Unhalad's knock knock knocking at your door...!

[groundrules]

Last few steps of the Sa-Hareth stretch come with Unhalad's mini 16-17 June siege event and the ensuing few days of marauding. Feel free to use that post as a log base, or do your own thing, and discuss any character plans here.

Many thanks to Kalyn, who is lending us Winnie as effective live bait over the event! She won't... regret it...

If you want to have characters severely wounded or killed, there will be more healers and necromancers available in both options for the upcoming arc — for a fee.

The sorceress Karsa will be available on premise once she enters the farmhouse, and you are welcome to NPC her helping your character's plans. To give you an idea, Karsa's primary offensive skillset is fire, so be careful what you have her do in closed quarters. She will not be able to teleport anyone out because the swarm of undead surrounding the farmhouse make it difficult to 'land' safely.

As a result of this... unfortunate domestic development, the Merchant won't be presenting his options on the 15th as initially scheduled, and this will have to be delayed to 17 June. But! Characters should still be out of Sa-Hareth by 21-22 June. Goodbye, winter wasteland. We barely knew ye.

QUESTIONS THREAD

Comments

MOD QUESTIONS

[groundrules]

What's up, bosses?

Re: MOD QUESTIONS

[scrapgege]

Just one quick one : Will Xie Lian's Ruoye be able to form an adequate if smallish protection against the undead like it does in the ghost bride arc in canon?

The rooms are small so it won't work as well as outside, but if he can keep a few people safe while punching zombies through the roof.....

[sergeant_slick]

Slick's been discussing making specific portions of the farmstead more defensible after he heard that there was an attack before he arrived: Specifically, reinforcing doors and window shutters, and preparing barricades so people can block off avenues of access within the farmhouse.

While he'd like to have metal reinforcements to doors and window shutters, he'd be getting a start with whatever he had, probably meaning wood. Would he be able to get some barricades made to provide fallback positions within the compound?

[weifinder]

I see you're last dashing with your tank there Ruxi SO HOW ABOUT AN OUTSIDE PINCHER ATTACK

But really, remember way back when I asked about Wei Wuxian going around getting in touch with all the resentful energies in the citadel? Also how he goes to the citadel pretty much daily for supply reasons and for information, and that this could reasonably mean a delay of a night if he's out too late and doesn't want to be hauling back.

Anyway... a. could he end up seeing the trailing end of this happening?

b. can he get in touch with Karsa? and

c. can he summon up those resentful energies as his own spirit army at the end of this (possibly after doing some guerilla warfare from the fringes) because that is an undead army attacking where his son and possibly bae is (I was going to offer if Lan Zhan also wanted to be dragged to town to help play haul the supplies back to the farmhouse and help haul the extra produce down to the citadel, then he'd potentially be on the outside for this too, but that was more to give you another option if you liked), and we know how much he likes people going after his loved ones, let alone his friends (which now number pretty high inside). He's not going to have the sheer storage capacity etc that having any of the yin iron once allowed him, so it'd be using/Pied Pipering these energies and then releasing them again/sending them on if they're so inclined, but he's guessing they have very good reasons to be not happy with Unhalad's forces, in particular.

[darkeststars]

So, Unhalad is some kind of restless undead. When we stick several pointy objects and other assorted things through him, presumably he's then a bodiless restless undead spirit.

Do you think Arche could Force walk and grab that to gobble up? :D The ultimate indignity of doing to Unhalad what he tried to do all of us, lol, shackle him to use his power.

I understand if not, or if it just doesn't work that way, but thought it would be fun to ask lol!

[beitangmoran]

So anyway, for anyone who thought Moran was just a bookworm with a bad attitude and a tendency to think most people are stupider than him... Well he is that, but he also, guess what, an actual army general! Who kills people! With a sword! And he's pretty good at it.

He will want to protect Xunxian above all, but I'm up for him slashing and cutting alongside others.

[downswing]

Your visions suck, sir

[scrapgege]

Likewise, Xie Lian looks a little scrawny under his robe,s btu he's actually a martial god who used to earn money lately by literally smashing boulders on his chest, haha. So yea, he can beat up zombies even with his power limited.

His immediate instinct will be to defend and protect the farm's inhabitants, and he won't be maiming too hard unless it becomes really necessary.

.... If someone is up to it, he might need to smooch a relatively powerful character with some sort of magical power to borrow it for a more complex spell, so hit me up if you want a handsome young god to smooch you mid-battle

[binghua]

/RAISES BOTH HANDS FOR SMOOCHIN'

[downswing]

Okay, there's a fucker on a horse, who wants to last stand dash for him?

