westwhere | the sunken

the sunken | part i

THE SUNKEN

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Welcome to the first log of Arc VI: the Sunken, which covers 15 May – 2 June and doubles as a test drive meme.

Back/forward date as needed! The calendar date suggestions are indicative.

The TDM is open to everyone! If you decide to apply to the game, you can get an invite from current players or the upcoming enabling meme — or participate in the test drive meme and get in touch @

groundrules to chat things over. We currently have 13 slots available for new players.

Test drivers can use this post for logs and network posts — old timers, please make your network posts at

eastbound.

LOST AT SEA | TEST DRIVE TOURISTS

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You wake, gasping, in a stormy sea, your thoughts slowed to a confused trickle. Skill, floating wood or a kindly stranger — who you can’t understand — help you to reach shore.

Villagers discover you collapsed on sand and provide critical (if rickety) communication and translation devices. They say you are in Sunken Yancai, a fishing village progressively overtaken by waters and cursed by the secretive ‘ladies of the lake’ to transit through time.

■ Rescuers group newcomers and supply questionable village couture, warm meals and accommodations in abandoned, half-flooded homes or spare small boats anchored in Yancai’s waterways. Huddle up, recover your strength and don’t think too hard on why your memories are hazy over the next three days.

■ Come morning, you visit village leader Quanze Tsaymien, then the sorceress Karsa — who explains you are otherworlders summoned into Akhuras by undead lords who wish to weaponise you in their battle against humans and one another. Karsa is an associate of the Merchant, who leads otherworlders towards ancient transport beacons east.

■ One such beacon rests dormant in Yancai. The group must infiltrate the village and wait a few weeks until it shifts to a point back in time when the beacon was active.

■ Newcomers are handed passport papers with their new identities in Yancai, where they may be known as a bankrupt merchant, perpetually drunk sailor, whale hunter, raft surveyor, mermaid who has just gained their legs, crab collector... feel free to invent a dutifully ~~hilarious~~ apt role for their seaside sojourn.

OLD TIMERS | THE DRIFTING

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You dragged yourself here in a haze. You arrived long ago, as if in a dream. You were born and bred in this village. In truth, your memories of reaching lively Yancai feel nebulous and alarmingly inconsequential.

Characters are facilitated new identities and dwellings by the Merchant, or believe they have had them all along.

■ A weary Karsa warns to say nothing to party members with altered memories, until the sorcery that affects them runs its course.

■ Memory-altered characters progressively regain their memories within three to five days (by 20 May). They have their memories partially or fully back at night ( midnight to 5 a.m.). Throughout the day, memory regains can trigger migraines, eerie confusion and paranoia.

■ Hauntings begin once characters have fully regained their memories.

■ Once everyone is ‘back to normal,’ Karsa explains that Yancai periodically transits through time. The memory alterations are a magical solution endorsed by the village council, which ensures locals mentally weather these shifts. Villagers continue to blithely accept you as part of the community.

(DON'T) HOLD YOUR BREATH

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Karsa reunites the existing party and newcomers, issuing first assignments. The Merchants’s information suggests the beacon of Yancai will be online once the village travels in time within weeks. A dubious Karsa asks the party to check on the beacon, located in the former House of Commerce of the largely inundated merchants’ district. Reach it by rowing boat.

■ Villagers say the Master of Commerce, a famous musician, took precautions against intruders.

■ All ground and lower floor entryways of the palatial House were boarded to restrict flooding. To enter, pick locks or climb the putrid stairwell towards upper balconies.

■ Inside, the hissing of running water — and, in the lower levels, of thin, slippery leeches whose bite numbs your limbs, while they attempt to feed. You seem to experience pronounced vertigo when entering any decaying rooms covered in black mould.

■ The beacon is located on a dais in the basement vault room, where water rises near 1 meter. Only a few scattered scrolls and golden decorations remain among decorations, while a large ceiling carving writes, greed deafens man to the cries of his conscience; music sets him free.

■ Some tiles of the marbled floor stand out as you wade — step on one, and all doors abruptly slam shut, while dozens of obscured holes in the wall start to rapidly spill water, threatening to fill the room to the ceiling within the hour. You hear the tinny, waning sound of a village song played from a hidden source.

■ To stop the pouring water and open the doors, sing the song you hear, or find the music box that produces it amid debris on the water-covered floors. Wind it, and it plays its song in reverse, revealing the voice of a laughing elderly man who says, Depressingly, Anurr was right to worry.

■ Don’t forget to check the beacon — and report back to Karsa that it looks structurally untarnished.

