westwhere | the chainings

the chainings

THE CHAININGS

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Escorted by shepherds, the party reaches most decadent Ephes — a citadel with a newly-raised, lethal army and ambitions of imperial expansion. The undead lady Messalina has approached the Senate of Ephes, asking for the citadel’s forces to liberate the unliving from the undead Brotherhood that “enslaves them.” In exchange, she pledges Ephes any territories she frees.

Ephes hides a beacon within the main temple of the world-making and world-ending chaotic Chained God, currently closed off while Senate leader Caius Justus considers Messalina’s proposal.

OBJECTIVE: Survive Ephes until the temple opens.

This first event of Arc VII lasts until 3 October. Use your character roles, pursue leads or nudge NPCs for clues!

POLITICS

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Politically-minded characters take residence with their benefactors and receive two iron chain bracelets, which represent the Chained God. These bracelets and the red-purplish trim of your white cloth identify your political standing and attract the nagging, desperate or aggressive public pleas of your petitioners.

You hear, hastening to attend Senate sessions, that long-serving leader Caius Justus is unlikely to earn a new mandate. His peaceful, sedentary governance is unsuited to Ephes’ military ambitions.

Pair up with party members and submit threads by 23:59 GMT on 27 September of bribing, cheating or outright fulfilling the needs of one of the politicians below, to secure their vote for or against Messalina.

■ War veteran-turned-politician Sextus Longinus wants to leave his mark permanently on Ephes.

■ Senator Publia Secunda has been struck with court summons on charges of tax evasion. The court claims it has proof she has been passing the precious wares on her ships as geese.

■ Senator Ovidius Petronius’s wife fled home, ruining his image as a family man, after he was caught in compromising circumstances with another woman.

■ Severus Silvanus was overcome by sickness and wishes to throw a party worth remembering as he lives out his final year.

■ Once a formidable soldier, Senator Cassia Floriana has been for years denied an audience by the priests of the temple of the Chained God because of the blood on her hands.

■ Maximilianus Tacitus wishes to eliminate his reputation for stinginess — while spending not one coin.

Note: if multiple players go for the same Senator, we’ll assume they had more than one vote to cast!

GLADIATORS | non-gladiators can spectate or patron

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Those assigned as gladiators are received by arena leader Laetio and housed in single or shared barracks cells in grounds near the largest stadiums.

Accommodations are scarce — pallets, hard stone ground — but food, healing and care are generously provided. Veteran gladiators are frequently measured and assessed. Strife is contained, and brawls are forbidden, while priestess of the Chained God visit periodically to bless warriors as ‘his children of chaos.’

At times, as you train or sleep, you sense you are watched. On other days, you wake from violent nightmares to see your wounds and bruises have vanished.

■ Newcomers are paired and taught how to throw fights, exaggerate their reactions and create slogans and outrageous personas. They are offered tattoos, haircuts and makeup.

■ You experience the first day in the arena around the OOC date of 18 September, when gladiators re-enact the Chained God’s first defeat and Chaining.

■ Characters can fight NPCs, each other, or demonic large beasts. These hefty creatures attack head first and thrash the arena, often striking spectators.

■ Injuries can happen when fighting beasts, but unlikely from other gladiators. The highest official attending a fight may choose the loser’s punishment, but must pay exorbitant fees for losses to the arena. After a noble boy orders a veteran gladiator severely beaten, you hear Laetio threatening the child’s anguished father with repercussions from Narula, leader of the Hand.

■ Submit a fight thread by 23:59 GMT on 27 September for the winner/s to address the stadium.

■ Other party members can pay or coax Laetio to receive their ‘favourite’ gladiator(s) overnight at their villas. Return by dawns.

WHITE NIGHT

One night (OOCly: 24 September), after gladiator games on the sixth of twelve Chainings, you wake up in a bleary haze, your thoughts and movements slow. Stifled screams and heavy footsteps erupt distantly. In pitch dark, you spot the slithering, deep silhouettes that are checking cells — progressing towards you.

■ If you glimpse their coarsely carved masks depicting wolves, you are overcome with a sudden, insurmountable terror and the certainty that your visitors are inhuman.

