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groundrules) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
westwhere2022-04-07 09:32 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2022-04-07 09:32 pm
Entry tags:
- arc iii,
- harry potter: hermione granger,
- legend of fei: xie yun,
- mo dao zu shi: xiao xingchen,
- oh! my emperor: beitang moran,
- owl house: eda clawthorne,
- sword of frost: yun yifeng,
- tian guan ci fu: xie lian,
- triangle strategy: jens macher,
- umbrella academy: diego,
- umbrella academy: five,
- warcraft: anduin wrynn,
- word of honor: zhou zishu
(no subject)
This log covers 7-25 April, drawing from previous discoveries. Feel free to tag in here or make your own posts/logs!
Sign-ups for NPC threads remain open until 23:59 GMT on 9 April.
SWEET HISSED NOTHINGS
CONTENT WARNING: MENTIONS OF SNAKES, SERPENT CREATURES
Prior to the Huntress’ arrival, the group’s healer Wen Qing is captured by a feral half human, half serpent creature. Characters might overhear visiting woodsmen who say a woman was heaved into the woods at night by a large serpent.
After journeying through the illusion-casting forests of Ke-Waihu, prospective rescuers discover that traces of struggle lead them to a 20m-deep, wide pit on brittle pale soil, close to the Fortune fetters ruins:
- ■ If you cross the Fetters, local prophetesses cryptically advise you to shed torches or clothes and to run to cold streams, if you encounter danger. A distressed Hyang-Tai pleads kindness for ‘ancients’ and ‘children.’
■ The surroundings of the pit are eerily silent.
■ Rescuers can spot a sleeping Wen Qing at the bottom of the pit, patches of her bared skin covered in a slick shine and showing the start of growing scales. She is surrounded by dozens of dormant snakes and nagas, tightly and peacefully coiled around her.
■ Wooden stakes have been thrust into the pit walls — serving as challenging, but workable steps.
■ Some snakes are poisonous — with many cures available in the forest or back in Ke-Waihu — but most bite viciously without venom. Some nagas emit phlegm that briefly impairs the vision or blinds.
■ Watch your step! The creatures are drawn to warmth, fire magic and sound. They stir and climb the pit to attack if they feel threatened.
■ Rusted weapons and broken shields litter the bottom of the pit, dropped in by previous… visitors.
OBJECTIVES
- ■ Remove Wen Qing from her dire straits.
■ Wen Qing is left with serpentine sensitivities, instincts and scales. To cure her, healers advise a seven-day brew treatment of widow’s lace — an opiate plant found in large forest bushes.
■ Grab a few flowers at a time and store them well — collectors exposed extensively to widow’s lace experience four-six hours of light euphoria, paranoia or bizarre visions — swindling foxes and philosophical parrots are apparently commonly imagined.
THE MAIDEN’S WATCH
The Huntress joins the group, deprived of her powers and absent her steed. She pointedly stares at the ground, but those who meet her gaze may revisit harrowing moments in their lives.
Following group conversations, her shelter is rotated between two locations: a shallow forest cave and the now deserted snake pit that previously hosted Wen Qing.
Take turns shielding her from the animals that seem drawn to besiege her. The Huntress spends her time in tears or penitence and speaks in a maddened tongue. Voice coarse and wet, she summons the composure to share her knowledge:
- ■ The Beastmaster and she both seek to witness the imminent eruption of the Ke-Sanwon volcano, expected within a month. The Beastmaster will become more human as that time draws.
■ Ravens excepted, local animals obey the Beastmaster and spy for him.
■ To avoid the pull of the Beastmaster and his Hunt, seek out:
THE SHRINE
Trek through Ke-Waihu’s haunted forests and find the village’s only shrine devoted to ravens, outside of the elusive House of Ravens.- ■ Wear pebbles or wood splinters from the shrine to disrupt the Beastmaster’s thrall on you. These items must be replaced after three days.
■ Fox spirits have raised dozens of illusionary copies of the shrine. The stone of the original altar is marked for ravens in a small wooden carving, while copy shrines worship foxes.
■ Young fox spirits imitate ravens or play distant bells to distract travellers from finding the raven shrine.
■ Sometimes, fox spirits swarm, offering to show the way if visitors perform a small dare or tell them a meaningful secret.
■ If asked, Ke-Waihu locals share the shrine was raised by a wanderer, who spent a month in the village many years ago. He was disgusted with the arrogance of Ke-Waicai’s zealots, who insist ravens are sacred and can only be worshipped in the House of Ravens.
