the sunken | moonrise

[groundrules]

THE SUNKEN | MOONRISE

---

Image source.

The final Arc VI event lasts three days ICly and until 23 July OOCly. Yancai goes back another two years in time to the Huntress’ visit, Miang-Si’s corruption and the memory-meddling rite of the ladies of the lake.

The party can choose to stay neutral, only heading to the House of Commerce to access its now-active beacon — or they can inevitably get mixed up in the affairs of Yancai and endanger the village’s time loop.

For a quick catch-up: the latest clues | everything about Arc VI.

BOAR’S HEART

Image source.

Rattled, on high alert, feeling watched and skin prickling from static electricity, characters wake to find Yancai has gone back another two years in time. It is now nearly dry, barring rare waterways. Mould is absent. The village bustles with activity: a heavy influx of new arrivals comes by sea, and frequent fishermen’s and merchants’ markets set up in the open road — enjoy fresh fish delicacies, discounted pearls, rare cloth textiles and dyes that include the unique Yancai green!

■ No more hauntings take place, and only one moon loiters above the village. Villagers still remember the party under their false identities.

■ Word has spread of the conflict between elder Quanze Tsaymien’s council and a beautiful woman who has taken up in the forests at the village’s outskirts. Gossipmongers say she wastes away in the woods weeping — while ground cracks beneath her feet, grass wilts, waters poison and animals drop dead nearby. Young men are drawn to her and are later forcibly recovered in a state of rambling, feverish exhaustion. Village healers gladly accept your nursing help.

■ Village elders have given the woman — correctly identified by the party as the Huntress — until the following sunrise to leave Yancai on pain of death. You have 24h to encounter her.

■ The forests are livelier than in previous iterations of Yancai, but you feel perpetually… watched, as if sharp eyes follow your progress. These heavy gazes may belong to the young men bewitched to protect the Huntress, or to razor-clawed venom-spitting creatures that hunt her.

■ You may find some of the aforementioned creatures bleeding on the forest path. They possess slightly above canine intelligence, cannot communicate in human tongues, and hesitate to let you approach — but nursing one might reward you.

■ The death-touched (necromancers, those who died or revived, or otherwise marked) may optionally feel compelled to join the Huntress. Physical distance dwindles her pull, as can your own magic or solutions.

■ Luck (?) leads you to a silent and bloodied forest clearing, come sunset. Here, two dozens of Yancai’s recent dead have risen alive and surround the Huntress, some battling the creatures that assail her, while she speaks to 16-year-old village beauty Miang-Si. There is a gaping, if regenerating hole in the Huntress’ chest; in one hand, she holds her yet-beating heart she cuts in several parts she wraps in parchment. She asks Miang-Si to bury these pouches near Yancai to ‘hold her power close,’ in exchange for permanent and ever-blossoming beauty.

■ Wait as the Huntress and her forces retreat — then catch up to Miang-Si, capture her, or find the pouches. The ground where they are buried is desaturated, brittle, nearly pulverised. Hawks and ravens circle above and plunge down to claw at intruders, or attempt to pick up children or feebler adults. To the magically or death-sensitive, the pouches emanate a revolting aura of withering death.

■ Beware if heart pouches were buried beneath aged, thick trees — their roots burst out like nooses and writhing spiders’ legs, looking to either slam you against the tree trunks or entrap you within.

■ Finding at least two heart pouches prevents the dead from rising in Yancai in the years to come! Keep the heart cuts fettered — touching these parts directly can overwhelm you with the need to consume this or other hearts, to compensate for the sudden and unfeeling… coldness in your chest.

WAKE, UNWAKEFULLY

Image source.

Sunrise finds the Huntress gone from Yancai — while waves of the dead rise from the sea to attack the village. Some come chained, or dragging pieces from the casket-ships in which they were set for water burial.

This is the first undead attack witnessed by Yancai villagers, who are largely clumsy, slow and petrified. Some sentimentally believe their revived relatives never died and plead not to kill them. Many are caught in undefended areas, such as open port harbours, fishing boats, markets — and need help to travel to their families. The Huntress’ spell starts dissolving by midday, with the dead largely pulling back into sea and lake waters

■ Beware the village waterways: touching the water replenishes the strength of the dead and saps yours. Look closely at the bottom of the waterways, and you find them lined with dozens of resting corpses. Some wake slowly, as they clutch shards of glistening black mirror — best to… use a very long oar… or plunge very quickly to recover shards.

