Ambrosia Software Web Board: Bells and Whistles - Ambrosia Software Web Board

Hmm, I may have overestimated the amount of work that I shall be receiving (one class has lessened its planned amount of quizzes and tests for this month), as I am prone to doing. Of course, it helps that I didn't have to rewrite a paper today as I believed that I would have to.

Hmm, maybe I should just end all my posts with an ambiguous character injury (since it seems to me likely that my activity will at least be severely hampered).

I'll probably get some kind of post up later.

This post has been edited by Selax: 11 April 2007 - 10:41 PM

Special Note

Seralcard is going to be taking out corrupt guards now, but he is not going to be moving out in the open, he won't be much on pleasant conversation, and he will disappear if other people (like any Cytheran heroes, Lords, Ladys, mages, or normal guards) show up.

I'll try to catch up on the story tomorrow, and maybe see if I can come up with something to post sometime in the evening.

cache22, on Apr 17 2007, 03:12 AM, said:

You people make the most useful off-topic posts ever.

iKaterei, on Apr 18 2007, 05:33 AM, said:

Off-topic? That was decidedly on topic.

cache22, on Apr 17 2007, 12:05 PM, said:

err... out of context, i meant. *mind is elsewhere*

Well, I was wondering who is up for posting now? (as in whose turn it is rather than "hey who wants to post?")

And to bring us back on topic:

I will probably introduce a character whose inspiration I derive totally from this Track.

By the way, I don't think the timeline idea made it onto the boards, but it might help to start trying to chronologically place some events in the story to clear up confusion.

I'm assuming the ball guests and the bard started arriving around 1:30pm, dusk fell at around 6pm (its around March/April? They don't have DST either), and it seems like the current story is up to ~8:30pm. Though cache's storyline with the interrogation can probably get away with backing up to 90 minutes before the current time, to fill in events.

Summary
As I understand it


Plot – Lord Malis Attis was to wed Danae the Mage at Pnyx, but just before the wedding was to take place he received a cryptic bloody message. The Lord is a good man, but he isn’t a stranger to the Cytheran underworld, having fallen victim to it in the past.

An old friend of his, trusted by the Mages of Pnyx, is a man named Sideline. A Rogue turned detective Sideline seemed like just the man to call for help. Not wanting to overtly invite Sideline and tip off the people who sent the dark message Lord Malis invited the Rogue and virtually everyone at the Alraeican Tavern. However, though Malis knew he could trust Sideline with his very life he would not gamble with the lives of his bride, friends, and family. In secret and at great cost he sought the help of a mysterious Assassin called Seralcard to take down the wrongdoers before they could strike.

Unfortunately the plan ran far deeper than Lord Malis imagined, with shadowed players working with his enemies behind the scenes towards their own grave ends. The Kidnappers who had sent Malis the message were given connections and funds enough to recruit several of the House Guards in attendance at the ball, in order to gain entrance into Pnyx at set out their work. Who supplied those funds and connections is yet unknown, but another player entered into this sinister alliance. Rapierian has worked hand in hand with the Kidnappers and House Guards in order to push his own agenda. The House Guards gaze the Kidnappers information about Sideline and his friends, which they then used to grab Sideling himself as he was one of the targets of their attack as an act of vengeance for foiling one of their plots years ago.

The abduction drew the attention of several Tavern adventurers just as Rapierian knew it would and he used this distraction as a window through which he had his uncle Lord Propontis killed. In the confusion that followed the mage was able to slip away, his hired assassin, a tool of death he refers to as the Scourge, attempted to do the same but ran into unexpected troubles. Katerei chased the Scourge down and cornered him with the aid of Trundaylan, one of Malis’s most trusted friends and a Guard himself, but drawing upon misdirection Scourge wounded Trundaylan mortally and used the man’s death as distraction enough to escape into the night.

The Kidnappers who succeeded in grabbing Sideline would later fail at virtually every turn. The Rogue’s friends were able to track him down and defeat his captors. One man was captured alive and taken to be questioned by Sideline and Rythan. One of the Ronin used a special magical artifact to bind Trundaylan’s spirit in the twilight realm between life and death while she and the others struggle to save his life, but even with this great feat he will not survive. Elsewhere, another agent of the Kidnappers was slain just before he could escape with Mariya, Trundaylan’s young daughter, as his captive. Having killed the man Seralcard took the sleeping Mariya to where Lord Malis had agreed to meet him. With the child out of danger and Sideline safe the Assassin perceived his obligations complete and took his final payment from Lord Malis before disappearing himself.

