Event: An-Teng

[shadowmods]

In the wee, small hours of the morning on Day 287, the Egime lands with a soft thud. This is quickly followed by the gently rocking motion of waves, signaling that the ship has touched down in water. But not just any water. The Egime has landed at the port of a sprawling town known as An-Teng. It's a beautiful village, with technology on par with medieval India. The climate, too, is comparable. It's hot and humid, just shy of being oppressive.

The town is filled with shops and markets, selling a variety of items, largely luxury. Besides clothing and jewels and spices, there are plenty of brothels. Beautiful men and women stand in the open entryways, dressed in scraps of silk that barely cover them up. Actually, the entire population seems scantily clad, even those who aren't trying to sell themselves. As it happens, the Egime has docked during a festival season known as "Calibration." Ask any passerby and she'll tell you that Calibration is the time when the gods partake in a twelve-day feast. The natural order of things is skewed, the walls between the spirit realm and the realm of the living thinner than usual. It's not a safe time to travel, so all foreigners are welcomed with open arms and there's dancing and music everywhere.

And what party would be complete without ample amounts of alcohol? In fact, a local tavern, called Garnet Dawn, is offering free drinks to everyone. But, of course, since it's Calibration, these drinks will have some unusual effects on any candidates who decide to partake:

Mother's Milk is a warm, spiced drink resembling chai tea. It's spiked however, laced with some strange kind of brandy that no candidates are familiar with. Drinking this beverage puts a candidate into a deep, deep sleep, about five minutes after the first sip. The sleep is so profound that one's heart beats only once a minute and someone can easily be mistaken for dead. During this time, body and soul are parted, and the unfortunate candidate will find themselves walking around like a ghost. No one will be able to see them, save for others who have had a drink of Mother's Milk. The effects will last approximately twenty four hours.

Melted Amber tastes suspiciously like rum. In fact, it might just be rum, although there's an unusually salty aftertaste to it. Drinking this beverage connects people to the spirit realm in a unique way. Twenty four hours following their first sip, the candidates who drink Melted Amber will find that they're being followed by what looks like the ghost of someone who they knew, who died. The ghost will be completely silent, although it may make gestures or mouth a few words. And the emotional state of this ghost will resemble the emotional state of the person before they died, at least in the drinker's mind.

Gilded Lily is a sophisticated red wine, with just a hint of pear to it. A sip of Gilded Lily and candidates will find themselves thrown into a religious fervor. Whatever they believe in, they will feel the need to preach, celebrate, and worship in their own, given way. Perhaps they feel they've too-long ignored their religious inclinations and want to repent. Perhaps they'll want to celebrate all of their favorite holidays at once. Or maybe they'll just decide that the chosen o hymns of their religion are the most beautiful songs in the world and ought to be shared with anyone and everyone. Again, this will last only twenty four hours.

In addition to the alcoholic fun times, there will be several NPCs for candidates to interact with. Among others, they can chat with a merchant, a barkeep at the Garnet Dawn, or an errant Nysgod (what, you thought they were history?) during the visit to An-Teng. Watch the comms for these opportunities.

At the end of Day 289, the Egime will depart, pulling all the candidates along with it. As always, any weapons obtained during their stay will vanish.

And now, for everyone's favorite: FAQs!

What kind of items can I buy/steal/barter in this place?
An-Teng is primarily a port of luxury, selling fine but largely unessential products. Use medieval India as a basis for comparison. Goods include fine silks, spices, jewelry, linen, and other types of decoration. There is plenty of food available, most of it being sold cheap in taverns or market stalls. You can also purchase an evening with an attractive boy or girl, but you do run the risk of catching syphilis (I will leave it to individual players to decide on that one). You won't find a lot of books, farming equipment, or educational tools in the area. And most of the weapons being sold are largely decorative and not very useful. As for medical supplies, what An-Teng has to offer is fairly rudimentary. The population, it seems, relies heavily on magic for their healing. There are a few Viagra-type potions available, though. Just saying...

