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INHUMAN COURTESY

I. PUSHING UP DAISIES

cw: depiction of hanahaki, mention of blood, mild body horror

The Frightful Harvest ended on a bloody, eerie note, but the Respite's most welcome interlude has proven exceptionally fruitful. The sky's darkened again, moons struggling to glow through turbulent clouds, but crops all over Stygia have grown dense and healthy, herbs and plants and flowers aplenty. Normally, it'd be a time to rejoice, even as sleet pours and winds grow bitterly cold -- and it might have been, had greens and stems and petals NOT elected to blossom inside you. Your lungs, specifically.

It's an uncommon side effect of the Harvest, affecting those who foster affection or attraction towards another, triggered only by a stray thought. Almost as if punished by Oblivium for harboring any kind of positive feelings. The worst part is that the object of your desire doesn't even have to be in the Netherworld for you to be afflicted. Over the span of three months, you'll gradually experience various degrees of the "harvest's curse", depending on the source of your feelings:

► PHYSICAL/EMOTIONAL ATTRACTION & REQUITED LOVE
It starts with an itch. Your throat tickles, an odd sensation in your lungs, slightly constricted. Allergies? Not quite. It worsens overtime, and days pass by, perhaps weeks. You cough, a little more every day, a little deeper, and then it happens: petals, stuck to your lips as you wheeze and try to empty your chest. Marigold, carnations, daisies, peonies... Thankfully, for you, it's more of an annoyance, sporadic at best and leaving you exhausted at times, but you're in no immediate danger. Unfortunately, not all Restless share the same luck.

► UNREQUITED LOVE
It doesn't matter whether it is truly unrequited; as long as you think it is, whether you're fully convinced or distantly resigned, you get the whole package. It starts the same way the lesser variation does, gradual, and with unsavory (!) additions: lilies and dark red roses. The first slowly spreads its poison in your body, inducing fevers, skin rashes, blistering in your mouth and stomach aches. The second pricks your throat bloody, making speech difficult and breathing even more so. It spreads throughout Stygia, and if most wound up meeting their end in the past, some speak of a highly hypothetical cure. It's believed that if the object of your affection confesses equally strong feelings for you, the curse should rapidly subside. If this option isn't viable, Doran promises that all Healers in Hale are working extremely hard to find a solution. In the meantime, symptoms can be partially soothed with poultices and spells that you can find in the Marketplace or in Serene. Some merchants might even take pity on you and offer them for free.

if your character has heard of similar diseases in their home world, they're absolutely welcome to share their insight on the netherwork or anywhere else
the evolution of the disease can be as gradual, as fast or as severe as you wish it to be
a mini quest to retrieve ingredients for a cure will be available in december or january
by february, all characters should be cured

II. DO NOT PASS GO

cw: mention of blood, torture, branding, violence, forced captivity

Full-swing investigations concerning the Harvest's murders have begun, though the mysterious rider has yet to resurface. The day is young still, but no matter; the Hierarchy firmly believes that the creature was summoned by a group of renegades, fully intent on finding and dismembering the organization. Perhaps even literally.

If you've spilled blood not your own in the previous event, the Hierarchy finds you. Do they know? It doesn't really matter; they've targeted you for reasons they won't divulge, persuaded of your involvement -- and off to the Gallows you go. Each of you receives the same greeting when you arrive, held down by rough hands and branded upon the arm with the letter F. The mark signifies ‘forsaken’, and the painful scar is indelible proof that each of you has betrayed the Hierarchy's hospitality. Writhe and scream and glower as much as you want; next thing you know, something heavy hits you across the head, and you collapse.

When your vision slowly creeps back, your eyes adjust to a dimly lit stone cell. Your feet are secured by iron cuffs tethered by one long chain, and you lie in nothing but filthy, tattered rags. It's dark; the air is bloated and filled with agonizing shrieks. Dead vines scrap the walls of half-crumbled buildings, weather-worn stone pillars surrounded by withered clumps of grass. You may converse with your cellmates: the guards patrolling the Gallows couldn't care less, convinced that no one could possibly escape anyway.

► Ironically, a magical barrier around the Gallows prevents magical/spiritual abilities from functioning. However, characters who roam free still can absolutely sneak in! Be careful not to get caught, though!
► Loud disagreements might attract unwanted attention. A single guard will come, and if he finds nothing else amiss, will threaten them to be quiet. A second violation earns the offender a rap on their bare feet with a club. A third violation will cause the offender to be gagged. Note that in order to beat or gag the offender, the guard must first open the cell.
► If you share affinities with Gargoyles, incapacitating a guard in any way will draw the attention of one. It'll show you to the gates where you'll be able to escape, taking care of sentries on your way. You should probably keep a low-profile from then on, and avoid showing-off your brand.
► A secret passage may be found through a mausoleum nearby; an arrow of flaking red paint marks the entrance. Or is it blood? Inside, it's nearly pitch-black. Perhaps, if you're lucky, your vision extends as far as 30 feet in front of you, but occasionally, the darkness is broken by clinging phosphorescent fungi or crawling luminescent creatures, and from out of the silence echo sounds of dripping water. You're underground, and Abysmals can be encountered here if you're too loud. You should also watch out for cave-ins, but as you get farther away from the general region of the Gallows, your magical abilities gradually come back.
► Eventually, a long, broken staircase will lead you to Hale. If you're injured, you'll be sent to the main infirmary; characters with healing abilities or knowledge are super welcome to help!

