March Event: De L'autre Côté de L'eau

[lifeaftr_mods]

MARCH EVENT: DE L'AUTRE CÔTÉ DE L'EAU

Who: Everyone condemned to the Water, and those who see fit to rescue them
What: A rescue is implemented!
When:Predominantly on March 19th
Where: Ai'tuoh, and the small islet just off its coast
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Just Sing For Me All Night

It's time for your captured comrades to be recovered, and by none other than your fine selves! While the Storyteller will detail the elements of said rescue below, they very notably don't say anything about how they plan for you make it through Ai'tuoh, and then to the islet off its coast.

You have their tacit blessing to make your way there however you would like. Through stealth, through diplomacy, by salting and burning the earth...whichever you prefer. It is, as it turns out, awfully difficult to discern the innocent from the perpetrators when they all look alike.

Whatever course of action you choose, bear in mind that there will be consequences. The Storyteller will be sealing off Ai'tuoh's mana pool once everyone who has been retrieved has come through, but that doesn't mean that the island will be gone forever.

And If I Shout For You, Never Doubt

While the details of the rescue's mechanics can be found in the Storyteller's explanation below, we ask that, if your character was captured and needs to be rescued, please let us know HERE. This will make it easier for other players to account for who might be their focus, and why!

A few guidelines for each of the groups:

[ ♆ ] Group One will be predominantly busy fending away militia, who you can assume will be pouring forth to protect the Water from these intruders at a fairly concentrated rate. Most of the fighting will likely be grouped around the Water itself, leading to a risk of being forced into the Water or slipping in yourself. The militia largely fight with spears, swords, and shields, but are not above attempting to sedate you if they can get close enough, to make it easier to tip you into the Water.

[ ♆ ] Group Two will be serving as the tether, meaning they will be holding onto the thread the Storyteller has provided. This means physically remaining on our side of the abyss and holding onto the thread very tightly, as well as mentally focusing incredibly hard on the Water itself. When the thread is deposited into the Water, it will open a dark tunnel into the surface itself, leading all the way through to the other side. The Water will not take kindly to this; it will attempt to close, and exert a tremendous mental pressure upon your mind to do so. In order for this portal to remain open, your focus must be wholly devoted to keeping it open. It may feel very much like a mental game of tug-of-war, and you may very well feel a very physical tug on the thread itself as well; you must be actively concentrating on bringing everyone home.

[ ♆ ] Group Three will then have to grab hold of the thread in some way or another and not let go as they're swept into the dimension and through to the other side. As long as they remain in contact with the thread, they will be able to make their way back and be immune to the soporific effects of the strange void, as well as detect the opening the thread makes in the landscape of the netherworld on the other side of the Water. If they let go, they will lose their way and be vulnerable to the somnolent effects, and must be drawn back by someone who is still tethered.

Just remember: once you've found who needs recovering, you cannot, under any circumstances, look back at them while you guide the home.

You simply have to trust that they will follow, and that will be what leads them back to you.

Event Timeline

[ ♆ ] March 19th: Characters are taken to the Standing Water, and the rescue is facilitated
[ ♆ ] March 20th: Monthly Storytelling occurs as usual
[ ♆ ] March 31st: Ai'tuoh disappears, and anyone left on it or in the Water will suffer a death

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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[yourattention]

"We're gonna have to steal a boat if you want everyone to get back in a timely manner." He looks over at the Storyteller. "It's, what? At least six hours to get back. I'm not risking the mana pool if we can steal a boat."

He pauses though. For as much as he seems like a ruthless person, there's something bothering him about the idea of burning an entire city down. There's something -

"We shouldn't burn the boats though. I -" Connor rubs his neck nervously. "The people living there shouldn't be blamed for the rules they have to follow. If they want to escape, maybe we should let them. And maybe we should burn their library down, so they know that the rules aren't necessary."

