kenoslogs | NOVEMBER EVENT | THE HARBINGER ORACLE

NOVEMBER EVENT | THE HARBINGER ORACLE

HEDGING YOUR BETS

Bearers feel it. Similar to when the Scorching Isles was opened, there is the same tug, from somewhere in the distance. Those who are in springstar feel it from closer, like a blossom of warmth in your heart, you feel the Oracle spring to life. Those in Highstorm feel it too, but distant. Far away. You remember Cyrus’s words, that it would come to life in Springstar, and you know, just from the relative distance, from how far away it feels – He was probably right.

So bearers must make their way to the center of Springstar’s residential district. Finding one’s way to Springstar will be difficult, in fact. Preparations have been underway since Cyrus’s announcement, and Springstar leaps into action. The Legionnaires are already marching by the time the first bearers start moving throughout the city. In addition to any of Meridian’s own preparations, the Legionnaires establish choke points and start organizing evacuations. It will be difficult to make your way through Springstar, but the closer bearers make it to the hedge maze, and what seems to be the oracle at the center, the warmer their chests feel. Throughout the city, it feels warm, like small wicks of heat. The closer bearers become, the more it feels like a torrent. It is burning them to their center and igniting them to their cores. Like the fire of drive, is what it feels like. Like the hunger for something more than just food, or anything else, like the anticipation of victory.

The maze itself is where it is the most intense as bearers start to make their way through the hedge maze. Vines and brambles lie within a neat hedge, and it looks like it is safe to jump, or scale, but the moment a bearer tries to jump it, cut through it, or even go beneath it, roots, brambles, and vines lash out to entrap bearers, and start to drag them down and into the hedges. You will have to figure out a way out – lest you be stuck for seemingly the near future.

Of course, when Dimitri’s hand touches the stone statue in the middle, it all goes dark, and wherever you were, whoever you were fighting –

Every bearer collapses at the same time.

YOU'D BETTER BE A-MAZE-ING!

In the dark, there is that fiery impression of the Harbinger. Competition, drive, disdain for even those that best them. It is clear, in the dark, with your eyes closed, that the Harbinger does not see the Bearers as worthy to obtain it. You feel ghostly hands on your mind, into you, as if it is delving for more, trying to pluck and pull out the right memory. It looks for victories, triumphs, defeats, or betrayals. Something that shows the mettle of the bearer, what it is looking for. When it finds what it is looking for – or is this just a dream? – after the bearer experiences the dream, they will get the distinct impression that it is not enough. That the Harbinger wants more. It wants to see what this bearer can do. It wants to see you rise to the challenge, bearer! Will you do as it wishes, and show it the scope of your mettle, or will you capitulate and let the Harbinger know that it was right – you aren’t enough?

The Harbinger wants you to prove them wrong. Can you do that? Will you use spite to convince it that it is wrong? The Harbinger at the center of this labyrinth imparts to bearers, that it will not allow the weak to succeed, that nobody who cannot reach it, would ever be able to protect them. They look down on bearers, and it is up to you, to convince them that you are worth their attention.

When bearers wake, they will be stuck in a foyer. The walls seem blank, and there is a door, leading further into the maze. It is not… fully dark, everything here seems to be lit just enough to move around without trouble, but it is not bright. Bearers can look left, and right, and see others beside them. They are not alone, but nor are they with others of their faction. No, you can feel it, between all of you, gathered here in one space. The humming of your shared aspect fills the room, as if all of you together in one space feels right.

You will not be able to stay. The foyer lasts only until the last person leaves, and if any try to stay behind and stationary, they will find that eventually a door appears, and the room begins to shrink. You had better get moving!

You must move further into the maze. You will find that grouping up for long periods of time becomes impossible, and moving from one door to the next can find foes, allies, or even neutral parties. Every door you open within this maze, leads to new and unusual locations. You may both walk in, from opposite ends, only to find that the doors are gone when you turn your back. Do you end up on a precarious path over spikes, lava, or even water? Do you walk into a room with your greatest desire, a hunger that can now never be sated? Will you do anything to find your way through the corridors? Will bearers help each other, and resist the call of the Harbinger, or will you push over even your treasured ones to win?

