sand in your eyes

[groundrules]

And onwards, through the cursed desert. The mini-journey Arc covers 6-21 January and doubles as a test drive meme. Participants do not need an invite to apply this round. Have fun!

SAND IN YOUR EYES

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TEST DRIVE TOURISTS | ONE SAND WASHES THE OTHER
A HOUSE UNITED WILL SAND | SOILMATES | A PYRAMID SCHEME

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A SANDING OVATION

Sand in your eyes, down your throat, stifling. You wake half-buried in high dunes, crawling towards helping hands. Thirst vanquishes you.

You are quickly offered a translation and communication pendant and introduced to the leader of the caravan that saved you — good Mazyar, who thanks the stars for your most incredible luck to be rescued by his generous and humble self. For he is not a man for idle praise, but he has sold salt to salt makers, he was courted by seven of the five great trade guilds and brought peace to the Stairs of Sighs…

Mazyar reveals you are in Akhuras, where undead lieges seek to weaponise you in their war for dominion. Mazyar’s good but less successful friend, the elusive Merchant ferries otherworlders east, where ancient beacons can transport them home.

Retire for now and regain your strength. Come morning, further otherworlders will arrive from Serthica — and your journey may begin.

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ONE SAND WASHES THE OTHER

The veteran party reunites with newcomers in the desert, and with the merchant Mazyar — who once guided them through the Stairs of Sighs. His caravan is protected by the Scavengers —deathly a tribe of hardened desert raiders. They bring water flasks, supplies, cooling suits and tents to share. Their snail-like carriage mounts can transport the weak.

You are bound for the seized citadel of Alem, swarmed on each side by undead battalions. To access it, you must obtain one of the enormous sand worms that trawl the deserts, which can be deployed to create underground passageways.

The Scavengers will lead the caravan through haunted dunes, the worms’ traditional hunting grounds and temple-fortress Uruksithar.

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A HOUSE UNITED WILL SAND

The group first reaches the Valley of Unchaining, bordered by high cliffs and fang-like stones. Here and there, discover bloodied footprints, half-buried shackles and red chains. You might even stumble upon an eroded tombstone inscribed, H R SL EP THE UNCH IN D. At its feet are dulled dagger blades and rough calcar stone.

COULD DIE FROM LAUGHTER

You fool, never eat alone. Happen by the camp’s outskirts with your dinner, and you might glimpse the silhouettes of starved desert hyenas, their eyes glistening green. They will come close if you bear raw meat or bleeding wounds.

■ Scavengers say, if you see the hyenas, throw them food or a cloth drenched in fresh blood, then run without looking back until you no longer hear their cruel cries.

■ Some hyenas mimic rasped human voices, begging help or calling your name. One feeble hyena wears a chain of red shackles around its neck.

■ If you look back while chased, you find the green stare of the hyenas fixed upon you. You are gradually overcome by starvation, violence and the urge to dismember prey and feast on raw flesh. Player’s choice on whether characters can resist this compulsion, which disappears at dawns, or if they taste blood.

■ Scavengers will deny you entrance into the camp if you appear possessed in this way.

SANDIMENTAL VALUE

You walk the Valley, Scavengers say, and Mother Death walks with you. A once handsome crone might appear beside you, bare-footed and dressed in clean linens. She remains silent unless spoken to and flinches if you move suddenly, as if she fears being struck.

■ Treat the Crone kindly, and she entrusts you with a small pouch holding a fraction of her ashes, which she wants scattered from the hills.

■ Use rope and climbing hooks and take cover behind stone formations. Beware the violent sand whirlwinds that batter the cliffs, threatening to plunge you down or choke you with sand.

■ If you succeed, the Crone appears to watch her scattering ashes and bless you with good luck for the rest of your journey. Your kindness, she says, reminds her of her daughter.

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SOILMATES

The three-day walk to Uruksithar traverses the sand worms’ hunting grounds, where dunes shift periodically in sharp, tectonic waves. Watch your step and don’t be surprised if your tent sinks at night.

■ The Scavengers organise daily reconnaissance parties in the desert hills. Stay with them to unbury dune treasures.

■ The brave & brazen can try to catch sand worms. The massive creatures erupt overground periodically, catching prey in their large mouths, or crushing it beneath their heft as they plunge in the depths — creating large sinkholes in the process.

■ On its back, each sand worm has a few darker scales that draw the shape of a rune. To tame a sand worm, you must find its rune, then write the symbol on the worm’s back using blood from your hands. Report your catch by 23:59 on 17 January!

■ The sand worm bonds with you for three weeks until the next full moonrise, or until you draw the same rune on your cut hand.

■ Those who secure a sand worm find it grudgingly follows them underground for the rest of the journey. The creature can only be steered or ridden.

■ Some sand worms are vicious, old and sufficiently magical to retaliate by taking the link over and forcing their bonded humans to experience their lives — briefly sensitive to light and strong sounds, or unable to speak. Some might experience mild fevers. All symptoms disappear when the bond breaks.

