The Seeds of Unrest: the Iconoclast Oracle

[beleos]

RUNNING OUT THE CLOCK

The situation is bleak.

The Blight - and the massive labyrinth of roots tearing both cities asunder, spreading deadly flowers wherever they penetrate - have progressed to a point beyond catastrophe. People are dying in rapid numbers. Bearers are having difficulty keeping up with the spread of infection - even among one another. The collapse of Kenos seems inevitable; a cure will not come in time. You can do nothing but watch as each new day brings further disaster, ticking down the seconds until it all falls apart.

And then, you feel something seize your Shard. As if physical fingers have wrapped around it, as if it is being clutched through you by invisible hands, you feel invaded. You feel wronged. But before you can panic, a voice enters your mind through Communion.

“Excuse the dramatics, but there isn’t much time for pleasantries. The Trees are about to hit the point of no return. But there's still work to be done. The Tree of Life will take you where you can find it: the Oracle and the creature causing all this mess. Fix this when you find them. However you'd like.”

Have you heard Aetos’ voice before? Perhaps it is the first time; perhaps it is familiar to you. Either way, the last thing you will remember is a confusing jumble: a spell of immense and incredible power, one utilizing the Tree’s strength to shelter you. The sensation of every cell in your body coming alive, yet seeming to break apart and render you into billions and billions of tiny pieces, all hovering in different times and places across all the different iterations, timelines, and realities in which you have ever existed. A voice that speaks not through words asking your forgiveness, unspeakably sad.

And then, there is nothing.

AWAKENING

Your eyes open, gritty with the feeling of a long, deep slumber.

Perhaps it takes a moment to shake off the heavy veil of exhaustion, to recollect what you were doing before you fell into this state of hibernation - but as soon as you do, you feel an immediate sense of foreboding around you. It is thick in the air, oppressive and pervasive, and you aren’t left long to wonder at its source. You lay beneath the branches of the Tree of Life, but as your bleary eyes focus… you see it. The Tree is all but bereft of life. Its bark has withered down to gnarled wood, the soft lichen dried up, and the grass that should be alive beneath you is long dead and gone. There is not so much as a single leaf on its decaying branches.

It has been this way for a long, long time... you realize this with a feeling of intense dread as you see it - the beautiful expanse of stars, of the cosmos, of universes scattered like starlight above the tree's boughs, gone. In its place hangs a sickly, ominously low-hanging, and dying sun ready to sing the end of everything.

You can't help but wonder how long Kenos has been in this state, but a sense of gratitude fills you as you realize that the Tree expended the last of its energies to protect you, the Bearers, during your state of rest. Had Aetos worked with the tree to see you sent here?

The next question comes quickly: how much time do you have left…? And can you find the Oracle before that time expires?

ABANDON HOPE (DAYS 1 & 2)

The cornerstones are still active and will take you to whichever city you wish to see.

Highstorm and Springstar sit like empty monuments to the cities that were once filled with life - yet the first thing you will notice is they are strangely absent the signs of the Tree’s overgrown roots, the Blight, the catastrophic damage that you can recall all too easily. Instead, each city sits as those they were summarily abandoned overnight, leaving nothing but their shells behind. There is a stillness in the air that is unnatural and unsettling. Despite the lack of any sign of the citizens of either city, you cannot help but feel… watched.

Something terrible happened here. Best you find the Oracle before something terrible finds you, instead.

The burning of a dying sun beats down on you wherever you go, unbearable heat sending waves off the aged cobblestone streets. Perhaps it is your instinct to seek refuge in the shade - but linger too long about the shadows and that feeling of eyes on your back, of being unable to breathe, of your world closing in around you will grow untenable and drive you back into the light. If you hope to explore the ghostly shell of your city in search of the Oracle - or to sate your curiosity, some problem-solving might be in order.

And while you acclimate yourself to your circumstances, you cannot help but note you feel wrong inside, somehow…

EXPLORATION

• If your characters choose to explore previously unreachable areas, please use THIS TOPLEVEL to report when they get there in the thread! We will get back to you with what is discoverable in that location.
• The following areas are off limits for exploration: below Yima’s Manor; below the Church of Heliopolis; Alenroux; Kowloon.
• The Great Trees of both Highstorm and Springstar are in a similar state to the Tree of Life and will not respond to Communion.
• Generally speaking, items will be of poor quality. Most will look as though they’ve aged thousands of years. Others will be in half-decent shape, but sparingly so. Oddly enough, it doesn’t seem like the whole city has aged at the same rate, so especially diligent rummagers can find worthwhile supplies. Please consider this should be rare and don’t go overboard!

NOTES

Here are some prompt reminders - see the full thing at the OOC Summary!

