the sunken | part i

[groundrules]

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.

Comments

(don't) hold your breath

[weifinder]

this is a gift, it comes with a price

"I have an idea."

Wei Wuxian smiles, eyes fixed on the boarded, locked door, one foot in the boat he just finished tying off, the other on the waterlogged wood of the decking at this particular door.

who is the lamb and who is the knife?

He indicates toward the ceiling after a surreptitious moment to send a small burst of qi into the waters, disrupting any planned intrusions of aquatic terrors for the moment.

"Warning or advice?" He hums, a speculative sound, tilting his head to regard those words. "I'm inclined to believe both. You?"

this is a gift, it comes with a price

[fiercechains]

That smile is not one that he has seen in a very long time, that's what it felt like. He is also, as it were, trying to stay away from the waters if he can avoid it. He does not need to be within the lakes and sink to the bottom, no need for the other to need to save him.

"What idea do you have, Master Wei?"

How much danger would they run into? He has already fought tar covered corpses. If he needs to fight again then he will.

[weifinder]

Last Wei Wuxian had seen Wen Ning, the man had claimed his own sense of self and turned toward embracing the life he had, however marked he was by the life he'd lived over the last near two decades. He deserved as much chance as anyone to make his own way, and his own family, with Sizhui knowing their relationship, and the cenotaph the two surviving Wen Clan descendants under construction if not completed... with Sizhui having been here, he doesn't know if that's had an effect, if they're all from the same world, if they're from parallel ones, and he doesn't know that he can find it in him to care at present.

What he does find, however, is he's momentarily considering if this is another trick this world is playing on him, and so for a moment, Wen Ning finds himself simply observed with slightly narrowed eyes. Not judgmental ones, but evaluating ones, in the seconds before Wei Wuxian's brows quirk upward and his smile returning to its easy pull upward on his lips.

"This is a barrier, isn't it?"

Breaking down the door, he means.

"Don't tell Wen Qing if I'm not successful, she'll never let me live it down — she does know you're here, ah? A-Yuan knows?"

Sizhui, yes, but there's a certain satisfaction of remembrance to call him by his childhood name in the presence of his remaining family.

... His remaining family who couldn't swim.

[fiercechains]

He had parted, all that time ago, with Sizhui. The Ghost General had decided to go his own way and not stay behind. They had even started the construction on the cenotaph and completed what they'd set out to accomplish. There was a lot to be done still but they had time. Or, they should have had time. He isn't sure how he ended up here nor does he care at the moment. Sizhui was there and he was told that his sister was.

"It is."

The door is nothing but a barrier that could be broken down with ease. He also takes note of those eyes watching him. Luckily for Wei Wuxian none of this was a trick. If it was then Wen Ning wasn't actively a part of said trick.

"I've not seen jiejie yet but I did speak to A-Yuan."

Then after a moment.

"And a man who resembles you slightly, Master Wei."

It had been weird seeing Beitang Moran. Though he hasn't found anyone yet other than them and a man who had been tasked to being a mermaid turned him. Luckily, Sizhui had told him who was there for the most part. Those that were important to the boy anyway and to him in his own way.

[weifinder]

"You have to see your sister," he says, fixing Wen Ning with a look, even if his smile had not fully fled. To him, that's non-negotiable. It would be like asking that he not strive to reach his shijie, were she ever here. Utterly impossible for him to accept, pending it wasn't her own death if he did. Her own death again. "I should send you back right now, nevermind that I'm no Master Wei to you anymore, ah?"

Part of him is tempted to do so anyway. He only stays his metaphorical hand because he did believe in Wen Ning's autonomy, from the moment he finally claimed it; and this place, the beacon buried within, holds another importance for getting the living back to their homes.

The mention of a man who resembles him has Wei Wuxian blinking, then laughing, even as he reached for a talisman tucked into the front of his robes.

"Beitang Moran, my better fed, noble half. He has visions of the future, a fascinating man. Politically astute. Absolutely useless for work. As silver tongued as you could want, and better intentioned, which makes him tolerable. A good fighter. Not cultivator levels, but he's not a cultivator, so why compare him to those who are?"

A cluck of his tongue as he fully commits to standing on the wet decking, flicking his talisman forward. It burns itself to ash even as a series of beautiful, light and fire flecked butterflies swarm forward, the barriers that might have been there negated, he hopes, by their presence.

