tdm 03

[thestewards]

Oh we were comin' around You threw me back down
You had my trust in your hands You gave it up again

► All TDM threads may be considered canon provided both parties agree and are accepted into the game.

► Canon threads may be redeemed for influence and reputation depending on how you solve the issue at hand or how you engage with the prompt. They also count toward AC.

► Feel free to switch up your character's Jewel from thread to thread. Get a feel for how a Birthright Jewel may limit or enhance your character's abilities.

VIGILANDEN JUSTICE
Newcomers may have heard: just two weeks ago, the Blood attempted to sabotage the power plant just outside the city. For a brief time, the city plunged into darkness and during that time, Councilwoman Vera was shot and killed in the Old Town Bazaar by a young landen man. A small flower now grows where she died. No matter how many times it’s torn up, it grows back.

Following these events, the Strangers overwhelmingly chose to aid the power plant that keeps the lights on. With the perception that the Strangers are on their side, young landen men and women have grown bold. In the night, they creep into River East, where the Blood live.

Some of these gangs of landens do little more than paint Guild symbols on the walls of Blood homes: a hexagon with circles at each joint for the Guilds as a whole, the Tinker's hammer, the needle and jewel of the Crafters, the double-arrow of the Hunter Guild. They cover walls with incendiary words—words like bleeder and bastard.

Others are not so kind. They bring portable muters with them and break into homes. They steal both precious and mundane possessions, frighten children, and terrify parents. They go to the single altar in Draega and smash the treasures of the Blood’s faith, knocking over candles and lighting tapestries that honor the Darkness on fire.

Have you friends in Draega already? Perhaps you met someone at breakfast at the Queen’s Residence, and now as you walk the streets together, you come across one of these landen gangs. The news is full of reports about what they’re doing. Now, it seems, the choice is yours. Do you stop them or join them? The Queen has asked you to help broker peace between the landens and the Blood, but she’s also given you the worst freedom of all: that of choice. Perhaps you think it best to support these gangs in their desire to even the odds against the Blood.


WARM FRONT
The explosion at the power plant caused a surge of power that damaged elektriline heaters in homes across Draega, leaving many in the cold. The Queen, seeing her people in need, immediately dispatched her court to provide heating spells for these homes. She also asked the Strangers, both those still living at her residence and those living throughout the city, to lend their aid, too.

Members of the First Circle provide a quick lesson on how to cast warming spells. These can be wrapped around people or attached to items, such as small stones or large ovens. Depending on how much power is infused into the spell, it can last for an hour or two or upwards of a few days (especially when cast by a darker Jewel).

Many in the First Circle insist on going to the homes in River East—the Blood homes, places where they are more likely to be welcomed. Some certainly choose this because being around the landens makes them nervous and uneasy, but some outright refuse to help the landens, especially those who live in River North where the Guilds do their business. Prince Barret and Lords Jared and Yarl in particular won’t go to the landen parts of town, leaving you and your partner to canvas Old Town, River North, and perhaps even the slums to see if anyone would like your help.

Certainly, this will not be easy, and the Queen has promised a silver mark for each household you and your partner help.


POISONED GNATURE
Warmer weather claws its way across the land, lifting the temperatures above freezing for the first time in months. While much of the city reacts with relief, and the air in the Bazaar improves in spite of the violence and tension that hovers over the city like a black cloud, the farmers outside the city walls are dealing with their own troubles: cold-resistant mosquitoes carrying disease from the frigid mountains of Askavi.

Stagnant water fills troughs and furrows in the earth, becoming a toxic breeding ground for more of these awful pests. The mosquitoes have little interest in humans, but they’re hungry for animal blood. Most animals bitten by the mosquitoes die within a day, their meat rendered inedible.

Food is already scarce and stores run thin. If more animals die, people won’t just be a little hungry or disappointed in the tasteless porridge many are serving as a hold over until summer, they will starve.

