Thar Shaddin

A letter... written in symbols.

A black skull. A white hand. The symbol of a suitably neutral location (a tavern or shop sign). One word - now.

By the messenger waiting outside the Grumpy Cricket for Hornwood once he's finished...

I like that. It's suitably dramatic.

The only minor problem I see is a timing one. Hornwood still has arrangements to make before his current plan can be set in motion-- not just from an IC standpoint, but before I can write that part. So an immediate meeting with Phelan brings what I'm doing to a pretty screeching halt. This plotline isn't incredibly time-sensitive, so it can wait, but putting it on hold wouldn't be my preference because if things don't begin pretty soon it leaves Uluki with much less to do during Shim, plus that's the most logical plot-gap for this to happen in.

I see three potential ways around that.

1.) The note could be something less immediate, like, "One Hour," "Sundown," "First Light," "Tomorrow," etc., rather than something that must happen before Hornwood can take any other actions.

2.) I could assume that Hornwood goes on to make his arrangements after speaking to Phelan, and can continue the current sub-plot accordingly, even if Hornwood himself isn't totally caught up in time. This should work pretty well, but there are a couple of potential snags. For one thing, it means that it will be established in advance that Hornwood's meeting with Phelan goes smoothly and ends in a timely manner, so the meeting itself would have limited flexibility, to avoid contradicting later events that were written first. The second problem is that it makes the plot timeline pretty confusing, with things happening out of order. But it's an option.

3.) Hornwood could send instructions and payment to his hirelings through Delphina by letter. This is a bit of a stretch since that implies a pretty high level of trust in her-- she can't read the notes, but he would have to be fairly certain that she would not just take his money and run, or report back to the people at the compound to try to sell the information at a higher price. I don't think Delphina has given him any reason to think she's that trustworthy... and in fact she definitely is not that trustworthy.

I don't actually have to write out the arrangements Hornwood needs to make-- I was planning to do that as summary anyway as it just won't be that interesting-- but it would be helpful to me for him to have IC time to make them; he only really needs an hour or two. OOC he can pretty much start writing with Phelan whenever, because Hornwood's plan will be completed by hirelings, and he won't actually be making an appearance; he doesn't want to be implicated if things go badly and his people get caught by the authorities or killed by the people at the compound. So this IC time I need shouldn't OOC delay your writing. Or we can go with #2 or #3 if one of those works better for you.

Sure, it can wait. I'm in no rush. Pick whatever time you wish.

Sure, it can wait. I'm in no rush. Pick whatever time you wish.

I'm going to say an hour, if that's alright with you. That conveys the sense that Phelan wants to meet with him pretty soon-ish and it's important, but it gives me plenty of time for Hornwood to take care of things IC. Like I said, I won't write out what happens during that hour in any great detail because it just isn't needed, but that'll keep the continuity correct.

Did you want to write a post where the message is delivered, or should I just include that in mine where Hornwood goes to meet Phelan? I can write a post on the subject tonight if you wish. Hornwood and Delphina are done, so we can move on to Phelan stuff.

Aorle, in Bargains wrote:There were questions which he wished to ask, but there were courtesies to observe, not the least being answering her damn wish. On that note, he had to contemplate, the thought showing clearly on his face.

I'm sorry, but I can't make head or tail of this sentence. I thought I was just tired and forgetting how to read last night, so I thought I'd come back to it, I did, and I still have no idea what you mean.

Posted for Hornwood-- I've taken care of everything I need to with him, so he is now free to meet with Phelan (or his representatives, or who ever you had in mind) at your convenience. Hornwood is no longer needed for sub-plot stuff, so there's no time limit on his participation.

Also, this probably goes without saying, but I have no expectation for how Kaydee will respond to Uluki, and I'm not necessarily assuming it'll be positive. So feel free to do as you like, and don't feel Kaydee has to be all cuddly and nice with her. That's just Uluki's default starting position, not her player trying to steer the scene.

Just a short post for Kaydee. Not because you didn't give me enough to work with, but just because Kaydee is in a state where she's not able to talk or think much. I'm happy to go on as long as you want, but you can also feel free to have Uluki take her upstairs and put her to bed whenever it seems right.

Falcon Bertille wrote:“Maybe we could bury it in the garden? And no one would ever notice that it was missing?”

Ironically, this will eventually be what Kaydee suggests they do with Rosemary's body.