■ Carrying a mirror shard puts the dead around you to blissful sleep. Those who possess a cut of the Huntress’ heart can take control of up to 20 of the risen dead. Necromancers can control up to 10, even without such a token.

MOTHER MOON

Image source.

Come midday of Day II, Yancai villagers start to move freely and reunite with loved ones. Waters begin to gently rise and flood the grounds, while the first spores of black mould appear on walls.

The first to help the injured are the washerwomen of Yancai, who favour the young and magically sensitive. You notice they work in perfect synchrony and have developed a hand sign language they can teach you. Keep an ear out, and one might entrust they are hedge witches, the so-called ‘ladies’ of the lake.

■ Join them, either invited or unseen, when they gather at one of Yancai’s three great lakes. Each lady picks up one of the silver coins tossed in the water for luck-bearing. Take one yourself, and you will be able to breathe and speak underwater, following as the ladies dive and swim through thin underwater passageways. Beware countless skeletal remains that line the lakes and sinister fish — both burst out to shackle your limbs, or sound the alarm about intruders.

■ You find the ladies have begun to shelter and ward the dead in lake caves, to avoid their rising up again. The ladies re-emerge in the forest, speaking of a protection rite they agreed with the elders’ council. They are not strong enough to break the Huntress’ lingering spell, but hope to later recruit nascent witch Miang-Si, who teases she has power from the Huntress. For now, the ladies have decided to create a five-year time loop, moving Yancai back and forth in time whenever the dead attack.

■ To achieve their rite, the ladies use large pieces of black mirror confiscated from the Huntress’ dead and the energy of the hunter’s moon that shines down a bloody red tonight. Those with a lunar connection feel the moon aches, disgusted by this violation. Even those unaffiliated with the moon feel irascible and prone to violence while under its gaze.

■ Interrupting the rite rescues the moon, earning you a reward, and breaks villagers from the five-year loop, allowing them to live their true lives. It also exposes Yancai to the dead, unless you remove the heart cuts. Co-ordinate and choose wisely.

■ The ladies conduct their chanting, rune-painting and summons throughout the night of Day III in the forest. You have a wealth of options to break their spell: interfere with the magic flows, disrupt the guarded ash circle of convened witches, summon irate villagers to raid, persuade Miang-Si to intervene, break or steal the rite’s black mirror pieces… You can also reach out to the coven’s strongest witches, who agreed to sacrifice themselves to become overseers in the time flux — the Lumberjack, Red Lady, White Woman, Man in Black and the Milk-Toothed Babes. You can still sign up for a RNG draw to chat.

BAIT & BEACON

Image source.

To take attention off the ladies of the lake, Yancai’s council organises a sumptuous masked banquet and charity auction for the victims of the undead attack at the lavish House of Commerce. The House has been thoroughly cleansed by the time of your arrival, with only faint, clumsy traces of blood, decay and debris lingering from the previous offensive.

On site, servants are still jittery from the undead assault, while openly armed guards walk the grounds and answer any small provocation. Be kind to the staff or offer sympathy for their likely recent losses, and they might let you in unnoticed, or offer a hand.

■ Anyone who brings an item for the auction or who can pretend s/he possesses massive wealth can join the banquet. Show up with anything you can brazenly talk up as elite, exquisite or one-of-a-kind — or perhaps auction your services?

■ The House of Commerce contains a locked room with the village’s now fully active beacon. The Master of Commerce has the only key-tokens to access this quarter, somewhere in his study room — pick a lock, sweettalk the staff, or work your magic to get inside the study and grab one of the rune-inscribed tokens. The study room brims with scrolls, globes, letters to and from the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company and maps of… Arc I’s Sa-Hareth in the west, where hand-written news reports say the dead are rising.

■ Back at the banquet, the richest wine and… relaxing herbs and powders are offered freely or sometimes slipped into food to ease spirits. Aiming for levity, participants don comical animal masks or play a local game of ‘bait or hook,’ whereby they approach you with the aforementioned fishing bait or fish hook in closed fists, asking you to pick one. Depending on your choice, you must ‘bait’ the audience with a song or dance, or ‘hook’ them in with a joke or anecdote.

■ Around midnight, attendants are invited to an increasingly competitive auction, punctuated by elbowing, loud voices, crowding and the occasional threat. Beautiful concubines might stick to your arms, asking to be purchased this or that (exorbitant) small nothing as a gift. Participate to keep up your cover, but beware landing in hard debt!

