polymods: (Default)
polymods ([personal profile] polymods) wrote in [community profile] polylogs2021-05-01 03:00 pm

Destination: Carcosa

POLYMYTHOS: CARCOSA

Carcosa


Ⅰ. THE TEMPLE
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The island's harbour is full of other ships, although not a single one of them seems to actually have a human being aboard. (You could certainly try to steal one, but doing so is an exercise in futility - you will find that even if you set off into the ocean you will wind up right back in the harbour again after spending a few hours lost in the fog.) Beyond the harbour is a glittering city of glass and gold. Curving arches and sharp geometric lines are the hallmarks of the architecture - an art deco paradise that whispers of decadence and hope for the future.

The people who crowd the streets wear suits and hats, drop-waist dresses and furs. Their faces are all blank smiles. It's the roaring twenties, darling, why do you look so concerned?

If it is your first experience of the Endless Isles, you have access to the High Temple. Should you wish, you may also seek out the island's own temple as well, which is located inside the city, in a district mostly forgotten by the residents. Don’t worry - your feet will carry you there.

The building is not large, and it is old and neglected. It has a domed ceiling, with panels of glass crisscrossed with metal painted gold curving upward. Whatever fine pattern may have formed there is lost to time; the glass at the centerpoint of the dome is gone, letting in the smell of the sea.

There are rooms equipped with beds spreading out like a spiderweb from the middle of the building. The temple proper is of course in the exact center, below the broken dome. In the middle of this circular room you will find dead branches gathered together to make a vaguely humanoid shape. This crude figure has been haphazardly painted yellow. A slab of concrete sits in front of it. There is not much to explore here; it is very quiet.

Either temple is a good place to simply rest, or meet some of your fellow Travelers. The High Temple of course has the Temple Chef and its usual Guardians, Flock, and Lantern.

The Island Temple has its own Guardians, which are small, pale humanoids with perfectly blank faces and small antlers like young deer. They will leave you alone unless you try to meddle with the central room. Doing so will result in one of them approaching you, and you will find yourself falling unconscious on the floor.



Ⅱ. THE MASQUERADE
Through happenstance, you find yourself in an enormous ballroom. Low couches are dotted everywhere, and a live band plays somewhere at the end of the massive space. A long bar takes up one side of the room, bottles sparkling under the light cast from the many cut-glass chandeliers hanging overhead. Champagne flows freely, and the scent of gin pervades the air.

All of the attendees are wearing masks.

You're dressed for the occasion, of course - you will find yourself wearing something reminiscent of 1920s America, with a small yellow sigil of some sort pinned to your breast. Ask any of the guests about it and they will tell you, "ah, it's a secret." You too, of course, are wearing a mask. You did not pick this mask, but if you look in the mirror hung over the bar you will find that it nonetheless hints at some aspect of your personality.

Which would be all well and good, except that you can't take the bloody thing off.

Moving around the ballroom, you will discover that a few other people also have the yellow sigil pinned to their clothing. It probably shouldn't surprise you that these people are all other Travelers, equally unable to take their mask off.

No, you can't unmask until you share something with your new-found friend: a secret. A REAL one, the sort you'd never speak aloud.

Of course, you can choose not to share. If you choose that route, however, you'll find that the mask is fusing with your skin. Leave it on past midnight when the cries of "UNMASK! UNMASK!" begin, and it will simply become your new face for the duration of the month.



Ⅲ. THE PLAY
Maybe parties aren't your style. No fear, there's plenty more to do and see in such a wondrous city. There's a theatre - the Meliora Grand as a matter of fact - and perhaps you're just the sort of person who would like to take in the arts.

The theatre has plush seats, and fabulous electric sconces lining the wall. Once you take your seat you'll find yourself looking at the stage, where a blood-red velvet curtain hangs. The theatre doesn't seem to fill up - indeed, it really seems that there's only you and one or two other people there. Curious.


The lights go down and the curtain is drawn open, revealing... well. Not much.

There are two chairs on the stage, a table between them. On the table lays a pallid face: a mask. Just a mask. Why not go on up and take a closer look?

Should you choose to touch the mask, you will feel a deep urge to speak to whoever else is in the theatre. You will, in fact, feel the desire to act out some sort of emotional trauma with them. Perhaps they suddenly look like your mother, your father, a lover who left you. Why don't you tell them how you really feel?

Naturally, you can both just sit in awkward silence instead. You'll be waiting until the morning to be let out, if that's the case.



Ⅳ. LOST CARCOSA
CW: the undead.
You find yourself walking along the beach at night. Along the shore the cloud-waves break, and black stars rise above you.

