epidemiology | EVENT ★ SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

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EVENT ★ SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

Following the sudden entrapment of a group of ALASTAIR diplomats, it's clear the true threat to Chantes is still afoot. The sun's disappearance may have been what was on the mission tin, but the man behind the plot is still alive and kicking.

On the day the people inside the castle go incommunicado, King Christophe's head is unceremoniously tossed out from one of the towers. The word travels like wildfire from there: the Order of the Chimera's leader, Michel, has taken roost on the throne. But he doesn't seem keen on leaving much to rule — he's been busy littering the city with symbols from his grimoire. And with the king's death, they begin to stir.

If ALASTAIR sent the recruits here to save Chantes, Michel and his rituals are why.

THE DEMONS

All around the city’s landmarks (and a few within the castle), runes have shimmered into existence. Remember those? Bothersome little things that nullify powers. But they’re not nullifying powers this time. These runes shimmer a low, sinister red, even by the bright light of midday. They wait, complacent, not really doing much of anything… that is, unless you try to destroy one of them.

The moment a rune is tampered with in any way it flares brightly, and a thin red mist seeps out into the air. Each entity from the rune is a little bit different and fights in a different way, but all of them are unquestionably demonic. Some of them manifest physical forms and attack with claws and bolts of energy, but many of them are not so blunt. In fact, most of these demons are much more insidious, as recruits will quickly discover.

POSSESSION

Most of these creatures use possession as their main tactic, although their methods vary. Some demons keep themselves invisibly after that initial red leak of mist, choose a target, and begin to whisper in their ear. They’ll promise anything — power, riches, fame. Their words alter what might otherwise be sound judgment, making their target believe that not only are these demons perfectly capable of delivering, but they will impart their gifts just as soon as the recruit takes care of this one little task. Attacking your friend isn’t really so much to ask, right? Just think of the reward, just around the corner!

Some demons spark a frenzy in their target. An unquellable rage rises within them, urging them to lash out at anyone around them. Maybe they see a nemesis from their past transposed over a friend, maybe they’re trapped in an unpleasant memory and trying desperately to fight free of it — whatever it takes, these demons relish provoking an uncontrollable need to fight.

And finally, some of them will outright inhabit the body of their target and control all of their actions and words. The recruit will be fully aware of their actions, but unable to prevent any of it. They can only watch as the entity within them does whatever it takes to disable the friends around them — treachery, outright attack, whatever is needed.

In each case the demons can be exorcised if you happen to be with someone with a knack for it, but otherwise impossible to drive out. The demon will remain in its host until someone else successfully destroys the rune it came from, which will finally kill it. The demons know this, of course, and will focus all effort on stopping any damage to their rune if it seems under threat.

The destruction of runes inside the castle will open a thin breach in the barrier spell over it, allowing those inside to slip out (or those outside to slip in). They’d better move fast, though, as the breach will heal itself again in about 30 seconds. Miss your chance and you’ll have to hunt down and destroy another rune. (NOTE: Characters trapped within the castle may escape with enough time to take part in the possession aspect of the event with the rest of the game.)

Anyone with a sense for magic can easily tell that the longer these runes go without being destroyed, the stronger their energy pulses. Eventually even ordinary folk will feel it. Townsfolk in the area become uneasy and restless, and proximity to intact runes will begin to fill you with a sense of dread and unnamed anxiety. Something is coming. Something that must be stopped before it can be let into the world.

THE SUMMONS

No matter how quickly the recruits move, there always seems to be one more rune to find, one more demon to defeat. And still that energy is building. When the town clock strikes 12 noon, the runes are at full strength, and they begin to launch into a coordinated ritual. A summoning spell, to be exact. The demons disappear, their energy sacrificed to bring forth something even worse.

All over the city portals begin to open and beasts begin to claw out of them. These are chimeras, straight from myth, each one half the size of a building. They have vast wings and three heads a piece, a lion, a goat, and a dragon — plus a live snake for a tail. The tail’s what you should really look out for. A bite from the snake turns the bitten limb into solid stone, which will take either three days or a splash of blood from one of the chimeras to return to flesh and blood.

It can be discovered that these monsters have an odd vulnerability to pure iron. If struck or stabbed by something made of iron their skin blisters and burns — enough of this could prove lethal to it. Or you can murder them the old fashioned way, if you’re good at killing giant monsters.

Attacking them isn’t the only thing to be worried about, though. They’re smashing down buildings and attacking indiscriminately, so some characters might find their time well-spent evacuating citizens rather than partaking in the fight directly. The structural damage might be inevitable, but it’s at least possible to mitigate loss of life.

THE AFTERWORD

A few hours after the final chimera is killed, un-summoned, exploded, whatever its fate might be, recruits will find their ALASTAIR-given jewelry coming to life. It looks like they’re finally breaking their silence. Words scrawl across whatever surface you see them on, written in ornate purple script:

On behalf of this land, thank you for your diligence and hard work. You have ten days to settle your affairs in this world before your return to Oska.

Just that, then the jewelry dies out again. It’s a bit of an underwhelming show of gratitude, but it gets the point across. Say goodbye to any non-recruit friends you’ve made here, get the last word in on any arguments with the locals, settle your bar tabs — or rack them up, as per inclination.

In ten days every ALASTAIR recruit will simply fade away into a white mist from the perspective of the locals. But until then the city is yours, and most importantly, safe.

