⏳ 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

[zauneyete]

[ Silco is so careful, and it's the only thing that kept his hand from running right into this person standing next to David, with her elegant white and multicolored hair, the cigarette pursed between her lips. He took a silent step back, when she neared, to keep from getting too close. He could try again in a moment, once they spread out.

He had to rely on Sevika to lead, but she knew what he wanted, didn't she? And she'd always did just the job he asked of her. Without question, without bother. Unless Jinx was involved, but Silco's memories of her were too precious, and too carefully guarded to ever be put into danger like this.

Something that Silco was both grateful for and wished he had, the moment the shortest of David's illusions opened fire. If anyone could have dealt with her, Jinx would have delighted in blowing all of them up.

In contrast, Sevika grunted, and the Shimmered goons howled, the one who the girl shot at bent backwards -- and let it fly past him -- his body contorted in a way that was entirely inhuman before he flung himself back to rightness, and started moving, his shifts erratic and quick. The others followed and they spread out, their bodies moving too fast, trails of electric green and neon violet followed their wake as they closed in -- knives shuddering with that sickly green light as they pushed inward.

Sevika, from behind, cracked her knuckles, and pulled the cloak back, pulling two vials of shimmer out of her bandolier, and her arm hissed as she popped them in, the joints loosening, and then working back to socket back in, the exhale of neon violet powering it matched the scars on her face, and she smirked, and spit her cigar out.

If she eyed Dorio, how could she not? That was a match made in hell. ]

[investing]

[ The sound is positively overwhelming, and luckily it's the right amount to get the adrenaline running through his veins and do something. Their movements are almost too quick for him to make out, and they are absolutely intimidating. It's been a long time since he's had to fight anyone this quick, but David doesn't have any reason to back down just yet. There's a growl that quickly blends into a shout somewhere behind him —

— but not from the woman opposite of Sevika, no. Lucy may be stomping out her cigarette and scanning like her life depends on it, Rebecca may be itching to fire another shot at that same Shimmered goon, but the tall blonde just cocks her head. The chaos around her is very much a doll noise to her, compared to the shift and hiss of those vials as they're slotted into her. It's primitive, foreign, but the perfect enemy. There's no hacking what runs by itself, no hacking something that doesn't have code or isn't hardwired into your brain. But Dorio sure can punch the shit out of it, yeah? Yeah. She returns that smirk, cants her head up to look down at her.

In her peripheral she can see the largest out of all of them — Maine — set his sights on his own target. A goon that lunges towards him, fast in a way that his mass won't allow him to be. He's too bulky to be able to dance the way these men do, but that hasn't stopped him before, certainly doesn't stop him from opening fire towards their legs, their knees.

And when she rolls back her shoulders, there's the distant color trail of another soldier that runs past David and towards the lithe frame that was once beside Silco. There's a wire, one that's colored a bright invasive orange that teeters into red, that's pulled taut from her wrist and into both hands. Lucy doesn't wait, lets the reach of her monowire do the work for her to breach first contact — her whip used to, ideally, incapacitate, either to blunt that blade or take out a limb entirely.

Come time for David to shine, he is.. Truly just trying to play defense by sacrificing his bag of goodies as a makeshift shield when his goon picks him, just opting to brace himself because he's too close to want to try anything risky otherwise. A similar tactic to Dorio who, while in stance, quirks her lip and gestures something taunting and playful towards Sevika. I'll let you go first, lingers in the air, in her eyes. ]

[zauneyete]

[ It's all happening at once -- Silco kept back, careful and quiet -- and let his memories of Zaun's finest do what they did best. Against these... odd, over-technical creatures who looked half man, half machine, something alien to Zaun (at...the moment lol lmao) but they were still relatively evenly matched. Their lumbering frames matched with Sevika's is a terror, or at least enough of one that Silco feels relatively confident.

After all, they were using guns, and that, at least, his goons knew how to dodge. The one Maine shot was light-footed and swift, the moment the gun went off, their feet skittered and they launched themselves to the right, and then forward -- almost on all fours -- before a humming, almost sizzling blade was going for the large man's arm.

