the lighthouse & plot rolls

[groundrules]

Did someone say to… turn off the lights? Brace to explore Ellethia’s ghostly lighthouse — and help with a freshly baked plot roll. The below should tide us until 6 February.

If you’ve received a plot roll and want to rally the troops for assistance, feel free to top level for your search here, or do your own lostcompass post, hunt down a carrier pigeon…

Note: Ellethia is surprisingly fertile ground for plot opportunities, and there is "spare plot" for about four more character. If you missed the 'deadline' to ask for a roll but still want one, drop a line in one of the subsections! But don't feel pressured: the people who have received a plot roll will need a lot of support, and there're plenty of ways to get involved with their roll. Allocated, thank you!

THE LIGHTHOUSE

---

Crawling, clandestine or crumbling, you’ve made your way to the mist-drenched lighthouse of Ellethia-Hamsour — a gargantuan, converted tower that regularly flashes an eerie green light signal. Those who know MORSE code can recognise a strange mix of BEWARE, STAY AWAY, DANGER — and COME THIS WAY.

The compulsion to possess the lighthouse disappears when characters come in a 3km radius of it. In the tower surroundings, they can find sweet water wells, vegetable gardens, chicken coops and sheep, all seemingly well looked after and self-replenishing overnight. These plants and creatures are not subject to Ellethia’s life-death-rebirth cycles. Characters who stay within the aforementioned 3km range of the lighthouse can now safely remove their haute couture red gear, Enam reveals. He urges the party to reside at the lighthouse for the next three weeks, at the end of which one of the Merchant’s ships will collect them to travel east.

Characters can journey back and forth to Ellethia-Allayar over this period.

The tower spreads over 12 floors, featuring exceptionally high and vast rooms with emptied bookcases, sturdy tables, and scatterings of technological tools on the ground. On the walls, mindful visitors can spot discreet engravings of an eye with a sun instead of a pupil. A room on the ground and first floor each have cracked signs, spelling out IN TI T OF TE N LO and IBRAR O AR S, respectively. The 8th and 9th floor house well-used sleeping quarters, with bathing rooms located on the 6th floor. The 10th floor is all one large room, barren except for the wealth of very thin, crushed shards of various mirror types. The 5th floor hosts several long, ornate discussion tables — at night, those who travel it can hear ghostly whispers of vitriolic conversation, with speakers insulting each other and their impudence.

Those who spend time in the 1st to 4th floor past midnight will sometimes hear screams urging everyone to retreat, as “they come from above.” Sometimes, the long staircases will grow wet overnight with blood and decay, which disappear come morning. Across the various floors, the nightly ‘soundtrack’ includes panicked shouts, glass smashing, feral screams similar to those of the undead and running steps.

Image source.

The lighthouse keeper Zenobius takes little notice of his visitors, allowing them to make their quarters where they please and partake of his resources. Enam’s helpers supply Kaneki some lugged-around stale dead meat, or he can fish undead mermaids. Using a fluffy sheep as bait is always recommended.

Zenobius is often found on the 12th level, absentmindedly using mirrors, lantern lights and glass panes to flash MORSE indications. He is often rushed, distracted and unwilling to converse. Sometimes, he appears to forget the people he has already encountered; on other occasions, his own name eludes him.

Swarms of mermaids encircle the coastal area close to the lighthouse, furious, feral and trashing to crawl onto shore. Every few days, Zenobius brings broken glass pieces from the 12th floor and throws them in the water, briefly appeasing the creatures before their fury stokes once more.

Every day, Zenobius spends several hours on the 11th floor, whose main entrance is sternly locked and enchanted. Characters can still climb to the 12th floor — where Zenobius sleeps — without entering the 11th floor hallways. To the right of the 11th floor main hallway door is a mechanical device that requires a palm print, which Zenobius seems uses for entry. On the door, a sign asks, WHAT DO YOU WISH FOR? Scratched beneath it, possibly by human nails, TURN BACK. For each time they want to enter the 11th floor halls, characters must speak a different wish and face the consequences.

Inside the room sleep 10 men and women of various ages, seemingly comatose on stone slates. Some show signs of scratches or healed bite injury. Depending on the hour of entry, you might find Zenobius sponge washing their bodies, combing their hair, mending their clothes or massaging their limbs.

The Sleepers live.


PLOT ROLLS

■ Lily, Joker and Anduin

■ Five and Daenerys

■ Yennefer, Eleven and Moiraine

■ Lorna, Wrench and Marcos

■ Zuko and Slick

■ John Connor and Kaneki

■ Hermione and Jon Snow

Comments

[northerndragon]

Sounds good to me! Ok, he’s in.

