Exploration Plot / The Lost Rooms - Signup & Plot Discussion

[livestoannoy]

Hey everyone! So, to kick off this Dreamwidth thing and give people somewhere to play before the rest of the game moves over from LJ, starting tomorrow we'll be running an exploration plot!

The Plot
After the events of System Shock, the damage left over from that attack causes Stacy's transportation tubes to malfunction, sending anyone who uses them to a completely different section of the ship. What's more, a slight electrical shock from the tubes zaps their omnicomms, making those stranded unable to tell the rest of the crew about the problem. By the time a the crew find out and manage to get the tubes to stop sending people off to an unknown part of the ship, some of the crew are already stranded. Those stranded must explore this new part of the ship, while the rest of the crew work to fix the tubes so that they can return.

Who can sign up?
Anyone! While the plot was made keeping people who can't use LJ in mind, it's not limited to them. There's no limit to how many characters can come, so as long as you've let the mods know your DW username(s) and joined trans_9 and trans_pilgrims, you can participate. But, keep in mind that any characters involved in this plot will be cut off from the rest of the crew and will be unable to thread in LJ threads or plots until the rest of the game moves over.

When does this happen ICly?
ICly, the plot happens just after the Winter Shore Leave (so if you want to, you can still thread in that). OOCly though, it will be starting tomorrow and we'll just be handwaving that it occurs after the shore leave.

How will this be played out?
The plot is intended to be very flexible and free-form - there will be an initial post where everyone arrives in the new area over the course of a day (the time that the tubes are malfunctioning). After that, it's a lot like normal posting, where anyone can make any posts that they want as long as they are located in the new locations. You could post someone going out exploring, or staying in the living area, or messing around with something that they find. So, if you want to go and find the Veil or any other location, you don't need to wait for permission to do it - you can just go straight ahead and put up a post finding it.

What locations are there?
The following locations have been approved by the mods - it is possible for there to be ones not listed here, but they would need to be run by the mods.

• An empty replica of the crew's living area - with mess hall, sleeping halls, crew quarters, and bathrooms. The replica is smaller than the one the crew knows, and doesn't contain any luxuries like the sensoriums or media library.
  
• The Aquarium: a entire section filled with water tanks of various sizes, all of them including aquatic creatures from multiple worlds. In one tank swims Moby Dick, in another two Krakens - one from Earthbound canon and one from The Pirates of the Caribbean, and in another tank is Nessie, the Loch Ness monster (who we shall say is a Plesiosaur)
  
• The Artifact Depository: filled with sealed and weapons of Ultimate Power that have been collected by the previous crew - but which possess drawbacks too dangerous and too damaging to ever be used by the crew. These are from a mix of canons, and include some old-school AD&D artifacts. The really nasty ones that are powerful but do incredibly bad things to you. Like, Eye of Vecna level power/screw-over.
  
  • The eye of Argon can be one of them. It's apparently a "crimson emerald" that doesn't actually do anything obviously horribly dangerous, but it causes all narration and dialogue in the vicinity to devolve into the most awkward of purple prose. (Which is why it was locked away). If anyone picks it up it turns into a blob with one eye and starts trying to suck their blood. But yeah, compared to the other effect this is just moderately annoying.
  
  
• The Chalk Drawings: a series of chalk drawings, still on top of the pavements they were drawn on. Anyone who steps on these drawings will shrink down and find themselves inside the chalk drawings. They can only leave by drawing a chalk door and stepping through it.
  
• The Chamber of the Ordeal: A plain stone rectangular room that is a magical device from Tortall. The Chamber forces anyone to enters it to live through their own worst fears without making a sound. Those who do not pass the test of the Chamber may die, or go mad.
  
• The Creepy Toy Room: a room filled with dusty, unused toys that have the peculiar tendency to move when you aren't looking at them...
  
• The Feather Snow Room: a room filled with feathers that are constantly moving about like snow (like in this exhibit)
  
• The Fields of Justice: These can be a practice grounds that spawn endless minions where people can fight and prepare themselves for war.
  
  • Crystal Scar: an arena so heavily infused with magic that normal people can't go into it.
  
  
• The Heart Room: a room that is completely empty, expect for the Kingdom Hearts that floats near the ceiling.
  
• Hogwarts: the magical school from the Harry Potter books isn't here in it's entirety: instead, only a few of it's rooms and locations are on board, and they're scattered around the area. Places from Hogwarts include:
  
  • The Chamber of Secrets - the bathroom entrance is permanently stuck open, so anyone can enter. Inside, the basilisk still lives.
    
  • The Whomping Willow
    
  • The Great Hall (who's ceiling now shows the space above Stacy, rather than sky)
  
  
• The Crystal Cavern: A cavern filled with crystals from the world of the Crystal Singer books. When tapped, the crystals will ring - and if someone sings that exact pitch, the crystal will then ring back (and can be mined, if they know how). Although one of the crystals, peculiarly, will only react to bad and off-pitch singing. [Description for this would need to be checked - current resources: here and here]
  
• The Veil: from Harry Potter and the chamber it's kept in. Maybe the Department of Mysteries itself?

Okay I want in, now what?
Just reply to the sign up thread here. Then, if you'd like to do some plotting (such as getting together with some other characters to find a particular location), go here to the plotting thread.

Comments

PLOTTING THREAD

[livestoannoy]

Plan out any plotting you might want to organise here!

[encourage]

I want an excuse to get in Moby Dick's tank with a boat okay this should be a thing that happens.

Also the boat might sink.

8D?

[livestoannoy]

There can be a magic boat, that is always there.

