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westwhere2024-01-13 06:35 pm
groundrules) wrote in westwhere2024-01-13 06:35 pm
Entry tags:
- arcane: caitlyn,
- assassin's creed: ratonhnhake:ton,
- baldur's gate 3: the dark urge,
- blade of the immortal: asano rin,
- doctor who: river song,
- harry potter: hermione granger,
- kingdom of the wicked: emilia,
- kingdom of the wicked: wrath,
- last case of benedict fox: benedict fox,
- mcu: america chavez,
- mcu: carol danvers,
- mcu: kamala khan,
- mcu: natasha romanova,
- oh! my emperor: beitang moran,
- original: red,
- owl house: eda clawthorne,
- penny dreadful: vanessa ives,
- star wars: merrin,
- tian guan ci fu: xie lian,
- umbrella academy: ben,
- umbrella academy: five,
- untamed: lan sizhui,
- warcraft: wrathion,
- wheel of time: elayne trakand
hatthevar | blood rains
Drawn to undead creator Matthias, the party heads into Hatthevar — former wasteland of myth and superstitions, now city of ghosts.
The first log of Hatthevar spans until 31 January.
A small part of the event is open to players both in and out of the game, who can bring dead characters in the bazaar!
The party enters blood-rained Hatthevar during a daily one-hour truce between the citadel and the undead forces that assail it. At the gates is undead Lord Rathakku of the Brotherhood, keen to usurp his distracted maker Matthias; in the skies dart the forces of dead wind lord Anurr, who has no love for the Brotherhood.
Hatthevar’s ghostly champions — including enormous ghosts that consume men and floating spirits that strangle with chains — defend the grounds. Matthias neglects the war, persistently summoning spirits from various worlds and points in time to revive them.
KNOCK, KNOCK
Wispy, shadowy silhouettes closely watch the lone gate of Hatthevar. The party infiltrates at sunrise.
Characters who have died, practise necromancy or are death-touched enter freely. The living must consume Karsa’s foul potions that absorb their shadows and partly mute their powers to pass for dead. Holders of Matthias’ severed limbs or organs, or of dark mirror shards or dark water, are closely watched by the dead and perhaps pursued.
Everyone must create new names and stories covering their identity and circumstances of death. Crafty ghost sellers will try to learn your true name to capture you in slavery.
Spend a few days acquainting Hatthevar, its constant rains, vicious gambling dens, bazaars, oracle halls, wish shops and nests of memory thieves.
Show kindness to the newly revived spirits who struggle to remember themselves and roam in the citadel’s bazaars of curiosities.
Optionally, some characters are struck by misfortune. Capture a crafty, palm-sized spirit rabbit to improve your luck… or stumble upon a larger, dark hopper to ruin it.
Most sleeping quarters are available at downtrodden inns or in lavish gambling dens, for exorbitant prices. You can’t shake the feeling of someone watching through holes in your walls.
MATTHIAS
Three days after arriving, the party receives a note from Matthias that reveals the origins of his pact with the dark water to propagate the dead in Akhuras. Matthias says he has been working to bring the spirit of his dead daughter Cosette through the beacon for revival. She materializes briefly in Hatthevar but disappears before he can find her. Retrieve Cosette, and he will surrender the party his power over the undead.
