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westwhere2022-02-20 06:30 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2022-02-20 06:30 pm
Entry tags:
- 2ha: chu wanning,
- arc iii,
- asoiaf: daenerys targaryen,
- final fantasy vii: rufus shinra,
- game of thrones: jon snow,
- harry potter: hermione granger,
- house of ravens,
- kingdom of the wicked: wrath,
- mo dao zu shi: xiao xingchen,
- oh! my emperor: beitang moran,
- oh! my emperor: su xunxian,
- original: winnifred prismall,
- persona 5: akira,
- star wars: slick,
- sword of frost: yun yifeng,
- test drive,
- the gifted: lorna dane,
- the gifted: marcos diaz,
- tian guan ci fu: xie lian,
- tokyo ghoul: kaneki ken,
- umbrella academy: allison,
- umbrella academy: diego,
- umbrella academy: five,
- untamed: lan wangji,
- untamed: wei wuxian,
- untamed: wen qing,
- warcraft: anduin wrynn,
- warcraft: wrathion,
- watch_dogs: wrench,
- wheel of time: moiraine,
- witcher: yennefer
arc iii: house of ravens | arrival
Hi, everyone! Our Arc III arrival event covers 20 Feb-11 March and doubles as a test drive. Participants don’t need an invite to apply by 11 March. Reserves live here. Try to label if you’re a test drive tourist or an old timer — and have fun!
TDM TOURISTS: THE SCENIC ROUTE
You flinch awake, hand weighed by a sharp stick, stone, or makeshift torch. Your clothes sit stiff, splattered with dried dirt and dusted leaves. Here and there, scratches and shallow wounds litter your limbs, the marks of days of dazed survival alone that you mistily remember. Your strength and supernatural powers are currently largely depleted, but should recover within two to three days.
As they journey, characters discover stretches of the eerily silent forests briefly transform into woodlands or recognisable spots of nature from their home worlds — perhaps they’re now seeing the meadows outside their home towns, their backyard orchard, or a fondly remembered lake pier. These images are short-lived illusions that other characters can also see.
Mind your steps: the mirages try to lure characters deep into the forest, where unfriendly animals and hidden pits wait.
A. THE MORE, THE MERRIER
Trailing through the labyrinthine woods, you stumble upon a group of heavily armed bandits who are already herding several captives. Depending on how agitated you are, expect shackles, leashes and tusk pendants that allow characters to speak and glean local tongues — including the thugs' barked instructions. The outlaws are on a three-day voyage to cursed village Ke-Waihu, where they intend to sell their prisoners to the Hok-Shinn criminal clan.
- ■ Ensure fellow captives survive the trek, avoiding leg-hold traps, snares and hunting nets.
■ Beatings continue, but morale never improves: help mouthy prisoners with their tasks or wounds.
■ Capture or forage food — and stop naïve captives from going deeper into the forest to follow glimpses of beautiful (wo)men or cries for help. There’s nobody there.
■ At night, prisoners are locked in stitched-shut tents — get friendly quickly.
B. JUST CRUISING
The bandits never saw you coming — but you’ve been watching them collect their prey. Perhaps you’ve even found others like you — also spared enslavement, but condemned to trail after the thugs towards Ke-Waihu. Characters can pick up discarded translation and communication tusk pendants, scraps of food and frail weapons.
- ■ Beware: superstitious thieves frequently patrol at night, while woodland predators are emboldened by the absence of fires.
■ Leave messages or instructions to the bandits’ captives (tree husk carvings, anyone?) and maybe try to rescue them.
■ ...or leave them for dead and trot on to Ke-Waihu. You savage.
OLD TIMERS: CURSES FOR ONE, CURSES FOR ALL
After a bumpy ride aboard the Salamera II, the party arrive at idyllic village Ke-Waihu.
They are greeted by Hok-Shinn Weisi, the slippery mayor who officially helms Ke-Waihu, while his brother Sairen leads the clan’s heavy underground ventures. Weisi’s flippant and spoiled son Taksui is the Merchant’s local liaison. The botanist Enam and his apprentices set out to explore, taking the group's baggage along.
