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westwhere2022-08-01 07:33 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2022-08-01 07:33 pm
the mouse house
Welcome to Serthica’s Mouse House — a mini plot roll for recent newcomers, lasting until 11 August. Characters who opted in are in a different physical location but can contact the group at sea through their communicators. You can use the log post below to top level and mingle, or you can make your own logs and posts.
Characters awaken in the dessert, unburied from high sands, recovering in medical tents or drifting towards a caravan. After a day to mend, they are presented to the caravan leader — the Merchant, who provides them translation and communication devices.
He explains they are outsiders who have reached the world of Akhuras, where undead factions wage war with each other and the living. The undead summon otherworldly conscripts, to enslave or weaponise them in the conflict. The Merchant finds and transports such newcomers east, where beacons might return the visitors back to their home worlds. Other otherworldly guests are currently travelling the haunted Crossing Seas — the Merchant offers their names.
The group at sea will reach the beacon-bearing clockwork citadel of Serthica within days. Caravan newcomers are supplied 10,000 coins each, blade weapons and ship passage to the impoverished Mouse House — the underground outskirts of Serthica and home to beggars, smugglers, contrived thief networks and mercenaries. Here, they must complete a set of tasks to wrangle, muscle, thieve or bribe coveted Serthica passport papers for themselves and their incoming comrades. Good luck!
CHEESE FOR THE WHINE
- ■ The Mouse House is the literal industrialised underworld that surrounds Serthica. Coarse and labyrinthine, it has the gargantuan width of a very large vessel (50m). Here and there, crumbled makeshift stone roads show defunct rail tracks underneath. One train still runs in the outmost pathway of the Mouse House, taking daily imported coal shipments from the port to Serthica.
■ Often filthy, dangerous and entirely cavernous, the Mouse House comprises several crammed community homes — ‘rat mounds’ — some small illicit trade and forgery shops, and hideouts for opiate suppliers, slavers and thieves. Sleep lightly and watch your backs.
■ A pathway leads out to the ports. There are no windows, and the stuffy air is unhelped by limited ventilation. A strong scent of sedative incense blooms in the air to keep the criminal population tame(r).
■ Characters are taken in by Ma’am Mariol, the benevolent matronly leader of a ring of orphans who provide courier and espionage services for the various overlords of the Mouse House. Enjoy her hospitality: dried bread, questionable soup and a resting place in her breezy enclosures.
■ Ma’am Mariol looks after 12 valiant urchins. You can enlist their services but expect they’ll want pay.
■ Twice a day, at 6:00 and 18:00, the Mouse House suffers a dull shudder for a few minutes, as if suffering the echoes of a distant, rippling earthquake. Ma’am Mariol shares this is because the two city halves of Serthica are starting to swap places: Eidris comes up in the morning, while Minaras is overground at night. They only meet for one hour during the swap.
✘ PRIME OPPORTUNITY
Win passage into Serthica by completing quests from the list below. Multiple people can tackle the same assignment. Report in by 23:59 GMT on 10 August for your gains.
PLOY & PLUNDER
Highly superstitious gang leader Artemius Bale is holding a festivity to celebrate conquering the territory of former rival Edward Three-Hands . The crème de la crème of the Mouse House’s underworl attends in a bustling, tight space. Despite his recent victory, Artemius remains heavily paranoid and keeps his cronies on guard.
- ■ Steal decent garments and function invitations from attendees to join the party.
■ Ease the pockets of the many criminal merrymakers, while they’re enjoying their fine wine. The more coin you can collect for later bribes, the better.
■ Pass for one of the many séance holders and ‘necromancers’ Artemius Bale has commissioned to entertain his guests. Coax attendees that the dead want them to patron incoming travellers — You may need to pair up and simulate a few ‘haunting’ tricks to persuade them of your great necromantic talent.
■ Why not pull a fast one on old fox Artemius? You could even persuade him he has been cursed by Edward Three-Hands and will fall deathly ill or unable to enjoy his gains if he does not make amends for his wrongdoings… to your benefit.
ALL ABOARD
A time-honoured fixture of Serthica, the single coal train typically enters the Mouse House each day at 11:00 without threat or trouble. Loaded to brim, it brings in fuel and smuggled goods.