Full note
| ” Well, hello! Is it nippy beyond the walls? Not cold here, just… the rain. Tried wishing it away, but… waste of money, those wish shops. Not like, what is it you call it? The dark water? It’s ancient. Back in Ellethia, we thought it came from the sea. All began with a mirror shard. That, and constant pressure to race against decades of Taravast research into curing death. We got there first! That’s… my claim to fame: I wished death gone. It was work. Work ate me. Then, the dead woke up, killed everyone, and there wasn’t much of a profession left. Or of Ellethia. The dark water wants flesh, so… I’ve made it death lords and armies, and I’ve left parts of me to anchor it. In return… it gives me revival. But, look. I had a… daughter. Cosette? Blonde and eyes green and blue and like her mother’s, and only five summers old, but she thought she was so clever, kept telling her doll so. That’s all you’re left with. Memories. She died, of course. I’ve been working to resurrect her, and her spirit shows up every few days in Hatthevar. She disappears before I can find her. I’m not… good at bargaining. I’m a magical engineer, really. Tinkerer! But my time’s running short, isn’t it? Just look outside. And all I want is Cosette. You want the beacons? Have them. You can have my power whole. I’ll give it. Some of you will need to help hold the walls up, and others might want to look into the funny business in the lagoon, if it’s linked at all to Cosette, though I doubt it. But, truly. Bring me Cosette, and the deed’s done. You can have everything.” |
The Merchant distrusts Matthias’ proposal, but sees potential leverage and urges the party to investigate the girl and the lagoon. From here onward, everyone heads to their assignment:
COMBAT
Assigned: Bucky Barnes, Carol Danvers, Deimos, Emilia, Jiang Cheng, Luffy, Natasha Romanoff, Nynaeve, Stephen Strange, Wrath, Wrathion, Zoro
The first line of defence against the swarming undead, you must hold off swathes of enemies across three territories:
THE WALLS
Despairingly tall and uncomfortably narrow, overseen by Matthias’ ghostly cannibal titans, who neglect to discern between friend or foe in their broad, relentless strikes. Blood rains pour down thick and nearly blinding. From the skies, you face the frost-breathing 10-15 meter-tall wyrms of undead blizzard lord Anurr, unaffiliated with the Brotherhood. Stick together: when alone, Anurr’s winds speak to you of your deepest doubts and fears, compelling you to surrender — or to let go of restraint, briefly berserk, and attack your own.
■ Serthica survivors may call their dragons to assist. Through Jon Snow, the party can also summon the giant, but slow and poor-sighted frost dragon Irenia to help on three occasions.
THE COLD PLAINS
Just outside of Hatthevar sprawls a desert-like cold plateau, where treacherous dunes shift to swallow you whole and the bestial forces of the Brotherhood’s most capable undead general, Rathakku, hide in wait. Hard-shelled, slippery and sleek his creatures lie buried and thrust up their arm-rows of hundreds of blades that cut into the legs of passers-by, drawing them into sand.
THE UNDERPASS
A series of subterranean tunnels connects Hatthevar with the cold sand outposts. Scour the myriad of dusty, tunnels and purge it of large scorpion-human hybrids that carry multiple weapons and whose sting leave men hallucinating. Oversized serpents abound, their venom prone to paralyzing their prey. You can make or procure antidote potions from Hathevar. Matthias’ ghostly titans are closing off all tunnel entrances to Hatthevar — don’t end up sealed in on the wrong side.
! Collectively, the party must kill at least one frost wyrm, one scorpion/serpent and one sand lurker to keep all three levels safe. Turn in your threads before 28 January… or let the citadel suffer in part II.
EXECUTION
Assigned: Five, Lockwood, Mo Ran, Vanessa, Yelena, Wen Kexing, Zhou Zishu
Your objective is to locate Matthias and secure the beacons that are currently in heavy use. Securing one or more beacons will help you get home.
- ■ Your best bet for intelligence are the treacherous networks of underground memory thieves and slavers, who attempt to steal your freedom or your recollections.
■ Your next option is the gang of Erkul, who ruled over local oracles and Hatthevar whole before Matthias’ arrival. Coarse, slippery but cunning, Erkul sullenly nurses his weight in wine at the gilded Sanctuary, Hatthevar’s foremost gambling den. Street sources say the establishment’s passcode each day this month is a fruit name. Erkul’s crew sell highly potent opiates.
■ Ransack some Whispering houses for information, equipment, poison or arsenal. Small, dusty, cluttered and often creaking, Whispering houses hold a wealth of dangerous artefacts, from haunting poltergeists you might accidentally release by reading out their names from tomes to flying rope that throttles you. Large dread hounds instil blood-curdling fear in anyone who looks into their eyes.
