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]

Maybe to clear out your eyes. [Nia growls this impatiently, before biting in her temper.] How should I know what's got you seeing things?

[reformedsinner]

Oh, well... it's nothing in my eyes, I'm afraid.

[No, whatever it is is definitely affecting his brain. Although, considering the possibilities of magic, it's also not impossible that it's affecting his brain because there's something in his eyes-- for a moment, Hakkai considers this unpleasant possibility, and sighs.]

Or if it is, it's bound to get in them again if I stick around here.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Could try some healing? Don't know if it counts as actually harming you, but... [She's got what she's got, you know? If all you've got is a hammer, treat a problem like a nail.]

[reformedsinner]

... Honestly, I don't know either. My healing powers don't work very well on my own injuries, although they can speed up recovery time.

[She'd mentioned she had a few, though... Hakkai guides Jeep, carefully, around another curve. All right, he's managing.]

Would you be willing to try?

[sassywelshcatgirl]

I offered, didn't I? [Nia twists, then plants one foot on the seat so she can sort of stand and get her ringblades out. Her Blade perks up slightly, leaning forward to channel ether to her.]

Healing Halo!

[A twist and a lift of her blades sends healing energy surging over the pair of them, swift and powerful. Actually, she feels a lot better after that herself, mostly because it patched up a lot of bruises and minor burns she'd endured over the day.]

[reformedsinner]

[He feels... oddly refreshed, in fact. He's accumulated a set of unpleasant bruises and scratches himself, and a few burns from getting dangerously close to lava flows he was helping others divert, and the pain is abruptly, surprisingly gone.]

My. That is effective.

[As a healer, he feels a little bit inferior. He looks away from her, scanning the area; it's still smoky and indistinct, with movement among the trees, and as he looks back at her the image of a strange, scowling, youkai-eared face still wavers. He smiles wryly.]

I don't think it's done much for the hallucinations, though....

A little distance should help me clear my head.

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Didn't do the job it had to, so it doesn't count as effective to her. Means the compliment makes her huff and look sour, glancing back ahead of them.] Damn. Guess there's no shortcut. But hey, you said you were good with medicine, right?

[reformedsinner]

Yes. I may have to check and see if I can find a recipe for something to deal with this tonight.

[If only he'd made up a medicine against hallucinations in advance-- but, well, no helping it.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[There's a place where he's better than her by far. Nia nods, letting a little of her irritation relax.] Sounds like a good idea for the future, too. Might be a host of different things to prepare for, at that. Confusion and dizziness, maybe even losing a sense.

[reformedsinner]

Yes, I agree-- [Hakkai nods in perfect agreement to 'confusion and dizziness,' but frowns at her last suggestion.]

Have you heard of that happening to anyone?

[Is he going to go blind-- no, probably not, his vision is no worse than usual; it's just the fact that he's seeing things.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Nah, but it's the sort of thing you'd expect would happen if your brain gets all foggy, isn't it? Seeing things is just one possibility. Maybe it only affects gods, or -- hell if I know. [If your eyesight gets messed up or blurred, why couldn't it get blocked entirely? And hearing, well -- if her ears didn't have that fuzz protecting them, who knows what'd get in them to mess them up?]

[reformedsinner]

You're not wrong. We don't know much about it yet... but I'll have to work on things tonight.

[He shakes his head.]

Ah, up ahead, is there...?

[It looks like something dark and massive blocking the road; he hits the brakes, slowing them to a crawl as he tries to make it out. A lava flow? A landslide? A hallucination?]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Oh hell, stop the thing!

[His warped brain is seeing the threat wrong, she figures, but still a threat nonetheless.]

There's a gap in the road. Looks like it cracked apart!

[reformedsinner]

[Ah. He hits the brake harder, and Jeep shudders to a stop as Hakkai frowns. A gap in the road... it must have been the earthquake.]

How far out does it go?

[He gestures down the foothills' gentle slope. Perhaps if they off-road around the gap, they can get back on the road after it.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Bit of a ways, honestly. It's only a few feet but I don't see how we're getting Jeep across it... 'less he does what you were talking about and makes it on his own?

[Nia looks down at the vehicle expectantly, as if he'll just pop off and do the thing. Hakkai did say he did what he wanted, basically, didn't he?]

[reformedsinner]

I don't think he can jump a gap like that without a ramp... Jeep?

[The engine rumbles dubiously. So. Hakkai frowns, and looks uphill instead. There's an incline there, and not too many trees...]

Hm. Nia? How wide would you say the crack is there?

[He points at the uphill edge of the road.]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

[Nia follows his point -- then sticks out one of her own.] Yeah, it's not as wide up there! Where it closes is probably too steep, but just below that, we can probably roll over if we're careful!

[reformedsinner]

Well, then!

[He pats Jeep's steering wheel, and throws him into reverse, getting plenty of room to build up speed before he stops again and begins to accelerate forward. He's aiming so that he can travel up the hillside at an angle, keeping Jeep's wheels all -- mostly -- on the ground until they hit the narrowest part of the crack....]

[sassywelshcatgirl]

Hang on, this is gonna be bumpy! [Nia grabs onto the door handle and the back of the seat to do just that, gritting her teeth in preparation.]