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

[redotiertwo]

Nope, it's more of a personal deal. Also I have an image to maintain, you know.

[He's pretty sure a gas mask wouldn't cover his eyes quite as effectively as shades would, even if there is a goggle element happening there.]

The other question is if it even matters, because I honestly have no fucking clue how sprite anatomy works or if I even have real organs anymore.

[He survives with a sword constantly through his stomach, yet can still eat, so presumably whatever the hell his digestive system is now, it's not normal.]

[declamando]

[Ah, it's him. With a slight hum of concern, Maria searches around her person for the rope she'd brought along with her. She didn't prepare too much, but she also didn't come up completely without equipment.]

It's a risky environment, it could have happened to anyone. Hold on a moment, I've got a rope here I can lower down.

[She's just tying a few knots in the end so he doesn't end up slipping off or something along those lines.]

[declamando]

"Nor mine, but I suppose it's what we've got," Maria admits, though her tone is somewhat begrudging. She does have some faith in the concepts of gods and afterlives, and having something like this come up is a bit of a shock to the system compared to her ideals.

Maria lets out a slight hiss as she notices the mangled bucket. "I don't know how much more we can do than that. I don't want to give up, but it takes incredible effort to reroute lava flows. If one of them gets this far, we're done."

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun just shrugs slightly at the warning, figuring it's to be expected with things as they are. Even with the awareness that not everything they're seeing is real, actually distinguishing what is and isn't is a problem all of them are going to be dealing with.

Though Shun tenses rather visibly when they walk through the area he'd been backing away from initially, and keeps a very close eye on their surroundings as he does, he makes it through without incident. It seems a little like he's musing on something until Ginia's question eventually snaps him out of it, though.]

Something behind it, or I wouldn't be up here. The fact that people coming up here are hallucinating only makes me more sure of that. [It could be incidental, but he considers that unlikely.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Thankfully, Shun has enough experience of his own with trauma to know when something's making it worse - he doesn't want to leave himself unguarded, but this guy's unlikely to snap out if being restrained is calling on a particular memory.

With a slight sound of annoyance, Shun indicates for the robot bird to release the arm, though he still keeps it ready between them in case Shiro throws another attack.]

Nobody's trying to hold you. You're on the volcano in the Heavens. Not in your world. Or any other place you might have been.

[Shun is not a patient or sympathetic type to people he's not familiar with - his tone is blunt and direct, if clear. He doesn't know what specific images this guy might be dealing with, but it's only going to cause problems for both of them if he just leaves him on the slopes in this state.]

[veiledflame]

Flame roars up around the child's form, leaving his skin untouched but searing viciously at flesh or fiber that comes too close. He shouts wordlessly.

Suzaku's kick still connects, and he falls back, struggling for breath that's been knocked out of him as he continues standing in the midst of the flames.

The white-robed shinki are recovering from their disarray; several dash forward, armed with pikes, to bracket the boy and prevent him from escaping to either side.

[veiledflame]

Sotero strode along at Romeo's side, apparently not noticing the heat of the ground or the ash in the air. Occasionally, he leaped up on rocks, balancing with arms outstretched before he dropped back down to the other boy's side.

"I don't know if I want to come to those," he said, and jumped across a small crack in the stone that oozed a tiny curtain of vapor upwards. "I don't like big crowds. Or Amaterasu, either."

[reloves]

[ She nods, with considerably less brooding. ]

Will you be alright though? I don't know what's still going to hit us or where, but so far.. [ Minako gestures at the spring. So far it's not looking too great for Hibiki's temple's chances, she means. And she doesn't want to see one of the most attractive people in this whole place get hurt!! ]

Earthquake Warning

[reformedsinner]

[The plume of dust had caught Hakkai's attention; Jeep's back seat is full of first-aid supplies from his temple, and he's looking for anyone who might have been hurt in the earthquake or the ashfall. This is the first inhabited building he's seen with any real damage.

It takes him a moment, as he approaches, to recognize Komaeda. His vision seems oddly clouded in this district. Perhaps it's all of the fumes in the air, he reflects, and raises his voice enough to carry as he responds.]

That depends if it's load-bearing! Are you or Garry hurt?

The morning the Heavens shook

[reformedsinner]

That's all water, I hope!

[The man isn't standing as though he's injured, but his coat is too dark to clearly see the color of the liquid soaking it. Hakkai stops Jeep at the edge of the road; he'd packed the car's back seat with first aid supplies, and he's driving around checking on the damage.]

Are you hurt?

Falling Rock

[reformedsinner]

Ah, watch out!

[There's a slowly advancing tongue of lava over most of the road, and Hakkai had been about to yank Jeep's steering wheel to the left and take it on two wheels at the edge of the hillside, but there's a young man standing in front of it and giving Hakkai a look of confusion. He brakes instead, coming to a stop safely away from the edge of the flow.]

What are you doing out here?

[reformedsinner]

[The vines catch Goku's feet and race up, binding. Binding, but not fast enough; Goku's upper body is still free, and his staff extends, whipping around and down towards Hakkai with crushing force.

Letting go will break the restraints. Not letting go will get him killed. There's no one here with him, and so Hakkai lifts his hands, teleporting away an instant too late to completely dodge the blow. His side aches where it had clipped him as he reappears, just behind Goku, and sweeps his foot across in the same movement to knock him to the ground.

