treasuremap | COTERIE INTERACTIONS (IC)

COTERIE INTERACTIONS (IC) - CHAPTER I

COTERIE INTERACTIONS

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The leader of each coterie, all colloquially known by the same name as their group—Jaguar, Eagle, Viper, and Salamander—will play a major role in the story, oftentimes appearing in events and even, during major plots, accompanying the player characters on their quests. While having constant access to them in threads would be difficult to keep track of and may lead to unfair advantages for some characters, and they will never directly comment to any network or log posts made in

incensed or

incenselogs, we do want to offer the opportunity for characters to interact with them. Therefore, with the exception of the aforementioned event posts where the NPCs might appear, all direct interactions with the coterie leaders can be done here. Simply comment below with the leader you'd like to interact with and whether it is in person or via medallion/journal in the subject line.

Note that it is fine to handwave minor interactions with the NPCs, such as in the case of exposition or receiving their quest orders, and you do not need to thread that out here nor ask permission from the mods. Relationships beyond passing familiarity as leader/subordinate cannot be handwaved however—in general, characters will not "build CR" with their leader to the degree they might with other characters in the game. They will still get to know them well over the course of the story, though.

Please also note that the NPCs are played by the mod team and are subject to the same tagging speed or question-answering expectations. We will respond as soon as we can!

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_{[ In an odd turn of events, Morga is the one to linger in the lodge after the rest of her hunting party has left to gather their equipment and supplies for the upcoming foray into the ruins. Any other time and she'd have been the first one out with bloodlust singing in her veins, but... not this time. She spent most of the "meeting" listening to tone of Jaguar's voice, watching his body language and quietly fussing over the great eagle she'd brought with. It'd be easy to assume that she was simply including the bird because he often went wherever she went, and the animal was more intelligent than he let on but it was also pretty obvious that he wasn't quite feeling himself.

No doubt from the thick mist that was no doubt getting to everyone at this point.

And with Jaguar evidently staying behind, that left Morga no other choice - she knew what she had to do, even if it gnawed at her inside to even consider it. ]}

...I have a favor to ask of you before I go anywhere, boy.

[ Things are calming down, the corrosive incense having dispersed and the temple’s resident evil dealt with. So it is that around midday on the 7th, Lao (one of the squad leaders left in Kiichpan) sends a message to The Viper herself. ]

‘Hey, Boss Lady? One of the outlanders showed up this morning, right out of the incense. Woman from our coterie, the one with fancy teal hair? She’s currently quarantined, seems pretty out of it due to the incense - last I heard she keeps insisting she died.

I know you sent word that things had been dealt with over there, but should we expect more lost stragglers to arrive back on foot?’

(okay, she wasn't expecting to see him. she barely does, usually, so when she has the opportunity, she likes to take full advantage of it.

so seeing him from afar means she lunges at her full speed, jumping on his back and wrapping her arms around his neck, legs koala-ing the poor leader.)

Boss-man!

[A promise is a promise, not that Ain has ever really struggled with healing people to begin with — it's sort of just something he does. The concept of maybe taking a break to eat or rest doesn't occur to him since he physically does not need either of those things — just needs to keep his mana above a certain level before he runs out of El energy and dissipates like dust on the wind — but beyond that, he's perfectly alright to spend all day healing people.

Belatedly, he recalls Eagle saying that when he's done fixing up the refugees, that he'd be compensated for his time — and he'd also promised the man stories, so. To the medallion!]

Mr. Eagle? Haha, you're not free right now, are you? I just finished taking care of injuries in Coba as instructed, and at the last minute I remembered that I owe you tales of adventure.

[He pauses then, like, is Eagle currently in Coba actually? and realises he has no idea what the guy even looks like so it's not like he can go scout him out if so. Oh well, if he's in another city, Ain will just make the journey there, it's no skin off his nose.]

[ As he'd said before, he wasn't far. They're literally in the same building, making it very easy to drop by once Viper's mentioned she's there, too.

