august activity + taravast, quests, game chat, admin... and BADGES

[groundrules]

AUGUST AC & UPDATES

ACTIVITY CHECK | ARHA | TARAVAST, QUESTS & EVENTS | GAME CHAT? | BADGES


AUGUST ACTIVITY

Hi guys! The activity check (AC) is handled by Ye Olde Modde, and you do not need to do anything unless I couldn’t find activity proof for your character and they’re on the below list. Please don’t forget to use character tags for posts and logs you tag into — it helps fish out your activity.

Regular activity requirements are one of the following during the AC month:

a network post

OR 10 text/network-style comments across at most two threads

OR five log comments across at most two threads

Activity counts whether conducted on either the game communities or character inboxes.

In July, I couldn’t find sufficient activity for...

Lee Chang | jeoha | RECLAIMED for regular August activity
Yennefer | conjurechaos
Alina Starkov | sankta | RECLAIMED for two network posts or 15 text/network comments across 2-4 threads or 7 log comments across 2-3 threads in August
Gilbert Nightray | corvis | RECLAIMED for regular August activity

Comment below or PM @ groundrules until 5 August if you’d like to reclaim your character, or if they have July activity I missed!

ARHA

Quite a lot has been unearthed on the past of Lady Hatisse, Lord Arha and his ghostly battalion — leaving their fate uncertain.

What we learned in recent days:

Arha’s stone tomb is among those revealed for exploration following the Allison-led incursion into the harpies’ nest. It remains unopened and can be accessed by everyone.

Opening the temples released ghostly figures of a previous merchant caravan, slaughtered by Arha.

Attempts to reveal his demise have driven Arha unhinged, pushing him to float the prospect of carnage. As one does.

At the core of the harpies are bone pieces collected from the tombs of the buried ghost army.

Lady Hatisse attempted to dissuade Arha’s rescue efforts, then led her lover into the murderous hands of her sisters and their former enemies, when he continued his military advance.

Folks who want to get involved, please comment here to brainstorm any potential character actions, or if you’d like to leave Arha and his folks alone. An outcome can be rolled for you tomorrow, ideally leaving until 5 August to finish out playing with Arha and the aftermath. We can, but ideally won't need to adjust the timeline!

Arha plot wrap...!

OTHER ADMIN

Most of the August calendar remains subject to update once Arc II has been set up, but you can find loose indications here. The calendar will be updated, likely next week.

The location setup for Arc II, “team” and identity assignments and a small event will go up 6-8 August. Thank you for everyone's help with assignments — now no longer taking input.

Some characters will receive individual quests/aftermath instructions, following on mod talks or events in Arc I and the Stairs of Sighs. At this time, they are Five, Archeval and Eleven. Two other characters are slated for optional quests based on Taravast’s setup — Zhou Zishu and Wen Qing. Their agendas haven’t been forgotten, and all that info will be laid out when we hit Taravast. Bear with me!

If there is a longer-term character arc that you want to work on and need some environmental or mod help with, hit up the player suggestions area!

Moving forward, the Story So Far page will (hopefully) be updated with summaries on a monthly basis, to help our newcomers.

Lastly, given the clue and plot-oriented nature of Eastbound, some folks have asked about a potential game Discord chat. While I’d be happy to set one up, I’m not currently in a place where I could actively moderate a chatroom — if you have thoughts on how we could go about making a non-mod-led one happen (or if you feel one is needed to begin with), happy to hear them!

CHARACTER BADGES

We now have a slew of new Interlude Arc: Stairs of Sighs badges that can be added to your collection. Check’em out below!

To the newbies among us: character budges are optional OOC fun times markers for what you feel represents your character’s activity or milestones in an Arc. They are purely for laughs. You can pick, choose and display them as you see fit — here is the archive of general badges and the Arc I: Sa-Hareth set. We also have code for a badge wallet to showcase them.

STAIRS OF SIGHS BADGES

                

                

             

And a new general badge, beloved by all:

Comments

ARHA PLOTTING

[groundrules]

He sad, he mad, he... gonna end up bad?

[thesuspense]

ALL RIGHT, chaotic evil currently kind of undead necromancer in the house...

He is essentially ready to do whatever sounds the most fun, which unfortunately also means that he might be pro-carnage. Although there is Xingchen, who he'd never want any harm to come to (he just sucks at it, but shh), so he is leaning towards de-escalating the situation instead.

I'm not sure what would work or is the best way, but getting to Arha's remains seems like it'd make sense? Then various people can try their various canon skills to banish the evil ghost and all. There may also be a potential to reach Hatisse's spirit through the letters or something similar? I dunno, lots to try, so many people to die...

