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

[muchalucha]

Mm, they’re everywhere in Springstar too, but they’re not as bad as this…!

[ She pauses in speaking to give a big swing of her sword. Her sword is sharp, but also magically so, so she doesn’t have to worry about the obsidian edges dulling. The rocks sink into the wood and she wrenches it back towards her in a strong, fluid motion, and like the teeth of a saw, it’s able to cut through the vines. With a pleased noise that it’s working well, she’ll just continue to hack at what she can. ]

I wasn’t sure if it would be okay for me to help out, but I’m glad it is! War is one thing, but this Blight doesn’t have anything to do with that, yes?

[ There is a note in her voice that makes it clear that she’s genuinely asking. She’d only heard a bit about the Blight, so she doesn’t know about its connection to the Scorching Isles. It at least wouldn’t change her attitude even if she did know. As far as she sees it, Springstar is fine for now, relative to Highstorm, and people are people. It’s as simple as that. ]

[baltimores]

[ She's got good form; consider his traversing back and forth between collecting the plants she chops off and stacking them in a safer location a short distance away an implicit approval of the work she's doing. ]

Yeah? I was in Springstar for a minute a bit ago. Saw some people being nutty, but nothing like what we got here.

[ It's a casual musing thrown over his shoulder back at her, not something he's putting a whole lot of stock into. After all, it's not like it's a big deal or means anything, right? Just the way things are sometimes.

He does take a moment to stop when he comes back to gather his next round of plant matter she's cut down, though. It's the question in her voice, the sincerity that comes with it that makes him feel that this shouldn't be a throwaway answer he gives her while working. He can afford to stop for a minute. Give her the distance she needs to keep working, since he isn't keen on losing any body parts in a workplace accident, but really give her all of his attention, too. ]

But yeah, 'course it's okay. This ain't got anything to do with war, it's just... [ he stops, vaguely gestures towards the roots still off to his side, ] some shit. Not like any of us are getting off easy here anyway, so.

[ He can start collecting his next pile of detritus. Pause again from where he's leaned down, looking back up at her. ]

Not that I think anyone's gonna give you shit for being here, but anyone does, feel free to namedrop me. I dunno if that'll actually do anything, but it might. But I mean, you're helping. Who's gonna have a problem with that?

[ Sociopaths?? Probably sociopaths, so fuck those guys anyway. ]

[muchalucha]

[ She doesn’t stop her work as she listens to his answer, but it’s clear that it’s something she takes seriously and to heart with how a warmer smile blooms on her face. It’s the answer she was hoping for since she’s someone who wants to help people in need. It’s how she came to be a Creator god, after all, since she had journeyed through Mictlan, her underword, to gather the bones of the creatures of previous Suns and create humanity from them. She loves people, deeply.

…But there’s also not so much of an internal conflict for her when it came to the war of Meridian and Zenith. The way a god’s mind operated was, uh, unique. ]

Good! Then I’ll help as long as I can until I get tired out!

[ Which will take a good, long while at this point, thankfully. In a few weeks, though… As it turns out, the Blight is a bitch, who could have predicted, ]

But I’ll keep your name in mind! Hopefully it won’t be a problem—I was asking because I really don’t know. [ She laughs as she shrugs ] Some wars, people are really tirarse los trastos, fighting so much they can’t get along over anything, yes? I only got here to Kenos pretty recently, so I’m still learning about all of that!

[baltimores]

[ Hey, if any mortal was ever gonna understand a god, it'd probably be this one. Maybe it just makes them that better of a team for the moment, because it's not like they disagree on a lot. Just semantics, maybe. Of, you know. Which faction to be a part of. Insignificant stuff, really.

But if she's good to keep working, then so is he. Amos goes right back to transporting plant matter from where she's cutting it down to where it's supposed to go, listening to her all the while. ]

Actually hasn't been a ton of fighting around here. I'd pop into Springstar fairly often; nobody ever gave me shit there. [ He'd probably earned some stink-eyes in the aftermath of returning from the Scorching Isles, but nobody fought him. So everything was clearly fine. ] I got some people there I get along with. Just... I dunno. This shit's a little different, so I gotta stay here now. At least until it's under control.

[ Because clearly it's just going to be a matter of really putting the elbow grease into clearing out these plants, right? At least then the crisis situation will be over, and things can go a bit more back to normal, when it isn't a war so much as...

Well, shit, he doesn't know; he's also yet to be on a losing side, so it really hasn't crossed his mind at all. ]

[muchalucha]

[ When the conflict in Kenos has been explained to her in such terms, she thought she understood it easily! Though, naturally, once she had seen how the two cities got along relatively well, it was clear that it wasn’t quite the case. It’s interesting to hear that it’s been like that for a while. ]

I’m surprised! I, well! I definitely had an idea in mind when I got here and was told it was a thing about two sides at war, yes? So, I thought it would be very bloody right away!

[ She says, just as brightly… It’s very clear that this isn’t a prospect that bothers her, and yet here she is helping with the side that she would presumably be bloodying all the same. ]

Ah, but this is better, of course! [ She laughs brightly as she just continues slashing away at the thick vines, but at the very least, she’s making a solid dent. ] I hope that I’ll be one of the people you get along with, Señor Amos.

[baltimores]

Don't see why you wouldn't be; you're helping us out, ain't ya? [ Considering the situation at hand he's in a relatively good mood working alongside her. They're doing something productive, her spirits are high, what's not to love? Rising tides and boats and all that. ] Which, thanks for this. I'd've probably had to have taken a break by now, but you got stamina for days.

