Video emergency call

[so_dark_a_road]

[ Shortly after Henry and Maketh are murdered by Maketh’s double, Curufin is standing by the rail of the bridge that crosses the river through the lower part of the city. It is dark here and a convenient location from which to take stock. ]

This is a call to any surviving members of the City Guard.

I’m your fellow guardsman, Curufin Fëanorion. As I hope everyone is aware, many Hadriel citizens are being impersonated by hostile unknown entities. One of these imposters has just murdered Henry Percy and Maketh Tua.

I’d like to hear from any Guard members who have avoided this fate, and from anyone else who wants to help. We are all in a very bad situation, and I hope we can band together to do something about it.

Comments

[glacius]

[Glacius does not feel nearly so good about this situation, but then he has been direct witness to a lot of suffering on behalf of these doubles already. It's hard to bear, but it also makes him all the more determined to act against them, to protect the people still left.]

And mine as well. We must all be keeping our eyes open--these doubles are cunning and cruel, and I have not yet discerned any way to tell them apart from those they mimic... save for their motives, and by that point the harm has usually been dealt.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ And Glacius' motivation is one that Curufin would respect. ]

Yes, exactly. The doubles seem to have some sort of arcane knowledge of the people they are impersonating. It is as though they are a ghost of the original, except that they are flesh and blood, and they do not quite have the original's heart. There is a kind of soullessness about them.

Are you all right? Have you been attacked by any of them?

[glacius]

In a manner of speaking. [Carlisle's double didn't attack him physically, but he did tear into the alien on a far more personal level, deriding their friendship and scorning what he is. He's not eager to talk about any of it, so he diverts the topic away from what he has suffered.] I am physically unharmed, though my friend is badly injured. I do not wish to leave his side for long... but if the Guard has need of me, I can find some way to make it work. This scourge has to be stopped, after all.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ So far, no group of these doubles has attacked anyone. It has been single battles fought in out-of-the-way places, usually with no chance of the victims calling for help, no chance for the guards to rescue them. ]

You had better stay with your friend, if you can. Have you taken him to the clinic?

But keep your communicator safe. If you are needed, you will get a call. I promise.

[glacius]

Do not worry, that is my plan. As for the clinic, his condition cannot be helped by anything there, but I am seeing to him.

I shall. Please do not hesitate to call on me despite my... situation. I am still pledged to the wellbeing of the guard and of the inhabitants of this city.

[so_dark_a_road]

I wish your friend a complete recovery, then! And I am sure he is lucky to have you by his side.

And every one of us in the Guard is lucky to have you as a comrade.

I will call you if I need you, then. But you should call me, also, if there is anything I can do for you and your friend. Are you and he somewhere safe? [ Somewhere with a door that bolts, that is, so that no other doubles can get in. ]