You can't quite pinpoint when you realise you are no longer alone. Maybe there is only one other person on the beach with you, or perhaps a few; you move as one down the expanse of sand until you realise there is something laying up ahead of you.

There is a heap of yellow cloth there, dry and tattered with age. It smells faintly of spices. Nestled among it is a jewel-encrusted human skull. Its empty sockets compel you to sit down in the cool, bone-white sand, to sit and speak to those around you about loss.

Everyone has lost something important to them. A person, a thing, a place, an aspect of the self. Something that's gone and you're never getting back. The skull grins endlessly, endlessly, encouraging you to speak about something you may not have laid to rest.

You can resist this compulsion. Maybe you were never good at sharing. Refuse the skull's silent request and you may continue down along the beach, or perhaps head back the way you came. As you walk, however, you will notice that there is a fog rolling in. It comes in off the sea/sky, obscuring the beach until you can barely see.

It's a terribly handy cover for the corpses that are shambling out of the surf. Wet, bloated, with eyes that glow a dim gold, they head for you silently. They wish to drag you back with them, into the depths. Better hope you can outrun or outfight them.

Bonus: What's that? You want a Carcosa playlist? You've got it, babes!


Network · Logs · OOC · Memes · Plurk

queenking: ([neutral] ew no why)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-05-09 10:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Aww. [Saxsice seems -- genuinely disappointed. That's not scandalous at all.] No secret, uh...tea-smugglin' rings? Crumpet...gamblin' addiction? I'm spitballin' here.

[Clearly, she has never been to England. Ever.]
grayshulk: (pic#12883336)

[personal profile] grayshulk 2021-05-09 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
She can't imagine that Deadpool would want everyone to know that he's capable of discretion. There's a lot to be said for his reputation and what he tries to do with it. Which means she appreciates him being willing to exercises the ability even with the chance that he might use the information as leverage later.

"Do you think it's one specific secret?" She looks at the mask in her hands and her own fractured reflection. "Or do you think it's any secret that actually matters?"

Looking up to make eye contact with the man behind the masks, (she assumes he's wearing both masks in separate layers somehow,) Jennifer thinks Deadpool gets stuck in the Cassandra role more than he should. Yes, it's hard to believe what he says when he tells her that everyone will want her to become like the cousin they killed, but he doesn't seem to be lying.

"I'll keep that mind."
kyley_b: (RL_KB_04)

cw: religious insensitivity

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-05-09 10:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Kyle snorts. "I meant more like, on a personal level where I manage to convince YOU that you weren't at fault, but yeah, okay. Heh."

He takes one of the offered cigarettes, although he doesn't have a lighter. "These are so not good for you asthma, dude," he tells Prior. Musing aloud, he adds, "I don't know why the fuck you guys came up with Original Sin. Like that's straight up New Testament shit that seems specifically designed to make you feel bad. I've never understood it, and I grew up surrounded by Catholics."
extrasensory_problems: (flower)

content warning for mention of spousal abuse

[personal profile] extrasensory_problems 2021-05-09 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"Can't hurt, might help." Carter says and glances over his shoulder, weirdly sure that the people around them are now listening and leering at them.

"I'll go first, and then if it doesn't work I'll be the only one horribly embarrassed." He offers and then takes a moment to think. Finally he selects a secret that he rarely likes to talk about, or tell people outright but he's pretty sure Jen will be okay with it considering the first time they met she was much taller and much greener.

"I'm a mutant." He admits and then in case that isn't enough he adds, "I manifested my powers when I was eight years old and it scared the hell out of my mother. She was human and my Dad had been a mutant...and he had been abusive."

He pauses again, stupidly waiting for some kind of magical music sting or light to flash, but nothing happens. However when he pulls at the strings of his mask it comes off, allowing him to fully breathe.
Edited 2021-05-10 16:29 (UTC)
extrasensory_problems: (up_smile)

[personal profile] extrasensory_problems 2021-05-09 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh shit you're a dorm rat too?" He grins, "What are you in school for? I'm studying to be a nurse."
unkindled_madness: (ping)

[personal profile] unkindled_madness 2021-05-09 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
So, what would happen if a character attempted to destroy the mask in the theatre? Like, smash it?
kyley_b: (RL_KB_1)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-05-09 11:02 pm (UTC)(link)
"I am!" Kyle laughs. "Poli-Sci major - I'm going to law school in the fall. Well. I was gonna go to law school, anyway," he says as he gestures around them. "I guess that's been put on hold indefinitely."

