Carcosa, pt. 2

[polymods]

✖ Carcosa

Ⅰ. CARCOSA
You Are Still Here.

Another month, and you’re still in the city of Carcosa! Isn’t that just wonderful?

You still have access to the city’s temple and the High Temple.

The side effects you may have suffered from throughout the month of May are now at an end - if you had a pesky mask glued to your face the whole time it will now fall off. You might need a little moisturizer, but otherwise you’ll be just fine.

You could sit around inside the relative safety of the temples, of course, but why not get out there and explore the city some more? Come on, grumpypants!

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Ⅱ. SPEAK EASY
CW: Optional alcohol consumption.
What kind of pet shop is filled with rambunctious yahoos and hot jazz music at 1 AM? That's right - the best damn pet shop in town! Sidle up to the back door of Curly's Pet Shop and a panel will open enough to reveal a pair of eyes. "What's the password?" you'll be asked. Whatever word first comes to your mind, well, that apparently is correct because you're let in at once.

The front of the building definitely does indeed house fish and birds and kittens, but the back room is definitely not a good place to find a new animal companion; you find yourself in a crowded little room with low lighting and a small bar crammed into one corner. There's seats and some tables, and most importantly there's a band playing jazz music across from the bar.

Why not take a seat and have a drink? It's probably not paint thinner. Probably. Maybe you'll spot some of your fellow Travelers and you can sit and have a chat. Make a new friend who can hold your hair back if you party too hard.

And you better hope that the place doesn’t get raided!

Notes:
1. The drinks are all era-appropriate - you’re not getting Redbull with vodka here - and even if your character has non-human physiology they will work the same as they would on a baseline human. That’s right, your magic or your healing-factor or your vampire blood is no match for these Gin Rickeys!

2. If Curly’s does get raided while you’re there, you can run and hide or choose to engage with the police, who are armed and not too shy about opening fire if you go on the offensive. As with the rest of the regular residents of Carcosa, the officers are human and can be killed. Killing them may affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation. (Is it beneficial to personal growth to kill in order to save someone else, for example? You tell me!)

3. Did you want a pet from the front of the building? Well, just remember that baby turtles and alligators might SEEM like a good idea, but they grow up! Also any animal you take will not travel with you to the next island. So sorry.

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Ⅲ. EXPRESSIONISM YOURSELF
CW: Optional paranoia, hallucinations.
If you wander the streets at night, you may find yourself getting turned around. You'll find that the streets have lost their many lights, and the beautiful and delicate art deco architecture has given way to something much more stark and heavy. The buildings are block-like, but they curve in exaggerated ways that hurt the eye if looked at too long. All are in blacks and whites and greys. Nothing looks quite real, but you can walk along just fine. Probably better not to go off alone, though.


Periodically you will encounter that pesky sign of some sort painted on the walls. If you follow the sigils, you will eventually be led to a long staircase that winds down and down until it finally terminates in a large white room lit by a few electric lanterns. There's black paint there, with brushes. Maybe you're feeling creative?

Notes:
1. You’re pretty sick of this stupid sigil, aren’t you? In fact, you consider yourself QUITE the detective and have been searching after its meaning! Or maybe you played Call of Cthulhu a lot in college, you nerd!

Painting the sigil on the wall will cause you to feel disoriented and paranoid until you leave the white room. From that point on you can discover a copy of a play entitled The King In Yellow anywhere in the city you choose. Reading the first act of the play has no effect on you, however if you choose to read beyond the first line of the second act you will spend the rest of the month suffering from periodic hallucinations, often of a tall man in a pallid mask.

2. While there is no compulsion to paint, choosing to work out any of your character’s issues through art therapy can be reflected in your Scrywatch colour if it is significant enough.

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Ⅳ. AS FAR BACK AS I CAN REMEMBER, I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A GANGSTER
CW: Optional gun violence, injury.
Art? Theatre? Music? BAH! Boring!

Maybe your tastes are a little more on the dangerous side? Whatever this island may be, it seems to offer plenty of opportunities to get into the seedy underbelly. Maybe you feel the need to steal a car, rob a bank, transport some illegal hooch for a smiling fellow in a yellow fedora. Grab your tommy guns, kids, it's time to outrun the Feds!

Naturally, you could wind up injured having all of this fun, but surely you could get some help from your fellow Travelers, either directly or by having them haul you to some sort of underground doctor. These doctors do exist, although it might take a while to get referred to one by a local.

You might also find yourself under arrest and stuck in an old-timey jail cell for a month. What fun!

Notes:
1. As was stated in the first prompt, the regular residents of Carcosa are normal humans. Killing them is possible and may affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation. Any weapons you find are era-appropriate.

