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lostcompass2021-03-27 04:42 pm
groundrules) wrote in lostcompass2021-03-27 04:42 pm
Entry tags:
sa-hareth | i
Bright and early, wakey-wakey.
Wherever, whatever, however, whenever, whoever you were doing — is officially on PAUSE.
It’s a rush job, but don’t blame the getaway drivers — the intrepid rescue teams that are liberating you from hard chain and wall strappings still have dozens like you to release, one at a time. Poppy-drugged and haze-minded, some running wound fevers, you only earn bare-bone instructions after rose quartz necklace is thrust in your hand. This slip of nothing will allow you to grasp foreign speech for two days while you wear it:
Characters are rescued from one of two locations. They have all been warded, stripping them of access to their native magic or spiritual and physical weapons. Characters with superior strength or physical prowess have been sedated. These effects will wear off gradually in 72 hours. Pick your path & poison:
A. SALT MINES
B. OLD JAILHOUSE
COMMUNICATION
• Regrettably, no more fancy translation rose quartz pieces are freely available for characters’ use. They can always be stolen or purchased from other city dwellers. Merchants should have a-plenty.
• The House of Dew operates translation spells in most areas, typically to ensure courtesans can liaise with their customers.
• Good news! If theynick procure a rose quartz piece again, characters can access and visualise a makeshift magical ‘network’ communication platform, calling the House of Dew!
• ...bad news! While Tamaiu allows refugees one private network channel, she’s not ponying up the money for a premium connection. There will be frequent peripheral noise and characters will be able to hear courtesans discussing at length with their customers. They will also inherit the creative usernames of existing courtesans.
• Channel communication can take place in writing (translating whatever characters jot down in whatever way, from parchment to a stick in the sand) or verbally. Visual communication is not advisable, as basic rose quartz communicators aren't sophisticated enough to pull clear mental footage, and will instead stitch together a series of blinks, mental impressions of place, and hazy afterthoughts.
• Nothing quite like a character inbox system yet!
THE OOC LAUNDRY LIST
Wherever, whatever, however, whenever, whoever you were doing — is officially on PAUSE.
It’s a rush job, but don’t blame the getaway drivers — the intrepid rescue teams that are liberating you from hard chain and wall strappings still have dozens like you to release, one at a time. Poppy-drugged and haze-minded, some running wound fevers, you only earn bare-bone instructions after rose quartz necklace is thrust in your hand. This slip of nothing will allow you to grasp foreign speech for two days while you wear it:
| "You are in west-northern province city Sa-Hareth. You were brought to serve warlord Unhalad. He will kill you for your strength. He has killed — see the many bones beside you — countless of your kind before. Be at the House of Dew within the fortnight, in the Merchant Arena. That way. Go east." |
Characters are rescued from one of two locations. They have all been warded, stripping them of access to their native magic or spiritual and physical weapons. Characters with superior strength or physical prowess have been sedated. These effects will wear off gradually in 72 hours. Pick your path & poison:
A. SALT MINES
 |
| • Characters were summoned unconscious from their homelands within the past 3-5 days and have been chained and detained in the tundra plateau atop the salt mines. • Now and then, waking from narcotic spells, characters have been able to glimpse the undead legions of Unhalad: largely humanoid and decaying, but preserved by the unyielding cold. They have little awareness past accepting orders from their humanoid, slack, pale-skinned and long-limbed lieutenants. The base undead have occasionally stolen captives and covered themselves in their blood or their limbs, seeking warmth. • Captives have been culled every two-three days, given as rewards to the undead. • Characters are rescued at night, by a team of six, who light fires to dispel pursuers. The flame circle also cuts off exits beyond the salt mines. • The mines can be entered through a lattice of suffocating tunnels, or a very rickety cart ride down, if characters collectively restart some stuck levers. • Once inside, the salt mines are a steep, labyrinthine construction, possessed of pointy edges. • Centuries ago, hare salt, dense and pure, was Sa-Hareth’s core & cruelly exploited currency. Some infrastructure persists: the rare lit torch, abandoned tools. Miners still attended mere weeks ago — torn blankets, twice-cooked biscuits, salted (why, yes) fish are still strewn about. Bundle up from the chills, replenish, keep walking. • If luck prevails, characters might stumble on a makeshift encampment, where miners who fled Unhalad stashed barrels of oil and fresh water, lamps, clothes and resilient foods. • The undead above might have had some discipline, but the undead risen of the salt mines are completely devoid of human awareness, ravenous and impatient for warmth. They stir at the smallest sound, fast and savage, prone to hunting in packs. Happily, their sight’s dulled, and many died surrounded and fearful of salt, so they struggle to discern shades of white. • The undead can be deterred easier than killed. Simply stabbed, they’ll keep walking. Lacking limbs, they might carry on. Best to dismember them, or severe their heads. Better still: avoid them. Run (silently). • Keep east. There’s a slippery slope up somewhere, to the outskirts of Sa-Hareth. |