Rebecca's shots may keep the other back, but one went for Lucky -- her wire not something anticipated, and it howled when it cut through the blade attached to his arm -- the shadowed face howled, purple mist coiled and obscured their features, before a hand blindly reached out to try to clamor for Lucy's arm, to try and grab her.

Meanwhile -- an echo of thunder rang out, as Sevika and Dorio met, their hands clasped together in a handlock -- both of them eyeing each other, both smiling, it's clear that both of them think they will end up on top, and both of them are excited for the fight. Sevika's hand started to dislodge -- the metal one, shift like it was pulled apart, before she whipped it out of Dorio's hand to pull it down, and then follow up with an uppercut, accompanied with a hiss of steam and neon-violet light.

Silco kept near David, let his goon come for him, howling and mad with violent, they launched for him, before they quickly dodged to the side, and behind -- aiming to grapple him from behind. ]

[investing]

[ Her body twists, a hand springs up to let the impact of that punch seize at her arm, just nearby the crook of her elbow. Dorio defends close, and defends well -- but still, she is pushed back with the effort Sevika exerts into her punch. Her face twists, speckles of pain decorating her face, but it manages to feel more electric than it should. It only serves to make her smile turn into something like a grin when she dives back in, eyes only sparing a glance towards Sevika's arm as she raises her own up -- both guarding, closes the distance 'til she tosses a straight punch her direction.

Maine, on the other hand, catches the blade with his other hand. It's all at the price of the metal making up his fingers beginning to fizzle out, bit by bit, acidic second by second, using his strength in the process to try and crowd -- overwhelm -- his opponent. The inner mechanics of his arm begins to unfurl, his skin sliding back in well orchestrated pieces, the hidden gun easing itself out into view.

And when that gun unfurls, David's body jolts. There's blood somewhere that lingers and melts on his tongue, a consequence of summoning so many of his memories at once. Especially when they're all so independent of him, using weapons from the deepest crevices of his mind. And, oh, that's why he tastes blood -- in the middle of all this, of Silco's goon side stepping him to catch his back, he coughs it out, lungs seizing at his chest and body rattling. He doesn't even realize it himself, the way his Sandevistan activates. In the blink of an eye, all he's managed in his decrepit state is to face the goon front to front, hands reaching out to try and immobilize their blade, despite the obvious risks.. The obvious risks like Silco, observing close and waiting in all the chaos.

David may not be restrained, but he is distracted. And his necklace, the one jostling with his strength to keep his opponent at bay, is in view.

Lucy and Rebecca remain remarkably steadfast in the mean while, as much they can with exerting David's energy (and Livelihood™), the latter choosing to aim at the creature blindly lunging towards Lucy with one of her guns. The other is still trained on the one she's keeping at bay, and the distraction is enough to get Lucy bouncing back to a safer distance. This time she switches opponents, uses the long length of her wire to whip at the attacker that's still aiming towards their shortest, Rebecca. ]

[zauneyete]

[ Sevika jousts with Dorio, her punches matched one for one, the both of them strong enough and sure enough, confident smirks and tips of their heads. Silco wouldn't doubt that if Sevika were truly here, she would be living for something like this, indulging in the violence and the pounding of blood. Even a memory of her looked to be enjoying it -- or perhaps that was Silco's perception of the woman, but did it matter? Her human arm wasn't as strong, but the chemtech one -- the one that could dislodge or...

She smiled, as she met Dorio's hand with hers, and the blade shot out, and at Dorio's arm, to slice through it.

Maine would have an easier time with the goon, who couldn't handle anything point blank, and the acid was enough to do damage but the guns were unexpected -- an unknown -- and the shimmered beast howled and tried to rip at them, even while he knew his days were up.

Silco knew it too, and left the memory to his fate. What had his name been? Varyl? Chester? Something like that. he'd met him once, probably.

Silco is focused on the prize, the point of all of this distraction, and he moved fast, invisible, his steps silent amongst the gunfire and howls. His hand slips between them, to grasp, and take. The crack is near-audble even with all of the sound, and Silco is quick to keep moving, to back away a few steps, even as the goon that goes toward Rebecca stops, and rounds toward the now appearing crimeboss before David.

He smiled at him, and held up the piece of glass before him, ready to crunch it between his fingers, while his beasts round to protect him. Sevika, however, doesn't lift a finger. She's kind of busy. ]