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]

Don't mind if he does!

Esteban pauses-- a vague note of surprise, before he quickly leaps at the dragon, bracing himself. The fur is surprisingly soft-- for some reason, he expected something closer to birds' feathers over the smoothness of hair, but he's not about to complain.

Though he does manage to question "Are you a water dragon?" because that had been nagging at him ever since he'd spied the serpentine dragon trying to squeeze himself back into the train. But even that seems a little off, and he can't tell for sure. He's never seen another dragon like Jingyi after all. But he dutifully tucks himself as close to the dragon's scales as he can, crouched out of the way so that he causes as little air resistance as possible.

[jingyeets]

"No, wind. With some water I guess," he says, a nod toward his fog manipulation, but he doesn't control water the way that those of Yunmeng do, or some of the other Lan disciples. (Elemental prowess, after all, is partly genetic, partly random luck draw.)

Esteban may or may not notice that there's only gentle windpull on him, and he's kept warmer by being close to Jingyi's body; were he to extend a hand out far, he'd feel the temperature difference abruptly, and even the increased wind factor of Jingyi's flight. The dragon's only manipulating the air close to him or around the woman in his claws, and it's barely any time at all for him to arrive at the central supply tents and the associated medical tents, where he coils himself in a spiral with his head closest to the ground, providing access for Esteban to the ground in the open area far too small to support Jingyi's uncoiled bulk.

"Here, find the medics in charge, I'll keep any refugees from charging in new."

Meaning if any were already in those medical tents, that was slightly beyond his easy grasp.

Let me know if you need a better hook?

[crowneddragon]

"Keep on expectin' feathers on you," Esteban manages, half to himself, though it's loud enough to be heard by both. "Wind, hun. Haven't met a wind dragon b'fore. Keepin' yerself cloaked in one?" He has to be; else there would be much more resistance to their passing. It gives the half-elf the confidence to get just a bit of distance away from the mane, but there is only a soft breeze caressing his face, as opposed to a rushing, screeching gale. It's surprisingly soothing. He could get used to this.

It makes him smile, calming him as they approach the med tent. There is nostalgia and comfort, just to be flying, and he gathers his strength in those little memories of happiness, readying himself for the next horrors that threaten to jump at them. He still feels wrong to be touching the dragon's mane carelessly, but he pulls himself just a little higher to make sure the other can hear him properly.

"Thanks! For the flight." He probably won't understand how much Esteban means those words when they feel so casual, but he truly is grateful.

The moment the dragon lands, however, he's scrambling off to help, sliding down the neck before Jingyi even has to lower it. When he hits the dragon's shoulders, he uses the settled arm to push himself off the limb, avoiding any area that might do more than a quick sting as he leaps off. Landing like a cat, he's skip-quick as he rounds up to free the dragon's talons-- the best spot for the girl would be in the tents after all.

"Alright, gimme five minutes, I'll be back with you!" He promises, hefting the teenager up in his arms without too much trouble. There's not much of a plan for what comes next, but securing the med tent-- and the supply tent next to it-- sounds like a step in the right direction.

Re: Let me know if you need a better hook?

[jingyeets]

( ooc: this is all good! I'm replying from email so please forgive the retained subject line )

"I'm not a bird," he says, distracted rather than particularly concerned by the question of anyone expecting feathers. He only grunts to answer the question about his holding a layer of air close, figuring it was self evident. They had other pressing realities.

Ones which, when his fellow Voidtrecker brought the unconscious refugee into the medical tents, make themselves manifest: it's controlled chaos inside, but Jingyi only hears as much when he's dealing with another refugee who is... throwing a chair at his head. Repeatedly. It glances off his horn rather than his skull, because he's not using strong winds as deterrents, not when in camp and trying to avoid injuring others.

But he does manage a sort of energy net in blue qi around the chair happy refugee, leaving them in a sort of flexible seeming energy cage with the chair they've taken to standing on while shouting at him about things ending soon.

"Please tell me someone in there had a solution," he says, casting Esteban a look, "Because that man just thought it was reasonable to attack a dragon with a chair."

[crowneddragon]

[ooc: noted~ I'll keep ooc notes like this then!]

