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INHUMAN COURTESY

I. PUSHING UP DAISIES

cw: depiction of hanahaki, mention of blood, mild body horror

The Frightful Harvest ended on a bloody, eerie note, but the Respite's most welcome interlude has proven exceptionally fruitful. The sky's darkened again, moons struggling to glow through turbulent clouds, but crops all over Stygia have grown dense and healthy, herbs and plants and flowers aplenty. Normally, it'd be a time to rejoice, even as sleet pours and winds grow bitterly cold -- and it might have been, had greens and stems and petals NOT elected to blossom inside you. Your lungs, specifically.

It's an uncommon side effect of the Harvest, affecting those who foster affection or attraction towards another, triggered only by a stray thought. Almost as if punished by Oblivium for harboring any kind of positive feelings. The worst part is that the object of your desire doesn't even have to be in the Netherworld for you to be afflicted. Over the span of three months, you'll gradually experience various degrees of the "harvest's curse", depending on the source of your feelings:

► PHYSICAL/EMOTIONAL ATTRACTION & REQUITED LOVE
It starts with an itch. Your throat tickles, an odd sensation in your lungs, slightly constricted. Allergies? Not quite. It worsens overtime, and days pass by, perhaps weeks. You cough, a little more every day, a little deeper, and then it happens: petals, stuck to your lips as you wheeze and try to empty your chest. Marigold, carnations, daisies, peonies... Thankfully, for you, it's more of an annoyance, sporadic at best and leaving you exhausted at times, but you're in no immediate danger. Unfortunately, not all Restless share the same luck.

► UNREQUITED LOVE
It doesn't matter whether it is truly unrequited; as long as you think it is, whether you're fully convinced or distantly resigned, you get the whole package. It starts the same way the lesser variation does, gradual, and with unsavory (!) additions: lilies and dark red roses. The first slowly spreads its poison in your body, inducing fevers, skin rashes, blistering in your mouth and stomach aches. The second pricks your throat bloody, making speech difficult and breathing even more so. It spreads throughout Stygia, and if most wound up meeting their end in the past, some speak of a highly hypothetical cure. It's believed that if the object of your affection confesses equally strong feelings for you, the curse should rapidly subside. If this option isn't viable, Doran promises that all Healers in Hale are working extremely hard to find a solution. In the meantime, symptoms can be partially soothed with poultices and spells that you can find in the Marketplace or in Serene. Some merchants might even take pity on you and offer them for free.

if your character has heard of similar diseases in their home world, they're absolutely welcome to share their insight on the netherwork or anywhere else
the evolution of the disease can be as gradual, as fast or as severe as you wish it to be
a mini quest to retrieve ingredients for a cure will be available in december or january
by february, all characters should be cured

II. DO NOT PASS GO

cw: mention of blood, torture, branding, violence, forced captivity

Full-swing investigations concerning the Harvest's murders have begun, though the mysterious rider has yet to resurface. The day is young still, but no matter; the Hierarchy firmly believes that the creature was summoned by a group of renegades, fully intent on finding and dismembering the organization. Perhaps even literally.

If you've spilled blood not your own in the previous event, the Hierarchy finds you. Do they know? It doesn't really matter; they've targeted you for reasons they won't divulge, persuaded of your involvement -- and off to the Gallows you go. Each of you receives the same greeting when you arrive, held down by rough hands and branded upon the arm with the letter F. The mark signifies ‘forsaken’, and the painful scar is indelible proof that each of you has betrayed the Hierarchy's hospitality. Writhe and scream and glower as much as you want; next thing you know, something heavy hits you across the head, and you collapse.

When your vision slowly creeps back, your eyes adjust to a dimly lit stone cell. Your feet are secured by iron cuffs tethered by one long chain, and you lie in nothing but filthy, tattered rags. It's dark; the air is bloated and filled with agonizing shrieks. Dead vines scrap the walls of half-crumbled buildings, weather-worn stone pillars surrounded by withered clumps of grass. You may converse with your cellmates: the guards patrolling the Gallows couldn't care less, convinced that no one could possibly escape anyway.

