Event Log: February, Outpost Problems

[faileas]

Event Log: February, Outpost Problems

I. Adventuring We Will Go (Tomorrow) The word gets around pretty quick. Anybody who plans to journey with the group of Wilders venturing out to set up a new outpost is invited to attend a traditional gathering they have before an expedition: the packing party. On the evening of the 15th, the Wilders' HQ is bustling with activity. The whole group is present making the final preparations, sorting gear, and checking the carts for maintenance. The atmosphere is easy and upbeat, very casual, with Wilders laughing and telling jokes and stories as they work. One has to have a little fun before it's time to be serious, after all! A lot needs done, and more hands are always welcome. Camping gear and provisions need to be checked, inventoried, and dispersed into enchanted rucksacks that can hold twice as much as you might think they could - there will be enough rucksacks for each explorer in the party. Everyone is expected to carry their own. Shrunken-down construction materials for the new outpost need to be loaded into the three self-propelled carts the party will travel with (if only they were self-steering as well!). The carts themselves haven't been necessary for an expedition in a while; they could probably use some fixing up, greasing the axles and making sure the enchantments are fully charged with magic. And, too, this is a chance for the group to mingle and get to know each other. You have to be able to trust your fellows out there in the Wilde, after all. So there's a table with food bought off a few street carts: fried hand pies in meat (no one's sure what kind of meat, but hey!), veggie, and fruit varities; a pot of simmering jellied eel to be scooped into cups and eaten with spoons; fried squabs on sticks dripping grease. Beer is plentiful, as are bottles of a non-alcoholic ginger beer. Everyone is encouraged to eat, pack, and get to know each other. Especially because, the lead Wilders on this expedition will say, it's recommended that everyone going out there have a Bonded - whether it be their own normal Bonds if they're also going, or temporary Bonds with their fellow party members. The table also bears a few dozen of the temporary Bonding potions, and it's highly encouraged, though not required, that more experienced explorers temporarily Bond with those who are much newer to Aefenglom. It's nature's buddy system, you know. Whatever you're going to do, do it before the morning - the group leaves at first dawn, and will not wait for anyone too hungover to be on time. While having a Bond isn't required for the trip, the Wilders will strongly encourage it for anyone who isn't Bonded or whose Bond partners aren't going. The three-Bond safety limit does still apply to temporary Bonds, though! If you'd like to tag around for potential temp Bonds, head over to this thread right here!

