In a desperate, end-of-the-world attempt to come up with something that will help save the people of Arx when Azazel and his Abyssal share army come for the Thinnest Point, Medeia gathers the best magical and alchemical minds she can think of to do something Medeia /doesn't/ do: make poison.

Having had luck in the past - before crossing the threshold! - with creating targeted tools against specific threats (like Thornweave Fire and the talismans that protected against the Horned God's magic), she sets out to create something that will specifically harm Abyssal beings. She's not even sure what this is going to take. But she's going to TRY. The blood of Godsworn? Nethicite? She'll clear-cut her gardens if it helps.

After some discussion about collateral harm and intentionality, the hope is that, if successful, the poison should be something that can be coated on the weapons of defenders, perhaps coated upon their armor, and set in strategic traps (near the Thinnest Point?) that can be deployed to great effect without potentially harming allies.

Mabelle is not foreign to experimenting with all those elements. Metals with primum, odd plants, gemstones, her own blood and the time she spent in the Lyceum. Time to mix and try not to die of the explosion.

Galatea's skill at alchemy has few equals. Be it poison, unnatural herbs created during the Platinum Shift, nethicite, or even the blood of the faithful, there are plenty of avenues to take in research. The ritual (revelation 52) of Striking Through the Mirror contains certain techniques for targeted strikes against individual demons, but perhaps it might also provide clues as to more general patterns for substances that threatened demonic lives.

Thea knows about alchemy. A lot about alchemy. Poison. A lot about that too. She will use her knowledge as well as a touch of something else to help aide in the the cause. Thea has her own special additives afterall.

Eirene is an expect occultist. Even without her magic she knows what she's doing with rituals, as well as having knowledge of alchemy. So trying to craft something which harms the enemy isn't too farfetched.

Poison is not Mirk's specialty, but he's worked on the Thornweave poison before, and he helped bind Azazel as well, once upon a time (Action 2936 & Clue 2925), and he knows the rite to hide knowledge from the Despite (Revelation 34). So he draws on that pool of knowledge to attempt to devise something, anything that can harm Azazel. He's in a supporting role, providing advise and knowledge, and perhaps some primum towards a shared ritual, if he needs to.

If it weakens their enemy, even slightly? It's worth it.

So while Mia is no alchemist, she does have an extensive knowledge of the occult. Even more than that, she has a small orichalcum figurine that has long acted a shield against the Abyssal entities controlled by her father, protecting her from their sight and their assault. While she won't offer it up as an ingredient, surely it can provide some helpful insight through.... uhhh... inversion! Yes, inversion. If her figurine protects the wearer from the Abyss, then surely the inversion of some of its properties might help a person attack the Abyss. That makes sense. That totally makes sense. She'll just be standing waaaaaaaay over there while the alchemists test this theory out.

Aco will help, she's only soso with Alchemy but she's got a lot to controbute to a poison. Especially when armed with a bit of magic.

Lianne has spent the majority of her adult life studying the Abyss and its denizens, including a stretch of years specifically focused on how shards are formed. She is uniquely qualified to assist with this project and will focus her efforts specifically on concocting a poison especially effective against shards that this project might drastically reduce the hordes' horrifying numbers. She may be able to provide a shard, if the team would benefit from having a test subject.

That 'blood of a Godsworn' she was talking about? Is me!

Caspian may not know poison or magic very well, but he does know weapons and abyssal. He is quite proficient with the stabbing of and being stabbed by abyssals. There is a trick to making a blade coating, to viscous and it simply drips off, to gooey and it doesn't infect the sight. he offers his insights into weapon coatings as well as how best to fight abyssals and get the poison into their system.

Did someone say poison? Not that a Velenosa Prince who has somehow survived into his sixties would know anything about poison. Okay maybe he knows a little. And maybe he knows a little about the occult. Just maybe. And what little he theoretically does know he uses to help the Lady Medeia with her task.

Mirari is skilled at making poisons, it's something she knows a great deal about and has expert knowledge on. It's more than just alchemy, Mirari herself creates poison through magic. Mirari is also a master weaponsmith and will craft weapons specifically for this cause, seeing if there are ways to alter the weapons design to better hold the poison itself. She will focus all her skills into developing something powerful and effective.

Noah knows all about poisons. He even knows about customizing them. Using them as needed. Dosing people at parties to experiment how they work out. He even knows a few secrets here and there to make them more potent. He is more than willing to lock himself away and study it day and night. He's more than willing to assist. He's more than willing to help come up with a way to help out.

Agric may not be an alchemist, but he does know the occult and is an excellent scholar. He's going to spend time researching anything and everything that may be of use in developing this concoction, focusing on texts relating to the Abyss and similar matters of the occult.

Olivia is going to use her gift with plants to try and rush some hybridized plants that may have a greater impact on Abyssals, with the hope of creating a plant that can have extracts harmful to the intended targets.

Tamsin is not an alchemist, but she is a physician and an invoker. She will lend her necromancy powers to the experimentation, adding death energy to anyone's experiment that wants it. But her real contribution to the effort is going to be in providing leadership! She's going to help arrange lab schedules and coordinate assistants. She'll provide cheerleading to keep people interested and motivated. When things are caustic to touch, Tamsin lends her skeleton pal to carry them around. In short, she'll lead how she's been groomed to lead: by pitching in everywhere there's a gap.

Titania is not good with postions or plants. But what she is good at is talking to people and diplomacy, so she will help get materials. She will talk to those she has to, sit and explain how important this project is.

Raven helps Medeia by letting Media test the potion on one of Raven's spare weapons making sure it adheres to the blade, isn't a hazard to the wielder and so on. Additionally if there is time, Raven will try live testing the weapon with Caspian by finding a low level (non friendly!) demon like a wraith suitable to test the blade on to try to verify the effects.

It did kill a tremendous amount of shards, and certainly was successful against abyssal creatures. Whether the traps in the the catacombs did some good against Azazel is harder to say, but it likely slowled him down, considering he didn't immediately cross into the Thinnest Point.

Based on what came out of the Accords meeting, the Forgetfulness is a sign of something bigger. There's going to be a lot of 'save the world' types, trying to do that. The Smiling Shadows are a network of strategic and clever assassins. The best. They are good at finding threats and removing them. They will provide security detail for the other groups. No one even needs to know, that means they can work it their own way. Moving in the shadows, and keeping watch for their allies who try to stop a second reckoning.

Mirari will seize the opportunity to do good deeds and make them profitable. Why not contract out to some shaddy sorts? Take their money, kill them, and make the world a safer place. There's always a silver lining.

Every mass initiative from the Shadows demands, you know, human shields. Or footsoldiers. Expendable types. If only to keep the Leer amused while the others get on with staying out of the Leer's reach, you know? So, with the flood of amnesiac refugees spreading around Arvum, Ember will get to work recruiting. Those who demonstrate capabilities in the fine arts of skulduggery and thuggery will get the enticing pitch of 'hey, who knows, maybe this could help with your memories' or sometimes 'join or I'll kill you, look at me I'm a fucking demoness.'

Kept apprised of the Shadows' plans to assist the members of the Accords in their efforts and wholly aware of how unlikely some of those members will be to accept the aid of Arvum's most talented assassins, Lianne sponsors contracts. Should any of the do-gooders who think themselves above such aid look like they really could use the sneaky, unseen backup, the Voice of the Abyss will ensure that a contract is paid in full to pick off any troublesome sorts who might interfere with their good and necessary work. Don't want any of Azazel's agents or the shards of his growing army hurting our people, even if they're only our people through common purpose.

As always, Umbroise is there to help the Smiling Shadows with their image, and setting their marks off-guard with her charm and her smiles. She'll use that to the Shadows' advantage, in seeking to broker the best deals, and hopefully make a little money on the side. She'll also use that skill to set the marks off-guard, so they won't expect the blade of her knife.

It's a good thing they were there, even if often stealthy assassins don't get the sort of credit they should.

There's a lot of abyssal shards out there trying to pick off groups. A lot. Mirari, Ember, and Lianne see to the killing of probably a hundred of the swarming things between them over a dozen different attacks, let alone the score of shadows working under Mirari. Ember is able to recruit a number of killers of questionable morals and sanity who make promising shadows, and some of those even survive the first brush with the shard forces scouting forward for Azazel. But it's very, very clear that outside of possibly a few of the strongest holdings, everyone is going to get driven back towards Arx and soon. There's just so many of the shards out there, and odds are most of the Accords groups would have died if the Shadows weren't watching their backs.

Ayo, fuck Azazel first and foremost...

Fealty Volitant was created over 10 years ago by Giulio, Mirari and Duarte to serve their own needs as gatherers of information, but it had a large purpose that was more theologically informed.

Fealty Volitant's vaults were built to serve Vellichor. It's complicated, but the vaults were made to be a mirror of Azazel. They collect and hold secrets - not magical ones, just secrets in general. And hidden behind the frivolity of entertainment, gambling and fashion (akin to writing reams of smut in a book before the important stuff) so as not to rouse his or his cult's suspicions.

And now it is time for the vaults to serve their true purpose and deal a blow to the Eater of Stories and Prince of Secrets.

Duarte is not Vellichor's Aspect of Revelation, but he'll wear the hat.

Fealty Volitant for this is going to do a grand, world-shaking sacrifice of secrets. That's right - they're emptying the vaults right into the broad general public. Every illicit affair, every back alley meeting, every Valardin Knight who eats peas with a knife...big or small, likely to cause wars or just evil stares, indiscriminately, everything the vaults has gathered over the past decade is being made public in a massive tidal wave of Revelation. EVERYTHING.

Brought to you by "Perspicacious Owl" - the hero of the beloved Poor Hungry Demon books.

This will likely cause a good amount of CHAOS (which isn't horrible since CHAOS hates Azazel - see? This plan has LAYERS). But to mitigate this, the principals of Fealty Volitant will be flanking this action by playing the roles of concerned diplomats. They are going to attempt to minimize some of the potentially greater fall-out from doing this by giving mediation and leading talks between any rivalries it stirs up.

And of course if any person or group is too much of a salty butthurt asshole about their secrets suddenly floating around the taverns, there is Mirari who has always been good at giving people some...uhh...perspective.

(We got 20k Military to represent protection for the casino and cover for the operatives to keep them anonymous, and we got 20k social to represent the NPC distribution effort)

Katarina DOES feel a little bad about this. Not so much for exposing unjust people as the bastards they are, but for the gossipy stuff, like the poor Valardin knight who eats peas with a knife. He didn't do anything to anyone. All the same, Kat understands the necessity of this vast de-vaulting, and she does her part to make sure that the secrets are properly gossiped about in the Eurusi Quarter and spread out into the greater Eurusi refugee community.

Ferrando has never really been personally concerned with the volume acquisition, storage, and/or retrieval of a mass amount of secrets, but! He's very good at knowing who to talk to around the city to get certain things done, and if you were some organization who wanted to, say, undertake a mass release of (soon to be formerly) secret information to the public, Ferrando can make help link you up with certain smuggling-like operations that will quietly distribute things around the city until one morning, whoa! How did these get there? Never mind that, did you read this!? For what it's worth he also always enjoyed the Perspicacious Owl book series from back when, so that's probably a bit of extra motivation too.

Mirari is a problem solver. A woman with a fondness for chaos, she's curious to see what will happen. It's truly a grand finale, but it's worth it, if it helps people remember. So many secrets, so many squabbles as a result. While others use their political prowess to ease any waves of disconnect, Mirari removes obstacles in their way. There's always someone who decides to make themselves an issue, it's really unfortunate. Mirari will carefully encourage them to make better choices.

Apollo helps distribute these secrets, watching for the fallout but not particularly concerned with it unless it proves as present and existential a threat as Azazel. He doesn't even hold back secrets he finds in Fealty Volitant's stores that might affect how people perceive him, his family, his House: the machinations to ennoble him, various dalliances and affairs.

Mabelle is not very good at gossip but she is good at mitigating damages, acting all innocent and making people think what she wants them to think. Soothing the masses, listening to whatever people have to say and try not to get anyone murdered.

Vitalis is a new recruit to the Fealty Volitant and what a time to join, just as it's being turned inside out. He is good at getting into and out of places he probably shouldn't be in. Who better to get some of these incindiary parcels where the need to go than the Ghost himself?

The joining is a solemn thing for Vitalis, Giulio Corvini was a treasured mentor and is dearly missed. He is proud to be joining the Giulio's storied legacy.

There is something terribly convenient about being viewed as someone who is always willing to help mediate a problem, about being a trustworthy sort. Medeia's reputation for being at the right place at the right time to offer kind advice or to soothe tensions is known throughout noble circles, and so it isn't surprising at all to find her at the Black Fox or Ambassador Salon, speaking carefully with individuals who are upset or hurt by the things revealed. She keeps an eye on the white journals, too, sending well-thought out letters to those who express distress and inviting them to join her for a drink so they might talk about why they're so upset. It's subtle, yet pointed, each interaction whenever the topic comes up, working to turn the populace's view on the revelations neutral if not positive.

It's always hard to tell with something so great in scope and so allegorical it's nature just what tangible effects it has. Certainly they are successful about spreading the word, and certainly a countless number of secrets that would infuriate Azazel are released, but there's not a beam from on high or a sign that can be read without any possible confusion or contradiction.

There are some subtle signs, though.

Without exception, as the refugees come to Arx, it's the Shrine of Vellichor and Great Archive that drives them the most. This certainly wasn't the case before Fealty Volitant acted, but it is without a doubt the case after their secrets spread. Something is drawing people to Vellichor, and it could well be them.

No crows are seen in the city. Not a one. Some farmers comment on it. Could just be migratory patterns.

It must have done something. But precisely what is very hard to say.

There's a need for Arvani Fire to assist in the efforts with Harrow Hall and the development of poisonous substances to clear the thorns. The Corsetina Family is connected. While other Houses are using legitimate means to acquire it, Mirari wants to find out what they can get on the black market. They will offer to pay of course, but if those negotiations are not fruitful, The Corsetina's will resort to more intimidating means to get it.

Mirari will lead with her charm, of course, trying to encourage people to do the right thing and put it in their hands.

