event 03 plotting

[thestewards]

Another month comes and goes.

This month, Strangers arrive peacefully and are expected when they arrive. Alas, the Queen's Residence is still in chaos, and there's much afoot. The Strangers have arrived just in time for a six day festival that coincides with the spring equinox and the beginning of the planting season around Draega.

You can read the full event here. The post is currently locked for responses and will open at 8PM EST on the 21st. Take this time to talk to each other about what you're interested in doing and accomplishing in this event.

Questions should be asked here. For this event, Strangers have the chance to run into all major NPCs except for Queen Fayura. As such, please use the top-levels below to hash out plans with the NPCs. You don't need to do this, however! NPCs may crash your threads just because. As always, you may drive the cityfolk as you please.

Some additional information…

► The Guilds have a significantly stronger presence in the city than they have had in previous months. The landens are far more raucous and belligerent with the Blood. Should you wish for a little more conflict, you are welcome to work confrontations between landen and Blood into your threads. Bear in mind, the landens will be the instigators here.

► The Blood and the Ebon Council's presence has been weakened. The Blood are quieter and wary, avoiding confrontation as much as they can. Landens are far more obvious in their use of Muters and their carrying of Breakers.

► While Strangers won't be able to interact with Fayura during this event, she is out and about in the city. Strangers will find her helping decorate and actively participating in the celebrations during the first three days.

After this event…

► New players can assume that characters know all the information given in the info pages. Whether you handwave a conversation with random NPCs or assume that Loren answered your characters' questions, as of the end of the event all PCs have been informed of the landen Guilds, the Ebon Council, and the state of the world.

► Characters may move out of the Queen's Residence and establish their homes elsewhere. Many buildings in the city are empty and in need of repairs, but no one will stop Strangers from moving in.

► Any one who remains at the Queen's Residence will receive a modest stipend, enough to cover food and drink. Loren will make clear that Strangers who do not live at the residence will not be afforded this money but also that Strangers who do stay are considered part of the Queen's court in as much as actions they take will reflect back on the court.

► Allairavar reminds everyone who chooses to stay at the residence that if you live with the court, you practice with the court. He expects all the Strangers who stay to be on the practice fields with everyone else at dawn. To those who are reticent, he explains that no one needs to learn how to fight only how to defend long enough for help (he seems to imply himself) to arrive.

Comments

[verstoned]

Would some of the landens let Rhus have their seeds/saplings for personal planting? He wants to get started on his alchemy experiments using them.

I'm also looking over the various FFXIV growth formula recipes to check which one would be easily translated into the setting and if it would work. ... And how long Rhus has to work at it to find something that would work.

[thestewards]

They will be reticent at first, but when given an explanation will see his purpose and agree. Seeds are precious, they remind him, but it seems the Strangers can do good so they're willing.

Feel free to execute experiments as you will. Rhus will find that his efforts do have some impact but not at the rate he expects. There is, however, a way for his experiments to be incredibly successful and exceed every expectation. Let us know down the road what he's planting, where, the soil he's using, how he plans to tend it, and we'll make sure he's pushed along that path toward success.

Because Draega really needs that food.

[verstoned]

Rhus will start with compost or peat moss, whichever is more readily available. He'll be growing small things in pots in his room at first, like beans and flowers, and then move on to things like tomatoes if he's successful. He'll also probably rope in a few pcs and npcs if he can to help out with the second stage (I'm planning to make a network post for that)

From Rhus' knowledge, different growth formulas have different effects. The ones he'll be trying are beta and gamma. The former is made from jellyfish umbrella, quicksilver/mercury and rock salt and is for flowering plants but not for plants with edible matter. Just pretty things to keep around. The latter is more important because you can grow entire garden plots with it but is more difficult to make because it requires volcanic rock salt, quicksilver/mercury and the leaves of a carnivorous plant. Naturally finding the ingredients is the first big hurdle, and the next big hurdle is creating a mixture that would not just make something grow successfully, but also produce food that isn't dangerous to eat.

... Naturally he'll be eating the food himself to test for poison because he's nuts.

eta: I forgot to mention! In the event of a shortage or absence of ingredients he needs (like, say, that volcanic rock salt), he'll be experimenting with substitutions in order to get favorable results-- and naturally he'll be making a lot of them, which is where asking for help in seeing what works and what doesn't comes in.

