plot roll | they walk among us

[groundrules]

Image source.

THEY WALK AMONG US | THE NEUTRAL ZONE

Neutral Zone bridges connect Eidris and Minaras in the two one-hour intervals of each day — 6:00-7:00 and 18:00-19:00 — when both citadel halves are overground. These are safe and shielded spaces — until protesters linked to the Remembrance resistance join the milling crowds.

Protestors rent ’eyes,’ paying exorbitantly to possess the bodies of willing strangers. They are difficult to spot until they’re right beside you, trying to lure or abduct you into the cause of forcibly reuniting Serthica. Both Eidris and Minaras offer bounties for Remembrance members. Remembrance lieutenants are meanwhile actively recruiting, asking an act of fealty to join their ranks.

✘ OBJECTIVE: capture Remembrance members or play spy within the group.

■ Shallow inquiries reveal Remembrance members have been infiltrating the Neutral Zone crowds for a week prior. The Eidris and Minaras administration offer 50,000 coin for every member of Remembrance brought in.

■ The job is encumbered by the use of ‘eyes’: Remembrance members make their getaway by abandoning their rented bodies when they face trouble. To avoid this, Minaras and Eidris loan out miniature hand-held body-lock gear that will keep someone’s awareness in the body they occupy for six hours. To activate the lock, touch the bracelet to the subject’s nape. Each body-lock gear can only be used five times.

■ Remembrance members typically wait until you’ve reached a narrow and crowded part of the bridges, before slipping beside you to whisper their pitch: ”Don’t you miss your family? Was only one citadel, once, our Serthica. Could walk free to our mines, then, to our factories, our dragons. What’s division done for you, except make rich people richer?”

■ They withdraw into the crowd at the first sign of hostility, but will entertain whispered conversation, if you appear interested. Some speak of their leader Chrichter — an allegedly honest, stalwart man of the people — as Serthica’s true hope for the future.

■ Remembrance members work in groups, with a scout alerting the others when constables walk by.

■ Characters sensitive to life forces might feel the ‘eyes’ have multiple spirits inside them, or the spirit that occupies the body is very blurred and undefined (because of regular substitution).

■ As Remembrance seeks political leverage, the easiest way for new conscripts to prove their loyalty is to bring a captive or coerced member of the Eidris or Minaras aristocracy or a person of passable standing — …who may be an unlucky NPC, or one of your allies, finally polishing their acting skills.

■ Keep up the act: Remembrance has zero tolerance for those who belittle or question the cause.

■ Some members of Remembrance might abduct you, using chloroform and brute force, and pretending you are their good friend who has taken drunk or ill in the crowd. If you have been kidnapped or are joining Remembrance freely, prepare to be blindfolded and led down a winding path through the Neutral Zone — and into the impoverished underworld of the Mouse House.

■ The headquarters of Remembrance is in a large, now destitute train station. It would have once served the coal train that traverses the Mouse House daily. High-standing Remembrance lieutenants access the station with large, peculiarly shaped keys.

■ Everyone in the group wears a mask — you receive one as you head in, both for privacy and to fend off the stench of pestilential wet and mould.

■ The Remembrance base is dusty, chaotic, brimming with scraps and random tech projects. Here and there, find dissected or repurposed droids, along with several man-sized burlap mannequins and mislaid toys. No child is ever present. On the walls, colourful graffiti writes, OPEN THE WALLS, PLAY WITH YOUR DOLLS, TWO PENCE A POP, WHERE HAVE YOUR DRAGONS GONE?, BRING OUT YOUR DEAD…

■ Remembrance reunites a motley crowd of desperate men and women. Their households were either destroyed by the ‘coal sickness,’ or divided when work obligations confined some to Eidris, others to Minaras. Several group members are tinkerers, devising new protest weapons and gear — including the terror bullets witnessed during the trade summit. Many members work honest jobs overground, with a minority serving the Neutral Zone. They have minimal interaction with the Mouse House.

■ Remembrance offers the train station as a crude, but functional shelter. Best avoid sleeping here overnight — in your wretched dreams, your dark-fingered hands go to your throat, and decay haunts your body, as you attempt to flee a sinister mountain at all costs.