Or never there at all, he muses. The butterflies surge in fluttering throes through the wood, and Wei Wuxian balances himself, pools qi in exactitude to his foot when lifted, and kicks the door in. Once, years ago, he would have asked or indicated for Wen Ning to take the lead on this, but they're akin to equals now, and Wei Wuxian is well versed in what actions he can take without burning through necessary resources.

The problem he encounters is only half the door gives under his powerful kick. The central portion collapses inward, leaving the locked door handle and the hinges still connected to wooden paneling on either side. For all the world, his damage looks like natural inevitability. Wei Wuxian shakes his head, shooting Wen Ning a bright smile.

"It worked! Let's go in and help locate this beacon now, shall we? You'll find them as insufferable as I do, I don't doubt it — ah, Wen Ning. If you see that tar on the dead in the waters here, see any pool of it on walls or the floors in here, avoid it. At all costs. In almost every case, it's cursed."

Delivering that nugget of wisdom, Wei Wuxian slips between the hanging portions of door to find himself in a narrow front room leading to a hall, and doors on either side.

[fiercechains]

"I will find jiejie."

Though, it had hit him hard when Sizhui had told him that she was here, in this place. His sister was alive and whatever trick of this place that was... he was grateful. The last thing that he really wanted was to show up and in the end none of it be true. He knows that Sizhui wouldn't lie to him about something like that. Neither would Wei Wuxian. Beitang Moran had even known of his sister's name.

As for calling him Master Wei... there were some habits that were hard to break. Even if there was a part of him that wasn't sure what to call the man before him. It wasn't something that he had thought about. Nor would he change the way he addresses the other until he could figure it out. The other was, after all, a very good friend.

So Beitang Moran was political where the other was not. From what he was being told the man was not a cultivator, demonic or otherwise. Though the man was a fighter. It was something that he would remember.

Wei Wuxian had to have been in the place for a while if he was kicking in doors. Even if it was something he could have done for him and wouldn't have had a problem with it, as he would've chosen to do it himself.

"I have fought the tar covered dead."

Luckily, he had not allowed those undead to touch him. That didn't mean that his chains hadn't touched the tar covered dead. Would that tar even do anything to him? Did they even want to find out if it would?

Slipping into the house he lets his eyes roam around the room before back at Wei Wuxian," What is it cursed with?" Was the beacon to be found in this place? "Does it have a specific sound or look?" This beacon that they're looking for.

[weifinder]

"Good, good! She'll have my ear otherwise." He shakes his head, mock lamenting, but the smile that follows is unfeigned, as is the ache in his chest. If he could preserve her life for her sake, for Wen Ning's, for Sizhui's, for his own, he would. Maybe there still would be a way. Maybe there wouldn't.

Right now, however, there's another concern to deal with, as he made his careful way down the long hall. The first fingerhold to slide the door open was molded over, and he opted to avoid that one for now.

"The specifics change. I'm not sure what it is here yet, but I'll know." By the time they have a true surge of dead in the coming weeks, his educated guess is they'll know more. "It consumes energy, poisons it, gives form to memories, to nightmares. If it's from the other side of mirrors..."

He stops, carefully, then more forcefully sliding back the next door, edging the door open enough to peer inside. Damp, as the rest of the residence must be, but also no indication of stairs. He clucks his tongue, closing the door again, to find it won't quite settle in the frame, the door swollen in its track.

"We need to find stairs down. You take that side, I'll continue along this one?"

There's a familiarity in exploring, investigating, with Wen Ning nearby that has the ache of nostalgia now, after more than two years. He smiles to himself, shaking his head before looking back to his — friend. Yeah, that's the word he wants. His friend, Wen Ning.

[fiercechains]

"Jiejie won't get you because I didn't find her." Whether that was true or not was a whole other story. She might decide to just to prove one wrong and the other right. It depended on the mood she was in and how long Wei Wuxian knew he was there.

Being told that the other would know has him giving a nod. Wei Wuxian had been there for some time now, he's sure. "Have you fought them?" He isn't quite sure what mirrors had to do with anything, yet, but he would take the other's word on it.

He did not like this dampness. As long as it wasn't enough for him to sink under then he didn't care. Swimming was more his friend's thing than his own but he had a good reason for that. The dampness of where they were seemed pretty bad too. The whole village seemed pretty bad off but he would do whatever he could to help.

"I will see what I can find."

Those eyes watch his friend for a moment before giving a nod and then heading further down to see if he could find another door or even stairs that went down.

