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

[reformedsinner]

Exactly. I'm not nearly high-class enough....

[Although he's liked the majority of his neighbors, with certain exceptions.

No offense meant, of course, to Shun, in lumping him in with Fuujin.]

But then I suppose I'm not alone in having that problem. If you or any of your friends need somewhere to stay, though, Davesprite, you know where I live, and we have quite a few spare rooms.

[redotiertwo]

You wear a fucking monocle, Hakkai, that's immediate entry to high society. [Davesprite doesn't make the rules, he just apparently enforces them when it suits him and also when it's funny. But admittedly, his experience with the other Central District residents is limited to Izumo, who Davesprite would consider similar to Hakkai in questionable morals but slightly less generally acceptable-looking than Hakkai, and Hibiki, who just strikes him as someone who shouldn't be trusted with any kind of status or reputation at all.]

Noted. I'll have to see how shit's gone down for everyone, but I might at least end up needing to take you up on that offer. I'll make sure to leave my stupid crocodile at home.

[It may or may not be playing around the lava, considering the nature of Davesprite's planet kind of necessitated its consorts be relatively heatproof.]

[reformedsinner]

Who knew that having one bad eye would raise my social status so high?

[Davesprite's mastery of the intricate rules of high society is truly an inspiration to all.

Hakkai nods, and adds:] You can bring the crocodile if it'd be in danger. I have a pond for it.

[redotiertwo]

High society has complicated rules, my guy, only the versed can hope to understand them.

[Davesprite is somehow versed, and don't ask him how, because it's probably going to lead into some kind of rambly tangent. For now, though, he just kind of shrugs at the issue of the crocodile.]

Honestly it seems to kind of. Like the lava. So I'm guessing it's probably used to this sort of thing.

[reformedsinner]

It's a shame I didn't get the user's manual with my monocle.

[His eyebrows shoot up, and he adds:]

Your crocodile is fireproof?

[redotiertwo]

See, I would've thought it just automatically imparted that knowledge on you like some kind of ancient artifact of great power. [Because that's what monocles are, right.

At the question, Davesprite gives a vague wiggly hand motion.] Probably at least fire-resistant. One of the places I saw in a memory I got back was fucking overflowing with lava, so it's not unprecedented that there may be things from where I came from that are fireproof.

[reformedsinner]

Perhaps mine is defective.

[That said-- he shakes his head, smiling, at Davesprite's description.] And in that case, your crocodile must feel like he's back home.

[If it likes lava, well then.

Odd, but who is Hakkai to judge Davesprite's bizarre world?]

[redotiertwo]

Maybe you need to activate it with some sort of cheesy catchphrase. [Become a monocle-based magical girl, Hakkai, clearly that's the real solution here.

Davesprite just shrugs a little at the thought that his crocodile might be feeling at home in all this.] I mean, true, but I'm pretty sure he'd be the only one who's actually fucking enjoying it considering. Literally everything about this situation.

[reformedsinner]

"Classy powers activate?" -- Ah, no, that's not cheesy enough.

Besides, I suspect tuxedoes aren't the right uniform for this situation. [You know, with... literally everything about it. The volcano, the earthquake, the falling ash....]

But I haven't run into anyone who's been too badly injured so far. It seems we've been lucky.

[redotiertwo]

Damn straight, it needs to be at least seventy-five percent cheesier than that. [Cheesiness is an exact science that should never be underestimated, Hakkai.]

I guess most temples are probably built well enough that shit's probably not falling down on anyone, and since it's only fucking over part of the Heavens there's still safe ground to escape to. Could've been worse.

[Considering the close proximity of the volcano, it could've been much worse, in fact.]

[reformedsinner]

[Much, much worse. Hakkai nods.] It seems like it hasn't even hit the entire Western District as badly as it could've. Although it does surprise me that there'd be a volcano erupting here.

[He shakes his head.] There's rarely even bad weather. And this seems like a much more serious disruption than a thunderstorm.

