april event, phase one: seeds of unrest 🌱

[beleos]

THE BEGINNING

Summertime in Springstar has been on its way out, heralding the arrival of fall; winter has likewise given way to spring in Highstorm - at least, according to the calendar. Yet there is an unseasonable bite on the breeze - one growing as frigid as the mood among Meris and Zenites in their cities. Between Alenroux’s occupation and talk of ‘the Blight,’ worries have been on the lips of the citizens with increasing frequency - and with good reason. The reports of plant life dying, of objects crumbling, of people whose bodies are deteriorating are dominating the rumor mills and local papers.

Everything comes to a head early in the second half of Pelu.

After an unusual pocket of commotion in the Seat of the Tribune and the courtyard of Yima’s manor, an urgent announcement is made on behalf of both cities: both Great Trees have been quarantined, and no one is permitted in either location without clearance. New rumors spread of an ‘incident’ that saw those in the immediate vicinity of the Trees rapidly demonstrating symptoms of an illness that was becoming all too easy to identify. It had stricken with frightening speed; not long afterward…

The unrest had spread into the streets, and it wasn’t just about the Blight anymore.

Cetina and Kathova wasted no time in reaching out to the Bearers via Communion to offer them guidance from their leaders and incite them to action.

SPRINGSTAR: THE ROOT OF THE ISSUE

Day by day, changes unfold that render the city increasingly dangerous...

ROOTS:

Vine-like roots have begun to thread the streets, creeping upon and over buildings, spreading outward from the Tree in Heliopolis. Over the next two weeks, they will continue to grow in size and become more troublesome, slowly blooming ice-like leaves that radiate a sickly glow.

• GROWTH: Contrary to the Blight’s normal behaviors, some people and things around clusters of vines or leaves can experience a burst of vitality, growth, and splendor as if transforming to beyond peak condition. In a normal citizen, this may result in an almost manic level of energy, reckless behaviors, and aggression. In objects, they become more durable and efficient, but dangerously so - for example, a stovetop cooks faster but burns uncontrollably hot. In plant life, this results in overgrowth that can overwhelm and choke nearby flora, objects, or even people. Then, they burn out an hour after exposure and immediately succumb to a dire state of Blighted.


• CHILL: The temperatures will continue to drop throughout the next two weeks. It will be coldest where vines have clustered and outright dangerously so near where flowers have budded or bloomed in great numbers. This will force some people from their homes.

TIME POCKETS:

In seemingly random parts of the city, areas referred to as ‘time pockets’ have populated. There is no way to identify a time pocket but to stumble into one.

• REGRESSION: NPC’s in these areas will appear to freeze in time once a Bearer has breached the pocket’s radius but appear normal from the outside. Time within has halted at the point the pocket manifested ( typically covering an area like a city street or inside a single large building that sees regular use ). Objects can be freely manipulated but will not fall if thrown, etc.
  • The pocket cannot be left until the Bearer has achieved their objective. Attempting to exit the way they entered, they’ll run into an unseen barrier that is painful to the touch, a sensation of frigidity that travels to their Shard.
  • Their goal will be to locate a past version of themselves hidden from immediate view. This past version of themselves can be from any point in their lives but must be from a moment when they felt extremely vulnerable, isolated, wounded, or fearful.
  • Once finding this past version, they will feel the compulsion to either find a way to reassure their past selves somehow or kill them. Whether it is the Bearer themselves who performs these acts or another Bearer in their company does it for them, as long as their past selves are pacified enough ( to player satisfaction ) or dead, they will gain immunity to the pocket and may leave. The immediate area will remain frozen, however, and the past version will be revealed to be made of roots that will shrivel and die.
  • Note: Bearers will be able to see other Bearer’s past selves, even after they have been freed. Whether the past reflections are capable of speech while functional is up to player discretion.

HIGHSTORM: THE ROOTS OF CHANGE

The snows continue to fall over the city, feeling brittle against your skin...

ROOTS:

Vine-like roots have begun to thread the streets, creeping upon and over buildings, spreading outward from the Great Tree in Yima’s manor. Over the next two weeks, they will continue to grow in size and become more troublesome, slowly blooming ice-like leaves that radiate a sickly glow.

• SACRIFICIAL: [ CW: self-harm ] Where the roots snake and gather throughout the city, NPC’s in several locations are falling victim to the quiet, slow pulse of the flowers and their buds. They will sit and stare at the flowers for hours, unblinkingly, as their body begins to succumb to the Blight. If they are disturbed in any way - a loud noise, an attempt to move their person, etc - they will calmly look up from their worship and crack off a piece of their brittle body before returning to their reverie.
• In order to save them, a pair (or more) of Bearers must sneak up on the NPC - one using a pacifying spell given by one of the faction leaders while the other crushes the flower. If the NPC is not pacified before the flower is crushed, they will become hysterical and the Blight will rapidly consume them, causing them to perish. If they are pacified and the flower is not crushed, the spell will wear off within ten seconds with the same result.