■ Remembrance leader Chrichter is a frequent (masked) sight, seen speaking and planning with his lieutenants. There is word of a coming attack during the ‘Unwinding.’ It is unclear if Remembrance expects to attack or be attacked.

■ Now and then, the headquarters activity shuts down, and you should hide as overground constables conduct Mouse House raids .They never enter the train station — and Chrichter and his men often prepare bribes. But you’re fair game if you’re captured for your own negligence.

■ A locked back room in the Remembrance headquarters leaks rare rivulets of blood or blackened water. Sometimes, you hear fists banging on the door or animal-like howling for a scant few seconds. Everyone studiously ignores these incidents. The door only opens once — when a furious Chrichter exits, kicking a lifeless burlap mannequin off his clawed, bleeding back.

■ You can enter the headquarters freely if you supply the passcode, WAKE UP. You might want to release the forced Remembrance captives on your way out.

QUESTIONS

NPC ACCESS: CHRICHTER

Comments

QUESTIONS

[groundrules]

Join a resistance, they said.

You'll get out of the house and meet people, they said.

[hatejakku]

Hello! Two questions!

1. "As Remembrance seeks political leverage, the easiest way for new conscripts to prove their loyalty is to bring a captive or coerced member of the Eidris or Minaras aristocracy." Would a liaison between Minaras and the Mouse House (aka, Finn) count as an even low-level aristocrat?

2. Would someone who can sense such things recognize any life from the burlap mannequins? If that's a question better done via IC NPC contact, just let me know. o7

[groundrules]

Heya!

1. Oh yeah, he's... a baller. For sure. For... sure. Look, they're desperate: he'll do.

2. Nothing from the burlap mannequins outside of The Room.

[hatejakku]

That second answer isn't ominous at all.

Thank you!

[matermali]

Since I never want to assume a darn thing, does 'heiress' suggest that Vanessa is part of the aristocracy? Not that...I'm considering...doing anything with this plot...of course... :)

[groundrules]

Yes, sure. I'll change that so it's more inclusive!

[matermali]

Okay! And oh gosh I did not mean to make trouble/add work! It was just an idle curiosity, please ignore me.

[inferus]

Hi, wanted to find a way for Fei, Wrath, and Xingchen to contribute to the plot roll, and so we were looking at a few leads, but we wanted your guidance on whether or not those leads would... lead anywhere, haha.

We were thinking of:

1) The graffiti mentions 'open the walls', can they find false walls or other hidden things within the walls if they all three work together within the headquarters?

2) Can the graffiti's odd writings be 'solved'/are the phrases important in the sense that they lead to a greater clue?

3) What would happen if they tried the Arabella trigger phrase on one of the burlap dolls that are around the headquarters?

4) Can anything of value (magical or otherwise) be found in the random droid parts and burlap sacks and other items around the graffiti/headquarters? Also, they'll be snagging a bit of burlap to take back and later compare with Emilia's. Just fyi.

[groundrules]

1. If they check in the locked room.

2. Yes!

3. That phrase is unique to Arabella!

4. Perfectly fine to steal a piece of the burlap, just make sure it's not coming from The Room and that they cut it out stealthily and aren't seen carrying it out. The burlap mannequin will give a long sigh of dull hurt, when the burlap piece is cut. There is nothing of value on the mannequin, but they can observe it feels very, very dead and there are signs of recent magical residue on them.

I'm not 100% sure what counts as of value for you folks — I'd like to help, but if you can narrow it down a tiny bit for me?

[inferus]

Thank you so much!

1) Sweet, they will head in after the initial group does their thing with unlocking and getting that initial view/exploration of the room. After that, we'll have these guys head in and check out the walls to see if they can find false ones. Especially since they'll be trying to solve the graffiti, so it makes sense that would lead them to there.

2) Definitely gonna try to put those clues together then! Does each graffiti phrase mean something else like how 'open the walls' -> false wall?

3) Damn, Arabella, you get your very own special phrase of unhinging-jaw action 😬

4) Yeah, it would be a small piece from one of the leftover burlap mannequins hanging around, and they would do so stealthily. Do any of these thrown away mannequins have markings or masks or anything that makes them stand out? But that is entirely awesome and creepy to know. Anything that reads as like magical, life/death, or mirror/darkwater-like among the stuff - less concerned w/ monetary value.

