#plot overview

[unrealistic-ideas-for-writers]

Beneath the Sands: Plot Overview and play guide

Hi Hi!

As I said, I wanted to make a plot post for the participating OCs so the plot flows smoothly and we don't all get lost. This is also to double check who's actively participating and who wants to, versus those who are just along for the ride. Feel free to reiterate what you'd like to do!

The current taglist and what they're here for are as follows:

@uncreative-cryptid ---> Valerian, takes odd jobs and a mineral specialist, escorting the Huaxu Academy research group

@hobbysognodilibri ---> Jiahui, a field specialist from Huaxu Academy, interested in the recently resurface Court of Savantae Ruins

@crypticrainbowmoss ---> Sobeknesef, a local Blacksmith and retired soldier, who winds up guiding the group

@yupuffin (Quay exists, but I wasn't sure if you wanted him to join this expedition, or spark a new Quest Line with Raziel, Demona, Asaro, and the Convent in Rinacita)

@captainsounddisaster ---> Here for the ride, been here since the beginning. I hope you enjoy reading!

@marmartheyarn ---> Also a reader! Hope you enjoy :3

I don't think I forgot anyone, but if this needs to be updated in anyway, just let me know!

Now that that has been established, the below will contain a loose overview of the plot, so if you're interested in reading and remaining spoiler free, stop here ;3

A "play guide" will also been included, and I will officially be setting up a masterlist for this Project with this post and the Prelude as the starting posts.

Plot overview (so we don't confuse each other too much!)

Act I: When Midday Dust Settles

The act opens with the Rover discovering a flier searching for bodyguards for a research group in Jinzhou. The payment is reasonable, but the expedition is far outside Huanglong, so it's attracted minimal attention, with only 1 name present on the contact sheet.

Valerian

Abby, who gets curious about Valerian's linger frequencies, pesters (affectionately) the Rover into checking out the job.

Enter Jiahui!!!!

The Rover chats with her for a bit and meets Valerian, agreeing to join them on the research expedition. (The last CSC ruins were pretty neat after all)

Mini little teleport skip

Its SAND

So much Sand

(Desert nation temporarily undecided unless someone else already has a name???)

The group decides to check out the local village

Chat with a few NPCs- they're very curt and standoffish

Wind up on the path to the ruins on their own

Ambush!

Sobeknesef!!!

cue "The fuck are you doing without a guide???"

Regrouping at the forge on the settlement outskirts

Sobeknesef warily agrees to be there guide

Act II: Ruined by Evening Light

Exploring the ruins!

Various paths and traps

Group gets split

More exploration, combat, and clues

Fractsidus are prowling around

Meet back up in a large room

Share clues

Fractsidus ambush

Someone bleeds on the wrong thing

Floor seal glows

Everyone falls in

CALADIN

babi

Everyone is extremely nauseous because weird time warp

Puzzle time

Caladin is clearly frozen in time

Those sensitive to frequencies + Abby can tell he's still alive

Occasional Fractsidus and Tacet Discord ambush

Puzzle solved!

the nausea goes away!

Entire party is *magically* healed of their injuries

A floating Caladin drops to the ground and the Spectro that had been burning in his hands for almost 100,000 years finally burns out

(His poor hands are probably super dry and cracked)

Introductions but only briefly

Boss Fight!!!!!!

Act III: Dusk steals Life from the Dunes

Frantic escape from the collapsing ruins

Make it out

Here screeches from behind the party

Fractsidus!

More Fractsidus

The Founders make their first appearance!

Fighting, Negotiation, much irritation, and grief

The Boss is back from earlier

Abby saves the day

It's rock licking adjacent, but does the job

Act IV: Dawning of a New Day

Regrouping at the Forge

Caladin is very awkward

Deciding what to do or where he should go

Lending some insight on the Founders and offering aid

Party conversations

We cut to The Founders and their discussions

Ends with quiet morning and tea of choice

Okey dokey!!!

I hope this doesn't feel too restrictive?? I really wanted to give the participating writers some boning for the story so we didn't all flounder about!

I'll happily take other ideas and scenes as well.

Running out words, so pt. 2 will include play guide on how to make this more free form for everyone and more open for interpretation!