[descendency]

Can't believe I just read Xue Yang and de-escalation in the same sentence, I'm so proud. I don't play any decent exorcist types but either of mine can babysit Xingchen for you while he holds your flower bby. (The other I play is Jiang Cheng, and he's never de-escalated a single situation his entire life. He has one setting and it's 'that escalated quickly'. He is the 'that'.)

[groundrules]

So! I unfortunately cannot give you Hatisse, she died outside of the Stairs, and this is just her thrall/curse carrying out in her absence.

[wenderer]

Xie Lian mentioned that if he could get access to Arha's remains, he could vanquish the ghost by destroying his remains. Kexing would be down with that plan.

[groundrules]

Sounds like Rakel and you have a similar idea about going back to Arha's remains, if I'm reading the room right...

[weifinder]

So this is more my bad for never delivering a final plan, but Wei Wuxian has been wanting to open Arha's tomb and settle what's there, I just feel like a heel when it's me going "hey ruxi can I borrow your character to do this" though it's who he'd ask. (And would have already done, but again, I don't like running off with that.)

That would have been shortly after the tomb opened, so that opportunity's shot. Since then, Wei Wuxian would still propose: deal with Arha's tomb, see if we can get Hatisse settled, and in the meantime, hold both the soldiers + the murdered merchant group from acting, let alone attacking each other. Plan to then change spontaneously from there depending on how the emotional roil between Arha and/or Hatisse or just straight Arha-at-the-Tomb would go.

His advice at the same time would be anyone and all who are not equipped to handle ghosts/the undead in specific band together and move beyond where we are, while those who handle the ghosts/undead create a distraction allowing the PCs and living NPCs to skedaddle. He's not interested in talking with Anurr, but I bring that up in case any of the PCs want to talk with Anurr for "help." He'd caution to ask what that entails, given by now they've been repeatedly told by the merchant they were summoned to be killed and have their souls distilled for undead lord purposes, as you do.

(Though fascinating work on Xue Yang, Anurr.)

Depending on how things shake out, after Arha is handled one way or another, he'd want to work on settling the spirits that remain: at least some ghosts he thinks will be able to let go and move on once Arha (or Hatisse) are likewise no longer clinging on. Because he's also a failure half of a soulmate pairing, he would want them to have whatever reconciliation/confrontation is owed, but fully heard, both sides, which sounds... mimics storm clouds rolling in motion.

[groundrules]

Please don't worry, no single one person was responsible for setting this up!

[thesuspense]

...I guess Xue Yang might want to talk to Anurr about his taste buds. That sounds wrong, so I'll leave it at that.

Also, astonishingly enough and for disturbingly similar reasons, Xue Yang is actually on board with that thinking, re: let them talk it out.

So, the question is how to bring Hatisse and Arha into proximity of each other, right?

[groundrules]

For what it's worth, Anurr has already Anurr has already confirmed to Xie Lian that Arha and his fellow ghosts look appetising.

[scrapgege]

Xie Lian is available to punch unreasonable ghosts and protect people with ruoyue

[downswing]

Lan Wangji can help open the tomb and rest the soul, but he'd need help from someone to complete the rites :(

So, either Sizhui (but he's still wounded) or anyone in decent strength to help, because these are a lot of bodies to put to rest.

[somebadnews]

This was never meant to be a real thing, but: Five's terrible backup plan involves setting fire to the tombs and causing cave-ins everywhere and just SEEING IF THAT WORKS. He'd rather everyone else deal with it because ghosts are not his lane and he has no idea if that will fix the situation, but-! I mean, he's very frustrated and able to make things happen if need be. Watching super impatiently.

And you know... in a pinch, he can teleport someone away as needed if it is part of the 'let's kill the ghosts' initiative?? Or you know. Generally, he can do this, but family first etc.

Re: ARHA PLOTTING

[soulsrob]

i'm not saying Winnie will vore a ghost if need be....but i'm not NOT saying that either

Just throwing that out there that if some ghosts need to be put in time out for a while Winnie will be bother jailer AND jail if she can touch the spirits' mouths in some way.

Re: ARHA PLOTTING

[scrapgege]

Xie Lian is volunteering mainly to protect people from ghost, but he will totally punch a ghost if needed, and also, if Anurr wants to nom on some, more power to him, really.

[lancifolium]

Lily's here to protect caravan passengers and non-combative types, and apparate them to safety as needed (though it'd be slow going, like one or two people at a time, maybe three if someone wants to get inside her makeup bag). There's not a lot of magic centered around ghosts in her canon so I don't know how much attacking she can do, but there's at least one designated spell to repel them, and at least one semi-helpful ward so if you need to get behind something defensive she's here to be helpful as always.

Though, that said if traveling via apparition would help anyone doing the necromantic thing to reach Arha's tomb, she's been popcorning this ghost mystery since when and would love to get to watch things go down in exchange for helping out with transportation services.

