Blood on the Sands Episodic rp event (Rules for Event 2 in first post)

[Whittledown]

Yes people can be made accessories to a crime. Not all accessories are punished the same way as the principals. Many hired hands do -not- know what they were being hired for but for the fact that a distraction was being made. For all they knew this was just an attack on the Sultana and not something that would kill people within 24 hours of consumption. They know now... because the entire city is now in chaos. Riots will happen soon. - This is my assumption based on people saying that this is now widespread information ICly?

 

Appreciated, however considering the scale of the crime, we're talking minimum life in prison.

[Warren Castille]

Should uncollared villains have second thoughts, I could see them starting an anti-villain crusade against Jin'li. I imagine that would give them SOME leverage in not being immediately executed post-event.

 

I'm sort of with Aya on this, though: This got a lot more serious than I think some of us anticipated. This is upsetting the Status Quo the game provides, and I'm not sure how I feel about that objectively.

[C'kayah Polaali]

The water is tainted, yes, but there was less than an hour passed between it being started and it being discovered. There will be a wave of casualties at the start and it would immediately plateau because of the Flames and Red Wings working on spreading the word. We're not talking genocidal numbers here, but definitely the equivalent of a terror attack.

 

...man, Atrocity really is the right word for this.

See, my main concern with the water supply poisoning is that there really isn't any way for this to happen.

 

The poison takes three to nine hours to show effects, and then kills its victims four to twenty hours after that. So the first victims wouldn't start showing up until at least three hours after they drank at the well. Since people were already coming down sick in the refugee camps, the connection to the water might not be made for a while after that. The attack took place in the evening, so I can picture a lot of people getting water for their evening meals before the first people start showing symptoms.

[Kage]

Indeed, which is why Kage's orders for those lower in command than he is to approach with caution but to bring in by any means necessary short of death Jin'li and Osric as well as any of Osric's known affiliates.

[Zhavi]

In lieu of what Warren said -- why not go for plea bargains? You know, sometimes the people who were involved in horrific events agree to do this or this in exchange for a reduced sentence or whatnot. Give it some leeway, it could just be kowtowing to the [insert police force here] for a certain amount of time.

 

Most of the time, even with horrific events, leadership of military/police forces are more concerned with taking out the leadership of the people who do horrible things rather than the people at the bottom. Turning around and helping them get leadership would likely go a long way towards keeping those characters out of [insert bad thing here].

[Zhavi]

The water is tainted, yes, but there was less than an hour passed between it being started and it being discovered. There will be a wave of casualties at the start and it would immediately plateau because of the Flames and Red Wings working on spreading the word. We're not talking genocidal numbers here, but definitely the equivalent of a terror attack.

 

...man, Atrocity really is the right word for this.

See, my main concern with the water supply poisoning is that there really isn't any way for this to happen.

 

The poison takes three to nine hours to show effects, and then kills its victims four to twenty hours after that. So the first victims wouldn't start showing up until at least three hours after they drank at the well. Since people were already coming down sick in the refugee camps, the connection to the water might not be made for a while after that. The attack took place in the evening, so I can picture a lot of people getting water for their evening meals before the first people start showing symptoms.

 

As someone who lives in an area where a lot of people are in dry cabins (ie, no water hookups), you could probably assume that a good amount of people would have already had a supply of water to drink from for the day. Hauling water multiple times in a day is really icky.

[Kage]

In lieu of what Warren said -- why not go for plea bargains?  You know, sometimes the people who were involved in horrific events agree to do this or this in exchange for a reduced sentence or whatnot.  Give it some leeway, it could just be kowtowing to the [insert police force here] for a certain amount of time.

 

Most of the time, even with horrific events, leadership of military/police forces are more concerned with taking out the leadership of the people who do horrible things rather than the people at the bottom.  Turning around and helping them get leadership would likely go a long way towards keeping those characters out of [insert bad thing here].

