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

[priforprince]

Whew. If she can raise that much of a fuss, then she's getting enough breath. Hibiki lets out a breath of her own, frowning.

"How did you get so drenched to begin with?" she asks, but her disapproval is entirely for the volcano. "To think my shinki could be put through such trouble...."

We're back to the usual methods of expressing affection by complaining about other things, now. It's probably a relieved compliment?

[nopixiedust]

"I was-" Oops, another coughing fit. It's probably the worst part about what she's had to go through, and she's including the lava in that assessment. Just being able to breathe good enough for a whole moment...

When she's caught her breath, Wendy tries again. "I don't know what happened... I was just trying to make it back here, and though I could do at least that much. But, all of a sudden, my eyes started to get like this... And then, when I had to slow down..." Well. That just mean there was more time for the gas to start getting into her lungs.

[priforprince]

"An invisible menace." Hibiki considers this. "Gas, then."

That means, if Hibiki's going to scale the mountain in order to Register A Complaint About This (as is her desire), she'll need....some sort of filter installed in whatever headgear she chooses. The hazmat suit would do the trick, but it's also....unwieldy. How quickly can she order custom gear....?

And does she want to get some for Wendy as well, or recommend her shinki remain behind to recover...?

[nopixiedust]

"So it's more than just-" Another duck down of her head to get through one more attack. "More than just the lava that's a problem? Ugh!" She never knew that kind of thing could be such a problem.... She's heard about volcanoes, a little bit, on the television and internet, but she's never really understood them...

"Are you okay, Hibiki...?"

throws you the gobi joke on multiple accounts

[priforprince]

[[ though the day a smol shows up saying INVEST WISELY-EBI would be the darkest day ]]

"The gas contains neither stupidity nor sentence enders." Hibiki says this offhandedly, still figuring out gear for Just In Case. "I'm all right."

She pulls out her tablet to see what's sold where, and how soon she can get what she needs in purple. Tap tap tap. God at work.

"Still, preventative measures are prudent...."

[nopixiedust]

That sounds super not correct to Wendy, honestly. Her god is still subject to the same problems as the rest of them, as far as she's aware of, whether that comes in the form of regular dangers or a teacup ghost with a grudge. Carefully getting up onto her feet, she tries to follow the sounds of tapping.

"What are you doing?"

[priforprince]

"Obtaining necessary items." The world probably shouldn't ever be informed why purple motocross helmets with gas masks built in are a thing that can be purchased on the Internet, but genius has its ways. So she'll just place this order for express....

....No same-day delivery. Hibiki twitches. That she's been obscenely lucky in her quest so far escapes her.

[nopixiedust]

So they're probably super ridiculous items, if what she knows of Hibiki is any indication. Should they really be worrying about that kind of thing during a time like this? Wendy can't be sure. And her god can be reliable, sometimes... She takes another tentative step fowards. Everything is still a blur of color to her eyes, but at least it's something, when she can manage to force her eyelids to stay open.

"Will you be okay getting them?" Wendy isn't sure how much help she'll be for anything.

[priforprince]

"Why is this for pickup only....?" Hibiki uses the same tone of voice for wondering this as she did when describing the volcano. They are about on par, in terms of earning her displeasure.

She shuts the laptop, having determined that desperate times call for, ah, liberating what she cannot obtain through her preferred channels. Her attention turns to Wendy, who is....yes, she should probably stay here, shouldn't she. She is certainly not up for Masquerade Time.

"You rest your body," she decides. "I'll stop the eruption."

[nopixiedust]

...Okay, yeah, it's super ridiculous if she's complaining about pickup. Wendy pauses from taking another step when she hears the click of plastic clicking against plastic. Oh, has she stopped messing around...?

"Will you actually be alright? I mean-" She scrubs at her face again. "It seems really dangerous. And there's all this junk in the air..."

[priforprince]

"I'll procure a safeguard first." Hibiki considers Wendy's query further, however, and sniffs. Then she looks at Wendy out of the corners of her eyes, and slightly down the bridge of her nose.

"Besides -" A tilt of her chin to give her words a more teasing inflection. "Do you doubt my omnipotence?"

[nopixiedust]

She absolutely does.

Like, 100%, there's no doubt in her mind that she has to worry.

Wendy won't say that, because Hibiki is dumb. Instead, she peers out at her from underneath wet lashes and behind balled up fists. "Just be careful and come back, alright? It's okay if something needs more planning." It's really, seriously okay.

[priforprince]

Hibiki's expression softens at Wendy's words. She makes sure to meet her shinki's eyes.

"I'll be back soon," she promises. It...doesn't feel bad, to have Wendy fretting, somehow. Yes, Hibiki still wishes to ease her worries, but the mere fact they happened is oddly warming. It's almost as if Hibiki has somewhere to which she can return....

The salvaging of her revolution awaits, however, so she turns and raises a hand in a jaunty farewell. Off she goes! "The temple's welfare is left to you."

[nopixiedust]

She can't see shit, so both the fondness and declaration don't exactly have their full affect- teacup ghost, watch her back here- but Wendy can pick up on the meaning. Able to see just a little bit clearer, she nods her head and waves back.

"I'll be waiting."

[priforprince]

"Heh". And this is how Shikyoin Hibiki teleports.

Not with a bang, but a smugness.

As one does.