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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
Perhaps, to others, before indifferent spectators. But Lan Wangj is a deft hand with war horses, learned in the way of taming animals to ease, himself to patience. The ebb and flow is this: she dismisses im. In pure fluidity, he draws back, Wei Ying's dark linens shrouding him like ghoulish smudges of cheap, ill-coalesced ink.
Around them, the road still sleeps, butterflies a staccato spread of furled ink points. He feels silence on his skin, like the start of the sun's warmth.
It happens, she says, but appears to carry no pouch of herbs, or the help of a friend or family to escort her, if she is so often given to sickness. It happens, but she walks to this world unarmed. ]
You require medicines?
no subject
Nothing you can give me.
[ It's unfortunately true that she has no elixir on her, which would normally keep the curse in check. She keeps it at home, where she takes one daily in the mornings, and that's usually enough.
She sure wishes she'd stashed some in her hair right now.
But the other thing is -- she hadn't turned into the Owl Beast and lost control like that in a while now. In fact, she kinda thought she was over it since she made peace with the Owl Beast in her head.
Maybe she should try that "talking to it" thing? That seemed to help last time. She closes her eyes and gets into contact with the Beast, muttering to herself as she does so. ]
What, you don't know either? You were surprised too?
[ She opens her eyes again, lets out a deep groan and balls her hands to fists at her sides. ]
Just what I needed, dang it!
no subject
Eased of her, his hand slaps at the lower curvature of his back, a sword seeking the natural hilt of thoughtless, time-honed forms. She speaks, and, head turned, gaze astray, he — does not listen.
Discretion is the better part of value. His hands will come empty, ill supplied, if he does not take this moment to exercise it. Leave the troubled girl her peace. Then, once the cadence of her speech has tired, and he seizes opportunity: ]
I travel south. [ Another eighth of a shi, to the village keep. To whatever depths of fresh-faced hell await him. ] If we may join path.
[ Let him escort you, strange woman. ]
no subject
However, she might as well walk a bit with this stranger. Maybe get some information out of him. ]
Sure, sure, whatever.
[ She gets to her feet, rubbing her head a little. ]
You from here?
no subject
So, then: a timid, stuttered negotiation of walking, each step sparking clatter when the overgrown weeds of the road tear and pebbles upturn. Perhaps Ke-Waihu will not gain an earnest reputation for its excellently manicured gardens, all too soon. ]
Of late. [ Truth, in both pretence and nature. His eyes slant, gaze squeezed thin by concentration. ] You hail from elsewhere?
[ Lethargy and bruising still reduce him, instincts cloyed, thoughts slow. He thinks there are still the extensions of the Ke-Waiar delegation, cluttering the village of Ke-Waihu — but he cannot well say.
Mere days divide him from the start of the hunting season. Decades. ]
no subject
You could say that.
[ She does note that he has round ears, but seems not especially concerned about her pointy ones. No one does, really. In the human realm she's familiar with, she has to hide them because boy, the way some people get there about witches... she does not have the energy to deal with that. It's enough of a hassle to figure out what they pay with over there.
However, this is clearly another place altogether. Whatever, she's good at going with the flow. ]
So what's a girl gotta know around here? Do you take raccoons for payment?
no subject
And then there is this exchange and its twists and turns, steeper and more convoluted than the pains of the winding path beneath their feet, and he does not blink or stare or sigh or give territory to any of the ample hallmarks of his long suffering.
Only turns them, gentle in the steering, cutting their path so they need not cross the tallest portions of grass or garden, and decimate any insects or innocent creatures that lurk within. There is a deceitful, silent lushness of weeds and greenery that speaks of calm, and not the cracks that wrinkle the ground beneath, the start of dark waters. ]
We greet Ke-Waihu. Its people... have known suffering. Droughts. Curses. Eruption. [ Behind them, the looming heft of the Ke-Sanwon volcano breathes out hard warmth. ] Lend them care.
[ Not ridicule, not raccoons. ]
no subject
She just shrugs. ]
Eh, not like I plan to stick around.
no subject
Still, his voice stiffens, gains a steel edge, rust. Callous negligence need not be rewarded. They walk, after all, on the start of roads that gentle hands of the village set down for the privilege and consideration of their peers.
They breathe and live and receive hospitality at the village's largesse. ]
You are of the merchants? [ Intent, therefore, to flee with the next vessel. ]
no subject
I guess I am a merchant.
[ She does sell potions at home, after all. Though she does kind of suspect that's not what he means. But she supposes he'll elaborate if needed. ]
no subject
They can travel as such, two silhouettes wandered, parallel lines never destined to intersect. It pleases some part of him that withheld tension enough to see his shoulders collapse, the hand that braces at his back reduce the clasp of his fingers.
They are too often watched here, each step and word of import. Better, at times, to be inconsequential. ]
What wares?
[ Perhaps aught of value to the village: grains, waters, a cure for their drought. If the woman brings relief, it will not go unthanked. ]
They lack for coin.
[ Under the yoke of a clan that seems intent to strip them of power, thought and autonomy. ]
no subject
[ She continues speaking more to herself than to him, gesticulating with her hands. ]
I mean, I'm gonna need money to get home. That's what Mr. Welcome Committee said. Ugh, this is gonna be a headache!
[ She kicks at the dirt with her high-heeled boot. ]
Geez, can't I just stumble upon a portal? It worked when I was a kid! [ Deep sigh. ] Guess that's the kinda luck you only have once.
[ Now, she turns back toward her companion. ]
Can you help me out here? What do the people want, what do they pay for?
no subject
...or simply uncaring, in the way of brittle mad things, so often secluded from natural company that they forget the faint tenets of formal etiquette. He does not stay her from her habits — only nods, less disciplinary than indulgent.
What difference do they make to each other, two ships passing by without collision? No fire buns. ]
Speak to them. Ask. [ Know them, their manners, their habits — in ways Lan Wangji, lacking a merchant's grace, cannot. ] They will be sweeter to you.
no subject
Well, if you're not gonna be helpful here.
[ Sorry, bud, you're just the first person she saw today. Kinda still gathering her bearings after having an owl night. It's cool, though, it's all cool. She'd just like something to wash the bad taste out of her mouth, but she suspects if she asked her travel companion, he'd give her the same answer as before, so she doesn't. ]