• Characters will have a diluted connection to the Zenith or Meridian.
• There will be periods powers are weakened or non-functional during days 1-2 (up to player discretion).
• The sunlight results in scorching; the shadows cause claustrophobia and fear while outdoors.

THE RITUAL (DAYS 2+)

The place you started your journey to Kenos is also where it seems it will end. As soon as the first Bearer makes contact with the Iconoclast effigy, you are collectively drawn to the roots beneath the Tree - like a pang sent through your Shard. Your objective has been found. The Oracle awaits.

Trusting Aetos seems like a fool's errand, but you must put your hope in the Tree. What choice do you have left? It's time to find what lies at the end of this.

Bearers descend, your steps echoing in the dark, cavernous space. Once brimming with life and vitality, the roots are now dried and brittle like the bones of some ancient leviathan that died long ago. As you make their way deeper into the earth, the deadened roots twist, leading you to a vast chamber deep within it; the air here is thick with the smell of decay, and the faint glow of luminescent fungi and mosses barely illuminates the space.

To your left, the Bearers will notice what has drawn them here - and the object of their search.

An effigy sits on the ground between two darkened tunnels. The effigy is made of gnarled, dead branches woven together in a humanoid shape; its hollow, empty eyes are sightless, yet you cannot help but feel it is watching your every move. Branded on its forehead is the Iconoclast symbol carved into the rough wood.

Once all Bearers are present, the Ritual will begin. Your means of exit have been sealed off, and you are trapped, slowly deteriorating together…

NOTES

• Bearers will have access to the Ritual Chamber which is a very wide, open space with the effigy situated against the far wall from the entrance. Several smaller tunnels off-shoot from the Ritual Chamber. They all run to dead ends; some are very small or narrow. This may afford you meager privacy away from the group.
• Once a Bearer steps into the Chamber, they can no longer head back out the way they came. They’ll find themselves automatically walking back into the Chamber as if of their own volition.
• For brevity’s sake we won’t list them out again here, but the complete description of effects Bearers will experience days 2+ is available in the OOC Summary.
• The effigy is impervious to damage.
• It Is Watching You.
• In a dead-end root tunnel attached to the Iconoclast’s Chamber is the Blighted statue of an Otter that may be familiar to some… Please see THIS TOPLEVEL for more information!

THE PURGE (DAYS 5+)

The sap has festered in your veins for what feels like days. It’s impossible to tell how much time has passed; this place has no sunlight. The effigy watches as you remain trapped, huddled together around it, unable to leave as you find yourself sick with the affliction of the Meridian, Zenith - or both.

And then… something finally gives.

Though it does not move and speaks no words, you feel the effigy offering you guidance. Knowledge. Much like the Tree speaks to you in impressions and feelings, you are conveyed wisdom you did not have before: a way to take what you want and rid yourself of what you do not. A way to make your convictions known to all who would hear them. A way to be known. To write your path in blood, be it yours… or theirs.

When all is said and done, only one force - Zenith or Meridian - will gain its favor.

Show it who you are. Show it what resolve looks like to you - and what you are willing to do to attain it.

NOTES

Here are some prompt reminders - see the full thing at the OOC Summary!

• You can Purge your alignment through various methods: Trading, Corrupting, or using the Effigy itself.
• All characters will understand the end goal is for everyone to Harmonize; the alignment with the higher rate of Harmonized Bearers alive when time’s up wins the Oracle’s favor.

NOTES

• A reminder that the Harmonization tally will take place on Friday, the 19th and be open through Monday, the 29th. The results will be released on Wednesday, the 31st OOCly.
• Don’t forget to submit any deaths to the Death Tracker, with a gentle reminder characters will remain dead until the event conclusion!
• Reminder to fill out the SETTING POLL ASAP if you haven't already!
• Have some MUSIC if you'd like. LYRICS here!
• HAVE FUN!!

CODING

Comments

[zauneyete]

[ He sees what you did there. ]

It may be somewhat pragmatic, but eliminating the last thread is better than letting it catch and cause more problems.

Particularly since last time, he decided that we had already messed things up for him, and took it out on us.

[ Okay, and also? That's a lot like him. He knows how to deal with someone like him. Take him out before he becomes a problem. ]

[consolation]

[Truthfully, that's the best argument for unaliving the otter we've got going right now. Like really does recognize like.]

Can things unravel further than they already have? We are at the very bottom of the valley, and he is shielded from it.

[It's been such a short amount of time since they were sequestered here with the frozen figure of that spiteful animal, but it might also feel like timeless centuries. Morally she might not typically call for the death of another, even a sinner. It's an unusual selfishness that drives her question whether or not he should be spared, like someone else's impulses given voice. But easy to feel like it's an organic motivation, when all suffering is suffering.]