He looks at Carter solemnly. "I don't want to sound like a dick, but why a nurse and not a doctor?"
tearsinajar: supersuits / ij (pic#10733601)

[personal profile] tearsinajar 2021-05-09 11:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The mask hides the furrow of her brow but not the way her lips press together in a flat line, as she's turning to face him again. ]

You. Sullivan. Some guy with a receding hairline. The three of you coming into the motel room. You were talking about treasure which, with you, is clearly nothing out of the ordinary these days.
pilferings: (newzu dispose of muzu for my amuzument)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-09 11:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nate lets out an exhale, slow and thoughtful.

'Some guy with a receding hairline' — okay, so, maybe they're not exactly in sympatico as far as their timelines are concerned. It's already so goddamned complicated as it is, being plucked out of their own worlds and brought to this place, but to come in at different points of their lives ...

For what is hardly to be the last time, Nate reaches out and then lets his hand drop back to his side. He frowns too, considering. ]


I explained everything. [ Okay, maybe not everything, but. ] That's — Sam. I didn't — you didn't get the introduction? We had this conversation, before you —

[ Before she left the motel room in tears, and Nate ... lashed out at Sully, at Sam, and still thought that maybe their marriage was strong enough to buy him just a little more time to save Sam. Looking at Elena now, he isn't sure that's true anymore. Maybe he never really did, but he hasn't taken his wedding ring off once anyway. ]

Elena, that guy was Sam. My brother. And I had to — have to save him.
pilferings: (moar onion plz!!)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-10 12:08 am (UTC)(link)
I care. I care, especially if they're gonna come after us and — I don't know, make their way into the city once they've turned us into zombies too.

[ That's how it works, right?

Anyway, this guy has got to be crazy. Or he's got some kind of a death wish, and as Nate draws closer to him, maybe to tug at his sleeve or physically pull him out of harm's way of the wet, rotting corpses, he realizes he's in the company of the gryphon guy from the castle.

Well, great. He'd had a good impression of him then, was impressed with the way he'd handled that ferocious (but awesome) creature even, but this — ]
You got a way of calming these guys down too? [ He's gesturing to the pile of limbs crawling ever closer towards them. ]
suckonthis: (wtf did you get SOMOAS DAD)

[personal profile] suckonthis 2021-05-10 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Time is strange like that. One day you're having sleepovers and crafts with macaroni and the next you're making your own sawed off shotguns. That's... that's a thing, right? ]

Do you usually sleep with a macabre stick figure in your living room?

[ No shame, Nate. Seriously, no shame. Still, as he shifts his pack on his shoulder better, there is a somewhat expectant look. HOW IS THIS NOT A RHETORICAL QUESTION? ]

This whole place is kind of unsettling. Did the area around here seem deserted to you, too?
tearsinajar: backchat (pic#10002205)

[personal profile] tearsinajar 2021-05-10 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
By, what, looking for Henry Avery's treasure? Going on a little pirate treasure hunt together and lying to me about it for weeks?

[ Her hands sweep out at her sides. If she almost hits someone, she doesn't notice. ]

Since when have you had a brother? I was under the assumption that you were an only child this entire time.
outofdenile: (a few words together and don’t try)

[personal profile] outofdenile 2021-05-10 12:55 am (UTC)(link)
[ Nile just raises an eyebrow at the cocky statement and then shrugs. ]

I'm not a fan of waking up in something I didn't put on. [ She's had enough of her life changing without her permission, this just seemed oddly invasive. Her gaze flickers from her conversation partner for a moment over party goers. ] And what's with these people?
outofdenile: (Default)

[personal profile] outofdenile 2021-05-10 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
"...the Ancient didn't strike me as someone that wanted sacrifices." It was weird, really. How hidden this place was. In the other island, the Temple had been central, but here... "What strikes you as creepy? Besides the deer-people."

Who, yes, are fully odd.
dependably: (pic#14795932)

[personal profile] dependably 2021-05-10 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
Simon.

[ don't belong here, wants to go home... such familiar thoughts shared amongst soldiers back in the war. nobody really wants to be on the battlefield, missing home.. wishing to have never left it.

as for him not being a bad person? he can't confirm that. he doesn't know Simon, doesn't know what he's done. doesn't know enough of who he is as a person to disprove that and won't even bother attempting to.

instead, he presents what he does know. ]


Listen here, Simon. I was a soldier, then a Mercenary, and I did some things to just survive. Could be seen as bad. Could be seen as necessary. Can't really say, don't know what exactly is in the Ancient's thought process to say exactly. For whatever reason, I'm here too. ..What I'm trying to say is, try not to think too much about it.