The half-elf barely glances at the person when he comes out of the tent, startled to see them, but immediately checking on the dragon at the mention. There's no blood, nor even a bruise, so he figures Jingyi must have kept the damage to a minimum, at least. He lets a soft sigh escape him, relieved, before his head shifted lightly to the side in his curiosity.

"Can't keep more th'n one asleep at a time?" The fact that the dragon could do this at all had been a surprise to Esteban; he'd known there were dragon mages, to be fair, but he'd never met one personally. "Want me to knock him out?"

Esteban's version was... a bit more violent in its process though. He wasn't sure just how comfortable he'd be at knocking someone out with a kick to the head when they were already tangled in a net. (But then again; what choice did they have? The sun wasn't supposed to rise this early, the earth was not supposed to sing. If there were refugees after them, trying to attack them-- Esteban would have to counter as best he can. No matter what his conscience might think.)

"Someone suggested usin' the Equalizers for this. Set them up 'round camp; see 'f it helps. There'll be spares in the supply tent--" he waves an arm at the largest tent among them, just a few feet away. But Esteban was not very confident. Not in the suggestion, and not in managing to fulfill it. He hadn't taken more than a glance at the Equalizers, figuring someone else would enjoy the technology better than he did.

Still. "Worth a shot, yeah?" He suggests, grinning brightly. But they should probably clear the immediate area around the med tent first though; just to give them some peace of mind.

[jingyeets]

Jingyi swings his head to look towards the supply tents, huffing out a slightly more than gentle breeze in the process. He's worried, he's staying dragon to not run around naked or become a squishier target for anyone, and that suggestion...

... Sounds reasonable, he guesses. It must stabilise or equalise the compulsion inflicted by the fractured god. Insane god? Whatever, the Problem God... s.

"If you want to drag the boxes out, we can fly around to set them up. Or I can fly you around, I don't have the deft hands for putting them in place without retaking human form."

Which he could, though he would be rather nude, and flight gets slightly more complicated if he's moving anyone else around too. Not that he dives into those explanations, but his heart grumbles over them even as he worries for the compulsion driven refugees harming the people he cares for, and harming themselves.

"You know how to?"

[crowneddragon]

Hmm. Well, somehow, he had expected that.

"Nope!" Another brilliant grin accompanies his words. "But how hard c'n it be?" It's... technology. Esteban's skills with technology is directly linked to how interested he personally is in it; the grav-con is in his pocket, never far from him anymore, but he still doesn't know how to use the ICPs back on the train.

He has to hope they aren't... going to be complicated to work through. There's too many people in the camp, they need to help, and this is their best bet.

"Can y' lead most of them away from the tents? The healers have 'nough on their plates without rantin' refugees interruptin' them. I'll get the Equalizers-- no draggin' needed~-- an' we can go on from there?"

They have an actual plan there, and Esteban is quick to start on it, darting across the short path to the largest tent in the field. The grav-con unit is useful again, not aimed at himself this time, but at the boxes, and he gently floats them out of the canvas and tarp coverings, making far less noise this way, and setting them up to be easily grabbed by talons. He doesn't know how they work, but he guesses that five will do, spread around the entire camp. Setting them all off at once will be harder though; just between the two of them.

[jingyeets]

"... How many are in there?" He says, arching his neck into a questioning curl at the proposed plan. "I could try pushing people in a direction with wind."

The camp itself and his own bulk make it difficult to do otherwise, when he has to rely on techniques to deal with people, not throwing in his bulk beyond what he's done before. Being a forgiving wall? As long as no one was hurt.

He huffs out and sends a gentler breeze spinning away from where they stood, continuing while Esteban worked on floating (that was what was happening, wasn't it, those were floating over) the boxes with the equalisers. Jingyi stretches out his forepaws, carefully hooking talons through handles. Three to one paw, two to the other, and he nods to Esteban, whiskers flicking back toward his neck as indication and invitation: hold on.

"I've watched more of these be set up than done them, let's get the first between medical and the rest of camp."

After which he would be off, flying the short distance to a suitably large enough place he can set one of the equaliser kits down, almost sending two sliding off talons, but then correcting at the last moment. Hah! Small victories in the midst of early morning chaos.