[descendency]

Okay so there was a group vote, Wangji wussed out, and Mingyu will be taking over pretending to be Lady Hatisse as a distraction while the rest of the group infiltrates and does whatever it is they are wont to do.

Mingyu will require 1) a cultivator or other magic practitioner proficient in disguises to make him a passable Hatisse (Zhou Zishu? Xue Yang? Who wants to put in some overtime?) 2) coaching by people more familiar with the legends on how the lady might act 3) the appropriate costume, I believe Lily offered her services?

[groundrules]

Hi, folks,

Compiling everyone's input, the plan to tackle Arha works out as follows — feel free to play with it starting today, until around 6 August. Forward/backdate as much as needed, and anyone who hasn't responded yet is still very, very welcome to participate. This is just the (rattling) skeleton!

CATFISHING: THE GHOST EDITION

Lily will transfigure a garment inspired by the one worn by the statue of the Lady Hatisse uncovered by Archeval earlier in the month. It will be worn by Mingyu — who will get his face (literally) done by Zhou Zishu and can pick up further subtleties on the appropriate feminine walk and bows from Wen Qing — on his crossplaying venture to... seduce a ghost.

Peering what he assumes to be his forlorn bride from a distance, the highly agitated Arha will approach Mingyu and grow.. increasingly more volatile, straddling the line between physicality and the spiritual plane, clutching his maiden's arms with hands turned tar and harpy claws. First, he will ask if she is truly Hatisse, adding he never questioned she would come to him — but why here? Why now? Were they not meant to meet in Taravast, why does she come to him, how did the Attaryl allow her, were they not hunted down by the Bessis? Foolish woman, what if she had lost herself on her path, always doing only as she wishes, from the day she threw herself in his path when they assigned her to his court for learning, to here, now, telling him to give up his hunt, but how did she come? Why does he smell of blood and burning, whenever he think of her, why do his dreams always show carnage, why is she here?

He will ramble extensively and seem to struggle with glimpses of understanding, scratching at Mingyu's arms, begging for answers, until the exact moment when the team of raiders in the temple open up his tomb. (Only) then, Mingyu may feel abruptly paralysed in his own body, unable to speak or truly control his limbs, while the residual presence of Hatisse's curse — different from the full strength of her spirit, which passed outside of the Stairs of Sighs — inhabits him. Under the control of Hatisse, Mingyu will feel burning within him, hands suddenly dripping in red, when he will draw Arha down by the sides of his face, dragging blood over cheeks, his temples. For once, the foolish witch's song revealed by Wen Kexing will play during the course of day, and Arha will listen.

By the end, he will only say, "I pity you, Hatisse. I pity your love."

...before disappearing, leaving behind only Mingyu to recover gradually from his brief possession. The scratch marks on his arms will heal themselves within a day's time, if no one gets around to assisting them.


TEMPLE TROUBLE

While Arha's catfished, everyone heading into the tomb can leisurely enjoy narrowly avoiding the lingering harpies — who will deploy the full scale of their claws and bone-piercing beaks — and the loitering energy of the innocent travellers of a previous caravan, slaughtered by Arha. Some of these dead will urge the raiders not to open the warlord's tomb, because forcing Arha to confront his demise led to their own deaths. Others will simply argue that Arha doesn't deserve peace, after what he's done to them. Navigating the temple corridors will take up at least half an hour — but you're here on a mission...

Opening Arha's tomb sarcophagus will require the strength of at least three-four people, but to those who've inhaled their spinach go the spoils —

...and what merry bones they are! Heavily warded, carrying the stench of burning, guarded by a tangle of electric webs. The wards will deactivate quickly if the hand of a living person touches them — but they'll still incur some heavy damage on the offending limb.

Once the wards are removed, either destroying, cleansing with a bounty of water or performing purifying rites should easily set Arha to rest — coinciding with his... ghosting Mingyu in the outside world. He will leave behind a full set of beautiful armour, linens, a sword and a bow. Yes, hooligans can steal these. If searched, the inside of his soft inner clothes will reveal a breast pocket holding a bundle of letters — both his and Hatisse's. Characters who collected any of the stray parchment pieces in the previous event will be able to recognise the letters as the untattered originals.

The moment Arha is put to rest, the harpies will disintegrate, revealing the remains of other bones and parts of the armour or private clothing of the other members of the ghost army. Some of the remaining spirits of the murdered travellers will ask the raiders to remove Arha's bones and those of his men and deliver them to Taravast, so that they need not share burial grounds with their killers.

They will also dictate a list of names and where to find their closest of kin, asking the raiders to write to their families and let them know to collect their bones from Stairs of Sighs. If they actually go ahead with this, characters will discover some of these individuals cannot be found, or they will reach their descendants.