THEY SLEEP

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After surprising revelations at previous citadels, Karsa tasks you to investigate just how… permanent death is in Yancai. Villagers share that their dead are buried in a strange rite at sea — part of which will take place within days.

■ The dead are ‘entombed’ in one-man sarcophagi ships with carved and chained lids that depict their likeness. These burial boats are set at sea on the first day of each season and return three months later.

■ Join the harbours around 22 May, when mourners gather to receive the burial boats. Characters must pretend to be greatly anguished relatives, acquaintances or debt collectors to join the grieving.

■ The boats float towards you, seemingly of their own volition. Gaze afar and spot a boat carrying a man in black — the same who haunts some characters — who observes until the last burial ship has reached the piers, before he disappears.

■ Sailors draw up the boats and unpeel the untouched chains and lids, to reveal… no corpses. Peer closer and find neither biological signs (stench, liquids) of discomposure, nor the magical chillness of spaces where cadavers have lingered long. Scratch marks litter the inside of some boat lids.

■ Mourners seem grateful that the waters have ‘accepted’ the bodies. Some say that their relatives whose boats have yet to return must have been stolen by the ‘ladies of the lake,’ a villainous witch coven. Speak to mourners or sailors for clues.

■ Linger long near opened burial boats, and you feel tempted to throw yourself into the sea, slowly losing consciousness — until someone rescues you.

AMONG US

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On 25 May, village leader Quanze Tsaymien drags the chained and half feral mistress Miang-si to households and Yancai’s largest market square.

The young woman, he says, was seduced by the ladies of the lake — the furtive witch coven that condemned Yancai to time travel. Luckily, the village elders have… coaxed Miang-si back onto the righteous path.

■ Miang-si is brought door-to-door to point out her 'accomplices.' Ill at ease, villagers whisper of similar witch hunts leading to false accusations and blood-curdling repercussions.

■ Both men and women are suspected and brought before Miang-si. Perhaps she takes an eerie interest in you, getting especially close to catch your scent, touch or remark on (in)visible hurts, or even dotingly kiss you. If you whisper quickly while she’s near, you might be able to ask one question.

■ If you are patient and kind to Miang-si, she briefly squeezes your hand as she withdraws. Within the hour, you find blood writ on your palm that warns, Our fat moon rises red.

■ If you are agitated, or if Quanze rushes her during your visit, Miang-si erupts into sudden, side-splitting cackling — while you find yourself croaking like a toad, or transforming into one and retaining human speech. The spell dissolves after eight hours.

■ Quanze’s long-suffering men say this sorcery breaks faster if you kiss one of the curmudgeonly emerald toads that hide in some of Yancai’s lakes. Catch one such delightful, slime-spitting creature or barter it from merchants at a costly premium.

ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT

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A full moon is set to rise within days of Miang-si’s visit, on 27 May — just as Yancai shows signs of time shifting. Villagers are prone to stilling and staring askance, seeming lost or adrift.

The village itself evolves: one moment, the same house appears freshly new, then drowned, while waterways overfill with water, then seem barren. Overall, the village deteriorates.

■ That day, the sun suffers a midday eclipse, while droves of black birds circle the woods and village outskirts, attacking those who come close.

■ The waters increasingly thicken and darken, preventing boats from entering certain waterways.

■ An exceedingly bright moon and a diffuse lunar replica rise with nightfall. Come midnight, the village is alive with the sounds of ripping, structural collapse and shrieks. Tar-covered corpses emerge from the waters, clawing on and climbing up piers. They swarm, drawing passers-by into waters to drown them. Help them — and foremost, yourself.

■ Light and fire keep the dead at bay. On some waterways, wildfire now spells, WHAT IS WET WAS WRONGED

■ Weaker alone, fresh corpses climb into your rowing boat, pretending they are innocents who seek shelter. They betray themselves by speaking very slowly, struggling to keep track of the conversation or obliviously peppering it with details of their death. They stubbornly ask questions about you, repeating your answers, and become violent if you say they are dead. Push them into the water at first opportunity.

■ Quanze Tsaymien and other men of the village take arms, urging villagers to barricade in the nearest home, harbour or warehouse and weather the night. They advise to be silent and beware the dead who imitate living voices, warning not to touch any black mould or water that suddenly appear in your home — which alert the dead of your presence within.

■ Some dead try to tear you apart, while others seek to feed you a disgusting, tar-like black mould. A small taste of it makes you sluggish and feeble for two-three hours, while an entire fistful can kill.

■ If the undead infiltrate your house, hold your breath, do not move and keep from screaming. The dead have weak sight and olfactory senses and might pass you by, as long as you stay silent. It can be more efficient to fool than kill the dead.

