let's set d o w n some (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
groundrules) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
westwhere2023-11-01 05:35 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2023-11-01 05:35 pm
Entry tags:
- arcane: caitlyn,
- assassin's creed: ratonhnhake:ton,
- ephes,
- event,
- kingdom of the wicked: emilia,
- lockwood & co: anthony lockwood,
- mcu: america chavez,
- mcu: bucky barnes,
- mcu: natasha romanova,
- mcu: yelena,
- oh! my emperor: beitang moran,
- one piece: luffy,
- one piece: nami,
- one piece: sanji,
- one piece: zoro,
- tian guan ci fu: xie lian,
- umbrella academy: ben,
- umbrella academy: five,
- warcraft: wrathion,
- wheel of time: elayne trakand
the channeling
WEALTH WHISPERS
Assignment: the Merchant fears that Matthias, alleged father of the undead Brotherhood, might be the ‘merchant’ who was due to receive dark water-infused grains by sea from the Hand. Chasing information, the Merchant routes party members towards the docks-side underworld district of Tibras, in the outskirts of Ephes. The Hand keeps grain warehouses nearby.
In Tibras, short and decayed houses are like parasitic growths toppling each other, plaster peels falling into rivulets of bloodshed. Tension thrives. Petrified, natives overwhelmingly number beggars, pleasure workers, crude bounty hunters and thieves, who look to cut throats or purse strings. Occasional bodies drift by the docks.
■ Just outside of Tibras is the abode of the merchants’ syndicate — a ring of warehouses, private clubs and houses of currency. Merchants here are protected via steep fees and travel freely. Inside the syndicate house, doorways are barred by inextinguishable living fire — which you can cross unharmed, if you rearrange the runes marked N, W, S, E on a nearby wall in a cardinal-point formation. You can also pretend to be a servant, a merchant or quality inspector to get to the Hand warehouses. Ask a clue.
Alternatively, the Merchant forewarns that a notable guest will join the syndicate for three nights: Captain Maximilian Hawk of the Dawn’s Reach Trade Company, which deals in magical artefacts. Hold him at knifepoint, seduce him, do your worst for knowledge!
■ By the entrance to Tibras is the shop of Apollonius, noted collector of supernatural artefacts and information broker. Crafty and sly, he will cooperate, in exchange for a pair of ‘eyes’ from the ghost Tykhe, who haunts the nearby anonymous burial grounds. Come midnight, Tykhe’s spirit — whose sight was gouged — appears and picks out and bewitches a pair of marbles, buttons or stones to act as her ‘eyes.’ With them in hand, she searches the graveyard for her dead sister, Cassandra. You can steal the orbs, or she’ll give them freely, if you escort her from tomb to tomb to reunite with the mute ghost of Cassandra. Return to Apollonius.
■ Deeper within Tibras is a gambling nest of sailors who were cursed by a scorned sea witch to assume the appearance of sea creatures. Led by the giant octopus Crassus, they charge protection fees from commercial merchant ships and even intimidate pirates, gleaning information from sailors and recovering drowned bodies. This illustrious group adores games of chance — as long as you can cover your losses.
You can decide or RNG how many tries it takes for your character to win — submit a finished thread to get a question! The higher the stakes, the better the information.
- — a scantly informed junior goldfish throws dice. Lose, and you must share a highly embarrassing secret.
— a moderately informed catfish, offering Baccarat. Lose, and he steals your good luck for 24 hours.
— a composed, well-informed whale plays roulette. Lose, and you must share one of your most precious memories.
— a highly-knowledgeable shark, Aurelius Longus, plays a mean hand of poker. Lose, and he asks blood or a pledge to save his life one day.
