[1] overview
[2] plotline // taranis' court
[3] plotline // taranis' prison
[4] plotline // offline
[5] plotline summary



[1] overview

I managed to suck yesterday and not get the newsletter done in time. Apologies for that.

Note: There's some minor overlap with the previous newsletter timeframe. This is intentional.

The italics in 'plotline' are the OOC recap from #045, so if you've read that, feel free to skip it.

Taranis' prison is for those of you who like Adrethyrian and/or Frederick (can I have some of what it is you're smoking?) and want to know what's going on.

The plotline summary is only about where the bulk of the action is happening: Trapped online, in Taranis' court. Sideplots tend to have no impact on it right now (or negligibly little), and it's what most of you will want to know about - not to mention that the sideplots are pretty self-sufficient, I doubt people in them need much reminder of what's going on.

Let me know if you think anything's missing! I've very little ideas about the plotline whereabouts of Jennifer and Marcus, for example, short of knowing they're still alive and kicking.


[2] plotline // taranis' court

Since the Citizens discovered the coppery fragments on themselves on Sunday (03 MAY), prompting a search for Frederick for what was presumably his piece, much has happened.

After a fruitless search most of Monday (04 MAY), Willoughby confronted the fae, who revealed that they'd imprisoned Frederick following an attack on a faerie. Willoughby initially demanded to speak to Frederick to get his part of the story verified, but the fae were quite adamant about not letting the Citizens near him for everyone's safety. Adrian, nearby at the time, intervened by playing along with the fae story and seeing Willoughby to relative safety before he got himself into trouble.

Of course, trust in the fae was thus at an all-time low. Since speaking to one of the brownies without that the fae are watching seems impossible, Adrian and the others came up with a plan involving feigned 'interest' in one of the slaves. Unfortunately, even when alone with that chosen individual on Tuesday (05 MAY), no change in information was to be had. There's been speculation as to why, but nothing conclusive. If the fae meant the silence to discourage them, though - it had the opposite effect.

Wednesday (06 MAY), the group approached the fae openly, more diplomatically explaining a need to speak to Frederick, 'if only to be assured of his well-being'. The fae were astonishingly accepting after initial hesitance.

Thursday (07 MAY), the Citizens were led into the fae prison and a room with Frederick, who appeared more violent than anything they'd remembered him as, making the initial fae statement about how he was being detained for everyone's sakes all the more plausible. Coherency was not to be got.

However, when they left, it turned out that none of them had seen even a hint of the copper sundisc fragment on Frederick, which has led them to believe that they'd not spoken to him at all; but instead, to some illusion claiming to be him.

Friday (08 MAY), the Citizens, while plotting how to get at the remaining fragments, were surprise-visited by a mysterious fae introducing herself as 'Verdana' and claiming to 'currently' be the queen of the realm; but rather than hampering their progress, she gave them the two fragments Frederick and Adrethyrian had had on them. (At first this spawned some surprise, since the Citizens still had no knowledge of Adrethyrian being in the sim with them.) [#045] Verdana had coaxed them off Frederick and Adrethyrian a few hours before [#046].

Sirena, however, protested against the potential of leaving anyone behind. For a while, following the meeting, it seemed like she might be swayed - there's been little suggesting they have a chance at freeing Frederick and Adrethyrian, even if they're not as vastly interested in latter as former, and despite everything, no one's suicidal. With a week of getting nowhere passing, it seemed like it was clear that the only option was to move on without Frederick and Adrethyrian.

At least, that was the understanding until the Citizens finally managed to catch one of the brownies for private discussion (15 MAY) - which has revealed what was, at that point, at least abstractly certain in the minds of the Citizens: They're in danger. What they did not realise was the nature of this danger - apparently they're supposed to be served as the king's main course eventually, which has obviously shed light into why Frederick, who's Euphoria high had him skip food, ended up incarcerated. After an initial bout of "Let's GTFO" panic, the group have instead intensified their attempts to pry Frederick from that abyssmal prison.

Adrian, in his clumsy attempts to do Byelobog and Sirena both proud, sought out Verdana for help (17 MAY). She's denied them any, citing that they have all the sundisc pieces as well as the knowledge - thanks to the brownie and pictorial inscriptions found in some of the decorations of the palace - how to use them to leave the sim, leaving Adrian to return to the group without aid.

On a positive note, two more Citizens have joined the group - Teiresia/Erika, a blind girl, and a nervous man by the name of Jochen Brandt, who has helped serve as translator for Erika in all occasions where she has yet to memorise English vocabulary enough to speak for herself... which is most of the time for the girl who's mothertongue is German.



[3] plotline // taranis' prison

On the 3rd of May, Frederick was forcibly dragged from his quarters after he wouldn't 'listen to reason' regarding having to eat something. Of course, being trapped online implies one needn't eat - but in the context of the simulation that seemed understandably reckless (not to mention it threatened to make an already scrawny morsel far, far more scrawny, if not necessarily to the point of death). His situation had gone from bad (as on the day Willoughby visited [01 MAY, #044]) to worse after Dread tried to force him to confront his demons in a dream. Without his access to Euphoria, it would have worked, but with it, it was far too easy to just run away from it harder than to take a few minutes for painful introspection.

