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

[letteropener]

[He isn't wrong. She'll be a little better when she has strength in her body, though right now that moment feels very far off indeed.]

[She lets out a surprised neigh when the salve takes such immediate effect, though not a displeased one, and turns her head to look at her flank in some surprise.]

That is... quite some medicine.

[reformedsinner]

I am a god of apothecaries, after all.

[His touch is gentle and impersonal, working his way from the most serious burns to the less severe ones before he sits back and caps the jar of salve.]

It's an ability I've developed here, apparently.

[letteropener]

Ah, I understand. [She breathes much easier, quite literally, with some of the pain assuaged. Her muscles relax slightly and she seems to lose size as her fur and wings settle down a little.] A very fortunate gift, and one I am grateful for. Thank you very much for your aid.

[She's still in no hurry to rise, and flying is questionable with a number of her feathers damaged.]

[reformedsinner]

It's useful in situations like this.

[She's relaxing, and with her open wounds and burns healing, Hakkai can reach for the blanket and lift it, offering.]

You'll get chilled lying on the ground, though. May I?

[letteropener]

Oh. Oh dear, yes, I shouldn't keep lying here...

[With a low groan that bespeaks how much pain she's still nursing, Celestia attempts to heave herself to her hooves. She does get them beneath her, but she can't quite push herself up.]

Ah. I may still need a moment.

[reformedsinner]

[Hakkai's smile is sympathetic.]

Well, in that case--

[He shakes the blanket out, and reaches to tuck it in around her shoulders and drape it over her wings. It's sized for a human, and not a horse, but it's at least something to help her recover. Wounds and exhaustion are dangerous enough on their own without being exacerbated by lying on cold ground in midwinter.]

[letteropener]

[Gentle as he is, she can't help but shudder as the blanket brushes her tender flesh.]

This is all terribly embarrassing... Thank you, very much, for your aid, though. [She shivers slightly again, this time because she is indeed feeling cold.]

[reformedsinner]

It's the least I can do -- since I'm not well suited for fighting volcanoes, unfortunately.

[He tucks the blanket in more securely around her shoulders. Her wounds should be growing less tender, and it'll trap more warmth that way.]

I have some bottled water in the car, as well, if you're thirsty?

[Another common side effect, after all, of overexposure to molten rock.]

[letteropener]

You are very well-prepared indeed. I feel put to shame. [Oh, the diminishing pain is heaven in growing degrees, and her eyes involuntarily shut. She's terribly underselling herself, after all the work she did in preventing lava, but right now all she can think of is how badly this experience has left her.] I'd be very glad for some water.

[reformedsinner]

Not at all. You've clearly been working hard all day yourself.

[He crosses back to Jeep, picks up -- briefly -- a one liter bottle, considers Celestia's definitely nonhuman size, and picks up a two-liter bottle of water instead, neatly popping the cap off as he returns to her side.

He's beginning to realize that he has no idea how to help a horse drink from a water bottle, outside of pouring it into a trough.]

[letteropener]

Not hard enough if I ended up in this poor a shape.

[She could have done better.]

[Luckily, her mind is clearer now and her mental strength somewhat replenished even as her physical is diminished, so she is able to simply take the bottle from him with her magic. The golden glow lifts it gently from his hand and to her mouth so she can drink rather greedily.]

[reformedsinner]

Ah, my mistake, you should have worked much harder, and then you would be less exhausted.

[His tone is deadpan enough to make it obvious that he's teasing; still, he's keeping a concerned eye on her as she drinks.]

[letteropener]

[She pauses, careful not to pour too much water down her throat at once. The light around the bottle looks a little steadier as it hangs there in midair, while she takes a few measured breaths.]

Maybe smarter. But it's less the exhaustion that makes me feel foolish and more the injuries.

[reformedsinner]

It happens to us all.

[He, for instance, is wearing what he hopes is an unobtrusive brace on his right wrist, half-hidden under his jacket sleeve.]

[letteropener]

I expect more of myself, when so much is on the line. I was overconfident.

[Otherwise she never would have gotten trapped as she did, pinned by both lava and rock. She never would have needed help.]

[reformedsinner]

Now, now. You can finish the critique once you've had a chance to recover.

[It's not a very useful subject to hash over while hurt, chilled and likely suffering from mild shock. Hakkai keeps his tone cheerfully brisk.]

Do you have any other injuries? Sprains, ankle or wing problems...?

[letteropener]

The loss of feathers and fur are the biggest problems, but they will regrow in time. [Though she isn't above seeking out someone with healing magic, in order to hasten that. She can function without wings for a bit, but would prefer not to.] Especially since that ointment appears to repair skin without scarring, which is a remarkable thing indeed.

[reformedsinner]

Ha ha, if I have to be a god I might as well exploit the advantages of it, don't you think?

[Like magical healing medicine abilities. He shrugs, hands spread easily.]

I might be able to put something together to regrow your feathers more quickly, but I don't have anything on hand, unfortunately.

[letteropener]

That's as low a priority as can be right now. [Honestly, he has so much else to do. She can't be the only one hurt, after all, and she can't imagine nopony else has had worse even if he hasn't found them yet.] Oh goodness, I wonder what would happen if I changed shape. That might help... or might be much worse.

[reformedsinner]

It would have to be after all of this calms down.

-- Does it strain you to change shape? [She'd certainly be better able to wrap herself in the blanket at a human size, and Hakkai could fit her into Jeep to drive her back to her temple to rest. On the other hand, she's barely beginning to recover from her exhaustion, and she shouldn't be doing any difficult magic yet.]

[letteropener]

[Celestia makes a mild noise, neither yes nor no.]

It is a magical exertion, but not a terrible one, and mental energy from spellcasting recovers much more quickly than physical energy from effort does.

[reformedsinner]

In that case, you should only do it if you're sure you have the energy for the exertion, but if you do, you'll be able to wrap up better in that blanket for me to drive you home.

[Which does raise a question.]

Where are you staying? Is your temple in one piece?

[letteropener]

My temple should be fine, unless the lava has penetrated far more deeply into the city than I have any reason to believe... Though...

[Should she go back to her temple? Though his medicine has done a wonderful job of helping her, she still has quite a lot going on and perhaps should not be alone there...]

[But, she has noplace else to go anyway.]

[Rather than share such thoughts, she concentrates a moment, then stops.] Oh, I could assume a smaller form, but speaking would be a problem...

[reformedsinner]

... You can't speak in human form?

[Well, that's news. He blinks, startled. Surely she doesn't have more effective enunciation as a horse. Does she?]

[letteropener]

Oh, certainly I can... [Is that really meaningfully smaller? She's taller than him as a human and the way he looks she might even outweigh him.] But I meant more like, say, a cat. Much smaller.