[oobbbear]

HAPPY 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY TO OUR LITTLE GAY WITCH STORY!!!

[viaviv124]

Hear me out (it's new AU brainworm time)

SO

When the lamb kneels before Narinder he breaks all of their bones, right? Well in this universe he wanted to keep them by his side tho bc he's come to care about and value them. But for whatever reason he can't fix their broken body, but was able to save their soul and keep it sealed safely. As he was taking back the lands of the old faith under his rule, he also sought out different ways to get a body for this lost soul he kept close. Eventually his eye fell on a pretty realistic looking porcellain doll and so he set himself on the idea.

It took over a hundred years to create a body realistic and stable enough to hold a soul. But finally, after all these years, the lamb opened their eyes again.

EDIT: IT HAS A NAME YIPEEE

[starglaee]

I just wrote about 1500 words of what I believe to be Kwon’s backstory and arc in Cobra Kai… would anyone actually be interested if I shared it?

It is inspired by some of the interviews I’ve seen with Brandon giving his own character a backstory to justify Kwon’s actions in season 6

[phoenixcatch7]

Just finished oracle of ages!!! Good game, good game. I have Thoughts.

I actually really enjoyed the story and characters! I figured going into the oracle games that it'd be a simple, cliché story, not much nuance or depth, and with Seasons that's basically what I got: din gets fridged in a crystal at the start of the game -> go get her -> you need a set of maguffins to do so -> fight big monster.

Admittedly it was the first game, which meant less story, but even if I hadn't linked (heh) the games for extra end game content Ages just did so much more.

Unlike din, naryu has someone else willing to help her. Ralph (the twinkiest twink to ever twink) was a young man who was her devoted friend (there was a weird crush triangle thing going on with him, Link and naryu, I always felt like I was missing subtext) and, spoilers for a 20yo game?? I guess?

He was the dethroned descendant of the ancient queen Ami. His family definitely still have big money though. He was pretty clearly supposed to be a comic relief character with a twist, but I ended up really liking him! He was over enthusiastic and over confident, but not unintelligent, a decent swordsman (I think) who was incredibly loyal to his friends and held some deep rooted responsibility for the people his family used to rule. Kind, determined, good with kids and people in general, he was terrified but willing to sacrifice his very existence to save the people.

The world building was also great! I don't think I've ever played a zelda game without gorons, but hylians were in short supply. To be expected outside of hyrule, I guess? Anyway, there were also lizard people on an island (tokay!) whose entire deal was.. A bit outdated? Rude, brazen and aggressive to outsiders, they lived in crude huts, worshipped things they didn't quite understand and were generally the old Hollywood stereotype of an isolated jungle tribe.

There was also, like, zora racism? There's a zora village underwater, and one of them was like 'us sea zora are nothing like those river zora 😒' which handily solved both my question of if the river/ocean zora divide was canon or fanon and the relationships between the two. Are they even the same species?? It just makes the rito even weirder but hey lmao. In all honesty I was pretty sick of the river zora at that point too, I swear there were two of them popping up in every screen that had even a sliver of water deeper than the knees and they CONSTANTLY shot fireballs istg they were such a pain. They were literally everywhere and so hard to kill.

On the plus side mermaid suit ^u^!! A dungeon item (the mermaids cave), the item had a desc like 'the skin of the mythical beast' which raised SO many more questions than it answered. The zora were delighted to see a young mermaid! The use of 'maid' implied either a) the zora all thought link was a girl and he didn't correct them (eyo genderqueer androgeny) b) the zora don't subscribe to gender the way humans do (eyo genderqueer androgeny) or c) all fish people look like mermaids regardless of their specific gender (eyo genderqueer androgeny). It literally could have been all three who knows. Maybe one day we'll actually meet a mermaid in zelda.

Also, there's a mini game in Seasons, which I played first, the subrosian dance. It's a pretty popular part of their culture, it's got music, it's got professional dancers. In Ages, you find the gorons doing the exact same dance! Rosa, a subrosian performer you meet in Seasons, is also there, saying her people's dance is better (tbf it is), but if you go to the past you'll find the gorons actually invented the dance first, as part of their love of games and entertainment, and you can talk to two subrosians who are talking about bringing the dance home! It's so interesting to see little details like this, where the travelling subrosians visited their fellow cave dweller lava eating people centuries ago, brought it back home where it exploded in popularity and centuries later became refined as a whole folk dance with spinning and everything, with the people forgetting where it came from, where the gorons keep their dance exactly the same (having to do a rhythm game without rhythm is hard).

