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

PLOT ROLLS

[groundrules]

While those who've requested the plot rolls are primarily responsible for the quests, anyone can join in and help out — don't hesitate to plot with the players, if they need an extra hand.

Plot roll recipients who get some juicy information: please try to spread the joy of the clues with the entire group (via network posts, logs, whatever you prefer)!

Thank you :)

LILY, JOKER AND ANDUIN

[groundrules]

One fine morning around 20 January, dear Zenobius enthusiastically — for a man so rickety, his joints squeaking — rushes up the lighthouse to the 12th floor. Perhaps Lily, Joker and Anduin are already there, enjoying the view, or they’re lured in by the bustle, or called over by Zenobius.

Regardless of how they join, they see Zenobius abuzz, neglecting his audience to flash the lighthouse signals. Using the lighthouse telescopes, the trio can see a large commercial ship at distance, caught in a storm. It is turning towards the lighthouse, after being summoned over, but remains at about an hour’s distance.

The damaged vessel has released smaller rowing boats into the water. These ships have set out for the lighthouse shore.

All is well, until the trio realise that Ellethia’s shoreline is highly mist-enshrouded, preventing visibility in a way that will endanger incomers — and that Zenobius’ light flashes have also attracted the legions of mermaids. The creatures stir, circling the lighthouse coast. Some even depart the region, attentively preparing to receive their prey.

Given the number of mermaids, the state of the incoming ship and the frailty of the small boats, it appears unlikely any arriving refugee will survive.

The previously exhilarated Zenobius suddenly awakens from his manic glee. He is confused at first, then struck, then weeping — unable to speak, and only shaking his head, before quietly retreating down in the lower lighthouse levels.

Never mind him. ‘Luckily,’ small row boats take longer to cross a distance than their XXL-sized ship counterpart, so you have two hours to stop their arrival.

Will the trio find a way to prevent the refugees from coming in?

Please pitch a way to make this happen — feel free to recruit others to help! — and you’ll get an outcome for your fine efforts, once you’ve threaded the successful rescue.

...and another outcome if that’s not possible!

[lancifolium]

Thank you so much this is delicious! While we talk this all over, we're unclear as to why we need to stop the refugees from coming in? Is it a matter of helping them means being swarmed by mermaids and bringing them back to the lighthouse/certain death, or something else?

[weifinder]

Lily having wanted to bring Wei Wuxian into this: to what degree would he be able to bard influence the mermaids?

In this case, he'd be wanting to wrangle a few out of the mist to be very feral looking nuisances to drive the boats back, likewise using them as the forward guard to try and keep the other undead mermaids from having a festive meal right there off the coast. Would this be feasible?

[chosenbylight]

Another question here -- how close to the lighthouse (out in the water) do Ellethia's cycles begin? Is it a 3km circle out to sea as well?

EDIT: let me rephrase lmao... The lighthouse has a 3km safe zone on all sides it sounds like but is there any point these people would cross on the way in before that where they would hit the decay/rebirth cycle?

[blackscales]

Hey! The braziers they used to ward off evil on the way to Ellethia -- do they work against both the alive and undead mermaids at the shore?

If yes: do they REPEL them enough that, say, someone could use them to VERY CAREFULLY traverse a path through the water to get closer to the ship to try and get a warning to it, and potentially some supplies to keep them going depending on bravery levels?

THE PLAN:

[chosenbylight]

Anduin uses his Mind Vision from the lighthouse to determine the boats are likely filled with at least 30 human tradesmen.

Wei Wuxian and Moiraine will use a fog clearing talisman and weaving to try and clear some of the fog from the shoreline. Then Wei Wuxian will control the mermaids he can from the shore near the lighthouse and use that to steer a boat that contains whatever supplies they could gather (food, drink, repairs for their ship), Lily, Akira, and Allison. The boat will be warded by Lily and Moiraine will use weaving to control the air and water to propel the boat faster through the water.

Moiraine and Anduin will use weaving and Light magic from the shoreline to start blasting mermaids/the water and generally create a distraction to draw the mermaids attention away from the boat.

