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

[swordofzero]

Nothing. I don't even really know what we are looking for. I am no expert in volcanoes. Or magic. [Or magic volcanoes, incidentally. If that's what this was, there are definitely things happening that do not feel natural..]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

It's probably going to be obvious. Someone or something causing all this, since there must be a reason for it.

[swordofzero]

Probably. Hopefully we can find them and they won't be as elusive as they were in the forest. [Paper clued would be burned to nothing up here after all.]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

There are fewer places to hide here. But... whoever did this is not someone we want to take lightly. [Of course he assumes a person or group is behind it! How could that not be the case? Things simply don't happen for no reason, not like this.]

[swordofzero]

No, I would not underestimate anyone who could cause a volcano to erupt.

[Whoever caused this was very powerful.] But it is important we find them before they cause any more damage.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

If I was doing this, I'd set it in motion and then get out before anyone showed up to stop me. But then, I'd never do this in the first place, so I can't really speak to the mind of whoever it is.

[swordofzero]

No, you wouldn't. But you have a point. I doubt that they are going to stick around on a volcano and put themselves in danger.

[He frowns and thinks of Vortelli.] Unless they are just a pawn and following orders.

[onehandsomeslickninja]

If so, they're basically a sacrifice to us, which -- I don't see what that benefits anyone. This is too much power to waste like that.

[swordofzero]

You're probably right. [He looks up the mountain again.] At least I hope this took a lot of power. [That there was power that could cause volcanoes at all was worrying, never mind if it was something that a being could do with ease.]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

By our standards, it did. Whether it was a lot or a little to whoever did it, we're still in trouble.

[He's pretty calm about this, though. Danger and great challenge just mean you have to rise to them.]

[swordofzero]

That's true. [He nods and then points towards a rocky area.] I think if we go that way, it seems a little more stable, it has been shifting less.

[He doesn't sound too confident, he is no expert on climbing volcanoes.]

[onehandsomeslickninja]

Oh, good eye then! [Edge was, admittedly, preoccupied -- but still, credit where credit is due.] Let's go!

sound like a wrap?

[swordofzero]

[Suzaku nodded and began picking his way up to the area he had pointed out. It was not a path, but it did seem a little more solid, no lava flows to try and outrun, no burning rocks tumbling towards them. Hopefully once they got to the top of this volcano they would find the answers that they sought.]