Player Plot: The Salvation of Geardagas, Part 1

[faileas]

Event Log: January, The Salvation of Geardagas: Part 1

The Evergreen Circle Something is happening in Aefenglom. A rash of disappearances has finally caught the attention of the authorities, but only thanks to a strange twist: a handful of the missing individuals are starting to turn up again, and not as they should be. It began with a harpy. After a week of nothing she returned, fully transformed into a Shade and too far gone to save. The same happened with a trader the next day. And the next with a witch. All three were infected, albeit to varying degrees, and only one of them was able to be brought back from the brink. Naturally, this is a huge cause for concern. There's little sign that the Bright Wall is damaged and none of the victims were known to have left the city. Questioning the survivor, Owain, doesn't produce any leads either as he can't remember anything before his disappearance. It's only after he's had some time to recover that he notices something off. As the blackening of the Cwyld fades, a small tattoo on his palm that wasn't there before becomes visible. To the concern of the Coven, it's a symbol that's familiar to them as the emblem of a rising spiritual movement favoured by the wealthy called the Evergreen Circle, led by a witch called Cillian Alder. Their purpose, he claims, is to provide hope through interrogating the Cwyld from a scholarly and philosophical perspective. In spite of this, Alder has developed more of a cult-like following than anything. Mirrorbound of standing (business owners, members of parliament, public figures, etc) might have already received one of their pamphlets. Naturally, it's an incredibly sensitive subject. The Evergreen Circle has been entirely peaceful up until now, and with such influential and powerful figures among its numbers, the Coven is reluctant to make any outright accusations. Instead, the task of investigating them has been covertly passed to the Mirrorbound. As outsiders, they stand less of a chance of causing political unrest. However, they explicitly warn against taking any hostile actions for the time being: this is an information-gathering request, nothing more. They can provide basic information about the Evergreen Circle meetings but that's about it. a. Preaching to the Choir (Every Friday Evening, Mid-Ieneuer to Early Feoveuer) Cillian Alder Art by Rachel The hall is buzzing. Though there aren't even enough people here to fill the place, everyone seems to be bubbling with excitement, exchanging loud greetings and introductions. They're particularly friendly to newcomers and are quick to offer up their experiences with the group: "Cillian is a truly free thinker!" "I haven't felt so positive about our future for a long time." "There’s a real sense of hope and community here in the Circle." The meeting convenes at 8 o’clock sharp and silence descends upon the room as a figure takes the stage. With his commanding presence and charismatic smile there's no doubt about who this is: Cillian Alder. A man in his late fifties with greying hair, he speaks with an accent crisp as cut glass and a strong voice, no doubt amplified by some kind of spell to reach around the room. He's hypnotising, those cool blue eyes of his impossible to look away from and piercing in their intensity. "How wonderful to see you all tonight, both familiar and unfamiliar faces alike! You are all welcome. I have only one request." He brings his hands together with a smile. "That you keep your hearts open. How else might our minds grow Evergreen?" Alder's speech is nothing if not passionate. He paces and proselytises, responding to the audience's interruptions and cheers with enormous enthusiasm. Throughout, his message is clear. "Who are we to immediately decry the Cwyld as a curse? Fear of the unknown, of what we have yet to control, can only hold us back! We must instead seek to understand it and be at peace with its presence! This is a test of our conviction! Our will to survive!" It goes on for the better part of an hour and, afterwards, he descends into the audience to receive their praise and questions with the gracious smile of a beloved king. He might even turn that magnanimous presence on you, affording you a few crucial moments of conversation (limited to 2 RNG characters). Will you stick around to find out more or try and slip backstage while everyone is distracted? For such a warm, welcoming atmosphere, there seems to be a lot of security around the doors leading back there so it might take some quick thinking to get through without conflict. Those who are caught will have to face the consequences, but the results might be… unfavorable. b. Spirited Away (late-Ieneuer to mid Feoveuer) Those less inclined to subterfuge won't have any problems finding trouble to get into either. As the month goes on, more and more people disappear, and that might even include Mirrorbound. Whether you're intercepting a kidnapping or fighting off your own, you're more likely to get caught up in it the longer the month goes on. It's easy enough to fight off the attackers but nigh impossible to actually catch or identify one: each is dressed in black and smells of the tell-tale decay of the Cwyld. But even assuming you do manage to apprehend one, they will refuse to talk in anything but vague, confusing comments about salvation and new beginnings. c. Cast Out (mid-Ieneuer to early Feoveuer) Likewise, the number of locals who have been abducted and released continues to rise. The victims, anywhere from badly infected to fully transformed into Shades, require subduing, healing and, in the most dire of circumstances, permanently dealt with before they can hurt anyone. Without exception, they're aggressive, reacting violently to attempts to heal as well as harm them and there are no discernable patterns when it comes to victims. However, the eagle-eyed might spot the Evergreen Circle's symbol on some of their palms if they're not too heavily corrupted.