MADE IN THE SHADE

And even further in, as you start to catch sight of them, patches of darkness seep into the corners, into everything. They may be hidden, at first. They may lurk underneath patches of leaves, or in shadowed corners. But the longer bearers are within this labyrinth, the longer the shadows seem. They start to reach out, to pull bearers into their shadowy depths. You may feel malaise, or an unwillingness to continue, once you first step within these patches. The longer you are there, the harder it is to get out. You will need help from your friends or dear ones, or sheer strength of will – but can you fight on, as you start to lose the things that motivate you?

And then there are the visions. People you know, love, or trust, they round corners, just ahead. They seem just out of range, and at first, it is difficult to tell if they are there or not. But they happen to reappear, and then disappear around a corner. Try and chase them, if you dare. When your fingers touch their arm, or grab their clothing, or heaven forbid, if you pull them into a hug – it seems impossible to pull away. They were treasured, weren’t they? There is a reason they appear here, to you. Why would you want to pull them away? Why would you –

They reach out, their fingers seem long, as they reach toward your shard – they will not be deterred by clothing or armor, their fingers seem to bend and twist around the junctions – before they find purchase on your shard. They rip it from you, and it feels like you are being separated from something. It’s painful, it hurts, but the last thing you see, as they hold your shard in your hand, is someone you care very deeply for, placing the shard in the same place on their own body, and your own face smiles back at you, and it all goes black. You are gone. Into… nothing.

NOTES

Here are some prompts to set the scene and foundation of the Exalt Oracle! Please refer to the ooc post for more details about what’s happening in the labyrinth! Feel free to direct questions here.

If your character gets killed by a shadow-copy, please let us know in the reporting post that goes up on November 20th if they touch the effigy. If they do not, please let us know on the deaths page! Don't forget to report any dissipations as a whole! Please also let us know if your character is saved by another bearer, or if your character’s shard is taken by the shadow copy for the entire duration of the event. This will not result in any permadeath, but you might get some cool lore! Teehee! If your character defeats a shadow creature, please let us know [HERE]

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[ Dimitri is perfectly willing to work with Hayame again, even if he still maintains private reservations about what might need to happen if things ever escalate to the point of shattering shards or taking hostages. But in the moment it's just them versus a mysterious labyrinth of shadow and stone. His good eye scans the area ahead of them and then-

There's that click.

He reacts instantly as the floor starts to shift and there's a glow. He starts to throw himself to one side as some sort of barrage seems to be heading their way! Magic or something else - it seems likely to hurt. ]

Look out-!

[Hayame is perfectly willing to work with Dimitri again, even if she still maintains private reservations about his resolve. This Oracle, though... this Oracle is all about resolve. The strength to do it alone, the willingness to not rely on others, the drive to forge ahead and accomplish what needed to be done. Still... for now, she was willing to ally with other Meridians when it was beneficial.

- That click, however, was not beneficial to either of them. Her good eye (her one, surely there is just the one, she wears an eyepatch) darts immediately to the sudden glow, her body reacts, but the magic attack is so fast that she barely dodges out of the way, her armored flank slamming into the opposite wall as the hot, burning lance of light shoots past between their faces.]

Shit-

[Unfortunately, the floor shifts beneath her movements, runs beneath their feet seeming to track their movements on the stone. Tracking... to aim the next magic "arrow" that fires.]

[ Dimitri mutters a curse of his own as the floor shifts and he has to struggle to get his balance back as the strange, magical device tries to track them. Hedarts forward and then side-steps as another blast of magical energy lances through the spot he just occupied. ]

There has to be a way to disarm this!

