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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!


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pilferings: (99 bottles of fear??? on the wall?)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-16 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
And hey, who am I to stop you from doing it if that's what you're into?

[ Nate grins, post-mouthful of mystery slop.

Yeah, confirming this food's honestly not bad. Tastes better than it looks, anyway. ]


I'll take it as a sign you're still in good health if you've got the energy to complain. You doing okay, otherwise?
evocation: (LM12turtleduck)

[personal profile] evocation 2021-05-19 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
["Doing okay" is kind of relative at this point. While she wouldn't exactly dive into her deepest feelings right now anyway, the oddity of that question is probably clear in the way her mouth quirks up.]

Uh... Nothing's tried to eat me yet? Sometimes that happens, so, you know.

[At least that's a plus.]
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.
pilferings: (we are donion rings)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-24 05:00 am (UTC)(link)
[ Nate's in the midst of a mouthful of Temple Slop when Kyna responds, and her answer nearly has him choking — both in disbelief and amusement, in equal measures. Really had him going there for half a second, except that the story is too wild, too disgusting to be real.

He raises both eyebrows, swallows the rest of his food, and chuckles. ]


Uh-huh. Cute.

[ Kyna, you're the worst. ]

What does a bigfoot sweater go for these days, anyway? Can't imagine it being anything but itchy. Also? Gross.
evocation: (pic#11190540)

[personal profile] evocation 2021-05-25 01:37 am (UTC)(link)
I'm totally cute.

[She tries to keep a straight face, but it's clear she's proud of herself for getting a laugh out of him, and a grin creeps in.]

They cost like, thousands. And they smell like shit. Rich people, right?
pilferings: (at age 6 i was born without a face)

[personal profile] pilferings 2021-05-30 05:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Rich people.

[ Echoed in full agreement, commiserating head-shake and all. ]

All right, so where you come from you've got things sometimes trying to eat you.

[ And if she doesn't want to divulge in any further details on that, hey, who is he to nose into a near-stranger's business? At least for now. He's still curious and he'll get those answers somewhere down the road. ]

You're gonna be my go-to if a giant land-slug tries to eat me, the next world we land in.
evocation: (pic#11190530)

[personal profile] evocation 2021-06-05 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
You just throw salt at it. Duh. Like a demon.

[Is she being serious this time? Who can say.]

Are you gonna be my damsel in distress?