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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( Eyeing him. )

Why does that sound absolutely terrifying?

( Zhou Zishu would probably like Lan Xichen, he liked Cao Weining and they're similar enough. Wen Kexing drinks more of his wine, pouring it into his mouth with resolution. )

Don't be telling him tales.

Of course not.

Why don't I believe you? Sect Leader Lan hides a true schemer behind his passive face.

( Said cheerfully, kindly. Lan Xichen is not the sort of plotter who would wish harm. But he is capable of strategizing, his politics here show that. )

The two of you would get along like a riot and where would I be? Drowning my sorrows, for all the ways my character would be maligned.

I would be told nothing you did not want me to know, I'm sure, and I would only tell him how lucky he is to have you even if he is not aware.

[ His chin tilts up, confident. ]

Wei Wuxian was once oblivious to Wangji's feelings too. I sat him down to talk about it.

[ He's fearless protecting the emotions of those he loves!! He will tell Zhou Zishu to make an honest man out of you! Meddling thy name is Xichen. ]

Zhou Zishu knows my feelings very well.

( With a leer, because he hates how his heart is set to aching. )

Perhaps you've missed you calling then, you could have been a matchmaker.

He knows and hasn't ... acted?

[ The only time you will see the First Jade of Lan wrinkle his nose a little in silent criticism. ]

( He clucks his tongue, letting his gaze drift. )

There are ... other things happening.

( A sigh. )

Zhou Zishu is not a man easily seduced. It's possible he doubts my sincerity.

I can't imagine why.

[ Ohohoho. ]

( Below them Gladiators are getting ready to fight, Wen Kexing focuses on that as he speaks, as though mindless violence will harden the softer parts. )

I found him attractive, I won't deny that. I wanted to sleep with him, and I pursued him with that in mind. He was so prickly about it, and I found it funny. I'm not usually denied, but denied me he did, and it was interesting. A challenge. I may have ... followed him. A little. ( He stalked him, like a dog hunting prey. ) But that was before I knew him, before I recognised him. I think he knows I've changed. I hope he knows I have.

( Thwip, thwip, thwip goes his fan. )

It's new, to me, caring. I don't know exactly how I'm supposed to do any of it.

[ The topic is so sensitive that he doesn't look at him directly, pretending to watch the gladiator match as Wen Kexing opens up. He only glances over once he hears that caring is new to him, because what? That doesn't make a lick of sense: caring seems to come so naturally to Wen Kexing that he peeled Xichen out of his depression with surprisingly minimum effort.

Absence or at least denial made Wen Kexing's heart fonder, it's Xichen's hope that Zhou Zishu feels the same way. How could he not? ]

Have you told him all the things you have not told me? The ones that weigh on you.

[ Oh, he knows there's a lot Wen Kexing keeps to himself, it's his right and Xichen doesn't pry: but he isn't so foolish as to pretend he sees nothing for someone else's comfort anymore. ]

( His fan goes still, a momentary unnatural pause, a blip in his calm, grip tightening before it starts moving again. )

No.

( Maybe it won't even matter in the end. Maybe the Ghost Valley will consume him like he has always assumed it might, and the truth will die with him. Would that be better, he wonders? Being relieved of the need to confess? It's cowardice, but a part of him still finds himself banking on the easy option. )

I can't. ( A laugh, badly concealed wildness. ) I want him to like me.

[ He looks at the arena below, the red blood spattered across the sand that is being scooped up to clean it for the nest fight. ]

You know, we may never see one another again after our journeys through these realms are done. You have never heard of Gusu, I have no idea where you are from ...

[ He tilts his head toward him, not quite turning it. ]

If you told me something I could not handle and you lost me, it would be no great blow. Then you would know whether what you have to tell your love is truly terrible.

You think it would not be a blow?

( Surprised, his dark gaze flickering Lan Xichen's way and then back. )

You think me so easy to get along with, Lan Huan, you cannot conceive a world where I would not have my pick of friends. I'm afraid to tell you that's not the case, and even if it were, your kindness lost would hurt.

[ Quietly, ] Thank you for saying so.

[ But, to get back to the point, he looks at him and ignores the mess in the arena of a body slain. ]

I think Wen Kexing must live a very lonely life to revel in a sad sect leader's willingness to have him around so often. I think you are more skilled than you have shown, cleverer than you act, and kinder than you believe capable.

I did not take you for my friend with eyes closed, a-Xing. I did that once before to someone else.

Your ghost, I know.

( He is also good at reading the context clues. )

Were I truly kind I would not beseech you for your warmth knowing what I do of myself. ( He reaches out with his other hand for his wine, taking a deep and greedy drink of it. ) But I'm very selfish, I always have been. I had spent so much of my life hungry that I cannot stop myself from gorging even when I should not. Poorly raised, viciously grown, tch, your brother has the right of it with his distrust of me, Huan-er.

( Voice steady, his fan still moving lazily. ) But I've already lost so many things, I don't like to think I might lose more. Don't ask me now, all right? I want to enjoy my time while I can.

You cannot gorge on a person's time and company, only delight in it. Otherwise, they would be kicking and screaming to get away. I am quite quiet, I think. A little too much, perhaps, if you think I do not keep you warm out of my own volition.

[ He speaks softly, not to lecture but to hint at a different reality than the miserably grim one Wen Kexing views the world through. ]

Regardless ... when we are parted, I will still hold you in my heart.

You're a good person. I'd have liked to be like you.

( But he offers Lan Xichen a smile, small but genuine, less like the showy grin he often wears. It disappears beneath the act easily, his eyelashes fluttering. )

Buy me more wine, Benefactor Lan, I'm tired of being serious.

You are good too just as you are, hush.

[ He waves to the wine seller in the stands, a servant rushing out when they see to flag down the merchant and bring back another bottle for them. Xichen pours them both a cup, then sets it on Wen Kexing's side of the table.

He takes a small bag of varied nuts out of his sleeve (!!!) and hands that over too with a mild smile. ]

You mentioned you once waited an hour for something similar. I've kept these on me until there was a need.

Edited 2023-10-03 18:14 (UTC)

( Like a small child, or an eager dog, the prospect of treats rolls its energy through Wen Kexing so much so that his attention changes to something more alert, less faraway. )

Ah! ( He's so pleased, taking the bag of nuts from Lan Xichen to hold in the palm of his hand. He digs through, plucking one out to peel it from it's shell, popping the nut into his mouth with glee, shaking the bag as he chews and offering it back out. ) A competitor to Wolong's Famous Nuts! I might even like these better.

[ Chuckling fondly, he watches him fuss and nibble. Xichen takes a nut for himself, thank you, and he raises his sleeve to hide his chewing as it crunches. ]

Eat them all, they were bought with you in mind.

[ The next gladiator match involves a bear, oh dear. Appropriate for snackage. ]

( Bad mood lifted, Wen Kexing takes to alternating between drinking his wine and tossing peanuts into his mouth. The fight is not a pleasant one to watch, and yet he doesn't exactly seem all that squeamish. )

Could you take on a bear?

[ Calmly, without hesitating to offer any consideration beyond what he knows, he says, ]

Yes.

Mm.

( A sip of his wine. )

You'd probably have some misgivings about it though. But I could see that, if the bear started it.

[ Smoothly, ]

I wonder if a bear could take on you.

I'd like to see a bear try.

( A sniff. )

That reminds me, we must spar one day soon. Though not where any of the girls can see, they'll be further mad at me.

the chainings

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