✎ resources:adventure:the_natural_history_of_fear [animus]

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====== The Natural History of Fear ======
===== Initial Brief =====
//It's been plaguing your dreams for ages, but it got worse since the city's upheaval. The sound of weeping, long, raw weeping that never wanes. Sometimes you even hear it in the waking world. Something is suffering. Something has been suffering for a very long time.//

===== PCs =====
  * [[user:florencew:pc:vera_burns|Vera Burns]] - Florence
  * [[user:joesmoke:pc:Xenon]] - Joe
  * [[user:pjcherry:pc:quinn_marshston|Quinn Marshston]] - Peyton
  * [[user:4denthusiast:pc:lyra_averick|Lyra Averick]] - Andrew
  * [[user:aleahas:pc:cloth|Cloth]] - Aleaha

===== Summary =====
//To come//

===== Debrief =====
The party are thrown clear by a massive shockwave as the rod comes down. They stand and watch as it comes down again and again on the Palace District, eradicating forest, masonry, and bureaucrats alike. Xenon's staff - Unit 08 still wrapped around it - arcs out of the explosion and embeds itself in the ground in front of the party, glowing with power.

Xenon himself is nowhere to be seen.

As the rod crashes down, it also crashes //up// - smashing strange unearthly cracks into the sky. Bits of the sky seem to fall away as the cracks steadily widen.

Vera takes Unit 18 off her head, hands it to Quinn, and silently walks away. Wandering the streets for some time, she does not go back either to the Order of the Throne or to her family. Finding that the locket she obtained in Dream has manifested with her, she heads to the Forester's Guild and takes up lodgings there. Given that she appears to have interacted strangely with Dream and appears to have bought some minds with her that are not her own, they are content to let her hang around. When she next sleeps, she receives a vision from the Throne on the subject of ethical calculus and sacrifice.  

Lyra stays long enough to disentangle Unit 08 from the staff, before legging it in order to avoid being associated with any of the stuff that just happened. She finds that the extra-heretical book from Dream has manifested with her, and lovingly places it in her designated treason cabinet. 

Quinn asks Unit 18 what it wants while Cloth swipes the staff. Unit 18 wants to grow. She asks it how that can be achieved. It acknowledges that the most successful way so far appears to be killing people and feeding them to it, but that other things might work - worship, maybe, or being given items of power. Quinn eventually agrees to trade it to Cloth for Xenon's staff, now empowered with Forest-killing force. She then goes to the Forester's Guild, finding their Dream division in a state of great panic, talking about sudden increased hostility within Dream that coincides with the massive destruction at the heart of the city. She gives some description of her experiences within Dream, and the Guild agree to respond accordingly.

Cloth takes the coloured scarf that earlier caused her to feel great pride, and attempts to use an Erosion ritual to release that pride in an emotional explosion next to the Throne sanctum. To her great surprise, as she conducts the ritual, a voice asks her if she would like some help with that. Upon saying yes, a coloured form falls from the cracks in the sky, crashing directly onto the Throne sanctum, and a constellation-like mark begins to form on Cloth's skin. She legs it sharpish as some bureaucrats arrive to realise that the sudden colourisation of the Sanctum is only the fourth worst thing that's happened today.

At some point, all party members except Cloth - who is going to great lengths to not be found - are visited by a shadowy bureaucrat who questions them on their involvement in proceedings. Some semblance of the truth is arrived at, though the party are sufficiently disoriented and disturbed that the account is a confusing one. The bureaucrat notes that the entire party are highly suspicious, but probably did not actively or deliberately contribute to the disaster. 


===== Consequences =====
====For the World====
===The Imperial District===
  * Every citizen will have seen the clouds part around a massive Rod, very obviously a manifestation of the Muse of the same name. This rod smashed down repeatedly upon the Imperial District, causing massive shockwaves and earthquakes throughout the city.
  * The majority of the Imperial Palace and the Bureaucracy has been ground into a fine paste. Those few things that were salvaged are being taken to other, secure locations around the city.
  * The blast zone gives a strong sense of Devotion, making it very clear that this was indeed the work of the Rod. Theologians are deeply confused. The will of the Rod remains as difficult to decipher as ever. 
  * A powerful connection denizen has been reported wandering around the blast zone and nearby areas. It is reported to be exceptionally dangerous, highly capricious, and very confused.  
  * The Imperial Bureaucracy would like it to be known that the Skull of the Forgotten One is NOT A TOY, is HIGHLY ILLEGAL, and can bring nothing but ruin and destruction. Whoever took it is encouraged to return it immediately, and anybody able to return it to the Bureaucracy will be rewarded.
  * Something large, purple, and powerful (F̰͈̞͎̠͕ṛ̬̠̫͓e̗̳̘͚e̶̠̮̞͙) is reported to have walked out (S̗h̺̖̮ͅe͔is̨͔̪̫͓̻̤̞fr͔̭̹̘̭͇͜ẹ̬͉̮͇̰́e̞̜̱) of the Imperial District. Nobody is quite sure where it has got to, but (S̳͇̣h̳̼̦͘e̯w̗̜̰̻ą̘͙̺͍l҉̲ksá͉m͎̖̯̫o͙̝̝̬n̹̯g̴̩͉u̵̻̥͈͓s͈͇̟̺) it radiated exceptional and disturbing power S̥̝͓̞̝h̪̖͘e̥̦͔̼̪͎͔i̛̼̜s̨f̘͙̟͎r̡͎͖̗͇͉e͟e̳͈̗͎͚̜ͅS͏̻͖̭͕͍h̤͔̬̼̙̭̜̀ei҉͎̭̭͕̖̗̼sf͙̥̙͔͉r̥͖͖͇̕ee̴̝̜̫͉̰S̵h̵̹̩̱̥e̥̤̮̱͓̗̻i̢̜͈ș̙̭̥̟̩f̹̞͙͞r͇̖̲̰e̟̲̫͖e͖̺̺̗̥̳S͇h͏̖̳͓͚̮͓̻é̮͖̙̥i̦͕̟͇̱͍ͅs̤̭͘f̫̬r̼͚e̟͍̬̲͓e͝S̜̳̬͔h̨̙̼̫̺̭ei̡͖̣͓͇̥s̫͈͓f͚̯͞r͎̙e̟̭͔̬͚͠e̞̠̫͜ͅ