■ Most banquet goers pretend they are indifferent to the undead attack, but some question whether the woman of the forest was to blame — while others mention that the mysterious, far too independent coven of the ladies of the lake is meeting even now, and might be cursing Yancai.

■ However you spend your night, the witch Karsa asks you to infiltrate the House of Commerce by dawns and attempt to leave through the beacon. This will only be possible if at least one person has picked up a key-token…!

QUESTIONS

Comments

The Doctor | Doctor Who

[thedreamer]

[ ooc: open & closed starters to follow in the comments below. I love brackets and prose equally so I'm happy to match your style! please feel free to tag in with anything else if you want to wildcard a different scenario, or if you want to hash out something different you can PM me! ]

day 1: the calm before the storm

[thedreamer]

[ They've traveled again. If the movement of transiting on the edge of years had a sound at all, the Doctor feels sure that every step they tread now through beleaguered Yancai would sound like a portentous groaning and creaking, the ground on which they stand about to give way beneath their feet. Meddling with time by those both inexperienced and desperate is a bad combination and they can't go on like this, of course. They won't. Not if he has anything to say about it. And, of course, he does have quite a lot to say always.

He can fix this, though, they all can. It started here, they're close.

Distracted as he is, ruminating ten steps forward and not really even present, the Doctor's shoulder brushes against one of their own rather forcibly, enough that remaining upright might be uncertain for either of them, and so he quickly reaches out a hand to steady them. ]

Oh! It's you, wonderful you, good, excellent. Sorry, bit in my head — [ He gestures to the bustling market around them. ] Here we go again. Perfect pre-chorus if we were writing a song.

[ Everything's fine. ]

day 1: the monster pet we never knew we always wanted

[thedreamer]

[ The Doctor has ventured into the forest more than once in their time here because he'll always opt for going towards the danger and not running from it. (Well, apart from the other running he's done through the years. It doesn't count.) Given the time fluctuations once again in Yancai, and knowing what their party's encountered in the forest already, the Doctor is quick to make his way there.

He's quiet as he moves through carefully, trying to discern different sounds, to predict where possible footsteps may be coming from if anyone or anything untoward should venture close. He's not ignorant of the risk involved here, just confident in himself and his abilities. There are things unseen beyond the path he treads; he feels the presence of others and though it unsettles him, his steps are as decisive as they've ever been.

As he passes through an area particularly snarled with tree limbs and vines, he's encouraged to find a member of their party walking the same path. ]

We both had the same idea! Lovely day for a stroll.

[ Do forgive him, his attention is easily called elsewhere and he's looking up and around in the trees above them, curious about the rustling sounds, though not unfamiliar by now. These creatures seem a different sort than what he's encountered before. ]

Can you feel them? They're moving about in the trees. Who are we, they're wondering. A question I ask myself every day.

[downswing]

Ask silently.

( This, teeth gritting like blades on gravel, friction blunting their edges raw. They are — unlikely companions, at constant odds of asynchrony. The Doctor, that Wangji sees, carries no blade or weapon, leaving his flank exposed and his entire person vulnerable. His step is erratic, lacking the forms of military discipline or discretion. He is... unpredictable in curiosity, in interests, in observations.

It is no different, Lan Wangji supposes, weight of his sword a callous warmth arrested in a clasp too stiff — from minding a child who has yet to learn the shapes of etiquette and the colours of obedience. If not for the frigid, tense stirring of leaves, like whistling, if not for the steel-weight of gazes chasing their silhouettes, dark and long — Lan Wangji might nearly be endeared.

But they do not walk this forest at a kindly step, in comfort. The day's sun blinds him, white heat and a crisp, grazing burn that licks at his nape, crawls up where his silks fold and double. He hears the bell-like, crystalline calling to the trees, a shivered rustling, and turns to intercede his sword Bichen's silvered length between them and whatever might jump down to assail them —

Only to find... no plunge. No sudden spur of violence. Only, gaze slanting, a grotesquely misshapen tree, like a waistline corseted by a thick, muscular string — ...leading up and turning in the virulently tight grasp of a... creature that could only scale to such height by clinging and progressing with the help of its tail. It lingers there, artlessly stranded, smaller than much of its kin and kind sighted in the forest grounds already — and dripping, drip by drip by drip by bead by pearl by drip again its red down, from a fist's rounding of a gaping wound, where someone, something recently stabbed it.

