let's set d o w n some (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
groundrules) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
westwhere2021-04-26 07:49 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2021-04-26 07:49 pm
sa-hareth | the imperious
But you’re short on time for belly shaving. In a brief window of weather opportunity, the long-stalled, majestic vessel Imperious has approached the port citadel of Sa-Hareth for discharge, bringing along the dregs of her reputation in slave trafficking. She docks at 00:49 of the morning, with the captain, a two-man delegation, the chief of vessel trade and several guards heading to customs to declare her merchandise, then liaise with high merchant Torsten.
Onboard the Imperius, they leave behind an ancient treasure Torsten’s eastern partners have commissioned for delivery to reinforce local undead warlord Unhalad — along with several captives, fit for sustenance.
And in the roiling sea, circling the vessel, restless ripples as ice storms stoke.
NEW CHARACTERS | HERE COMES THE FRESH (FISH) MEAT
 |
• New characters find themselves aboard the vessel Imperious, in the last five to seven-day stretch of its voyage at sea. They come awake before a mirror in an otherwise wastefully deserted hall in the ship’s hull, to the sound of dying whispers. • Captives are temporarily drained and missing abilities or memories. Players can use this to cap powers as much as needed so they don’t sink the ship! They will recover their bearings in two and four days, but may be brought back to feed the mirror periodically. • Characters targeted to fuel the mirror again will spend a restless night of nightmares and hellish whispers prior. Memories of interacting with the mirror are nebulous. Those who recently faced it are given white masks during their recovery, which put them at ease. Those due to visit the mirror are offered red masks. • At sea, characters are kept unarmed and captive. They reside communally and must wash the decks, sew sails, or cleanse and gut the fish catch. • Sorcery aboard the Imperious allows characters to understand each other freely. |
 |
• While on deck, characters will notice a swarm of fishy pursuers — mermaids or their creature companions, who will attempt to hypnotically woo onlookers to bring them the mirror. Careful: they all have sharp fangs and appetites. • Two days before scheduled docking, vicious snow storms engulf Sa-Hareth and ice the seas, delaying the Imperious’ discharge. The mermaids fall increasingly sick as they circle the vessel in the cold. • After a time, the sea creatures return undead, feral and exclusively focused on the mirror, with some bodily throwing themselves against the ship in an attempt to submerge it to reach their target. • Finally, the Imperious docks, with some crew and sentinels exiting for formalities. Within the hour, explosions can be heard outside, and parts of the Imperious catch fire, sending most guards to investigate and leaving captives less closely monitored. • Run, fight your way out, find your dashing saviours, beware the fire and a sudden raid of (yes) humanoid undead aboard the vessel, jump into Sa-Hareths’ freezing embrace — just don’t fall overboard. • Characters will need to steal or receive thralled translation quartz pieces to understand each other once they’re off the Imperious. Guards have some; rescuers will bring more. • Inventory items can be recovered from the captain’s cabin. • Head here with all your mod questions! |
EXISTING PARTY | YO HO HO AND A BOTTLE OF... FIRE
 |
| • Word of the Imperious’ voyage spreads, but the vessel is delayed from docking by worsening weather conditions. • Ahead of the vessel’s discharge, characters may observe strange rippling in the water: mermaids and other sea creatures, circling the Imperious. They are alert, agitated, ready to hiss and claw if onlookers come near them. They speak incoherently of a coveted mirror. • Private guards are trotting around the port at Torsten’s behest, wary of a second robbery. Heist participants scouting the port should cloak and shield themselves as much as possible. • As the storms strike, the mermaids perish and return as undead. They grow exponentially violent as they hunt the mirror, actively trying to pull those who walk the piers into the water and shred them to pieces, to coat themselves in their living warmth. • The storms let off enough for the Imperious to dock. Seagulls alert Su Xunxian of its discharge past midnight, with Karsa also sending word. Her people use the party’s 13,000 coins to set off minor explosions and fireworks in front the Imperious, starting small fires aboard the vessel. • Characters can infiltrate the Imperious to rescue the captives in the cargo hull — an exhausted, confused and masked lot, who will need Karsa’s quartz pieces. Guards and slaves mention captives’ possessions are in the captain’s cabin. • It’s about to get crowded on the Imperious. Sighted, now and then: Unhalad’s undead, Karsa and her cloaked people, Haltham and even some of Anurr’s deathless factions — recognisable because of their red sleeve arm tattoos. In the water, mermaids start brutally attacking the Imperious. • Those who search the ship will find an eerie, raided hall, with a large shattered mirror. • Return the captives to the House of Dew. The final fate of the Imperious is in your hands. Consider damage to the port! • Go here with any mod questions! |
