usir | May Event Log A: The Song of Suffering.

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🜙 Mod Note

The Song of Suffering's resolution is jointly dependent on the choices all our players make (Who will take charge of the city?) and on the resolution of the Return to Einjar excursion. After you have read through this post please respond to This Poll as soon as you feel comfortable making the choices in it. Please respond even if your character is not participating in this event as the choice made effects the game world/all players.

🜙 First Blood April 26th

In the late afternoon a challenge is made over the courier by Captain Lykos challenging the 'King' to come and properly fight him for control of the Defenders the way the old orc custom the Defenders were built on demands. In the message, he calls Koroc a coward and a thief, unfit for his role in the Defenders and unprepared to handle the even larger role he has claimed for himself. He accuses Koroc of not even trying to manage the werewolf curse he and Lykos share and says he may be to blame for Koroc's affliction, but Koroc's reckless endangerment of the city is to blame for the rise in werewolf attacks on the city. Lykos sets the battleground as King Ardis' camp outside of the city, a neutral ground away from the citizens who could get hurt in the crossfire.

An enraged, Koroc takes a large group of his Defenders' newest forces out of the city to lead an attack on the former Captain and the invading King Ardis supporting him only to find the camp deserted of anyone but Lykos. The discussion between Lykos and Koroc appears publically on the couriers within the city, and everyone with a courier is treated to the impromptu visual of their meeting and the fight that follows it. Lykos gets Koroc to admit to working with the cult and imprisoning and using werewolves to attack the city, as well as implicating both himself and Koroc as werewolves as well before the feed ends, and the abrupt ending leaves the fate of the former captain uncertain.

Lykos

Alice

Lorna

Ardis

Koroc
Cult Leader

🜙 Children of the Revolution April 26th-May ??

With clear evidence now out that Koroc and the Defenders are not only working with some form of undead in their ranks, but also that both Koroc and Lykos are werewolves, Koroc's allies, Lorna's rebels, the strange travelers, and King Ardis's soldiers are all spurred into action, bringing the fight for the City of the Free People to a final confrontation for power. The city splits, rallying behind different sides in the battle. The battle encompasses the city streets and spills out into the surrounding land to the South and West of the city.

The Defenders, their numbers padded with risen soldiers, hold the city. From within the rebels and the strange travelers fight the Defenders to force them out fo the city streets. Alice, Amy, and a small force of armed civilians and former revels focus on getting people out of the battle zones, teleporting people out where possible and defending them in an escape route out of the city with larger groups, while outside the city King Ardis and his knights storm the warcamp and put pressure on the Defenders, helping to clear a path out of the city.

As the fighting overtakes the city another terrible set of howls sounds from the West beyond the city, and a pair of creatures join the fray. The white one assaults the city with unbridled destructive rage while the red one seems fixated on the people, hunting like a starved beast without pausing to feast on its downed prey.

The beasts are unaffected by silver, wolfsbane, and other standard werewolf weaknesses and stand at around eleven feet tall, nearly twelve when straight-backed. They are closer to the size of a small swamp troll than an ordinary werewolf, their eyes glowing blue. The protrusions coming off of them are hardened bone and sharp enough to cause damage equivalent to spearheads or daggers if used to attack. Bites/Scratches from these creatures do not inflict any curses. They do not seem to fear anything but also appear to be mindlessly enraged.

At different times during the onslaught from the mutated wolves a large white wolf appears, drawing the monsters away from fleeing citizens and members of all sides of the struggle, outrunning and distracting the creatures.

🜙 The Song of Suffering April 28th-May ??

Two days later an unsettling prophetic orc threat from the not so distant past begins to ring true. The river that flows from the Northern mountains down through the City of the Free People begins to sing with ringing, echoing hums and runs red with a dark, thick liquid that looks like blood and smells like copper and rust. The touch of sound or liquid begins sending citizens into fits of raw, violent, amplified emotions. The fight for the city devolves into one of almost directionless, desperate violence and begins to lose what little point or meaning it had, spurred on by a madness that latches on to everyone within earshot or touch of the river and its endless ringing song.

