blight buddies <3

[beleos]

WHO: The Blight Buddies (aka those who signed up here)
WHAT: The Blight still needs curing
WHERE: Various
WHEN: great question
WARNINGS: I’m going to guess morally questionable things, so,

TURN BACK TIME

Before making their valiant return, a small group will feel their consciousness touched by a presence that’s familiar now. Just like the force that sent them to the dead Tree, the force of Aetós’s magic envelops them again. They hear the distinct tick tick tick of a watch’s hand moving, though it’s soft. Aetós speaks through it.

Less than I would like, but it’ll have to do. We have a Blight to solve.

It’s a similar sensation as the first time as their time magic does its work. The group is vaulted through time and space, but this time they land somewhere that will be familiar to some and new to others: The Scorching Isles. The isle isn't cold, it's vivacious and full of life as the Atrirat go about their everyday lives in the castle and the surrounding area. However, filaments of teal light randomly thread throughout the area that seem to go unseen by the Atirat... Nor do they seem to acknowledge your presence as strange.

Their Blight was developing at this point. It should provide ample, repeatable testing grounds. When you've found the answer, I'll bring you back.

Is that strain you hear in their voice? Maybe, since this level of magic can't be easy to maintain... But regardless of your opinions of Aetós and their work, it seems you’re allies… For now.

OOC EXPLANATION

Welcome (back) to the Scorching Isles! Aetós has gathered the characters that had previously worked on trying to cure the Blight and sent them back in time to the Scorching Isles after it had begun to spread there. These characters are tasked with finding and developing the cure for the Blight while Aetós essentially holds time in place for them... For 24 hours at a time. Aetós has created a time loop, where every 24 hours, the day will repeat. The Atirat have no memory of (or injury from) the previous loop, but player characters will retain what they've learned and experienced, naturally.

As such, characters who participate in this mini plot will not be excluded from post Oracle event happenings. By the time they return to Kenos, they’ll have already experienced this log’s events and will have the knowledge of how to develop the cures! Time travel, baby. This log is more for y’all to thread out learning this process, should you wish to do so. Sharing/creating the cure back in Kenos-proper will then be up to them.

Characters will be able to fully explore the Scorching Isles (with more info also on the original event post and related ooc post), and will remain there for what they’ll likely experience to be a few days. They’ll be able to find food, comfortable beds, and maybe more importantly, well-stocked laboratories for science and magic both that are operated by Mr. Tibbs’s (former) master and best friend, Mimsy the wizard. It may take some exploration, but essentially whatever they need, they won’t have a problem finding it.

So, how to go about finding that cure? Well—

FIND A CURE

To give the players maximum freedom for how this works and how you want to thread this process out, we’re going to work backwards! This is all the information that characters could/will learn through their time (“time”) on the Scorching Isles. How they discover it, how they test their theories etc., is all up to you guys! There’s a plotting thread in Discord for you to chat about things OOC, but this log is hopefully a spot for them to make Questionable Science Friends, so feel free to thread things in whatever way you think is most fun. So, without further ado:

THE SCORCHING ISLES & THE BLIGHT

• The Scorching Isles are a kingdom called Vhen, which split off from the county of Rascheel. Through whatever forces split off chunks of worlds to have them float in the astral sea of Kenos, Vhen suddenly arrived. For a time, the kingdom was in chaos at their new situation, but the court wizard, Mimsy, discovered time magic. Not long after, he summons his familiar, “Mr. Tibbs”.
• Time magic was used to stabilize the Atrirat way of life. Widely used by the Atirat, this allowed them to vastly increase the production levels of their meagre farmlands. Plants could grow to productive levels in a matter of a week, and animals could be raised in a month.
• Decades pass, and over time, the time magic begins to show its flaws. Plants and animals start to die too quickly, so new methods are developed to grow supplies independent of “life”. Seeds are fast-forwarded into an edible form, and edible muscle is grown independent of intelligent life. They will indeed find a slaughterhouse of (perfectly edible!) meat blobs that lack anything but the most basic systems needed to grow the meat.
• Eventually, the magic becomes outright unstable and develops into a condition the Atrirat call “Timerot”, better known as the Blight. Food becomes scarce as The Blight begins to spread. People are seen as “sick” and are murdered when quarantines prove ineffective. Crops die. Winter comes.
• Mimsy breaks the island’s isolationist streak and reaches out to contact Aetós, the wizard of Springstar, who was in the service of the 4th Tribune. A letter from Aetós explains that the only recourse at this point is to “pause the situation” before it gets worse and develop a solution in solitude. By the time of the loop, it seems Mimsy still has hope of finding it without that measure... But you already know how that turns out.