OLD & NEW (AND MAYBE BLUE) CHARACTERS
 |
Congratulations, you’re off the floating death trap. Characters can trot through the freezing Sa-Hareth, but beware the effects of long-term exposure to the magical cold: listlessness, fatigue, the urge to walk out into the mountains, and to burrow oneself in warmth. Head back to the luxurious, if declining House of Dew brothel that has been offering sanctuary to arrivals so far. For now, mistress Tamaiu also welcomes newcomers into the decrepit servants’ quarters. Old and arriving characters will have to share dinner, hot beverages and blankets for a few days, while further accommodations are arranged. The sorceress Karsa will rally newcomers to briefly explain the status quo: captives are in the frozen western citadel of Sa-Hareth. They have been rescued from the undead forces of reining warlord Unhalad, who faces new pressure to defend his territory from his deposed, but resurging rival, Anurr. Unhalad and his brethren use otherworld arrivals as an exotic resource, to absorb their skills or vital strength. The land’s only hope is to evacuate these strangers through long-lost eastern portals — a voyage in the works under the stewardship of her master, the Merchant. The long-unused portals might return everyone home, but the trip requires discretion and finance, and the weather’s an enemy now. Karsa will withdraw shortly, probably in a foul temper. She has not found her mirror. This isn’t a party, but celebrate staying alive. |
OOC HOUSEKEEPING
- • The event is optional, but counts as game canon if you participate.
• Applications opens at 00:01 GMT @ 3 May. If you think you’d like to throw one in, dropping a comment on the reserve / notice list helps give a heads up on how many apps to prepare for! Thank you in advance!
• Participating in the Test Drive Meme is not mandatory to apply, but all new characters accepted in this session will have been brought in as captives aboard the Imperious.
no subject
“You are definitely out of period,” he mumbles as Archeval works, squinting a little to take in the mask. Without even really thinking about it, he’s running a comparison analysis through his head, accessing his (hazy but returning) memories as he tried to place the mask against any known magical masks he can recall. And he knows a lot. But the closest thing he can come up with is a movie.
He doesn’t, however, actually seem particularly unsettled. The curiosity is too strong for that.
“Like- Sorry, but everything else on this ship definitely seems like it came out of a movie about pirates or something, and that is definitely sci-fi. Is it magic?”
He doesn’t wait for an answer, instead rubs his wrists together for a brief second, but though there is a spark of green light around his ears, the spell doesn’t complete. He sighs.
“Well, at least that’s something—-“
no subject
"I think you've got more important things to worry about right now, don't you? We're getting everyone out of here. Can you stand?"
Mingyu's taste is certainly unique, as it turns out. Not that Archeval himself can talk. He climbs to his feet, all intimidating dark robes and skull helm and short, and offers Fox a black-gloved hand.
"Though for the record -- we don't call it 'magic' where I come from. But this is good old fashioned technology."
no subject
“Oh, you’re one of those,” he says to Archeval’s technology comment, though what he means by ‘those’ is never explained as he just barrels onto the next thing.
“Um- yeah, sorry, bit hazy. But everything is important when a guy in a mask is towering over you. Um- it hasn’t changed again, right? I was on a ship before, I think, with a weird mirror, but I don’t know how stable this time-“ He doesn’t finish his thought as he takes in the scene around him. “— Ah. Never mind. Same place, same time. I would say that was a relief if I knew where and when that was.”
A pause, a realization:
“Wait. You weren’t on the ship before, were you? Those were explosion sounds I hea—“ This time, he was cut off not by his own rambling mind running at a hundred miles an hour, but by the sound of a loud explosion as something that wasn’t supposed to be on fire caught fire.
“Well. That’s not good. I can swim fine but not in the Arctic, and I don’t have any of my components—“
no subject
"The fine details will have to wait, but we're getting all the captives off the ship and to someplace more hospitable than this. Can't promise you much, but I can secure your freedom and for now, your safety. If you're missing some effects, we're attempting to grab everyone's things -- you can make a go for your own but this ship isn't going to last too much longer--" He's planning on seeing to that quite personally, after all--
His head jerks to one side as he hears a commotion perhaps abovedecks, screaming and telltale undead moans, and he gives a mechanical-sounding sigh as his hand goes to the metal cylinder on his hip.