[thestewards]

Rhus has two options for getting the jellyfish: either trading with the mercenary bands that are beginning to come into Draega's port or going to the ocean (about 150 miles east as the crow flies) himself. If he wants to go on an ocean adventure with a friend, let us know. The mercenaries will trade jellyfish bits for little; whatever they ask for, he'll definitely have.

Volcanic rock salt and the leaves of a carnivorous plant will be harder to find. The former can be purchased from the Guilds—some of the tinkers and elektrics have it as an ingredient for their experiments. A bit of research in the library, and Rhus will find that carnivorous plants once grew in a Territory far to the south called Adh Rikair.

[verstoned]

Rhus would prefer to get the jellyfish from the mercenaries, since he wants to take as little time as possible traveling for what he needs. On the other hand, Rhus will try and venture out to to Adh Rikair for the plants he needs, or find an alternative to them. Are they available to be bought elsewhere? Would there be other similar plants closer? How far is Adh Rikair and how long and/or difficult would the travel be?

[thestewards]

Adh Rikair is not close. By foot, the journey there and back will take several weeks. But in his research, he finds reference to something called the Winds. When he brings this to the librarians, they say that there used to be a network of "psychic highways" through the Darkness. Often times now, those highways are too dangerous to be flown, especially when they're darker than the Red. But Rhus wears the Sapphire, so he should be safe.

The librarians pull out a map and show him where the forest of Adh Rikair can be found. They lay an almost transparent sheet of paper over the map and, starting from Ebon Askavi, draw a series of straight lines and circles. These, they explain, are a basic map of the Winds. There is a Wind for each color of Jewel from White to Black. The darker the Wind, the more paths exist in the Darkness and the faster the wind goes. Sapphire should be safe and fast, getting Rhus to Adh Rikair and back quickly.

They do advise he take a friend, for the wilds are full of mercenaries and roving covens of Black Widows and other desperate witches.

[verstoned]

Ah, nice, I can make asking for companions my network post and ask for at most three people to accompany him. Rhus would be real thankful for the librarians for the help and ask if he could keep the maps for reference, and return it once he gets back.

... Would the carnivorous plants take offense to being plucked/harvested/transplanted? Rhus would attempt to take a bunch them back to Draega with him so he doesn't have to keep returning to Adh Rikair.

How dangerous are the Black Widows and witches? Rhus is immune to mind control but he'd rather avoid coming into their sights as much as possible.

[thestewards]

The plants aren't much larger than a house cat—think of a moderately sized philodendron with an ankle biting problem. They'll nibble and bite, but they won't do much harm. He'll easily be able to take one or two back, especially if he shields to protect himself.

Very dangerous. Widow's webs tend to control less than subtly manipulate. Your head might feel like its full of cotton, decision-making becomes difficult, and the Black Widow talking to you suddenly seems like an excellent source of information. You're welcome to play fast and loose with how easily Rhus' mind would be ensnared by a Black Widow's web whether by making it very hard to trap him or, once he's trapped, it's very easy for him to see through.

Black Widows are also excellent with poisons, and all of them have a venomous tooth under the ring finger of their right hand (thanks for being so extra, canon). Since he's a healer and he's smart, he's definitely noticed that Fayura has one.

[verstoned]

So! because i am the most forgetful thing and i dont think ahead of time, i need to ask now:

What does Adh Rikair look like? Tropical wilds or deciduous forest? Is it dark and dank or bright and sunny? Or is it like a desert wasteland?

And what does traveling through the Winds feel like? Floo ala HP? Apparition? Or something else entirely?

[thestewards]

Adh Rikair was once a tropical region. Something went wrong in the land thousands of years ago, however, leaving it swampy and rotting. A wicked stench fills the air for files around the Territory, the ground is soggy and marshy, and there are gnats, flies, and mosquitoes everywhere. The temperature never drops below 80 degrees, and the humidity is so intense that breathing is difficult at all hours. Thick pollen fills the air, giving everything a golden sheen and coating plants and animals alike in a thick, sticky, paste-like powder. It's the worst combination of swamp and rain forest you could imagine.

Traveling through the Winds is a lot like flying on a plane, except you are the plane. The darker the web, the faster it goes, but as mentioned before the darker Winds are exceptionally turbulent and dangerous. The only thing you can see in the darkness are the lines of the webs, much like roadways, and where they intersect are brighter areas that draw riders like lodestones.