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

[junkyarddog]

"Gods live in temples, not houses, byon," Ken objects. He and Chikusa are on the same wavelength fairly frequently. "Where's yours at?"

[reformedsinner]

Chikusa and Ken's point about the houses almost overlaps; Hakkai smiles.

"I'm a god," he says, "and these two are my shinki."

When it comes to questions -- well, Ken's is quite good, and Hakkai leaves it as the only question being asked.

[veiledflame]

"We don't have to," Sotero shoots back. "And why would I tell you where I live? Where do you live?"

[kokuyoyo]

It's possible that Ken might let it spill, because it's not exactly a secret when it comes to someone who is a God of Fortune. Of course, there's also a high chance he might not, because of the paranoia that they've grown up with and which is still smarting after the whole incident with their room. Chikusa won't stop him either way. Instead, he shifts his head to glance at Hakkai.

Does it really matter if he's told...?

Oh, whups, is he snorting at Sotero again...

[junkyarddog]

"Why the hell should we tell you?" Ken asks, scowling. "You haven't told us anything, byon. You don't get to not tell us where you live and then ask us instead!"

[reformedsinner]

Hakkai laughs lightly. "Now, now, Ken. There's no need to be rude, is there? We can tell him where we live, and then he can tell us where he lives, since we've shown our own good will.

"We're in a temple in the Central District," he adds to Sotero, smile unflinching. "The one with the moon gate and the red doors. What about you?"

[veiledflame]

"I said I live in a house," Sotero mutters, "not a temple. With my dad. It's not anywhere around this place, 'cause who'd want to live in a dump like this, anyway?"

He looks up, and grins, sharp-edged. "There's a volcano erupting all over here and everything."

[kokuyoyo]

Slowly, the enormous crane head begins edging towards Sotero.

If he hates being on a dump so much, we can just take him then...

In other words, Chikusa is totally up for some casual kidnapping right now. In fact, if neither his god or partner stop him, he really will try to see how close he can get his head to the suspicious little shit. It's a good way to test how aware he is of his surroundings, too.

[junkyarddog]

"Your dad's here in the heavens with you?" Ken frowns. "Who's he? Is he another god, or a shinki?"

[reformedsinner]

Let's not scare him away, Chikusa, Hakkai thinks as loudly as he can, not looking at the crane to avoid drawing attention to the casual movement.

"If it's not anywhere near the mountain," he adds, smiling, "is it over in the nicer districts? Why, we might be neighbors, then."

[veiledflame]

"All of Heaven's a dump," the boy scoffs, planting a hand on his hip. He doesn't seem to notice the crane's beak looming ever closer. "I don't live anywhere up here. Like I said, I live with my dad -- on the Near Shore."

[junkyarddog]

"Gods and shinki live in the Far Shore, byon," Ken says, radiating distrust. There's a curl of his lip that says, if he's not baring his teeth now, he's right on the verge of it. "I've never heard of any gods or shinki living on the Near Shore." This, admittedly, isn't proof of much; Ken's hardly the most broadly educated of heaven's shinki. Hell, he's not even close to the most broadly educated of Hakkai's shinki. But he's a dog, and he smells a rat. "You're lying to us, byon! If you were a god, you'd have a temple here like all the other gods do!"