Fissures of Time: Ongoing

[voidtreckermods]

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FISSURES OF TIME: ONGOING

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... POI 10-12

FOR SOME, THE MISSION HAS BEEN MORE MENTALLY EXHAUSTING THAN PHYSICALLY. Distortions sprout around the domain without rhyme or reason, and the camps must be moved every new day to meet them, as well as stopping a distortion from deciding to form under them from their presence.

While there's bare-bones vegetation, at least they have their own resources to help one another, as well as what can be retrieved from the Ministry base during return trips to take misplaced civilians to safety. It's straight-forward so far...

...but that wouldn't be standard for the Voidtreckers, and some in their ranks don't want straight-forward. Starting during the early hours of Poi 10, there will be occasional rumblings throughout the land. They last for a few seconds and then stop, seemingly for hours; but then they return, and as the days go on, so do the tremors increase.

It seems the distortions too have become affected...

THE UNQUIET CITY. (CW: People unable to die/rising from the dead, body horror)

A city of rubble and ruin stretches far out around them, where once there were hills and vegetation. Much of the rubble is still smoking as fires smoulder. The fighting isn't over, heard before it's seen.

It must be connected to the same skirmishes seen in other distortions, and so most of you are prepared to meet warriors on foot and mount. But what awaits isn't only the horror of bloodshed. No: the reason that the fighting still continues even as the city lies in ruin is because fighters fall and rise again, as if death were nothing but a short rest.

Puncture marks litter skin and armour, holes from weaponry and blessed-magic visible in torsos, even the spaces of where portions of one's skull and brain should be.

Yet they cannot stop fighting. They cannot fall to the ground, rest. Whatever drove them to fight this war still inspires them to continue, screaming as much in pain as in some sort of twisted ecstasy. Perhaps they are too shocked to do anything else. A city locked in eternal war, distorted in time, doomed to repeat itself.

It's hard to set the equalisers here. Not much is stable and fights are likely to break out wherever there are people. The people of this city have their factions, but they will not hesitate to band together to fight intruders.

EYE OF THE STORM. They might feel this distortion before they enter it. A spine-chilling thrill, the feeling one might get at the edge of a storm.

—For a storm it is. The moment they enter it their vision will be obstructed, winds howl around them and rain lashes down furiously making a swamp of the ground below them. It's freezing cold and as they walk they will feel something in the storm. Almost as if there are icy hands, reaching out to grab at them, to pull them further into the worst of the weather.

It's hard to know where to place the equalisers, hard to see where the edges of this distortion are. Easier, not by much, to move further in, to find the epicentre and try and take it down from there.

It's a treacherous journey, but the centre truly is calm, water frozen like crystals. Yet temperatures are dangerously low, so it's in everyone's best interests to set the equalisers quick and get out.

MEAN AND GREEN. As the rumbling continues, there comes a strange and worrying distortion. Worrying, as this distortion can be seen from the outside. A hazy blur that seems to move across the countryside, along the left side of the camp you're stationed at. It gets dangerously close at times, and when it does...

Green tendrils of plant life burst out, entangling people to pull them into the distortion. Or chains of flowers spread from the distortion out across the countryside. Beautiful and colourful in the otherwise sparse environment, but those flowers work as anchors, spreading the distortion, expanding it.

To get rid of it they will need to enter, and inside is a thick jungle of vines and bright colourful flowers awaiting them. The foliage is thick and the air musky and sweet. It's easy to get separated, and getting lost is only a matter of getting turned around. The leaves are sticky and vines move seemingly on their own, curling around unsuspecting limbs, trying to trap people in this colourful paradise forever.

And up in the sky above, a woman's laughter can be heard, the heat of the sun bearing down that becomes uncomfortable quick. But don't look up - you may find a large yellow eye - yellow iris, yellow pupil, golden yellow everything - peering back at you, and find yourself being pulled in by the very ground itself by a powerful force.

NO SANCTUARY. Protecting the camps hasn't been difficult, despite it being a Purple task. Other than rowdy refugees breaking out into fights, little else has appeared to disturb them.

'Eiiiiliiifii.... Siiiiliiifiii...
Merios? Herios?
Don't hide... don't hide...

Everything will be so perfect soon...'

People are woken abruptly in the early hours of Poi 11. If by some special sense, or by a grab at their throat, by a body falling on top of where they sleep, someone else stopping the refugee who was about to take a knife to them.

The refugees have become uncontrollable, raving about wanting 'their Gods back'. The ground rumbles as the woman's voice from the hazy jungle - ethereal, so divine - speaks from below. Grass rises and the sky above burns with a brightness like an approaching sun.