■ Stumbling, you flee your surprisingly open cell, overcome by dread that won’t abate until you find living company. Some of the emptied cells you pass by have been clearly ravaged. On the walls of three untouched cells of veteran gladiators, you see a wolf’s head coarsely painted in fresh blood. Hide with your companions, until sleep suddenly claims you.

■ The next day, you wake back in your sleeping quarters. Laetio accuses some gladiators of going mad from last night’s celebratory drink and destroying the cells. Servants have been cleaning attentively, with all blood paintings gone.

■ Your memories of the night are increasingly diffuse: at times you describe the intruders. At others, you speak of creatures or people from your own past that terrify you.

■ A veteran gladiator, the Beast of Brenne, is absent from the morning call. Laetio regretfully informs he perished from wounds incurred in yesterday’s games. He calls a toast to the Beast of Brenne and bans drink for the rest of the Chainings.

THE HAND

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Characters reach the barracks as part of a set of 100 new recruits. They are subjected to three days of intense training, ranging from running and parkour basics to weights and strength building, basic dagger combat and surviving hard (magically induced) weather conditions. The recruit batch is overseen by Hand leader Narula and members depend on each other for food or care.
Throughout this, recruits are made to heavily depend on Brother Narula, who negotiates and awards privileges and regularly visits for interviews not unlike interrogations. Recruits are largely orphans, convicts or disinherited — lone wolves, says Narula, who only find their pack in the Hand.

Every ten days of the 100 after recruitment, the worst performing five conscripts are removed from the ranks, stoking vicious competition and internal sabotage that Narula allows on the premise of soldiers needing both brawns and cunning.

Permanent injuries are banned. Beware blades left in your shoes and itchy, ground nettles powder on your uniforms.

HONEYED

Within days of receiving your assignments, you must shadow a group of Hand veterans and guard a Hive — an agricultural cluster outside of Ephes — during a grains transfer.

■ New recruits follow veteran soldiers into the eerily silent, vast farmland dominated by high rows of wheat and corn. You feel watched and something touches your legs and thighs. Within farmers’ hearing, veteran soldiers laugh it off as rabbits, snakes — but privately tell you to walk outside the line of vision of scarecrows littered in the fields.

■ The transfer proceeds peacefully until midday, when alarms blare, and a brawl starts near a defunct watering well: a dozen Hand veterans have gone berserk and attack indiscriminately. They are dark-eyed, heaving and struggle with speech and coordination. They seem less wrathful than anguished, desperately calling to ‘Make homes’ as they slaughter and sever limbs.

■ Immobilise the attackers, or take civilians to safety in warehouses.

■ The berserk soldiers are removed — allegedly taken for healing and discipline, but never seen again. At the barracks, Narula says the incident was the result of heatstroke.

MESSALINA’S INFILTRATORS

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Some party members join Messalina’s group as paid campaign aides. Stationed in the Senate’s summer villas outside of Ephes, the lady’s eclectic group comprises volatile magic users and necromancers, the undead and demonic creatures — who coexist in tenuous peace. It’s every wo/man to themselves after dark, when the villa walls and defences are drawn up and gates lock to prevent the indiscreet exit of a blood-thirsting demon.

Mid-summer

It becomes rapidly clear that Messalina does not trust the good will of Ephes and wants to cut a deal quickly by bribing, blackmailing, or interceding with Senate leader Caius Justus. She also seems unsettled by the Chained God, who she fears is a hidden undead liege controlling Ephes.

”Not every Sleeper sleeps deep.”

Messalina assigns party members to bolster the campaign of Maximus Faustus — previously a young, promising and popular politician with hopes of becoming Senate leader… who has been replaced by demonic shapeshifter Alir.

■ Infiltrate noble functions and learn what would steer patricians towards Faustus’ cause.

■ Patricians widely feel that Caius has been too sympathetic towards plebeians and neglectful of his own people. They want to see more grand gestures celebrating Ephes’ noblest class. See to it.
■ Some superstitiously associate Caius with the cult of the Chained God, whom the Senate leader brought back to forefront.

