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lostcompass2022-12-01 07:30 pm
groundrules) wrote in lostcompass2022-12-01 07:30 pm
Entry tags:
december activity + arc iv: conclusion
Hey everyone! The November activity results and the aftermath summary of Arc IV: Serthica doze merrily below — along with a special visit from a beloved friend. Arc badges to follow in a few days!
To sum up the updated calendar, the year’s last invite-only application cycle ends on 23:59 on 4 December, and you’ll get full details about our five-week eerie? cooldown setup event on 5 December.
As a reminder, there are no activity requirements in December, unless you’re clearing a strike from November.
Folks with insufficient activity last month:
- Su Xunxian | topoiran — RECLAIMED
Please shout by 5 December to reclaim, or to link any November AC threads that may have been missed!
PLACES, PLACES
In wake of the party’s efforts, Wrathion secures the Child’s cooperation to raise and preserve the dead of Serthica until the month’s end. On borrowed time, the group successfully disperses local magical corruption and creates a cure to the curse-sickness of Serthica. As of 1 December, every human, animal or plant being in Eidris or Minaras now feels alive to necromancers and life-sensitive characters.
Modern miracles come with a price tag: to achieve this resurrection, the Child has also used the energy and cells of the mannequins that Yelena learned have been used to substitute the dead of Eidris and Minaras over the year. The mannequin under Finn’s protection is the last of her kind to survive untouched.
The newly resurrected people and entities have an imperfect memory of the past five years and do not recall they ever perished — but have an innate sense that life is special and should be protected, not wasted on conflict. Eidris and Minaras steer towards reconciliation, both remaining overground. Free passage is now restored to and from the Mouse House. Ma’am Mariol can get the handsomest overground potatoes.
As the eggs Daenerys and Jon Snow rescued from the Sibilant Sands hatch beautiful dragons, young warlord Cain d’Ubiq reaches out to the group with the following voice message:
”…dragons. You even – you even brought back dragons, after everything… you’ve seen – now you believe me. You’ve seen everything, you… you’ve… you made it right again. I don’t know how. I don’t care to ask how.
Five years ago. Us — the few of us. A handful. Just a… a handful. We flew the dragons and colours of Eidris into the Sibilant Sands and met Minaras, and we’d said, we’d all said, one last encounter — and whoever wins can decide how we handle the sickness that spread… spread everywhere and… it was everywhere. We had fire. And Minaras… had learned cannons and — the Sands were all ablaze. Just me and some of the aerial units patrolling for sickness returned. Chrichter’s people. And what we found — you saw. You imagine. Everything… sick. And dead. What was that war for? What is any war for, what — …there was nothing to do. Nothing to hope for.
The boy, the burned boy, he came and… he offered. More than half of Serthica perished. But he said – and he was a child, who believes a child? But… he made it happen. Made the doll who were men, him and his… friend. That man. That man, one day, I’ll kill him. I didn’t want — …but the dolls played pretend so well. They couldn’t operate the city, we kept having to – to procure lubricants, the facilities rusted, the boy kept having to rebuild the buildings that fell, and the… the… there are so many parts to a city, and to people and… and the dolls kept breaking. Kept… having to be restored, and — people aren’t… they’re not… fools. Not. Really. They can… suspect, after a time, no matter how good the dolls were, they just – they know it’s not right. It doesn’t feel right.
So that boy’s little orphans started writing letters to the people below. Those poor fools. Pretending they were from… they…
Then Chrichter said… said, give them something to worry about. You know what keeps people distracted? Conflict. Explosions. Boom. He said — I tried warning Arabella, I tried – but no one believed me. So Remembrance was born. And I said, I… I don’t want to know. What he does. I don’t – just don’t tell me.
And I’m saying, what you did. To make this happen, to make this all go away, I… I don’t want – I’m not. I’m asking. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know. I’m… I’m just. Grateful. For this. For you. For the dragons. Thank you.”
