Ruins of Azlant Gameplay I

"I'm guessing they view it as 'sides' since Ramona can't, or in their view won't, get the defensive wall finished immediately," Jax replied. "Whether it's rational or not, they distrust us because of our association with her."

After reconvening, Aisha shares what she managed to gather. "So what I've heard is that there's really no way to identify what tried to grab Kereda, but more importantly is the level of division and mistrust being sowed here. I don't doubt that Kereda believes someone tried to kidnap him, but my guess is that the intent was never to kidnap Kereda so much as to foster paranoia."

Jax nods, "That matches what we saw when talking with Kareda." He then shares the conversation they had. "People are taking sides, for or against the leadership, and we're guilty by association for people who disapprove of Ramona."

Kaimana frowns, looking down, and adds ”I don’t understand why there are sides. It feels like what was happening in the bits that we found of what happened to the first wave of the colony. But shouldn’t we be on the same side?”

"You could say the same about the first wave," Amissa commented. "Ultimately, this is the modus operandi for our enemy. They find a way to separate the group so that they can't function, and then they use that state of weakness to divide and conquer." She frowns, her leg bouncing up and down. "Previously, this was done by controlling members of the population with domination magic. There's a chance that something similar is happening here. I think it's in the realm of likelihood that we've been infiltrated in some capacity."

"I'm not convinced there isn't some broader magic happening here to make people hostile and mistrustful. Either that, or someone especially good at manipulation is playing games with us," she adds the last with a hint of admiration in her tone.

Kaimana's too lost in thought to notice the note of admiration. "Maybe we should stay here for a little while to see if we can figure out what's causing all this," he comments. "Or maybe see if we can figure out who attacked Kereda. Someone in the colony creating the disturbance makes sense with there being a physical attack..." He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. "And I know Kereda says he wouldn't have noticed many physical features about his attacker, but I think it makes more sense if his attacker didn't have a lot of extra qualities. It's hard to miss a set of wings regardless of lighting."

"I'd like to at least try to dissuade people from suspecting our allies. The strix and locathah have been nothing but cooperative," Aisha adds.

Jax groans, his face finding it's now-familiar resting place in his palm. "We know the strix and locathah have been helpful, but if people are putting us on an opposing side then us knowing that isn't going to help anything. Unless we can solve the attack, the colony will suspect those that are different to them; we've already seen that with Eskelda being called a witch, and we're seeing that now." Jax sighs, the frustration on his face and in his voice softening into a mixture of resignation and annoyance. "The question is how to solve the crime and the pervasive fear. Just handling individual problems is obviously not enough."

"Maybe trying to hold more community events?" Amissa suggests. "Something like that might help with bridging the gap, and we can use that opportunity to mingle with people and look out for signs of magical control. Additionally, if the wall is such a big concern, I can probably help work on something temporary using magic. I have a spell that can make a wall, and if I used all of my magical energy on it during one day, I could probably make..." She thinks for a moment. "About a hundred and fifty feet of wall, roughly nine feet high and three feet thick."

Kaimana looks pensive, eyebrows furrowing in concern. ”Last time, the thing started at least early with controlling Rayland, right?” he observes, frowning. ”Should we check on her? And maybe if she’s not under some control, she’ll have some ideas?”

Jax paused for a moment, thinking. "I'm not entirely sure going to Ramona is in our best interests right now. People already are taking sides, if we work with her too closely then our efforts lose weight purely because of the association. At least for now, I'd like to at least try to be in a position to act as a bridge between the groups."

"Bridges go to both sides, though," Kaimana comments.

"Building the wall won't fix anything," Aisha points out with a shake of her head. "The issue is half the colony doesn't believe Ramona's acting in their best interests, and no physical structure can change that. I could try a community event, but my concern is that something like that could act as a flashpoint and make things worse, not better. I think that would be best saved for once we've started to address the root cause, as part of the healing process. Talking to Eliza and Rayland could be good, but most importantly we need to find the actual source of this paranoia. Until we find who's doing this the problem will just get worse, and I don't think the four of us alone can actually hold the colony together under that kind of strain."

"Right, but we don't know what is causing the..." Jax trailed off. "Do you think that sea hag would know something about whatever we're dealing with?"

Kaimana frowns. ”If the hag is using magic to affect people, isn’t that all the more reason to make sure Ms. Avandth hasn’t been affected? Rayland was controlled pretty early by magic to start fights, wasn’t he, and now she’s in his position?”

"Jax, you're good at reading people. Do you want to talk to Ramona and see if she's under some kind of control? You could even approach her under the pretense of reporting our progress thus far," Aisha suggests. "And I don't know much of sea hags, but I doubt it's just that - there was something much more powerful behind what happened to Rayland and Eliza and this is following the same pattern."

"I can do that, sure," Jax agrees. "And I suspect that, if the hag is part of this, it's as an underling, not the leader. Either way, the hag is at least likely to know something if anything magical or malicious is happening."

”What do you think the rest of us should do?” Kaimana asks Aisha. ”Not sure how best to handle something like this.”

"I'm not sure," Aisha admits, rubbing her brow. "We don't know enough and that's the problem, but asking around can't help that much because all anyone else knows is limited by their narrow, factionalized points of view."

"If there's nothing else for me, I'm going to go talk to Ramona now." With that, Jax turns and begins walking towards the government house.

Frowning, Kaimana sighs. ”It’s kind of late anyway. Maybe this is a tomorrow question. I’ll just go act natural, then,” he decides aloud, waving and going to see if Eamon’s around.

Ramona is finishing up with some paperwork as Jax enters the Government House. Seeing him, she sets the papers to the side, and gives him a strained smile. "Oh, hi Jax. I had heard your group made it back. Come to give your report?"

Kaimana finds Eamon skipping stones on the beach, with a pensive expression on his face, not even noticing the half elf approach.

"Yes," Jax replies as he goes into his report of their exploration. As he finishes, Jax glances towards the door. "When we entered the colony, we heard something about Kereda being attacked?"