eastbound | Entries tagged with arcane: caitlyn

[ Her voice is a low rasp with her murmured poem—melancholy. ]

"Though fate ordains we now must part
Companions true a little while
I grasp with firm and grateful heart
The gift of friendship's gentle smile

Shared roads together we have walked
O'er hill and dale, mist dark and light
Enriching bonds between us talked
Dispelling shadows with delight

With backward glances fondly cast,
Cherished mem'ries I'll keep secure.
Though winds of change now blow by fast,
Affection's ties shall yet endure."

[ Onward to text. ]

My dear allies and friends,

You are, all of you, stunning fighters — in violence, yes, but also in wit and heart. It has been a strange blessing for me to have known and fought among you all. I am glad for it, and I thank you for the company shared in these arduous trials. I have never known anything quite like it, and it has allowed me a modicum of peace — or something like it — in our final days together. Something I did not think possible for any world that had me.

This war has been won, but the city still recovers. I will remain to help where I can, and keep watch over the beacons.

Should anyone else have nowhere to return, then you are welcome company.

For all who return home, however we have known one another... I shall miss you, and will not forget you, and I may selfishly hope that you will remember our time together.

Sincerely,
Vanessa Ives

reparo

[The video isn't accidental this time, and focuses on Hermione - her face rosy-cheeked and smiling, actually smiling.

To the observant eye, one can tell she's in the old, dilapidated house that some people used during the final battle in Hatthevar as a sort of refuge. (It's the Macarena house.)]

Friends - ah, I've been thinking all day what I'd say to us all after a battle as final and difficult and hard as this one. I didn't get to say this to my friends back home, I didn't get the chance to say this to Harry, but...here goes.

Well done. You did your best, and you somehow saved the day. Look at this place. Look at this world! I know the beacons are being repaired, so it's still sometime before we leave but I think we could say we're leaving it better than we found it?

[Like it's hard. She lets out a tiny laugh.]

Also, I think - and I'm not taking any feedback on this - that I've earned myself this.

[The view focuses on the floor, where she is sitting currently, and specifically on a half-empty bottle of wine. Hermione gone wild.]

clavesregni

[Caitlyn and Benedict are standing together. Caitlyn speaks hurriedly and excitedly into the camera. She's got a couple of black-and-white photos of Julien's bedroom that she's showing off - it's pretty indistinguishable from any of the bedrooms that everybody else is staying in, no personal touches. One photo is of a rose suspended under a glass dome.]

Julien is hiding something. And the servants know more than they’re letting on, too. A group of us broke into Julien’s bedroom, and several of the servants seemed quite nervous about it. The clock in particular tried to warn us off.

[Benedict spoke up for a moment here to mention the additional challenges to getting inside the room:] It wasn't just the servants or a locked door that tried to deter us from going inside either. There was a magical barrier set to electrocute anyone attempting to get in. It wasn't particularly powerful, but it was very well crafted and artfully stabilized magic for a small zapping current.

[Caitlyn cuts in:] As though the person who set it didn't want to hurt anyone.

[Benedict continues:] There didn't seem to be any other alarms set though.

[He gestured at Caitlyn to continue, which she did eagerly.]

The bedroom hardly looked like anyone lived there. There was nothing personal about it. It looks remarkably identical to the bedrooms we’ve been staying in. The few things we did find were a golden rose beneath a glass dome, a worn cloak, and a few love letters addressed to Julien. The rose is identical to those growing at the base of the tower in which the prince is living, but unlike those this one was golden in the middle of the day, while those, as far as I’ve seen, only bloom golden at sunset.

It's the same as those roses but much more magically potent. Why it was given to him to keep elsewhere, however, was beyond our abilities to discern at the moment. I suppose it could have just been a gift, or maybe there's more to it than that.

[Benedict was a little frustrated about that, but he didn't let it show beyond his lapse back into silence and a small frown on his face. Any more than that and he'd have trouble with his Companion. Thankfully, Caitlyn had plenty more to address.]

The cloak seems to indicate that Julien doesn’t come from wealth. He may be from one of the nearby villages. It is odd, though, that he would keep the cloak, especially as he seems to have no other similar clothes. It’s possible the cloak isn’t his, but whose it would be, I don’t know. The letters are all quite similar to each other. [She took a photograph of these, and she holds one up to the camera.] They all profess the writer’s love for Julien, but also accuse him of being aloof and withholding his affection. If these are from the prince, what could have changed? How did they meet, and when did Julien fall in love?

[Benedict seemed to blink out of his frustrated reverie and replied to Caitlyn's last bit.]