Actually, there was so much political fantasy drama going on in the past?? Like, you've got the childless queen taking care of her people, a budding village and a few more settlements across the kingdom. Early in her reign she tried to build a tower to act as a beacon to her fiancé lost at sea, which is a romance story all on its own, but it was cut short (maybe because of funding?). Centuries in the future, it's just ruins. You've got people living on an ACTIVE VOLCANO starting a symmetry cult around a artifact called 'tuni nut' which, presumably, stabilises the volcano? And it's entirely cut off from the outside world. The goron elder is crushed under rocks and their economy is failing. The zora king got poisoned and he's about to die without an heir because a witch turned the fairy queen into an octorock, but the man in charge of the only cure refuses to hand it over until someone passes his tests.

Most of it is solved relatively easily by link and a copious amount of time travel, but the thing with the ruling queen only gets worse. When the evil witch invades the kingdom, she possesses the oracle of ages, naryu (who's a little implied to be the Actual Creation Goddess Naryu reincarnated) and travels back to the past to bring about an age of despair in the present. She does this by slipping into the royal court and befriending the queen as a serving girl, rising up the ranks to become her closest advisor and corrupting her (pretty sure mind control magic is used a li'l). She convinces her to restart the black tower project, pouring all of her and the towns resources into it - forcibly conscripting every able bodied worker and working them to the bone, all while monsters start to circle the tower. With all the fear and resentment, it quickly becomes a beacon of dark energy, a perfect focal point to perform black magics.

Link (and Ralph) end up in the past and get hauled in front of the queen, with possessed naryu at her side, who basically jeers at them and ensures the queen won't listen to their untrustworthy lies. The townsfolk are getting increasingly stressed as their village fills with rubble and their men are worked to the point of collapse. Armed guards start to appear to keep the workers under control. Eventually, Ralph uncovers a hole in the guard rotation, and he and link sneak into the palace through a secret entrance Ralph oh so casually knows about. Link and naryu fight, but with stupendous timing the queen walks in to see naryu collapsed on the floor, Link standing over her with a sword. She calls for the guards, but before anyone can react, the witch, banished form her first vessel, leaps into the queen herself instead. Ralph shoves past the arriving guards and into naryus arms, while link moves in from of them. The queen orders the guards to attack, but naryu, reawakened, pulls them back to the present in the nick of time. In the present, the black tower is magically growing, reaching higher and higher into the sky, terrifying the people of the city.

Then! Ralph, who at this point is suspiciously invested now his actual goal is completed and naryu is safe, vows to go back into time again, away from naryu, to live under the now evil queen and bring protection and comfort to the villagers as a direct act of resistance, because the witch is feeding on their sorrow to power an unknown ritual (link knows. Link, canonically, has told nobody). So this teen in fancy robes and cape goes back to the oppressed, poverty stricken town under the thumb if someone who wants him dead and lives there for weeks if not months dedicating himself to supporting the village and bringing people's hopes and spirits back up, presumably while living out of someone else's wooden hut. In the middle of a literal depression inducing miasma that's sapping everyone's joy and will to live.

That just. Takes insane strength of character. That's a feat of pure, distilled, compassion as anarchy.

Link's off bouncing between past and present doing dungeons and solving easier issues through either sword or magic item, but Ralph is out here doing the long hard slog for little reward.

Link finally returns to the black tower completed, affecting even the people of the present, and, preparations complete, rushes to the past. Ralph is nowhere be seen. Talking to the villagers reveals several have a crush on him, but an old man saw him running for the tower, sword drawn. There's a man pacing by the entrance, who saw the kid run in, tried to stop him. He said Ralph said that he no longer cared what happened to him. That the man realised that Ralph had quietly succumbed to the same curse of despair they all were under. Link fights his way up to the top of the tower, where Ralph confronts the evil queen, sword at her heart, but every step she takes into it, he steps back. The witch laughs. She asks him if he's really willing to write himself out of existence - being the queens descendant, and all. Ralph leaps back, into links chest. He's shaking and stuttering, but he lunges, and is knocked out in one blow. The queen now asks link the same question: is he willing to erase Ralph? If he strikes her, kills her, the queen will die, childless, and he will never live. She leaves, and link rushes to Ralph. He's awake but unresponsive, defeated. With a heavy heart, Link leaves him to chase the queen. It's naryu who finds him, brings him out of the tower.

