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westwhere2022-06-03 07:06 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2022-06-03 07:06 pm
Entry tags:
- 2ha: chu wanning,
- arcane: viktor,
- asoiaf: daenerys targaryen,
- game of thrones: jon snow,
- idolish7: tenn kujo,
- kingdom of the wicked: emilia,
- kingdom of the wicked: wrath,
- mo dao zu shi: xue yang,
- oh! my emperor: beitang moran,
- star trek: jim kirk (aos),
- storm at sea,
- test drive,
- tian guan ci fu: xie lian,
- travel arc,
- umbrella academy: diego,
- umbrella academy: five,
- vampire diaries: damon salvatore,
- warcraft: anduin wrynn,
- warcraft: wrathion
no man's sea
Avast ye — sprawling til 18 June is part I of the Storm at Sea travel arc, which doubles as a test drive. Participants don’t need an invite to reserve or apply over 10-17 June.
Try to label if you’re a test drive tourist or an old timer — and don’t hesitate to leave an OOC note to opt out of random NPC piraaaaaaaargh interaction. Test drivers can post both log and network prompts. Have fun!
AHOY! SCALLYWAGS
Departing Ke-Waihu, the existing party joins paranoid pirate king, turned stalwart saint Samuel Vane — the feared Quicksilver Sam — aboard the Pariah.
Test drivers awaken anguishing at sea, floating on rafts, or on minuscule patches of deserted land. They are collected by two pirates and the recalcitrant sorceress Karsa — who supplies translation and communication devices. She explains the newcomers were summoned into the land of Akhuras by warring undead factions. Karsa’s master, the elusive Merchant, ferries newcomers east to beacons hoped to return them home. He has secured them passage on the pirate vessel Queen Zanyra of ’Wet Rope’ Caladan Kreil, an associate of Quicksilver Sam.
The Pariah and Zanyra meet at sea, a day’s travel away from Ke-Waihu:
- ■ Characters overhear that Quicksilver Sam seeks to reach the haunted Crossing Seas and ‘settle an old score.’ Long-term ally Caladan Kreil supports his cause.
■ The two vessels make daily supply and crew exchanges by rowboat. The Pariah’s passengers must give the passcode: flaunted like gold to board the Queen Zanyra. Staff of the Queen Zanyra must speak the words before the blind man to access the Pariah. Forget your passcode and fall at the mercy of whoever patrols the decks!
■ Tasks await all passengers: diligently clean and polish decks, climb tall masts to sew torn sails, banish a preposterous number of seagulls, fish, read post or… dubious novels to sailors, count loot, guard the decks, clean cannons or serve as boat lure for shark fishing. Medics and cooks can practise their natural trades, while musicians and entertainers should amuse the crew.
■ By all means, grab thematic garments from crew coffers. Also available: daggers, swords and rare pistols.
■ Characters may notice both ship crews are spirited, but grow weary when Quicksilver Sam fitfully orders his five on-call priests to carry out protection rites, or to ‘exorcise’ evil from random staff — through ineffective bitter potions, shrill chants and requests to sit in unusual luck-incurring poses, or to commit some mundane, repetitive task. Let’s bore the devil away.
■ Treat senior crew with respect: some pirates are equally drunk on rum and fleetingly authority and reward perceived slights with a 24h-stay in the brig. These fine accommodations fit two and annul powers while there. No dinner.
■ Sleep where you can: hammocks and rotting mattresses can be found in great common halls beneath decks. The sick and women (naturally, ill omens at sea) can share the four private cabins of each ship. Sumeragi Subaru has his own cabin aboard the Pariah.
■ Each night, expect drinking beneath the halls and a pirate’s greatest hobby: gambling. Conmen might lure you into an ‘innocent game’ that sinks you deep into debt, winning your valuables, favours, or kidney!
■ Ladies are afforded a wide, begrudging berth and some authority over the crew.
■ Accommodations: fresh potions are readily available to ward off sea sickness, and magically resilient oranges are on hand to counter scurvy. As woe would have it, the long-serving Mr. Ishmael has passed, and his earthly remains have been retained aboard the Pariah for Kaneki Ken. Viktor receives a leashed emotional support albatross — a large, loud but docile bird that flies above him counter-current to balance him, whenever the ship’s sway threatens his footing.