THE FLOORS
Senate leader Caius Justus exits his seclusion, ending weeks of prayer to convey the message of Ephes’ divine patron, the Chained God of chaos. And he says in a public speech:
Friends, Ephesians, countrymen…
”Friends, Ephesians, countrymen, lend me your ears. I come to speak for the Chained Father, not to praise him. The victory men reap lives after them; but cowardice is often buried with their bones. So let it be with Ephes. The noble Senate tells you, the Chained Father wishes only Ephes’ destruction. If it were so, it is a grievous fault, and grievously has the Father answered for it. Here, under leave of Messalina and the Senate – for Messalina is an honourable speaker; so they are all, all honourable speakers – come I to speak of the Chained Father’s wishes. He was my maker, faithful and just to us: but Messalina says, turn away from him. And Messalina is an honourable speaker. He has brought many territories under the heel of Ephes. In his name did the Hand rise: did this in the Chained Father seem unworthy? When now you weep asking empire, the Chained Father answers: tells you to be made of sterner stuff. Yet Messalina says the Father is unworthy. And Messalina is an honourable speaker. You all did see that I withdrew to his temple, where he spoke to me: Ephes, seize your path alone — was that unworthy? Yet Messalina says to turn away from him. And sure, Messalina is an honourable speak. I speak not to disprove what Messalina spoke, but here I am to speak what I do know: you are all children of Chaos, not without cause. What cause withholds you, then, to use the Hand yourselves? O, ambition! You have fled to brutish citadels. And men have lost their courage. Bear with me: my heart is in the temple, there with the Chained God, and I must pause and beg the Senate to vote against Messalina, til it comes back to me. ”
Returning to public life, Caius Justus advises the Senate to refuse Messalina’s proposal, but defers to a vote. Citing recent civil unrest, he imposes citadel-wide 10 p.m. curfews, bans congregations of more than eight people in the streets and sends the Hand to confiscate any visible weapons and to quiet or pre-empt unrest. Hand members — forced to present in large numbers — appear erratic, prone to violent outbursts and to taking out their anger on civilians. Hand leader Narula is excessively smug.
Newscasters are careful with their words, speeches decrying Messalina abound, and senators are‘escorted’ by Hand delegations, also for their protection. Caius Justus announces he will run again for Senate leadership — to begrudged murmurs among Senators, given his previous pledge to retire.
Assignment: lure Senators toward the position that the party supports. After Caius Justus’ return:
- ■ 51 Senators back Caius Justus to refuse Messalina’s proposal.
■ Maximus Faustus convinces 53 Senators to accept Messalina’s proposal
■ Caelius Silvanus persuades 47 Senators to vote to postpone a decision on Messalina’s proposal for another season.
Following the party’s previous interventions, Senators are open to considering Messalina’s cause. Many are skittish, fearing their careers or lives will end with disobeying Caius Justus. Optionally, party members previously assigned a political role might receive threats from Caius Justus’ supporters.
■ Persuade, bribe, threaten or blackmail a minor Senator to switch votes. Perhaps you can offer coin or rally supporters in the marketplace for their next election, or heal their donkey or get rid of that pesky boy mooning after their daughter. Or maybe prove their corruption streak, or place a polite knife at their throats. Hold the whole Senate floor hostage, if you want, of blockade Senators from entering the Senate on voting day!
■ Ask for a RNGed Senator if you want or submit threads of swaying votes. A final tally will be taken on 19 November
INCENSE
Priests of the Chained God whisper that the god shows signs of awakening to trigger an apocalypse. Chained and warded twelve times to prevent the end of the world, the Chained God allegedly rests in the Halls of the Sleeper, in the underground belly of his main temple in Ephes. Above ground, the temple is silent, rife with milling priests, hummed prayers and cloying hallucinogenic incense that encourages lethargy. Access is unrestricted, but monitored.
To progress downstairs, you may need to convince guards that you are one of the groups of ferociously devout pilgrim worshippers, or a priest. Below, you feel overcome by creeping, paralysing dread.
■ You are haunted by sinister, saccharine voices murmuring intrusive thoughts only you hear, diminishing your worth and paranoically asking if your companion means you harm. You are more irritable and prone to violence.
■ The halls increasingly resemble narrow subterranean corridors with limited and overheated air reserves. You reach locked stone gates, covered in loose chains and crudely carved with the inscription, the Sleeper awakes. Instructions state the Chained God demands sacrifice and proof of chaos.
■ To enter the Sleeper’s Hall, instructions say, you must commit an act of betrayal, by: drawing your companion’s blood and smearing it over the inscription (lean into the corruption!), which prevents them from entering the halls with you; or chaining them to the door with the gate shackles, condemning them to watch as you enter; or pushing your companion away, verbally eviscerating or attacking them until they flee. With player approval, your character could get a sense of what theirs is emotionally or physically vulnerable to, then exploit it. Acts of betrayal cannot be faked.
■ The Sleeper’s Hall is narrow, nearly spherical and lit by thin rivers of flowing magma that cross cracked floors. Amid swelter, you hear the periodic gulps and quakes of stone trembling around you. The supernaturally sensitive feel the presence of great, if constrained power.
■ The black water previously associated with the undead also gushes from rifts in the ground. It has a cold, sinister aura.
■ Search the room for clues — and leave urgently, before corruption consumes you.