PUT YOUR TOYS AWAY
A great, groaning tremor shatters the streets of the Neutral Zone on 4 December, toppling the clock tower of Vassarizhia into quickly scattering, mould-consumed debris. Within heartbeats, little remains: only the cracked plaque of the clock, and a scattering of parchment papers previously found within the Tower: I’M SORRY.
Hunt long and far, the Child has fled Serthica. On one side of his white umbrella,
But never mind that. The tower’s destruction reveals a lower-ground level, where sleeps Serthica’s ancient but functional beacon. The party’s second witch, Hatisse completes the summons to awaken it on 5 December, but the turmoiled magic of Serthica leaves the connection fragile. Characters are called to return to their homes, starting with those who were dropped or activity-swept in recent weeks.
Inevitably, the beacon’s strength wanes, and the last characters who passed through it are expelled back from fresh timelines. Note: if you’re updating the canon timepoint of your character, please know they would have no memories, scars, powers or items gained in Akhuras while they are briefly in their home worlds. They may regain their memories upon return.
The beacon will also bring in any newly arrived characters, wrenched from their home worlds — but that’s a problem for 5 December.
In the meantime:
- ✘ Drop two-three lines summarising what your character’s Arc IV activity to get a reward — while characters who submitted task threads in the log finale can already find their loot here.
✘ enjoy Santa Claws!
RECLAIM A CHARACTER
Please know you'll have to produce full activity in December — thanks!
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REWARDS
Unlike in real life, no good deed goes financially unrewarded — drop a very short summary (let’s cap it at six lines, if we can?) of what your character’s done in Serthica, and a custom reward will be generated for them.
Rules of engagement:
✘ don’t worry if you joined midway — your character still qualifies. This is more to figure out what reward to give them.
Characters who submitted threads destroying anchors, making or distributing the cure have their rewards in the first comment below.
Please submit your summaries by 23:59 GMT on 4 December in a comment below by filling out:
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Below are the rewards awarded if you’ve submitted Arc finale activity with your character’s participation in NPC threads, the cure making & distribution or the anchor breaking. Give a shout if you can’t really work with the reward, or if it’s too close to an item your character already possesses — we’ll try to figure out something different.
As a perk for their curse-cure work, all of the characters below can:
✘ those who owned, befriended or fell in love with a droid can fully take it with them on departure.
✘ each character gets exactly one bottle of cheap Mouse House lubricant. It is good for nearly nothing. It reeks.
Anduin — three small glass baubles that allow him to leave behind some of his Light/purification energy at a location and get reconnaissance intel on how the area has been or is corrupted by dark energies over time.
Clara — the Child’s umbrella and a red rose with 25 gold-tipped petals. Pluck one, and Clara becomes invisible and undetectable for 30 minutes.
Doctor — a pocket watch that tells the distance (in walking time) from the person you are actively missing or thinking of. The clock hands keep spinning if he is thinking of someone dead or unborn.
Emilia — a wreath of ten flowers — pluck one and lay it down, and it will absorb noxious and corrupted energies (including something as strong as dark water) for up to a 1 km radius. She can root one of the flowers and enjoy up to three new blossoms/month, if she wants!
Hermione — A book on Serthica’s tax legislation, where someone seems to have highlit what exactly constitutes ftaud and the punishments for false fraud allegations. A mirror that lets her see any living person she wishes to, once, for one hour. They cannot see her in return.
Lan Wangji — just the perks above.
Kamala — a small pendant of your choice that lets her teleport in/out of an area, within a 2-km radius. Can only be used once a day. A collection of
hauntedstaring, beady-eyed Victorian dolls.Red — a collar that lets her borrow the image of someone near her when worn, irrespective of what her form is when wearing it. Can copy the likeness of NPCs freely, but PC ones with player permission, please. Can be used once a day, for up to 15 minutes at a time.
Wei Wuxian — from Minaras’ finest chemists, a potion/herbal recipe for dreamless sleep. Your choice how often Wei Wuxian can access the ingredients/make it.
Wrath — permanent access to Serthica’s legal and police files, for his detective work. A summon ward to bring in one of his dogs. You have to feed it. It can intermittently sleep/disappear in the ward’s territory when Wrath wants to hide or travel light.
