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

[declamando]

Most likely. I'd be very surprised if there wasn't anything that lived up here naturally. [It's the Heavens, after all. Strange things are going to be easy to come by wherever you go.]

[mithrarin]

I wonder if anything lives on volcanoes normally. [He isn't just idly wondering, either; they might find parallels of those creatures up here as spirit.]

[Well, one easy way to answer. Dust pulls out his phone to look it up.]

[declamando]

I think there are certain things, but I wouldn't consider myself an expert...

[Maria knows volcanic soil has its benefits and that sort of thing, but she can't recall any particular knowledge she has on the subject other than that.]

[mithrarin]

Hmm, according to this there are birds that nest in volcanic cliffs... oh wait, that's for islands. [Who needs experts when one has the internet? Phones are great for learning about things he'd never needed to ask before.] I'm getting from this that most animals will get out when they sense an eruption coming, but they had no way to sense this one, did they.

[declamando]

I don't think so. I don't remember any kind of indication before the earthquake this morning. [Maria does have to consider that at length, though, even if she doesn't remember most of her time here.] Did anything happen here in the last few months that might have been a sign?

[mithrarin]

[Dust flinches at the reminder that everything they'd been through to rescue Elfnein in the forest. That everything they'd ever done together is gone. It stings, if not literally, fortunately for Marinette.]

A while ago, there was an -- incident. Some enemies of the Far Shore captured a number of shinki and even gods, and dragged them to a forest here for a ritual. I'd be surprised if this wasn't caused by the same people.

[declamando]

[Maria thinks she might have seen mentions of that when she was reviewing for useful discussions on the BBS, but she didn't have a lot of the details just from that.]

If they've infiltrated the Heavens again, then it's a logical enough assumption to make. Has nobody found any leads since then, or did they cover their tracks too well?

[It would be more useful if she could remember herself, but...well, that's not something to linger on.]

[mithrarin]

We all went to search the forest in the Near Shore that corresponds to the one in the Far. If we ever found anything clear, I didn't hear about it later. Of course, people might have discovered things they didn't share.

[He isn't in the right circles to hear these things, as he well knows. Maria herself would have had much better luck, he thinks with some irony.]

[declamando]

Maybe. I'd assume if anyone found anything significant enough to be a hard lead, they would've mentioned it. There's no real reason to hide that from anyone.

[But then again, if this was a while ago now, a hard lead should have turned up some kind of resolution, as well, so she'd say it's a pretty safe bet nothing that important was found.]

[mithrarin]

You're an optimist. I can think of a lot of reasons. Even just a simple failure to realize that what they found is important. [Not that he's casting aspersions on anyone or blaming malice for a lack of information. Dust doesn't believe that of anyone here. Just mostly that people are bad at communicating, often enough. Himself included.] But either way, I'm guessing this is another piece of that puzzle.

[declamando]

I'd be hard to assume that's true of everyone if they're out looking, though. [It'd certainly be applicable to some, but presumably there's also some people out there who know what they're looking for and what significance it might have.]

It might be. Though it's a little bit hard to tell until we can learn more about what it is that's going on up here.

[mithrarin]

It was a really big forest. I don't think, with all our efforts, we got anywhere near deep enough to discovering all its potential secrets. [And if anyone did, the odds are pretty good they're the only one.] Plus there's always the chance that someone who did discover something... disappeared, or forgot.

[declamando]

[Maria's lips purse a little at the mention of disappearances.] I've heard a few things about that so far. I'm hoping it's not something I'll have to deal with so soon, but it does sound like it would make trouble for keeping hold of information.

[The people who've been here longest would probably have the most information, just by virtue of not having disappeared just yet.]

[mithrarin]

[Pardon Dust's momentary pause. Maria saying she hopes she won't have to deal with people disappearing or forgetting is -- just not something he can immediately respond to. There's a lot he has to swallow down, and he needs to steady himself so he can answer without his voice wavering.]

It's... something you get used to. I hope you avoid it too, but it's a fact of life here.

[declamando]

[Dust's reactions to certain remarks and actions Maria makes have become a little too obvious between this and their last meeting, and Maria folds her arms with a slightly more stern look on her face.]

If you knew me when I was a god, Dust, you don't have to conceal it if it's hurting you that much.

[It's the only real explanation she can think of for the reactions between then and now - the ones then wouldn't make sense if it was just any loss, and he'd been very certain of his thoughts on her already, so it's a culmination of them that's leading her to this assumption.]

[mithrarin]

[Dust sucks in a breath between his teeth.]

Someone told you about that, then.

[And it hadn't done her any harm, had it? No signs of blight, no torment, nothing out of the ordinary that he'd observed so far. Dust lifts a hand, both facepalming and squeezing his temples in the same motion.]

[A little regretful humor sneaks out.] Guess I've been worried for nothing, huh?

[declamando]

At the end of my first day. Or what I thought was my first day. [She doesn't feel the need to specifically mention Alex, since that's not really anyone else's business anyway. Even though it doesn't seem like Dust is that troubled by the fact that she was told, she'd rather save Alex any potential backlash.]

That pamphlet they hand out did say that it was safe to tell a shinki if they'd been a god previously. Someone must have tested it before now if that's the case.

[mithrarin]

Serves me right for never reading it, I guess. [The pamphlet hadn't been a thing back in his day, and he'd just assumed he'd gotten its contents down through other ways. No idea it had something so specific...] But... I wouldn't have risked it anyway. Just in case it was wrong. I'm glad it wasn't, though.

[He wouldn't be mad at anyone who took the pamphlet for granted and went ahead, full aware that he'd been as cautious as possible just because of how he is.]

[declamando]

It seems to have some fairly specialised information on some things, so it might be worth taking a look. [It's not exactly a long read, and someone who's been here longer wouldn't have the same confusion she'd had upon initially reading it, so it really can't hurt, she thinks.]

You weren't the only one who seemed to be concerned about it, if it helps. It took until the end of the day for someone to finally come clean.

[mithrarin]

If I had known -- that it wouldn't hurt you, I wouldn't have hid it from you. I promise. We were... friends, before.

[At least Dust considered her a friend. Sometimes he thinks Maria must view him -- must have viewed him, rather -- as trouble, an irritation to be helped out of the kindness of her heart.]

[declamando]

I thought that might be the case, considering how you were reacting. [It's nice to have the confirmation, though Maria doesn't sound surprised either. Dust's attempts to hide his own reactions to things she's said didn't exactly indicate he didn't care about her.]

I suppose it's one less thing to worry about, anyway.

[mithrarin]

Sorry to have worried you. [He'd tried, at least. The lesson here is that if this ever happens again, he has to be a lot more careful.]

[declamando]

It's fine. At least it was resolved quickly, so I can focus on figuring things out with it in mind.

[That had been the worst part, honestly - the feeling of not being privy to something important to her that a lot of other people were aware of.]

[mithrarin]

[Dust realizes, in that moment, that he'd expected -- more. And that is foolish. She didn't remember him. She only had his word that they had been friends, and no weight behind those words.]

[He's such an idiot.]

You have a lot of friends here, and people who trusted and counted on you. I know it'll be awkward rebuilding, though.

[declamando]

It has been already...I feel bad for the people who have gotten to know me, only to have me having to start over from scratch.

[She appreciates the predicament, at least, her tone somewhat preoccupied. It must be a difficult situation, to feel you care for someone more than they can do so in return just yet, and it's harder not to feel a little bit responsible for it.]