welcome to the horologium.

[acatamods]

I ▫ main IV ▫ premise       XI ▫ applications XIV ▫ activity II ▫ logs V ▫ rules VII ▫ bestiary   IX ▫ canon updates XII ▫ taken XV ▫ drop/hiatus III ▫ ooc VI ▫ faq VIII ▫ setting   X ▫ mods XIII ▫ reserves XVI ▫ players welcome to the horologium. Some of you know it is coming. The World Jump, the chaotic thrust into a new universe. But some of you are new, and though you know what the mission is, it is a bit . . . troubling, sitting around and waiting for something to happen. But eventually, you get a message on your watch. It shows Astoria . . . dark hair framing her features, her voice light and musical. She sounds like herself, for the first time in some time . . . that spark of determination back in her eyes. A MESSAGE FROM YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD WITCH. "It is time, my beloved Travelers, to go to our new destination . . . and I want you to know that I have the utmost faith in you. Akvos' loss has hurt us all, and I know that many of you doubt our mission. But please believe me when I say that you have done the best job anyone could ask of you. Akvos' destruction was not your fault . . . and to our newest members of our Circle, welcome to our journey. I can only hope that your journey here will work out to the benefit of us all." That being said, you are journeying to the Horologium . . . it is a ship that has sent out a distress beacon. I am not sure when, or where, but I can feel great darkness, emanating from that place. I believe you all can combat what is done there, without interacting with the Void . . . so please, be safe, and I will see you all when you return." And, just like that, there is a pull in your stomach . . . your vision blacks out and you feel the sudden sense of vertigo, a sensation of falling, and then . . . nothingness. You open your eyes, and you are suddenly waking up in the midst of . . . fog? THE AWAKENING. When you wake, you are greeted by metal — there’s an expanse of silver all around you. The cot you’re laying on is somewhat rigid, like a flattened wedge of cotton more than anything, encased in a capsule-like structure. Should you inspect your surroundings, you’ll find that there are three more cots in your room..or more notably, another person in the room in of itself. Depending on where you’ve been roused from your slumber, however, you’ll find that your circumstances differ. ➜ If you’ve woken up in the northeast wing of the ship, there seems to be a pool of saturated pink goo at your feet. It sticks to the bottom of your heel and collects at the very center of the room, oozing from the cracks and crevices within the metal lining of the walls. And even more notably, the goo has a particularly saccharine scent, as though it’s meant to be...consumed. Looks like you had the misfortune of waking up in the wing adjacent to the kitchen. ➜ In the northwest wing, the ship is functioning at an all time low. When you wake, the room is illuminated for a brief moment...before flickering out, only to leave you in pitch darkness. Power returns to the room intermittently and only for a few seconds at most, but it appears as though you and your newfound roommates will have to navigate the darkness if you want to leave. ➜ In the southwest wing, the fire alarm in your room has been activated for some inexplicable reason. It’s an obnoxiously loud siren that slices right through the whirring of the machinery around you — and it goes as far as to trigger the sprinklers hanging from the ceiling. Water sprays from above you, hopefully ensuring that you’ve woken up if nothing else has. It doesn’t seem to be draining either, so it may be for the best that you escape with some haste. ➜ In the southeast wing, your circumstances are for the most part rather unremarkable. An untouched room, mostly intact...until you try to open the door. It won’t budge — unless you have some form of super strength, your muscle power is rendered useless on its own. You might just have to commission someone else to help you... Beyond your room, the word “Horologium.” stretches across the wall. Welcome to your new home. WHISPERS IN THE DARK. In a way, it feels as though you’re suspended in time. The ship is always humming, always whirring as it makes a haphazard attempt to function. The noise comes to a halt every so often, leaving you with nothing but silence and the idle creaking of the floor beneath you. There are remarkably large, bright white doors that divide each and every wing. A circular window is positioned at the center of all 4 of these doors: but nothing can be seen through it. It’s likeness is that of a black hole’s, like someone had gone as far as to paint over it. On every door, the same word is emblazoned in black lettering: EXIT. Except the word itself appears to be scratched out to some degree — as though it were scrubbed out in a fit of desperation but remained no less. When you see the door, you might be overcome with excitement. Or perhaps not. Regardless of what your reaction is like, the lights around you will dim and flicker at an alarming frequency. For a moment, it’s almost as though the gravity around you has slowed, and the hallways are becoming narrower by the second.. Voices and faces from the past emerge in your mind. You see someone you shouldn’t; they’re calling for you. They’re here with you right now, beckoning you to come closer... If you reach the door and attempt to open it, it won’t budge. And the further you walk away from it, the more the effects will subside. But there’s no telling if you’ll sleep well tonight. INVESTIGATIONS The ship is fitted to house approximately 500 people — it’s a bit of a ghost town, however, lived in but abandoned no less. The chairs are in the mess hall aren’t aligned perfectly. The tables are a bit crooked. The lounge is lofty, but not pristine. The rooms may be barren, but it’s hard to shake the feeling that they were somehow someone else’s before they became yours. There’s an array of locked doors, varying in sizes and shapes, all of which withhold something potentially useful to you. You may be inclined to visit the lounge, the mess hall, rifle through the bedrooms . . . the ship is yours to explore. However, how you interact with the ship is….entirely up to you. There is something to be found everywhere. Regardless of what you do, where you investigate and how, you might be tempted to look behind your shoulder. After all, every decision you make matters...right? (Every Player’s investigation prompt has the potential to differ greatly as your investigation will require mod input. We encourage you to ask as many questions as you would like, we are here to help and provide you with the information necessary.) Additionally, please feel free to write up and work with your own prompts! These areas of the world are presented as jumping off points for your characters, not limitations. The idea of this world- as with all the others- is to explore -- you may use as much leeway as you want in order to come up with what your character will do. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask them back on the various threads back in the OOC post from before!