(Ned Stark Lives. 🙃 )

[soloritur]

Do you speak mermaid, bro... because this guy does not. Please suggest it lmao

I feel like this plan might be network post dependent. We can throw that out there and see if we get any advice, and backup plan is... I want to say maybe it was for one to be a distraction and two to go in, but the one distraction caused a bigger problem and another has to go help while the third runs in?? That could be a thing that happens. Pokeballs would obvs be very helpful!

[baum]

Hey! Like I said John wants to go through the gate too, so this should work out!

The only question is how they go through - would Kaneki be able to power through it? If not, John is definitely investigative enough to open it the long way.

[in_theworks]

It's like Ursula said, bro -- don't underestimate the importance of body language!

Seriously, though, I'd be down for a network post.

[enucleation]

Ken is inhumanly strong, so he can easily break the gate, but open it with the key wields the same result, so it'd be fine either way. Whichever way is faster to Ken, but he won't argue if John wants to try the piece to open the gate.

Re: FIVE AND DAENERYS

[groundrules]

With Daenerys, Five, Jon Snow, Mingyu and Lee Chang all participating, the mirror can be reconstructed up to 90-95% of its form within three days. Parts or the mirror will be missing, having been crushed by good Zenobius in ways evidenced in Slick and Zuko's plot roll.

As the mirror assembles, it will sometimes show distorted versions of whoever stands before it: older or younger iterations of the characters it reflects, happier, anguished, bleeding, carrying marks of achievement or perhaps children. At times, the reflection will be no different than what the mirror sees before it. Sometimes, instead of the real-life image, it will show a dark, watery space devoid of real shapes, and the reflection of a man in his late thirties or early forties, with such pale skin and hair that might suggest potential albinism. His gaze is a watery grey. He wears a white coat.

The man appears to be mouthing something in an indistinct or foreign tongue, but his voice has been muted by the mirror. His manner is calm, if not resigned. Now and then, he assists by pointing the shard collectors in the general direction of where on the mirror surface the next glass piece belongs.

The man appears able to be heard for a few moments during each of the three days, at around 4pm. You can ask him only one question, for each day. Choose them wisely, and let me know here, one at a time (as I assume you might want to build the ensuing questions based on the preceding responses). Or submit all three questions at once, whatever you prefer.

After giving his last answer on the third day, the mirror restored to as much as it can be, the man that resides within it will seem suddenly terrified and feral, giving out a — blissfully mute — scream. His hands will reach out through the mirror to capture whoever is before him, and either:

1. begin to strangle them

2. drag them into the mirror for a minute or two

Please decide who the lucky, lucky victim is among yourselves, and which option you prefer. Warning: option #2 will lead to some very deep trauma for the character involved, if you decide to pursue that route.

Drogon will helpfully fly in just as the violence takes place, and will shatter the mirror. The man's victim will be either released or returned to the tower at that time. Drogon will roast that sucker, melting down all remaining shards into liquid form.

[groundrules]

Aftermath.

[groundrules]

Aftermath.

[blackscales]

One other question set of questions:

before Wrathion has an hour long breakdown exiting the sleepers hall he'd be nosing around it a little.

- At a glance, do the bite injuries on the sleepers look animal-caused or... you know, person (or potentially siren) caused?
- Just to potentially add to the long string of mistakes this floor is causing him to make, I think on realising they're solidly asleep and unwakeable he might try to get a quick empathic read on one to judge its mental state. You know, are they peacefully asleep or Suffering! I guess -- would this work is my question? And if so, would the answer (based on a quick skim of the people more involved in this) basically be 'a preview of the agony he is about to get for a solid hour on leaving this room'. I figured I'd just check in case it would do anything else fucky, before I Assumed. (No particular target he's trying on, just any of them)

Thanks!

[groundrules]

Heya:

— bites coincide with human teeth size and patterns

— the Sleepers aren't resting peacefully and are severely distraught by whatever it is they're dreaming or experiencing.

[blackscales]

Thanks, this is what I thought! 1 star only to this place on tripadvisor.

[groundrules]

You literally get free board and breakfast.

[blackscales]

One Star!

[groundrules]

I'll leave you good folks to decide the specifics of how John and Kaneki enter. As you both agree on exploring the well's gated opening, here is what our handsome duo can discover:

— a tight, fairly claustrophobic channel leading from the opening to a sizeable underground hideaway. All walls and floors within this enclosure are made of stone and bare, and the scant furniture comprises tables, benches and standard work tools, alongside residual machinery. Around nine to 10 mirrors have been packed and reclined to face the wall. If they're turned around, they will show distorted images of Kaneki and John, typically reflecting the versions of them if some of their greatest hopes and wishes were fulfilled. There is a small bathroom and bathing facility connected to the room, including old, rusted cleansing and shaving tools. Some show light bleeding marks.

— one corner of the hall shows the room was at one point briefly lived, with table cloth set on floors or bundled in what appears to be the shape of a pillow. The ensemble is dusted, suggesting whatever occupant lived here has long vacated.