Assuming he wasn't just forced to stay here and fell in love during that time. [Someone here was thinking of The Beauty and the Beast.] As a final note: the whole room felt of loneliness. Everything about Julien speaks of...feeling alone. Both Cole and I could feel it seeping from every corner of the room. [There was a beat of silence and then Ben glanced at Caitlyn before hurriedly adding a conclusion.] Right, I think that about covers everything we found. It's not much but it's a piece of the puzzle. Any... uh, questions about what we saw? Or additional insight from other investigating?

Yes, if we can collect as much information as possible, I know we'll be able to get to the bottom of this and help the prince. [Said with all the conviction in the world.]

clavesregni

[Caitlyn sounds a bit out of breath, like she just did one too many push-ups. Did Narula make her double her exercise regimen for stepping out of line? And has she been doing it even though there wouldn't really be any meaningful consequences if she didn't? Maybe so.]

I've been down to the docks, and Lan Wangji and I spoke with a man there. A whale, really. Who confirmed that Matthias is the recipient of the tainted grain. Matthias met with Caius Justus, and the whale claimed that it was Matthias' counsel that influenced the founding of the Hand, which of course went on to supervise the grain production.

The whale also mentioned that Matthias was notably unremarkable, and no one recalls his face. And that his merchant credentials are suspect.

What's more, Narula confirmed his knowledge of the use of black water to transform Hand soldiers. The hand that Wen Kexing found was clutching a scrap of purple fabric, which Narula also confirmed most likely belonged to him, though he claimed to know nothing of the hand and that his clothes must simply have been torn during the chaos of the Colosseum. Whether that's true or not... [She doesn't love the idea of accusing a superior officer of lying or committing underhanded deeds, but it's pretty clear that in this case, Narula can't be trusted.] He's involved with Matthias and the grain shipments, whether or not he knows of Wen Kexing's hand.

wifedup

( There is a hand. The hand is palm up, fingers splayed, unmoving where it lays upon a desk. Someone has bandaged it from the wrist leaving the space where an arm should be a little less gruesome, though the hand is still unmistakeably without an owner and currently lifeless. Beyond the hand is Wen Kexing, slouched in a chair, a carefully cultivated air of boredom about him. He's exchanged his usual blue robes for new ones of vivid red and he sits in the flickering candlelight looking down at the hand with the faraway sounds of laughter and music surrounding him. Without a word he reaches inside of his sleeve to produce a gold ring, holding it up to his network device before he drops it on the desk, a little further from the hand. There is a moment, two, and then the hand wobbles like a turtle on it's back before it flips itself upright and begins to move, crawling towards the discarded jewellery. The ring is plucked up, clumsily fitted halfway on to one of the digits, the size too small for the broadness of its fingers. They clench in response, and Wen Kexing hums. )

I don't know about you, but where I'm from severed limbs aren't supposed to lend themselves to vanity.

( The hand, now alert, scuttles around Wen Kexing's desk plucking up anything it can. Another sigh and the man himself is lifting a half-empty wine bottle out of the way, his attention turning back to the camera. ) I found it in the middle of one of those rifts. It had an effect on the corpses around it so I thought it might be useful. They seemed aware of the thing, avoidant perhaps. The water stopped oozing quite as much when I took it too. I'm not versed in magic, so I don't know what any of that means. I will say that it seems ... angry, most of the time. ( He's used to murderous intent, it's part of his day to day life. The hand certainly has that in significant amounts. Though he thinks anyone who suffered such a loss might be. ) I also found it clutching this.

( His other hand slides open a drawer, lifting out a tattered scrap of cloth. A purple mantle, ragged at the edges, like it has been torn free. Wen Kexing smiles in a way that is not quite pleasant, teeth flashing in the light. )

Perhaps someone has some knowledge of any accidents that have taken place lately. I'd hate to think there's a person out there who might be suffering, I am a philanthropist after all. Which is why I'm sharing my findings.

( The hand suddenly makes a beeline for the edge of the desk, Wen Kexing moves just as fast, flipping a wooden bowl over the top of it, leaning forward to put his elbow on the base of it to trap his new friend. It throws him out of the shadows though, the dark smudges under his eyes part of a man who has very much not slept in a while. He realises this shortly after, shrugging a shoulder with ease before lifting the earlier wine bottle back up, flicking the cork away so he can take a deep drink. )

It's a little unruly.

blackscales

I recently spoke to the eminently beautiful Miang-Si. Quite the interesting young lady, it seems she is intent on staying young and beautiful forever. More than that, she claims she has been promised a way to do this. That she has a gift she believes can be trained to help reach immortality. An unfortunately familiar goal. As for her potential tutors, she spoke of those who can part waters and speak to ghosts. Perhaps the ladies of the lake? It would fit her sneaking out, I believe. She certainly has some magical potential, although to what end she can be taught I couldn't comment.