Caspian is a bit of a firebug, so when the chance to get ahold of arvani fire came up, he jumped at it. While he doesn't have any black market connections, he is a charming face and a solid arm for when things go to shit.

Of course Megara will help her family acquire what they need on the black market. She'll try, of course. She's not the best at sweet talking and haggling, therefore she /might/ use less savory methods to acquire what she needs. Who knows. She's a bit unpredictable on a good day.

It's not easy, but they get it. There's an awful lot on the black market, particularly of the highly illegal trade with shavs, but House Corsetina is able to pull more than a few strings anf get a significant supply of it. It's definitely used to attack the hedge.

At the war council held by High Lady Liara Grayson, the problem of the thorn barrier was brought up. As a surprise to no one, Archduke Patrizio Pravus suggested fire. With both Arvani Fire and the thornweave poisons being alchemical works, an idea popped into Medeia's head in the moment, and she suggested that she and other trusted alchemists should work together to create a poison-fire hybrid that would be formulated specifically to burn away the thorns. The Voices of the realm who were present supported this plan.

In the time since that meeting, Medeia has been hard at work getting everything organized for undertaking the experimentation that will be needed. An expedition of brave souls was sent to the barony of Gilthern in the Crownlands to collect samples of the thorn vines. No one died! Approximately 35 feet of vine was recovered - in seven five-foot lengths. Additional conversations have been had regarding gaining access to supplies of both Thraxian Fire and Arvani Fire - in case one is more suited to the hybridization than the other, and determining the best way to deliver the resulting concoction. Further, she has reached out to some of the best and brightest alchemical minds in the city to assist with the work.

When the time comes and supplies are at hand, Medeia offers Seawatch Sanctuary as a workspace and staging ground. She has cleared the estate of anything and anyone valuable - if anything goes wrong with the Arvani Fire, she has prepared to lose the building. Of course, she hopes it does not come to that. Before she begins, she lifts prayers to several of the gods: Petrichor to help them destroy the tainted thornweave, Lagoma to support the cleansing power of fire, Skald for the freedom of choice that defeating the Traitor will secure... She encourages others to join her and lift their own prayers to the gods, as well.

Then? It is time to work. Within the limited time and resources available, every possible combination of thornweave poison and Thraxian or Arvani Fire is tested. It is hard enough to make the thornweave poison. She pours the whole of her concentration into achieving this, single-mindedly concentrating on success and pouring all of her energy into the final outcome.

Chemicals and items to produce the earlier version, Goop, that was helpful in killing smaller thorny vines was expensive. Saik has offered 3000 economic resources, 1000 military and 200,000 silver should it be needed to help this effort be successful. (ooc it is in Lucita's inventory)

On a personal level, as a singer, she plans to wait till samples of thorny vines are available, seedlings, clippings or seeds, then assist the Alchemist effort by spell-singing to help stimulate vine growth to both harvest the sap and later to have samples to test effects.

Patrizio Pravus, indeed, was the one who suggested the use of fire against the thorns - it is effective as a deterrent against the abyssal trees that besiege the southern city of Pieros in the Saffron, along with the earthworks erected to the south of the city. Given his suggestion to build a palisade about the thorn field and ignite the plants beyond, he's present to consider how best to apply the result and to ensure that it does not backfire to harm the forces of the Compact.

In order to help the alchemists, many of whom are part of her very own Auxiliary branch of the Physicians, Giada makes sure that all non-thorn supplies are ample and immediately at hand. She also shares a couple of momentos with Medeia, handing over a piece of withered vine and a hardened nub of sap that she had collected from the Whisper House vines. This is to allow the alchemists to find similarities (if they exist) that might help inform the process.

Mirari is well versed in alchemy, specifically poisons, so she will bring these skills to the table. Here to assist in the creation of a substance combine poisons and fire, she will help with the development and testing of the concoction working together with the other alchemists. Mirari will contribute her staff at Of Works Obscura to help as well, as she does have a few alchemists under her employ as well.

Fatima has put herself in charge of obtaining the Thraxian Fire, since she is after all a Thrax. She has obtained permission from Alarissa to take as much Thrax Fire as needed, and House Thrax will provide however many resources are necessary for this. Siege weapons are also available for the delivery method, should the experiments prove successful. If the experiment is successful, she'll ensure that enough Thrax Fire is provided for a large operation against the Wall of Thorns. She will use the Isles Canines ships to ferry the stuff wherever it needs to go.

Thea took part in the expedition, so naturally she would want to help contribute to the alchemy part as well. With the knowledge she's gained regarding alchemy, magic, herbalism, and a few other things, she begins getting to work.

Mabelle has had her share of experimenting with alchemy lately and once again she lends her talents to the aide of the city. She leaves her valuables at home, including her pets, wears her armor and set out. A vial of her previously concucted elixir against the minions of the Traitor at hand, she helps out with all the dreadfully dangerous mixing.

Isolde isn't exactly an expert or even a novice when it comes to alchemy or even magical plantlife. She does have some experience in gathering and organising supplies, however. She will offer whatever logistical support is needed and ensure there's always money available.

Galatea's alchemical creations have in fact been used before to destroy magical trees--more or less melting one of them down through the roots, some years previously. This was originally a mixture created for the Iron Guard to separate base metals from noble metals. It had the side benefit of also being entirely lethal to organic matter. Thus, it's the 'poison' side of the equation that she focuses on, more than the fire. In the spirit of cooperation, Galatea shares everything about this past creation, in order to better create a foundation for subtances that would quickly dissolve bark and vine. The presence of sample vines likewise provides an excellent opportunity for any pre-modern scientist's favorite activity: experimentation. There was perhaps a touch of manic excitement about Galatea as she poured one highly poisonous mixture after another on these samples to figure out just what would be most lethal. Perhaps she even managed to avoid inhaling toxic fumes herself. (Safety protocols sometimes fall slightly by the wayside when she gets like this.) She is prepared to spend a truly considerable amount of economic resources to get the job done, if need be.

Jaenelle is assisting in a more leadership role than actually assisting in the creating of the poisons. She makes sure people have what they need when they need it, and brings people together to make sure support is at hand. She has connections, she has the resources, and people tend to do what she says when she wants something done.

Eirene is one of the originators of the Thornweave poison, so it's only sensible she's on board for this. She uses her arcane and alchemical knowledge to try to weave together herbalism, alchemy, and magic because this seems like the occasion for all three.

Lianne's new to this project, but not to these concepts. Mostly, she'll follow others' leads, acknowledging their expertise on this subject matter. When appropriate, she shares her own expertise, familiar with the occult, with Blight, with the way magic works and how unpredictable it can be, how unlike science. Thematic narrative might not usually have a role in alchemy, but it may help here.

It takes a tremendous amount of work and experimentation to create the hybrid substance, as Arvani fire really is not keen to be mixed with quite nearly anything. But eventually, after much effort, they are able to merge it with the solvent, and no plant growth sands much of a chance against it. They launch it at the hedge, and vast swaths are immediately destroyed, to much cheering by the troops gathered there. Only it immediately grows back with extremely disconcerting speed.

But then the scouts inform Medeia of a discovery- that the Hedge is powered by the Horned God's magic tied with the moon, of the dead god he seeks to raise. And the tall towers of Harrow Hall block one particular segment from being touched by moonlight. Medeia goes there.

While the rest of Arx is engaged in figuring out this thorn business, Fealty Volitant engages in a counterespionage program.

Knowing that some past attempts to deal with thornweave were thwarted by a certain abyssal agent, it's necessary to identify any other potential enemy agents of the abyss who are among the compact and its allies. Nothing will be done with this information, yet.

The goal is to use Fealty Volitant's expansive network of spies and informants to identify actual or potential enemy spies, informants and saboteurs.

The information gathered will be used in a future action.

(OOC NOTE: This is not meant for rooting out PCs who are on 'team bad'. The intent is to gather a large list of NPC identities like 'Joe Blow the cultist' or 'Harry Buts the sabotaging scholar' or 'the book club down the street that's really a satellite cell consisting of a bunch of Horned God loving lunatics' who can be targeted in a future action. This action will lean on Clue #2846 as well as the story action contributions of Fealty Volitant members.)

Quenia is no stranger to working with a network of spies and informants, having been a spy master herself back in Granato, sometimes doing the dirty work herself to get the information she needed. She puts her considerable charm and social skills and treks out into the world, asking questions, taking names, and making use of the Fealty's network to pass information along where she can. She's careful to apply make up, change her appearance, and make sure she's not followed home, using more private areas in public buildings in the city to make subtle changes here and there before beating feet back out into the world once more to get the job done.

It helps to be involved in many different ... organizations. On the surface level, here's a neo-noble who earned his Knighthood and has gained some respect on numerous accounts through various dangerous trials and tribulations. Here's also a man who dazzled everyone with his Spectacular Spectacular, becoming well known enough for his death-defying escapism that certainly people would LOVE to talk to him. On the underbelly of it all, well, he'll use what connections (ie. secret orgs) he has to pull on a few more strings, to get a few more jingles of information to play with. Low hanging fruit is obvious the best to fill the basket with.

One way or another, Mirari always finds a solution to every problem. There are different ways to get an answer, and the woman is skilled in the ones that work. As head of the Corsetina family, Mirari has a vast network of connections in many parts of the Compact. Let's be honest, some might be questionable sorts, but those are the kinds that get the best information. And so, she will smile and she will tempt people into telling her their secrets.

Well you do not become a Minister of a Duchy without having a few aces up your sleeve and Mabelle has plenty. Aside from the spy network controlled by her alleged cookie girl, she has something else now: people she broke free from the control of the traitor that were once hive minds to his cause and are so grateful, they want to bend the knee to Laurent. Certainly she can learn from them about missions they carried out for him, especially to handle threats to him or allies he gathered.

People just seem to trust Medeia. A lot. It's almost effortless for her to meet someone and understand them deeply, providing a foundation for that trust. Which is likely why Duarte brought her in to review collected profiles and see what information she can glean from them. He promised her the comfort of an office, and so she nestles away in his - for easy access to whiskey - with several stacks of information over a few nights. Her focus is particularly upon the possible motivations of each person profiled. Are they desperate, ambitious, bored? This is all compared against what she already knows of various Abyssal cults to try to find connections between them.

Celine has been obsessively working with Occultists for years (Clue #4183 'Celine's Secret') and has therefore built up a tightly-knit network of people (NPCs) whom she implicitly trusts. She'll meet and speak with those that she's able to reach out to at such short notice in order to gather names of interest that may pop up, not only in connection with the current Thornweave crisis, but others that are known to sympathise and work with the Horned God's followers.

Never one to maintain something quite so formal as an organized network of contacts (or, to be fair, an organized much of anything), Ferrando's ubiquitous gregariousness and access to every social strata from the Whisper House down to the Murder of Crows nonetheless provides him access to a fairly comprehensive set of people of all shades, stripes, and walks of life. And he's a good listener, which everyone really appreciates! Over the years in Arx his habit of stacking up contacts from guys who know a guy and informally fixing person who has this with person who needs that has built up to a semi-chaotic web of unconventional access, and combined with the finely tuned nose for the street he had ever since his young days as a cadet guard back in Lenosia, any diligent effort he puts into ferreting out something out-of-the-way tends to scare up some results more often than not. Put simply, few people know the city top to bottom as comprehensively as Arx's favorite (semi-retired-from-bouncing) bouncer. Combined with the typical Artiglio trait of over-and-above tenacity, it's a very useful thing to leverage for contributions to a little list-building project.

There's an awful lot that indicate a half dozen nobles and prominent individuals are working in the Horned God's service, having been promised power or positions of authority when he takes over the world. Some are fairly certain, with individuals making admissions or trying to sway others to the Horned God in private. But the trouble is there's nothing that could really be presented as evidence, such as writings or objects, and all would just be testimony at any trial. So they can definitely pinpoint individuals, but public trials might not go their way.

In a previous note, the Leer hinted that business is booming and Ruby would like if it they could kill the Horned God. While, they aren't quite sure they can manage the later yet, what they can do, is make the best of a situation.

If business is booming, it's time to cash in. The Smiling Shadows will do what they do best. But, they are wanting something more. Through setting up contracts and work, they are going to try to put together a running list of who are the bad guys, they need to be aware of. Who is working for whom and what can they piece together on bigger plans. (They'll make a flowchart in the Shadow Walk on the wall).

Depending on the job, they might kill target, they will probably kill both. Just, not before getting paid of course. They way, they are gathering information and getting a better lay of the land, while reducing the body count.

Infiltrate the noble house who has been targeted by the Traitor. Whispers at night suggest a powerful head of house might have been killed and replaced with a doppleganger who works for the Traitor. Miraya has a beautiful face and her swordsmanship skills are deadly. She is deceptive and attracts the right kind of attention from the elite with her charm and exceptional manners. She looks incredible on anyone's arm and incites a raw passion from those who watch her wield her sword. She does not give them her real name of course. She is Lady Aurelia Mendaci of Aurumati, a small vassal under Gildan. She poses under the guise of seeking to elevate her family line and expand their land, power, and reach. She wines and dines and obtains contracts, money, lavish gifts, valuable information, secrets and maybe even marriage proposals (she will never honor). She's going to do her best not to kill anyone unless she discovers they are traitorous.

Umbroise, as her first task among the Smiling Shadows, sets about helping with the negotiation of contracts. She uses her charms and wiles to help negotiate the best deals for contracts on the Bad Guys, to earn the most money for the Smiling Shadows while doing the most damage to their targets. She'll focus her attentions on those who likely aren't fettered by Legion's mindless shackles, and instead target her smiles and wiles on anyone who might have a grievance against the Sons of the Centipede or other cults or factions of the Traitor instead. She'll do her best to coerce and 'manage' those people until the most lucrative deals are reached. While she has no skill with a blade herself, she probably could manage to stab someone in the throat with a hairpin if it became required. After all, she does have a very disarming smile, and maybe no one would suspect it of her sweet face. But really, she's all about being the smiling face of the Smiling Shadows, and wouldn't their clients oh so dearly love to be a part of something grand in the name of Freedom for All? All will be sworn to absolute secrecy of course, lest any blabbermouths find their own way to the sad end of a Smiling Shadows knife. Her decidedly pointed canines and glittering black sapphire eyes might be a bit unnerving as she closes deals with /that/ particular smile.