■ Alir is fiercely intelligent, quick-witted, dry — with little regard for humans, beyond their delicious hearts. Watch him while in public, as he succumbs to his hunger and lures innocents in dark corners to rip out their innards and feast on their flesh. Pay off or exterminate witnesses.

■ A derisive Alir questions Messalina’s plans for peaceful coexistence and the innocence of Ephes. He urges his caretakers to inspect Caius’s private home on the night of the full moon (OOCly: 20 September). You may take along other party members.

■ That night, Caius’ villa is well lit, bursting with song and closed from the inside. Scale the walls to enter and find a feast held by shadowy silhouettes of Caius’ ancestors. First they interact with you, then ignore you, then, increasingly inconvenienced, seem to recognise there is something wrong about you, before giving chase, daggers in hand.

■ On a high table in the great reception halls, you can find the entombment masks and personal effects of all of Caius’ ancestors who are present at the feast. Caius’ personal study contains nearly year-old letters of trade, reports on the fragility of the then-6,000-strong Hand and a broken worship tablet depicting the Chained God’s fourth Chaining.

■ In the kitchens, you find well-secured barrels of fish and wine — jump in together, or hear movement from the servants hidden within. You have time for one question.

CIVILIANS

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Characters assigned civilian roles may safely assume their Ephes posts for a handful of days, before the religious celebrations of the Chained God’s twelve Chainings start. The all-Father of the universe, the Chained God is set to birth, consume and rebirth the world, and was chained twelve times by the first heroes of humanity to contain his destruction.

■ The numerous priests of the Chained God wander the roads and mark the foreheads of civilians with salted ash — which briefly brings out your anger, greed or selfishness.

■ Priests say you feel the frustration of the bound Chained God. Some of those ash-touched experience visions of a heavily fettered, amorphous creature, struggling in agony in a cavernous room. Those with supernatural powers find their abilities are volatile for a day.

■ Those who ‘see’ the Chained God are brought and tested for holiness by Priestess Valeria, for it is known the Chained God chooses brief emissaries during the days of Chaining.

■ Newer acolytes greatly defend the religious cult: a great earthquake rattled the main temple of the Chained God last year during the Chainings, and falling debris only spared the faithful who prayed within.

Off with his —

On the sixth day of Chaining (OOCly: 23 September), the news shouter of Ephes’ main marketplace receives a pouch containing the decapitated head of Tavernus, brother of Ephes army leader Narula.

The shocked newscaster drops the head, shakily reading out the message stitched on the pouch: Animals die for men to live. Men die for gods to prosper. — a quote attributed to the Chained Gods and carved on his main temple’s outer walls.

Locals may share Tavernus was a taciturn man who previously served as Narula’s lieutenant in the Hand, before retiring five months prior and taking up agricultural trade.

Group up to investigate — and throw your hat in for a RNG pick to win the head.

NIGHT OF KNIVES | EVERYONE WELCOME

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The twelfth day of Chaining (OOCly: 29 September) ends the yearly religious festivities of the Chained God with multiple street celebrations and private dinners.

Popular political upstart Maximus Faustus holds his own night-long banquet, opening his doors to all.

The affair sprawls over multiple floors of Faustus’ enormous villa, with entertainment ranging from poetry, theatre, artistic and magical recitals on the lower floors to a gladiator performance and heavy opioids upstairs. Conveniently, the guest list includes every figurehead of Ephes and their main political and financial backers. Patricians seem amused but flattered by Faustus, who was ‘no one’ before Messalina’s support, but who has been generous in his appreciation of the city’s elite.

■ Sign up for a RNG draw for a conversation with Faustus by 23:59 GMT on 18 September.

■ No better time to publicise your feats or generosity. Why not have your character (including gladiators) perform or bring an offering?

■ Servants apologise as you smell an excess of musk and oud, hiding, they say, spillage from an accident caused by a fired manservant. You can still glimpse glinting trails of cleansed lamp oil.

■ Messalina attends the banquet for two hours, but hastily withdraws at midnight, after receiving a letter.

■ Towards the middle of the night, priestess Valeria asks to conduct a religious séance, allowing one person to channel the Chained God and speak to Ephes.