► Ironically, a magical barrier around the Gallows prevents magical/spiritual abilities from functioning. However, characters who roam free still can absolutely sneak in! Be careful not to get caught, though!
► Loud disagreements might attract unwanted attention. A single guard will come, and if he finds nothing else amiss, will threaten them to be quiet. A second violation earns the offender a rap on their bare feet with a club. A third violation will cause the offender to be gagged. Note that in order to beat or gag the offender, the guard must first open the cell.
► If you share affinities with Gargoyles, incapacitating a guard in any way will draw the attention of one. It'll show you to the gates where you'll be able to escape, taking care of sentries on your way. You should probably keep a low-profile from then on, and avoid showing-off your brand.
► A secret passage may be found through a mausoleum nearby; an arrow of flaking red paint marks the entrance. Or is it blood? Inside, it's nearly pitch-black. Perhaps, if you're lucky, your vision extends as far as 30 feet in front of you, but occasionally, the darkness is broken by clinging phosphorescent fungi or crawling luminescent creatures, and from out of the silence echo sounds of dripping water. You're underground, and Abysmals can be encountered here if you're too loud. You should also watch out for cave-ins, but as you get farther away from the general region of the Gallows, your magical abilities gradually come back.
► Eventually, a long, broken staircase will lead you to Hale. If you're injured, you'll be sent to the main infirmary; characters with healing abilities or knowledge are super welcome to help!

Luckily for you, there are so many prisoners it's a difficult task for the Hierarchy to always keep track of all of them. Your brand, however, is a dead giveaway, so you might as well try and find a way to get rid of it; you might hear through the grapevines that the dead skin of Badaliscus can be used as bandages, and overtime, the brand will fully heal and disappear.

III. TO THE RESCUE

As you attempt to escape, or perhaps once you’ve successfully snuck in, you come across a terrifying spectacle: in front of you, impaled through the shoulder by a spear, a weary humanoid figure covered in blood. The body is being restrained by additional shackles on each arm and leg, which are linked to chains anchored within the walls. There's a guard nearby, armed to the teeth… and still you decide to free them.

The guard’s magic is just as useless as yours, and while impressive in size, dexterity definitely isn’t his main strength. He hits hard — with brass knuckles, a chain mace, and a sturdy shield — and his stamina almost seems endless, but it’s not. Keep evading, and he’ll eventually tire enough to topple over. It’s also possible to have him chase you around if you don’t go too far, which would allow someone else to grab the spear. Once he’s too exhausted to go on, you can either kill him or chain him to the wall. The keys are in his boots, and you’ll find a bottle of water as well as a small vial of ointment in a satchel on the ground, where he previously stood.

The prisoner is a young man, perhaps in his mid-20s. Once freed from his shackles, he immediately keels over, though he’s not unconscious. He thanks you with a deep and raw voice, begging for water. You can tend to his wounds if you’re able—the ointment quickly soothes—and when he finally stands again, he asks you a question: “I’m a stranger to you, and you could have died. Yet, you chose to free me, unaware of my past. Of my crimes. Of my virtues. Why?”

Regardless of your answer, he smiles, a private understanding that turns the stretch of his lips enigmatic. There’s a bubbling chuckle in his throat, very hoarse, and then he hisses, touching where you’ve helped him apply the ointment on his body. “You know what they say. If it stings...” He looks at you, deliberately pausing there and staring bold into your eyes. “... then it must be working.”

It might feel like there’s more to what he’s trying to say, though it’s pointless to ask: he bows, and then he slowly inches away from you. “Until we meet again.” White and thick tendrils of smoke envelop him, seemingly coming out of nowhere, and then just like that, he’s gone.

so you’ve chosen to free him, which in turn has generated a future plot point that’ll occur some time in february. some of you WILL see him again.
what he says to you is a clue.
you can answer his question OOCly right here. it’ll have some bearing on the way your character will be approached re: future plot point.
if you've voted no and would still like to participate, you could always allow your character to be convinced or reluctantly dragged by another!

ooc note

► As always, check out the Notice Board if you'd like additional prompts! Older quests from previous months are always available as well. You'll also find the Calendar right here.
► You'll find already answered questions just here, and if you'd like to ask new ones, ask them here!
► For fun's sake and similarly to the puck adventure, you may play it out in different groups or on your own, and still obtain the same results as everyone else whether your characters threaded together!

