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hale and whole

HALE AND WHOLE

BEHIND YOU | MAGICAL SERIES OF EVENTS | THE SCENIC SCIENCE ROUTE | SPREAD YOUR JOY

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Talismans burned, Serthica’s undeath reveals itself:

■ The dragon eye allows indefinite access to the undeath-sight pendant feature. Use it 15 minutes at a time, with a 45-minute cooldown.

■ Those who delivered talismans or the eye have residual immunity: they cannot be sensed by mannequins or by undead linked to the curse-sickness. This is transferrable once.

The Merchant presents the Serthica findings, recommending evacuation. Outvoted, he agrees to sponsor the group until the beacon’s annual start-up. To heal Serthica, the party must destroy the magical anchors of the curse-sickness, develop its science/herbal cure, then distribute it across the overground citadels.

BEHIND YOU

Courtesy of Five Hargreeves, the Child of the Unwinding you slayed his father, the undead lord Beastmaster. The burlap mannequins released from Remembrance actively hunt you.

■ They are constantly watching, stalking, hunting. You always hear the deep asynchrony of their footsteps. Some mannequins bear an uncanny human likeness: staring extensively chills you.

■ Most mannequins cover up in excess clothing and swarm you in crowded spaces to stab. They borrow your appearance, if they touch you. Some devolve into eldritch forms, mimicking voices or puppeteering husked corpses to lure you.

■ Each mannequin has a one-word code on its nape or right calf — once spoken, the creature glitches, letting you run.

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A MAGICAL SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

The corrosive magic that spreads throughout Serthica is anchored in two areas: a port dock and a former Mouse House shelter. Cleanse it through exorcism, purification, healing spells, or by planting wards borrowed from Karsa.

This magic feels hot, asphyxiating, aggressively proliferating, intrusive. Uncontained, it gradually feeds off your power. It might drive you to anger, bitterness, doubt or violence.

To Arc III survivors, it feels like the overwhelming power native to the Ke-Sanwon volcano (not dark water).

■ Once you’ve destroyed both magical anchors, inhuman-looking mannequins deactivate. Human-presenting ones seem sluggish and inattentive.

■ Finn’s mannequin remains alive when supplied life or magical force (think 5% of someone’s reserves) — either through weekly transfers or a rewiring of the magic that sustains her (by a party magic user, or Finn can learn the skills in later travel.)

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✘ WET OF THE DOCK'S WET

At first, locals don’t remember the putrid inactive dock exists as a distant extension of Serthica’s port, located past a familiar deserted marketplace. Here, rotten wood, a stench of perpetual moulding, torn ropes and rusted chains.

■ Thinking extensively about the dock before finding it incurs nausea, vertigo and the animal instinct to flee.

■ Persist, and you learn this dock was once used to smuggle in illegal arrivals from Ke-Waihu. Later, it loaded the bodies of the plagued that were burned at sea.

■ Rotten wood planks can break, dropping you into paralysing waters. The dead might reach out from the depths to drag you in.

■ You hear alluring, wind-born whispers of, How chilly it is, while the cold abruptly intensifies, and, It’s warm in the waters.. Won’t you… jump in?

■ Ships no longer call here — yet a small boat stops for you. You might feel compelled or curious to join the lone passenger — a man in white, whose features you forget after. As the boat drifts, attracting the swimming undead that seek to climb in, the man offers safe return, if you answer: What do you most want? Where would you stop to obtain it? Lie, and the boat capsizes, leaving you to swim back amid undead. Answer honestly to return unharmed.

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✘ (UN)SHELTERED

Visit the impoverished, underground Mouse House and avoid breathing in the thick, memory clouding sedative infusions. The grandiose shelter is familiar, its recalling the ruined mansion of the Unwinding. Locals say the house — which preceded Ma’am Mariol’s shelter as an orphanage — is haunted. The coal sickness spread overground after a child was adopted from here.

■ Spirits jump to throttle you or trip you down stairs, throw knives or lock you in claustrophobic rooms. Stair steps, window sills and roof beams readily collapse.

■ The last entries of house logs, found open on a library desk, mention seven freshly arrived children — six native to the Mouse House, including Gavroche, and one heavily burned boy from Ke-Waihu.

■ The ghosts of orphanage caretakers are enjoying a tea party. They ask if you are a servant or a guest. Answer ‘servant,’ and you must pour tea, as attendants stab you with cutlery when you’re within reach. You are dismissed once you finish pouring. Answer ‘guest’, and you must join them at the table and perform whatever they ask: slap yourself, dress up as a doll, answer inconvenient questions, etc. You can leave once someone else has poured tea.