"Will we know it when we see it? Does it give off any type of sound?"

allergies are eating me alive, short taggo

[weifinder]

"The tar? Dark waters? Not itself, but the things it covers or creates or gives form to do."

The sheer variety disallowing him simple clarity on this point. He leans further into the room he last opened, verifying there's no additional door within, on a wall or set into the floor. He hoped Wen Ning might have better luck finding a way down.

[fiercechains]

"You have dealt with many things here it sounds like."

It would probably take hours or days for Wei Wuxian to even tell him all that he had been through. Had his sister gone through the same thing? He hoped that she hadn't gone through too much. His sister didn't deserve to have her life turned upside down.

He heads further down the hall and opens a door but doesn't see anything there. Once that room is a bust he heads further down and opens another door," Do these places have doors in the floor?"


[ OOC: It's all good. I've been dealing with migraines these past few days. ]

[weifinder]

"Look and find out!" he calls back, cheerfully, because he has no better or worse idea — having not been in this village for long, regardless of what he'd believed a handful of days earlier.

"Let it never be believed that the rich and paranoid won't find some creative way of hiding things for themselves!"

That said, he continues his door to door search down his side of the hall, carefully entering a room not overrun by water, mold, or black mold.

[fiercechains]

Back home they had treasure rooms. Why would the village homes not have something like that? The only difference was that the village wouldn't have magic that kept those rooms hidden. What would they find if they did stairs that led down? What treasures would they find?

"I believe I found a door."

One that was in the floor and locked. Not that locks have ever bothered him. That doesn't mean he doesn't try to open it without breaking the door. The door would stay intact, or he'd try to keep it intact.

"It was in the floor and it leads down."

He will wait until Wei Wuxian comes into the room so they can head down and investigate, as long as there isn't a ton of water below.

[weifinder]

He hurries from the room and its faded, broken pieces of furniture when Wen Ning calls out to him. Clapping his hands once he's inside, he smiles at Wen Ning, nodding to the trapdoor.

"Well done! Time to descend into the depths, ah?"

The least he needs before they're heading down, bypassing this not particularly trapped if the leeches spotted in the waters as they go were discounted from the tallying. Mold in all its dizzying irksome ways for the rooms they find themselves half forced to enter to skirt down further, but oh, here the waters drip and he pauses, looking at the marked depths before them at these lowest levels. Below the level of the ground outside, he suspects, which says little. Much of this is below that level by now.

These stairs descend right into dark waters, but not dark water. Light glitters down here, and — there, he thinks, squinting into the dark.

"Looks like we've found the right place," he says, flashing Wen Ning a smile. He gathers himself to leap to the dias, the angle poor but manageable so he might avoid the waters here entirely. His eyes travel the curving arc of the gateway, and he nods to himself. "An intact gateway. Karsa will be overjoyed."

Such a dry, self-amused statement. Karsa will be glad if fewer of them remain after they get it activated, but the inactive beacon is hardly the only interesting part of this underground room.

[fiercechains]

As long as the water was not too deep then he would have nothing to worry about. If it was then there was a chance, unfortunately, that he would sink to the bottom and he did not wish for that. Though he also knows to do what he can to avoid the water as well.

"Are you looking for something in the water?" He does not know what Wei Wuxian has been through in this place or before they showed up to this particular village. That does not stop him from heading down with the other. He would be there to protect him if the need arose.

He watches the water and sees the light glittering below," Is that the beacon you were searching for?" However, he notes the self-amusement. "She is not to be trusted?" He doesn't know, beyond those he knows personally, who to trust and who not to trust.

"What else do you wish to find down here?"

[weifinder]

He gestures to the structure in the dias with him, but his eyes are trained down.

"This is, but here, do you see this too?"

He crouches down, indicating to fingerprints in the dust, dirt left behind.

"Someone's been here recently, before us."

[fiercechains]

Wen Ning kneels down a bit to see exactly what the other was looking at. He could see the fingerprints clear as day. Though that didn't tell them who had been there before them. Who had come through? Had someone tried to lock this away for a reason?

"I see them. Do we need to find out who was here before?"

If they needed to find out who was there before then he would help the other find them.

[weifinder]

"One would guess we do," he says, sounding distracted. It's sufficient enough that he looks from the fingerprints to gaze around the room, looking for anything else obviously dirt touched.

Wet, yes, but not soiled. Moulding, yes, but not dirtied.

He hums a note of consideration.

