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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
vanessa ives (amunet) | penny dreadful
{ knock knock: bazaar memories
no subject
so she'd followed her gaze to the spirits and observed.
now, she eyes vanessa with a mixture of curiosity and neutral interest. )
What did you do?
no subject
They could not remember if they once had a daughter or a son, or if it was someone's dream they overheard. …They had both a son and a daughter.
[ She'll glance to Natasha now with a quirk to her brow. ]
You did not barter any memories, I hope. Those I am unable to help you find.
no subject
(but that’s definitely just her projecting by now.)
folding her arms over her chest, she shakes her head. )
I didn’t. Why would that have been different?
no subject
Or vengeance. Spite can provide as much lifeblood as hope. ]
They would have been taken by another, rather than hidden within. Those would need to be recovered a different way. I am not as accustomed to, nor am I comfortable with what they think of as currency here.
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( she's heard the vendors propositioning other travelers — or just other people in the marketplace. still, after months (or what feels like months) in this place, natasha couldn't get her head around a place that actually took memories. )
Do you know how they could be recovered? ( it's a long shot, and not like natasha has given up any of her own memories, but she may as well ask. )
{ execution: sanctuary's lesser evil
{ execution: the beacon's shadow
no subject
( ...a minute. Moments, whole. Entire heartbeats — to look at the creature, undeterred, perhaps not their living pulses.
He nods, all the same, at once tremulous and transfixed, eyes sharp and gaze pale, straddling the look of the creature, its vast and ill contained power. It is as if it was born too vast, too strong, and broke its own bones to make vessel of himself for its ability.
Given the chance, Lan Wangji might take his time to appreciate the creature, the merits of its plight. He lacks that vantage, easing into position with the slippery step that marks the wet season's culmination, rain above starting to thicken, to rust red. He wipes it off his forehead, his cheek. His sight, lashes dark carrying the flood down.
Then, he draws his sword. )
See to yourself, witch. ( And plunges, like ants might, to annoy the titan by prickling its ankles. Allow the creature to be at first in awe, then carefully, unambiguously irritated, giving him chase. )
cw; scorpion mention
Once ducked past the confused titan's shift in focus, Vanessa dashes to the transportation dais in a blur. The token is quickly—carefully—placed down where instructed before she backs up to the edge. Keeping her wits to stay on task while splashing through blood is not a simple thing, but at least she is no longer starving.
Staying low, she hovers to shield and wipe at an area on the ground before a knife slashes across her palm. Her own blood soon fills the cleared spot while she rushes to paint out her scorpion sigil before it can be washed away. This weather makes it...trying, but even in such murky chaos the intent should be enough—the blood will remain.
So the witch is finger painting while he irritates a ghostly kaiju, and how can this not be a winning tactic? ]
Soon!
[ She is ready to pause this task and help if Wangji should appear outmatched, but it truly shouldn't take her more than a minute. Or two. He may not appreciate her type of 'help', in any case. ]
no subject
( ...soon, but for every second, every trickling of time seeing mark through drumming, the slap of large feet peculiarly close to Lan Wangji's own skull, and his footing skidding.
He does not recuperate as readily, as swiftly as he would wish it done, teeth gritting as he raises Bichen to tackle another swing, the fresh threat of a crush. He falls back, one foot nearly folding, but the knee locking in time — he is holding back, he realises, a mere fraction of the creature's strength.
...its two fingers, to be precise. )
Now? ( The titan is, after all, pushing him back like a fly. )
cw; surprise more scorpions
It's done!
[ And she has no idea if it will work well under these circumstances, so they may have to switch strategies again, but first Wangji needs to make it over to her. So, with the token (hopefully) protected, Vanessa turns her attention on creating an opening for Wangji to safely make it past—and perhaps provide extra defense on the miniscule chance the barrier doesn't work.
The commands that are hissed and growled out next aren't for him, but for the monolithic guardian at odds with their cause. The guttural words scrape through demonic tongues, inviting horror, pain, and death if not heeded. At first it seems they are nothing but noise with no effect.
So try, try again! Her manifestations are never easily summoned while in Akhuras. Don't die, Wangji. ]
no subject
( It's done, she says, only the titan is no where close to finishes with him, and there is no blink of the eyes, no wayward moment when he can spare her a glance, the hope of resolution —
Because he's diving, evading the flat of the creature's hand, climbing up its arm and using his sword as a stepping stone, or an anchor, or perhaps both to drive himself forward. He strains, nearly slips — recovers his footing and advances further, until he has reached nearly the top of the titan's shoulder, line of it shivered and unsettling, feet at war with balance. The sheer inferno of the giant's power nearly burns, corruptive and at odds with all that which Lan Wangji's qi represents.
He grits his teeth against it — raises Bichen — and is nearly flipped off by the titan's hand, swinging. He manages to scream down, lungs shredding, as he catches himself with his sword on the stairwell of the titan's backbone: )
Now? ( Vanessa???????? )
cw; surprise it's more scorpions (and hovertext)
Hopefully even a giant may be overwhelmed by a sudden mass of Deathstalkers bursting from any nearby surface, spilling over one another in a bloodied swarm to climb and corral it. They're only meant to distract and obstruct, for now, but they are fearless and of singular mind.
