Category:Equilibrium

Equilibrium was a storyline by GameMaster Quilic set in Mist Harbor that ran from July 2, 2020 to July 12, 2020. Non-player characters from this story previously showed up in The Nazhor Chronicles, Clipped Wings, Surcease, and All That Remains.

Featured NPCs

• Greth Rottgut
• Palorus Leiffen
• Socius Leiffen
• Zofiya

Summaries

Prologue:

Following on the heels of the mayoral elections in Wehnimer's Landing, adventurers learned Socius had lost his memory and was used in the storyline All That Remains as a tool for murder. A bounty was placed on his head in the frontier town, and quickly dropped after adventurers spirited him back to Mist Harbor. Adventurer Alosaka demanded justice for Wehnimer's Landing residents and placed a 5 million silver bounty on Socius's head in turn. Other adventurers weren't thrilled with the prospect of letting Socius go, and concocted a plan to heal Socius so that he might remember what led him on this mission, so the true mastermind of the aforementioned crimes could be held accountable...

Socius Leiffen sat in the small backroom of Greth's, looking out the window at the rain. Zofiya sat opposite him, though her gaze did not stray from his face. The silence was a living thing between them, impatient and surly, but neither made any move to disturb it. As the rain increased, Socius closed his eyes and spoke, his tone quiet.

"I do not know what the right thing even is," he remarked.

Zofiya responded in kind, keeping her voice low, "That's where your friends come in."

Socius paused for a long moment, then nodded slowly before turning back to the window, his eyes on the rain, but his thoughts far, far away.

July 2, 2020

• Zofiya put in an appearance and threw a bit of a tantrum, exclaiming that Socius should turn himself in to the Landing because it was the "right" thing to do. For the most part people tried to dissuade her, but then Socius himself showed up, and discussion ensued. Socius expressed a desire to do the 'right' thing, if for no other reason than to inspire others to do the same. He also talked about how he had no real way of knowing what the 'right thing' might be, and so he was relying on the judgement of others to be his moral barometer. The discussion wound around a bit after that in a few different ways.

• Some people tried to warn Socius that he might be summarily killed without a trial at all. Socius responded very neutrally by basically saying he'd bathe the streets in blood if they tried that. This rubbed a few people the wrong way.

• Some begged Socius to allow them to attempt to recover his memories. He was initially somewhat dismissive, but relented quickly enough. He's got no idea where the lines of 'right' and 'wrong' are, so he's relying on others to help guide him through this. Akenna, Naamit, and a few others made plans to attempt it (at the next QST) in three days' time.

• Tempers got a little heated at times, and Socius was his usual hard-headed self. At one point Alosaka made a threat against the town as a whole, and there was the risk of bloodshed, but cooler heads prevailed (for the most part).

• Socius declared his intent to turn himself in after the memory-recovery experiment, and several of those in attendance promised they would stand beside him as he sought to do the 'right' thing... once he can figure out what the heck that might be.

July 5, 2020

• Socius met with the players at Greth's bar. After some discussion, Socius accompanied them below the banyan tree, where they planned to put him to sleep and traverse his dreams, looking for his lost memories, most notably of his father.

• When they arrived, Socius became ill rather quickly, before the process could even begin. The players watched as Socius slumped, and a ghost appeared. The ghost identified itself as Palorus Leiffen, Socius' father, and stated that this process could not be allowed to continue.

• Questioning ensued, with the spirit finally revealing that there was a rot at the heart of the Isle, and that Socius had been crafted to vanquish it, when the time was right. He claimed that Socius needed to be without those emotions and memories, because they would distract from the critical mission that Socius had been made for.

• The players dismissed the spirit, who winked out of existence, but not before declaring that this process must not be allowed to continue. Shortly after that Socius got very sick, spitting up blood, and the players rushed him back to Greth's.

• Socius was still quite ill when they arrived, but he was able to put himself into a meditative state, and claimed he was able to use his "rage" to steady himself. Afterwards he appeared much more his normal self, if a bit colder in demeanor.

• Socius offered to Alosaka that he would stand trial, tell his side of things, and would submit to any punishment deemed appropriate save extradition and death, so long as the trial could happen on FWI, as Socius would refuse to leave. After some reluctance, Alosaka agreed, and Socius said he would have Ilsola start the process.

July 9, 2020

• Ilsola came to the Stumbling Pebble Bar II to discuss particulars of the upcoming trial of Socius. A location was chosen for the trial.

• A clerk came and wanted to get some details about the trial. She left a place to sign up for people who wanted to speak for the prosecution or the defense.

• The trial was to be held on Sunday, July 12 at 3pm at the newly built Safehaven on Mist Harbor.

July 12, 2020 - log of trial

• On Koaratos 12, Socius was put on trial for the murders in Wehnimer's Landing and the trial was overseen by a magistrate from the frontier town. As a stipulation of his agreement to go to trial, Socius's punishment could not be death or extradition.

• Alosaka spoke for the prosecution with a handful of letters from impacted families in the Landing. Faerinn led the defense, with Rohese, Akenna, Alisette, and Naamit speaking in turn. A letter from Callid was also read.

• Socius was found guilty for his crimes despite a hard record of insanity, which the magistrate specifically noted.

• As punishment, the magistrate declared Socius exiled from the Landing permanently, and bid him to pay recompense to the town at large for each person impacted as a result of his actions.

• After the trial, adventurers requested an accounting of Landing inhabitants in kind. Socius then left to begin amassing the worth of his estate with help of Ilsola.

And that concludes the Equilibrium storyline.