Quick Fix Game 54: The Smoking Mirror

[Ghanderflaffle she/her]

I will play as Lyn!

[Condensation she/her]

I'll pinchhit. No guarantees about activity, but I'm trying to get back in.

[Szeth Pancakes he/they]

I will play as Pancakes! RP far from guaranteed.

[Mat he/him]

My character will be Taidon, a humble farmer.

[dannnex male]

On 7/8/2021 at 6:56 PM, Kasimir said:

or horses. 

Great idea 

signing up as one of the expidition’s packhorses, Dexan. 

Nalthis’s most intelligent Equine. 

[Ashbringer he/him]

…where’d the extra n go?

[Mat he/him]

5 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

…where’d the extra n go?

Danex was the original spelling, and right when we all got used to it he decided to change it back. For some reason.

[dannnex male]

30 minutes ago, Ashbringer said:

…where’d the extra n go?

The   V  O  I  D

[Devotary of Spontaneity]

I will sign up as Gatemaker, who is not a Returned and of course believes that Returned should accept their second death at the end of the week instead of stealing parts of other people's souls to survive, but did take the opportunity to destroy all records of her previous life upon being accepted into the Idrian intelligence program and was thus given a Returned title.

[Kasimir he/him]

9 hours ago, Danex said:

signing up as one of the expidition’s packhorses, Dexan. 

Now all we need is for Danex to cause a lynch last-minute, get sussed hard for it, have everyone who voted on Dexan killed, and we'll have Horseplay 2.0 all the way from LG6 

Edited July 12, 2021 by Kasimir

[dannnex male]

1 hour ago, Kasimir said:

Now all we need is for Danex to cause a lynch last-minute, get sussed hard for it, have everyone who voted on Dexan killed, and we'll have Horseplay 2.0 all the way from LG6 

That was seven years ago, how do you remember it that clearly.

[Kasimir he/him]

38 minutes ago, Danex said:

That was seven years ago, how do you remember it that clearly.

My good looks and my suave -

Oh, sorry. I'm just that good I guess  

[Araris Valerian he/him]

6 hours ago, Danex said:

That was seven years ago, how do you remember it that clearly.

5 hours ago, Kasimir said:

My good looks and my suave -

Oh, sorry. I'm just that good I guess  

It's because he was slacking off for most of those seven years, leaving me to carry all the weight around here .

I'll go ahead and sign up as Fadrian.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Araris Valerian

[Kasimir he/him]

24 minutes ago, Araris Valerian said:

It's because he was slacking off for most of those seven years, leaving me to carry all the weight around here .

I mean, why actually play the games seriously when I can just chill out and antagonise Wyrm 

24 minutes ago, Araris Valerian said:

I'll go ahead and sign up as Fadrian.

Glad to have you on board  

Edited July 12, 2021 by Kasimir

[Kasimir he/him]

Double-posting so this is a distinct message for anyone who is not following the edit in the rules:

As I have mentioned, PMs will be open. As per standard procedure, please include me in all PMs. Please do not include the IM, Wilson, as she'd prefer not to be dragged into y'all shenanigans and stuff. Thanks!

[Ghanderflaffle she/her]

On 7/10/2021 at 4:54 PM, Ghanderflaffle said:

I will play as Lyn!

I will actually have to switch this to pinchhitting. I didn't realize that this would probably start the same day my county fair does.

[Aureole]

I would like to participate. My roleplay character will be Auri, an aspiring artist that is remarkably bad at art. Expect awful MS Paint drawings. What is standard etiquette for posting images on this forum site?

[StrikerEZ he/him]

24 minutes ago, Aureole said:

I would like to participate. My roleplay character will be Auri, an aspiring artist that is remarkably bad at art. Expect awful MS Paint drawings. What is standard etiquette for posting images on this forum site?

I mean, as long as the images don't break any rules or anything, you can just post them. Some people like to put them in spoilers like this:

Spoiler

image here

so people don't have to see the image if they don't want to. Anyway, welcome to SE and the 17th Shard!

Edited July 13, 2021 by StrikerEZ

[Kasimir he/him]

31 minutes ago, Aureole said:

I would like to participate. My roleplay character will be Auri, an aspiring artist that is remarkably bad at art. Expect awful MS Paint drawings. What is standard etiquette for posting images on this forum site?

Welcome aboard! Image posting etiquette is essentially what @StrikerEZ said. As long as they conform to site rules and subforum (i.e. SE subforum) rules, they're fine.

[Quivil]

Imma not play this one, and not because I can't play a toddler.

[Archer he/him]

6 hours ago, Aureole said:

I would like to participate. My roleplay character will be Auri, an aspiring artist that is remarkably bad at art. Expect awful MS Paint drawings. What is standard etiquette for posting images on this forum site?

You may be targeted by the anti spambot filter because you don't have enough posts/up-votes. If you find yourself unable to add attachments and links to your posts, that's why. 

