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: ([up] double eyebrow arch)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-05-22 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
Gesundheit. Y'know, when someone sneezes? [She waves a hand towards him, a little impatient. What aren't you getting, buddy?] Anyways, what's your name?

[...it isn't you, Sephiroth, she's just stupid.]
queenking: ([neutral] can't lie to this face)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-05-22 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
[We're living dangerously out here, Benny!! We're drinking alcohol in the sand!

Saxsice makes a face at the taste of the cork, sticking her tongue out and then nodding, thrusting the bottle in his direction.
] My technique's off. S'fine, just outta practice.
queenking: ([woof] solemn and majestic)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-05-22 03:55 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, me neither." Also sort of a lie!! But it's fine, we're all lying to each other here. "Kinda sucks that they want us to like...confess everything to total strangers. Virtual strangers. Whatever."

Saxsice brightens considerably, grinning widely and sitting upright. "Awesome, sick, one sec." It's -- well, it's not as body-horror-y as some transformations are in movies and stuff. There's some bone-cracking and tearing of skin, but it's over within a few minutes and a huge fluffy white wolf is standing on the stage shaking off the shreds of clothes. Ta-da?
queenking: ([up] this is AWESOME)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-05-22 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
[Saxsice is still busily massaging her face, smushing her cheeks up and then dragging them down, over and over, but she pauses long enough to look delighted and smug about Maleficent's sudden change in demeanor. That never gets old, dropping the whole "werewolf" thing and seeing how people react.]

Mmm-hm, that's me. "Shapeshifter" is probably a better word for it, yeah, cause I'm not dependin' on the moon or whatever. [She massages her jaw once more, then crouches down to rummage through the various liquor and syrups under the bar.] Or I wasn't before I got here. Have you noticed this place makes magic and all that way harder?

[She'll peek back over the bar at the question, giving Maleficent a thoughtful once over.] Fey, I'm guessin'? Never met anyone in person who was, but that's the vibe I get. [Demonstrative finger-wiggle goes here.] Wings and all.
queenking: ([neutral] i mean u said it not me)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-05-22 05:09 am (UTC)(link)
[Saxsice chokes a little at that, coughing a couple times as she hops back to the ground. It fades into a laugh, though, and she hops back onto her seat.] What, like, for money? Nah, not right now. Have been in the past, but it's -- complicated now. Can't bring people home.

[She waves a dismissive hand, steering the conversation away from that realm, not wanting to unpack the reasons to a relative stranger.] I own a bar. I have security and all that, but it's better to be able to take care'a yourself too, yeah?
catlady: (Default)

GOSH, MY APOLOGIES! real life ate me up this month

[personal profile] catlady 2021-05-22 08:32 am (UTC)(link)
[ it's safe to say that selina has lived a strange life. all of the weird shit she's seen, all of the stories she's heard from those who manage to live much more interesting lives, you wouldn't think anything surprises her these days, and yet...

yeah. yeah, that's plenty useful. ​]


Well, alright then, Fluffy. Let's turn these guys into pet chow.

[ she doesn't miss a beat, making her way though the zombies with vicious determination to tear apart anything she gets her claws into. in the heat of it she's animalistic, all instinct and fury, less an alley cat and more like something you'd see on the discovery channel. she bares her teeth and hisses as she attacks, not at all shy about the fact that, well... you kind of gotta rip these things apart to get anywhere with them -- soggy flesh tears apart and bones break. what's the rule about zombies, again? she didn't watch a whole lot of horror growing up.

wouldn't have ever imagined herself working with fido, here, either but she's rolling with it. ]
unkindled_madness: (irritated)

[personal profile] unkindled_madness 2021-05-22 01:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[She took his name for a sneeze? That's insulting. He would rather she just called it weird.]

...Sephiroth.

I wasn't sneezing.
pilferings: (i have no money)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-22 05:46 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Oh, it'd be impossible not to remember the cadence of that voice, the unimpressed drawl he hasn't heard in years — and now he's been hearing it a hell of a lot more than he ever thought he would again. Go figure, right? You try to move on, move forward, and your whole damned history drags itself out from the bottom of an ocean (or a hidden pirate utopia) for a house call.

Nate is already back up on his feet, deliberately ignoring the glittery skull watching them from over his shoulder. The winds feel different now, but that might just be due to present company. ]


— the hell are you doing here?

[ It's a stupid question, rhetorical really in the grand scheme of things. Rafe is likely here for the same reasons he is. The same reasons any of them are.

And yet, what the hell are the odds?

Much of Rafe's face is obscured by the intricate glint of his mask, the shape of bones defined by the dim light of the moon above, even with a slow fog rolling in. It's hard not to feel just a little creeped out, sandwiched between the shapes of two skulls, and quite frankly Nate's not entirely sure which one of them he prefers. ​]
kyley_b: (RL_KB_10)

[personal profile] kyley_b 2021-05-22 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Bone cracking and tearing of skin is plenty horrifying enough, really. Still, it's not the worst thing Kyle has ever seen. (He has a very long list of things he never should have seen, really.)