Comments

inej ghafa.

[wraithes]

southeast wing. (two tag-ins only for this prompt).

[ she wakes up in a coffin.

or, at least, that's what it feels like -- confused, confined, constricted. and it only takes a moment for inej to immediately lift her knees, and push to open the pod. there's a jolt of nerves that shoots through her being, electrified, as the cover of the pod does not immediately move . . . and she's on the verge of screaming for help when the pod finally unlocks with a hiss.

she is out of it almost immediately, landing on the floor as gracefully as one can manage falling out of a pod. without much more of a word, or taking care to notice if anyone else is in the room with her, inej has a knife in her hand and is heading for the door. she has to find kaz, she has to find kaz, she has to find --

but then, the door won't open.

inej ghafa is powerful, a trained warrior, but she is not physically strong. and nothing is more apparent when a four-foot-eleven lithe acrobat attempts to open a door that just will not budge. ]

-- damn it --

[ please help her. ]

the mess hall.

[ inej has spent quite a lot of her time just . . . wandering. coming from a world without much technology like this at all, this is a bit staggering to her. and she soon finds herself by the observatory window, her mouth hanging slightly ajar at the wide expanse of space before her. the twinkling of the stars, the . . . the beauty of it all.

she feels very . . . small. ]

Saints...

[ it's whispered to herself, as she presses a palm against the window, stepping as close as she can, to get a better view. ]

I had no idea it was so . . . big.

closed to kaz.

[ after a few days of wandering around the ship, inej has decided that she wants to go a bit further in. she's heard word of these locked doors, and, well. try as she might to argue otherwise, there's no better pair to break into a locked door than kaz brekker and inej ghafa, the best thieves in the barrel.

curiosity, indeed, killed the cat.

so she finds him, arriving at his side somewhere in the lounge out of seemingly nowhere (though, inej realizes, kaz knows she's coming, and it isn't a surprise to him that she's lingering nearby), easily settling down on the couch next to him with a discovered notebook in her hand, along with a few of these bizarre star-tokens that apparently count as coin. ]

You have not asked me if we are going to investigate the locked doors.

[ she tucks her legs underneath her easily, looking over at him, curious, letting the token run across her fingers before offering it to him, to look at himself, if he wants to see it. ]

Why?

