⏳ THE SCORCHING ISLE: Oracle Event One ⏳

[beleos]

ARRIVAL

All Bearers have heard whispers of them - the Oracles. Mysterious and unknown entities of an abstract nature, they serve as the heart of each faction’s cause - both as a means to an end and a very real stepping stone in achieving their objectives. To claim an Oracle means growing ever closer to victory: to see your homes restored as they were, or to herald in a new one of your making.

So you go.

A Cornerstone has been set up for each faction; one for the Zenith and one for the Meridian in Yima’s manor and Heliopolis, respectively. They warn you that upon transportation, your safety cannot be guaranteed and there is no telling what waits for you beyond - to be prepared. To make sure you have whatever you deem necessary with you before you go, as there is no telling when - or how - you will be coming back. CONTINUED HERE...

NOTES

Upon your arrival, you woke up with an HOURGLASS NECKLACE. Please refer to the Time Mechanics on the OOC Summary and bottom of this post for details on its usage.

The COURTYARD is frozen in time. Player Characters and the Great Tree are the only signs of moving, free life in the courtyard. During the intro, time magic does not work.

Characters are free to investigate but cannot move beyond the courtyard if you choose a prompt during the intro. You may mingle among your fellow Bearers or speak with [MR. TIBBS] if you so choose. (Also? LOOK AT HIM HELP)

Iconoclasts and Stargazers will notice Aspect benefits/detriments now.

All characters will be weak for the 24 hours - think like mild flu - and unable to leave until Mr. Tibbs has dispersed them. This is the time in which any threads with the NPC will be carried out.

The INTRO concludes with said dispersal of PC’s once interactions concluded. They will be sent to a location around the castle of your choosing; they are free to move about freely from here. Your prompts can start with you waking alone or in the presence of others - whatever you’d like!

Your character will innately understand how to use time magic from this point forward. It will come naturally to them, like a skill they were born with.

CASTLE: OVERVIEW (p a s t)

The Scorching Isles is home to the Atirat, a people of sea-dwellers who have the ability to walk on land. (Think mermaids with the ability to shift back and forth between human and mermaid forms.) As such, much of the Scorching Isles is covered in large bodies of blue water and glistening pieces of ice to accommodate their lifestyle.

THE CASTLE, however, is what dominates the landscape and it's where the Shard-Bearers will be spending their time. The white castle with colorful glass windows is obscured by a thick layer of clouds and fog. Nearly every location on the island has a thin layer of fog that rolls through it, which gives the entire Island an inescapable chill. The castle has artfully built rooms with a CAVALCADE OF DECORATIVE ICE, lavish mirrors, and white plants accented with blue decorations. Several portions of the castle are submerged due to the aquatic nature of the native residents.

And everywhere you go, you find them - STATUESQUE BODIES FROZEN mid-movement. They are haunting reminders of the power in your Hourglass - the very real power to decide their fates.

The castle has many winding paths to explore, as castles often do. There are sleeping quarters, HALLWAYS, a wine cellar, and a few large rooms presumably for diplomatic affairs. Players can use these rooms at their own leisure for whatever purposes they see fit. (Exploration, combat, or supply gathering.)

However, many of these rooms will require some strategy to access their full potential! Atirat were much more comfortable being underwater than many Kenosians may be. Therefore, rooms of higher importance may be COMPLETELY SUBMERGED or require swimming through an underwater pathway to reach them. Very minimal supplies will be kept out in the open for all to reach. More desirable supplies - such as warm clothing, small weapons, treasure, and the like - will be located past or within one of these flooded areas.

Players may gather supplies within and preserve their Sand or use their Sand to make other rooms accessible and gather whatever lies within! The larger the asset you attempt to unfreeze, the more Sand it costs - and the more drained/vulnerable you will be as a consequence, so choose your path ahead wisely.

Currently, a pervasive fog is preventing you from wandering beyond the Castle's limits. Should you try to venture past it, your Sand will rapidly be stolen and you will find yourself suffering the same fate as the islanders if you don't move back to safety quickly... However, if you ask Mr. Tibbs what lays beyond the mist - he will tell you about the thriving farmland, the once-bustling village surrounding the castle, and the beautiful coral reefs beneath it. Sadly, they're beyond your reach - but maybe if the Bearers decide to unfreeze them when the week is up...

