☆ Event Log: Snatched, Part One

[faileas]

Event Log: January, Snatched - Part One

I. The Fires (14th) Though it began this month with petty vandalism, before long, things escalate. On the evening of the 14th, when many are settling down for the night, fires blaze to life simultaneously all over the city, though they seem to cluster in places that Mirrorbound and refugees frequent. Homes, businesses, market stalls, the Barracks, the Residential Districts, they could pop up anywhere, but the worst of them seem to hit different locations within the Haven. The refugees stand to lose a lot in the fires, everything they've built up since arriving here at the end of September, and Mirrorbound stand to suffer damage to the homes or businesses they've built in Aefenglom. No doubt everyone is quick to catch on, but with so many locations burning at once, help is thin on the ground. As soon as they're alerted, the Coven sends out a call to all Witches, Merrow, water-based Dragons, anyone who can manipulate water or ice to help put out the fires across town before they can spread. With the city plan so tight and buildings so close together, it's a real worry. They'll accept all hands, even those with no particular water-based talents - anybody can carry buckets, after all. Bucket brigades made up of mostly Monsters form from the River Temese out to pass water to where it's needed most. Others with fire magic or resistances are asked to search the buildings still on fire for anyone still trapped inside. On the streets, more set up stations to treat burns and smoke inhalation, and to check people over for worse injuries. It takes a couple of hours to put out the last of the flames, but thanks to quick action, no lives are confirmed lost. The City Guard is present at the sites of the fires in the hours afterward, questioning witnesses and determining the sources with both magical and Monster-ability-based methods, but as the chaos calms down, it quickly becomes clear that 1. this is a case of purposeful arson, and 2. not all witnesses are present. Maybe it's your friend, or family member, or just an acquaintance you know you saw go into their house at the end of the day, but they're conspicuously absent from the crowds gathered on the streets. Those who are Bonded to a missing person feel it first, though - a horrible sensation like a pillow over the face or a tightening in the chest, smothering their Bond to barely anything, except the very rare flicker of something, a tiny spark lost to the darkness as soon as it's felt. The sudden absence of them is like a case of phantom limb, something that should be there suddenly isn't, but yet it isn't quite an annullment or breaking of the Bond. It's still there, just muted and tamped down. It feels a little different for everyone, maybe painful or maybe just uncomfortable, or maybe, in the cases of new or less-close Bonds, it simply feels as if it never existed. Regardless, those Bonded can't be found through Bonds. It's like those loved ones have vanished, without a trace. The City Guard and Coven representatives alike will seek to make a comprehensive list of all who have gone missing, but Mirrorbound cooperation will be needed for that; they would know better than anyone, because the missing ones are all Mirrorbound or refugees.