- ■ Weisi was told the party members are families of Taravast refugees, seeking finer fates in Ke-Waihu. Each family has been assigned a humble but serviceable dwelling — see what luck has in store for you.
■ Weisi officially welcomes the newcomers in Ke-Waihu’s main bustling marketplace. Every merchant, fishmonger and beggar stops to watch as foreigners are briefly stripped of their ostentatious jewels, clothes or weapons, soaked in iced water and told to embrace the village by accepting its old, its new, its ugliness and its truths.
■ To join the community, characters must absorb and redeem the wrongdoings of a deceased ancestor. They are served flasks of a thick, bitter brew that slides down mildly corrosive and cold.
■ The brew’s effects vary: some drinkers feel only a sudden, electric awareness of the story behind the curse they inherited. Others feel scalded from the inside, agonising for hours. The ancestral curse effects start to take hold that night.
■ Characters are sent off to their new homes in Ke-Waihu — but are contacted within hours by one of Enam’s anguished apprentices. His master and his peers were captured by bandits while inspecting the elusive forests for plant specimens. These wicked men took everything: your goods, your Ellethian high fashion, your extra weapons, even your Sleeping Zenobius. Go get’em — but beware the deadly illusions of Ke-Waihu’s forest.
ALL TOGETHER NOW
The thugs, the old timers, the test drive prisoners and their creepy watchers collide in the mist-drowned forests of Ke-Waihu.
A. BANDIT BANE
- ■ Infiltrate the thug group in, kick some outlaws’ teeth on the way out.
■ Release and escort roughened-up newcomers to Ke-Waihu, picking up strays along the way.
■ One of the thugs snitches that the remaining stolen loot is hoarded in a nearby secluded cave, drowned under foliage. The entrance is watched by large, agitated boars with startlingly hard, but not impervious skin. With gold, gems, guns within reach, anyone for pork dinner?
■ After speaking with the new arrivals, party botanist and guide Enam confirms they have been summoned to serve as weapons in this world’s ongoing conflict between warring undead factions. The Merchant, Enam’s collaborator and the party’s patron, is leading otherworlders east, where forgotten beacons might return them home.
■ The villagers Ke-Waihu, Ke-Waiar and Ke-Waicai reportedly know the location of such a beacon. They will unveil it if the party breaks the curse of the House of Ravens.
B. THE BLUSHING BRIDE
When the group returns, Ke-Waihu is celebrating the joyous procession of dozens of lavish 'weddings.' The (false) rites are carried out to commemorate the marriage of a huntsman and his fox bride...
- ■ The roads are awash with flower petals and rice, houses extend their hospitality freely, and the rich give away coin. Even Hok-Shinn clansmen don their finest garments and hand out gifts and favours, while lawmen grant pardons to captives held for minor offences.
■ Villagers pose as 'brides' and 'grooms' to play act public weddings. Characters are asked to participate as brides and grooms, or to join the wedding retinue of a NPC villager. Characters can unknowingly marry, but not become foxes.
■ The evening culminates in a grand market fete, with stalls offering sickly sweets and strong alcohols. Poets recite love songs, professional weepers wail to strangers that they lost their children to insidious in-laws, and petty clashes erupt among merrymakers.
■ Some of the NPC fox 'brides' seem to grow wide-eyed and alert, suspicious of the many hunting dogs that watchmen walk around the marketplace.
■ Come nightfall, 'wedded' pairs are escorted to suites in a large and extravagant inn. For each 'couple,' accommodations comprise one room for the retinue and a linked conjugal bedroom.
IF CHARACTERS MARRY A (FOX) 'SPOUSE':
- ■ They are handed three pieces of parchment before they are locked into the marital suite with their consort and their retinue.
■ Once alone in their 'marital quarter,' characters first enjoy polite conversation with their spouse, whose eyes start to glimmer golden, while their teeth and claws lengthen, their mouths distort to snouts and their hair reddens. The fox brides do not seem aware they are, in fact, foxes, but try to scratch, bite or maim their partners. Viciously quick, strong and prone to thralling their victims into spells of lethargy, these foxes could get the best of you — happily, the little parchment papers you received can share some survival tips.