Ember has more than just the Smiling Shadows to work with. She'll be leveraging her Abyssal stature in other areas to widen the Shadows' net within the scope of the Mourning Isles. If any shav or pirate or random guardsman has a story to tell, especially now that the Despite has been breached, she'll make sure it's heard and accounted for... though obviously, only the leads that seem worth pursuing will be forwarded up to Mirari.

The Flowchart in the Shadow Walk gets rather large.

There's at least two dozen different individuals that had tried to work with the Horned God that the Triarchy wants removed. Most meet their ends at the hands of Mirari, one dies after being bitten by a spider, and Miraya kills two in a rather spectacular swordfight after being confronted during her investigation. But more than the murders, it's really a large compilation of names and contracts, with Ember able to find a number of potential abyssal recruits as they make order out of the chaos. More than once, they do need to kill the person trying to hire the shadows when it turns out that they were just a touch too dangerous to let live, and some targets did manage to get their hands on different curios that could be useful for Abyssal research.

The Leer is very complimentary of their efforts, and other Shadows even more so, though there's a tiny bit of tension with some of the other shadows. It is becoming increasingly clear that out of all of the Smiling Shadows, their particular group is far and away the most successful and effective. There might be some jealousy in the future, and the Leer is not the sort to discourage infighting.

Fealty Volitant uses its vast network of spies and informants to distribute a series of anonymously authored and illustrated booklets called "Confessions of a Poor Hungry Demon". This heartfelt series follows the life of a poor, sad toothless fluffy bunny who one day gets asked to eat just one little secret and then becomes an insatiable, mean-tempered gluttonous blob-bunny. Brimming with ridicule, the narrative is told in the first person from the Poor Hungry Demon's perspective. How he was just "so hungry" and "only following orders" - he hopes the reader can find it in their heart to forgive him.

Each edition of the series introduces a new bit of magical knowledge and history (e.g. the role of primum, or a beseeching ritual) which the Poor Hungry Demon greedily devours to hoard for himself, only to be foiled by Perspicacious Owl who reminds the Poor Hungry Demon that he's "not the only game in town" where secrets are concerned. Mostly illustrated, even those of low literacy can glean some understanding of the magical nature of things.

Towards the end of the series, the Poor Hungry Demon reduces in size back to the sad fluff-bunny he was before as all his colleagues and friends desert him for shinier things. He grows so small that he can't even eat a bite-sized secret, and when he's no bigger than a field mouse the Perspicacious Owl eats him up.

Of course, the crew is very careful to cover their tracks, keeping the authorship of this loveable series untraceable even with the most modern of 14th century investigatory technology.

Katarina will be telling her noble friends about the most charming series of books she's read. That said, a book called 'Confessions of a Poor Hungry Demon' might not fly with her more Oathlands-y friends and family, so she'll be choosy about to whom she voices this recommendation. More discreetly, she'll personally translate the books into Eurusi, to ensure that they can be spread in the Eurusi Quarter of the Ward of the Traveler.

Mirari will use her street contacts to help with the distribution of the books. The intent is to make sure that no one knows the source, where they came from, etc. But also, to convince those that receive these shipments to make sure they get distributed and placed front and centre.

Avita has found the most darling books, just laying about!

Why, it's so simple even a child could understand the plight of the Poor Hungry Demon -- and you'd have to be completely heartless not to at least feel a little badly for the obviously remorseful little beastie, right?

Right!

So, with all the generosity and forgiveness that Avita is SO well known for (I heard that scoffing, knock it off), she delivers a copy to that Library Raja's always speaking about in the Lowers -- the one always in need of books -- and to the Archives, that others might enjoy her find as much as she did. She will speak to others about the book candidly, if off-handedly, in a way that marks her as the clueless silk that she is:

It's so original! So evocative! What a strange tale, a new perspective, oh, she just can't say enough about this unknown, unnamed author and illustrator -- but, their cheek! Their audacity! Their -sincerity-!

Why, it's just what those dreary, dusty stacks need, isn't it?

It works. It really, really works, in that most people in the Lowers in particular are now openly making jokes about the demon. In fact, a lot of common people are joking about 'Azazel, the Eater of Stories' in particular, and Duarte is pretty damned sure he never used the name. All of them now seem to be being followed by crows quite often in public. The black birds just... watching them. And angrily cawing at them whenever they pass by.

Mirari sat with her family at the Corsetina Manor after a great feast, green eyes tracing each and every one of them before she stood up, lips still glistening from the grease of food. There is no better time to talk serious business than when smashed after a feast after all!

"As I am sure you are aware the winds of change are upon us in the Lyceum, my lovelies! You can all tell that some things that didn't make sense before are now out of the way and that there is a sentiment of opportunity in the air."

She wiped her lips with the back of a hand as classy ladies of Arvum won't be caught dead doing and continued.

"You are not wrong but you may not know quite why. Let me explain: for a long, long time the Lyceum was under the thumb of this powerful creature called Malrico. He had his hand in all of the pies of the city-states, from regime change to economics and cults he almost *was* the Lyceum, you could say."

Mirari grins and she waggles her brows. She is about to talk about violence, few things get her going like bloodshed.

"But he is dead and now the Lyceum is ripe for the taking, and I propose we strike first and we strike decisively. 'How?', I hear you ask, and to that question I present you our good old friends in the form of the most traditional nobles of all Arvum."

The Corsetina takes a good taste of her mead and eyes her family with a smile. "Yes, I know. We have had issues with them in the past because we are successful commoners, but they just don't realize we are their best friends right now. They need to be made to see that."

She points at Mailys. "The only thing the traditionalists have more of an issue with right now than former pirates turning into a successful mercantile family is poor, dirty people like us getting ennobled and made into what they are not... and guess who were offered the opportunity to become peers and said 'No thank you'? Me and Mai. We, the Corsetina, who know our place, who have succeeded *as commoners*. Who could be the nobility's best example of how following the traditions can elevate a commoner, instead of keeping them destitute."

She winks at Mailys, "So while Mailys goes after those noble hearts and shows them why they should back us up financially and socially, me and the rest will turn our gazes towards our competition. I will play bodyguard to her and kiss a few babies. All the upstarts and rebels thinking they are going to make way now that Lyceum is up for grabs are going to suffer terrible accidents and be no more. We are going to take over. Malrico was wrong to think he was the Lyceum. The Lyceum is its people, and we are those people. The Lyceum is ours."

Eyes turn to Miraya, Miella and Megara. "I want you to focus on our enemies in Lenosia and Southport. They are the richest cities under what is left of Velenosa. Be quick, be subtle, be smart: we don't need anyone linking us back to these disappearances and deaths."

To Ravana and Beatrix she gives another look, "You will spy on our enemies on the Southern Lyceum, where House Pravus rules. If you find conspirators against Setarco strike them down, as I am sure there are plenty among the Abandoned of Ischia and the syndicates of Caina. You must be more careful there. The Southern Lyceum is the last place our people can be free."

Finally, she smiles at all of them, "Once we are all setup, and our first enemies are out of the way, we set out sights to Setarco City. Our new, old home."

TL;DR: This is going to be a power grab at the vacuum left behind by Malrico's death. The Corsetina are going to position themselves as a traditionalist's wet dream (with Mailys' exceptional diplomatic skills) so to garner their favors and deals, while the rest of the family is going to murderhobo throughout the Lyceum lands (both Velenosa and Pravus dominions) to get rid of key players. This will allow us to get a better Income (so you guys can spend on yourselves) and for the Legend of each of us to increase accordingly. Fame and silver, rock n' roll, baby!

Being the White Thorn of Tor, Beatrix has attended many exclusive parties, and thus she feels quite at home among the revelers of lavish feast and festival. She'll travel to Ischia and Caina, mingling and carousing her way into the social circles of the aspiring upper classes, while using this proximity to act as a spy for the Corsetina family. In order to win hearts and loosen tongues, she'll use a little seductive charm: an alluringly mysterious smile here, a well-chosen compliment there, and with luck she'll be able to subtly tease some gossip out of her fellow merrymakers. If she acquires some devotees among their number, that's all the better (and very much deserved, in Bea's humble opinion).

In the event that violence may be required per Mirari's request, Beatrix will act without regret, yet preferably using wiles and subterfuge to nudge events into place. If she needs to manipulate an admirer into killing a target for her, then that's what she'll do, though she'll deny any involvement in the scheme if it comes to light. If she needs to employ her blade to cut down a conspirator, that's fine too, but if she gets caught red-handed she'll portray herself as the innocent party -- a victim of assault, forced to defend her own life.

In short? Be watchful, be fascinating, and do as Mirari has requested.

With Pleasure.

Miella would do anything for the Corsetina family, expecially Mirari. So, she does as she is instructed and turns her sweetness toward Lenosia and Southport. She seeks out any competition and out right detractors of the Corsetina family and with great care, poisons them all.

Ask Ravana, and this isn't her first time slicing her way through the southern seas, she's got this! Of course, as per Mirari's instructions, this is more of a careful intel-gathering operation, so the usual fiery inferno is turned down in favor of a creeping blaze. Starting at the foundations, she'll utilize that famed Lycene charm and Suspire training to hopefully loosen lips that ought to know better. Once she's discovered information of relevance, she'll turn up the manipulation to sow havoc and discord from a distance between those betrayed.

While those involved are dancing the hot-foot without realizing the roof is on fire, pointing their fingers and swords at one another in confusion, is when she'll strike. Playing on paranoias and promising succor, armed with secrets no one should know that open doors previously closed, she'll attempt to quietly do away with those who've both made new enemies (courtesy of her meddling) and proved themselves antithetical to the Corsetina family's aims - all while positioning herself as a dear, conveniently deadly ally to those who may come in handy in the future.

"They refuse to accept what we represent: Success, Respect, Influence. We make so-called common blood look very good." Mailys had mentioned at the meeting. She had her notebook, to which she was always formulating connections and tracking information. Nothing escaped a very orderly operation, and she was tenacious about verifying facts. Having returned from Setarco, the surprisingly tan woman was ready to start working down her lists and achieving productivity on her projects. Gatherings were already flooding her calendar. A Prince of Velenosa was meeting privately this afternoon, and an evening with nobles gathering to donate funds for public works the next. Mailys was no Lady; she was more.

The family drives forward on the profits from allowing nobles to hear Mailys' specifically-crafted perspectives, opinions, and future tips for trade deals, and to present herself wherever they would field their small talk complaints. How they do love to register their complaints about the recent events at any given opportunity. Mailys considered every meeting an opportunity to research and untangle the strands that allowed her to be trusted and respected. She would not shy away from any test or any act of manipulation to get the desired outcome. Mirari wanted as many of the noble households to believe the Corsetina family would be furthest from seeking to destabilise regions with bloodshed and conquest. They were happy with their merchant endeavours. Mailys would have to stave off any accusations that might band the Corsetina's targets against them. She would sell the Lyceum empty support, empathy for their struggles with violence, and ensure the timing was perfect for Mirari's plans of territorial power and income. We didn't need marriages, baby announcements, and inheritance crowns to carve a place for ourselves in the world as Peers. The Corsetina Family worked for their rise with gracious manners, flawless smiles, ruthless focus, and merciless calculation.

It is entirely likely that the Corsetina family is the only one that truly realizes the sheer size of the void left behind from Malrico's departure, and they do everything they can to capitalize upon it. Mirari intelligently divides up the Corsetinas to spread their influence wide, which also results in her getting the clearest picture. It seems that -every- major mercantile force in the Lyceum and beyond was greatly impacted by the Herald of Avarice suddenly vanishing. By Mirari's reckoning, at least 13 different major merchant houses have had either their leader, current owner, or an otherwise senior figure vanish, all suggesting they might have been Malrico under another guise or a pawn directly under his control. Most are in complete chaos, with scores of minor figures all competiting to take control of massive enterprises that had their clear direction suddenly gutted. There's immense strife, and more than a few assassinations poised to happen.

The Corsetinas are extraordinarily talented at exploiting this.

Mailys finds scores of nobles who are looking for worthwhile investments. Many of the traditionalists have been bitterly disappointed in the rise in neo-noble power, and some just privately can't stop talking about once Abandoned barbarians becoming prodigals and then lifted up into the ranks of nobility, which they see as an existential threat. Corsetina alone stands as a pointed example of prominent and successful commoners in Mirari and Mailys Corsetina who were offered the peerage and declined it, knowing their place and positions. As such, these nobles grasping for any way to voice their displeasure at the rise of the commons are quickly diverted by Mailys, who offers them just the right opportunity to invest in Corsetina shipping as a way to thumb their noses at peers who are threatening the very nature of the peerage and commoners who have no respect for the established social order. It even extends far beyond the Lyceum- House Thrax commoners who have outraged the Mourning Isles by abandoning long held traditions are finding their contracts severed and work eschewed by peers in the Isles looking to have shipping to work with. There are hundreds of noble houses in the Compact, and far, far more are deeply traditional than ones that wish to shake up the social order by abolishing thralldom in the Isles or empowering commoners. And due to Mailys and Mirari's direction, near all of them see Corsetina as the people to work with.

Which is not to say that they don't have enemies, of course. One commoner with a hint of Melaeris blood that badly wanted to be ennobled was outranged by Mailys and Mirari's actions, and tried to corner Mailys in an alley to silence her. He never even saw Mirari before she cut his throat.

Miraya, Miella and Megara make for Southport and Lenosia. The Ricceza Shipping Family, missing its longstanding leader who mysteriously vanished, had found itself led by a brutal and violent young man named Gutherio Ricceza, who had already managed to take over the overland caravan company run by the Bravecio family. Gutherio and his entire upper echelon pass from a sudden illness after Miella manages to charm her way into the Ricceza's kitchens one day, with talented poison use that mimics the symptoms of a pox. The 'outbreak of disease' provides a perfect opportunity for Mirary to slip and redirect the Riccezas, and after several potential leaders drawn out to a wilderness meeting all find themselves picked off by Megara's arrows, the Riccezas, Bravecios and a dozen minor holding companies all fall under the Corsetina's sway, either directly or paying up profits. Within several months, Lenosia and Southport commerce traveling in commoner ships fly the flag of the Corsetinas, with few exceptions.

