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balance_ooc2019-09-30 03:55 pm
balancemod) wrote in balance_ooc2019-09-30 03:55 pm
Field Mission 5: Il Prigioniero, Call to Arms
 1. IN AN IDEAL WORLDTHE FATHER The grim truth is that there is no greater corrupting force in this planar system or any other than the willingness of sentient creatures to hurt those more vulnerable than themselves. There was a time, long ago and almost (but not quite) faded into memory, when Adrian Morgenstern was a good husband and a good father. No one is simply bad or simply good. It would be a lot easier if they were. The slide into decay was slow, subtle, insidious, and distinctly human. Sharp words turning to sharp hands. Concern turning to fear. The family falls apart, and all the while, this man swallows his guilt and makes excuses. He hurts his wife. He gets away with it. He kills his wife. He evades consequences. He hurts his son. Before he can kill his son, a beautiful trinket finds his way into Niel's hands. He opens it, and begs for a better world. A father who will be kind and good to him, who will never hurt him, who will do everything he can to make Niel's life a happy and safe one. The Compact can do a lot, but it can't change the soul. Niel's wish destroys Adrian, and the Compact replaces him instead. Incontrovertibly good, kind, protective — especially of the fantasy that Niel has begun to create — the original Roland, the guardian of Wonderland, is formed from the life-force of Niel's father. A protector, just like Niel has always wanted. From now on, everything will be just as Niel has always wanted. THE SON Time passes. And passes, and passes. Niel, cozy in Wonderland, has no concept of how much time, exactly. Nor does he care. In this place, he is safe; in this place, he is happy. In this place, he will always have people to play with. And in the end, nothing else matters to him. As the years go by, Niel's understanding of Wonderland's mechanics improve. He comes to understand, first, that he isn't aging. This is fine; it doesn't bother him. This is one of his wishes: to never grow up, to never become his father or die like his mother. It's much longer before he begins to understand the why of his own petrification in time. There is so much power in the Compact, more even than it had originally. As though it's taking energy from something so endlessly powerful in magic that it's beyond mortal comprehension. Fortunately, Niel isn't mortal anymore. He sees, after a time, that Wonderland's inexhaustible energy is coming from Yggdrasil — under his feet and all around him. He knows that at some point, the Compact will use up all of Yggdrasil's power. That destroying the World Tree in this way will cause unimaginable destruction. He doesn't care about this, either. Not really. As long as there are people coming to play with him. As long as the pull towards Wonderland continues to increase — and it does. More and more people come, desperate for money or entertainment or simply desperate without knowing why. More and more people attach themselves to Wonderland. Some win, and stay, and keep winning. Some lose, and stay, and pour misery into the Compact to further fuel its horrors. Some lose, and keep losing, and eventually become part of Wonderland itself. Niel's protectors, his bear guards, increase in number the more years go by. But no matter how much company he keeps, no matter how many games he plays, Niel's grief and trauma never leave him. The spirit of his mother takes sickening form, fueled by his own repressed horror and her restless soul: Remember me. Wonderland begins to play crueler tricks, go to greater lengths to keep its guests, exact harsher penalties. Niel never meant it to go to these lengths, and sometimes he's sorry, but never sorry enough to tear it all down. The rot goes deep. Down to the roots. It always does. 2. WHAT THE BUREAU OF BALANCE DID○ It became clear to naturally-minded Reclaimers very quickly that Yggdrasil was sick — perhaps terminally so. Erika discovered that the Compact had hijacked Yggdrasil's magic. Maya's further poking around revealed that the Compact is keeping Yggy on life support in order to farm power from it, but without the Grand Relic, the Tree of Life would have no hope of survival. Shuichi discovered an extremely valuable golden leaf from the Tree. ○ Attempts to investigate Roland and the Rolands went poorly to disastrously. Christine flirted. Sans got a disturbing gift. Ferran got pretty jacked up. Sayori experienced existential uncertainty. Izuku asked to speak to a manager. Da Vinci soulbonded with the mascots, providing chilling insight into