■ Fool the fox spouse into thinking you are already married or pledged to someone in your retinue. Affronted, the fox bride will exile you out of the wedding room. Refresh the salt lines that surround the conjugal room, and gently steer the fox back if it flees overnight.
■ Your retinue and you should impersonate a hunting hound, down to howling, running on all-fours and sniffling. The fox will hurriedly isolate itself in the conjugal room, but will actively try to escape at night. Keep every inn door and window closed.
■ Become a widow(er). Call your retinue and make the best of your fists and a butter knife. You will need to kill the spouse a few times before they stay fully dead, each time reviving more and more fox-like in appearance.
AS A WEDDING RETINUE MEMBER:
- ■ Awkwardly hold watch outside the conjugal bedroom of the dashing NPC
cannon foddergroom and his fox bride.
■ The NPC groom might request help as above — or might fall deathly silent. If that happens, villagers instruct, character must loudly ask if the wine pleases the couple. The flushed, visibly fox-like bride will then open the door to complain their new consort — clawed dead in the marital bed — won’t even share a wine cup with them. The fox does not seem to grasp they have killed their groom.
■ Defeat the fox at drinking — the fox bride can hold its cups, but slipping in some of the relaxing opiates on hand will help the cause. Sneak the NPC groom's corpse out with a buddy when the fox drops asleep.
■ Or prove you are a fairer marital prospect by verbally wooing the fox or doing battle with your retinue companion, to prove your worth. Your wingman may wish to throw the fight, feed lines, or generally smoulder. The fox bride will offer the NPC corpse as a betrothal gift.
Come morning, the villagers open the now-delapidated inn. Those who survive fox weddings receive braided bracelets of red, golden and tangerine rope, earning good will in the village. The murderous fox brides have disappeared — in their place, yellowed and dust-drenched bones 'sleep' in the marital beds, covered by withered and torn wedding clothes.
Villagers share the whole story: a huntsman encountered a fox goddess in the forest, when she had taken the shape of a beautiful woman. Lovestruck, he brought her back to Ke-Waihu as his wife — but the horrified villager slaughtered her and her husband on their wedding night. The fox god cursed the village to relieve yearly 'fox weddings,' during which the bones of those murdered during the previous 'conjugal' festivities rise as brides to terrorise new spouses.
Skipping the fox wedding rites, villagers say, shrivels their crops and depletes their food stocks for several seasons.
C. A-HUNTING WE WILL GO
It’s all fun and wedding games, until one of the victims of the recent nuptials is the son of influential wine merchant Saguk Chaomin. He vengefully sponsors a a hunt to finally lift the foxes’ curse.
- ■ Saguk Chaomin assigns weapons — from knives, spears and sharpened sticks to bows, arrows and rifles operating on gun powder — alongside lanterns and climbing rope to the brave adventurers. The contingent splinters into smaller groups to avoid detection.
■ The forests now aggressively conspire to lead characters to their deaths: whether it’s through fostering illusions that trip them into gullies, or decrepit bridges that crumble, sending travellers into whirling river waters. Animals (excluding wolves) attack travellers fiercely. Keep a hunting hound close.
■ Characters with unusual physical features or suspicious behaviours — from supernatural powers to a fear of dogs — are accused of being shape-shifting foxes.
■ Fox spirits assume a mortal but resilient shape the day after the wedding — strong, large, feral and willy. They’re quick to bite, and their presence dulls the senses of hunters.
■ To exorcise the foxes, kill their mortal bodies or obliterate or repair their small, decaying forest altars. These are stone rings the size of one’s hand, often hidden at the root of ancient trees. Cleanse the altars of filth, vermin and predatory creatures, and replenish the stones with fresh river pieces. Beware rare fox spirits that come to protect altars or hide their young.
D. WELL, WELL, WELL
In the wake of the weddings, characters head to their abodes, while test drivers are garrisoned in communal temporary shelters. Over the next few days, everyone may notice:
- ■ Villagers have a marrow-deep fear of the Hok-Shinn clan, whose members behave as if they are immune from repercussions.
