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

catlady: (Default)

[personal profile] catlady 2021-05-02 06:58 am (UTC)(link)
[ look, selina didn't like teenagers when she was one, so it helps that she has a lot of experience with teenagers these days; first bruce's awful, horrible children and now her own equally-terrible strays. she can roll her eyes and file it all away as petty teenage bullshit. she fiddles with the ring and slides it off, holding it between her thumb and index finger and lining up the shot before flicking it in his direction with her other hand. the thing's pretty hefty, the kid might want to either prepare to catch it or duck. ]

I wouldn't judge it so quickly, maybe it's more your style.

[ she smiles that patented, ever-charming selina kyle smile, lifting the assortment of necklaces over her head and begins laying them out in front of her. the absolute non-stop craziness her life has been since villa hermosa, it's been a while since she's had a chance to steal something just for the fun of it. ]

I take it you're from the ferry. Are you making yourself at home here?
incelligent: (96)

[personal profile] incelligent 2021-05-02 07:09 am (UTC)(link)
Gah!

[After the squeaking, he does duck, a movement that's so quick someone as astute as Selina would be able to tell that it's natural, something he's used to doing. A hint at his usual way of life.

There is something about her demeanor that strikes him as familiar, though not in a pleasant way. He doesn't make the connection immediately, especially since Selina is human and not a null, but her mischievous smile and overly buttery turn of phrase is very similar to an arch nemesis of his. Such extreme hatred could only be borne from love, however.

And love her he did, once. That's why the betrayal had felt so damn personal to begin with.
]

This place will never be home.

[The words are spat out. Clearly, Simon is reeling from something.

His arrival, even though this is not his first island.
]
catlady: (Default)

[personal profile] catlady 2021-05-02 08:59 am (UTC)(link)
[ hey, if it helps any, if she were a cat she'd be a black cat. not helpful? no? welp, i tried.

the sound that comes out of him as he dodges the ring catches her attention, turning it away from her haul and settling upon him once and for all. he's barely much more than a kitten, can't be much older than-- sixteen? seventeen? an annoying, hard-headed age. ]


No, but all signs seem to point to us being here for a while. No point in fighting it. [ she nods in his direction. ] I mean, look at the outfit. Seems to me you aren't quite so resistant to settling in.
incelligent: (35)

[personal profile] incelligent 2021-05-02 07:09 pm (UTC)(link)
[He is eighteen, but years of living on limited supplies and a recent growth spurt have made him scrawny, all skin and bone and lean muscle. That and he's been isolated from anyone older than himself since he was only ten years old, so Simon, while perfectly proficient in building booby traps and scaling walls, struggles with simple things. Like understanding why people act the way they do.

And feeling empathy for them. He may say he cares for Grace and that they are a team, but really, it's all about him. She is his lifeline, because without her, he is incomplete, utterly miserable and lacking any and all sense of direction.

Like right now.
]

I'm blending in.

[Simon is determined to find out how this stupid redemption game works. So he can bend the rules and cheat his way out.]

How can you just be okay with this?

[Everyone else that he's met so far has been handling things so much more ease than Simon himself. He chocks it up to foolishness, theirs not his, which is how it's always been.]
catlady: (Default)

[personal profile] catlady 2021-05-03 05:08 am (UTC)(link)
Blending in is just the first step to settling in.

[ he reminds her of the older kids in alleytown and the kids she grew up with when she was one of them, all of them just trying to survive. strays recognize their own and selina recognizes that little, missing spark within him. it's a detail to file away for later, maybe. something to put in the mental bank until it's useful or relevant.

she maintains that blasé, couldn't-care-less demeanor, still playing with the necklaces laid out in front of her. she combs her fingers through them, straightening them. ]


I don't know, this is a little low on the scale of weird shit I've experienced? I'm certainly not thrilled about being here, but I can only pout about going home for so long.
incelligent: (23)

[personal profile] incelligent 2021-05-07 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
I am not tryin' to-

[Settle in.

The last thing he wants to do is stay here. Still, she mentions stranger things, and he can't help but wonder-
]

Did this ever happen to you before?

[His tone implying that it has, at least to him.]
catlady: (Default)

[personal profile] catlady 2021-05-08 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
Not like this, exactly, but I've found myself in some pretty strange situations before. Been through a couple of multi-universal crises. Dealt with some kind of magic I didn't quite understand. I mean, it's just the kind of stuff that follows you around where I'm from, I guess. And. Y'know. I know a guy. He's got some real interesting stories.

[ she recently got back, like, forty or fifty years of memories she didn't previously have but also kind of had because everything is confusing. comic books are fucking stupid. all of it is a mistake. ]

Let's just say I've become very adaptable.