The landen Guilds provide a thick, smelly paste that can be spread over the animals, and the Queen requests the Strangers aide the farmers. She, too, can be found working among the stables with Prince Verim or Prince Allairavar at her side, doing her part to ensure the city remains fed.


AIR TIME
Whether you catch the news on a Far-caster in the city or you're spinning the dial on your own device, you'll hear…

etiquette with evandra and aren
[Evandra's voice is a little bit rough and a little bit husky, the kind of voice that gives bad ideas to young men and headaches to fathers.] …understanding that some people— [She’s being polite about it, but she definitely means the Strangers.] —don’t know how to address a Queen!

[Aren’s voice is chipper and bright. He sounds more like an eager boy than the full-grown man he is.] Quite right, Evandra. For Blood females, remembering titles is easy. Every witch you meet should be addressed as Lady.

[Evandra sounds a little surprised.] Even though male castes have different titles of address, a witch is always called Lady?

[Aren:] That she is! A working Healer or Priestess should be addressed by their caste, but if you’re just being polite in casual conversation, calling her “Lady” is enough!

[Evandra:] As they say: whether warm or rainy, when you meet on the street, you address her as Lady.

the weather
[A soft-spoken man’s voice rumbles out of the Far-caster. He’s pleasant to listen to, with a soothing cadence to his voice.] …rains coming out of Askavi over the next week. Farmers are advised to cover their plants. When outside in the rain, Blood should shield and landens should wear heavy cloaks to protect their skin. Worried about lesions from the rains? The Medicos have a new salve that…

the news
[The man speaks at a brisk pace, hurried and harried as though he has too much to say and not enough time to say it.] …appointing someone new to the Ebon Council?

[Another man, nasally in tone. He doesn’t sound rushed so much as put upon.] It’s hard to say, Garret. With the Strangers in the city, it’s likely that Lord Grejor is waiting to see if any are willing to bring the young assassin to justice.

[Garret:] The landen who killed Councilwoman Vera is a member of the Crafter Guild and is currently being held by the Queen. There have been reports that the Queen means to implement some new process for judging offenses by the end of the week…

Comments

[garmr]

So much for their altruistic peace mission. He wasn’t going to pretend to understand what the whole hair thing was about, but the girl gets credit for keeping her eyes sharp. As much as Guts had trained to compensate for the blind spot on his right side, a second pair covering for him didn't hurt their chances.

"I'm guessin' Fayura won't like it if I kill them,” he adds bluntly. Why do villagers always seem to get pissed off when he's around? Guts would think they’d go after easier prey.

He moves with her towards the thinning crowd, entirely aware that the open space would make them easy to get pounced on. In fact, he’s banking on it. This would hardly be the first or the most threatening group that felt like picking a fight with him. Better to get it out of the way to get the rest of them to back off.

There might be an escape route waiting for them avoiding all this, but he seems to be more inclined to just barge his way through regardless of how it’d look to the landen around them.

[4hearts]

"I don't think so, no." Evie had been fortunate not to have to deal with violence at the level of murder, but hardcore fighting? She didn't enjoy it, but she could scrap as well as wield a sword. The gold-painted studs on her fingerless leather gloves weren't just a decoration.

She glanced from side to side as they moved closer to the open space. A few of the people ringing the area were shifting posture. They pushed off of the crumbling walls and stood on the balls of their feet, arms loose. There wasn't a way to avoid fighting, and the consequences that would come of it. Even if she bolted, Evie knew her chances of finding safety alone were slim. These men knew the area better than she or Guts, and could funnel them into an alley or cut them off. If this were the Isle, she'd run, lead them on a chase, and into Mal's territory, where the rest of her friends could help her.

Here? Her pace slowed just a little, and with a glance at her companion, she turned her most stunning dark smile toward the people nearest them. She let her hips sway just a bit, keeping a hand planted firmly on one hip. "You all do realize we're here to help you, right?" she asked, sweetness and poison in her voice.