The meeting place Lord Malis had arrived in was not the first, but one of many. The Lord had selected several places within Pnyx where he would be alone at certain times to meet with the assassin, so as to lower the risk of being caught with the man. It is ironic then that Lord Malis proved a bit too smart for his own good, his frequent roaming during the night’s crisis among other suspicious activities labeled him as the mastermind behind the night. The Captain of the Guard, a noble person himself, placed Lord Malis under arrest after gathering all the available information, though within he hoped dearly he was wrong.

With Rapierian gone and the Kidnappers captured or killed the corrupt guards were left with little in the way of options; that was until Malis’s arrest anyway. If they could alter the evidence to make others believe Malis was responsible for the night, and then silence the captive Kidnapper before he could talk, the Guards would be beyond suspicion. And so the corrupt House Guards worked to bury the truth and weave a cloak of lies to hide their involvement in the night’s tragedy. But then Katerei stumbled upon some of the truth, not yet enough to implicate the guards, but enough to put Lord Malis’s guilt in question, she needed to be silenced.

The Guards placed Katerei deep within Pnyx’s dungeons to be dealt with when everything else was taken care of. Now knowing of the Guard’s treachery Katerei knew she had to act, she needed to be free if she was to stop them, so she secretly sent out a message. One of the corrupt Guards intercepted the message before it reached its destination, but it was quickly stolen by the Bard Mar Kaius. Fearing that the Bard would go to the authorities the Guard went chasing after him, yet Kaius had no intention of doing that, in fact no man named Mar Kaius really existed. The Assassin Seralcard is revealed as having been Kaius the whole time. Taking the newly attained message he cuts a bloody swath through the Dungeon guards in order to reach Lord Malis and tell him of everything that was happening.

An honorable man, Lord Malis orders Seralcard to free Katerei and help her to unravel the treachery of the guards while he stays within the confines of his cell to await trial. He knew he was not guilty, but he would be judged so by the law, not by himself. Katerei’s freedom brings us to the current position of our story.

I should have the positions of everyone's characters up later, if it's needed. If I've missed something important to the main plot please mention that rather than just point out that I missed something.

I might add a few things: first, there have been secret talks going on between House Strymon and House Nicander for some time. Rapierian made sure word of these talks began to get out, knowing that many nobles (even members of both of the houses would be displeased) and that they would inevitably approach him for aid in stopping them. Having already intended to kill Propontis, he agreed and further used this to threaten the nobles who had approached him with blackmail (perhaps this group of nobles could be the unknown group mentioned above?) Philinus has for the moment decided to keep quiet about the talks, fearing to reveal them would endanger his family.

Second, part of Scourge's mission is to assassinate certain high-ranking people in attendance at the event. Although framing Malis is not part of his primary mission, he is using Malis's imprisonment as an excuse to kill others (such as Nicander's majordomo). He has sent word that he will kill a person each day that Malis is imprisoned. He may take measures to keep Malis in jail as well.

Third, Pnyx is in something of a lockdown right now. Knowing the killer is in the city, the mages are loath to allow him to escape, although they also realize that keeping the people there might place them in greater danger. In addition, the city's resources can't support such a number for any great length of time.


By the way, the fact that I am posting today doesn't mean that I'm free to resume my regular posting habits just yet. I am still extremely busy and might remain so for some time.

If the TS picks up again, I might find it necessary to bow out or temporarily hand control of my characters to another until I can return.

EDIT: I intend to try to get a post up later tonight. I plan to do something with some of the corrupt guards and to work under the assumption that the unknown group providing funds for the guards is the corrupt group of nobles.

EDIT 2: Never mind, using the nobles for the role of funding the kidnappers doesn't work, unless they're funding that group through Rapierian or have some other relation to the guards. I'll still use some of them if that is okay and doesn't interfere with other's plans. I plan to kill Roderick if that is okay, if it is not please assume someone else is killed until I can edit it.

This post has been edited by Selax: 28 April 2007 - 12:19 AM

Who-ja-ma-what-now?

*ahem*

Selax, I need to take you up on that Edit you offered, it's okay if you kill off a bunch of unnamed corrupt guards, but I gave Roderick a name because I do in fact intend to use him for a bit 0.o.

Oh my! We're going so slow now. @_@

yeah, if anyone has a problem with any situation which my post has induced, then you should have posted sooner! ;b

I'm back.

Now where did everyone else go? (I have a suspicion that school has more than a little to do with recent disappearances around here.)

By the way, we might want to rescind the no-planning rule...I think a lot of people have been ignoring it anyway.


EDIT: Post edited: more changes are possible.