[ ooc: More information about the event can be found on the plotting post along with comments for questions, and RNG sign-ups for directly interacting with Alder! ]

Comments

[lotus_of_rage]

Yes, I am sure that he enjoys the loyalty and the support of his cause.

[And then to the woman]

Of course, everyone must start somewhere.

[yesdoubt]

[Momo nods along with that, spreading his hands to indicate himself and Jiang Cheng.]

Like us now, too. We all come in at the bottom at some point, but everyone here's been so welcoming that I'm sure it won't take us long to become as knowledgeable as you guys.

[The man swells pridefully, while the woman looks reluctantly flattered. "You're too nice for your own good, dear. But if you and your friend stay inquisitive then I can't say you're not well on your way to truly being part of the fold."

[lotus_of_rage]

[Jiang Cheng nodded in agreement to Momo's assessment. Yes, they were all very welcoming, which might have been the disturbing part at least for him. They should have been more suspicious. Of course, that thought might come back to bite him in the end, but he wouldn't voice it at least]

Hopefully, we will be able to learn much from everyone here.

[yesdoubt]

[The shorter man seems quite eager to confirm those prospects. "Oh yes, we hold open spread of information in the highest regard here, unlike certain other establishments in the city. Anything you want to know about Cillian's ideas, someone will certainly be willing to tell you!"

Momo has his doubts about how much insider info on Cillian's ideas someone outside of the man's tight inner circle is going to have, but he goes along with the optimistic take.]

That's good to hear, I'll have to get talking to everyone else later on. Anything you wanna ask about while it's on my mind?

[He addresses that to Jiang Cheng - if there's anything relevant he hears about, he could pass it on, but they're going to have to bury it a bit in euphemism here. So he's framing it like just asking what topics are of interest.]

[lotus_of_rage]

[Jiang Cheng thought about that for a moment before he finally spoke]

Have there been many new arrivals to these meetings?

[yesdoubt]

[The woman nods very readily, as if she's been keeping fairly close track of the increase in numbers. "Oh, yes. Especially lately, there seems to have been a surge in new faces, both locals and you Mirrorbound. They have been doing more advertising recently, so it was expected even if not all of the people who come to a meeting stay with us."

Momo hums an agreement to that, because it's true enough that not everyone who checks in once is actually going to come back repeatedly and truly become a member.]

I'm not sure the Mirrorbound really knew about this before the fliers started going out, since some pay way less attention to what's going on in the city than others. [Nice excuse for why their attendance has suddenly started increasing, at least.]

[lotus_of_rage]

It's good that the word has been getting out. I know that I didn't know about it until I saw the flyers.

[Which was true... he hadn't really]

But I was certainly interested.

[yesdoubt]

[Momo nods along with that summation of the situation, tilting his head back a bit like he's trying to remember something.]

I heard about it at work first, but I didn't see much in the way of organised information until the flyers. And definitely nothing around the Haven. Maybe they changed how they were doing outreach?

