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groundrules) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
westwhere2023-10-06 07:00 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2023-10-06 07:00 pm
Entry tags:
- arcane: caitlyn,
- assassin's creed: jacob frye,
- assassin's creed: ratonhnhake:ton,
- doctor who: clara oswald,
- kingdom of the wicked: emilia,
- kingdom of the wicked: wrath,
- last case of benedict fox: benedict fox,
- mcu: america chavez,
- mcu: kamala khan,
- mcu: natasha romanova,
- one piece: luffy,
- one piece: zoro,
- original: red,
- penny dreadful: vanessa ives,
- umbrella academy: allison,
- umbrella academy: five,
- warcraft: wrathion
blood & sand
Hi folks! Welcome to Eastbound’s last test drive meme and the second event of the Ephes Arc, stretching until 25 October. Applications next open over 20-25 October, with invitations required for new players (but not returning ones). Individual cast and game caps are off.
Test driving characters can use this space for both network and log prompts, as well as play both the newcomer and shared prompts. Enjoy!
NEWCOMERS-ONLY PROMPTS
You wake to the creaky swaying of a large wooden cage, in the back of a cart. Balmy sun pinches your cracked, dried skin. Haziness and nausea assail you, your legs weak. Your supernatural powers are muted, due to recover within 48 hours. Several other carts trot by. You share your cage with a dozen others — largely farmers — and sacks of freshly harvested wheat, their bottoms stained dark.
The farmers point you towards a heap of rusted pendants that allow you to speak and glean local tongues, and access a network. They say you were recovered following an earthquake at a Hive — one of the agricultural clusters feeding the extravagant Senate-led city of Ephes. The Ephes army, the elite Hand, was patrolling nearby and is taking you to the citadel for healing.
- ■ Gather your bearings and distribute the scant water that Hand soldiers dole out — the earthquake, you hear, has dried the Hive wells.
■ You quickly learn why the Hand encaged all of you, as one of the Hive farmers starts to jerk, growl and shake, weeping black water as he strikes at anyone around him. Fend for yourself, before the Hand soldiers come to remove him!
You arrive at the main gate of Ephes, where crowds vie for passage. Your carts are inspected, and an irritable woman enters each cage, checking each passenger — before taking you and a handful of others for ‘further customs investigations.’
In the back of an alley, she introduces herself as the sorceress Karsa — and says you are otherworlders brought into the realm of Akhuras by undead lieges of the Brotherhood, who seek to weaponise you in their wars. Her patron, the Merchant, leads otherworlders to ancient transport beacons that can deliver you home.
One beacon sleeps in Ephes, where the rest of Karsa’s party is scattered. The citadel has mysteriously accrued an elite, nearly supernaturally strong army that the undead lady Messalina seeks to borrow from the Senate, in her quest to free her undead companions from the Brotherhood. The Senate is yet to vote on her request.
The black water that has touched you, Karsa says, has previously been found where the undead rally. For now, Karsa gives you a little coin, passport papers identifying you under various civilian roles (player’s choice, but keep it Ancient Rome-themed) and an iron pin of an eye with a sun for a pupil to identify other party members.
SHARED PROMPTS
Decadent Ephes is overrun by rumours, after several Senators who intended to support undead lady Messalina were mysteriously assassinated at the banquet of prominent Senator Maximus Faustus — who, Karsa informs, is one of Messalina’s shapeshifting creatures. Messalina offers her protegees demonic hound escorts.
Hand army recruits protect official buildings, while the rich hire gladiators to watch their homes. Both move freely.
The Senate fears further retaliation against those who champion the dead. Senate leader Caius Justus distantly mourns the Senatorial murders from seclusion at the temple of the Chained God.
Civilians face increased tensions and whispers of curfews in the market. Crowds frequently quarrel over undead allegiances
Following an exercise in divination, priests of the city’s patron, the Chained God, spread word that the deity holds strong despite his Chaining, and he still wishes to destroy and rebirth the world.