II. The Silent Forest It becomes clear that, while the journey starts off easy, it won't remain that way. The group leaves out at dawn and passes first through stretches of land considered 'safe' - safe enough to be generally habitable, and the first couple of hours see the occasional farm on the way. There are few to no signs of Cwyld this close to the city, but then they start to slip into the region considered 'in progress'. These are the lands the Wilders have been focusing on, and so while there are the occasional patches of infected plants, they're easily dealt with by small, controlled burns. As the day drags on and the hike continues, though, the landscape changes. The trees grow thicker and the underbrush more dense. The machetes have to come out at points to clear the path for the carts; whoever is currently on cart-steering duty, please don't damage them! The atmosphere, too, changes around this time; the laughter dies down, expressions become more serious, Wilders are noticeably more alert to the possible presence of Shades or hostile creatures. By evening, the forest is thick and dark, the trees around them ancient and twisting. No one has ventured out to this area in quite a while, the more experienced Wilders will say, and that becomes very obvious. The once-beautiful forest is heavily infected by the Cwyld, and the small cabin that served as a Wilder outpost is overgrown, still bearing the 5-year-old corpse of a dead Wilder. Adventurers are advised to take caution when touching anything - wear gloves and heavy boots and watch your step out here, folks. The way still needs to be cleared. a. The Flora The oldest of the trees present are fully dead, thick trunks turned black and shiny, letting in light from above where their leafless branches reach out to the trees around them. The brush is thick and thorny; even small pricks and cuts in the skin are liable to be infected, a black ring forming around the wound, darkening the veins branching out from it, and need immediate treatment to keep it from spreading. It's hard to avoid other than by simply wearing thick clothing and hoping for the best. Nestled in the roots of the trees are pitcher-like plants filled with a sticky sap; the Wilders are excited to see these, and despite the dangers, comb through them to see if any remain uninfected. The sap in infected plants is black and tarry, while in uninfected plants it runs clear. This sticky liquid is excellent for smearing over wounds to seal them and draw out minor infection, and they'd be delighted to take some whole plants back for cultivation. As well, a certain breed of tree seems to have escaped infection entirely; these tall, woody trees have shiny green leaves, a contrast to the rest of the forest, and bear small green fruits that smell (and taste, should you eat one) deliciously sweet. All is not always as it seems out here in the Wilde, though - be careful which fruit you choose to imbibe. These trees are not immune to the Cwyld, they only hide their infection well. It can only be determined which trees are infected by cutting into them and inspecting the sap (difficult, because the sap of all the trees is highly toxic, and even inhaling near it will have nasty side-effects of vertigo, vomiting, and even temporary blindness). If it runs black at all, the tree is infected, and the fruit, sweet as it might taste, is deadly poisonous. Trees that are only mildly infected are a Russian roulette: you have an 80-20 chance of getting a toxic fruit or a good one. Most of the Wilders don't feel it's worth the risk. b. The Fauna The party spends a couple of days in the Silent Forest out of necessity. Initially, it seems as if there is no animal life left on this desolate patch of land. No birds chirping, no mammals scurrying about, not even an insect to buzz around the explorers' heads. It becomes quite clear that the Cwyld has consumed nearly everything, and the life left is hardly life at all. Shades are not uncommon. When camp is made for the night, capable fighters will have to rotate guard duty and patrols around the campsite, to fight off the shadows of what used to live here as they sense life and magic to consume. Dessicated, white-eyed bucks with cracking antlers, bloated and mutated birds screeching angrily, even, perhaps, the Shade of a bear, huge, enraged, and difficult to take down. But that second night, those who are alert may get the tingling sense that they're being watched. They are, in fact, by a band of nomadic Monsters, primarily Harpies and Arachne passing through. They don't approach the camp, and they won't speak to any of the Wilder group, merely watching them with something like curiosity before they flee into the forest again. It's hard to get close to them before they disappear, more at home in this dead forest than you will ever be, but close observation shows that all are scarred in some way; missing parts of limbs, eyes, or bearing even worse marks on their bodies. c. The Solution It's too thick an area to clear simply by burning. They'd set the whole dry patch of forest alight and kill who knows what along with the Cwyld. Some smaller areas can be taken care of with fire and careful supervision, but the rest of it... The lead Wilder on this expedition, a prematurely-greying Witch named Rilla Sparks, puts forth a suggestion. She admits, it's one based heavily on theory and speculation, along with the findings of certain prominent researchers in the city. If they can find the leyline, she thinks the Witches in their party can flood it with enough positive, nurturing magic to 'flush' the Cwyld out of the vicinity, so to speak. Or, she hopes, enough to make it passable in the future. It's experimental, but isn't that what this trip is about? Discovering new things? If enough of the party is game, the first step is finding the leyline in the area. This can be sniffed out by Witches and Monsters both, as they're drawn to sources of magic, even tainted magic; and, too, if anyone takes a look from the air, the leyline becomes obvious, as it cuts a much darker, more heavily infected line across the forest floor, like a blackened vein. Once it's found, it's up to the Witches in the group. Gathering over the blackened ground, anyone who wants to participate in the ritual should join in pairs or groups, down on their knees to be closer to the earth, and should 'push' their magical energy into the leyline through their hands pressed to the dirt. Each push results in a pulse of light beneath the blackness of the ground, weak at first, but stronger the more magic is expended. It will take several hours, which means the occupied (and then spent) Witches will require the protection of their Monster fellows, and interacting this closely with a tainted leyline will have side effects. A low degree of Cwyld infection is possible in the hands, but not guaranteed. Intense fatigue and dizziness is certain, along with pain when casting spells, and terrible nightmares for as long as the symptoms last - anywhere from 2 to 6 days, depending on how much magic the individual Witch expelled and how much rest they get after. It will take some time to see if their labors bear fruit. They'll check on the area again on the way back; they can't stay in one place for too long.