Our young mistress also mentioned an old friend of ours. Anui, The Huntress, who as recently mentioned was seen in was these woods. It seems in a fit of vanity Miang-Si sought her out and met her. She was... compelled by her. I'd imagine that speaks to some skill or touch of death on her part.

Interestingly, whoever her potential tutors are want something from her. They did not meet the Huntress as she did, before the local villagers drove her away. I do wonder what they think she knows, or has?

On a more entertaining note, she also appears to be convincing her father to fake his death so she can be more appealing to marry. Apparently, tragically dead parents are fashionable.

My role grants easy access to Miang-Si should anyone further need it.

clavesregni

I know who killed Vataz and the others. It's--

[Her voice is strained. She sounds as though she's in pain and out of breath.]

It's complicated. We need to be cautious not to worsen the situation any further. Someone else was killed. A woman. Her death is what started it all. There's someone else I need to question; I'll be able to share more once I have.

[There's the soft thud of someone's back hitting a wall.]

For now, young men should stay out of the Wards and the Keep, if at all possible. The killer can't distinguish between its true target and other men who appear similar. And don't go down into the glacial lakes. It isn't safe.

[Another pause, followed by a wince.]

If any medical personnel are able to spare supplies, I could do with a bandage.

bravelyrunsaway

Hello, loves, bit of an update for those of you tracking after whatever has been tying white string around wrists and leaving all sorts of young males dead since before we arrived. Whatever killed Valtaz wasn't human, wasn't natural. The scent it left on him is the same one down I tracked down that new stair, back to the lakes in Gut's Bind.

Go take a look at what dead creature turned up on the shore. Whatever killed Vataz also killed that thing. Smells oily, burns the nose like some paints do.

( he sounds disturbed, but also: really, wants people to go look at the lake. his nose is a bit burnt out for the moment. )

clavesregni

[Caitlyn has found a small corner somewhere in the Wards that she's turned into a personal headquarters. Several sheets of paper, covered in incomprehensibly messy scribbles, are stuck to the walls, and there's plenty of room for more to come. She's even found some colored string somewhere and has started to make connections between the papers with the strings.

She speaks very enthusiastically. Nothing makes Caitlyn's whole being light up like detective work.]

I've begun working on solving the series of murders that have occurred here over the last eleven weeks.

The victims were all male, between the ages of twenty-two and thirty-five. There are no other obvious connections between the victims, no common physical characteristics, profession, or origin. We'll need to dig if we want to find any commonalities apart from sex and a rough age range. And, with only five victims, we can't entirely rule out the idea that the commonalities we do know of may be coincidental.

There are rumors circulating of someone referred to as the 'Reaper,' who is punishing the people here for abandoning their duty. I don't know if that's the killer's true motivation; why kill only young men? There's something more going on here.

There are two clear points of interest:

First, none of the victims have an obvious cause of death. Some have wounds, but nothing that would be fatal under normal circumstances, and none appear to have been ill. How is the Reaper killing the victims?

Second, all have a white string tied around their wrists. This must be some sort of calling card, though what it means is not yet clear. If we can determine the meaning of the string, it could give us an insight into the killer's motivations and perhaps their identity.

I suggest we collaborate in our work to find the killer.

reparo

[ooc: backdated to Sand In Your Eyes (end of)]

Hello, Hermione here, currently writing this from the exit of Ra'esh's temple.

We've found water for the sandworms in a pool, in a cave. We also found a woman in that cave. Her name was Marath, she was alive, and she was tied to the altar and chained. We've set her free - and if anyone has a word of criticism about that decision, by all means, convince me why any living soul should be chained to an altar and left to rot and to thirst and to die. I'll wait.

Anyway, Marath's people are the ones who occupied Uruksithar. She claimed she was left behind because she warned them not to go into the desert. Once freed, Marath ran (rather athletic for someone of her condition if you ask me) and left myself and Vi locked in the temple.

Don't worry, we're out now. Keep an eye out for Marath, if you can. And don't drink the water from the cave if you make it there, it felt...oozy.

[ooc; If you'd like some context, here you go.]

traaaaaash

[ Sand. So much sand. But in the middle of the sand, something else: a giant sand worm carcass. From behind the camera comes Eda's voice. ]

Well, look what I found!

