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

[kokuyoyo]

"Well... We're just looking at above ground." Moving away from the fountain, he stares down at the earth beneath their feet. "All sorts of things can happen underneath... For all we know, the earthquake changed something underground, causing cave ins that stopped water flow..." He shrugs after a second. "At least, that would be the mundane guess."

The Far Shore has proven itself to be anything but mundane more than once.

"The water at your temple was fine before you left it, right...?"

[reloves]

She nods at him.

"The pond was just the same as always.. But I left pretty quickly once I was sure the temple was still fine after the earthquake, so it could've changed by now." Her eyebrows knot together in a bit of a frown as she suddenly realises something while thinking about the temple. "Actually, we had a lot more koi than usually. Like they all fled to our pond.. Maybe they knew that other places were going to dry up like this soon?"

[kokuyoyo]

"They're at least smart enough to compose poems... So I guess they'd be smart enough to notice if their water levels were getting low." He knows there's specialized kind of intelligence, and that moon logic is sometimes just a thing in the Heavens, but, listen. He's trying to be at least a little down to earth here.

Although if he's going away from earth... Chikusa's chin tilts a little down towards his chest. "...We can't really discount supernatural, so... The more obvious sign would be someone with a control of water taking it for their own purposes, right...?" They've already had a god who can clearly control trees- an entire forest in fact. And that was just a rebel god with apparently not a lot of followers... Who knows what else could happen.

[reloves]

"Do you know someone who can control water?"

A god would be the obvious answer, right? Some shinki also seem to have special powers from when they were alive, but she doubts there'd be anyone strong enough to drain this much water. She tries going over the gods she knows in her head, but she doesn't think there's one among them who specializes in water.. Besides, she can't imagine any of them doing something to this place to begin with.