II. The Lost Souls (14th - 20th) CW: Torture, captivity, restraints. You were spirited away in the middle of the night. Maybe you were out, or maybe you were safe in your own home, but either way, someone managed to get the drop on you. Upon waking, everything is fuzzy, until clarity returns suddenly and violently. It's possible to remember a struggle, an enchanted darkness that might have enveloped you, maybe even a glimpse of the face of the human or Witch who grabbed you, but now you're stuck in a small, stone cell, the only entrance covered in shiny new bars thick enough to hold back a rampaging Dragon. The hall beyond is also stone and dimly lit by sparse magitech lights and the soft, runic glow of spells drawn on the walls and floors. There are more cells like yours, filled with more Monsters and Witches like you. What's worse, maybe you're alone, or maybe another poor soul is trapped with you - the space isn't exactly large enough for two, but the comfort might be nice. Witches will find their magic restrained, tamped down with a spell similar to the Coven's punishment for lawbreaking. Monsters' restraints are more traditional - muzzles, chains, manacles, and particular weaknesses that differ from Monster type to Monster type, such as silver or iron, water, or the lack of water. Even if, by some small mercy, a person finds themselves with their hands free, all of the captives' Watches have been taken, along with most other belongings on them. The uncertainty of your new location doesn't last for long. It's only a matter of time before people pass through the cellblock in pairs or trios, talking to each other and ignoring the captives behind bars, checking up on the spells that line the room. Those with keen memories will realize - these are not the same people who took them in the first place. All are human, and they all share a familial resemblance - black hair, violet eyes, pointed noses, and unpleasant sneers. Over time, with observation (and what else are you going to do, while you wait for the worst?), maybe frequenters of the Coven will pick out a familiar face, a haughty, unpopular Witch named Constance Rathmore who refuses to associate with Mirrorbound in classes, or those familiar with the law might pick out a mid-ranked member of the City Guard named Godfrey Rathmore, who perhaps looks the other way when refugees are harassed. As the hours tick by, it becomes obvious that there are maybe 22 of the Rathmore family, the only ones with access to this corridor. Other voices, maybe familiar from the kidnapping, can be heard outside the main doors at times, but they never enter, and seem none the wiser as to what is actually happening. a. The Torments And what is happening? Something sinister. It's usually a different set of family members, a pair of cousins, the daughter or the son, occasionally even the matriarch and her son and daughter-in-law (who may be recognized as long-time members of Parliament). Their methods and motivations may be a bit different, but they share one thing - innate cruelty, and a hatred for those they see as a plague on Aefenglom, those harbingers of unwanted change. Sometimes they inflict pain on captives right there through the bars of the cells, with nasty spells or physical instruments, but more often, they choose a victim or two to remove from their cell, still in restraints, to take down the hall, through the heavy door at the opposite end from the entrance. The wide room at the end is a place of horrors: instruments of torture lining tables, heavy restraints, and glass jars to receive any bits or blood they might separate from the original owners, to sell on the black market. The runes on the walls and floor in this room are different as well - this is advanced, forbidden magic, practiced by the daughter Constance on brand new test subjects. When the family members have grown bored or tired themselves out, they return their current playthings to a cell - not always the same cell with the same cellmate, not always with the same restraints, but every time they ensure that it will be difficult to escape or fight back. b. The Whispers While the Rathmores do not often speak directly to captives, they speak to each other quite a bit, as do the others who occasionally pass outside the heavy door at the entrance and simply seem to serve as watchmen outside the corridor. It's easy to get snippets of conversation between the horrors. What else are you going to do, besides wait, and listen, and plot your escape? "Shame about Uncle Rodolphus. Scarred by the mist, his Black Market business raided." "None of it would have happened if they hadn't provoked Dorchacht. It was Drummond's Witch in our city who unleashed that awful gas, as retribution for what they did over there..." "...-Destabilizing a whole city like that, and there are only a hundred of them give or take. Imagine what they'll do to Aefenglom if we don't stop it." "They'll all want to leave after this, surely. We'll go for another batch in a couple of weeks, once Godfrey convinces the Guard to stop looking." "Good. Maybe Dorchacht will take them. Them and their brutal revolutionaries..." "...-Father thinks we can control them if he manages to get in touch with his contact in Dorchacht. They had that spell, you know? Like the collars, but better. Maybe then we can sell them off, make some money back to cover our losses..." "...-All this pushing for equality. The whole economy will collapse. Everyone has their place in a functioning society, right, sister?"... "...-heard from Mr. Rathmore himself they're doing magic in there. A spell to send the Mirrorbound home, and the refugees along with them." "Then why did we have to grab them like that? You'd think they'd want to leave." "The Coven wants them here, obviously. It's a power-play, there's no way they'd allow Mr. Rathmore to do this..." "...-I don't know about this, the Rathmores always seemed a little extreme-..." As a reminder: while this prompt contains a general content warning for torture, please make sure to leave decently specific content warnings in your headers for anything that may be uncomfortable for other players to stumble across. The level of torture experienced by each character is up to the individual players - please respect each other's limits!

