feast & famine

[groundrules]

FEAST & FAMINE

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Trouble stirs in the ‘idyllic’ village of Ke-Waihu, as locals face dark waters and prospective famine ahead of the looming arrival of the lord of the beasts.

■ Covering 17 March — 3 April, the event includes shared goings-on and assigned plot rolls. Characters signed up for plot rolls should please share relevant discovered information with the group via network posts/carrier pigeon.

■ You can help with a plot roll even if you didn’t volunteer for it — just talk to the players who did!

■There is currently no plan for a mod-posted log, but one can be put up on 18 March if at least 10 people say they want it.

■ Lastly, apps close for 4-6 weeks at 23:59 GMT on 15 March — so spread the word / get yours in by then. Thank you!

Feel free to use this post to plot away!

Image source.

THE BIRDS

Starting with 17 March, flocks of vicious birds — comprising anything from common gulls to sweet singers and feathered woodland predators — assail both Ke-Waihu and the village crops. Many of the winged fiends grow quiet and perch overnight. No ravens participate.

■ The maddened birds assault villagers and their lavish fields of grain and wheat, pecking eyes and flesh and stealing or tattering crops.

■ Rune-saddled poles and talisman fences previously warded away the birds. Anguished villages discover these defences have mysteriously rotted down recently, or been demolished. Dark slick can be found at the root of some poles.

■ Local carpenters and priests will need until 25 March to restore the poles and fences, which will once more banish the birds. Help them repair, protect them while they work, or deliver their supplies.

■ Get other locals to safety, within or outside of Ke-Waihu. Beware the birds that attempt to peck their way into walled areas and buildings, often through open or fragile windows and down chimneys.

■ Rush to collect the ripe crops and wheat from fields — Ke-Waihu cannot survive next winter without grains. The Hok-Shinn clan send men to help the work along.

■ Protect the three village granaries from bird devastation.

■ Drop a line by 23:59 GMT on 17 March, if you want your character to be the first one to spot the incoming bird offensive and their mayhem in the fields, and make the group announcement on 18-19 March. This will be a RNG draw, if multiple people sign up.

■ Villagers warn newcomers against killing the birds, which ”remember”. Those who can’t help their bird-murderous ways will find that, after this event, they are often stared at by any raven they encounter, and sometimes dream of a large, black bird spreading its wings.

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THE FAITHFUL

Between 25 March – 3 April, the village begins to rebuild in wake of the bird onslaught, with locals attributing the latest spell of misfortune to the weight of their communal wrongdoings.

■ Packs of true believers walk the village, hailing the merits of atonement and enthusiastically attempting to convert onlookers.

■ Some of the madmen, homeless people and the unfortunate souls suffering from ‘frowned upon’ poxes and sicknesses appear terrified by the resurgence of the faithful.

■ The Hok-Shinn clan walk the streets in clear formations, appearing more sullen and aggressive than before, and taking liberties and brutalising the villagers — who obsequiously claim no injury or even thank them for the attention. You can infiltrate the Hok-Shinn by pretending to join them — but beware that this may occasionally require characters to commit dubious acts to prove their fealty.

■ Merchants murmur goods have been stolen from their warehouses, while some well-off villagers offer employment to those who would watch their homes for short periods, amid increasing spates of theft. Pair up & volunteer your characters for the work and snooping opportunities!

■ Three young men and a woman go mysteriously missing. Villagers appear unwilling to cause a stir. A bit of sleuthing reveals the departed were exceptionally beautiful, intelligent or skilled at farming chores.

Image source.

THE FEEDING

Over 31 March-3 April, characters may notice strange creatures of tar follow them, come dark. Those who traversed the Stairs of Sighs will notice they have previously encountered such apparitions — though the tar of these creatures is smoother, more liquid, reflective.

■ The creatures start amorphous, but gradually take on the physical appearance of friends or family. Their presence confuses and distracts characters, who are more easily given to think these things are their acquaintances.

