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

for jiang cheng

[bravelyrunsaway]

( With too few hands around to handle the injured soldiers and warriors funneled down to the Ward for what could be patched and then shuffled right back into the fight, Licyn found himself drafted into the numbers of "people who won't just shank a person so they die faster." Or so he interpreted the request not to make things worse, and hence he's here, with bandages, watered down alcohol too astringent for drinking and an utter curse to his nose and eyes, and needle and thread. )

What do you say, love?

( He asks Jiang Cheng, a number of their ragtag group and a face he'd made for in the number of the walking wounded most recently shuffled into this place of despair and ill health. )

Take the shirt off so I can finish my work and get you back to your tower in distress, so I can maybe see your tower through some very enjoyable distress later on?

( The first looks actually needed. The second, delivered with a lazy wink, is an offer, but hardly necessary. )

[consignation]

[ who is this. what is this? the only thing that saves jiang cheng's life in this moment is that every single word that leaves licyn's mouth after the casual utterance of 'love' is nearly drowned out by the rushing of jiang cheng's pulse roaring in his ears.

this stranger, this foreign man, staring at him full of intention with needle and thread, implements jiang cheng is wholly unable to divorce from the only other time romance even vaguely approached his life.

his tower, this man says, and if jiang cheng's mind was a bird, it would be plummetting to its death with how abruptly it stalls on him. he tries to speak but can only splutter, both hands clutched over the not insignificant cut to his chest still oozing blood, his fine shirt ruined by both blade and spreading stain.

he would really rather bleed out, if he's honest, and with the way his heart is racing it won't even be that long of a wait. ]

I— Wh— Who— What—

[bravelyrunsaway]

( the spluttering is amusing in one sense, and he smiles, teeth hidden, because he's not trying to rile a 'patient' up too much. the clutching at his chest is less helpful, and so he clucks his tongue against the back of his teeth, shaking his head. )

Is that a who, a what, or did you also want a why? I'm your medic. For the moment. Anything else is a matter of later, love.

( reaching out with one hand, he taps the back of jiang cheng's clutching hands. raises his eyebrows, and canting his head to the left just a touch. )

I promise I won't faint at the sight of your handsome chest. Or the gaping wound across it. Let me see.

[consignation]

[ the more words this man speaks, the higher jiang cheng's blood pressure skyrockets. by now he can barely see over the pounding of his pulse. thinking is out of the question, and— he's starting to feel faint. that's probably the blood loss, but he sways a little where he sits nonetheless.

he doesn't yet let go of his shirt, though, the yunmeng jiang stubbornness as legendary as it is lethal.

however, while jiang cheng's stubbornness is fully intact, his ability to string words together in a sentence has taken quite the hit. ]

Why are you speaking words that way!

[ he doesn't even manage to make it a question. ]

[bravelyrunsaway]

( licyn reaches out to steady him with one hand, arching a brow and canting his head with a slow, surely innocent smile. they both know it isn't innocent at heart, but the expression isn't cruel. teasing, but not out of mean spirit. )

If you need to hear you're handsome, love, I can say it, but right now you're handsome and injured, which means the one lamentably takes second place to the other. Now do cooperate, I've experienced my share of tunic tearing moments, but I don't have the time to stitch things back together that aren't living hides right now, and I doubt you do either.

( his eyes drop low, then up to jiang cheng's face again. )

Or are you shy because I'm not a woman? Too stubborn to let another man see you at less than your best? A terrible thing, feeling unmanned so easily. Here, if I can find Wen Qing...

( he turns his head, as if he's legitimately looking for one of the other healers provided by their group, more likely to keep each other on task without extra resentment. )

[consignation]

[ the mere mention of wen qing when jiang cheng is already so disoriented and overwrought causes him to actually, physically shriek. he recoils so quickly he nearly dashes his head against— a pole? a wall? something. he's not paying attention to his surroundings, only at the idea of this stranger and his abhorrently filthy tongue summoning wen qing to tend to him. ]

No! It— Fine! I— I will cooperate, I just— [ his heart is beating so fast he is feeling faint. and clammy. and he feels like he's going to be sick. this man is clearly just insane and just speaks like this, they have such lunatics back home as well. like his brother.

jiang cheng releases his vice grip on his shirt and then just sits there tensely, as though concerned the next word or touch from licyn will physically make him combust. ]

Your bedside manner leaves a lot to be desired, [ he finally sniffs. ]

[bravelyrunsaway]

( truly, if there are effects he has on people, these aren't usually the kind without actively trying to annoy them into conniptions. or otherwise drive them to distraction, for all the point and purpose it presently aids him in. )

I'm a mercenary, not a medic.

( said casually, while he firmly pulls jiang cheng's shirt back and open, eyes scanning the extent of the laceration. humans all heal slower than he does, have higher risk of infection, of all kinds of diseases. he has to wonder now if the magic he's been told he gives off in spades has something to do with why he is as he is: difficult to touch but through blunt force or the artificially supernatural. he clucks his tongue, reaching for a satchel with clean rags, thinner than anything new, repeatedly boiled and used in this area. )

No one asks for bedside manner on the battlefield. Bedrooms, however, are all about manners in the right doses.

