⇨ THE ATHENAEUM DEFENSES AND YOU

[ringleaders]

STORYTELLING RULES↴ As most of you know, story-based reality bending is on the table for the conclusion of this event. This means your character can use storytelling powers similar to how they were combating book ghosts to combat the fae. This also means that just about anything could potentially happen, but in the interest in not having things get stupid or disruptive, here is an outline of how these powers should be used: ► No powergaming. The narrative has to be plausible, so having your character attempt to insta-kill True Fae (or anything similar) isn't going to work. Don't do anything to the NPCs that you'd be pissed off if someone did to your character without permission. The magic of the Athenaeum will give you the chance to put yourself on level with them, not to just stomp them into the ground. ► Stories can be whimsical or silly, but being completely absurdist or overly 'lolrandom' will result in the narrative falling apart. Again, try to keep it plausible and consistent. ► Being overly abrupt or ignoring everything else going on in the story will also cause your piece of the story to fail. This includes things like 'rocks fall, everyone dies,' which takes zero effort to say and is disruptive to everyone else. (That is, unless it is an appropriate time for rocks to fall.) Try to only do things that are at least an attempt at making a good story. ► Asspulls, however, are fine. Producing magical artifacts with the effects you need and otherwise making up reasons that you have skills or prowesses that are required for victory is the whole point of the thing. All asspulls need some kind of backstory or explanation though, even if you made it up on the spot. (A good way to do this is to have your character declare what item they are drawing when they do.) Feel free to reference past adventures that never happened. (Or ones that did.) ► Story aspects can be made up in advance, made up on the spot, drawn from other books, or drawn from real life. The source doesn't really matter, it's the presentation. Including any story spectres that are present in your narrative is easier than making up large quantities of NPCs whole cloth. Stories don't have to be written down - narration is the best method of focusing them. When it doubt, think about whether or not the thing you're doing will be annoying to people who aren't you. Creativity is a major plus - what we are hoping to avoid is having people attempt to "win" just by arbitrarily saying they are. This confrontation should be a challenge, even with magic story reality bending on your side. If you have further questions, ask them down below.

Comments

[whattaprick]

A few questions, sorry!

1. Is it safe to assume that the fae are still out there somewhere in the Athenaeum proper, not retreated to a completely different realm? This is more of an OOC question; the threads with the Lady/Ignatius/RQ are a little ambiguous about where they're taking place, so I just wanted to make sure they're actually here.

2. How successful are scouting/reconnaissance attempts to figure out where the fae are and what their movements/defenses are likely going to be? Assumed that characters are using a mix of practical and asspull methods to do so, like 'a bracelet that chants a warning when fae are near' or 'sending out shadow scouts' etc. If this is a 'you need to write up specifically what you're doing to determine success' kind of thing, it would be good to know to pull together and submit something.

3. Will there be a separate log besides 'dangerous encounters,' and will running into NPCs be played out as megathreads as well?

I'm interested in knowing this primarily from an organizing perspective -- some characters have specific fae they have want to hunt down, and obviously it'll be stronger if they can get the drop on them, for example, but for OOC planning I'd like to know if success at finding them at all is assumed and people can just sign up to indicate interest in chasing them down, or if more needs to happen first. Obviously, plans to tackle Frost would look different if it's known he's actively hanging out with the Count, or if the Rose Queen has taken over a corner of the Athenaeum as her temporary domain, etc.

[ringleaders]

1) They're doing the pocket realm thing they did in Portland. So... kind of a mix of yes and no. Their in realms that are inside of the Athenaeum, so the Athenaeum rules apply to them.

2) That will be effective though I'd probably like to know what exact methods are being used so I can tailor the information.

3) I'm going to be making a new log with some more megathreads, yeah.

The megathreads will be based around the three major captive locations, Lapis/Jasper, Strange, and Steven, plus Lauren along with either Strange or Steven, depending on how people approach it. Or Lauren can just be threaded separately.

[whattaprick]

I lied, ONE MORE QUESTION.