III. Ruins of a Past Life In the next couple of days, as the journey commences, the obvious signs of infection lessen in the landscape. The trees thin out again as they head further north. With the Wilde just barely dipping toes into autumn, and no thick canopy of foliage to block out the sun, it's a hot, uncomfortable walk. Those on cart-steering duty are considered lucky, getting to sit for a few hours, but it doesn't last - the duty is rotated between volunteers. Enjoy it while you've got it. At one point, with the sun high in the sky, they stop to refill canteens and jugs with fresh water and to take a bit of a swim. Here, the water cascades into a wide lake below, which eventually feeds back into the main river that cuts through Aefenglom farther south. At the top of the waterfall, it's much easier to see something in the distance, that isn't specifically on the route but is a small enough detour (only a mile or two off) that the guides permit it. It's the ruins of a former settlement, clusters of shells of burned out houses and buildings, a dried up well, and the crumbling remnants of a wall - reminiscent of the Bright Wall, but much, much smaller, only about eight or nine feet high at its tallest point. There is no magic left in it, though, nor any people in the ruined town. There haven't been for years and years, judging from the mossy overgrowth and state of disrepair. Some signs of the former inhabitants can still be found in the houses; the Wilders agree to make camp here for a night, to give everyone some time to explore. a. In The Daytime The ruins are depressing, but safe, in the daylight. It isn't hard to put together what happened here - a Cwyld outbreak must have come on them quickly, and judging from the hasty, half-burned homes, it was poorly contained. Some homes still contain skeletons in rotted scraps of clothing, some bones charred and others picked clean by animals. Many of their possessions still remain, except there are no books left anywhere in the town, even on shelves where books obviously were before. The patterns in the dust indicate that the books, all that survived the fires initially, were removed much more recently, within the last year or two perhaps. Otherwise, much is untouched. There are still dishes and flatware on broken tables, rotted blankets on beds, children's toys scattered over floors, axes hung on walls. A sort of thick, somewhat mucous-y grayish-green moss grows in flat sheets over most of the ruins. It isn't infected by the Cwyld; in fact, the areas where it grows seem to be free from it. Coincidence? Not? The Wilders have never seen anything quite like it, and are interested in taking samples back to study. (And for those of you who can't help but put things in your mouths: yes, the moss is edible. It tastes a little... earthy, but gives a pleasant caffeine-like buzz and burst of energy. Good for Witches still feeling the effects of the leyline flushing.) Outside the remnants of the wall, there are years-overgrown gardens, and perfectly good potatoes, asparagus, and raspberries can be found still growing, hardy and perennial even without human hands to tend to them. These people lived a more simple life than those in relatively-modern Aefenglom, as there isn't any magitech to be found, but somehow, they made themselves a home out here in the middle of nowhere. b. Ghosts of a Forgotten Settlement After nightfall, the dead town comes alive again, in a morbid sense. The party will soon find that the sunset brings the emergence of specters of the town's deceased residents - ghastly semi-transparent echoes of humans and Monsters, men, women, and children, in the state they were in at their deaths. Some are badly burnt, others were obviously infected, on their way to becoming Cwyldtid. Now, they go about their former lives every night, filling the ruined town with a sense of dread and foreboding that is impossible for the living to ignore. The ghosts cannot be touched or physically interacted with, and many of them simply ignore the Wilders and Mirrorbound completely. Spectral children play in the streets, adults tidy shops that are no longer there, or head out to the field to farm. They do so with expressions full of sadness, and desperation, as if trapped in this cycle of un-life. Others not only notice the group, but try to turn on them, enraged at the sight of intruders, though their shouts and screams are silent. They can't do any damage, but if they pass through you, you'll feel a bone-deep chill, despite the late-summer heat hanging in the air, and the specters' 'touch' will fill anyone with an aching, heavy despair, or rage - echoes of the emotions the ghosts experienced before their deaths.

