ACTIVITY + MAY CALENDAR

[groundrules]

Hi folks! A bit of admin, just shy of May the Fourth being with us —

i. No April activity check this round for characters accepted during the late March / early April cycle. Psssst. That's all of you.

ii. Applications open on 00:01 GMT @ 3 May, lasting until 23:59 GMT @ 9 May. They will be handled on a rolling basis.

iii. Have a look at the character interest list, and consider dropping your name in, if you're pretty sure you want to app something — like test driving, this is not mandatory, but helps me figure out how many applications to expect in.

iv. A wild May calendar has appeared! The April schedule has been archived here. Sign-ups for the world's worst meeting drinking game are here!

We're trying posting a full-month calendar again, but we might move to two instalments covering 1h and 2h of the month, if that suits us better in the end. Let's see.

You may now all return to your regular plotting schedules.

Comments

5-7 MAY -- THE MEETINGS

[groundrules]

Holler here if you'd like to have your character participate in a meeting and take the elixir — we can discuss what they'll find out and do, while under the influence.

Small request: please make an IC network or log post about the information or the effect of the brew!

Let's cap this to five characters for now, please.

[binghua]

Hey did someone ask for bad decisions boy because here we are (hold me to this against a tree, perhaps)

But yes have a Xingchen ready and willing to play blind detective!

[groundrules]

Welcome, blind detective! Given all the good will he's won at the House of Dew, it's no surprise that servants speak leisurely around Xiao Xingchen about the latest... developments in the citadel and the activist groups rising in Anurr's favour. One servant offers an introduction to an assembly of 10-15 men who seem frustrated with their own futility to push back against Unhaland, as well as intent to recapture the glory, bravery and integrity of the golden age of Arne the Bold.

It's unclear if these brave companions are completely intoxicated with the strength of their convictions... or with the particularly potent brews they carry along to stay away the cold. They absorb Xiao Xingchen and his servant escort fairly quickly and head off to the docks, to drink their hearts out and conduct their little rite.

What three-four questions would Xiao Xingchen ask of his hefty new friends?

[binghua]

Oh, new friends! How delightful!

As for the questions:

1. What has Anurr done or said to the people of Sa-Hareth that makes him more favorable in their eyes than Unhalad? he doesn't eat people, does he

2. Really, what is the deal with the large quantity of corpses walking around, though? He's, uh, he's from out of town, you see.

3. Perhaps most importantly, where the heck are they taking him, exactly?

[groundrules]

Please consider sharing some of these findings with the class!

The gentlemen who absconded with Xiao Xingchen will tell a somehow even more hyperbolic version of the Beitang Moran's story, extolling the virtues of Arne as a chieftain and figure of legend.

"We know Arne, and he is of the people," they will say, for all Arne allegedly lived and died decades before many of them were born — he was a man of the land, and while his undead retained an equally tight-fisted control of Sa-Hareth, they were far more mannered and less unruly in their approach than Unhalad's forces. They killed minimally and demanded a small tribute, where Unhalad's rule was followed by the forcible conversion of many locals to the undead.

Worse still, these stirred corpses were and are frequently deployed to the east — after all, while Unhalad controlled Sa-Hareth, some of his brothers are still fighting to conquer new territories. The large traffic of undead in Sa-Hareth now includes men who will be shipped off east as military assistance.

"Arne never takes what isn't given freely," they conclude spitefully,"And Unhalad consumes meaninglessly."

Watching the ships come and go in the merry chill, they will share their drink with Xiao Xingchen and stress that they're not taking him anywhere past the docks — that they assemble here as often as safety allows and have received the blessing of Arne's support: an ancient brew of strength and defence against the cold that proves Arne was chosen by the gods. For, who else might have gifted this great concoction to him, so that he in turn might present it to his followers? Many of them, they will say, have already experienced its fleeting blessings.

"Here," they will urge Xiao Xingchen, passing along a vial, "Have a try."

[binghua]

Well. While Anurr - Arne himself? - and his corpse friends may be more polite than our dear Unhalad, Xingchen can't say he's particularly thrilled with the concept of sacrificial maneating, consensual or otherwise. But if one must choose a side in this conflict, he can understand siding with the lesser of two evils.

He's also not fond of the fact that undead roaming the world just seems to be a feature, not a bug. Still unsettling. Why did corpse armies become a thing at all? Do they sustain themselves by eating others or are they spurred on by something else entirely? Like resentful energy, perhaps?

As for the drink...it's not like he can refuse. That would be rude and these people have been nothing but kind to him. Perhaps just a sip will be safe enough for now.

[groundrules]

What wonderful manners! The men are indeed pleased, and they are happy to share a drink with him. The potion tastes herbal, if sulphurous — acidic on the tongue. It feels cold as it coats the insides, a chill that spreads throughout the body and sedates the limbs. Its effects will wane over the next 48-72h, but for now, Xiao Xingchen will struggle with his natural energy feeling drained, while his senses (hearing, taste) sharpen. He will have the dubious pleasure of experiencing a simulation of sight again — as if he were possessed of artificial orbs.

His strength and speed will increase, while his patience and sympathy will lessen. You can choose what else he gets up to over the night's span — but the men will direct (and join) him to stalk down three of Unhalad's undead that crawl around the city and slaughter them, amputating one of their arms.