Luckily for you, there are so many prisoners it's a difficult task for the Hierarchy to always keep track of all of them. Your brand, however, is a dead giveaway, so you might as well try and find a way to get rid of it; you might hear through the grapevines that the dead skin of Badaliscus can be used as bandages, and overtime, the brand will fully heal and disappear.

III. TO THE RESCUE

As you attempt to escape, or perhaps once you’ve successfully snuck in, you come across a terrifying spectacle: in front of you, impaled through the shoulder by a spear, a weary humanoid figure covered in blood. The body is being restrained by additional shackles on each arm and leg, which are linked to chains anchored within the walls. There's a guard nearby, armed to the teeth… and still you decide to free them.

The guard’s magic is just as useless as yours, and while impressive in size, dexterity definitely isn’t his main strength. He hits hard — with brass knuckles, a chain mace, and a sturdy shield — and his stamina almost seems endless, but it’s not. Keep evading, and he’ll eventually tire enough to topple over. It’s also possible to have him chase you around if you don’t go too far, which would allow someone else to grab the spear. Once he’s too exhausted to go on, you can either kill him or chain him to the wall. The keys are in his boots, and you’ll find a bottle of water as well as a small vial of ointment in a satchel on the ground, where he previously stood.

The prisoner is a young man, perhaps in his mid-20s. Once freed from his shackles, he immediately keels over, though he’s not unconscious. He thanks you with a deep and raw voice, begging for water. You can tend to his wounds if you’re able—the ointment quickly soothes—and when he finally stands again, he asks you a question: “I’m a stranger to you, and you could have died. Yet, you chose to free me, unaware of my past. Of my crimes. Of my virtues. Why?”

Regardless of your answer, he smiles, a private understanding that turns the stretch of his lips enigmatic. There’s a bubbling chuckle in his throat, very hoarse, and then he hisses, touching where you’ve helped him apply the ointment on his body. “You know what they say. If it stings...” He looks at you, deliberately pausing there and staring bold into your eyes. “... then it must be working.”

It might feel like there’s more to what he’s trying to say, though it’s pointless to ask: he bows, and then he slowly inches away from you. “Until we meet again.” White and thick tendrils of smoke envelop him, seemingly coming out of nowhere, and then just like that, he’s gone.

so you’ve chosen to free him, which in turn has generated a future plot point that’ll occur some time in february. some of you WILL see him again.
what he says to you is a clue.
you can answer his question OOCly right here. it’ll have some bearing on the way your character will be approached re: future plot point.
if you've voted no and would still like to participate, you could always allow your character to be convinced or reluctantly dragged by another!

ooc note

► As always, check out the Notice Board if you'd like additional prompts! Older quests from previous months are always available as well. You'll also find the Calendar right here.
► You'll find already answered questions just here, and if you'd like to ask new ones, ask them here!
► For fun's sake and similarly to the puck adventure, you may play it out in different groups or on your own, and still obtain the same results as everyone else whether your characters threaded together!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Kokomi would say very simply that the life of every creature matters (even if they are already "dead"), and that she always tries to save as many lives as she can while planning her strategies, no matter which side of the battlefield they might be on. Also probably something about going over the potential outcomes in her head, the outrageous number of them (in the hundreds) and deciding that the risk was worth it.

Shalem would say that he, too, is a sinner, and that crimes are meant to be punished with fair and proper judgement, not torture-- and what the guards did to the man is definitely torture. He'd definitely help patch him up best he can, and will not flinch when the prisoner stares at him. lbr he'd just smile and say "if it stings, we know we're alive" like it's a joke bc they're dead.

(he has some doubts about that tho...........)

He also would not kill the guard, just chain him.

Lumine will simply say that she was just passing by and doesn't believe in pointless, mindless torture, even for those who committed a crime. Everyone's done something bad at least once in their life, including her.

Besides, if he's truly a horrible person, then all she has to do is stop him.

D will just be honest and say he thought the man may be able to answer their questions about this place or the Hierarchy. What the man does with freedom now is his own choice.

Whatever good faith Cedrik might have placed in the Hierarchy vanished the moment they started throwing people in the gallows for what he sees as imagined slights, let alone outright torturing them. (Fray/Esteem would remind him not to be surprised.) The point is he doesn't trust their judgement right now and they'll have to do a lot to earn it back.

...but all he's actually going to say is: "What I saw was wrong. I did what I could to make it right."

~~Though if it's possible, could Cedrik get an Echo flashback from any of this?~~

cloud isn't really looking to make a friend and gratitude makes him uncomfortable--although in his heart of hearts he likes being recognized for his good deeds just a bit... he wouldn't offer an extensive answer - something along the lines of most people deserve second chances, or at least the chance to prove they don't and would leave it at that. he'll be quietly helpful until the stranger disappears, at least.

