The Seeds of Unrest, Phase Two 🌱

[beleos]

UPROOTED

Time has not been kind thus far, and the future will be no kinder.

The slow passage of days to weeks has seen both cities increasingly ravaged by the untamed growth of the enlarging roots. Their size is enough to uproot buildings by their foundations, if not bisect them entirely where they push through unfettered. In the worst-hit areas, entire blocks are left abandoned - if even standing at all, displacing families and leaving businesses in ruins.

Cetina and Kathova have been in near constant contact with Bearers via Communion, feeding them information about which areas to focus their lifesaving efforts. Yima’s Manor and the Seat of the Tribune - despite their closeness to the Trees - have been fortified by your leaders and act as a base of operations for each respective faction. You will be able to return to either to find sanctuary from the chaos beyond, but the innumerable civilians are not so lucky.

Bearers are tasked with rescue and recovery efforts and requested to assist hands on the ground with taking refugees to temporary shelters. Survivors must be dug out of the debris. Those who are capable of healing will be enlisted to assist at hospitals and triage centers. Supplies must be gathered and harvested from areas that are collapsed and too dangerous for civilians to navigate. If you are feeling generous, you can go on search and rescue missions, as many people are considered missing in both Highstorm and Springstar. Some areas are completely cut off to regular foot traffic by the massive, winding roots bearing countless Blight-blooms. Citizens are succumbing to the Blight flower’s effects persistent from phase one with more and more frequency.

While both cities slowly succumb to a deepening catastrophe, the situation worsens.

STIRRING STORMS

As the days pass, inexplicable and unnatural weather occurrences will randomly plague both cities. They can last as long as a full day or as little as an hour before dissolving entirely.

• Flurries: this snow is tainted by the Blight, making the snowfall look like ash. Any organic matter it touches will be affected by reopening wounds, re-infection of illnesses, or re-experiencing injuries that may have healed over years ago.
• Thunderstorms: these storms carry a frigid rainfall and heavy cloud cover, making already difficult-to-navigate disaster zones harder to clear. As each thunder bellow crashes overhead, you might swear you hear a familiar voice reaching out to you in the fading rumble… one that sends a message - either from the future or past.
• Fog: dense clouds of thick, freezing fog will roll in randomly, making visibility even more precarious. In your search for survivors - or your companions, you may find yourself coming face to face with someone else, instead: a version of yourself (or a companion) from another timeline. You may also hear your own voice calling out to you from within the fog, attempting to beckon you further into the mist.
• General Note: Exposure to any of the above weather patterns will increase your Blight infection.

THE BLIGHT COMES FOR ALL

As if it were not enough to see the cities that have become your salvation at the end of the Timestream falling to collapse and ruin, the Bearers will slowly begin to realize their previous immunity to the Blight is eroding. They will begin to show symptoms of infection that increase into May’s event. ( For more information on the effects of the Blight and purification methods, please see the OOC Summary. )

Now that their last bastion - the Bearers - are just as much in harm’s way as everyone else, the populous’s efforts to formulate a temporary stop-gap solution are being rushed to completion. Time is not on anyone’s side. They will continue to work with those who have been kind enough to volunteer their resources and brilliant minds - collecting materials and attempting to figure out a way to avert their otherwise inevitable destiny.

ORDERS

Orders from your leaders will come as soon as infections among the Bearers have been confirmed.

🌙 YIMA will stress for all Zenite Bearers to prioritize their well-being and to avoid unnecessary exposure, to manage their symptoms as much as possible. They must fight for their own survival to bring in the birth of a new universe - and their lives are too precious to risk. Beyond that, she asks them to save what they can of their people and their most critical structures with the understanding that hard choices may be necessary.

🌞 CYRUS will implore all Meridian Bearers to prioritize the general population's lives and turn their efforts to save as much of Springstar as they can. He will note that Bearers have ways to help keep one another from suffering too much contagion and to coordinate their usages appropriately, to keep one another safe, and watch their backs.

ANOTHER EN-TREE-TY

The Tree of Life continues to sicken, yet - thankfully - the progression of the Blight is slow. Still, Bearers will find themselves occasionally compelled to take a moment to sit beneath its boughs and vibrant leaves, even as some begin to show signs of discoloration and rot. Any characters who sit with the Tree with the purple leaf they found on their person after phase one will find it warming to the touch, its veins laced with gold. This effect will be even more effective if taken into the cavernous roots beneath the Tree! While this may fill you with a temporary sense of calm, it doesn't seem to have any other effects... yet still, you are compelled, if not curious.

The Tree has offered you this gift for a reason. Perhaps you will find its use before long.

...As long as you - and Kenos - survive long enough to discover it.

CODING

Comments

[vapour]

Better to think we hear something that's not there than dismiss something that is.