— there are spare technical parts on site, including crudely cut wire, steel and wood. Kaneki and John can see some parts of these were repurposed to create the "stairs" of the well. Slabs of stone are mounted towards the back of the room, though they have been artlessly cut into.

— all across the floor, 37 pieces of stone have been lined up. The different sizes and poor angling betrays the mason was either an amateur or inexperienced. Blunted knives scattered about the room were used to sculpt names into the stone pieces, alongside the THE TRUTH BOWS ONLY TO THE SUN motto seen on tombstones in Ellethia-Hamsour. Each stone rectangle is inscribed with a full name, the same date (coinciding with the first of the dates carved in the well), and short notes about the honoured person. Mostly, the carver has put down their occupation: technician, department of the arts, cook, mechanic, senior healer, keeper of the grounds, board member, professor, etcetera. The majority of the dead are technicians.

— three stone pieces have unfinished inscriptions that only list, matthias. The title of 'Matthias' is engraved differently on each stone piece: lead technician, master of the halls and board member.

— on one of matthias' three stone pieces sits the room's singer — an old and battered rag doll. The painted lines that previously shaped her face have largely been eroded by time.

— half an hour into Kaneki and John's exploration of the hall, the doll stops her song, and says she cannot see, for her button-eyes have fallen off. Is it her father she hears, here to take her home?

Let me know what you'd like to do with the doll, but please be aware — there is a (non-life-threatening) cost to deciding to take the doll with you, if you do.

Consider sharing some of the findings with the class!

[groundrules]

Inside the opening...

[groundrules]

Around 23 mermaids will slaughter each other in their attempts to reach the baits. Zuko and Slick can observe that they seem to catch on to what is happening, initially failing to react to some of the later bait throws; inevitably, their resistance withers, and they pursue the item, tearing into each other madly, without restraint or strategy.

Between sets of bait being thrown in, Zuko and Slick can notice that the mermaids are raising their arms in the air or viciously throwing themselves at coast rocks, even though some seem to initially grasp that they'll cause themselves damage. They don't pause, despite that. Sometimes, they bring back some of the regular glass that the duo may have seen Zenobius give them across the previous days, and throw it back at the shoreline.

As Zuko and Slick are retaining some of the bait, if they study the pieces they can observe:

— the powder shrapnel seems to intermittently change state, from solid to liquid and back again
— after two days, the powder combines back into the original shards
— the shards randomly show the reflection of whatever or whoever looks into them, but also a man's very pale grey eye, and — if the baits are kept within reasonable distance of water — the bottom of the sea, or mermaid scales
— the reconstructed shards (which you can pulverise back into powder to make new baits when the time comes) sometimes feel slick and saline-wet, when touched
— best for Zuko and Slick not to sleep with the shards too close to their bodies; doing so will trigger them to dream of screams and a tall, pale man in a white coat, looking into a mirror, before stabbing it with a long dagger.

[in_theworks]

Logically, he knows this is a terrible idea, but he has, like, zero impulse control, so. He wants to know what's behind that door. He also wishes he had super powers, like everyone else.

[groundrules]

Wrench will get exactly his wish — super powers, 'just like everyone else.' For 24h after exiting the Sleepers' Hall, he can mimic the abilities of his party members, one at a time (please get submissions or permission for players!). Unlike them, however, he will have none of their training or experience with uitlising or controlling these abilities and their inevitable downsides.

Good luck with that.

Don't kill anyone.

Don't kill yourself either, Wrench.




If you think it's highly unlikely Wrench wouldn't kill himself or others in the 24h span, we can shorten his wish period.

[enucleation]

Kaneki already has a beating heart he carries around because the merchant asked him to, so... he will take the doll, unless John wants it himself, he won't fight for a possible cursed doll lmao

[reparo]

Maybe we can saccharinely convince the Merchant to make a wish on our magic box. For knowledge's sake.

[enucleation]

Kaneki wishes to be human again ('=

[song_of_fire]

We did a random number roll and the lucky victim participant is...

Jon Snow!

Talking to Liz, she said she wanted Jon pulled into the mirror. Questions will be incoming soon.

[groundrules]

Sure. Once the player confirms that, I'll mention what it involves. Leeet's keep the questions til after that, I'd say, because a lot will probably be covered.

[northerndragon]

Confirming!

[groundrules]

Of course he does.

For 24 hours after exiting the Sleeper's Hall, Kaneki will, in fact, be fully human, possessed of every recognisable attribute of the species.

He will also be physically aged up to around 70 years in that period, in a perfectly lovely preview of his canonical rapid aging symptoms. Just a taste of what's upcoming in your life, Kaneki.

He will retain mental awareness and faculties that correspond to his actual age, not to his golden septuagenarian period.

By the way, there are rudely no lifts in this tower. Might need to ask for some help up and down the stairs.