3 hours ago, Tani said:

Imma not play this one, and not because I can't play a toddler.

*squints at random anon account in the LG RPing as a child*

[Kasimir he/him]

And sign-ups are closed! Please come back in an hour for PMs to be dispatched.

[Kasimir he/him]

QF54: Day One - A Rendezvous With Destiny

Orders came in from the new king. We were to march south.

Not to the mountain passes that would defend the green slopes and mines of Idris from Hallendren incursion. We were to journey beyond that, into Hallendren-controlled territory. Into thick jungles that had been largely uncharted since the founding of old Hanald.

By all accounts, the Chedesh tried, of course. They launched expeditions into the jungle. The jungle swallowed them all up. Every last one of them. In the end, they staked their claim on the bay of the Inner Sea, and built T’Telir along the shoreline. 

But the jungle still called to them. Tantalised them. They sent more expeditions in, seeking to conquer its expanse. Eventually, men returned, speaking of the flowers that grew deep in the jungle. Flowers of all sorts of bright colours, that when treated, made dyes that held fast no matter the cloth, that were more vivid than those of other plants.

Today, Hallendren’s wealth is built on the dye trade. On these carefully-cultivated flowers, these Tears of Edgli. 

This was, of course, why our orders were to burn the Hallendren dye fields to the ground. The map we had intercepted from the Hallendren assassins in Bevalis contained crucial intelligence about the location of the dye fields. General Yarda had deployed some of his best scouts to identify the landmarks sketched out in the map. Our immediate objective was to rendezvous with them in the field, and then carry on with the mission.

Any aid or intelligence, any information these scouts knew about the lay of the jungle would be critical to the success of our mission. And in turn, every last one of us who had been selected or volunteered for the mission knew that the future and continued existence of Idris hung in the balance.

We were soldiers, loyal Idrians all. Sworn to bleed and to die for Idris, if we must.

Or so we thought.

 

 

They discovered the first body on the fifth day. 

What is it? Wryn signed.

Kalsin frowned. They had been following the trail signs laid down painstakingly by the Idrian scouts who had gone before them. Kalsin had begun to suspect something was wrong, though he kept his thoughts to himself for the moment. A glance at Wryn showed the captain’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. The first set of trail signs had led them to a ravine, where the packhorses had nearly spooked. He’d assumed that the trail signs had been adjusted a little, perhaps by curious wildlife—he’d heard enough of the monkeys in the Hallendren jungle—but that didn’t explain the thick patch of mud, enough to mire a few of the horses. Or the fire ants. Or the time they’d lost circling back to make sure the markers were right.

This was the lowlands, but Idrian trackers were trained to leave stable but subtle markers. Something about it felt wrong to him. Kalsin could not believe that scouts would make such mistakes, or fail to consider the needs of the following expedition.

He knelt by the bole of the vine-strangled tree as the captain called the squad to a halt. He glanced at them with a frown. Privately, Kalsin found himself with his doubts about the integrity of the expedition. The jungle was not the place for a good horse, but the quartermaster Variel had insisted on bringing Dexan along. And then there was Taidon, a humble farmer, which he only supposed Wryn had selected in the event they needed someone who knew his way around the Hallendren dye fields.

He wrestled with whether to argue with the decision. But Wryn was in charge of the expedition; Kalsin answered to him. It was pride, Kalsin decided, that made him question the worth of the other soldiers. General Yarda had not sent his handpicked elite. Instead, he’d deferred to Wryn’s judgement. 

Austre forgive him, it was not his place to think himself better, more worthy, than the others. And yet, Kalsin questioned Wryn’s judgement often enough. He thought of it as his job. Someone had to be the voice of reason here.

They’d argued about that. Kalsin had wanted Wryn to draw from the ranks of the Copper Shields, the very best General Yarda had to offer. One Shield was worth five Lifeless, in Kalsin’s eyes, and a whole lot less blasphemous. He had always thought to see Wryn raised to the ranks of the Shields one day.

“No,” Wryn had said, then. “Won’t work.”

“Whyever not?”

In response, Wryn raised an eyebrow and glanced meaningfully at the door and windows.

“Even in the palace?” Kalsin demanded, aghast.

“They killed King Gamlin,” Wryn said. “One does not simply kill a king.”

“They were Awakeners,” Kalsin argued. He could imagine such blasphemies enabling them to slip past the guardsmen unnoticed and murder the king’s father in his sleep. Austre watch over us, Austre protect us, Austre call us home, he thought, as his thoughts went back to the terrible killing.

“Awakeners are men. Die like men,” Wryn said. “No, think about it. The guards detected nothing. They knew where to find the king. They slipped into Bevalis without drawing attention. Bevalis, where you can’t sell a goat without being the subject of the day’s gossip. They had a safehouse. All of which points to careful groundwork and planning.”

Kalsin couldn’t deny that there was sense in assuming that Hallendren had managed to severely compromise Idrian assets.