OBJECTIVES
- ■ Discover why good Quicksilver Sam is intent on his haunted travels. The captain declines audiences, but try to get information from the two crews.
■ Please share the information gained via network…!
THAT SON OF A BISCUIT EATER
Trouble starts to brew, within days at sea:
- ■ Be on the lookout while on watch duty: on a handful of occasions, new faces appear aboard. They fail to offer the passcode — and attempt to injure characters, throw them overboard, or to enter the captains’ lodgings. Sound the alarm or seize intruders!
■ After interrogating an infiltrator, Caladan Kreil sends word that the assailants hail from the Concord, a war vessel of the Dawns’ Reach Trade Company that is pursuing the pirate ships at distance under the command of Maximilian Hawk. A credit to his name, Wet Rope Caladan has the spy hanged.
■ Prepare to get drafted for double watch duty, as both Caladan Kreil and Quicksilver Sam bolster defences. Tensions escalate, with pirate crew questioning the loyalties of newer recruits.
■ A few days later, at dawns, the silent, swift and massive Concord approaches close enough to fire its cannons at both ships and send vicious militia to climb aboard. Defend your ship!
■ The Concord withdraws by midday, after lightly damaging its opponents. Help with repairs and enjoy some rum — you’ve survived your first sea scuffle!
MOLLYWICK
Just short of entering the Crossing, where the seas are dark and highly opaque, the Queen Zanyra and Pariah encounter a stretch of vibrant, lushly forested land.
- ■ Both vessels send crew over for a few hours, with captains urging quick incursions. Pair up to collect berries, scant mushrooms and sweet water. Curiously, no animals are found.
■ Veteran sailors say this is the Neverflight isle of myth, where sea kings have buried their treasures. Pirates share legendary coordinates of long lost loot, archived as riddles or poems. Grab a shovel and a-digging you go!
■ …ah, but don’t linger too long. What pranksters your sailor friends are. Within hours of the island’s appearance, the earth beneath your feet crumbles and quakes, and the land starts to sink. Evacuate or call for help to get out of here — as the great white whale Mollywick submerges in the waters with the Neverflight island it carries on its back. Hopefully, you don’t go under with them.
■ If you’ve threaded out a treasure dig, drop a line to receive some especially deplorable loot. You deserve it.
THE CROSSING
The Pariah and Queen Zanyra — frequently chained together to avoid separation — creep into the Crossing : a stretch of eerily silent waters, dark and volatile.
■
- ■ Slowly, a thick, nearly impregnable fog dawns during the day, covering the sun and leaving the skies a desolate slate. Dreadful storms spark at night.
■ Strange, talking carps jump on board, offering to tell you your future. Caution: they only make bad luck readings (request yours) that turn true. They appear wherever their target flees and are exceptionally annoying, until either the moon rises, or you apply the superstitious cure of throwing salt on them.
■ Nightmares haunt you — your own, or glimpsed memories of ships crashing, sinking, falling to storm. Note: only your character suffers these memories/nightmares, but everyone else can experience their exhausted grumpiness, come morning.
■ Be wary, when pairing to cross over to the other pirate ship: you may find another rowboat beside yours, its sailor begging for an oar or ladle. If you give him one, he shovels water into your boat with inhuman speed — desert your vessel and swim quickly to a pirate ship, before undead hands pull you into the sea.
■ While alone on deck, characters might hear sweet, coaxing voices that urge them to walk the plank into the water. Break your brethren from this spell, or watch them fall into the arms of man-eating mermaids.
■ Now and then, the ships are shaken by long, whips of something lashing from the depths.
■ Pirates become increasingly skittish and on edge. Priests perform countless protection rites and exorcisms on both ships.
■ At night, a handful of undead men climb aboard. They lack awareness and are in a clear state of discomposure, looking to catch the living and drown them. With toothless, rotting mouths, some rasp, This is kinder.
■ As you officially enter the Crossing, beams of light erupt in the horizon, showing the distant silhouettes of several ghost ships.
NOTES
no subject
I'm sure others deserve them more than I do.
