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lostcompass2024-01-10 05:11 pm
groundrules) wrote in lostcompass2024-01-10 05:11 pm
welcome, welcome | hatthevar
Welcome to the game’s final Arc: Hatthevar, kicking off with a first event on 13 January. Check out:
But first:
BEAUTY & THE BURNED: INTERLUDE CONCLUSION
The party’s suspicions prove correct: the beauty Julien is also the witch who came to punish the clan of castle Netvor for its senseless cruelty towards woodland animals during its Red Hunt. Julien cursed the tacitly complicit prince and servants into beasts and objects until the forest is revitalised. Some of the wicked members of Netvor were transformed into demonic wolves. Remaining at the palace, the witch fell in love with the prince and has been encouraging him to restore the forests to Julien’s nebulous, seemingly never-arriving satisfaction.
After an exchange with Nami and Nynaeve, Julien concedes to lift the curse off the innocent castle servants, who gratefully return to their human appearance with immediate effect. The princely beast must serve the forest another one hundred days to regain his true form — while his family, turned wolfish, will only become human once more when the prince sees fit.
Below is a loose summary of what to expect from the arrival log of Hatthevar on Saturday, when you will receive further cosmetic details.
With the blizzard and tragedy of castle Netvor behind them, the party journeys on to Hatthevar, former cradle of superstition now fallen in the hands of undead maker Matthias. Using local beacons, he summons spirits from different worlds and points in time, giving them flesh in the citadel. Unlike the undead encountered elsewhere, these dead retain their awareness and personality.
Sensing Matthias’ distraction, undead Lords have been slowly encircling Hatthevar with vicious forces to usurp him — so far, to no avail. The citadel’s only entryway is heavily guarded by enormous ghosts that consume men and floating spirits strangle them with chains.
THE GATES
Characters who have died, practise necromancy or are otherwise death-touched may enter Hatthevar freely. The living must consume foul potions prepared by Karsa that absorb their shadows and partly mute their powers to pass for dead. Everyone must create new names and stories covering their identity and circumstances of death.
Those who possess one of Matthias’ severed limbs or organs, or who carry any dark mirror shards or vials of dark water, have free passage into Hatthevar… but find they are often closely watched, pursued by the dead and perhaps… soon hunted.
Spend a few days acquainting Hatthevar, its constant rains, vicious gambling dens, oracle halls, nests of memory thieves and wish shops — and its bustling bazaars of curiosities and visiting dead. Players currently in or out of
eastbound can bring characters for one-off encounters in the bazaar. To qualify, the dead characters must either have previously been in Eastbound, or must belong to a canon currently represented in game. Opt-in: the twisting streets of Hatthevar abound with heralds of mis/fortune. Cross a their large dark rabbit, and your luck DWINDLES until you use your wit and will to capture a crafty, palm-sized hopper. Please release it after!
Within days, Matthias sends the party a note: he has heard of their arrival in Hatthevar and, as a sign of good will, he has not given chase. Once upon a time, he says, he struck a deal with the semi-divine ‘dark water,’ accepting powers of death and revival in exchange for giving the water much-yearned-for flesh by allowing it to enter the bodies of the dead. For the past year, Matthias has been perfecting resurrection in Hatthevar to revive his own long-dead daughter, Cosette. He occasionally briefly feels her presence in the citadel after summons — but she mysteriously disappears.
Matthias now offers a new agreement: bring him Cosette, and he will willingly surrender the party all of his power. The Merchant distrusts Matthias’ proposal, but sees value in potential leverage and urges the party to investigate the matter, along with a curious fount of nearby power.
Characters are divided between: combating the assailing Brotherhood forces so party members can finish their work in Hatthevar, executing certain factions and tracking down Matthias, caring after the lost and confused spirits of the citadel in the chaos, investigating the case of Cosette and exploring a supernatural site.
Characters whose players answered the quest call have been given a mission. You can attach your character to a quest even if you ignored the call, or have them support additional assignments.
COMBAT
Defend Hatthevar against the undead frost wyrms of undead wintry wind Lord Anurr and the ground offensive of Brotherhood member Rathakku.
As
The underpass: tunnels leading to the cold sand outposts, peopled by large scorpions and serpents.
The cold plains: a desert-like frigid plateau with treacherous dunes and buried forces.
The walls: …what it says on the tin!
Opt-in: extensive exposure to the undead may lead some characters to fall under the thrall of undead lords for up to six-eight hours. Dead or necromancer characters are especially susceptible.
Assigned: Bucky Barnes, Carol Danvers, Deimos, Emilia, Jiang Cheng, Luffy, Natasha Romanoff, Nynaeve, Stephen Strange, Wrath, Wrathion, Zoro
EXECUTION
Your primary objective is to locate Matthias, should you later have to terminate him. You must also try to secure the beacons that are currently in heavy use.
- ■ The underground networks of the memory thieves, the Erkul gang at selling opiates in the gambling dends and the Whispering Houses are your best bet for intelligence.
