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lostcompass2022-10-20 06:33 pm
groundrules) wrote in lostcompass2022-10-20 06:33 pm
Entry tags:
the clock tower | plotting post
Happy Hallo—get in the elevator!
Our next log goes live on 22 October, and you can find below a stripped-down summary of major points. The log itself will have more window dressing atmospheric details. Please mind the content warnings ♥
The event lasts between 22 October and 8 November OOCly, but characters ICly have around one week in the Neutral Zone clock tower. Per the Merchant’s plan, the aim is to infiltrate the tower and burn talismans, so the sorceress Karsa can activate a spell that reveals the extent of undeath in Serthica. Karsa provides the talismans before the party heads into the tower. Placing Magnus’ dragon eye before the tower’s telescope will make it so characters can always see Serthica’s undeath, moving forward.
An early-November mod post will summarise what is revealed when Karsa’s spell activates, depending on how many talismans are burned.
ALL IS AS ALL WAS
Finally back in Minaras and Eidris, you find the damage that preceded the Unwinding has disappeared, with citizens convinced you were always part of the citadel. New buildings appear, everything feels fresh. No one remembers the Unwinding, with some even forgetting the Remembrance group.
Of note:
✘ TRIAL AND NO ERRORS
Minaras High Councillor Arabella and Eidris King Thivar attend the annual Reckoning trials to publicly adjudicate cases that violated the honour and safety of either citadel half. They are watched by guards who would typically protect the Old Heart.
Prolong the trials to buy your companions time to infiltrate:
THE CLOCK TOWER
The clock tower of Vassarizhia is watched by a token guard force — true horror awaits inside. The tower spreads over five levels, accessible through two dilapidated elevators. A sign says to quickly find and access the lever that will restart your elevator, if it is stuck at one of the levels.
Your elevator can stop at as many levels as you want.
ELEVATOR ETIQUETTE
LEVEL I: THE LABYRINTH
CONTENT WARNING: MINOTAUR, BODY HORROR
You are trapped in a semi-flooded labyrinth occupied by hands that seek to throttle you and an enormous but weak-sighted minotaur (and his whiny little brother). If you imbibe any of the water — willingly or as a result of a drowning attempt… — you painfully mutate: half-human, half-woodland creature. Although blood thirsting, you retain some human consciousness and recover if you reach the elevator.
LEVEL II: THE ANCESTOR
CONTENT WARNING: GIANT SKELETON
This all-stone level numbers several water fountains with prickling needles and thorns. It includes a giant rope-chained skeleton, which partly emerges from a wall. This creature, the Ancestor, holds the lever in its great fist and crushes or pummels those who come close — unless they bring ‘wine.’ The Ancestor cannot pursue when you exit striking range. As no wine is present, you must improvise: take a fountain bowl and convince the blind, tasteless creature the water is alcohol, infuse water with blood, or...? Once sated, the Ancestor releases the lever.
LEVEL III: TAG! YOU’RE IT
CONTENT WARNING: SKINNING, SCARECROWS
You step into a pitch-dark level, armed with a candle. Humanoid abominations patched from wax, cogs, skinned flesh and burlap help or hinder you as you are chased in a monstrous game of ‘tag’ by a corrupted wiry scarecrow and its cleaver. The lever is in the middle of a circle, where candle fire spells out, TAKE THEM, NOT ME. Struggle not to utter the phrase, when the scarecrow catches you and threatens slaughter — or utter it and condemn your companion to become the next prey of the Tag game, while the abominations take the shape of the (physically or morally) worst version of you.
LEVEL IV: THE ROOM WHERE NOTHING HAPPENS
CONTENT WARNING: MANIPULATION, MENTAL COERCION
The lever is right in front of you on a table, as you enter a room that immediately shifts to contain whatever or whoever it is you most desperately desire to see. The room can only focus on one person, which it tries to rapidly drain of life energy. Your companions can see this is an illusion, but must struggle to pull or coax you out — while your dreams slowly become nightmares.
LEVEL V: IT’S RAINING (AGAIN)
CONTENT WARNING: PLAGUE, THE CHILD
Reaching the turret top level of the tower, you find the watch telescope and a small fire pit. Some can burn their talisman paper easily. Others might be overcome by sickness, black fungal spores blooming on their fingers, while they cough blood or experience high fevers — crawl to the pit, burn the talisman and the symptoms disappear.
The child with a fox mask from the Unwinding appears. Sign up here by 23:59 GMT on 24 October for one of three short threads, which must be completed by 3 November.
More details forthcoming in the log post, but also open for big-picture QUESTIONS.
Plot & plan your evil in the comments, using the form below. Don’t forget to include descriptions if your character transforms on Level I, what the worst versions of themselves look like if they (unknowingly?) betray a companion during Tag on Level III, or what their Rooms are like, for Level IV.
Finally back in Minaras and Eidris, you find the damage that preceded the Unwinding has disappeared, with citizens convinced you were always part of the citadel. New buildings appear, everything feels fresh. No one remembers the Unwinding, with some even forgetting the Remembrance group.
Of note:
- ■ Mannequin and tar people watch you from reflective and window surfaces.
■ You sometimes hear scratching in Eidris walls.