■ Villagers tell eerie tales of strange encounters in their locked stables, abandoned houses or wells — they have seen a creature with the head of a beautiful woman, whose hair braids to form her snake-like body. 'She' slithers away once discovered.
■ Word spreads across the marketplace that dark waters have returned. A farmer’s well has dried, leaving only a thickened, tar-like liquid at the bottom. Another villager shamefully admits his well also dried a month ago, clogged by dark filth — the fount was old, and he assumed it had naturally depleted.
■ Horrified villagers speak no more of this, but superstitiously volunteer flower and food tributes for the Ka-Sanwon volcano. Mayor Hok-Shinn Weisi intercedes to reserve the resources for the upcoming return of the patron lord of the volcano’s three villages — the undead Beastmaster.
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He stands for a long moment, simply gaping at her, opening and closing his mouth as he tries (and fails) to collect himself. He knows that he had not misheard her. She'd definitely said Wrathion, she had implied to the fox spirit she was promised to Wrathion. There isn't anything inherently wrong with her having done such a thing. Save for the fact, of course, that he had done exactly the same thing.
"He, uh. You. That. I..." Anduin trails off, looking slightly dismayed before finally concluding, "Oh no."
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Honestly, Wrathion shouldn't have gotten her a book. Who did that sort of thing?
"Oh no? Why oh no?" Frowning, she takes a step closer, leaning closer to hear him. Insists: "Why oh no, Anduin?"
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He just sprung to mind.
Anduin sucks his bottom lip in between his teeth, worrying at it for a moment or two. But then there's no way out of this now. He's already told her that he'd given the fox spirit a name himself. And now, to react like this, right after she had asked...
He needs to get a grip on himself. And he needs to explain.
It's so very difficult not to just turn tail and run away just now.
"I, uh." He swallows thickly. "He. May have sprung to my mind as well..."
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"Oh no."
She sucks in a breath. "Oh dear - wait - wait, are the two of you...?"
Are they together? Or just friends? Or are they friends, because they don't have to words for the whole thing? Maybe wherever they're both clearly from doesn't accept two men together. It's not as though everywhere in Hermione's world does, even if she has no problem with is. But if they're together, then she shot herself in the foot a lot harder than she thought.
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Anduin's eyes are very wide as he stares back at her, his own mouth opening and closing again as he shakes his head but no words seem to want to come. He could -- he should just brush her question off. That's what a normal reaction would be. Anduin feels as though, if he lies to her in this moment, he is lying to himself, and given the chance -- he would prefer to be honest, just this once...
"I. We're not. That is, he isn't..."
Oh Light, have mercy on him.
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She's going to take a stab in the dark here, and make an assumption. She doesn't like to make assumptions, but... gut instinct is not something that she can ignore.
"He... isn't aware you have feelings?"
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He does not even have a word for what Wrathion has to him. Friend is nowhere near enough. Best friend is still not right. And yet.
Anduin turns to glance away from Hermione for a long moment, fighting with himself about what exactly to say, but. She knows. She already knows, there is no point lying. At last he answers, "No, I. Can't say that he is."
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She waits, patiently, while he debates with himself if he wants to confirm her suspicion, but she suspects that her suspicions are correct. This makes things tricky, such as her little stab at deceit. Specifically the fact that, when under duress, she picked Wrathion as an excuse.
Whatever else happens, she will now have to tell him. But Anduin's plight, that's his own.
Finally, he answers, and her expression softens with understanding.
"I'm sorry, Anduin. I did not know, or I would've thought twice of creating this mess." Like making Wrathion a bigamist, apparently.
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"No, no," he says, quickly. "Don't -- don't apologize, there's. You have nothing to apologize for. We were both thrown into this mess unawares, and there isn't."
He bites his lip, uncertain of how much Hermione has been told about his relationship with Wrathion already -- it isn't entirely his story to tell after all -- but he feels as though he ought to tell her something.
"Truth be told, Wrathion and I... There are things which happened in our past that we are still working out together with regards to the stability of our friendship, never mind. Anything else."
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Whatever comes next, she will need to tell Wrathion about her blunder, and let him decide if it's amusing, pragmatic or outrageous.