■ The creatures follow their targets, often attempting to draw them into the woods and kill them.

■ If you find yourself meeting the eyes of such a creature in a reflective surface (a mirror, well water, polished metal), it will possess you for a day, during which you remain conscious but unable to prevent it from seeking to lure and injure others while in your body. It will slowly sap the energy who sit in your proximity, while it possesses your body.

■ The tar creatures’ hold on their possessed targets sometimes slips, and you can try to signal (through small gestures or messages, texts) that something is afoot. You do not have control of your voice while possessed — the creature does, and can also draw from your memories to credibly build its identity.

■ The creatures can be killed through conventional means, when they are not possessing a body. They take twice as long to revive each time they are murdered. They are not active during the day and cannot enter barred houses. They cannot be killed when they possess a body and must be waited out until they naturally exit their host.

Image source.

THE PLOT ROLLS

Sign-ups for the below mod-led plot rolls have now closed, but characters can still help those who have volunteered to get the job done!


THE FIELDS
XIE LIAN, MARCOS, KANEKI

Plot roll timing: after 23 March.

Strange animal sounds, the disappearance of some of their tools and rivulets of dark water have made villagers fearful of reaping grains from some of their tall and lavish corn fields, at a time when the bird assault has already deprived the village of resources. Villagers ask the trio to investigate the area and retrieve corn.

■ Traveling through the fields, the three find they are frequently tripped, snagged, snared or even entrapped by roots and corn stalks.

■ Sometimes, dormant thorned vines rise unexpectedly from the ground and attempt to choke them. If the trio are “fortunate” enough, they might experience the tickle of surging skeletal hands, fettering their ankles.

■ As they advance through the fields, they are easily lost, able to hear each other’s voices but only find one another again with difficulty.

■ The laughter of children blossoms deep in the fields, while thin streams of dark water trickle at their feet. The coursing water leads to a large ghost tree, whose roots squirm riotously, wet with dark slick and looking to coil around the trio. It seeks to crush them, slam them into the tree’s husk, or bring them inside it, where they can briefly experience the horror of hundreds of souls, before they are spat out.

■ Come close enough to the tree, and you can see the very crude carving of the Ellethian mark: an eye with the sun for a pupil.

■ Kill this tree. No one likes nature. Abolishing the ghost tree will see the dark water rivulets recede and dry out from the fields within hours. They remain anywhere else they’ve invaded.

■ Minimise any damage to the corn fields, or risk leaving locals without winter supplies.

THE VOLCANO
ALLISON, EMILIA, WRATH, LORNA, WRATHION

Plot roll timing: any time before 3 April.

Superstitious villagers who cross the forests to mine or cut wood whisper of noise from big brother Sanwon, the ancient dormant volcano on close proximity. Local scholars fear the possibility of a looming eruption and beg help to voyage through the woods and study the volcano.

■ Reaching Ke-Sanwon, characters encounter the mouths of hell — a line-up of deep, humanoid-shaped cracks into the volcano, serving as entrances into an underground labyrinth. Groans, crackling and sighs can be heard within.

■ The underground passageways are easily confusing, filled with mists of survivable but unpleasant sulphur and swelter. Ideally, bring along a medic, water and torches.

■ As characters progress in their journey within Ke-Sanwon, they are overcome by a sense of itchiness, of heat, and the urge to run deeper within the labyrinth, or to remove their clothes and claw off their skins to abate the heat. They become highly alert and paranoid that their fellow travellers — NPCs or otherwise — are secretly trying to burn them.

■ Characters can sometimes glimpse shadows of humanoid creatures with large, antler-like horns, carrying what appear to be crude weapons. The creatures never truly reveal themselves, but chase after their prey, if their travel torches dim or go off. Take cover, outrun your pursuers or do your best to fight them off — they have not fed in some time.

■ As they head deeper into Ke-Sanwon, the group finds their minds can intermittently synchronise with fellow travellers, able to catch fleeting glimpses of their thoughts or emotions. This ability disappears upon exiting the volcano.

