⏳ 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

[sanguinary]

[LISTEN,,, CEASE,,

They're truly just proudly displaying their stupidity though, huh. Matsui listens to this very philosophical talk of the comical contradictions of humanity while doing a windmill.]

...Perhaps mine is not the most interesting viewpoint. While I am not human, I was crafted by human hands and have spent the majority of my existence being wielded by them. Surely that has shaped my opinion.

[The way he just casually states this... Matsui probably forgot that he just never told Sebastian directly what he was, girl help. REGARDLESS, he'll still give his answer, though it's after a little bit of a pause. There are a lot of things he could say, after all. Like most swords, his opinions are Varied and Complex... But he eventually settles on something rather succinct.]

I find humanity to be tragic.

[cutlery]

[ There’s definitely a little knit that forms at Sebastian’s brow as Matsui explains what he is in part since it’s a confusing description for him. He had been curious, of course, but he had also never asked because he had felt Matsui would elaborate at this own pace. He had seemed rather hesitant in their first meeting, after all, but it had been adamantly clear from his mannerisms that Matsui wasn’t human. For Sebastian, that was understanding enough.

The answer itself, though— ]

Mm, indeed. They are nearly mired in tragedy.

[ It’s something he can agree with easily and without hesitation. It’s something he’s explained to a few people in Kenos, though the framing tends to differ from person to person depending on how Sebastian postures himself with them. It’s a fundamental part of humanity that caught his interest so, and thus it could be expressed in many shades. Here, it’s easy to stick with the more detached and distant perspective of an observer. ]

I find it to be the natural result of their mortality. They are incredibly fragile things, at least compared to most, having but a few decades of life if they are lucky. Yet, despite that, it is rare that they feel the weight of such a short period of time. It is tragic for that. But also rather lovely.

[sanguinary]

It is similar, I feel, to the poetic way that some of them view the coming and going of flowers with the seasons.

[A passing, ephemeral beauty that they know will only last a very short while. Something wonderful, something tragic, that tragedy built into the very way that the flower itself exists. A vivid loveliness that they appreciate all the more knowing that it will last only a few, precious moments.

Matsui isn't sure how he feels about any of it, really, though the uncertainty manifests in little more than another slightly pinched expression as he straightens and shifts into another pose. FITNESS!! From this new stupid pose, he states very seriously:]

I do not think that they are enviable.

[cutlery]

[ Sebastian makes an approving and content noise at Matsui’s suggestion. He likes the poetic nature of it, unsurprisingly, and it’s one he’ll have to remember for the future when he explains the concepts. It’s a difficult thing to explain to mortals, after all. They find it difficult to wrap their head around death, so understanding the view of something with eternal life? It has to be metaphor. ]

Nor do I. Though…

[ He hums thoughtfully as he follows the motion Matsui sets. Again, not seeing a single thing odd about this. Hate them, ]

I would not call it envy. But there are things I find rather admirable about them despite. Even with lives so fleeting, they strive for more. At large, they do not succumb to the despair of their limitations and instead aim to always follow the sunlight that has just dipped below the horizon. To continue with metaphors.

[sanguinary]

[Hopefully every single other person in this library has blacklisted both of them for being enormous weirdos.]

That is something that exists at the very core of most humans, I feel. That drive to always chase the light.

[Maybe it's admirable. It is, if he thinks about it. But Matsui is the kind of sword that feels the weight of tragedy much more acutely than the lightness of hope, so naturally he looks at something like that and feels the sorrow in it rather than the joy.

He's also doing some stupid side stretch while contemplating the follies of mortals so his hair is probably in his face as he continues speaking very seriously.]

I don't think that they would be the same if they didn't have that quality. Rather... I don't know if they would have made it so far.

[cutlery]

[ unfortunately no, because they’re also largely weirdos, ]

I agree. It is why I find them so very interesting, honestly. In my experience, you are precisely right.

[ A few examples come to mind since Sebastian has the luxury of existing long enough to try have a wide, long view of humanity. He’s seen them develop and create wonders that he would have thought nothing short of impossible even only a century before. It’s their admirable quality, as a whole. But, ]

It creates interesting contradictions as well. That drive pushes them towards things that go against their sense of morality at times. Yet, they justify it. That is perhaps my bias speaking, but I find that behavior just as charming.

[sanguinary]

[why is no one in this bar normal

He seems to consider that for a second, because it is a very Uniquely Demonic Perspective and one he hasn't considered before. One he doesn't generally agree or disagree with, either, considering he has Sword Morals and doesn't particularly care much about that whole intricate, tangled mess, even though he's also the fakest Catholic you'll ever meet.]

"Charming"... [Well. THAT IS A WAY OF SAYING IT. After his bout of thoughtfulness, he only adds:] If they were more straightforward, they would likely be less tragic.

[Humans really do be getting in their own way constantly... He feels sorry for them. Hearts are burdensome things!!]

