The Wardens' Brewing Conflict with Murder Incorporated: A Primer

There is an underlying plot element starting to heat up that aims to put some PCs and the Wardens in direct conflict with Murder Incorporated. Here’s how we will address the way this plot, involvement in it, and opt outs will work at Dystopia Rising: Colorado, as this conflict has the potential to generate bleed for players. The information in this post regarding Murder Inc. should be considered Out Of Game information, should not be taken as In Game knowledge, and is provided solely to give OOG context and background to those looking to get involved in this plot line.

Who are the wardens?

The Wardens are a group of law enforcement who work at the behest of the Financial Institutions to keep a certain minimum threshold of order in Lorado. The Marshal (the head Warden of an area) of Barker Meadow is bounty hunter Ephraim Butcher and his posse, the Hangmen, who have set their sights on Murder Incorporated, a mysterious group that they believe to be a threat to the safety of the Greater Wastes.

What is Murder Incorporated?

Murder Incorporated is a secret network of ritualistic assassins engaged in a sweeping conspiracy in service of what they see as the “Greater Good” of the Wasteland. Its existence is largely unknown in the wastes: if mentioned at all, it is in whispers and rumors. (If you know, you know, but for the most part, especially if you do not have Criminal Influence, you won’t know until someone tells you.) The local MI Families are established groups with their own resources that could be valuable allies, but are also under suspicion in Butcher’s hunt.

This plot line will see these two forces, and player characters on both sides, brought into direct and bloody conflict with potentially lethal consequences.

how plot engagement and optING out will work

You may — before engaging with this plot — choose to completely opt out of it, no questions asked. Please notify an Operations lead of your intent to do so. Your character's name will be kept out of any information trading, and should it come to light that you are part of MI, will be ignored by the Wardens.  You MAY NOT engage with this plot in any way if you choose to opt out — with the exception of being able to attend other MI events where this might be discussed such as general MI meetings and activities. If you decide you wish to join the plot at a later time, you must inform Sorin.

While engaging with this plot, you are considered to have consented to involvement and consequences that come from this — up to and including character death.  If you decide, after engaging in the plot, that you would like to deescalate and disengage, you must speak to Sorin in order to do so. If you are triggered by an action occurring in the moment, please take care of yourself and leave situations that may be harmful to your OOC mental health, then seek out Sorin at the earliest possible opportunity.

There are four ways that the Wardens could find out about a character’s criminal involvements:

1. The character was seen out of disguise by an enemy while participating in a Criminal or Murder Inc. module.

2. The character was brought in for questioning and forced to reveal their criminal involvements while under interrogation.

3. The character’s name was willingly given by another PC — this is a CvC action and should be negotiated between involved parties beforehand.

4. The character’s name was unwillingly given by another PC under the effects of an interrogation. Note: This is not a CvC action, as the player providing the information would not have had any control over what information they provide.

"BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE" Event Recap

Our June event, BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE, saw Barker Meadow weather terrible storms of events in the wake of the revelations they’d uncovered the months before. The following is a Story Recap for anyone who would like to catch up, look back, or fill in their understanding of the story of the event. 

WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS: 

• The Taleholders and their Graverobber Flesher Calonyction set their home, the Everliving Wood, on fire, forcing many town residents into a "Near-Grave" within the Gravemind to deal with the trauma and devastation caused by a Blood Sap Bear and a Grave version of Flesher along with a Worker. To aid Barker Meadow, other citizens who avoided this fate eliminated additional threats and fought Taleholders.

• Upon reaching safety, survivors spent the weekend attempting to make sense of the incidents that had transpired, researching incoming Workers, and devising methods to combat them through Research Projects and rituals. Their efforts produced several prints, information, and schematics for the Inverted Cairn - a ritual object that weaponizes the Workers' own 'faith' against them.

• A Taleholder Jigsaw Nemesis, seeming to be off-script, menaced the town, at one point using the Pinbacks of the Wood as a toy in their schemes. One of the Pinbacks was saved by intrepid Barkers who also put to rest the Undead of Useless Eyes, the fallen Pinback leader.

• Unknown factors destabilized the Morgue, prompting regular assistance to restore it; however, by trade's end, it was still unclear what had happened. A Sin-Eater with strange effects of Crystal Heart Corrupted may have been connected to this event.

• The “Taint Team” of Tainted in town destabilized their own Infection, regressing or changing to something else, what they had or would have been if they were not Tainted. Dolly’s advancement into a Free Radical came hand in hand with saving them from succumbing to incurable Bad Brain.

• Cassiopeia Woodworm, Speaker of Spring, came by to change the Season to Summer, a ritual later undertaken by the townspeople. Along the way, she revealed her tragic past as a Dark Sky Natural One, a tribe decimated by the Children of Constantine, who had weaponized the Profane Wolves to destroy them. This act caused the All-Faiths to concoct the lie of The Trials in order to point the Wolves at feeding targets through the year and bind the town together.

• Saturday morning, several sailors broke up a snarl in the waterway that was blocking travel.

• Hutch was broken out of prison, held by the Jaunts, for the Archive Heist the month before and openly selling Hype. Going on the lam, the anarchist face of the 7x7s Red Star surely isn’t done rabble-rousing yet.

• Grace clan Rovers shot Red Rain Rockets into town in an attempt to derail a Jaunt caravan as the Rover War between the two groups reached a fevered pitch. Sold to them by their allies The Taleholders, the town apprehended the Graces and seeks to bring them to justice, but a resolution to the feud remains elusive.

• The Profane Wolves were synced after Fraying to attack different faiths by the Nuclear Family’s attempt to have a speedy Trial. Mayor Cassady Jaunt was briefly baptized Nuclear Family to help end the phenomena, and the town had to make hard decisions to protect the community on what to do with the Wolves.

• The Ghost, a local serial killer, claimed another victim. The corpse and crime scene were investigated, producing some leads.

• A trip to the Wolf Morgue, a Synthetic Morgue created originally by Flesher, the birthplace of the Sin-Eaters and Profane Wolves both, led to the discovery of many things still not yet fully understood and an intense battle with Wolves protecting their Morgue. Something terrible seemed to be ready to return from the dead to haunt the town, according to those who entered the Morgue itself.

• Ephraim Butcher of the Wardens, Lorado’s law keeping force, solicited ideas on what to do about POWs from the recent Von Lobo and Masterson conflicts from the Barkers.

• Owen Grace, speaker of Winter who had not been seen in many months, came to town with a fractured, recently killed Cassiopeia to get Cassiopeia fixed, agreeing to give up his seat on the All-Faiths Council to Upptopp, giving the newer settlers of Barker a representative on the Council. Cassiopeia’s mind was treated, but her killer remains at-large.

• Near the end of trade, the Barker Demoniac, the first host of an Unholy Passenger, faith-destroying Mortis parasites, came to town warning of their return and soliciting assistance in their gory, deathly research towards defeating the Passengers.

With terrible threats from the past re-emerging and the town literally burning down around them, the Barkers survived another trade, leaving the town in a precarious state for our July event, POWDER KEG. We hope you had a great time and will join us in July. Continue the conversation on our social media channels in the interim, and we’ll have more details on our July event soon!