Adrethyrian ended up imprisoned later on the same day. At this point, Frederick was suffering a full day of Euphoria deprivation - the worst of it - and what would have normally been a bout of panicky guilt on entrance of the presumably last living creature from Eclipsed turned into an even greater display of emotastic misery.

That night, Frederick suffered another nightmare, though less intense than the one during his Euphoria high. Nonetheless, he wept himself dry in the morning, with the only gain of it being that Adrethyrian managed to, despite the lack of visual contact between them, teach him a new word after a few hours of simply emotional communication through tone - 'adaryr', for nightmare.

The most notable moment was, then, between two and three days later (07 MAY), that the "adaryr'a" ceased after a plea from Frederick's, though that in itself has caused him much confusion. Why would Dread listen to that, however true 'am I not miserable enough' might be, as an argument? He's been stolidly avoiding to think about that.

A day later (08 MAY) Verdana approached Adrethyrian and Frederick, explaining that their friends had no chance at leaving without their sundisc fragments, and due to them being as locked up as they were, no chance at getting the sundisc fragments, ultimately dooming everyone to death unless Frederick and Adrethyrian gave the main group of Citizens their pieces. While speaking to them, she managed to change Adrethyrian's speech to English - as far as Frederick heard it, which prompted Frederick to ask for a moment of alone-time with Adrethyrian. An existential conversation about Puppets, Citizens, and the implications was had, though kept brief out of courtesy. When she left, Verdana, while re-instating the language barrier, changed the wall between them to bars, letting them see each other at least, in itself a communicative gift. [#046]

Since then, Frederick has learnt some more of the language, and Adrethyrian has picked up some most basic English, but all in all, they have spent their time speaking to each other trying to come to terms with that they will likely die. Frederick's figured that Adrethyrian is likely safe from whatever the fae throw at him as long as they don't realise his actual essence is in a sunstone in Frederick's pocket - but with no means of getting the sunstone out of the prison, he's had no idea of how to use that to his advantage. Hindsight being what it is, he realises he should have asked Verdana to pass it to the Citizens ("Providing, of course, she did bring the fragments to them, and we weren't just elaborately fooled."), but that moment, of course, had come and gone by then.

Needless to say, the friendship between Adrethyrian and Frederick has grown, despite its uselessness in light of their probable doom.



[4] plotline // offline

Teo's found that on the 9th of May, someone sabotaged his laptop with, uh, coffee. It's probably linked to an anonymous hate mail that's making him responsible for the death of Joshua Bergström. Something about if he'd worked harder on the problem, the guy might still be alive - which, valid as it may be, is of course quite unfair to him. Fortunately, his general obliviousness has left him emotionally almost unscathed in light of that event, though he regrets having to invest in a new laptop for work now.

Ironically, work on the project has slowed considerably because of this, since many important files were on Teo's computer, and only there. Lesson learnt? Back up your files, man, back up your files.

Lysette has yet to get back to Aeonis. Traces of her person revealed that she has no Aeonis account. She herself seems to be using halaju. Teo's trying to get into contact with halaju, hoping they might be able to find out where she's gotten her information from. Due to the delicate nature of the inquiry (in this case, euphemism for 'illegal'), that's of course gone slowly, too, and has been met with a lot of brickwalling and only most tentative, fractional help.

(Maveney's entrapment is not mentioned here since it wasn't in the original timeline. Teo would have found out on the day of the event with his laptop, so imagine it happening late that day for maximum compatibility.)



[5] plotline summary
(only of Taranis' court)

03 MAY: Discovery of the sundisc fragments. Initial search for Frederick.
04 MAY: Willoughby determines that Frederick's been imprisoned 'for his and everyone else's safety' after 'assaulting a fae'.
05 MAY: First determined attempts to speak to the slave-race privately end in failure.
06 MAY: Diplomatic approach on the fae, citing a desire to speak to Frederick to know he's healthy, and grant:
07 MAY: The Citizens get to speak with what they deem an illusion of Frederick, who exhibits the traits the fae attributed to him, and has no sundisc fragment visible on him anywhere.
08 MAY: Verdana (fae queen) convinces Frederick and Adrethyrian to give their fragments to her for the sake of the others. She takes them to the Citizens and encourages them to leave. Sirena - in control of the fragments - refuses to leave anyone else behind.
09 MAY-14 MAY: Sirena's resolve whittles away slowly as no way is found to bust Frederick out without it being suicide or coming with significantly higher risk than gain. Further attempts to get to the bottom of what is really going on yield nothing at first.
11 MAY: Erika connects.
12 MAY: Jochen connects and finds Erika.
14 MAY: Erika and Jochen find the Citizens in the court.
15 MAY: A brownie, finally able to speak freely in a lucky constellation of events, explains the Citizens being kept like cattle. A brief panic is had, then efforts to rescue Frederick and Adrethyrian increase.
17 MAY: Adrian begs Verdana for help, to no avail.