Karsa informs the existing party that more otherworlders joined Ephes and wear iron pins depicting an eye with a sun for a pupil. She gives the party similar pins for identification purposes. Newcomers and old timers can recognise each other by their pins or engage over the network!
THE PROSCRIPTIONS
OBJECTIVE: procure proscription lists.
You hear from the city crowds that partial target lists are circulating with the names of politicians targeted for bounties. Karsa tasks the team to recover the lists, which can be used as political currency. Find them by either:
- ■ Infiltrating a tavern run by the ruthless city gang of Livius Decimus and packed with unscrupulous bounty hunters, thugs and professional assassins.
A local ‘delicacy’ drink of wine and pickle juice is often inflicted on strangers. Brawls erupt randomly. Coax shady patrons to share target lists.
■ Visit the empty marketplaces just before dawns and raid the chained wooden submission boxes of news shouters, who receive anonymous tip-offs about fresh bounty lists. The boxes are pinned to the ground and tightly locked, but rusty from the cold seasons — allowing you to break them or pick their locks, while someone keeps watch. Tampering with a news shouter’s box is a jailable offence.
■ Turn in a finished thread to receive a clue!
AT SEA
OBJECTIVE: investigate abandoned ships and rescue sailors.
One early morning (OOCly: Oct. 13), as you entertain sailors for gossip on the docks or fish breakfast, you witness the port authorities screaming for help as several small merchant ships appear abandoned at nearby sea for reasons unknown.
Lookouts spot no activity on board, while sailors organise rescues.
- ■ Row a small boat some 15-20 minutes to one of the merchant vessels. All merchant ships have roughly three hours afloat, as they slowly sink from numerous small erosion holes in their sides.
■ You find no crew on deck, and doorways to the cabins below are locked from within. Below deck, you find numerous sacks of wheat from the Ephes agricultural clusters, the Hives. A black liquid, thick and tar-like, is seeping out of the sacks — corroding the ship’s wood and creating leaking holes.
■ You find a handful of dazed sailors who claim a dark, slithering creature knocked them out. They were selected by Narula, leader of the elite Ephes army of the Hand, to transfer grain onto the vessels of the ‘merchant’ Matthias, much farther at sea. If you mention Matthias to Karsa later, she reveals he is a man (?) who potentially created the undead Brotherhood.
■ Seven sailors who did not know each other were chosen to man the ship. Eight men are in the room, meaning one ‘man’ is the assailing creature. You must decide who to release upstairs for evacuation.
■ Tips: the creature, disguised as a human sailor, has no pain receptors and isn’t afraid of typical dangers (fire, drowning). It does not bleed if hurt. It sometimes forgets to blink and increasingly, unwillingly, slowly morphs its features into yours, the longer it speaks with you. Lastly, the creature has a tattoo on its forearm identifying it as a soldier of the Hand.
■ Once found, the creature turns violent, dissolving into wisps of shadow and materialising once more to strike from behind you. The shadow creature cannot be outright killed — but you can lock it inside the ship.
■ Leave by small boat before the vessel sinks & claim a question if you saved sailors. Merchant vessels can be patched up, if successfully returned to port.
THE RATTLING
OBJECTIVE: survive & explore the arena.
To stoke her popularity in Ephes, undead mistress Messalina organises a sumptuous gladiator game at the Colosseum (OOCly around Oct. 20), inviting plebes, patricians, politicians, soldiers — and you.
Gladiators may be hired (or coerced) to perform, while servants supply copious amounts of wines, oysters and honey pastries. A tiny mechanical golden mouse, passing by each seat, drops folded pieces of parchment with fortunes and riddles, ranging from teasing to morbid to philosophical or sweet. Pick up yours and make sense of it with your neighbour!
Politicians often interrupt the games to announce donations or make elaborate speeches. Toss peanuts to signal your discontent — or join in with your own speech.
