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agentlelog2019-02-19 07:00 pm
thestewards) wrote in agentlelog2019-02-19 07:00 pm
Entry tags:
- !modevent,
- !modpost,
- aithne,
- alex fierro,
- calvin lee,
- clarke griffin,
- daisy whitfoot,
- daylight vis lornlit,
- emil västerström,
- haein seo,
- henry percy,
- horatio hornblower,
- jason grace,
- jon snow,
- jonathan reid,
- lalli hotakainen,
- leo valdez,
- mary crawley,
- mordred,
- peter parker (spider-verse),
- piper mclean,
- ren suzugamori,
- rhus bashe,
- river song,
- sansa stark,
- takame kesi,
- zita harrington
event: a gentle explosion
With shoulders of giants at my feet
There’s not a challenge I’m afraid to meet
► The OOC plotting post for this event can be found here.
► Direct all questions to the mods at this link.
► Direct all questions to the mods at this link.
STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND
You wake, warm and comfortable, and realize that you’re no longer where you were when you went to sleep. The dream was real. As you clamber out of bed and open your door, an impassive footman greets you and leads you to breakfast in a large hall filled with many, many people. They sit around a hodgepodge of tables in a mishmash of furniture—nothing matches anything else, and no two chairs are the same.
The woman from your dream catches your eyes. She stares at you with open shock. “Well,” she says, as a number of males turn to her with withering looks. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” She smiles at you. “Welcome to Draega, Stranger. Please, join us.”
Join them at the table and have your breakfast, Stranger. There isn’t much to offer: porridge, water, a bit of milk, some wrinkled fruits, and bread. Coffee, thankfully, is not in short supply. Meet your fellow Strangers, both the ones choosing to live at the Queen’s Residence and those who arrived in the night with you.
As breakfast draws to a close, the Queen’s Steward, Prince Loren Sorey, explains that you may choose to find your own home or stay in the residence for as long as you please. Those who stay will receive a modest stipend but are required to participate in Allairavar’s morning trainings every day. At dawn. Before breakfast. Those who go will need to find their own homes among the ruined buildings of the city and make their own money.
The court begins filtering out of the Great Hall, dispersing to attend their many duties. Linger, Stranger, and overhear…
“What did you mean?” The man leaning over the Queen is Prince Allairavar. His membranous wings flare around him, and his expression is menacing. “This wasn’t supposed to happen?”
Queen Fayura doesn’t look at all alarmed by the massive man caging her against a wall. “It was a one-time spell,” she says. “The web was—” Her eyes go wide. “I need to go look at the web.” She ducks under Allairavar’s arm, which could put a tree trunk to shame, really, grabs Prince Verim, and drags him from the hall.
Allairavar bares his teeth at the wall and snarls. The sound rumbles through the room, and dark temper washes briefly through the residence before all the tangled webs tucked in corners absorb it, leaving the building peaceful and clean of psychic feeling once more.
A TALE OF TWO IDEALS
At exactly 5:46pm, an explosion rocks the city of Draega. Black clouds belch fire to the northwest of the city. Concurrently, in Old Town, a mob of landens armed with Breakers and Muters descends on The Last Meal. They surround an older, Blood woman.
i. Black Out
The power plant maintained by the Tinkers and the Elektrics has exploded. Across Draega, e-line appliances shut down and the city plunges into darkness—the sun set some 45 minutes ago.
Prince Loren reaches out to approximately half the Strangers, asking them to go to the power plant. He shares a mental map with them so they know how to reach the building, as well as the Craft used for air-walking. The tutorial is quick and hardly complete, but now you’ll be able to run above the city to reach your destination.
The power plant burns. Black smoke pours into the air. Master Elektric Doriah organizes the Tinkers and Elektrics who were able to escape on their own. A quick glance reveals how absolutely exhausted she is. When Strangers approach, she sneers but isn’t about to turn away good help.
“There are still people inside. The Blood who did this trapped us in shields.” She hesitates only a moment before collecting Breakers from guildmembers carrying them. “Take these. Your Jewel may not be able to break through the shields.”
Inside, well-ordered building is a mess of fire and melting steel. Airwalking protects your feet, and shields can keep out the heat, but you’ll need something more to protect your lungs. Put out fires, stop systems from overloading, save the machines from complete destruction, and rescue missing workers who are suffocating and cooking inside shields. The guildmembers trapped in the power plant will assist the Strangers who free them, helping mitigate the damage done to the plant and keep it from exploding the rest of the way.
ii. Death of a Councilwoman
Councilwoman Vera enjoys dinners at The Last Meal, and this is well known by everyone in the city. Today, public knowledge of her schedule doesn’t work so well in her favor.
As she approaches the restaurant with her family, a group of landens descends on them. Muters prevent the Blood from taking any action that isn’t purely physical, and this is enough to throw most of them off their stride; they’re used to relying on Craft to fight. The landens separate Vera from her family in a short-lived brawl. She shouts and screams—“Let me go! Don’t you know who I am? The Queen will have you executed for this! Your families will be thrown out of the city! You’re making a mis—”
A shot rings through the air.