Even after it gets destroyed.

IT JUST APPEARS AGAIN. SO THAT IT MAY GET DESTROYED ONCE MORE.

[encourage]

YES THIS IS A BRILLIANT PLAN! It's a bit Prometheus and I like it.

[livestoannoy]

It can become like a regular event for the crew. "Oh look, the whale's destroying the boat again..."

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[grimbiker]

There should so be a mini boss fight with the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Bonus points for Gryffindor's sword being involved. I'd be willing to do most of the organizing here.

Anyone else interested?

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[first_of_steel]

Ooh, that could be fun. I'd be interested in getting in on that?

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[livestoannoy]

I think I shall toss Marco into this too! /uses a snake icon because I can

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[first_in_time]

What about if the empty replica of the crew things is a few seconds out of sync with something that happened in the other crew sections in the past? Such as in the beginning of The Chimes of Midnight.

The here and now characters could enter and hear snatches of conversation from the past, watch as lights switch themselves on and off, food is consumed, taps run themselves etc etc. We could do it like Chimes of Midnight and, they get pulled into a past reoccurring and mysterious event which threatens to keep them in the loop unless they can solve the mystery.

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[nevergetscredit]

That sounds like it could be awesome fun, but the trick would be figuring out what the past event was (especially since it's something that'd need to be run by the mods.) I'll ask Saphie if she has any ideas, but perhaps if we can't have a triggering event it could be that they're not stuck in the past, but the rooms naturally keep having all these echos from the past? The area's already got a lot of magical/mysterious stuff in it, so perhaps that could be the cause of the strange occurrences.

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[first_in_time]

That...would work even better. I have a silly habit of over thinking things and then everything gets over complicated. But simple echos of the past as a result of magics would work even better.

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[livestoannoy]

I did get onto Saphie though, and she's said that there could see stuff of the previous crew, so having a trigger event could be possible! (Saphie's also said she'd be happy to help npc). She'll need to send that into the mods for okay though, but hopefully it'll be good!

But I think we can still have them just showing past echos but also showing specific events. (Maybe that only happens every once in a while? or whenever someone moves a certain object?)

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[nevergetscredit]

...oh and this is Blue/Marco-mun, I just forgot to switch journals, orz

[encourage]

Or did she? Will Merlin re-emerge from pod sleep just to find himself...

LOST IN STACYSPACE?

Find out next time on, "Dude, Where Am I?"

[nevergetscredit]

PERHAPS HE HAS!

Or maybe everything is all just Merlin playing a prank on everybody. Who knows?

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[first_in_time]

Totally fine. But I hope you realise that having a Merlin and Marco account means I'm just going to have to fangirl all over you.

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[livestoannoy]

Hah, thank you XD (I used to play Merlin at Trans ages ago actually, but he didn't click with the game, sadly)

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[grimbiker]

Latelatelate but I'm interested in this with Kerrigan. Is there anything we need to work out or should I tag as soon as I can? (Which is probably tomorrow. The internet is wonky tonight)

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[first_in_time]

Yes yes! My plan was that they heard things from the past. That's it, really. Maybe it could build to a crescendo, then they discover that the transport tubes are working once more. Or something like that. I'm happy to play by ear if you are :)

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[livestoannoy]

I should note that the transport tubes working again isn't going to be at all connected to the time echos, and the characters will be stuck in this area for some time (I'd guess it might end up being somewhere around one to two weeks ICly, so everyone isn't happening within a few days).

Anyways, we haven't quite managed to properly get on co-ordinating how this thing will happen - since Saphie's offered to help NPC, we will need to organise this with her too. (Sorry we haven't gotten onto figuring this out sooner - I'd thought that me and Ishfe could just set up the log once we'd ironed things out, so sorry for getting confused there and ending up behind the ball!)

Anyhow - I think it might help to send around an email to everyone involved to figure out how the plotting goes for this. Would you be up for that?

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[bewitching_smile_amethyst]

Hello! I wanted to tag into the log I saw open for this (even though I'm incredibly late to the party), but I admit I'm rather unsure about how this is to work out, what the tag order would be, and things like that.

I tried to read all of the above conversation, I truly did, but I just feel lost. Would it be fine to tag Shizuru into the thread and, if so, is there anything else I need to know? I'm fine with being surprised, and I'm fairly flexible with this. I just want to see her rattled a bit by how odd this all is.

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[livestoannoy]

Hah, unfortunately the plotting for this has been rather confusing...I did make another ooc post about this here, which might clear things up a bit? If not, you can just ask and I'll try to answer the best I can.

I think it should be fine to tag into the thread, but I'll just send around a quick email to the others involved to make sure everyone's okay. Alternatively you could make a new thread and we can npc some smaller echos for you, but it does seem like the final battle thread is where all the action is happening.

A few people involved have been rather busy/on short hiatus's/etc, hence why things are going slow - basically we're going with a tag order that's just determined by when people tag in.

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[first_of_steel]

Also I admit, I kind of want to do something with that Room of Ordeals. Not that I've read any of the Tortall books, but I've heard about it.

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[grimbiker]

Haven't read it either but I'm kind of interested in it. But there would have to be some way of them to know they can't make a noise during it. Is that a problem?

Asking in general, not you particularly.

Re: PLOTTING THREAD

[first_of_steel]

I wonder if someone could've had exactly the right kind of insanity induced to scrawl DON'T SAY A WORD, DON'T MAKE A SOUND on the wall in their own blood or something. Probably not the most effective means of getting the info to the pups, but it popped into mind.