Beatrix and Ravana head to the southern Lyceum, moving between Ischia, Caina, Setarco, Pieros and a dozen minor holdings. It's quite a lot of work, really. Beatrix in Setarco finds no few ambitious merchants in Setarco attempting to use the chaos for their own gain, and particularly ones that are trying to undermine House Pravus in order to try to make gains. Fortunately for Beatrix, the ambitious Lycene attempting to grasp power aren't the types to talk to one another, and in several masterful manipulations, at least four kill one another, and one angry brother seeking vengeance falls to Beatrix's blades himself. It is just a purely happy coincidence that the mercantile affairs of the different merchants find themselves working for the Corsetinas shortly thereafter.

Ravana spreads her influence wide over the southern seas, meeting representatives of the Five Families of the South Seas Company, a union of five different powerful merchant families that have had power and influence in Pravus waters for generations, and together represented the dominant merchant force for commerce in the Lyceum. The Setargazi Family was rumored to have financed some of the forces that tried to lead a coup against Duke Piero Pravus and were responsible for his assassination, but no proof was ever linked that allowed Belladonna to crush them as they deserved, even though they lost dearly with the fall of Nilanza. The De Pravini family once held sway over much of the crime in Setarco, until it was consolidated under Viviana Pravus. The Lenosini were quietly known to employ piracy to prey upon rivals' shipping between Lenosia and Setarco. The Ischini supplied much of the mercenary sellsword companies all throughout the Lyceum, turning extortionary when their fees weren't met, and acting as foot soldiers for the Setargazi. And Uldani were a prodigal group that shamelessly smuggled from the Abandoned, and represented much of the markets going to Sudara's true sworn and other prodigal groups. All five families were utterly ruthless, thought nothing of murdering rivals, and had clawed their way up with deceit and blood. In other words, Ravana feels right at home.

The legendary enforcer of the Setargarzis known as Bruno Setargarzi was feared all throughout the Southern Lyceum, with rumors of numerous rival disappearances, but there had always been an air of deniability about his actions, and despite being a braggart, the man was always close lipped about just what he had done in the past. So it came as a considerable shock to the Five Families when a collection of Bruno Setargarzi's letters came to light, sent to leaders of the other four families by an anonymous individual, that contained correspondence between Bruno and the now missing head of the Setargarzi family- correspondence that detailed all too clearly the different murders he had done, and different potential assassinations in the future. It even had clear cut references to work they did to help set up Duke Piero Pravus for assassination, and -that- correspondence also found its way into Setarco. Even before the outrage has a chance to build fully, other letters come to light of potential moves by the families against the others, attempting to seize power and become dominant. All the families go into outright war.

Bruno Setargarzi is found dead in his bed, with salacious rumors that he clearly slept with whoever killed him. The entire Setargarzi family is arrested by House Pravus shortly thereafter for its complicity in the death of Duke Pravus, with their holdings declared forfeit and turned over to the Corsetina. The Uldani's leadership is massacred by by the Ischini, whose ships are promptly sunk by the Lenosini, whose leaders are murdered by the De Pravini, whose leader known as 'the Bloody Leonardo De Pravini' is found dead in his own bedroom in a pronounced state of undress. It's complete chaos, and the families are in total disarray and desperate, but fortunately a new charming friend suggests that there is a solution to their woes- signing on with the Corsetina family. Most will always be grateful to Ravana Stellaris for her help in their time of need.

It's hard, dangerous work. But Mirari, Megara, Miella, Beatrix, Miraya and Ravana have succeeded far more spectacularly than most would have ever imagined. It's not just a merchant shipping family now. They've begun an empire.

It's time to have a little rebellion.

Easier said than done. Aleksei has left the expert matters of smuggling to Evaristo and his team of sailors, pirates, and merchants -- both the smuggling in of weapons and the smuggling /out/ of thralls in Action #3945. Aleksei doesn't know smuggling. He's /terrible/ at boats. That is why he recruited people who were the opposite of that.

But where does that leave them? Here is what Aleksei knows: there are some ten thralls in Sungreet for every free citizen. It is perhaps the bastion of traditionalism in the Isles, meaning that the thralls there have likely not been treated softly. He knows that thralls are often controlled by the threat of violence not only against themselves, but against their family and loved ones who might be more vulnerable. He knows that these are going to be people who might be deeply reluctant to even think about something like a rebellion. These are the things he knows.

So he makes sure he has answers to these things. He has asked Brass for his help, for his magic, and for his involvement; he hopes for a number of the weapons smuggled in to be those artificed by Brass for just this purpose. As many as he's willing to make them. He'll bring Brass with them, if Brass is willing. He's asked /Prism/ for help, however she is able to; he knows that she is a powerful illusionist, and she may be able to help to move people from place to place without being seen. Certainly no lock will be able to stand against her mere presence.

But even more important are the others he gathers to help. The regular people, just like him, each with their own valuable skills. With the most vulnerable thralls hopefully able to make it out via the smuggling efforts, he tries to use the contacts and information he may have garnered from Action #3924 to give them a place to start. They'll start quiet conversations with those who are amenable and well-positioned to help influence others. The first step, after all, is convincing them to organize at all. Give them hope. Aleksei is the First Liberator, the Paladin of Freedom, and though he tries to keep his presence quiet overall -- considering who he is -- he also tries to leverage it in those private moments. He isn't there to just throw weapons at them and tell them to rebel while he slips away, after all; he will stand with them. He will fight. He tells them that House Helianthus has no intention of honoring Prince Victus's abolition of thralldom, and that Duke Ivan is surely stalling for time while the Eurusi fleet travels to his shores. That Skal'daja is a City of Slavery, built on chains and auction blocks, and matters will only become worse if their fleet is able to arrive.

It is a scary prospect, but there is also hope. They bring armament, and word that Thrax and the Faith are acting, that their fleet should arrive before Eurus. Aleksei and his team will try to organize the thralls into cells so as to keep things secure. Word has to be passed quietly. People will need to be convinced, and they will need to be trained. Signals will have to be arranged and organized. Quietly. Still quietly.

And when the time is ready? They will need to be led. Timing, of course, is tricky, and will depend on some other things. If Thrax and the Faith show up and battle breaks out -- well, then it's /definitely/ time. But if Eurus looks soon to land without anyone getting in the way? Then it's also time to act.

[OOC: Things might possibly change and adjust as people put in assists and we get closer to deadline!]

Shard intends to let the others do most of the talking and convincing, while she works on helping to keep everything quiet. Secret. Organizing cells? Well, she can work on the logistics of that. Finding quiet places for meetings or safe places to store weaponry? She can probably do that too. Actually teaching willing thralls to learn how to fight? Well, Shard's not much of a teacher, but she /can/ teach, and in a pinch, she actually does have some talent to inspire, particularly when it comes to killing slavers and striving for freedom. She'll keep to the shadows when she's not needed in order to avoid drawing attention to the group, as well as to keep a keen eye out for trouble.

But mostly? Mostly Shard is here for the inevitable fight. She intends to fight by Aleksei's side, and, should things go incredibly poorly, try to get as many people out alive as possible. If they can't get out of Sungreet, then she'll have places already worked out where they can try to bunker down and wait for reinforcements, or go to ground entirely. In her mind, it's always best to prepare for the worst.

But as for the best? Well, she'll be very, very happy indeed if they manage to create a successful uprising at exactly the wrong time for Ivan Helianthus.

The Crownbreaker Wars were started when one conniving princess seduced the guard on watch, and then slit his throat so she could open the gate to the Thraxian warriors. Mirari knows this story better than most, and seduction is an old practiced move for her at this point. So while the others are inspiring the thralls to rebellion, or bringing weapons to help, or teaching the thralls a mnemonic, Mirari will be going under the guise of a recently widowed woman returning from another island to; flirt, seduce, and ensnare the guard captain and his team. Any she thinks she can either distract at a key moment or that she can turn to their side through seduction.

She's got such a pretty smile, and when her knife is hidden under her elaborately braided hair she looks oh so harmless.

She'll also be tossing in some coin to add to the funding of hiring on men-at-arms to help.

He's no Brass and no Prism, but Raymesin has been hired to help - and helping is what he does. A master of back-alley knife-em-ups and dirty fighting in general, he's there to show people that they can and should stand up for themselves and each other. Fighting with honour only counts if the other side is willing to extend that honour to you, and it doesn't matter how good a swordsman is if ten people rush in with sticks, clubs, knives and anything else that comes to hand. But, most important, Raymesin's there to show people how to turn their everyday tools into weapons. Fish-cleaners use knives, and there's not /that/ much difference between gutting fish and gutting people. Farmers lay hedges, prune, mow, and reap - and all of that takes tools, tools that can be turned to ends other than growing food for other people to eat and keeping their land tidy for them. Why should the nobility of House Helianthus benefit so much from someone else's work?

But mostly, Raymesin's here for the fight. He got hired to show these people how to use the skills they already have, and he'll make no bones about that - no-one would believe he was here out of the goodness of his own heart, even if it was true - but when it comes down to it, having the odd professional in with the rebellion they're hoping to raise can't hurt in the slightest. He's not particularly subtle, but then he's not going out to change hearts and minds. He's working with the hearts and minds that are already in, to help them become effective.

Fortunato cannot fight worth shit. Although he is a Whisper, he is not known for his persuasive weight. But he has brought some poetry. Poetry can enliven the heart and the like. He assumes thralls, unique among folk of Arvum, may not be literate, so he reads his poems aloud. He encourages memorization. He says that if they are hurt by someone stronger, or forced to do something they do not desire to do, that reciting one of these poems in private may give them heart.

Reprisal

I have been hurt.
You who hurt me.
Should understand hurt.
This is my plea.

Rescue

I have been chained.
You who chain me.
Should understand chains.
I will be free.

Moving amongst the lowest of the low is something that Raja knows. She will be going in disguise to mingle amongst the Thralls, speaking with them, being them for all intents and purposes. She will hide her dagger and cover her leather armor in the rags of thralls. She will dirty herself and even sport a bruised cheek (which she did to herself) to blend in all the more. Using this disguise, she will help spread dissent and assist in leading away the children and infirmed to safer locales to be smuggled out. She will help spread weapons through the masses.

    Venturo is only too happy to help setup distractions across the area under the guise of carnivals. He'll bring the Kismet Carnival into town, so to speak. He'll be hand picking the performers and entertainers, ones he knows and trusts well, and will give Aleksei and others the opportunity to embed some of their own agents into the carnivals as well. It will serve two points:

    First is the spread of information and organization to the thralls and others who are engaged in these activities. People come and go at these festivities, everyone is drinking and enjoying themselves... and there are plenty of areas to have clandestine conversations to organize a rebellion.

    The second thing Venturo will aim to do is to hold a large celebration for the /important/ people of the House there. The nobles. The beauracrats. The movers and shakers. A large celebration of House Helianthus and their lands. Drinks will be served for free to toast the long life of the House and their deeds, alcohol shall flow freely. And if a group of rebels seeking to free the thralls uses the opportunity to round up so many important, tipsy lords and ladies and dignitaries of Helianthus in one spot? Well, all the better!

The Blackrose lives and she has come to help.

Thralls are criminals and getting what they deserve. That's the philosophy and culture of the Mourning Isles, and particularly in traditionalist holdings such as House Helianthus' Sungreet, where thralls are just not treated softly in general. A majority of thralls are Abandoned seized from their home by war parties, with their thrall debts written as a war debt for raising arms against the Compact, even if the shav'arvani had never touched a blade or seen a member of the Compact before. And their treatment is even worse, since they are treated as murderous raiders that are ancestral enemies of the Compact.

Timing is everything, and it's hard to determine the exact right moment to start their rebellion. Weapons are smuggled in, and some of the non-combatants are smuggled out. Liberators lay the ground work. Mirari spends a great deal of time with some of the guards, and is able to help them all move freely through the city, as Mirari manages to sway a guard captain into being extremely sympathetic to their cause (though mostly to her in particular). Venturo's propaganda is proliferated through the city, priming many of the thralls for the moment, and Raja is able to help smuggle them all around the city, particularly Aleksei and Fortunato for when the time is right. Triscali, well. She is able to move herself without being seen, and wait for the moment.

The moment comes when the templars under command of Sir Preston tries to arrest Duke Ivan Helianthus.

It's unclear what exactly happened at the beaches as House Helianthus met with the templars, but a fight does break out and troops from House Helianthus move to assist and provide an opening. When that happens, Fortunato is struck by a number of chained thralls laboring as masons and working on a new building all stop and begin to recite the poem he had written, a poem they could never had heard, ignoring the angry shout of a guard to stop.

And then it all starts to happen at once.

Some of the thralls near Fortunato slip their manacles, as if their manacles were a size too large, and several guards are tackled. Cries raise up from a score of different buildings as the sounds of battle echoes throughout the city of Sungreet. Guards begin to pour out of buildings and march out from the castle of House Helianthus, and thralls are charging into the streets, frantic fights happening as the thralls are trying to get free and out of the city.

Aleksei is surrounded by dozens of thralls, giving a speech on freedom to cheers that go up around him. Raymesin shivs a Helianthus archer a moment before he would have shot Aleksei, and Mirari is ducking in and out of houses dealing with problems best resolved by sharp instruments. Mirari charges into one barracks alone to help some thralls that were trapped in there, and oddly it seems as if the entire place goes darker, and shadows seem to follow her. She emerges some time later bloody but unharmed.

Thousands of thralls are in the streets fighting Helianthus guards, though there's significantly more Helianthus troops than expected. Some of the Helianthus troops begin to fight against other Helianthus troops, including Mirari's guard captain, cheering on the liberated thralls, though the troops loyal to Duke Ivan Helianthus are cutting down thralls wherever they can, and making a push towards the gates to try to seal the city, and cut the forces of the Faith off.