[redotiertwo]

Yeah, that's kinda the part that's getting me. If they can control the day to day fucking weather here, why the hell is that volcano not dormant or some kind of elaborate prop that just looks like a real volcano.

[And/or both. It seems like a pretty serious oversight to Davesprite in a place where they don't even get rain.]

[reformedsinner]

My guess is either someone's control is slipping, or it's another attack.

[And he leans towards 'attack.' Although, to be fair, the volcano had rumbled earlier in the summer; perhaps it's always been active.]

It's worth seeing what Amaterasu's shinki think about it, though. Perhaps things like this are more common in the Heavens than I'd guess.

[redotiertwo]

I'm gonna go with "another attack" considering our record. [Look, it could be someone's self-control slipping, but if he has to base it on prior history here, he's definitely going to assume attack.]

I mean, the fact that they're out at all seems like a sign this is some pretty serious shit going down.

[reformedsinner]

Frankly, I think you're right.

[How often do things turn out not to be some kind of arcane attack on the Heavens? Not often enough, that's how.

Hakkai shakes his head.]

Stay on guard, then. It's very troublesome getting kidnapped.

[redotiertwo]

I feel like they wouldn't have opened with a volcano if it was a kidnapping, but that's just me. [Maybe they're just extra as hell, or felt like it'd draw attention away from something else.]

I would like to know what exactly the fuck is going on this time, though, so mark that one down for once we've sorted shit out down here.

[reformedsinner]

[Cheerfully:] Perhaps it's meant to be a human sacrifice?

-- If so, we're both safe!

[redotiertwo]

I mean, if we're going the whole existential nine yards, does anyone here count as a human anymore.

[Deep existential questions power hour, with your host, "literal doomed timeline alternate" Davesprite.

[reformedsinner]

[Deep existential questions indeed. Hakkai looks thoughtful.]

No, probably not. Of course, I haven't been for a while.

[redotiertwo]

Well, yeah, same hat, but that's rarer here than I would've expected considering the entire heavenly deal.

[Make humans a different class of being, that can't possibly go wrong.]

[reformedsinner]

It really is, isn't it? Of course, it seems that the only kinds of intelligent living beings in this world are humans. They're short on youkai, and they're short on sprites.

[He shrugs, smile quirking up on one side.]

So perhaps it's not so odd that it's mostly human souls that they drag in after all.

[redotiertwo]

I'm kinda surprised they don't have youkai, honestly, considering. You know. [Makes general hand gesture towards the Heavens. If they have gods and spirits, surely they have demons and other kinds of malicious beings that aren't just mindless like ayakashi.]

You'd think if they're dragging from random worlds in the greater multiversal soup, they'd crack gold on more non-humans, they can't be the dominant species in that fucking many universes that aren't relying on cheap shitty special effects to populate them.

[He may be sniping at old space movies...]

[reformedsinner]

Perhaps not the kind of youkai that exist in my world. Most of what would have that name here appears to be ayakashi.

- as for how we were the ones that were chosen, I'm afraid I still haven't spotted any common threads. More of us seem to come from worlds like this one than would make sense from a random selection, though.

[He pauses, and adds:] ... Why would special effects make for more humans?

[redotiertwo]

Yeah, that's probably just a world weirdness thing, I guess. [Davesprite is kind of grateful he doesn't appear to come from a background that would make anything here more confusing, because it really doesn't need help with that.

Passing by the serious part of that response, Davesprite chooses to focus on the special effects part, because of course he does.] I'm talking about like, the super old classic space movies where they'd paint a ridge onto someone's head with whatever the fuck material and say that was an alien when it's clearly just a human wearing a pointy thing on their forehead.

[reformedsinner]

Ah, those!

[Insomnia Youtube is a vital educational resource. Hakkai laughs merrily.]

Well, to be fair, I look like a human with some special effects....

[And those only when he takes his limiters off.]