I HAVE NO OTHER USE FOR MY TANK, he can try to roll towards Unhalad. Someone roll with him.

[paperbutterflies]

SON WILL ROLL SON WILL ROLL ... if allowed.

[soulsrob]

winnie isn't going to say i told you so but--

no who am i kidding she will ABSOLUTELY say I TOLD YOU SO.

she will also play the damsel in distress and bat her eyelashes and be Very Damsel and Very Distressed, but the handle of her parasol can come out. It's a stiletto blade! Huzzah! But she'll try to keep that hidden as much as possible and just carry the parasol around with her as is. She might pull it out to suddenly and dramatically save someone at the exact right time though. You know, for funsies.

She'll also absolutely refuse to part with the mirror. You want the mirror out or broken? Then you gotta cast her out too. And you probably really don't wanna do that.

Winnie's bedroom will be Room 20 on the farmhouse map.

[groundrules]

Most wonderful! Let me know if the mirror smashes at any point, as this will affect something...

[sergeant_slick]

Alright! Slick's only got a knife (pending a request to Eleven), but he's spent his entire life training for war and he's got shiny white space armor, so he'll be making use of whatever's to hand.

He's been spending a few days reinforcing doors and window shutters around the farmstead, starting around the wood shed and moving outward from there. There will also be materials set up to barricade interior doorways as necessary. This won't stop the undead, but it'll slow them down a bit.

Slick will be staying on the move, attacking targets of opportunity and assisting non-combatants, instructing them on potential avenues of escape. He'll be working off of a map that Lily made, and his own scouting around the area.

He's also got a roster that Archeval shared with him, so if possible he's going to be doing a head count and figuring out how many people might be in harms' way, so they don't abandon anybody. If somebody's not accounted for, he'll try and contact them over the network and ascertain their situation.

[foxable]

Lee Chang will grant Slick his not-enchanted sword, since he has the enchanted one Mingyu gave to him, if he still needs one!

[weifinder]

Okay soooo:

Wei Wuxian will not be at the farmhouse when the attack starts! He will have been in the citadel having had a late trade night and planned to come back that morning after, only to learn about the attack.

He'll try to get in touch by quartz (with those at the farmhouse, and with Karsa) while heading back to the citadel and collecting the resentful energies he's familiar with there. To those he gets in touch with, he'll offer the following: in his room, there is a collection of talismans meant for reinforcing barriers to discourage and turn away evil spirits. Slapping these up on a surface can be an additional help. He also has a second, smaller pile, that is for attracting evil spirits. He'd suggest using both in order to help see if it controls where Unhalad's undead will make concentrated areas of attack, and to basically help control the battlefield from inside to whatever degree.

So in summary: talismans to repel and attract evil spirits/undead that he'll request they double check with Lan Wangji, Lan Sizhui, Jiang Cheng, or possibly Xie Lian to make sure they're using the right ones for the right purposes. All the cultivators from his world should be familiar with the potential uses of these talismans, considering they made use of his invention (the evil spirit attracting talisman) over the years he was believed dead. Hah.

He won't be attacking with his undead spirit army until the very end of this, which should be a nice coinciding with anyone making the outside rush and/or the run at Unhalad. Anyone sensitive to energies will note a whole bunch of resentful spirits are being mobilised and are amassing nearby beforehand, but the undead of Unhalad's are likely more pressing as a feeling so congrats when even more death is added to the equation. None of these spirits will attack the ragtam group of PCs or the NPCs who've helped them, with of note means Haltham's not a target even if he were somehow randomly around!

Subsequently to all that second-death dealing, he'll be passing out and in recovery until after everyone's decided where they're going next!

This does mean that most my interactions are likely to be over network, or with anyone else teleporting outside (Five, anyone Five moves) and then at the end of the siege, the full on attack with his undead spirit army. As you do.

Note that Wei Wuxian's gonna feel Very Death Energy after this, and during this, and probably will rate feeling similar to the dead so have fun with that, it's just your friendly neighbourhood necromancer joining the fight!

[royal_venant]

Per this comment, can we coordinate this? I'm up for ideas. Way too excited to burn everything down!

[lancifolium]

Lily will be awake/lightly dozing off sitting up in the kitchen (that damn wind sounds too much like her sister for a gal to get any rest) when the wind and the rats do their foreshadowing thing she’ll rouse and be on edge. When the wards go off she will go find Regulus,per their agreement to have each other’s backs. She will be knocking on doors and yelling that something is coming on the way to him.