■ By 5 a.m., houses start to replenish themselves, gaining a new appearance, while water and mould retreat. The dead withdraw into waterways. Outside doors have been marked with blood: vertical lines tell how many living people remain inside; horizontal ones count how many within died overnight.

■ You step to seize a brave new day — while Yancai enters a new time period (further details due in the next plot update).

NOTES

■ The game enabling meme goes up on 25 May.

■ Hit up available NPCs here or in their new inbox!

■ QUESTIONS.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I. The Drifting

[Caitlyn has always lived in Yancai.

So why does she have a notebook, in her own handwriting, full of adventures she's never had in far-off lands she's never been to with people she's never met? She doesn't understand how there could be a love letter scribbled at the bottom of one page, written to a stranger, when she's never been in love. And most baffling of all are the photographs of things and people and places she could never have photographed. The rest must be a work of fiction, something she wrote late at night while fantasizing about what her life could be if she had the wherewithal to leave and then forgot she'd written the next morning. But the photographs...

She finds herself with a miserable headache if she looks at them too long.

Find her sitting outdoors, enjoying the weather and a cup of tea, pouring through the notebook with a curious frown on her face.

Or find her standing knee-deep in the water, trousers and sleeves rolled up, trying to train a fish and getting frustrated at her inability to do the job she's had since she was old enough to have a job.]

II. Hauntings

[She can't seem to escape him. Always sitting, crying, pulling at the mask on his face and begging for her help. At first, she isn't sure whether he's real, but she runs over to help him anyway, trying to pull at the mask that he clearly wants off. Her blood runs cold when she sees the name carved on the inside of it.

Those sharing the villa with her may run into her in the small hours of the morning, trying to gently peel a wooden mask off a young man's face while he weeps.

She finds him by the side of the road in town, too, and though she can't be sure whether anyone else can see him, whether she'll look mad for interacting with him, she still tries to help, tries to pull the mask off.

There's always another mask underneath, and they all have the name Marcus carved inside of them.]

Who are you? How do you know that name? [She asks the questions every time, trying to be as gentle as possible, not accusing him of anything. He never answers.]

III. (Don't) Hold Your Breath

[Of course Caitlyn is going to explore a strange sunken House that holds a beacon. Of course the obvious signs of danger aren't going to deter her, and neither is the fact that she hasn't got any experience traversing decaying abandoned buildings.

Rifle case securely strapped to her back, she makes her way to the old place, and is skirting the outside, trying to find a good way in, when she spots someone else also making their way around the building.]

Are you going in too?

IV. Among Us

[Caitlyn hasn't the faintest clue why she's dragged in front of a strange woman in the market square, who gently runs her fingertips over the three faint scars above Caitlyn's brow. There's something in the woman's eyes as she does, and Caitlyn can't help but wonder if she recognizes something about their origin - she got those from another 'lady of the lake,' after all. Or perhaps it's merely... sympathy? Curiosity?

Caitlyn takes the woman's hand and quietly asks whether she's alright, only to receive an answer that isn't really an answer at all. Little girls weep, but women help themselves.

Not even an hour later she feels an itching on her palm.]

Our fat moon rises red?

[She reads the lines written on her palm aloud, without any care that she might be overheard, wondering what they could mean.]

V. Ill Met By Moonlight

[Caitlyn is awoken at midnight by crashes and shrieks.

It takes a moment for her to orient herself, but she tumbles out of bed, grabbing her rifle and running out into the street with barely a moment spared to put on a pair of boots. There's shouting, the sounds of fighting in the streets, and someone tells her to get inside, barricade the door, and stay silent.

Instead, she runs ahead.

The scene in the village is like something out of a nightmare. Tar-covered corpses rising from the water, dragging people down or tearing them apart. Caitlyn ducks into a nearby side street, pressing her back against the wall and clutching her rifle with white-knuckled hands.

She spots a shadow, someone - or something - moving, and raises her gun at whoever it is. When she speaks, she tries to sound stern and commanding, but there's an audible shake in her voice.]

Show yourself.

VI. Wildcard

[Hit me up with anything! Plotting comment is here if you'd like to plot.]

Edited 2023-05-16 01:09 (UTC)

Don't tell the Doctor.

[ She gives Caitlyn a lopsided grin; she'd never actually put that on her, and Clara...rarely lies to the Doctor. Mostly by omission, because it's his future, but that's neither here nor there.

