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lostcompass2022-02-14 07:45 pm
groundrules) wrote in lostcompass2022-02-14 07:45 pm
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arc iii: house of ravens
Welcome to Arc III: House of Ravens — with brand new locations and individual curses and 'family' residential assignments.
As we depart lore-laden Ellethia, pass your eyes over a few key takeaways. It's all aboard on the vessel Salamera II for a trip by sea over 14-22 February, before arriving at the elusive village of Waihu-Jeou.
Jump into plotting, after a quick peek at what to expect from the arrival log of 23 February, which will also serve as our test drive meme.
As the Ellethia travel arc has been fertile ground for background revelations, here is a small, incomplete selection of some of the key information gained & publicly revealed by party members over the network, info share sessions, etc. Characters can be assumed to have access to this background:
- ■ Ellethia was racing to outdo the feats of Taravast’s Attaryl witches, who prevailed to extend lifespans.
■ The Sleepers of the lighthouse, known to the Merchant and attended by caretaker Zenobius, were technicians overseeing mirror experimentation in Ellethia's Institute of Technology. Ellethian civilians were conscripted for trials.
■ Zenobius once gifted a doll to fellow technician Matthias Lemaitre — a ‘pale man,’ newly returned from mourning.
■ The previous lead technician resigned, citing ‘ethical concerns’ and ‘national safety.’ They were grudgingly replaced by Matthias.
■ The undead appeared at the institute between midday and sunset of the same day. Fleeing slaughter, Zenobius was pushed into a well by Matthias. He returned after the Sleepers had already engaged with a destroyed 10th floor mirror.
■ The institute was converted into a lighthouse, which a thralled Zenobius used to lure ships to their mermaid-driven doom. Hundreds of sailors’ bodies lie in the coastal seas. There is no death on Ellethia. The close lighthouse premises are unaffected by Ellethia’s accelerated life-rebirth cycles.
■ The lighthouse thrives off granting wishes.
■ Parts of the broken mirror on the 10th floor are thrown into waters to pacify mermaids. Party members were lured to rebuild the mirror. Upon completion, a man fitting Matthias’ description briefly dragged Jon Snow into the amorphous, dark and aquatic mirror-realm, where a creature hungered for shape.
■ The mermaids obsessively covet the lighthouse and mirror despite their wishes or exhaustion.
■ Zenobius’ ‘duties’ ended when the Sleepers died. At that time, he also fell into Sleep, and the lighthouse premises lost their self-replenishing sustenance.
Full details on all the uncovered information can be found in the February plot roll write-ups, here and here.
On 14 February, the Merchant shows his love by sending a large commercial vessel — the Salamera II — to retrieve the party from Ellethia.
To protect the crew, the vessel cannot berth and stays at a sullen distance that characters must cross in their protective red gear by small boat. Pair up in groups of two or three and beware the vicious, waiting mermaids, who will attempt to grab travellers, drag them into water and drown them. Good luck with that.
Characters no longer need to wear their red garments once they have boarded the Salamera II. They receive fresh clothes and ample water and feeding throughout their journey, which lasts until 22 February. A fresh (if gristly) body has been brought along for Kaneki. The crew reluctantly accepts Wei Wuxian’s petition to bring aboard the sleeping Zenobius.
As they depart, the merry mayhemers can see the lighthouse’s topmost floor crumble down, leaving behind just the ruined infrastructure of the Institute of Technology. The intensely sharp-eyed can see a frail figure at the top of the tower, watching on.
In exchange for their hospitality, the captain of the Salamera II requires newcomers to earn their keep through honest labour: cleaning the decks, keeping watch, fishing, assisting in the kitchens (not you, Xie Lian), or looking after the ship’s prized merchantry wares — dozens of exotic parrots, who proudly utter interesting, mean, fond or perverse truths at passers-by in perfect imitations of any voices they’ve heard.
