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

fissure: little-luna @ hollow-art (Default)

cw: childhood illness

[personal profile] fissure 2021-05-10 10:53 pm (UTC)(link)
The familiarity of this man's story leaves Prior a bit uncomfortable, although no nearly so much as the mask does. Still, he isn't offering up an opportunity to relate, instead wondering why this was the secret this man was keeping. Was it no obvious? Was he ashamed? Is he no longer afflicted with maladies and therefor reflects back as if forgetting the rules of cricket is some great failure?

"Yes, that looks like it worked," Prior agrees to give himself more time to explore this new fascination.

"Were your parents the type to over-worry?" That's the only reason Prior can think as to why this man's secret needs protected; he can't imagine many reasons otherwise and just because he doesn't value his family's reputation doesn't mean someone else won't.
lickstheevidence: (pic#13410024)

[personal profile] lickstheevidence 2021-05-10 10:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[Not that Markus was ever designed to be a detective or to do all the things Connor could, but he was still an RK, and he was still programmed with earlier versions of some of Connor's software. There was probably a reason that Kamski had gifted him to Carl Manfred other than the older man needing a caretaker android. Any AX400 could have done for that. Markus was placed with Carl because Kamski probably had plans. He might have had similar ideas for Connor, if Cyberlife hadn't interfered and pitted the RK line against itself. Whether or not RK units were meant to be mentored was anyone's guess, but the argument could be made?

On the contrary, there is a wealth of information here to discover! It's just that deviant androids aren't likely to be the source of any answers here, especially if it's only the two of them. Connor sure as hell doesn't know what's going on. But no, Chloe has nothing to fear from him- at least, nothing that he doesn't already fear about himself.]


That's exactly what I mean.

[His eyes narrow, a frown forming. It's not any expression she won't have seen before on him; even when he wasn't deviant, in some ways he still had much more freedom of thought and behavior than other androids. He doesn't like Chloe's suggestion, not wanting to become reliant on anyone here for anything.]

What do you propose?
suckonthis: (i'm out of starch for my collar)

[personal profile] suckonthis 2021-05-10 11:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ These people matter just as much to Ryo as those pawns at the Sabbath. It's just weird knowing he's among them for once. The truth is unsettling, so he chooses to ignore it and keep pushing. If that means Akira has to follow after him in a fitted tux no less you better enjoy that sight, so be it.

He's quiet when it comes time for Akira to actually start this conversation. Part of the blond wants to lash out because he's tired of being reminded that in the future, he supposedly does something terrible. Something he doesn't want to believe.

But his mask has kind of been scaring the hell out of him all evening. He takes a deep breath and holds it for a moment before letting go. ]


I know who I am now, Akira. I can't imagine a world where I would make you hate me so much. [ It's kind of uncomfortable to look at his ex-friend, but he does his best to try. He doesn't succeed in hiding his discomfort as far as his expression goes, but he continues. As always. ] Part of me wishes I could just call you crazy but I know you better than that...

[ Does he sound like he's had a lot of time to reflect on the hatred his best friend harbors for him? Sure. Of course he's upset. It's a whole damned disaster as far as he's concerned. He motions to the mask stuck on his face. ]

This thing terrifies me; all I can think of is what you keep telling me, but it's not there. Would it be better if it were?

[ What is he even trying to reason? Ryo doesn't know, really. ]
evocation: (044)

[personal profile] evocation 2021-05-10 11:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, okay, you're right.

[It's a logical conclusion, she knows, and for a moment it seems like she's content to mope. After a second or two of poking at her food, though, she sighs dramatically and looks up again.]

Maybe I just want to complain.
queenking: ([neutral] angelic)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-05-11 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
Well, so am I, but I can still do some...stuff. [Saxsice trails off, being purposefully vague -- always smarter to err on the side of caution and not disclosing her shapeshifting secret to just anyone.

She winces as he attempts to destroy the mask, hands half-raised to cover her ears, as if expecting some sort of loud, punishing noise. The sudden change in his expression is just as alarming, and she backs up a couple steps.
] Uh, n-nope, no, not a professor. Virtual stranger here, remember?
queenking: ([up] smirky face)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-05-11 12:50 am (UTC)(link)
[Saxsice keeps her expression very serious, gesturing with her hands as she explains.] It's a pizza. With noodles on top. That you roll up into a sushi shape.

