warpweft | [popdrop] H2: Scorpio

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[popdrop] H2: Scorpio

[The first thing you notice is how dark it is. It’s really, really stinkin’ dark. You can’t see anything. Even if you naturally have the ability to see in the dark, well, not anymore. Which may be the second thing you notice - any powers you have, any magic is gone. Silenced. You can’t feel it, similarly to when you’re in the theme park, with an additional sense of anxiety and loss surrounding the inability to tap into it. Even a heightened sense of emotion won’t bring them back, like it might in the theme park. If you have other powers of some kind, enhanced physical capabilities or the like, they’re either gone or significantly reduced as well. You feel extremely normal and it doesn’t feel good.]

[Whether you stay still or stumble along in the dark, at least it’s not too long. You eventually catch notice of something illuminating the darkness. You find yourself drawn to it. It's a small spherical glass object. Near the edges, it's black, but bits of purple and violet appear, gradually brightening and swirling together in a spiral shape at the center. The spiral at the center is bright enough to bathe you and the surroundings in a soft violet light. As you get closer, you can feel voices coming from the sphere. You can’t tell what they’re saying, but maybe if you were closer. You feel a deep desire in your stomach to just…reach out….]

What are you doing?

[The voice, a woman’s voice, comes from behind you. You didn’t hear anybody approaching, but you’re immediately filled with an intense sense of foreboding. You turn and look, but you can’t see anything. The darkness is once again overpowering, the violet glow from the object next to you being the only thing that isn’t swallowed up by it. All you can make out in the darkness is what may be someone’s face and…two eyes. With nothing in them. Pitch-black.]

You touched the Heart…

You touched MY Heart!?

[There’s a lot of anger and it’s not making that sense of foreboding go away. The darkness and the person(?) inside it advance towards you, slowly engulfing the violet glow around you. Just when you’re thinking you’re gonna have to decide between fight or flight, here — something moves.

Towards you.

You feel something punch into your chest and before you know it, you’re on the ground, searing pain running through your upper body. A few things briefly pass through your senses. You hear a loud scream. If you tilt your head up, you can see a long black spike…embedded in your own chest. And you can taste… …yup. That’s your own blood.

That’s about as far as you get before consciousness leaves you.]

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- The goals of the Heart are to strengthen your Voidheart, find Hex’s treasures and discover the True Heart.
- Gameplay is going to consist of exploring areas, collecting items, viewing and sharing memories and talking to NPCs. The main means of progression is going to be by collecting items from one area and showing them to NPCs to unlock new parts of an area, new items, new memories and Infusions to strengthen your Voidheart.
- Powers are initially off, but may be turned back on at some point!
- All areas can be reached from the very beginning of the Heart through the hub area, the Spiraling Sea, but some will have less going on than others initially and will need an item brought from somewhere
- Items have both broad and specific applications. Some items won’t mean much of anything to an NPC, but will still get some kind of comment from them that may be useful. Some items just by way of representing a particular character can get a reaction from multiple NPCs that further opens up an area. Some items have extremely specific, personal meaning to one particular NPC. The latter type of item usually takes more effort to get and will have a bigger payoff.
- You can say whatever you want to an NPC, even attack them or grab ‘em and plant a smooch on ‘em. There will also be guided options to present an item in your inventory that may be relevant to that NPC. If an item isn’t listed but you’d like to see the NPC’s reaction to it anyway, feel free to offer it and see what happens! There’s no limits to what you can do with an NPC, although they may look at you a little weird if you shove the same plate of chicken in their face five times in a row.
- NPCs can be made hostile and once made hostile will uniformly try to whup your ass, but for most of them (most of them) you have to be really trying to piss them off that much. If an NPC gets mad enough to start chasing you around the Heart, you’ll have to either fight them or find someone or something to calm them down before you can continue progressing.

- Tip: If you’re feeling stuck at any point, look for some food! Somebody, somewhere in the Heart is very hungry and will gladly give advice to anybody that brings them food.

…

…

[CH-THUNK]

[You feel a jolt run through your entire body, jarring you awake and making you take in a sudden, deep breath and sit up straight. Immediately followed by falling back down. You feel a sensation similar to floating in water. Looking up at the sky above you, it’s dark. There’s almost no stars that you can see and no sun or moon or anything up there, but, you still don’t have any trouble seeing anything. Beneath you is a vast ocean of…space. You can see stars, mostly purple and violet, but some in other colors, even a few bright white drifting through the ocean around you. Most of the light illuminating the area comes from a lightly swirling vortex at the center. You can move, bobbing lightly in the space around you, if you wish, it seems similar to water, without the part where it makes you wet. The pain in your chest may be gradually dulling away but it’s definitely still there, though, so you may wanna wait a few minutes to move too much.]

’Please try not to move too much. I’m almost done.