[ But he can't see a switch or obvious button... but of course that would be too easy. ]

[A switch, a button, something- Hayame is looking for anything at all that stands out, pressing as flat as she can against the wall to prevent the burning lance from skewering her. The heat licks at her withers as it burns past, more damage thankfully prevented by the fact that she had procured a set of equine body armor before this Oracle. But this time, she doesn't move her feet, and that at least doesn't seem to be triggering a new attack, providing her a few seconds to look...

Are some of the stone tiles of this floor just slightly different colors than the rest? It seems so stupid to her, but at this point, knowing they must go forward-]

Brace yourself-

[She doesn't know if it will trigger something worse or something better, but she steps upon one of the slightly lighter tiles. Instead of an attack, though... it seems to make one of the other light stones further down the path raise from the floor and become a shield that might be able to block the magical lances... if one was in the narrow space protected by it.

Was that how this could be done- ? She goes to move... but taking her hoof off the tile sends the stone shield back into the labyrinth floor.]

I'm as braced as I can be-!

[ Even through armor and cloak, he felt the heat of the last blast and he's pressed himself against the far wall with a grimace, eying their surroundings. Figuring out how to get out of this one is a bit difficult, in all honesty - but there are those off-color tiles and when Hayame triggers the 'shield' a lightbulb goes off over his head. ]

Keep your weight on it - I'll move up to the next and then you can move up to me!

[ That seems like it will work - probably? Or maybe it's not quite that easy. Either way he darts forward, trusting her implicitly - otherwise he may end up fried! ]

[As much as she preferred to rely on herself, as much as this Oracle seemed to be urging them to do exactly that, to throw away everyone they needed to in the process... it seemed like this was what they needed to do to get through this particular puzzle. They needed to work together.

So her hoof stays firm on the tile, holding the corresponding shield stone upwards as he moves... and offering a place to hide from the scorching heat of the next "arrow". Were they coming as they moved over the tiles, or was it timed... ?]

Wait there, and do not move for a moment!

[They had to figure that out. If another attack came while neither of them was touching a new stone...]

Understood!

[ The benefit of them both being warriors - they respond easily to commands and requests on the battlefield. He settles himself and waits. At the same time another bolt starts to rev up with a hum and Dimitri grits his teeth. He stares as the wall starts to glow and then another burst. And a moment later it starts all over again.

Timed, then, but still lethal enough. Especially since it barely left enough time to move if one didn't have cover. ]

I can go to the next.

[So it is timing after all. Hayame does not know if it is too soon to tell, but it seems to her that she will prefer that to triggers on the floor that she might be able to miss. Seconds, she can count.

And at least she and this man both understand how to move on a battlefield and respond to short, minimal words. Between them, they even had both a left eye and a right eye. (After all, beneath both of their eyepatches... was nothing useful, right?)]

Then... [3, 2, 1...] go now!

[If he made it to the next tile, then perhaps she would be the next one with opportunity to move forward. And if they could do that in tandem, taking turns...]

[ Dimitri darts forward on her word and then skids to a halt on the next discolored tile. Something clicks. The next blast slams into the shield and dissipates. He frowns and glances back. ]

Try moving! We'll see if this stays in place!

[ Well, the good news is that a shield pops up - the bad news is that it's in a slightly different place, covering a slightly different angle. It's not as easy as all that. ]

[Of course it isn't easy.

Hayame waits for what seems like the right timing and then surges forward into a gallop, throwing herself forward to reach the newest shield before the next magical "arrow" is fired. She reaches it, but unfortunately-]

Shit-

[She is much larger than most other shard-bearers, even Dimitri, who is a giant of a man by her standards of what humans are supposed to look like. Though she gets as behind the shield of stone as she can, when the arrow slams into it and the magical heat scatters into smaller strikes one slices along the side of her face, opening up a cut across her temple... but more importantly, cutting the strap of her leather eyepatch, which begins to fall down her face. Clutching at it to keep it on, blood smearing over her hand might make the injury seem far worse than it actually is. She can't- She can't let him (them?) see what was beneath (in front of her)...]

- Do you see the next one?

[If she can just tie the severed strap back into place...]

[ It's never easy.

