welcome to the kingdom of akvos.It will happen at random- you could be asleep, or wandering the Temple, or a variety of other options. It will feel a little strange, like a sudden warmth spreading across your skin, and then your bracelet will light up. When you blink again, everything has shifted - changed, developed, like in that blink of an eye you have advanced . . . where, exactly? A NOTE FROM YOUR FRIENDLY . . . WAIT, WHO IS THAT?But before anything too weird can happen . . . your watch flashes again, beeps once, and on it has a new message, a hologram-sparkly image with a young man who (to some individuals!) looks quasi-familiar. He is thin, with large eyes and speaks quietly, but with great purpose. Whoever this is, it doesn't seem to be a person that is a fan of much pomp and circumstance. . . but wherever he is, he is speaking on dry-land, though he looks like he's just recently gotten out of a pool.
 "If you are watching this, then you are a member of the Circle, and have triggered a protective rune that I have cast within this Kingdom known as Akvos that has activated this message. I do not have much time, but my name is Kathashun. I need your assistance, and I am not sure whether we will ever find one another again. But if you are listening to this, heed my words: take care, because you know not what your actions do. The magic in this world is powerful, and whatever is seeping through this planet may not be able to be stopped, but trust me when I say that when we meet -- "
There is a noise, a banging on a door, and Kathashun's eyes dart to the left, before a voice off-screen says, "As much as I love listening to you talk, we need to go." There's a moment's pause before Kathashun refocuses his attention on you, and his eyes (normally a deep brown) begin to change into what appears to be a liquid gold color, and the message begins to crackle.
"We will meet again. Heed my words; find the Princess."
And, just like that, the connection dies, leaving you to the depths of the ocean.
Welcome to Akvos.  ARRIVAL A: THE PALACE OF WAHINE.The first group arrives at the Royal Palace of Wahine, smack-dab in the bustling center of what appears to be the lost city of Atlantis. It is in an area of Akvos that is completely underwater, with gentle currents wafting through the water that guide people on their merry way.
There is plenty to locate here, depending on what you want to find. There are dozens of musically inclined merfolk wandering through the courtyards of the Palace, a shopping area selling intricate jewelry and other decorative pieces, and even the Queen herself. Feel free to set up threads regarding any information you discovered in the World OOC post, but here are some ideas for those needing a place to start!
Prompt Ideas:
- Are you musically inclined? There seems to be a band of colorful mermaids striking up a merry tune with reed flutes, horns made out of massive seashells, and is that a bass playing the bass? You bet your ass it is. . There's even a potential spot for the Circle to join in, if you're so inclined! They may even pay you for your services if you're really good.
- The Queen has offered a reward for any information concerning the location of Princess Kea, who has been missing for a little over a week. A band of scrappy young investigators (complete with matching uniforms) is eager to begin, and has a list of potential "clues" to track down in the Palace area, ranging from: the Princess' prized hair-comb, her harpoon, information on her favorite restaurant, and her beloved pet flounder. None of these items are actually within reach except her favorite restaurant, which will happily either (1) talk about how amazing the Princess is or (2) accept help in the kitchens to serve up a busy restaurant time. Either way, you can earn some seashells.
- The Royal Guard is looking for some mercenary work to comb the city for clues, and seeing as the Circle is oh-so-eager to help out with whatever is going on in Akvos, they're willing to give you a shot! The only problem is that you have to be ready to swim, so be prepared to swim endless laps in circles around the perimeter of Queen Wai's massive home to seemingly no avail. . . . do they actually need the help or are they just laughing at you? Dammit.
- The Palace of Wahine has an underwater library, which is pretty expansive . . . how do they have all of these materials underwater? There are several helpful octopus-libraries that are using their various tentacles to grab books, scrolls, and other materials off of the shelves to hand them to nearby patrons, and there's a lot of material here about the history of Akvos! You may also find a pretty interesting comic book series revolving around a powerful mermaid who looks suspiciously like Queen Wai, who thwarts the evils of inequality. If you ask Queen Wai about it, she will assure you that she has nothing to do with it, and her constituents are creatively minded people . . . but she doesn't seem to mind the good press.
 ARRIVAL B: THE DEPTHS OF MARKOLOS.The second group arrives in a rare pocket of air in Akvos -- a massive cavern, with multiple alcoves along the walls. Here, the population seems to be rather bleak in comparison to the rainbow-colored folk in the Palace of Wahine -- merpeople with larger eyes, sharper teeth, and darker scales. You have successfully located the hunting grounds of the Kingdom of Akvos, known as the Depths of Markolos -- an impossibly deep sinkhole that stretches into the depths of oblivion.
