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

[ His head tilts as all of his focus lands on her. It's terrible that he'd rather assume she was hallucinating back home and it wasn't some side effect of what he did. Whatever is happening here is different.

Ray is probably the one person she'd want to see most, aside from her daughter. It'd be easy to exploit. ]

What did you talk about?

[She shrugs as she tries to play back the conversations.]

He asks me to have a drink with him. He asks me about my day. He's only usually here for a few minutes, so we don't get much father than that.

[ He nods, slow and uneasy. A part of him knows they're being manipulated, but he can't figure out why. To hold them here? ]

I guess it's not a surprise that after two years they'd get to know us. [ Anyone watching them could have done the same. How many times has he dreamed up Dolores and held entire conversations hoping to hear her response? It's the same with Allison. She wants someone there who can offer comfort and reassurance that they haven't completely fucked this up.

It's a terrible trick to play on them, but he can't muster up the anger he should feel. He's been doing this too long. ]

Is he how you remembered him?

[She shrugs because he's not perfect. He's a little too somber, and his smile isn't as bright. But he also doesn't call her on her shit the way that he would if he's alive.]

He's what I want him to be.

[ That makes it sound more like a gift. Allison seems to take it that way, and he hasn't exactly tried to chase away what he's been seeing in the windows. ]

...Maybe that's the idea. Taking your memories didn't work, so they'd rather use them as bait to keep you here.

He's dead, Five.

[Both here and home. Her tone is gentle, because she does see his point. It's a temptation, a reason to let herself linger and not rush out again. But she also knows what's important, and she's not going to let herself drown in the Sunken for a glimpse of a man she already resolved to leave.]

It's not worth staying here to talk to him for five minutes a day. I've already left him behind once, I can do it again.

[ Everything she says is true, but it still pains him to hear. He still feels somewhat responsible for tearing her away from her husband, only to bring her here... and cause a paradox in the future. It's cruel to resurrect him now.

It's also somewhat true that he's left Dolores behind. Multiple times. As she seems intent on remind him. ]

I don't know if it's a matter of leaving this time.

[Allison's brow furrows, confused. They always leave the places they visit. That's the only consistent thing about their presence in this world, beyond the undead. What does he know that makes this one the exception to the rule?]

What do you mean?

[ He hasn't had time to really sort out his theories to connect the train to time travel to what they're experiencing. Like Allison, his first suspicion was that he was hallucinating, but that's clearly not the case. If it's a curse there's no guarantee it'll stop if they left. He isn't completely sure he wants it to.

So rather than give her an answer, he shakes his head. ]

First we need to figure out why it's happening.

This place has never really had a shortage of dead people.

[Even if the ghosts seem rather specific to them.]

Do you think it's possible ghosts from home could be picked up too?

...I don't want to get your hopes up, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. Ghosts can time travel, there's nothing to say they can't cross over.

[ Except for one thing, and he wrestles with mentioning Dolores or how she sometimes changes to someone else. ]

You're not the only one seeing things. More than likely it's a curse, but we need to understand it.

[Allison is still skeptical. It's not like she can summon them the way Klaus can - she's pretty sure that Ben was an anomaly because of Klaus' powers and what they were doing before they left 2019.

She wasn't even anywhere near Ray when he died. Why would his ghost be following her? Still, she also wants to be helpful.]

Do you want me to try and see if I can get something out of him?

[ She's taking it so well that he really should be giving her more credit. Even willing to explore the possibility that he's not what he seems. ]

It wouldn't hurt. [ The tapping is back at the window. He doesn't turn around. ] Have you... ever seen a woman in white?

Like the ghost?

[She shakes her head.]

Seeing them was always more Klaus' thing.

Who knew it was as bad as he says. I've got several of them in the lighthouse. [ See: why he hasn't had her over. ]

But no, this was something else. Someone that shifted forms but disappeared a moment later.

[Allison's brow furrows as she considers it.]

Is it like what I'm seeing with Ray?

[Something specific to Five, that's his own trauma to work through?]

[ He was kind of hoping he could talk around that. His family always seemed to have a tough time understanding. ]

Not exactly, but possibly related. I didn't know the woman in white. She hasn't appeared every time.

[Look eventually she's going to see Delores hanging around and ask questions. And it's not that they're against Five being happy with his wife. It's just a little concerning.]

What has been appearing every time?

[Since you gave her that opening.]

[ You'd think it'd be easier for him, considering Allison just admitted that she thought she was hallucinating her husband. He takes a breath and exhales. ]

Dolores.

Oh.

[She both expected it and not at the same time. There's a question that sits on the tip of her tongue because she knows they don't talk about Dolores. They don't know how to talk about Dolores. But maybe this is the chance to do so.]

Do you ... how do you see her?

[Let's start there.]

[ He furrows his brows, knowing he already said that much and now he's going to have to say the rest. ]

In the windows. She taps on the glass. [ He wonders if she's heard it since he's been here. ] It's morse code.

[She has, but she passed it off as nothing. The old ship makes a lot of sound.]

What does the code say?

[ A lot of things. It turns out that Dolores isn't as forgiving as Ray. ]

She... says I abandoned her. [ He did. She'd have every right to be angry with him if she thinks he replaced her. ]

She disappears again whenever I try to respond.

[Allison frowns at that, because that's bold of a mannequin to say, but she doesn't think that's the point. She thinks it's more Five's own feelings that he has to deal with.

She doesn't know if she has the perfect advice for this, but for someone who's left a few burned relationships in her wake, she has this much:]

It might feel like abandonment, but ... sometimes the people we think are forever aren't. Sometimes they're what we need for a particular moment, and once that moment fades, we need to move on.

She should try and move on too. And you shouldn't feel guilty for doing what you needed to do.

[ The guilt he feels the moment after admitting what she told him is for Allison's sake. He looks pained as he realizes that she was forced to abandon Ray, and from what he saw of the man he seemed... more understanding. Less accusing than who Five sees in the window.

Something else strikes him as she ventures further to offer her advice. She's not just talking about Dolores moving on. It hurts to think about, because he already made that choice. He chose to be with his family when he left her in that department store, and here he is, with all but one sibling gone, and the one that's left doesn't have anything close to the life he wanted for them. Nothing better waiting for her from what he's heard. ]

She was... back when I thought it was all over, I left her behind. I knew, we couldn't just... I knew things had changed. [ His expression twists. ] I'd changed. Obviously.

[ Regressing to a child. Dolores is the one who said the equations looked off. ]

But I miss her. I miss talking to her. She...

[ He shrugs, helplessly. It's hard to explain that she was all he had, and the more he tries the more lost he gets. ]

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