[ketterdamned]

[ kaz isn't sure yet how he feels about the realization that there is now a routine to these things. that they wake up, and immediately touch base. that the first few days are spent understanding the layout, knowing where things are kept with little interference. he's still not certain yet what the chaos is they're supposed to be stopping, but he has ideas.

he's settled in the lounge both to give his leg a brief rest and to wait for inej. he had a feeling that she would search him out today, and he figured her curiosity would get the best of her. why they haven't gone out yet, why kaz seems all but nonplussed with the idea of multiple locked doors.

she appears while he's there, but he has a sense for it. can tell when she's close before she finally settles next to him. he eyes the notebook and the token, and as she offers it to him he takes the token and runs it between his gloved fingers. interesting. he doesn't mind the feel. ]

There is no point investigating until we had all the information. [ aka- he wanted to wait and see what security was like. were any of those doors going to blow? crash inwards? someone else could be the test dummy for that thanks. ]

But- I'm curious now. [ he'll hand the token back to inej and then use his cane to stand. ] Aren't you?

[wraithes]

[ there's a quiet roll of her eyes, at his offer, as if suddenly exploring the locked doors was his idea, and not hers. but she takes her token back, and watches him stand before rising to her feet herself, slipping the token into her pocket, and leaving the notebook on a nearby table. (she can't read it, anyway.) ]

Curious to figure out what we're intended to do, maybe. [ an agreement, and an addendum, as she falls into step beside him. even with kaz's limp, she still has to keep a somewhat quickened pace, to keep up with him; he's much taller than she is, and has a longer stride. ] I've spent most of my time looking outside, more than anything.

[ which isn't necessarily helpful, but she can't quite help admiring the wide expanse of space, out the main observatory window. it's awe-inspiring, to say the least. ]

What do you think happened to the people that lived here?

[ketterdamned]

My guess is that it has to do with that sound.

[ he talks while he walks, heading off in a predetermined direction and assuming inej will keep pace. he never has to worry about her finding a way. he's is a cripple, after all. ]

We've been settled into what appears to be an empty ship, but that is fully furnished to handle hundreds more people. [ but kaz sounds bored, uninterested, as he says all of this, like it's not some fantastical chaos that they've been sent to take care of.

he shrugs one of his shoulders. ] My guess is something happened to them, and we're here to stop whatever that is. And that is the thing making all the sound.

[ does he care? not really. whoops. ]

[wraithes]

[ not very encouraging, but kaz is typically not an encouraging person, and so inej takes his lack of interest in stride. she folds her arms over her chest, an easy motion, her fingers curling into the fabric of her sleeves as she walks, losing herself in thought.

the ship is empty, after all. it isn't as if there's a present danger or people to keep an eye on, aside from that rumbling sound. ]

I wish we had the others.

[ it's murmured, mostly to herself. wylan's firecrackers and bombs and inventions could get them out of nearly anything, including a spaceship, she imagines. nina could suffocate it, if it was a creature, with a flick of her wrist. jesper could manipulate the metal, if it were a machine, and matthias was just generally good at killing things. ]

We can break into any door in Ketterdam, but we aren't exactly suited to brute force . . . what could get rid of so many people so easily?

[ketterdamned]

[ kaz, in general, does not like this place. he doesn't think it's necessary enough to say - the technology around him reminds him too much of the fjerdan tanks, of things that shouldn't be possible, but are. that, on top of a clear sense of being caged has him more on edge than normal.

which is about business as usual. kaz finds he likes the more unsettling sense of danger that having to deal with cities or warring people. the darkness in the corners of the room reminds him of ketterdam.

but then inej mentions the others, and kaz - against his better judgement - feels a tight, uncomfortable feeling in his gut. he thinks of jesper, then about wylan and nina and mattias. about the child they have in their custody, until he can find a way through that. the sensation of it all almost knocks him off stride, nearly. ]

You're talking about locks, Wraith. Locked doors. I'm fairly certain we're the most adept of our crew at besting those. [ wylan could be taught, he supposes. the boy is quick enough.

but inej isn't just talking about that, is she? and kaz lets his mind wander for a moment, his imagination picking up. ] Disease. Poisons. Military force. [ does she not remember the men who came after them? at the ice court? she wasn't in ketterdam for the queen's plague, she wouldn't know, but-

kaz feels his throat get tight at the thought, and immediately cuts off the line of thinking, turning a corner. ]

A grisha on parem.