[cutlery]

[ Sebastian laughs at the observation, though there’s a quality to it that’s also (fittingly) charmed by Matsui’s straightforward assessment. The way that Matsui is still learning about humans and their hearts certainly reminds of of “young” demons, though it’s thankfully not accompanied by the instinctual distaste he feels for his own kind. No, luckily Matsui is something very different, and something as old as Sebastian distinctly appreciates novelty. ]

So indeed! But they would hardly be human if they were so straightforward… It is one of their key qualities, I find. Not that I have had that much comparison, mind you.

[ As he stretches, his gaze lingers on a group of their fellow Shard-Bearers that are blissfully chatting away and ignoring whatever the hell is going on over here, ]

And in that sense, have you considered how they will fare in the situation presented before us? Not just here on the Scorching Isles, but the entire conflict itself.

[sanguinary]

[He really is just a funky dude, almost a millennia old but still so new to humans and their funky, funky ways.

Though he apparently has nothing to say in response to that first bit - he agrees, more or less, but he also doesn't have much else to compare them to - it's the second that gives him pause. His gaze also follows Sebastian's out to the group gathered in the library, and a barely-there furrow settles at his brow.]

...I have considered it before. [He has a lot of free time on his hand and a brain that does not shut up.]

I don't think that it will turn out well.

[Like. For anyone. Just anything in general. He's a pessimist, though, so.]

[cutlery]

[ Sebastian nods, pleased in his way that it hadn't escaped Matsui's notice either. It's a perspective he's interested in, since so many of the Shard-Bearers involved had such small, short little lives. For most, a war is an abstract concept to them, or so he imagines. Few carry its rather distinct weight. ]

No, I think it shall not. This war is an unusual one as well. So rarely are the stakes of conflict so personal to all that fight in it.

[ His attention turns back to Matsui at this point since while they're on the subject— ]

Have you given thought to which side appeals to you? I at least assume you have yet to Harmonize.

[sanguinary]

[War is unfortunately all too familiar to him, and even more than that, wars of ideology. In fact, that's his Whole Thing. Naturally, seeing something like this crop up again on an even bigger, broader and more demanding scale has had him discomforted since the moment he figured out what was going on. It's one of the many reasons he's yet to Harmonize - which is why he nods in response to Sebastian's question.]

Neither side appeals to me.

[FOR VARIOUS REASONS... Sometimes you can't change history by resurrecting the dead because it's codified into sword law, but your only other option is to move forward and create a future without anything you care about.]

I will choose to side with Zenith when the time comes for it, even so. When I must.

[Until then he's truly just the cryptid of Highstorm, just living in shop basements and hanging out with cats.]

[cutlery]

[ Honestly, Sebastian is a little surprised. He had assumed that Matsui was simply one of softer convictions. It’s nothing he views with judgement exactly, but more as a curiosity that something inhuman would be prone to it. He understands with the explanation (at least in part), that it was something of the opposite. It’s closer to a conviction simply expressed in a more inhuman way. ]

I see. Then, for all intents and purposes, I shall consider you an ally for now.

[ Since that’s what he wanted to know, in a way. Lines are being drawn with this first little trip to find an Oracle, and there’s no one that wants them to be clearer than Sebastian. They were just also harsher than any human may draw them. ]

May I ask, though? Why not?

[sanguinary]

[Sometimes you're just a strange little alien existing in in-between spaces, unsure of what to do or how to proceed because the furnace just coughed you out like three months ago. Damn.

Lines are definitely being drawn, though; he'd be a fool not to notice, or at least someone with far less experience with war than what he unfortunately has. The remark earns Sebastian a very slight nod, and there's probably a little gratitude in there, somewhere. Not much, though, just on the basis that he simply Does Not Care all that much.]

Why I have yet to choose?

[Good question! He hesitates, though Sebastian might get the sense that it's less out of furtiveness and more because he just doesn't know how to form his reasons into a succinct answer. He is a little cagey, though...]

...I suppose that in the end, it boils down to little more than "I don't wish to".

[cutlery]

It is a surprising answer, I admit. Though it could be the result of my own certainty. There was never any option to me but to choose a side, and Zenith would naturally be where I fall. A demon in Meridian’s rank simply seems incorrect.

[ There’s a mischievousness in the stress on that word that shows that it’s a bit more than that… But it’s not something he’ll get into, or at least not now. It would be a distraction from the rest. ]

Is it for distrust? Or for hesitation in the divide they cause?

[sanguinary]

[Sebastian really out here like HAHA IMAGINE A DEMON BEING OVER THERE, meanwhile Meridian's collecting all kinds of maniacs.]

Many people seem very certain. As far as I have seen, it's much more of a rarity to remain unaligned for any significant period of time.

[It's not like he doesn't understand why that is, though. Nor does he believe he can simply stay unaligned forever in a situation like this.

As far as the question goes:] It's a more personal matter. [And being the cagey shit he is, he leaves it at that.] Though I can't say I trust either.