groundrules: (Default)
let's set d o w n some ([personal profile] groundrules) wrote in [community profile] lostcompass2021-08-01 04:37 pm

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


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 | [personal profile] jeoha | RECLAIMED for regular August activity
    Yennefer | [personal profile] conjurechaos
    Alina Starkov | [personal profile] 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 | [personal profile] corvis | RECLAIMED for regular August activity


    Comment below or PM @ [personal profile] 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:

    descendency: (02)

    [personal profile] descendency 2021-08-01 04:11 pm (UTC)(link)
    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.
    thesuspense: (just amuse me)

    [personal profile] thesuspense 2021-08-01 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)
    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...
    weifinder: (smile | who don't ever change)

    [personal profile] weifinder 2021-08-01 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
    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.
    Edited 2021-08-01 17:05 (UTC)
    somebadnews: (132)

    [personal profile] somebadnews 2021-08-01 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
    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.
    descendency: (13)

    [personal profile] descendency 2021-08-01 05:02 pm (UTC)(link)
    Yeah, sounds good to me! Find us on discord for quality memes like these.


    (courtesy of Kalyn via her iPhone)


    (culprit is me)
    descendency: (14)

    [personal profile] descendency 2021-08-01 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)
    Mingyu is tired enough of living to supply the least stable member of the party with talisman style explosives. Mostly because I personally find this hilarious.
    weifinder: (ask | from the cold)

    [personal profile] weifinder 2021-08-01 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)
    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.
    descendency: (07)

    [personal profile] descendency 2021-08-01 05:05 pm (UTC)(link)
    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'.)
    descendency: (08)

    [personal profile] descendency 2021-08-01 05:06 pm (UTC)(link)
    NO LEAVE MY DAUGHTER ALONE I'LL BLOW THIS CARAVAN UP MYSELF
    somebadnews: (120)

    [personal profile] somebadnews 2021-08-01 05:08 pm (UTC)(link)
    You're a pal, Mingyu. I see no reason why he'd ever regret this. Definitely worth encouraging him to go through with terrible ideas.
    thesuspense: (emotions again)

    [personal profile] thesuspense 2021-08-01 05:10 pm (UTC)(link)
    Listen, he is very, very good at getting the job done. He just needs a good reason to believe that the way to get the job done ISN'T making everything worse...

    What's fun is that Xue Yang is novel, so he's probably never met Jiang Cheng. He'd just love to though, what's more fun than easily angered sect leaders?

    But, yes, someone has to keep an eye on his daozhang... He keeps trusting the wrong people, can you believe it?

    I'm totally open to tag-ins into Xue Yang's post from a few days ago if we wanna establish CR.
    soulsrob: (whatever will be)

    Re: ARHA PLOTTING

    [personal profile] soulsrob 2021-08-01 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
    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.
    descendency: (01)

    [personal profile] descendency 2021-08-01 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
    Yeah I get that argument and I agree that like concrete, narrative driven for-keeps plotting definitely has to go in the mod posts, but declining a server or trying to make rules around where people are allowed to plot is counter-intuitive and probably a little futile. People already shoot the shit in private DMs, on plurk, etc. and often spitballing ideas in a chat format is just a lot easier to do.

    I've personally done a lot of character plotting in DMS and private plurks, it just works better for me. I think it's important to have narrative-relevant plotting centralized for accessibility, but I don't think that's mutually exclusive of having a game chat room etc.

    People can go nuts plotting whatever, wherever and can be reminded to post their final decisions on the plot post to loop the rest of the gang in.
    weifinder: (Default)

    [personal profile] weifinder 2021-08-01 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
    Yeah, as long as that's the planned action of things I'm a go. Basically for me I don't care when people's private funtimes are plotted anywhere they please, but if it's related to the broader (instead of character specific) investigations, being able to see what's there or who is doing what for the purposes of striking up a "hey, shall our characters converse on this?" is helpful to me! I assume helpful to others too, but hey, realistically can only speak for myself.

    What does make it nice with a server is possibly pinging people to look at a thing faster than they might be normally looking at character reading pages or the communities, or catch something on plurk, and the like. I know when I've been in servers, I take it as a shorthand for how to focus my attention when people link to x or y in plotting, which can make it easier.
    weifinder: (Default)

    [personal profile] weifinder 2021-08-01 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
    I apologise for being unclear, but I was only referring to narrative-relevant plotting that was not character-arc specific.
    thesuspense: (just to murder)

    [personal profile] thesuspense 2021-08-01 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
    See? That DOES sound fun.

    ...like, Xue Yang doesn't think it'd work, but......
    somebadnews: (101)

    [personal profile] somebadnews 2021-08-01 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
    I am in this camp. Also I've been using discord for five minutes (maybe longer) and I'm still learning. I definitely 100% understand what a server is yes. Very up on this entire thing.

    It sounds like a fun thing to have! But I'd definitely think I'd miss a lot that goes on there and just pop in from time to time. I very much like OOC posts for most plotting.
    descendency: (03)

    [personal profile] descendency 2021-08-01 05:13 pm (UTC)(link)
    YOU SAID AWFUL SO WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE SUITORS I'LL KILL THEM TOO

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