text; un: lanxichen | dated: day of, before the start of the gala

[calmness]

Greetings.

I know many of us searching for information that would help us succeed in this mission and some have already uncovered details and items that could be of use.

In an effort to consolidate and keep all the information gathered in one place, would others be amenable to share what you've already uncovered here? This way, more of us are able to be intentional in our hunt for more information about the Orb and situation here. Additionally, further discussions can be facilitated during the course of the Gala this evening.

I have information to share that I will add in as a follow up to my own message, for clearer organization. But first, I would also like to share that both my brother, Wangji, and I are able to create silencing paper talismans for those who may need them. These can be used to block all sound within a space from getting out or silencing an individual. It will be easier for one of us to share with other members of the Featherstone, but exchanges with members of other Families can be arranged at the Gala tonight or worked out afterwards for those interested.

[ooc note: please threadjack away, respond around to info that seems useful and share info all around!]

Comments

text; un: p.derolo

[whitestonelives]

I found something rather interesting in the Ti'shaaz archives. It's a diary that belongs to Ti'shaaz himself, and I think the contents may be relevant.

[What follows is a transcription of the diary entries.]

text; un: Sabriel.Abhorsen

[bindsthedead]

So combined with what widow says... Olexa's the Devil, and she made a pact with the Orb longer ago than I thought.

But it always demands a price. What did she offer in exchange- her parents? She seems to have received power and a long life in exchange. And if she's willing to go that far to keep the Orb... we need a way to keep her as far away from Lionetta headquarters as possible when we take the orb.

[whitestonelives]

You may be right. Olexa knows far more than we suspected, that's certain enough. I'm personally not sure if it is her, or if she is merely the most trusted lieutenant.

What worries me is that now the Lionetta have begun to expand into the other families' territories. Even Ti'shaaz isn't spared. Perhaps she, if it is Olexa, decided the truce has finally expired, on account of there being no one left alive who remembers it.

I have a feeling she'll be very interested in meeting someone who holds this knowledge in their back pocket, maybe quite literally. I don't know if I can smuggle out the scroll itself, not without triggering any defenses, but I'll make physical copies of the relevant entries to spread amongst us. Blackmail is much more effective if you make backups of your evidence.

text / un: starkov

[peasant]

a friend and i heard a similar story at the gala. ti'shaaz's mother — dnria — sensed some kind of artifact. she called it "something she had felt before". i'm guessing that it must have been the orb.

when she went to confront the devil, she never came back. they found her lying down in front of a mine with some kind of red fog in the air. her body was ... there's really no nice way to say broken. bent in ways a body should never bend, and the mine was covered in rubble. whatever power the devil has, ti'shaaz was right — it's too terrible to consider.

finch seemed afraid of olexa when i mentioned her, too. he claims he's not, but i could tell. sabriel and widow have to be right: olexa has to be the devil, and i think the more important members of the collective know exactly who and what she is.

[whitestonelives]

She's the likeliest candidate for the Devil and perhaps even for Ruvia Alonetti, certainly. There's too much that lines up to discount her easily.

If all that is true, I'm more worried now for our people in the Lionetta headquarters. We'll need to be careful in tailing her, and we need to stay in groups as much as possible. Dnria walked into the mine alone and never came out. Perhaps if there are more people then it'll be more survivable.

Or perhaps it'll just be even more of a slaughter. That too.

[peasant]

stop, your optimism is too much for me to handle. save some of that cheeriness for a rousing speech while we're all rushing toward our doom.

i don't suppose you've found any protection magic that could be helpful in the archives? i've heard talk about how ambitious an'alya is, compared to ti'shaaz. maybe she would be willing to help if we mentioned going after what dnria was trying to find.

without telling her we're planning to keep the orb for ourselves, of course. i doubt she would take kindly to that.

[whitestonelives]

Very well, I will save the last bits of it for a motivational speech.

Not yet. I can keep looking, but I can't guarantee I can find anything. As for An'alya...perhaps we could make a deal with her. If we can make her see that this truce with the Lionetta is only going to destroy her Family in the long run, perhaps she'll ally with us. Even subtly.

Oh, of course not. Let's try to keep the orb out of any possible negotiations we might make: should it get on the table as an option, I can't see that alliance ending well. We could lie to her about its availability as an option, but
well, I did that once to an unsteady ally. It turned out somewhat badly.

[peasant]

how bad is somewhat badly? ... actually, you don't have to answer that. i can use my imagination to consider all of the horrible outcomes to that. we'll take that one off the table, unless we get desperate. well. more desperate?

the collective likes dabbling in curses, from what i've heard. i'd rather not be turned into a bat destined to haunt the mines as poetic punishment. showing her it's time to get out from the lionetta's hold would sound much more convincing, anyway, after fearing them for so long.

text; un: alenko

[majorbiotic]

That lines up with what I was told on the history tour. They told me about a material found in the mines that was a large jewel-like stone. The guide said no one wanted it but based on what you found, that's obviously just a story passed down through the centuries to keep people from asking questions.

They didn't tell me the name of the owner and his wife. Interesting that Alonetti is an anagram for Lionetta. This is going to sound crazy, but what if the daughter Ruvia is the Devil? She disappears, and then this Lionetta family comes along to buy the mine. I wasn't here for the last mission but I heard the orb was tied to a person's life force. Maybe it's the same here? We don't know what these things are fully capable of yet.

I'm not liking what we're learning about the mine. If we do send a team down there, they may be walking into something potentially deadly.

[whitestonelives]

I'm almost certain Ruvia might be the Devil. Everything lines up too neatly for her not to be. The problem is that no one who knew her and can identify her is alive now, and I haven't found any records on her appearance. If she hasn't figured out how to change that appearance.

We need to figure out a way to lessen the danger of what they'll be walking into. Perhaps lure the guards away from their headquarters somehow. The mine itself is likely trapped, but I can smuggle defensive magical artifacts out of Ti'shaaz should we decide to send a team inside.

[majorbiotic]

I know it was two hundred years ago, but still seems odd that there wouldn't be any pictures or vids of her. I don't know if it's significant but that's certainly suspicious.

I agree. There've been a few ideas thrown around on how to get the guards out of the headquarters. We'll need to have oxygen masks or enviro-suits, something like that. Can those magical artifacts be used by anyone or do they only work for those assigned to the Ti'shaaz collective?

[whitestonelives]

I can keep looking. I'm not certain if there is anything else to find regarding Ruvia Alonetti, at least not without getting attention I don't need, but I can keep poking around here. There ought to be something.

Most of them seem to work well enough to be sold to people outside the collective. I don't doubt that some of the rarer artifacts may be enchanted to work only for those with magic, but otherwise it would be very poor business if the magical items you were selling didn't work for a customer just because they happened not to belong to your group. And I know that the Lionetta have been trying to purchase such things before the Ti'shaaz can.

[majorbiotic]

Don't take unnecessary risks, but if you can find out more information safely, by all means.

Okay, that's good. We should have some non-magical things along with us, too. I'm in the Featherstone family. I'm sure we can get some weapons together. We don't know what we're facing.

Text | UN: Syrlya

[chronosynthesis]

I think we should assume she has found a new face.

I did find a paragrfaph on Olexa in the Ti'Shaaz archives. Supposedly she isn't even from Braccia, but that's the extent of her history before the family there was. She married into the Lionetta and her husband died on an standard assignment. It was only after that she rose so quickly in power within the family.

Seems like a convenient way to slide a new identity into place without letting too many people catch on to who you really are.