His side aches a lot. Cracked rib, he diagnoses absently, bringing up a chi shield between the two of them in an attempt to squash Seiten Taisei flat against the ground.]

[reformedsinner]

[Luckily, Chikusa isn't close by; he's had his note taped to his beak, and is off helping others. Away, Hakkai hopes, from the ice tornado.]

I have no idea.

[He sounds genuinely happy about this.]

But I'd certainly like to find out.

[letteropener]

[Celestia doesn't really register the sparkles, being as she tends to sparkle herself when her magic is at its peak. Instead, she turns a stern gaze to the encroaching flow.]

We need to stop this. I alone cannot do it. Have you any resources to command for such a task?

[rockthemonkey]

[Hakkai dodges, just like Goku expected him to; the real goal was to get free of the vines. That much he manages, but just as he's managing to wrestle his feet loose, they're knocked clean out of the dirt and Goku falls flat on his face.

It's really not fair, Goku thinks. Hakkai can take his limiters off, but Goku can't remove his diadem. No matter how much faster Hakkai is, no matter how many tricks he has, Goku can't really go all out. Not until there's no other option. The Seiten Taisei might have the power to kill Hakkai- might be the only way Goku can possibly kill Hakkai- but if he manages it, Goku can't think of anyone else he can count on to stop him. Gojyo can't do it alone. Sanzo isn't here. There are other strong people around, but no one Goku can count on. So it's just him.

The earth is warm beneath his fingers and there's a heavy pressure bearing down on his back. He's trapped again. Goku digs his nails into the dirt. He can't beat Hakkai's speed and he doesn't have any fancy tricks, but he does have something. Quickly, Goku shoves against the shield with all his strength, aiming to break through it. ]

[junkyarddog]

"Vesta?" It takes Ken a few moments to place the name, figure out why it sounds so familiar, but then he remembers - that's Ayumu's new god name. "You know Ayumu?"

He supposes he shouldn't be surprised. Ayumu's looked after them as a sort of surrogate mother figure; it makes sense she might have picked up other kids. Younger kids.

He feels a flicker of something like jealousy.

[letteropener]

[She picks up her head again -- she still has that much left to her, little though it might be -- to look at him, eyes still clear if watery.]

Nothing is... life-threatening, so if your resources are limited...

[rockthemonkey]

[Goku watches Nia carefully while she has her moment.]

... Do ya need water or something? We can go get some before we start lookin'.

[Also he has no clue where they're going. He already did a cool thing this thread, Nia, give him a break.]

[rockthemonkey]

[Satisfied that he's won, Goku leans back.]

Mm, I dunno. I've never seen a volcano before, so I don't really know what's weird and what's not. [Some things, however, are obvious.] But I know fire shouldn't be all those different colours, and there's lots of weird smells around too. Like somethin' in the air comin' from the ground.

[Smoke and sulphur are fine, Goku can kind of recognise those for what they are. But the other gases are strange.]

[chibisu]

"Well, there's a lot of exact terms to it-" Once a god of business, always a god of business, and there are some things Ebisu just can't help himself about. That probably explains why he has both paper and a laptop held tightly to his chest. He hopes the ash doesn't ruin them too badly...

"But, essentially-" Coming over, he sits down on the rock Sotero had just been on and adjusts the paper on top of his so-far closed laptop. "It's an agreement that you'll answer any question promptly and honestly, if you agree to answering it at all, and, in exchange, my temple will provide you with either a service or some manner of good. After we've both discussed it and come to an agreement, of course." Shuffling through the papers, he points to the exact page. "See, one of us would write down what it is here, and then you would sign here, and I would sign here. This refers to what question it would be relevant towards..."

Ebisu looks up. "You should read through it yourself, or else it wouldn't be fair."

[letteropener]

Hearing that call over the roar of lava and the hiss of steam, Celestia turned that way, swooping over with purpose and determination to his location. The problem they had was obvious, and she addressed it with little subtlety, firing bolts of magic into the lava to help solidify it.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Not much time for that, is there. I'll be fine. [Well, maybe. Probably. She's not dead yet.] We've all got to be till this is over.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[With a roar, her Blade springs forward, landing next to the pair as he tugs her out of the way. A barrier erupts from it, deflecting those few rocks that they hadn't dodged.]

[Nia, for her own part, stumbles as his unexpected heroism conflicts with her own dodge, and sprawls roughly on the ground.]

[reformedsinner]

[Seiten Taisei plants his hands in the dirt and heaves up, his strength hitting Hakkai's shield with brutal force. Hakkai bares his pointed teeth in a snarl, knuckles whitening. No. No.

Cracks are beginning to radiate out, instability zig-zagging its way through the flow of his energy as he pours more of his strength into it. Ten seconds, he estimates, before it fails; his arms are shaking, and his side a solid blaze of pain. He breathes in, and out, and lets the shield drop, twisting to throw his elbow down at the back of Goku's head in the same instant. With any luck, with the amount of strength he's putting into breaking the shield, he'll pop directly up into the blow--]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Maybe there's a couple eggs to be broken. But there's a huge difference between breaking a couple eggs and smashing up the entire chicken coop.

With lava.