(no subject)

[groundrules]

TRAIN-CRASHING NEAR YOU

Heya, bonjour, think of Bastille! This post will serve as the main plotting and Q&A hub for our recent event and test drive meme (TDM).

Feel free to make a plotting comment, if you want — and to flag if you're playing a TDM participant or an existing character in the comment title, to help with precious, beautiful organisation.

For any general questions, you have the following main threads for:

TEST DRIVE QUESTIONS

EXISTING CHARACTERS

THE COMMON TIMELINE

Thanks so much and enjoy!

Comments

TEST DRIVE QUESTIONS

[groundrules]

...no, you can't adopt the bear.

[mysecondwind]

How's about the inventory of TDM characters: safe to say they have some things in their pockets from home or did they lose it all in the shuffle as per the original crew?

(Apologies if you already said and I missed this!)

[groundrules]

I'd say "keep it to whatever you can carry in," but what were you thinking of, exactly?

EXISTING CHARACTERS

[groundrules]

You guys definitely can't adopt the bear.

[consignation]

I'm not relogging because I'm in the middle of my toplevel but Mingyu is the kind of nerd who'd collect and get parchment pieces translated. Information is sort of his thing. Is there anything particularly useful he can do with this information?

[groundrules]

Of course! How many letter pieces were you thinking he'd get? I can give you some (very brief) summaries for each.

[topoiran]

BUt THE BEAR!!!

... also would the temple magic make people see different ghosts, or can illusions be shared?

[groundrules]

Just to make sure I've got you re "shared": do you mean, if Su Xunxian sees Fluffy, can someone else also witness Fluffy without Su Xunxian being present (aka, Fluffy is now an independent ghost)? Or if Su Xunxian can pick the people who see Fluffy with him?

[lancifolium]

She has definitely used magic in front of the ghosts a few times, is it safe to say Obvious Witch obviously is being watched or otherwise impeded? Like, for example, trying to cast a spell to slow down the streetcar-train thing?

And I’m here for ghost goss, is it cool for Lily to grab a couple of pieces of parchment dropped by the harpies?

[groundrules]

Yes, Lily would regrettably be on the receiving end of a lot of sorcery accusations! Though if she is seen handling fire, she will sooner be accused of being a witch of the Bessis.

How many letter pieces is she looking to get? I will give you summaries of their translations.

[beitangmoran]

Can I also put in for 3 or 4 letter pieces whenever life lets you exist, don't sweat it.

[groundrules]

Sure, of course — the second excerpt will be signed by Arha, making it easier to identify who is penning what, based on calligraphy:

i. Hatisse to Arha: she is returned to Taravast, where she has found the Attaryl in the chaos and tensions previous reports from her sister sorceresses suggested. As Arha knows, the Attaryl are diplomats, pacifists. Surely they are no match for the aggressions for the Bessis? Surely they cannot be culled like cattle when they lie defenceless? But the conclave of Taravast gives them no help in this.

ii. Arha to Hatisse: a wealth of praise for Hatisse's lips, her eyes, her hair. Beauty beyond compare, kindness without tarnish. He is not a man of poetry, not a scholar, but for her, he yet learns.

iii. Arha to Hatisse: they say tensions have mounted, that the Bessis and the Attaryl have clashed in the streets now, that blood will pour until one destroys the other to become the single faction of sorcery in Taravast. They say the Attaryl led the onslaught first. Were they fools? Do they not know the Bessis bring fire? What will their pretty words do then, their courtly manners?

iv. Hatisse to Arha: she sees now, how their enemies have converted him, how their voices speak through him. It aches her so. Let him keep his distance, then, let him leave her and her sisters as the conclave abandoned them already. He is a man grown, he rules an army. Hatisse joined his court to advise him, but she has failed, that much is plain. She has taught him nothing.

[weifinder]

Okay this is: talking to the soldier ghosts now, looking to see if any of them served as carriers of messages in some capacity in the time prior to the army's march, all that time ago. Wei Wuxian's trying to get a sense for the pacing of missives between the parted lovers. How long did missives take to send, and by what means were they passed?

[groundrules]

Hello! Some of them long preceded the deployment, such as a few of the ones Mingyu got, where the two are effectively courting. A handful were exchanged after the army set out, and some of the soldiers would have served as couriers.

[groundrules]

(As for speed of delivery - this depends on how close the army was to Taravast, a moving objective. Call it a few days. )

[somebadnews]

So sorry, I'm here with a late question.

"(All) characters can now sometimes briefly see the flickered figures of people they deeply miss around them": Would that happen inside the temple as well, or only outside after the fact? Just trying to see if Five and friends would run into this while they're down there!

[groundrules]

Hey - sure, they can do.

COMMON TIMELINE

[groundrules]

But what does it mean, metaphysically, to be a bear?

STOP THAT HORSECAR TRAIN THING

[groundrules]

...or, you know, don't.

God to the rescue

[scrapgege]

Xie Lian is good people, so he will go and help rescue people from the train thing and like, lift wagons up or something.

[weifinder]

Ssssooo is there any resentful energy that isn't the ghost army around to use to try and lock up the joints of some mechanical horses? Or otherwise forcibly change their course, this is how we roll in town apparently.

TEMPLE RAID

[groundrules]

Come one, loot all.

[downswing]

I can offer one [1] exorcist to further infuriate the dead, because what's a little blasphemy between ghost friends?

Here, if anyone wants to... come along and party...

[rumorate]

Hopefully this is the right place.

Okay, so. In addition to the tombs, will Allison be able to lead them back to the image that she saw of the army of mages heading towards Taravhast/will the be able to find anything else interesting before they get kicked out somehow?

TELL A GHOST, TELL A FRIEND

[groundrules]

Arha, we've got some bad news for you.