Nixis

Hi everyone, Happy New Year. I've had this sitting on my computer screen for nearly a month now, but couldn't bring myself to post it. I am sorry for vanishing on you. I've had to come to terms over the past two months that I don't have the capacity or drive at this point to keep doing Mythweavers in a way that is responsible and respectful of your time, and I've been dealing with a lot of **feelings** about that. Cycles of sadness, avoidance and determination to just post anyways. TLDR - I need to take a break from mythweavers for probably a couple of months. I'd *like* to come back and discuss either resuming the game at that point or calling it if I haven't improved, but I'd also be happy to just write out what the remainder of the story looked like from my end and we can let it go. A longer explanation: When we started this game, I was a somewhat bored, somewhat underchallenged researcher in an academic lab. I had a really great schedule - I could update games in the morning while my experiments were running and always felt on top of things. I had given up my more intensive games - the ones that brought about the setting for my world - when my daughter was born because those required setting aside multiple times per day in which I could check and post, but for the games where I was maybe updating one every day or every two days, it worked fantastically. Fast forward to 2020. I got a professorship! I started my own lab! So exciting. And then the pandemic hit. Things were now more challenging because I had my kids underfoot all day, but it was still usually possible to post in my usual timeframes. Once we got back in the office, though, things started ramping up - more activities, more people to manage, more balls to juggle and meetings to go to. I still could manage, but with increasing frequency, the time I had to check and post shifted from the morning to the late evening, when I was more tired and it was harder to be creative. Still... okay. Posting definitely slowed down, but it was managable. On top of that, the **type** of my work was changing. I was going from a lot of hands-on experiments to a LOT of writing. Thats basically all I do for my job now - manage people, go to meetings, and write, write, write. Sometimes at the end of the day the last thing I possibly wanted to do was write more - even if Mythweavers writing was totally different from the standard writing I did for work. And as I was managing more and more people, that meant that the writing I did for work now sometimes had to be pushed out of its normal windows and into the late evening, totally displacing Mythweavers time. Still, it was... okay. I felt bad - all the time - that I wasn't keeping up the pace I used to be able to, but I wasn't slipping other than a week or two every couple of months in terms of updating. And then I finally got COVID earlier this year and I've never quite recovered from that. I have some mild form of Long COVID at this point - easily fatigued, occasional brain fog, that rears its head at frequent but not predictable intervals. This has totally thrown any system I had into chaos. Basically any time I have to write I am using to keep up with the times when I'm at work that I **should** be writing but don't feel capable of doing so. Likewise, sometimes the times I had planned to write in the evenings are overruled by my body demanding sleep **now** which puts me even further behind and exacerbates everything. And so here we are. I try to find the energy to design and write a post, maybe get it partway put together - maybe even tell you all I have it mostly ready - and then BAM I'm not able to do it for a a few days, which makes me feel bad and avoidant and by the time that passes... I'm in the midst of another wave of exhaustion or a spike in work and I don't have the capacity to post, and it snowballs. And so I think I need to take a break for a bit. Work to establish new routines, work to continue to deal with this new reality health-wise I find myself in (things **are** improving, just on a slower timeframe than I'd like.) One of my resolutions for this new year that I've been putting together is to do a better job at managing my trainees so that less of my time is spend ad hoc helping them and that I have more time built into my day to do the writing part of my job, which will hopefully free up time to do the things I love to do, like this game. It is my hope that doing this will get me back to a place that I can play with all of you again in a way that is respectful of your time. I would LIKE to come back, check in in say, 3 months or so, so maybe early/mid april and let you know how I'm doing and make a more long-term decision about things at that point. My hope is that I'll be in a better place at that point. That said, I also totally understand that 'lets take a break for a few months' isn't what any of us signed up for and that another path forward would be to have me write out what else I was planning to have happen in the game and give us all some closure. Regardless of what happens, I want to say thank you to each of you for this entire journey. I've thought so much about each of your characters, told stories to my RL friends about the times you were clever or funny or just totally surprised me. Each of you and your PCs have taught me things that I want to take forward into the characters that I play in the future, and the games that I run. Thank you, and hopefully see you in a few months to see this thing to its end... one way or another.

