[popdrop] H4: Vermillion and Hospitality

[warpweft]

[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.]

Comments

RULES

[voidhearts]

- 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.

IC CONTACT

[voidhearts]

[Do you want to contact another player in the Heart that’s in another area? Focus on them deeply and your Voidhearts will be connected, allowing you to talk!

INTRO

[voidhearts]

…

…

[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. ]

Re: INTRO

[voidhearts]

[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.’

Re: INTRO

[wants_the_phd]

[Her eyes flash green in the light as her attention latches onto this newcomer like a venomous snake. The hairs on her neck are standing on end, heart still pounding, adrenaline pumping through her veins even as the pain recedes.]

[Her uncovered chest is almost boyishly shapeless, with nothing much of interest to see beyond this strange new sphere. She curls her fingertips over it, and even though it's apparently a part of her body now, she's unwilling to pull her attention away from the stranger to investigate it further.]

[She stares, unblinking, her voice like a hiss.]

Who are you?

Re: INTRO

[voidhearts]

'I am Cornelius. I am known to some humans as an Umbral, a being from the Void. I am the guardian of this place.'

Re: INTRO

[wants_the_phd]

[she tightens her fingers around her new chest orb]

And what place is this? What are you doing to me?

Re: INTRO

[voidhearts]

'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.'

'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.'

THE SPIRALING SEA

[voidhearts]

[Here's the quick notes of what's going on:
- Immediately upon arriving...wherever this is, you saw a magical object and were attacked, losing consciousness shortly after.
- You came to in a place called the Spiraling Sea, resuscitated by a being calling himself Cornelius, the guardian of this place. He explains the object you saw was called the Voidheart, the person that attacked you was Lillith and the place you are now is Hex's heart. Your heart was severely damaged in the attack and he replaced it with a facsimile of the Voidheart.
- Things have beeeeen not great in here and that's manifested in Lillith getting really mean and violent, as you personally found out.
- He's willing to let you explore Hex's heart to find the True Heart. Hopefully doing so will ease Hex's Heart and make things less tumultuous (read also: stabby).
- The way to open the True Heart is to find Hex's treasures, the things most important to her. Explore the Heart, speak to the people inside it and see what you can find.]

[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: ???

Re: THE SPIRALING SEA

[wants_the_phd]

[She takes a minute to take this place in. This is a lot. Beautiful, but strange, and confusing.]

[She looks to Cornelius.]

Where do you suggest I start?

Re: THE SPIRALING SEA

[voidhearts]

'If you are not sure where to start, I would suggest riding a wave of impulse. It's difficult to know where it will take you, but they only tend to appear in places where a significant impulse is traveling through the Heart.'

Re: THE SPIRALING SEA

[wants_the_phd]

Well, that seems as good a lead as any.

[She starts trying to figure out how to steer this craft into position so it can catch a wave. I assume it's relatively straightforward with minimal trial and error, but in any case, being able to figure out how mechanisms work is something she's actually pretty okay at, in general. So she starts trying to guide the craft wave-ward.]

Where do these other lights lead? What's around here?

Re: THE SPIRALING SEA

[voidhearts]

[The craft was pulled from your Voidheart by Cornelius, so it's designed to be familiar or at least significant to you, and thus, pretty intuitive to get around in.]

'People and places from her life that are significant to her. Speak to them. See what they have to say and offer.'

[As he says that, a wave catches your craft from behind, lifts it up and drops it into one of the lights, taking you to a new place...

Re: THE SPIRALING SEA

[smarthousemerc]

[I THINK THE VOIDHEART MAY HAVE BEEN OVERKILL TO THE DAMAGE TO MY BODY, BUT LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT THAT.]

[Floating in teh void sounds normal though.]

[Let's go West.]

