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

[baltimores]

Springstar? [ The confusion is immediately evident on his face, in his voice. He takes a second to himself to think as they move to their next charge before shaking his head; it wasn't a rhetorical question (somehow), so it does need an actual answer. ] No. This is where my people are. Springstar's got nothing to do with me.

[ He has his occasional haunts there, not to mention some who live there who he actually does like, but... no. He hasn't thought about it, but he's been spending less and less time there as the months have gone on, and hasn't so much as missed it. He's good here, in Highstorm, helping Zenites and nothing more.

Amos resets himself to something comfortable, ready to do the work they need to do, but again when Bondrewd starts talking... musing out loud about what the people enthralled by these shitty flowers might be thinking about... he has to do another double take, because what in the fuck. Who thinks about that kind of shit? The flowers are killing them; they have to kill the flowers; that's it.

He doesn't answer at first, just giving Bondrewd that odd look until they both find themselves able to get into position. Just... focus on the work first, do the weird philosophizing after. So when Bondrewd relays his instructions, Amos begins the spell. He's got a couple of seconds to get this right. All the warning he needs. And he sees the power in Bondrewd's body — power that he uses to help save Amos' people.

(Their people? He isn't sure yet.)

But it works. The person starts to blink back to life as the flower is obliterated, and Amos is there to catch them. He isn't going to try any shit like running his hand through their hair, just... give them someone to lean on if they need it. Physically support them. Murmur shit like You're good now, you should head to Yima's if you can, before looking back up at Bondrewd, the relief that he feels at getting this right written in his body language. On his face, a subtle relaxation that hadn't been there a moment earlier. ]

Does it matter what they're dreaming of? They're as good as dead if they're left to it. [ And yet, somehow, it is a real question, a note of sincerity to his voice. ] We wake them up or there's nobody left to wake up. That's it.

[ He sounds certain — but also maybe a little open to whatever the fuck it is Bondrewd's going on about. If it'll help them revive more people.

Because if it won't then it really is pointless to think about, isn't it? ]

[dawnlord]

Aah, what a shame. I would have enjoyed a continued partnership with you, you are quite reliable.

[ After all, they are flawlessly 2-for-2 on their rescue count! ]

I cannot discriminate, however. My role is to rescue every last individual in this world, and ensure they reach the dawn we will create together when we achieve victory. Though my home here, in Highstorm, comes first.

[ He is a man of many thoughts, and enjoys vocalizing them to any listener; it is old habit, from articulating his assessments and observations to any number of his Umbra Hands nearby, ensuring that information was centralized in the core of his consciousness and naught was forgotten. Plus, he was partial to teaching them, training them, bettering them in preparation for whatever he'd need them for — to seek, to battle, even to die.

They work well together, devoted to the task in their own ways; Amos is single-minded in one way, Bondrewd in another, and together they are able to wrest another soul from the grasp of the Blight and its floral prison. The way that Amos handles them is stiff, no less robotic than the way Bondrewd fusses with someone's hair or informs them of the directions to Yima's Manor, but it speaks less of someone who offered their humanity to the Abyss and more someone seeking to tug some sense of humanity out of it.

As their next charge wobbles off, he approaches Amos once more. A hand reaching out to firmly grasp his shoulder, affirming his success: ] You are correct to question, and to think what you do. What could enrapture anyone so thoroughly, that they cease to move, cease to resist and instead wait, passively, for the Blight to take them? It must be better than reality, I would think. They may struggle to reacclimate, experience a mental break and with their will weakened: succumb.

[ He presses a finger to the curved underside of his helm, considering. ]

Have you ever been woken painfully from a wonderful dream, Mister Amos?

[baltimores]

[ ... So, he's got something to think about here, before Bondrewd comes up to him again. He isn't thinking about going to Springstar to help out; he doesn't give a shit. But Bondrewd is someone who does. Someone who cares about everyone, possesses an empathy Amos never has and never will, and chances are pretty good that makes him wise. Someone to be trusted. Someone fundamentally good, even if there's something that feels a little off about it, something pinging his lizard brain.

But then again he's also someone who's off — and that isn't speculation on his part; it's knowledge. He's fucked up. People get the sense to stay away from him all the time. Anything weird he senses about Bondrewd... No, it is weird, but weird doesn't mean bad. If anything, he's proving himself to be less harmful than Amos is. He has a higher capacity to care, and that's good.

The conflict plays out across his face, brief, in the way Amos glances downwards, his eyes darting once, twice, back and forth at absolutely nothing on the ground as he reaches his conclusion. And then he's looking back up before Bondrewd even starts his approach to him again. Glad he got that sorted out.

... Though of course he's going to turn his head to look at that hand on his shoulder before back up into Bondrewd's mask. Okay, so he's philosophical. Able to consider questions that would never come to Amos' mind, and that's worth engaging in. Might learn something for once and have it stick. ]

Nope. [ He doesn't really have dreams. Or at least not ones he's been sad to leave behind. ] I hear you, on them maybe thinking it's better than reality. Makes sense why we gotta soothe them before waking them up. If there's a way we can prevent them from breaking, we do that; if there isn't, then they were gonna die anyway. At least if it's quick it'll be better for them. None of this dreaming about shit that isn't real for days or weeks until the inevitable happens.

[ Mercy killing: it's one of the better alternatives, actually. ]

But hey, you're helping out the people here first, right? We still got a continued partnership in Highstorm then. I ain't going anywhere. Not as long as I can do something.

[ Because that's what good people do. Bondrewd is a good person and Amos is working to be one; this is how they can continue to contribute, so why shouldn't they.

Right? Right. ]