The local population here doesn't actually know what's at the bottom of it, but lately, there are odd happenings in the Depths that the population will tel you about. For one, dead fish seem to be appearing with increasing frequency, and the temperature of the Depths has dropped to a frigid point. Layers of ice have been found below the surface that were not there previously, and there is plenty of talk of whether or not their food supply for the Kingdom is endangered by whatever is causing this random bout of ice.
Prompt Ideas:
- Have you ever tried spear-fishing? An angler-fish mermaid, with haunting eyes and massively sharp teeth, is eager to teach the Otherworlders! She's pretty nice, despite her scary appearance, and will pay seashells to folks willing to stay in the "shallow" area of the Depths to spear pretty easy looking fish. She will also lend out fishing equipment for those want to give it a try!
- The Brig is located in the Depths, and if you violate the law in other areas, you will be brought here. The cells are small and cramped, with no beds or cots to speak of, and you are fed less-than-great quality raw fish while in here. Petty thievery and the like will be punished for two days, and once you are released, you are stuck in the Depths You can also talk to some of the prisoners here, who will be interested in swapping a surprising amount of seashells for fresh raw fish. They also like to gamble. :)
- There are some side-tunnels in the Depths along the walls that contain shellfish to hunt and scavange! The only problem is that some of them have a fairly strong current, and -- voila, it is a massive Slip-N-Slide. Sneaking into one will rocket you through a tunnel and spit you out at a lower level of the Depths, but be careful -- you might wind up face to face with a pretty terrifying looking fish that is a bit too big for you to handle, so explore these tunnels with some care.
- The mermaids here will warn against going too deep into the Depths, but there is nothing to stop you from exploring. In addition to the ice clustered along the western wall of the cavern, there's plenty of creepy looking fish in the depths. In particular, the mermaids will warn you against infuriating a creature named Honohu -- who is this beloved little Leviathian-looking monstrosity who will absolutely attempt to eat you if you go too deep. Enjoy?  ARRIVAL C: THE FIELDS OF AKOVOSIAThe third group will be deposited in a beautiful coral reef, full of color and swaying seaweed. It is an impossibly beautiful sight, and the merpeople here are equally bright and colorful, to blend in with tehir surroundings. There are no shortage of clownfish and angelfish-esque merpeople floating around, collecting plantlife, creating new clothing, or even hunting poisonous smaller fish for usage in their medicinal techniques.
However, the more you explore the fields, the more you begin to notice odd patches of dead coral. It almost looks as if certain random patches were afflicted by some type of illness that has completely robbed it of its color. The merpeople nearby will not know very much about it, but if you continue digging and asking the right people, perhaps you'll find out the source of this sudden illness.
Prompt Ideas
- Have you ever gone dolphin-racing? . . . or, well, they look like dolphins, complete with saddles and harnesses that the merfolk are entirely too eager to pass off onto the landfolk. It seems they race these dolphins in the currents for sport in between their collecting of plantlife and hunting. Feel free to ask the curator of these beings, a burly-looking mermaid who will happily lend you a dolphin for a seashell an hour.
- Batter up! You can find what appears to be a weird baseball/rugby crossover sport, in which the merpeople crack hunks of coral with sticks . . . but then tackle each other at the different bases instead of, you know, tapping them lightly to signify them being out. They're always looking for new players to join, but be warned! They take their sport seriously.
- Investigating the beautiful coral reef will garner a lot of pretty looking rocks and other types of intricate material that could be used for crafting, which is always up for collecting for money. Mermaids will be wandering around with baskets to collect various goods, so feel free to help out!
- Finally, there are a lot of mermaids just sitting around shooting the shit, gossiping, fussing about home, and collecting materials to make what's needed in their day to day lives. A few of them seem to be knitting some type of material underwater -- weird, right? But feel free to obtain some cool textiles fresh off the proverbial racks, for a price.  ARRIVAL D: THE THUNDERDOME.The last group to arrive may think that this is some type of stupid joke, as the merfolk around this area really do refer to it as the Thunderdome. It is a massive underwater cavern, filled with thousands and thousands of jellyfish. It seems that the merfolk tend to these beings for a multitude of reasons -- one, for food, two, for venom, and three, for . . . electricity?
