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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He's--
[You know what? He can't even get himself together enough to argue, so he's going to ignore that issue for now. And she said she wanted modest... Whatever he'd call her current attire, it isn't that, but maybe he can help. He slips out of his jacket and holds it vaguely in her direction.]
Here. Just, like, if you want it.
[She gives one of those polite smiles that you might give to a child offering you a poorly constructed pottery mug. That's nice, dear, but like hell is she going to find a use for it.]
Sorry? I wouldn't be able to swim very well in that, would I? ...Do you two need advice on your clothes? You seem-- [A diplomatic pause. She's really trying her best here to be nice.] --ill-prepared for the water.
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Yeah. Yeah, sure, advise us. I could use a little advice.
[She looks over the both of them again.]
Well, you've done well [She gestures at Firo,] by taking that off, the fewer layers you have the less drag there's going to be. You'd really need something that fits a little better, like...
[She tugs at Hank's shirt, holding it flat over his gut. Which Hank decides to be cool with, in large part because he wants to see the look on Firo's face through this whole helpful explanation.]
Maybe if you tucked it into those... Ah...
[She frowns at their pants.]
What are those, exactly? They look very- well matched with the rest of your clothes, but they'd really create a lot of drag themselves.
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You know what, Firo's going to slip back into his jacket--to be more accurate, he shoves himself back into it, almost desperately, like it's a shield.]
They're--uh, I guess that makes sense that you guys wouldn't need, um, slacks and stuff here. Since you're...
[You know. Half a fish. It feels weird remarking on a woman's bottom half, though, so he lets himself trail off. Besides, he needs to muster all his strength to try and put a stop to the clothing situation, so--face completely red, shoulders hunched like he's a turtle--]
No offense, b-but we've gotten by fine so far. S-so we'll be fine.
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Yeah. My swimming's pretty shitty anyway, so. But I'll keep those tips in mind, thanks.
[The mermaid nods, looking doubtful but polite enough to let them swim badly if that's what they want to do. But she does have questions.]
Are 'slacks' something all men wear? What do you use them for?
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[Everyone wear pants; they're the best.]
They're for, uh...
[He scratches his head and finds himself looking at Hank, even though he knows he'll be no help. How do you explain something so fundamental to someone?]
...They're to stay warm and stuff. To look presentable.
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[Hank looks right back at Firo as he says it, straightfaced.]
I think you fish people are right on; why should anyone wear pants anyway? They just slow us down.
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["--fucking kidding me?" is the rest of Firo's statement, but he cuts himself off, struck dumb by surprise.
The mermaid nods at Hank, encouraging; this man seems to be catching on when it comes to the need to streamline oneself underwater.]
They would, especially as you try to travel Akvos. [She makes a dismissive, shedding motion with her hand.] You could re-purpose this cloth for bandages or nets, I'm sure.
[Go, Hank. Live your pantsless dreams.
Don't mind Firo making sounds like he's choking in disbelief over here.]
no subject
Oh yeah, good point. And it's not like we need em, it's not even cold. No pants, no problem, that's what I always say. [It's not. But he always believes it. So that counts.] What do you say, Firo? Maybe she could take your pants too, make something good out of em.
no subject
Don't you dare.
[As far as Firo's concerned, he's 100% justified in use of force if pants start coming off in front of a lady (or himself, honestly).
Meanwhile, the mermaid is finding that the novelty of men has fast worn off--and perhaps this pair has some... issues that they need to resolve. However men do that, with or without pants. She clears her throat and edges away a few feet with a few subtle movements of her tail.]
It was just a suggestion. I should be getting back to work now, so... Nice meeting you. Swim carefully.
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Hey, good job, kid. Makin friends, influencing people, and we haven't even been here ten minutes. Off to a good start, I'd say.
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Y-you didn't have to go talking about that stuff in front of her. What's wrong with you?
[Poor lady probably got creeped out.
Just not by the pants portion of the conversation.]]no subject
No, no, I got it. Maybe I'm just all a sudden really aware of how much I hate pants. You heard what that talking fish monster said. Pants are a drag. They're slowing us down.
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She's not a monster. You talked to her, you saw what she's like--she seemed normal enough, except for the fish tail.
[Somebody might be taking Hank way too seriously.]
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Frankenstein was normal enough except for all the chopped up dead people shoved in every part of his body.