■ Towards the middle of the room is a large, nebulously shaped creature, fully fettered and covered in magical wards, chains and blood-painted runes. Anyone in the Chained God’s presence may feel overcome by emotional or physical agony, claustrophobia and bloodlust — but the divinity only speaks with the RNG winner.
NOTES:
■ Some players have asked about potentially
■ NPC inbox, if you need anyone!
■ QUESTIONS
no subject
A shame that the voice in his head seizes on the opportunity to point out how little his crew must trust him to think he'd do such a thing and Luffy inwardly cringes at that one. That can't be true, they would never, but the longer they stay in this stuffy, oppressive place the harder it is to dismiss the voice so easily. He's nothing like Arlong. )
No. ( The single word is almost a whisper yet somehow echoes around them as Luffy moves within arm's length of the navigator, reaching out to place a hand on Nami's new tattoo as he fixes her with a stern stare. ) I would never ask you to go through something like that. I'll do it. Besides, as soon as that door opens you can just let me straight back out.
hi hello i wrote you a novel about feelings
She wants the hand he's settled on her arm to be more reassuring, but looking back at the stone gate's inscription, there's probably nothing in this world or the one they came from that could do that for her. While Luffy shields her as much as he can with this choice, he can't protect her from everything the gate asks of them.
Playing the villain isn't something Nami ever wanted to do, not when she was a girl, and not now, just when being surrounded by friends had started to let her believe she'd never have to take up a mantle like that again. Nami will do it. She's good at it - as the version of Nojiko whispering into her head reminds her. If Luffy can willingly give himself up to be chained and hurt, she can be the one to take on the grim business of hurting someone she cares about because something has to be done.
Drained nearly to the brink by their malicious surroundings, Nami steels her resolve, her hand settling firmly on Luffy's shoulder, her eyes clouding with all the tears she won't permit herself to shed until it's over. ] That's right. [ 'It has to be like this because it's always going to be like this for you.' Promises a voice full of a mother's love and disappointment, and the last sound Nami wants to hear while she's guiding Luffy back against the uneven stone wall behind him before stooping to get the weighty metal ring around his ankle. ] I'll let you out again.
[ After she goes through the gates alone.
There's a slight clatter as her hands - colder and shakier than she's ever known them to be - close around the dagger's hilt, making the blade tap against the stone it sits on before she pulls it closer and straightens up to chain his wrists to the walls as well. It has to be a betrayal or it won't work, and Nami's made enough people feel stabbed in the back to know that's not something that works if you do it in half-measures.
Nami's eyes are cold when they fix on Luffy's again, her hold on the dagger tightening as she squares her jaw, lips set in a firm, determined line, wanting to believe the voice that sounds the most like hers in the cacophony of loathing that's taken deep root in her mind. She has to do this. The ability to pick out the fastest road to hurting the people you love isn't a talent Nami thinks Luffy ever needs to try and master.
The last thing she thinks before the dagger slices out and slashes a line across Luffy's arm is that the crew would never forgive her if they saw her, not Zoro or Usopp, not even Sanji who seems determined to paint her in the most flawless light his imagination can muster. Nami steps back with all the staggering grace of someone who's just been dealt a blow, her expression hardening with self-directed anger as she reaches out to pull his hat off his head and set it on her own instead.
She's crying even before she's turned around completely, the blood on the dagger's blade catching the light as she moves towards the gate to smear it across the surface, not breaking her stride or looking back even once as it swings open to let her through, leaving him behind to find the god chained below.
'What is wrong with you, Nami? It's like you don't have a heart at all.' The teasing lilt has left Nojiko's voice leaving discontent in its wake. ]
♥
Nami confirms the plan; chain Luffy up, draw some blood, open the door and release the captain of the Straw Hat pirates. There's zero reason to suspect anything due to the simplicity of it all, no small voice to point out the myriad of ways it could go wrong. Luffy's trust overrides it all, he would trust the others just as complicitly. The concept of an actual betrayal is as far away as home right now and he doesn't even flinch as shackles close around his wrists.)
Got it. ( Luffy's gaze doesn't waver from Nami when the blade cuts across his arm, leaving a line of red as proof of the whole ordeal. His teeth are grit only momentarilly as a flash of surprise and shock suddenly take hold as his hat is consequently taken from the top of dark curls. That hadn't been part of the plan and the blatancy of it all takes his breath away. Everything of himself Luffy holds dear is in that hat currently perched upon Nami's head and the confusion on his face is palpable.