- ■ The games start with matches between humans, but are building up to face-offs with reptilian demons, mounted rhinoceros and flying gargolyes whose voices thrall you frozen put.
■ During the games, you feel slight vibrations, and — if supernaturally sensitive — an undefined magical tension. By 15:00, this ramps up into earth tremors that worsen over 12 minutes — as columns and seats topple over, and the ground breaks in deep rifts, releasing black, chilled, tar-like water.
■ Crazed mobs rush for the exit, stampeding carelessly, while columns and decorations tumble down.
■ Dozens of the monsters brought to gladiate free themselves and hunt down spectators. Soldiers of the army of the Hand — disturbingly fast, strong and disciplined — intervene but it’s best you look after yourselves. Some spectators shout these Hand recruits practise some of the techniques performed by a recently missing gladiator — the Beast of Brenne.
■ Passing by the earthquake rifts, you see wisps of the tar-like liquid that gushes from them is gradually assuming the shadowy shape of humans. Stalking after you, they do not speak or bring you harm, but slowly steal your likeness and drain you of vigour and stamina. You get the sense that all they want is a shape. Encountering shadow creatures leaves you with a sense of bitter loneliness that only living company can soothe.
■ If you study the arena, you see the same black liquid is gathering around freshly downed corpses, slowly reanimating them. These newly-crafted undead struggle to walk and speak naturally and remember their lives, often unaware they died. Anguished, they beg help to escape, before inevitably succumbing to the instinct to harm you. Remind or convince them they are dead, and they withdraw.
■ The largest earthquake rift in the arena is overrun by the black liquid and by nearby undead. Within it, you notice a bloodless hand that seems to never sink — Enter a RNG draw to collect it and its clue.
■ As you gather your wits outside, you see followers of the Chained God rallying in the streets, comforting the traumatised crowd that all will be well now — for the Chained God’s destruction will be mercifully swift.
THE QUIET HOUSE
OBJECTIVE: Explore the abandoned gladiator barracks.
NOTE: a Halloween special, this area is entirely opt-in and features several frights. Mind the warnings!
As chaos consumes the Colosseum, you notice the earthquake has destroyed a previously locked arena gate, revealing a decayed tunnel. The corridor leads inside a closed-off barrack whose doors and windows have been barred from the outside with wood planks and chains. Touch these restraints, and your unhurt hand leaves behind a fading blood print.
The barracks building is withered and clearly abandoned, with scarce furniture and a few weapons in a training room.
Several discarded torches stay alight on wall fixtures. Pre-prepared braziers have been filled with spirit-fending incense of sandalwood and sage. Explore for clues.
- ■ THE HALLWAYS ( cw: guilt haunting ): corridors flow into each other, often leading back where you started. You run into shifting wall engravings, some listing the name and ranks of Hand soldiers, or precepts such as GODS OF THE ARENA and BECOME AS STRONG / AS FAST, AS NIMBLE / AS GLADIATORS. A large portrait of Hand leader Narula is increasingly more scratched, every time you encounter it, while the painted man looks healthier, younger and stronger. Inevitably, you hear heavy steps — a deep-shadowed spectre, the Drillmaster, who starts to stalk you with slow persistence. Visible to you and your companions, the Drillmaster fluctuates between assuming the appearance of Narula and the distorted, monstrous figure of someone from your past, who heavily criticised or intimidated you. The corridor lighting changes depending on your proximity to the Drillmaster: green for safe passage, white to tread lightly, red to stop. You can make the Drillmaster disappear out of your way by facing or acknowledging whatever weakness (true or self-perceived) you have that has caused extensive criticism or self-doubt.