Is it possible to use such reality bending to change part of the landscape of the Athenaeum? And would those stories persist even without the storyteller actively being in the vicinity, or are they reliant on someone being there to maintain it?

Specific example from OOC spitballing: Lambert wants defenses in the area around the Carnival entrance to protect it/delay invasion in case some fae come sniffing around while people are out trying to get other people back. One idea is to construct a maze around the vicinity that only lets 'friends' of the Carnival find their way to the center. Can it be created and persist after it's built, or would there have to be at least one Carnival member present maintaining it to prevent it falling apart?

[ringleaders]

Goddamnit Kytha.

1) Yes, but you'd need someone maintaining it, even if it's not the person making it in the first place. If everyone leaves a created location it will disappear a short time later.

DECLARATION OF INTENT

[whattaprick]

To facilitate ooc planning/coordination, here is a quick and dirty sign-up sheet to let other people know who your character is going after and a general idea of what they'll be up to. You can use it as a chance to plot amongst yourselves about what action/plan they're going with ICly.

As sweet as it would be to actually definitively beat a fae, it's uncertain how successful that would be even with storybook magic. ICly, at least, Lambert would have stressed that extraction and escape is the primary objective.

TEAM STRANGE

[whattaprick]

You're going after the crazy magician man and probably running into Mr. On Fire Ignatius.

[anti_nonsense]

Rita is 100% going after Strange!

Tentative plan: Using Strange's blood contract quill to try and get Ignatius to agree to a duel with firmly defined rules. If he needs encouragement, Rita will wager herself, allowing him to claim her should he win. Then, once the duel starts, characters can "narrate" their champion to victory... hopefully.

Also a tentative plan: Kill Strange, grab his soul (to revive him with), and run. But doing so will require either distracting Ignatius so he can't claim that soul first (maybe with the aforementioned duel?) or grabbing the soul immediately. Or both.

[chronosynthesis]

Syr's recommendation is definitely going to be to define the duel as not to the death, for the record. Maybe first wound or disarmament, since killing a high Fae is pushing it and they're already sweetening the deal with Rita.

[anti_nonsense]

Mmmaybe, yeah. They probably don't want any more deaths than they've already got planned.

I think you mentioned as much on Plurk before, but Syr can probably take a major role in hashing out the details of the contract, since that seems to be something he'd be good at.

[soft_focus]

Worth noting- if the idea about grabbing souls is broadcast at all, Reira actually owns a soul jar, and would probably lend it to this team!

[anti_nonsense]

Noted! But yeah, I don't think it's been broadcast. Rita doesn't know about this aspect of the plan, and I believe Childermass already contacted Zangetsu to tell him to handle soul-transport.

[soft_focus]

Laughs yeah I noted it on the plurk but now that I see Zangetsu on board as Resident Soul Carrier I'm glad- who knew we could potentially end this event with putting Stranges soul in terrible sword jail...

[moonfang]

do not pass go, do not collect 200 monies, go directly to shitty ghost sword jail

[chronosynthesis]

Syr is going on Team Strange to support the same plans at Rita, though his specific role in them is flexible.

EDIT: ALSO Syrlya will be bringing his Bloodstone for whatever is doing the dueling, since it's a magic catalyst that can strengthen their abilities. He will stress that using it is dangerous because that much magic isn't good for a person, but they could use all they can get on the Fae.

[whattaprick]

Lambert is here, he's not providing much else other than shouting at people, being able to pull out the sword of light he used in Portland, and being 100% down to stab Strange if the plot requires it.

He's happy to let someone else lead the actual improvising and follow along.

Re: TEAM STRANGE

[moonfang]

Zangetsu is team strange! He’s been tasked with making sure Strange’s soul ends up back at the carnival... whether or not it’s attached to his body

TEAM MALACHITE

[whattaprick]

You're here to save Jasper and Lapis from an eternity of a fae's weird drowning fetish!

[periphrasing]

Peridot's gunning for this shit, and will probably be taking charge of the effort unless someone wants to stop her for some reason? Steven and Strange are obviously important to her too, but she feels like Lapis, and to a lesser extent Jasper, are her responsibility.

