the scattering

[groundrules]

And now, hard siege during Alem’s first log event, covering 27 January to 12 February.

This Arc relies on information sharing and troubleshooting solutions, whether to keep the watch towers standing, find the Reaper, hold back Rathakku or evacuate civilians. Don’t be shy!

As a refresher, character have individual assignment & notes — but rest easily, they can largely go anywhere in Alem and play out any prompt below.

Click each header for scenarios!

THE SCATTERING

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Alem’s chilly welcome includes a gift of weapons, clothes and meagre food provisions. You are quickly given your posts and grudgingly tolerated by fortress natives, many of whom accuse you of collusion with Rathakku or the merchant guilds. Expect unkind tests or teasing from soldiers who want you to prove your worth.

■ SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS: rare beds and hard pallets in the Keep barracks, sharing broad rooms infantrymen. Alternatively, sleep in the Wards, with refugees or the sick.

■ ARSENAL: you receive serviceable weapons or inherited clothes — ragged, over/undersized and perhaps livened by fleas.

■ FOOD: scant, dry, hard and prioritised for the weak, young, sickly or actively fighting. Scarce additional resources, such as berries and deer meat, can be procured from the nearby forests on the lower half of the mountain.

■ ACCESS: characters can go to anywhere, except the Room of Seals. Entering the Watch Towers will be discouraged during attacks, unless you were assigned these posts.

■ Between 7-10 February, Rathakku will Claw — meaning necromancers, the dead and those who are incredibly sensitive to life and death are vulnerable to his thrall. They could be conscripted into his armies, if they exit the fortress or linger long outside. Ghosts might woo them to enter the mountain forests, and they will itch with wanderlust and a sense of incompletion. Comment here with an idea of what you'd like you character to do/a> if they are lured to Rathakku’s side.

■ NPCs: each fortress level has a designated NPC you can reach out to. Deimar will additionally be visiting the Watch Tower, following Stephen Strange’s taunts.

THE WATCH TOWERS

The first and most war-torn line of defence. The watch towers keep Alem standing — fend off their attackers.

       EASTERN TOWER

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■ Assigned to the Eastern Tower: Jinx, Vi, Hermione and Chu Wanning. Medic: Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy.

■ Harpies frequently charge here, using their blade-sharp claws and deep fangs. They are humanoid but carnivorous and expressly prey on tower watchers. The scent of blood lures them — so Bones should quickly bandage wounds.
■ Bad weather hides their attacks. Beware the mists of 29 January and the blizzards of 3-6 February.

■ Cut the harpies’ legs if they fly away with you — better to risk a hard fall into the mountain’s snowy than being dragged into their nests.

■ They are vulnerable to loud sounds and vibrations. Set off the great, rusted tower bells to sound the alarm and repel them.

       WESTERN TOWER

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■ Assigned to the Western Tower: Eleven, Xie Yun, Kahl and Eda. Medic: Sarah Bishop.

■ Flurries of arrows frequently rain down, plain, fire or poison-tipped. They are shot in two broad attacks (morning and evening) by orc archers.

■ Sarah receives a kit of local ointment antidotes, but must make haste — the sickness spreads quickly and paralyses limbs. (Effects disappear over 1-6 hours, once the antidote is applied).

■ A rare few arrows are tipped with hallucinogen substances that trigger paranoid visions.

■ Orcs may try to scale this tower, using climbing hooks. Push them down.

       SOUTHERN TOWER

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■ Assigned to the Southern Tower: Jon Snow, Stephen Strange, Red and Finn. Medic: Wen Qing.

■ Irenia, Frost’s Scourge, an ancient, extremely large but slow dragon stops first at the Southern Tower before proceeding to other watch posts. She will turn back, if she is stopped here.

■ The dragon breathes down frost that can paralyse you in place, or freeze limbs. Wen Qing must prioritise warming the affected.

■ A few anti-frost shields have been supplied, but their magic wanes after a few hours. Use them as a last resort.

■ Irenia’s hide is tough and leathery, but she can be deflected by continuous attack. She no longer seems to hear or see as sharply.

