Aloria Story Progression The Stumble, The Fall And The Ticking Clock

Discussion in 'Progression Events' started by MonMarty, Dec 19, 2016.

  1. MonMarty

    MonMarty Thotdodger Staff Member Server Owner

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    The 19th of December, normally the middle of the Winter Festival, saw the embarkment of a largely sailed ship by the Martinez and their nominal allies. Banners were carried aboard of the de Baccarod, Tzavaras, Martinez and Ishmael, while some of their commoner allies also joined them. The aim was to break the blockade, but many commoners on the dockside thought this was a parley attempt with the Regalian Blockade due to the dwindling stocks of luxury supplies. As such, the ship was sailed off with fanfare and applause and clapping by a large audience that had gathered. The ship sailed away from the main harbor, striking full sail in an attempt to use the smuggler’s passage. Unfortunately, this harbor which had not seen ship traffic for over a month was hawkishly watched by Regalian Frigates. These frigates crept from a distance but made no real attempt to engage the ship while it sailed in shallower waters near the Regalian batteries which were manned by Deathlings. Only when the ship turned into the gap passage, usually reserved for smuggling routes, and out of range of the harbor’s defenses, did their luck drastically turn about.

    The frigates were merely scout ships, which were joined by three battleships that sped straight for the smuggler’s passage. It turns out that choosing a largely sailed ship, provided the Regalian fleet the perfect opportunity to track it from a distance and devise a counter strategy to avoid the blockade from breaking. The ship chartered by the Martinez tried to make a run for it, but the battleships and faster Frigates forced it back to the coastline where it was eventually cornered, with the only way back to the Regalian harbor. Whistles could be heard from the battleships as naval signal flags started waving, all very clear: “Surrender, turn back now or battle”. The Martinez stuck to plan, striking the surrender flag, as well as “Women and Children on board” and “Parley”. The Regalian battleships once again responded with “Surrender, turn back now or battle”. The Martinez again stuck to plans, raising the family banners to indicate who was on board. There was a two-minute silence in which the Regalian battleships did not respond, the group in the meantime anxiously awaiting what was about to happen next.

    And what did happen next, was too fast for most of those on board to even properly register. The three battleships almost simultaneously on the signal of a whistle opened their cannon hatches, shoved their cannons forward and started pounding the poor Martinez chartered vessel. Immediately the crowd on the ship panicked, running about to avoid the cannon fire and shells raked the ship, splintering and crashing through the hull and destroying the masts. The blast of one of the shells struck near Appolonia Tzavaras, who was flung off the ship. Nicolo Celso dove in after her, bringing her back up tot he surface and swimming away from the ship with her while she was coughing in the water. Javier de Baccarod and Kaleel Ishmael quickly gathered up Demetrios Tzavaras, Lorenzo Martinez and Amar Tellsam while quickly rushing them off a sloop that was on the side of the ship, luckily saved the first barrage. Barrage after barrage of cannonballs followed, ripping through the sails and banners, killing sailors left and right as Cecil Empolan and Whitlock Carswell dove off the ship to avoid being hit. The remaining Martinez eventually managed to get off the ship as well, swimming to the sloop that was earlier deployed by Gaston and Kaleel, or using various flotsam to swim away from the destruction behind them. By the fifth barrage, the ship started falling apart as the hull has been splintered, a few loud cracks and screams from unlucky sailors stuck down below deck was all that remained of the ship as it went down, those passengers that had taken to the ship with high hopes, looking back at the spot that once contained their ship from the coastline. None of the passengers were seriously injured from the attack save for some wood splinters. Most of them adequately fled or were forced off the ship by others, leaving but mere sailors behind to take the brunt of the blows in attempts to save the ship in vain. The group made it back to Regalia at a sluggish pace, before being well received again by Deathling authorities. The destruction of the ship had unfortunately been witnessed by locals who lived close to the coast, so the news spread quickly among the people.

