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

horse???

[weifinder]

( There are good ways to do things: thoughtful ways that will not startle.

Then there's Wei Wuxian's way of doing things, which is not strictly lacking thoughtfulness, but perhaps lacking certain trains of thought. But with runaway horses and nothing to cut one down with, and no understanding of the workings of a mechanical creature, he does what he can with what he has.

Thus Wen Kexing, apropos of nothing and with no warning but the song on the wind, finds a black shadow coalescing enough to slam into the horse's shoulder, starting to send it careening away from the canyon wall and pushing on. Any spiritual sensitivity will tell him with no doubt that the mass of shadow is comprise of resentful, human energies; and that their resentment is aching to turn toward something other than helping divert a mechanical horse from smashing itself against the canyon walls. )

[wenderer]

[ This is the world’s stupidest horse, he decides. He probably should have first focused on detaching the horse from the wagon train, but it’s too late for that now. Perhaps if he cut off the thing’s legs? He takes out his fan… ]

Ah?

[ The horse suddenly changes direction, making a sharp turn away from the canyon wall. It’s all Wen Kexing can do, to keep from falling off. ]

Are you nearsighted or something, couldn’t you have done that sooner?

[ He folds his fan with a snap, about to jump down now that disaster has seemingly been averted, when he notices… something. Wen Kexing’s spiritual sense isn’t so well developed that he can tell precisely what the shadow is; but he can certainly tell that it’s something dark and probably evil.

On the other hand, seeing as it just prevented a tragedy, perhaps appearances are deceiving. He decides to judge the thing by its actions. He opens his fan again, waving it casually, as he looks down and says with a bright smile: ]

Was that your doing? Thanks very much!

[weifinder]

( The horse and attached wagons are now... circling. Wei Wuxian lowers his flute, because the shadow continues to 'perform' as directed, but then he leaps up, landing on the wagon behind hauled behind the now slowed by sheer turning creature.

The shadow doesn't respond, simply acts as the curbing influence that's likewise causing the creature to slow with its pressure of sorts. )

They'd rather not see more death here, so in that sense, yes, it was. Young Hero!

( Who looks the same age as Wei Wuxian, which is a meaningless statement in and of itself. Haah. He smiles, eyes a touch squinting. )

You, ah, don't happen have a moment to pull back off that horse?

[wenderer]

[ If he minds being called "Young Hero," he doesn't show it. Instead he obligingly leaps from the horse, landing lightly on the wagon beside the man with the flute.

He had his fan out already, so he simply spreads and waves it in a leisurely fashion, as if what's happening here is normal in every way, as he reclines against the seat. ]

"They?"

[ All he can see is a mass of shadow, that's surprisingly difficult to see when looked at directly, but looming and dreadful in his peripheral vision. ]

[weifinder]

( Everything's slowing down, eventually, though the wagontrain hasn't remained whole: this horse and the wagon attached shake and shudder and grind down, until a knee pops and the horse plows into the ground.

Wei Wuxian isn't immediately answering, as he's on flute and playing, that mass of shadow contorting and then, abruptly, pulling back. )

The spirits of the dead.

( He says, a touch late, and he smiles all friendly like. )

Be a moment, ah?

( Because he's back to playing, curbing that same negative space, then coaxing, coaxing, and onward... back to the tomb, because they are not yet ready to go. He'll need Lan Zhan, Lan Sizhui, one of them to help sends those particular spirits on, just normal people, once merchants like...

... are any of the people here merchants, he wonders, and the flute lowers and he smiles brightly at Wen Kexing. )

Welcome to camp! What exactly's the story here?

( Buuuut also dancing around to the side to check on the rest of the wagon train's progress, which is largely: ground down, collapsed, but no great number of wailing dead. Small victories, what with the chaos of recent events. )

[wenderer]

[ Spirits of the dead? This man claims to be able to control them? Naturally, he’s heard tales about demonic cultivators, but always dismissed them as just that: tales. Humans can be demonic enough on their own, there’s no need for any particular cultivation practice.

It occurs to him also, that’s he’s overheard snatches of conversation about undead lords. He’d been pretty drunk at the time, so he’d somewhat assumed he dreamed it or misunderstood. Now, however…

“What’s exactly’s the story here?” He puts on a broad smile. ]

You’re asking me?

[ Dude, I just got here. ]

[weifinder]

You were on the wagons, weren't you? You certainly haven't been with us.

( Yeah, he knows dude, but he's asking about the thing you were on! Not the, er, place they're in now. What, with a tomb... in those walls of the canyon... and all... )

[wenderer]

[ He glances down. At the wagon. That he’s currently sitting on, accompanied by his odd companion. It’s like something out of a dream, not the kind of terrible nightmares that plague his sleep sometimes, but more like an ordinary dream, meaningless and bizarre. ]

Yes, I was—am—on a wagon. We were going to Tara-something.

[ He makes a show of exhaling, smiling pleasantly in a “what can be done?” attitude. ]

Though we don’t seem to be going anywhere now.

[weifinder]

Taravast.

( He says, more automatically than as anything meant to be helpful. He also smiles back in the same way, lifting his shoulders in the implication of a shrug, and settling his flute against his shoulder. )

Yes, well. You all did manage to run up on us rather impressively.

( A pause, and then he leaps off the wagon, calling back: )

You all caught up from Sa-Hareth?