polymods: (Default)
polymods ([personal profile] polymods) wrote in [community profile] polylogs2022-01-02 12:44 pm

Got the morbs.

POLYMYTHOS: VICTORIA'S SECRET

VICTORIA'S SECRET


Ⅰ. ARRIVAL & THE TEMPLE
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The ferry pulls into port in the evening, when shadows are long and gas lamps burn through a veil of mist. Dozens of other ships are docked as well, with men unloading crates and boxes from their holds. Beyond the wet wood and lapping sound of the ocean, a city looms like a charcoal smudge on a purple sky. The air is smoggy and thick, and the river that flows from the sea into the city smells foul. Walk the cobbled streets and you will find that the city is crowded and filthy, but full of merchants, pubs, and theatres. Vast wealth and extreme poverty exist side by side.

In the center of the sprawling city is a temple with towering gothic spires and huge stained glass windows depicting all manner of beings that might be gods or angels or monsters. You could look for hours and still be finding new figures plucked straight from books of myth and religion. Inside, the main chamber has a grand vaulted ceiling, and dozens of pews line the aisle up to the altar, which is oddly anticlimactic compared to the lavish surroundings: just a plain stone table with a lit oil lamp in the centre. Two hallways branch off on either side of the room: one leads to private baths and a communal kitchen, the other to monastic style chambers with thin beds. Not the most comfortable place to stay, but it’ll do in a pinch!

Alternatively you can venture into the city and find yourself some other lodging - every Traveler has been supplied with some pocket money. Just be careful that it isn’t stolen by some street urchin. Travelers can also find an era-appropriate outfit that will fit them perfectly laid in the first sleeping chamber they visit.

Notes:
1. Unless this is your character’s first island, the High Temple and anything you may have stored there is off-limits this month.

2. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.

3. The city greatly resembles Victorian London, and the technology and general way of life is all of that era. Feel free to explore the city! These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.

4. Most food is safe to eat, and is consumable by non-human entities. Most. Some of it’s going to be pretty gross or cooked improperly, so be careful.

5. The people in the city are normal humans unless otherwise indicated. Killing them is possible and will affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation.

6. Have fun!



Ⅱ. SEANCE
CW: grief, past trauma.
Perhaps you overhear talk of it at a pub, or maybe you’re handed a small card as you push your way through the crowded city streets. Maybe you just wander in by accident. However it happens, you find yourself being ushered into the parlour of one Miss Mary Price: Spiritualist.

You and several other people are instructed to sit at a round table in a very dark and musty room. The walls are covered in thick black curtains, and maybe you’re the type to suspect that there’s someone hiding behind them somewhere. Once everyone is seated, Mary Price herself enters the room. The lights are all extinguished save for a single candle.

Mary calls out to the spirits. They communicate through a series of knocks, or the movement of a Ouija board. Someone at the table is put in contact with a deceased aunt who reveals the location of a family heirloom. Someone else is able to say goodbye to a son.

Mary Price looks at you with eyes so dark they look black, and asks, “What haunts you?”

Maybe you answer honestly. Maybe you don’t answer at all, but that doesn’t matter because the spirit tapping around the room is more than happy to narc on you and tell the whole room what or who it is that you cannot forget.

You can deny it all you like, but the spirits don’t have a reason to lie. And if you try to mess up the seance, you will spend a month being hounded by an angry poltergeist.

Notes:
1. The spirit can communicate through knocks, the Ouija, actually vocalising through the medium, or via ectoplasm.

2. What haunts your character does not have to be the memory of a dead person. It can be an event - maybe they’ve never gotten over losing that science fair in grade three. It is the feeling of being haunted that is important.

3. If you choose to trash the seance, the spirit will follow you for the rest of the month. It can range from annoying to actually dangerous.



Ⅲ. THE RIPPER
CW: murder, gore, violence.
You’re lost at night. Maybe you were in the pub too late, or maybe you were searching for more illicit fun - weren’t there opium dens around this time? - or maybe you just weren’t keeping an eye on the time. However it happened, you’re on the streets in the dark.

It’s very foggy; you can barely see a foot in front of you. The streetlamps look like dimly burning ghosts and when the odd person passes you they are felt more than seen, just a darker shadow in a world of shifting shades.

Very suddenly you hear a scream - short, and swallowed up quickly by the fog. Still, it’s enough to get you to turn and hurry down a narrow alleyway.