 

This is exactly the type of thing I'm hoping to see right now in the aftermath in RP :3

[Warren Castille]

Timeline of events that I can piece together (I was late and wasn't aware of the pre-event fluff):

 

Weeks leading up to July12: Poison is tested in small camps to assess strength. This was likely not "dump into water supply" but more likely "infect a few bottles or someone's dinner and observe."

 

July 12: Ceruleum explosive destroys a huge chunk of Ul'dah's outer wall. Enemies attack and are met with force.

 

July 12, 0-30 minutes post-diversion: Jin'li and possible others skulk around Ul'dah and crack open barrels of poison, dumping them into the water supply.

 

30~ Minutes post-diversion: Jin'li is approached by a guard and questioned. A story that sounds plausible is given but the barrel is hauled away for investigation.

 

45~ minutes post-diversion: More barrels are discovered, Jin'li is discovered in the city walls. At this point it isn't known what's been done but the clues are in place to discern the water supply has been tempered with.

 

60~m post-diversion: Immortal Flames and Red Wings spread word officially to not use any water for any reason. Aya had a head start on them and spread word on the way to the Quicksand, I believe.

 

The window for people to have been affected is small, but if we're pretending Ul'dah's got the dimensions of a real city and not an MMO one, there's still plenty of room for people to get infected.

 

It's my personal feelings that the majority of folks would have been hiding out out of fear of the attack and not gargling shower water, but there's always gotta be That Guy so he's probably dead by now.

[Melkire]

The water is tainted, yes, but there was less than an hour passed between it being started and it being discovered. There will be a wave of casualties at the start and it would immediately plateau because of the Flames and Red Wings working on spreading the word. We're not talking genocidal numbers here, but definitely the equivalent of a terror attack.

 

...man, Atrocity really is the right word for this.

See, my main concern with the water supply poisoning is that there really isn't any way for this to happen.

 

-snip-

 

Again, this comes back to knowledge of events that not everyone is privy to.

 

What I know from having heard second-hand:

 

 

Warren witnessed Jin'li pouring something into the fount outside of the Arrzaneth Ossuary.

 

Erik, Warren, Alexei, and Saravena caught up with Jin'li just as he was finishing. Of these, the latter two know Jin'li by name and sight and Alexei is familiar with Blue Blood Strand 1. It would not be a stretch for these four individuals to compare notes and realize what the Garlean was up to... especially if they took said notes to Kahn'a, who, of the heroes, has the most personal experience with Epinoch sans Askier himself.

[Aya]

This is exactly the type of thing I'm hoping to see right now in the aftermath in RP :3

If a handful were killed, maybe...

 

With so many supposedly dead, it is not justice that they have to worry about, but armed mobs, vengeful families, and perhaps worse than either, vengeful powerful people.  It will be impossible for any of them to believably return to their lives in Ul'dah. 

 

These guys didn't just rough up a barmaid.

[Aya]

For the record Aya warned Momodi shortly after Jin'li was cornered, long before he escaped.  I don't know the exact timing.  I assumed that Momodi would be the one person Aya knew who would know exactly who in Ul'dah to contact. 

 

Still small potatoes compared to the larger topic at hand

[Melkire]

This is exactly the type of thing I'm hoping to see right now in the aftermath in RP :3

If a handful were killed, maybe...

 

With so many supposedly dead, it is not justice that they have to worry about, but armed mobs, vengeful families, and perhaps worse than either, vengeful powerful people.  It will be impossible for any of them to believably return to their lives in Ul'dah. 

 

These guys didn't just rough up a barmaid.

 

This assumes that the authorities even release the identities of the principles and accessories to the public.

[Aya]

This assumes that the authorities even release the identities of the principles and accessories to the public.

They might not, but Aya will!

 

Edit: And just my point, if its not obvious, a lot of people know who was collared. Its not just the authorities and a couple of Free Paladin types. That knowledge is probably spreading like wildfire right now, and of course even worse, there are probably rumors of many completely uninvolved people now spreading as well. What better way to shut down an enemy? Its a public panic afterall!

