westwhere | the house of manouk

the house of manouk | test drive meme

Hello, hello! Our latest event — doubling as a test drive meme and stretching until 12 August — is a one-off incursion in an uncharted time pocket dimension — the House of Manouk.

Anyone can hit up the test drive meme, but you will need an invite from an existing player to apply on 5 August. Have fun!

THE HOUSE OF MANOUK

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THE TERRACE

Old or new, you wake up on a white-stone terrace dominated by a twisting hedge maze that houses great columns, tattered statues, ponds, rivers, gazebos and pergolas — and high looming walls of thickly bound ivy, bloomed roses or thorny vines. Walking the Terrace somehow always brings you deeper into the maze, while a flushed, sunless sky stares down, unblinking.

You experience no thirst, hunger or language barriers here. Old translation & communication pendants can nevertheless be found scattered across the Terrace and Grounds.

New arrivals encounter the sorceress Karsa, who explains you were likely summoned by one of the undead lords who seeks control of Akhuras — and reached, along with the party she leads, a pocket dimension outside of time. Karsa’s associate, the Merchant, instructed to exit the time dimension by finding Ellethian waypoints — typically stone tokens engraved with the carvings of an eye with a sun for a pupil. Karsa may activate them for you to leave this place.

Your mission is to search the House and find the waypoints of Ellethia or of the rival Dawn’s Reach Trade Company without attracting the ire of the local exiled overlord(s).

■ Some of the statues you discover on the Terrace seem crudely carved, gaining the features of your loved ones, the longer you stare at them. Some seek to throttle. Escape them by having someone else stare at them, becoming their new target, or by leading them in a crowd of other statues.

■ Beware getting pricked by thorns: covetous vines can quickly ensnare and pull you into the maze’s green walls, or bind your hand to that of your companion.

■ The maze’s weather often mimics your mood: nice and balmy for contentment, cold for fear, torrential rain for sadness and a heatwave to answer anger. Smile.

■ Every now and then, you hear screams from other parts of the maze. Run, and you might find pairs of steel manacles or rusted chain on bloodied grounds, from where fresh rose bushes quickly rise up. Investigate.

■ Go deeper in the maze, and you find a heap of small stone tablets. Most list names, ages, occupations and include loving remarks, such as the finest husband or she smiled ever bright. Alarmingly, when your companion’s back is turned, you find tablets engraved with your handwriting, saying, don’t turn your back to them, blood reeks strong on them and that’s not their name. There are no waypoint tokens here.

■ Spend enough time in the maze, and you discover an old, red-eyed, white-haired and hunchbacked man with two chainless shackles on his wrists. He ignores you, muttering to himself about how the House must keep moving, moving. The House doesn’t like you. The House is awake. The House should sleep. The old man hits or trips you with his cane, or you might wake to find him hovering very closely over you. Engage him.

■ Now and then, he seems suddenly alert, if not outright fearful, shrieking that he comes and rushing to tinker with pulleys and stone mechanisms hidden within the maze vine walls. The maze’s architecture abruptly changes, with the ground quaking, walls shifting, while old plants wilt and fresh ones rise up within heartbeats. As the House changes, you might spot a long, spiralling staircase at short distance. Go down into…

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THE GROUNDS

The ground level of the House is splintered in dozens of decaying rooms, many locked. There are no windows here, dust thick in every corner, while faint scratches and canine footprints mar the floors — the marks of dozens of great skeletal hounds that haunt the corridors.

The dogs lead, chase or drag you towards a shuttered hall room, where a middle-aged, red-eyed and white-haired man furiously searches through haphazard mounds of tousled tomes. He too wears shackles. His manner is perfunctorily polite, as he calls back his dogs.

”…not from around here, are you? Must have broken time. Hooligan. Well, you’ve travelled centuries to be disappointed. There are no mysteries here, no epiphanies. All the great wells of myth and magic? Some other pigs have drunk them dry. Blame your luck, for bringing you to the shambling hut of — …the fine House of Manouk. Taravast’s greatest necromancer, til his mind turned to slaughter.

I was his disciple. Lisanther. Must’ve come from high on, did you? These cursed shackles… he senses everyone in his House through them. If he feels us on his scent, he works his little screws and wheels and moves the House stairs. Impressed? Don’t be. He’s a wreck, who feasts on time echoes of the anguished. That’s him. Paints a picture, doesn’t he? Stay out of his sights, or you’ll wear his chains soon too. Same as me, same as the dog he keeps in the dungeons. Dragged back every time he wanders.

