32 - Blow Your Top

[godsoffortune]

Who: Everyone!
What: A volcano eruption threatens the Western District
When: Jan 14 - 16
Where: The Western District of the Heavens
Summary: The Western District volcano is erupting again, endangering nearby temples and sending ash sprinkling down across the Heavens. Is it natural, or another attack? Those who dare climb the volcano can find out.






Earthquake Warning

On the morning of the 14th, an earthquake rattles windows throughout the Heavens. It's not strong enough to knock down buildings -- unless they're about to fall down anyway, like some of the older abandoned temples -- but it's strong enough to knock things off shelves and startle any late sleepers out of bed.

After the earthquake, strange sights abound around the Heavens. The poetic koi are swimming in organized schools in all of the canals, heading upstream towards the east. Springs of pure water burst out in some areas, and in others, normal springs or fountains have gone temporarily dry. Blue and green lights bob and weave across the landscape.

Falling Rock

The volcano begins erupting with a roar and a bright scarlet glow on the horizon. Ash and bits of rock fall across the Western district, and may even reach into the Southwest, Northwest and southern Central districts. Volcanic glass fibers that look like golden hair collect on trees, fences and buildings.

Trails and fountains of lava are also erupting from freshly opened fissures and wending down the sides of the volcano. Gods and shinki who live in the Western District are going to need some help clearing ash and glass from their roofs, trying to re-route lava flows (the good news is, if you cool one side down enough, you can turn them! the bad news is, that takes a lot of work) or just offering them a spare room to stay until things calm down.

Swamp Gas

It's not just lava and springwater erupting from mysterious new crevasses -- and it's not just mundane volcanic gases, either. Divine volcanic vents are blowing mind-altering fumes all over the Heavens. Anywhere across the Far Shore, but especially as characters get closer to the volcano, they may experience one or more of the following effects:

• Confusion
• Intense emotions
• Anger and irritability
• Impulsive behavior, loss of emotional control
• Hallucinations
• Unusually clear insight into other people and situations
• Coughing, eye and throat irritation, difficulty breathing
• Irresistible impulses to speak in poetry

Most symptoms will clear up after a few hours in fresh air, and all of them will be gone within 48 hours of the last volcano gas exposure.

Mountain Climbing

Natural disasters don't just happen like this in the Heavens... do they? Amaterasu's white-robed shinki are convinced that something is wrong, and they're organizing into search parties to go up the mountain and seek out the cause of this eruption. New and old gods and shinki are welcome to join them, or form their own groups. All of the hazards -- tremors, lava, ash, and volcanic gas -- will get worse as characters ascend the volcano. Strange little spirit flames, in shades of red and blue, dance on the rocks, dazzling, confusing and threatening to singe interlopers.

And there's someone up here, too. A mysterious figure with glowing red eyes is keeping watch on the intruders and vanishing behind boulders whenever someone turns his way. He won't let anyone traveling with one of the white-robed shinki get too close, but solitary gods or shinki might manage to lure him into conversation, if they try....

OOC: Please comment to the 'NPC REQUEST' thread below in order to talk to the mysterious figure on the volcano.

Those climbing the volcano will have a chance to battle the mysterious figure should their characters choose to do so. If you're interested in a fight, please comment to the 'NPC FIGHT' thread below before the top-level is posted. A top-level for the fight will go up on IC Jan 16/OOC Sept 4.

In Summary:

• Don't get rattled
• Help out the Western District with their volcano problem
• Watch out for volcanic gases
• Find out who's behind the eruption
• Have fun~

Comments

[badassfreakingoverlord]

Hold up! You can't just drop something like that and not explain! [Zetta might be trying to stop her, but his minion isn't; she even helps Hibiki up, then stands off to one side obligingly.] That's freaking major! I mean, what if I started talking about my lost student like that?

[badassfreakingoverlord]

If you don't follow orders, then your whims and amusements better damn well see you safely up there anyway.

[Somehow that word 'safe' keeps slipping out, like it matters. Well -- an Overlord needs a healthy functional vassal to boss around, doesn't he? It doesn't mean anything more than that!]

[sing_for_me]

[ She opens her mouth, then closes it.

So that's what Hakkai looks like with a unibrow. ]

You um...still have a little over...[ She just gestures at her whole forehead. ]

People seem to be heading towards the volcano too..Will you be heading there?

[unlucky7]

[That can't be right. There's an ayakashi right there. But while the mind and eyes lie, Ginia knows Alex would only tell the truth if ayakashi were involved. She closes her eyes, opens them again. The ayakashi twists and lunges, but never gets any closer. Forcing herself to turn back to Alex, Ginia signs:]

Have you seen ayakashi on the volcano?

[unlucky7]

Come on, you know you aren't the only person that's lost someone. Here, wherever we're from, there's few people not haunted by loss or failure or something.

[The synthetic tones of her phone don't carry the same tone carried in her signs, but it gives a bit of space even as she's no longer thinking over her words carefully as she hikes up the mountain. She doesn't want pick a fight but her mood is running hot.]

You won't accept thanks, you won't accept apologies, I wonder if everything is an empty platitude to you.