■ THE BATHS ( cw: doppelgangers): a long marble hall featuring a large swimming pool, now drained and filled with mould and debris. Steam overwhelms the room, except for a wall-length black mirror at the end of the hall. The more you look into the mirror, the more the black substance that covers it slips down, flooding the floors and also dripping from walls and the ceiling. As the mirror clears, you see your black-eyed reflection that suddenly screams out verbal abuse or plunges at you. Once you subdue the doppelganger (claim a clue), it dissolves into more black water, while the mirror shows scratched inscriptions of A RIGHTEOUS HAND SHAPES EACH OF ITS FINGERS.
■ THE DORMITORIES ( cw: membranous cocoons): hollow, empty, quiet, the dormitories sport strange membranous cocoons in the walls, from which shadowy hands reach out. You hear young wo/men, whimpering and murmuring that they aren’t afraid and want to change to make Brother Narula proud, before erupting into screams or laughter. Break the cocoons without getting trapped into their webs — only to find nothing inside, except stone dog tags, engraved with the names of Hand soldiers. On the floor, you find primitive tattoo needles and ink.
Luck strikes at sunset, when a previously barred door opens to release you from the house — back into Ephes.
NOTES:
- ■ QUESTIONS
■ NPC inbox (for test drivers)
■ Event title shamelessly pilfered from a gory gladiator show!
no subject
(Even as Luffy speaks he can feel the ship beginning to slowly list to one side. It's faint, barely noticeable for now, but a promise that things will begin getting worse in the near future. Separating the crew one by one will take a lot of time they don't have and Luffy folds his arms as he tries to think it through.
He really can't just abandon them, though the idea of sinking to the bottom of the ocean isn't great either. The sailors all look normal, despite being terrified, and the hopeful look seals the deal. They'll be getting out of there, in one piece if Luffy has anything to say on it.
And then suddenly there's an idea, the kind that could potentially work. Luffy isn't the most comfortable with it but it could get things moving which is the most important part. He crouches down near the sailors, giving them a gentle smile, knowing Buggy can hear every word he says.)
I want to help you guys but no-one here is talking. We've got little time and lots to do. And my...friend ..over there, hates timewasters and trust me, he can be as scary as he looks. So tell me everything you know, and I'll keep him away from you, but be warned, I can only do that for so long.....
no subject
That's right, boys! I really hate to wait... especially on sinking ships. So let's get this over with, what'd ya say?
[It's interesting, how most of them cower back, visibly distraught at the threat of what may be to come. But not all eight of'em, huh? He wonders if Luffy notices.]
no subject
The mention of a sinking ship snaps Luffy's focus back to the problem at hand and he's staring at the soldiers and their responses. Most look horrified at the threat, not wanting to end up at the hands of a pissed off clown and his blades. But one of them... Luffy notices and his smile stays put, still just as gentle and easy as it had been as he leans over to give the one that doesn't react a friendly punch to the shoulder. )
So help us out and I make sure he doesn't turn you all into sashimi. Cause between us all? He really will and I don't think I can stop him getting all of you.
no subject
There's something unnatural about the way he reacts to Luffy too, hitting his shoulder, whatever other acts he puts in place. He gives a thoughtful hum.]
Luffy, think I can get a moment alone, buddy?
no subject
But now what?
Luffy looks over at his name, knowing Buggy has seen it too. Buggy rarely uses his name, it's normally champ, pal, buddy, and Luffy always responds the same way by calling the clown by anything but his actual name. )
I dunno Buggy, this is tricky. ( He gets back to his feet, moving back to stand near the clown. The idea of violence is still not sitting right with Luffy but he knows their time is running out as the ship gives an almighty creak, the listing pronounced enough that the few remaining things on shelves begin to roll from them if the random smashes in the distance is anything to go by. )
You know what? You're right, we should talk to them one by one. Pick one to start with, I'll take the rest out on deck. ( And hopefully get them all on the rowboat.... )
no subject
He's the problem. He's the one who should be left behind to fend for himself, as far as Buggy is concerned.
