the harp(y) was a big winged lyre | event + test drive meme

[groundrules]

Hello, hello! Fresh out of the box is the action spanning 14-31 July, also serving as our second test drive meme (TDM). The event is broken in three parts: one exclusive to TDM participants, one that's for the existing crew, and a communal section, as... sparks literally fly, when characters cross paths.

OOC planning & questions are HERE. Existing players can use this log to party, or you can alternatively make your own logs & network posts. Our TDMers are stuck in this playground only, but — to replicate the game experience more faithfully, they can ask questions and briefly interact with NPCS HERE.

Tiny reminder: eastbound is an invite-only game for size control, but if you found yourself here, love the setting or the playerbase but don't know anyone — PM @ groundrules, we'll figure something out. You're welcome to make a note in your top-level comment title, if you're a TDMing newb, shiny and chrome!

TDM TOURISTS | OLD TIMERS | COMMON TIMELINE | NOTES

TDM TOURISTS

A great day to be alive, chipping manicures and clawing out of a salt mine just in time for a befuddled undead cavalry to whisk their visitors away, one by one as they're recovered.

TDM characters receive quartz stones that function as translation and (network) communication devices, before they are presented to Haltham.

Cursing his luck, Haltham informs newcomers they are in the frozen citadel of Sa-Hareth, controlled by undead warlord Anurr. Characters were wrenched free from the mines of deposed death king Unhalad and... two weeks behind the eastbound caravan that is the Merchant's troupe — their one ticket home.

IS THERE AN ACCOMPLICE IN THE HOUSE?

As Haltham brokers their getaway, newcomers are foisted on Caspar and the Lucky Hands, a gang of thieves set to hijack a port delivery of silvered powder. The Hands handle the theft on D-day, but pairs of newcomers are each saddled with a stolen pouch to transport furtively across Sa-Hareth.

They must escape frequent sentinel searches and other petty thieves to rendez-vous within a day at the dark, dusty and overpriced Hog & Mead tavern in the Merchants' Arena.

Anyone caught by local enforcement can spend a few hours imprisoned in a converted fishermen's warehouse, guarded by three underpaid officers, before breaking or talking themselves out. Thank your predecessors, who ruined the only decent jailhouse.

ALL ABOARD

The travel hell punishment fits the larceny crime: after rendez-vous, Caspar, Haltham, two undead and the TDM tourists join some noble passengers, who seek refuge in Taravast after vocally supporting Unhalad.

They board a seven-wagon streetcar pulled by twelve mechanical horses, heading out of Sa-Hareth down the haunted Stairs of Sighs passageway.

To keep the peace, newcomers must pretend to also be disgruntled Unhalad supporters — and to know nothing about the many bags of exotic opiates that Caspar has dragged aboard.

As they advance down the Stairs canyon, characters may observe each night brings a full moon and blood rains that disappear without trace, come morning. They can also hear the melancholic, indecipherable song of a woman — and find themselves dreaming nightly of burning alive, or being buried under hot tar. They will wake alert and increasingly distrustful of their companions.

At one point, the express train horsecar will pass by a galloping arctic bear, which will stop to salute. Do not feed it.

Characters receive a red helleborus brand on their left wrist to identify each other. It disappears within a week's time.

Test drive questions HERE.

» THE NEXT STOP

EXISTING PARTY

THE WAR IN WORDS

The recent emergence of the dark tar-like creatures gradually unsettles Lord Arha and his ghostly armies into violent outbursts. Throughout the day, the legions become progressively corporeal, no longer flickering out of existence and retaining their memories. They remain dead.

The following morning, the harpies throw down their usual homages of splintered aged bone, now alongside withered parchment. The strips feature excerpts from the letters of Arha and the Lady Hatisse — which Mazyar and his people can translate.

After reading one such parchment, a soured Arha takes unasked command of Mazyar's caravan, imposing benevolent but firmly enforced curfews. Grim-faced ghost soldiers start to keep watch of characters at all times. Some will accuse caravan travellers of being witches or spies of Taravast's Attaryl school.

Those crafty enough to pick up Arha's discarded letter can see his hands have smeared it bloodied. Translated, the missive encourages Arha to turn back with his armies from Taravast.

DON'T HARP ON ABOUT IT

All hell breaks loose as Allison, Lily, Wei Wuxian and Five follow tar harpies inside their makeshift "nest" — going down a steep pit into one of the canyon mountains, and reaching the cavernous and shifting corridors of a stone temple. The passageways lead to small chambers that host stone tombs, many opened and still holding the remains of bones and drips of tar.

Angered by the intrusion, the laired harpies turn aggressive and exit into the canyon, starting an attack spree. They throw rocks, claw or fly down and pick up stray animals and humans. Arha and his army can help you defend against the creatures.

With their main entryway compromised, some harpies will leave the lair through the fissured canyon wall, creating a crude and claustrophobic opening. The sorcery contained within the temple will seep out, with magically sensitive characters finding they can no longer quite tell the difference between the living and the dead. (All) characters can now sometimes briefly see the flickered figures of people they deeply miss around them.

Existing character questions HERE.

» AND THEN YOU GET VISITORS.

OLD TIMERS & TDM TROOPS

FASTER THAN A SPEEDING BU—

Gone rogue, some harpies will target a rapidly incoming seven-wagon streetcar, destroying or flying away with eight of its 12 mechanical horses, and the sad coachmen. The remaining steeds are completely unmanned.

The existing crew can wave their handkerchiefs as the train horsecar speeds by the caravan, set to crash into a canyon wall — or lend a hand to evacuate our TDMers, more Sa-Hareth refugees, and... our good friend Haltham and two of his creatures. Also, opium.

