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

[valeas]

Memories still return to her every now and then, arbitrarily and in pieces.

She remembers their sparring now: how often they would engage in battle, be it of wits or combat. Both. She remembers the feeling it would evoke, much like it emerges in her now, watching him embody a certain deadliness. The glint of his dagger, the glint in his eye. The threat of ruin, and the choice to trust.

More than anything, she remembers that she trusts him.

It's only seconds, longer though it seems in the thick of it. Fine hairs stand at attention along her neck as she waits, dark clouds gathering above. She isn't sure if it is Anurr, or her husband's mood.

She has singed poor Wangji before in her attempts to time this right. Once Wrath gives her the sign, she hurls the mote, loosens it like an arrow notched. It forms a sustained arc of fire between it and herself, to ensure the damage is ongoing. To ensure it feels the full brunt of her assault, until it is char.

[inferus]

Wrath is more in tune with his wife than Wangji due to their deep connection to one another - tattooed against the skin of their arms, agreed upon before. He can feel the moment she calls on her magic and the moment she unleashes it, and he disappears as smoke and gold wisps wrap around his body. His wife's aim is impeccable at the moment, and the creature lets out such glorious noises of pain as it finds itself burning alive.

He appears behind the place where she's aimed. The skin of its flesh burns with a unique scent of death and coldness. The fire moves across the creature's skin as Emilia maintains concentration on this bolt of pure fire generating from her. Wrath follows after the fire, and he carves through the burned flesh with his dagger. He digs the blade through the skin into the monster, carving it open, tearing its insides out - this is likely unnecessary, but he does like to be thorough.

His hand is close enough to the heat of her fire to feel its incredible burn. He smiles wickedly at the way that it feels, hot enough to nearly be painful. Wrath does love the way she makes him burn when nothing else in any realm could, nothing else through the entirety of his timeless existence except a Goddess of Fury carved in the Underworld before he was created above.

The creature continues to burn, continues to wriggle and struggle against the immense heat and carving, but it fails - the noises of pain devolve into screeching now through its final moments.

[valeas]

Emilia is familiar with the smell of flesh burning, how it melts from the bone and how high the scent can rise. But it does vary depending on the creature, and this sand lurker is no different, hard-shelled and slippery that it is. She sees the blades of its arms melt first, sees them glow rose-gold as flames take hold.

What has not yet fully burned is carved by Wrath's hand.

The sounds it makes are awful. Its shrieking rends through the powerful winds gathered, and she stands there and looks. ... Thinks, too, that this noise will inevitably draw some attention.

Her gaze lifts to meet Wrath's from across the flames, her hand reaching for the dagger at her thigh. The ground below stirs once more, but not just from one concentrated location.

It's scattered around them, like a circle.

[inferus]

Wrath's surrounded by her flames when the ground stirs. Sometimes he is guilty of having too much of his brother's damned pride himself, especially in this world that consistently reminds him that it can strip his power from him. It's terrifying when his wife is in harm's way.

He has already lost her once (and nearly lost her so many times after when she couldn't even remember who he was: with venom flowing through her veins, with the demon that had cornered her, in the freezing cold of the sin corridor).

The creatures break the surface of the ground all at once. He doesn't know how many of them there are, but she will feel his fear for her as they break through that ground. His worry distracts him (it makes him more vulnerable, his love for her, but it is also what makes him the best version of himself). One creatures blade scrapes up his arm through fabric and skin as he transvenios to her side against her back - white blood drips down the length of that arm.

And he lifts his hands, draws on his magic, and starts to put up a thick wall of ice to curve around at their backs and block any attacks from behind them.

[valeas]

They stir.

Emilia counts two, four — loses count, and so perhaps more.

The attack of the viperidae seems so long ago. Like another person was there to fear it entirely. She has shed the skin of such girlhood so thoroughly that she almost mourns it, or would if she'd the time.

Here and now, there's only room for her own fangs. She feels the threat to herself, to Wrath, to everything behind the walls they guard. Shifts so that her back is flattened to his, keeping eye on what he cannot.