( but he's here, pouring heated water with a dash of alcohol onto a clean folded fabric scrap, and setting to careful strokes over skin, and a keen eye for the task at hand. which, as he cleans away the blood, becomes taking a close look at the injury for any material caught in flesh, and not brushed away or bled out through the body processes currently in motion. )

Even without bedrooms involved. Was the blade that did this clean from what you could tell?

[consignation]

I suspect your battlefield manner is equally atrocious, [ jiang cheng sniffs, the withering of his soul at licyn's appraising gaze plainly visible. cultivators are made of tougher stuff than most even if they might not look it so jiang cheng, while starting to look clammy with blood loss, still has the energy to expend on being cranky and contrary.

the question about the blade that did the cutting makes jiang cheng make an unfortunate noise that might be his idea of a laugh. are you kidding, strange foreign man? are you joking with him right now? ]

Do people answer 'yes' to that very often? I wasn't fighting Lan Wangji, this time, so no, I don't suspect the blade was meticulously sanitized before I was struck with it.

[bravelyrunsaway]

No one's stopping to talk with me mid battle, love, so we wouldn't know, would we?

( he lifts an eyebrow, then reaches for the watered down alcohol to pour it directly over the injury. that he returns his gaze to studying the laceration for any material that's lodged in it pairs with: )

I don't scent any infection at this point, or anything that might be poison. Which yes, some know when they've been struck if the blade carried poison. Here I'd be more concerned with infection, given what most are fighting.

( who knew? maybe the dead dipped their blades in each other first, then went to fight the living and hurry them along to death directly and indirectly.

now he's back to patting jiang cheng's chest dry and clear, watching healthy blood welling up. good. )

Slather some salve on this, we'll bind you up!

( which is what he reaches for next, clearly intending to slather it on. right now. with his own fingers. all over jiang cheng's chest. )

[consignation]

[ jiang cheng absolutely notices and judges his battlefield opponents on their general carriage, demeanor, and relative combat abilities so he would know, but he's not going to tell licyn about that. huffs. ]

What kind of strange battle powers do you have to smell poison? [ he scowls instead, nails digging into his own palms in his great effort to remain still and not run screaming from this situation. all the individual hairs on the back of his neck are standing up, which is a remarkable thing to even be able to notice while actively bleeding from the chest.

he almost registers what's coming too late due to all the other things presently distracting him, but last second he does come enough to his senses to snatch the salve out of licyn's hands. ]

You may prep the bandages, [ he sniffs, still looking rather caught between stabbing the stranger and bursting into tears. ]

[bravelyrunsaway]

( he lifts an eyebrow at the snatching of the salve, paired with a slow, knowing sort of smile. it's an expected action, in a series of ones he hasn't bothered wondering either way about. hands freed for the bandages, he wipes them clean before reaching up to tug open jiang cheng's shirt further. )

Grown an extra pair of hands to reach around yourself without pulling on those, have you, love? Anyway, it's not a battle power, it's a born gift.

( he wrinkles his nose and winks, still amused. )

I'll have you know I have an excellent nose. Which makes a good amount of what we endure a mix between nose fascinating and nose numbing, pick your choice of which, when.

[consignation]

Strange and unsettling, [ jiang cheng comments, huffily ignoring how licyn had at ready the quip about how someone would have to get the salve on his back. he's being flirted with under great duress. ]

I can't imagine any keenness of smell allowing for one to detect poison, though. What does it even smell like? Wouldn't it depend on the type of poison? How can you be sure you did or didn't detect poison in that case?

[ the interrogation is at least serving to make jiang cheng unclench if only a little, and he helps with getting the rest of the way out of his shirt before he sees to dressing at least the front of his wounds himself. ]

[bravelyrunsaway]

Bodies respond to poison, love. Like they do with venoms. Rot doesn't set in as fast as what's caused by either, and I'm sure even your nose understands the scent of rot.

( it's a difficult scent for anyone with a decent nose to ignore, though he has no awareness of how sensory systems are more complicated than he believes. licyn shifts around when jiang cheng finally finishes shedding his shirt, and works on what is going to be too much contorting, as he promised, for jiang cheng to manage easily or sensibly.

his touch is also far more factual, strong, brief presses. he's been flirting, will still flirt, but with jiang cheng finally cooperating he doesn't need to dance about physical contact like it's something restricted or restricting. )

Much as you hear people claim about scentless, tasteless poisons, the ones that are either work over such long times they're impractical for weaponry, are so sensitive they can only be in liquids, or kill fast enough that my scenting it or not is pointless. The victim would already have died. For what it's worth, none of yours are turning yet.

( the wash should help ensure that, and debriding of what had needed. he might not need the same degree of care if he shifts, but he made a point of not doing so when working among largely human fellows. saved grief. )

Here, pass me that bandage so I can hand it back around your other side.