Of course, half of that 'soon' is spent actually convincing himself to go through with dropping by and talking to her in person. It takes a moment. He gets there. Eventually. And it'll be with a very tentative and worried expression plainly written across his face that he finally arrives. ]

Uh, hello? Viper?

Viper. If I might have a moment of your time?

BOSS FLORIAN MAN

top 5 best drinks GO

also i have a favor to ask you

[Guess who finally made their way back to fucking Kiichpan.

It's been-- over a month, but a lot of that was spent as an emotionless Zombie. Then doing hot springs stuff and trying to learn how to control magic, and then crossing the entire continent--

Kiichpan is still a hot mess. Half flooded, half destroyed, but the reconstruction efforts are certainly coming along. He heads straight to the coterie building (assuming it's standing), giant dogmonster following at a lazy pace, tail swishing as they walk in. Last time he was in here he had barely paid attention to anything, focused only on the relic and the blinding, blistering rage within him. And walking in definitely brings a call back to those emotions, that sparking heat trying to find someplace to latch in his chest, before he's slowly sighing out a breath and shaking his head. At least he remembers where Viper's office is, where the sealing had took place.]

Hey... Viper? [He sticks his head in, knocking on the door after, like an idiot. The dog also sticks his head in and it's like some scooby-doo dumbass bullshit.]

Oh, hey, you look way less scaly. [A com...pliment???]

[Yuri and Flynn have no choice but to make a pit stop in Tikal on their way back to Kiichpan, but Yuri would have gone out of his way for it anyway. He's not terribly impressed with the coterie leaders at the moment, but really, Viper is the only one he's had any real interaction with. The most he's seen of Jaguar is a few passing glimpses.

If he's a part of this man's guild (and a guild is how he can't help but think of it), he wants to know how the guy thinks. Which requires tracking him down and picking his brain. Or badgering him, he's certain Flynn would say.

So, Yuri catches Jaguar when the guy looks relatively free, and greets him in that casual way he greets everyone. Ranks are fake.]

Got a minute?

[ he is still in Kiichpan, if only because it'd be more of a pain in the ass for him to try and move out - and, along the same line of thought, that's why he's calling instead of going to see her in person. Between the stairs and the rubble, it'd be more trouble than it's worth. ]

Hey, Miss Viper. You got a minute?

[ Johnny doesn't sound urgent, but he does sound serious. ]

I need to ask you about something.

_{[ It's strange seeing Kiichpan looking much, much more lively over the coming days when he compares it to how somber her people felt and looked when he and the gang first arrived. Instead of the air being thick with sorrow and tragedy, there was life being breathed back into her crumbled streets and markets. People were being people again, and when rumors were circulating about not only Viper but the other leaders being in town? That was cause for Gladio to start sniffing around

Besides, he had a few things to pick up anyway. What he wasn't expecting was to see Viper herself, and while her appearance gives him pause? His attention is drawn towards that funky looking contraption in the hands of a volunteer. ]}

Sorry, 'scuse me- Uh. Ma'am? Miss? What is that?

[ Okay, okay, so Bruno never actually agreed to look into how any of the distilling in Coba worked for Silco, but there's something to be said about being curious enough now that the thought was in his head. If he was already passing back through Coba on the way to Kiichpan, what could it hurt to ask?

And so ask he did. Originally, he only meant to ask around at Viento, given it was the most sensible place to start asking about the distilleries in Coba, but it would be just his luck that one of the Eagles there he would ask would... literally be Eagle.

Look, he only knows what Viper looks like, okay? He can't totally be blamed for posing the question to the coterie's leader by sheer accident here, but whether directly or because someone else flagged their leader down to handle Bruno instead, it would be inevitable. ]

[ Sometime into March, a note about something interesting about the maze and its various ghosts is left for Jaguar via journal. ]

The wraiths in the proving grounds turned out to be affected by salt. It's considered an old bit of folklore about dissuading malicious spirits from entering homes back in my own world. They won't like coming in contact with it and a line of salt will stop them.

I don't know how useful that will be for helping make the grounds safer but anyone using it might want to consider carrying a pouch of salt just in case.