I have some vague ideas for how to handle the actual fighting and rescuing but not so much the whole... finding them. Aspect. So she could probably use some help on that front, as well as some people to back her up to distract the Lady of the Lake. FORTUNATELY, gems are easy to contain as long as you can poof them, so her main plan is to go for destabilizing Malachite, so she can put Jasper and Lapis's gems in her magical summonable storage gauntlet and then dismiss the gauntlet to put them out of the Lady's reach.

[scientificist]

Herbert knows where the pond was in the first place, and as it would be a satisfying story to return there and summon the water somehow, he'll suggest that. Perhaps pouring water that spreads out?

[periphrasing]

HMMM yeah that's a really good idea... Make something up about LEARNING THE SECRET TO ACCESS THE LAIR with. Magic water or something?

Also Yak reminded me that Lapis has a sword that can cut through anything back at the trailer so Peridot will def be using THAT

[scientificist]

YEAH, Herbert will "alchemise" something. (He won't. He'll say he has, though.)

[scientificist]

Herbert is pretty sure that as far as Stories go, he's basically obliged to try and get Lapis back. And defeat the Lady. And Jasper he GUESSES.

He's pretty good at improvisation and being dramatic and making distractions. He's going to pretend to be some sort of wizard and throw out weird flasks of stuff and he supposes he'll announce his moves this time. He may bring back the hot oil sword if he needs to get through water but he may also hand it off to someone else better at swinging things around.

[soft_focus]

And of course, he has a (cough) 'small imagination' on call with the radio, which is Clearly Helpful (clearly)

[scientificist]

He DOES, yes, he may even clip the radio to his belt instead of just shoving it in random pockets.

[soft_focus]

such high honor....

[worldlyafflictions]

Tentatively expressing interest here OOCly because it looks like this team could use another hitter. Shima isn't super interested in selfless risk-taking though so I'd probably need some help coming up with a reason to go if no one else punchier wants to join up?

He can hit things with his big ol' hellfire demon though, and loves to play a role, so reality-bending shouldn't be a problem for him. OH RIGHT Yamantaka also has six arms so that's convenient maybe.

[textsfromhotland]

more like TEAM SHORTSTACKS am I right

Alphys is one part horrified and one part fascinated by the concept of gem fusion and kinda wants to see it for herself. She's not much of a fighter but she IS a prolific fanfic author so she can come up with plots on the fly, and she's got a connection to Creation thanks to Wismuth that might also come in handy.

[osteothropy]

Sans is coming to the Malachite party because he can turn into a big werewolf skeleton with as many legs as Malachite has hands.

He'll probably be trying to boost himself with his dad's notes, while he's at it.

TEAM STEVEN

[whattaprick]

You're off to save Steven from getting even worse mommy issues than he already has.

[betheman]

THE MAN IS HERE, AND HE IS READY. Beginning Plan; using a combo of existing spells/abilities, plus the narrative to boost it. Aside from standard scenting, he's going to use his soul tracking ability...this is the one he'll be using narrative on, with the idea of 'reaching out with his heart/intentions' etc etc to do a good job of tracking. HE'S DEDICATED...

Also he can carry people. And things. He's actually got a bunch of stuff on him, including his enchanted belt, healing draughts...he MIGHT have something from Yuzu, but I'll have to check on that before IC time. ETA And Knux has confirmed! Gongenzaka has the Crown of Flames on him. FIREIMMUNITY (I say as he goes into a plant castle)

The tl;dr of the start plan though; Locate Steven, sneak in to find Steven, as Yuuya noted he's rooted down somehow so he'd bet they have to be real quiet and real careful. Maybe be can story write himself to look like the foliage, who knows.

I CAN EDIT TO MESH MORE WITH OTHER PLANS, NATURALLY idk what everyone else going for Steven has in mind so

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's here!

In addition to potential infiltration/whatever narrative the others want to establish, Yuya's definitely going to want to get to Steven directly and use the story to empower him to fight back against the Rose Queen with it himself.