Kyle pulls his legs up and kneels, edging a little closer.

"Whoa," he says, and resist the urge to pet the wolf and ask it who's a good girl, yes she isssssssss. "Can you still understand me?"
pilferings: (look at us - a couple of cards)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-22 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Well, at the very least if they have to warn the rest of the city somehow, there ... are probably ways of doing it. Nate straddles the line between wanting to be the hero and wanting to avoid being perceived, but as of right now the heroics have an edge.

He glances back over his shoulder before he clambers up the beachy dunes in his dress shoes from tonight's masquerade in order to catch up to Loki. The zombies do seem to be stalled at the moment, some of them even slinking back into the waters now that there's enough distance and distraction between them. That's reassuring. ]


Geez, do you think that kind of thing happens a lot here? [ He asks off-handedly, jerking a thumb back towards the congregation. And then he exhales in relief, glad to have left that close call behind. (For now.)

Lightly: ]
You didn't go to that magic school of wizardry to train, did you?
pilferings: (c'mon i'm me)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-22 07:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nate takes a breath this time, feeling impossibly stupid when he admits: ]

I was afraid of losing you.

[ He knows he deserves whatever mirth he's got coming his way, and he'd be lucky that Elena sticks around here for as long as she has before it's all over. And then what? What'll he do?

(Christ, he doesn't even want to consider what he might or might not do.)

He feels the panic shudder cold in his veins, and he swallows it down even when his expression probably reveals at least some part of the anguish he's currently feeling. It's his fault, and he knows it, and that's what makes this whole goddamned thing even worse. ]


I knew doing this — if I'd told you I was going back to that life, I would lose you. [ Eventually the words tumble out of his mouth, unwarranted, triggered by the adrenaline of his own fear. ] I wasn't protecting you, I was — I was protecting myself.
pilferings: (not at all paying attention)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-22 08:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Uh ... huh.

And now this guy is getting a little closer look. If he's a Nazi (which, to be fair, he doesn't look or sound like one, but who could tell, really?), Nate's just gonna ............ head over there. ]


Must be the reason I haven't run into it at the hardware store.
pilferings: (but is it ... updog?)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-22 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, sure. [ Said amiably. ] A drink, especially a proper one, can't be far away.

[ And after everything they've all been through, a drink actually isn't a bad idea. Nate might not be a regular bar crawler at the best of times, but in a city like this one it seems like the usual modern comforts aren't going to be too foreign from what he's used to. Underground establishments; surreptitious holes in walls — surely he can find a decent speakeasy, at least. ]

Good to meet — [ Wait. Did he hear that correctly? It's not an especially common name, not for someone who looks like Jack does. And that niggling feeling from earlier only makes sense now; it's like seeing a woodcut illustration come to life, only those had never even been all that accurate to begin with. For one thing, the guy standing in front of him looks younger, better.

His fingers tighten ever-so-slightly over Jack's, the change in his expression due entirely to excitement more than anything else. ]
— Jack Rackham, huh? Damn. [ No freakin' way.

(Well okay, maybe there's awe and disbelief mixed in there, too.) He has to work his composure back into something a little more cool and collected. ]


Nathan Drake.
pilferings: (mama cleric beast didn't raise no fool)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-22 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, does it?

[ It still catches him a little off guard when he remembers that nearly everyone here is from some different time and place, and therefore the things he might be used to aren't universally the same for everyone else.

Nn....ot that his life is any kind of standard for normal from the perspective of a regular schmuck from his own world either, but he can't remember the last time something's tried to actively eat him. Kill him, sure, that's just a regular Tuesday, but being something's meal would be a first. ]


What kind of world are you from where that's a 'sometimes' and not a 'never'? And remind me to never vacation there.
evocation: (LM24turtleduck)

[personal profile] evocation 2021-05-23 12:58 am (UTC)(link)
[Kyna's lips quirk up a bit, and there's a split second pause where she decides whether to be honest or whether to have fun with it. She's already figured out that there are apparently a lot of different versions of Earth, or something, so... Why not.]

I spend a lot of time hunting bigfoot, you know? If you tranquilize them and shave them, their fur makes the best yarn. Rich people will pay insane money for a bigfoot sweater. But sometimes they wake up, figure out they're naked, and get super embarrassed so... They don't want witnesses.
dothelokimotion: (We were only a series of selves)

[personal profile] dothelokimotion 2021-05-23 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ loki shoots him a flat look. human nonsense, not worth parsing. ]

No. Did you need to go to school to learn manners? I'm sure we can find one for you.

[ there isn't much bite to it. loki isn't all that annoyed, distracted partially by the feelings stewing in his head. some inanity will have to be shouldered while he's here, sadly. ]

mewnifestos: (Default)

[personal profile] mewnifestos 2021-05-23 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ ...Or maybe there are no routes. Maybe these sailors just play pretend, sailing in circles around their creepy city on its creepy island. The same way everyone there seems to be playing pretend that they're all just so pleasant and everything's just the way its supposed to be.