The landens peel away from one of their own, a young man gripping a Breaker in both hands. He trembles as he stands over Councilwoman Vera, whose expression is frozen forever in shocked disbelief. Her body crumples to the ground, blood from a gunshot wound on her chest staining the white fabric of her blouse.
In the silence that follows the shot, Allairavar shoves free of the crowd. “Go home!” he snarled, Craft powering his voice.
No one moves.
Except the young landen man. He takes off at a run, and the crowd is still too horrified to do much to stop him. Allairavar wastes no time. He plunges after the young man. At the same time, he reaches out to the minds of the Strangers closest to Old Town. *The Ebon Council is, collectively, a sack of reeking shit, and Lady Vera was a bitch,* Allairavar tells the Strangers. *But if we don’t get between the Blood and the landens, we’ll have another war. We can’t afford another war. Keep them from killing each other while I deal with this idiot.*
AIR TIME
Whether you catch the news on a Far-caster in the city or you’re spinning the dial on your own device, you’ll hear…
the news
…angered local landen families by her hard-line position that Blood homes should receive priority as the city continues to recover from the fires set by the Hunter Guild last month. [The man speaks at a brisk pace, hurried and harried as though he has too much to say and not enough time to say it.]
Councilwoman Vera is known for her vocal disdain for the landen Guilds, isn’t that right, Garret? [Another man, nasally in tone. He doesn’t sound rushed so much as put upon.]
[Garret:] Correct, Wilt. She—excuse the interruption, but we are just now hearing— [The feed abruptly cuts off. Static pours from the Far-caster regardless of what local channel it is tuned to.]
no subject
"It's likely the first time he's killed anyone." Allairavar vanished his long knives and called his warblade instead. The weapon was a better choice to guard. "Plenty of people aren't prepared for the first time they've spilled blood. No matter how much they've crowed about it otherwise."
no subject
She shrugged slightly, it was something that had wound through her brain and would not let go.
"Though I admit to reading into things that need no reading into."
no subject
A gray shield wrapped itself around the landen's cell for precaution. Allairavar gestured Aithne to a side room. A few chairs and a table cluttered up much of the small room along with a side board that held fresh water and all that was needed for tea. A spell warmed the water once it was in the pot and a small, round sieve holding the tea dropped inside.
no subject
"Aye, that is the best description I have of it. I will not presume your thoughts upon the first life you took, though I know mine. " A furrow of her brow and she drummed her fingers on the table as the tea steeped. "It could be as you say and I have no proof other than my eyes and my reading of the moment. I would say he was told the weapon was disabled or something similar."
She gave a bit of a sigh, and a slight shrug. "It does not change the matter of things."
no subject
"It may change the outcome for him." Allairavar shrugged loosely.
no subject
She paused the strumming of her fingers. "If I am right, and I can not swear to it as the truth."
Really it was all an ill timed mess of events. She wished she had been as accomplished in recalling several mission from home.
"You seem unconcerned about the potential for subterfuge Prince." She tilted her head and her tone was one of questioning rather than accusation. "Is this yet another difference between worlds?"
no subject
"If the man was foolish enough to go with a group of other idiots in order to intimidate Lady Vera by way of using muters and forcibly dragging her from her family, then his intentions or expectations or forewarning are of little consequence. Do I think someone set them up to do this under the hope they might catch a bigger fish? No." Allairavar scratched his chin, thinking of how to best put it into words. "Such a plan, even should it succeed, would ultimately fail. None of them have the power to deal with the fallout. No matter how much they might dream of it."
no subject
She wished one of them were here with her in this place.
Though that was neither here nor there, she accepted the invitation and she listened close to Alliaraver's words.
"Even the death of Lady Vera makes no sense to me in that context. I understand Landen outrage, though what you say means that it was pointless to begin with."
Again that soft scowl. "It was strategically stupid. I would not have allowed it, if it were my command."
no subject
"There's no reason to believe that he was under anyone's command. The landens might look to the Guilds for authority and the Blood to either the Ebon Council or Lady Fayura, but that does not mean any of those holding position have absolute say over all parties." The tea was bitter, lacking the sweet notes of plants that could be found in spring, but Allairavar didn't seem to notice at all.
"Young fools working each other up and needing to prove their bravado is not common on your world?" His tone suggested that was plenty common in Draega.
no subject
"Oh, it is common." Her hands cupping the teacup, enjoying the warmth. "Over time the expression of it has changed. One could argue if that is for the worse."
She mulled his middle point though, clearly thinking it true. Not that she doubted the man at all, mobs were mobs and they tended to mob. And they had their uses, she would be the first to admit. It seemed not right to her in this incident. She spoke slowly reflecting her thoughts.
"I do not think he was under command, he was a tool. A weapon primed but not aimed." She gave a gentle shake of her head that cascaded down her braid. "I apologize for my ignorance."
no subject
Allowing himself a few moments to enjoy the tea, Allairavar fell silent. He took a moment to contact Loren to make sure the city wasn't on fire. Again. And then looked back to Aithne.
"But, now I have to go and make sure the rest of the First Circle are advised on our guest's capture." Swallowing down the rest of the tea, Allairavar inclined his head and then slid from the room after ensuring his shields around the prisoner's room were properly layered.
no subject
After a few moments she made her own exit from the holding area.