hatthevar | blood rains

[groundrules]

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!

HATTHEVAR

---

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

QUESTIONS

NPC INBOX

Comments

Eda Clawthorne | The Owl House

[traaaaaash]

THE BAZAARS

[traaaaaash]

[ Once again, Eda feels strangely at home here. It feels a lot like the seedier districts of Bonesborough, or the night market. Having been a saleswoman herself for a long time, she is curious about the bazaars and what they have to offer.

Most of her appearance covered by a cape, she walks along the stalls, ponders the artefacts and if she might use some of them -- until one offer in particular catches her interest. ]

"Curse-breaking?" [ She harrumphs, dismissively. ] Hah! As if anyone would fall for that, ya dirty scammers.

[somebadnews]

[ Five's appearance at the bazaars isn't exactly intentional. He had planned on teleporting inside a completely different house, but somehow it hasn't sunk in that his powers aren't taking him as far as he's used to. Or that every time he blinks somewhere he lands in a puddle that just happens to be there. Doesn't anyone fix the leaks around here?

So it's with a flash of light and a splash of water at her feet that he greets her - after a fair amount of muttering about how ridiculous this is getting and he can't stay dry for five fucking minutes before he zeroes in on Eda. ...Did he hear something about a curse? ]

What's that?

[traaaaaash]

[ Eda just hears a loud splash somewhere near her and turns around just in time to see Five at his most humiliating moment -- and appropriately bursts out into snorting laughter. ]

Ohhh boy! Teleportation malfunction?

[somebadnews]

[ The laugher does nothing to lessen how annoyed he is that this keeps happening. It doesn't help that she calls it a 'malfunction', like he's the source of the problem. It's not his calculations that are off, he knows full well it's that potion he drank. ]

Yeah, well, I can't control the weather. [ He steps out of the puddle and starts to wring out his clothes for the umpteenth time. ] I know half of them are dead, but you'd still think they'd do something about the flooding.

[traaaaaash]

It's a puddle.

[ Dramatic, much? Eda is still smirking, but softens a bit. ]

Dang, if I still had magic, I'd have you dry in a flash. But those times are over! Sorry.

[ She's very casual about it. Sure, she does still miss having magic, but she's arranged herself with her new state of being. Hey, if humans can do it, she can do it -- and she still has her harpy mode. ]

So whatcha doing here? Is this where you intended to be?

[somebadnews]

[ It's nothing but puddles, everywhere he goes, and he'd rant about it more if the second comment didn't throw him. He's contemplating what she means when she asks if he meant to be here, and he actually looks around to take better stock of where he is. The frown is her answer. ]

You'll have to tell me where 'here' is. [ See how close he was. If it's wearing off, maybe he's getting his distance back.

Back to that other thing she said: ] What's going on with your magic? Something with the tattoo?

[traaaaaash]

The bazaar, where they sell all kinds of junk. Ahhh, makes a gal feel right at home!

[ At his question, she waves a dismissive hand. ]

Nah, just the good ol' curse being a feather in my side. It sapped away all my magic a while ago.

[somebadnews]

[ The bazaar. Well, he had meant to look around there. But she’s talking about a curse like it’s no big deal, and he can’t remember why she’d be so fine about losing her magic. Especially here, when she needs it. ]

A while ago. And you’re not trying to get it back?

SPIRIT SLAVERS

[traaaaaash]

[ Having dealt with the, ugh, health scammers, Eda moves on. Really, she should keep the outbursts to a minimum. Better to keep her cover. As she contemplates another trinket, for a moment, she turns morose -- she feels weary to the world, even more so since she's been here. All this toiling and struggle and nothing ever truly changes. She valued justice once, but she doesn't know if she still has the energy. Her gaze falls upon her coven sigil -- proof of how dire things had been at home. The thought itches at her, all the time, of the friends she's left behind there. Knowing she'll return to the exact same spot in time doesn't actually help, at least not much. Having time to fret is a bit of a curse onto itself.

But quiet is also something that doesn't last long here, and she is pulled out of her ruminations when noise reaches her ears. Up the street, there's a commotion -- shady figures clearly raiding a house. Just a moment of watching, and Eda knows what it is. Spirit slavers, dragging some poor dead people out of their hiding place to sell them into servitude.