Hope that helps,
B Madrigal

[ It was essentially a drive-by note from Bruno. There's no real expectation of a response. ]

Edited (me realizing if it was outside the journal it would just be in spanish omfg i'm dumb anyway there's still no need for a reply, etc, etc) 2022-03-25 05:13 (UTC)

Is this Miss Aminat?

...

Ma'am, my name is Connor.

(here we go.)

Initially, I was going to ask you a question about laundry, but I have since procured some soap. (he says, as though salamander were involved with his debate about soap versus detergent. now she can stop worrying about a non-issue she never knew she had to worry about!) I have something more important to discuss with you now—if, of course, you can spare a moment of your time.

hey FLORIAN

I'm sorry it's taken me this long to introduce myself, Miss Aminat. I'm Eva Rosalene, one of the new recruits. I've been mostly in the library and introducing myself around as much as I can. I'm mostly just messaging you now to introduce myself but if you need anything from me, my door is always open.

[A pause. Is this right to ask the coterie leader? She'd have pretty freely asked her bosses back home but it was sort of a different relationship too. ... Eh, couldn't hurt.]

Okay, maybe one question. I'm not thoroughly familiar with the cuisine here but there seems to be a pretty good amount of ingredients and all. I like to think I'm a good baker so ... what dish would you recommend for a birthday party?

[Her tone sounds amused. There's a certain sort of "OooOOo" razzle dazzle to the way she says 'mysteriously' too.]

I don't really know the person it's for but she called me a 'mysterious stranger' so now I've got to bring something and leave it mysteriously.

[Apparently without Neil to joke with she's choosing to do so with anyone she can.]

[ After taking a good day or two of trying to unravel the "water acting weird and also this giant fish" vision, well, Bruno's not sure he's got anything too useful to let Viper in on but... ]

Hey, Viper? I know you didn't ask me to, uh. Take a peek at how the expedition goes or anything but. [ He did anyway. Look, people he cares about are planning on going, okay? ] Not that I want to get your hopes up too much. It wasn't a straightforward vision. Definitely a bit. Odd.

Hello Eagle.

I'm sure you've heard Salamander's recent announcement, and no doubt some of the responses to it. While speaking with one of the younger members of the coteries, a thought occurred to me that there was a question perhaps only you might have some answers to. If you have a few minutes for me?

[ A continuation from here!]

[In what is probably a very poorly thought out plan, Lloyd presses his bare hands to that magical plexiglass surrounding the relic, brows furrowed as he tries to figure out how this will even work. Last time he'd touched the relic itself and heard that voice directly in his head. Now he might have to-- call attention to it?]

Ah... Hello? It's me again. You got a second?

[Yeah he's just talking at the barrier, as though they can just yell at each other through it. It's fine, they'll figure it out.]

Aminat? Law and I have a few concerns that we feel ought to be brought to your attention and if possible, get an idea as to what we should do.

I'll keep it as short as I can because I don't know how/when/why it happened exactly, but he seems to have grown a tail while I've kept that heightened sense of smell I normally only wind up with when we both change into beasts. Is this _{[ A blot of ink- ]} something we have to worry about getting worse over time? Or could we be sick with something?

let me smell your relics.

[After both Jaguar's information on the journal and all the research that Bruno's team collected, Sarah has some questions that she hopes can be answered from the source.]

Excuse me, Aminat? If you don't mind, I'd like to ask you some questions about how you came to Copalli in the fist place.

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Jaguar ➤ in person because wHY THE HECK NOT, before the expedition 12/5

VIPER > forward dating to 12/7 > medallion contact

for eagle - Kiichpan

Eagle - after healing the refugees in Coba 'cause he promised that + stories

viper, soon after their network chat

Viper; start of February, weekish after coterie network broadcast - voice

@eagle

VIPER In person???

jaguar in person!

viper / medallion, around the 15th

around the time of For A Good Cause - Viper, AT Y'ALL'S LEISURE

Eagle, aroundabouts the end of February