[ he may not be familiar with the superstitions of the sea, but tenn has seen the wariness given to the women on the boat. he's seen others worse off than him. his fragile constitution is, unfortunately, a constant and something he's been unwilling to work on--- despite his occupation.
tenn pulls himself away from the wall, taking one step... and then immediately crashes back into it. the ship isn't rocking, but he sure is. ]
no subject
And softened, after: )
More of life is chance, than merit. Few are those who deserve what they have. ( Their health, their gold, their fortune. And yet they flaunt such things with formidable impunity. ) You're in the way, my friend. If you swoon.
( Kindly rescue composure, or see yourself in the cabin. )
no subject
and so he breathes. deep in, deep out. ]
... you're not wrong.
[ though, luck is only half of the equation. you get lucky to a point and when that runs out, what's next?
and maybe that thought grounds him further. ]
Thanks. [ not entirely finding his sea legs, but it's a start. ] I don't want to be a burden on you or your shared mission.
no subject
The boy, at least, seems more appraised of what he can achieve here, and Master Kreil spares him a long, patient look, and a step back thereafter. Let him sort himself, then, if he's so strong. )
Isn't a mission, friend. We're just... ( There's a gentle, purred wheezing, like a whistling half-formed. ) Men at sea. Loving the water, aren't you? Much of it to love.
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it's not all pretense. not all hot air and bravado. a quiet confidence. ]
There is, yes.
[ smiling gently, tenn closes his eyes. ]
I believe there is always a path for everyone on it. The sea, that is. It'll take us wherever we need to be.
[ even if it's not as romantic as he imagined it. his shoulders rise and fall with another breath, and then he opens his eyes: ]
Even if it's nowhere in particular.
no subject
( Some might say, exceptionally, poetically romantic in ways that betray a sheltered, peaceful life. Excuse master Caladan's grievance against those who have, in whatever capacity, befriended comfort.
His smile, all honey drip and trickle, at least lingers strong. And he is prone, at least, to companionship — until his voice gains an ounce of steel, and he murmurs: )
But, careful. We don't want us too many thoughts at sea. ( That way lies curiosity. ) It's more agreeable to coexist without too much philosophy.
no subject
I think I get it.
[ know enough, but not too much. don't get lost. it makes sense. but. ]
Is that how you've survived?
no subject
Even now, tame, his hands binds at his lower back and he crosses the deck like a midnight shadow — leisurely, possessed of his own pace. )
Do you think my days should have been numbered, little friend? ( A feline smile, snagged on teeth. White flicker. ) You would not be alone.
no subject
[ though it's not about his physical existence that he refers to, but of one day finding himself no longer at the top of his game. no longer the shining and bright star, an angel on top of a tree... whether it be due to another group or illness overtaking them.
he hates the idea of finality. that's why, as long as he's himself, he'll find a way to be eternal. ]
We can't all live forever.
[ but he will certainly try! ]
no subject
( And there's a wistfulness to it, the edge of silent, romantic intoxication. As if a boy was born with his dream in hand, and now he clutches his fist tight. As if this was known to him before all else. )
They say there is a land at the end of the world, where every flower sleeps in bloom, and every man only knows youth and happiness.
( He will reach that soil, become that man. ) We will sail there.
no subject
I see. [ not to sound skeptical, he keeps his tone gentle and thoughtful. if anything, it should be a perfect place for anyone and everyone. and if this happened to actually exist, who wouldn't want it? ]
Then... I look forward to being there, when we get there.
[ in the end, the conversation has been enough to allow tenn to gather his strength--- and he's silently thankful for that, too. ]
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( Absent, like summer breeze. Here, flickered then dispersed. Like an aftertaste crested against teeth unsharpened.
He smiles, and it curdles something in him. )
This captain has never lost his sail, his direction, or his ship.
( Fine feats for a pirate, but then, no man worth his salt would presume to weaponise such unfortunate vocabulary in the presence of... maritime benefactors. )
no subject
but tenn offers his best smile in return. one that won't immediately retreat once out of sight, in the presumed safety of the room near him. the door, somewhat stiff as he pulls on it, is a way for him to break the silence. ]
Then I'm very fortunate to be here, with you.
[ a moment, then: ]
I'll rest for now, so that I can be helpful to you and everyone else here in some way. Thank you for relieving me of some of my insecurities.