Sprawled on the ground amid a lake of blood is a body. It’s immediately apparent that this person is probably beyond help - their throat has been slashed ear to ear. Your appearance was not expected, however, and you can see that you’ve startled the killer: they’re running down the alley in the opposite direction.

You have a few choices: you can chase the killer and attempt to catch them, you can try to help the victim, you can get the authorities, or you can just walk away.

What will you do?

Notes:
1. The inspiration for this prompt is Jack the Ripper but you do not have to use that case as a basis for your killer.

2. You can get as involved with this as you would like. You can have your character catch the killer in a chase, or form your very own detective squad and hunt them down that way.

3. Naturally, walking away from a potential serial killer might not be great for your Scrywatch grading!



Ⅳ. RESURRECTION MEN
CW: dead bodies, grave robbing.
You’re not entirely clear on how you agreed to this. Maybe it was a barroom bet gone wrong. Maybe you’re broke enough that you need money fast. Or maybe you want to help some wannabe medical students. However it happened, you’re in the cemetery.

And you’ve got a shovel.

Time to rob some graves! You’ve convinced yourself somehow that this isn’t morally reprehensible, and so you and your partner are just going to get down to business! What corpse should you unearth? You feel like a kid in a candy store!

The problem comes once you’ve unearthed the body because it seems terribly familiar. Which is… creepy. Creepier still when it starts talking.

Maybe it’s a family member, or an old friend. Maybe an ex partner. Whoever it is, they immediately start telling your fellow grave robber about some incident from your past that you just. Can’t. Let. Go. Of. And even if you whack it with a shovel it won’t stop. Bad corpse! BAD Corpse!

Which of course is exactly what you have to try and do if you want this chatty Cathy of a corpse to shut the hell up.

Notes:
1. If you do NOT let go of this past event, the corpse will follow you the rest of the night singing Henry the Eighth I am, I am.

Sometimes I can still hear his voice...


Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

northerndragon: look ma, i finally made a right proper icon (wagging tail)

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-01-18 10:34 am (UTC)(link)
He is silent, for a moment, but his expression is sympathetic.

“I spent my first night on straw in a barn. It was a big old castle. Like what I know, and not like it.”

A step closer, still hesitant.

“No one I know is here… not from home. My father’s wife was in that castle, but she was a ghost, and I have not seen her since.”

On hearing his name, Ghost’s ears flick back in Jon’s direction, and he opens his mouth to pant.

“Hated me as much as she ever did in life.” He shrugs. Should he have expected anything else?
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] Unhappy)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-01-18 10:39 am (UTC)(link)
"I remember," she murmured. There had been common ground between them. He, tormented by Lady Stark, and she, tormented by Viserys. Shame, sorrow, need and yet emptiness, they both had shared it in their childhood. Hearing those stories from him had been a beautiful jewel. The curtain drew back and she could see the reason for his cold exterior and brooding nature. "Did she speak to you?"

There's an opening there for him. She didn't draw back at his approach, her hands tightening together in response. When she felt afraid, she looked to Ghost. It was strange to use him for her source of courage, but without Drogon, he seemed the best choice. That connection to the magic of their world, that was what she needed.

"That's a cruel first trial, to force you to endure her presence. An unfamiliar place is difficult enough, but to be confronted to such a painful specter." She hurt for him.
northerndragon: (i never thought that dragons would exist)

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-01-18 10:54 am (UTC)(link)
He shrugs again, dismissing the idea that it had been painful. It had been, but it doesn’t matter.

“I’m here. Haven’t seen her since then. It was more than half a year ago.” Half a year on these islands, and in less time at home, he had met and come to love Daenerys. The last thing… it must have been her agreement to come North with him. She had done it instead of trying to take the throne. It must have been the seal on his love. If he was not here, he would be with her now.

“I told you of her.” That’s curious. But a woman who had seen and kissed his scars… it fits, that he might have spoken of it.
Edited 2022-01-18 11:35 (UTC)
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] Listens)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-01-18 10:55 pm (UTC)(link)
"That is one of the Ancient's games? Showing you unfriendly ghosts?" She was told that there could be moments where she spoke truthfully or revealed secrets. Summoning shades, that was a different matter. Neither she liked, but one could be more painful than the other. "I will find a way out of here."

If she had to be patient, fine. She wouldn't be complacent and accept this supposed task. She would wait, but she would watch and learn. It would at least grant her some way forward. Better than what she was expected to do.