IV. The Northern Outpost The sparse forest thins even more to the north. The terrain grows more uneven, rockier and hilly, with drier soil and hardy, sun-bleached grass instead of moss and leaf litter. Several natural rock formations can be spotted in the distance, growing larger as the group gets nearer. The trees here are few and far between, shorter and sturdier, casting only small circles of shade on the baked landscape. Wildflowers dot the grass in every color of the rainbow in the areas that remain uninfected. A low degree of Cwyld infection can be found here, turning the grasses overgrown, dry and brittle, and the sparse trees gnarled and blackened. This is to be expected, though. You can't venture this far out and expect anywhere to be completely untouched. The spot Rilla Sparks chooses for the new outpost is cradled between two large spires of stone, with a cliff-face at the back of it - protected on three sides to defend from animals and Shades, with a relatively clean stream within an hour's walking distance. Construction has to commence immediately. Once they land, it's a flurry of activity, as there is much work to be done. The building supplies are returned to their original sizes and it's all hands on deck to put together the low wooden building. With everyone working as quickly as they can, it should take about three days to get set up enough to consider the outpost open. Also on the to-do list: setting up the teleporter waypoint given to the Wilders by the Coven, to shorten the trip from Aefenglom to this far-flung outpost. It's smaller than the one in Dorchacht, only able to transport three people at a time, but the technology is the same. They'll need as many magitech-capable hands as they can get to calibrate it to the local energies and get it up and running. While all this is going on, exploration of the local area is high on the list as well, to ferret out any potential dangers that may be inherent to setting up here, or potential boons that can be taken back to Aefenglom, and to start work on their maps. There's a job for everyone, and while they're happy to let people do what they're good at, or rotate between different tasks, anybody slacking off will get the stink-eye - you came to work, right? This is no vacation! After the first day, though, things start... getting a little weird. Items start disappearing at random times, just out of nowhere, no rhyme or reason to the things taken. Hammers, half-drawn maps, scraps of wood, your half-eaten lunch if you look away from it for long enough. Personal items may go missing as well, if left unattended, so keep your precious things and weapons close. You may hear muffled voices - laughter, indiscernible chatter - around the times when stuff goes missing; it could be the voice of a stranger, or maybe it's the voice of someone you know, someone you've been traveling with for the last several days. But why would they want to steal your pen, or your handful of nails, or your drink cup? Weirder still, holes in the dirt start turning up in the night. Maybe six feet deep, dug at an angle like the beginning of a tunnel, and cutting off abruptly. Digging further down in these holes doesn't turn much up at first, but checking enough of them will turn up only a handful of the smaller missing items with teeth marks in them. Inconsequential, uninteresting, inedible things, or straight up trash in some cases. With enough persistence and maybe a good old fashioned stake-out, the culprits turn up: a pack of sand-colored, hyena-like animals that perfectly mimic human and Monster voices that they hear (often repeating words out of context, like much dumber parrots - they don't know what they're saying, only what the words sound like), and scavenge for whatever they can get their paws on. The hyenas are aggressive when confronted, and pack-oriented, but can be won over eventually by feeding them, or talking at them: different hyenas like different sounds and different words, so it might take some trial and error. Several bear low-level infections that can still be cured. Maybe eventually they can be trained. But then, where is everything else they stole? Please note that only a very small number of the items missing will be found on this trip! If you don't want something of your character's gone for an indeterminate amount of time, don't have it stolen. It's just possible they might turn up at a later date, however...

Welcome to February's event log, Outpost Problems! The expedition will last about an IC week for everyone who completes the trip; characters can return to Aefenglom with a pair of Wilder scouts at any stop along the way, though. As always, please direct your event-specific questions here! You can tag around for temporary Bonds in this thread, and if your character would eat the fruit in the Silent Forest, please post here for your dice roll (we did say it's a Russian roulette). Enjoy the trip outside the Bright Wall, everyone!

Comments

[whomthebelltolls]

I didn't either. I wonder if the roving bands we saw yesterday are taking them...? Or...

[She looks back the way they came. More specifically than that, though, she looks toward a certain cave they'd all worked to liberate from the Cwyld a few months back.] ... Whoever put the books in that cave are out and about somewhere around here. Or have been. Were you here for that? [She glances back at him and sees... well, not a familiar face by any real stretch of the imagination. She thought she had gotten to know most of the Mirrorbound by sight if not by name or anything else - partially because she rarely cared enough to be that friendly.]

[yesdoubt]

[Momo's more than open to getting more information than he's managed to gather so far, so he shakes his head at the question, putting one red-nailed hand on his hip as he walks a bit further into the ruin to take his own stock of it.] I'm new, so if it happened more than two weeks ago then it's probably news to me. I've been hearing a little about what's happened the last few months off others, but I must've missed that bit of information.