Dimitri keeps an eye on her as she advances, wary and waiting for the next blast. He jerks in surprise and alarm as Hayame is struck and he almsot takes a step toward her, but he has to remind himself that he's the only thing keeping the shield in place. So he settles, watching intently as the blood starts to run down her face. ]

Hayame-!

[ The blood looks bad - but then again, head wounds tend to bleed quite freely, don't they? ]

I think so. It's ahead. About ten meters from me. Are you alright? How bad is it?

[ He's not sure he wants to see what's beneath it... but... ]

Tch-

[There is a moment when Hayame thinks she can do it, that the severed straps can be tied back together, but the leather is too thick and the strap too lacking in slack. As much as she hates it... She doesn't have time to just flounder about trying to fix it. With a low snarl, Hayame lets the broken eyepatch fall, revealing...

No wound (beyond the cut bleeding along her temple), no burn, no nasty scar, no empty eyesocket, the thing that had actually been hidden under the leather until just over a month before. Beneath the patch is... a completely normal looking eye? Unless you consider the fact that the iris is a sickly green color that doesn't match the stormy grey of her other organ at all.]

I am fine. Hold your position.

[She waits for the next arrow to scatter against the shield, this time hunching her large body as awkwardly small as she can... and then unfolding to race across the tunnel in time to step upon the next stone and summon the next shield for him to use, her eyepatch abandoned on the floor behind her.]

[ Dimitri doesn't have time to wonder about that strange eye behind the patch - whether it's always been there or not - but he does note it. It sticks in his memory. He's mostly relieved she's not seriously hurt and he gives her a relieved nod as she darts forward into position (or gallops, honestly). The new shield pops up, again slightly out of place, and he has to time his dash. He waits for a moment - and then goes.

He skids to a halt, hand thrown up as the arrow scatters and he feels the heat of it burn past his head and he smells singed hair. He grimaces and glances back. ]

Almost there. I think a few more and we'll be clear.

[ He sets his weight down firmly. There's another click. ]

[Hayame doesn't have time to worry right now who the hell is attuned to the eye that had been implanted in her head. She'd had it seen by three different mages and eventually managed to tell it was someone, that someone could see through it... and of course, she suspects it is either the demon who put it in her or perhaps Yima, a gift given to the Zenith witch perhaps to ingratiate with her, but...

It was no secret Dimitri was a Meridian, and what could be gained from seeing them work together in this maze? Nothing, surely, so-

She pushes on. They push on. Dimitri was right, at least, there are just a few more steps, a few more coordinated splits between one of them activating the shields and the other advancing in their protection, barely dodging scatter from the arrows, until finally-- Hayame's hand slaps against a stone tile on the far wall, and all of it... rumbles to a stop, a stone wall moving to reveal a door that leads to the next part of the labyrinth.]

[ The idea of the eye being used to spy doesn't occur to him in the moment. It's just... a part of Hayame that he hadn't known about before, with regard to the eyepatch. Nor does he consider it really his business, but it does draw attention. He takes a breath. Waits. And then dashes forward. They trade off and then - it's done. Dimitri sighs softly in relief as the door opens and the deadly trap finally stops. He gives her a concerned look despite that as he comes jogging up behind her. ]

Hayame, you're not too badly hurt, are you? You seem to be carrying on just fine, but still... I can take a look, if you like.

[ He's always helpful, isn't he? ]

[She doesn't expect it to occur to anyone. It hadn't even occurred to her, because... She did not come from a world where such magic was possible. She thought perhaps it was poisoned to weaken her body, maybe cursed in some way, but... It wasn't until she'd had several magic users examine it that she found out what she should actually be fearing.

That even though she she had two eyes again... She would never be able to use them to look at anyone without fearing she was becoming a traitor to Meridian, somehow feeding information to her enemies. And now, now that they are not running around and she is no longer using them to step here or there and carefully navigate a trap-]

I am not hurt badly.

