groundrules: (Default)
let's set d o w n some ([personal profile] groundrules) wrote in [community profile] lostcompass2022-05-12 07:35 pm
Entry tags:

THE TITHE | ARC III FINALE


Hello, good people! It’s all about to go down with a Boom on 18 May during the log finale of Arc III.

■ After wrapping up Arc III, the party will enjoy a plot-light(er) ‘journey’ segment totalling four-six weeks, then head into Arc IV.

■ An out-of-character vote will go up over the next few days, so you can choose between two destination options for Arc IV.

■ Our next test drive meme takes place in early June.



For now, a brief idea of what to expect in the Arc III finale log below, so you can plot & plan your moves ahead.


THE TITHE


Catch-up: desperate villagers are revisiting human sacrifices in hopes of swaying the Ke-Sanwon volcano’s eruption. The rites were stalled for a few years, during which a traveller’s cure for droughts was purchased with tributes collected by the undead Beastmaster. The witches of the Fetters gained their power and animal hybrids began to roam around this time. Wrath and Emilia discovered the volcano contains magical energy and tormented spirits that have been capped by a fracturing dark mirror. The group stole keys to enter the House of Ravens sacrificial temple — which now opens for the eruption.

In family drama, it emerges the Beastmaster was once married to the Huntress (formerly Anui), who offered their son to Ke-Sanwon without his father’s say. The child disappeared. Both parents hope to find him in the House. Wrathion, Daenerys and Viktor have all will be sharing juicy details by 18 May, once NPC threads wrap up.

Upcoming:


THIS HOUSE IS YOUR HOUSE

The party must infiltrate the House of Ravens overnight and wait until dawns, when the temple dais slowly opens to reveal the mouth of the volcano.

■ Those who enter the House are fully or partially depowered and have their ancestral curse immediately lifted.

■ In the midnight to dawns period, characters are supernaturally tempted to act on their greatest individual sin.

■ They are chased by the temple’s… unusually large defenders, if they succumb to these instincts. Good luck til dawns, folks.


LET THERE BE BLOOD

The cultists of Ke-Waicai greet dawns by exposing their first chosen sacrifice to Ke-Sanwon, showcasing exactly what happens to their ‘Chosen.’ Roughly two hundred villagers attend the rites, along with eight powerful priests who use elemental magic.

In good (?) news: seeking his missing son, the Beastmaster bring his xenomorphic creatures to attack the House of Ravens.

Characters should:

■ Dress up, join the crowd and free the remaining tributes during the beastly skirmish.

■ Take control of the House’s dais by defeating or killing the priests.

! Characters can remain partially or fully depowered throughout, if you prefer.



FIRE AND BRIMSTONE?

The dais remains under the party’s control as long as a character (literally) shoulders the head priest’s ancient white raven and holds its leash.

■ Whoever carries the raven becomes the target of the village mob and of the Beastmaster’s creatures.

■ The raven should be passed around. Defend the bird’s current holder and throw off their pursuers.

■ If the bird dies, the dais closes, and the volcano erupts. No pressure.



For those looking to stop the eruption, options include but are not limited to:

■ Throwing more dark water into the volcano to fix the mirror crack.

■ Using ice / cold magic and scientific processes to cool down the volcano’s warmth and help the mirror regenerate itself.

■ Exorcising some of the spirits within the volcano.

■ Absorbing some of the magical power contained by the volcano. IMPORTANTLY, this can lead to substantial or permanent effects for your character, detailed here.

■ Persuading and guiding sane villagers to bring sea water. Helpful tips: remember those cool phoenix rides and the very fast Ke-Waiar werewolves.

PLOT HOW TO TACKLE THE VOLCANO. You can come up with your own solution. Calming Ke-Sanwon is a huge enterprise, so the more help, the better.



THE BEASTMASTER

Group up and pitch a plan, if you want to slay the Beastmaster.

He will drive his animal to raid the House of Ravens and devolve into a fury when he does not locate his son. Grief renders him vulnerable and unpredictably violent. He is also significantly less powerful in the House of Ravens.


WILL SOMEONE THINK OF THE CIVILIANS?

Beyond the House of Ravens, villagers need help safeguarding their possessions or preparing to evacuate aboard incoming ships. The gradual spread of Ke-Sanwon’s seeping magic will infect some villagers, leading to animal hybridization in the farmers’ ranks — stay safe.

Whoever stays in the villages can also coordinate water and supply deliveries with those at the House of Ravens.


UPDATES & DROPS


The Arc III beacon will briefly open, allowing characters to head home before sadly faltering. All characters dropped or AC swept in May will be said to have safely gone home through the beacon.

COMMENT HERE if you want a canon update for your character. They will briefly go to their home world, then return when the beacon fails. Characters do not retain memories, items or powers gained in game while they are in their home worlds, but they recover them on return.

QUESTIONS

It’s an Arc finale: go BIG, and you might go home. Respond with your very own shiny plotting comment, featuring:


northerndragon: (Default)

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-05-17 08:24 am (UTC)(link)
PLAYER: Elizabeth
PREFERRED CONTACT: Hit me up in the Discord or PM me at this journal or bug me on Plurk!
CHARACTER & CANON: Jon Snow // Game of Thrones

WHERE THEY’RE SPENDING THE FINALE: House of Ravens!

ANY PLANS:

All for the House of Ravens!

- Jon’s personal curse is a wrath curse.
- He will initially try to help with the tributes, if it makes logistical sense, but the main thing is:
- He will be involved with the raven/dais stuff. He actually has some small experience handling ravens, although it’s been a few years. (He was assigned some raven-care tasks early in his first year in the Night’s Watch.) When not handling the raven, he’ll be fighting, and fighting, and fighting. It’s likely that he’d hand it off specifically so that he can fight.
- He is in favor of not immediately killing the Beastmaster! They’ve had a conversation in which he found that they had some attitudes in common, and he’ll be mildly sympathetic to the motives, though not fully sympathetic - under most circumstances, he’d still be in favor of killing him. However…
- Jon and Dany are a very new couple. They think they are subtle, but they are wrong, and if your character lives with either of them, chances are that you’ve seen them sneaking around in the last few days before all of this starts to go down. Dany has made it known that she doesn’t want the Beastmaster to die; Jon is in favor of turning enemies to allies when possible, so he can get on board with her wishes.
- He will probably try (and fail) to talk to the Beastmaster.
- In theory, I plan to put up some open top levels.

After all of this, he’s getting a canon update by a few episodes!

NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING?

Not off the top of my head! I have not been anywhere near as active in this arc as I wanted/intended, so I’m trying to make him useful and take a back seat until the next arc.
Edited 2022-05-17 08:36 (UTC)