hexarchate_rpg | Move 24 (Chapter 1.24)

yhlee posting in

[GM note: This is a wrap-up move to close off the Station Moongray arc. Well done, everyone!]

[IMPORTANT: There is a roll call thread in this move. Please respond if you intend to continue as an active player for the next arc. Otherwise I will move you off the active list and to the NPC/inactive list.]

Year 361, Month Three, Day Seventeen (Monday), ~0900

Kaliyan (NPC) successfully guides the Wasp to the rift without complications or interference. She reports that the Rosemallow ship has veered away and chosen not to pursue or harass them further--at least in this timeline. The ship will be spending the next five to seven days in rift travel.

In the Rift:

Ashari orders everyone to catch up on sleep in shifts. After this has happened, they call a meeting that includes Sulen, Virmad, Sasha, Iawa, Alaric, and Mikodez [if

pengwern is available], with Gerae (NPC) and Remi (NPC) as guests. The Wasp (NPC) may also venture opinions through Alaric and Sasha as interpreters. Kaliyan (NPC), Ankat (NPC), and Yehan (NPC) oversee the ship in case of emergency, but can be called via the ship's grid if anyone has questions for them specifically.

Tentative agenda as per this thread [Move 23]: (a) addressing problems in teamwork during the Station Moongray mission, (b) how to rectify those issues, and (c) next steps, including any recruitment.

[GM notes: Players are welcome to suggest plot hooks for what they'd like to explore in the next arc. Going after Quill? Rabble-rousing? Crashing the heptarchate's stock market?

Also, I'd really prefer the team leader to be a currently active PC rather than an NPC. If someone would like to volunteer their character for the job, I can move Ashari (NPC) to more of a background/support position, or maybe "shadowy boss who doesn't get involved in the day to day decision-making that much."

For recruitment, I still think the team would benefit from a couple of more fighty/meat shield type characters, and I'm thinking of opening up applications so we can recruit two more PCs. Thoughts on this are welcome, either IC or OOC. I'm personally not opposed to opening up mothlings as adoptable PCs, although they're not really meat shields yet...]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

venndaai

Sulen shows up a few minutes after Alaric, and sits across from Sasha. They've changed out of their mocked-up Rahal uniform into extremely plain clothing, which to people familiar with Rahal mindsets indicates that they're taking this meeting very seriously. They also seem to have gotten either some very restful sleep or some effective stimulants. They nod at Sasha.

From:

yhlee

Ashari arrives, looking somewhat rested, several minutes after Sulen, perhaps just in time to catch the tail end of the discussion between Sasha and Alaric of aesthetic judgment. Ashari says, a little grumpily, "So that's why I could only get throw pillows in purple and green. Hideous. Absolutely hideous."

[Currently we're waiting on Iawa and Virmad, is that correct?]

From:

zuhrovet

[Also Remi, possibly? And Virmad might bring Gerae...]

From:

yhlee

[Yeah, let's have Remi show up with Iawa, and Gerae with Virmad.]

From:

lleullawgyffes

[do we want to rp retrieving Gerae or just skip it for convenience?]

From:

yhlee

[Skip it for convenience--assume that Gerae is willing to puppydog-follow his fellow Rahal around. ;) ]

From:

vass

Iawa almost bumps into Remi on their way through the door. This is awkward: their intention was to enter unobtrusively and [~~lurk moar~~] not make a spectacle of themselves.

"Excuse me," they mutter, waiting for him to pass them.

From:

yhlee

Remi sketches a bow to Iawa, although it looks faintly foreign in style. "No, the fault is mine," he says, politely enough. He precedes Iawa into the meeting room and takes a seat near Alaric.

From:

vass

His courtesy only makes Iawa more uncomfortable, given that the near-collision was definitely Iawa's fault. They mumble something awkward and find a seat of their own.

From:

lleullawgyffes

Virmad arrives, Gerae in tow; like Sulen, he’s changed from his vintage uniform into some simple civilian clothes — although not quite as dramatically plain as Sulen’s.

“You’ve met some of the crew,” he says to Gerae, “but here’s everyone.” And he’ll introduce Gerae briefly to everyone who hasn’t met him themselves.

From:

yhlee

Gerae may have questionable morals, but he's Rahal enough to catch the mood from Sulen and Virmad's plain clothing. He's very well-behaved during the introductions and is especially respectful to Ashari; he probably hasn't forgotten that Ashari has the power to order him spaced if he steps out of line.

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha tells Gerae, "Call me Sasha. If you weren't going to anyway."