Akira and Lily will defend the boat from the mermaids while it’s in the water, then once they are close enough that the Amplifying Charm will ensure Allison is heard by the people on the lifeboats, Lily will amplify Allison's voice so that she can rumor them ("I heard a rumor you went back to fix your ship, then sailed back the way you came to look for another place to come to shore"). Akira defends the boat while they do this.

After that’s accomplished Lily will apparate herself, Akira, and Allison back to the lighthouse while Moiraine and Wei Wuxian get the boat of supplies to the people in the lifeboats, and they all hope for the best...

FIVE AND DAENERYS

[groundrules]

Any point before 5 February: No time like the present to be a terrible guest. One fine morning, Daenerys’s companion Drogon returns to her his latest catch — a tattered grey coat that is more patches than garment, brought down from the 12th floor — the site of the lighthouse lanterns, and good Zenobius’ sleeping abode. It appears Drogon hasn’t helped the coat’s wear and tear, with its frayed edges now also showing signs of heavy burning. He brings down various items from Zenobius’s lair — all rags and debris, torn tools and trinkets, such as half-finished clocks and mechanical gear. Zenobius’s scent fascinates the dragon.

Drogon takes to following Zenobius around, often neglecting Daenerys’s calls or orders. He spends much of his time on the 10th floor — in a fortuitous turn of events for Five, who finds himself in the level’s hall of mirror shards, every time he seeks to teleport anywhere. Even when Five doesn’t, he is compelled to the floor, a part of him wishing to be close to the halls. The shards give him a feeling of distanced, eerie coldness, very similar to that of the mirror already inside of him.

At one point, when Five has been compelled to piece together some shards of a dark silver mirror, he sees the very pale blue eye of another man staring from within. To his luck (?), Drogon flies in, calling on Daenerys to follow him, and destroys the reconstructed mirror part.

One dragon can only do so much. Hereon, Five and Daenerys both feel called to restitch the dark silver mirror, one fine shard at a time. Every time they connect another shard, they briefly lose a memory, for something like a 6-hour span. The memory losses deepen the longer they spend gazing into their reconstruction, giving them an air not unlike that of poor, perpetually confused Zenobius.

The lost memories need not be the same ones every time, and it’s up to you whether they are minor or major. Sharing the work with others spread out the memory losses, but it will also condemn new participants to feeling compelled to piece back the mirror themselves. ( Five and Daenerys would not ICly know this. )

As pieces accrue, Five and Daenerys start to see a man wearing a white coat in the restitched mirror.

How much of the mirror do Five and Daenerys reconstruct?

Re: FIVE AND DAENERYS

[song_of_fire]

Omg this is amazing. I guess the obvious question is, how potent is dragon fire against the shards?

plotting!

[somebadnews]

Okay, so we've roped Jon Snow, Mingyu, and Lee Chang into this evil jigsaw puzzle venture. (More can join if they'd like, of course!) We'll structure something with (2 or 3) breakouts of subthreads for different % of completion when we actually thread this so it'll be easier for everyone to reply to and follow.

With that many people helping, they could potentially get the max possible amount of the mirror done. (Or 90-95%??) I'm all for this, but I wanted to pose that to anyone involved who would like to weigh in.

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.

YENNEFER, ELEVEN AND MOIRAINE

[groundrules]

Around late 27 January, Yennefer, Eleven and Moiraine are approached by a bright, if wild-eyed Zenobius, who appears in a rare state cohesion. He says they want their yearly ablutions, pointing to the large wooden baths he is struggling to carry, alongside salts, incense and other bathing instruments. He requests help with the proceedings, and lures the trio up to the 11th floor, where he offers his palm to the mechanical device and gains entry to the great Sleepers’ hall. He takes the three within.

There, Zenobius begins to reverently toil around each of the Sleepers. With the trio’s help, he lifts and deposits some of the Sleepers in the tubs and shows them how to carry out the washing, murmuring to the Sleepers that they are too stubborn, hasty and proud.

As they attend the bathing, each member of the trio will be suddenly grasped by a Sleeper and will succumb into an immediate sleep. They become spectators of what appears to be the memory-dreams of several Sleepers — flashed, violent glimpses, often incoherent.