The skittering creatures will notably part for Wangji, allowing him an opening to get away from the titan. ]
no subject
( He plants his sword through the creature's back once, again. Bows it, howling and shivering, seeking to shake him off, back in an impossible, sharp and unpleasant angle — a comedy of perverted biology.
On a normal man, his spine would now break.
But then, this is a titan, one brought to his knees by pain, nearly crushing constructs on the beacon's dais —
And giving Vanessa's swarm the chance to climb him, consuming along the way. He falls down, scrambling first to collect his sword, then to a crouch, then stand — before retreating, blade extended and forward, eyes ever on the titan, within Vanessa's orbit. )
How long will they persist? ( Until the giant is toppled, or a lesser time? )
no subject
[ Or so it should be for as long as she wishes, but powers aren't not what they used to be while in this realm. She will aim for optimism, for once. ]
Wangji, stand beside me.
[ It may not be a desirable state, especially given the alteration in her appearance. Where her eyes were once pale and blue, now they are an infinite black pooling around deep crimson.
The invisible barrier erected around her and the dais ought to keep the titan at bay, but that is also an unpredictability while in Akhuras. Every new creature is a new test of power, and the bloodied rain could interfere with the sigil's intent.
For that risk, the scorpions will drop from the beast while climbing over one another, creating a crude mass meant to herd the massive creature back. If not successful in that, then they're sacrifice enough to hopefully slow it down. Any that do end up smashed beneath the stumbling giant will melt away into nothing. ]
no subject
( The standing, that is the ugly work of it. Breath broken and heaving, he struggles to reconvene his balance a moment more, stumbling, before falling in step. It should shame him, the lack of composure — it honours him instead, a body of recovering bones, of flesh that insists to aid him in time so that he might pay his dues.
Vanessa calls forward. He falls in step, aligned, their shoulders within such tightness of distance, he nearly feels the vapors of bodily warmth — so often taken for granted and neglected, but, apparently, for when they've lingered too long beside titans and frost wyrms.
The creatures will overwhelm, he understands — if not their prey, then Vanessa. Perhaps both. He finds himself pitying, when he speaks again: )
Lend me your wrist. ( Mere courtesy call, than anything else. If he wishes, he could claim her hand, without permission. )
no subject
The dark glance thrown Wangji's way doesn't hide any of her puzzlement, but she wordlessly offers up said wrist. The blood-soaked sleeves that hang are (were) sheer—not particularly meant for the cold, but someone who walks around barefoot is not very worried about the chill from the weather or enemies. ]
no subject
( Later, he will take a moment to review his own presumption, the rapid pace of his trade. His hand finds Vanessa's, touch soft but two fingers cradling the long lines of her veins, her pulse.
Then, unbidden, the flow of his energies, never destined to efficiently feed the system of a receiver who lacks a core to churn and propagate it — but enough to refresh even such a person, to fuel their power.
A base transaction, unsophisticated. Crude transfer of energy. All the same. )
no subject
The energy lent isn't something malevolent, but the intent of her gathered power may look as just that, and death thrums through bloody puddles as the scorpions circle and swarm. It is also her own take on passing pity, though no less cruel for it. The goliath won't surrender or flee, and this can't go on.
If only it had listened to her. Vanessa's curses never affect only her, and she is sorry for it.
Where they don't manage to tear through the titan’s surface themselves, her Deathstalkers find entry elsewhere–wounds left by Wangji’s blade. The ones that aren't crushed manage to rip and crawl inside, biting and stinging until the titanic guardian may eventually become naught but a bloated mass of bloodied scorpions before it is like to burst. ]
no subject
( The creature is not felled quickly, cleanly or well. It does not fall to its knees, or to ruin. It skids down, the slow erosion of its balance a nearly unseen, timid and fractional thing until the very last moment, when it crumbles abruptly, debris scattering on ground — ash and crystal-hard rock and bones and... scorpions, downpouring.
The stench mesmerizes.
Lan Wangji pulls back — drags Vanessa with him by the arm, to avoid collision. It is a near thing, not for the speed of the development but the sheer, colossal size of the creature and the unpredictability of where its parts will disassemble upon demise. )
...call them back.
( The scorpions, who seem to scatter in waves in their waiting positions. Surely, Lan Wangji and Vanessa cannot seize the beacon with them in the way. )
no subject
Just as she looks his way, the mass of death drops and scatters, and where they aren't crushed beneath collapsing debris, some of the Deathstalkers seem to burrow and vanish where it's bloodiest. Their vibrations still return to her, humming into her bones, while the ones that have landed closest crawl across her skin. They skitter over her feet and along her arms, and she's quick to pull her hand away—if he doesn't first recoil—to instead hold out for one of the scorpions. It settles with something like a fond hiss before it melts back into her now ashen-pale skin.
They will all be back with her in only moments, leaving behind only the destruction brought about by Wangji's and their efforts. ]
...Thank you. [ But? ] You should not have done that.
no subject
( Should not, or need not? He thinks the difference thin and increasingly more narrow, emaciated. There is a point past which rhetoric is, in agreement with the Lan principles, entirely wasteful and purposeless.
He starts at a slow step to walk the raw-edged, energy pouring periphery of the beacon, feeling out its residual power, any restraints past the initial guard. Nothing introduces itself. )
Too late. ( Isn't it? )
(no subject)
congrats on ur beacon vanessa, now stop licking blood off everything
but everything still needs cleaning
(no subject)
(no subject)
{ deimos: driven up the wall