—A train of thought Anders doesn't intend to share. Even he thinks that's a bit too on the nose.

His own search has become lackluster, as well, as hopeful as his halfhearted shrug. ]


Not unless you're secretly a mage. And I'd think you'd know, by now. We tend to manifest early.
unkindled_madness: (arms folded)

[personal profile] unkindled_madness 2021-05-23 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
I suppose it is unlikely.

[He could have gone on pursuing it. How early and in what manner does it manifest? He's been using materia since he was a child... But he doesn't want to bring a conversation with a near stranger anywhere near his childhood.

Moreover, most children don't have access to materia, so to suggest it masked some innate ability would be to suggest yet another abnormality in him, and he... doesn't want to go there, right now.

He replaces the book where he found it and turns.]


I wonder if this ship has ever actually been sailed anywhere.
mewnifestos: (Default)

[personal profile] mewnifestos 2021-05-23 02:07 am (UTC)(link)
A what?

[ Anders nearly laughs - only he doesn't find this funny, even in some crooked, fatalistic way. He's not been shy about what he is, here; why bother, when this might as well all be some strange and dangerous corner of the Fade? But being called out on it so plainly is another matter entirely. Even if he thinks should the Templars actually manage to find him here, he might have to commend them.

If this doesn't mean they haven't already. He can think of few others who'd have such an easy time of sussing him out, and this man, though odd, doesn't exactly exude those more sinister auras. ]


I suppose I've been called worse, but I tend to prefer mage, if we must bandy labels about like insults.

[ He sits back farther into his corner of the couch, crossing his arms, withdrawing in defensive fashion. His amusement seems to have withered on the vine. ]

How did you know? You haven't been following me, have you? I'll have to rethink our budding friendship, if that's the case.
mewnifestos: (Default)

[personal profile] mewnifestos 2021-05-23 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ Anders has spent most every day since he was a child wondering if it might be his last. He's never needed to ask if, because as a mage in the Circle, it was always a given - only when and how. He has very little to leave behind. If there's anyone waiting for him, back where he came from, it's only to put paid to all his obligations (or maybe something worse). 

Which is not to say the unknown doesn't frighten him just as much - just that he's quite a bit more accustomed to its constant, looming presence than most. (He's also used to the known, even more ugly and ever-present. But at least there's none of that, here.) It makes it easier for him to put on an exaggerated approximation of uncertainty, to mask himself in playful cowardice, as he cuts his gaze toward the stage again. Pretending not to feel anything beyond what he pretends. ]


Well. Ladies first?

[ He gestures down that long, declining aisle, though he's no more eager to see her try to approach what they seem to have found consensus on as definitely a trap. ]
mewnifestos: (Default)

[personal profile] mewnifestos 2021-05-23 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, a lot of mindless stabbing? Sure!

[ He shrugs as if to say what else? ]

But I'm a lover, not a fighter. ...And if I have to fight, I'm not getting close enough for a sword, anyway.
mewnifestos: (Default)

[personal profile] mewnifestos 2021-05-23 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Of course they do," Anders scoffs. Speaking of similarities. It'd be funny, if it wasn't just more fuel to that low-simmering fire he's always trying to bury, keep tamped down. It's simply a matter of survival; he's harmless, he's charming. He's not like those dangerous mages they always talk about, and other charming fairytales he tells himself when he can't sleep at night.

"My father is the reason I spent so many years locked up in the Circle. He sold me out to the Templars the first chance he had. Like it was nothing. Like I was." And admitting it aloud, perhaps for the first time ever, makes him feel no better. That wound is still open and raw and ignoring it for nearly two decades hasn't improved things much.

"If these are the answers we're supposed to be looking for, then I don't want them."
mewnifestos: (Default)

[personal profile] mewnifestos 2021-05-23 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's a favor to both of them, really, that the conversation doesn't turn to childhood things. Anders has no greater desire to speak of his childhood to a stranger, or anyone at all. Ever, ideally.

He shakes his head, turning for the door again. Having a look around below deck is still probably a good idea, just in case, but at this point it seems more like sightseeing than fact-finding. ]


Maybe it's new? Still a maiden, sans the voyage? We're obviously a lucky pair. Perhaps we just chose the wrong one.
unkindled_madness: (unimpressed)

[personal profile] unkindled_madness 2021-05-23 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
Perhaps.

[Said with a healthy dose of skepticism. It might be more plausible than the notion that the harbor's entire personnel simultaneously left on break, but not by much.

He follows Anders out the door, and a glance tells him the place is still deserted. Nothing about this is right, and he wonders what the point is. Part of an elaborate but not wholly convincing illusion? A temptation, to "test" them? A way to taunt them with a potential means of escape?]


Or perhaps they're all exactly the same.
queenking: ([up] oh hey there)

[personal profile] queenking 2021-05-23 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
-- oh, whoops, my mistake. [She seems very unbothered about it which is somewhat hypocritical for someone whose name is an assortment of consonants and little else.] Sephiroth. Sephie-roth. Cool. What is that, Italian?