When the witch is defeated, the curse is lifted, and Ralph is once more energetic and kind. He's a little quieter now, though, sticking close to naryu. For all he was a loud and headstrong kid, I gotta say I was very impressed.

He would have made a good king.

[tadc-harlequin-au]

Hi im new here and VERY confused, this au seems super cool but I have no idea whats going on, can you maybe give me a simplified verison of the lore pls?

Basically, Pomni allies with Caine to fight Puppets who have gone insane because she's always itching for a fight, and retrieve their DIE hearts afterwards. To which, they'll all be rebuilt with smaller, better and saner bodies to have a new fresh start on their lives. But Pomni has another problem: She's being hunted down by an entity only referring to himself as The Patriarch of Puppets.

It's like, a story of individuality, overcoming unhealthy habits, the many sides of humanity, the difference between "humans" and "humanity", taking responsibility for your actions/actions have consequences, recognizing toxic work culture/societal "norms", and finally, group therapy/found family but with a lot of extra steps.

... Aaaaaand if it was set in a soulpunk/steampunk world, plus the main ship is Pomni x Caine. Yippie!

[thatonefandomjumper]

If you were able to make Valdangelo canon how would you write them ?

Very good question.

The thing is, Valdangelo is a relationship that I feel had so so much potential due to how the characters were individually written, but at the same time, I really don't trust that Riordan would have done them justice just on account of how Heroes of Olympus was written as a whole. To really make their relationship satisfying, I'd probobly need to make some substantial rewrites to the series as a itself.

But for simplicity sake, let's say we're keeping all big plot points and beats the same with the only difference being that Valdangelo is endgame.

House of Hades would be the most logical place for the two of them to shine, considering Nico was, uh, quite occupied during Mark of Athena. Leo is canonically very spooked by Nico's mere existence on the ship and Nico prefers to keep to himself most times. Not only that, but the two places they each spend the most time is not only the most isolated parts of the ship but also, sort of the furthest away from each other (Crows nest and Engine room).

Not only that, but these two are so bad at normal human interactions that the only way they could genuinely start to open up to each other and find that they are oh so eerily similar is for some outside factor to push for it to happen.

Whatever that is, and no matter how it happens, the biggest thing the two of them need is just a conversation. Genuinely, I think that's all that is needed for something to happen. Something romantic? Not necessarily, but hoo-boy if they opened up to each other in one way or another things would never be the same.

There will always be a terrifying thought of "Oh god, you see right though me and I see myself in you. This is awful I must stay away or I might learn something about myself that I don't want too." But at the same time, no one else will ever get it. To hate yourself so much. To feel alone all the time. To be unworthy of love and broken beyond repair.

So as much as they want to stay away, they inevitable meet again. Possibly in the night, when they are alone, because they would not want anyone around for this.

I am a dynamic girly at the end of the day, so when I ship characters I rarely actually think about the getting together part or anything that relates to that, but were they to get together at this point, it would be in a sort of fucked up self-discovery way where both of them adamantly agree to keep it a secret. They do not want anyone to find out ever that they kiss when they are on the verge of breakdowns.

But evolving from that (And after Nico's outing and Leo's stay in Ogygia, probobly with platonic Caleo or at least Leo feeling obligated to save her out of guilt for not being able to be with her) they become each others confidants. They both dislike showing true weakness, especially of the emotional kind so having someone who just gets it is not only new but terrifying. Whether that be the deaths of their family members or both of their serious cases of internalized homophobia, the other will understand.

People notice, of course, but Nico and Leo avoid each other in public to such a comical degree that it makes it almost more obvious that something is going on. They deflect like crazy when their relationship is brought up and most back off out of respect, but Piper and Percy are the two who speculate the most...

