might suggest he straight up talk go them, one of them is a lawyer and one is a healer and they have good organisational skills and charisma enough to organise rebels. If he did get them on side they could work together to bring things to order. However, if one of them most recently looked like they'd like nothing more than to shank the entire conclave this would..... not be a reasonable suggestion!

[valeas]

AN ACTUAL SERIOUS QUESTION.

So I know we talked about Emilia being given limited use of the kitchens/befriending some of the kitchen staff a while back, and I did incorporate that aspect in some of my threads. Would this help any with the Macaluso quest re: receiving tips?

[groundrules]

Yes, definitely. In fact — you could try to infiltrate by posing as the kitchen staff delivering his meal. Emilia's connection to the servants means she'd be able to get some food, maybe even a few uniforms. Not enough for the entire infiltrating party, but it's a start.

[valeas]

EXCELLENT.

Thank you. ♥

[inferus]

Is Wrath's separate talk thread with Bonaccarso or Vannozza? Only asking so I can set it up properly in the NPC top level.

Also, do people/the protestors' opinions of Bonaccarso change at all after his speech and y'know raining fire down like ya do when you're a horrible old man?

[groundrules]

Heya! Wrath's thread is going to be with Bonaccorso (potentially with Vannozza in the background), but please don't worry — I'll set up everything and PM a link around the 10th. For now, I'm still waiting to see what everyone signs up for. If you don't mind leaving a note in the quest sign-up thread, however, just so I know you're interested in taking up the NPC thread offer, that'd be great!

Public opinion definitely starts to shift when there is literal fire falling out of the skies, after the old man speaks for five minutes. A minority of protesters still believes Bonaccorso continues to be misled by his advisers, as this hostile behaviour is so contrary to what they have experienced from him to date. But most demonstrators are more concerned with... fire. And the driver of that fire. They don't feel particularly patient or sympathetic, in wake of that.

[rumorate]

So how much free reign can Allison have with her rumors when it comes to the witches? Like "I heard a rumor you forgot how to use magic" definitely came to mind, but are there any hard limits or stops she might come up against?

[groundrules]

In the case of the Attaryl witches, since their entire gig is mind control and mental manipulation. they'd have better mental defences against what Allison is trying to do. So I'd say she'd find it harder to affect them, meaning she'd only be able to impact a smaller/moderate number of them, and it would be for a shorter period of time than her usual thralls last. I leave it up to you to decide what that means, numerically and quantifiably.

[reparo]

Assuming that between her last post and the event itself, Hermione got hard at work brewing potions of all kinds, she's stocked up on Dittany (superme healing potion) and a couple of modified sleeping draughts (find her flobberworms and she'll make the real deal) and had the polyjuice potion brewing in the background. Initially she was going to use it to get into Attaryl tower but then you know it all went to hell - so she'll aim to use them to put the Bessis to sleep at Alayne's request. While disguised as Alayne bc she has a nice connection with them.

Can she attempt this and do you want to give her some obstacles/dangers?

[groundrules]

Sure, that works! She might not be able to snooze all the witches, if some of the others are really intent on offing their heads, but you can definitely night-night a few.

I'd think the biggest obstacle to face is figuring out how to call out a lone witch in a dark alley and store her for Hermione's art reference - she's going to need to have one, if she's polyjuicing. So you may need to organise to get at least one witch captive, presumably alive to also hear her speak and imitate her voice.

[groundrules]

...also, let's make the polyjuice potion prone to glitching for a second or two and shedding the glamour, every once in a while, just for my personal hilarity.

[chosenbylight]

Is there a time frame when I need to know/report back exactly what Anduin's plans are with Rigarda? I am 90% sure he is not killing her, it's just a matter of whether he is deciding to apprehend her or not (he's trying to get an idea of what the general consensus is based on his network post).

If, for instance, he were to take the route of infiltrating her security with others by playing up the noble card, would she have any sort of an honest conversation with him?

[groundrules]

Hello! It would be awesome if you could tell me before 23 December OOCly (no problem if you still want to play things ICly by then), so I can include the consequences of the decision in the aftermath update :) But if you think you'd find that 'deadline' challenging, we can definitely work out an option!

[sergeant_slick]

...can Slick find whoever it was he got his magic hair dye from and get more for the road

[groundrules]

He... he can even get extras.