[ She sounds very proud of this fact. The camera swerves around to see her grinning from face to face. ]

I know it's probably not a trash slug, but hey, it looks close enough, so --

[ She produces a pickaxe seemingly out of nowhere. ]

I'm gonna investigate its insides.

faceblocker

So, I saw the blood, I just wanted to see if someone was really shitty at hiding bodies, but—

[ Out by the trio of wells, Vi's sporting a cozy red jacket that she 'liberated' before leaving Serthica. This close to the pocket watch, the scarring on her lip and brow is visible, along with her nose piercing and the VI tattoo under her left eye. She isn't wearing a hat despite her short hair and undercut, and when she leans over and swings the watch to face down, it's visible she's opted to do without gloves for the moment, too. One hand gripping the well is only protected by some dirty hand wraps.

The well she's leaning over is the one that should be lidded, but...that lid is a little bit broken and leaning against the side after a certain someone wrenched it off.

It's not easy to see from this high up, but the well is mostly empty, and down below is a skeleton dressed in a gown. ]

Not the kind of dead body I expected.

[ The pocket watch is tied around her belt so anyone watching can enjoy some Hardcore Henry motion sickness as Vi hops over the edge of the well and ping-pongs off the narrow sides to keep from dropping down into the three feet of what looks to be very dirty water. Somehow she manages to keep a grip without falling, but the watch stays on her waist so she can have both hands free.

Down here, the skeleton's dress is visibly tattered, and the water is filled with silt. The partially submerged skeleton is posed...almost like it's sleeping?

Just as Vi's trying to scrape closer for a better look, one of the innkeepers is heard fretting up above to not disturb the skeleton's napping spot. Something about the sun's glare. Since there's nothing else to see, Vi concedes and climbs back up, the pocket watch bringing the innkeepers into view when she lands back on the ground. Vi's husky voice can be heard 'asking' for (demanding) an explanation: "Sorry, but, what the hell?"

The innkeepers explain that they suspect the lady of the bones forgets each night where her final resting place is and keeps trying out each of the very similar wells. They lid the well they find her in every morning. The water returns in that well, nicely purified, once she's out each night.

It isn't until the lid's back on and they've left that Vi looks back to the video, more disturbed than when she had started. Are they getting their drinking water from magic haunted skeleton wells? ...Probably still better than the water she had back home. ]

Feels like we ought to pour one out for her. [ A softer mutter: ] And she should have a better grave marker...

hatejakku

[ The feed clicks on to reveal Finn and The Doctor, probably an unlikely duo to find on the network at this hour. The former doesn’t give anyone time to speculate, though, and just jumps right into it. ]

Ma'am Mariol contacted a few of us. She said that Serthica is pumping some sort of gas into the Mouse House, something that makes people slow and tired. She's convinced it has to do with heating, but she also told us it happened before, right after the coal sickness.

After our conversation, I went down there to investigate the composition of the gas and its source. All that we know for now is that it contains many of the sedative and memory loss ingredients discovered recently by those in our group, Caitlyn and Vi.

Everyone's okay for the moment - well, I use that term loosely - but how long that lasts, we can't be sure.

[ He's also worried about his little buddy, Gavroche, who was unusually skittish and reluctant to explain why. He's put a pin in that for later. ]

Not the easiest, going back and forth there and getting through customs, but I'll plan to visit with them again in a day or two, make sure they're still well. [ Checking in over the pendants isn't satisfactory enough for him. He'd be going back and forth more frequently if he could, but he has to operate within the limitations of their present situation, which frustrates him, to say the least. ]

Some of us had spoken previously about organizing efforts to help their situation down there, but that was before we realized what they're doing to them. Everything's changed now.

[ Finn, who’s been watching and chewing on his bottom lip, jumps back in. ]

They need our help. For one, we have to find the source of this gas leak. Whether it’s intentional or not, whatever the gas is, it needs to be stopped.

Second-... Well, I’d like to get her and the kids out of there and bring them to Minaras but that’s going to take more money than the Doctor and I have. Hard to say it’s really safer up here, but I think pooling money together for this could be worth it, anyway, if for nothing else than to just improve their situation once we handle the gas.

If anyone has spare change or more ideas, we’d appreciate it.

[ ooc: Finn's red, The Doctor's blue ]

clavesregni

[Caitlyn enthusiastically shows off a small wooden box. Visible on the lid is an insignia of a Minaras governmental medical facility. Over Caitlyn's shoulder is a redhead looking wholly uninspired by this discovery.]