■ She largely flies by, breathes ice and tries to pick up watchers in her great maws, then crack their bones or throw them down on hard stone.

■ Repel her for three consecutive days and she will not return for a week.

       NORTHERN TOWER

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■ Assigned to the Northern Tower: Kamala Khan, Wanda Maximoff, Merrin and Jiang Cheng. Medic: Anduin.

■ Demons draw large catapults near the fortress walls and throw strong projectiles at this tower — stone, large steel balls or even human or demonic.

■ The worst missiles comprise stones alight with ‘living fire’ — an extraordinarily hot blaze that can quickly incinerate tissue. Anduin should immediately attend to burns.

■ The tower is exceptionally weathered and structurally unsound, marked by large, destabilising holes. Kerasstone asks you to fix the infrastructure or guard his repairmen.

■ The ongoing damage sometimes triggers quakes in the fragile tower — hold on and don’t fall crumbling to your deaths.

■ Use the one-man crossbows and range weapons available, or the fixed large tower crossbows to shoot back and destroy the catapults.

THE KEEP

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Life at court, when the knives come out: barracks, royal halls and Crown Prince Haiva’s medical quarters await.

KINGDOM COME

The court of Alem bustles with rival proposals: the supporters of Crown Prince Haiva want to surrender the citadel, while proponents of former Regent Thyvault seek to raise the remaining armed forces in a desperate last stand against Rathakku. King Deimar, mere months in his rule, has opted to evacuate convoys and resettle them, after sealing away any last chance of Rathakku accessing hell’s gates.

■ The supporters of Haiva, Thyvault and Deimar wage frequent wars of words that accuse Thyvault of Deimar of usurpring rule, and Haiva of being too weak to lead.

■ Thyvault’s men slyly wonder if Deimar killed the beautiful woman he was seen wooing mere months ago in the fortress grounds. Proof of her death or continued survival would benefit the three causes.

■ The woman was last seen chased by a fair-haired rider into the frosted forests that Rathakku has peopled with monstrous wolves and undead Alem huntsmen. Interrogate hunters & commoners or track her down.

■ Tempers boil over Jan. 29-Feb. 5, with arguments frequently devolving into fights and shallow stabbing. As ‘supporters’ of the three gentlemen, you should defend their cause — but do pull back blows before you kill each other.

■ Deimar punished brawlers with a few days of penitent confinement in the barracks, where you are expected to reflect on your sins and attitude, and certainly not join the cliques of heavily drinking men playing dares and cards. Hold your liquor, survive the exceptionally spicy Alem meals and take advantage of the general inebriation to ask your questions of the brass — without showing your horror when you hear them boast that Thyvault’s men drove the local ice mermaid population extinct.

IS THERE A DOCTOR IN THE HOUSE?

The Haiva’s medics ( Bones, Sarah Bishop, Anduin and Wen Qing) are repeatedly called in to inspect his fits of sudden and elusive sickness. He exhibits a varied multitude of bizarre symptoms when his healers visit him:

■ Bones finds Haiva is a haemophiliac, his skin brittle like paper.

■ For Sarah Bishop, Haiva is overwhelmingly feverish, battling an unseen infection.

■ Wen Qing sees patches on Haiva’s skin that resemble decaying, moulding or gangrene.

■ Anduin notices Haiva’s skin feels clammy, his breathing stalled, as if his body were entering rigor mortis. He is very much alive.

Haiva is always weak, but gratefully and mysteriously cured of his symptoms within hours of his consultation. You can start a thread with him!

Info sharing with the medics’ club is caring!

THE CROSSING

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The bustling, stifling and overheated Crossing reunites the main ground-level gates and corridors of Alem’s castle. Merchants traverse the halls, volunteering their wares at exorbitant prices, while former Regent Thyvault leads the departing troops.

HAGGLE GAGGLE

■ Colluding merchants offer their less-than-stellar goods at heinous rates. You get 100 coins to haggle long, hard and to the bone for food, cloth and maps, amid war inflation. Offer your hair, your virtue, the ugly side of your fist as needed. No one will mind if you liberate a few wares.