    Elsewhere in Regalia some hours earlier, a nefarious group of plotters aimed to assault the unassailable Greygate prison. The plan was well thought through, but not all would go as was planned, as most of these things tend to go. Obviously, the people involved were well informed of the inner structure of the castle. Weeks of free scouting, as well as the knowledge of several ex-guards, granted them intimate knowledge of the castle’s interiors and where best to strike. Several of them moved into the prison with concealed weapons in a dead cart, the usual weekly shipment that would take the corpses out of the prison for destruction. Once inside, shipments of Wodenstaff tar which had been stored in the weeks beforehand in the clinic next to it, along with a single barrel of gunpowder were set to explode. The immediate blast only dented the strong bastion wall, but the attack was never meant to destroy the wall, rather the explosion set off the barrels of tar previously disguised as emergency supplies, setting the whole area ablaze. The inferno destroyed some houses immediately before flooding the district next to it with a sticky fiery mess. The guards of Graygate immediately veered to the hit side of the castle, arming defenses in case of an attack, not knowing this was, in fact, a distraction. As the regiment rolled out to fight the fire, the guests in the courtyard were easily overlooked (some of them also hid in the courtyard itself), before the next step was set in motion.

    Joseph Mercer had already acquired the castle log book with some quick fingers when the desk clerks weren’t looking, knowing exactly where the prisoners they were looking for were held, sending the message by Ardynn Belledin forward to Eyanrendil Faenin, Jared Kade and Venkey Ra, the group proceeded to the relevant cells, where Joelle Cavey and Conrad Cole managed to trigger a failsafe protection in the cell mechanisms that Jared told them about. This fast approach immediately set the targets free: Grand Chancellor Maedelyn Barlowe, Grand Marshal von Treppewitz, Grand Bureaucrat Maximillian Kade and Grand Vigil Harold. The group proceeded to plan their escape as the Deathlings were still woefully unaware, until various other prisoners started shouting and smashing their mugs at the cell bars in an attempt to get released by the breakout as well. The sudden increase in noise and mess in the castle resulted in a sudden mobilization of the second battalion, and some Deathlings marched back into the castle from outside when alerted that the prisoners were getting restless. Elsewhere in the city, Piper Josephine Pim was able to sneak into the bureaucracy under the auspices of collecting tax records for the tavern, where she eventually reached the clinical record facility. Unfortunately, she bumped into a Deathling commander who retaliated by punching her on the nose. Feigning a fall and stumble once more, she managed to use her quick hands to steal the key from the commander, after which she took a few more kicks. Victory came for the perseverant, however, as she successfully stole any of the records implicating Sigurna Wodenstaff’s labeled shipments to the clinic, rolled them up and skedaddled away from the building before arousing any suspicion.

    In Graygate, the situation became tenser. Ardynn Belledin and Roland Blakely were forced to take out some Deathlings, who were luckily ill-armed or ill-trained, before Nemir Celeben rolled some smoke pouches into the doorway to obstruct the Deathlings. The rush out of the castle was disorganized and messy, not the whole group was able to reconnect with the others and. Joseph Mercer almost ended up getting caught but managed to escape by crashing a heavy metal bar into a gate mechanism, opening up various doors of prison cells. Numerous Violet Order prisoners rushed out, attacking the Deathling guards with tooth and nail but also congesting the hallways with chaos. The first group successfully fled the castle before more guards could arrive, while the other revolutionaries slowly trickled out one by one, often under the pretense of being fleeing citizens who were near the square as the Deathlings were unable to fully cordon off the square. Venkey Ra was the last one to leave, unfortunately leaving Roland Blakely and Seraphina Eroth behind who got trapped in the west wing by the other prisoners. These prisoners were eventually cornered and so as to avoid being accused of being rebels, Roland and Seraphina pretended to be part of the prison crowd, quickly donning clothing from other prisoners that were killed earlier. They successfully avoided being accused, however, were herded into cells with other common inmates, with little to no knowledge to know if their plot had succeeded. By the time the Deathlings had gotten the fires under control, the prisoners had long escaped and were as far off as the Ithanian district. Maedelyn Barlowe complained of the long wait for a final rescue, which was disorganized, while von Treppewitz remained quiet. Before the group reached their final destination, however, Maximilliam Kade veered off course and ran for a sewer entrance. Several men in black robes awaited him there, clearly showing their swords on their belts, warning the rebels to stay away from them. The rebels chose not to chase after Maximillian who went Emperor knows where, on account of being wounded with a few scratches and tired from the whole ordeal.