THE GOOD PEOPLE

Those not participating in Arha's exorcism will find themselves inevitably drawn into the skirmish, when the harpy-led tumult in the temple — just what are those people doing in there, exactly? — are rounded up by Arha's men. Some seem content to simply keep watch over the prisoners. Others will mutter darkly of the culling once more, as people never learn their place. A handful will pretend to collect caravan travellers and take them for safe-guarding within tents — only to release them once they've gotten some way away from their superiors, urging them to run.

The blood rains will begin to pour down, violently, while harpies cross the air, assaulting the ghostly army and seemingly assisting caravan passengers. Arha's men will be nearly corporeal by now, capable of putting up quite a bit of a fight, and seemingly frightened by fire.

It all ends as abruptly as it started, within hours, when Arha comes to peace with Hatisse through Mingyu, after his tomb is opened. The ghosts will all gradually dissolve, leaving behind a scent of burning and discarded tar and bones. The rains will come to bitter end. The canyon walls return to base stone, losing their sculpts. The witch's song stops, and tonight, would you look at that — the first night without a full moon.

The disarray within the camp will require a bit of mending, and someone should really look after Mingyu and the raiders. More importantly, set up the caravan for a swift exit: Mazyar is willing to expend every last inch of his resources to push the caravan out of the Stairs of Sighs as quickly as possible. This may call on some of the travellers to donate their time and energy to pack up tents, do a last raid of the collided horsecar, carry supplies, cook (except Xie Lian, by name) and look after animals or any of the young who are briefly without minders in the wake of the earlier clashes.

Over the course of the day, characters may notice Mazyar in thought, receiving a flurry of exchanges via his quartz stone. At long last, he will say he has received word from Taravast to declare the Stairs of Sighs open — and that some people have been asked to stay behind a few weeks to assist with purifying the area and removing any lingering debris, so that the corridor may become usable. Feel free to assume characters swept by AC or dropped may have volunteered for this.

GAME CHAT

[groundrules]

For everyone's $0.02 needs.

[descendency]

There's a server Kalyn, Dulin, Kiki, Britt, Loren, Rose and I hang out in with an Eastbound channel I popped up for us to discuss the game in/post memes to. It's pretty low-key. It's also sitting in our greater Untamed fandom server so what I'm saying is I'd be happy to set up an Eastbound server for everyone to hang out in if they'd like. Have experience setting up channels/roles/bots etc.

[weifinder]

I think a server's easier for me to access than plurk, for this or that reason, but I'd like it pretty firmly "all actual plotting happens in the OOC post" for the sake of easy backreading and tracking of what's happening. Since my read is you wouldn't be answering any questions there anyway, Ruxi, it's somewhat self-fulfilling, but also for characters plotting with characters, having in-progress plans posted where they're accessible to anyone no matter what social platforms they choose to use or not use would be great.

[rumorate]

I am down for a server! Speaking as a new person, I'm still slowly collecting people on plurk and figuring out the general vibe of things when it comes to hopping on plotting so having a place where I could get to know folks better would be a plus!

But I could totally understand how it would get chaotic for a mod, so if we made it clear that it was just for chatting and all mod questions/concerns needed to be directed to existing mod channels that could work? Maybe have a channel labeled "mod questions" that links directly to a mod question post that people can't respond to? If that makes sense.

(I know in one of my writing servers they have a channel that only certain designated people can respond to/post in and if we have a space that designates mod questions, that might cut down the ones asked in general chat/the number of pings you get that are hard to track.)

[lancifolium]

I'm not the best at paying attention to chats and am definitely guilty of wandering off, but that said there's a bunch of folks I've yet to meet either ooc or ic and I'd love to get a chance to intersect and plot. So yes, but also fully owning my penchant for meandering.

[silverneedles]

Chiming in with yes but adding that group conversations tend to be quite overwhelming for me, so I tend to stay quiet, and likely will, but having opportunities to meet people/general chatting is always good.

[darkeststars]

Won't lie, I've been dying for a server since this game started -- before it started actually lol -- I would be absolutely ecstatic to have one. I get the impression I'm one of the few players who isn't on Plurk and I'm not particularly comfortable over there, and I do occasionally get left out of things because of it. I accept this as the price of not being on Plurk, but since I don't have that central place where it's easy to get ahold of people for just a quick note here and there or informal getting-to-know-you, it would be wonderful to instead have the opportunity to do it on Discord. It would really, massively improve my game experience.

I would also like to volunteer my server running skills if needed -- I see Liv's taking care of most of it but I founded and ran a non-RP-related fandom server of 50ish people for a couple of years, handled the various hiccups etc. I'm reasonably familiar with what's needed in terms of technical, moderation, making best use of Discord's tools to foster a chill environment, all the sort of stuff one would need, so I'd be happy to help make this happen in that capacity.