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A PYRAMID SCHEME

At last, welcome to Uruksithar, former jewel of the desert — now reduced to rusted gates and tattered walls of wind-lashed stone.

The abandoned palace-fortress features a row of minor temples and barren gardens that surround a great, ruinous pit. The state of residential furnishings suggests the grounds were lived mere years prior. Walk north to find a a large pool of thickened black water that exudes a cold, unsettling presence. Veteran party members know what to expect.

Nail scratches on some temple walls read, we, who did not sleep or i ask the wind to grieve our chains. By the pit, a stone plate helpfully says, drop by drop, even base water turns to poison.

The Scavengers disperse to raid the temples, advising you to carry water everywhere. One raider mentions that the local Temple of Ra’esh stores silver waters that can woo sand worms.

OCTOPUS PRIME

Uruksithar’s great gong strikes every two hours, to groans and shudders from the abyssal pit. Scavengers immediately take cover behind walls, bind themselves to columns or rush into crumbling residences.

■ For five minutes, as the gong sounds a pathetic dirge, a bouquet of tentacles erupts from the pit, sweeping nearby streets to capture living things.

■ Throwing water on the tentacles forces them to retreat, while black liquid from the northern pool burns them down. Further tendrils emerge until the gong quiets.

■ Should you fall into the pit, use your climbing hooks to latch onto the walls and don’t look down. A grotesque, sharp-toothed mouth awaits below to devour you, amid the squelching sounds of the tissue and material it has been masticating for decades. It won’t give up its lunch easily.

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TOMB AND GLOOM

Ra’esh the Bright-maker, he who saw but peace beneath the skies. His humble temple is anonymous among numerous worship grounds. Scavengers say, four years ago, a wanderer sculpted an eye with a sun for a pupil on the entrance door. Take a torch and head in.

■ Long-stripped of its glory, the maze-like Temple of Ra’esh is now cold stone, stale window-less corridors and heavy doors that snap down from the ceiling.

■ Distant susurrations of water point you towards your destination.

■ As you walk in, pay attention to the engravings near the entryway of each temple room. Some depict arrows, forecasting spikes will burst up from floors tiles. Sculpted drops hint pouring water in this spot will open a door. Open a door with an engraving of large serpents, and… well. The engravings can help characters navigate the maze and completely avoid its traps. Feel free to make up your own engravings & traps, if you want!

■ The altar room contains a pool with pearlescent waters that surround a woman fully bandaged in gauze, her sight obscured. She is bound to a column with chains and shackles akin to those found in the desert. Rare peeks of her skin show it rotting or sickly pale.

■ She asks either if you are her mother, come for her at last. Do you engage?

■ Take water from the pool, and you can lure a sand worm to you once you have exited Uruksithar. Hazed, but sweet-tempered, it will follow you underground and allow you to ride it for the three weeks until the next full moonrise. These sand worms won’t give you a hard time during the bond period. Report your worm too by 23:59 on 17 January!

NOTES

■ Test driving & in-game characters can top level logs here — test driving characters can also put up network posts in this space c:

■ Feel free to investigate the mystery of the chains and shackles, but no pressure — it’s not critical to Arc V.

■ Hit up NPCs!

■ Navigation top.

QUESTIONS

Comments

[woenderful]

( She stares at him for a beat, then a second, then turns her gaze away again. )

Keep your delusions of heroic sacrifice to yourself. You wouldn't be leaving me to anything. I'm not a damsel in distress. Yet.

( She steps toward the doorway, the collection of fiery images from where gouts of flame will be coming through the floor in mind. )

When I start screaming, I'm most likely enjoying myself.

( Then through the door, onto the first ledge, separated from two others, and lined by... black sand? She cants her head, studying it for a moment. It'd be an interesting, deadly touch if that were gunpowder, but what are the chances? )

[allforthecause]

Noted. Any heroic sacrifice should only benefit myself. Might make the sacrifice part a bit tricky.

[ He follows her steps carefully - noting where her eyes go - and marking the same things she is, close as he can.

He steps up to the edge of the ledge when she stops, ducking down to get a closer look at the sand himself, but more importantly - ]

Look. That platform, just at the sand line. There’s a seam in the rock - safe bet these move when we do.

[ He stayed still, crouched where he was. ]

Which means there must be something to trigger it, right? A plate, a switch, a motion sensor - though this place seems pretty backward, in the way of tech.

[woenderful]

If you consider it a sacrifice, it is one. Whatever anyone else says on the matter.

( Though it's more a distracted return on the conversation, while she frown at the sands. Her eyes shift, looking where he indicates in words, observing. )

The technology is lacking, not the magic. Given the design of this room and what we've noted with the platforms, I suspect a switch or pressure plate.