His question pulled her from her thoughts. "You told me of many things when we were alone."
Edited 2022-01-19 00:27 (UTC)
northerndragon: and now my watch begins (night gathers)

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-01-19 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
He makes an ambivalent little gesture. Unfriendly ghosts are one of the Ancient’s games. Facing your past seems to be one of her games. He is not sure that it is unkindly meant, although it isn’t comfortable when it happens. He doubts that Daenerys will be able to find a way around it. He doubts that what she encounters will be easy or pleasant.

He keeps his comment to the latter part.

“I have no doubt. What else? My little sister, or Maester Aemon.” He looks for confirmation.
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] Gulp)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-01-19 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
"I was there when you received word that Arya returned to Winterfell, as well as Bran." So, yes, she knew about his sister. Maester Aemon had come up briefly, which pained her. The last of her family had slipped away without her knowledge. So close, but still too far to reach. "It would have been good to meet Aemon. After Viserys, there was no one left to talk to about my family, save for Ser Barristan."

It slipped her mind that he might not remember Viserys was her brother. Having talked to him about Viserys before, it was natural that she simply fell back into habit.

"You spoke of your older sister who was acting as regent, that she found you at the Wall. You told me of your time at the Wall and how you infiltrated the Freefolk."
northerndragon: i never knew my mother (peering at the sky in confusion)

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-01-19 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
He stands stock-still, not hearing much of what she’s saying.

“Arya is dead. Bran is dead.”

A step forward, and he adds, near pleading, “They are alive? There is word?”
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] Help Me)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-01-19 03:23 am (UTC)(link)
"You received word from your sister, Sansa. I believe she said that they both arrived at Winterfell." So that would imply that they were truly alive. She had been glad for him and still was, though she felt nervous to meet them, as well as Northerners in general.

"I promise you that it is true."

If that could comfort him. It meant trusting a stranger, but he had once before.
northerndragon: my pride and then my joy and then my pride again (S8 proud)

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-01-19 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
A grin cracks over his face. His eyes fill with tears. He crosses the three steps to her and throws his arms around her, or at least makes a heedless attempt.

“They’re alive, they’re alive,” he murmurs.

It doesn’t matter that they’ve just met, or that they stand on quite uneven footing. She knows him; he knows nothing, but what he has just heard is news he has awaited since he was eight-and-ten. He had told himself they were dead. He had given up hope — nearly.
Edited 2022-01-19 05:24 (UTC)
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] Whispered Words)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-01-19 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
She's caught off guard by the hug, suddenly finding herself in his arms. Despite her attempts to be rigid and guarded, she yields a bit and softens. Her hands grip at his back, terrified of this disappearing. Even a small glimmer of his love is better than confusion.

"They are," she whispers reassuringly. She wished she could stroke his hair and comfort him more intimately. It was probably too far. Instead, she yielded and warmed slightly to his touch.

"We were sailing for White Harbor together."
northerndragon: technically they're boots. king boots. (the keyword is on my shoes)

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-01-19 07:05 am (UTC)(link)
He feels the way she softens into his embrace, the way her arms tighten around him and grip at him. A moment passes before he thinks anything of it.

What he has done is cruel — selfish. Thoughtless. He pulls away, but not fully, just enough to look down at her.

“You said you were coming North with me,” he acknowledges. “I am sorry, I didn’t mean to — “
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] Heart Breaking)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-01-19 07:20 am (UTC)(link)
She realized that he was drawing back, putting a measure of respectful distance between them. She let her arms fall away, not bothering to step back. It was clear from her body language that her wall was back up again. She would likely shed a few tears tonight, but she wouldn't show that now.

"What's done is done." Dany answered simply. "You have don't need to speak to me or seek me out if you don't wish to. I will make my way, as I always have." It was a bit colder now, the wind more sharp now that they were apart. She pushed back a lock of hair. There was no one to help her with the elaborate braids. Instead, she had to make do with a messy bun.

There were more stares after the embrace and women hiding their words behind their hands.
northerndragon: from pompeii, for fasti (pompeii - urgency)

this is called a “meet cute”

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-01-19 08:07 am (UTC)(link)
When Jon broke into joy, so did Ghost, dancing at his side. Now Ghost cavorts in a circle around them, paying no attention to his leash until he comes to the end of it just as Daenerys smooths her hair.

“I am sorry,” he says again, referring to the snare they’ve found themselves in. “But — I do want to speak to you. I do want to know you.”

If she is someone he will come to love, why would he avoid her?