The jellyfish in this area seem to crackle with energy, and the merfolk in this area will inform you that this is where they obtain power which they charge their weapons and lights with. The bioluminescence is pretty startling to see, and the jellyfish themselves seem to be relatively harmless. But there is a certain area of the Thunderdome that is flickering in and out of darkness . . . an area where the jellyfish seem to be a lot less bright. The merfolk don't really understand what's going on, but whatever is happening in Akvos seems to be affecting the jellyfish in a negative way. They don't seem horribly concerned, but. Here we are.
Prompt Ideas:
- The armory is located in the Thunderdome, and you can buy a bunch of cool weapons here! Glow in the dark swords, electrified knives, bows, and harpoons can be found here, varying in price. They all seem to be rust-proof, too, given their environment, and the craftsmanship here is like no other. The people here really take their craft seriously, so happy shopping.
- The main attraction here, though, is definitely the jellyfish. They deliver a rather nasty shock, and anyone who touches them will glow a weird blue color for at least three days afterwards. The merpeople seem to know how to fix this, but likely will not do so because they warned you not to touch the damn things, you stupid landfolk. Navigate them carefully, and you may even be able to earn some coin in helping shepherd them!
- A group of mermaids are looking for people to fish out the sickly looking jellyfish in order to be treated by what appears to be Akvos' version of a veterinarian. The sickly looking ones are the ones that are flickering dim, and while the veterinarian has no idea what is going on with them, they want them out. Just be careful not to touch them, though. You will definitely glow blue for a few days, even though these ones are ill!
- The mermaids in the Thunderdome enjoy practicing their skills with each other, in terms of weaponry, battle tactics, and the like, but they also enjoy their downtime too! Find little pockets of folks hanging out, chatting, and playing some weird game that involves what appear to be coral dice and flattened stones. It almost looks like they're gambling seashells or something . . . time to get in on the action, if you can learn the rules, anyway. Additionally, please feel free to write up and work with your own prompts! These are presented as jumping off points for your characters, not limitations. The idea of this world- as with all the others- is to explore. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them back on the various threads back in the OOC post from before! REMEMBER: For the entirety of this log, you can only physically interact with those in your group. For the first two weeks, the network will be completely defunct. After two weeks, you may send intermittent text messages to those in other groups. From this point forward, the Circle has become involved with the Kingdom of Akvos. What your character finds out, decides, and does from here on out will affect the future of this city- one way or another! But what you do is completely up to you. What you discover, explore, and uncover will be yours to discover, explore, and uncover. Who knows what you might find? :) |
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acatalepsy_logs2018-11-12 08:55 am
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I'm Midoriya, by the way. Izuku Midoriya.
[He'd been so wrapped up in talking about heroes that he'd totally forgot to introduce himself.]
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Hank Anderson. So, what do I call you? Is that a, ‘Bond, James Bond’ thing or do you actually go by Midoriya, or what?
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Most of my classmates call me "Midoriya" but if you want to call me "Izuku" then I'm fine with that, Mister Anderson.
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[He shakes for a second, then lets go.]
So, you seen anything out here other than the damn jellyfish? Cause I’m gonna be real with you, I’m getting kind of sick of those guys already.
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[He rubs the back of his neck.]
Aside from that... just a ton of fish.
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[Ooh, looks like somebody hit a nerve. Hank runs a hand over his eyes, tries to breathe without thinking too hard about what he's breathing, and calms his voice down, and gets his shit together.]
And don't mention trains like there's one of those hanging around, some kind of... publicly funded whale or something pulling people somewhere else. I'd be on that shit faster than you could strike a little superhero pose.
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Still. He'll keep trying.]
I-I haven't seen one but I'll let you know if I do. Besides umm, we'll go back to the circle eventually, right?
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[Yeah, he says that out loud. He lets his head fall back, his hand sliding off his eyes and just kind of hanging there while he looks up toward the surface. Earnest, right. Cut down on the sarcasm, people like this don't tend to know what to do with that.]
Yeah. [He takes another careful breath.] Yeah. Yeah. Just gotta, uh... the thing, whatever it is we're here to do. We're not here to save fuckin jellyfish, that's for sure.
[We're not here to insult little kids for wanting to fucking help, either, but Hank doesn't have it in him to dial it back quite that much.]
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[And depending on who it is determined if its a good or a bad thing or not. And in this case he feels like it's leaning towards the bad. Or at least being an annoyance.]
