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

[ There's an understanding she doesn't feel like explaining, but she thinks she understands hard choices no one else wants to accept. Clara tossed herself into the Doctor's time stream, even after River told her it'd kill her. What was her life against the entire universe? She wouldn't want the extreme measure first, especially not for a kid, but sometimes there's just really shitty options, all the way around. ]

I've learned a thing or two from people smarter than me. Doesn't make it easy.

[ She's about to go on when her brow furrows, eying Number Five a little warily. ]

...Black mold? What do you mean? I know what black mold is, but what was happening?

[ Why is she even asking? It isn't like it was her life. But she talked to the child, she was given a gift, and there's a small twinge of uncomfortableness, a memory of sickness. ]

[ This isn't exactly where he expected the conversation to go, but it's something that he never really brought up again with her. Learning from people smarting than her is... kind of a novel thing to say, really. Since she asks, he goes ahead with the story. ]

That's more or less how he was spreading the plague. Spores. [ He has a very spotty memory of getting infected and a wolf dragging him across a room to burn a talisman. It was a strange time. ]

I spoke to him in a tower. [ He tilts his head at her, still looking for any signs. ] I believe you did too. He gave you something, didn't he? What was it?

What?

[ She feels caught off guard at the question and starts to wonder too many things at once. Is he telling the truth? If he is, how could it be true? If this happened to her, then when? Or is this possibly an echo situation? That thought makes her shoulders relax a little and Clara latches on like a lifeline. ]

I think I know what's happening. That wasn't me. Complicated story, but I think it might've been a copy of me? I uh...I exist in a lot of places, in a lot of different times.

[ This isn't the case at all, but the alternative, that she's forgotten a vast chunk of her life, isn't something she wants to think on very deeply. It's as if static plays in her head when she tries to think about it too hard, and this is an easier explanation all around. ]

So, to answer your question. Nothing. The kid gave me nothing.

[ Which she says with more adamance than strictly necessary. ]

[ It's fair to say that wasn't the reaction he expected to get. For just a moment, Five doubts his own memory. There's a lot that he needs explained and he stares her down for a long moment before he asks. ]

What do you mean, a copy? [ She may regret telling him, because he's not liable to let this go until he gets the long story. ] You've been time traveling?

[ Clara exhales upward hard enough to make her bangs flutter. Maybe she can still make it a 'long story short' situation. ]

I've traveled with a time traveler, yeah. I did something to save his life, and it put a copy of me at different points in his very, very long life. Since he counts as a space travler too, that's a lot of versions of me, in a lot of different places.

[ Her arms are crossed over her chest now, and she lets her eyes meet Five's. ]

See? Complicated.

[ His eyes narrow by degrees as he tries to solve for himself how something like that could be possible. Different versions from different offshoots of time, maybe. Complicated and wildly irresponsible. ]

This time traveler. What's his name?

The Doctor, why?

[ She hadn't been avoiding saying his name, it just didn't seem to matter. How many time travelers can there be? (The answers would actually surprise her.) ]

[ He smiles abruptly. Un-fucking-surprising. ]

Well, for your sake, I hope you're wrong.

Wrong about what? Also, not surprised you seem to know who the Doctor is. I mean, based on the smile.

[ Is it a weird smile? She isn't sure. ]

[ The smile tightens. He'll have some follow-up questions for the Doctor, yes. ]

I'm his roommate. [ Knew him before, but as it happens. ] If you do have a copy, that means she arrived on the train with me. Did the Doctor ever explain paradoxes to you when he was mucking about time?

It's one of his favorite topics. Actually, I think we rescued someone who was stuck inside one, once.

[ Did they? It's fuzzy, and she frowns, rubbing her forehead idly. ]

I haven't seen two of me around here, mate. It's just me. Besides, I feel like other people would have noticed by now and said something.

[ Clara eyes him warily. ]

Is this standard questioning when you try to get people to join your cult?

[ He notices the way she rubs her head, and stares for a moment, like he's expecting another sign. The question just gets a snort and a shake of his head. ]

It's standard questioning when someone admits that they've been screwing with time and created an untold number of duplicates of themselves.

If there were another of you, you'd be able to tell. Itching. Sweating. Some less enjoyable side effects that come when you introduce a paradox that you'd be better off avoiding. Denial is the first stage.

I didn't—I wasn't screwing with time. I was saving someone's life.

[ She knows what happened and what she did, and gets a little defensive about it. The only other person who can say anything regarding what Clara did is River, and Clara doesn't think the other woman would call it screwing with time. Or maybe she would? The conversation is making her feel off-balance somehow, like he has the upper hand in a game she didn't know she was playing. ]

Look, it doesn't work like that, I'm already here, there wouldn't be another copy of me, there's no reason. I'm not trying to deny anything, I just know how it works and there's not two of me here.

[ Which makes his other comments about seeing her make no sense, and Clara turns her back to rest her hands on the counter, staring down into the sink as if it'll have all the answers. ]

Since when does a tween know so much about time paradoxes?

[ His expression twists, like he's just barely absorbing the combined insult to his intelligence and being dismissed because of how he looks. It's been over two years since he made that mishap on his way back to 2019. He's heard it all, and it still manages to get under his (obnoxiously young) skin.

Telling her doesn't mean she'll believe him, but he's been knocking on a lot doors, and he's at his limit to what he can tolerate. ]

I know because I'm a sixty-year-old man with a lifetime of experience in how it works. [ In theory and in practice. He's made every mistake and he knows exactly how this goes wrong. ] It's far more likely the village rewrote your memories to make you complacent, so you don't realize that you've been thrown out of time and break the cycle.