He just wasn’t sure the answer was to select a complete mix of soldiers and whoever happened to show up at the palace and knock on Wryn’s door when the call went out. The scouts, at least, were some of Idris’s best trackers. Kalsin knew: he’d trained with them.

Tracking in the heights though, was different from the lowland jungle. The heat raised a sheen of sweat on his skin, and the jungle seemed determined to resist their passage. There were paths, cut painstakingly over decades or even centuries by the Pahn Kahl; Wryn had elected to steer clear. 

Wise, Kalsin thought. The last thing they needed was the Hallendren seeing them coming.

He frowned up at the very dead scout. Wilsa, he thought her name was. One of the best, with a tenacity that was legendary among the Idrian trackers. Dead now, tied up with vines, and her throat gaping. Not much blood here. She’d died elsewhere.

She’d been dead for a while. Kalsin could tell that, too. He saw small squirming movement in the corpse and did not avert his gaze. She deserved as much. She’d done her best, and made the ultimate sacrifice for Idris, and Austre had called her home.

Wryn let out a long breath as he took in the scene. “I don’t think this is what I was expecting,” he said, neutrally.

Kalsin scoffed. “Pretty sure I wasn’t expecting this, either,” he said, lightly. “Figured it’d be a few wet miserable weeks in the jungle, we torch some plants, and we’re home and heroes. Doesn’t look like the Hallendren are going to make it that easy for us, I suppose.”

“Yeah,” said Wryn, with a frown. “I don’t think so. Find us a place to make camp, some distance from here.”

“Really?”

“If she’s dead, who’s leaving the trail signs?” Wryn wanted to know. “Who’s changing the markers around? Someone doesn’t want the expedition to succeed, and I’d rather we not blunder about into the dark. Man can walk into a knife that way. Would be a pretty unpleasant way for the mission to end.”

The trees rose all about them, impenetrable, dense, and forbidding. It was so noisy: wildlife chattering, and the call of birds, though always at a distance. Their presence ensured that the animals were kept at bay, though Kalsin had no doubt they’d have to worry about predators at night.

Someone didn’t want the mission to succeed, Kalsin thought, and he met Wryn’s eyes. His thoughts went back to what they’d talked about, that day in the palace. Suborned Idrians. As awful, as unthinkable as the thought was, their mission had been clandestine enough. The selected soldiers hadn’t known of what was coming until after they had been selected, and General Yarda had briefed them all personally, in secret.

Which meant that some of them were spies, in the pay of Hallendren. Or even worse: were Hallendren. Were soul-stealers, perhaps.

Kalsin shuddered. Austre watch over us, he thought again, even as he went to see to Wryn’s orders. There had been a decent clearing a short while ago, near a quiet stream. He’d made a mental note of it. That might do, for the night.

And then they’d work out what their next move was.

 

 

“Do you ever wonder why we can’t remember, Hera?”

“Being Returned by the Iridescent Tones is...an unusual experience, your Grace. I couldn’t say for sure, but it’s not uncommon for Returned to experience some curiosity about their past.”

“I wonder, sometimes. I know, you all say it’s visions of the future, and premonitions, but I can’t help but wonder if what I’m seeing in my dreams are really glimpses of the past. Some form of memory, maybe. Mist, rising on a lake. Trees and ferns, jungle so dense you had to hack your way through with a sword… Are you really taking this down again, Hera?”

“Your Grace, you know the theological position on this.”

“Bah. Have it your way, Hera.”

 

 

The cycle has begun and will end on at 2300hrs SGT (GMT+8) on the 17th July!

Please be reminded that PMs are open and should include the GM. Do not include the IM as she doesn't want to be included  Also, all relevant role PMs have been sent as I'm low-effort this game. If you have not received a PM from me by this point, you are Idrian.

[Kasimir he/him]

Rule Clarifications:

Spoiler

Really?

Player List:

Spoiler

1. @Matrim's Dice as Taidon, a humble farmer
2. @The Unknown Order as Vincer, duralumin compounder
3. @StrikerEZ as TBC
4. @Ashbringer as Faleast and AraRaash
5. @Steeldancer as Steel
6. @Liranil as TBC
7. @Archer as Jacques Noir
8. @Szeth_Pancakes as Pancakes
9. @Danex as Dexan, an expedition packhorse
10. @Devotary of Spontaneity as Gatemaker, an Idrian agent with a mysterious past
11. @Araris Valerian as Fadrian
12. @Aureole as Auri, aspiring artist, emphasis aspiring

 

Edited July 16, 2021 by Kasimir

[Steeldancer he/him]

Oh hi, I forgot about this game. I should probably read the rules. 
Oh, wow, the rules for this one are really simple. Seems easy enough. Small player list too. I'd guess, maybe what, 3 elims? Let's go ahead and vote Liranil to get some discussion started. 

Edited July 16, 2021 by Steeldancer