• CHILL: The temperatures will continue to drop throughout the next two weeks. It will be coldest where vines have clustered and outright dangerously so near where flowers have budded or bloomed in great numbers. This will force some people from their homes.

TIME POCKETS:

In seemingly random parts of the city, areas referred to as ‘time pockets’ have populated. There is no way to identify a time pocket but to stumble into one.

• REFLECTIONS: NPC’s in these pockets are moving in surreal blurs, pieces of them moving forward as others move backward, some changing as if time were rapidly passing as others remain frozen still. The Bearers’ surroundings are distorted as if reflecting multiple realities simultaneously.
  • Their goal will be to locate a tall standing mirror situated alone in the center of the time pocket’s radius. The Bearer who first touches their reflection ( henceforth called “mirror-Bearer” ) will cause the world inside the pocket to suddenly stop, reflecting a comforting environment they have fond or pleasant associations with. The mirror will be gone.
• Something or someone the mirror-Bearer highly values, deeply misses, or sees as imperative to their character, goals, or desires will be present. If they make contact with this object or person, the Time Pocket loops and sends them back to searching for the mirror - but they will have no memory of this occurring. Their partner, however, will recall everything.
• Both Bearers will be released if five loops occur without the mirror-Bearer being stopped from causing the loop or if the mirror-Bearer is stopped from reaching their goal for five minutes ( willingly or otherwise ). The longer they refuse to make contact with this object or person, the more tempting and dire the need becomes inside of them.
• Once the Bearers are released, the Time Pocket disappears. If they manage to avoid contact with the temptation inside the Pocket, the roots and flowers in this area will be withered and dying, buying the NPC’s and buildings in this location some time. Otherwise, they will be thriving and dangerously blooming.
• Note: the mirror will not respond to the non-mirror-Bearer once it has been touched the first time.

ENTREE-TING HELP

The Tree of Life is in danger, and you know it. Both Yima and Cyrus have directed all Bearers who might listen to increase visitation to the Tree and monitor it for signs of the Blight - of its leaves changing color, of any frostbitten bark, of its roots withering.

And then, during a moment in which you find your mind at ease, at rest... you dream, even if dreaming is unnatural for you. You dream of yourself sitting beneath the massive bows of the Tree's breadth, at peace. The perpetual dawn's glow warms your skin in a way that seeps into your bones, leaving you certain you are safe from harm. The Tree reaches out, and though it cannot speak to you in words, you feel it is trying to convey a message: one of urgency. One of plea.

But you cannot understand...

Soon, the branches of the Tree are reaching out to others. You cannot see them, but you know they're there; a spiritual tether connects your Shards together, bringing you all into a place of wordless unity. And once your fellows have been summoned, you know what you are here for.

You feel it rather than see it: some meager, barely-there brush of something cold in the warmth of the island's comfort. The Tree is already infected, and the clock is running down for all of you.

When you wake to yourself, a feeling of dread not entirely your own will chase you, and you will find a single violet leaf in your hand.

MISC NOTES

• Bearers start with immunity to the Blight. They will not succumb to the effects of the Blight even if they handle the vines and flowers directly without precautions or care.
• The above effects will occur in small clusters and are not yet spread city-wide during phase one. The escalation of frequency characters will come across problematic clusters or Time Pockets will be slow building.
• For context, it takes about a month from infection to death or dissolution for the average person or object to succumb to the Blight. By the 21st, it will be three days to a week.
• Bearers will be directed by Cetina or Kathova to make efforts to protect the civilians and investigate the manifesting changes around both cities. Both factions are working on their own methods to attempt to counteract the Blight, but neither has produced a failsafe solution.
• The roots will remain mostly outdoors, for the most part, these first two weeks.
• Tensions will slowly ramp up in Alenroux, and there are checkpoints for any non-PC visitors to screen for signs of infection.
• Player characters who die inside the Time Pockets are dead and need their Shards brought to the Tree of Life for revival.
• HAVE FUN!! ♥

CODING

Comments

QUESTIONS

[beleos]

[bakedapple]

Hello!!! Okay so when you say that Bearers "start" with immunity to the Blight, do you mean characters are completely immune for this first part of the event?

[beleos]

Yes, that's correct!

- Prince

[bakedapple]

Great, thank you!

[diversionist]

Cetina and Kathova wasted no time in reaching out to the Bearers via Communion to offer them guidance from their leaders and incite them to action.

is this all bearers, or just those harmonized?

[beleos]

All Bearers! You can choose which your character received a message from if Unharmonized.

- Prince

[diversionist]

ty ty!

[passio]

amnesia guy with amnesia questions

do they have to remember the event in the time pocket?

[beleos]

I'll go ahead and say it's up to player discretion, whatever would make it juicier / more fun for you 🌈

- Prince

[subsist]

kaeya was given a vial that helps slow down the blight's effects, and he would want to use one of the dosages on the tree of life if it would help. he'd also try communing with the tree just to see if more hints can be given as to how he could further help it, since the tree did protect him once before... if there's a way to take its blight as his own or smth, he'd do it— 🥺 pls don't die on him,

should i include this in a thread with someone else to make it count as a "notable action"? would there be any adverse affects if he tries?

