⇨ POLARIS AFTERMATH POLL

[npcarnival]

WHAT NOW: THE POLL↴ The carnival has emerged victorious after a heated and exhausting battle with the Mother of Invention. Her soul has been torn asunder, and her body destroyed. Gild and a team of allies have arrived via airship, and will reveal that they have been camping outside of the base for days, aiding in the planning and execution of an escape plan. In total, there is Gild, Samyaza, Alyss, Reyna, Shimmer, Scald, Moss, Kerubi the fox, and Brauni piloting the ship itself. How they all got here is a long story. They were intending on breaking in with it and grabbing everyone if it came down to it, but now it seems that they have the opportunity to do more good here than that. There are several issues that will arrive in the immediate aftermath of the struggle, and the characters will have to make some decisions on how to handle things going forward. Gild and Ignatius can provide some direction if needed, but ultimately neither of them want to force a decision in regards to any of this. (They most likely have some personal issues to work out between themselves, also.) ► WHERE TO STAY? At the very least the carnival will have to spend the next day and night resting, so that people can get back on their feet and so that Gild and Ignatius can recover their strength enough to go anywhere. This can either be done by staying inside the section of Polaris they've overtaken, or by going down to the Wyld Lands (which are apparently below where Polaris is floating) and camping out there. The Wyld Lands are potentially dangerous, but the two fae are confident they can defend an area long enough to camp. ► WHAT TO DO ABOUT POLARIS? In the aftermath of the Mother's death, the staff and prisoners of Polaris will be in a state of disruption and chaos. For staff, it will be really hard for them to accept that the Mother is actually gone and that this isn't some kind of test or trick, and for the prisoners, they are more or less still at the mercy of the staff overseeing them. The carnival has the choice to stick around for a few days and ease the process of liberating the station, by helping to overtake the Alphas and Betas clinging to power, and by basically spreading the news of the Mother defeat. They can also make sure the other test groups are actually released. Of course, they are not obligated to do this. They are free to just leave, as well, and hope that Polaris sorts itself out. If they do stay to deal with Polaris, most of this will be handwaved. Characters can simply declare what they are doing to help, and it will be done without challenge. ► WHAT DIRECTION TO TAKE? Gild's immediate impression is that people will want to help the Ringmaster (though this may not be true) and based on that her recommendations are that they could either write to the Summerlands and ask for help in doing so, or they can go there themselves and be a bit more forceful. The Summer Maiden is notoriously passive, so Gild believes that she will be reluctant to help her own girlfriend, which is annoying. If they head straight through the Wyld Lands they may gain the element of surprise, of course, and go in there stealthily... but going it on their own could be difficult. Gild is willing to help either way. Ignatius doesn't seem to want to go to the Summerlands for various awkward reasons, but ultimately he will bend to the public opinion. People need a break, he thinks, and they probably won't find it in the Wyld Lands. For those not interested in dealing with the Hunt at all, the fae will recommend going to the Summerlands, because at least they can have a break there until everyone figures out what to do. ► WANT A FAERIE CONTRACT? Once they are fully free of Polaris, Ignatius will consider the danger over and his contract with people will end. However, he will be open to offering protection for an extended period to anyone who wants it. The specifics are flexible - he really just wants the ability to look out for people in a patron sense. The Gilded Mark will also offer to be your patron, to take some of the burden off of Ignatius. Maybe this is a weird competition thing? Don't worry about it, it's there problem. Either way, both contracts will be flexible and mostly so that they can more easily lend you their power if necessary. Given that information, here are some poll questions. This is an IC poll, so please vote once for each character. If you don't reply, you'll be assumed to be 'undecided' or 'ambivalent'. Poll #20710 Where now? Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 28 View Respondents While doing other things, where do you want to stay for the next night or three? View Answers Stay in the secured section of Polaris. 19 (67.9%) Camp out in the Wyld Lands. 7 (25.0%) Either's fine. 2 (7.1%) How do you want to handle the Polaris situation? View Answers Stick around to dethrone the Alphas, spread the news, and make sure prisoners are released. 19 (70.4%) Leave these guys to their own devices for now and come back later. 2 (7.4%) Abandon ship and never come back/leave them all to die. 4 (14.8%) Undecided. 2 (7.4%) What direction do you want to take? View Answers Head straight for the Wyld Hunt and send a letter to the Summerlands asking for back up. 0 (0.0%) Go to the Summerlands and ask the Summer Maiden for help directly/hang out. 23 (82.1%) Something else? (Suggest in comments) 2 (7.1%) Undecided. 3 (10.7%) Do you want to take any fae protection? View Answers Sign on with Ignatius. 10 (35.7%) Sign on with Gilded Mark. 11 (39.3%) Undecided/Do not. 7 (25.0%)

