groundrules: (Default)
let's set d o w n some ([personal profile] groundrules) wrote in [community profile] lostcompass2024-01-30 06:25 pm

hatthevar: part ii


Hello, everyone! Heading into Part II of Hatthevar, a summary of events:

The party is entrenched in Hatthevar — former seat of mysticism, wish houses and Oracles, now transformed into a citadel of ghosts.

Matthias, creator of the undead, has been working local beacons to summon dead spirits from various places in time and space and revive them, in hopes of resurrecting his daughter Cosette. He has offered the party his entire power over the undead, if they recover Cosette, whom he senses appearing intermittently within Hatthevar.

Taking advantage of Matthias’ distraction, his creation, the dead lord Rathakku and old foe Anurr of the winds have been assailing the walls of Hatthevar with their forces, hoping to breach in.

FOLLOWING PART I:

Benedict, Emilia and Wrath defeated some of Anurr’s frost wyrms and Rathakku’s demonic scorpions and sand lurkers, preventing them from entering Hatthevar. Rathakku withdraws his forces, with any remnants (up to a handful) prepared to obey the trio in battle. Anurr remains, and his blizzards continue their attacks.

Vanessa controls one of the beacons. The party is guaranteed an exit point unless the beacon is lost.

Red recovered a substance from a cauldron typically used to eliminate memories. Along with supplying access to some of Matthias’ recollections, the liquid also enables the party to retain their memories of Akhuras upon departure.

Five and Wen Kexing learned two possible locations suspected as Matthias’ hideouts.


The case of Matthias’ daughter, Cosette…

FINDINGS SO FAR
■ Matthias describes his daughter as a young blonde child. No such girl is ever seen wherever he sends the party, claiming he senses his daughter’s presence in Hatthevar.

■ Matthias does not seem to remember or wish to share how Cosette died.

■ A puppet master, who worked at the bazaar when Matthias sensed Cosette was present there, says he was possessed to put on a play of a father-daughter quarrel, at the end of which the daughter ran off and was killed.

■ Matthias, formerly a technological and magical scientist of Ellethia, extracted two presumably shameful or painful memories: one was of him giving permission for his team to create a fierce magical storm and recover a power source, endangering nearby ships. The second memory was of running into a young blonde woman who disdainfully said she had not admired him since she was a child.

■ At one point, a woman seen where Matthias felt his daughter present traded a memory in which she was on a ship in the middle of a large storm, arguing with Matthias. River suspects Cosette may not have been a child at the time of her death.

■ If the woman is Cosette, she does not wish to return to her father.


Plenty of action to go in Part II of the event, due up over the weekend. Here are a few things to consider/sign up for:

Betrayal: Undead wind master Anurr no longer attacks Hatthevar’s walls with frost wyrms, but batters them with blizzards. More deviously, those exposed to his storms might hear… dark or saccharine voices corrupting, threatening or wooing them to open one of the gates of Hatthevar and allow Anurr’s forces in. Those prone to loneliness, despair or self-doubt are the most vulnerable and can turn aggressive, if anyone attempts to prevent them from their goal. They will have to be immobilized and warmed to return to normal.

Part and whole: Characters who own any of Matthias’ limbs or organs find these parts are attracting delirious, vicious and combative crowds led by ghost slavers who have received word (and promises of rewards) to recover these tokens. They may seek to abduct the actual owners of these parts or anyone unlucky enough to be mistaken for them. Get your character abducted or organize a rescue party! Note: if characters who do have Matthias' limbs/organs are captured, these tokens will be claimed by the abductors.

The streets: As the beacon held by Vanessa no longer answers him, Matthias assumes it’s depowering naturally and directs his energy to the remaining four gateways. The excess energy and turbulence agitate the ghosts and spirits of Hatthevar, many of which riot, mutinously, and take their anger out on ghost slavers or on anyone who reminds them of their plights while alive. Take care as hauntings multiply, and the citadel turns bloody. Yes, you can try to assemble and lead your own gang of hooligan ghosts.

■ Five and Wen Kexing have learned Matthias has two possible lairs: one is the Whispering House of the Red Lady, in Hatthevar’s wish district; the other is the half-sunken ghost ship, the Headless Dancer, which appears infrequently in Hatthevar’s lagoon. Both must be explored for any signs of Matthias, starting with the Headless Dancer. OOCly, please note that Matthias won’t be on the ship, but you can sign up for a RNG draw to either discover a critical token or encounter Cosette.


The final event write-up will include a lot of haunting options for ghost city :') The NPC inbox remains open throughout, particularly for any deals with the wish houses.

Lastly: please vote on Matthias’ fate.


PLOTTING

Fill out the form below and comment around mightily to plot!




blackscales: Commission, Do Not Take! (13)

[personal profile] blackscales 2024-01-30 07:27 pm (UTC)(link)
This is maybe a stretch, but if I don't ask I won't know.