People quickly begin to change in more than just mood. Paranoia, Fury, or Desperation overtake them, causing mental and physical changes that reflect the emotion. More than one reflection can overtake people and while the infected waters remain so do the symptoms.

Reflection	Cause & Symptoms
⤛ Paranoia	Caused by exposure to the ringing song of suffering. The sound of the ringing roots out and pulls to the surface every negative, lingering, violent, uncertain, or angry thought the person has had toward or about others and amplifies it, transforming emotions over a simple comment or fleeting thought into defined certainty and righteous fury. Twisting even the clear-minded or pacifistic until they are willing to kill others to protect themselves or those they are defending. While under Paranoia's influence they are beset by an unquenchable thirst and hunger, but no other physical symptoms. The only way to 'cure' someone affected is to disable their hearing or relocate them far enough from the river that the ringing can no longer be heard.
⤛ Fury	Caused by any physical exposure to the water itself. Contact with the liquid causes a surge of wild, furious power that infects those it overtakes with a fury that is not their own. This fury is undirected and will cause the affected to lash out at anything near them, living or non-living. Once a target has been found they will not stop until that target is dead or completely destroyed. While under Fury's influence their skin begins to harden and grey starting at the hands and their strength, physically and magically, doubles. Fury can only be cleansed by fresh water or light magic.
⤛ Desperation	Caused by ingesting the water or prolonged exposure to the water. If submerged, the person will find their vision quickly adjusting to the water and if they open their eyes they will feel as if something is looking back at them from the depths, reaching out to them. Once they emerge from the water or cease drinking the water they will either see or feel the thick coating of red liquid that does not drip or move, clinging heavily to their skin or muscles. The liquid seeps into their skin or muscles and their eyes turn bloodshot and then solid red. While under Desperation's influence their eyes remain solid red and their movements become sluggish with erratic bursts of speed and wild strength. Until they are doused with fresh water or light magic they will be consumed by desperation and singularly focused on their last goal or thought as if letting go of it would kill them. Without direction or a goal to latch onto the desperation becomes a consuming need to stop the noise and fighting around them through any means possible.

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Shura wanted a reaction. This is not the reaction she intended to get, though a part of her knew that saying Daud's name was probably a bad idea from the get-go. Whatever trouble Shura may have had with her own teacher, Billie's seem to be deeper and unresolved.

The scent of burning wood hits Shura's nose, and there's a moment of what the hell. Billie didn't use magic, not like Strange so what was she doing? There's not enough time to try and sort out the source of the burning, as Billie suddenly disappears, doing that damn teleporting trick, and there's the sound of the table creaking. It's just enough warning for Shura to dodge. There's sharp and hot grazing her arm, but nothing that will stop her from drawing her sword and taking a defensive stance.

"Billie, snap out of it! I ain't going to play with you!"

There's no more pause in her reactions this time, even with Shura throwing her name around. With her only grazing her newfound quarry, she flies by and lands on a chair that screeches across the floor under the impact, only to topple it over completely when she launches herself towards Shura a second time.

Even with a sword between them, she still comes after her, quick to hit the ground just short of the blade's point itself and going low, trying to dart under her guard. She may have been compared to a werewolf before but her were-like shape is where that likeness ends; she's smaller than her usual human self rather than larger, quicker rather than stronger, and fast to snap her jaws at any part of Shura she can weasel her way to.

Wererat or werewolf, this is a fight Shura didn't want. She's tired, there are better things to do, and honestly, she doesn't know if she can get out of this mess without seriously harming Billie.

It's a game of dodging and trying to keep Billie at bay, at least as far as the tip of her sword. Her speed is a problem, and still unwilling to turn the edge of her blade on her, Shura instead side steps Billie's lunges, those teeth coming way too close to her for comfort. One of the chairs might have fallen under the force of Billie's leaping, but there's a second one not far, and Shura goes to grab it with her left hand, aiming the set of the chair at Billie. One chair might not be enough to do anything, but it's at least a shot at trying to thump some sense into Billie before taking more drastic measures.

