Bosley
Bosley the Caretaker?
Last night, on September 6th, 2018, Nmoto; Amara and Gorgunsun (Of the Monastery); Arnaya, Magnum-425, and Uthanatos (Of House Calenture) went up the Valley to investigate the sealing of the portal to the Radiant Gateway on East Valley. As Nmoto was leading a ritual meant to reveal what happened and was wrong with the portal, a dreamer appeared from nowhere right behind Arnaya. The dreamer didn't introduce himself, but his aura revealed his basic identity as "Bosley". Bosley immediately noted that the portal was broken, and began accusing those present of breaking it. After a bit, Arnaya got annoyed and smacked him up the back of the head, accidentally knocking him into and through the portal as he muttered "Rude!". From there, he went up to the Valley stronghold. The group then began working on repairing the portal, but were unable to make any headway before Bosley returned.
Upon Bosley's return, he revealed that the "Heart of the City" was weakening... its energy being drained away and the city starting to break down. Arnaya tried to conduct a delving into the city's energy pathways (or "Threads" as Bosley calls them. He manipulates them by using them like a weaver would use thread. Pull on it thus and this happens, type of thing) while the rest of the group spoke with Bosley, who insisted that he had been passing by and seen the decaying city... so stopped in out of curiosity and found the group. He was still insisting that the group had deliberately broken the portal, and revealed that the Valley Stronghold was likewise "broken", though revealed little else. Eventually, he laid a hand on Arnaya's shoulder as she was focused elsewhere, and drained some of her resilience to re-activate the portal. The entire group followed and spoke briefly on the Valley Stronghold Facade, where Bosley revealed his ability to see the energy pathways and manipulate them by pulling the group into various places (The Valley Stronghold, the Illapse Stronghold, and two hidden rooms within House Calenture), before revealing a set of crests that he'd "Found".... senechal crests for each of the houses. After some more brief conversation, mostly involving Bosley not answering any questions outright... but evading them or turning them around, most of the group woke.. followed by Bosley.
~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
Bosley Steps In:
Last night (Oct.27/2018, at after midnight), Members of House Calenture responded to the sounds of a disruption. When they entered, they found Caretaker Bosley doing something with the Orb of Calenture. Aileron wisked the Orb away to safety, while Arnaya interviewed Bosley. He was somewhat jumbled in his presentation and manner, saying that Arnaya had done what follows, despite her lack of knowledge about what he was doing... though Bosley did allow that it may have been Future Arnaya who had been guarding a pile of rubble and rocks, and repeatedly tried to stab Bosley (which, after spending 45 minutes talking to him and trying to get some information from him, Arnaya had to admit was a tempting notion).
What Bosley revealed (this is summarized, not a verbatim recounting. This writer values what remains of her readers sanity too much to subject them to the full recounting) is that, with the Heart of the City being weakened as badly as it is, he severed the houses energy connections to the rest of the city and fixed it so that the Houses would instead resume draining from the House Primes. The following are the key points: House Prime's Consumption Information: [*]There is a specific amount of energy that will be drained every cycle. [*]The amount of energy to be drained will be reduced by a certain amount for each crested member. [*]The Amount of energy to be reduced with each crest, will vary depending on the type of crest each member has (IE: Ruler crests will reduce the energy drain by a different amount than an Initiate crest would) [*]Dual Crested members do NOT contribute to the reduction of the base cost. They functionally do not count as members of any houses that they bear a crest to, in regards to reducing the amount of drain on the primes. [*] It is uncertain at this point how often the draining will occur. [*]The Amount of energy to be drained as a base amount is unknown. [*]Essence Manipulation type of the prime, or even if it is aligned at all, will most likely have no affect on the amount of energy drained. [*]The Drain will be starting sometime within the next week, so before the 2nd of this coming month. [*]Any Prime that is drained to zero strength by this, will collapse. Demoting all members and closing the stronghold.
At this point, it is strongly suggested by Arnaya, that All crested members of all of the houses, ensure to gather at least 100 strength a week for their respective strongholds... at least until the houses can determine roughly the level of drain that will occur.
With this going on, which houses will survive? Do you have what it takes to change your houses fate? Will you be the hero that steps in to save it?
Bosley's Bubble People:
Bosley also revealed that there is a "Bubble" of people trapped within a cave within the city. Bosley could see and interact with these individuals. Apparently, M. Valencia was supposed to ensure the protection of something, and release these individuals... but something has apparently happened to M. Valencia and the trapped individuals have not heard from him in some time.
Bosley has strongly suggested that these individuals be freed, and informed us that the trapped people believe that we (the dreamers of Underlight) are responsible for their being trapped. A note from M. Valencia, as reported previously, also links the trapping effect to the drain on the Heart of the City. A vision in the courtyard of Awakening has also revealed one of the trapped individuals, who asks all that enter the city through the courtyard... Why we have imprisoned them.
Are these people truly innocents who were caught in some sort of energy or trap laid by outsiders? Or are they in fact hostile invaders trying to gain entrance to our city? Who has the pieces of the artifacts required to even give us the choice... or has Anyone found them yet?
Houses Draining Begun:
A couple of days ago, the houses suffered their first Prime drain due to Bosley's severing of the house planes from the rest of the cities energy flow. Though I won't reveal the numbers that the houses gave me in regards to how much each lost (I don't have permission from the houses to publish the information, and it is regarded as "Sensitive" to a couple of the houses), the initial reports seem to indicate that the base drain rate for the houses is 50'000... yes, Fifty-Thousand strength per drain cycle.
This is modified DOWN by, as best can be figured at this point: - 1000 Strength for each Initiate. - 2000 Strength for each Guardian. - 3000 Strength for each Ruler.
At this point, no other factors seem to be in play, though further information will be published as it becomes available. Advisors seem to count as their base crest rank would indicate (so, a guardian advisor would reduce the drain by 2000 strength, while a ruler advisor would reduce the drain by 3000 strength for example). My thanks to Uthanatos (Shield Ruler of House Calenture) for the calculations and math required to work these numbers out.
It is unknown just how long this Drain Cycle will be, but every two weeks to once a month is current projection.
Can the houses survive this sharp impact to their strength? Especially given that Bosley has advised us that any house who's prime is drained completely... will basically close as their prime Implodes. What lies in store for the future of the houses of Underlight?
~ Arnaya, Soulmistress
Reference
https://forums.underlight.com/viewtopic.php?p=19368#p19368