B. OLD JAILHOUSE
 |
| • Characters were recently summoned from their home worlds into Sa-Harent’s defunct jailhouse, within the 24 hours that precede the rescue. Lightly battered, they've been immediately put to work, with Unhalad’s lieutenants • The rusting and decrepit jailhouse is stuck by the cliff-side and grazed by water. Some cells barely hold together, their chains set to break. • Unhalad has left few undead to patrol the area, but they look significantly more strapping than Anurr’s larger (if captive) undead forces. Unhalad's resurrected here behave similarly to those of the salt mines. • Past midnight, characters hear alarm bells because of a jail uprising They are freed from their individual, sturdier cells, and directed east — deeper in the jail, before they can (hopefully) reach the kitchens and travel through the supply tunnels to an uneasy exit. • Some characters might still be loosely bound together with rope or chain. • The inevitable problem: not only are Unhalad’s forces on the run, so are Anurr’s freed and starving factions. • Topping everything, there are the lingering ghosts and spirits of previous captives that are looking to compromise or possess passers-by. • On exiting the old jailhouse, characters must infiltrate or beg passage to the mainland on the ferry boat that delivers morning supplies. Alternatively, they can tackle the long, chilly and undead-patrolled bridge walk. Good luck with that! |
| SA-HARETH |
 |
| Citadel of... someone else’s dreams, the grudging seat of Unhalad’s power for the past 18 months, conquered from his predecessor Anurr and isolated from the west by frozen waters and teeth-rattling chills. A large segment of the population fled during recent hostilities, but the city receives enough naval commerce that the merchant fleets have stayed. Sa-Hareth's activity has shifted from the salt mining of previous decades to commerce and the Merchants’ Arena — frequent markets, with cloth, spice, food and work wares trading hands through open auction. Despite the milling undead, the air isn’t fraught with tensions or terror, as if the population’s gotten used to war and compromise. Characters cruising Sa-Hareth might want to try the occasional disguise to escape the scrutiny of native undead. Notable locations: La Rea: a renown and swarming bank, managing local and foreign interests. The ports: several, typically focused on the type of ware received. The lifeblood of Sa-Hareth’s economy. Main market: the centre of administration, justice and taverns, alongside auction houses. The House of Dew: a declining luxury brothel. The forges: crude and somewhat cold, but working. Find your flame or your weapon of choice. The customs: highly regulated exits that characters will need to breach shortly... |
| HOUSE OF DEW |
 |
| Welcome to the Dew House! Good of you to make it. You’ve arrived at a bustling, clean and strangely sophisticated brothel enjoying a wealth of high-end clientele. The brothel keeper, old woman Tamaiu has been paid off handsomely to tolerate your stench and ushers you into the servant quarters, where you’ll be offered the rags du jour and fresh, steamy... millet. Some medical supplies are available, but scarce and largely there to attend the sort of wounding received by the House of Dew’s workers in their line of service. Characters who stay inside until the rendez-vous will be assigned basic cleaning and mending duties, but always whisked away from the discerning eyes of clients. Days before the rendez-vous, familiar faces from the rescue parties, disguised as suppliers, will bring in some trinkets over two deliveries — characters’ clothing and weapons. They confirm that the mastermind of their escape, an anonymous Merchant, is attempting to broker their passage out of Sa-Hareth — the trouble, so far, is coin.  A HELPFUL HAND: ASSIGNMENT The more coin for bribes and travel fees, the better. Characters are encouraged to help the fundraising effort and expedite their own exit: explore the city, beg, play the auctions, rob a bank, go back to raid the salt mines, start a cult. Sa-Hareth is your freezing oyster. |
COMMUNICATION
• Regrettably, no more fancy translation rose quartz pieces are freely available for characters’ use. They can always be stolen or purchased from other city dwellers. Merchants should have a-plenty.
