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

[priforprince]

Not to worry. [ Does this smile imply she means it? Well. That is part of the mysterious aura of a Prince.

Then, she settles her expression into a serious Mission Face. The pleasantries are over with. The scene is changing. ] Let's go.

[letteropener]

[Ah, she thought she had that one, but point to Hibiki.]

[In a flash and a slash, Celestia is a mare once more, nodding her agreement with all play put aside.] Onwards, then. Lead the way.

[Hibiki's movement is more constrained than her own, after all.]

[priforprince]

Mm.

[ Hibiki nods and turns to direct that serious gaze up the mountain. Picking the route that looks like the least amount of hassle, she sets forth!

In her mind, this is a dramatic pastel freeze-frame shot. Lots of shading. Some rose petals.

A few stray petals blow past Celestia on the wind as she spontaneously generates them. ]

[letteropener]

[Celestia snaps one out of the air, chews it thoughtfully, then swallows.]

[What? She's a pony.]

[priforprince]

[ There is a sudden chill, despite the locale. And a sudden casting of shadows on the person up ahead.

What....what was that sensation....?

No, it was probably nothing. Hibiki should just. Keep walking. And not look. ]

[letteropener]

[Pleased and a little revitalized by her snack, Celestia paces on after Hibiki, wondering if she can provoke that again.]

[priforprince]

[ It's bound to happen if you stick with Hibiki. Sparkles are even more likely, but those might stick in one's craw.

For now, though, Hibiki is fully embracing her role as the Serious Character. The area up ahead looks...strewn with cracks. Hm. ] Watching your step will be best.

[ Or flying. Hibiki, for her part, will select the perfect footholds - the better to ascend to the summit. Come what may, she shall triumph! ]

[letteropener]

[Yes, Celestia does indeed take to the air, though not high at all -- she's minding Hibiki carefully, just in case those perfect footholds end up shifting from an earthquake or a lava surge.]

Do you know anything about volcanoes, Hibiki?

[priforprince]

Enough to know I'm more than a match for it.

[ Hibiki it's a force of nature and you're

oh, also a force of nature

carry on ]

[letteropener]

[Sigh.]

I do not wish to see you harmed, Hibiki.

[priforprince]

I am a god of the Central District.

[ Walking up the side of a volcano like it's a red carpet. ]

Even if it's the work of a rebellious deity, the ability to harm me---

GWUH!

[ And that would be some of these rocks being much looser than they'd appeared! Avalanche!

Small, but Hibiki-located, avalanche! ]

[letteropener]

[Celestia gently grabs the rocks with her magic, pulls them away from Hibiki, then deposits them neatly in a pile nearby.]

[...why does she suddenly feel like she should be wearing a goat costume? That's not a comfortable feeling.]

And here my temple has never moved.

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki steadies herself, a hand going to her bangs as the other is held out at her side. Then she sighs. ]

....Perhaps flight would be quicker.

[ God floating, et al. Not merely those with wings can do so. ]

[letteropener]

Ah, did you wish a ride?

[How else would somepony fly? And after all, Celestia has no real objections to carrying a person...]

[priforprince]

Wouldn't that compromise you?

[ ...r dignity?

Granted, if it wouldn't, Hibiki would very much like a ride, but... ]

[letteropener]

Why would it?

[This is a legitimate question, posed as Celestia turns to look at Hibiki with some concern. Is there some aspect of this offer she hasn't considered that would pose a difficulty? She doesn't know! She isn't used to giving rides!]

[priforprince]

....No, there's no issue.

[ If Celestia doesn't see one, Hibiki won't explain.

Still, out of gratitude for the chance, she puts the Prince smile on for another second. The broody expression can return once they're in the air. ]

Being borne aloft by you is an honor.

[letteropener]

[A lesson Celestia has tried to impart on Hibiki is that few things can impact your dignity and composure if you simply don't allow them to. So it is with no problem whatsoever that Celestia lands, tucking up her wings so Hibiki can climb aboard.]

[priforprince]

[ That is a good lesson, and one Hibiki aims to follow. Alas, sometimes one simply must be reduced to a screaming wreck for humor's sake. It is a harsh fate.

For a moment, as they take flight, Hibiki's spirits rise into the air as well. The wind in her hair and the majesty of her mount fill her with a thoroughly peaceful, elegant sensation. She lifts her head and breathes in deeply, satisfied.

Then starts coughing.

ACCURSED ASH. ]

[letteropener]

[Celestia, though a pony rather than a horse, is nonetheless strong and powerful beneath Hibiki, her wings carrying them aloft with ease thanks to the hot rising air. And the ash! Prgh!]

[Both of them spend a moment coughing, as it happens, before Celestia rears back (not enough to dislodge her), then sends a powerful blast of air whipping from a downstroke of her wings to clear the air in front of them.]

[priforprince]

[ Hibiki expels the last of the ash, blinks it out of her eyelashes (with middling success; she has a lot of eyelashes), and settles down. ] ...There must be a better angle of approach.

[ Not a critique, of course! But an observation. It's unthinkable that the entire way up the volcano would dare to inconvenience two such amazing individuals, so they simply haven't found the Very Best Exclusive Prince And Princess Way up the volcano yet.

Obviously. Unless....

Could this be a trial to prove their endurance and nobility of purpose? ]

[letteropener]

I could try coming in from higher, but that might just exchange one problem for another. The air is not much safer from the ground, but the hazards are different.

[And easier up here, from her perspective. She can handle bad weather more readily than an earthquake.]

[priforprince]

That's certainly so.

[ Hibiki will have to give this matter some thought. So it is a trial, then....A trial to prove their will and purpose. Very well! ]

In that case -

[ Hibiki throws out a hand to punctuate her statement. ] We'll just have to weather the weather!!!

[ That would be a bad pun coming from anyone but her. From her, it is Clever. That is how this works. ]

[letteropener]

[Well, it gets a snort from Celestia, whose sense of humor is less refined and elegant than she usually lets on.]

No other outcome would be asheptable?

[priforprince]

[ WELL THAT'S SURE A THING THAT JUST HAPPRINED

Hibiki blinks, startled, then smirks. Whimsy in the face of danger is dashing, when it comes from the right source. ]

Let's stem the flow.

[ Of puns, or the volcano?

And does Hibiki realize that if she meant puns, that itself was a pun? ]