LIBRARY (s a f e z o n e)

The ROYAL LIBRARY - A treasure trove of knowledge, history, and glimpses of a fractured past scattered throughout. The lower floor of the Library is void of much reading material and contains several intricate-looking art pieces on decorative pedestals.

A spiral staircase dominates the center of the room, with its once delicate structure overtaken by sheets of formidable ice; it leads you toward the upper levels where a sea of books awaits. There are isles and isles of books, most perched on intricately carved shelves. Many books lay in piles or are discarded onto the floor, and scattered papers are common throughout.

Curious Kenosians may pick out books from the shelves and read on various topics, but players may also pass through this room on their way elsewhere. This area will function as a safe haven where violence and the taking of others' Sand is not allowed; do not disturb the books or Mr. Tibbs won’t be happy!

NOTES

Characters who wish to receive a book with lore specific to the island may comment [HERE]. You will be RNGed a book from a pre-written list of topics. The books may give you a deeper look into the island, its inhabitants, and its history! (Only 1 book per player! Please assume all other books they read are about commonly-available topics.)

THE EATING PARLOR (p a s t)

There are no basic amenities on the island. No hot water, no warm beds, and no salacious magazines (that you know of. heh heh). That would make the Eating Parlour a wise stop for anyone. After all, this could be the perfect chance to procure some provisions!

The EATING PARLOUR has all the equipment one would need for meal preparation. Dried plants hang from the ceiling, and the walls are lined with mason jars filled with every strange manner of presumably edible thing (Is that a head over there? Hmm… maybe you should check).

The parlour also comes with a garden under a massive windowed dome so that the inhabitants could have fresh produce at hand. Many plants have withered, but there are some salvageable plants if you know how to look for them. But beware… Some of the plants have a strange blue glow. These plants can spell potential disaster.

If someone should make contact with these glowing plants, they will crumble into glass shards - glass that will quickly burrow its way under the skin and curse that person with Blight. Blight will make all resources within that person's vicinity slowly age and eventually crumble to dust. (Which I relate to on a personal level tbh.) Iconoclasts will be immune to its effects.

NOTES

Please see the "Blight" section below for more information on its effects.

TREASURE ROOM (f u t u r e)

Faint singing can be heard coming from this room. Once you hear the song, it dulls your senses and leaves you in a haze. There is no stopping your feet from guiding you to it through the doors and into the Treasure room. The door slams shut at your back, sealed with a wall of ice and magic.

Players will find themselves lured to an icy chamber bordered by a ring of cold blue fire. There is a deep pond that surrounds the platform you’ve found yourself standing on. Beyond its glassy surface and crystal clear water, one can glimpse all manner of treasures - from crowns, jewels, ornate statues in various statues of repair, scepters, spears, and books that seem impervious to the water's cold chill.

As you come to your senses, you will find yourself frozen in place and at the mercy of a large statuesque being before you. This beautiful and horrifying figure in a perpetual song is the SIREN, the only Atirat you’ve seen in person. She measures nearly 20 feet (6 meters) from her head to the tip of her long-finned tail. She cradles an icy shard in her arms, singing to it as if it were a child.

She sits serenely in front of a large hourglass filled with white sand, which is bordered by a spear and a lance. Emblazoned in faint text at the base of where she sits reads: “The future lies in our hands.”

NOTES

Welcome to the Siren’s Chamber! Players must use their wit, charisma, or some good ol' fashioned elbow grease to escape the room or break the Siren’s magic. The Shard that the Siren holds contains dormant time magic that players may activate by using the Sand within their necklace. Players can access the future in 5-second intervals and use whatever they find in that time period to escape their predicament.

