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

[ Top levels to follow in a slow trickle b/c work. CW for death of a child, top level will be marked. If nothing quite fits, I'm always down to work out a custom starter. My plotting comment is here and her role/assignment/haunting is here. Feel free to PM or ping me on disco @ lifewasawillow#5524 ]

𝐷𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑒
𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝐼

[ Claire—Widow Fraser—has been at the mercy of the fertility of Yancai for what feels like weeks. Her lower back hurts, her feet, but with each successful delivery, all of that fades away in a rush. She's been the midwife here for as long as she can remember, but never have there been so many full-term women at once.

She's just left two new proud but exhausted parents and is dreaming of a bath when she's approached by a young man who looks like he might fall over...and she's off again.

It's obvious as soon as she's finished with her exam there's an issue. She needs to try fixing it, this breeched baby, but she needs help because she can't knock the woman out or give her drugs that might harm the child. Claire looks at her young apprentice and tells her to flag down the first decently strong person they come across who isn't the father. To tell them that the midwife needs help and to come along if they have a strong constitution.

Once that person steps in the door, Claire pokes her head out of the room and gestures. ]

I need you to hold her down very tightly by the shoulders. If you pass out, we'll have a very serious problem. Understood?

𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝐼𝐼 - 𝐴𝑝𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑦
[ Before she can drag herself home she has to replenish her medicine box, and Claire makes her way to the apothecary a good half hour before closing. After a brief chat with the proprietor, she seems to know exactly where she's going and what she needs. But as she passes someone browsing she has to double back when they pick up a jar containing a dark, opaque liquid. ]

Pardon me, I don't mean to interrupt. I only wondered what you might be doing with horse urine.

[ It's difficult for her not to laugh, wondering if they even knew what they were holding. This isn't a store that cares much for labels the deeper into the depths one goes. ]

𝐷𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑤𝑜
𝑓𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠

[ When Claire wakes, it's a full ten seconds before she loses her memories again, and she can hardly drag herself out of bed. There's a hollow feeling in her gut followed by surprise; it seems late in the morning and no one's knocked on her door or contacted her over her device to alert her of a person in labor.

It's why she's still in a robe when she makes her way to the kitchen. The expected knock comes and she detours to answer after a quick wave in the kitchen. After a few seconds of quiet, Claire's voice raises and by the time she's finished, she's shouting. ]

Perhaps you didn't hear the first time: get the fuck off of my doorstep before I call someone who can relocate you.

[ Before whoever it is can reply, she's slamming the door in disgust and locking it, then tromps off to the kitchen. ]

This hasn't been a brothel in years, and quite frankly, I'm getting sick and fucking tired of this.

[ She's not a morning person. Or as it turns out, a 'just awake' person, but she's always been this way, nothing new. Someone usually hands over a cup of coffee and suddenly all's well in Claire's world again. ]

𝐷𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒
𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝐼 - 𝐹𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 (𝐶𝑊: 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑)

[ The day has been a somber one, though it doesn't mean babies don't need to come into the world. It only means that she knows this isn't her world now. She isn't a widow, and she has no one here, no one who knows her, not really. The comradery she felt was a lie.

It's late, hours after supper when she's woken from a restless sleep by the sound of a baby crying. Not so unusual given the boom, but this seems to be coming from inside the house. It's been a long time since that noise woke Claire, and she rubs her face, sitting up.

The crying gets louder when she opens her door and steps into the hall at the same time someone else does. Offering a quizzical look, she leads the way in her nightgown and then stops abruptly. There's a baby on the floor of the living room, wailing her head off, the swaddle around her having fallen away. She's moonlight pale, and that makes the red wisps of hair on her head seem to stand out.

Color draining from Claire's face, she takes a step forward, and then another, hurrying, and soon she has the baby cradled carefully in her arms. ]

Faith.

[ She breathes out the name not in question, but in knowing, then looks up helplessly at her flatmate, unsure what to do or how to do it. ]

[ It's only because Claire knows one of the bodies returning in a coffin that she's allowed to be close to the water. A young mother who even Claire couldn't save. Already she's somber because of her particular ghost, unable to sleep for being haunted. Now the past has come home to remind her of one of the few she's lost, and the least she can do is make sure the partner and infant are doing alright.

At the alarm of no bodies actually in the coffins, she's curious but caught off guard by the water and the way it seems to reflect the light. Walking to the end of the pier, she continues to watch the water, staring at the reflection of a woman who's lost much with no sign of stopping. She lost twenty years with Jamie, and now she'll lose more. If she ever does go back, then she's still losing the chance to see the rest of Bree's life play out. No watching her get married, no seeing any potential children, or her daughter's career taking off. There will never be any time in which she gets her little family, all together.

Claire's eyes grow heavy as she tries to picture it, everyone she wants under one roof, and she teeters on the edge of the pier, wobbling and close to falling. ]

Edited 2023-05-17 01:10 (UTC)

[ Unable to resist the gathering of mourners, the Doctor has inserted himself amongst the crowd, listening and speaking with whomever is willing to talk. The crowd disperses a bit, eventually, and he catches sight of a familiar figure near the end of the long dock.

He watches carefully for a moment, but he'll make it his business as usual to find out what she's doing, to make certain she's okay. It's only when he draws near that he sees her grow unsteady, and the Doctor is quick to reach out and wrap his hand around her arm. ]

Claire!

[ Just before she goes tumbling into the water she's pulled back and is startled out of whatever was trying to tug her under. Stepping backward, she looks up to see who's grabbed her and with relief, recognizes the man who saved her. ]

Oh, Doctor. I don't—I was only looking at the boats and then...

[ Then what? Claire's at a loss for words, chilled at the realization of the power this place holds over all of them. Others had tried to explain it to her, but nothing could have prepared her for not being in control of her own actions. Pressing her hands over her face for a second, she takes a few deep breaths. ]

Thank you. I don't know what that was, but I'm certainly grateful you were here.

[ Reaching out, she squeezes his hand in gratitude before glancing over her shoulder at the water again. ]

If you don't mind, I'd like to get about as far from the water as possible.

[ Based on everything he's discerned of this world so far—whether they're in Yancai, Serthica, Ellethia, or all points in between—there are things here that turn and tempt the mind, distort reality, grip one's heart and soul and influence someone to such an extent they're merely a caricature of their true selves.

He can easily imagine what must have happened to her as she lingered at the water's edge, and he feels an ache of unfortunate understanding. But he does tug her away gently, back towards the shore. ]

What did it tell you, the water? Or show you? What did you feel?

[ The further from the water she gets, the clearer her mind becomes. But that ache is still there and it still feels constricting, as though perhaps there isn't enough air outside. ]

That I'll certainly never stop losing the people I love. There are so many wars, I've lost so much. Time, people, a home. Now I'm here, and I thought I'd had roots, sad as they were. Even that was a lie.

[ Firmly on shore, Claire closes her eyes again to push back the growing knot in her throat. ]

How can the water make me want to throw myself in?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

the sunken | part i

Claire Fraser | Outlander | Old Timer

DAYS 1-3

THEY SLEEP

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