Scores of armed and armored Helianthus troops rush the open gates to seal it, and are met by one woman wearing a crown and beautifully armored, holding a glaive. Perhaps a handful might recognize the artwork that had immortalized Queen Triscali the Blackrose. Perhaps a few might question why a single armed woman was there to stop them. Perhaps. But they charge all the same, swords raised and letting out battle cries at the one woman there to stop them.

There's a blast of radiant light as Triscali's glaive meets the first sword swung at her, and a dozen men are knocked off their feet. A flick of her wrist and another man charging at her is spun away with such force that him and three other men are imbedded inside a wall. Another man swings his sword at her and stands bemused as Triscali explodes into glittering pink butterflies that fade into wisps of light, and her glaive cuts him down as she reappeared behind him. Another swing of her hand and a dozen men are suddenly blinded, and she points her glaive and utters a word as the ground swallows up another group of soldiers.

And then the swell of hundreds of Helianthus soldiers and hundreds of freed thralls arrive at the gates, and it's a great melee. Eurusi are coming on land as well, and there's battle cries as swarms of Eurusi soldiers try to take the Faith in the rear. Raymesin and Mirari are fighting back to back keeping Helianthus soldiers away from Aleksei and Fortunato, as thralls trained by Raymesin are taking the fight to House Helianthus, a solid mass of armed and liberated former thralls around Venturo guarding him, many of whom are deeply grateful for the man's carnivals providing just the cover they needed for them to be armed and trained. Meeting the charging Eurusi head on is Shard, with dozens of shav ex-thralls around her as they form a wedge to stop the Eurusi from entering the city. She feathers a dozen men before they reach the walls, and then it's time for swords, as she holds a line with determined thralls who would far rather die free than return to the life they had known until today.

Queen Triscali is suddenly among the Eurusi ranks, fighting robed figures that are hurling fire and darkness at her, keeping Eurusi mages at bay. As the Black Rose fights, Aleksei hears an odd buzzing of insects and sees centipedes skittering on the ground. The buzzing gradually becomes more and more audible as he sees swarms of insects moving across the ground, "Sk... skk... skka... skaaa... SKALD. SKALD. SKALD. KIL... KILL... KILL... SKALD... KILL SKALD. KILL SKALD. KILL SKALD." In the midst of the fighting, dozens of snake-sized centipedes start trying to bite at Aleksei, as he, Fortunato and thralls around them stomp and swat at the things, as then there's a howl and a terrible snarl as a giant half-man half-wolf thing half knocks Aleksei over to get at the centipedes, tearing them apart and bitting and rending, and then leaps a solid twenty feet towards a rising humanoid form made up of centipedes, tackling to the ground and disappearing beneath a swirling melee of combatants.

As the Eurusi press in, a second force of Eurusi is arriving and attacking them, coming to the aid of the badly pressed Faith militant forces. The battle is turning as Triscali cuts down another mage trying to launch black fire towards the ranks of the Faith, and the hostile Eurusi and forces under Duke Ivan Helianthus start to withdraw, fighting a savage rearguard action as they fight their way towards the docks and beaches of the city, with both Eurusi ships and ships under Duke Ivan Helianthus begin to depart.

The battle is getting more sporadic and spread out, and the swell has left Fortunato and Aleksei as they recover an unconscious and bloody Shard with torn clothes and armor, and then Fortunato starts to have a very bad feeling. A very, very bad one he can't quite place, but a sensation of overwhelming dread. And he sees it.

One small little centipede, glowing with a sickly green, skittering through the bloody grass at Triscali, as she is fighting desperately to protect a group of unarmed thralls from a Eurusi surrounded by a dark nimbus of flame. Fortunato opens his mouth to call out a warning, even as Triscali finishes an incantation that vaporizes the Eurusi in a wave of light, and she looks up as the little green centipede wraps around her boot and bites deep, through her armor. She instinctively gestures downward and the centipede shrieks and turns to ash, but Triscali's veins in her forehead for a moment pulses a sickly green, and she tumbles over unconscious.

And then the battle is over. House Helianthus is now split in a civil war, with Lord Trevor Helianthus, Ivan's heir, has turned against him, and the Eurusi split as well, with Damik'uhl'daja the Crown Prince of Skal'daja having voiced interest in joining the Compact. Sungreet stands liberated and free... but the Mourning Isles are now at war, and two thirds of the Eurusi fleet is sailing away to the South and Southwest. Towards the Saffron, not towards Eurusi.

They are surrounded by the dead, and unconscious Shard and Triscali. Thousands of grateful thralls are free, cheering Aleksei and his friends. Many have tears of joy, knowing the first freedom since childhood. It's a victory, despite the dead, and considerable alarm over Triscali and Shard and others. And it's a beautiful day, battle aside.

Though on the horizon to the east, there's storm clouds.

A beleaguered mind left slow and wasted by sleep deprived nights and hunger pangs for the better part of a year yet clings to hope as if it were the last soft glow of a flickering flame in a labyrinth. One wherein any false move, any breath, might extinguish such a thing and leave one alone and adrift in the sticky dark.

Duarte's seclusion was by choice, but what choice did he have? And now his visits to the shrines are motivated by what? Self preservation? What is there to preserve? An obligation to his County? The one he didn't want? The final trap Belladonna laid to ensure he could never break faith with House Pravus?

How many times had he poked at the abyss? With how much smug disregard for the warnings? He'd survived near evisceration, hadn't he? Didn't he, by charm and persistence, befriend Mirari, a former most dangerous foe? And hadn't he earned Belladonna's ire for it? And didn't he earn the favor of House Velenosa to the consternation of House Pravus, on the heels of accepting a patronage from House Thrax - also to the consternation of those close to his duchess? And didn't he make the crassest Culler his own protege for a time? Did he not also patron the most controversial scholar? And every would-be scandal he slipped right through. Doing exactly what he wanted - getting exactly what he needed - and not once being thwarted or even called out.

But life has a way of catching one out, Duarte thinks, and this curse - this affliction - is the mit.

So what is there that motivates Duarte in his existing state of resignation to this sudden onset: the culmination of everything a life like his is owed? An unsworn oath to The Dream, perhaps? A pact made before birth against a command that he survive? Who knows. Who cares?

Whatever his motivation, Duarte is visiting the shrines as part of his own cleansing journey, to rid his spirit and body of abyssal taint foolishly acquired (clue 2871). And indeed, part of that journey - a small part - is for him to conduct his own Rite of Cleansing for the greater good. For the purpose of the primum we all share, in which we live, that is us - is everything.

So when the calendar falls on the 13th day, and the sundial approaches the thirteenth hour, Duarte breaks from his meditations in the Shrine of the Sentinel and invites another to watch, as he was shown, the cleansing ritual.

In the courtyard of his under construction (which construction has halted) estate, Duarte creates thirteen points of light with thirteen candles - one for each God - and submits to them each an item of significance.

But for Duarte, perhaps the ritual is different. He is to sacrifice 13 items that are meaningful and profound, but this - to him - does not necessarily mean that he must sacrifice items of particular fondness.

And while the items he selects are all meaningful in some regard, there are a few that perhaps stand out more than others:

To Limerance he burns letters he kept from years ago when he had Lianne's fondness. Whatever misunderstandings have occurred, he prays his steadfastness in honoring his oaths to her are recognized by the Gods, if they are not seen by his liege herself.

To Vellichor he burns pages from the file he's kept on Legate Bianca - those pages which contain the most damning items he'd learned of her. No one would care now, anyway, but he longs for her friendship in these lonely days and is regretful that he ever kept these.

To Gild he burns an old hat. One he wore frequently when he was a commoner. He prays that whatever he's done, at least this one sees how he's amassed wealth, improved his station - by hook or by crook - but has also given back dearly. The fact is he's not a commoner any more, and longing for "that life" is needlessly silly.

To the Thirteenth he burns a slice and a trimming from the vines that have grown and are embedded in his flesh. Irreverent, perhaps, but not theologically uninformed. Duarte's 'gift' to the 13th is not a 'gift' but a reflection of one. He's casting to the flames that which has been given to him.

And to Aion, the dreamer, Duarte burns a slip of paper upon which he had written 'the future'. Someone dunk the man in shallow water already.

Mirari arrives at the time and the place. She is there to observe so she does not interfere nor contribute. She simply observes and tries to focus on the ideas, the thoughts, the things he is putting out into the world.

Thirteen days. Thirteen baths. Thirteen prayers. Thirteen nights. Thirteen gifts to each of the Gods. Thirteen offerings of action. And on the thirteenth day, in the thirteenth hour, Duarte starts his Rite of Cleansing, as the culmination of all of this.

Through it all, Mirari watches him, observes as he sacrifices an old hat to Gild, bespeaking letting go of his longing for an easier life. She watches as he burns pages of a file on Legate Bianca, with the yearning for that old, dear friendship burning in his heart. She watches as he prays to Limerance and offers letters from a time when Lianne was fond of him, and re-pledges himself to faithfulness and steadfastness in honoring his oaths to her.

With each sacrifice, he feels stronger. He breathes a bit easier. With each moment he feels better - he regrets his smug, callous ways. His courting of scandal. He feels stronger, better, cleaner. He stands taller, as the ritual slowly comes to a close, but it's while the flames are still burning that the courtyard suddenly darkens.

"You stand balanced on a knife's point. Cleansed of Blight by the Gods you hardly believe in. Oathed to those who serve the Darkness." Indeed, he can feel that knife's point, and suddenly he feels as though he is hanging in the darkness, standing on the thinnest of supports.

And then two paths before him - one strewn with rocks and hard going, difficulties and enemies he may not survive, but in the air hangs a rainbow, bright and beautiful and perfect. The other is easier, and he can almost feel the wealth and glory that lie along that path, with enemies and obstacles still, but so much adulation.

"Choice is the greatest gift given to humanity. You must choose."

And then he is back in the courtyard, and the fires flicker out, and the vines that were once embedded in his flesh are gone, leaving only scars in their wake. But somehow he feels the vines wrapping themselves around his heart, like impending doom.

Or perhaps that's just morbid imagination.

Having been granted leave by Hadrian and Cambria to form a new vassal house -- though, without reliance on House Mazetti resources, Giulio is going to begin the work towards finding a shav tribe that would be amenable to joining the Compact. As part of this, Giulio intends to cement the new alliance with bonds of blood, and will offer to marry one of the 'noble' members of the tribe, who is of marriageable age, healthy body and hale of mind and spirit.

This endeavor will likely take some time, and will be focused in the Lyceum. To Giulio's benefit, he does speak the tongue of the Lycene shav and is going into this with the understanding that not all of the tribes are alike. He is particularly looking for a tribe that is likely to have the least difficulties with melding itself into the Compact. Additionally, he will attempt to shy away from tribes that seem to be engaged in shadowy worship.

As of late, the Archduchess of Lenosia has been personally attending whenever her vassals (or vassals of vassals) interact with the Shav'Arvani, especially when they are trying to convince them to bend the knee and join the Compact. The Grand Duchess makes a point to display the wealth and strength of the Lyceum in her person, something that potentially speaks even more loudly than the words she says.

Mydas does not speak the language of shavs, yet this barrier won't stop him from appliying his intellect in preparing messages of propaganda to put Giulio's efforts under the best light, to be translated by those able to speak the language. He does not take a center role, and indeed much to his habit, his influence is felt rather than seen. Distant aid, yet no lesser for it.

Iseulet helps Giulio with the diplomatic side of this effort and while she doesn't speak the language but she has a good mind for negotiation and a silver tongue to boot. Whenever able, she definitely pulls her weight with words in his favor, too. Not only with the tribe themselves but with the rest of the Compact trying to avoid any political messes and thumbing of noses from the Peerage as best as she can.

Elgana has never been to the Lyceum but what a better time than the present to change that! Sure, she doesn't know the land itself, but she has made a great many friends who are part of the Lyceum since coming to Arx and has learned a great deal from them about their home, their culture. And since it is now one of those friends who has called upon her to assist, assist she shall. She will accompany Giulio but stay largely out of the way of any fighting - no fighting for this Redrain! - and instead she will speak with the people and talk both Lord Giulio /and/ the Compact up. What can this man do for them? What can the Compact do for them? She'll be certain to help him give the right answers and look friendly, charming and approachable while he is giving them. She will be on her most charming behavior for if there is one thing this Bear Princess knows, its people.

As Mydas makes his influence felt from afar, Duarte takes that campaign to the lyceum directs and manages the day-to-day of the diplomatic efforts following along the generalized positions and outline set. He is receiving the debriefs from the field and planning the next diplomatic maneuvers in either continuing negotiations where appropriate, or moving on entirely; helping to isolate the most advantageous arrangements and leveraging political capital. He is essentially managing the activity and actions of the legation.

Mirari does not speak the shav language, but she can climb over the language barrier to speak passionately about Guilio and his drive and abilities. She will find people in small groups, speak to them as the Sword of Lenosia, telling them how much better life could be under good leadership.

Grazia is remarkably good at getting people to believe that what she's saying is in their best interests and even happens to be their own excellent idea. She's going to help Giulio for her own reasons, as a favor, but she'll certainly work to build him up as a paragon of Compact leadership as well as presenting Compact membership as an extremely appealing idea. She's got a commanding presence to her and she knows the Lyceum well, even if she doesn't know this particular group of shavs, and she'll make a point of lucrative alliances both in and out of their fealty chain. It's obviously pragmatic for them to form a County, for the wealth and well-being of all, especially since they'll have powerful allies.

In support of Giulio, Talen will be attending the Archduchess during her address on the Mazetti lord's behalf, complimenting the speech with a demonstration of military prowess. Velenosan infantry in full plate armour with war hounds to accompany them, fully barded heavy cavalry churning up the turf as knights ride, and destructive power of a siege weapon will be all shown as a core reason why the Shav'arvani-- unless they side with the Abyss-- are powerless against the forces of evil. It is a show meant to pair itself with Eleyna's speech in not threatening the Shav'arvani, but rather imploring them to take the protection of the Compact, so that they do not need to become the puppets of the Abyss.