Expect her on the offense, doing her best to push back the undead and get noncombative individuals behind her and to safety. If she can make it to the front lines of battle without being deterred she will.

Magically, at this point her make-up bag will have an extension charm on it, in addition to her belongings, she can (uncomfortably) fit another person inside of it, which she will happily do if asked. She is also willing and able to Transfigure things into weapons if anyone needs them.

In a moment of desperation, she may use one of the carp scales she was given at the trials.

Come throw hands, get a weapon, hide in her bag, I'm open to whatever.

[foxable]

once lee chang figures out she can transfigure things into weapons he might just start pillaging all the furniture to set up staves around the house in true kingdom fashion

[bearshermark]

Eleven will help fight the initial wave. He takes combat orders well, and wields dual blades effectively. Unfortunately his primary magical element is also fire, but he can wreath his swords in it and effectively combat the undead. He'll also be prone throwing arcs of lightning off his swords as a method of crowd control. If he can ever get outside, he has nice aoe scattered explosions for spells as well.

But given his skillset, I expect he'll swiftly be moved to heal the wounded and get them back into fighting shape once the injuries start to pile up. Of course, he will tire and need to rest to regain his energy and magic after some time.

[groundrules]

Work with Karsa/Yennefer to burn the roof down towards the end, Eleven /chaos

[foxable]

So uhhhhh.... who wants to be made into human lures with rigged mirror pieces to pull the undead away from the house.........

[weifinder]

Fox fox you can also use the evil spirit/undead attraction talismans Wei Wuxian's got stockpiled in the house to have extra lures if people are so inclined /fades out again

[darkeststars]

Arche will be helping batten down the hatches and fending off undead to try to maintain some kind of safe perimeter for the noncombatants; you can expect him to be wading into the thick of things chopping off zombie heads and slapping some uncomfortable necromantic heals on anybody who looks particularly in need. Once Unhalad makes an appearance, though, he's making a beeline straight in that direction.

So, we've got Arche and Wangji and maybe perhaps Sizhui so far, who else is coming to kill the warlord hop in y'all we got a jerk on a horse who needs an ass kicking

[sergeant_slick]

Slick will be joining in on Team Solve All Your Problems By Extreme Violence, once he gets initial crowd control done!

Edit: One caveat, if he shows up late and shit isn't going well, he'll advise they pull back. He's a fighty boy, but not a complete moron. He likes having an escape route open.

[remugient]

Well Vanya's gonna have a concert on the roof with her violin and become the White Violin for a while in the zone so you know

that's fun.

I figure unless a loud enough noise (like the gunshot) disrupts her, she's going to keep playing until either she collapses or things calm down. She's got enough control to NOT unleash everything at the moon this time and end the world though. The power will just dissipate and knock some not-zombies/people down and then she'll be down for the count.

I think Mingyu is gonna be with her most if not all of the time but also i like the idea of Vanya collapsing off the roof and someone dramatically catching her.

[somebadnews]

If Five is in any kind of visible/audible range of this he's going to panic at the disco let me tell you.

[foxable]

okay A MORE PROPER PLOTTING POST does anyone want to come and dramatically save Fox on the first night before he knows that they're after the mirror pieces he has on him? He'll probably just be sleeplessly studying and muttering and drawing like usual

[darkeststars]

Depending on how you think they'll leave each other at the end of their most recent thread, this could be an interesting way for Arche and Fox to start to make up from their fight lol? If someone else would really like the chance for this CR though I'll leave it to them.

[jeoha]

Lee Chang will boss around just about anyone who listens to help him set up Proper Defenses on the house, he has a lot - a lot of experience.

If people aren't sure of what to do, he will help by assigning them into task groups based on ability:

Seasoned Warriors get weapon allocations, and once he knows Lily can transmute stuff, he will be hitting her up for those. Ya'll know what you're doing so other than making sure you're supplied he'll let you do your thing.

Magics he will help by showing them the most important points in fortification of the building - namely the windows and doors (which should all be barricaded and warded), the roof (which should get a bunch of downward facing pikes to keep undead from climbing them) and the courtyard.

People who can't fight or do magic he would enlist to help him set up the above-mentioned barricades, as well as to secure the food and water stores for a siege.

He would suggest that they center their barricade efforts around one room that would be large enough to serve as a fall back point but also relatively easily defendable. Thus he would not suggest the Reception Hall (too many entry/exit points) but would suggest the Study Room, as it opens into two different hallways in the house (exit points) but exterior entry ways only exist in the form of the two windows which are both on the same side, and thus easier to barricade.