"Karsa needs to know the gateway is intact. We need to ask after what else might have changed here recently, if the people can even remember."

[fiercechains]

His eyes roam over the place a bit more to see if there were any other fingerprints around. He couldn't see any other places where there were prints in the dirt. All he saw was water and mold.

"I do not see anything else."

Unless there were more dirtied prints within the house, back up the stairs. It was possible that there was something around that they could not see. His eye sight was pretty good but he couldn't see anything else out of place.

"Has the lack of memory been something you, jiejie, and the others have been through?"

[weifinder]

Scanning the ceiling, Wei Wuxian makes a speculative noise in the back of his throat observing at last words etched there. It leaves his response to his old friend at a slight delay, distracted.

"Lack? No, only altered, which some of us faced when we first arrived here, with true memory returning at night... Wen Ning, what do you make of this?"

Asking for input while gesturing to the ceiling. greed deafens man to the cries of his conscience; music sets him free.

[fiercechains]

There was a lot, it seemed, that was distracting his old friend. Though he likes to think he knows the other well and how distracted he can get, especially when he was trying to help someone. Or when he was making something in order to help others.

"The true memory only came at night?"

What did he make of... He tilts his head slightly to look up at the ceiling and where the words were etched into it. He studies those words for a few moments and he's not sure, really, who they were pertaining to.

"It sounds as if it is saying that someone is not doing what is right. That there is something out there that he wants more and will do anything to get it." As for the music part. "I do not believe that means literal music but if it does then what music would stop a man from being greedy?"

[weifinder]

"It tried to come at the least. Maybe related to what causes the memory shifts for the locals... I haven't heard from Karsa if she has an idea. We'll need to tell her about this being intact, but..."

He lifts a hand to make a motion like a boat riding waves. There's not enough for them to act on, and this is not a place showing activity.

For the most part.

"Music that compels," he offers, a mild statement for a very complicated and personal attack on them both. Years ago now, longer for him than his friend.

"We should take care and head—”

As he leaps lightly from the platform to one of the raised tiles above the water line, and it slowly gives way under foot, water trickling in from each side as suddenly as he near falls.

"—back?!”

[fiercechains]

"Where would we find her?"

Though, his friend was not wrong. They did not have enough to act on. He also isn't sure what to make about the whole thing revolving around memories. It seems, too, that his friend and others dealt with the memory shift.

Did the words have to do with them? After all, it was years ago that the other could control him. That he had controlled him.

Jumping up toward the platform he moves to catch the other not wanting him to fall into the water. "We should go. Or you could play something to see if it works." After all, it mentioned music. Perhaps playing will stop what was going on.

[weifinder]

"In the village," he begins, but what follows leaves him leaping back to the beacon's base, frowning. A glance toward where they entered tells him a tale he can't discount: it's been blocked off.

"Going back isn't an option," he says, and it's then that a tinny, tinkling melody reaches his trained ear; Wei Wuxian cocks his head, listening, fingers stroking down Chenqing as he follows what melody he can.

Meanwhile, the water continues pouring in, steady if not overwhelming, the water level rising in the slow, inevitable way of doom.

[fiercechains]

So they would need to find a way back to the village? In doing so they would find her. Though, he glances over where they entered when the other glances there. It was blocked off. Could they break it? He has broken rock walls before. Though he is not sure that would be wise in this place. Not when it would probably retaliate against them.

"There is a way out of here." It was just a matter of finding that way. Or, rather, doing as the scrawled words told them. Music. A melody.

He does not like the water that pours in. Nor does he care to be trapped in water. "If the melody it provides does not work then try something of your own?" Perhaps something that was calming to the other.

[weifinder]

He hums a note of agreement, finally tugging Chenqing free. His friend speaks similar enough to what he was thinking himself, and when his flute is at his lips, the music he plays is first: quieting. Slowing. Places here can be influenced by his music, just as they can be immune, and he wants a sense of which he's operating under, if he can countermelody or harmonise with what's already playing.

Once he has a sense of this working at all. His playing at first feels no response, but then the water... slows. Not stops, but slows, audibly and visibly, and he closes his eyes, listening.

When he switches to the other melody, the water slows further, even more rapidly. He keeps playing, arriving at Wen Ning's side, nodding his head in the direction of the melody he isn't responsible for, but is echoing regardless. Perhaps Wen Ning can track down the music creating device in the floating debris of the room, as Wei Wuxian continues to play and hold the waters at bay from further flooding.