Just not yet.
"You've nothing to feel ashamed of, just so you know." Look at all her honesty and good heart.
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Nothing to be ashamed of.
"I..." he begins, then stops, trailing off and pressing his lips together. "It's. It's not so much that I feel ashamed of -- the way that I feel. It is just that I..."
He casts a glance to the side then back toward Hermione, the look in his eyes somewhat strained.
"It's complicated, Hermione. And I know how that sounds, I know that it -- sounds like an excuse but. Who I am, back at home, and. The things that have happened between us in the past, I. Would not even know where to begin."
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"Would he react poorly to hearing it, do you think?" Because she will fight Wrathion if he turns out to be a bigot.
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"I -- don't know," he says honestly. "I think he would be. Surprised. I'm not certain he would know how to react himself. He is..." He hesitates slightly, once again uncertain of how to explain himself. He supposes he should say something though, for all of their sakes.
"Our friendship has suffered its ups and downs, not to speak of anything else. He -- made a mistake, and it cost us both dearly. Years later, I think we are only now learning to -- make amends. If I were to complicate that with anything more..."
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And who is she to meddle?
"Do you forgive him for that mistake?"
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"It took me some time," he admits. "And it was not easy. I -- do not know how he might feel about me sharing the full story of what happened, but he. Made an error in judgment. He was overconfident in his decisions and it cost me dearly."
He presses his lips together for a long moment before he adds, "Sometimes it feels as though he has yet to forgive himself, in truth."
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Because people like that, they'll just torment themselves with guilt, without ever checking for anyone else's forgiveness. They'll find it easier, to suffer alone, than to dare and ask.
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"I do not know," he says, honestly. "Perhaps not. I had thought it was clear when I'd told him that I still cared for him. For our friendship. I have reassured him that there is no need to feel as though he needs to keep punishing himself for the things that happened, but."
Anduin can only shrug. "I suppose are both a little afraid of what might come of addressing the matter head-on."
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She gives Anduin what she hopes is an understanding smile, and reaches out to briefly touch his shoulder. Friendly-like. "You know, I gave him a whole sermon about needing to learn to ask others for help. Don't make me give you one too."
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"Did you really?" He flicks a half-smile of his own at her in return. "And how did he respond to that?"
Anduin knows how Wrathion had responded to his own conversation on the matter. Well -- less of a conversation, and more of an accusation in the middle of a breakdown, but that's neither here nor there.
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(Nope, moving on.)
"I maybe caught him at a fragile time, so he didn't really chase me out of the room."
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"He has always been very independent," Anduin explains. "And... Very stubborn."
He has his reasons, of course. It isn't as though he can force Wrathion into reaching out. It goes against the principle of the thing. All the same... It would be nice if he were to turn to Anduin, every once and a while, in times of need.
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Or whatever humanoid he is. No, she won't be asking Anduin about it, even though she wants to, very much.
The little hint of a smirk fades, leading to solemn consideration. "You know, that sermon I gave him, it should apply to more people than just one." Pointed look. "We've got a long journey ahead of us, and I for one intend to get back home."
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Getting back home.
His self-conscious smile fades somewhat at the mention of it. Home. He has so many mixed feelings about it.
"Do you miss it?" he asks, unable to stop himself. "Where you are from?"
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"My friends and I, we just..."
She hasn't really spoken about this part with many people. There is something about Anduin that screams He'd Get It to her, and with just one second of hesitation longer, she admits this much to him:
"We just came out victorious, on the other side of a gruesome battle. My best friend almost died. A lot of people did, and... I'm not there. To help rebuild, to help recover. Even to rest. I'm here, instead...
"Of course I miss it."
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He understands, for example, that it is no small thing to have admitted even this much to him. That she could have given him a far simpler answer and left it at that. It makes him feel almost cowardly for hiding his own truth from her, but he supposes there are only so many reveals his nerves can handle in one day.
"I am sorry," he says, feeling somewhat guilty now for his own misgivings about reaching the beacon and returning home. "That is not fair on you, to be pulled from the aftermath of one conflict, straight into the midst of another."
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