OOC I think Marut is forgetting that once they're in the city they are going to be sneaking all about which is exactly where Marut shines - and what just turned the prison break adventure from something that I was anticipating would involve several fights and a more, uh, kinetic ending to you all just waltzing through the entire facility, freeing people, and then waltzing back out :D Sorry for the delay. Was traveling, dealing with more post-covid complications (reaaaallly not a fan) and designing this capstone to the Sunbringer/Dox portion of the campaign. Basically, this is going to play out in a few parts. 1) Infiltration. You need to get into the city (not a problem with Torfinn's good idea), sneak through the city to one of the gates, subdue the guards as quietly as possible, and open the gate to allow Zaniyah and the guards inside. 2) The battle against the Dox. This is something that you can let go on behind the scenes as you do other things, or take a more active role in. Basically, I've been keeping track of the choices you've been making in both this section and the last and you have an 'army' on your side that consists of the Circle bolstered by a few of the 'regular' thieves in the city, a 2/3rds strength Cult of the Blade, Zaniyah's guards, who you lost a few, but not a ton of to the undead below, and Marie and Ksenia but NOT Chadston, who is being kept behind for his safety. Against them are the Dox, whose strength is known only to me :D The fight between the Dox and the 'Allies' will be happening sort of like the fight for Malbrig's temple in the Forest. A bunch of rolls that will determine how things are working. Once we get there, you will have the opportunity to help one or more of the groups along with the fight, improving their odds, but taking away advantages that you might accrue for the final portion 3) The hunt for and defeat(?) of the Sunbringer. Without her defeat, the Dox will remain in charge, but her current location, her escort strength, etc is currently unknown. You will figure out where she is, work to peel away her escorts, and finally confront and defeat her. The more you help the main army, the less chances you will have to do the rest. Its later than I thought it was going to be by the time I finished writing this, so I'll actually advance the plot IC tomorrow.

By Belluin's House Sheshi looks at the deep gash marks and draws a ragged breath as she helps pull Belluin up to her feet again. "Okay. Okay. Weapons. We all need weapons, I think. Those of us who know how to use them." Sheshi noted to herself that she was not one of those people, but still looked around and grabbed astout length of woodBehold! A Quarterstaff! and felt a little better with it in her hands. "If nothing is here, we should find the others. VIKTOR!" She shouts. "COME BACK!"

Eyes widen at Marut's suggestion to place people within a bag of holding and after a moment Ciceron Boma laughs "While that idea certainly gets points for creativity, I would much rather stride across the bottom of the river in full plate than be crammed into a dark bag with hundreds of my friends, and I very much would not like to do the former! But, perhaps, there is merit in this approach. It would certainly guarantee your ability to enter the city without notice. Perhaps if we choose a particularly misty day, coupled with your unobserved entry into the city and a Message from Eclair to myself and the Circle to start being as distracting as possible, you could take one of the gatehouses and let the rest of the guard inside." "We do not... have to leave it to chance." Marie says quietly. "I am... weak. But I can still support... this. Let me speak with Ksenia... She... has a spell to weave a fog cloud thick... enough to obscure... a large... large area. I... can provide... some assistance..." She stops speaking, clearly exhausted. At her side, Chadston frowns in concern, but then adds "I, too, can help with this spell. It alone is not enough, but combined with a group on the inside and a distraction, it should be enough." "How does this sound then to you four, who will be facing the most danger? Torfinn, you will do your ritual to get your group - and anyone else mad enough to wish to join you - under the river and into the Bastos/Circle warehouse. At that point, you will lay low for a few hours and then Eclair will send messages to myself, the Circle, and the Blades. We will move forward under cover of fog and get as close as possible, at which point the rebellion will begin within the city as you approach the gatehouse from the inside. You will subdue the guards, let us in, and we will retake the city - while you go deal with the Sunbringer herself. Is this amenable to all? What should we add to the plan?" One by one, the others gathered at the table nod, but they are watching all of you as you are the key figures in it.

There is a moment of stunned silence as everyone considers Torfinn's idea, eventually broken by Deben Bastos, who, more to fill the space than anything else says "There is a warehouse we own that opens out onto the water. The Dox watch the River itself carefully - Conveyer, the gnome who took you across before is our best river-smuggler, but even he will eventually be seen across multiple crossings. Yet... if we could get to that warehouse, there are ladders out of the River there - in case someone falls in, of course. Still..." ((More to come after we see the result of Torfinn's persuasion roll))

can you give me a persuasion check? I LOVE this idea... but I'm not sure that the people you are sending across will!