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Yes. It's strange, isn't it?

[ she doesn't entirely believe that they're dead, either. that this isn't the afterlife, since she hasn't been shown any concrete proof to corroborate this claim. but her shadow had been unrelenting in reminding her otherwise. ]

I have my own misgivings about this place, but I also can't help but wonder what if ...

[ what if it's true? what if they're truly dead? does this mean that she failed to save her own friends, their deaths on her hands? ]

[An intrigued expression shapes Zagreus' face, although he's not really looking at Lumine as they walk.] Why would it be strange to be concerned over your friends? It'd be strange if you weren't, considering, right?

[He knows that he takes this whole being dead thing easily compared to most of the Restless. Then again, he belongs here, or to a version of this place, even if he did try to leave several times, only to find he'd be pulled eventually on his own again.] Do you think something terrible happened for them to be here?

Well ...

[ lumine doesn't know. she has no idea what this world truly is, if it's really the afterlife. if they're even dead. she hasn't really subscribed to the thought or belief just yet unlike the others, and she doesn't think she'll be subscribing to it anytime soon.

she almost wonders if it's the influence of her shadow that's causing her to have these thoughts, dragging her down to the depths of this world's abyss as everyone's said. ]

If something did, then I feel like it was partly my fault for not being there to prevent it. [ self-deprecating? maybe. and perhaps she's carried the burden of a hero for far too long. ] If that even makes sense ...

It does. [It's not the first, nor the only time Zagreus has heard that. Many a Shade had been flabbergasted at finding their loved ones in Hades, not realizing how long it had passed when it actually did, or very sad when they realized they had met an untimely end.

There's a reason why Hypnos was the one to sign the souls in the House. He somehow managed to get the most distressed ones to, ah, sleep on it, as he'd sometimes mention.

He waves at a fisherman heading back home, asking if he could borrow a rod for them. The fisherman acknowledges and tells him to keep an eye on the reel because it'll sometimes loosen with time. He thanks him and then hands over his rod to Lumine.] Do you think they had something more to live for there?

[ she smiles widely, thanking zagreus in turn when he passes over the fishing rod. not what she's used to, but it'll do for the request. ]

I do ...

[ kokomi has her nation to lead, childe has his tsaritsa to serve and his family to look after. they both have so much to live for, even if the latter has always wanted to die in battle. and if this world truly is just another world they landed in, then they're her first priority to return to teyvat.

in any case, she inspects the rod closely, making sure that everything is working properly. ]

You? Anyone you're looking out for in this place?

Well, do you think they can't do it here? [Or at least, a version of it? A lot of Shades did pick up on where they were, some of them not needing to but still managing to pick up jobs, tasks, and unlife goals. He's heard of the marriage and subsequent divorce of Achilles with Helen, a golden couple hushed about like people do here, hunched over things that Zagreus learned that they were 'magazines.'

People's lives still managed to keep going, even in a place where not a lot happened. ] Well, it's different for me, right? I come from a place such as this one. So to see someone I know here wouldn't really exactly mean the end of their life.

[After all, Ares is here. And you don't exactly kill a god. Not the way mortals die, anyway.]

I suppose we'll have to see.

[ childe, for certain, will easily adapt. even without his tsaritsa, the guy knows what he wants, what he's aiming for. the fact that he's managed to almost wrench control from her grasp with a few words is a testament to his ability to pursue and get what he desires the most.

kokomi, on the other hand ... lumine's sure that serving watatsumi island can't be done here, but the divine priestess is anything but weak. she'll figure something out. ]

Oh? [ her brows furrow at that, her expression turning curious. ] What do you mean?

[It's always sort of awkward to explain something like this, as he realizes that when they had talked and exchanged messages, Zagreus never really told Lumine who and 'what' he was, really.]

Well, [look at him doing the sheepish scratching-the-jaw thing,] my close ones belong to an afterlife. We were born in it. If that makes sense?

[ oh.

lumine does recall mentioning that somewhere in their conversation over the soulmate app. something about the underworld that's totally different from this one. but she had assumed that he's simply died in his own world; she didn't expect him to be born in the underworld himself. how curious. ]

You were born ... in death?

[ it's a little too much to take in. but then, in death, there is life. and in life, there is death. that is the way of many of the worlds she's visited. ]

You're not human, are you?