Setting an equaliser will calm the refugees, but only those in the camps. Starting from lunchtime, more warriors and civilians will be found appearing from the distance and from thin air, seemingly knowing where to find the Voidtreckers' camps - and after some very specific people.

Those with divinity, control over weather, nature, and death will be especially targeted, along with anyone who received blessings from the Gods.

OOC NOTES

OOC post. Ask questions here. Let us know about shenanigans here. NPC requests here, set up a thread here. Rewards go here.

TL;DR: Starting on Poi 10, there will be odd tremors around the domain, and more aggressive time distortions. From Poi 11 refugees will lose control of themselves and start attacking Voidtreckers, in and out of the camp.

It will happen abruptly to begin with, but some keen to reading energy will find that it is shifting; like something is breaking in from somewhere else (similar to the time distortions).

Extra equalisers can be picked up from the Ministry base and they will be there to help, but there are also more distortions happening around the domain, so they'll be dealing with those. The Ministry will advise that any non-combatants should stick to the base, and even use the scouting drones to help from afar, if they really need to help.

Undead warriors can be found outside of time distortions, and not all of the people outside of distortions will be 'permanent' people. Equalisers can be kept going for a few hours to keep these people away, but will also need go into recharge/cooling mode.

Don't worry if you're still busy with the Starting log! Or if you've been meaning to tag, jump in here!

Comments

[yondu]

"He's an asshole!" He just says decisively, as if that tells the whole story about how one particular fakeox pissed him off. He hops onto the wagon and flicks the reigns hard, getting it to lurch forward and move away from camp. That camp is mostly peaceful now. He's jut got to make sure he can expand the fighting range a little... as well as be a distraction for the figures coming across the landscape in a speedy trickle.

He's not nearly the most wanted or offensive. He's been working hard on his abilities, but they're still mediocre compared to what they could be. But in his efforts to not use lethal force as often he's brandished them more often than not in this place and that turned out a bad idea.

Can't win for losing, right?

"If I tell ya to go back I want ya to go back. Raven and Kyoko are still around, I wanna make sure they're looked after. Especially considerin' who Raven's blood father is." Possibly making her damn close to divine. Definitely another person steeply at risk, and he hopes she took the previous invitation to leave.

[worthallthis]

Soldat frowns at Yondu, briefly, before sighting along their rifle in the direction of the nearest potential foes. That's not the kind of talk they like to hear out of anyone, let alone Yondu. "You'll look after them, too, Yondu. You know that even if we die out here, the train just brings us back, right?"

[yondu]

"I know! But I'll be back on the train, so it'd be up to y'all." Though even if he didn't wake up on the train, he'd still be doing this. If he can veer any of these things off course.

He flicks the reins and hollers at the animal, which does not go as fast as he'd like and he's pretty sure he could have asked particular crew members to do this faster and more effectively than this is going, but at least by the time they're getting away from camp they'll still be going fast enough to keep away and slow enough to urge a few of the approaching things to come after them as a potential target.

"If it works out there'll be a wider zone to fight in without worryin' about sparkin' up some kinda distortion."

He knows pretty much where would be a good idea to go, too. A good planting spot, thanks to all the other crap he's had to lay down. So he stays focused. It does occur to him this ain't Soldat's favorite, thing, but-

"I don't wanna keep killin' the locals headin' in just to save my own damn skin. They don't come back and they had no part in choosin' none of this. And some of these soldiers cain't be beat with conventional weapons. People are gonna have to be able to use their strongest tricks." And that means risking the temporal issues again if they're not prevented.

[worthallthis]

"The train is parked right out in the open, Yondu, you can just come right back out again once you get out of your suitcase," Soldat snorts at him, but they don't particularly like the way he's talking, either. They understand taking risks to protect people, and sometimes that risk is death, but they have been scolded enough for dying that they know it's not really approved of.

So they trot along beside the cart, aim and fire at one poor revenant with flowers growing out of a gaping chest wound, and they demand, "What are you planning to do, exactly, Yondu?"

[yondu]

"Maybe I could, but I ain't gonna have none of the train kids they're comin' after to make the same sacrifice if I can help it." Doesn't matter if they come back. They shouldn't have to come back. It's the best he can offer in this situation. "I'm gonna lay down some of them equalizers, that should at least break up how-!"

The sentence is cut short by a loud holler. An arrow going right through his leg, through the meat of it and out the other side. His khakis are staining black.

He breaks off the end of it and pulls it out. Ranged weapons and mind-control are a hell of a thing. "I sure hate that a little more than the mindless hordes," he grunts.