They can witness as follows:

■ Yennefer: memory 1: a vibrantly red sunset through an open window on the ground floor — the collapsed viewer drags his bloodied arm to his chest, showing bites and scratches; memory 2: a woman of the Sleepers sees her reflection in several large round mirrors in the 10th floor hall; she pushes her short hair out of her face — her reflection in the mirror before her does exactly the same, while in one of the mirrors the reflection moves significantly more slowly, in another reflection she lacks the hand, in a third she is bald, in the fourth her hair is luscious, beautiful and long, and in the sixth, the hand of her reflection reaches physically out from the mirror to touch her hair.

■ Eleven: memory 1: feet, rushing down the stairwell, to an explosion of violence behind the viewer, just as he slips down; struck, he turns his head to see undead pursuers and scrambles up; memory 2: a hidden viewer peers through a cracked door into the discussion hall, where two other Sleepers gift a third man a white, better decorated version of their grey uniform coats; he hesitates to accept it, until one of the Sleepers says, ‘He resigned. Take us to the new era.’

■ Moiraine: memory 1: eight of the Sleepers and the viewer laugh as a man sheepishly reveals his dreadful haircut — screams erupt from higher up, and a woman running down the stairs tells the group to flee; memory 2: the viewer nudges a young man forward in the queue of at least half a dozen others, who are lined up to speak to a vast, dark mirror on the 10th floor. The young man nearest to the mirror excitedly murmurs something. Moments later, he bursts into a howling fit of panic at whatever he sees within.

■ Communally (the trio members can see each other as present in the dream memory, but cannot be seen by anyone else in the memory): memory 1: a very large group, including nine of the Sleepers and a more upbeat Zenobius, celebrates with drink in the Sleeper’s hall; the bright light peering in suggests the time is late morning or midday; memory 2: the same hall, its celebratory ornaments tattered, and the hour late evening; the viewer sees a woman’s hands, cut on the large piece of mirror glass she is still holding; ahead of her, nine Sleepers appear battered, anxious but resigned.

The trio can awaken by either:

■ Traversing into the dream of another random (regularly) sleeping party member and persuading that person to wake up, which will in turn wake up their ‘visitor’ in the Sleepers’ hall. The character would not be able to choose whose dream they visit. Please find a volunteer whose dream you can invade on your own!

■ Throwing themselves off of the dream-tower’s balconies — note that they would never die, but jolt awake. The compulsion to fling oneself from the tower starts to grow, the longer they spend in the dream.

Each of our fine adventurers wakes somehow knowing:

■ Yennefer: The Sleepers cannot ever wake.

■ Eleven: The Sleepers relieve their memories each night, to endless suffering.

■ Moiraine: The Sleepers beg to die.

Zenobius has already fled the halls, by the time the triad wakes. He has completely forgotten the episode, if he is asked about it later.

Yennefer, Eleven and Moiraine wake with a dark, gunmetal silver mark not unlike an ache-less burn print on their limbs, in the shape of the hand of the Sleeper who touched them. The mark remains until they leave Ellethia.

Note: once Moiraine, Eleven and Yennefer leave the 11th floor hall, they need to speak a wish to get back in, just as everyone else. Please try to share the dream memory info with the broader group.

Will one or all of the three euthanise the Sleepers?

( You can, of course, coerce someone else to help with the bloody cause. )

[violetchaos]

Such a wonderful plot to start with! One question (I think), would Yennefer be able to euthanize by way of magic given she has that ability? Or would she need a physical weapon?

.... you know, if she decides to do something like that.

[bearshermark]

Once learning they yearn to die, Eleven would be fully willing to help grant their wish as mercifully as possible.

[cairhien]

chiming in to say that moiraine would also be down for mercifully ending their lives. she'd only be able to use her dagger to do so but you bet she'll do it! (talk to the others then make attempts)

LORNA, WRENCH AND MARCOS

[groundrules]

Come nightfall around 30 January, our three good friends might be independently minding their own business in the lighthouse gardens or on the lower floors, when they find themselves… enthralled by a siren’s call.