[hellawrath]

Well that's all reasonable and compassionate and lawful good but Lup doesn't seem sold at all. She stops her pacing to stare at them both in turn, frowning almost judgmentally.

"Listen, I wasn't gonna even go after the inn or whatever? My main concern here is being pursued, like, I'd rather squash a boat chase in the bud if I can. Sure, some hypothetical future visitors are gonna be fucked once we're done with the place, but they were always gonna be. I mean, so were we? You really think we can actually make their shitty system even worse?"

She looks at Muffet, a fire burning in her gaze though her anger isn't meant for the spider at all. "The innkeeper wasn't gonna stand up for you if somebody decided to drug and drown you, were they?" She turns to Connor with the same intensity. "Let's not forget these people, they don't just live with the law, they look away when their kids are drowned for laughing! Show me some kinda underground resistance, revolution or something? Sure, sign me the fuck up for not kicking their asses! But they've had plenty of time to get rid of their fucking laws themselves, it's not our job to excuse their complicity."

After that little outburst, Lup takes a breath, resettles her ears like ruffled feathers, and shoots Muffet a finger gun. "Burning down the library, though? Dope idea, hell yeah. Maybe that'll give them the push they need to wake the fuck up, but by then we'll be back to sipping coconut martinis in our lawless island commune."

[story_teller]

No one can settle on a course of action, and the Storyteller knows full well that they are the least equipped to assume any manner of leadership. The rabbit bobs their head in a quiet nod, at Connor's query - six hours, give or take.

"They are a people who have lived in fear for most of their lives," the Storyteller says, quietly. "It is not merely the force of law that keeps them in line. It is the threat of the deity that offered them that 'gift' to begin with. Given what the Water...may be capable of, that fear might be well-placed."

Again their fur prickles, standing on end along the ridge of their spine.

Yes.

They are not so very fond of the water.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet doesn't begrudge Lup her rage, remembering the quiet, bitter feeling she felt the longer she spent on the island- but she doesn't quite agree with her, either.]

How would we know if there was a resistance or not? We've barely even spoken to these people, anyone defying those so-called laws would have no reason to trust us with a secret that could get them killed.

[She shakes her head.]

I don't know if their system can get worse, but I certainly don't trust it enough to say that it won't.

[Literally fuck everything about Ai'tuoh, okay, she's not putting anything past these people.]

And speaking of things I don't trust, I'm also not entirely certain I trust the safety of a sailing ship if our enemy is the water. I assume they don't control anything that simply happens to be liquid, wherever and however they please, but...

[She looks over at the Storyteller, and though her words are firm, her expression is gentle. She's grateful for their help, and wishes she didn't have to ask about a topic they clearly seem to find upsetting. Wishes she could help them more.]

What are they capable of, that you know? Is there anything else that you can tell us about this deity?

[crosslaced]

“Wouldn't we?” He sounds calm, even if he isn't. The smell of burnt ruin resurfaces from memory. A dozen villages are razed to the ground every year in the name of kingdoms, politics.

“What makes you think the citizens will side with the people tearing down buildings and killing their kin? They're not going to give up their tyrants for some mangy beasts good for nothing but destruction. We'll just have proved the militia right.”

[story_teller]

One large, rabbit's ear twitches.

"The Water, the Standing Water - its qualities are unlike the waves of the ocean, the turn of the sea. Our enemies do not control those waters, no. I doubt they control even the Water they keep sacred. The one they worship, however..."

Their foot drums briefly, pensively, against the sand with a triple-beat of dull thumps, before the motion stills.

"This ritual, it is a ghost of something they no longer understand. I cannot say if the one they worship would see fit to intervene, with this level of chaos."

[yourattention]

"Oh, great. We're potentially fighting gods too." This is some Shadow of the Colossus shit and he doesn't appreciate it. He'd like to be excused, but apparently he's fucking stuck helping. "As for the journey back -"

Connor hesitates. He's not entirely sure if it's kosher to say something that was told to him personally, but wasn't this what they left the Schovskal for? To call upon them if necessary. Now would be the time, he thinks. Now would definitely be the time.

