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

[sassywelshcatgirl]

They haven't bothered me. I should stick with you for a bit, huh. [She glares sidelong at the flame spirits, just DARING them to try anything. But she has a Water Blade with her, and even little spirits like that can sense that sort of thing. They don't push her.]

[shiitan]

You're offering to be my bodyguard?

[Sure, he could probably get rid of them on his own, but this was potentially funnier.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Call me your savior. [Nia smirks back at him.] I've got a Water Blade, after all. Fire knows better than to mess with that.

[shiitan]

No. [Yup, just "no."] But if you want a fun nickname I can give you one.

[...come to think of it, had they even had a proper introduction? Ah well. In the meantime, he was going to go over and examine her aforementioned Water Blade now that she had brought it up.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

"Great Hero" or "Avenging Angel" will do. Stick to those lines and you can't go wrong.

[Said Blade looks up at Ross, not by much, with an inscrutable look on his face.]

[shiitan]

I was thinking more "tiny cat." [Which was definitely fair. Yup.] I won't go wrong with that one, right?

[As for the Blade, he was having a hard time discerning what was watery about it. There had to be something he was missing here, but he didn't ask.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Pretty unoriginal, and also likely to get you scratched. [Nia shrugs, her ringblades dangling from her palms to go along with her smirk.] Is that going wrong by your standards?

[shiitan]

Nah. [And the reason would be...?] I don't plan on getting hit by those.

[He took a breath, but not a deep one thanks to the swamp gas. His stomach was settling now. While he was going to look pale no matter what he did, at least he was looking a bit less green now.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

I'd never hit you with these! [She feigns shock at the comment.] I'd get my claws into you personally. You've earned that special touch.

[shiitan]

Wow. Lucky me. [His excitement was oh-so-palpable.]

I want to un-earn that treatment now.

[He was going to start by staying out of her clawing range, even if that meant climbing the volcano.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

I literally don't think you can. You'd have to go so far against your nature you'd snap like a twig. [She even makes a little motion like she's snapping something between her hands.]

[shiitan]

What do you think my nature is?

[He had a pretty good guess on what the answer would be, but he'd at least get to hear it in her own words.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Bratty.

[There are a lot of words Nia could have used, but she settles on that one because honestly, he's not too bad. So far he's all talk, no matter how bratty all that talk is.]

[shiitan]

[Honestly, considering how he treated the people he was close to... It really was better that he was all talk so far.]

Just bratty? Looks like I need to try harder if I can't get out of that treatment anyway.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Yeah, if he actually acted the way he talked, things wouldn't end well one way or the other.]

Whatever you build on top, brattiness is still the foundation. Can't change that.

[shiitan]

Then it'll be a very nuanced kind of bratty. Is that allowed?

[He was definitely sincere in asking permission.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Oh, yeah, that's just fine there! Wouldn't want it to get boring or anything, would we?

[shiitan]

I could live with it if people thought I was boring.

[A boring life seemed like it would also be a peaceful one.]

Speaking of boring things... I said I'd meet someone up there, so I can't stay here to entertain you.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

You gonna be all right without a babysitter? [She has to ask in the most obnoxious way, of course; they've certainly established that dynamic solidly.]

[shiitan]

It's fine. It's not like I'll be beat up if I don't find one for you.

[One way or another he was going to turn being deliberately obtuse into an art form.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

I dunno, I already think you're a champion prize-winner at asking to be beat up. I'm sure you'll find a way, I have faith in you.

[shiitan]

I'm also a champion prize-winner in avoiding getting beat up. Good to know you still have faith in me.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Glad to hear you've developed a valuable secondary power. Always good when your special talent doesn't get you killed straight out of the box.

[shiitan]

I'm already dead anyway. I'm just living on borrowed time as a shinki.

[He said it in a very matter-of-fact way, considering the subject.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Ah, you're the cheerful sort, too. What don't you have going for you? [Not that she doesn't understand, but she's trying to keep optimistic (despite all appearances).]