She's used to exploring things like this but with 96% less booby traps, as she'll find out. ]

I didn't know you were already over here, otherwise I would've offered to come with. I have my sword which I kind of know how to use now, and a rose with two petals on it. Just in case, but first, we have to find a way in. I haven't been this way yet.

[ Clara's sword is a pocketknife for now, tucked away in her back pocket. The roses are trimmed short, pressed, and on a makeshift necklace, hidden under her shirt. She's had to figure out a way to carry them from place to place, and this was easiest. ]

[Caitlyn doesn't quite get it, and assumes Clara really does want her to keep this secret from the Doctor. As the daughter of overprotective parents, and the best friend of someone who did some technically very illegal things when she was a child, Caitlyn has practice keeping secrets. And, well, as much as she doesn't like keeping secrets from friends, if Clara really doesn't want the Doctor to know, Caitlyn will do her best.]

He's a bit overprotective, isn't he?

[She smiles understandingly, imagining that telling the Doctor about plans to go off alone and explore a half-sunken, potentially dangerous old house would be much like telling her mum or dad. He's a wonderful friend, the Doctor, but he does worry.

She turns her attention to the facade of the house.]

It looks like there's a staircase we could climb to an upper floor. [It's clearly falling apart, but that's no reason not to try it. All the lower doors and windows look sealed shut, and Caitlyn's neglected to bring a crowbar.]

[ That makes Caitlyn even more wonderful, and at her question, Clara laughs softly, fondly. ]

He is. But not in a bad way, not like my dad shouting to wear a helmet. I can't lie to him about this stuff anyway, even by omission. He's impossible and nosey and always knows. He'll usually wait me out, and then drag it out of me once he's lost his patience.

[ It's rare that Clara lets it get that far, but she makes sure to make it clear, she'll tell the Doctor on her own. As they've been talking, she's glanced every now and then at the mass of ruins to try and find a way in. When Caitlyn spots one, Clara heads that way with her. ]

Glad I have good shoes for climbing this time around. If we stay close to the wall and the steps start to go, it looks like there might be good footholds. At least from here.

[For all that Caitlyn likes to think she can do anything and that nothing will stop her, she is a bit daunted by heights. And attempting to scale a building that could collapse at any moment...

She puts on her most determined frown and takes her first step up the staircase, hearing the rotting wood creek ominously. She can do this. It's not so bad. She can do it. She can do it. She takes another hesitant step, heeding Clara's suggestion and sticking as close as humanly possible to the wall, before looking behind to make sure that Clara doesn't need help.]

Your dad's like that too? [They've talked about their mothers, but she doesn't know much about Clara's dad.] Some days I think mine would've liked to wrap me up in balled-up newsprint like a parcel.

[ There are times when it pays to be small and light, and she's feeling good about this. What's over-confidence? Never heard of her. When Caitlyn looks back, Clara smiles encouragingly, though now they're climbing, it seems a lot higher than she thought.

So, conversation, she can do that and it'll be a nice distraction as she watches where she's placing each step. ]

Way over protective, especially after my mum died. Never wanted to let me leave the house, although the first time I brought home a girl, he seemed glad about it. Typical stereotype of a dad, really. Likes to shout about the government to anyone who'll listen, these days.

[ Before she can ask Caitlyn if her dad's always been that way, Clara happens to turn a certain way, enough to see the step two ahead is splintering, already sagging deep. ]

Stop! Don't keep going, we have a problem.

[ She points it out, noting to herself that she's already sweating and they haven't even gotten that far yet. ]

[Caitlyn's got her back pressed flat against the side of the building as she makes her way sideways up the stairs very carefully. Her attention is laser-focused on not looking down, which, of course, means she's not looking at her feet or the steps right ahead.

She's also trying to pay attention to what Clara's saying, because she wants to know more about her friend and, as a bonus, it's a nice distraction from the thought of plummeting through a rotten staircase.

At Clara's warning, she halts, one foot hovering midair until she spies the problem and lowers it slowly.]

Is the step above it alright, do you think? We'd have to jump for it.

[Should they test it? She reaches behind her to pull out her rifle and leans forward to tap it lightly against the obviously offending step.

With a horrific creak, a chunk of wood breaks away and splatters in the water below, and Caitlyn instinctively presses herself even flatter against the wall.

The rifle barrel isn't that long, and it's going to be more of a reach to test the next step up. With a very serious and determined huff, Caitlyn braces herself to lean further forward over the newly-created gap.]

Hold onto me? [If Clara's holding onto her, maybe she won't overbalance and fall through the newly-created gap.]

Caitlyn Kiramman | Arcane | Old-Timer

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ill met my moonlight

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