Very heavy storms spark over 17-20 February, with strong winds quaking the Salamera II and threatening to throw voyagers off board — get help asap, if you or the sailors fall over, and lend a helpful hand with any injuries in the line of duty. The Salamera II may need some moderate repairs once the storms break — while handsome shark circle by, waiting for anyone to slip in.
After a... peaceful journey by sea, the group discharges at Waihu-Jeou, informally known as Ke-Waihu — the first of three interlinked villages, which encircle a mountain, its haunted forests and the eerie House of Ravens. A developing guide of the locations is here and will be updated as the second and third village (Waiar-Seong /Ke-Waiar and Waicai-Lian/Ke-Waicai) become available.
The villages have a reputation for their devotion to local divinity and their community spirit, but have suffered a strange spell of chronic drought. The Merchant has heard of underground trafficking of young villagers and other conscripts, funnelled to the forces of the undead lieges. The villagers meanwhile speak of being forced to offer human sacrifice to the House of Ravens, to abate the unyielding drought and other curses. They offer to show newcomers to their beacon, if they assist.
Characters are introduced as part of family or clan units, which have been assigned here. You can huddle up and decide what the clan’s identity story is (refugees? merchants? pilgrims?), and who everyone is within that unit. The Merchant has alerted the villagers that fresh tranches of remaining family members could arrive.
To be fully integrated into the villages, party members must join in the regional faith and accept curses, so they can proudly atone for the sins of long deceased local ancestors — then, for their own wrongdoings. You have the entirety of Arc III (roughly three months) to carry out this redemption work...!
The group’s tasks over Arc III are to:
- ■ Main: end the tributes to the House of Ravens to learn the beacon’s location from the villagers.
■ Atone for ancestral and individual sins.
■ Optional: investigate the village drought.
■ Optional: end the conscription circuit that supplies the undead Brotherhood with new legions.
You’ll get the full feast of details when the Arc III arrival log / Test Drive Meme lands on 23 February, but here’s a small “spoiler-free” summary of some things to expect. This does not include events exclusive to test drivers!
Prepare to…
- ■ Confront a pack of bandits (...yes, hooligans may steal their loot).
■Get lost intraverse a forest area where the environment briefly shifts to spaces from characters’ home worlds, also visible to other travellers. This and certain distractions could lure characters to the forest’s unique dangers.
■ Enter the villages and accept the ancestral curses.
■ Take ownership of dwellings as 'blessed' families.
■ Join the village during a strange banquet celebrating multiple weddings and participate in a particular rite of the procession. Face the blood-curdling morning after, under the curse of the regional fox spirits.
■ Lift the curse of the fox spirits by capturing them in the forest or helping track down and rebuild their ancient miniature worship sites.
■ Behold the first of the drought and its ‘dark waters.’
Feel free to plot & plan for the arrival log here. Make friends. Make families. Throw a plotting form on top:
emilia di carlo, kingdom of the wicked
CHARACTER: Emilia di Carlo
CONTACT: Plurk @ moonstones or PM
CHARACTER FAMILY #1: Daenerys, John Connor, Wen Qing, Xie Lian. Refugees is the favored option and it definitely works with me!
Emilia is driven, resourceful, and forceful if not reserved. She's a caretaker at heart, and has been cooking from the moment her motor skills kicked in, so she's got y'all covered and will feed you yummy things.
ANCESTRAL CURSE PLANS? My first thought is that this might be a wonderful opportunity for me to play into the nurturing side of her, since canon events have forced her to lean into the more furious and merciless side. Emilia wanted to be a green witch prior to her life being upended by death and destruction. She has a green thumb and does very well with herbs and plants and flowers, even beyond magic means. So maybe being able to heal patches of land to help feed people. I'd really love that! I think it would be good for her.
I'm still thinking of other things she can do and am open to suggestions. Her individual curse is Wrath. Because of course.