Come early morning, Ma’am Mariol’s orphan scouts mention the latest 6:00 shake has toppled large pieces of stone and metallic debris over a segment of the railway. As the train approaches, Serthica officials send word that anyone who
- ■ Grab a shovel. Use it wisely.
■ Careful with the various oversized rats that haunt the filthier depths of the Mouse House — they typically avoid groups of humans, but will jump you if you’re alone.
THE SCRIBE
Serthica’s most skilled forger, Rayssa is returning to the Mouse House after months of imprisonment in the citadel. She brings along decades of experience crafting passport papers — and a wealth of debt collectors who want the coin she owed before her disappearance.
It is widely known she will visit One-Eye Calliope’s tavern as her first point of call, to enjoy a first drink in freedom. Her pursuers will be waiting for her, armed, prickly and ready.
- ■ Win Rayssa’s good will and services by rescuing her from the inevitable bar brawl.
■ Head into her heavily watched quarters in the Mouse House to collect her tools of trade — inks, parchments, pens and stencils.
■ Hold her watch or her hair while a heavily inebriated Rayssa writes up your forged passport papers.
LADY LUCK LOVES YOU
If you’re no fan of honest looting, leave your fate to chance: the Mouse House’s various taverns and gathering places host nightly gambling games, from cards to bone dice, arm wrestling and a local favourite, mouse races.
Pair up to rig the games in your favour, and win coin, passport forgeries, clandestine passage or a crime lord’s patronage. You never know what favour the right name can earn you later!
NPC CONTACT
GAINS
GRAB A FRIEND
no subject
She's not one to judge. Her hands stay clasped behind her while she watches him work. The light that hovers isn't only from the lamp... There are times when she too must look away, but never for long. Vanessa can adjust. Sometimes there's nothing to distract at all, as is the unpredictable nature of her senses. ]
Have you scheduled yourself any time to sleep, I wonder? [ A gentle tease. ] If you are to offer your medical services, how will you go about it? As you say... The state of the city may find you quickly overwhelmed if you don't take a care.
no subject
Sleep will come when there is time to spare for it. I intend to offer my exclusive services to those of the elite who may be more easily persuaded. [After a moment's pause, he looks up.]
Would you be available to perform a demonstration?
no subject
As a patient of yours, you mean? If it would help, then certainly.
[ ooc; So sorry for the delay. Because of the time limit and ~inner panic~, I'm gonna go into boomerang mode when applicable. ]
no subject
Your assistance is very much appreciated, thank you. It is my hope that showing them my medical skill early, there will be less to fake later on when seeking information and funds from them. Without needing someone to be injured or in danger.
[Since the party was meant to be a way of gaining enough for them to use to support the oncoming travelers.]
Did you have any plans of your own?
no subject
If it is to be a séance, then I will play the part I am best suited for and seek the dead. Such things were quite common in London. I'm not fond of using my...abilities for the amusement of others, but these are the most unique of circumstances.
[ Like him, she has to find her own ways to contribute. The morals of the waking world would only hinder Vanessa here. So would the dangers. ]
no subject
Unique indeed. Although, perhaps your skills may be more intriguing than my own to those seeking entertaining and titillation.
[...Still, she was very right in what she was saying. Circumstances had all but urged him soon after arriving to seek out more magical means of achieving his goals. Their goals. But the thought of breaking his moratorium on magic left him feeling vaguely anxious. Just because it was easier didn't mean it was the only option. He could fix lanterns and barter and offer his medical skills and he would not need to slip back into magic, no matter how familiar it all was even after eight years.
He could do this. And to prove it, he finished the lantern and grabbed a match to light it, testing the mechanisms to make sure it was working properly again.]
no subject
[ He probably doesn't need her help in acquiring patients, but his suggestion will speed things along, no doubt. She supposes she can play well enough at being sick. They'll need to arrive separately, then, to avoid suspicion.
For now, she'll lift her hands and offer the tiniest of claps when the lamp lights up. It's incredibly dim next to him, though. Her eyes are adjusting.
Medical skills aren't his only draw. He'll be incredibly useful. ]
You have talent abound. I will do my best not to let you down. How should you wish to play it, then? An illness to be cured? So long as you can do so in truth when the afflicted do seek you out.
no subject
[They do not know if this group, being rich and lavish and less than reputable would care more for the enjoyment or their health. He gives a very crooked half-smile at her applause.]
