Haunted Isle Plot Infiltrator Info Post

[powersthatbe]

If you are not a plot infiltrator or someone with IC reasons to share knowledge available to plot infiltrators, please do not read the comments of this post.

If you ARE a plot infiltrator, please comment under your toplevel to let us know you've read it. We prefer that you do any confidential plotting with other plot-important folks in the comments here, rather than on plurk, and please comment no later than December 16th, 26th, & January 2nd, 10th, 18th, & 26th with a brief (as brief as 1 sentence; as long as you like) summary of your activity during the week & plans for next week. These comments will help the mods shape mingles and plot events to keep the story dynamic and player actions important to the outcome. Likewise, comment at any time with any questions you may have, and a mod will get back to you within 36 hours at the outside.

Comments

Update

[fearinahandfulof]

So I may have bent the truth slightly in her "official" plotting comment, in accordance with her plot role. The beluga whale totem she's presenting with is false; her actual totem is a false killer whale. Similarly, "Calypso" is just an alias. Her real name is Alexandra. She finds the Deepsinger's existence disgusting, but feels a warped sort of kinship with it nonetheless.

Re: Update

[powersthatare]

NICE.

[fearinahandfulof]

Also, and belatedly, I'm assuming that she and her sister are originally not from Thalassia but from one of the places they've conquered, because that way is less likely to raise questions from people who might otherwise recognize her but wonder what happened to her totem. Would that be all right?

[powersthatare]

Yes! thank you for checking. That is fine.

Re: Update

[powersthatare]

Any specific plans for this upcoming mingle?

[fearinahandfulof]

Right now, it's mostly continuing to follow her orders from the Empress while getting more and more upset because she hates her orders (finding out that there are actual children in the area will probably not help). She may start looking for a way out of her predicament, but she doesn't expect to find one and she's certain nobody will be sympathetic because she's essentially prioritizing one innocent mermaid (who she did admittedly promise to protect from all harm) over many. She may also be starting to get antsy because the Deepsinger's eating all the dolphins and she really doesn't want to have to start hunting humans, especially as the only ones around as far as she knows are with the Cornu, the Pulao, or the Crownbreakers, and it's poor form to eat your allies.

Basically at this point I know more about her mental state than what she's actually going to be doing, which I know is less than helpful.

How sapient is the Deepsinger? Does it have anything approaching a will of its own at this point?

[powersthatare]

The Deepsinger has humanoid levels of intellect, but it is not at all clear if it possesses independent will or agency, or simply carries out the Empress' will intelligently.

[fearinahandfulof]

She has been wondering about that, although she tries not to.

She may talk with a few of the Crownbreaker Stricken, but she's probably not going to want to let them get too close with her mission hanging over her head (whether she will be successful at keeping them at arm's length is the question). Otherwise, I think she's mostly keeping her head down for now.

[fearinahandfulof]

Now that the Deepsong's hitting the Stricken as well, is it still "only" heavily distracting her, or is the effect stronger now?

[powersthatare]

Same as before for her! Sirens who are also Stricken don't get a double whammy, it's just that it now effects Stricken who are not Sirens, too.

[fearinahandfulof]

Very belatedly, a couple more questions: What does Alexandra know about the Deepsinger? Anything besides what's come up already?

Also, was the shifting totem a "gift" from the Empress?

[battling_bard]

Any thoughts on whether we want Ginevra and others to figure out that she's the traitor at some point (not necessarily this current mingle)?

[fearinahandfulof]

I've been puzzling over this for a while. I was initially thinking to give her at least one mingle where she's undiscovered but getting increasingly stressed out and raising suspicions, but with weeks 2 and 3 combined and week 4 about weighing options, I'm not sure that will work.

[battling_bard]

Yeah, it's a bit of a crunch.

What about if Ginevra set some sort of trap (not sure what) to try and finally figure out who it was? Perhaps she and Teruo could work together to do it? I actually think she might have suspected him to an extent but could finally decide to take the risk and trust him.

[fearinahandfulof]

Well, she does disappear for hours at a time once per week; that by itself would raise suspicions if Ginevra knows/finds out about it. And I'm not sure what, if any, excuse Alexandra would have for that, although she probably should have at least one.

(And I think there's a part of Alexandra that actually wants to get caught, which is unfortunately coming up right against the fact that she promised her mother she'd do everything she could to protect her sister. Whoops.)

And thank you for that very pertinent icon, Random Icon Selector.

Re: Update

[powersthatare]

Any specific plans for this next upcoming mingle?

[fearinahandfulof]

I think it will depend in large part on how her conversation with Ginevra and Teruo ends up going and what they decide to do with her. She'll tell them everything she knows, and if they decide they still have need of her, then she'll work with them until they don't anymore, but beyond that it's hard to say right at the moment. What she's expecting is to be exiled or killed, with the latter being the more prudent option under the circumstances.

If she's not killed, she will almost certainly be preemptively mourning her sister and spiraling deeper into depression. She is not going to expect or want compassion.

[fearinahandfulof]

Is there anything aside from what's been said so far that she might know about the Deepsinger/Deepsong/Empress/situation in general? And is her ability to shift totems something the Empress did to her?

Also, how does the Empress infect mers with the Stricken virus? Does she use Deepsong on a smaller scale, or is there another process she uses instead? I'm blanking on whether or not this came up in the first Jaunt.

[powersthatare]

She has existing Stricken bite them, or simply imprisons them in a cage with the Stricken and lets it catch over time via proximity!

It sort of is - the Empress granted her power, but her own gifts and tendencies shaped that power into this particular ability.

I'm not sure what more in general she might know - if you have any specific questions about the situation, those I can answer, but I'm not sure what sort of impressions or information you're looking for.

[fearinahandfulof]

Does she have any say in how intense the Deepsong is, or does the Empress have her own schedule for that? Her visits to the Deepsinger haven't necessarily coincided with the end of one mingle/beginning of another.

For that matter, if she led a group of mermaids to the Deepsinger, would there be any way for her to stop it from Singing to defend itself, if the Empress' will is superseding its own? Is the Deepsinger itself likely to resist, or try to?

[powersthatare]

Empress has her own schedule.

It seems likely it would resist - but it would probably use Song in its defense, which might mean taking its focus and energy away from Deepsong for battle.

[fearinahandfulof]

Thanks.

And a very, very belated question considering what week we're in: what was in the Song the Deepsinger would sing back to her after she reported to it? She's being asked about it elsewhere.

Re: Update

[powersthatare]

What will you be doing the final week?

[fearinahandfulof]

She will either be dying or already dead, depending on timing. She will not allow it to be merciful.

[fearinahandfulof]

And on thinking about it some more, she will almost definitely have died by the end of week 4, either via execution or her own hand (assuming I can come up with something for the latter that will leave a body behind, if it comes to that), depending on how the leadership meeting goes. If allowed, she would have passed false info on to the empress via the Deepsinger earlier in the week.