One of the landen men scowled and started forward.

[garmr]

Six-Seven-Eight... - about ten or so in a circle around them. A couple more hiding up between the buildings. This was starting to feel awfully familiar to him. He could practically hear Puck's annoying voice shouting in his head to spare their lives, too.

"No one asked for your help," spits out a voice dripping with hatred,"Go back to your side of the river, bleeders!" A few shouts of agreement come from the group, some holding improvised weapons. A rock or two gets lobbed in their direction as the circle begins to close in. There was no talking their way out of this.

There is a half-second of tension in Guts' body, mouth curled up to reveal teeth. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a glint of metal in the crowd, and the black cloak billows open.

The silvery blur of a knife whistles through the air, and carves its entire length into a man's hand wrapped around a breaker. Its owner howls in pain as the firearm clatters to the ground. The trigger misfires on the impact, sending a shot somewhere into the street and quickly transforming the fearful crowd of onlookers into full-on stampeding panic. Most of the people around them are innocent, and they were only interested in getting the hell out of there. But that didn't count for all of them, the original band still remained in the chaos.

Looks like first blood was drawn, and it was time for them to fight.

[4hearts]

If the person speaking thought to insult her, they would be disappointed. Perhaps if she were a native to this world, the words would have stung more. She'd been called worse at home. It was almost risible. The reaction of the crowd, anything but.

Shouting and shaking of angry fists, even of shaking weapons at them, didn't make Evie flinch. The rocks, thankfully, flew wide. Warnings. Not to run, but of what was to come. Evie shifted her stance, and her stronger hand dropped to the short sword on her belt. Before she could draw, Guts had thrown something at one of the landens. The bang of the misfiring gun - breaker, her brain irrationally reminded her - caused her to flinch. And in that moment, chaos erupted around them.

Conflicting instincts screamed at her. Part of her wanted to disappear in the crowd, use the chaos to get herself to safety. The other part wanted to help the innocent people get away from those who were about to attack. The best way to do that, though, was to meet their attackers head on, give them a target to focus on, so they wouldn't go after any of their own in their zeal.

One of the landen men rushed her in her moment of indecision, and Evie grunted as he plowed into her, but braced to take the impact on instinct. A moment later, once they'd skidded to a stop and she had her footing, she brought her knee up hard, raking her nails at his face at the same time. She was glad she'd thought to wear her original blue/black leather dress and leggings, rather than something from the city shops. The sturdier material was keeping her marginally more protected.

As the man recoiled, Evie ducked out of his way and glanced up toward Guts, and toward the next attacker.

[garmr]

Guts would be easy to spot in the crowd. Beyond his towering height and attire, he is entirely at home in a maelstrom of violence. He is remarkably quick and agile despite his size, and his missing eye didn't seem to hinder him much as he moved into the whole group closing in from the other side.

Even in sparing his opponents' lives, his tactics aren't pretty. His iron artificial arm is used to both block weapons and beat his opponents to the ground. One strike was enough to break ribs and fracture bone, leaving the victim curled up in pain. The truly unfortunate would have the metal fist slammed into their face, shattering much of what lie underneath. His knee plates and steel-armored boots make equally good blunt weapons, kicking one or two others into the surrounding walls with tremendous force.

It was the vicious whirlwind of a cold-blooded mercenary brought to action. He wasn't entirely kind to any bystanders that got into his way, either. There were one or two innocent landen that he's had to shove aside to get to his real targets, but beyond a few scrapes as they hit the ground, they swiftly ran clear.

"Get the breaker!" he growls back at her, glancing back to make brief eye contact. Another man is trapped in the crook of his elbow, coughing and clawing at the metal forearm to stop it from being savagely squeezed onto his neck. The weapon on the ground was slow to reload - but its original owner could have friends and a few more shots left - and then they'd be pretty well screwed.