THE CURE – LIVING THINGS

To cure living things that are affected by the Blight, the group will eventually be able to create a potion that will reverse the Blight (so long as it’s not too advanced). If injected like a vaccine into a healthy person, it will give them an immunity to the Blight. If the condition is too advanced, there doesn’t seem to be a way to reverse it, and they may come to the conclusion that they’re better off quarantined/killed to prevent further spread. The potion is created as follows:


1. Based on Mimsy’s starting research, you must begin with a foundation of metals such as gold, silver, and platinum, known for their association with longevity and vitality.
2. Combine the liquid metals into water that has been purified by the energy of Meridian or Zenith. Rather than solidify, the metals will turn the water a pale gold or purple, depending on the energy applied.
3. Extract the essence of the metals through distillation or infusion, capturing their rejuvenating properties.
4. Create an herbal infusion of Blue Lotus, a flower that grows in the pools of the Atrirat, and Turquoise Vitalia, a blue flower that grows outside of the castle, but is the same one that was found in the highlands of World’s Edge.
5. Combine the metal essence with the herbal infusion.
6. Infuse the mixture with Meridian energy while heating.
7. Filter the tonic with Zenith energy while cooling.

THE CURE – ENVIORNMENTAL

Curing a non-living thing involves the use of the forces of Meridian and Zenith.

Characters will discover that by applying Meridian or Zenith energies to an object, it seems to stop the aging process, if only temporarily. Combining them seems to reverse it. However, the method and amounts will need tweaking, where they’ll be able to develop something with these general steps—Feel free to adjust, add flavor, invent something, etc.!


1. Assess the extent of the time distortion causing rapid degradation in the objects. This will help in estimating the required amount of Meridian and Zenith. This will vary from object to object and needs to be more precise the more advanced the degradation.
2. Apply the temporal reversal: Utilize a device or spell to apply the calculated temporal reversal to the affected objects. Ensure precision and accuracy to avoid unintended side effects. These side effects are free for y’all to determine!
3. Monitor and adjust: Continuously monitor the progress of the temporal reversal. Adjust the amount of Meridian or Zenith being applied constantly to ensure stability. When the forces are roughly even, the process is most effective.
Characters will find that they can use their purification spells for this purpose, but it’s draining and seems impractical at scale. Far more effective is the use of Harmonized blood, which is consumed in the process.

CODING

Comments

[hyperpotamous]

As most magic is concerned, I'm still a beginner, so I'm sure even outdated knowledge is more useful. I think some things require a bit more imagination than I possess.

[ plenty of magic is as computational as his necromancy, but there are reasons he asked others to become experts on the kinds of things you might need a ritual for. ]

What complications do you foresee? [ moral outrage is easily the last thing on his mind. ] If you mean literally, we have plenty of options. I'm very good for that, although help is always appreciated.

[cutlery]

[ Imagination isn't exactly a strong suit either... But he'll keep that one to himself, lest he get distracted by explaining how that one works. Demons, man. ]

Well, selection of a group of participants is the first and the most basic, yes? I imagine we would want to find a decent variety of both things and people to test the work upon. And then there is the matter of testing, at least in the latter case. I would be surprised if every attempt was... successful, I shall say to put it lightly.

I assume it will take iteration. Helped as this may be by our situation, is that an acceptable choice?

[hyperpotamous]

[ he can't help his amusement, but then this is all very simple in his mind already. ]

Naturally. It's to be expected in this line of work. We will inevitably encounter combinations that cause horrific side effects before we discover anything useful, but the people still alive in the present will be thankful for their contributions.

[ or, you know, no one will ever know the cost of progress, and this will have been a fun science field trip. ]

These people are dead in our time. It's no different than working on cadavers.

[cutlery]

…Technically, they were largely alive, but in very poor shape.

[ Frozen in time for who knows how long, but only their bodies, not their minds. Sebastian had unfrozen one and seen just how fractured their minds were, so. In truth, it would likely be a kindness if they had all simply been killed. But whatever. It’s not something he holds any real opposition to, but he feels as if he should make a token debate if only for appearances. ]

Well, I suppose it did take humans a very arduous and costly time to figure out what medicines they did have in my time. I suppose it is not terribly different than how many must have perished for those processes. Simply accelerated, as it were.

[hyperpotamous]

Oh? Well—.. [ a pause. things like turning to stone and running out of time usually mean dead. ] Close enough. We aren't cutting people down in their prime, is my point.

[ it's probably fine. ]

And you're right, it's a similar process, but since we're dealing with potentially unstable time magic, there is always a chance that those effects might be accelerated instead of reversed, or otherwise turn out more poorly than any of us would like.

[cutlery]

[ Sebastian makes a soft sound of agreement to the first point, since that part is true, certainly. Though to the second, there’s light surprise of a different character. ]

Oh? Are you familiar with time magic?

[ There’s genuine curiosity there, since that is actually very valuable knowledge to Sebastian, though he would never explain why. The fact that he already knows Aetós is a secret more closely guarded than his Covenant with Silco at this point. ]

I admit, all magic I am familiar with is of a very particular character, and so that which manipulates time is well beyond me. It is fascinating. But clearly, rather dangerous.