You know what? Sure. I was going to have you get level 12 after you took down the Vox, but lets make that fight extra fun. Welcome to the new boards and Level 12 for all! And I'll make a sheets section and see if that helps at all. I agree, Shadeus... migrating things over is just... tricky - easier to just start from scratch

The Council To Retake Terena Seventy two hours have passed since you escaped Terena on a Circle-affiliated barge and quietly made your way back to the cave that still serves as the 'home base' for those of you who escaped the horrors beneath Terena and managed to make your way back to the city only to find it under the control of an enemy you thought defeated. An hour ago, Ciceron Boma and Deben Bastos, leaders of the Cult of the Blade and the Circle, respectively, managed to follow some instructions Torfinn Sent to them and found you. Soon you all are standing around a smooth stone 'table' on which have been placed many different pieces of paper representing different parts of the city, possible points of entry and places that will be easy - or hard - to defend. "We are all here because we want our city back. Ser Boma, Lady Bastos, would you please start by telling us what the current state of the city is?" The old gnome woman smirks. "A Lady, am I? May this politeness last forever between the Guard and the Guild." She raised her hand to forestall Zaniyah's half-formed protestation. "Peace, Captain. It was a jest. I know we must hammer out exactly what our relationship shall be after this is done. Terena is a powderkeg. We have rallied the Guild and its allies to be ready to act, yet we still lack the numbers to be much more than a distraction - a very painful and annoying distraction - to the Dox. I believe that is the assessment of the Commander as well?" "It is." Ciceron agrees "I have pushed as far into the Blades as I dare without discovery. My best guess is that 75% of us will do the right thing when the time comes, but the remaining 25% have been coerced by money into truly craven forms. We will fight for you, for the City and Council we swore oaths to, but I share Ms. Debos' assessment. Without you and your guards inside the city, we will not be successful. "Which of course, begs a question..." Marie Renaux's voice is thin and reedy, and she leans on Chaston to help her stand, but it is good to see her awake and on her feet again. "How can we get our two hundred and twenty seven guards into the city without being noticed? First Orosia's secret chamber will not be an option - it will be detected quickly if it is used so frequently, so we will require some other ideas. Do you have any thoughts?" She asks, turning to the four of you. Also present: http://i.imgur.com/P7184Pq.jpg

Okay, here's our new OOC thread!

By Belluin's House Sheshi races to Belluin's side and falls on her knees next to the dwarven woman, trusting the thick cloth of her cloak and robes to keep her knees from scuffing as she checks her wounds and begins to expertly bind them. She turns briefly as Bellamy comes near and grips his armGiving Bellarmy a Bardic Inspiration Die. "Go! Check inside, but be careful. I have her." As she continued to work, she also continued to talk, needing to hear her own voice to banish the sound of the child's scream from ringing in her ears. "Okay! Two groups! One group stays here and checks in the house. The other finds that child. We will keep our home safe! Do not get split up further!" OOC Giving Bellarmy a Bardic Inspiration Die And can that little rallying speech there at the end be the capstone to my Inspiring Leader feature, continuing on from my efforts and pep-talks in the earlier grown-ups meeting? If so, I think everyone there gets 3 temp HP (up to 7 people, but I think there were only 7 of us?)

Posted the last post for the old site, although you are free to respond. Will be starting a new thread here for our final push against the Dox.

Sheshi, Bellamy, Hektor Sheshi feels a stone in her stomach pulling down, down, down as she realizes that she has misunderstood what Macran had started the entire meeting by saying. A Monster. Not a turn of phrase to describe a human who has broken the norms of society and done something inappropriate and wrong, but an actual, real, true monster. She thinks about the voice that so cruely - and so easily - broke into her prayer to Leaf and feels a chill run all the way down her spine, even though the door is closed and the room is warm. She is about to say something when the shouting begins. No, not just shouting, the swearing. Dwarven swearing strong enough to curl your toes. A woman, at that. Sheshi glanced at Bellamy and then took off running out the door towards the commotion.

Sheshi, Bellamy, Hektor That infuriating woman! Sheshi hadn't mentioned her problems so as to not panic anyone about the fact that the GODS themselves weren't reachable, and Lucredda just... said it. At least nobody seemed to be fixating on it - yet. Good. Good. "If we are just dealing with a thief and a malcontent, then we can deal with that issue amongst ourselves. We may not be soldiers, but we are not defenseless either, after all. I am happy to give a sermon to try and convince people to stay, if that would be useful"