For example, if they activate the shard by using their time magic, that shard will begin to glow blue. The room around them will shift, and it could change to a point in the future where there is a sword nearby. If you can grab it, now you have a weapon! When the 5 seconds are up and time returns to the present, you will still have that weapon on your person. You may also try verbal communication if you’d like. If your character is someone who would try and talk their way out of a situation diplomatically, they may give it a try!

It is up to player discretion/creativity to think of a scenario you’d like. Each “future" does not have to be the same across player encounters! What one group experiences may be tailored to the player wants (because branching timelines exist). Let your imagination run free!

HALL OF MIRRORS (p r e s e n t)

Should you reach the rightmost wing of the massive castle Library, you will find a door hidden in the very back of one aisle against a wall; it looks as though the door used to be concealed by magicks that have since dissolved.

The stairwell leads down and into darkness. Once you reach the bottom, shimmering light cast from an unknown source beneath sheets of glistening ice will illuminate your new surroundings; you are in a maze of mirror-like ice. This labyrinth is silent save for the quiet creaking of shifting ice that may disquiet you and leave you uneasy regarding the stability of this area… but it holds beneath your feet.

Mr. Tibbs had told you that the “Kaleidoscope” - where your Sand is counted - rests through here, so eventually, you must brave the journey. Is it a trick of the light? Maybe the product of an especially active imagination…?

Did you just see one of your reflections move without you?

NOTES

Please refer to the OOC Summary for details on the Hall of Mirrors!

THE BLIGHT and TIME MECHANICS

BLIGHT

Blight is an infliction that will age supplies and infect people with a creeping disease that steals their Sand. For objects, this includes weapons, food, and items like cloth. It will take a few days to deteriorate things beyond use - so watching your supplies and acting accordingly is in your best interest. Generally, it will make it more difficult for PC's to get by given that their already scarce resources will dwindle and deteriorate - especially since it's 'contagious' through touch.

The Blight will not act quickly enough to severely hamper infected persons, but repeated exposure will cause effects to a person's body - notedly protruding VEINS in the face and extremities, a lower body temperature, and increased agitation. These effects start out mild and grow more severe with each 'dose.'

Characters must touch an object/person that is Blighted to become inflicted with Blight themselves. When that happens, it will become easily identifiable as Blighted from the faint blue, shimmering outline around the infected subject, as well as the WITHERED, FROSTBITTEN or ashy appearance it takes as it progresses.

However, there is one single perk with Blight. (Or is it a perk?) Players will feel reduced impact by the cold surroundings, making the climate around them somewhat more hospitable. Beware of falling victim to a chill you can't feel...

TIME

To use your Sand, each character is granted access to and innate knowledge of a spell they channel from their Shard that automatically manipulates their Hourglass. This allows the remote control of Sand (aka gathering and dispersing), as well as the ability to pull Fragments of time from Shards.

Fragments are literal pieces of you taken from your Shard. They manifest as memories or images displayed on little shards of broken glass (think of the memory being played out in real-time on the mirror's surface), and can be crushed to convert into Sand automatically, either voluntarily or by force. The only stipulation is that the parties must be close to one another, and the Fragment must be exchanged while both Bearers are still. This means someone has to give it to you, or you need to immobilize them before you take it - one way or another.

Once the Fragment is crushed, the memory and associated time of that person's life is lost and your character will suffer amnesia until the Oracle is claimed. How deep this goes is up to you; they could lose a large chunk of time - even all their memories surrounding a person or place for a big payload of Sand, or they could lose very little for a meager net gain.

Sand is automatically gathered or distributed by your Hourglass and added/subtracted to your running total. No need to micromanage. Convenient!

Please note that using Sand to unfreeze anything (resources, a door which can be then opened, etc) is an unpleasant experience. Each time you use Sand in this way, your character will be left feeling weakened and flu-like for an hour or two, which will leave them vulnerable. This effect stacks and scales up to outright KO-ing them for a few hours if they go crazy, so unfreezing too large of an area is off the table!

NOTES

• An OOC POST will be coming shortly explaining how Sand is going to be tallied and the Oracle claimed.
• Should your character attempt to unfreeze any NPC's, please respond [HERE]. NOTE: unfreezing NPC's may result in physical violence with CW's for severe mental instability/illness and a potential reference to self-harm.
• HAVE FUN!!!