[ Because he has slowed down some as he's worked to gather plant matter in its own little soon-to-be-flammable pile, the notion of walking back and forth and gathering and transporting starting to get a little taxing. That and he's less a god, more a regular human, so he can only keep up so much. Still, no complaints from him. Just a bit of a slower pace is all. ]

Shit, I dunno if I've ever seen any bloodshed here. Don't get me wrong, I've only been here a handful of months myself, but everyone's been getting along just fine as far as I know. Springstar's got a good bar and brothel selection. It'd be weird if I had to fight my way over there just to spend some coin.

[ Like, let him contribute to the economy in peace, you know? Why would it matter that he's a Zenite and ultimately working to ensure Meridian doesn't get what they want? No skin off his nose.

He huffs a sigh as he sets his latest carry down, takes a second to remove a glove to wipe sweat off his brow. Shit, this is good for a workout. Helps beat the cold, too.

And, getting right back to it as he goes over to collect the next debris she's got waiting for him (and as she continues to create more), ] Should probably get a drink when this is all under control.

[ What do ya say, Quetz?? ]

[muchalucha]

Oh, de nada! It’s exactly why I wanted to help. It’s kind of my duty!

[ “Kind of” only because this is something Quetzalcoatl had decided herself more than being something she was more divinely tied to or anything of that sort. She’d had her ups and downs through the Suns, but at least with this one, she’s firmly settled into wanting to be as warm and helpful as possible to humanity. Or, well, just “mortals” when she’s here in Kenos, she guesses!

It does make her happy to hear that there hasn’t been bloodshed in the cities as a result, though. It definitely makes it a stranger conflict to her experience, but it’s nothing she’ll complain about either. Much like Amos, her thoughts are very straightforward in thinking of Meridian and its goal as a simple, straightforward thing that must be achieved. So, it’s far better if that conflict wasn’t super bloody.

Though she thinks about responding to that surprising peace between the cities, she immediately brightens (further, somehow) at the prospect of drinking. Whoops, distracted. ]

¡Sería maravilloso! There’s nothing better than a good drink after hard work! [ …just don’t let her get too drunk, temples burn down, etc, don’t worry about it,,, ] Ah, I’ve been doing all my drinking over in Springstar, but are there good places here too?

[baltimores]

[ It's her duty? Well alright then; that earns her both a look of respect and a nod of acknowledgment. They're almost one and the same there, in that for Amos, it is his duty — he is a protector, these are his people — and not because these aren't her people, and yet she's doing it anyway.

Definitely the mark of a good person. (He wouldn't even care all that much if there was bloodshed, it's just easier for him that there isn't any.)

His back straightens at that cry of joy, posture correcting itself as he looks up proper. (Up, towards her eyes, her beaming face, because he is indeed the shorter party here.) And after a beat, he offers a small smile, because kindred spirits and whatnot. And because she's fun. ]

Yeah, there're a couple here. They're usually a bit higher class, less great for slamming drinks back and fucking around, [ and getting into bar brawls, which is also fun, and in Highstorm only ever really seems to happen at the arena, ] but after this workout, I could probably do with something more relaxing.

[ Let him ease into taking the edge off with something refined and expensive. The cheap shit has its place (and it is a good place), but that's not gonna be for him in the midst of an active crisis situation.

His voice turns playful. ]

If you can even handle that speed, Sunny.

[ She can save the burning down temples thing for when she's back in Springstar?? He'd have no problem with that. ]

[muchalucha]

[ Sunny…! Being granted a nickname is a surprise, but it quickly blooms into a delighted smile. She may be someone with many titles and epithets (too many, in her opinion), but a nickname is something much better. It’s cute! ]

Hehe, of course! Not every time out needs to be one where you get drunk on pulque.

[ She laughs merrily, even though. Yeah, when she did, it didn’t end well. She absolutely blames her shithead brother for that one, though! Never mind the fact that she’s the one that kept deciding to drink…

Anyways! With another solid swing of her sword, it cuts through the last, thick vine that was here. There are still some smaller ones that remain, but she doesn’t see those bearing unopened buds in the way that the primary ones were, so she thinks they’re probably safe. Besides, without the big “trunks” to feed them, they’ll probably die off on their own anyways. ]

¡Menos mal! Those were harder to cut down than I thought. I guess they’re probably special to avoid that… [ But not special enough, ha!! Take that, evil flowers, etc ] But we’re an efficient team, at least! Hopefully this will at least make sure no one else around here gets caught up, yes!

[baltimores]

[ His smile broadens, both at her obvious delight (at what specifically, he's not entirely sure, but does it matter as long as she's happy?) and the part where she confirms she'll go at the speed he wants to. That she's flexible that way.

Also, the part where the hard work is done? (The hard work that she did almost all of, but that's just semantics.) That's as good a reason as any to smile, too. Amos steps in to gather up those last chunks of vine, heading back over to the pile he's got assembled to get ready for proper disposal, shooting her a look over his shoulder first. ]

Fuck, I hope so. It'd probably take at least a couple days to clear the city out proper, but this ain't a bad start at all. [ Because that's what it is — a start, with more work sure to be on the way. Amos exhales, crouching down to finish arranging everything. ] Really can't thank you enough for this.

[ Because yes, it's technically only a start — but it really is a damn good one, judging by the pile of plant matter assembled. With a grunt Amos rightens himself and steps back, a loose, sweeping gesture indicating what should soon become kindling. At least he's still smiling a little. ]

If you wanna do the honours.

[ Because only one of them has any fire magic, and it's not him! Besides, she deserves the reward of setting stuff on fire after all of this. At least it sure feels like it'd be a reward; fucking plants, man. ]