He would also suggest a second "lure" room that could be used as basically a pit trap (and he will be borrowing from wei wuxian and fox for this) in case of total breach. Since it's across the house, has multiple entryways and exits, and could effectively be cut off from the rest of the house, he would suggest that they use the Wood Stocking Room for this purpose. ( It could also then be used as an emergency pyre if all things go sky rocketing to hell. )





He will also ask the rest of the group if he should go and attempt to parlay with Anurr for aid.


the guy probably owes him a favour, right?


NOTE: I am also happy to go ahead and draw up an actual map of the defensive structures that he would suggest but I don't want to step on any toes so let me know if any of you are interested

[topoiran]

Oh... Xunxian will actually really appreciate the barricades option. He knows he can probably not be pushed over immediately but is still too early in sword training to be considered much better than a non-combatant, so, something to do.

[descendency]

Mingyu will be sticking close to Fox but will be providing whatever backup he can to people in the immediate vicinity. As a reminder, he can lay traps, clone objects he's familiar with the properties of, annnnd that's about it since they don't have undead in his world so he's woefully unprepared for this kind of siege.

At some point, he will be bequeathing Vanya a brand new cello.

Jiang Cheng will be outside with Wei Wuxian as undead bait and backup, and will at some point take a critical hit, whereupon he will bequeath Jiang sect to his beloved sect-brother. Dramatic deathbed confessions will be had regardless of whether or not he kicks it.

Ultimately, my IC and OOC vote for the end of this arc is we dispose of Unhalad and Anurr both for just being kinda rude af and crown Tamaiu as Queen of Sa-Hareth who's with me.

[topoiran]

Xunxian might support Tamaiu as Queen. He's just not sure how much he can help with the actual getting people there, but details.

[topoiran]

Su Xunxian will be a little useless because he knows better than to put himself in danger just yet. The assault being what it is, he'll still need to use his sword as much as he can until any relative safety, and he'll probably get hurt at some point, but not enough to put his life in danger.

He'll be able to understand the rats, so he'll help with early warning, as much as it will be... early, but it might help a bit.

After that, he'll help with mundane stuff, like barricades, probably boiling water to clean up wounds, etc.


Lat Sizhui will probably try to help out Vanya's concert - 24 hours is a long time, and he can help out with spiritual energy to boost her up. He will then help Lan Wangji's charge against Unhalad - so far, it's them two, Lee Chang, Arche, and Slick? etc. and be a good understudy tank until his fingers bleed and his guqin breaks. Probably helping bring back exhausted people after the meetup with Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng or what's left of him happens.

Ifff they can help anywhere else, let me know.

[downswing]

I cannot threaten son with divorcerino, but.

But.

[somebadnews]

You know how Five is hanging onto sanity by a thread? Well about that...

A thing happened when he killed the dead guy in the lake. (IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA.) He became the host of a fraction of the power that was in the ship's mirror. Which sounds great, but you'll see the issue. I'm just going to quote because these are better words than mine:

"This is an ability to take within oneself the cause of someone's anguish, as long as it lives within them - whether it's memories, sickness, a possessing spirit, etc. It will be very highly diluted by the time it could reach Five, so he might be able to briefly absorb part of the intensity of a bad memory, for instance, but not the memory itself. He could ease the symptoms of a dying man's gut wound, but not undo the critical damage."

This event will make him Very Aware that something is wrong, but he most certainly won't understand it. He might think he's injured when he isn't, he might attack the wrong side because he feels them being attacked, he might... I mean it's bad. A bad time for Five. Let's not kill dead lake guys any more.

So it's a great combo that he's a target when this goes down and I don't see that not being a very violent situation. And then Vanya wants to wear that cool white suit again. These are real things of concern.

On the plus side: the ability also helps to drain Anurr's power from the undead. "But not be enough to kill an undead /completely drain them unless the undead is very weak or newly formed." Which would be great, if he knew that was what's happening. He's a smart little psycho, maybe he'll get it.

You could not have a worse person to have this ability I'm just going to stress that. I am coming to this when you're already 150-comments deep so I am still catching up. If you have ideas lmk!

[weifinder]

... L M F A O of course he's the one who ended up cursed, good work, Five! Here you were mocking Wei Wuxian for his fish incident and look at you now, Xiao Five

Do you think in his being a target he'll be poofing between locations? If he goes fringe Wei Wuxian can back him up with Spirits filled with resentment, which it sounds like he may be feeling, to various degrees. They're not largely physically, but can strike physically: point being if Five's being targeted then Wei Wuxian can help back him up to take care of Unhalads or Anurr faction having a go at him.