It sees them, just as Lan Wangji sees it, careful show of its teeth attempting a growling expression of dominance that thins and withers when producing the sound yields mute, sullen ache. Lan Wangji does not advance.

To the Doctor, behind him: ) Wounded. Likely, burning arrows. ( Little else would create such a broad gaping wound, given the village's limited weaponry. ) It has retreated. Will not survive lone long.

( In other words, not an immediate threat. )

[thedreamer]

[ The Doctor has no real sense of how Lan Wangji perceives him, what he thinks of him, if only because the Doctor generally never invests much time or thought into examining such things. He likes being thought of favorably (the vanity in him that still lingers, muted), he enjoys when others think well of him, but if they don't, then they don't. They're all important to him. He would do anything for any one of them, to keep them safe, to get them home. But this place — well, it continues to thwart him at every turn.

It's a turn of good fortune to have Lan Wangji beside him now. He's skilled, he possesses a weapon; pragmatically, these are all the things the Doctor should find most helpful about the other man's presence, but none of those things are actually what hearten him most. It's simply...his presence, the simple reminder that where they go next in the unknowing dark, they don't go alone. Plus, he keep an eye on him. He worries about him. Ah, but that's true of all of them, too. Still, it amuses the Doctor momentarily to imagine what Lan Wangji would think if he knew the Doctor worried over him of all people. They're all fragile compared to him, is the problem. Desperately and frightfully fragile. Even when they wield swords.

To the matter at hand, though — the beautiful beast perched above them. Without closer examination, it's difficult to say if it might even survive, but there's a chance, and when there's a chance — no matter how small — they have to try. ]

No. It won't. [ Wounded, in pain, likely terrified. How it might have suffered here alone had they not crossed its path. The thought of it makes his hearts ache. Nothing should have to suffer alone like this, even if the unending dark is waiting for it. ]

Hello. [ To the creature, his voice pitched low, gentle. ] My friend and I, we're here to help.

[ Sentient creatures range in intelligence, so how much it will understand remains to be seen. Yet, words need not always be understood for their presence to be a comfort. Still, the Doctor is careful to advance slowly. One step only, in fact. ]

[downswing]

( He makes clean, limpid advance. Of course he does, the Doctor a constant aberration in the string of any day's logical and anticipated occurrences. Most, unarmed, would have the sudden and startling epiphany of their mortality, their vulnerability, their gutting revulsion at the sight of such a creature.

The Doctor, meanwhile, trots on towards the creature whose skins and claws and glistening membrane curl and contort around the tree's husk, brown melting into scale into leathered skin, into nothingness.

The Doctor speaks, and the creature — shivers in minute, quiet rippling. It tolerates their presence and the Doctor's proposal, and it seems to Lan Wangji an unkindness not to give the full detail of their offer.

So he sketches a nod, imperceptibly: ) With euthanasia.

day 1: boar's heart

[thedreamer]

[ Luckily (?) for whomever just so happens to be crossing the forest this night at the same time as the Doctor, he'll be quick to hold his arm out to block them moving further forward. For now. Really, do be grateful, he's just staved off what was sure to be a nasty situation. Or so he thinks. Given just who is up ahead and who's with her, it's easy to deduce that stumbling too close would have ended up terribly. Hold your applause for later though, he doesn't need fanfare. Well, yes, he does. ]

We're a bit outnumbered up ahead. The Huntress and her backup singers. I'm reasonably sure they're not about to sing karaoke.

[ With his night vision and the ability to see from a far safer distance, they have the perfect vantage point to observe and wait. ]

[makemeasong]

[ Clara runs right into his extended arm and makes a startled, slightly offended noise. ]

Nice football mom save.

[ Her words are whispered and it’s all the fanfare he’s getting. She has to admit though, this is something she’s missed with the Doctor. All he’s done lately is see her in the aftermath of awful things—her fault—so she hopes this will be like home and adventuring together. It’s slightly more deadly and terrifying than most planets, but they’re doing this. ]

It’d be so much nicer if it were karaoke. What can you see? Can you hear anything?

[ She can only sort of make out sounds and see flashes of movement. They’re gonna need a plan, although she wouldn’t put it past him to dive right into the action head first. At that thought, Clara reaches out and grabs his hand as if that might preemptively stop him. ]

[thedreamer]

Clara. [ Just that one word, her name uttered in a mixture of relief to see her, consternation that she's out here to begin with, and complete distractibility with the moment at hand. ]

I can hear and see loads of things. You, talking when you shouldn't be here at all, a gathering of our old friends, the undead, throwing a surprise party for the Huntress, and the Huntress with a very large hole in the center of her chest.