Of course, it also works well as a cover for having an actual army there, just in case bad shit does go down.

House Corvini is in many ways a perfect fit, really. They aren't warlike, they were a respected house of the Compact before the Crownbreaker Wars and vague memory of them remain, they aren't shamanistic. The propaganda efforts, and particularly House Velenosa getting behind this and pushing, are largely successful mostly since the Corvinis are far more acceptable by comparison to the recent Redrain houses of wild shavs, or for the Volkovs closer to home. So critically, while the diehard traditionalists will always resent -anyone- being ennobled, even there it could be argued it's just a restoration of their deserving station and Giulio was a respected noble being granted his own holding, which is unexceptionable. Of course, some truly just hate Abandoned regardless, and there will be a lingering degree of disttrust and hate directed at Corvini, but far less than at some of the others.

Duarte and Joscelin are throwing a LEGENDARY extravaganza to open the Crafters Gallery at Crossroads Casino. For Duarte, he is newly-ish ennobled and still gets the side-eye on occasion for his base behavior and lack of "cradle-to-adulthood" grooming in etiquette and noble affairs. So he hopes to make a big name for himself and draw attention to his successes as a noble, a business man and a humanitarian. To that end he is getting his story out there by way of propaganda and social contacts, making sure it's all properly spun and laudatory by calling in some favors (investing resources).

This joint endeavor establishes a permanent storefront which will boast high-priced, high profit margin, limited edition items from designers in the city made exclusively for Crossroads.

The Grand Opening event will include a high-end fashion show with the likes of Melody Whisper, River Whisper, Gianna Whisper, Princess Katarina Valardin, Caspian and more!

Numerous sponsors have signed on to help cover the costs of the event planning, spaces and talent.

Modeling in Arx is a new trend and until now these professional trendsetters had little to no clear idea how to price their services. Duarte's work in organizing the event took a census of their societal impact and helped each establish a pricepoint for their value. The sponsors ate it up and were quick and eager to procure these services - thus establishing a new industry in the city.

This event highlights Duarte's commitment to not only artisans and artists, but the people of Bravura - the demesne of House Amadeo - to whom he swore he would represent their interests and passions here in the capital of Arvum. Not only has he stayed true to this promise, but Crossroads Casino has also been giving back to the local community and is one of the largest employers in the Boroughs, while Duarte himself does not take a single penny from the operation (as verified by independent accountants!). Can you believe he did it all while increasing Bravura revenue 62% in the past 3 months and quintupling reserves!?

Joscelin has busted her ass for this event, calling in Crafters, helping with designs, and pulling in new, up-and-coming talent to help fill in the holes in the ensembles, making personally sure every outfit is complete. She is also announcing, talking to prospective patrons looking for proteges and guiding them to Crafters that might fit what they're looking for, being the best damn Guildmaster she can possibly be without flagging.

Mirari will be present at the Fashion Show, she'll be debuting some new pieces that has been paired with clothing that others have sewn up. Known for her fashion sense, and the things she sells regularly, she'll try to draw a crowd, promising some new Corsetina creations that will amaze and hopefully inspire (people to buy things)!

Lottie has been hard at work at a new line of confections specialized for the Crossroads Casino. Wheel of Chance decorated sugar cookies, dice shape hunks of fudge, little Game of Stones boards with chocolate molded game boards and hard candy 'stones,' she's done her best to emulate the spirit of the establishment in her confectionary designs.

Giulio will work with those present to attempt to convince people that they desperately need the newest items, or that they might wish to procure something for their beaus -- various things of that ilk.

Count Duarte enters the social scene with a splash, opening a permanent storefront as part of the Crossroads Casino which will boast high-priced, high profit margin, limited edition items from designers in the city made exclusively for Crossroads. The Grand Opening event included a high-end fashion show with the likes of Melody Whisper, River Whisper, Gianna Whisper, Princess Katarina Valardin, Caspian and more! Numerous sponsors have signed on to help cover the costs of the event planning, spaces and talent, showing the general mood in the city - Duarte is clearly on the cutting edge of fashion, and people want more! more! more!

Modeling in Arx is a new trend and Duarte's commitment to artisans and artists does not go unnoticed. He manages to rope in Big Names like Guildmaster Joscelin of the Crafters' Guild, Mirari Corsetina, Sword of Lenosia, as a designer, and Lottie Parkins to cook delectable food for the Grand Opening. Lord Giulio Mazetti lends a hand too, spreading word of the Grand Opening and the fashion delights to come far and wide.

His people notice, and so does the city of Arx. The Grand Opening is mobbed, and the fashion show is a decided hit. Industrious designers start vying for attention, and overall it is weeks before people stop talking about the fashion hit Count Duarte organized. It is, as they say in the industry, a triumph.

Eirene and the Phoenix Brigade split into units to perform basic health and welfare checks on the shavs. Tending to wounds, sickness, and disease. With as big a number as there are, they focus on those who look immediately sick or look at those who seem like potential soldiers for their army. Eirene travels with an armed guard per Calypso's command orders, and every unit is equipped with translators and at least two soldiers carrying highly polished mirrored shields to ensure there's no disguised weirdness.
They are doing honest health checks to make sure there's no carried diseases or health risks, and for military readiness, however, they are also looking for the following...
*A marking of a chained book behind the ear.
*Any common tatoos which mark anyone of a particular unit or organization i.e. the Shadowspeakers tribe.
*Disease or plague symptoms

Anyone displaying any of the above are noted and sent either to quarantine if genuinely sick, or sent to report to a recruiter for the military. They will make note of the suspicious ones for later review. Some of those sent to the recruiter will be perfectly normal shavs who do indeed show fine health. They will treat any injuries or maladies while they're out and about and go to anyone who they are referred to.

Mirari will be sticking very close with Eirene. When the Vulture of Southport goes somewhere dangerous, Mirari will be with her guards. She'll have some alchemical tools with her as well, to aid those who are doing medical work, but that is not her focus. Her focus is keeping Eirene as safe as she can.

Lord Vitalis will travel to Southport with Lady Eirene Malvici and company to assist in the checking of the Shavs for odd symbols or tattoos by using his fluency in the language of the Lyceum's shavs combined with his natural charm to get them to open up to him, while using his knowledge of "weird shit" to take a close look for any sinister influences.

Marcos will be going along to help provide medical care and another set of searching eyes for the group. While checking over the Shav he'll make sure to listen to them as well as look them over hoping to gain insights from his 'patients'.

Caelis will travel south with her aunt Eirene to assist her in inspecting those who might be well suited to military training to repopulate the army while Eirene sees to the ill or injured.

As someone fluent in Lycene shav and as someone who knows some medicine but is a trained apothecary, Kia will be wandering about, speaking with the people, making sure that those waiting in Southport get the proper medical attention and services they need. She will also be discussing with other shavs life as a prodigal, especially under the Malvici banner considering her tribe on the Cyrto Arch Islands was recently annexed as well.

Under Lady Eirene Malvici, and using the flag of truce, a group of medics and healers ride out to offer their help to the assembled shav at the gates of Southport. It's a dangerous move, a risky one - but they are hoping to do some good will checkups. And hey, if they happen to scope small details like operational readiness, or proportion of cultists to "honest shav" well, that's really not why they're there of course, but they're not going to turn down that information. Mirari goes too, keeping a careful eye on the Vulture of Southport to make sure she is as safe as one woman and a crack team of soldiers can make her.

In talking to them, there's a lot of confusing information. There's a group with tattoos of glaives on their necks, who seem quite ready to fight, and there are others with no tattoo at all who also seem willing and able. And yet they're not fighting since everyone is under the flag of truce, and they honestly seem a little confused by this. They're pleasant enough though, grateful for the medical attention and willing to find common ground. It seems more like they just enjoy fighting than that they have a particular plan in place.

Kia spends the time marginally ill - something in the general area of her stomach just? ugh. It's just not right. It's worst around some of the shav that the others bow to in deference - and when she really looks at those bowing, they aren't bowing out of respect but out of fear. Meanwhile Vitalis is making friends with a group that calls themselves House Gray Raptor. They seem ready for battle, but they also don't seem very invested in whether or not that happens. They find common ground when talking about exploration though - Vitalis and the Raptors then proceed down the rabbit hole of adventure and exploring the great wilds of Arvum.

Caelis and Marcos go to together, scouting the weapons of war under the guise of Marcos looking for new patients. From everything Caelis can see, this army is extremely well equipped. They're more like an army of the Compact than a shav force, but she does notice that their armor is mismatched and confused, as though these are several forces merged together, not one united group.

Whatever they were expecting, one thing becomes clear: This is not the monolithic army they present themselves as being. Some may mean good and others may mean ill, but as with many things political, it's complicated.

The Mirrorguard have been called to have a presence in Southport to track Reveka if she comes ashore. Mirari, Costas, Enyo and possibly Acacia will be heading to Southport with a small detachment of Mirrorguard soldiers. Magpie will be watching for any illegal ships heading towards Southport from the supply lines (and in his own action). Mirari and the others in Southport will be using connections and her knowledge of merchant trade to keep an eye on vessels that might be suspicious.

She will be keeping in contact with Magpie through the supply line and will also be in touch with Eleyna and the army that the Archduchess will have present.

Costas will be posted in the port to keep an eye on the ships that are coming and going. Tracking how low they sit in the water to judge cargo, observing the behavior of the crews, and generally keeping an eye out for anything that looks out of the ordinary for port business.

Per requests, Enyo has thrown her hat in with the group that are going to be keeping an eye on the docks, looking for Reveka and anything else that might be suspicious. She plans to use her knowledge of the area as a local to find some of the best spots to keep an eye out, as well as contact anyone local in the area that she knows and trusts to help out with things.

Acacia knows a few things about port activity and will be keeping a very low profile and an eye and ear out for anything that might draw her attention (e.g. unusual activity, ships with low or unusually high waterlines, etc.) that may indicate that their target of interest is in the area. Discreetly tapping into her connections (e.g. staff in the Portmaster's office, dockworkers, local fishermen, sailors, barmaids, etc.) will allow her to broaden her reach and hopefully give the rest of the team more intel to work with. In addition, she will not only aim to identify activities in town (suspicious or not), but also around beaches, coves, smaller piers, etc., near town, just in case Reveka does not use the main port to access the area.

In all of this, as the reports of casualties come in and weary commanders sit down to write letters to the loved ones of dead soldiers, people look strangely at a sizeable force sent to Southport. The Malvici armies stayed in Southport - which, considering there are shav camped outside is understandable - but for some reason some Valardin forces and Velenosan forces also deployed there. With no public reports of the Pirate-King targeting Southport or sending his fleets there why, people wonder, were ground troops sent there at all?

In truth, some in Redrain wonder at the heavy deployment of ground forces in Setarco, what with the entire fleet deployed there too. Some argue that it was necessary for Setarco to be saved so that the chain of cities beyond that initial port weren't vulnerable. But then what about Grayson and Redrain lands? Are they not important too? They look at the destruction of Stormwall and they wonder - why so many?

And they look too to the armies at Southport and they wonder - is there some kind of corruption in the Ministry of Defense, that Compact forces were diverted to the city ruled by the Minister of Defense herself? Or was there some reason others are not privy to that made the deployment make sense? As with any confusing strategy, people start talking about it and become very passionate as they argue one pet theory or another. Overall though, Calypso, Edain, Alis, and Eleyna take some heat with Redrain, Thrax, Darkwater, and Pravus folks for diverting soldiers to a port that was never in danger from the Pirate King. Perhaps, as tempers run high, it's time for a little diplomacy.

For those in the army deployed to Southport though, the people are less concerned - particularly as they were just following orders. And, when it became clear there was nothing to do in Southport and that Setarco was seriously under siege? They high tailed it to the thick of the fighting and did their level best to make sure that they helped keep the Silk City free from the tyranny of pirates. After all, the Lyceum may be full of shenanigans and people of dubious moral character, but they're not pirates. Most of them. They're far too civilized for that.

Intrigued, Duarte determines to find out more about Veritae Evergloom. The man is clearly not unaware of the dangers of the lower boroughs, and so Duarte shall use the unfortunate occurrences that sometimes transpire in those areas of Arx.

Duarte shall trail Veritas once again to his meeting, accompanied by two sellswords.

When confirmed Veritas is heading to the pub, Duarte will give Mirari the signal to head to the inn and ransack Veritas' room (gaining access by bribing - or threatening - the front desk) to acquire any information such may provide.

Meanwhile, Orathy and Duarte will surveil Veritas and watch him pass off orders. They will then mug one of the recipients of said orders after the trade and filch the orders for study. Orathy gets to also keep any silver, or booze, or nice clothing, the man may have in his possession.

Mirari has decided that it's worth it to help Duarte. Once she gets the signal that Veritae has moved to the pub, she will move into the inn, charm the front desk and offer some silver to gain access to his room. She'll search it quickly, but thoroughly, trying to find something to help Duarte with his work. Of course, information is valuable. I hope Duarte is ready to put up to get it.

Orathy likes to do his homework. He will have followed and tailed Veritas a few days before the mission, watching him from the shadows of the lowers, noting those he speaks with. It's so that he's better prepared for when the moment comes that he needs to act for his employer. Generally he wants to make sure that when Veritas passes orders on, it won't be the fake ones that guys like Veritas usually have in case they're watched over. He wants to ensure the drop is legit and when it is, he'll drop in on the poor sap who received the orders. The mugging will be swift and from the shadows. Any items of note will be taken. The orders will be given to Duarte.

The chase is on!

Veritas heads to the pub, trailed ably by Duarte, who signals his accomplices and continues on to follow the man. Mirari taps her nose with her forefinger - a subtle sign she's on board before she drifts off to slip into Veritas' room to do a quick and dirty dump and sift.

She doesn't know how much time she has, so she slips up to the room itself, handing over the silver to make sure the woman at the front desk leaves her alone while she does. Checking the room though it seems this Veritas is careful - there's nothing incriminating here. Some clothes in the dresser that make it seem like he lives here regularly enough to have a steady room. A book or two, probably just for show - some general pamphlets on the various gods in the Pantheon that seem like the sort of thing Disciples probably leave in every room. And nothing else.