Wrathion — dragon catnip; a ‘snow globe’ of miniature Serthica, showing exactly where the dragons of Serthica are in real time and what they’re doing.
Yelena — Chrichter’s mask, which renders the user invulnerable to toxins and illusions.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? Kahl helped sneak people onto the train just before the Unwinding by pretending to be a laborer loading cargo.
Throughout the arc he got very attached to the dragon he was given, trying to treat them like a brother. Meanwhile, he held up proceedings at the court hearings by temporarily ditching his communicator, leaving our lad Jimmy the Saul Goodman to "translate" for him. Kahl then burned a talisman up in the tower.
While the thread is still ongoing and was therefore not submitted, he and Clara Oswald went to place wards in the mansion.
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? Sure, Kahl likes practical soldier things like guns and stuff, but there's more to him than that! Kahl is fond of ugly gifts from friends, looking nice (i.e. things he can affix to his armor and cool eyepatches), and he canonically has a very huggable stuffed animal back home in his canon. Do with this information as you will.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? Walking behind the Doctor and apologizing for his weirdness!
After burning a talisman, Clara had a conversation with the Child that may or may not have helped anything. She wanted to snatch that umbrella from his hands but instead, she nicely gave it back and then he left it, no take backs.
Since she voted to stay, she went everywhere she could to help. She set wards with the Doctor, Red, Wangji, and Kahl, saved Yelena from the hands of death, and somehow she kept both her and Vanessa alive long enough to get out of dead sea. (lol)
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? Something she can read would be so nice, a book of stories or legends/myths from anywhere.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? Finn helped find the music box and everyone's favorite mannequin. Now that she's "alive," he's also been helping her by learning how to communicate, clothing her, etc. Also giving her ample pats on the back now that Jim's away.
He also went into the tower, helped a few of his peers survive.
He & the Doctor gathered the others to help Mariol and the orphans by raising money and favors to get them out. They also gave info about the gas(?) in the Mouse House.
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? Not really but... ideas... Finn would like a new jacket. But mostly, he wants to get some more things for Anna. Clothes, maybe some trinkets, or a big cloak to hide her in every now and then. Otherwise, he always thinks new weapons are useful. Maybe a sword for foreshadowing purposes, lol.
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Let's give him a rougher version of this jacket, patched and stitched back together again by our good Mouse House orphan friends. The seams aren't at their best. Sorry about that.
No clothes for Anna, but he can have a magical GPS (attack it to a collar or her clothes) for her inevitable manic mannequin toddler days, when she starts developing enough consciousness for a rebellious streak. You're welcome.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? helped purify the cursed Magic in the Mouse House
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? I've been wanting Xie Lian to get a sword forever but because I can never let him have nice things, I think he should probably get a very battered one that needs a lot of care and some restoration, probably.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA?
She got passports from Bale. She humored boring suitors for so long (the real strife). She helped secure power supplies for Minaras through cons and theft (Wrathion and The Doctor). She summoned demon bats and Cerberus to save The Doctor and Red. She burned Karsa's talisman, but argued with the Child. She 'hired' Constantine to try to talk Bale into helping again. The threads are ongoing, but she went to the manor (Charles) and the docks (Caitlyn and Clara) to place wards and speak to the man-in-white. Tried saving Clara but boffed it.
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? I love your surprises, so I hate to limit you! Maybe something for guidance/inspiration (good and/or bad)? Or some kind of gun? Or a spell scroll? I don't know, really.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? Dragon eggs! Finding and protecting until they hatched.
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? I'm mainly here in the hopes of also having a permanent dragon friend, esp since he developed facility with riding them so suspiciously quickly for a supposed Stark.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? Five and Una robbed a factory of parts to help when the lights went out in Minaras. He took a trip with Licyn to steal the group’s passport papers (as you do). Then went with Una and Magnus on the dragon eye trip and dug up some scales. After that he went up the tower to burn Karsa's talisman and taunt the child with news of his murdered dad. Met Licyn again to spread talismans at the docks, but that thread is ongoing!
