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


scrapgege: (Default)

[personal profile] scrapgege 2022-05-12 07:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, so... Xie Lian hasn't punched anything in a while, and even depowered, he is is, in fact a super good martial artist and especially good with a sword. And while he does tend to be sympathetic to undead people, he also does not condone them running unchecked, so he can both keep the Beastmaster occupied by fighting him, and/or give the fatal blow if someone will lend him a sword.
thebrideoffire: (Default)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-05-12 07:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I want the BeastMaster to live. If it could be a way, Dany has a similar story to his. She could try to calm him by telling him about Rhaego and how she emerged similarly to the Beastmaster.

I don't know. She'd want to try connecting with him first and foremost.
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] Hrakkar3)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-05-12 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
PLAYER: Rachel
PREFERRED CONTACT: [plurk.com profile] la_fille_en_histoire
CHARACTER & CANON: Daenerys Targaryen (ASOIAF)

WHERE THEY’RE SPENDING THE FINALE: She'll be in the House of Ravens, and honestly, I hope that the Beastmaster can be lead there. She wants him to live and she'll do her best to connect with him. She honestly sees him as a victim, given her own experience with having a child sacrificed without her consent. She's also looking for Hyang-Tai's nephew.

ANY PLANS: See above. I want her to search for the nephew and to try and save the Beastmaster. If people try to kill him, she'd try and get between. She identifies a lot with him. I'd like also Drogon to finally return.

NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING? Nope! Just people to join.
Edited 2022-05-12 19:14 (UTC)
scrapgege: (Default)

VOLCANO QUESTION

[personal profile] scrapgege 2022-05-12 07:18 pm (UTC)(link)
So.... Xie Lian still has that braid of Anurr that he's been carrying around. So he will come up with that superb idea that maybe it caries some of his ice power and maybe if he throws it into the volcano that will help. Somehow.

So I guess my question is will it help at all, or does he just get to watch that braid of hair burn and stink up the place for nothing?
blackscales: Commission, Do Not Take! (8)

[personal profile] blackscales 2022-05-12 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
So I feel like Wrathion would consider offering to take on volcano magic because.... Black Dragons live in Volcanos? He'd expect to feel itchy and weird and all but he wouldn't (ICly) expect the volcano bit to be a problem. It's what I was considering before this post went up.

So just to check I understand--

Since he has existing fire magic, I can choose (IF RNGd of course) to EITHER make his fire magic volatile OR his existing powers stay fine but he becomes Extremely Fucking Haunted?
scrapgege: (Default)

[personal profile] scrapgege 2022-05-12 07:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooooooooh! That... sounds a lot more practical, and once DW stops having strokes, I will head to volcano plotting
blackscales: Commission, Do Not Take! (8)

[personal profile] blackscales 2022-05-12 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooh okay, ty! The wording of "only IF you have a fire user develop a fire talent" read like there was an option to not, and have a fire user take the necromancy side effect.

So it'd be nightmares, temper flares regardless and then the volatile fire side effects?
blackscales: Commission, Do Not Take! (8)

[personal profile] blackscales 2022-05-12 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I did read that! But the "if" in the section I copied felt like it made that conditional on if you wanted to lean that way. I get it now though!

Would the volatility only hit his fire specific abilities? Just trying to gauge oocly if I think it'd be too much for him before I lean either way.
incantates: (078。)

ice, ice baby

[personal profile] incantates 2022-05-12 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Anyone want to try and freeze the inside of a volcano for as long as possible with magic? It's a rudimentary plan at best, and it's probably not going to hold it at bay for very long, but someone's got to do it.
blackscales: Commission, Do Not Take! (8)

[personal profile] blackscales 2022-05-12 08:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay yeah that's going to be too punishing for him, I'll try and think up another way for him to help. Thanks!
chosenbylight: do not take (schematise-003)

[personal profile] chosenbylight 2022-05-12 09:08 pm (UTC)(link)
PLAYER: Teresa
PREFERRED CONTACT: [plurk.com profile] lycanthropy101 OR find me on the discord!
CHARACTER & CANON: Anduin Wrynn | Warcraft