Compelled, they walk the coastline to where they see a single, beautiful mermaid singing as she lies perched on a rock. She is addressing the sea, rather than the lighthouse, making Lorna, Wrench and Marcos involuntary ‘casualties’ of her music. A keen eye might spot her flesh is littered with scars bearing the marks of an eye with the sun as a pupil. The hooligans can spot other mermaids answering their leader’s call, all looking notably exhausted after a day of violently circling the lighthouse and keeping intruders at bay.

The trio should hide behind rocks and coast fixtures to avoid detection, or face the mermaids’ wrath for snooping. As the sirens rise to the surface, largely sprawling on rocks and the coast-side, anyone in the Wrench, Lorna and Marcos group who has ventured close enough to the creatures can spot they are in an ugly state of battering, their skin littered with many healed wounds, often missing teeth, claws, scales or even chunks of their fins.

The younger mermaids seem enthralled with the lighthouse, physically fighting their elders to reach the coast before being wrenched back. The leading mermaid addresses them in a chirpy, slick tongue that communicators cannot translate. It resembles the dulcet cooing of a bat. Gradually, some exhausted sirens assemble in groups to patrol the sea stretch between Ellethia-Hamsour and Ellethia-Allayar. They are visibly less dangerous now than during daylight. The trio can see some dead mermaids among them, hollow-eyed and drifting, but working alongside their living siblings.

The younger mermaids are meanwhile directed towards the narrow entrance to a cenote cave near the lighthouse. They will sleep in this cave pool all night. The area can be infiltrated, but is under the watchful eye of the leading mermaid.

What do Lorna, Wrench and Marcos do?

plotting!

[soloritur]

Tentatively would like for them to explore the cave to see if they can find out wtf is making the mermaids so feral. After becoming aware of it there might be a network post to ask for stealthy help to follow up?? And also warn about sirens because that's a thing.

These are my own thoughts for more visible plotting, so opinions welcome. :>

follow up! Re: LORNA, WRENCH AND MARCOS

[soloritur]

(Sorry for the delay on this! Totally on me, but I think we have a plan.)

Our Phone a Friend option has come up with something for getting in the cave. Slick has offered up mirror baits for the guarding mermaid, Anduin offered to possibly dispel the siren call as needed, and Wei Wuxian/possibly Akira volunteered to help distract them while they go in. They'll keep some bait on hand as they enter the cave just in case they need it/etc. However that comes out in the wash!

Otherwise they will just... be very... quiet.

ZUKO AND SLICK

[groundrules]

After 23 January: An apple a day keeps the doctor away — and glass seems to satisfy mermaids. Every day, our friend Zenobius pays tribute to the sirens, who have gotten increasingly more incensed and agitated, the longer the travellers extend their visit.

As the shards of glass fail to pacify them, the mermaids become ravenous and violent, throwing themselves at coast rock, clawing their way up stone and attempting to come on land. They can survive a few minutes ashore easily, attempting to grab men and animals and to pull them back with them into the water. As they gradually start to scratch and tear at the lighthouse foundation, Zenobius decides to ‘upgrade’ his bribe to the creatures and drafts Zuko and Slick to assist him.

They are taken to the 10th floor, where a wealth of glass and mirror shards awaits. Zenobius instructs the duo to collect some ten-twelve shards of dark mirror glass and to crush it into a powder. Zenobius then coats rags and pieces of wood in molten candle wax, loosely applying the powder on top to create baits.

He instructs Slick and Zuko to go to the coastline and throw a bait into the sea, ideally at a mermaid, every few hours. Some three-four bait pieces should be thrust at the mermaids per day, for two days. If they assist, Zuko and Slick will find that:

■ They become the subject of a great deal of malign attention, with sirens trying to lure them out and cruelly tear them down

■ If they throw bait that falls in the distant sea without reaching a mermaid, the water in a small (100m) radius of the landing spot will turn a gunmetal grey, bubbling and sulphuric, before the strain disperses

■ If the bait falls in shallow water very close to shore, it sinks within sand, burrowing in. If sought or dug out after, the bait is completely devoid of any trace of powder

■ If a mermaid catches the bait, its entire body appears to briefly flash an oily, gunmetal grey. It holds on to the bait, seemingly entranced and enamoured with its capture — before other sirens swarm her, tearing her apart in a battle royale for the bait. About three-four mermaids die every time a bait is caught, and the fighting does not cease until the bait has dropped into the sea.