THE BRIDGE
Ke-Waihu has briefly reopened its gates to the nearby village of Ke-Waiar — to which it is connected by a fragile and narrow bridge high above a misted abyss.- ■ Wind gusts shake the ropes of the rickety bridge, and several wooden steps are putrid, dangling or loose.
■ Ad you near the bridge’s end to Ke-Waiar, you may find a couple of fox spirits are purposefully rattling the ropes to unsaddle travellers. Plead or barter: you can offer anything from riddles to treats, a good performance, a poem, a favour, a shouted confession of true love…
■ The village gates open between sunrise and sunset. Characters who arrive early find many villagers sleep until late in the day. By sundown, some locals become frantic, alert, increasingly irritable.
■ Water can be freely taken from any of the wells within Ke-Waiar to satisfy the quest. Villagers offer it gladly — they too suffer from resurging drought and dark waters.
■ If you arrive at sunset or night, you can see villagers turning to werewolves in various stages of transformation, between humanoid and large wolf beast. They are lured out of Ke-Waiar, gates closing behind them, and released into the thick, vibrant woods — with you.
■ Take cover in the forest, to escape the pack of werewolves and wolves. Some might prove lenient if they catch you, while others feel compelled to draw blood.
■ To wait out the night: climb the forest’s sturdiest trees with help of the ropes purposefully bound from tall branches. Some trees even host rudimentary treehouses.
- ■ Wear pebbles or wood splinters from the shrine to disrupt the Beastmaster’s thrall on you. These items must be replaced after three days.
THE HUNT
The Beastmaster, his xenomorphic creatures and mutated animals arrive in Ke-Waihu to behold the ‘imminent’ volcanic eruption.
The Beastmaster’s creatures possess sharpened senses and hearing, intense speed and hard carcasses that provide additional but imperfect protection from blows and missiles. They often hunt in packs, but behave themselves in Ke-Waihu during daytime.
The Beastmaster excuses himself from the underground Hok-Shinn clan’s attempts at a welcome celebration, taking residence with his beasts in his village hut. He may be encountered walking the village beside five or six of his creatures, inspecting the markets and even advising new huntsmen — his manner slow, speech rough in a way that suggests oral injury beneath his facial bandages.
THE TRIBUTES
The Hok-Shinn and an envoy of Ke-Waiar each present 10 distinguished but eerily listless youths of their village to the Beastmaster.
- ■ These tributes are then held in groups of five across four abandoned homes, each closely watched by six-seven men of the Hok-Shinn.
■ Team up, rescue some tributes — and get out alive.
■ For easier infiltration, try the forest-facing back of the houses, or the generously large, defective chimneys. Beware slippery or broken roof tiles
■ Hok-Shinn guards possess great brute force… and gratefully accept liquor.
■ Some tributes might fight their rescuers and attempt to alert the guards. Some claim it is their privilege to join the Beastmaster, while others say they should be sacrificed to the volcano Ke-Sanwon for their families.
■ You can hide the rescued tributes in the witches’ huts or the Fetters — gather them coin so they can book seats on the next ship out of Ke-Waihu.
THE HUNTING SEASON
The Beastmaster’s creatures are mannered during the day, but join the Hunting season that kicks off after the full moon:
- ■ Participation is (OOCly) optional.
■ For five nights, come moonrise, some characters feel compelled to flee into the forests and run, hide or avoid detection — alternatively, they join the Beastmaster’s creatures as hunters, chasing this quarry and forest animals.
■ You can chase each other or ‘pack’ up against a common target or enemy.
■ Anyone can ‘hunt’ or ‘be hunted.' Roles can swap across the five nights.
■ Characters can develop overnight instincts akin to an animal of hunt or prey of your choice, and they will be helped by these animals for the night. Snakes and ravens do not participate.
■ Hunting can be vicious (seeking to injure, kill or consume prey) or symbolic (just violently giving chase).
■ Certain characters feel especially compelled to join the hunt and to protect the Beastmaster outside of it. These include characters who are given to war, hunting, violence, wrath, gluttony or feral/animal characteristics. It also applies to those who previously turned xenomorphic during the Beastmaster's trip in Taravast, or whom he marked.
■ To avoid the hunt, stay out of the forest, apply the Huntress’ cures or lock yourself firmly indoors.