[onedrinkwithme]

[This wasn't the first time he had to depend on another for flight; but this time he did not need to ride on his back for it to happen. But his thoughts go back to Mandragora when asked how he is like.]

A protective sort when it comes to myself but he can be quite cross when not around me...except for children or kittens. It would not be wise to simply pick him up lest they would enjoy being clawed.

[redotiertwo]

Well, yeah, same hat, but that's rarer here than I would've expected considering the entire heavenly deal.

[Make humans a different class of being, that can't possibly go wrong.]

[declamando]

[That's definitely enough of an answer for Maria, and her expression becomes a bit more stern.]

That might be so, but I don't think it's healthy to keep that sort of thing to yourself if it's happening regularly.

[The lack of answer certainly implied it is.]

[declamando]

Maybe. I'd assume if anyone found anything significant enough to be a hard lead, they would've mentioned it. There's no real reason to hide that from anyone.

[But then again, if this was a while ago now, a hard lead should have turned up some kind of resolution, as well, so she'd say it's a pretty safe bet nothing that important was found.]

[rockthemonkey]

How're they gonna make me do anything? It sounds lame, I'm just gonna keep doing whatever I feel like.

[Rules are for squares.]

... Who told ya that?

[reformedsinner]

So you're naturally in control of every kind of weather?

[Now that's wildly bizarre. It makes sense that someone coming from a place like that would feel out of control in a world that's wild enough to have seasons of its own.]

How strange. -- I assume you create it magically, then.

[reformedsinner]

You really do have a remarkable amount of magical energy.

[Hakkai raises his eyebrows at Judar, and adds:] What sort of spell would you consider draining?

[priforprince]

This fruitless exploration grows tiring.

[ Hibiki hops back into the truck and sits. An exploding volcano is going to wreck all her plans, she knows, so she has to handle it....

But right now, she just isn't up for it. ] Drive me down the mountain.

[priforprince]

[ Are they going slower? No, she must be imagining that.

Or perhaps Princess Celestia has sensed an upcoming obstacle that has yet to reveal itself to Hibiki....

She peers into the murk. ]

It's getting darker.

[ Super noble regal grim pronouncements up here from this quarter. Only good decisions, and sensible trains of thought. That's the celeb way. ]

[boneofsword]

[Archer closes one eye at the flick. It's much more like Caster, though, and the following words make him breathe with relief - and cringe in result.]

That's good. Mine are almost gone too.

[He's been as much affected, and lucky enough to not lose himself in the illusion. If it had been the void - well, Archer would rather not consider what might happen.]

[mithrarin]

You're an optimist. I can think of a lot of reasons. Even just a simple failure to realize that what they found is important. [Not that he's casting aspersions on anyone or blaming malice for a lack of information. Dust doesn't believe that of anyone here. Just mostly that people are bad at communicating, often enough. Himself included.] But either way, I'm guessing this is another piece of that puzzle.

[reformedsinner]

That's right. You'll want to change down as well if you're slowing down.

[He slows as he approaches a turn-- normally he wouldn't, but with his eyesight less than trustworthy, he's cautious. He glances at Nia.]

-- The road turns to the left here, doesn't it?

[swordofzero]

Suzaku watched the woman as she ran, making sure she was heading the right way and there was no danger to her on the path. He nodded at Rin's words and followed the other boy keeping his eyes out for any stragglers outside the temples. The streets seemed pretty deserted though, everyone had left.

"Same again, a quick sweep of the place before we move on."

[swordofzero]

Did someone hurt you?

[He looks over as well with a frown, had someone attacked him? Or just failed to save him from the beast that only he could see?]

[veiledflame]

"Hey, you should teach me how to cook," Sotero says, grinning down at his skillet-- and then, reluctantly, he holds it out at arm's length. It's heavy; his arm trembles with the effort.

"Return, Kiyoshi."

It's not fair having him just be able to talk to Sotero, after all. Plus it's weird having to tell Ebisu what he says.

[letteropener]

You might consider our techniques to be so. [She rubs her arms absently with her opposite palms beneath the blanket, helping herself feel warmer.] But from a pony perspective, our means are purely mechanical. The weather factories at Cloudsdale condense the clouds, for example, and generate the coloring for rainbows in large vats ready to deploy...

[veiledflame]

I might just be a kid but I already know the difference between movies and real life.

[He's giving her a weird look. Follow, where?]

[letteropener]

[She pulls herself back to the here and now with a force of will, her wingbeats strengthening as she works to rise over the worst of the ash.] Not only that, but harder to breathe. The sulfur in the air is incredible.

[veiledflame]

They punish you if you don't.

[Sotero hesitates, but admits:]

My dad.

[chibisu]

"Whoa-" It feels a little funny, to be called out by a new name after so many decades of service under one... but it had felt funny when Ebisu had first named him, too. Kiyoshi- Kimi adjusts, making sure he doesn't lose his balance as he gains legs once more. Ebisu holds onto his hand automatically and, after a moment, he holds one out to Sotero.

"Well, you'll have to drop by the shrines then, right?"

Ebisu leans around him. "It's easy to find a good kitchen."