■ After 2 a.m., torch lights dim down, as twenty masked pantomimes enter the main banquet halls, shushing the rooms silent. In good spirit, they ridicule the partygoers, even poking fun at you with inside jokes they should not know about…

■ …before slashing the throats or stabbing some of the high-profile Senators present, sparking a chaotic stampede.

■ The main villa doors have been closed from the outside. Fire broke out within and spreads rapidly, after the rims of main halls curtains were drenched in lamp oil. Rescue some of the Senators, or help the crowds escape Faustus’ burning villa.

■ The assassins are exceptionally strong fighters whose combat style some might recognise from the Hand’s drills. They fluctuate between having physical bodies and merging with shadows.

■ Come morning, a list is found on the main hall floor of Faustus’ villa with an assassination contract for the murdered and targeted Senators. All had intended to support Messalina. The contract is signed with the seal of a ring showing a wolf in profile.

QUESTIONS

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[ Now Jacob doesn't actually think this witness is the murderer. Looking at the remains, the young man isn't covered in enough blood and gore to make that likely. But he is... odd.

The people who had seen the thing flee were in near hysterics, which seems reasonable looking at the mess that is all that's left of the victim. The young man is very calm and that smile rubs Jacob the wrong way. ]

No idea, but I intend to find out.

[He gets to his feet, looking back from the youth to the body.]

Know who he was? Family should be told.

[ He was right about it being a problem. Five flexes his jaw and makes a note to have a talk with a certain shapeshifter, or at least give him some guidelines on how he can avoid fucking this entire operation up for them. Regardless of who he ultimately sides with, it's too early for the entire thing to collapse because of one dumb move. ]

I'm sure word will get to them. [ Five doubts this is the first or last time it's happened, which means he'll have to get the detective on the same page. ] I'd stick with the beast. We wouldn't want to inspire any prejudice by spreading baseless assumptions, would we?

[No doubt it will. But it's not going to win them many favours just leaving the mess here to be discovered.

Unfortunately, letting the young man go after a potential monster doesn't seem right either. But there's something in that tone that says the youth is going to do it anyway, whatever Jacob says or does.]

Don't know what assumptions you're talking about, but I'd put money on you knowing more about this than you let on. I think I might just tag along, just to make sure you don't get disembowelled yourself.

[ They're talking too long, and Five can bet that the crowd from the market will start to migrate over if there's as much of a trail as the man suggested. If Messalina is going to hire him for strategies, he already knows what his first recommendation is going to be.

He's less thrilled that the detective wants to tag along, and he's left to weigh his options. Leaving him to form his own conclusions is going to be an issue, as is leaving the body to rot in the alley. ]

No need. I'll run on home as soon as we're done here. [ He smiles again, for good measure. ] Better yet, I'll point you in the right direction and stay to make sure this gets cleaned up.

[ There's certainly a trail, alas. But how long it is before foot traffic destroys it is a good question.

He hesitates, crossing his arms over his broad chest. Arguing isn't going to help anyone, and frankly, as much as he doesn't want to find the remains of this cheeky sod later on, he isn't about to debate any longer. He shrugs, and gives in.]

Off you go then. I hope for your sake you aren't bullshitting me.

[ Five doesn't move, but his patience starts to wear the longer he stays with the body. So he tries again, before he decides that he needs to dispose of two bodies, or otherwise tell him more than he needs to know. ]

Like I said, it ran off down the alley. Don't you think you should hurry after it?

[Jacob takes a moment. He had thought that the youth was insisting he go that way, and Jacob stay here, but clearly in some sort of idiotic posturing, they've completely misunderstood each other.]

Alright. If it comes back here, you get out of the way.

[He doubts he'll find much down that way, but he is going to set out, track as best he can with the skills he has- even if the blood and gore has gone, he's sure Eagle Vision might lead him to something useful.]

[ Some misunderstandings can be forgiven when he doesn't argue with leaving the body to him, despite his young appearance, and he makes no remark to his useless warning. He still has options to consider, other possible witnesses to sort out, and it isn't until the man turns away that he calls out: ]

What's your name?

[ There was a time he kept better track. He'll take better notes this go around. ]

[ Now that is an interesting surprise. He expected the young man to do a little jig of pleasure, not ask a sensible question. He stops and turns to answer. ]

Frye. You need to leave a message for me, send it to Wrestler's Hold.