Comments

⇨ QUESTIONS

[npcarnival]

Does something I wrote here not make sense? Ask for clarifications now!

[scientificist]

Fae patron just means the same sort of situation people had contracted with Ignatius previously, yeah?

[npcarnival]

Yep!

[scientificist]

In that case, Herbert would probably check with Gild what her investment is in their party still. Why is she helping them now they've rescued Ignatius?

[npcarnival]

Because she's an altruist, mostly, and she's sick of faerie shit and wants to try to get to the bottom of what's going on with the Winter Court. She'd also like the Summer Court to stop fucking around, and for the Summer Maiden to assert herself.

[whattaprick]

Are there any obvious cons to remaining inside Polaris for the rest period? This is more a technical question than Lambert would want to know ICly, so he’d probably put this to Shimmer or one of the techs that look cooperative. He’s mostly concerned the loose Alphas/Betas will pull something or the station will crash and etc.

[npcarnival]

That's the concern, yeah. If they stay in Polaris, the nerds might pull something, either by attacking them in the night or otherwise tanking the station.

[whattaprick]

Lambert also asks what the odds are of other Winter Court folks showing up to investigate what the hell just happened here, if that’s a concern at all.

[npcarnival]

That's also a concern. They have no idea how clued in the Winter Court will be that she's dead. That's why they have also suggested the idea of camping somewhere hidden in the Wyld Lands, because that's outside of Winter territory.

[spaghettimonster]

The Carnival is inaccessible as long as RM is out of commission, right?

[npcarnival]

Yes! If they want anything in the carnival back, they have to go get her.

[spaghettimonster]

Coolbone will be reunited with them all again, someday... a reason to fight on.

(Papyrus was already going for rescue RM anyway.)

[atouts]

Which faerie has the least inclination to hand people over if commanded to by the Summer Queen? Childermass trusts Ignatius as much as Childermass can trust a faerie who isn't RM but he needs to stay away from Winter Court AND the Rose Queen.

[npcarnival]

Gild has zero court connections so she would be your gal. She defected from all forms of either Court a long time ago.

Ignatius obviously still has some issues to resolve, there.

[atouts]

Question 2, would another true fae be able to take over a freshly abandoned realm? Convert Polaris from a creepy MoI space station to like some kind of floating Summer Station... thing....? Or does that take more power than either Ignatius or Gild have?

Question 3, failing that, is Polaris mobile?

[npcarnival]

2) Maybe, but the big stopping point is that the station is run mostly off of Winter power and Ignatius technically has some of that now but he really isn't familiar with using it. Trying to convert it into Summer stuff is... intimidating, conceptually, to the two of them. (Probably doesn't help that they are both relatively youthful fae.) However, they are willing to attempt it, they just don't really know where to start.

3) Maybe....???? Shimmer thinks that it probably has the potential to be mobile but she doesn't know how to activate any of that, since it was all handled by the Mother. Ignatius seems like the best bet for piloting it but he honestly has no idea what he's doing.

They will give this a shot of desired but it will take them a while to sort out, if at all.