■ The five beacons of Hatthevar are only briefly active each day as Matthias makes his summons. They are guarded by swarms of colossal leonine-shadow creatures that only attack if they feel any fear in your soul (of it, or anything else), pouncing to claw and shred you apart. To claim a beacon, Karsa may provide a cold, coal-like token that must be placed in the middle of the transport dais, within inevitable sight of the shadow lions. You must wait 15 minutes in place for the token to take root. Report your conquest before 28 January!
■ Every six hours, Matthias sends ravens to check on the shadow-lions. You must either trick them, leave the lions alive or capture the ravens.
CARE
Assigned: Allison, Eda, Hermione, Kamala, Lan Sizhui, Sanji, Winnie
Carer’s have the lion’s share of all duties — and the party’s few lingering resources. You must look after the group and the ghosts of Hatthevar: meandering, disoriented and fragile, the spirits who were freshly wrenched from death’s snare become easy prey for the Undead Brotherhood, the elements and the ghost slavers. Rescuing or attending vulnerable spirits can gain you allies.
- ■ comfort ghosts who recover from revival or struggle with their memories. Many are stranded in the Whispering houses or chained into servitude in the gambling dens.
■ rescue spirits from the immense slaver clan of Ras’Kalur, which tricks newly summoned, dazed spirits in the bazaars to sign away their freedom, promising someone to look after them. Ras’Kalur’s people often raid streets and shelters, forcibly dragging spirits back into their camps at the outskirts of Hatthevar.
■ barter to rent or buy abandoned taverns to give the party a resting space during their stay in Hatthevar. You may need to pay locals in favours, from helping them carry out petty acts of revenge to making up with a grudge-bearing wife or paying penance to their ancestors.
■ heal, cook and provide for combatants on the walls, taking care not to fall in the crossfire or frost wyrms or of allied but negligent 12-feet ghostly titans.
■ as the least suspicious party members, negotiate for information or supplies on behalf of the group: make friends with gambling den owners and the two-bit shady crooks who know their daily passcodes to enter, or with the regulars of the Whispering houses.
INVESTIGATION
Assigned: Ben Hargreeves, Benedict, Caitlyn, Cal Kestis, Jon Snow, Merrin, Nami, Rin, River Song, Wei Wuxian, Wen Qing
- ■ You know from Matthias that, as a result of his beacon summons, the spirit of his daughter Cosette appears every fifth day in Hatthevar for a few hours at midday. Despite this, a young girl matching Matthias’ description (5-6 years of age, green-blue eyes, blonde, prone to laughter) is never seen. Matthias alerts you whenever Cosette appears.
■ Day of first appearance: Matthias feels her presence in the bazaar, where the day’s main attraction is a puppet show that draws a heavy crowd. At midday, a chime sounds, and the puppet show performs the sad story of a daughter quarrelling with her father over his absences. The daughter-puppet flees into the woods, while the puppet-father refuses to reconcile and follow her. The girl is killed by animals, and the puppet-father grieves, heartbroken. All the women or girls in the crowd, including you, find they burst into tears.
■ Day of the second appearance: Matthias senses Cosette is in the alley of Whispering Houses. You notice the typical bustle of the alley and shady movements, as discreet, embarrassed, or desperate patrons scuttle. You see no small girls but hear of three trades that took place at the Whispering Houses, carried out by different women: one bought a memory, one sold one, one had a memory replaced. Pay for a memory trade to learn more.
■ Day of the third appearance: Matthias feels Cosette near the Oracle Hall. The hour passes by the time you climb the stairs and are received. The Oracle confirms only one person has visited — a blonde woman — and says to “tell your master that an hourglass keeps track of new time, but can’t give the old one back.”
You get three clue questions/character and should communicate with fellow investigators. Please share key findings by network before 25 January!
EXPLORATION
Assigned: America Chavez, Buggy, Connor, Elayne Trakand, Lan Wangji, Licyn, Red, Wen Ning
The river Liu neatly divides Hatthevar, its clean waters progressively darkening towards the edges of the citadel, where they pour into a vast, serene and heavily misted lagoon. Veterans sense an eerie chill from the familiar dark waters that so often accompany the undead.
