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westwhere2023-01-06 07:33 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2023-01-06 07:33 pm
Entry tags:
- 2ha: chu wanning,
- arcane: jinx,
- arcane: vi,
- arcane: viktor,
- asoiaf: daenerys targaryen,
- better call saul: jimmy mcgill,
- better call saul: kim wexler,
- doctor who: clara oswald,
- doctor who: the doctor,
- final fantasy xiv: vrtra,
- game of thrones: jon snow,
- mcu: kamala khan,
- mcu: wanda maximoff,
- mcu: yelena,
- mo dao zu shi: xiao xingchen,
- oh! my emperor: beitang moran,
- original: licyn mansbane,
- owl house: eda clawthorne,
- penny dreadful: vanessa ives,
- star trek: leonard mccoy (aos),
- star wars: merrin,
- test drive,
- the gifted: marcos diaz,
- tian guan ci fu: xie lian,
- touken ranbu: kanesada,
- umbrella academy: allison,
- umbrella academy: five,
- warcraft: anduin wrynn,
- warcraft: wrathion,
- warframe: kahl 175,
- x-men: charles xavier,
- zettai karen children: kumoi yuuri
sand in your eyes
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!
A HOUSE UNITED WILL SAND | SOILMATES | A PYRAMID SCHEME
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
no subject
( being the type of man prepared to flirt with a streetlight if he had chemistry with it, that might be suggestive were they not alone in a cramped space under gloomy conditions. as it is, he swings at sincere. it's only fair. doesn't have to be calling one in; could be anything. he can't wrap his head around what when he's moving towards the little sleeping roll and flattening himself against it unceremoniously. )
Then, we hope whatever this is has subsided. If the spell doesn't hold that long, the sun will keep me in check. I haven't thought that far ahead. Cross that bridge when we get to it. Just, uh, don't Sleeping Beauty me.
no subject
[Alas. It can never be; she enjoys roasted garlic too much. Her own little joke nearly gets a rueful smile from herself. Two comedians, the both of them. It's a career option if they want to leave the Halloween inspiration behind.]
If there are witches and vampires here, I'm sure someone has to be a prince.
[There are doctors (Doctors?), exorcists, partially cybernetic humanoids. Why not some royalty? Surely someone could wake Spike up. There's a brief shift in Wanda's gaze, it dropping down to Spike's ankles before her eyes shift from green to red.
A flick of her wrist has that similar red glow wisping from her fingertips to his ankles, wrapping around. Securely, but not too tightly. There's no heat, no warmth. If not for the light, it would be just as if there was a cord keeping his ankles together--simply unforgiving and stronger than any cord would be.
The same is done to his wrists, and there she pauses.]
Try it out.
[Some of her magic hasn't been working as expected, so they're both about to learn something. But it will hold.]
no subject
( who’s going to tell her? someone should tell her about the unreliability of lore and myths; some which are true, some which are presumed to be on account of not having someone live to debunk it and tell the tale. the garlic thing was just funny. )
A prince and my true love? Bundled in one little package? Now who’s jesting?
( the talking, even if the banter is about nothing, helps. keeps him from spacing out and going into a place of rumination and fantasy. he hasn’t been to a place of such deep hunger since the first evil got into his head. he imagines there will be time to traverse his thoughts in dreams, not the waking world.
spike tenses, watches as her eyes change color as she sets to work, binding him at the ankles and then at the wrists, which he places in front of him for the ease of tying less of him together - exuding less magic, hopefully. he doesn’t know what level wanda is and what she’ll be exerting to help him.
he struggles at full strength and shockingly, can’t do more than wriggle his palms together, wrists rubbing. the cord doesn’t chafe necessarily, but it’s stronger than expected. much of the same with his legs. )
Feels like it'll hold.
no subject
[She had struggled with the beasts in the lake. What should have been effortless made her grit her teeth with exertion. The same would happen here, she suspects, but all she can feel is the pull against her magic. Good.]
Do vampires dream? I can encourage your mind to have a good one.