The fire she just thought all but dead reignites all too easily inside her. She pushes forward through the onlookers and points at the slavers. ]

Hey! You stop right there!

if this is too late, feel free to ignore

[rumorate]

[Eda's voice cuts through the crowd and Allison moves into place behind her. While she isn't looking to pick a fight today, she's not going to let her party member go in alone. And when she sees that it's the slavers involved, well.

This feels like a very good use of her time.

When the slavers seem content to ignore her, Allison steps up and adds the slightest edge of a command to her tone.]

Hey. She said stop.

[The slaver at the head of the line's eyes go white and his feet stop dead in their tracks. He looks very confused about this turn of events, but hey. At least he's stopped.]

no such thing :3

[traaaaaash]

Ahhh, backup is here!

[ Eda sounds glad for it, and she is -- because if she's learned nothing else since... really, ever since Luz stumbled into her life, it's that teamwork makes the dream work.

Ah, Owl Lady, you really have gone soft. But she's better for it.

Eda winks at Allison. ]

Wow, you're good. Now, how about freeing the victims?

[rumorate]

You're right.

[She turns back to the slavers and tips her head to the side, before deciding that making them do it themselves is a much better use of her time.]

Why don't you all let the ghosts go?

[Again, their eyes glaze white, before they turn and start to do just that - the slavers likely won't be happy when it wears off, but they can't really do anything about it right now.]

[traaaaaash]

[ Eda certainly notices the eyes. ]

You gotta tell me about your little magic trick there later.

[ In the meantime, Eda will start coralling the -- now former -- slaves in order to get them out of here. ]

Now, why don't we all go somewhere else real quick, before these losers get back to their senses, hmm?

[rumorate]

Yep, let's get out of here.

[And she'll join in helping Eda herd the ghost slaves out of the area and to somewhere safer until they can figure out next steps. The slavers shake out of their stupors not long after they leave, but they decide they have better things to do than mess with the woman who mind-controlled them.

It's one of the smarter moves they've made today.]

How long do you think they'll need to lay low?

[traaaaaash]

[ Eda ducks into an alleyway, away from the slavers, to funnel them toward the Whispering Houses, where she hopes there are places for them to hide. ]

Hmm, hard to tell. The slavers are probably a greedy bunch, so better longer rather than shorter.

[rumorate]

[Allison follows her lead, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure they're not being followed. She catches on to where they're going and frowns. She does not trust the Whispering Houses, but it's a good place to start.]

Do you think there's a library or coffee shop or something we could duck into?

GAMBLING DENS

[traaaaaash]

[ Ahhhh, gambling. An activity Eda had gotten quite a bit of joy and excitement out of, back before she gave it up because it, y'know, endangered her children. But her children are not here now, and what better way to take the sting out of that to fall back on old habits, right?

She'd love to enter one of the dens themselves, so she asks around until she finally secures a password in exchange for one of her newest concoctions -- a potion of which she frankly doesn't quite know what it does, yet, but she spins a tall tale about how it gives the person drinking it the ability to locate rare, precious minerals.

Now, eyes on the prize.

She enters the gambling hell casually, her step that of someone who has experience with this. Excitement fills her at the bustling noise and glittering lights of it all. ]

Ahhh, that's life for you!

[starlingroad]

[And America, got the passcode by sneaking around and listening to conversations that weren't hers to hear. This was how a young teen manages to slip her way in. To be fair, America doesn't seem so interested in joining the gambling itself as she is exploring a pass that requires a passcode. ]

[ She moves from table to table watching the his and lows with curiosity until she hears a familiar voice. ]

Eda! This place is pretty lively, huh?

[traaaaaash]

[ Eda was just about to get closer to one of the dice tables when America speaks to her. She turns around and -- ah, right, she knows that kid. She walks over and shoots America a grin. ]

Sure is! Gambling halls tend to be like that. First time?

[starlingroad]

[ America manages to smile back, even though she still feels a little overwhelmed by the place. ]

Yeah. I was curious. You have to get a secret passcode just to get in.

[traaaaaash]

[ Eda could comment on how she knows that, but she just smirks and raises an eyebrow. ]

Oh yeah? How'd you go about getting it?

[starlingroad]

[ America looks around, then gestures for Eda to lean down so she can whisper. ]

[traaaaaash]

[ And Eda obliges, bending down quite a bit (being tall) to lend America one pointy ear. ]

Hmm?

[starlingroad]

[ Whispering. ]

I overheard them telling someone else. So I'm really not supposed to be here. [ Big grin. ]