■ Ransack some Wish houses for information and equipment or poison/arsenal Beware dread hounds.
■ Defeat a colossal 12-feet ghostly titan to take over a beacon. Find a way to answer the ravens that Matthias sends every six hours to avoid that he learns you conquered a beacon.
Assigned: Five, Lockwood, Mo Ran, Vanessa, Yelena, Wen Kexing, Zhou Zishu
CARE
Meandering, disoriented and fragile, the spirits freshly wrenched from death’s snare are easy prey for the Undead Brotherhood, the elements and the ghost slavers.
Characters who offer care may:
- ■ comfort ghosts who recover from the trauma of revival or who struggle with their memories
■ rescue spirits collared by the slaver clan of Ras’Kalur
■ scout, barter to rent or abandoned buy taverns or wish shops or create new habitable places for the whole party to alight during their stay in Hatthevar
■ heal, cook and provide for combatants
■ liaise with Matthias
■ as the (allegedly) least suspicious party members, negotiate for information or supplies on behalf of the group
On top of being the right thing to do, rescuing or attending vulnerable spirits can gain you powerful allies in the second half of the event.
Assigned: Allison, Eda, Hermione, Kamala, Lan Sizhui, Sanji, Winnie
INVESTIGATION
- ■ You know from Matthias that, as a result of his beacon summons, the spirit of his daughter Cosette briefly appears every fifth day, but is never seen.
Mod advice would be to focus your character on examining one or at most two appearances, then pooling your clues.
■ Day of first appearance: Matthias feels Cosette’s presence in the bazaar, where a sinister puppet show draws a heavy crowd. At midday, a chime sounds, and the puppet show performs the sad story of a father and daughter quarrelling.
■ Day of the second appearance: Cosette is felt present in the alley of Whispering Houses. You hear three trades took place at the Whispering Houses, carried out by three different women. You must pay to buy one.
■ Day of the third appearance: Matthias feels Cosette near the Oracle Hall. You must climb the steps to earn your audience, but will experience no discomfort when kneeling for this particular audience. The Oracle confirms only one person has visited — a blonde woman — with a small message.
You’ll get three clue questions/character to focus on!
Assigned: Ben Hargreeves, Benedict, Caitlyn, Cal Kestis, Jon Snow, Merrin, Nami, Rin, River Song, Wei Wuxian, Wen Qing
EXPLORATION
The river Liu divides the citadel pouring into a seemingly… endless, heavily misted lagoon of dark water. Karsa says a strange power sleeps here, and you should attempt to retrieve it from a square-like infrastructure whose each side comprises the rotting deck of a half-sunken ship.
To reach this area, you must cross a bridge made of the deck parts of other collided rafts and boats.
- ■ travel by raft into through the lethargy-inducing fog, as tar-like people rise up from the waters to lure you in.
■ beware strings of passing candles that invite you to pick one up — to deadly consequences.
■ reach and explore the curious ships’ graveyard, to peer into the black well at the middle of the square Infrastructure.
Assigned: America Chavez, Buggy, Connor, Elayne Trakand, Lan Wangji, Licyn, Red, Wen Ning
Fill out the form below and comment around mightily to plot!
QUESTIONS
Just urgent questions for now — more cosmetic details will be available in the log!
OPT-IN BAD LUCK CALLS
Purely for fun in a citadel of death and superstition, you can optionally have your character succumb to a bit of bad luck, as laid out below (CTRL+F their name to find out their misfortune). This is all meant in good fun and to briefly inconvenience, not incapacitate your character, so use their bad luck as in/frequently as you like (or not at all)!
Characters can cure their bad luck by capturing one of the tiny, adorable, palm-sized rabbits that dart across Hatthevar — but beware running into their bad luck-bearing black brethren, instead!
Caitlyn: Constantly misplaces her bullets.
Jacob Frye: Suddenly prone to overthinking everything.
Ratonhnhaké:ton: Every other weapon he picks up is blunt or rusted.
Deimos: Everything unwanted smells like delicious, maddeningly distracting dwarf meat.
Asano Rin: Keeps ending up tongue-tied at the wrong moment.
River Song: People swear they've seen her before and volunteer she's this or that person. She has 'one of those faces.'
Cole: He is perceived by everyone, everywhere. People are constantly drawn to him.
Hermione Granger: Keeps intermittently fumbling her Latin pronunciation. Grim.
Mo Ran: Glumly unable to rise to the occasion. Any occasion.
Emilia: Her flames keep awkwardly fizzling, guttering out or never quite blossoming in the citadel rain.
Wrath: Pursued by spirit orphans who all think he's their long lost father.
Benedict Fox: Frequently ends up "just missing" people he was looking for, as he enters an establishment.
Anthony Lockwood: His rapier keeps getting stuck in its sheath or in nearby surfaces.