Meanwhile, Duarte witnesses a clandestine meeting. At one point he even takes the opportunity to stroll past the table casually while heading to the bar, hoping to glean something - and indeed he does, as he can't hear much more than the word "cobalt" but it's enough to make him look away to cover the widening of his eyes. At this particular meeting, it seems that money is changing hands - from the contacts, to Veritas specifically.

And then there's Orathy. Orathy dutifully trails one of the men Veritas meets with, and discovers a paper with little more than an address and a number - but the address is one Orathy knows vaguely - it's in the warehouse district, so it's entirely possible that this is the location of whatever it is the men at the table paid so dearly for. Perhaps? The man certainly doesn't have anything else of note on him, other than 20 silver pieces that Orathy adds to his own pockets instead.

So when they meet up again - a warehouse, a muttered word and the appearance of a long-term residence in the city. Whatever is going on it's set up well.

Calypso is sending a letter to Baroness Kima, Sword of Southport, with an invitation and request for her to come back to Arx and join the group for Malvici Fealty Dinner, lovingly referred to as the Debriefing Dinner. These are typically the group’s chance to speak openly and freely and gain alignment and set out towards new goals. Having the Baroness there is crucial.

She is sending Costas with the letter, trusting him to deliver it directly. He will be taking his ship to get there and back swiftly and will offer to captain for her voyage back to Arx.

At the end of the dinner, Calypso will ask Mirari to help out by having the Fealty’s blades sharpened and prepared for the next engagement, and suggest to have Skysplitter prepared as well. Offering up her own alaricite sword, Truestrike, to go with it as a sort of subtle assurance that the blades will be coming back.

When Mirari takes the blade, she will be doing so with the intent of trying to understand the origins of Skysplitter, and any connections it might have to the lance of the same name mentioned in Dragonslayers, Fact or Fiction. She will be looking at it from both the perspective of a weapon smith and alchemist.

Skysplitter is left in Kima's room. Of the baroness, there's no sign at all. She's clearly gone missing, and has been missing for some time, with currently no explanation to her whereabouts or what might have happened. There was a trace of blood in her room though, alongside of the bed, and a stain (carefully hidden) under the pillow, as if someone was stabbed or had their throat cut while they slept.

Eirene will be overseeing the project testing on various samples regarding the Malar poison used in the attempt to kill Alis. First of all, she will have a vial of Alis’ blood and a second of her own (As control). She will have a sample of the Malar poisons and a common poison (another control)). She will then distribute the samples in a blind test to various people and observe their results (To ensure 1. That the blood is not kept and 2. The poisons are not kept) She will mix up the samples and the control so that no one has any kind of preconceived bias or knows which they have., with the exception of Eleyna and Blacktongue – they both get both samples. Eirene hopes Blacktongue & Eleyna may be able to develop an antedote against the stuff to be certain they can’t use it on Alis or her baby. Valery will get Alis’ blood and the common poison, Mirari will get Eirene’s blood and the Malar poison, Maeve will get both control subjects. If there are any bizarre results, I’ll be happy to GM the scene out with the respective testers.

The poison appears to be a mixture of several rare naturally occuring poisons made from plants growing up in the Red Mountains combined with a venom from a certain rare snake. Through mixtures, they think they've developed an antidote, though it seems a little unreliable. It will probably save someone. Probably. Maybe.

Lady General Calypso Malvici has been assigned as the field commander to lead an assault up-river to attack one of the four columns of Brand’s army. She will be leading forces from House Malvici, House Velenosa and House Pravus in the form of infantry and archers. Other commanders she is coordinating with are Prince Victus Thrax, Princess Deva Redrain, Princess Alis Valardin and Duke Valkieri Rubino.

The host of Compact forces will be traveling up-river by boats provided by Thrax, the Lyceum and the Black Mountain Training Company. We will be searching for an ideal location to set up our assault. High ground for archers, a place to anchor the ships and a field for the infantry. All with the goal of eliminating the entire column of Brand’s forces to weaken the army by one fourth.

Calypso will also be wielding Truestrike, the alaricite rapier during this battle.

The group of soldiers Inigo is in command of are the remnants of the same crew he commanded at the Battle of Pridehall, additional men filled in to replenish the losses from the previous battle of course. He wields Recompense, the diamondplate longsword, hoping this time to be more effective at taking down Bringers, saving his men from their wrath. The battalion's mission is to do as much damage as possible to Brand's army, fighting fiercely at the front lines of combat.

As the result of a discussion with Eirene, at least one member of the battalion will possess bow and arrows, the arrows themselves tied with highly visible cloth that will be fired into the air should the group encounter a High Bringer. This is to alert any of the special forces that are intended to take down such targets that one has been found. Inigo will, of course, engage any he sees himself, as he is the best equipped in the battalion to take on such a threat. The goal is to either slay the High Bringer, or delay it long enough for one of the special forces to arrive and kill the creature.'

Costas will be Calypso's bodyguard for the campaign, at her side at all times as well as defending her in battle. He sleeps in the same tent as her to ward against potential assassins, and is only ever removed from her vicinity for private discussions with other nobility.

Although sending squadrons of the Malvici Phoenixes to assist the other Compact forces, Eirene brings her hand-picked finest battle medics to accompany herself to the front with General Calypso. She will ensure the triage centers are defendable and coordinate medical efforts with the Mercy's and other assigned medics.

Waldemai will be deploying with the field forces under Calypso's command to provide on-site armor evaluations, upgrades and repairs.

Harmon will accompany Eirene, supplementing her medical expertise with his knowledge of occult matters as well as alchemy in order to stretch out supplies without losing efficacy.

Mirari will be joining Eirene and her medics, providing medical supplies via her apothecary skills, where she can. And defending the medical tents and medics with her small blades should forces break through the lines and to the medic station.

For the next stage of the Bringer's march on Arx, Alis will be accompanying the combined forces led by Lady General Calypso Malvici.

She will be in charge of the Valardin Infantry and Archers. Her instructions to those under her command will be to help divide and flank pockets of the enemy column into more manageable groups; with a warning about the berserker Bringers, and that they should call out a warning when the berserkers are spotted so they can be swarmed and taken down as quickly as possible. She will be participating in the battle.

    Ansel will be leading the Telmar forces in Princess Alis' forces supporting Lady General Calypso' mission of eliminating the shav forces at the river.

    Ansel will be coordinating with, and taking orders directly from, Princess Alis as the forces deploy to engage the shav forces. He's delegated total authority of his subordinate sections to his vassal house's commanders, providing them instruction pertaining to the general goals of the mission, but leaving the exact manner of accomplishing those principles to his subordinate commanders.

    For his part, Ansel will be taking direct command of a small company comprised of a section of archers supporting a small team of hand-picked swordsmen. Their mission will be to identify any Bringers at the outset of the engagement, particularly any beserker Bringers, and eliminate the most serious threat to the Valardin column as quickly as possible. He'll be leveraging the support of the archer section, as well as the Telmar diamondplate heirloom weapon, attempting to dispatch these threats hastily.

As Alis' second-in-command, Fiachra will be coordinating his efforts directly with her, using his knowledge and experience of Greenmarch tactics in facing a larger force. (Particularly from an archer/scout standpoint.) As before, he will be using his particular talents for assessing the terrain (see his metaplot secrets) to any advantage it can afford for the troops under General Calypso's command. He will not be leaving Alis' side, and will be watching for threats to her life.

Barric will be accompanying Calypso's force upriver. During the battle he will be focusing his efforts on identifying and destroying the massive and hulking Bringer beserkers. Presumably with a team of other soldiers doing the same, he will position himself on the battlefield when one of the monstrosities is found and engage them in an attempt to minimize their devastating impact. He has fought one before and wields Elvesbane, the alaricite blade of House Grayson.

The Mirrorguard (led by Talen and Luca), Valorous Few (led by Audric and Kima) and Grayson (Barric and Reese) strike teams have been given the high profile task to break the River Column morale by gunning for the Undead Generals (like Hush!) and Abandoned Beserkers that undoubtedly guard them.
Their troops will be armed with fire and poison (supplied by Eleyna, Blacktongue, etc) for more effective fighting against the standard Bringers and Abandoned respectively while the commanders named above will be using their diamondplate and alaricite weapons in combat with the big baddies - individually, as pairs or in teams as is appropriate.
Talen will be wielding Mirror Blade, the alaricite blade of House Velenosa and as usual will be fighting dirty as fuck.

Holden will be with the Valardin Infrantry forces leading one of the smaller manageable groups under Alis's command. He will be participating in the battle.

Valkieri is leading the combined troops of Rubino, Zaffria, and Igniseri under the coordination of Lady General Calypso. Their naval forces for the journey upriver are under the sub-command of Lady Ariella Igniseri, and Lord Luis Igniseri and Captain Gian Fuller are also a part of their ranks. He will be leading a mix of archers, infantry, and some cavalry, and it is the cavalry that he will be among on his warhorse Tempest.

Kima, for this particular excursion, joins Captain-General Audric of the Valorous Few to do what she does best: slaughter enemies upon the field of battle. With her recent gift of an alaricite blade, the Absolute, she has been chosen as part of the strike force targeting Bringer generals and berserkers.

Audric and the Valorous Few (and Kima, see her action) will be taking part in Calypso's offensive action against one of the oncoming Bringer armies. Specifically, they'll be part of the strike force meant to target the Bringer Generals and Berserkers in an attempt to take out their core leadership. Since alaricite seems to make them basically die instantly, he'll be using Coinspinner, his alaricite sword for the fight.

Luca is joining the special assault squads going to the river column front alongside Talen, leading the Mirrorguard prong of three groups all hunting the biggest, baddest Bringers they can find, whether commander types, berserker types, or anything else monstrous they can cut down with Alaricite or Diamondplate. Luca will be fighting with Viper's Fury, his diamondplate sabre and Viper's Fang, his HQ steel blade, unless Lorelai ends up finding him an alaricite blade before then as she implied might be feasible, in which case he'll fight with diamondplate and alaricite. He is going to try and identify and cut as quick a path as possible to any big bads and asplode them with heart or head shots of the diamondplate (or alaricite). Luca very much will be trying to keep an eye on state of Reese and Barric's team as he wanted to accompany them to see Reese safer but was overruled by Calypso. If Reese ends up in trouble and Luca has any hope in the Abyss of cutting his way to her, it's possible he'd break orders and go and try to save her (and is something our players OOCly sort of want for a bonding moment of fighting side by side). Luca's more than a little burnt out by rage, grief, pain, and discontent with lack of challenge at Pridehall, so it's quite likely he'd take greater risks than he probably _should_ strictly if it meant finding a greater challenge in this battle, though only the sort of risks that would get himself hurt, not that'd kill off hundreds of others depending on him.

Under Valkieri's direction, Gian will be leading the Infantry of Rubino-Zaffria, from the front line. In addition to defending archers or attacking as ordered, he will have a number of guardsmen nearby for a rescue/recovery assignment, in case Duke Valkieri's stupid horse goes down.

Reese is joining the special assault squad going to the river column front alongside Barric, as a member of the three groups all hunting the biggest Bringers they can find, whether commander types, berserker types, or anything else monstrous they can cut down. This is a six person team (Talen, Luca, Audric, Kima, Barric and Reese). Divided into 3 pairs. Reese is with Barric.

Reese is fighting with Devotion, her alaricite superb short sword. Reese plans on using Dex+medium wpn as her attack skills. Her sword is 10 dam, 12 damage bonus and -2 difficulty. She will have Dazzler her rubicund excellent short with her just in case. She will wear her hq steel armor with mitigation 68. She is going to try and identify and cut as quick a path as possible to any big bringers and explode them with heart or head shots (but not mouth shots!) with alatricite. She plans to keep close to her cousin Barric. she will try to watch out for him. She plans to fight side by side with him. If Barric falls in battle, she will be attempting to retrieve Elvesbane, the Grayson house sword from his body.

Ariella will be leading the naval actions of the Rubino, Zaffria, and Igniseri from her ship the Red Bargain, up the river in support of the attack.

GOing with Eirene's healing unit, using uber medical skills, chatting with hurt soldiers for morale boosts, offering last rites to those willling to have them with a THirteenth bent.

Eleyna will be gathering any and all alchemists willing to assist in the upcoming war effort, including Blacktongue and Emeline, to provide additional supplies to the three strike teams put together by Lady General Calypso. The Mirrorguard (led by Talen/Luca), Grayson (led by Reese/Barric) and Valorous Few (led by Audric/Kima) forces will be given fire and poison to fight the Bringers and Abandoned respectively, so their troops which are not wielding alaricite and diamondplate can gain the upper hand when cutting their way towards the generals.

Continuing his role as the back channel logistical man, Maximilian has hired ships to transport and maintain logistical ties for up to 7000 extra men, as well as bringing a few of his river-capable warships along to help keep river pirates off the goods. He's getting paid back for this, right? Right? Why is everyone suddenly quiet?

Max will be investing 300 Military Resources (Darkwater) into outfitting many of the merchant ships as riverine warships, as he anticipates that the enemy will try and cut Calypsos supply line. He will take personal command of this unit and use it to keep the enemy from severing those lines. They will look like normal merchant vessels, just covertly outfitted with weaponry and marines.

Deva will be commanding the Redrain portion of the overall river assault under Calypso's direction. Her forces will consist of approximately half of overall Redrain troops (archers, infantry, etc.), several hundred Nightgold archers and calvary, and at least a chunk of Halfshav infantry as well. The goal is to separate the enemy as best as possible to make it easier to cut them down. Adjustments will be made as necessary per any instructions given in the thick of it, and Deva will be flexible with fighting both ranged with her archers, and up close melee on the front lines as/if needed.

Artorius is leading a battalion of Malvici warriors under General Calypso's command up the river.