[ Voice pitched even lower: ] Well, that was their first mistake. No balloons. Night's off to a terrible start.

[ It is like old times, he can't help but think, and though he's not pleased at her being present given the company they're keeping in the forest tonight, it's better that she's here with him than alone in the woods if she was going to be out here at all. He does hold her hand in return, though, squeezing it gently. Not yet, that gesture silently says. Wait and watch. ]

[makemeasong]

What do you mean 'I shouldn't be here?' Neither should you! In fact, probably no one should be out here. But here we are, so let's be awesome.

[ Clara knows that he's been spooked by their incident with the dead, when she was force-fed the black mold and things were dicey. He's always over-protective when something happens to her, so she flashes him a smile of reassuring confidence. ]

I could go back for balloons, what color?

[ Just a joke, but she does have the rose petals with her, she always does after the Doctor made sure she could carry at least two safely. That's exactly how many she has. ]

Or, we could just make ourselves invisible, go investigate, and then come back here to come up with a plan.

day 2: wake, unwakefully

[thedreamer]

[ Tricky thing with time travel, of course, being the villagers are well versed in how to stay safe from the undead rising once again to come for them, but they don't remember that they know.

Precisely why they shouldn't be meddling — no, no, now's not the time. They can work out the cause and repair later. They need help more than ever, confused and overwhelmed, and the Doctor tries to usher as many people inside as possible.

Rising as they are from the sea, the Doctor's first instinct is to head near the closest waterway to warn those completely caught off guard, to lead them further into the village. He's doing just that when he catches sight of two young children in a boat alone together. There are no frantic parents rushing towards them, but the Doctor's steps are as swift as ever. ]

Stay where you are! Don't move, I've got you.

[ The dead are encroaching quickly and he doesn't have a weapon to reach for, but he can gather up the children, at least. That is, if he can make it to them and then off the dock before the dead come for them. ]

hi, new cr?

[starlingroad]

[ Looks like The Doctor might need some help? Not that America will ask before rushing on the scene. Instead of staying safe, this young teenager is running around the village trying to help as best as she can. Even if the people no longer seem to know who she is, even if they don't even want her help, confused by thinking their loved ones are alive after all, nothing stops her. It doesn't even matter if she doesn't know them, or this man. ]

[ America doesn't notice the children, not at first, and she missed his words. ]

What're you doing out here? The dead aren't far from here. [ She gestures to the nearest untouched dwelling. ] I'll help get you there.

yes please!

[thedreamer]

[ He might need help, but then, it's sort of his specialty getting out of perilous situations just in the nick of time with very few resources. Normally he'd have his sonic screwdriver at the very least, but that hasn't worked properly since he's been here. Still, he can gather up the children and put himself between them and bodily harm, or — oh, yes, another person! Excellent! Quite unexpected and a pleasant surprise.

But then — no, she shouldn't be here, she's only a child herself. ]

What are you doing out here?

[ He gestures to that same dwelling she's just pointed to, all the while still heading forward. ]

Go, get inside! Two children are still out there in a boat, can't have the three of you exposed.

lmk if this works, I don't want to take all of the fun out of it

[starlingroad]

[ He shouldn't have to use himself as a shield, though. There are better ways. At least, America thinks she has this whole thing figured out. It might not work exactly like she thinks. ]

[ He mentions the kids and NOW America notices them. Her eyes lock on them and widen. ]

I'm fine. [ That's all she says to reassure The Doctor as she punches a hole into the air. The large star that opens in front of them leads to the boat with the kids. They of course, stare in fear at the opening, unsure about moving. ]

[ She looks at him. ] Go! Get them. I'll hold off the undead.

[recklessenough]

[ ooc: Maybe not exactly the original ooc plan, but a little timey wimeyness and it'll work? If not, feel free to give me a nudge in DM and I am happy to edit! ]

[ It's been a few hours, at least, since the unfortunate events in the forest. Lockwood has been tentative about getting back into the mix, unsure what had happened to him when he was with Wrathion; terrified of it happening again. So, he's been hanging back. Observing the others and slowly building up the courage a plan for getting back in the fight.

Except, as the youth has learned over the years, life rarely gives you time to sit on the sidelines.

