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

outofdenile: (growing older every year?)

whoops! I just realized I mashed two prompts together - brain fuzz. Want me to change something?

[personal profile] outofdenile 2021-05-04 09:08 pm (UTC)(link)
If they didn't see it coming a mile off and get out of the way. [ Considering. It's honking huge. And shiny.

Nile shifts uncomfortably in her dress. She doesn't quite wish for someone to punch instead of this, but it's close. ]
catlady: (Default)

no worries! consider it a wildcard option ;)

[personal profile] catlady 2021-05-08 08:51 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, honey. You never let them see it coming.

[ the ring is pretty hard to miss, yeah, but the punch? it's not nearly as effective if they know what's coming to them. selina gives the woman a quick once over, trying to get a read off of her. ]

Take it you're not a fan of the fashion of the 1920s, huh?
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?
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.
outofdenile: (the blue iris it could be)

[personal profile] outofdenile 2021-05-14 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
That jives with what Jennifer said -- a people hanging on to life, trying to wring out the last drop out of the fear of something terrible happening to take it away. The problem is that Nile hasn't seen the evidence of anything terrible, so what are they running from? And why are they running from it, not fighting it? Why are they here?

"Yeah? You tried taking it off yet?" She has and she's as stuck with it as she is in the stupid dress with its stupid fringe.
catlady: (Default)

i’m on my ipad so i’m gonna roll w the prose lol

[personal profile] catlady 2021-05-20 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
“I’m assuming that you have,” she replies, an eyebrow quirked. Of course she’s tried to remove the mask, that should be everyone’s first move. That thing isn’t going anywhere, especially once she starts to realize just what it takes to remove it. She’s not big on sharing her secrets.

She wriggles the ring loose from her finger, stashing it away into the beaded bag that serves as her purse. The bag’s already stuffed full of shiny, glittering things if the other woman is curious enough to look. Selina’s really cleaned up tonight and not a single one of them has noticed anything missing. At this point she’s making a show of it because she can make a show of it, rubbing it right in everyone’s face. They certainly aren’t concerned.

“I’m not in any hurry to take off mine, are you?”
outofdenile: (Default)

...i'd love to say i did that on purpose, but honestly my brain has been pancake

[personal profile] outofdenile 2021-05-21 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah, I am. 'cause it's stuck there." And, as she'd said, not a big fan of waking up in clothes she didn't go to sleep in, or having random things stuck to her body. There might be some innate defiance to it, some 'well you want it on me, now I'm going to take it off On Purpose', bust mostly it's just irritation at this thing crossing the line of her personal space. "Why? Do you like yours?"
catlady: (Default)

r i p ur brain, same here tbh :'(

[personal profile] catlady 2021-05-25 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
Not unlike a toddler, it would seem. Selina is apparently real easily charmed by anything with a cat motif. For her, finding herself in this new place and in these strange circumstances, the mask feels a little like a safety blanket -- it's familiar, it's comforting, it's another wall between her and the rest of the world and she likes to build those up high.

Her hands trace the contours of it, fingers following an ear to the very tip-top of it and then backdown, something resembling a smile beginning to form of her lips.

"I wear something like it back home," she says, casual as can be. "This one is a lot more elaborate, though."
outofdenile: ((sidelong) Falls the Shadow)

what a M O N T H

[personal profile] outofdenile 2021-05-30 10:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Nile blinks and then tilts her head a little, questioning, "Masks are big where you come from?"