■ Find the dark magic source in the house greenhouse that has been overrun by ruinous mould. While physically unharmed, you feel overcome by crippling fear, loneliness, abandonment or futility. Talking about it helps soothe it.

THE SCENIC SCIENCE ROUTE

The science-based cure requires retrieving resources and researching an answer. Godspeed.

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✘ THE SEED & THE STORM

The Unwinding revealed strands of juniper and rosemary that cure the sickness. Cain d’Ubiq confirms quantities of each plant remain cryogenically intact aboard the Serthica Aerial Healing Unit ships that were caught in the crossfire of the Sibilant Sands, when Eidris and Minaras fought their last battle. Find the vessels to retrieve the goods.

■ Take your transport flier or one of Cain d’Ubiq’s martial, fire-breathing dragons to traverse the Sibilant Sands, roughly one day’s flight each way of Serthica. Expect a hard ride, amid the growing howl of winds whipping your face and the accelerating pulse of a breaking storm.

■ Martial dragons challenge inexperienced riders, but fly sturdily through intermittent sandstorms and whirlwinds.

■ The ships can be found near dragon bones and human skeletons, in stages of burial or disrepair, stranded between rocks, or threatening to collapse once rattled.

■ Beware serpentine barbed wire animated by dark water, which jumps up from the sands. Just as vile are buried vermin-like creatures that send their razor-blade-ended tentacles to strike out from below ground.

■ Members of protest group Remembrance are also unearthing ships. They plan to board mannequins on the vessels, pass them as Minaraian and attack Eidris once more.

■ Their volatile leader Chrichter is personally fixing a ship.

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✘ THINK, TANK

Time to liberate a lab. Minaras’ foremost medical unit is the Conclave Healing Academy, comprising research labs, libraries, equipment rooms and sample collections, including some of the coal sickness.

■ The Academy connects to the centre that treatsZenobius and brims with healing apprentices. Bring juniper and rosemary samples, pose as a bright-eyed novice healer or a concerned relative of Zenobius, or barge in.

■ The Academy is cold, sterile, clean and swarmed by practising medics and academicians. Some even debate resurrection and immortality. Access is barred below, where you can hear occasional, sharp… growls.

■ Several basement laboratories are marked to study the coal sickness. Steal the entry codes from guards or tease them from a lowly medical intern — but don’t linger on the corridors long. Large clockwork hounds patrol and are attracted to sweat, a heightened or rapid pulse, shortness of breath or other biological signs of fear.

■ Take over a lab to concoct a cure elixir from the herbal strands. Test it against the coal sickness samples. Work safely, or the start of a blood cough might announce you’ve taken sick.

■ Hold the fort until your cure’s done, while guards and hounds try to enter your lab through air vents, windows or ram the door. Fight back, distract them or persuade the Academy protective droids they’re the enemy.

■ Anyone affected with the sickness can drink the cure without waiting to destroy the magical anchors. Symptoms fully disappear within 24-72h. Characters remain sensitive to the un/dead.

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SPREAD YOUR JOY

Mass-production time: take over the former underground Remembrance headquarters, one of Cain d’Ubiq’s factories, or make potions in your back yard. The cure can be drunk or absorbed through skin and must be spread overground.

You can pursue your own ideas, but some suggestions on the house:

■ Take your dragon or hijack a Minaras airship and a diffuser to spray down an incense mix that contains the cure. Minaras airships sleep in secured bays you’ll have to infiltrate. Careful taking a dragon into Minaras or an airship to Eidris — local authorities may perceive this as a security breach.

■ Reprogram or con hapless droids to feed the cure as ‘novel vitamins’ to their owners.

■ Commandeer the Mouse House train that ferries supplies from the Serthica ports and spray the cure on produce and grains.

■ Minaras High Councillor Arabella has been previously targeted by Remembrance and could be subtly persuaded to help by her rescuers.

■ Vanessa’s contact, crime boss Artemius Bale, might also have his people sneak the cure into waterways — if you cut a deal.

■ …lemonade stand?

NOTES:

■ We need one finished thread of breaking the anchors and supplying, making and distributing the cure to get the Very Best Ending, but there are multiple other finale options too — link your threads by 29 November!

■ Thanks to Finn and the Doctor’s efforts to help Ma’am Mariol’s orphanage, enjoy tips, information and help with legwork from her street-smart urchins.

■ You can ask for Artemius Bale & others here or at the NPC inbox!

■ BACK TO THE TOP.

QUESTIONS

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( Red snorts in quiet amusement at that, folding her arms loosely across her chest after Clara has taken the ward in her own and then stepped forward with it to place it in its spot. It seems to be good then. She glances around her to see how the spirits are doing.