He's a little more hesitant when Luffy tells him to pick one. He knows which one to say, but-- it's more the paranoia that Luffy could save the other sailors and he'd be stuck with... whatever is going on with this one alone. Can Luffy even get seven sailors on his row boat or will they have to use Buggy's? He huffs, jaw tightening as he debates his options. He could make a run for his boat. Let Luffy sort it out. But he's probably not as easy to ditch as the chef and Zoro were.
Besides, they're stuck together. The only ones from their world that he knows. Maybe Buggy doesn't think it's all that smart to entirely burn those bridges, unfortunately.
In the end, he rolls his shoulders and nods his head towards their mystery friend on the end.]
That one. Your little pal.
[He gives a pointed look.]
Come back down as soon as you get the others settled, yeah? I'll let you know who to bring down next.
[Don't you dare leave him to drown, Luffy, or he'll throw you in the water himself.]
no subject
It's easier to focus on the scared sailors, Luffy motioning for the to leave the room. They don't need to be told twice and the seven of the hastily head for the door, spilling out on to the deck as they wait for their turn to be spoken to. )
I'll be back soon. ( And Luffy means it. Yes it would be easy enough to leave Buggy on the sinking ship, but it would also be wrong. Buggy has committed crimes but right now he's assisting in a rescue. Justice will catch up with the clown, there's no room in all of this for vengeance. Luffy gives the remaining sailor a vague smile as if trying to reassure them before leaving as he hopes to get the others situated quickly enough that he's back before any violence can start.
Four sitting, three standing, it's not the most ideal situation for a rowboat but it will do. Luffy can take the remaining rowboat back with Buggy and their soon to be prisoner, should it go that way. The young man winces as the ship groans again and he hastily makes his way back to the room, unsure of what he'll find since he left it some time ago.... )
Boogie?
no subject
You know what?
Next time, Luffy can stay back with the creepy, unsettling sailor while Buggy goes and crams the normal ones on a boat. He's not doing it again. when he gets the guy alone, more weird shit follows. His face starts morphing.
Not just morphing. It starts taking on his features. Lashes and lips and--
Maybe the sailors weren't just telling ridiculous stories about creatures after all.
Either way, Luffy comes down to one clown that's holding his knives out, limbs floating and ready to launch, except--
You know. Where the fuck do you launch them when the sailor's devolved into... whatever it is he's seeing here? Black wisps and no actual solid form to attack. He doesn't even correct the wrong name when he hears Luffy calling for him.]
Hey, wanna give me a fucking hand here, champ?
[He's maybe not quite realized anything is trying to sneak up behind him just yet.]
no subject
Seeing a clown pirate detached into pieces and floating around? Absolutely normal. Black smoke tendrils and no sailor to be seen? Totally not normal and Luffy quickly looks around the room before realizing what the smoke is. So much for not hurting him, at this rate it's Buggy and Luffy that are about to get it.
Luffy notices two things at once; that Buggy hadn't corrected him on the naming, and that there's black smoke slowly curling behind the clown. On a normal day Luffy would just grab the person and pull them back, but he's only two hands and Buggy is more pieces than he can hold.)
I can give you two but you're gonna have to watch your back. (Luffy stretches his arms forwards, trying to bat at the smoke and elbow pieces of Buggy out the way at the same time. Can smoke even be punched? Luffy's about to find out as he feels his fist going through it.
Gross.)
no subject
This shouldn't be happening at all. He didn't sign up for smoke-- monsters or whatever it is they're dealing with. He never thought he'd be happy to see those stretchy limbs, but maybe it divides the focus of what they're dealing with.
It's just you can't punch or stab this particular thing.
The heads up has him looking back and cursing, trying his best to get the hell out of the way before he's... whatever happens when this thing attacks.
He's back together after a moment, backing towards Luffy. Safer that way if they can watch out for each other' backs. The ship lurches again. Not good.]