[He's been plumbing through the network a bit as well, but that takes time and preparing for the expedition ate up a fair bit of that lately.] Those monsters seemed kinda...I dunno that they seemed like they'd be prioritising books so much as just stuff they could use.

[Food and supplies more than information. If those injuries were severe treatments for Cwyld, he's guessing progress isn't a huge priority.]

[whomthebelltolls]

The Monsters, yes. They have to live out here. [She looks the empty shelves over again.] Those books were likely not used by Monsters, though. Many of the books in that cave were on magic - and the gear was mostly Witches', as well. Though there was some fitted for Monsters.

There was also a whole Wilders expedition that had gone missing, and no one knew about it. I have to wonder if some of the books we found in that cave used to be here.

[yesdoubt]

[That's definitely something to learn, and Momo's other hand curls under his chin like he's mulling that over.] It'd explain how books got into a cave in the middle of nowhere. Though if the Wilders expedition went missing without any kind of trace, are we sure they weren't gathering that stuff? Whether it was before something happened to them or what.

[If they died, then they died, but nobody knowing what happened leaves the potential for some dubious outcomes open wide. He's only seen monsters through the trees so far this expedition, so it'd be another reason witches could be out here.]

[whomthebelltolls]

I remember there being very little by means of answers to that - the expedition was never documented, I believe, so all we have to go by is speculation. It could very well be that, but no one really knows for sure. Unless someone found something I don't know.

[She takes a look around them, once more.] It would be worth pursuing, perhaps. Some divination, to see if some of the books may have come from here? Who knows. If nothing else, perhaps we can put a name to this lost village.

[yesdoubt]

Seems like it'd be a waste to keep the information to themselves if they did, but sometimes people do that. [Momo shrugs, since it's not really a possibility they can dig into too far at this point. If someone has information they're not giving up, discussing it isn't going to magically make it appear.]

Can you do that kind of magic? I probably wouldn't trust myself to cast a spell like that this early anyway, but it's not even the area I've been studying.

[He'd rather not accidentally break something or mess something up with a failed divination. Or get false information.]

[whomthebelltolls]

I know very little divination. While it is useful for investigating things like this, I find it to be very useless for actually surviving long enough to get this far. So I prefer something a bit more... [She unfolds her hand to her side, and a small ball of fire appears, rolling across her fingertips before she snuffs it by clenching her hand around it.] Deadly.

I do, however, know at least one Witch who specializes in something like it. So it would be possible, if she were to tag along. Or, perhaps, one of the native Witches who specializes in it, and has more experience.

[yesdoubt]

[Momo looks pretty interested in the ball of fire, though admittedly, he's not exactly studying offensive magic first himself since he's always classed himself as more of a support mage. In any case, he rests his chin thoughtfully on one hand.]

Sounds like it wouldn't be too hard to track someone down, then. Do the native Witches help out with this sort of thing much? I've kinda been getting mixed messages on how much the Mirrorbound generally trust the locals with this stuff.

[He's met a few who definitely seem kind of suspicious of the people in the city or the Coven, so he's not sure whether the Wilders are a special case in any way.]

[whomthebelltolls]

They can help. Most people won't ask for it, though they will utilize the natives as teachers. [It's... complicated, though Maria isn't always the best person to ask, given she cares little one way or the other.]

There's been things lately to strain relations - I'd think the native Witches would be happy to help in an attempt to smooth over those problems.

[yesdoubt]

[Momo's all too familiar with how willing people are to use other people even if they won't necessarily actually trust them, so he doesn't question that part. It does make sense that they'd want to brush things over a bit, though, and Momo nods slightly in understanding.]

I mostly heard about the stuff last month in terms of pitting the locals and Mirrorbound against each other, though it seemed like the locals responded pretty decisively to that. Was there anything else before that?

[Might as well ask while the topic's open for discussion. It could just be the near wounds of what happened the previous month, but it could be something else too.]

[whomthebelltolls]

[She makes a rather sour expression at that. No, it's not pleasant to be reminded of that - she wasn't one of those captured, but... well, her Bonded was. And though she doesn't admit to it, she's very fond of the other woman. And now she's just reminded that she's several days' travel away, Alex is still wounded, and she's out here risking her life.