[worthallthis]

Soldat finds the source of the arrow, and shoots them without even really thinking about it. If it's one of the undying, that won't do much good for long, but it'll give them some breathing room to look at Yondu's leg. They swing up onto the cart, keeping the metal arm free for deflection if necessary. "Then we do the mission and we don't die doing it," they say grimly. "Because people will come after our bodies. I can wrap that up. And I got a few of those healing potions in the Arms band."

[yondu]

"You just have to make it back. An' bring my arrow. I didn't take nothin' special out here with me other'n that." He hisses between his teeth as he moves to adjust himself.

"Potion'll work. Don't bother wrappin' it." Honestly he's tempted to not even potion up, it's all a waste of resources, but he's gotta make it a little further before putting out an equalizer. He sees what's a good spot (and luckily he's been putting them out for days and now has an eye for that).

[worthallthis]

"Damn you, Yondu," Soldat mutters, privately promising that they will not leave this idiot out here to die, but they pull a potion out of the Arms band to hand over, either way. They remember feeling that way, intentionally blowing themselves up to save the inn from a horde of rock-spirits. But they also remember the many people who railed at them afterwards for not valuing their own life enough.

This is probably not the best place to talk it out, though, so they drop it. They keep to the cart and its higher vantage point for now, bringing their rifle up to shoot any threats, attempting to use the metal arm to intercept any threats they don't shoot first.

[yondu]

There are a lot of things at play here, though not all evidence of his self-loathing. Sure, he really doesn't place a lot of value on himself. Even if he didn't die out here, he came out here knowing he'd hurt and he was ready to take a battering. That he was roaming right into recursive punishment if not death. It's more that after days of seeing glimpses into the past? Of the peaceful villages, the battles, of the civilians displaced and scared and wondering why their world was shattering? He can't be his worst self.

Yondu has it in him be a brutal, remorseless killer. But seeing some frail young mother rush at him with a knife? To see some haggard old laborer that's never fought a day in his life try to throw a punch? It's offensive. Them being used is as bad as how he and Soldat were used. If there's one little thread of gentleness in him for himself or for others like him, it's that he does not want to kill these unfortunate victims.

Mixing them in with the weird flower revenants out in the wild? That's just goddamn low. It means Yondu can't attack until he's sure which is which. He has to let them get close enough to tell, and while his arrow is fast, it can't take them down permanently. He can aim for the knees and hope they take some extra time to get back.

And placing equalizers? That's distracting. Yondu's had to do some concentration in plenty of fights. Run craft, rewire machinery, break codes? He's taken damage during those moments too. That's not new. What is new is that these guys aren't going down, he only has one person out here with him, and when enough attack at once that makes a difference. He waits as long as he can before asking for more potions, but whatever basic weaponry they got (whether it's a knife or a fucking hammer) takes its toll. Then when they go down, it almost feels worse when he realizes which ones aren't going to get back up. Just pisses him off more, and he hopes the train's gods fuck up whatever the gods of this world are (though he's still a bit bitter on the idea of gods in general).

So eventually he's out of potions and working on laying down a second equalizer, his body's repaired but his clothes have suffered under the assault, he's exhausted from healing and he's trying to put down the last of the batch, knowing another wave of the holy fuckfaces are bearing down on them. But he knows if he gets this finished? Then it'll just be the undead they're dealing with. But he doesn't quite finish. One rejuvenated soldier with good aim and a spear to show it off with manages to get him from quite a distance. He's bent over the screen when it comes down, kneeling, and it cleanly bursts out the front of his left shoulder and embeds deep in the red sand.

And after everything? He's pretty sure that's it. Time to call it quits. A couple of attempts and he's too worn out to dislodge the weapon from the sand, letting his dark blood pour down and stain it. There are too many of the things around, and he's kept Soldat out here long enough.

He gives up and just tosses his arrow away from him with his still functional right arm. There. Easy to get.

[worthallthis]

Soldat is wrestling two of them away-- they're a little less forgiving of being attacked than Yondu is, or perhaps just more practical, and have taken kill shots when they have them; Yondu is more important than the poor saps being controlled into attacking them-- when the spear lets fly. They hurl the two farmers away from them, trying to lunge and intercept, but they're not fast enough, they're too far away.

The spear-thrower gets a bullet right through the throat and a snarl before Soldat leaps to where Yondu fell, dropping to their knees next to him. "Hey. Yondu, hey, stay with me." They'd sent a text to Raven back when they'd used the last potion in the Arms band, letting her know Yondu is being an idiot and they could use some backup. This would be a great time for her to show up.