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]

[That's fine. Chikusa can just lower his head down again and nudge it towards the back of Shun's legs.]

[Is that clearer, now?]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Oh, right. Shun glances down and then back up towards Chikusa. He's not unused to flying mounts, though Chikusa is still somewhat larger than what he's used to.]

If you think it'll be quicker, then I suppose I don't have a problem with flying. [He could just fly himself, but he'd rather save his energy for the moment.]

[kokuyoyo]

[He's a giant bird, Shun, he's pretty sure he's quick. Rolling his eyes, Chikusa lowers his neck.]

[Shun is in for a very strange experience when he leaps on... Being made of clouds, Chikusa doesn't seem like he should physically be able to be ridden and the sensation backs it up. On his main body, Shun will find the fog going up to at least a foot, and touching his feathers makes them seem simultaneously wet and fluffy. There's a sense he might fall through at any second.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[It is a somewhat odd experience, but Shun doesn't let it show too much. He's not usually all that much about holding on when he's riding anyway, but he does crouch down low enough to touch the oddly wet feathers.]

Strange form to take. [One would think having permanently wet feathers would cause flight problems, too, but he supposes that can be explained away with magic.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Twisting his head to look over his shoulder- cranes really are conveniently flexible that way- Chikusa tilts his head to the side. It's not as if he got to choose this, after all.]

[...Also, is Shun sure he's not going to go flying off like that-]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Hey, Chikusa's big enough that he should be able to find somewhere to grab on if he starts to slip anyway. His usual mounts go at a pretty ridiculous speed, so he doesn't feel like he'll have much to fear from Chikusa.

He is at least crouched, so his center of gravity is low enough he won't be knocked over, and he's within good reach of the feathers. At this point, he just gives Chikusa a somewhat expectant look, as if wondering what the delay is.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Well, if he's sure, then. Chikusa won't take any blame if he falls off. Then again, it's not like Chikusa accepts the blame for anything, even the things he's actually done.]

[Don't let your teenagers grow up half-feral, folks.]

[Spreading his wings out far, ignoring any obstacles that would get in the way of a normal bird made of flesh and bone, Chikusa flaps his wings to rise up into the air. He thinks there's something more conductive to flying with his form like this. The air welcomes him a little more readily, which is much nicer than being a regular crane, where he had to work with the air currents.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun seems quite used to being in this position - he adjusts his bearing in minute ways so that it barely seems like he's there for how well he goes with the bird's movements. It's definitely something he has experience with, that much is obvious just from the finesse of the motions.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Darn. Shun won't fall to his death. Well, that probably works out the best for him anyway. Chikusa tries to stay as high as he can, without losing too much of the ground to steam or clouds. Getting to the volcano is the most important thing, especially for his own tests...]

[...But that means, in order to find anything relevant, they're going to inevitably get closer to earth. Or maybe the earth gets closer to them- volcano and all.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[It's a little bit hard to make someone who can both fly anyway or summon another bird fall to their death regardless.

As they get closer to the volcano, Shun leans out a bit to try and get a better view of the ground and see if they can spot anyone yet who doesn't look like they belong with the others on the slopes. It's hardly an exact science from this height, even if he does have some experience with spotting from on high.]

[kokuyoyo]

[He can still dream, alright?]

[And he can also manage to balance flight with looking back to Shun, although it's a little bit tricky. The way a bird's skull is positioned helps a little, since he only needs the one eye to check on him. He can't see anything yet.... so does Shun himself have any ideas on where he wants to go?]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun hasn't spotted anything particularly out of the ordinary yet either, but there seems to be some movement on the slopes - white-robed shinki heading up to investigate. He points them out.]

If Amaterasu's shinki are getting involved in this, then it might be more significant than it looks. We might as well check where exactly they're headed.

[Whether it's straight up, or whether they're going over the slopes for something, like an intruder.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Chikusa snorts. Yeah, he sees them. So they're just... marching up a live volcano, huh? Well, whatever. Chikusa tries to gain some more air, to get a better idea of the path they're headed towards.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Their path is curving around the side of the volcano, which looks like it might be the easiest one up, but they also appear to be discussing something amongst themselves, expressions rather serious as they look over the area around them.]

Definitely looks like they think this isn't natural. [Why come up here in the first place if they didn't expect foul play, anyway? He highly doubts they could stop a volcano.]

[kokuyoyo]

[Chikusa's snort says of course it isn't natural. That much should have been obvious from the start. And Heaven still doesn't look prepared for it... He starts to tilt a little further from them. If there's one thing he's certain of, it's that following Heaven's lead will be useless.]

[revolutionfalcon]

It might've been obvious to us, but you know they're stubborn idiots about this sort of thing. [Lack of wanting to admit anyone can bypass their defenses yet again, and all. They don't exactly have a good standing record.]

Have you seen something else useful, or do you just not want to be near them?

[kokuyoyo]

[Yes.]

[The best way he can convey this, however, is to quietly snap his beak twice, even as he glides in a circle around the volcano. This is an advantage they have over Heaven, at least.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[That's unhelpful. Shun lets out a faint sound of annoyance, but doesn't seem overly fussed with it.]

I'm not sure we're going to be able to pick out anything out of the ordinary from this height, anyway. There's been nothing so far, and usually the ones who attack Heaven are actually reasonably careful about it.

[kokuyoyo]

[So in other words... Chikusa makes the circle back around, and starts to guide himself down back to lower altitudes. Unless Shun stops him or has better ideas, he plans on putting a little bit of distance between him and the volcano, too. It's far better, after all, to land somewhere that doesn't have immediate threat of lava or gases.]

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun has no complaints about that - they might as well start from the bottom if they're checking the place thoroughly, anyway, though it does occur to him that Chikusa probably isn't going to have the easiest time of this himself regardless.]

You might be better off finding Hakkai and asking him to switch your form back.

[kokuyoyo]

[Landing steadily, Chikusa shakes his head before lowering his beak to the earth. His writing is messy and a little hard to read, but manageable.]

TEST BREATH.
FLY MOUNTAIN.
HAKKAI.

[revolutionfalcon]

[Shun jumps off Chikusa's back as soon as they're on the ground again, then pauses to read the message. It's not he most helpful thing in the world, but he can get the gist, so he shrugs slightly.]

Suit yourself. [He assumes it means Chikusa's planning to head off on his own at this point.]