let's set d o w n some (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
groundrules) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
westwhere2023-05-15 05:49 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2023-05-15 05:49 pm
Entry tags:
- 2ha: chu wanning,
- arc vi,
- arcane: caitlyn,
- breaking bad: jesse pinkman,
- doctor who: clara oswald,
- doctor who: river song,
- doctor who: the doctor,
- final fantasy xiv: stephanivien,
- harry potter: hermione granger,
- horizon: aloy,
- kingdom of the wicked: emilia,
- kingdom of the wicked: wrath,
- legend of fei: xie yun,
- mcu: america chavez,
- mcu: kamala khan,
- mcu: natasha romanova,
- mcu: wanda maximoff,
- oh! my emperor: beitang moran,
- oh! my emperor: su xunxian,
- original: red,
- outlander: claire fraser,
- penny dreadful: vanessa ives,
- test drive,
- tian guan ci fu: xie lian,
- umbrella academy: allison,
- umbrella academy: five,
- untamed: lan sizhui,
- warcraft: wrathion,
- warframe: kahl 175,
- zettai karen children: kumoi yuuri
the sunken | part i
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
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 dutifullyhilariousapt role for their seaside sojourn.
OLD TIMERS | THE DRIFTING
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
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
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
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
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.
no subject
In that case, perhaps you can assist me in solving the mystery of the rogue lotus.
[ She'll take one more step back to be certain that he follows before she spins, her messy braid bouncing over her shoulder as she skips a couple steps ahead. ]
Here!
[ It had gone on ahead, but so far it hadn't been crushed or halted, and its trudging and occasional halts means that it's easy to catch up to it. She's able to spot it almost instantly, given how it gently moves against the current, even if at a snail's pace. Then it stills again. ]
What moves it, do you think? Something magic?
no subject
For now, though, there's a more pressing matter at hand. And as Vanessa seems intent on pulling him into this mystery, as she says, he once again turns over the directive from Karsa in his mind. He could easily fix this, potentially. Unless it's a magic he knows nothing of, in which case his mucking about in her mind could have catastrophic effects. He'll need to broach the subject carefully and take his time, which he loathes.
Perhaps a few carefully posed questions might lead Vanessa back to her own self. If he can guide her back to her memories, give her that control of her own power, it's the very least he can do given everything lately.
For now, though—
He gets closer to the water's edge, kneeling down and rolling up his sleeves. ]
A few reasonable and rational explanations, but those aren't as fun, are they? Right now, we don't know, that's the joy in the mystery. We can make up our own clever stories, fantastical tales. I love a good story, too. So, give me a good one, eh? I'll start!
Just beneath the water, there's a giant sea creature, nearly half the length of the lake itself. And that lotus, well, that's its top hat, so to speak. Bit of fashion. Thought it'd look nice for the day's outing.
no subject
Vanessa is careful as she crouches beside him, hugging her skirt to follow his gaze. They're far enough down a waterway that the current here isn't quite as dangerous as it was, not enough to drown a sailor, but it might still carry away a child. She'd rather not risk everything in her bag, nor the charming man at her side, for a mere curiosity. ]
Hm... Would it not be sad to be so confined? It ought to carry on with its beautiful new hat and swim towards the sea.
[ She likes that idea, even if she shouldn't, but her smile there is hidden from most, placated with her smile for the public. ]
Perhaps a spell has been cast upon it. It seeks something.
no subject
[ They'd spoken of sea creatures together so long ago, building a kraken out of the snow. Is there a faint memory of that, a flicker of anything, he wonders? ]
So, it's had a spell cast on it. What is it seeking? Go on, your turn. Something brilliant.
no subject
Something brilliant? What could she have to add to its story? ]
Something in Yancai. She seeks a secret? Something dark.
[ The lotus struggles on, and Vanessa straightens to follow it for a step or two, wrapping her arms around herself in contemplation, getting swept away before she can even think of how she must sound. ]
Sent by an old witch. In truth, however...with her own secret, she seeks a key to break the spell. No, a curse. She can't return to the sea until she finds the key.
[ Her smile for the village falls away, leaving only the sad smile for the sea creature trapped in the waterways; for it, and for all the lost creatures. ]
The lotus is her disguise.
no subject
A clever one. Beautiful, that disguise. Does she dream about it, I wonder? At night, alone, the sea and its vastness, her home waiting for her. She'll find it, of course. I have no doubt! Nothing and no one is ever really lost forever.