Maybe that was enough? Or maybe the Green House is required for warding too. She frowns but looks to Clara. )

...uh, so that question you were asked when I first arrived that's like... normal tea time conversation? Because that.. does not sound like relaxing time with tea to me. ( Her expression shifts to one that's a bit apologetic. )

I'm sorry I overheard something you were forced to say.

( It's really terrible this place drew it from her without her permission, made her talk about something so painful. ) ...oh, shit, sorry, you said to skip past that part.

[ The spirits seem angry, and she gets the sense if they linger, they'll be pulled back in. The displeasure can be felt in the air like an undercurrent of electricity, but the feeling of magic, the darkness of it hasn't gone away. To the greenhouse, they'll likely have to go.

When Red apologizes, Clara waves a hand in front of her — not needed. ]

It's alright. Honestly, the questions can get weirdly personal but never like that. More along the lines of when will you finally settle down, Clara? Thank you, though. Haven't really let myself think about feeling that way in a while. But if anyone had to overhear it, I'm glad it was you.

[ Someone she already knows and feels like she can trust.

Before she can express as much, there comes a wail so haunting that she can only think of pain. She feels a rush of air move between her and Red, then the doors to the greenhouse fly open hard enough to hit the wall behind them. They bang shut again and Clara turns to look at Red. ]

It was too much to hope we wouldn't have to go in there.

( Red offers her a soft smile at that, grateful that she at least is a better option than others even if she doesn't know if she deserves that. The Tower has kind of messed her up though so maybe that's just her brain being angry and twisted up about everything.

She keeps close to Clara, turning, moving to the greenhouse. She grimaces, pulling the ward out, clutching hold of it as her jaw locks tightly, understanding Clara is like the Doctor in the sense that she won't leave her here.

Even if Red says she can do this herself so they don't have to be fucked up by whatever's in this place, Clara won't, and she feels relief at the knowing. )

It's going to... be worse than the tea party. ( It's her turn to reach for Clara's hand then. ) But we get the fuck in there, find the worst of it, and run out again, okay?

[ Once they're outside the doors, Clara looks at Red and takes a deep breath, letting it out. She can feel the heavy oppressiveness of the darkness and nods in determined agreement. ]

A lot of this seems like it's been mental. Mostly. Whatever happens in your head just keep my voice there too. It's not fucking real. You're perfect and you're my friend, don't let this place mess with you.

[ She pushes open the door and looks around, picking up the closest thing she could use as a weapon if needed, a long shovel with a broken edge. ]

( Red meets her gaze, breathes in, and then releases that breath too in tandem with Clara's. Perfect? That's hard to wrap her head around, but it does remind her of the Doctor in how complimentary they both can be. )

You're brave as hell, and this place isn't prepared for the likes of you.

( And they've got this. Her arm tightens over the ward again, and inside she steps. Then the dark magic does its work, and seconds later loneliness and abandonment slams into her in equal measure. This place won't last. It can't last. Everyone she knows here - her first friends ever will be gone like Fei. It's the truth, but the green house is making it so much worse. Her eyes burn. )

...Fuck. ( She looks worriedly to Clara. )

[ This place got the better of her in the tower, but she ignores that and manages a small smile before they go inside. That smile fades as quickly as it came. It's almost as if there's a physical presence here, with them. She knows that if the magic can wrap around the Doctor's mind, none of them stand a chance. She can talk him down sometimes, but could she always?

He's already gone, she's lost him once. She could lose him for good in this place and then she'd have no one. And what about the other friends she's made? What good is she to them, normal, human Clara with no abilities, no magic? Always needing to be saved. As much as she knows she should trust her own words from before, it's difficult to do. It's only when Red speaks that she's pulled out of the deepest part of her fear and loneliness. When she speaks, it's one word, and it cracks a bit. ]

Magic.

[ It's easier to infiltrate their minds than she thought, but they can do this together. Reaching out for her free hand again, Clara will grip it tightly if Red lets her. ]

I've got you. We've got each other. Red, we can do this, I promise.

[ The words leave her mouth and a shrill, angry shriek pierces the air before Clara feels herself torn away from Red's side, hitting a table behind her with such force that she topples it over, going down with it. ]

( Red tightens her grip on Clara's hand when she takes it, gripping hold of her. These emotions are so strong, but unfortunately, they play right into the worries the Tower created inside of her. Her eyes are still burning, but she is focused until the angry shriek pierces the air, and Clara is ripped away from her into a table. )

Clara!

