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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 8165931" data-attributes="member: 6816692">On difficult terrain         Back in Flint, we use pretty dense security measures to bring all of our prisoners to the RHC for further questioning. We spend the next couple of days writing reports and interviewing all of the Obscurati, especially the higher-ups. Of course, we quickly and discreetly release Erskine Haffkrüger and Ines Shalubi.(This... must have really lead to some overcrowded cells...)This way, we learn that nearly every Obs cell has been visited by Kasvarina at least once, so she may just be our best bet for finding someone with a full picture of the Obs' knowledge. We do find a few more puzzle pieces, but all in all the cells have acted pretty independently. Catherine Romana is quickly brought to the RHC headquarters in Slate, as the Lord Inspector himself wishes to take care of this important catch.As we get that finding out more about Kasvarina might be the next logical step, we spend quite some time with Cula Ravjahani, who totally understands that she'll have to stay in our cells for quite some time as she is technically a person without citizenship. She appears to be fiercely loyal to Kasvarina, who is both her mentor and some sort of mother-figure. In this position, she doesn't really care whether Kas would be siding with Nicodemus or not, she'll just follow with whatever path her Matriarch chooses. All that she knows is that Kasvarina and she are both Vekeshi who devoted their lives to fighting injustice and protecting the weak and innocent.“So she's your Matriarch in the most elfaivaran sense possible. That explains a lot.”, Auryn says.“We're not so different, you and I. We walk the same path, we both believe in the teachings of Vekesh. And I do want to help my ancestor Kasvarina regain her memories so she can make her own choices. But that means that I'll have to protect her from Nicodemus' influence, as I am pretty sure that he simply wants his Kasvarina back, regardless of what she'd want. I hope you understand that we cannot let you run freely as long as this situation is so unclear. But I do promise that we will help Kasvarina find herself.”To that Cula nods with a faint smile, as she'd of course prefer to be able to rush to her mentor's side. We promise her that we'll return with Kasvarina as soon as she is ready to meet her again, which brightens her mood a bit more.We then talk to Livia Hatsfield, whose consciousness had been dormant during the whole convocation. We ask her to explain her motives for spying on our King in her own words and she tells us that she had been loyal to Duchess Ethelyn as she had shared her skepticism for the too quick industrialization of Risur. Being a half-elf who had spend most of her life in tune with nature and with Fey, she of course values these aspects of our culture very highly and feared that they'd be thrown under the bus for progress' sake.However, she was horrified when she learned that Ethelyn had tried to kill her own brother, so she was quite open for the idea of improving the world once an Obs agent made contact with her. Most of all it had been curiosity that drove her deeper into the organization's arms as she wanted to know more about their concrete plan. But then, she began having second thoughts. Which is why she crafted her contingency should she not return from her trip to the convocation.As she didn't experience said event herself, we quickly explain her what had happened on Mutravir and add that at least her gut feeling had been right. Still, even if she made sure to contact the Principal Minister, she'll have to make amends for her involvement within the conspiracy. Even if the information she passed on had not been crucial and simply based on natural principles of Risur. We then suggest that she'd better be not so naive to make the same mistake of being too dewy-eyed thrice in a row.Since we now also know what happened to Andrei, we take on the heavy duty of informing Isobel about her boyfriend's whereabouts. First, we're quite surprised to see of all people Shealis (aka Teraklir) sitting in Auryn's old living room, drinking spiced tea with Isobel. She mumbles that she was just getting bored being all alone in this huge home with no servants and with no courses being currently held in Pardwright. So she thought she could maybe teach that “other girl” a lesson or two about growing a spine.Of course, both Auryn and Carlyle are worried, but at the same time also a bit relieved to hear that the dragon teen didn't use her free time to cause trouble. Still we have to tell Isobel the dire news of Andrei being abducted by the same people we've been after the whole time. The young Eladrin immediately bursts into tears and Auryn does her best to comfort her. We do promise to do everything to find and rescue Andrei, but that doesn't help with the fact that we're most likely be forced to leave Isobel all alone again.(This is... really tough for her. She must feel terrible knowing that she cannot do anything to help the one person she had developed feelings for while Andrei had done so much for all of us. Leaving Isobel like this just didn't feel right at allAlso, we were really surprised to see Teraklir actually do something for us. We were both wary of her presence, but thought that having her close would be far better than letting her go unchecked.)Later that day, we're being summoned to an “inofficial council meeting” in Slate and we understand that our messages and reports on the convocation must have had quite the impact in the capital. So we teleport to Slate and meet in one of the warded conference rooms of Torfield Palace. Participants besides Delft, whom we brought with us, are of course King Aodhan and Principal Minister Lee, as well as Lord Inspector Price-Hill and an unknown “expert” of the Risuri Secret Service. One look closer reveals that this one must be a new alias of Gradiax as Lee is constantly exchanging stares with him.Lee opens the meeting by asking us to recapitulate the events of the convocation, including the Grand Design of the Obscurati and ending with the prevented Massacre on Mutravir. King Aodhen, Lee, Price-Hill and Delft are both astounded and deeply worried by the news of an ancient mechanism with control over our planar layout. Especially as the Obscurati are now seemingly equipped with the means of changing said configuration. Aodhan states that these are disturbing news indeed as the simple existence of this device could shake up the political landscape of Lanjyr and create more conflict than ever before, so for now it would be of utmost importance to keep it a secret.We all agree that the Obscurati most likely haven't thought through every possible effect this could have on the world down to a local level. Regarding Risur, we discuss a few consequences of planar altering and immediately see that losing Av would probably cause the nation to fall into chaos as the effects on the Fey and the Dreaming are unforseeable and most likely dramatic.Regarding the fall of the planar barrier, we also