If you want to make yourself useful, help me. I traded fairly with a caravan of the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company. They say they left behind scrolls in these grounds, with the words to free me. They overcharge, but they don’t lie. Help me find them. Break my chains, and I’ll break us out. I can. I swear it. ”

Deeper into the claustrophobic Grounds, you find specters of men and women, chained just like Lisanther — their skin translucent, their gazes lethargic. They feel neither dead nor alive to the magically sensitive. They are either very present in the moment or barely recall their whereabouts. If asked about tokens, they say the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company left scrolls in the Grounds main quarters:

▶ Bathing quarters

At times pristine and delightful, at others blood-marked and torn. The waters abruptly run very hot, cold or silty. The spectre of a wo/man might appear in the tub, staring unblinkingly or murmuring that people do all sorts of wickedness in this bathroom: they have even witnessed stabbings, treasures being hidden beneath tile boards, and even a birthing!

▶ Kitchens

Sprawling and soot-laden, bursting with supplies of stale wheat, eccentric cakes, exotic fruit and spice jars, these kitchens were built for long service. A heavy cauldron bubbles and boils a green broth in a cold fireplace, where ash and stone drown wood. A circle of spectres troubleshoots how to improve the meal — just as the kitchens’ doors slam shut, and they cordially invite you to do the legwork for their recipe. They instruct you to chop, clean and prepare the most unusual ingredients: hair of a dog, salt, moulded thyme, arsenic, one of your finest love stories… they’ll tire of their creation and release you within the hour. Don’t dine, dash.

▶ Sleeping chambers

There’s rest for the wicked in these deserted sleeping quarters, which boast exceptionally well-stuffed cushions and pillows, blankets and ‘reading materials’ — torn pages from books of history and magic. Some speak of the desperate attempts of the rulers of Taravast to flee death. Others talk of using spells, the elements and even mass sacrifice to achieve immortality. Enjoy your rest, only perturbed by occasional distant screams —

…or perhaps by a large, feral white bear that bursts in to briefly chase you, before disappearing. Veteran travellers may recognise him as the creature of Anurr.

Some of the chain-breaking scrolls of the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company can be found in each of the main rooms, along with some of the Company’s talismans, marked as waypoints, which should be brought to Karsa. See what your character finds.

Finish up here, or meander down a final stairwell to —

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THE DUNGEONS

Cold, deteriorating, crumbling — difficult to say if this is a tightly bound knot of underground tunnels, or a torturous weave of lost dungeons. Parts of the floor crumble to reveal abyssal depths below — or suddenly appear beneath your feet, to help your progress. Emptied, creaking bookcases abound. Here and there, you see your reflection in shattered wall-length mirrors, moving differently than you, or just slightly older or younger than you are.

■ Revived skeletons patrol the corridors, scantily armed with base blades, stones and torches. They largely ignore you, only blocking your path if you near a magically-locked stone door in the back of the Dungeons, from where you hear… human pleas.

■ Door engravings instruct to speak out the three truths of each day. Nearby, you find a mound of crumbled stone tablets, along with three golden ones raised on pedestals that read:

▶ with morning, my body is a weapon, sun-seeking, righteousness-bound

▶ by midday, my flesh has bent and battered, a shield of justice for young life to come

▶ come evening, I am blood and bone, a humble house to hope eternal

■ Tip bookcases into the narrow corridors to prevent the skeletal guards from reaching you, as you search diligently through the stone debris beneath the golden pedestals. You might even find Ellethian waypoint tokens: palm-wide, marked with a sun pupil. Take them to Karsa immediately… or open the now unlocked dungeon door as a man calls out.

■ Enter, and you discover an dimly lit dungeon alcove, with animate skeletal heads hanging on each wall. They cackle, Mind your step. Heed them and look for holes in the floor tiles — needle-thin spikes emerge from there periodically.

■ Go deeper, and you discover a large bare stone room, scantly livened by torches bearing green fire. A small hole — barely enough to fit a grown man standing and lying down — has been dug into one of the walls and secured. This inhumane prison’s bars crackle and sizzle with magical electricity. A skeletal hound waits by, with a set of keys fastened to its collar.