GENERAL PLANS: ○ Emilia was already cursed prior to all of this. It's a pretty big Thing in her books. She's grown more familiar with the nature of that curse and is committed to breaking it on top of all this, as it would unlock both her stolen memories and the full brunt of her power. If achieved, she could very well take on the likes of the Beastmaster and that is potentially scary, yes.
○ Despite (or because?) her thirst for vengeance, broader injustices are very important to her, not just personal injury. She would absolutely look into the trafficking situation/try to get the full picture. This leads to my favorite which is buddy mystery investigations and adventures, etc!
○ She and Zuko had been planning to look into Karsa going MIA, and I'd still maybe want to do something with that if anyone else is interested.
○ In general, I'd really just like to integrate her back into the game since December/January were slower months for me. She's a decisive and hands-on character and I'd like to reflect that better.
○ She also returned from her canon update with a divine object and I don't have plans for that yet, I just think it's neat.
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we're gonig to get this cr off the ground if it kills me
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i need it and El could be so good for her, truly
once they're in the village(s) proper i can definitely set something up for them, this time's our charm
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He's interested in the potential trafficking stuff and Karsa being missing both, but if you want to mix it up a bit to avoid doing too many things the same it also looks like he'll be hiding curse injuries that seep lava and also doing a metric tonne of crafting to keep Wangji from locking him out of visiting Anduin late at night. Alternatively, if we get them onto the topic he also has a history with the Beastmaster who he specifically is desperate to avoid.
So! Any of those or a wild card i haven't thought of, I am open to suggestions!
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yes i'm a lil greedy
i definitely want in on Beastmaster stuff, she has her own personal vested interest in that + the Huntress. we can always start with the curse stuff (VERY interested in the lava, what's going on there Wrathion??) and take it from there...
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Wrathion awkwardly injured and hiding it
And Emilia like
AGAIN?
AGAIN?
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Obviously, they need to work toward the Undead Liege together w/ others if we want as well as he will need help 'atoning' for his curse, but alsoooo, I love them and they'll have so much to talk about and react to going into a place with sins given they just spent several months in Hell together
with his brothers : ') along w/ dealing with their own personal everything that occurred from their canon update and from the fact that now they're in a land of curses when like yeah. They've also been dealing with that for a time.
Also he'll be genuinely pissed when he starts feeling envy-like feelings because no /dies
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i really love the idea of them rebuilding their trust (again!) via said teamwork, they've shown they can put aside the personal to work on the bigger picture and it's one of my favorite things about them, it's time to let that shine
i'm also kind of looking forward to them talking about the lighthouse compulsion and potentially picking their training back up bc of it? 👀
btw is he ready for emilia to potentially be repelled by him after she's come on to him and he's denied her for Reasons
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THEY NEED TO TRAIN. wrath would definitely find it a priority after all this mind controlling going down, ahem >>"
...lmaoooooooo no, he's not ready for this. .-. way to shake up the devil.
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it's not a faithful arc anymore if Lan Wangi and Emilia aren't teaming up to the horror of the lands themselves
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and okay he's also the lord of the underworld but!!
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to both solve the mystery of some grisly murders (including her sister's) and the mystery of herself/her past, Emilia was on the hunt for something called the Triple Moon Mirror, a mirror belonging to the goddesses that she has a divine connection to. When properly activated, the mirror can show you the past, the present, and the future upon request. Its magic is dormant atm, of course, as I promised Ruxi it would only ever be used sparingly/with permission.
but I put it in her inventory even before all this in-game mirror madness began, so I feel like it's just Fate
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that is
hella exciting
and moiraine would love to know all about it
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ALSO I AM STARTING WHEEL OF TIME THIS WEEK wish me luck
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Also I love this curse for her, omg, grow all those plants Emilia.
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Ruxi was so good to me and even gave her housing arrangement and orchard and garden. It's just so perfect for her. I am sure Allison will reap some of the culinary rewards.
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Yessssss, I am excited to see it all play out.