[ without hesitation, he's there to assist Amos with the lift, having only briefly attempted to see if he could hear anything before changing focus. For Childe, he knows that voices can come from the tree itself amongst other places, and now that it's infected, he doubts that has changed. Hopefully, if there are voices such as that, they are nothing more than echoes and they won't interfere with them getting to find any injured people that could be still saved.

If it's something else like people trapped, well... indeed, all the more reason to hurry up if they can be saved. Once they've lifted and gotten rid of that particular large debris, he'll go to look and see if there are any place where they might be able to hear better or get down closer to check if anyone is in need of help. Reaching for some cracked broken pieces (what's left of a floor, maybe? Or a wall? He's not sure, and everything is starting to look the same,) he'll push them out of the way to try and squeeze through to get a better look. ]

This ... there looks like there are potential air compartments down here. But... [ he hears sounds, but not ones of people calling for help: the sound of water as it leaks and drips from broken pipes into emptiness, and the terrible stillness that comes from no activity, not even shuffling debris. That's good for one thing: the area is probably stable enough for them to search in, but not much else. If they can find someone alive though, they might be able to figure out if anyone else was in the building at the time of collapse without having to go through it entirely. It's no good to be excavating a vacant building when they could be focusing on another one where others were known to have occupied.

They've been at this long enough, though, that they don't have much choice, either: as these crisises continue, being able to locate others by simply hearing them call for help becomes less and less likely, as disheartening as that is.

There's a momentary pause in his movements as Childe considers. He does have his familiar he could send down there to look, but admittedly he's not sure if the Blight can infect them. Not that it would do anything in the long run if the familiar dies in such a way since it can be recreated, but they won't be able to search very efficiently using them if they succumb to the Blight too quickly. ]

Come closer and listen. Do you hear anything? If you don't, let's try sending a familiar down there before digging out much further. They should be able to move easier and show us if anyone is down there that's still alive or if there are any other pocket layers that we should get down to. If you did hear something and it's not coming from here, it's probably best we check one of the other buildings we haven't dealt with yet first before continuing here.

What do you think?

[ there's also that ability to be able to see the outlines of creatures within a certain radius, but Childe's tried it a few times already and it's difficult to use it to identify if anyone is trapped since the debris and other objects are also picked up. It picks up movement very well, but most of the victims haven't had the luxury of that to make it useful enough to rule out whether a building was empty or not before collapse. ]

[baltimores]

[ Amos hangs back as Childe shifts to get a better look; won't do either of them any good for him to crowd the space. Air compartments are good; but is bad.

He shifts his stance before coming over when Childe tells him to, tilting his head so his ear is to the hole, trying to listen. He hears the sound of water now, and nothing that would be human, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Just means that there's still air, which people need to live; that there's still some semblance of water flowing, which a person could survive off of; that it's entirely possible anyone down there has already suffocated or drowned — if there's anyone down there to begin with, which is the big question.

Amos pulls back after Childe finishes, after he's gotten another second or two of trying to listen in, before making his call, his expression turning from conflicted to hard set. He's lived around good people before; people who would do everything in their power to save everyone possible. So... ]

We're already here now; it'd be more efficient to send the familiar in and clear this place once and for all once we know. [ Also, Childe has a familiar? There's a spark of appreciation in Amos' eyes; that's good. ] Could be someone's in there that can't call for help anymore. Probably better to make sure if that's the case or not than leave it for later.

[ Satisfied with his own through process, Amos pulls himself back up to a standing position. He's not the one with the familiar; all he can really do at this point is stand by and wait for further intel.

The smile he offers Childe is thin, because everything sucks nowadays, but at least they're doing something. ]

Should only take a couple minutes anyway, right? If there's nobody then at least we know before moving on to the next place.

[ And the next, and the next, and the next, the way things are going — but first places first. ]

[vapour]

[ he does! Just a tiny in that can't fight unlike Amos' bears, but he's found this familiar incredibly helpful so far in Kenos, particularly with it allowing Childe to see through its own eyes, which would be the idea here.

Seeing Amos's face, he instances a choice has been made and its not negotiable (at least bit without making the argument of doing shindig else more timely since time will be wasted.) So he gives Amos a reassuring smile, an it's certainly a much taller smile than he gives most people, that much would be something Amos might notice at some point if he hasn't yet. ) ]

Okay, let me see if we can find anything. By the way, I'm sort of surprised we have to do this physically. Does Highstorm really not have any machinery for us that could be useful? Like mine cranes or something?

[ Childe came from a place that has relatively advanced technology compared to most of the world he lived on, so it's really strange to him the idea that they don't have useful tools for helping them out. Amos doesn't really need a crane, but a crane could make others work faster and put less on Amos, right?