[He nods, though not without some sort of bashfulness that suddenly slips into his demeanor like a cheerfulness thief. He's so used to being known as who he is that it always feels a little odd to say 'yes, I'm the son of Hades, Prince of the Underworld, and immortal, and some people think I'm some sort of god, but please, trust me that I'm the god of nothing, here.']

My Father oversees a place like this one. So I'm… immortal is the way to go about it, I suppose. I still bleed and am definitely not as big as those who used to be around me, though.

[ if it helps, she would've treated him the way he would want to be treated even if he admits that he's the prince of hell. if only to respect his own choice of how he wants to be perceived; after all, not everyone is fond of the titles they hold, especially in a place where they don't matter. ]

An immortal who can bleed. [ how familiar, so familiar that one of them is standing right next to him. ] I've met a few gods and creatures who are the same ... It doesn't seem like a very pleasant experience.

[ now it makes sense, their conversation from before. how he's managed to land into his own world's version of the underworld. after all, if his father is its overseer and he bleeds, then a form of "death" would land him in one. ]

I hope your long life has been kind to you, at least, despite certain inconveniences.

You have a long time to get used to it.

[Sure, a lot of the times it hurt. Sometimes a particularly nice jab or claw will make him low until he defies death itself, and it will hurt, damn it, when it does. But Zagreus isn't the kind of person to really complain a lot about it. He's the one getting himself in danger constantly, after all.]

Did you meet them on your travels? They sound like they didn't have the best of lives.

Mm, seeing their loved ones die, watching nations rise and fall, witnessing the change of the world while they remain the same ...

[ there's a faint but wry smile on her lips as she speaks slowly, fingers playing with the lure at the end of the rod. it might seem like they're experiences of her own, but at the same time, they're her brother's, her friends', the people she's met throughout her travels.

those who lived long, immortal lives are both blessed and cursed. that much she knows. ]

I'm not sure if years, decades, centuries would make it easier for a person to go through all of that.

[Zagreus notices the slight downward slope of that voice, the tone softening just enough to hold some weight, longing, and experience that falls onto one's shoulders like the one on Atlas'. Zagreus' seemingly everpresent smile tempers the feeling that he somehow can relate to the melancholy of things' ephemerous.

Despite being raised by a primordial being like Nyx, the dark and cold blanket of Night somehow showed him a different type of comfort, and knowing that something would be wrong if things in the mortal realm weren't changing, he knows well how some Shades wail in the halls, whimper in the corners, sigh over the counter of the Lounge as they remember the ones that are still living. For some of those who are immortal, he knows that takes longer. But...]

What happens to people when they fall, where you're from? Do you know? [He asks softly as he hands over a small buoy to place next to the lure.]

[ where she's from. if only that was an easy answer to give, a simple place to describe. ]

I don't remember anymore. It's been a very long time.

[ since their world met its demise and she and her twin brother started traveling. strange, how her memory fades. but she supposes with all the places they've been to, the people they've met, it'll soon take toll on her. erosion, as zhongli used to call it.

lumine takes the buoy gratefully, affixing it to the line before finding a place to sit down. fishing, in her experience, takes time and she doesn't want to stand up all day. ]

Perhaps we return to the universe, one of the million stars guiding the other worlds to their intended fate, a part of another person's constellation ...

[ fairy tale-like and wishful, but she and her brother are stars. maybe they'll meet their end as cold, lifeless bodies somewhere instead once they fall. ]

I suppose you could say no one has returned to the world of the living to give us an idea.

[He asks with a little 'May I?' if he can sit beside her, never forgetting to be polite and only taking a seat when she says so. He sets himself comfortably, jabbing bait into the hook and offering the little bag of bait he has for Lumine, too, setting it between them at a small distance.]

Where I am from, people on the surface know where they end up in, for the most part, when they pass. [Even if it still strikes them with fear; although you may know the name of your destination, it's still terrifying to not know what it entails when it's impossible to be reassured.] Shades reunite in the end, however long it takes. I've heard it's only a matter of 'when' and never a matter of 'if'.