[ he could keep going if she wanted him to. ]

[wraithes]

[ his listing of awful scenarios prompts another slight roll of her eyes. now he's just proving her wrong for the sake of proving her wrong, and she follows him around the corner, brushing a piece of hair behind her ear as they pass by a few more doors.

as their feet hit the ground again in another step, the floor rumbles -- the sound emanating throughout the skeletal frame of the metal of the ship, ominous and ever-present, and inej waits until it dies down again before she looks up at kaz, her eyebrows arching, her tone dry. ]

I had no idea plagues or poison possessed the ability to groan, but thank you for enlightening me.

[ kaz brekker, the genius. and she takes a few steps ahead of him, to reach out and run her fingers along the steel of one door, the metal shaking with a new surge of the sound . . . hm. ]

What do you think it is, airborne or waterborne?

[ketterdamned]

[ the sound does cause him to pause, feeling the all consuming rumble course through the floor. through his feet, into his legs. the concept of how large something would have had to be to make a sound like this, that feels like it comes from everywhere. it's...

impossible, but not impossible.

then inej moves to step in front of him, to run her hand along the door in front of them, and kaz watches her. feels the vibrations of the sound, the way the whole ship seems to shake. what would make a sound this loud? this intense? ]

Airborne. Waterborn would have been found out before it spread too far. [ he doesn't appreciate that sass, inej. but kaz will start walking again, continuing down the hallway, expecting her to follow. ]

The sound, though, could be the ship failing without having a crew to keep it functioning. Or- [ and here his tone grows a bit more tired, like he's admitting to a joke, or rolling his eyes made into sound. ] It could be some giant creature waiting in the belly for us to free it and it can come out from the shadows to eat us. That's also an option, depending on how you want to look at our situation.

[ ha ha he's so funny. ]

[wraithes]

[ she, indeed, follows, and her lips twitch into a faint, barely there smile at his continued complaining, and subsequent joke. which no one else would recognize as a joke except her. ]

We should be safe, then. Considering where we live.

[ the shadows, that is. and inej matches his stride, though her steps hesitate at the sound of the rumbling. it throws her off, her surveillance, her balance . . . frustrating, to say the least, to be the wraith who can't properly hear. but kaz seems to have some idea of where they're going, and so she follows, trusting his instincts.

besides, kaz doesn't usually tolerate questions. and yet, inej asks them, because even though he doesn't typically tolerate them with much patience, she can usually get away with one or two before he gets too irritable with the prodding for information. ]

What are we looking for?

[ curious, as her eyes scan the corridors. the doors mostly look the same. ]

[ketterdamned]

[ he does snort at that, amused just enough to let it out in her company. shadows under the bed, monsters in closest. he knew all the monsters in ketterdam, and they were hardly locked up in some kind of vessel like this one.

they turn around another corner, and kaz's eyes scan the hallway, checking his direction, where they're headed. ]

A door.

[ you know. because he's an asshole like that.

but then he arrives to a stop, turning to face the door itself. ]

[wraithes]

[ she nearly tells him obviously when he stops to face said door, and inej slows her pace to stop beside him, her brow furrowing as she looks the door over. it doesn't look particularly special, in comparison to any other door, and inej has the sneaking suspicion that kaz just randomly selected this door and is being dramatic for the sake of being dramatic, but she holds her tongue.

instead, inej crosses her arms, looking the door over for any sign of weakness, any crack, any defect. seeing none, her eyes stray to the lock. complicated, but not impossible, particularly for kaz, who can get his way in and out of any lock without too much difficulty. if he had a set of lockpicks, anyway.

she unfolds her arms, then, and dips her hands into her pockets, removing what appears to be a leather-like pouch. it looks as if it were fashioned from some sort of thickened seaweed -- taken, no doubt, from akvos.

she holds it out to her side wordlessly, for him to take. and, should he look inside, there's a set of what appears to be lock picks. definitely not as nice as his set from ketterdam, but finding the underbelly had been a pretty easy task, and bartering in some pretty shells for a set had been an even easier one.

besides. kaz had gotten her a set of knives. she figured she should repay the favor, after he had more than enough time to sulk about not being able to break into anything he wanted anymore.

and, without dwelling on it too much longer, inej says: ]

What do you think, one minute?