Way back in Ellethia, a lot of documents were found on the research there. Among them, was information about a lead technician and senior board member, and information about their resignation with immediate effect on 'on grounds of ethical concern and with utmost regard for national safety' etc etc. Matthias then took over, iirc.

... Was any gender mentioned, for the previous lead technician? Would be, for example, juicy family drama if Cosette worked there then resigned because she disagreed with stuff her dad is now into on an even bigger scale.

Edit: Noting I'm asking because at the time, Wrathion spoke to Jon about it, and I recall he had the documents there for anyone who wanted to read. So Wrathion would have been nosy enough to go through them!
Edited 2024-01-30 19:28 (UTC)
blackscales: Commission, Do Not Take! (8)

[personal profile] blackscales 2024-01-30 07:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Tsk! I'll go back to my conspiracy theory board and return later.
companionsgrasp: (Default)

[personal profile] companionsgrasp 2024-01-30 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Sign up Benedict please! He wants to talk to her... ;a;
And it would be within his interests to go check out that place as one of the possible lairs. He's into discovering that. Let's goooo!
companionsgrasp: (Default)

[personal profile] companionsgrasp 2024-01-30 08:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Can I sign up for both RNGs with a preference of one over the other?
Or only sign up for one?
blackscales: Commission, Do Not Take! (13)

KILL

[personal profile] blackscales 2024-01-30 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)


Wrathion is willing to help bring the fight to this guy! Given they have several... bits of him? He suspects they can leverage those in some way, with a little research, to weaken him. He is willing to do nerd research on this, and on any other tools they might be able to use against him. He is also willing to breathe fire on him, extensively.
blackscales: Commission, Do Not Take! (13)

[personal profile] blackscales 2024-01-30 08:14 pm (UTC)(link)
#1 Gadget fan, Wrathion. He both can be a tool and loves a good tool!
valeas: (Default)

+1

[personal profile] valeas 2024-01-30 08:25 pm (UTC)(link)


willing to do the deed y
Edited 2024-01-30 20:30 (UTC)
downswing: (you should see me in a -)

+1

[personal profile] downswing 2024-01-30 08:32 pm (UTC)(link)
My one of two smiling icons says, let's do this.
matermali: (266)

+1

[personal profile] matermali 2024-01-30 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)


if she is still in one piece she can be great with violent murder, near and far
inferus: (🗡️ 3 4 8)

[personal profile] inferus 2024-01-30 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)


Wrath will happily help with researching those limbs/bits to figure out how to weaken him/make him more/vulnerable/set a trap. Ooh, they could set a trap for him, and then murder him. Absolutely willing and happy to kill his ass.

Set a trap for him in the sense that now we know what Cosette potentially looks like and we have a few items that can make people change into looking like someone. Red has a collar that can do this, and I think there's another magical item like that too? They could possibly use both items to like get him to follow them where they want honestly. Look like Cosette, lure him to trap, release trap - bam, take his ass down.
Edited 2024-01-30 20:54 (UTC)
blackscales: Commission, Do Not Take! (13)

[personal profile] blackscales 2024-01-30 08:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Wrathion can also just


Shapeshift himself, tbh.

And he can cast illusions! So any of combo of all that can be used for a trap.
inferus: (Default)

[personal profile] inferus 2024-01-30 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Omg YES. TBH if they use all of the above then they could definitely just confuse and isolate him from whatever minions he has left, leading him to exactly where they most want him to go... while others from the group take care of those minions along the way/make sure they can't follow.

matermali: (087)

[personal profile] matermali 2024-01-30 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Vanessa also has a shapeshifting cape/cloak. She can give it to anyone who gets the rng, no problem
Edited 2024-01-30 21:00 (UTC)
blackscales: Commission, Do Not Take! (8)

[personal profile] blackscales 2024-01-30 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
If one wanted to cause a stir, they could also involve turning into/an illusion of The Merchant
inferus: (Default)

[personal profile] inferus 2024-01-30 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
SWEET. I knew there was another one of those items floating around. I think one person will be RNGed to do the actual murder, but it will still require teamwork potentially to get him vulnerable to murdering.... lmao.

And since teamwork makes the murder dream work if you wanted Vanessa to use it in helping to take down the Merchant, she totally should. I like the idea of confusing him/surrounding him with his past failures and throwing it in his face before killing him myself especially since he felt hte need to forget all his painful memories. ...ahem. >>"
matermali: (097)

[personal profile] matermali 2024-01-30 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
I figure the answer is yes, but just in case, does Vanessa need to remain by the beacon to keep it safe?
inferus: (Default)

[personal profile] inferus 2024-01-30 09:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooh, YEAH that might confuse some of his minions potentially esp if a necromancer type person was the one who turned

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