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]

[Ven hasn't fallen to his death into a patch of lava yet, so things should be fine. Still, shirts aren't really meant to be heaved up by a very small point and then taken at flying speed. Maybe an unfortunate fall would actually happen...]

[With that in mind, Chikusa maneuvers his head carefully. Fortunately, while his body has changed in all sorts of strange ways upon becoming a hafuri vessel, it still shares a lot of similarities with his original crane body. His long neck is just one such trait, which means it's easy to raise his head up and up and up. Ven will get one hell of a view for a moment as Chikusa pulls him out from the mist of his body. There's a lot of ash and smoke in the air... but it's also a mountain, with a view of the whole Far Shore. What can be seen past everything, at least.]

[It only lasts for a moment before Chikua deposits Ven onto his back, which... is a strange experience all its own. There's a definite texture, a weight, to Chikusa's body in this form... but at the same time, it feels like it shouldn't be able to hold up anything at all. For some minds not flexible enough, that might be enough to cause a bluescreen even if they weren't hallucinating.]

[brokenlight]

[One would think Ventus would be afraid of this.

But he isn't. If only because he's seen some pretty weird things in his life already. Still, it's a little disorienting to suddenly be on the bird's back, blinking widely at the sudden new position, but he doesn't argue with him. In a way, Ventus feels like he's sitting on a cloud of all things instead of the bird.

He can't help but gently pat his side for good measure.

Nope. Pretty solid to be a hallucination.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Against all odds, somehow solid. Once he's certain that Ventus is on, he spreads out his wings- a movement which brings about the strange sound like rain falling despite the fact that everything is as dry as it could be on a swelteringly hot volcano. Hopefully Ventus knows how to ride a giant animal, because this one is taking off...]

[...and gliding all the way down it, plus a little further.]

[brokenlight]

[Is he...Is he riding on a raincloud? That's what it feels like.

But he still hangs on as Chikusa begins to glide down.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Well, perhaps there's a reason for that, although Chikusa can't and won't say anything on that matter. He'll just focus on getting them back down to solid ground, and past the range of where he knows the gas is flowing. Landing carefully, he lowers himself to the ground and twists his neck to look back at Ven.]

[Hopefully that should be getting him cleared up...]

[brokenlight]

[Once they're free from the gases, Ventus takes a deep breath.

His head feels clearer now.]

Thanks for that.

[kokuyoyo]

[Another wet huff. It doesn't seem like he's capable of anything else. Still, now that that's cleared up, he has some questions, and he starts to nudge at Ven to get off of him.]

[brokenlight]

[Getting the hint, Ventus slides off of Chikusa.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Well, he's good enough to walk, then. Curious, Chikusa adjusts himself, and looks over Ven. Is there any sign of what he saw still lingering...?]

[So don't mind this giant ass bird doing an investigation.]

[brokenlight]

....What are you doing?

[He seems pretty sane now.]

[kokuyoyo]

[For right now... But just to be sure, Chikusa drags the tip of his beak through the dirt to spell out...]

SICK

[...And then he sneezes. Dirt doesn't feel good in his nostrils.]

[brokenlight]

Me?

[He points at himself.]

No, not sick.

[kokuyoyo]

[Yeah, that sounds dubious, and Chikusa's sharp head cock should tell enough of his views. He tries again.]

MOUNTAIN EMPTY

[brokenlight]

...It wasn't empty when I was up there.

[But when Chikusa took him away from it, he began to realize that wasn't the case.]

I think it was the gas. It made me think something was there.

[kokuyoyo]

[Shaking his beak free of a little more dirt, Chikusa surveys Ventus before giving a nod. Good to know his hypothesis was correct. And now? That's what the cock of his head seems to say.]