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

Highstorm (for symmetry)

[sharethememory]

I must admit I did not expect to see this aspect of the Scorching Isle come along as well as the Blight.

[ Zhongli makes the comment with a furrowed brow, ripping a particular stubborn length of vine from around the blade of his spear. It had been enough of a handful to deal with the ever-growing roots and hypnotic flowers accompanying the Blight's growth, but this--- adding ominous out-of-place mirrors to the mix --- the mere thought left an uneasy feeling in his gut for the people of Highstorm.

Time was really starting to run out for all of them.

Tucking the weapon back under one arm, Zhongli approaches the both Akua and the mirror. He stops exactly two paces behind and to the side of where Akua stands - steadfast in his own inspection but too cautious to come any closer. Just the one it seemed and with no specter of the past to haunt them.

Yet. ]

It seems we meet again, which is quite fortunate since I have not properly thanked you for our last encounter. Less fortunate that we find ourselves with another mystery to unravel.

[ And one that was currently plaguing his new home city rather than some distant time-cursed isle that had closed its doors almost as soon as it had opened them. ]

[wolof]

One more time, and we'll have made a pattern of it, don't you think?

[ She turned from the mirror to Zhongli, a quirk of a smile. Twice now, they have met near mirrors, although this was significantly fewer than the last time. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but there had been a real charm to a labyrinth of them, where a single odd mirror in a Highstorm street was going to show a little less...panache.

She gestured toward it, almost curiously. ]

Have you seen something like this before, or have you been focusing on the roots? I saw...quite a few entranced by them, on my way to the Tomes.

[ She said this, but it's made clear by her tone that she didn't exactly help them, either. Sure, she'd learned the spell just as the others had, but Akua was... not the type to help, not like that. Saving individual lives was... frankly not her style. ]

[sharethememory]

[ If only he could return that hint of a smile, but Zhongli's expression is currently set in resting business face as he tries to exert control and reason over a situation that is frankly uncontrollable. ]

I was focused on the roots, but they seem to be growing faster than they can be reasonably pruned or collected. Though it is the flowers themselves that seem to be charming the victims. The trance can be broken, but it is a delicate process.

[ Zhongli and Gavial had worked to save who they could, but like the Blight on the Scorching Isle there was only so much two people could save. Zhongli had also come in search of a more expedient way to rid the city of the flowers and vines which is how he found his way here.

He glances back at the mirror behind Akua, eyes narrowed as if he could see a mirage of either of them, but alas. ]

The mirror is new, but considering the symbolism, I believe we can narrow down what it might be capable of.

[wolof]

Mm, yes, we encountered something similar, didn't we? I cannot imagine that it is going to be much different.

[ Yet. She doesn't know yet, because she's been cautious not to touch one at this time. Her lips pursed, but there was nothing for it. She would have to make her way out, and just like in Springstar, they would not be released until whatever... "condition" was met to release them. She wondered if there was a way to just blow their way out, but there were people here, and while she wouldn't go out of her way to save them... She also wouldn't be going out of her way to just kill them all off.

She looked to Zhongli with a tilt of her head. ]

Whatever is going on with the roots, and this, it is linked. Though... the people here seem to be dealing poorly with the effects here.

[ Her head turned back to the mirror, and she peered at it. She did not touch it yet, but there's no reflection of herself, or Zhongli behind it. Was this different than the one in the Scorching Isles, then? Perhaps a touch different? Or perhaps whatever lurked behind the surface was biding its time. ]

This is new, though. We'll have to deal with it, if we are to leave. Once I stepped into this... bubble, I found that I could not exit.

This is the oddity.

[sharethememory]

I see. It appears we brought home much more than our benefactors anticipated from that isle.

[ Which raises up its own set of questions. Did either Zenith or Meridian know what truly lay dormant at the Scorching Isles before the Shard-Bearers were sent? Or had it all been calculated risk once an Oracle had been located there.

Either way, the ripple effects of that mission were being experienced here in the main islands and cities, and that needed to be dealt with swiftly and immediately. No viable exit aside it was probably in the best interest of everyone in the long run if they found the correct answer to this problem. And for that, they needed to understand what was the problem being presented to them in the first place. ]

My home world has similar dimensional pockets where you could not proceed further until some specific criteria were met. Some solutions involved solving a contraption left behind by its creator or defeating a monster that was powering the seal. Perhaps it is something similar. Though this is the first time I've been in such a space where you are not even allowed to leave the area.

[ Zhongli lifts his eyes up again and stares into the reflectionless mirror. Surely, it had to do something with the puzzle or mechanism, but what? If Blight was a disease brought about by time, and the mirrors could show former segments of oneself---

Then that mirror did not bode anything good. With his eyes not leaving the mirror: ]

So I suppose the first step is figuring out what it wants us to do.