( She drops the ward right there in the middle of the greenhouse without a second thought. They're far enough into the Green House now it should do its job, and she's not concerned with it anyway, running around the table on the other side. The overwhelming loneliness still crushing her chest. Her hackles have risen again, protectively, but there's nothing physical to tear apart. She reaches for her again, searching for any injury or- )

Are you okay?

Edited 2022-11-26 17:55 (UTC)

[ She's more dazed than anything else, the wind knocked out of her. For a few seconds she doesn't move. Again, useless. ]

I'm okay, I think. [ Her hands reach out again, but this time for help standing. ] If it's trying to pull us apart, then we're doing something right. Right?

[ She's so unsure. Maybe if they set the ward together, but Clara doubts herself. She doesn't even voice her new thought aloud because she's not had any ideas to help anyone since she arrived. To top it off, she voted for this mental manipulation they're all being forced to endure. They're here because she voted to say. ]

It didn't work. Can you feel that? It's still—shite!

( Red takes hold of her hand to help her up, but then keeps hold of it, tugging her back to where she'd dropped the ward. Her throat locks with emotion. Her eyes still burn. The touch centers her, but it's- it's also a reminder of what she never really had for so long that she forgot to yearn for it, to ache for it. It wasn't meant for her.

None of this is. )

Yeah, yeah, I feel it, but maybe you're right? It was trying to pull us apart.

Maybe we have to find some place to put it too. Toward the back? Fuck if it would be this easy. ( She reaches for the ward, eyeing the back of the greenhouse where the dark magic is the strongest. ) What's it feel like to you?

[ Clara's eyes dart around the greenhouse; there's a perfect little clearing, where dead roots have formed a small circle, curling in on themselves. What's it feel like to you? Swallowing heavily, she blinks away her blurry vision, pushing it all back. ]

I'm gonna get people killed. I'm not uself, not to anyone here. I keep having to be saved me—the Doctor's saved me more than once. [ Wangji too, but she doesn't know if Red knows him. ] I'm gonna get him killed because he can't stop trying to protect me. I can't protect him, you, or anyone else in this place. No magic, no fighting abilities. There's just...nothing.

[ Her chest finally heaves with the effort not to cry and she can't stop the few tears that drop. ]

What about you? God I hope it's better than me.

[ As she speaks, she points to the small area, the dark roots now void of any life-giving essence. ]

You helped me with the ghosts. You are helping me here in the Greenhouse. Not everything's about how fucking magical or powerful you are. Sometimes you need someone to have the right words, the right ideas. You're helpful. I wouldn't want anyone else here with me now, okay?

( Then she pauses at the question, turning to look at where Clara has pointed and then nodding. Tears well in her own eyes, but she's been honest, and so Red will be too even if it's hard. Articulating things is so fucking hard. )

...Loneliness. I've always been alone since I was created until I ended up here. I didn't even know I- ( a tear slips down her own face, and she tugs Clara with her toward that small area. ) didn't even know I wanted connection until I ended up here.

( And here is not going to last.

She shoves it into the spot, and the greenhouse shifts in turn. The dark magic recedes, and the air itself feels clearer. )

[ Red is right, her words thawing out the icy dread that was attempting to settle over her heart. Walking right beside her, she squeezes her hand tightly, listening. ]

You don't know what you don't know.

[ She says it softly as she walks, squeezing Red's hand again, a firmer squeeze. Once the ward is settled, her breath leaves her, and Clara closes her eyes, feeling an anvil lift from her chest. ]

Fuck, I think we did it. Jesus Christ. [ Wetting her lips, she gives herself a second before a soft gaze finds Red's again. She gives a quiet c'mon, tugging her out of the greenhouse and away from the house in general. ]

For the record, as long as we're all here, you aren't alone. I know after we get to the beacon— [ Reaching out tentatively, she pulls Red into a hug, giving her enough room to pull away if she wants to. ]

If there's a way, we'll find you. [ Her and the Doctor. ]

( Red's eyes burn when she's brought into that hug, and they're far away from the greenhouse and the house too. It takes her a moment or two, but then she lifts her arms up to wrap them around her in turn. She's started to learn of the strength and power of- of hugging someone else. She didn't know how much she could yearn for that either, because she had her first during the Unwinding, and ever since, she really appreciates how a hug feels like being all wrapped up in warmth, in not-aloneness.

But it feels really good. It does. Her face buries in Clara's shoulder before she mumbles there and realizes she's mumbling. )

You forget. I know people who've gone through the beacon, and when they go to their world, they forget all about this place.

