westwhere | the sunken

the sunken | moonrise

THE SUNKEN | MOONRISE

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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( Wrath has already found a heart with Wei Wuxian's assistance while Emilia and Lan Wangji kept watch on the Huntress. He has reunited with his wife and then determined to find another piece of that heart. The more pieces of her heart they have, the better prepared they will be against the Huntress - the stronger the spell can be to weaken her, making her vulnerable enough to kill.

Emilia is going to keep an eye out while she keeps that one piece they've found safe, protected. She has already begun to ward it for safe keeping, which will take time, and it is important.

Wrath can sense one of those heart pieces further away from where the Huntress currently is, but they would both prefer if he did not go alone, which is why Wrath reaches out to Five via his own pendant. They talked previously about their plans going forward to put a stop to all of this, and so he knows Five will be out here already but he wants to confirm. )

Are you in the forest?

[ Five wishes he could say he's had as much success. He saw the Huntress enough to know what to look for, but he's had a few distractions get in the way of digging up her heart. (Hermione is still hasn't responded since she disappeared, so who knows what she's got into.) It's nice to hear from someone less unpredictable when he pulls up the pendant. ]

You guessed it. [ He keeps his voice down, but it's clearly tense. He came out here at the cost of losing track of what's happening elsewhere. ] Did something happen?

( Wrath is now trying to sense Five's distinct signature among the anchors, among the undead, among the monsters in the forest. It is... difficult, which is why he reached out to him to begin with instead of simply appearing beside him. )

I have found one of the Huntress' anchor, and I am seeking another. I would like your help.

( If he is willing to give it, but he knows this is as important to Five as it is to him for different reasons - the addition of time changes everything. )

I am several paces to the west of the entrance into the forest.

[ He doesn't need to same more. Five gives one last futile look around him, then abandons the area in a flash.

It's unusual for Wrath to need any assistance finding him. Might have to do with draining the mirror, but he won't dwell on the one convenience that curse gives him. Starting at the entrance, he moves west, looking for the familiar silhouette in a forest where undead have mostly retreated. ]

I'm there. [ And not long after that he spots him and blinks the rest of the distance to appear beside him. ] I saw her with Miang-Si, but I didn't catch where she went after. What did she do with them?

I did not see Miang-Si. ( Wrath's expression shifts into something of a grimace, but of course, she is involved, working against the village. He wonders what the Huntress promised her, what she agreed to. Is it worth it in the end? ) I only felt the anchors and followed - now that they are so fresh, they are easier to find. She must have buried them.

The one that I already found was deep beneath roots, surrounded by danger.

( He doesn't think he has to warn Five about that, but it will not be easy to get another piece of that heart. It's simply necessary, and so Wrath starts in the direction of the one he does feel. )

[ Five doesn't blame Wrath for keeping his distance from the Huntress, considering what happened before. (Mostly what he was told, that whole time in Taravast is still a blur, and only partially due to his lost memories.) Of course he can sense them.

He nods and follows behind him, still keeping himself alert. ]

That wasn't that long ago, she must have done it in a hurry. [ He should have a better idea, but... ] Hermione took one look at the Huntress and vanished, I haven't been able to find her since. [ As an aside, in case they run into a terrified witch in the bushes somewhere. She's probably fine. ]

It was being guarded?

( Wrath frowns at that bit of information - it's not difficult to understand what may have happened. He remembers Hermione showing up on the network, speaking about seeing spirits. It is highly likely she is now considered to be death-touched enough that the Huntress could take control over her. )

The Huntress is likely using her.

( There is a pause following the question. There are no guards posted near where they found the heart sliver before, but they were still clearly attacked due to removing the anchor. )

The roots moved as if they could attack should they wish, and birds descended from above.

[ He was worried about that. If he'd anticipated what might happen, he would have told her to wait in the village. Never mind that he's the reason she went into the forest the first place. He glances up, scanning the skies briefly for a bird, but it's oddly still after everything he witnessed. ]

It seems quieter now. There was a crowd of undead in the clearing with the two of them. I don't know where they went, but I assume they're following the Huntress around.

[ He steps around a tree root, frowning as he follows. ]

Do you still have the piece on you?

The Huntress does not like to linger in any place especially when her husband is still hunting her. ( Wrath does not think that she will necessarily linger in the forest at all, but she will want the pieces of her heart protected, buried properly. There will be means of protection regardless of whether or not she's here in the woods herself.

He can sense that piece of the heart. They grow nearer to it, and the forest itself seems more restless. There's squawks from crows above - warning.

Wrath pulls the dagger from its sheath, glancing upward. )

I gave it to Emilia to ward. The more pieces of her heart we have, the stronger we can make the spell to weaken her.

