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

[fivemilesdeep]

From his position in Ryo's satchel, Lagos plays interpreter. Mort says he can't find one nearby.

It matches what Ryo is seeing, at least. "I don't see one yet - maybe there'll be one closer to a camp-"

He yelps in surprise and clutches Thanatos tighter as something big and yelling goes flying past them. He follows Thanatos's gaze to see a man falling to the ground and reaches out, bringing the wind with him. He can't stop the man's landing, but he can at least soften the blow.

"I don't know but we should move!" A reflexive act of mercy hasn't distracted him from the fact that they are very much in danger, if the revenants can somehow reach this high.

[controlsthedie]

Thanatos nearly tells Ryo to not bother with softening the landing. The wretched soldier is supposed to be dead, and mortals aren't go to be survive from this height. The landing would end this ill-forced life in an instant. Then he thinks better of it for various reasons, most concerning Ryo. All Thanatos can hope is that the soldier's next death is quick and painless.

"Damn it. This is never going to end unless something changes." A strong flap of his wings along with his innate ability to float propels them both further upward and forward.

[fivemilesdeep]

To be fair, softening the blow from this height does nothing to delay the inevitable; death softened is still death, and the revenant does not get up after impacting the ground.

(Yet.)

He holds on as Thanatos flies higher, a little breathless. Flying with Jingyi takes his breath away every time, and while flying with Thanatos isn't the same, he would still be thrilled if they weren't doing it in an attempt to escape death. He wrenches his focus back to the matter at hand. Thanatos is right - something needs to change. "Maybe we can set up our own equalizer. Can you get to one of the camps?" They never did have that conversation about what Thanatos is capable of, for good reasons, so for now Ryo is flying a bit blind.

[controlsthedie]

"I can, but I've kept a distance from the camps to draw them towards me and away from the others. If they're after you as well, then will we even be able to get to one to set up?" That doesn't even put into consideration that Thanatos has no idea how to do that. He's gotten better at technology, but he's not proficient enough for that.

Mort squeaks something, trying to help the two people who have drawn the wretches focus. "I've seen how heavy those are. I don't think you could move it alone," Thanatos says. Mort gives a resigned squeak and readjusts his hold on his pointy object. "And when did you get that?"

Mort doesn't give a helpful answer. Just "earlier."

[fivemilesdeep]

"Can you keep them off of me long enough for me to try?" It's about all he can think of right now. He's not the best with technology either, but he did pay attention to the tutorial, enough that he thinks he has a reasonable shot at success (namely because failure would only make things worse and is therefore not an option).

...the half of the conversation he can hear is certainly interesting. "Mort, do you remember how to set one up? Maybe you can help me." Mort can't move an equalizer by himself, but he can probably push buttons.

Lagos, on the other hand, is more interested in the latter part of the conversation. Wait, what does Mort have?

A quick glance gives Ryo the answer. "A knife?"

There's a beat, and then Lagos explodes into raucous warbling. That's so cool he wants one!!

[controlsthedie]

"None will touch you," Thanatos says as he changes his flight path to return to a camp.

Mort says that buttons will need to be pressed. He doesn't know what order they need to be pressed in. Needless to say, Mort was trying to help without really understanding. However, the knife has been really helpful, so Lagos should get one!

"When I put you down, I'll be taking to the skies again. Is that all right?" He'll have a better vantage point to see the wretches, and it will keep him safe as he focuses on protecting Ryo.

[fivemilesdeep]

Mort doesn't remember how to work it, Lagos informs Ryo helpfully, and also he really wants a knife. Ryo just sighs. "Thank you, Lagos."

Their flight path changes, and Ryo waits until they get closer to point out a supply tent. "There should be one in that tent."

He'd feel safer with Thanatos close at hand, but Thanatos knows what he can do better than Ryo. "Okay." He doesn't quite feel it, but if it's what Thanatos needs, he's not about to argue.

[controlsthedie]

Thanatos puts Ryo safely on the ground, making sure his feet are steady, and takes off to the sky once more. His scythe spins into existence. He'll use it to sweep down on enemies, but if they risk getting overwhelmed before Ryo gets the equalizer working, then he'll use his power. Hopefully, that won't be the case since using his power may only create another distortion or attract more of these wretches.

Wrap?

[fivemilesdeep]

The second Ryo hits the ground, he's on the move and into the supply tent. It doesn't take him long to find the equalizers - the Ministry keeps this tent organized - and pull one out. There's a split second of debate as to whether he should take it back outside to set it off, but a tent shouldn't prevent its effects from spreading, and why should he put himself in even more danger and make things more difficult for Thanatos when he doesn't need to?

So he sets it off right in the tent.

There's a few long seconds, after the sounds of combat quiet down, before he cautiously pokes his head out of the tent, looking for threats and Thanatos in equal measure. Is it better?