Sheshi, Bellamy, Hektor Sheshi meets Lucredda's eyes and shakes her head very slightly, trying to convey that she doesn't think that trying to explain about the spirits being hard to reach, or a prayer to Leaf going wrong is the right course of action here, then steps forward, falling into familar and soothing voice patterns as she draws upon the shared life of the people here to remind them that it is safe to rely on one another, at least until more information comes out. "Thank you, Macran, for gathering us all together. I would like to say a few words before we begin speculating and asking questions. We know that a tragedy has happened here, but that we are a strong community here. One that wishes to keep this place safe. Mayor Quill, you are a voice the village trusts. You will help us stay safe in this challenging time. Macran, Amise, Viktor, you are part of the militia. You help to keep us safe with your strong arms. Bellamy, you have experience with outsiders and with keeping others safe that the rest of us lack and we will need your expertise. Hektor, the children of this village love you. You will help to keep them safe. Lucredda, you and your family love Hearth, in your way, more than anyone else I've met here. You and yours will help to keep us all safe.   With that as our foundation point, let us begin. In fact, I will begin, because Hektor told me he would speak to me about what had happened when we arrived here so I remain somewhat out of the loop. Two questions: What do you mean that the lock was 'taken' and in what way does the slaughter of the birds remind you of the disappearance of Patrick Rispa? Unless I am mistaken, other than his blood-stained axe, we have never found any trace of him..." She cracks a small smile. "Unless I've been so deep in my scriptures that I've missed a development?" Leonora did say that she had been having dreams about her husband recently... I wonder if that is connected... Sheshi thought to herself as she waited for a reply.    

As a lot of us are mostly over here now, a place for us to let people know that we posted on the old site until we can get the jailbreak wrapped up and relocate over here. I posted a big update on the old site :)

Sheshi and Hektor Sheshi lips thinned slightly as Lucredda flatly refused her aid, but before she could say anything more to convince the other woman, there was a commotion behind them and suddenly they were not alone. Sheshi quickly smoothed her face into as close to her usual calm and supportive demeanor as she could and turned to face the door just as Hektor walked in. "Hektor, is there something wrong?"    

Sheshi Sheshi takes in Lucredda's home, knowing that this is, in its own way, an honor - a recognition that for all that the two women are 'at odds' with one another, there is, somewhere deep down, a level of respect. For Sheshi does respect this old, stubborn woman who clings to her 'little' gods while the world around her sweeps towards ever-growing centralization, a force that Sheshi is all too aware that she represents - especially as she knows that her time here is ending and her work, as honest and earnest as it was, will soon be turned over to someone else. Perhaps someone more zealous and uninterested in sharing the devotion of this little place with the spirits who were here before.   Sheshi watches with great interest as Lucredda acts to construct the ritual circle and the magic begins to take hold - only to frown as the ritual fails. She considers for a moment, then takes a leap.   "Would a second person performing this ritual help? Will you teach me? I am a fairly quick learner, and I feel this is a question that needs answering - do the spirits not hear, do they not desire to come, or are they unable to come? I would be your second, if you would have me." OOC I think it is so fitting that Lucredda has a higher Religion roll that I do. Not sure entirely what I'm offering here. Could simply be the help action. Could be my own religion roll. Either way, somewhere in here I'd like to cast guidance on whomever is actually attempting the roll (and, for that matter, would have cast it if Lucredda was interested on that last roll of hers) Will roll some stuff and we'll see where it takes us.  

Sheshi Sheshi winces at Lucredda's reaction - she hadn't meant anything by it, but she instantly understands how she had put her foot in her mouth just now and is internally grateful that Lucredda didn't bite her head off.   "No. No, not Leaf. Something... else." Sheshi says, lowering her voice even further. "It was... a darkness, a presence that seemed to hate the very notion of faith in, well, anything at all. It roiled my stomach, was wholly... evil.   I apologize for my choice of words earlier. Your gods and mine are very different from one another, but if your devotions to your gods had been met with a similar... interception... then that would have been very informative. As it is..."   Sheshi paused and looked away from Lucredda, staring into the forest as if trying to spot something hiding in the shadows. "As it is... I feel that you are right. Trouble is coming."  

Sheshi Sheshi noted with one ear the talk of love here at the Zan household as well, but her attention was wholly for Lucredda.   "Business, Lucredda. I would not come uninvited otherwise." Sheshi stepped close so that the children couldn't hear.   "Something... strange... just happened when I prayed to Leaf. Have you tended to your own little gods today, Lucredda? Was anything... off?"  

Sheshi Sheshi sat down, hard, onto one of the pews and only then let go of her holy symbol, noticing as if through a fog the bright red line of blood that welled up from a cut across her middle and ring fingers from where the artistic 'leaf' within the symbol had cut her from gripping it too tight. Olivia gasped and went to, of all things, tear some of her dress to bind it, but Sheshi found her voice in time to stop her.   "It is just a small cut, Olivia. I... I..." She took a deep breath and calmed herself. "I will be fine, Olivia. Yes, something unusual happened, but it is not unheard of, and I am well. Our prayer has been sent out. Now we must see what happens next. Please, come talk to me again soon, I must finish preparations."   Sheshi quickly shooed Olivia out the door then, after only waiting a minute for the girl to be truly gone, put on her coat and followed her out the door. She knew who she needed to talk to.   Her feet started walking down the path that led to Lucredda Zan's place.

