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

[cosplayqueen]

The touch alone causes Kamala to sit up straighter. She's a physically affectionate girl. That little squeeze does so much to reassure her that things will get better. Kamala nods, a small smile forming. "Yeah, I'm going to eat and crash. I can't use my powers without rest and food so..." Kamala waves a hand. There's no getting out of self-care when your ability depends on it. "It's a lot. I kind of hate that we're doing this. I'd hate it more if any more people died because I refused. I can help them so I will." It really is that simple for her.

[growlies]

Red keeps her hand there when she sees Kamala respond positively to the touch, and her own expression softens at her words, nodding. "That's pretty damn heroic of you," she says quietly, because she's right - she could hide away, not experience this war. It would be okay. Their group would shield her, but instead she chooses the role at the Towers - to fulfill that. "But I'm glad you're taking a second to eat and rest. What... powers do you have? Can I ask that?"

[cosplayqueen]

The praise means the everything to her. Kamala wants to save the world. She knows she doesn't exactly fit the image of a hero back home. It means a lot to have someone is validating that desire and accepting how hard she is trying without a fight. "I want to do good." She replies softly.

Red easily wins enough good will for an honest answer. The question does give her some pause. "You can ask. I don't think you'll hurt me for having abilities." She shows a bit of her naivety there by instantly giving Red that much credit. Kamala is a girl who trusts easily and loves everyone.

"It's easier to show it." She holds up her hand, palm up, and a soft purple light starts to radiate from it. A diamond forms in her hand. "I call it hard light. I can shape it however I want. Mostly. Stars are hard." She confesses as if that's a mark against her in any way.

[growlies]

It's such pure and noble motivation - wanting to do good, wanting to help. Not many people can be so heroic and that's okay. If it was easy, everyone would do it so it says something amazing about Kamala that she's one of those types of people.

"...wait, people actually do that?" Red has hard stories where that was the case but didn't realize- But of course. People are frightened by what they do not understand, and they lash out in turn when they are afraid. She winces apologetically nonetheless even if she also wants to say that she shouldn't trust so easily.

This group is... at least better than most. "...holy shit. This is amazing. You can shape it and use it how ever you want to? I-" She leans in a bit to peer at the light. "It's beautiful."

[cosplayqueen]

She nods at the first question. It makes her so incredibly sad that this is her reality back home. The Sokovia Accords aren't even to blame anymore. While she never talks about it, she knows Nakia is right. It's because of how she looks that they came at her so hard for simply existing.

The sadness is wiped off her expression the moment Red reacts so positively to what she can do. When your hero is a woman who can fly into space and bring down a spaceship as big as a city by simply flying through it without any consequences? Her abilities do seem kind of lame.

She blushes at the compliment. "Thank you. Yeah.. it's still a work in progress. I use it mostly for shields and platforms here. Back home I can use it to make myself really big and strong. Oh! And giant fists. Those are so much fun."

[growlies]

Red's smile warms when she blushes. She thinks she needs to be told many more times how incredible her powers, because it's true. She doesn't know what other people in her world can do, but what she can do?

It's kick ass.

"I am seriously going to need to see the giant fists at some point, which I... probably will because war, siege, and all that," Red says with a huff of a breath as her hand slips behind the back of her neck. "Can't say I ever thought I'd be fighting in some shit like this."

[cosplayqueen]

Kamala nods while chuckling because it's both sad and kind of sweet to hear. "Yeah, you'll totally see it. It's one of my favorite moves." The teen admits. This whole talk is both weird and nice at the same time. She feels great about the fact that someone cares about what she can do. Understandably she also hates that it's because they are in a literal war.

That starts to sober her up a little. "Me neither. There are big fights like this on my earth sometimes, but it never lasts this long. The Avengers always take care of it." She recalls wistfully.

It occurs to Kamala a second later they're still talking about her. She's being kind of a jerk, isn't she? "You're fighting a lot too. What can you do? If it's cool to ask. Is it super strength?" She grins. "You totally look like you'd secretly have it."

[growlies]

"With a name like Avengers, they fuckin' better, whoever they are," Red says with a huff like she'd be offended personally at any other result, but a tiny smirk because she hears the wistfulness in the other girl's voice.

The question gives her a pause if only because she still hasn't figured out the best way to explain it, but she's starting to realize keeping it a secret only leads to random transformations in front of people who are important to her... who then disappear to never be seen again. And she's told Hermione now so everything else feels like it'll be okay.

"Well, thank you. I feel like that's a compliment to look like I have super strength." And sometimes she does even in this form. "..uh, you ever hear of Cerberus? - three headed dog of the Underworld?"

[cosplayqueen]

"It is." Kamala immediately clarifies. She loves all heroes, but the best ones really do have super strength. The teen politely listens to the question. She doesn't make any assumptions. There's only a pause as Kamala digs up the reference in her head. "Yeah, there was a Disney movie with them in it. Cool dog with three heads!" She snaps her fingers. "Belongs to Hades, Lord of the Underworld who is super funny in that movie." In case Red was wondering.

[growlies]

Red makes what is likely a comical face at the thought of Hades being super funny. It's hard to wrap her head around there being a movie about him where he is... that, but of course, there is. There's movies about everything.

"...well, I'm Cerberus - a version of Cerberus made for a version of the afterlife - Purgatory High." She clears her throat. "Think he made me more human than he meant to, but yeah. I can turn into three headed dog..." pause.... "and sometimes have bursts of super strength just as me so y'know good eye."

[cosplayqueen]

For a few seconds, Kamala stares. She's rewinding the tape in her mind so to speak. She's not sure what answer she expected but it definitely wasn't this one. That said? The teen smiles hugely once she's finished processing this new information.

"That sounds like a YA novel that I would totally be obsessed with. I'm pretty sure you're living every girl's dream of being super special and lovable." She chuckles. "I mean who hates dogs? Monsters obviously!" She holds up two finger guns. "And thanks! I pride myself on being genre savvy." For anything on the softer side of PG-13 in any case.

[growlies]

Red snorts lightly in quiet amusement at the way that she puts it.

"...I mean, you gotta think of me less like a dog and more like a monster meant to guard and fuck up any of the spirits who messed around. I wore a hall monitor vest and-" was owned by Hades and was made by Hades. It's hard to put to words the whole situation of being something and not something at the same time (monster and a girl but not really enough of either). She smiles though. "But I can appreciate your positive outlook on things, sunshine."

[cosplayqueen]

Kamala tries to picture it. What she comes up with isn't anything intimidating much less a monster. She preens at the nickname, finding it cute instantly. "That's what I'm here for. Besides, things are already super depressing. Do we need to think of you as a monster? No." She tips her head in consideration. "Unless it was one of those cute monsters they make into dolls. They're great."