[ Well, that quiet didn't last long. Since Wrath gave the heart to Emilia, that must mean another is nearby. Either that, or the Huntress is still running around, but he trusts that Wrath would have had a stronger reaction if she were.

It's a wonder why he asked for his help. Unless he was worried about losing control again. ]

There. [ Birds seem to be flocking to the same tree, watching them approach. He clenches his fists in anticipation, then glances back to him. If it's there, that was a little too easy to find. ] Is that it?

( Wrath can feel the pulsing of the piece of heart beneath the roots - as clear and vibrant as possible. He breathes in, tensing his shoulders, breathing in and then breathing out again. )

Yes. The roots are likely to attack when we get close.

( Another pause. They need to prepare to go forward, but first - the reason Wrath reached out to Five to begin with is because he trusts him: to understand the severity of this, to do what needs to be done. )

I will let you know if the Huntress' control becomes too strong. Then I would ask you to find Emilia.

( To save him. )

[ Attacking roots. He regrets not bringing an axe with him, but he pulls out a small knife hasn't dropped yet. However much good that might do him if the roots are thick. Luckily, what he lacks in tools, he makes up for in speed.

At Wrath's request, his suspicions are confirmed. He'll do as he asks, but there's also an option that doesn't involve him ending up like Hermione. ]

...So don't take the risk. [ Five hasn't repaid him for all the times he's saved him, he can do one favor. ] She hasn't controlled me. Tell me where to dig, and I'll blink over and get it.

There's no need for you to get closer.

Edited 2023-07-15 20:51 (UTC)

I was able to fight off the Huntress' influence for more than a day previously. This is only a piece of her heart. I will be fine.

( Wrath is confident enough of that, or he wouldn't chance it, and he hopes Five knows him well enough to understand the truth of that. There is nothing Wrath values more than his own ability to choose, his own willpower, and he would hate most to lose it and attempt to harm one of the few people he cares about in any way. )

You can get it. In fact, that would likely be wise given your speed and ability to teleport, but I will watch your back from the roots and birds that may attack when you do . ( There is no negotiation there. Wrath has faith in Five's skills, but Wrath is the type of general who always wants to be involved regardless, and he wants to fight.

Some part of him needs to. )

[ Five doesn't protest or doubt Wrath's abilities. For as long as he's known him, he's never come across as anything but realistic about his substantial powers. They both know that he's far stronger of the two of them, but it's his ties to Hell that likely give him the most trouble. Something that Five doesn't have to worry about.

Still, this isn't such a difficult task, and he's not likely to get tangled up in roots that he can't get out of. Wrath can probably fight just as well at a distance. ]

You got it. [ He looks back at the ground for something that looks freshly moved as he prepares to teleport. There's not time to waste here. ] I guess I'll know when I'm close.

[ With one final nod, he blinks to the base of the tree and starts the search. ]

( Wrath does not fight at a distance but appears nearby moments after Five teleports there. He focuses on the roots that come to life, attempting to wrap around the both of them. He uses his dagger to slice through each, preoccupied with the fight against these roots. )

Toward your right and down.

( He can still direct from up close even as he uses his powers over ice and his strength and speed to fight the roots that attempt to wrap around them, restrain them.

The birds circle overhead and start to dive down. )

[ It's no surprise when Wrath immediately jumps in, but his help is appreciated when the roots of the tree spring in to attack. For his part, when Wrath doesn't freeze one in time, he blinks out of their grasp and keeps focused on his search.

The birds are slightly more of a nuisance, especially when they converge on him the second he starts digging. At Wrath's prompting, he teleports again to where the dirt is looser. He barely starts to dig before he has to slash out at a larger hawk that rips its talons into his sleeve and tries to pull him back.

He grunts in pain when it bites his ear, but he's more focused on getting to the heart before they drag this out any longer. ]

I see something. [ And just as quickly, the roots try to close up the hole he made and he has to slash through them until he sees it again. They wrap around his wrist as soon as he manages to get his fingers around it, but then — ] Got it.

[ He doesn't look up to see how Wrath is faring before he teleports again, appearing a healthy distance away and fully prepared for them to resume attacking once he has the pouch in his hand. ]

( Wrath appears beside him a moment later, having heard his words, sensed the movement of that part of the heart. The roots are pulling themselves up from under the ground, the birds are on their way to chase the ones who took the heart.

There is little time to relax or celebrate, but it is a relief to know another anchor has been removed. )

Keep moving.

( They can pause when they're far enough away. And then a pause because they both can teleport: )

To the entrance.

[ Five doesn't need any more than the suggestion once he sees the possessed forest catch wind of where the heart was moved. He only meets Wrath's gaze for an instant before he teleports again to the entrance.