■ Two of the most prominent merchants — boastful Batthour of the grains and stern Eles, vendor of maps, silks and steel — openly despise each other. Their apprentices frequently start brawling — stay out of their way or stoke the clashes…

■ Batthour and Eles are both open to trade, but seem distinctly disdainful of Alem, expressing pleasure from profiteering in its downfall. Group up to raise coin or other goods to trade, then put in your best offer. The next few Alem convoys require 500kg of wheat and at least three maps of eastward provinces to resettle.

THE WAR IN WORDS

■ WHEN IT GRAINS, RED POURS: Under Thyvault’s leadership, Alem’s scouts and infantry gather in the Crossing for final instructions then advance into Rathakku’s territory. You can join them on a mission to the Ivory plains at the bottom of the mountain, where a few frozen storage houses still have summer grains. Steal back the supplies, bypassing snow-buried traps and Rathakku’s lingering feral creatures.

■ King Deimar has prepared new missives for Rathakku. Multiple envoys can group up to ensure delivery down the mountain and into the warlord’s encampment in the Tattered Highlands. Your white flag buys limited patience from Rathakku’s demonic armies. Only two characters can directly interact with the warlord — Sign up for one of two spots by 23:55 GMT on 30 January. Note: Rathakku should be approached lightly.

THE WARDS

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The ill-lit Wards house the wounded, young, crippled or vulnerable of Alem, alongside those preparing to evacuate the fortress in upcoming convoys. Where there is sickness and overcrowding, expect poor provisions, the astringent scent of antiseptic, and a sense of residual decay. The lucky few sleep on pallets — while most dwellers take the hard ground and share dry bread. Soft-spoken Crown Prince Haiva visits regularly.

THINK OF THE CHILDREN

■ Weak civilians are often targeted by soldiers, who are frustrated by sharing their resources with ‘leeches’ who do not defend the citadel. Intervene to protect the vulnerable and redistribute any food that is unfairly confiscated. Prince Haiva will lend his scarce authority to correct any reported wrongdoings.

■ Learn to supply first aid, console orphaned children or widow(er)s and ease the spirits of those petrified by the recent murders.

■ A convoy prepares to leave on 9 Feb, with another due on 15 Feb. Pack the scant effects of the weak and plead for the gold or charity of the Keep’s gentry. Whatever resources you gain will greatly help the survival odds of those who resettle.

■ Inevitably, death visits some of the wounded. Professional grievers and coarse embalmers perform cleansing and mourning rites for survivors. Help them, or participate in the local habit of sharing tales of your most tragic sorrows, to distract them from their own.

WATSON ON DUTY

■ The investigative summary, as civilians can share them: five unrelated deaths took place over the past 11 weeks. Some speak superstitiously of a Reaper, who punishes the people of Alem for abandoning their fortress and sacred duty to protect the gate to hell.

■ The victims were all men aged 22-35 of diverse appearances and backgrounds. Some had minor injuries. They were all found without marks of wounding or sickness, bearing a white string bound to their wrists. One of the men was a foreign merchant.

■ Senior sorceress Althea searched the site and cleansed bodies, finding no evidence of magical interference.

■ Haiva has reinforced guards, but Deimar seems indifferent. Thyvault believes this is only an inevitably level of mundane crime.

■ Some nights, you might wake to the haunting song of a plangent woman. You enter a state of dreamy, confused hypnosis, drawn to a narrow, steep staircase you had not glimpsed before. You fumble towards the lake caves of the Gut’s Bind. Even the intrusive voices of Alem tell you to snap out of it and awaken — but your best bet is a companion’s help.

■ The staircase cannot be found again, come morning. The call is fainter for women, and does not affect the same person more than one-two nights.

■ Guards, sorcerers and civilians can answer your questions — but prepare your bribes and wooing.

THE GUT’S BIND

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It’s nice, dark and quiet in here, barring the comforting thrum of the forges. Paladins and sorcerers are hard at their elusive work, reinforcing the Room of Seals. Access to the Forges, mines and glacier lake caves remains liberal.