    Maedelyn Barlowe, Grand Marshal von Treppenwitz and Grand Vigil Harold were now safe, though at the mercy of whatever rebellious group had rescued them from Graygate Prison. Graygate Prison’s impregnable status had been damaged, but Freya Lo’s forces were adequate in denying and shielding the truth from the people. None would be the wiser who was involved if anyone was rescued and if any of the prisoners inside had died. In fact, Freya Lo’s authority was further reinforced by a few executions of Violet Guards who were claimed to be the source of the prison riot. Elsewhere in the city, Freya’s cause also gained momentum.

    The Viridian Castle which had so long held out against Freya’s Siege was finally shattered. The large front gates burst open with one final cannon shot, weakened from lack of repairs since the siege done by Andrieu some time ago. The Viridian fought their best and tried to stand ground, even the Elders fought in the front lines. Many Deathlings were killed, but eventually, the castle was completely overrun. After the battle, Freya Lo’s propaganda machine informed the people that as much as ninety percent of the Viridian had been slain, including all Elders and the Primae, only a few trainees remaining alive. With the fall of the Viridian Castle, the only effective Regalian stronghold remaining was the Imperial Palace, whose siege was not really ongoing anymore on account of there being no value assumed left inside of the Palace. Freya’s control over the entire west side of the island was fairly solid, with only a few rebellion groups remaining on the east side, as well as the Imperial Palace itself.

    The mixed events gave some pause to the Regalians, and the blockade also seemed to be aware of it all. During the night, various battleships formed a tight line in front of the city, lights shining in the distance just out of the range of the coastal batteries. As Regalians gathered by the docksides, the battleships did not shoot at the people or the defenses. Rather they simply struck their sails down and fired off high shot fireworks in the Viridian Colors to pay the last homage to the order that was seemingly wiped out. One by one, Green and White colored fireworks lit up the skies in the distance which strengthened a vague sense in the Regalians that they had not been given up on, but it did not entirely dispell the idea that they alone were left to face the troubles of Freya.

    In the far north of the island, however, The blockade broke partially by one ship veering closer to the coastline, guarded by two smaller frigates. A single sloop carrying two soldiers rowed to the coast, where on the long abandoned fisherman’s road they planted a cabinet in a tent. A few riders cloaked in black approached them and exchanged messages, before the riders rode out in the various corners of the island, delivering messages to local contacts that the Regalian Blockade had finally established a safe means of communication through this single cabinet. This cabinet would gather messages from the people of Regalia in the forms of Letters, after which a sloop of two dispensable soldiers would pick up the letters on a twice daily basis. This news would reach both rebels, as well as nefarious organizations which could aim to either forge letters in someone else’s name, or attempt to destroy the cabinet altogether to send a clear message to the blockade forces.

    Finally, Sigurna Wodenstaff and Christopher Black inspected the various warehouses and granaries of Regalia, using Sirgurna’s assumed loyalty to Regalia to call up storage information, while simultaneously providing her with an alibi for the assault on castle Graygate. Their investigations made it clear, the stocks were running ever lower. While the city authorities had provisioned for winter long ago, the sudden increase of Deathlings needing to be fed strained the city’s supplies. What could have amounted to half a year worth of supplies suddenly dwindled to three months, two months if at worst. The city’s remaining supplies had already crashed to lower than half, and all luxury supplies had run out, including medical supplies as well as finer materials. In the process of investigating this, one of the warehouse clerks accidently spoke of the matter with an outside guard, who relayed it to his sister, who was overhead by the passing milk delivery, and so forth, until the news of the food supplies rapidly started spreading across at least the Rebellion groups, but the information was stemmed enough to avoid massive panic in the city.

    Whenever the other rebellions decided to move, the clock now started ticking more urgently.

