polymods: (Default)
polymods ([personal profile] polymods) wrote in [community profile] polylogs2021-06-01 03:00 pm

Carcosa, pt. 2

POLYMYTHOS: CARCOSA

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!



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.



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.



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?


Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

quire: (lux)

iii. gangsta's paradise

[personal profile] quire 2021-06-20 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
As much as Quentin loves trouble, low level racketeering and bootlegging is not his idea of a crime syndicate. Despite the fact it's the only place in town to get a drink that really hits like it should, he's not sure he's going to find much of interest here. Until the God of mischief arrives.

"Oh my God, THANK you," he sounds positively exasperated to the point it's hard to tell if he's frustrated or relieved. At least until he goes on. "That's the most interesting offer I've been made all day. Yes. Yes I do."
dothelokimotion: (It is beautiful and on fire and awful)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2021-06-20 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
[ loki blinks, taken off guard by that rapturous response. it's not the kind he usually receives after all and it tends to throw him for a loop. ]

Oh. Well. Glad to hear it.
quire: (king quire)

[personal profile] quire 2021-06-20 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
If he's concerned about being perplexing he doesn't show it. It's far more likely he just doesn't realize. He slams his drink in a way that implies maybe he's done that a couple of times tonight.

"So what's the goal? You think there's something to getting all these bootleggers and bank robbers under our thumb? I don't get the impression they're exactly running the place..."
dothelokimotion: (Words are vibrations)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2021-06-20 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
[ that's a good idea, actually. one loki is on the fence about. these denizens seem to be operating on their own logic and it's hard to tell if they have any free will.

still. they are there to be used. ]


The goal is to build our own information network and seize control from our overlords. Though I am fond of your idea.
quire: (omnomnom)

[personal profile] quire 2021-06-20 03:28 am (UTC)(link)
[Quentin's done a bit of work to extract what information he can about this place from the people who don't seem transplanted here like them.]

I like it. I'm just not sure these fedora-wearing goons know anything. I mean they think they do. Most of them think they've always been here and genuinely seem to think The Man In The Yellow Hat is running the show.

I haven't met him or his monkey so I dunno— maybe he is someone we could overthrow with a rival gang of rum-runners.
dothelokimotion: (Horses should not be trusted)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2021-06-20 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
[ loki blinks. this is brand new information to him. ]

The Man in the Yellow Hat? Do you have a better description?

[ maybe loki could imitate him. sneak into places that may be barred. ]

If we know exactly what he looks like, overthrowing him would be child's play.
quire: (king quire)

[personal profile] quire 2021-06-20 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
Unfortunately no.

[He doesn't love to admit where his knowledge ends but there it is. What he knows is only what he's got from skimming off all the normies in this place.]

I've only seen him in their heads. Some sharp dressed guy in a yellow fedora. Always grinning. Half of these people think they work for him in one way or another. Seems like the best way to get to know him is to go looking for work.
dothelokimotion: (With all the fear and respect)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2021-06-20 10:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ a dilemma but that's hardly going to stop loki. ]

Perhaps we can stake him out. Replace him. A good illusion would be easy enough to fool these locals.
quire: (smirk)

[personal profile] quire 2021-06-24 10:21 pm (UTC)(link)
That could work. [he smiles. Even if it doesn't stirring up trouble is bound to be more interesting than anything a pet shop can serve up.]

The men playing poker are smugglers. They move liquor from the docks to here at night. I don't know if Yellow Fedora ever checks in on his supply but they might be convinced he is tonight.
dothelokimotion: (Demanding all our smiles)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2021-06-25 01:58 am (UTC)(link)
Perfect.

Let's see if we can infiltrate their little club, shall we?
quire: (king quire)

[personal profile] quire 2021-06-25 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
Fuck yeah we shall.

[he's gung ho about this and slams the rest of his drink as if to prove it]

What do you wanna do if Yellow Fedora actually shows up?
dothelokimotion: (The exact problem is currently unclear)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2021-06-26 01:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ blithely. ]

Kill him. Probably.

Or at the very least, put him out of commission.
quire: (phoenix fire)

[personal profile] quire 2021-07-02 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
I mean sure. I'm down. I just assumed something a little more Machiavellian from a guy like you, but yeah I can do simple.

[He scans the room quietly and his eyes take a pink tint.]

So far as I can tell these goons are just regular folks. Not immune to a little thought manipulation. Let me put the work out their Yellow Fellow is hiring. See if we can get a few of his rum runners to start moving the goods somewhere else.

Got a location in mind?

dothelokimotion: (And your children's children)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2021-07-02 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
Not everything needs a deeply creative solution.

[ sometimes, stabbing is the best plan. ]

We should start near the docks.
quire: (king quire)

[personal profile] quire 2021-07-02 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
Is it more satisfying though? When it's at least a little poetic?

[he's just loves an excuse to show off. god forbid anyone underestimate him.]

Sure. I'll send some that way now. We can follow them, see what they lead us to if that works for you.
dothelokimotion: (There are no trees in the library)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2021-07-02 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
I've always found it to be. Though I do have a healthy appreciation for other methods. Do you have something in mind?

[ loki is always open to suggestions. ]

And perfect. That's the plan then.