what exactly most of the Rolands are powered by. You know. People. ○ It's revealed that some familiar faces have been in the Casino for some time. It's further revealed, thanks to Akira's sticky fingers, that breaking the Casino's rules is a bad idea. Kaede and Minato gained employment as entertainers in the Night Show, run by Maria. ○ Delving into ancient casefiles revealed to the Feys the story of an abusive father who managed to get out of trouble often and for long enough to murder his wife. Roxas and Carmen find an unsettling children's book called A Trip to Wonderland. Coincidence? ○ In an effort to save Stylosa from the Night Show, Da Vinci, Shinjiro, and Mista witnessed the loop of Maria's murder in horrifyingly graphic detail, but didn't quite manage to remember it. Sans recorded it and got the willies, but didn't remember either. His recording jogged Mista's memory. Maria revealed to Jack that she has always been part of the Night Show, since Wonderland began. Lion, Will, and Mia raided the Casino (with Maya and Sans's external support) to let Maria know she is remembered. The attempt almost ends in failure, but Lion's Umbrella saves them just in time, allowing them to free Maria from the casino and dissolve Wonderland's outermost facade. Minato, having investigated the Break Room, became an established Toy in the Night Show. A massive group of determined Reclaimers saved Stylosa, Minato, Henrik's body, and da Vinci's body and destroyed Casino Mark II at the cost of two Reclaimers' lives. ○ Will's encounter with the Mirror Maze left him a glass angel. Izuku freed the trapped in the Labyrinth with a spark of Inspiration. Building rapport with the worker elves, Michael then became the Manager of Ghost Square. Eleanor fomented revolution amongst those same elves and succeeds, at the cost of 10 who disappeared at the hands of Rolands. Her attempt to rescue them led Eleanor and company to revisit an ethical quandary, ultimately saving three elf lives at the cost of Eleanor's own. ○ Several attempts to find Henrik Hollyweather were undertaken. One failed. One succeeded, at least technically, as Maya and co. came upon a pile of ripped-up Rolands and an assortment of displaced souls, including Henrik's own. Mia and co. further discovered that the bodies of elves and Rolandized individuals aren't dead, merely in stasis. ○ Sans and the research squad learned that Wonderland definitively physically does not exist. What an unfortunately convincing illusion. ○ The Raven Queen informed the Reclaimers via Alex that Niel was long past his expiration date. With a little guidance from the world's greatest detective and their very best friend, Roxas and crew discovered Niel's journal and the fact that Niel was in possession of the Compact and the creator of Wonderland. ○ Along the way, Kokichi built a friendship with Niel and learned about his childhood and his abusive father. Honoka genki'd at Niel and discovered that no one and nothing can drag him out of Wonderland. On the unveiling of the true Wonderland in Part II, Honoka buffed Niel in an attempt to stave off his Petrification, thus making him stronger. Kokichi went delicately feral at the illusion of Adrian. Finally, Honoka and Kokichi confronted Niel about the journal, leading to a confession that yes, he created Wonderland. Yes, he is sorry. And ultimately, Niel's disappearance to . . . nobody knows quite where. ○ In an inspired last-minute move, Sayori gathered a number of Reclaimers around Yggdrasil to use their most positive anchoring moments in an effort to weaken Wonderland. It was a shocking success. Positivity alone can't kill this illusion — but it's definitely going to help. 3. WHAT ANGUS & MATTHEW ARE DOINGMATTHEW Matthew Hollyweather came here for one reason and one reason alone: to save his father. Faced with the dismal reality that his father has been held prisoner, his misery used to fuel this hellscape, Matthew has two choices: to fall into misery himself, or to focus on the horizon. On the belief that he can, that he will, bring his father back home again. To Matthew, this is no choice at all. Until the Reclaimers are gathered together enough to divide tasks and conquer, he sits by the pile of Roland pieces that make up the vessels of his father and various other debtees. He talks to his father quietly, about important things and unimportant, too, chuckles at whatever weak jokes Henrik manages and cracks a few of his own. He tells stories, first to Henrik alone and then to the entire crew of lost souls. He asks their names. He learns their stories. Matthew is a good leader. He wonders, once this is all said and done, if