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yancai | outcome
Jul. 25th, 2023 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
groundrules
When last we left Yancai, five years in the past, a vengeful Huntress had decided to unleash undead upon the village in retaliation for her mistreatment. Tearing her own heart out, she cut it in slivers for young witch Miang-Si to hide — laying down the groundwork for magic that would bring back the dead to renew their hostilities. Local hedge witches, the ladies of the lake, decided they can only fend off the massacre by sending the village back in time, forcing residents to relive the same five-year period in blissful ignorance, robbing the moon of some of her power and sacrificing some of their own witch kind. A difficult gambit. Recovering from the first wave of undead, Yancai held an auction to raise funds at the House of Commerce — where the village’s beacon rests, entirely operational.
AFTERMATH
Though urged otherwise, the party couldn’t resist interfering and inevitably breaking Yancai’s time loop.
Through coaxing and conversation, the Doctor, Five, Wrath and Lockwood persuade the Man in Black not to participate in the time and memory rite of the ladies of the lake, with the Lumberjack also agreeing to discourage other witches from doing so. Wrathion and Caitlyn convince Miang-Si to speak to the ladies of the lake and also talk them down from their ritual — while Wrath, Emilia, Wei Wuxian and Beitang Moran disrupt the lunar sorcery, releasing mother moon from the witches’ thrall.
Many party members scavenge, procure and — in Red and Wrathion’s cases — consume parts of the Huntress’ heart, destroying the anchors of the spell that would have unleashed fresh legions of undead upon Yancai. Unexpectedly, in exchange for Jon Snow’s information about her son, the Huntress agrees not to renew hostilities against Yancai.
The village’s fate might be unknown — but at least now it is free.
The party’s sorceress Karsa summons everyone to the banquet of the House of Commons — where a transportation beacon can be accessed, after two keys were procured. Already, the reality of this timepoint is beginning to fracture, with elements and people of Yancai fluctuating between their states at various point in time: now young and hale, then withered, solid or decaying, freshly arrived or gone. Karsa successfully wakes the beacon, hastening everyone to step through the gateway. They’re enveloped in sizzling, volatile magic, bound home —
Only to instead arrive, as the Merchant foretold in a pocket dimension of stolen time: the House of Manouk
NOTES
Our next plot instalment, due out tomorrow, is a short event that doubles as a test drive in the timeless House of Manouk.
It will be followed by a short cooldown period, during which you’ll have the chance to vote on our upcoming Arc destination.