[ lumine's quick to give him a nod. really, he doesn't need to ask permission to sit next to her when there's enough space for them. but she supposes that's just how he is. where she's used to people simply invading her personal space, there's zagreus asking for permission.

she takes the bag, wrinkling her nose as she sticks her hand into it and pulls one out. it's gross, but not the grossest thing she's stuck her hand into. ]

And they still recognize or remember each other?

[ she recalls stories from other worlds where the dead are forced to lose their memory, their identity. anything that would prevent them from settling into their new life once they're reborn.

it must be nice, though. being able to reunite with a person even in death. ]

[Oh, that's… somehow a bit adorable, but Lumine, where have you been sticking your hand into??]

They do. [And isn't that a bit reassuring, in a way?] Some return to their own and keep living their lives even after death; others even start new ones.

I did talk to a… a friend—[Excuse him while he covers his mouth and turns his head to cough some more, and he shakes rose petals out to the water from his hand.] About how those on the surface wouldn't need to fear death so much, but he agrees it's difficult to change their views on it.

[A sigh, and it shakes his shoulders.] But I suppose that those immortal need to wait quite a while to meet their loved ones.

[ she sticks her hands into a lot of gross stuff ...

his coughing and the rose petals that fall into the water don't escape her notice, his words momentarily interrupted by the current ailment that seems to be affecting everyone. hers is behaving, for now, but it won't be long until it decides to ignore her stifling and acts up again. ]

No one has ever returned from the dead to corroborate the stories of the afterlife to the living, after all.

[ even if the afterlife is beautiful, even if it's filled with loved ones—who's to prove that to the world of the living? and even if someone did come back from the dead: ]

... That would be too disconcerting, I think. [ freaky is more like it. ] Are you okay?

To come back from the Underworld? Do you think so?

[There are tales from those who went to Hades and returned. From Heracles to Odysseus, Aeneas, and even —eugh— Theseus at some point.] I think people are still somewhat afraid of the unknown, no matter who you are and what you tell them. But I do think that's something gods and mortals feel similarly about.

[He casts his line, the hook, bobber, and bait making a large and graceful arch before they plop into the water's surface. His lips quirk at Lumine, and his eyes crinkle, but he's also very tired of the whole thing in his chest.] Quite alright. How are you?

[ the way he asks her, he sounds very confident of their existence. sure, she's read stories about heroes walking to the underworld to demand the soul of the one they love or something ridiculously romantic, but those are ... stories, right?

then again, she supposes that such stories are rooted in some form of truth. that's the only way stories can be so convincing. it's that— ]

I've just ... never met one, I guess. Someone who came back from the dead.

[ it's just not normal, after all, and certain laws of various world would be broken into pieces if it even happens. but she doesn't deny his statement, and wholeheartedly agrees that the unknown is always terrifying.

after all, why else would she fear the darkness of the abyss? ]

Mm? [ lumine watches as her own line plops into the water. ] The flowers get annoying, but I'm mostly all right.

[The smile he gives her is a little rueful.] I would say that maybe one day someone I know would join us, and you could meet him, but perhaps that's a bad sign.

[That this place managed to wrangle not one, but two gods of war already is more terrifying than any tale of a hero leaving the underworld.]

I'm glad to hear that. I've heard that it does tend to get quite dreadful for some. [As if the whole thing isn't hitting him badly. Zagreus is nothing if not resilient, used to being in constant pain all the time, so he finds an ache in his chest, throat, and lungs and a cut in his mouth or cheeks, nothing much in comparison.]

[ she lets out a laugh at that. to think that gods themselves would be dragged into this world, she supposes that the archons, at the very least, haven't been brought in yet ... though there is a possibility, considering their impermanence despite their godliness. ]

This world might get more than what it bargained for.

[ imagine a third god of war being brought in ... chaos. ]

It ... [ lumine pauses, swallowing hard. that cloying floral taste is filling up her mouth again, which only means that her disease is finally starting to fight back. ] Gets terrible sometimes. I hear it's related to feelings ... something about love and being loved back.

Would that be a bad thing, do you think? [He can't help the slightly amused chuckle of his own, his laurels flaring a little as he tilts his head in wistful mirth.

With an acknowledging hum, Zagreus nods absently when he hears that. Gives Lumine time to adjust to the threat of another fit.] I heard it's about not being loved back, though. Do you think it's both?

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