WHERE THEY'RE SPENDING THE FINALE: See answer below but he's probably going to be spending his time equal parts trying to help in the village and up the mountain in the House of Ravens, because he can't not try to save everyone he can

ANY PLANS: Anduin has been trying to solve the cure of the dark waters but it has thus far been a losing battle. The true fight is with the volcano itself, stopping the eruption, and he isn't certain that he can, not with the limited resources he has to hand. Anduin's focus is going to be on the villagers themselves, and the tributes. As I've said before and will save again, if he could save everyone, he would. Literally. Everyone. Pair this with the dawning of his own individual sin, which is Envy: Characters become increasingly self-aware of their own fallacies and cripplingly paranoid that they will fall short. Basically, Anduin's life is about to be super miserable!!!

He is no stranger to this awful feeling though so I'm thinking that Anduin might rally the delivery of water and supplies to the House of Ravens? And also facilitate in helping to get the tributes the hell off the mountain. Phoenix rides were suggested in the post itself and this could be fun, the flaming cavalry literally swooping in? He's ridden on gryphon's before, surely phoenixes aren't THAT much different. Right...???

NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING? As stated above I'm thinking of having Anduin organize water transport/tribute rescue, possibly with phoenix riding thrown into the mix for some extra heroics. He'd be happy to have help with this and/or help get people up the mountain fast?

ALSO when all of this seems under control, he'd probably start herding people to safety on the ships, Just In Case. Likely with some sort of escape plan for them to get Zenobius out of there as well, just in case the whole thing goes to pot.
Edited (oops forgot to answer a part) 2022-05-12 21:10 (UTC)
downswing: (everyone says it)

[personal profile] downswing 2022-05-12 09:20 pm (UTC)(link)
Kiddy rescue mid chaos sounds on Wangji's brand, happy to have him help out! Rare moment when I have the appropriate icon.
thebrideoffire: (Default)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-05-12 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Perfect. They can be partners in this. I love when they interact.
downswing: (trade)

[personal profile] downswing 2022-05-12 09:40 pm (UTC)(link)


PLAYER: ruxi
PREFERRED CONTACT: PM or [plurk.com profile] exar!
CHARACTER & CANON: Lan Wangji | The Untamed

WHERE THEY’RE SPENDING THE FINALE: mostly the House of Ravens. Specifically, close to that volcano hellmouth.

ANY PLANS: he'll be with the #InfiltrationGang, living his dubiously best life, so I was thinkiiiiiiiiiiiing:

FORGOT THE HOUSE KEYS: infiltration works fine for him, he'll even concede to wear... the drab dark clothes of commoners for this gig.

SAINTS BE SINNING: his biggest sin is pride, and he's unfortunately likely to give into it when tempted. If so, help appreciated with the temple defenders.

PASS THE BIRB: Lan Wangji is best on his feet, sword in hand, so I actually think he'd be more useful protecting someone who's carrying the raven. Need a bodyguard?

THE PRIESTS: yes, time to slaughter. Absolutely. Done. Point him the right way. Hell, even the wrong way will do. Let's do this.

THE VOLCANO BOOMBOX: Lan Wangji has a... bit of an unfortunate history with volcano-like abysses, so he'll be significantly less composed and more carelessly prone to bloodletting than usual. Throughout, he's here to help rescue tributes, or if anyone needs a hand staying safe at the volcano rim, whether by delivering water/magical goods, or helping... pick up/keep watch over anyone keen to absorb the magic.

EXORCISM, THO: ...needless to say, if you're absorbing the volcano magic and want someone to play you a very nice and definitely not repetitive magical tune to help your senses, give him a call. He might, ah, also just 'volunteer' it. Shamelessly.

NEED HELP WITH ANYTHING? the temple defenders, definitely! Also, he's helping Dany look for the Huntress and Beastmaster's son, so if anyone else wants to join the search party?

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