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

[crowneddragon]

Hun. That was not where Esteban's head had turned at the mention of illicit activities, and he has to bury the snicker back behind the bite of his teeth. His grin is still wide, but he doesn't comment, holding back his tongue before his foot got shoved along with it. The light still shedding a warm glow between them and the few stragglers is suddenly very interesting, but he is listening nonetheless.

Ooooh? Seemed that Allen had a bit of a silver tongue, and the ability to trick the unwary. Esteban hadn't expected it; but then he suspected that was exactly why Allen was able to run with it-- there is power in being underestimated. He's a little more dubious at the mention of a bar fight, but then he really doesn't have the room to judge on that particular subject.

"Didja keep the earnings?" Morally, Esteban is mostly on the good side of the spectrum. Mostly.

[mynameisallen]

Allen knew what he had been doing as he told the story, his wording was intentional. Not that he fully understood what the other possibilities were as much, but he was at least aware that people can think differently.

Allen himself soon gave the biggest grin at the question that for those who knew him would seem oddly different in how he would normally smile.

"Of course, how else would I be able to afford a place to live and food." Sure, Kanda was the one who wanted to pay the bills so Allen didn't have to but like hell he would have let him. Also guilt was a strong thing.

[crowneddragon]

Of course, the snicker that escapes him is bright and cheerful, somehow very proud of his friend's accomplishments, even through a retelling. He knows the struggles of living on the road, and the fact that Allen turned it all in his favour by stealing from pirates is all the more entertaining to him. His companion is resourceful, for sure, and he tucks the new sliver of information away.

"Nice one!~" he cheers, bumping his shoulder against his companion's lightly. "Remind me not t' gamble 'gainst you, I'd lose for sure!" Esteban isn't one for gambling to begin with, and he's pretty sure Allen would be able to read him like a book, even if he tried his best to be discreet.

[mynameisallen]

Allen laufhed as he was nudged. He was always confident in hid abilities to chaet when it came to poker at least. Never played it fairly, but for him that was what he had to do to survive sometimes. Plus it helped him be able to learn to use with left arm to, so useful in that area too.

"I mean nothing to gamble on the train, but you make it sound like you have gambled yourself? How good are you?" he asked curiously.

[crowneddragon]

'How good', Allen asks.

"Have you seen me? I'd need to try my luck against a blind person t' stand a chance, an' then they'd probably be able t' read me through my breathin'." He's not at all embarrassed by this, laughter dancing in the colour of his eyes, bright and amused as he laces his fingers and stretch them out to remove the soreness of the last few hours.

"Is that the expression? I'd get fleeced?" It sounds right, but he's not so sure anymore. "Even by 'n amateur."

[mynameisallen]

"SO basically, you have really obvious tells? Or that you are so nice that it's easy?" That was how he was reading it anyway and yes, that would mean he could get easily fleeced, but that would be something that would honestly annoy Allen. At the people who fleeced him more than the fact he got fleeced.

"I mean it does take a lot of skill to do, but it's still something teachable."

[crowneddragon]

Allen missing his point so obviously makes Esteban chuckle, grin wide as he shakes his head. "I don't have a poker face," he explains, raising a knee up to tuck his foot under the other leg. It hardly matters how he sits, the rocks are still uncomfortable, but it stops him from bouncing it with restless energy even on the short break he's decided to take.

"I don't gamble much, 'cause that's just invitin' trouble. Get good cards an' I'll be happy; so I smile. Get bad cards an' I'll furrow my brow an' look all sour." He tries to imitate it, but it's hard for him to frown when he's so cheerful anyways; it barely looks upset at all when his smile just won't be tucked away. Well. Case in point, he supposes.

"It's--" He pauses, words fumbling into his mouth when he attempts to shape them, not even sure what he's trying to say. "It's easier to breathe, when I don't think too hard 'bout things. Gambling w'ld be really hard for me t' learn, 'cause I'd be thinkin' too hard 'bout it all. Gotta keep my mean face on!" He tries-- tries but it only lasts for a split second before another snicker interrupts him. He's really, but really horrible at this.

Then again, maybe he's just never thought about keeping his smiling face on.

[mynameisallen]

"Having no poker face at all is still classed as a tell." A very obvious tell sometimes depending on the person. But it was something Allen himself had to take a whole to learn, which was mostly out of learning to use his left arm which before then really hadn't moved all that much.

"Gambling is a lot of thought that goes into it since you have to pay attention to your own hand and trying to figure out if the others have good hands or not." So he figured that might not happen, but considering the other4s always cheery looking face, if he could just learn to always be smiling all the time it would be a very good poker face for the most part.

"But there are parts where no thought is required. Like facial expressions. Just act like you have having fun."

[crowneddragon]

Hah! Shows what he knows about gambling!

But Esteban is listening to his friend, is trying to put his terms into something that he can associate with, or understand. In some ways, he guesses it's a bit like trying to keep a secret, not by telling lies, but by circumventing the truth-- a skill Esteban has a bit more experience in than he really wants to admit to, to be honest. It pulls his lips into a careless, reckless smile, even though he knows he's probably about to get absolutely trounced, when he offers.

"Then I guess I should try an' win 'gainst you, since I always have fun when you're around~" Not that he has cards. Or that he's sure they even have the same games. The SCA translates their words after all; but maybe his version of the game is very, very different than Allen's.

(He's still willing to try at least! But he seriously hopes Allen won't want to wager onto anything serious.)

[mynameisallen]

Allen was honestly surprised. He has never been asked to play with someone before, not that even Allen has cards of his own here. So he wasn't sure if they could even play currently. Besides wasn't this currently story time?

"I'm not sure you'd want to do that, I becomes a very different person when I play and I wouldn't want to subject that on people I care about." If he could help it anyway.

[crowneddragon]

Esteban doesn't ask.

Really, he doesn't.

But about that poker face-- he's failing hard at it right now.

There's curiosity in the tilt of his head, a lifted eyebrow that speaks of his desire to prod at the subject. Still he seems to take a hint, even if he lingers in the silence for a moment too long, before finally turning away, and raising his voice a bit, an entertainer through and through. And there are others listening, already, a few of them grumpily so, but they lingered, and Esteban catches himself back.

"So..." What was the story he'd promised again? There's so many that he knows-- but oh! This one had been more personal. Something that had happened a long time ago.

"So, here's the thing. I used t' have long hair, back then," he mentions, with a spark of mischief in the blue of his eyes. "An' I mean, pretty long--" At this, he straightens on his seat, and lays his hand across his back, just a bit lower than mid-spine.

There's something about the 'used to' in his sentence that seems to point out at something unfortunate. He's still grinning though, and it's a fond memory regardless.

"So, um. Lesson number one about fire spinnin'; keep your hair tied." He mentions with a snicker, "an' number two, careful which ribbons y' put in it."

It's a bit of a silly story. About people Esteban used to travel with; a family that loved to say they were fire elementals as they showed off their skills. "They all had speci'lties; Annuska loved th' rope dart, an' Pieter taught me th' staff. Their mom was the one t' first spot me an' put poi in my hands an' told me to goof 'round, but 'careful y' don't hit y'r eye.'"

There's a special way he pronounces the words as he speaks, a sharper end to his rs and a pinched a. But their cadence is-- familiar. Esteban must have spent quite a bit of time with them, to have picked up their speech patterns.