[FLIP - A Conspiracy Wrapped in an Enigma:
Heads (Success)]
Melissa finds you.
You've decided to spend a little of your bribe money on a nice dinner, just you and Pelops. The boy's practically skin and bones, and besides, with your week, you think you deserve a treat. So, you stop by the place that Ambrose recommends, "Say Mercy!", Shallyan vegetarian cuisine. There's live music advertised – but you really take no notice till when you your first course. You're about to dig into some delightful roast squash, covered with burrata and toasted almonds when you hear a vary familiar voice begin to sing.
"Where I walk, I see ruin
All our pride just confusion
We all fall, we are falling"
There she is. She has a beautiful voice, a dark contralto. Her gown is black, lined with raven's feathers: mourning dress. You're unsettled. Pelops reads that because he puts his hand on the hilt of
Last Rest. You turn to the door, and see it blocked. A tall solider is there. Old, his steel armour is dented bad and rusted at the seams, though his limbs still seem thick with wiry muscle His white hair spills out from a helmet emblazoned with the gold sun of Solkan, which alone looks brand new, buffed until it shines. He is staring right at you, and his hand is on his sword too.
"I'd rather die on my feet
A final dance on these streets
Blood for us, blood from us thralls
Before all our Towers fall"
You look wildly around the room, to see if there's any other avenues of escape. The restaurant's small – a little hole in the wall sort of place in the Cloisters. There are maybe three other tables, and at one – you can't believe you didn't notice – it's Gregorius that wizard-worker from the Theatre, again attended by two burly workers. He's looking at you too, and now that you notice, so is everybody else. The room is silent, but for Melissa, who sings louder and angrier.
"Tell yourself that you have glory
You are what we we'll bury
Honor's all, we do recall"
There's a man in the grey toga of a lawyer, with ink-stained fingers and a pin of owl feathers. There is – gods! - Floridus Ennius, Patriarch of Truth, picking at his nails. He has a terrible smirk, and waves hello. At his table, sitting as physically far as possible away from him, a woman in some sort of lizard-scale armour, hair embroidered with shells and glass beads. She's glaring at you, and one of her hands is hidden behind her chair; you bet she's drawn a dagger.
"
A little pain and no more kneeling
Leave a wound that's never healing
Let us maul, and we'll stand tall
Before all our Towers fall"
You stand up, and Pelops follows. The old solider moves to bar the door, and you see Floridus begin to gather
Hysh in his hand. You step away from both of them, towards the stage. You hear a creak behind you, and as you look back, three figures come from the kitchen. All three you recognize. First there's Cassius the Barbarian, from all the Coliseum ads. Second is the Gazulite dwarf. Third – and this leaves you frozen – is Ambrose. He looks grave, like he is about to deliver terrible news.
You draw your sword, and Pelops does too.
You count, and you realize there are exactly thirteen people in this room.
"Stop grieving, start believing
And we'll have this Tower fall…"
Melissa trails off, with a last, proud note. She grins at you.
"We've heard you were worried about an apocalypse?"
"Yes" you say warily.
"We're here to start it."
…
This, apparently, is the League of Salvation.
"We've been organizing this past year" Melissa says. When you ask for a date, it's approximately in line with the start of your visions – within a week, you'd say.
"Our goal is simple-" she begins, interrupted from a scoff from Floridus, and a laugh from the woman at his table, who you now know is called Loreley.
Melissa is undeterred, and continues "Simple in ends, if not in means".
"And to what ends?" you ask.
"The ruin of these Cities, some would say. We prefer call it redemption."
"What she means" the solider at the door "is that we are to cast down the tyrants."
"Uplift the workers" adds Gregorios.
"End the blasphemies" says the Gazulite.
"Free the slaves" growls Cassius.
"Share the wealth" says Loreley.
"Avenge" declares Ambrose.
"In short" Melissa "save the world. But - for better or for worse - the forest burns before it grows anew. And in that" she steps off the stage and takes your hand "We believe you have some particular insights?"
Your mind whirls. You must look particularly shellacked, because Melissa laughs.
"We've done a proper disservice, haven't we, dumping this all without dinner." She claps, and Cassius, with a groan, returns to the kitchen, and then reappears with what you and Pelops had ordered, a huge bowl steaming rice fried with onions, mushrooms, egg, tofu, covered in sweet and sour garum.
"Eat" Melissa says, "and then we can get down to business".
…
You may ask up to five [5] questions of the
League of Salvation as you scoff down your meal. Xenophon will be expected after this to give some account of his visions, and what role, if any he thinks the League plays in them.
[-] Write-in.
AN: Apologies for the delay. Please keep in mind to ask questions limited to what Xenophon would know IC – if you have any questions yourself about what he knows, please ask, and I'd be happy to clarify.
You may address a question to a specific person, or the League as a whole.
The people in this room are:
- Xenophon of Morr
- Pelops of Morr
- Melissa of Pleroma
- Cassius the Gladiator
- Red Gregorios, and his friends, Salomon and Simeon Storm
- Tribune Marcus Typhon, follower of Solkan
- Ambrose of ???
- Kakram of Gazul
- Floridus Ennius, Patriarch of Truth
- Loreley the Lady Privateer
- Kaginius Amor, Head Priest of Verena