Instead, just focus on getting through it. [ that this right now will be temporary. ]
dothelokimotion: (Settles in as the gentle present)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2021-05-10 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
[ loki looks startled at the touch, something akin to panic flitting through his eyes before he manages to control it. he purses his lips before shaking his head. ]

No. They're mindless. My powers won't work on them.
pilferings: (we're trapped in the exposition tower)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-10 02:16 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. And I swear —

[ Nate flinches, the beats of this conversation feeling like deja vu, only with a few nightmarish adjustments — the fancy dresses, the masks that won't come off, the crowd of party guests occupying the hall around them, many curious onlookers now beginning to notice the commotion.

And Nate knows he's explaining it badly, worse even than when he'd tried to do it the first time back at the motel. He thinks to scrub his face, but his fingers catch on the mask covering half of his face still. ]


I promise I can explain everything. Can we just — not do it here?
pilferings: (it is forreal dawg)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-10 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
Of course. Because that'd be too easy, right?

[ And since when are things ever easy? Nate pats himself down as though he might miraculously find some kind of zombie-killing weapon on his person, but he's in for an expected disappointment in that department. ]

And guns? Guessing you don't have a gun or a — sword? Do you have a sword on you?

[ Loki looks like a guy who might carry a sword. ]
extrasensory_problems: (cute curious)

[personal profile] extrasensory_problems 2021-05-10 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
Carter nods, thinking about how strange it was that after all the worrying and late night study sessions he was doing for school, things that seemed like the most stressful and important things in his life, are now just all on pause. Like some giant being decided he needed a break.

Yeah a break that has zombies and spider babies... He thinks to himself.

"You don't sound like a dick, I get asked that a lot." He replies, "Doctors get more fame and recognition, more power and they get paid better."

He looks at Kyle, "But they also don't care as much a lot of the time. My mom was a nurse and I saw how much she helped people and I'd rather do that then make lots of money and just write out prescriptions all day."
tearsinajar: anabiotic (тнere'ѕ вaтн тυвѕ)

[personal profile] tearsinajar 2021-05-10 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
[ Once upon a time she used to find that gesture an attractive one, how he would scrub his hand over his mouth, how he would catch his fingers along his bottom lip to stroke while lost in a thought. And yeah, yeah she might’ve let her gaze linger on his mouth just now, despite their current situation. ]

Fine. [ Elena steps back and motions for him to lead the way. ] But I’m still getting my drink on the way.
dothelokimotion: (Something else will take its place)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2021-05-10 02:52 am (UTC)(link)
[ loki gives a flat look which speaks volumes of what he thinks of guns and swords. he carefully extricates nate's grip on him, still feeling rattled over being touched, a wordless feeling of loss bubbling in him. instead of dwelling, loki gathers green magical energy in his palms and flings it out, knocking over a large group of zombies shambling towards the shore.

then he straightens himself with a sigh. there's no point lashing out when people are here to see him lose it. ]


We can go. I can lead you back.
hostile_encounter: (14)

[personal profile] hostile_encounter 2021-05-10 04:05 am (UTC)(link)
She snorts. "Feels more like a cult tactic. Force artificial bonding by creating the illusion of rapid forming intimacy."

Look, she's not good at believing in things.
kyley_b: (RL_KB_1)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-05-10 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Maybe." he considers this, then shrugs.

"I've been in a cult before."
spoilers: (side:  emotion)

[personal profile] spoilers 2021-05-10 04:23 am (UTC)(link)
The reminder is probably unintentional, but their exchange on the day of their first marriage, the day she'd killed him, echoes back at River. I don't want to marry you. I don't want to murder you.

But isn't that how she'd so often felt? Like a child, trying to live up to the Doctor's expectations of her, eager for his attention and approval. Even now, part of her wants the Doctor to see her, to love her, despite the fact she's been damaged. She's hurt and she's angry. He'd left her behind. And still, River gravitates to her like she's the sun.

Tears well in River's eyes as she nods, and she takes a breath to keep herself from crying. She learned long ago how not to cry, and she'll be damned if she starts crying now, even if it's well-earned. Her voice is nearly steady when she speaks again, "I still love you. You know that?"

A lone tear has managed to escape her tight rein, fortunately on the open side of the mask, and she roughly swipes it away, annoyed. "And you were selfish."
pilferings: (ooOOOh it's starting to hurt)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-10 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
Sure.

[ Nate's pretty sure he couldn't keep a sip of water down, let alone a proper drink. Facing down a militia of ruthless mercenaries, sure; a hoard of juiced up Shambhala guardians? No problem. But explaining the truth (again) to his wife? Christ, his stomach feels like it's trying to crawl up his throat.

So, he's just going to wait while Elena fetches her drink, the playful jazz in the background gone woefully ignored (and, actually, kind of insulting to his current mood) before he guides them away from the dancing and partying to an alcove just outside the ballroom doors. It's quieter here and a lot more private, better for conversation — or the inevitable stashing of his body when Elena kills him. ]