What do you say we get back to the boat and just get out of here, huh? Think this thing's pretty much at home.
no subject
The ship is sinking quicker with each passing moment, Luffy can feel it through his feet. They could win the fight but ultimately lose by going down with the ship and the pirate captain grits his teeth. It's not running away, they've saved the others and in making sure they too get back in one piece they can continue to save more people. Well, Luffy can, he's not sure Buggy would be too keen. )
Alright let's go.
no subject
C'mon! Let's get going. Quick!
[Quick, quick, quick, because honestly, he didn't sign up for sailors or anything. He'd signed up for the prospective treasure he might find squirreled away, but there'd been zero of that. His interest has dwindled.
Unlike the interest of that-- whatever it is chasing them. But if they're quick enough, maybe they can outrun it at least.]
My boat's over here.
no subject
They'll have to leave it. )
Right.
( For now they have done what's needed. Smoke can float on water, Luffy is sure of it. Mist does and he doubts smoke is heavy enough to sink, so he keeps that in mind as he turns to follow Buggy through the ship. Now he just has to count on the clown not to pull a fast one on him and leave him on board and Luffy makes sure to stay close to Buggy, intent on making a grab if any funny business begins. )
Good, don't think this ship has much longer before it sinks.
no subject
As it is, he just climbs into the boat and waits for Luffy to get his ass in so they can get out of here.
Maybe he realizes the practicality of not leaving Luffy to die on-- whatever island they were dragged to. Or whatever this place is. It's not like anything he's seen, doesn't seem to operate on many of the same rules he's used to.
It's frustrating, honestly.]
What the fuck was any of that?
[He grumbles, exasperated.]
no subject
This had to be the right thing to do. Whatever it was had been out for blood, holding others hostage. Luffy remembers how terrified the sailors had looked, holding that thought as he finally turns his back on the ordeal and hops into the boat.)
I dunno but we need to keep moving. (Normally Luffy will leave the rowing to others, but he doesn't want to be near the ship when it finally sinks, understanding on some level it could potentially tip their own boat over. He's already picking up the oars to start rowing, not bothering to wait for Buggy's response. What the fuck indeed?)
Never seen anything like it? Not some weird devil fruit or anything?
no subject
[He didn't though, did he? He hadn't cared about anything.
He'll gladly let Luffy handle the rowing as he looks back at the wreckage of the sinking ship, brows furrowed.]
When I was talking-- his face kept changing. I don't know that he was human to begin with.
no subject
Luffy can't deny he's curious, but he also can't deny a small feeling of concern that lingers. What is going on in this place?)
Huh? Changing like expressions? (Please say expressions....) If they weren't human then what were they?
no subject
[He shifts a little bit, looking back at the sinking ship, brows furrowed.]
Those sailors, when I talked to them... they said something about a monster doing the damage. I thought they were just freaked out or drunk. Something.
[But no, maybe they had a point.]
Look at it this way, Straw Hat... practice for the Grand Line.
no subject
So that was the monster they were talking about, and they didn't say anything when we were there because the monster was also right there.
( It makes an awful kind of sense and Luffy shakes his head. What kind of place have they wound up in?? )
Wait, they have smoke monsters in the Grand Line?
( Hook, line, sinker. )
no subject
[He shakes his head a bit, huffing out a sigh. Doesn't matter when they're stuck here either way. Leaning forward, he presses his elbows to his knees, looking over Luffy quietly.]
I've never seen this place before. I've travelled a lot, but none of this is familiar. I don't know where we've been taken.
[And that's... unsettling, if he's honest.]
Now we've got shapeshifting smoke monsters to deal with...
no subject
Sounds like it could be fun and now he's seen the one he can deal with all the more once he gets to the Grand Line later on.
It's unsettling for sure, but Luffy is already getting over the sense of dread, catching sight of the sailors in the rowboat ahead of them and focusing on the positive instead. )
Is it not the West Blue? Or North, South Blues? I mean, what's the alternative?