[betheman]

More of a general question, related to the matter of where they're staying-

What is everyone doing about clothes? Do our allies perhaps have something for us, so that we can stop stealing from these technicians?

[npcarnival]

You wear what you can find until they go somewhere with civilization. Since it looks like people want to go to the Summerlands, you'll probably have to wait till then.

[periphrasing]

Re: fae contracts... Peridot would want to know where the MoI beefing it puts the ownership of the carnies before she goes makes any deals. Like, MoI only owned them because the Huntsman handed them over after defeating the Ringmaster. Does that mean they've technically defaulted back to the Huntsman's ownership? Or are they free because they murdered the shit out of their "current master"?

[npcarnival]

They aren't magic scientists or anything (thankfully) but Ignatius and Gild would GUESS that... they are free, ish? If Ringmaster comes back to life it may be different? Or if the Ringmaster still owes them stuff? Ownership can be a shifty thing, sometimes.

Re: ⇨ QUESTIONS

[whattaprick]

Pursuant to this plan, Lambert will ask Gild (if he can find her) whether she thinks it’s remotely feasible for Strange to attempt to summon Nightshade to Polaris and will she willing to set up an Elysium or guard against potential damage that might happen.

He’ll add that even if he’s shot down it’s incredibly likely Strange is going to try to do this on his own anyway. Short of knocking him unconscious until they’re done here or Ignatius telling him off he’s not really sure how to keep him from it.

[npcarnival]

Gild will make herself available. She's lurking, and not planning on going anywhere.

She says the biggest problem with that is that you can't just summon a faerie from anywhere. It'd be possible to send Nightshade a message asking her to come, but that seems like a huge hassle, and with how long it might take for her to actually arrive, it'd be impractical to have an Elysium supported that whole time. Nightshade could also bring whoever she wanted when she did show up. Also, she's not sure that this ruse is predictable enough to necessarily gain positive results. There's no telling how the Rose Queen would react to it. (Not that Gild knows the Rose Queen very well.) She's not a fan of that gamble.

She does think, however, that there is a lot of merit to going to the Summer Court in general with news of what they found in Polaris. The combination of iron based experimentation, whatever the hell happened with Ignatius, and the Huntsman scheming behind Summer's back... there's a lot to unload there. Maybe it would be enough to finally get a reaction from the Summer Queen.

Strange probably wouldn't have the power to summon Nightshade from here, but... well, she can't speak for any of Ignatius's opinions at the moment. Maybe Lambert should talk to Ignatius about the problem directly? Ignatius is ultimately reasonable, she thinks.

[whattaprick]

That leaves the question of who’s going to bear the information. She’s not suggesting the Carnival go to the Courts, is she...? There’s some relatively unhappy recent history there. And it seems like the Winter Queen using iron is something Summer has been content to see as an open secret.

Strange’s idea of digging around in archives for records of torture is going to have to be something they add to the search list, then. Hopefully someone with Alpha access can bring it up, not that a detailed video recording of Ignatius torture is really something to be happy to have.

Anyway, it’ll be after some considerable personal debate that Lambert’s going to hit up Ignatius. What’s up dude. How’s the existential crisis going.

[whattaprick]

OKAY in addendum to the above: as per Gild’s advice and Strange’s idea, Lambert is going to ask Sans (since he’s a Delta with tech know-how) if he can find any evidence of iron-based experiments. He’s not sure what form that would most convincingly take, not being a tech-inclined guy — would Summer believe a list? Or would they want something like footage or a body? — and he admits it’s potentially a grisly task, so he understands if Sans would rather not.

Re: ⇨ QUESTIONS

[heltersmelter]

I'd like to have Anode take a contract with Gild and I know he gives more utility type powers but as a contract newbie what if a character's request was nonspecific, like "hey I don't care what you do as long as it'll het me closer to my goal" kind of thing, is there a kind of wildcard option or should I work on something more specific?