[ It's not where he's staying but he doubts Wen will mind holding it for him. He might even find this interesting.

He doesn't think he'll get a reply but politeness dictates he ask anyway, and he would like to know. ]

Yours?

[ A name and a location, how generous. Something he'll circle back on, once the evidence of Alir's spontaneity are a little more handled.

As for his own name, he doesn't hesitate to give it. Most people hear about him sooner or later, and he sounds near-cordial when he replies. ]

Number Five. I'll keep that in mind. [ Then, helpfully, he gestures to a direction he's already sure Alir won't be. Not that it matters, but since he's listening to him. ] It took off to your right.

[ And the frown that follows the lad's name is no doubt one hes seen before.

But Jacob decides of youre saddled with a name like that, you and probably resigned to it.

He doesn't think much of that last little lie, but he can do his own tracking. ]

...Right. I'll be seeing you.

[ And with that, instead of walking the rest of the way down the alley, he simply goes up the crumbling walls, heading for the rooftops. He'll find out where whatever it was went not by following Five's directions, but following Five himself.

...At least, that's the plan.]

[ If Jacob hangs around long enough, he might catch Five again in the same alley as before. Quite literally appearing in a flash of light. Easy to miss, but it has gotten dark in the time he spent dumping the body.

Accompanying him is a rather large hellhound that insisted on being of use. Five would have opposed, but who better than to sniff out the trail Alir left behind? He's not that hopeful that the last body was enough to satisfy him for at least a few hours, based on the restraint he's shown so far. Which doesn't make his job any easier.

The hound is weirdly intelligent, so Five converses with it like it understands him perfectly. ]

It was there. Can you catch a scent?

[ And of course, Jacib is back. The search he had tried to initiate for the monster went nowhere, because he had followed the trail of bloos it had left when it fleed originally, finding the victim at the end. Retracing his steps did nothing but lead him to the streets, and no futher.

Enquiries with the people of the city lead to the same place: nowhere. And so Jacob is forced to return back to where the body had been discovered. Gone now, of course.

But the alleyway is not empty. The boy from earlier is there- even with dusk closing in, Jacob recognises the voice and the shape of him. The monsterous dog however- thats new. And for a moment, Jacob thinks it is the beast hes searching for but...

But is the boy giving it commands?

He shifts deeper into the shadows created by stakes of crates and listens, trying to discover what the bloody hell is going on. ]

[ The hound isn't the most covert companion, but Five's assigned role seems to be well known enough that if anything, it gives him some validity. Maybe it's all his time spent around Wrath that makes it easier to accept a hellbeast, and he can't discount how easily it listens to him as they make their way back down the alley.

Either it got enough of a trace from the body they burned, or there was some lingering scent of decay left in the alley. Five follows it at a leisurely pace while scanning to the left and right for any onlookers. And, maybe, for any other bodies strewn about that haven't been discovered yet.

As he turns one corner, a young girl he'd run across once before stops in her tracks to stare wide-eyed at the pair of them. The hound beside him seems alert, ready to eliminate the onlooker. Frowning, he reaches to pat it to halt until she scurries away. He can feel the tense muscles in the beast, but it restrains itself.

He heaves a sigh. Twice is too many times to not make a connection, now he'll have to find out what she saw. ]

Wait here. [ The hound actually turns to look at him, daring to be skeptical. ] Stick to the shadows. I'll handle it.

[ If it hadn't been for the girl, Jacob would have stayed put. He had a good hiding place, or so he thought, and it probably would have suited him for as long as the beast and its master wanted to linger here. But now there's an innocent at potential harm, he can't.

Damn the Creed.

He moves, like a shadow himself, although it's a broad, violent sort of shadow, one with a blade sliding free of it's gauntlet and a thin set to it's lips. He stops once he's effectively blocked the path out of the alleyway, hopefully buying the girl time to get somewhere safe, somewhere she's not in danger of having her heart ripped out her chest. ]

I can't let you do that.