Maria pinches her eyes shut before she responds, and then...] The kidnappings, while a rather large step up from everything that had happened were not the first sign of problems. There had been vandalism and signs of distrust of outsiders from the city since... well, I came back to my garden vandalized when we returned from Dorchacht the first time. In Octeuril, some kind of miasma was unleashed across the greater of Aefenglom that had everyone acting as feral monsters, from what I understand. I don't know the whole of it; I was otherwise occupied at the time, but the Rathmores mentioned it.

But I wonder if the real start of it wasn't that dream of Aefenglom as a destroyed husk of a city, infected from top to bottom by the Cwyld. Everyone in the city shared that dream. I could imagine it... ruffling a few feathers. Especially of those who consider their material possessions on par with their lives.

[yesdoubt]

[Momo winces a bit at the mental image of something making a large portion of the population go feral - he's gotten the impression that monsters aren't exactly widely trusted already considering what he heard about conditions in Dorchacht before the Mirrorbound intervened, and that's not helping. He's heard a little about the dreams before, but not that specific detail, and his brows arch in something between curiosity and concern.]

Is that one of the "possible future" dreams I heard people talking about? Seems kinda rude to just blame the newcomers for it...I have to ask if they found out where the miasma came from, though. That sounds like pretty convenient timing.

[October when the Rathmores started their nasty business in January sounds a lot like the amount of time one would need to set up an operation on the level it sounds like the kidnappings were.]

[whomthebelltolls]

Yes, that was one of them. And no, it is not our faults. Nor was the miasma. If I remember correctly, it was an extremist that had escaped Dorchacht on one of the refugee vessels. But that may have just as easily been a rumor - as I said, I know only the second-hand accounts from that entire night.

[All for the best, though. Maria would have surely turned on the whole population of Monsters if she'd been subjected to it first-hand. Even the ones she had come to like... or at least tolerate.]

[yesdoubt]

Yeah, that's fair. Even if it was an extremist, it goes back into it being a deliberate thing to make the Mirrorbound look bad. [Especially if it was after they intervened with Dorchacht. Sounds like someone was mad about the terrible leadership being overthrown and wanted someone else to pay for it.]

Hopefully things are going in a better direction now, at least. Collaborating on this sort of thing helps everyone as well as increasing trust, so I consider it a win-win.

[He prefers to do things just to be nice, but practically speaking, building trust and goodwill is very useful anyway.]

[whomthebelltolls]

I find it perhaps more telling of the people who fell for it, but they are also the ones who made our lives more difficult.

["More difficult" is an understatement. Maria knows xenophobia pretty well being where she's from, but that was still a bit more than she expected. Mostly because it seems like half of Aefenglom is at least pretending to be their allies.

Which reminds her...] It is something like that, but the Wilders never really seemed to doubt us. Nor, truly, the Coven. I wouldn't let your guard down just yet, though.

[yesdoubt]

Some people will take any excuse, right? [Momo says it like it's something that can't be helped, but that doesn't mean he likes it any more. There are people out there who are spiteful and petty, and will reach for anything to justify their actions as somehow the right ones.]

I try not to assume the worst, but I'm still pretty new here. It'd be hard for me to think I understood things fully after only a couple of weeks.

[Which is a nicer way of saying that he wouldn't let his guard down this early in an unfamiliar situation. He knows better than that, even though he usually doesn't let it on so much.]

[whomthebelltolls]

Yes, yes they will. [Anything at all to justify things to themselves.]

And I hardly think I fully understand things, though it's coming up on... ten or eleven months or so that I've been here. Still, you start to learn patterns in that time, and who seems to be trying to curry favor... and who are more unpredictable. [She might be one of the few that doesn't outright hate or distrust the Coven; cautious around them yes, but some people seem to think the Coven is actively some kind of enemy. She's more worried about Parliament and the citizenry as a whole.]

[yesdoubt]

Oh, were you one of the first arrivals, then? [He heard it was nine or ten months ago that people started arriving when he first showed up, so he's figuring she must've been fairly early on if she's had that amount of time to adjust.] But yeah, that's enough time to at least notice who acts in what ways. Who is it you'd say are the unpredictable ones?

[Always useful to know who the unknown factors are. Momo tends to be more calculating than he looks, but it's difficult to calculate when you don't know what you're working with just yet.]

[whomthebelltolls]

Yes. The very first. For some reason, they didn't throw us in prison, or some kind of quarantine, and instead offered us homes. [Which was really where all the problems started, but that doesn't matter anymore.