He's feeling the strain in the distance of his last spatial jump. A root wraps around his ankle before he can so much as catch his breath. He barely keeps his grip on the pouch, but the heart inside spills out on the ground. ]

Fuck. [ He yanks free from the root and scrambles to grab it before it sinks into the earth again and backs up away from any nearby trees. ] Enough already.

( Wrath appears beside him shortly after and lifts a hand to create a barrier of ice between the both of them and the tree roots still looking for their prize. No wonder the pieces of heart were well protected enough.

The forest itself wants to protect it.

But he builds the shield of ice large enough to protect it - the roots crash into the ice, unable to get beyond. )

[ The ice barrier Wrath creates seems to do the trick, and Five gives him a brief nod of thanks. It wasn't as easy as he would have liked, but they still succeeded. He means to lift the heart to show that he has it, when he's hit with a sudden chill that shudders through his chest.

Cold. Five is used to that, especially around Wrath, but not the way it hits him all at once and reverberates through every inch of him. One hand grips his chest and his entire body feels like it's seizing.

He's not conscious of why he sinks his teeth into the heart, but it's suddenly all he can do to stop the icy spread. The hollowness that calls to him to consume something, anything, to shake of the grip of death that overwhelms any other thought. ]

Fuck.

( Wrath does not curse often, but this appears to be the exact situation where it would be required. He reaches out, lets the ice drop around them, and grabs the piece of the heart, preventing any more of it from being eaten but he's already seeing Five swallow what he's bit down on so far.

The piece is not large to begin with so he hopes he can manage to get enough of it, but he is using all of his demonic strength to hold on and wrench it free from Five's grasp completely. He just won't be able to pull it all out - he's at least swallowed down some. )

Five.

You're being controlled.

[ If Wrath had been any slower, Five would have swallowed more than the bite, and that only makes his craving worse when it hits his stomach. His first reaction is to fight back for the heart that's ripped from his hand, but the terrible chill makes it short lived. ]

It's cold. [ He doesn't seem to realize what he swallowed until he's drawn back, and he's slowly filled with a different kind of dread. The taste of something old and dead lingers in his mouth, and the cold persists after his senses return.

Once the gravity of what he did hits him, he bends down and immediately starts convulsing in an effort to get himself to throw it back up, but nothing comes. ]

...Shit. [ He reels at the idea that he may have just fucked up again, like he's learned nothing. He doesn't want to look back to see just how much he ate, but he can feel it in him and he's briefly horrified to see it in Wrath's grasp. ] Don't... don't touch it.

( Wrath does not look at Five as he recovers from his moment of taking a bite out of the heart, but he will place the heart away into the box that he had waiting for it. He does so calmly though he can feel that urge that comes out from it - something supernatural, something wrong.

It wants him to devour it, and Wrath feels that want, that desire, and he places it where it belongs, shelving it away, rolling his shoulders back as he stares at the piece of heart in his hand. The Huntress. Mostly some part of him would love destroying it but he knows better, and the part of the heart wants him to eat it. The desire coming from this heart is nothing in comparison to the Sin Corridor that Wrath has to frequently traverse in Hell. Nothing like being hit with the full force of one of his brother's sins.

He looks over at Five. )

I am fine. ( Wrath likely should have been the one to go digging like he thought - he is the one of the two that has built up resistances to mind control, to manipulation. Even when faced against the Huntress herself, it took a full day before his defenses were worn down enough, and even then Emilia stopped him and locked him away. The thought of being caged again is-

It's the reason he's gathering these heart pieces, but Five has already got a cursed mirror in him and now this piece of the Huntress too. ) ...are you?

[ He hasn't straightened back up; he still feels cold and sick to his stomach over what he did, but it's hard to tell how much of that is a symptom. Eating part of an undead heart can't be good for his health. ]

You'll have to tell me. [ He's the picture of misery when he meets Wrath's eyes. Wanting to know if he can sense the Huntress inside him. He really didn't need another curse. ] I was fine, but the moment I touched it... my chest felt empty. It was overwhelming.

( Wrath walks over to him, reaching down to offer a hand to help straighten him, to help him balance. He does not want to answer too soon based on his immediate impressions. He reads, feels the misery - wonders if that is filling up the mirror too.

Would the two pieces work together? He can only hope he got to it in time. He shouldn't have asked Five for help, knowing that mirror is there waiting to absorb more. )

It wanted you to eat it whole, which leads me to believe it's a good thing you did not.

Let me take a moment to see what happens.

( He can sense the bite of the heart he took, can feel the coldness and misery and overwhelming nature of the heart. But it is passing. )

the sunken | moonrise

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