[The cut on her temple was bloody, but it wasn't terribly deep. Her armor had saved her from the worse of it, those initial strikes. She knows by now that he can heal her, he has that spell, but perhaps he should save it for something more dire? She holds out a hand for him to stop, though, not wanting him to approach before she warns him.]

If you are about to use magic, do it- just be sure to do it out of my line of sight.

Good. I can-

[ He pauses as she continues, his brow furrowed. It's a strange request and for a heartbeat he cannot quite put those things together. Then it clicks and he exhales in a long sigh. Well... he can guess now that she's said it. He approaches, just out of her line of sight, digging into one of his pockets for a bandage. ]

It doesn't look as serious as it could be. It's mostly bleeding... here-

[ He reaches up gingerly to put pressure on the wound, holding it in place. ]

Hold that. I'll wrap it on.

[ No magic. Not yet. ]

What's happened? [ Or was it always like this? ]

[What's happened?

That is a simple question. If she did not possess pride, it would be a simple answer, too. But they do not live in a world like that, and so she does not open her mouth at first. There are more important things to do- like play the good patient and obediently hold the bandage to her temple where he had placed it, pressing firm to encourage the bloodflow to stop.]

Wrap the eye when you do.

[Not just the wound. Once it was covered, perhaps...

She will decide which words to use.]

Of course.

[ Dimitri responds in a low murmur as he sees to her. He is slow and careful - partially because as always he fears his own strength and partially out of a desire to not do more harm. But he wraps the bandage in place and makes sure to cover that baleful eye as he continues to swathe her head.

He has nothing more to say for now. He senses he's discovered something she would rather have remained private. ]

[She thinks she will have come up with what to say by the time he finishes wrapping the eye along with the bloody flesh wound across her temple. But though it takes a moment, a certain finesse and creatively required to do the bandages in a way that will actually stay in place over her slippery mane once she begins to move without cutting off any circulation...

She still has nothing. Hayame straightens back up once he is done, checking his work with a nod, but...

A long moment passes, before she finally says,]

... I was not sick.

[When he had come to call upon her in Alenroux.]

...I see.

[ He finishes making his adjustments and steps back after a moment. ]

I... won't pry if you would rather not discuss it. I understand how deep some wounds can be. But I would like to try and understand, if I can.

It is not...

[Perhaps it is time. She cannot... She cannot hide it any longer without seeming like a fool, or an idiot convinced she is pulling the wool over everyone's eyes when everyone knows she definitively isn't. But...

She bites into her lip.]

It is not a tale for now. We have the Oracle.

[Maybe by the end she will know how to say it. ... Or at least, she will buy time before she has to debase herself further.]

We do. But - please. Do feel free to confide in me, if you wish.

[ He steps back, searching for the words. ]

I understand how deep some wounds go. And not always in the physical sense.

[ It's a hand - or olive branch, maybe. ]

But you're correct; we should focus on the goal in front of us. Once we triumph... then there will be time for discussion.

[She has been avoiding doing that, admittedly. There had been a reason, though she has never explained it. Some of her first exposure to the man had been to... a certain unhinged Communion post, though that obviously had certain caveats attached. Then, he had expressed a certain unwillingness to do what she and a certain war god felt were warranted actions against their enemies.

And she wanted to do that, and far, far worse, to the demon who had inflicted that sickly green eye upon her. Would this man call such things cruel? Would he try and stop her from going to the lengths that might be required to get to him? She will not know until she is ready to say it. But for now...]

If you still wish to know...

[She forces herself to straighten, to gather herself for the next step, and the doorway that will separate them when they step through.]

You may call upon me in Alenroux after we claim the Oracle.

[They would claim it. Or else.]

Then I will. But... for now...

[ He glances at her; he actually does like her. Even with his own private doubts. He sees something honorable and noble in her. She reminds him of some people he knew at home. And so perhaps that's why he's... fond. He starts toward the door, shoulders straightening. ]

Good luck. And let's find ourselves victory.

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NOVEMBER EVENT | THE HARBINGER ORACLE

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