( Another pause, and she frowns, studying the platform they're on. She takes a firm step to the right, then taps her toe on the back corner, sharp. Her boot is enough to make a dull thud at the contact, and the whole platform shivers... not quite set into motion, but beginning. )

What are your thoughts on matchsticks?

( She asks, before she firmly slams her boot down again, and the whole platform starts to move sideways. The other ones begin moving as well, apart from each other, one sliding entirely underneath the wall. In fact, the platform they stand on looks prepared to do the same, if they don't move swiftly.

Without so much as an apology or warning, Wednesday leaps forward, arms out at her sides to keep her balance as the platform ahead of them is sliding the opposite direction to where the first one moved. )

[allforthecause]

Matchsticks?

[ He manages to get the question out but only just, nearly teetering off the platform when her sudden thump makes it move. At least he has a decent sense of self preservation, so he doesn’t hesitate to jump after her, keeping a step and a half behind her after each jump so that he doesn’t accidentally go barrelling into her and send them both scrambling off into the black sand. Which he is pretty sure can be set on fire.

If he wasn’t currently standing in the middle of it, he might try i—

His brain suddenly clicks in, catching up to what she was saying. ]

You want to set it on fire? While we’re in it?

[ He takes a much more graceful leap to the next platform (now that he’s not caught completely off guard) and looks back at her. ]

Maybe that can wait until we’re on the other side?

[woenderful]

( She leaps another platform, then gives him a flat glare. )

As much fun as it is to indulge in light pyromaniacal activities, I meant the platforms can spark. Or that dropping our light sources would be in poor, if exciting, tastes. Though I appreciate the idea.

( There's a beat before the movement of the platform brings them to yet another one, this one moving forward rather than side to side. She throws herself into the air and touches down on it, taking steps forward after to grant him room to do the same. She's curious if any of the platforms will take to the air, but so far they make hissing progress through the gunpowder black sands around them. )

We can light it all up after we're through to discourage anything that might be following in our footsteps.

( If that's more of their number, poor planning on those people's parts. )

[allforthecause]

[ He looks behind him as if her words would immediately give rise to such pursuers, but ultimately that isn’t what takes his attention. Instead, he notices that there are fewer platform behind them as when they started, and the one they are on—-

No more time to be polite. ]

Somehow I think we won’t need to worry about it, once we get there.

[ He leaps onto her platform and doesn’t wait to leap to the next, even if that means they might jump together and nearly tumble each other off. He doesn’t want to get stuck in sand quickly filling a void that had been left. Even if there was nothing else but sand to worry about.

He’s pretty sure the sand isn’t sand.

The far wall has more flames inscribed, as well as thousands of tiny beetle-like creatures carved under them, as if they are marching up and into the flames. ]

Might cause more than it saves—

[woenderful]

( His sudden enthusiasm prompts her glance over shoulder, and the same conclusion about the platform losses behind. The sea of black sand spreads, insidious, and she leaps as he does, making snap judgements on where to leap next. One platform, than the next, only it starts to sink under their weight, and she grits teeth and throws herself forward, eyes only narrowing a touch.

Amateur, she feels, along with the slow creep of awareness that leaves the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. The hissing behind them gains a new depth, and as she catches her balance, platform steady underfoot, not moving at all, she chances a glance back.

Mandibles push through the black sand at the start of this room, beetles like glittering obsidian jewels unearthing in numbers, hissing, clicking, and: a spark.

Wednesday looks forward again. )

Being too slow here will cause even more.

( Four platforms between where they are now and the other side, raised up to her waist, lower for him. She gathers herself and races, each leap and step and the toss of her arms out for balance and extra heft, hearing the clicking, hissing behind them, and the smell of fire, of black powder starting to burn in small, sudden pops. When she leaps for the far side, her arms slam down on its top, her feet kicked up to avoid touching the black sand beneath. For that moment, she's dangling like a fish caught on a line, a cat on a rope with only its foreclaws in contact, a scorpion swinging from a vine by one claw, the other waving in the air, tail curled up, seeking balance. )

[allforthecause]

[ Of all things in the world that Cassian is good at, the most significant one is this: Running. Running from danger, the Imperials, giant falling pieces of metal (when he’s not being stupid trying to get whatever he’s left under them), his debts and his problems. So, at this particular moment, he excels - using speed and instinct rather than intellect to choose platforms, and not spending enough time on one of them to suffer the consequences of choosing wrong.

He leaps from the last one onto the platform with all the grace of a scrambling rat, flailing to catch the majority of his weight that didn’t make it. He’s about to dash to the door when his instincts recognize that there is no longer someone running beside him, and without thinking he wheels around to spot her, dangling from the ledge.

Immediately, he jumps over, ducking down to one knee to give him support as well as leverage. One arm grips as hard as it can at stone, the other snaps out to unceremoniously and none too gently grasp the Wednesday’s arm - his hand closing around her elbow and gripping tight. He braces himself and pulls backward to hopefully give her enough extra momentum—-]