Having felt like he was wrongly imprisoned himself, it's enough reason for Zack to think that perhaps this prisoner was also mistakenly shackled away. In the end, Zack would end up shrugging and telling him that no one deserves to be treated like that. There might be a little dumb heroic angle feel to it because it's Zack and he's a naive sixteen year old, okay, but his answer is none-the-less pretty genuine.

Kaito's going to be upfront: he wanted the spear. Whatever consequences follow, he'll deal with later.

(( Mods please tell me this spear is a serviceable soulforged weapon or my feeble attempt at comedy will end in depresso ))

Sasuke will say matter-of-factly that it wasn't his intention to free the man, but he was persuaded in the end. If he had a choice, he would have left him there - why should he trust someone he doesn't know and has no information on? He may not even be innocent. Why risk the lives of other Restless trying to escape? He would also be very suspicious of whatever the prisoner isn't saying and won't hide that fact.

Tartaglia had no intention of saving him, and he will admit that plainly. They were already taking a risk by breaking into the Gallows to save their fellow Restless, so to add an unknown variable to their plan at the very last minute? Even he wouldn't be that reckless normally, but Kokomi managed to convince him in the end. She decided the risk was worth it so he followed suit. That's all there is to it.

Joonghyuk would tell him his crimes and virtues don't matter to him. Instead, he expects something in return for his freedom... Mostly answers to questions about the Netherworld, their circumstances, etc.

Well, considering keith walked right by him the first time… listen, his sole focus was doing a jailbreak for one particular prisoner. On the way back out though, he ( along with his pocket size Shiro ) pass him again and well… Shiro is a good bean. So to answer the prisoner’s question? Keith would brush it off, telling the prisoner that any gratitude is owed to Shiro.

Sooyoung will bluntly tell him that she's not in the business of doing charity, and that as far as she's concerned, he owes her now? She'll give him her name, and also add that she'll personally hunt him down if he doesn't pay her back.

Marius would be slightly suspicious of what the man did to deserve something like this, but once he finds out it's something worse, he'd start to question where he really belongs.

He'd place his anger on the guard and chain the guard, but he'd patch the prisoner up. He'd feel for the guard, even though he's just doing his job but a little too well. He'd also help the prisoner up and leave the guard in his old cell after patching the prisoner up.

Zagreus would kneel beside him, tend to the prisoner's wounds and give him water. He'd merely shake his head, saying that while he is unsure whether he was imprisoned for a right or wrong reason, this was no way of treating anyone.

Felix will honestly say it wasn't his plan to help him, but that's how it turned out (because other people he cared about were fighting to free him). But he was imprisoned on false charges too (or at least, he was as far as he's concerned), so he can accept that might have been the case with him, too. Now, though, he doesn't care what he does. Get going, man.

brusquely, she'd tell him that if his crimes were so serious he should have been executed outright, not tortured for an indeterminate period of time. anything else is just cruel. (capital punishment in the ninja world... woof.)

she'd also tell him that helping him =/= believing he's innocent, and that it's up to him to prove himself worth the trouble. she would offer to heal him once they're far enough away from the power dampening field and would tell him to come find her at her clinic.

and then she'd promptly leave. other things to do!

Johanna responds that because while she doesn't know him and/or what he's done, she's not going to just let him rot here, not when she's already here to try to free some of the others like herself. And she thinks that this gruesome display with being impaled through the shoulder and strung up to die, speaks volumes about why the Hierarchy got targeted by the Horseman as they did, during the Festival; perhaps they're not as innocent in all of this as they'd like the Restless to believe.

Forgot about this part oops

Anyway Fukawa would tell him that it's clear these people don't give a crap about whether you're innocent or guilty, as there was a mass incarceration already. Even if he's committed some kind of crime, this punishment is revolting. Torture is just plain crass.

But she'd insist he better not make them regret this.

ON THE OTHER HAND if it's Syo talking, she'd probably just say, "What? Want me to stick the spear back in and walk away?" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Arrakis would admit that he didn't want to. He sacrificed everything for his friends back home and it feels like it was all for nothing. Despite his sharp answer Arrakis would still offer the prisoner water and clumsily help him tend to his wounds. He used magic crystals for first aid back home, not old fashioned bandages. As he works his expression would soften slightly and the prisoner with get a quieter answer. He couldn't leave him to die alone like that.

Aerith will respond to the question with one of her own, her voice and expression more strained and vulnerable than anyone has seen of her so far in this place due to being tired from the battle: "Aren't we already dead?" But she'll laugh the comment off in the very next moment and explain, honestly, that everyone deserves a second chance, no matter who they are; that even criminals aren't necessarily bad, just as the virtuous aren't perfectly good; and that when the Hierarchy are imprisoning people in a way that seems to her to be indiscriminatory, she feels that giving everyone she can a chance at getting free is equally fair... especially with how awful it is to be caged.

oh god it's nearly december, how

dimitri would say that unchecked oppression needs to be answered. likewise, if the prisoner abuses his freedom for evil, he'll answer for that, too :)

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ANSWER THE PRISONER'S QUESTION HERE [oocly]

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