She frowns, and tilts her head.] Parliament, for one. They look out for the "interests" of the real citizens of this place, of which we are not, and are subject to their whims. If the people decide we have to go, then Parliament will have no choice - and in truth, I assume some will be happy to be rid of us.

[Then, she holds her hands up.] The Wilders and the Coven are both hiding things, though. Most of the Mirrorbound are more suspicious of the Coven, and perhaps their hospitality and willingness to scratch our backs has been worth a bit of concern, but the Wilders are hiding something just as keenly.

Dorchacht universally likes us, though. Or, rather, their newly freed citizens do. Those still loyal to the old regime probably have figured out our hand in what happened over there by now... and I'm sure would be happy to return as many favors as they can in the form of violence.

Times are quite interesting, indeed.

[yesdoubt]

[That explains the timeframe, which Momo mentally adjusts in his head to slightly longer than he'd heard initially. He'll have to see how many others he can check that arrival group with, since she's only the second he's met from that lot so far that he's spoken to about it.

Parliament is an unsurprising mention, because when are politicians ever not unpredictable and at the whims of public opinion? The Wilders and the Coven are less like anything he has in his world, though, so it's useful to hear thoughts on their behaviours so far, and also on Dorchacht since his knowledge there is still somewhat limited.]

Yeah, them's the breaks with revolutions, you're always gonna make someone mad even if you're doing the right thing. I wonder if the higher trust for the Wilders is because they come off more "honest"...they definitely don't strike me as, you know, the polite and clean city types, and some people are more ready to trust that even if they've potentially got a lot more to hide with the situation this world is in.

[Momo makes a general gesture to the ruins. The Wilders are the ones out on the front lines investigating this problem, so if they're hiding something, it could have a very big impact.]

[whomthebelltolls]

Possibly. Or possibly, because the city likes to bury its head in the sand about actually addressing the Cwyld problem, they get away with things because they're representative of an uncomfortable truth. [She looks over the ruins, again.] And that, too, would make it very easy for them to hide other things. Perhaps they're just doing it the same way the Coven seems to most of the time - it's sanitizing the truth, so as not to incite panic... it's just also easy to hide other things under that umbrella, and use that same excuse.

[yesdoubt]

[Also a point. Momo gives a slight, understanding grin at that as if to say he knows the type.] Yeah, there's a lot of potential in a position like theirs. I try not to assume the worst of people, but I'm really surprised others seem so much more willing to trust them than the Coven considering all that. A lot of the people I've met here weren't exactly winning awards for seeming very trusting.

[Of course, there's also the possibility that they're biased towards institutions more familiar with what they work with back home, if they're more adventurous types who might not like a traditional authority structure.]

[whomthebelltolls]

Honestly, it will keep you alive in unfamiliar territory, and this still is, despite everything that has happened. [A sigh.] I think what it may be is they are suspicious of the Coven's hospitality, where the Wilders never really offered anything but what seemed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement - we help them explore and get out of the city to work with the Cwyld, and we get employment. The Coven is a bit different - they worked with Parliament to clear out the Haven, they offer the classes, they offer the information, they are the first ones you see upon coming through the mirrors. They didn't arrest us of the first group when we first arrived, despite having every reason to want to do so. They've perhaps been too kind for some people.

[yesdoubt]

[That's certainly a point. Momo's met some people here who seem to have led fairly peaceful lives, but others have definitely come from worlds where violence or general conflict are more commonplace. "Too nice" is probably a red flag, coming from that kind of background.]

It's kind of sad to think that not actively being shipped off to prison just for being here is too kind for some people. Though it's not as if doing all that is no profit to them, either. I haven't been here long, but even in that time, it's obvious Witches and Monsters are both volatile in their own ways.

[Leaving them with no support and reasons to be pissed off with the Coven likely would've led to bloodshed one way or another.]

[whomthebelltolls]

It is too soft for me. Where I come from, being detained would just be part of the process; you may be lucky if some of those that reacted more poorly to their change of environment were not killed outright. How were Aefenglom to know we weren't invaders?

[A sigh, a shake of her head.] Plus we are not their people, and they are not ours. We owe them no loyalty or promises of safety. So I think they do what they can to keep the peace.