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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
But there's irritable, and then there's... whatever this overreaction is. The needle is small and gets nowhere near the person below, and for a moment he thinks that all the yelling and shouting can't possibly be aimed at him.
But no, they're clearly looking up at him. No one else mending sails at the moment, so he can't possibly be addressing anyone else.
Jim just stares dumbly for a couple of seconds, trailing off after that tirade with a slow 'uhhh'. ]
Sorry? [ Like what the hell is he going to say? ] Did that get you?
no subject
Well. Even the most shameless man, can only summon so much righteous indignation once met with clear-cut reason. Really, it dampens Shi Qingxuan's efforts, mouth souring soft, quivering, and transitioning in the span of three heartbeats through eight shades of personal, public and existential frustration.
Then, once his nails have embedded nigh-permanent marks on the inside of his palms, he finally rights himself enough to say: )
It's the THOUGHT that COUNTS!!!! Aren't you SKILLED? Shouldn't you be MORE CAREFUL? What a wretched fate it would be, is THIS how you want me to DIE?
( Assuming this fine gentleman dedicates his life and its purpose to Shi Qingxuan, and Shi Qinxuan alone. As one does. )
no subject
[ He huffs, starting to get just a little irritated by this guy blowing all of this extremely out of proportion. He starts to climb down from his perch, so he can gather the sail and bring it back up to try again. ]
And for the record, I am not skilled. I'm doing what I was told to do, which I'm doing in hopes of helping everyone on board. Sorry if a falling sail that didn't even touch you and a needle that landed ten meters away from you offended you this much.
no subject
A wet deck, dangers that stormed but never struck him, the grievous cacophony of sound behind him. He's tired, too tired. Wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, then uttering: )
What's the POINT of all this, anyway? Aha... if we're not A LEARNED CREW, aren't we just fumbling to the BEST of our abilities and BEING INCONVENIENT?
no subject
[ He stumbles over the torn edge of the sail, swiftly regaining balance as he picks it up from the ground with a muttered curse. ]
Anyway, if you're so much more learned than I am, why aren't you up there mending the sails? Or is yelling at random people you don't know the task you were assigned to do?
no subject
( But there's a flush that erupts on his cheeks, the start of well-earned, cautious self-awareness. Perhaps screaming his lungs out at a helpless stranger who has likely offended his hands far more on this day than he has Shi Qingxuan is... not the most generous use of his time.
In the end, he hasn't suffered. Hasn't been hurt. Hasn't bled. Is spared even the inklings of such a notion, because the gentleman has stepped forward and rescued his sail, his needle and, against all odds, his reputation.
Fine. So maybe Shi Qingxuan can pout, slips his gaze each way, clasp his hands at his back and declare, finally: )
They don't THINK I can DO anything, can you imagine???
( This is likely not the compliment he thinks it is. )
no subject
[ Like what, taking it out on him makes any of this better. Jim gets it's a stressful situation, but honestly. Not his fault, and he damn well isn't gonna take this guy being rude to him just because.
He's silent at that question, actually looking him up and down with purpose. Then, he purses his lips and shrugs. ]
Actually, yes, I can easily imagine.
[ Yeah definitely not a compliment. ]
no subject
He is, for a moment, a furious beacon inviting just this brand of insect-born attention. Huffing. Puffing. Blinking away stupor. Tirelessly, but finally deciding: )
It's GOOD to be a man with SO MUCH imagination, but won't it make it hard to sleep at night? You'll see, you'll SEE, nightmares will keep you UP all the time!
( That's right, Shi Qingxuan has definitely just shown him up for this great injustice, with power of rhetoric alone. How shrewdly done, how efficient, he! )
no subject
Tell me something. Do you get extra credits for being a total asshole?
[ He's being PETTY and also totally winning this argument. ]