“I’m the one who should be offering to stay away, if it comes to that. I am sorry I’m not the man you remember.”
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] Are You Sure)

Matchmaker Ghost

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-01-19 08:13 am (UTC)(link)
She glanced down at the leash at the first loop, realizing too late what would happen. Her feet stumble forward. She grabbed hold of his shoulders to steady herself, her body near his. The proximity didn't escape her notice, but she did her best to compose herself, worried that the effect of him would be obvious.

"Ghost truly is connected to you." She tried to laugh the awkwardness away. It's reassuring to hear he wants to know her, unafraid of what will happen between them. She can't say she's not tempted by his offer, if only to ease her mind, but in the end, she shook her head.

"You can't help the actions of the Ancient. I imagine it's their doing." Another reason to hate this place. "You were here first, after all. Perhaps this is my fault in some way?"
northerndragon: living forever is like living in a living nightmare (dismay)

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-01-19 08:25 am (UTC)(link)
He helps to steady her, but he’s careful not to touch her too intimately: his aid is the aid he would offer to anyone who was stumbling.

“I don’t think it can be your fault.” He releases the handle of the lead, then catches the lead again closer to Ghost’s head, so that it can be loosened from around the two of them.

“Don’t trip ladies,” he says to the direwolf.

To Daenerys, he adds, “He has to stay in the Temple. I don’t think anywhere else in this city is safe for him. If you want to take rooms, you can take some of my pocket money — whatever I can spare. But there isn’t any need.”
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] Lost In Her Thoughts)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-01-19 08:31 am (UTC)(link)
He's courteous, as he was when they first met. There was interest beneath the surface, but his actions remained respectful. It's somehow disheartening to see him to return to that. After the astonishing action of taking her hand while they sailed from Eastwatch, she was used to more intimate touches.

When she's freed, she steps back, smoothing her hair anxiously. Her hands wanted to fidget, but there was nothing to fiddle with. Not her mother's ring, not a map marker. She was alone and awkward.

"No," she replied quickly. "I have no need for your money." It would feel like an act of pity and she couldn't swallow that. Not from him. "I already have lodgings elsewhere. I have no interest in remaining in the Temple."
northerndragon: (31-insomniatic-dw)

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-01-19 08:39 am (UTC)(link)
He takes a step back, tugs at the bottom of the strange jack they’ve given him to wear, and smooths the waistcoat under it.

“All right. But I’d like to see you.”

He had been on his way to meet her. Isn’t this a little like reaching his destination — finally? Unless it is all a trick, or some falsehood. It doesn’t seem like it is. It doesn’t have the strangeness, the monstrosity, of the things that seem like lessons.
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] Listens (Considers))

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-01-19 08:53 am (UTC)(link)
He wants to see her. It's both elation and reservation that she takes in that request. He had said it before and she relented, there was little chance she'd refuse now. Still, she worried for her heart, as well as the vulnerability this would bring her. But...she couldn't be away from him, any version of him. He was her heart.

"I was shown the city by a friend and we found a pub, I think they're called, near my lodging house. It's comfortable and clean. You can find me there in the evenings."

She typed the address into her bracelet and sent it on to him. "There is a lot of city left to see."
northerndragon: (34-insomniatic-dw)

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-01-19 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
How long did she say she had been there… a day? Two? He wonders about her friend. A very short acquaintance.

“Brave, to take rooms alone in an unfamiliar city. What sort of place is the pub?”
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] I Dare You)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-01-19 09:09 am (UTC)(link)
"I've spent my life hiding in unfamiliar cities, I'm not afraid to make my way again." As there weren't going to be assassins, she could at least sleep at night. Though she made sure her door had a firm lock.

"They serve various drinks and some food. The locals gather there after laboring all day. It seems to be popular enough that it isn't unseemly." Certainly he had looked at pubs while he was here?

"I don't recommend the gin."
northerndragon: (i never thought that dragons would exist)

[personal profile] northerndragon 2022-01-19 09:17 am (UTC)(link)
“Sounds like any tavern.” What he’s seen of this city so far is that some things are a little like what he knows, or seem like they could have been, once, in the same way that some of the customs of the North and of the Free Folk seem as though they might once, long ago, have been the same.

“What is gin?”
thebrideoffire: ([Daenerys] Mhm)

[personal profile] thebrideoffire 2022-01-23 02:08 am (UTC)(link)
"Gin is stronger than ale or wine. I can't explain it beyond that." It was one of those things that she wanted to see him experience. It would be amusing to see the expression on his face when it happened. "Apparently it is common in this world. It seems much cheaper than wine."

But it seems better to separate for now and let her absorb the revelation that he wasn't her Jon, the Jon she knew. "You can find me there, if it pleases you."