NOVEMBER EVENT | THE HARBINGER ORACLE

[beleos]

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]

Comments

[erbe]

[It's... difficult. Every fiber of her being screams to stay put, to finally indulge, to just continue eating. Her body screams in every silent way letting her know that... the hunger persists. That really, she could stay until she wasn't hungry anymore. That would be fine, wouldn't it? Yuri proceeds, but Rin is stuck in place for a painful few moments. Watching him continue without her.

In order to get herself to move on, Rin switches her circuits into an active state. For some it's like pushing a button or flicking a switch. For Rin... well, the sensation of turning 'on' her circuits is akin to piercing her own heart. Vividly imagining the tip of a knife carve its way into what betrays her the most.

Tohsaka lurches forward with a small gasp, but then uses that momentum to hurry and catch up with him.]

[wolfish]

[ The sound reaches his ears and stills Yuri briefly, momentarily arresting his movements and tempting him to glance her way. It sounded to him as though she was pained, just now. Yet if he looked to ascertain for himself whether this was true, he might stall their escape himself.

So that lapse comes and goes, the briefest cessation of motion before Yuri spurs himself onward to the door. Rin is near at hand, so he reasons they should be out of here without trouble. No more than this room had already visited upon them, anyway.

Upon reaching the door, Yuri tugs it open. Whether by virtue of his Locktouch or simply being unlocked to begin with, the door yields with little more protest than the groan of old hinges. He steps aside, sweeping an arm toward the hall ahead, so as to ensure Rin finds her way out first and foremost. ]

[erbe]

[It takes what feels like monumental effort to reach that door. As if she had been trudging though a foot of sludge just to reach the threshold. She'll have to pause at the door. Her hand gripping the the edges of the doorway like a vice. While her head hangs that dark hair of hers curtains her expression and obscures the way she twists herself into knots just to get this far.

She hates it, but Rin makes Yuri serve as a life line. One hand gripping at his upper arm desperately. Hoping he'll pull her through the final stretch of leaving that room.]

[wolfish]

[ As though he doubts his own perception, Yuri looks at the hand on his arm. Independent as he knows Rin to be, he doesn't comment upon this. Instead, he lightly pats the back of her hand in an effort to reassure her. ]

Nearly there.

[ Another step, his hand holding onto hers in case the room's grip on her grows severe in these last moments, and they pass the threshold. The moment they do, Yuri's hand falls away. ]

Hell of a thing to have thrown our way.

[erbe]

[The door seems to be closing itself (albeit slowly) to naturally allow the room to seal off and change for the next victim, but the moment Rin is out of there... the moment she is free from its hold...

She slams that door shut with enough force to splinter it before yelling a slew of angry swear words.]

[wolfish]

[ The force jolts him, shoulders peaking before he can catch himself. That room was harder on her than he suspected then, he mentally amends as he forces his posture to relax. At least, insofar as he's willing to relax in this damned place.

Rather than interrupt Rin with words, he instead brushes his cape aside to access one of the packs he'd bound to his back, sifting through it somewhat awkwardly due to the odd angle.

He had offered to supply her with some actual rations, after all. ]

[erbe]

[With one final kick to the door, Rin has "made her peace" and begins turning the other way. By now her hunger has disappeared, along with the fading door to the room, and she has forgotten all about Yuri's offer. He's welcome to call out and remind her, but the Oracle calls. It tells her to win by any means necessary, to not rely on others, and so a part of her wants to distance herself from him. Less the Oracle ask for his life.

Or her own.]

[wolfish]

Rin.

[ Yuri has known hunger too long and to well to not call after her. He holds out a small, carefully wrapped bundle of jerky. Some is meat, some is fruit. When they thought an attack was coming topside, he'd prepared for a siege.

Had he more time, he'd have set up caches for his comrades. As it turned out, it's just as well he didn't. ]

Take this before you go. We don't know how long we'll be down here, and some of the supplies littered about are traps.

[ Should he tell an "enemy" that? No, of course not. Is he doing so regardless? Yes. ]

[erbe]

[Tohsaka considers his offer with a(n un)healthy amount of suspicion. For now she halts her departure, but doesn't close the distance between them.]

Are you sure? The Oracle had insisted it's everyone for themselves.

[wolfish]

I've got more than enough. [ Said plainly and without hesitation. ] So it doesn't harm my own interests.

[ His waiting hand doesn't budge. It may be strange for a Harbinger, he doesn't know, but he has always looked out for his people. That's how he sees the other Shardbearers — and that's the shape of his self-interest. ]

On the other hand, dallying here will, so.

[erbe]

Then perhaps I should stall you a bit longer so that you fail even harder.

[She doesn't stall, though. Tohsaka marches up to him grabs the offered food. As she turns away there's a mumbled, "thank you" before storming off.]

[wolfish]

[ He'd tell her "good luck", but it would ring hollow. Yuri may be looking out for others' material needs in this place regardless of faction, but he still has every intention of winning.

Just the same, he hopes she remains safe as he turns to go his own way. ]