[Okay. He's calling mobster kid out on his weird shit. Not freaking out. It's fine.]
What about the clothes thing? You were pretty freaked about what she was wearing - or, you know, wasn't. That counts as normal, still?
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I--well, it's not normal, but--but she's got a different kinda life down here. We're the weird ones, showing up outta nowhere.
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You know what, that is, uh. Really weird. But also pretty damn sensitive of you. So. Good for you, I guess. Come on, let’s...
[He reaches out almost absently for Sumo to usher him with them wherever they’re going, but the moment he feels Sumo’s big stupid head under his hand all the bullshit tries to catch up to him again. The line of his mouth pulls tight and he closes his eyes, takes a breath, and finds himself coughing at the feeling of water going down into his lungs. He presses a fist against his mouth and,, looking real hard at wherever Firo and Sumo aren’t, speaks in a strangled voice that’s trying really, really hard to sound normal.]
Let’s go... Wherever the fuck. You wanted to uh. To have a look around, right?
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Hank's choking also he ignores, save for a brief look. But he wouldn't want his weakness pointed out, so he makes himself dismiss Hank's as well. Yep, everything's normal and hunky dory, just two guys hanging out on the bottom of the ocean.]
Yeah...
[Where to go? He figures they'll just keep swim-walking until they see something that they need to investigate more.
But he feels a slight discomfort from his pocket again, and he's sort of not surprised when he realizes it's a distinct coldness from that coin. Rather than surprise, his thoughts are more like "oh come on" as he holds it out to Hank, one eyebrow raised.]
This thing's cold now.
no subject
But later’s later. Right now he’s pretty focused on just trying to shove the bullshit back into its box. His voice is kind of shaky, but he can fix that once he’s at least one more half-step away from losing it.]
No thanks, I believe you. So what, that’s weird for a magic quarter? You supposed to wave it around in the air, do some kinda fancy dance with it and some other hologram pops out and gives us another weird message about nothing?
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I don't know what the hell he wanted us to do with it. I didn't expect to need it for anything except some extra cash... but don't you think it's weird? It definitely not natural.
[But, then again, is anything here? He folds his fingers around the coin as he decides not to put it back just yet.]
Guess I'll see if it does anything else. I just hope it's not gonna blow up on us or something.
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[He makes sure his arms are tight over his chest, swallowing a couple times on the urge to laugh. Be cool, Hank.
He'll just have to... what, not pet his dog for a while? Whatever. He can hug Sumo and lose his shit later. Right now he's cool. He's keeping his cool.
After a long moment and some stuttery tries at deep breathing, he's able to look up and talk at least kind of normally.]
You've been here longer than I have, so do you think your weird moodring money is weird? What do we even do with that? Wander around till it really does blow up in our faces?
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If he thinks about it, Hank does have a point--and maybe it's not very fair of Firo to ask him to judge if this is weird when he was just telling Hank not to freak out about being on the bottom of the ocean.]
Don't ask me either. He never said something'd happen with it.
[So, really, Hank might be right about just wandering and seeing if it blows up.]
I'll let you know if it feels like it's gonna explode.
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[Hank mutters it, mostly to himself, and swims along behind Firo, checking to see whether Sumo's following - he is, and isn't that a weird fucking sight - and only staying quiet for half a minute max before he starts bitching. So sue him. It helps.]
Fucking swimming. She just had to plop us all down here and expect us to swim like fuckin fishes, I've never been good at this shit. If we were supposed to swim we'd have fucking fins.
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He thinks back to Victor, who'd insisted that every FBI agent was capable of stunning acrobatics just as a matter of course.]
They don't make you guys master this on the force?
[As they move on, Firo feels the coin grow colder in his hand. It's slight enough that it could be his imagination. At the same time... he doesn't really have a destination in mind anyway, so he begins veering their course back the way they came, when the coin was warmer.]
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What? No. I’m not a navy fuckin seal. Why, don’t they make you guys master this in the mob?
[The answer’s no, btw. There are no olympic swimmer mobsters and Hank is ready to fight on that.]
no subject
Usually a mobster who winds up in the water isn't supposed to be able to swim anymore.
[Get it? Because of dumping corpses in the water? Firo wonders if he should explain the (admittedly weak) joke more but decides against it.
A rocky outcropping looms before them, and the coin seems to be guiding them along its edge.]
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