[The shorter man steps in at this, almost as if he's been fed an answer to this line of thought. "Yes, they thought it might be best to start off with...the more connected of society, shall we say, to get the word out better! But we have plenty now, and all kinds of people are needed to make real change, so growing the ranks has spread out further."]

[lotus_of_rage]

[It certainly did seem awfully convenient that now he was coming up with that answer... but Jiang Cheng wasn't going to argue. Just make note of it. If he had come to argue, he would have been doing that already. But really... it was so very hard not to]

Hmm... hopefully, a lot of change can be made now that the word is spreading. Is that what most people do? Spread the word?

[yesdoubt]

["Yes, the word needs to reach the right people to make change on the prevailing opinions on the Cwyld, so our focus right now is on outreach and bringing more people into the fold."

Again, the answer comes so readily it almost seems rehearsed, and Momo is definitely noting that little detail for later on to see if everyone else he talks to has the same recycled answer.]

I swear I've seen some Parliament members here already, so you must be on the right track. Though the Coven is probably the real issue there, I'm not sure how much sway even Parliament has over them.

[lotus_of_rage]

[He would certainly agree that sounded like a staged answer, one that had been drilled into people's heads and they had no way to not copy the phrasing word for word. He would certainly be trying as well to see if he could get others to repeat the phrasing exactly]

Hmm... doesn't seem like they have much, but I could be wrong. I was never really that good with politics. Why I have avoided it.

[yesdoubt]

Yeah, that was the impression I got, that the Coven kind of does its own thing regardless of anyone else.

[The severe-looking woman scoffs, apparently ready to talk again now that roasting the Coven is back on the table. "That's how they always do things. Whatever they want, they just go ahead and do, whether Parliament says anything about it or not. They could do with some better oversight, since they've basically turned into the authority on what's 'right' and 'wrong' with anything magical."]

[lotus_of_rage]

[Interesting how easy it was to get someone to start talking when you found the right topic. Apparently, the Coven was one of them with her]

Always? Really? Such a shame that there isn't a way to stop them. Sounds like Parliament isn't a good way to check them.

[yesdoubt]

[She definitely has some sort of grudge, because it almost seems as if she has trouble stopping herself from complaining more. "They need to appoint some kind of representation for those kinds of matters, then maybe they'd get a few more opinions circling and Nessie and her Bonded would have a little less undeserved influence."

In other circumstances, Momo would probably roast the obviousness of the issue, but honestly, this has come up before at work, so he's not entirely surprised.]

I suppose that's more of a long-term goal, though. Just spreading other information is enough to help for now.

[lotus_of_rage]

[Jiang Cheng was certainly getting that there was something behind that. Having been a man with issues for years, he could certainly see that in others. It was very obvious here]

Yes, I suppose it would be as well. Very hard for a small group to make a change. It would be better with more.

[yesdoubt]

[The shorter man nods along. "Of course, of course, that's the goal! Now that I'm saying that, though, I really must be getting on to speak with some of the other new faces. Can't leave anyone feeling unwelcome!"

He does seem genuine in that sentiment, at least - quite possibly someone who's ultimately decent but been drawn too far into all this to realise everything wrong with it. Momo nods understandingly and gives him a wave.]

I'll see you for drinks sometime soon, then, I'm sure we'll have a lot to chat about!

[And off the shorter man goes into the crowd, just leaving the severe-looking woman.]

[lotus_of_rage]

Of course. [Jiang Cheng gave him a nod as he headed off, watching him go before he turned back to Momo and the woman still with him]

I suppose that I should mingle as well. It is important to get to know as many of those here as possible I think.

[yesdoubt]

[Momo nods encouragingly, turning his head to the remaining woman but still addressing Jiang Cheng.] I'll be back to that once I've finished up here, but I'm sure I'll see you around sometime later tonight if you're staying a while.

[One way or another, whether it's to talk shop or get information out of some other people.]