[beleos]

If Kaeya were to ask anyone at Greenwood Yards who helped put the vial together, they'd let him know that what he has isn't going to be enough to help the Tree - it's too small a quantity for an entity like the Tree of Life - but, they would let him know the Tree is their first priority. So! Come part 2 of the event, they might have something for him to try... if he's OK with being their guinea pig.

It'll probably be fine!

Just make a note if he's interested when phase two goes up and we'll give you the details.

- Prince

[subsist]

"it'll probably be fine!" says prince, with a manic grin

but that sounds good! he'll come knocking when it's phase 2 for shenanigans. time to make sure he gets everything done before phase 2 just in case he gets [redacted] again—

[dawnlord]

holds kaeya's hand gently :>

[fireballer]

"Note: Bearers will be able to see other Bearer’s past selves, even after they have been freed. Whether the past reflections are capable of speech while functional is up to player discretion."

it's 2am and brain don't work... does this mean bearers will need to enter the time pocket to see other bearer's past selves? or is it just like... an illusion outside the pockets? bc the "past selves" are just roots that whither and die once the past selves' bearer leaves the pocket, right?

[beleos]

The wording might be a little confusing, haha! What it's trying to convey is once you've been freed, you can still see other people's past selves to interact with them so that you aren't locked out of assisting others with their time pockets.

You both need to be inside the time pocket to experience any of the effects. You won't be able to see anything from the outside; it'll look like life is carrying on like normal until you cross the 'threshold,' so to speak.

- Prince

[redsoil]

If,

Set were to use Speak with Plants on one of the Blighted vines... what would the result be? Would Communion get a different result, or the same? ( Like, a deeper understanding, etc. )

This cannot be a bad idea.

[beleos]

Communing would not seem to work, but Speak with Plants would produce silence! Not the kind of silence of a failed connection but rather the sensation of dead air.

If Set waits long enough or keeps attempting to speak to them, he'll eventually be rewarded by a whisper that feels a bit like goosebumps on the inside of his skull. It doesn't speak in words, but instead impressions - much like the Tree of Life.

It feels like a teeming mass of voices crying out in perpetual, undying agony, and he is left with the sensation that "it" will never end ( as if it were his own thought, even if he can identify it is not ), even if he cannot identify what "it" is.

Any attempts to reach out to the vines or flowers after this will be unsuccessful and result in chaotic fuzzy feedback, like static.

- Prince

[redsoil]

"It feels like a teeming mass of voices crying out in perpetual, undying agony" so just another tuesday for him (stares at his cursed bracelet-thing full of screaming souls) yk just normal shit

THANKS FOR THE CREEPY DETAILS, PRINCE???? files this away on my conspiracy theory board

[diversionist]

returning with another time pocket question (that is hopefully not actually in the post this time lskdfjs) — once the bearers are released and the pocket dispersed, will the mirror bearer remember all the time loops, or only the instance without a reset (the last loop)?

[beleos]

This can go either way! Since time is a bit 'fucky' (technical term) in the pockets, either is plausible. AKA... go with whatever is more fun, narratively, for you.

- Prince

[diversionist]

ty prince!!

[sharmat]

this is more a statement of intent for voryn, as he'll be doing what the church of helios has him doing aka attempting to commune further with the tree. he'd be trying in springstar and in highstorm to get more data for hieropoios natalaia (who probably has her work cut out for her right now).

i know several people have asked this, so i apologize, but it's tied into his ac reward/player plot therefore it is his overarching duty! would he glean anything from doing this?

[beleos]

Both the Trees in Heliopolis and in Yima's Manor are currently quarantined at the moment and can't be reached! Is Vern going to try to Commune with the Tree of Life itself? If so, in what manner is he approaching?

- Prince

[sharmat]

then definitely the tree of life itself or the blight vines, as he apparently has a Death Wish. he'd approach via the root caverns if it's not too treacherous (also because he'll have to go there with link's shard after link Perishes in his a time pocket with him). his vibes will be ones of simply wanting to understand and assist with an undercurrent of self-flagellation for not having intervened sooner!

tank you, pwince

[beleos]

Though the cornerstone to the Tree of Life is being watched, those charged with its protection will let him through.

Vern will find that going to the Tree of Life and attempting to Commune with it will lead him into the caverns below, conveniently; the Vibes are that the Tree can communicate with him most easily from down there if he is touching the roots below directly. He'll find the occasional sign of Blight-tainted foliage and dying lichen, and the area feels drier, less alive, though it is a subtle difference. The 'disease' has not progressed very far yet, thankfully.

The Tree Communes in the way of impressions and strange, dreamy sensations. Most of them are soft, gentle. There is a feeling that isn't quite sadness, but that might be the closest approximation. The Tree will eventually 'show' him the leaf he woke with after his vision as if asking if he still has it on his person.