In either case, what do you generally think he'll be popping around doing and how much is Lan Wangji going to love that playing clarity for this guy may actually be helpful now

[royal_venant]

The first half of this nonsense, Regulus is going to spend it with Lily as he tries to fight off the undead with a target on his back (who put that there?). Also, Five gave him Patricia the Cat, so she's going to be safely transfigured into a cat figurine and kept in his cross-shoulder bag (thank you Lily for letting him copy that).

Probably about mid-way through this adventure, when he notices that the undead are specifically going after him, he'll try to avoid leading them towards others. But he won't say no to anyone wanting to help him the damn things off him. He might bust out that whiskey Five got him just to get through this.

Near the end, just before the final rush on the undead, Regulus will coordinate with Wei Wuxian to drive the undead towards the Wei Wuxian's spirit army with Fiendfyre on the rear flank of the undead's forces. Lily will help him keep the monster fire under control. What is Fiendfyre? Here, have a link.

And when all is said and done, Regulus will be out for the count because it is HARD to control Fiendfyre, y'all. Please pick a nice quiet place to travel to next 'cause Regulus will be too out of it to give his input.

[lancifolium]

Points to eyes points to you.

[thehoneybadger]

Rachel's skillset firmly includes punching the shit out of things very strongly, and Eleven made her some brass knuckles, so you have a super strong angry teenager who's ready to knock some undead blocks off. She's cold and cranky and wants McDonald's and she's ready to take it out on anyone who it's socially acceptable to slam the teeth out of.

Of course, she's a tank but she's not invincible, so she's likely to get herself into trouble.

Yeehaw?

[bearshermark]

yes good put those things to good use. punch their heads off.

also pls report for healing before you die ok

[binghua]

Hello fellow captives, your local blind exorcist wizard man with a magical sword is here!

Which is to say that Xingchen is definitely at the farmhouse at the time of the attack and he will be doing his best to fight off the horde and/or protect those within his vicinity. I don't have anything really set in stone, so if anything tickles your fancy or you have need of another cultivator, hit me up!

Note for those not canon-familiar: His sword, Shuanghua, has the ability to seek out corpse energy. So all these undead? Got a sword goin' feral. Unfortunately, Shuanghua cannot tell the difference between totally dead undead and still somewhat alive undead (this is a problem not only here, but in canon, as well). So if anyone is of the corpse-like persuasion, please do be careful. I don't think anyone is, but one never knows. Also because he's a wizard, he can send his sword flying like a much more elegant boomerang. So, like, PLEASE really do be careful if he's in the middle of fighting.

I also wish for Xingchen to get his arm/shoulder kind of torn up (UP not OFF, he's already disabled, he doesn't need double trouble), whether it be in the heat of battle in general or while protecting someone else. And then not really notice because of the adrenaline and because he's been through worse pain before until the adrenaline either wears off or someone points out that he's got red on him. Stealing Rakel's idea of it being the Anurr arm, too, so it can be like a badge of honor to his cult friends later. Surely this makes up for refusing the tattoo.

As for other skills, he should not be your first choice in talisman-making as he probably hasn't attempted the written word in a couple years and in a rush he's more likely to make a horrible mistake instead of just a weaker talisman. But, like, he could try, if you're all desperate. What he CAN do, however, is share qi/energy with those who run on that kind of gasoline. Just don't let him drain himself. He won't kiss you, though, that's Xie Lian's MO. I mean, unless you ask him to And then at the end of the day, he knows basic first aid, though with a busted arm, it's questionable how much help he'd actually be, but the option is there.

What a pleasant time for everyone!

[groundrules]

A messed up arm and slaughtering Unhalad's undead is very likely to gain Xiao Xingchen some favour with The Other Side — drop a link when the arm is... improved... and we'll see about some Anurr-friendly consequences for later.

[conjurechaos]

Party time! Hey so I had this thought that Yennefer will wake up and just roll with the punches, trying to evade attack. She can to defensive and offensive magic but not, all out creating weapons. It's give and take manner of spell work. I think that she'll find Karsa and help launch fire power at some point and step away to ensure that the inhabitants aren't dead.

If the farmhouse happens to get burned it would be an utter shame to her. No it wouldn't. Can she please please please work her issues out on the poor undeserving farmhouse.

The event is also going to be her prob first interaction with well everyone in passing or in length. Generally necromancy is considered a forbidden, dirty magic so seeing it all up close for good and bad will be a treat.

[lancifolium]

I know I have been a slow mess on our other thread but I would love to have these gals intersect at some point in the chaos.