He recognizes the Doctor's voice, before he spots the floppy haired man. The Doctor, who had been kind to him, was the first person to spend time with him that hadn't involved fighting something. Lockwood is already on his feet and moving in the man's direction with the intent to help, before he sees the situation.

As soon as he considers the children, trapped on the boat by the slowly encroaching dead ... without an adult to protect them, Lockwood picks up speed. Strangely enough this sad set of circumstances is familiar in a way that settles any lingering nerves within the teenager. These are circumstances Lockwood comes across time and again back in his world, it is something comfortingly -and isn't that twisted- straight forward and he knows what he needs to do.

Without breaking stride, only looking over long enough to catch the Doctor's eye -giving the older man a devil may care smile- the teenager dives effortlessly into the water. He didn't lay out the plan, didn't have time, but the Doctor had struck him as a clever fellow. It will hopefully be clear enough from movement alone. Lockwood's plan is to swim out, dive down and head for one of those shards of mirror. He has no doubt in his mind that he will find one, that he will gain control of the dead closest to the children. Total case of fake it, till you make it, and as he does that? The Doctor is on child recovery duty!

Yep. All the features that are usually involved in his best plans. ]

[thedreamer]

[ ooc: it's beautiful & perfect!

Were the Doctor aware at all of Lockwood's thoughts — specifically, the notion that his inner turmoil could be settled by another set of unfortunate circumstances, and the opportunity to help — he would note they were of a like mind in this. Then again, he'd already felt they understood each other a bit when they first met.

And, and, of course, he's just going to jump into the water. He's just the sort. Quite quickly, the Doctor does pick up on the plan, he just may not entirely like it (even if he would do it himself, that's hardly the point). The water contains more than a few valuable items, but the dead have risen from the water as well and it isn't safe going down there. He's brave, Lockwood is, brave and foolish, but they're always brave, and he had better resurface quickly or the Doctor is going in after him.

Right now, he's been given a silent directive, to gather the children close and off to safety. ]

It's okay, it's alright, I've got you.

[ Where normally the children might be wary of a stranger reaching for them, they're scared enough not to question and thankfully, go into his arms without much protest. They're small and slight and he can only hope their guardians weren't overcome by the dead, that they have somewhere and someone to belong with after this terrible day. There's a small dwelling not far from the water's edge that appears to be safe, so he hurries there with the children, getting them inside in an inner closet, telling them to stay right there until he comes back for them, and he will, he promises. Assuring them they're brave and safe, the Doctor leaves and hurries back towards the water's edge to look for his newfound friend. ]

Lockwood!

( closed ) vanessa ives • mother moon

[thedreamer]

[ Hedge witches, as it turned out, according to Vanessa and what she'd overheard amongst the washerwomen in a moment of trusted confidence. Ladies of the lake; the actual source of the time loops, though not entirely in the fashion many of the villagers had come to believe. Their motivations were unknown to the unsuspecting villagers, of course, and they'd been castigated in a poor light somewhat undeserving of them. They shouldn't have meddled as they had and he'll be the first to acknowledge that and even the first to admonish them, considering they've only made a bad situation worse. But it wouldn't be the first time he's seen people act recklessly out of fear.

There's a chance to fix it all, at least, or so he reasons. Locate the source and disrupt it. Simple enough when reduced to those terms, but he's more than aware it won't be that simple when it comes to it. Following them had been relatively easy at first, but now as they observe, the ladies appear to be diving beneath the water, far below where they can't see the path they take next. The silver coins prove useful, it would seem, as they all clutch one each as though the coins were a talisman of sorts.

Reaching below the water's surface to hold a coin now between his fingers, the Doctor glances at Vanessa. ]

I'll follow them, see where they lead. Wherever we surface, whenever, I'll tell you where we've ended up.

[matermali]

[ He says this as Vanessa is already dunking her hand into the water to fetch a coin as well. For him to expect her to sit and wait is rather ludicrous. Has he met Vanessa Ives? ]

I will be able to see for myself where we end up.

[ Having been wearing her hair loose since arriving in the village, Vanessa pulls a ribbon from her dress to tie back her dark hair. To bother hedge-witches is not her pleasure, but these women are nothing like Joan Clayton. Tasks must be undertaken. ]

You had best remove your shoes.