[ kaz brekker, taking one solid minute to open a door. a greater insult had never been uttered. ]

[ketterdamned]

[ part of him expects the 'obviously', the sass in her voice, the fact he can feel her eyes roll into the back of her head. but still, she comes to a slow stop next to him, and despite the scenario, despite being out on a ship in the middle of nowhere, it all feels. right. correct. familiar.

and no, in case she wanted to ask - it was not a random door. it was specifically chosen to be less likely to kill them and more likely to be able to get in and possibly, maybe, have something hidden back away from it.

it wasn't anything impressive, really. but it was a locked door, which automatically piqued his curiosity. he needed to get inside, no matter what was in there. he could feel the questions starting to bubble, and was about to open his mouth - about to explain his plan - when inej held out the pouch.

he looked towards it, curious. after a moment, he does reach out to take it, glancing through the tools, finding....lock picks. or what could equate to the tools he knows s well. he's still looking them over when she speaks, and something about the exchange, about the relief of holding familiar tools in his hands, it actually has him snorting once. ]

If it takes a minute, I will take you to dinner next world that has anything more than goo.

[ its said in jest, because there's no possible way that could happen, his eyes still on the tools in his hands. like an afterthought, really. ]

the mess

[mollymocked]

[heeeey. You know who is not having the most fun with this whole crushing void of space stuff? The nihilist tiefling who is both terrified and unable to look away from the window. He is fine with mortality. He is fine with the idea that life is short and you shouldn't waste your time on bullshit. He is fine with the joy of nothing mattering so just have fun.

He does not know what to do with this. He worships a moon goddess, but this is a lot.

So here he is, seated in one of the chairs close by, fingers steepled in front of his lips, his wide red eyes just... staring.]

It is that. Does it make you nervous?

[No reason. He's not just asking so he can make sure he's not the only one who is a little weirded out that they are in a METAL COFFIN AND THERE IS NOTHING OUTSIDE OF IT.]

[wraithes]

[ she looks over, at the sound of the familiar voice, and inej offers a faint smile in greeting before moving backward to push herself up onto a nearby table, to take a seat alongside molly. ]

A little.

[ admittedly; there's no shame in admitting some amount of nerves, so long as it isn't conflated with weakness. ]

Going out into the stars is something I never imagined possible. We have nothing like this, where I come from. Human beings have [ for the most part ] stayed on the ground.

[ but being trapped in this tin can, with no way out, is really what is making inej nervous. she hates feeling trapped, and there's really no way to prevent that, here. ]

[mollymocked]

Where they should be, for the most part. There's nothing even out there. You'd think there'd be something.

[which is, honestly, where his issues lie. he is equally not happy being trapped. it taps into his mild claustrophobia.] If something happens here, where exactly do we go? Does Astoria take us back or does she just leave us to sort it out?

[wraithes]

A little bit of both . . . this is only my second world.

[ but inej glances over at molly, tearing her eyes away from the vastness of empty space, to have a proper conversation. arriving in akvos had been disorienting at best, and terrifying at worst. at least they aren't permanently underwater, here. ]

But something tends to happen, and we have to fix it. Some sort of conflict, or . . . something. The last world involved a struggle for the throne. [ she pauses, there. ] The last world was lost. Astoria barely got us, and some of the citizens of that world, out alive. Hopefully that will not come to pass, here.

[mollymocked]

Oh, so that's what that's about? [His voice pitches up a bit as he tries to bite down the new wellspring of anxiety springing up. He clears his throat and settles.] I'd... Heard it wasn't a very good ending, and a lot of people were deeply unhappy, and I'm more than happy to make a snap judgment on a person's competence, but being as she's the only way we can get out...