[wolof]

Yes. [ She leaned forward, to narrow her eyes toward the mirror, and look to see what she could find lingering in the blank surface. ] I've created such pockets before. And had them bludgeoned through, in fact. Though I would rather meet the condition unless it becomes detrimental to our health.

So then the question becomes...

[ She turned her head back to him, and smiled. ]

This is the only thing that stands out, yes?

Which one of us is going to dare to touch it?

[ It's a reflection. Would it bond to one of them? Would it create a doppelganger? Would it do something else? She doesn't even know, but she's curious, she wants to see what comes of it, what is created. Would this world reverse? Was the real world through there, and it required them to step through?

Even she doesn't know, yet. }

[sharethememory]

On one hand, the last mirror took my reflection. It was an enlightening experience as difficult as it was to converse with someone so stubborn. [ Do not mind the self burn. He's trying to do better at acknowledging his flaws. ] If you wish for the chance for the same opportunity, I would not wish to stand in your way.

[ Spoken as if the Hall of Mirrors was an insightful experience rather than Akua having to deal with an angry young dragon god and its indecisive current-day counterpart. ]

On the other, if you do not wish to touch the mirror for whatever reason - whether it is concern of what could come from it or wishing to protect your privacy from whatever it might reflect - I offer to do it for the both of us to continue past this obstacle.

[ Since Zhongli is not curious at all about what the mirror might mean outside of ways that they could understand it and use it to combat the Blight. ]

For so expertly dealing with the phantom version of myself when I could not, it seems only fair that such a choice be left to you.

[wolof]

[ Akua smiled at him, all teeth and malice. ]

I do not fear my past, dear. You, however, should likely show more caution, if we are to confront a past version of myself.

[ For Akua was at her best self, here. If she had arrived, mere months prior to her time here, if she had been just earlier, perhaps when she had betrayed Cat that last time, her entire trajectory in both Horos and Kenos would have been different. The woman would have been Zenith -- happily Zenight -- and she still looked it. She had always looked to belong with Zenith more, the only indicator of her own alignment the hairpin with her sunbeam bead on the end, which she laced into the braids. ]

Be wary. I do not know what we will find, and we may be attacked immediately.

[ Her hand touched the mirror. It was not hesitant, and they found themselves --

In a hall. It was grand, huge, beyond reckoning, banners of every color and shape (many of which clashed, clear by Akua's disgusted look at them, and the: "it's still poor design" that she muttered was anything to go by) rustled high above. At the long end of the hall was a dais of only four steps, a simple throne, with a drunken woman with a flask on it. Two others lingered, though they did not move. One held a staff, all dark clothing with an eyepatch, and she was short -- the other was a dark skinned man with glass eyes -- who was currently consuming a sparrow whole.

If Zhongli would look down, there would be a name on a tile: Prince Estienne Barthen, and if he looked further, there was a veritable field of them, each inscribed with a name. ]

This will be... considerably more, and less dangerous than I thought.

[ She said, and her hand touched a bronze bracelet at her wrist. ]

[sharethememory]

[ Zhongli smiles slightly back, a slight dip of his head in deference. ]

I will take to heart your words of warning.

[ And then the world shifts---

Which is perhaps not what Zhongli was expecting when the mirror was touched. Had they somehow been transported inside? He does not have more than a few moments to collect his thoughts before he's looking at the tile in front of his feet? A prince --- that seemed fitting for the grand state of this hall. But then the names go on and on and on and---

Ah, it should be no surprise that Akua would be a person of great social influence, but the list of names is rather daunting. The people atop the dias were curious as well. Zhongli could understand a drunken ruler and their advisors, but did the sparrow have any significance? ]

I'm not sure I understand how it can be both. Nor has the exit criteria for this domain become any clearer.

[ He nods toward the people at the end of the hall. ]

Would you consider those with us to be allies?

[wolof]

[ Akua's eyes were all on them, all three of them. Masego, with his motions, continued to eat the sparrow, consuming it before them, before he took all of it in. Outside the window, the endless ranks of undead continued to spill outward, like a wave, the control the Dead King had from them gone, though Neshamah's body lay at the dais, his remains withered and dead by now, but the woman at the end --

'Well look who it is!' she slurred, her mouth quirked into a wide, too-pleased smile. The other -- a woman, turned to look, fixing Akua with a one-eyed stare -- the eyepatch covered her other, and her mouth opened, as if in surprise. ]

Two of them are. Whatever you do, don't talk to --

[ 'Me?' The one at the dais, a dark-skinned woman with long curly hair, she tipped her head, almost pleased. 'Didn't I tell you? The house always wins. Go on, Catherine, ask her how this will go, why don't you?' Her hand came up to touch the matching bracelet at her wrist. 'I got what I wanted, didn't I? ]

Our worlds are destroyed. This must be a... construction.

[ Though, the sad look in the other's eye -- the one with one eye and a rainbow patchwork cloak made up of banners -- said enough that it had been a possibility. ]