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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.
cw: scorpions
Her awe is now for the woman at her side. Whatever chaos commands, it's clearly something that comes at a cost, but— my my, look at what it can do. ]
Hold— Hold it! To the sand.
[ This thing is so monstrous, it may take ages for Vanessa to climb and search it on foot. The air is thick with magic, so Vanessa seizes the opportunity to drop to her knees and yank off the glove of her cooling suit, slashing her knife across her palm so the blood can spill liberally over the sand. Though she may not need it for all her magic, the catalyst can only help speed things along.
She buries her bloodied hand where the sand is stained dark, continuing to glower up at the worm while growling her command into the sand. This time she's able to get the words out without interruption, though they're muttered in a language that hisses and spits—as ugly as it is powerful. ]
Etsi an sha'am tu zendaamu ye— balahee. [ This blood makes you live. ]
[ The sands around the worm begin to shift. Vanessa has never attempted this magic for anything less than a life or death scenario, but given what's at stake, this very much ought to count. She's only sorry she isn't practiced enough to use her magic instantly, like Wanda. ]
Itsi yerkhomi! [ Come! ]
[ It takes longer than it ought to; she growls the commands with an inhuman fury each time the words are repeated, again and again until the sands burst and a host of pale scorpions spill into existence, scurrying with conviction to where it's still connected to the ground. They begin to swarm the struggling sandworm, mere specks against its scales, but they don't attempt to sting it. They merely search. ]
no subject
--trying. [It's all she can grunt out, focusing on keeping the sandworm from squirming free and probably eating them both without a second thought. Vanessa herself is a distraction. Blood magic, Wanda sees out of the corner of her eye, and the language is unfamiliar, but its intention is clear.
Scorpions. Cute. Wanda will ask about that later.]
Anything?
[Another word spat out between heaved breaths. This thing wants out of her hold.]
no subject
It's a big sandworm! How lucky that she didn't choose one of the 'large' ones. ]
no subject
Really, maybe a third person would have been a good idea, but they're in it.]
no subject
Yes! I have it.
[ She seems a bit more herself again aside the dark veins that web along her temples. There's no time to see how Wanda is holding up; she doesn't need to look at her to know that every second counts. She hurries to where the pulsing mass of scorpions have created a ramp of sorta, shifting under her feet to help her keep balance as she climbs nearly halfway up the side of the worm with just their help. Somehow, their stingers seem harmless to her. She may as well be walking on a cloud.
A hook and rope is still required to pull her up the rest of the way, but after her excursion with Clara along the cliff, this is a bit simpler. ...A bit. When the massive worm strains and tries to give a little shake, Vanessa grabs onto one of the scales to keep from bouncing around. She already feels a bit faint from the spell, and while missing some cooling garments, the heat is harder to ignore. Sweat is stinging her eyes.
She's panting when she finds the spot on its back to hurriedly paint the rune, and it seems just in time, because the beast seems to be preparing to fight Wanda with all its strength before the blood sigil activates. It halts its struggle immediately—hovering.
Still on its back, Vanessa needs a moment to recover, all but collapsed while she catches her breath. ]
no subject
A glance down reveals blood on her fingertips and a red smear left under her nose, but her eyes return to Vanessa and the creature that's settled itself back on the sands.]
Vanessa?
[She calls. This means it worked, right?]
no subject
[ The sandworm is something awe inspiring, and though she hates to chain it to their cause, there is little to be done for it if they are a means to an end. Her bloody hand presses to one of the massive scales as if in apology, and as she rises and falls with its heaving breaths, she can feel its resentment. You aren't my mother.
She shudders, head momentarily bowed, before struggling to sit up and grip the rope again so that she might descend. Her grip is weaker than before, though the sandworm has settled low and the collection of scorpions waits to 'soften' her fall, so she slides into the strange stinging cushion with a weary relief.
Until she spots Wanda. It's impossible to miss the blood in the sunlight, and Vanessa hurries to her side, one arm swinging behind her back should the other woman lose her balance. ]
What— Are you all right?
[ Clearly she isn't, but Vanessa more means to the...immediate urgency. Should she call for help? ]
no subject
It's been a minute since I've used so much strength.
[A bit of a lie. It confirms a suspicion she's had since arriving here, however, but that's mess to unpack in private. She wipes her hand clean on her suit before refocusing on Vanessa, reaching for her wrist so that she might see her hand.]
Are you all right?
[And then she seems to remember the worm, and her eyes lift to it.]
It really worked.
[Don't sound so surprised, Wanda.]