[thedreamer]

[ Fine, fine. He was trying for a tag-team let's split up, divide and conquer approach, but as much as what lurks beneath the water tempts the Doctor, it would surely tempt Vanessa Ives in turn. He knows that much at least. He surrounds himself with people, after all, who find a thrill in the adventure and the unknown. There's no hanging back for them. ]

Should I tie my hair back?

[ A playful smirk, because he must. And, of course, the necessary accessories are removed. ]

Bet I can beat you down there! I'll give you a running headstart, on the count of three — one...two... [ And he's a nasty cheater who's already diving into the water as if this were a leisurely evening swim. ]

(closed) Wrathion • Shiny Objects

[thedreamer]

Since they arrived in Yancai, the Doctor has felt the time disturbances, long before their first jaunt backwards, long before the duality of past and present could be perceived by the others. The burden — or gift, on a few occasions — of a Time Lord. To feel it, to know it, to be unable to prevent it or stop it so easily.

As the sun rises and beckons forth the dead of Yancai once more, the Doctor is unsurprised, though no less concerned for the villagers who are as helpless as they've ever been. One or two of them are easy to manage and avoid, but in a group, they're far more menacing to anyone lacking experience, and so the Doctor does what he does best, checking alleyways and the market, checking dwellings to be certain everyone's as secured as they can be. As the dead begin to recede back into the water, the Doctor naturally (of course, why not) follows them, curious as ever. Those in town are as safe as they can possibly be, but there's the more pressing matter at hand now, of uncovering as much as they can about the Huntress and how to stop her.

The dead rise from the water, and so it is that the Doctor is drawn to that very place. As luck would have it, he spies his old friend Wrathion lingering by the waterway. Really, he's cutting quite the figure these days; good he took his advice. Strong jaw, slightly menacing yet approachable stance. If he had the proper resources, he'd paint him.

Where others might approach slowly, mindful given what's just happened and considering not all the dead have retreated, the Doctor is instead glad to see Wrathion and he makes this known. With a smile and a tap on his shoulder.

"There you are!" Naturally. Where he expected.

[blackscales]

The waterways the undead come from are already interesting enough to Wrathion, the way the undead near enough line the bottom of them. The sight of something glinting in the hands of the undead however, has somewhat changed things. Wrathion usually wouldn't be interested in what may well be a simple piece of glass, but his instincts and senses both tell him otherwise.

Could it be? If it was, what then? These mirrors had driven plenty of other people to lose their sanity. What would he do if he was correct? Should he destroy it? Would it be of use, or would it lure him to his doom?

A hand to his shoulder catches him off guard.

Wrathion tenses, surprised out of his train of thought and briefly snapping into a fight reflex far more than flight.

-- It's The Doctor, however, and Wrathion still finds himself briefly unclear on if this man is constantly looking for him or if he says this to everyone.

"Doctor," he says, and slowly relaxes. His eyes skim around them, checking the undead are under control still. So far they are continuing to thin out, that's good. One less concern. "Come here," he prompts, "in the water. What do you see?"

[thedreamer]

Yes, always here precisely when Wrathion needs him to be. Or...something like that. Though if asked, he would also never confirm or deny whether he says this to everyone or not. Can't let on that he has favourites. Of course, given a directive to glance in the water, he's only too quick to do just that. Kneeling to get a closer look, he peers in, eyes narrowing as he sees something like glass held in the hands of multiple undead beneath the water.

But it isn't glass —

Peering up at Wrathion, he queries, "Mirror fragments. I was told they've been used before to trap memories and spirits."

Having been here longer, though, the Doctor values Wrathion's breadth of knowledge on the subject. As much as the Doctor knows about so many things (and won't hesitate to state as much), he equally values collaboration.

wildcard. text.

[damnable]

( following the network post and following Red also collecting a monster of her own: )

I see you've adopted a creature of the forest too.

Congrats.

[thedreamer]

Oh of course you would!

[ Naturally. Out of everyone in their group, even. The pair of them. ]

We couldn't very well leave them to suffer like that.

[ Though by now it must go without saying, had the creature turned on them, he would have done the hard thing, the thing he avoids at all cost. ]

Did yours heal up well?

[damnable]

( It doesn't need to be said. They both would have done what was necessary if they had to. Red knows this - knows from the heat of his aura, knows from her own response when she saw the creature and realized the potential consequences. )

We fed it a potion so yeah, it did.

How about yours?

...did it happen to lead you to any clues? Cause ours immediately showed us gratitude and took us to something of the Huntress'.