MOD PLOT: A SEA OF DEATH

[faderifting]

PLOT: A SEA OF DEATH

Our November event will consist of one open log and four optional player-led plots.

OPEN LOG

In the wake of its successful defense of Perendale, the Inquisition will be invited to send some of its personnel to Nevarra to be formally thanked by the court and, in the interest of continued partnership, to learn more about the country. This trip will include:

Travel from Kirkwall to Cumberland by ship, followed by a march up the Imperial Highway to Nevarra City.

Taking up residence in a large tavern and inn in the city center.

Visits to the Nevarran royal court for those Inquisition members who hold a position of authority within the organization (and those they choose to accompany them).

Opportunities to explore the capital city, a beautiful and historic cultural center, and interact with Nevarrans curious and suspicious about the Inquisition.

The traditional autumn pageants and street performances venerating the heroic ancestors of the Pentaghast and Van Markham families, given special importance as the question of the succession looms.

Toward the end of their intended stay (of about two weeks), a tour of the famous Grand Necropolis.

All is not well, however. The Inquisition has previously addressed early Venatori attempts to influence the king, but reports from agents embedded in Nevarra City indicate that these attempts have resumed. While no immediate danger is expected, everyone will be advised to be on their guard during the visit and keep an eye out for potential enemy activity.

ROOM ASSIGNMENTS

Characters will be sharing rooms in groups of 3-5. (There will be plenty of room in the beds to accommodate them all if they share, but those uncomfortable with that prospect can put bedrolls on the floor instead.) You can choose your character's room assignment here. Keep in mind that these are assignments. Your character won't be asked how comfortable they are rooming with anyone in particular, so if you'd like to force two characters with negative CR to share space, this is your chance. However, characters can also luck out and wind up in a room with their friends or swap rooms with other people to arrange that.

RECOMMENDED PLAYER PLOTS

Over the course of the event there will be several unanswered questions or more in-depth plot threads that are available for players to take on and lead as miniature player plots or closed logs with their CR. We'll provide about a paragraph's worth of information about the parameters and what characters will be able to find or accomplish, but the rest will be up to you. IC, your character will be the one leading the way—whether on purpose or by accident, depending on the situation and character—and will be responsible for reporting to the correct project when all is settled. Your options include:

A. Investigating an ambassador sent to Nevarra by the Anderfels
B. A dragon hunt with a royal twist.
C. Handling competing factions looking for a leg up in the race to be King Markus's successor.
D. Tracking a missing research team in the Silent Plains.

If you're interested in taking on one of these things, comment here to let us know before midnight on NOVEMBER 22. Plots will be assigned to one or two players, who can then open it up to more participants if that's how they choose to do it. If more people sign up than spots, we'll RNG. And if you have an idea for your own plot-within-the-event or something is mentioned in the main plot log that you'd like your character to pursue, you're more than welcome to drop it onto the plot/info request page.

NOTES

You're welcome and encouraged to use this post to post plotting comments and make plans. And as a final plot note, we strongly encourage people who want to participate but don't have a good reason for their characters to go along to just make one up. Remember that the Inquisition is, at its core, a military organization. Your character could just be ordered to go, whether they ICly like it or not!

UNRELATED TO THIS PLOT: Remember we have several upcoming deadlines prior to our mod hiatus in December. November 20 is the deadline to submit any player plot you're interested in running during December or the first two weeks of January, as well as any non-urgent information requests. November 30 is the deadline for both native character applications and IC leadership positions.

Comments

[outil]

Character: Thane Krios
Plot(s) Requested: D
Notes: Is an expert tracker and assassin. Hopefully no neck-snapping will occur.

[faderifting]

Search the Silent Plains
Mission Leader: Thane
Second: Bronach
Brief: The research team was excavating Inghirsh ruins a day's ride into the Plains, where you will find some signs of a struggle. Tracking in a dusty desert isn't easy, but with careful searching they can pick up a trail, symbols made of rocks and twigs, presumably left for them by the missing researchers. It ends in an area of the plains where the land splits into a narrow canyon, curving away into the distance. The team will have to figure out a way down, where a search will allow them to pick up the trail once again.

If you'd like to include combat, they may be ambushed at this point by a group of cultists and—notably—darkspawn, wearing the same clothes and appearing to fight in cooperation with those cultists, responding to shouted orders and occasionally shouting a few words of their own. You can scale how many attackers are present to fit the size of the group, if you opt to include this fight, but all of them will fight to the death.

Whether they're attacked or not, the team should then find the entrance to a cave system nearby, and follow elaborate carvings on the walls to what appears to be a temple, where the research team has unfortunately been sacrificed. It's up to you whether or not there are somehow one or two survivors, and whether the cultists are present to be killed or already gone. (The only thing off the table is taking one of the cultists alive.) A hurlock will have been left behind, apparently mortally injured. He will do his best to trigger a trap meant to kill the intruders, but will fail, and he will not respond to attempts to speak to him except with scornful looks. He will repeat No words of desire may sway His will, no cry of valor may stand against Him, for His Silence conquers all, over and over, until he finally dies. Touching him would be inadvisable.

Anyone well-versed in such things can recognize the temple as dedicated to the Old God Dumat, and there are signs that the place has been in use for centuries, perhaps longer. It would take another research expedition to fully explore and explain the cave temples, but if they have time to search, the team can bring back with them a number of extremely old-looking scrolls written in Ancient Tevene, and a chest of relics containing things like pieces of bone, vials of...who knows what, a single claw from a high dragon, and other odds and ends.

Each of these missions has two named participants—the person the Inquisition has placed in charge, and someone who they've been told to bring along because they'll be useful but who may be less experienced, a more unknown entity, only an ally rather than an official Inquisition member, etc. OOC, the two of you can decide whether to keep the mission between your two characters or include additional characters on the team. If you opt to include additional characters, you can post it as an open log for anyone to tag into, invite specific players, post open sign-ups on the OOC comm.

You can also adapt the plot to any form, as long as it is RPed about in some manner: you can create a fullblown multipart plot, do a single log focused on the portion of the plot you find most interesting, or handwave the log and do a rookery post to discuss findings with the Inquisition at large. If you do play it out, you can make it more or less complicated as you see fit, adding obstacles or enemies, as long as you clear anything that would change the core nature of the plot or have larger implications with us in advance.

You should file a report to the appropriate project (Corypheus' History) as soon as possible but no later than December 31. It is the Mission Leader's responsibility to file a report, unless the two of you decide otherwise and delegate that task IC, but you're welcome to write it together.