LAKES, MINES, MAYHEM

■ THE MINES: Characters deployed to find new escape routes find a series of corridors leading into the previously bustling gold mines, where ore resources remain well supplied. The territory is overwhelmingly shaky, with mine shafts and structures prone to collapse. They appear dusty, brittle, husked and far older than their actual age. Go deep enough and you can find sheets haphazardly strewn about and the remains of partly devoured demons.

■ THE LAKES: Saunter into a series of four interconnected ice lake caves, where the brutal cold is viciously wounding and pervasive. The first three caves give you no trouble, beyond ridiculously sharp icicles waiting to drop down. As you enter the fourth cave, you find gleaming stretches of golden, gleaming… scales that float on the lake waters. Grab one to study — but beware the starved creature that guards them.

■ THE FORGES: some entirely abandoned, some functional, all well-equipped at this time. Settle down alone, or in the company of Kerasstone’s people — the old blood that preceded even Alem’s settlement and holy seal in the mountains.

■ Keep an ear out for sudden sounds or unexpected steps behind you, as you travel the tighter and tighter passageways to find or shovel new exit routes through the mountain: some of Rathakku’s creatures appear to have… wandered in. They camouflage as stone and lay perfectly still in wait of their prey, before descending. They’re vulnerable to strong light and a jolly smiting.

LOCK YOUR DOORS

■ Paladins and sorcerers enter the heavily warded and barricaded Room of Seals every few hours. They emerge exhausted, their resources drained. Some also bear heavy gashes.

■ Characters are barred from entering and incarcerated for a day in one of the Keep’s jails or brought before Galatea’s judgement, if they attempt to sneak in.

■ Groans and screams can be occasionally heard from within, followed by spikes in the sense of deathliness of the place. Some paladins are never seen exiting.

■ You have one chance to enter, at midnight on 1 February, when the Gut’s Bind erupts into calls for healers to attend an emergency. Collapsed paladins are urgently pulled out, while sorcerers attempt to ward the room before ultimately fleeing to help their brethren. You can infiltrate and stay inside for 20 minutes before the stoked anger of the room completely overwhelms you, and you begin to bodily attack everyone and everything around you. This is a dangerous route: check in for one of three findings scenarios.

QUESTIONS

Comments

THE WARDS: Don't Fear The Reaper

[blackscales]

Five unrelated deaths took place over the past 11 weeks is not, in Wrathion's opinion, the worst statistic in a place like this under siege. The similarities, however, do paint a damning picture. All men, close age range, all with white string around their wrists and no outward sign of fatal injury or sickness.

The latest person he'd paused to question finished their tale of this 'reaper', come to punish them for their abandonment, then quickly moves away go about their business.

Why punish only men, though? It could, of course, be a coincidence. The next victim could be a woman, throwing the figures off entirely. Why the white string?

He turns at the feeling of eyes on him, frowns at the approaching figure in thought.

"Does white string around the wrist have any meaning to you?"

To him, he can think of none. Love tokens are usually charm bracelets, he thinks, not simply white string.

[valeas]

"I've asked much the same thing," Emilia tells Wrathion quietly, upon finding a moment where they have the privacy to discuss it. "I've yet to get the same answer twice. One believes it to mean wealth, and another a promise. The last one believes it signifies fate, and the man before that, a siren's token."

Then there are those, of course, who believe it signifies nothing at all. But the string is one of the few things they do have to go on, and so Emilia will not abandon the suspicion so easily.

Hello, Wrathion.

The two of you meet again.

[blackscales]

The sight of Emilia sends a subtle wave of tension when Wrathion turns, having perhaps expected Anduin to be the person lurking and watching him. Yet he smiles at her all the same, follows as she gestures for him to until they have some privacy.

Luckily, the topic is quite safe. Not that there is any unsafe topic they could speak of, of course. Nothing of interest. He shifts his weight, lifts one hand to rub his beard thoughtfully as Emilia describes what she learned.

"Well, both fate and a siren can certainly kill you. The latter does seem more concrete, but a siren would need a body of water to seclude itself in."