CODING

Comments

[prizeneck]

[He taps at his sunglasses as if that actually explains anything without context. Mamoru keeps looking around, and comes back to step closer to Lottie to force her to talk quieter, and because he feels he may need an extra pair of eyes.] It's good. Don't take them off.

[oomfies]

[ Mamoru. She knows you're wearing sunglasses. Her irritation is practically seeping off her in waves, because she is somehow even more in the dark than she was before. It isn't helping he's acting, well, weird, all of a sudden invading her space — ]

I-I — [ A pause. Where she grits her teeth and whispers (peer pressure works). ] I wasn't? I don't care if you see my glasses??

[prizeneck]

[Mamoru's voice is close to a growl. The feeling is back here again, a little more amused than before, as though it walked back into the room and was delighted to find Lottie there, too.]

I don't give a shit about what you look like. [He guides her by the shoulder to turn around, her back to him.] There's someone here, and I can't see them. Can you?

[oomfies]

[ A 'what the fuck' at the implication he wouldn't nearly leaves her mouth, but Lottie's a bit too winded from the sudden change in trajectory to even manage it. All that leaves her lips is a weird, angry, little sound when she realizes his hands are on her and he's.. ]

Oh, ha ha.. I get it! You learned some new magic. Congrats..

[ Her confidence in the statement manages to waver the slightest bit — not through her tone, but from the uneasy way her shoulders tense, how she recoils back to angle herself closer towards him. He's always seemed like the #humble type, so why flex now? Or flex so.. Hm, menacingly like? No, menacing, why do it so menacingly, she frets.

The vibes are rather rancid in this hall, even with the chill and the warmth of someone else beside her, and it has everything to do with the ever silent, strangely foreboding, Mamoru shifting from mirror to mirror.

Like he isn't really walking, simply sliding from glass pane to glass pane with an ease that looks supernatural. Like he's not in a rush to be at pace with them, like he doesn't have to be. And there's something like a smile that teeters on his lips, head angled in their (her?) direction — but the reflection eases his way to a crawl, then a stop, close enough to make her acutely aware of how scary Mamoru can be when he isn't humoring her. Far enough to where she feels safe enough to say: ]

Now quit it. [ But her voice manages to wobble, ] He's making me uncomfortable..

[prizeneck]

That ain't me. [He squints at the way she talks about magic. He did, but, with a short glance upwards, he doesn't see the bird nearby nor feels it. It usually chirps its own presence even before it dissipates.

So something is amiss.]

That's the point. [Voice a low tone. He's not sure why he's so sure about those intentions, but he feels them spread out and scattered all around them, pinpricking Mamoru's hackles to raise at the threat. It's a taunt. A test, even, if he considered the girl.

His hand on Lottie's shoulder tightens slightly — a warning in itself.] Describe to me what's happening. Quick.

[oomfies]

[ She flinches under his hold when he tightens that grip, suddenly feeling many more things than uncomfortable. He doesn't have to say much to get her skin to prickle with nerves, because all she really needs is the implication. If Mamoru isn't doing it, then who is? And if he's trying to rush her, if he's stressed, what does that mean for the both of them? ]

You. You in the mirror! But you're not being a reflection! You're standing and staring? Being weird. Far away but getting close?

[ It's stuttered out — Lottie isn't thinking so much as she is just trying to get words out. ]

What does that mean??

[prizeneck]

[A reflection that's not a reflection and is moving towards them?

Of course he feels the intent all wrong. He's used to reading other people's bloodlust, not his own.

Still not tired of manhandling Lottie, he maneuvers her behind him.

His doppelganger grins, serrated like an army knife. 'This brings memories, huh? Did you miss it?'

'I don't think you do.'

This place is a minefield. His voice is everywhere.

Mamoru isn't tired of giving out orders, either. Gritted out but strict and calm.] Give me his location. 12 o'clock is in front of me, and 6 is behind us.