Hey! Hey! You said "steal!" Can I steal stuff?
Since the event is taking place during Calibration, it is possible to steal small trinkets here and there. Only little things you can fit in the palm of your hand, however.
Speaking of Calibration, I'm familiar with Exalted and this sounds weird...
Exalted is a very complicated system. I have simplified it for the purposes of this event. And for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, don't worry about it.

How do I interact with the NPCs?
Watch the comms. They will have their own posts. The NPCs will be played by Wizera and Arma. We're only human, so please be patient with us if we're a little slow.

Will there be metaplot involved with this plot?
You betcha. But, as always, participation in the metaplot is largely optional. For that matter, participation in the drinking is entirely optional.

Can my character find out what the alcohol does before taking a swig?
Only if they chat with the barkeep. Otherwise, they're drinking blind and will suffer the consequences unknowingly.

Okay, so, my character drinks Mother's Milk and has an out-of-body experience. That means no one can see them?
No people who are awake. But other victims of Mother's Milk can see each other. And yes, if they want to go into one of the brothels and watch things, no one will ever know. But they absolutely cannot communicate in any way with anyone else. No writing things out in sand, no blood messages on the walls. They are as intangible as they are invisible, except to each other.

Can they use this out of body experience to go through the hull of the ship and up to the sealed decks?
Nope. Attempting to do so will result in an experience, similar to what happened to Tara, but without the voice.

All right. Let's say my character drinks the Melted Amber and sees dead people. Can other people see these dead people?
By and large, no one else can see the ghost haunting the drinker except for the drinker. There is one exception. If the person who drank the Melted Amber shares a bodily fluid with another person (through blood drinking, sex, or a super messy kiss) then the other person will be able to see the ghost as well. If a bunch of people are all drinking together, however, they will each get their own, unique ghost. And will not be able to see anyone else's ghost.

About these ghosts...who can they be?
They can be anyone the drinker knows or knew who died. This also includes people who died and were revived or died and came back as a vampire/zombie/whatever. They will see that person at the exact moment of their death, however. Not as they are presently, if they're alive. I'm also going to rule that a ghost cannot be any active PCs in game.

Okay, let's talk about the Gilded Lily. I'm not sure how to interpret that effect.
The explanation was left intentionally broad. You can interpret it as you like. One person might insist that they drop everything and celebrate Christmas (presents for everyone!) while another person will run around, trying to convert everyone to the ancient Mayan religion. Please be sensitive to your fellow players, and mark things with trigger warnings as necessary.

Can my character experience more than one alcoholic effect?
At the same time? No. But since each only lasts 24 hours, feel free to go back for seconds or thirds, if you so desire.

How do sunlight rules work for vampires in this setting?
Although there will be sunrise and sunset, the sun in the world of An-Teng works very differently from the sun of Earth-fame. In fact, it's a sentient god. Therefore, sunlight rules will not apply for vampires. Feel free to go get a tan.

Yo, dawg. I have more questions and you better have more answers.
Ask them here, in the thread that's conveniently labeled "Questions." Please, please, please do not ask them on plurk.

Feel free to use this post for plotting!

Comments

QUESTIONS

[shadowmods]

[inlovewiththedarkness]

Two questions.

One, does the sun in this place harm vampires?

Two, for the ghosts that are seen by drinking Melted Amber, does that include any injuries/wounds/etc they had upon the time of their death?

Re: QUESTIONS

[heatedup]

Question about the sun! Normally Noah can hear a voice from any source of fire, including the sun. Can he hear anything from this sun? Would it be a normal voice or something else (like the god's voice instead of the usual voice he hears)?

Plotting for my Girls

[nott_caine]

Tara - Tara will be abstaining from drink and brothels (not that she ever really did this before.) My hope is to get her involved in the metaplot and she'll be wandering around, available for hijinks. Probably with her partner for trouble, Draco.

Margaery - Margaery won't be drinking anything either, but she'll probably try to be involved in the festival and have some fun.

Reinette - Because I feel evil, I might have Reinette drink Mother's Milk. During the three day docking event, she'll be growing to the size of six months. So babies will be kicking and fluff will be available for those interested.