III. The Ones Left Behind (14th - 20th) Meanwhile, out in the city, the atmosphere is a new kind of tense. The papers pick up the story pretty quickly, so before long, it seems that everyone knows about it. In the days since the fires, repairs seem to be on the backburner; the remaining refugees especially worry for their missing friends and loved ones, and the missing Mirrorbound. The graffiti stops entirely, as do nasty comments in the streets. The upper-class, when they come into contact with the remaining Mirrorbound, cannot meet their eyes, or even react with genuine sympathy, a rare few even saying in hushed murmurs that they hope they find their people. Vandalizing their property is one thing, it seems, but people simply vanishing, Bonds being smothered... that's another. Even if they don't worry for the Mirrorbound, they worry for their own safety in Aefenglom now. On the other hand, residents of the Western Residential District, primarily Monsters but including a fair few humans as well, stop by the Haven more often, bringing food and kind words, and asking after the disappearances with real concern. The City Guard is an increased presence on the streets, trying to track down witnesses who may have information, but without warrants, their hands are tied in a lot of cases. Some Mirrorbound are asked quietly by the Lead Investigator if they wouldn't mind looking into some of the sources of the fires, and trying to track down anyone who might have seen something - they can operate a little more loosely, not being bound by the same bureaucracy as the Guard. They're promised Guard and Coven cooperation and support in this. The demand for artists increases in the days after the abduction. Many of the refugees especially will seek out anyone who can draw to help them create fliers about the missing people to post around town, to raise awareness. Maybe they want to make posters of another refugee, or maybe they want posters made of particular Mirrorbound faces who helped them in the past. They're distressed, but they're pulling together as a community - and it's clear they consider all the Mirrorbound a part of it, judging from how they'll try to pull anyone in to their efforts to put the 'missing' posters up around the city. The Coven, too, is in a flurry of worry, second only to the refugees, who are missing some of their own as well. Many of the regular classes are disrupted and become impromptu Divining sessions, circles of Witches holding hands and chanting in rooms filled with incense smoke, making concentrated efforts to determine the location of their missing fellows. After all, many Mirrorbound are their classmates, and they want to see them returned safely. Anyone passing through the Coven may get pulled into one of these sessions - Witches to lend their magic to the circle, Monsters who know any of the missing to act as foci. Unfortunately, nothing concrete turns up in the fleeting visions they do get, and the backlash is immense, resulting in splitting migraines. It's magical interference for sure. Luckily, Miss Aerianna, the middle-aged Arachne caretaker to the Dreamers (who, she'll say, are currently unreachable - they're trying to suss out the missing Mirrorbound as well), is well-versed with Divination headaches, and is around distributing her supposed cure-all, which smells like swamp-water and tastes twice as bad. At least it works on the headaches. While the part of the city who wanted to see the Mirrorbound gone have quieted down some, the part of the city that welcomes them has grown louder, providing what support they can to try to find those lost souls who have vanished. The investigation briefs will be posted under location-specific headers down below! Feel free to thread underneath them with others investigating the same area, or collaborate with other teams to share information. We decided to go ahead and allow for everyone who signed up to investigate whichever area they're interested in rather than splitting characters into mod-decided teams, but we encourage working together!

Welcome to Part One of January's event, Snatched! The sign-ups thread is here - it's not too late to get involved. Only the kidnapped characters who will escape on the evening of the 20th is closed out to new sign-ups. Headers for the investigations are here. Part Two of this event will be posted on the 21st and will include the escape, rescue and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

And a note for all! If your character does anything significant during Part 1 or Part 2, we want to hear about it on the city tracker! Make sure your submissions are in by Feb. 3rd, because a special aftermath post will go up on the 4th.

Comments

The Coven

[hearthebell]

[Since L arrived with the first wave of Mirrorbound, he's found that divining calls to his potential and proficiency foremost among the other branches of magic. Of course he would be here, joining hands with others, murmuring himself into a trance of piercing clarity... before being slammed back into his own aching skull, efforts knocked askew by someone else's magical interference.

He's slumped in a chair, having departed the circle of diviners who are failing just as hard, with an ice pack pressed against his temple, when Mira's protests get his attention. He stands, wincing at the shift in position, approaching her.]

Isn't it loud enough in here?

[They all have headaches. He sounds tetchy, annoyed. It borders on outright pissed.]

Just cut it out, already. If I couldn't do it, you definitely can't.

i'm so sorry ;-;

[inlikethebrume]

If you wish to have quiet, go somewhere else.

[Just with the tone in her voice, she hasn't reached borderline pissed. She's already there but it's cut and low, as if she's trying to hold back an instinct.]

(u golden)

[hearthebell]

[Round, overlarge eyes narrow to slits in his pale face. He lowers his ice pack so he can cross his arms over his bony, concave chest. His tone is cold and disdainful.]

It was impossible not to overhear that you want to help. At a certain point, the best way to do that is to simply stay out of the way.

[A bit of the ice in the pack crunches where the pad of his thumb kneads compulsively into it.]