■ A white-haired, red-eyed twenty-something young man sprawls haphazardly in the prison: battered, swathed in rags, shackled and wild. He holds out his blood-tipped hand between the bars, but fails to lure the dog close — and calls out to you, instead:

”You must be mad to come to me. The old man sent you? Finally? Good. How wonderful. I’ll spit on you, and I’ll spit on his grave. He left me here to die. And now he’s remembered me? What does he want? …no. It doesn’t matter. Rip the keys off that mutt and get me out of here. ”

You can engage or release him, if you coax the key from the recalcitrant dog. Or leave him be and see Karsa with your waypoint token.

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NOTES:

■ There are multiple waypoint tokens to leave the time dimension: the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company talismans, hidden in the Ground rooms, and the Ellethian tokens, found in the dungeons. Bring whichever one you discover to Karsa.

■ You can optionally solve the mystery of Lisanther, the prisoner, Manouk and the spectres.

■ The House’s layout changes periodically, but characters can find the stairs to travel across the three levels every few hours.

■ Mention in your top level if you play an old timer or a test driving tourist. TDMers can make both logs and network prompts here!

■ QUESTIONS & NPC INBOX!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Mutely, Xiao Xingchen reaches for the water bottle. With trembling fingers he opens it and takes a couple of sips.

He feels at war with himself. The part of him that is angry and resentful, the part of him that misses his little friend and the life they'd had, the part of him that's just... broken by it all.

He's not sure how to act now, how to handle Xue Yang. He had been such a self-righteous, morally upstanding cultivator once, one who had been convinced that he knew what was right and what was wrong. Xue Yang has muddled all of that. It makes his head hurt.

Tiredly, he turns his head to where he thinks Xue Yang is. ] What... what do you want with me?

I just wanted you back, [ he admits with quiet earnestness, realising the truth as he speaks, ] I was so concerned with figuring that out, I never stopped to think about what to do once you were.

[ Which sounds childish again, he's aware.

This isn't like the volcanic eruption of their feelings in the smashed-up bear's room, it's quiet here. They have both had time to scream and cry and shout themselves hoarse. ]

I never wanted this.

[ Xiao Xingchen lets out a shaky breath. Finally, an answer that he can accept. Because Xue Yang has never been the type to think about the long-term consequences of his actions, has he? ]

Neither did I. [ He unconsciously touches the scar on his throat. ] I just wanted... a peaceful life.

Do you really think I'm disgusting?

[ He has to ask, subdued and calm. He won't fly off the handle if what he hears isn't pleasant. ]

[ Xiao Xingchen is quiet for a moment before speaking. ] I think you did disgusting things.

[ That was kinder than it needed to be. ]

... We should make more bandages for your eyes out of the bedsheets. You'll be having more nightmares for a while.

[ He doesn't move yet, just watching Xingchen. ]

[ He nods tiredly. ] I have some more on me, but... that's probably a good idea. [ Though he doesn't imagine that any of the residents of this world would be terribly put off by someone bleeding from empty eye sockets. ]

I know these hardwoods are fancy, but wouldn't you prefer the bed to rest on?

[ Coaxing, teasing ... very lightly. ]

[ Xiao Xingchen shakes his head a little. ] I'm alright. You need to rest more than I do.

Alright.

[ But first, he arranges the food haul on the floor nearby where he left the water so that Xingchen can be as comfortable as possible ... and drops a couple of pillows down too, all before settling on his right side again to alleviate the terrible dead-arm ache shooting through his back and chest. It's because of such distracting pain he can finally start to drift off again, uneasy though Xue Yang is. ]

[ Xiao Xingchen isn't eager to go back to sleep, so instead he tries to meditate. It's always been a calming practice for him, something he'd often do whenever he struggled to fall asleep. It's not a proper substitute for sleep, but it works for a night or two in a row.

Now though, he finds it a lot more difficult than it's ever been before to relax enough to go into that meditative state. It's not exactly surprising, considering that the state of mind he's in. He keeps trying however, and eventually, he manages to sink into that trance-like state. It's nice, and comforting, like sinking into a hot bath or a warm embrace. It makes him think of his Shifu's mountain.

He remains like that for several hours. ]

[ When he opens his eyes this time, he has no idea how much time has passed and his left arm is hurting from the strain of moving it when the injury is so close (racing around a kitchen waving a sword was not the smartest idea, even if it got the job done). ]

Xingchen?