[blackscales]

Hello I know it's 9:30am but now that Kirk And Pals have revealed the contents of The Room (tm) to the party, am I too late to engage with Chrichter? Was thinking of having Wrathion approach Remembrance as an investor interested after having heard one of the Barons was approached by Chrichter yknow. Interested in this better future etc.

[groundrules]

Heya — what were you thinking in terms of timeline, pre or post Room entry?

[blackscales]

I was basing it off Wrathion having seen Kirk's post, so that makes it after they've opened the room and ... some trashing has been done etc I believe by the other group too. Which is why I wasn't sure if that made it Too Late.

[blackscales]

Happy Wednesday! Me again, new topic:

Wrathion's going to investigate Kirk's mannequin baby and potentially music box. It's like a fun party where they all get jump scared by it waking up when they turn away to discuss it.

I can see mention that black water traces are on it, does it feel literally the same as the stuff in Kei-Waihu or is there any notable difference? Since Wrathion did splash around in it a lot and investigate it. Also: to confirm, is the grease in the mannequin joints the mouse house grease?

[groundrules]

Hi —

1. The traces would feel much, much softer than the Ke-Waihu water did, since you're working with residue vs active water. Same kind of flavour, though.

2. Yes.

[blackscales]

Thank you kindly!

NPC ACCESS | CHRICHTER

[groundrules]

Drop your very own beautiful starter, if you'd like interaction with Chrichter in the Remembrance headquarters.

Couple of notes:

Please bring plot-relevant questions & aim to be available to finish the thread by 20 September

Despite his rep, Chrichter is highly volatile and dangerous. Characters should tread very lightly around him.

closed for fei and xingchen and magnus

[inferus]

The Remembrance group headquarters leaves something to be desired. Wrath is attempting to avoid all the dirt and grime, but it appears to be impossible, and he is no fan of the large mask they are forced to wear. He supposes it gives anonymity, which is useful when he ordinarily has the role of the detective who is supposed to be preventing their next attack.

He makes note of them speaking about an attack though it isn't clear who the perpetrator will be or who the victim will be during the Unwinding.

Near the walls of graffiti and scrap droids and various items, Wrath, Fei, Xingchen, and Magnus gather as stealthily as possible, looking through the items and making note of the graffiti written on the wall. They discuss in hushed voices after agreeing to work together to investigate the Remembrance further.

The four of them met as they were all turning in members of the Remembrance who were foolish enough to attempt to try to chloroform and kidnap them. This is the second that Wrath's turned in at this point though the first did not try to kidnap him, but another unsuspecting individual. He highly dislikes this groups methods and their refusal to allow anyone to question them as if they are gods.

They are far from it, and one day, as all prideful mortals do, they will learn.

posting order? we don't need no stinkin posting order.

[snowcleave]

Gold and the prospect of clearing the streets of those who mean to prey on the ill-prepared are excellent motivators for Fei, who seeks to give as much as she can, to the orphans of Mouse House. Not to mention, she sincerely appreciated a good fight. The dating drama of dragons is tiresome for those who lack the proper temperament for courtship.

It's even more auspicious that in turning in what should be her sixth or seventh member of this shadowy sect bent on kidnapping and chaos, she meets others who've taken an interest in the mysterious organization menacing Eidris from beneath the city.

Striking them at their heart through cunning isn't her strongest suit, but after a short time in Wrath's company, Fei has learned he's got a fair bit of guile on his side. She would have been absolutely fine to charge in, sword swinging, but instead, she plays it safe and follows his example, her hand on Xingchen's arm the entire time.

"There are dolls everywhere," she informs him, in a tense whisper. Fei doesn't really think there's anything she can't handle - but, dolls are creepy.

"Do either of you know what they are?" Magnus and Wrath, are, to her understanding, magic, and as far as Fei's aware that generally entails some degree of strangeness.

[inferus]

Wrath stares down at one of the dolls. He pretends to drop an item in his hand so he can lean down to fetch it and then have a closer look at the burlap doll at his feet. Nothing in all his centuries has been quite like this item- creature (?) that he sees.