[Yeah, he's... not stupid enough to question her right this second, and give a witch already suffering from a tremendous loss performance anxiety.] So. Optimism, then. At least there's air, there's food, there's company...

[It's fine. Really.]

[wraithes]

[ there's a soft noise of agreement, at the first part. Astoria, indeed, holds all of the cards, and while inej hasn't quite made up her mind on how she feels about the woman, she does know that they're in a precarious position. not being in charge is an awful place to be, and inej is used to feeling comfortably intimidating and powerful, at home. here, she may as well be just another teenage girl.

still. that won't really help matters. ]

It could definitely be worse.

[ with a small smile, meant to be encouraging. ]

At the very least, we have some time to explore and adjust. That's better than nothing.

[mollymocked]

Before it all goes to shit, yeah. I'm not liking the idea that all of these people who were supposed to be here are just gone. That's how you get ghosts.

[Probably. He doesn't really know that for certain, but this has all the hallmarks of a ghost story, and that, even though it's creepy, is much easier on his nerves than the void of space.] I mean... People tell stories like this around campfires where I'm from. No place ever ends up abandoned for no reason. There's always a story.

[wraithes]

The stories are usually worse than the reality.

[ kaz and inej had sat up for hours, trading ideas on what could have made the people disappear. each was more fanciful than the last, and none of them properly made sense. the more they talked, the more paranoid each got, and eventually inej cut off the wondering. it just made things worse.

and so . . . ]

Maybe they just up and left. They found a better ship, and took it to continue their mission elsewhere.

[mollymocked]

That's fair.

[He taps his fingers on the table, thoughtfully.] Why d'you think those coffin things were sealed? They were all empty, aside from the ones we were in, and they had to be forced open. The reason I ask is... I'm wondering if maybe we shouldn't have opened them.

[wraithes]

Maybe the ship does that to protect whatever is supposed to be inside . . . I am not sure. All of this is very . . . alien to me.

[ the pun is not intended, but inej offers molly a faint smile anyway, in spite of herself, before she brushes a loose piece of hair out of her eyes, behind her ear. ]

All I know is that there should be people here. Whether or not they were supposed to be in the coffins, I am not sure. I have heard people refer to them as "pods," but nothing like that exists in my world. None of this exists.

[ and she casts out a hand, toward the surrounding ship. ]

We are grounded, not in the stars.

[mollymocked]

[He didn't even get the pun. All of this is wasted on him.]

It's the same for me. This is... Far beyond anything a person can do. Powerful magic can travel to different planes, but up into the sky, itself? That's just weird. [He drags a hand down his face.] Not much of a mission to start out with, honestly. I'm feeling a bit... useless.

[He doesn't say that like he's lacking confidence or anything. It's fact. He doesn't have the skills for this, and when there's killing to be done, he'll be there... Throwing Vicious Mockeries at it, apparently. He doesn't have any weapons.]

uh, the other one

[flask]

[Nott is a little more mechanically minded than a typical a person of her origin. Thankfully, she knows that gravity is a thing. But she also, until very recently, didn't believe that there was more than one planet in all of existence. And probably that the sun revolves around Exandria. And probably that stars are just really tiny lights in the sky.

So basically she doesn't know shit about space, so when she slips through a door and is suddenly scrabbling for purchase on the doorframe, claws scratching thin, pale lines in the metallic surface with a small yelp of surprise, she is pretty sure the place is just haunted.

Help, we got ghosts. Thankfully, there's someone nearby...]

Oi! Inej!

[Oh, it's someone Nott recognizes.]

[wraithes]

[ inej found the anti-gravity room on accident, but now that she has found it, it is the most fun she has had in a long time. it feels like flying -- actual flying, not soaring through the air to grab a trapeze, or snagging a rope to climb to the rooftop. no, this is actual flying, and inej does a graceful flip through the air to see nott, who calls out to her, and inej raises a hand up (or is it down?) in greeting, with a grin. ]

Twiggy!

[ it's said with . . . maybe the slightest amount of sass. she knows a fake name when she hears it, but she'll let nott keep her secrets, for now. ]

You found the flying room!

[ gravity sucks, nott, learn how to glide instead. ]