"If I call the Jormun, we'll have safe passage back. They - they've guided my boat before."

[crosslaced]

"Hm- good idea. I don't trust all of us flocking to the mana pool." Hey, Connor.

You're valid.

[hellawrath]

The rabbit's contribution, subdued though it was, arrests her rage and her attention instantly. Watching those people oppress each other daily had been such bullshit, but it was their own bullshit, their own laws and complacency and it had fucking disgusted her even before Ren hadn't come home. But if there's some god enforcing this, a real threat to them? That changes the story. Doesn't it?

The twins were in the city every day, scouting locales, waiting for opportunities to grab whatever and run. They hadn't seen a whisper of dissent. Plenty of fear though, for sure, and it's way scarier to rise up and face some divine retribution than your own militia. But is it scarier than giving your own children up to drown, just to be left alone? Actually, fuck 'em.

Lup listens to the rest of the argument, gnawing her lip, glowering at the fire. "Whatever we do, we're going to have to fight them, you know that, right? We're gonna 'prove their militia right' if that's how they're set on taking it. The best we can do for us is-- for all of us, is to keep them off our backs as much as possible. But if you're so against sinking a couple boats, why don't we just ask our fish friends for a ride? They gotta have like dolphin taxis or something." Or just ride into battle on Munin's shoulders? That's an idea that briefly lifts Lup's spirits before she gets back to the matter at hand.

She huffs and turns to the rabbit once more. "Personally I fuckin hope they intervene, I could do with punching em in the face. And if that doesn't make those people cast off their chains, nothing will. Not holding my breath on that one, though."

[story_teller]

"I suspect if you requested their aid, they would gladly repay you for your assistance from the months earlier." The Jormun are not their jurisdiction; they are not under the Storyteller's protection the same way that the adventurers involved in this conversation are.

"...but I cannot guarantee their safety as I can yours. If any of them were to perish, they would not be restored as you are."

[yourattention]

"It's too far. They're better swimmers than us, but not that much better. Even in water, carrying people is fucking difficult and that's assuming everyone we need to transport back is capable of actively holding on."

That's not even touching on the fact that Connor is unwilling to ask for them to wage a war that's not theirs. They're not even as comfortable on land as they are in water and before, he would have thought that if water is what they worship then the Jormun would be good to bring. Knowing that the water is a god, actually, is something else entirely.

"If you wanna burn the boats so badly, whatever. Do it." He's not about to argue over something he only kind of cares about when he has better things to be doing. "It's fucking unnecessary and assholeishly extra, but you do you."

[hellawrath]

Another nasty smile sharpens Lup's features and she winks at Connor. There's no accounting for taste, but extra? That's right on the money, darling.

"You know it. Anyway I'm not loving dragging the Jormun into this either, it's definitely not their fight. But whatever assistance they're willing to give, I'm not about to refuse it? They can handle a lil heat. Even if it's just safe passage back for the boat, that'd still be dope." It sounded like Connor has a hotline to them so she'll leave the whole seafaring part of this operation to him.

"So we got distractions, we got a boat - what happens when we get there?" She turns to the rabbit. "You wanna enlighten us about this trial? What fresh hell are we talkin, here?"

[story_teller]

"The Water is not of mortal creation, but it is not the total eradication of oneself that the people of Ai'tuoh believe it to be. It acts as more of a...gateway. A means of traveling to a separate place, isolated from our own." While they would hesitate to call it its own world in and of itself, functionally, there are similarities.

The Storyteller nudges the spool of thread lying in the dream-sand, the soft red yarn gleaming in the guttering firelight.

"It is not the thread itself that will keep the way open to that other world, so that you may journey through the Water and reclaim those lost. It is the act of trusting that you will return, and that those in need will follow."