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!

[groundrules]

Come back to me when you get in The Room.

[hatejakku]

I'M BACK

So, if Finn and Jim were to pick the lock to The Room, what would happen there?

Wait, is it even locked? Do I even ask this here? Why is the sky blue?

[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.

[groundrules]

It's absolutely 0.00% trouble at all!

[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.

[groundrules]

1. Sure — let's take it one step at a time, as want to make sure we're not pre-empting success that may or may not play out with other 'teams.' Let me know when you get to the point where the room has been open and Wrath/Xiao Xingchen/Fei are able to go in, and happy to take it from there!

2. Some of the graffiti lines are direct / obvious instructions, some are just Remembrance group members blowing some steam (red herring).

4. Some of the burlap mannequins have drawings on them. Nothing beyond stick figures or random geometrical shapes.

Anything actively linked to the dark water would be in the locked room.

There are a lot of magical items in the headquarters, as Remembrance is tinkering with making weapons, traps, devices — arsenal for their protests.

[inferus]

Awesome, thank you so much!

I think Wrath might try to stealthily take a trap so he can bring it to like mechanical types in the group later on and see if they can figure out how to disarm them from afar, etc. That seems useful for later.

Gonna get a top level up today for the group so will return when we reach that point!

[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.

[groundrules]

Gotcha — yeah, I think after Kirk and the other team that's searching the wall intervene, Remembrance will be pretty busy and skittish, since they'll have to effectively move house and comb through their member base for potential traitors. Possibly not a time to open themselves up to new contact from conveniently benevolent strangers. Give it til next event, maybe?

[blackscales]

Sure! I'll have him reach out if his questions are still relevant then.

[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!

[blackscales]

Follow up question of the 'I didn't ask and want to make sure I didn't miss the obvious' flavour -- if Wrathion is standing near the mannequin as it begins to wake, would he be able to sense (magic-sense) anything as it undergoes the change?

[groundrules]

It's already got the same level of magical taint/energy inside it, so I wouldn't say anything abnormal relative to what's already observed!