"I can show you to the way out."
There's so much to do, so little time, but this one really needs taken care of personally. He's pretty sure Mingyu will never forgive him if this particular new face doesn't make it safely off the ship.
no subject
"Wait."
He's remembering now, remembering the mirror, remembering the whispers. "There's something here. A mirror. Dark magic, really bad shit. We can't leave it here."
It seems all the warning of 'not much time' and 'safety' and 'freedom' are secondary to 'really dangerous magic', Archeval. Sorry.
He's rubbing his wrists together again as he heads outwards toward the deck, cursing under his breath as the light flickers again around his ears and then over his eyes like green static electricity before disappearing again.
"Dammit, Dammit, dammit-- Okay so when you say 'not too much longer', you mean--?"
no subject
An undead rounds the corner around some fallen barrels and a violet glow suddenly fills the area as the Darth pushes forward, activating his saber into the thing's neck to slice the head off before it can properly lunge for them. He deactivates again as he jerks his gaze around, stance tense -- there's just too many people here--
"Suppose that would be what all the creatures in the water are screaming for then, but you need to worry more about yourself than some artifact--..." Why does he have a feeling they're about to go on a wild goose chase through this mess for the mirror anyway? Mingyu really knows how to pick them--
"Can you fight without your powers? Where there's one of those things, there's always more."
no subject
"Is that a fucking-- Are we in a fucking zombie sci-fi now? With fucking laser-swords--"
Give him a minute, this is a little new. Well. Maybe not a minute. He's now pretty convinced they don't have a minute.
"Screaming-- Are those real? I thought I was hallucinating. Well, I probably am hallucinating now with fucking Lord Death Brigade here," He mutters this more to himself as he leaps over the dead body with agile ease, swinging himself up onto a ladder as he does so.
"I'm a pacifist," he tells the man as he scrambles up the ladder, "I don't attack people, so you're in charge of the zombies. Just leave the magic to me, okay?"
no subject
Really, though. The things he does in the name of friendship. Mingyu just better appreciate this later.
"The corpses are real, you and I are from different worlds and we're currently on yet a third planet, and it's all a very long story," he sums up curtly as they swing up top to hopefully make for the way off the ship, though it looks like there are still a few frantic guards here as well as plenty of creatures trying to dismember all the passengers. With Arche's luck so far this stranger is probably going to insist on going back down the other side of the ship for that mirror, but he's committed at this point; this one's got to come off the boat with life and limb intact, whatever it takes.
"There'll be time aplenty for explanations-- For now we need to circle around those things, or take our chances through them--"
no subject
Archeval's hope is dashed when Fox reaches the top deck and sticks his head up to look around.
"Through 'em. How much space do you think we have to circle around?" He's started fiddling with his hoodie, though, instead of his wrists, and a second later there's a faint line that shimmers around the edge of the fabric, runes glowing for half a second and then disappearing, and then - he's gone.
Well. Not Gone. He's still there, and if Archeval really focuses on where he was - or uses the force to feel out for him - he'll find him. But he's suddenly become very hard to look at, as if the eyes and the mind just don't want to focus on him, sliding off him like water off a ducks back.
"Oh thank fuck, at least this still works," He sighs gratefully, but the effect doesn't seem to reach his voice. He's still perfectly audible, just nearly impossible to look at. "Alright, let's go."
When he pulls himself up and through the hatch, none of the guards or the undead even seem to look his way, as he starts making for the the stern of the ship. He couldn't totally remember where the mirror was, but it wasn't where they had come up, so it must be somewhere on the other end...
no subject
"Nice trick-- But hang on already--!" he cries as Fox starts to dash off; it's easy to lose him in the mess this way and Arche has to resort to trying to track him in the Force, though even that is difficult with this many people milling chaotically around. He tries to keep up at least enough to stay on Fox's heels, though with the power cloaking the 'magician' right now all of the nearby undead are, fortunately or unfortunately, far more interested in Arche himself--
"Move, damn you," he snarls as he waves a hand to fling a couple of zombies aside, sending them careening over the side of the deck into the icy water below, where the mer-creatures' eerie screeches are immediately joined by frantic, angry moans. His lightsaber goes through a couple more, one creature getting nearly under his guard to tear at his armored robes, but before long he's dispatched it and resumes dashing after Fox again. They need to get out of here so he can check on the rest of the team just as much as anything else; this is turning into an absolute clusterfuck.
no subject
One of the zombies stumbles across Fox's path, and Fox breaks into a run, dropping and then sliding across the deck and through the things legs before it has time to stumble any further. He finally reaches the captain's quarters, but instead of going for where (presumably) their stuff is, he's already opening up the half-destroyed hatch to drop back down into the below decks to try to find the mirror.
