out you go, shoo

[groundrules]

READY TO ROLL OUT

That awkward moment when even a brothel won’t have you.

Characters will end their sojourn at the House of Dew early morning, helmed by Haltham (and his murderous goat, chomping on his prosthetic wooden hand for splinter nutrients). Courtesans and attendants will send the group away with parting gifts: a few sacs of grains, handfuls of spice, a small barrel of brew, several of water, thin blankets and four fat chickens.

The decrepit farm stands an hour’s walk east of Sa-Hareth, bordering the forest at the foot of the mountain. ...and it has not wanted for company. Monstrously overgrown wolves prowl the region, with some of the pack settled inside the farm. The wolves are halfway between dead and living, instantly aggressive, sharper, faster, smarter and blue-eyed beyond natural expectation. The wolves are drawn to heat and fire-bearers. They can be slain, or pushed back into the forest. If the brawl drags on, the wolves may receive reinforcements. Distantly, characters can observe silhouettes of pale-eyed, humanoid creatures in the forest, covered in animal skins. They seem to speak to the wolves, though it is unclear if they soothe or set them to attack.

Once an elaborate woodsmen’s station, the 'farm' is a generous, sprawling outpost built, home to now-barren inner garden. The farm spreads across kitchens, bathing rooms, hefty storage barns, a handful of isolated rest halls and broader communal areas. A study room has been crammed with accountancy tomes, papers and other books, many torn alongside glass shards on the floor. A shakily furnished barn was coarsely repurposed for banquets. Set up, inspect, repurpose. There’s enough dust and mildew to go around, and several walls and roof stretches will need reinforcements. “Ah,” characters say innocently, “Surely the cold will keep away vermin —” You have rats. Large, uncuddly, distinctly violent, prone to swarming once the sun’s downed. Enjoy that first night. Haltham will provide some base construction supplies over a few deliveries, along with a personal gift: a herding dog, to watch over two fluffy sheep. Flex those green thumbs: many moons ago, enchantments were set in place to warm the garden to a tolerable level that will allow the expedited harvest of an arctic patch. These spells will need to be activated and periodically recharged every few days by characters donating recoverable amounts of magic or physical stamina, by touching a nearby rune. But, hey: potatoes, turnips, kale, mmmmmmmmm, a balanced diet.

“Never open your doors at night,” Haltham says on parting. Lend him an ear — and, once the moon rises, hear the forest whispers. Some voices will beg rescue from the cold, others will tease and taunt, a few will imitate enemies or kin. Some will even disrupt dreams. The voices will seek to lure characters out of their shelter. Those who heed will find themselves compelled to walk into the forest, entranced and ignorant of the cold that slowly envelops them. They will be vulnerable to the elements, tundra predators and the woodland creatures, growing increasingly feral. Those who survive the night in the forest will wake to find themselves floating in a chilled, but strangely not-yet frozen lake in the morning. They can have faint recollections, as if they themselves lived any of the following events: a friend taking a dark path, the loss of a dear skill, years in a coffin, a close friend parted, a beloved reunion, a lost brother, a tender romance and rare bliss in poverty. At the bottom of the lake, they may spot the still corpse of an undead that feels too heavy for anyone to lift. His arm has a tattooed red sleeve. During the day, characters who visit the forest will find it eerily silent, with some trees showing signs of scratches and lingering rope. The lake can still be found, but entering it during daytime will not allow characters to experience foreign memories.

Karsa will reconfigure everyone’s quartz pieces to translate outside of the House of Dew and communicate in a private channel. Still nothing like individual inboxes at this time! Up to player discretion if Karsa had the time and humour to change their usernames, or stranded them to their House of Dew identities a little longer. Characters will also be able to access a secondary local fishermen’s network and listen in on their schedules, local gossip and daily weather updates. Woodsmen, tradesmen and miners will be surprised to see anyone inhabiting the farm, with some men pulling away, calling the place cursed.

Comments

[scrapgege]

You feel like one. You have a lot of qi.

[And the clothing, and the sword, and the demeanor in particular.]

I studied cultivation when I was younger. It was a part of my education. My parents hired someone as guoshi for that and I went to the mountain almost every day.

People sometimes mistake me for one when I walk around.

[downswing]

[ Mistaken for a cultivator, for a pair of fresh working hands, a surgeon knowing of the ways to stitch back the tissue of the natural where it strikes thin membranes of sorcery, hits the pillar-bone of the essence of the dead.

To be a cultivator now, in the wake of the Lanling Jin downfall, is to keep one's back bowed and the gaze short, to breathe humbly. To know there are shortcomings in your learning, and they have poisoned the well of collective tolerance. To accept you stand not above disrepute, but knees-deep and ankles drenched and the rise of that mud swell on your thighs and your hips and your hands.

To be a cultivator is to bathe among stains and absorb disaster. But the man Xie Lian was so educated, and he trades the coin of his past like kind, common ground to care for. For moments on a bead string, Lan Wangji has no answer. Sharpens, quick and certain, and stills thereafter, hand cold over braids of straw. It strikes him, stupidly, he cannot remember if he meant to raise it forth or set it down, or exile it, to the no man's land of the floor they neglect, as if invisible attendants will rise to correct their errors. ]

I thank my parents the wealth of their qi.

[ What else may he do, before flattery? ]

[scrapgege]

[It would be flattery if it was in Xie Lian's heart to do so. But really he just means it as a heartfelt compliment. It usually pays to be kind, he's found in his long years of life, much more than it pays to be cruel or uncaring. Both happened to him, and there's a reason why he rejected the unkind approach.]

They must be proud of you.

[And it is nice to see people who are filial, especially for him who failed so much in that regard. Would his parents be proud of him now? Probably, because they are too biased towards their only son, but he doesn't deserve that, not after what happened to them by his fault.]

There. The roof shouldn't leak like this, and if it does, we can plug the smaller holes when we find them. Let's take care of the outer walls.