Nott - I'm hoping Nott and Glinda will be recovered by the time all of this takes place. She'll be trying the Melted Amber and seeing the faces of those she killed and those she lost (especially her family). So it's a perfect time for angst and maybe rushing to someone for comfort.

[shadowmods]

Please note that you get only one ghost per dose of Melted Amber.

[alphaophiuchi]

All up in hijinks. I'm all over that.

Ben stuff

[mini_dean]

So for those who don't know because you weren't in the game at the time, Ben is aware of An-Teng and when he realizes he's there, he's going to be going off to DO THINGS. Because he's just a bit emotionally traumatized at the moment losing both Dean and Elena (that he will be announcing today FYI), as well as still being a sleep deprived new dad trying to figure out what he can do to keep this fragile family and group of candidates together..

And here, have some fun reading. Ben wasn't involved in this thread, but Dean related most of what happened to them in it so he knows of it and a bit of the city already because of it.

So basically if you notice Ben sneaking off to talk to people and want to follow him, let me know.

Re: Ben stuff

[madame_de_pompadour]

I'd love for Margaery to follow him

[alphaophiuchi]

I would love for Ben and Draco to talk. Possibly triggered by Draco being a sneaky little sneak and trying to follow him.

[hypospraying]

Could we do a thing where they try to track down Jaan?

[somepartsbroken]

Zach Is going to be out and about, he is free to be snatched up and taken to the bar if anyone want~!

Dorian Will end up drinking two nights before he gives up on them, first will be Mothers Milk and good love moving that corpse. The Second Night will be Melted Amber Where he will be seeing one of his dearly departed, so yay more distress. He is going to think he has devolved a new derangement... Either way outside of the first night Dorian is fully open for anything.

[kingofthenorth]

I'm cracking up here, because I'd love to have Sarah Jane trying to drag his ass around town back to the ship. That might be entertaining. Although she def will address his drinking.

[somepartsbroken]

Plans for Dorian on hold.

Due to IC reasons he will likely not end up at the bar now.

[prefers_magneto]

I will probably only do this with one of my boys, and whichever one I choose with probably drink melted amber.


Obi-Wan: if I decide to do him, he will see Qui-Gon Jinn, and will find it unsettling but largely comforting.

Erik: if I go with Erik, i will be exceptionally cruel and he will see his mom in her concentration camp uniform with the expression she had on her face as she tried to tell him that everything would be okay.

Regardless of actual eventcentric things, does anyone want either of these guys for anything while they're in this port?

[lookingforhope]

This is a level of cruel that will break mine and Charles' heart. But, damnit, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't enable you into ... things.

Also, Charles running into Obi-Wan?

Alester

[treadingwater]

I'm actually thinking of going with the Gilded Lily for this one. Not that Alester's religion is terribly interesting or cracky, but he would definitely try to organize a prayer meeting and sing hymns. The Reformed Church of Charterre is all about the hymns.

Kitty!

[softtouch]

Kitty: I'm definitely interested in having her drink the melted amber because due to her canon point, a lot of her friends/team have died in her timeline and Logan hasn't been successful yet. Thaaaaaat's gonna be pretty traumatic for her since she's been so worried about home. People are welcome to find her trying to get away from the ghost... I'm gonna have to think about just who she's gonna see for maximum panic - I'm totally open to suggestions/ideas/all that jazz.

Otherwise, I'm pretty open to just about everything and anything for her to get her out and about more.

[alphaophiuchi]

I could volunteer one of mine to find her in some state of panic!

Draco Malfoy / Lydia Martin

[alphaophiuchi]

Draco has had An-Teng mentioned to him before, so he's going to be spending a lot more of this event generally trying to learn as much as he possibly can about the place. That means harassing people he thinks might know something, and generally bothering the populace. He won't be partaking in any of the affected drinks, but he could be convinced to go for a drink or two.

Lydia will be generally enjoying herself while not on the ship, probably some spices for Kate, and possibly some decorations for her and Scott's room. She may also be convinced to try Mother's Milk.