[Someone else is there with you. It’s. ]

[Oh. It’s. A vaguely humanoid shaped blob of darkness with no features except two big yellow eyes. It had a hand (its digits ending in fairly sharp claw-like appendages) extended towards your chest, which it pulls back if you start to move. Your chest is currently…uncovered. Whatever you were wearing is either opened up or outright discarded and floating in a small pile next to you. And where you were struck in the chest earlier has been covered up with a small object, a sphere with a glass shell and lights swirling in a spiral shape near the center. It’s similar to the one you saw before, but different. The lights inside are of a different color, perhaps your team’s color, perhaps a color significant to you for some other reason. Whatever it is and whatever color it is, the sphere is part of your body, now. It doesn’t hurt and its presence seems to be what’s slowly dulling the pain in, well, most of the rest of your body.]

’I imagine you have questions.’

...A few.

[Scorpio's sphere is red with flecks of pale pink. He carefully touches the sphere in his chest.]

First, what is this? And where am I?

’The object you saw before is known as the Voidheart. It’s a very potent piece of magic that connects my realm, the Void, to other realms. After you were attacked, I created a facsimile of it to resuscitate you. It’s not as strong as the real thing. But it can do what it needs to…for now, at least.”

[The sphere pulses lightly, little ripples of red light traveling through it from your contact.]

’This particular place is called the Spiraling Sea. In a more general sense… … …’

‘I know her by her true name. You know her as ‘Hex’. This is her Heart. And I am its guardian.’

‘Which leads me to my question.’

’Why are you here.’

Edited 2021-05-21 23:16 (UTC)

While I died to losing my heart, this is quite new.

[He watches the light play, then looks up to the voidblob.]

Hex's Heart... hm.

It depends on which "here" you mean. Here, in this place? I was brought here.

Or here in Popdrop - obviously, I'm here for my own wishes.

'I see.'

'So this is the latest trick of the Fae.'

They enjoy their games.

What should I do here?

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[You stand in a vast ocean of space that stretches in every direction. The sky above is dark, but lights in a variety of colors, mostly violet, shine beneath you. You can swim in the space, or with some focus, stand on it. You also have a craft you can use to navigate the space and explore other areas of the Heart.
Cornelius is a short distance away and will speak to you if need be.
There are seven clusters of light that you can explore, each one a different direction from the center of the ocean.

There are also waves in the distance. If you're not sure where to go...you can always catch a wave. Maybe it'll take you on the right track. Or maybe it'll dump you somewhere completely random.]

North: The Spiraling Sea (you are here)
Northeast: ???
Northwest: ???
East: ???
West: ???
Southeast: ???
Southwest: ???
South: ???

This is your Heart, Hex? It's a beautiful space, I have to admit.

[He speaks to the darkness and to himself, not expecting any answer. He glances around and picks the southeast to head towards.]

[Your craft dips into the light and a few seconds later, you're taken away to somewhere new...]

[Your craft lands on a white fluffy cloud that then proceeds to carry it and you through the sky at a nice breezy pace among the tops of buildings in a bustling city. There’s a lot of clouds around. Particularly noteworthy, underneath everything else, including all of the buildings, carrying them around the same way one is carrying around your craft. Yes, it’s a city that seems to be floating in the sky. That doesn’t make a ton of sense, but you got here from an ocean in space, so maybe sense is relative right now. There’s a palace with a large clock tower off in the distance, but before you can head in the direction of that, or, well, anything.]

“Oh, good!”

[Your cloud is flipping you over and you and your craft are tumbling out. You have a few seconds to think you’re headed for a terrifying trip straight down, but you somehow fall diagonally and wind up tumbling with a small thud into - a very comfortable easy chair. Huh?]

“Welcome to the patio. You’re just in time for brunch, what will you have to drink?”

[The source of that voice and, given that one of her hands is glowing, probably the source of your fall, is a woman sitting at a table a short distance away. You landed on what appears to be a rooftop patio. Well, at least you landed in the penthouse, apparently? The woman has white hair and purple eyes and she props her elbows on the table and balances her chin on the back of her hands as she regards you.]

[There’s a loud crash as your craft lands in the bushes a short distance away. It’s. It’s probably fine. You can get it out later.]

[You’re currently on the Patio. You can also explore the Apartment.]

Huh.

[A mild sound in reaction to the crash. He looks to the woman offering a drink.]

How about a coffee with plenty of milk and cream?

Of course. One second.

[She twirls her finger through the air a few times, leaving trails of purple light in the air. A mug and a pot politely deposit themselves in front of Scorpio, the pot pouring hot coffee into the mug. Containers of cream and sugar don't trail far behind.]

[There's definitely a bit of showing off going on, here.]

[Time to pretend to be a fucking regular person. He claps lightly.]

This is excellent service. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting?

You may call me Lyra, and the pleasure is all mine.

I'd give you my last name as well, but alas, I don't think you'd hear it.

Hex's sister? I'm Scorpio, though you might already know.

[Stirs cream and sugar into his coffee and takes a sip.]

Ahahahaha. [She grins pretty openly at that, for what feels like more than a couple reasons.] I do my part to make myself look youthful, but, not quite.

RULES

INTRO

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THE SPIRALING SEA

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CITY OF CLOUDS

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TAFFY TOURIST TRAP

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