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

[erogappa]

[ It's the biggest borderline he's ever cast, and for a second, he's not sure it'll be big enough. But then the magic rips through his hands and out, into a shimmering wall... and it holds. ]

I've got it.

[ It's a bigger strain than holding that damn rock up was -- he's shaking from the effort, after only a second, but it's holding! ]

I've got it! Holy fuck, it's working!

[ Does she have that boulder in place? Because it's working, but he can't hold it much longer. ]

[letteropener]

[One second.]

[The boulder shatters, cracking into a number of pieces which spread out to form a wall. The gaps in it seal, leaving smooth stone to block the path in lieu of the Borderline.]

[That's his cue to drop it, and likely none too soon, though Celestia isn't done yet -- she seizes other rocks from nearby, adding them to brace and support the wall in a frenzy of activity that pushes her far past her already-surpassed limits. This is no time for weakness!]

[erogappa]

[ She's fucking amazing. Gojyo watches in awe as Celestia uses some kind of magic to first crush, then transform the boulder, until there's a stone wall standing right behind his borderline. That's a good power -- he could do a lot with a power like that.

Too bad he's not a unicorn, huh?

Her wall drops into place and he releases his, collapsing onto his ass and staring warily up at her handiwork. It'll hold, right? ]

Could you teach me how to do that?

[letteropener]

[Celestia wobbles again, as she lets her spellwork fade. The barrier holds, sending the lava down a different path.... And she all but collapses, her rear legs dropping beneath her to plop her down into a seated position.]

...Do you have a potential in you for magic?

[erogappa]

[ He had a bottle of water, one of those little plastic things, in his pocket. Did it survive uncrushed? ]

No idea.

[ The answer is no, not even a little bit. That borderline -- the simplest piece of magic a shinki can do -- is all he's capable of.

Ha, the bottle survived! Gojyo wrenches the flimsy cap off and takes a deep swig, then, a little uncertainly, holds the bottle out of Celestia. Can she drink from a bottle? Does she drink? ]

You want some?

[letteropener]

Oh goodness, yes, please.

[Her horn lights up with wavering and tentative light, and then the bottle flashes up with the same hesitant glow. Her magic lifts the bottle up, as trembling and hesitant as if she'd picked it up with a weak and weary hand, to bring it over to her mouth so she can take a drink from it in turn.]

[erogappa]

[ Okay, hey, magic flying unicorns can drink from bottles! That's good to know. Look, he learned something. ]

I'm Gojyo, by th'way.

[ There's more places where the lava is threatening folks, more areas that need to be reinforced... but those can wait for a minute while he breathes. ]

I can't believe we just did that.

[letteropener]

Princess Celestia. [She hates to be rude and not properly introduce herself, but right now 'energy' seems like a rare and precious commodity, to be spent only when necessary.]

Thank you so much for saving me.

[erogappa]

Don't mention it.

[ He may go further up the hill and see what else he can do to help, or he may just lie here and die. Just for a couple minutes. Maybe as much as an hour. ]

You're a unicorn, right?

[letteropener]

[Right now she's going nowhere at all. Lying here sounds good, although dying would not be acceptable. She isn't even sure she can fly at the moment -- the boulder had slammed into her side, and thus her wing, rather powerfully.]

An alicorn, in fact. I have both wings and a horn.

[erogappa]

Oh, is that the right word? Alicorn.

[ And she's a princess. Gojyo can just picture her world: cotton candy trees and gummy rocks and he bets it snows powdered sugar, doesn't it? He lies on his back, staring up at the winter-grey sky -- bet the sky in her world is pink. ]

I'm a youkai. ...Don't think we have wings, usually.

[letteropener]

[Yes, that happened once. Celestia and her sister had to undergo a harrowing quest to turn the spirit of chaos responsible into stone. Not her happiest memory, to be truthful.]

I am not familiar with the term, I'm afraid.

[Yes, this is a good conversation. Distract them both from... everything, really.]

[erogappa]

That's okay. You're the first alicorn princess I met, too. ...I think.

[ What with being a shinki and all, he can never know for sure, right? ]

Youkai... we're like humans, but better. Faster, stronger...

[ An earthquake ripples through, dislodging tiny rockslides and dust showers, but the stone wall Celestia built doesn't budge. With a groan, Gojyo rolls up into a sit. ]

Lucky me, right? Means instead of goin' and finding a bed somewhere, I get to keep goin'.

[letteropener]

You are not the only one.

[Time to be an example. Celestia plants her hooves firmly on the ground, then pushes her body up. If a few trembles betray just how weary and weak she is, that matters less than her having risen in the first place.]

Though I think I can be more careful from here on out, and not repeat that mistake.

[erogappa]

[ If she's shaky getting to her feet, Gojyo sure as hell isn't going to say anything. ]

Glad t'hear it. I don't think I've got another boulder benchpress in me.

[ Oh, yeah, he should probably get up too, huh? Okay, here we go. ]

[letteropener]

I may be physically worn, but mental energy recovers faster. So I have my magic still to hoof, as needed. And I had best use it -- there's far too much at stake not to.

[She's going to have SUCH a headache tomorrow.]