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| Action Id: 3536 | Crisis: | Participants: Agostino, Joslyn, Pasquale, Mirella, Thea and Ras | |
| Status: Resolved | Submitted: July 22, 2019, 2:14 p.m. | Public: True | GM: Herja |
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Silver: 205000 Economic Resources: 500 Military Resources: 500 Social Resources: 723 |
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Action by Agostino
Agostino will be setting off for Southport, heading up a joint mission between the Mirrorguard and house Malvici to root out Shadowspeakers in that city. For his part, he is going to leave apprehension to others involved who are better with military tactics. Specifically, he would want that part handled by one of his liaisons with house Malvici, so that the proper authorities are taking care of it. Any Mirrorguard involved in that aspect of the mission would be strictly in support of house Malvici, and under their command. Primarily, Agostino is here, himself, to assist with locating these cultists. To that end, he hits the streets of the city, visiting the shadiest bars, dealing with backalley "merchants" and the like, asking subtly about strange disappearances or other odd cult-like happenings in the city. Anything he uncovers about this will be passed on to Thea and Calypso, as the Duchess and Quenia agreed. He will also be coordinating with Vitalis, who is running a similar action (3541) outside the walls of Southport, so that he can catch anyone they flush out of the city, and so that Agostino's team can catch anyone they chase into the city. Finally, on advice from Harlex, he will advise those involved with this investigation to obtain mirrored surfaces that they can easily carry, and to subtly use them to look at their surroundings freqently in case of attack by Shadow Hunters.
Action by Thea
Lady Thea Malvici will be working as the leader of a small, stealth force to quietly apprehend any identified Shadowspeakers that are fished out by Agostino as part of his action. Thea will be under disguise, wearing plain clothes when conducting this along with the rest of her team. They will be quietly patrolling, moving and constantly on alert to hook anyone in for arrest and placing them in the Southport prison for further questioning. All will be carrying some sort of mirror-surfaced object
Should anyone be injured during this, Thea will be applying her medical knowledge and experience to drag them out of the line and to patch them out so they can get on to the medical bays in Southport. Then it is back to the task and leading her team.
Action by Pasquale
Acting in a strictly advisory capacity, Pasquale will be on hand to provide advice on occult and tactical problems.
Action by Mirella
Mirella knows the way of cities -- in her childhood she was a thieving little urchin running around the less salubrious of Caina's streets, often working for nefarious characters as a spy and sneak. From these past days in her life she learned the kind of places where shady people might go to escape notice and harm, and who might know where to find them. She'll carefully blend into the the populace of Southport, she'll ask the right questions of the right people, put silver into their palms if needed to buy their information and silence. The markets and the taverns high and low will be haunted so she can eavesdrop with utmost caution, and any mention of the cultists or the Shadow Hunters will be reported to Agostino and Thea.
She'll also be sure to include unobtrusively reflective and mirror-like details in her clothing, her jewelry and her diamondplate dagger, all the better to help her perceive spies and ambushes of a demonic nature. 200000 silver is put in the pot to aid her investigations, as well as 200 social resources.
Action by Joslyn
Joslyn has had a personal stake in this trip since the very beginning. She'll be taking along with her, her handmaiden Leporis (whom has personal knowledge relating to the cultists). She'll begin poring over every bit of the city, following Leporis' lead to locate cultists, and using a small retinue of guards she's brought with her to apprehend and bring them to the Southport prison along with Thea. She will be looking in particular for the First Speaker, the one responsible for her mother's death.
Action by Ras
Ras has been advised by Pasquale on how best to prepare for the mission, and been provided with a pair of secretive mirror bracers that contain a way to hide his knife. He doesn't have to dress down to blend in with the Southport rabble, and he's practiced at 'overhearing' things as well as sneaking around where he shouldn't be. He will correspond with Unseen Agostino and follow his lead on the investigation. If he hears or sees anything suspicious on his own, he'll follow it up until he can make sure that it's a real lead on the Shadowspeakers, and then report to Unseen Agostino. He's also got another mirroring object, and thrown in wholeheartedly, including his savings and any underworld connections he might have in the area.
Result
They all go into the mission looking to find and arrest cultists because cultists are terrible, right? These people, while controlled by a dark force, acted out that force's will. People have been hurt. People have died. It's a gruesome, terrible thing. The preparations are made. Mirrored jewelry distributed to detect Abyssal workings. Weapons sharpened. Let's do this!
Except, it all turns out to be so much more complex than expected. Information is difficult to come by. Maybe the cultists are being more discreet (that would be new!) or maybe the informants within the city are slacking on the job (that wouldn't be new) but it's not as if the group stumbles across a group of cultists in the streets doing cultish things. Yet, slowly but surely, stories start to filter in.
A guard reports that he broke up a fight on the east side of Southport, in one of the seedier bars, after two men were found brutally beating each other. There were both dressed in black leather and looking a bit creepy, but that's the basic description for many of the sellswords in the Lyceum, so that wasn't terribly interesting news. The interesting information came in what they were shouting at each other between bloodied lips and broken teeth.
"He's coming back for us! You fools think he won't notice! He didn't let us go. He'll never let us go. The sooner you and that old wretch in Lenosia learn that, the better!" was heard before fist met teeth and conversation was lost. The guard that filed the report was an earnest sort, too idealistic and new at the job to take bribes to make sure that reports like this disappear. Most tavern owners don't particularly like the publicity of guards hanging around.
In the market, two gossiping shopkeepers, talking about the presence of the new-ish Prodigals just outside of Lenosia, were interrupted mid-speculation by a woman who snarled, "We were promised our freedom. That dead Archduchess -promised- us!" Then, she stalked off without buying a thing. So rude.
So, they don't get enemies to fight. They get stories that start to paint a picture of promises made and not kept, of desperate people looking to save themselves from what they believe to be a grim fate. When did fighting cultists get so damned complicated?