Instead maybe I could more-[He drops his voice as deep as it goes (which isn't very) and stands a little straighter, hands on his hips, and does his best All Might voice.]
Don't worry sir, I'll get you of this! You're safe because... I am here!
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You're gonna be a good cop some day, you know that? A good, uh- pro sports style supercop. But you gotta- you got to have some place to get them out to before you make promises like that.
[He swallows a couple more times.]
It's fine. I was fine a minute ago, I'm fine, just need a minute. There's just, there's some things you can't-
[He's not going to say that. If there are some things you can't believe until they're right, the kid doesn't have to learn that today. In fact, there might be some busywork Hank could try to give him so he'll feel all special, or whatever. He takes a couple seconds to scrape his shit back together, drops his hand, and gives Izuku a twitching, apologetic little smile.]
My dog. Keep an eye on him, okay? There's, uh. Jellyfish. You know. And he's, he's a big baby so. If you see him around, you know.
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I guess you're right. It just felt good to say but I don't really know how to get out of here.
[He rubs his arm before looking back up at Hank, eyes widening in the most earnest and innocent fashion ever.]
You have a dog? Here! But... wait how is he breathing? Is he okay? How is a dog going to survive underwater. I mean dogs can swim but can they swim under-
[He cuts himself off. No, no time for muttering.]
Just tell me what he looks like and I'll find him!
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[Chill, Hank. Find your center, or some bullshit like that.]
Yeah. He's uh- big. He's a Saint Bernard, about yea high. [He holds a hand up, then grimaces as he realizes that doesn't really work when he's kind of floating off the ground.] Whatever. You'll uh, know him when you see him, he's around here somewhere. I should, uh-
[He rubs at his forehead, muttering to himself.]
I should really figure out some kind of leash.
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What's his name? Is he friendly? What sort of food does he like?
[He's clearly plotting... some sort of scheme to find this dog.]
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Sumo, yeah in a lazy way, and uh, I mighta fed him sushi once but it's been a while, I guess if he likes seafood I'm gonna find out soon. So, you planning on practicing your search and rescue skills on your own or is there room for one more in whatever swimmin around you're gonna do?
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[He gives Hank a look, a sort of naive concerned look that only someone like him could probably muster up.]
Will you be alright?
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Oh yeah, peachy.
[Keep a tighter lid on it, Hank.]
I'm good. Told ya I would be, right? So, what were you thinkin, wave some food around until he comes? Cause I don't know about that, unless you're ready to tangle with the local wildlife for it.
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Oh! Maybe you could call to him! He'd probably recognize your voice.
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[You know what? Fuck it. He's too tired to be sneaky.]
To be honest, I mostly want to give you something to do that's less dangerous than the whole jellyfish thing. [And less... less whatever than trying to help Hank out. It'd be nice if the kid was distracted for more than one reason. But there's honest and then there's honest.] You wanna just walk around for a while, do the Where's Waldo thing with my dog?
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[He turns red and looks sort of embarrassed. He probably should have seen through that ruse but he'd been so eager to help.]
I was... actually going to go back to the jellyfish after... It's not that dangerous, really! I've dealt with much worse!
Still, I can help you find your dog.
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[Hank looks down at himself, mentally preps to not walk but swim. He can almost pretend he's above ground when he's just staying still and talking, but moving kind of means he has to switch gears. He pushes off the rock behind him, coughs - thinking about swimming means he's thinking about breathing, too, you're supposed to have to hold your breath when you swim - and tries to focus on what they're talking about, instead. Looking at the kid would make that easier so Hank goes slow enough in whatever random direction that he's headed that he doesn't have to look where he's swimming, clearing his throat.]
Superhero school put you in a lot of 'worse' situations than this, then?
[He doesn't bother to try to sound neutral, there. No, he doesn't approve, and yes, he has enough shit on his plate that he doesn't give a shit about showing it.]
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[He follows along, swimming easily, and clearly more concerned about what's in his head than what's out in the world.]
Our class has been attacked by villains twice but... it's not supposed to be that way! It's never happened at U.A. before and they're really doing their best to keep us all safe and train us to be good heroes.
...The other times... It's really been my fault for getting into trouble.
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[It's a good thing they're out in the open ocean because Hank is not paying attention to where he's going, so unless the kid is they'd normally be bound to run into something.]
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[Shigaraki though... he has some twisted ideals compared to most of the crooks wandering the streets. Even the thought of him makes Izuku tremble a bit. Still, he swallows that down.]
And I went off on my own and made it worse.
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