[ She should've known better, honestly. The Doctor looks like a normal bloke a little older than her, but who knows how old the man really is. That's the only reason she continues hearing him out. That doesn't mean her mind is completely untangled, not yet. ]

Look, I dunno what you think is happening, but I know my own life.

[ Does she, though? The doubt is etched visibly on her features and she stares at him intently. At a certain point, her memory does becomes fuzzy. ]

Break what cycle?

[ Clara isn't sure why she asks, or why she should even want to know, but she hasn't told him to go yet because there's a ball of doubt beginning to unspool. ]

[ He seems to smile a little sharper every time he's annoyed. It's not her fault that she's been brainwashed, but the entire situation has him put out. That she didn't question his age is the only reason he thinks she isn't totally a lost cause. ]

What is happening. Whatever they did to the village that caused it to get stuck in time is going to happen again.

We were warned about jogging anyone's memory, but call me impatient when the timeline is at stake. I'm sure you're smart enough to figure out when something doesn't seem right.

[ She has to admit something's wrong because he's right, she's smart, and there obviously can't be two of her in this place. ]

So...what do we do then? Why are you the only one I've met who realizes anything is wrong?

[ There's still a careful wariness to her voice, not complete trust, but she's listening. It shouldn't be this difficult for her to remember exactly where she was and what she was doing before she 'chose' to stay. Nothing makes sense, but having no real idea about her own past is unnerving enough to keep her from continuing her flippancy. ]

Could be luck. Could be that I've got a leg up when it comes to time manipulation.

[ Probably the former, because when does anything ever work out for him? As for her other question, aside from go door-to-door to antagonize people who may or may not remember him... ]

Right now, I'm seeing how many people were impacted. Then it's a matter of finding out who or what caused this and putting a stop to it.

How many people have you found so far? If it's not just me, and I'm not the first one you've met, then how many?

[ Grabbing the entire plate of baked goods in one hand and grabbing a pitcher of lemonade with the other, she nods at him to follow her so they can sit outside on the villa's balcony. Might as well enjoy her faux life while she can. If this isn't real, then she's assuming this isn't her house which is a shame because it's nice. ]

I stress bake, and now I'm gonna stress eat, so help yourself.

[ Except...why was she baking so much? What does she even have to be stressed about? ]

[ He's about to answer when she suddenly decides to relocate. There's a beat or two when he seems reluctant to follow just because she's guiding him out, but he trails anyway. She's listening and that's more than he can say about everyone. ]

So far? One that remembers. [ And Moran already made it clear he's not interested in working together. — He eyes the lemonade and briefly glances back to the kitchen. ] Do you have any coffee?

Yeah, gimme a mo.'

[ Disappearing back inside, she has an excuse to think alone for the minute it takes the water to boil, and the couple of minutes it takes to brew the coffee. She makes it strong because it seriously feels like this not kid is mostly running on caffeine and conspiracy theories.

And yet, she's hearing him out because of sheer gut instinct. When she returns with the coffee, she brings sugar too and sets it down in front of him. ]

No cream or anything, dairy was hard to come by this go 'round apparently.

[ Trade is fickle, and she knows that because gossip is what she's supposed to know, right? Gossip, information, that's been her job for as long as—she can't even trick her mind into giving her an exact time frame. ]

So, you said one person actually remembers. Is it the way you remember things, or did you convince them?

[ He may not be easily won over, but Five warms up to her considerably when she obliges and drums up some coffee for him. He doesn't touch the sugar, instead immediately taking the cup and sniffing it before swallowing a large gulp. Fresh. It was poor foresight that he didn't take whatever he could grab on the way off the train, it's been too long. ]

...Not bad. [ Because there's always time to comment on the quality of the coffee. He looks back up at her and already seems a little less manic. ]

I didn't have to convince him of anything, he called me out. Unfortunately, he's of the opinion that we should sit back and observe to see what happens. [ He frowns into the cup and takes another drink, then regards her briefly. ]

What made you believe me?

[ Clara's nothing if not a good hostess, at least. Even when someone's trying to convince her the comfortable life she has is a ruse. His question is answered easily, with no hesitation. ]

My best friend's an ageless time-traveling alien, thought it'd be a bit weird not to at least hear you out after accepting all that.

[ She isn't sure she can wrap her mind around it yet, but Clara's still more willing to hear him out than she was before. ]

If this is all true, doing nothing sounds like we're stuck here living some life that isn't ours. What is he waiting for, exactly?

[ Her questions are an attempt to understand as much as she can, and maybe along the way, more will start to seem less fuzzy. ]

[ It's interesting how much of her past she remembers. It seems like they just changed enough to keep her from poking holes in their time bubble. ]

Moran? [ He deserves to have his name slipped in. ] He seems to think it'll solve itself if we ignore it. Or he's got a plan and he isn't telling me out of spite.

Remember that if we don't fix this in time. Not everyone knows a crisis when they see one.

In the history of resolutions, 'doing nothing' normally isn't the one that tends to work out. But what do I know, I'm just a girl with a double life, apparently.

[ Her conversation with Bucky is starting to make a little more sense, all the confusion with who she was and when he saw her last. She thought it was roommate confusion, but...]

I think one of the people who lives here might be going through something like this. We were talking and he said he was having a hard time remembering things. I wasn't sure what to make of that, then.

[ Now, it's just more in Five's favor on the side of Clara believing him. ]

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