Billie catches the chair right in the head and that slows her down, for whatever short time that may be. She staggers to the side, shaking her head, but in the end, it only makes her angrier. Under her claws, the floor catches fire, dragon magic reacting to the rage. This time she doesn't hiss at Shura. She shrieks, a high-pitched noise not unusual for rats, only far larger than it should be.

After that, her form flickers again and she's gone. She's dropped back in behind her again, only this time to the floor, and she makes another lunge for her, coming in with claws swinging at Shura's back.

It doesn't knock her out. Of course, they wouldn't be so lucky that Shura could knock Billie out before she did much harm to herself or to Shura. It gives Shura the chance to focus, ice crystals beginning to form on the edge of her blade.

But damn, Billie's fast, and though Shura knows it, she's not used to fighting someone who knows how to teleport like this, let alone a were-someone. Her reaction is off, just a half-second too slow. She feels claws tearing into her side as she pivots. And that is definitely a very unpleasant burning sensation. Shura yells. Fine, she was done with playing with her. Fang comes down on Billie's shoulder, a blast of cold air before the blade follows.

Fast but not fast enough to teleport away again, it would seem. Claws digging through flesh, burnt flesh and fresh blood hitting the air, her focus immediately latches onto that and how hungry she still is before ever realizing she's in danger, then all she can smell is her own blood in the air, Fang biting into her shoulder and knocking her down to all fours with a startled sound.

The chill of he blade meets blazing hot heat, steam erupting from the very same wound, and then Billie's gone again, only the transversal across the room doesn't go so well this round. Moving this way, as long as she has, comes as easily as any other instinct these days, but it still takes some amount of looking ahead. Between already being so addled and the pain lancing through her shoulder, just throwing herself somewhere safe... doesn't work.

Sure, she moves, but it's mostly just to reappear crashing into even more furniture in a scrambling, desperate way, spitting and hissing at Shura the entire time.

This is a bad idea, and Shura has the feeling she should run. If something happened to Billie, then she'd come back in a few days. Daud probably knew about Red, so at least that shouldn't be an issue. But even with Billie in her current state, Shura isn't confident that she can outrun Billie and that cute little teleportation trick.

Shura holds her ground for the moment, but even a mad rat can feel the cold in the air. The scale's power is still not familiar, but it is a handy thing, the blade turning to ice and its eight hole starting to fill with ice.

"C'mon, be a good girl and calm down."

There isn't much of an answer to that. Not a positive one, in any case.

Billie just bares her teeth and transverses again, this time teleporting to Shura's side and taking another shot at snapping up a leg with her jaws, lunging from low on the floor, though slower this time. She's favoring her uninjured shoulder, the other still letting off spurts of steam as whatever water that's collected in her fur from Shura's sword evaporates.

She didn't have high hopes, but it was worth a shot. But maybe she should have just gone in for the kill. Either way, she really doesn't have the time to dodge Billie's next move. As it turns out, teleportation is a bitch to fight against! Billie gets a good nibble of Shura's thigh. But while she can't teleport, Shura is still fast. There isn't much time to savor the taste of delicious thigh meat before Shura takes another swing at her. This time, it's more than just the sharp edge of a blade Billie has to deal with. With a sharp word from Shura, a hard blast of cold energy is hurled from the blade, right at her side. Eat that, Ratface.

The leg's out of her teeth before she can really rip into it, though her jaws still burn as hot as the rest of her, flesh sizzling and cauterizing the bite shut. If it weren't for the fact she was intent on a kill that might be a good thing — or perhaps worse, considering there's no telling what those teeth have been in prior.

But she does have a taste now and that same hunger that's driven her this feral only blazes further to life. She makes to charge after Shura, only to meet the blast of cold that drives her back, stumbling away into a wall, trailing more steam from where the magic struck her.