As the journey passes, little things start happening. Leo tells Nico to eat once in a while. Nico forces Leo to take a proper nap. Things the others either don't know they struggle with or aren't thinking about because there ae more important things going on. And slowly, the two start... improving? It was never the intention because they don't see themselves worthy of healing, but the other wants them to get better, and they don't want to lose the one relationship that let's them be wholly vulnerable. It's strange, but it feels good.

Now, I have always hated how angry Nico was at Leo for dying in canon because it makes zero sense in my opinion, but that's a whole 'nother conversation. But this time around, Nico would feel every right to be furious, because let's be real, Leo's secretive ass would not tell him this. There is a line to his emotional openness and telling his sort-of-dating-for-convenience-boyfriend about the fact he's actively planning his own suicide, despite the fact he's planning to bounce back from it is just a step too far. He knows it's selfish. But he just can't.

And it's in the time they're apart that they truly understand just how much they'd started leaning on each other in the time they were together. The bad habits they broke coming back and the longjng to see the other growing stronger. They both sort of hate it. Nico joins Jason and Piper in their search while Leo is trying his best to get back to camp.

No matter how the reunion would go, I like to think that Nico would have spilled the beans about their relationship to the others at that point, so Leo, who had been psyching himself up to swoop Nico into his arms and declare their love to the camp doesn't exactly get that. But what he does get is tears, angry, possibly unfair words, and reconciliation. Their back with each other, and this time, they won't screw it up.

Valdangelo is a story of healing. Of two broken people building each other back up. No matter what direction I'd go with actually making the relationship happen, they will always represent the mortifying ordeal of being known.

Anyway, they are actually impossible and there is something very wrong with them. Thank you for the ask and here's a drawing:

Also, I wrote a Valdangelo fic way back in 2021 where a similar scenario played out if you are interested:

[edward-hydes-letters]

(OOC: @londons-darling-gentleman and I are RPing out the ‘To the Countryside’ scenes that don’t make sense to be happening over letter, so here’s an out of context meme they made about how that’s going)

[setmeatopthepyre]

WIP titles game

tagged by @beanarie, thank you!

Rules: make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous and tag as many people as you have WIPs as you please. People send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

okay. so. my writing folder is an extremely chaotic collection of bits and pieces of wips strewn across various documents. and also like half or more of the documents are notes or outlines or ideas. some docs are like 4 lines of dialogue. but hey, maybe it's fun to see a little bit of my process so I'll just put a bunch of the names here and let you choose. you may not always get fic but you will definitely get something (might be plot ideas, might be research, might be fic, might be random lines of dialogue)

839 plot beats

tommy in the army notes

plot beats antarctfic

antarctfic waiting for evac

antarctfic-research-notes

2039 aka time stops shared nde notes

thoughts on tommy and the bridge -> fully shared here

helicopter info

dead probie scene vic emmerson jail

the ex - the victor saga

i know maybe you didnt think i was serious -> fully shared here

antarctfic queer notes

839 - hot people are just hot convo

antarctfic abby convo tommy lucy

antarctfic buck yelling -> fully shared here

antarctfic bubbling buck -> fully shared here & here

antarctfic tommys you dont find it you make it -> fully shared here

victor not chill -> fully shared here

okay I think that's enough :') uhh. numbered them so they're easier to send asks about.

not gonna tag 18 people but I will no-pressure tag @ambernotember @geddyqueer @sugarpenchant @leashybebes @epiphainie @screamlet @sugarpenchant

[madame-mongoose]

if youre still interested can you maybe talk a bit more about your main ocs story in general ?

Yes yes of course!!

So The story starts off with our main character, Zekira. Zekira was born an orphan, adopted by a pirate captain at a young age. Growing up, she became an efficient swashbuckler and fearsome first mate of her adoptive father. She is charismatic and slick. Loving to tease and banter with her enemies. Their ship is raided by the terrifying pirate assassin Cassia (known by most as The Leviathan). She slaughters the crew, including Zeki and her father. Setting the ship alight in flames. Cassia sets off to continue her mission to kill every man, woman, being who calls themselves a pirate. Blinded by her past she seeks nothing but vengeance.

