abraxaslogs | The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things.

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The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things.

Who: Istredd and the Thorne Summoned
What: Istredd called everyone to a meeting
Where: Istredd's Horizon
When: Friday, January 13th, midnight (technically therefore the 14th too)
Warnings: Discussion of Thorne's set up so paranoia, discussion of war, possibly some treason, who knows, it'll be fun.

HORIZON AND SET UP

The Tower was described by Istredd in detail so people would know where to go, and once they arrive the door automatically opens. After the meeting starts and he feels most of the Thorne Summoned are there, it will be locked to any outsiders. Istredd has tight control of his domain so it will also be shielded magically and sound-proofed so they cannot be eavesdropped upon. They get enough of that at Thorne! His domain is unique for being essentially a tower of books. Shelves upon shelves of books and multiple floors. The only other detail before the talk starts is that there are five ravens who will be curiously watching everyone from a perch nearby.

The main floor has been turned into a meeting hall of a sort, although mostly in terms of having a large space full of chairs and a long table if people wish to sit there. A key note about Istredd's domain is that people can easily morph chairs or create them in whatever form they'd want, so if you want them to have their childhood chair, go ahead. If they want a gaming chair, it'll show up automatically for them. His space is very intuitive. People can choose to speak either from the back of the room, as Istredd will do, or from where they sit/stand.

Attendants may notice that Kyle, Lucifer, and Kell come and go a few times, their intention to be visible to anyone watching so it doesn't seem obvious that there is anything suspicious going on.

After the initial formal talk and information gathering, people should feel free to explore the tower if they want. If you're a bookworm, go nuts. People will find that if they open a book it will appear to be empty at first, but if they think about their favorite book, the pages will fill in. It is entirely based on their recollection of the book so may not be entirely complete, but if their subconscious mind has memorized much of it, they will see what they need to in there. They may also find that was they move through the floors, a 'reading nook' may appear in the corner that will instinctively know what they would feel comfortable sitting to read with. If they would like to stay here, they can.

Istredd's domain is open when he is not there, so people can come back if they want later on.

ISTREDD'S SPEECH

Istredd will wait until it appears everyone has arrived or most people have and he will clear his throat to get their attention if they are already chatting with other people. He appears as he often does in Thorne, with very plain clothes in a dark shade of blue, serious and calm. None of his actual nerves show, although on the inside he is anxious about so much attention being on him. Even if he asked for it. He stands straight-backed, hands clasped behind his back. Istredd speaks in a very clear and calm way.

"Please sit or stand as you feel comfortable. If you want, you can create any chair you wish to sit in. I will say my piece here, but I would appreciate it if afterward others are willing to share their own information and thoughts. I know some of us are information gatherers and may know the history of Thorne Summoned, so whatever I don't cover, it would be helpful to fill in any blanks.

Whether you are new or have been here for some time, the facts are very clear: we are trapped in Thorne Castle. The other factions have a great deal more freedom. They can create their own businesses, live in their own housing, wander the streets or go on trips, and while they do have their own struggles, few are constantly afraid that a single wrong word spoken out loud will get them interrogated. Because of that, we are in a much more precarious situation.

We have to assume that Thorne is always listening, the castle has ears and magic everywhere, and they have already questioned anyone for showing the slightest bit of disagreement with the royalty.

Here is a quick current history of Thorne and the Summoned that I gathered, although people here who know more or who were there should add, as this is a summary. I assume there are some new people who have no idea that this happened. Thorne first Summoned people a year and a half ago, and when they did, they threw many of the Summoned into prison immediately. They were not told exactly why. They planned on executing one of the Summoned in a public place, and during that event, two unknown people appeared and froze all the Thorne mages. They gave the Summoned the option to flee to Free Cities and Solvunn. This was the first time any Summoned went to those locations, and the majority of them did leave. Eventually, as we know, Free Cities and Solvunn used the spell for themselves.

It should be noted that thousands of years ago, Summoning in Thorne happened, but it went poorly and the High Mage at the time was exiled. He ended up founding Solvunn. We know nothing else about that, but it is interesting that after all this time, they began again.