stress out that this one is a pivotal part of our world's defense against the Gidim or the Demons, but it seems as if we're the only two participants who are really scared of losing the ward. We then discuss possible reactions of the Titans, including a simultaneous wakening of all of them, but Lee and Aodhan explain that even the Dragon's Fall didn't cause any Titan to cause more trouble than usual, so this would be the least of our worries.Fortunately, we can reassure King and RHC officials that hopefully none of this won't happen even if the Obscurati succeeded with their plan as we made sure that the BNW setup would include Av. So all in all, the biggest threat to the world and Risur would lie in a falsely conducted ritual. We add that this is what could have damaged Avilona and caused the Dragon's Fall 200 years ago, so such a failure might still be dangerous.In reaction to this, the “expert” clears his throat and adds: “Taking all this into consideration, I would suggest that no one attempts any alteration on the current configuration. This is the world we were all born into, and we shall leave it as it is.”The others seem very much in line with this statement as they nod their heads in agreement.“I'm sorry, your Majesty, but I have a slightly different perspective.”, Auryn injects.“This configuration is one that was chosen by the Ancients to meet their needs. It is by no means perfect or ideal, in fact this world has many flaws. And we are not the Ancients. The people of Lanjyr are suffering and I have not yet heard a convincing reason why we should be bound to leave it this way for all eternity. Our plan is a good one, that would bring only improvements. I know that the ritual itself may be dangerous, and we shouldn't leave it in the Ob's hands. But we shouldn't dismiss it so easily.”Suddenly, all eyes are on Auryn with looks ranging from suspecting an Ob in disguise to just being really surprised. It takes a few seconds of silence until Carlyle adds his thoughts to this bold statement:“No matter how we think about the Plan, there is one fact we should definitely consider: The world we are living in is not our world's 'natural state'. So whoever claims that 'it has always been that way' is making a false statement. Before the Ritual, our world was without primary planar influence, but also without a planar ward against outside invasion. I don't wish to advocate that we should return to this state, but our current situation is a constructed one as well.”“I understand. But for now, we shall leave our world as it is. And you will do everything in your power to stop the Obs from completing the ritual.” Aodhan finishes the discussion while nodding to the “expert”.Of course we accept the final word of the King, leaving a strange gut feeling with Auryn. Carlyle then asks the King whether he'd prefer a new configuration or a complete dissolution of the ritual should we be left with no choice but to make an alteration, to which Aodhan decides that he'd rather have a more or less stable new order than a possibly fatal loss of all planar bonds.We then talk about Macbannin's return as a ghost, and it seems as if King Aodhan is both surprised and glad to have him back in Flint. He says that after all what he's seen and heard about Reed Macbannin, this one must be one of the most loyal souls he has ever met, even if he's going to have a hard time returning to the Nettles. Regarding this, we suggest to not switch the title of Mayor back to Macbannin, as the people of the Nettles might have a hard time accepting a ghost. However, we believe that he would make a really good counselor for Mayor Smith as no one knows more about witch magic and witchoil than Reed Macbannin. Even though this would mean to expose his soul to the darkness that is Cauldron Hill again.Regarding our Obscurati prisoners, King Aodhan states that we kind of put him in a diplomatic corner by arresting all of these possibly high-ranking citizens of foreign nations. He cannot risk making the arrests public as he doesn't want to have the beans spilled about the conspiracy yet. So his diplomats will be in for a tough time of clearing up the situation. Still he is glad that we gave Risur the opportunity to gather more information through interrogation. For Danor, he shakes his head in disappointment now that he can be sure that everyone in the Jierre family is somehow involved in the Obscurati. Which in turn means that the peace he and Lya had been working towards has suddenly been pushed far away as he doesn't know whether he can trust anyone from Danor anymore.King Aodhan then puts out our reports on the interrogation of the Obs to decide on our next tasks. He explains that everything we've heard would pinpoint to a single Obscurati member who might be willing and able to talk: Kasvarina. As she is one of the architects of the Grand Design and also Nicodemus' confidant, unlocking her knowledge might be the turning point of this conflict. Also, Nicodemus himself might be after her, so she must be of great value to him and the organization and we mustn't let her fall into his hands.We reply that we'd wanted to suggest the same plan as well as we are also really worried about what could happen to all of us, including Kas should she eventually return back to the Obscurati.“That must not happen and that is why I would entrust no one but you with this mission: You have to bring her to our side. As an ally of Risur, Kasvarina would be invaluable and give us the edge we need against Nicodemus and the Ob.”Of course this doesn't sit right with either of us. But as Auryn already butted her head with King Aodhan on the matter of the Grand Design, she just shifts uncomfortably and bites her tongue.“I beg your pardon, my King, but trying to bring a person of her current mental state 'on our side' would be nothing less than mental manipulation. We'd be no better than those henchmen of the Mad King who recruited the newly reborn Deva into their ranks. That much you should know before you make your final decision on that matter.” Carlyle finally replies with an unusually worried and cautious voice.Aodhan takes a deep breath before nodding to himself in reassurance.“I understand your objection, but our hands are bound. And if there is no other way to unlock the secrets of the Obscurati, then you have to use everything in your power to get it.”To this, both Auryn and Carlyle nod with a stoic, but very much resentful expression. Before we finally leave the meeting, Auryn states that Kasvarina is still a part of her family whom she won't betray, so she will do her best to help her ancestor find back to herself and her own path, free from Nicodemus' influence. That, she adds, would be all that needs to be done. We then bid everyone farewell and explain that we're going to contact Asrabey and have him lead the way to Kasvarina.(That surely didn't go so well. I wonder if someone suspected that one of the Duo could go rogue. Maybe Lee, but after the rather unorthodox relationship of King Lorcan and Dame Melissa I think he's already used to tension.)</blockquote>

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