Zeki awakens in a strange place. She's dead, she's sure of it. Yet she feels so alive. In front of her is shelves and shelves of books that seem to go on for miles. In the middle of it a desk with a giant... Ball of fire. A library. The Librarian greets her, informing her that he was the one that brought her here and that he can offer her anything she desires, as long as she helps him in return. He promised her immortality for his freedom and she accepts. He tells her that the keys to free him are scattered around the globe, and that all of them are needed for his escape. From now on, each time she is killed on earth, she awakes here in the library until her body is healed enough for her soul to return. Each time she dies, she feels a little different, a little more powerful. Soon discovering she gained powers of the celestials.

The Librarian is not as happy with this deal as he appears to be. As a star/celestial body he is not one for company. Nor working with others. In fact he dislikes terrestrial life, seeing them as primitive and lesser. He is imprisoned in this library to teach him the opposite, but it makes him hate them more. Wishing he destroyed the whole planet when he threw that meteor at those lizards. He's stuck up and has a bit of a god complex, but uses a front of politeness and good manners to get his way.

After Zekira gains immortality, she awakes a small explorer ship. Being rescued from the thrashing ocean waves and assumed drowned, the crew is shocked to find her breathing. The captain of this ship is a woman, Margot. Margot is kind and curious of this mysterious woman. Enraptured by her, Zeki is able to convince this explorer to allow her to stay on the ship. She soon becomes somewhat of a co captain. Zekira spearheading the journeys they take to feed into Margot's want for adventure and danger while also helping her complete her mission.

Meanwhile, Cassia learns of this pirate who arose from the dead. She makes it her sworn mission to find a way to kill Zekira for good

[roetrolls]

next goal is to finish that animatic. because i was having SO MUCH FUN WITH IT I JUST GOT SO BUSY

[imabiscuitinthousandworlds]

how the fuck do you write a wikipedia article about the plot of a kinda complicated play. i've never done anything even remotely like this before

[wren-writes-things]

I think the single funniest thing about me writing Cyclamen (the Witch Marcy AU) right now is just watching as it slowly grows, because at this point chapter 4 might be chapters 4 and 5

[justworthlessreblogs]

#this is how i ended up with a 130+ page doc of random curesona drabbles

👀? Could you possible spill some of that information?

i have a doc called "gotta get the sillies out" which is where i put the random thoughts in my head that i need to get out so i can get back to waffleverse. it's mostly stuff with my curesona and her team and a few of my other fanseason teams. don't think i'll ever actually publish anything from it because my curesona's season's lore is Very Niche and Specific and Complicated. here's the proof of doc though

[rainbowwinedemon]

For the Vampire AU, is it an urban fantasy setting where there's sorta widespread knowledge of vampires? Or is it more of a masquerade situation where Jou is now pulled into an extraordinary new world that he hadn't been a part of before now?

Also I will take any other thing you wanna yap about for this AU.

now i that have permission to yap about this *clears throat* lets begin

this fic a convulsed mess on a single mindless thought of mine that suddenly has three separate outlines bc every arc (yes ARCS) got too plotty.

i would say is a mix of both situations? because jou has no idea of the fact that vampires exist —but the whole thing with the vampires and other magic creatures it’s not a recent thing. it’s old. like really really old. Seto is actually a two centrury old vampire in this and before him, there’s lore.

jou gets pulled into all this because he’s too good and doesn’t know danger and he helps seto when someone (cant reveal who bc this is relevant to the plot) tries to kill him. this is actually what kicks starts everything.

like i said. this got complicated, because it wasn’t enough for me to find a way to explain vampires existence, i had to go and mix both the vampires diaries and twilight’s magic system with my own insanity so everything fits in here.

just so know, there’s a lot of beef, seto is Problematic (with a capital P) and there’s a lot a people who wants him dead, and the people that are actually on his side. don’t like him very much. jou is in the middle of this: doesn’t quite like him (can’t stand him) but is kinda protective of him (yeah, he wants to protect the century old vampire). this bit i shared earlier is actually something that’s supposed to happen at the beginning of the second part.

also. gozaburo is here too. as a vampire.

[real-odark]

*gently places an Emcee in your palm then leaves.*

OH MY GOSH,,,,,, his hair is so fluffy ☹️ this design is so cool screampt ?!??!! thank u dearly,,,,,