■ Minaras has doubled its bounty for a man not unlike Leonard McCoy.
■ Minaras medical centres are throwing out more and more vials and experimentation gear infected with black fungal spores.
■ Previously comatose Ellethia survivor Zenobius awakens. Sign up by 23:59 GMT on 24 October for RNG draw for a short chat with him, minding the notes. Zenobius' caretakers Wei Wuxian and Anduin can also have a thread, but please confirm wanting it by the same deadline.
✘ TRIAL AND NO ERRORS
Minaras High Councillor Arabella and Eidris King Thivar attend the annual Reckoning trials to publicly adjudicate cases that violated the honour and safety of either citadel half. They are watched by guards who would typically protect the Old Heart.
Prolong the trials to buy your companions time to infiltrate:
- ■ Create a terrible distraction — flood the judgement halls? Fire? Illusions?
■ Pose as the culprits or accusers in a fictional trial: perhaps you are assigned to Eidris, and you caught this wicked, wicked Minaras citizen, who is certainly not your best friend, raiding your home? Mayhap this wretched man of Eidris stole your girlfriend? What, you’re a Minaraian who’s wanted to kill King Thivar all along?
■ ...be sure to organise breakouts from the makeshift glorified Sanctuary closet jails, in case Thivar or Arabella decree you must be jailed. Get a sentence here.
THE CLOCK TOWER
The clock tower of Vassarizhia is watched by a token guard force — true horror awaits inside. The tower spreads over five levels, accessible through two dilapidated elevators. A sign says to quickly find and access the lever that will restart your elevator, if it is stuck at one of the levels.
Your elevator can stop at as many levels as you want.
ELEVATOR ETIQUETTE
- ■ Each narrow lift carriage can hold up to four people, crammed. The upper half of the carriage is chain-link fence, while the bottom is wood. The elevator floors are hatches that sometimes open mid-travel, closing back within 30 seconds. Hold on to the chain-link or the four leather straps descending from the ceiling.
■ The creaking squeals of the elevator can awaken swarms of 1m-tall bats that rattle the carriage.
■ Riding beyond the second level, you feel intensely paranoid and see those around you as the persons you most fear/hate. If you reach the topmost level, you might be tempted to cut the lift ropes of anyone coming after you.
LEVEL I: THE LABYRINTH
CONTENT WARNING: MINOTAUR, BODY HORROR
You are trapped in a semi-flooded labyrinth occupied by hands that seek to throttle you and an enormous but weak-sighted minotaur (and his whiny little brother). If you imbibe any of the water — willingly or as a result of a drowning attempt… — you painfully mutate: half-human, half-woodland creature. Although blood thirsting, you retain some human consciousness and recover if you reach the elevator.
LEVEL II: THE ANCESTOR
CONTENT WARNING: GIANT SKELETON
This all-stone level numbers several water fountains with prickling needles and thorns. It includes a giant rope-chained skeleton, which partly emerges from a wall. This creature, the Ancestor, holds the lever in its great fist and crushes or pummels those who come close — unless they bring ‘wine.’ The Ancestor cannot pursue when you exit striking range. As no wine is present, you must improvise: take a fountain bowl and convince the blind, tasteless creature the water is alcohol, infuse water with blood, or...? Once sated, the Ancestor releases the lever.
LEVEL III: TAG! YOU’RE IT
CONTENT WARNING: SKINNING, SCARECROWS
You step into a pitch-dark level, armed with a candle. Humanoid abominations patched from wax, cogs, skinned flesh and burlap help or hinder you as you are chased in a monstrous game of ‘tag’ by a corrupted wiry scarecrow and its cleaver. The lever is in the middle of a circle, where candle fire spells out, TAKE THEM, NOT ME. Struggle not to utter the phrase, when the scarecrow catches you and threatens slaughter — or utter it and condemn your companion to become the next prey of the Tag game, while the abominations take the shape of the (physically or morally) worst version of you.
LEVEL IV: THE ROOM WHERE NOTHING HAPPENS
CONTENT WARNING: MANIPULATION, MENTAL COERCION
The lever is right in front of you on a table, as you enter a room that immediately shifts to contain whatever or whoever it is you most desperately desire to see. The room can only focus on one person, which it tries to rapidly drain of life energy. Your companions can see this is an illusion, but must struggle to pull or coax you out — while your dreams slowly become nightmares.
LEVEL V: IT’S RAINING (AGAIN)
CONTENT WARNING: PLAGUE, THE CHILD
Reaching the turret top level of the tower, you find the watch telescope and a small fire pit. Some can burn their talisman paper easily. Others might be overcome by sickness, black fungal spores blooming on their fingers, while they cough blood or experience high fevers — crawl to the pit, burn the talisman and the symptoms disappear.
The child with a fox mask from the Unwinding appears. Sign up here by 23:59 GMT on 24 October for one of three short threads, which must be completed by 3 November.
More details forthcoming in the log post, but also open for big-picture QUESTIONS.
Plot & plan your evil in the comments, using the form below. Don’t forget to include descriptions if your character transforms on Level I, what the worst versions of themselves look like if they (unknowingly?) betray a companion during Tag on Level III, or what their Rooms are like, for Level IV.
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