realmofstories | Chapter 03: Act I

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Chapter 03: Act I

The Little Mermaid: Act I—

§ instructions.

The first Act of our third campaign is underway! This is the designated log for all Main Scenes. Others are free to create their own toplevels for the Sub Quests, which are detailed below. Each Main Scene has their own unique toplevel and those cast into the roles are to thread their scene under each. All scene instructions are provided in the toplevels. There are also toplevels for each Sub Quest this time around, but players are more than welcome to create their own individual toplevel if they have something else in mind they would like to do.

As a reminder, characters will find similar information and instructions within their journals so they won't go in blind. Also to note, all characters will have all their belongings within them as well as the additional supplies provided to them by the Storyteller. As you know, everyone has undergone a special "mermaid" transformation upon arriving into the Book, but do note: characters in Main Scenes will have a second wardrobe change while acting the scene. Their merform will stay the same, but they'll have additional bits to add to their role. Outfits will be provided in the prompts themselves, and these outfits will only be in affect during the scene. The moment they leave the setting area, they return to their other wardrobe.

Finally, just to be clear, characters who are in Main Scenes are not immediately dropped in to their location and will have to travel to the "setting location" and then return. Threading all of that isn't necessary, but it's to help give a better idea that characters can take a break between scenes or wait a bit to help with other things like the Sub Quests.

Feel free to refer to the Game Notes for more detailed info as well as ask questions or clarifications.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Velvet has to at least give this a chance. If she can change part of the story a little bit more in the mermaid's favor, it might be worth...

Wait. What?! ]

Sing... a duet.

[ Silently she's cursing Rokurou for this turn of events. Clearly this is his fault for hearing her hum earlier. ]

You can't be serious.

[She nods... and then shrugs.]

Check your journal. Maybe you have another set of instructions to work around it.

[ Velvet pulls out her own journal and there it is written in ink. Sing a duet. ]

Tch. This just keeps getting worse and worse. [ She peers around, wondering if Eizen's nearby so his Reaper's curse turns bad to terrible. ]

IF I do this... you are going to find a way to give me something in return. [ And that's a very big "if". ]

[And part of her had been hoping Velvet would be against the idea...]

Give you specifically, or the character? You'll have to convince me of the former since I don't want to sing anymore than you do.

[ Right now she's extremely tempted to say "Screw it all" and walk... swim away. Though that would put a completely different spin on the story. Who knows how it would end then? ]

The latter. Magical spells on the Sea Witch's cave are entirely your problem, not the mermaid's.

[Naomi doesn't know, but it would be fun to find out.]

Sure. I'll see what I can do.

[ It could be fun. Maybe this is why Velvet has been chosen for this particular role against the Sea Witch. There's an annoyed flick of her tail. Not annoyed with Naomi but the whole story. ]

Might as well see what you can do now, before we both have to suffer trying to sing together.

[Raising a hand to her cheek, Naomi considered the tale of 'The Little Mermaid' again. Soon, she'll begin getting the potion's base ready over a good vent.]

... Well, this wish in the story isn't about the actual 'love' in the sense, but the want of a soul. 'Love' comes after, but if we make the wish truly for the Prince's love, then I can make new arrangements.

However, there will be new consequences. If the Little Mermaid cannot gain the Prince's love, she cannot return to her family. That will be the first loss - one love for one love. Also, because of her bending fate, I'll have to tie her to a new one... one that allows her to return to the sea.

Hmm... I don't know, but I might like a brewing apprentice and I cannot be the Sea Witch forever.

The voice will be the down payment, but the pain must remain until the Mermaid succeeds or fails. If I remove it, she will forget why she's on land in the first place... and I mean forget.

[ Velvet waits while Naomi considers the possibilities of a new arrangement, then is silent as the Sea Witch speaks of new terms. ]

So if the mermaid fails, she won't turn into seafoam but will return to the sea. Giving up her family forever yet remaining alive. Helping you brew potions as her new life.

[ It removes the part about the mermaid dying simply because a prince doesn't love her in return. Means giving up not just one love but two - yet all remaining alive. There are ways around not "returning" to the family. ]

And should she succeed in gaining his love? Will she regain her voice, will the pain end, will she be able to see her family?

Yes, she will regain her voice and the pain will end... However, as I said, if the pain leaves, she will forget. And that will be the ultimate price of her leaving the sea.

If her family comes and tries to remind her, they are free to, but there must still be a loss for her new life.

I see.

[ Personally, Velvet wouldn't give up her family for the love of some man but technically she isn't really the mermaid. She knows what it means to sacrifice one thing for another.

Right now, she's currently in the role of mermaid and has done her best to ensure the mermaid won't simply die because the prince doesn't love her back. Either she takes this deal or swims away completely. They're supposed to be restoring stories, not completely re-writing them.