And as he summons a wall of ice to guard their back, Emilia summons her vines: a tangled brush that bristles with needle-sharp thorns in an attempt to slow the movement of the creatures, if not leave them prone entirely.

[inferus]

His wife's vines take care of a great deal of the ones in front of them, wrapping around many. A few are left prone as they're pulled to the grounds, but most are still moving slowly toward them. There is the sound behind them of some of the creatures slamming into the ice wall at their backs. The ice wall cracks at the sheer force.

His hand finds her own as he attempts to transvenio them away. However, while the black shadow and brimstone and gold appear, it stops as soon as it starts. He's used it too much, too often, and this world has decided to require him to wait before he can wield it again.

His voice is low with its rare worry: "Fuck."

One of the creatures escapes her vines and rushes at them, and Wrath responds instinctively by pulling Emilia to him, pressing them both against the sand as far as he can with him on top so he can catch the brunt of its teeth and the bulk of it.

[valeas]

Emilia rolls onto the ground and before the strike can come, he covers her like a shield. A more generous person might be moved by the gesture, by the urge to protect, but something hot simmers in her blood as she realises he has taken the hit in her stead. The damned demon is hurt and it serves him right.

... She realises, too, if he has not teleported them away, he is not able to.

Fuck indeed.

Her lip peels back into a snarl, too heated to deliberate on her next move. It's all instinct, all fire, as she attempts to roll herself back on top of Wrath and place her hands onto the creature's shell. Until it ignites.

[inferus]

Wrath does not have the time to survey the damage done though he feels the pain, the blood dripping down his back. He is slower to heal in this world, and it's certain that is more true than usual given his use of his powers recently. They are still in danger - he hears the creatures surround them. Every use of his powers limits what more he can do, and he does not feel the ability to teleport them to freedom yet.

He grimaces as Emilia rolls herself on top of him, and then moments later she ignites it.

He lifts his own hands up as it burns, preventing it from fighting back, and he shoves the creature away with his strength. It tumbles down the sandy hill still aflame, knocking into another creature along the way as they tangle together, and it burns too. Despite the potential danger, Wrath smiles - he loves Emilia's way with fire after all.

"We need a way out," Wrath hisses as he wields another ice wall - smaller than his last, but it might by them time.

[valeas]

Emilia watches the creature roll away, flames licking at its sides. Watches as it collides with another creature on the way down, two of the sand lurkers momentarily pushed far enough away from them to create a healthy distance. And still, more of them are stirring from beneath, drawn by the scent of their ichor.

As he summons another ice wall, Emilia summons more of her vines. What he does not freeze, she tries to grapple. But the sheer number of them lead her to believe this is not a sustainable strategy.

Not when they're low on fumes, magically speaking.

Her heart pounds fast, throbbing in her ears, as she looks around. Her eyes close in sheer desperation as she hugs Wrath to her, and ... they transvenio. It's her. It's Emilia, mustering what power she has left to tap into an ability she'd forgotten she had. It smells like wildfire smoke. The fog surrounding them is red.

And they're far away from where they'd been only seconds ago.

[inferus]

Inwardly, Wrath had been cursing every last inch of this world they found themselves in that it would leave him without his ability to transvenio with his wife to freedom when they need it most. His own arm had wrapped around her as he attempted to summon the ability even beyond its capacity even with the ichor dripping down his back before they could be eaten from below. Wrath is confident in his ability to heal from any injury still, but he does not believe Emilia yet can, and it is this worry that fuels him along with his rage.

Then in an instant, they are carried away - he knows immediately it is not his ability but hers. It has been so long since the last time he ever saw her use it, and she never took him with her before - their time together had been so brief. But one moment they are surrounded, the next they have been placed in the room that they claimed in this city, having warded against nearly everyone else (beyond a select chosen few).

His back is flat on the ground. His wife is on top of him still, and he smiles slightly from underneath her, worried though he still is:

"You do love me," he says - the joking meant to reassure her even as his own hands slide gently over her body seeking her wounds as he sits up with one arm around her waist still. The tone shifts immediately though, breathless and bloody though they are, he needs to be certain her injuries are not grave: "How hurt are you?"