This was found following an altercation with a group of drunk individuals. One man was tall, must have been a little over six feet, with a blond beard, head shaved, and some sort of tattoo visible on his neck. Another was a few inches shorter, clean-shaven and close-cropped black hair, wearing a rather ostentatious, if tattered, blue coat. The third was a few inches shorter still, also clean-shaven, with long brown hair tied in a ponytail and several scars along the length of his forearms.

[Vi rolls her eyes as Caitlyn rattles off these descriptions. Caitlyn, oblivious, continues:] Does anyone know who these men might have been? If they could be identified, they could perhaps be located and questioned as to how a box belonging to a medical facility came into their possession.

[Vi mutters,] Probably going to sell whatever it is to the highest bidder.

[At the interruption, Caitlyn glances over her shoulder to respond to Vi. Her tone is less critical and more like she's excited to brainstorm possible motivations.] We can't assume that.

[Caitlyn turns back to the contents of the box.] Yes. Um. There are herbs inside, they smell-- [She takes a whiff, wrinkling her nose.] --earthy. Musky. And faintly of fruit. And... [She smells again, and a horrified look crosses her face, as though she's just smelled the most odious smell imaginable. She quickly moves the box further away from herself, looking at it as though it's done her a great personal wrong.] Urine.

[Vi shouldn't look so amused at the posh description, but she does.

Caitlyn holds up a few of the whole dried leaves and flowers: foxglove, wisteria, passion flower, and valerian. There is a small sack visible inside the box containing more herbs ground up.]

Are there any herbalists in the group who might be able to identify these? What purpose could these serve, either individually or in combination?

[Vi leans in closer and says,] And by the way, I need to talk to the resident hextech genius.

[ooc: for the herbalists out there, this combination of herbs leads to memory loss]

vdovy

does anyone have a spare droid i can borrow

may or may not be returned in working condition

pulvisetumbra

( White sound, fragments of murmurs. Two men and a woman drowned by the tinny crescendo of a strained musical instrument. The music rises shrill and shrill, until it nearly deafens — then all is inexplicably quiet. At last, a man’s voice: )

...good afternoon. Following your... discoveries in Serthica, it appeared only prudent to reinforce every measure that protects our conversations. Our discretion is your survival.

You speak to the Merchant. We number a wealth of new... associates. I bid you welcome. Know this: whatever trials await you in your travels, they are as nothing before the ruthless undead enslavement the warlords would have intended you.

( A pause, then carefully: ) You are in Serthica. My initial recommendation was for you all to investigate which of the citadel’s halves houses undead and unnatural creatures. Since, Karsa has relayed the results of your efforts.

If I follow well, then you have unveiled the Remembrance insurgent group whose mannequins gain human likeness. I hope we have not chosen to bring home cursed dolls. ( His gritting teeth suggest otherwise. ) You have found that the old sickness that once splintered Serthica remains... alive. To that end, I salute the sacrifice of Master McCoy. We shall aim to recover your health, sir. And there is the matter of dragons, some living, some... troubled.

( A long, deep sigh rip from him. ) I fear Eidris and Minaras may have both been compromised. I first urged you to keep your head bowed and await the yearly opening of Serthica’s Neutral Zone beacon. We can no longer afford this passiveness. We must know what we protect against and how deeply the rot of Serthica runs.

The great Neutral Zone clock of Vassarizhia is the old heart of Serthica. Its beats regulate the rise and fall of Eidris and Minaras. Before the sundering, it was Serthica’s foremost watchtower, with vantage across the citadel whole. Karsa toils to finalise magical instruments that will allow us to forcibly but briefly reveal the state of this world, if you can reach the topmost levels of Vassarizhia and its enhanced telescope and watch monitors. I understand security will ease within the week, when Eidris and Serthica hold further summits.

( And now, a sprawling silence: ) As for the... white wanderer. I thank the consummate professionalism of Master Constantine and Mistress Pitts in delivering the uniforms of Ellethia. I understand one such garment was worn by the man who visited you during the Unwinding. The same intruder who haunted Ke-Waihu.

Let us be candid. I believe we speak of a former member of the institute of technology and magic of Ellethia, where the undead first surfaced. If this is correct, I can only recommend caution. I cannot say if the white wanderer is friend or foe. I know my preference.

Irrespective of this: onwards, upwards. To Vassarizhia. I leave this with you.

( ooc: threadjack away! You will get further details on the tower infiltration and our Halloween event mid-week for your plotting purposes. )

groundrules

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exit, stage e a s t

Entries tagged with arcane: caitlyn

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