Velvet is trying to consider what the actual mermaid would do in this scene. ]

What do you believe would happen to this story if I decided not to take your current deal?

Hm... Well, a few options.

[Looks like her brew is at a decent simmer and ready for the main ingredients...]

You take the original deal, and either something is altered in another act or the Mermaid succumbs to their original end.

Next choice, you swim away and the mermaid gives up on her pursuit and the story ends, altering the story. Something, something, 'love is lost', 'what's worth a soul', the truth possibly bothers the Prince down the line but he marries anyway; point is, the story changes.

[Floating by her cauldron, she places a finger on her chin, tapping, and then crosses her arms.]

Of course, you could take the route too, but then try to make the Little Mermaid take another course of action, maybe find a way to bring the Prince to the sea instead. Just keep in mind, for him to come into the sea is to give up his immortal soul which was the whole start of this mess which makes the tale more about love itself. Merfolk have longevity at the expense of becoming sea foam when the pass.

Still, I guess here is a bittersweet twist to that end as well. Same if the Mermaid and Prince were to love as they were - her life spent to find him again and again until her own end. If that too leads to a God extending a hand to her and giving her a chance for her immortal soul, you'll retain the end.

[ "Altering" the story, it sounds more like skipping towards the end where the prince ends up with the priestess but the mermaid doesn't have to suffer physical pain or potentially risk her life. Physical pain is easy to recover from, though.

The emotional loss the mermaid will suffer, however... that's a different story. Velvet knows what it feels like to lose her family. She also doesn't have any faith in a God who would be kind enough to grant the mermaid everything.

Velvet wants to consider all options. ]

What would I exchange as the price if I were to change him and bring him here?

[ It would be her "wish", therefore her price. Not the princes. Though she knows it doesn't always work fairly. ]

Hmmm, to bring him here...

[She supposes she had been thinking more along the lines of the Prince making the wish himself - therefore, leaving the Mermaid to sacrifice nothing.]

... Half of your remaining lifespan. Keep in mind, without knowing when or how the Mermaid would've died due to the original wish, I can't say how long the Mermaid will live after this new wish is made.

[ Now this deal. Maybe this is something Velvet could get behind. ]

No, you said my lifespan. Which will it be? Will it be my lifespan or the mermaid's? Don't forget we'd be going off-script for this, if I choose this deal, it's not merely the mermaid's wish.

[ Velvet is no mermaid, she's a daemon and their lifespan is immensely long as well. Seeing as how she's sealed away for at least a thousand years, what's the harm in offering part of her life? ]

But you are the Mermaid right now. It will be the Mermaid that pays. As off-script as this might get, the deal we make affects them as it affects the story.

[She can make a loophole, but that's a little much.]

Right now I am the mermaid. That won't be the case later. Would you allow me to make a deal as myself on behalf of the mermaid?

[ Velvet is the one choosing an option outside of the original script to alter someone's life. She knows what it's like to be on the bad side of that, to be changed by someone forever. ]

So you as yourself want to make this wish for the Mermaid?

[Tilting her head, Naomi soon shakes her head.]

... You're getting too meta. Again, this wish is meant for the story only. Are you asking for the Little Mermaid... or are you making a wish for Roxas?

No, I would make this wish as the mermaid. Then a second wish as myself.

[ A small scoff. ]

For neither. The second wish would be for myself. I want no regrets for forcing this change upon the prince or the mermaid and so I wish to make a deal afterwards.

I have enough for one potion right now. Your second wish I could try granting after the story concludes, but I don't know how much power I would need to then - it would likely require you coming back into the story alone as changed.

[And they still need to sing.]

Which wish are you making in this instance? You, as the Little Mermaid... or do you make no wish at all?

[ Velvet wouldn't have a problem coming back to make her own wish so long as it was applied to the altered story. ]

My wish is to bring the prince to sea so the Mermaid may try to gain his heart. To give up half of my lifespan.

... Very well then.

[This path was one about love now... my, she wonders what the Prince's thoughts will be upon taking his new form. She feels like Velvet hasn't thought this completely through.]

Now then, to make the potion.

[ She knows she is essentially forcing this change upon the prince, something that was done to her once. At the same time, Velvet isn't sure she could honestly make the choice of having the mermaid give up her family no matter what the outcome.

Perhaps some other individual would have done this choice differently but... Velvet's the one in it now. She's aware she's a selfish person. ]

To collect the ingredients. Is there a particular song we need to sing?

No. The song has two stipulations: be a duet, and include the ingredient we're currently collecting.

[Annnd besides that, Naomi has no idea how to start a song.]

Great. [ :| Is it too late to back out completely? ]

What's the ingredient name?

Chapter 03: Act I

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