Vern's suggestion -- which he'd be willing to float ICly to the coven as a whole -- would be to side with neither the Crown or the Syndicate, but to set the Circle up as a group that takes advantage of its status as a clearly neutral third party, and divide it to work in two fronts:
- One group (those with powers useful to this + more diplomatic temperaments) straight up concentrates on the city and focuses on stopping conflicts between Syndicate and Guard before they can escalate and tip things one way or the other, generally trying to keep things calm and giving the second group time to work.
- The second group (those with powers/temperaments more suited for sneaking around) go independently investigate Eliana's death, since it's almost certainly a premeditated setup. Vern has an active lead to track for the second group, and would suggest cornering and questioning this lead to start with -- I'm just gonna paste the info here from his eavesdropping and mindreading shenanigans:
If Vern does keep to primarily Syndicate-run territories, he will find much of the same gossip over the course of his stay. The young King is not fit to make the changes that are necessary - he is young and inexperienced and while kindhearted, it won't be enough. There will be a heavy bias towards everything the Syndicate is doing.
He will hear something interesting a bit later - ICly either [May 25/26] - in that he can notice, in one of the taverns, an individual speaking in much more hushed tones, and generally looking suspicious. While Vern won't be able to hear the conversation the individual is having, if he decides to read their mind, he will get a /Just a few days more, it's going to happen, I know it for certain. Just a few more days/. He will not be able to pick out anything as to what 'it' is.
He'd also recommend the second group investigate how much the general populace knows about the King's powers/blessing, since it would be helpful to confirm if the king's blessing IS the major source of water of El Minha or not, if the regular citizenry knows that might be the case, and if it is the case, whether the slant is towards someone trying to take control of the king/blessing (and thus the water supply) somehow. Or if there are other nefarious things going on, idk.
no subject
- One group (those with powers useful to this + more diplomatic temperaments) straight up concentrates on the city and focuses on stopping conflicts between Syndicate and Guard before they can escalate and tip things one way or the other, generally trying to keep things calm and giving the second group time to work.
- The second group (those with powers/temperaments more suited for sneaking around) go independently investigate Eliana's death, since it's almost certainly a premeditated setup. Vern has an active lead to track for the second group, and would suggest cornering and questioning this lead to start with -- I'm just gonna paste the info here from his eavesdropping and mindreading shenanigans:
If Vern does keep to primarily Syndicate-run territories, he will find much of the same gossip over the course of his stay. The young King is not fit to make the changes that are necessary - he is young and inexperienced and while kindhearted, it won't be enough. There will be a heavy bias towards everything the Syndicate is doing.
He will hear something interesting a bit later - ICly either [May 25/26] - in that he can notice, in one of the taverns, an individual speaking in much more hushed tones, and generally looking suspicious. While Vern won't be able to hear the conversation the individual is having, if he decides to read their mind, he will get a /Just a few days more, it's going to happen, I know it for certain. Just a few more days/. He will not be able to pick out anything as to what 'it' is.
He'd also recommend the second group investigate how much the general populace knows about the King's powers/blessing, since it would be helpful to confirm if the king's blessing IS the major source of water of El Minha or not, if the regular citizenry knows that might be the case, and if it is the case, whether the slant is towards someone trying to take control of the king/blessing (and thus the water supply) somehow. Or if there are other nefarious things going on, idk.