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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
( bucky lifts his shoulders in a quick shrug. )
You got in there, you'd have to figure out how to get out. Would you stick around for me if I jumped in there?
no subject
no subject
Say I stayed, what the hell would I even do? Just be here for moral support? I don't have rope or wings.
no subject
Useless warning. [ She grumbles, kicking at the stone plate she read from earlier. What she could have used warning about is the resting tentacle monster, not something cryptic about water.
Then she stops in her tracks, remembering how the Scavengers have stressed carrying water. She thought it was a desert precaution but maybe there's more to it. She recites the stone plate's warning aloud. ] "Base water turns to poison." Maybe it's not a useless warning. Maybe water is its weakness.
no subject
he makes a face and then turns away, glancing at her and back at the pit. )
You think that thing's going to be beaten by water? You got that much water?
no subject
Yelena ducks to avoid a stray tentacle testing its reach. As it continues swinging in the man's direction, she shouts: ] Watch out!
no subject
( yeah right. he's got nothing. he thinks the best option is to —
well, dodge that freaking tentacle and then stand up and back away from it some more. )
Probably should just leave it alone.
no subject
What can I say? They really make you hit the ground running around here.
[ Since he's too far for a pat on the shoulder, she gives him an understanding look as she shrugs. C'est la vie, right?
She opens her mouth as soon as he has made his suggestion, then shuts it just as quickly, her brow stitching together with deep consideration. ]
Huh. I suppose we are the trespassers in the situation. And it looks like it's mostly stuck in the pit, so if we just avoid the tentacles...
no subject
( they big. the tentacles are big and bucky can't help but be curious what's down there and how this monster thing got down there.
not curious enough to go looking. he takes a few steps back and tucks his hands into the pockets of his jacket. )
Don't think that thing's discerning either. Just gonna eat whatever it touches.
no subject
You mean like him? [ Yelena points up at the struggling Scavenger before turning her gaze to the man on the ground. She looks at him expectantly, waiting to see how he responds now that the "would you save someone" scenario is no longer hypothetical. ]
no subject
( and no, he's not going to jump in and try and save that guy. there's not going to be anything to save after that. he shakes his head. )
I'd rather that not be me.
no subject
Helping this man won't even the scales— her ledger will still gush red— but she will feel better knowing that she tried something. They all owe something to the Scavengers.
She rolls up her sleeves and activates her wrist bracelets, which begin to glow red and hum with electric energy. Then she breaks into a run, chasing the thrashing tentacle around the pit until she is close enough to shoot dual electric pulses from both bracelets. That slows the tentacle down a little bit; it drops closer to ground level and Yelena waves her hands to get the Scavenger's attention. ]
It doesn't like water! [ As insistent as they have been about carrying water, she assumes that the Scavenger has some on him. He'll have to finish saving himself because in the next instant Yelena is struck by a different tentacle and flung back in the direction she came from. Whether she crashes to the ground or barrels into Mr. Look-at-the-Downside depends on if he can move out of the way in time. ]
no subject
looks like — looks like he's fighting. he's definitely not going to run away. firstly, he reaches down and grabs her, picking her up and onto her feet. )
And you just pissed it off!
( another tentacle swings over and he brings his arm up, blocking it just barely. it's strong enough to bring him down to a knee while he holds it off. )
no subject
How are you doing that? [ As she speaks, she pops the cap off of her canteen and splashes some water at the tentacle, which snaps back in apparent pain. Her attention doesn't leave the man. ] Don't tell me you have had super strength this whole time.
no subject
( he shakes out his arm as the thing recoils and then glances at her. )
And my arm happens to be a little stronger than most other prosthetics out there.
no subject
Yelena points a bracelet at the ground and fires: a four-pronged metal claw digs into the sun-bleached stone. Attached to it is a rope that she secures to her belt.
She addresses the man with a pointed finger. ]
Now I know you have a super strong prosthetic arm, so no excuses. I'm gonna go catch him and then you'll pull us up.
[ And then she is diving into the pit after the Scavenger, catching him just as his feet graze rows of very sharp teeth. It all happens so fast that she doesn't think about what she is doing until she is hanging there, holding on to the Scavenger's arm and looking up at the mouth of the pit, waiting on rescue from someone who told her more than once he would sooner bail. Perhaps not her greatest idea. ]
no subject
Are you serious?
( he curses it at her as he wraps the rope around his metal arm and starts pulling back slowly, not wanting to jostle the two people on the rope and hanging above a pit with a monster in it. )