[ He stands now, his sleeves falling back down the length of his arms haphazardly. He starts to walk closer towards Vanessa, but then as he thinks aloud, he quickens the pace of his steps excitedly, bounding ahead of her. ]
Did you know, in fact! [ He shouts a little, grinning, not even forming a complete sentence. And then he's jogging ahead a few steps before he kneels down again by the water's edge, looking for...something. ]
The ancient Egyptians thought the lotus flower could resurrect the dead. Imagine that, a wonder, that glorious thing—
[ The Doctor rolls his sleeves up again before suddenly plunging his hands beneath the surface of the water until he pulls his hands back, showing them off caked in mud. ]
It blooms from the darkest depths, into the quiet dark where no one else dares to go. And there it is, or there she is, our lost one waiting to be found. She's seeking a key, you said, perhaps that key is intangible. Is she seeking something or seeking to be known as she is, accepted, understood, before she finds her way back?
[ Before Vanessa can respond, he's off again, standing up, his sleeves a bit wet and muddy now, but he grins brightly. ]
Oh! I forgot. I'm the Doctor.
no subject
Just enough is shared that Vanessa the laundress ought to feel more bewildered than when they began speaking, but instead she feels more at ease the further he goes on. The way he dashes past nearly draws a grin from her, the flicker of sadness passing for something more akin to wonder. Recognition, almost at 'The Doctor'. Not the sort one would feel for just any doctor.
And that is frightening. ]
Who can remember their dreams?
[ Following along with lighter, more precise steps, Vanessa catches him by a sleeve, halting him long enough so that she can gently turn him and take a look at his hands. Even muddy, she thinks they're quite nice hands, and she wouldn't mind touching them again. ]
You are rather good at spinning tales, but now you've gone and given me more work to think of in my personal time.
[ Despite her words, her tone has a certain lilt to it while she guides him back towards where the water runs faster, clearer, and the coins shine brighter. That means, of course, away from where the lotus is traveling.
Somehow, she thinks it best not to follow the lotus or the story after all. She wasn't meant to. Resurrecting the dead? No, even she needs to be cautious about such jests. Such talk isn't good here, and she's meant to be here, in Yancai, helping where she can, away from the undead. Away from that kind of magic.
Here, she can find some clear water to try and gently guide him towards. The edges of his sleeves, well, they may require more work, but she can at least tug his hands just under the water to rinse them clean, where the current rushes by quick enough to splash a bit at the contact. ]
A doctor should keep clean hands. They are his most precious tools, no?
no subject
Her ease with touching and guiding him speaks of a familiarity she seems unwilling to further discern, and still unable to recall. Is there nothing? Not a single faint recollection at all? The flicker of sadness alights in his hearts again, even as the smile remains perfectly polished while she rinses his hands clean. ]
I'm not that sort. Well, technically, I suppose. In a pinch. Though my expertise is more scientifically oriented. And engineering oriented. Though, I would never limit myself and I haven't. I'm the Doctor of nearly everything! It's grand, isn't it, life? Always something new to learn. People to meet.
Though— [ He locks onto her eyes for a moment now. ] Every once in a while, I meet someone I'm quite sure I've known before. Another life, perhaps.
no subject
Even if— Well, the fact that she did wish to hear more about that is the worst of all.
Now he has stories of other lives, and that should also scare her. Why is it that Vanessa is always so drawn to that which frightens? She nearly releases his hands as something behind his eyes strikes an understanding in her that she can't recall feeling anywhere else before.
Or, has she? Before—? She has, but... Not with others. With someone who had his eyes. ]
Every once in awhile? [ She can't help but lean closer. ] How do you know?
no subject
She won't be alone, though. Not for a moment. As long as he can help it, which...is another unfortunate thing, given that they're separated for their living quarters yet again.
For now, the question at hand draws his focus back to her, and he squeezes her hands. ]
A feeling. You know it, that one, that thought you can't shake where you look a little closer, a little longer, where something tugs at the back of your mind and whispers that you're where you belong. I see it with you, like an old friend.
[ This, at least, feels like a relief. It's honesty, while still keeping her safe. He'd always sensed a connection with Vanessa, and to speak of it now won't endanger her. He hopes, perhaps, she might find comfort in it, if there's even the slightest chance that anything has tugged at the back of her mind. ]
no subject
To have it teased now by a charming man sharing poetics seems impossible to resist, and she glances to their joined hands beginning to dry in the sun. How strange, then, that this touch brings her a sense of belonging...but also loss? What emotion could strike her heart so? Something so sweet it stings. It could never be forgotten.
Love. ]
Only a friend?
no subject
It would also be tempting to enjoy this ease and closeness with her, to lean into the warmth of her attentions without the bitterness and sadness that's lingered over them since Alem. But it wouldn't be honest, it wouldn't be true. He would be deceiving and manipulating her.
He wants her to find her way to him, not to have more fantasies put in her mind, more trickery. He's done enough of breaking her heart for a lifetime, hasn't he? ]
A story to be told.
[ He squeezes her hands earnestly, though. ]
Tell me something—do you feel safe here, this place? I need to know.
no subject
If he has cast some sort of spell, she can't find herself wishing very much to resist it, but somehow he only teases. Confused and all the more curious, she slowly draws her hands away. Some space, if she can only force herself to take a step back, might return proper air into her lungs again. When was the last time she took a breath? ]
Safe?