It seems the most merciful choice...and you never struck me as the type.

[zauneyete]

I'm not.

[ He said, but shrugged. ] What I am, is pragmatic. Should we spare him, there is no guarantee that he will allow us to enact any kind of revenge. In fact, last time, he ejected all of us, and blocked us from his world.

I do not wish to have a repeat. If we survive, and he survives, it's possible that things may unravel. If he's left to continue, he may try again. And again. And again.

[ A smile in his voice, when: ] It's what I would do to someone who's seeking revenge, if I were a smart man.

[ What should have been done to him, before he amassed power. ]

[consolation]

[The ugliest of things flares through her, then: sympathy, uninvited. It's followed quickly by her own distaste. It would seem it was a sympathy she didn't want to experience.]

We could hope that he's as weakened as the rest of us and act before he regains his footing. That's a gamble.

[When they first met the otter, she knew he was neither possessed nor demonic in nature. There are many more things than that that exist outside the boundaries of the world, though, and should not be allowed to.]

Instead you'd break a cycle before it began... things do get stranger every time around. [She knows that, somehow, more intimately than she feels she should. Unlike the other feelings, which sink into the delicate, detached fabric of her communion like vapor into clouds, this confusion lingers a little longer, ill-fitting, a question that doesn't fit.]

... In that, you are, as you say, a pragmatic man.

[zauneyete]

I do not believe in "hope".

[ Said bluntly. To "hope" that Mr. Tibbs would not do the same thing again, over and over again? That was laughable. He would, and if he "reformed", then there was still the issue of what he'd done to them, wasn't there?

Silco did not appreciate anyone forcing him down here to the tree, forcing him to lose the abilities he held so carefully dear, or the fact that he'd been infected with this Blight.

Silco hated everyone and everything though, really. It did not require one to be an otter or betray them, but he hated them all the same. ]

I will not bank on him choosing to break the cycle himself, either. So why waste our time with arguing about whether or not he will, and simply be done with it instead?

[consolation]

Right. But you must, at least a little, because you have to believe something exists to want to destroy it.

But I don't do a lot of philosophizing, either. [A brazen statement for someone of her nature - but ultimately true. It isn't as if Caren has often thought herself destined for a deeper meaning.] I understand your point.

[That might even be another way in which Silco and the otter are not dissimilar - at the very least, Mr. Tibbs had seemed resistant to the hopes of all Shard-Bearers, regardless of their actual wants or aspirations. It was enough simply that they wanted to achieve something that drew so much of his ire, as as hope is if anything the last remnant that survives when everything else is dead.]

I must discard my selfish wishes for what's to become of him and think of what is better for all.

[zauneyete]

Admirable of you. We must all consider what is best for the group, yes, and not what our individual wishes are.

[ A half-laugh. ] Personally, I would prefer to torture the creature and then slay it personally for the slight of stealing this oracle from us, but...

We can't always get what we want, I suppose.

Merely eliminating this Thing before it is too late is a mercy it does not deserve, but... [ A shrug. ] It is better than the alternative.

[consolation]

[There's the smallest ripple of cold amusement. Someone like him thinks of the group on occasion, certainly, but for very particular ends.] More realistically, several dozen individual wishes cannot be granted in tandem. There's no way to fully satisfy what many will, unless it's the will of the many.

[Even to break Mr. Tibbs up into many little pieces and let everyone have their own pound of flesh wouldn't be enough to quell every call for justice. Caren can't be sure if she ever intended to cast her vote one way or another. Now, she certainly doesn't intend to cast a vote of any significance into his fate.

This isn't the first time they've done this. Competing again to see which allegiance comes out on top when none of them even seem to exist as they once were feels...hollow. They are pantomiming loyalty. With Mr. Tibbs, they are pantomiming justice. If all rights itself as the instruction they received before coming here implies, there is the chance none of this will feel like it ever happened in the first place.]

Maybe the game we played in the first place [the collecting of sand, held hostage on the Scorching Isle by the creature whose fate they debate now] was actually the anomaly in the first place? With this choice, we could right a mistake. [VERY BOLD to insinuate that nothing they did in that frigid, Blighted prison should have mattered to begin with. This will surely not have consequences when they're all sap-drunk later.]

[zauneyete]

It's quite possible. After all, we do not know how much of this was constructed by the creature from the beginning. He may have constructed the game to make us scramble, and use our power and sand to try and achieve a purpose to his own end.

When we didn't play along, he may have grown agitated.

Let us how the next oracle is not... quite so roundabout, hm? Perhaps with fewer tiny furry creatures, as well.

[ That, at least, is said with some disgust. Mr. Tibbs is Heimerdinger coded, to Silco ]