When Archeval catches up, Fox is lowering his hoodie and suddenly he is easy to see again, though his eyes are still flickering a little with a pale teal light.
"Okay. Okay, okay, okay. The thing feels real bad, so we should be able to find it fairly easily. Just - the worse you feel, the closer it is, probab-- oops!" He sidesteps as a loose arm flops down onto the deck beside him, red tattoos inked up it's grey and undead flesh.
"Oh ew," He says, looking a little green. "Can't we tone this down to PG-13 or something?"
no subject
"If we must do this, then just hurry it up, I have point on this mission--..." He strides up to simply throw himself straight down the hatch Fox has just opened, gathering the Force to break his fall so he can jerk his gaze around in search of further threats. If it seems curious that the apparent leader of the rescuers is sticking so close to one singular random stranger, well, Lord Death Brigade doesn't exactly seem forthcoming with long explanations right at the moment.
no subject
Yes. Because the nightmares are clearly the biggest concern.
Part of the deck is already ablaze, and Fox nearly runs into it before he notices, and then skids back from it, half running up the opposite wall instead, over what look like several bodies and what he isn't going to think about right now.
"Some mission, huh?" He asks Archeval. "I can't feel the mirror anymore, though, that's weird-- Oh! I recognize this door, though--"
no subject
He twists away from the flames where he can and walks straight through where he can't -- thankfully his combat robes from home are formulated for just this sort of situation -- and strides over to catch up with Fox again, trying to keep an eye on the situation around them. A couple of cloaked figures rush past them that must be some of Karsa's rebels considering how they pay Arche no mind, though he can't quite tell where they're going or what they're up to; he can still hear fighting not too far away from here, the moans of the undead, pounding and scratching against the hull beneath their feet. Honestly, at this rate, he might not need to blow any holes in the thing; the creatures outside are doing half the work for him.
(Not that he's going to let that stop him, of course, because one can't just cut out all the fun.)
"There's something. Faint, but there," he judges, striding forward to yank the door open. "But then this whole damned ship feels vaguely wrong." It's been making his teeth itch in a way that he can't quite decide whether it has anything to do with the Dark Side or not--
And then they're looking at a long, quiet, empty room. Considering the absolute chaos on the rest of the ship, to step in here and find himself confronted with such a sudden calm is the most unsettling thing that's happened tonight so far. Clearly whatever was in here, whether more slaves or material cargo, has been largely cleared out; here and there he sees scattered box lids and oilcloth, left-behind rope, other odds and ends.
And at the very far end of the hall, that mirror, huge and shattered and dark.
Something about this room and its remaining contents put him in mind of a few of the ancient Sith tombs he's stepped into. It's not a good feeling.
no subject
"They destroyed it." He sounds... well. He sounds conflicted. Somewhere between relieved and disappointed, or even grieved. He slowly steps into the room, watching his footsteps carefully, as he crosses over to the glass.
"Probably for the best. But damn it, it's going to be so much harder to figure out what the enchantment was, now." He squatted down next to a few shards, carefully picking up some of the smaller ones and putting them in the pocket of his hoodie.
no subject
"Crude, but sometimes the speed is the important thing. But I can't even begin to guess what I'm looking at here. What was it doing exactly before it broke?"
He stoops to examine a mirror shard himself for just a moment -- still his touch reveals nothing else special, and he tosses it over Fox's way before he turns back in short order toward the exit on the far end. If his charge is finally willing to get the hell out of dodge now, this is a conversation that can just as well be had while moving.
no subject
He reaches for and then fumbles the piece of mirror as it's tossed towards him, feeling it nick his palm as he managed to finally catch it. He winced but said nothing, not really wanting to draw attention to it before he pushed it into his pocket.
"Um- well, fucking with memories. At least. Fucking with abilities, as far as I could tell. Draining energy, will power... Sorry, it was hard to catalog the effects while I was under them. Xie Liang had to remind me what my name was when I came out of it last."
Carefully stepping around the pieces, he jogged back over to join Archeval.