This post has been edited by Selax: 15 May 2007 - 12:26 AM

I know I've been ignoring that rule, and I'm not even in the TS yet (my character is stuck in the tavern until Cache comes back and responds).

Selax, on May 14 2007, 08:46 PM, said:

What a silly question. Kansas, of course! Where else would everyone go?

Vancouver ;_;

I've been... >.> Around...

The No Planning Rule should stay well in effect. People right now have "directions" they want to go in, but when the situation changes they change with the story. If we start actually setting plans we're going to cut off possibilities for other people, and that's really no fun for the people not included in the plan.

If you rescind the "no planning" rule, I'll rescind my "be a little careful of others toes" rule. In other words, feel free to plan, but be flexible, and don't form a clique to mastermind the whole situation. In the hope that endless redundancy will lead to clarity: saying, "I want to go in this direction here, could you help me with that? I think like so would be perfect." is great, but we want the "out" people to feel welcome to post too. Um, I guess that means "Ditto to Selax and Ragnar0k"...{/me wanders off babbling to himself}

If anyone wonders where my characters are: Jehezekel is bored stiff hanging around with the rulers of Pnyx, and Silver is napping on the bottom of a table, a change in conversational tone would awake him.

At the moment, the TS events seem to be mostly subplots, which involve only a few people. In addition, some of them could be hard to join. Quite a few people seem to be sitting around not involved in either.

I don't mean start planning and shut out all other possibilities: I'm referring to the fact that the TS seems to lack a central plot for people to get involved in and could use one, although Avatara and Katerei's bid to clear Malis could serve as one (if they want it to).

Quote

Good point (quite accurate!), but how would being in Kansas prevent them from posting?


EDIT: I don't usually doublepost, unless there haven't been any other posts for three or four days. In this case, I'll probably refrain for a little longer to see if anyone comes up with anything.

This post has been edited by Selax: 18 May 2007 - 11:21 PM

I know that Avatara and Katerei are involved in a plot to get some of us back(?) into the storyline.
I can easily come up with nothing, but a post that neither advances the story, develops a character, or sets a scene, seems naughtish. But perhaps I can come up with a little after all....

More of a general idea for a direction to go in, but it hinges on BMW posting before she goes off to samurai land. I don't feel comfortable with gravedigging Retsy on my own.

It depends on 453?

...we're doomed.

You could always check whether or not she's changed the password on her account...

I'll hold off on posting (since I don't really have anything to post either) for another day or two unless something happens.

I have not changed my password :P

Request and you shall receive, have some faith in me ^_~

*Selax sees 453's post.*

*Selax faints.*

Finally got that edit in. For those of you who click that link and assume that you've already read it since it's on the second page, please don't. Note that it was posted on March 19 as a placeholder for when I could fill it in. I put it up a couple of days ago, but since most people don't go back and look at old posts, most probably haven't read it yet.

Now onto the business at hand. That is a link to the brand new post that I just put up a few minutes ago. There were so many subplots in the TS and no main direction, that I had to get some help from Avatara. I've done my best to merge the "Corrupt-guards-can-free-Malis" subplot into the main plot of the assassinations.

So this is the TS as it currently stands:

All personal subplots are still intact. However, whereas before most people had nothing for their characters to do, the whole group (at least those who want to be, I left it open) is now together seeking out Roderick's corrupt lieutenants. Once we've done that, they will be brought before Lindus, and Malis will be cleared of the charges against him. This TS can end sometime around that point, maybe with the ball proceeding as it should or whatever else we want to do. But the assassin will not be caught in this story nor will Rapierian. That storyline will continue on and be picked up later, I don't know when.

Cache, I didn't do anything with your's and Rythan's subplot. You may finish it in this TS, the next, or even a chron if you like. I just didn't want to go near it or do anything with it.

As for other subplots, I'm not sure about who all has others, there's still time to end them or you can find a way to merge them with the corrupted guards main plot. Whatever you want.

And, Selax wanted me to note that Propontis shouldn't really be alive in my post's flashback because Scourge would have killed him instantly. He caught that after he read it, but I didn't feel like editing half of the post, so I left it as-is. I figure it's just a triviality.

In short, they went to a wedding and ball, but someone was assassinated. An innocent man is wrongly imprisoned, and they find out that his own guards are behind it. They turn the guards over to the mages and free the innocent man, insuring that justice is done. However, they do not catch the assassin yet, but they know they will someday.

That is the TS For Whom the Bell Tolls as I see it. Since there still seems to be a no planning rule, though, it is liable to change. However, I believe that if we introduce too much more this late into it, the TS may never end satisfactorily.