[bananaspeedrider]

Yugo's coming along on his bike, maybe he'll need some narrative power to keep that thing quiet. The banana wants to be backup for his tomato brother too.

In case of a huge-ass fight, he can add a bunch of monsters from his deck into the mix and perhaps a story-driven reemergence of his Guardian angel powers?

[scientificist]

Herbert's probably not coming on this one but he can absolutely make you guys some herbicide you can work up into something more dramatic...

[prazerbutterfly]

Tyki is coming along. He'll be the odd man out since he doesn't know Steven as well as the others but he does have the utilty and is a strong adapter. Also, a conman for the carnival so he's good with his stories.

[pipers_son]

WOW SURE DID THINK I POSTED HERE AND ENDED UP. NOT.

I'm at work, so I can only say that Joker is definitely coming along, has a bird, and is willing to lie about angelic/fate bullshit connections because hey he has the arm to help make the story realistic from the start

TEAM CARNIVAL

[whattaprick]

Your ass is staying right the fuck in the Carnival, either because you're helping cover the retreat when people actually start running back, you're too much of a liability/danger attractant to be out there, or you're worried that the Fae might have a sneaky plan to get at the Carnival while most of your finest are out there. Take your pick.

[soft_focus]

Reira will be on call with Herbert for the most part! She agreed/plotted with him to basically be the Alfred to his Batman, which would be cool if it wasn't a 7 year old giving advice to a grown doctor.

But hey.

Aside from that, she'll be chipping in to contribute to the story/narration keeping the Carnival safe as much as she can- her focus might be a bit split though, since her primary goal is making sure Herbert has his ideas, and that sort of means paying attention to the sounds coming from Team Malachite's end. OH WELL.

Once people are retreating, she'll be more furiously adding to the Defense Tale though; and she actually has some ideas! Including buffing up based on Card Game Lore. She's got a lot of that stashed away, even if it'll be weaker on the grounds.

[dressedtothe]

9S will be staying behind because I know I won't be available OOCly

He won't be that good at doing the storytelling to bolster defenses or anything like that, but he could probably keep a watch for people approaching, though he wouldn't be able to determine if they were Carnival or Fae :Vb

[atouts]

Childermass can't go back out into the Athenaeum due to "family drama", so the best he can do is have shadow crows up all over the carnival itself, keeping an eye out for trouble. They aren't very durable but he'll know if something takes them our or, if he's checking at the right time, he is able to see and hear through them.

????? WILDCARD ??????

[whattaprick]

You are doing none of the above. What are you doing?

LAUREN HUNTING

[fortuneglass]

According to Susan, Lauren is buried somewhere in the Athenaeum, at the end of a small trail created by Papyrus. Carly is going to be setting out to find, and using narrative pull (haha, pull)...errr...Try and save the poor moron. Because then Susan will agree to stay at the Carnival.

She's got her bow of petrification, a bag that she'll be pulling Stuff from as needed, and a Lot of Fire. She's also taking her D-Wheel to get there...

...And she's not supposed to be going alone! So if anyone wants to join on the hunt, here we are.

[sunflowerfields]

YOU KNOW... Hinawa has a vague idea of where to look since she was there and she wants to be helpful, so she and Phantump can come! She can't fight but she can recite bedtime stories to put things to sleep maybe?

[insidescoop]

Carly is suddenly Immediately more worried about this trip-

OK More seriously I'm on board for Hinawa coming but also 'someone else who can fight please join in oh no'

[wild_magic]

if carly doesn't get anyone who can fight to go with her then susan is totally sneaking along...

but otherwise he will send fluff to tag along as promised, in hawk form so she actually might be useful in some way. plus she's super cute, so, bonus?

[insidescoop]

OH!!! FLUFF HAWK...
and susan no,,, no sneaking,,,

[wild_magic]

look he can fight, he knows what he's doing!!! he doesn't want her to go alone or basically alone lol. it's just extra security ok.

[spaghettimonster]

And who better to look for that trail of bones than the skeleton who left them?? Plus Papyrus was pretty unhappy about leaving Lauren and Steven behind to begin with, he'd like to make sure they're both gotten back.