Like Matthias, Karsa says a strange power sleeps at the heart of the lagoon.
- ■ travel by raft with a companion through the lethargy-inducing fog, as tar-like people peer up from the waters or swim below, never quite attacking you unless you fall into water. They (and the currents) try to upturn your boat.
■ Scattered lit candles drift on water as you advance. Pick one up, and you find one of the floating creatures of Hatthevar has joined your raft, carrying a rope-chain. It says it and its kind are former oracles and truth-speakers of the citadel — and urges you to speak, pledging to kill the first person who lies before you leave water.
■ Farther out, you discover four half-sunken ships that have crashed into each other over time, their decks now forming a rocky square-like structure. You can carefully navigate your raft to reach this construct, or make your way by hopping onto floating deck parts and the debris of other rafts.
■ Once aboard the square structure, you find all the decks are heavily rotten, creaking and prone to collapse. You hear a maddening, shrill scream that steals control of your now convulsing body, until you find yourself driven closer and closer to the end of a plank or a deck hole against your wishes — unless you are physically detained until the shrieking ends.Sharp-toothed mermaids swim below.
■ Reach and explore the curious ships’ graveyard, to peer into the black well in the middle of the square infrastructure.
NPC INBOX
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That doesn't bode well. ]
Hey. [ She still doesn't look up, and a pit forms in his stomach. He's already seen how the peddlers here can't be trusted, and too many are out to control them by any means necessary. If they get their claws in her, bad things are going to happen. He jogs over, raising his voice and trying again to get her attention. ] Hey. Vanessa, look away.
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"She's still searching for her light, s'all. C'mon, surely you can help me? Wouldn't want me getting lost, would you?" ]
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As a matter of fact. [ He smiles down at him and boldly grabs Vanessa's arm, tugging her away to try and force her attention. ] We're going now.
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The tug at her arm nearly has her turn her head and shift her footing, only then the creak of the lantern keeps her back, and she may as well be rooted to the spot. No. Careless in her usual restrictions, Vanessa is only thinking of being left to this strange peace, and so she isn't gentle when jerking free of Five's grip to knock him away with a lightning swift backhand. ]
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He swears as he scrambles upright. The boy seems pleased, still encouraging as he does whatever he's doing to control her. He even smiles up at Five, saying something about his lantern again and offering his light to get a better look after that terrible fall he had.
There seems to be some lingering effects to his vision; he can almost make out a light thread being pulled straight out of Vanessa and into the lantern. The enslaved spirits are fresh in his mind, and he makes the choice to interfere again. Ignoring a shriek of protest, he yanks it from the boy's grip, and smashes it on the nearby wall.
He expected that to be enough to release her, but he barely has a chance to look back before he's overcome with...what? Maybe because he stood in the way, or because he made contact with Vanessa when he broke the lantern. He doesn't know how, but in an instant, the world shifts and he's no longer there. ]
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Only years later, the world has turned black as night, and she becomes small and weak. She surrenders, now that she accepts her name and loses all faith.
What would it have been like to never know any of that? Would it have left her happy, simple, or simple confused? She isn't to find out, because by the time Vanessa snaps out of her daze, the troublesome urchin has fled the scene of his criminal attempt, leaving behind his broken lantern without a moth in sight. ]
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By the time he figures out that he's seeing her memories, he's drawn in. A part of him is equally horrified at what the urchin was doing as to what he becomes unwillingly aware of. What he witnesses are things he never asked about Vanessa but wondered since before the cliffs. What she is and how she came to be that way. How legitimate the threat of her is, but also where her power came from.
There's no telling how long he was standing there (seconds? minutes?), but when the memories fade he's staring at the same woman from his vision with a mix of confusion and something like empathy. That little urchin had no idea what he was getting into. ]
You... [ Words fail him, and a terrible thought nags at him. Did her memories return to her, or did he steal them? How can he tell? ] ...Did he get you out of the asylum?
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[ Her unblinking gaze slowly turns to Five, for a moment peering at him as though a stranger. Her voice sounds distant to her own ears. ]
Who?