[Coatleque]

That Guy

 

Humor break!

 

[Whittledown]

This is exactly the type of thing I'm hoping to see right now in the aftermath in RP :3

If a handful were killed, maybe...

 

With so many supposedly dead, it is not justice that they have to worry about, but armed mobs, vengeful families, and perhaps worse than either, vengeful powerful people.  It will be impossible for any of them to believably return to their lives in Ul'dah. 

 

These guys didn't just rough up a barmaid.

 

This assumes that the authorities even release the identities of the principles and accessories to the public.

 

Out of curiosity, why wouldn't they? I would imagine that they would want every person in the city to know as much as possible so as to make sure that they are spotted and the authorities informed if the baddies were in the city. Names, descriptions, wanted posters, the whole bit as well as offering rewards for capture so merc's could try their hand.

[Zhavi]

This is exactly the type of thing I'm hoping to see right now in the aftermath in RP :3

If a handful were killed, maybe...

 

With so many supposedly dead, it is not justice that they have to worry about, but armed mobs, vengeful families, and perhaps worse than either, vengeful powerful people.  It will be impossible for any of them to believably return to their lives in Ul'dah. 

 

These guys didn't just rough up a barmaid.

 

This assumes that the authorities even release the identities of the principles and accessories to the public.

 

Ditto this -- don't forget, this isn't a world with photographs and a mob of press looking to spread those photographs all over the front page/website so everyone and their mother gets an eyeful of the evildoer. Hell, I play it so that even if Zhi knows a name and a rough description, she still won't know for 100% sure if the guy she just saw is the guy she's looking for. Drawn pictures can work some of the time, but it's still not 100%, and unless people are having the accomplices sit down for a portrait, chances are it'll have enough vagaries to allow them to change a few things about themselves and escape notice.

[Warren Castille]

That Guy

 

Humor break!

 

 

Waaay too serious up in here. I think we can all agree that That Guy probably deserved it. He was a lousy tipper and a lech.

 

I need a war room. There's a lot to discuss.

[Zhavi]

This is exactly the type of thing I'm hoping to see right now in the aftermath in RP :3

If a handful were killed, maybe...

 

With so many supposedly dead, it is not justice that they have to worry about, but armed mobs, vengeful families, and perhaps worse than either, vengeful powerful people.  It will be impossible for any of them to believably return to their lives in Ul'dah. 

 

These guys didn't just rough up a barmaid.

 

This assumes that the authorities even release the identities of the principles and accessories to the public.

 

Out of curiosity, why wouldn't they? I would imagine that they would want every person in the city to know as much as possible so as to make sure that they are spotted and the authorities informed if the baddies were in the city. Names, descriptions, wanted posters, the whole bit as well as offering rewards for capture so merc's could try their hand.

 

If they have them in for a plea bargain (assuming the person turned themselves in or was quickly caught) it generally comes with some assurance that they won't be sold out.

[C'kayah Polaali]

It's my personal feelings that the majority of folks would have been hiding out out of fear of the attack and not gargling shower water, but there's always gotta be That Guy so he's probably dead by now.

Ah, I wasn't aware that the law had confiscated a barrel of poison. That does change things.

 

That said, I don't buy the "hiding out" argument. Ul'dah is a large place, and the only evidence of the attack that most people would be aware of would be a moderate explosion. How many people would hear that and think "attack!", instead of just "construction accident"?

 

I can appreciate that we're trying to pull back from "zomg, everyone is dead meat!", but it feels a little bit like we're trying to handwave in mitigations to something that was handwaved to be worse than it needed to be.

 

Again, I'm not pointing fingers, nor am I trying to say "Askier/Osric, you ruin everything!". It's a fun arc, I'm happy I'm part of it. I just want these aspects of the arc to be in scale with the rest of it.