While Thorne has not thrown any new people into the dungeon, as far as we know, there are those of you who have been questioned recently about the situation with Yennefer in Nocwich or loyalty toward the royalty here. Suffice to say, we're not that far away from the potential of some of us going back into prison. I was made aware by Kyle that early on, a Summoned was taken and experimented on. Their attempt was to see if they could take a Summoned's connection to the Singularity and put it onto one of their own. It didn't succeed, so as far as we know it hasn't happened again, but that is not to say it won't. It's clear they are not above doing this.

I am sorry that this is all very alarming, and some of you may not have been aware of how tense of a situation we are in right now. But it's important that everyone is informed so you are not going into this blind. My reason for declaring this meeting is for people to share what they know, because knowledge is power, and being ignorant here is dangerous. I also would like to take this opportunity to encourage us to do the one thing we can to make this situation better: unify.

The more they can isolate us from one another, the weaker we are. If we are ignorant, ill-prepared, and disconnected, they can take advantage of us. And we have the power to change that for ourselves.

I'm teaching magic classes to beginners and offered the same to the Summoned. Stephen and Yennefer are also magic users who teach. My roommate Lucifer has volunteered to teach others basic combat skills, and I believe there are others in this group who have those abilities. Obviously, as I've said, it is dangerous to make us stand out too much, so I recommend offering it to anyone and the Summoned signing up, or to come into the Horizon and train here. If you have other abilities you can share with people, please consider offering them to the group. If everyone can feel confident in their ability to use magic and defend themselves, we will be better for it.

It's possible that by doing this I've opened us up to danger. It is possible someone here is willing to sell us out to Thorne, and if that happens, I'm the ringleader, so I hope the danger will fall on me. But please understand that they do not have any loyalty to us. We are all one bad day away from the queen deciding to imprison us again. As you've seen from the attack on Libertas, she can't be trusted. We can only count on ourselves and one another from now on.

I will open the floor up now to anyone who wishes to speak. You can share your information, experience, or thoughts and concerns. If you're willing to train others in your skills, please say so. There is a big book open on the table where you can write your information down. Everyone is welcome to stay here as long as they like if you'd like to take the opportunity to speak to anyone here without fear of being overheard in Thorne.

Thank you for coming. I apologize if this was long and boring. We scholars have a tendency to always sound like we're lecturing."

OOC NOTES

Hey everyone, it's Dee! I am so sorry for the tl;dr. I have the headers below: Speeches (information sharing/tl;dr like mine), Offers to Train (in whatever), and then everything else can be a Mingle.

If you want your character to speak/offer information but don't want follow-up questions, you can put 'OTA' or 'no follow-up' to indicate what your preference is here. If you put OTA people can reply with a sort of Q&A option, but the no follow-up idea is so that people can share information but not need to commit to that unless they feel like it.

The same goes for Offers to Train, you can make a 'OTA' to people who can reply to your character asking more or setting that up, or simply make it a statement. I want everyone to feel like they can play as much as they want here or just share.

And from there, mingle to your heart's content! Your characters can talk afterward, before, go explore the library, whatever you want, I support it. You can plan closed or open starters, follow your heart.

Jay reminded me that it may be relevant to read the game history page. Your character can have asked around for the pre-game history portion and know details about it.

If nothing else, I want people to take from this mingle that their character can hear any of this information and have it from now on for your RP purposes, and also have the opportunity to get them to learn skills from other Summoned/build CR that way. Do as much or as little as you want! If you have any comments/concerns, please message me on plurk.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Istredd avoids talking to people before everything gets started, knowing that he is about to say far more than he usually would, and he stays there to listen to other people talk. He has a large open book on the table for people to write down their skills or sign up to be trained, so he mans that for a time while other people discuss what is on their mind.