    Availability of OOC information as well as IC information should be adequately pointed out in the message above. Questions? Lore Q&A. Also this featured a few player quests dealt with in one, purely because it was useful as means of a story progression. Some members may not have been mentioned because I needed to compress the story or because it was just hard to place some characters in here, but assume that everyone had an equal part in whatever happened.
     
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  2. Nudibronch

    Nudibronch Professional Procrastinator

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    [​IMG]
     
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  3. natcanino

    natcanino Woefully Lost

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    I see your meme and raise you another.
     
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  4. _Grimmy_

    _Grimmy_ Magic? More Like Mag-ick, am I right, purists.

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    Anybody wanna make tl;Dr for mobile peeps?
     
  5. Sozzer

    Sozzer mega gay

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    AGGRESSIVELY BEGINS STOCKPILING SUPPLIES+
     
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  6. _Grimmy_

    _Grimmy_ Magic? More Like Mag-ick, am I right, purists.

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    VIOLENTLY GROWS POTATOES+
     
  7. Sozzer

    Sozzer mega gay

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    yes
     
  8. _Grimmy_

    _Grimmy_ Magic? More Like Mag-ick, am I right, purists.

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    Meanwhile my side project will bring joy to the world, and possibly label somebody as the alorian IS
     
  9. Silent_Ruler

    Silent_Ruler Scrapper.

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    I can hear the clockwork in my head beginning to move.
     
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  10. _Grimmy_

    _Grimmy_ Magic? More Like Mag-ick, am I right, purists.

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    As a response to what, because ticking in one instance is bad.
     
  11. Parz1vol

    Parz1vol Chicken

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    And then there's Joppa, not needing food or anything because he's been dead for ten years. If everyone starves, then he gets to laugh.
     
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  12. Eccetra

    Eccetra Rat Mumther

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    Did somebody say POTATOES?!

    [​IMG]

    Are you a hungry rebel, in desperate need of sustenance in this darkest hour of Regalian leadership?

    Then you need the Nenyarina Grove©!

    Enough Heiwynn™ brand potatoes to satisfy all your hungry rebel needs!


    Terms and conditions apply: must prove fealty to our Goddess and saviour Estel. Potatoes are not guaranteed tasty or edible. May contain traces of Solur Companion.
    @Caelamus @Vegemiite @Shuikenai @JarlJade @Ynzy
     
    • Winner x 12
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  13. Eyrok

    Eyrok Draconic dolt

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    Well then. Looks like it's time to get those starvation rules out from PARANOIA...
     
  14. Mandyy_

    Mandyy_ Who am I? I'm the magical Mandy!

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    Beautiful typo.
     
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  15. Manatee_

    Manatee_ mouse

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    WHY DOES EVERYONE SPELL HER NAME WRONG
     
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  16. Speedl0rd

    Speedl0rd getting closer

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    It's like when people call me Spidy. Or Spider. Or Spide. Or Spidery. iTS SPIDEY GOD DANGET IT'S INFRONT OF YOU FACE HOW DO YOU MISSPELL IT??
     
  17. _Grimmy_

    _Grimmy_ Magic? More Like Mag-ick, am I right, purists.

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    I'm with Spidy
     
  18. Speedl0rd

    Speedl0rd getting closer

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    gfys
     
  19. _Grimmy_

    _Grimmy_ Magic? More Like Mag-ick, am I right, purists.

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    Sure, Spide ;)
     
  20. YouDontKnowJack

    YouDontKnowJack quarantining

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    I'd just like to point out that if someone's dyslexic, it being right in front of their face makes no difference. Not saying Marty is, that's probably just a typo, but, don't be so quick to judge people.
     
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  21. Korgex12

    Korgex12 Coming Soon

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    when you're too lazy to read the whole thing
     
  22. Beetletoes

    Beetletoes Regalian Prince

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    People are gonna starve.
     
  23. Korgex12

    Korgex12 Coming Soon

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    NUUU!!! It'll be a good time for vampires I guess.
     
  24. TutiDias

    TutiDias General Vladislav Marknid

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    The Viridian Order shall have their revenge.
     
  25. Mandyy_

    Mandyy_ Who am I? I'm the magical Mandy!

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    Sirgurna I actually like that name.
     
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