Sheshi Mmm... and there it was. The actual wound at the heart of it all - a feeling of not belonging, a feeling of not fitting in to the place that you have been born and lived your entire life, a feeling that somewhere else things would just be better. Sometimes that feeling was just that, though, a feeling. The proverbial grass on the other side of the wall that is just grass when you get over to it and stand in the middle of it.   But, sometimes, it wasn't. Sheshi knew that from personal experience. A different, opposite sort of experience to Olivia, who desperately wanted more when Sheshi had equally desperately wanted less, but the commonality was there. There would certainly be more opportunities in the big city for Olivia... perhaps it truly would be better.   A prayer, then. One not to change the heart of Joseph, but to guide Olivia onto the path she is meant to be on, a prayer that Sheshi knew that Leaf was much more likely to listen to.   "All right, Olivia. Come sit down with me and let us begin. I will light a candle to center us."   She led Olivia to the front pew and left her there before stepping up to the altar and lighting one of the candles that was there, feeling the words of her prayer starting to bubble to the surface as she prepared to give them voice. tabletop Religion  

Sheshi Olivia's face buried in her chest, Sheshi had the opportunity to meet Tildra's eyes and squint her amusement at this truly dramatic turn of events. The squint turned into a glare and a small shake of her head followed by a wink as Tildra began to leave, the meaning clear: - Don't you leave me alone with this, you coward! - But Tildra was already halfway to the door before Olivia pushed back from Sheshi and made her request/demand.   "Olivia, I see that you are upset. It is hard to see people making choices that you disagree with, especially when that affects you in such a personal way. Now, I cannot curse him - Leaf does not give me that power - but what we can do is pray that Leaf guides Joseph to the path he is meant to be on. Would you like to do that with me?"

Sheshi Ah, the subject of my next passage...  Sheshi thought to herself, keeping any emotion that Tildra's demand/request brought from reaching her face. It was a very common request, and she was used to it.   "Tildra, blessings of the Way to you. I understand that you will not be able to attend today, but yes, I will happily tell you what I am preaching this afternoon. The selected passages for today are about change. Change in season, the birth of a child, the death of a parent, the turn of the wheel and our place within it. I will be drawing on Leaf's third letter to the Empress Florix to remind all of us that although there -"   Sheshi turns just in time to brace herself against the flung weight of Olivia, catching her in a big hug before, speaking over her head and allowing the woman to continue to hold onto her, she asked the most important question:   "Olivia! What happened? Tell me!"

Sheshi In the morning, Sheshi was writing in a new book that she had purchased a few months back after the letters had first started coming but, until just now, had remained blank and tucked away. If she was going to have to leave these people, these friends, this... family... that she had found or forged or fallen into, then whoever was going to replace her was going to get the best set of knowledge that she could provide about each of them.   She paused to read the last passage she had written. Lucredda Lucredda and her family will likely be the most challenging element to your life here. She is, and I wish to stress this strongly, not a bad woman. Her children are not bad children, although they have made their share of problems in the past. Lucredda is, in my estimation, extremely stubborn, and a little scared. She still holds true to the Old Religions of this part of the world, a mix of small gods and broad animism that once held much larger sway across these woods. She does her sacrifices, performs her rituals, keeps to her superstitions and loves her community. Yet it is a hard love. She sees the villagers as having grown soft, as having forgotten the lessons that the Woods taught for the lessons of the City and, in particular, the lessons of Leaf. She will antagonize you. She will seek to disrupt your life here. She may even, as she did me, seek to annoy you to the point that you will leave. Do not allow her to win. Her heart is, strange as it may seem at times and just as infuriating, in the right place and she will be there for the village if the village needs her.   "Perhaps a bit more charitable than she actually deserves..." the Cleric of Leaf murmered to herself with a small smile, setting her pen down and scraping back her chair before leaving her small home and heading across the 'courtyard' for the Church proper. Services weren't going to be until that afternoon, but there were things she could do to get ahead of schedule. One never knew when someone might come seeking counsel and derail one's afternoon plans, after all!  

Sheshi She shrugged. "Thought I smelled smoke. Perhaps wishful thinking... another reason to delay leaving.   I... Yes, I will leave if I am directly commanded to, but no, I do not want to go. I have come to love it here, this place, these people... my friends -" A warm smile for Viktor himself at that "- even the simple church that I tend. So different from my life before. But I swore oaths, made promises. For those and other reasons not worth discussing, I will ignore letters, feign ignorance, push right to the edge and force someone like Duneda'il to personally come and address the issue - but if he arrives and tells me it is time, I cannot say no. I will leave."