Sushi noodle pizza.
unkindled_madness: (vulnerable)

[personal profile] unkindled_madness 2021-05-11 01:19 am (UTC)(link)
Stranger...?

[He seems to register her words, but he doesn't hear them as coming from her. His brow furrows, hurt by the notion that Gast of all people would call himself a stranger, as if their acquaintance has been meaningless.]

You know me better than anyone. And you're just going to leave without telling me anything?
kneecaptain: (176)

ii.

[personal profile] kneecaptain 2021-05-11 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
[ Bucky's domino mask is red. Otherwise they match. ]

No clue. [ It seems vaguely familiar, but he's seen a lot of shit, so. ] I guess sayin' it could be extraterrestrial is redundant.
kneecaptain: (98)

temple

[personal profile] kneecaptain 2021-05-11 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
"Of course. I dunno why I offered." Habit, maybe. Or the fact that Bucky had a suspicion Logan drank some of his beer, which he had not put in the fridge for sharing. But Bucky is trying to wear a bigger man's shoes. He is trying not to be petty.

And, well, he's always been good at trying. So here's another bit.

"You recognize this place?" He holds himself at a distance from Logan, but not so far he can't be heard clearly. He figures, if anyone's been everywhere, it's probably Wolverine.
mrfuckwit: (( 95. ))

[personal profile] mrfuckwit 2021-05-11 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ Akira's eyebrows lift, lips pursing slightly. ]

Yeah? I'd be interested in knowing how so if you don't mind telling me.
mewnifestos: (Default)

[personal profile] mewnifestos 2021-05-11 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
They don't say hello where you're from?

[ His amusement is light and - seemingly - honest, that edge momentarily fading from what of his expression is actually visible. He's more wary than ill-meaning, though, uncertain if he should be entertaining this stranger's apparent interest in him or high-tailing it out of here, disappearing into the crowd.

There's not much to garner from the partygoers without that squiggly little mark on their finery, though. And that leaves curiosity the more appealing avenue, unfortunately.

Anders sets his mostly empty glass aside as he helps himself to a seat on the other end of the couch. He leans back into the arm, turned conversationally toward the other man. ]


You'll have a lot more fun if you don't waste the whole party brooding in a corner, you know.
evocation: (pic#12213797)

[personal profile] evocation 2021-05-11 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
[Something in her posture eases up. This is a topic she's comfortable discussing, with no danger of putting her foot in her mouth while someone is talking about how traumatic their world is.]

A lot of people aren't super familiar with magic, you know? So they get taken advantage of, or screwed over, or just... run into nasty things they don't know how to deal with. And a lot of people who use magic are snobby assholes, so it's not like there's people busting down the door to help them, right?
mewnifestos: (Default)

[personal profile] mewnifestos 2021-05-11 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
Why not? I can already tell you'd be a fun one to get lost at sea with.

[ Anders shrugs, amusement bright in his gaze. There's something comfortably familiar in that joking suggestion, and he isn't deterred, even if the picture painted is a bit of an unlikely one.

Well. That first bit, anyway. ]


You get hanged for less, where I'm from. I say take your chances where you find them.

[ And if that involves a bit of rule-breaking here and there, so what? All the rules are made by self-righteous prigs in ivory towers, anyway. At least in his experience.

Straightening up, Anders takes a few steps further down the dock. Turning his back to the moored ships, he takes another look around - all quiet, still. ]


Besides, does it really count as stealing if no one's watching them, anyway? They're clearly not concerned about losing one or two.
bookerlesigh: (Default)

[personal profile] bookerlesigh 2021-05-11 03:01 am (UTC)(link)

"Like talking to a cloud of crickets," he sighs, and he passes the drink that's slipped onto the counter top to her, keeping the glass with whiskey for himself. And because a cloud of crickets seems like a bit of a weird thing to say in the city, this era, he adds, "Same shit, no story. Lots of noise and nothing to tell for it."