■ The mermaids appear frantic and anguished every time they have slain their fellows, starting a long song of mourning. They nevertheless cannot help themselves and resume squabbling for bait, whenever a new piece is thrown in.

■ Some of the more ‘socialised’ mermaids attempt to negotiate by mimicking human voices and repeating phrases they’ve heard the lighthouse occupants speak. Their grasp of the vocabulary is clearly crude, clumsy and foreign — like an animal performing a trick for a treat, more than a human being poorly using a new language.

How many bait pieces do Zuko and Slick throw in?

[sergeant_slick]

Okay, so!

When the baits are being made, Slick is gonna be asking questions, whether or not he gets an answer from Zenobius:
- Why's it got to be glass from the 10th floor? Because his good mate Zuko here is a literal flamethrower and they could make so much glass out of the beach.
- If they've got to ration these things, can they cut/snap the baits in half?

In any case, the fact that everybody's waiting for a ship to pick them up informs how they're going to be distributing the bait. They'll be throwing the minimum they can get away with, so that they can have a small stockpile in case the ship gets targeted by the mermaids.

One bait is going to get dropped into the sand, after which they'll be sure to bean the mermaids dead-on.

And, just one more thing--They want to listen in on what the mermaids are repeating, and whether they're talking any differently when they can't see a potential target. To that end, Fox is lending them a hand--or, well, a hoodie. It's got some stealth enchantments woven into it, so Zuko can sneak in closer and be less likely to get detected. Slick will also have a similar enchantment painted onto his armor. Both have made a promise not to seek out a fight while taking advantage of this enchantment, but defensive actions are fair game.

JOHN AND KANEKI

[groundrules]

Any time (feel free to agree a date between yourselves): lighthouse keeper Zenobius is in one of his better moods, when he asks John and Kaneki to help him bring well water for domestic use. Ostensibly, the tower has a level of infrastructure that suggestssuperior knowledge of plumbing and desalination — enough of one that should make it it unnecessary to collect well water. Even so, Zenobius sources drinking water from the wells on a daily basis.

He directs the duo to a western well, thick and vastly-rimmed, which he says is never typically slated for domestic use. He supplies both young men with generous buckets. As they’re shown how to operate the well, John and Kaneki might notice... something amiss when they gaze deeply in the water. They appear normal in their reflection, but their friend Zenobius looks increasingly younger by some ten years, his hair less greyed and more voluminous. His entire reflected appearance better groomed, except for the blood that stains his grey uniform, the signs of shallow wounding on his body and uniform and the clear distress on his face. The Zenobius of the reflection seems frightened, barely catching his breath, before a tall man appears beside him — dressed in white, with eyes pale enough to be white. In the reflection, this man tips Zenobius over — just as Kaneki and John feel hands pushing them hard into the well.

Was it Zenobius? A being of another name? Hard to say, though certainly no one waits by the well, nor does any man answer, should they look up or call out.

They fall around 8 metres and land in shallow water that goes up to a height of about 1 metre. Curiously, they suffer no shock or bruising from their hard landing. To their luck, they can find small, slim bars of metal and makeshift pieces of wood awkwardly pinned into the well wall — just sturdy enough to serve as steps or holds, and allow the two up. The ‘ladder’ was clearly not built in and was attached by an amateur.

Clumsy, short — animal or human nail — scratches line the lower part of the well. Three successive dates seem to have been scratched into the wall.