TDMers can meanwhile (haphazardly) board off or try to take control of the mechanical horses.

Write your starters as you will, or plan out the fate of the train horsecar HERE.

FRIENDS & FAMILY PROGRAMME

Following their unlikely survival, newcomers can join the existing party as part of smuggler merchant Mazyar's prosperous caravan. They will receive food, decent clothes and a donkey, horse or elk mount — a rare upside from the ongoing blood rain weather forecast, and the tar-drenched harpies that throw down aged bone.

They will also notice that Mazyar's caravan has been escorted by a ghost army led by the Lord Arha. He travels to free his lover, the oracle Hatisse from her alleged imprisonment by the witches of Taravast. All characters will experience a blood-curdling dread whenever they think to tell Arha or his men that they are dead — but speaking the words is now possible. Report HERE, if you'd like to break the bad news.

As the caravan stops for a few days, the existing party and newcomers can make merry, recover or raid the open haunted temple — where they may find several untouched stone tombs, including one engraved with a sculpture of Lord Arha. It will prove highly difficult to remove that lid without a group effort... but for that, or any other tomb questions, GO HERE.

NOTES

FRESH MEAT GONNA EAT

TDM events count as game canon, if you app in.

You can do network-style posts & log starters. Invent a username for communicators — but you're stuck with it after!

You can use the two allied NPC undead during the train horsecar disaster portion. Deploy them as you see fit to keep your character alive. The undead come with higher strength, speed, hunting instincts and a... disturbingly cold presence.

Haltham can make last-stand miracles happen for you, but at a heavy price. Inquire here.

OLD TIMERS, THINE WRINKLES SWEET

Existing characters won't be able to tell whether the newcomers or each other are living, dead, memories or ghosts, as a result of the (temporary) temple magic.

...yes, any leftover opiates are up for grabs. Hooligans.

You're welcome to respond to network posts from TDMers — but please keep your network posts in eastbound, think of Ye Olde AC.

Comments

[elfuego]

He didn't smile, but he exhaled something that might have been a laugh, giving another solitary nod in agreement. "Good point." Having partaken in enough of them, Zuko knew the kind of lengths leaders liked to take to distinguish themselves in a procession.

"That wagon looks a little better made than the rest," he had followed the slope of the rocks until his eyes landed on one wagon, higher than the rest. It looked as though it had seen its share of days on the road, but it was still well kept. As though it was used by someone who spent the better part of their life with it.

When asked for his name Zuko teetered on the edge of answering with Lee, the alias he had used while living with his uncle in the Earth Kingdom. He had been careful not to reveal his bending since his arrival, and he would continue to keep that part of himself under wraps, but he didn't want to live under a fake name anymore if it could be avoided. "Zuko." He bent slightly in a brief bow of acknowledgment. "You're not from Sa-Hareth are you?" Their traveling party had been varied, but it was easy to tell the world-worn refugees from those who'd been found, like himself. The people who were from this place looked a lot more exhausted, by and large.

[thesuspense]

"Huh?" What even was Sa-Hareth? Xue Yang'd never bothered being good at retaining information he cared little about, so it wasn't that surprising that he just looked at him blankly, blinked once, then answered. "I'm not."

He absently searched his mind for any mention of that word. Sa-Hareth. Eh. How important could it be? "If the people from there are those others, I'd rather be from anywhere else."

They didn't look their best, he'd say. To their face too.

As they approached the wagon, Xue Yang slowed a little, glancing at Zuko, ensuring that they were on the same page. "You want to steal, right? Not ask politely. Because that I'm not nearly as practised in and no one ever gives me what I deserve."

In his estimate, anyway.

[elfuego]

While he didn't respond to the observation about some of the travelers they had both shared that strange carriage ride with, Zuko cocked his head when Xue Yang brought up the idea of just taking the food.

"Steal?" He wasn't desperate enough to start robbing anyone for anything he needed. However, if it turned out that the person with the food was handing out scraps while living well in private, he would be easily persuaded to approach the problem from a more covert, underhanded angle. Zuko shook his head slightly. "Do what you want, but I'm going to try asking first."

Besides, it wasn't dark enough to try and steal anything.

[thesuspense]

"You'll ask, huh?" Xue Yang gave him a once-over, then shrugged. Maybe he was better at begging than he looked. Or maybe his idea of asking was different, perhaps it was closer to demanding or something along those lines. Might be interesting to watch, either way. "Can't hurt, much."

Sometimes he could, but he was a little past the age where he had to fear getting beaten for begging, he had ways to fight back these days. Besides, who knew? Maybe people here were weirdly generous for some reason. Xue Yang just never expected good from anyone, the world wasn't fair. "What's your approach to asking then?"

[elfuego]

"Why not?" Zuko watched the other man look him over, and returned the appraising gaze. "If he says no, he says no." He tilted his head towards Xue Yang, wordlessly implying that if met with refusal, they already had a backup plan.

To his credit he didn't give the other guy a weird look when asked for his approach, and instead walked up to the wagon's owner, his hands meeting in front of his middle, a fist pressed to an open palm as he bowed slightly. His method might have been unconventional by his companion's estimate, but asking for food yielded Zuko two things - a strange first impression of the guy who was apparently leading the caravan, and a sense of direction.

They could help themselves to the staples, but anything extra would cost them - and they would have to cook their food themselves or find someone already cooking and willing to share. Once Mazyar retreated Zuko looked to Xue Yang and shrugged, wordlessly walking off to get himself whatever there was to cook. As far as he was concerned, their question had been answered, and there wasn't any reason to stand around and linger - besides, he was hungry.