[Whittledown]

Just tossing this out here, but speculation is probably a bad idea at this juncture. Since this is Askier's plot perhaps we should all hang back out of this thread for a while until he posts some kind of master "THIS IS THE STUFF THAT OFFICIALLY HAPPENED" post.

[Aya]

Again, I'm not pointing fingers, nor am I trying to say "Askier/Osric, you ruin everything!". It's a fun arc, I'm happy I'm part of it. I just want these aspects of the arc to be in scale with the rest of it.

*Pouts* but this is what I am trying to say :-]

 

(Kidding, kidding, Askier and Osric are awesome, though I know Osric better, and miss the guy so much right now!)

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Just tossing this out here, but speculation is probably a bad idea at this juncture.  Since this is Askier's plot perhaps we should all hang back out of this thread for a while until he posts some kind of master "THIS IS THE STUFF THAT OFFICIALLY HAPPENED" post.

 

I think that would be wise. I hadn't learned everyone should be aware of the poison ICly until this thread started discussing it. Franz simply did his part as a masked-identity mercenary hired for diversion. (And ran away accordingly) ...he's just another face in the crowd as far as the law enforcement would care. A mask is easy to dispose of. And most armor/clothes (if we go through the regular channels of obtaining them) are probably in the "one size fits all" category, unless noted that they were tailored.

[Gaspard]

While I am not heavily involved in this play, I can relate to a handful of the adressed issues. Still, so far it seems to beat the off-the-mill barchat/socializing RP, which is fine from time to time, but becomes quite..dull.

 

But back on the topic at hand. I think that, the core issue with this is that the Event itself takes alot of liberties with how the 'RP World', Eorzea and Ul'dah itself will react to this event. Given we're playing in an MMO, we usually have two options. We can choose to ignore a certain slight of Lore in order to create more opportunities for ourselves, or we stick to it 100 percent. That also means leaving our hands off any Higher-up NPC / Story important Lore and locations. It also creates alot of disharmony amongst players who are perhaps not as much involved with this site as others.

 

For example, yesterday I've had a roleplay that was refferencing to said Event, and I had to quickly adjust my characters reaction, because I as an OOC person didn't even know Ul'dah's Wells where poisoned, nor that there where people dying from it. Still, as an Ul'dahn citizen well involved in rumours or hearsay, my character should've technically known it. I think that likewise is an issue for other players. Events in general are fine, but the moment they begin to influence and/or touch large scale locations, or Central plot Dynamics where all people are involved, things become messy. 

 

Another good example would be; If my character, logically, wouldn't know about the wells, and thus, went on wining and dining as he does, he'll probably be poisoned, and dead. By logic alone. If I don't adhere to this, I'm breaking Character, thus forcing me to use OOC knowledge in order to save my character from certain death.

 

Still, this is not meant to be rant of sorts, just my perspective on the problematic nature of having such events affect the large scale roleplay community, such as poisoning City wells where 'every' roleplayer on FFXIV probably passes through, no matter whether they're involved in the Event or not. It creates a sort of tear in 'my rp reality/ your rp reality.' Because for some here this event will be fact, others will have to ignore it, and thus you're already playing in two different realities where a handful of people account said event to be in their lore, others don't. And that can lead to a massive amount of issues down the road, especially if said event becomes integral to future plots.

 

Still, I'm looking forward to how things will work out regardless.

[Melkire]

We need another short break, courtesy another brief moment of levity:

 

[Warren Castille]

split-continuity insight

 

I have the same issues. In my experience, I've just dabbled with Comic Book timelines. When you're talking to people In The Know, the events happened. When you're dealing with someone not associated, the events never existed.

 

It can make some ugly schisms down the road, but for my money it's the best bet. Right now everyone in this thread is reading Blood on the Sands #1, written by Osric and inked by Askier guest starring Kahn'a. But some people didn't want to read that issue, so they're still reading Hot Spring Love #600.

 

Ah, comic books. Is there a problem you can't fix?