A couple of fun locations for hunt participants:
- ■ A tree enclosure where characters can hide for up to an hour, invisible to their pursuers. They can still be heard or scented.
■ A small lake, silvered at night, in whose waters you can breathe freely.
■ A fox spirit shrine, where a group of four-five vulpine friends defend you alongside their territory.
■ Abandoned wells and the forest streams previously touched by dark waters. The Beastmaster’s creatures seem very curious about the liquid, but ultimately pull back, as if obeying instructions.
■ Areas with strong fire or utter dark deter the Beastmaster's creatures.
OLD MAN MOUNTAIN
Dormant volcano Ke-Sanwon shows signs of upcoming eruption: soil swells, increases in local temperature and small, low-grade earthquakes.
- ■ Characters with magical powers may find their strength sometimes fluctuates, suddenly swelling or briefly waning completely.
■ Dark waters fill out some of the ground cracks that follow earthquakes. The liquid is cold, settling as if it were iced. This dark water heals shallow wounds on any skin it touches, or gently revives vegetation over one-three days on any ground it is set on.
■ The strength of the dark water fades over a week’s time.
■ Digging through the ground cracks reveals thin rivulets of the dark water are present all around Ke-Sanwon.They are more numerous the closer you get to the volcano. Dark water also smears the mouths of hell.
THE JEWELLER
A few days after the earthquakes state (after 20 April, for network posts), characters wake to distant screams, as a group of 10 of Ke-Waihu's masked concerned citizens drag handsome young jeweller Dong-Yun out of Ke-Waihu.
- ■ The group is taking Dong-Yun through the predatory forests.
■ You can play out finding the captors’ convoy separately, or tag into the jeweller’s rescue here.
■ Bring the jeweller back to Ke-Waihu. Dong-Yun can share that his abductors intended to sacrifice him to the Ke-Sanwon volcano. One of the participants in the rescue: please share with the rest of the class!
”I’ve heard, but I’ve never — they used to, when my mother was young… she told, me even when she had me, all the mothers hid their young. She told me, they used to give them to Sanwon. The prettiest, the smartest, the most skilled. Give it all to Brother Sanwon, give it to… so it won’t take everything else. Give it our best, and it will leave us the rest. But this doesn’t happen anymore. The mountain doesn’t want it.”
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no subject
[he offers a hand, tugging on Xiao-daozhang's sleeve once to indicate the way.]
Have a seat. Do you need help removing your robes?
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This will go more quickly with your help.
[Not that there's much of his original sleeve left, and some of the bandages are of a cloth that clearly isn't his own clothing.
To hear Xie Lian speak of his past experiences saddens Xingchen. Someone so kind and warm shouldn't be left on his own, not when he needs someone to take care of his own injuries. He wonders why that was.]
...Is it lonely? Being a god.
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[He's careful easing out Xingchen's arm from his robes, and then assessing the damage.]
Nothing looks infected, but some blood has seeped through your bandages, so let's clean that up and bandage you again.
[He thankfully carries a lot of rags at all times thank you, scrap collecting habits, so he sets aside the cleanest ones and tears them into strips.]
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[Xingchen keeps talking, both because he genuinely likes spending time with Xie Lian and because it distracts him from focusing solely on his arm. But that little detail surprises him. Xie Lian is so kind, why would he be banished from Heaven?
He remembers something else, though.]
Is your spouse one of those humans?
[Changing the dressing on his wound is expected, necessary, but Xingchen doesn't look forward to it. Still, he nods at Xie Lian's assessment and braces himself for what will come next.]
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[And yes, he knows now how many of those things were manipulated precisely for the very purpose of making him succumb to despair, but it still does not excuse everything.
he excuses himself for just a moment to get some clean water, and when he returns, unravels the blood soaked bandages and sets them aside and starts gently dabbing at the wounds. It looks liek some kind of beast had a field day here.]
Ah, no, he isn't. Well, he was, but he isn't anymore. He is a ghost.
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I am sure you had your reasons. You don't strike me as someone who acts rashly.
[Then again, Xie Lian may have learned from his mistakes and gotten to where he is now because of that.
When it comes time for the dressing change, Xingchen braces himself. He inhales sharply at some points as the more stained bandages are peeled away. This is also expected, but it still hurts, even if he won't offer up more complaints. Xie Lian is doing his best and Xingchen has no right to make it more difficult.