[ So much was recalled, so much trauma, so many years, and who is he supposed to mean? So many men, so many animals...
She feels...unwell. Like she may be sick. That can't be pretty for a vampire, but then she is paler for it.
Slowly, she kneels with arms hanging at her sides. An alleyway with broken glass is as good a place as any to sit down while recovering one's sense of self. ]
I never did get out. [ A beat, and Vanessa whispers. ] But it did take a part of me out. Just the part it thought was ugly.
[ Her grimace could nearly be a smirk, and her whisper hushes further. ]
But it missed.
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Everyone has a story for how they became a monster. Five isn't any different. He can't even claim superiority for having prevented the apocalypse when he and his family caused two, soon to be three, and that's not even counting how little he's helped prevent them here. If anyone should be able to relate, it should be him.
If he were more in touch with his humanity, maybe he'd be able to be someone she came to without the underlying distrust. He'd learn what she is without having to resort to magic tricks. (He's still grappling with what he saw. Is it any surprise to him that she's the storybook definition of a vampire?) Against his better judgment, or maybe as an apology, he sighs and sits next to her. ]
You shouldn't linger out here. [ Not alone. What happened to her could have just as easily been him, and he knows it. ] Who would you be if you couldn't remember?
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She was no one. Nothing.
[ The grimace has softened, now with more melancholy to her smile. ]
I would become...less than a blade of grass. I would...no longer be—it would be another death.
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There's another reason why he sat down when he did. His jaw aches and he brings his hand up to massage it, wincing when it sends a shooting pain down his back. His fault. He got involved and unwittingly violated her mind, but dammit if she doesn't pack a punch. ]
Ah. [ He leans back until he's against something to brace his head against and doesn't insist on moving again. ] I'll take that to mean you changed your mind.
cw; suicidal ideation
[ One is still vastly preferable over the other. The 'her' without those memories would still be a dark and evil thing, and so nothing would change. She would simply return to not understanding why she curses everything she touches.
The way he winces draws her dejected gaze, and she pulls her hands into her lap while leaning over. ]
Did I hurt you?
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Some of it was real. He’s seen her power enough to consider all of it was, even in the institution. At her question he barely nods. There’s no way he can hide that. ]
Probably why they tell you not to wake sleepwalkers. [ He’s not holding it against her, as much as he could the harbinger of the apocalypse, although he should know better than to sit so close when his blinks aren’t as accurate as they should be. ]
I didn’t know you had so many connections. [ Lucifer himself. Imagine that. ] Dracula and the Devil. How long has it been since you saw them? How soon before you returned?
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Beloved Lucifer was sent to his room without supper…some time ago? Mm... Months. Just after I returned to London. More months here.
[ Hearing ‘that’ name only breaks her heart again, and there is no difference between the memory and now. She had once repressed the memory of it for so long, and now she can never be allowed to forget it. She is here—she is there. ]
Dracula is only one of many lives lived by that Hidden One. This morning, he reeked of fear. ...Perhaps he already knew.
no subject
He was afraid of you? [ It didn't look that way when he bit her, unless something changed after she did. ] Or was that his way of controlling you and it failed?
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His heart shriveled from the terror of Ethan's arrival. He must have known. The Hound of God had his own prophecy to fulfill, and I had invited it.
[ Vanessa had not succumbed out of hatred for the world. She had...only wanted to see Ethan again—to be done with it all, by his hand. He would have no choice but to return once Armageddon arrived.
The more she speaks, the more ashen her skin becomes, with red-rimmed eyes and pale veins webbing to her temple. The blush of life provided by the glamour is faded, perhaps for the first time around another here. ]
So many failures. I hoped I could finally do something right. [ While thousands died, unfortunately. ] I will never know if...dear Ethan found any victory in his great loss. If he is still alive. If anyone is.
no subject
And then there's him, who is alive because he's always the last. They both are well acquainted with failure. ]
Do you think it'd be better if you knew? As long as you don't know if everything ended, there's a chance that it didn't.