Thank you, but it is merely being taught how to make use of items we have. My family firmly believed in repair and reuse over simply buying new items when thinks broke. As for our...method. I was hoping a false possession could lead to a "diagnosis" of sorts that could be attributed to someone within the crowd.
no subject
It seems an extreme measure. What sort of doctor are you? ...An alienist?
[ She should have asked him to specify sooner. A mental doctor is...quite another thing entirely, and Vanessa is now hesitant to play the role she so eagerly offered. Oh, she can lie... She doesn't like it, but she can. To lie about being mad? Possessed? It strikes too many nerves; they are all on fire. Instinctively, she has recoiled, now a few steps back and watching him with a careful eye. ]
no subject
A medical doctor. I am hoping to seek specializations in pediatric oncology and surgery. Ah...a doctor for child illnesses.
[He hopes that makes more sense.]
I did not realize it would be extreme as you were already intending to perform séances.
[His mother--and grandmother--had performed more than one in his life, as a spirit-channeler. Allowing spirits to speak through you with the potential side effects was not unusual. It was a tradition so ingrained that it wasn't treated as negatively as other forms of magic.]
no subject
It is not the same... I did not plan to feign possession. I need not fabricate the details I learn about them. Their memories are ghosts enough, so the séance would be for true. Drawn out, at the most, when pieces are sparse.
[ Though she had been prepared to lie about what she was, where she came from, and what her purpose was to those folks, she hadn't intended to lie about their ghosts. ...Exaggerate, perhaps... She walks a fine line in pretending there's much of a difference. But it's another matter entirely to pretend to be possessed by the dead. It sours her stomach to even think on it. ]
Is there no other...ailment that would better suit your purpose?
no subject
I am sorry, as you're clearly uncomfortable with that suggestion. I am more accustom to such things. Reality and entertainment is blurred in this regard where I am from. Any ailments would be reasonable, in all likelihood as long as it is believable.
no subject
No, you have...nothing to be sorry for. Such things are used for entertainment where I come from, as well. Only...possession can be so difficult to distinguish from madness, you see.
[ Perhaps he doesn't, and she doesn't wish to expose herself further by explaining. Having a doctor 'cure' her of madness in a public space is too horrid to think on. She can still hope for a solution, but she hates having to think up more lies to offer the public. This is going to be a long week, and she will have to repent for much by the end of it. ]
Is there anything else that may apply? Fever and a cough are easy to feign. But, you know your specialties best.
[ Acting dizzy ought to be no issue as light-headed and weak as she already feels having abstained from food and drink for so long. ]
no subject
[The very thought makes him tense and unhappy.]
We can use much simpler effects, or ones that are hard to prove. Blurred vision, headaches, chest pains and the like.
no subject
Nodding along to his further suggestions, Vanessa is a little more comfortable in acting like she has a headache. It won't be much of an act by the time it comes to perform, in fact.
It's clear that she isn't the only one unhappy about all this deception. Though she often shrouds herself in mystery, that is different than lying to someone's face. Still, some good should come of this, and Vanessa is one to appreciate that some things are a means to an end. ]
...You hate this, don't you? Do you fear spiritual repercussions?
no subject
In some ways, yes. If actual spirits are present, then offending them may cause more harm than good for the situation.
[That is always something to keep in mind. And taking into account the potential reactions of their intended audience...yes, it was always better to be cautious.]
But even so...I worry more for the deceptive nature of it. I acknowledge the usefulness and the necessity, but I am not...skilled in this. I am a terrible liar, honestly. I fair far better when as much fact or illusion of fact used.
no subject
Her smile is sympathetic. ]
The best lies have traces of truth in them, I find. Pull from a place of sincerity, and you may be surprised what you are capable of. Penance may come when we find more forgiving ground to kneel and pray. Until then, we must hold one another steady.
[ ooc; Sorry for the late, RL got in the way! If you want to handwave the rest, lmk. ]
no subject
I look forward to working with you. [He only hopes he can keep up the charade enough to get what they need.]
{OOC: It's cool! We can just handwave them planning and agreeing when to meet?}
no subject
[ Of course, he still makes her uneasy, but her sight seems to have adjusted well enough, and it is no longer so blinding. It will be better to get to know him and unravel the mystery. Perhaps more will be revealed at the party. ]
Until then.
[ She nods politely before moving on, leaving him to his project at the moment. She has others to learn about. ]
[ ooc; That sounds lovely to me! ]