■ They also intermittently experience the fractured memories and petrifying fear of those who entered Ke-Sanwon many years ago: the aforementioned screams and pleas for mercy, voices shrieking of pain, burning and suffering, some crying out they did not willingly come to feed brother Sanwon, while others curse Ke-Waihu and Ke-Waicai, along with their families who deserted them, wishing them no joy of the time that their deaths have bought.

■ if they make it far enough in without losing their lives, characters can discover a large underground hall, bare but seemingly lived, with rags, remains of hunting and burned-out fires scattered around. In the midst of the hall is a small pile of skulls, which telepathically scream out to be taken away and buried.

■ Taking the skulls back to Ke-Waihu will “quiet the volcano” — and win you a reward from Weisi.

THE FORESTS
MOIRAINE, JON SNOW, ANDUIN

Plot roll timing: any time before 3 April.

With the village children and youth now disappearing, locals ask newcomers assistance with perusing the haunted woods and identifying the predators within. The Hok-Shinn clan insist that the problem has been dealt with. The trio are drafted to help and promised a boon for their help from villagers.

■ The forests continue to deploy their magical illusions, which seek to snare characters towards danger and feral animals, with visions of home. Now, the woods creatures appear much more aggressive — a feeling that has even spread to small cute creatures, such as rabbits and squirrels. This excludes foxes.

■ The three and their NPC escort are frequently and increasingly more viciously attacked by an unreasonable number of grotesquely large and fast wolves. Blows that should kill the creatures often seem to miss or spare them.

■ As they advance within, they begin to see (or be assaulted by) animal hybrids: some crosses between different animals (bears with antlers, bats with insect-like legs, boars to the size of horses, etc), and some that seem to have human likenesses.

■ These hybrids can still be killed, but with very high difficulty — you’re better off running or waiting out while they pass. Beware: most creatures seem weirdly capable of catching your scent and finding your position. Do not linger in the same place long.

■ Here and there, you can find remains of cattle meat — the Hok-Shinn have been 'dealing' with the problem by feeding it to keep away from the village.

■ Exploring the forest will take characters to a small submerged creek, from where a large group of hybrids appear to be drinking. The waters have been infested by a thin dark rivulet that pours in.

■ Animals who drink from the dark stream directly, or from waters deeply infected by it, start to painfully mutate on the spot. Close to the rivulet is a large bolder, which hosts a crude carving:

did you know
Anui
happiness sleeps at the bottom of each cup?
Anui
have you drunk your fill?
Anui
let me pour for you
the next cup, we drink at your grave’s side

■ Find a way to close off the stream — which is no wider than 30cm — entirely, or where to at least block where it falls into the bigger watering pool. Avoid getting killed by the nearby animals.

■ Once the stream has been cordoned off, the hybrid animals will revert to their original forms within a day’s time.

Image source.

QUESTIONS

Comments

QUESTIONS

[groundrules]

Questions for one, questions for all!

[reparo]

A question about the ancestral curses, and I'm leaving it here in case it is of use to anyone else.

Are we meant to track and prove the steps that characters take to atone/fix ancestral curses or is it something to give flavour to the interactions until we handwave that they got it sorted? And also to add if there is a requirement to share at least with the mod what the character is doing, which I appreciate might add more work but I'll ask anyway. Ancenstral curse health bar?

[blackscales]

I'm assuming most of these volcano side-effects are supernatural-driven, so Wrathion will suffer just as much as anyone else with all the heat/itchiness/paranoia?

[infirm]

hey mods, this looks juicy, i'm excited! quick q since i think maybe it got glossed over, can i get cloud sorted into housing so i can tackle some fake family cr?

Re: QUESTIONS

[rumorate]

I meant to ask this on the last post but spaced: do the locals still have their personal items, or did they get them back after their cleansing and curse-accepting?

(It's possible this was on another post and I missed it but I don't remember seeing it.)