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? I'm all for him getting something useless, as you like! Jesse suggested a blanket that only makes you cold and that's the vibe. It's what he deserves.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? She found and hatched dragon eggs from stone. While she won't take credit for it, Drogon helped spread the cure around.
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? Surprise me!
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? He joined forces with Kim and Constantine to drag out court proceedings (by alleging someone had trained their pet bird to do an insulting impression of the king), and similarly wasted the court's time with Kahl. He also has a couple ongoing threads where he may end up destroying an anchor, but he may just wind up yelling at people in a greenhouse, so.
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? 🙅♂️ no pets please 🙅♀️ (I'm a hater)
Jimmy would appreciate anything tacky and honestly I'd love some Mouse House lubricant, I can think of many PG-RATED USES FOR IT.
And just as an aside, thank you so much for the thought and effort you put into this! It's so, so cool to see all the parts of this plot come together (even if my char is determined to live in ignorance for as long as possible ahahahaahah).
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? Kim sacrificed her drone to investigating infiltrating the tower, assisted in causing courtroom distractions by teaming up with Jimmy and Constantine and by creating legal snafus. She also investigated former residents of the Mouse House and their lives in Serthica.
(I'm also continuing to backtag a thread where she's searching the greenhouse, but November was The Worst Month of My Life™ so if that doesn't get to anything plot-functional, the attempt will have to do. Along those lines, my apologies for not following up with the Mouse House investigations; I did enjoy that NPC thread a lot.)
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? Kim is a largely practical person who appreciates anything functional, and is likely to ditch anything veering sentimental. That said, something protective would be cool because she'd be more confident in taking risks.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? Helped discover the womb room in the Remembrance's first HQ. Then ascended the tower of terror to burn talismans.
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? It'd be really nice if he could get like a qiankun pouch or sleeve or something, but that's probably spoiling him. If not, he could use something for his dang self-esteem/guilt/etc.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? Probably?? didn't go grave-robbing despite being down and ready for it. Stumbled upon the Remembrance's new operation after the Unwinding. Also had a bad time riding the elevator to burn more talismans.
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? The proper kind of oils and such to clean his sword so he doesn't fall apart one day.
Or, like, anything to make him look prettier. It's very important.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? Viktor spent a lot of time fiddling with his droids, and also with other people's droids. During the finale, he broke into the Academy with the crew and put his giant science brain to work to help with the cure.
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? ex: I put all of my faith in you
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Re: REWARDS
CHARACTER: River Song
HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? Unfortunately, November was a rough life month, so both my ladies missed out on the finale. But River made the journey up the Tower of hell to burn a talisman earlier in the month.
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? Nope! Surprise her.
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HOW DID THEY GRACE/CURSE SERTHICA? Licyn was ... more useful than he could have been, in reflection. He helped track down grease when that was needed early on with the Doctor; he was easy squirming through the Mouse House as a wolf or a man. After the Unwinding, he took employ from Five to guard Five's rambling notation papers, coordinated for people to make or find lamp and cooking oil for the orphanage and nearby populated buildings (so that the orphanage wouldn't be expressly targeted), discovered accidentally that the Remembrance was making a new headquarters, flirted often and to no success with PCs, made many NPCs very happy in bed which gets weird when you think about how many people must have been sacks or dead (whoops), and then threw in as a wolf, mostly, after serious harm in the Tower. Dragged more than one PC to the flames to burn things, only human (and nude) with Emilia, because her life needed that window dressing. Was wolf witness to the child with Clara, that kid was messed up? Anyone want to acknowledge that and not mess with said kid? For the cure, he helped with Five plastering the dock to be extra sure the searing thing stopped doing whatever it was doing.
ANY PREFERENCE ON THE REWARD? Something to make his magic signature/fact he leaks/overflows magic all over not easy for locals to detect, maybe, but with a comedic twist??? idk be free to whatever amuses you, that's my suggestion for a useful but open to ridiculous option
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