[The other side of the ability to inflict nightmares is the ability to inflict something nicer, too. Of course, HYDRA preferred her to practice one over the other.]
no subject
No. I mean, yes. We dream like the rest of you. It's not on the table though. Kindly stay out of my head. You can do what you like with my body, ( hold on, that's not. mmmm, bad word choice. ) but leave weaving a tapestry into my noggin out of it. I'll take my chances with the natural order of things.
this is the worst sleepover
Then I'll just say goodnight.
[For this, she has to move closer so that her fingers can hover over his temple.]
See you in the morning, Spike.
[Because he hopefully knows she'll be hanging out here, with him, until sunrise. Regardless, it's light's out and a sort of glowing red, magic muzzle to keep any teeth away from unlucky necks. Wanda herself does catch some light sleep, but come sunrise and the general morning sounds of the camp, she's waking. It's not him. Sleep is never easy for her. Sometimes, it works in her favor. Like when she's up to make sure her magic held, and so that she can remove the magical muzzle before dispelling his sleep to find out whether his hunger remains.
Hopefully, he had a dream about where to go from there.]
wdym all that's missing is a pillow fight
she touches his forehead and he swallows harshly, disdainful and grateful in the same sweep of his eyes. )
Night, Wanda.
( he should say it - say something, do more than convey a thank you with his gaze. but, he’s unconscious with a muzzle, tucked properly into place. he dreams of the rainfall, heavy and slick; he dreams of hell on earth, of a chasm ripping through reality. of war and battle cries, and a dragon overhead.
( and he dreams about punching andrew in the face, unrelated, and for no other reason than it makes him smile. )
spike wakes with a dramatic start, bodily throwing himself onto his side, and having nothing to plummet off of. he’s already on the floor. )
Teach you to stand there, looking all smug and like if Dungeons and Dragons had a gigolo option, you sorry sack of— Wanda?
Did I try to eat you?
there's still time
What? [She asks with a squint of her eyes. Does she really need to know? Probably not.] Nevermind. No, you didn't try to eat me. Do you still want to try and eat me?
[She hopes he'll tell the truth. Though it would come out either way, wouldn't it?]
no subject
No, not actively. I’m back to the baseline. I’d bite, but only if you asked.
( bit of an overshare to the lady that has him bound. )
You in the general sense.
no subject
[That's all she has, really, beyond diving into his head, and that's a line she doesn't like to cross when she's not deep in the pages of any books of the damned. The bindings at Spike's wrists and ankles disappear with little fanfare.]
That's good news. [And a relief, because she doesn't want a fight. She's Tired.] The bad news is outside the tent.
[And by that, she means the sun.]
no subject
( last night could have been tougher than a stiffness in his muscles from being dormant in the same position. like say, being pinned by magic but very much entombed in the madness and gnawing hunger of his mind consciously. if that had been the case, wanda might not be so comfortable perched nearby. he pushes himself up slowly, onto one elbow. )
Thank you for last night. ( how inadequately put. ) Doesn’t quite feel sufficient, saying it, but.
no subject
You're welcome.
[Can't just leave it at that.]
It all seems like some kind of joke, doesn't it? A hungry vampire in the desert.
no subject
What's the punchline about a nosy but helpful witch, hm? Does it have one?
Mine would end in a rain of ashes all around.
( he doesn't say that the dust would be him, although it's heavily implied here. )
no subject
Is that what happens if you go out there?
[She can put two and two together.]
no subject
no subject
[Said with a smile. It wasn't how she planned to spend her evening, but as it is, Wanda is fairly aimless. It's a better use of her time than keeping to herself and waiting for the next day to arrive.]
Which also leads me to encourage you to avoid the sun if it does actually turn you into ash.
now with 108% less drinky
( in his experience, people aren't good for no reason. no ulterior motive. is there something she's trying to prove? )
Yeah, about that. Bit of a travel we're doing here. Don't much see a way around it. Bundling up helps. Just- wrap myself in this sodding tent if I have to. Poles and all.
hehe
If it wasn't me, it'd be someone else. I'm more capable than most.
[Not necessarily nicer, but she doesn't want to see anything bad happen to the few people she's come to like.]
We should be reaching a citadel, eventually. Probably a lot of places to hide from the sun there.