[ He had a feeling he'd be seeing Jacob again. Five eyes the blade as he places himself in his path. Creating a bigger problem, if the girl relays that she had to be saved from a monster. Maybe bringing Fido here was a mistake. ]

You can't let me what? [ The girl takes the opportunity he presented, and Five watches to see which way she leaves, before narrowing his eyes back at the man in front of him. The hound growls from the shadows. ]

I take it the trail went cold. Did you find anything at all, or were you just waiting for me to come back?

Follow that girl. No offence.

[Jacob doesn't turn to watch her go, keeping his eyes on the boy and his very large, unpleasant dog. But he doesn't need to turn, the Eagle Vision shows her as a gold silhouette running back towards the more well-used streets, and Jacob hopes that for her, nothing more exciting happens until this mess is done.]

Nothing the way you sent me, but I don't think you were expecting anything, right? Because you sent me on a wild goose chase. Now- [The blade slides back, disappearing.]

Maybe we got off on the wrong foot. Maybe you're not the one murdering these people. Maybe we can help each other.

Or maybe not. But let's at least talk about our options, shall we?

[ He smiles again as the weapon is put away, tempted to teleport behind him just to prove that he's not easy to keep from somewhere. But it appears he'll have to clear things up before rumors start. He's never been famous for working for a team; they all have opinions. ]

I'm not the murderer, but that girl will think I was, won't she? Unless she saw something else while I was away. [ No need to mention that he's trying to cover up the murder. That was obvious already. ]

But fine, you have my attention. How can you help me?

[Jacob only just refrains from rolling his eyes at how can you help me?- he doesn't like it any more than anyone else, but this place is forcing them to work together, and they'll have to deal with it.]

This is what I do, back home. Investigate things. Kill people that need killing. Stop people that don't need to die from being killed.

[He looks the young man over again, the stance, the fact his head is so far up his arse he must have real difficulty sitting down, and can't help but be amused. Evie used to be like that.]

I think you probably do too, am I right?

[ He pointedly doesn't answer that question. Not everyone wants to highlight the murder on their resume, but it's interesting that he's willing to. Honestly, he sounds like Diego. Which as much as he cares for his brother, isn't a compliment.

It's probably best he's not around to get another bad influence. ]

Back home. [ He folds his arms and stares him down. ] I thought I'd seen you before. So you're what, a vigilante who can't let go of old habits?

Guilty as charged huh?

[Silence speaks volumes, and sometimes keeping mum really doesn't do you any favours. It simply makes Jacob assume his assumptions are all correct, and he continues with that assumption.]

Nope. I have a very particular skill set, not really useful for very much else. So, do you want to do something about these murders, or are you happy playing- [A glance at the strange hound again] -dogsbody?

[ He squints in response, then glances briefly at the hound. It hasn't moved from its spot, but from the quiet growls, it's eager to get moving. ]

This may surprise you, but it's not that simple. Right now, I'd rather not cause a scene. [ Which may seem counterintuitive when he's walking around with a hellhound. But it's growing on him.

In a way teamwork clearly isn't. ]

What's your official job then?

[ Now that makes Jacob raise a brow. ]

A scene? More so than there was before?

[ And here's that horrible little question that Jacob hates to answer, because in so many ways the answer is not a good one. So instead he counters:]

How about you tell me yours first. In the interest of co-operation and not being a complete pain in the arse.

Considering it was darling and there were only a couple of witnesses, I'd say it could have been worse. [ Not that he's at all happy with Alir's lack of discipline. It'd be easy to tell her exactly where he problem lies, but he doesn't know how many other shapeshifters are available to bring off the bench.

He tightens his smile. He's been called worse. ]

I'm working for Messalina's campaign. You can see why this would be a bad look for her.

[ He says nothing, just listens. Unfortunately he can't stop his expression becoming darker and darker. He doesn't like this, doesn't like it one bit.

But he at least bites down on his tongue before he says something he might regret. ]

Someone died. And if that thing is her responsibility, then I think she needs to stop letting it out in the city before more people die.

[ He doesn't care about her bloody campaign or her popularity with the senate. That doesn't fucking matter.

All control out of the window, Jacob is suddenly several steps forward, close to the younger man, glaring daggers.]

We have to find it. And we have to stop it doing this again.

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