===The Sky===
  * Directly above the ruins of the Imperial District, there is a huge crack in the sky. Hairline fractures can be seen spreading across it, as if the entire sky were in fact a solid plane.
  * The cracks are slowly but surely spreading to cover more of the sky. Already they are profoundly visible and deeply disturbing to look at.
  * Periodically, things fall from the cracks. None of these things have yet been encountered and recovered, but that is likely to change soon.
  * One of these things fell directly onto the Throne Sanctum. The entire area is deeply, vividly coloured, as are several Throne Paladins, and those inside or close to the building report exceptional feelings of pride and arrogance. 

===Dream===
  * The Forester's Guild have reported - in a state of some disarray - that the usually empty and benign plane of Dream is now occupied and hostile. It is not totally clear what is doing the occupying. Citizens are warned to stay out of Dream for their own good.
  * Citizens have been encouraged to show up for periodic 'citizenship tests' which are rumoured to be investigations into their dreams. Those with strange or disturbing dreams are encouraged to volunteer for these tests asap.
  * Those with the capacity to contact the Forest will be aware that it is deeply unhappy.

====For the Party====
===Xenon===
  * Retires, using the power of the Rod to obliterate the Forest infection and everything around it, punching the Forest harder than it has likely ever been punched before in the process.
  * Is acknowledged by the Order of the Rod as an unusual devotee, but a damn good one. 

===Vera===
  * May engage with the various alternate personalities and possibilities however you wish, accepting, fighting, or melding with any number of them, including zero.
  * Obtains a locket containing a photo of a very different version of her family, dedicated to the Wheel.
  * Is staying with the Forester's guild
  * Receives a yet-to-be-determined Dream-based quirk.
  * May choose to have the Severe Mind Affliction 'A Garden of Silver and Steel': whenever you call EXECUTE, you may take a HEAL TWO, regain a weapon call, and at GM discretion receive a memory from the target. You also feel a desire to grow and expand.
  * Is a friend of the Broken One. This may be relevant when around the blast zone or in connection.

===Lyra===
  * May engage with the various alternate personalities and possibilities however you wish, accepting, fighting, or melding with any number of them, including zero.
  * Obtains a detailed if osmewhat contradictory book defining the tenets of Adherency to the Forest, and the need to stamp out those malign few who worship the cursed Muses. This is obviously obscenely heretical.
  * Obtains Unit 08, a small silver chain that responds to Sense Devotion. If used to link two people, they become LIFELINKed and MINDLINKed so long as they are within five metres of each other.
  * Has the Severe Mind Affliction 'A Garden of Silver and Steel': whenever you call EXECUTE, you may take a HEAL TWO, regain a weapon call, and at GM discretion receive a memory from the target. You also feel a desire to grow and expand.
  * Is a friend of the Broken One. This may be relevant when around the blast zone or in connection.

===Quinn===
  * May engage with the various alternate personalities and possibilities however you wish, accepting, fighting, or melding with any number of them, including zero.
  * Astonishingly, gets away with it. 
  * Obtains Xenon's icon, an instilled staff (baleful Forest, curative Forest).
  * Is a friend of the Broken One. This may be relevant when around the blast zone or in connection.

===Cloth===
  * May engage with the various alternate personalities and possibilities however you wish, accepting, fighting, or melding with any number of them, including zero.
  * Obtains the Skull of the Forgotten One. Should you attempt to crack it open, let a GM know, and be aware that it will very likely require not just an additional encounter but an additional adventure. 
  * Obtains Unit 18, Sigma, an Awakened Item. 
  * May purchase skills from the Painter epic tree.
  * Is a friend of the Broken One. This may be relevant when around the blast zone or in connection.
  * Is wanted for questioning regarding the murder of one Albrecht Burns of the Imperial Bureaucracy.



{{tag>"the natural history of fear" adventure vera_burns xenon quinn_marshston lyra_averick tetrarchs}}
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