From:

yhlee

"Yes, Sasha," Gerae says, subdued. He reaches up toward his left shoulder, then checks himself; presumably that's where Fluffy (not present) usually perches.

From:

zuhrovet

Fuck, the last thing Sasha wants is Ashari thinking she's trying to exert authority over the magistrate in any specific, formal way. She glances at them, but Ashari's in benign social mode, which gives her no information.

"How is Fluffy settling in?" Sasha asks Gerae.

From:

yhlee

Gerae looks cautiously hopeful that Sasha isn't going to have him spaced. "She's doing well. Currently napping in her enclosure--thanks to Alaric, by the way--with one of those purple-and-green moth toys."

[Let's say the purple-and-green moth toy was one of the failed creations while Alaric was screwing with the matter printer. ;) ]

Ashari clears their throat and taps a dagger against the wall, indicating that the meeting has begun. "Thank you all for showing up without setting off alarms, picking locks, or stealing additional pets," Ashari says. They're definitely in a quixotic mood. "Now, while it seems clear that our higher-ups set us up for failure, it would be remiss of me to allow this team to continue lurching about as we did in this mission. I would like constructive suggestions on how we can improve teamwork before we figure out next steps."

From:

slybrarian

"Well, it is not precisely teamwork related," Alaric says, raising one hand, "and I'm still not entirely clear on the sequence of events that lead to it, I probably was not the best option to send to retrieve Misha. While I like to think I'm quite handy with fisticuffs and skullduggery, perhaps we need someone handy-er in case abducting, punching, or shooting is something that will happen routinely in the future. Or past. You know what I mean."

From:

zuhrovet

Sasha fidgets with the coffee-table display (setting the interface to Naxorian-with-outgoing-translation, so anybody who wants to read over her shoulder has to work at it) and messages Alaric, thx 4 the support :( Aloud, she says, "Will we go on being a team, after this mission? Does anyone know how that usually works?"

From:

slybrarian

Alaric sends a message back by tapping stroking a seemingly blank part of his trousers. You were busy, I was naturally best choice, problem is with mission planner.

"I hope so. Despite the distractions and misunderstanding, we did manage to succeed in rescuing not only our intended target but also someone else entirely."

From:

yhlee

Ashari looks grim. "The fact that our immediate supervisor is...suspect is not a great sign. I am personally inclined to lie low rather than reporting directly back, and to recruit 'handy-er' people, as Alaric puts it, for our own security. Sasha, I am operating under the assumption that we cannot expect reliable support from the rebellion. But we will have to vet any potential recruits to this team carefully." They look pointedly at Gerae, who fidgets.

From:

slybrarian

"Speaking of recruits, there's also the small issue of," Alaric holds up the plushie, "our ride."

From:

zuhrovet

"Have you talked to the moth about the concept of names?" Sasha asks Alaric. It seems rude to go on calling them "our ride", and "the moth" will be confusing as the mothlings grow.

Also, it would be nice to skip to an agenda item that isn't a list of things Sasha has fucked up.

From:

yhlee

"Besides names," Ashari says drily, "there's the slight fact that the...moth effectively can take us wherever it wants." They look meaningfully at Sasha, Alaric, and Remi. "How open is it to negotiation, do you think? Because we can't be held hostage to its whims."

Remi's mouth thins, but he says, "I take your point. I should also point out that the mothlings are going to grow, and they'll have opinions of their own..."

[This might be a good time for someone to remember that the calendar back in Station Moongray time was the reason the moth "awakened" in the first place--it might not be eager to return to calendars where it'll be brainwashed again. Remi won't know about moth harnesses but Alaric and Sasha might bring it up.]

From:

lleullawgyffes

“Hi,” Virmad says, waving slightly obnoxiously as he interjects. “Could someone please explain what’s going on with the moth? I bracketed it during our earlier conversation because there were too many other things to deal with at that point, but now seems like as good a time as any to circle back to it.”

From:

zuhrovet

"The moth is intelligent. Alaric made contact with it soon after we exited the rift. It wanted us to rescue Remi's mothlings, and it likes music and math puzzles. So far, negotiation with it has been straightforward. We told it that we were from a group of humans with the rebellion logo, not one of the factions. Alaric explained that it had to be quiet and wait for us to retrieve the mothlings, which mostly worked. And I promised that I would sing with it. You probably heard us, yesterday afternoon."

Sasha knows perfectly well that Ashari heard the music. The moth is tuneful, albeit loud. The mothlings are another matter.

Move 24 (Chapter 1.24)

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