[paperbutterflies]

I only now thought of that but out of curiosity:

If tar creature follows Sizhui appearing as Jingyi, what will, say, Wei Wuxian see? Aka is the illusion only for Sizhui's sake, or does it hold when observed by someone else as well?

[blackscales]

When curses are broken, I assume characters will feel it somehow -- is the intention that all the side-effects instantly go? Or slowly start to ease? Spirits all turn up to thank them for their service then vanish? Shooting stars?

[chosenbylight]

I HAVE a couple of questions with regards to the Forest Group (tm)

1) Anduin & Jon (&co, but specifically those two) want to see if it's possible to track this dark water to its source? Closing off the stream is a given, but where is it coming from?

2) Anduin has an ability, "Purify", which "Dispels harmful effects on the target, removing all Magic and Disease effects." The target is usually something that might otherwise be friendly that you're trying to "save". He will try to use this against the hybrid creatures, especially if they find anyone human-like. Will it work?

3) When they inspect the cattle meat that has been left by the Hok-Shinn, is this clearly for the hybrids or is Something Else at play here?

4) If Anduin were to ask around the village, since he is now upping his reputation here filling in as Village Wise Man, would he be able to find out who Anui is/was?

Volcano team!

[blackscales]

Hello!

The area where the skulls is seems lived -- are we talking recently lived? Are there any clues as to the kind of person who might have been there, and how recently?

Also: does the pile of skulls seem... ceremonial? Like neat little pyramid? This has living sacrifice kinda vibes. Do they all seem older or do any seem............. newer?

SIGN-UPS, BOONS, THEFT AND OTHER TRINKETS

[groundrules]

RAISE THE BIRD BANNER

[groundrules]

Respond here by 23:59 on 17 March, if you want your character to be the first person to see the incoming bird offensive, or the signs of its aggressions on the fields. You'd be expected to make a network post alerting the group on either 18 March or 19 March.

There will be only one character selected for the job — we'll do a RNG draw, if there are multiple sign-ups.

JOIN A GANG

[groundrules]

They say the Hok-Shinn offer great dental care benefits.

Please be aware that signing up your character to infiltrate the Hok-Shinn might force them to sometimes (pretend to) commit less than stellar actions on behalf of the group.

Mod help can be given from time to time to figure out how to help characters avoid carrying out a terrible deed, but the onus will be 90% on the player to resolve these moral quandaries in a way that aligns with their character's moral code.

GRAND THEFT, NO AUTO

[groundrules]

Want to help the rich stay very, very rich?

Find a buddy (or pair up with one here) and volunteer to guard a noble home for an evening or two. There might be something in it for you!

VOLCANO REWARD

[groundrules]

How luck you are, to have brought peace to families and earned the gratitude of mayoral figure Hok-Shinn Weisi. He will grant the group who brings back the skulls exactly one favour — talk among yourselves, keep it reasonable, and choose wisely.

FOREST REWARD

[groundrules]

These villagers might be poor as sin, but they can try their damnedest to give you something for your trouble. Talk it out and ask one reasonable reward — choose wisely!

TO MOD LOG OR NOT LOG, THAT IS THE QUESTION

[groundrules]

If you want a mod-led log for this event posted on 18 March, drop a +1 here. We'll go ahead with it, if at least 10 people sign off on it.

If not — we can take the route of everyone doing their own posts/logs this round!

Field plotting

[scrapgege]

Sooooo... Xie Lian havign shit luck, he's definitely getting tripped and choked and maybe a lot more by the vines in the fields. Don't worry, he can't die.

but he's also very strong so he can carry a LOT of grain in a very short time, if needed. he also probably can punch through that tree, once they know what they need to do.

Shall we make a log for them?

[soloritur]

Fantastic! Marcos may run into some issues with his sloth curse, because that's a thing that he hasn't gotten rid of yet and it might slow him down some. But aside from that, he's here to be an asset. He's usually a good team player so he won't leave anyone behind/try to get their attention with his flashlight-hands that sort of thing, unless that curse gets played up at a bad moment mm.