( She appreciates the thought though. the Doctor has essentially told her the same, but she knows it's all-

It's impossible. )

...but thank you for saying so. The Doctor's said the same - the TARDIS would show up, and yeah. It's not possible. I get that. I- ( She pulls back to look at Clara with tears in her eyes. )

[ She'd been able to push away the thoughts brought on by the magic in the house, she'd dealt with the feelings of uselessness and loneliness like a champ — with Red's help. But it's this, two words and then a string of them all in a row that make Clara finally stumble. When Red pulls back, she isn't the only one with tears in her eyes. ]

We forget?

[ Her voice catches and she stares at Red unblinking, until a tear finally slips down the apple of her cheek. ]

I'm—I'll forget all the extra time I've had with the Doctor?

[ That was the only thing that made any of this worth it. She hated being in Serthica until she realized it was time with him. Extra time to make memories to take back with her, fortification to help that new face through the regeneration process. Time to say all of the things she should've and never did because she'd been too afraid before. Again, she'd had a little bit of happiness after an ocean of grief, and once more, the tide has come back in. ]

So I'll lose him all over again.

[ Clara's voice is flat, already trying to put this information in a box with all the rest of her sadness. ]

( Red swallows as she sees the realization hit Clara - maybe she shouldn't have said, but she would have learned at some point. There aren't a lot of people in the group who have been through the beacon and then spat back here, but there are a handful of them. Still her heart aches, knowing how much loss Clara expressed to her that first time they talked - all she struggled and wrestled with, how hard she fought to find the Doctor again.

Her head ducks, red hair drifting in front of her face. )

...I'm sorry.

It might not be that way for everyone - just what happened to someone I know before they ended up back here again, and the Doctor thinks the TARDIS will find him here then I bet it- it wouldn't be like that.

( It would be like whatever a trip with that blue box is actually like. No mention of memory loss any time the Doctor or Clara has talked about their adventures at least not where the TARDIS is concerned. )

You don't have to apologize for anything. I think you're right, that's all. Someone told me he was here before, but the Doctor would've said it. I think he would've told me if he had been, which means he doesn't remember. I didn't—I forgot until just now, can't even remember who told me anymore.

[ It's too much, and she reaches out for Red again to hug her tightly since it seemed okay the first time. Before letting go, she murmurs quietly. ]

I'm glad I know. Even if it feels absolutely shitty, we can share that together, at least. And I don't think anything can every really be forgotten anyway. How people've made you feel, I think that stays in your bones.

( Red softens even as she sinks into the hug, understanding Clara means what she says. God, hugs really are amazing though, wonderful really. She would have found out one way or another - already did. Red didn't know the Doctor was here before. Her arms tighten around her, and she swallows through the emotion of it, pulling back slow.

She clears her throat. Her hand rests on Clara's arm. )

...so how've you been since we last like talked? I know the Tower was shittier than the Unwinding even.

( almost impressively shittier. )

[ Hugs are, verifiably, an amazing comfort. Clara's always been tactile; touch grounds her, makes her feel less like she isn't endlessly falling. Meeting Red's gaze once they pull back, she lets out a soft breath. ]

Somehow, I needed saving again. Twice. Please say you did better than me.

[ Clara remembers the Doctor insisting he had to go back inside. She'd wanted to tell him not to, that he couldn't go back. She hadn't because her friends were in there too. He'd run back into the tower, and she remembers seeing him later, limping; now Clara wonders if Red saw him inside—she asked the Doctor what happened, and he'd artfully avoided the topic. ]

I think that's what the Tower was all about - everyone needed saving at some point, y'know?

( Red doesn't know that she could count the number of times she had to be saved or she was able to save someone else. Her time in the Labyrinth especially is a blur that's difficult to piece together. )

Including me, but I don't know how much or- ( She shrugs and swallows, loosely folding her arms across her chest. ) It was all shit.

Everything about it. [ There's an easy agreement. ]

Listen, if you ever need anything, even if it's not Serthica related, I'm around. As long as I'm here—and I know I can't promise anything—but as long as I'm here, you've got me.

[ Clara gives Red a soft smile, small but warm and reaching her eyes. ]

( Red lifts her gaze toward Clara. She's still not entirely used to this - the kindness of the people in their group along with their bravery, their recklessness. She can tell she means it though. )

Yeah. Same here.

If you ever need anything...

( She'd do what she can. ) For now we should probably get out of this gas and shit, huh? ( Cause as far as she knows the Mouse House area is still getting that gas. Gotta love Serthica. )

[ Clara smiles a little bit more at Red, enough that her dimples show. ]

Let's go. Before the Doctor sends out a search and rescue for me. He hates that I dare to help. Be careful, he'll start getting fussy over you too, if he hasn't already.

[ She'll walk with Red until they each need to go their separate ways. ]

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