Re: THE SPIRALING SEA

[voidhearts]

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

THE WITCH'S CASTLE

[voidhearts]

[It’s a dark and stormy night. Wind blows in your face. Lightning crackles in the sky, briefly lighting it up before thunder booms in the distance. Fog gathers around you. Visibility is low and the elements are getting worse, but there’s a single light in the distance. You push on towards it and you can hear a loud cackle echoing somewhere, like nails scratching a chalkboard. You’ve gotten through enough of the fog that near the light, you can see the silhouette of a castle in the distance. The storm has become truly awful at this point, leaving you no choice but to keep trekking towards the castle and, hopefully, shelter. You go a few more feet through the fog find yourself in front of a huge castle, but the gate blocks you from going further. There’s a metal knocker attached to the gate. You reach out and grab the knocker.

CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.

The noise echoes for a few seconds, and…]

[The fog and the storm all immediately part and the castle is gone. You’re standing on the street in front of a nice, upscale looking apartment building.]

”Oh, hold on one second! I’ll buzz you up!”

[That’s a voice coming from the buzzer. A couple seconds later, you do indeed her a buzz and the door opens. Entering the door leaves you in…a hallway. That seems a little off. Maybe it’s just for pacing reasons. But either way, there’s a door on your left.]

Re: THE WITCH'S CASTLE

[wants_the_phd]

[Listen

despite living for the last month in a fairy realm, she's still not entirely used to how magic works. This feels more like a dream, and it's only the visceral memory of pain that reminds her that perhaps it isn't.]

[She squints at the door, and looks up and down the hallway. Is there anything else of note out here?]

Re: THE WITCH'S CASTLE

[voidhearts]

[Nope, nothing else in the hallway besides the door.]

Re: THE WITCH'S CASTLE

[wants_the_phd]

[Then, she guesses this is where she's supposed to be.]

[What is human etiquette in this situation? Who knows. She cautiously takes the knob and attempts to let herself in.]

Re: THE WITCH'S CASTLE

[voidhearts]

[When you reach for the door, someone opens it.]

Hello! I’ve been — ooh, I guess the storm got you pretty bad. Uh, come in! I’ve got some towels!

[It’s the same voice as the one that let you. It’s a young woman, she immediately moves out of the way to let you into the apartment. It’s…a pretty nice apartment! There’s an open door leading out into the balcony (which will by the way confirm that you went from ground level to several stories up if you look out over it), a big TV hanging on the wall and an exceptionally soft looking couch, equally comfortable easy chairs positioned around it. The couch must be as comfortable as it looks, because there’s a black cat napping on it, currently catching a sunbeam from the open balcony. It regards you for a second, then goes back to lounging immediately.]

[Up on the wall, there’s a kitschy little carved wooden sign - it reads “WELCOME TO THE WITCH’S CASTLE” and it has a little painting of a witch on a broomstick on it. Three guesses who lives here.]

[You’re currently in the Living Room. You can also explore the Kitchen or the Hallway.]

TAFFY TOURIST TRAP

[voidhearts]

[Tata's Taffy Theme Park is an amusement park that reside on an island that's currently floating in the sky. Nothing seems to be keeping it suspended in the air, but judging by the low hanging clouds and a pink sun that feels unnaturally close, you can't help but get a feeling that yo—]

[Wait a sec.]

[You’ve somehow wound up back in the theme park. Except, it’s…a little different. For one thing, it’s much smaller, there only seems to be one road. In front of you is the Chocolat cottage, which is…the only cottage! The rest of them aren’t here, for some reason. Within walking distance, in the center of the park like usual, is the Fairy Ring. And further up the road on the other side of the park is the shops.]

“Greetings.”

[And you’ve been approached by a young man in Sorbet colors, who you…may recognize, as it turns out.]

[You are currently outside. You can go to Chocolat’s cottage, the Fairy Ring or the Shops.]

Re: TAFFY TOURIST TRAP

[smarthousemerc]

[Ah.....like a BTL. She's been through this kind of thing before.]

Oh. Hello. You're...Spectre, right?

Re: TAFFY TOURIST TRAP

[voidhearts]

I am.

Re: TAFFY TOURIST TRAP

[smarthousemerc]

The...real one ?

Re: TAFFY TOURIST TRAP

[voidhearts]

I do not believe so, no.