He will be given a crassly forged pin that vaguely resembles a birch tree and told to ask for Gorm the miner, should he wish to attend a new meeting. And why wouldn't he? What a merry group of friends he's made.

[scrapgege]

Offering Xie Lian for this since he won't die from it, but of course I am ready for his bad luck to kick in otherwise :>

[groundrules]

Say no more! Xie Lian might be a recent arrival, but nothing should prevent him from enjoying the frozen, entirely invisible beauty of Sa-Hareth. As his (exceptionally poor) luck would have it, he is drawn into the con of a merchant who knows all too well he hasn't sourced the volume of wares that was commissioned of him. Claiming sickness, he picks out Xie Lian off the road and begs him to deliver a package of red pigment on his behalf to an abandoned fishmonger's store — where 15-20 men turn out to be expecting paint supplies for their red sleeve tattoos.

Anger and needles, can there be a better combination? It turns out, yes, if you throw in their sudden enthusiasm to talk Xie Lian into joining Anurr's cause, because, surely, he owes them for this exceptionally poor shipment of pigments? And would he truly leave them without any kind of gain?

Xie Lian might want to throw a handful of questions their way before he gives too much for free. What does he ask?

[scrapgege]

Hmmmmm, well, Lianlian hasn't been here long, and he doesn't have the backstory, so he probably would ask more general questions about why people are here, who is Anurr, and do people really have to fight? Maybe if you just sit down and talk it out you can find common ground?

[groundrules]

Regrettably, the average lout might not be too able to explain why Lianlian is here, though they alcohol might turn them to more philosophical ponderings of why the world is here, at large.

Over a cup of unidentified, but soon deeply regretted brew, they will boisterously share the legend of Anurr, taking turns in hailing his virtues. The inking will continue throughout, somehow not lessening their cheer — neither will Xie Lian's persistence that peace might end what years of conflict could not bring to conclusion.

"There is no common ground to be found with dead who aren't of your people," one man will mutter, spitting on hard floor. It is unclear if he has understood he resides within the approximation of a household that does not require human watering.

Xie Lian will be cordially invited to sit with him — and, should he accept, to prepare their paint pigments, or even partake of a tattoo himself.

[scrapgege]

He will happily help mix the ink but no tattoo for him, thank you, he al
ready has two and that's quite enough

[groundrules]

This is acceptable to the horde of louts, although they seem particularly less enthused by Xie Lian's presence and wonder why he's unconvinced to give his fealty to Arne. Does he not believe Sa-Hareth deserves freedom? Were his ancestors not of the people, does he hesitate to defend his land? Is he at ease with slavery under Unhalad?

They do not grow riotous, but the ease of the room thickens, darkens, takes fresh shape.

[scrapgege]

Oh, haha, well, you know, actually, his own land is like, very far away, and he only really just arrived to this place, so he doesn't really know anything about all this? Really, sir, he's been in town like three days at most, and the first he's heard of Unhalad was just now. Of course people deserve freedom, but fighting is not always the solution...

... Here's your pigments?

[groundrules]

The men will unfortunately appear increasingly ill at ease with this newcomer, who flaunts his status. Is he a spy, perhaps? Sent from the east to support Unhalad? Does he think he is better than them, that he understands more?

"Perhaps," one peacemaker offers, as the crowd's attention turns, "He needs a sample of Arne's might and legacy."

To say they present a sophisticated elixir would be a stretch of generosity and imagination. They deliver a mug, housing a lukewarm and neutrally, faintly floral-fragrant concoction — prized, to see how one of the men's hands tremble, putting it forward.

[scrapgege]

Well this is not bringing any bad memories at all, haha.

But Xie Lian is pretty certain that whatever is in there won't kill him, so his own hand doesn't tremble when he takes it.

"That actually smells pretty good... What's in it?"

[groundrules]

Toothy grins, laughter, and, for the first time in a few minutes now, the rare barb. The men can't say, but they seem to each have an anecdote of the dazzling hangovers that come in force after.

They're convinced that the brew is a true step to enlightenment — and that even a well-meaning foreigner would struggle to refuse Arne's wisdom, after experiencing his might in this way. They will continue to egg Xie Lian on to consume the brew, pointing out that he cannot be one of them, one of the people, without proving his worth in some way.

Does he drink?

[scrapgege]

fine, fine, he'll drink it!

[groundrules]

Congratulations, Xie Lian! The sulphurous, herbal brew the men toast doesn't take long to act — within moments, Xie Lian might find his hearing, sight, touch and taste sharpened, while his speed and strength improve. These effects will all lessen within 48-72h, leaving behind a spreading chill and listlessness that will also soon wane. Xie Lian's temper will worsen for the evening, patience short and bloodlust rising.

Now adorned with their beautiful new... red-inked creations, Xie Lian's friends want to show their fealty with deeds as much as they have with their bodies. They will head out to the salt mines to hunt down a small party of Unhalad's undead, which will require them to infiltrate small, tight, dark corridors. Xie Lian, being slighter than some of his fellows, will be volunteered to go ahead in these passageways — which may or may not play into why he finds himself, come morning, crawling back to Sa-Hareth nude, frozen and covered in blood, in a tailored rendition of the walk of shame.

Some of the port apprentices, preparing local stores to open, might prove very appreciative.

Unfortunately, the local guards won't share their sentiments, and Xie Lian will receive a 5,000 coin fine for public indecency.