After the real event happens and people have more opportunities to mingle, he will walk upstairs and disappear into the shelves for a little while. He needs a breather, don't mind him. Anyone can feel free to chase after him with anything they want to talk about one-on-one, and if they follow him they will find themselves in a quiet reading nook spot that feels separate from the rest of the tower. While he is tired, he will be open to talking in this space. If they want to wait, after about a half hour, Istredd will come back out of his hidden shelf space and have taken enough time to breathe.

If he sees people wandering around looking at the books he will come over with a faint smile and ask what genre they're interested in, or if they're big readers back home. Istredd is in a safe space when he's in a library so he may be tired but he's in his element.

[OOC: feel free to wildcard to your heart's content here. He's around.]

Lucifer's been in and out of the Horizon, the revolving door with Kell and Kyle. It's meant he's had to play into the nocturnal role when honestly he'd prefer to sleep, but he's been in the hallways, the library. Take a book, return to their room, jump back into the Horizon, leave, bring the book back. Mundane, almost normal actions. He's done it before, just not much lately.

He's continued to keep away from others during most of the talking and information trade, on occasion pushing the equivalent of a double thumbs-up towards Istredd and whatever attempt at sharing the emotion? concept? of energy, but that's harder to figure out.

It's after that he makes himself available to the rest of the Summoned, as he's likely supposed to and all that. The introverts are putting themselves into it. He can be a team player (sometimes).

Go Team, Go.

Eugh.

He does pass by Istredd, once, when it's obvious this entire thing is draining heavily on the man. Look. He understands some things. He very obviously doesn't recognize the larger picture, couldn't even if Istredd wasn't hiding it from him.

But while Lucifer is not a physical creature by nature--well, he is, he simply refuses--Istredd is. Lucifer passes on the same, familiar touch to Istredd's back that the man has offered to him in the past and has managed to ease Lucifer (whether or not he's willing to admit it). It's an attempt to help--though he's unsure if it actually will achieve that goal or not.

It does exactly that. Istredd is wound tight. He doesn't know how this will go over, he doesn't know if it will explode in his face. It seems very unlikely, but his discomfort with public events continues. This is something he spoke of a few times and then made it happen, he is doing that more often. Proactive. It's still not easy.

Having Lucifer's presence nearby during the talk is helpful. He can sense when he is hovering and he knows he is trying to be supportive. But the touch on the back is a surprise. Istredd is always the one to hold out and then withdraw when he feels he's done it too long. It means a great deal. Lucifer can feel the exact change, the way he stands a little straighter but not as tense, the relief and gratitude of a support system.

When he does escape for a short time, he sends a message. Come find me. Istredd is well-hidden by anyone else's standards, deep in the shelves so he can take a few deep breaths. But Lucifer will be able to look, the shelves will part automatically for him.

He doesn't even bother arguing that he doesn't come when called. Istredd indulges him enough on a daily basis that Lucifer can allow the same... kindness? It's a kindness, isn't it.

He tries not to think too long on that, and slips away from listening to chatter about other combatants to find Istredd.

"Well," he says mildly. "You don't completely look like a shriveled grape yet."

It was meant more as a request than a call, but he isn't at his best in terms of enunciating. He has worn out his ability to speak rationally and clearly. Now that the general speech is done, Lucifer can definitely feel the anxiety and weariness, but not any regret. He is certain this was the right idea, it is difficult for him to be the center of attention, even briefly.

"We're not done." He even invited Urianger and Thancred to stay later if they wanted to see his domain, so he isn't going to be leaving here any time soon. He did this to himself. Istredd leans his back against the bookshelf, they are in a much quieter spot.

"Any trouble on the outside?"

"Do the locks keeping any wandering individuals from coming in go away if you check out? Because you could just leave. You did your part--everyone else can quite literally mingle, or just go to bed."

Istredd made an actual public library and he's used to other people coming and going. This is no different; he's just making it more difficult for himself for no reason, far as Lucifer can tell.

"It's quiet so far. I don't think Kyle and Kell have ran into any problems either. The benefit of the nightly hour."

Istredd post-meeting OTA are you sick of him yet.

you sick of ME yet / drive-by devil

NEVER SICK OF YOU

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SORRY THIS TOOK A MINUTE

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