There's another enraged hiss, another haphazard teleport, another lunge to try and tackle Shura from behind this time.

The steam should probably be a concern. But Shura's in pain, exhausted and without backup. She should have left Billie to her own devices and let her choke on whatever poor soul she was munching on. But as it stands, Billie's disappearing again--Shura knows she needs to find a way to stop that, but it's a bit late for that since she finds herself in a terrible position, on the floor and under a mad rat.

Her body aches, the burning pain in her thigh and side make everything that much more difficult. But Shura is sure as hell not letting her throat get ripped out twice in the span of a few months. Flipping Billie is difficult from her stomach, but Shura slips a hand down to her hip, drawing one of the knives from a holster and reaching back to stab it as deep as she can into Billie's side.

The knife finds its mark, biting deep into Billie's side but it's to no avail. She doesn't flee from the pain this time, not when she has Shura down. Retaliation comes in the form of her snapping down, trying to get her jaws around a shoulder and dig in as deep as Shura is with the knife.

Ow?? Ow??? Shura yells, because damn it, this hurts like a son of a bitch. It's been a long time since she's been injured this badly, and the last time she got hurt, she still had those awesome regenerative powers. So this, right in the middle of the chaos and rage and anger flooding the streets, is a really bad thing. If she can't defend herself against any of the other crazy idiots roaming around--

Well, no matter. She'd worry about that later. Shura has no doubt that Billie was capable of breaking bones with that jaw, so it's time to just try stabbing the hell out of her like this and hope she can throw her off before it was too late.

Shura isn't wrong about that. Her jaws are more than capable of it and she hangs on for a few more shanks to the side, reflexively clamping down and digging in harder with every stab, but sooner than later? The pain is too much. She finally lets go with an upsetting, wet-sounding cough and vanishes one final time, her weight leaving Shura's back as she goes.

There's another crash further in the room, where she's ended up. Some dark corner near broken windows, though once there she doesn't make a rush for Shura again, opting to lay where she's landed, breathing heavily and glaring wildly across the room at the woman.

Definitely not a good noise for Billie to be making. On the other hand, she's clearly off her rocker at this point, so maybe this would be mercy.

Leaving her half-dead and thoroughly stabbed isn't good enough, though. Shura needs to finish her off. Billie can come back as angry as she wants; biting it temporarily was better than living like a real rat. But Shura's just barely able to lift herself off the ground, and she has to use Fang to haul herself up on her knees. This is enough. A chill begins to fill the air as Shura draws on the scale's power. One last shot, and it had to count. That's okay, she can do this

She can do this, which is what Billie has realized. She isn't winning this fight. This time, rather than charging in again or trying to teleport somewhere for the advantage, she bares her teeth and hisses one last time, still bubbling with anger even as she bleeds out.

From there, it's an effort to move, but she still whirls around in the corner she's in and throws herself at the window instead. The glass already gapes open brokenly from some prior damage, meaning it's simple enough for a rat to get through, a little less simple for an injured one but a few more cuts and scratches from glass goes unheeded as she wriggles through to the outside.

She's running. She could let her. Shura knows she had stabbed her plenty o f times, one of those hits might have struck something important. Billie could just go on and bled out on her own. But that would be a crappy way to die, and even worse, she could not die! She could go on and get caught eating another corpse by someone who would be more troublesome to deal with in the long run than Shura.

So Shura takes a swing, letting out another blast of cold air. It's not as strong as it needs to be to finish Billie off; Shura just doesn't have that much strength left in her.

The blast of air hits the window just as Billie finishes scrambling through it, falling out of sight to the other side. What glass that remained shatters and the window frame shakes from the blow, but the shiftling herself does not make a reappearance once outside.

She has places to go bleed out in and things to definitely not do, it just seems doing any of that here isn't on the the agenda.

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May Event Log A: The Song of Suffering.

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