Fissures of Time: Ongoing

[voidtreckermods]

---

FISSURES OF TIME: ONGOING

---

... 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

[myblueskies]

"Oh..." He was staring at the blood on his hand and then up at Madoka and then back at their hands. Very carefully he pulled away the cloth and his eyes widened when he saw her hand. The cut was gone! Healed shut like it had never been there but on Romeo's hand there was a cut, exactly as it had been on Madoka's!

"Wow!" He looked at her in awe. "I fixed your hand!"

He remembers this from Diagad, being able to stop people hurting and taking the wounds onto himself. He hadn't thought he could still do it now.

"Does it not hurt anymore?" He hopes not! His eyes are wide in awe at what he's just done.

[happyends]

It's a little baffling. Both the fact that her own hand now looks totally normal, but also the fact that Romeo is asking her if it doesn't hurt anymore like his hand is not currently bleeding! At this very moment! If there is still some blood on Madoka's hand, then it's just from the cut that disappeared, and perhaps at this point even mixed a little with the blood that came from Romeo's own wound.

It leaves Madoka staring at the other wide-eyed for a moment, too startled to speak until she manages to force out a: "Y-Yeah, it's okay now.."

Look, it feels important to make sure he doesn't worry about her. But on the other hand, she definitely still is worrying about him!

"W-What about you though? Romeo, why is your hand now the one that's hurt, and not mine..?"

[myblueskies]

He was glad! This was so confusing but at least Madoka's hand didn't hurt anymore, he grinned, relieved. Though a moment later he realises that he probably needs to try and clean up his own hand and so he moved the cloth over to press on his own wound, it stung but that didn't stop the glad feeling he had.

"I don't really know... But remember when we were in that world where we all thought we had powers? I could help people then by taking away their hurts and this was just like that... But I never done it except in that world before..."

He's not magic, not outside of being a shinki and this is no shinki spell.

[happyends]

".. you mean Diagad?"

Because people had been discussing powers from that place before. Madoka knows, because she spoke about them with someone as well! And that person had said that some of them seemed to regain their powers from that place, bit by bit..

Which is really weird, given that they're not living with those fake memories anymore, but now she's seeing the living proof of it right in front of her. What other explanation is there for her wound suddenly having healed, but Romeo getting one?

"I-I see, but.. isn't that dangerous..?" After all, if he took her wound away and upon himself.. That's.. well, a lot.

"I mean, you got hurt because of it."

P-Please, biffle, don't get hurt for her sake! Not even accidentally!

[myblueskies]

"Yes." The Diagad place that maybe wasn't actually Diagad? He's a little confused. But he's not thinking too much about that right now because this amazing thing has just happened.

Was it dangerous? Maybe. But he could help his friends! He could make them not get hurt!

"But you're not hurt anymore!" He grinned at her. "So that's the important bit! I made it go away!"

Even if it hurt him. That doesn't matter.

[happyends]

Look at Madoka over here. She's baffled. Just baffled. Because yes, Romeo is right, but.. he's also very wrong at the same time. Except calling out that last part means accepting the chance of ruining that happiness on the other's face, so this is.. hard.

Maybe Madoka should leave this to someone else to call out? A responsible adult? Someone who could convince Romeo of this better than she could?

.. it feels a little irresponsible, but on the other hand, she's not so sure she could say the right thing here.. So she just sticks with the basics, an awkward smile on her face.

"Um, Romeo.. Please be careful with that power though." Saying that should be safe at least, right? "It's no good if you're hurt either, you know..?"

[myblueskies]

He blinked at her, her words breaking out of his happiness for a moment but he nodded. "I will be careful. But I'll be fine! It doesn't matter so much as long as my friends are okay and not hurt. I'll be careful though! I don't even know how to do it really so I got to practice to make it right!"

Since he had done it mostly by accident.

[happyends]

".. Right, maybe it'll get better with practice.."

Or at least, Madoka sure hopes so? It does make sense that maybe Romeo got hurt in the process since it was still a first accidental fluke, and maybe he just has normal healing powers that still need to fully grow..

She bites her lip a little, not content with just leaving it at that though.

Not when she's talking to her biffle.

"But.. R-Romeo, you know.. I get really sad when you're hurt." She figures she should at least say that. Because it's true! And maybe he can understand that better than it just being no good?

[myblueskies]

He hoped he could get better with practice because then he could heal more things, make sure his friends never got hurt for very long!

He tilted his head at her, frowning slightly. "I know. I get sad when my friends are hurt too..."

He doesn't want to make her sad. "It doesn't hurt too bad though, so you don't got to worry about me."

[happyends]

Well, Madoka will at least trust him on that one. Because she had that wound only a moment ago, and it's true that it didn't hurt too bad.. It's not like it was pleasant, but it wasn't totally unbearable either.

So Madoka does the best she can do in this situation - which is to nod, and then to think of something more productive.

"Then let's get a bandage to put on it!"

At least they can do that much, right?

"We got to make sure it doesn't get infected, after all." That's the least she can do in return for Romeo helping heal her with this strange, semi-creepy new power.

[myblueskies]

"Okay!" That was probably smart, because now they had to make sure no bad bugs got into his hand!

He held his hand out towards her so she could help put the bandage on. "Thank you Madoka!"

[happyends]

Give her a moment here to grab a bandage - and a cloth, so she can first try to gently clean the wound just a little bit. Thankfully it's not very dirty to begin with, since Romeo's wound didn't quite show up in.. let's say any conventional way, so it doesn't take too long before she can just neatly apply the bandage to Romeo's hand, making sure to cover up the wound well.

".. there we go," Madoka says after a moment, once she's done applying it. "You're almost as good as new! Just make sure to be a little bit careful with that hand, okay..?"

A-And with your new power, too, bud? Please?

[myblueskies]

She was a very good bandage tier. He smiled at her in thanks.

"I'll be really careful! I promise!"

He was sure it would feel all better soon enough.