OOC INFO

Welcome to the concluding log of Chantes! There's been quite a few pieces to it, so here's an overall list of the week's noteworthy plot posts:

Peaceseeking player plot

Loki and Ahad addressing Michel's disappearance

A request from Arthur

Event follow-up with the fate of Michel. Please note that regardless of Michel's end, we will be reading player suggestions and taking them into account for the overall fate of Chantes.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

a ⚝ gefangen ⚝ closed to castle trapees

[Over the course of the hours they're trapped inside, Sieglinde becomes quite closely acquainted with most all of their number- mainly because no one wants to carry an eleven year old girl more than an hour or two. She may be light for her age, but still.

In the kitchens, she's quite ready to stuff her face, stomach rumbling, urging whoever is holding her to set her down on the counter and wasting no time in sticking her hand straight in the nearest dish left abandoned by the servants and sticking that straight into her mouth, chewing sullenly. She'll get to gathering herbs for exorcisms, but, first...

Coming across a rune in the halls, Sieglinde immediately stiffens up, throwing a hand across the chest of whoever has her with a "wait" whispered quickly. That sort of thing needs to be approached cautiously...

It's time to destroy those runes, though, and this one has already released... something into the air, there's not much time. If this was her on a normal day she'd have a potion on her that would eat away at this sort of thing, but she doesn't have the strength to destroy it physically herself... so she looks towards her companion for guidance.]

b ⚝ besessenheit ⚝ possession ota

[Sieglinde didn't know what she was doing here. How she'd gotten here. One moment she'd been tumbling, scrambling, dodging rocks and trying to get clear when she'd seen the rune across the street-

And now she was here, sitting beside it. She wanted to leave, to go, and yet her body wouldn't respond as she wished, instead just sitting there. Just sitting there... until the sound of someone approaching, when she felt her head turn, her lungs breathe in, voice come out-]

I've got this rune handled here.

[No, she didnt't? She wasn't doing anything to destroy it. Though what showed on her face was only confidence, reassuring whoever had come that they could leave, it would be fine... inwardly, Sieglinde was forced to realize that she might be protecting it.]

c ⚝ brausen ⚝ closed to masamune

[Chimera. It was huge, and she- she couldn't run. Oh, she tried. Tried, and failed, tripping in a painful tumble into the rubble caused by the path of the beast's destruction. Wings and tail whipped about, and she heard the cracks, looked up to see the stones flying towards her-

She got the shield spell up in time, and the rocks glanced off, the shield cracking under pressure from but holding. Barely. It wouldn't survive much more, and she... was right in the chimera's path.]

d ⚝ heilen ⚝ healing ota

[There is one thing she can do in the aftermath of all this madness, and that is heal. The call goes out on the network;

If you are injured, or have someone injured with you, come as fast as possible to the apothecary in the western market. If you can heal, your help will be appreciated.

There, you'll find Sieglinde in a bloody mess of a field hospital set up in front of the store, ready to command where a patient be sat down or where you should sit, pausing to push sweat and some hair out of her face before struggling to her feet, swaying off balance over to said new patient.]

Let me see-

[Wounded by demon possession? Chimera? Falling rubble? Get over here.]

[ It's a little awkward navigating the castle in a dress, also with a small child (and accompanying bundle of extra fabric and frills) attached to one's back, but Aqua doesn't seem to be deterred by their current arrangement as they scour the empty halls for signs of black magic. (She's served as a pack mule for much heavier boys—carried an unconscious Ventus between different worlds, for one.)

Aqua's careful to keep her weight forward lest Sieglinde accidentally topple off the other way, and relies on her innate senses to track whatever evil that's been implanted in the stone blocks imprisoning them.

She pauses as they pull up to one of the runes, keeping a safe distance (or so she hopes) between them and the vile smoke emitted from the symbol. ]

...This can't be any good. [ Best they dispose of it quickly, and seeing as their options have been limited to brute force, ] Do you remember which way the armory is?

[ She's certain it isn't so far behind them, though she's hardly committed the layout of the place to memory; just hunting down the runes has absorbed virtually all of her focus, no doubt due to the dampening spell imprisoning them in the first place. ]

[Sieglinde was weak, needing to be carried, unable to do much to destroy the runes physically, but her mind was sharp- sharpened even by the situation they'd found themselves in, the fear of being trapped again after finally escaping her own prison narrowing her objectives to... anything and everything that might prove useful.

Including the layout of the castle.]

Two hundred meters back, to the right then the second right.

[Her arms tighten around Aqua's shoulders, fingers digging in slightly- the only indications she gave away from behind Aqua of how scared she actually was.]

[ Sieglinde is both astute and brave, and there's nothing more Aqua would ask of her. She nods wordlessly and doubles back, picking up her pace as much as good balance allows and pulling up to the designated room in hardly any time.

Time for some speed shopping.

She takes a quick sweep of the offered 'wares'—swords and polearms and maces and such—and settles for a single-bladed battle axe. (She isn't used to such heavy weapons, but she'll need something with enough weight for the job.)

But before she takes it in hand, she moves to the array of knives and selects a smaller dagger laid near the center. Pretty and sharp, just like the girl she'll offer it to. ]

...Will you be able to use it?

[ Smashing the rune means she'll have to set Sieglinde down somewhere, and Aqua won't leave her without any means of self-defense. ]

Sieglinde Sullivan | OTA x2, Locked x2

a. gefangen (destroy dem runes)

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b

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a ⚝ gefangen ⚝!

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gimme the d (i mean—)

sieg has a dirty mind be careful with that

what if i want dirty talks, what then

d

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brausen

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b;

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a. castle fatties

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b

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d!

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