"It feels entirely dead to me, which is strange given it's a burlap doll. No life should have ever been apart of it, and there's a... residue of magic."

He stands again and then glances at Fei. "If we covered you, would you be able to cut some of its burlap? It may be important to study later."

She does appear to be the shortest among them.

door-unlocked-shenanigans.

[inferus]

( after examining the graffiti, the group determines there could be false walls in the headquarters. they spend a time, carefully, methodically searching the walls throughout the headquarters. generally, this is done with two distracting, and the other two pressing their hands along the length of it to find any switches or handles. when they are unsuccessful, it's clear one door remains where false walls may reside - the (at least previously) locked door. )

If we're to approach the door, we do not want to be seen. ( this may seem obvious, but they want to move stealthy toward it. a distraction could also help, and he considers their options. )

[incantates]

[ Magnus is on team 'feeling up the wall,' mostly because it allows him to wield his magic through it and suss out any illusions and enchantments as well as figure out how to undo any basic locking mechanisms. But his conclusion ends up more or less being the same after he's given their immediate area a decent enough magical pat down. ]

You know, I could just glamour us all so no one except the magically-inclined sees us, but if you would rather have someone exercise their theatre skills and pretend to be in trouble, be my guest.

[ He'd at least get some amusement out of it. He also wishes he could just teleport them inside, but his teleportation has strict limitations if he can't visualize where he's going to, and he's not going to risk the lives of their search party. ]

closed to Finn, Spock & Licyn

[winscenario]

Actually getting into Remembrance was hard enough— well, Jim did manage to talk his way into it fairly easily, at least, the only issue being how to convince them of his loyalty. Not that Jim lacked in people he could turn in for the revolution, but he is strongly against that kind of action, whether it's turning people in, locking them up or force them to join any organization like this, and he likes getting involved even less when this isn't his world, or Starfleet, and he has no business with any of it.

But they do need to infiltrate this place, see what's happening on all fronts in this citadel, and playing nice and fair isn't going to make it happen. He just tells himself he'll free those people at the first chance he gets (without getting caught, obviously), and for now focuses on what they're here for.

It doesn't take long for him to decide what he's most interested in. The locked room presents itself as an irresistible mystery, and his own curiosity and recklessness easily couples with Finn's, who is surprisingly easy to talk into joining his venture. And Spock is— well, Spock, even if from a different timeline, so of course Jim manages to drag him into it as well. Not that it takes a lot of effort, because he's just as insatiably curious as Jim— and let's be honest, almost as reckless.

Approaching the room does present itself as a challenge, though. Currently they're just hanging around, totally not looking suspicious, talking among themselves while waiting for the area to be cleared enough that they can approach and get a decent look at that door, and the lock.

"Do either of you see any kind of surveillance system?" The last thing they need is getting caught on camera while obviously trying to break into the room.

[hatejakku]

"No," Finn answers in a hushed voice, actually doing well to inconspicuously look in that general direction, "but that might not mean much. Minaras, at least, has a lot of surveillance tech."

He's well aware that rogue groups such as the Remembrance can be creative with the technology already provided, perhaps even ahead of the curve of their own governments. If they truly wanted to keep an eye on that door, Finn feels like they're doing exactly that by as many means as possible, especially considering the level of trust here so far.

None of that appears to be discouraging Finn from getting in there, though. He was already interested when James approached him about the issue, and he's absolutely going for it if Jim is.

"If we move fast and smart, it might not matter." Much.

[intermingled]

It's true that Spock feels the draw of the mystery of this locked door. While his own feelings do not control him, he finds that the curiosity he feels is backed by the very logical thread that they are here to learn as much as they can and that any place that is locked or hidden is most likely to contain the secrets that would be hidden from them.

"I concur that we should assume it is always possible we are being watched. We should behave as if we are exactly where we should be so as to avoid being questioned in the first place."

He may not be a clever spy, but he has kept his head down and finds no challenge to moving with purpose, which keeps most people from bothering with him in a place like this. Finn seems capable and though Spock does not know him well, he does believe that Jim is in fact a decent judge of character.

"Though if we are questioned, I will allow the two of you to do the talking."