Dagon will be joining the forward operation to flank and cut through the ranks of the Bringer army, and focus on finding and eliminating Bringer generals and berserkers; the baddest of the bad. He will be working alongside three other strike teams (Valorous Few, Mirrorguard, and Graysons) with his own hand picked Knights of Tyde. Dagon plans to attack with Reafian, the sword of House Thrax, while wearing rubicund plate, and plans to lead at the head of his unit, and work quickly to cut a path into the generals. In and out, ruthless and efficient; everyone on this mission was hand-picked, and Dagon has no illusions about saving anybody -- not today. They can handle themselves, they are all warriors, and they all are prepared to die. His mind is on breaking this army, here and now, to save those back at Arx the trouble, and he will single out the generals with a one-track determination, trusting his men and the others to cover his back.

Serafine is aiding Dagon Tyde as his second, following his orders but exercising her own judgement and experience, wielding her diamondplate blade, Pathway, to use it to its namesake and cut a path into her foes, using light, well-made, high quality leather armor, efficient and dangerous, using her speed, strength, and endurance to her advantage. With her experience in the past of killing and identifying Bringers in earlier campaigns and missions as well as her exceptional skill at killing the Shav-slaves they keep, she would do her damnedest to get the job done as efficiently as possible, while also do her best to stay safe and, if the Gods allow it, return home to her loved ones, more or less in one piece.

Leta will be joining the Valorous Few, with Audric and Kima, in the attack on the Bringers. Since she just has rubicund and steel, she'll stick to protecting Audric and Kima's backs by helping cut a path to the big Bringers and fending off any counter-attacks with the rest of the Few. Leta isn't planning on any heroics, but if some opportunity presents itself to chop some Bringer in the side, or to attempt a rescue of some of our heroic alaricite wielders, she'll probably take it. If Audric dies, she's grabbing his sword. If there's time for it, she'll also go through his pockets. He would have wanted it that way.

Estaban is joining the Archers under Calypso's comand.

Garza will be joining Audric and the other Valorous Few as part of the strike force meant to target the Bringer Generals and Berserkers in an attempt to take out their core leadership. He'll be fighting with his bow and sword, focusing on range tactics unless he needs to fight in close quarters combat.

Inquisitor Alistair and a cadre of loyal Confessors (loyal to him) will be accompanying Lady General Calypso and her command guard. From there the man will observe the battle, keeping an eye out for the presence of Bringers and any possible abyssal magic that the enemy will be using. He will point out Bringers that he identifies as well as issuing warnings of their approach and/or the workings of any abyssal magic. Further he will be keeping an eye on any Compact soldiers who attempt to use magic, though he will not stop them. If battle is joined his Confessors armed with crossbows and he armed with a blade will fight with the cry "May the Sentinel guard the Righteous!" on their lips.

Halsim is supplying the armies intercepting at the river, along with the archers at the ramparts, with poison for their arrows and other gear they might want. Anyone who wants any other alchemical supplies is welcome to approach him for supplies as well.

Karadoc will be assisting from General Calypso's command tent. A (lazy) genius, he's been pressed into action to support his leige lord family as best as he is able, and is (reluctantly) doing so. A veritable master of economics, he's working to solidify support lines, arranging resupplies, and acting in a manner most mercantile. His efforts are on food and fresh water for the soldiers, leaving the specialized supplies to those better able to provide. He'll be traveling with his favorite cousin Kima, though, will certainly be confined to non-combat rolls, stuck in/around the command tent.

Caelis will be serving under Lady General Calypso largely as transpertation. She'll be leading the Malvici ships carrying troops up the riber and back. While they are up the river she'll join the troops in battle on the field.

Zhayla will be joining the Grayson forces with her alaricite trident, looking for the biggest, meanest bad guys and the worst of the fight where she might make the biggest difference and look ~so heroic~. Even if it is super risky.

Infamous for being the man to survive the poisons of his former position, Blacktonge is the defacto unspoken, but recognized with knowing nods, poison maker for House Velenosa - apples be damned. The Harlequin of House Velenosa will open up his lab, chuck out the apples, and pour all of his work into making the poisons to help along the blades wielded by Talen and crew.

Live GM'd and resulted in the destruction of the Bringer column after a confrontation with a Formorian Bringer of Silence.

Duchess General Calypso Malvici is leading half of the Malvici Military and hald of the Velenosa Military Northwards to help Duke Vercyn stave off any Abyssal tainted Shavs in the Northlands. They will also hold the area secure in hope of keeping the Horned God's influence from spreading. She intends to travel north with the rest of the committed Lycene troops to help coordinate with the Redrain forces there.

She will also be working to coordinate with Princess Freja's efforts to search for weapons and locate the weapon which is thought to be hidden inside the Palace of Arx.


Calypso will be taking the following team with her in to the Palace to search for the weapon rumored to be there. She has expressed permission from His Majesty King Alaric, with the stipulation that any weapons uncovered become the property of the King's Own. Agreeing to that, the team is formed - Sir Miles of the King's Own, Princess-General Alis Valardin, Princess Reese Grayson and Master Costas.

As is her role as a Brigadier General, Eirene will be taking command of the Malvici battle-medic Phoenix Brigade but will also be coordinating with the other medical forces of the Lycene houses to ensure there is ample medical attention and protection for the healers working in triage outside of the lines.

She will also use her knowledge of occult lore and superstition to be on the lookout for any magical maladies or unusual attacks which may be used against their forces.

Working on the 'wolf of Skald' being a counter to the Horned King's magic, she will keep a small supply (from Eleyna- not poisoned) to test on any out of the ordinary wounds or afflications she may encounter.
She also prepares for frostbite and trenchfoot and other cold-weather maladies.

A man known for being adept with Logistics, Edward will bring his expert skill at quartermastering and logistics to the entirety of Calypso's forces. Working with the Captains and Sergeants he will make sure that each command has the necessary equipment and supplies needed to do their job but also have a proper amount of extra resources allocated to cover unfortunate happenstances. He will work with the supply teams to ensure proper packing of foods and materials that an army on the move will need and ensure that it is packed efficiently and in as few trains as possible to keep a short and tight supply line to limit its vulnerability.

In addition, he brings with him a portion of his own Whitefrost forces who are adept at defensive combat due to the military conditions in the Isles that breed that kind of warrior. He will use his forces as the Duchess General directs with the recommendation she deploy them in a defensive capacity.

To be appended.
Merek will travel with the forces that are heading to the North with Fidante (should any of them be assisting in this, if not then generically he will be under Calypso's Command). He will take a token force of the Iron Guard if permitted to assist them, with permission from Velenosa and Redrain should it be allowed. He also has his three personal guards and champion assigned to his protection, and his secretary for logistic matters. His action is a bit different from the others. While he will be willing to fight and will travel north, and has skill and his special blade in case any Abyssal threats are met that require such weapons, his main focus will be on the monetary and logistics only in a different manner, instead as a Merchant he will be working on forging the best of weapons and armor he can, which admittedly isn't too much, and he will be helping with field repairs as well. In addition to that he will be assisting in funding the expedition so that the army lacks for less as they travel. This likely means he will be assisting 'Edward' in addition to any Fidante forces, to help boost the man's work in logistics. (In other words, non-combatant unless he's required to fight in full. Mostly Command/Logistics/Smithing to some extent)

Special note: His personal Guard is loyal and willing to lay down their lives to ensure his safety, and I accept that if this happens to them it will be a loss of the Agents/Retainers that do such an act.


[He will be bringing 80 Iron Guardsmen to assist the soldiers. A token force at most, but more folk it is nonetheless.]

Since Inigo is marching out, he will be with the Fidante folk, who are under Calypso, and then the Guards he brought will be under him, with oversight of the chain of command upwards but answering to him.

Estaban will be gathering his troops in the next few days running them through drills and since most are from the south teaching them about the cold counditions of the North as he has been there first had and almost froze. Once they are ready he will let Calypso know and they will being prepping to march out at her side.
Estaban will be marching with the House Saik army, I can not add them to the Crisis at the moment because I am Admiral of the Malvici fleet at and can not also command the saik Army at the the same time code wise. I spoke with Apostate and he told me to note it in the crisis.

Alis is going to help Calypso with searching the Palace for a shiny.

Count Artorius Magnotta sends warriors to aid and serve in Duchess Calypso's army in the effort to help the fight against Legion, as well as personally joining the fray himself to fight in the impending conflict.

As the commander of the Army of Tor, Duke Inigo Fidante will be leading half of the strength of the Fidante army north to assist in the military exercise. Inigo has been under the tutelage of the Duchess General in leadership and warfare but is still very green when it comes to engagements. This being the case, the Duke will be issuing commands to his army but under the instruction and guidance of Duchess Malvici. If needed, i.e. if things get messy and he needs to take a more hands on approach, the Duke is outfitted with his armor and diamond plate sword 'Recompense'.

Sparte will be marching out with the Iron Guard contingent, to assist in what ways he can. As a line and file guardsman that may not be much, but he'll still be there. His main contribution will likely be chiding the other guardsmen on packing appropriately for cold weather, and making poor quality maps of things they see along the way.

Anze begins the preparations to support Vercyn with the Malvici troops by making sure that the Malvici forces are well prepared for the journey north. Having grown up in Farhaven and serving under Vercyn, he makes sure to meet with the Malvici forces commanders and Lieutenants to go over the basics of the terrain, their path up, and what the weather might be like. Knowing that the Malvici forces are from the furthest southernmost tip of Arvum, he makes sure that they will bring cloaks and other supplies to keep them warm in the for northern spring.

Any Lycene forces showing an interest in learning what Anze knows also get his support, going over the basics of maps, terrain, and weather so that they know what to expect.

Anze will spend his time helping Calypso command the Malvici forces, and being ready to step in in case she has to move to another location or work with other groups. Having worked with Vercyn and knowing the northern forces well, he would work to make sure that the Malvici and northern forces mesh well and can work together in the most efficient way.

In addition to half of the Velenosa forces being lent to the cause of fighting Legion, Talen has committed half of the Mirrorguard forces as well. He'll personally lead these as a strike force available to the plans and whims of Duchess CAlypso Malvici who has been given the temporary control of southern forces pledged to Darren under her command by Eleyna Velenosa. Talen's agents are primarily focusing on geurilla-style warfare, laying traps and ambushes to known points where the Northlands shavs attack. This will be in addition to any forces provided by Baron Audric De Lire who is sending his Valorous Few, if any, as they are known to have similar styles of assault and a 'get the job done under any means necessary' attitudes.
Talen is using Eleyna's wolf-blood poison (detailed in her action) against the corrupted Shav'Arvani in battle and other creatures under the Horned God's control to demonstrate whether the theory is correct.

Miles will babysit these Malvici (all except Eirene who needs no babysitter) as they bumble about the Palace. To keep them in line he will tactically and strategically grump at them. Miles is working with them to explore the palace, keeping an eye out for potential security breaches and if a weapon is found, securing it for the Crown per His Majesty's orders.

Costas will be present in his role as Calypso's bodyguard as she hunts in the Palace.

Duchess Calista Fidante is assisting House Fidante's actions to better prepare the military for battle in the North.
Duchess Calista Fidante is assisting House Fidante's actions to better prepare the military for battle in the North. House Fidante is sending in half their military forces under the command of Duke Inigo Fidante with Sword of Tor Dante Fidante on the helm. For her part, the Duchesses of Roses will be aiding in diplomatic efforts.

Mirari will be using her knowledge of alchemy and apothecarism. She'll be selecting skilled warriors that she knows won't object-- and she'll be poisoning their blades. Things that will debilitate and make it easier for the warriors to win, but not be particularly torturous or awful.

Being neither a commander nor a scholar of the occult, Eleyna's actions are those of support from Arx rather than traipsing into the field with the others. As a show of her faith in the alliance between Redrain and Velenosa, bonds forged in shared grief and, now, in deep friendship between Eleyna and Darren, she pledges half of the Velenosa army to go North and assist. As a show of trust, she offers Duchess General Calypso Malvici command of those forces in the North as Talen will be focusing on the Mirrorguard, who are better suited toward guerilla-style combat than military maneuvers.

As a small side action, after a discussion with Lady Eirene Malvici, Eleyna retreats into her lab and, using what she learned in the last war regarding spiders and their use against Bringers, mixes up a concoction of wolf's blood (ethically sourced, of course!) sinces wolves were thought to be a 'Skald' thing and nettle poison, known for causing painful blistery rashes. She instructs Talen to put it on his sword at some opportune time. Just as a test.
((Could not add the army due to org permissions, but they will be there!))

As part of the Malvici Military, Fiora accompanies in helping Duke Vercyn by providing archery support and heeding the orders of her cousin, Duchess General Calypso. And for kicks, maybe she'll see about protecting her family members from getting hurt or instead goad her twin brother into fight alongside her like old times. The things people do for family, liege, and fealty.

Lord Dante Fidante, Voice of Fidante and Sword of Tor will be headed North to help in assisting Duke Inigo with the Fidante forces, along with this, as half of the Mirrorguard have been committed to the attack, Dante will be assisting Prince Talen and the Mirrorguard as well. He will mostly be there on a combative basis, and not so much as being in command. Despite this, if Inigo were to need assistance leading the Fidante forces, he is there in his position as both voice and Sword.

Dafne entrusts half of the Rubino-Zaffria troops to Calypso's command for this action. She takes time to give them a stirring speech beforehand. And warm clothing.

Back in the Gray Forest, even more fortifications are being built and strengthened. Baron Edward Stormbreak brings his particular expertise in logistics and quartermastering to aid and advise the forces led by Duchess General Calypso Malvici. Merek Black also comes, helping with the setup of their home away from home and helping make sure that the logistics and supply chain is as secure as possible. Brigadier General Eirene Malvici coordinates a triage center as well, using supplies graciously donated by Princess Eleyna Velenosa. Duchess Dafne Zaffria assists by sending troops, and Mirari Corsetina seems to have developed an unholy interest in polishing blades (that is not a euphemism, folks). Those soldiers willing to let her look at their swords tend to be very careful with handling them afterwards. All in all though, these defenses are a success, and the soldiers operating in the Gray Forest are safer as a result. Estaban, Artorius, Inigo, Sparte, Anze, Talen, Fiora, Dante, Calista, and Calypso are handling some guerilla action as well, drawing the shavs loyal to the Horned God deeper and deeper into a trap.