Re: Draco Malfoy / Lydia Martin

[rumchocolatesouffle]

I'm not sure I'm going to do much with this event, but if you want either of my boys, you can have them :)

Charles / Caius

[lookingforhope]

Charles: He's going to be taking part in this event. He'll try some ale, but none of that fancy stuff because his brain can't take anymore fuckery. This is his proceed to GO and collect $200 play. Hoping he'll run by Obi-Wan who will help him sort out his telepathy. He's free for other interaction as well!


Caius: I'm really really toying with the idea of having him drink the Melted Amber and see his First Teacher Aurelius, or his sister Varinia. Available for other interactions as well!

[alphaophiuchi]

I wanna toss Lydia at both of them. Because why not, basically. Possibly because Lydia already reminds Caius of Abi, and I feel like that could not help matters at all.

Blaine Thorps

[strategic_guile]

Blaine will be around, shopping, stealing, whichever. He won't be drinking any of the drugged drinks unless someone else has an idea of what I can do with him. The one person who dies in his life that effects him the most doesn't die for another 10 years haha, so no seeing ghosts for him.

Devi and Matthew

[artistwithasickness]

Devi will be drinking Mother's Milk and 'dying', to wander around town as a ghost (and possibly watch her boyfriend's heart break.) She'll also be half wandering the country side.. Like those perky mountains.

Matthew will be mostly on auto pilot but not taking part in the special drinks.

Please be patient with me and my speeds for this plot as I'll also be doing NPC stuff.

HG and Charlotte

[inlovewiththedarkness]

Charlotte will be drinking the Melted Amber and will be seeing the ghost of her lover. She will be decidedly agitated and bothered and having emotions she can't handle and will try to stuff back down inside of her. Which won't quite work.

Helena may possibly also drink the Melted Amber and see Christina. Because why not. Or I could make her extremely upset by seeing the ghost of the man who dealt Christina's deathblow...oh the choices, the choices. >.>

Corinne's ladies

[belovedone]

Aurora will probably be doing the same stuff she did during the last port, exploring and taking in the scenery. I might get her involved in metaplot, I'm playing it by ear at this point. She won't be doing any of the drinks but if one of yours will be effected and you want to bounce her off of them, she's free for that!

Frigga will at some point be drinking Melted Amber. The "ghost" she will be haunted by will be her second son, Loki, from his "death" at the end of the first film. Since she knows Loki isn't really dead she'll quickly realize this must be a hallucination of some kind and do her best to ignore it, but she will be very sadface so long as this is going on.

[feellikeibelong]

I feel we should do something with Frigga and Helena here, especially as Helena is going to be drinking the same thing and be seeing the ghost of her dead daughter. Because I kind of crave their CR my god. >.>

Raven!

[hidingnolonger]

By now Raven has figured out she can't really drink because it doesn't do anything, so she will mostly be wandering around and doing some shopping. Maybe a pretty sari :3

[prefers_magneto]

A pretty sari would look pretty >.>

Anakin

[hero_with_no_fear]

So my plotting for this will be dependent on what Nina does with Padmé. If she goes with the Mother's Milk idea, forget Anakin being productive for anything. Or I might make him drink Mother's Milk too and they can be ghosts together.

If Mother's Milk is not happening, I might make Anakin see his DEAD mother's horribly tortured face for 24 hours... Or maybe not.

I donno. I'm open to ideas.

[master_kenobi]

Obi-Wan's main function in this event is going to be helping Charles sort his telepathy, but if they drink Mother's Milk, I'd be happy to have Obi-Wan find Anakin and Padme?

Claire's Girls

[freebitchbaby]

Pasha

Will be mostly keeping to herself and out of the way. She isn't too fond of the sun. Possibly trying to map the city before they leave but other than that she's free to get into mischief.

Glinda

Should be back to normal! And horribly apologetic and trying to make up for all the horrible things that she's said and done in the past few week or so. Feel free to take full advantage of the horribly apologetic Witch.

Gaila

Gaila intends on sampling all of the sex trade and alcohol that the locals have to offer.

[envy_the_sinners]

So... I kind of want Scar to accidentally find his way into a brothel. Or have some kind of awkward incident involving all of the sex trade. And I feel like Gaila is kind of the lady for the job, y/n?