they succeed . . . do the rest of these fragmented people have a home? If nothing else, couldn't he provide that? ANGUS Even the world's greatest detective feels out of his depth sometimes. Angus McDonald, who is ten years old, has made a lot of new friends. He has seen a lot of terrible things. And he is afraid — has been afraid. Will be afraid for some time after leaving Wonderland, in all likelihood. After all, he's only ten. Nonetheless, his mind keeps working. What time he isn't using to assist in investigations, he spends watching Lucretia, the [static noise] of the [static noise], working what even a novice like him knows is insanely advanced magic. He watches her, and thinks about what he's learned from the rest of them, Crowley and Mia and Lion especially, and he thinks . . . And he thinks. This is the greatest mystery he's yet encountered. Something so secret that the human mind is not able to comprehend it. Angus McDonald has never failed to solve a mystery yet. So in a way, it's a matter of principle. In another way, Wonderland simply must go. That's obvious. If Yggdrasil falls, Angus doesn't know what's going to happen. But he does know that if he's along to help, there's a significantly greater chance of the world not ending as a result. That's not bragging. That's just a fact. He rolls up his sleeves, adjusts his cap, and watches as Lucretia slumps to the floor in an overworked, exhausted faint. All right, then. Time to get to work. 4. CALL TO ARMS: HEALWe hope you're ready for this mission's conclusion! Here are the rules: ○ Utilize this post as a discussion board if you're interested in teaming up! It might help to hit upon your character's path actions, strengths, magic items and abilities. This way you have an idea of what's available to you as a team when the assignments go live. ○ As requested in the SotG, we're going to RNG team rosters if there's overflow. Each of the CTA missions below have the required archetype in the header, along with a maximum group size allowed to undertake the mission. Each group needs at least one character with the required archetype, so keep that in mind when signing up. If one group gets more than the maximum allowed signups, we'll RNG a final group roster for you. ○ Sign ups for the threads will close on Wednesday, October 2 at 6PM EST. If you've signed up for a CTA in the last mission, please be considerate and allow others to sign up this go-around! If we receive threads without at least two signups by that time, we will then reopen the thread and allow everyone to throw their name in the hat. If this happens, we will subsequently close CTA signups on Thursday, October 3 at 6PM EST. ○ CTA plans are due on Sunday, October 6 at 6PM EST. Results will be rolled and posted. ○ The CTA log will go live on Monday, October 7 at 6PM EST. Remember, if you signed up and submitted plans for a CTA, you must thread it out or you will be considered ineligible for the following mission's CTA plot. ○ For this mission only (obviously), Adrian's Nasty Boy Dice (+2 on any roll in exchange for a sacrifice of Body, Mind, or Spirit) can be used during CTA planning. ○ Happy hunting! A visual reference of the timeline can be granted by viewing the game calendar. ○ MISSION SUCCESS will be contingent on at least 3 of the 5 CTAs coming back with positive results. blurb code by photosynthesis |
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Anyway!
Let's get to it.
There's a LOT of conditionals in this roll, so let's break it down as best we can.
1. We'll give you bardic inspiration. 1d4 rolled to determine how many people are truly happy and they know it, clapping their hands. This is terrifying, all things considered, but you all came up with very good anchor memories. Good use of plot information from Lucretia. The 1d4 will determine a flat bonus to all rolls in this CTA attempt.
2. Flat DC 14 to open up a connection to the tree. (If this fails, we're assuming you go to the nuclear options)
From there, you're going to need to work with Maya (or in Maya's case, just keeping herself steady) to keep her focused and energized while concentrating. We'll give each of you a DC 13 to determine how functional that is.
Each success here will provide +1 forward to your most important objective, EXCEPT for Maya, who, if fails, will actually net a -1 forward, since she's the one trying to use a dial up modem to get into Yggy's head.
So... all things considered, your goal here is to create a bullet of positivity to blast into the tree. That'll be a DC 18 + 1d4 bardic + any bolsters on Maya's concentration effort - Maya's potential fail.
If you succeed, congrats! CTA won.