"She's going to leave you there, idiot boy." Luffy hates that the voice of his grandfather sounds so smug, so victorious. Nami wouldn't leave him there, she's going to untie him and they're both going to go into that room and believe it right up until she steps through the doorway. Alone. Hat on head. Luffy left to the sound of silence and a stinging pain in his arm. )
Uh. Nami?
( Luffy can feel his heart racing as anxiety begins to peck away at him. Is he supposed to wait or free himself? Nami had gone into that room by her lonesome, would freeing himself seal the door shut again? What if something in there happened? Nami can fight but should a terrible thing happen then Luffy would never forgive himself. The rest of the crew would never forgive him either and Luffy strains his ears, trying to listen for anything out of the ordinary over the sounds of his own short breaths and racing pulse.
He'll have to wait. )
no subject
The god chained to the ground is a gruesome sight, even through bleary eyes that much is clear, and though she's tempted to run over and just start kicking it for what it's driven her to do, Nami doesn't do anything that causes her to stay her longer than she feels she has to.
Her shoulders shake with sobs that don't seem to want to stop even with her hand pressed against her mouth, She grabs for a book waiting on a stone platform and shoves it into her rucksack before she has a chance to look it over - just taking for the sake of taking, because she has to walk away from this with something.
They're going to kick her out of the crew. Even when she resolves not to screw over anybody, she can't help herself. It feels like she's on a path she's not allowed to stray from.
By the time she passes through the gate again, Nami's given up on trying not to cry in front of Luffy. There's nothing she can do to undo what she's done to him, the least she can do is respect him enough not to hide her regret while she unfastens first his ankles and then his wrists before pushing his hat back on his head.
Unable to meet his eye, she turns around, preparing to head off and go straight to the windmill to collect her things before they're inevitably tossed onto the street. ] If it wasn't a betrayal it wouldn't have worked. [ It's true but it feels like the flimsiest defense in the world. She's done a horrible thing tonight, and the weight of it hangs on Nami, growing heavier with every step she takes away from him, doing her best not to fall apart completely until after she gets what's coming to her for this. ]
no subject
Time stretches into what feels like eternity, Luffy doesn't his best to disregard the voice in his mind that points out what's wrong with everything that's happening, with everything that isn't happening. In any event Luffy has experience ignoring his grandfather, this is nothing new and when Nami finally leaves the room the young man's expression brightens. There's even a smile on his face as he waits for Nami to unfasten the shackles, elated to feel the hat placed back on his head. The clarification makes sense; a betrayal isn't as such if it's offered freely and it's a stroke of genius Luffy hadn't even considered.
The tears are worrisome, Luffy unable to hide his concern. The idea Nami is upset over what has happened doesn't sit right with him; he'd offered to do this, his idea, there's little reason he can see that would result in being distraught. But then this place is distressing enough without things happening, the oppressive heat and almost claustrophobic walls are enough to bother the sturdiest of people and Luffy rushes to catch up with the young woman.)
Worth it, the door stayed open. What was in there?
no subject
How can you say that? [ Nami stops in her tracks, her face wet as she forces herself to look up and meet Luffy's eye. Something she learned in Arlong Park, she's learning again now - hurting Luffy isn't worth it. She rubs a hand across her cheek and glances at the cut she left on his arm before her eyes return to his face and she shakes her head, her tears falling slower and some of the rawness leaving her voice. ] Don't you want me out of the crew?
no subject
( Luffy's not even sure he's heard that right, all thoughts of a chained god leaving his mind as he takes note of the wetness at Nami's face. Brown eyes meet Nami's gaze head on, filled with confusion as he struggles to understand why the other would even feel that they needed to be kicked out. Over a cut that would easily heal? Or over manacles and chains that could have been slipped from? Luffy tilts his head, doing his best to understand why the easier route had seemingly turned into the worst for Nami. )
Nami, we would never want you to leave the crew. I asked you to cut me and I asked you to put me in those chains. You did everything you needed to and that made sure the mission was a success. ( Luffy pauses, reaching out to put a hand to Nami's arm, pressing against the tattoo in what he hopes is a comforting gesture. He had asked Nami to do it and she hadn't hesitated, that in itself is the perfect sign of trust and Luffy wishes the navigator could see it the same way. ) I asked you to chain me up because it's my duty as captain, that and I didn't think you'd be comfortable being put in chains again after the thing with Arlong....
no subject
You're a good captain, Luffy. [ Comparatively speaking, he's the best captain she's ever met. Attempting a weak smile, she brings her arm around him in a small hug before stepping back. ] Let's get out of here, okay?