The second fixture of the well, located around 1.5m from ground on one of the walls, is a small lateral gated opening, not unlike the mouth of a sewer. The water level does not reach it, and the rusted bars could yield before a show of strength or fire, a chainsaw... Alternatively, beside the opening, you can find a carving in the wall in the shape of a downturned oval, with a single screw-like pillar in its middle. Looking around the engraving, Kaneki and John can also find a loose piece of wall brick in the shape of a sun, with a convenient hole at its centre. Removing that piece and setting it in the oval engraving — to complete the now-familiar shape of the eye with a sun for a pupil that seems to haunt Ellethia — will prompt the gate to open without the need for physical force. Needless to say, both gentlemen can fit through the opening.

If Kaneki and John listen closely, they can hear a young girl’s voice singing eerily from whatever enclosure the gateway leads to. She does not answer but intermittently stops singing, if they call out to her.

Do John and Kaneki enter the gated well opening?

Note: if Kaneki and John leave the well, they will find Zenobius in the midst of one of his fits of amnesia and bleary-eyed confusion, By now, he has seemingly forgotten both who the young men are, or that he has visitors at all. If they return to this well, they find it covered by a wooden lid, with Zenobius insisting they never take water from it. The well remains accessible, despite his protests.

Plotting!

[baum]

So! Would Kaneki choose to leave the well? John absolutely would, he won't want t stay down here.

He's not physically any stronger than any average teenager so would be more likely to investigate the area and find the missing piece of the engraving's puzzle, to open the gate that way.

He'll be freaked out by the girl's singing, but he'll ultimately stay on task to get them out of this.

JON AND HERMIONE

[groundrules]

After 29 Jan: Next Jon and Hermione are strolling on the 12th floor of the lighthouse — which includes the lanterns and mirrors that allow the tower to transmit its signals to incoming vessels — they find Zenobius highly alert, frantic, still verbally incoherent. He is searching for something in every nook and cranny. He retreats downstairs, but urges the pair to find an anonymous, non-descript her on the floor, while he seeks her elsewhere.

Rummaging on the 12th floor, Jon and Hermione can run into the predictable lighthouse paraphernalia, alongside a proper mess of rags, blankets and trinkets, which half cover a small wooden chest that has been serving as Zenobius's 'bed' board. This box is heavily locked and chained, allowing little movement or opportunity to open it through violence without risking damage to what lies inside. It is littered with dried ink stairs, suggesting it was either handled poorly by a scribe with frequently filthy hands. Alternatively, it might contain actual books or documents — a rarity in the lighthouse.

On the lid of the chest, a potentially familiar engraving, frequently found in Ellethia-Hamsour: THE TRUTH BOWS ONLY TO THE SUN.

Magic-led attempts to open the chest lead no where and feel almost as if the magic is consumed or annulled, rather than simply unsuccessful. To open the box, the two will need either a locksmith, a very well-versed thief, or perhaps... a key.

While Jon and Hermione might feel naturally compelled to leave an old man's wares untouched, the box seems to become aware of their presence — the longer they touch it, the more they feel compelled to keep it as their own and unlock it. The compulsion will be difficult, but not outright impossible to shrug off. It will have the same flavour of feeling as the thrall that forced characters to give jealous chase to the lighthouse in Ellethia-Hamsour. It's up to you whether Hermione and Jon team up in their efforts to 'rescue' and 'release' whatever lies within the box, or whether they aggressively squabble for sole ownership.

Be aware that for every night they keep the box, they will feel the need to physically or saccharinely
coerce one of their party members to touch the chest and make a wish. ( This is one person/night for both of them, not one person/night for Jon and Hermione each. )

If they hold on to the chest, they will feel overcome by the instinct to take some of the stray wooden pieces found on the various tower floors and cover them in rags, "replacing" the box so that Zenobius does not realise the theft. Whether this is their own impulse, or whether it has been suggested, is difficult to say.

What do Jon and Hermione do with the chest? How do they go about disposing of or opening it, if they decide to do so?

[reparo]

Question - while magic doesn't work on opening the box, would it be possible to transfigure the pieces of wood to replicate the box, before leaving it under rags? Hermione's fine with a little bit of theft for the sake of knowledge (that'll be the excuse she'll give herself while in compelled mode).

[northerndragon]

Jon will probably also become possessive of the box, but we’ll see. I’ll have to talk to Hermione’s player.

If he’s able to, he will eventually try a certain key.