And there's a depressing toast, and he tips his glass to her, enjoys the burn of alcohol across his tongue and down his throat.

mewnifestos: (Default)

[personal profile] mewnifestos 2021-05-11 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
"I could light it up?" Anders replies, a little uncertain - though that could be just as much due to the things circling in the mist and his harried efforts to fend them off.

He lifts a hand as another one looms out of the dark, an invisible burst of force sending it sprawling backwards, fog swirling. He can't keep this up forever, though.

"What are you thinking?" Something like a grease spell crosses his mind, but in this dark and with so little visibility, he doesn't dare try it, himself. Too little control and too great a risk. Weren't there others out here, before, as well? Maker, he hopes they've gotten out, already.
bonnylass: (pic#14820051)

[personal profile] bonnylass 2021-05-11 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
[ The little, vulnerable sound that the girl lets out when she's released only rankles Anne more, but that's for complicated reasons that even Anne herself can't work out. Gentleness and sweetness infuriate her because she finds it endearing and pathetic all at once, and all of that is pretty evident in the glare she settles on this friendly person behind her uniquely unsettling mask.

She's smart not to draw attention to the results of Anne's instability. It would only have inflamed the situation more. ]


Yeah? And how're we going to do that?

[ She's used to solving problems on her own or with the help of one or two very specific partners. Chloe resembles neither man, but instead her manners remind Anne of someone else in a way that's far more complicated. And bothersome. ]
bonnylass: (pic#14716448)

[personal profile] bonnylass 2021-05-11 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ Anne just glares. It's her default expression, but the ease with which this woman has accepted not only their fate here (evidently), but also their current predicament, has her feeling spikey. Since Anne takes everything personally, it feels like it's being directed at her and makes her feel even more stupid and out of place.

She also feels useless and that's never a good thing for Anne to believe she is. ]


If I had any I wouldn't still be wearin' it.

[ She spits out the response but does take the bottle back, lifting it back to her lips for another long, reassuring swig. Drinking, at least, always feels like home. And she can't deny that it goes down a hell of a lot easier here. ]

How'n the hell you ain't bothered by all this?
everlastingchains: (Overwhelmed by the mourning process)

[personal profile] everlastingchains 2021-05-11 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
Not meant to examine something? Victor has never let that stop him before. He certainly isn't about to allow it to keep him from it now. He doesn't want to let it go. But the undead as shambling their way up towards them. Victor can hear them, vaguely over the skull, he can smell them.

In any other circumstances he'd be right there with her, wanting to see them. Not just that, he'd want to get his hands on them, dig around inside of one. But now is not the time for that.

She has the skull and he's about to tell her to run with it but she's sinking in to the fog. Sinking and speaking about the loneliness of an immortal it seems. John's loneliness. Lily's horrific revenge. Dorian's boredom. This woman talks of this and Victor doesn't know what to do.

He does poorly with bedside manner. His own reaction to the skull had been that deep empty sorrow, but his curiosity had pushed past it. Tears later, research now.

It's his turn now. He's not a strong man or a fast man but he is not going to run and leave her for the army of the undead. "You won't keep fighting if you say here. We'll come back for it. In the light of day when the heat burns off this fog." Surgeon's hands cover hers. They are cold and have the slightest of tremors. "You saved me." She made him drop the skull after all. "Let me save you. Drop it and come with. You're no good to anyone dead and I haven't the tools to bring you back."
pilferings: (they closed disneyland)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-11 03:35 am (UTC)(link)
Right.

[ In the absence of a face-scrubbing, Nate opts to rub the back of his neck instead, reminding himself what he'd said to her once — not even all that long ago, really, but with everything that had happened then and all of the wild and crazy things happening now ... it kinda feels like another lifetime ago. But he can start again, he can explain it better, he can —

He can try not to panic. This is Elena. One of less than a handful of people who had been there with and for him through the best and worst points of his adult life.




