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Entry tags:
- !event,
- baroque: koriel xii (dextera),
- bastard!!: dark schneider,
- black butler: sebastian michaelis,
- ennead: set,
- expanse (the): amos burton,
- fire emblem: byleth eisner,
- fire emblem: claude von riegan,
- fire emblem: dimitri a. blaiddyd,
- genshin impact: tartaglia (childe),
- genshin impact: zhongli,
- granblue fantasy: eustace,
- jinba: hayame,
- legend of zelda (the): link,
- made in abyss: bondrewd,
- magnus archives (the): the archivist,
- marvel: gamora,
- oc: liem talbott,
- star wars: cassian andor,
- star wars: jyn erso,
- trigun maximum: vash the stampede
The Seeds of Unrest: the Iconoclast Oracle
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.
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?
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…
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…
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.
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!!
no subject
A secondary strange dull pain starts to increase with every second but it does offer him momentary comfort (because it's familiar, it's the burn of muscles that have been pushed beyond their limits and have to repair themselves this time better and stronger. Even though the reality is that the feeling comes from losing blood and it starting to drain from the muscles, leaving them unable to function, it's still deliriously comforting for Childe.)
Yet his eyesight starts to fail, leaving his eyes even duller than usual and unfocused although he manages to close his eyes to prevent himself from having to see inky blackness take away whatever is left of this rotting place. He's so tired of things being taken from him that even something he would be happy to never see again causes distress over losing it in the shock his body experiences. Sounds fade away soon after, and he's left with the addition of his chest seizing up as his diaphragm halts unwillingly. It's an awful feeling of being squeezed tightly on the inside as his lungs shut down and are unable to expand. It's not at all like being choked or suffocated— it's immense restriction, instead, like a constrictor squeezes its prey until no blood can reach the organs necessary to continue their functions. It's better than dry drowning for him, though, his lungs unable to spasm uselessly to try and gain air that isn't coming. It is simply a powerless sensation, with him now blind, mute, and deaf, and it all being completely out of his control. There's no ground, no up or down, but he's still conscious until that, too, is bled out of him unrelentingly.
It's a very undramatic death visually. He just fades out and never comes out of it. The only hint he's still alive after he passes out and not dead immediately is the length of time it takes for his body to dissipate as if it never existed at all. His shard falling to the ground is the only evidence left along with the pool of blood that it lands in. ]
no subject
Good.
The spear fades from her grip, and she waits until Childe dissipates completely, leaving his shard behind. Without the flesh, bone, and tissue surrounding it, it appears rather fragile, as though she could easily grind it to powder beneath her boot. Temptation wills her to, for a moment, if only to be rid of the Fatui-thorn in her ass, but she is a woman of her word. She also knows that Childe is someone of import to those she's actually fond of, and she'd rather not tset their ire, given how few bonds she has left in this world.
With a tired sigh, she ends up picking the shard up instead and reaching out to Zhongli via communion while hoping he's in a good enough state of mind to reply:
Come get Childe. He'll need to be re-planted. ]
no subject
Perhaps it is due to his fragile state of mind or the cleansing offered during the Blight between the two of them, but the walls that separate the rest of Zhongli's stream of consciousness from Rosaria through communion is thinner than usual. Thinner even then the tangled yarn of shared thoughts between the Shard Bearers within this space. Cracked and flaking, line bits of stone crumbling away.
Come get Childe. He'll need to be re-planted.
Zhongli does not know whether to feel relief or sadness that Childe's suffering is at an end, so both emotions bleed into one sludge-like mud that leaves room for little else, sticky and encompassing in its potency. It weighs heavily in the pit of his gut, breaths coming quick and strained as he tries to regain his composure. There's not time for that. No time for this - not any of this. Time marches forward-- is moving forward. Time waits for no one, so it was either keep up or be swept away in its current just as it had always been and just as it always will be.
So come, he does - the fastest Rosaria has seen him move probably in all of their shared time here in Kenos. It's not a speed built out of skill or ability, but out of a reckless agitation. One built out of regret and remorse and hesitation.
Re-planted. rE-pLanTED. replanted. replanted.
Re-plant where? How? To what end? With the tree a dying husk in front of all of them that not even those most attuned to it could not heal, how were any of them supposed to come back? How was Childe supposed to come back?
Zhongli does not voice any of this when he arrives, however, no matter how easy such thoughts might be pulled from their shared communion or from his widened eyes as he sees the shard clutched in Rosaria's hand. Childe is gone. And Zhongli would see to it that what happens next would be taken care of by his hand. For what god could call himself a god (and friend call himself a friend
even if that term might still be too generous to describe the messiness between them) if he could not tend after what little he had left of his own world.Zhongli holds out his hand for the shard, palm upturned and steady: ]
Thank you, Rosaria.
[ Thank you for doing what he could not in his moment of weakness. ]
no subject
And even though she made no further promises to the Fatui, she does end up doing what Childe asked anyway. ]
He said not to blame yourself for this, and you shouldn't. He simply fell victim to the blight.
[ Not even she could overcome its influence without nagging the Meridians for assistance. She's not proud of it, but she's deeply attached to having her own agency. The tree's infection can only take so much else from her.
She presses the shard into Zhongli's palm after and closes his fingers around it firmly, considering her job here finally done. ]
Don't mope. Revive him, and say whatever you need to say to him.
no subject
I will not. Insurmountable would our grief and regret be if we thought ourselves capable of preventing every negative outcome.
[ Ah, he probably looked like a mess in this moment. And Rosaria had already done so much for him (both in welcoming him to Kenos and helping him with his own Blight) and he had yet to return that generosity. And now, she had helped Childe though it is unknown if Childe will come to see this as a mercy.
Then perhaps, on both of their behalf: ]
Thank you for putting an end to his suffering.
no subject
You're giving me far too much credit. I just wanted to put an end to his self-pity. As much as I hate to admit, he's more preferable to deal with when he's being himself.
[ She never thought she'd meet a worse version of Childe, but that Meridian-sentiment doesn't suit him. Besides, she'd rather have him on their side where she can keep an eye on him than let him run amuck and plot as he pleases.
As always, keeping her enemies close is the safer, sounder strategy. ]
Do you need anything else, or are you fine to travel on your own from here on out?
[ She's not sure what more help she could give him nor does she actually want to make the trip to revive Childe, but she could be convinced if it's Zhongli who's asking. ]
no subject
I do not need anything else. And I will be fine.
[ As fine as anyone could be in these circumstances. Ah, perhaps it is just nostalgia for Zhongli to take a single page from the book of Barbatos as Zhongli attempts the smallest reassuring smile in return. He would be fine. He really would be. Either the tree would heal from this Oracle trial and he would take Childe there, or he would become the guardian of this shard and those of Childe's siblings until they could be restored or put to a peaceful rest.
Either way - life continues on. ]
I can see to the rest from here.
no subject
Just don't end up like him.
[ Zhongli already seems like he's in a far better mental state, so she's not that worried about him.
...Maybe a little worried about how he'll react to Childe when he's resurrected, but she'll let them resolve that on their own. Her job here is officially done. ]