• The House of Dew operates translation spells in most areas, typically to ensure courtesans can liaise with their customers.
• Good news! If they
• ...bad news! While Tamaiu allows refugees one private network channel, she’s not ponying up the money for a premium connection. There will be frequent peripheral noise and characters will be able to hear courtesans discussing at length with their customers. They will also inherit the creative usernames of existing courtesans.
• Channel communication can take place in writing (translating whatever characters jot down in whatever way, from parchment to a stick in the sand) or verbally. Visual communication is not advisable, as basic rose quartz communicators aren't sophisticated enough to pull clear mental footage, and will instead stitch together a series of blinks, mental impressions of place, and hazy afterthoughts.
• Nothing quite like a character inbox system yet!
THE OOC LAUNDRY LIST
- Intro post for all newcomers!
- Sa-Hareth arrival log
- Event questions for the mod
- Salt mines route sign-ups | Old jailhouse route sign-ups
- Intro post for all newcomers!
no subject
Being the dramatic loser that he is, during the jailbreak lee chang is gonna want to organize as many of the npcs as possible into escaping with them, because of course he does. He'll even walk in slow mo into the kitchen and flip some knives up into his sleeves as he does it. So, for Anurr's people specifically, would he be able to convince them to band together and follow him once he has his talking crystal? He would end up telling them to scatter into safe hiding once they were out anyway, so he's not keeping an army around, but I figured it may mean his face is a little more recognizable to them in particular later.
no subject
However, they're a different breed from Unhalad's, both naturally and circumstantially more intelligent — they've been nearly starved out since the takeover, and they've had to become crafty in their approach. They mime awareness and human behaviour much better than Unhalad's factions, and the distance of the jails and the very dim lighting of the jailhouse might satisfactorily hide their resurrected features until they lure their victim close.
Lee Chang wouldn't have to pit them against Unhalad's people. He'd have to let them out, or even throw a key their way or somehow facilitate their getting that key, then stand aside somehow out of range, while they dash out — they'd go straight for Unhalad's undead, and some of them would remember who let them loose. They might or might not repay that debt in the future, when the party runs into Anurr's factions again.
However, some would argue that doing this would also morally make Lee Chang partly responsible for the raiding Anurr's factions do, once they're released. And they're very hungry.
Tell me here if you want Lee Chang to go ahead with this.
Just as a note: there is an uprising of Anurr's forces irrespective of what Lee Chang proceeds with, but his involvement in the way you suggested could affect future interaction with Anurr's forces and how they behave.
no subject
Okay I'm thinking that yeah he probably wouldn't realise that they were undead until it was too late, then be like "oh god"
Are the cells on different floors / tiers by any chance? Two ideas:
One, he can toss the keys down a level to a cell to let them let themselves out and then witness what happens after that, or:
Two, he can murder an undead guard in front of their cell, then shove the body over to them with his foot and tell them to grab the key and follow him
When you say largely undead - do you mean there are a few non undead ones? Because if he met those first he would have even fewer qualms about setting in motion the freeing of the rest, before he knows what they are.
no subject
Either of the two ideas is fine.
All I ask is that you play out the scene, either as a short standalone tag (don't focus on excessive length) featuring just Lee Chang, or as part of one of Lee Chang's jailhouse threads — then link back here.
If you do decide to make it part of a shared thread, let me know please if the other player's character would also be seen by Anurr's forces and attributed as part of their escape.
no subject
I will link it back here when it's up c:
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no subject
guilt looks gorgeous on this boy
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