Christ, he really screwed it up, didn't he? ]


Where do I even start? [ Back at the motel, right? It feels like the most logical place to start from, when the alternative is to start from the very beginning — and he isn't even sure how to broach that yet. Him and Sam and their lives together, when it'd really been the two of them against the rest of the world. ] That guy you didn't ... actually get to meet? His name's Sam. Sam Drake. [ He exhales. ] And for fifteen years, I thought he was dead. I thought he'd died in a Panamanian prison.
queenking: ([up] double eyebrow arch)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-05-11 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
Uh-huh. [Now he looks wounded, and she's sort of at a loss. She rocks back on her heels, arms crossed. Okay, why not play along? For a little. That seems to be what the mask wants.] What do you want me to tell you?
queenking: ([up] oho a comedian!)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-05-11 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
[Saxsice's rummaging on the other side of the bar produced a bottle of gin and, miraculously, a bottle of tonic water. Not as good as a Jack and Coke, but she'll take what she can get. She twists off the lid of each, pouring the tonic water right into the gin bottle and swirling it around.]

I heard a rumor that you gotta tell a deep dark secret and then the mask comes off. [She grins, humorlessly, taking a swig from her makeshift G&T.] I'd almost prefer the mask.

[Another drink, and she blinks owlishly at the other woman.] Oh, I am. Deeply disturbed, y'might even say. [Sip.] But I'm a damn good faker. And I figure pretendin' not to be bothered is gonna piss off whoever's in charge a lot more than panickin' is gonna. Know what I mean?
pilferings: (mama cleric beast didn't raise no fool)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-11 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ Yeah, sure — sawed off shotguns? Sounds legit. Nate's been known to use a few in his day. My, my, they sure grow up fast, don't they? c': ]

Maybe there's something to be said about this thing. [ Nate spares another glance towards the yellow-painted, flammable bundle of nightmares. ] Keeps the crowds at bay, keeps this place ... I don't know. Sealed off, maybe?

[ In other words, he'd agree with the sentiment about the temple feeling a little unsettling, a little too quiet perhaps, and he's curious to see what the rest of this world is like too. ]

And for the record, this is my first living room macabre stick figure. Haven't made up my mind yet.

[ That last bit is a joke, obviously. ]
neverrefuse: (pic#14504564)

[personal profile] neverrefuse 2021-05-11 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
The unexpected touch of his hands draws her attention away from the skull. She looks up at him, the skull tumbling from her hands and disappearing into the fog. With it out of her perception, she snaps back to her usual self. She stands up, brushes sand away from her clothes.

"Don't need tools to come back if I die. Sort of got a built-in fail-safe for that." She's tempted to explain further that technically she could die if someone stopped her from regenerating, but now's not really a time for lectures on Time Lord physiology.

The undead don't move fast, but they are still closing in on the two of them and The Doctor doesn't want to lose anyone, not yet, not ever.

She reaches over and grabs Victor's hand in hers. "How are you with running?" She doesn't really give him a chance to answer before she's off, dragging him along with her.
catlady: (Default)

[personal profile] catlady 2021-05-11 03:50 am (UTC)(link)
Fair enough.

[ she can understand that. she can respect that, even. selina might be pretty chill right now, but she'd hardly call herself a fan of this place of its methods. she likes her privacy and her autonomy. treating this like a vacation helps it feel less like some gilded cage.

selina's gaze follows, taking in the scene before them of bodies spinning and swaying across the dance floor in their finest. ]


If history is anything to go off of -- and it probably isn't, let's be real -- then they're all just coming off a war and a pandemic, they're living their lives to the fullest. Parties every night. This seems to be a pretty big one. [ she shrugs. ] I don't know. I like the masks, though.
neverrefuse: (pic#14504566)

[personal profile] neverrefuse 2021-05-11 03:54 am (UTC)(link)
"I know," she replies quietly. Her hand lingers at the edge of River's face. "I wanted more too. It was selfish to save you the way I did, but it would've been selfish if I stopped it from ever happening." Her hand falls to her side now and she sighs.

"I guess I dug myself that hole." It wasn't often the Doctor admitted her mistakes to others. Especially not ones that she felt so confident about. For centuries she was certain it was the right thing to do. The only thing to do.

"I never thought I'd see you again. I thought our story came to a close, that the days of us intersecting each other's timelines were over." She brushes her hand over River's arm. "Yet here you are. In the flesh, it seems."