[ None of us are ever— ]
What is safer than home?
[ She glances again to his hands, now to his rolled sleeves, where she'll flick at the dirtied hem before slowly standing up and glancing down the path they were once following the lotus. It was not a dream. Likely innocent magic, or merely a turtle caught on the lotus stem. ]
Come by later, and I will fix up your tie. ...And your shirt. Perhaps you will be assured of my safety.
no subject
But as he's learned so recently, she doesn't need protecting, does she? It's where he'd made his mistakes, his worst mistakes with her.
What had he gotten wrong? He'd taken away her choice. He'd made the decision for her. He decided what was best. Is that what he's doing now? There's a very real danger of her safety if he speaks too soon. Perhaps. But that's a directive from Karsa, and not something he would trust blindly. No, he needs to understand a bit more, he needs to seek out answers first, he needs to be sure she'll—
No. Again, he's making the choice for her.
What would she want? Right now. What would she beg of him, even if it risked her life as it had in Alem?
She would want the truth, to be able to make her own choice. To be angry with him, to be hurt, disappointed, scared, all of it. He can't keep her safe, and that's the point. But he can give her the choice she deserves over her own life. It's the only thing he can control in all of this. ]
Before I go, I need to tell you something. I see it in your eyes, you feel something else, a pull, a tug, a sense of something beyond. Whether you believe it or not, the choice should be yours, and it was taken from you.
We know each other, Vanessa. We've known each other for a long time, but you don't remember me and I don't know why. But I promise, I promise, I'm going to find out. I'm going to fix this.
no subject
How many times has she come near to losing it? Her eyes are wide as she stares at him, though it's to he credit that Vanessa isn't the sort to ever dismiss someone as merely mad. Not when her heart pinches and her nerves buzz the closer he is.
So close. ]
Why would—
[ Why would I forget? She can't finish the thought, as pain suddenly smashes into her skull and nearly sends her doubling over. With a gasp, her hand flies to cover her eyes, and she takes a step back with her other hand out as if to keep the unseen at bay. Her voice is suddenly ragged, more reminiscent of the melancholy scratch she previously whispered through. ]
I...I know who I am. I am Vanessa Ives.
[ But what does that mean? Is Vanessa Ives not a laundress, a seamstress? Is Vanessa Ives in love? No. This magic isn't friendly. Something is wrong. ]
no subject
He tries to reach for her hand momentarily. ]
You are Vanessa Ives.
[ And I know you better than anyone. ]
And this isn't your home. Something has made you believe otherwise, but it's going to be okay. You'll be okay, Vanessa, I promise. [ A moment later, his voice softens even more. ] Are you still in pain?
no subject
This— This is my home. I— [ There's a tremor in her voice, and it hushes into a mortified whisper. ] I have a home.
[ Doesn't she deserve to belong? She's...wanted here. ]
No. Stay back. You— I— I am safe here.
[ She blinks and shudders through another stunning pain. It's as if scorpions are stinging the inside of her skull. ]
You...are dangerous.
[ She was fine before this, before he cast his love spell that now drives needles into both heart and mind. Vanessa keeps her hand from his, though her posture is still defensive as she backs away a few more steps, then turns to hurry away. She is a laundress. She should want nothing of danger. ]
Stay away.
no subject
His eyes darken with an abundance of worry, and burgeoning anger causes his jaw to tense as he watches her go.
He follows her, though his steps are slower than hers, allowing her a measure of self-protection. And then, he calls to her with words he'd used the first time they'd met, words she might remember, words he hopes she does, even if it hurts. ]
You're not safe, but I'm not the dangerous one. [ Well... ]
And I won't be staying away, not while they've got hold of you like this, whoever's done this. I am going to help you, one way or another. And I do mean, help you. Not harm you. Not ever.
[ Then, he stops in his tracks, looks around them for a moment and raises his voice, calling out loud to the air, to anything listening, unconcerned with how he looks or sounds. ]
And to anything else that's trying to harm Vanessa Ives: you will answer to me!
no subject
There's a vibration when he speaks, though not something others seem to feel — only her. Though it stabs into her mind and twists at her gut, the bittersweet pinch of her heart absolves a yearning that could make any pain worthwhile. It could, and yet...her protective instincts are too confused. They can't be trusted. Her only recourse is to guard against everything, even herself. She is drawn to him, and so she must stay far, far from him.
There are dangers, but they aren't for her to speak of, because they have never come for her. Until... Until now?
Is that what— ]
You ought to stop—
[ She catches herself, cutting herself short from a response that isn't hers and serves nothing. Whatever happens, should anything now happen in lieu of this harbinger, there's nothing he would be able to do to help. Not her.
But still, she's unlikely to get his voice, or his touch, out of her mind no matter how far her footsteps hurriedly carry her away. ]