If you fail:
DC 18 on sleeping the tree. If you manage to pull this off, you'll get a +3 forward to the rolls listed below.
DC 18 to spear the tree, provides +1 bonus to the Oathbow roll below if successful.
DC 16 on concocting a poison, provides +2 bonus to the Oathbow roll below.
DC 15 on shooting the tree in the heart with the Oathbow. Really great use of the item!
If that fails, then we'll deal with Necromantic touch.
Every failure above will increase the DC to make it work. We'll start with a DC 15, and add +1, up to a DC of 20. If it gets to DC 20, you'll need a critical success to pass this portion of the CTA.
And then we can talk about what happens after that, if everything really goes to hell.
EDIT: Hey, we're doofuses and made a mistake here. This CTA was meant not to have horror included with the rolls. We've edited it to be a little more amenable to what you signed up for. Sorry for the confusion!
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According to the CTA description, our understanding is that positive memories push back the Compact's hold on Yggdrasil, and more positive memories would continue to weaken the Compact's influence on the tree, and killing it is a separate task. Is just killing the tree with pure positivity an option?
Is the +1d4 for bardic inspiration purely for bardic inspiration, or is a mixture of the anchoring events and Sayori's inspiration? If so, is Angus accounted for? Some ideas for his positive memories we can think of: reading Caleb Cleveland, and his experiences with the Reclaimers, since he's gotten close to a bunch of them. Also: Caleb Clawland.
A little sidenote on the spearing, it was more meant as a backup if Sleep fails, just to make it as painless on Yggdrasil as possible! Likewise, we had Will and Maya using their non-organic parts as a backup if shooting the wound with the BBQ Poison failed.
Would Shuichi get a bonus to Concoct from his wise white tuna? Also, could we apply his cursed +2 dice here?
Is the wound Yggdrasil's heart? (Bon Jovi lyrics here)
If their plan fails and they go to Necromantic Touching, can we say that Will, Sayori, and Maya use their cursed dice there?
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2. The +1d4 does include Bardic Inspiration and the anchoring events. All characters in the CTA, including Angus, are accounted for.
3. We're fine with that giving a +1 bonus to Concoct with the wise white tuna.
4. Trees don't have hearts. It's a big old nasty wound though, tell you what.
5. That's fine, yep!
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- Maya has a one track mind and this will be used to her advantage here!!! TREE TALKING
- Shuichi and Sayori will be keeping the area free of distractions, patrolling with their weapons (Oathbow for Sayori, crossbow for Shuichi, he also has poison tip) to make sure Yggdrasil and Maya aren't interrupted by monsters or whatnot. They'll be keeping her talking area as free of distractions as they can, and physically righting her if she starts to fall over, encouraging her if she starts getting tired, etc
-Will will keep her on track with mental slaps or dragging her straight if she goes too far off kilter, and if he can use Emphatic Duty mentally, will be using that if necessary!
-Nick Junior & Peanut (Sayori's squirrel familiar) will also be patrolling, v important
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Lots of stuff seems to go down at once- but we're going to try to give you all a few hooks to make sure that you've got something to RP with in the CTA so you can all get credit in some way, shape or form.
The inspiration that gets provided to everyone is a +1 forward to all rolls. I (Jay) take full responsibility for blowing this perfect opportunity up for you guys to get a really good head start.
That said, Maya will need time, a clear mind, and a good piece of quietude in order to really connect with Yggdrasil now that it's being confronted on so, so many different fronts all at once. Weirdly enough, the strangest thing happens - as if Silvanus has prepared himself to make nature dead silent for you to hear this (thanks, Will!), Maya's able to establish a connection with the world tree, scoring an 18 on the roll.
She makes first contact, and, as you can guess it, all is not well with the tree. Opening this discussion with it changes the world around you. The four of you notice that you're no longer standing in the same spot you once were, but rather, enveloped in a bubble of reality as you replay the image of beautiful day in Shadowdale- the elves of the forest not even recognizing you or acting as if you're corporeal- they go on about their duties. There's something going on here, though, as you can tell there's apprehension in the area.