As he asks, he conjures up a seelie that will twirl around before floating into one of the open areas in order to descend. Bringing one hand up to his temple, his own eyes on his body temporarily defocus and leave him blind to his own surroundings. It's fine, though, because he more than trusts Amos in this sort of dangerous situation they've all found themselves in.

The good thing about the seelie is that it is able to move much more quickly than an animal familiar with a solid body without needing to be resummoned as something else. Their vision is also quite well-rounded and can see quite a range and seelies have a connection back in his world with humans. He knows the familiar doesn't have the same makeup as a real seelie, but it just feels right to him to send a seelie. Humans react positively to them for their glowing forms (also helping Child see better, too) and their ability to lead the lost back to safety. He imagines it will be a comfort for anyone conscious down there.

He does notice a strange fog seeping through the wreckage, but luckily it doesn't mess with his vision and the seelie continues searching. When it passes through a veil of that fog, though, Childe suddenly hears something. It's garbled, and he isn't sure it's because he's hearing it from the Seelie's point of view or if it's really just that messed up (it's possible someone is just in that much pain and in a delirious state, he guessed, but it doesn't sound all b that human to him, either), but he imagines Amos would hear it, too.

The problem is... although the seelie inspects the areas the sounds seem to be coming from, there's nothing indicating a person was ever there to begin with, nevermind alive and able to make such noise. Newbridge human, he doesn't see much of anything capable of making the noise.

Quietly, he'll ask: ] Do you hear something coming from down there now? I can't... figure out where it's coming from. There aren't any bodies so far.

[baltimores]

[ There's a slight uptick of his own lips in response to Childe's smile; the significance doesn't totally land on him, but enough of it does. They're friends; they're partners; this is what people like that do.

It fades, however, at Childe's question, and Amos can't help but roll his eyes. ]

Whole world here is so far behind technologically, I don't know what I'm supposed to expect them to have. I know better than to expect drones — [ which would be unfathomably useful at the moment — ] so I'm just going with whatever we've got.

[ Which, in this case, would be primarily... himself. In fairness, it's not like he could lift boulders on his own back where he was from, but in the current situation it's not like it's the best tradeoff.

Either way. He watches as Childe's familiar appears. Watches as his eyes go blank, and Amos shifts once again to keep an eye on everything around them above ground. He's more than capable of keeping watch; used to it sometimes, even. But there really isn't anything here, so it's all precautionary — and allows him to snap back to attention when he hears that weird garbled sound. And even though Childe can't see him at the moment, he still looks back at him when he asks his question. ]

Something's up, but fuck if I know what it is. [ His voice is also quiet, like he's taking precautions to avoid disturbing something — though what, he doesn't know. ] If it's a ghost or some shit, it can get out on its own. But if there is a person...

[ But there's no body. But there's something. His mind is racing, because it feels like he needs to come to a decision now. ]

How deep underground are you? Maybe I can lift some more debris out of the way, give us a bigger opening to see. Maybe go down there. I...

[ He drags a hand down his face, once, an agitated swipe. Some of it seeps into his voice; this sucks. ]

If you can't see anything then either there's nothing to see or it might be too late already.

[ Might just have to cut bait and move on to the next place.

Frustrating, but what're you gonna do in the face of quickly looming odds. ]

[vapour]

[ Childe nods in agreement to Amos's words. All right, in this case he will have his familiar follow the sounds if they continue and look for a body— or at least, if no body a place they might be hidden under. Just a little longer to make sure.

He notices the sound again, after a moment, brow furrowing in concern until a much louder sound that echos like a crying baby is heard by them both. Childe is alarmed by it, and the familiar rushes towards the sound until it locates the source of the wailing.

There is a cat curled up next to a dog that clearly has an injured leg and can't move around. The cat peers up at the floating familiar before meowing again (quite loud) and confirms it is the culprit of the noise. It does sound more like a cat than a human baby now that Childe can see it, and there is some relief in his expression. The two animals look okay besides the dog being unable to walk, which means if they can get down to them both... ]

Ah. So... there is a small cat protecting a big dog down there. The cat doesn't seem injured, but the dog looks like it can't walk. The cat is very animated towards the familiar now, so my guess is it's been waiting for help.

[ the seelie circles around the cat and the dog with its warm glowing light, butting its 'head' against the two animals to try and sooth them as Childe ends using the familiar as his eyes to go back to seeing normally. Blinking a few times, it takes a moment for him to get used to refocusing and the different lighting above the surface before he looks to Amos with a confident expression. ] We should be able to get to them pretty quick. With any luck, these two belong to a family that escaped to the evacuation areas in the city.

[ that would be nice, actually. The two of them could use something positive like that with all the tragedies they've witnessed caused by the Blight on the civilians here. ]