[valeas]

Emilia looks to him. She does well to keep their priorities in order, but she won't be forgetting what transpired in the clock tower. She means to broach it with him, though she can tell he isn't inviting it.

Her nod is one of agreement, although —

"If it were linked to siren somehow, it might explain the hypnotic song some have heard at night. Then again, something about that reminds me of the Stairs of Sighs instead."

Goddess, and that was some time ago. It's unnerving how long she's been here.

[blackscales]

A hypnotic song? Now that is interesting. He hums in thought.

"A song does fit the bill. I wasn't present for the Stairs of Sighs, what about it is familiar?"

If they have encountered anything like this before, Wrathion would certainly like to hear about it. Anything at all is useful at this early stage, when they have no evidence and only theory to direct their actions.

[valeas]

"There were a lot of harpies, for one."

Emilia arrived to this world via the salt mines of Sa-Hareth, mere days before converging with the rest of their party along the Stairs of Sighs. "The passageway was haunted, then. Every night the moon was full. And every night we could hear the song of a woman, and with that song, dreams of burning alive."

She shakes her head at Wrathion. "It all had to do with Hatisse and her betrayal of Lord Arha, of course. A witch's curse, too. But it is curious to me some of these men have heard yet another haunting song, this one luring them to a staircase I've yet to see for myself."

Another haunting, perhaps, with so many fallen dead. With her luck, another curse, too.

[blackscales]

Hatisse is a familiar name, he's seen her being dragged about by the party. This context is interesting, and the description of the song. Dreams of burning alive.

(Of metal plates, containing liquid fire, of rage hotter still, a roar of agony and fury --)

"I see," he manages, frowning in thought as he turns his gaze back out into the ward. "Well, I cannot say I have experienced any new dreams, but a haunting song luring them does fit with that."

Not new ones, no. He couldn't say he never has haunting dreams, but no new ones here. Perhaps that is yet to come.

"I do wonder," he continues, "why now? If this had happened before, a siren, surely they might know the meaning by now? I cannot help but think, perhaps this is connected to everything else here. Something from below, escaping in through their seals. Or from outside, infiltrating."

The hells below, or the undead armies outside.

[valeas]

"The seals could be weakening," Emilia concedes in agreement, following his line of sight back toward the ward, "or the creatures sealed away have grown crafty and found a way to circumvent them."

She has, ah, experience with hell and closing its gates. She does not presume the landscape and its players will be exactly the same, but she knows how vicious and cunning such creatures can be.

Before either one of them has a chance to make another educated guess, a couple of tipsy soldiers walk past them. Or had started to, bringing themselves to a stop when Emilia's profile snags their attention.

One of them looks as though they might be seeing a ghost.

"S-she's back," he says, expression shifting once more when Emilia turns to face him fully. "Apologies, miss. For a moment there, I thought you were — "

The other man elbows his side discreetly.

[blackscales]

Ah. He turns his gaze to the guards, studying them curiously then Emilia herself. Well, blond does seem to be the more popular hair colour.

"Thought she was someone else?" he prompts. His hand drops from his beard, arms folding casually as he studies the pair. "Clearly you could not mistake such a striking countenance from the front."

Honestly, do all women with dark hair look the same to them? It is, quite frankly, rude.

[valeas]

The man bristles at the implication.

"On the contrary, the likeness is true! She looks like... her."

Emilia studies them, perhaps less casual than Wrathion. She does not take well to the murder of women, needless to say, though she tries to match him in countenance. "You were familiar with her?"

The other soldier looks frustrated with his battle mate's big mouth, though not insincere, when he chimes in. "Hardly. Sauntering in the yards and gardens was the most we saw of her, always whisked away from them. Gone for most of the day, she was."

The first man snorts, as the reason why is evident, to him: whisked away to a bedroom chamber.

[blackscales]

"Whisked away?" Wrathion echoes, curious. It could, of course, be what they imply. Yet all the same, it feels as if more is going on here. Why would a consort go riding out into danger, potentially into the middle of an undead army?

"If she had so much favour, why would she flee?"

The soldiers exchange an uncomfortable look, shake their heads. Wrathion hums in discontent, fingers tapping uncomfortably against his arm. There's something more here, if only he could find it.