You get to relive the moment that the Netherese empire fell, the moment that Yggdrasil began its long descent into its sickly state. You understand how it came to be so corrupted; plague had hit this town and the wash of undead, necromantic energy was sweeping through the thickets and trees like wildfire.
Until someone approaches, and the scene starts to change. You look down at Maya and realize you're seeing someone else, doing the exact same thing Maya is attempting to do- communicate with the tree. Only it's not Maya, it's a beautiful elven woman with golden, flowing hair. You hear someone tell her "Ylsevele, it's too late- there's nothing we can. Ylsevele, my lady!"
And all of you, aside from Maya are abruptly aware that you're not yourselves in this vision. You're elven guards, and you're being called to fight something you can't see just yet. It gets worse before it gets better. Will, Shuichi and Sayori, you're asked to pick up your spears and attack... your own countrymen.
The plague has hit them, and their features have turned postuled and vibrantly disgusting. You must make a last stand to protect your queen- all as Maya continues to sit and pray, trying to listen to what Yggdrasil is asking of her to do.
The scene fades in and out- one moment you're reliving the last moments of Yggdrasil's life, the next you're back in Shadowdale, protected by a mystical calm.
Maya attempts to take every bit of positive energy she can, understanding the pain that the World Tree has gone through in the last centuries, and forces everything she has into the center of Yggdrasil.
Keeping her calm and meditative is hard - Will is yapping in your mind incessantly until you close the door on him (he was the only one who failed to keep her concentrating) and, well.
You critically failed.
The next thing Maya realizes is that... she's in the board room of a very tall corporate tower.
Everyone else scrambles to get option B to start working. Time to put this bad boy to rest.
Sleeping it fails (3).
Maya's not conscious and can't spear the tree.
Shuichi tries to concoct a poison, and that... fails (total, 8). We're going to take body from this, since it seems most appropriate when handling poison. He's going to lose a finger clean off as he tries to prep it. He screams out in agony, as it falls limply on the ground and begins to deteriorate. Will is quick to lay on hands to help cure him, but it's plain to see that there's just... pure, necrotic damage at the stump of where it once was.
Sayori, realizing that she has little time to spare, dips an arrow into the botched batch and aims true, speaking the words inscribed for use.
And knocks an arrow straight into it (18).
Yggdrasil gives one last breath of relief as a gust of wind pulsates outward throughout the forest, shattering every leaf in the Cormanthor forest into dust.
Silvanus takes the wheel, sensing that the fate of this world and every plane of existence around it is in terrible, terrible danger. As Will is attempting to heal Shuichi, he bolts upright. His eyes draw plain white as a deep voice, not his own, speaks out into the group.
"There is not much time. The leaf. Bury the leaf and give her a new chance at life. Do it before the connection between our planes is vulner---"
And then, Will stands in place, possessed by a God who no longer can connect. He's left on hold for a few moments, and then, as if nothing happened, looks to see why he's no longer standing over Shuichi.
Maya will wake up, in a few.
But probably not in the same condition she was before all this.
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"And then, Will stands in place, possessed by a God who no longer can connect."
ONE VERY BIG FEAR
Would any attempts at calling back get anything? In addition, I know Silvanus left ambient Wind Through A Forest white noise on everything, is this still there?
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With Shuichi rearing from the lack of... a finger, he rolled a 14.
He reads Will as motionless and devoid of everything, anything.
He gets the sense that the Yggdrasil was a lot more than just a progenitor of life for Faerun, but maybe a conduit, a focal point between... ah, it's so hard to figure out. What the hell is going on?
Maybe you should bury that leaf?
Will will wake up after that.
Oh, and- no, the quiet calm over the land is gone.
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He is going to Plant That Fucking Leaf as quickly as he can while still reeling from the pain of a dead finger. And Sayori's gonna help because he probably needs it since, again, dead finger and this is some Fate Of The Universe shit. gotta plant fast.
(eta: also do I get to pick which finger he loses or did modlies have one in mind?)
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We're not particularly fond of one finger over another! Feel free to choose.
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ANGUS??? WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR BOY
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Please hug him.
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