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

[another_moon]

Sayaka Miki… she… must have been close to you, huh?

[redmeguca]

Heh, not really. I only knew her a few days, and she probably hated me to her dying breath. But... she reminded me of something I'd forgotten long ago. I became a Magical Girl because I wanted to make the world better, not become one of the people making it worse. In the end, she gave in to the despair being a Magical Girl brings and became the Mermaid Witch, Oktavia von Seckendorff.

[As Kyoko continues, blueberry bushes sprout behind her.]

[another_moon]

I see. I had no idea things were like that.

[She ponders something - ribbons like Mami, then the sword… was Sayaka a sword user?]

What happened to her? I mean, from what I understand of your world, it wasn’t nice, but…

sorry for wall of text, kyoko has opinions

[redmeguca]

Honestly, it was pretty stupid. There was this guy she had a crush on, some violinist, and he was in an accident or something. She blew her Wish on healing his hand, just his hand, so he could play again. She then completely failed to make any attempts to actually follow through on that because she read too many superhero comics and thought that you can only use powers for selfless reasons. We met when I tried to take Mitakihara as my territory after Mami died, we fought each other for equally stupid reasons, and the only reason I didn't put her in the hospital next to... Kyoichi? Was that his name? Anyway, she got back up after I put her down because her wish gave her regeneration and the irony is not lost on me.

I said some stupid things about how she could get Kyoto to herself, we fought again, we found out that our bodies are just horrific meat puppets piloted by our extracted and crystalized souls, and it all went downhill from there. I told her my tragic backstory, she decided she didn't care, and she basically took my olive branch and used it for kindling. Her fighting style got reduced to "hit it with my sword until it dies" after Kyubey told her she can turn off pain, she refused to use any of the Grief Seeds she got for some incomprehensible reason, and then she admitted she was an idiot as she became a Witch right in front of me.

[Kyoko finally stops for air, letting out an angry huff.]

So as you can probably tell, there are some unresolved emotions there.

Wow, she does!

[another_moon]

[Usagi listened to what Kyoko had to say about the entire thing and suddenly, she realized that she was following in those footsteps - that she needed to do things on her own, that she had to use her powers selflessly and not need anyone.

She closed her eyes briefly before she spoke again.]

It seems she didn’t think things through… and neither have I. I’ve been gunning through things with such a one-track mind, I had no idea I was such a disaster like that.

But, this isn’t about me…

[redmeguca]

Hey, you're still doing better than her. Sayaka was stubborn enough that everyone that tried to reach out to her was met with a backhand, not just me. Hell, she apparently told Madoka, one of her oldest friends, that she didn't have any right to judge her unless she became a Magical Girl too. Which brings me back to the whole "wasn't using her Grief Seeds" thing, because having a dark Soul Gem encourages negative emotions. Speaking of, I should probably offload after that rant.

[Kyoko's Soul Gem, which had admittedly reached the "roiling" stage of corruption at this point, lets the impurities flow out and form into Ophelia, but a different Ophelia than the one Usagi knows. The empty kimono has a vibrant forest pattern, and the beaded chains have been replaced by hanging vines. Viridian flames dance around where she floats, the plants around them gaining unusual vitality instead of burning away.]

Well. This is new.

[another_moon]

[Usagi watched as Ophelia is summoned before her with such a drastic design.]

Wow, whatever you ate not just changed your normal powers but everything connected to it! Honestly, I think it would work with other powers, too!

[Your girlfriend went magical geek again.]

[redmeguca]

I knew the power of the Seed reached my Soul Gem, but I wasn't expecting it to get all the way to Ophelia. Guess I'd better make the most of this power-up while I have it.

I suppose reintroductions are in order then. I am Ophelia, the Doppel of Rejuvenation. My form is that of a Druid. May my healing flames serve both Kyoko-sama and yourself well.

This is insane... It's like I made a different Wish entirely at this point.

[another_moon]

Then, let’s make the most of it. We have a distortion to shut down and people to save.

And I guess this means we can cut loose.

[redmeguca]

Yeah, you're right. You hear that, Kolokifi?! We're not just going to let you do as you please!

[The forest writhes in response to Kyoko's anger, any plantlife not under the rogue god's direct control rioting against the chaos of the distortion.]

[another_moon]

Let’s go!

[Usagi holds out her hand to summon up a set of ribbons to form into a sword before she charges into the path Kyoko made.]