So he remains focused on the conversation, though that may not be as pleasant as he would like, either. To Xingchen's understanding, Xie Lian is not only a banished god but one whose husband has passed away! His heart aches for his friend.]
...My condolences. That must be difficult.
no subject
... I don't mean metaphorically. He has a body and everything.
[He realizes maybe ghost doesn't really fit what most other people think, even if it's technically the correct term for his world.]
We actually met for the first time when we were both human, still. Then, I ascended, and later he died in war as a soldier... but he didn't want to leave my side, so he remained in the world as a spirit and refused to pass on, and... well, it's a long story, but he decided to get powerful enough to be able to come back by my side, and from a small soul who was barely a flame, he became a Ghost King.
If you met him in the street, you probably wouldn't be able to tell he's not human. Well, maybe you would, as a cultivator, but most people would not.
[He tries to be gentle, but he still feels the shivers and hears the soft gasped breaths.]
We did find each other again, after a long time.
no subject
And...it sounds like his husband truly loves him. To linger on and endure even after death and become a ghost king, whatever that means, just to stay with Xie Lian...]
Oh.
[He breathes out the answer before even realizing, though there's nothing false about his amazement. There's nothing false about the sudden ache in his chest, either, the feeling of something that isn't quite jealousy, but...yearning.
But this isn't about him. He smiles despite whatever he might be feeling.]
You're very lucky, then. Such a love surely doesn't manifest every day.
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[And yet he... also hasn't made any proclamations about missing him, or about wishing he were here, or anything of the like. The most he has done is mention him when it was necessary.]
I'm going to put some clean bandages on that wound. And I'll see if maybe I can find some new robes for you, those are... they're not in very good shape anymore.
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...You must miss him.
[If Xingchen had someone like that in his life, only to be forcefully separated from them, he's sure he would be miserable.
Xie Lian continues to be so kind to him. Too kind, doing more than is necessary or what Xingchen would ever ask for.]
This one is in your debt.
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[That's what bothers him more, that Hua Cheng could think something terrible happened to him... and well to be fair, something terrible kind of happened.]
Don't worry about it, Daozhang. Although... if you want to keep up with the beggars, I should probably teach you a thing or two.
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[Want, or need. Xingchen knows Song Lan is looking for him back home and despite whatever way that meeting may play out, he still wants to know his friend is well. And then there's the knowledge that Xue Yang has been with him and A-Qing all this time. He needs to protect her. Her cleverness is boundless, but she isn't any match for Xue Yang, even if he may be trying to change.
He shakes his heads of those thoughts and laughs a little.]
Does my inexperience show that much?
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[People will learn and adapt, but there's always a learning curve.]
I used to busk in the streets for food. Putting on a little show often helps, but you're injured right now, so your best bet is a good story.
no subject
[But. Well.
Xie Lian's other suggestion would be helpful, except...]
I'm afraid I'm a dreadful storyteller, too. I can try, but I wouldn't expect anything to come of it.
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[he's pretty sure all cultivators have those.]
It doesn't even have to be true, just good enough that people will listen and give you some coin for entertaining them.
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But he doesn't want to to keep being defeatist when Xie Lian really is only trying to help. So he nods.]
I'll try. Xie-daozhang can even listen in for himself, if he wishes.
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[And besides...]
You've told me stories before and I didn't think you were bad at it... but you were also a little drunk.
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What did I even say? I don't think I remember.
[A lot of things pale in comparison to actually kissing your friend because you're pathetic and lonely and then learning said friend is married.]
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[And... other things. /Ahem. Anyway.]
You should go back to your house to rest while you recover, daozhang. This is a big injury.
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[That jogs something in his memory, or perhaps he hadn't forgotten as much as he thought. Xingchen laughs softly, embarrassment coloring his cheeks.]
I used to be the moon. That's what I told you.
[He doesn't add to this at first, focusing on getting up so he can go back to the house as Xie Lian suggested.]
I suppose that could be an anecdote. I don't...know if I would want to talk about other things. I...
[Xingchen trails off, his good hand gently rubbing against the wrist of his bad arm. Xie Lian is a friend. He already bugged him for some personal information. He should probably make it fair.]
Most of my experiences involve someone else and...I miss him.
[To put it lightly.]
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[He can certainly sympathize with missing someone, for sure.]
I won't ask you to speak of him if it's too painful, but if you ever want to tell me about him, I'll listen.