2. You can break out of jail if you’re resourceful enough.

3. The underground doctors aren’t working in a real hospital for a reason. In fact, some of them might be less doctors and more, well. Vets.

You still jamming to that Carcosa playlist?

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Comments

[bookerlesigh]

[ that almost makes booker laugh; sure, he'd rather not stick his hand in a fire, but it was hard to be scared of something that was so fleeting. no, it wasn't his own pain that scared him. ]

No. You're not, either, though.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki merely shrugs. ]

Pain is pain. It comes and goes. Why would it bother me?

[ which probably outs him as being non-human, but loki isn't hiding his identity, just his abilities. ]

[bookerlesigh]

[ booker shrugs back; all the travelers here are a little odd, but it's not a curiosity he's interested in exploring ]

It's just most regular people would be more worried about pain than ignorance.

[dothelokimotion]

[ ugh regular people. so . . . dull. ]

If we behave like regular people, then we will be constantly dancing to the whims of this ever-changing place.

[bookerlesigh]

Gonna be a lonely gang if it's just you and me, pal.

[dothelokimotion]

[ he crosses his arms, doing his best not to pout. ]

I'm sure I'll find other members promptly enough.

[bookerlesigh]

Maybe a little faster if you offered them more than just knowledge. In my experience, people appreciate immediate protection over future choices that aren't impacting them in the moment.

[ how many best intentions had he seen thwarted in the middle of a war zone, where not getting hit by a bullet compromised morals or put in jeopardy upcoming plans? ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ hmm. ]

And what would you want?

[bookerlesigh]

[ booker blinks - truthfully, it shouldn't be an unexpected question but... ]

Want?

[ his going rate is usually get the hell out of dodge as fast as possible ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ an odd reaction. loki repeats the question. ]

Yes. What do you want?

[bookerlesigh]

[ ( to not be miserable ) ]

[ booker finds himself stalling with a sigh. what does he want? he hasn't really thought about it before, preferring to ride on the coattails of people with more ambition and conviction than him. ]

A good drink.

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki seems to give him a long look, sharp and piercing. then he twists his fingers in the air, glowing green and hands booker a martini that seemingly appears. ]

[bookerlesigh]

[ it might have been unnerving, if booker had any sense of self-preservation - but as it is, the prolonged gaze is curious, and booker begins to frown slightly before the martini appears and - ]

Oh.

[ magic. of course it's fucking magic again. still, he takes the drink with interest, sniffing at it. ]

Not drugged, yeah?

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki rolls his eyes. ]

Don't flatter yourself.

[bookerlesigh]

[ well, he believes that without question. and when he takes a sip he can't help but hum happily - yes. this was a good fucking drink. ]

Can you do that with anything?

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki shrugs. ]

Nearly anything. It . . . depends on the complexity of the object.

[bookerlesigh]

And you don't think that's a better way of getting power than knowledge or protection?

[dothelokimotion]

No. We have no real place here. Objects and trinkets are passing fancies, but they can't fill any real need or void.

[bookerlesigh]

Not a real need - but something superficial like this?

[ damn, he's forgotten how nice it is to not just shotgun out of a bottle ]

Can win over some friends, with stuff like this.

[ there's a reason nicky walked around some places with candy in his pockets like a old russian babuska. ]

[dothelokimotion]

[ loki doesn't seem convinced, but there is logic to it. ]

I suppose I can dazzle people with trinkets then.

[bookerlesigh]

[ booker's suddenly struck with the impression that maybe this guy doesn't have a lot of friends. ]

It'll be a good start.

[ and that leads booker to one more question, bringing it full circle ]

So what's going to be in it for you?

[dothelokimotion]

[ he doesn't. and loki has unusual ideas of friendship. ]

Isn't it obvious? A way of taking back control of our situation, to protect ourselves. The reasons are quite clear.

[bookerlesigh]

[ well, that part was obvious. still, it seemed like a lot of work when you could just... let things unravel the way they were meant to unravel. though it would benefit more people, and if he can do something to help... ]

So what would we be doing first?

[ he's still hesitant about how much effort this is going to cost him, but he's well and warmed up to the idea of fashioning some kind of... acquaintanceship. ]

[dothelokimotion]

Reconnaissance, first and foremost.

[ loki isn't a big proponent of letting things play by ear, but he does see value in it. waiting and knowing the right moment to act is key. the only thing lacking is knowledge. ]

Accumulate as much as we can in terms of information so we can form a complete picture. From there, we will consider our plan of action.

[bookerlesigh]

[ reconnaissance seems easy enough. a further excuse to drink and distract himself. ]

What if we don't find anything out?