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

[deferences]

“Usually...” Maybe they don't talk about the times where that wasn't the case, yeah? Better for both of them.

Let sleeping Gods lie, that's what Sizhui would much prefer if this is the uproar it's going to cause, but it's never so simple; there's always something they must do and, even if it isn't in their best interests, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Despite how wild these refugees have become, this is important for them, right? It's why they cannot ignore or forgo those pleas, no matter how much they may think otherwise. (A discomforted sensation settles in his gut, something along the lines of this is a bad idea! but it won't be the first time Sizhui's ignored warning signs, and it certainly won't be the last.)

He spares Jingyi a sideways glance, smirking despite himself. “I do.” There are also the memories of what came afterward, though those momentarily fall to the wayside as he redirects forward again. Butterflies can only put people off for so long, they'll need to think of another way to— “Oh!” And into that pouch he goes again, rummaging for ropes he's almost certain he'd put in there some time ago. “I've got something to help with that.” Or he thinks he does, at least.

Unless, of course, Jingyi's got some himself or has a better idea on how to handle restraining these folks. Sizhui hesitates mid-search, scrunches his expression and shakes his head. “No, unfortunately,” a beat then his head tips and he asks, “I'm assuming you can teach me though?”

[jingyeets]

"Yes," he says, answering the assumption on teaching, while the rest is lost to him partly float-flying, lifting his forelegs off the ground to form a seal with his talons. It's not as easy to get his fifth digits to comply as human thumbs, but he manages nonetheless, and a net of blue qi springs up from the ground and surrounds the few compulsion driven refugees neatly, building higher and then curving inward to meet in a sort of dome over their heads.

"... We could keep throwing people in there, or knocking them out once we've got them trapped like this? As long as we're doing it safely."

Pressure points, no undo strength, and then... having a multitude of unconscious people to watch over.

[deferences]

It's more than enough of an answer for Sizhui, who adjusts the placement of his feet ever-so-slightly whenever Jingyi starts hovering. He averts his gaze toward Jingyi's claws then, watching intently, attention redirecting once brilliant blue brightens the ground, forming a net that arcs upward and captures each person safely within its confines. Huh... That's convenient, and with the hand (talon?) gestures committed to memory, he nods.

“Knocking them unconscious may be for the best. That way, they don't possibly injure one another while trapped in the confined space.”

Sizhui's quick to clarify, “I can handle that if you're able to gather other freed ones and keep them contained,” then he hops down, landing just as some butterflies disperse, the remnants of which he uses to his advantage for extra disorientation against their closest attacker; it allows him to disarm the refugee and swiftly deliver a hand-strike against their neck that will leave them effectively senseless.

...only brief problem is steadying them long enough to carefully let them slump down so he can move on to the next one. (But it's fine, nothing he can't handle!)

[jingyeets]

Only agreement from Jingyi, so it's a pattern they can settle into: Jingyi netting aggressive refugees, Sizhui putting them to rest until a solution can be found. Which comes along the way, as at some point, the hum of the equalisers comes over the air as they're activated, and the formerly mumbling, aggressive refugees become...

... Confused, in the way of a deep sleeper coming out of rest quite suddenly.

Jingyi holds the qi net for a little longer before he drops it, breathing out in a long sigh as people come out of the compulsion, showing no lingering signs of poss... compulsions.

"Please tell me it's over..."

[deferences]

Which works well, at least until the problem is eventually solved. Thank goodness, it doesn't feel everlasting for that either, as he imagines their energy could've depleted rather quickly if they'd kept it up too much longer. Surely they would have run out of refugees before then, right? (...right? Sizhui's unsure—) Fortunately, he needn't consider once those equalizers are restored, the individuals who had been affected coming to, groggy and in a muddle.

He's mid-handling someone when it happens, carefully steadying them on their feet while they gather their bearings instead of incapacitating them. Following Jingyi's sigh, Sizhui cranes his neck in that direction, somewhat weary-sounding, “I . . . think so?” A brief, hesitant glance back toward the person he's helping who's starting to regain composure, then he withdraws. Immediately, he wants to ask each and every refugee just what in the world had happened, but it seems more proper to let them finish recovering first.

So, this seems the perfect moment to slide closer to Jingyi, slump against his dragon friend's leg and exhale a huff of his own. “Let's hope it is or else this will prove to be a long, exhausting day.”

[jingyeets]

"What, it hasn't been already? We even rise early and this still feels like it's past bedtime already."

More mentally exhausting than anything else, he's happy to no longer have to worry about netting definitely not possessed people.

Definitely never possessed. Only driven by compulsions! Important distinction in exactly his mind.

[deferences]

“Admittedly, I hadn't quite been awake when the attacks started, but I was coherent right away when one of them came into my tent.” Possessed, overtaken by compulsion, or whatever it was that had started all this, they are definitely in agreement it's tiring, nevertheless.

Given how easily everyone has returned to normal, he'd imagine it has something to do with an impulsive nature rather than possession, since he would also think it'd take more than switching the equalizers back on to have refugees thinking clearly again. However, even if this isn't the case, he'll reassure Jingyi it is, just for peace of mind in his friend's case.

Joking, he feigns exasperation and sighs, “Can bedtime be now? I think we've earned it.”

[jingyeets]

"If not bedtime, it qualifies as naptime. I definitely think we're at least owed a nap." He shivers, a full body affair that looks exaggerated simply based on his size. That it's more of a shudder, and it's not actually for effect, doesn't need stating.

It would probably be easier if he were just afraid of ghosts, but alas...

His nose drops down and he nudges at Sizhui's shoulder, or more his whole upper back, with a warm exhalation.

"Please let the people loudly saying they'll figure out what happened solve this one?" Or more asking, please don't leave me alone, even if 'me' was a very large dragon at present, who would be shifting to human once he wasn't on the fading edge of the adrenaline he's been running on.

[deferences]

“I will also accept naptime! Any reason to rest after everything that's happened,” Sizhui nods, glancing sideways when Jingyi shivers and thoughtfully arching his eyebrows. Despite knowing that's how it's supposed to look, he can't help staring, smiling partially as the excessive gesture causes faint motion from where he's leaning.

People fear what they do, there's nothing wrong with it whatsoever, and even Sizhui can admit he'd be terrified by the total loss of autonomy.

An ahhh follows Jingyi's nudge, however, coaxing him into sitting more upright, a beat of silence between them as he contemplates. Many refugees nearby do seem to be doing alright, moving in more alert strides, even conversing with each other. (And here shortly, those aforementioned louder individuals will swoop in to check on others too—) So, perhaps nobody will miss them if they sneak away for some winddown time? No, no, it should be just fine, but regardless, he'll stay by his friend's side as long as he's needed.

This is why he finally head-bobs again with affirmation, “Okay, let's go then,” and does a neat heel-turn to be facing Jingyi, a hand playfully bumping against his nose in return before he hooks it gently in some fur as an incentive for them to leave now! while they can.