Marcos' flashlight-hands also double as laser-hands, so he can set the tree on fire NO PROBLEM, super convenient. He appreciates it being made of something that burns it's his favorite thing. (Just you know... keep the fire away from the fields.) Most of his power base is built around heat so he'll have to be careful, but it'll probably be fine.

Very happy to log this out. :)

[downswing]

Please bring back some cursed plants, daozhang.

lan wangji

[downswing]

THE BIRDS

Wangji is wicked-quick, so he'll try to handle cross-town deliveries for locals and priests. I think it'd make the most sense if someone handled packaging and he delivered, or he does deliveries, someone else tackles receipts and distribution — either way, anyone up for tag-teaming? Alternatively, watching the granaries?

Also, he only just got a new crown, so I think a magpie should fly off with it. Hands up if you want it landing in your lap, yo.

THE FAITHFUL

He'd probably go door to door to talk to villagers about the disappearances. Pair up?

THE FEEDING

...I think mostly he'd be summarily kicking and slashing anything made of mud, but I'm also open to letting him be possessed or suffer from someone else's possession. Hit me up.

PLOT ROLLS

He's too hopelessly overpowered to not tatter the fields in an attempt to kill off evil plants, so I think I'll keep him out of there — but if anyone in the volcano or forest needs an escort...

OTHERWISE

He has two dumbass foxes in his care, so any help with feral animals appreciated. Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng likely want to eat.

[paperbutterflies]

Jingyi is letting his defense down a LITTLE around pseudo Jingyi and getting possessed. Maybe after they can kill the thing together...

[blackscales]

If you still want Wangji to hover over Wrathion while he attempts to break his curse we could potentially vaguely combo one of these things. He'll probably be lurking the burial grounds in the evenings and late at night especially getting slightly eaten by the loneliness side of his curse, but potentially going to and from them a bit during the day. Either Wangji chasing down a magpie that drops its stolen prize on Wrathion while he hangs around being a weird dragon equivalent of a church grim, potentially trying to protect the things he just put out from birds. Or maybe Wangji can be walking his foxes or searching for something to feed them and think Wrathion's haunting the place until he works who he is? Or something other option!

[somebadnews]

It's been a minute, we need a new thing. Five could either elicit his help for his ghost-home problems (what is it you do with the dead??? he really doesn't get it), or alternatively find his crown and add it to his hoarding pile. He was just collecting survival items, but he also likes shiny things. ('Dolores' liked sequins, suuure.) He could steal it after it falls into a ditch and he gets it back, who knows...

Also he's rooming with Marcos' gf and I just want that to come up at some point when he's there past curfew. (Is she not back from the volcano yet??) IDK what his field trip (HA) is going to end up like but tentatively hold this space.

Lan Sizhui

[paperbutterflies]

So... Sizhui is getting possessed because he misses his bestie and trusts him enough to let his guard down that little bit.

So if you want actually dangerous radish boy, let me know.

[reparo]

NOOOOOOOOOOO........ wait - when a turnip child gets possessed he becomes a spicy raddish?

hermione granger

[reparo]

i'm looking for some very specific interactions throughout this plot, so i won't look to put up an open log anywhere. however, hermione is still struggling to deal with her ancestral wrathy curse, and the stench of blood around her has gotten unsustainable so she will be looking to make it happens. i would need one person willing to witness it, so that there's proof of her attempts? considering that her curse is for a lady who poisoned people out of rage, this would be good opportunity to discuss poisons, potions, magic, and feminism. probably.

on the other hand, i can see her butting into a lot of things, when not helping villagers with transporting things (omg just shove everything into her big-ass bag) or guarding noble houses (HOPEFULLY) - so if anyone has any wildcard idea or need for her, let me know!!!!

p.s. these are not HER evil birds surely

p.p.s. editing in here to add that hermione's fix for this curse is to create an empowerment and educational club so evidently...there should be badges and an acronym

Re: hermione granger

[downswing]

So she's a stinky gal, huh.