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

[happyends]

Madoka has no idea what's happening.

Sure, there had already been arguments in the camps. Deplaced people who got a bit too agitated, who started arguing or causing a fuss. But it's never been like this. Never has Madoka seen the people actually attack the Voidtreckers, especially not in numbers like these.

It leaves her paralyzed, unsure of what to even do in a situation like this. Hurting the displaced people to try and protect others feels much too scary for her, and she's kind of worried about being attacked herself as well..

So when she spots a reliable adult - she remembers the woman, hadn't she spoken to her before, after they got all that information? - Madoka quickly runs towards Leia, staring up at the woman with wide, worried eyes.

"W-What's going on..?!"

[motherofresistance]

Having managed to knock out her would be assailant, Leia had taken her lightsaber and moved on to trying to assist others. "Something is affecting the refugees' minds," she said to Madoka. "It may just be the distortions getting worse, but I have a feeling that it may be more than that. Either way, we need to put a stop to it."

[happyends]

"H-How, though..?"

Sure, Leia just showed a demonstration of it. But it's not like Madoka has a lightsaber. She's carrying her bow, at the very least, but bow and arrow aren't actually the most ideal weapons to knock someone out with.

And it's not like Madoka wants to hurt them more than that. After all..

"They're still.. the people we saved.."

[motherofresistance]

A lightsaber wasn't ideal for knocking someone out either, hence why Leia was keeping it deactivated until and unless necessary. The Force was somewhat more helpful in that regard, but given the situation, using it to calm people's minds directly was less effective than normal.

"For the moment, our best bet is likely to get more equalizers set up," Leia said. "We can't just keep knocking people out or tying them up one or two at a time; we need to cut whatever is causing this off at the source."

[happyends]

Equalisers. Would those help? Madoka does admit that it seems to be the only possible solution here. Even if they don't know what's going on, there is a chance that it has something to do with those distortions, and those things were what helped clear up the distortions..

So even though Madoka thinks about it - briefly, knowing that they don't have much time here before someone else might decide to take out their frustration on the two of them - she's pretty quick to nod.

"O-Okay! I know where they are, miss..!"

Sure, Leia might know too, but maybe Madoka just wants to feel like she's at least being a little helpful in that situation.

"Could you maybe help me get there..?" Since it's not going to be easy for a girl like Madoka to get there by herself when there are this many fights going on in their previously safe camp.

[motherofresistance]

Leia had a reasonably good idea where they were, yes, but under the circumstances, safety in numbers was definitely advisable. She nodded. "Lead the way," she said. "I'll keep us covered." If nothing else, she could knock anyone who got a bit too close for comfort away with the Force.

[happyends]

She nods at the other. "Thank you, miss..!"

Apparently Madoka does have full trust in Leia, since she doesn't even question how the other will do that, or whether she's sure she can do it. You don't question adults like that, especially when they sound confident..! Or, well, Madoka doesn't, at the very least.

"Let's go..!"

So she nods and starts to run across camp in the direction of the supply tents.

Thankfully it's not like Madoka can run too hard with her tiny legs, so she figures Leia can keep up.

[motherofresistance]

Leia nodded and followed behind Madoka. She indeed had no trouble keeping up, even if she was fairly short herself, and she similarly had no trouble knocking aside another crazed refugee as they went. "Careful when you're heading inside," she called out as they approached the tent. "Under current circumstances there might be trouble waiting." Depending on how clever whatever was doing this was, it might well try to prevent them from undoing its influence, after all.

[happyends]

Leia has a good point, really. And it's even better that she's actually saying it out loud, because Madoka hadn't quite thought of it herself. It makes her cautiously glance back at the woman once they do arrive at the supply tent, and then she cautiously looks ahead into the tent..

.. but it's so dark in there that it's really hard to see if there is trouble in there or not.

"I can't hear anything in there.." She instead says. It's just about the only thing she can go by right now.

[motherofresistance]

Leia closed her eyes for a moment and stretched out her senses, but felt now sharp sense of warning that would indicate a waiting ambush. "And I don't sense anything," she said. "Let's head in then; I'll watch your back."

[happyends]

Thank god that Leia has another way of telling something is in there, because Madoka sure wouldn't have been able to tell much beyond not being able to hear anything coming from inside the tent. And despite the fact that Madoka doesn't really know Leia's power, she still chooses to instantly trust the other. Madoka is usually inclined to listen to responsible adults, after all.

So without hesitation - but with perhap still some faint nerves, due to this entire situation - Madoka starts to enter into the tent, heading for the back, where she knows the equalisers are kept.

"They're here, miss! Let me try to carefully grab one, they can be heavy.."

.. or rather, they can be heavy for such a tiny girl like Madoka. But she's doing her best!

[motherofresistance]

Leia nodded. "I'll watch the entrance then," she said. "Though if you need some help carrying them, let me know." The Force meant that she could offer assistance from a distance if need be.