Short post for me too. Uluki's pretty tired and not feeling very talkative or thinky.

If Kaydee has more she wants to say or has a response to what Uluki said, go for it. I'm in no rush to cut things off. But if Kaydee is ready for bed, Uluki will head upstairs with her when Kaydee says she's feeling OK enough to try to sleep. And Kaydee will get another hug goodnight before Uluki takes her leave entirely. It just seemed like Uluki should leave it in her hands how much comforting-time she needs, rather than Uluki deciding.

Ironically, this will eventually be what Kaydee suggests they do with Rosemary's body.

Creepy. I love it.

It would probably put Uluki off eating vegetables forever if her friend was buried in the garden.

OK, the short post has gotten a little longer, so please note the edit.

I realized Uluki should say something about Kaydee and Aorle's connection, because Uluki is all about the family thing. So I let her ramble lamely about that.

The post begins and ends the same way as it did, but Uluki says a couple of extra things in the middle.

So. Sleep time.

I'm not sure what we should do timing-wise at this point. I'm probably going to do a dream for Uluki tonight-- after the Panterras episode, she'll definitely dream-- and I have something I want to do briefly with the baby in the morning, which I have already mentioned in chat if you happen to recall.

Other than that... I'm not sure how long Aorle and Quinn are going to talk, and I'm not sure how far ahead we should take things. Uluki and Kaydee could potentially work on the dress, but it's only really worth writing out if they have more to talk about while they do so-- which depends on Kaydee; Uluki has said her piece. Any of my characters are free to be interacted with, really.

Rail and Quinn, do you have any projected timeline for how long your conversation is going to go? I'm totally not trying to rush you and you can take all the time you need, just how much time it's going to be will affect what I do in the meantime, so it's helpful for me to have some idea.

After that, Rail said about a day or two till Shim? How much of that are you planning to write out, and how much will be summary? Again, not trying to hurry things, just trying to figure out how my characters will fit into the timeline, and how much time both IC and OOC I'm filling.

Kaydee doesn't really have much more to say at this point. She's still processing things.

But if we need to fill some time while Aorle and Quinn chat, Uluki could talk to Julen about his magic. I think she mentioned wanting to do that at some point.

Cool, sounds good.

Two notes on Uluki's second nightmare:

1.) Mara Lian is not Thar's own dear Maara Adriana Loki, in spite of the similar name and the shared demonic heritage. It's just a coincidence.

2.) The dream is loosely based on actual events, but not an exact depiction, which should be pretty clear from the conversation that followed and the fact Rollick was not, in fact, killed by Uluki many years ago. Basically the break points with reality are whenever Uluki acts cruel, unforgiving, or out of character-- that's when it shifts into Uluki's fears about what could have happened. Uluki is not and was never this mean.

I was told my post would be better if it included something about Julen, so I edited it so I would have an excuse to add him in.

(In all seriousness, I edited the end because it seems like Rail and Quinn are still pretty involved in their conversation, and I wanted to give Uluki and Julen something to do in the meantime. It doesn't have to be a long chat, so we can still adapt around the Aorle/Quinn conversation, but I figured I should at least set an Uluki/Julen conversation up so Jules has something to respond to. I just tacked on a short closing paragraph; the rest of the post is unchanged.)

Preparations list:

- Merohl making traps and snares.
- Darir & Orin producing caltrops.
- Gaelm constructing a light catapult, with Krarug gathering masonry chunks for ammunition.
- A party of Lightswords gathering extra food.
- A party of refugees organised to sharpening dozens of stakes.

I think all of that can be summarised.

Strategy discussions can be once we begin marching for Shim if that is more convenient.

PS: Julen, unless you specifically want Julen to be cheeseless, I suggest a few Lightswords (probably Hatton & Triarius) make sure there is extra food so that Julen is not without - purely to establish the Lightswords as prone to random acts of kindness.

Strategy discussions can be once we begin marching for Shim if that is more convenient.

It probably will be, unless Quinn needs to interact with any of my characters again. That way I can move on to something else rather than just waiting or killing time while those things are discussed.

I really liked the Aorle post. He's quite eloquent, and it was cool to see his beliefs-- which are evident in his actions-- laid out like that.

But I'm totally stumped... how did he know Quinn is from Shim? If that's going to be revealed in future posts, you don't have to say. If you've already given the information I should need to figure it out and I've just missed it, could you enlighten the clueless?