Bucky Barnes: People keep forgetting who he is, even if he's met them ten minutes ago. Just one of those forgettable faces..........
Yelena Belova: Every time she's about to say or do something, a man volunteers to show her how to do it better.
America Chavez: Her outfit keeps getting stuck on doors, walls, thin air?? As she's about to portal.
Carol Danvers: Forever ends up stuck in crowd traffic.
Kamala Khan: Keeps bursting into hiccups at inopportune times that need delicacy or discretion.
Natasha Romanoff: Constantly misses her landings.
Stephen Strange: Everything he says keeps being misinterpreted in the worst possible way.
Temenos Mistral: Strangers keep misinterpreting his every word as if he's a tough guy looking for an argument.
Beitang Moran: Someone always ends up finishing his sentences. While he's still speaking them. Looking exceptionally smug.
Buggy the Clown: His body parts keep flying away from him, rather than towards him.
Luffy: The rainy wind keeps blowing his hat away for long distances; it always lands in puddles.
Nami: Just as she's about to leave a heist or crime scene, a floorboard always creaks, a glass breaks, a door gets stuck…
Sanji: Every woman he hits on is life-long celibate or wedded.
Zoro: Every cup of wine is vinegar.
Licyn: Perpetually pursued by unpleasant, entitled suitors.
Red: Dog-hating cats keep clawing, hissing and crowding.
Winnie: Crying children keep accosting her, needing care. Babies keep getting dropped in her lap for "just five minutes."
Eda: A wing keeps drooping when she flies.
Cal Kestis: Clothes keep bursting or tearing at inconvenient times.
Merrin: Little old ladies keep feeding and mothering her
Xie Lian: Keeps being mistaken for a man who owes a debt or a drink.
Allison: Everyone keeps stopping her to tell her their gossip or life story.
Ben Hargreeves: Keeps hitting his head (or his tentacles) on the ceiling.
Five: Always teleports into a substantial puddle.
Jiang Cheng: Keeps getting introduced to worse and worse marriage prospects.
Lan Sizhui: Everyone keeps bumping into him, at all times, from every direction.
Lan Wangji: Minor incidents keep becoming major tragedies.
Lan Xichen: Cuckolded husbands keep mistaking him for the man who wooed their spouses.
Wei Wuxian: All the (non-revived) spirits he summons or speaks to are irritable, entitled assholes.
Wen Ning: Arrows and punches keep missing their mark.
Wen Qing: The needles are broken and/or breaking. All of them.
Anduin Wrynn: Prone to bursting into episodes of saying exactly what's on his mind, unfiltered.
Wrathion: Entitled passers-by keep mistaking him for a shop servant.
Jon Snow: Mistaken for the citadel's wise man who 'knows everything' and pursued for advice.
Elayne Trakand: Birds keep trying to nest in her hair.
Nynaeve: People keep mishearing her, telephone-game style.
Vanessa Ives: Only the most chilled out, indolent and non-plussed demons and (non-revived) spirits are around to answer her.
Wen Kexing: Always shows up at an inopportune time.
Zhou Zishu: Whatever he urgently needs (drink, food, potions) just went out.
Re: QUESTIONS
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- Do they count as Death Touched? I don't think I asked at the time, but now it is very relevant!
- Do any side-effects they had from that still work (I think Wrathion could understand useless undead muttering, sense if an undead creature was raised by the Huntress, and any raised by her didn't attack him, sense when the Huntress is close and her mood?) or did they expire at the end of that arc?
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— yes, should count!
— and yes, they still carry over and didn't expire...... but there's no undead creature raised by the Huntress in Hatthevar... for now, at least!
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- Would any of the other local NPCs be able to sense the touch of the Huntress on him and be weird about it, or are they cool? I know she was anti-Matthias, I am not sure if that is... known (?) or if she is playing cool (?) etc.
- Given they are bringing Irenia in and also Serthica dragons, am I safe to assume Wrathion will mostly blend in if he gives up and shifts to his true dragon-form to just try and melt these frost wyrms? And how big are they... so I can work out if he will be doing Vicious Chihuahua charges or if they will be relatively matched.
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— So, I'm thinking wyrms should be... big enough to cause trouble, but also small enough they have flexibility to get into tighter spaces between buildings. Probably 15-20m height, 5-10m width/depth. What's what, a Medium in dragon?
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And RE: wyrms, sounds like they're a bit bigger than him (?? I have no idea how tall he is EXACTLY we're guessing under 10m though) but not obscenely so, not like.... Irenia vs him where he was a tiny spec and she was an enormous lumbering tank.
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In the right place gomen
Re: In the right place gomen
And we've seen how people turn out when Matthias takes an interest.
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Any other body parts Wen Kexing has collected along the way, for reasons of being unhinged, is his own private matter.
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Wouldn't be abused, this would just be an excuse to use his time powers once in game, if allowed. :) And if allowed but there's + added consequences just LMK and I'll factor that in!
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