[oomfies]

[ Great. He's still not giving her any answers?! Just shoving her behind him like she didn't even ask a question. At least she can actually hide behind him, his height allowing her to sneakily stay out of sight by using the expanse of his back to shield her.

Which only manages to make her slightly less squeamish than she was before, because he's asking (barking at) her to be proactive and peek over his shoulder. Usually, she'd give attitude. But usually, there's only one Mamoru.. And that one isn't so freakily devious that it makes the hair on the back of her neck stand. That grin!! Ew.

It prompts her to force him down an inch or two so she can actually look in front of him, ]

3 o'clock?! He's still in the mirror so he's not.. [ Moving, technically.. Wait a minute? She grasps at the sleeve to his jacket, tugging him back away from the glass pane of the wall. ] Mamoru.. Mamoru!! Why're you acting like he's gonna do something??

cw. uh. violence ig

[prizeneck]

[Three, goddamn it, he had been looking at his ten.

He supposes he should be somewhat proud of himself, adapting and creating as much terror as he is to himself. He knows himself well, and yet, here it is, this being that is apparently a reflection of him, feeling so familiar and yet tugging at the very last heartstrings he hasn't reigned in tight like a vice.

The grip on his sleeve doesn't help. He knows he's going to play himself and the fact that he could, should, would let go of the civilian and face him himself, whilst working Lottie as an actual hostage.

A liability management lesson.

Except he has no more time to think because he does see, half a second too late, two hands grabbing the opposite arm—his armed hand, of course, he'd pat himself on the back really— and pulling him right into the mirror, head first, with a slam.

The reflection cackles and shows up in another mirror. 'Really, tell the kid to scram. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Or are you afraid she'll end up like the rest?'

His shades glitch.

System Reset.
.
.
.

He shakes his head, using his cane to hold himself upright. That he can see those words tells him that at least the frames shielded some of the damage, though he feels the blood coursing warm down his temple.]

Stay away from the glass, as far as possible. Mind your six.

[oomfies]

[ It's stupidly tense in this room, so terribly nerve wracking that she forgets to breathe as Mamoru tries to focus. It feels like it lasts forever as she waits for him to say something, to do anything other than stand at attention. Because the longer he stays like this, the longer it means they might actually be in real danger, and she doesn't know what she'll do (what she can do?) if they are in real danger.

It all happens so quickly, those hands reaching out and snatching Mamoru's arm. It startles her as much as losing her gravity does, because she can feel the brush of that double's fingers against her own skin and she shakes. Releases her hold just in time to stumble back and hear the sickening crunch of Mamoru's face into the glass.

There's something like a scream caught in her throat as she sees him amble back and shake his head, hears his voice but knows it isn't him speaking — saying vague and personal things she shouldn't even be privy to. Seeing his reflection is even worse, makes her chest seize something uncomfortable. Droplets of his blood hit the floor, thick and red among the icy blue of the hall, and oh? Wow? She realizes she might be panicking?! Her voice shrills high, ]

What about you?!

[ She goes on autopilot, doing as she's told, too scared and lost to do anything otherwise (because as much as she hates it, she's used to Mamoru calling her kid, not whatever that guy is). ]

You're bleeding!

[prizeneck]

If a bodyguard needs protection, then they're better off dead.

[A gnarl, the soles of his boots (thank you, odd and random sponsor in the coliseum, who had provided him with these) groaning with the pressure over the shard of glass, making it crack into a web of other smaller shards under Mamoru's weight as he stands back up.

He shakes his hand, spattering blood in front of him like he touched something nasty.

'You know she's right.'

Lottie is right. Not about him bleeding, but about him being at a disadvantage.]

Focus. [He doesn't voice it. He sends it to Lottie through their mind, the first time that he actually reaches out to her. He had sent her a similar bark before, hadn't he? It feels familiar.

He switches his stance (wider feet, bend at the knees, a switch on the grip of his sword) and closes his eyes behind his shades. If he's making himself an enemy that he can't see, then he'll make sure that there are no other senses involved.

The double cackles, a low, gritty sound that scatters across the large hall. 'You think that will work?'

He doesn't budge.] I'm fine. You're not superstitious, are you?