[ Looks like he's meditating, Xue Yang figures. He leans down off the bed to find a potatocake and stuff it in his mouth, rubbing sleep from his eyes. ]

[ Xiao Xingchen almost immediately snaps out of his trance when he hears Xue Yang's voice. He feels more relaxed than before, but still on edge. He doubts that feeling is going to go away anytime soon. He turns his head in direction of Xue Yang's voice. ]

Yes?

The old man I met, he said he would help me get home if I found a scroll for him. If we investigate all these bedrooms there might be something of worth ... but I think the witch is more capable of helping us.

After you've eaten, shall we search?

[ He wasn't going to bother but this gives them purpose, aside from blanching at each others' shadows. ]

[ Well, it's not like he has anything better to do, and he would also like to get out of here, though he has no idea what will happen when they do. Will they return back to their world...? He doesn't even dare to ask. So he just heaves a small sigh and nods. ]

Alright. I suppose we could do that.

[ He wants to joke, to say something to lighten the mood or to jostle Xingchen like he used to when there was no reason to avoid being in his space, but to do so now would only make Xingchen panic. Or cry. Or both.

It's understandable, Xue Yang reasons in the aftermath of his mini revelation last night. If your cat turned out to be a man-eating tiger, would you still want it in the same bed? ]

Let's start with this room. Oh, but first some breakfast.

[ With no idea of the time he simply takes another snack, a bun, and eats it cold as he starts rummaging about the room. ]

[ Xiao Xingchen still doesn't feel hungry. Perhaps a side effect of having died, he thinks sardonically. He does get up though, standing on legs that still feel a little weak. ]

Did he say what the scroll looks like?

A scroll's a scroll, I suppose. Aren't they all the same?

[ Lifting up the mattress with his good arm, he laughs delightedly when the hound takes all the commotion for a game and starts tugging sheets off alongside him. ]

Bao, you're so clever! Why is everyone so scared of you, hm? Good dog. Xiao Xingchen, he's helping us strip the bed.

[ Taking his little sparks of joy where he can, Xue Yang and his undead deputy start pulling out drawers together next. The dog is welcome company, good at providing a distraction from how badly Xue Yang wants to spend his time around Xingchen. ]

I overheard some people talking about talismans, we should keep an eye out for anything like that too. Just in case. [ Pausing, he tries to playfully amend, ] Maybe two eyes out in your case.

I suppose.

[ It's not like it'd make a difference for him what it looks like, anyway. When he stands, he realizes how tired he still is. Not in a sleepy way, but more like he's been drained of all energy. His body feels heavy, his mind foggy.

The ghost of a smile crosses his lips, miraculously he's a little charmed by the dog, even if he can't see what Bao is doing. ]

Alright. [ The joke doesn't even really register with him, which is probably saying something about how out of it he is. ]

[ Any small degree of cheer he feels wilts in the face of Xingchen's disassociated state and he hangs his head. ]

There's a pile of boxes to your right, how about you feel around in there? I'll check the next room over, [ to give him a break from me, ] it's not far.

Bao, stay with Xiao Xingchen.

[ Xiao Xingchen nods and moves to his right. He reaches out and feels through the boxes, but he doesn't find anything that seems like it could be a scroll or a talisman. However, Bao seems like he has found something, if the ruckus he's suddenly causing is any indication.

Xiao Xingchen turns to where he thinks Xue Yang is. ]

What is he doing? Did he find something?

Edited 2023-08-04 23:18 (UTC)

Huh? He's smelled something on the dirty floor, that's all.

[ Bao spends so much time sniffing around the house that it doesn't arouse any interest fron Xue Yang who can't tell the difference in the sound of insistent claws scraping on wood. ]

I can't see anything around him. He's in the middle of the room, there isn't even a trap-door.

[ Xiao Xingchen isn't so sure. He seeks out the dog, who whines in a rather attention-seeking way when he comes closer. He touches along the floor where Bao's been scratching and finds that one of the floorboards is loose. ]

There is a loose floorboard here.

In a house like this, they can't afford a safe?

[ With a snort he comes over and kneels, using his good hand to pry open the floorboard. His other arm is stiff, swollen at the shoulder, so it's slow-going. ]

You're ... going to have to help.

Less likely that someone would look in the floorboards.

[ He gently nudges Xue Yang aside since he's clearly struggling. ] Let me. [ With that he uses both hands to pull at the floorboard until it comes loose. ]

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