[valeas]

Emilia can tell the soldiers have offered all they're willing to, drinks or no drinks. What she can't discern just yet is where this reticence stems from: true loyalty to Deimar, or fear.

Wrathion's questions linger in the air as she watches the men make their swift exit. This is hardly the first challenging mystery to into their laps, and she suspects it will not be the last.

"I wonder who she truly was."

[blackscales]

"Do you believe her dead?"

Was is past tense, after all. He turns his attention back on Emilia, studying her.

"She rode out into a dangerous forest, but she was not alone. Her company many not have been to her detriment. We only have other people's word for how it looked. Given the divided loyalties, that isn't concrete evidence."

Perhaps she did not flee, perhaps she rode out with a guard. Or at least, with someone who did not mean her harm.

[westviews]

So caught up in her own head, Wanda looks confused when spoken to, coming to a stop and frowning softly. Interesting eyes this man has, but he did ask her a question.

"White string around the wrist?" She echoes, to confirm that she heard him correctly, "No. Why?"

Unfortunately, matters within the walls of the citadel concern Wanda less than what's trying to get in.

[blackscales]

He frowns in thought, glancing away from her and around at the ward. Nobody is particularly paying them attention, though. He tilts his head, lowering his voice a little.

"It seems to be someone's signature. They've had five men die down here, and all of them were found with white string around their wrists."

Strange, isn't it? Surely it has some meaning, but he couldn't say what that is himself.

[westviews]

The frown deepens. Her voice lowers to match his, after a careful glance around them to make sure no one is eavesdropping.

"A signature after the death or a target before? Do we know for sure?"

[blackscales]

"No," he admits, "but none of them had signs of sickness or mortal wounds. Nothing visually in common besides all being men and... this."

The white string. It has to mean something, surely. Yet what? He couldn't say. It holds no obvious connotation to him, nothing he can remember at any rate.

[westviews]

"Maybe they had something else in common. Similar circles?" But how could they ever find out? Wanda shakes her head.

"Someone might have to keep watch to find out the truth."

[blackscales]

"I hear Haiva asked to reinforce the guards down here, but I'm not sure any of the others are that interested."

At least, so far. He wonders how many deaths it would take, for them to begin to care. For them to consider it more than just a mundane level of crime. Ten total? Twenty? More than that?

[westviews]

"They probably feel like there's more important matters to worry about."

You know, like that legion of the undead. Wanda tips her head in thought.

"If there's a murderer or--I don't know, a haunting," because she's beginning to see that spirits and ghosts are fairly common in this place, "We don't want to take it with us."

Either when evacuating or they themselves moving on from this place after all is said and done.

[blackscales]

"We don't," he agrees, frowning in thought. His eyes skip out into the area again, then return to Wanda. "There's also the question of if this is a symptom of something else. If this is a lone murderer, or haunting, of course on the scale of things it isn't worth too much attention. However, we do have a legion of undead outside and some... interesting seals keeping out worse things below. It could be an infiltrator, or something that slipped through those seals. I'd say that was rather important, wouldn't you?"

If their defences have been breached, from outside or below, and something is causing chaos --

Well, it may start small then grow.

[westviews]

She makes a soft noise of agreement in her throat.

"Now's a good time for anyone or anything wanting to cause trouble. Do we have any detectives among us?"

Asked dryly, not necessarily sincerely. She's not one, someone more suited for the things outside the walls, but unchecked murder isn't something she can condone.

[blackscales]

"Plenty of amateur investigators, certainly. If we can solve it between us all remains to be seen."

It requires working together, which they can sometimes achieve, but also none of them to clumsily scare away any clues. The latter is not always possible. Subtlety can be a... tricky thing.

[westviews]

Wanda, fairly new, isn't too comforted by the choice of words. Amateur investigators. She just barely holds back a grimace.

"... and... what did yo say your name was?"

[blackscales]

He flicks a faint smile, mildly amused.

"I didn't. You may call me Wrathion."

Said with a tone that suggests this is benevolent of him, a friendly gesture he might not always offer.