I've been counting your futile attempts, you know. Do you want to bet that I can divine your future?

:3

[inlikethebrume]

I do not need some snivling little shite to define it. I make my own so if you wish to give more commentary about how useless it all is, then piss off.

[She refuses to back down and he is only pressing those buttons that just makes her want to do it more.]

[hearthebell]

[For someone who looks so utterly fragile, L spoils for a fight with shocking frequency, the type to thrive on and seek out conflict. He rocks back on his narrow heels, tongue pressing into the side of his cheek. Because? At least verbally, it looks like they're going to rumble, and that's fine by him. Preferable, even, to stagnancy and helplessness, things that every witch in this room is experiencing to some degree.]

You know... when it comes to this kind of magic, failure can tell you a lot. Once was a probing shot in the dark; twice means you're getting your bearings, and you missed your mark. Three times means that your mark slipped or got moved on you, and you will not connect to it, so...

[He offers the ice pack.]

If you want to keep doing the psychic equivalent of slamming your head into the wall, here. You can have this. It's charmed not to start melting for fifty three more minutes.

[inlikethebrume]

[It's mixed with the stubbornness that she's trying not to explode in anger. A small logical part of her mind is trying to tell her to listen before it gets too far. That she is not the only one wanting to help but it's very small, the fury and need overriding her thoughts. It's almost to that point until the ice pack is offered to her. She looks at it wearily but decides not to take it.

It's fine. She's felt much worse pain before. It's not needed. Spoilers: it is needed]

Thank you but you need it more than me. I'll be fine.

[Her body is slightly shaking but she'll take it over being bored. No one needs that right now.]

[hearthebell]

[L doesn't withdraw the ice pack after she rejects his offer. Instead, his other hand joins it, and when his palms part again, he's holding two.]

You're running out of excuses.

[Maybe he, like every other witch here, failed to divine the whereabouts of those missing, but a duplication charm is still a reliable way to show off. The little things can in fact make a difference.]

[inlikethebrume]

Who says it is?

[Oh, he's a show off? That's even worse. Still not taking that pack, you'll have to force it in her hands if you can.]

[hearthebell]

I have to ask...

[He sandwiches both ice packs together, thoughtful and curious. All of this serves as a fine distraction from ire and annoyance.]

Are you the sort who finds honor in pointless masochism? Because no one is going to give you a medal for psychically slamming your head into a wall repeatedly. The best you can hope for is really an ice pack.

[inlikethebrume]

[Rolling her eyes at that remark.]

If you want honor, go find some pious knight. I give a damn less about praise for doing something that should be ingrained in people from the very start.

Besides, I'm used to it. I can do more than simply sit and wait if given the chance.

[Let her make potions or something! Give her anything to do other than wait otherwise everyone's gonna have a bad time.]

[hearthebell]

No, no. You misunderstand. I'm not saying that I am looking for honor; I'm asking if you value it, or try to emulate it. There's a difference.

[For someone who looks so slovenly, L's actually a bit haughty.]

What more do you think you can do? Humor me.

[inlikethebrume]

I don't care for it.

[She gave her reasons. Honor's just a pretty word for doing the bare minimum of a good deed. Which should be done without the idea of it, common sense and all that.]

One of the discipline's I have been doing since my arrival is alchemy. I can help make potions if they let me do so.

Apologies for lateness

[hearthebell]

[Fair enough. As it happens, L also doesn't much care for honor at the best of times. Not that he's in the habit of flaunting that fact or being too honest about it, because gaining the trust of police officers and detectives generally means putting on an honorable front, at least. If only for a little while.]

Potions? OK... to help with the headaches?

[L's strong suits are Divination and runes. He's dabbled in potions, but his questions are sincere, in that she could well know more than he does, and he is curious.]

No worries! <3

[inlikethebrume]

[A nod in reply.]

All I need is the ingredients and the recipe and I can jump in immediately.

[She needs this. Gods, doing anything will be better than her trying to go after whoever did it. No one needs that right now.]

[hearthebell]

[He'd love to continue to be a critical dick... but he also really would love it if this whanging headache improved. He considers, blank pale features turning pensive.]

I suppose I could see about transmuting or conjuring what you might require, if it's not immediately available to us here... but the "recipe" isn't one I know.